001Bet. Okay. >> And that will be a Tuesday meeting. >> Tuesday. >> Thank you everybody for remembering five o'clock. Speaking of now called to order the special meeting of the board of education, school district number 40 at 5:00 pm on Monday, May 4th, 2026 at the Molen Education Center, 1900 52nd Avenue, Molen, Illinois. Open meeting with a roll call. Audrey Adamson, Chad Desmet here, Ramona Dixon >> here, >> Jason Frell here, Lindsay Hines >> here, Jeff Mayus here, Laura Severson >> here. Uh, pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance 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. >> Communication, public comment and participation. don't >> have any. >> Okay. Um, so we had a a discrepancy
002in the consent agenda. So I would ask for a motion to amend the consent agenda to reflect items A through E, correcting the typographical error as listing them A and >> moved. >> Second. >> Okay, got a motion in a second. Uh, any discussion? Thank you, Lindsay. Um, can I have a roll call, please? Yes. Uh Jason Perrell. >> Hi. >> Lindsay Hines. >> Hi. >> Jeff Mayus. >> Hi. >> Laura Severson. >> Hi. >> Ramona Dixon. >> I Chad Des Smith. >> I. >> Okay. Now the recommended motion that the board of education approve the actions contained in the amended consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. Can I have a roll call, please? Dixon. Hi >> Jason Ferrell. >> Hi >> Lindsay Hines. >> Hi >> Jeff Mayus. >>
003Hi >> Laura Severson. >> Hi >> Ja Smith. >> Hi. >> Okay. Now we will move into our professional development session reflecting on communication and community indeed. >> Hello. >> All right. Let me get my Perfect. All right. Yes. Yay. All right. >> Good evening. Thank you all so much for being here today. Um, as I said, my name is Katie Boliv. Um, I have met most of you because you so graciously hosted um a division meeting for us last fall, which was wonderful. Um, that I am your outreach and training director for the Illinois Association of School Boards. Um, for anybody that doesn't know what that means, um, Illinois Association of School Boards is your professional organization, and it's my job to connect you with all the resources that we have and answer any
004questions and just help you do um, your very best job at good governance. Um, so I want you to go ahead and open up your folders that I've got right there and I'll show you a few quick things. We are going to start on the right hand side. We won't go through all of those things in there, but essentially I just wanted to go through and show you some of the resources that I brought for you today. Um, we won't be using any of these right now, but I always like to bring them out just because they're really great resources to have. So, um, a couple ones I'll point out here. This is a schoolboard governance basics. So this goes through the foundational principles of effective governance um which is just a fancy way of
005saying uh the job description of a schoolboard. So that's what we call the job description school board and it goes into them in much greater detail um than I will. Um a couple other things in here. This is the scan and discover bookmark. Um so this is eight different flyers on one little piece of paper. Um you can scan the QR codes here and get some additional information which is great. Um, we also have a copy of the open meetings act exception bookmark here which lists the 16 reasons why um you can go into close session as an Illinois school um school board. Um we are not in close session tonight. Um so none of these apply but it's a good resource to have. And then this is my favorite thing that I I bring.
006Um this is a schoolboard governance resource materials guide. And this just has all sorts of um interesting information for school boards in here. Um it talks about um district and annual planning. It talks about student achievement. Um there's a board meeting monitoring form in here. Just all sorts of things. So these are just resources for you to have. As I said, we won't be using any of them tonight, but it's just something nice that you can have um to use. So that way, so we are here tonight to talk about reflecting on the board's communications and community engagement tactics. on the left side of your folder, you're going to see just a really brief agenda um for our time together today. We're going to talk um do some quick introductions and then we're going to
007talk about um your communication, your community engagement, and how you interact with your community. Um we're going to talk a little bit about the external context and what your constituents look like. Um what your goals are for community engagement, that kind of thing. Um and then we're going to talk about um community engagement strategies. You've got a little gallery walk activity, which is what those cute little stickers are for. Um, and we're going to talk about um some of the tactics that you currently use and things that you could in the future. Um, you will see the article that um that your superintendent graciously sent out to all of you. It's just a um kind of something to get you thinking about community engagement and all that. I realized it's from 2022, so somebody probably
008needs should rewrite one that's a little bit more um I actually did write in a journal about a year ago. Um I put something in there. It's an article called Beyond the Hay. Um kind of playing off the hey, you're a board member. >> What do you do after that? So anyway, that's in the journal. Maybe I'll start doing that. Um you'll also have a participant manual in here. Um we're going to talk a little bit through each of these and there'll be little um graphics on the slides that we have up there, too. Um and then the last two pages, let's say engagement matrix is what we'll talk about at the very end. Um that will be kind of your homework for tonight just a little bit. So, as I said, my name is
009Katie Bullet. I'm the director of outreach and training for the Illinois Association of School Boards. Um, we have several icons that you're going to see tonight. Um, the first one is partner talk. There might be times when I ask you to turn to each other and just have a conversation. Um, table talk when we all have a conversation together. Um, written activities, so it could be something that's in your participation manual. And then the participant materials um will uh kind of direct us back there as well. So, I thought maybe we just go around the room. I know you all have name tags, but you just want to say your name and then how long you've been on the school board um and um one thing that you love the most about um your school
010district. So, I'm going to pick on the end. >> Yeah, >> I almost picked on Jason >> Jeff Mayus. I think I am 371 days into uh being on the board of education. >> Not that you're counting, right? >> No. Yeah, we just hit our anniversary ju just last week. So, it's fresh in my head. >> Excellent. And what's one thing you love about your community? >> Well, I I'm I'm seventh generation Molen resident, so my forefathers were the ones that kind of set the initial roots here in Molen. And uh very nice. >> That gives me a lot of pride for >> absolutely to be a part of the community and raise my family in this community. >> Awesome. Thank you. All right. Next. Hi, Laura Severson. Uh also started with Jeff at the
011same time. So about a year in. Um I love that there is something here for everybody. Um all adults, all kids, and I think it's a great source of pride for our community in our school district. >> Thank you, Jason. >> You know me, Jason Ferrell is year four uh for me and uh community. I think just how well this community works together, especially in this like this district's very very blessed and how well everything works together and the teachers and the administration, things like that. Not every district has that. So >> thank you. Also, excellent t-shirt. >> Thanks. >> And I have to say my fun fact about Jason um that you all probably know, but he is our uh chair for the Blackhawk division. So, he gets to run all the meetings so
012they don't have to just hear from me, which I'm sure they appreciate. So, yes. Thank you. >> Nice. The fire >> weather. >> Oh, okay. >> Thunderstorm. >> I'm from Oklahoma, so you'll find that those kind of things I'm just like, it's fine. >> Just flush to the skylight. >> Yeah. Right. That's good. paper on it. >> Um, >> the emergency shelters in the bathroom if we need to use that. >> The food. >> That'll be good. Somebody grab the trace. >> Yeah, tornado alley shifted over to us now anyways apparently. So, we've gotten used to it as well. >> Yeah, >> that's what I don't like about But my name is Ramona Dixon. I am um in my fourth year um as a school board member. And the thing I love about the community
013is the passion of the teachers and leaders in this district. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Lindsay Hines also in my fourth year. And yeah, I think I just I love how enthusiastic and full of pride people from Molen are. So a lot of them come back, they raise their family here, they teach in this district. So that makes me happy. >> Thank you. Uh Chad Smith, I just completed my fifth year as a school board member. Um you know, kind of echoes the same thing that a lot of these guys have said. We've got a really good community that really rallies behind the school district and I think we do a really good job of, you know, overall maintaining good interactions and being good community partners. So, it's been a lived here my whole life
014and it's been pretty neat thing to be a part of. >> Well, thank you. Um, Brian Ple, board secretary, deputy superintendent. Um, you know, I kind of same what you've heard, been in Molen my whole life, career as an educator, which I'm very honored and to be in this position and working alongside uh Rachel and and supporting our our uh district is is uh just an incredible honor. But I I would say that uh I just like that we're very responsive to the needs of our u students and our families and we always keep that in mind with the decisions we make and we always are in that mode of what more can we do to support them. So something I really love about our district. >> Thank you Tara. She's like I have to
015talk to >> I don't I don't know. Tara Reed, board recording secretary, and I've been here since 2023, I think, in this position, maybe. And what do I What was the next question? >> What do you love about the community? >> Okay. All right. Last but not least. >> All right. Rachel Savage. I was finishing up my seventh year here as superintendent, which is wonderful. Um, I'm going to give a shout out to the board. I mean, I agree with everything, but hearing from my colleagues across the state, I am so grateful and so blessed for our board of education. They are all parents. They are very engaged. They are responsive. They are just very passionate about the success of our district. And when we are on the same page as far as those things
016go, great things can happen. And so it is never lost on me every single day how blessed we are to have such an awesome board because our kids benefit. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Well, thank you all for going around. I just like to have everybody talk right off the bat so it kind of breaks the ice a little bit. Um, I have just a little bit about me. All right. Well, it's gonna rain. Good. Um, weather.comwide today. Uh, I have been with the association for about five and a half years now. Started out my tenure in policy services. U moved into training development, which is kind of like the curriculum people. And then about twoish years ago, a longtime uh director in my position retired and I was able to step in. Um, and this
017is honestly my favorite part of my job is getting to come out and talk to school boards and um do division meetings and just kind of interact and and talk about how you work together as a board. Um, my uh fun fact that I always say is uh for me education is the family business. So, everybody in my family is an educator in some form or another. We never had any superintendent, but everything else across the board. Um, and uh, my husband is just finishing his 21st year in the bathroom. So, I guess the apple didn't fall too far. Our daughter does not want to be a teacher, unfortunately. She would like to go to Mars. Um, and I think she will someday. Mom is super thrilled about that. So, yes. Anyway, so that's a
018little bit about me. Um, I like to start out all of these with just kind of going through the foundational principles of effective governance. We won't go into them in detail because I know you had Patrick out here a couple of years back who's a colleague of mine. Um and he went through some of those. Some of you weren't here for that and that's okay. Um foundational principles of effective governance. There we go. All right. They are number one clarifies the district purpose. Board connects with the community. Uh number three board employs a superintendent and number four then delegates authority to that superintendent. Number five monitors the board monitors performance. And then number six the board takes responsibility for itself and self-governs. Obviously tonight we are here to talk about number two and how you
019connect with the community. Um, this is honestly my favorite of the six foundational principles. I live this every day and so yes, I do have a favorite foundational principle. Um, and I I love this. I think one of the most important things that the board can do is to connect with your community. Um, and one of the best ways to do that is uh to talk about how you work together with that. Um, and then also to talk about how you educate the community on what your role as a board member is. I think all of you can probably attest that you have absolutely no idea what a board member really does until you sit behind that table. Um, and then the information comes at you like a fire hose. So, it's important that we
020talk about how you engage with your community, how you educate your community, um, and how you get feedback from your community. So, first thing here, there we go. So, we talk about engaging with the community. Um, the schoolboard engages in a two-way conversation with the school community. Um, a lot of it is about what you put out there, the message that you're putting out, but it's also about how you're receiving feedback back in from the school community. A board in touch with communitywide concerns and values serves the public good rather than being overly interested by special interests. If you've been around ISB for longer than five minutes, you've heard the balcony dance floor perspective. Um, and the balcony dance floor perspective just means that you are up on the balcony. It means that you're not
021on the dance floor. are not engaged in the day-to-day activities of things, but you're up on the balcony. And that's important because on the balcony, you can see everything. You can see the fine arts, you can see academics, you can see facilities, you can see finance, you can see everything. And you make those decisions that you have to make in the best interest of all of those pieces as opposed to one or two um little things. And connecting with the community is a good way to determine how your community wants you to respond to those two. So, our objectives for tonight, um we are going to define uh the role of the board and what your goals are in board community engagement. Um we're going to talk about um some tools to examine the context
022that you're operating with community engagement. Um we're going to define what your population is. Um we're going to define who it is that you're trying to engage. Um and then we're going to talk about your tactics and we're going to do a little gallery walk all of these little um do we need to go into the sh? >> Not yet. Not yet. We're going to talk about how you engage with those. Um what we'll do then is I will take everything we talked about tonight. I'll go back and synthesize that including um the uh the walkthrough activity that we have a little bit later on. Um and then you can use that moving forward to talk about how to engage with your community and come up with a plan. All right. First one, goals of
023engagement. There we go. So, first thing that you have to do when you talk about community engagement is to define um how you want to engage the community. What it is that you're trying to do. Is there a problem that you're trying to solve? Is there a solution that needs is there something coming up that you need to um that you need to convey to the community that you need to communicate to the community. Um so, if there's a problem that you're trying to solve, it's what's the problem? What's the analysis? What's the solution to that? And how are we communicating that? So, what I want you to do is go ahead and pull out your um packets there. First page of your packet is going to say goal setting. I want you to take
024just a few moments on your own um to go through and say, "What do you feel are the goals of this board or what should the goals of this board be in connecting with the community?" Um if you believe that there's a problem, put that up there. What's your why? Why are you trying to connect with the community? We'll go through this. I'll give you a few minutes for that. Thank you. And I should have said this at the beginning, but this is informal. So if you need to get up and use the restroom, grab another snack, grab a drink, whatever you need to do, please feel free to use Just like another minute. Okay. Who would like to go first? >> Go for it. >> First goal I wrote down was keep all stakeholders
025moving in the same direction. >> Excellent. Anybody have anything kind of similar to that? >> When it comes to stakeholders, I'll guess I'll piggy back off of that. Um, I said, um, systematic approaches to communication with those stakeholders just respective to their roles and responsibilities. Systematic approach. I love that. What else? Yeah. And I put something similar just to ensure that our stakeholders feel like they're seen, heard, and represented fairly. Very nice. Seen, heard, and represented fairly. >> And a lot about consistency and messaging uh as it as it comes across especially with we've got a lot of a lot of things that are going to be coming up be facility projects. Um we are we can get three years from our superintendent leaving us. So having a good you know having some good talking
026points and being consistent when we discuss what our plan is all these things >> consistency and messaging that what else do we have? >> I have a connect the community with the proper administration member when there's a question or an issue. the community. I'm going to put the chain of >> proper. >> Perfect. Excellent. What else? >> Um being a representative for I put all voices but all stakeholders >> including parents, students, community members, district Anything else? >> But uh the community always feels welcomed to participate in any aspect of the district's opportunities and outcomes to participate. >> Kind of go along with that. I had open and accepting of community development. Along those same lines, I put um just the enhancement of two-way communication. I know you had stated problem that we're trying to
027solve. I think when I was thinking about this activity, it's not really a problem. It's about trying to stay relevant with, you know, what's going on in our society and our community and then the needs of the stakeholders in our district. >> I love that word relevant. piggy back on that to to highlight the achievements of the district, students, teachers, what won't be doing. >> That's important. Um, we talk a lot about how are you telling your story? Um, because we all know that if you're not telling your story, if you're not highlighting those achievements, somebody else is telling your story and maybe not in the best possible light. So, Dr. Savage, what did you have? pretty much what everybody said. The only thing that I would add or one thing that I would add
028is um I just try to make sure that you know we keep the schools on the hearts and minds of other decision makers in our community. That's very very important too. Um because schools are typically within the community kind of the heart of the community. they they tend to be and so um when other people are making decisions villages um you know town councils that kind of thing um what's best for the next generation has to be something that you all are promoting as well. So anything else on those? Right. Okay. Um so the second piece uh when we talk about community engagement is the external context of that. Um so what does that mean? We are going to go through um has anybody ever seen this particular um acronym? Um so pessle it's political
029economic social technological and legal and environmental we are going to go through each of these um there is a uh paper that you've got there very colorful um page um and as we're talking through these I want you to just jot down some notes under each of these we'll go through them at the end um as to what you really feel like are the the key priorities there but when we talk through each of these I want you to say okay when we're thinking about this what are some of the political influences and things like that what are some of the economic social, technological, legal, and environmental influences because those are really important to think about when we think about how are we connecting with the community and what methods are going to um to
030work best. So, uh the P political situation. >> Quick question. Do you have an extra copy of that? I don't think one was in my folder. >> Oh, sure. Yeah, absolutely. >> Sorry about that. >> You may have gotten a page left out. There you go. >> No problem. Thanks. So, uh, political situation, this can be anything ranging from local, state, national, um, it could be purely within the community as well. Um, so, anything like that that you think could be a political influence on communication and how you're communicating out. Um, it doesn't just have to be the red blue thing. It could be anything. Are there particular issues that are really really important to this community that might be affecting some of those things? Uh the E economic, it's a big thing going on
031right now. Economic factors and indicators. What are the economic factors and indicators in your community that you need to be communicating? What are some things that are going to impact how you communicate with your community? You talked about potentially some facility things. um that definitely falls in that economic factors um and even things like teacher shortages definitely falls in that as well. The S the social and cultural influences uh my biggest example for this one is AI. Um it kind of falls into both of those two but social and cultural influences. What is affecting your community socially and culturally? What are some things in your community that are unique and maybe affecting how you're communicating? technological advancements of course. I mean this is uh our our kids have way more access to technology than they
032ever have um in the past and how are we using that to communicate out but also how are we using that to communicate with the community. Um and then you also have to think about when we talk about techn technological advancements you have to think about how are we using things that are above that as well. And what I mean by that is you're going to have a subsect of your community that isn't necessarily technologically advanced. Um, and how are you working for those particular individuals to communicate what's going on in your district to communicate the good things and how are you getting back that feedback without relying on technology as well legal mandates of course this is you know everything that comes down from the state. Um, as I said, I started in policy.
033So, I'm kind of policy nerd. Policy 660 is curriculum and instruction. That thing never gets shorter ever. Um, so what are some things that you're seeing right now, maybe big ticket items in your community, um, that are coming down from the legal mandates, that kind of thing. Could be state, could be national, anything like that. And then finally, environmental elements. Um, for some communities, this is a bigger impact than others. I mean, we're talking about things like wind farms, we're talking about things like solar power. um if you have buses that are EV, if that's something you're looking into. So, environmental elements um that may be affecting your community and affecting how you're communicating with them. So, I'll give you a few minutes here um to just go through each of those and kind of
034make some quick notes. We'll kind of go through them. Ready? Just another minute or two. Great. Um, so the reason we talk about these before we start talking about tactics is because Hessle, these uh six things are kind of the the basis for how you're going to communicate with your community. What are the factors that are going to go into how you talk to your community and how you communicate with that? What things do you need to keep in mind while we're doing that? So these six things really do influence how you interact with your community and how your community interacts with you. So number one, political. What are some things going on in your community, statewide, national, that you feel like are really impacting your communication? >> I think just the fact that we're
035right on the border of Illinois, Iowa with diverse perspectives between even the two states in and then in those communities is an interesting challenge for us sometimes. >> Makes sense. Absolutely. and the fact that like sure we're byst state but then we're divvied up even more between you know most communities it would be one community but just even on the Illinois side there's four school districts just right here in the interstate loop >> absolutely >> well many districts in one area >> what else like every school in Illinois we're dealing with immigration and ICE and how to answer immigration and ICE. Absolutely. >> Lot of strong feelings on on that. What else? >> And we we've got the funding concerns, not only federal funding, but also, you know, are we going to get the funding
036that we expect to on a year in yearout basis? You know, if we can't, where do we where do we go from there? And >> right, >> what a political standpoint. We have the Rock Island Arsenal right here as well. Um, what was it? >> Rock Island Arsenal. The base, military base, which um continues to u fluctuate as far as if it's going to remain, if the employees are going to be u realigned. Uh so that's a molen staple as far as providing services. >> Absolutely. What else? I think just kind of in the political topic I had, you know, as far as maintaining communication with our local, county, and state officials >> just so that we can we can keep our needs on top of their mind as well. >> That absolutely and it
037kind of goes back to what Dr. I was just saying earlier about making sure that those that are making those decisions have um the the best interest of the kids in the district in mind. >> Absolutely. >> Anything else? >> We're just dealing with a generic I think push back on federal and state funded education and what that looks like. So >> absolutely >> education in general >> and I would say politically and this probably can hit some other areas but the changing demographic of this local area and then the needs so this generation you know and some of the different things that they bring you know that being able to be um looked at from you know previous generations and the way things have been done to the way things have to be done
038now that we're servicing a different population. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. I think there's a there's a lot more um I think trauma's always been there but it's a lot more easily identified now. We have more awareness of it. >> Anything else on political? I think kind of when you go with the Illinois Iowa border, you know, we probably get more questions and conversations about um you know the their funding model for private schools and >> you know kind of being able to answer those questions and explain our positions on those things. >> Absolutely. a unique um situation in that the next district over may be a different state >> in in some instances >> and going I mean this goes deeper into policy but a lot of times now with a zero >> um bullying no
039non-lerance for bullying you know political between it does a school district handle this or now is it does it become legal so now a lot more collaboration between police and the school district is necessary so that becomes political in some people's eyes because they don't understand policy behind it. >> Absolutely. Well, I think that brings up an interesting point too um that I'm sure you've seen. Um postcoid the way that the public interacts with boards is entirely different. >> It's just so different. Um, we used to have a video on here and we don't play it anymore um because very few people want to actually be reminded of co but um it was about Saturday Night Live actually did a sketch of a school board and parents at the school board during co it was
040uh it was it was interesting. So go Google that later. >> All right. What about um economic factors and some things may overlap. I mean that's um when we talk about the the factors here a lot of these are going to inter overlap and interpers with each other. So what economic factors are we seeing? >> I mean I I hear all the time about property taxes especially when people discuss kind of going back to the Illinois Iowa thing where they're like oh the property taxes are lower in Iowa. I'm like, well, other things are higher, but we constantly hear, "Oh, you raised my property taxes." And trying to, >> you know, explain a tax levy to somebody who doesn't want to hear you explain the tax levy. >> So, when I say lower my taxes,
041they don't want to hear why. >> We've had we've had several of our large employers um experiencing mass layoffs over the last few years um which has really put a strain on our families. >> Yeah. To piggy back, I put down free lunch program as kind of a indicator of our economic standing. Oh, >> sorry. >> The free lunch program. >> Yeah. >> And how many people apply to that? >> An increase in that. M >> and I'm not sure exactly where Illinois is right now, but I know in the not so distant past, Illinois was number one for citizens, people, you know, residents of Illinois leaving the state to go to other states. And that has been especially true in the in in the Quad Cities. Um >> like an exodus. It's it's rampant
042through the real estate side of things where if there's people moving to the Quad Cities, most real estate agents are pushing people to the Iowa side of things. >> And as a school district, we can be like the the driving force on on where those families choose to land when when placing themselves in the Quad Cities. I think that, you know, to that front, uh, with the communication, we are like right in the middle of rolling out kind of a rebrand for, um, you know, the the stuff that gets sent to real estate agents and employers and things like that when they're, >> you know, our our hey, look at us. >> Yeah. >> kind of messaging is being changed to recognize that >> um that piece. >> That's definitely a factor. rebranding in progress
043is um doesn't have to I mean these aren't just necessarily negative things. It could be positive things too. So I think a rebranding is wonderful. >> Part of that is kind of this new focus on or an expanded focus on trades and how much access we're giving not just to the college route but also to trades and access for those students to that. So that part of our our branding is where that plays out. seeing that more and more. I mean, I know probably everybody is, but we're seeing that a lot. More of a focus on CTE and and things of that and college not being the only avenue after high school. There's a lot of avenues. >> What else economically are we seeing? Another consideration for economics is um the amount of the fee
044structure that goes to families um for um use of the technology, use of the u Chromebooks and and then when you just to um expand from that the fundraising for other fees that parents might have such as activities for sports and things like that. So to in order for students to participate >> um sometimes we have to be considerate of if we're excluding people um on the basis of not be able to afford those programs. >> Absolutely. And that goes back to the free and reduced lunch too because the fee structure is influenced by that increase as well. So >> and you know on the it's still on the economic part um with all the facility upgrade and you know having messaging of how how are we doing this because we are doing all uh
045so just we we're given a lot of information on how to go just understanding how to communicate like no this we we've been planning for this it's not going to we're not going to make you pay more so that we can do this thing you don't think they need you to do. >> I mean, so I mean that and that's a big thing. I when you got people asking about their property taxes, but then there's also this um you know, refresh facilities. This is needed, but that's also something that goes into that communication too. How are you putting that messaging out there? >> And we look at, you know, at least I do when you start to do these upgrades and um you start to see that being a draw for people, which then can
046boost the the mulling coal valley economy as well. Um, you know, and it can be little things and we've talked about got a school that did a really cool mural on the outside of the building. Like it'd be nice to have more flourishes like that come through that people can look at and be like, "Oh, that's all right. It doesn't look like an institution. >> Less industrial." >> Yes. >> So, we are talking about influences on um the community that may impact communication. Um, we gotten through political and we're in economics. So, if you have anything to add, please feel free to jump on in. Um, so we're talking about uh economic things that are economic within your community that may be impacting um communication. Um, and he just brought up a great example as
047far as, you know, people are interested in, you know, hey, why are my property taxes and let's get those lower, but also there's facilities that need to be updated as well. So, it's kind of a balancing act. What else? >> And I think to add to what Chad was saying, um, you know, he noted that we do have a plan. sometimes that plan of action is not always known by community constituents. So I think it's more of the um sharing a version of that facilities maintenance for those stakeholders that that you know might be interested to show them when we prioritized when we have bathrooms that are coming to the forefront this year they were already on the plan and maybe you know just that evolution of how it you know rose to the top.
048I think >> you decide you want to do something, it's not like it happens the next day. >> Yeah, >> it's a process. >> Absolutely. >> Anything else on economic? >> Does that top one of the second ones? Oh, it does say free reduced lunch in. So, that's I was going to say just in terms of the socio economic status of our student population. >> All right. Social and cultural influences. And I think we've seen a shift on how people are getting their information and their news and their updates. They're going to social media, you know, Tik Tok or some other social media to get that. >> That is a huge one. It's a shift on how people are getting the news >> and a lot of times it kind of skews the word news
049more towards content, >> right? And it's going to be >> kind of dictated by what they >> what you've seen a lot of, they're going to keep feeding you that same thing, >> right? >> That's a good point. If you have one perspective that you read, I mean, every single one of us has done that where you start talking about something and then suddenly your phone is filled with heads and it's like, oh, okay, >> we're in a heavy multilingual area. So, I think that that's an important factor right in. >> Absolutely. Again, that goes with that content piece. It's easy to um assume with those biases. So, just really having a way to filter what we know to be factual versus um biases. >> Exactly. >> What else? I mean, this might get into
050the technology piece that we're going to talk about next, too. But there's a del there's a balance between equipping our students with the right amount of knowledge of technology to be appropriate, but then having them understand the flip side, too, because we can't shield them from it because they're going to need that when they go into the workforce because those skills, I mean, you talked about AI. We can't pretend that that's not happening because they're going to be expected to know how to appropriately use that, you know, from here on out. but we also don't want them using it to write their papers. So, right, it's um awareness and appropriate usage of a lot of those things, not pretending that they don't exist because that's not going to help our students in the long run
051either. >> Right. So balancing that technology, how do they use it but not overuse it and you know still have the ability to write a a comprehensive essay that was not written by Claude or >> I think it's really difficult the shrinking attention to focus like focus on attention we have to take really important things and make them edible and small segments you know that people move on very quickly from that. It it is and honestly when I talk about c when I talk about communication on a micro level with boards um one of the most uh prominent things that I'm hearing is that there are boards who are literally doing um updates in tik tock sizees. >> They have to put their news out in 90 second clips so people will pay attention to
052it. >> So that's it's a huge there's there's the attention focus has really really just minimized in the last several years. Oh, and then you know when when you start to shift to that type of communication and messaging and something that I've got, you know, kind of more in the technological piece as well, but you know, as you start shifting towards this younger generation, you're taking a lot of stakeholders in the community and potentially taking away what what they're getting out of it. >> Yeah. Um, so try to balance, you know, how do we how do we have communication, engagement with a wide range of people, you know, if you're not on social media or anything like that, are you getting the updates and it's a it's tougher to really balance that aspect. >> We
053talked about that there's a huge subsect of your community that does not use technology at all and they may not be connected with the school. They may not have a kiddo or grandkid in the school at all, but they're still part of your community. And how do you engage with with that? So, non-technology people. >> What else? >> I'd say uh staying ahead of the curve of mental health and well-being. >> Um really having the resources accessible. >> It's a fast-paced world these kids are living in these days. >> Staying ahead of mental health. Absolutely. I would add um addressing um addressing diversity um in a district that's not um from a certified staff um standpoint that does not have the diversity that reflect our student population. >> It's a really good point. It's almost
054more important when you don't have a huge variety because you want to make sure that you're including those things even though it's not something that a lot of people will put at the top of the mind. So I think expectations too on both school's expectations of of the students that we have now and maybe these students that you wish you had based off of what students behaved like or were you know 20 years ago but then also families expectations of what they get from a public school district and I think there's a lot of things regarding >> being all things and Yeah, we I think we also have a gap in spaces where kids can interact outside of school. So, you know, we don't have malls anymore that they go hang out at. There's no
055skate rings. They close the cellar. Like, they don't really have anywhere to learn how to be with each other, >> right? >> Um there's no third place anymore. I uh I noticed that um in just becoming a parent is that there's more playdates unless I'm going to ride my bike over to my friend's house. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, absolutely. What else? >> Um just general shifts in the way that kids students u communicate. So with their families, with each other. Um >> absolutely. >> Has anybody else um experienced uh their child doing homework with a friend, but they're not in the same room. >> They're on Zoom or just talking or something like that. Yeah. It's >> I remember the first time I saw that. I was like, "Oh, you really are doing homework. You're
056not just messing around on your phone." Okay. My daughter will do homework via FaceTime with her best friend and also do cheer practice via FaceTime from their perspective bedrooms. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> I mean, it's wonderful, but it's also like as a as a as a generation that didn't grow up using that, it's like, okay, this is a little weird. Um, what about and we we've talked a lot of these are going to kind of overlap, but let's talk a little bit about get these to unstick. talk a little bit about technology. What um technological advancements and and these may be some repeats as well. Um but what technology are we seeing that's influencing? >> I think communication tools with parents specifically and it probably relates to the maybe multicultural multilingual conversation we just
057had. You know, I'm sure there's a lot of situations where the child is is the one in the household receiving all of those and telling their parents what's going on at school versus the parent receiving that and then helping guide their child. So, you have to kind of think about it from both perspectives. >> They can't delete messages off the answering machine. Any >> the other side it's instant communication from the district to these parents. So, if there's a lockdown or things like that, we know what we're sending out is immediately read. >> It's relevant. And yeah, >> I I think that's been one of the best things that technology has brought to us with, you know, the use of Remind and Dojo and things like that where um you know, I I've got a
058kid that's old enough that it was still paper stuff coming home early on in their their school years. And did you get every piece of communication? Probably not. At least now we've got a you've got a increased likelihood that parents are seeing it now. Whether or not they're paying attention is is another thing. Um >> well and the opportunity to go back. I mean parent parents can now go back and it's like not I lost this piece of paper. It's literally on my messages right there. So easier access too. I think though with that comes the expectation for instant communication which is the and immediate instant response to any and all >> there's got to be buy in >> you know on a on a building level I think for some of that communication piece
059as well. Yeah, orders on that. Yeah, >> this is more of like a budgetary thing for the district, but uh tech inflation is going to be a challenge moving forward, >> you know, because of AI like RAM shortages right now have >> have created a situation where tech prices it's they're skyrocketing and that's that translates into Chromebooks for all the students and everything it takes to keep the network up and running. It's expensive. It's a huge expense. >> What else? >> Security. Um, >> security, >> especially, you know, with parents knowing what their kids are getting on and why we do what we do to put safeguards in place at schools. >> Any over here have anything you want to add? I just um added a little bit more what they were saying about the
060multilingual conversations and how we've been trying to engage and test new technological tools to increase our communication in different languages. And so we're testing and piloting two different kinds of technology right now. Um, one is kind of a standing tech that can sit on the desk of uh the front door of a school when a parent comes in that our admin assistants and principles are working through being able to communicate in any language directly and as well as some handheld devices that we're working on to not only help our students, our newcomers navigate school, but also trying to figure out how to use technological advances to increase communication with our parents who aren't getting the information um because we can't find interpreters for every single language nor are they there right on the spot in
061the moment that they're needed. So, it's been fun to try different tools um so that we can get better at that. That's one of those amazing things about technology is that you can create additional access for people that wouldn't have had it otherwise. >> I think along those lines, uh, when you talk about technology and instructional technology, there's a little bit of push that about screen time right now, >> right? >> And we always say, you know, >> at least from the curriculum side of things, it's about the right screen time, you know, just not screen time in general. Well, if we're having students engage in instructional platforms, how do we know they're working? Analyzing the data we're getting from there and making sure that it's um beneficial for our students. >> So, that's something
062that I think is um you know, >> and then how are you and then how to communicate that to parents. >> Yes. >> Because that's a big issue right now. It's huge. You know, there's a there's so many books and studies out right now. So, that's definitely something that's on parents um on parents. There's a lot of privacy issues coming up with technology with kids with cell phones, with security cameras in schools. Parents have a lot of fear on what they don't know. >> Anything else? >> I guess the balance of being able to use technology to supplement, not, you know, like take the place of. So we want we want from a staff student parent standpoint we want to use it to be efficient but there are times where we might need the paper
063copy for you know for some of our stakeholders. So just the balance and after that >> I would say AI has to show up there somewhere. I mean it's it's it's a moving target moving at a thousand miles an hour. the discussions that we had yesterday about AI are probably obsolete now just because it's growing and booming that fast. >> Very very different. Yeah. I mean that's you you take a webinar on it and a week later it's completely different. >> Yep. >> All right. What about legal mandates? What are people talking about? I know one of the things that that I talk a lot about is uh the incoming mandates on early childhood education and >> what we are doing about it. >> What else? I would say here in Illinois it's we're especially
064challenged just because our governor is and I don't want to get into the political side of things but he's one of the biggest uh you know naysayers in President Donald Trump and like they they go at it all the time. I think just yesterday or last week there was the uh legal battle that ultimately got overturned about banning books in the state of Illinois that that that went towards Pritsker's side of things. So it's it's really about being adaptable to to the way things are coming down from the federal side of things and and then through the the state. >> That's a good point. So like that federal state conflict of how does a long way >> how do you as a district know where is it going to land >> funding of things you
065can have tons of things that are amazing ideas but if we don't have the capacity and resources >> to do them and we think about the language one was coming down and and a variety of things that I mean all things that sound great but how do we navigate >> yeah there's so much that sound great I mean I think in the last time wasn't there when about etiquette or something which I thought was That one got overturned, didn't it? I feel like it got overturned. Um or didn't make it to the top of the list. I mean, in theory, that's great. Somebody's got to teach it. What else? >> The uh volatility with the uh Department of Education. None. >> Yeah. volatility >> with the um you know jet named early childhood, but we
066can go down the instructional um press policies and list a lot of other things there such as uh title six uh civil rights associated with the CL or ML, you know, requirements. But, you know, just I would say to sum it up, >> policy changes. >> Yes. And with with with no funding. Um, so kind of just going slow to go fast to see where the state is going with some of those um press policy changes that impact the instructional piece, which it just impacts every stakeholder in our >> in our um in our school district from families up to teachers and leaders. the quickly expanding spec, you know, what we look at for special ed and IEPs and who falls under that and funding for that. >> The um you know, when when we
067look at attendance days, mental health, um the state came out with a policy around mental health a couple of years ago and it was kind of impromptu. Districts had to try do it to the best of their ability. >> Yeah. And I I think that's the toughest thing when you look at any of these policy changes, the you know some of the unfunded mandates, some of the this is what you need to be doing and then when the when it's something that a stakeholder is got a genuine interest in and then they come to us and say what are you guys doing about this? It's like well sometimes it's hard to communicate like we're working through and trying to figure out you know the >> best course of action doing everything we can and a
068lot of times that's not the answer that somebody wants to hear. >> They want to know what are you doing right now? It's like well we're still working through that based on where everything's going to land. We're in compliance, not out of compliance, but we're, you know, maybe it's just a need that we've, you know, seen here locally and we need to do some more things to refine that policy or pro local policy or protocol, but >> I think just people understanding that this stuff comes >> in waves. >> I think uh cell phones is a really good example of that. I mean, that's been kind of a moving target and how districts are handling that and where it's going to land and it's tough. >> I know we talked about it last division meeting,
069but the legal like how we're handling collective bargaining and how we're communicating about collect bargaining, >> it's a good one, too. >> Wednesday. >> Anything else on this? It's it's not really like legal mandates, but falling under legal category, we've we are currently in the midst of a a lawsuit and like how we communicate and what we say, you know, obviously it's ongoing litigation. There's not really anything we can say to the public, but um you know, just being mindful of the conversations that are had regarding some of that stuff and >> Oh, absolutely. Because that's one of those things the public wants to know every little piece they can about it and >> they can't, right? >> And that's tough to communicate. >> All right, we'll do the last one here and then we'll
070take maybe like a five minute break um before we get into some of the other pieces. Sounds good. >> Perfect. All right, last one here. Environmental elements. What kinds of things are you seeing or communities related to environmental? And we talked about this being just about anything, but it could it's primarily, you know, there's communities that are dealing with wind farms and solar and and all sorts of things like that, EV. Um, so what are you seeing? I don't know if this is totally aligned, but with our uh with all the updates we're doing to our schools, they're getting further and further apart, and we don't have a bus system. >> Um so transportation, not only to and from school, but to and from activities, clubs, after school things is getting harder and harder. >>
071Yeah, we we rely on third party for all of that. Mhm. >> The the city bus does a good job for us in town, but when you talk about Cole Valley, that becomes an issue. >> Uh we talk about there was a conversation had about our u middle school teams and having a way to get them to events >> uh while relying on a third party school bus. Uh so so yeah that's definitely you know as we go down that path you know what are you looking at doing and how is that going to affect again you know your environmental impact and there are going to be people who say >> this is what you should do this is what you shouldn't and be a lot of opinions around that >> transportation tends to be
072a hot >> well we talk about our ML families um environment mental kind of culturally um a lot of the fruit and vegetables that we um normally partake in here in the United States might not be accessible to them. However, there are lots of Asian markets and um I'm hearing about a lot of community gardens that are trying to cater to some of those uh those needs to bring some of that nostalgia here in the United States. >> Love that. >> Absolutely. And I would kind of just piggyback off of Lindsay's point about um our our inventory of buildings. Um it was the most recent example of that is on a ele elementary. It's a combining a number of schools and and and building a more 21st century approach to a building. Um and there's
073potentially more on the way. So, how how are we going to drive the the the the physical and environmental structures of these buildings um so that they're they're of the district, not just on the district, right? >> They work within what you need. >> Absolutely. >> Go ahead. >> Say I've had conversations with people uh from the industry about like looking at utilizing some of our our schools for solar farms on the roof. Um, and then also as we do some of these construction projects, uh, I know our new parking lots, they really, the city really wanted us to put EV chargers in the parking lot, you know, for accessibility. Um, and I think you're going to see more of that coming down and and, you know, you've got to look at doing that versus
074there are people out there that for no reason other than just to be mad about it. If you put solar panels on the roof of the high school, they're going to wonder why you're utilizing their tax dollars for something they don't agree with. >> And political, >> it's all interconnected. It's all interconnected. >> That goes back to that communication that we talked about as to the how and why. Um because I do agree with Chad. I mean, a couple of years ago when we had those um SER dollars, we did HVAC in every building to be able to show our stakeholders that now we don't have to cancel school at 1:00 or Dr. Savage watched the news all day to figure out the weather was going to warrant us having to release students. So, that's
075a that's huge. we're gaining instructional time and um those buildings are more efficient, you know, >> that is huge. >> I also think as we talk about facilities and changing the footprint, how do we partner with the city and other stakeholders and responsible use of previous buildings and you know, I mean, frankly, in Molen, we have a lack of space available to grow because we're locked between two rivers. So, you know, as we decommission some of those for the district's use, is there another better, more, you know, positive way to use this within the community? And how can we be proactive in planning that? >> Absolutely. >> I would also add affordable housing. I know this past winter we were asked to have some of our schools be emergency warming shelters for our community. So,
076there is a definite need >> that impacts our families. >> Absolutely. I would also say uh just overall the district curb appeal. Every last square foot is accounted for and is is from the public facing side of things looking >> and and getting that A+ grade. building. >> And I think, you know, Jeff, with that, it's the just being able to do things at our at our buildings that make them look inviting and and like a place that your kid wants to go. And then at the same time recognizing while some of the facilities could have a good community use, there's others that the best use for them might be to be gone. And trying to convey that message of, hey, this building, this site is perfect for a new school, but that building's got
077to go, and I know that you like it because it's old. >> It's just old. >> And find those dollars to that accountability. So to know that, you know, as Jeff noted, those grounds are very wellkept. There are people that it's human capital behind that and it equates to this amount. It it's not just happening magically. We commit to that. >> Exactly. >> And and because of that, actually, we have to constantly update our community usage policy of some of our newer facilities or newer areas because of >> how much money we've divested into, you know, invested in those and and then there's some push back on that. So, >> oh yeah, of course. Because they think, well, this is a community space. We should be able to use it. And you're thinking, okay, we
078just put a lot of money into this and we need to be able to use it for the kids. I mean, that's the primary function of the space. >> Okay. Well, these are great. Um, one of the things that I want you to think about when I send this back to you, um, is this. There you go. When you look at these and you look at all the factors um and you're talking about community engagement, the question becomes which of these are keeping you up most at night? Which of these are keeping your community up most of night? And which of these are going to be the biggest threats that you think that you can face to the community engagement efforts that you've got. Um it doesn't have to just be the political. I mean,
079a lot of this could fall into that category as well. So, um, that's going to be another little piece of homework I want you to take when we send this back to you, take a peek at it and say, "Okay, which of these are keeping us up at night and which of these are the biggest threats to the community engagement efforts that we're doing?" Let's take five minutes and come back at 6:15. Good. >> Please get some snacks. for two minutes. The time limits very great presentations. >> Oh, thank you very much. >> Anybody else need to send this last one? >> Yeah. I think everything we have to We have to talk about who we're engaging. Um, meaning your constituencies. And there's a few different uh categories these will go through and then I'll
080have you list out your opinions. Um, your consistent your constituency um is how you define who it is that you're engaging um and who engages with you. I want to click it again because it'll go too fast. Sorry. Okay, perfect. Um, so there's a few different areas here. Audiences, um, these the audience does not gather on it on its own. It comes together because um, of some institutional source. This could be people that come to a board meeting, um, anything like that. It's an organization or an individual, i.e. the school district primarily, um, that has enticed them to, uh, listen to an actual message, a virtual gathering. Um the audience is who you're getting potentially that comes to a board meeting. It could also be if you ever watch a webinar at work or through
081IASB, you are part of the audience there. Stakeholders, we've talked a lot about that word tonight, but these are the people that are influenced by the decisions that you are making. Um stakeholders, we use that a lot. A lot of times we use the word publics um with this too, which we'll talk about in a moment here, but these are the people that are directly affected by the decisions that you make. Publix. Um, these are uh kind of similar to stakeholders, but the Publix arise on their own and choose the organization for attention. Um, so these are people that choose to move into your community, people that may have a big issue that they want to come in and see you. Um, that's what we're talking about with Publix. Those are the people that are
082coming to your board meeting with an issue that they want to present to you that they would like for you to solve. And then the next one is unanticipated. Um, so these are uh new publiclix, people that you would not have necessarily engaged with otherwise. Um, that are generated specifically through social media. Uh, some communities have a lot more unanticipated publics than others. Not sure if your community has has that particular issue or not, but um, these are are people that have the potential for positive or negative consequences. So they may be people that are engaging with you on social media that are promoting your district, people that are saying really good things. They may be people that are bringing concerns to you through social media. Um, we saw a lot of this during co
083fortunately or unfortunately. Um, a lot of people deem social media as the way to communicate with districts and it's not always I mean should not be the best way to do that. So, um, what I would like for you to do is my clicker to work here. I'm gonna go with this. I would like for you to take a look at where it says engagement analysis on there. Um, and I want you to look at specifically these three categories. We're looking at audiences, stakeholders, and publiclix. And it tells you kind of what each of those are. So, this is a group of listeners or spectators. Um, any group that's affected by your decisions. The stakeholders. And the publics are um they come on their own and choose to come to the organization with an issue.
084I want you to list at least one example that you can think of, and it can be as specific or as broad or generic as you like in your district for each of these, and then we'll go through them individually. So audiences is um the group of listeners or spectators. Who are you putting your message out to? Essentially stakeholders are the people that affected by your district and the publics are generally those that are be going to be coming to you. What can I clarify? And I will say a lot of these may overlap. A good way to think about it is audiences are who are you putting your message out to. Stakeholders are the people affected by your decisions and the publics are people coming to you. Um so again a lot of these
085may overlap in a minute. Hey, audiences, who are you putting your message out to? Who are the groups of listeners or spectators? >> Companies. >> Local companies. Good one. What else? >> Community members. >> Very good one. >> Social media followers. >> Our local news. >> Local news. Perfect. What else? >> Parents and students. There you go. I was waiting for somebody to say that was like the obvious one that it is, but it it's one of those where you're like, "Oh, yeah, that is um it is one of your audiences, but it's not one that's always it's not always top of mind because a lot of that communication comes out organically." >> I would say >> staff. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I was gonna say staff for the board of education. The staff is definitely
086>> paying attention. >> What else? >> Just going to drop that there. What about stakeholders? Who are the people that are directly affected by the decisions that you make? Oh, I forgot to ask. Do you have any additional ones for audience? broader community. >> Broader community >> because we're in the B-state area and you know we aren't competing for >> Oh yeah. Regional community. Absolutely. >> That's it right here too. It's interesting. I think there's people that have moved away from here that still have a lot to say about that they used to >> that doesn't change. former moleners care a lot. >> So that's I mean wonderful but these >> I didn't have stakeholders >> any subsets of our so like I thought like you know um families that have you know students that
087are part of our special education programs or you know individuals that are you know we're are on our sports teams and we have changes you know we've voted on um you know upgrades to facilities. So pretty much anybody that benefits from a vote or is impacted by a vote or >> Exactly. What else? >> Like again with parents and students. >> Parents and students, >> teachers >> and staff. Yep. Taxpayers. >> Mhm. Spoiler alert. These two are going to be on all three of them. >> I will say another state, but wouldn't would a stakeholder group be considered like our current and potential vendors? I know they have these bid processes and sometimes they watch our board meetings because they want to be a part of that to understand how to do business with the
088district. >> Absolutely. >> What else? I think our our other governing bodies are just as much stakeholder. >> Yeah. >> Our unions. >> H >> our unions. >> Unions. Oh yes. What about Publix? Who's coming to you? parents and students and staff. >> Parents, students and staff's like going for the low hanging fruit. I'm good. >> Absolutely. >> People that want to rent our facilities actually. Yeah. Renters, >> colleagues in other districts. >> Other districts. Absolutely. >> Say outside political/ special interest groups with an agenda groups. Yep. >> What are um some thinking about your time on the board, not co because that's everybody's going to answer that one. What are some of the biggest issues that you can remember hearing from the public regarding >> u so we've had like public comment to advocate
089for hiring or certain people for different positions >> if they really strongly believe you'll get three four five public comments on one >> hiring decisions what else >> do we have to say Satan >> Satan Do we have to say Satan? >> If we're saying specifics. >> Yeah, >> I tried to be generic and said interest groups and then >> say rentals. >> Rentals, >> but I think um just general like policies. I mean, we've had people about like how we, you know, either enact things or how things are decided, >> right? >> Um in a positive and supportive light. Uh we we have our uh staff stakeholders come out when um curricular decisions are made. That's our >> adoptions and >> facility update. So >> I think for sure regional community needs to be
090on there again for publiclix just because like I'm very much aware what the other school districts in the quad cities have going on both on the other side of the river and even our our our neighbors to the west. And I think our our union bargaining groups can also be part of this because yeah, they will they will be here when they want to be heard especially >> when we're looking at audiences, stakeholders, and publics. There we go. Which of these groups do you feel like as a board you currently spend the most time engaging? And which would you like to spend more time engaging? I mean I think as a collective parent here and students and staff are all we do we spend a lot of time on them and probably appropriately. So >>
091yeah as well we should. I do think if you were to divide between those three categories though, I think you you have a tendency to spend a lot of time on the publics because they're the ones who are coming to be heard. So it's whoever is, >> you know, things that are, >> you know, brought to your attention, if you will, >> they have to whether or not they are the most important thing or should be the priority. But when something is brought up several times or is brought up loudly or whatnot, then then >> you would have to respond again. >> Loudest voice in the room. Yeah, >> sometimes I call that the vocal minority. >> And I've actually had with with districts that have um and not saying this is yours, but there
092are districts that have have a really prevalent vocal minority. Um it's helpful to remember, you know, okay, how many people are in your community? How many people are in your community? >> Like individuals? >> 50,000. >> What's 1% of 50,000? Someone do math. Math. >> 50. It's like 50 >> 500 5,000. It's really bad that I can't remember. Yeah. >> The point being if you are not hearing from that number, you're not even hearing from 1% of your community. And that's sometimes it's helpful to remember when you have a room full of people yelling at you. Hopefully not, but what is 1% of 50,000? >> Oh, I thought you were doing math. >> Oh, no. >> No. So pretty. >> Whatever that number is, because we're all fired. Whatever that number is, um, when you
093have that vocal minority coming out, a lot of times, that's the easiest thing to remember is I am not even hearing from one person. >> 500. >> There you go. >> 500. >> I love it. I really thought it was, but I was like, I don't want to say that it's being recorded. >> How many zeros are we talking about? >> Recorded. >> The ISB lady couldn't even do. Um, so unless you're hearing from 500 individuals on one issue, you're probably you're not hearing from one% of your community and those people might really really be passionate about it, but it's just something to remember. So you feel like publics is does everybody kind of agree with that and it's what you kind of focus a lot of your efforts on? >> Yeah, I think that
094for the most part it's it's people coming up to us with a specific issue. Um, and while you'd like to be more focused on engaging in the broader stakeholders, it's a little tougher, I think. You know, we can put messaging out and it kind of depends on where you're at and what you're doing. >> Yeah, it's a moving target a lot. So I think the public's here responding to issues that get brought to you versus if we were able to spend more time just communicating, which I think the district does a good job of this. But if you can even have more time to just communicate about impact to stakeholders rather than responding to >> various subsets of things from the public, that could be more impactful. >> Exactly. This is more about being reactive
095and these are more about being proactive and how are you proactively putting your message out into the community so that hopefully these individuals not few and far between because you definitely want people engaging with your board but these individuals have a greater sense of what the district is doing, what the district is about. So Katie, if I'm understanding the definitions of the between the difference between the publics and the stakeholders, the stakeholders are affected like by something in our district. So these are the people that are bringing something to us. So if I if I have that definition right, I would argue that we're we have more of a stakeholder group that we're >> um collaborating, you know, with because a student or a parent or someone comes to us and says, "Hey, um you
096know, because my child doesn't have access to this. >> And those that's why these groups are going to overlap quite a bit because um people that have, you know, kiddos on sports teams are definitely going to come and be part of the publics that are addressing you um as a board or even it doesn't even have to be the board. These are the people that are addressing, you know, maybe administrators or even um you know, principles, that kind of thing. Um publics and stakeholders and audiences a lot of times are going to overlap. I mean, we've got those uh regional communities and both audiences and Publix. We've got um parents, students, and staff in all three of them. >> Um but the kind of when we look at the constituencies, what we're looking at is
097how are you definitely have to be reactive to things when people come in, but also making efforts to be proactive um out in the community to put the messaging out that you want. Um you all are the best ambassadors for the district, honestly. Um, and that's part of what we're kind of going through tonight with with some of the community engagement efforts that we can talk about. >> But that's a good point. I mean, a lot of these stakeholders are going to be ones that you interact with as well because they are going to be part of the public. >> Okay. >> I I would say I mean see the science form, but we do have two student, >> you know, members that really do a great job of bringing student related I mean only
098focus, you know, some of that information. without them, I don't know how well we'd be doing as a board interacting with the student aspect of of the stakeholders or the audience, you know, and really interacting with them. We need to do better anyway, but without them, I don't even know where we would have some influence there. So, >> well, I'm a huge fan of having a student board member because it's exactly what you said. That's a great way for the board without stepping on the dance floor to get an idea of what's going on with the kids and what's their focus and what's their priorities right now. Good job. I like that. >> Uh so the next piece we'll talk about, we'll just go through this really briefly, is the nature of communication. Um we've
099talked about this a lot tonight that it is immediate. It's 247 these days. Communication isn't you write a letter and it goes in the mail. It's it's immediate. Um technology continues to evolve. Uh we talked about how AI that you learn about this week might be totally different next week. Um usage continues to increase. Um, we also talked about how we need to be focusing on those people that maybe don't use technology quite as heavily, but it's there and it's it's immediate. Uh, studies have shown, so many studies, and this particular one right here is one we're looking at. Um, the media richness theory is face-to-face and personalized communication is the way to go. Um, when I talked about some districts doing that 90 second blur thing, that's a method of using a personalized communication.
100It's about knowing your district, knowing your community, and how are you going to communicate with those. So, um, more effective to less effective, face to face, obviously the best face to face, um, communicate, more effective communication. Video conferencing is is great as well. Um, we have two offices. We've got an office in Lombard and we've got an office in Springfield. Um, Lombard being in the Chicago area, without Zoom and without Teams, uh, we wouldn't meet half of our team members. And it's still funny when you see somebody you've never met in person before and you're like, "Oh, you're really tall. I did not expect that." Um, telephone, um, classic, that's another way. Two-way radio, uh, that was part of the the study. I don't know how many people still use a two-way radio, but written
101address documents, uh, especially when we talk about marketing, um, or messages out to the community, letters, emails that are personalized to people. And then finally, unadressed documents, just a standard bulk message less effective on the communication scale. We also have to talk about the individuals doing the communicating. Um, so there's kind of five different categories we talk about and they go from more impactful to less impactful. Sorry, you guys are at the teachers and staff. These are the people that are impacting communication daily. Um, and they should, they absolutely should. principal, school, superintendent, and district. These are the people that are impacting and putting out that message daily. At the top, we've got the board as an entity and individual board members. Um, we know the importance of being a team and putting out that
102messaging as a team. The reason that we have the board as an entity and the individual board member up there at the top is because as far as impact with the community, you have a huge impact, but not as much as those people that are in the day-to-day um dance floor of it. And most of the communication that's going to come out, in fact, all of it for the most part is going to come from the district in some form or another. But we of course are talking about these two, individual board member and board member as an entity in this communication method. So, all right. Who's ready to get up and walk around a little bit? Maybe. Okay. You've got an envelope there. Um, and what we're going to do is go through um
103briefly each of these and just kind of give you some examples of these. But you've got eight different um little I think they're eight seven um posters throughout the room. Um and you've got your little stickies on there. I'll tell you what each of those are for here in just a moment. But the first category u board meetings and workshops please keep in mind I like to preface this. I did not write this. So some of these are ones that I am hugely fond of and some of these are ones that I don't know that I would necessarily recommend but take them from what you will. Board meetings and workshops categories. This is another way that you can connect with your community. See um ding ding ding. Good job. And a non- voting student member
104to the board of education. One of the best ways using your board meetings that you can communicate with the community spotlight stories. Um, a lot of districts do that. I'm sure you may do something like that as well. Um, where you're using your board member to board meetings, excuse me, to spotlight something amazing happening within the community. Uh, the next category, the board's traditional and social media presence. um individual letters to the editor on hot topics. Uh create a board of education social media channel. This is one of those I do not necessarily recommend. Um as I said, my view is that district communication needs to come from the district. Doesn't mean the board can't be involved on a micro level. Um but that's one of the examples that they have up here. Student staff
105visit by the classroom. Um, some districts do this where each board member actually adopts a school depending on the size of your district. Board learning walks. Uh, do you do any version of that here? Perfect. Those are always great. There we go. Uh, the board school and district event management. Um, assigning board members to attend assemblies, fine arts, and athletic events. less important when you have so many parents on the board because you're automatically going to be there for a lot of these events. Um, do you have an education foundation in the district? Do you have board members on the education foundation? >> Not these board members. >> Gotcha. Maybe district preps, but >> perfect. Yeah. >> Board advisory committees. Um some boards do uh and and obviously all these are connection with the district
106a speaker series for parents kind of an educational method for that as well. Um webinars uh I don't recommend a telephone town hall. I don't know if people would attend that but webinars um if you have a big um big uh issue coming up. I think my computer doesn't like being connected to the There we go. Civic and community engagement. This is a big area where boards can get involved um and still maintain their status on the dance floor. Um launch a partner recognition program. We talked a lot about uh your connection with the community um and other um entities as well. Um chambers of commerce. Sure you've got those here. Um and then your individual um board member communications. Um a lot of boards will hold like a coffee on your corner kind of
107thing. These are just kind of examples of ones. When you go around to each of these, you're going to see them individually as well. All right. So, what we're going to do is I'm going to have you go around with each of these and we are going to review the tactics. We're going to do a gallery walk. So, you've got some dots in there. You only have 10 dots. 10 green dots, excuse me. The 10 green dots are tactics that you walk around and you're like, "We need to implement this now. This is something this board, this district needs to implement right now. The yellow ones are maybe and you've got quite a few of those. The dots are we do this and we don't want to do it anymore. Red, the red ones. Um
108the blue dots are the ones that your superintendent has that she'll go around and put for things that the district is already doing. So go ahead and get up. You can go around to all of these over here. And I want you to walk around, look at all of them first, and then use your dots to vote. And then we'll kind of briefly go through some of these. But I will also, like I said, all this data and send it back out to you as well. Questions. >> There we go. Now it's working. >> Thank you. >> There we go. >> Awesome. Thank you for >> I just thought about this. >> Yellow is the ones that um maybe implement this. So red but red is not >> red is ones that you are doing
109or that you think the district is doing that you don't want to do anymore. >> Okay. So just ignore text don't want to do >> exactly the one you don't have any strong feelings on one way or the other >> you can go ahead and do >> okay the eighth point is over here. >> I put it in a hard to see place. >> Oh you had some too. And I put your goals over here for you in case anybody wants to review those while you're going through and looking at all these. is school rather than the district. That's my >> local news. >> I need some help. No. >> Worksh. I'm a big cheese and cracker fan. I had to go over pictures. I was there. rediscover. Just say >> don't let that happen.
110>> Yeah. Right. Can we take a picture of these coasters? Absolutely. There's a lot of really good. Please feel free. Yeah. I did this one. That's kind >> I donate some of my bills. See a lot of red. No one does that mean >> just a regular page. Yeah. Yeah. Just your board of education. >> Yeah. >> There's good good ideas there. You only need one. >> We have to use them all. You want us to come back? >> You do not have to use >> yeah, I uh have a hard time distributing any rags. >> What's that? I thought I had here >> and then I put stuff on >> too many colors. >> I was going to say I was at >> when people come in >> on that more than one district.
111speaker. >> You don't know who she is. Right. >> I usually just say, the time, >> the form that they need to fill out if they want to do that. Um, >> are we able to >> Yeah, I think that's >> uh that was uh >> March. >> You know what? I think so. I know for a while. >> Oh, um Oh, the governing meeting. Is it >> okay? It's either May 26th, May 28th. >> It's one of the ones that I run at the sale at the seller. >> Oh, that's the >> cheaper for a while. Yellow is like definitely we want to start. >> June for that. >> Yeah. >> Yes. It'll be six o'clock >> and I'll send you the packet ahead of time view it and all that. >> That's cool.
112I mean >> I know one of my friends from college. Yeah. I mean they make right I love that stuff. >> We do actually make every table is full. >> That's a good sign. >> Yeah. >> You want to do that? Get rid of my green one. >> I know. >> Exactly right. >> Nobody gets >> Yeah. Just send me whatever you >> Yeah, we'll do. Absolutely. >> I tried to change the name on mine from school board member >> and they were like and they never approved or change. >> I can change my name. You did good. >> I got a little whiny. >> She was like I was like I don't know why >> it gets to a point like too long just getting out of bed. >> No, I can't. >> You
113go like a hair stylist like get your haircut. >> He brought his show up shirt up in the ball. He is so cute. He goes big fanboy. >> So then and then I'm like >> out of child, you know, >> really good. >> Yes. >> Such an exciting >> looking fruit, too. You know, >> you just called pineapple an exciting looking fruit. Okay. He was cute. It was cracking me up. t-shirt back to his white t-shirts of our lives. Well, then he was like >> this one. >> And he's like, >> we have the cap here. >> Oh, you do? >> Yes. >> We haven't printed it yet, but I have a >> Oh, cool. You can take a picture. >> That's a great role for you. Yeah, you're fine. >> No, and I'll type
114up all of this and send it out to you guys. >> Yeah, I don't blame you at all. We're just about finished, so you're >> Okay, good. I didn't want to miss too much. enough. There's a lot of snow edit mode. >> But if you want to take a picture of the front >> Oh, I love it. Oh, that is super cute. >> The picture turn out. >> Yeah. >> Good. >> Oh, that's adorable. >> That's awesome. asked for the official the actual pictures. Like I want to print it out. >> I love that. >> That's super cute. >> Yeah. So, this um we hope to get this printed here pretty soon. Um and this will go to all realators. We'll go to the Arsenal. >> So cool. >> I wasn't sure how she was
115going to feel >> originally. And she's like, "So, you're telling me kind of like famous?" Jeez, they were into it. >> Christopher was originally on the opposite side. He was like, I mean, I probably should have asked him before I told you he would, but I was kind of like, >> okay, >> it's fine. Like, it's just a picture. Like, just like, do you want me to do it? I will do it if you want me to do it. I said, I don't care one way or another. He goes, then maybe not. Somebody wanted all the details. Who else is doing? I'm like, I don't know. I'm like, I have zero sympathy sometimes. Like, show up and take a picture. Like, somebody do you want to take a picture of the front of it? >>
116So cute. She's I told I told her it was >> okay. >> Yeah. >> But she was like nor sometimes she's a little introverted. I'm like I don't know that. >> She's the most introverted cheerleader. Weird combination, but >> Well, I think Christopher saw her and then Annayia and he was like, "Oh, all right." Like, "I'm good. I'm good with this." >> Yeah. She was like, >> she said, "Yeah, kind of without even thinking about like >> it's a picture that's gonna go on. >> Just it's fine." And I know Christopher was like, "Is it like printed or on PowerPoint slides?" I'm like, "I don't know. It could be both." I was like, "Again, just show up. >> It's a picture you're going to wear. You're going to put on a t-shirt. >> Show up
117and do what you're told for once." >> Okay. Really briefly, um, were there any around the room that anybody was super enthusiastic about? I always like to ask that >> being a student for a day sounds off one of the >> There you go. >> I have a lid on that. >> I was a student for a lot of years. >> I like I mean the learning office one which I think doing that more in a structured way like I know the teachers do that in a in a you know classroom and stuff and find to be really valuable. So I think doing something like that and then I enjoyed sort of just we're talking about this kickback thing but the board buzz sort of thing of like how many people after a meeting ever
118going to like go and really look up what was decided versus I mean like our mayor does like the city hall in you know you know 60 seconds sort of thing once a week something similar like that >> andy Andy had done that >> um very briefly towards the end of his term >> but trying to figure out or if it's some bulleted points and stuff that gets put out even as a a post on our social media and stuff like not our social media but the district social media. Well, and that's I mean boards can help with too because a lot of times when we're talking about community engagement you the a focus is okay we don't want to put this back on the staff to do more stuff and sometimes it will um
119but something like that the board could help with the board could take turns um you know putting that together send it over to admin and and your superintendent and then they can um distribute that as needed. Yes. >> Just one thing about student for a a day. I want to say this out loud before I forget it and talk about it elsewhere, but for our our our student board members, we have like kind of an application process. An idea would be that any of those applicants that didn't make it all the way through that those individuals because they want to be involved with the board, that's where board members could could potentially um shadow those that were not ultimately selected. Just an idea. >> I love that. I love that. getting those kids that clearly
120want to be involved, but not every single one of them can sit on the school board, >> they still have an opportunity to like have some direct opportunity with with the board. >> Any other big ones that kind of stood out? >> I think and I saw I think a fair amount of greens on it with the adopt a school. >> Um, and it's something I think the conversations have been floated in the past. Um, I think that'd be a really good way. You know, we've all all got students somewhere in the district. You know, can't we can't all adopt the high school or anything like that. But, um, yeah, I think that'd be something that we could definitely kind of try to figure out. You know, we've got more schools than board members, so
121people might have to, you know, double up in some cases. But, I think that'd be definitely something if if people are interested. Yeah, >> I've seen some really good success with that. As long as there's parameters in place, um not necessarily for your board, but for future boards of yours. Um as long as there's parameters in place, I've seen some really good success with that kind of thing. >> Yeah. And I I think it'd be something where, you know, you adopt the school, but you don't make it a you know, I'm going to be there every >> I'm going to show up in everybody's class on >> every Friday at noon. Here I come. Um, but I yeah, I think that'd be something we could >> kind of figure out and make sure that there's
122collaboration with the principles and things like that to where >> we're not overengaging, >> but they still have that point of contact. Yeah, absolutely. >> I love that. And that's a good way, too, too, if something is going on in the school that's, you know, maybe on a micro level. I always use this example, and apparently my kids school was the only one that did this. Um, and in preschool they did the uh you and you married each other or something like that. And yeah, everybody gives me that look and I'm like, I really thought this was more prevalent, but you know, like a cute little school play or something happening in the classroom that maybe not that wouldn't get out to the entire community, but if that was your school, you adopted that school,
123you could, you know, hey, this is something neat happening. So, um, so what I will do is take all of these, we will type all of this up and send it back to you, um, collated so you can see what it is. And what I want you to do then at that point is to take these two papers. Um, and this is going to require some additional time u maybe at your next board meeting or a different one. Um, this is just an example of how this would work. So essentially each board member um, you go through each one and say, okay, what is your subject matter um, expertise? If you have something that you know might be um that's just one category you could put up there but um if you have committee assignments
124that's always good. If you have adopting a a business or community partner. So essentially take all of the areas that you decide these are things we want to focus on the board and assign a board member and how are we going to do that? So this is just examples of things but um take each of the ones that you have each board member and put that into the matrix um so that you've got a plan. You'll also see on the back page there, there is kind of a calendar um it's on the back page of your actual packet. Yeah, there's a calendar there um that you can see and it's a good way once you've got you want to do these community engagement tactics and this is the board member or board members that are
125going to be responsible for that. When are we going to do those and how are we going to report back out because we know half one of the pillars is board monitors um progress. So, you want to monitor your own community engagement progress as it were. So, any questions? Anything you want to add right now? I definitely do not want to hurry you out, but I know everybody's got places to be. Anything else for me? >> Thank you so very much. >> Thank you all for engaging. This was wonderful. Um, and like I said, we'll have it all packed up for you in the next week or so when we get back so you can start getting a plan together. Great ideas. Thank you, Katie. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Before we jump
126up here, uh, I need a motion to adjurnn. So move. >> Second. >> Any other discussions? Hearing none. All in favor? I I