Urbana School District 116 Board of Education 10 07 25

001Thank you, sir. All right, I'm gonna get started. >> Okay. >> Uh, good evening everybody. It's 6 o'clock. So, let's kick off the study session of Urbana School District 116. Roll call, please. >> Member Cheryl >> here. >> Member Hixon >> here. >> Member Maribou. Member Jones. Member Langondorf here. Vice President Baxley >> here. >> President Palowski >> here. Uh we do have a quorum. Uh member Jones will be arriving late. Member Maribou isn't able to attend this evening. >> Um are there any additions, corrections, or modifications tonight agenda? No. Um move on to citizen statements then. If anybody here present wishes to make a statement before the board, please fill out a golden rod sheet in the back of the room and hand it to recording secretary Lori Johnson. I have yet to receive

002any and see no indication from the audience of any uh wishing to make a statement. So, let's uh move on. Uh there will be no uh executive session after tonight's meeting. So, the chair would then entertain to uh entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda as published. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Move. Second. Uh all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? >> Um now it is time for our student ambassador report. Um so our report for August 7th. Um so so um this report will consist of the student uh the student service responses that we previously sent out to students. Uh I think last August August 31st I believe is when we started to send those out. Um and we're just going to roll out the responses that we got from students on

003that survey. So here's the responses. >> Um so we ask students a different series of questions. Um just basically trying to get a better understanding of what happens that we can't see or just gives us some things that we can advocate for as student ambassadors. Um, so things such as resources and just how how easy is it to access resources around the building. Um, we did ask that and we did get some um some really good um kind of responses off that. Most of them is um just cuz they feel as like um or like staff, you know, staff do do a lot during the day. So maybe finding a time to meet with them or finding a time to talk may not be, you know, the best thing since, you know, they do have

004busy schedules. But just kind of having, I guess, the availability um for, you know, someone who students for someone who students can come and talk to or just talk to about daily things. >> Um, and then we asked, do you feel like your voice is heard? And we got 67.6% 6% said yes and 32.4% said no. Um and then we asked a follow-up question to this. >> Um so these are the responses from students who said no. Um and so these are some of the reasons as to why students said no. Um generally generally because of age. Um staff and students share the same dislikes um but often feel like they're ignored. Um or students will talk to admin about issues and it'll just go over admin's head or they think that, you know, it

005just kind of gets pushed off to the side. Um and so we've been working with admin to kind of um make sure that we are still hearing their voices and that things are not actually being pushed to the side. So then we asked, have you been treated unfairly by school rules? And we had around 30% say yes and around 70% say no. So pretty um good response for that one. Yeah. Um do you feel supported at UHS? Um a lot of kids said yes. Um which is a which is always a great thing. We want students to feel supported um and feel like you know that they have someone who is there uh to help them when they need it. um for students who may not feel like they are supported that gets answered um

006or those responses get filled. >> So, as a follow-up question, we asked, "What could we do to support you?" Um and we had a couple specific responses about that there's no advanced dual language classes. Um so, students expressing that they would like to go further in the dual language classes. Um, and then we saw a couple responses about teachers not supporting students. Um, which was a little bit interesting to us because when we asked the question, you'll see later, um, but we asked the question, um, like, do you feel supported and do you feel teachers um, like what do you feel uhs does, right? And a lot of people said they feel as though the staff um, cares a lot about them and puts in a lot of effort. So, we're kind of planning on

007talking to students and kind of seeing where that disconnect is, maybe what that difference is. Um, because we did get lots of responses on this of saying like teachers weren't always there to support them. So, we kind of want to look more into that and see what exactly that's about. Um, and then we got multiple responses about better counseling to either help plan future, help plan college applications or to just like go to personal problems because um, I do know from personal experience the school counselors, there's only four of them for lots of students. And so they are they do tend to be like very very busy, especially around times of the beginning of the semester, beginning the school year, end of the school year. They tend to be really really busy. So it can

008be really hard to get into them. Um, so we had quite a few students um, expressing that they would like to have that more easily accessible and just better counseling with that in general. >> Um, moving on, we asked um, students, do they think that the school is clean and well-maintained? Um, many said no. Um, and many say no for the reason um, specifically resolving around the bathrooms. Uh we have been having a lot of issues with the bathrooms lately just from them being vandalized or trashed. Um and um we had talked with Mr. Guzman and he actually has the custodial staff on a log. And so they go into the bathrooms I think he said every two hours um and they log the exact time and the exact thing that they did. Um and

009he even showed that to us and we seen that they've been marking it and you know using it um you know for its purpose. So now it's it's really just about is students keeping up um with the maintenance of the bathrooms instead of trashing them. So I mean it it would mean nothing if if custodial staff come and clean it at a certain time and then it gets dirtied again. So we can't put the blame on the custodial staff because they did do what they um they did do what they said they said that they were doing. It's just about students being responsible enough to actually maintain the bathrooms. >> So then we asked the question list a few things does right and this is what I was talking about earlier of um a little

010bit of a disconnect but we got lots and lots of responses about um great support from teachers and staff. Um we got lots of responses about making sure students are safe and that the admin is very attentive. um rule enforcement. We got lots of responses on. I think especially in the last couple of years. Um they have been definitely cracking down on a lot of things and I think um every year we've been coming back. It's definitely been you know there's a couple new things that they've been cracking down on and they've been enforcing a lot more which has been good to see. Um and then uh students felt as if they were generally treated fairly. And we actually got um quite a few responses on the phone policy and people saying that they felt

011that was something good that UHS is doing uh just to help students pay attention better in class and it was easier for them. So that was quite a surprise to us. So we were happy to see that. So >> um we asked students um what was some things um that they would change at uhs. Uh again, many said cleanliness of the bathrooms or cleanliness building wide. Um sophomore academy, many sophomores this year are very upset with the fact that sophomore academy is here. Um and we um myself included have explained to sophomores that that this is a part of the new curriculum and we have rolled this out because it has been able and it is eligible for sophomores now. Um, and so many students don't like that they've had to do freshman academy last

012year. And they thought that, hey, you know, we were going to get a full lunch period, you know, you know, kind of a full time to talk to our friends and everyone that we may or may not see in our classes. Um, but then to come freshman to sophomore year and see, hey, we have academy again, and everybody's kind of worked up about it, then it's definitely not been a good reaction from um these sophomores. Um, a lot of juniors and seniors have been saying that the re-entry for lunch has been terrible. Um, I know that sometimes when I'm down there, the lines are really terrible. Um, and it kind of spills into the times of of passing period, which you know that passing period is 4 minutes, but getting everybody through the door is

013kind of a struggle. So, everyone may not be getting into the door um, you know, within the time that they have. And so it's spilling into other time and it's causing students to be late. So what we have done for this is Mr. Guzman has allowed uh juniors and seniors to come in 10 minutes early um in which some students have been using that um and it has made made the transition coming back into school a lot better. Um and then again the more the more advanced classes for students in the dual language program. Uh many students stress that you know with being in the dual dual language program they feel like there is a lack of advanced classes um and which has led them to drop because of there not being um advanced courses

014for them for those who would like it. >> So then we talk about the school lunch. Um we ask students what are their you know opinions. Um do they think it's served properly? Is it prepared properly? Um many said yes and some said no. Um and those will be explained on the next slide. >> So as a followup we asked if you answered no please explain. Um, and so we got multiple responses about food options not being available to different diets, specifically halal diets or gluten-free. Um, and so and people just not being completely, especially when it comes to allergies, just not being completely sure that those are being properly um kept separate from the other foods. So we have talked to um the food company and we have specifically told them um about that

015and about students concerns about that and um to just make sure you know the proper um things are being done for that. Um there were multiple responses about food not being completely cooked at times and miscalculated portion sizes which I will say sometimes I definitely still am hungry after school lunch. So, we have also talked to that about um talked about that too um and Miss Emily Lane and we have told her multiple times about specifically things when it comes to like chips or things like that. They tend to be a pretty small portion size and so they don't always get you full and especially for our student athletes who go straight to practice that can be not always the best. Um and then the food has also run out multiple times sixth hour this

016year. Um which we have emailed her about every single time after. Um, and she I know one week they had someone didn't order a truck of food. So I know I believe that was on the second or third week of school and so that was a big reason why a lot of the food was running out, but it has run out since then multiple times. Um, which we have told her about and I know multiple of them have been at like the very beginning of the hour. So almost no six-hour students have gotten lunch. Um, and quite a few six-hour students stay back. There's, you know, the cafeteria is usually almost completely full. So definitely a lot of students. There's always some option, but it's usually just one option, which isn't always the best. Um,

017and I know a lot of students tend to get pizza and that has been running out this year. Um, so we have talked to about that and we are actively working with them on that to try to figure that out. Um, we asked students, do they think the food is served undercooked? Um, and many said yes. Um and some of those responses um were showed as well um in I think a couple more slides. >> So then we asked um do you see the chefs using poor safety habits? Whether that's crosscontamination, touching the food without gloves, scratching and patting their head um when they're touching the food and we had 77% say no and 22% say yes. So, also a pretty um good response to that and definitely a more positive response. So, I would

018say it's probably not um an area to focus on quite as much, but um and so these are the students or these are the reasons for the students who said no. Um, many have experienced um expired grab-and-go items um just from them being just from it not being checked um and it not being taken out after its um expiration date. And so they were still left there. And so students were um grabbing them and they were eating them and they were finding that it was expired. Um, and so since then, students have been kind of backing away from the grab-and-go items because um because of the items being s being expired. Um, and so we have explained that to her as well. Um, the lunch staff, many lunch staff do not switch gloves or wear

019gloves at all while serving. Um, and so we have talked to her about that. Um, and she stated that all workers are supposed to wear gloves. um and she has been cracking down on them a lot um for not wearing gloves or not switching gloves. Um specifically for um foods, specifically for cooked and non-cooked foods. Um it's important that that the workers are not touching the cooked foods and then touching the non-cooked foods. Um but many students have also asked them to switch gloves and they have denied um kind of their um request to switch gloves because of certain dietary restrictions um or things like that. Um and that's the same thing with touching foods cooked and uncooked with the same gloves. Um and hairetss um hair has been found in in food as well

020just from the staff not wearing hairetss. Uh, and so we've also let her know that, you know, this is happening and she's also been saying that she's been cracking down on that as well. Um, so just kind of being more sanitary and being um, you know, just kind of following the procedures as to what we need to do whenever we serve students food. Um, so as a final question, we asked, are there any other concerns or recommendations? Uh, we got multiple responses about a boys volleyball team. So, we actually had a meeting with Waller and we talked to him about making this. Um, there are not currently enough teams in the area to make an official school sport, but we could make a club sport like how we did with flag football and then it

021eventually once more teams start doing that, it eventually goes to a school sport. Um, and so there's actually a one of the students that we got one of the responses from, we reached out to him and we asked him if he would be interested in kind of leading this effort. And so he is working with um he's going to meet with Waller soon to set this up and I believe uh Miss Luth is going to be sponsoring it. So that will be happening soon. So that's very exciting. Um students would like to see more of a crackdown on fighting, skipping or vaping in the bathrooms. And also, um, students mentioned getting stall doors for the boys locker rooms. And I know with the girls lock or with the girls like locker rooms and bathrooms, we

022have stall doors, but they tend to be locked a lot of the time. Like the stalls will be locked for whatever reason. Um, or the lock will not work. So, usually there's only about one or two stalls you can use per bathroom. Um, so that can kind of be hard sometimes when students are in them. Um, and then one more thing I wanted to say about the food portion. um just like as a student. Um I did not know that we had gotten um a green card since that yellow card we got last year. And so we have been working on sharing that with other students because I know many other students also did not know that. So I know the school journal will be making a article about that soon. Um and I know

023me and many other students I've talked to have seen a a vast improvement since last year. Um, and since that yellow card was given on different safety habits, not on the food itself and the food being, you know, better and it being um, us enjoying it a lot more. So, I will say I definitely do think there's improvement being done there. And so, that's good to see. >> Yes. Um, also piggybacking off of that, now it's really about changing the narrative um, within students to be like, hey, they they have passed the health inspection. They have, you know, been doing what they have been supposed to do. So now we can't keep holding the narrative from February's um inspection saying that you know we had many violations on some of the similar stuff that we

024had did previously in I believe it was December. So now just changing the narrative is is really the most important thing now. Um and also students um also some responses of um halal food. We have been working with her um with Emily who is the quest manager to to try to be a certified halal kitchen. Um which could take some time. Um but we have been talking with her because some students have been saying you know hey they would like halal food or you know for specifically for people who are on um restrictive diets just making sure that they can eat as well. Um and they don't have to eat you know things that's you know really not helping them or really not filling them up um as much as the other things that we

025serve inside of the lunchroom. Moving on to student activities. Um this these past couple weeks we have had lots of student activities. So homecoming was just a few weeks ago. Um so there was some pictures from the homecoming football game, from the pep rally, from the float building um that we had for the homecoming parade and then a picture from spirit day from our twin day. um when people in their school spirit and these are some more homecoming pictures and homecoming pick rallies and other things like that. Um so then we had some sport updates. So the volleyball freshman JV and varsity team all won their games against Danville. Um very exciting. Soccer won their team their game against Danville as well. Um and football had their game against Centennial last Friday. Um many students

026went to that. It was a very highly attended event. Um and the cross country boys also won their uni high meet. So very successful fall sport teams right now. And the senior nights um for I think we've had so far two senior nights with the girls volleyball and the boys soccer. Um they both did win their senior night games, so that is a plus. Um and here are some pictures from them from their senior nights. Um so me and Sophia are currently working on the English curriculum and the ACT prep. So she is working on making more um ACT prep things available. Um, and so she is emailing the junior English teachers right now to learn more about what the ACT preparation is and what's being done in the classrooms, what's being offered outside of

027the classrooms. Um, and so she is going to talk with them about that and probably um try to add some more. And then I will actually be meeting tomorrow with the English department co-heads to talk about increasing the rigor in English classes. Um, I'll specifically be talking about the number of essays and increasing that. Um I will go into that more in a later meeting with um after I talk with them but generally our um literacy rate in graduates is not always the best and so I would like to try to increase that and writing is a life skill that every person will need to use no matter what path of life they go down. Um so I believe that's something that should be uh more emphasized and you know you can only it can

028only be done by practice and so it needs to be practiced more in the classroom. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Really appreciate let us know >> any comments. >> The survey results are really interesting. Thank you. Thank you for doing that. Of course. >> Sure. >> Yeah. I want to thank you for all the work that you did. I just think that that information is so valuable and I was wondering if this is something that you can repeat next semester to see if you can get other students reactions or also see if there's any change in some of these um concerns as well. >> Yes. >> Is that possible? >> Yes, we we did plan to send out another form um after we come back from Christmas break. Um, so now that we have

029been advocating for some of the stuff that's been um, put on the forms, we are going to give it time and then see how it works out and see if things have gotten better since then. And then um, come the springtime, we will send out another survey to everybody kind of as like a reflection and just to see, >> you know, what has improved and what hasn't improved. >> That'd be very helpful. Thank you. Of course, >> we also had a conversation, you and I, today in the lunchroom regarding um students responsibility of keeping the building clean and um I'm in the lunchroom two days um a month and um whoever the staff are always asking students to clean their table and put things away, throw away their garbage and it's you know it's I

030can imagine be very disappointing and frustrating if you come in wanting to eat your lunch and there's still other people's garbage on on So I hoping that maybe sometimes you you could think about how to improve that as well with the students as well coming from the students it might be better than just from the staff. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Um I was wondering when the um students were talking about food that was undercooked, were they talking about really undercooked meat or or or things not hot to eat? You know, are they just not warm? They're they're talking about under or they're talking about food that's not being cooked correctly. Food that's not being cooked all the way through. So, um specifically, I know um I a student had said something to me

031um about the ground beef specifically for the tacos um that that was not cooked through all the way. Um and there was still lots of the mink that was very pink. Um and so I had took a picture of that. Um and I had mentioned that to Mr. Guzman, but yes, meat is not being cooked um is not being cooked all the way through for the undercooked portion. >> Okay. >> Um I will say also I think part of it is I know many students see in like the chicken like the chicken nuggets or chicken tenders um the middle tends to be kind of gray and so that is where I do think all of this needs to be taken with a grain of salt of you know no one is taking the temperature of

032the middle of the meat and making sure it's fully cooked. like it's it's not an exact um but I think that is where we would like to talk more with Emily Lane and see if that is maybe just the products we're that are being used. Um if that's just how they are, if that's just if it is safe to eat, but it's just if if that's how it's prepared, that's how it looks. Um so that's also something we'd like to go more into and more we need to talk more with Quest about to directly see. >> Can I add one thing? So um right now you guys are in the middle of your panorama student survey and um that survey will have a lot of data about sense of belonging um feeling supported in school.

033So um I know your sample group was a little smaller but every student is taking the panorama survey. So when we get those results I would love for you guys to sit down with Mr. Guzman and kind of look at some of the questions you had and see where the full student body is kind of aligning in terms of, you know, do I have adults that I trust? Do I have people I can go to and talk to? Um, belonging is one of our major values. So, it's really important to us that students feel supported and valued. Um, so looking at that panorama data when we get it will be really good and I'm I'm sure he'll appreciate your insights on the bigger scope of that data once we get it all. So >> yeah,

034we'll for sure reach out to them and make sure to have a meeting about that. >> Anyone else questions, comments? >> All right. Yeah, thank thanks. Thanks so much. >> Uh it's time for board reports. Anybody have a board report this evening? >> Go ahead, Sherry. >> Um the um IASB webinar is on Thursday, October 16th, and I signed up for it. It's at 12 o'clock about the new standards for student proficiency. what board members should know. I think it pertains to cuts and scores and the changes that are coming out that will impact the 2025 state report card. So, I'm looking forward to getting some more information so I can understand the report card better this year. Um, and um another um thing regarding the tiger market, I know I I talk about that

035a lot, but it impacts a lot of families. I hope it can help them. I was in the lunchroom today and students have the opportunity to select food and personal care items for their home and will be in the lunchroom two Tuesdays a month, usually the same days as school board meetings. Um, we received a 66% increase from East Illinois Food Bank to use this year to purchase items from the food bank. So, I'm really thrilled about that. So, we will have more available for students for a long amount of time this year. and it shows um the various items that are available and I oh there's a Facebook page Tiger Market and it shows the the items that are available and also has list of certain foods that people in the community community can

036donate to the pantry and the most requested food item is apple juice. Students like apple juice. Moving on to our study topics for the evening. Uh uh first up is McKenna Vento Services and Supports. Uh Dr. Nance and uh Dian Webster. Good evening. Um, so I'll kick off the uh presentation tonight with just some recent homeless trends. Um, so between July and September of 2025, so this school year, about a three-month period, there have been upwards of 91 McKini Vento Common forms filled out, submitted to the regional office of education 9, and entered into the Skyward system. Um, so this indicates a current 2.1% homeless student population within our school district. Um, at the end of the school year 2425, the homeless student population was at 2.8. Um, keep in mind that that was at

037the end of the school year. Um, so at the end of 2425, we were at 2 um8. We're currently in the SY 2526 school year at 2.1. Schools with the highest amount of reported homeless students are Thomas Payne Elementary School, Urbana Middle School, and Urbana High School. common causes of this. Um, so most of the time when I have conversations with a family um or Miss Webster or um one of the social workers at the schools, uh some of the common causes that come up are inability to afford monthly rent payment due to loss of employment. Um credit reports and rental history reflecting major delinquency or eviction. Um, so one thing that I want to note there is that I often explain to families if you can avoid an eviction through communication or setting up

038a payment plan, you'll want to because an eviction, unfortunately, stays on your record for up to 10 years, making it very hard to rent anywhere else in the area. Um, natural disasters such as house fires, water damage, mold, pest infestation, etc. Um, a decrease in local private landlords willing to rent to previously evicted tenants. So, used to be that there were more private landlords that would work with um people that have been evicted and that number is decreasing. Uh so, some common residential circumstances that we come up um come up against or that we see often families being doubled up, living with other relatives or friends temporarily, whether they're in Urbana and Champagne and Ranul, sometimes out as far as Danville, um staying in a domestic violence or a homeless shelter. Um and then sleeping

039in cars. So these are some of the district's resources to meet student and family needs. Um so for housing uh referrals are made to the following shelters or providers. Cunningham Township, Regional Planning Commission, Housing Authority of Champagne County, Salvation Army, Courage Connection, and Empty Tomb. Uh for food, uh we provide a list of 39 local soup kitchens and little free food pantries, as well as information on how to access the Tiger Market. Um and then clothes, school, excuse me, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and personal use items um can be gathered from Mrs. Mitchell's closet. There are now seven locations in Urbana. Um Dr. J's homeless health hub, which is something new this year. Um and then the unaccompanied minors closet which is over at uh UHS. Uh the Willox Red shoe funds. Uh these are

040accessible to school social workers. And then referrals to the 12 discount stores and giveaway hubs in Champagne Orbana. So there's information that has been made available to staff um as well as parents. So the adults that support the students. um the USD116 family engagement community resource guide uh which is a guide that uh Mrs. Webster and um I believe Kelly Allen and and some others have put together um every year. Um it's a great guide and in encompasses a lot of information um on resources in the community. Uh the USD116 support staff guide which is a guide that I created a few years ago that also in a way mirrors this but um gives a little bit more information about um specific services to uh provide to families. Um USD116 family liaison manual. Um so

041obviously specific information and scheduling information for liaison. Uh USD116 family resources guide which is another guide that is specifically for the parent. So this is something that a social worker a family liaison and a student engagement attendance advocate can share with the parent and the parent can utilize. Um and then the Cunningham Township Bridge to Home Services Guide. Um Britney Tuton who is our liaison recently created a really nice uh guide that has a lot of visuals in it um that we've also been able to share with families. So the relationship between Urbana School District 116 and the Cunningham Township Supervisor's Office. Um our current homeless liaison whom I just mentioned is Miss Britney Tutin. Uh she is the housing navigation and support uh supportive services team lead. Uh so these are the steps for

042getting support. A student's family would indicate homelessness. So this is often done at registration or in a conversation with a social worker or secretary. The USD116 referrals um will then go to the Cunningham Township um office through a Google form. Once that Google form is completed, it's submitted to Miss Tuton at Cunningham Township. Um a caseworker is then assigned to the family to complete the assessment and intake. qualifying families receive referrals for emergency sheltering at that point. And at times follow-up emails and or phone calls are made between the school district and the township um just regarding the family's pro uh progress. So this can work either way. Sometimes Miss Tudin will reach out to us and say, "Hey, just letting you know this is the progress. This is where we are with this family

043or I'll reach back out and say, "Hey, any news on assistance for this family?" So um there are these homeless student service meetings that take place once a quarter um and once over the summer as well in preparation for the upcoming school year. So these include representatives from Urbana School District 116, Champagne Unit 4 School District, Ranul City School District 137, Cunningham Township Supervisor's Office, the Champagne Township, CU Schools Foundation, United Way of Champagne County, Crisis Nursery Regional Office of Education 9, and the Regional Planning Commission of Champagne County. So action items that come out of these meetings or have come out of these meetings. Um so we've sent out some letters to philanthropic organizations uh just asking for their support for our families that are homeless um in a in various forms. So that

044um at times has been asking for funds for hotel stays. It has been asking for uh donation of items for families that are in need. Um so some of these organizations are listed there. Altruusa International, Urbana Rotary, Divine Nine organizations, Kiwanis and Junior League to name a few. Um we've also submitted some grant applications to the city of Urbana for their community services grant as well as the Illinois charitable trust fund. Um so some of the outcomes uh regional planning uh now covers travel costs for families staying in partner shelters outside of Champagne County. So this is often a recommendation that we would make when um our current Champagne Orbana shelters are full. Um, and then over $5,000 was donated last year, uh, between Regional Office of Education 9 and United Way of Champagne County

045donors. Um, and lastly, this year, uh, $1,000 was secured through the CU Connections fund. Um, $500 to purchase items for the new homeless health hub and $500 to cover hotel stays for Urbana families during the freezing temperature days. And I believe that is the conclusion of the presentation. So I'll take Sorry. Usually I include a thank you slide. So thank you. Um do you have any questions? >> Board members, any any questions? >> Thank you very much. It's very informative. Where can I get copies of those guides or manuals because they sound very interesting. >> Um sure. I can email them to you. Um, usually when I do this presentation with teachers, they're linked in the presentation. Um, so I could I could send you those. >> Great. I'd like to see them all the

046work that you've done. >> Um, and uh, Miss Lori has them, too. >> Okay, great. Um, let's see. Um, I want to congratulate you, too, because I noticed that you're getting some awards and recognition for your work in the community. So, I want to tell you >> how wonderful that is that you're getting. Um last year I was concerned about un on on unaccompanied minors and this year my concern my focus is possibly parents who are not able to go to work because of fear of going to work and the safety and I was wondering if there's some type of safety net for them. I know that many of them would not qualify for some of these supports. Are there any that they do qualify for? >> Well, all of our unaccompanied minors do qualify

047for McKini Vento services. So they get the same services that our homeless families get and we do work closely with Miss Lucia Maldonado um with Joie Mel and Lucia u Lucia I'm sorry Lupe Guadalupe Racone. So we have we just spoke about that this morning actually in our monthly family liaison meeting and Lucia wanted to make sure that we share that information with our student engagement attendance advocates to make sure that when we see a downward spiral of attendance with some of our students to be aware and to be mindful and to be sympathetic of situations that may be going on in the political climate. So we are working closely together to ensure that everyone has the information but our unaccompanied minors do get the same services and support as McKini Vento. >> Right. And

048that was my concern last year. This year it's about the families, the parents who pos possibly are not going to work because they're afraid, right? >> And are they also um have some of these supports as well? >> The supports are for the students. So our McKenna Vento supports are to make sure that the students get to school. So we can't the money that we have that's got title one funding. It is for students. So the main thing is to get students to school. So unfortunately that cannot support families, but it can support the students making sure they have clothing, making sure they have school supplies, making sure that they have food, laundry detergent. We've even purchased um laundry machines and all kinds of things in all of our different buildings but and able to

049the funds that we have cannot support the families unfortunately. >> So nothing for homelessness then for them >> not for the adults but for the children. >> Anyone else? I asked this question as to different groups, but if if if uh money is tight, but if you had the ability to ask us for things that we haven't been doing, now is the time. Um what could we do? What more could we do that we aren't doing? >> Sure. And thank you for that question. Um so we have an Amazon wish list. Um, and I could give you that information. I think I gave it to the board last year. I'll give it to you again. Um, but it's just, and I'm going say this because this is recorded, correct? So, for those in the community,

050tiny Uurl.com uh slmrs mitchell's closet 3. Um, so it is a tiny URL that I created for our Amazon wish list, but you just go on and it has um all of the items pictured and listed there that we're in high need um of to support our kids. And I can tell you right now, the biggest needs are children's underwear. Um, sizes 6 to 10. Um, off the top of my head, right, because I do this all the time. Um, deodorant is another one that I keep being asked about as I'm going to different schools. Um, we need more deodorant and laundry detergent now that we do have these um these washing machines and dryers. So, um, children's underwear. Um, the laundry detergent and the um I have a short memory. Thank you. And the

051uh and hotel stays as well. So that's another thing um I would say. So we have very limited funding. We do have some funding that have been secured for that. Um but very limited. And so anybody who wants to donate toward um us being able to help get a family into a hotel, especially as we're getting into colder months, so that that child can get a good good night's rest and come to school. That would be helpful, too. >> Dr. Jay's Dr. Dr. Jay's >> homeless health hub. >> Yeah. Where is that? >> Um it's at Urbana Middle School. Um it's located in room 1881. So it's right outside of the multi-purpose room. >> Do they carry different things than Mrs. Mitchell's closet or >> So it in a sense is almost the same. Um

052but here's the difference. So the Dr. J's homeless help hub is specifically for McKenna Vento homeless students because of and I think Miss Webster mentioned this too just because of the funding and where it came from. It specifically has to go to homeless students. Um Mrs. Mitchell's Closet is an initiative I started a few years ago. Um and that is more open to any kid. You know a book bag strap breaks in the middle of the day, you got chocolate milk spilled on you, whatever the case may be. Um, and so that's more open-ended and it's, you know, anybody can go in and get things from those locations. >> There was an incident in the lunchroom today where a young man came up to me. He said, "I I tried to get ketchup and it

053just splattered all over me. What should I do?" I said, "Go upstairs in the office and see if you can get access to Mrs. Mitchell's um closet." So, I'm I'm hoping that you'll have clothes for those kind of accents as well. >> Yeah, I do. They're in all the closets. Thank you. I was going to add something about hotel stays and I haven't even had a chance to share this with Dr. Nance or Mrs. Webster. I was in a meeting recently with um members from Champagne County talking about the stride center and um the concern around the fact that um that grant is ending in at the end of February. And I know um the concern is really this is a Champagne County issue, not an Urbana, not a Champagne. I mean, the center happens

054to be located in Champagne. Um, and so I think the city of Champagne has beared the brunt over the last few years of I think um the city manager said they've spent $7 million or some of of their own funding through ARPA and you know the the money that they've received through COVID um and there is a a a concern that what are we going to do in the I mean the end of February is still cold. So um you know that is going to be a concern. And I know a lot of our families use some of the other shelters that are a little closer to Urbana. Um, but that is something that is a countywide conversation happening right now around the fact that we none of us have grants that pay for hotels

055like they used to. Um, and it is a concern of, you know, where what where do we turn where do we send families that um especially when you know there's some centers that don't take moms and dads. They only take the moms and the kids. and um you know just what are we going to do as a county? And so I think this group is starting to have conversations around um county support and um the they we were all kind of put on notice that everybody is going to have to uh weigh in and and provide some financial support and it can't just be the city of Champagne doing it all. And I I think we hear that. So I mean there people like public health at the table. Um both the city of Urbana

056um our our mayor has a representative that's there. Um and so it is it is a an issue that is um issue countywide. So is housing >> board members masters? Uh any any further questions? >> Thank you very much for this presentation. >> Um our next report is uh curriculum and student learning presentation. Jessica Pratford. Hello. Good evening. Uh so tonight I'm here to present to you um information about um curriculum. Um when Dr. Trevor Tatum asked me to present to the board about curriculum. Um I was a little perplexed. I was like what do I present to the board about curriculum because it's covers it's K through 12 and curriculum is very it's a lot of information to present to the board. Um and so um it came down to um our strate strategic

057plan. So how does it always connect back to our strategic plan and student growth and achievement? So I have decided to present to you um how um our focus on curriculum is how we're supporting student growth and achievement um through our strategic plan. So um our first goal is all students will grow and excel to reach their full potential achieving success in college career life and beyond. And our key performance indicators for this goal um is uh focusing around um the percentage of students meeting uh AR and ELA um for reading and math. And so those are percentages for um certain populations of students. So um that's what I decided to focus on um because we have been really um focusing on ELA and math. um that's been our target for curriculum and um so

058I'm here today tonight to talk to you about um what we've been doing to help meet these goals um for ELA and math across across the district. So what are we doing to reach these goals? And the big thing that we've been focusing on is um tier one instruction. So that's where it starts. And so um we've really been focusing on our tier one instruction and ELA and math. And so that's what we're going to talk about right now. And so let's talk about that what it looks like at the elementary. So as you know um we are in year 2 implementation of CKLA and our Camino curriculum. Um and so um our our teachers across K through five um now have a curriculum um that focuses on um teaching teaching rating um and it

059has a a scope and sequence. So, I put in here like our curriculum map. Um, I can't click on it. Um, but, um, we have put together, this is something that we worked on over the summer. Um, so we worked on this, um, for K through five. Um, and this is for teachers. Um, so it's it's their curriculum map and it's also their pacing guide. And so, um, this includes, um, their reading, their math, their science and social studies. And so, um, that way, um, teachers stay on pace to teach, um, what they're supposed to teach across the school year, um, and that way teachers stay together, um, across grade levels. So, we put this together, um, which has been helpful. And we've also identified like the main assessments um that grade levels are supposed

060to give um across each quarter. Um so um we put together the curriculum a curriculum map um for our ELA and math. Um, and so, uh, with our year 2 of this new curriculum, cuz it's still new, um, we, uh, went ahead and, uh, decided to move forward, uh, keeping our CKA coach, Becca Pate. So, she works across, um, four of our buildings, um, that implement CKLA. So her focus um for first quarter um has really been uh going into um Le uh Thomas Payne, DBW, and King supporting our new teachers and our long-term subs. So she'll meet with them um to plan with them um to uh she'll model lessons with them, she'll co-e with them, she'll observe and give feedback. So we call it like a coaching cycle. Um, so that is how

061she's been supporting buildings first quarter. Um, just making sure that our new teachers and our long-term subs are just set up for success um, with teaching this program. Um, and then she also pushes into our PLC's and meets with teachers um, as well. So um, we're in year two of our CKLA coach. Um, we're also year two of having our tier one intensive teachers. And what our tier one intensive teachers do is that they co-e um specifically with CQLA. Last year um across buildings we had we wanted to make sure that like all teachers had a tier one intensive teacher u co-eing with them um but because it was new curriculum. But this year we're we were very specific about how we used our tier one intensive teachers. Um so especially having them um co-e

062skills which is bas our phonics um because um we thought it was really important um to push in during that phonics that skills time in K12. So, um, we've really shifted our tier one intensive teachers to support K12 teachers with skills for co-eing. Um, and also, uh, our new teachers and long-term subs. And then, um, our MClass data just came out. And so also looking at our MClass data to see where the support is really needed across the classrooms and then, um, having them support those classrooms there. um with co-eing but also during our when time we call it what I what I need time like our intervention time and pushing in during that time as well. And so another year two implementation is our curriculum implementation teachers that we have in all five of

063our elementary buildings. So our curriculum implementation teachers do a lot of things. Um they also co-e um where the support is needed. um uh they model specific lessons for teachers, they gather data, they help with assessments, they run PLC's um really wherever um they help get curriculum organized. So, wherever help is like needed. Um they're there to help teachers um really in any aspect. Um so, it was nice to have uh our curriculum implementation teachers for year two. Um we have provided a lot of professional development to our teachers because we want to make sure that with this new curriculum um that they're implementing it um with fidelity um to support student learning. Um so last year during our staff development days that's all we focused on was um professional development with CQLA. So we

064provided professional development on like engage how to engage all learners, how to incorporate writing, um enhancing our teaching practice, how to um implement our boost which is like our online reading um program that that supports individual learning um MClass data. I'm getting ready to talk about that. We had um professional development this summer um for backwards planning. Um so we continue to provide that professional development to teachers um for ELA to support that curriculum, that tier one instruction. So um and then for math, I didn't put math up here, but we are in our year three of our illustrative math curriculum. And um last year we didn't really focus on illustrative math um with our teachers like professional development because we wanted to focus on CQLA. But um we are back to the the grind

065of really focusing on that tier one instruction for illustrative math at the elementary level um because we see with our scores that it's needed. Um so this summer we provided some professional development to our teachers about establishing routines, how to look at formative assessments and um using the learning goals to inform instruction. And then um we trained all of our new teachers this summer with illustrative math. Um our upcoming staff devel development in November. Um we're giving um training on illustrative math specifically focusing on building that number sense um which our students need. Um we've identified that our students need to really increase their number sense. So um we're doing extra professional development on like the centers that are in illustrative math. Um I'm training the long-term subs coming up here in October when we

066return from fall break. Um yeah, so I mean just a lot just making sure our teachers get professional development um just around the curriculum to to make sure that you know they're they're teaching it the way that it's intended so that students are learning um the standards. So um we've also revamped our report cards. We did that a lot of work last year. Um, we had a committee across K through five teachers. Um, and so we looked at the priority standards um, for ELA and math and um, we revamped our report cards and so now we have new report cards that we're rolling out for this year. So, we've been working on that. Um, and then with our CLA curriculum, we have something um, new that's called in-class assessments. It's fantastic. We give um these

067in-class assessments fall, winter, and spring across K through five. They measure specific reading skills. And the data that it gives our teachers is absolutely incredible. Um it gives individual data, class data, and it tells teachers, it groups students for the teachers. Um and it tells them specifically like what targeted instruction to give them. Um, and it also gives them the interventions, specific interventions to give them like with lessons. It's fantastic. Um, and that was a big piece that our teachers were missing. Um, and so this program gives that to our teachers. And so that is that is um, amazing for our teachers, but also for our students. Um, and it's researchbased. So it's it's just amazing. Um, I wanted I put this in here because I wanted you to see the impact of year of

068just one year of CKLA. Um, John, I don't know if you're driving. Um, if you can click on the M class data and then if you can click on the 24 to 25 to 25 to 26 beginning of the year. Okay. So, it's really hard for me to see. Okay. Thank you. So um I just so this is comparing um data from the beginning of the year from last year to this year. And so um at the very top where it says composite score this is overall um for all students across K through five. This is all buildings at the elementary level. And so, um, these are, um, students, um, students in the red are well below, um, students in the yellow are below, students in the green are on target, and then students in

069the blue are like well above. And so, if you look at um, this year's data to last year's data, um, you can see um, that we've decreased the number of students that are well below. Um and then we've increased um the number of students who um are um below on target and above target. So in just a year we've increased those numbers and decreased the numbers where we need to. And then um stay with me cuz this is this is going to be hard to see, but um if you look at um our kindergarten numbers from 2425 um and compare it to first grade 2526, you can see that our kindergarteners who are now first graders this year, um the students who were well below, we went from 54% of students who were well below

070low in kindergarten to to 51%. So we are decreasing that number which is what we want to see. Um and then we are increasing the number of students who are on grade level and above grade level. So we did see that increase um from K to 1. And then if we look at our 2425 numbers for first grade and compare it to second grade to the 2526, we can also see the same. Um, so our first graders from last year who are now second graders, they went from 60% well below to 46. That's a hu that's that's what we want to see, right? We want to see that decrease. Um and then um all of our numbers increased um for students who um are on target and above target. So that increased. Um if you

071scroll if John scrolls down, thank you John. If we look at our um second graders from last year who are now third graders, they went from 56% to 51% who are well below. Um and then kind of just stayed the same across the board. Um and then our third graders from last year who are now fourth graders, that was another huge decrease. Um from well below, we went from 50% to 39%. Um and then our uh we had a huge jump on numbers who were on grade level. We went from 15% to 31%. That's huge. That's like double. Um and then where we noticed that we needed needed to do a lot more work was from our um fourth grade to our fifth grade. Um we had 44% of our fourth graders last year who

072are now fifth graders. It actually increased. That was the only grade level that increased. It went from 44 to 46 from well below. And then um the 20 the below stayed the same. and then um on grade level decreased and then above grade level went up 2%. So we're trying to figure out why that fourth to fifth grade was the grade level that um didn't have the results that we wanted. And so we're we're looking at targeting some specific instruction at fourth grade more on fluency and like um what we can do for that comprehension. So um but otherwise we were we were really glad to see those scores. So what we're doing is working and we're we're seeing improvements. So I wanted to share that with you. So we'll click out of that. All

073right. Um how do I go back? Just need to go back a slide. Yeah. So, that's what we've been really working on with elementary is just really focusing on our tier one instruction for um reading and math. And then um for secondary for tier one instruction, man, we've been doing a lot of work as well. Um for ELA, um we decided at the same time to get a new curriculum as well. So, we are in year two of uh into literature curriculum. um with our secondary teachers. Um and uh again, we have been um doing extensive coaching um with our ELA teachers. Um we we brought coaching back this year. Um and man, is it powerful. Uh we just had coaching yesterday and today with our intellect coaches who've worked with our sixth, seventh, and

074eighth grade teachers. um yesterday with our seventh and eighth grade teachers, we looked at um their first unit assessment test that they took and they take it online and it so it'll tell you um what standards that students were really strong with in what standards students were weak in and then it gives you um information of like what to do with the data. And man, it was so p it was so powerful doing that data dive with our teachers and um teachers were talking like students are getting so much they were so much better than last year and they they saw a huge difference just with year one implementation and there were some really strong data across classes where um for each I test questions like across the classes like 70% of students got these

075questions right and these questions are hard they model this is what I love about the curriculum, they model the test questions that students see on I AR. Um, which is fantastic. Um, so the mo more exposure that students have to these types of questions, the better that they're going to do on IR, which is what we want, right? Um, and it's rigorous. And, um, so we went and looked to see like what questions the students do well on, why did they do well on them, and then what student questions the students struggle on, like why do we think they struggled on it, and then where are these standards um that they struggled on, where were they taught again like or do we where do we need to build it in more? Um and then they

076um went back and um retaught this week. Um they're reteing some of the standards and they're showing the test questions that a lot of the students struggled on and they're seeing like why did the students choose this answer and then they're modeling like why this is the correct answer. It's just so powerful that the the coaches are doing this with our teachers. And then today, um, our our teachers, our coaches went in and observed our teachers and then gave them feedback and then they modeled backwards planning. It's just really good stuff. Um, and so I'm I'm really excited to see like how this impacts our students and our student learning. Um, it's just it's it's really powerful. So, um I'm really excited about our coaches with our ELA teachers. Um so, continuing to provide that

077professional development for our teachers so they can be strong with implementing that curriculum. Um we also have curriculum implementation teachers at the sixth grade center and the middle school. Um and so they can they do the same thing. They meet with teachers to help plan um code teach model observe and give feedback um and so um just to help implement the curriculum and fidelity. So it's nice to have that at the sixth grade center in the middle school for um ELA. But like I said, those rigorous common assessments we've been really working on that mirror the map and I telling you, we're going to see our scores just skyrocket. um because we're seeing some really even with our first unit assessment, we saw some really good um scores. So, we're really excited. So, um with

078math, we're in year three again with illustrative math. Um continuous providing professional development. Um we provided a lot of professional development this summer around IM and um we brought back coaching this year. So we have four coaching sessions with our sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers um around like specific topics. So they meet with teachers during the day and we just had one about practicing and rehearsing routines and um and it was it was so powerful for the teachers to be able to meet together um to learn how to connect the objective with the activity um and how to look at like scaffolding um and then connect an assessment to it. Um, it was just it was just really good professional learning communities. And so to be able to provide that for our teachers for

079that tier one instruction, I'm glad we're able to bring that back this school year because we haven't because of subs shortage, but we're able to bring that back this school year. So, I'm really excited about that. Um, we also have our curriculum and implementation teachers for math, but we're currently looking for one. We don't have one um at the sixth grade center or the middle school. So, we do need a curriculum implementation teacher for anybody listening out there who's looking for a job. We do need a CIT for the middle school and sixth grade center. Um and then also, um we offer advanced courses for seventh and eighth grade for math. Um which helps. Um I'm looking into why we don't offer it for sixth grade. Um, so I'm looking at data. I'm pulling data,

080map data for our third, fourth, and fifth graders to see because we look at students who score in the 61st percentile to the 80th percentile on MAP consistently um to go into those advanced courses. So I'm going to see if we have enough students to start an advanced course for sixth grade. So I'm also looking into that. So yeah, so that's tier one instruction at the secondary level. So, a lot of work being done. And then I'm sorry it's I know it's so long, but there's just so much work we're doing with curriculum and it's so much needed for our students. So, um the next the biggest piece next that we're working on is um really been at the sixth grade center and the middle school around tier 2 instruction because in our tier one

081classes we don't teach students how to read. Um, and we have so many students, unfortunately, at the middle school level that still need that phonics instruction. Um, and we need still need to close that gap. Um, and so we we know we have that need. So, um, we're doing it through tier 2 instruction through a program called Read 180. I don't know if I've talked to you before. I think I've talked to you before about Read 180. Um, this is our second year of implementation. Um, and man, it is so powerful. Um, and so we identify students through our MAP and also through TE teacher recommendations for students that go into tier 2 instruction for read 180. But it um students um it's everyday instruction and um it just provides so the students spend like

082the first 20 minutes getting instruction from the teacher on exactly what they need and then they go um onto the read 180 app um and uh that it's personalized path for the students that work on like phonics fluency vocabulary and comprehension for 20 minutes. So they do that like rotation like every day and um what's great about that is that the teachers and the students can look at the data to support the students like maybe they're stuck on this specific skill. Um so this is our second year of implementation. Um we also bring in a coach um to help support our teachers just to make sure that the program is running the way it's intended to um to help them look at the data to support next steps. So, um, we're really excited to to

083provide that for our students. Um, so that's a big thing that we've been working on, um, at the middle school level. And then something new this year, so math is just as important. Um, and so we brought in math 180 this year. It's our first year of implementation. Um, so there's not a lot of math interventions out there. I don't know if you realize that there's tons of reading interventions, but there's not a lot of math like researchbased interventions. And so, um, we found math 180. It's pretty new. It's fairly new, but it's it's like a lot like read 180. And since we had such hu huge success with Read 180 last year, we decided to try math 180 with our seventh and eighth graders this year. And so, this is our first year of

084implementation. It works a lot like read 180. It's targeted um for students struggling with foundational skills in math um with significant learning gaps um needing extra help to become algebra ready. So we screen through MAP they have to like meet a certain score and then um whatever their score is they go into a certain skill whether if it's addition and subtraction multiplication division then it goes into fractions and then ratios and proportions decimals and integers and and then it keeps going. Um so it places students where they need to go and so it works just like read 180. um the teacher works with those those students specific specifically giving a lesson for 20 minutes and then the students go on the app for 20 minutes that's indivi individualized to what they need um and so

085um yeah it's data driven it's progress monitored teachers um after the fifth lesson they give like a quick check and then based off that quick check it kind of guides the teachers what to do next with the students um there's games for the students Um there's like rewards if students pass a certain level um based off of like if they they have to like do a lot of learning videos and then they have to take an assessment um and so students are tracking how they're doing. They're tracking their data um so setting goals. So we're really excited to bring this and to see how it helps close the gap for our students. So we've been working on that this this year too. So, and then besides all of that work, um, we've been working on,

086um, at the high school, I've been, um, this year really focusing on working with the math teachers. They've been working on this for a while, but I'm coming on board with them on building thinking classrooms. I don't know if you've heard of that. We just had like four of the math teachers present at the National Illinois National Math Conference in Bloomington on building thinking classrooms. Um, and so, um, I'm working with them on how to kind of take it to the next level at the high school. Um, working on science and social studies alignment at the elementary level. Um, as you know, we purchased new social studies curriculum. So, we're seeing how that's being implemented and how that's going. Um, we're doing a science science pilot. So that's like our next my next step is

087I don't think the science curriculum for the middle school has been updated since 2003. So that's my next step. So we are running a pilot right now. Um so I check in with them tomorrow for our first check-in. So it's another thing that we're working on is a science pilot. So just a lot of work. So yeah. So that's my presentation. So thank you for listening. Yeah. Questions? >> Yeah. Board members, any questions? Go ahead, Jennifer. >> Um, our student ambassadors uh just this evening um talked about meeting with English teachers to have more rigor in in the English classes and I was wondering with this, you know, are students being encouraged to read novels? Are they, you know, writing a lot? um you know and I understand that we have many students who need

088the instruction you know with with phonics and stuff like that but what about our other students? >> Yeah. So, let's um I just met with the English department chairs and the administrators about two weeks ago because uh they came to us about your concerns and so this is what we've been telling teachers um they need to teach with high expectations and they need to teach with rigor and this curriculum that we have does that. So teachers need to teach here and not here and when they teach here they need to learn how to scaffold and provide differentiation. Um, and so we're working um with the ELA teachers at the high school on how to do that. Um, so we're bringing in um coaches on backwards planning and more so um with writing um because we

089know that it needs to be more rigorous and it needs to be set here instead of here. So we hear you. Yes. But with our new intellit curriculum, they're only using certain pieces of it at the high school and they need to be using the whole curriculum. So we hear you. Um another question um where you talk this last slide about alignment of CLA for um science. Um, I know the district used to have a science curriculum that was line that went all the way up through middle school and high school. So now I know that CKLA is uses science as some of its reading material. >> Um, are we going back on having a a >> I don't want to say it that way. uh on having a science curriculum. Are we trying to

090fit science curriculum into what CQLA thinks is important and therefore then will it be um aligned with the upper grades? Um >> so what we did is we also had a science two we had two years. So we had a science and social studies elementary curriculum committee and it took two years. Um, and so what we did was we we looked at the next generation science standards for elementary and um we looked at all of the um topics covered in CKLA and CQLA has a great alignment chart for each grade level of how CKLA um has the next generation science embedded in into it. And so we did like a crosswalk and we looked to see um where these standards were taught at in CLA. And then so that was our first step. And then

091our second step was to see like which standards are left out or do we feel like we need to support more. And so um we use mystery science um because um number number one it's enga our students love mystery science and it's and it's cheaper because we don't have really a science curriculum like a science textbook so we use mystery science and it's it actually aligns really well to the next generation science standards. So then we looked at the gaps of what was missing from CLA and we filled it in with mystery science. So, um, in my PowerPoint across the K through five curriculum map, if you click on that, um, for each grade level that there's a science tab, if you click on that, you can see, um, the next generation standard science and

092where it aligns at with CQLA and then where um, we had to add in mystery science like to fill in the gaps. So, are kids being um exposed to real handson science then? Is that what mystery science is? >> Oh, yeah. >> Okay. >> But but especially through CKLA um with the science topics like uh first grade with the human body um goes extensively like into like the body systems, social studies like with the planet systems. I mean it goes extensively into these standards. Yeah. But like I said, if we felt like one standard wasn't heavily taught by CQLA, then that's where we added in the mystery science. Yeah. >> Yeah. One more question. Um, you talked about the assessments that are a part of the package um with these curricula. >> Um, and so

093we're giving those assessments plus the AR plus the MAP plus the state testing. Yeah. How much time are kids spending on testing now? >> So, um, for math, they do math and reading. So, that's, um, fall, winter, and spring. So, that's six tests overall. And then I they take in April. Um, so they have to take math and ELA. So, I think it's like three tests for reading, three tests for math if I remember. And then um the unit assessments um there's one unit assessment um when the unit is finished. So there's like 12 units. Um so yeah. So I think the the and to add to what Jesse just said is each assessment has a different purpose. So MAP is our benchmark assessment. That's how we show growth from the beginning of the year

094to the end of the year. Um the MC class is our data driven. That's where our teachers are pulling out their instructional strategies and things that they need to be working on and focusing on in the classroom. And then I is that nationally normed >> test that we have to take for the state. Um we don't get a lot of teaching points from it. It doesn't drive our curriculum. It is it is a very you know state assigned. We all have to take this. Before it used to be ISAD and before that it was something else. Yeah. >> Um, but our teaching and learning and our instructional strategies and our what's driving our curriculum is the MAP and MC class and things like that. That's where our teachers are pulling those the things that they

095need to help drive their instruction. >> It is a lot of it is a lot of testing especially like with the MC class and the map at the beginning, the middle and the end of the year. Um, it is a lot um for for our students. Yeah. But we tell our teachers like you better be sharing this data with the students, right? And and their and their families like make it meaningful for them. Um and it gives us really meaningful data. So we're not just assessing students to just give them to, you know, to check it off the list. Um it gives us really meaningful data. Yeah. But it is a lot it's a it's a lot of assessments. >> Yeah. >> You reminded me of another question. I'm sorry. Um, you said about the

096McLass uh data and you were using it and then the uh you were using it and then the teachers could use that >> um and they received sort of lessons for kids for grouping kids and then are the children placed in reading groups that a teacher is leading or then are they placed in groups that they're working on the computer to get that extra RA help. >> It just depends. But um those students who are behind in reading skills um they get instruction from a teacher. Um those it just depends on like who's available and how many groups. But um those those students who are behind in skills, we we want instruction from a teacher, not a computer. Um but those students who um are on or above we are trying like a lot of

097schools I just are doing novel studies um instead of like trying to put them on a computer. Um but we do have like exact path we do have boost um that is aligned to individual um learning paths for students that are based off of like in-class or map scores. Um, so we do have that as an option, but we've been doing a lot of like pushing like novel studies or um writing activities for like those students who are on or above level instead of like putting them on a computer. >> Anyone else? Go ahead, Luke. >> Um, I'm imagining these assessments are some type of adaptive test. Can they do they give you any data on students that disengage during the assessment? So, the kids that are below whatever standard, is there a percentage that

098you know of that are just filling out answers and not uh you know doing any analysis to the question? >> Um, it tells you how much time is student spent on the assessment. So, is that what you're at? So, like we can see that a student took this assessment in like seven minutes. So we could tell like they didn't take their time on the assessment. So is that what you're asking? >> That's one measure. Yeah. Do you know what percentage of students fall below the the standard time or average time that it would take? Um I'm I'm trying to think of like when I was looking at the data yesterday um for for our seventh and eighth grade students. Um the students that fell below they they they took more than half the class time.

099Like there wasn't any students that like didn't um >> like take but they're hard test and it was their first one. So, but um it's hard too because we don't read the tests to students because we're testing comprehension. So, you know um those students who really struggle to read, I bet those tests are really hard for them. >> Yeah. >> So, Luke, to your point, when we there are kids that we can see if they just went click click click click click and then >> we have a conversation with them about >> it'll red flag them. Yeah. It'll say like this student like especially on our map assessment, it'll red flag the teacher's computer and say like this this student is rapid guessing. You can stop the test and reset it for them. And so

100you can go over to the student and have a conversation with them like you were you're not taking your time. We so I'm going to reset your test and I'm you know I'm going to sit by you and make sure that you take your time like so you can have those conversations and reset the test for them. Some of them it locks automatically and then Yeah. You have if you unlock them three times then they're just booted and they have to do a retake. >> Yeah. >> Is there a little picture of a sloth that's a slowdown? Is there the opposite where um takes eight minutes to answer one question and you can identify runs questions that are because I mean >> humans or animals are and kids are very good at figuring out the

101quickest easiest way to get through something. So, if I can just pace myself, >> I'm not saying that they're trying to get out of this, but um >> I wouldn't put it past many students that are just disengaging from this exam and that might >> represent I mean, you know what that might represent some of those children that are below the assessment level, but you know, you could look at the national average, I suppose, and >> see that. I just I was just curious if they gave you any of that data. No, but I think that that's what was good that the teachers, the seventh and eighth grade teachers said that they were taking those those test questions back to students and um some of them were going to pull like each each test question

102and pull the students that missed them back to the table with them. Um and they were going to go through the test questions with the students like, "So tell me like where did you get hung up? Like what what was hard about this question?" um and and see where the students got stuck. So, um that would give them more information um like on where to help support the students. So, um kind of going off what you said, is there a way for you guys to take out of the data the kids that are just clicking through? Because speaking as a student, I know of many students who have whether it's like panorama or map or whatever have >> figured out how to or like still do just click through. So, do you guys have a

103way to remove that from the data or is that just kind of mixed in? >> Yeah, there's no way to remove them. But that's why um that's not only our one piece of data. That's why we have other multiple data sources that we use um to to see how a student's performing. It's just not just that one piece of data. So that's why we have the unit assessments, you know, um we use other pieces of data, just not that one snap snapshot because it's not the best snapshot. It's just a, you know, map's just a screener. So, >> yep. >> Wouldn't the unit test be a great way for students to practice the test taking skills? And >> you nailed it. >> Okay. >> Yes. And that's what we talked about um like our teachers

104going back and modeling, right? um on like why this is the correct answer and like how to eliminate some of the the choices. So that's what they were incorporating into their bell ringers, especially those ones that they noticed like most of the students missed. They were putting into their bell ringers this week and they were going to model um the strategy of test taking of like what's why are we going to eliminate this one or you know like how how to best answer them. Yeah. Anyone else? >> I just have one more question. >> Um, is there a mechanism for teachers to give feedback on what they think of this uh curriculum and the assessments? >> Yeah. So, um the teachers get to um with this curriculum, the teachers get to choose like the assessment

105qu they can adapt and accommodate the assessment. So they get to even though like the curriculum has these test questions, the teachers get to go in and they can choose the test questions that they give to their students. Um or they can like if they don't like the wording of it like they can they can change it. So this the the teachers do have that um that I don't what's the word? um they do have that ability to go in and change the assessment like if they don't like the question or um if they don't like the story there is like two parts to the assessment like so they can choose which test question to give them so it's not just this one. >> What about with the curriculum itself? >> Um there's pros and

106like with curriculums there's pros and cons like >> do they is there an anonymous feedback system that they can >> you know that's a good idea. We haven't done like a survey what they think. think we just ask them in person like what are pros to this but like what are cons? And we try to work through the cons that they don't like and try to problem solve cuz teachers are pretty honest with us like this this part of the curriculum was really hard or we're really struggling on this part. we don't like this. And so then we work with them on try to problem solve of like how how to get around that or how to like um what can we do instead of instead of um uh I'm trying to think of an

107example of um something in the curriculum that they didn't like. um like some of the stories. Um so in each unit um there's so many stories and so like last year we had them try all of the stories but this year we did backwards planning with them and they got to choose the specific stories so they didn't have to do all of them so they had some choice there. Um but there are pros and cons to all curriculums but I like your idea of surveying them. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, thank you for that. Anyone else? I do have a couple more. So, um, we we're changing multiple things at once. We're trying lots of things and we need to because we have a long way to raise >> Yeah. >> our scores to where we

108want them to be. Mhm. >> So when you're doing an assessment of of trying to figure out, oh hey, we our our test scores in this place worked really well or we're struggling here, how do you separate when we you know whether it's changing curriculum or or doing push-in model instead of pull out model or we and we did other changes all at the same time here, right? We changed all the maps and kids are going in different buildings. So, how do you kind of isolate um uh cause and effect I guess when when multiple things are are happening in the classroom, multiple changes are happening in the classroom at once? >> Well, I'm only year two here. So, >> yeah, >> I was going to say >> and with year two in the curriculum.

109So, I'm just looking at the data from the curriculum that we're implementing. >> Um and so, I mean, there's multiple factors that go in into it um of of looking at data pieces. So like looking at classes that have really high scores, there could be a lot of multiple factors for that. Um it could be um classroom management I think um for that. Um what are they truly implementing the curriculum with fidelity? What teaching strategies are they using? Um how are they using their data? Um are they using small groups? Are they different? I mean there's just so many factors to look at um >> to consider. And then you look at individual data, you look at whole class data, you look at buildingwide data. There's just so many trends that you can look for.

110It's there's a lot you could look for with data. Data tells you a lot of information. Sometimes too much where it's overwhelming. Yeah, >> that's the hard part. >> Yeah. >> Can I say to your point, Paul, we did change our push in and pull out model at the same time that we implemented new curriculum. I don't know that there's a way that we can tease out any of the growth that we see is attributed to our co-teers pushing in >> or if we can tell it's because we have a evidence-based science of reading curriculum now where for years and years and years >> teachers had their own choice of what how they were teaching certain standards um through our priority standards that we gave them. So I in order to be able to say

111wow we see this much growth because co- teachers are pushing in. I know last year co- teachers were pushing into lots of spaces. I think this year we'll be able to see that a little more intentionally because our co- teachers are focused on K12 because we saw that our students um like Jesse said it we have fourth graders who don't have basic skills and need phonics and need the coding. So we pushed our co-teers more to that area to focus on kindergarten, first and second grade. Um, and they're also working with new teachers and long-term subs, but primarily at the primary level. So, I think in the next couple years, as we see maybe faster growth than what we saw this year, we might be able to attribute it to that as a direct result

112of having a co-teer in those kindergarten classrooms and first grade and second grade classrooms. Last year, because it was new curriculum, we wanted to roll it out with Fidelity, and we had the co-teers really working across the board at the elementary level. Um and this year it is going to be it is way more focused. So we'll be able to see comparing our kindergarten growth from this year to last year to say wow that is a huge difference because co- teachers were really focusing on K12. So that may be something we see in the future but this year I don't know that we can say that. So >> that's helpful. And uh one more question and um it was really great to see the MClass data and it's exciting to see the the the improved

113results from year to year. That's that's awesome. I was wondering if there are specific I guess uh concerns specific to uh dual language instruction in terms of either testing or or the results kind of in in in in dual language mimic what we're seeing elsewhere at elementary. >> Yeah, it's pretty similar. Um they take a lot more assessments though because they have to take take it in Spanish and English uh or their home language and English. Um so but their their test scores are pretty similar to what we're seeing across like other buildings but some of them are actually higher like in the higher grades like 345 that um their their test scores are a little bit higher. >> Go ahead. So the the only um group that didn't improve to some extent was the

114now fifth graders, right? So those would have been kids in kindergarten, correct? During the >> break from school, >> do is there any type of extra focus that >> should be or is being placed on those kids? >> Yeah, so um it just depends on what the data says. So, I mean, it's it's phonics instruction. I mean, those students still need phonics instruction. And when students get to third, fourth, and fifth grade, they focus more on like uh like vocabulary and like grammar versus like basic phonics. So, you know, at the third, fourth, and fifth grade level in their tier one instruction, they're not getting that phonics instruction. So, you know, how do teachers in third, fourth, and fifth grade, especially fourth grade, embed those specific like phonic skills in into the curriculum when it's

115when it's not in there? That's the question. And how do we do it? Like, what do we take away? So, one thing we did is we tweaked the elementary schedules a little bit this year too um to make sure that our um all grades can have we call it a win time or like an intervention block time. >> So, when Jesse talks about tier one, she's saying that is core instruction everybody gets, right? You all everyone gets the core instruction as tier one, but then tier two is you get the core instruction in addition to something on top of that. And so um what we've tried to do with the elementary schedules this year because there is so much um and not enough time to do it all is for those grade levels they're doing

116some um more intervention around like what I need time is like when time or intervention time where if if we know we have fourth graders who morphology and grammar and they don't know basic letter sounds and phonemes and phonics that is a time where someone can go in and push in and work with those students during that win time um to give them that specific phonics instruction that they are not going to get in their fourth grade curriculum because the fourth grade curriculum is moved on to grammar and prefixes and suffixes and things like that. Kids also just need to be we also for this year for third, fourth and fifth um because we saw this trend data last year with more with like our third, fourth and fifth grade students. So this year in

117the schedule for third for fourth and fifth grade, we built in um extra 15 minutes of uh reading time like actual reading where students have books in their hands like books of their choice but also like working on that fluency piece um at their level. So fluency reads um to build to build up their their fluency um and working on that. So, we built in that extra 15 minutes this year um of of that reading because students just don't get enough practice like reading um like that we have our curriculum of like reading comprehension but like enjoyable reading like books they just need that time to read books that they enjoy. Um so we did 15 minutes and in that 15 minutes too of like building that fluency. Um it's just kind of like deer,

118you remember deer time, like drop everything and read. Um just to bring back the joy of reading with our students. So we built in that time as well. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you. I've really appreciated having this discussion. It's it's great to spend time here on things that actually impact student learning. >> Yeah, thank you for having me. Um, next up is our discussion on our new district-wide uh communication tool. >> Oh, nope. Fall enrollment. >> I'm sorry. That's okay. Missed that fall report. >> Yep. So, I am going to walk us through that. So, you have the enrollment update. Um, and to start, see, John gets us there. So, um, we talked about our six day numbers, uh, back in August. Um, and we said that we were really going to start focusing

119more on looking at data after the 10th day of school, which is when um, we we rerun our numbers to finalize um, enrollment numbers after we've done those drops. So, I I think I talked about that with you um, last time we looked at some of our numbers. Um, so today we want to look at um the the numbers that we're pulling from our enrollment, from our Skyward enrollment of after we've done those drops and after we've kind of um figured out where all of our students have gone and what new students we have. I know that has been something that has been interesting to the board. I do want to say just to start off, our enrollment changes every single day. And you'll see that in um Brandy Stove, our person who who does

120the class count reports for you, she was on vacation. So when she ran her numbers, she ran them based on September 30th data. And then um Julia Stell, our other uh who works with our student um our student information system person, they looked at the October 1st um numbers. and just even comparing those two days, we have more students. So, um it it it isn't a finite like, okay, we're looking at it from that perspective. I think from the board's perspective when we bring this information to you, it's important to think about trends. Um it's important to see if our, you know, we've talked for the last few years about our enrollment kind of staying flat. we're not seeing these huge increases and fluctuations um you know at one level versus another um and we're

121not seeing huge exoduses from the district right and I know um the pie chart that is in here is something that in previous years um most me most board members like to know where are where are the students that are leaving where are they going and then who are the students that are that are coming so that is really what I want to focus on in sharing this information with you I'm not going to read all the numbers to you because you've had this um since Friday. You haven't had the class count information and like I said, Brandy just came back yesterday, so we sent that to you yesterday. Um so I might spend a little more time there, but stop me as we go if there are questions. So, um if we go to

122the next slide, you'll see um here our this year our enrollment is um 422 and that includes our prek numbers. Um all three of these years include our early childhood numbers. So that is the three-year total enrollment comparison. Um so 2526 is very similar to 2425 just you know it it it changes by the day like I mentioned earlier. Um but it's important to know that we're staying around that 4200 um number. 4369 is um our number uh before we redistricted. Um, and we've seen just some some changes since then. So, since the 23 24. So, I know um when Paul when we talked about the six day enrollment kind of moving away from that report and really focusing on being able to see the trends over the years, we still collect that data even

123um even after we've done the drops. So, as you can see, I think when we did the 60 enrollment, there were about a hundred more students. So we've dropped quite a few students since we looked at this um from six day. So I think the important thing on this um chart is really to focus on um the trends and the patterns. So we can see again we're staying very similar at our early childhood level. um you know when we see changes of nine kids, 16 kids, 13 kids, that isn't overwhelming or or um or a a huge issue for us because we know, you know, nine students less when we ran this report on October 1st. When we run it again in March, we might have nine additional students there. So, it it really does

124change um especially depending on the neighborhoods. um you know, we do have neighborhoods that are more mobile because of housing and people are moving in and out of some of those spaces a lot more frequently um depending on the school. Um so I think the district total change here um compared to when we looked at this in earlier um maybe beginning September is our district total has increased about 60 students from um 2025 to 2024. And the next one should be the pie chart. Did you go by? Okay. Maybe mine is out of order. Okay. Um mine has the student movement out of the district based on withdrawal codes. So this is one that we have um talked about a lot which I think is has been interesting to the board um is where are

125some of our students that move out of the district going. So, if you look at the blue, you can see um the majority of the students who left us go to unit 4. Um and I I'm just going to be honest. I think one of the reasons that happens is just housing. I mean, there are more um areas and more um low income and um middle inome housing available in um Champagne. And so when families are um struggling with finding um permanent housing, Champagne does have more options. So I think that is why we lose a lot of our students to the to unit 4. Um let's see, another big area I know that we've talked about a lot is private and parochial. So that number is a little lower. 3.4% of our students um

126who have left us have gone to private and parochial. We don't list, we know where they have gone. Um but when we code the data, we're more concerned not, you know, which um private school they went to. We could pull that if we needed to, but more so um that we're not losing a significant amount of students um at at the private and parochial level. That was a little different during COVID because we were we were remote for a whole year and that number was a lot higher because we had families who left the district during that time because we weren't in school. but a lot of our um parochial and private neighbors were in school. So um I'm happy to see that hopefully some of those students are find those families are coming back

127to the district um which is uh really important to us. Another big number is the unknown that 10% um we do and and our clerical folks and our administrators are um really tasked with doing everything they can to find out where people go. So unknown is like the last possible resort of we've called, we've sent US mail, we have um done a home visit, we've done everything we can to figure out why that student didn't show up on the first day, why they haven't shown up after the 10th day. Um but again, we there are instances where students leave the district and we don't know where they go and sometimes we don't get a record request. So um we do have to mark them as unknown. Um, another big area is um our families that

128have moved out of the county. So, they're at another um Illinois school but not in Champagne County. So, um that is a a bigger group 16%. And then um Champagne County not unit 4 is uh 5% that is the group you know we typically you lose um families to Ranul and again Ranul is another place where people tend to go to find housing. they have really um affordable housing there and um some of the families that I know we've lost to Ranchto City Schools, it's because um they have found um permanent housing there. Um and then USA schools, not Illinois, is when our um that 13% kind of at the top that greenish color is another large category where we have um we have families who just move out of the state, right? they go

129to Arizona, they go to New York or wherever they might go. So that is another big group for us. So questions about this. >> What is the total number of students that have left? Because when you say a certain percentage, it could be just a few people. So few students. >> I don't think we Well, it was I don't think we did exact numbers for that. We never usually put that on this chart. Um but if you go back to the first if you go back to the little oranges chart our number this year is 4222 and last year it was 4159. So if we look at those two numbers that is that is about the number of people who have left us for this year. But again people leave and then new people come

130in. So it is it it it really is hard to say exactly how many >> and I think from not this year but from previous year's school report cards the student mobility I think is right around 15%. So that's 15% of 4,000 is >> and and it can be higher for certain schools like at King school the mobility used to be 30%. >> So I think our district average is about 15 16 but I think it impacts different buildings differently. Um and then the next one is in two district uh student movement. And so um this is where we the biggest group here is that 26.9% is we have no previous school for them because they're kindergarteners. Um we have quite a few students this year who came to us um who've never been in

131any school. They had they didn't go to our early childhood center. um they weren't in a nursery school or Head Start and so um that is a a a larger group than we normally have. Um we do we lose uh families to unit 4 but then we also get families from unit 4. So if you look at the last slide we um had 33% 33 almost 34% of our students went to unit 4 but then we had almost 17% coming to us from there. So that's one of the um drawbacks of living in a twin city and having a sister city next to us um like we do is there is a lot of movement back and forth a lot of movement between Champagne, Urbana, Ranul um and and I think the main reason people

132are moving so much is just really finding housing. So um we have received quite a few students from other Illinois schools. That is that 14.8% at the bottom. Um I think as Chicago and Kinki um as as they have closed some of their public housing um the last couple years we've received lots of students from um the city of Chicago and this year and last year we've seen quite a few new families from Ka Key. So that has been interesting as well. Um USA movement in so that's just students coming from other states that number at the 8.8% 8% at the top. We have some homeschool families who have come back to us, so that is nice. Almost 5% there. Um, we always have uh families who choose to um educate their students at home

133and that's fine. But when they uh do choose to come to the district for the different services and classes and things that we offer, that's that's wonderful as well. And of course our um international families is what represents that group that says foreign over there about 8%. >> Yeah. Yep. >> I was wondering just uh local what is a local school if it's not an Illinois if it >> might be campus middle school for girls or um >> and that wouldn't be under the >> they're not always considered private or program. No. What would be a local I'm trying to think of a good >> I think those are students in the county that aren't Randol and Champagne. >> Okay. Thank you, John. >> And I was trying to think of >> accelerated. If a

134student was here just as a definition for me to understand a student was here last year but they were accelerated we count them as coming into the district. I mean >> that is probably like two kids. >> No. Yeah. Those those are their entry codes into the grade. So their entry code is accelerated instead of uh this excludes kids whose entry code is promoted which means they moved from sixth grade to but that don't worry about that extremely tiny sliver. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Okay. I think we can keep going. Oh, okay. So enrollment report by site. So, um, that black line there is kind of like a trend line, we just wanted to give you a visual representation to remind you when you look at the DPW, Leo, and Yankee Ridge data that the

135first year of these numbers um, represents before we redistricted and before we had our dual language elementary school. Um so 2425 and of course 2526 uh represents the enrollment since we have um since kind of redistricted everyone and um opened up the dual language school at Yankee Ridge. So that's just kind of a visual reminder there for you. Um and you can see where um Leo Dr. Williams where those numbers were a lot higher before we opened up our um dual language school and now that population has really shifted to um Yankee Ridge Multilingual and you can see they're grow they're the school that is growing. Um King has had a little more growth in the last two years and that is because a lot of our international families are coming back to us after

136uh the pandemic which is wonderful. Um and then Leo and Thomas Payne, the changes that you see in their growth in the last two years is just mainly because we redistricted and when we redrrew the line um boundary lines, it did um redistrict students in a different way. So So that is the three-year comparison there by elementary. Keep going. And then, yep, we did these two. Keep We already did this one. Yep. You can keep going. >> Oh, you don't have the right. >> Okay. So, if you go to your packet um you have the class count data that um we received from Brandy. And um again, I'm not going to read all these numbers to you, but the purpose of giving you the last three years of this is really to talk about class

137size and just um some of those trends uh since we Oh, John does have it. Since we um since we redistricted and since we've uh opened up our dual language schools. So, I think again, I'm not going to go grade by grade and school by school. Think the important thing that I see when I look at these is that um comparing the last two years to this year, our class sizes are looking really great. So if you go to 2025, John, so um this is the first elementary class count that you've seen and we have talked about this a little bit, but right now we have no no grades or no um individual classes at any of our schools that are over or close to the class adjustment level, which is fantastic. Um I think

138class we've we've talked here about the effect size and how important um class size is on student learning and um I think this aligns with what our demographer report pretty much told us when we had our consultants is that our enrollment was really going to stabilize at the elementary level. Um and it it is showing us that it has. And so, uh, we're able to sustain, um, all of the classes, class sizes, and the class strands that we've had in the past and also keep those classes at a manageable, um, manageable level for our teachers. And so, um, that is also a a nice cost savings to the district because we've had years where we've had 8 n 10 class size adjustment, um, teaching assistance starting the year with us when we had classes that

139had 28, 29, 30 students. Um, and but we're not seeing that right now. And, um, these numbers are really make me feel good about the learning and teaching that our teachers are able to do when we can keep their classes smaller. Yeah. I've heard though that um at uh Yankee Ridge they have very large arts classes because they're combining some of the classes because of the the um >> because of the schedule. So >> and so what what is happening with that because >> well they're still lower than the class size. So we don't we don't put them over the class size adjustment. And if they're doing that then I don't know about that. So, um I I need to talk to the Yankee Ridge administrators about that if that's happening. Um so, you're saying

140they're combining multiple classes into one arts class? >> Okay. Yes. Yeah. I wasn't aware that that was happening. So, if that is happening, then that is something um that I can I will talk to the administrators about. So, our fine arts teachers um should not be going over the class size limits either. So, if that's happening, then that's something we can discuss with them. >> Also, they had to um carve out another classroom. >> Yep. >> And we did that intentionally because the kindergarten numbers were so large last year. >> Um they started off in a good place. So, if you look at the September numbers, you're not going to really get a good sense of where the kindergarten classes were, but at the end of the year, um, starting in January, we saw a,

141um, we had a lot of, um, new families coming in, especially our Spanish, um, emergent bilingual students. So, we had classes in the kindergartens at Yankee Ridge that had 25 26 and they all had a class size adjustment TA. Um, and we've talked about adding that kindergarten class. I know Ry's had it in his facilities. um summer reports and things like that. And this year after having a year like that, we said we've been talking about making that extra class and we just did it. And I'm glad we did because right now they're their classes are smaller, but we know that we will have students trickling in um and filling up those spaces just like we did last year. So um if you look at the last couple years, they they started at 22 23

142and they were bigger and bigger. So, um, having that extra classroom is really going to impact that class size and being able to really move those students at a much faster rate. >> That's good. And I was wondering, I had asked at one of the meetings if we could have um, and I can't remember the terms, so I'm just going to say, but there were numbers that were given to us about the schools and the number of students they could hold. And one was kind of capacity. >> Yeah. One was kind of a busting at the seams >> capacity and one was >> a functional capacity. Those are just my words, but I was wondering if we could get those. >> We have those the capacity. Um it I know we had it in our

143facilities when we had all of our >> I looked for my copy of that and I cannot find it. >> Yeah, Ry's writing it down, >> but looking at these numbers, we are not bursting at the same in these spaces, which is fantastic. So, but yes, we can get you that. Randy has that. >> And do we have that for all of the schools? >> We have it. Yeah, we have it because we >> what we did for the facilities committee is we know every single classroom and based on the size of the class, how many students it could hold if we, you know, our contract has class-iz language. So, we don't go over class- size language unless it it is a huge increase in enrollment for some reason. Um, but there are numbers that

144if we could, there are rooms of course where we could put 30 kids. Do we want to put 30 kids in a classroom? Absolutely not. But there are a lot of spaces where we could do that because the capacity would allow it. >> Okay. So, if we could get that, I'd appreciate it. >> Randy has it. >> Okay. So, I am going to move on. And um I don't know that this what these charts do is basically just kind of break out for you what the class count charts that Brandy has given you um do. So same things you can see um the years where before we had dual language and you can just kind of go through these John. I'm not going to talk about them. And now compared to um where Yankee Ridge

145is um they are they they are our largest elementary school and they're going to continue to be our largest elementary school just because um the one of the uh demographic groups that is growing the most is our Spanish bilingual our Spanish emergent bilingual students. That is the where we see um the most mobility in and out of the district right now. And of course that is going to impact um Yankee Ridge because that is where a lot of those families choose to go. Now we do have some families like we we just had a family at King who um they're Spanish speakers and they chose to be a king instead of at at Yankee Ridge and that happens. Um but the majority of our emergent bilingual um Spanish families do tend uh to choose to

146be in the dual language uh program. So I think the uh next charts um really talk about secondary. So it gives you a little more um if you want to go to Yeah, these this just shows you year by year the last three years. So this gives you a little bit of that trend data. Um not spread out, you know, 10 years at a time, but it you can look at the bottom and compare um 2023, 2024, and 2025. Um, this one, well, if you want to go back, John, that one basically just shows you the breakout down there of our sixth grade center. Um, when we ran, when Brandy ran this report on September 30th, there were 305 students. Um and then pretty typically our middle school has about 600 all we we typically

147have and that has been the trend for as long as I've been in the district um as superintendent rather um is having 300 sixth graders, 300 7th graders, 300 eighth graders. That has basically been our trend with a few um fluctuations, maybe a grade level or two um maybe having a few more than 300, but that is pretty typical for us to have about 900 to um 925 the last couple years. We're also seeing here some growth at the high school. So um you know the earlier my earlier years we were staying around that 1100 um 1150 and we've recently seen a little growth at our high school um of having more than 1,200 students there. So that is good to see um students coming back to our high school because as we've talked about

148here we have a lot to offer at our high school. So it's it's wonderful that families are coming back. So, unless you have specific questions, um I just kind of wanted to point out a few trends and a few um of noticings that um are things that I think previous boards and previous discussions that we've had here about enrollment. >> I don't have a question by this uh statement or observation is that when I saw these, I went back to look at the Champagne Middle Schools just to see how they compare number-wise. Oh, yeah. With our middle school, and it looks like I don't have the exact numbers, but they were around 600. >> Yep. They usually are between six and 700. >> So the fact that we had over almost 9 >> 300 more.

149>> Yeah. Um makes me feel more comfortable about how many students are in that that building now. >> Yep. I That's a good observation, Sherry. So yes, I think I can't remember which Champagne Middle John might remember. I was mostly with elementary folks when I was there, but I can't remember which middle school was the biggest, but I think out of all three of theirs, the biggest is maybe 750. I think Jefferson was always really consistent at 750. >> 750. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And next is what you were trying to get to. Paul was anxious to talk about. >> Yeah. I'm anxious to hear about our new district-wide communication tools, administrative report 10.2. I mean, John and and Katherine Telles will be presenting that to us. Katherine made sure John did not bring

150a box full of props this time. >> Katherine made me Katherine made me promise to keep it under 50 60 minutes. So, I'm joking. We've got this is a very brief kind of review of like one of our strategic plan goals. Uh so speaking of uh we in the strategic planning committee uh we are in uh group 3B uh focusing on communicating with uh families and one of our well our general goal overall was to improve the district's communication with families and our kind of how we're interacting with families. Uh, so did you want to talk about the >> I think specifically we we really wanted to emphasize the families that we're not currently reaching because no matter how many messages we send, there are still so many families who say they don't know what

151is going on in our district. And so when we were doing strategic planning and talking to families and community members, um, that was kind of a current theme of we we want to know what's going on. We want one messaging system. Um, and the other thing was there's a still a large number of people that we're just not reaching no matter how hard we try. >> Yeah. And sometimes the harder we try, the more we lose people because people get message fatigue and that's when they hit the unsubscribe button or they block us on text. Uh so to that end we uh had a lot of survey data and from the survey data two of the biggest things that came out of it was uh parents uh appreciate a Rick's rich uh messaging tool but

152they didn't really care what it is but they really want us to have one unified tool for the district. Uh, as a parent myself, uh, at points in my life, I've had literally 10 different things, Remind, Classroom dojo, Group Me, Skyward Messaging, School Messenger, all coming at me in all different ways, and it's so hard to keep track of and juggle. Uh, and then the other thing we came up within our group was that, uh, there's the families that were not, uh, meeting. uh every year the kind of unreachable families uh we want to every year for the next five years be able to reduce that number by 50%. So those are our two goals uh for the strategic planning process. So talking about the tool uh I'll let Katherine if you want talk a

153little bit about the evaluation process. So, we kind of looked at what every school well what we thought every school was using um and then what the district was already using. And we narrowed that list down to three um based on kind of what they offered and who offered really what we needed because we need something that can do translations um communicate via email, via text, via phone. Um that has an app, but also different ways for people who don't necessarily have a a smartphone. they can still get it on their email. So, we narrowed it down to Parent Square, Seesaw, and then School Messenger, which is what we're currently using. They have a new, it's called My Power Hub. It's basically an updated version of what we're using now. Um, we looked into each

154of those and what they offered. We looked into them with um kind of had a group of staff and and parents and we um kind of investigated what they offered, how that would look if we were to all switch to it. Um let's see go one more. Okay. So then and we also got sandbox versions of them. So we were able to play around with them um and have our building administrators play around with them and see how the uh specifically Yankee Ridge. We had um one of their AP's assistant principles look at how is it translating? Is it going to do it well? Because that's a huge problem we have right now is that sometimes things don't translate the way we are. or if we need to send something quick and we don't have

155someone to translate it and we rely on the auto translating system, it's sometimes it doesn't come across how we want it to. And so we really want something that's going to utilize the technology to get us those messages um translated in a way that the families can receive them. >> Yeah. And we specifically did some like in-depth tests with like some idioms and how it translates. uh we try not to use those in our district communication as much as possible, but if you say thank you for riding shotgun with me, or there's more than one way to skin a cat, and some of the translation programs, it'll come across very badly. Uh and so that was one of the criteria that we're using to evaluate these >> and just in education in general, there's a

156lot of jargon. And so we've had um Lucia Maldonado does a lot of Spanish translating for me, and sometimes she'll say, "What are you trying to say? how it this isn't translating into Spanish well. And so we really try to work on not using a lot of that. Sometimes you have to, especially depending on the type of messaging you're sending. And so um that's really we really tried to look at that when when we were um evaluating the three that we had narrowed it down to. And within the sandbox versions, we also did kind of an in-depth technical evaluation that I will not go into the details of here, but we wanted to make sure they had all the features and the ability to integrate with our systems uh that we needed. And then uh

157finally uh to kind of look at those, we held a focus group with teachers and parents uh just because we wanted to make sure that we got feedback from kind of all the angles and looking at everything. and they had some really valuable things to share with us too that we made sure we included in our final decision moving forward. Uh so after all of that uh evaluation and feedback from everybody and looking at all the options uh narrowing it down and doing an in-depth testing with those three uh we did decide to go ahead and move forward with parent square. Uh this is a very featurerich uh version of the communication software. Uh it will allow us to do kind of the same district level communication that we've been doing a lot through uh

158school messenger and uh it will also let us kind of incorporate at the different levels kind of a lot of the classroom communication that people have been getting from literally every communication platform. it a lot of uh classroom dojo remind things like that. Uh and it also lets us do building level and even uh kind of some sports uh level messaging so that we can kind of integrate everything into one communication tool. So some of the things this let you have uh that made it uh we thought the best tool uh as you have things uh let's say I have hypothetically a middle school cross-country student and a high school tennis student and uh she's doing uh her classes which is foods and algebra and he's doing his classes which are uh geometry. uh you

159get a news feed just for your things. So if you have a school newsletter and a cross-country match report and where you need to pick up your kid for tennis, that will all be in your news feed and you won't get anything about all of the other stuff like soccer and uh marching band, which doesn't really apply to you. Uh it also allows for uh two-way communication via email and SMS. So, as a teacher, you can text parents through the app. They'll get a uh obfuscated phone number, not your phone number, uh that they'll get the text from and they can text you back and you can set uh business hours, work hours in your app so that they can text you back during the day and you can have that kind of two-way communication

160at a district, building, classroom, coach level. It also lets uh families select their language. So if I were to send John a text in English, he could res it would come to him in Spanish if that's was his language and he could respond in Spanish and it would come back to me and I would read it in English. So it allows teachers to communicate with families who English may not be their preferred language. And it has more than just Spanish and French. And that's something we're missing right now is that we have other many other languages in our district that families speak or would prefer their messaging in. And so they can set their platform to receive the message in that language. The other something that I am very excited about is that um their

161critical messaging. So, if we send something about there's no school today because of weather or someone's getting out early because there was a water burst or something happened and we need parents to know, there's a button that we can hit that says it's critical. And even if they chose not to receive messages from us, if they blocked us in some way, they're going to get that message because no matter how many ways we communicate, if there's an e-learning day, every year we have students show up at the buildings that just they didn't get the message for whichever reason. And so I'm I'm really hoping that this reduces the or increases the families that are receiving those really critical messages um that we really need them to see in a timely manner. >> Yeah. And uh

162as a parent or someone receiving the messages, there's also an option to include students in there. Uh you can set your messaging preferences. So if you want one daily digest that you get at the end of the day of all your messages, you can get things that way. or if you want to receive messages instantly as they come in, you can receive them that way. So, it gives people a lot more flexibility uh to kind of prevent that message fatigue and give them like more options of how they receive things. Uh the other thing uh there's a lot of enhanced mailing options. So, instead of just kind of the generic school messenger text you get, uh they have some more rich templates and uh ways to send things out. So, yep, this was what we

163talked about having unified a messaging tool uh to improve and engagement. And uh this is a kind of a screenshot from just a generic school of what the app looks like and what the uh desktop looks like. And I actually have As of today uh or yesterday, we got our uh district app is up and running. So this is what it looks like in the actual tool. Uh so you have the ability to send posts. Uh if you send posts, you can use either the standard uh messaging or if you hit the uh studio editor, this is where you have some of those different templates and we can create more uh rich and diverse templates for people to use as we go. Uh let me get back out of here. And then uh the messages.

164This is where you can have that two-way messaging. This also allows you to have to set up group messages. So, the two-way messaging will just be to send things to an individual parent, but if you need to do well, my daughter has like a potluck sign up for tennis or something. Uh you can have multiple people all talking on one group. Uh and then the alerts and notices, that's what we're talking about where you can send out urgent things that'll override uh the settings. Uh and then all of this uh pulls directly from Skyward. So this is just for the sixth grade center. Uh as we set it up today, it pulled all the 19 cheerleading girls and 15 basketball girls and the student council cross country kids uh all into a group automatically. So

165you don't have the oh click on the QR code, sign into this thing, log into my bit.ly uh anymore. That's all kind of set up and automated for everybody. So, we are going to um pilot this with um a few schools first to kind of see how it works and see if there's any issues with it, see how families receive it. Um we had several principles very excited to try this. Um, and then we kind of selected based on um, early childhood um, just because they're our youngest group of kids and they have a lot of um, challenges communicating with their families right now. Yankee Ridge specifically because they communicate in Spanish and French a lot and we really want to make sure that before we go districtwide that we really have that translation feature

166um, working as well as um, we need it to. And then the middle school is just one of just as for a secondary level school. >> And we wanted to have one at kind of each level so that we could get a breadth of like feedback and opinions from everybody. >> So our plan is to start using parent square with these buildings in November um along with um the communication department using uh parent square for the district communication that is sent out. We are going to require everyone in the like the administrators using this to go through a training first. um not only to learn the platform, but to kind of go over some best practices for communication, how you communicate, how often you communicate, um what types like email, phone calls, text, like they're

167going to have the ability to do these things, but we want to make sure that they understand how families are receiving them and maybe kind of the what's happening now at those schools because I can pull reports, John can pull reports of of people and we can show them like these are your families who have blocked us. So maybe we need to streamline how we're communicating. Um maybe don't over like when you overcommunicate, right? I say there's a difference between overcommunicating and good communicating. Just because you're communicating with the family doesn't mean they're receiving it if you're sending them multiple messages every day. Um so we're really going to go through some training with them on best practices. And then in January, we want um all of their communication as of January 5th after winter

168break. and they've had that training in December, we want them to start using it to communicate um with their families and stop using the school messenger. Um so families can expect it to come from there and we'll obviously be messaging along the way with staff and families to let them know at that time. It's going to be voluntary for teachers to use it. We just don't want to switch them midyear from whatever platform they are using just because that's really hard on on everyone. Um and then for school year 2627 all communication to families would come from parent square from all levels the district level the building level teachers coaches um we really want families to have one platform that they can use to get everything. That was a common theme in our strategic planning

169sessions that we had with families where we want to get your messaging. Please give us one platform to use it. Like we will use whatever you want us to use. But if we could have the same thing from preschool through 12th grade, we don't have to switch every year or we have three platforms for one school because each teacher likes something different. Um so that's that's what we want to land on and it is going to be I'm sure there it's you know we're going to have to do a lot of training and a lot of communicating with our staff and our families to make sure but um this platform really has a lot of benefits that we think that our families will like. >> Yeah. And I did want to add uh we also

170I was I just today uh added uh one sports coach at the secondary level uh to also be included in that early pilot uh whose sport is starting I think at that same time for beginning of November. Uh so we'll also be doing a sports pilot with that. Uh and then for the training, that's something we'll be developing as we continue to work with our strategic planning committee uh to kind of get that input uh to make sure we can do things effect effectively. So, uh, just to wrap up, uh, the feedback that we've gotten from families and teachers and principles as we've been like showing them this tool and like evaluating all the tools was that having all communication on like the single platform. Great. Uh, and then also having an app and an

171ability to access past communication. I didn't mention it, but there's also a search feature that lets you go through all your customized posts. There's also a calendar that will give you a customized calendar just for your personal events. Uh, but having an app to be able to like look at all of that stuff, uh, is a big benefit from teachers. they were most excited about having a way to have two-way communication with parents uh especially when they're not at school if they're away on field trips or at uh sports events or clubs. And then from the principles having a featurerich platform to do communications that they don't kind of have to shoehorn everything into a platform that where I know I've sometimes been manually editing HTML to make things not look incredibly clunky. Uh and

172then I don't think I mentioned this early on but the uh AI translation tool uh is how they're doing their translation which lets you have a lot more uh feature like a lot more rich idiom like translation that lets you be a little bit more uh expressive with your language. Uh that was all for the parent square portion. I am going to give you one very quick update on the cell tower installation and then we'll be happy to take any questions. Uh I the new tower is built. Uh we got an update on the actual physical tower is being built somewhere at a steel factory. Uh I'm not sure where. Uh and our tenative installation is now for early December. Uh we have a project kickoff meeting this week on the 9th uh where we're

173going to be talking about the phasing and specific dates. Uh the general proposed construction schedule is that there'll be a crane that comes in to dismantle the old cell tower. They will have to uh dig and pour a pretty substantial new foundation uh just next to where the current tower is. Uh and then in one day a crane will come and unow unload the new tower directly onto the foundation. Uh the total construction duration should be about 30 days, but a good chunk of that is waiting for the foundation to cure. So uh we'll have more information about that as it becomes available. I know as the sixth grade centers come online and we've had new staff at the middle school, I cannot even begin to count the number of people who've asked me when

174this is going to be finishing. Uh so not soon enough for anybody. Uh but we're moving as quickly as we can for a project of this scale. So are there any questions about parent square or cell service? Um, I was wondering the old data that is on the systems that the teachers and families and administrators currently use, will that just go away, disappear, or will will that be somehow brought in? You know, if if if a you change it over and the parent said, "Well, I did contact you back in blah blah blah about this." But do you mean the messages, the previous messages or the actual data that lives in the database part? >> No, I meant the messages, the messages between parents and teachers and administrators. >> So those are emails. Um I

175mean you can access them through the app, but you would also be able to access them through your email provider and they don't just disappear. Um like the old ones, like just because we don't use school messenger, I have a folder in my email that has every message I've ever sent. those don't just disappear. Um just the platform that we use is not being used anymore. So um and we're also not switching teachers over until the new school year partly for that. We want to make sure that we don't cause any more disruption than we really have to. >> And that's for school messenger. As far as all of the myriad other platforms teachers are using right now, uh most of those are not federated. So, we don't have access to that messaging as it

176is, which is another problem uh as we deal with legal issues and lots of other things. Uh having something that is like built into the district where we can have access to pull things if we need is a big benefit of the new system. That's not something we've had on whatever teachers have been using. >> Uh I guess talk about cost. So is this a yearly fee? Is there like a fee per, you know, because we're at a certain class like 4,000 students? Is there an additional fee for the translation services? I'm just kind of wondering how that how that all breaks down. uh the cost uh as it is right now, we were able to negotiate with them to get the cost down so that it is very similar to what we're currently paying

177on school messenger. If we were to go to the new school messenger system, it's kind of a wash costwise because we're doing kind of a slow roll out this year where we have both systems simultaneously. Uh we have a very good deal for this year. uh while we have both of those uh going >> and it is based on enrollment. So um there's like a cost per student that then we were able to negotiate down. Um but that cost includes everything that we had talked about like it shows the cost is kind of based on your enrollment where like our district will pay X but a district that has twice the number of kids would pay more because they have more kids. >> Yeah. And there are some, as there always are, like additional bells

178and whistles you could purchase. That's not what we're implementing right now. Everything that we showed you tonight is included in the package that we're purchasing. Anyone else? Thank you for this exciting uh presentation. I'm really excited about the cell tower, too. Okay. Um, moving on, we have a single action item this evening. This is advanced approval of September bills and checks. Uh, because of fall break, we would not be meeting on the third Tuesday of the month. We're meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month, and that doesn't give us enough time to approve uh the bills for uh that need to be paid for from September. So, we're doing it now. Even though we don't have the numbers quite yet, we'll be reviewing them at our next meeting. So, uh, the chair will entertain

179a motion for advanced approval of September bills and checks. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Move. Second. Any further questions, comment, or discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Member Hixon, >> yes. >> Member Jones, >> yes. >> Member Langadorf, yes. Vice President Baxley, >> yes. >> President Palowski, >> yes. >> Member Cheryl, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Uh we have a pair of policy reviews this evening to finish our agenda here. Uh first up is Press Plus 119. >> And this one is a a fairly uh short and um kind of very simple one because it is um every now and then they go in and they do the five-year reviews. So this particular press packet is really just fiveyear reviews. So, um, typically what they do, if you looked at the the main document

180that Lori sent you with all of the changes and highlights, um, and I don't know that I have that here, but, um, you can see that most of it is footnotes. Um, some of it is, you know, if there was a change in some legislation, then they might change the the reference code um, in the footnotes. Um, but that is typically what the five-year reviews are. I did pull out a couple that um were a little bit more than just changing a footnote. Um, so 280 board member oath and conduct. Um, this is basically uh based on some feedback uh around oath of office violations. Um, and the language uh gives you gives boards um some options um if there are board members that violate their oath of office. So, um they added some language

181um into 280 board member oath and conduct to reflect that. And then um 4180 is the pandemic preparedness, management and recovery um language and policies. Uh that is just basically um the policy itself was unchanged but they changed the grant flexibility payment employee salaries during the pandemic. um which is basically um just that they deleted that out because we're not following any of those those payments and flexible options uh that we had um when we had people working remotely. And um it was it's just a different climate now. And so that language in 4180 is not something that any districts are using right now because everyone is fully back and in person. Um, so we aren't um we aren't flexing in grants and we aren't um making significant changes to how we're paying folks. Um,

182and then 880 gifts to the district, which is interesting since we're talking about the next thing, but this policy is more so um adding language for boards to consider um when accepting gifts. So, this is things like um before you accept a donation of um some huge piece of equipment or something like that, the board needs to consider how am I going to install that equipment? Is it going to cost us? That's a great gift, but um now we have to maintain it. Now we have to pay for it. Um so, I think it's just reminding boards that those are things that you should consider when you're managing donations is the liability as well. um and the cost to the district around whatever gift you're accepting. So, um those three were the um only ones

183that were more a little bit more than just changing a footnote or a legal reference um in the five-year reviews. >> Board members, any any questions or comments? This will be up for a vote at our next meeting, >> October 28th. >> Okay. All right. All right. Thank you. Does this in this includes the the one about um policy? What what is okay? What is okay? Um why we have policies and there there was >> do you have >> board policy review and monitoring? That's what it is. I I found my >> Okay. What I don't >> does that include what you just said, the press thing that we're voting on now. Does that include the board policy review and monitoring part? >> It do you have a number that I can look at it?

184Is it 2240 board policy development? >> Um, it's it's uh yes, board policy development. >> Okay, let me look at I don't have that packet in front of me. You have your packet. Thank you. It was in what you sent us, right? >> Yes, it's in the I just don't have the red line version. >> Okay. Was there something specific in 2240 that you wanted to >> I I wanted to suggest some changes. I don't know if this is the time when I would do it or >> it would be and we we of course our attorneys proof all of this because the the the um >> right >> the attorney boards put this together so we'd have to run it past our attorneys of course but >> okay I don't I don't think I'm

185asking for something illegal >> no I mean but it I mean it we would be changing we'd be going against what press is suggesting that we adopt I think that that's why I'm saying that Okay. >> Yeah. So, when we change this language, the the press board and they this is their recommendation, of course, we have the right as you guys have the right as a board to to not not approve what they recommend. Um, but of course, if we decided to change this, I'd want to run it by our attorney just to make sure that >> Sure. >> Yep. >> Yeah. I I always thought you could make a policy stricter but not more lax. Maybe that's wrong. But anyway, I what I would like to see um in the opening statement where it

186said the school board governs blah blah blah using written policies. Written policies ensure legal compliance, establish board processes processes, articulate district ends, delegate authority, and define operating limits. But what and I think that's all true. I don't want to change any of that. But I felt like um we should bring uh I I would like to add the following sentences. Sentence policies are the foundation on which the board, the superintendent, the staff and the community build trust. I wanted to bring the community into it. Um how do how does the community interact with policy? And so and I >> Okay. Yeah. >> Um that's just one thing. >> Can you send me that in writing too after you or send it to Lori? >> Send it to Lori. Okay. >> Yeah. It's um and then

187uh and I wanted to change one part it because it says in here the board will support any reasonable interpretation of board policy made by the superintendent. If reason reasonable minds differ, the board will review the applicable policy and consider need for further clarification. And what I would like to suggest is if the superintendent finds a policy unclear, the superintendent will bring the question to the full board for discussion before taking action. because I think that would be something that I mean granted if it's you know you just it's been oh my god I got to do this and I didn't understand that's one thing but if if you're looking at it and saying oh do they mean this or this I think it would be better to bring it to the board >> okay

188>> and I don't know how other people would feel about that but um >> the general practice is we run it by lawyers. >> That's we typically do that. >> Yep. I'm sorry. >> I mean, when when when when we're confused or unsure with regards to how what what a policy really means, >> we usually talk to a lawyer. >> Okay. And that's very expensive. >> It is, but it's it's it's kind of necessary. I mean, >> no, I I'm not saying it's not necessary, but I'm just saying it would bring the pol I think that we have lost the community or certain segments of the community. We were talking about communication before and I think this would bring the communica the community into the communication about policy and what our policies do for us,

189do for them, do for the staff. And I guess um we this is for policy affects if I when I was a teacher I never thought I would be thinking about policy this much. But policy affects everything we do in the district. It affects hiring and firing and salaries and and um extra work and everything. And we have had in the past superintendent who um fudged on some hiring rules. And you know, I think it would be better just to have a discussion first and and not I I I just think it would be better to have a discussion first about and and if there is anything unclear about a policy, why not have us talk about it? And because our policy does not have to be word for word what the state suggested. It

190has, it can be, as I understand it, more strict, but it can't be less strict. >> But anyway, that's my thought. >> Yeah, if you could share those things in writing, that'd be great. Yep. >> My concern about bringing community is that a community isn't one voice. A community is many voices. And if you're going to indicate that it has to be one voice from the community that we have to agree with everything that the community says that it's it's not helping us to make policy decisions. >> Also, if I may interject something, section two of the policy manual is for the board. It's board policy. Section 8 is communicate community relations. In there, you talk about all the community involved policies. >> So, that's something you also might want to look at. Then if

191you're wanting something in two, that's more board directives. Section eight is community directives. So that might be where you want to look at. >> That's helpful. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lori. That's a good point. >> Yeah, I'd have to ponder those those specific changes. Um, I mean, general, right? If if if a board policy is unclear or confusing, yeah, we should be reviewing it and and and clarifying it, but we also, you know, shouldn't be adopting policies that are unclear or confusing. So, I mean, that that's that's what we should be doing with due diligence. I appreciate you going through the entire document with line by line instead of just looking at the summary. um because that that's really our job is to make sure that that things uh make sense and are understandable.

192But um not I don't know if we need to spell that out necessarily in this policy, but it might not hurt. I I I need to think about it more. >> Uh anyone else? Uh I guess uh be prepared to vote on the changes as given but um we be prepared for possible amendments. >> Yep. >> Discussion >> and discussion. Okay. Uh our last policy of the review this evening is uh on section uh 2105 ethics and gift ban. I asked for this to be put on the agenda uh mostly because I was approached by an external person who wanted to well I basically heard that there was a company that wanted to donate an iPad as a raffle to give to a teacher and that exceeds the current gift limit for all employees and

193board members count in this policy too. you know what could be is it possible to amend the policy or change the policy to prevent this you know to to allow this gift to be given and uh so I asked basically let's have a discussion on the policy see if it's possible to to amend it and um you know over the weekend talked to our attorneys and basically said that the policy is almost word for word from the state statute it can't the yeah it's it's it has it hasn't been >> updated in years so these spending limits were, you know, I don't know, $190 or or $2,05 or something, right? So, so they haven't been changed to account for inflation at all. They are what they are. >> Um there's there's really not much we

194can do about it except we should, you know, all educate ourselves on the current policy because that's state law. You know, we're not allowed to accept cumulative uh gifts in the in the course of a year from a single person that total more than $100. And we're not allowed to I think have food over $75 in a single calendar day from a from a particular person. But um I guess Go ahead. Go Sherry. >> Is is it possible for that person to donate it to the school and and that particular teacher has use of it in a classroom? Absolutely. >> Rather than personal? >> Absolutely. Then then you we would vote on accepting it as a as a gift to the district and then it would be available for use um by the district and

195then its employees. that that's still possible, >> right? Right. >> Well, >> right. >> I'm not going to turn down turn down any iPad given to the district. That's for sure. >> I guess any further questions or comments? >> I kept reading it regarding uh our conferences that we go to and the different um but you know, I guess if you eat more than $745, it's a problem, but we determine that. But >> yeah. No. Yeah. All right. Just be mindful of the limits >> and it aligns with our travel policy. I mean, that is what we give our daily aotment, isn't it? $75, I think. And to align with the the Yeah. the food. So, yeah. >> So, is there a way to speak to somebody at the state about the fact that this

196hasn't been updated? I mean, they update everything else all the time. you know, we we could absolutely talk to, you know, our our representatives and ask that they sponsor an amendment to this so that uh yeah, >> you know, I think raising it above the level of iPad kind of makes sense, I guess, for >> technology. Yeah. Like even a if it were a computer or um you know, anything like that, it's hard to get anything technology related for less than $100. >> But but yeah, that I don't foresee any us making any changes because it really is almost word for word state of statute. And >> I had a question about the other part, the political activity part, as long as it's it you sent it to us. Um, and there are two parts

197of it. And it said a board member a board member or employee may engage in in any activity that is otherwise appropriate as part of his or her official duties or is undertaken by the on a voluntary basis. that is not prohibited by this policy. So, um we had an issue earlier and I know that I am going against what I said back then when I sat and read this whole thing all together. Um I the fact that we cannot it it says in here that we cannot um require a an employee to do a some sort of political act. We can't require an employee to um help somebody, you know, whatever get on the ballot or download the stuff. It we can't require that. Um, we also um can't I I think that if

198we can't require help to every person that walks in that we shouldn't then let have be have that help be done on um district computers and district time. So if I were going to let's say if I'm the person who sits at the desk and I don't know what that all those I'm sure she does not have a lot of downtime but maybe Ben walks in one day and says gee could you help me download the packet to run for the school board and I say you know I've got time today. Yeah I'll sure I'll do that. and maybe in a week Sherry walks in and I'm really busy that day and so I said, "Gee, I'm sorry. I really can't help you, but you can get that at the county clerk's office." Um, then

199Sherry, if she hears that I helped Ben, could would she think, "Oh, was that cuz I'm a woman? Is that cuz I'm old?" I don't mean you're old. um is that you know is that because I don't have kids in the district anymore and so I just think it could have an uncomfortable look. So I think that I as a person sitting at the desk if I want to help somebody that's great. I think that I would have to meet them at the library and show them how to do that and help them do that. That's wonderful. Um so obviously you wouldn't take that opportunity away from somebody but I have in read like I said in sitting and reading this if we won't do it and I was discussing with somebody weeks ago um

200this and I was told that the district doesn't help everybody that comes in and asks for help that sometimes they just say, "Oh, we don't give packets anymore. You go to the county clerk's office and pick it up." And so I'm just saying I don't believe that anything done in this um I don't think anything that district employees are doing is any for any kind of nefarious reason. I'm just saying that things can happen and then it doesn't look good to the public. And as I read that, I'm just thinking maybe we do have to make sure that at district facilities, we're not helping some people and not others. And according to this policy, we can't require people to help everyone. So what is there? There there's a conflict there. Um and this is totally

201against what I really believe, but according to the policy, that that's how I'm reading it. I mean, because I really believe we should help everybody that walks in the door. Um, but I don't I see this as a conflict and I actually see it as an important conflict. Um, so that's just well I I read it differently because as I look through political activity and what it meant, I looked specifically for something like that and I didn't notice anything. What I've always done, what I've always seen is acting. If somebody has acted in the in the schools, teacher or any employee to to um help another candidate with their with their um getting signatures, getting um having meetings, um getting fun, getting uh donations, whatever those things, that to me is political activity to help

202to we I mean, we've talked about this before. To just give somebody a form that they can fill out themselves is not a political activity. that's more access. That's like being a librarian, giving them information. >> So I I I I don't I don't agree with that >> actually. And number eight, initiating for circulation, preparing, circulating, reviewing or filing any petition on behalf of a candidate for elective office or for or against any referendum question. So initiating for circulation preparing >> I see that as if the person who is the employee was getting the uh the petition and getting and getting other people to sign it. That's how I interpret that. Well, I guess initiating for circulation to me that's downloading it, preparing it is um >> but she wasn't it's not circulating anything. A

203petition is what you circulating. Filling out a form is different than getting a petition. Well, and like I said, if we're going to say that every single person that walks in gets that benefit, then we should do it. But according to this, because I had I did have someone tell me that when they walked in, they said, "You have to go to the county clerk's office." Jennifer, real quick for clarification. I think it comes down to who that person spoke with. Like you gave the scenario. You said Ben and then you said Sherry and you were busy with Sherry. Well, you as an employee should know right off hand. You do it for one, you do it for all. Period. There's no questions asked. So, you can't deny somebody. So, I think it all depends

204on who that person's talking to because I myself have a different way of sharing a message than our front desk person does as you know. So I think a lot has to do with training and when the elections occur, specific scripts should be given to the front desk for whoever is sitting at that front desk. So I think a lot has to do with training as well. Well, that will be great. And so but it has to be if we do it for one, we do it for all. Um and and um if we can do that can according to this because this says we can't require somebody to do that. So I mean I agree with you. I I agree with you totally. I would love to say you know we should train people

205that yes we're going to help you do this. Any further comments or or discussion? Yeah, I don't think we'll be changing this policy either. Um, there is a call uh for executive session tomorrow at 5:30 at central office uh for the purpose of student discipline superintendent report. >> Okay. So, um, last night I had a great meeting with, um, some parents, um, members of our community, um, staff, and we actually had a couple fifth grade students who attended with their parents, um, around the idea of, uh, starting an intramural basketball league for our fifth graders. This is something I think I've shared here um at several of our sessions. Um sports and other athletic activities at the elementary level was was um brought up by parents. Um you know, our parents ask me, why don't

206we have basketball at, you know, for our younger kids? Why don't we, you know, why do we have to pay to send our kids to Park District when um there are a lot of districts that are having soccer and doing some of those things where our students just get to participate? It's something we've talked about doing for years and we just haven't had um we just haven't been able to do it. And since it came up so often through the strategic plan, uh Yankee Ridge was one of the schools that um when I went to the French BPAC meeting, when I went to the Spanish BPAC meeting, both sets of parents were very um vocal about wanting to have some more options for their elementary age students. So we had the meeting last night at

207Yankee Ridge um and there based on the uh number of people who came out um we do that group there were about 20 of us who felt very strongly maybe more than 20 I've got to count again um who we had some coaches uh people who have coached in the district for many many years um and just you know people who just want to volunteer and make it happen. Um we felt like we have enough support for each elementary school to move forward with this. Um our park district is partnering with us. Uh so we would utilize our elementary schools during the week for practices. Um games would be on Saturday and those would be held at the Hawk um you know with um the health and wellness center um under the uh got leadership

208of the park district. So, we'd use their courts, which is great because our students then get to go into that facility and a lot of our families maybe haven't even been in there yet. Um, so we're going to work on a Google form um to get out sign up and recruitment. Um, the goal is starting the last week of October and that we'd have about six weeks of um games and practices. And then our hope is um that we would keep the the groups playing together. So each school team hopefully we get enough to have a boys and a girls team um keep them playing and move them right into the January uh basketball leagues that start at the park district. The park district always has scholarships and they have funding available but a lot

209of our families just don't take advantage of it for all kinds of reasons. Um but we we hope that getting the students together by school um kind of learning one another and having these community um connections with other families that we can keep them connected and moving them right into our park district. Um, I've met with the park district about partnering on um having indoor soccer um in February and March and um hopefully uh if we can get enough support um some flag football at the end of the year um in April and May for girls and boys. So, if you're interested and you weren't one of the 45 people who I emailed who answered our survey, um let me know. Um, if you are watching this and you really have some experience coaching or

210you're a firsttime volunteer who just wants to kind of help be a kid wrangler, I call it. Um, because our coaches when they're heavily into coaching and they've got 10 or 12 kiddos, you know, when somebody needs to go to the bathroom or needs this or needs that, it's great to have an extra adult in those spaces too um to really help be a um supporter. So, we are very excited about this. there was a lot of positive energy um that I've uh received so far in any of the spaces where I've been where I've talked about this. So, we will keep you posted on how it goes once we start having families sign up. And then, um last night uh was the CU marching showcase. This is the first one I've missed in a

211while because I had two other um two other conflicts, one of them being the the uh inter mural basketball meeting, but Dr. Franklin represented the district um with of course our fantastic Tiger marching band. Um they joined Central and Centennial for the annual CU marching showcase which was hosted at Centennial on Monday night. Um and as always um I saw a lot of video and pictures and um it was covered on a couple of the news channels. So our our band as always showed well and did a great job. So congratulations TNB. Walk and roll to school day is tomorrow. Um and it is always the uh during the first week of October, the first full week of October. Uh several schools hold um special activities. Um the students are encouraged to walk or ride

212their bikes to school. Uh we often um on this day we know we have students who don't live close enough to walk and we would not want some of our kiddos walking from you know such far distances or cross hazardous roads. So what we do is we bring the school buses um a few blocks away from the school and on this day they can drop at a corner and those students can have an adult meet them and walk to they get the opportunity to walk to school if if nothing but on this day every year. Um so it is usually really fun. Um I usually go to one of the schools. I'm going to be leaving tonight to drive up north for a conference and so I won't be there but we still have um

213Mayor Williams will be out. We always have um a great representation from um the Urbana Police. Uh Chief Boon and Lieutenant Cervantes will be at the high school. We usually have some U of I athletes. I don't know if we know where they're going to be, but we always have you No, Katherine's saying nope, we don't this year, maybe. Or we don't know where they're going to be. Yes, we usually have some. They just kind of show up at certain schools. We're not quite sure where they might be. But, um, if you're a parent watching this or a caregiver, um, and you can get out and walk with your kiddo tomorrow, uh, it would be it's it's a great time and they they enjoy it. We see people on skateboards, roller skates, they kind of

214do it all. So, um, that is tomorrow morning. and our UHS cheer team. We wanted to shout them out um for a service project that they uh at the high school they cleaned up around uh as part of service learning and we're really proud of them for um taking some community pride in their school and in their um neighborhood and showing their school spirit. So, this is a picture of the UHS cheer team. So, shout out to them and thank you for your service. upcoming dates. Um families watching this, student le conferences are um begin Thursday evening this Thursday from 4 to 8. Um there's no school for students on Friday because um there is continuing we will be continuing to have our student led conferences in the morning. Um and then fall break is

215the week uh next week all of our buildings are closed that week. Um October 24th when we come back is United Nations Day at King which is always a really well attended assembly. um we'll have to send you the time um because we don't we don't know quite yet if it's usually 9 9:30ish, but we will get that to you. And October 29th is the um academic monogram. So you've probably already received your email from um Tamara at the high school. So if you're planning to attend, make sure you let us know because they will um reserve a seat for you and um they will of course recognize you in the program. So, academic monogram, a really fun night to recognize our students who are um really achieving and doing great. I think that's it.

216>> Um there were a series of foyas that were processed that were published in our in our public agenda. Uh at this point, the chair would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Some move. >> Second. >> Been moved and seconded. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. All right, we'll see you all in 3 weeks.