Urbana School District 116 Board of Education 03 10 26

001Well, she says a statement. >> Oh, >> so I'm trying to see make sure Angie has a chance to talk her out of it. >> All right. >> Okay. Good evening, everybody. Um, it is uh after 6 o'clock, so let's begin this business meeting of Urbana School District 116. Uh, roll call please. >> Member Cheryl, member Hixon >> here, >> member Amarabu, member Jones, member Langorf here, Vice President Baxley >> here, >> President Palowski >> here. Uh, we do have a quorum this evening. Are there any additions, corrections, or modifications to tonight's agenda? >> Nope. Okay, it is now a call for citizen statements. If anybody here present wishes to make a formal statement before the board, please hand a golden rod sheet uh that's located in the back of the room to our recording

002secretary Lori Johnson and uh we'll acknowledge and allow you to speak. Going once, going twice. Okay, no citizen statements this evening. There is no call for an executive session after tonight's meeting. Uh the chair would then entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda as published. >> So moved. Second move >> a second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Uh it's now time for a student ambassador report. Um our African-American club just took the H.B.CU trip to Washington DC March 1st through 6. Um so they toured many H.B.CU Us including Howard, John Hopkins, Georgetown, Bowie State, University of Maryland, Morgan State, Copen State, and Townson. Um, and then they did different activities throughout the days like ice skating. They explored the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture. >> Um,

003and then student le conferences are coming up. They are Thursday, um, and Friday. Um they are Thursday afternoon and I'm not sure when they go till. Um and then they start um early in the morning on Friday as well. Um students or teachers can register for um for conferences via the email that that principal Guzman sent out or they can call the main office um or email uh Mr. Ballinger in the main office as well. Um, then our spring break is coming up next week. So March 16th through 20th is spring break. So no school at the high school and it marks the end of the third quarter. >> Um, and then one more thing that isn't on the report. Um, yesterday was the um was the UHS orchestra. Um that w that was yesterday

004I believe it was 7 7:00 7:00 in the auditorium. Um and to my knowledge that all went well. So so congrats to them. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you. Uh it's now time for >> So I'm ask the board's preference. Um, are we we have citizen statement that arrived late? Okay. Okay. Go ahead and Jody. Uh, thanks. >> I get it. >> You turn to >> Thank you. I just wanted to address the board really quick about um science education and the importance of science education for our students. Um right now at elementary level we are slotted about 30 minutes per week for science education and we would like to try to see that increase because science is really important for our students as they age but also for future career opportunities as they

005address and go to college. things like engineering, biology, medicine, all of those things are required require a lot of science education and we don't have a lot of that right now. Um, I also wanted to emphasize the importance of supplemental science projects like um our agriculture department at the high school, our farm to school programs that allow students hands-on experiences at each of the buildings and their ability to learn while doing instead of just hearing about it. Um, I would encourage the board to find ways to increase accessibility of more modern science equipment. Um, I have a daughter who is a freshman in college right now and she used a microscope twice in Urbana schools on two separate occasions and she is in chemistry right now as a freshman at ISU and is not doing

006well in the course because she doesn't have an adequate background. Um, I have a son who's a sophomore in high school right now at Urbana High School and his favorite classes are those kinds of courses like agriculture, science, and the other hands-on learning type of activities. Um, and I've been a teacher for 25 plus years. Um, over half my career has been here in Urbana and um, I was nominated for the presidential math award a few years back and it's science is really important. So, um, I would just like to ask that the school board try to find ways to increase and go back to our focus on inquiry based science and make sure that our students are prepared for their future, but also that they're enjoying their education. Um, every year at the end

007of kindergarten, I ask all my kindergarten students what their favorite memories of kindergarten are. And it has never once been a worksheet that they did for reading. It has never once been a phonics worksheet. It has never once been something out of their math packet. Not once. It has always been that they hatched chicks, that they got to dig and plant their own potatoes, that they got to learn about a social studies concept by having a big celebration and learning about history topics. And it's not any different in the middle schoolers and the high schoolers. Those are the things they remember. They remember their orchestra concerts. They remember what they built in engineering class. And we don't have enough of any of those things right now. And I just want to make sure that as

008you guys are preparing for um funding for the upcoming year and the upcoming next five-year plan and all of those things that we find ways to update all of our science equipment. So thank you. >> I ask a question. Uh I mean we don't really have interactions with citizen statements but you can >> email >> and you can make a comment in your board report too but um speaking of board reports now is time for board reports. anybody wish to to make >> things. Um um I do want to thank um it's nice to have community here to make a comment and I appreciate everything that you said and I was just wondering if how much uh science was be they had before in the classroom how much time they had. She said it was

009just one half an hour. So I just wanted um possibly that in the future be to be addressed. I was able to attend the Kitty Prom at the Early Childhood Center last Friday. Uh, Kelly Russell from See You Early told me that the children have a wonderful time. So, I stopped by to see what that was all about and and she was right. The children were dressed in their party clothes and dancing to DJ Lupe's selections and it was great to see so many families that came out for this event. It was really nice to see. Um, but I there was no room on the on the floor. I had to go home. There was not room for me to dance. Anyways, also learned at the last minute about the concert last night at the

010in the auditorium and the high school chamber orchestra, the symphonic orchestra and the Parkland orchestra combined under the direction of Dr. Rodney Mueller from Parkland College. And evidently he had spent three weeks working with the students at the high school to prepare for this concert. So it was a wonderful opportunity for them and there must have been over a hundred musicians on the stage. Uh Tamara Gingold did also did directed a few numbers in the beginning and she wanted to convey her appreciation to the board to the school district for how um the district supports all the students in the musical programs. But I think on the reverse I think we need to thank the music educators because they bring so much to our students. Um this is a skill and an interest that the

011students will have for their entire lives. um and we get to benefit by attending their concerts. So, I'm hoping that they'll be readily available um as far as the um um it being um displayed on the on the website so people know about all the ones. I know about the one in the jazz concert in in May. It's a wonderful opportunity. The the commons is is dressed up so beautifully and you don't even know it's a lunchroom. It's it's really a nice place and the music is wonderful. Um, there's also a raising futures conference on March 28 at the I Hotel. I just learned about that this morning. The theme is hope in challenging times. It's for parents, caregivers, and educators. The goal is to build a stronger connected community, fostering hope and resilience for

012the future of our youth, and it's sponsored by the Don Moyers Boys and Girls Club, United Way, and the Champagne County Home Visiting Consortium. So, look into that. It might be interesting. >> Any other board reports this evening? I have a quick one. We received I've received here at my desk a letter from Donald Langning Jiang, a student at 2029 student at Le Elementary School. So, dear board of education, I think we should have each class for one hour. First, kids will listen better because it will be uh told a shorter amount of time. Second, kids will move to a different room each hour. Lastly, this will shorten teaching time so kids can have more time to work at home. Sincerely, Donald, please respond to Donald Lang Le Elementary. So, um anyway, I I'll I'll

013respond to him, but if anybody has particular comments they want they want me to to to uh respond to Donald, let me know. Um that's it for for board reports this evening. Uh moving on to administrative reports. uh second dairy strategy strategic plan update >> and I would love to be able to copy that and give it to Prince principal care at Leo. I'm sure he would love to have that letter. >> Absolutely. >> To see a copy of that. That's awesome. Okay. So, I am going to get us started here with just the first few slides. So, um again, our focus tonight is uh as you know, culture and climate is a um significant uh goal in our um strategic plan in our program program council space. We've talked about it a lot. um

014all of our small strategic plan groups uh have been working with Chassity and doing some really intensive work looking at our discipline data and our um referral data, our uh um exclusionary practices data. So, we thought it would be really relevant um after the uh Isby presentation around our discipline improvement plan to also bring you some of the areas that we're focusing on through our school improvement um activities through um some of our strategic plan work and give you some positive information related to um our ex use of exclusionary practices beyond just what we have to turn in for the state board. So th that that session and that um those presentations are very pointed in terms of what we have to present um what we're required to present because the board is supposed to

015be aware of our discipline data and so it's really important that we bring that forward and because Paul has to sign off on the fact that he's seen it and the board has received that info. But tonight we don't want to focus on that. We want to focus on some of the positives um that our uh administrators, some of the hard work that they're doing, their school improvement teams are doing, their deans, all of the folks that are involved in um improving our culture and climate. So, tonight we're going to talk about I just kind of gave you the rationale uh why we're doing this update. We're going to look at our district-wide systems. Um we're going to have each uh administrator um Imani Carr, principal at the sixth grade center, is starting us off.

016um and we're going to look at sixth grade um middle school and high school and we're going to let each administrator really talk about the systems that they have implemented. We have a couple new administrators who are in their first year. So, it's a great opportunity for you to hear specifically what they are doing um as first year principles to um monitor discipline to um make sure that there are accountability um measures in place to look at that discipline as a team um sharing that information with their staff um during staff meetings or staff development days um and they're all doing that in different ways. So, we're going to give you a opportunity to hear from them specifically. We are going to talk about out of school suspension incidents today. Um that's going to be

017the focus of this um discussion is how we are working really hard to improve the number of days that our students are out of school. Um I know uh that is a big part of the Isby discipline improvement data and why we get cited. So, we want to show you some multi-year data and how that those numbers have gone down um in terms of the numbers of days that students are out as well as we are seeing some decreases in the percentages related to out of school suspension events. The administrator is going to talk about the positive work that they're doing. Tonight, we really want to focus on tier one, which is um as you know, those are the measures that uh schoolwide everyone receives. remember those triangles. Um the the tier one is what

018every student in the building receives and our tier 2 supports. Um they're going to talk a little bit about those are those measures that sometimes we have students who need their tier one on top of the tier 2. Um and then they're going to share some areas for growth because we all have areas we can grow in um as leaders as well as our uh teams and our educators. So, we really want to make sure that we're talking about we know we have growth um but they are working really hard to see improvements in that data and just make sure that everyone is aware how this aligns through uh to the strategic plan. So, next again I'm not going to read all of this because you have seen it multiple times now but I think

019it's really important that we're grounding our work in the goals that we wrote with our stakeholders. Um, we had educators, parents, uh, students, community members involved in creating these goals. So, I like to make sure that we're putting them up so everyone knows that we are aware of these goals and we're working really hard to reach these goals. So, um, one of our focuses is to ensure that we're decreasing our exclusionary practices while we focus on increasing some of our positive behaviors. Um, and we have a yearly goal for each one of these areas. So this first one is decreasing discipline referrals for our black students, our students with IEPs compared to the 2024 25 data and we can go to the next one. Um, and the way that we're doing that is all the

020things that I just talked about, weekly monitoring, um, discipline meetings, reviewing the data, looking at our, um, dashboard, and we've talked with you about Panorama, which is a system where we're storing a lot of that information. Um, and so that that is being reviewed regularly. Uh, we are going to go to the next slide. Um also again using positive behav uh focusing on positive behaviors to decrease exclusionary practices. Again um this is the goal around the sense of belonging that we want to increase our students sense of belonging so they're more engaged and they basically want to be in school. And we can go to the next one. I'm going through these quickly because I don't want to do the talking. I want you guys to hear from our administrators. Um and then our next

021goal is really increasing that sense of belonging um by 12% um using um the panorama data that we get right now. We just finished our panorama uh survey data. So, I hope all parents went in and completed that because we utilize that information uh through the student surveys, through the staff surveys, as well as um we don't put the parent survey data in here, but we actually really do look at the parent survey data and take what our parents are sharing with us into account as well. And lastly, um, making sure that we are, uh, looking at our tier three supports in Panorama and the, uh, multi-ter systems of supports. MTSS is when we say that, that's what we mean that we are, uh, writing individual individual intervention plans for our students. Um and so

022if you go back to that slide you were just on. So um Panorama was fairly new two or three years ago but we have more and more people um at the building level uh going in and putting plans in place where we are not just looking at a students academics and their behavior that we're looking at their attendance. We're looking at um a lot of the other supports that they have in place. So utilizing all the supports and systems that we have um available to us to do whatever we can to decrease our exclusionary practices and increase the positive um behaviors and positive uh things that we're doing in our schools. So I am going to now switch it if you want to go. Yep. So let's talk a little bit about the data. So

023I'm very quick. You have the you've had this information since Friday. So, if you have any questions, um you can ask those now or you can wait until our administrators come up and give you a little bit more specific um uh information by uh level. So, I just wanted to start off kind of looking at our district data there because they're going to come up and talk more about what's happening in their schools. But this slide is really important um because we are looking at fall 2022. We know we have another whole quarter to go. So, we're not, you know, putting up, you know, school year data yet. We'll be able to talk to you about that in June. But right now, kind of comparing apples to apples, um we looked at our suspension incidents

024from 2022 when we first started getting those um uh Isby designations for discipline, our disproportionality for some of our exclusionary practices and our suspension events. So, you can see where we were in 2022. So, as a district, 443 and now as a um at the uh beginning of the fall or at the end of fall, which would have been December, um as a district, we've gone down 47%. And you can see each of the schools has also gone down um in terms of looking at fall 2022 and fall 2025. And then the next slide, we want to talk to you a little bit about where we are right now. Um, so looking at our January and February data just to show that first semester wasn't just a fluke. It wasn't just like the honeymoon period

025for some of our new folks that the systems and things that they're putting in place really are making a difference. So we're seeing that beyond just those first few weeks or first few months of school. Now we're into second semester and we'll we're still seeing those decreases. Um so as a district um in January February 2024 we had 170 suspension incidents and January February 2026 we were down um 8 to 81. So that is a 52% decrease in those suspension um out of school suspension incidents. Um and you can see our schools were also all down um when compared to 2024 to where we are currently. And lastly, um I know we have had this conversation sometimes. Um you know, we I think people see those numbers and it is alarming and um but we

026also have conversations around there are times where um and the and the administrator is going to talk about this a little bit where there are handful of students who are very significantly impacting the data for all. Um, and so I think it's important to note the number of days that um are related to out of school suspensions because we may have a small group of students who um might do something really egregious and need a 8 day or a 9-day or th those suspensions that come to you guys unfortunately as um possible expulsions. All of those incidents involve uh 10 days every single time we look at one of those. Um so if we look at the total number of days out of school from fall 2022 as a district we that was that is

027a really high number which um 1,170. And I I do want to say, and I didn't say this earlier, but this this is, you know, when we look at those really high numbers, um if you remember, and I I hate to talk about the pandemic, but it's relevant, so I think we should put it out there. So, um you know, we had a whole year of our students not being in person for learning um from in uh 2020 to 2021. So, when they all came back, fall of 2021, it was hard. Um, and a lot of the students who came back to us after being home for a year and a half almost, um, because they went home in March of 2020 and didn't come back until August of 2021. Um, it was it was

028difficult. And so I that number that 1,170 sounds like a lot and it was a lot. Um but I think what we have worked um what we have done to really uh improve that number and put some more systems and structures uh basically what we were we were just talking in our um principal meeting um before we came over to this meeting about some of our mental health needs that our students have that those weren't um as prevalent two or three years ago. Um, so we're just addressing the whole child in a very different way than I think we have ever before following the pandemic and we see it in the culture and climate data every day. Um, so we are we are holding kids together. We're holding families together. Um, and some of the

029needs that our kids come to school with every day are um really intense and um, we could tell you lots of stories. We're not going to do that tonight. But I do think there is an impact on our discipline data and we we are seeing it. But thankfully we saw how hard it was and it it really challenged all of us administrators, our teachers and educators, people working in our schools. But thankfully we are starting to see that that pendulum is shifting to more of um the positive. So as a district we had two years that weren't great. So, fall of 2022 and fall of 2023, um those numbers are really high, but then we started looking at um we had some new administrators join our team. Um we put in quite a few systems

030and structures. We put in a um student behavior continuum system through the joint student discipline um committee that was working jointly with the uh UEA, with our union. and we can see the um benefit of that in some of those really hard conversations about student data. So in 2024 that is a great decrease in the number of suspension days and then even more so now in the fall of 2025. And if you flip to the other side of this table, we can see that pendulum is still swinging in the positive direction. So those numbers compared to January um and February of 2024, we'll we're still seeing those decreases. So um this data is meant to show you that there are a lot of positive things happening. Um and I know sometimes when you see things

031on social media, you hear people talking about it in the community, they don't maybe understand the data as well. So, you know, I think it's our job as administrators and board members and people who work in our schools every day to make sure that the people in the community and then the public recognize how hard we are working um to make a positive shift in the culture and climate in our schools. So, I'm going to stop talking and we are going to let our administrators come up and um we're going to start with sixth grade and they are going to share some systems data and um systems activities and initiatives. talk about the positive impact and why these numbers are going down and then share how they see what they want to focus on for

032growth. So, we're gonna start with Principal Carr. >> Right. Good evening everyone. Thank you for allowing me to um come and speak with you about our data. So, at the sixth grade center, that's being a new building, we wanted to focus very heavily at the beginning of the year on building some um routines and procedures with our students and really teaching them explicitly how to be a middle school or how to be a sixth grader. And so, a lot of what we did at the beginning of the year was cultivating the culture of what it means to be a sixth grader and how that looks um and how it looks in all of the spaces that our sixth graders utilize in our in our space. Um we created SGC Tiger Pride um which is a

033focus on um having compassion. So we pulled the P out of compassion um being resilient, demonstrating integrity, having determination um and walking in the spirit of excellence and our universal pledges which are um we are um kind and responsible and we are safe. And then our teacher um Dr. Well, he's not a doctor yet, but Brandon Young, he came up with a chant um that he taught um to our our students so that they could um really um get some of that tiger pride at the sixth grade center. And so we do that. It ends with a good ra at the end. And so students really love that. Um we have um of course continued some things that started when we were a whole 68 building. So that first and 10 um minutes of um

034class that they're not allowed to be out on the pass. um really trying to cherish and um um hold tight to that instructional time in the classroom and then wrapping it up at the end with the focus on the closure of a lesson. So we want all students to be in the learning space in those first and last 10 minutes. Um we have a universal um call and response where um an administrator or a staff member may call out SGC Tigers and the students will scream pride and they know that means that they're at voice level zero part of our champs um pro procedures in the building as well. And so um we get a lot of feedback on that. Um we've implemented CHAMPS as part of the Stoic framework. And so teaching them the

035structures um that are to be in place really do being explicit about that. Um observing it and making sure that we're tracking student um responses and also holding oursel respon responsible for that. And so getting into classrooms, um me and Miss Delgado, our our assistant principal there, getting into classrooms, making sure that we are being as consistent as we need to be with those um structures and putting things in place so that we have that consistency across the board and students know they won't go in one classroom and it's one way and another classroom is totally different, but having some of the same languages that we're using in same systems. um we've implemented um a lot of consistent ways to celebrate the culture and diversity that's in our space because we know that our students

036will have a sense of pride if they feel that they belong in that space. And so we do um a lot of intentional things to um um identify the cultural backgrounds that are represented in our building and we highlight and celebrate those things and we um really hone on students voice in in those instances. um we conduct weekly tardy sweeps and so they never know when a tardy sweep is going to be called but they know um it's a really just reinforcing that we really take pride in our attendance and we want to get to class on time and make sure that we're there when the learning begins. Um, we have SRS's um that are spread out throughout our building and there's placed strategically to monitor classroom um and hallway activity and so they students

037know there's a system for when they're coming out of out of a classroom. They either have to have a pass or um an escort and so the SRS is there to make sure oh do I see that pass? Um you're on the no pass list or um you need an escort and really reinforcing those expectations in place. Um, we engage in analyzing our data on a regular basis to make sure that our MTSS systems are working properly and we pull the data to make sure if there are things that we need to adjust that we have those conversations and we put adjustments in place. If we notice that students are not responding like we would um like then we figure out why that is and we adjust accordingly. So, some of our tiered um uh

038things that we have in place for tier one, um I engage in car convos, which is basically um a PBIS reset with our students um um regularly. And so, when they have long breaks like our winter break or spring break that's coming up, they know that they're going to be sitting with Miss Carr and re revisiting those expectations. So, we go over the routines that are in place and I remind them of the expectations and and they engage and I ask them specific questions and they respond. Um, our win Wednesday is our day where we focus a lot heavily on SDL. And so that's when we will implement our seven mindsets lessons. Um, and we do that across the building. And so everyone stops and they engage in the seven mindset lessons so that we

039we um push that message that this is about us as a whole building and not just in specific classes. Um, again, I've talked about champs. We have daily announcements that have that highlight um a a Saber spotlight um student. And so that's when we are tracking students that are implementing this the routines that we've put in place and we want to highlight them in our daily announcements and I give them a shout out at the end of the day and they come down for a saber spotlight prize and that can be a number of different things um that they can pull out of a kind of a token um container that I keep in my in my office. Um we do team and schoolwide incentives. So, we have schoolwide things that we focus on and

040then each team looks at their individual data to um see where their team as a whole is struggling and we're putting some incentives in place to kind of push students to make sure that they're rising to the occasion. Um we have family weekly newsletters and we have staff weekly newsletters where we highlight PBIS. We reiterate um our lessons for seven mindset and um celebrate things that are going well. And then we we continue to ask for a collective support from our stakeholders on things that we need to improve upon. At tier 2, um we use Panorama for our tier 2 um MTSS process and we use the playbook that's in Panorama to identify some interventions that are um handy for addressing some of the behaviors that we're seeing um SIG groups. So we we really

041um wrap around students and try to um support them in every aspect. So, we're looking at the whole child and not just um how they are in an academic sense, but who they are as a human being. Um and so we put in things that need to be put in place. If there are students that haven't learned how to resolve conflicts properly, then we might put in some um behavior contracts or some no contact agreements until we can help them develop the skills they need to resolve conflicts without um resulting to physical engagement. Um we have champions that are designated to check in with students that are on some type of intervention. So they have regular meetings with those students once a week to kind of see how they're um progressing and building those skills.

042And then of course we um implement some restorative conversations and circles um in our training our SRS in that process as well. So that because they often um will build even more positive relationships with students because they see them all the time in the hallway. So we're um um wanting to make sure that they have a set of strategies at their fingertips that they can use as well. Um the positive impacts that we've seen with these things is that um the transition to sixth grade for our fifth graders that came in has been successful. Um you know and if there were hiccups that we um observed and we were able to address them. We've established positive and supportive relationships um between students and staff. And then we also focus on making sure that our staffto

043staff relationships are positive because we know that students observe how we interact with one another and that often can influence how they interact with us as well. Um, we work very hard to to um really re reinforce a positive school culture and climate. Soliciting student voice, soliciting family members voice and community voice to see what we can do better. Um, really pushing that with the five essential survey that we just took. Um, we're making sure that hey, we want to know um what are areas that we need to focus on so that we can make sure to make the adjustments necessary to um really target our data as we continue to move forward. Um this um helped us set a pro a precedent for positive student outcomes and our MAP goal. Um we were able

044to exceed in our reading map scores. Um we didn't quite hit the mark yet at our math, but we have already um determined what we're going to do to address that and we're looking forward to looking at our spring data to see how those things resulted in in positive student outcomes. Overall in our building um we have 304 students and of out of those 304, 281 have never received an out of school suspension. 12 of them have received a one-day out of school suspension or one out of school suspension. Um, three of our students have received two to three out of school suspensions and eight students have received more than three out of school suspensions that we're addressing with the MTSS process, pulling in parents to have those problem solving um, commun conversations about how

045we can better support their students in the classroom to make sure that they are staying in the school. And so we're working together with our stakeholders to find ways and we're soliciting partnerships out in the community to come in and kind of act as mentors to our students who are struggling. Um things that we are going to continue to focus and work on is consistent implementation of champs which I was talking about earlier. So in our walkthroughs we're looking for that con that consistent messaging that we're spreading across the building. So, we're ensuring that we're not just um talking about it in one space, but that we're we're making sure to implement it across all spaces with consistency. Um because we know that the better we are at making sure to put in solid structures

046and routines in place, then that the students are more easily to engage and that will lead to better um behavioral outcomes and less opportunity for students to be suspended um and and excluded from the learning environment. um we're making some adjustment to our win Wednesdays um schedule so that we we make sure that the goals that we um reached in language arts we're going to reach in math and as I was stating we've already made some changes there and so we're looking forward to see how those changes will impact our data um we are looking at altering some programs in our restore you um space um and making it more a preventative space where we do a lot of restorative and skill building to help students um reach the the skills that they need to

047so they can continue to be successful not just academically but behavioral, mentally, and emotionally and developing an increase in building wide incentives to make sure that we're highlighting those positive um behaviors that we're seeing the majority of our students engage in. And we want to continue to build partnerships in the community. So, increasing stakeholder um involvement and getting more feedback so that we can continue to grow as a whole. And that's um our sixth grade report. questions for Miss Carr before we go on. Same >> you mentioned the partnerships that you have. What are some of those? >> So I um am also in my personal life I'm part of this um uh first string organization and have been for 16 years. Um and so I work closely with them on how they can come

048in and provide some mentorship. I've also um reached out to um some of their connections. So, a lot of the community members that are part of First String also have connections outside of that. And so, I I specifically reached out to get some support for our young male students who are struggling because predominantly we're seeing that it's our black male students. And so, bringing in community members to come in and act as mentors. So, they will they will start coming in. We've already had some groups coming in um but then more will be coming in after spring break to kind of um sit down and have lunch with them, talk about what is it that you're struggling with, really build some connections with them so they get to see that outside of the the school

049community there are better opportunities for them. Yeah. >> Um what efforts are being put in place I guess uh planning wise for as these students metriculate into the seventh and eth into uh the for the kids who have do needs additional supports or just in general I'm making these cultural changes that have taken place >> in the sixth grade center they they kind of metriculate all the way through. >> Yeah. I um definitely we want to um we are collecting a lot of data so we can get our students um start off on the right foot and so um I think that a lot of the structures we've put in place have um solidly helped them um figure out how to navigate at the middle school level and so um I think they will have

050some skills already in place when they do transition to 7A they'll know how to navigate the hallway the way they should they'll they'll prioritize being organized and getting to their classes on time but also we what we're doing now to prepare them for That is really talking about okay what is it that you are struggling with and how can we support and then ha having conversations making those connections with the middle school so that we have an idea of okay these students we might need to really um kind of wrap around at the beginning of the year and and put these measures in place this is what we've tried this is what has been successful this is what has not been successful so that we can start them off at the seventh and eighth grade

051building on the right foot because we have a lot of students that I think will transition just fine but the ones we are most um concerned about. We're doing some proactive things to to make sure that they have a solid footing when they get over there. >> And then I'll add some tier 2, tier three um pieces. So, um, right now we're sitting in Tiger Academy and as the board knows and our audience knows, um, this year we are only serving Urban High School students here because we took a year to do some intentional planning around um, with the basically what Paul just said with the um, starting of the sixth grade center. How can we help those sixth graders um really um generalize some of the learning and and do some of the um

052more intentional things that happen here in Tiger Academy? But at I think what we saw the year that the middle schoolers were here or maybe two years, it was it was really difficult for them to practice some of the things they were learning, be in these really small um one-on-one and small group situations, and then generalize that behavior back to 900 students. and now 600 students um next year. So we right now have a planning committee um principal Karns and Dr. We are co-chairing that. I'm I'm just there as support and um we have some uh members like teachers um coordinators, co people who have gotten together and we're starting to plan a shortterm and long-term option for a Tiger Academy that will um be in the middle school building, not here. Um so those

053students can then learn there. There'll be a lot of teaching social skill learning and then they can earn their way into the general ed environment and and practice some of those behaviors like go to lunch um with their peers or their team or being involved in some kind of team activity um so they get to practice the things that they would be learning in that smaller setting for several weeks um before they're put back on a team with a 100 students um to be able to to show I know how to be a seventh grader. Um and so we're in the middle of kind of um building what that's going to look like with this team of folks and then hopefully by the end of the year we've made some great progress already. Um and

054then we will hopefully be able to come back and tell the board more about that in June. So >> that is for that tier two like me Miss Carr was talking very much about like every student we're trying to do these things tier one but this is um more of like a tier three even um because right now we're focusing on you know not 40 students but a really narrow small group um who would be part of this shortterm or long-term um opportunity. So, >> and one of the things that we're doing with that in mind right now is um because we know we have that handful of students that might struggle is having those conversations with families now um and talking with them about okay, what are your concerns for the transition over to

055seventh grade? What are our concerns and where has the students struggled? and and allowing the student to voice where they feel comfortable and what's what has them feeling maybe a little anxious about the transition and really having those, you know, candid conversation about, well, this is the strategy that is going to help you, but these are the um behaviors that you're demonstrating that will allow you to struggle if we can't figure out how to create some strategies, build those skills, and then be successful. So really um just involving all stakeholders in that conversation so that um there it's not a shock when we get over to the seven eighth grade building. >> And I think one thing our group because we have a couple social workers that are part of that team. Um is one

056thing I think we are noting is I think people focus too much on the students who are externalizing and you know having all the conduct issues but we have a core group of kids who just struggle with anxiety. um they struggle with being enlarged. You know, there are a few I know at the sixth grade center who choose to eat outside of the lunchroom because just the sounds and all the activity is overwhelming and too stimulating. Um so we know we want to have that as a short-term option for because there are going to be some students who are going to need um just because their anxiety and and and um a space where they can have a little so slower start like a slow role in the s. Um and I think this smaller

057setting um for thems Tiger Academy is going to be really helpful for those kiddos. Um, so just to understand, so you you are thinking about actually starting some of the present day sixth graders in this s smaller Tiger Academy at the very beginning of the seventh and eighth grade year. >> Yeah, this is when they are now seventh graders. They're not sixth graders anymore. So this would be at the start of the next That's what I meant. Yeah. Yeah. And so they would actually begin their seventh grade year in this smaller >> setting to kind of >> and then and would that um also be used for children who were misbehaving and it like instead of a suspension or you know would it be used in two ways or >> No, it's not going to

058be it. It is not going to be a alternative to suspension space. It is going to be a very intentional learning focused space where um we have an we have educators, we have TAs that are going to be assigned to be with those students. Um so it won't be a I'm here because I got in trouble and I'm suspended for two or three days. So not that not an alternative to suspension space at all. more so recouping social skills, some really intensive teaching. Um, students are going to have to earn points and like learn show that they can demonstrate I have these skills. I know how to uh show these skills in a learning setting. Um, and so we know that some students are going to only need a couple weeks of that and just

059to kind of figure it out. Um, but then we know that we want to have a long-term option because there might be some kids who need to be there for six weeks or eight weeks or um, so I think we're trying to be flexible with what that space would look like. So, >> and and then uh, as you identify other children who might need that quieter space, smaller group space, you would add those students to it. I I presume like either even like an eighth grader who is struggling >> might be put there. >> I'm sure um Miss Karns will be able to speak to that specifically, but um yes, she and I um and the the middle school team will collaborate on at least the in the rising seventh graders that will be going

060in. >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. Thank you. And could I just ask one question? The wind that that was what I need, right? Okay. I was trying to remember. And so then that is um kind of uh each student there will be groups of students working at different levels >> for that day. And so do we have teachers will they be working with teachers or will they be working on computers at their >> So in our building um uh we have our win is focused on closing those achievement gaps. So all of our teachers including our elective teachers and team teachers they are all focused on we look at our map data and say for example if students are struggling with um um identifying main idea and supporting details um then what we've done is

061look at our map data and focus on the skills that are lacking and then so um everyone teaches a focus on that skill that's relative to their content area. So for our elective teachers, it's an infusion of their content area with the skills that we're working to build in our students, but we do that all day long on win Wednesdays. >> Okay. And so it's all teacher le. >> Yes. >> Great. >> Thank you. Hi everyone. Good evening. How's everyone doing? Great. All right. So, I am Melissa Karns. I'm the principal of And we're really excited to share with you some really exciting data um and things that have been going well at um and so I have someone with me that I'll let them introduce themselves. >> You have your I'm Derek Elely. I

062am Miss Karns, associate principal overs. >> And so Mr. Elely and I are excited to share um on the first slide, we're going to talk about the systems that we've kind of put in place this school year to kind of improve the culture and climate of the building. So as Miss Carr kind of shared and um Dr. Ivory Tatum shared, the behavior continuum is something that the district committed to through the joint discipline committee. And so what that looks like is really just making informed decisions when students do get into conduct on what happens next. looking at like their prior incidents, looking at attendance grades, different things that we look at in terms of what do we do next? Um, and so for us, we wanted to really look at taking a step back from

063that and determining like what are the expectations and behaviors that we want middle school kids to have in our building. So, we spent some time reooking at um the schoolwide expectation matrix. And so, we've redone that um and that's hosted in every classroom, every alternative space where we talk to kids about what does it mean to be safe, be respectful, and being kind. Um, we also implemented the first and 10 first and last 10-minute expectation to protect instructional time. So, we actually do not allow students to leave the classroom unless it's a complete emergency during the first 10 and the last 10 minutes of the period. Um, that has worked out wonders in terms of reducing tardies, um, just making sure students are prepared for learning um, and they're able to go right to class

064right away. Um, we also have taken some time as well to dig into Champs. Um, and so we've done a lot of really cool work with our staff in terms of improving their tool belt on the different skills and strategies that as teachers they need to help build student expectations in the day-to-day um classroom. And so we've done some really unique professional learning with our teachers around what does it mean to have these skills? What what does it look like to teach students these skills? And then how do you provide support when they don't? um and how do you get creative in the classroom to make sure instructional engagement is at the highest priority so that behavior is is is minimized. Um and so that's been going really well. Um with that being said, similar

065to Principal Carr, um our SRS stations are strategically placed around the building. So we utilize them as our we utilize a triage model at our building. So our SRS's are some of our first responders. So they're able to help support classroom environments where maybe a new teacher is struggling or maybe a student is having a moment that they need some extra support. they're right there in the hallways, right there by the classrooms and can be that first um responder to kind of support and then our deans and admin will support as necessary. Um we also did a lot of work um taking over this this year around room assignments and team placements in the building. So we wanted to really create a space where seventh and eighth graders were kept completely separate um for lots

066of different reasons. And so that has been really successful in terms of keeping students um in seventh grade on one side of the building and keeping eighth graders on their side of the building. only time that they would see each other is arrival and dismissal. And we prefer to keep it that way. Um, and there's lots of reasons for that, but I think what we've seen is room placements, placement of elective classes, um, putting kids in close proximity um, to the things that they need and not allowing a lot of transition has really cut down on some of the hallway behaviors and just some of the safety concerns that were presenting it themselves in past years. Um, and then addition, tardy sweeps. Um, we actually have a schoolwide year-long incentive that we use. It's called

067Pokemon Catchum. So, if you're familiar with Pokemon, you know that middle schoolers like Pokemon. They like to collect the cards, right? So, we actually have shirts that have ourselves as um bit emojis and we actually wear them on tardy sweep day and then we sweep the hallways and we kind of tell the kids like, "Hey, we're sweeping like, you know, in the moment, not ahead of time." But then the kids know like they try not to be caught. And if they're not caught, they get a th like threshold of uh incentives from chips to apple nachos, all kinds of cool stuff. And so the kids have really been bought into that system and they really enjoy it and they think it's fun when we wear our shirts. And so we've continued to do that. Um

068similar to Principal Carr as well, we have the win structure that we utilize. We actually do ours 5 days a week, so Monday through Friday. Um it's a joint focus, so half of the week we use doing organizational skills through our average um program. So they're doing planner checks, binder checks, um grade checks, reflections um with the students and then the other days of the week they're doing the SEAL seven mindsets curriculum um that the district has adopted. Um second semester will be changing a little bit to doing some college and career readiness um items especially for our eighth grade students to prep them for uh and so that's really exciting. In addition, you'll see in the two boxes um that's a lineup of our tier one and tier 2 um strategies and interventions that

069we use. In tier one, like I mentioned, we have the win block, which all students um take part in. They do a 30-minute lunch and a 30 minute uh win class. Um we utilize champs. Our daily announcements are done every day, second period. Um and we have a plethora of different things that we talk about on the student announcements. They're actually quite po uh positive and students are really enjoying those. School incentives, like I mentioned, we're doing a lot with like tardy sweeps. We also do attendance incentives. Um, so kids are getting an opportunity to be rewarded for the things that they're doing that are positive in their school and I think that's making a huge impact. We've had numerous kids this year email us like it's so happy to be appreciated and valued for

070doing the right thing. And so those things are really unique um and has really improved the culture and climate of our building. Um deans and admin talks, we do those all the time. Um sometimes we do them as a preemptive like principal car said after a break or after um you know a long period of time being out of school we might revisit some things but we also do them just to connect with our kids and just to say hey how's it going things like testing um just wanting to build culture and climate around things that matter especially map testing state testing that sort of thing. Um our teams do individual checks with students. Um, a lot of us as admin have students that we show up for every day that come and connect with

071us from everything from do you want to have lunch to how's it going at home. Um, and so we we spend a lot of time with a lot of kids during the day checking in at lunch, seeing them at arrival, seeing them at dismissal, and that makes a huge difference. The last one is restorative practices and circles. Um, we're utilizing that buildingwide as a way to solve issues. As you know, middle school presents a lot of things, including a lot of peer conflict and sometimes um students are not sure how to navigate that. And so, we're really pushing our kids to communicate the right way on that there's a problem and having us as adults kind of help facilitate those restorative circles to work through some of that conflict. Um and so it doesn't result

072in any conduct issues with their peers um and bigger things. From the tier 2 end of things, we have a lot of kids who love check-ins with adults. Um, and so we have something called check-in connect. They basically work with a student weekly. Um, check in as their champion. Say, "How's it going? How are your grades? How's your attendance? Let's talk. Let's communicate. Let's let's get on the same page." Um, that's been a really super um innov like innovative um intervention that we've used. Um, check-in checkout is always also a great support. Um, it tends to be a smaller number of kids that maybe the first champion program doesn't work for. Um, sage groups. Um, as I mentioned, social, academic, instructional groups are used. Um, and those are targeted groups. So, we have groups that

073are around academic survival. We have um circles and groups that are around conflict resolution. And those are mainly a result of students um receiving referrals or receiving a referral from a teacher saying, "Hey, this kid really could use an extra, you know, group or something to kind of connect them to peers who are having similar difficulties." And so those groups are meeting and then they do goal setting and things like that to kind of help the student. Um Mr. Ilie and his team of deans um do student success plans. So when a student has received a decent number of conduct things that we're like starting to get concerned about or the intensity is there, he's meeting with them and the family and they write a student success plan where they're going through making some um

074plans for checks on Fridays um behavior, academic, and grades. and we meet with them with Fidelity on Fridays to check in and look at all of those things to try to help them um turn the corner. And then the last piece is the referral to the MTSS tier team. We have a pretty big team, tier 2 and tier three at you'll hear earlier some or hear later uh data around how many kids are receiving a support. The support could be anything from a high five to a check-in to a stop by my room and tell me about your day. Like we have kids that are receiving support in lots of different ways. It's not just the formalized things. Sometimes it's the little things that we're documenting too that will take them into high school and

075hopefully be really successful. Perfect. Um the next one that we're going to talk about is the second slide. So it's positive impacts. Like I mentioned, a lot of the systems and structures we put into place are affecting our school culture and climate, which is exactly what the intention was. Um we've also seen a huge um increase in the amount of school safety um that our students are feeling and also our parents are feeling which is I think the goal is obviously to access student learning for our kids and for those opportunities to be maximized and we're seeing those results. Um we saw that in MAP both ELA and math we met our 50% projection which is a huge um thing for teachers. And we actually had a cake and ice cream party with the teachers

076that we made that growth target because people thought the beginning of the year is pretty lofty. Like why are we choosing such a lofty goal? And we we're glad we did because we were able to do it, put some attention towards it, put some specific things in place and have made it. Um we also have a lot of eighth graders on track. So we're looking at making sure that we're able to pass the absolute best eighth grade class to Mr. Guzman and his team at the high school to make sure that they're able to remain as freshmen on track and beyond. And in the next part, I'm going to let Mr. Elely share a little bit about our data. >> Yeah. So, I'd like to talk about the numbers of students who have actually received

077out of school suspensions. Uh it's easier for me to wrap my mind around percentages rather than actual, you know, the number. So, we have an enrollment of 596 nearly 600 students. So, 508 or 85% of our students have received zero out of school suspensions. Those who have received one is under 10%. So 53 of our students uh 26 or 4% have received two to three and only 1 and a.5% of our students have received three or more out of school suspensions so far this entire school year. >> Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Elely. And the exciting part at the bottom is probably the most powerful statement on any of our slides. We have 131 students that have been referred for a support in the building and at this point 227 kids are accessing some type of

078support at S. So, if you think about how many kids, that's almost half of our population is accessing some type of support in the building. Um, which of course is going to have its positive impact on what we do in the day-to-day. The last slide that we're going to look at is focus areas for improvement. So, again, I think we want to continue to focus on CHAMPS. We want to make sure that all of our teachers continue to build their tool belt around classroom management and what that looks like um within the school. We want to increase the programming for RU. We've done a lot this year to um kind of make sure that when students are going to RU, they have meaningful things to do. They're doing reflection assignments. They're having meaningful conversations. They're

079actually solving the problems before they go back to class. That's been a big um ask for us for that space. And we want to continue that we're continue to prioritize that high level of reflection, but also the problem solving support. So, we want to make sure that the students that are accessing that space are then automatically being referred um to the system of support. We also want to continue reviewing and drafting more rigorous academic skill and performance standards for the school year. Um, we want to let kids know right off the bat that when they're in the 78 building, they're on their way to high school. And so we want to establish some sort of system to make sure they understand that when they do go to high school, they're going to have to earn

080credits. They're going to have to, you know, do things in a certain order to make sure that they are able to meet high school requirements and and be able to apply for the best colleges and the best jobs. And so for us, we kind of have to roll that backwards to determine what that looks like at S for specifically middle school. So we want to do some work around that. And then the last part is we want to always continue to create additional opportunities for students to be rewarded um for engaging in, you know, not only giving them attention for the unexpected behaviors, but continuing to honor the expected behaviors. Um we've been doing a celebration this year called Shining Scholars, where students that meet academic and behavior guidelines are honored. and we've completely filled

081the cafeteria with kids that are excited about getting a certificate and being honored for doing the right thing always. And we want to continue to highlight that in the work that we do on the dayto-day. >> Thank you so much. >> Board members, any questions? >> Um I have one um for students who receive more than three um more than three out of school suspensions. Um are those including students who are in both tier 2 and tier three? >> Could be. So some of the students for sure would be experiencing tier one supports. All of them would be experiencing tier 2 and possibly tier three depending on a variety of factors. Some of our students have 504 plans, some of them have IEP plans. We also have had a couple students that have gone through

082the expulsion process. And so as Dr. Avery Tatum mentioned earlier, a lot of times that results in a 10-day suspension right off the bat for some of those students. And so that would be what's contributing to that as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else? I guess. Thank you so much. >> Okay, you all know I need help with that. I struggle with this mic every time I come here. So, um, first and foremost, I just want to give a shout out to Principal Carr and Principal Karns. As you know, this is their first year as principles and they've done a lot of work and to look at that data and to see how far they've taken at their first year. And believe me, I was an administrator for 10 years at the middle

083level. It's not easy. It is not easy. And to see the work and what they put into place um, is amazing. And so I just want to make sure that they get the proper shout out for the work that they are doing with their teams because it is not easy every day at the middle level. And with that I have a guest with me here. Um full transparency we have been together for about 10 plus years um on this journey in admin. And so I'll let you introduce yourself and what you do at the high school. >> Hi everybody. They found something on the web. Um not me. Uh my name is Jessica Hines and I am the assistant principal over student engagement. Um so that encompasses attendance, engagement and dun discipline, right? Um and

084so yes, Mr. Guzman and I have been um on a team for a very long time together. And so it's it's kind of a unique experience for us to be able to do the work that we're doing and be reflective and grow continually as leaders as we strive to make Urbana High School as awesome as we can. >> Absolutely. And uh just for future years, I'm really excited about the work we're going to do 6 through 12 to make it cohesive and to see the results when they come into the sixth grade center and when they leave us their senior year to go beyond and they leave us. And so I'm excited for the work to come with that. And so getting to our presentation and looking at our data, we went back to the

085fall of 2022 as you can see because that was the year before uh Hines and I and Karns got to the high school. And so we wanted to highlight that there was 180 uh suspensions the year before we got there. When we came, we were able to bring it down to 137. And each year it has gone down since then. And um as part of my philosophy as a leader is um you got to keep going. you got to keep taking it down as low as you can go. Um, and so that's what we're going to continue to do with every year and looking at what we need to do to take it to the next level. And so looking at the systems we put into place, what we've put into place, we're now in

086year three and so we've done three years of implementation. It's still not where we want it to be. We're still continuing to work on it. But what we do have in place is we do have a PBIS, but at the high school we call it MTSS. High school just has to be a little bit different. Um and so they that we call it something different. It's MTSS and we focus our expectations around with students on being respectful, being kind, uh responsible and being safe. And so we do have a matrix for every common area, whether it's in the commons, in the classroom, in the hallway, in the gym. They are posted in all those areas. It's an expectation that they're in all classrooms as well. Um and they are in English, Spanish, and French as

087well. Um, we also have implemented uh the rule of uh the first and last 10 minutes. We try to protect that instructional time to keep hallways clear and to know who's not where they need to be. And so that has been in place for a while. We also do hallway sweeps randomly. Also with that, we do have established MTSS tier 1, tier 2 teams along with a problem solving tier three team that we have for our students who need that extra support. And so our teams meet regularly and they constantly look at data to see what our focus areas need to be in the high school. Um with that with our tier one, actually Miss Hines is over tier one and that team. And so we have uh daily announcements. We have schoolwide incentives right

088now. Currently we have a schoolwide incentive uh for classroom behaviors where we're giving tickets out. Teachers are giving tickets out to students who are displaying the classroom behaviors we want to see. Students take that ticket, they go into the commons for lunch and they put that ticket into a basket uh that they're interested in and we have different things for them to pick from. Um and we're doing our second round of that this semester. Um we do expectations talk. We also have academy 9 and this year we expanded to academy 10 where we do our seven mindsets focus our seal. We also have restorative conversations and circles with our students because at the high school we're always trying to be proactive in getting ahead of any issues, any student conflicts when we hear about it.

089Um, we we get on it. Our deans are really amazing with Miss Hines and the other administrators to to get ahead of the issues and to make sure that we're responding instead of being reactive. We're being proactive with the work. And then um a common thing that we always do is the the student handbook. We review expectations and for all our new students, they also get a brief review of what our expectations are. Um, and so they know what could happen if they make um, a bad choice. Um, and then also we have consistent dean dean meetings. And so I'll let Miss Hines elaborate a little bit more on that as well. Uh, because we're a big school. We have over a thousand students. We have four deans and it's important for our deans to

090be consistent in how they address issues. And so Miss Hines, I'll let you talk about that. >> Yes. So um over the past three years we have had a rotation of two or 50% of the deans and so um it is through my own reflection I have noticed that >> there are some things that we need to calibrate right and so it's part in part helping them to collaborate and calibrate for example like because they're across their split by alphabet so many times we will may have instances where we're we're across the alphabet right and so working with them. We meet um at least twice a month. Sometimes if we get some bonus time, we will meet um but we also have different topics that I I try to bring up. So, for example, looking

091at the whole student before assigning discipline um and that's taken some work, right? That's a lot of shift in thinking and when you become a dean, um depending on when it is, what the culture of of school is like. And so, now we're asking them to shift a little. So, it's taken some time. Um and we also have worked extensively um talking, discussing, coming up with strategic plans for as deans, how do we work with families, right? How do we gain trust? How do we build relationships? So, so those are some just a few of the things that we do spend that meeting time discussing and spending our energy on. >> Absolutely. Thank you for for that. And then our tier one, as I talked about already, that applies for all our students. All our

092students have access to that. And then when we do notice and the data does tell us that some of our students need some additional supports. Some things that we have in place are check and connect where it's an informal we have an adult that checks with a student typically twice a day to start the day and end the day um just to see how they're going to do the focus area with what we're noticing they're struggling with. We can also implement a SECO, a check-in and checkout, which is more formalized where we have criteria set in place. So, typically a few more things. And so, it is a little bit more detailed than the check-in connect that we do. We also have stage groups as well. I know Miss Karns already talked about that. We

093have that at the high school. We have a few groups running. Um, we have engagement plans where we have students sign. They're essentially like contracts um for focus things and that we want our students to commit to if they're having a conflict with somebody to make sure that again we're not trying to be friends, but we're trying to live together, right, and coexist. And so we we have plans, contracts in place for that. And then um when needed, if we have to go to the the problem solving team for a tier three, we do have that referral process in place for that. We also are now really starting to shift from just purely behavior, culture, and climate town looking at the academics as well for our students. Uh we're in year three at the high

094school, uh Miss Hines and I, and it's time to take it to that next level and really look at what's happening in the classroom to make sure we're closing those gaps for learning, right? And so we also are designating academic champions where staff members are looking at some of our students that are struggling academically um to make sure we are supporting them as well. Next slide, please. >> Or is that us? That's us. Okay. >> All right. Sorry about that. Okay. Miss Hines is going to talk for a few minutes here. >> I just get really excited when I get technology right. Okay. So, um, we do think it's important to share some numbers and I know we've been talking a lot of numbers. Um, but it even helped me wrap my brain around the

095work that I personally do every day in our district. 93% of the students at Urbana High School have not received any out of school suspension time. 93%. Um we do have some children that have received one incident of OSS. 64 students, so 5.5%. Um 1.2% 2% have received two instances of out of school suspension for 14 kids out of 1,159. And out of 1,159, five students in our building have received three instances of OSS. To date this year, no student has received more than three instances of an out of school suspension. Um, and I think that really does speak to a lot of the work that we are doing. um to support students fully and and wholly. And so with that, we have really tried to specifically focus on academic student growth, right? If the

096behavior if if the class, excuse me, if class is engaging, students want to be there. They don't want to be where they're not supposed to be. Um and also just building those relationships because with the positive culture and climate in our building, it's continually improving, right? So now we need to continue that. but then also blend it with the academic piece. And so we are focusing on our Avid wicker strategies. I am a diehard AVID fan since mid 2000s when I worked in Kanga Key. Um and it's it's just a phenomenal program and so we are really trying to work that into all of CLA all of the classrooms, right? And um we are focusing on college and career pathways. Helping our students understand we have a lot of kids that come to school and

097they they do school, right? And they don't always know all of the opportunities that are out there for them. And so having very um specific conversations with students, hey, where do you what do you want to do when you leave high school? And kids may tell, nobody ever asked me that. I said, well, we better get it figured out. So, let's talk about it. What do you like? What do you don't like? Hey, did you know that you can take a class on this here at the high school? Just today, a student was like, how come I don't ever get to make cheeseburgers? It was burger day and foods. And I said, 'Well, you could sign up for foods. And the kid like looked at me, he's like, "Are you serious?" He said, "Absolutely." Had

098no idea. So having those intentional conversations. So then we're also increasing students having four-year student graduation plans. And the more that we can get them planning and get them excited about their next step in life, um the better culture and climate we have, more kids learning. >> All right, we'll go to the last slide. Oh, there we go. Okay. So, areas of focus, as I said, you know, where we are is never good enough. We always got to try to go to that next level. And so, where we're going to next at the high school and what we're going to continue to work on is CHAMPS. It's a district initiative. We are in year one at the high school. And so, we are going to commit to really implementing CHA Champs um throughout the building

099and in our classrooms. Um, we're going to continue to work on increasing student time in class, decreasing the number of passes, um, because being real, we do have a lot of students that are able to get blue passes to leave class. And we're going to work on that collectively with both students and staff um to make sure students are in class learning um to increase students level of engagement in class. And so a part of that, just being honest, you know, looking through and through, um, we really got to make sure our instructional strategies in the high school is engaging, that our students want to be in class, that they're being asked to take on the cognitive load, to think, um, to collaborate with each other, and to be problem solvers. And so with that,

100also, we know that um, freshman year is a key foundational year for success, right? That first year will determine a lot for our students, right? And so we did a pilot um of a team nine this year. Next year we are expanding for a year two pilot for all freshmen. All freshman will be on a team, a common group of teachers that they will have. Um and so we are able to um have teachers being able to talk about students being able to look at commonalities across the board and how best can we serve our freshmen as they come in. Um with that along with that, it's not on here but um we are in early talks um with Dr. Taylor and Melissa Karns about revamping our early warning system. And so we'll get a

101list of students um coming from the middle school that we really want to ramp around to reach out to over the summer to make sure they have a successful transition to high school. And so we have had that before, but it hasn't been a tight system. But now that we've are in year three, we've got um some new administrators at the middle level. We really want to tighten that and re revamp that system as well. and also um just you know continuing to do our building right incentives to keep improving upon that. And we also put in here increasing stakeholder involvement. And for us it's also really asking for the community to help donate things that our high school students are interested in because being um young uh uh becoming young adults older um from

102what 16 17 18 um it's harder to uh find things that they want. And so we are asking and there's we have limited resources and limited things we can buy um for them. And so um like we can't do gift cards with school money. You know there electronics we necessarily can't buy to give out and those are things that we know they want. And so if we have any community partners out there that are willing to donate. I'm sure the sixth grade center and middle school will take that stuff as well. But you know and if um a car dealership wants to donate a car to us as well. I'm just putting it all out there because um our student ambassadors, anything else >> that you think our students body would love to get raffled

103off >> that sounds good to you? Nothing else. >> Okay. >> Had a car donated >> years ago. Years ago. >> Years ago, but not since I've been here. >> It was when I was here. Yeah. Yeah. I was deputy super and we raffled it off for a good attendance. >> Yeah. Absolutely right. And we know that's a district initiative. It's Yes. And so attendance is one of our things we're working on. >> But it was so yep. So >> Apple Y. All right. So yeah, that concludes the high school portion. Any questions for us board members? Any questions? >> I do have one. I appreciate the communication between the middle school and the high school, but uh there's a lot of bit of a lot of mobility in this town. So we have students

104coming in from other communities uh at the beginning of the year and during the middle of the year. So, how are those students needs assessed uh when they arrive at on your doorstep? >> We do a review of their transcript when they come in. And Miss Hines and I have been here in the community a long time and that's where most of our students come from, whether it's next door or a neighboring school district. We reach out and we talk um to the fellow school districts to make sure we have the appropriate supports in place for our students who are coming in um whether it be a um behavioral need or even academic needs. And so it's that constant collaboration that we do and then we just make sure that they have a good transition.

105We have um meetings with them and even families beforehand on what classes they need to take or even if you know if it's the right fit for them if we want to look at an alternative setting for them just depending on where they come in with credits what the needs might be of the student. And so again we want to be very individualized when they come in. um we have a protocol in place with our school registar that she will flag things for us um so we can meet with the family and the student ahead of time to make sure we're setting them up for success when they start with us. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Yes. >> I'm wondering um what kinds of things are students doing that we're suspending them for? Is

106it mainly like physical fighting? Is it Yeah. >> Go ahead. Go ahead, Miss Hinesel. >> So, um, as the administrator over that particular area, the bulk of our suspensions at the high school, if they're out of school, it is physical altercations. Um, and I will say that those are going down every single year. We are upping our restorative practices with our students in multiple spaces and places even within RU to try to mitigate and help kids understand like do you really like this is not what you want right and so being that proactive that's why we're seeing that go down. So that is the bulk of it. >> And then second would be drugs that we see. Yes. >> Oh okay. Yeah. Marijuana like let's >> I just I just wanted to be clear. >>

107Okay. Is it that that's really important to me? >> Yeah. It's so it's not for like um tardiness or >> anything like I mean my my brother took a more than four years to get through school and when he >> would skip school for some reason then they'd suspend him for a day and >> yeah we don't thrilled. >> No because if you already have an issue coming to school I'm not giving you a free pass to stay at home. So, no, >> I was gonna I was going to actually share districtwide physical aggression is the number one referral from K12. Verbal aggression and >> um disruptive classroom behavior, especially in the littles. >> You know, they spend the majority of their day in one class all day long. And so, um, we do see,

108you know, classroom disruptive classroom behavior being more of a referral, um, elementary wise, but physical aggression and verbal aggression are our big top two district-wide, I'd say. >> I don't know if that is important or not, but I spend a lot of time at the high school, usually two or three days a week, and it's a wonderful place to be with and interacting with the students. They they're really engaging and they're kind and I'm I'm really appreciative of the time that I have with them. And I only can add it's apple juice. They want apple juice. >> Thank you. >> And the popcorn was really popular today, too. Yes. That Kim Kardashian popcorn. So, yeah. >> Oh, yeah. >> Anyone else? That's just a quick statement. Uh these numbers, these reports are all incredible. I've

109been here a long time and throughout most of my tenure on this board, these numbers have gotten worse and worse. And at times, frankly, up here, it's felt a bit hopeless that they would ever get better. So, seeing this and and seeing what you have done in the last three years is just made me feel so much better and it's a testament to your hard work and yours as well. So, so, so thank you all. And Chastity is gonna do our very last slide of key takeaways. John, if you want to just go ahead and advance. Oh, she got it. Okay. All right. Good evening. I want to also thank all of our leaders. Um, one thing that I wanted to note too in addition is they do a lot of collaborating on their own.

110We have spaces we bring them together as well, but those leaders talk to each other. So they have a strong sense of urgency and and desire to collaborate and make sure our 612 systems are aligned. We all went away to a MTSS training um about a month ago and there was lots of conversation there too about some alignment and making sure that they're able to support one another staff and students. So big kudos to our administrators for the work that they're doing um within their buildings but also collaborating with the other levels as well. And so key takeaways as Dr. Dr. Ivy Tatum mentioned that this um this is a part of our strategic planning culture and climate and this also kind of lays into the dis the dis disproportionality which I shared a couple

111of months ago which has decreased right and so all of these things that the teams are doing the teachers the leaders um in the buildings as well are doing are helping get to our overall decrease for the district from fall of 2022 to fall of 2025 um that 47%. So, we are seeing movement um good movement as well. And so some of the things that we want to ensure that we're doing to help um focus our efforts, right, and really be on the same page is continuing our strategic plan, the ISBY plan that we had to do, which has lots of things they named, restorative practices, professional development for um SRS's, deans, um and then working really with MTSS, our our services that we're providing for students as well. And so strengthening those things that

112are already in the plan that uh many of the secondary leaders helped create last year. And so in 2024 2025 that's when we started that plan and we discussed that u behavior continuing and some of the monitoring and accountability procedures for suspensions. And so prior to um I think that they were able to suspend like administrators were able to suspend without having some type of conversation or oversight from district administrators. And so that changed and so they do call um Bethl Lad if it's a student with IEP to kind of collaborate on should it be a suspension or what are other things that we could do and or having team meetings to support those students. And then they call Laura Taylor too when it's over um a couple of over two or three days that

113they're trying to suspend again as just a layer of collaboration and conversation about what is going on with that student and then like the followup of what supports we're putting in place afterwards. Every school last year started a culture and climate goal within their school improvement plans. And then some schools have bi-weekly um and then in secondary monthly check-ins to over to review, excuse me, culture and climate data, which is our discipline data, what PDN training do staff um need in order to support our students and also just really thinking about how do we continue that decrease over time. So in this year uh we started the strategic plan and all of those things from 2024 kind of rolled into our strategic plan um culture and climate which I oversee and I work with um

114a couple of groups or well I work with actually it's a big group so we kind of split into three smaller groups in our culture and climate strategic plan committees um and they're from all levels as well some of the people who are PBIS PBIS leaders are there Um we have some administrators there as well. So it's a good working group who really thinks about our CHAMPS training, how we're implementing that. They think about restorative practices. That's um sense of self- belonging as well for students. Um as we discuss restorative practices started this year. That training for our secondary SRS's, deans um and APS also uh attend as well. And it's to create that alignment. Like Miss Kern said, our SRS's can be that triage for our students who just need someone to talk to

115and then hopefully getting them back in the classrooms when they're regulated so they can get back to um instruction. So, another thing is Dr. Taylor has also provided some PD for um our middle school deans as well and and we also have a AP leadership group as well that provides a that provides um professional development really trying to build the capacity of our APS. So Dr. Taylor does that and then there are a group of us >> oh with Dion I'm sorry with Miss Webster >> and Jackie Douglas. And so in addition to um the things that they're doing at the building, how are we providing professional learning and a place for collaboration for those positions as well um that didn't get it as much in the past. Then there's a group of us from

116the student learning group who um have also began an emerging leaders um group. So this is for aspiring leaders like they want to be assistant principles or principles or some of them are just leaders in their building. And so we had a whole three sessions about culture and climate. We're kind of using the um leaders paradigm with them. The same thing that Dr. Taylor uses to evaluate principles. And so what we're trying to do and a lot of them on our SIP teams too is build their capacity and create a shared um a distributive leadership roles and with them too. So we look at data, we give them scenarios. Um they see what is it what it takes to be a school leader, right? And so really trying to have some emp empathy for our

117leaders as well and grace and they also problem solve and work on ways in which they can be a support to their buildings as well. Um I think we usually have about 25 Dr. Taylor >> 25 um teacher leaders from across the district regularly attend this and this is something that they are um we put it out there. They volunt volunteered. We don't pay them additional money to attend. we're just there to support them and they show up. And so those are things that we're hoping too will over time make a great impact on school culture and climate with sense of belonging for our leader, our aspiring leaders, but also as they um support the overall building as well. And then we're going to continue those monthly or bi-weekly check-ins depending on the school. And

118for 2026, 2027, we're just looking for that continuous improvement. We want to make sure that we are um focusing on those areas of improvement that each school kind of shared, but then continuing to layer in our coaching for CHAMPS for our administrators um and all of the above practices and really working the plan that we're that is showing the decreases. And so I think that all the takeaways here is our administrators are working hard. We have an overall decrease that also shows in our ISBY disproportionality plan. And then here there are so many layers of things and supports that building administrators are um doing within the within their own buildings and then district support as well to work on these. Any questions for me? >> Thank you. Questions? >> Yeah. Um the um leaders the

119leaders training I was wondering um you said people are volunteering but are they um does somebody suggest this would be a good person? >> We did go through a process. I think we started that last year sometime where we had um principles recommend and then so we went through that but then we also offered it up to everybody right because we know sometimes recommendation recommendations are good but they can leave some people out and some people just need to um have their our hand the olive branch right extended to them. Um and we have three sessions per semester. So right now we are focusing on our systems domain and so we are teaching those teacher those leaders all about like systems and buildings um data literacy and being great communicators and collaborative partners. And so

120that's been our focus this time. We're excited. We have one at the end of March that we're excited about getting them into some groups um with their colleagues and really working through some of the same things that our leaders have to work through every every day. Yeah, it's a great and and again it was their brainchild and I've gone to a couple and seeing some of the we have people there who have type 75s basically their um endorsement to be an administrator or principal who have never chosen to go down that path because of whatever reason and I think this is a great way for us to grow like a grow your own um because we try to push some of those people and say you be a great administrator you be a great assistant

121principal but until they feel more confident and So we're helping to grow their capacity. So as some of our great leaders like Mr. Guzman and other people who move on and you know do other things, we have a pool of people that we have waiting in the wings that we're really supporting who can be our future deans and assistant principles and even principles. So yeah. >> Anyone else? All right. Thank you all. >> All right. Thank you. Our second administrative report tonight is on the district curriculum. >> Good good evening everyone. I have the pleasure of presenting our seven mindsets curriculum which is our district's new social emotional learning curriculum for kindergarten through high school. We selected not to use the program for early childhood. We got feedback from early childhood that it just did

122not work for their age group. We did go to the school. We did practice it with one of the seven mindsets coaches and it just does not fit their grant and their protocol. So that is why we're not doing it at early childhood. We did provide um professional development training this summer. They um staff members had three different dates for six options to attend the training in the summer and they were paid from um June 23rd, 24th and 25th for three-hour segments. So they had a night shift um sorry night shift sorry a morning time from 9:00 am to noon or they could do the afternoon from 1 to 4 and we also offered an additional training on August 11th because we know people do have summer lives and uh plans and vacation scheduled. So

123we offered another training on August 11th for certified staff and then any non-certified staff as well. What is seven mindsets? Seven Mindsets is a digitalbased social emotional learning curriculum that works for all ages. It is a digital platform that allows us to make updates annually and that is one of the benefits of the program. Unlike a box curriculum where you're stuck with those materials until you purchase another one or supplemental materials to go in the box, Seven Mindsets allows you to update the material annually. It also gives teachers and students the opportunity to give feedback on the lessons and the resources and they do read them and they make feedback and they make changes. The seven mindsets representatives were here February 13th which I'll talk about in a little bit but they have already applied

124some of the feedback from our district as well as other districts. What are the seven mindsets? They are everything is possible passion first. We are connected 100% accountable attitude of gratitude live to give which is our current mindset of the month and the time is now. Additional training that we have offered for seven mindsets is we have seven mindsets champions. Those consist of social workers and building administrators who are invited once a quarter to have a virtual meeting for an hour with our seven mindsets coach Andrew Chismar. the first quarter meeting just for topics about how to navigate the platform, review of the platform, uses rates, and to remind the teachers to um select the complete button. That is an issue that we've noticed when we have been reviewing our usage is that there's a

125button at the end of each lesson that you have to select complete for it to register you've completed it. The teachers are still teaching the lesson, but it's just a nice way for administrators just to be able to give kudos and to say thank you for being on track with the pacing. And it also allows us to make sure that everybody is implementing the program with fidelity. Second quarter of the meetings involved um asking questions about the program, receiving support to enhance implementation, and then teachers gave feedback. Well, social workers gave feedback about the program of seven mindsets. And then third quarter, we did not have a virtual check-in meeting because we had our second in-person training on February 13th. Our seven mindsets coaches came. They met with K through two first, then three through

126five, then the seven eight grade level, and then they ended their day with the sixth grade center as a refresh of seven mindsets, talking about the new changes and how to um pair seven mindsets with CHAMPS because we do know that as the school year progresses, behaviors intensify and needs change. So, it was just a way to show how we can blend and braid the programs we already have in place with our SEAL curriculum, which stands for social emotional learning. I apologize for the acronym. This summer we worked with a group of teachers and social workers to develop what how we were going to implement this program. It was very important to Dr. Ivy Tatum and I that we had teacher input. So it was not just Dr. Ivy Tatum and I in a room

127with other administrators. We had teachers and we had social workers. We had um coordinators in our district sit down and work with us to decide what is this going to look like. So this beautiful chart on the screen was created by one of our teachers, Jessa Johnson. We incorporated our mindset of the month with our portrait of the graduate skill. Again, we are trying to streamline as much as possible. Some of the programs and materials that we created with that group were um mindset of the month and portrait of a graduate charts. Each teacher received a set of these charts as well as the buildings to display on their boards and the offices. We've asked principles to display them in the offices. Some schools have them on the doors. I was just at Leo yesterday

128and they have theirs on the door. Just a way again so that when community members, community partners, parents come into our buildings, it gives them a language to connect to them. This is what we're focusing on this month. We also created mindset money as well as positive referrals. We did paper referrals and digital referrals for the older grades. Mindset champion of the month certificate. So, schools can um can nominate mindset champions of the month. Each grade level has a mindset champion of the month as well as an adult mindset champion of the month. Each champion receives one of these certificates. Adults receive a slightly nicer one and the adults receive a t-shirt. There's also the mindset mover award that the team this summer wanted to make sure that there was something in between a mindset

129champion and a mindset mover. They wanted children who are making progress towards achieving goals and improvement to be able to receive an acknowledgement. Opening day, and I apologize for going quickly. I'll take questions at the end, but opening day, we had seven mindset stations. We wanted to make sure that everyone in our district knew what the seven mindsets were. We wanted to give them an opportunity to be involved with the seven mindsets. So, we had stations for each mindset. We had an everything is possible station where in this picture people just wrote on a sticky note what their dreams were and it was posted on a display wall in the middle school and those stayed up for quite a while. The kids didn't bother them. It just kind of walked by and looked at them.

130But it gave everybody in our district, teachers, social workers, custodial staff, secretaries, everybody had the opportunity to participate in these stations. We wanted them to learn the language and we wanted them to learn the importance of each mindset. We had a we are connected which was one of our best um stations in my opinion. We just paired people together. We just told people to sit down and people sat down that didn't know each other. They picked out a topic and they started talking and there are pictures of that as well. And then the stations go on from there of each station. And then if you see the picture of the lady with the hat, those are the um stations where people just had to sit down and talk about we are connected. And I wanted

131to take a picture of that because those are people who do not work together, normally aren't together, but we really wanted to show the importance of building connections. And we had a backdrop where uh teachers had to write on the paddle what who what they wanted to be remembered by, what was their legacy and then an attitude of gratitude station where people wrote postcards to each other. They didn't have to deliver them. All they had to do was write the school name on them. We took care of the delivery and people had nice postcards in their mailboxes when the school started because we wanted to start with an attitude of gratitude. Seven mindsets is for everyone, not just children again, which is why we started the year with the mindset stations for everyone. Mindsets drive

132success at any age. It's all about the way that you think about things and how you focus on them. And each mindset focuses on a different area of life. Seven mindsets K through eight. Our illustrious um secondary um principles have already talked about this briefly, so I will go over this quickly. In K through eight, teachers facilitate one seven mindsets lesson each week dividing the 30 minute curriculum components which are the icebreaker, the quote, the hook, video discussion questions and activities into daily pieces. And then the instruction is supported by ongoing work in the seven mindsets life plan workbooks. For elementary, we did print copies of those for them. For six through eight, they have digital versions of them. And the life plan books help them go through um setting goals and just focusing on

133plans for life. 9th through 10th grade, Mr. Guzman has already discussed this. They get lessons twice a week during this instructional time. They also complete activities in their digital life plan books. Monthly resources shared districtwide to support seven mindsets. We have the SEO spotlight which is our monthly newsletter designed to support social emotional learning in the district not only in the classroom but also for adults. Each edition highlights the mindset of the month. Each my each SEO spotlight is linked here by the mindset of the month. You are welcome to review those if you have not done so already. And then there are testimonials which I will not read but we did get testimonials from students and elementary students of what they like about seven mindsets and staff members also gave testimonials about the things

134that they appreciate about the mindsets week. We just finished social emotional learning week last week March se March 2nd through the 6th all Urbana schools Urbana early childhood which the kindergarten prom that I mean sorry early childhood prom they do connect social emotional learning to that that is their social emotional learning event. All schools participated in social emotional learning for a variety of activities focused on the seven mindsets, readalouds, wellness activities, problem solving activities, vision boards, thankfulness trees, shoutouts. Some of the schools had um seven had seven mindset spirit weeks of different themes connected to the mindset for each day of the week. And our seal um week, we had email messages that went out daily to all of the staff. Dr. I retatum kicked the week off with an email message and linked the

135March SEO spotlight as well as our SEO playbook and a video about social emotional learning. And then each day after that, I sent a message which is linked to this document with the mindset of the month and challenges for staff to complete. >> Any questions? >> Board members, any questions? >> No. >> Thank you. Thank you. Uh we do have a set of action items on our agenda for seeking approval this evening. Uh starting off uh with 11.0 on our consent agenda is 11.1. The minutes for our February 17th business meeting, our February 24th district parent teacher advisory committee meeting and our March 3rd study session. Uh 11.2 is a request to seek approval to pay our February bills. um in uh in advance because we don't have them them all yet, but uh they'll

136be coming back to us at a future meeting. Uh 11.3 are a set of personal items that were uh published in our in our agenda packet. 11.4 are interfund loans uh from working cash or transportation uh to the amount of $400,000 and from working cash fund to tort uh in the amount of $100,000. 11.5 is IHS IHSA membership approval for the 2026 2027 school year and 11.6 is a resolution authorizing directing the sale of disposal of property in accordance with state law. These are variety of compact discs. Is is there well first of all does anybody wish to have any of these individual uh items removed from the consent agenda? Seeing none, uh, the chair would entertain a motion to approve the entire consent agenda as read. >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been

137moved and seconded. Any further questions, comments, or discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Member Hixon, >> yes. Member Langorf, yes. Vice President Baxley, >> yes. >> President Palowski, >> yes. Uh, motion passes. Uh, now to our individual action items. First up are 12.1 are gifts. Uh Roxanna Almarez and family donated a framed picture of the 2025 2026 softball team valued at $150 to the Urbana Middle School. An anonymous donor gifted a state championship commemoration plaque, Jeemma Douglas, long jump champion to the Urbana Middle School. Uh Melissa Stone donated $100 to the Urbana Middle School band program and John L. Ran IV 4th donated $2,000 to the Urbana Middle School Music Program. Um, is there a motion to accept these gifts and send out the appropriate thank yous? >> So move. >> Second. Any questions, comments,

138or discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. >> Okay. Um, uh, it is now what's coming up next are a series of motions that we're required to do by law every year. um basically informing uh employees of a change of status that could be due to any number of things from uh uh waiting on grant funding approval uh to other reasons. Angie, can I give a a kind of uh administrative update on on these upcoming resolutions up for approval? >> Yep. So, every year this is the meeting that that I dread because I don't want um our beloved staff to be looking for jobs elsewhere. Um, but it is something that we have to do per Illinois school code. Paul referenced that. And so because of the unknown grant

139funding for 2627, we always have to riff positions during this board meeting in March per the Illinois school code. The acronym RIFF means a reduction in force. When staff are rifted, they have recall rights to their positions should grant funding be secured. Being ripped has nothing to do with a staff member's job performance. This particular year, we have fewer riffs at the district level due to various grant cycles, not needing classroom adjustment, teaching assistance, varying enrollment needs for the multilingual department, and so on. Also, this year, we have more riffs at adult ed, which was strategic by district administration to do the best we can to ensure none of our staff again start looking for positions. It's important to share a bit more information about the strategy that was used um in our riffs at

140adult ed. So last spring 2025, we were given our Illinois Community College Board ICCB allocations for the fiscal year 26. The federal federal grant allocation was initially more than 60% lower um than adult ed had received the previous year. And so um initially we were told that we were going to receive 33% of the funding that we had received the previous year for this school year. The funds, thank goodness, were eventually reinstated and they were made available later this fall, but many months passed before we knew that adult ed would be funded. This upcoming year is a little different because it's a competitive grant year for all of our ICCB funds, so both state and federal. While adult ed has been consistently funded for many years, um there's always no guarantee for the funding for

141the next year. So, in order to ensure all full-time staff have a job next year, Director of Adult Ed Shauna has recommended reducing calendar days until we know our funding allocations. Um, the reduction in calendar days are minimal and do not impact the programming for students during the regular school year. If we don't receive the anticipated funding, we will need to cut summer school for 2027, which is the reason for the reduction of staff of of the work days for teachers and 12 month support or clerical staff. Once we secure funding, our hope is to increase um all of the staff members days back to where they were um so that our summer school programming in 2027 can take place and also um giving our teachers um additional days between the fall and spring semester

142to be able to plan for their upcoming classes. And so I just wanted to share a little bit more. I um had several follow-up questions that I wanted to ask Shauna and look into myself so that I could um to share this information with the board because we we have a little bit longer list than usual for adult ed. And um you know, also our our normal um rifts that are used to being rifted every year, it doesn't I mean it still doesn't feel great because it feels like you're not valued by the district unless grant funding comes in. And that's not necessarily the case. Um, we just need to be able to see if it's been paid by a grant. We're going to have to see for budget purposes if we're going to be

143able to afford it. Whether or not it's adult ed, whether or not it's the farm to school program, whether or not it's um a TA um who provides language support. So, lots of different factors. It's not um it's not uh a fun process at all. >> Can I add one more? >> Sure. So, I did have a board member ask um or anticipate that we would have had um more riffs just from our regular everyday programming. Yep. >> Um and thankfully, you know, there was a time in the spring where we thought we were going to experience significant cuts in our grants like Title One and things like that >> and we did that did not um come to place. So, we did all kinds of planning this summer and in the spring um thinking

144we were going to have to reduce and we received all of our funding and we've actually received more. >> So, um we we received a recent allocation from title maybe a month ago, three weeks ago. >> Yeah. So, it just recently they've given us additional funds. Um we've received additional funds for all of our designated schools through Illinois Empower. Um, so we did not bring any of those grant-f funded um people or riffs or positions um to the to um to the board tonight because right now we don't know what the future's going to bring. Um just the fact that we received our um level funding and then additional funding throughout the school year um has left us hope uh very optimistic that next year we will not have to um be riffing positions. But

145however, just like adult ed, we never know what will happen. Um but at least we know for now we can bring back all of the folks um paid through our grants for next year. We might be having a very different conversation next March, right? >> Um but for now, uh again, we never want our, you know, most of the folks in our title grants, our co-teers and our CITs and our um our student engagement advocates are right now in year two of a three-year grant. So next year when that grant ends, the TEOP grant ends um next year we might be bringing forward those riffs until we find out if we receive the TEOP funding again. So that is why you didn't see um very many riffs or um from the just regular academic programming,

146the um school-based grants that we have. >> Thank you both for that that that context. >> I have a question. >> You go ahead. Um when do you think we would learn more about the U farm to school? >> Um I so what has happened in the past um and Jenny's here this evening is that the farm to school program has always been completely funded through um solatia and then the the coordinator uh also like her kind of part-time part-time gig is looking for grants to to >> oh it's not okay. Okay, come on up, Jenny. Come on up, Jenny. Sorry. >> Yes. >> So, sorry. >> No, on the microphone. Yeah, go ahead. Oh, I just wanted to say that um Solradia did get some grants in the beginning um 2019 2020 and I

147think 2022. Um but USD has held the farm-toschool grant for the past two years and it expires June 30th and um I did apply for two USDA grants to fund us for the following year. We won't find out probably till mid June to mid July if if we get funded through those. >> Sorry. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Hopefully soon enough. So >> yeah, I mean and unfortunately Jenny um you know and she and I had a conversation has been on the list for quite a few years and it's it's never you know it's not great to feel like that you know that you're not being valued. And so it has been a grant-f funed position and it's just it's hard for us to figure out where we're going to put that in the

148budget um unless we you know unless we have to. So >> thanks. >> I know another program that I used to work with too was a CU early program. >> We have one of those too. >> Huh. Okay. So >> yeah, we have a CU early um riff as well on >> It's not the entire staff. It's just >> it's not the entire staff. >> So that program can still continue. >> Yes. Okay. But in past years, we've had multiple staff members from and so it it truly varies from year to year. Um some bright news while we're talking though, um Tracy Welch is one of the the names that's on the public document. So I can say that um and she is funded through the teacher vacancy grant and there is a possibility that

149additional I mean it's supposed to end this year but there is a possibility of it continuing. We don't know. um it may or may not impact her position, but that is hopeful to get additional funds to be able to support our initiatives with recruitment. So, >> you know, while the floor is open, any other questions in general, we'll have a series of about six of these resolutions. >> Okay, to go through these one one by one. Uh 12.2 is a resolution authorizing honor and dismissal of full-time grant-f funed educational support personnel. This affects one person. Is there a motion uh for the floor? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Uh any further questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Member Langondorf. Yes. >> Vice President Baxley. >> Yes. >> President

150Palowski. >> Yes. >> Member Hixon. >> Yes. 12.3 is resolution authorizing honorable dismissal of full-time educational support personnel. Again, uh this affects one person. >> Is there a motion for the floor? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Vice President Baxley, >> yes. >> President Bowski, >> yes. >> Um member Hixon, >> yes. Member Langodorf, yes. >> Motion passes. 12.4 Four is resolution authorizing dismissal of part-time grant funded educational support personnel. Again, this affects one person. Is there a motion for the floor? >> So move. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> President Palowski? >> Yes. >> Member Hixon? >> Yes. >> Member Langdenorf? Yes. Vice President Baxley? >> Yes. >> 12.5 is a resolution authorizing dismissal of part-time grant funded educational support personnel. Uh, this resolution affects two people. Is there

151a motion for the floor? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Member Hixon, >> yes. >> Member Langdenorf, yes. Vice President Baxley, >> yes. >> President Palowski, >> yes. Motion passes. 12.6 is a resolution authorizing dismissal of part-time educational support personnel. Uh, this resolution affects six people. Is there a motion for the floor? >> So moved. Second >> roll call, please. >> Can I make a statement, please? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> This is coming from my heart as well as from my head. I've been in adult ed for 35 years when I count up all these years. And it really troubles me that the adult education profession staff receives riff notices almost each year. And it's the same here as in other programs as well. It is the result of being

152funded by inconsistent and unre reliable federal and state funding. It should not be a sign that this program is not important to our district or to our community. Learning is a lifelong endeavor. Many adults who did not succeed in school as a young child, as young children or as teens have the opportunity to continue their education to achieve their personal educational and their career goals in adult education classes is because the district has supported this opportunity for adults. Many who have children in our schools and who want to be good role models for their children or be involved in their education and help their children learn. Adult education is not only for adults, but there are students who drop out of high school for a variety of reasons. They enroll in adult education classes because

153they want to achieve their educational goals. They just need a different path. Shauna indicated that there were 71 teens between the ages of 16 and 18 who enrolled in adult education classes this year. 39 were Urbana students. Okay, this is where my kind of gets sketchy because I just started writing, but please bear with me. I've heard people say that our district needs an alternative school. Urbana Adult Education is such a school. Our community is small and we were able to keep up with prior graduates. Last year, I spoke about two such students and read a passage that one one wrote. I ran into him over the weekend and he told me he got a new he got a new job and he was really enjoying it. Perhaps this new job was because of the

154mock job interviews that he practiced and helped and it helped him to get a job at her banana ed. Another student that I talked about last year was going to get her um bachelors and I think this is the semester that she's going to complete her very last course and receive her BSW. There are also three attorneys that we know of that attended adult. One is working in a local government office here. And a person who is honored as one of the 40 under 40 recipients was an Urbana Adult Education graduate and and their child is going to be receiving his diploma at the end of this year from the Urbana High School. A recent uh personnel sheet by HR indicated that a former graduate was hired at one of our local schools in Urbana

155and he recently got a new job and I think it's a promotion in the district and he has more responsible responsibilities working directly with children and I spoke to the principal that tonight and she said he was doing a terrific job. And then there is a a text that I got from a student just last week who asked me to attend her graduation in Indiana this spring. She received her high school diploma 10 years ago and it has taken 10 years for her to earn her associates degree her ear her associates degree. Each student has a story and his or her path and it was due to the opportunities in adult education that helped them to continue to reach for their potential. So, it makes me sad that what is a profession is dwindled down

156to a part-time job. This isn't an option at this time. Oh, I'm sorry. There isn't an option at this time if this program is going to be continued in our community. I can't support this proposal at all or this motion, but I guess I have to. >> Thank you, Sherry. >> Thank you, Sher. Um, if anybody questions though the value of this program, please attend the graduation. There's there's nothing in what I've done here that that's more uplifting than hearing the stories from the people who walk across that particular stage. U is I'm sorry I can't remember if there's a motion on the floor or not. Let's just let's just see there is. Okay. >> Uh then a roll call vote is in order unless someone else wants to speak. >> Roll call, please. >>

157Member Langodorf. Yes. Vice President Baxley, >> yes. >> President Palowski, >> yes. >> Member Hixon, >> yes. >> Uh 12.7 is a resolution authorizing honorable dismissal and reassignment of full-time educational support personnel reduction in days assigned. Uh this affects six individuals. Is there a motion for the floor? >> Some move. >> Second. >> Been moved and seconded. Any further questions, comments, or discussion? Roll call, please. Vice President Baxley, >> yes. >> President Palowski, >> yes. >> Member Hixon, >> yes. >> Member Langodorf, yes. >> Motion passes. That concludes our action items for for uh this meeting. Uh there is no call for future special executive meetings, but I think uh uh building committee is coming soon. Um okay, waiting on I guess to approve the doodle poll. Uh superintendence report. Okay. So, um this is

158another great celebration. I'm really excited about um bringing back the fifth grade transition days. So, if you've been in the district long enough, you probably remember that um years ago, our fifth graders would take a field trip to Urbana Middle School um to see the school, talk to um a lot of the teachers, get to visit a team, and just get to have a day of um experiencing what it would be like to be a middle schooler. now that we have the sixth grade center um and we can do that on a much smaller scale and it isn't as um intimidating and kind of overstimulating to be doing that in a much smaller space. We are very excited to bring back fifth grade transition day. So each of our fifth graders um will have a

159morning to visit the sixth grade center over the next five weeks after spring break. We're starting um week to week and uh the students will tour the building. They will participate in various activities. They get to go to the gym, the library. Um they'll uh sit in the multi-purpose room and hear a presentation about their elective classes. Um so several staff members with along with Miss Carr uh will uh share what their elective class options are. Um we will be sending the elective class um information out to the parents first. So parents will receive that information on Monday and have an opportunity to sit down with their students um and talk about the possible electives. Um and then on Wednesday when the students are there in person with their teachers um from the elementary school,

160they will learn more about those electives and then have an opportunity to choose what they'd like to take next year. So um we're really excited to give them a chance to walk around in their new school um as the next sixth grade class. Um and uh is we really are trying to make it a great experience for them. Wrestling. So Quinn Foner um Quinn is the first ever I was told ever ever ever Urbana Middle School wrestler to qualify for state. So Quinn uh will be competing in the IEA state wrestling tournament um this Friday and Saturday in Decal. So, we send lots of good thoughts to Quinn and wish him all the best of luck. So, he's already represented our bandana middle school really well and um we can't wait to see what he

161does there at the state tournament. Read across America. So, as you can tell from the pictures, we had a lot of fun. Um so, thank you to everyone who participated. Thank you Sherry for her leadership and for the committee. Um, I got to be a celebrity greeter again. I always love to do that. And, um, see all the smiles of the little ones coming in. We had little little ones walking in um, you know, little young really young kids coming in to um, learn about more about books and um, it's always great. They get to go to station to station and hear stories and they get a free book. They get their own book at the end to walk out with. So, um, seeing them come in and out is the kind of a highlight

162of the year for us. So, we had a a huge crowd. Again, it was a great day to be in Urbana for ReadAcross America and um uh just so many smiles and uh lots of really uh just seeing people from all over the community is really nice. Um and how many people volunteer like the Rotaries and so many community service um groups. Our our our UEA has a table so our teachers union is out there um greeting families. So, it's it's just a great day and it's kind of what all Urbana is all about. Even though I know it's it's a com a county event and everybody's invited, it's just it really feels like you're seeing all everyone from Urbana when you're there. So, >> have it any other place. Yes. But also the UAE

163has also been a sponsor every year for many years. So, we really appreciate that. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Um spring break. So, uh, Thursday and Friday, our student led conferences, um, Thursday evening and Friday morning. And then next week, um, central office is open, but our schools are closed, um, for spring break. So, enjoy your time off, and we look forward to seeing everybody back on Monday, March 23rd. >> Thank you. Uh, there was a foyer that was uh, processed and it's published in in our agenda. Um, is there a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting? >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? I will see you all in April.