Urbana School District 116 Board of Education 1 9 24

001start the study session Meeting of urban School District 116 roll call please member Haka here member Staten here member the audience please here member Baxley here member langendorf here vice president exom president palowski here uh there is a correction to tonight's agenda we are removing study topic 8.1 from our agenda this week it'll be on our next agenda Angie's GNA be a grandma so we're gonna tonight so so she couldn't make it so we're gonna uh do that our next meeting uh next up our citizen statements we have a number of them if anybody else would like to make a statement before the board please fill out a golden rod sheet and hand it to Lori Johnson first up tonight is uh David appollonio okay can you hear me hello my name is palon and

002today I'm just going to read a short thing and we Early Childhood Willam for mon for EXP for de members of the orand board education my name is David aalon I'm a ninth grade student of ran high school in the Dual language program today I am here to let you know something very important to me it's about my experience in the program since I began my lingual location in 2013 at rly CH I met my first friends in in the room of needless means classroom friends who are still my friends in 11 years later at the end of those two years in Early Education we were divided into two groups one went into Dr Williams and the rest went to the school this school taught me from kinder kindergarten to fifth grade and I found

003many wonderful teachers who taught me to read write dance skate sing art drama but I also spent special time and time and special ucation with fabulous therapists who did everything that they were to do with child who barely spoke due to diis of verbal anderic ADHD development dealing and other few things plus a child who could understand because he spoke was Spanish and some perents and some terp only spoke English as you can understand it's very difficult to me to concentrate but that does not mean I do not listen to what the teachers say or what I do not understand the difficulties that my teachers face every day in teaching us many times I saw my teachers worri because there was no material in Spanish or difficulties with the schedules in the music because well

004one teacher wanted to teach us a song in Spanish another says that the music room was busy with modual students and we ended up practicing in hallways in or in the classroom the B language of the other teachers towards always said more things than the words it made us feel as if we were students with contagious diseases yes they saw us with a little disgust my teachers always try to protect us by not telling us about the problem but we were children not furniture and of course we realized what was happening each of us could feel bad to BU of these people and the anger were trying to have us to share the space with us I heard some teachers talking about the Day of the Dead celebration and the friend that they wanted to

005put in school but also witnessed the lack of space to do it that became more event when I started fourth grade and we started skating on the gym there was really no more space the lack of understanding and rejection of our Traditions was some this obvious I probably didn't speak but I did listen and understanding what was happening around it is difficult to learn in two languages while watching your teachers fight for your rights and teach at the same time it is difficult to be a minority child in a school that does not know love you and sees you as an experiment we're not experiments we're a people we breathe feel learn laugh and cry just like other Student Of A different race today I ask you to be brave like my teachers and bold

006and favor for a new school a school my classmates feel completely welcome where the student does not where the Ste does feel like he belongs please do not allow something as superficial and selfish like the value of a house to determine the educational future of a children like me but one another thing is different is being bilingual children who we all ask good quality education like the one we receive now for our our school our school we all feel happy to study and happy to celebrate our traditions in our own space with Happy Teachers who not worry about the material available or in the room available for music practice I know that voting yes for a new school you'll be a legacy and your family members will be proud of your bra bravery always remember

007that children see and listen even to do not speak thanks for your time uh thank you thank you very much uh just as a reminder to the audience uh this board policy to allow for 5 minutes in each language that the person wishes to speak in so um that's why that was a 10 minutes address and next up is uh Kisha uh Riviera m interest cap [Music] comp com [Music] for appliance [Music] linguistic cont e for gracias and I'll will read the English translation dear board members my name is kesa Riva and together with a group of parents from Dual language program we address you with great enthusiasm conviction and commitment as dedicated parents invested in our children's education with the Dual language program we wholeheartedly support the establishment of a bilingual education school as

008parents and guardians of students within the school Community we wish to express our deep interest in promoting the development of a Bilingual School we aim for an educational experience that not only enhances the quality of content but also for it Fosters an environment where children can relate to the material and where parents can engage in the academic and personal success of the participating children we strongly believe that a bilingual education not only enriches our children's language skills but also provides them with a broader global perspective of the world around them we value language learning as a fundamental tool for Intercultural understanding and for the development of strong cognitive abilities this approach not only enriches their skills but also strengthens their ability to adapt and thrive in increasingly diverse and competitive interconnected World furthermore we recognize

009the importance of children feeling integrated and valued in their school environment an inclusive community where all students feel part of the school and are able to confidently speak the preferred language without fear of Ral is essential for the emotional wellbe and academic performance the acquisition of a second language from an early age has shown tangible benefits in academic development improving skills such as problem solving creativity and concentration additionally bilingual learning promotes understanding and respect for other cultures which is essential in in an increasingly interconnected world we also support the recommendations outlined in the study conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics in May of 2023 which was commissioned by the Urbana School District placing trust in the transparency of the process to gain a clearer and more reliable view of the program and how to

010enhance its functioning this study funded by the taxpayers money was comprehensive and confirmed by the confirmed the observations of many parents Guardians and members of the school Community wouldn't disregarding this study result in a substantial Financial loss for our children this money wouldn't be benefiting our children who are the direct beneficiaries of these funds we are willing to offer our time resources and time and resources to support activities projects and events that strengthen the connection between the school children and families we believe that this active collaboration between the school and parents is crucial for the holistic success of students empowering them in their learning and supported by a United school Community thus motivating them to achieve their fullest potential we sincerely appreciate your consideration of our request and encourage you to vote in favor of

011establishing a new dual dual model school we eagerly anticipate the possibility of actively contributing to bilingual Community where children can create grow learn and truly feel part of the educational Community dedicated to their success thank you for your attention to this important matter we are optimistic about the prospect of witnessing a flourishing Bilingual School in our community and we hope that this board will cast a vote in favor our children's education by voting yes for a dual model School sincerely a group of parents Guardians and caretakers thank you next up is Wendel Rodriguez Torres School leadership for AC [Music] k fr William or J SCH for my name is wend Rodriguez Tores I am a special education teacher ATS and USS I am a part of the ELA SLA program evaluation committee I am also

012a member of the multilingual leadership team within all this responsibility I have always had the same vision contribute to the academic development of dual program student and improve the program to offer quality service to our service to our community I believe in bilingual education because I consider this is one of the best legacies that a parent can leave to their children I come from Puerto Rico from Puerto Rico sorry where to offer bilingual education to our children we have to pay tution and fees in private school our student have the opportunity to receive free Bing education why not do it with the most effective model as research in the areas has shown change and transformation requires actions we cannot sit and wait for change we have to bring out the change for these reasons the

013staff of the Dual program ATS not the school B School District mobilized during the winter break to contact families and find out their opinion regarding the Dual K5 school I want to emphasize that our opinions or action on this matter do not represent Urbana School District our personal mission is aimed at offering guidance to parents of the Dual program and knowing their perspective on the implementation of the K5 model unfortunately we found many doubt and ignorance regarding what the bpac is or bpac is and about the K5 dual School model gu in our parent is a priority among the question we found parents who taught that the Dual school was a type of segregation this is totally false the monolingual Community will have the opportunity to be enrolled in this building we will even love

014to include both English Spanish and French English bilingual program in the same building I think this will be a a way to solve the problem the problem of lack of certified ESL uh teachers and another question is that student will not be able to attend their community school as the Urbana school district has established regarding this point Latino and French speaking student have never been able to attend their community school because no matter where they leave they will only have the option of Leon Dr William or juny Rich the Dual School model is not segregation it is a school specialized in bilingual education aimed and promoting the development of the English language and their native language bilingual education requir certified teachers techniques and a strategies appropriate for this student population we would like to share

015with you that during our aort we share information about the K5 dual model and interview T Latino parents telephone and test message survey were conducted with seven dual elementary school t-shirt surveys were sent via telephone and six no Hispanic parents in addition 56 students participating in the Dual program in high school were interviewed regarding their opinion about the Dual program in general the result were as follow 100% of Latino parents interview signed in favor of implementing the Dual five School five 100% of the Dual Elementary School teachers interview are in favor unfortunately only two no Hispanic parents complete the survey and did not have a position in the matter except except for question or comment that show a lack of orientation on the other hand 100% of the student interviews state that the Dual program

016has been beneficial and has allowed them to learn Spanish and English as a public employers we are called to serve our community our work must be managed by impartiality we cannot let our personal belief and conflict affect the decision that will affect the community so based on this small survey or only several days of only several days of work and the scientific Heritage in favor of the Dual model we ask you to vote in favor of the implementation of the Dual School K5 in Urbana School District thank you thank you uh next up is is I uh Ashley sorry I couldn't quite read that uh Remos Rivier could we get a copy of the sure and this goes this goes if anybody has uh the ability to email uh their statements to the board that's

017also appreciated that's board at usd116.org can you guys hear me will okay sorry so I'm here to talk about my experience with the L language program I really love to do a language program cuz I feel like I fit in for once since I came to United States I came here for my American dream and I struggle a lot with the other students who would not speak Spanish cuz as you can see I'm dark skinned and I also speak Spanish as a first language many students did not like this fact they would segregate me and make fun of me because I try to speak English and I would struggle a lot I started a lot when I speak and that traumatized me a lot I stopped speaking English for a while and then my Hispanic

018friends who speak both languages they were like it's okay that you can speak two languages that's that's better cuz you're going to do better you work harder because you're trying to fit in with other people the Dual language program showed me that it's okay to have two languages to be born with two languages Middle School was fine it was great I love dual language program my class is the first one to bring the Dual language program to the high school there were a lot of situations with the Dual language program in the high school because we didn't have teachers prepared for us to go to the high school what I mean by this we were signing out for our classes and in the process of signing out to our classes they give us a paper

019the paper was Spanish in one side English in another side Spanish side say you want to put your kids on the Dual language program and to shoot your classes okay the back side say sign here if you want to take your kids out of the Dual language program many parents do not speak English many students cannot translate for their parents either they don't speak English or they don't have time cuz their parents come late from work many parents sign not to take their students from the Dual language program my mom was one of them and a reason I found out about this because I was reading the paper on the back cuz I didn't know there was a back side I read it and I was like this is not right do you understand what

020does he say and my mom was like no I I expect that they I asking me I agree for it she don't know what it means she don't speak English move on to the high school how is it fair that I cannot have elective because I speak Spanish is it was either I get out the Dual language program what say on it and not have ative how is that fair towards me who is in high school preparing to college trying to figure out their life and not just me my other class classmates too many of us decided to don't go to the DU language program anymore because of that because they wanted to do elective but we couldn't choose them because our Spanish classes were count as elective which it should not be like that

021because it's our first language we supposed to receive help in our first language I have seen how many teachers have segregated me because my English is not good that hurts cuz I try just as any other student that only speaks one language I try we try really hard on a daily basis what about my cultural activities we can't have our cultural activities anymore we had tried and they keep taking being taken down that hurts me emotionally because I want to show my culture because I'm proud of my culture we are proud of culture everybody is but we can't show it because some people sometimes think that we are too aggressive we are not we're chose kids we try to be kids and since we started high school we all had to add like grown-ups I

022saw many of my friends had to quit school cuz it was either you study English only or you stand to do a language program and had no time I was one of the students that got the bilingual seal for speaking two languages how they did that process they show up one day to our class and made us sign up the day of the last day that you needed to sign up they didn't even give us a guide to study we didn't got a guide to study for the two exams we just went there they just throw us in there that's not fair for us cuz only five kids of the DU language prr managed to pass the Sam cuz we weren't prepared how is that fair for us I vote in favor to have this

023school cuz it's going to help my future kids that are going to come to the school cuz I would not want my kids to go through the same thing I did moving for another country to find the American dream and just to be treated this way that's not fair for us that hurts a lot my social anxiety went up and I get into a very deep depression because of it it's not fair for us SCH for School for thank [Applause] you uh thank you uh next up is Cassandra sorry AI aado uh can you guys hear me I don't know how to start it um my name is Cassandra Al Cassandra Maria Al amio I'm going to be talking about my experience with the DU language program for me the Dual language program has been

024good and bad it gave me a place where as a kid who did not speak English at all cuz that is not what I was raised at I'm my house I only spoke Spanish it was the only language I could understand and verbally talk to and having a place where other kids also spoke Spanish made me feel a lot more comfortable especially for a kid that was extremely shy antisocial and wouldn't talk to anybody it gave me a place and people that I feel related to it gave me a a comfortable place but with that came negatives with the education that I had I I went to Leo my first for kindergarten and then I transferred out I was the part of the kids when the program got too full that then got transferred out

025into Dr Williams with that it was a completely new process the first second to third I would say were okay years but then when I got to Fourth my entire class got completely behind because the teacher we had was not experienced and then going into fifth grade then my teacher had to teach me fourth and fifth grade stuff because the lack of what my teacher knew how to teach me that is something that I experienced especially in high school is having teachers who didn't have the process to teach me who I knew more Spanish than them how am I supposed to be learning when I know more than my teachers does that is why I'm in favor of that having teachers that can actually teach me that I can learn just my junior year is

026when I finally learned how to do Asos in Spanish a language that I grew up with cuz previously before that I was not taught and then also growing up with this it felt like I was an experiment a whole new school even though they already had it was trial and air that is what I felt even when I grew up into Middle School I would tell people when they'd be like do you want to be part of this speak I'd be like oh I've been part of one my entire life being a new being part of a new thing can be good but it also it also isn't being felt like sorry um take your time being part of an experiment and what I find so funny is that the DU language program was there

027and established I know because my my brother was went to also Leo and he's 11 years older than me and still he had a little bit of that knowledge even after he got out because there wasn't anymore he can still speak somewhat right in Spanish which is a skill that then he can use for his own career another negative that I have with the school especially High School is the classes the due language classes I was not even told that I wouldn't be able to pick an elective it was like oh you can get these classes and also this other classes I was not told that I would not even get an elective and then with that I would have gotten more credit doing AP Spanish than doing the DU language program which is a

028problem that I feel so many people talk about and why I feel that Elsa should be improved on yeah if if you can quickly finish up that'd be great can't sorry um and my last topic is just simply the biliteracy seal nobody explained to it I only took the Spanish portion because I was not told that I had to take the English portion in one of my class they came in and we took the Spanish AP test I still don't even have the scores for that so many students cuz it wasn't an it was you you just had to take the test it wasn't an option or anything for us and then to then not even get our scores back and then having to struggle with that so I feel I'm I feel that it

029should just be worked on sorry sorry thank you [Applause] SRA next up is Lua baldonado Lu I'm sorry I should B my glasses on um good evening my name is Lu Maldonado I'm one of the Latino leas in the district I had spoken to you in the past about my support for the uh unification of the Dual program and I'm here today convin that you will do the right thing and will vote Yes to a bilingual or or multilingual school over the last year you have heard many different opinions and points of view regarding this issue some of these comments some of the comments like the ones presented at the last board meetings seem to be only based on personal opinions even when they were presented as a result of conversations with families my colleagues

030already explained the reasons why we support bilingual education and the many benefits he will bring to have one Bilingual School I would like to use my family's experience as an example because my family's story is extremely similar to many of the bilingual families in our district and your vote tonight will affect or benefit them the most when my family arrived here my daughters were enroll at King School a students who spoke other languages at home received Support Services in the home language for an hour or less a day I didn't have the knowledge of the process to learn a second language so I didn't know if the services my kids were receiving were what they needed by the time my daughters were in middle school they started showing difficulty expressing themselves in a Spanish even

031when at home we only spoke Spanish the number of Spanish speaking students in the district was much smaller than now so my kids had limited opportunities to speak Spanish at the school or anywhere else in the community my daughter MIT had the opportunity to study in Mexico when she was in Middle School for a couple of years and that helped her regain some of the Spanish that she had lost paa on the other hand stopped speaking Spanish completely when she transferred to UHS English became their strongest language even when it was the second Lang language they learned paa had to take Spanish classes for Years After High School to recover our language when my kids were growing up they didn't have the opportunity to be part of a dual program but then Dr wil came

032along and the Dual program was created this program has given um Spanish speaking students the opportunity to maintain and grow their knowledge on their home language at the same time that they learned their second language among many other things at the board meeting last month Mr Ricardo Diaz made a made a strong but inaccurate statement that was that has been in my mind since he said and I quote the BAC feels that the Dual program is failing all the students that statement really bothered me to start I will say that it is very unfair to say that the statement was made by Pac members I personally talked to a couple of them and they were not aware that of the presentation and the contents of it surely the back the bpack members don't feel that

033all that the program is failing all the students last Friday I decided to spend my lunch hour at UHS talking to students who had been part of the Dual program and I asked two simple questions do you do you feel like the program has been failing you and has the program been useful to you at all I have here um names uh written by 38 students who are part of the Dual program who don't agree with Mr Diaz's statement they all say the program has been very beneficial to them um some of the comment that they've made where um I'm fully bilingual thanks to the program I learn Spanish in the program I love learning in two languages and bicultural I feel closer to my parents history and Home Country because of what I have

034learned I feel empowered to be able to speak two languages I'm going to have more opportunities in my life because of the program and because I'm bilingual to be fully transparent I will say that I also spoke with two students who Express not feeling like the Dual program was beneficial to them when I ask them to share more they talk about their need to learn English quickly they don't think it's beneficial for for them to learn any content in Spanish they only need to learn English these two students are't ACC company miners their needs are different and we know that we had been learning about their needs for years and we have developed support systems just to feed their needs last year I visited Guatemala and Honduras because I wanted to see where these students

035were coming from I knew that it was going to help me understand them better and I know Dr wil is already working on a plan to attend to their academic's needs better going back to my family my kidss are grown but now I have a 2-year-old grandson who hopefully will be coming to Urban School District in the next few years and will be in the Dual program I want him to be in a building where different language are are spoken encourag and value a building where he can use any of his languages freely a building where his family's culture will be appreciated and celebrated I want him to know that speaking two or more languages is a gift and I want him to see people speaking different languag is around him all the time my

036grandson and all the children in the community deserve deserve this opportunity and tonight you have the ability to take the first step in that direction by boarding yes to a one bilingual or multilingual school and I feel horrible that I didn't translate this to Spanish but I'm going to read it really quickly from the English version um SCH me Joe [Music] um for [Music] SCH thank [Applause] you we're we're about halfway through our list now uh next up is Anna Mendoza hello uh thank you um my testimony is about the French dual language program at Yankee Ridge I'm a university of researcher who's been allowed by the school Community to do research on the French Learning in the Dual language program so uh my testimony is about why it's important for this program to continue

037I know there's been a lot of discussion about it l lately um in my research I'm doing a long-term project to track a cohort of nine students um by doing weekly observations in their second and fifth grade year so I've just completed the second grade year um in 2023 and this summer I also interviewed 30 dual language program families about why they enrolled their children in the program so I'm going to give three important reasons for continuing the program uh first because students go through the whole program kindergarten through grade five with the same group of classmates and the class size is small it's a really beneficial learning environment for students with learning disabilities so uh by visiting the class weekly for five months I saw two out of nine students diagnosed with special learning

038needs be included and receive the individual support they needed one student with reading challenges worked with a bilingual reading specialist and improved in reading by Leaps and Bounds over second grade and the other student a boy with autism I was touched when the only other boy in the class reminded their teacher Madame Florance to save his friend a crepe when he came back from pullout tutoring so to come to my second point I believe that this family likee social environment in the Dual language program benefits not only these students but all students as one parent in my interviews put it it feels like a family so my daughter talks about her classmates in a different way than my other kids talk about their classmates I observed this special atmosphere during my class observations and I'm

039going to read now from my field notes so this is from a morning in January when the teacher Madame flance played a song titled vasim routine which is about the daily morning routine and I wrote the kids now familiar with a song sing along for certain phrases and are drawn to the rug by the time the chorus is sung the second time they're singing heartily Rema Beatrix princess and Lucas are dancing on the tape the rug the others join them Wendy dances as she erases the board for Florance as the volume dies down in a certain part it will get loud again she hugs Beatrix by now half the kids have held hands to form a chain and are swaying their arms Lucas says Beatrix Lucas and others join the Chain by the time of

040the third course students are really into it Lucas is shaking glor so much like a ragd doll only Rema chooses to dance alone singing in front of the screen at the end of the final chorus she runs in front of all her other classmates with linked hands and screams Wasim the last line at them but they are screaming it too when the projector Falls silent I hear panting this camaraderie cannot be separated from the shared experiences of singing reading acting writing and so forth in French thirdly I wish to speak what the program means for French versus English-speaking parents while English-speaking parents valued the immersion french-speaking parents value the formal instruction phonics grammar reading and writing that can only be offered in a schooling environment as one mother who asked for more books put it

041and I'll translate because us we only speak at home reading maybe a little prayer the Bible's in French but this is all the text input they get at home the mother says at school there are stories written in French they understand that it's not just us who speak this there are other people who speak French Madame laurance and and you too and Papa John and see the community they speak they are not alone in knowing this language parents can speak French with their children but they cannot provide the structured lessons offered at school these lessons I observed were well balanced between phonics grammar and spelling worksheets the whole language approach reading story books and practicing oral conversation and content learning in French like science lessons about animals in different environments so if Children See French

042as a language beyond the home they will see a reason to maintain it but they will not if the only place they are exposed to French is at home and so there are also two more benefits I will briefly share with you before closing first multilingual parents love it when American children learn other languages as one congales father said and I'll translate when I see the Americans the children of Americans speaking French really I smile ah I see the Improvement even his friends speak French the Americans truly I'm happy and second one french-speaking mother mentioned that her child's class materials were invaluable for teaching her English so there are unintended language learning benefits as well for the parents so I hope this program can continue for many more years and I will be able to

043return to see how my cohort of nine students is doing in fifth grade thank you for hearing my testimony I'm Anna mza in the Linguistics Department University of Illinois at Urbana champagne and much of what I say I think applies to the Spanish dual language program too surely so thank you very much thank you Chanelle Elliott good evening I recognize much of tonight um the primary topic is the Dual language building um but here in Urbana everything's connected and I want to make sure that um possible big changes don't have un unintended or quiet Ripple effects um on the French dual language program um so I'm here to express my support of the program and um even consider expansion of the French dual language program at iny Ridge um I'm a parent of five kids

044one of whom is in the French dual language program and um a couple at home who would look forward to being in it as well um I recognize that this program wasn't created for the benefit of my student um so I'll save sharing the many ways that it has um benefited her um I don't think anyone here would want the program to see it end um I think we all agree that it's a wonderful beautiful thing um and that there are some real challenges to overcome and so I just want to make sure we're able to have those conversations I look forward to Saturday um but wanted to just say a few things publicly before that um one awesome thing that we've seen happen is um the students in the French St language program academically

045score high they're doing very well uh while learning two languages it's amazing to me I know just English um and so I'm amazed watching my child and her classmates learn multiple languages and succeed at both of them um and so as we are seeking to raise scores in our schools right now um I wonder if we wouldn't benefit by looking at the model of what's happening in the French program and even um allowing a few more people to join in with them um as they're learning together um with a French family's input I believe um we could keep the program open and even larger um if we opened up enrollment which I understand could change what we call the program and things like that um but I know that there have been many people wait

046listed from the French program in the past um and some of those people have since left our district or went private or found education elsewhere um and I know in conversations that we had this Summer that as a district we're wanting to draw people to us and to stay with us um and when I speak to people about Urbana my number one draw is what my daughter has experienced in this French program um we tell everyone about it she tells everyone about it um and so I just think I would love for us to to continue work continue working together to figure out a way to make this program sustainable and even grow um at the kindergarten level we limit enrollment to 50/50 and I understand there's a lot of good reason for that um

047by third grade my daughter was one of two English-speaking students left in her class because we don't add students who don't know the language later um and while I'm perfectly um um content with with that for her um I wonder if we chose to add a few more um additional english- speaking students in the beginning if that still wouldn't come out to be a balanced classroom within a year or two um I would also speak to the culture and feeling of family that's created in this French dual language program it's unlike anything I've uh experienced with my other children um as they travel together as a cohort um even as they have the same teacher back back to back now I've also seen benefits um to that if that's needed um and lastly I just

048want to speak to the team of teachers that we have they have worked incredibly hard to build this program um they spend time on the weekends together brainstorming um figuring out ways to meet their students needs and I think they've created a really successful program um they love teaching French and I would be worried that if we were to change the program um then we might lose them to another district and I know from the time I spent at Yankee Ridge that their presence um would be a huge loss um if they were no longer with us um this one's for Katie um I understand funding is a part of the equation but Katie is a mastermind with budgets um and so I know I'm not naive to think money doesn't matter in all of

049these decisions um but I think I was told this summer you know if the People Want it we can work together and you know we have we have we have a lot of things happening um um but yeah I would hate to see just money be a reason that we have to make a change to such a great program that our District offers um yeah so I have strong hopes that we can work together to keep the successful program available um and even consider the expansion if that um was AC acceptable to the french- speaking families um to add a few more English-speaking kids in the beginning um and yeah lastly sometimes I think it's helpful to get a firsthand picture of what the program has meant and what um what the students have learned

050and so I will wrap up my time but I brought with me um two incredible fifth grade students um who have written their own statements that they want to share with you um when they had heard that they don't know much but you know that there's conversations about the French program um these are two students who do not um enjoy public speaking and I thought I might even have to bribe um but they said yeah we want to we want to talk and so that's all I have I'll let them speak next thank you thank you yes yep so next up is is Macy Elliot and believe in punga hello hello I started Yankee Ridge in December of 2021 my first school since I came to America I did not know English [Music] it was

051scary because I did not know all the people but it was good because Macy helped me a lot J I didn't even know how to use a crown book but Macy could help me in French [Music] when I went to gy Macy and Ariel helped me because the teacher didn't know French and I didn't know any [Music] English now I know how to read write speak and French English in English [Music] I joined the program in kindergarten at first it was very difficult but my parents said I could do hard [Music] things I understood more French now I am good at French and able to help others my [Music] class my class has become my second family it's like I grew up with [Music] them learned a lot about congales C culture I am really

052happy I stayed in the French [Music] class please keep the program going we want our little brothers and sister to be a part of it oh my next up is uh Brian Sumi sua okay uh Maggie burn good evening thank you so much for being here and giving us your time uh my name is Maggie burn I'm a fifth grade teacher at Dr Williams Elementary in the Dual language program and I'm joined here by several of my colleagues who joined me in signing a letter we did submit to the board um along with others who could not be here tonight uh we speak um to represent the voices of 28 Educators and staff members of the Dual language program who on a conservative have been working and serving in this program for a combined more

053than 100 years and the reason we're here is because we are deeply deeply committed to doing what is best for this program most of us have made this our life's work and are have been doing it for the better part of our adult lives uh we are asking you to help us in this Mission by supporting and voting yes to a unified dual language school because we believe this is what would be best for for the students and the amazing families that we serve this is consistent with the best research done by experts in the field such as esamia Medina ban and Euro as well as uh the Auditors who came to our our district to give us the best practice advice and the Consultants with whom we are working it is also consistent with

054our combined experience in the district and what we believe would be best for our students we believe a single building offers a better education opportunity and experience for all program students especially those for whose first language is Spanish this claim is consistent with these findings and we believe a single building model will lead to better student learning and program outcomes because it allows for a unified Mission focused on the three pillars of bilingual education bilingualism and biliteracy for all high academic achievement in two languages and Multicultural awareness when a building is split between two programs both these goals and programs have to look different and is very difficult to work in favor of both goals simultaneously everything from curriculum and materials do schedules and instructional practices and even signage in the organization of classroom and

055workspaces needs to be different for different goals and that's difficult to achieve when we are split between two goals in one school in a one building model all building staff would be bilingual or would have specific training and experience working with emergent biling this would allow Spanish and English to be used throughout the building in a way that would be deeply affirming and safe for students families and staff at all levels of linguistic ability thank you um it would also Elevate the status of Spanish which is the minority language in our community especially for newcomers and those who need to have access to this to be successful in the school it is our deep hope that by elevating the language and showing it spoken in professional spaces it would create a deep sense of pride

056in one's home language and culture and also invite families in to be able to participate more completely in their students education another benefit would be to provide more effective team communication and collaboration this is a specialized field as many have said it requires countless hours of adaptation translation and even development of our own curriculum it requires much research to stay on top of best practices and if we were all in one space it would be much easier to collaborate to work as a team and to share that work workload we are hopeful that by having that workload shared we would create better curriculum we would be more available to our students and our families to create the best learning opportunities and we would also have less problems with teacher retention and problems with Staffing as

057you know this has been a real challenge for us we've even had to have substitutes in build in classrooms who do not speak Spanish and cannot fully support the program and that's not even including maternity leave positions like mine that's just basic classrooms well if we have more teachers who feel they have the collaboration they need we are hopeful it would lead to more people staying in District and a way to share that work between us we've heard a lot of major concerns about the fact that this would be a threat to Neighborhood schools but the reality is neighborhood schools are already not Equity equitably available to all children students in our program are traveling 2 and 1 half to 3 and a half miles or more to get school and while it's a wonderful

058thing to be able to go to school in your neighborhood that relative privilege does not outweigh the need of all students to have high quality education we've heard concerns about diversity because the Latin students would all be in one building however right now a vast majority are between two buildings and it's important to recognize that Latin is not a homogeneous group but rather represents a very ethnically culturally linguistically diverse group of people who benefit from learning about one another within our program and it also represents the non-spanish speakers in the program who also bring incredible levels of diversity in conclusion it is our greatest hope that as Educators as staff members we have done our best for our students up until this point to serve some of these amazing young people who are here tonight

059but we want to do better and we ask you to help support that by voting yes for a single building for the Dual language program uh next up is uh Kennedy Lena hope I pronounce that correctly good evening everyone my name is Kennedy Leena and I would like to speak in French just a little closer to the mic please okay I am so happy to be here with you tonight and I would like to speak to my experience I have three students who are in the French dual language program at Yankee rich I would like to express the extreme importance of the F of the French dual language program to the frankophone community we me and my wife arrived in America in 2013 and we had our three children here in the United States we

060live in arbana our our children speak English as their first language preschool they they enrolled in the Urbana preschool in early childhood and they had teachers who who spoke French and when we heard about the 50/50 dual language program we enrolled our students in Yan and as immigrants we really recognize the importance of our our children and our students to speak multiple languages in order to be competitive in the job market and in their world in general Garden my three students my oldest is in second grade um my next student is in first grade and my youngest student is in kindergarten when they were younger they didn't speak any french but now they are speaking very very good French and they write well [Music] and we are very I am very happy with the education

061that my students have received in the French dual language program because it helps me to communicate well with my children and it helps us um when they speak they're able to speak well with their grandparents who only speak French and some of our native languages and I would really like for the French program to continue so that all people who are immigrants who are French speaking when they come they can feel welcomed and also know that they will receive good education and have a competitive chance in the future and we would like for our students to be able to competitively um apply for positions where they can speak French and English with confidence and that would be very important for us as a part of a uh minority community in Urbana me you thank you

062very much thank you so we have two speakers left if anybody else would like to speak before the board there are Golden Rod sheets in the back of the room please fill it out and hand it to Lori Johnson our recording secretary next up is Lacy Elliott hello again I was here last month um I was going to come again tonight and talk about uh why we love the French program so much we are um I'm a parent of two Yankee Ridge uh French students um but I'm going to take a different direction tonight I think what uh I would really like as a French dual language parent is just some clarification about what exactly we advocating for here um I was made aware today that um the the French program is funded based on

063uh the number a grant uh based on the number of frankophone uh speakers in our community or in our school district and um I'm confused as to uh well let me let me go back uh we a lot of us have spent a lot of time advocating for the program why we love it so much um we've written emails we've been here we stated lots of stuff um we did newspaper interviews we really want the program to keep going but it seems like maybe our advocacy is uh pointed in the wrong direction and it I guess what what I'm hoping for um from from you guys from admin from the board is just a little bit more clarity on um like if there is a way that we can fund the program um or is

064that dead in the water based on the French population maybe being smaller um so I guess what I have two specific questions that I would like uh the board to address uh are there other sources of funding for the French program um that would make it so we're not dependent on um you know a a given Year's population of um french- speaking immigrants and then uh is the French program going to be included in the Dual the sing the Dual language school for Spanish I think both of those questions would just as a French parent would be really helpful to get some clarity and and uh just clear communication from you guys on kind of where we're at and um know that we love the program we want it to keep going but we want

065to make sure that we're uh addressing the actual problem and not just talking about how much we love the program so thank you thank you can I say something please goad so normally we don't respond to public comment but we do have a French Beek meeting scheduled for Saturday so a lot of the questions um and comments that are being made tonight about French dual language I encourage everyone to come to that meeting it will be at Yankee Ridge um Saturday at 9:30 and it is a hybrid so we will also be sharing a link so if you're not able to be there in person you can attend via Zoom um 9:30 is that correct Lupe and Joe okay okay thank you thank you uh last up tonight is Rob Nagel hi um I am

066also here to speak in support of the French dual language program um I think my comments last last month were talking about how my my child uh she's a native English speaker but she really enjoys the French dual language program but what really struck me a lot about hearing from the Native uh French speakers is that how the French dual language program allows their children to learn and enjoy school and that's going to have long-term impacts for them as they go through middle school and go through high school and so the French dual language program is really a critical aspect for a lot of students uh coming from native French backgrounds um I do think the conversation should be structured around what what does the program need for us for it to be successful does

067it need more students does it need more funding does it need more visibility instead of you know this program doesn't have enough children because actually as um the researcher from youi pointed out is it's that's probably the best learning environment for for children to have small classroom sizes and to have this community around them um so there's nothing wrong with the French dual language program itself it's actually having excellent comes uh but you know what is the issue with these low numbers I think we need to tackle that and the parents here the community here are fully in support of working on that together um the second thing right after the French dual language comments last week we jumped into a meeting uh with first student about the electric uh buses and I right around

068that time a report had come out from Consumer Reports saying that electric vehicles uh have 79 % more issues than conventional Vehicles so I have you know a print out here and I just wanted to point that out because uh the rep from first student he his language around you know he said it it could uh save maintenance costs or you know things like that and so I wanted to point that out and just make clear that um I I do know that Katie you said that you would the district would research this a lot extensively and I think that's really important and to contact those schools in Canada that are using these buses directly to try and get their feedback on how these buses are actually performing because they also said it's it's like

069the latest and greatest technology but actually this technology is very new and it's so it's in its infancy and it's being developed so there are a lot of bugs to work out so I'll pass that around um which then also leads me to sort of the questions about Wy and that being created as a six grade Center is that going to in uh require more buses or more students going to need to be bused to Wy is that you know is the district then going to be looking to purchase more expensive buses that then need more expensive maintenance costs and I'm all for you know less diesel vehicles on the road everyone knows that electric vehicles would would have less pollution than diesel but really the best and the healthiest way for students to get

070to school is to walk and so I want I I would just expect the the district to be looking at that all long term okay I know I have a lot of things going on um the second thing too is I understand the district just uh ad to amplify as the curriculum for the Dual language program and I've heard from the Spanish uh teachers well one of my friends uh in champagne that amplify has has some uh short uh shortfalls in it and they've been working with they were working today they had three-hour meeting yesterday to look at amplify they were on the phone with the amplify rep yesterday to talk about the deficiencies and amplify said that this is the first year that that curriculum's been used for dual language so I just want

071to point that out and just make sure that you you know if champagne is doing something and maybe it's not working out then we should really be getting that info from Champagne we should really be collaborating with these teachers to find what are ways how can we learn from things that champagne's doing and how can we really uh grow from that um and then I think the last thing too is you know I think this is maybe just my experience maybe this is other people's experience too um sometimes I I just get the feeling that um in for for some big decision for things like this it kind of it sometimes feels like the decision has already been made and when we when it's opened up for public comment um that's sort of like towards

072the end of the process and even just looking at the comprehensive boundary process you know the public input comes there are two public inputs but they're towards the end and I I would just really hope that more public input could be generated a little bit earlier maybe more communication a little bit earlier and maybe that's just my uh experience but just thinking about you know this community is engaged we want the best for our students and trying to engage us earlier and and open it up a little bit earlier for more public comments I know we can always come to board meetings but just thinking about uh doing the more formal uh input earlier thank you thank you just one last call for public statements going once going twice okay we'll proceeded on uh with

073our agenda there is no call for an executive session after tonight's meeting so uh the chair would entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda as amended I move for approval as amended second second been moved and seconded all in favor say I I any opposed we have an agenda student ambassador's report there we go okay um this is the student Masters report by um me and thank you um before before we um get started um one thing that me and Dominica or that I didn't put in the slides was um about the topic that we were just discussing with the Dual language program and the the French dual language program and the Spanish one um as a student who's um been taught Spanish and French in school for a very long amount of um time

074I definitely think that improving the Dual language French fren program and Spanish program are very crucial um because of the amount of opportunities and available colleges and jobs that I now have at my disposal because of the fact that I was taught to be proficient in Spanish French and English so I think that improving those programs and doing what's best for the students and how to get the best education for these students um would be a great help because also um the amount of culture and the amount of family that I found in those classes um were just so there's so much of it and I think that that would be great that for more students to be able to have what I had anyways um the CU Optimus Club essay contest um is where

075each year an optimist an optimist um essay contest where students submit their essays all across the US us um first place winner earns $100 and then they move on to the district level second place winner earns $550 and the third place winner earns $25 the district winner receives a $2,500 scholarship this competition is only for high school students and essays are due this February um Summer Youth Employment Program during third hour on Monday January 8th there was a meeting discuss ing an 8we employment program for 16 to 19 year olds at the University of Illinois employees will most likely get a job placement within their interests and skills there will be 20 hours of work Max and two or three hours of paid professional development weekly depending on the department um of the employee Works

076in they might be as they could be like asked to work more hours but it depends um UHS farming to schol School interns the farm to school interns is a program well the farm to school is a program seeking paid work for interns for the spring semester starting in February and ending June 30th interns will be working 20 hours per week earning $14 per hour um this internship is to basically like help improve and grow the garden um so that more people can enjoy it and there are three positions available and students are able to start PL for the paid internship now um the USD 1116 student Equity committee um for those listening that may not know um students have the opportunity to be an sea which is a student Equity Ambassador their job is

077to ensure that students are represented with many different voices and points of view the goal is for this committee to enhance diversity equality equity and inclusion um and then students can start applying today um message for uh all the students that are listening right now um second semester can be hectic for some students so please prioritize your mental health you are important and we're always there if you need someone to talk to um remember that you're not alone and you're not the only one going through um I feel like a lot of people have dealt with mental health in very serious ways and um one thing that all students should know is for the national helpline you could just type it right into the internet and the number comes up straight away there's also one

078for domestic abuse um what is it domestic abuse drug abuse suicide and sexual abuse um and that the the counselors and the guidance coun not guidance counsel counselors are always there to talk to you I know friends who have just spent like all day in the counselor's office because they needed someone to talk to and they weren't they were excused from class and they were able to sort out their problems in an efficient way so I think that mental health should be prioritized um even if sometimes school has to take a break for a little while you can always jump back on um the school train some Club announcements we have at UHS is the African-American Club will be hosting their um HBCU trip and they'll be going to they'll be going to places like

079North Carolina Georgia um if you want more information about this email Mr Brown in room 22222 at UHS the Habitat for Humanity Club is hosting their 14th annual Mississippi trip to help build houses down in in the south of Mississippi for more information email Mr Foley um the Korean Culture Club spring semester meeting will take place this Thursday January 11th after school in room 11:58 and the first meeting of the youth alive Club will be January 11th from 3:30 to 4:30 in room 2227 um make sure it's really helpful if you donate to these clubs CU these clubs are really important to the students habitat is really doing a lot for the students and so is African americ club and all of these clubs actually yeah all the clubs all the clubs are very important

080to UHS I'm actually in half of these clubs so it would be really important to sponsor a student these clubs really help students get into colleges expand their their mental so like you should sponsor these these clubs guys um this is just a reminder about the orange crush shirts um especially for students if you like to go to games and support our schools um you should buy this shirt $15 and you can get free admissions to the basketball uh well just the spring the spring games and it's really important and you can in Samantha Walen um a sophomore she designed the shirt and it's really beautiful so you guys should really just just buy the shirt I'll share the link I'll share the link also Habitat Humanity is hosting their little zombies on the Prairie

081dance um this is going to be helping to buy the to help um sponsor students that are going to the Mississippi trip in um in February me me if you want to if you want to help I'm here um the price is $666 and we want no more no more than 101 but more than 60 people there so if you can do that that would really help us what's the cost to sponsor do you know yet um for oh for a student it's um $550 okay so and that's um according to Mr Foley that's pretty cheap for like other stuff because you have to pay gas you have to get food there so that's pretty cheap but that's still expensive for a student that like me who's just a senior in high school so it

082would be like really greatly appreciated and congratulations to Max Cooper and Jack Perry who just are really good athletes in in the school and they play first and second and broke records that haven't been broke in 20 years um and Jack also plays second which is really good so congratulations to the W swim team um they just bleached their hair so if you want to go congratulate them and see their beautiful hair that will also they will I think they'll also really like that so yeah and thank you for listening gracias thank you Paulina and Dominica uh our first study topic tonight is going to be the Student Services Program update and special ed good evening while we get uh all of our stuff together thank you we'll do introductions I'm Beth lad I'm the

083executive director of student services this year you saw me last year as the principal of Early Childhood so um it's good to be back in this new role I'm Maria elvir I am the special education administrator new to this role this year and I'm Katie Madigan I'm the uh special education facilitator in this presentation but I'm also the assistant principal at Early Childhood school and so we appreciate you taking time to have us on the agenda and um to prioritize our services for students with disabilities this um presentation is um just a review of very um General things we talked about when we were here in June as well as things we've shared and talked about with our current staff and um priorities for us moving forward John no I did not turn it off

084thank you for proving it wasn't a me issue John I appreciate that are there we go okay um as Beth said we're pleased to be presenting to the board and the community this evening our agenda today will include a review of our June 2023 board presentation we'll be discussing the work that has taken place during fall 2023 and we will also be highlighting initiatives that are upcoming try again okay so um in June Beth and Todd um did a presentation a study session so I'm just going to go over some of the highlights from that um these were this slide shows some of the positives that we were are highlighting about the student services department so the first one we want to um reiterate is our Pathways program so we had in the about the

085the last five years about 15 teachers who moved from um a general education um teaching position to a special education teaching position um because we helped um them get that certificate by paying for their education and they agreed to work for us and so we are really proud that that program um was available and I think it continues to will continue to be available um the second thing that we're really proud of and I'm especially proud of is our highquality state recognized inclusive Early Childhood Program if you weren't aware we just celebrated our 50th anniversary of early childhood in um the city of orbana and since 1991 our program has been fully inclusive meaning all of our students that are um eligible for special education services receive those services with their general education peers um

086another thing that we are really proud of is the um monthly optional work time for our certified staff we um felt that they were asking for more time to um work on the overwhelming amount of paperwork that comes with being a special educator and so we have a 4-Hour paid block every month from 4 to 8 um and this year we're traveling to different schools every month so it's not all in one place um it's at all almost all the buildings if not all the buildings this year um we're also proud that we have bilingual staff in all types of positions from teaching assistants teachers speech language Pathologists social workers and psychologists that are Spanish speaking and they are um representative of all of the levels of Education in um Urbana um another thing that

087was a high priority for us that we are proud to have is additional work days for teaching assistant worked into the contract and the calendar this year um this allows for our teaching assistants to be more a part of our staff development so they have more time to be included in our professional development um and then we have some really longstanding committed special Educators that have been in Urbana for so so many years and we're really happy that they continue to stick with us um the areas that we feel are and were presented last time as something that we should be concerned about or um or thinking about and working on are on this slide and the first is our academic outcome data so this is not a surprise to anyone um we've been talking

088about this a lot it's a little bit sobering um because we should be concerned about the um the outcomes that both are general education students have and our special education students have on our um in our assessments so it shows that um we need to increase our high quality um core instruction we need some more specialized instruction and so this is just an area that we continue to work with the entire District on another concern of ours is Staffing shortages um this is not unique just to special education but but we do feel like we feel it maybe a little bit heavier than some of the other areas um this is a high priority for us and we are working really hard on that which Maria will talk about um and then another area was

089the need for professional development um we want to make sure that our uh special education staff understands what the role and responsibility of a general education teacher is so they can um ensure that students are receiving that but they also need to know how to provide that specialized instruction that is a component of special education and finally um we recognize that there has been some distrust um and concerns and we need to rebuild and strengthen the relationships that we have with our families staff students and community members that are concerned with special education and so I just wanted to kind highlight some of our um guiding princi thanks I just wanted to highlight some of our guiding principles as we do the work um with our staff and um students and families and um one

090of my number one guiding principles um that I have taken you know in my many many years of special ed is that our students who receive special education services are general education students first and the responsibility um to educate them belongs to each and everyone um of our staff members and so that is critical um to make sure that we are not just um providing supports and resources to our staff um in our department but to all um staff in all departments um another huge priority for us um is recognizing that there are um many facets to the work we do but really we're guided in two different directions um that are equally important and that is legal compliance because we do all under um Ida and and Illinois um code um for special education

091services and that we are emphasizing how important our quality programming is and our specialized um instruction um for our students as foundational to what we do okay and this graphic was one of the first um displayed at our very very first districtwide um training for our special education staff and we wanted to share it with you today um before we uh provided that training we talked about what we wanted to represent as a team um and acknowledgement and transparency were two very key tenants um that we are determined to represent as a a new team to our staff and families um we wanted to acknowledge that we have some broken systems and broken trust um we wanted to be transparent regarding the road ahead and how challenging it would be um we wanted to acknowledge

092our wonderful invested people in our buildings and in our community who care and have never given up um we wanted to be transparent that we still have Staffing shortages that will continue to make our jobs difficult we have been trying to promote teamwork um we know that it's been essential to focus on team building and to acknowledge and appreciate the creativity that our staff have utilized to navigate Staffing shortages and a postco school environment we have highlighted the additions to the contract that have enabled us to positively impact special education such as expanding the par professional calendar and including our Tas and professional development opportunities we've wanted to express our appreciation to the families for their patience and their understanding and so that work will continue but we want to represent that we are all

093a team we're in this together together and so then another visual that we put up in front of our staff um was this and um we really with all the things that Maria and Katie have just identified we're really walking a balancing act right now and I think we're doing that in lots of different spaces um for lots of different reasons we um want to hold our staff accountable um to our expectations we want to make sure we have high expectations for our students we know that we have um critical work to do in improving our outcomes but we also know that we're still um in a space where um work life balance and um meeting the needs of our staff um in terms of being able to manage so much when we are so

094short um that we have increased needs of students walking into our buildings that we have um a ton of priorities that um we are addressing and trying to prioritize and that we have our own mental health and balancing all of that is extremely tricky and also a huge priority for us but we want to name it and talk about it and have that on um the radar of all of our staff as well and so um another um meeting not that very first one but later on we really felt it was important to really talk about some of the breakdowns that have been happening some of the mistrust some of the ways in which um we all are approaching our jobs and so um this was something we really talked about in terms of some

095of our spaces and places where things are really functioning well and things are happening as they should be and some of those places and spaces where there is a huge breakdown and um some toxicity and some lack of um really focus on what our true role is and so um we've talked a lot about that um as a department um and wanted to just share that with you that we are honestly um working to make sure that we are creating a culture and climate that we want to work in that we can recruit people to work in and that our families want their children in and so with all of that here are some of the things that we've prioritized for our very first semester which was probably the shortest semester we've experienced but um

096we've we feel like we've done a lot in that time so we have um spent uh a great deal of our summer talking about ways we we were going to tackle and divide up responsibilities amongst ourselves our administrative assistants and some of the leaders in our department and we have prioritized making sure people know who is available to them for what reason and how to um uh connect with us in those ways we have really um tried to shape our special education family and staff advisory Council in a different way we've really wanted um to build that um as Outreach to our community and our families to um start uh building positive relationships with us with our staff and amongst um other families we have really wanted to prioritize collaborative problem solving um in that

097space and also that that we are really working to change our systems um through putting this Council together it's uh been a small group we know that um getting people to put extra time in but we have grown each time we've met and had new people and so we see that as a real um positive direction we have spent a lot of time um putting together um communication to our staff um and our administrators around what we're doing um what we're seeing and what's going well and what we need to work on so we've really prioritized um monthly newsletters and acknowledging the hard work that's happening in a real systemic way from our department and then we are attempting to put in a lot of compliance processes to help hold keep people accountable um and

098those are all works in progress and on our good day we're doing well with some of those processes and on other days we're really reflecting on what we need to do to keep them going and moving forward so um in the spirit of sharing and being transparent with what we shared with our staff we're going to tell you about some of the things we've done with them and one of them is that um on our first Staff Development Day September 25th we asked them to reflect on the following questions what is going well in special education department what is not going well um what you would prioritize in a 5-year plan for your school or the district and that's one what's one thing you are doing or changing that you want to share with others

099and so we um POS that to our staff on that first day and then um we brought it their responses back to them on the second staff development day which is what you see here and we continue to ask them um each time we meet to um reflect again on the same questions so some of the things that they mentioned were um that were going well as this slide is that communication so I think our staff is really appreciative of the um proactive communication that our department has attempted to enact during this semester um they mentioned a focus on students um having clear expectations I think of their roles um they are very happy about the occupational therapy supports that are available to all of our students in the district um and then their appreciative

100of open conversations that we've had with them both um as a large group and individually small spaces and then they um mentioned the illustrative math curriculum and the uly materials um that are being used in spaces so we just continue to engage with these questions whenever we're coming together as a group the things that they mentioned that um were not going well are um just some of our building administrators not having as much background knowledge about special education um as we mentioned before the shortage of Staff um this is talked about over and over and over again we have so many long-term Subs especially in special education special educator teachers positions And Then There are not enough teaching assistant um available and as soon as we hire some then some leave so we're in this

101constant state of um trying to train and replace um staff members in that area um they're feeling overwhelmed like they don't have enough time there's a lot of paperwork that goes around special education um they are interested in getting some more collaborative development of IEPs and having more collaboration time available those four hours a month are great but I think they're just feeling like it's not enough um and then meeting the social emotional needs of students those with um identified disabilities and those without are always increasing um they feel there's a little bit of a lack of shared responsibility between special Educators and general Educators and um feeling that there's some access to materials that is maybe missing okay so in the past special education has not always felt like they've had a seat at

102the table so we have been really intentional about having at least one and sometimes more than one of us participating and representing our department and uh District committee work um spanning across each of these initiatives we want to ensure that the student services department has a voice um in this really collaborative very important work all right so moving forward um retention and recruitment of Staff as we said is a a big issue um and something that we um have been working on consistently since we came into into the roles um our goal is to do whatever we can to retain our dedicated and committed staff which to us means improving our systems and ensuring that our staff feel valued for the hard work that they're doing um we are reaching out to our veteran staff

103as well as multiple solid student teacher prospects in an effort to recruit them for positions in our district um we will be attending Job and Career Fairs alongside our human resource colleagues to recruit new qualified staff um we will continue to develop the capacity of our staff through professional development opportunities and we will continue to deel develop the capacity of our administrators through Lea training um we did want to note that we have several openings since the start of this school year um we have had since last year an opening for our orientation and Mobility specialist we have not filled that position um open since the start of this school year occupational therapist plus we have one retiring um school psychologist a bilingual speech and language pathologist four High School teachers three Middle School teachers

104nine elementary teachers and 17 teaching assistants so that is where we are at right now we're highlighting that for you so that you know the positions and for anybody out there listening who is interested in being an omm specialist I will give you my number right now these are really critical positions and I think it's important to recognize that when we're talking about nine elementary teachers that means we have several buildings with multiple open positions and the the workload that that creates for the people who are in there doing those jobs is just intense for us right now okay also moving forward we are working on disciplined decision making we're working on restraint and timeout procedures um threat assessment and Crisis Intervention um we will be working through the Illinois comprehensive literacy plan and the

105dyslexia guide and toolkit as a team um reviewing the document and how we can utilize it as a department understanding that our community is very invested in this work um we are looking at a new progress monitoring tool which is huge for for our staff and students um and we are continuing our work with 504 compliance and understanding in improving those processes all of these things are things that have been worked on over time as we know expectations change law change um people change and so all of these are ongoing things that are huge priorities for us thank you that's the end of our presentation if you have any questions I guess we would entertain those now uh board members any questions um go ahead Paul okay um I have a question so um it

106was St stated that there was like a lack of access to materials between General Educators and special Educators um what materials are those so um we actually just uh were at the high school yesterday doing a presentation on accommodations and modifications and so as we think about um the um lack of information in both spaces um we we are really needing to make sure we're prioritizing that our special educators are sharing with our general education teachers specifics about individual students um as well as best practice in terms of how to be inclusive and meet the needs of students in the general education classroom and so that's one um huge priority I think another thing is um continuing to make sure all of our staff understand the different nuances that go along with different disabilities and

107so and uh different disabilities present in different ways and have different needs and those things change over time as our student needs change and so really making sure we're we're um prioritizing that our special education staff really want more knowledge and understanding from their General Educators around State uh grade level standards and curriculum we don't want to be the experts in that but we need to have some understanding of that and so those are a couple of examples I think one of the um things that was noted is access to materials and um for our special education staff and so I think for um a few years we haven't special education is specialized instruction and so a lot of times that is creating materials of instruction for our students but we also know that there

108are really quality programs out there that we can um bring in for our staff to use um box programs things that are created and sold and we really need to to take a look at what is available that we could um add to our teachers tool boxes um do you guys have um enough budgeting and money for more resources and access to materials yes and no okay okay we certainly have a very healthy budget um do we have a budget for all of our hopes and dreams no but um I I say this quite frequently and I think um they say it now too that um not asking for something because you're worried we don't have funds is really a problem ask for what you need and if it is needed we will figure out

109a way to find it okay we aren't Limitless but we we have the availability okay so and creativity not me other people are creative so the sharing between General Educators special Educators is is difficult and finding time to talk and collaborate is difficult okay finding spaces to have meaningful conversations is difficult at times but it's all possible if we create the structures and we're confident we can do that okay so you guys are able to um maintain access of materials it's just very hard to be able to do so okay thank you and I would also say um uh for Dr Ivy Tatum and her leaders in the curriculum and instruction department they have done an amazing job over the last several years of making sure that special ed teachers do have access to new

110curriculums that are being bought and new materials that department is always asking us how many staff do you have where do you need this what programs need this and we do have a very strong collaborative relationship in terms of general education materials being available to us that hasn't always always been the case um here and in other places but that has been uh something that we have not had concerns about for several years now in Nana okay thank you great question thank you Paul thank you Paul go go ahead Sherry uh you mentioned that there's a monthly newsletter um is that for a community or just for staff or parents and what is included in that newslet we've been sharing um that newsletter um just with special education staff and administrators right now it could

111be shared with anybody um the um template we've kind of followed so far we've only had a few months Cherry but um we have um had thoughts from me at the beginning we've had um sections that are informational on things that are coming up and we have um reviewed um information we've shared at some of our PD opportunities because those PD opportunities don't include all of our special education staff at one time and so we've wanted to highlight that and share it with other people um and um then we've had a separate monthly email that just is shoutouts to people and that's a very casual uh email that goes out um and isn't um typically highlighting people by name specifically one the um anxiety of making sure we highlighted every person in our department in

112a shout out email became too much for me to think about over the course of a year so um we're kind of doing that generally with some you know specific buildings highlighted at times but um I stole that idea from somebody at Early Childhood when I was there so um I'm happy to share we're using um okay we're using s'more um for our newsletter and we do that because of the accessibility features and the lack of creativity that that we have to have it's already there for us in that in that system I know a lot of people use that anyone else questions or comments go ahead Lola I just wanted to know at this time are you looking for trained untrain staff yes or both both okay we can train them and and I

113say that um if you have a child or grandchild Who Wants to Be an orientation and Mobility specialist somay we will help make that happen all jokes aside there are number of programs in the state of Illinois on alternative Pathways to certification and um Dr Franklin can speak more about that in in situations there the ISU has a pulse program that is targeting just teaching assistants who want to get their um certification and special education there are a number of programs like that for people who have um the capacity who to have already been en roles in education and there are just as many options for people who haven't um there's also Illinois knows this shortage is happening and so isby has alternative Pathways to certification that make it easier to be a person who's

114working and get certified to be a person who can have classes in person or to have classes online there are lots of options out there thank thank you than anybody else thank thank you all thank you our first administrative report tonight is 9.1 the ISB quality framework and air needs assessment uh Dr nordon is going to lead this this report thank you good evening everyone tonight I will be talking about some needs assessments two different ones that are going to be um um utilized with our schools that are designated for school Improvement first is the Illinois quality framework for school rubric and that's a mouthful we often refer to it as the iqfr and this is not anything new but this is a reflective rubric that is conducted with schools that are designated so even

115if um are schools that are not new to school Improvement being designated by the state they will continue this every year so that they can see if they're making growth across seven key areas such as continuous Improvement culture and climate shared leadership governance and management education and employee quality family and Community engagement and student and learning development so there's two with the Illinois quality framework for school rubric the schools will conduct conduct that but then we also complete that as a district so our cabinet there's there's components of this rubric that are C clearly for our schools but this it's also how we're aligned in in those areas that I mentioned as a district so we complete this rubric in the areas that are specific to the district as well and provide that feedback to

116our schools this document includes standards indicators guiding questions so that we can openly and honestly rate where we are at that moment in time um in successful districts this is something that's done collaboratively as I mentioned at the school level and at the district it's important to see um how we're aligning with our structures to improve student learning oops so there's some other data sources that we utilize um besides just this rubric we look at State assessment results local benchmarking such as our map results um chronic absenteeism data graduation rate ninth grade on track climate survey results that's the five Essentials we're going to be starting that here soon January 23rd so we'll have a window of that for all of our schools and also in um survey results staff survey results that we receive

117as well this continuous cycle of improvement that takes place um to really have well-informed school Improvement plans really looks at all those data sources that I mentioned conducting the needs assessment that IQ FSR that's the needs assessment having an approved Learning Partner historically we've utilized the Roe I'll be talking about um air in just a moment that's a new one that we'll be using for a couple of our schools this year and those areas all inform our school Improvement plans and then we continue this continuous cycle to um evaluate and measure our progress it's important to look at Benchmark data and and all of the uh resources that I mentioned to really analyze student achievement and academic and school Success indicators are all part of monitoring the progress and that data analysis um is the

118development for school Improvement plans so we'll be submitting this to the state IQ FSR to the state by January 30th we have to have all of that entered new to us this year is a partnership with the American Institute of research and so this this is required by the state and we are um conducting that with two of our schools so that's with DPW and Yankee Ridge and the reason why those schools are part of this assessment is because um DPW is intensive and Yankee Ridge as being newly designated for comprehensive and so it requires this assessment the iqfr that I mentioned has to be done first it helps helps inform the air assessment and um the goal is to provide more information back to our schools and a a report from some individuals that

119will be coming into our schools about their strengths and areas for improvement this data collected helps with making strategic decisions and improving our uh School Improvement planning process air this is just a a map that shows where they're currently at so they're in 280 schools and in 87 school districts across Illinois they will be conducting the needs assessments from January until April ours has not started yet they're going to be reaching out to our principles very soon and the sources that they use for the needs assessment is State administrative data the five Essentials and the difference in this um rubric this needs assessment is they'll be doing classroom observations at Yankee Ridge and DPW they'll be doing principal surveys and interviews staff surveys and also conducting focus groups at those two schools other support that

120we'll receive from our air Consultants we haven't um been told yet who our Consultants will be often they're retired principles in the community at times um so we'll await to hear that that team has not been formed yet um they'll provide communication and Co coordination um additional resources that may be helpful for our school Improvement efforts they'll be again be sharing site teams that'll be doing observations they'll have data collection efforts that will be um utilized in the report that they will be getting to us and they have a highly ambitious goal that that report will occur before spring break and so they'll be reaching out to our principles at DPW and Yankee Ridge to begin this in February again with the goal of having it all finished up by spring break so we just

121wanted to update you on needs assessments that are in the works any questions board members any question about the needs assessments I look forward to getting the results oh please go ahead rafie is H is uh for Dr Williams and Yankee Ridge are they in this um was the category in comprehensive or what's it called DPW is intensive since they were previously comprehensive and went through that cycle and Yankee Ridge is newly designated as comprehensive so are they in those two categories because of the whole school performance or is it a subgroup performance school yeah comprehensive is whole school targeted would be if it was a specific student group all right so then the question I have is uh basically the question I asked a few months ago when the report card came out and

122that is uh both of those schools are potentially up for becoming a single do language school so if you create this complex plan for one of them uh does it then like let's say Yankee Ridge for example and then Yankee Ridge becomes a single du language school where the only students that will be there would be the DU language students from Dr Williams I mean is that a waste of your time here in the next three months no or are you still obligated to do all this and you just replace the students with different kids right we would have to work with our ISB Consultants but we would still have um money that is tied to those students uh this is the first year um in that cycle and so so even if for example

123I'd mentioned before if the Stu this our schools became exemplary that money doesn't sto that's been NE designated to us so we would have to work to again flow that to our students to how we would how we would move forward with that so we'd have to seek further information from is right thanks well theoretically you could just redistrict well performing students into these two schools with redistricting and problem solved you know it doesn't seem like a very you got to do it you got to do it but it's just very questionable all this but with redistricting occurring at the same time is what I'm saying do complic thanks all right thank you rafy does anyone else have any have questions for Dr Norton all right I'm hearing none moving on to our next administrative

124report uh this is the updated uh and revised uh 2425 school calendar the first read we voted on on a later date again Dr Norton thank you so again um our 2324 calendar was approved last year but we have made some recommendations uh for your review with this first read basically there's four major changes on this calendar first it is moving winter inst Institute from February 14th to October 24th and that is to help with our school Improvement efforts because we want to make sure that we're frontloading the support for our teachers any um new initiatives or any research that would um help instruction to start that at the beginning of the year rather than wait until February it just makes sense to do that earlier um staff development um moving moving that from February

12513th to February 14th before conferences and then staff development um moving that from April 18th to March 27th before conferences and then the last change is um spring Holiday from April 21st to April 18th so we shifted some things around just to be more intentional with our staff development um with this calendar again this is for first read and then we'll come back January 23rd uh board members student ambassador any any questions so um I do have a question about that kind the process of of revising the calendar does this also go through the calendar committee like it does since we had what we typically do is we'll meet three or four times throughout a year where um we need to update have the two years of calendars and so this was shared with all

126of our calendar committee members from last year and then they provided feedback and I only received everybody really was for it I had a couple questions just about um having the staff development on conference days and making sure we would have time for our teachers to to shift and transition uh to conferences that evening typically we they're teaching on on that day on one of those days and then they would still have conferences that night so hopefully it'll even be a little bit less stressful as they're learning and taking in new information that day than a maybe a typical school day but that was the only question that I had but everybody seemed to be in favor of it thank you anyone else all right um moving on to our third administrative report this is

127about the Urbana indoor aquatic centers uh solar power purchase agreement first read of that um Katie I would like to invite Derek lebert from Urbana Park District up um to the podium he will be talking more generally about the park District's plans and how they relate to the Urbana Endor Aquatic Center and then we also on Zoom have Shan from Progressive Business Solutions who will be talking about the solar project itself and um providing an opportunity for the board to ask any questions that you may have uh before moving forward uh with this project go ahead Derek okay good evening I'm the superintendent of planning and operations for the bana Park District uh we've been looking at solar for over a year now uh we were principally looking at four facilities including the Indoor Aquatic

128Center uh the uh planning operations facility has a standing Ste metal roof and it's a great candidate for uh for a solar r uh we also have the Nature Center we have currently have a six kilowatt array that we want to expand upon uh and then we have the new health and wellness facility where we wanted to introduce solar uh to that facility uh the Indoor Aquatic Center has a new roof that was put on in 2021 was designed to support a future solar arave and the model of procurement that we're looking at is a power purchase agreement uh we chose that model principally because we don't have the capital uh to purchase all the new solar aray ourselves and we're aware that you guys have recently purchased a solar array for Wy uh for

129us with our new construction of the new facility we really didn't have the capital to purchase solar so this is a basically a lease Arrangement uh we'll be getting uh solar at a discounted rate of about 6 6.4 cents per kilowatt hour so I'm GNA turn it over to to Sean here to to talk more about what he's done for us and be happy to answer any questions you all might have thank you thank you Derek um thank you the board uh for allowing me to present this evening um uh we began this process uh I first met Derek last year at the Illinois Park District Association uh board meeting in January um and we started having conversations really focusing the first initial ones were on the health and wellness building um when we started

130to talk about the options that are available both on a state uh the state programs that are available under the Illinois shines program uh the Illinois solar for all program the adjustable block program and also changes in regards to some of the incentives um you know for the in inflation reduction act um we started to put together preliminary analysis and um did a initial bid uh back in October with a few of the suppliers to just kind of put a baseline concept together for for the park district um as Derek said we we've keyed in on uh four facilities planning operations Nature Center Aquatic Center and health and Wellness um and one of the main drivers here is you know the different variable prices that each one of these facilities currently is paying um anywhere

131from 11.7 cents at the Aquatic Center all the way up to 16.3 cents uh at the Nature Center um and in doing so we looked at proposals for both what the cash purchase price was just to have what that total number would be as well as a 20-year power purchase agreement and the reason why we looked at a 20-year power purchase agreement is uh recently um Illinois Park District laws were passed to now allow park districts to enter into up to a 20-year an arrangement uh for Energy Efficiency solar wind um programs um given the longevity and the arrangement and Lease terms o of those agreements uh that was just recently changed um And in regards to how the proposals are we did send it uh a revised bid out uh for a a response

132date as of December 27th of 2023 um with the specific designs for each one of these facilities for a roof mounted solar array both um you know for each one of the the metal roofs or the TPO roofs that that each one of the facilities had proposals were sent out to over 80 solar developers and in turn we received uh eight developers that responded and correspondingly five developers um Prov provided pricing options for the arrays um the first initial program that we really looked at was the Illinois shines adjustable boach program it's really kind of the standard program that is available what we put into the bid process or the bid requirements is we wanted to look at uh leasing terms that included a 0% escalator over the term of the agreement so the price

133did not change um we also looked at 1% and 2% escalators but over a 20-year term if you have an additional escalator on the price um it does drive up the total cost we're having a 0% for budgetary reasons as well as where the price to Compares are uh we we really kind of focused honed in on the 0% under the uh Illinois shines program uh as you can see each one of the facilities were priced out on an individual basis and we received pricing from all the way from 7.7 cents for health and wellness all the way up to 19.1 cents for Crystal Lake Park we also asked for an aggregated price where each all the facilities pay one price together uh that price ranged from 8.8 cents all the way up to 14.2

134cents and then we put together some some hybrid scenarios um putting facilities together just to see what the cost uh what the cost would be if uh the Nature Center went with a health and wellness building or if just the Aquatic Center and planning and operations and all in all the Illinois shines adjustable B program just did not seem to make sense um you know as the lowest price option for the district uh what we did also look at is What's called the Illinois solar for all program the Illinois solar for all program is a special carve out under the climate equable jobs act that was passed in September of 2021 and in doing so um this allowed the district to really look at overall lowest possible pricing with the ability to aggregate all four

135of the facilities together and the price would go from 8.8 cents under the adjustable block program down to 6.4 cents under an aggregated price there's certain carve outs and size requirements that some facilities did not have the ability to receive pricing based if the size and the requirement and based on the finance companies um and then also the alternate scenarios here we did look at if we just did if the park district just did the planning operations course the Lake Park and the Health and Wellness Center the cost variance goes from 6.4 cents including the Aquatic Center versus taking the Aquatic Center out would be 8.9 cents um So based on you know the recommendation for the Park District board um this evening at 7 o'cl we recommended entering into a 20-year PPA arrangement with

136General energy and DSD Renewables um and the Park District board did approve it pending um the school district's uh approval and then also some legal approval under the contract in this scenario for the Illinois solar for all program we did look at potentially what was the overall aggregated price for each one of the facilities and windfree solar did provide you know different pricing for each one of the facilities with some lower pricing but overall when you look at the higher pricing versus the lower pricing which I'll show you on a couple of slides uh next couple of next slides um the cost differential still outweighed by aggregating everything together under one ultimate price so in turn the the park district um based on the current pricing structures that they're at at all the way from

13711.7 cents up to uh 16 cents I'm sorry I'm not able to get to hold on second oh um the overall savings that the district will experience is around $56,000 per year um versus their current total invoiced right under the structure that they have with their energy supplier and AMR uh in all year savings we're projecting about 1.1 a little more than $1.1 million savings for the district The Aquatic Center's portion is uh around 243,000 or around $12,000 per year uh currently the quatic center is roughly around 35% of the annual production for that facility will be placed under the solar production on a monthly basis versus the total annual grid purchase right now that facility uses roughly around 610,000 kilow hourss based on the last 12 months so the benefit here is to have

138make sure that there's long-term uh long-term budget certainty for all of the park district facilities and then allow the district then to procure power differently than what they have in years past for each one of the facilities that has solar versus the facilities that do not have solar um the difference between General energy having one price for all of the accounts and DSD Ren Nobles um is 1.1 1,131 434 and if we looked that Winfrey that had pricing that was higher for the Planning and Building Nature Center and Aquatic Center the total price there uh was about 1.12 1,121 n51 or roughly $110,000 difference uh that's the reason why it looked overall would be be a better savings over a 20-year term for the park district and as a whole for each one of their

139facilities um I do this doesn't include any future increases in amaron utility cost or lower cost Supply power or anything else to that effect um another reason why we're kind of on a fast track here for the park district is under the Health and Wellness Center uh they Park District did receive a grant for solar and with that building being being constructed and currently in you know construction phase we do need to start putting that facility more on a fast track to have electrical infrastructure calls construction calls electrical drawings um and finalizing the site walkthroughs but based on the project highle timeline for all of the facilities we do anticipate that the park district program um solar arrays will be energized in 2024 or early 202 and it'll be a phase in approach obviously with

140health and fitness uh being the first one that kind of gets through the process so we have to put them as you're aware with uh probably your contracts for the facilities that you guys are looking at we have to get them through the interconnection C we have to get the final engineering design we have to apply for the srex the procurement of the materials and you know interconnection agreement approvals and that doesn't include permitting and everything else to that effect um based on the agreement uh under the power purchase agreement the park district is paying zero out of pocket expense um the general contractor uh General energy and DSD Renewables uh General energy will be the electrical contractor performing the work DSD Renewables will be the finance company that owns the array and will ultimately

141have General energy come out and perform all of the maintenance requirements all of the warranty requirements um and there's other parameters that are set forth in the contract for Price protections production guarantees and stuff to that effect for the district in the assumptions of the rates uh under both programs we assumed the 30% tax credit the long-term Renewables program srex to be paid out over seven years a $250 KW Amber inverter rebate what the current market pricing and the the the comparable rates the price to compare um that the district has been paying ensuring prevailing wage on all products projects Max term of 20 years with no annual escalator and that allows again for budgeting over 20 years and we looked at the current Roofing manufacturer warranties and kind of what the age of each

142one of the roofs have been to kind of get the full overview of if the solar arrays can be placed on each one of the roofs uh specifically at the Aquatic Center um the Aquatic Center roof is is a membrane roof so it will be a ballasted system on the uh Aquatic Center's roof uh where another layer of membrane based on the warranty manufacturers of your current Roofing structure uh recommendation and then the system will be placed on the additional layer of membrane and then the racking will be placed on the membrane with uh a ballast and then the panels will be installed so there tends to not be penetrations unless they come from the warranty manufacturer of the system of the rack um the next steps here uh was to get confirmation from both

143the school district and the park district Park District did uh confirm their projects this this evening um the plan for all four projects going together General energy DSD Renewables at a PPA price a power purchase agreement price uh at 6.4 cents for 20 years under the Illinois solar for all program as an aggregate with final legal review of the contract um as soon as possible get that into the attorney's hands and ensure um the agreement is satisfactory and then complete an initial walk site walk to ensure electrical infrastructure on sides um you know have somebody go up on the roof to make sure spacing requirements building permit requirements uh jurisdictional um nuances that could come up during the installation process um and again energizing the system late 2020 24 early 2025 for each one of

144the arrays these are the um layouts uh this would be the Aquatic Center it would be 191 KW DC system uh the module wattage is 490 Watts there would be 390 modules on the ballasted to the roof annual firste production is 228,000 kilowatt hours or a little more than 228,000 kilowatt hours with the annual consumption I pulled up the last 12 bills and it was about 61,000 so little change from from what was included in the presentation with an annual offset around 38% um currently this shows the last 12 months usage where um this will provide uh solar production uh each year for the first year uh based on 0% degradation uh years uh two through 20 will'll have a half a percent each year and as you can see uh based on the power

145production and 61,000 there really will only be one month that there's more power produced by the solar array for this facility than what is purchased from the Grid or offset from the grid so given this the current contract based and future contracts the park district and School District on their monthly invoices will receive net metering credits from Amron uh in regards to the contracted price for an additional savings potential at this site now that's pending if the sun shines the same way that it has in the last 12 months and cloud coverage and everything else to that effect but as you can see you'll have you know a pretty substantial reduction uh you know from the months of April through September uh versus the current monthly usage which are the high production months for the

146solar array with the PPA agreement uh there are protections for the power production um we have included an 85% production guarantee so what that allows um is for if the array goes down for any reason and Falls below the 85% o on a one-year basis the district will be held the park district will be invoiced for the cost differential from anything under 85 or anything under 85% to the 85% threshold um again the annual degradation of the system is around half a percent there's a operation and maintenance agreement uh that's included in the PPA so they will do a thermal imaging scan every year they'll come out to make sure that the panels are working properly or contact the manufacturer if there's any kind of issues with the inverters the panels the wiring um all

147of that is included in the PPA the dis the the districts are you know leasing the roof and paying a discounted power price for the for the array um there also warranties that are included uh you know 20 years for the modules uh 10 years for the inverters um and then the system cost just on its loan is around 445 a little more than $445,000 just for this array um and then there'll be three inverters that will will be connected here in addition to the savings aspect um there is the the green messaging um that will be able to be promoted uh for both districts uh there will be a link to the inverters to show what the power production will be uh we are also looking at you know promote showing what how many

148trees have been planted uh you know what the what the carbon reductions have been you know how many laptops could be charged or iPads could be charged or miles driven all of that will be you know kind of worked together in in the full complete package once the system's energized and then we will also work um on having uh the arrays be registered as a green e EPA green power partner um and then the sites will be listed on the EPA website that shows that solar is installed and there will be a press release through the EP PA that that the facilities are part of the Green Power partner program and and there's another message that both districts can promote for the the community that's down in Urbana for for these sites so with that

149I will open it for any questions for the board um we did have some questions that came up um on the building and planning committee uh last week um and I can run through those or answer those as they come up from the board as well you better just to answer them as they come up board members here any specific questions about the BPA go ahead Rob uh can you uh this probably for Katie or Not Our Guest here but uh can you remind me who uh like what is our agreement with the park district in regards qua Center regards to who owns the building who pays for the electricity um that kind of thing yep so the Urbana School District owns the building it's our building and the park district and the school district

150have an intergovernmental agreement for the park district to be the operating partner of that building so they pay the power bills um but ultimately that building loses about $500,000 a year and each partner we have partner shares that split that cost those partner shares have historically lately been around 5050 but over the next couple of years it's actually going to swing closer to 6040 towards the school district side um so it's really in both of our best interests even with a savings of 12,000 a year that's 12,000 less that each of us will be paying at the end of the day um because that that facility doesn't actually sustain itself um from a revenue standpoint um does that answer your question within orbana Park District it it is by far the most energy consumptive consumptive

151facility we have so we're we're really excited to get this one on on solar in addition to other facilities but I think that that's reflected in the pricing and I know there's some discussion with the facilities group you know this is really good for all of Urbana the Urbana taxpayer that supports both of our agencies it'll reduce their cost and so that 12,000 a year is that before or after the SRE uh you know payments so with a PPA basically the vendor that owns the system receives the benefits of all of those rebates and incentives and then they pass a portion of that those rebates and incentives onto the park district who's Contracting for a reduced energy rate so it's built into that 6.4 Cent rate um but they're receiving the actual full 100% of

152that benefit and then passing a portion of it on please go ahead thank you R for asking that I was question myself that um so what is going to be the benefit that the school district is going to have once they have the electric panels there in and it's going to be like the building owns the electric panel or we are renting the electric panel how that's going to be so we're we're leasing the panel um from the company they're leasing our roof space to install the panel um and then we get to pay a reduced energy rate for them having those panels on our roof at the end of that 20 years or even within the 20 years because there's a provision within the contract we would have an opportunity to purchase the panels

153to keep them on the roof um at a cost that's of fair market value at the time at the end of the contract or they will be completely removed at no cost um as as part of the end of the contract Sean could probably speak a little bit more coherently about some of those processes if if you'd like him to answer it might be better than me yeah I'm just confused because you just mentioned that this this part district is the one who paid the bills um the electric bills so why the school has to invest and so sure well actually that is a really good question and one of the main reasons why we're here with this topic tonight is because right now we only have a four-year agreement with the park district as

154our partner for the facility but we have a this is a 20-year agreement and so we want to make sure at the front end of this that we have agreement from both boards that if the PO Park District were no longer to be that operating partner this array is still going to be on the roof of the building that we own um and so ultimately we would want to take that PPA over and continue to pay those power bills um whether or not the park district was our partner of course we want the park district to remain our partner um and this is a a good partnership for both of us really to enter into this PPA and allow our ban of taxpayers to benefit from that bulk by power that this facilities giving the

155park district on their other facilities as well and the immediate benefit to the school district is that although we pay the power bills we split the cost with you all so there'll be a discount for you all good questions and outside of the economic there's also the green messaging that that will be jointly able to be produced for for each one of the entities um to promote to the school district you know to all of Urbana rap payers and stakeholders that that are the same for each one of you guys the district the green message the the promotion uh visual aesthetic of what it's producing how many trees what's the carbon offset you know use it more of an educational piece um for for everybody to become more and more familiarized with solar as as

156solar still continues to grow especially in Illinois one last advantage to this is that um there's two basic models to solarize our buildings one is self-pay which is what we've done with Thomas Payne and with Wy we we you know as a district you know paid pay for the the panels and we're reaping the benefits of not just a solar power but the the tax in the government incentives the other method is is this purchase power agreement like we're like the park district is is is wanting to do we have a bunch of other buildings uh we would like to put solar on and um we have limited Capital going forward in terms of of uh Capital needs so this is a way to kind of dip our toe in the water with regards to

157to seeing how a purchase a PPA works as opposed to self financing um you the I was fortunate enough to you know have the facilities committee last week and get a preview of this spent some time thinking about it philosophically I I'm certainly in favor of it you know the park district has been a great Community partner for us and that this helps out the park district it helps out the city of arbana um you know the we'll have to see the contract when it when it arrives and have our attorneys look at it and get all all the details you know before we vote on it but um personally I I'm in favor of moving forward with this I would comment there was a draft contract included in um the packet which has not

158um received any sort of legal review but it is my hope that on the 23rd we will bring a reviewed contract for approval um to the board after uh legal review if possible that would be um ideal and part of the reason that we brought this to you as a first read tonight we did have some preliminary discussions with Park District and school legal and the recommendation was that there be a separate Standalone contract for UIC and then one for other three facilities that's what'll be working on in the coming two weeks all right my uh my other question though then is uh so inverters I think tend to run about 10 years so if a 20-year agreement and the inverters replaced after this 10-year warranty on them I mean where do that come from

159is that part of this 20-year lease that it'll be replaced when they break down even though it's beyond the warranty time I want to give that one yeah the yeah the inverters are under the operation and maintenance agreement are scheduled to be replaced within those 10 years so you'll get the full 20year run on the inverter technology at that time I can't guarantee the same inverters will be replaced because inverters are like desktop computers laptops um you know they change they they'll change over 10 years but you will have the the most advantageous inverter at that time um replaced you know to ensure that the life cycle of the contract is is held uh under that PPA standard there's a great questions any anybody else all right thank you if you have further questions with

160regards to the contract I guess you can you have to go go ahead well what did the facilities committee think of this presentation you guys have some kind of Randy so I mean Randy uh is not here so I hate to speak completely for him but he basically said that uh the the roof can handle it the roof was reconstructed I forget how many years ago it was but it was done uh with the idea that solar could eventually be put on it so so we're ready for it so from a facility standpoint it's not going to not going to be an issue um the we had one of our uh one of our legal references was there and was able to to kind of talk us through his process to you review the contract

161going forward but he didn't see any any big hangups at that point um we you know awaiting the formal review um B was also there so thoughts you had Ben I think we also discussed about uh life cycle of the building um or the pool actually I guess if it will need to be replaced or repaired would that would the solar panels have any issue on that but I don't think that came up that was they're separate um what else was there question of whether or not before the end of the contract term would there be a way to buy out the remainder of the by basically by the by the panels before the 20 years so they we would then own them out right so I think was that wasn't resolved well the I

162haven't looked at the at that closely but do me to go over with our legal team there's there's an amortization schedule with regards to the the value of the the the the re array overtime so um I guess exiting the contract early at different points would have have different uh uh you know you know cost right back to the PPA if we wanted to exit early early exit yeah um and I I think what Robbie's alluding to is as a group um the overall consensus was that this was something that we were supportive of as a district um and philosophically to support the um Park District as our long-term Partners so I think that's kind partly what you were asking like as a group what was the facilities committe Comm right yeah y I think

163it would certainly be nice to have a separate contract for that building indeed just that we could iron out I think Sean did some some initial looking at kind of the buyout scenarios and it drops off pretty rapidly after about five years so the cost becomes more achievable if if we went that route being an ignorant but what is the what is the interaction with the school with the pool we only have the swimming pool swimming team for like seniors in high school or there is other activities that the school uses that part of the building that's a great question too uh so the school district primarily at this point is only using the pool for the swim team we used to historically also use it for some programming as well we used to have

164swim lessons and some PE classes that would rotate through but with the new agreement um we've focused more on Revenue generating activities um besides the swim team and so the park district as the operating partner has shifted more towards private rentals and swim lessons and things because we're trying to um control costs for both districts um the costs have really skyrocketed with minimum wage increases and Staffing is very expensive there um so we meet uh monthly as a management team Derek and I and Randy um and a couple others from the park district and Steve Waller from the school district as well um to review the financials for the building and to talk about any other operational issues that the facility is having um so those are things that we're looking at really closely but

165that's kind of our main use right now is the swim team so I don't know if you wanted to comment any further on that or for um girls and boys happens two different times of the year so is any other opportunity to increase the programming in there for the schools as Katie said um because the um Park District operates and we had a lot of discussions about that and under our current four-year agreement that is not something that we um after a lot of uh cost analysis and budgeting and operation discussions um over about 18 months of looking at all that data uh the decision was made that we would not be increasing programming during this fouryear agreement yeah right anyone else go ahead Robie so just to clarify that so the gym classes no

166longer do swimming at all ah I guess I missed that when we last reviewed that contract well I thought we were just closing it down on certain weekends and holidays and other times but yeah we also Clos all summer as well yep all summer exactly but no school in the summer right anyone else all right uh this could be coming back before at our next meeting you my pleasure uh last administrative report of the evening oh thank you Sean sorry uh our last administrative report this evening is a report on redistricting timeline and the next steps so that would be Dr I Tatum yeah and this is very short so um I'm mostly going to be talking from the one pager that you have um an updated one pager about the boundary process uh through

167our work with RSP Associates um as you can see they have a couple of um kind of update times uh built into the timeline for the board um so today is one of those update uh opportunities um the last time we shared this or actually the last time Robert Schwarz from RSP shared this we didn't have final dates um so we we wanted to put this um out for the board and the public um to have a little more information around um when we would have opportunities for public input um from our stakeholders as well as bringing back a boundary plan to the board um initially our thoughts were we would have a boundary plan um before the board in March um but if you remember when um Rob was here um on Zoom at

168the last opportunity that he talked to us he shared um that the enrollment analysis piece of their work had been um delayed a little bit based on the work that they done um with the RPC and the city around um the plats and the neighborhoods and uh address analysis so um this is now um we're pretty confident uh the dates that we're going to be moving forward with um they shared a very brief um in our meeting on the 5th um update around um their current enrollment analysis summaries so they're looking at at um County live births uh right now they're seeing a slight decrease in County live births um pretty stable uh market share um enrollment for our up incoming kindergarteners um we've been saying Elementary growth is has been flat for many many

169years and they're predicting that it is going to basically remain flat um for at least for the next few years um they continue to work um on their fiveyear enrollment forecast um hopefully we will be able to bring that forward um at either the January 23rd meeting or an early meeting in February they're also doing a lot of forecasting around capacity at the elementary schools ums and UHS so um that's the enrollment analysis work that they're currently working on um and we'll hopefully be bringing forward an update um soon once a decision is made um tonight about dual l language then they will be able to uh get a little bit deeper into their boundary analysis work we've kind of not been able to do much with that um until we know uh more definitively

170if we're going to have a whole school dual language um and what that boundary analysis work um might look like for K5 uh based on the decision that the board is going to make tonight um there are going to be two public input opportunities um they will be coming in person um um those will be um once we have um more information to share here in the next week probably after our next meeting uh we'll be putting that information out very publicly right now this is um we're just sharing the dates and the times 5:30 to 7: pm on February 28th and 29th um those meetings will be in person at UHS they have a very unique uh public input opportunity and so we're going to kind of turn it over to them um to

171um uh facilitate uh that input opportunity um I haven't shared this with Paul yet but they have asked that the board president say a few words at the beginning of each of those um nights and um I will be probably sharing a few words from Administration but then they basically take it over um and we'll tell us what format they want to collect public input um and we'll have several rooms open at UHS where we can have um Spanish translators French translators um and they will have very specific questions and tasks for us to complete during that time um also during those two days um on the 28th I believe the evening before the 28th they will open up a public input electronic survey um I know we often talk about um the difficulty in

172collecting information via surveys but um we're hoping and um we've been talking about this a lot so we're very hopeful that if we share it widely um and really encourage feedback um that we will get more participation in the survey and they have some unique ways that they do that as well after those two public inputs on February um public input opportunities on February 28th and 29th um they will bring all of that information back um and we will have another kind of check-in with them um where we can then give the board an update um in March before we receive a uh boundary plan in April so right now the goal would be they present their boundary um analysis and plan at the first meeting in April um and then we would ask the

173board to consider and make some decisions around that at the second meeting in April so that is um basically all I wanted to share unless there are questions or just that was just meant to be like a little timeline update to uh give you some actual dates that we can start kind of sharing out so I have uh two two questions sure one is during the closure of Wy conversation the Wy families were told that they wouldn't have to move schools twice and so they would be grandfathered into wherever they went is that uh still the case in being communicated to these people so sure we've had a lot of conversations about uh Wy um they're very interested in where all the Wy students currently were reassigned John has all that information shared with them

174um and we don't we're not using the word grandfathering what we're uh saying is the Wy families who um wherever they are they will be given a choice you can stay where you are based on where you where you were reassigned if you're happy there great that's where you would stay but if your um based on where you live if your boundary is changing and you like to move to the new school um then they would be given that opportunity to make that choice so we're not really calling it grandfathering it'll be more of a family choice of what they would like to do I have another I have a question related with that what about when the when the kids from the DU lingual program who don't want to go to the DU lingual

175program wherever it is going to be sure they're going to have also the opportunity to stay in the schools they are now even if they are no correspondent to the new boundaries I know sure so I it would still depend on where they live right like if they deci you mean if they wave dual language services and decide they don't want to be part of the yeah I think we would give them the same opportunity if you want to stay um you can do that um but otherwise you would be moving wherever your new address might be okay anybody else have any questions yeah the second question I had was more of a kind of an observation I was thinking of and you know thinking about this process and uh I just like to put

176it out there in public now and uh hopefully these Consultants can help answer this as well so in a hypothetical scenario where let's say Thomas Payne becomes a single du language school then if you take Le with 300 people or 400 300 400 people so two-thirds of that school is in the Dual language program roughly and so half of that two3 is in the Leal District currently so that many people will be going over to the hypothetical Thomas pay so it's not that complicated so if you're redistricting basing off those people then leaving their area and all the schools are equally balanced or appropriately balanced UPF front I will tell you I have a good hunch that people that live in my neighborhood may not be so Keen in the future to go to Tomas

177pay when they have the option of staying out of the Dual language program and staying at wheel therefore over a six-year time period it will skew it over so Le may be appropriately sized now but in six years it's going to be overburdened by the population see so what you have to do is either anticipate that with the redistricting and have kind of skewed classes now or just plan to redistrict again in six years and so I think the thing is populations change and we shouldn't just do this once every 30 years you know there'll be little tweaks and boundaries but we really need to make a plan to probably tweak those boundaries every once in a while it's a big part of why we are where we are now I mean when when when

178uh Dr Williams was chosen as the second dual Language School a big part of the reason why it was done was because that building was uh near empty it was I was just that's exaggeration but it was was not anywhere near full we had at least four empty classrooms in that building and uh you the growth of the program combined with shifts in in where people live have now have that building you know overflowing so yeah I think we have to have a commitment to as a district to reexamine this you know every every few few years and and the last time we attempted redistrict when we ended up moving a dozen kids we said the same thing we should be doing this every five years and and um now you know now we're stuck

179with with having to do something very very big because things are so out of whack okay one thing I heard oh yes I'm sorry one thing I heard uh this evening about the public input um being available and it looks on on this timeline that there's plenty of time for public input before a a proposal is given so before that sure was good to see that yeah February 28th will be here before we know it I mean it is going to go very fast um so yeah anyone else questions or comments all right thank you for all these administrative reports uh we do have policy review this evening for press plus 113 uh in a legislative update uh again Dr AB Tatum so I'm going to try to do this really quickly after a long

180night and I apologize that uh we have to do this on a night when we already have so many presentations but um as you know the Press um information has to be approved by the board and this particular press packet has to be appr approved by the board and entered in in February so um unfortunately we we couldn't really push it off um and had it had to be done tonight typically though we always um have a presentation at the beginning of the year in January because there are always new um bills that are signed in the law um as you saw on the update that I gave you for the legislative update there were 561 bills our uh legislators were very busy and active um in 2023 um and there were several um bills

181that are um relevant to school districts and so I've tried to kind of summarize those here for you um most of what's here is effective as of um January 1 2024 board members are uh very literate and smart and intelligent folks so I'm not going to read to you what I am going to do is just kind of hop around and highlight really briefly um some of the legislative updates I'm not going to go through the P press packet as much because as you can see um the Press packet basically is created to um share information with the board around legislative updates so the two are very much um Blended and braided and intertwined so um I'm going to focus right now on on the packet that you have regarding the January 1 2024 effective

182legislation so um hiring and wages um there are a couple that I want to point out um ESP paid holidays um in if the board members were wondering about this we do not require our ESP staff to work on legal holidays uh we have contract language in our um negotiated agreements um with our UEA around uh when our or uh educational support Personnel are paid for their holiday um time and so this is really not relevant for our district um but there are districts that um don't have contract language but we are bound by our our negotiated agreement so um this really doesn't apply to us but I just wanted to say that in case board members were wondering of if that was actually a thing right it is an INB um we are excited

183about the next one substitute teacher additional uh days for vacant positions we can now as a district employ the same substitute teacher in the same vacant teaching position for 90 days that is new uh We've not been allowed to do that um one of the reasons is um when you have a long-term sub or you have someone that isn't a qualified or licensed teacher um we don't it's not always ideal as you heard Miss lad talk about tonight and as we know we have long-term subs and lots of uh of our classrooms and we've talked about that a lot this year um it isn't always ideal to have a um non-licensed person um in a space for that long however we have some of our uh long-term Subs that are phenomenal and are doing a

184great job and it is a it is wonderful that now we can say that person can stay in one position for 90 days and not have to move them around every 30 days so um that the district has that discretion um and that is something new for us um I'm going to flip to the one listed teacher hiring priorities um this is uh this is basically a Amendment to the school code um that districts have to um hire assigned Educators with the proper um professional educator license if they work in the areas of uh PE music and art um we do have long-term Subs working in those areas um and we will continue to do that until we're able to hire a qualified teacher in those spaces um but this is language basically I think

185there's some districts who um in an effort to um maybe save or do some other things that we don't do in Nana um the Arts is really important to us and has always been a priority for us um so we've never really utilized Subs in this way unless we absolutely have to so um we do have Subs that are in these positions but anytime we have an opportunity to hire a licensed educator in one of those areas we always make that a priority um the next section I'm going to jump to is the employee leave and benefits area and this is just very quickly new language um around bereavement leave uh Oregon donation leave and um leave for uh family members who have experienced um a death in the family due to a victim of

186crime or violence so um this is pretty much school Cod now um and these are things that we will work with the HR department to make sure that we're doing moving forward um next I'm going to jump to employee training uh the first one there that I want to highlight is just the consolidation of teacher trainings um as a district we already ready um Implement basically everything on this list uh that they have here related to um trainings that we're required to um provide to our administrators our school Personnel we right now have a system called the vetor um system it is like a safe schools modules and videos that our staff members watch that cover all of these topics um right now we have about five hours of training that we um provide to

187staff and they're required to complete that training within a certain time period um once they're hired and at the beginning of every school year so we're basically already doing that um the next one is trauma training um this is something that is new um and we'll start for the 2425 school year uh we'll work with the student services department and the uh CIA Department to um and professional development to uh provide teacher Institute Training around trauma and forign practices um moving forward if you'll note there um starting with the October 2024 school report card um districts are now going to have to report um how many staff members uh in the district uh the total number of counselors social workers nurses School psychologists um and uh how many PE uh students those folks work with

188and all of that is in an effort to have districts be more trauma informed um and really be more trauma responsive um so that is trauma training another additional training um that we will be working to implement is homelessness training um I know we talk a lot Kim's department has done a great job Linda Gibbons used to kind of really work on that when she was here so we'll be shifting that um we have a great relationship with the county Township where we um have really had some grant opportunities where we've been able to educate people about homelessness but this is basically um saying that districts now have to inservice um staff every two years um and kind of Orient them to um homelessness and what are uh some of the signs of homelessness so

189we'll be um creating something for that I am now going to kind of flip P um through if you have questions about any of these specifically that I'm not highlighting please stop me and we can do that um yeah yes um so besides training the training all the personal of whatever is involved in that training what is the the impact that the district does directly to the people to the in my mind sure that's I work to the students yes so I think um I I don't know if you remember when Dr Mitchell was here and she did her presentation um and talked about uh what she's been doing and her role um for homelessness I know um oh Lu is still here she works a lot with our uncompany miners um who technically are

190considered homeless and and fall under that uh status but part of this training would be um not just identifying homelessness but what are the rights of our students that are considered homeless and what are ways that we can better support them um and refer them so like you do with your clients how can we better um make sure that we're report supporting our not just our families that are homeless but our students that are identified homeless to to provide more support for them so yep and your expert we welcome any expertise that you want to share with us in that area sit LLY so if um I'm going to kind of skip through uh resignations and pensions and go to bullying and discipline um there is a new language around alternative placements this is basically

191around um the idea of students who are administratively transferred to alternative school programs um because they're subject to suspension or expulsion um right now we don't administ administratively transfer students um to alternate sites uh for suspension at all um but we do have uh opportunities where we have to talk about alternative placements for students that might be uh expelled um um that is something that we do through the board process uh it is a legal process that we follow um and so uh it's a a board decision this is really talking about administrative transfers um they things that uh like their 45 day placements that we can do if students have um um very specific uh criteria in the school code that allows us to do those kinds of things so basically this is not

192not talking about the placements that we have here at Tiger Academy those are all parent requested or School initiated or um happened through our board process um this is basically something else I just wanted to kind of clarify that it I love the language that they've added here about talking about um the rights of the students um you know what is what needs to be in place in those alternative school programs and definitely a timeline for transitioning um but I didn't want the board to be confused that this was in alignment with what we're doing here at Tiger Academy in anyway so just wanted to point that one out um the next one is uh I also want to highlight the rapid Entry School Safety plan so as you know um we have a district

193crisis committee uh Tori is who is the second is it just you this year just Tori yes Brenda used to be so we have a district crisis committee Tori is our build our board rep um we meet Monthly our first meeting of the year is uh tomorrow um there our there are um representatives from orbana police who are part of that committee our SRO are part of that committee our uh several of our building administrators um we have a couple um UA members that are part of that committee and one of the new requirements um through the school safety drill Act is that now we we work very closely with Urbana police for our active shooter drills for all of our uh lockdown procedures uh through that committee but now we also have to generate

194a crisis response plan that would allow law enforcement to rapidly enter our schools in the event of an emergency so we've talked with them a lot about us exiting our schools when we have in um incidents that happen so now we'll work with them on a plan to um if they need to enter one of our buildings uh for whatever reason we'll come up with they plan with their band police um through the work of the district crisis committee uh the next one I want to uh highlight under health and safety is the opioid um language there so our district Nurse Amy Marx is amazing and she has been already working very closely with Beth lad um to come up with administrative uh procedures for us to have something in place um as as soon

195as possible for this January 1 start date so she's already kind of come up with uh procedures um for having Nar can available in our buildings um we're going to acquire um a couple of boxes and so many doses for every single school um that those will be on site um and then we'll be training designated healthc Care Professionals in each school to um administer those Nar administer the Naran in the event we have um somebody overdose um an opioid overdose in one of our um schools hopefully that never happens but Amy has been very thoughtful in preparing us to be ready for that in the event that it does um the next one is gender violence act um as you know we have worked very closely with our lgbtq plus um task force committee

196um and we already uh with HR um have um a lot of procedures and we have a lot of conversations and open communication around um things like this so the purpose of this becoming part of school code is um to really hold um districts and employers uh liable and accountable to make sure that they are uh investigating incidents of gender violence among staff but you know student to student staff to staff uh student to staff um and that we are responsible for making sure that um we investigate complaints reports these are things we do already um but now it is officially a uh a u law that we need to I am going to jump to curriculum and instruction and there's several new um curriculum related um bills so um allergen safety grades 9 through

19712 um we are now responsible um at the beginning of the next school year to teach allergen uh safety as part of the comprehensive Comprehensive Health Program um also the dangers on fentol um through the uh health program for grades 9 through 12 and career development experiences um are also a new addition to something that we will uh have to work with our high school on and the last one on that page Native American history is a new um beginning 202 uh 4 that will now become part of every Elementary and high school social studies course so we've not started any work in that area yet um but we will need to have something in place for the beginning of the 2425 school year were you gonna add some I'm just okay I'm applauding at

198yes um uh under special education I was just going to highlight the IEP emergency accommodations um based basically is just something that we will talk through we've already kind of had a few of these conversations because we do um a very active uh active shooter drill and I think as when you drill you learn oh wow we need to have a plan for uh students that might be in wheelchairs how do we exit the building how do they exit the building in case of the event of an emergency so this is basically um making sure that staff are thinking about those things in the event of a natural disaster or act an actor shooter um situation and we have a plan for our students with IEPs who might need accommodations in the event any of

199those things were to happen um under procurement um the bidding threshold increase uh we've talked about that before and now it is officially here um as of uh January 1 um we will now bid um contracts um uh the bid contract um amount has been increase from 25,000 to 35,000 and um another interesting addition for p uh for procurements is the duration of Transportation contracts um in the past we were limited to a three-year um three-year contract with an opportunity to I think do a one-year renewal um and now we are going to be able to enter into 10year um renewal contracts uh for transportation contracts which which is really interesting construction and maintenance I just want to highlight these two um because we already do these we already are um offering water bottle filling

200stations and any of our new construction but we also went through our buildings and made sure we had water bottle filling stations in all of our schools whether they were new um construction um or not uh we already have a really comprehensive School pesticide um plan and um we are very very careful around when we're scheduling pesticide applications in our buildings um because we have lots of Staff members and students who are sensitive to the chemicals um and so we've already been doing that for for many years um last but not least um the computer science Equity Grant um I think I mentioned in our last legislative update that one of the requirements is that every school will have a um computer science class um and because that is something that a lot of uh

201districts have not had in place um the state board and our our legislators are going to offer some competitive grant funding um to be able to um help enhance the computer science programs in our schools in the state so when that is available to us we will definitely be applying um and then in the actual press review I don't think there was there was only one really important thing that I wanted to point out for board members on page two under um uh policy school board meeting procedure board members are now um allowed to attend remotely due to unexpected child child care obligations that is a new um um what do you call it exemption I guess or for board members you've never been able to you know there the rules are very clear around

202when you can can be remote right it has to be you're ill or you're at a work rated event um that re that requires you to be there not here um but now board members um starting July one can um attend remotely for a meeting if they have an unexpected Child Care obligation so I just I wanted to highlight that um what' you say how we can justify that it's part of school Cod if you say it we're not going to question you so yeah I mean it is it is part of what's being added if you guys approve it then it's part of our policy uh it's still subject though if any board member is remotely that means all of the uh votes have to be roll call yes thank you Paul I could

203vot because I was remote yes but now if it is a unexpected Child Care obligation you would be able to yep um I think the only other the the uh colorcoded um areas were the areas that were not specifically outlined so if board members had questions about the colorcoded areas um let me know but um as Dr Norton already kind of talked about the um American Institute of research so that's listed in here a couple of times um there's some information here about library media um the requirement that we are going to write a statement prohibiting the practice of banning books um is in this press packet um Dr Norton and Christ Roode the librarian librarian for Ms are already kind of working on a statement about that and I think that was the only

204those were the main updates that were not part of the um legislative update so I tried to do those quickly you did there's a lot to go over there Lots yeah about the bus um contract for 10 years that is going to include now that they going to also go like electric and what if they need repairs or something like that sure turn now that we don't like it we're going to be engaged for 10 years so I don't I so she's at you heard okay yeah I don't know that we have made a decision to go electric I think the first student people just came and did that presentation just because they wanted to kind of put it out there um we've not enter to entered into a contract around electric buses or anything

205like that yet they're just kind of Dipping there toring the water to have us kind of talk about it a little bit well so we also applied for a grant sorry and my only other comment on the change in the law it just allows school districts to contract for up to 10 years that doesn't mean that we have to do that so we we haven't historically done that um although first students been our one and only Transportation provider for most of History so um we have a very long-standing relationship with them as our contractor yeah that was it for me for the updates and press any any other questions or comments so this is going to be coming before us in two weeks for a vote um if you or the public have any questions

206with regards to this large number of policy changes uh please contact Administration and we'll talk about it again in two weeks um next up are our action items so first up is 11.1 the Dual language uh one school model um I guess before we can discuss uh is does somebody wish to make a motion for the for the floor do anybody was make Mo the floor so moved he's trying to okay so second okay so it's been moved and seconded uh to have the board approve to unify our K5 Spanish strand models into a whole school Spanish dual language program now would be time for discussion any any comments or discussion please go ahead sit L I just want to thank to everybody who came to the N speak app um I want to thank

207the kids who came and speak up especially David I know it was hard for him to express and I love to see this kind of movement I know there are busy people and they don't have the time to go to these long meetings and they did the sacrifice to do it so I really really appreciate all of that um also I want to thank to all the people who emailed us with all the point of views it really help me to understand something that happened before my time in the um board so I just want to have this opportunity for that also I want to beg the the board to think that the decision that we're want to make today is a decision that is been placed for a long time so please think about

208the kids the teachers that are begging us to do changes for a good of the program and I want to also be sure that this decision is going to affect in a good way the French program because also we heard the need and as much as I F the Dingle program the Spanish one I want to be there for the French one because that's the beauty of this District so please let's think about it and let's be fast thank you Sali anybody else want to make a statement or or or have a question discussion do you want me to share anything about French dual language is very briefly please go ahead it's fine so we had a um I think a really productive meeting with our um French uh staff members at Yankee Ridge yesterday

209and uh Lupe our director of multilingual programs led a kind of a presentation that she'll do again on Saturday we invited parents again any parents listening um from the uh FDL program at y Ridge uh please come because we really want you to hear that we are not considering closing the French program I've said that repeatedly I'll say it again um our hope and goal and um everything that we're planning for for next year is that we'll continue the program um sit L brings up a good point of you comments that have been brought to us recently about um where that program might be located and might it be located with the um Spanish dual language program if that happens I think those are all things that we're kind of gathering feedback from parents so

210we we put that out there briefly to the staff and um talk to them about their thoughts about that um we were really honest with them around um this is a grant funded program um and the uh the FDL program is um and uh there are very specific rules about bilingual education and what can and cannot be called a dual language program so we have to follow all of those rules in terms of our budgeting in terms of our resources in terms of our teacher licensing and you know the licenses and certifications that our staff members have so um I just want to be very upfront and transparent that we are we are not advocating or nor are we considering closing the program um what we are talking about is being realistic about the numbers

211that we have and trying to be creative and Innovative um to continue to do things that we can within the guidelines of the state and of the federal government because we take Grant funds for that program um so again we shared that with staff yesterday um we'll have a very similar conversation with parents on Saturday so just want to make I don't know if Lupe wants to add anything to that but okay all right back to the motion on the floor go ahead thank you um it's my practice to write things down because that's how I can put things together and express myself so it's this is much shorter than usual ones but I did want to convey how I felt it has been overwhelming as Sali had said these past two weeks to attempt

212to catch up with what has previously been discussed regarding the creation of a single dual language program in our school there has been a great deal of consideration by Administration staff families and Neighbors about how to proceed in our district to address the concern this concern as well as issues that the district faces with redistricting raising proficiency levels and scores the future of the Dual language program and retaining and recruit recruiting teachers it is a lot for a district to address at one time we have a changing population in our community and we must address their needs this year alone we we have had 140 new students come here from Central and South America we need a program for them that is welcoming and will address their educational needs to achieve this goal I must

213consider the expertise of the teachers who teach the students in the Dual language programs 17 dual Lang language teachers conveyed their reasons for supporting a single School in for dual language that data is always the most convincing for me what do the experts in our district feel is the best way for children to learn they indicated that it will be the best environment for children to learn in two languages for teachers to collaborate and for the best methods to be implemented they prefaced experts ban and Euro and I heard Lisa tobaku from Cal say two different times ask any expert in dual language and they will tell you the same thing that whole school models work better than strand programs they can be supported and supportive it is the place where they can celebrate both

214languages all the concerns that have been conveyed in emails and in public comments should be considered regarding the location of the Dual language program Transportation issues redistricting students to other buildings so that the students educational needs are being met if the board decides to redistrict students will be reassigned that will be a given we need to work together and communicate effectively how these changes will occur to minimize the stress and confusion for students and Families now Ben last time you mentioned at the meeting the reason why you joined the board was to help with communication in the district and with is the issue regarding a lack of trust well I want to convey to you that even though my focus and reasons may be different we all need to work together so that our entire

215school program will not only approve but will excel my focus on the board is to help make changes in our district that have been long deferred so that the schools will meet the needs of all students and once again USD 116 will be an outstanding standing district for students to learn and for teachers to teach and I think just listening to the students tonight who came proves that the Dual language program is working they spoke beautifully and I'm very impressed with their work and the work of the teachers thank you Sher go ahead Robie so I just want to clarify thing about this motion and that is as I said in an email like a week ago is this a is I mean you said with the motion a single Spanish dual language school so

216it should only be Spanish but then with Dr ay Tatum state statement it made she made it sound like there is a possibility French will also be in the building so the motion says we will unify our two strand models into a wh School Spanish dual language program but it might be housed in a in a building that also has French thank you so if it is housed in a building building that also houses French you lose the whole cultural safety aspect of being a place where everybody speaks Spanish and English they're all bilingual so as that is not our uh belief in that um I think uh we can have a multilingual space where um being bilingual whether you're speaking French or Spanish um is just as important um what wouldn't happen is English

217would not be the language of power in that space and the the languages of power would be uh Spanish and French if that were to happen but right now what we're talking about is unifying the two strands into one program in one space well I will say I don't think I I I I really I was really struggling with this vote and I must say I think a single do language program makes sense but not in the way it's being described and then the other aspect of it that I've really struggled with with this district for multiple years now when I'm able to see how the sausage is made is that we're always making plans without actually having plans and so if you take a step back 13 months ago we're talking about making Le

218the single do language school and just two months ago it was clearly stated that school was too small for it so easily could have done it the or ban away you know with no data just taking action as you guys seem to say a lot and we would have had a school that was too small so I think things need to be thought out clearly and not just passing ideas and moving forwards but we really need to have a well thought out plan and I don't think this is well thought out and I totally disagree with your opinion that a safe space casling both friend French and Spanish in the same building still allows that the example that was given a year ago about a kid who was lost in the building and couldn't figure

219out who to talk to what if he goes up to the French person who speaks French and English and he speaks Spanish or he speaks conab Bal and can talk to nobody you know I just totally disagree that I think we're just always putting the cart before the horse here and so I'm going to vote no and I'm not going to go back and forth with you but I'm going to say we have to agree to disagree I think the plan that we bought for uh for Leo um had marit and at the time was justified we um could not I don't have a crystal ball and none of us could have anticipated the immigration changes and the additional number of newcomers um that we have uh been enrolling in the last few weeks in

220our district I think everybody in the state of Illinois is experiencing that um and the plan that we presented to the board in October of 2022 laid out very clearly what we would do um for this year next year and the years to come um to uh accommodate the capacity of the current numbers of the Dual language program at that time so um I don't agree with what you're saying but I appreciate your comments all right just other thing is we also have to think about the entire District so you know you could say this and that think about the people with the most needs but also think about the entire building of teachers who are forced to break up their community and move to other buildings and probably split up so some of those

221teachers are teachers that already 100% of Wy teachers wanted to stay in Wy yet we said whatever dudes school's closing and we don't know what we're going to make of it and figured out months later that was going to be a Sixth Grade Center so some of those teachers are going to be asked to be moved again and this is another opportunity for them to say hey what's all going on unit four so I predict as we're already seeing with the firing of the intervention is you know the retention is going to be poor all around so you just have to pick what you want to you know support I guess and go with it but I once again I'm going to still vote up anybody else wish to make a comment or suggestion so

222I wrote a little something um as well just so that I don't sit and speak all night um you know I think it's very fitting that you know we're we're making this decision around the MLK um holiday season and um especially as I listened to some of the younger speakers that we had tonight um you know it's a time for reflection on um Dr Martin Luther King Jr's vision of unity equality and inclusion um you know our commitment to these values guides Us in the difficult decision we make for the betterment of our community in some some instances in considering the proposal before us you know I recognize the challenges and concerns surrounding you know the the change that we would be making in the district and and it is a substantial change that we're

223talking about um although we're already talking about a pretty substantial change with redistricting this is this is different um and it and it is change and you know I'll say that change is often not easy for most um you know we appreciate um the passion and the love our community has for um all of the neighborhoods schools and again we've heard from many that they don't even have a neighborhood school um but we do appreciate and understand those who do have that benefit and and um you know that there could be a a potential loss there for um some of our students however our vision extends beyond the immediate impact we're striving to create an environment that Fosters inclusivity and Embraces diversity as well as addressing the educational needs needs that our students have and

224that has to extend to all students it's it can't just be certain groups it's got to be everybody the proposed dual language school is a step towards providing opportunities and support for this population of students for their families acknowledging the richness they bring to our educational tapestry I understand that change can be unsettling um and it is not lost on me the impact this decision will have on students teachers and their amilies um you know it's with really with a heavy heart but also kind of a joyful heart too that you know we're back at looking at this and making this decision but it's with a hopeful one that we look towards the future where every child regardless of background has a chance to thrive in an educational setting that celebrates their unique gifts and

225their Heritage so I just want to end with you know letting us remember because of this holiday season Dr King's words in the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the Silence of our friends today let us stand together um as a community United in our commitment to equality and justice may we move forward with Grace compassion and a shared understanding that in time this decision will contribute to a more inclusive and enriching educational experience for all of our students and so with that um you know obviously I am in support of um this motion thank you Tori anybody else I guess I'll make a quick comment is as the only person up here who's had the privilege of voting for the conversion of the transitional bilingual program to the Dual

226language program and its expansion into Prairie now now now Williams I see this vote as the next phase of the program and its growth and um I'm excited for what the future holds for it so I'm I'm intending to vote in favor of this motion anybody else uh roll call vote is an order I'd like to Echo just so I'm on the record I like Echo what Robbie said about us not forgetting the rest of the district and that this is a momentous decision and that looking at charts and data and graphs I'm not an expert in any of those but uh so it was very difficult to to determine what what would happen I have no crystal ball to say it's going to work out I think this decision is uh only compounding uh

227the last decision we on top of the last decision we made which is the Sixth Grade Center a lot of things are moving very quickly huge decisions are being made and I and it's uh it's uncomfortable for me to to move this fast it's just my thought is I would like to you know see more more anecdotal uh data stories to back up uh the idea of that this would work hard decision for me to make I'm not I'm still not sure how I'm going to go but you know this this is uh just wanted to put that out there can I um can I say something that might help you just you're thinking about the whole District kids and it's true we have to think about the whole District things but slow down a

228process that need to change because it's not working right now and we still holding in something that is not working and we are pushed to do these changes as fast as they look is because we haven't done anything before so if we keep thinking of like this is not the solution we have to think about as slow down and thinking a solution we're going to keep another years thinking in Solutions so yes it seems a lot and this like a lot of people is going to be mad but the way how I see it is like they going to be mad regardless whatever we do and we don't try anything new and then see like okay it didn't work how we can improve it then nothing is going to happen that's what you you told

229me on the uh the Leal playground so uh C courage is not is it it's not easy to come by uh but right I try to take experiences from my own life and how this can be a I don't want to use the word experiment because it's not we're not you're not lab animals we're not trying new things just you know we are kind of but we should be brave there's nothing wrong with trying new things if it doesn't work we try something else but as long as we're moving forward and trying something that's the best we can do that's the best we can do we don't have a crystal ball we don't know what's going to happen but we're not going to drive a truck off a cliff but we got to do something

230in the Cal report and all the the data that I can understand is that we're failing not just that segment but we're failing all of all of our kids so you'll find out what I vote for when I vote thank you thank you thank you B I might call on you first then because of that but I I do want to say that I do appreciate all the answers um that I got when when when we did get all the emails and people asked questions and they said they're concerns it's it's not that we don't listen to them we follow up and we we send emails and the and the Administration has been very and and the teachers too have been very responsive about um different issues that other people have brought up and I

231I really appreciate that as well so thank you go ahead little okay I just want to let the public know that um it's not an opinion the information that we've had has made me come to the conclusion of and I prefer to do something than to just kick the can down the road because our kids are they need it thank you L anyone else uh roll call please member Jones yes member Staten yes member haka no member langendorf yes member Baxley no vice president exen yes president palowski yes uh motion passes 5-2 uh we do have another action item tonight and that is for advanced approval of December bills and checks so so as as typical when um the calendar Falls for our meetings a certain way we have to seek Advan approval for the

232prior month's uh spending so Katie can kind of give us context but it's just because the January board meeting is being pushed back a week the checks still go out always on the third Tuesday of every month and so we are asking for advanced approval to go ahead and issue those checks like we would normally if if our board meetings change dates so that we can come back at the next regularly scheduled meeting to request approval so that we don't delay our contractor's payments thank you is there is there a motion to uh approve in advance the December bills and checks so moved second move second any further comments or discussion roll call please member Haka yes member Baxley yes member Jones yes member Staten yes member langendorf yes vice president exom president palowski yes

233um superintendent report okay I'm GNA start um just by reading a statement that was shared with ums families about um standards reference um learning um ATS um as our UHS families know we shared an announcement on Friday January 5th um regarding um our uh discussions with families and stakeholders about switching um to more of a traditional letter grade uh system over the winter break um which we were unable to do um for a lot of reasons so I'm going to kind of read a a followup um email uh I know there have been conversations happening with staff and um we wanted to share an update with families so um I'm reading this so the whole public is aware um buts families received this email just earlier this evening um ATS students are R enrolled in

234a yearlong courses not semesters like UHS uh there's been a lot of questions um given to us around um you were able to make this change at UHS why Nots um making a change midy year for year-long courses uh was problematic when we entered into that we knew it would be difficult um when we were even having the conversations with um families and staff but we uh really thought uh through the work of our Our IT team our administrators our Skyward experts that we work with that we'd be able to um do everything with no hiccups and of course there were hiccups so um standard-based grade books already had grades calculated in the year-long courses ATS making changes um could have caused us to lose all grading information for ums students um so on the

235advice of um our experts and technicians at Skyward um they said that that is something that could happen and we weren't willing to take that risk um to lose all of our grade information from the whole first semester um so we needed to quickly message something um to families um our staff spent hours and hours and hours um on January 3rd um to return the grade books back to where they were um so we could mail progress reports home for the January 88th progress report date um just to provide more context for families I know there have been a lot of questions about um you know Skyward um isn't the grading system and grades are generated by teachers and all of those things are true um but Skyward is our data management system it is

236the system that we use to uh provide information to the state for attendance um for Teacher assignments for Teacher grades for student grades um all the information that is in our State student information system is what is generated into our school report card that is the same information that determines the school designations that we've been talking about um so much for the last few weeks um those are other areas that could have been implicated or um we could have had multiple errors where um our course assignments didn't line up our teacher assignments um in regard to what grades or what classes teachers were teaching all of that information is pulled out of Skyward and sent to the state um and making a change at Urbana Middle School mid year um just was a really difficult

237task um for us to uh enter into so it's our student database um I know families only see the family access side of Skyward but teachers have to deal in the teacher Gradebook side side of Skyward every day um and um making midyear changes um just could have and would have caused some complicating errors um that we just weren't really we weren't willing to take that risk um the decaying average is something that we've heard a lot about um we've received uh comments uh questions about that as well so since we sent the initial um message to families last week um we have been talking um in great detail with uh Skyward and um about specifically the decaying average um and unfortunately because the ums students are in year-long courses if we make any changes

238to to the decaying average at this point it will um affect first semester courses um and change that data and um that also is um a huge problem on a positive note uh the uh team was able to convert the displayed numerical scores to a letter grade uh which is something that I know is really important to the committee um and the people that we've been hearing from um the letter grade change will be reflected um as families access family accessing Skyward so we appreciate everyone's patience while we've been trying to work through this I did just want to share um because we received several comments about you know why did this happen at U UHS and not ums and so I just wanted to give a little more context around the amount of time

239that was spent making this happen at UHS and be and again remember UHS there in semester courses not year-long courses so during the short break that we had we had four staff members who spent over 80 hours going into the UHS uh course courses and classes they had to create all new classes for the second semester they had to clone every single course and every single class offered at UHS they had to assign curriculum to every single class and every single course at UHS in addition to every single section so um that is a lot of work and I know I'm not trying to make excuses but I just wanted to give context um um around the time and effort put into just making this change happen for our bana High School um I know

240um people are really disappointed that we weren't able to make the exact same change at ums um but I am really happy that we were able to um make the changes related to the numerical scores and the glet grades so I just wanted to share that update Kim do you want to share anything else okay all right so I am I'm going to just hop right into um and we'll make sure that that letter is shared um in the board update that goes out tomorrow so more people see it than just the families from Ms so um moving forward as Tori mentioned this is Martin Luther King uh weekend and as you know the Dr Martin Luther King countywide celebration um always happens on the Sunday before um the Martin Luther King holiday that will

241be Sunday the 14th at Craner um the program begins at uh 5:00 p.m. the doors will open at 4: um the event is free and open to the public um the scholarship recipi from UA UHS we're really happy to announce Hudson Cody will be receiving the Willie Somerville Memorial award for excellence in the Arts um Katherine halig noren inmail laureli ya and Edward Eduardo andrees is our alternate um the unity breakfast which also happens um on the Monday of the King holiday is at Vineyard at 8:30 so congratulations to the UHS students who will be receiving living the dream scholarships um on Sunday evening at Craner um Black History Month uh is of course coming the month of um February um since the passing of um our staff member and friend um Janice Mitchell we

242have started a kickoff uh to Black History Month so this will be the third annual kickoff um that event will happen at Dr Williams um kind of in celebration of the life and work um and the dream um that um and the programming and all the things that Janice Mitchell brought to the Prairie School the Prairie neighborhood to Dr Williams um which is why we have that event there um that will be Sunday January 28th from 3: to 5:00 p.m. um thank you mentors again Angie Armstrong was going to be here to present a little bit she hopefully will be here um next um meeting on the 23rd um but we will be celebrating our um mentors through National mentoring month activities January 18th is the breakfast um at Stone Creek um January 25th mentors

243will receive their benefit cards um which is a partnership in our community where mentors um get uh discounts and deals all over champagne orbana um which is exciting and then connect for mentoring social will be on January 25th if you're interest interested in being a mentor there are some new Mentor training opportunities coming up January 30th February 7th and February 22nd and we've included the link there so you can sign up if you would like to participate it is School Board appreciation month and um we know how hard um you guys work and I just thinking about the decisions that you had to make this evening um your prep time your study time um the interaction and engagement time that you give to our community is really appreciated so um thank you for your dedication

244to our students and our district during the month of January for school board appreciation month and I think upcoming dates the only dates to really highlight no school again Martin Luther King day um family and Community Cafe our next one is at DPW um February 13th from 6 to 7 and then read Across America we'll be sharing more information about that again we'll be at Lincoln Square Mall March 2nd at 10: and you're going to do foes yeah fo so we do have two foas first is from Tom Schroeder uh any records for meetings of the bilingual parent advisory committee be pack this includes any agendas minutes meeting materials or recordings for meeting it also includes any Communications with committee members this request is limited to meetings that occurred during the current calendar year and

245another from Tom schroer uh any records of any social media users that are blocked hidden or otherwise limited by the district from interacting with District manag accounts this request would include accounts on X AKA Twitter Facebook Instagram and YouTube and it may include other platforms this request is for accounts that are managed by at the district level and most lik ly by employees located in central office uh this request can omit any accounts or platforms that weren't actively used within the past calendar year and the last from Tom schroer is any records related to section five of Foya um 5 ilcs 1405 uh board reports anybody have a board report this evening it's late so go ahead I don't have a board report but I'm just thinking something I know we already bought this pass

246but I want to say something to Ravi if a kid get lost in a building that speak Spanish and French it's more easy to understand French Spanish is my first language I understand French it's not goingon to be [Laughter] isue um uh is there a motion to adjourn if there is no other vot report second good mov and seconded all in favor say I I we're Jour we'll see you in two weeks thank you everybody