001stands for children all >> right. Um do you mind just reading our mission vision and motto? >> Um mission ensure academic achievement and personal growth for for all students through innovative and and engaging educational opportunities. Vision, an inclusive community of motivated learners who are inspired to change the world through exploration and collaboration. Motto, excellence in education. Enthusiasm for life every student every day. Thank you so much. Um, great. We have a time for public comment. There's anybody available or interested? Sweet. We will have another opportunity for that at the end of the meeting. Um, we got an alliance update today. Welcome, Greg. >> Really appreciate everybody having me. Um, I know it's been a minute since I've been here. Um, but three quick updates from the alliance. Um, again, last time I was here was
002November. Um, but we did host our art auction in December. Uh, had a great turnout. sold over 20 pieces and raised $5,500 to be dedicated to the middle school uh AV equipment. That money is going to remain earmarked and whenever the district's ready to move forward, we will make that donation. Um second announcement, we are currently in the midst of our spring grant cycle. Um that will be remaining open through April 24th, which is next Friday. Um only a handful of entries right now. So, Kelly and Nate, if you can really push, uh, would love to see a few more entries before it closes. And then the last item is the Sunrise Rocks concert that will take place again Memorial Day weekend. Um, formerly Saturday, May 23rd. Makeup date will be May 24th. Um, the
003event is supporting the Alliance, Bluffers in Need, and the Zack Porter Foundation. Um, expect marketing to launch this weekendish. Um, I'm aiming for the Friday newsletters to be that first um, point of contact. We do actually have a call it an influencer uh, assisting us this year. So, we are uh, we're we're getting with the times that not my uh, responsibility. So, I cannot feel any questions on that. Um, what that will entail, but um, we're really going to have a social media presence. So hopefully everyone is here and in town Memorial Day weekend and can be there. >> Thank you so much. >> Questions, comments. >> Thank you all. >> Moving on to our next discussion presentation. Lisa grade data. >> Yes. >> Leading edge. The more intense stuff would come a little bit
004beyond that. You'd have to have some rain and some Right. >> That was the weather. >> Why do I need sound? Anyway, why did the sound come up? All right. So, uh, every year, um, for the last few years, we've been doing an annual report on our ninth graders. We reach out to Lake Forest High School um for some information after our students move on um to the high school and obviously when we have our students move on from us, we want to make sure that they are continuing to be successful for so we uh continue and we will continue in this report to review freshman placement and achievement trends for our students. And I'm just just building on our 2018 data. uh review the surveys that we send out to our current 9th grade
005students and parents and then we also are reviewing some of the highlights that came out of the student board mixer that um Tim and Andrew were at this year. Uh so our first chart includes some data on our students that are placed in above level classes. So when you think about onle classes would be like the ninth grade um content and material. These are percentages of students that actually are placed into classes that are addressing above level content. So, honors or accelerated classes or level two classes. Um, and so our numbers remain pretty constant over half of our students um and higher level math. Our we're almost at half for ELA. Um, but like you can see, our social studies and science numbers remain pretty steady. And then for Spanish and French, that would be
006anything level two and above. Um, and that's a percentage of all of our students. So, it's not 39% of Spanish uh students, it's 39% of the student body. I didn't go into how many of our Spanish students were placed at above level Spanish. Um, it's just about and the classes. I think this class was 99, so you know how many students. Um, and then we had four students last year or this year pick an alternative language. I believe it was Latin. >> So, excuse me. So, if there was a 0% up there, it means that they were at grade level then. >> Means none of our students were placed above level. So, they were all at or below level. There are some below levels. >> Okay. Okay. >> Social studies is a funny thing because
007it's an option, not necessarily a placement. So, That's a kids choice. >> Kids choice. >> Good point. >> Okay, moving on. Um, then we look at a spreadsheet of all the grades for every class that our students are enrolled in. So, this includes related art, specials, everything of all of the grades. Um, these are the grade ranges that our students are achieving. So, the majority of the grades are in the A range. Um and then obviously as you can see less than 20% less than 15% of our kids are achieving less than a C um in any class at all in the high school which I think is pretty outstanding. Now we send out our survey. The high school is awesome. They they will send it out to our parents and and our students from
008Lake Bluff. We only had 16 fill it out this year. Last year we had 11. So that's an increase in the response rate. Um the upper left hand box are the responses of the same question from last year um as compared to this year. So you can see that the majority of our parents felt that their sixth to eighth grade education prepared them for high school coursework. Um our parents feel I think for the the majority feel that the recommended courses were a good fit um for their student although less than last year. We ask about which areas uh parents feel their child were were most prepared for. And you can see social studies, math, reading, and writing came out on top this year, where social studies, science, and math came out last year. But
009again, they're very small numbers. I just want to keep reiterating, we're only talking about 16 parents here. Um, which do we feel least prepared for? Math kind of winds up in both categories. So just a difference between the parents who are answering the survey. Uh and then we ask about our portrait competencies. This year empathy and citizenship as well as communication came out on top. Last year it was really communication and empathy also but less so. So they can choose as many as they want for that question. And then least supported confidence and adaptability came out this year where last year it was critical thinking. To what extent do the middle school experiences help our uh students develop study skills? Um we have a lot more in the somewhat helpful category this year quite as
010strong as last year. And how do you feel your child handled the increased independence? Um our students are very or somewhat prepared in that area. I felt that's a good pretty good response there. How well did our uh did your child's previous school experiences help them develop social and emotional skills? Um somewhat or very well. I felt pretty good about that. Um adequate support were the child's teachers providing adequate support and again mostly in the somewhat to very very well or definitely category. I'll be more than somewhat this time. Uh these are comments. So again, we had anywhere from 14 to 16 comments. Not everyone commented. Um but here were some of the things that came out as themes. So some parents felt like there was kind of a gap between um how math and
011science were handled in the middle school as opposed to the high school. Um there was one request to increase the the pace of eighth grade math. Um and ask for more homework. So Moose I asked Moose to speak up if there's anything speaking to him. Um and then uh the integrated math placement which really is more kind of on the high school end of things as opposed to us. Um and then some areas of strengths in humanities and languages. So, parents feeling really good about Spanish, history, social studies, language arts adjustments. Um, still we're seeing that we need to help students with some note-taking and study habits. Um, the public speaking might be an area where kids are maybe having a little less confidence. Um, and then there was an ask for um something like
012uh what the high school has in terms of being able to just go and ask for support and have somebody be staffed that that all the time. Um, some parents talked about um maybe an oversupportive, overly supportive environment in terms of social emotional um support. Um, and asking for a little bit more uh student perspective to be included in things. Uh, and then there was one request for sort of a centralized website or portal for transition related information from the middle school to the high school. Uh the students we got 15. Last year we got 18. So a little bit uh less students this year, but um our students were feeling very well, somewhat prepared this year for their high school coursework. Um students overwhelmingly felt like their courses were a good fit. So I
013think that's great. They feel like social studies and math um were the they felt most prepared in those areas and science came out as a least an area of least being feeling least prepared in terms of competencies critical thinking. So a little bit different for the kids than the parents. Um and then in the least supportive category they agree on adaptability. So parents and kids both felt like adaptability was something that they might be struggling with. Study skills and time management again somewhat helpful. I think parents and kids are aligned on this one. Um the ones I've answered and then the increased independence again pretty well aligned very to somewhat prepared. Um social and emotional skills kids are feeling somewhat to very well prepared for that. very per very supported by their teachers and like
014Bluff Middle School which I think is great. Um students also talked a little bit about um the studying and um asked for some specific support around time management um planning and organization and note-taking. So that's something that came out in terms of something that kids could use a little bit more support with. Um, social studies came out uh as a strength in terms of document based questioning. We know that we do that in social studies in middle school and we're actually already moving that into the elementary school as well. Um, a little bit about the pacing um and then felt pretty well prepared in the ELA area. Again, the science um feeling a little bit like there's a gap there um in math and science. So parents and kids were a little bit aligned on
015the math and science. Um, interestingly, the students talked about the hard teachers helping them adapt a little bit more to the high school. Um, and asking for more predetermined groups. So, not having a choice all the time of who they get to work with so that they learn to adapt a little bit better to different personalities. Um, and they felt like kind of putting in some deadlines, uh, harder deadlines in middle school homework was helping them as well with high school experience of homework. Um, I I want to make sure that Andrew and Tim can talk a little bit about their experience with um, the students that talked with board members at the Mixer. Um, but these were really taken from Dr. one arts summary of the evening um that the students uh always feel
016grateful um for people to come and listen and ask how they're doing. um underassman talked about the content being manageable um but that the volume of homework was a significant adjustment and again for this student board mixer it's not just Lake Bluff students these are all Lake Bluff and Lake students um the retake policies um they felt like weren't helping or didn't help them to adapt to the high school um some students talked about Chromebooks and iPads moving to MacBooks that there's a little bit of an adjustment period there um and than students suggesting MacBook training during middle school to eliminate any hurdles there. So um a suggestion so some common themes um from that board mixer that the high school is positive, inclusive and engaging teachers um staff members creating a welcoming environment, lots
017of extracurricular offerings. I mean, I think that we know the high school's programming is outstanding and the fact that, as I said in the beginning of our conversation, our students do so well there is um really a testament to what goes on in the middle school in terms of preparing them. Um lots of opportunities in terms of elective and advanced coursework. They talked about some courses that they really enjoy. And then the scout seminar, as we know, is new. um that seems to have really helped some students acclimate better to the high school. Um and uh strong support for students with uh plans, which I think is great. Love hearing that. So I continue to value this little dig into how our students are doing every year when they leave us. And um I think
018it's great to kind of come full circle at the end of the year and hear how our students are doing at least after first semester. So I I it's kind of hard to do action items based on the number of responses, but the um discussion about homework. Um I I mean that kind of strikes me as as probably a valid need out there. Um and just I you know you guys are the parents with the kids at home but I think there's only so much that the school I mean the school's responsibility I don't is I think secondary to parents in terms of you know the homework I mean the school can assign it they can grade it. can let the parents know that the student's not doing it, but they can't sit down with
019the students and and, you know, see it. So, do you think like some kind of a best practices letter going out to the, you know, to all the families at the beginning of the eighth grade and just talking about, you know, uh, find a place or a a set time every night, finding a place and, you know, just reminders going out. um ultimately, you know, that the parents are the ones that are going to ultimately figure out um how to make sure that their kids are doing homework. >> Yeah. And homework is like one of those hot topics in education that there's lots of feelings about homework and whether or not it has a big impact on student achievement. Um every time I have lunch with kids, I ask them about how our homework is
020going and I want to ask you in a second and give you a second to think about it. Um, but you're totally right in that homework is a partnership between home and school and we really to your point we can do a lot but we can't do it all and obviously there are very different approaches to parents with for every parent with homework and some of it depends on schedules that they have with other things and extracurriculars and things like that. So for us, I think here it's always a balance of how much do we do in advance to prepare them for high school and how much do we continue to treat them like middle schoolers that they are and make sure that they're getting what they need. I don't know loose thoughts on homework.
021Um, >> well, I think it's important, but like we do spend like seven hours a day at school and like we have to go home and do more school and like most people have like like I can name like 30 kids in my grade who have like play more than like two sports and they like have like really busy schedules. Like a lot of us have like a lot of schedules that are like really full. So like I don't know. >> I think it's a great point. I kind of agree with miss just as a parent seeing the homework that comes home. Um time management is super helpful for kids to learn. Does it mean that they need hours of time management? No. And then I would love to see as a parent speaking like
022across all the subjects like understanding like you have a test this day. We're not going to give the same all the tests on one day and all the homework. You know, I feel like sometimes it's topheavy, but I understand that that's how like the sections and things go, but that kind of like communication would kind of be nice. I'm also interested to see what this looks like, you know, in 3 years once the kids have the new programs they've been take that you know, we're instituting. I'm curious to see what the shift looks like >> now that we have those programs in place. >> I agree. Not only Scott seminar, but the question or the courses that we've started. Yeah, middle school. >> Exactly. >> And like we have like this thing is called L.
023Um, and we have like in math we always have like three or four of them. They give them to us on Monday. And then like in LA we have like three or four of them like different to do and like we have to get them to 100 or like and then it takes a lot. It's like 20 minutes per each one. So like >> and I think like I've been thinking about this for a while. adults talk about work life balance a lot >> and I think it's funny um because I feel like we adults have a problem with work life balance because maybe we've been doing that to kids for a long time like kids have school all day then homework then extracurriculars and they're programmed for a big portion of their day and
024so we just as humans get used to like being busy all the time as opposed to having time for rest and play. So, um, we will continue to work on that balance and also the balance of workload, >> too. Um, I'd love that we send this out. Is there a way >> more people to fill in, >> right? >> Yeah. So, like the high school does freshman do have scout seminar that's now not mandatory, but it's >> they all take it. >> So, we could zero in >> just have them do it. >> Yeah. that's kind of what their um advisor does and they would be able to send it directly to those kids and then parent wise I remember it coming um who knows like how it's sent out so it's emailed out >>
025um but I can talk to Aaron about it because I think district 67 now does have to >> comes from the high school >> it comes from the high school >> because we don't have parent emails anymore like once they leave us we don't have we don't keep their emails anymore in our system. >> Got >> and we don't have students. >> Yeah, that's true. >> Direct email. So, >> okay. >> But we can talk about that. Scout seminar is not a bad idea. >> Great information. I think it puts a lot of people at ease um that we're all doing the right thing. >> No, I agree. >> And I like I said, I think 67 is doing one also. So, >> yeah. Okay. Great. Oh, that's in the conversation. All right, moving on.
026Unless anybody has any more comments or questions. Okay, we can move on. We're going to go over hopefully the last time the updated 2627 board meeting calendar. We adjusted our February meetings and we're adding in the new town halls. >> Yeah. So, we have a town hall scheduled for October 27th and one March 2nd. The timing of those had to do with a discussion around doing it kind of right after parent teacher conferences so that parents would have a chance to kind of digest what they learned. Um and then we adjusted our February meeting to February 16th and these are all Tuesdays. >> Correct. >> Um >> I know the 27th is >> is March I think one of them might be a Wednesday. I feel like the March >> just to make it interesting.
027>> No, March 2. Okay. All right. Cool. >> Um I kind of like that consistency. >> Yeah. But we are starting the town halls a little bit earlier at 6 and add elementary. >> And we're doing event elementary and the multi-purpose >> will be in the calendar. >> That will be on the calendar. >> Okay. Well, if anybody wants to pull anything out or have a comment, let's discuss it now. Otherwise, I do, you know, we did talk this last meeting and the meeting before. So, I think we were through most of the kinks. March 16th is not a voting day. Um I think it was this year. >> We got to move on the February meeting. That's the >> Oh, was February because of the vote, right? >> For the election. >> You remember
028that? >> Oh, yeah. Remember to >> No, I No, it's February. >> There's like a weird primary. >> So, so you caught that. Okay. >> One question. >> Yeah. um with the election in April of 2027 for seats on the board. Is that April and we can change this, but is the April 27th meeting late enough for us? Because I know we have a certain amount of time to see >> for new members. >> New members and you know the election day in April of 27. Sorry. >> So the 6th. No. >> Um, but we also have to wait for for it to be certified. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, >> April 6, >> we move 27. >> I think we'll have enough time, >> but I think we can also see that's the main
029meeting also. >> Do that. >> We can look into that and make sure. >> All right. >> It's fine. I'm sure it's not vote. >> No, we should. Yeah, we can vote and we can vote that night and then we can change that if we need to. Yeah, >> you're right cuz that's a great thing to check. Thank you. >> Right. >> Good catch. >> To make note of all these special circumstances elections, >> we will make a note. >> Okay, cool. All right. Um, no further questions. We can move on. We have our special education continuum of services update from Tracy. So, we have already presented our staffing. Um, and this is a change to the staffing plan, a recommended change of an increase um, based on some of the work that we've been
030doing this year. Um, and appreciate Tracy and her team looking into this because we've been talking for a while about how we can better support our students who need um, specific supports around uh, you said we have said specific 12 times. very specific to be specific >> regulation during the school day. Um >> yeah, I think student behavior has been a conversation now, an ongoing conversation between um teachers, administrators, parents. It's been a topic at a board meeting or two. Um and I think we have um put into place some supports when we think about what are some lower level classroom level behaviors um when students need some specific intervention as well as students who need some special education programming in terms of helping with their executive functioning skills and their their classroom behaviors. However,
031as we were really looking at our continuum of supports and services and as we've been going through the process with True North in terms of um what settings do students have in in order to learn those new skills, we realize that we have somewhat of a gap in our continuum. So for students who are showing more dysregulation and need some time in order to um spend in a separate space, work on coping skills, reregulating their behavior, and then having direct instruction for um whether it be executive functioning skills, coping skills, um behavioral management strategies, and other ways to focus within the classroom. we realize that um we don't have that space available. And so what we're proposing is um an additional full-time equivalent teacher to be um housed at the elementary school in order to
032be the teacher in this space. This space would be for students who have either an identified plan through a special education evaluation, who have been identified through our problem solving team that are struggling already within the classroom and we're already trying to put some interventions in place or are within a special education evaluation because we know um and have identified that they might need some more support and we're looking to determine why that might be. Um, so what we we did is put together a group, a task force at the elementary school to really look at and plan what would this space look like? Um, what would happen when students come into this space? Um, what materials and curriculum would the teacher use? And so we we just started working. Um, and this is this
033is our timeline here. So right now we're in procedural and system design. Um, and much of the information that is in the memo that was posted in the board packet has come through these conversations about procedural and system design. Um, because in order to know what the staff member would be doing, we need to know what is happening um within this space within the classroom. What are they teaching? What students would come in and and utilize this space. I think it's important to note that because this space um would be new and we have um really prek through fifth grade, this would not be a self-contained um classroom or a self-contained program. This would be a space where kids would move in and out of the space flexibly either because they're struggling in the classroom
034at that moment. and we've identified that they would then go um utilize this space and work with this teacher um or we've identified a time in their day where they regularly have dysregulation and so we know every day during that time they may go and work in this space with this teacher. Um, so again, it would be important to note that we would already know that these students either have a plan or they're working on developing a plan through our problem solving team process. I think it's also important to note that what we um would like to set up with this space is not disciplinary. So this would not be a kind of catch-all room where anyone who is misbehaving in the classroom would just be sent to this room. And that's not what this
035is for. This is not for something like um if a student needs to be removed from an activity because they, you know, misbehave or they need an inschool suspension or some other uh type of removal um for either a short or longer period of time. um if a student who uses this space also requires disciplinary action that would actually be something that would also happen in addition to utilizing this space. So it's not a replacement. So um we just want to make that very clear that this is a regulation and teaching space not a disciplinary or exclusionary or removal space. So, um, as I said, we're proposing to add this additional, um, member of the staff at the elementary school in order to provide, um, coping skills, regulation skills, um, behavioral management skills, executive functioning
036skills for our students with our highest need. And we really believe with um with the we know the rising cost of therapeutic settings that even if we can keep one more student in our own buildings um that really um can covers the cost of the the teacher. And so the idea is really to make sure we have the spaces we need in order to be as inclusive as possible and keep as many of our students who um might need a little bit more support outside of the classroom than we can currently provide in our in our current structures. So can you walk us through a little bit of what like it looks like today like your current process like a student becomes disregulated and needs a space to go where do they go? >> That's
037a really great great question because I think what currently h there's a number of things that could currently happen because right now it's dependent on who's available in times. So it could fall to our administrators potentially in each of the buildings. Um, it could fall to our social workers, um, if they're available. Um, it could fall to our student support specialists, um, who works in both buildings, so whether or not they're in that building at the time or in the other building. Um, oftentimes teachers are trying to manage as well as they can within the classroom. Um, and and really doing the best they can with the strategies that they have. We also have our learning behavior specialists. oftentimes they're really working on academic skills and executive functioning skills within the classroom or in their
038small groups, but they're not necessarily there for crisis situations, really disregulated students, um non-academic skills that need to be taught. And so while we've been filling in gaps and and doing the best we can with the staff members that we have, um we really believe that having a space, having a teacher, this really being designed for coping, regulation, and new skill development, um is really kind of a missing component for us. >> So like how many people like this might be too much of a question today, would this person be able to help? like how you're seeing these students with this need which ultimately affects the entire student body depending on what classroom they're in at the time. So like do you have like a percentage of how we have >> as we've been planning
039obviously we always think like what students like do we have now that we think would utilize a space like this? um percentage- wise it's very small because it's the highly special specialized space. And so when we think about students who are really having that escalated deescalation, we're probably talking about 7 to 10 students um that could move in and out either as needed or have some scheduled time um that you know could utilize the space. >> Could it look like panic attack? Like somebody has it could on we specify panic attack if they've never had it. this is a place like currently there's no place for people >> it could so depending on the student that could be a social worker coming to help them and and work through it. It could be potentially um
040utilizing a space like this. We have talked as a group how maybe in the beginning we were talking about more externalizing behavior. So more like outward behaviors, disruptive behaviors. But there are some students who just shut down in class. And until they have a way to go and work with someone who can help them cope and use strategies within that situation and learn some new skills, you could have a student sitting there and just not working for a really long period of time. And sometimes they're very quiet and maybe it's, you know, not noticed right away. But we've talked about the benefits to both types of student profiles or student needs that could benefit from a space like this. And for some students, it might be a short-term use and for some it might be
041a longer term use. We've also talked about how um to have like a reset protocol. So, a student comes in, they walk through a certain set of steps to regulate, talk through some coping skills, have a strategy lesson, and then a re-entry plan back into the classroom. And kind of what happens if they're not ready for that re-entry and how we might need to go um through multiple kind of resets before a student might be ready to go back into their classroom. um because for each student depending on their own needs it could take a diff different amount of time. So, it's really this full-time employee that we're that's doing the work, right? I mean, we have the space idea, but it's this teacher that >> the teacher would be the one implementing this. And
042we've we've discussed what type of curriculum needs, you know, um would they need things like zones of regulation or um some of the ruler materials that we've utilized? Some of the second step materials we've utilized in order to um determine what strategies does an individual student need to be taught and where can we pull from in order for them to have lessons available or even self-created lessons in order to be able to teach new. Where do we have the space? >> Man, I know that's >> So, we have started planning and looking at maps. I think we do have the ability to to have the space with some with some creative thinking. >> I'm assuming it wouldn't be like a whole classroom. It would be more of an area or >> it would be a
043full classroom. >> Full classroom. >> Yeah. So yeah, >> when if there's no students in the space, would that teacher go into classrooms and like provide support for those students there? Is that the would that be the intent or >> That's a good question because you know with a new space they might not have a completely full day right at the beginning. they could um we talked about a couple of things in terms of um we know that even with our students who have higher level executive functioning needs, they might not need a space like this, but this teacher is already going to be teaching executive functioning skills. So, might they add a couple of extra like tier three for students who have higher level executive functioning needs but might not get to this level
044of needing removal from a classroom or to come out of a classroom for for support to have once a week group groups with various students of various grade levels um and other ways to fill a couple of other gaps that um that we might have. So, >> and this is like a worst case scenario when you had like several like seven kids all at once. Like I assume there's there's other staff who >> Yes. So, >> assist. >> We many of the students that require this level of support oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes do have either shared pair of professionals or onetoone pair of professionals. So if we had multiple kids in a room, the idea would be that we have this protocol that anyone who was coming in and could help support a student
045knows this protocol and would have those lessons available to them. So they could either support the teacher, they could even work with the student themselves um and provide some of those and implement some of those regulation strategies as well um in order to support. Um, one question came up at our task force meeting was, you know, could a social worker come in and either co-re a group or come in and do their some of their groups in the room? Absolutely. So, if other staff members wanted to do some of the work in there, they could come in and help facilitate some pieces as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So um in your numbers that you um talked to 88,000 for the teachers is that salary or salary and benefits both or >> that was
046salary correct? >> Depends >> that's >> where they are on the salary schedule. >> Salary and benefits but it's just estimate it's middle of the schedule. >> Yeah. >> So it could be health insurance. >> It could be single health insurance. So it doesn't include benefits or doesn't? >> Yes, >> it does. 88,000 includes >> an estimate of single employee only health insurance and salary. Okay. based on the >> um I'm I'm a little bit surprised by the request um because the a presentation we had like LA last um June uh from the elementary school, you know, talked about specifics of u any behavior issues and it it seemed like, you know, it was a really good environment. Um, has something changed this year that's kind of driving this that were that has taken you
047to this level where you're making a request for an additional person and or what's what's kind of the um I guess what I'm asking is something changed we did >> we got good reports you know >> throughout this year so far that has >> Are you confusing >> with behavior? I do think we got reports that discipline was but or like disciplinary problems. Is that what you >> Yeah, there were very very few kids that were being asked to leave the classroom and >> oh, >> you know, in the elementary school level that it was I mean it seemed um >> you know a really great group of kids over there. But I as some I guess that my question is has something changed that has led us to led you to led us to
048this >> um decision where we said we think we need an extra resource there. >> No, I think that's a really great question and and the point to the difference between what we see in terms of students requiring discipline versus students who are showing disregulation. um are sometimes can be the same because depending on how a student may act out while this regulated it might require discipline but it might not. And so I think we've seen um some really great pieces at both schools in terms of um some of the disciplinary pieces level forms and whatnot. Um, I think the other piece to the kind of tier one and tier 2 piece is that social emotional learning curriculum that we're, you know, moving forward with and trying to continue to implement in order to support
049some of those tier one level behaviors. I think we do see increases in student regulation. I think we have been seeing that post pandemic. Um, we do have many students at the younger grades um that do have many disregulated behaviors, but I don't want to discount that there aren't students even in fourth and fifth grade, the fourth and fifth grade levels. Um, but I would say that there is an incre increase not only in more disregulation, but I think also more complex behaviors that have multiple factors impacting a student where um they may not have learned some of those expected behaviors. executive functioning skills and coping skills that they need within the classroom. >> So I would expect a student that um you know is being asked to leave the classroom multiple times would would
050be this teacher would get involved with that. >> Yes, absolutely. And I think the other piece is that in the past, you know, when a student either needs to leave to regulate multiple times and we're really looking at um looking at a behavior intervention plan for that student. Um sometimes we get to the choice of are they able to stay here in our schools or do we have to look to a therapeutic setting? And for many of our students, if they had more of an in between option, they can function within a general education setting, but just not all day and they need some spaces and and it's just a play. We've managed through some of that, but I think we could do better. The other thing is this is a teacher support. So, our
051teachers are managing beautifully. They're doing a great job. Um, but it's hard to keep focus on all the students when you have one or two students that are really having a hard time and disrupting the rest of the class. And so, in order for this is really also to like have that student have another place to be, another teacher working with that student where we know there's a plan and it's not just sort of whoever's available. It's like we can plan for this student who's clearly needing some more teaching. And that takes a weight off the classroom teacher, too. and kind of gives that breathing room that the student needs and that also the rest of the class needs too. >> And I also think um in some of the work that we have done
052we focused a lot on regulating and coping but the missing piece before re-entry it well there's two missing pieces before re-entry. One is then a set of skills that we're teaching them once they've calmed down. And then the other piece is a very specific and outlined re-entry plan so that the ability to reenter in a way where they won't escalate again and need to leave again to go on a break or whatnot is more likely. So right now we've been using the sensory room oftent times for some very disregulated students which helps calm them down. But in in terms of like decreasing use over time, we don't always see that because they're they're coping and regulating but not learn taking that step to learn the new skill. plan >> at at the elementary school. I
053know at the at the middle school that um you know an eighth grade team can meet and talk about you know steps they need to take with a particular student because each each of them they all the different members have that student at the elementary school it's really you know that one grade level teacher and others have them but primary the grade level teacher at is there like a team a team some sort of a team that's focused on a particular ular student with a with an issue and then they're able to come up with a plan for that. >> Yes. So if they have a specific plan like an IEP or a second 504 plan, that would be their team that would discuss. But they do have a problem-solving team at the elementary school.
054So if a student has repeatedly exhibited either disruptive behaviors, struggling to cope within the classroom, having emotional setbacks and all of those pieces, a teacher can make a a problem solving team referral and then um a team gets pulled together to talk about what interventions can we put in place for that student. So for students who don't have an IEP or a 504 problem solving team could also be a way we identify students who might need to access this room. So, we didn't want to say a student has to have an IEP because sometimes we're just identifying students with needs and going through the process. And we didn't want to not allow that to happen. But we don't want, like we said, a catch-all where students are just being sent to um the space in
055order, you know, for disciplinary reasons or to be out of the classroom. We really wanted to choose through problem solving team or having another plan. So the problem solving team process would be that way to have that collaboration time. >> Okay. Thanks. >> I was just going to say um I've worked in buildings with these types of classrooms and the ones are most successful are the classrooms that have the plans laid out. They have a lot of collaboration. They have a lot of you know pre-planning vote that goes into it. It sounds like we're doing quite a bit to get the interventions uh for the little kiddos that would need it the most and hopefully keep more kiddos in house. That's the goal. Yes, absolutely. Any other questions? Um just in terms of the visual,
056um our our task force will continue to meet and continue planning, um and work through, you can see through the spring, we want to look at that space piece, what materials would be needed, what curriculum. We also feel like staff training is going to be really important. So if this is approved, what training does that teacher need? What training do classroom teachers need to know and understand the space? What training do pair professionals need, especially if they might be in there also supporting if their student is going in there? Um and then you know starting in the fall actually implementation um of the new classroom space and program. >> And then the last thing I want to point out is we do have some metrics. So, um, ways for us to see if what we're
057doing is working. Um, we always want to know, especially when we're we're asking for something new, how are we going to know if it's working? So, we have talked about kind of like a sign in and sign out procedure, tracking re-entry data. How often are students successful re-entering the classroom? How long were they been how long were they able to re-enter for? um looking at escalation patterns. Do overtime the teaching of new skills work and they're meeting this phase less and less? Um and so we do have some um ways we would be looking and tracking that. >> So what I was going to say if this passes we would love for you to come back with an update of success. >> All right. Thank you. and to our last discussion presentation. >> Actually, you
058don't really have an update. I just want to create space at every meeting in case you have any questions from moving along. Um, we are past the largest staff cut. Um, and we are deep into reorganization and budget right now. So, um, continue to meet with the re committee. Um, we meet every week with Jim and Timmy. We've been really pleased with how it's going and it's been a difficult lift, but we're we're getting there. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so we're going to move on with our action items and I just wanted to shout out to Amy for adding in. When I uh ask for a motion, I will refer to the date that we talked about it so we can all refresh our memory, which was super helpful and I really appreciate it.
059So, thank you. I'm going to sound better than I actually am. Okay. So, we are going to move to approval of the world language programming. Um, we'll have a time to discuss after we make a motion. So, may I have a motion to approve the administration's recommendation to sunset the world language program as presented at the board meeting on January 20th by Nate Black? >> So, move. >> Second. >> All right. Is there any discussion? Okay. Lauren, you can please call vote. Uh, Laura Brstone, >> no. >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Carrie Steinbach, >> yes. >> Richard Driver, >> no. >> Lauren Hirs, no. Tim Pitch, >> yes. It just It's a tie. I don't know what to say. >> We're gonna have to bring it back. >> So, we'll bring it back. It's
060a tie. >> We'll bring it back. and we'll bring him back in next two weeks. Okay. >> Maybe we should have maybe we should have had a little more discussion. >> I don't know. I mean, we discussed where people are right now. Yeah. So, >> yeah, it's a new >> Okay, look at us doing a new thing. Somebody tell me how to do it. All right. So, then we'll move on to the approval of the new ELA curriculum, also known as CKLA. Um, there is a max dollar amount in the memo as the bow that was added and the cost for the initial purchase of the CK KLA program for grades K through 4 will not exceed $70,000. The new So, may I have a motion to approve the new ELA curriculum CKA as presented
061at the board meeting on February 24th by Jackie? >> So moved. >> Any discussion? Okay. So, Lauren, you need today's call. >> Tim Penich, >> yes. >> Lauren Hirs, yes. >> Amber Carlson, >> yes. >> Carrie Steinbach, >> yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. >> Laura Braston, >> yes. >> Okay. The motion is passed. Right. So, moving on to approval of the updated um board of education with the town hall calendar. May I have a motion to approve the updated 2026 27 board meeting calendar just presented by Dr. Lei. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All right. Lauren, please call. >> Lauren Hirs, yes. Richard Driver, >> yes. >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Carrie Steinbot, >> yes. >> Tim Penach, >> yes. >> Laura Brickstone, >> yes. >> All right, the motion
062is passed. We need an approval for wireless access points. So, we have a motion to approve the wireless access points as presented at the board meeting on March 16th, 2026 by JCON. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Okay. Lauren, please call. >> Harris Steinbach, >> yes. >> Laura Brstone, yes. >> Tim Penich, >> yes. >> Lauren Hirs, yes. Andrew Carlson, yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. >> Okay, the motion is passed. We're looking to have a motion to approve the LBES parking lot contract as presented at the board meeting on March 16th, 2026. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> And just to clarify, this is for the engineering uh review of it. Yes, it's for all design drawings uh throughout the entire project. >> And so we could come at
063there this is finished and we see the full scope of it and idea the cost then there's a then we would >> there would be a subsequent vote on the construction, right? This is just to do the design um bid out the project, >> right? >> Those types of things. >> But >> yeah, so we're not approving the full >> Yeah. Yeah, 700,000 what? We don't know what it is. >> This is the work that will that needs to be done in order to figure out how much it will cost. >> Good question. >> Do you have an idea of the additional engineering services like the soil tests like about how much >> I'd say those are run all three together probably about $20,000. >> Thank you. And we'll or that's below the thresh but
064that would be taken care of. We have I mean that will probably part of the Yeah, that will be some Yeah, we had already done some of the soil boardings when we did this parking lot. We did see some of those as well. >> Oh, so some of that's taken care of, but some of the other things to be done and that's really those are some of the most important pieces of data that will determine how expensive the property is. It's um important to do those in front >> randomly. But do you plan on doing um the electric the charging stations at the >> that can be part of the stroke? It just depends on >> and we got some sort of kickback for that. Right. Last time >> they had to had a sorry
065had a legal mating rebate program. They were everybody and uh we did take advantage of that. that bank didn't cost us anything. Some of those most of those um incentives are going away. So, it would likely get district crossed, but um that is a consideration. Sorry. >> Secret. No, just kidding. All right. Um so, since we are only at the discussion, Lauren, can you please call the vote? >> Sure. Laura Brickstone, >> yes. >> Tim Penich, >> yes. Yes. >> Andrew Carlson, yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. >> K Steinbot, >> yes. >> Lauren Hers, >> yes. >> All right. The motion has passed. Uh, moving on to the approval of resolution to impose retailers occupation tax and service occupation tax. Occupation tax. May I have a motion to approve the resolution to impose retailers
066occupation tax and service occupation tax as presented at the committee of the whole meeting on February 10, 2026 by JC Con? >> So, second. >> Right. Is there any discussion? We're going to be able to read the resolution aloud prior to our vote. >> And this is just us giving the voters. >> Yeah. We're not voting. >> This is the voting system to the people. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> So, I've got a discussion. >> Do you want to wait for the resolution or do you feel like you want to discuss for it? >> I don't. Doesn't matter. Whenever you want to do it. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So I I got I just continue to have a problem with this even at our little level. You know, I understand that,
067you know, the big schools are going to determine whether this gets on the ballot or not and then the voters are going to decide, but I just have it's a matter of principle almost with me because it's it's an effect. We're asking um and and Jay presented the capital budgets, you know, uh last meeting, our capital plans last meeting and and we have the money to cover those. You know, we're we're funded uh with existing plans for uh the levy. Um so we don't really need this money. Um, and we're asking the low-income people in both in district 65 and people on fixed incomes to pay more taxes um, you know, to the schools. um as well as all of Lake County. We're asking all the people, low-income people that least can afford it to
068reach in their pockets and pay more um to fund the schools. And it's just, you know, if we needed the money, you know, I'd feel differently. And I'm just looking at this from just Lake Bluff's point of view. I mean, I don't know. I can't think of Walkegan on all the others, you know, my I'm just looking at that. Um, but I just I just have a problem. I just have a problem with that. >> I I hear what you're saying. On the flip side, I would say that I always want the voters to be in charge of what they want it to look like. >> I know. So, I'm just voting. I'm >> voting early and often. That's good exercise in the American people. Um, thank you for your comments because I think we
069all thought of these things and you know if it comes back around and I do think and maybe I'm wrong in the long run this could save Lake Bluff some taxpayer money and property taxes. Um, and it's a Lake County reference, right? You think so? >> Sure. >> And distributed proportionally. You've got so like bluff would also get a proportional distribution. Bigger districts would larger. >> Okay. >> Money given to them. So >> Okay. >> Well, it would it would save us money if we if we avoid having to make a referendum. >> That's right. >> But otherwise, it wouldn't save us any money unless we reduce the levy. >> That's right. And you know, I haven't seen us having much interest in doing that, but it could. Maybe we would. >> Do you want
070to read the three page? So, keep your eyes open. >> He does not do accents. >> I can, but I don't know if I can hold it for this. >> You could. resolution directing the regional superintendent of schools for the county of Lake Illinois to certify the county clerk of said county the question of imposing a retailer's occupation tax and a service occupation tax to be used exclusively for school facility purposes, school resource officers and mental health professionals for submission to the electors of said county at the general election to be held on the 3rd day of November 2026. Whereas section 5-106.7 of the county's code of the state of Illinois as amended the uh parenthesis the county school facility occupation tax law authorizes the imposition of a tax upon all persons engaged in the
071business of selling tangible personal property or other than personal property titled or registered with an agency of the government of the state of Illinois at retail in the county of Lake, Illinois. The county closed parenthesis on the gross receipts of the sales made in the course of business and a service occupation tax upon all persons engaged in the county in the business of making sales of service who as an incident to making those sales of service transfer tangible personal property within the county as an incident to a sale of service at a rate of 1% to provide revenue to be used exclusively for school facility purposes. school resources officers and mental health professionals, the county school facility occupation taxes. If a prop if a proposition for the county school facility occupation taxes, the proposition is
072submitted to the electors of the county at a regular election and approved by a majority of the electors voting on the proposition. And whereas for purposes of the county school facility occupation tax law, school facility purposes means one, the acu acquisition, development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, financing, architectural planning and installation of capital facilities consisting of buildings, structures, and durable equipment and the acquisition and improvement of real property and interest in real property required or expected to be required in connection with the capital facility. facilities. And two, the payment of bonds or other obligations here to for or hereafter issued, including bonds or other obligations hereto for hereafter issued to refund or to continue to refund bonds or other obligations issued for school facility purposes, provided that the taxes left taxes levied to pay such funds
073are abated by the amount of the taxes imposed under the county school facility occupation tax law that are used to pay such bonds. And whereas for purposes of the county school facility occupation tax law, school facility purposes also includes fire pretention, fire prevention, safety, energy conservation, disabled accessibility, school security, and specified repair purposes set forth under section 17-2.11 of the school code of the state of Illinois as amended. And whereas the county school facility occupation tax law provides that upon receipt of a resolution or re resolutions of school district boards that represent more than 50% of the student enrollment within the county, the regional superintendent of schools for the county parenthesis regional superintendent must certify the proposition to the proper election authority in accordance with the election code of the state of Illinois as amended.
074the election code. And whereas the board of education, the board of Lake Bluff School District 65, the district deems it necessary, advisable, and in the best interest of the district that the regional superintendent certify the proposition to the county clerk of the county, the county clerk for submission to the electors of the county at the general election to be held on the 3rd day of November, 2026, the election. Now therefore be it and it is hereby resolved by the board of education of Lake Bluff School District 65 as follows. Section one, incorporation of preamles. The board hereby finds that all of the recital contained in the preamles to this resolution are full, true, and correct and does incorporate them into this re resolution by this reference. Section two, direction to regional superintendent. The regional superintendent
075is hereby directed to certify the proposition to the county cur clerk in the form set forth in the county school facility occupation tax law and in accordance with the election code for submission to the electors of the county at the election. Section three severability. If any section, paragraph, clause, or provision of this resolution shall be held to to be invalid or uninforceable for every any reason, the invalidity or uninforcability of such section, paragraph, clause, or provision shall not affect any of the remaining provisions of this resolution. Section four, repeal. All resolutions or parts thereof in conflict herewith be and the same and are hereby repealed and this resolution shall be in full force and in effect forth with upon its adoption and then if it's adopted we'd have the today's >> sure there are no
076questions then joking lots of legal That was my shout. >> Okay. So, any more discussion? >> All right. Lauren, you want to call? >> Laura Brstone, >> yes. >> Uh, Richard Driver, >> no. >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Harry Steinbach, >> yes. >> Lauren Hirs, yes. Tim Penich, >> yes. >> Okay, the motion is passed. Moving on to approval of the audit engagement agreement. May I have a motion to approve the audit engagement agreement as presented at the board meeting on March 16th, 2026 by JC Con? >> So move second. >> Any discussion? >> Okay, Lauren, can you please tell >> Tim Pennich? >> Yes. >> Laura Brickstone, >> yes. >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Terry Steinbach, >> yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. >> Lauren Hirs, yes. Okay, the motion has passed.
077Moving to the personnel report, we have a new non-licensed new hire, Daniel Lomeo. Her professional at LBES effective date 330 2026 at a salary rate of $20 per hour. We have one resignation of Andrea Fuentes is the registar here at the district office. Effective date 4102026. Three new hires. Emily Anderson. She's a speech language pathologist pathologist. That's a new pathologist at LBES effective date 82426 replacing a new position at a salary rate of 71,329 at the salary schedule placement of MA plus 30. Brandy Mcdana is a multilingual teacher at LBES. Effective date 824 2026. She's going from a 1.0 to a.80 80 at an annual salary rate of $72,429 also on the same salary schedule placement of MA plus30. And then we have Dborah Lindser who is a speech language pathologist at LBES effective date
07882026 placing Emily Anderson at an annual salary rate of $98,931 the same salary schedule placement of Monday plus 30. We have three FMLAs. Olivia Epicella, she's an elementary teacher at LBES. Her effective dates will be 8:24206 to 11:116 2026. We have Sarah Slesnik, elementary teacher at LBES, effective date 942026 to 11:27 2022. And Kelly Sheridan, she's an elementary teacher at LBES. Um, effective 824 2022 to 102 2026. So now that you have heard the personnel reported as just presented, may I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. Great. Any discussion? >> Okay. Lauren, please call vote. >> Andrew Carlston, >> yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. >> Laura Brickstone, >> yes. >> Lauren Hirs, yes. Tim Penich, >> yes. >> Harry Stebach, >> yes. If the motion is pass, um, we welcome our second
079opportunity for public comment. Just before we adjourn, just an update on the world language vote. So since it's our first tie, um the tie actually means the motion failed. So any member can bring it back um as a motion in a subsequent meeting if they would like, but for right now the motion fail. >> Thank you for that. All right. Um, so may I have a motion to adjourn the April 14th board meeting at 8 to 10 p.m.? >> Some second. >> All right. All in favor? >> Any oppose? Wonderful. Thank you. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you. I'm going to page. >> Yeah, >> but I don't think I have to sign it. I think >> Yeah, she returning it right now. >> Um, >> yeah. I am the second ter of Borius.