001Even every year, right? Yeah, we're live? We're good? Okay. We're waiting. Yeah, I'll I'll wait. Michael, can everyone hear me? Yep. Okay. He said he's going to be a little late, so I'm going to get it started. All right, it's 6:00. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Please rise for the Well, actually we'll actually do a roll call first. First thing, apologies. Kelly, would you call the roll? Michael DeGroot? Here. Christian Gabel? Here. Destiny Evans? Here. Alex Grodos? Here. Paul Ragnery? Here. Nathaniel Russell Jr.? Here. Alan Dancer? Quorum is present. It is present. Perfect. Okay. So, uh I'm going to host a motion to approve board member remote attendance based on personal illness. So, moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Seeing no discussion, Kelly, would you call the roll? Gabel? Yes. Evans?
002Yes. Grodos? Here. Ragnery? Yes. Russell? Yes. Dancer? Yes. All right, pledge of allegiance. Let's go. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Changing things up a little bit today, so thank you guys. Uh so, as a reminder, our board governs by policy aligned with state law. These policies are not just guidelines, they are legal and ethical obligations that ensure transparency, accountability, and consistent leadership. When policies no longer meet the district's needs, it's our responsibility to amend them within the bounds of the law to better serve our community. The board acts only as a whole in duly convened public meetings with a quorum present. Outside of the structure, no individual member has
003authority. Adherence to policies protects the district from risk and ensures that all decisions are fair, lawful, and aligned with our strategic goals. Our mission is to empower all learners to succeed in their world, and our vision is to provide an ideal learning experience where students and staff are engaged and want to come back the next day. Our board policies and actions should reflect that mission and vision. This point, uh we're going to get into student and staff recognition. I'll hand things over to our admin team. All right, good evening, everyone. Nice to see you. Um I am excited to share we are recognizing Edison Hooper, who is a student at Sycamore Middle School, and I have a paragraph that uh was written about him. Um so, I'm going to go ahead and read that to
004you now. Um Edison recently demonstrated exceptional determination, perseverance, and school pride by competing in both the middle school and regional spelling bees. After studying extensively and dedicating time to improving his skills, Edison won the middle school spelling bee, earning the opportunity to represent our school district at the regional competition. At the regional spelling bee, Edison continued to represent our school with confidence, composure, and outstanding academic ability. Competing against top students from many schools, he advanced through multiple challenging rounds and ultimately earned an impressive second place finish. [snorts] Edison's achievements goes beyond simply spelling difficult words. His commitment to learning, willingness to challenge himself, and ability to perform under pressure are true examples of what it means to be a Spartan. By representing our school with integrity, determination, and pride, Edison made a positive impact on
005our school community and inspired other students to pursue academic excellence. Please join me in congratulating congratulating EDISON HOOPER. [applause] CONGRATULATIONS, EDISON. THIS IS ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, and we're going to take a quick picture here with everyone's permission. Look over here. We're so proud of you. All right, here we go. One, two, three. Take a couple. Thank you. Congratulations, Edison. Nice job. Uh tonight, I'm excited to speak about some uh some staff members. Multiple uh tonight, we are proud to recognize the 2025-2026 Excellence in Education Award nominees uh and winners from our district. For those of you that don't know, the Excellence in Education Award honors outstanding teachers, support staff, and administrators across DeKalb County who inspire a love of learning and make meaningful contributions to their schools and communities. This program is sponsored
006by DeKalb County Community Foundation and DeKalb County Regional Office of Education, uh but was all made possible by long-time Sycamore teacher, 50-plus years, uh Yvon Johnson. So, a very special award that our own got started to recognize not just our teachers, but staff from all over. Uh so, we are honored to celebrate, and I saw I think almost everyone uh here, um the following uh nominees uh from their respective uh areas of the award. Uh so, at the elementary level, uh Jolene Ward, West Elementary. [applause] Uh our middle school nominee, uh Jenny Tequila. [applause] OUR HIGH SCHOOL NOMINEE, Leah Cainey. [applause] AND THEN WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO CELEBRATE two individuals who were awarded um out of the entire county, and the nominees uh they did receive the Excellence in Education Award in their respective
007categories. Um and in the support staff category, we have Valtricia Sherwood, uh lead custodian at SOUTH PRAIRIE ELEMENTARY. [applause] AND THEN IN THE ADMINISTRATOR CATEGORY, from the middle school Dean of Students, Justin Drennen. [applause] One of my one of my favorite parts every year about this award, um it's not their favorite part, but that's why I'm about to say it is it's usually individuals who don't like this recognition that end up getting it, that they just quietly do uh what they're supposed to do and have a huge impact on on students and the entire uh school culture, but the entire community as well. Um and do so without expecting any recognition. And this this uh group of individuals um very much fits that that mold of just um I can tell they're uncomfortable with me
008talking about them. Uh you should have seen Jolene's face when I popped into the classroom. Um but it's just who they are, um and it's what makes them amazing and and great at what they do. So, on behalf of the entire district, thank you for your dedication to our students, our schools, and the Sycamore community. Congratulations on this very well-deserved recognition. [applause] AND AGAIN, WE'RE GOING TO MAKE YOU uncomfortable and ask you to come up front. Michael, take a picture, too. I have something to give you. Thank you. Thank you so much for your service to our schools. Thank you so much. Oh, come on up here. Come on up here. You can join me up here for a special picture. I know it's a plague, but [laughter] thanks, Justin. Congratulations, Justin. Congratulations. All right,
009here we go. Ready? Keep smiling. I'm going to take a few. Okay, [clears throat] thank you. [applause] THANK YOU GUYS. THANKS FOR BEING HERE. HOW'S YOUR KIDS? [laughter] Who's going to be here? Take care. Take care. Thank you guys. [clears throat] All right, we'll keep on trudging through. Wonderful. Thank you guys. Uh next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. So, uh the recommended action and I'm going to solicit a motion here to approve the consent agenda as presented item 6.01 through 6.15. 6.01 minutes of workshop meeting March 31st, 2026. 6.02 minutes of regular March 31st, [snorts] 2026. 6.03 minutes of executive session March 31st, 2026. 6.04 minutes of special meeting workshop April 7th, 2026. 6.05 minutes of executive session April 7th, 2026. 6.06 minutes of committee of the whole meeting April 14th, 2026.
01007 minutes of committee of executive session April 14th, 2026. 6.08 minutes of workshop meeting April 21st, 2026. 6.09 minutes of executive session April 21st, 2026. 6.10 bills payable. 6.11 financial reports. 6.2 personnel report. 6.13 gifts and donations report. 6.14 2025 through 2026 amended school calendar and 6.15 district and building leadership administrator annual contracts. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented item 6.01 through 6.15? I move to approve the consent agenda as presented item 6.01 through 6.15. Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Is this too late to pull something? Never too late. I'd like to pull the admin contract so we can reconvene a closed session prior to that as there was a legal update that we received that we did not discuss in closed session. Items being pulled. Do
011you have preference on placement? New business first item. I would make a recommendation we make it new business item 12.07. Would you be okay with that? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Let's see. Item was pulled from the agenda. We had motion and a second. Um May I suggest we simply vote no? Yes. Kelly, would you call the roll? Copple? Yes. Evans? Yes. Gredos? What what is is this a motion to amend or No, this is the original motion which Cole had suggested voting no. So So, if you want to revote on this with the reconstructed motion, you should vote no. no, no, no. I thought when something's pulled, it's just pulled. You it wouldn't Yeah, but the original motion would capture it. The problem is is we had a motion and a second on the table already.
012So, the only way we can go back and pull it is if we settle the motion and second and then go back and make a remotion and second revised. So, I would Could we recall? Yeah. So, Christian, can we do a revote then? Kelly, would you recall the roll? Copple? No. Evans? No. Gredos? No. Gregory? No. Russell? No. Zantout? No. Zavido? No. Motion fails. All right, so I will re-solicit a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented items 6.01 through 6.14. So moved. Second. Second. Moved and seconded. Kelly, would you call the roll? Evans? Yes. Gredos? Yes. Gregory? Yes. Russell? Yes. Zantout? Yes. Copple? Yes. Zavido? Yes. Motion carried. Let the just a procedural note. Kelly, we've placed item 6.15 now in position 12.07. With the intention to enter executive session prior to voting
013on it. So, just like as a note, if you could remind me that we're going to That would be awesome. Thank you. All right, the next item on the agenda is the NIA consent agenda. Recommended action is to approve the NIA consent agenda as presented item 7.01 through 7.04. NIA treasurer's reports. NIA bills payable. NIA personnel report. NIA contract/vendor agreement report. Is there a motion to approve the NIA consent agenda as presented item 7.01 through 7.04? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Kelly, let the record reflect Cole moved, Christian seconded. There was no discussion. Would you call the roll? Evans? Yes. Gredos? Yes. Gregory? I. Russell? Yes. Zantout? Yes. Copple? Yes. Zavido? Yes. Motion carried. Okie doke. Next item on the agenda is our audience to visitors. Is anyone in the
014audience looking to address the board at this time? Seeing no one, we'll move on to the next item on the agenda, superintendent report. Item 9.01. Yes, good evening again, board. We have several updates both from communications and technology included in the agenda. Just to highlight some upcoming celebrations for communications, we are working hard at supporting both our schools and our staff here at the district office with staff appreciation week next week. We are continuing within the district collecting notes of appreciation. We are excited to share that we have met our goal of 427 submissions of appreciation to our staff from our community. We are very grateful for our community sharing the love to our staff on a daily basis but also in this this week of appreciation. In addition, communications is coordinating with me in
015providing a lot of strategy around community art outreach not only for this year that you have seen with after the board video that the communications team helped create a summary of what we talked about in our last board meeting and we look forward to continuing that new tradition moving forward to provide that update to our community. In addition, we talked about strategies next year like what's good in 427 where I would go around and talk to students, staff and leaders within the district and ask them to share out highlights that I can share out with the community along with a variety of other strategies. So, I'm grateful for the partnership with our communications team and how we can continue to tell our story as a district. In addition, the technology department has provided updates around
016our Chromebook procurement. And this is following the board's March approval. They are working on ensuring timely delivery and providing students with updated hardware to support their digital learning moving forward. In addition, in regards to the work Dr. Valentine has led this year with AI which I was sharing with her just the other day. She is one of the leading educators in my perspective in helping lead us to great learning and how technology supports pedagogy. And she has done a great job with our educators this year in exploring AI and how that can support really the the deep understanding of learning in the classroom with a platform called Magic School AI. And that is a recommendation from our staff and the committee along with Dr. Valentine who's done some extensive work around technology supporting pedagogy with
017AI and that's detailed in the report for your review. In addition, I have some updates as you've been hearing since last month. This month we've had several workshops around our board goals and you heard a little bit about the ELA journey in our workshop recently this past month. And tonight it will be on the board for a recommendation for action for the ELA resource for K5, 68 and 912. Which does support our board goal of academic achievement. In addition, they will be on the board for approval our pace framework. This is required by ISBE to be implemented and adopted by the board. We are so excited with the work that our middle schools and high schools are already doing around pace. We have adopted the ISBE framework and made it our own. So, we're excited
018to share that with you tonight and continue that learning as required by ISBE to support our students for their future careers. In addition, you've heard updates around our five-year staffing and financial projections. That was in one of our most recent board workshops where we combined the two committees, business service committee and learning teaching committee and it became our committee of whole meeting. We talked about a balanced budget and sustainability. We also discussed maintaining a 20% fund balance and staffing alignment and that is all in the line with board goals. And so, that is the conclusion of my superintendent report for this month. I look forward to providing more updates for you next month. Thank you. I was sad to learn that Magic AI doesn't come with any buses. [laughter] It's very cool. I looked at
019it. It looks very interesting. Good selection. I'm looking forward to the products in the communications part. I want a Sycamore hoodie with that zips in the front. Oh, okay. I have that. I bought the the the one I did buy so I could have some uh you know, something that said Sycamore on it. It only came the men's that zipped up and it's kind of big on So, I'm looking forward to this new line of products that's coming out. I'm hoping it's going to involve some hoodies that zip up. Yeah, so you're referring to in the weekly board update, I provided a link to BSN. They have a personalized Spartan wear. I ordered quite a few t-shirts and sweatshirts myself. I was telling Ms. Holt that just recently. So, yes, there are many items on
020there that are available for you to purchase. Could you notice any any hoodies that zip up? Oh, yeah. Listen, we're going to talk offline and I'll I'll get you hooked up. At home there's a QR code that's popped up on the screen now, right? [laughter] Purchase here. Busy month. Thanks for the update. Yeah, wonderful. And I think that span is at that covers 9.01 and 9.02. That's all good. Yes, I covered it all. Perfect. All right. Well, any other comments on the superintendent reports? [snorts] All right, we'll move on to board reports. Item 10.01, FOIA reports. There were some FOIAs. Looks like they were responded to. Any questions? All right, item 10.02. And I will say just at large, the board district non-district committee's report. Any teaching and learning update? Sorry, Alex? I'm sorry, I
021was blowing my nose. No update other than what Dr. Campbell laid out that we had a we had a meeting of the whole that included the LTC meeting our learning teaching um committee. And we went through the final proposal from the learning teaching department. And that's up for a vote today. And so, hopefully there aren't any too many discussions cuz we've had a lot of touch points on this. Um but if you do have any, sure we'll discuss it when we get there. There is another meeting in June. So, next meeting is June. Cool. Cool. Cool. Thanks. Business services? I'll echo what Mr. Zantow said, which is that there was a committee of the whole meeting at which were there was the learning and teaching committee as well as the business services committee. At that
022meeting we saw some financial forecasting documents 5 years out, which are posted online. So, if you're watching, you can go check those out. And the whole board and public received some updates about that. And we're it was great and we appreciated it. All right, we'll go on to policy committee. Any policy committee updates? No updates at this time. We are meeting on May 11th. Good [clears throat] stuff. Parent teacher advisory and behavioral intervention? Uh nothing really to report other than we are likely changing the meeting date to July 20th. Um the meeting we're going to work out that. That'll be on the next agenda to change the the meeting date. Great. Great. Great. Thanks for the update. OCF did meet and approved some grants. Oh, yeah. And then there was just discussion about future fundraisers
023and organizational stuff mostly. Nice. It was a good It's always a good meeting when grants are approved for education. Yeah. Yeah, they do. They do some good work there. Um let's see. Uh board representative update? Alex, I believe you had some information to share? Sure. Um I I do with my remote nature and persistent cough and blowing nose and stuff, I Michael suggested that I make a video um with the slide deck that outlines the resolution. Um so, I'm not sure Is there a way we could play that video? here on the screen. Okay, so we could Okay, so if we play that, then I could take questions with Beth after the video's done. I think that would be easiest. It just sort of gives the public and some and the board members and admin
024um why this resolution was written. And I I also like to preface that this tonight, if we I'd like to have this be sort of a collaborative um discussion and see if there's anything that the board would like changed with this resolution. Um if the board um is comfortable with moving this forward to be brought back next week, we could make any I mean, not sorry, next next month at our next meeting, we can make revisions and approve that version. This is the working draft. Um so, I this is the time for feedback on the resolution if the board's comfortable with the concept of this resolution. All right, let's let's hit play, right? video, I will walk through Beth and my proposal for the 2026 ISBE resolution from Sycamore related to Tier 2 pension reform
025and safe harbor violation prevention. So, first to give some background, So, to give some background on Tier 1 and Tier 2, um all employees of the state of Illinois or municipalities in Illinois fall into either Tier 1 or Tier 2 pension groups. Um Think universities, SERS, teachers, TRS, IMRF, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, uh downstate pension funds, etc. All the state employees fall into one of these or two one of these two buckets. But the way that the pensions are structured, there is some flexibility by pension group. So, TRS and IMRF, which is where our employees fall, have some flexibility to administer the pensions how they see fit. So, if we have a teacher that was hired on January 1st, 2011, and we have a teacher that was hired on December 31st, 2010, one teacher would
026be able to retire with full benefits as early as 35, while the other would have to wait till 67. Additionally, once they start receiving their pensions, Tier 1 pensions get 3% every year, which keeps place with keeps pace with inflation, which is typically 2 to 3%, whereas Tier 2 gets the lesser, not the greater. This is the key. The lesser of 3% or half of inflation. So, if inflation's 2%, they get only get 1%. That does not even keep place with the increase in social security, which is um by statute matches inflation. So, we could have someone on social security receiving 3% because if that's the what the inflation rate was, and our staff that are Tier 2 would only be receiving 1.5% in retirement. So, you can have two people doing the same job,
027working the same amount of years, that have very different retirement forecasts. To give some background on the safe harbor threat following up from the prior slide, Tier 2 staff are about a third of the district's employees. And safe harbor rules um require that pensions are equal to or exceed social security. So, for example, if a social security payment is $1,800 for a month for a staff member who made a certain amount of money, we have to be paying at least $1,800 through TRS. The issue is with the increase as I discussed previously, social security, let's say they stop here or the payments start here for social security, the payment starts here for um Tier 2 TRS or IMRF, currently the payment would be greater, but the Tier 2 pension increases at only half of inflation,
028whereas social security would increase at inflation. So, at some point, there will be an intersection where staff would make more with social security than they would with the pension. And at that point, there is a shift to the district immediately where we have to start withholding on behalf of the staff 6.2 um percent of their wages to start paying into social security. [snorts] So, this tax, as the law is currently written, would fall directly on the school districts to pick this up and pay it on behalf of staff. That would result in higher levies because our expenditures for salaries and wages would go up 6.2% across the board, roughly. So, how do we solve this? First, we need to adjust the Tier 2 pension formulas to increase at inflation. That would immediately get rid of
029this safe harbor issue because we're currently above inflation. I mean, we're currently above social security. So, if social security increases like this, we would increase at the same rate as social security, and there'd never be a point of intersection. Therefore, we would not have a safe harbor violation. Secondly, we need to reduce the standard retirement age from 67 um to something lower that is deemed more equitable um by ISBE and teachers associations as 67 versus 55 is a giant jump. And 67 years old for let's say kindergarten or special education teacher is a lot to physically and mentally ask of somebody. Additionally, this resolution [clears throat] would allow staff to, if they choose, um contribute their wages into a 403b retirement savings plan, which is something that the state universities or system already offers. And
030it includes a state-funded employer match. So, instead of taking the tier two pension, which is drastically lower than the tier one pension, with the university system, staff have the option to contribute to a 403b, which is like the government version of a 401k, essentially. Um so, they can manage their own money, and we don't have to worry about any safe harbor violations or um exponentially [clears throat] growing pension costs because the staff would control their own money if they opt for this. So, if we input 7 and 1/2% each year, which is less than the cost of even tier two um [clears throat] pensions, we would meet the safe harbor compliance, and staff could grow their money in the market how they see fit. This The key to this is it's optional, and it only
031is applicable to staff who wish to opt for this. That we would not take away anyone's tier two pension. This would just be an option for people to choose if they feel that it's better for them. They could work with their personal financial advisors to determine which path they'd like. It just gives flexibility, and it's cheaper. There really isn't a downside to giving people more choice. I requested data from SURS, and we see that they have had success with this optional defined contribution plan. Um about [clears throat] 22% of SURS members are enrolled in it. They call it the RSP, or retirement savings plan. And in FY25, 25% of new hires elected it. So, the rate of people electing this option is increasing. And we see that there is retention um similar to that of
032traditional tier two pension employees. So, we we can conclude from the data over the last several years from SURS that the DC option is attracting and retaining professionals at a rate similar to the traditional option. So, one of the primary reasons that this proposal would help both the staff and the taxpayers is it gives options and flexibility to staff's retirement while also controlling costs for um for the state and districts because they know how long they're going to contribute um to an individual retirement typically because they would retire um at a fixed point, and that's easier to define than a pension where you're just paying them out um for the remainder of their life, which is harder to estimate. And the costs as someone grows older and older and older as lifespans continue to increase,
033there is a greater cost to the taxpayer to keep paying it out. Whereas, if they were to have their money in an investment account that's sponsored by the state, like they do with universities, the market um the stock market and bonds and other investment instruments will pay that cost of living adjustment as opposed to the taxpayer. So, employees have the option to elect this if they think controlling their money is a better option for them. It just depends on what they think is better. It reduces this very rigid age requirements to retire, and allows employees to retire when they're ready, and it just gives staff more flexibility to manage their money how they see fit. Um and they could potentially realize greater returns than the state realizes, in my opinion. Um individuals and financial advisors
034are better with investing than the state of Illinois has historically been. So, they could put in less money and receive more money than the state would give them at upon retirement. So, to me, this uh resolution is really a win-win as there is proven success from this um through the university system. We would just be mirroring something that already exists and is working well. So, at this time, I will take any questions from the board as well as Beth. Um I will conclude the video um pre-recording, and will be on the call uh at with at the board meeting to answer any questions that And he's here on the call. Oh, it's like total like a continuum. Alex, you have a career in Audible. If any If all else fails, I want to hear Great
035Expectations next. So, questions for Alex. [clears throat] Yeah, lots to digest, I'm sure, too. So, if, you know, we're going to come back to this. So, yeah. Yeah, just for clarity, this is not something that the board adopted for the district. This is a resolution to provide to ISBE for them to potentially make uh to work towards with the state to have this adopted or something along these lines, correct? Yes, correct. So, with resolutions, like we did last year with the buses um that Heather wrote, the board adopts a resolution, and then ISBE has a board of board members from across the state that take a look at all the resolutions, and give a recommendation to the delegate assembly, um which is comprised of every board member board member rep from every district, and if
036they'd like to move forward with the resolution or not. And all moving forward with the resolution at the ISBE state level would mean is it something that ISBE will actively lobby for. Lots to take in. Does that answer your question? Yes, thank you, Alex. I think Okay. I think it'd be really good, too, to you know, have this presentation percolate, get some you know, get some other perspectives in here. I think if we can get um this, you know, I'd like to see what labor management has to say about the the labor management meetings we do. We'd like to get some perspectives from them. Um I think this is great work. You you know, you put in really thorough and detailed presentation. So, thank you, Alex and Beth. Appreciate it. Sure. So, I guess if
037there's any feedback, just send it to us, and we can work on revising it. Um and ideally, we'd adopt this at our May meeting because the submission window's currently open. But, if we need more time, um I guess if we could I can work on figuring out when the deadline is, and if we needed like something another month, um that would be okay. So, if there's any any thoughts that anyone has, staff, um [clears throat] etc., I guess what what the best approach be to aggregate them up to you, Michael, or to me, or to Dr. Campbell? I think Dr. Campbell can be a good pinch point for this. I'll put some more on her plate. [laughter] So, yeah, and then um and I think yeah, we can take another another swing around at this
038uh at the next meeting. Does that work for for you, Dr. Campbell? Just if I'd like to have this be inclusive of staff if possible, if they have any thoughts. Yes. Uh I echo Michael that we need to talk to labor management. Um and we will have an update by the time we have our next board meeting, which is in May. Thanks, Beth. And I should add that this has been something that I've heard from staff, not not just here, but across across other districts. Um this isn't just something I thought of um on my own and trying to force it. It It This sort of grew organically. This was one of the main topics discussed in Springfield when I went there uh to the board member um lobby day. Well, the resolutions committee expects
039big things from Sycamore. They've They've made that clear. We're one for one, so I think we're we're going to we're not going to disappoint with whatever we end up with. All right, good stuff. Any other comments? All right. So, we'll move on to I'll just give you guys a quick update, too. Annually, uh we do appointments of committee members and representatives. Um per board policy 2150, under statutory authority vested in the president of the board of education, uh individuals can be appointed to serve on committees or as representatives. Um so, I am currently appointing at the will of this policy uh Christian Kappel for North Road Association. Rosemary Evans is the IASB delegate rep. Nathaniel Russell Jr. for City Planning Commission, Ellen Zantu for Learning and Teaching, Andrew Schultz for Learning and Teaching, Barb White
040for Learning and Teaching, Greg Tedario for Learning and Teaching, Rachel Wattenbarger for Learning and Teaching, Christian Kappel for PTAC/BIC, uh Behavioral Intervention but Parent Teacher Advisory Committee. Uh Rosemary Evans for Parent Teacher Advisory, uh Behavioral Intervention, Aaron DeWitt for PTAC and BIC, uh Danielle Klinger Danielle Klinger for PTAC and BIC, and Nathaniel Russell Jr. for PTAC and BIC. Cole Regnery for Business Services, Alex Grados for Business Services, Josh Husmann for Business Services, Concetta Miniaci for Business Services, Jason Kavanaugh for Business Services, Joyce Bauer for Business Services, Alex Grados for Policy Policy Committee, Ellen Zantu for Policy Committee, and Christian Kappel for Policy Committee. So, these appointments reflect the board's commitment to shared governance, collaboration, and strategic oversight of our district's financial and operational initiatives. Uh each appointee brings valuable expertise and perspective that will enhance
041the work of the Board of Education. Um these committee members and representatives, in accordance with board policy, will serve at the discretion of the board president and then in accordance with the Open Meetings Act and other relevant school policies. Their terms and responsibilities are subject to board-defined committee scopes and timelines with reports and recommendations submitted for board review. Uh any questions? May we make an amendment or at least add a add a name? Sure. What you got? Um Doug Porter to PTAC/Behavioral Intervention Committee. Yes. Thank you. This is item 12.06, right? What's that? This is item 12.06. This is under the This isn't actually um I'm not asking for a motion or a second. This is just me giving an update under board district non-district committee reports for board representative updates for 10.06. That's right.
042So, what you said 10.06? Well, then do you want us to take action on 12.06? Cuz it 12.06 is board committee assignments. Yeah, so at that point, um you know, we'll do a motion and a second. I'm just giving an update. So. correct? Okay. Yeah, I just don't think that's needed. I think Michael, you have the unilateral authority. I don't think the board needs to vote on this. So, then we're going to vote through 12.06. That's That's excellent. Thanks. Um cool. All right, we'll move on to the next item. Any other board district non-district committee reports? No? All righty. Uh so, old business. Second time we're looking at this. Consideration to approve the ELA instructional resource adoptions for K5 through 6-12. There will be time for discussion. I'm going to solicit a motion to approve
043the adoption of Amplify CKLA as the ELA instructional resource for grades K5 and Savvas My Perspectives as the ELA instructional resource for grades 6 through 12. So moved. Moved by Allen, second by Beth. Second. All right, second by Beth. it's awesome material, especially Savvas. Yeah. Other discussion? Other discussion? The district's been talking about it for a long time. It seems like it has a lot of support. It seems like it'll be very good for our students, and I'm excited. Let's give some credit to uh Dr. Feeney's team. I spoke to them workshop. Um didn't really get involved with it too much before that meeting. Digged in really deep. Uh seemed like the teachers are passionate about it, so we're looking to see those results uh with these vendors. Um big things, right? So, I just
044wanted to bring attention to our teachers uh really educating people. Um looking for that same energy for the parents when they have questions and concerns. Uh from my educators as well, but I'm excited as well. I think to note, this does represent a big change, but a really positive change. And so, though the adopt This is the adoption of the curriculum, but it's also an adoption of quite an investment in professional development for our teachers and staff to really grow this and make sure that everybody feels supported and has that support to be able to be successful both at the uh the teacher and staff level, but then also at the student level. So, I'm I'm I think it's great. Lots of really hard work's been put into this. Right, and we heard how it
045positively affected some students already from the pilot. Yeah. At the meeting, it was really good. And you know, I'll share our concern, which has been I think something we've addressed well and intend to continue to address, which is the implementation of this. So, beyond this as just like an instructional resource, the idea of how is this going to be implemented in the district? What supports we as a board are going to be asked to ultimately complement uh this roll out, and how that's going to ultimately look um you know, next year as we go through this. I think it's going to be critical that we're responsive to needs as they arise and that we understand this is uh going to be dynamic this roll out. So, I'm um I'm trying to think of a few
046more buzzwords to throw in. No, but all seriousness, it's a lot of stuff, and if we don't do it right, it could be really bad. So, we have to do it right. Agreed. Strategic. I should have put strategic in that one. All [snorts] right, Kelly, would you call the roll? Grados? Yes. Regnery? Yes. Russell? Yes. Zantu? Yes. Kappel? Yes. Evans? Yes. DeVito? Yes. Motion carried. Yay! Three years, right? In the making? Two years in the making? A lot. Just Uh so, new business now for consideration. Again, not old business, this is new business. Now we're in section 12. Consideration to approve the intergovernmental agreement for the provision of joint salt purchasing. The title just gives me goosebumps. [clears throat] So. How much salt? I got I I think we need to set aside at least
04730 minutes. Um the recommended action is to approve the intergovernmental agreement for the provision of joint salt salt purchasing as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Well, we need salt if it gets icy, so I guess. We got to get the salt. I have a question. Is this a new program or I mean, I support it. I think it makes sense, but is it a new thing or is it a So, it's been in the past, but Yeah, but they had enough for a while. been doing this for years. They just now um require an intergovernmental agreement, so that's why it's coming to you guys. Yeah. Perfect. Oh. Thanks, Nicole. All right. Any other discussion? Seeing no discussion, Kelly, would you call the roll? Regnery? Yes.
048Russell? Yes. Zantu? Yes. Kappel? Yes. Evans? Yes. Grados? Yes. DeVito? Yes. Motion carried. All right, next item on the agenda is the consideration to authorize the RFP for vehicle acquisition financing. The recommended action is to approve the commencement. So, this I'll read this carefully. So, just to note, we're not actually doing anything yet. The recommended action is to approve the beginning of a formal RFP or request for proposal process to secure competitive financing rates and terms for the district's upcoming vehicle replacements. So, we're That's the uh proposed motion. Uh I'll just solicit Is there a motion in that? So moved. Second. And seconded. Any discussion? So, to clarify, I think when what will be brought back to the board for action will be financing plan and costs associated to the estimated 947. Yeah, so we'll
049um if this is approved, Ty, then we'll do a formal RFP, and so we'll get competitive uh requests from uh banking institutions, and then we'll bring that back to you guys. Yeah. And we've already agreed to purchase the buses, right? This is just how we're going to pay for it now. It's already Is that or no? This was part of the staffing project or not staffing, financial projection that Nicole talked about. So, this is now like the how. I see. And then I see agreed that it would This was in the tentative budget Correct. Yes. Cool. Anything else? I think uh We spoke to this during transportation as well, that moving to the Honda Odyssey versus the Chrysler Pacifica maybe is a is a better value for the dollars, too. So, there's there's lots of
050reasons on these choices here. Yep, and um this is Lance is is good at um securing the the best bang for our buck, so. Okay. Okay. And Nicole, in your professional opinion, this is a good move, you think? Cuz I see the recommendation has this. You think we should do this? Do the RFP? Yeah. Yes, we should do the RFP. Okay. Cool. Cool. Anything else? No? All right. Easy enough. Um Kelly, would you call the roll? Russell? Yes. Zantu? Yes. Kappel? Yes. Evans? Yes. Grados? Alex? Grados? Sorry, I was on mute. Yes. Regnery? Yes. DeVito? Yes. Motion carried. All right, item 12.03. Consideration to approve the intergovernmental agreement for participation in the KEC or Kishwaukee Education Consortium Alternative Learning Opportunities Program or ALOP. Um the recommended action is to approve the intergovernmental agreement for participation
051in the KEC alternative learning opportunities program as presented. Normally, I would say um you know, we should try to approve these on old business, but I don't know that um these are material enough to not take take action on them now. Uh so, I feel comfortable soliciting a motion to approve this intergovernmental agreement. Um so, I'll ask now, is there anyone I'll make a motion. So moved. Second. Zanto. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right. Seeing no discussion. Uh all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. The ayes have it. We'll move on to the next item on the agenda. We are buzzing through. Uh okay. 12.04. Consideration to approve the 6th to 8th and 9th to 12th pace framework. Um recommended action to approve the 6th through 8th and 9th through 12th pace
052framework as presented. Um again, my understanding, this is something that would uh that likely doesn't need to go to old business or referral and should be approved now so we can handle these uh this implementation quickly. So, I I support uh approving uh or soliciting a motion to approve the 6th through 8th, 9th through 12th pace framework as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? The only thing I'll add, and I I failed to mention this during the LTC um committee report, is that this was a topic that was discussed at the committee the whole with the LTC and the BC uh BSC committees uh 2 weeks ago. And so, though this is the first time it's showing up here at a full committee meeting, it has been discussed
053um at the committee level, which also included the full board. I really like too the memo that I mean, this memo really nicely details. So, if anybody um you know, didn't want to parse through those minutes from that past meeting, like you could really get a a clear idea of what exactly is going on with this pace framework. And as I understand it, this is something that is Is it required by the state? Is that right? So, there really is not an element of choice here uh other than our um blind agreement to do what the state tells us to do. So. Um that said, uh any other discussion? I wouldn't say blind agreement. Yeah. And we're doing a lot of these things, right? The middle school had a career day 2 weeks ago. It
054was really successful. Lot Lots of things that are in action today and maybe a few additional. Excellent. Yeah, right. And I'm sorry I missed the discussion because I remember for some reason it was a I don't know what it was, but I came in really late at the last meeting. And unfortunately, I couldn't get there. And uh so, I must have missed the discussion on this, but I enjoyed the the memo here and it it lays it out really well like Michael said. So. Yeah. And I would just add that pace is for post-secondary and career expectations. And while it is something required by the state, we're able to put our own spin and emphasis on it, which is what we've done um because I think it's clear that as a district, we value post-secondary
055and career readiness especially. And I think it's just nice to have this, you know, kind of guiding framework. So, I think it's important and worthwhile. It's beautiful. It's tearing up. All right. So, uh any other discussion? Nope. Kelly, uh or actually, you don't even need a roll call. So, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. We have adopted this framework. 12.05. Bus hazards discussion. So, no action here. Lot of bus hazards uh to review. Um questions, discussion. These weren't all the bus stops that we did. These These are just a small portion of them. And it's just the ones that qualified for the hazards. Like they were down in the hazard study, right? That's it. Lacy Lance, I was going to Yeah. Got it. questions. Uh yeah. So, we're um going
056through them. It takes a lot of time and effort um to make sure they're done correctly with all the documentation. So, we're just moving through the ones that are listed as hazards that we can then send to the state to get reimbursement. So, these are all ready listed. This will just get us the reimbursement attached to that. Great. It sounds like we'll get that on these ones. Thank you. Yeah. No, they were good. Yep. Thank you. Were there any that were short two points? Like were any of these Sorry, Lacy. I didn't mean to Uh there were a couple of them that were short some points that memos were attached to. Um Woodgate specifically um for our high school population. So, Woodgate high school population because of the grade level, they were short points. Since
057we did the two points judgment because they had to cross Keith Road. So. Okay. Yeah. And that was the only one that was within two points either way. Uh that one and then Bryer um I believe over off of Brickville. So, the Bryer subdivision, Bryer Drive over by North Elementary, they have to walk along a roadway onto Brickville and then to North. There's a bridge there. The students don't have any sidewalks there, so we put judgment points attached to that um because of the cut-through traffic on Peace Road, the fact that there are no sidewalks for that extension, and because there's a bridge. So, if there's two cars on the bridge past our students, we thought that that warranted a judgment points as well. [snorts] So, there's a memo attached to that as well. Great.
058Thanks. Yep. Anything else on item 12.05? Well, we're back to item 12.06, and you already got my update. So, unless there's any other questions on this, we're going to go back to the consent agenda item that was pulled, which was the district and building leadership administrator annual contracts. That does require um approval. Uh however, it was requested that we enter executive session for discussion based on some uh litigation or uh I'm like this No, not litigation. Yeah, legal information, not litigation. Apologies. So, uh at this time, uh related to item Where is it? Now, 12.07, district and building leadership administrator annual contracts. Is there any motion from the board at this time? I move to adjourn to closed session pursuant to 5 ILCS 122 C1. Is there a Just because it's a personnel matter and
059Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion. Kelly, would you call the roll? I'm sorry. Copple? Yes. Evans? Yes. Grodos? Yes. Gregory? No. Russell? Yes. Zanto? Yes. Woodgate? Yes. Motion carried. All right. Can we go close to a minute? Can you say for that part of it? Yes, we did. Yeah. We did. So, Mhm. Never mind. Yeah, Phil, that's cute. Yeah. Actually, yeah, I guess we will. Right. Yeah, no, let's let's do that. Um Hey, we're back in open session. Uh Kelly, would you call the roll? One moment, please. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Okay. Michael DeVito? Here. Christian Kappel? Here. Beth Marie Evans? Here. Alex Gredos? Here. Paul Regnery? Here. Nathaniel Russell Jr.? Here. Alan Dan Two? Present. I am present. Is there [snorts] a motion to approve uh board member remote attendance based
060on personal illness? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? No discussion. Kelly, would you call the roll? One moment, please. Sorry. Go ahead. Gredos? I'm sorry. Regnery? Yes. Russell? Yes. Dan Two? Yes. Kappel? Yes. Evans? Yes. DeVito? Yes. Motion carried. Okay. Uh item 12.07 was 6.15. Um approval of What is it? District and building leadership administrative annual contracts. Is there a motion to approve district and building leadership administrator annual contracts fiscal year 2027? So moved. Gredos. Second. Regnery. Any discussion? Kelly, would you call the roll? Regnery? I. Russell? Yes. Dan Two? Yes. Kappel? Yes. Evans? Yes. Gredos? Yes. DeVito? Yes. Motion carried. All right. Is there a motion to go back into executive session for any particular exemption? I move to reconvene in closed session for I'm sorry. Nope. You Nobody interrupted
061you. You're good. Okay. Pursuant to 5 ILCS 120/2A-2. There's a motion. Uh is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Yes, I would like to contribute to the discussion. Um I just want to point out that we convened at 5:00 p.m. for an executive session with the public meeting anticipated to start at 6:00 p.m. We wanted to start the meeting at 6:00 p.m. to respect everybody's time, especially because we had some people here for recognition. That discussion went long. We opted to come back. There was the interlude, which was related to a different item, which was uh 6.15, which became 12.07. This puts us back to extend the original discussion that we had been having, but opted to leave so that we could make our 6:00 p.m. commitment to you all. Any other
062discussion? Thank you, Cole. very succinct. All right. That's about it. All right. Kelly, would you call the roll? Russell? Yes. Dan Two? Yes. Kappel? No. Evans? Yes. Gredos? Yes. Regnery? Yes. DeVito? Yes. Motion carried. Should we go to your meeting? I'm good. Thank you. I appreciate it. Mhm.