001Good evening and welcome to the board of education meeting being held on Tuesday, January 20th, 2026. We're calling the meeting to order at 5:00 pm. Can we please call the role? >> Mrs. Troutman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hustler? >> Yes. >> Dr. Henry? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lewinsky? >> Yes. >> Mr. Breznahan? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Asip? Mrs. Vanites? Yes. Six board members present, one absent. Can we uh get a motion to go into close session? >> Back up. >> Oh, sorry. Yes. >> Okay. I move that the board of education move into close session for the placement of individual students and special education programs and other matters relating to individual students. 5 ILCS122C10 collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or
002more classes of employees. 5 ILCS122C2 the employment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. Five, ILCS122C1 litigation when an action against, affecting, or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or when the public body finds that an action is probable or imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting. 5 ILCS 122C11 discussion of minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the open meetings act whether for purposes of approval by the body of the
003minutes or semiannual review of the minutes as mandated by section 2.06 5ils 122C21 >> I'll second >> motion made by Miss Troutman second by Miss Hustler. Can we please call the vote? >> Mrs. Troutman? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Hustler? >> Yes. >> Dr. Henry? >> Yes. >> Mr. Brezahan? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lewinsky? >> Yes. Mrs. Asive, Mrs. Arvanites. >> Yes. Six eyes, zero nays, one absent. The board will move into close session. Welcome to the board of education meeting on Tuesday, January 20th, 2026. The board has been in close session for items listed on the agenda since 5:00 p.m. We have six board members present and one absent tonight. At this time, I ask that we all stand for the pledge of allegiance. Okay. Again, thank you for waiting for us. Sorry we started
004a few minutes late. Uh we are going to start our night here with our spotlight and recognition. And during this part of the board meeting, we uh bring up a couple people to honor and some highlights from our local schools. Can we start with the middle school students, the Illinois Music Educators Association, if you are here to be honored for that, please step forward and come into this galley right here. Yay. Look how many. You can face that way. Turn around. Yep, you're good. Stand right there. And then just face your parents. So, back to me. I know it's odd, but they want to get your cute pictures. Very good. Well, in case anyone was wondering, music education is doing quite well here in District 205. Well, good evening everyone. Uh, for those that don't
005know me, I'm Patrick Baker. I'm the director of fine arts, physical education, and health for district 205. It's an honor and a privilege to be with you this evening as we celebrate the accomplishments of some of our outstanding middle school musicians. The Illinois Music Education Association District 1 Junior Festival involves students selected from across Chicago and the western and southwestern suburbs. These students prepare for and successfully completed a rigorous audition in order to be accepted into one of the highly selective junior junior festival ensembles. We commend them for their tenacious work ethic and their commitment to artistry. Each of them has done an excellent job representing themselves, their ensemble, their school, District 205, and the entire Elmherst community. On behalf of myself, the middle school music team, many of whom are here this evening, and
006the entire district 205 fine arts staff, we extend our proudest congratulations to each and every one of these students. And finally, thanks to our board, our district and building administration, and to the families families who are here. Thank you for your ongoing support of our program. This would not be possible without your continued commitment to music education here in Elmherst. Thank you all and have a wonderful, wonderful night. [Applause] >> Thank you. Hi everyone. I've said this I don't know how many times in the almost seven years that I've been on the board, but we are just so incredibly lucky to have the music program that we have here in District 205. I have been to countless concerts at elementary, middle school, high school. I've been to musicals. I can't tell you how many of
007them I've been to, but I am always blown away by the caliber of music that's being created by our students. It gives me goosebumps when I'm there. And uh I always recommend that our community come and attend those concerts if they haven't yet. Um and that is thanks to our very talented staff and all of the people behind the scenes that are supporting our students. And this this group is just one example of how many students this program impacts and how many people benefit from all of that hard work. And congratulations to all of you because I know how much hard work you've put into that. How many hours of practice, how much dedication it takes to reach this level of achievement. So, congratulations. I hope that as you go to York High School, you
008will continue on with your music journey, and there are just so many exciting opportunities there for you. You will be so grateful that you took part in them. We are super proud of you. And I'm going to read the proclamation. There's some challenging last names, so bear with me um if I don't pronounce them right and feel free to correct me. Okay. Whereas the Illinois Music Educators Association sponsors a respected audition-based program that recognizes outstanding student musicians from across Illinois. And whereas students each year participate in a rigorous selection process for placement in the Illinois Music Educators Association Junior Band, Chorus, Orchestra, and Jazz Band Ensembles with selection reflecting a high level of musicianship, commitment, and artistic achievement. And whereas the following students from Elmherst Community Unit School District 205 have earned selection to participate
009in the junior ILMEA festivals. Alexa Bar bars. Thank you. Chorus at alto Christopher Chagano's band euphonium Allison Davis Orchestra violin Zadeie Xeen orchestra double bass Fred Ikemeer band tuba Alexandra Galarsza chorus alto Owen Hurdle band trumpet Harrison Kelton jazz band 2 Jazz alto saxs band clarinet Samantha Coons chorus alto Jackson Leighton, Orchestra, cello. Tess Mian, chorus, soprano. Emily Molites, orchestra, viola. Ellie Seagull, orchestra, viola. Kaden Wickling, band, tuba. Bowen Yan Lee, orchestra, cello. Ty Shariel, chorus, alto. Zoe Garcia, band flute. Savannah Guermo, orchestra, violin. Ana Phillips, chorus, soprano. Lauren Pond, Orchestra, violin. Harold Allen, band trombone. Audrey Anderson, band clarinet. Jack Clark, chorus, baritone. Brady Zarnaki, band trombone. Zachary Day, Orchestra, double bass. Ian Capadia, orchestra, cello. Kevin Kaplan, band trombone. Evelyn Keep, chorus alto. Aria Larson, chorus soprano. Shepard Latrell, Orchestra, violin. Adam Poli
010Jr., chorus alto. Susie Pollson, chorus soprano. Penelopey Price, chorus soprano. And Emmy Seddy, chorus soprano. And whereas these students accomplishments highlight the strength of the music programs at Brian Middle School, Churchville Middle School, and Sanberg Middle School and reflect the support of dedicated educators and families throughout District 205. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education and administration of Elmherst Community Unit School District 205 recognize these students for their achievement and commend the District 205 music staff for their continued dedication to music education. Congratulations, You guys can stay for a picture >> and then we got to get everybody in a picture. Do you think we can come in maybe form another row? All right, I think I have everybody here on three. One, two, three. Thank you. Congratulations. [Applause] I didn't know
011I got that. No, no, no, no. This is This is it. This is it. This is [Applause] Thank you again to our students and especially their parents who monitor, support, supervise, and encourage along the way. Uh we hope all your children stay within our music program throughout high school and beyond. Thank you and congratulations again. Okay. Next up on our spotlight and recognition is Hawthorne Elementary School. >> That's okay. That's okay. >> You know, I I I enjoy coming here and doing this presentation once a year, but it's always a tough act to follow. It always is. So, you know, we we we are fortunate that we have a lot of amazing programs and it's just amazing to to see the things that our students are doing and what they accomplish. So, hello everybody. Um
012my name is Tim Rearen. I am the principal at Hawthorne. This is my ninth year at Hawthorne. Um so, tonight I'm going to share some exciting news with you um that we've been doing with Next Path. More specifically, I'm going to describe how we have used Next Path to support students. Oh, perfect. It worked. All right. So, we are constantly analyzing student data during our PLC meetings. And once every about every eight weeks, we have a comprehensive data review meeting where we bring together the general education teachers, our EL resource teacher, our special education teachers, our instructional coach, um, and myself and our our assistant principal. Um, we use data, we we review all types of student assessment data. So we look at end of module assessments in ELA and math. We look at foundations
013data and we look at standardized data such as MAP. So before I explain my slides, I want to point out that our data review meetings are done in collaboration with district office. So what I am presenting tonight is actually something that's happening at all of our campuses and not just at Hawthorne. So the graph you are looking at is of a student who's being progress monitored for a reading intervention. The dash line shows the student goal. The circles represent all the different um scores that the student was progress monitored at. And then the solid line above shows the student's trajectory. So based on this graph, what you can see is that our student in this graph is actually achieving is is exceeding what we would expect them to um grow in their they're responding better
014than we would expect to the intervention. So this is a student where we will continue to progress monitor and once we have a couple more data points that show that the student is continuing above the trend line we will actually start to pull back on the intervention a little bit and then once we pull back we'll continue to progress monitor and then we will see if you know the student still shows growth because the goal is is that when a student is in an intervention that they come out as well and they are serviced in the general education setting. Every Friday I meet with the assistant principal, school psychologist, and both of our social workers to review attendance data and um student behavior data. What you are looking at is a is trend data for
015a student who is on check-in checkout. Check-in checkout is a tier 2 intervention that is designed to support students who require extra behavioral support. The green line is the student goal line. The points and the solid line are tracking the daily point sheet. And the dash line is the student trend line. As you can see, the intervention is working because the student is consistently exceeding the goal line. Next path also allows us to drill deeper into the data and provide summary statements as well. So in this case you can view how the student is performing overall and then it also has each goal the percentage of each goal as well. The last slide is broken down by class. As you can see the student is doing exceptionally well but there's some opportunity for growth during
016acceleration. As a team, we will use this information to determine how we can best support this student in acceleration acceleration, excuse me, so the goals can be met in every every class. Um, I just want to take a moment to thank you for your support and ensuring that we have all of the resources we need to best support our students. Next path has allowed us to transform how we use student data, excuse me, because everything we need is in one place and we can get the results in the trend data in a very efficient manner. This allows us to spend less time creating charts um and more time focusing on students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Weirden. Thank you very much. I heard there were no public comments. Is are there any public comments
017in the room? Commenters in the room? Okay, seeing none, we will skip section five of our agenda. Public comments. Moving on to item number six, which is the approval of board meeting minutes. Hold, please. There we go. Are there for the uh item A, approval of regular board meeting minutes, December 16, 2025. Are there any changes to those minutes? Seeing no changes, those meeting minutes stand as presented. And item B is the approval of our close session minutes from December 16th, 2025. Those meeting minutes stand as presented. Item seven is reports and presentations. We'll start with a our summer programs, our 2026 overview. >> All right. Well, hello everybody. >> I was looking for you. I thought you were going to be up there. It was like >> I was told I was told to
018sit here, so I'm sitting here. You know, >> I can follow directions. >> I'm so sorry. You were waiting for me to do an introduction there. I'm okay. I got it. So, we are delighted to um share. We are um in full planning uh for our upcoming summer and as you know um continuing on how we are able to provide such a robust um learning environment that also extends into our summer programming. Uh so we are so pleased to have my colleague Dr. Baker here with us tonight that is going to give um our board and our community an overview of the efforts of summer programming. Dr. Baker. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I do appreciate that introduction. Sorry for not waiting for it. Uh well, hello everyone. Thank you for having me
019here tonight to present an overview of summer programming for 2026. District 205 is committed to offering a robust summer program that meets the academic and social emotional need learning needs of all students. We achieve this through a diverse array of highquality academic, athletic, and arts learning opportunities. All students have a place in District 205 summer programming. Interest in enrollment in summer programs continues to be very strong. Last summer, we had well over 3,600 enrollments across all programs. We collected feedback from program leaders, teachers, students, families, and other stakeholders to identify areas where we could build on our successes and pursue opportunities for continuous improvement, which is reflected in the slides that follow. In tonight's presentation, I'll provide an overview of programs, share program financial information, follow up on actions taken since I last presented to
020the board, and review the next steps in preparation for this summer's programming. The purpose of our district summer programs aligns with our strategic objectives as a district that focus on student success and the learning environment. The bolded phrases illustrate this alignment, such as how our summer programs provide opportunities to meet students academic and social emotional needs and to align programs to research standards and data. I'll highlight these connections more specifically in the next few slides. This slide showcases the programs that will be offered to students across the district at each grade band. As in the past, students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of academic, athletic, and arts programs to meet their needs and interests. This includes a commitment to academic support and enrichment at each grade level. You'll see a few
021updates for 2026 highlighted in green on the next few slides, including a summer math update at York, which we'll touch on more deeply in just a moment. The table on this slide highlights the programs offered across early childhood and elementary. These programs will occur at Madison, Edison, and Field. Academic programs focus primarily on providing students the opportunity to master essential skills and content, while elective programs focus on supporting students academic and social emotional needs. Academic programs include extended school year or ESY, which will be offered to students at all grade levels based on their individualized education plan needs. Impact for this program is measured by meeting IEP benchmarks and making individual goal progress. Acceleration is another academic program that will be offered to recommended students who need additional academic support. Students are identified through a
022data-driven process and impact is monitored for these students through Next Path. All kindergarten through fourth grade students in the dual language program will be eligible for an hour of ORC each day. Pending available seats, these students will also be able to enroll in acceleration during the open enrollment phase of registration and scholarships will be available to eligible families who make this selection. Academic exploratory programs provide opportunities for students to participate in learning experiences beyond what's offered during the normal school year, including certain Project Lead the Way offerings and selections from the LEGO education series. Impact will be measured by stakeholder surveys. Current second to seventh grade students who are transitioning to a more accelerated math pathway can participate in Bridge to Accelerated Math to prepare for this experience. This is a self-paced virtual program that
023will be focused on developing essential skills and content knowledge. And a variety of athletic camps and fine arts courses will also be offered to students at various grade levels. Impact will be measured by stakeholder surveys. The table on this slide highlights the programs offered for our middle school students. Summer programming offerings for current fifth grade students and above will be located at York High School. You'll see a continuation of most of the offerings from the previous slide. This year, in an effort to meet student needs and interests and to continually improve our programs, we are updating our middle school acceleration and exploratory offerings by lengthening their school day to align with the high school schedule and by adding hands-on STEM projects to acceleration. This will make acceleration a more robust and enriching option for students
024and it will streamline program operations, particularly transportation. Additionally, for this grade band, enrollment in acceleration will be open to all interested students. This will have the added benefit of providing all emergent bilingual students and dual language program participants a summer learning opportunity where they can also sharpen their Spanish speaking and listening skills. York will continue to host programs for students currently in eighth grade and above, including ESY, a variety of athletic camps, and several academic offerings. the academic summer school program which provides open enrollment opportunities for students to fulfill some of their graduation requirements over the summer. This opens up their schedule to either accelerate in that course sequence or take an additional elective course based on an area of interest. There are also a variety of programs offered to recommended York students. These include
025credit recovery for students who need to retake a course for credit, the emerging bilingual academy, which supports students in the high school emerging bilingual program in language acquisition and core academics, and the new freshman math academy, which will provide targeted support to recommended incoming freshmen who will be taking algebra 1. Impact for these programs will be measured by stakeholder surveys, credits earned, and analysis of preac data. And now I'll turn it over to Katie Lions who will go deeper into our York summer math updates. >> Thanks, Dr. Baker. So, we just wanted to call out two shifts that we're taking this summer as it relates to our York summer math program offerings um to better support alignment and student outcomes. Uh the first shift that you'll see is um a shift in our pathway for
026accelerated offerings. Um, in the past we have offered geometry programming to our rising sophomores who are interested in what they would maybe call jumping pathways to an accelerated pathway with the outcome being that in 12th grade they could take AP calculus. So, we're not changing that outcome. We really want to provide students with the opportunity to kind of jump a pathway into acceleration and still have access to 12th grade uh kelk um AP kelk. However, we wanted to do this in a more coherent way in terms of better supporting students. Uh we we're going to change that accelerated option from rising sophomores to rising seniors. And that offering will be through pre-calc honors, which is a wonderful opportunity to coherently then support students right into taking pre-calc honors over the summer as a rising 12th
027grader and then in 12th grade still have the opportunity to take AP Calc if they so choose with a better um preparation over the summer. Uh this also provides us a unified approach to providing a year-long geometry experience. Um, we have found that students benefit from a longer and more sustained period of time to engage in geometry coursework. And so that will, um, not be offered over the summer. And so for our current ninth graders, there will not be a geometry offering this summer. They will take that sophomore year. Um, junior year, they'll take another course. Typically, that's algebra 2 with TRIG. And then again, if they are interested in taking AP Calc, their 12th grade, they would take that pre-calc honors over the summer. Um, so it doesn't again change their 12th grade option.
028It does provide a more coherent and deeper mathematical experience. Um, and our math department is really excited to better support students through that. So, we've had anywhere in the last three years from 12 to 19 students take that geometry summer offering. Um, and so we again we there is interest and so we don't want to take it away in terms of AP Calc at 12th grade, but we want to better support students um with their mathematical journey throughout the years at York. And so we're really excited about this shift. Again, geometry is not going to be offered this summer. So we won't have a jumped pathway um until go the our current freshmen are rising 12th graders. Um so that's one of the shifts we just wanted to kind of flesh out and share with
029you that we're really excited. We've been working with York. Um this is something they've been asking for. The York math department is excited about this to better support their students. Um and then we're also really excited about the freshman math academy. Um this will be first by in invitation. We'll identify through a variety of metrics. Um taking a look at our incoming ninth graders based off of their eighth grade scores. Um who would benefit from a bridge to algebra 1. This used to exist at York High School for anyone that has heard about Oh yeah, there used to be a bridge to algebra. Um and so we're calling this the freshman math uh academy. We're inviting um rising ninth graders who um show a need for some unfinished learning that would they would really benefit
030in terms of a bridge to algebra 1. Um there is illustrative math um preparation like algebra prep preparation curriculum that we're currently looking at to support students so going into that algebra 1 coursework in nth grade they'll be better prepared for success. Um so those are the two shifts we just wanted to highlight. Um, in terms of when we look at the data and we think about extan expanding programming, we're really trying to do so based on our students needs. And now I'll hand it over to Dr. Baker to discuss our funding overview. We're really struggling with our transitions today. >> That's all right. We we only got to practice this one time earlier today, so that's okay. That's all good. Uh, well, thank you so much. Um I'm going to get into our funding
031overview now for summer programs. Uh on this table uh this slide uh the table on this slide provides an overview of primary funding sources for our district summer programming. The idea grant will continue to cover ESY programming costs and the title one grant will continue to cover the costs for York students who receive a fee waiver and for students who participate in the emerging bilingual academy. Course registration fees will continue to be required for participation in athletics, fine arts, all other levels of academic programming, and for those who select the optional bus transportation. This slide presents a comparison of actual expenditures, staffing, and enrollment from last summer with projections for 2026. As you can see, most of the costs will remain the same. Um, but you will see increases in staffing costs and course registration
032fees for fifth to seventh grade programming. This increase accounts for two shifts this summer. First, the implementation of a 1 hour and 10-minute longer school day for this group of students. And second, u we're only offering courses that meet all four weeks of summer programming. In prior years, some of our courses were offered to this grade band and they only met for two weeks. Um but that's not the case this year. So, you'll only see one uh common base fee. Course registration fees are inclusive of all course costs, including staffing and supplies. York summer school courses will have a base cost of 255 plus applicable lab fees. Fifth to 7th grade students, their course fee will be 380 plus applicable lab fees. And all acceleration and exploratory courses for K5 will have a fee of
033300. You'll also see an a fee increase for bus transportation. For noney students, optional bus transportation will be offered for an additional fee of $175 per student. After analyzing actual costs from 2025, which was the first year that bus transportation was made available to all academic programs, it was determined that a fee increase was needed to ensure long-term financial sustainability. And with summer acceleration transitioning to a feebased course last year, D205 allocated resources to provide eligible students with full scholarships. Last summer, over $21,000 in scholarships were awarded to 50 students who participated in this program free of charge. This year, Foundation 205 will be partnering with us as we continue to offer scholarships to eligible families. In order to be eligible, students must currently attend a D205 school. The student must be recommended for acceleration
034and there must be a financial hardship that would otherwise be a barrier to access. Invitations for acceleration will have additional information for families including eligibility criteria and application information. And I'll be working closely with our parent leaison to ensure all families have an accurate understanding of the scholarship process. And now I'd like to briefly follow up on actions taken since uh the recap presentation uh in last July. And I'm delighted to start with a celebration. For the third year in a row, uh, students who participated in acceleration outperformed students who were invited but did not attend on LA on this year's fall MAP assessment. We hope this will continue to be a selling point for families of invited students. Secondly, the impact of our updated fee structure has been examined. I'm pleased to report that
035our academic programs met our financial sustainability targets. transportation and certain course registration fees have been updated after a thorough review and evaluation to ensure ongoing financial sustainability. And finally, um identifying pathways for students continues to be an area of focus. As Katie shared, this year we're offering a new freshman math academy to better prepare rising freshmen for algebra 1. We're adding science to fifth to seventh grade acceleration and lengthening the school day. Um, we're continuing to identify opportunities to enhance exploratory and career pathway opportunities for our secondary students. And for the third year in a row, we'll be offering the med careers course pathway to eligible York students. And finally, we will be expanding acceleration this summer by opening enrollment to all students in grades 5 to 7, including all emergent bilingual and dual language
036students. And looking ahead, we're working to finalize course offerings within each program. Once finalized, information will be shared with our community. The registration process timeline will begin and we'll continue to plan and prepare for the first day of summer programs, which will be Monday, June 1st. It's going to be here before we know it. Thank you so much everyone. Um Katie and I are happy to answer any questions you might have at this time. >> Thank you for the update. Uh we'll go to Beth. that helps. >> Sorry, I just had one question about the new math offerings for the summer. I'm Are we hoping that we'll have um spots for any students that want to take part in those um offerings for the first shift for the math pathway acceleration that will be for
037any rising 12th graders that are interested in potentially taking AP CELK their 12th grade year so that they would need to take pre-calc honors >> before that and they wouldn't have taken that their junior year. So, they're they're trying to make sure that they take pre-calc honors um or they they wouldn't have taken pre-calc or pre-calc honors. And so, this is their on-ramp that accelerated. >> They would have taken um algebra >> too with trigonometry. Um exactly. >> But anybody who would want to do that would be able to take part in that program. >> Yes, absolutely. As long as our, you know, there's open seats. Uh we've had anywhere from 12 to 19 rising 10th graders participate in the geometry like accelerated pathway to kind of jump pathways. Um and so we are hoping
038that there is an increase in that. We would love to support more students if that's what they desire. We also um know that a longer time in in terms of sustained geometry program over the course of a year is really beneficial to students. So later as they are exploring their math journey, um we're hopeful that we will capture some more students who are interested in then taking AP CELK the 12th grade year. Um absolutely. And then for the freshman math academy, we will first open it up to invite only. So um as Dr. Baker mentioned, there's two deadline or two kind of dates. Um if you want to jump to your last slide. Um in the first date that you'll see here where it says invitation only, we will identify rising ninth graders based on
039a variety of um data points that we think would benefit from a bridge to algebra 1 coursework. And so that can be based on I scores. We look at MAP scores. We also look at grades. Um but any unfinished learning that might really support them, um we'll address that over the summer as a bridge. So, we'll first have that as an invitation only and then if there are seats available, we would then open up that enrollment to other nth grade students. >> Great. Thank you. >> Hopefully that answers. Yeah, that's great. Nice to see those new offerings. >> On that note, you know, I um I think summer program is a summer programming is a wonderful opportunity to expand students experience, exposure. Uh for some kids, they're retaking curriculum. for some kids, they're advancing um
040supportive of all of that. Uh specifically in in math, and that's where I'm piggybacking off of where you're at. Um you know, summer is also a time for kids to disconnect, generally speaking, from the educational environment. Uh we're talking about students in a area of potential reteing, relearning um to be prepared for that freshman uh algebra 1 course. And I just uh it just begs the question for me is that you know kind of what else are we doing in addition to offering this opportunity for the kids who might might want to take it up but I I'd imagine summer's a busy time and we're in a unit district. So what are we doing? I I'm gathering that we've found a gap somewhere and the students need some reinforcement and relearning. what are we doing
041in the middle schools to help that problem or challenge? >> So, this is a similar process as our that acceleration already exists for our kindergarten to our eighth grade students. And so, this is just another this is expanding our acceleration program here. Um so so we have found that um we are definitely supporting students throughout the school day, but there are still there's a four-week um benefit that some students would would have if they continued to extend that learning. And so um this is not to say that we're not doing the right programming at middle school. It is just some students need a bit more of a bridge. Um typically we're looking at students that are performing below the 30th percentile and so they're already in intervention programs. So we're already a our target for
042those students is to already accelerate a grade and a half per per year. So if we take a eighth grade student who might be in intervention, they might be a year and a half behind in terms of their their target goals. So we're trying to close that gap already during eighth grade and then this four weeks gives us another boost to to support them. And so it's a layered on intervention for a targeted group group of students um which is we have found a lot of success as Patrick Dr. Baker had mentioned in the third year in a row, we're seeing students who are invited and attend show outcomes greater than peers that don't. And so that's what we're trying to to do in this same process of expanding to our rising ninth graders um
043to look at the outcome. So it isn't that we're not doing programming in middle school to best support these students, is that they need an additional boost. >> Yeah. I'm just pointing to that group of I'm worried about the kids who aren't signing up for this who need it. And so what are we doing? And and and I think I'm going to connect this to Mr. Rearan's presentation of next path. Right. So, we're talking about identifying something in eighth grade, but I'm hoping that we're able to actually identify those learning gaps sooner given our new data approach or newer data approach, right? Um, and that hopefully over time, right? But kids are kids and humans are humans and we all learn in different paces and our brains develop differently. Uh, but there's that group and
044that's and I I appreciate the initial or sorry the additional um intervention that's being offered. I just know 100% of kids that qualify for it don't do it in the summer. And so um I'm not asking for a response but just some consideration. and I'm sure you're already there about how we support those kids not even in eighth grade but from sixth grade to seventh grade to eighth grade and how we bridge them into high school starting even sooner so it's not this mad dash because today as a parent that's what it feels like sometimes going from 8th grade to York is a mad dash of preparation and so um I'm just bringing that to light I'm not expecting a response or even tactical this is what we're doing about it it's more about what
045are we doing for all kids I of interventions that create access for students who are interested and we work with the students who aren't able to make that work uh in their summertime and that happens during the school year in the classroom every day. So, thank you for that. Anything else? Uh Kelly, >> quick question, just a clarification for the summer programming. Geometry is gone and pre-calculus honors is now taking its place for those rising seniors. My question just is why honors specifically? And I'm guessing it's the fast-paced of the material, but I just noticed geometry wasn't honors. This is honors. So, I was just wondering if you could comment on that. >> And just to clarify, this summer there is not a pathway accelerated option. So, this the the pre-calc honors will not be
046offered until our current 9th graders are rising 12th graders um because that's the group that would have had the geometry offering. The reason why we're specifically focused on pre-calc honors is because this is a particular platform to jump into AP CELK. Um, and so that accelerated coursework within four weeks we feel right now would be a better course to better coherently address some of that learning we want to prepare students for if they so choose. And typically we have about 99% of the students that take an accelerated coursework over the summer go into an AP coursework. Um, and so that we think that that will better prepare them when we take a look at the syllabus in terms of what they then will be expected to be doing in an AP CEL classroom. >> Thank
047you. Appreciate it. >> Just going to talk math about summer programming because that's just to kind of piggy back. So to dumb it down for the parents out there because this is such a like I think what a perfect timing on this because all of our high schoolers are about to pick their courses. um this next week and two weeks. So I think it's really important. Um so this is basically saying a freshman who is in algebra right now will still have the ability it prior to their senior year to take during the summer pre-calculus honors and then make it to the AP calc level. So great, which is great because that's that's kind of our target, right? We'd like to give kids the pathway and the opportunity to get to that AP calc level
048so they're most prepared for if they decide to take the next level at college. My my question is um if a student starts and you say it's for rising seniors. If a student starts in geometry, can they take that before their junior year so that they can make it to the calc ACP or calc AB or whatever it's called anymore now. So, for those of us that are visual learners, I was working on a moment to to chat uh Rudy the Pathway. Correct. I know what you're looking at because I could see all of this off the top of my head. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> I am knee deep in course selection. >> I was like, "Wow, you're really really getting that." Um and so when our students are entering nth grade, they're taking algebra
0491 if that's if they're on the the like not accelerated pathway, right? And so, um, they'll take all of our students that were in algebra 1 would go into geometry for their sophomore year, >> right? >> And so, then they would move into algebra 2 with trigonometry their junior year, >> right? >> If they're interested their senior year in taking that AP kelk, we would ask we would encourage them then to take that summer course of pre-calc honors. >> so, but I'm asking the kids that start on an accelerated course as a freshman, they're in geometry. Yep. >> Can they take that pre-calculus honors during the summer prior to their junior year so that they can do the AP calc? >> At this point, we're not looking at double accelerated pathways, but that's an interesting
050consideration for us. We do have some time to plan for this since this is summer of 2028. Um, so we can look at that, but at this point we were just looking for single accelerated students. >> But but would it be Oh, yeah. It would be the first acceleration would be coming out of middle school, right? >> We haven't offered double accelerated programming like that that I'm aware of, but we can look into it. Um, >> how does anybody get to calc 2 was and calc 3? >> I will get back to you on that. >> And that's where I thought we were going. I thought we were making those calc 2 and calc 3 classes more available to accelerated levels. So I Yeah. >> And maybe I'm not understanding it correctly. >> There might
051be some students that decide instead of AP Calc to take calc 2 ACP instead their senior year. >> Right. Right. But you could you could take calc 2 and then take calc 3. >> So we I could also show you well we could show you a visual of our reach double accelerated pathway. So we also have double accelerated pathways which is would then get in what you're talking about our our calcul 2 ACP is because we have students that are coming in through the double accelerated pathway their freshman year and they're taking algebra trig like algebra 2 with trigonometry. So in that double accelerated pathway those are the students that you're referring to that are already coming in. They've taken geometry in middle school and they've taken algebra 1 in middle school. Okay. And so
052they're coming in at algebra 2 with trig. Got it. >> Their freshman year. >> So there's not a group of kids that are coming in at geometry. >> There are single accelerated students. >> Right. But that's what I'm saying. So if they're coming in single accelerated, this could give them the opportunity to be double accelerated like the kids that are coming in double already. >> Correct. We this this offering currently stands is for a single accelerated pathway for students that started in core or just algebra 1 their nth grade year. So what I'm hearing is that there might be an interest in us looking to also provide a double accelerated pathway for students that were in single accelerated. Um that we can definitely look into. I think there's some implications there that we just want
053to explore that I haven't thought through yet. Um but I also have learned from this I'll provide some more visuals. Um because we do have many math pathways. We have the single and the double. So you're right that we do have kids who are taking geome geometry in eighth grade that then would be able to take that calcul 2 ACP. So you're deep into it. So thank you >> just because it's course selection time. >> And this was really just um identifying the students that in the past have taken geometry and that's just that single accelerated pathway. So it was that particular group of kids that we didn't want to take AP Calc away from if they so cho chose in 12th grade. That's really where we saw an interest, like I said, about 12
054to 19 students every summer. Um, and so as we look to expand, we also want to make sure we're targeting the right need and for the students that need it. This year, our expansion included the freshman math academy. That was our target for rising ninth graders. But the the interest in maybe a single to double accelerated kind of path and jump over a summer is something we can definitely look into. It'll be really interesting to me because, you know, rising freshman, rising sophomores, you know, they have um a little more availability. I feel like when you're getting into those junior years, senior year, summers, their kids have jobs or are more in committed to other things. So, it'll be interesting to see. I would like to see how many, you know, students you actually get
055that that are enrolled in that. >> Yes, Dr. afterwards and I actually went to an ACT seminar and we learned a lot about the the content of the math items and there are a lot of geometry items on there. And so I think what we really want to explore is the sustained programming for geometry over a year and how that better sets our students up for success not just on the ACT but that is something on our mind um to make sure we're taking a look at that as well. And so that's another area in terms of why we've decided to make this shift. >> Thank you. Okay. Anything else? Okay. Thank you. Where am I here? Ah, summer capital projects overview item B, reports and presentations. >> All right. Well, good evening. Um, I
056I debated about changing the the title of this because uh it says capital projects list, but really we're talking about facilities improvements. It's it goes beyond just our capital projects. Um, but tonight's presentation is outlining the capital projects that we have identified uh for our work in 2026. The work we'll outline tonight continues the work that our finance and operations teams have engaged in this year regarding creating and sustaining highquality programs and stable financial structures through an intentional and robust plan for enhancing and maintaining highquality facilities. The process for creating the district's facility improvement plan is not static. While we have known needs throughout the district, we recognize that other needs emerge um and escalate in priority due to a variety of factors. This outlines the process that we took in engaging various members um
057of our school district community. Uh you were uh very much a part of the initial identification of critical project needs in September through November through our process of identifying life safety projects and identifying funding sources for that. We also engaged with our architects and our regional office of education in finalizing those life safety needs. In December, we engaged with our building and district leaders in looking at all of the items that are on our list of items that need to be addressed o over the coming years and prioritizing that list to make sure that we meet the needs that are of utmost priority at each building. And stemming from that, we also engaged in walkthroughs earlier this month to make sure that uh that we had a chance to visually see every item that uh
058building leaders might have identified or other items that are already on the list to make sure that uh we uh we haven't missed something that might be escalating in in priority level. As part of our key considerations in determining which items are going to be on this list for 2026, we really looked at three major things. First, uh there's a level of urgency on some of the items that could lead to further repairs being needed if we don't address them more immediately. So, that those rose to the top of the list. We also want to take a comprehensive look at the age of all of our equipment and all of the items within our facilities and make sure that we're maintaining it at the right time uh so we don't run into uh an urgent
059need where we don't have uh funding already planned for. And finally, we want to make sure we stay within the financial parameters both in terms of any bonds that we have raised to address some of these items as well as staying within our financial constraints of both the operating budget and our capital projects budget. Tonight, you're going to hear three different types of projects uh within uh within our facilities improvement plan. The first one is life safety. Those have been identified through a process through the Illinois State Board of Education. We have identified which projects we are going to move forward with in 2026. We will also address the $4 million of capital projects uh uh money that we set aside in order to address some of the needs that exist within the building that
060don't rise to the level of being a life, health or safety need. And finally, we will also address our we have a tremendous uh maintenance and custodial team that regularly do work every summer to enhance our buildings that we just want to acknowledge and and make sure that we uh we point out the work that's being done that go beyond the $4 million commitment that this board of education makes every year. And with that, I'm going to um turn it over to Mr. Brasi who is going to walk through each one of the uh different types of projects. >> Thank you. Our first section is life safety and this will be paid for out of our life safety funds that we went through. Our plan is to do the Churchville roof replacement, the Bryant roof
061replacement. We will also be implementing new chillers across the three middle schools and that will take two years due to the length of uh lead time on the equipment, some of the design and just the overall process to undertake that. We will also be working through replacing the egress doors districtwide. And as part of the life safety projects, we had some category A's and B's that are smaller projects across the district. And those numbers may look a little smaller than something you've seen in the past, but these were the finalized numbers by ISBY. And so we will be accomplishing these this summer. Then we move into our capital projects or summer work that you typically see with the $4 million transfer. We spoke about these earlier this year um of York High School roof, the
062York High School intercom and Samberg drainage. And then we also have added to the list of we're going to be replacing boilers at Edison and Jackson with classroom flooring at Brian and Emerson, cafeteria tables at Fiser and York, um restrooms at Jefferson and Emerson with uh lighting and ceiling updates at the Churchville Middle School, fencing at Edison, and then replacement of the specialized equipment at Hawthorne and Edison. And then our last one is one that we do with our in-house staff. And these are things we do each year. We will do an extensive cleaning of all our buildings, preparing for our students to return in fall. We've identified some areas that can use classrooms and common areas that can be repainted. So, we'll be tackling that. We have ceiling tile replacements throughout the district. We'll
063handle. We always strip and wax the floors. And then we will be replacing window coverings throughout schools. And I will turn this over to Joe. So, just to outline the the the process for these uh capital projects that we've outlined tonight, uh we are presenting it uh tonight uh and uh without any objection, we're going to be moving forward with securing bids and um other quotes so that we can move forward with all of these projects in time uh for this summer. Um on March 4th, we will bring forth those those bids and any anything that it does require a bid. And on March 24th, this board of education will approve those bids. And we will also approve the transfer of funds that we committed as part of the standard uh budget. You have already
064approved a $4 million allocation towards capital projects, but we do need board approval in order to actually move those funds into our capital projects fund. And then the work will begin primarily and uh knock on wood the day after school uh lets out which we've put as May 21st which is subject to t change based off of the last day of school. And at this time we'll take any questions. >> Thank you. I do have one minor question. You had a list what with Edison fencing on there. Is that replacement of current fencing or are you adding a fence? So, right now, Edison's fence is uh goes there's the building and then there's two sections, but it is not an an entirely enclosed playground area. So, we plan on enclosing the entire playground area. >>
065Okay, that's what I was getting at because many children will walk through to Sandberg from that back Edison area and I just was wondering if it was going to be closed off or not. Thank you. Any other questions about the Capitol summer projects? >> Have a quick one. Yes. So, the the roof replacements at Churchville and Brian will be this summer as well. The large safety life projects are also going to happen this summer. >> Yes. All those items that we listed there with the exception of the chillers, we're still identifying which chillers will replace this summer, but all of those other items will be done this summer. >> And so, the egress doors, what what I guess is just explain please. um Isby and our engineer has notified that some of these have not
066are failing. Um it's just due to age of the buildings and so it's replacing the doors the aluminum structure or steel structure around and to make them more secure. And I'll also add that as we did the walkthroughs um several principles did identify that some of their doors uh were were in need um just to make our buildings absolutely secure and make sure that there's there's no uh first of all some energy efficiency with making sure that they are sealed completely uh airwise but also sealed completely from um entry uh when they are locked. >> Thank you. Anyone else? just just was wondering if you could explain what the specialized equipment at Hawthorne and Edison entails. >> Yes. Uh so some of the specialized equipment um that we're either replacing or or enhancing um are
067for our our our specialized classroom needs um as we as we make some modifications, we want to make sure that they have the equipment that they need within those with within those areas. >> Thank you. Anything else? Okay, thank you for the presentations tonight. We will move on to our consent agenda. Is there anything anyone would like to pull from the consent agenda? Seeing nothing, can we please have a motion for the consent agenda? I move that the board of education approved the following consent agenda. A, personnel report. B, financial report. C. Freedom of information act requests. D. First read section 1. School district organization policy review 110 1201 130. E. First read section 2. Board of education policy review 210 280 220 230 250 240 22 240 22 270. F. First read section 3
068general school administration policy review 310 330 350 360. G first read section 4 operational services policy review 410 430 450 455 480 4110 4140 4150 4160 4170 4180 4190 H first read section 5 personnel policy review 510 520 590 5100 5120 5185 5190 5200 5220 5280 5300 I first read section Instruction policy review 620 640 660 6130 6135 6140 6160 6210 6235 6240 2 6260 6270 6280 6300 6310 6315 6320 J first read section 7 students policy review 710 740 770 790 7130 7140 71 7150 7180 7190 7250 7290 7300 7310 7315 7325 7340 K first read section 8 community relations policy review 8:30 880 >> I'll second >> I'm so proud of you Courtney nice job brought you right back to your roots >> we have a motion by uh Miss Tman Seconded by
069Miss Hustler. Can we please call the vote? >> Miss Troutman? >> Yes. >> Miss Hustler? >> Yes. >> Dr. Henry? >> Yes. >> Miss Lewinsky? >> Yes. >> Mr. Breznahan? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Asive. >> Mrs. Arvanites? >> Yes. Six eyes, zero nays, one absent. Motion passes. We have an action agenda item tonight. It's the approval of resolution of the board of education transferring money from the operations and maintenance funds to the debt service fund. Mr. Bonequest. >> Yes. And this is an an annual uh resolution that we bring to you as a result of a 2018 decision by this board uh to issue refunding debt certificates that saves the district 205 taxpayer over the course of 10 years. This is year eight out of 10 of uh making a payment on these debt certificates
070from the operating fund. >> Thank you. Can we have a motion? I move that the board of education approve the resolution to transfer money from the operations and maintenance funds to the debt service fund for the purpose of payment of debt certificates for FY26. I'll second motion made by Dr. Henry, second by Miss Hustler. Are there any comments from the board? All right. Can we please call the vote? >> Dr. Henry, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hustler, >> yes. >> Mrs. Troutman, >> yes. >> Mrs. Miss Lewinsky. >> Yes. >> Mr. President, >> yes. >> Mrs. Asip, Mrs. >> Yes. Six eyes, zero nays, one absent. Motion passes. We'll move on to superintendent communication. D205 highlights. >> Yes. This evening we have several uh highlights that the cabinet will share. I'm first going to ask my
071colleague, Miss Lishel, to uh kick us off. I'm going to punt it from Miss Lishel to Miss Lions to kick us off >> that look at us with these transitions. Um, but we are really excited to share this slide. Um, and and the fact that it is hard to see because we have so many students to recognize. I will not read all of their names. We will not read them all. But we did want to definitely make a take a moment to celebrate the York High School students that you see there on the slide. These students have been recognized as Illinois State Scholars. This typically represents the top 10% of all students across the state of Illinois. Um, so I'll tell you a little bit about it, but the Illinois ISAC 2026 2027 State Scholar
072Program, often referred to as SSP, is an academic recognition program run by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission that honors graduating high school seniors in Illinois for superior academic achievement. Selection for the SSP is based on a recognition by a high school counselor, and a formula that combines ACT or SAT college entrance exam scores, high school academic performance, and class- size data submitted by the students high school. Congratulations to all of the students on this slide, and to the class of 2026 Illinois State Scholars from York High School listed listed here. This is a prestigious academic honor and a true testament to a commitment to academic success. I will hand it back to Dr. Campbell to talk about our all D205 choir festival concert. >> Yes. So last Thursday, January 15th, York High School hosted our
073all district choir festival. We had over 700 voices representing 4th through 12th grade students across our district. The all district festival provides students the opportunity to interact across schools across grade levels for the purpose of building relationships, making music together, and understanding the future opportunities in D205 and beyond. students participated in rehearsal uh during the day as well as that evening concert which resulted in standing room only. Uh the concert also was livereamed on D205 uh YouTube channel and we look forward to that posting being available for those that maybe weren't able to be there to go back and to watch our concert. Um I received uh and and Dr. Baker along with our music uh staff. Overwhelmingly positive u feedback um at the conclusion of the concert and just how amazing it was to
074see our student performers as well as to see the progression of the talent as they continue throughout the journey. So, our elementary students had an opportunity to look forward to becoming a middle school choir student and our middle school students, mine being one of them, had the opportunity to look forward to hearing the concert choir from York High School. So once again, just a huge thank you to this board of education and our entire community for your continued commitment and support of our fine arts um in understanding the holistic value um that providing these experiences have for our students. At this time, I will kick it over to I'm going to point and name Miss Daniel. That's my name today. Yeah, there we go. >> Yeah. Okay. So, I'm uh excited to share and remind
075that our annual kindergarten family information night will be held on Monday night, January 26th at 6 PM. This year, it will be at Churchville Middle School in their auditorium. Our new families will have the opportunity to learn about the enrollment process, our district 205 curricular programming and supports, and how to stay connected with their child's school and district throughout their journey into D 205. Also excited to share that we have the next speaker in our parent education series is the next night on Tuesday also at Churchville Middle School at 700 pm. Um Dr. Laura Keller, a clinical psychologist who specializes in schoolaged anxiety and behavioral health will be joining us for a presentation entitled Understanding Anxiety Strategies to Support Your Child. During this presentation, Dr. Dr. Keller will share information about signs of youth anxiety,
076how to respond without reinforcing avoidance, and tools that build resilience, not just relief. As I said, the event will be held at Churchville Middle School in the auditorium and will begin at 700 p.m. And now I'm going to kick it over to Dr. Rubenste. >> Oh, I think he has a question. >> Right. >> Is it 6 PM or 7 p.m.? There's a discrepancy between the times on your slide. >> The slide says January 27th at 6 p.m. and the flyer says 7 p.m. >> I'm going to go with the flyer and say 7 p.m. Thank you. And make sure it's correct and updated on the website. So, we are really excited to announce the opening of the annual Illinois 5 essential survey, which is uh going to open on February 2nd, 2026. District 205
077uh families, staff, and students have the opportunity to share their experiences uh on key elements of their school. Uh the five essential survey is administered online. This uh survey is based on the five essentials for school success, an evidence-based framework developed by the University of Chicago. Uh this framework identifies how school performance on five factors or essentials can lead to important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains. The results from the survey are analyzed at the school and district level and utilized to uh create goals in school improvement plans so that uh so we want to ensure that these results clearly reflect all stakeholders experiences. Uh reachers research has shown that schools strong on three or more of the five essentials uh were 10 times more likely to improve student learning gains
078than schools uh weak on three or more of the essentials. So families can be on the lookout uh for information regarding the five essentials in school-based newsletters and district-wide communications uh during the week of February 2nd, 2026. >> I'm just going to quickly confirm the event is at 6 pm. I'll update the flyer. >> Is that it for >> I'm sorry. That concludes the D205 highlights. Now we will move on to a brief communication highlight. So this evening's communication highlight is of our excellent educator feature that is in in each of our community connections newsletters. It's one of the ways that we highlight and recognize our staff throughout the district. And our latest highlight was with a teacher from a fourth grade teacher from our Jackson Elementary School, uh, Nicole Doverini, who was highlighted. And,
079um, I think she did a very good job. [Music] >> Hi, my name is Nicole Novini. I'm a fourth grade teacher at Jackson School and this is my fourth year in D205. [Music] I most enjoy getting to know students and meeting them where they are in their learning journey. Um, I love all the opportunities to learn alongside my students and also that I get to develop um, so many skills that they're going to be able to use for the rest of their lives. [Music] If I was going to give advice to a future teacher, I would tell you to use your community of teachers. Uh we love to talk about our craft and what we do and also not to be afraid to take risks cuz that's how you grow. [Music] Uh board communications. Are
080there any board members who'd like to present reports or share information with the board? Great. We have upcoming meetings February 4th, 2026. We have a committee of the whole meeting at 5:30 p.m. And we also have another regular schedule board of education meeting on February 24th, 2026 at 7 p.m. Both meetings will be held here in District 205 center. And with that, we're at 8:16 and this meeting is adjourned.