001call the meeting order. If I can ask our wonderful ambassador to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Yes. >> Missard here. >> Mr. Pagney, >> Miss Jacobs, >> Miss Dixon, >> Miss Carol. >> I'll begin with bullying, harassment, racism, sexism, and hate speech. place in Community High School District 117. Community High School District 117 is committed to creating a rich, equitable, and respectful learning environment for all. We believe in our mission statement, which is ignite passion and discovery in every student. We will continue to develop ways to extend the thinking, learning, and opportunities for all our students, all our staff, and our families. To that end, it is critically important that we are explicit in stating that bullying Racism, sexism,
002and hate speech of any and all kinds are not acceptable and have no place in our district. Please work with us to discourage, report, and address these hurtful behaviors. At this point in the meeting, it's an opportunity for public comments. The opportunity to speak to the board is provided for members of the public who have a comment to make about the board business. The board appreciates hearing from stakeholders and values your thoughts and questions. The board strives to make the best decisions for the district and public input is always very helpful. The board must protect the civil and decorum of this meeting. Please be respectful of the duties of the board and the democratic process in your comments tonight. Please state your name and address and address your comments only to the board. Please limit
003your comments to three minutes. Please be and request that you not make statements that are personally disrespectful or condescending to members of the board or to staff. To the extent there may be multiple speakers addressing a single issue, I reserve the right to limit the number of speakers making public comment and limit the amount of time for public comments or attempt to answer any questions during the public comment period. Next item on the agenda, we begin with presentations. >> Oh, do we want to ask if there's public comments? >> Oh, that's the preamble so long. >> I didn't see any public out there. Would anyone care to make any public comments? Okay, now we'll move on to presentations. Excellent. So we are so honored to have the second ever individual state wrestling championship at Union
004High School. Only the third ever individual state championship in any sport here in the house. Owen Shay 285 pounds. He's going to make us famous in football and wrestling after uh this last couple months of school as he goes on. We'll let him tell about his next plans. But first, let's give it up for Mr. OWEN SHAY. A LITTLE BIT AND THEN WE'RE GOING to need some words from you as well and then family members if you want to introduce yourself but coach you want to give us a little bit about Owen season we'll make Owen talk >> yeah we'll definitely make Owen talk and just for me a lot of gratitude being able to coach this guy my first year as a coach and What a great experience. Of course, he's a great athlete
005going to play division one football and I really look forward to seeing him do great things in that. So, we only have four or five months together. So, we had to make the most of it. Obviously, if you watch him play football, he's big, he's fast, he's strong, but I think a lot that people don't see is his poise, his confidence, able to, you know, everybody gets nervous, but just kind of trying to ease those nerves and them the best as you can. I think I've said it a couple times now, there's so many kids that are talented enough to win state title in the sport of wrestling. Can't just can't have one great match. You got to have four in a row at the state tournament. A lot of nerves come with that. A
006lot of pressure every match. Pressure the stakes get higher. Just what an incredible accomplishment which is why only two ever and three individual state champions. And it's just such an honor. For me, it's really just a lot of gratitude being able to coach this guy. I'm looking forward to watch him do even even in a different sport. I look forward to seeing him do great things in that. And I just know he carries that same mentality and confidence and poise willing to listen. I know a lot I know he's going to do great things not only in sports but in his academics as well and then in life. So just for me a lot of gratitude being able to coach this got kind of struck gold in the first year. So again, it's awesome. Looking
007forward really looking forward to hear what he has to say. I know our board members are excited to shake your hand, take a picture, but before we do that, you have to say a few words. At least introduce your family, tell us something. Tell us about what you got next. >> I'm very, so I'm just introduce my family. That's my dad. That's my stepmom, Bora. And this is my mom. >> I didn't know I would be. >> What are you doing next year, >> I'm going to college at Drake to play football. >> Nice. >> And so excited for that. It was courageous of you to continue in wrestling after you knew that you had this college path paid for through football. So, you want to talk about like you just weren't worried about getting
008hurt or just like that was you want to do? >> I mean, I've always had problems with it. I like doing it. Well, I'll let the board members make some comments, then we'll take a picture. But I just want to personally say thank you for making us even more famous here at Antioch Community High School, and it's quite a hollow place that you have in our history. So, >> I'm so proud that you're here. So, board members. >> Oh, and I want to, you know, in behalf of the board, I want to say that you make this board proud. You make this school, Antioch Community High School proud. You make the district proud. And I can tell you that you make all of our communities, Antioch, Lakeville, Lindenhurst, all proud because we're all one district.
009So congratulations. It's it's a great honor and we're happy that it happened during our lifetime. >> Any comments from board members? >> I'd like to say Mr. Sh and family congratulations. I haven't seen you probably in about four years. You got big. >> Congratulations, Owen. Great job. >> Congratulations. >> You're going to do great. You're going to do great. >> Okay, board members, we're going to gather around the TV. So, have three on one side and three or four on the other. And we'll have Owen stand there. We'll take a nice picture with that in the background. And you can shake Owen's hand. coaches. We'll have you guys go up there. And now coaches, can I have you guys join please? Pretend you like each other. Ready? One, two, three. >> Perfect. >> Thank you.
010>> With 14. So, okay. Well, stand. >> Okay. A little bit better. Come on. >> One, two, three. Real quick. >> Trying. >> Okay. We tried, Dad. I'm sorry. >> Congratulations. >> Thanks for making it. >> What are you feeding him? >> What? smaller than me. >> Congratulations. That's really >> a heart attack. Seriously, >> Michael wants to say something. Hi guys, I'm I'm Owen S. Um, former CO graduated 94. >> So, um, I know a lot about culture. I played college sports as well and stuff, played here as well. Um, culture and coaching is a big thing. Um, I've seen a lot of coaches in my lifetime and I am so thankful that these two came in and I want to tell you these two are amazing coaches. They they have this culture with
011these kids. These kids have a bond with each other. They have a bond with them. So, um, definitely I know he could not have done that without them. Um, they got into his mind. They they they know what they're doing with these kids and they motivate them so well. And these two are I'm telling them they're great coaches. So, um, I'm really thankful, >> you know, and, uh, I don't know, the kids, you know, they all have fun and they're like a family and it's like a family culture. So, you know, so you guys got some good coaches here. So, AWESOME. YEAH, you don't have to sit for the rest of the meeting. >> You might go off. >> We now have front row seats vacated for the government students. Come on now. Sit over
012here. You can see better. Come over here. >> You may as well. >> It's a lot easier to see what's going on. >> Wait, >> we're government, right? >> Okay. For the next presentations, I'd like >> Sure. So, I'm proud to introduce Mr. Trey and Mr. Matt Caster as they discuss our amazing fine arts program and our course offerings across Community High School District 117. Tonight, Trey and Matt are going to highlight some of the recent shifts in our community festival as well as the role AI is playing in fine arts and then some of our recent more broad achievements. So, Trey and Matt, welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> There should even Well, thanks so much for this opportunity to to carve out some time and space to talk shop about the fine
013arts department. one we are the proud department chairs and and here to do just that for you know that this is just the tip of the iceberg and do your best and and we have seen you out come out and see the kids in action but tonight we're going to talk about the district festival reimagine how we're utilizing AI both in our own work and in our classrooms and then talk frankly about some um tough center school situations that are influencing what happens within our buildings. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the district festival and then Trey will talk about AI. So, our district festivals were originally set up to accomplish the goals of having the students interact with each other, especially the future students with the current high school students so
014they could get a taste of what it's like to be a high school student, whether it's an art, drama, band, choir, orchestra across our department. So know when I give examples I may only give one example but this is happening across our department and all of the genres that we offer throughout the fine arts department. So we start talking with each other of course as the as the high school staff and then with our center school staff about like hey are these big huge which are quite a spectacle no doubt are those really servicing and and accomplishing the goal of having the students interact and having a a authentic experience in our four walls. One example that was inauthentic about our pastic uh um format, we don't ever perform in the fieldhouse except for that
015performance of the district festival. So, we wanted to get them in our auditoriums and show them those spaces, get them in our art rooms and get on the wheel and have some fun here within our four walls to have that authentic experience of what it's like to be a high school fine arts student and to engage with our students. So, that's why we really went ahead and every single school that we work with has responded positively. I can tell you a success story from every single one of us. We want to keep it to 10 minutes, but we're working with each school to then bring them to us so that we can gauge our experience to what they need and what they want to experience with us at the wheel. So, that's really at the
016heart of what's happening. So, go ahead and with our next slide, here's a couple of pictures of what was happening. These scenarios would not have happened in our past um format. So, there's there's the one of us on stage. That's the AUG sixth grade band. They came in and did a performance and then I had an onstage clinic with them. All the while the seventh graders were in sectionals with our our section leaders from Lakes Community High School. The next day, Brendan Frank took his eighth graders over to um Antioch High School and they did a similar thing. They had a little bit more time and they sat around and had pizza and were able to interact in a in a fun and social way. And then here's one of our sectionals. These are two
017drum section leaders running sectionals with the percussionists from the seventh grade band of AUG. So those sorts of connections and experiences were not capable of before. So, we're really excited about where this goes and how it continues to evolve district to district to district as far as our centers are concerned. >> And correct me if I'm wrong, but you had a center district over today after jazz night last night. >> Correct. So, Emmens and Grass Lake came here today to work with the bands. I personally witnessed a bunch of kids because my kids go to Emmens. Eyes lighting up working with students, not with Mr. for lunch today in my room having a little sectional learning the fight song touring the facility for the the uh >> board no what's it called uh need more
018sleep sounds like literally my office >> yeah right >> uh and like kids that are in my neighborhood they're like this is really cool like that was really fun kid a bass drum sound was sitting on the bass drum like just stuff we wouldn't have been able to do so I would 100% say it was a success and the best part is is that we're getting feedback from not only our students who are helping run it, but also the students that are coming because they know me and they're telling me all the things they want to do better and all those things and all the teachers and it's not just music. We had music production classes come in. Uh we're still working with the art teachers. We'll talk about that later at this school situation.
019So, it's been a rousing success even though we didn't have the big spectacle in the fieldhouse. It has been way more educational and I can personally say that my son's friends had way more fun doing this. Um, and it's gonna be good. >> And just serves the purpose of what we originally set up to do. Correct. We've gotten away from that. So, we wanted to adjust to make sure we were really addressing what we originally wanted to do. And because recruitment and retention is huge in our department. So, this is a big big tool for us to use to do just that. >> Speaking of tools, um, as far as AI goes, we wanted to point out what we've done in the fine arts. And when I say we, I mean all of the teachers
020and the students. As far as us personally, we're all doing something different at our own pace. As far as personal, I use it for keeping my calendar in mind, helping with emails to parents. We all know how AI can be useful for that. That's not necessarily the exciting thing. Um, one that I do want to point out, we have art teachers that are building AI bots that can get to know students how they like to they get to know the students interests and then it gets to know the mediums they prefer to use and then it can help them come up with ideas for their next art projects. It can also help um analyze their art and it can also help them collaborate with other artists all through a design that I mean Mr. FA
021is the one who showed me this and it blew my mind that he built this and he's got he's working with uh the art teachers are working with our tech department to make sure that it's it's kosher with kids using their school emails. They're now using their personal emails. It is an amazing tool. He also they've also used it to help them with their student surveys and it compiles data for the surveys. So the the visual arts have been doing an amazing job getting that tool to start helping their students with their work because you can get really stuck as an artist just doing the same thing over and over. Um and that is just super exciting. So something we wanted to point out as far as music goes. We've used it for practice tracks.
022We've used it to analyze recordings. We've used it to create um practice tracks. I've used it to help with sight singing. It's just amazing what you can do with it. And we wanted to let the board know that fine arts is not just being like, "Nah, we don't need AI." No, it's actually really exciting and it's getting our teachers and our students excited about it. So, thank you for getting that initiative in. Or Brian's not here, is he? Anyway, um that was just something that sparked from having um the person come in and help us with AI. I love it. I'm a baby at it. Um but luckily, we have colleagues that are really pushing us along and it is very, very cool. said all those things and we put it on a slide. Whoops.
023I think I got them all. Oh, another cool one. Um, as far as music production goes, uh, Mr. put it in a gym and he listed the entire um, functionality of our studio and how it interacts with the auditorium. So, if there's a problem, his music production students can use the AI bot to then diagnose that problem. So, that's something else that's really cool. He's also going to have that happen at Lakes. It's a simpler system because they don't have the studio that interacts with it. But it's just really neat. So now I don't have to ask Mr. Ranch if something's going wrong. I can just do the bot that he made. >> Pretty cool thing that our that we had help from outside um people that we have experts that have come in Mr.
024Mayorman and things talk about that's what they're doing in the real world that they say for the job force. So it's been really really cool. >> For those of you who are Mr. A gem is within Google Gemini, which is the free tool that we have with our Google Workspace and it's like a little mini bot that you can build for free. You just got to put some context in there and train it, which Mr. did. Yes. And now anyone can use it. >> Correct. >> So, it's very, very neat. So, we're definitely using the AI in the fine arts world. >> All right. So, now I have some unfortunate news a little bit. Um, the district festivals have been great getting us to work with our center schools. Unfortunately, not all the programs are
025being as proactive. We're having a little bit of trouble with visual arts. Um, getting those teachers to interact with us. And I'll just go out and say it, we talked about it at this meeting last year with district 34 and their choices that they made with all electives, not just fine arts. We're already seeing very negative impacts from that. I'll speak for myself because I have the data in my head. I've been doing this for 17 years now. The preparedness of the students that I have coming next year is the lowest it's been in 17 years. And that is no fault to my colleague at at 34, the choir director. They have less time. They just do. I also figured this was going to happen. I just didn't know what happened so quick. We are
026also losing one of the best band directors in the state, in my opinion, at the middle school level at 34. He is moving on, which I thought was going to happen. I just didn't think it would happen that quickly. So, I know we can't do anything about it here, but we would be remiss to not let you know that we are going to be fighting these things because they are our students, but we're not a unit district and we can't we can't do anything about it, but we will be dealing with these issues of students not being as prepared. They're not having as much interest in some of these things like theater is not as big of a thing anymore in any center school in the state. I made some calls. Every school is struggling
027with that. Um, we're going to continue to make relationships with our centers by doing the festivals and things, but we can't really do anything about what 34 chose to do with their schedule. And I feel like I'm just complaining, but as a community member, it just hurts my heart that one of my best friends is just leaving now because of the decisions of that. Um, we will do our best and we will keep fighting the good fight, but it's not going to be easy with how that goes. You can say good news now. >> Yes. So, but celebrations and challenges that's all part of our business is that that's the reality of what we do. So, so some celebrations our art students in the first semester submit for scholarships and this is total offerings across
028our district of $756,000. So, that's an impressive number. We have um broached the million dollar mark before. So, that's still that's still a very impressive number for our art visual arts scholarships. Doesn't mean that's all been awarded. Those are offerings that the students have been offered. Then they have then options and choices to go from there. Some all state students that participated in the musical. We're always really proud of those students that get to be in that top 10% of music theater students that are doing the thing. And so two Antioch students and a lake student were invited to come and be in this year's all state music. >> Are we at our 10 minutes yet? >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. Lots of course graduate stuff we can talk about. >> We're really proud of
029how the course of a graduate is uh is manifested in the finance department. We could we could probably give a 10-minute thing on just that. >> We could. >> Yeah. But these are the ones that are really strong. >> Go ahead. You >> sure? Okay. >> Well, is courageous. I mean, that's part of why I'm able to stand here and talk like I am right now. I'm nervous definitely, but my training in the arts has helped me to know my audience, to be able to control what I'm saying, think about it before, and be prepared to do it, go with the punches that happen during the presentation. So, it's it's so so important that our students get these opportunities because it builds their ability to be courageous and to take risks in other ways in
030their life, not just in in on stage or in the arts. And then my other one is embraces diversity. If you were at um Eagle Pride, music is one example of one of the more democratic things we do as a species. Every voice counts. There's a place for everybody. Without any one, we are less. And so that idea of embracing diversity is something that the students see a great example of in our classrooms. >> As far as collaboration goes, what we've done with our festivals is just an example of how us adults collaborate. But in the classrooms, we're collaborating at all times. I'll use a visual arts example. I was doing an observation the other day and I just saw a group of four students all looking at one piece of artwork and they were
031all giving their opinions on what they thought could be done and then they all talked about that they were thinking critically using the terms that they were taught in this beginning level 3D art class. Um, and that I mean it's also just part of the culture of how all of this works. And it's funny it's not funny but we have these posters in our rooms and my students are not trained though. I'll be like Oh, and they're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're collaborating." And I was like, "Yeah, it's not a joke, though. That's what you're doing, right?" And then I don't want to try for that solo. I was like, "Come on." >> Is courageous. >> Let's try it. Be courageous. You're in a safe spot. And they're like, "Okay, good." So, like, we're using
032it. I think fine arts, of course, every department's going to say this. We could go on and on about how we use this on a day-to-day basis. Um, but I can give you 50 kids that I know right now, if they weren't in a fine arts class, they would barely speak. But they feel comfortable and then they go out and speak and it's just great. One more about diversity. It's not the color of your skin, it's how you think. That AI bot learning how a kid thinks and what they like to then suggest what they could create. That's diversity. It's not what people look like. It's just how we think and how we interact. And that's another thing I think shines in the fire. Thanks for the couple extra minutes. >> Yes, thank you. >>
033Well, the couple extra minutes was very important to us because we see how you embrace it and that's that makes us feel so good. It really does. >> We've worked on it. >> Worked on it. I mean, for years and it's been it's been embraced by this district so fast, >> you know, where where plans in the past are still in Jorus, not not in the school anymore. They're in somewhere else. >> And the enthusiasm from you and from other department in terms of working with it and embracing it is is is uh very important to us, I think. And it shows not just us, administration, community, students that that's the vital part. >> Yeah. >> The student creating that portrait of graduate was significant part and then just the thing we had the other
034night uh where we talked about it uh and we had students here who were part of the presentation and as a former speech teacher I was so very proud of all of them because it's it's a scary thing to stand in front of a bunch of adults and talk and speak. I always ask my classes, how many of you are here because you want to or because you have to be and the have to be outnumbered the want to by a whole lot. >> Anyway, congratulations. Thank you. >> It is super exciting um that you're that you talked about the portrait of the graduate as well because it does give our students something tangible to work for and to um it gives them the concepts that we feel and the board in the past when
035they develop this They it gives them this I don't know what's the word I'm looking for I'm missing but >> I like the northstar notion that you've said before precisely it's that beacon look at that >> so it's exciting I feel like kids are embracing that as well >> well every student has one of those tenants that they can identify with. They might not be good at all of them at once, but every single student who walks in the building can identify with one and feel good about the fact that they're ready for that. >> I'm sorry. It gives them that agency. Correct. That's the word. It gives them that agency. >> I'm just really thrilled the passion I'm seeing from both of you and it hurts my heart to know that some of the
036kids coming in are not going to have some of what the others have gone before. But I think it's really important what you're doing, not just portrait of graduate, but you're giving kids who may not be able to speak >> and that is so important and I came from a fine arts background and that is something a lot of folks outside understand >> and also as a fine arts person is a safe place and I hear that from my former students all the time >> this was my safe place >> this is what kept me in school >> were kids who have nothing in common other than that become like one friend. >> The people that stood at my wedding could not have been more different from each other, but they all were connected to
037me through mostly. >> I have a question. So, are you seeing the same thing coming out of Emmens or is it just D34? >> So, it's just it's just D34 that changed the schedule. Um Emmens um and Grass Lake, they all have their small communities. Again, like my students go to Emmens. Um, I think we're going to have a big impact with those smaller schools because of the change of the district festival. Like I said, those two schools were here today. And I've already talked to both of their music teachers about what we're going to do again next year. Made connections with students that would sometimes get swallowed up by the bigger districts when we have this giant festival, especially Grass Lake and Emmens because, you know, they bring 15 kids and Augs and Noburn
038are bringing something. So, they felt very comfortable. So, I think that's really good. That's not what's I was referring to in terms of the district 34. Um, >> do you see a change to help that change? >> I I just want to go on record and I say I support the schedule change that made district 34. This is one of the correlary challenges that it presents to us. But I think we're problem solvers. We'll find a way to build our program and adapt to what our center district is doing. >> Yeah, we just need more time to adjust to it and their staff needs more time to adjust to it. the first year. It's just I needed to Well, we need to let the school board know that that that is presenting a challenge and
039it's going to be a challenge for the next coming years as any time you have a schedule change. There are kinks that need to be worked out, but it is going to impact what you see with us and how we need to teach and just keep changing. But we've been here a long time. >> I'm not scared. >> Champions adjust. >> Just wanted to make you all aware. >> Sorry. Dr. skills associated with fine arts or you're talking about reading skills or math skills. What we do as a high school district is we identify where kids need support where they need to grow and then we respond. So I'm pretty confident we can >> well it's a double-edged sword because we're just coming out of co too which I think hit fine arts more. So
040bam, bam. But we made it through co and we'll make it through whatever is given to us thrown at us and I am very happy with how our interactions with the teachers that have interacted with us with our district festival reimagine changes. I'm very excited for what we do next year and in the coming years. And we're just going to keep making better connections with our um center districts. And I'm very passionate about that. I live in the community. I got kids that are coming here. Um, we got to keep reaching out and the proofs in the pudding. What I saw today made me so happy. We'll continue doing that. >> Well, thank you very much. We appreciate it. >> Wonderful update. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks for the time. >> So, our science
041departments are led by Mr. Will Barbader and Gina Power. Tonight, Will and Gina are going to share some of the major skills and concepts that are the focus of our science department as well as the importance of community partnerships and the areas of focus moving forward which are exciting. Welcome. >> Thank you. So, as Dr. Waller just said, I've got the honor of kicking off the science presentation tonight uh with my colleague here, Gina Bower from Lakes. We wanted to start with our district science goals. These goals sort of build on the goals that we've had the last couple years in the science department. Uh I actually want to start with number two there. We just ended up talking about portrait of a graduate. Trey, Matt, you guys did a really good job with that.
042So I want to start with the portrait of a graduate. This, as I said, is building on last year's work where we had two goals as well. This year we really wanted to make sure that our teachers had the license to work on our students emotional intelligence. We were thinking about growth mindset and also those peer-to-peer and peer teacher connections. We thought that that was an area that our specific science teachers could capitalize on in the classroom knowing that our staff I I've been at both Lakes and ANIAC and I think that our teachers do a really good job at that in the science department and that's the first area that we wanted to focus on. The second area that we want to focus on, our strategic plan goal was based on the ACT. We
043started this work once again last year, but this year we we were really conscientious about making sure our teachers were doing this every single unit. Uh we ended last year's board meeting with a question of how do we think our science students are going to do on the ACT and I think both of us were hopeful. Uh and we have some data on that. But that's one of the reasons why we wanted that first strategic plan goal which Gina is now going to talk about. >> All right. So this is our most recent data from spring 2025 um from both the district average which you see in the light green we have the state average for Illinois and then the science proficiency benchmark that is kind of our standard that we're using to measure where
044our students are they meeting the the goals that we intend. So we from our spring 2025 data we see that we are um 1.5 points above the state average and 1.6 points above that that benchmark. Um so that was really great baseline data for us with the first you know year returning to ACT and based on kind of our intentional work with um trying to dig into the data a little bit deeper. So we want to move past just the score. But if you're not familiar with it, the ACT science is comprised of three different types of skills. Um one of them that is the toughest across the board. So not just the ones that ours are the low but across the board is scientific and investigation skills. So those are the ones that we
045have asked our teachers to focus on a little bit more and it's not necessarily just by doing passages which we ask them to do at least one per unit but it's those uh skills that they're doing in the classroom anyway but just again being a little bit more deliberate about it. So for example, things that go into the science and scientific investigation that you'll see in the next two slides are being able to identify different variables in an experiment. So dependent independent variables, controls, those are kind of your kind of baseline skills. And then going into those higher level skills, we have can you um predict what the change of an experiment is going to show in the data and that's really difficult for our students to do. So those are the questions that we're
046adding on to our lab. So we continue to you know, look at our curriculum and see where can we build in those skills without giving them an ACT passage. But it's those skills that are just make somebody a good scientist that we are just trying to implement a little bit more. Um, additionally, we did have two and three teachers from uh Lakes and Antioch that um signed up to do the SAT prep class, which we haven't had a specific science prep since 2016 since we were ACT for a while. Uh, sorry, SAT. And so that is really exciting too that we have that the content specialists in there as well. Um we dug into some data the um can you go back? Yeah. >> Yeah. So the uh the ACT provides a lot of resources.
047You just have to know where to find them. And so one of the ones that we found uh when we went to the ACT um regional summit in Chicago in November was some ideas for progress. Like how do you take these skills? So, if your students are sitting at a 19 and you want to bump them up to say a 20, 21, 22, 23, what can you do? And so, they gave us some really great concrete ideas on how to um implement those in the classroom. And so, we shared those with the the teachers. And again, we said, you don't have to do all of them, but what are some one or two things that you think you could do to strengthen uh the curriculum and the skills you're already working with? Here are the
048types of questions in case you're what does a question look like that scientific investigation? Um something again kind of like your level uh the basic level would be identifying the dependent variable in the experiment. So they give a big passage and then they have to um identify that based on the reading. Um the one on the bottom left here shows us something again a little bit higher level with here's the results. What if we change these two variables or this one variable? What would that do to the outcome? That's pretty difficult for our students to do. Those are the questions they they struggle with a little bit more. So those ones we're practicing a little bit more. And then of course um graph uh interpretation and analysis as well. So those are just some sample
049questions for um the particular category that we're looking at in the skill of scientific investigation. Switching topics here. Uh last year I believe we also talked about uh our need for new physics equipment. And first of all, I think I'd like to go on record and say thank you to everyone in both buildings and at district who allowed this to even happen from AP uh principles all the way up to district. So, thank you guys. We got a nice little windfall to update our 20-year-old physics equipment. Uh, which even looking at these graphs gives me chills because I don't know how many times I've even had someone evaluate me uh in the room and I'm mainly just going around and fixing the issues with the data instead of actually getting into to teach them. So,
050we see a little interrupt real quick. Uh, just thank you and Gina uh because Will, you really kind of raised the alarm on this a couple years ago and said that we have long ways to go to caught up. So, I know we still have work to do, but I appreciate you. >> Thank you. Um, so we we haven't been able to implement it yet, but uh, Gina and I were able to with once again with the help of our colleagues here, we were able to get some great PD first semester where we brought in Ber and we were able to get our our physics teachers out of the classroom, get a sub the whole entire day and we had a guy essentially teach us everything. Uh it was one of the I would say
051more productive PDs that I've been a part of. And one of my favorite parts about it is that we had a really big decision to make. Our decision was okay, we have all these labs. We could either retrofit our new equipment to fit in to our old labs or we could use our new equipment to the the full power uh that they're capable of doing. And as a district team, uh, we decided that we're essentially going to utilize them for what they can do. So, I'm really excited about the possibilities that we have with this. Um, besides the precise data that we see there, I would have never seen a graph like that with the 20-year-old uh defunct CPO equipment that we had. Um, and even just playing with them, the day that we had
052PD, our science teachers saw curves like this, and you know, I can think of several of them that were like, I I can only like I'm getting goose nerd goosebumps looking at these graphs saying, I I can't wait for the students to see this and and I can only imagine the possibilities that we're going to do with this. So, thank you guys. Um, we did some summer work. We're hoping to do a little bit more some work because it is it is a fair amount of work to essentially utilize all new equipment for all new experiments. Um, but we've made some pretty good headway already on some of the uh labs that we do and we're even implementing some of them this year. But the the tracks that we see there are sort of our
053our big uh mountain that we need to move for semester. So, just wanted to give you guys an update on that. We're super excited about the Beneer physics equipment and we should start seeing it in classrooms next year. This uh will be the last time that I I talk. So um we wanted to show you some pictures of great things that we're doing in the science department across the two buildings. We've got pictures in here of bring your child to work day. We've got some dissections there in the middle over here. We've got some kids, you know, kneedeep in Secoy Creek, um, doing some data analysis. We've got kids, uh, holding a human brain up there in the right hand corner. Um, >> yeah, it is. It's from a cadaavver lab. Yeah, it's from a
054cadaavver lab. Uh, and then we've got, uh, I like this picture down here in the bottom lefthand corner. That's our, you know, we talk about showing our kids, modeling our kids those peer-to-peer interactions. And we see the Lakes Science Department all dressed up. Uh that's a that's a great group right there. And then a couple more pictures of our chem and bio students over here. Before I move on, as I said, this is the last time I'll talk. Gina's going to talk about something really cool on the next slide. She's not going to give herself enough credit for the work that she did. So I think I did this last year to you, too. So I apologize. It's become a running theme. I Gina's gonna give a ton of other people credit for it, but
055I'm really proud of the work that she did on the next slide. So, take it away, Gina. >> Um, thank you, Will. Um, this was uh one of the highlights I think of our community partnership, which is always a goal of mine, which is how do we reach our community members more? And um I had the opportunity to jump on the planning for um this Lake County STEM for Girls Conference. And this was aimed middle school girls, grades six, seven, and eight. And it's really not limited to uh any particular school, but we just kind of uh have a great team that has lots of contacts that um send uh send the the news and and the sign up for this. And so we had 140 girls sign up. And so Lakes was the host
056site for the u the STEM for girls conference on October 25th. Um I just want to mention that Annioch was also a host site in 2021. So this is uh great that we get to make it kind of a district thing. Um and this these are just a sample of all the sessions that the girls were able to to attend. And so this is real science happening by real scientists. Um and our space is certainly the uh the venue for it. But we were so thrilled to have a lot of our feeder schools um RSVP and attend. And we also had NHS volunteers from both schools as well that were helping for you know six hours for the entire day. Um moving the girls to the different classrooms so they didn't know where to go.
057Um and also actually they were engaging in some of the the activities too like our volunteers. The one they love the most was from Best Friends Animal Hospital because they bought brought a couple of dogs and I think a cat in there. So they didn't want to leave that one. But it was really awesome to uh to loop links into this to the planning and to the partnership that um that we have with this team. And then I want to end with our future focus uh what do we have in store for the science departments at at Anyak and Lakes. And so we when we watch those senior slideshows at the end of the year in uh for celebration day um it has a picture of the student and it has uh what their tenative
058major is going to be and what school they're going to go to or workforce or um or the armed forces. And watching it last year I was like that's a lot of science. That's a lot of science. So, it was not the most efficient use of my time, but I thought it was great that I just I I watched the uh the playback of the slides, the video, and I paused it and I wrote down all of the the um majors that there were and how many total seniors and we calculated about 25% 25% of our students have some declared major in STEM uh the STEM fields. And so that to us is super exciting. We know that the students are very um interested and we know our enrollment is really great in our science
059courses. Um but as the times evolve, we also want to meet the needs of our students and how STEM is is evolving. And so I know several teachers have shared their desire just to offer some more electives that kind of fit into a pathway with some of the other courses and some of the other departments to make it more interdisciplinary. the one that has the most interest from a student survey several years ago is forensic science. So that is something we are working with um hopefully with Dr. Waller to kind of integrate some type of plan for forensic science. Um and then the uh the last bullet point here is being that our our e population is increasing every year. Um we had new this year is we had um a cohort uh in physics
060and chemistry that was just E. So, it's kind of the same group of students that were together in their schedule in these designated EEL courses. And um and then we have a bio biology e course next year. And so we had some great PD uh professional development from um from Rachel Balser and from Dr. Waller. Um we want to continue to strengthen those practices and in working with EL students and hopefully pushing some of our um our staff members to look at getting endorsed in um in ESL. questions. >> I have one to start off. So, I understand science, but how does Walt Hamilton fit in? >> That one was more based on um from what I understand it was the women that work there kind of formed a separate group of kind of women
061in in the workforce. And I believe it was an engineering one. It was >> It was an engineering session. >> Were they the ones that were downstairs? Yes. There. So, uh, the thing they had the students doing, I believe, was the spaghetti challenge, which a lot of our high schoolers do. Uh, you have to build a tower out of spaghetti and on top you have to have a marshmallow stand up. So, I believe that's what they were doing. >> Yes. >> With that, do you want to explain who Walt is? >> That's our simple engineering firm. >> So, it might have been You might have had Chris Smith there who's our engineer and actually she's a parent of future eagles. >> Her two daughters will come >> in several years. They're >> many most of
062our really cool capital projects. Very cool to see a granddaughter. I have a granddaughter who's biomed engineering in Iowa and stuff. >> Well, great presentation. Thanks to both of you and your staff. appreciate it. >> Thank you for having us. Thank you. >> We're going to move on to the agenda. How many how many government students do we have here? We got some over here still. >> So, this is where we get to the part of the meeting where we actually bring up motions and we approve or disapprove those motions. We start with one that's called the consent agenda and really No one at this table giving us consent to do it. It's kind of a law that gives us consent. And I'll go through this, but if you have any questions on the consent
063agenda later, feel free to make an appointment with one of your ambassadors in their office. >> No, I'm just kidding. They don't they >> So, next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. All items listed under the consent agenda are adopted by one motion unless a member of the board of education or the superintendent request that an item be removed and voted upon separately. Consent agenda items are matters that the board and the superintendent agree are routine in nature and should be voted on in one motion to conserve time. It's also they're allowed to be done by in law by this way. Okay. So items on the consent agenda tonight include the approval of the regular meeting minutes from February 19th, the approval of the closed session meeting minutes from February 19th, the approval
064of personnel which would include the hiring of non-certified staff, the hiring of substitute positions, the hiring of long-term substitute staff, also include the volunteer positions that are brought on. It also includes uh resignations from either certified or non-certified staff. It also includes retirements with tiers. It also includes the approval of bills and payroll in our fund 10 which is education fund, our fund 20 which is the building fund, our fund 40 which is transportation fund and our fund 50 which is the Illinois municipal retirement fund and the social security fund. And it also includes the Freedom of Information Act requests that were received since the last meeting and there were five and they've been responded to and the board members know what they are and they've seen the information. So at this point I would
065ask is there any board member or the superintendent desiring anything to be removed from the consent agenda prior to approval? >> I considered objecting the resations and retirements item. Miss, but I'll let it go. At least we got her for a few more amazing. >> That was very close. >> Yeah. >> Any other any other comments? Anybody want anything? Okay. If not, I would entertain a motion that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> A motion by Mr. Pagney and a second by Miss Pritchard. And we will do this in a roll call vote. We'll begin with Miss Sipsson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pagney, >> yes. >> Miss Dixon, >> yes. >> Miss Pritchard, >> yes. >> Miss Carol, >> yes. >> And Wayne Sopic Vess. That motion passes. And that saved us about
066two hours. >> And we now move on to the business office. >> Okay. We just have two items this evening. The first one is the disposal of items. And these items are old softball pants and shorts that are either 15 plus years old and not being used and or in bad condition. Um we have 40 pairs of pants and 23 pairs of shorts. I know coach Roco was going to see if um a ll so our our feeder program um wanted anything or even asked the girls program if they wanted anything for practice here um if not any kind of other donation. So um it is recommended to approve the disposal of listed items as presented. >> And with that recommendation, I would entertain a motion by the board to approve the disposal of the
067listed items as presented. >> Motion by Miss Dixon. >> Second by M. Pritcher. Questions, comments? Hearing none, we'll do a roll call vote beginning with Mr. Pney. >> Yes. >> Miss Dixon. >> Yes. >> Miss Pritchard. >> Yes. >> Miss Carol. >> Yes. Simpson. >> Yes. >> Lack. That motion passes. >> And the second thing as always, just the capital projects update. Um with at least we've had a few good days of weather, warmer weather. Um on last Sunday and Monday, we had some pouring of concrete to get that um baseball cage started over at Lakes. Um, we had a pre-construction meeting last Tuesday to plan for uh the renovation over at the district's office. So, that work will begin next week during spring break where we're going to be uh doing some demolition and
068then putting up a temporary wall to just offset um the space to the east. So, where they they'll be working. So, we're very excited to get that work started. Um, and I did not include any other um or the table because we haven't had any expenditures for those capital projects. So, but there'll be more coming before the end of the school year. >> That's all I have. >> Any questions? >> No. Okay. >> Thank you. >> The next item on our agenda is governance. >> I have the honor of presenting this one for Miss Selfridge Hanbaker. She is uh at a great leadership uh conference today and tomorrow. So I get to talk about the great thing that you've put together here and I'm going to recommend that the board approve it and that is
069a IGA intergovernmental agreement with the Lake County Regional Office of Education for us to be able to implement what's called ALOC is what you'll hear it called that stands for alternative learning opportunities program. Basically, there's an element in school code that allows us to have different uh more flexible structures to help students earn their credits in our schools uh that the students who are at risk of maybe leaving high school early. We got this question on Tuesday night from one of our community members. What are we doing for the students who have disengaged high school that previously would have dropped out? It's a great program that Miss has applied for us to run here in the school. So, the ROE has its own ALOP program, but you can actually do an IDA and run it
070locally. The The great thing about this is not only will it give us the allowance to be flexible in the way we deliver the curriculum here on site uh at both schools at Antioch and Lakes, but also we will get some state funding uh over the years because there's state funding dedicated specifically for ALOP that goes to the regional offices of education. So we can get little chunks of that because we're here locally. So, uh, this is IGA that we modeled off of a couple previous districts that have, uh, done this and I'm just, we're proud that, uh, Minnesota really innovated and got this going right away so we can run it next year. So, I would recommend that the board approve the intergovernmental agreement with Lake County Regional Office of Education as presented. >>
071And with that recommendation, I would entertain a motion that the board approve the intergovernmental services agreement for alternative learning opportun program between community high school district 117 and Lake County Regional Office of Education as presented over Mr. Pagney motion and Miss Dixon second correct >> yes >> okay questions members hearing none we'll do a roll call vote we'll begin with Miss Dixon >> yes >> Miss Carol >> yes Missson, >> yes. >> Mr. Pegney, >> yes. Vote, yes. That motion has passed. Great. >> Next, we have overnight trip. >> Yes, sir. Uh, we have one overnight field trip request tonight. It's for the FCCLA, which stands for the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America, and that is connected directly to our family consumer science program. Uh, we have students from both schools, Antioch and
072Lakes, who are a part of this endeavor. This overnight field trip is for the state leadership conference and competition which will be held April 8th to 10th in Springfield. So it is recommended to approve this overnight field trip as presented. And with that recommendation, I would entertain a motion that the board approve the overnight field trips Community High School and Antioch Community High School FCCLA classes to Springfield, Illinois to participate in the FCCLA state competition on April 8th to April 10th, 2026. >> Motion by Mr. Dixon, >> second by Mr. Pley. Questions or comments? Hearing none. We'll begin the roll call with Miss Pritchard. >> Yes. >> Miss Carolension. Miss Sipsson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pagney. >> Yes. >> Miss Dixon. >> Yes. >> Wayne vote. Yes. That motion passes with one abstension. >> The
073next two you might want to take together, Mr. Subset, because they're almost identical other than district name and date. And these are two separate ideas that we developed. second year in a row with district 41 and district 34 to use the MC center on different dates for their eighth grade graduation programs. It was great that they both used the center last year. Previously 34 had used the high school gym, but by doing it in the case center, we get some economies of scale and some efficiencies. Really nice setups and uh they can share uh the chairs that they have to rent the cost of those and it's a really great agreement for most districts. So I would recommend that the board approve both the with 41 and 34 and maybe take them together. >> Sure.
074Um and and on this vote, there will be two separate IGAS. They're not going to combine. So, they're going to be separate with the schools. But with that recommendation, I would entertain a motion that board approve the intergovernmental agreement between district 41 and community high school district 117 and between district 34 and community high school district 117 for each of their individual graduations. >> Motion by Dixon. >> Second by Miss Pritchard. Questions or comments? Hearing none. We'll do a roll call vote beginning with Miss Carol. >> Yes. >> Miss Simpson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Peggy, >> yes. >> Miss Dixon, >> yes. >> Miss Pritchard, >> yes. >> Wayne stops votes. Yes. That motion, those motions pass. >> The next two are policies that we have to approve every year related to reimbursement for board
075members and staff members for expenses incurred during conferences or professional events. Uh this has never been an issue before getting anywhere close to December. So I would recommend go ahead and approve both policy 2125 and 560 together as well. Okay. With that recommendation, I would entertain a motion the board approve uh the maximum allowable reimbursement amount for $3,000 for board members of D17 staff by Mr. >> Sec. Any questions on that at all? I always question the amount for board members. You guys don't need to have any money. >> It's not true. Uh the students guest $63,000 a year was their guess this year. You get paid. I corrected them that you actually get paid $0 and you present at the statewide conference every year. So you have to eat something and sleep somewhere. >>
076And I bet you when you said zero, they were very happy to go and let the parents know. >> So any other any questions on that? Any comments? If not, we'll do a roll call vote beginning with Missson. >> Yes. >> Mr. P. >> Yes. >> Miss Dixon. >> Yes. >> Miss Pritchard. >> Yes. >> Miss Carol. stops for chess. That passes. >> Next, I do have a question for board members that they may want to weigh in on, and that is for our board meeting dates for this upcoming year. Obviously, those are very important because we appreciate the time that you do dedicate out of your calendars to be here and away from your families for no compensation. So, uh the dates are usually that third Thursday as typical, but a couple strange ones
077are the April one, which we do early to help meet our HR deadlines for staffing. The other strange one is, well, December is not very strange. did it one week early to uh help us focus on the holidays after that. But the one question I have for you is the November 18th one. So we currently have it on the calendar for the Wednesday before we go to the statewide conference where you guys are stars and you present statewide that would be would be the next day. So that makes for a busy week for you. But the rationale would be that you only have one busy week to block off your calendar. If you wanted to travel in November, you would travel that week before. The other done three years ago as we actually did the
078week before. So you have a board meeting Thursday the week before and then that following week and you have a big commitment at the conference which makes the conference week less hectic but it also gives you uh two weeks that hopefully not >> thoughtsbody >> that's currently 1921. >> So with that, I would recommend that the board approve the board of education meetings uh draft calendar and make it the official calendar as presented. With that recommendation, I entertain a motion that the board approve the to set the regular meeting dates and times for the generally the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. with the provisions that those dates and times may be changed and with the changes that we just made by Mr. P. >> second by Miss Pritchard. Any questions? Any more
079questions? Not we will do a roll call vote beginning with Mr. P. >> Yes. >> Miss Dixon. Yes, >> Miss Pritchard. >> Yes, >> Miss Carol. >> Yes, >> Miss Simpson. >> Yes, Wayne. Yes, that motion passes. >> Next, we have the approval of the IHSA memberships for both Antioch and Lakes. So, I recommend that the board approve these together. We approve these every year. They have to be approved annually. So, my recommendation would be that the board approve the annual agreements high school as presented. With that recommendation, I understand a motion that the board approve the renewal of the membership for both Antioch Community High School and Lakes Community High School in the Illinois High School Association. Motion by Miss Dixon second. >> Second by Miss Questions or comments? Is anybody going to ask
080how much? >> Does it come from our $3,000? He's not going to answer. Does anybody have big questions? If We'll do a roll call vote beginning with Miss Dixon. >> Yes. >> Miss Pritchard. >> Uhhuh. >> Miss Carol. >> Yes. >> Missp. >> Yes. >> Mr. P. Yes. And Wayne. That motion passes. >> All right. The next item on the agenda is actually Oh, wait. We got super. >> Yes. Board member comments. >> Right. >> All right. So, Dr. Barry, Miss Bowen, would you like to introduce your ambassadors? Give us an update since the last meeting. exciting things. >> Sure. >> Lily goes first. >> So, um, our first event I want to talk about is the Easter Bunny breakfast and um, hosted annual Easter breakfast and it was a huge success coming to help
081support. Um, we got a lot of volunteers from NHS and all my They loved it. They love seeing the kids and the world. Um, the next event I want to talk about is our empower. I'm a big part of this woman leadership club and we held our power where we have women from our community come in and talk to students and talk about how they manage their day and their personal lives. provide the panelist and students. I've seen this event grow throughout the years. I'm so excited about how much in the future like we start in the wrestling room and we went to a double class and we did the double class again this year and we'll talk about >> Oh, wow. >> Yeah, it really is. It's really cool. >> Um the next event
082is the um NHS's 5K club and um it will teach students and kids um pay George 5K on April 11th. It's a $50 registration fee to enter and all the proceeds go to the Red Cross. Um the last event that I will be talking about is musical that um late finish. I had the privilege to be the assistant house and captain. I also got to build up I also had to build um a paper set. There are so many pieces and like you see all these people working together to make one thing great and they're not like going each other. against school and the community is so amazing. I I talked about yesterday if you were there but um not yesterday. Anyway, >> Tuesday. >> Yeah, Tuesday. Um and they will um improv show which
083is the annual Hey, who Hey, who off the lights? So, that will be the second. >> And then for athletics, we had a track record. ance at the conference and school overall record on March 13th of 59 ft and 8 and a/4 in. >> Wow. >> Yeah, I know. >> Um for uh esports, the Lakes Super Smash Cruise team came in eighth and our Rocket League team made up of Calvin DLO, Caleb Eddings, and Aiden Mazur took first in state. Um Alan Zas played solos and placed 12th out of 64 players. And then for Eagle Pals, they traveled to Grace Lake North last Friday for a rematch against the Knights in their big game. Uh the Eagle Pals were once again victorious with a final score of 40 to 44 and Varsity Cheer and a
084group of super fans joined them to cheer them on on to victory. >> No, it's been great. Spring sports are underway as soon as everything melts. >> Although they're >> I think that's tomorrow. >> Everything else tomorrow. >> Dr. Barry. >> Yeah, ladies. >> Okay. So, for our athletic updates, we have last month we spoke about all the wrestlers who were headed off to the IHSA state championship. Once again, we are ecstatic and beyond proud that Owen Shakes finished as a state champion for the boys. Sasha Johnson, another talented wrestler for our girls team. With wrestling on the last day of the season as well, spring sports are underway and the snow might not make us think like spring. All of our teams are starting out their seasons with some games already completed. And then
085last Friday, District 117 hosted the NLCC indoor track championship. And we're happy to report that the boys team placed second and the girls team placed third. Abigail Fing the and 200 meter dashes. Matty Maloney won the shot. >> And now for some activities and club updates. Um, the Anna Performing Arts will be heading to New York for a 5-day trip and they will be departing from ACS at 2:45 in the morning tomorrow uh for their flight from O'Hare. The trip promises to be a great time filled with activity and the big apple itself. Last Friday, ACS student council hosted our very first inclusion week and welcome for our first big game. The SEO sidekicks came out on the short end of the scoreboard, but everyone who was in the gym and in attendance was a
086winner. And the atmosphere in the gym was electric and I thought that it was really touching being able to experience our very first big game and I hope that's something we continue to do. We're also excited to announce our very first ACS Culture Fest which hosted by our ACS democracy school committee. The event will take place on April 24th right before our 700 p.m. showing of Joseph and the amazing technology dream. It will feature very own cultural groups, AsianPacific American Culture Club, Low Sequoids, Black Student Union and German Club as well as local food vendors serving dishes from different cultures. And then we also have um last week our sophomores in integrated math to honors went on a field trip to the Mitchell Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here they were able to work together to
087apply their math skills in curriculum to real world scenarios. And then today um our anatomy class of seniors and a junior went to Northern Illinois University and participated in a cadaabver lab led by current college students teaching high schoolers and we were able to review that we have learned before and be able to apply it to um the body when we look at the body. >> Awesome. >> Anything else, Dr. Bar? >> Excellent. Well, you sunk both most of my fellowships, but I did want to give a shout out. You talked about inclusion weeks, uh storytellers series and writer week were amazing. storytellers at Antioch a couple weeks ago and then writer week this week at uh Lakes is still wrapping up. But just incredible speakers and creative students that stepped up and shared writing
088some time on stage or skits and then just a really great example of embracing diversity, just the diversity of speakers that you brought in. And then the other thing I want to talk about is Tuesday night. So Tuesday night, I want the community to know it was uh I think it was a success to start out. We had 53 members of our community come for the first of two big community meetings to review our portrait of graduate our six competencies. We want to develop in all students how we're doing and uh it was amazing Tuesday night because it wasn't the adults talking very much. It was the amazing students. We had 14 students there and they were in six groups with Dr. Barry and Mone and Dr. Wallard and Miss Harren, Mr. Malik, all the
089great staff that we have and they presented on six competencies. So, our four school board ambassadors were on different teams and they shared a lot of info about how we're doing in each of our competencies. And then for homework, all the community members, including the students and staff, have the homework to come back on April 17th and tell us what things they heard that are really strong and what things we can improve upon. So, just wanted to share that as well. Super excited about April. >> I I concur. I think we we heard from people afterward that they were stunned at what goes on in the schools. >> Absolutely stunned. mostly the community members that are no longer attached to the school with students but you know just they've been detached for a long time
090or never had students and they were absolutely they just couldn't believe and especially with the student presentations they thought they said that would never happen when I was young but it was great >> I agree I agree I think that our students presentations were fantastic we heard your voices the heard your voices and that's very powerful. It's very powerful >> much more important than hearing from staff administrators because people are directly involved >> and they I thought all four of you guys were awesome. >> Thank you. They were great. >> You noticed that was a smooth transition board com. >> Yes. >> To the ambassadors, please spread the word. to the people you deal with, how extremely proud I was of the two big games. That to me was just totally incredible. Uh the spirit
091that was shown by the student body in both those games, rooting and cheering for everybody regardless of what school you came from. Interestingly, Wed was there, which is where I used to teach. Uh so I knew some people uh the photographer was one of my teachers. Uh I was just very need to tell your compatriots how proud I was and I think I can speak for the board of of how well those programs that those two games were. Uh it warmed my heart. It brought me to tears a number of times. I get extremely sentimental. I'm an older person and almost anything now makes me cry. Uh anyway, so I'm very proud of student bodies at both families and so convey that when you talk to fellow students please >> and I was going to
092mention something about that piggybacking on that but to the principles after we went to the lakes game and I talked to Dr. I said we have to have community members some of any organizations come and see how our student body embraces the other students the ones that are on the floor doing their best and how our students are helping them and how they all cheer on. We try, it was a little short notice. We tried to get some Rotarians out, but we didn't get them. But maybe for next year we could, you know, think of an organization in each of the communities and and say, "Please, you know, put this on your calendar just to see how our students act with their students, with their friends, their, you know, even kids they don't even really
093know, but how they embrace that and cheer them on and make them feel not not only welcome, but needed and wanted. It was great. Both games." Yeah, indeed. >> Oh, I was going to say something. Um, the success of those big games like really makes me excited for the upcoming years because I have a brother in eighth grade going into Aniac next year that has Down syndrome and I just love to see like inclusion and it's just I know my mom was kind of nervous about it him going into high school, but like I reassured her. I was like, "Yeah, he's seeing like how positive everybody is with the big games like he's fine." >> Excellent. >> What's your brother's name? game. I think I think by and large student body is very receptive to
094any kid. So it's really inclusion at both buildings and look after want to care for and take care of make sure that they feel a part of the school of times they don't. >> What's your brother's name? >> Joshua. Awesome. Joshua coming next year. That's what you do. >> Any other board comments before I make a board comment? Maybe Jeff will chime in with me too. So, you know, it's with a heavy heart that we have accepted Linda Carol's resignation. Uh, we want to say that we, you know, we appreciate your dedication, the time you spent on the board. Um, everybody knows, as Dr. Floyd indicated, that we got paid too much. Everybody knows that and they know that we don't spend a lot of time here at the board and we don't we're not
095away from our homes and our jobs and whatever else but we we certainly appreciate it. We understand the situation. Uh we know it's a personal situation. We know we're relocating out of state and um and I just want to wish you well, wish your father well and uh hopefully things will be bright and maybe warmer down there. But we But great for you and and for him and and you'll move on and we'll move on as well. >> Thank you for being a tremendous board member. I think near perfect attendance. So tremendous support for your uh community and just for me personally, I want to appreciate uh the support that you've given me as a superintendent. Learned a lot from your questions and ideas over the years. So thank you. And we have a presentation.
096So, I'd love to take a photo in front of that screen again. We're going to reboot the Owen shave. Our hands won't be crushed this time. We're going to take a picture with Linda with her board members so she can have that she does. Does that sound good? >> All right. Excellent. Wow. >> Okay, you ready? >> One, two, three. >> There's a box. I'll put it back in the box. Thank you very much. >> You still get to come to close session. >> Your job's not done yet. and then my final comments close after the close of the meeting today. So, she's currently still a board member. So any votes taken outside of close session will still be effective and we will uh Dr. and I will send all the other board members information
097on the process and the dates as we move forward in the next day or so. So moving on. There's no other board comments. Does anybody have a Kleenex? I do. >> Just kidding. I was going to blow my >> I have to. >> All right. I would entertain a motion that the board enter into close session for the purpose of discussing the following exceptions to the open meetings act. The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public body, or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or a volunteer
098of the public. Uh, or body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. However, a meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of the public body that is subject to the local government wage increase transparency act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with the act 5CS120C1. also student disciplinary cases which falls under act 5CS120C9. I would entertain that motion. >> Motion by M. Dixon. >> Second by Mr. Pegney. We'll do a roll call vote beginning with Miss Pritchard. >> Yes. >> Miss Carol. >> Yes. >> Miss Gibson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pegney. Miss Dixon. >> Yes. >> Votes yes. Motion passes. will have no action after close session other than the close session. close the meeting.
099March 19th, 2026 motion by Mr. P. >> Second by Miss Dixon. All in favor say I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. We are closed. Thank you all. And again, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for real.