Board of Education Meeting 03/09/2026

001and 12 p.m. And I am reconvening to open session and calling to order the regular Board of Education meeting for Indian Prairie School District 204 on Monday, March 9th, 2026. Meena, will you please call the roll? Ms. Donahue? Here. Ms. Fosdick? Here. Ms. Gantz? Here. Ms. Duming? Present. Mr. Rising? Here. Mr. Carubis? Here. And Ms. Grover? We have a quorum. Ms. Duming, will you lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. To the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, March 23rd. And we have six board salutes tonight. We'll start with Ms. Gantz. District 204 students excel in the elementary robotics tournament. The board salutes District 204

002elementary school students and staff who recently participated in the robotics tournament this past weekend. We also salute director of innovation and instructional leadership, Brian Jovanini, for serving as tournament organizer. Congratulations to all the winners. We extend our congratulations to all participating robotics teams and express our gratitude to the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation for their support of the district's robotics program. Congratulations to all the winners and to all participating robotics teams. Mr. Carubis. Metea Valley's first girls wrestling state medalist. The board salutes Metea Valley junior, Rosie Piccirillo, for becoming the first Mustang girls wrestler to place in the Illinois High School Association state series. Finishing third in the 140-lb weight class. I mean, they got to tell their weight right there. Congratulations, Rosie, on this monumental achievement. Uh okay. Ms. Duming. Scullen Middle School teacher named

003as Golden Apple Award finalist. The board salutes Scullen Middle School orchestra teacher, Matthew White, for being named a 2026 Golden Apple Awards finalist for excellence in teaching. He is one of just 30 teachers in Illinois selected for demonstrating a significant positive impact on student growth and learning. The nonprofit organization highlighted White's dedication through his support of a student with a cochlear implant. When the young violinist struggled to hear their own tone, White stepped in with tailored support to ensure the student could fully engage with the music. Winners of the 2026 Golden Apple Award will be announced in the spring. Congratulations, Mr. White, on this well-deserved honor. Ms. Fosdick. Neuqua Valley state speech finals. The board salutes the Neuqua Valley High School speech team for an outstanding performance at the Illinois High School Association state speech

004finals, where they tied for second place in the team sweepstakes, finishing just three points behind Hinsdale Central. Neuqua Valley turned out three first-place wins, with top honors going to Yash Kash Singh in informative speaking, Charlie Kroll in oratorical declamation, and Samira Brandon in poetry reading. Samira Brandon also secured second place in original oratory, while Lucy Fosdick placed fourth in prose reading. Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment. Great. Mr. Rising. 2026 Those Who Excel and Teacher of the Year. The board salutes three District 204 educators for their recognition in the 2026 Illinois State Board of Education Those Who Excel and Teacher of the Year Awards program. We honor Jessica Walsh of Granger Middle School for receiving the Award of Excellence, as well as Sarah Brucker and Granger of Granger Middle School, as well, and Amy Mellon of

005Georgetown Elementary for receiving the Award of Meritorious Service. This program acknowledges incredible teachers, administrators, and support staff who make a lasting positive impact on their school community. Congratulations to Jessica, Sarah, and Amy. Ms. Grover. National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced 53 District 204 students have been identified as semifinalists in the 71st annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Metea Valley had 17 students, Neuqua Valley had 26, and Waubonsie had 10 students identified as semifinalists. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for more than 16,000 National Merit Scholarships worth more than 33 million that will be offered next spring. Merit Scholars are selected based on their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. Congratulations to the District 204 semifinalists, and good luck as the

006scholarship competition moves forward. Let's have an applause for all of these wonderful accomplishments in our district. [applause] Very impressive. So. All right. Next up is our student representative report by Kylie Tran from Neuqua Valley. Good evening. My name is Kylie Tran, and I am proud to serve as the student representative for Neuqua Valley High School this school year. There has been a lot to celebrate since our last meeting. Our school came together for a march down main for our speech team who placed second in state, in addition to three individual state champions. We also recently held Mr. NVHS, an annual showcase featuring members of our senior class. I had the opportunity to attend, and it was a night filled with energy, laughter, and talent. Each contestant demonstrated impressive confidence, strutting in their tailored outfits and

007special talents that included dancing, singing singing, and even cooking. As we transition into March, winter of activities are wrapping up while spring activities begin. Our boys basketball team had a strong season, finishing as regional champs with the support of Gold Rush, our student spirit group, which has brought the energy to every single game. This past week, our Best Buddies program hosted Respect Week to raise funds for Neuqua's Special Olympics team. I proudly participated in the daily spirit week themes, and I'm happy to share that our school raised over 3 $13,000. As we approach the end of the third quarter, our flex blocks last Wednesday gave students an opportunity to meet with teachers for additional support or make up any missing work. Our school's business clubs, BPA and DECA, recently competed at state at the state

008competition, with many students advancing to nationals. We also held our annual monologue show, and although I didn't participate, I was impressed by how well all the performers were able to express themselves through words in such a creative way. Seniors are heading into their final moments of high school with a lot to look forward to. Later this month, our school will be hosting the Indian Prairie Scholar Ceremony, an event that recognizes academic achievement and marks an exciting milestone for seniors. We also look forward to our Tangled themed prom and senior spectac spectacular to look forward to in April. Finally, as we move towards the end of the school year, construction is scheduled to begin at Neuqua during spring break. Because of this, many seniors, including myself, have already started planning our cap and gown photos before

009big changes are made to our school. Thank you for your time this evening, and go Wildcats. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay. Tonight, our school spotlight is Peterson Elementary School, and we will have Allison Landstrom, Mary Ann Kiefer, Shannon Rohn, and Etienne Tanson here to present. Is it on? Okay. I don't usually sit down to present, so >> [laughter] >> this is going to take quite an act for me. Um Dr. Tally, the board, um it's good to see all of you. Thank you for having us. I am Ali Landstrom. I am the incredibly proud principal of Peterson and I am so excited to be here tonight for the Peterson school spotlight. It was really difficult to choose what to spotlight. However, um the more I thought about it, what's important to us at Peterson

010is a sense of belonging, a sense of kindness, and a sense of support. And there is nothing more that embodies that than um our A program. Um I'm really privileged to bring with me some incredible educators. One is Shannon Rohne. She is our speech and language pathologist. I've got Mary Ann Kiefer as well, speech and language pathologist. And probably the most important person here is Etienne Townsen. Um Say hi. Um we've uh designed this presentation for you so that you get a little glimpse into the great things that we do. And without further ado, I'm going to pass it off to Ms. Rohne. Actually, that would be great if I could just jump in. >> great. See, flexibility is also something at Peterson. Uh I'm so good at it. Um but on behalf of all

011of us here, Ali, we just wanted to say thank you from the A team for your support, your encouragement, um and your leadership has um inspired the entire Peterson community to embrace and fully see every student every day. So, thank you. Take it away. Yep. And Etienne? Welcome to Peterson Perks. Okay, so Peterson Perks is all about empowering students, as is our A program. So, empowering students to be good >> Welcome to Peterson Perks. So, as a team, we thought, why have us sit up here and read every single line word for word for you when we can have our students present for you. So, we pre-recorded some of our students speaking. You can see their cute little faces on there. Um yeah, like my face. Um and Etienne's going to help us go through

012these slideshows and you're going to hear from our students as they highlight um what Peterson Perks is all about and what it embodies. So, um you can read along with us. I know it's behind you. I don't think it's behind us. Um so, it is behind you, but you will hear I'm not sure if it's in front of you, too. Oh, [laughter] awesome. Love that. Um so, you're going to hear um what they have to say about Peterson Perks. Maybe. Peterson Perks is about students and A's. We have five stories at school. I like I work on communication. We work on self-help skills. We work on kindness. I work on job skills. Um I work on learning rights. Good. Good job. Good work. Good job. We are Peterson Panthers. We are safe and careful and

013kind. Good job. Air buddies help build me confidence and leadership. Air buddies are my friends. We support and we help people. So, this is a video of us in action. Good job. Should we ask for B's? I would like B, please. What's your favorite part? I like I like to be nice to people. Friends. Being kind. Helping people. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Wow. We work We work so many skills. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Yeah, who's there? Dwayne. Dwayne who? Dwayne who? Dwayne's a bathtub. I'm drowning. >> [laughter] >> One more. Knock knock. Who's there? Dwayne. Who? Who who? Is there an owl in there? >> [laughter] >> Did you all hear? Goodbye. See you later. >> [clears throat] >> Goodbye. See you later. >> [applause] [applause] >> Etienne, thank you so much. Boy,

014that was just a presentation full of smiles, honestly. So, thank you. I love all of the efforts and collaboration and helpfulness that everybody was and the kindness to each other. So, thank you. That I mean, every page was just full of smiley faces. So, thank you, Etienne, for coming tonight. Thank you. Yeah. We'll invite you to the next one. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Okay, we have um no public comment tonight. And we'll move now to our consent agenda and superintendent report. We'll start with our superintendent report, Dr. Tally. Thank you, Ms. Donahue. Members of the Board of Education, Indian Prairie community, there is still time for you to get tickets to the IPF uh breakfast that will be held on Thursday, March 26th from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. at White Eagle Golf Course.

015IPF, as we know, is the Indian Prairie Education Foundation. We are excited about this opportunity to inform our community about the wonderful things that IPF does for our school system. You can find information about the event on the IPF website. On Saturday, our fourth annual mental health symposium was held at Metea. We had more than 800 people registered for the event. I am thankful to the collaboration with Naperville 203, East Aurora, and Oswego districts. Their engagement in the symposium helped us to spread the great information and opportunity to the larger community. The great work of the symposium was created by a number of people. Not one person can make that happen. I want to thank Indian Prairie School District staff who helped to create this year's program. Those people include Ms. Emily Bolger, Ms. America

016Villa Lobos, Ms. Candy Michelly, Ms. Janine Lang, Ms. Dawn Forkner, Ms. Genie Dyna, Ms. Lisa Berry, and Ms. Mina Low. The month of March is Women's History Month. This is an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of women who have helped and continue to shape our country and the world. And if you'll notice, all the people I mentioned who helped create the mental health um uh symposium were all women. Additionally, March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Signed into law by President Reagan in 1987, this month brings awareness about the daily obstacles those with disabilities face in achieving full inclusion. This month also celebrates the accomplishments of those who are differently abled and what they have made in our lives. Schools, in their own ways, have been celebrating these events. And finally, I want to remind parents

017to complete the Five Essentials surveys. Schools need 20% of their parents to complete the survey in order for the schools to receive survey results. Results are used by schools as part of their school improvement process. We currently have 21 of our schools that have 20% of their parents completing the survey. A big shout out to Colle Saw Elementary School, which is leading with 42% of its parents completing the survey. Surveys must be in by Friday the 13th to finish. So, please make sure you get those in. Ms. Donahue, I'll turn it back to you. Okay, next I need a motion for the approval of consent agenda items D through H. Make a motion that the Board of Education approve consent agenda items D through H as presented. Second. Any discussion? Okay, Mina, will you please

018call the roll? Mr. Rising? Yes. Ms. Gantz? Yes. Donahue? Yes. Ms. Fastiggi? Yes. Ms. Dummy? I. Mr. Carubis? Yes. And Ms. Grover? The motion passes. Next, we move to our action items. I need a motion and a second to approve the school resource officers intergovernmental agreements with the city of Naperville and the city of Aurora. I move that the Board of Education approve the school resource officers intergovernmental agreements with city of Naperville and city of Aurora as presented. Second. Second. [clears throat] Any discussion? Okay, Mina, will you please call the roll? Ms. Gantz? Yes. Ms. Dummy? I. Mr. Rising? Yes. Mr. Carubis? Yes. Ms. Grover? Ms. Donahue? I. And Ms. Fastiggi? Yes. Motion passes. I now need a motion and a second to approve the behavior intervention procedures as presented, intervention. I move that the

019Board approve the behavior intervention procedures as presented. Second. Any discussion? Okay, Mina, will you please call the roll? Ms. Fastiggi? Yes. Ms. Grover? Ms. Donahue? Yes. Ms. Gantz? Yes. Ms. Dummy? I. Mr. Rising? Yes. And Mr. Carubis? Yes. The motion passes. Time for a presentation from Dr. Barbie Chisholm, Molly Alls, Jessica Bogie regarding the MS high middle school high school geometry class revisions. Barbie Chisholm, I'm the director of middle school core curriculum and I'm here to present to you some combined work of our middle and high school teams on our geometry courses. Sure. I'm Molly Alls, I'm the math department chair at Waubonsie Valley High School. I'm Jessica Bogie, I'm the district math coordinator. And I want to especially thank Molly and Jessica for agreeing to present with me. This was definitely work that we

020did collaboratively with our middle and high school our our high school and middle school teams and you know, it helped us continue this work and have it ready for you today. So, thank you for being here. So, today we are presenting our curriculum revision and resource adoption um for three of our geometry courses. Our high school courses uh are geometry and geometry essentials, which are only offered at our high school and then our honors geometry courses, which is offered at both middle and high school. Alignment with our board policies on curriculum development and resource adoption and um our primary alignment with our strategic plan priority one objective two, ensuring we have high quality curriculum and instruction to meet all students' needs. So, just a reminder of our general process for course updates. We always work

021together as the district curriculum and instruction team with building leadership including teacher leaders, our department chairs, our curriculum teams to determine which courses to prioritize each year and our priorities alignment to state learning standards, the mandates, ensuring alignment with evidence-based practices, alignment across schools and between levels, which of course is very important the work that we're presenting today. Um our student achievement outcomes and always aligning to the Board of Education goals, the strategic plan, our equity plan and our portrait of a graduate framework. So, our review process in general, we do a needs assessment to determine what the team should be focusing on. Then we move into the design and development phase into pilot and implementation and then that review process of our work, which sometimes this can be iterative and we come back around

022and continue refining the work of the team. Geometry in Indian Prairie lives in a lot of different places and that's part of the reason why that alignment becomes so important important with our work. And so, we did start this work as one cohesive geometry team knowing that there was work that we were going to be doing collectively across all three courses and also knowing that we were going to have to define things separately to meet the needs unique needs of each course. So, um uh as I mentioned, our honors geometry is offered in our middle schools as part of our eighth grade project arrow math program. Um but honors geometry can also be taken of course at high school at during students' freshman or sophomore years. And our geometry and our geometry essentials courses could

023be taken um throughout the first three years in high school. Um so, in our needs assessment um stage of the development, these were what we determined as the teams were together about what we needed. Um we need to align the content um for the semester break points. We do have students that will move levels at semesters um up or down um depending on who they are and what their needs are. So, we needed a smoother transition for those students at those times. Um also sometimes that happens at the beginning of the year, especially with students who have not been a part of District 204 and come in as we evaluate where they are coming in, we might need to move them pretty quickly. So, we wanted to align the beginning of the year and the

024semester points so that those transitions are really smooth for students. Um and then in addition, we needed to um identify some resources new resources update resources um for the needs of our students. So, this is uh the scope and sequence that the teams have currently um determined. They are still in the development process that Barbie outlined, so we're still working through this year um to make sure this is what we are ready to implement next year. Um so, you can There's a lot of words on these screens uh on the screen. You can kind of see where they are as far as things that align. You'll see some similar words like triangle congruence kind of flows throughout the top row. Um area and surface area and volume kind of flow flow through the bottom row.

025Um so, the teams just had a lot of discussions on if this word is in semester one and this word is in semester two, is that going to be okay for kids um who may or may not need to uh move levels. So, this is where they've landed right now. A lot of discussion has um come around this. Um they could maybe adjust a little bit, but this is where we're landed right now. Geometry concepts um have not really changed uh but a lot of the work was just realigning and determining the order um to to make sure that we're meeting the goals. And so, as you can see, the content does vary and the depth um of each course would vary uh depending on if you're in honors geometry, uh geometry or geometry essentials,

026but the goal was to have the essential content in similar places across. And so, we are um kind of in different stages as far as the teams for resource identification. The geometry and geometry essentials courses um previewed some materials. Barbie brought in some presenters for us and we have landed on a new resource um that we actually are pretty excited about, so that's good. Um and now we're working to align the curriculum with the resource. That's the process that we're in right now. Um honors geometry um is working on updating an existing resource that we have, so a book that we currently use, but using some updated resources updating what they currently have for it um making that accessible to the students and the teachers. Um and then they will move forward with aligning the

027content and the math practice standards with that. So, using different resources in that green and blue part of the screen, um but now we're all in the process of aligning them with the curriculum. Yeah, and we entered into it knowing that we may end up with some similar you know, some courses may choose the same resource, but we might end up with different courses. And uh the geometry and geometry essentials team agreed on a that one resource was a good fit for both of them. Uh so, the recommended resource for these two courses is uh Reveal Math Geometry by McGraw Hill. Um so, we are going to be uh presenting this. Uh it is it does include a six-year digital license and um it includes a digital resource Alex. Um Alex is an adaptive digital

028resource and one of the things that both the geometry and the geometry essentials teams really appreciated about it is it provided a lot of opportunity to focus on spiraling some of those algebra skills that our students are going to need as they continue through their math coursework and making sure that those aren't lost even though that right now they're focusing in geometry. So, it is adaptive and it provides a lot of flexibility for our teachers to really target and tailor to student needs. Um we would be purchasing um the digital license, the digital resource Alex that is embedded and then class sets of student textbooks and teachers' editions. For honors geometry, which covers both the middle school and high school courses together, um we over an extensive discussions did not identify a new core resource

029that we wanted um and wanted that match the level of rigor that we currently have. Um and that's where that discussion sat for a very long time. Um so we determined at this point that the best course is to realign our existing resource that we use and that they really really enjoy using to current content standards and the math practices. Um the book that we use is out of print. The new edition that um we do use was printed in 1991, which some of the people at the table and in this room have used it when they were students uh in Indian Prairie as well. Um however, the rationale is that the problem sets and the different levels of rigor that are within this book are not existent in any of the other resources that

030we've looked at. Um and this analytical geometry course better prepares the students for the next higher level math courses that they're going to see in our school district. And additionally, through our conversations um the department chairs conversations with other school districts, many other of the high achieving districts around us in this area are still using that book or have just recently decided to adopt this book as their honors geometry course. Um we still do have print editions that are still in use across the district for student and teacher use. Um so what this work is going to look like to bring this book into our present day era is that we are going to align it to the common core standards and align it also to the math practice standards. We uh have aligned and

031discussed started the discussion about the instructional practices that will be that are evidence-based. Teachers are already using, but we're going to put into a pacing guide and walk through that with teachers. So all teachers new or seasoned in our district that have been using this book and resource will see these new resources. Um we are also going to identify a supplemental digital practice resource, either Math Excel, which is one that we have used in the past, or another resource that's still up for um discussion as in our next coming two uh upcoming meetings. Um I have put together a robust professional development plan to work with all the honors geometry teachers throughout the year next year to walk them through what the expectations are for the instruction in this course and how it's going to

032look similar to what they're already doing and how it's going to look different to match these standard adjustments. Uh additionally, this is one of those courses where we have to have a common final because of the high school credit that will start next year between middle school and high school. So that common final will also be readjusted, recreated, and ready to go for the final. And I I just want to celebrate um you know, this this slide is is a big lift and a lot of this I want to celebrate uh Jessica's work in putting together this plan. Uh our our team of teacher leaders felt really strongly about continuing to use this resource and you know, sitting and listening to what they needed from it and then Jessica was able to put together a

033plan that was able to help them continue to use the resource while still meeting the needs of having it a modern resource. How do we make this align and make sure that we're really living in 2026 and and beyond even though we're using um a slightly older resource. >> [laughter] >> So our next steps um are just a request that these course curriculum changes be open for comment until the next Board of Education meeting and then we plan to request approval of the curriculum changes at the March 23rd meeting for the high school courses of geometry and geometry essentials and the middle and high school course honors geometry. Uh the resources um will be available for review, both the proposed resources and our current resource for uh honors geometry. And then we request approval of

034the proposed resources for geometry and geometry essentials at the 23rd meeting. And then with the goal of continuing that ongoing professional development and collaboration and the all-important development of those common finals. Questions for All right, thank you. Um Ms. Grover, do you have questions? Okay. Oh, yeah. I would like to know if our students have any questions about the proposed changes for geometry. Yeah, you can come up here. Um I would just like to ask uh I understand that there is a um summer program that also teaches geometry. Are there going to be any changes to the summer program as well? Uh at this time, there are not any changes proposed for the summer program. Okay. Um and then uh you did say that the the honors geometry textbook is out of print. Does I

035I believe that's referring to the original, not the new edition, or is that also referring to the new 1991 edition? >> The the new 1991 edition is indeed out of print. So we have we still have physical copies and you can purchase more from um uh wholesalers, but having the print copies is not going to be a primary uh focus for us. Okay, thank you. >> Yes, thank you for your questions. Do we have any questions from students over on this side? No. No, okay. Student, yeah. Yes, one student, yeah. >> [laughter] >> Yes, she looks so young. >> [laughter] >> All right, okay. How about Ms. Gantz, do you have questions? Yeah, I I do. Not really. I I guess I do have just one question and I just have to express my excitement

036so much for the fact that middle schoolers will be getting credit high school credit for honors geometry now. Um and apologies to all the students I know that have already taken it. Uh but currently um is the eighth grade honors geometry really the same as the high school honors geometry? So the only change will be the the common finals. Yes. Okay. >> Yeah, the content is essentially the same. Part of the work of this team um is realigning, making sure we're all teaching the same kind of pieces and leading up to that that common final, but yes. Okay. The content has remained the same. Remained Okay. The larger shift is just the instructional changes and how we're going to approach the topics um would be the bigger the difference. Okay. Now I think that sounds

037great. Thank you so much for all the work you you have all put into this. Mr. Rising. Fun fact, geometry was my worst subject. >> [laughter] >> So it pains me to even ask these questions. No, I'm kidding. Uh if you could start with slide 11 first, I just wanted to make a comment here. Uh I think this is awesome. This So I love that you given us thought to say what's out there just isn't meeting our rigor. Um but not only that, because you could have just kept doing what you're doing. But no, you're taking this as an opportunity to making sure that we're fully aligned to the standards, that we're looking at our current instructional practices across the school system um and the different schools and making sure that we're aligning to the

038pacing guide. I think that is incredible and kudos to you because that is not something necessarily that the board asked when looking at high quality instructional materials, but I appreciate you have the foresight to do that and take this opportunity to do that as we're looking at new material. So now to slide three. Um I hope through this and there is a question in this. I I hope through this as well with the new curriculum that we're looking at, you also take the time to look at the scoping and the sweep sequence and the pacing as it aligns to the standards. Um and I say that and maybe you could give me a high overview of understanding about this. Um because and again, I'm not an educator, but this is my perception, is that high

039quality instructional materials are only as good as the materials themselves. And it really comes down to giving the best professional development to our teachers on the instruction itself. Otherwise, again, this is my perception, otherwise, they might just fall into their regular patterns of teachers might have of how they teach to the standards. So my question there is, do we go when we do have something like this, much like you're doing with the honors, actually, when we get these new materials and again, you can keep this very high level, but I am assuming that there is a lot of professional development around the instructional practices not only on that scope and sequence and pacing, but how to best utilize that new material. Correct? And if you could just give me a brief overview of that. Yes.

040So, when we are adopting a new resource, helping teachers understand the new resource is really important so they understand how best to leverage it and how to pull out the best components of it for the for instructional practice. So, yes, that is a part of the process. >> All aligned to the scope and and sequence and the pacing. Okay. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Ms. Fasdek. I just have one question. Um how many students um do we see switching levels generally? Like do we know like a percentage or a general >> It is it's not a large number. Um however, it is something that is mentioned in the course catalog and so we wanted to make sure that the process makes sense for students. Absolutely. Um sometimes it's zero. Sometimes it's a handful of students,

041but if we're going to say you can do something our system should support that. Okay. Mhm. It fluctuates each year. Um and each of the three high schools have different numbers as far as how often it happens. Um Yeah, it does fluctuate. You tend to see more kids actually going up than you do going down. So, like you'll start in that geometry essentials or geometry and move up to the one that is it technically above it. Okay. Um but yeah, it does fluctuate, but it is a number each year usually. Okay. I was surprised by that. Just as a parent, I I didn't know that ever happened. And a lot of the um students that have not gone through before and joined us um that we really have to determine where they end up. Um

042some students also are really trying to challenge themselves and be in the honors courses. Um and we find them moving them up kind of mid-year is a good support so that the next year they can start in that honors level. Um so, you'll see that happen too. Okay. Thank you. She she did a survey. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we have um more concretely, we're looking at anywhere between three to five is kind of an average cycle for that. So, not very many and I think it's because the teams do a really good job of initial placements of those students. But once the students are in the course, if it is if it's seen that wow, the student can do more, they will recommend that the student go up or likewise if the student is struggling and

043after all the interventions have been exhausted, they'll let the student go to a lower level. But it's it would be unusual to see more than four or five students do that. Thank you. Thanks. Mr. Kerbes. I have nothing. Nothing. Okay. Ms. Stumming? Thank you. Um just on on slide 11, just on the on our book. Any do we have digital we have digital Okay, digital access for students. And has the publisher indicated anything? You're smiling because you're [laughter] >> So, uh we are So, the publisher of this particular book has actually been bought by another company. We are working to um determine if there's um any permissions um that we can get in terms of reproduction. However, as I said, we do have the print editions that we can use. Um and then that is

044also why we're looking at um the um having a an additional resource like math excel. It's more of the digital side of it. Um to again have adding that more modern piece to it. And my last question I have just I've I've just forgotten cuz it's it's been a little bit since I had one in honors geometry. Um what So, when they're when they take honors geometry in eighth grade, what what in algebra um seventh what happens with their I I know what we're doing what we're doing now, but what happens as far as their I just can't what what happens as far as their transcript currently? Their current transcript? Yes. Right. [clears throat] Yeah, you want to answer? Yeah, currently um what they take in middle school does not go on their transcript. >>

045So, it just shows they just start with trig all of a sudden. Okay. I just couldn't remember. Okay. All right. Most colleges when they look at that know that they understand but with the new changes next year it'll be more clear for those students and parents as they're looking. Okay, so like prior to the change that was put in place where you get credit for middle school uh geometry honors geometry. What So, a student would take that in eighth grade and then what would they do when they were in ninth grade? They take Normally, if you're taking that honors geometry in eighth grade, you would take honors algebra trig in ninth grade. Some will take the regular, but most will take the honors. So, those students' transcripts currently start at honors algebra trig. So, when

046they're submitting those to colleges or future, that's the first thing you would see. And so now it will show an honors geometry on the transcript? >> they'll get a transcript that shows that they have taken things in seventh grade. But with a grade or no grade? It's more about the credit than anything else. We have a student [laughter] who We we have a student who went to Texas and because he took geometry in middle school and it did not have high school credit, the student had to take the course all over again. So, this is the the change that we were able to affect allows for the student to receive high school credit for the course. So, his his or her transcript will show I'm going to make this up either five years of math

047or six years of math of high school credit depending on when they start with the high school credit courses. Yeah, and we are still finalizing all of the logistical components of that. Um but one of those pieces to have this in place is making sure that our geometry courses are aligned. Um and so that's a big part of the work that we're doing Yeah, I appreciate that change. I'm I know that took a lot of work or whatever to make that happen, but I I do see like great benefit to that. Um I when I first read your slides, I thought 1991, is there a mistype here? >> [laughter] >> But yeah, I mean, I guess geometry doesn't evolve that much over time or whatever. I mean, and a lot of the and you know,

048especially with honors geometry because it does take a different approach than kind of what we need for geometry our standard geometry and our geometry essentials courses. I mean, there has been a shift in the focus of the standards. Um but again, for honors geometry we still really need that that um analytical um you know, those good old-fashioned proofs. And Euclid is Euclid. That's nothing has changed. I was going to Google that while I was sitting here like when did he that was like way Um okay, yeah, because proofs are proofs and all three are only in the regular geometry and honors geometry. They're in they will be in all three in some way, shape, or form. You'll just at the honors level get much deeper, much more rigorous, longer, for example, proofs than you will

049at the geometry essentials and it kind of develops as you go along. Okay. No, I appreciate and I agree with Mr. Rising it was actually refreshing to see that we were saying oh, no, this this textbook is really what we want and it has the rigor and the the needs for our students. So, our community knows we're not always just going out and buying a new textbook every time. And so, I thank you for that and thank you for taking a hard look at all of these resources and selecting the ones that are best for our community. So, thank you. I'm going to interject here briefly. Now, are there any additional questions from the students after the [laughter] presentation? Having heard what's up coming up? No. All right. Well, thank you very much. Thank you.

050Yeah, now that they're done with taking geometry. I know, they're done with that. All right. We will now have our presentation for Dr. Lewis Lee regarding academic return on investment. Oh, this is going to be exciting. >> [laughter] >> Good night. Good night. Don't take it personally. Yeah. I feel that. Board members leaving. Okay. Um All right. Well, good evening, members of the board. Um as we prepare to enter the final year of our current strategic plan this fall, we find ourselves at a critical juncture. We have launched ambitious initiatives and made significant investments in our students, particularly through our MTSS framework. However, as we look toward the horizon of our next multi-year plan, we must move from assuming impact to measuring in a more objective manner. Tonight, I am presenting for discussion a proposal

051that will appear on the March 23rd board meeting from the District Management Group to implement their Prism program. This is just not another line item expense. This is a strategic tool that is designed to do three specific things that our current data systems cannot. First, establish a clear initiatives inventory for the first time. We will see a unified map of every program person and dollar we are deploying. The second is to actually calculate academic ROI, which stands for return on investment. We are hopeful to move beyond standard budgeting to look at the fully loaded costs of our interventions against actual student outcomes. We need to know which programs are truly moving the needle for our specific student segments. And third and finally, we want to be able to optimize our current MTSS work by analyzing

052our resource allocation across tiers 1, 2, and 3. We can ensure our most vulnerable students are getting the most effective support that is possible. In short, we believe the Prism program is the bridge. This allows us to close the books on our current strategic cycle with total transparency while providing empirical evidence that we need to build our next strategic plan on a foundation of proven proven success. To move forward with this partnership so that we can begin this work in time for the fall, let's take a look at how this fits into our final year goals. So, this proposal, you will see the lines directly with board policies and you'll see them listed by sections 4 through 7. So, some of you may already know this. Board member Carrubba, you may have known we have

053just under 200 board policies. And out of that 200, we believe the Prism proposal aligns with 65% of them. So, instead of creating another board presentation on listing all of those policies, we've gone by sections. Also, this aligns with our strategic plan priorities 1 and 4, which I'll go through cuz we only have four of those. Okay? So, before we get to that work, I'd like to provide an outline for the discussion points that will occur during our presentation. We'll move from a broad look at who DMG actually is into the specific Prism idea and discussion, explaining how it acts as a navigation system for our MTSS framework and ensures a data-driven future for the district. And then finally, we'll end with a draft timeline and open it up to questions and additional discussion. So,

054speaking of timeline, this July will begin the final year of our five-year strategic plan. The board in August of 2022 approved this plan and was focused on four district priorities. Why these four? Because they align directly with our portrait of a graduate work that has now become our developed learning framework. These four priorities really encapsulate who we are as a district. And when you go to our website and click about us, you'll see us our strategic plan that lights the way. We are what this plan calls us to be to inspire all of our students to reach their greatest potential. Our strategic plan Inspire, Innovate, and Empower the Future is built on these four pillars that are listed there. And the goal is that Prism is the tool that will allow us to operationalize future

055pillars that we would create simultaneously. We'll like to focus on two of these priorities as they fit in the Prism framework. We know embedded with each priority, as you can see, are objectives and strategies. When we look at priority four, objective two, provide all students with high-quality curriculum, we know that um Excuse me, we know that for stewardship priority four, that is going to ensure equitable distribution of resources. And again, what you'll see highlighted is maintaining that transparency for taxpayers. That's really important. And then priority one really utilizes Prism's academic ROI model where we can look at our MTSS supports and SEL work in which we're looking at how interventions are truly impacting either performance or reducing disparities that can occur in our student segments. And then finally, we have We know this board has

056an overall commitment to evaluation, and we believe the Prism model helps to evaluate results to ensure that these expectations are are met. About 1 year ago during the month of February, we presented Vision 2030 to this board, and this board adopted a resolution for that. And so, some of the Vision 2030 work actually aligns with the Prism framework as well. And some of those crossovers are are emboldened throughout. And if I could just highlight a couple, really is that initiatives inventory where we're mapping district programs to Pacific strategic priorities. Vision 2030 looks at that and gives us a bird's-eye view. We know that Vision 2030 really identifies factors that drive students to ultimately graduate from their districts. And this aligns directly with Prism's, again, their academic ROI framework, which answers what works for whom and

057at what cost. And then finally, we know that there's capacity building for continuous improvement. We want to be able to build that internal capacity via the academic ROI model. After hearing all that, you can see how this applies to 65% of our board policies just based on terms of how it's the Prism framework will have deep reach, we believe, through all of these frameworks. So, who is DMG? We have had a relationship with DMG for over a decade. DMG is a national leader who works with over 142 districts across 28 states 28 states affecting 3 and 1/2 million students. They specialize in combining management techniques with deep educational expertise. Um in that membership that we've had with DMG over a year, we've actually have done a previous program with them where we brought them in

058to look at some of our specialized scheduling. And we've had their eye on their their ROI program for quite some time. It's recently developed into their current Prism framework. It was first developed about 13 years ago and it started at their their actual institute. I'm sorry, they furthered it in their actual institute that began in 2017. So, you've heard me talk about Prism a lot. What is it? It's an acronym. Stands for Prioritizing Resources and Initiatives for Strategic Management. So, when you look at the budget, this slide really highlights and for us an iceberg of a budget just over 490 million, that there are things that you can readily see. We see salaries, we see digital licenses, we see textbooks, even those that are out of print as we heard a little bit. So, all

059of those things are part of the budget that's easily seen and shown. What is harder to uncover and ultimately can make up that bigger part of the budget is what you see there, that initiative landscape. Um We This gap, we know is can be unmeasured. It can show sometimes disconnected programs, intervention blocks, and the unmeasured time staff spends on them. We believe the Prism inventory can capture this entire landscape and provide some more clearer view of how our time and dollars are actually being used. So, when you think of Prism and you think of why we're bringing we we're making a recommendation, think of it as a car. And when you look at a car, there's three pieces. You've got a vehicle, you've got a navigation system, and then we've got a destination. And so,

060Prism right now is that navigation system. And so, in the Prism navigation system, there's two key questions. Are our resources truly aligned to our strategic priorities? In this case, it would be our new strategic plan we would be asking for to help build. And then two, are we funding what actually works? And so, Prism as as an analysis, as that navigation system, creates a initiative inventory where we are going to be asking our people to come up with all of the initiatives that I'll talk a little bit more about in our district. And taking a look at those broader initiatives and how are they relevant in terms of our student population? What are the actual all-in real costs of those initiatives? How how are they impactful in terms of what we're actually looking for and

061what we're actually measuring? And so, that initiative inventory, that ROI, and that resource allocation are three parts of that navigation process that I'll continue to talk about tonight. So, the next part is our destination. We have to be going somewhere. And for this district, our district, we identified that destination as through our portrait of a graduate work. And our ultimate goal we know is for every student to excel academically and socially and those critical attributes that are present in our portrait of a portrait of a graduate is really important not only to our district, our staff, our students, but ultimately we know our broader community. And so we've talked a little bit about this being the final year we know upcoming of our five-year strategic plan. So we know that currently we don't have a

062lot of data that on which specific student segments would benefit most from our current spending. It doesn't mean that we don't look at data, it doesn't mean that we aren't actionable with that data, but we want to get very specific with all of our initiatives and how they are actually impacting what it is that we're doing. We believe that Prism can service the bridge to closing out our current strategic plan while setting the stage for what will be the writing and the creation of our new strategic plan with its priorities and its own objectives. So the vehicle, we've talked about navigation, we've talked about destination, how are we going to get there? And that is our MTSS work. So this um um uh slide shows everything that who we are as a district. It's not

063only shown there, you see several of them on our board wall. We know that these are important to us as a district. This really talks about people were to say who are you, these are the the pieces that make up what we call our integrated multi-tiered system of support. And in all of these um branding elements, whether you portrait of a graduate, whether be our castle framework, our culturally responsive instruction, our newest portrait of an educator and more to come I'm sure. It's important that we have alignment. And in that alignment we believe our multi-tiered system of support can create that. Traditional multi-tiered system frameworks might focus just on one domain, whether be behavior. Integrated means that we're focusing on not only the social emotional behavior of students, but also the academic cuz we know

064that quality instruction can have an influence on behavior in the classroom while behavior can actually impact instruction. And so aligning those two really creates up a framework for us where we know that they're interconnected and that framework can really look to build upon the alignment of practices that are already occurring across our district. This is not something that's necessarily brand new for us, but it's the identification and the focus in which we hope to build with our MTSS framework. Um so looking at that vehicle, we want to make sure that any silos that may exist when you go across instruction and intervention and leadership and all of those things, it's going to be very important that our multi-tiered system of support starts to integrate those academic and behavioral supports across the domains that you see

065listed up there. Um when we're talking again our MTSS supports, I want to be clear we're talking about our three tiers of students and that focus on our tier one which really aligns with 80 85% of our entire student body. Well, I'm sorry, 100% of our student body have access to those tier one supports, but ultimately 80 to 85% will fall into that tier one model. And using Prism to make sure that our universal core instruction is so well resourced that we can prevent an over-reliance on tier two or tier three. When we talk with our educators and our leaders, sometimes we talk about tier twoing or tier threeing our way out of a problem and that's not what we want to do. That's expensive and it also means that your primary supports are not

066foundationally strong. And so we believe the Prism model will help us focus on those tier one supports to make sure that they're delivering the results that are intended for every single one of our students. So I talked a little bit earlier about those silos. We want to actually move away from a system where finance tracks what we bought, where we're looking at invoices and academics tracks is tracking learning separately. The goal is we want a unified view that tells us exactly what students learned and and how that occurs relative to every dollar spent. This is not easy. This is will be a lot of work, but it is possible because when you look at how we're able to break down these silos, ultimately it's about student outcomes. Um when we when Prism catalogs and builds

067the inventory, we hope that that will help create more operational efficiency. We'll be able to to do analysis, ongoing analysis where we're applying the academic ROI model. So this is not just a one-and-done approach, but this is a total shift in how we are looking at every existing or new initiative and how it relates to our current strategic plan. So let's talk a little bit about the academic ROI. This is not geometry. So we should be okay here. Uh that being said, um this really takes a look at I you've heard me talk about those student segments. So we're identifying different student segments, specific student segments and and what their outcomes are. So the formula we're going to divide those student learning segments by the fully loaded cost. Remember when we're talking about fully loaded

068cost, we're not just looking at the invoice of the program, we're looking at staff time, we're looking at um was there additional substitute time to help with training, we're looking at professional development, all of those things that give us that fully load loaded cost to really find our true return on investment. This will allow us to identify what you can see on that grid, whether it be low impact, low cost in the lower right or a high impact, high cost in the upper right. And ultimately um for example, if we found something in the grid of high impact, low cost, well that's something that we want to expand. We are committing small financial dollars to that and yet we are getting a high impact out of it. If we were look at something that's high

069impact, high cost in the upper right, uh we it doesn't mean that we necessarily need to sunset that, but it may mean that we need to refine it or further prioritize it based upon whatever our strategic plan goals are. If we found a program that's in the low impact, low cost, I would call these these are potential distractions. It doesn't mean that it's not working, but ultimately those potentially might be programs that we might look to sunset. And then the the one in the lower right, the low impact, high cost, that would be something that could be a danger zone where we are we do have a lot of spending happening, but there is no measurable impact. Again, these are this is a model that allows us to answer those questions up there. Did we

070do it? Changing from did we do it to did it work? And ultimately it's arming us with data as a district to then make some strategic decisions about which area we want to go to. Just because something lands in one or all of those grids, is it an automatic decision-maker for us. It's just another data point where we're using agreed upon I would say collective decision rules that we can then make um really good sound decisions about. So how does it look if we were to bring Prism in in terms of the load on our staff and what that looks like? Well, this this diagram kind of really shows that from the the overall process first, there would be a kickoff where we would have a what Prism DMG would call a core team. I

071would talk about them generally as a steering team and that's made up of a small number of people who are actually helping to oversee the decision-making and and and reporting in about the entire process. The next piece is really the key one about that initiative data collection. This is going to be made up of not just cabinet members, but also our district directors, potential assistant directors who know exactly what are our district-wide initiatives that are occurring throughout our district and let's start to build that inventory. Um What does that inventory look like for a district of our size? It's easily going to be in the hundreds. Um we know that already because through our MTSS work, some of the the district leader team we started building some of that initiative inventory and we we found

072ourselves after a couple of hours just, you know, well under 30, 40 and 50 and just doing that that size. So which begs the question, what's DMG's definition of an initiative? Um an initiative is an investment in the three P's, people, programs, and processes that is intended to meet a specific goal and that is outside of the day-to-day. So, that is DMG's definition of what is an initiative. Um it's outside the ultimately that initiative has to answer four questions. Is that investment strategic? Um is it Does it have a goal? Are we investing time, people, and dollars in that initiative? And um does it sit in outside of the what we would call a zero-based budgeting? So, some of that zero-based budgeting are things like your buildings, your facilities, um your positions, your core instruction.

073Those are things that would fall outside of what DMG would categorize as an initiative. So, after we've built that inventory of initiative, it's really important that the people who are impacting and are responsible for making sure those initiatives are starting to have wheels on them are principals, our building leaders. So, we would survey them based on this core initiatives um group that was built up. And that survey is going to look at two things. It's going to look at their perception of the initiatives cuz we know that's real and also things that they're seeing are they working. And once that survey is done, that's when DMG is going to present their final report for us as a district about what they feel or I'm sorry, what they see in their data analysis and where those

074programs fall along that matrix. It's a report that we are going to have and that we as a district then get a chance to make some key decisions about in terms of programming, in terms of future strategic planning, and in terms of making sure our MTSS process is properly aligned. And and I talked earlier about this is not something that is one and done. What's next? Well, the next part is really probably the most important part to make sure that anything that we are looking at falls under an ROI umbrella. And for for us that would be what's called a We would take a look at all new and existing programs and really put them under this ROI model. By doing that, this is going to be embedded into our annual budget process. There will

075be an established review cycle. Well, any new investments will go through this purpose, cost, and strategic alignment where we're updating this inventory regularly. It could be yearly, it could be 2 years. Probably not outside of that, but it'll be important really for us to then make decisions about which programs are we scaling up and which ones are we sunsetting. How long is this going to take? Um We can DMG has a recommended timeline based upon this board's action and potential approval where we would do a kickoff in April. Um based on the framework for inventory initiative inventory gathering that I just shared with you where we would hope to be shovel ready for a new strategic plan to start to be written and also in time and sync with the fiscal year 27 budget process

076so that when that budget is presented before this board in February of 2027, we we have some additional data that can can help inform what that that ultimate budget looks like. So, really what we're trying to do here and and probably could have just opened with this slide and this is probably really what what what this is what we're trying to do. We're trying to move from inventory to impact. That's it. We're just trying to take an assessment of what are we doing, analyzing it, and then making some strategic decisions about what we already have in place. What is the investment on this? The investment is $175,000 on a $490 million budget. And it's really taking a look at um from strategy to stewardship, making sure that things that appear often on a budget line

077item can become operationalized in terms of making sure that every single one of our students we are providing them with the program that we know truly has data to that shows how they're being impacted. We would bring this back to the board after tonight at the March 23rd meeting for additional for with a formal proposal with a request for approval and any additional discussion that might take place at that time. With that, I'll take any opening up to any questions and or comments that I'm happy to answer. Ms. Deming. Okay. Um Dr. Lee, can you share a little bit about the little bit more about the first cohort model that is that's going on with this particular initiative and what we've what's been seen with it and what that second where that second cohort model

078looks like or where that stage is. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, it's part of our our integrated multi-tiered system of support which we've been working on as a district for some time. Um we are currently partnering with a consultant from Midwest PBS. And in that model, we are establishing different cohorts demonstration schools so that we can start to be operationalized the work of the the integrated model. Why different cohorts? We are a large district and in order for us to do this with fidelity, it's important that we take the time to provide training with our schools and our staff and their leadership teams. So, we've just finished up with cohort one. In that cohort, we had several schools from both elementary and middle level and we were able to um provide training for these multi-tiered systems

079of support where we were already analyzing initiatives that they are doing at all three tiers, tier one, tier two, and tier three. And in that training, it's really important that um the tiers are being all the initiatives in those tiers that they're doing both in the classroom and as a school are being done with fidelity. And that with fidelity is really the key piece. And so, we are we just kicked off recently cohort two. And so, now the cohort one schools, those leaders are also working with the cohort two schools as coaches and helping me helping them implement this as well. We hope to be able to start cohort three later this fall. And so, this process really will be felt across all of our schools over the between last year and the and the

080next year itself. Um had a chance to ask a little bit about student outcomes and this investment certainly want to ensure we can understand how this benefits how this will make it make a difference. And so, slide 14 where you began to talk about student outcomes with the investment and then the impact on academics. Can you share we we did ask the question is this something that's looked at at the building level if it's something that's looked at across the elementary, mid, high school level. Can you just walk a little bit through that how we understand what those student outcomes how they're viewed. Yeah, in a district of our size, really for any district, the challenge is always in knowing what you're actually doing all the way down to the teacher and and whatever that

081initiative by building or district is in the classroom. And our approach has been to start to take a step back. We Dr. Tally has even talked about this in order for us to go fast, we need to go slow. And so, by going slow, we're we're identifying what are silos that we need to first break down and how do we communicate effectively to all of our building leaders that these are things that are important. So, PRISM is designed to come in and take a look at all of your initiatives, not just academic, but across all of our departments. So, uh, based on that definition that I shared earlier, um, we're also going to be looking at, um, you know, all of our, um, support departments that operate out of the district office, whether that be,

082um, our communications department, uh, definitely our special ed department, definitely our curriculum instruction, but also our tech department. All of those things also currently have initiatives that help to support students. And so, um, it's important for us to take a a broad look at what are our district initiatives, because those are the things that we know are affecting everyone. Now, some initiatives, as you as you talked about, board uh, member Deming will maybe primarily focus on the elementary. So, it'll be important that we have directors of elementary to identify those so that we can make sure whatever those are that principals at that level are are being surveyed on those initiatives. So, DMG will sort sort those out, uh, by level, but also be inclusive of those that cover all levels. Um, and then, I

083think to the second part of your question, the ongoing ROI piece, that will allow us to take any potential building initiatives and see, well, does it fit into this greater framework of our strategic plan? Because some of our initiatives, some of the building things that we've done, some of the spending that happens occurs because we think it's a good program. And it may very well may be a good program, but how do we know? Uh, and are we getting the actual results that that are needed that we can make sure, um, impacts all of our students. The, um, conversation that I had earlier with you, um, when you shared that this was not just going to be across academics, but across all, I thought that was really important for us to be sure that we

084shared. So, um, appreciate the, um, the look at this, and, um, I look forward to the opportunity to kind of get into some of the schools where the cohorts have happened, uh, to to see as you indicated, uh, would be available. So, thank you. Ms. Gruber. Thank you. Uh, Lois, I'd asked this question earlier, but, um, I wanted to ask it again so that anyone at home can hear. Um, you know, we have the safer, stronger 204 currently, and how can we ensure that the facilities renovations will support programs that the Prism says are high impact? Yeah, um, thank you for the question. Um, first of all, I'll start with, um, that, um, piece of the zero-based budgeting, and what falls inside and what falls outside of that. Um, Prism is not going to be

085looking at, um, you know, uh, our ongoing maintenance needs, our our our facilities, our existing facilities, because those are part of what they would classify as that that zero-based budgeting. Uh, and and that includes our core instruction. Right? We are not going to stop teaching certain subjects, uh, or anything. So, those, uh, we we are not looking at. What we are looking at, DMG would look at, and this is for where we're at with the safer, stronger 204 campaign, is, um, programs that are out there that potentially, um, based upon where they might fall on that grid, and decisions that, uh, we make as a as a district, of do they come back in-house? And if they come back in-house, where do they go? Um, as, uh, part of the safer, stronger 204 campaign, um,

086we are, um, looking at re- uh, designing the Birkhead Center, and that building is, uh, actually bringing in some, um, in-house programs to a more centralized location. It's bringing back our Steps program, which we know right now, uh, we're, um, from a, you know, we know from from a leasing cost, we're paying about 50 uh, thousand a month, um, and we'll be able to bring that in. Um, what we don't know is the all-in cost on on that, and DMG will will help us look at that. Um, we'll be able to, um, take our, um, program and that's currently in our Wheatland building, our Gail McKinsey program, and bring that into the Birkhead Center. With that center, there are other things that potentially we could bring in as well. And so, uh, knowing that the

087Birkhead Center doesn't come online until the 2027-28 school year, uh, this is a perfect opportunity that if there were some things that were identified that we, um, we have some some opportunities in which we can easily shift, um, some of that planning, um, strategically that that and still be in line with, um, I know the business offices with with Mr. Shipley's goal to to be under budget and, uh, on time. Uh, so, I think again, it does it does not keep us, and and we want to still look at everything that we can. Um, and I I think I'll just stress again, um, taking a look at it is important. It's important to have the data, uh, and it's important for us to be armed with things that we're able to do and things that

088we, um, may not want to do, but at least we'll have the information about, uh, about why we're choosing that. I have one more question, cuz the DMG the the programs that they will look at, they will get from like the principals or inputs from others. How will we come up with other ideas? Like, will DMG perhaps, um, think of synergies between you talked about Gail McKinsey coming in, Steps coming in. So, if their programs are not there already, but can be there, will DMG think of those programs? Yes, I've talked with, uh, them on several occasions, and I've also talked with districts both in-state and out-of-state, and they've been doing this a while. Um, they will help us identify areas, uh, in which we should be looking at. The initiatives inventory will be done

089primarily by our cabinet and district administration directors, assistant directors, where the principals will have the piece of the evaluation. Uh, and and that is really designed because they are the boots on the ground. They are the ones who are operationalizing every single one of those initiatives. The principals also aren't going to be aware of every single initiative across levels, um, whereas our district administrators will be. Um, and DMG will guide us to make sure that we are not, um, leaving things off the table. Um, and so, um, highly confident with what they've shared, with some of the districts I've spoken with, um, in the identification of it that they are they've do a really, uh, they do a systemic job at making sure that we they know what we should be looking for. Mr. Corbus.

090Um, I support the engagement of the consultant, um, and I trust administrations, um, use of the data. You know, but I do have some reservations. So, let's look at page 15. And I can appreciate this isn't scientific or, you know, mathematics to the hundredth place. Um, but a lot of this, um, I'm concerned about the quality of the data and some of the subjective, um, nature of this. Um, we are only, um, getting information from our principals. So, our data input is has an inherent limitation. We're not asking our teachers, our parents, our students about this. Now, maybe in this instance, the principals can serve as a proxy, you know, and we're not paying, you know, a million dollars to do a, you know, a comprehensive survey of the whole community. So, I can appreciate

091the cost-effectiveness of doing that. Um, but it's just a reservation. Um, and then, I, you know, I just heard that we're excluding some programs. Some are mandated, you know, we can't, um, you know, cut a certain program, um, but we can look at how we are administering the program from an impact cost standpoint. Um, so, I can appreciate that, but that is impacting some of our data, I think. And we're just we're excluding some costs. So, we say fully loaded costs, but we're not talking about, you know, the cost of maintaining, you know, the planetarium or the pool and stuff. So, if we're not including, um, buildings, um, and maintenance, we are, you know, intentionally limiting the scope of our data. So, that's going to impact, you know, the outcome coming out. Um, you know,

092some of this is subjective. Uh, you know, how do you determine the impact of a program's student outcomes? You have discipline, you have mental health, you have things that aren't going to, you know, fit nicely on a rectangle and be able to put put on a yellow, green, red um, box. So, some you know, concerns about how this is going to be implemented, um but don't have reservations enough to not do the engagement. You know, I it's I'm hopeful. It's looking like um there will be some return on our investment in doing this. Um but those are some of my reservations in looking at this slide. Going to page 18. I suggest when we when we look at that final report, we include a section on was it worth it? You know, did we in

093going through this process and the money that we spent, did it help us? Did we get good data? Did we get Were we able to look at the budget, look at the programs and make some adjustments? So, I think we need to do um some post uh you know, review of was it worth it? And then, looking at page 19, we're talking about making data-informed decisions. Um in addition kind of to the limitations on the data that I was talking about, um we need to know kind of what How do we know it worked? You know, and so that gets into the um yeah, we went through this exercise and we and engaged a consultant and spent money on it and you know, had spent staff time in trying to get there, but how do

094we know that we were successful? Um and I I don't expect you to develop all this, you know, um right now and I think going through the process will help. Um that's part of saying was it worth it. So, those are my comments. Thank you. Ms. Bostick. Um I want to thank you first for the thoroughness of your presentation because while I thought I like got most of it reading through it, it was far richer having you present it. So, thank you for that. Um Hopefully I can get some students to stay now. So. Yeah, [laughter] exactly. They were missing out. That's right. We'll have to ask. Uh So, that that was my first comment. Thank you for that. Um and then my other question was really what Mr. Curtis just touched on is when

095will we know if this works for us? You know, there's the inventory plan for beyond year one and year two, when do we do we just choose when to evaluate? Is there any recommended time? And have we explored alternatives to Prism? Yeah, it's been interesting because um as we've um really started to look at this um more uh seriously, uh and my team, if they were here, you know, we I always ask the question if something new was coming, especially like you saw the curriculum presentation, and I'm always thinking, "Okay, what's coming off?" And so, we've already in a sense I I know it's working from a standpoint of um I've already had some closer alignment with the the budget office as we've talked through things. Um I think I know I've seen some on

096my team just uh in their analysis of when we're talking about programming and staffing, um there is purposeful uh discussion around how do we know what's working. So, I've I've seen the shift a little bit already. Uh excited to see the direction that this takes the district if it's uh approved by the board, um because um I think this can really set us up for uh future uh planning and goals that are uh are more closely aligned. Um we we're not going to return on investment as board member Kerubis, we're we're not dealing with uh parts. We're we're dealing with impressionable young minds uh who um I think, you know, I've I was reading an article even AI is having uh struggles with their tutoring pieces because you can't assign a set of rules for

097um multiple outcomes that come from students. And that's a good thing. Uh if if we ever got to a point where we were um you know, very rigid in some of the things we were doing, then it gets away from our mission statement where we're inspiring all of our students uh to achieve their greatest potential. So, and some of that will I think we're we're okay with with some of that subjectivity cuz we know there's just multiple ways in which students can display and show achievement. So. Okay. Um just my last piece, um how do we land on Prism as opposed to any other? Yeah, I appreciate the question. Um so, um had had our eye on on on on their ROI model for for several years. As we got closer, um my team and

098I appreciate the the question because uh I want to make sure I thank them. Um they served a big role in in effectively um uh evaluating and taking a look at other academic ROI programs. So, uh Prism DMG Prism was not the only one we looked at. Uh we looked at several others uh that some that were in state and some that were had a national footprint. And ultimately, um this was not my decision. This was the the team's decision to to land on Prism based upon some of the things that we've talked about. Uh academic ROI is not new. Uh there are many players out there, but ultimately, um they they chose Prism uh not only because of their functionality with the inventory, but um the continued work after year one and year two.

099That this is not a one-and-done investment. That this will keep going. Thank you. So, our student advisory board representative, do you have some comments or questions? I'm not sure how much we Well, we know we invest about 16 in you, 16 thousand students. >> [laughter] >> Okay, so my first question is um how much have we worked with or if at all uh DMG in the past? Yeah, thank you for that question. Um we've um we we serve right now as a um member partner with them. Uh and what that means is um on a yearly basis, we maintain a yearly membership with them. We have access uh to uh all of their uh research, conference work, um uh superintendent uh Dr. Tally has access to a uh yearly conference that we go to. And

100then, um and we've been doing that for over a decade. Uh and then the second piece in which we um actually have a relationship with them is we have uh worked with them uh in the past, probably about seven, eight years ago, on some special ed programming where they came in and did did an analysis at um one of our levels, I believe the elementary level, uh to look at uh how how effectively we're scheduling, looking for uh students, special needs students, and prioritizing them. Uh thank you. Um so, I understand obviously we don't have every single detail about what DMG would do, uh but I did want to ask a little bit about what types of data they would be looking for or they would be collecting from the different schools in the district,

101and also what methods they would use to collect this data. Yeah, I would I would call it uh primarily a mixed methods. So, they're going to do some qualitative analysis and some quantitative. Uh definitely, the quantitative analysis is going to be important. Um we need to know by X percent um how effective this program is. Uh so, that would be from that quantitative piece. The qualitative piece is really going to be part of that survey, right? Um there are going to be natural perceptions that uh leaders have about programs, and how is that matched up with um actual um actual pieces of those programs in in in what they're actually doing. And so, um DMG as a um process in which they can um create a uh scattergram of both of those pieces, while also

102uh from the quantitative piece actually calculating uh real dollars and assigning a dollar amount in that final report, uh we hope to get an actual dollar amount of of some um not only an idea of how much we're spending on some of these initiatives, but through their analysis, what are some potential cost savings? And I say potential uh because it if they identify, let's say $6 million in savings, uh that doesn't mean that we are automatically going to make $6 million in cuts. It just gives us further data to really make some informed decisions. Um my next question is um how does this compare to other methods that we have used in the past to review our initiatives? Yeah, I appreciate the question. So, I'll compare to kind of what we've been doing as a

103district um when we are looking to not only measure some of our programming but also if we have to make potential cuts. So it's just not our district. It's it's it's how a lot of school districts operate in terms of where they might look at a department and say this department needs to cut spending by X percent. And so what happens is because we are humans when you hear that you need to cut your department by X percent you you you try to take a look at it objectively but ultimately emotions can become a part of it and that can be challenging. It doesn't mean anything is is necessarily wrong with what you're doing. It's just a factor of of when you're not able to look at objectionable data. And so we have been able

104to make some decisions about that. It gets it can get tricky because you you're asking people to think about it come back. Let's have another meeting. All right, where are we at? Because it just takes some time and so and time is the factor there. This we hope where we've got a common set of how we're going to make decisions and moving from incremental sort of budgeting to to really analyzing each investment that we're making based upon where is the direction that we're going? How does it fit into our strategic plan and our portrait of a graduate? There are many things out there that are great for students. It doesn't mean though that we have the capacity to to hit all of those. And so it'll be important for us to really determine what are

105the ones we want to hit and do really well. And and the other pieces maybe refine or or find a an alternative route. And you I believe you said that this DMG review would not be focused like it wouldn't be really looking at the core curriculums for example. Yeah, core instruction. >> Core instruction, yes. Thank you. So do we have a sort of quantitative method of review for the core instruction as well? Yeah, I like that question. Um Yes, I think you know our even without DMG we regularly present data to the board on on our assessment results on how we're doing with different whether it be through you know our benchmarking assessments. So that data does show us growth that we're having across the district whether it be ACT scores um I ready scores.

106So so all of those come from core instructional course work. What DMG will help us do even more is while it may not happen through this process it doesn't mean that we can't take an initiative that really let's say just focuses on some of the core areas and and take that through is it relevant to what we want to want to do. Um we can't um I think it in order to fit the timeline and what we're trying to do it's DMG wants to be strategic about where their focus is going to be. But it doesn't mean that we can't and we want to look at all areas. Okay. Um Yeah, I think that's all of my questions. Thank you so much. Thank you for the questions. Ms. Gantz. Yeah, thank you for those excellent

107questions. Honestly, I think a lot of those we didn't think of and then we wondered why we didn't think of them. So thank you. And I do want to just echo Ms. Fasnacht's sentiments that I want to thank you for this very thorough presentation and all the work that I know you and your team did you know over the last God only knows how many months you know to get to this point. I just had one question to make sure I'm understanding all of this correctly. So on slide 18 as we're talking about the implementation timeline when it's coming to the data collection it is solely DMG doing the data collection or are there discussions happening regularly with the cabinet as you were referencing from Ms. Grover's questions? Yes to both and this is how.

108First of all I want to emphasize this is a draft timeline. There may be pieces of it that we move up or that we we you know maybe the it's not shovel ready to November. So it's a draft. DMG will be the ultimate um will be collecting and and do the final analysis of the data. However, that the core team that I I talked about in the beginning that I said is more kind of that steering team that's going to be made up of um just a small number of people. They are we're going to have those ongoing conversations with the DMG director throughout the entire plan. So those regular check-ins and and how frequent they are will be determined but this won't be a something where we're just sitting back and hoping. We're going

109to have our They want our guidance. And and they're we're not going to be hands-off in in providing it. Okay. Perfect. No, thank you. That was my that was my big question. So thanks. Mr. Rising. So >> [clears throat] >> back to something Mr. Deming asked. Refresh my memory. I heard we're doing some MTSS training right now and if we are what are we doing that MTSS training on? Are we doing it on academics? Are we doing it on behavior? Are we doing it on SEL? What are we doing MTSS training on right now? Before Dr. Lee answers that question. Indian Prairie actually did some MTSS work before the pandemic. And that information was I assume was brought to you that was before my time. The pandemic hit and then MTSS sort of fell to

110the wayside if you will. To a point. I'll be careful about that. And so we then reinitiated integrated MTSS. And as Dr. Lee mentioned during his presentation and can now answer the question for you but I wanted you to be be aware. We we did start MTSS before the pandemic. So thank you Dr. Tally. Three things that I'll first talk about to answer your question um board member Rising is is there are three main reasons about why DMG now. The first one is to service that bridge for our strategic plan. The second one is to better coordinate our financial dollars as an investment and then that third piece is to integrate fully with our MTSS work. And so our MTSS is a can be a totally separate presentation that we will be bringing back to

111the board to talk about some updates there. That plan itself really want to be able to demonstrate how we our prism work as we're training our building level teams on that. Is really going to help further that work that's already being done. So as Dr. Tally said the multi-tier system of support is nothing new. It it really the seeding for it really goes back to 2004 when response to intervention first came out. So and and students were being over identified for special ed and that's kind of why there was a shift away from it and so now you're hearing across the country the multi-tier systems of support. So our our staff have been doing it um for for quite some time. It's important for us with this integrated model to your point to um take

112both academic and the behavioral and integrate them together because we don't um some traditional MTS models kind of can look at one and the other and keep them separate but again it goes back to what I was sharing earlier a student sitting in a classroom and sometimes their behavior they may struggle with good decision-making because the curriculum is is not engaging for them. So we know that through that MTS work that it's important that we make sure that all of our educators are delivering quality instruction. And then the the other piece of that is making sure that setting what are those things that you can do in let's say the physical environment of a classroom where behavior um you can keep it from impacting instruction because of the setup of your classroom. So if you

113were to I would just say in a nutshell and again we'll be bringing more of this to the board at a future presentation, but it's taking a look at our tier one supports, which all of our students have access to on a daily basis, and how we implementing those tier one supports with fidelity. So, to that point, go to slide 15 that Mr. Crooks looked at. >> The reason I asked that question, if we're doing training on MTSS, because if we're doing training on MTSS right now, we should be stopping that. Because if DMG is going to come in, and Prism is going to come in, and analyze what we're doing with MTSS, then why are we continuing to train if we need to look at our systems? And regarding this slide, what I heard

114you say at the beginning, it's looking at our instruction, and how it applies to our interventions. However, it's not looking at core instruction. And core instruction is the most important thing when it comes to MTSS to academics. And if it's not looking at the core instruction, then how are we going to know what our practices are, and what our parameters are, and if we're doing things with fidelity to your point of not moving students to tier two or tier three, and it's not looking at core instruction, then I don't understand what this is doing. I truly don't, because it's going to come back with a report that is just going to identify some random data, I'm assuming maybe behavioral or SEL, but it's not core instruction, so we don't know where our bandwidth is pushed

115there for tier two and tier three for core instruction for tier one, and where improvements can be made there. And if it's not looking at that, and if it's just coming back with a report for $175,000, and it's not even doing the work, it's just a report. I I I'm questioning Sure. the value of this. Because to me, it's just data, and it's not even looking at the most important thing, which is our tier one instruction. >> Yeah. So, let let let me unpack a little bit about you said, and I appreciate the opportunity to to do so. I think first, I don't want anyone in the you or anyone that's hearing to really get hung up on that analysis of of core instruction. There is a cost to everything that we do. And um

116there are initiatives that are present in our core instruction daily that are happening right now. DMG is absolutely going to take a look at those. I I the the comment about the core instruction is kind of that zero-based budgeting approach. And so, we know that we are spending a finite amount of time and structure on a geometry class. Um we have to offer geometry. And so, for DMG to audit that class is is not a a good sense of what we're talking about zero-based budgeting. Um for DMG now to to audit what are some of the interventions that we're providing that support with that geometry class? So, for example, at the high school, the opportunity, and I'm hesitant to bring up any initiative because I don't want people to think anything, but there are, you

117know, how are they supporting kids who when they are not doing well in that theorems, where do they go? And there are places where they will go. So, how is that programming supporting the overall piece of that core instruction. So, we will absolutely be taking a look at that. The MTSS piece of it, it is it is a amazing direction for our district right now that the last time we've updated the board was two years ago. It was in 2024. And so, you know, I I know it's time for for another update to our board. And really, it's it's that that goal of of sort of having we don't want to bring in anyone or anything that's not going to impact what we're already doing. Because otherwise, as you talked about, it would be another

118initiative on top of initiative. And that's not what we want to do here with DMG. I'm not We don't want to create another initiative for our staff, for for you all, for us. Um it's important to show how Prism can align with some of the things that we're already doing. And so, Prism really is going to take a look at to make sure that we can provide that ROI guarantee to all of our students that at the tier one level, all of the programming that that supports all of that tier all of those tiers are impactful, and they're getting a solid return on their on on the investment. Because there are many things that I again, I will not start to mention those initiatives that support a lot of our core programming. And those things

119we do want to take a look at. So, because I'll just Yeah, I'll just add if we are not looking with fidelity at a at that tier one programming, then we are spending more money on tier two and tier three. And Prism wants to help us not do that. >> I what I but so, if it's looking at the effectiveness of tier two and tier three, then I appreciate that. The and and I think that's beneficial. But what I heard you say is it's not looking at tier one. So, so what I guess I would ask as a non-educator talking to three people with their doctorates in the room in education, is that to me, it seems like if we are looking at maximizing our resources, it would be setting the parameters of what tier

120one looks like, and not stretching our bandwidth by pushing kids to tier two or tier three. What is it What does district administration think that tier one looks at like? And have those principals lead that initiative of what tier one looks like before tier two or tier three. And then that way, and I'm sure this is going to uncover some of that tier two and tier three, so I appreciate that. By the way, I'd love to see a sample report. I would love to see that. Um but I I mean, I trust to Justice's point, I trust the work, I trust the process, I'm excited to get back the data to help guide administration on our work to align to the board's goals. So, I'm not trying to get in the weeds, but you know,

121I I hope it is beneficial information that we get back, because for $175,000 of just giving us a report, and we still need to go out and do all the work, it it seems like a very expensive one initiative project um when it doesn't even go after the additional things that we're going to need to do to make that happen. Yeah, and I'll just thank you for the what the comment. Um I believe again, it's an investment in in our $490 million budget. Cuz cuz that's that's where spending out of that 490 million, I believe 65% is is spent on staffing. And so, we really it's really important that we we try to get it as close to we can as to where every dollar is going. Um DMG will um take their program and

122align it to whatever we are kind of looking at it. Because MTSS is such a strong part of where we're going, it was important for us just to um But I did they contracted after the report any professional development, any any leadership or principal development, any redesigning of program, that's all going to be extra money. Um not in terms of the cost that we're talking here. So, for example, you know, the the ROI piece of that, that is something that is a very small investment where they're going to take a look at our cabinet team, you know, for minuscule amount compared to this 175, and make sure that everyone's trained in that academic ROI process. When we get to that point, that is something that again, definitely share with the board, but it is something

123that is is not um of a a dollar amount that we would even it's we would even normally bring. That's how low low the amount is. Thanks. Well, thank you. I I think there was a lot of interest in your presentation. It was brought up at the last board meeting, and I think we were anxious to see what you would show us. I did I do like the timeline. I was surprised that it was as quick to execute. When I was paging through, I expected it to go out longer. So, I I hope we can keep to that kind of time frame, because I think that this is potentially beneficial for many reasons. One question, how much of a burden is this on the people who have to supply data? Like Yeah, so um one

124of the uh it's very important that our data team uh is going to be part of this process. So, I've been having some ongoing discussion already uh with our um our director for our assessment. And um in talking with DMG, again, the idea is to take our existing um paths of and how we're gathering information and as much as they can utilize that so they're not creating additional um processes for us just to collect data. And so, they've um have already been very uh giving us feedback and and been inquisitive about how often are you meeting, when you're doing those meetings, what's being discussed. For example, if if this is approved, um they've already talked about taking a look at and you utilizing some of the initiatives we've already been gathering uh just through our

125MTSS work. Uh that was very exciting for them. I think uh when you mentioned data driven, it it's very appealing to our board. It's been a constant theme for us that you know, more data is always a good thing. And um when you associate that with this initiative, I think it's appealing just on that level. I think the concept of academic return on investment also I guess when I listened to the presentation, this wasn't just like a one and done report. It is kind of instilling a concept in decision makers in the district on how you can assess requests for different things. And when we had our budget discussion at the last meeting, I know one of the concern areas was supplies and constantly growing that and mostly because of software licenses. So, it's like

126I I think this will help us look at that in a better and more informed way. So, when I looked at it, I think this has the potential for more informed decision making, and improved student outcomes, and also helping us with manage our budget in um more robust way. Um so, I'm uh interested and supportive to see what this would turn into. I I do think it's a difficult task and I I agree that some of the data is going to be subjective, but I think it's taking us down a path that is necessary and will be helpful long-term for um us to assess new new things that we're looking at. And I agree, don't mention any programs right now because [laughter] people will freak out. >> I'm being very careful not to. >> Yeah,

127yeah. So, so thank you very much. Thank you. All right, uh legislative advocacy and Board of Education update. Do we have any items? Do you Um just a quick update to share that um we're moving forward with their presentation plan presentation for IASB. That'll get submitted uh probably Wednesday or Thursday. And thank you for the feedback from a couple of you guys that are helping um to finalize it, but that'll get submitted probably Wednesday. So, we'll see what um see what they say. Yeah, any other legislative Yeah, go ahead. I spent my all day Friday night and most of the day Saturday and an IASB division directors meeting uh for representing DuPage County. Um I got out in time to catch the last hour at the Mental Health Fair, by the way. Uh but uh

128I will give you all an update on that. What I did want to bring your attention is they had a speaker for the division directors from the Iowa Association of School Boards. And they went through this 10-year lighthouse study that Iowa did on school boards' role in creating school districts where all students succeed. And they gave us the book and everything, and it was incredibly interesting, and I will share the book with the board. Um but I wanted to say the uh five things that they outlined, um we nail all five of them. So, I'm just I'm just saying as a board is set high clear expectations, create conditions for success, hold the system accountable to expectations, build public will, and learn together as a board. Um I thought you know, we we did a

129great job with that. So, uh but I will get you a report of that meeting and then share this information out as well, but I just wanted to give you that quick update. And I think Natasha has something. Yeah, so Mark and I went last Thursday to Brookdale. There's a Brookdale Neighborhood Association. They have a civic engagement series, and it's it's quite remarkable. Um they started with NEST talking about the data center, and then the park district, and this month's was on 204. So, we presented on the referendum, uh the safer stronger, as well as the superintendent, and Mark talked about the finances, then we talked about what differentiates us from other school districts. It was very engaging. There were about 30 people there, and it was at Nature's Best. So, you know, local right

130there. And then Mark and I are going to CASBA, um which is a consortium of state school boards association this Thursday, and looking forward to learning and networking and sharing ideas and coming back and reporting. Yeah, I would encourage other organizations and neighborhoods that have um group initiatives to hear about the school district, just contact us. We're always willing to send some speakers and provide information and answer questions. It's such a big part of the their tax dollars and their community and their property values. So, I would encourage anyone that has that kind of opportunity to contact us. And thank you very much for participating in that and representing the board there. So, thank you. All right. I need a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay.