001I'm going to call to order the February 19th, 2026 meeting of the Forest Park D91 Board of Education. May I have a roll call? >> Jed Burough, >> present. >> Andrea Marlo, >> here. >> Monnique Cotton >> here. >> John Lions. Steve Rama, >> Shannon Wood >> here, >> Monik Angelo here. >> For those who care to participate, please stand stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Miss Angelo, will you please read the mission statement? >> Thank you. Our mission in partnership with home and community is to educate each individual child in a safe and nurturing environment. We will foster respect and self-worth, teach
002skills relevant to contemporary life, and promote academic success and creative expression. We will encourage an appreciation of the rich cultural diversity of our community and instill a sense of wonder for the future to enable our students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens of the world. >> Thank you, Miss Mel. The vision statement. >> Sure. Forest Park Public School District 91 will be acknowledged by all as a safe, nurturing, and diverse learning community that establishes the highest standards for innovation and continuous improvement to achieve academic excellence and global citizenship for each individual child. >> Thank you, Mr. Brewer. The equity imperative. Recognizing that systemic bias has plagued our educational system, we commit to nurturing dialogue around all issues of inequity, including culture, race, faith, socioeconomic status, gender identity, sexual orientation, and different ability as they
003pertain to classroom practices, school and district structures, and policies and procedures. We support actions removing barriers to opportunities that allow children to reach their full potential. >> Thank you. Thank you. And Miss Cotton, the statement honoring Native American land, please. >> We Forest Park Board of Education would like to acknowledge that this meeting is being held on the traditional lands of the Poria, Padawami, Miami, Sue, Kikapoo people, and pay our respects to elders both past and present. >> Thank you. Number four, consent agenda for the board. Is there anything anyone would like removed? >> All right. May I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. Second roll call. >> Ed Bur >> I. >> Andrea Marlo >> I. >> Monique Cotton >> I. >> Shannon Wood. >> I. >> Number five, correspondence.
004>> No, no correspondence. Okay. Number six, matters of consideration from the public. Okay. Number six, uh, interim superintendent report. Good evening um board and those that are in attendance. Um want to start off with just recognizing the site program that we have here um at Grant White and we have some students from the program that are going to be talking about it and presenting My name is Marcus Reed and I am my first year of sight program through district 200. I love being here at Grant White for many reasons. I went to district 91 schools for elementary school and middle schools. Garfield, Basos, Phil Stevenson, and Falls Park Middle School. Grand has been a great place to work and my independent living and vocational skills. It gives my friends and I from high school to
005transition to Grand Wide building. gives us to the space to work at force park community offers so much practice or skills. Grand red has in between old park force. We can access public transportation such as a pace bus and trains which is my favorite. We are also employed in several local in Forest Park like places in Forest Park like John Haley Fitness, Johnson Diner, Forest Park public park public park public park public park public park library Robert's west side played again sports and ferry plan fitness factory and large known to name a few. I love force park. I am hoping we can stay in the location forever. >> [applause] >> Hi, my name is Jan Loggins and this is my final year in the program. The neighborhood has been incredibly welcoming. Our new space at
006Grant White has been so awesome by we we [clears throat] have space for all our classes to spread out. We have 55 students and five classes ranging in abilities and we have 20 staff members. We used to share one classroom for almost all stu for almost students and staff at our previous space at the RLCC. We have been here been here. I feel my classmates and I have been less distracted and able to focus on instructions since we have the space. We love having assets to Zim space and to work our independent living skills such as cooking, hygiene, and functional academics like reading and money math. We love that is accessible for our students who use wheelchairs and have physical impairments. I actually live closer to Grant White than I do OPRF. I work at
007Bookdale which is walking distance. This is giving me the real life skills to become the independent adult I am today. [applause] Hi, I'm Brett Hollandach and this is my last year at site. When I first started site, my first meeting with site actually, I was too scared to even speak to anybody. I didn't look anyone in the eye. And during my first time when I was supposed to tour Triton, I didn't even get out of the car because I was so scared to go into buildane with people I didn't know. Now I attend three classes at Triton Tuesdays and Thursdays and I work Wednesdays and Fridays at Opportunity Knox as a part-time program manager. Opportunity Knox serves the community as well uh with serving uh Forest Park residents and students um by involving them in
008the community. uh site has been an important part of my journey to becoming an adult and has given me skills that school did not teach teach me or I did not learn throughout my childhood. Now I am flourishing and I am extremely happy with the life I live through the skills and assets that site has given me. Thank you for your time. [applause] >> We wanted to make sure you had an opportunity to hear from the students themselves on how the program is going. I know it's only been a short time they've been here. It's only been about six, seven months, but it seems to be going really well for the students and the staff um in the community. So, wanted to make sure we had that opportunity to share that with you. Thank you
009all for for speaking and having the courage to come up. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. [applause] Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you. >> Also in recognition, want to recognize our spell and be winners. The championship round lasted four rounds before Henry, a fifth grader, spelled the championship word correctly. Um, want to give a shout out to him and all the winners out there that participated in the spelling be. Let's give him a round of applause. [applause] So, February is a month full of service, history, awareness, and heritage. It is Black History Month, but we also have Ros Rosa Parks Day on the 4th. The 10th is safety internet day. The 15th is International Child Cancer Day. The 17th is Chinese New Year. And this is the year of the horse.
010Um, Ramadan begins on the 17th. And yesterday was Ash Wednesday. As you can see, February observances highlight themes of justice, health, unity, spiritual awareness, renewal, and collective well-being. Um, these observances invite organizations to deeply understand um and strengthen their community ties. So, we just want to give recognition to everything that's going on in the month of February for our learning and achievement pillar. Um, this is fresh off the press. um just sharing the highlights of it, but later on in the newsletter go into a deeper dive of it, but we got our winner benchmark data and 83% of our students are making growth for the winter in math and 81% of our students in reading. So the gold is to make sure kids are learning and we can see that from winter to winter they
011are making their growth targets are on pace to meet them by the end of the year. So want to give recognition for that. You see it's all green and we do have one blue there. So, um, when I share with you the other data, what breaks down by grade levels, um, and ethnicities, you'll see how they're doing. So, I will share that later on. Um, just want to give a shout out to this our amazing students and staff for all the hard work they did to make this happen. So, let's round of applause. [applause] Um, students at Betsy Ross and Phil Stevenson participated in amazing African-American presentation from Urban Gateways. Students learned about African dance and instruments. Some were able to learn a dance and watch their teachers perform the dance as well. Um, Forest
012Park Middle School will hold a similar presentation later on this month. Um, and Garfield's performance would be featured in the videos we're going to show a little bit later on in the board meeting. So this month as each as each month we have showcased a grade level. This month it's first and second grade Garfield and Betsy. This first video highlights instruction and activities related to Black History Month highlighting historical figures of civil rights movements and a short clips from all the school assemblies featuring um celebration of dance of West Africa. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Yeah. [music] Heat. This next video features Betsy Rosary. [music] Oh, sorry. Didn't go. There you go. Thank you, Jason. We're coming out of there. [music] >> [music] >> I want [music] you. [music] your
013shot. [music] >> I want my needle. needle. [cheering] >> You got it. All right. Amazing. [music] >> [cheering] >> We want to thank them for putting that together and showcasing what they've been learning. >> There you go. The next pillar of talent recruitment and development. Uh please join the district in congratulating the following professionals on their accomplishment in completing volume one of the letters professional learning journey. This commitment reflects approximately 50 to 60 hours of professional learning and service of our D91 students and has been transforming literacy instruction across our district. Um the district is just seeing the beginning of the initial impact of this and we look forward to the results we're going to see in the coming years from this training that teachers are doing. So let's give a round of applause for
014completing that. [applause] As mentioned last month, the five essential survey window is open. Um we encourage all parents to complete the survey. It is open to March 10. Um we're really looking to move into well organized this year. Each year we've been growing and improving and we just need that feedback from parents. I know it takes a lot because you have to have one per each child, but we hope you dedicate the time and complete the survey so we have the feedback because we really do use it to plan to move forward. The last pillar of family community engagement. Next week is public schools week. Um it's time to celebrate the impact of public education and recognize the incredible impact staff, students, and the community have on D91. Throughout the week, we will highlight school
015pride, student voice, and the partnerships that support our schools. We're proud to kick off the week on Monday with four of our eighth graders who take part of D9 who have who who've been part of D91 since they've been in first grade. Um, and they will be speaking at the village of Forest Park meeting leading the pledge of allegiance where our mayor will also read a proclamation recognizing public schools week and celebrating D91's strong partnership. Um, looking further into the data, we have 50% so half of our current eighth graders are D91 lifers. They have been in the district since first grade. Um, so that's nice to know that half of them have been here with us. Uh, the D91 community is invited to attend our Black History Month celebration at the middle school on
016Friday, February 27th at 6:30, where our students will bring history to life through four mini plays honoring influential figures connected to black history. So, if you're able, please come out on Friday. foyer request. We had um Michael Henry submit a foyer request for background checks for all board members and other information about board members. Um we did have the board attorney draft a response. We do not do background checks for board members. Um but we had the board attorney submit the response to the individual. That is all I have. Thank you. Uh, number eight, committee reports, CAC. Miss Angelo, >> thank you. At the January 17th C uh, citizens advisory council meeting, the committee reviewed drafts of the 2026 2027 parent uh, caregiver handbook, code of conduct, and the proposed school calendar. members provided thoughtful
017feedback on dress code language, attendance communication, residency language, and the structure of the proposed calendar. I want to sincere sincerely, excuse me, thank the CAC members for their time and honest dialogue. It was a pleasure to observe the care and collaboration that goes into the this work. The conversations reflected a genuine commitment to supporting students and families across our community. One theme that stood out was attendance. Regular attendance is uh foundational to student success. We know that when students are present consistently, academic achievement improves, relationships strengthen, and long-term outcomes are better. I want to encourage all families to partner with us in making attendance a priority whenever possible. >> Thank you. um PPC. We discussed uh the heat in the building um early in the morning and on Mondays and that was just an issue
018that was addressed by changing um a setting and discussed the 2026 2027 school calendar. Um and then teacher negotiations negotiation dates have been set and our first meeting will be Wednesday, March 4th. Um number nine items for discussion under Dr. Hubard uh student education parent caregiver survey results. >> Yeah. So um for the second year we gave out um a survey to parents to see um just get some feedback on on what they feel the the direction of the district. Um glad to say working. There we go. Um, we had 12 27 parents take the survey this fall. We had a 3% increase in our net promoter score of parents saying that they would recommend the school district as a good place for their child. And we had a 6% increase in parents saying they
019would recommend their child's school as a good place to learn. Um, this was great information to hear. We're continue to work on improving, but it's nice to see that um, parents would recommend the school to other community members. Parents are telling their perspective of the school staff and environment. We had a 20% increase in the number of parents that said, "I am proud to say I have a child at this school." That was nice to see. Um, so thank you to our amazing staff for all the work they do and providing great customer service to our parents to make them feel welcome. We also gave the survey out to students. We had 339 students take the survey this fall. That was fourth through eighth grade. I believe that fourth through eighth graders. Yep. Fourth through
020eighth graders took that. Um and our students students are telling their perspective of the school staff learning and the environment. Our two areas for improvement from the students perspective is them feeling that they belong at the school and that they need to set their learning goals and track them more. so they feel that the area of growth for the school. Um, we need to make sure that all students feel that they belong in D91 and that we're working with them more regularly to track their goals and their progress. If that's something they're saying that that's something they'd like to see more of. Our highest area of growth based on our students perspective was that they feel very safe on the bus. So that was nice to hear and that they believe the school rules are
021being um consistently implemented across the schools and grade levels. So that was a good perspective for them to say that they need feedback on. We had the CAC and administration review and provide feedback on next year's parent caregiver handbook and code of conduct to meet the annual requirement. This year there are no major um recommendations for changes. It went through a big overhaul the past couple years. So there's just a minor edited um recommended. Later on, I'll be asking the board to approve it. And once the board approves it, we would then put in the format for registration. So then we could start registration and put in the online format. Thank you to the PPC and the CAC for providing feedback on next year's school calendar. Um the first day of school will be August
02218th, 2026 and the last day would be May 28th, 2027. Um, in collaboration with the provisal school districts, we do have similar winter breaks and spring break. We also will have our first um I I believe we've done this in the past, so it's not the first time ever, but our first um provisal districtwide PD day in February where we're going to work with all the districts to provide a really big robust PD for all the teachers in the provisal district. And then lastly, just looking at our quarterly um quarter two finances, um we have yet to receive the majority of our revenue from the county. Um therefore, you see that green for fund 10 and fund 50 are lower in our reserves than they were last year at this time. But across the board,
023all the green um funds are lower than where they were last year at this time. um just fund 10 and fund 50 are significantly lower in in terms of reserves. There is no set date as to when we will receive the rest of our revenue. Um but in unity with all county school districts later on I'd be asking the board to adopt a resolution expressing our concern with the county and the delay in our revenue and the losses that we have incurred. And as I shared with you, so far we've lost about $135,000 in interest. Um, and projected to probably end up with about a $400,000 loss this year due to the delay in our revenue. This slide just shows that as of right now, we've only received 40% of our revenues. We're normally around
024this time of the year, we have about 60% of our revenues in from the county. Um, like I said, there's no timeline on when the rest will come in. The bottom graph shows that we've expended 40% of our expenditures for this year. And that's in green because that's just right on track um with our expenditures for the year. We're halfway through the year. We're almost halfway through expending all our expenditures and paying all our bills. And that is all I have. May I have a motion to go into close session to discuss the employment compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of employees? So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. We are now in close session. Are we ready? >> All right, we are back in open session. Uh, number 11, approval of personnel items.
025It's February personnel board report. May I have a motion to approve the February personnel report? >> So moved. >> Second. discussion as discussed in close session. May I have a roll call, please? [clears throat] >> Jed Brewer, >> I. >> Andrea Morel, >> I. >> Monique Cotton, >> I. >> Shannon Wood, >> I Monica Angelo I. >> Okay. Items for action under Dr. Hubard. Um, I can't find my agenda. Sorry. There we go. May I have a motion to approve the 2026 2027 public school calendar? >> Second. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Discussion >> as we discussed earlier for the calendar for next school year. >> Okay. Anybody have any questions about that? All right. May I have a roll call? >> Jan Ber. >> I. >> Andrea Morel. >> I. >>
026Monique Cotton. >> I. >> Shannon Wood. >> I. >> Monica Angelo. I >> um do we approve it and then I read it >> the resolution? >> Okay, perfect. May I have a motion to approve the resolution calling on the Cook County Treasurer and other Cook County officials to resolve property tax bill systemic issues? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion. And then I can read the Okay. Thank you. Hold on. water. A resolution calling on the Cook County Treasurer and other Cook County officials responsible for the issuance of property tax bills to resolve systemic issues. Whereas the board of education of Forest Park, SD91, is the governing body responsible for the education of thousands of students and in this capacity serves as the steward of public funds entrusted to it by the taxpayers
027of this community. And whereas District 91 relies in a substantial and crucial manner on the timely receipt of local property tax revenues to fund its educational programs, pay its dedicated staff, and meet other financial obligations necessary to keep schools open and operating effectively. And whereas the Cook County assessor is statutoily responsible for the determination of property tax assessments with those assessments subject to review by the Cook County Board of Review. And whereas the Cook County Clerk is statutoily responsible for the calculation of tax rates for all taxing bodies in Cook County. And whereas the Cook County Treasurer is statutoily responsible for the billing and distribution of property tax revenues to District 91 and all other taxing bodies within Cook County. And whereas the second installment of Cook County property tax bills are typically issued in
028late June with an August 1st due date. And Cook County taxing districts including D91 rely on a predictable cycle of property tax collection and distribution. And whereas for the second installment property tax bills for the 2024 tax year, the tax bills were not issued until November 16th with a December 15th, 2025 due date, making the second installment more than four months delinquent. And whereas this significant delinquency has been attributed to ongoing computer system issues with outside vendor Tyler Technologies and administrative delays within the treasurer's office. And whereas the failure to issue property tax bills in a timely manner has created predictable cash flow concerns for District 91, jeopardizing the district's ability to meet its financial obligations, including but not limited to payroll and vendor payments without incurring debt. And whereas as a direct and unavoidable
029consequence of the Cook County Treasurer's failure to timely perform this core governmental function, District 91 has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars off of investments. Whereas these new expenses divert funds that would otherwise be dedicated to the classroom and the education of our students and place an unnecessary financial burden on our local taxpayers. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of education, school district 91, Cook County, Illinois, as follows. Section one, the board of education calls upon upon the Cook County Treasurer to promptly resolve all internal computer system issues and administrative failures with respect to the 2024 second installment property tax bills without further delay. Section two. The board of education expresses its profound disappointment and frustration that this administrative failure has resulted in a direct and unnecessarily unnecessary financial cost to the taxpayers
030of district 91 who must now bear the expense of interest in fees for tax anticipation warrants. Section three. The board of education demands that the Cook County Treasurer's Office work collaboratively with the county assessor, the board of review, and the clerk to imple implement permanent solutions and safeguards to ensure that this costly and disruptive failure of the property tax billing system does not occur in any future tax cycle. Section four, the board of education urges Cook County to seek recompense from Tyler Technologies for its failure to correctly, professionally, and timely implement the new computer system and to reimburse the board of education for the expenses incurred by district 91 for the combined failure of the county and Tyler Technologies. Section five. The superintendent is hereby directed to forward a copy of this adopted resolution to
031the honorable Maria Papus, Cook County Treasurer. The Honorable Tony Prewinkle, President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The Honorable Fritz Keaggi, Cook County Assessor. The Honorable Monica Gordon, Cook County Clerk, the Commissioners of the Cook County Board of Review, all members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, and all members of the Illinois General Assembly representing the residents of District 91 adopted this 19th day of February, 2026. May I have a roll call? Jed Bur >> I. >> Andrea Morel. >> I >> Wood >> I. >> Monica Angelo. >> Hi. >> May I have a motion to approve the 2026 2027 parent caregiver handbook and code of conduct? >> So moved. >> Second. Discussion >> as discussed earlier. Thank you to the um CAC and the admin that provided the feedback. >> Yes. May
032I have a roll call? [clears throat] >> Jed Burer >> I. >> Andrea Moral >> I. >> Monique Cotton >> I. >> Shannon Woods. >> I. >> Monica Angelo. >> I. >> All right. Number 13. Additional matters of consideration from the board. >> Uh I have one. Um I wanted to Am I on? Yeah, I just wanted to share for a huge shout out to Mrs. Bourke, who I understand is retiring this year after being a huge second grade teacher at Betsy Ross being um she is able to find all of the kids at the exact moment when they are doing their best. And I understand this because they all tell me at Park District of their different accomplishes, but Knox, my kid, finally got was caught shining and got had to came home bragging
033about it at Park District. Came home, told me how hard he was I was caught shining. I was like, "This stuff doesn't actually work." No, PBIS stuff works. It works. They He was ecstatic because she noticed that he brought his uh handwriting from a four to a 10. And I couldn't show you the beforehand because you could not be able to read it. And if you could now look at this, he was really caught shining. And it impressed him so much that she noticed him that he has been keeping up with that even though it hurts his hand and he's been complaining. But Mrs. Bourke being able to recognize him at the one point when he was doing the his best was key to our whole handwriting career so far. So I appreciate that. And
034um that's it. Thank you, Mrs. Bour. >> Yeah. >> Um I just want to first thank the students that came here coming in and speaking in front of people that you don't know. And um I I love when any of the students come and that was just great seeing them and seeing like hearing about more about their program. Um like my son did a transition program for a while so I'm familiar with what goes on there. and just seeing those kids there made me smile and I'll go home and smile some more. Um, also like with the spelling bee I watched I'm so glad that it was on YouTube and I can watch it live and I annoyed everybody at my job because that championship round I was like oh my god they're like what
035are you doing? I'm like sh like you watching sports, hey get out of my business I'll do those reports when this is over just wait. And then I had to like walk away when it was done because I was just so hyped and it was so great. And up until a few years ago, I didn't know Spelling View was so exciting, but it is and I loved it. And so I'm so glad again it was on YouTube and it was live and it was great. Um, also like the showcases that the schools are doing like there every time they show it like they're stepping it up. So in my mind there's like a competition because they add like a little bit more to it and it's getting a little bit fancier every month and I
036just love it, right? the editing is just going up and up and I was like this is so great and like it was I mean it started off simple because and I think cuz we asked for it and they didn't know what to give and it was just student talking now it's like pictures flashing different things there's music at it I was like okay schools I see you so great job for them putting that together I love it and each month I'm sure people look at it and see me grinning like an idiot looking at the kids so I just love to see the progress in the district and what's going on so >> I'll make I will add I'm Sorry. >> Um, >> so we're taking those showcase videos and putting them on one
037location on the website and the idea was to then start using them as promotional material >> um to promote the district and just share them out. Um, so that's the plan with them. >> They're fun. Thank you. >> Um, January 21st was Steam night. Um, I had a really good time. There were different stations. I know I'm not going to remember them all. You could make a slushie. That was pretty neat. I chose not to do that. Those kids were doing a great job shaking them up, but I passed on a slushie. Uh, there was a table with coding and robots, which is real cool because they sit and they put in this little coal code and the robot goes and it goes to the thing and it makes a, you know, it was just
038neat. I don't understand how any of it works. So, these kids are freaking geniuses in my mind. They really are. Um, and then there was uh one where you could build a platform and they had books. There was a mom, I'm sorry I don't know your name, she put all of the books on the table on her. she should be an engineer. That was pretty great. Um, and then the next night was the winter concert at Field and it was a really great show. What I like to Miss Leel's credit is there was such a variety of the kind of music. It's not just like pop or whatever. So, they're learning different. There was ones where they were singing different parts. So, it was really enjoyable. The kids are so talented. And thank you, Miss
039Leo, for um exposing our children to different kinds of musics that they may not get otherwise. Um, all right. With that, may I Oh, the St. Patrick's Day parade is March 7th. If you want to, if you want to be in it, there's um on social media you can sign up. And if you don't want to be in it, just give a shout out when we walk by. Make a lot of noise for D91. Um and with that, may I have um a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. All in favor? I. It is now 8:17 and this meeting has been adjourned.