001Uh, good evening everyone. It's six o'clock, so let's begin this study session of Urban School District 116. Roll call, please. >> Member Cheryl. Member Hixon >> here. >> Member Maribou >> here. >> Member Jones >> here. >> Member Langodorf here. Vice President Baxley >> here. >> President Palowski >> here. Uh we have a quorum. Are there any additions, corrections, or modifications to tonight's agenda? Nope. Uh it is now time for citizen statements. If anybody here present wishes to make a statement before the board, please hand in a golden rod sheet located in the back of the room. Fill it out. Hand it to our court executive Terry Lorie Johnson. And we have received none for this evening. So calling once, calling twice. Uh there is no executive session after tonight's meeting. So the chair would
002entertain a motion to approve a night tonight's agenda as published. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Uh student ambassador report. >> Um hi everyone. Here's our report for today. So, our winter sports have begun. Um, so boys swim, the pra the captain practices have begun. So, they've started to learn who all is on the team and who all trying out. I think they have a good amount of freshman this year, which is exciting. Indoor track, they've been doing weightlifting Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. They've had a really good turnout for that. So, really excited for the season. Girls basketball, we've had about I think we've had three games now. Um, and we've been doing pretty good.
003We've been been playing good. We've been remembering our plays, so that's good. Um, boys basketball had their Tiger preview which went really well and they played really well that day. So, looking forward to an exciting season with them. And then wrestling actually on Thursday night the girls the first girls meet is then and they're doing a black lit meets. They put black lights up in the gym and they're going to have it all lit up. So, really exciting. >> Thursday night. Mhm. So, really exciting. Um and then um soccer um there we had a couple uh people from some sports teams um who made it to all conference. Um Nadav Gal, sorry if I picture that. Um he's senior Jean Jade. Um Fedani Mukati um and winner Nana. Um from soccer, from football we have
004CJ Blandon, Kyrie Hillsman, and Serel Daro. Um and from volleyball we have um Sophia Shico Frillley and Janasia Dylan. Um from cross country we have Marley Yao, Sebastian Berto, and Arlland Ore. So congratulations to those students who made the all conference teams. Um and then on Friday, November 21st, the Friday before um Thanksgiving break, Quest had a Thanksgiving lunch. So they served turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans. Um the students really loved it. Everyone thought it was really good. Um and everyone thought it was a really festive, fun thing to do. Um and then um the UHS uh Thanksgiving dinner um which was hosted by uh student council um served about 150 plus members um of members and U of I students. Um they had really nice music. Um and they had a
005lot of uh volunteers from the student council uh committee join them as well. Um, and some pictures from that dinner is on the next slide. Uh, if you switch to next. Um, and here are just some pictures um that they took of the event. And yeah. Um, and then theater put on their fall play of Bright Star. It's about a man falls in love with a girl and they have a baby, but the dad does not approve of the marriage, so he gets rid of the baby. Um, and then the baby actually grows up to work for his mom without knowing they're related and then they find out they're related and the play follows that and follows what happens. Um, so it was a very successful play and it had lots of people come every
006single night. Um, and it had a lot of really good reviews and all the cast members really loved it and they had a great time on the play. So on the next slide is a picture our other student ambassador Sophia. She went to the play and so that's a picture of her of some of the cast members. And then the November Habitat for Mandy trip happened earlier this uh last month now. And so me and Sophia both went on it. It was such an amazing experience. There was around 20 students there. And so we went to Tutweiler, Mississippi and we built we helped build a house. We did flooring and put in trim. And then we also volunteered at a local school and we volunteered at a local humane society as well. And so you
007could kind of just pick what you wanted to do each day. And then um on our nights after we'd be working, we learned about EMTT Hill and the effects of his death in the area and the history of that area and the racism that they've um experienced and still experienced to this day. And so it was a really amazing experience. And then there's some pictures. There's me with the kids at the school and we worked on um the flooring. And then there's me and Sophia in the bottom um on Beiel Street in Memphis. So, we had a really great time. >> All right. And um previously last week um we had another meeting um with Quest and um and Maryanne as well. Um and we um went over um portions um hygiene concerns and running
008out of food. Um we have um we have come together to um create some solutions for these um and some things are being in play now. Um we uh we we have identified um some of the spots where portions have been shortened um even um still being under the USDA um guidelines. Um and we are working with Emily and Maryanne um to make sure that we are still um meeting those requirements and not shorting uh or and not falling short of the actual requirements. Um and we had um we're still having students um coming up asking about um in particularly not having food um for students or for student athletes um which has also been another big concern um and that we have talked about with um with Emily um and they are um going
009to improve the portions um and they are going to stay consistent throughout the lunch periods um And since um the maybe last month, to my knowledge, we have not ran out. Um and there actually have been um you know, more staff down there. There has been new staff. Um they have been very polite and very nice. Um so we are grateful for them. Um but we have not ran out of food um since then. Um and we hope that we can continue to prove the lunch downstairs. So yeah. And this is our report. >> Thank you very much. >> Uh board reports. Does anybody have a board report they wish to give this evening? >> All right. Oh, go ahead, Sherry. >> I just want to report that um the delegate assembly all the um
010constitutional amendments passed as well as the resolution. So, I had assumed that that would happen, but there were actually people who were opposed to some of and some really good reasons why that um maybe our district would have thought about it, but there it was important to their district. So, that was good. And uh Luke and I attended a um what they call like a a lunchon for the teachers. So, it was really nice to have the opportunity to hear about their um individual situations. And we wouldn't know that unless we were having a conversation. We also had the opportunity to kind of walk around. We saw some of the students. So, it was a it was a good afternoon. I'm glad we did that. >> Where you are >> and Yankee Ridge, right? So,
011so I look forward to the other ones as well. >> Just a reminder on that board, uh there are still open spots left in the current calendar. So, if you're able to attend, please uh volunteer and let Lori know so that not more than two of us will be at any slot at any given time. >> So, Thursday we're at S and Friday we're at King. So, if you still would like to sign up, Uh, moving on. Uh, we have two study topics tonight. Uh, first up is the minority richer program. >> Um, >> can I miss I was slow to pushing my button. Um, whatever happened with Thomas Payne because theirs was supposed to be today and >> it was today. So, somebody did eventually sign up for >> um No, we didn't have
012board members, but Angie and I still went and represented administration and we had a good conversation with them and we took notes and >> I thought maybe since no board members could go that it would >> No, it's I mean it's we go as well. I mean, >> it's an opportunity for administrators to hear concerns. >> Yeah. I mean, the purpose of it is is to kind of get our negotiating team Well, it's one of the purposes is get our negotiating team understanding what issues are in each specific building and have conversations with the membership at large um >> it helps us plan and time as a team around >> so there's still value in even if if board members you aren't able to attend but I heavily encourage board members to attend if they
013can >> and we explained right that you guys are busy and have things that you're doing >> yeah Tuesdays are really bad for me >> Tuesdays are a bad day so yeah [snorts] >> okay again uh first is >> oh no it's okay is a minority official Hello. Good evening. Andrea Jackson, minority engagement um enrichment coordinator. Um I'm excited to provide a u midyear report and an overview of the minority enrichment program. Got it. Um this program supports um underrepresented students um enrolled in weighted and advanced courses. Um our goal is to ensure these students um not only have access to advanced courses but also receive ongoing support um needed for them to actually thrive. Um we do this through academic uh monitoring. Um we have America reads tutors when th they are available and
014do a variety of enrichment activities uh such as um academic support, leadership development and college and career uh readiness opportunities. Um over time this coordinator uh position has grown. Um there hasn't been a consistent person actually in this role um for the past three years. Um so it has shifted more from that academic uh focus to a more holistic model. And so I have a vend diagram here to kind of show um the former role uh versus my current role. Um it does now spend um all the each secondary uh site. So it's at the sixth grade center um and at uhs as well. Um there's more relationship uh building activities especially through um the mentoring program. Um college and career readiness exposure happens as well and um just providing that consistent mentorship um has
015been vital. Um I have a slide here just to um show uh how um the percentage of students that are involved in advanced courses at UHS. This is from the Illinois school report card um the latest one that came out. Um 18.7% of students were enrolled in advanced courses in the past school year. Um but as you can see there is some uh racial discrepancy when it comes to which students are actually enrolled. So um if you look at almost half of um or a third of white students um and almost half of Asian students are enrolled in advanced courses compared to 10 or um 11% of their black and Hispanic peers. And so this just um demonstrates the the need um essentially to help the um advanced courses really reflect the diversity that's within
016our um high school courses and student body. Um and so this program really provides some targeted support for students um that are placed in those rigorous env uh environments. Advanced courses not only help students with gaining um college credits when they're taking AP classes. Um they have an option of doing that, but it also exposes them to some advanced coursework to help prepare them for college. So it's vitally important that um that this program exists. So um this also aligns directly to the priority one um which the goals uh within that are helping uh students to grow and excel um academically promoting some positive behaviors reducing um expulsionary uh practices uh supporting that growth and achievement um for multilingual learners um and increasing the four-year graduation rates. And so, um, MEP or minority enrichment program
017really contributes to each of these priority areas, um, with that monitoring relationship building. Um, this year, the MEP case load um, really consists of 40 students. Um, this was selected in a collaborative process with the assistant principal for curriculum and instruction. um there really wasn't since there hasn't been a person um within this role um for a few years um I had to create a framework um for making those decisions. Um I having been a past administrator I'm very familiar with a lot of the um platforms that are used such as map uh panorama etc. Um and so I was able to disagregate the data and really look at those scores to decide which students uh would benefit the most from that support. So um we looked at MAP data um the autoenrollment list of
018students um which students were in AVID because um that's a really uh cohort that is more college and career readiness um guided um and then the priority was really looking at students that were in that 60 to 79th percentile in both reading and math. try try to find like that middle ground maybe students that maybe need that additional boost. Um so with that um they get weekly academic monitoring um tutoring as needed and coaching with that. Um and so uh as I said before that prior knowledge um ha having been an administrator and curriculum coordinator really was helpful in making uh being able to create that criteria. Um in September we partnered with um members of Alphafi Alpha fraternity incorporated from the University of Illinois. um they have an initiative uh called go to high
019school, go to college. Um and so they created a great presentation that was really informative and um based upon this questions that uh students actually wanted to know um more answers about. Um they asked everything from about study habits um to how is the dorm food in college um and just in general about campus life and it was really great. um nothing was really off limits and it's always a great opportunity when students are able to hear directly from uh university students. Um in November we had about 40 students from u a combination of uh and uh students that attended the Galani Day uh Foundation Central Illinois HB.CU uh college fair. So I coordinated that field trip. Um this event um really helped to expand um a lot of the students um knowledge about different
020colleges that are beyond um Urbana Champagne um and really highlighted um that excellence of H.B.CU. Um the students uh were able to engage with um some admissions counselors that were there um learn about scholarships and explore different pathways um that they may not have considered before. Um, in the spring, um, part of my role is, um, supporting, um, the cultural clubs at, uh, UHS. Um, in the spring, the African-American club is planning a college tour to Washington DC. Um, and it's scheduled for late February. um this experience is going to help expose u more of those students to um the colleges and actually being there right and um having that opportunity. Um we are seeking though some sponsorships. So I thought that it would be great to put this in here as well um because
021it is a high cost. Um it's about $1,000 for each per student um plus meals. And so this will be um a great opportunities for students. We want to make sure that that financial burden isn't put so much on our students um so that they have the opportunity to actually go. Um we had a um UHS had a college um or sorry career uh fair as well. Um this was in collaboration with the uh Champagne Chamber of Commerce. um the CTE uh department chair um Miss Perez Roser was really um instrumental in making sure that this happened and in that collaboration there were over 20 employers there. Um the students were really active in uh learning more about the job opportunities within our community. Um and it was a very successful fair. um our cultural
022clubs um continue to shine. This is um some pictures of our Latina um Heritage Month Assembly at UHS. Um it was a really well-run um assembly. It was schoolwide. Um and so the Latino Club was very instrumental um in making sure that that happened. Um very studentled. Um so I just have a few pictures of that. Um I uh started and created a cultural um celebrations and awareness committee because um just need seeing the need for more of that um awareness and uh celebrating diversity within UHS. Um and so that group was very instrumental in helping to execute this as well. And I just have a few pictures of the um we had a spirit week uh for Latin Heritage Month and these are a few pictures of the flyers for that spirit week. Um
023the other uh cultural club um that I mentioned before, the African-American club um actually hosted a Friendsgiving um along with the Latino Club in the Commons. Um this is hopefully the first of many of their collaborations between the African-American and Latino club um and working together to really um build some solidarity So now I'll kind of move on to um and um the sixth grade center. Um in my role at both of the both of um these buildings um I'm involved in uh facilitating a mentorship program called deity for girls and there is also manifest u which is for um some of our male students. Um the program focuses on um elevating student voices, uh building leadership, strengthening school culture and fostering personal growth in SEAL. Um this is the first year obviously for um
024the sixth grade center to have it. So um we piloted that as well and it it has become like very popular program. Um all students really enjoy being a part of it. Um some of the upcoming things that we will be having are some guest speakers that can come in as well. Um the group that I talked about before, the um Alpha by Alpha uh fraternity is um also going to come. And so we just feel like it's great to have um others come in so that they can uh really find other mentors within our community as well. Some other future um opportunities um we're hoping to do an afterchool programming um because um that's definitely needed especially for our middle grade students. Um some summer programming because a lot of the summer programming right
025now really caters to our elementary students or it's um transition type of programs. So um and also just increasing that um exposure to college and career exploration. Um I'm not going to go through and read these but um these were some of the impact statements that were um solicited from uh Chassity Beckas um director of school improvement and equity. Um she did get some impact statements. Um, in general, um, these just, uh, encompass a lot of the great things they feel like MEP has done thus far. Um, lastly, I just have a slide on how um, how others can kind of help. Um, I feel really strongly that I I really don't want the burden of the uh the field trip to um college trip I should say to Washington DC. I really um want
026to make sure that students don't feel that burden and are able to go um and uh more tutors after school. That would be great. Um that's something that I would really like to do. We have it embedded within the school day. Um but um for some students it's a little bit easier to do afterchool tutoring. Um continual um uh continued um uh I should say uh support for the MEP role. Um and lastly um looking forward to hopefully having a summer programming. >> That concludes my report. >> Board members. Any questions? Um, could you please tell us about how many students you think might want to go or are in this culture club and might want to go to DC? >> They're aiming for 20 students. >> Okay. >> Um, and so that's that's typically
027the goal. We have four adults that will be going and so that's 20 is a really good number for them. >> Okay. Mhm. >> I know you mentioned this in the future plan, so there's probably not a lot of detail in it yet, but really excited to see um after school programming as a part of targeted for the middle school. >> Um you know, where we've been struggling for years to find funding for Splash and we have so I mean what kind of funding model are you kind of considering or or has there been any thoughts about about how to structure it that way? Yeah. So, um there is a budget for equity. Um however, I don't know that it would fully encompass uh what's needed for the stipens uh to be sustainable. So, um
028I think what's being looked at is how how those stipens come kind of compare because as you know um those that work those programs have to pick and choose, right? Um and so we want um this program to be just as successful as those others. Anyone else? >> Um, for the summer programs, what type of programs are you implementing? >> So, with those um we want to expand upon all of those college and career um exploration for those students as well as um building up leadership skills. Um, we would love for um like the cultural programs that are happening at the high school for those to actually feed into the middle school, give them some type of leadership in being able to run meetings, run programs and things like that so they have something to
029look forward to once they would hit high school. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Go ahead, Mia. Um, I just want to say as a student being in all like AP and weighted classes throughout my whole high school career, I think this is a definitely needed role, there's a definite need for more diversity in those classes and more people to feel more welcome in them. Um, so I definitely think it should be something that is prioritized and I think it's really great that you're doing this. >> Thank you. echo on those thoughts. Um, I am really thrilled that the district is putting resources behind this effort and I also want to put it out there that it's going to take years, I think, for us to to see results in this. Um, it's it's going to
030take a long time. So, you targeting younger people and and the middle schoolers for, you know, after a number of years, hopefully we'll see the numbers tick up at the high school level for AP classes. So, have patience everybody. >> Oh, yeah. And I was gonna thank Andrea. I think her vision and um just um just go getting you know you creating your own model and creating like things that just haven't been in place for years. I mean it's been several years since we've had a really strong um MEP coordinator. We've had people kind of come for a couple months and leave and go and um it's it's not been a um it's just it's impacted the program in many many ways. I mean, we see it in the number of students that are in
031our um in our AP classes or AP prep or any of those spaces. And just the leadership skills, I think building the leadership outside of I mean, you don't have to be in an AP class to be really pushed to be a leader and, you know, use some of those skills. So, we just needed the people to get behind it and have that vision. and it's hard for our administrators to do all of that with all the other things that they have going on and and our teachers who are also club sponsors. >> So, we really need this position and just in the short amount of time reading the impact statements um it is it really meaningful and it shows us how important it is to continue to put the resources behind it. So, thank
032you for jumping in and helping the program grow and be better >> to make it help it be great. One last call for questions. >> Yeah, I um I think I made it clear about how I feel about testing. So, I I was glad to hear that you're um interacting with teachers and getting their recommendations because you can be also a good leader and not necessarily be a good test taker. Absolutely. And can be a good student and not necess takers. So, I'm glad that you're looking at all all the um opportunities that that you can in order to select students. >> Y >> another thing I wanted to ask, I don't know like about what you did to raise money so that you could go to your trip, but are there any fund fundraisers
033that they're having that that community that they also can lead and and we can participate in? >> Yeah, so that link that Thank you. that QR link is there um to help raise those funds. Um, I think they are going to be doing um selling t-shirts as well, just trying to figure out other ways to help um that not to be such a burden families. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you very much, Miss Jackson. >> Thank you. >> Our second uh report tonight is the Europe grant update. Uh Dr. Deacon. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for having us tonight. I'm Dr. Tanya Deacon, uh, director of grants and secondary leadership and with me tonight is our Gear Up coordinator, Selena Harper. Um, we wanted to take a little time tonight just to kind of
034revisit where the grant is at and how it's been moving forward. So, for some of the the numbers and the grant itself, that's the part that I engage in more highly. We hit a couple hurdles going out this year because federal funding was frozen at the beginning of the year. So, we had to wait. Then, it was unfrozen. So, we were getting ready and then they shut it off again when the government shut down. So, we could not process anything until the government reopened. So, now it's reopened and we're trying to get our grant pulled together to have it submitted the narratives by um before we leave on winter break. Um some of the things that we used in last year's grant, we um set up the uh transition program last August. Hillary Allen pulled
035together a new program for the students to enroll. We had over a hundred students each day. Selena was critical in rolling that out as well. She'll have some more details in a little bit. We also upgraded the career center at UHS. When I've been over there, there have been kids in and out of the room getting the information, looking for different supports, so they are and sometimes they're there to get candy, but that's okay. It gets them in the door and we can give them the opportunities that are available to them. We also added some courses at the sixth grade center and then at for project lead the way and those courses are helping us to integrate more computer science and give the kids exposure to some careers that they may not have had access
036to previously. And then we had the success network conference that we attended last year. What was great about having that opportunity was that our we got to take several staff members from what now is all three buildings and the high school is very familiar with the PACE framework but that was the first exposure for the middle school last year. So they have been starting to do some of that work also with Miss Harper for this year. Some of our larger purchases at the moment have been avidizing the buildings, trying to get more of the banners, college and career type posters throughout the building, the AVID posters in the classrooms. Um, we've also been doing some different career nights and we can bring light snacks for those evening events. It's the only grant that really allows
037for that. And then we also have now we're participating in tutor.com. It is up and it's running and at this moment I'm gonna send it over to Miss Harper so that she can share the programs. >> Yeah. So, um just to kind of elaborate on uh what Dr. Deacon said. >> Thank [laughter] you. Um to elaborate on what Dr. Deacon said, uh over the summer we had the Urbana High School transition program for incoming nth grade students. I was very successful. And um we also had um a Gear Up summer program over at the middle school uh as well with uh Nate Wall and um he was he was great at leading that. um for the UHS career fair. Uh we partnered with um Miss Andrea Jackson and uh Leanne Stucker and several others uh
038throughout the district. Um and we had uh several hundred students show up to that and we were able to partner like Miss uh Jackson said with the Chamber of Commerce for different um different employers throughout the community. So, a lot of students were able to get a lot of information about that. Um, a lot of students have been either going to college visits or we've had representatives from different colleges actually come to the uh college and career office over at Urbana High School to learn more about um local uh universities and colleges. Um, so that's been awesome. Uh we also have a set of curriculum that follows the PACE framework that we are planning on rolling out over at the sixth grade center and at the middle school next semester. Um so we're in the
039process of kind of like getting the teachers familiar with um that curriculum and seeing if they have any questions and uh making sure that the implementation will be successful. Um, and yes, so tutor.com is um, another thing that the GearUp grant has paid for, which is a really awesome resource where grades 6 through 12 have access to 247 tutoring online for free, uh, free to them. And, um, it's with a live tutor. It's not it doesn't use AI or anything. and students are able to um ask them questions about any subject um in English and Spanish. And um yeah, so we've also been promoting that as well. >> Can you guys I know you both mentioned PACE. Can you spell it out what the PAC is and just in a sentence or two explain it
040a little? >> Can we cheat? >> Yes, you can use our resources. Um, >> five years ago, I knew it off the top of my head today. >> Yes. >> No, you knew that was going to do it, right? >> Yes. >> But it's going >> Sherry just said it. Postsecary career expectations. Yes. >> Um, and our CTE, um, Amanda Perez Roser is really instrumental at the high school in implementing the PACE framework. So, go ahead. Yeah. I just want to make sure I've seen it on two slides now. So, I wanted to make sure we said what it was. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, no problem. >> Um, and you had mentioned when we were looking at these programs, um, the funds themselves come from the grant. The outline for it is 50,000 for
041salary for the coordinator plus 20,000 to go towards benefits. And then the high school receives 20,000 each year. And the middle school and the sixth grade center share 20,000 each year. We're in the second year. And the grant, if everything goes as planned, is supposed to go seven years. So, as we we met with Miss Beckas and Miss Jackson last week and talked through how we could blend and braid some of the funding to be able to achieve some of the goals for both programs. Um, it's it's exciting. It's a lot of fun. Amanda Perez Rosser has been very instrumental along with Leanne Stucker. She has a long-standing relationship with the the ISAC communication organization, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. I got that one. So, um they continue to come to the school though and
042provide different pieces of information for us. Um there was an email that came out tonight that had announced that early applications for financial aid last year. They looked to see what your percentages were. Last year, first time out, I believe it was a bronze award for Urbana at 73% completion. We were two percentage points from getting the silver. So, I know we're going to be shooting to get the next level up in this next year. Are there other questions? Um, so what does the Gear Up curriculum what what is that? What what is in it? What are they teaching? So, um it's a collection of lessons where students are encouraged to um take career placement tests and um kind of think about like how their interests and personalities align with careers they might be interested
043in uh in the future. And um there's also some social emotional learning um curriculum baked in as well. And you were uh you said something about getting teachers in the building accustomed to this. So they would be doing this along with whatever class they're teaching. >> Um so teachers uh over at the sixth grade center would be do doing it during map testing and over at the middle school they would be doing it during wind blocks. and win blocks is what I need the the blocks that they do. They're doing those during advisory, right? >> Yeah, I think so kind of and as an intervention for students. Yeah. >> Who need it? So, w stands for what I need. So, it is kind of an individualized. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Um for tutor.com,
044is that for all you Urbana School District students or is it just focused for high school students? Uh, it's for all students grades 6 through 12. >> I just asked because I only got the flyer for the high school. >> That's fair. >> With the changes of the Department of Ed, um, administration of a lot of grants has moved from Department of Ed to other departments. So, is this grant being administered by another department? Now, >> Kim Kurando, who visited us last year when we presented this, um hasn't said yet which one we're going to be under. They just know that they're feeling confident that it will continue. And she does, as she did last year, ask us to make some financial decisions quickly and get things taken care of, but we want to make
045sure it's quality and that we're doing something that's meaningful for the students. What are the reporting requirements for the grant with uh >> basically they have an outline of the data that they collect and it was in the um contract that we signed and basically what they had decided after last year they wanted to be able to access our data from I was another acronym with the state um to be able to grab the data they cannot see the names of students when they're pulling that data it's just by the different demographical aspects that are listed within than like our Illinois report card. >> Right. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Um I know you said you had made the college center this year >> and I just want to say applying to colleges that
046was really helpful. Um Miss Stuckmire especially I think I was in there probably two or three times a week and I know she read every single essay I wrote. I know I think almost every single student I know has gone in there and asked her questions and I know that's been really really helpful for all the students applying to applications. So >> I think it's been a strong team effort. I think the grant came to us at the right time and is providing us the resources to move forward where other schools may be struggling right now. >> And I I just wanted to add and thank you guys as well. I I know uh Ben um was able to join us on a field trip uh as we continue to talk about um increasing our
047opportunities and pathways for our students beyond just our students who are in um on the college path. We have a lot of students who um as we talked about through our portrait of a graduate in the strategic plan that are going to go straight to careers after graduation or they might go to Parkland and um you know get their associates degree and then be right in the business world or the work world. And so we are talking more about um we know it's important for our students to go to college but it's also important for our students to just have those future life skills. And I think the gear up grant, our MEP program, um some of the diff will be coming back to the board, um as we continue to look at um those
048pathways that we've been working with with Miss Roser and the CTE department, our career and technical ed department. Um we're in a really good place, as Dr. Deacon said, and trying to be forward thinking about um what we're the skills that we're giving our students when we send them out to college and out into the life work world. Um, and all of these programs are kind of working together. So, it's great that we're all collaborating and talking about the same things. Um, but we'll be coming back to the board to talk more about um how we can expand CTE >> at the high school. We've just run out of space. Um, and we have more students who want to be in culinary classes and who want to be in some of our uh industrial tech
049classes and you know, we don't have woodworking anymore and sheet metal and some of those things that um they're able to do at a higher level at Parkland, but they're things that we could be doing right at our high school and even taking some of those explorations down into the middle school level. So having all of the additional resources that we have right now really um putting us in a good position to be able to expand our offerings in the future. So um Mr. Guzman is really involved in that. Um it was important to have a board member kind of you know that's Ben's field. So, um, having him go, we went, we took a field trip to a, um, CTE, uh, program in Maton that is doing wonderful things that we would like to
050replicate some of those things for Arbana High School and Arbana Middle School and maybe even on a smaller scale at the sixth grade center. So, I just wanted the board to know that there was a reason why we had these guys come and talk today together um because we're giving you little snippets of things to come. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> One last call for questions. All right. Thank you both for a really exciting report. >> Thank you. >> We have a single action item this evening and this is a resolution authorizing and directing the sale or disposal of property. Uh this is uh ELA materials at S. Is there a motion to accept the resolution? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any further questions, comments, or discussion? A roll
051call vote would be in order. >> Member Maribou, >> yes. >> Member Jones, >> yes. >> Member Langorf, yes. Vice President Baxley, >> yes. >> President Palowski, >> yes. >> Uh, member Cheryl, >> yes. >> And member Hixon, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Uh, there is a call for a future special executive meeting on Monday at 6 o'clock at 11:01 East University. Will be a hearing uh for student discipline purposes. Superintendent's report. Okay, so this is news. We just found out last night actually that uh Lavi from Urbana High School. Um last year, as you remember, we had a uh student um Jaylen who matched with QuestBridge and she is currently at Rice University on a full scholarship. Well, we have another student um who has um matched with Oberlin um college. And so we're
052really excited um for Lavi. Um Katherine went over and took her picture today. So um QuestBridge, as we shared last year, is a national nonprofit that connects high achieving low-income students with 52 of the nation's top colleges and universities through its national college match. So congratulations. It's exciting. We also have um want to share congratulations for 32 Urbana High School students who were named Illinois State Scholars for outstanding academic achievement um through the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Um our this uh represents about 10% of the class of 2026 from and they are from our bandana high school. So I'm not going to read all their names but um Mia is on here. So congratulations Mia. Um, so yeah, so 32 UHS students, that is amazing out of the state of Illinois. So congratulations to them.
053Um, I know our ambassadors um talked about Thanksgiving dinner already. So here are a few more photos. It was a it was a really great day. Lots of positivity. Um, several administrators were able to um go over the the students up just run the whole thing and they just do a fantastic job. um from setup this year they didn't have to cook so Quest uh jumped in and uh took over the cooking so uh they not it was a little bit of a burden off of everyone so um I know we wanted Maryanne was going to share a few thoughts uh in regard to uh Quest doing that for us. >> Yeah, I think we just wanted to make sure that we said thank you to Quest for donating and repairing the food. It was
054I It was really nice to be able to walk in and >> serve and make sure like everybody got to enjoy it a little bit more it seemed like. So, >> absolutely big thank you to them. >> Yeah, the students and um got to just visit and not have to be stuck in the kitchen and their parents didn't have to be back there cooking this year and um so I you know I don't know what we're going to do next year in regard to that but it was great that Quest kind of jumped in and um they were wonderful about it too. we asked and they immediately said absolutely we are going to do this. So um so yeah so thank you to Quest and thank you to student council and Mr. Guzman and all
055of the um volunteers. We had community people who reached out to contact us and said how can we come and help. Um there are people who come every single year and help. Um I do want to give a shout out to Danielle Chennowith. I don't know if you saw the um story on the news around um them picking up sending a bus at the end of the uh dinner at 6:00. Sometimes um you know from what I've heard I'm not always there at the end. Um that that is the hardest part of the night when you have folks who at 6 who don't have anywhere to go. Um, and so she was forward thinking this year and they had a she had the shelter open um and they had the bus pick up and um
056take people where they needed to go or take people to the shelters after the meal. So shout out to Cunningham Township for doing that and for to Danielle. So it's awesome. >> A question about a picture. There's some books or the books. >> Oh, that is Leslie. I do not know her last name, but she and her granddaughter organized a book giveaway. So they're always young pe like kiddos there like elementary age kids. So there's like a a a craft table for the kids to color and draw. And so this year Leslie and her granddaughter uh collected books and they had a book drive and so any stu any like their whole families that come to this um so there are families there um with little kids and so the little kids could come over
057and take a book. Some of them were Thanksgiving themed. Um, and some of them were just regular books that had been donated. And so the kids that were there got to come over and pick out books to take home. So that's Leslie in the picture. So yeah, um, Yankee Ridge Balloon Parade. So this has been a tradition for the kindergarters and first grade students as a way to kind of kick off Thanksgiving break. Um, they have a balloon parade. So they decorate, you can see their artistic abilities there. They decorate balloons and little flyers and um they go outside and it is a just a fun way for them to get ready for Thanksgiving. So this is Yankee Ridge Multilingual and yesterday I had the um uh I was able to go to the dedication
058and open house of fire station number two. Um this is part in in the part of Urbana where I live in southeast Urbana on Pho. Um, and so I just wanted to congratulate Mayor Marlin is in that middle picture there with um, Mayor Williams. So I just wanted to congratulate the city for um, just their long vision and for Mayor Marlin's vision and the city council. This was two to three years of work getting these stations built. There's one on Bradley as well. I didn't make it to that open house, but this one's right in my neighborhood. So I said, I'm going to that one. >> Yeah. Yeah, they are. So, I didn't make it to the Bradley one, but um the first picture there is of acting chief Dilly, um Mike Dilly, who's back
059after being retired. Um and then um the city council members and this was really cool. I was going to embed the video, but it's easy to just tell you. So, um, they brought in the Jaws of Life and instead of, uh, cutting a ribbon to dedicate the building, they brought an old fire hose out and they had the Jaws of Life cut the fire hose and then they cut it into a lot of pieces and gave one to each of the um, city council members and all the people that are really instrumental in this. So, it was really cool. It was a really well attended event. Lots of people from the community were there. Um they talked about their efforts in um going out for bonds and writing grants um and doing what they ca
060could not to put the burden of building these buildings on the taxpayers but um finding creative creative ways to to um finance. They are amazing. Um so you got to walk around and see their kind of bunk rooms where they sleep and you know they're there for 24 hours at a time so where they cook and their relaxing areas. So, it is a beautiful space, but um they really uh talked a lot about the safety and how it is really going to be um helping our firefighters be more safe um and just the benefits from the community I know is really needed in Southeaster right now. If you drive down Pho Road, you'll see what I mean. Um but to have a beautiful building like this with all the other things that are kind of
061happening right now on Pho Road Road, I know that is a um a plan for the city. I know Mayor Williams has talked a lot about um reviving that particular part of Urbana. Um but having this beautiful building in the neighborhood is a huge step in the right direction. So um hats off to the city for those efforts and congratulations to the fire department and I think that is the last slide. Yep. Thanks. >> Thank you. Uh there are a set of foyer requests that are published uh in our agenda that were processed. Uh is there a motion to adjourn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> We are we are journed. I'll see you in two weeks.