001[Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening. Welcome to the May 12th, 2025 Valley View School District Board meeting. I hereby call this regular meeting of the Valley View School District to order. Please silence your cell phone. And would member Berdus, could you please lead the pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Member Hail, could you um read the affirmation of the board of education missions? Our mission is to empower every learner to be college, career, and life ready and to develop, grow, and achieve as a productive citizen. Thank you, President Pro Tim Campbell. We are seeking the approval of the agenda as presented with the exception of removing consent agenda item 7.4. Motion moved. Second.
002Motion and second. Any discussion or questions? Seeing none. Hearing none. Call. Roll. Roll call, please. Member Badurus. Yes. Member Pipkin. Yes. Member Hyo. Yes. Member Shrova. Yes. Secretary Sutherland. Yes. President Prom Campbell. Yes. Student and staff recognition. First, we'll have the Valley View School District Battle of the Book Champion Pioneer Elementary School. Good evening. The young ladies that I am introducing tonight only missed one question out of 40 against 11 other eager teams. We have one that read all 20 of the books rather than the four required and their enthusiasm for reading and for the battle of the books began before school even started. I am both thrilled and humbled to present the 2025 winners of the 9th annual districtwide Battle of the Books and can't wait to see what they will do next year
003for our 10th anniversary. So, congratulations to the booksters. I have Priel Consara, London Nicholson, Lana Pavick, Aubrey AJ Williams, and Valerie Wilson. [Applause] Thank you. The Valley View School District Middle School math contest champions, James Adams Middle School. Hello everyone. Uh we first want to thank the school board and the administration for inviting us uh here to celebrate uh this accomplishment. These mathematicians standing behind me uh and problem solvers uh are truly exceptional young young students and men and women. Winning the Valley View Math Competition was the award and goal these students all wanted and achieved, which is incredible. But as coaches, we are the most proud of is the effort and all of the effort they put in throughout the year. Okay? They challenge themselves academically each and every day. Do not give up
004when problems are more difficult, but instead increase their focus and they work as a team listening to each other's strategies and ideas as well as trying to accomplish their goals. These students epitomize the traits that make a person successful not just in school uh but in life beyond school. Four years ago, we had a total of six mathletes that were in this competition. And as you look behind us, we have over 35 students that are participating. Thank you to all of them that have done it over the past three years. So given that we have a large number of awards to hand out, I'll stop talking uh now and let Miss Chug read off the names, but we are so incredibly proud of the effort they have put in and what the parents have done
005to make sure they get to these meetings and events and the tournament. So, thank you. Uh, Prince George Aare, Jake Burky, Riley Campbell, Marissa Cherry, Hayden Colberg, Jackson Colberg, Julisa [Applause] Delasa, Xavier [Applause] Esamia, Annabelle Fox, Nina Gabrien, Leah Kelly, Finn [Applause] McDermott, David [Applause] Mason, Jayla Manson, Nathan Mahurl, Chris Montano, Jay Norton, Shawn Ram, Amelia Rahman, Amomar Siddiki, Ezra [Applause] Taru, Shar Vimuru, Asher Warning, Akis, Alless Parks, [Applause] Next, we'll have the skill USA state champion, Bowling Brook High School. Thank you, President Promp Campbell, members of the board, uh, senior leadership, Dr. Wood, and community members. My name is Chuck Merrick. I'm assistant principal for activities at Blenberg High School. Um, we're lucky enough to have some recognition for two of our amazing uh over 60 activities at Blenberg High School. The first one,
006Skills USA, um, they qualified 40 students to the state tournament this year, which is an increase of 10 over last year, which is 30. And uh they actually had five students competing in June at the national tournament in Atlanta. Um our coach uh Caleb Scott has done an amazing job building the building the program of the last three years and he's going to tell you about some of these amazing students. Caleb Scott. All right. Thank you, Mr. Merrick, for that introduction. Yeah, I'm just so proud of these kids for what they've accomplished this year and and the dedication that they've chose to thinking about their career by joining a club such as Skills USA uh outside of class time. So, I'm going to introduce the kids as well as tell you what they placed in.
007First up is state champion in computer programming, Brandon Domer. [Applause] Next up is runner up in electronics technology Dylan Hogue. We had a team of three state champion for career pathways showcase industrial engineering and that's Eva [Applause] Mannings. Eva, Randy Vervac, [Applause] and Claudia Ramirez [Applause] Gillian. And they couldn't join us here tonight, but we also had the third place finisher in aviation maintenance technology, Addison Thomas. And then for practical nursing, we had the second place finisher, Britney Sanchez Velasquez. And third place, Camila Valerio. Thanks to Dr. Pascavage, Mr. Merrick, uh, Miss Angie Beam, and Kathy Serino for being a great co-advisor for the weekend. Thank you. All right. Now we'll have skills USA state competition Romeoville High School. Good. Thank you, Vice President Campbell, members of the school board, Dr. Wood, members of senior
008leadership, members of the audience, and members of the community. My name is Derek Kinder. very proud principal at Romeoville High School. It's my privilege to introduce our Skills USA sponsor, coach, and pretty much do about everything with our Skills USA program, Mr. James Aguizio. Good evening, board, Superintendent Wood, community. Uh, pretty much uh, Mr. Scott stole everything I was going to say. Although we do we run the same club, we do different types of skills at our school as well. And tonight I'm gonna recognize two two of them. One cannot make it, but Ethan Lee, he qualified and took uh third place in heavy machinery [Applause] operator. And Matteo Hernandez, who cannot be here, took second place in [Applause] barbering. And this is our third year of running this club. And we have grown from
009three students to 15 students to 60 students with 28 qualifying. This year we took 22 down to Peoria and this is this is one of our best years ever. We also got an achievement for the biggest growth of a chapter and we appreciate this recognition. Thank you. All right, moving down. Uh, now we have the Illinois High School Association reporting our state qualifiers. Bowling Brook High School. Thank you, Vice President Campbell. Um, I would like to say a couple things about our coaching staff for our state qualifying uh, Mario Kart team, uh, Mr. Stino, Mr. PR uh about four or five years ago they were running a gaming club for for a space for kids to come and play some games and a a place to hang out after school. Uh they have consistently grown
010every year and uh they are turning uh Benberg High School into esports powerhouse and this was a a giant step this year. They won their sectional or the Mario Kart team won the sectional and they were one of 16 teams that qualified for state. expect big things from uh not only these kids but our esports club to say a couple things about them. Here's Joe Stino. Uh good evening everybody. Uh just want to give a special thanks to the school board, Dr. Wood, uh activities director Chuck Merik, and principal Jason Pascavage for your support. The growth of our program could not be without any one of you. So, thank you so much. the reason why we're here. Uh it brings me great pride to recognize this group. This Mario Kart team not only represented us
011uh with talent and sportsmanship, but also made uh school history. For the first time ever, uh we qualified for the state [Applause] finals. In case you don't know, Mario Kart isn't just about racing. It's about strategy, precision, communication, and staying calm under pressure. Throughout our season, our players embodied all of these traits. Our journey to the state finals was earned through our entire year-long season. In the fall, our Mario Kart team participated in the IHSA fall season where they competed against other Illinois teams. They went 5-2 and qualified for the playoffs held at Northern Illinois University where they ended fifth [Applause] overall. In the spring, our Mario Kart team had another chance to compete uh at the Southwest Prairie Conference held at Planefield East High School. Our Mario Kart team fought hard and proved themselves
012again, winning the conference undefeated. After the SPC meet, we went back to Planefield East for the IHSA sectional, which uh Mr. Merrick pointed out uh we ended up dominating again. And just like at the conference meet, we won undefeated. And again, because we finished in the top two, we qualified for the IHSA state finals. Unfortunately, uh we fought hard and we ended uh ninth place overall in Illinois with this being our only second competitive season. Uh our Mario Kart team is very young and uh I hope that we will be back here for uh next year. Uh, Coach Pills, there anything you would like to add? Just also wanted to add um just how proud we are of the kids. Um, I know sometimes we think of, you know, video games or look at the
013esports and it's like, oh, it's video games, but um, I coached track for 12 years at a couple high schools and it's it is just as competitive as any sports. Um, the amount of practicing and time and commitment these kids have to put in, um, like we said, it's truly remarkable and we're just really really proud of them. So once again, round of applause. Great. All right, so our 2024 2025 Mario Kart team uh consisted of freshman Ryan Boom. Ryan, I'm gonna shake their hands. Okay. Next up, we have our team manager and junior, Paulo Galvin. [Applause] After that, we have freshman Kian House. Next up, we have sophomore Ian Lent. No worries. Uh after Ian, we had freshman Jonathan Salazar. And then last but not least, we had our team captain and junior Katherine
014[Applause] Zafir. Thank you. [Applause] Next we have a sale of bi literacy high school. Yeah, it's uh I'm going to introduce both of the world language department chairs from each high school on behalf of Dr. Pascavich and myself. So, thank you again, uh, World Language Department Chair Jenna Wilkinson and World Language Department Chair Rachel Milligan from Romeoville High School. [Applause] Good evening, PresidentWigley, members of the board, Dr. Wood, and senior leadership. My name is Jenna Wilkins, and I'm the World Languages Department Chair at BHS. And I'm Rachel Milligan. I'm the World Languages Department Chair at RHS. It is truly a privilege to be presenting the seal of literacy awards tonight. Angie Beam, our enrichment administrator, was unable to attend due to her daughter's band concert, but wanted to send her regards and congratulations to our
0152025 SEAL recipients. The seal of biiteracy is a national movement to recognize students for proficiency in English and in another language. This evidence of biiteracy is becoming increasingly lucrative in post-secary life. In addition to being recognized tonight, all students will have a notation of this academic honor on their transcript. As a result, some students may automatically earn college credit or even receive a higher wage or salary with employers. What does it mean to be biterate? According to the state of Illinois, all students must demonstrate proficiency in English by scoring the state benchmark of a minimum of 480 on the evidence-based reading and writing portion of the SAT or equivalent for English language learners. In addition, students must also demonstrate proficiency in another language in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. So, we are
016especially proud that 232 seals are being awarded to Valley View 2025 grads. Their accomplishments are truly remarkable given the rigor associated with this award. At this time, we'd like to bring up the recipients that were able to join us tonight to introduce themselves and show off their punny shirts they received for earning the seal of biiteracy. They will say their names before crossing the stage. And if you'd please hold your applause until the end, we would appreciate it. Hi, we earned the CI literacy in Spanish. My name is Alexi Alvarez. Hello, my name is Victor Alvarez and I earned my seal by literacy in Spanish. Hello, my name is Jacqueline Andrade and I earned my seal by literacy in Spanish. Hello, my name is Natalie Banda and I earned the seal ber by literacy in
017Spanish. Hola may Alexandra e the seal by literacy in Spanish. [Applause] Hello, my name is Ignasio. Hello, my name is Theo Garcia. Hola, me is Carino. Hello, my name is Dylan [Applause] Hoy. Hola, my name is Diana Manhare. [Applause] Hi, my name is Lucas Marott. Hola is Anhel Mendoza. Hola, mere Kevin Montel. My name is Liliana Nava. My name is Michaela Owens. [Applause] Hola mayo Victoria Rosando Jimenez Eve Ru. Hola is Joseline [Applause] Salazag. Hola is Bana Stanley. [Applause] Hola is at Valdivia. Hola is Pablo Valen. Hola is Jesus Velasquez Garcia. [Applause] My name is Kaden Su and I earned the seal by literacy in Chinese. I earned the seal in French. My name is Issa Andora. I own the seal in French and Spanish. My name is Mia Reedia. Hi everybody. We earned the
018sale in Russian and Ukrainian. And my name is Alina Julia. My name is Alexander Manuk. My name is Julia Kurikova. [Applause] Hello, my name is Sadine Abraa and I earned my seal in Arabic. Hello, my name is Julia Kinsky and I earned my seal in Polish and Spanish. We are nursery in Spanish. My name is Maren Andrade. My name is Isa Royo. [Applause] Maya Mayama Stephanie Venita [Applause] Moreno is Luis [Applause] Delo is Enrique Clement Ramirez. My name is Joel Andrea Carrera. James Estrada. Hola Mayama Mariel [Applause] Garcia. My name is Samara Garcia. [Applause] Hola is Refling Gerti. Hola, my name is Kaylee Guerrero. My name is [Applause] Denno. Hola, my uncle. [Applause] Hola, my name is Emanuel [Applause] Marin. Hola, me is Kimberly Lopeel [Applause] Roas. Hola, my name is Melanie Marquez Munosz. Hola,
019my Hy Maron [Applause] Caner. Hola is Melissa [Applause] Morales [Applause] Moreno. Hola is Melan Ortiz Sophia [Applause] Pñena. Hola Angelana. Hola. My name is Ma Lind [Applause] Ro. Hola. Hola. Mama Gabriella Vovva. [Applause] Hi, my name is Nathan Yad. [Applause] Congratulations to our 2025 recipients of the seal of bi literacy at Bowling Brook and Romeoville High School. [Applause] Next, we'll have the Golden Apple nominees. Hello. Good evening, members of the board, um, senior leadership, and Dr. Wood. I am honored and privileged to present Loretta Fertuit, principal of Woodview Elementary. Tonight we are honoring her as she was honored as one of six finalists for the Golden Apple um principal leadership award of excellence. Miss Fertude has served in Valley View for over 20 years in various leadership roles and we are lucky to have her
020to give you [Applause] Okay. to continue on with our um golden apple nominees and be before Miss Fertuit um exit, I would like to say that um I've worked closely with her um over many years and I can personally attest to her capabilities as an exceptional, motivating and student and staff center leader who accepts nothing but the best for the community that she serves. Congratulations to Miss Fertu for the recognition you have received. Wood view and the wider Valley View um community are quite fortunate to have you leading the way. Please give another round of applause for Miss Pat. [Applause] So, our next Golden Apple educator is Aaron Clifford. If you could come on up. Family and consumer science teacher and Little Raiders preschool lab coordinator. She was one of 11 educators across the great
021state of Illinois who received the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. Um, do you guys have a some words that you're saying? I think you're going to show the video. All right. So without further ado, let us take you back to Bowling Brook High School last [Applause] week. You are right. [Music] [Applause] So everyone, you know, you know that Miss Clifford is an amazing teacher, right? We have had so many people become teachers because of Miss Clifford. Seven Golden Apple Scholars are in right now because of the work she does to inspire other people to be great teachers. Their work. Because of their work. And just so you know, because she's such an amazing teacher, she gets a $5,000 cash award. She's going to take classes for free at Northwestern University. She's going to
022help prepare even more people to be great teachers just like her. It's my pleasure to say a few words about how deserving Miss Clifford is of this honor. Erin is a cornerstone of our family and consumer sciences department, but her reach goes far beyond one classroom. She's a leader, a mentor, and a builder of futures, especially for students aspiring to become educators themselves. Whether she's launching new courses like teaching in a diverse society or coordinating hands-on field experiences across our district schools, Erin ensures her students don't just learn about teaching, they experience it. She fosters relationships with students that others might struggle to reach, offering them purpose. Sorry guys. Confidence and direction. It's the little things that she does that make a big impact. I think that all the students that I've been lucky enough
023to have next year's 20 years of teaching um they all have one similarity. They're trying to figure out who they are. And I love their um ability to evolve and to figure out day by day who they're going to be and be resilient, overcome some major obstacles that they have. And they just allow me to be more creative and they keep me young. um even though a couple of them are the names of my gray hairs that I have to dye, but um they really do keep me young and they show me that change is possible and that they deserve every single ounce of effort that we put in as teachers. They are the reason that we do it. They are my why and I'm so thankful for every student I've had in the past
024to now. I'm just so blessed and so lucky. At what point did you know something was up and what went through your head? Oh my gosh. I don't It was I I thought like why are we going to this side and like why do I have to meet with the nutrition services? Not that I don't want to. Of course I would want to, but I'm like we should have had like a calendar invite. Like wait a second. And then all of a sudden it was just like oh my gosh it was such a surreal moment. Like I really had it in my head that I was humbled by the nomination. There was only four spots left and I really didn't have any idea. But now going through my head, I'm like, I should have had
025an idea just the way people were acting. So yeah, such a great [Applause] honor. Jason Pascavage, proud principal of Blenberg High School Board, President Promp Campbell, senior leadership, Dr. would students, colleagues, community, and friends. Um, I was all excited to present today. Miss Beam said she could not be here because she had to be at her kids thing, and I was like, "Oh my god, that's just got to be driving her crazy." Well, she went to her kids thing and showed up today. So, I'm going to let her take the microphone. How about Angie Beam, our enrichment administrator? [Applause] All right. So, this is round two. I'm glad I get a round two. hopefully with the fewer tears. All right. So, as Dr. Pascavage mentioned, I oversee the electives at BHS and RHS, and it
026is my absolute pleasure to say a few words about how deserving Mrs. Clifford is of this award. She's a cornerstone of our family and consumer sciences department, but her reach goes far beyond anyone classroom. She is a leader, a mentor, a builder of futures, especially for students going into education themselves. Whether she's launching new courses like teaching in a diverse society or coordinating hands-on field experiences across our schools, Erin ensures her students don't just learn about teaching, they experience it. She fosters relationships with students that others might struggle to reach, offering them purpose, confidence, and direction. It's the little things she does that make a big impact, such as providing hygiene student hygiene supplies to students, welcoming them with snacks and lemonade, and having a true pulse on what each student she serves needs in
027order to be successful. Last spring, I surveyed all my enrichment teachers about their electives teachers, excuse me, I surveyed the students to create a framed gift with words that the students use frequently about their teachers. Words that came up over and over by her students about Aaron were caring, amazing, kind, supportive, understanding, inspirational, helpful, patient, and positive. One student even wrote, "You are an amazing teacher, mother, friend, and supporter. I can honestly say that I wouldn't have finished first semester without your help. And I appreciate you for continuing my love for education and for educating others. I will miss you when I graduate, but I will always come back to see you, my number one friend and supporter through my toughest times." Some of Aaron's most remarkable achievements happen within the walls of our Little
028Raiders preschool. A program that not only serves young children in our community, but empowers high school students to step into real teaching roles. One day last spring, I was in my office frustrated by some data I was compiling since compiling data is not really my forte, but I'm getting better. Um, and I just heard this voice, this these little voices pass by my office and they were chanting, "Baby chicks, baby chicks." So, as you can imagine, I did what anyone would do. I had to get up and follow those little voices and I followed them up to our science department where Aaron had facilitated a wonderful activity hands-on of course where the preschoolers got to hold those baby chicks got to see their little incubators and really experience some hands-on learning um right there in
029our school. So, and that's just one tiny example of all the beautiful crosscategorical things that Aaron does within our building. I will close by saying, Aaron, your work teaches empathy, cultivates professionalism, and leaves an indelible mark on every student and every child you've worked with. You have truly gone above and beyond in every way. And today, we celebrate you as you are such a deserving recipient of the Golden Apple Teaching Award. Congratulations, Aaron. [Applause] And while she's shaking hands, I believe this is the first um Golden Apple recipient in our district. I'm sure I'll get an email from someone tomorrow saying that they won it a long time ago, but we checked back in at least through 2012 and possibly before that. It's the first person to ever win it. We do have gold scholars
030in the district, but I think she's the first one to ever win the actual award while sitting as a teacher. So, congratulations, [Applause] Erin. Now, we have our treasury report, Mr. Renes. Thank you. So 6.1 treasures action report. The treasur's action report 6.1 for the month of April includes the normal schedule of financial reports, balance sheet, summary of revenue expenditures, interim obligations, and debt service payments totaling 10,75,923,57 for your approval. So move. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none and hearing none. Roll call vote, please. Member Pipkin. Yes. Member Hy. Yes. Member Strova. Yes. Member Vurus. Yes. Secretary Sutterland. Yes. President Prom Campbell. Yes. 6.2. Schedule bills. The schedule bills for the month of May. We have six funds totaling bills payable of $6,740,128.32 for your approval. So move. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none. Hearing
031none. Roll call vote, please. Member Hy, yes. Member Shrova, yes. Member Vurus, yes. Member Pipkin, yes. Secretary Sutherland, yes. President Proim Campbell, yes. In your packet you have 6.3 the summary of investments for the month of April along with 6.4 state funding update 6.5 all schools trust activity account. This is anformational agenda item. Thank you. Consent agenda items. Dr. Wood. Did that conclude your presentation, Mr. Renidge? Okay. All right. So, um, thank you, President Proim Campbell. Um, tonight we are seeking your approval of four consent agenda items as presented. Um, 7.1 board meeting minutes, April 28th, 2025 and May 5th, 2025. 7.2 Executive Session meeting minutes April 28, 2025 and May 5th, 2025. 7.3 gift for Brooks Middle School. And the final one, resolution 2543, authorizing Trustler LLP to represent Valley View School District's interest
032regarding property tax exemption proceedings. May I have a motion to approve the agenda item that's presented? So move. Any discussion or questions? Seeing none, hearing none, roll call vote, please. Member Shva, yes. Member Burus, yes. Member Pipkin, yes. Member Hy, yes. Secretary Sutherland, yes. President Prom Campbell, yes. Mayor reports, any to my right, please? Any reports to my left? Student ambassador on report. [Applause] Good evening, board of education, fellow student ambassadors, and BBSC community. My name is Miriam Zai. I'm a senior I'm a senior at Bowling Brook High School, and I'm so excited to sit on the board for the last time before graduation. This year has truly been such a whirlwind of exciting experiences and opportunities. I'm so grateful to the administration at BHS, especially Dr. Pascavage and Dr. Lennox. I'm so thankful to
033my fellow student ambassadors as well. Lily, Jordan, Zoya, Hayden, Izzy, and Jerel at EHS. You have all inspired me as leaders in so many ways and have gained lovely friendships with all of you. On behalf of all of us, I would also like to extend a big shout out and thank you to Miss Juel who has been so kind and helpful to us student ambassadors as well as well as the Valley View community. We wish you a lovely retirement. Now, for a few announcements. Last week, both RHS and BHS students attended prom and had a great time. And this past week, students from Bowling Brook High School's Illinois Global Scholars class presented their research on topics ranging from civil discourse in high school classrooms to youth dental health in Mexico. We applaud all the work
034students did to complete their research. Again, we would like to congratulate Miss Clifford of BHS for winning the Golden Apple Award for teaching. Registration is now open for athletic camps taking place over the summer. a great opportunity for students to stay active and engaged with fellow peers. Registration is also open for the upcoming 2025 2026 school year. Check the VBSD website for more details. BHS girls varsity soccer has their senior night this week on Thursday, May 15th, which I am a member of. So, make sure to come out and support us. And AP testing continues this week. So, students, make sure to stay engaged and finish strong. Finally, students at BHS and RHS will be graduating at the end of this week. We wish all of our graduates well. As this year comes to a
035close, I cannot help but reflect on my last 13 years as a value student. I have come across countless teachers, staff members, administrative individuals, and fellow students who have made a real impact on my life. I am immensely grateful for the education I have been able to receive, but also the important relationships that I have established. Being a student ambassador has been a unique opportunity to represent the community that has greatly contributed to my development as an individual. I would hope that as this initiative continues, student ambassadors can continue to speak about the issues students want to see addressed and tackle the challenges students face. As my mom always told me, knowledge is power. And as I continue on to college to study government and economics, I know that I have been empowered by the
036education I have received. I can only hope that all Value students can receive the same level of empowerment. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve on the school board this year. Thank [Applause] you. I do want to thank God for our ambassadors. Uh they're like my little personal people. they are just encouraging and they are really uh giving us their input. And so for those seniors that's going on, we do want God's blessings upon you and those that are returning. And I do believe that the applications are out for our future ambassadors for next year. So look out for that. If not, ask your principal about that. Again, round of applause for our ambassadors. All right. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, audience participation, member of the public has an opportunity
037to address the board of education. Please be advised that the board has the right under the board policy to limit public comments to five minutes or less. Please step up to the podium and state your name and where you're from. And if you have any materials, please provide them to the clerk. Anybody want to address the board? Please come. Good evening. Uh my name, as it always was and always will be is Bob. I am a uh lifelong resident of Bowling Brook. Uh first of all, I wanted to thank the board for acting quickly to protect the students of the district in regards to everything that's happened over at Brooks. We'll leave it at that. I don't pretend to know what all is involved with terminating teachers, but I know enough about employment contracts to
038understand that the board did what they could in as timely a manner as they could. So, thank you for once again demonstrating your dedication to the students of EVSD. Now, for my other remarks here, um, you know, I wonder if it occurred to the Awake Illinois founder or lady that awake is another form of the word woke. Probably not. I just thought that was kind of funny. Anyway, uh I'm old enough to remember when adults who obsessed over children's genitals weren't allowed within 500 yards of a school. Those were good times. Now those folks drape themselves in cheap, ill-fitting suits and drone on about enormous flag poles, totally not compensating for anything, and for some reason proudly proclaim that they were successful in exposing their children and everyone else's to disease while dabbing at flop
039sweat and lobbing sad little threats at a board just trying to keep the kids in the district learning and focused. They have become quite emboldened by the election of an adjudicated rapist and the fact that the head of the US Department of Education is Linda McMahon who herself is married to a rapist and who amongst many other things is credibly accused of human trafficking, sex trafficking, and the cover up of steroid use which led to at least one murder suicide. If you don't believe me, check Wikipedia. It is all there. The fact that they saw these people take over and thought, "Finally, our voices will be heard should tell you everything you need to know about Awake, Illinois." The only way they could possibly make a strike against others was to wait for literal criminals
040to come to power. It would be sad if it wasn't so appalling. They also love to wield religion as some kind of cudgel in an attempt to make a point. So, I'll counter that with this actual fact. I have four daughters, only one of whom is trans. Of those four children, only one is baptized. I'll let you figure out which one that is. Now, I have custody of all four of my kids. And as I said, they're all girls. Right now, they're all at home alone. Now, if the awake lunatics are to be believed, I need to rush there right now and save my three sis kids who are no doubt getting peeped at while in the bathroom or assaulted or whatever bonkers thing they want to accuse trans people of doing next. I always
041hope that our children will take the best from their parents. And the difference between my side of the aisle and Awake Illinois is that my side of the aisle, our kids have so much more good to choose from. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening, board, admin, audience members, and my fellow student ambassadors. My name is Isabelle Scott. My name is Lillian Chan. I'm Hayden Harbet. My name is Zoe Mia. We would like to thank our senior ambassadors for all that you have done this year. We are so proud of all of you and we cannot wait to see what you do. James, congratulations on going to Missou. We are very happy for you. James and Jordan spent a lot of time working to create the student ambassadors and I cannot thank them enough for all that
042they have done. I wish Jordan luck at Indiana University. She is going to do amazing things. Go you. And finally to Miriam. Thank you for all that you've done. You've done amazing this year and congratulations on your acceptance to Harvard. Thank you. Um again, we'd like to say congratulations to you all. This experience with you guys has been life-changing. I've learned endless lessons. Keep in touch. You guys are amazing. You're all world changers that we need in this world today. So, keep being you. Love you guys. Once again, congratulations and thank you so much. [Applause] Is there anybody else who would address like to address the um Okay. Hi, my name is Cameron Micah. I'm a Bowling Brook resident. I'm a transgender man. This is my third and hope hopefully final time uh speaking here
043about my experience as a trans person who came out uh in high school. I know I'm pretty much preaching to the choir here, but I do think it's important for you to hear from someone who personally went through this. When I was in high school, I was required to use one of the staff bathrooms as both a bathroom and a changing room. This is often the solution that's formed for trans students, but I rarely hear about people talking about what that actually means in practice. So, here are a few of the things that I experienced because of this requirement. And to be clear, I think my experience overall was pretty mild. I lost hours and hours of class time because of the size of the school and the location of the bathroom. I personally have
044a sensory profile which makes needing to use the bathroom incredibly distracting. So, I used the bathroom three to five times a day and the round trip was about 10 minutes. Now, for me, uh, school came pretty naturally and this didn't affect me too much, but that's obviously not going to be the case for every student. I experienced the embarrassment and isolation that came from my peers seeing me being treated differently. Students usually didn't go in the area where these bathrooms were, but they were near the cafeteria, so a large portion of the student body was able to see how frequently I was there, which made me feel like I had a target on my back. Kids who otherwise may not have noticed me saw me use those bathrooms again and again, contributing to the sense
045that I already had that I had no control over who knew I was trans, which is an incredibly vulnerable status to have, especially as a child who has no choice but to come back to the same school day after day. I would sometimes be weighed or harassed by staff members who were not informed of this policy, causing me even more stress and losing even more class time. I was singled out and monitored to make sure I didn't use the boy's bathroom in a school of over 3,500 students, which of course made me feel like others perceived me as a threat or wrongdoer merely because I was trans. I was also only the second openly trans student in my high school. Now, there are a whole lot more openly trans students, and all these problems will
046only be exacerbated. And it's not as if all my problems would have been solved if I'd been able to use the boy's bathroom, but it definitely would have alleviated a lot of stress and made me feel more included. And being required to use that specific bathroom amplified great deal of stress and anxiety I was already experiencing on a daily basis. I wanted to share my specific experiences of the topic being discussed, but beyond that, I want to ask you to continue to be wary of people who want trans people out of their preferred bathrooms under the guise of caring about student safety, but are conveniently completely unconcerned about the safety of transgender students. Continue to be wary of people who advocate for women's rights, but for some reason, in the midst of dozens of real
047issues women and girls face, only seem to do so in a way that attack trans people. Be wary of people who have an organization that doesn't hate anyone and doesn't seek to define anyone, but spend a significant amount of time, energy, and resources to try to stop trans people from using the right bathroom. They frame it as an issue of abiding the law. But the reality is that many laws are broken every day by both individuals and organizations. Yet, this is the one that is routinely targeted. The core motivation behind these actions is a belief that trans people are and always will be beholden to the sex assigned at birth. No one spends that much time and effort on a cause they don't really believe matters. Now, we know from studies on bias and emotion
048that when it comes to unfamiliar concepts and identities, humans often have an emotional reaction first, then justify that reaction with what they deem to be a logical reason. With each reason that people are giving to try to justify why trans people shouldn't be allowed in their preferred bathroom, it becomes more and more obvious to me and I hope to all of you as well that this emotionfirst logical reasoning is what is driving Awake Illinois's grievances against the district and frankly what motivates most anti-trans rhetoric. But as we've heard again and again in this room, this community values diversity. And in a way, I'm grateful Awake Illinois filed this complaint because it has brought to light how unwaveringly committed this board is to protecting that diversity. When you sit here week after week listening to people
049speak on this issue and you reinforce that you will continue to p support trans students, this is the message you are sending. You're saying trans kids, you matter even when the it feels like the whole world is telling you that you don't. You're saying, "I will go above and beyond my duties to include and consider you even when it would be far easier not to." You're telling them that they are worth fighting for, and they will carry that with them for the rest of their lives. I often wonder where I would be now if I hadn't had to spend so much of my mental bandwidth on speaking out for and defending myself as a teenager. So, thank you once again for doing everything you can so that these students don't have to grow up and
050wonder. Hello, my name is Sean Salsbury. I've lived in the district for 41 years. Um, my issue, those are new to the board, are probably going to learn quickly, is this little piece of paper that showed up in the mail this past week, our tax bill. couple facts because I can only speak to my own at the moment. So, with two exemptions, my or three exemptions, excuse me, my taxes only went up $73,466 to the grand total of $17,822.50. I know some of you have heard this before, so I'm going to apologize, but I know we have new members here on the board. I live in a track house. It's a PY build. It's not a custom home, don't get me wrong. It's a nice house, but it's not the Taj Mahal. I'm frustrated with
051this body on a few things, but one is the constant increase in the taxes. My portion of the tax bill that's going to 365U is 11,15,956. Dr. Woods told me that the cost of doing um education to the student is somewhere in the neighborhood of about 20,44 if I recall the figure fully. So I'm going to ask a couple questions along cost standpoint tonight. I see that we have I believe it's upcoming something about um it improvements and so forth. And I and once again, I'm an old guy, so step me through this just a little bit. Wi-Fi services for buses. I once again, I'm the old guy. Please bear with me. I don't know what that adds to the education of the children. There may be a logical answer. It's not obvious to me,
052but our portion of it is $7,290.77. district funds and then 65,61691 from a category 1 - rate funds. I don't know what that is. So once again, I'm just kind of asking questions on this. Um, in addition to that, I was digging into the IT world. I saw that there was some sort of uh for lack of a better terminology incident or incidences going back to I believe it was August of last year and like a firing of a couple one or two I'm not exactly sure because it's kind of hard to read the deciphering of some employees that were in part of the IT department. I was wondering since it's been August now it's May where the status is for that what the status of that investigation is. Is it I presume there is
053an investigation. Does it sound like there were some funds in play if you will? And once again I don't necessarily expect an answer but if I could find out who to follow up with I would really appreciate that. Would that be something that I could touch base with you Dr. Woods. Yes, Mr. Salsbury. Please do so. We'll make sure we get your contact information and follow up. Um, if not me, it'll be a member of the administrative team. Okay. Very good. I appreciate that. Thank you for your time. [Applause] Hi there. Um, Allison Wald. I've been a member of or a member of Bowling Brook. I've lived in Bowling Brook for 22 years now. Uh, as you know, my son Charlie is an eighth grader at Jane Adams. We're very excited for him to move
054up to the high school. Um, I wanted to again thank you, thank you, thank you guys for being so very supportive of the trans community. Um, as a parent, um, regardless of if my child was trans or cis, um, I constantly worry about his safety. Um, and I just wanted to come up and thank you guys again for acting swiftly and prudently with the um, teachers at Brooks. I know that's always a hard decision to um, act on on reports of wrong um, inappropriateness. So, I appreciate that as a parent that who always worries about their child being vulnerable. So, thank you again for for all you do. and the more audience participation we will have action reports uh um by Dr. Pollson on behalf of uh uh Miss Donado. Yes. Action report 10.1 consolidated
055action report for certified classified and administrative personnel is um being presented to you respectfully and as it is presented we are seeking your approval on all items. So move motion on second. Any discussion or questions? Seeing none hearing none. Roll call vote please. Member Vadurus. Yes. Member Pipkin, yes. Member Hy, yes. Member Shrova, yes. Secretary Sutherland, yes. President Prom Campbell, no. Action report 10.2 is a resolution number 2542 authorizing the dismissal of support personnel for reasons other than reduction in force. The administration respectfully seeks your approval as presented. So move. Any discussions or questions? See none. Hearing no. Roll call vote, please. Member Shrova. Yes. Member Hyo. Yes. Member Pipkin. Yes. Member Vadurus. Yes. Secretary Sutherland. Yes. President Prom Campbell. Yes. If I can interject real quickly um to acknowledge administrator that we um approved
056in the action report for consolidated action. Um if you could please stand. Our director for human resources, Miss Amanda Herrera Ford. [Applause] Welcome. Miss Herrera Ford has served for the past three years as a director for human resources in a nearby high school district. and prior to that she was a human resource uh manager for five years. So welcome again. [Applause] Thank you Mr. 11.1 technology department initiatives. At the previous board of education meeting the administration presented this item as anformational report. In alignment with the district strategic plan, the technology department has developed a comprehensive 4-year device replenish program uh to support students, staff, and the district's technology infrastructure. The technology team has done an outstanding job in outlining the plan's components, including detailed cost projections for each area. A full breakdown of the plan
057is included in your packet for your review. I am currently working with Mr. Gilmore to ensure that this plan is fully integrated into the 2526 budget. So at this time, the administration is recommending that the board of education approved the technology plan initiative for the year 2526 as presented. So moved. Motion and second. Uh just for um Mr. Ren, if you could explain how the safety of this, how the technology helps with our safety. Uh if you want to just discuss that a little bit, please. You like me to discussed how technology helps with the safety. Yes. Yes. So that that's sure. Well, technology is integrated into safety and security um with our camera system, our swipe card system, um our alarm system and so forth and so on directly for that. Um also, uh
058we have a a Raptor system that that that checks uh uh parents that are coming in to background check them to make sure that they uh meet the standards to come into our district. Um, we use fingerprinting uh software to fingerprint uh all staff employees um that go through a no state background investigation. Um, with regards to transportation, we are trying to upgrade our transporting as you know getting our kids to school is a very important uh part of their day and uh having a routing system that improves it and tracks the children um so that we have cameras on the buses to make sure that the students are safe. Um and also uh watching the speeds of the drivers and making sure that they're adhering and complying to all the rules of roads. So
059does that answer your question? Member Campbell. Thank you. All right. There's been motion and second. Any more discussions or questions? Seeing none here on roll call vote, please. Member Hy. Yes. Memberas. Yes. I'm so sorry. I lost track. I apologize. Um, member Pipkin, yes. Member Strova, yes. Secretary Sutherland, yes. President Prom Campbell, yes. 11.2, Waste Hauling. At the March 2025 board of education meeting, administration presented anformational report outlining the need to solicit bids for the district's waste hauling services as the current contract for waste management is set to expire in June 2025. On March 10th, 2025, the dissue the district issued a public notice soliciting bids for waste hauling services. A pre-bid meeting was held uh to address vendor questions and clarify service expectations. On April 2nd, 2025, the district received bids from three vendors.
060Following a thorough review of the submission, Waste Management was identified as lowest responsible bidder. The administration recommends that the board of education approve the 5-year contract with Waste Management in the amount of 1,152,58. So move. Second. Motion and second. Any discussion or questions? Yes. Quick question for you. Is this a substantial change from a previous contract? it um is not a substantial change. There is an increase obviously as the cost of uh services and uh products are are increasing, fuel prices and so forth and so on, but not a substantial. But by bidding it, we try to get the most competitive pricing. Um and you know, there's more to just waste falling. We want to make sure that the company's there prior to the kids uh coming to school um and providing those services so
061that we we don't create a a dangerous situation. So some companies can't even meet those requirements. So any other questions or discussion? Not roll call vote, please. Member Burus, yes. Member Pipkin, yes. Member Hyo, yes. Member Shroa, yes. Secretary Sutherland, yes. President Prom Campbell, yes. Dr. Wood. Yes. Thank you, President Pro Tim Campbell. Um, tonight we're seeking your administrative re recommendation um for student discipline case due process case A as presented. So move. Second. Is a motion second. Any discussions or questions? Seeing none, hearing none, roll call vote, please. Member Pipkin, yes. Member Hy, yes. Member Shrova, yes. Member Burus, yes. Secretary Sutherland, President Pro Tim Campbell, yes. My apologies. Um, tonight we're seeking your approval of board board policies 2.230, 3.30, and 7.180 as presented. Second. Motion and second. Any discussions or questions? Seeing
062none. Hearing none. Roll call vote, please. Member Hy. Yes. Member Shrova. Yes. Member Boderas. Yes. Member Pipkin, no. Secretary Sutherland, yes. President Prom Campbell, yes. And for item 13.3, we're seeking your approval of the Valley View School District Education Enrichment Foundation grants as presented. So move. Questions or discussion? Hearing none. Hearing none, roll call vote, please. Member Shrova, yes. Member Baderas, yes. Member Pipkin, yes. Member Hy, yes. Secretary Sutherland, yes. President Prom Campbell, yes. All right, I'm next up for my superintendent update and um just as a reminder, enrollment is open for all um of our 2526 Valley View School District students. Um there is a link to um enroll if you have not done so already. And just a reminder, if you enroll now, you can um wait and pay fees in July. And
063um just want to encourage everyone who has not done so to do so. um as soon as possible to make sure that we could provide um exceptional experiences for all of our learners. Dr. Wood, just one second, please. We see Deputy Mayor Lawyer is leaving the leaving the the room, but we do want to thank you for all his participation and always so willing to come and help and to assist our Valley View Enrichment Fund. So, thank you, uh Deputy Mayor Lawler. up June 5th. Um I would just want to let everyone know that the requests and this was in the information provided to you. We set a record by doubling the amount of requests and the amount requested over the highest amount we've ever had in our 30 years. 131 phenomenal grant requests requesting
064$173,000. So, I want to assure those we're going to be with the action tonight and a meeting coming in the near future. We're going to be taking a look to see how much we can fund. In our 30 years, there's been one year with the cooperation of the district, gratefully, that we've been able to fund every grant requested. It's highly unlikely that's going to happen this year, but what can you do? You can go uh we've got a registration website for uh the golf outing. Get sponsors. Come out and golf uh VVF2025 VVEFGOLF2025 um atgsmart.com. Sogsmart.com. And um we will and this message is going out to all of the grant applicants. We will continue to look for funding even we try to notify we will notify every applicant of their status before the last
065day of school and we will also tell them what we do every year. What we tell them is that we will continue to seek funds and if we find additional funds between now and the start of the school year. We'll uh work down the list and try to accommodate as many as we can. We couldn't do the work that we do. We're all volunteer without the extreme generosity of our residents and a business community and a great relationship with the with the school district president Campbell. Um Dr. would schoolboard members and the administration 30 years doing this and u nearly $2 million in grants funded over that time. Just a little awareness of what the foundation has been able to do. So, we'll keep working. Uh we enjoy the challenge of trying to fund everything.
066and uh thank you for the time and a few moments to express gratitude and explain uh what's going to happen in the next few weeks. Thank you. And we'll see all of you at graduation, I think. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Lawler, for your leadership of the um Valley View Education Enrichment Foundation and for bringing um tons of resource supports for to our students and our staff. So, thank you once again. All right, back to my update. Um, I just want to note before I get into the, um, images that you see, um, last week was teacher and staff appreciation week and thanks again to all of our educators who move mountains, um, to ensure a world-class education experience for our students and families. Um, as you see um, pictured here, our elementary schools participation in
067the spring um, walk and roll to school day. And one of the things I appreciate um and you see a couple um school elementary schools noted Hermanson and um RC Hill, but the um support of our both of our police departments on in Bowling Brook and Romeoville um for making sure that our kids and our parents and staff have a wonderful um opportunity to do something a little bit different and um just get them um excited about the day. and then um knowing that we have resources available um across um our communities that are supportive and making sure that we have a safe um and healthy um environment. So, thank you for that. Um on the lower left you will see and this is um in the theme of appreciation. We've had an opportunity to
068appreciate a wide variety of different um departments and individuals. But on the left, bottom left, you see our nutritional services team from Oakville and celebrating the school lunch hero day. Um they keep us healthy and um wellfed. So we appreciate that. And in the middle um our school leaders were recognized um first week in May, May 1st um in the celebration of National School Principal Day. and you see um the early childhood center team represented, but we'd like to shout out all of our building leaders um who do wonderful work in um supporting our school campuses. And um on the bottom right you will see um school nurses from Brooks Middle School in recognition of school nurse day. So, thank you to all of those different groups for just doing a tremendous job and again
069moving mountains to make sure that we have worldclass educational experiences for our students. And just a quick note for important upcoming dates, May 14th, May 28th are our early release days and uh most notably May 28th is our final day of school. May 26th, we're closed for in recognition of Memorial Day. And our next board meeting is on June 16th. And we want to just another reminder to finish strong. And um just like to congratulate all of our graduates, whether you're um in eighth grade or our seniors um graduating from high school or um students who are in our STEP program going through their exit ceremony. You can see the dates listed. um below. I think this is one of my favorite times of the school year and not just for our graduates but graduates
070you know across the nation and it's just so wonderful looking at Facebook and seeing all of the celebrations and you know kids going to prom and things of that nature. It's just it's just moving and um also kids who have graduated from our school district who are graduating from their um respective colleges. So just a wonderful opportunity. And then finally um again as mentioned our last day of school is um May 28th and that brings me to the close of my update. Thank you. So for 14.2 is the annual consolidated instructional operational software uh renewal. So this is an annual report that we bring every year uh to the board of education to provide an overview of the software titles that support both our instructional and our administrative operations across the district. These software solutions
071are essential to maintaining the functionality, the effectiveness of our educational and operational systems. For the upcoming fiscal year, we are considering a renewal of 29 software titles that exceed $25,000 threshold. Of these 18 titles following the educational uh services directly supporting teaching and learning while n 11 of the titles are under the administrative services primarily supporting technology infrastructure and operations. The total estimated cost for these renewals is 2 million um 9996,200. A detailed breakdown of those software titles are under consideration included in your packet for review. This is anformational report. Um, it is the administration's intent to bring forth a formal recommendation for approval at our next regular scheduled board meeting. So, if you have any questions in the interim, just feel free to reach out. 14.3 Um, the district's current phone system has reached
072its useful life. Our existing self-hosted infrastructure relies on an outdated technology, suffers from limited vendor support, and continues to incur increasing uh maintenance costs. Recognizing these challenges, a replacement phone system was included in this year's long-term capital improvement plan and budgeted. To ensure uh a thorough and informed decision-making process, the technology department convened a committee comprised of key personnel across the district. The this committee evaluated proposals from three different vendors each of whom provided detailed demonstrations of the systems. Based on its comprehensive evaluation, a preferred vendor was selected. This report is also anformational for purposes. It is the administration's intent to present a formal recommendation for consideration and approval at the next regular scheduled board meeting um education meeting. So if you have any questions in the interim, just feel free to reach out again.
073and 14.4 the consolidated district plan. The Illinois State Board of Education system consol utilizes a streamlined consolidated process to ensure that we have access to all of our grant funding. The management process is known as the consolidated justic plan or CDP. This process involves Valley View writing one plan for all federal grants being used to provide a holistic support for our students and staff. The CDP is a prerequisite for submitting applications for federal funds. The administration is bringing this for your information and we plan to bring to the next board meeting for your approval. Legal service report. No report. Association Federation reports. Valley View Council Local 604. Valley View Office Personnel Council Local 604. Valley View Transportation Local 3057. Any old business? Any old business before the board tonight? New business. Any new business before
074the board tonight? Freedom of Information uh Act. If anybody needs that, they can direct their request to Mr. Blay. announcements by the board. I just wanted to say congratulations to all the graduates and um thank you student ambassadors for first year experiment and um I know there's some changes and things that need to be done but we started I'm very proud of you guys for all the things that you did. I wish uh everyone this is the last board meeting for this um school year so I'm wishing everyone a safe and and relaxful relaxful um summer vacation for those who can have that. But um thank you to all and um again have a great summer. I'm along I am along the same lines actually. I wanted to just say congratulations to all of the
075graduates you have. Yeah. And I just want to recognize our student ambassadors. I've seen you in your schools. I've seen you at events. I've seen you representing us at elementary schools even. And whenever I've just run into you, you represent us so well. So, I just really really appreciate how you hold your positions with value and that you take it with the the esteem and a magnitude that it has because the role is to give us not just feedback, not just, you know, um to be there to take up space, but you actually add value to our schools and you represent us well. And so I just want to say thank you to those who are going on. Finish strong and go on. And I'm looking forward to seeing what you're doing next. And for
076those who are returning, keep being you and excelling in how you do it. So thank you. And thank you all to the graduates out in our community. Thanks. I just want to u of course say thank you to the ambassadors. Come one more time. I know that's my baby. uh and thank all those that supported them because we know it takes it truly takes a village and as we saying that the graduates are graduating from 8th from high school and all the things that they're going to going on and do Applewards all the all the professionals that we have all those that do care about our children. We have retirees coming up this Thursday and so many other things. So I am just thanking God for all you that we just continue to come as
077a village that everybody's body is valuable and that we continue to do that and continue to make Valley View what we all want to be a big family. So congratulations to everybody. Okay, announcement by the administration. Yeah, just quickly I would like to echo um comments from the board and I'll speak on behalf of uh school uh the district administrators. Um this was the inaugural event for our student ambassador program and you guys were the trailblazers and we thank you for that. Um, congratulations to the seniors who are coming off and I just want to let you guys know you have laid a foundation for us to refine over time and um, best wishes to the seniors who um, for your future endeavors and please, please, please come back and visit us and let us
078know about the great things you guys are doing. Just real quickly, I was able to crunch some numbers really quick for member Pipkin's question. Uh the overall cost went up 21,000 over five years, which is about $4,000 a year. It's less than 01% of of an increase. So I just wanted to get your answer right away for you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Renes. Anything else for the good of the order? Okay. May I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. All righty. All those in favor? I I journed.