Board of Education Meeting Part 2 Regular Meeting: May 27, 2025.

001I get that meeting to order. Um, reorder, I should say. Uh, we were on recess. We're back from our recess. Um, and I'll go to our opening remotes because we did our student and staff recognition to 101. So, 1.04. Uh, good evening. As a reminder, should we hear? Oh, yeah. You're right. We did do a roll call. Thank you. Appreciate that, Cole. So, uh, yeah, for the minutes, let it be reflected since we came out of recess, uh, that Alan and Christian are here. Cool. All right. Uh, so good evening. As a reminder, our board governs by policy, which is aligned with state statute. It's essential that our practices reflect on policies, ensuring transparency, accountability, and effective governance. Only in a duly convened public meeting with a court present can the board govern as a

002whole, or our practices and policies do not meet the current needs of the district. It's our responsibility to amend those policies where we believe allowable to better serve our community and align with our strategic plan. Our mission is to empower all learners to succeed in the 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. So, um we went we had a little unconventional meeting set up this time because we did a uh um a recess. So, jump us right back into item 2.4. 01 there. You'll notice there is a recognition spotlight designated on this agenda. This is just trying to be a little creative here, dialing in some

003of the comments. Um Alan, I'm put you on the spot real quick for just a brief update. So, we just had a nice recognition ceremony where we recognized over 20 students from there five different organizations within the school district. Girls track, middle school, bowling, um youth in government, the high school art department and I put there and so we were recognizing those students for this year and then the plan is now that we completed that um and got to celebrate all those students that will come up with a different recognition process moving forward um starting for next year. Great. And um just to uh I guess kind of dialogue a little bit about the recognition piece. Yes. Alan, is there When do you think what do you think would be a good next step for

004people interested? Should we should we designate time on another board agenda just for dialogue? We should. Um, let's see. Because I know you have to do it before the June meeting or we could set up a separate meeting. I almost I almost feel like doing it before the June meeting is just like maybe a 30 minute or an hour intensive might be a time already blocked off that seems to be working and then if we just make it a like I know I can be there and I can make that and I think right now our ad hoc is ad hoc of one. So anyone else interested yeah it'll be open so it'll be yeah agenda maybe we can just 45 minutes or so kind of put our heads together on a recommendation and we'll

005leave a little spot on the June agenda so we can act on it more quickly. Okay, that work you think? Yeah, let's see what we can put together. But I think that seems cool. Anything else on ad hoc update on student staff recognition? I'll make one other comment uh that we do have staff recognition at six o'clock on Thursday at Blooming Gardens. So, if you guys have uh you know time and can be there, that would be that'd be great. All right. So, the next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Um I'm going to solicit a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Uh items 3.01 uh through 310 is what the motion will be. Is there a second? seconded. Uh just to add to the discussion piece and hopefully for sake

006of making easier motions, um the items on consent are minutes of the regular meeting, minutes of the organizational meeting, minutes of executive session, minutes of the special meeting, minutes of the executive session for May 19th, minutes of the special meeting, uh bills payable, financial reports, personnel report, and disposal of equipment. Uh so we have a motion in a second to approve all of these items on consent. Is there any other discussion? Thank you. Um, take a roll call vote. Kelly, would you call the role? Renary, yes. Tomlinson, yes. Zant, yes. Yes. Evans, yes. Yes. Yes. Motion carried. Great. Uh, next item on the agenda is the NIA consent agenda. Um, recommended action to approve the NIA consent agenda as presented. I'll solicit a motion to approve the NIA consent agenda items 4.01 through 4.04 on

007the publicly available agenda. Is there a second? So move by your motion. Yep. I'm soliciting the motion. You can make the motion. So second for the discussion portion of this. I'll just state the NIA treasures report, NIA bills payable, NIA personnel report, NIA contract vendor agreement are what are proposing the consent. Any discussion beyond that? Seeing no discussion, Kelly, would you call the role? Tomlinson, yes. Santu, yes. Topple, yes. Evans, yes. Yes. Gregory, yes. Yes. Motion carries. All right. Audience to visitors. So, at this time, if you wish to address the board this evening, please raise your hand. When called upon, kindly state your name and address, limit your comments to three minutes. Please refrain from mentioning specific names during your remarks. In accordance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, the board cannot engage in

008deliberative discussions or take immediate action on items not listed on the agenda. However, we want to assure you that your comments are important to us and will be taken into consideration. Thank you for your understanding. Is there anyone right now in the audience who'd like to address the board? All right, come on up. If you'd state your name and address, that'd be great. You want us to stand? You you'd stand wherever you're most comfortable, but if you could in this little area here, that'd be great. So we could get a good line of sight. Oh, you got it. And then your uh name and address. Sarah Rox. Great. Thank you, Sarah. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Sarah Rexford and I'm a parent in the South Perry Elementary community. I'm here on

009behalf of my family and many concerned families to respectfully urge you to reconsider the decision and eliminate bus service to our neighborhood in the upcoming school year or abs meadows. The change doesn't just create inconvenience and conserve children unnecessary risk. The proposed walking path takes students some as young as five through industrial zones and along streets like park and board. Although I understand many young children do currently walk to school, our neighborhood is a unique case since we are boarded by both active factories and sucking. These factories have ongoing truck deliveries throughout the day. As you know, truck schedules have pretty good factors of getting to stops on time. Traffic drop offs, load sizes, and driver schedules dictate the time a truck will or will not be at a location. On top of that, semi

010trucks generally do not come equipped with a backup cameras. There's no way anyone can guarantee that there will not be one or more trucks maneuvering on car park while our while while our children are walking to or from school. It also seems unreasonable for us to expect children as young as five to have the mental maturity and experience to be able to maneuver through or pass a truck that may or may be leaving going through um loading docks. This route was evaluated on one day from 8 to 9, then team safe. On top of this, crossing Gordon Parks Avenue seems to be a very dangerous zone for both kids and adults alike. I myself had close calls with a distracted or rush driver and did not or could not see me. Now there has been

011a child struck at this intersection only a couple weeks ago from our neighborhood and I wonder why we are still having this conversation. Our neighborhood that has been previously filled with retired older children have been quickly turning over. Just in the last year, three families have moved and all with multiple school age children. Removing this bus stop will increase the amount of bike and foot traffic, which increases the chance of an accident, but also increases vehicle traffic along park and board and a pickup circle in front of South Perry. Lastly, working families rely on this bus route. Work hours hours rarely mimic school hours and with Oscar fees increasing and late start on Thursday, it is harder for working families to navigate and consider the disaster a necessity without a convenience. We have created a

012petition to make people in our community aware of this route. Removal or the the amount of people have signed this petition right now as of tonight is 234 and that is in our neighborhood and throughout Sycamore who all agree that this is an unsafe decision. Here are some options to make our children's walk to school safer but not not safe. So one option would be so this is where our neighborhood is. This is Park Street. One option would be if we could talk to Ideal Factory if they agree to on their make the connection from Georgian Court all the way to the walk around here um of the connected path. We also need to have a bus person walking right here to make sure that they can cross safely. Another one is to have a

013crossing guard in front of both Drive Lock and um Park Street along with Bordon right here which I believe is very safe. Another option is to add our bus route to another route if possible. Lastly, just continue our bus route. The transportation department has set the standard for safe transportation to and from school. We are not asking anything to add anything, just asking for it not to be taken away. Let's be proactive and not reactive for our children. If we're not doing everything we can to protect our children, then what are we doing? Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Is there anyone else uh from the audience who'd like to address the board at this time? I can. Sorry for my arrival. Uh we had some dance pictures today, so we came straight from there.

014I'm Sarah Tull. I also live in the Sabak Meadows subdivision. I live on Lyn Avenue. Uh that's actually where Park Avenue, if you're heading south, it dead ends there. Uh so we're kind of on the far end of the subdivision. We actually moved to that that house when I was in high school. So we've lived there for a very long time and always have had bus service. Um, I know that state laws have changed, distance is a little bit different than it was back then, but there still are some concerns that we have in that neighborhood for the kids. Um, one of the big things obviously is having that much industry over there. Um, there is a lot of open parking lots where a lot of people can sit in their vehicles, unattended vehicles. Nobody's

015watching. There's no cameras. So, um, I did have an incident myself actually as a runner. I run that route all the time. Had somebody sitting in her vehicle. A gentleman harassed me. Um, no camera is an ideal. I called the police. They couldn't do anything about it. So, that's obviously a concern for me with my daughter walking that way, having no houses with ring cameras or anything around. I know those are newer technology, but you know, it still is a little bit of a safety concern not having any of that available. Um, other thing is the Bordon and uh Park Avenue intersection. That is a pretty busy intersection with the industry around there, especially during the day. People are leaving work around the time that they're coming home because they start earlier shifts. So, I

016take a walk with Sarah over here 6:00 in the morning. It's not too bad, but people are coming to work. Then they're leaving around 3:00 cuz that shift is over. So, it does cause a little bit busier intersection right there. And I've myself watched people run that stop sign quite frequently. So, that's a huge concern for me. And I know it's up to the police department to put a crossing guard there. Um, but that would definitely be something that would have to be put in place if you were to choose not to keep the bus route there. So that's that's my thoughts. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who'd like to address the board at this time? All right. So Michael Rexford 1810 court. Um, my name is Michael Rexford. I'm

017a parent of two soon to be South Prairie Elementary students. I'm here today to respectfully urge you to reconsider the decision to eliminate bus services for our children. Current walking and biking routes are not safe. These routes take kids through industrial areas and across major roads like park and board and where they have already been a child involved incident. Sidewalks are inconsistent, poorly lit, or in some cases don't exist at all. These are not conditions we would ever consider acceptable for kindergartens. Expected for them to navigate these routes daily in rain, snow, or darkness is simply unacceptable. And I have to ask, what is the plan if there's another incident involved? A child walking or biking to school as a result of this change. But safety isn't the only concern. For many working families, the

018school bus isn't a convenience. It's essential. Not all parents can adjust their work hours. Not all families have a second car. And not everyone can afford before or after school care. Taking away the bus doesn't just increase risk. It limits access to education, especially for those already struggling to make things work. Just as troubling as how this decision was made, families weren't given a reason. There was no in public input, no community forum, and to my knowledge, no invitation for feedback for a change. this significant one that affects children's safety and families trust. Parents deserve a seat at the table. Ultimately, this is about the message we send our kids. We teach them that school's safe, that adults are looking out for them, that they matter. So, what message are we sending when we take

019away a service that protects them without warning and without a plan? If this decision stands, then we must seriously invest in a long-term safety. more sidewalks, clearer signage at dangerous intersections, train crossing guards during peak hours, and even video surveillance to monitor high-risk areas. These improvements would benefit all students, whether they walk, bike, or ride. Please, let's find a better way, reinstate the bus service, or work with us to build a safer alternative. Our kids deserve nothing less. Thank you. time. Would anyone else like to address the board at this time? All right, seeing no one further, uh we'll move on to the next item on the agenda. Thank you to everyone who addressed the board. We appreciate it. I know it takes a lot of courage to speak uh on these issues and it

020does not go unnoticed. So, we're grateful for your attendance. Um, all right. So, uh, the next item on the agenda is the superintendence reports. Yeah. Um, if I have the floor, Mr. President, in light of the parents who spoke tonight, the show we value their time and have heard them, I would move to suspend the rules and take up agenda item 9.01, bus route changes at this time. There's a motion on the floor. Is there a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on rearranging the agenda so that way we can put new business item 9.01, No one bus wrap changes ahead of uh the remaining items on the agenda. Seeing no discussion, all in favor? Any opposed? Okay. So then the next item on the agenda uh newly amended agenda is the

021bus route changes. Uh so uh Mr. Wilder and Mrs. glance. Uh you guys are slated to share some information, answer some questions about the recent busing changes announced in the neighborhood near apartment board. I know there was a memo that was issued as well. Um this time is anyone able to address the board? Looks like Lacy's coming up. Hi. L I'll just kind of start by saying um thank you for speaking tonight. Um, one of the things I've been pretty involved in my 15 years is the superintendent's transportation. And um, these decisions, there's a there's a pretty clear-cut formula from the state that we have to follow. Um, that's changed a little bit in the years that I've been a superintendent. Um, Mrs. Lance, I know, is well versed in. We've had multiple conversations about

022your concerns. Um, but it's a it's a fairly complex calculation. The board members have sent it in the memo. Um but we're we're glad to answer questions. Ultimately, the decision as to whether or not um busing can be provided in in reimbursement from the state claim is the state's decision. Uh it's not it's not our decision. It's not the board's decision. Ultimately, I do's decision. So, um to reinstate um could um could mean, and this is at the end of the memo, providing transportation in the fee service. Um that's one of the the the possible outcomes just something that the board would need to weigh. Um and then the impact kind of throughout the community if if that decision is made in other areas where there are similar circumstances but busing's not um allowed by

023either. So um any specific questions to start with for us? Yeah. So just I want to clarify my understanding of the memo first if that's all right. Um so we have not submitted that form yet. Right. We have not yet. Okay. And then as your calculations stand, it has 18 points and it would need 20 points in order to get us reimbursement from the state. That's not that's not correct. The district has a designation of 20 points to for us to consider it a hazard. The I do would have to agree with that. So if we send it to them, they look at the mapping and the area, the traffic flow, pretty much the data we provided, and they don't agree with us, that's their right. They wouldn't mark it as a reimburseable hazard. We

024as a district could cover that as a hazard, but we it would be at our at our own cost, right? Yeah. So they don't have to agree with us, right? But right now, we would be submitting it at 18 points and we would need to submit at 20 points for it to be for them to Yes. Consider it to be a reimburseable, right? Second question is there a reason judgment points were omitted from the memo? Judgment points from remaining two points board's judgment the judgment points as referenced in 556 administrative policy from the state B2 judgment points. A school district may add one or two points for judgment factors peculiar to the hazards due to vehicular traffic in a specific situation. These additions must be accompanied by adequate information to justify the special circumstances being

025considered. Absolutely. So we didn't include those because uh and Miss Lance can speak to this also. She had a conversation with representative from IDOT who ultimately needs to approve those judgment points as well as as you read there there needs to be a rationale for that. Um so we considered that but after a conversation with a representative at at ID do um not seeing any rationale for that we we didn't include them. We were also estimated um I if I remember correctly Mr. lands on a on a couple of other um calculations. So, we knew it was close, but we also had a conversation with ID do and then discussed the route and didn't feel like um based on ID do representatives response that that she would approve those judgment points. Um, in 556170 procedures,

026it says that a a determination will not be disapproved because judgment points were not justified unless the school board gives no reason for the judgment points or unless the reason given is completely implausible or obviously not related to vehicular traffic and we've got a child that was struck. So, that to me doesn't seem completely implausible or not related. At other spots, it says that if you think that judgment points should be added, you should add them whether or not you think it'll get you over a threshold. So I just felt like it was could have been in the memo so that we knew about another tool that we could attempt. Sure. And we that was part of the conversation. I didn't include it in the memo because that conversation had already taken place and we

027didn't feel like based on the conversation that I do would approve that. That particular incident was brought up to IDOT as well because it was considered isolated through their standards. Um she did not say that that would constitute any additional points from their perspective. um if we did give it points with that as their our backing if you will um they would review that and potentially say that it was an isolated event. I did bring that up when I was communicating with them though and going through the secretary together. Who can um citizens contact at I do? Uh her name is Martha. We can get that information for you. That would be good. I think everyone should be contacting them every day. Yeah. So they they factor in, you know, distance from the roadway, traffic.

028They don't factor in at least on the space. It doesn't look like they factor in any of the bodies of water area. I mean, those are known hazards. I mean, get insurance on your house, you have a pool, that's a hazard. So, but ID do doesn't consider a body of water to be a hazard. That's interesting. So, yeah, for 5-year-olds, just some clarification, too. I do classifying it as a hazardous route matters for purpose of reimbursement, right, to the district. Otherwise, do we have an idea of what the cost is to the district without the reimbursement? Um, I don't off the top of my head. We haven't done a pay to ride in in quite a while. Um, we have other locations that are kind of um could be considered, you know, close to this

029threshold depending on, you know, the hazard studies that are considered walkers right now. they live too close to school. So, um, when this route was brought up, it was to be consistent with those standards throughout the district. What And I guess that kind of stems into my next question, too. What prompted this route to be scrutinized? Because I know it is within the one and a half mile range, and I know that it was previously classified as a road. It's um closer than the 1.5. So, that was one of the things. Um, and we started to see the route get smaller um ridership wise as um we I guess been in this role. So, um, previously when it was a one point, um, everybody got busing it, you know, one mile or further. Um, obviously

030there were more people utilizing it. When they changed that, this box route right now has about 35 kids routed. On average, only about 20 kids are using it. Um, and so we kind of looked at ridership and where we could potentially use that that route somewhere else to limit capacity or help with special ed needs or whatever the reasoning was. Um, and so that's kind of what prompted that us to look at that. Do you know what the reimburse is? Does I do reimburse 100% of the cost of the route or is it No. Is it just a portion? 50 a fraction? I I don't Yeah, I don't do that. About it's been as low as 71% of my time. It's been a little higher than that, but it's um Okay. So, a majority of

031the cost is reimbured by 2/3 or 3/4s. Yeah. 3/4. Okay. But it it does fluctuate year to year. So we can render them state funding. Gota what's the downside to the board using the two discretionary points that it has or judgment points to deem it a hazardous route. I mean Steph and I was talking about this um right now we're utilizing a bus for that space. So um it's not necessarily that we can't um but their area is um closer than the 1.5. the standards are are you know the what we use for this hazard study is what we used you know for other locations. Um if we were to continue utilizing bus service for this group um we would have to potentially open that up for other areas and we don't have the resources

032or the staff to do that. Um so this kind of creates some consistency. This is really the only neighborhood in the district that is transportation that lives closer than one that 1.5 that is not an appropriate appropriate hazard for these standards. Um there's other locations in the district that have walkers that walk further um across other paths that someone might deem as as dangerous. This isn't the only group. So, um, in an effort to remain consistent with what we were, like Southeast, for example, is a almost strictly walking district and they walk from all areas. Um, West School, for example, they're a neighborhood school that walks um, North Crosswalks across 64 with the crossing guard. So, there's other areas within the district that are walking significantly, what would be considered significantly far for a 5-year-old,

033but are still within that 1.5. So just to be consistent and to offer the same requirements that's another reason why this is brought up. Yeah. Um what would it take for the police to provide a crossing guard then? Yeah. So they do their own study related to that. Um they look at vehicular traffic as well. Um you know incidents in the area that kind of stuff. So um that was something that we were um communicating or going to communicate about um you know once the school year started. They do their own thing um with that study. So they would come out and do probably a similar study and see if their numbers and their data supported a cost and target as well. They hired those out. So yeah, that was definitely on the agenda to

034um touch base with them about their process also. Okay. Thank you. So there was some mention about um cameras at Ideal um safe alternatives um such as things like flashing signs, school zone warnings. Um, what would that look like for the board to talk to Ideal to talk about maybe that route behind Ideal that goes through there? Um, or maybe some cameras. What do we How do we approach that situation? I mean, I think because you're looking Yeah. I mean, I know the employer. I work there. But what I would say is that that's private property. So, that's a whole different issue that would have to be addressed. I'm not sure that's the right solution. It's a solution. Um, I mean, it could be a conversation, but that's probably not the first line of defense

035that we want to look at. I think working with the city on signage would be appropriate, too. You know, we haven't had all of these conversations yet because it's technically hasn't been solidified as as a choice. Um, you know, but working with the PD, um, communicating with the city about signage. Um, you know, another consistency piece that we have to talk about is all of these other students in the district that are walking currently don't have any of these resources. So, it would, you know, be something to think about too if we offered these resources for this one area, but weren't prepared to offer it for all the other walkers in the district. So, I think generally just being consistent with the messaging across the board with what the 1.5 mileage is and what that

036looks like. Um obviously education within the schools is important. Um you know having conversations I know our SRO have always gone into the schools and had conversations about safe walking and stranger danger and you know that kind of stuff. We had talked about um getting with the high school maybe some of the clubs that need service hours having some walking buddies that helped the students with the those paths at the beginning of the year. So there were definitely conversations had related to kind of easing into this transition. um we just haven't made it that far yet because we're still kind of in this conversation about this. Are there any other areas where students walk through industrial zoned um parcels to get to school? I guess that's what seems a little different here is that this

037is so industrial. So like Ozinga for example, we have walkers that walk by Ozinga where um you know or the city the city of Sycamore down by Cornerstone Christian um there's some um different size vehicles that go down there. cement trucks go down um the North Cross area. Those those kids are all walkers. Um you know, we have some students walking from State Street and to Southeast. You know, there's different traffic avenues there. Um a lot of our students walk within um Preston Pond, so if there's any construction with the new builds coming, you know, they're crossing, you know, that construction traffic. Um so I think that there's a lot of different, you know, traffic options that happen throughout the community. Um so I don't industrial wise I don't know that there's a pool of

038factories. Um ideal on the corner is where we have done the hazard study previously. Um that parking lot isn't operational currently. We very rarely I don't that I we very rarely see the cars in in that corner. I don't know if they're utilizing it anymore. The loading dock on that side of of Bordon um does not have a sidewalk. So that would not be a path that the students would cross on that side. Um, upstaging has um where their trucks come in, it's gated, so they have to stop and and buzz into the gates. Um, and Drive Lock the I think they have four loading bays. A couple of those have um trash bins in front of them. So, during our hazard studies, the two hazard studies that we did, we did not see any

039of that um those bays being utilized at that time. Do you know when the board last eliminated a bus route? Um, I don't know, not in the time that I've been here. Um I know that it had been previously discussed um before my time. I don't know what transpired in that. Are there any other bus routes that you anticipate we should consider removing? Uh we are looking at a couple different areas. Um so those are still kind of being done obviously with school getting out. It's been a little bit challenging. There's only two of us in the office. So um timing is always kind of an issue. But um there are some other locations that um we had talked about um with that as well. And what was the you said removing this bus route

040would mean that we could put that route to serve other students or something to that? Correct. Yeah. So, um obviously registration hasn't been rolled over yet for the 25 26 school year. So, we're not sure how many students we're going to have. Um but our um special ed programs have been growing. Our ELLL programs have been growing. Um our early childhood programs have been growing. All of those are doortodoor services um that we have to provide. So, um, and they require, you know, a little different bus routing finess, if you will. So, being able to use a bus to kind of support those programs would be beneficial if we had it. Um, so that's those are other avenues that we've looked at and using this potentially. And the last question I have on this is

041from like a constraint standpoint, financial constraint and such. If let's play a worst case scenario and paid out reimburse the lowest amount which was 71% give or take that would mean the district's financial responsibility or or savings if you will reallocating resources to a different route would be what about 29% or so of whatever the actual true cost is for the bus from I guess just from like the transportation budget perspective is that is that a huge needle mover for that department's budget I know that that fund traditionally runs pretty I know that it is healthy that you guys do a great job managing uh the costs in that in that department. So I'm just wondering if there's maybe what the call to action is to save when we do have a surplus in that

042county. I can't speak to or fund. I don't see a surplus. You don't see Okay. So you I guess what I'm understanding is that the constraint is finances, right? There's a financial constraint. So having I guess a better line of sight to how great that financial constraint is helpful like to your point. I mean I don't have a numbered item necessarily um from my perspective, you know, if it's being underutilized in the way that it's, you know, being utilized now. um moving that to a different route, possibly a special ed route, something of that nature. Um we could already use a driver that we have and a route that we have. We would have to hire additional staff to support those needs that are required. You know, our special ed routes are required. Um that

043door-to-d dooror service is required. So, if we if we keep this, then we would potentially have to hire another staff member and utilize another vehicle to support those needs. Um, one of the things too that's I guess important is that um, again, if we keep this bus route specifically for this group, the likelihood that this conversation opens up with other district families is going to be pretty high. Um, and if that happens, then are we prepared to support them in the same way? The reimbursement part's the hanging point for me because what I'm I guess I'm what I'm trying to understand is are there other routes that are being offered by the district that are within one and a half miles that aren't getting reimbursed by ID do or is this or are they all

044all the ones that are Yeah. So um prior to me um we have identified multiple hazards in the district safety hazards that fall within this range that were not submitted to I do for reimbursement. So that is one of the projects that I have started since coming here is to appropriately do the hazard studies for all the locations to try to get that reimbursement back. So um that is um that's where we're starting. So um none of them are being reimbursed to my knowledge right now um through the hazard program. Um my predecessors did not submit that. So I am going to be doing that. How many routes are there that are within the one and a half miles that aren't being submitted for reimbursement? Do you know about um it's it varies with age

045too. Um yeah. Okay. Yeah, I could get you that. But that I mean that seems like a really noble effort there because that just it is there a downside to doing that like because like now it almost seems like we've got ourselves in a bind because we've evaluated this route that we were getting reimbursed for. Right. This one. No, this one we have not been getting. None of them have ever been reimbursed. I see. So There are there are some for the lot routes going CLA and that are beyond one and a half miles that do get reimbured. Yes, there are some closer, but this one was not getting reimbured by ID because that was I was none of the ones that are 1.5 to the school. Less than 1.5 of the school have been

046reimbursed. They are allowed to be via the state program, but the people before me did not submit these hazard studies. These hazard studies have to be done through ID do and approved to get reimburseable money. So we have to sit and do this hazard study for every location deemed a hazard, submit that through IDOT to get that reimbursement. So that's what we're working on doing now. Bring that back. Would it be worthwhile to not eliminate any routes until we've done those studies on all of the routes first to be able to then take appropriate stock of what our financial picture looks like? Because if let's just say there are 10 routes and we get reimbured for three of them, we may not have to eliminate any routes and you wind up with a little extra

047money that you didn't have before. All of the um hazard routes, so keys in plank um anybody who lives in Woodgate, any of those that vehicular traffic will automatically qualify them just for volume alone. So they will all be reimbursed. Oh my gosh, this is Yeah. So, I mean, great for the district, but it's um yeah, it's more resources as well. If we keep this bus route for this group, which we are already supporting, we would potentially have to open up this level of of accommodation to other areas within the district. It doesn't Sorry. Go ahead, Chris. I Well, I hear that, but I guess I'm sort of confused by that point because the board it's the judgment points of the board would need to and I, you know, to Mr. point. What is the

048plan if there's another incident? Like if there's another incident and it's looked back and the board didn't use its judgment to say, "Oh yeah, let's use our judgment points here. This is a pretty special case. A child is struck at the at the park and board intersection." That to me is completely justifiable and in fact may be prudent because if there were another incident and we didn't exercise our board judgment, then why have the judgment points to begin with? So, while I hear you that it could be a fairness issue across the board, I would say that this does seem to have pretty unique aspects to it. And I I'll add something to um yes, a child was hit at that intersection this year. Same thing happened last year. This is the second time it's

049happened at that intersection. I think where I'm personally kind of struggling is I want to go back to the judging points because I think there's something there maybe not for every route but we have kind of a precedent here that there's been a bus since I was a kid now and they went to Southeast but there's been a bus route there forever. There's an opportunity to potentially um request the judgment points under consideration and I think there's a few things that we we may want to think about. one, you're right, those parking lots are currently empty, but I can tell you that they won't be relatively soon. So, that is changing information. So, I can help you with the judgment points on that side if that's beneficial. I think the uh the map that was

050provided with some some of those danger points. Um I think you had Gordon marked that doesn't have a stop sign. Not Gordon, excuse me. Um Becker that comes into park. There's no stop sign there. So, there isn't even a yield sign. So we're a teen or six, you roll through. Everybody does and there's no sign to do other that would be its own hazard study down there. We'd have to do a whole another. Yeah. So I'm just saying vehicular traffic there too. So we're maybe overestimated. So like some of these numbers that we did. So we use the annual um flow of traffic number that I do has. Um so we brought that up to her when I was on the phone with her. the traffic flow in that area was so low that um

051sometimes ID do won't even look at the area if the traffic flow isn't high enough for an actual hazard. Yep. So that's another one of the issues. Another thing too is is what's important when we do the hazard studies is that we have to do them during route times. So we can only validate the hazard during what would be the time a student has to get to and from school. about if you're seeing kind of an influx of traffic in the noon hour or you know um that I think when you have 20 to 35 students let's say there was 20 to 35 families you've got an extra 40 to 70 cars at that intersection maximum because they could be going there and coming home. Yeah, that was our number. Did that take into account

052put into the numbers because we did ours numbers were lower than the the average that we did through ID do. Um, so I think I had 275 cars that passed through there in an hour. Um, when Nicole and I did it, a lot of those cars were the parents taking their kids to school and taking them home from school. Um, and when the parking lot fills back up, is there not reason to try for the judgment points? I guess I don't understand why we wouldn't try. I guess from what Cole read, it sounded like you're encouraged to apply for I didn't apply for them because I am not the board. So, if the board wanted to do that with a justification, it would be submitted with that form and it would be looked at through

053ID do. Um, obviously it's their discretion. Um, they have the same annual traffic map that we have that shows the flows of traffic. Um, they have a person that will sometimes come out depending on if they think it's a hazard or not, that might do their own study through them. I mean, that's all pretty specific to their process. Sure. Do you know the last time it was graded or it was for was it ever done for a head of study in the past? Um I did one last year also but I don't know when the blast was done previous to me. Okay. Yeah. Okay. There was an attempt to I think remove this route previously but I don't have all the data related to that. When those uh reimbursements are submitted to ID do have

054we've never submitted a reimbursement request to do before. This would be the first one right you're saying. Yeah. But like in general for any not I have not. Okay. We we submit a reimbursement claim every year to to uh to the state for re for the the reimbursement for routes that that qualify. Um a hazard study for this particular one. I don't know when it's been done prior to now. Um so I just want to make sure that that's there. We submit trans uh transportation reimbursement claim every year. Yeah. For the routes that are within one and a half miles that we're not getting reimbursed for. All of those are the ones that you're currently auditing to see if we can potentially get reimbursed additional funds from that's new. That's new. We haven't done that

055before. Gotcha. Okay. Which is a noble one at that. I will say that is I commend you for doing that. It's really being prudent with everybody's dollars. So, thank you. Thank you. As much back as possible. Does the the board need to sign off on that like when we submit those items? So, you'll get one similar to what was in what you already received. Okay. Yeah. So, um it would be the same for those locations also. And sorry, go ahead. I just wanted to add also um I think this route is helpful in alleviating another concern that I've been told about is pick up at South Perry specifically is quite chaotic at at times. Uh long lines, long waitings. I've heard numerous parents complain. Um so that's just another angle to look at this. True.

056I understand. We did transportation changes related to the parking lot mid year um that have helped significantly. So I think starting the year um doing that same thing I think will help with um and like I said a lot of like like it was mentioned in the audience too. Um you know a lot of um a lot of the kids on this route were already utilizing the walking and and the and biking. you know, um the isolated event was a lot for people and I totally respect that. Um we just want to make sure that we're, you know, being consistent where we can. Obviously, if you guys decide to do something different, then that is your choice. Um but I hear everyone. I hear everyone. If another child was struck last year, why is this

057being treated as an isolated event? I did not care about the child that was struck last year, so I don't have any data. did something that I think might be worth you know just to your point about like what is something that we can do that's predictable as it relates to bus routes because it sounds like the board at least in my tenure hasn't been involved in bus route changes it sounds like Lacy uh we haven't done any attrition of bus routes since you've been here is that right this is the first kind of I mean we've made changes you know we've it depends on who rides each year we make changes to routes frequently um This one was more supported by numbers. So, you know, we look at the numbers, too. We've condensed where

058we could. Um, we've redistributed where we we could. This is the only one that um is closer than that 1.5 that is getting something that the other areas were not getting and so it prompted us to just give it a second look. Okay. Is it do you see an advantage to completing the audit on all the routes within 1.5 miles for reimbursement, seeing how that sizzles out to be able to get a better kind of line of sight on the resources? I don't know that that would make a difference for the for me. Um the buses that are 1.5 that are getting transportation now are all that piece in plank. Those pretty significant areas where I I will likely have to offer transportation there regardless and I already am. So I don't know that that

059process will change from a resource standpoint. I don't always see the dollars as they relate in that way. So I can't necessarily speak to what that would look like because and again not to beat the same drum here. Yeah. The main the driving factor here is is the resource constraint, right? The idea that we could save some consistency of resources. I think it's a multi-level. Okay. The other piece to consistency is we we'll get calls from time to time my son or daughter's you know 1.3 miles right um can be transported on the bus well if we follow the guidelines you know that ID do has the answer is no right unless there's a serious safety hazard so the consistency piece is I think important too just so that we're fair to everybody across the

060district and when we get those concerns we're able to say here's the cut off there's got to be a cut off um here's here's what it is here's the the conr that we have. Um we don't get a ton of those every year, but but they come, right? People wanting uh transportation that that don't qualify. And so I think that the consistency in being able to say here's here's the criteria, you know, and holding that line unless at some point again the board wants to consider pay for service. Um we can certainly look into that. You know, some of the potential challenges of the memo, having to find more drivers, more buses, drivers are hard to find already. um trying to get to your question earlier, what's that fee look like? Trying to calculate what

061that fee looks like, but not being able to do that until we know who's who would be interested in that, you know, kind of across the community just so we're consistent from a consistency standpoint. I like because I I agree. I think being consistent really important. Sends a good message when you have those calls. the the bridge for me is if we if we're going to have this conversation now and then you're going to go through this audit and there's going to be five more routes that we discover and we have to have this conversation five more times have five more petitions five it almost feels like a better choice might be to do the entire you know audit all the routes aggregate our findings and then in one fell swoop with some solicitation of

062the community maybe there's some you know dialogue go okay this is what the new routes will look like all at once and then we set up to your point about being predictable. This is what you know makes the cut. This is what doesn't. Do you think there's an advantage to do taking that? I don't have any other areas outside of maybe one other that would fall within the 1.5 that is potentially utilizing busers that should not. Okay. So, there's really only two. There's really two. There were there was a third that we've already looked at that did not qualify for this. Um I'm working on the paperwork for that just so you have it, but it did not meet this. Yeah. So, okay. So, in total there's maybe three. The rest of them that are

063within that 1.5 are all significant roadways that the students would not be able to safely cross. But we may get reimbursement on those once your audit's complete that we're not already getting right now. And the number on those is maybe 10 15 potentially that we could be getting up to minimally 70%. So we have some high school middle school routes as well that would fall into that. So it's elementary and high school middle school that we want to look at. So because even if you get half of 10 at 70% reimbursement, that's like three paid for routes that we're not getting right now. which is where it's like from again looking at like the big picture you go oh man resource allocation seems like everybody can have what they want and we can set really

064consistent you know process going forward because I I love what you're doing on that that's really amazing like what a good find you had something did oh you go just real quick so um it sounds like it's more about money than safety I mean that's what it's starting to sound like but what I would like to know is that's why like the information from the person from ID do how many of these other um you know intersections that we want to be consistent with had a child stop struck by a car twice well and I think that's important too and that that conversation I had specifically with ID do when this happened um you know the details of the accident there's there you know the way I understood it the student and the vehicle were

065both stopped at the stop sign and it was just a an issue of not being able to see the student it wasn't a blowing through the stop sign, something significant like that. I brought up that scenario to IDOT as a concern as well. Um, and she was very empathetic to that specific scenario. Um, still looked at it as an isolated event and didn't change the structure of this. I don't know what their process is outside of kind of this number based system. Do they understand about the trucks that are going big and they can't see around? Yeah, we talked about that as well. Um, I think she's she's great, too, because what she told me was have the parents call. I will tell them the same information I'm telling you. So, she seemed very consistent.

066She's very similar where she has a line that she has to draw through ID do where there's a standard that she has to meet. And unfortunately, she's kind of like us. We would love to provide as many resources for people as we can. Um, we know there has to be a limit. And so they've created this hazard study to be able to identify what that limit is for their support as far as you know the reimbursements go. Um you know district obviously has a discretion if they want to offer it at their own cost. Um I I think we might run into um different safety scenarios that other people feel are important and I don't know how we would meet all of those. So just finding a consistent way to be able to address all

067of those. what I may be comfortable with my own children doing as walkers because we live in that area as well. They're considered walkers there. Um what type of education I provide them or what I'm comfortable with is going to vary a lot from other folks. Um and so how do we kind of meet the needs of everyone consistently through the district. So that's you know something to think about. So thank you. Thank you. Just my last question is can that uh person's information be made available through parent square so the parents can have the Yeah. number to call? Yeah. any of the parents who have called me in relation to this, I've shared that with them. Yeah. But we can Yeah, we can provide that. She says she speaks to parents daily, so she's

068used to having these conversations. Okay. Thank you. I guess where I'm at personally. Hang on. Sorry. I just want to keep the order. Oh, sorry. I didn't see that. Um, no. Yeah, I would like to echo Michael's. I do commend you for taking the initiative and getting a lot of these reimbursements. I think that's great on the safety hazard findings. And again, just back to the consistency, like the state in its wisdom has has not given the board the ability to just say, "Yep, that route's safe. That route's unsafe." It's a pretty consistent process, it seems to me. And if you're within two points, that's the corner case where judgment points could come into play. And so, like, I if it keeps coming up that these routes are right on the threshold of safe or

069not, then yeah, we're going to have to keep making judgment calls. But I can't imagine going to be a real big consistency issue because how often are these routes going to come up that they're within striking distance of the board actually even being able to affect any change on them. So that's another maybe pro to Michael's thought of doing all the audits before, but it just so happens that this audit came out at 18 points and 20 would be um unsafe. And then we've got some, you know, unique historical perspective and community perspective. Appreciate you coming out. And that's, you know, uh, where the board could exercise some judgment. So, I'm not super worried about a consistency issue. Just be personal. I Yeah, sorry. I was just going to say pretty much the same thing.

070I think we might as well try to submit it the two judgment points and see what IDAT says and then we can move the issue. You was going to suggest let's add those two points, but IDA make the decision. Let's finish the other suggesting the board decision. I do. Um this study uh complete all the other audits, submit them at once. Um probably makes a lot of sense. The board's okay with that. We can continue doing that. Try to provide uh Mr. Lance with the support that she needs to get those done this school year in the next 8 days. We'll have to talk to the state about what the cut off is for them to be reimbured for the 25 26 school year too if they have a a deadline for when those can

071be submitted. So I will find out those exact days as well. I I think just speaking from my perspective for the the board judgment points just to be again predictable, consistent, I think it'd be nice for us to use those judgment points in every situation even if it doesn't influence the outcome of I do just so we again are remaining methodical and if there's only a handful of routes it seems like it could be something that's pretty straightforward and there's sort of baked in the cake mechanism where the board can exercise judgment points and then it can help kind of tip the scale and in favor of the district to maybe get now is there a is there a big load is there a huge lift to the board using those judgment points. Um yeah

072okay the combin it's a combination hazard so each section so like for example a type one hazard there's a type one type two type three type four those judgment points would have to be specific to the location. So for example um if you looked at the type three crossing a roadway hazard the area of the entrance of Bordon and the entrance of Southbury for example um that one is a 7.5 designation that has a crossing guard already established so would you give judgment points to that when it is arguably created safely with that crossing guard already there you know so um each type gets its own judgment you'd have to determine what you think is appropriate as far as a judgment point for that specific type. So, um crossing up um there's a type for

073crossing railroad tracks hazard, right? That designation of judgment points would be different than a type one hazard for example. So, what are you considering from a judgment point perspective as um requiring those? Is it the isolated accident? Is it the industrial traffic? You want to be consistent with what you're deeming as a hazard to give judgment points for that specific type. So each type doesn't get two judgment points just off the cuff. You'd have to look at them individually and then decide if they warrant any judgment points at all. So like for example, park and board is a four-way stop. That's the highest method of you know um safety if you will from a stop perspective. an allway stop, a crossing guard, a four-way stop. Um, those have the lowest point designation because they're arguably

074the safest. So, would you give a judgment point related to that or is it the walking along a roadway that you think constitutes a a judgment point? Do you know what I'm saying? Each one is done individually. Yeah. And your expertise is invaluable in this. And like I think, like I said, the effort you're kind of embarking on of like looking for reimbursement on these routes is a noble one. And so any way that the board can help support you, like in this case, adding those two points, even if it may be a a fool's errand, even if there's a chance, I think it sounds like it's a low lift, I think the board's behind you, and I think that's a a really good move for us. Steve, your recommendation, if I heard it right,

075from the consensus of this conversation was an imperative. We were to put a hold on maybe putting this route on the shelf and complete the audit of all the routes within one and a half miles and then maybe revisit the resource constraint conversation after we have all of that information. Is that right? Oh, yeah. I wasn't recommendation. I was just kind of trying to You're synthesizing this, right? Yeah. Is that okay, Alex? You had something. I I guess specifically to this the judgment points I could think of would be the quantity um entrances and exits in that industrial zone. Um you see or I'm looking at a aerial view now there's Thornwood Drive that sort of snakes out intersects with park that potentially have a good amount of truck traffic. You you have the ideal

076parking lot. Then you've got the other ideal loading and unloading area off board. Um I I guess that combined with the accidents we've had combined with the Becker Park intersection situation um in this specific situation constitute at least trying for the two points and I think we could come up with something and I would encourage you guys too I don't know like I know there's familiar there's a couple of you familiar with the area I would encourage you to kind of sit there during not sit there like I but you know what I'm saying like during those routes times you kind of see the flow of traffic, the student patterns, that kind of stuff because I think it's a little bit eye openening too when you're when you're doing the hazard studies in a good

077way and a bad way when you're sitting there and you're seeing the students utilize the walkway and the walking path and and are doing it safely. I think it it it is eye opening or vice versa when you're sitting on plank and you're trying to cross the traffic, right? And you're like, "Oh my gosh, I could never get a hit across here." So, it brings a unique perspective. I think talking to PD and finding out what they utilize from a crossing guard perspective, what constitutes a crossing guard. For example, by the courthouse on 23 as you're heading towards the middle school, there's a, you know, a crosswalk sign. Um, I we've had lots of parents who've gone to the PD to say, "I need a person there." And they're like, "The flow of traffic doesn't

078constitute that." So, the unique perspectives too that they have are interesting to have as well. So, I actually lived in that neighborhood for about 10 years and and I've been reporting to work in that general area for 16. So, I'm pretty familiar. You do? Yeah. You have a very uh I I think from what Alex has said and a few others, there seems to be an alle cart menu of what we could do potentially for the judgment points. Um I I kind of echo what others are saying that I I don't see a reason why we don't try and maybe maybe hold suit where we are today. um like like uh Michael echoed and and see because there there are a lot of intangibles there. I can give you a little bit more insight as

079it relates to ideal as you're drafting that judgement and do you want them to draft the me a memo related to the judgment points to submit as supporting documents because it's coming from their perspective or a bad idea. I'm not sure. Is it really the board's response? I don't know if that's the you want the board to fill in. I think the judgement or at least just kind of share some of those suggestions and I don't know maybe we've got them minutes. Um as long as we as long as we have those suggestions and we've got the recording too that we can go back and check as long as we have those we can include those in the work of lacy on um trying to support the judgment point. The only reason I would suggest

080submitting this one prior to waiting is because it can potentially change what people are able to do next year. And I would want to make sure that we gave them notice to do that if that's the direction we're moving in. Um, so I'm not I mean just from answering your question as I'm hearing it is I I'm not seeing at this point a downside to continuing to offer the route until we have more information. um because we would then be offering the same services we've always offered. To your point earlier, it it hamstrings us a little bit on what we can expand on for early childhood. I think you mentioned some of Yeah. I mean, if we see some numbers that are significant in other areas which would require us to bring Chatter Broth, for

081example, if we weren't able to utilize this one, we would have to hire staff to support that. So that would be the only I guess if if the reimbursement turns out poor, right? Because if even we got reimbursed for saying it's more of a body perspective for me to be honest. It's it's less about the money piece. I if I don't have a person to sustain like if this route continues as it has been high school, middle school, elementary, if this route continues and our special ed numbers grow, I'm still going to have to open up another route to support them with another person. What is the um the reimbursement is for payroll? It's for bus expense. I don't see that. It's for right because that that's what you're applying for, right? Is the reimbursement.

082Yeah. That doesn't come back to me. So I don't know where that transportation money, but it's I mean I'm not to support the transportation department in general. Okay. Because like because you're talking about adding another person, adding another bus is that but that isn't really in your scope then either. based on what you're saying, right? Because it's because the reimbursement isn't so is the adding the person and the route is or I mean the personnel piece of our budget isn't one that I oversee. So I make the recommendation based on the numbers that we see and what we need to support. I ask permission on whether or not we have the ability to sustain that from a personal standoint and and the special education transportation if it's required if it's in the students I would

083have a choice. If student requires transportation, we have to fill that out. They there's parameters associated with that. Do they require a monitor? Um our special ed students are required to be on an air conditioned bus. Um they are supposed to be on the bus for under an hour. So there's some other parameters that fall where we wouldn't necessarily be able to kind of overpack, if you will, on a on a bus. There's some other things we have to look at. Early childhood is what's growing though, right? Um our ABLE program is growing. our LEAP program is growing. Um those are all door-todoor services. So whereas some of the other routes are are able to be managed from a bus stop perspective, when you're dropping large groups off at bus stops, it doesn't lengthen the

084route, when you're traveling from door to door and you have to do that on your side. It creates kind of a a opportunity for it to grow the route longer than you know what is needed. So where you might see 10 kids potentially on a bus, there's 10 kids on a bus for an hour because they're getting door todoor service. So it really just depends on the needs and and what you see there. And we don't bust any early childhood, do we? We all IP early childhood have the ability to be transported if they want to be. Um now there's about 29ish students utilizing that. There's obviously significantly more IP students than that. So if all of them wanted transportation, we would not that right now. So we would be required to, but we would

085not be able to sustain it under our current business model. Yeah. And and the little Spartans kind of it's all IEP federal workplace. Correct. I mean, there's some pure modeling related to that, but anyone on the bus is an IEP student. And would that factor in as well for getting routes to uh certain communities like number of IEP children in a community potentially if they require that in their IEP we have to support that. Yeah. And we don't know those numbers. Sometimes the I mean it es and flows too. So we have to kind of look at what those requests look like each year. But like if there were two kids with an IEP in one neighborhood, you had to pick them up anyway. Could you pick up other students as well on that route

086or uh the special ed students cannot always be with the regular students? It just depends on what their needs are. Yeah, we have a lot of students with IEPs that do ride regular buses. The least restrictive environment is what we always try to accommodate. Um but sometimes that's not possible and that's what requires them to be on like a specialized bus that's just for um students with those specialized needs. Any other discussion on this? Um for the board points, are we li judgment points? Whatever. Uh are we limited into what we can include in our I mean exhibit for that description I mean is um peculiar to the hazards due to vehicular traffic in a specific um situation is how it's how it's described. So I would I would probably keep it pertaining to that

087vehicular description um because that's what they're giving us. Would a porta potty in a park that truckers normally stop at be included on this? Unfortunately, no. No, they're going to look at it standpoint. The biggest thing on the hazard studies is vehicular traffic. What I have noticed when looking at these is that there's a lot of things that change, but the designations that get the most points are related to the vehicular traffic in the area. And that's in this particular area. While I think there's other things that are important to the residents and and us as a district, vehicularly, the traffic associated with it isn't supporting some of the data points that they are using on this table. Unfortunately, it seems like redistricting, start times, and uh bus routes are the ones that um get

088a lot of I think public attention. And so, it's reasonable for the board to take the time to review it. and it's noble of you to take on this effort because I know it's not an easy thing to, you know, go through that and audit it. And again, I'm very excited about the reimbursement prospects. That is really exciting to hear. Is there any other board discussion on this issue? Are there any motions? Anything? This is a new business item, but there's no action recommended. we had talked about. This is if they were kind of giving some direction, but at this point um I'm interested in just hearing if there is any particular formal motion the board wants or if they just want to give some intentionality. I don't know if we need a motion, but

089I I'd like to explore the the judgment points that we talked about. I think there's some value in attempting that and maybe following through on um what you and Steve have kind of echoed keeping the route as it is for now while we're evaluating that process. So keep the route as it is for now for the upcoming school year while we evaluate the reimbursements for all available routes and also entertain this judgment point piece. Is that what you're saying, Ellen? Yes. Okay. And just so it is I think I think it's just a little easier if we do a motion. I'll I'll solicit a motion. Is there a motion for the board to exercise judgment points on all afflicted routes and uh at our just again at our judgment? uh and to postpone any removal

090of the route for the upcoming school year. So moved is just for this route or for all as for all routes. Do you want to change the policy related back? So we want to add judgment points to every route region. I don't think that's what Alan was. Yeah, I I'm just clarifying. So we got a I made a motion second. No, there's no she moved. There's no second. Alex, you're asking a clarifying question. Yeah. You don't want judgment points on everything. What? Because what it sounded like was the board has judgment points on all apps that are submitting reimburse. We want to use those judgment points only in circumstance where it's close to the threshold or not. So we can at least be consistent. Change case by case. What's the case though? If we're close

091to the threshold, I suppose. So it's the threshold then. But when order are you discussing a motion on a second? What is the motion? Is there clarifying the motion? Yeah. So, okay. So then I guess there's no second. You second it. Allan second. Okay. Are we able to move on this and make sibility to do that today? Well, the board can take a vote and act on really anything. It's just a matter of I guess the reimbursement side. They need our signature for the reimbursement application. So that's where the board has some threshold or some discretion. As far as the transportation goes, I don't I don't know our policy well enough to be able to know how much uh authority we have in setting routes. And I don't know that we want to get too

092zoomed in on individual routes, but in this particular case, it seems like there's a question from the transportation department as to what to do. And so giving some formal guidance on that, I think, isn't a bad idea. Just to clarify, I don't actually have a question. It's more just the signature required. I get where you guys are coming from though. The policy kind of makes it I say unilateral. I don't mean it that way. I mean it it gives kind of discretion to me. We obviously use I mean we communicate with each other districtwide. I talked to a lot of principles that kind of stuff. As it reads right now, it is a decision of our department. So if you would like to move forward in these types of the kind of hairy point is

093the petition because the board in policy when there's a petition submitted to the board by the public is this considered oh the petition. Yeah. Then it becomes because they they're entitled the community is entitled to petition the results or the decision to the board for the board to then weigh in on it. And so that's what justifies the action from the board and that's why this is a sort of one-off situation because they didn't bring a petition. So then this had the board approval too. So like that's had they not have had a petition then to your point yes it would just be your discretion and we'd be done. But since they do have a petition of 265 signatures I think that empowers us to be able to act on it. But does that answer

094your question, Christian? 100%. Okie do. Any other discussion? Okay, I'll host a roll call vote. Kelly, take the motion, please. Yes. So, uh, the motion was to, uh, have the board exercise judgment points on all routes. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm thinking recorded, so I'm like you're typing it. Yeah. Okay. motion to have the board issue judgment points on all reimbursements submitted to the state discretion to all their judgment exercise no judgment that's what we want every time if they're because we're going to sign it each time each time agenda item or as a consent agenda because we're going to sign. So outside of the petition. Yeah. And then to the other point because there was a petition. This is why we're talking about this and we're using policy. Um so then the later points you're

095Kelly you where you at right now. Motion to have board issue judgment points on all reimbursements submitted to the state. Gotcha. Uh and then do postpone decision on suspension of this route until a complete audit postpone. Yeah. Decision on this route until all reimbursements. It's called a serious safety as until all reimbursement requests have been submitted. for the board to then reconsider their at that time. All all reimbursement have been submitted for the board to then reconsider the route at that time. It's off the dome. Kelly, it's as natural as it comes. Very organic. That's just specifically this just specifically this one because of the petition. Yes. And I Beth seconded it. You seconded it, Alan. Sorry. Beth moved. Beth moved. Alan seconded it. We already had some discussion. We had some more discussion. We

096got some discussion. All right, we got a roll call vote. Kelly, would you call the RO? Sute? Yes. Yes. Evans? Yes. Brados? Yes. Ragnary? Yes. Hudson? Yes. Veto? Yes. Motion carries. Yoke. Thank you, Lacy, very much for again the reimbursement efforts. That is awesome. Super exciting stuff. Thank you to the audience, the visitors for coming. Appreciate it. Um, all right. So, the next item on the regular agenda is the superintendent's report. Steve, I'll let you take it away. Back on back on schedule. Uh, under the superintendent report, there are a couple of uh building department updates. CC5, middle school, high school. Um PB Valentine, Dr. Valentine also submitted a memo just updating the board on where we're at with AI uh and what plans moving forward. Um and um I think we talked about this

097Alex. There's a there's a policy um update coming for the policy committee to consider next week that I shared with with Dr. Valentine. is aware of that and we're we're already moving in that direction and and fulfilling some of that policy. We'd have some work to do there. There's a timeline to do that, too. Um, good idea. And uh the last Yeah, that's it. Any questions on the building department updates or the memo from? Is she here? She is not here today. Okay. I it's a pretty intricate maybe not that intricate of a question but I'm curious if there's any sort of Gemini um Google Gemini built in um that students could use I know the teachers are using it but that's Google's embedded AI model if that would be SOAPA and was it compliant

098or yeah SOAPA is our is our main concern and I can speak to this a little bit if I if I don't answer your question sufficiently let me know I'll talk to to Dr. Valentine because we talked about this at length. Gemini is available through Google tools that we used um but it's pretty wide open and that was one of our concerns. Um but we found out that securely which is software that we have on all of our student Chromebooks filters Gemini. So that provides the safety net for our students that will allow us to use implement Gemini safely. Okay. So, so that's the plan moving forward is is making it available to students through securely. And it's not just Gemini. There are a couple of other AI um software programs that that will be

099accessible too, but they will all flow through securely which provides that safety first. So, they could use Gemini. They wouldn't have to use the securely chat system anymore once we unveil this. Um, is that what you're like? That's a that's a higher technical question. I'm able to answer. I guess my suggestion is I'm not sure if this would fit into um learning and teaching or maybe maybe a board meeting, but I I think it'd be great to have Dr. come and present a little bit more on it and maybe we can learn a little bit more, ask some more questions. I mean, it's exciting and certainly hot topic. Um be really nice to have a little bit better understanding. Which uh which one would you like? I don't know. I I I'm throwing out both

100of those as an option. I don't know if the board has any particular opinion. Probably Ellen team that if action is needed, it could flow to the full board. I would. Yeah, it's fine. I think we already have a a topic for July, but maybe we'll we'll have to talk about it if we'll include both. Is it okay if I let you work with Mr. Rice on? Yeah. In that fine. Okay. Any other questions on any updates provided or lots of great things going on at the schools. Really great to see coming to an end. So, uh yeah, lots of excitement. I'm sure next year go to the next item on the agenda here. Thank you. Yep. Sorry, I clicked the wrong button. It took me to this different view. Um, okay. So, board reports.

101Uh, we have the teaching and learning update. Alan, you want to take it away? Foyer, did you Oh, did we did I miss it? What is it? There it is. 7.01. Uh, any comments on foyer reports? 7.02. Work on that. Yes. Uh, teaching and learning up. So yep, the learning inter teaching uh committee. We had our first meeting May 13th. Um it was pretty much a introduction to what the learning teaching communities uh committee is going to be and how we're going to move forward. Um we set forth that we're going to request from the um the public u committee members. uh a survey went out or an application process went out and we had I think close to 12 people uh send with with interest. So we'll be reviewing those and hopefully getting well

102we will be getting people seated for the next uh learning teaching uh committee meeting on the 7th excuse me July 8th. Um many of you were at at the committee meeting. We reviewed quite a few pilots. Um the K through five math bridges which we voted on last month at the last month's meeting. the uh 6 through 12 math which is under a 30-day review and then the ELA uh pilot recommendation was discussed and there's a memo that uh that is in the board packet and the learning would recommend approval uh moving forward with this pilot. If there's any questions related to the pilot, I can speak to those but Mr. Rice can't hear as well. Um As a real quick general overview, uh the district has been working for about the last year to

103identify ELA opportunities and curriculum opportunities. A few have been uh a few have been identified and will be identified further for potential implementation of a pilot uh starting next school year. The learning and teaching community will be meeting on a quarterly basis to review that pilot as well as other topics. So I encourage all of you to come and participate whether it be in the community or on the board. Um there are lots of good discussions but there is an action item for tonight which is approving or re app proving the recommendation from the learning and teaching committee to move forward with that pilot um starting next year. Anyone have any questions? Good work. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate it. All right. Uh can I think we do we do need to approve it. It's on

104the lower. Excuse me. Wonderful. Thank you. [Music] Then on to 7.03 business services. The business services committee had its inaugural meeting on May 13th at which much information about our district's finances was received and many aspects were discussed. Due to the fact that our current best projections show that our district's funds balance will dwindle far below our policy established minimum 25% over the next 5 years. Business services committee recommended that a 5-year fund balance restoration plan be established. There remains some question about the reliability of the forecasting. However, it was also noted that the Illinois State Board of Education ranks our financial health in the bottom 19 districts out of over 800 districts. The business services committee also recommended that the board investigate placing a health insurance liaison on the health insurance committee to increase

105understanding of a large cost driver for the district. The business services committee has received six applications from interested community members looking to help serve the district and is in the process of reviewing them. Thank you. Any questions, comments, concerns? All righty. Policy committee, any updates? The policy committee has a meeting scheduled for June 3rd. We'll discuss Press 118 and a few additional policies and plan to bring recommendations on revisions to our June regular board meeting for first reading. One question I have is would be we be okay approving these future readings policy revisions on first reading as we spend a lot more time um in the policy committee working through these and the policy committee meetings are now open. It's almost as if we have a first reading. The only reason I could think of

106potentially um the benefit to approving these upon first reading would be it just gives Kelly more time to talk with press online and get these policies updated. However, if the board's not comfortable with that, that's totally fine. But I guess where I stand, I would recommend we approve policies on first reading unless if there's any revisions the board would look like to make collectively, then we would have another reading. Or do we want to stick with the first and then second? I think the only thing Alex is so 2240 talks about policy adoption. Policies are revisions will not be adopted. The board of managers were first introduced except when appropriate for consent board discussion and it goes on further board consideration at subsequent meetings where this is like you're talking about kind of hairy is

107is first introduced at a board meeting subcommittee is is that wouldn't constitute is right. I think it would still constitute a board meeting. Yeah. So, I think we'd still be in compliance with 2240 because it's still publicly accessible meeting. So, I guess I to me assuming that that's bulletproof and we're good there. I don't have an issue with it going to policy first and then going to the board as a whole on first reading. I just would I'd say let's just make sure 2240 looks good. My only suggestion would be we've had one like what two policy meetings. We're we're still getting this process going. Yes. I'm wondering if maybe we table that for a meeting or two. See see see what the attendance level is at the policy committee meetings. If we have a

108good portion of the board there I think it's a good way to get that first viewing. If it's a smaller group maybe we want to keep it on second be my only comment. Okay. So hold off on just a suggestion might guess we probably policy committee but I was just curious for everyone's input. Sure if we were going to when we have our policy committee meeting I was thinking recommended approval on first meeting but we can talk about that. I I see where you're that makes sense too though. I just know there's a lot of committee meetings. Sure. So want to make sure that not not everyone will be able to attend all that makes sense. Do you want any more feedback on policy? I guess is anyone that's not on the policy committee approve

109opposed to approving on first reading policy revisions? I don't have any reason not to trust your judgment on these things. Um I know that I'm not going to be at the next policy committee meeting because we've got a baseball game. Mhm. But um you know if the board as a whole you know if there is no crossing objections then I'm not opposed to I mean it could even be unique situations. It would just give me a little relief in that we'd have more time to schedule our policy committee meetings and that we wouldn't have a two-month spread between the policy committee reviewing policies and them actually being implemented. and Kelly being able to get into the software and revise the policies. We don't we just have one month which logistically there's some scenarios where that

110might be easier for us and for Kelly but okay this time I'm sure we'll probably do first and second reading I talked and coordinated with Kelly and we'll have plenty of time but just going forward I was just curious um if there was if that's something we could consider. Thanks for the feedback. Next item is parent teacher advisory and behavioral intervention update. Um Christian, do you want to just weigh in a little bit on what we what we've got so far and then I'll I know that there's some additional pieces here. So we're still in the process. Um so Steve the president uh and Mike Thurman and I met and discussed uh PTAC and behavioral interventions committee. Um behavioral interventions committee is something that's kind of different than PTAC in a lot of ways and

111private in a lot more ways. Um so we're trying to have open meetings about PTAC, get the ball rolling there. We have put out um notice for applicants. We received some applicants. Um I plan on parsing through those and setting up application or acceptance of some of those applicants soon. Uh so we can get the ball rolling there. Uh and then as the principles were a very big driving force in PTAC before, I wanted to meet with them. Uh and we're still working on setting up a time to get that happening. Very close. Yeah. So once that happens, I think we can get the ball rolling on having PAC and um behavioral interventions committee just running. We'll do both together. Um obviously one more private uh but we're we're getting very close. I'll add just

112on to that update. So um we're going to be appointing people like Christian was saying very shortly. Get some solicitations. So, good things there. Um, I know behavioral intervention has a meeting slated for June 3rd. Um, Steve reached out to me on that meeting. Um, we talked about it and basically to Christian's point, there's a lot of really good people working on the district held committee right now. And so like our statutory obligation is to make sure that uh the board has a committee that exists for the responsibilities outlined in that memo. Um it can be wrapped into parent teacher advisory or not serves as a pass through. Um but it should undermine the good work that the district's already doing on that. Um, something that Stephen and I talked about was posting the meeting,

113opening it to the public on June 3rd for the existing district committee. um as an option for playing out that that could or couldn't or that might not be a good or if that should be something we as a board consider as we move towards acting on behavioral intervention as either a standalone uh committee of the board uh or being wrapped into PTA. So I guess just feedback from the board on where we see behavioral intervention going will be useful. I think that there's going to be a little more conversation at PTAC meeting in June, but for this June 3rd meeting, is there any opposition to having that meeting posted have a time for public comment? Uh, basically having an open meeting. Is that something? Okay. I don't have any opposition to that though. Uh,

114just the behavior interventions committee portion. Okay. Yeah. Could we I guess I was talking to Christian about the meeting. Could we close the meeting? There's an only exemption for discussing individual student, right? We could have parts of that meeting open, but feasibly and realistically I don't I don't see that having any benefit to the public. Well, and that's the thing like in design what would hopefully happen is is that that group of people would continue to meet as a district committee and they would continue to do the really good work that they're doing. And then the behavioral interventions committee would stand on its own and it would just receive the recommendations and information that that subgroup of district administrators um brings to that public meeting and I think like an execution then then that group

115of people who sit publicly on the behavioral intervention committee is going to be compos you know statute dictates who it's composed of so it hasn't been appointed yet. Um, but since it isn't in public existence yet, I think this is a good step in that direction as we sort of deliberate how PTAC will or won't absorb it as statute allows for June 17th. So, and I've also received um I guess interest from other board members in behavior intervention committee as well. Um, so I think appointing someone will still talk about that. I said that I kind of thought we had talked about that, right? So, and so I've been doing a lot of research on just not how, you know, really going past what the state mandates the school to do in the district to

116do, but um additional kind of advisory things like looking into root causes, more root causes for behavior issues such as distractions, wanting attention, um frustration with not understanding schoolwork, and also getting the parents parents more involved. So, I guess it could connect with parent teacher advisory and that you would have parents uh that are already involved in detail. Well, that's the thing like to your point be so like the memo that Steve put together outlines exactly the responsibilities of the behavioral intervention committee as a standing board committee. Correct. Um the question that we'll need to answer is is it going to be one with PTAC? there are two parts to that one meeting or are there going to be two separate meetings and that's something that I'm totally open to whatever board wants to do.

117It sounded like at one point it was there was some leaning towards doing two separate committees. Um you know it's not lost on me that we have a lot of comm. It's a lot of responsibility. So so from like a practical standpoint putting it together with PTAC might be more time. Well, because you'd already have the parents involved and hopefully it would be parents that already have children that are struggling, right? We And that's the thing that composition of the committee is also dictated by statutes. So like we would need to be really Yeah. So we need really considerate of who we appoint to this now PETA behavioral intervention blend. Um so anyway, I wanted to put that on the radar for the board because June 3rd there's going to be that meeting happening. Um,

118at the end of the day, I'm I'm not looking for like a formal recommendation and I'm going to turn to the judgment of the administration on how they want to handle it. But seeing that you guys are amendable to really any of those options, I think it's good. And the next time we'll like we talk about this is going to be on um the parent teacher advisories inaugural meeting in June. I believe that's June 17th. I don't have a calendar in front of me, but that's the date that's sticking out. So, I expect that'll be an agenda item where we'll maybe do a little more uh review on if it will become part of PTAC or if it will stand on it. Any other comments on behavioral intervention and PTA? Okie dok. All right, let's

119keep moving [Music] down. Sorry, catching up. Okay, so the ad hoc goal setting committee update. Alex, you had an update for us. The board has completed it a second goal setting meeting on May 19th. At that meeting, the committee directed administration to complete the district's master goal file in accordance with the provided instructions. The final goal setting meeting will occur on June 17th where we will finalize the master goal file collectively. Any questions, comments? All right. Okay. Uh let's move on to I guess before I leave board reports or non-district reports. Is there any other comments on any other board reports? I know we've in the past let this let this time be open. So non-district committee reports, district committee reports, board reports have been talked about. Um, and I know Meg is here and

120I I kind of had you in the in the wing just in case for behavioral intervention, but do you have any comments you wanted to weigh in on about the the districtled pick or you feel like we covered it pretty well? I think you really covered it nicely. I like the discussion of, you know, what are our priorities going to be moving forward? Um, I know the district committee itself currently really talks about those positive inter interventions that proactive, how do we deescalate and how do we really service all students? But then when it comes to special education and how do we really look at um our behavior intervention plans that are going to support them in their special needs and I think that we're on the right track of I would love to see

121that work continue as a district committee and however the board would like us to then present um either within PTAC or been separate and getting that information to PTAC and I would be in support of that. some great publication moving forward. Thank you very much. What can we do to support you and [Music] um I will think about that. I think that just the interest in those proactive the supports to all of our students. The goal of a big committee truly is to support the students in receiving that um not only free and appropriate public education but with dignity and compassion as well as supporting our staff and training them and giving them the tools to address an everchanging um environment in which students are coming to us. And so, you know, I I may

122be asking for different types of supports for our staff and for our student. Um, but thank you for asking. I I think that grants grant funds are always something that I'm looking for that we found last year. Anything that we can do to really support our students, but also our staff and doing that together. We'll try to keep it uh budgetary friendly as well. But there may be some ask as we as we see behaviors continue to rise within our society but also within the district and our data showing that there's more need. So we are constantly with our district committees and our um multi-tered system to support problem solving teams within the building. We're really trying to address those as they're coming to us every year with more intent. So, thank you for asking.

123You're welcome. Thank you. Um, all right. So, on to new business. Uh, we're going to jump ahead of 9.01 because we covered that. 9.02 talks about uh the liaison role appointments uh to like things like SEF, North School Association, planning and zoning. Um I'm not looking for a specific motion. I wanted to first start with just a brief board discussion about how liaison roles have been treated in the past, how they think or how we think they should be treated in the future and then talk a little bit about appointments. Um so just to give some context, uh 2150 talks about um I'll read it here as it states. It's committees. It says the board president makes all board committee appointments unless specifically stated otherwise. Otherwise, board committee meetings shall comply with the open meetings

124act. Um so it talks about that. Uh it also talks about um uh district committees uh advisory committees. Um but there isn't a ton of reference to appointment beyond just that uh verbatim line about board committees. The board committees as defined here are special board committees like out at rock standing board committees which right now are board policy, parent teacher advisory, behavioral intervention, business services and learning and teaching. Of those behavioral intervention and parent teacher advisory are required by the state to exist in our policy can't be removed or changed. Um but the others we have amendable uh guidance on. So so that's what our policy reads on this. In the past, uh, we have we have had we called we use the word committee um, kind of loosely, but we've had appointments or liaison

125as I like to call them to things like the North Grove School Association, to SEF, to city planning and zoning. Um, while I think that like the board having some representation there is really important and that's valuable work, I'm not I don't know that I as the board president have the authority to appoint positions to these non board committees. Um, but again, that's not to say that like the board shouldn't go and participate in groups and entities outside of this and then bring back that information. A tricky part is if we have somebody who the board decides they formally want to appoint and the board wants to appoint that person as a liaison in a to a particular group which the board can do like the health insurance example. um there is a question about

126how that person can act when in that committee. So you don't want person to be a liazison to the board and act on behalf of the board outside of a publicly posted meeting. So an example of this might be uh participating in a vote and then making it clear to the parties that you're voting with that you're representing the Sigma school district. A way that you can do that correctly and I you know gonna confer with legal on this is you can uh bring that information like an impending vote to the board ask the board to formally endorse hey this is how the Sycamore school district would like to be represented in this group and then you can carry that vote with that endorsement to it. Um, a couple of pieces and again, uh, another

127some more context. Uh, the mayor reached out to me the other day and asked who we were going to appoint to the city planning and zoning commission. And so, and I had a conversation about that as well because in the past, we had appointed a board member. Coincidentally, Allen happens to serve outside of the school board on the planning and zoning commission. Um, which makes him, you know, a natural, I think, choice. But I don't have, at least from what my interpretation of policy is, the authority to wave a wand and say Allen should be that person. What I think we should do, and this is again just kind of speaking about this and not soliciting a motion, but if we want to act on it, we can. Um, I think we should as a

128board collectively appoint liaison by vote like we've done with the health insurance committee. Um, that seems to be a pretty loctite way to approach things. Um and then those liaison should serve the school board only in advisory capacities. And then if there is a vote where they're going to represent the district at large, they would solicit our input. Um if they want to act out of their own, you know, capacity, right? then that's that's your like if I wanted to show up at a Sycamore if I'm a Sycamore Chamber member and I happen to be on the school board and I vote at a Sycamore Chamber meeting that doesn't mean I'm voting on behalf of the school board. Just like some clarity here. So now that I've kind of laid this information out and these

129scenarios out the question at hand is is how do we want to handle um SEF? How do we want to handle which currently doesn't have I think in the past Allen was the liaison or appointee to SCF. Sorry James thank you said Alan James. Um, James was the appointee. He's no longer on the board, so that seat remains empty. Uh, we have Northgrip School Association where Christian has been knocking it out of the park. We have Spartan Senate where Alex has been going. Um, we have, uh, the city planning and zoning. So, those are the places where there's kind of some holes. What do you guys think? And and again, just more context, Cole at our last special meeting um solicited a motion at a recommendation of ESC to appoint me to be a liaison

130or to I think it was to review information. That's what it was to review information about being a liazison for the district le district cooperative health insurance committee which we separately have a report on. So now you have all the context. Okay, I'm done talking. What are your opinions? Um, so nobody nobody's uh stepped up for KC then that's the kind of fundraising. Oh uh like SCF I'm sorry. Yes. So it's not so much that nobody stepped up. I haven't appointed anybody to SCF because I don't know that I have the authority. And that's not and what you're saying is it's not mandated in our policy to even do it. Well, or is it? So again, anybody can attend these, anybody can be a member of them. But you know, in the past, precedent has

131been the board president appointed people to it. And I'm saying that I'm not seeing my interpretation of board policy is that I don't have that authority to do that. And that doing that would also create some other implications about representing the board as a whole on things that the board hasn't collectively voted on. Right. So it could be a conflict of interest because it's not in our policy almost. I mean, you're Yeah, if you're you're hitting at the right the right area. Absolutely. So, okay. Did you produce a signup sheet? We all sign up for what we're interested in or indicate to you what you're interested in. You bring it back to us collectively and we approve it all at once all the positions. Sure. If we want to be the right positions, like I

132said, I mean, we could just continue to be, you know, good active community members and report information back to the board. But I don't think there's been an instance where Allan while serving on the city planning and zoning commission has, you know, I I think maybe you've had some updates in the past to us on what they've been doing, but I don't think they've ever been things that the board's taken action on. So like it's moreformational than directly applicable. Yeah. So like I almost think it's a little more restrictive of us to as a board say this person is going to be our liaison. I almost wonder if we should just intend to continue our obligations and then during our sort of ambiguous board district non-district committees report bring those updates as you would if

133you were involved in any community. That's my genuine opinion answering your question. I I more someone indicating that they're interested in attending because then because the issue then to your point though is like how many other groups should we you know what I mean? Like then do we stop at just the ones that we have? actually. So I think when we started the committee list there was like 13 different committees like a advisory was one but nobody you know what I mean like you and I don't think the message to the community is that the board is not interested in serving those groups but that there are some limiters. Yeah. So I mean in committee guidelines under 2150.7 it says board members who are selected to serve as representatives for the board of education on

134district and non-district committees shall represent the viewpoints of the board to that body. It is incumbent on that board representative to keep the entire board in form of issues of the board to formulate positions. But I think what you're technically getting at is nowhere does it say how you're appointed to a non-district committee, right? which it doesn't because it only outlines how you are appointed to board committees and that's at your discretion. But this point down here does seem to indicate that people can be selected to serve as representatives which is like to our health insurance leazison piece like what we did we did select you hypothetically so it could happen right but as a board and like to Alex's point like the proper vehicle to do it would be to all of us collect

135I think collectively convene and say this is who we want to represent us to these groups but then that last sentence it's incumbent on the board representative to keep the entire board informed of issues so the board can formulate positions sort of implies then that they're not going to then make position positions on behalf of the board. So, but go ahead. I was going to say it also talks about representing the viewpoints in the board, you know, when I think it does. Yeah, that's a different that's a departure than what we have described in the past and perhaps how you how how it's been performed. Yeah. And again, that's like the the so the board can formulate positions part. It almost seems like the two conflict each other or there's some there's some ambiguity in

136that language. I mean, I think it's supposed to indicate that you're not supposed to go on there and say what you think you should do. You're supposed to go on there and say what you think all the collective would want you to to do, right? That's how it reads. Yeah. And then it's as though it's the incumbent, it's incumbent on the board to keep the board informed of the issues so that the board can formulate positions. And that's the part that throws me. Okay. of the boards. But then like if you're in a meeting, how can you you can't just go back to a board? You know what I mean? Like you'd have to see agenda. You know, you can you can you know if if if a pattern arises and you keep going to

137the board with information and the board keeps responding along the same lines, you might the fourth time that happens, you might go based on my past experiences where I've brought the board these things and they keep formulating the same type of position. I feel fairly comfortable letting you all you know speaking for the board in this way. It would then be incumbent upon you to bring that news back to the board and if the board all of a sudden said, "Whoa, you've totally got it wrong." And pump the brakes. Okay. It would then, I think, be incumbent on you to go try to, you know, I mean, and you could deselect this person or something if that kept happening. But and then the and the board would deselect that person. I mean, it doesn't say.

138So, yeah, I think you would I think consensus with the board would be my opinion. It sounds really ambiguous, but it also sounds like it's justformational. It's not really to take any action or really do anything. It's just they perhaps like somebody to be there, you know, in in the case of the mayor wanting to know um but really what action could we take? I guess my thought is that we should focus mainly not I mean not to not involve these but focus mainly on what's mandatory in our policy excuse me to do because then we can put our best effort forth in doing the ones that you know because we have like you said we have quite a few committees and we need to get those off the ground and the ones that are

139in our policy that are mandated for us to have we should probably focus on first and have these outside ones be a secondary because otherwise when you have when you spread yourself too thin, you can't do a good job on, you know, things that we need to really change within the district or not necessarily change but advise and be there to support well different uh parts of the district, you know, the teaching, you know, all the committees that we have that are mandatory in our policy. Yeah. No, that's a good point. I would agree with that. Okay. And again, like I guess reiterating, we have right now already somebody sitting on planning and zoning. We have somebody sitting on Northwest School Association, somebody sitting on, you know, Spartan Senate. Um, but do we want to

140formally endorse them as a board? one and two, do we want to fill the void for SEF since SCF now has a vacancy vacancy right somebody's not there um you know so I again has SCF express sorry to cut you off has SCF expressed a desire to have the conversation yeah I saw in passing I talked to um is Miss Saber right she was just saying oh we're going to really miss Allan who was she like Sorry. I'm so sorry. I You're James, you're already James. Yeah, Ellen is already going to the I keep thinking because I keep thinking planning and zoning. So, I keep saying your name, Ellen. Um, no. So, yes. Uh, they're saying, "Oh, we're going to miss James." By the way, what's the AC? Spell it out. What's the acronym for

141SEF? I uh Sorry, Sigmore Education Foundation. Oh, well. Um, actually, if they really wanted someone, I'd be willing to go since I don't have CAC anymore. So, and again like to to my earlier point like I don't have a problem with you going to any meeting for that. Do we want to as a board collectively say okay Beth is our representative? So I guess if we don't do that there should at least be I'm concerned that people just wouldn't go or we wouldn't it wouldn't be in anyone's radar. So maybe it doesn't need to be an official Yes. The board hereby appoints Beth to be the SCF representative. But at least some sort of internal document where we know who is attending what would be helpful I think for us. I mean given that 7

142is here I would have a difficult time or saying that that internal document doesn't serve as their selection. It wouldn't still be binding though. It would just be she I mean someone else could go you know I'd assume if we're gonna do it I think to your pointful like we should formalize it and so like where and the natural place to put it would be where we already appoint committees we would put it like we've done in the past on the same sheet and then we would as a board I think formally approve those appointments and it would be for a set duration of time. Mhm. Um or we clean up policy and we you know vest that authority someplace else. Yeah, I'm willing to serve in whatever capacity is needed to help you know.

143Yeah, whatever. And anyway, I love education. So, it's a good group. Yeah. Anyone else opinions, thoughts, comments? I I think the planning and zoning commission is important just from a the perspective of it affects the taxing budget as far as new construction and things that there is value probably in that whether it be a direct board member representing the board or somebody participating on their own. Okay. So just a comment it's not this is it doesn't have to change anything. No, that's fine. And I mean this I know this isn't a timesensitive issue. So, so I can uh since it isn't timesensitive, I want to formulate like a more formal recommendation that we can make a motion on. Unless somebody has a motion now and feels vigorated to take it off, I think then expect

144something on the next agenda like a formal motion that would would instill some process. Okay. Are you there on the planning and zone committee? I'm I'm just as a uh community member. Eric Jones was the board represent. Yeah. So now we used to have two board members there at one point. Now we only have one, right? But you were Allen was appointed before he was appointed by the mayor before he was even on the board. Yeah. Okay. All right. So look out uh future agenda item. Um All right. 9.03. Uh there is recommended action from the learning and teaching committee regarding the ELA pilot. Um, pull that. Yeah, I got a little excited last time. Um, I can certainly repeat myself if that would be helpful. Yes, repeat yourself. Yeah. Okay, let me get my

145notes out here. So, at our last uh learning and teaching committee meeting, we reviewed the work that the school district has been doing, Mr. Rice has been leading. Uh, as far as the ELA curriculum review, they've identified a need for some new resources for ELA. They've identified different resources for different age groups or grade levels. The intent is to have a pilot program in those different grade levels starting in August running through the year with the likelihood of a potential suggestion towards the end of the year of adopting whatever these new programs may be. Um the learning and teaching committee will be meeting on a quarterly basis to evaluate and understand um how the pilot's going, what progress is being made, positive, negative changes that need to be made um the professional development that's been

146in process and just the key learnings of the the pilot. And so it is the recommendation of the learning and teaching committee that we approve the pilot to be performed um over the course of the 202526 school year. Is that a motion? That's a motion. Second. So the motion was that the learning and teaching committee recommends that the Sycamore Board of Education approve the pilot process as recommended which is at the bottom of that meal. So you don't have to um we had a motion from Allen. We had a second from Christian. Any discussion on Ellen's preamble emotion? Love the report. Thought it looked really nice of the legal reference. The background look really good. So I try. Uh all in favor? I go move on to the next item. uh recommended action uh from

147business services committee. Before I read the recommended action, co you got a preamble on this? I do. Thank you. Uh previously the business services committee had recommended that the board adopt a restorative 5-year fund balance plan. This plan will include a zerobased expenditure report. This plan will include, but is not limited to, discussion of delayed maintenance, borrowing options, strategic levy and expense reallocation, implications of an FTE freeze or attrition, and a health insurance cost benefit analysis. Any non-informational parts of the plan like recommendations shall be presented in a sensitivity table format showing impact on at least fund balance percent, total FTEEs by category, and the average class size per school. Per the board's decision, at the previous special meeting, I worked with Mr. Wilder to develop a timeline for implementation of that recommendation. The board

148has been delivered the timeline in the packet and via email. I won't read it all here. Um, but it culminates in getting everything that that motion and or that recommendation had originally requested by uh in draft form August 12th at a business services committee meeting so that at August 26th the board can adopt or not adopt that plan and also a tenative budget. Okay. Uh is there a recommended motion? Do you have a motion for the board discuss? The recommended motion is to uh approve this timeline. Okay. So seconded. All right. Moved by Cole, seconded by Beth. Any discussion on the timeline? The June 10th item. Um present the 5-year fund balance projections. Has it been made? Is the expectation understood that um there should be some narrative driving those. For example, we're assuming a

1493% raise in this scenario. We're assuming 5% raise here. so that we understand what's going because our main variable cost or variable cost but our main cost that can vary is um salaries and staffing. So I guess seeing what is going in would help us um give some guidance. So let me answer and Steve you correct me if I'm wrong which I so often am. Um, I believe that Steve is going to present three different scenarios along with narrative assumptions that are baked into them and they're going to show us various paths to three different potential fund balances. And I assume, you know, the narrative assumptions will be along the flavor of what Alex has mentioned. Yeah. Yeah. What a very good conversation and um uh I would say we were kind of on different

150pages to start with but I thought I really felt like the conversation was helpful in terms of identifying what the goal is for both the board and the administration and and finding a path to that. But yeah, we talked about doing exactly that. Uh so answer your question Alex. Yeah, that's our goal. Great. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, we'll move on. All right, next item on the agenda. See, I click it and it takes me away from it. Uh, so the Sorry. Um, it's a 9.05 5 intergovernmental agreement uh between the city of Sycamore and school districts. Oh my gosh, this is where the printed out copy is nice. Okay. Uh we're considering the intergovernmental agreement with the city of Sycamore for the placement of the radio tower on one

151of the city's water towers or soon to be water tower. It looks like uh so we've got this on for first reading. Uh trust you guys have a chance to take a look at the IGA intergovernmental agreement uh ahead of time. Um any comments on this? I guess Steve Eve any preamble we should consider? Yeah. So when when we moved to the new building, one of the challenges is the radio the existing radio repeater tower um for the district is located at the current admin building. So it was a matter of either moving that um you know constructing a a new tower, putting it up at at our facility or looking for another space. There's conversation with the city um who is willing to host that at an existing water tower um immediately or or

152very soon is probably a better way to put it. And in exchange for that is an easement on the back. We refer to it as the back, but it's really the northeast corner of the property and on Bethany Road. Um if at some point in the future the city needs to put up a third water tower, that would be a place where that water tower could go. Um, no immediate need for that. Um, my name is Mark Bushnell. Um, B U S H ne L. My work address is uh 541 Decal Avenue. Uh, so the conversation started. Mark Xstrom contacted uh me probably a year ago, mentioned a a need to relocate the antennas and asked if the city was interested in leasing space on one of the towers. uh we hadn't done that previously.

153Um so we had we had discussed different different uh rental options. Um and then it just kind of an organic conversation started about your property in 1947. Um I asked basically what the long-term plan for the property was and um mentioned that we had a need for future land in that area for basically uh drinking water improvements. uh whether it be a treatment treatment plant option a tower and basically it's think it's a mutually beneficial um agreement. It basically we would we would be able to receive land at no cost. You'd be able to receive a spot for your intense at no cost and it's no direct cost to either entity. Just a quick question on this then because speaking to the cost, thank you Mark for coming here speaking um the roadway that we're

154going to share 50% of the cost in. Do you guys have any anticipation on what that because it's an access roadway, right? It's a concrete roadway. Um provides access to the water tower and to the antennas, right? Uh the biggest thing is going to be timing. It's going to be who needs it first. Uh so what we basically said was if the school district relocates something there, they they have a need for it, then it would be built at that point. If nobody needs it, it's not going to be built right away. It's not going to be built for no reason. It's only going to be built at a time when when we need it or or the district needs it. And I believe there was a caveat of reimbursement, but it was 180 days

155later. It basically it allowed either entity enough time to budget for the next next fiscal year and not pay it out of the existing fiscal year. Is there anything in the IG? And I was looking at it just to see that because it it doesn't specify that there's like a limit or an out where the cost is too much where we we maybe couldn't do it or didn't want to do it based on a budget. Is it like if so for example if the city of Sycamore say hey we're going to put in this roadway because we need it and we need a concrete roadway right now and it's you know June 10th and you know we've got 20 days left in our budget and the board hasn't budgeted for 50% of the cost of

156the roadway um and we don't know what that roadway will cost at that time. Does the account for a situation where the district might not be in a position to pay that 50%. We have an out or is it are we obligated to the 50% with this IGA? I don't believe there's an an out either way, but in either in either scenario, the district need for a roadway and the city's need for a roadway are very similar. So there isn't one where the asphalt is going to be twice as thick as as the other scenario. So basically both both needs are pretty much for the same type of growing. Okay. At some point in the future, one of the possibilities is to move transportation to that to that location, but it would need to go

157in the back and we would need an access road to um you know for for a building that would that include the shop area for the buses. Parking could exist on a lot of the existing parking lot, but potential that's that's one potential use or need from the district's perspective in terms of the road. Um, but if a water tower water treatment facility goes up, whatever the case, maybe the city's going to have to have access to that, too. So, that's just a possibility in terms of what the district might need a road like that for. Just so it would go all the way from What's the road that runs that intersects Menard's? Is that where we would we'd build it from Mediterranean all the way out or is this just from Bethany? Like I

158guess that's what I'm you'd be using the existing uh entrances to the property right now getting to the back and then the roadway would be the uh just in the green space in the the back of that property. So from the paved parking lot to um the water park like 50 or 100 ft maybe it's not a huge Yeah. Oh. What other uses do we have planned for that green space or as we heavily involved in kind of the vision of that building and the the land itself? We've just kind of spitballled some ideas that transportation would make some sense. A solar field would make some sense. Um although I don't I don't think the city allows ground mounting. The city does not allow ground mount at this time and it would I was gonna

159say I think it would be a a special use, but right now the city is not entertaining groundwater and solar. Yeah, if we wanted to put a preschool there eventually and erect a playground, I guess I'd have some concerns about putting a playground next to a water treatment plant. Yeah. But a potential playground would be closer up to the building. Okay. Um we've we've got a location um tenatively that that would need some more bedding to to make sure that that's the proper place, but if we put up the playground, it would be a lot closer to or even just air quality. It's it's drinking water. So it's not like the sewer? No, it's drinking water. There's there's one located uh next to the North Tower. There's one located next to Brother's Park uh in

160in the Electric Park neighborhood. And there's actually one located on Bethany Road just about 200 feet to the east right now. So, um, just dollars and cents wise, what would it cost to lease antenna space for this or another tower or say build our own 100 foot pole? Like I just could decide if this is an economical tradeoff on behalf of the tax. Yeah. So, we've inquired about a potent just kind of an estimate in terms of constructing a tower. I don't have that yet. Um, I don't know what the lease cost. It varies. it widely. Some are free, some are thousands of dollars per month. Yeah. So, it's like 24 grand a year would be high-end. Uh that was just one of the numbers that threw up. And then did we get an appraisal

161of the two acres on Bethany Road? Like just, you know, I mean, if we're going to it's $12,000 a year to lease an antenna, what are two acres worth? Additionally, if the city retires or sells the water tower, what happens to the two acres that we've deeded over? I don't think that's covered in in the IG. We have not had that those two acres appraised for value. That's that's my question is um also a change of um governmental official like I'm not seeing where I'm not a lawyer but I'm not I'm not seeing where this is indemnified forever. You know what I mean? So what if we have somebody that doesn't live up to the contract like after we get a different mayor different people in office it would be between the two entities not

162necessarily the individuals on the on the board. So Mark s I was gonna say Mark I kind of like to put the city on the spot and that's is it possible to get Huffery antenna position? I mean I know that we recently had the two school buses that the fire department used. There's a lot of you know friendly interamental processes here. The two acres of land potentially has probably considerable value perhaps and perhaps that might be something that we could offer to the city, but it seems like a large price to pay uh for an antenna on top of of a water tower that we paid to install the delay. The city up to this date has not entertained u communication antennas on water towers, but if we were to uh allow the school district

163to be potentially giving up revenue for the city center is pretty tall, too. I would think related to the administration building. I'm just thinking there's a lot of relatively tall um buildings or structures that the city owns. We're not trying to preclude the city of, you know, generating revenue where there's opportunities, but also um two acres of industrial land is probably quite quite valuable and seems um to not be an even uh trade, if you will. Uh it would be the back corner of the property. So it's that we basically tried to get out of the way as much as possible. It's uh if you were to build a transportation facility, you would need to provide storm water detention. This and that would be on the low end of the property. So, this was shifted

164to the to the opposite side. So, um like um uh Mr. Wilder said there hasn't been an appraisal on the property. This would just be a fractional portion of it. Right. But I think it's reasonable to assume that there's a discrepancy in the two items. Uh, I don't I wouldn't exactly agree with that. It depends on what the the lease price for the towers would be or the lease price for the antennas would be, right? And what that and what that appraisal came out to. Okay. And how many how many antennas do you have on your facilities today that you're leasing? None. Okay. the the previous staff was not was not in favor of that because of the uh basically you'd have to work with the communication companies that there was maintenance done in the

165powers to to relo to relocate those. So uh we're more open to it now as a revenue generating the the current public works directors more open to that than has been previously. And how large is this antenna? Would it preclude the city from adding additional antennas for revenue? I'm not sure. But I don't know the details of the entire Is it fair to say that probably wouldn't be real large? I mean, it seems reasonable, but I'm not sure. And how often do these water towers need to be uh repainted? Uh recommended every 25 years. And do we have a like a price point at least for removal and reinstallation of such an antenna? Uh that would be that would be up to the district because we don't we don't have antennas that we that we

166would we have to remove the antenna to have the water tarp painted. I think to paint it you would but just for any other routine maintenance I don't see it. So it would be it it it does seem like this isn't as beneficial to the district as it would be the city. That's just my opinion. Especially we have to pay to install it. to pay to remove it when it's painted or just leasing. The alternative would be leasing a little bit of a roof somewhere to put a a tenant. I guess I'd like to explore the cost of that so we can sort of compare the cost of that versus this option. Yeah. Personally, I did want to ask are are things like this legally binding forever? I mean, if like if something happens like

167it can throw us out the contract, right? It's an easement. It's a conveyance of property. Um, I mean there's definitely some permanency to this agreement as written. So that's fine. Um, I I do think the board should really consider the pros and cons, weigh those prior to approving the agreement, but uh, now that we've had it, we've all had a chance to read it. Um, I think it might be beneficial to write up our concerns and maybe go back to the city with what those are and see if they want to in any way or willing to amend the agreement in any way. Right. Because a lot of things can happen. Natural disaster. Currently, our cell tower, the radio tower is on the old administration building, right? Current Yeah, current current administration building. So, it's

168b it's mounted on the top, right? is like that's okay. Do you and we don't obviously we don't lease from ourselves situated would an antenna do you know off the top of your head Steve an antenna like that would work on the new administration building or is that is the range if the new admin is so far from these schools? Well I think the height of the tower is the most important part and I'm not I don't know off the top of my head the elevation you know if it's the same if it's different you know we we'd have to investigate that. But I think the most important thing is to get the tower as high up in near as possible because it it covers all of our our radios, you know, handheld radio devices

169in the district as well as the transportation. Who owns the county um antenna? The one right by the new jail and the library. I mean, is that the county? Yes, it's the county, but I don't know. Just another thought. But putting it on here like you said that that's Have we explored putting it on this building high school? Is that I just don't know. I guess I'd like to look into some more options before we agree to this. Um so got a cost estimate coming for constructing a new tower at the the new building. Um we do there's a cost for the you said there is a cost estimated cost. We've requested a cost estimate. We just don't have it yet. Appraisal of the two acres. We're still working on it. Yeah. So, I'm just

170kind of jotting down. Is there any other information the board would like before you make a a final decision? Yeah. Is there any other build if there any district buildings that are tall enough? Is that one that was Well, I mean, I think I think we can all acknowledge that we want a radio antenna. For sure. Right. No question. So, that's Yes. I think the open-ended part is And it's not that this isn't a good deal with the city because it very well may be a really good deal and a win-win for everybody. The hard part for at least it sounds like for the board is understanding what the board's alternatives are to this rather than just a yes or no is like well it would cost the board to put on the existing building

171$150,000 and the range would be bad but if we put it on this water tower it'll cost us 30,000 and the range would be great. And it's like oh man this is then the then wow the city's really doing us a favor because we're saving a bunch of money. And to that point, I mean, it's that's not to say we we absolutely need these two acres in the back of the property that the city's already looking at. I mean, if the city really wants them, if they want to look at the maybe there's another agreement come to as well, you know, I mean, I love these I love it when governments work together on a project. I think that helps everybody. Um, so I I don't want to discourage the city in any way uh

172in trying to work something out if they're interested in this property. Well, and that's the thing. I think that's why I think it's good this is on first reading. We have an opportunity to talk this out to kind of go, okay, hey, what what is the true savings that, you know, we can kind of and you're not going to have all your options, but maybe just one. Go, hey, this is what we think the perceived savings are. and we can say, "Hey, thanks city for this and it's mutually agreeable when we look at it for a second reading." Or maybe we go, "Oh, well, you know, this is a good offer from the city. We we didn't realize we had maybe another more viable option and collectively all the taxpayers win." So that's, you know,

173the mutual agreement part. So, um, again, it's first reading, so no vote needed. Um, Steve, do you think it's practical before the June meeting to be a June regular meeting to be able to have one alternative option to the antenna? Uh, I I believe I'll have a cost estimate uh that I could share with the board pretty quickly. I I would guess before the June meeting um you know other buildings to see if they other district owned buildings to see if they're um suitable to to install the the antenna and if they're you know behind it that sort of thing. That might take me a little bit longer. Um the appraisal of the two acres um try to have that I can. Yeah. Well, like who's who's our antenna guy? Who's the person doing this?

174you know, a really good question. Um, we would find that we would do that ourselves. We would have to hire that out. Well, and like so what's our timeline then on the antenna? Are we thinking because if we still have the old admin building presumably for however long until the board accepts a bid on it, that antenna works. But if we did hypothetically sell that admin building as soon as, let's just say July 1st, suffice to say we don't have an antenna July 1st. So then potentially yeah unless we come to an agreement with the buyer to leave the antenna there in place for you know a period of time we'd have to investigate that that's interesting too I don't think we need just one option I think I think we just explore options and

175have and come with the ad come with their recommendation show the other options right so okay yeah be good is that does that seem do you think that's doable Steve that before the next meeting we could just have maybe a some line of sight on some antenna placement options just so we can get kind of our head around the cost. Yeah, I know. Um I can certainly provide some options and then the board can weigh those and make a decision. Awesome. Thanks. And thank you Mark for coming in. Really appreciate it. Sorry I didn't sitting here kind of fly on the wall for this. So all right, that's all we've got on the regular agenda. 9.05. Yep. That's the last thing. So, we're going to go into executive session. So, uh talk about pull up

176my exemptions. Got a few things. So, I'll post a motion to go into executive session for uh discussion of the appointment employment compensation discipline performance dismissal specific employees as well as negotiating matter between the public body and its employees. Uh we're also going to talk about uh the purchase uh or lease of real property for the use of the public body, setting of the price or sale of lease of property owned by the public body. Um and litigation when an action against affecting or on behalf of a particular body has been filed and is tending to a court or tribunal. Um self-evaluation practices and procedures. Uh no I'm sorry to scratch that. Yes. So loaded executive session but those are the exemptions. So uh exemptions one would it be two? It would be this. It

177would be yeah one two. We have and this is free freed so you don't have to type it all out but exemptions one [Music] two eight seven six and 12. Okay. So I'll make a motion to go to second. Moved and seconded. Who wants a second? Kelly, would you call the role? Sant. Yes. PP. Yes. Evans? Yes. Yes. Gregory, yes. Yes. Yes. Motion carried. Hang on. to postpone and definitely so move. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? No discussion. All in favor? I. All right. It's been postponed. This meeting stands adjourned. As of 11:41 p.m. As of 11:41 p.m. Thank you.