001Okay. test. Test ready. Uh, good evening. It's six o'clock. So, let's kick off this study session of our Bana School District 116. Roll call, please. >> Member Cheryl, >> here. >> Member Hixon, >> here. >> Member Maribou, >> here. Member Jones, member Langorf here, Vice President Baxley >> here. >> President Palowski >> here. Are there any additions, corrections, or modifications to tonight's agenda? >> Hearing none, it's now time for citizen statements. If anybody here present wishes to make a statement before the board, please fill out a golden rush sheet located in the back of the room and hand it to recording Secretary Lori Johnson. Have we received anything to date? >> Okay. Um, seeing no citizens coming forward, the chair would entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> So moved. Second. >> All in
002favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> It's now time for a student ambassador's report. >> Okay, this is just a little recap of things that were going on at UHS. On the 25th of February, there was a district band festival, wrestling girls state, our school polar plunge was on the 27th, and UHS talent show auditions are the 27th, and UHS movie night was the 27th. Our high school science olympiad went um to regionals on February 21st and we got second place overall which is really exciting. our JV got fourth overall and so um JV doesn't go to state but that means varsity will be going on to state and so we had a lot of notable finishes but um some of them were we got first place in engineering CAD we got first
003place in entomology first place in experimental design first place in helicopter and first place in robot tour um and then both of our basketball seasons have ended um both boys and girls. Both teams played really hard at regionals. Um so now it's on to spring sports. The girls has their basketball banquet tomorrow night. So very excited for that. And then we had three girls qualify for wrestling at state. Tomia Terry, Lilian Danto, and Rakasia Ivy. And then they compete on the 27th and 28th. And then Lilian Danto placed fifth overall. And then Max Cooper, he's a senior. He placed first at sectionals and he went to stay and he got 12th overall and he also set a school record at regionals of 474.15. Um and then we had our Black History Month assembly on February
00420th. Um so this was an optional assembly at the high school where um students could come and there were performances from the cheerleaders, ac cappella and many dancers. And then on here we have a link to the video that was played at the assembly um just giving like an overview of the history of Black History Month. >> Thank you. Um now time for board reports. Does anybody uh any board members wish to give a report this evening? Go ahead, Sherry. Um, I keep seeing notices for IASB advocacy day, which is March 24th, and that's a day that um, school boards can go to Springfield and um, speak with legislators and attend some workshops and some meetings to find out what's going on in the state. I think the deadline is tomorrow. Um, on March 24th
005is a Tuesday. That's usually a busy day, but if anyone's interested in going, I could possibly change my schedule that week. So just let me know tonight if you want to come with me. And also read across America is um this weekend Saturday from 10 to uh 1:00. There'll be lots of activities for kids that relate to uh literacy skills that parents can replicate at home. I hope that families come. We usually expect a thousand children and their families. So several thousand. We are well representative represented from the Champagne School Board. this year. So, [laughter] in the past, we were well represented from Urbana, so it's Champagne's turn this year, but that's it. >> Thank you. Anybody else at board reports? Uh, go ahead, Jennifer. Uh yes, I attended the um uh study session for
006dual language put on by the state board yesterday and it was very interesting and um I think that much of what Urbana is doing is part of the already is part of the guidelines which is good. Um but um of course I had to make some comments and I'm hopeful that they they really did seem to be listening and um my comments were were basically about the funding issues and the fact that you know once you pass the access test um you don't get any money from the state anymore for those English learners. And if they want us to do dual language, they've got to change that because the extra expense then continues on up the line. So, I'm hoping they listen to us. Anyone else? I'll I'll do a quick one. I just want
007to send a word of congratulations uh to Bonita Rollins Gay, the prior vice president who now has a section of Walnut Street in Champagne named after her called Bonita Gita Rollins Gay Way. >> Uh which is appropriate for tonight's study topic >> and it's my Rose Crants where she's been the majority of her career, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, congrat Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Really, really happy that she received that honor. Thank you for saying that. I forgot all about that. >> Um, it's now time for administrative report on our architectural professional services agreement with BLDD. >> Okay. So, you have the agreement in front of you. So, I'm just going to kind of walk through a few little like you know what what all what it all means and maybe some questions
008that board members may have. I'm going to in He's already in motion. Gonna invite Mark. So, this is Mark Ritz um from BLDD Architects. Um he is one of the principal architects. Um I've worked with BLDD before. I know Maryanne um had the privilege of working with BLDD in her previous district. So, um we're going to talk a little bit about the agreement that you have in front of you. So, um just a little bit of background of how we reconnected with BLDD. Um, as you know, well, Ben knows, um, and I think I shared it, I've shared it publicly that we've been taking some field trips, um, and going to different, um, spaces in our community. And we also went to, um, the Lyft program in Maton um, as we've been having, uh, additional
009conversations about the needs at the high school. Our student ambassadors have been very vocal about parking and traffic and all that. And so, we're going to talk about that a little bit. Um, but I think one of the areas that we've also been talking about is the fact that our um current building u may not be adequate for the needs of some of our instructional programming spaces. So before we got too far in the weeds, we Randy and I um we have a couple of um union folks from the trades who uh work very closely with us. um principles Guzman, a couple of our uh um CTE teachers and educators, department chairs. Um and because BL um this is part of kind of Ben's uh wheelhouse, uh we invited Ben to participate. So, um, BLDD,
010uh, was the principal designer on the program at Lyft, and we were so impressed at, um, how that, uh, building, which was a basically an old building that was, uh, given to the city of Maton, which now is the a fantastic program. I know I don't work for Matune, but I'm giving them a huge shout out because what they're doing for kids is amazing. Um, and it is a great program with multiple floors and we were very impressed with the design and how they utilized a really really old building and turned it into something very modern for their uh, students. Um, and so BLDD was uh, one of the um, I think you guys were the main architect on that build, right? And so, um, knowing that they have experience already in creating, um, really
011creative spaces in older buildings, and our high school is what, 115 plus years old. Um, we thought getting with some folks who have really done this in the past would be very helpful. And so, um, that is how we kind of ended up having some follow-up conversations with BLDD. Um Randy and I also with Principal Guzman and some of our facilities folks, we went and visited our neighbors across the street um and looked at the central uh some of the central spaces that they through their um capital project funds have been able to do some really um really exciting things for their high school students. And we want that for Urbana Youth. And we want our high schools to be um at the same level. and we want our students to get what other students
012are getting. So, um also in our community, some of our smaller districts um are also doing some very intentional u remodels of their um high schools to improve and bring more CTE like programming um to their districts. So, we intend to go look at a few more spaces. Um I've invited the high school to come. I think they're coming to the May study session on May 5th to talk a little bit more about um what we're doing um at our high school in regard to career and technical education. Um we went and visited Parkland. They have a newer facility um that was recently I think you guys were involved in that one as well. Yes. So Parkland has a new um Oh, if you want to hit your mic, Mark, if anytime you want to
013jump in if when it turns green. So Nick Elder, who runs the Early College and Career Academy, um invited us out to look at a newer space that Parkland opened. Is it two years old, Randy? Maybe. Yeah, I think about two years old. Um and it is a really beautiful building. And now we have we are nowhere near going to have anything of that um size or magnitude, but definitely it gave us some great ideas. Um and because BLDD was involved in both of those, we thought um let's you know have an initial conversation with them around what they might be able to bring um to a feasibility study for us. Um and our wonderful student ambassadors have um brought forward our need for parking, a traffic study, um parking spaces, more flow. So, we
014have we're just going to incorporate that all into one big kind of program needs feasibility study. So, I'm going to walk through what this agreement means and really what it doesn't mean. Mark, jump in anytime you would like. Randy, jump in. Maryanne has been um with me as we've had some of these conversations as well. So, what is a program needs study? So, basically, um, what we're going to do is partner with BLDD architects to, um, conduct something more like a program evaluation or an assessment. Um, it's a planning study, not a construction project. So, we're not saying we're going to, you know, be bringing forward a, you know, construction um, project um, yet. I mean, that may be something that happens um later in the future, but I this initial agreement with them is
015really um just to get the conversation started and with multiple stakeholders at our high school. Um as we've discovered and as we have talked with you a lot, um education has changed significantly over the years. Um I know a couple of you here were part of our program um programming when we created our portrait of a graduate. And um one of the things that we found which was very enlightening to me when we sat down to look at the skills that we want to prepare our students for in kindergarten through their whole career. We're not just preparing students to go to college. We're not just um you know helping them be better humans which is really important but we're giving them the skills that they need to be successful in college in careers but just
016basically in life. And so, um, we found out through part of that, um, that research that we did for our portrait is that we are creating we are going to be graduating students in the next few years for jobs that haven't even been created yet. And it's really important for us to think ahead and and be ready for that um, and make sure that we're giving them some of those skills. Um, one of the programs that the state of Illinois um is really um gotten behind, our governor, our uh state superintendent at ISBY is really growing the pathways for our students in regard to career and technical education. Um fine arts. Um there are a lot of our students who go into the arts and that's a very specialized area. Um and those specialized areas
017require special equipment. We saw a piece of equipment at Lyft. How much did that was? Was it like a $100,000 or It was some ridiculous amount of money for something that cut things or created things. And so, you know, um some of the equipment that goes with um some of the new coursework is really expensive but very much needed. You know, if you talk to Mr. Westman, our industrial arts teacher, he can tell you about a piece of equipment that he has that is like $25,000. Um and so uh not only do we need updated equipment, we need flexible spaces. Um we need our learning environments to basically be improved. So um what the district would would like BL to help us with is um really look at our existing spaces at the high school.
018Um they're going to talk to a lot of our ad they're going to talk to our administrators. They're going to talk to um the different departments, our department chairs. um and really get a sense for them. Kind of what Ry's been doing with his initial information gathering for the master facilities plan is really figuring out where are the spaces not sufficient. Um where are the spaces in our high school currently not matching what they need to do for their programming um and for their instruction? How can we better support our building with traffic flow, not just outside? I was just there yesterday. Oh my gosh. at dismissal time. I thought I was running out of there in time and I did not make it. But also inside like um we've talked about the Tiny Tigers
019program. Um I hope all the board members know that we have a child development. We have a couple of child development classes that happen through the CTE department. And we are um lucky enough in our district to have a program called Tiny Tigers. And our students get to practice a lot of those child development skills. They get to um the the we have uh parents um and staff members who sign their their kiddos up, their three, four, and five year olds. Um and they come into our space and it helps them learn a little bit about what it means to be an early childhood educator or what how how a child develops. Um, but it's really hard when you're there on Tiny Tiger Day and you see them walking these little three-year-olds up our stairs
020with their tiny little legs and their tiny little feet. And a lot of the spaces that we're looking at that have programs like that, the that program is on the first floor so parents come in and out and the children are not having to walk up and down um stairs and things like that. So really looking at student safety, traffic flow um and basically they're the architects, they're the experts. what improvements do we need to do to our spaces to make sure that we're not only meeting current needs of our youth but the needs of the future. So, does this agreement mean that we're moving right into a some kind of construction plan? Um, no. But what it will do is it will give the board um some options like estimates and timelines. The first
021conversation I had with Mark and his uh co-lead was just tell us how much would something like this cost. And they're like, "Well, we of course cannot just give you a number. We need to know what your needs are and we need to know um what what kind of project you really need because we may be limiting in our thinking and they may have some ideas of things that we've not even thought of. So, the agreement is $28,000. Um, which I think is a steal for what we're going to get over the next four months. Um, not only the meetings with staff, I think they'll develop some basic conceptual options for us maybe, Mark. Is that that's part of it too? >> That's correct. >> Um, bringing us some budget estimates. Paul refers to our
022um 2018-19 campus land use study um quite often which that predates me. However, when we look back at that, I shared some of that information with BLDD. Um I gave them those plans and some of those maps that was pre-COVID money. So, a lot of the dollars that were um kind of uh allocated for things like a dedicated door one like which we desperately need a dedicated US main entry. Um a lot of those things were in precoid dollars and so anytime we're talking about budgeting um we're talking about more money than we maybe would have thought of a few years ago. Um and then I think what we would ask the architects to do is after the next four months. I know we've only we only have our teachers, which is why we're kind
023of hitting the ground running here a little bit. We only have staff um through March, April, May. We'll probably ask a few of them to come back in June. We meet until June. So, that gives them at least um through the month of June to hopefully bring us back. They may need to they may need a little more time and we understand that. Um but between now and when we finish out the board meeting cycles in June, we'd ask them to come back with just some of their preliminary ideas. Um some of their potential phasing ideas. Um one of the things that the campus land use project I think gave us was that um kind of shovel ready different phase options. And so when I shared that with BLDD um they said that we 100%
024can give you some phased options of improvement at the high school. So we know um it you know this is like years and years and years of improvements that we're talking about. Um I think we will have to have conversations about what we want to prioritize first in terms of um what is most needed in terms of the courses that our students are um signing up for. I met with Mr. Guzman yesterday about all the elective options. Um, so we we can see already some patterns in where our students are. We don't have like automotive class. We have more students who want to take our auto class than we have space for. Um, and so some of those classes are oversold. You know, students want to be there. when we met with the um people
025out at Parkland when Randy and I met with um with Nick um they're really high-end what they have out at Parkland, but what the person um they had a they have a huge automotive area that donated by Ford and um they said they love to get students from Urbana from our automotive class because they they have had a great foundation. um our seniors that go over there um really do well and that is an area where we are really not meeting the needs of that program. Um when you go around and look at what some of the other high schools have to offer in just that one that one particular class um they'll maybe give us some conceptual drawings along with that phasing. Um then we'll ask them to come back to the board and
026basically just tell us what they found in their four months of talking to everybody. Now is this going to be a comprehensive study where we do surveys and we have town hall meetings with parents and we're that's not what we're asking them to do right now. Um that doesn't mean that that wouldn't be something we would do in the future based off of the information that they provide to us in a in a few months. um what they're going to bring us back is a very early here are our thoughts um after talking to your teachers. hear our thoughts after looking at your courses, um, your different pathways, where your students are taking their classes, um, and just where the need is. And then I think it'll be up to the board at that point
027um to say, "Okay, we'd like to we'd like to prioritize one or two of these things um and then set forth a plan to move forward with those things or do one thing at a time or just say, "Hey, this is wonderful information. Thank you for giving it to us. We're going to put it to the side until we think we have money to do some of these things." But at least it gives us some options um that we can then decide where we want to go next. And then we'll have a lot of opportunities for parent input um community input, opportunities to engage our community in a different way. But right now, I think we're really just trying to focus on what we need at our high school. One thing I didn't say is
028it isn't just about future spaces. It's also about renovating and remodeling the spaces that are existing in the building. So um for example I mentioned tiny tigers. If we decided to move our tiny tigers program from the second floor to the first floor, what does that mean in terms of who who is impacted by that and you know what department would be um have to move to another location and then we would be repurposing spaces inside um to come up with a plan of what we could do outside. So, one of the things we've been saying our students when they've been talking about the gravel parking lot is um or the paved parking lot or whatever we decided to do is we have very intentionally over the last 20 years um um acquired all of
029that space and all those lots so we could do something like this in the future. So, the time is now. That's one of our seven mindsets. The time is now. Um, but the time is now to be able to start talking about we've got a lot of green space across the street from the high school. What kind of footprint and what might we want to do with that space? And so I think BLDD because of the work that they've done and other high school community high schools um are are the folks that we would really like to do this project with. And so we're really um eager to get started and um I know some of our high school folks are eager to start talking to you. So I am going to stop talking talking
030now. Mark, did anything else you want to say? Is there anything that I didn't cover? >> I think you covered it very well. Okay. >> Um I I would just like to say that uh uh we are school experts. That's where our passion is. It's about 85% of what we do is K12 uh some type of K12 planning, construction, design, um you name it. Any service that a that a school district needs, we provide and we're happy to be considered. >> Thank you. >> Glad to answer any questions. >> One program that I very intentionally said I was going to mention and I I promised a couple parents that I was going to talk about is our young adult program. So, you know, I mentioned some of our other instructional needs. Um, I'm not sure
031if the if the board is aware, at least our new our new board members are not aware. Um, but we have a young adult program currently in our high school. Um, our young adult program um services our students with uh special needs who have passed that 18 year old mark, but they're able to stay with us until they're 22. Um, our young adult program years ago, uh, was housed in a house that used to be across the street, basically right across the street from door one. Um, when we had some other homes right there, we we bought one of those homes and our young adult program existed there for many, many years. Um, and then the home structurally needed a lot of work. It began to deteriorate and there were a lot of problems. So,
032we had to tear the home down and we relocated the program to the uh Wesley Foundation Church on campus and I mean it existed there for gosh I don't know five or six, seven years um and was going very well and um the students there were happy, the parents there were happy then unfortunately the teacher who had been running that program for so many years decided to retire like how dare she but um Victoria she was amazing and right after co um maybe 2021, 2022, she retired and um Wesley Foundation basically felt like with her retirement and not having a a really experienced teacher there that it was probably time for us to find another place for the young adult program. There was no other place at that time. Um and so we invited them
033back into the high school. Well, that has um been received with mixed reviews. I think the um it's it's you know it's a space for them but I don't know I've met with a a couple parents about it and um they feel very strongly that as a district we are um just like we're committed to CTE and the arts and all these other things the young adult program should be one of our priorities and I completely agree. Um, and so initially I thought having them in our high school was servicing them well and we maybe could repurpose some space within the high school and make a better program for them. Um, but after talking to the parents, um, they they just had a a lot of really good points that I had not thought of
034and you know it was just not I just wasn't it just not my area of expertise. So I didn't think of these things. But, you know, when you've got a 21-year-old or a 22 year old, you don't want them going to lunch with a 13, 14 year old. You want them to feel like they're more of a young adult, which is why it's called the young adult program. They go out and they work in the community. They get life experiences and vocational experiences. And um they felt like having their 21, 22 year olds going in and out of our high school didn't feel any different. It doesn't feel any different for them right now. >> [clears throat] >> Um and we have one or two families who have chosen not to continue to participate in
035the program because um they feel like it really isn't meeting the needs of their young adult. Um and so uh that is a program that we need to give some love to and include them um in the scope of what might we be able to do as part of this study to um create a better space for the uh young adult program. In the meantime though, I mean, as I said, these are things that are not happening next year, not probably not even the year after that. Um, we do need to have a plan of what we're going to do differently for them next year. The program is growing. You know, when it was at Wesley, we had 10 to 15 students. Right now, we have, I think, seven. Next year, we're going to have
03610. And the space we have at the high school isn't sufficient for their needs. So, Randy and I have been um looking at spaces in the community. Um Beth Lad is over this program and so we were hoping we could find a space to lease or um or or do something different because we we need to do something before we have a plan of what we're going to do across the street on Iowa Street. And so um we might be coming back to talk to you about that in the next few months. Um, but I did want to I promised the parents that I would make sure that the board was aware that the young adult program should be a priority and I agree it is a priority and something that we need to make
037sure is discussed when we look at these options in the feasibility study. So >> it it makes sense because these are students who have participated in graduation ceremonies. >> Absolutely. >> So they're saying goodbye but saying hello again. >> Yes. Absolutely. >> What questions do you guys have about the agreement? And I think it was pretty straightforward and I tried to kind of anticipate what you might be thinking in my question in my little summary, but >> I just had a quick question since we haven't done something like this while I've been on the board. Where does the 28,000 come from? Did we get a grant for it or does it come out of a different budget? >> We've talked about that, but yeah. Uh yeah, we talked about it. Since it's um so closely
038aligned to our strategic planning goals, we're going to um fund this project through the strategic plan funds. >> So it's already been budgeted for >> we currently have a district budget for strategic planning and to move the programs and initiatives associated with the strategic plan and the portrait of a graduate, the funding sources that need to be behind those programs. Um and we have a budget for it. We haven't allocated all those funds this year. And so we have some remaining district money there and that's what we're gonna that's where we're going to take it from. >> Sense. >> Anyone else? >> On your website um there is um a video that I was I watched um pertaining to Eisenhower School in Decator because I I wanted to see where you were located and what
039other schools you worked for. When was that um completed? >> Oh man, I always think things are closer in time than they are. It was probably about eight or 10 years ago. >> Yeah, that's what they had said. So, I was Yeah, came from that. >> That's where I worked. >> Yeah, I know. [laughter] >> But, but it looked very modern. It looked like it wasn't 10 years ago. It looks like it could have been something that's new and refreshed and would be appropriate in 2026 as well. >> Yes, that was quite a transformation and uh >> we're very proud of that. That won the award of distinction >> the year it was year after it was built. So, Thank you for doing your homework, Sherry. >> Wow. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. >> So,
040um I will uh we've met with them and we were kind of just waiting to have this first conversation and so I'll get back together with Mark and Principal Guzman and they want to get started right away um meeting with some of the different departments and starting to talk to the teachers. So, so we will see them back hopefully soon in June at the latest like at the earliest. >> Hopefully we'll give you a report somewhere along the way. But yeah, for sure by June. >> Okay. >> Thank you. This is exciting. >> Thank you. >> Our second report uh tonight is on the universal mental health screening. >> Okay. And that is me too. So, um, again, my goals for today are, um, basically to provide a brief overview for the board. Um, oh,
041a, um, to provide an overview about, um, universal mental health screening. Um, there's some legislation attached to it. Um, and, um, ISBY has provided a timeline for implementation. So, as you'll hear in a second, this isn't something optional. So, it isn't something we get to choose to do or not choose to do. Um, ISBY has basically laid out a timeline for um when they expect that districts will be doing this. Um, I'll share a little bit about mental health versus behavioral health. Um, a mental health screener versus a mental health assessment. We have already put together a little bit of a um I have a planning and implementation district team and then I'll share a little bit about next steps. So you're not going to get all the info tonight. Today is just meant to
042be a um intro and overview so you realize that this is coming. And um we are going to be putting together a much more involved plan for how we're going to roll this out, implement it, and all the pieces that go with it. So I I have a a cool video and um it's embedded in here, but John has it, so he's going to play it for us. It is basically what is mental health screening. >> In Illinois, we [music] know that student success depends on more than academics. Health, safety, and emotional well-being are essential to learning. That's why [music] beginning with the school year, Illinois schools will be required to [music] implement universal mental health screening for students in grades 3 through 12. What is universal mental health screening? Universal mental health screening is
043a critical first step toward creating an environment where [music] all students can thrive mentally, emotionally, and academically. The free screener is not a test. [music] There are no right or wrong answers. Instead, it's a supportive tool [music] that helps schools identify students who may benefit from additional mental health resources [music] or support. Participation is voluntary and parents will have the ability to opt their children out of the surveys. Can this screener help all students get the support they need regardless of background? Yes. [music] The universal mental health screener is a starting point for making sure students receive the support they need sometimes before challenges become more serious. Based on [music] results, schools can connect students with resources like counseling, mental health services, [music] or additional emotional support. This process ensures that no matter their background
044or experiences, [music] students have the chance to receive support that fits their individual needs. [music] I have heard of the vision and hearing test that my child takes at school. Is this [music] screener like that? Yes. By mirroring screenings like those for vision and hearing, Illinois intends [music] to prioritize early detection and support for mental health issues that might otherwise hinder academic [music] and social development. The purpose of universal mental health screening is three-fold. To support all students, [music] not just those already receiving services. To notice early signs of stress, anxiety, and other challenges before they grow bigger. to connect [music] students and families with resources like school counselors, social workers, and community programs. Universal [music] mental health screening is about creating a safe, supportive learning environment where every child has the chance to thrive.
045By checking in on mental health, [music] schools can take a proactive step just like we do with physical health screenings. When we talk openly about mental health, we show [music] students that it's normal to have feelings, normal to ask for help, and normal to support one another. Together, we can create schools and communities where every child feels seen, valued, and ready to grow. So, that video I think does a fantastic job at just giving you a very basic overview of what a mental health screener is and a little bit about what it isn't. Um so as I mentioned um this is the public act 1040032 um that was uh passed last year and um I'm not going to read that to you because I've broken that down for you in a little easier language. So,
046I have um had the privilege to uh attend a couple webinars about this throughout the school year. Um and ISBY has done a great job of getting the word out to districts um superintendent and um just our practitioners about the fact that this is coming and um they're really pushing us do not wait until the 2027 school year to get ready for this. I'm going to show you a timeline in just in the very next slide. So, um I've joined uh a few uh webinars from ISBY. Um Isby has been partnering with Chicago Luri Hospital. Um so, you'll see their logo on a couple of the um slides from the um Center for Childhood Resilience. So, this is actually an ISBY slide and um it basically answers some very basic questions. So, what is a
047mental health screener? Uh it's a tool to identify symptoms, mental health conditions um early and then connect those students to the appropriate services and supports. Um it is mandated for students in grades 3 through through 12. Um and when do we need to start doing this? Uh, as the video said, we are needing to have this ready to go, not to start planning for it, but to be ready to implement um for the 2027-28 school year, we need to successfully offer at least one universal screening option that year in order to be in compliance with the um school code language, the public law, and um just the expectations from ISBY. Um, do screeners meet the requirements of a mental health screener? Um, as you know, we those of you who are parents at least, you
048hear about ourCCL screener, um, through things like Panorama and unfortunately and fortunately for our youth, um, anCCL screener is not enough. It needs to be a little bit more involved than that. So, what is the timeline that we're talking about here? So, um that green area at the top is the um end of the 2526 school year, which I can't believe how fast this year has gone, but we are almost at the end of the 2526 school year. Just amazingly, we are almost at the fourth quarter. So, um our goal for this year was to uh form an implementation team and I've done that. I have a core group of folks who have volunteered to be part of the process. Um I am going to be going out here um soon and asking for more
049participation um for that. They want us to start uh having conversations and engagements. Um one of the webinars that I sat in um with the Chicago Lori folks said any opportunity that I have or our board members have or any of our practitioners to talk about mental health just grows the mental health literacy of our whole community. Um so we will be bringing forward to you um more of our uh conversations once we get the plan the team meeting. Um we've only met once and um we are going to be meeting monthly between now and the end of the school year and hopefully we'll be able to talk about some of these um different um decisions that we need to make. I'll talk about those further along. So, um, phase two is really getting together
050and having those conversations around, um, what screener are we going to use, how are we going to implement that screener, how are we going to get parent permission, how what kind of guidance are we giving our staff. One wonderful thing about the public law is that it is very clear in the language that the state board of education is required to provide a screener for us as an option. um which means a lot for our district. That means we don't have to go out and look at all of the different possible mental health screeners that are out there because there are several. Um ISB is doing that right now. So their folks are um they have a task force that is charged with looking at those different options. Um just like we do our curriculum
051adoptions and we we look at different math things, we look at different E options before we adopt something. Isby is currently doing that and so they are uh exploring different um universal screening options and then they are going to make a recommendation and then they're going to that for districts free for us to access and utilize if we like it. Um hopefully it'll meet the needs of what we want to do but this is Urbana so sometimes we like to do things our own way. So if we see that screener or what you know what ISBY provides it doesn't mean that we don't have the option then to say hey we really want a screener that does this this and this. Um but I am very hopeful um that whatever we get from ISBY is
052going to meet all of our needs and that we don't have to go out and try to find financial resources to uh purchase a screener that we can do. we can just use what ISBY gives us because part of what they're going to give us is also some um training. They'll give us some of those free resources that our teachers can utilize and our specialists. Um so we're looking forward to that. I have been told and they've said this openly in some of our um uh webinars that they plan to have that screener available to us this July, which is fantastic because then that gives us all of next year to really um get in there. Um we hope we could put together something like a train the trainer model where we get trained and
053then we train our staff members who are going to be implementing the screener in the schools on the training. Um, but all of those things are things to yet to be decided uh hopefully very soon this summer and with the extra work being put in by our planning team. And then phase three is um really implementing that screener and being ready for the 2728 school year when we we uh put it in place and um provide it for our families, our students. And I didn't say this, but of course you guys know you can stop me as we go through. So what is mental health? Um mental health relates to thoughts and feelings and how those may impact our lives. Um mental health includes wellness, um social emotional wellness, behavioral health, and the ability to
054cope with life's challenges. Uh what is behavioral health? um behavioral health and our older uh young people. And you'd be surprised um we're hearing about some of these things at a much younger age than we did before. Um things like substance abuse and eating disorders. Um and also conduct problems are sometimes grounded in um some kind of behavioral health need. U behavioral health problems are often a reflection of an underlying mental health issue. Um so addressing those mental health those behavioral health issues can also um help us address some of our students mental health needs. Um this is a great slide from the this is their their logo in the top corner there if you wanted to look them up. So the center for childhood resilience they're located at the Chicago Lur Hospital in Chicago.
055Um, so this is uh they they provide the slides, you know, when you go to a webinar, they kind of give you the slides afterwards because what they want us to do is basically what I'm doing tonight is to bring this information to our our parents, our schoolboard members, our administrators just to start talking about this now so we're making people aware of what some of the um what the underlying issues really are. So this slide is basically just telling us about the differences between mental health and um mental illness. So um our emotional, psychological and social well-being as a child that is um some of those developmental and emotional benchmarks. So what we're talking about is mental health. What we're not talking about is mental illness. Um mental illness is um something very different.
056It's those are the conditions that affect a person's thinking, feeling, mood, and behavior. Um, we're wanting to focus on how we can help our students develop stronger mental health skills to help them navigate the world. Um, help them better develop their social skills just in coping and resilience. And I'm just going to say this openly because in the last five, six years since the end of the pandemic, this is one of the areas that I have seen impacting our youth more than anything is their ability to cope and their resiliency skills. Um, and that is something that I that's one of the reasons why I think we're seeing more um mental health issues in young people much younger than we have before. Um so this slide does a great job of talking about that. Um
057one of the things that we might the way we might see this play out in our schools is uh children who are irritable, who are moody, um not able to express their feelings, often sad. Um we talk at at our schools and we've talked about this um in some of our uh spaces around safety is the suicide rate. Um, suicide is the third leading cause of youth in Illinois, which is that's a frightening statistic, which is why we've had some press policies that have come across. You know, first we put the suicide hotline information on our student badges, John, what about two years ago? And then this year, you guys just approved Press 120, which had language in there about not only do our students need to know that suicide hotline information, the adults working
058with our students need that information. So now we're required to put that on the on our student on our staff members ID badges. Um because in 2022, I pulled this statistic from um Chicago Lori, 83 children ages 10 to 19 committed suicide just in the state of Illinois. That's an average of um one child every four days, which that that's just frightening. Um so go on here. So mental health screening versus a mental health assessment. So um what we are wanting to do is really focus on um that left side uh the preliminary evaluation to identify red flags, areas of risk. Um we are not doing a detailed examination. This isn't going to be a lengthy pulling students out and spending an hour with them one-on-one. This is meant to be a very short screener
059which a screener is typically 5 to 10 minutes. Um the outcome is that we are not giving a diagnosis. We are not we're not asking our our folks that are going to be doing this to call themselves clinicians in any way. We're just um the screener will provide the information that we need that will kind of flag a student so to speak um to let us know that they may need further evaluation or support. who would be um administering this? Well, it's going to be administered to all of our students and we in grades 3 through 12, not our K12 folks um but our 3 through 12 students would get the screener and we would hope to train a wide variety of our school staff so we can do this quickly um and um not
060interrupt too much learning. And anytime that you're pulling students out to do anything like this, um sometimes there are students who have had previous trauma or have had um things that have happened to them and we don't we're not trying to trigger or bring um you know memories or anything back to a student. We want it to just be very quickly done. Um and we just have those predetermined cuto offs where we identify those students that we would be needing to work with more. Um so universal mental health screening works best when um processes are developed in collaboration with the community and integrated in a comprehensive system of school mental health supports. So what does that mean? That means when we have a student who is flagged then now what? What does that mean? Well,
061what do we do? So, um, part of what we're going to have to talk about, um, as part of this planning and with the planning and implementation team is what are the policies, what are the protocols, what are the supports and interventions that we need to put in place. Um, we often see that triangle. You know, we often talk about our triangle and we know the bottom of the triangle is kind of that tier one level of what everyone gets and then that middle part of the triangle that gets a little smaller is the tier two or the the secondary uh level of support. And then we have those kids at the tiptop who need even more. They need the they need the core, they need the tier two, and then they also need the
062tier three. So what we need as a district is we need to have what's that tier one or that tier two. The tier one is a universal screener that everyone gets. The tier two is now what do we do? Um and those are the things that right now we also don't have in place. So um with this group of amazing uh educators here on the right side in the orange on our planning team we have um a general education teacher, we have a special educator. We have a couple of social workers. Uh we have an educational diagnostician which um they are working with our school psychologists. We have a couple building administrators and then myself um Beth Lad and members of the student support uh teams are the central uh office administrators. So what we
063will do as a team um I do hope to invite a couple more teachers. We need a few more teachers to be in this space. Um right now I'm starting with a group of volunteers but hopefully uh after I do this presentation um I'm going to share this presentation with the principles and hopefully we have more volunteers who want to be part of this. Um I would love to have a parent um someone who might be watching this tonight who is really passionate about um this topic who would also like to be on our uh planning team. I I really welcome that. So, some of the decisions that we need to make are um who's going to administer the screeners. We know that ISBY is providing one for us. Hopefully, that'll be one that'll meet
064our needs. We'll have to talk about consent. Um right now, Isby is um recommending um informed consent, which means every single kid in 3 through 12 would have to send back a permission slip. Um and that we know will be a really really uh hard process, but we'll have to talk about what are some ways that we can do that. In our very first meeting um that we had with the team, they suggested could that be part of centralized registration. Can we put the form in there and give parents a little bit of information and they can sign it right then so we don't have to track them down later and ask them about do they agree with this or not. Um, we'll have to talk about confidentiality uh because holding confidentiality when uh these
065kinds of things are flagged is really important. So, you know, we'll have to talk about teachers not talking about this in the teachers lounge and with their, you know, in grade level teams and it'll have to be a little more confidential um because we'll be bringing parents in to say, "Hey, your child um participated in this screener and they were flagged for more intervention and support." and that's not always going to be easy for a parent to hear. And so, um, making sure that we are being confidential around those conversations, sharing that data, interpreting the results, and then making sure that we're, um, sharing that information with our staff in an intentional way. So, um, one of the things that we've talked about, um, doing is establishing some behavioral health teams to really, I mentioned
066earlier, kind of a train the trainer model. Um, right now we already have threat assessment teams in our schools that um, comprise our administrators. The SRO's are on the threat assessment teams at the middle school and the high school level. um social workers are part of the uh behavioral health teams, but this team would be a team that would really help us um put those extra level supports in place um at each school and make sure that they're being followed. I think at the district level, we can outline, you know, here's the policy, here's the practice, this is what ISBY is saying we have to do, here's some money in order to, you know, have the resources you need to do that. But at the school level, we really need those folks who are doing
067the work every day um to make sure that those uh procedures and uh whatever we come up with the protocols are being um carried out with fidelity that it that is our administrators that's going to be our practitioners to make sure that the policies and practices are being followed um and that we're making really datainformed decisions. Um, we definitely are going to have to work with our community partners. Um, the Chicago Lori folks have shared some states that have been doing this and doing it very well like um they shared a model from Boston public schools um the Denver public schools and there's another big district um from a really large uh city. I can't remember the other one but they've shared several examples of us of things for us to look at. We are
068nowhere near where, you know, the Denver public schools and Boston public schools are, but they have created these fantastic um partnerships with the community to be able to provide some of those tier three and tier 2 supports in the schools. And u right now we have our school-based health center. They're our uh biggest partner um because we can have students go to the schoolbased health center. But we need we're going to need to have more than that once we start doing this mental health screening because once we identify the students and we screen them then we have to have an a plan of what we do next. Um and we're going to need our our community partners to really help us um navigate that process. So next steps um like like I said today was
069very much a information session just giving you that general overview. So when you hear us talk about universal mental health screening um when you hear those words put together knowing it is coming and um I wanted our listeners to know that. I want our um families and our uh parents who who are engaged in this process to know that um mental health is not a dirty word and it is we want to kind of reduce that stigma. Um some of the ways that we're going to be able to reduce that stigma is to start talking about it. Um having engagement opportunities, sharing communication. Um I'm hoping that we can start getting out some messaging about this. um whether it's through the registration process, whether it's through um just putting out some of those parent square
070blasts um so people can come in and learn a little bit more so we can really increase um mental health literacy around uh what as a school district what we're going to be doing. We need to involve more people in the process. So, as I said a few minutes ago, I would love to have some parents um or even some community partners who this is something you do every day at work. bring your knowledge to our planning team. I would love to have you um leveraging the resources provided by ISBY um exploring those interventions and supports that we can utilize um once we have more information from our screener. And then we are going to have to identify some financial resources. Um and I we can do some of this through our grants. Um I'm
071hoping title one money will be able to pay for some of the um training. We have title two funds which is our professional development grant because we are going to have to spend some professional development time training our uh practitioners on whatever the screener is um and then making sure that we're getting some training in those tier 2 tier three interventions to uh provide the supports that our students need as a next step. So that's all I have just to kind of give you a a brief overview. What questions do you have? Is there anything that I didn't share that >> you're wondering about? >> Are we going to have enough um resources to support the students that are flagged and >> so let me give you good question Lindsay. Let me give you an
072example of what a tier 2 intervention might be. So, um it might be something like uh there's some um small groups where we can pull a student um in a social skills group. Um we have uh groups around feelings, emotions. Um we're doing some of that as a a uh kind of lower level. Um through PBIS, we do something called social academic instructional groups where we help replace social skills. Like some of our students are coming to school with not the same level of social skills as they had maybe a few years ago and those are things that need to be intentionally taught. So we're doing some of that and more of a PBIS world. Um but this would be way more intentional around um some of the mental health needs that students might have
073around depression or um being sad and what that means. And so, uh, there are some very specific, um, programs. I I know I can think of one some of our some of, uh, one that we, and I'm not going to remember the acronym. I should have written it down. We used to run some groups called sparks groups for our middle schoolers. And it was basically a our social workers or some of the trained providers would pull out a group of three or four students and they would come um and talk about their feelings, their emotions, why I'm sad, what what um when I'm sad, what are the things that I'm thinking about? And they have researchbased, evidence-based curriculum with lessons that we would pull the students out and they would go through kind of these
074lessons with a trained provider. Um, those would be some of the things we'd have to spend money on. You know, Isby's is going to give us the screening, the screener, and then we're going to have to figure out what do we do next? Are we going to use Sparks? Are we going to use um there are several out there um that we now pull together a bunch of our staff members and train them and then they would do then be running the groups kind of in the buildings. So, >> any other board members or ambassadors wish to make questions? >> Yeah, I have a question. Um, I know it's only required one time a year, >> but during the year is a long time when things help happen with students developmentally. There are lots of
075changes, changes at home, changes with >> what if it can it be given more than once if the um educators feel as though they see a change in in a >> I don't know. protocol-wise if if it's breaking fidelity to give a screener more than once, like once you've asked those questions one time, I don't know that you can go back and ask them again. However, um I think what we can do is we do have threat assessment teams that um they're trained to look for those kinds of, you know, um concerns. We um our social workers are trained like when we have students who experience grief or experience divorce. Um we see sometimes those behaviors play out in school. You know when you have a relative or a an immediate family member pass away
076or um we unfortunately we've had some of our young people, we were just talking about this yesterday, Angie and I, who um a student, his older brother was murdered and we are seeing behaviors now from that. And so I think that as a school community, it's important for our teachers to pay attention and um for all of our folks working with those youth to when we see wow that they're acting out in school, they're withdrawing from school, they're um sad or I mean sometimes those um those things kind of rise to the top and then hopefully we can re an adult sees that and says, "Wow, I really think we need to call the parent. is something going on at home. So, I think those are ways we can address that already, and we already
077do that. Um, but that's a really good question. I think that's one of those things that when they give us a screener, I'm sure it'll be very clear about um whether or not we can leverage that test more than once. But there are also a lot of free tools out there that, like you said, if maybe we give the screener once, but then maybe we have another tool that we can pull that student in and kind of use with them. So, we're not um violating the integrity of the screener in any way, but that's a good question. >> Anyone else? >> Any else? Okay. So, um hopefully I will be coming back to you by the end of the year with a little more information. Um because Isb is not going to uh provide us
078with the actual screener until July. Um it might not be until um August that I'm able to come be able to come back and give you a really real update of what our our true plan is going to be. Um but just know that the conversations are happening behind the scenes and we know this is coming and we as a district want to be very u much aware and ready um to not just because we have to. You know, sometimes there's things that ISBY gives us that are just check boxes like check and we have to do things because of sometimes our legislators pass new laws and there things that we have to do. But this is a really good thing and um I think um they Isby has given us a few uh kind
079of pre-erveys. Um I'm going to be doing a survey with all of our principles at our next principles meeting. They have a survey that they want to see where we all are as districts. Some districts are going to have more in place already than others. Um, we're one of those districts where we have some lower level things in place, but we don't have as much in place at the tier 2 uh tier three level um as some bigger districts um may already have. So, ISBY's uh asking us to give them kind of a preassessment. Where are you now? What resources do you have? What don't you have? Do you have money already allocated in your budgets for things like this? I think they're just trying to determine um across the state, you know, through almost
080900 different school districts where are most people landing. So then they have a better idea of what what they need to provide to make sure they're giving everybody what we need and leveling the playing field um for the whole state basically. So, so we're we're having some things that we need to do between now um and throughout the year. And um yeah, and so I'm I'm looking forward this is a good thing and I think this is going to help a lot of youth. Um our you know, as our our job is not just to care for our students um academics and you know the some of their social things and enrichment and sports, but we also need like I said earlier need to be helping them be better humans. And one way we do
081that is to make sure that all of their needs are being met. And we're kind of looking at the whole child. And this is a a big part of what a lot of our young people are struggling with right now. So, okay. >> Uh there is no call for future special executive meetings. Although for those of you on the facilities committee, um including me, there's a doodle poll uh that we need to fill out to schedule that meeting. I will do it. Promise. uh superintendent report. >> Okay. So, uh last week um unfortunately I was at Luda on Friday and I missed this and I'm really sad that I missed Dr. Logan, but um students at Leo Elementary had a powerful visit from author uh Dr. Gilo Logan who spoke with the students about accountability.
082So, these are some pictures that Katherine took over um at the visit. His book, Protecting a Dream, shares the life and legacy of his father, uh, Chief Bill Logan, and his historic moments alongside Dr. King. I think Chief Logan was one of the first African-American police chiefs in the, uh, Chicago area from what I remember hearing about his story. Um, and so Tracy Parsons from the, uh, Champagne Community Coalition, I don't know if you noticed that Tracy was nominated in the paper as a local hero through the CU Schools Foundation. He's an Urbana alum. Um he was really instrumental. I think these are Rachel Spencer's students over at Leo, some of the fifth graders, and they kind of combined the fifth grade students together. Um and Dr. Logan uh shared copies of the book. And
083um from what I was told, it was a great visit and they had a lot of really uh uh really hearty conversation about um Chief Logan and his experiences alongside um Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. teacher of the week. So, I don't know if you saw last week that Denise Werelac, fourth grade teacher at King, um was nominated as a teacher of the week. So, uh this is a small little picture of Denise, but you can see the bigger picture through the link in the article. Um she's been at King now, I think this is her third year and um but she's been in the district for eight years and uh taught in Chicago public schools I think before that. So, uh, congratulations to Denise and we're always so happy when our educators um and
084our staff members are recognized. We know how wonderful they are, but it's nice when other people see how wonderful they are, too. Um, Leo and uhs collabs or Urbana High School students in the fax um program. Well, actually this is the club, the um family career and community leaders of American club of America club took a field trip to Leo um last week to teach the kindergarters how to make bread. And so for those who don't know, Le is very close to the high school. Um so it's really easy for them to walk over and do little activities there after school. So the kindergarteners were able to um end their unit on Colonial Times and connect their learning to real life experiences. and they were able to they made some bread with the FCCLA club.
085So, really cool. Look at his little face in the corner. He's like, "Oh my gosh." Um, and so the UHS Polar Plunge was also last week. And so, um, this is some of our our students and our staff members plunging. Um the high school raised almost $5,000 for the Special Olympics uh cool schools polar plunge. They just missed meeting their goal. I know um Principal Guzman said if they met their goal, he was going to allow himself to be dunked and he was going to plunge in the water, but he was able to get out of it. But so next year hopefully the goal hopefully they'll get that goal. Um because I was really looking forward to seeing that. Um the but the students and staff did brave the uh cold weather and they um
086were out there plunging it up on behalf of the Special Olympics of Illinois. Um Melissa McMahon at our high school who is a special education teacher is really passionate about this and she takes the lead on it um at our high school to do all the raise all the money. So shout out to UHS. Conferences are next week if you can believe it. is already spring break time and so conferences are uh right before spring break and so students make sure you get your parents in for those conferences. Um each school will send families information about how to schedule a conference. I've already seen some of those emails going out. Uh you we hope you take the opportunity to join in on those uh conversations about your students academic progress this year and how you
087can help support them to finish the year strong. Family feedback. Uh, our district values your feedback. We are asking everyone to take a brief survey to tell us about your experience. Um, this is a uh I think this is the five essential survey which is required. Um, each year the Illinois State Board requires us to survey our students and staff to gather their feedback. It is part of the school report card. So um our participation from um teachers, parents and students have to meet a third certain threshold and um that information is included as part of our uh school report card information that we get every year in October. Please complete the survey by March 13th. Your answers are anonymous. We promise we don't know who you are and no one knows who fil who
088said what. Um and the survey is available in multiple languages. That's good. >> All right. Thank you. Uh there are a pair of foyer requests uh that were processed and as they were published in the agenda. One thing I neglected to say during my board report was a shout out and congratulations to UHS alum Jackson Gilbert who finished third place in the Big 10 uh indoor track championships with the second fastest time ever run in that event by an Ali. >> I did not know that. >> Yep. 45.7 seconds in 400 meters. >> Crazy. >> Um, with that said, uh, the chair will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> We will see you all in one week.