001All right. All right. Thank you everyone. It's 6 o'clock, so I'd like to begin this business meeting of Urbana School District 116. Roll call, please. Member Hixon here. Member Maribou. Member Jones here. Member Langodorf here. Vice President Baxley here. President Palowski here. Are there any additions, corrections, or modifications to tonight's agenda? No. Okay. Um there is no call for an executive session after tonight's meeting. Um is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Some moved. Second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Uh now it's time for accommodations recognitions. First up is uh district student artwork presentation and elementary fine arts that okay good evening. Thank you for having us. Uh my name is Cara Morizi. I'm the elementary fine arts coordinator and this is one of my favorite nights of the year. Um,
002this is a tradition I'm very honored to be a part of. In Urbana, we focus on process over product. And this allows us to really delve deep into concepts and give us a rich arts experience to our students. But it's always great to show the progress along the way. And so tonight, we have a few things we're going to show for you. And the first is a short tap performance by some of Miss Kinnman's fifth graders. Hi, my name is Maggie Kinnman. I teach dance and drama at Leo School. And um I've been working with this Miss Matson's fifth grade class for gosh, we've been working on this dance for about three weeks now. And we just finished it today. So, we do have a little bit of a cheat sheet here to help us
003remember, but um they've been enjoying tap so much and they've learned about how dance dances are structured. They're able to read this and understand the form of the dance. Um so, they're they're learning a lot of really great skills through this process and I'm so happy they were able to come tonight. So, I'm gonna place you Ready? That's not wrong. That it might seem crazy. [Music] I don't care because along [Music] without happiness you clap along. [Music] and give me all you got. [Music] I should probably Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof. Clap along if you feel like [Music] happiness happiness you [Music] alone bring me [Music] down bring me [Music] down without roof alone happiness the truth. Clap along if you know what happiness is. Clap along if you
004feel like that's what you want to do. Clap along [Music] without the truth. Because I'm happy to [Music] along without roof. I'm happy to you along without a roof. Clap along if you feel like happiness along happiness along. [Music] [Applause] Great job. I'm so proud of you. I should mention that the uh Leo school PTA I wrote a grant for the tap shoes and the flooring and they provided us with that. So um it's a it's something special the fifth graders get to do and dance every year. Um Michaela, raise your hand. Say hi. Pippy, raise your hand. Say hi. Lydia, raise your hand. Say hi. Paco and Liam, thank you guys so much for coming tonight. Pick up your Can you pick up your time? Thank you so much. I'll also mention that we
005have a a district set of tap shoes and flooring as well that the other dance and drama teachers are able to share. So tap is happening all over the district. Um and now we're going to uh present the visual artwork from um different students throughout the district. So if my art teachers could come forward Hello. Oh, do I press this? No. Okay. Okay. Um, so we're gonna present some artwork that we've created. Um, up first we've got Carara from uh Leo School. She is a kindergartenner and she's going to hold the picture. And this picture is inspired by the work of Vincent Van Go. We learned how to stamp, how to paint, how to cut, how to glue. And this is our big kindergarten project. [Applause] Hello, I'm Miss Tavis and I'm the art teacher
006at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Elementary School and this is Daranna Corala and she is in the third grade in Miss White's class. And the third graders this year we did some weavingings. So I just love Daras. I mean they all turned out really great. Thank you. [Music] Here from uh DPW, we have uh Kayyn That's this one. [Applause] This is this is from Yankee Ridge. Yes. Thank you. [Applause] This last one is by Priscilla Jefferson from Thomas Payne, second grade. [Applause] And as always, we're so grateful to International Galleries for doing such a beautiful job framing the artwork. Um, we have one one more short thing for you. For 34 years, you've supported the fine arts program in Urbana, and it just keeps getting better and stronger. This year we had not only a
007team in a rebuilding which only took 33 years but we did it and we also added a fifth day of fine arts which has given our students 15 more hours of fine arts experiences every year and that is incredible and we don't take that for granted. We have an we have even bigger goals going forward with the opening of the sixth grade center. We have a long-term goal to get an elementary choir in every elementary school so that we could feed even more singers to the sixth grade center and onto the middle and high school. And we want to keep expanding our partnerships with the University of Illinois, Cranert Center, the CU Schools Foundation, and schools in Champagne. We've had a great year, and I would like to thank all of our fine arts teachers
008for their hard work and dedication to our students. If they could please stand, our fine arts teachers that are here tonight. [Applause] And we have just a short video of uh your students uh telling what they love about fine arts. I love music class because I get to learn new things about music. I like music class because I can sing. And in dance and drama, like in dance, we're doing all types of stuff. We're doing exercises. We're going to learn new things. And in drama, you can act like you're um an actress. Why I like art classes because we do fun projects. Reason why I like art is because I like you and I like paint. And I like painting. Dance and drama is so fun because MJ lets us be creative. Dancing drama is
009so fun because we get to act out. Dancing drama is so fun because we get to dance. Dancing drama is so bad that we get to support. Hi, my name is Riley and I like music class because make me stuck on dad. I like visual art because in the future if your job has anything to do with art, you can use all the strategies that you you learned to help you with your job. Okay. Dance and drama are important because you can be a singer, teacher, or a dancer. is giving hair. B A and B hair. No C's no D A hair. No C no D. Art is so important because art is in artist. behind everything. [Music] I'm still standing after all this time of my life without you. I'm still standing. It rise
010and slide with vision. The [Music] limit it [Music] I like art because we get to do colorings. paint, water painting and clay and it's just the best thing I can ever do. Well, my favorite thing is we do these warm ups. We bounce. How do you do it? Show me. What do you move first? First thing you go you go up. And then what do you do? I think art is helpful because you can use stuff at home such as cereal boxes and popsicle sticks. I also believe that it calms people down. And art can be something that can calm down your emotions and like if you're sad or crying or something, you can go crochet something or draw something. In heart, art will help you calm down if you are drawing. In music here
011at DPW, we learn many things. How to play the G. How to play the xylophone. How to play the ukulele. [Music] and how to sing where our time is spent learning. Yay. Yeah. It's time for music class. Thank you so much. That was awesome. Thank you. Uh, next up is the state seal of biiteracy presentation. Good evening. Should we take a moment and let folks who are leaving move on before we start? Yep. Yeah. You're welcome to to leave. If you were here for fine arts only, you're welcome to leave at this time. You're welcome to stay, too. Thanks. You Thank you. Okay, good evening everyone. My name is Dr. Joe Weiml, the executive director of secondary multilingual and alternative education for the school district. Originally, my colleague um Hillary Allen was going to present
012this evening, but she came down sick and was not able to be here this evening, and my previous conflict or commitment also was canceled. So, I'm able to be here tonight. Fortunately, this is one of my favorite presentations as well. So, I'm presenting on behalf of our secondary team, our high school team in particular about the state seal of by literacy and the number of students who have qualified to earn either the commenation towards by literacy um or the seal of biteracy for the state of Illinois. And so, I will proceed. So, as a reminder, and if you're new to the seal of literacy, here's a real quick overview. So in Illinois and and the majority of the states in across the country um there's a process where students can be acknowledged um as receiving
013the state seal of bi literacy um based on proficiency in two or more languages English and and another language and so this is across the four language domains of speaking listening reading and writing and must be done of of course in two or more languages. If a student qualifies and meets the requirements for the seal of bi literacy, then they receive a seal designated on their diploma as well as a seal on their transcript when they send that transcript on to college or or other places. And so it is acknowledged across the entire state of Illinois for any public university and most private universities also acknowledge and accept the cilabiteracy as well as I believe it's of over 40 different states also now acknowledge and participate in the seal of biiteracy across the country. Um
014so the commenation you'll hear both sila by literacy and the commenation toward biiteracy. The commenation basically talks about a student who is reaching proficiency. They just haven't quite reached it yet. So typically they have to score at an intermediate level in either English and or the other language but have not reached that full biiteracy yet. Um but it does acknowledge that they're on their pathway towards biiteracy and some universities acknowledge the commenation provide college credit as well which I'll get to more in just a moment. Um just a real quick snapshot of numbers. So when we talk about students earning the seal of illiteracy um we just like to paint the picture of where we started and where we are currently. So in 2021 that was the first year of us offering the process to
015earn the seal of bi literacy. I think Illinois it started that year or maybe the year prior right around COVID of course. So we officially started at our high school or school district in 2021. And at that time 12 students earned the seal and five students earned the commenation. And as fast forward to last year, which was our largest year um to record, we had 25 students earn the seal and 14 students earn the commenation. And then it's exciting to see that this year we've had 39 students earned the full seal of illiteracy and 12 students earn the commenation. Um 26 out of 51 of those students were in the dual language program. And the reason why we're emphasizing the dual language program in this process, especially tonight, is this senior class is the very
016first kindergarten class that ever started in the dual language program. So, we want to acknowledge the the long journey that our students and families have been on in regards to their pathway towards biiteracy and acknowledge that as we move forward this evening. So, again, that there's that data as well. And we have a special congratulations to a few students that earned the seal in more than one language um andor commendation in one language and the seal in the other. Gabe Desard, who I don't believe is here this evening, um is a linguist in the making as a multilingual linguist in the making. As you can see, he earned the full seal of illiteracy in English with German, French, and Mandarin Chinese, which I think earns a round of applause for an 18-year-old. Uh that is
017very rare. uh to be quadrilingual and u he says that he's working on a fifth language as well. Um he is one of those students that just kind of soaks up language. He is also going to Columbia University in the fall um coming out of Urbana which is definitely something to to celebrate. We also have Sit Lai Cortez Alvarez um who earned round of applause for her who earned the seal of literacy in Spanish and English and then earned the commenation in French as well which is nothing to be ashamed of and actually should be very much celebrated. Paulina Angra who was uh an ambassador last year also the same thing earned the seal in Spanish and English the commenation in French. Carla Beltran Hernandez. I don't know if Carla is Carla here this evening.
018No, she also earned the commenation in a third language as well as Nina Weasler who earned the seal in one language and commendation in another language. So it just speaks to the multilingualism of our community and the diversity of our community which we always acknowledge and emphasize as our strength. Um so you may be wondering okay how do you what exactly is the process for this? And so there are a few different ways a student can earn uh the seal of biiteracy and I'll talk about what comes with the seal in just a moment. Basically you have to score at a certain level in English and another language um to earn the seal or the commendation. These two assessments that are listed here are the two that we use uh in Urbana and are acknowledged
019and approved by the state of Illinois and these are for either English and or the other language the target language. So the stamp 4S is the assessment that we administer in the fall for uh seniors who are retaking it or who didn't take it their junior year and then in the spring as well for juniors. Um we start the process of testing the formal assessments in their junior year, 11th grade year, but students can also take the assessments their senior year and or retake their assessment if they want to try again. um to score at the uh to reach the level of the syllabi literacy, you have to score a six out of nine um on the stamp 4s assessment. So a nine would be considered like the perfect score. Didn't miss any any questions
020and and perfect linguistic ability in that language. Six is considered intermediate high which for all of the national and international standards is considered fluent in in terms of comparing to a native speaker. Uh the minimum score then for the commenation would be a four which is kind of that intermediate level out of nine. So right in the middle. Um the equivalent to that is something that more people are familiar with is the AP examination process. So, in order to score, you can also take the AP exam in Spanish or French or another language or English and you have to score a four or higher um to earn credit towards the seal of literacy, which also grants you credit, university credit on that AP exam, that AP class as well. And then of course the three
021for the commenation. So you can see the expectations and rigor is very high um to to reach the syllabi literacy and students can take either or or both the stamp 4s assessment that we administer locally and or the AP exams as well as the SAT a ACT I'll skip over that which is on the next slide. So this previous slide I showed you is usually done for the other languages not English but students can take the stamp 4S in English and the AP English exam as well and those scores would count if they score high enough. The majority of students though for their English assessment use one of the following uh one of the top three here. Either the access for ELLLs which is the English assessment given to students who are learning English as
022a second language that are participating typically in a multilingual program, dual language program, ESL program. And the 4.8 overall score is what the state of Illinois considers proficient in English to um to become no longer be categorized as an English language learner. So I if you are in high school and you're still taking the access test and you score a 4.8 on the composite that would grant you the English portion of the seal of literacy. Similarly the 3.5 literacy score would be enough for the commenation. Also the ACT which is now our assessment that juniors take again in the state of Illinois. You have to score at least a 20 on the English language arts portion of the ACT to be able to qualify for the syllabi literacy. There's also the process of taking dual
023credit course work. So we do offer dual credit English your 12th grade year. So if a student scores a 3.0 or above, which is a B or higher, then that grants the English portion of the seal of literacy. And then the AP exam and the stamp fors, which we've already mentioned. So the expectations are very high to earn the seal by literacy in two languages or more. Um and and that's why it's really very much a celebration to see that our numbers keep growing of students that are earning the seal of literacy. So, what are the benefits? All of some of these are kind of no-brainers. We all know the importance and the benefits of learning multiple multiple languages and becoming bilingual. Um, I would say the one thing that's specific to the seal of
024literacy that would be different is that you can earn college credit just by scoring high enough and getting the seal of literacy. It varies from university to university. The state of Illinois requires that public universities offer credit for the seal by literacy. They don't require how many credits that they offer, but so for example, the University of Illinois right here in Urbana Champagne offers eight college credits in that target language if you earn the seal of literacy, which is the equivalent of two class levels um at the university. But other universities offer up to 12 credits. Um there's a couple universities that offer a minor. You can start day one of college already with a minor in Spanish or French, whatever that language might be. So that academic and financial benefit is very tangible when
025we talk about what what comes with the seal of literacy. Um and so that number of credits varies. It's linked on this slideshow. If you're interested or if the public's interested to know the university where a student may be going or wants to go, how many credits they can earn from the seal. So we'll jump straight into acknowledging our students. There are a few students who are here. I know Sat Lai of course is here and a few other students in our audience. Um, and the students that are highlighted are students who have participated in our dual language program at some point in their K12 experience. And that's why that's acknowledged there. So, I'll just go down the list. If you're here and I read your name, if you don't mind just coming up to
026the table or coming around to the table and we will um celebrate you with a picture at the end and a round of applause. So, these are students who earned the syllabi literacy in Spanish and English. I'll just read names quickly. So Edgar Alamirano, Oscar Bamaka Montiel, Paulina Angrave, Mayor Antonio, Christian Antonio Diego, Hannah Bear Shapiro, Carla Beltran Hernandez, Katherine Calderon, Natasha Carmona, St. Lai Cortez Alvarez, Helen de la Cruz, Elizabeth Francisco Ria, Maria Garcia Valades, Elizabeth Garcia, believe she's here, Lillian Hall, Alexa Hernandez, Ruth Holtop, Jaylen Johnson, Santiago, Larita Lopez, Fel Phelix, Alandre Martinez, Ameliano Orurala, Courtney Phillips Jr., Alicia Ramos, Eileen Rivas Lagos, Yadira Rodriguez, Mo Sheer, Juana Sebastian Kano, Manuela Sebastian Huarez, Maria Sebastian Huarez, Samuel Sherwood, Alex Tartikovski, Alexa Valades Ramirez, Isabelle Valencia Ramirez. Those are our students in Spanish and
027English. And we'll give them a round of applause. Congratulations. Stay up here. Stay up here. So, I'll keep going with other languages. So in German, Matthew Bedoni, Gabriel Desard, Ethan Murphy, Isaiah Ross, Nina Weasler. Anybody here for German? Didn't think so. Um, for French, Gabriel Desard again, and for Chinese, Gabriel Desard again. So, a round of applause for those students for the seal of biiteracy. Thank you. You may be seated. You can go back. Thank you. Our next slide is for the students who earned the commendation. Um, oh, you might have to come back. So for German, they've earned this the commenation which as a reminder is that intermediate level and does off also sometimes come with college credit. So for German is Liam Carroll, Alexander Evans, Lucas Savathon, Oliver Sherman, and Levi Walker. I'll
028keep going. For French, Paulina Angrave, Carla Beltran Hernandez, Jonathan Carr, Sat Laale Cortez Alvarez, and Tony Han Fischer. and in Spanish, Meen Ramos Salman and Nina Weasler. Round of applause for the [Applause] commendation. The last thing I'll say this evening before I close is um I appreciate the support of our community and our board of education of emphasizing the importance of language learning. Uh whether that's in our ESL programs, multilingual programs, dual language programs, world language programs. As you can see, students can participate in the seal by literacy and earn the seal by literacy, regardless of what classes they take. It's not based on what program you're in, but your ability to show proficiency in more than one language. And I I love being a part of a school district that honors and affirms linguistic
029diversity and the strengths that come with that. So, I appreciate the board of education and district administration for your support there. Um, I had one other thing I was going to mention and now I'm blanking. So, I will just close with that. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you all. Congratulations. Oh, sure. Questions. I forgot about questions. Can we ask a question? Yes. Go ahead. Um, I was wondering how many of the students who earned these awards were in our um just the regular French, German, Spanish classes. Yeah, I would say. So, what were the was it the other half? I mean, it's about half of the other half. Yes, basically. And so I'm wondering as we look at next year, do you know are they still thinking about um combining those upper level
030courses at the high school or have they figured out a way to still offer them because that would seem to me to be important. Sure. I can't speak to that. I don't oversee world language so I can't I can't answer that question. So I'm unsure. I'm not sure if anyone else they're being offered, but are they being they're not combined. Okay. French is being combined but not German. It has in the past and it has been for many years. Okay. That does remind me what my other thought was was um when we I appreciate that when uh we typically start the assessment process the jun their junior year and that coincides with the ACT SAT as well. And this past junior year so last year when Sit Lai was a junior we had over 40
031students testing for the syllabi literacy their junior year which was a record number of students um attempting or or taking the assessment. This year we had over 60 students testing across junior and senior year. So they we we anticipate our numbers will keep growing even next year which is exciting for all language learning programming in our district and beyond. So thank you. Anyone else? Thank you Joe. Congratulations. And again if if people would like to to leave at this point that would be fine. You're welcome to stay but um you don't have to stay. Um next up are our citizen statements. If anybody wishes to make a a public statement before the board, there are golden rush sheets in the back of the room they could fill out and hand it to our recording secretary,
032Lori Johnson. I haven't received any forms to date, so I'm calling once for citizen statements. Going twice. No citizen statements this evening. Um, our student ambassador's report. Yeah, last one. Okay. Anyway, you can go. Okay. Um, so there have been a lot of the end of year banquetss as we're wrapping up the school year. Um, and these are some of the ones I've attended. And it's just been really nice to be able to go and celebrate seniors and also like just all the accompl accomplishments that our school does uh throughout different departments such as music and habitat and just everything that our students um are included in. And the music department, um, we had the jazz cafe and the band department's last concert of the year and they were both really fun. Jazz cafe was
033super snazzy and like dressed to the nines. Um, and it was really nice. And then, uh, the last concert was just really nice, um, to be in as my final goodbye in that, uh, department. So, yeah. Um, and I know this uh conversation has kind of ended for this year, but I still want to like bring it up because I still think that this is something that the students want um to hopefully be able to do in the future. I was thinking if we could maybe set up a committee and the students would um submit designs like a month prior or something like that. Um because I know a lot of students were disappointed that they couldn't decorate their caps this year. Um, and it's something of course that we have to like regulate because
034we can't just let students do whatever they want. But I was just hoping it could still be an open conversation um going forward. And then my last thing is the graduation ceremony uh is this Thursday. Oops, I forgot to put that on there. Um, but it's this Thursday at the State Farm Center at 6 PM. It is free entering, but there's a parking $5 parking fee um for anyone who wish to attends. Um and then graduating seniors, do not forget graduation rehearsal is tomorrow at 1:30 or you will not be able to walk the stage. So that is it for me. Thank you. Okay, we'd love an opportunity now to recognize the fact that you guys worked really hard this past year to represent the student uh students at the high school uh with the
035plum. You you guys put together fantastic slideshows and presentations every week to let us know what's going on the high school and you ask great questions. I mean, every single time you you you really use your voice to speak for those who don't have voices here normally, and we can't help. I just really want to take the opportunity to thank you for all of that. Yes, we have a Sure. So, um recognizing and going on Valentina who is a junior will be a senior next year. [Applause] I was gonna invite our we have our three ambassadors for next year. So um our senior is going to be our senior next [Applause] year is going to be a sophomore ambassador and then our junior next year. The reason we have three is as you can see
036this Okay. Uh it's time for board reports. If anybody wishes to make a state uh board report this evening, just uh let me know. Anyone? Um it's been a busy May. There have been a lot of, as Sali said, a lot of music concerts. I was able to go to the jazz cafe. I have never seen the commons decorated so eloquently. It was just really a lovely evening. And honors night was special because of award that my daughter and I presented, but there were 79 students who received some type of scholarship or award or acknowledgement and and that's like a third of the class about a third of the class. It was really wonderful to see and so many of them received multiple ones. I think that there were several who students who also got
037free rides to uh the university. So very very pleased to see their accomplishments. Uh Ben and I had a um interesting visit at the ready school this week and really enjoyed seeing where um students can go for a different learning opportunity. I know Ben wants to add anything about that, but they were very open for our visit and we enjoyed their tour and talking and seeing some of the students and and staff. Um, tomorrow night is the adult ed um, graduation. Students who earn their high school diploma through the school through the Urban Urbana School District 116. And I think there are 27 students um, participating and there were even more that graduated this year. So that's at the high school tomorrow at 5:30, I believe. Um, and then um, Tiger Market had another one
038of those uh, tasting opportunities um, this afternoon for our lunch during our lunch periods. Quest Foods came and made a macaroni bar. So, they made the macaroni and then we had all different options that they could add to the macaroni um to make it more nutritious and and a different taste as well. So, I appreciate uh the Quest Foods, Emily from Quest Foods to um help us with that and it was pretty tasty. So, I it was a good opportunity to learn and how to make different foods. So, anyone else? Yeah, Sher and I went uh went to Ready and not knowing what to expect, I was really pleased with the facilities and the commitment to the students. And it gives me a a broader sort of recommendation, I suppose, with with uh you know,
039with our kids that we have to place in alternative schools. I'll be able to speak to uh to that my opinion on that. But it was very pleasant to go. Yeah, they do a great job. Yeah, they really do. Anyone else? Oh, I just want to say the honors um night was terrific. It was really great to see the kids and what they received. I mean, it was one for the books. Our kids do good. Anyone else? Okay. Um, administrative reports. Uh, now we're going to get an update on our sixth grade center. Okay. So, that's Scott Walker and from IGW. So, John, that um if you could project the costs and then we and the construction. Perfect. All right, Scott, you can do whichever one you want first. If you want to do the
040construction timeline or the cost, this is up. We can start with that. Start with that. Yeah. Um, so if you remember, uh, we have a construction contingency which is used for unforeseen items during construction or things that need to be changed during construction. And for this project, we were pretty comfortable after all the abatement and the preliminary demo that had happened. So we actually reduced it to 5%. Usually we'd want to keep a little bit more than that on a remodel, but um so we had a million86,500 for our contingency and to date we've used uh 200 a little over 250,000 of that. So 835 or yeah 835,000 remaining. Um so we're in good shape on that. Um I think we've talked about you know maybe the furniture and equipment is a little more expensive
041than we thought. Um so we may be able to use some of that for to make up that difference. Um but generally we're in very good shape on contingency wise. I don't know there any questions on any details on that. Okay. Um if you want to go over to the construction update project remains uh on schedule. Um and we're slated to turn the building over uh July 30th, 2025. I think the only the only item the contractor has a little concern about is the finishing up the gym. Um because we got to get the mechanical systems going and then they got to bring in the wood and let it sit for a couple weeks to acclimate before they start the install. Then they got to install it, finish it and then they got to come
042back and do the bleachers. So that may be a little bit beyond that July 30th. Um you know I think school starts August 18th. So, we may be finishing up the gym pretty close to that. Is that going to interfere with like the city's uh inspections? No, it would be well, it would be roe inspections. Um, as long as we have the fire alarm and the sprinkler system and and all of that uh ready to go um you know, finished in the wood floor wouldn't be an issue for occupancy. And then also as part of that, they've um already seated the northwest uh corner of the site. So we will have some outdoor space um available and we'll also have the old the old gym available for um PE. So uh the new building addition
043is pretty well enclosed. They're still finishing up the brick on the outside. probably two, three weeks uh left on that. Um and then once we get all the masonry stuff out of the way, um they'll start on finishing up the site work, putting in the little parking lot in front and the the access drive. Um the existing building is really down to finishes and uh installing tack boards and chalkboards. And um we're actually going to turn over a portion of the existing building uh to bring in items that were stored, clean them up and organize them, particularly the library books um to get those all organized and ready to go into the library when that gets finished. So, um, and then the the solar project is installed and I think it's uh ready to be
044operated. Um, and the main power is onto the building. Um, well drilling is still in uh in progress for the geothermal system, but they've got a lot of the piping installed in the building and our heat pumps for the geothermal are on site. So, they're going to be starting to install those in the classrooms here shortly. Um, so right now we don't see any big hangups other than that that wood floor in the gym. So, okay. And then we had some p pictures to go along with um what Scott was sharing. And um John, it's kind of in presentation mode. So, if you want to pause at each kind of pause at it at each slide so Randy can talk about or Scott can talk about the photos would be great. That's that front entrance
045that you just saw the rendering kind of showing that um roof is on, but they don't have the metal around the edges or anything. Uh that's the library. You see the windows are in. Um they're starting painting the walls. Um, and they'll be getting the ceiling in. Ceiling in the addition is is started. Um, so they'll be working their way around installing the ceiling grid. That's the library looking back. There's a little sophet there that is above the circulation desk. Uh, there's the gym and the stage view there. We've got a movable partition on the stage so that space can be used for health classes up there. Uh lockers are being installed in the corridors. Each wing kind of has its own color for the and there'll be some accents elsewhere that pick up that
046same color scheme. Like the restrooms, you see the tile and we have an epoxy floor in the restrooms. So each each restroom is kind of colorcoded by the wings. Partitions are in and they're just getting ready to start installing plumbing fixtures in those restrooms. Uh that is a science lab and kind of a typical classroom view to the right. Um starting to install countertops here shortly. Most of the casework is installed. You can see they're starting to install chalk or whiteboards and techboards. Here's the science lab classroom again. That's the outside looking at the library. Just starting to install the uh metal roof on the library. And we did get a mailbag question this uh week regarding the um geothermal all of the little tubes coming out and so yes. So that we will be
047getting Yeah, you can they kind of make a little bit of a mess when they do it but uh looks like there's a bunch of moles out there in the yard. Are each of those little piles of antills or that part of the geothermal digging? Yeah, that's where they've drilled a well goes down about 300 feet. Um, and they loop a two, you know, down and the fluid goes through that to dissipate the heat or pick up the heat depending on the season. How many wells did they drill, Scott? I don't remember. Was it 70? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I think it I think 70 or 80. That's about right. It's a lot of them. It's taken them a few months to get them all drilled. Well, whoever in our public who took the
048time to send a picture to Kathy for the mailbag, you can see probably about 30 or 40. Yep. Um, in the photo that I saw. So, yeah, they're all kind of on that south side of the building. Y um, this is looking at the you see the library in the background and the gym, the stage kind of projects out there and canopy to the left. And that's looking at the entry canopy again. Okay, I think that's it. Um, John, I just sent you a solar video also that Randy was Oh, yeah. That was nice. I saw that. That was pretty cool. So, we thought we have it. We might as well show it. We just got it. While you're looking, can I just Yeah, you can say something. I'm so glad that you came and
049presented today because I know there have been worries, rumors, whatever that um the building won't be done on time. So, I'm so grateful to hear I'm to hear that it will be. I keep telling people I haven't heard anything different, you know. But um so I'm glad to hear it and I'm glad it's going out on television tonight. Well, and it's hard to tell sometimes when you just drive by the building because it doesn't look like it's finished, but it's not. But we're getting there. Anmani and I met with the fifth grade teachers yesterday to talk about um we have kind of this transition meeting where we wanted to hear what their questions were and what were the questions they were hearing from parents. And that was the main question that they were hearing from
050parents is is the building going to be ready? will they be able to get into the building? Um, and so we are planning a um a ribbon cutting day and um we'll also of course have a day Imani would like to Miss Carr would like to have a day just for the families and then a day for just for the public so we can invite the public in but then she wants to have a um separate day for incoming families and students. So, we'll set those dates very soon and be sharing them as well. Sounds like I don't know if you [Music] guys see all the infrastructure. [Music] Thank thanks for sharing that. That was pretty cool. Yeah. Anyone else have any questions or We have a one more update around staffing, but if you
051have any more questions for the facilities piece for Randy or Scott or I know Randy was going to talk about cleaning costs. Um that was a question we received because cleaning the cleaning costs weren't determinate um last May when we had our discussion around FTE and costs. So I don't know Randy if you want to do cleaning now that might be easy. the Sorry, I wasn't prepared for that. Um, while we're waiting, I just want to to say that we're all really anxious to see it and hope that we can get in there soon um whenever you it's safe so we can see some of these things in person. It's very impressive and it's something that I think our district is going to be very proud of. Yeah, I think we could certainly arrange a
052tour for board members if they would like or we like as Jennifer said, we'll have a ribbon cutting ceremony. Oh, yeah. In August, I'm sure. I I want to make a a comment. Um, just thinking back to the year 1989 when I was a freshman and we went to the high school, brand new high school and looking at the photos of the progress makes me sort of reckon, you know, hearken back to those days. My son's going to be going his first he'll be the first cohort there. So, it's just it's feel good. Feels good to have them going into a brand new building and they can sort of be the first first class. It's good. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good feeling. Yeah. So, I know in my notes I don't have the final cost
053for the cleaning bid, but I did I have it if you want. Yeah. Okay. Uh the final cost for the cleaning bid was 620. So, that was the final contractual cost we got from ESS. And we were kind of looking back at some historical data too. And um I think there were in like FY21 we found it was was it 101 101,000 approximately I believe in FY21 like the school year 2021 for WY when it was a school. And then we even looked like back in 23 when WY was last open and um it went down significantly, but then that was when we had to do an emergency contract. And so we were also kind of comparing it to some of the ele other elementary schools at that time and it was around like 93
054to 90,000 for some of the other elementary schools back in FY23. Yeah. some of the other buildings that we uh can compare it to. Uh Thomas Payne um in 2324 was uh 119,998 or998 um and in uh uh the year before that um it wasund I'm sorry the year after that is $131,352 uh dollars. So, it went up about 10% uh just in a year. Um we've kind of been seeing that with the um a lot of our cleaning stuff is uh a lot of stuff's gone up about 10 to 12%. Um luckily we're able we were able to lock the contracted cleaners into the three-year deal. So, next year their contracts are up. I expect to see them jump significantly because of just cost in uh u payroll, taxes, uh insurance, just everything for
055them is going to, you know, has gone way up. So, I know a couple of them have come to me and asked if you know, can we renegotiate or something for this final year? And I'm like, uh, sorry, we have a contract that we have to go by. So, um, I actually thought one of them might, uh, even say they can't do it anymore, but they're doing it. So, um, that's just, uh, like I said, the Thomas Payne numbers I gave you were for a similar size school to what the sixth grade center will be. Yep. About 72,000 square feet because remember we added 27,000 square feet from WY to sixth grade center, right? So, that is a big difference. Yeah. Any questions on that particular item? So it's costing us like $17,000 more to
056clean this building than if we had just replaced WY about I I think it's hard to look at because of COVID too. So like the the years were very different. So like sequentially it wasn't very consistent there for a while especially when we added in that um emergency contract year it cut the price like in half. So, it was hard to try to find like a what was the number and what did we anticipate the number being if we would have kept it online just because of inflation and then having that emergency contract. It seemed like we got a pretty good deal that year because it went from like 101,000 to like 53,000 in one year. So, it wasn't very consistent. So the 20 the 2021 year was pretty high and then it decreased drastically
057last year that that it was open open. Correct. Yeah. But it was different than some of the other elementary buildings and it was so drastic from two years prior. So it was kind of hard to give a a projection of what it would cost based off of those numbers. I would al like to note that um when this went out to bid this year for the sixth grade center um we did have two bids that were significantly lower than the one we had to accept. We had a bid of $82,000 and another one of $99,600. And um they were they didn't follow the bid specs so they didn't we couldn't accept their bids. And um I reached out to um ESS. They were they were the next closest bid. Um and they were at like
058$148,000 if I remember. Um and I asked them if they could uh look at their numbers and see if they'd come up with a something a little bit better for us so we didn't have to put it out to bid again and uh go through the whole process. And they uh came up with $118,620. Um, and we had to do that kind of to um give them a chance to get everybody staffed and um get the supplies and stuff like that so they could jump right into the building um maybe as early as July um to start cleaning some of the rooms that they that become available to us. And it really isn't accurate to compare the old WY with what we would have been cleaning because even if we'd remodeled WY as an elementary,
059we would have added a gym. we would have added um fine arts rooms. So, we would have been adding square footage anyway um when we brought the building to you know to the same level as the other elementary renovations. So, there would have been cleaning costs increase anyway, right? Just because we would have been adding square footage to that building as well. Typically do like a gym and four classrooms, five classrooms. So, yeah, the office would have needed significant um updates because it was very very small. So, Okay. And the last part of the update and Scott, we probably don't need you for this part, but you're welcome to stay. Does anybody have any additional questions for Scott? Okay. Thank you, Scott. Um the last um Angie had to step out. Her daughter is in
060the same concert that everybody else is running back and forth to the middle school for. um uh is the staffing implication pieces and staffing updates. So um you guys received an email from Angie um answering a few of member Hixon's questions right before this meeting. So um if you haven't read that, it's in your email right now, but Maryanne and I are going to kind of tag team and talk about um the financial impact from staffing. So, this is the exact same slide um from May 2024 um that we'd projected. Um again, it's hard to know exactly how much um something is going to cost because as you can see, most of our new teacher figures were um that $60,000 salary range. Um but in this situation when you know we are a union and
061we have a collective bargaining agreement and so when new positions are posted anybody can apply for them. Um and so we have had some um veteran teachers who have applied to be at the sixth grade center. Um, and so their salaries, of course, because they are veteran teachers who have been in the district a really long time, are not going to be the same as a $60,000 new teacher would be. Um, and so, um, the tradeoff is if a veteran person moved here, then that means a vacancy opened up someplace else and, um, we'll probably be getting a newer person into that position. So, it is it's really hard um when you're projecting like that when you know when you have a a veteran for instance, maybe we had a a really experienced librarian who
062applied and um has lots of years in the district where they're going to make way more than $60,000, but they're opening that they vacate in another building um might have that new um have a new librarian who comes in and also makes that amount of money. So, it is kind of a trade-off. Um, and in this instance, um, we did have some veteran folks who applied for some of these positions. So, we have some people who are not coming in at the $60,000 mark. Um, but when we compare what we had last year to where we are, so we'll go to the next slide. So, these are the actual positions. Um and again uh just for the sake of um because a lot of people know who was here and we want to protect the
063privacy of our um teachers. We didn't list their exact salaries. Um but we did put kind of what we budgeted. Um so as you can see I think the first one um that member Hixon brought up in her email was the um principal. So originally we were going to have Mr. Cooper um or whoever was at the middle school would be the supervisor for both campuses. Um but the more that we talked about that related to teacher evaluations um having one person trying to go back and forth between buildings to evaluate staff um it became kind of problematic. We also um as we prepare preparing for the sixth grade center and having conversations with Isby and with Skyward um to talk about our new RCDTS codes and our new grading, how we how we're going
064to put grades in, all the things that we needed to do um logistically. Uh it it just became really apparent to us that one person could not supervise both of these campuses. So, um, at that time we were going to have a principal, a, um, at one point we talked about having a building administrator and two deans. Um, but then at the end of the year, we ended up with building administrator, assistant principal, and dean. And so that is where we are right now. Um the change is um because we hired Immani Carr as um the building administrator um her position was vacated um and another person was is um coming in for that role. Um and then we hired a um new firsttime um AP for the role of the sixth grade center. So,
065um, a teacher who has many, many years of experience in our district is going to be stepping into the role, um, as assistant principal here. Um, we had already talked about having a building secretary and that position is, um, currently vacant. We have one person who is moving over from the sixth grade center, which we'd already anticipated. Um, we have a media tech position, um, which we have a new hire. We have uh a librarian position that is still vacant, but there is lots of interest um from new and veteran people. We have um PE. So, we had two positions um planned for the sixth grade center. So, we have a new hire there and a vacancy. Um general music, we have a new hire. You got he he was here today. Brandon um is
066going to be actually general music slash choir because um Brandon has that skill set. So um we're going to be able to get two for the price of one there kind of um because Brandon is so awesome. Uh we did not have intervention teacher. It was one in one of our earlier postings we had an intervention teacher um but when we ended in May of 24 we did not have that on the 24 FTE budget. Um but that is something that um based on the needs of the incoming fifth graders um transitioning from CKLA which are is our uh literacy um ESL um program and transitioning into the Hoot Mifflin HMH. Uh we really felt like we needed a intervention person here. So that is a uh position that is going to be here that
067is was not on the 24 FTE list. um art. Um I think there was in Jennifer's email there was a question about art thinking that we'd added um more. The plan all along was to have three um art FTE. So we had two um at the middle school last year. We kept two um at the seventh and eighth grade center and our plan was to hire one for sixth grade center and that's what we um had have done. We had a tenure um longtime art teacher in the district who took that position. Um dance and drama uh was a um a new elective that we were going to be offering at sixth grade. Um and that is going to be a new hire. It is a new hire. Um and they will be working with
068our with Carara and um this dance and drama teacher at the seventh and eighth grade building. kind of have some continu continuity for the program. Um and then initially we talked about having a 0.5 nurse be added. Um and what we've done is um there has been some attrition within the nurse department and we've met with Amy Marx, our district nurse. And so right now the sixth grade center is going to be covered um through current staffing and they they're shifting around um in who's traveling and who's doing what. So we will not be adding that 0.5 um as we discussed in 2024. So um that is a basically because we didn't have the 0.5 nursing and we added the 1.0 intervention it comes out to about a.5 FTE difference. Um, and so that's the
069number that you see calculated over to the side. Maryann, anything that you wanted to add that I didn't I think you did a really good job. I'm here for questions. I was going to look at Angie's notes that are in your email to see if there's anything I was going through. I think you hit most of it. Okay, perfect. Oh. Um I know one thing that we were going to address because I've heard it as I've heard lots of the other rumors floating around is um the additional um staffing needed for uh grades 5 through 12 for um the music department. So, um, one of the thing, one of the reasons our sixth grade center timeline was a little shorter than we expected is because we found out right as we finished, uh, design and,
070um, all the work that we done that the band and strings um, fifth grade classes were really, really large. So, we had to go back and increase the size of the band room um, in the sixth grade center building to accommodate more bodies and more students. Um, so the fact that that program has been growing, um, we were going to have to probably add, well, not probably, we would have been adding FTE to the, um, music department anyway, um, to accommodate just the growth across the board, I think, um, in grades 5 through 12. So, we did add a band and a orchestra teacher, but that per those two positions are not going to be um, just at sixth grade center. Those two positions are going to support the whole program through grades 5 through
07112. So, there were two additional um music department ads, but that's for the whole department, not just for sixth grade. I'll comment on the custodian. Oh, yeah. We had a WY had a custodian and when the we decided to close down the building, we absorbed that custodian into our um group of custodians and kind of had that person as a uh floater or uh he went between the high school and middle school lot whenever they had extra events or needed extra support. Um that person just did that stuff until we got this building back up and going. So that person will just move over that position. there won't be that person, but that position will just be moved over there. So, we're not we don't have to hire anybody new for that. We had custodian
072on a really early projected list, but the one that we had from May 2024, there was no custodian because that person stayed with us and we knew we'd be moving them back to WY once back to the sixth grade center from W from WY. So, the the positions that were listed in the new position position, you know, the the hiring, um, there were five that were listed. Sixth grade center, there was a dance and drama, general music and choir, instrumental music, instrumental m uh, instrumental music strings, instrumental music band, and media tech. and only two were listed on the sixth grade center costs. And you're saying that that's because So if you go back, John, to the the May this the May 24 slide is that this I just copied this slide right out of
073that presentation from May 2024. Yeah. No, what I mean the you gave us a list of people we're going to approve to hire. Oh, yes. Okay. the personnel sheet. The personnel sheet. Okay. Thank you. And there are five teachers on there listed as for the sixth grade center and they they're listed as new position. All right. And um two of them are accounted for on this May 25 financial uh statement for the sixth grade center. Okay. But three of them are not and I and that's because they're they're going to not totally be so that's the sixth grade center. Yes. So that is the two addition. Uh we were going to um Mr. Hicks actually asked for a third position as well. He asked for a choir teacher. Um, so we kind of had the
074choir teacher on hold um until we saw the elective numbers and how many students signed up for choir and um as you heard Kira Marie say, we need to do a little work and kind of growing our choir program at the elementary level to get our choir numbers um higher again at secondary. So, we didn't post for that choir position because um the the the numbers weren't didn't warrant having a um additional choir teacher added to the department, not just for the sixth grade center. So, yes. Um so, the way Mr. Hicks does it is it is a huge puzzle piece. So, these folks will only be coming to the sixth grade center and they'll both only teach two classes. So, they'll be sixth grade. So for band um for instance, they'll be sixth grade
075band um beginning band and sixth grade continuing band. And so the rest of the day they're going to be doing something else. So they don't have a full teaching load. They're not going to be teaching seven or eight classes at the sixth grade center. So they'll be they'll have their two sixth grade. So the orchestra person will have sixth grade beginning orchestra and sixth grade continuing orchestra. And then the other part times of the day they might be at doing orchestra or going back to fifth grade doing fifth grade strings. Um so those addition additional positions were were for the department not just for the sixth grade center. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It I think the paper said sixth grade center. So that's why I asked. Well, the way we have to do it to track
076the budgeting for budgeting purposes and to track the pos the FTE and the money is we assign um the person to whatever the posting was. So, the posting was listed as a um sixth grade center posting when it was posted and when they interviewed. So, this person who I don't know who they are, Jacob Archie was interviewed um and right you see how it says middle school instrumental music teacher but the FTE was was generated as a new ad from for the sixth grade center but that person's title is middle school instrumental music. So that means they will partly be at the sixth grade center. They will probably uh be traveling over to the middle school as well. So, those are the only positions that are really going to be true travelers is the music
077folks. They're going to travel quite a bit. Okay. And the salary for the principal, that wasn't listed in here. So, um, we can share that with you via email. Well, I don't need to know the exact salary. Well, because No, that's personal. We approved her a while ago. Um I know but but it's not listed as part of the extra budget for the sixth grade center. I I think that's because of the so the assistant principal that's what was originally included that 90,000 was anticipated but since Miss Carr is coming and that is the new position and then my understanding is is that the middle school is not going to have the same amount of FTE. So, the middle the AP is going to be at the sixth grade center, but there's not going to
078be the additional FTE at at the the middle school. At the middle school, I understand. So, this really it's not really an ad. So, really the ad is the principal. Yes. It really wasn't the AP. Okay. Okay. So, this should really say principal here. Yes. That's why we updated staffing. That's why we're saying we're trying to say like all of it at once. So, it's the current AP slashprincipal is what we're trying to clarify into that little box over there. Okay. But it's it's very hard. There's a lot of words over there. So, sorry. But that's what we're trying to convey through that that really we're anticipating the principal salary and not the AP salary in that because the AP salary would have been Miss Carr's salary currently. the FTE the position was already at
079the middle school but that position now is being moved to the sixth grade school. Yeah. Okay. And that person is a very young new administrator. So yeah. So the salary will be comparable to that. Well, I was asked a question about art because um an art teacher was moved from the high school is what I was told to the middle school and there was some sad sad feelings about having to possibly cancel the upper level art classes because of this. Mhm. And that some people felt that this was because we because we needed more art at the sixth grade center. So therefore, we moved somebody from the middle school to the sixth grade center. So we moved somebody from the high school to the middle school. So the plan all along was to have three
080art FTEEs for sixth, seventh, and eth. And so we have one as planned and then um two still at S. Okay. And one was moved from the high school. That wasn't to that was um because of a Yeah, it was more of a reassignment to an opening at the middle school. So now we don't have to post for that opening. We have a person experienced person from the high school who'll be there. We don't have to worry about having a long-term sub in that space. So, but the I do worry about the upper level classes at the high school being curtailed. We've had what I've been told is that we have had five students actually leave here and go study at the Art Institute in Chicago, which is actually at the school of art and
081design in Chicago. That's true. That's quite an honor. Mhm. And um without those upper level courses, you know, will we will we be serving those students? So it's a great question. Um anyone else? I mean this is a huge commitment both in terms of our capital budget and in terms of our operating budget. So it's important for us to have a transparent discussion and update on this. So, I want to thank administration and Scott uh for putting all this together for us. One last opportunity to to ask questions. Go ahead. Um I don't have a question. I just hope that it will we'll continue to have updates for our next um meetings through June for about the sixth grade center. Yeah, it doesn't have to be just I don't know that we'll have much to
082add other than just pictures of the building or Yeah, just an update on how we're going and Sure. any any concerns that we might have. Okay. Okay. Any successes? I don't think the FTE will change very much. What you see here is what they're kind of doing in terms of hiring, but yeah, as we get more pictures, we can bring more pictures through the month of June. Just an update through the progress. Absolutely. Okay. All right. That ends our administrative reports for the evening. Uh we do have a set of action items. Uh first up on our consent agenda are minutes from the March 25th district parent teacher advisory meeting from the April 15th uh business meeting from the April 29th parent teacher Paul sorry you want me to do the summer I totally missed
083that I jumped ahead. I was trying to find my agenda. I was Thank you for correcting me. Yes, summer projects. There's a lot to do this summer. Thanks, Randy. Um, I provided a brief summary to the board of our object objectives for the summer regarding the summer working cash and uh the on and m budget. Um, in addition to the items that were uh provided for you guys, um, we'll also be addressing some of the stuff for our uh, 10-year plan. Um, I'll just start with uh the adult education building. This building right here. Um, we're possibly going to put a new roof on it uh for the cost of $215,000. Uh, Dr. Martin Luther King, we're looking at uh um uh we have a lighting issue on the north side. Uh we have to
084repair that. And then uh possible heating and cooling upgrades. If you remember when the uh guys were here from GHR and they talked about the um we have a chance to spend like $35,000 and uh get all that money back right away and um uh cost savings. Um that's with uh uh GHR taking all the amaran incentives directly to them. Otherwise, it would be like$170 or $180,000. And so they're they said they would be willing to take all the incentives and our cost would be $35,000 to do that upgrade. So that's something we're going to look into and see if it's still possible to get that done this uh summer. Um if not, we might look at doing it uh maybe over winter break or even the uh whenever we can work it in. I
085don't think there has to be a shutdown for it, but um I'm not sure exactly what the whole project will entail. Uh at Dr. Preston Williams, um we have to add closers to every door at a cost of just a a cost of materials is $20,000. And um then we're looking at doing some restroom upgrades for DPW. And that would include like uh um uh different flooring, put an epoxy flooring over the uh old tile that's in there. Um a painting uh upgrade, go from that peachy color that's in there to uh uh something a little more um updated. And then uh looking at the sinks, the sinks would not be included in that $75,000, but um we're looking at trying to do something with the sinks. Um at the facilities department we have our
086cold storage building um that's been rotting away for the past uh quite a while. Um all the way around the edge of the building at the bottom you can um there's holes and critters are getting in there and causing a mess. Uh at first student we have some window repairs to do. Um they asked for us to do some concrete work and I haven't been able to get with them to see what concrete work they were talking about. And then um we will actually do some uh black top patching, seal coating and striping. Um Leo Elementary, they are uh um wanting a washer and dryer installed and they're wanting it installed in their basement. So, it's going to be kind of um you wouldn't think it cost that much to install a washer and dryer,
087but by the time we have to run power um and uh figure out where to get the hot water from um it's going to the cost, you know, significantly higher. Um we got some uh plans to do some stuff to the outside of the campus over there. Um I talked to the principal and assistant principal and they've given us some ideas of what they'd like to see done this summer. And then um uh there's also a room that they want to kind of change over there. So we're going to do that for them. Uh Thomas Payne, not too much to do there. It's a newer building. Uh we've already uh began adding some trees and then uh have to do some tuck pointing at door number two. Um in the uh library at Thomas Payne
0882, there's a um exit sign that needs to go. There wasn't one put in there during construction and uh we just caught that this year. So, we're going to have to we'll install that and that'll be done uh inhouse so won't be too costly. Uh early childhood, we've been talking to uh the principal down there um about doing some playground upgrades. uh working with a playground company right now um that's offered us some significant uh um discounts especially if we if we're able to do it in the winter and then uh we've also as we have some concrete repairs to do over there and we also want to do some uh work on the landscape over there as well. Urbana High School um flooring, uh Walk of Fame lighting. Uh currently there's can lights at
089the Walk of Fame fame, but over half of them are out. And we got a price to replace replace the can lights, and it was $28,000. So, we're going to go with a much cheaper version of $2,000 and attach lights to the poles that will shine down onto the Walk of Fame plaques um and do away with the two or three can lights that are working. Uh we also have um upgrades to the welding shop um for a cost of $7,000. um Urbana Middle School. Uh we're going to replace the uh front entrance kiosk there at door one. Um and that'll include moving the metal detectors, uh new flooring, um something else there. Uh I think uh Dr. I Tatum had some ideas for u uh some signage and stuff around the the front door
090area. Um, and then we're also getting a new walk-in refrigerator and freezer for the food service for $100,000. $107,000, sorry. Uh, Yankee Ridge, we're going to be plant some trees. Uh, maybe work on the landscaping a little bit. Um, we do have a classroom addition going in uh to the library workroom and um I've got the just received all the numbers for that and by the time we do the um the general contracted work and then uh plumbing, electrical, painting, flooring, we're um I think we're going to be right around $100,000 for that project. Um, we're in the process of converting the old stage, which was a storage area, uh, into the library workroom, and that's the room that we're moving out of the library as their workroom. Uh, we got that set up pretty
091nice. We're going to put a TV down there, a table, and some chairs so they can go down there and have meetings if they want to, and um, the teachers can go down there and pull out their materials as needed um, from the literacy library. Um, also down at the down by the library, classroom four and five, uh, the uh, plumbing and the countertops in there are set up for uh, the older kids, and we're going to change those over so they fit the kindergarten age kids. Um, and that'll come in at about uh, $15,000 with cabinetry um, and plumbing, sinks, and faucets and stuff. Uh districtwide, we'll be cleaning and waxing all the gym floors, um black top overlay and patching, seal coat and striping, uh concrete and curb repair, and then general painting
092and touchup of all the buildings. So, kind of a busy summer. Yeah, it's a lot to do. Moving all of the the entire middle school. Uh we'll be touching every room in there, unfortunately or fortunately. Um, and then moving one-third of that building over to the sixth rate center. That's a lot. Any questions? Um, I have a question. The washer and dryer at Le. So, um, the the PTA or somebody is buying the washer and dryer and Yes. and we're just installing it. Yes. Um, I have to say King School used to have a washer and dryer and it was wonderful for families, um, for students. I think that's a really good idea. Um, and there had been an a news item on one of the local channels about a local school district. I don't
093know if it was Danville or um but they put a lawn free laundromat in like the high school and um homeless uh students, parents could I I thought it was really a great idea and I'm just saying, you know, something that we could think about because it's so helpful to families and it's therefore more helpful for the students learning and for all the students in the building. Um, another question. I had sent you a message about not being uh the community not being able to use the track this summer and I did what you said and emailed um Waller Steve Waller and but I haven't gotten any response. Do you know um people have asked me if there were problems with the community using the track in the past or if there were ways to
094um ameliorate whatever the problems were and allow some use. So are you going to read that? I was look I was going to look for the email that he sent me. Yeah. So he and I talked about it. Um and so what has happened is um there has been uh extensive use from club teams and um um other schools coming over and using the track and um it has um just caused more wear and tear on the track and we've had we have it is time to redo the surface again and having another spring of having uni and a U ofi club and they're about three clubs and teams that come over because it's public use. They'd already started calling and saying, "Hey, when is the public use time so we can start coming over
095and using your track?" And when we don't have supervisors there, um we'd had uh equipment being broken. Because our equipment sits on our track and we lock when we lock the gates for our students to use. And because it's sitting there, um those teams that were also coming over and using the track during public use time, they were also using our equipment. And so we also had a lot of uh wear and tear and loss of equipment last um spring. So that was um one of the issues and um trying to remember what the I think those were the main things. Yeah. Just their way of skiing the rental fee. Yeah. And just we don't have the funding to pay for supervisors to be out there after school hours. Um we are also looking at
096I just realized they didn't have this on the uh list. We are also looking at uh resurfacing the track this year. Yeah, we do have to. It is up for resurfacing and we were afraid with the amount of use that it would get from these teams coming in because we don't have anyone there to supervise. So, if we say public use time is from 4 to 6, we don't have somebody there supervising to say to the club team, hey, sorry you guys can't come, but the folks from the neighborhood come on in and walk. And so um that is that was basically that was basically it is we need a new we need to resurface the track and the use that it would have taken um the beating it would have taken from all the
097teams coming over and using our our free public track times um would have really increased our cost when it's time to replace the surface and the equipment. I think we have like 60 broken hurdles um and that's pretty much come from summer over the past year, not just one year, it's multiple years, but right because the hurdles are accessible um and they're out there. Um not even just that, just the pit equipment, just all like our guys then are coming in and cleaning up behind people that are not our students. Um you know, when they have to come in and clean the track area. And so we've even had years where um people brought their bikes out there and rode bikes around the uh track thinking it was okay to do that. And the Bikes
098aren't good for it. No, no, that wouldn't be good. Have we thought about renting it to these teams? It is available for rent. That's their way of skirting around the rental fee is by doing it during during the public time they open. They have their practices during this time. They they plan their practices for that purpose only. So, they've been planning practice time for our public use hours. So, and not paying rental fees. That's that's we have to we should look into that. Yep. Just a little. Well, thanks for that update. Any other questions? All right. What about using like the pathway at Thomas Payne for the the walking the Sandy Cooper Memorial Walkway? Yeah. In the back. Yeah. We purposely made that as close to a quarter mile as what we could so the
099they could keep track of their laps as the like students went around or whatever. But yeah, They could go in there. Good idea, Lindsay. Yeah. Are they putting a fence up though to block that because I've seen like stuff up or is that just to keep them away from the trees that were planted? No, that's the um admin from the building asked us to try to put up some sort of barrier to keep the kids from running. If they could see uh like a temporary wall there, they thought they would stop from going all the way over to play in the trees or to just go play out further in the grass. So, we put up a kind of a rope fence is what they asked for. Um, so that's what's there right now. And
100um I don't think it's uh where the rope where the fence is currently where they have us put it. Um we wouldn't be able to put up a the a fence there because it would block off the track. So, we would have to go on the the walk path. So, I'd like to if we do ever do that, I'd like to go on the back side of the walk path. and they think that's too much area for them to have to run. So that's why that you've seen that ropes stakes and some concrete barriers and some rope. We also have the wellness center where um residents can go and walk there. So that's a great option that we haven't had before. Anyone else? Thanks so much, Randy. We got a lot to do this summer.
101Very busy. That is our last administrative report for this evening. Uh, next up are our action items. Uh, first on the consent agenda are our minutes from the March 25th district parent teacher advisory meeting, the April 15th business meeting, the April 29th district parent teacher advisory meeting, the May 6 study session. Uh, 11.2 are bills and checks. Uh, education fund bills for $1.7 million, operation and maintenance fund bills for $273,000, transportation fund bills for [Music] $286,000, working cash bonds for $2.3 million, uh, school facility oxy tax for $108,000. Um, tort for $49,000, life safety levy for $46,000, payroll salary and benefits for $4.8 $8 million and Urban Adult Education for $102,000. Uh there was a long list of personal items in our packet as typical for this time of year. Um that needs to be
102approved by the board. 11.4 is an administrative personal item uh that also needs to be approved by the board. 11.5 are interfund loans. So, we're moving uh a loan from uh working cash to transportation to for the amount of $400,000 and working cash to IMRF for $200,000. And lastly, there's a resolution authorizing uh the proper disposal or sale of property. Um these are library books from Leil and Yankee Ridge multicultural v variety of technology, laptops, all-in-one desktop computers, hard drives, tablets, and Chromebooks. a 2002 Mazda 626, a 2007 Blue Lacrosse, wide variety of curricular materials, a Gerber, and uh grades one through five Second Stepcl kits. Does anybody wish to have any one of these um items on our consent agenda moved off of the consent agenda? If not, the chair would entertain a motion
103to approve the entire consent agenda. So moved. Second. Any further comments or discussion? Roll call, please. Member Hixon, yes. Member Amarabu, yes. Member Jones, yes. Member Langdorf, yes. Vice President Baxley, yes. President Palowski, yes. First up are our individual Next up are individual individual action items. I am stumbling tonight. Uh, first up are gifts. Rosemary Buck from Urbana donated $100 to Urbana Adult Education. Anne Hoops and Sarah Flesner donated through Champagne Urbana School Foundation $11,172 for new marching band percussion instruments. Uh donation was in the memory of Richard uh Cognel. Um is there a motion to accept the gifts and send out appropriate thank yous? So moved. Second. Any further comments or discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 12.2 two is uh fiscal year 26 salary allocation for non-UN support
104staff administrators. So this is this happens every year. We traditionally give uh a raise to our administrators and non-un staff that is akin to uh the raises that are contractually uh obligated to uh UEA. That's typically what we do every given year. I believe that the increase this year is going to be around 400,000 $350,000. Yeah. Oh, no, sorry. It's um $350,000 from the ed fund and 66,000 from ONM fund would cover the the the cost the whole thing or what? Just the fund. So the the the the total is around [Music] $416,000, but 350 of it comes from the ED fund. 66,000 comes from O andM fund. So like it's probably for our the people who work in operation maintenance are are going to be budgeted from that that pool of money. No, one
105thing to apologize for. I kind of stumbled through it. Is there a a motion to Is there a motion for the floor? So move second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there questions, comments, discussion? I have a comment and that is our teachers in their sal we generally tie these salary uh the salaries to the 4% or 3% that the teachers are getting. But the teachers do not all get 3% or 4%. The the um teachers who have been with the district the longest and have the highest salaries usually do not get the full three or 4%. They get less and teachers at the lower end get a little more. And I think when we discussed this last year, I thought that that should be done with um I don't know if you call it
106all all the central office people also um I don't know if that was ever discussed but I mean uh three or 4% is a lot bigger of a big number is a lot more money than three or four percent of a smaller number. And um I I'm going to say it. I don't know if it's too late to do that now, but I think that in the future, we should be looking at that. We don't have a lot of money. CPI this year, right now, is 2.9%. So a 3% raise is basically giving our administrators a cost of living increase, which everybody in the country deserves and should get. Yeah. The way this implemented, at least in past years, is is it isn't across the board 3% increase for every employee. It's it's an increase
107in the budget allocation that the that the superintendent then can uh apply to to meet market rates for certain classes of employees too or for certain individuals as well. Yeah, this is not across the board. Everybody's getting this correct. full of money that's been out there. Yeah. And and and administration given discre discretion um to apply that but not to exceed the budget. So the that number is figured is going to be figured off of the average increase of 3% which is just barely over CPI right now. Right? So it'll be 3% based on total salary of adding all the salaries of all the people together and then some people will get more than 3% and some people will get less than 3%. Is that I mean I don't I don't know if I'm following
108the question. I'm sorry. So will you repeat it again what you want the what I'm saying is if you if okay I'm somebody working and I'm making um $60,000 a year Sherry's working and she's making $100,000 a year. My 3% is much less than Cherry's 3%. And that is kind of how the teachers contract generally works. There's a three or 4% raise, but not everybody across all of those cells gets the three or 4%. The people at the higher end generally get a a lower percent and the people at at the lower end generally get I would think a little bit higher percent. I haven't looked it varies from contract to contract a lot but I mean in general what you're saying is true that the the lower salary people get typically would get a
109higher percentage than the higher salary people but that's not always the case. Sometimes it depends on it sometimes it depends on the individual step that's being taken. That's exactly right. It's very complicated and on ex that's exactly right. But um what I'm saying is my question was the 3% is based on the adding all of the salaries together and then you say okay um we've got x pot of money based on 3% of a million dollars. I don't know what it is, but 3% of a million. Yes. The 350,000 came from me taking the ed fund and saying applying, you know, the three or 4% based off of what category that person's in. That would be an approximate amount for that pot of money. That is a correct statement. So, but but then Dr. Ivory
110Tatum would go in. Is that what you're asking? And then Dr. Ry Tatum can go in and say this person's getting 3% but this person's getting a 3.5%. Is that your question? Based off of that pot of money, is that what's happening? Yes. So, basically when we negotiate the contract with our union, we have um steps one through whatever it might be. And at when we negotiate that contract, we make a decision. do we want to pay the first 10 steps more because we want our salaries to be more on par with the district surround us. Um, and I believe this time, um, we also wanted to take care of the people in the middle because we wanted to, um, make sure that we were retaining high quality staff. And for the last, um, contract
111or two, we'd put the majority of those increases at the top um, at the, you know, step one, step two, step three to get us up to a higher starting salary raise. So the same thing happens on the when you look at the range for the teachers there inequities across Sure. So we have teachers we have teachers in our district who make as much as administrators because they've been in the district for a long time and they make $120,000 or they make you know $99,000. So we have teachers that are at that level as well. So we we have to make decisions um when we're looking at the salary schedule in a negotiation cycle and say where do we where do we need to get the most bang for our buck. Do we need to
112be increasing our salary to keep to in to attract people um because for instance Champagne incre is they're going to be negotiating before us which is unfortunately always the case. So they're going to be negotiating right now and have a new starting salary. Um whereas we won't start negotiations until October, November. So we always are looking at where can we start our you know first year, second year, third year. So we do the same thing. So even though it's an um average increase for teachers of 4.45, that 4.45 might look different if you're in the first 10 years or if you're in your middle years or if you're at the higher higher end. So, Jennifer, do you care if I chime in with something, too? Yeah. Okay. So, just to give some context since we
113have some new board members, too. Um, typically the admin raises follow what we give the teachers, the average rate, but we also recognize that we want to be able to make sure that we have money um left over. The past two annual raises for administrators in unit 4 was 4.5%. And so with our teachers at the 4 point um close to 4.5 and then administrators being at the 3% is pretty close to CPI with the um the contract we can't we can't give our support staff more than that 2.87 um because that's what was negotiated. But for those of you who are around at the first year of the contract it was a very large percentage increase for our first year for support staff. Paul, do you remember what that increase was? I thought it
114was 16%. Which was a big raise. And so that's why it seems very small. And Jennifer, I understand what you're saying. Like our people that make the least amount of money, that 3% doesn't mean a whole lot. I get it. But right now that um you know, most people if if they know that they can go to unit 4 uh an administrator and get paid more over there for doing the same work like Dr. retatum or or somebody else, right? Um and then if we were not to offer raises for our administrators for their work and then they know that somebody across the streets giving a 4.5 raise, it just puts us in a bad situation to retain our administrators as well, which is also just to piggyback off of that, which is why we're
115doing a 3% for administrators and a 4% for support staff because we know that the support staff are coming in lower than our administrators already. So, There was a lot of conversation about how to be equitable and still ret still retain staff and be good stewards of Yeah. We also have something that was added to the contract uh two negotiations ago and it it kind of addresses your point too, Jennifer um about this the teachers that have been in the district the longest maybe that their raise percentage isn't as high but they can enter into the MOA3 which is the district um retirement enhancement program and if they give us notice for four years if they tell us when they're going to retire um for four years they get a constant raise of 5.25%. And
116that's real dollars. I mean, all of it's real dollars. I guess I shouldn't say that, but anyway. So, it's hard. I get it. This is a great discussion. Um, any other questions? Roll call vote, please. [Music] Member Jones, yes. Member Langodorf, yes. Vice President Baxley, yes. President Palowski, yes. Member Hixon, yes. Member Amar Marad Buu, yes. Motion passes. Sorry, the wrong page. Uh 12.3 is recommendation for insurance consultant change. Angie, can you provide context for the board? Sure. talking about making sure our staff have more money. This feeds well into 12.3. And so I'm welcoming our friend Jason Jared from USI. And he's brought other friends with him, Katie and Terish, um to propose something to the board to give more money back to our staff members in terms of insurance premiums. So for several
117years, to give some more context, and it might even be decades, um Jennifer and Sherry might have more of a timeline on this. The Urbana School District utilized Tom Brown as the insurance consultant to negotiate health insurance costs with various providers like Health Health Alliance, Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc. He also helped enroll staff members into insurance plans that best suited their needs and possibly their famil family's needs. And he'd also provide guidance and insight to the school district's insurance committee. A few years ago, Tom Brown retired and he sold his business, which was Brown Hobbs McMurray, to an insurance broker consultant company. um named Gallagher. For the past few years, we've worked with the insurance consultants at Gallagher. We do not pay Gallagher directly. Their insurance consultant fees are incorporated into the health insurance
118costs, which are then passed on to our staff members. We currently use USI as our broker for other insurance needs for the district, which includes workers compensation claims, property casualty, auto, cyber, pollution, schoolboard legal, etc. And so, um, as an insurance committee, um, we've been looking for the best insurance at the best price, um, to recruit and retain our staff members. The insurance committee is recommending a change to work with USI as our insurance consultant effective July 1st, 2025. As a side note, the fees are lower than those of Gallagher, and we believe the quality of service will be better. So, on behalf of the insurance committee, I'm um, one of the co-chairs. Sharon Foley is the other co-chair and UAA rep. We asked the board to approve the change from Gallagher to USI. We
119would be working with Jason Jared, Katie Walls, and Terish Catchings. And Jason Jared would be the lead who's at the podium right now. Should you have additional questions? Well, first of the board would need a motion from the floor to begin discussion. I move to uh open the floor for discussion on insurance control. Move. Yeah. So the requirement would be to to move uh make a motion to approve the the change and then if there's a if once the motion's on the floor officially then we can then we can discuss it. Gotcha. So I move to say it again now please. Just say so moved. So moved. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Okay. Now we can we can we can discussion ask questions. Any anybody have a has a question
120for for Angie or or for Gallagher or sorry for us? Sorry. Any questions? No. Okay. Then a roll call vote would be in order. Did you have Did you No, I just There be more. Yeah. Okay. Um, Vice President Baxley, yes. President Palowski, yes. Member Hixon, yes. Member Marabu, yes. Member Jones, yes. Member Langodorf, yes. Motion passes. Thank you guys. All right. Well, thanks for coming. Have a nice evening. Thank you. Uh there is no future special or executive meeting scheduled. So it's our time for our superintendence report. I put a piece of payday in my mouth. Sorry. Okay. Um so John, I don't know. Can you pull that? Was that Were you able to play that little video? Yeah. So today we did our very first grad walk and this is Oh, you don't
121have sound. I wish you had sound so you could hear all the kids in the [Applause] [Music] [Applause] DPW. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] get the idea. Yeah. 25. So, we stopped at every elementary school. Just let it play, John. I'll keep talking. We stopped at every elementary. We had 63 students signed up, but then I think when they woke up and saw that it might thunderstorm, they got they rolled over and didn't get out of bed since they're all done with all their requirements as seniors. Um, and so, pause it, John. Oh, you can't pause it. This was the cutest thing ever. So that young man went to Thomas Payne. Jackie Martin met him in the hallway and had the students do whatever the little TP pledge was and the song and just for him. It
122was so cute. Um but and then if you go back we actually stopped at WY because um at for the sixth grade center for the students who had been at WY um and they got out out of the bus and we stopped and they put up their WY W's. So it was really sweet. Um they really wanted to do that. So, we accommodated that. And this is a clip of um a second grade class at Yankee Ridge. Um the Yankee Ridge students made posters. And so, um our young folks had posters that they had um to take back with them from Yankee Ridge. And then, um the class made a special little we're so proud of you video that we put at the end of this. So, this is just our first time doing this.
123I've wanted to do it for a really long time, but it was um really appropriate to do it as we kick off our strategic plan and our portrait of a graduate. Um and the I just our you saw when they were going through the hallways at DPW just how everyone's faces were lighting up and um they had their own phones out kind of videoing on their own and um so it was just really a great experience for them. they felt really special and I heard a lot of the teachers as we were walking through saying that's going to be you one day and you know and just having those conversations with them. We even went to early childhood. We didn't know if we'd make it but Miss Madigan said you can't be this close to
124Dr. Williams and not come over and we had time. So we went over and we even walked um the hallways for the three, four, and five year olds. And so several of the students had attended early childhood when it was on Broadway and um they were saying, "We've never been in this building. It is so cool." And so that was really um really nice. So you can flip to the slideshow now, John. So this is Miss Jackson. Her son is a senior this year. So they got a special little picture. So um so yeah, we afterwards um if you go back to the Yep. So here are four WY students. they put their W's up and um we stopped at the middle school. We didn't walk around the middle school. It just takes that building
125is just so big. Um but we talked about it with the group and they felt like if there's a way we can um do it next year, they really do want to walk around. Um and so it was yeah, it was it was a really great experience. Mr. Guzman and I already have lots of ideas for next year to make it even even better and bigger. Um so um member Langodorf has already talked about our amazing honors night. Um we had almost 80 students recognized including our 46 for syllabi literacy. Um I counted in the program. So when my boys were there we had about two pages of scholarships and awards and when I sat down and I opened up the program it was four pages of scholarships and awards and recognitions. Yes. It was
126yeah over two hours. It was amazing. And so, um, these are just a few few pictures, but, um, just to see the num just the amazingness of our young people. And as Sherry said, um, you know, we have two people who are recognized. Um, Michael Turner, our former student ambassador, for getting a full ride from the Cameron Impact Award. And then Jaylen Johnson, who was just, you just saw her walking through the halls at Dr. Williams. She was a Dr. William student um who got a full ride to Rice um through the QuestBridge program. So just hearing about all the wonder wonderful things that our young people are doing and the awards from the department and the athletic awards, it was just a really great night. So we're we're doing some amazing things. We should
127be really proud of our of our kiddos. Um and then next is we also celebrate this is all about end of the year celebrations. So, our retirees. So, um you can see the the 237 years of service for 12 retirees. They don't always come to the dinner. So, this was the group who came to the dinner. So, you can see we have a couple people long lifers from central office who are retiring. Um we have some maintenance staff and custodial folks who are going to Ken retired a little earlier, but um Billy Young from S who we're really going to miss. Um, I don't know what we're going to do at S without Billy, but we'll get by. We have some related service folks. Um, social works, uh, speech language pathologist, um, ESL teacher, early
128childhood teacher, English teacher, Mr. Kaplinsky is retiring from, they recognized him. I went to the staff meeting yesterday and they recognized him. And, um, then Felicia Freeman who teaches our CNA program at adult ed. So, um, and early childhood teachers. a really wide range. But it is nice to see I told Paul 12 is a great number because you know right around COVID we had way more people retiring because of it was just really hard. Um so to see that number go down and not be in the 20s is great. That means you know we have people who are staying a little longer and um hopefully are satisfied and happy with the work they're doing in the district. But um we also want to make sure we always recognize our folks. These some of these
129people have spent their whole careers in our band that haven't worked anywhere else and that says a lot. So Angie, I don't know you want to say anything about that. Anything else about retirees? Nope. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. Linda Corbett's leaving. We're all sad about that. Um lots of history. So today, um I was over at Phillips with our executive intern. So, Miss Rosser is here on the left side. So, this is an amazing program and um something that we do that is just um really special to Urbana. So, this picture has our students plus their intern um placement folks that they work with. So, we had students at Prairie Research Institute, Habitat, Carl Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. We had a law firm um Tumlson, Byron, and Knox. Um we have uh people who are
130wanting to go into business. So the chamber of commerce had one of our interns Christie um someone at Sol Gracia uh Spurlock Museum Bald Dorado. So one of our young people is has been working at Bald Dorado. So these were the 14 um and it is just a really great program. I did want to give a plug. Um Miss Roser said today next year we are needing STEM film and law placements the most. So, if you know someone um or you know a business owner who is really interested in partnering with the district, she usually gets the interest from the students and just goes in the community and matches people up. So, um it's a great way to celebrate their um just their senior year and going off into their careers and college. So, and
131then lastly, lots of dates. So, we heard about the adult ed graduation is tomorrow night. um uhs graduation on Thursday. Um we also Tiger Academy um does a celebration for the students um kind of something special for them here. So they have their recognitions for their Tiger Academy grads from high school and um eighth grade promotion. And then all of our fifth grade promotions um eighth grade promotion is May 29th at 10. If you're planning to attend and you've not let us know, please do because they definitely hold spaces um for board members at S. And then the Gerber graduation um at 1 um is on May 29th. So that is it for the superintendent update. Thank you. Um there were a series of foyer requests that were published in our agenda that were completed.
132Uh the chair would then entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Enjoy graduations everybody and we'll see you in two weeks. Thank