001for Brad. >> Ready to get going? All right. >> Go ahead. >> Thank you, sir. Um, welcome to the Lake School District 65 board of education meeting. I would like to call this meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Uh Amy, can you please have a roll call? Annill here. Carrie Steinbach present. Lauren Hir not here. Laura Bridgestone >> here. >> Andrew Carlson here. >> Richard Driver here. And >> Penet here. Okay. This time, can we stand for the pledge of allegiance? to the flag of the United States of America to the stands one nation under God with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Mission ensure academic achievement and personal growth for all students through innovative and engaging educational opportunities. An inclusive community of motivated learners who are inspired to change
002the world through exploration and collaboration. Excellence in education, enthusiasm for life, every student, every day. Thank you. Only a few more of these and then you're flying on. Okay. Um we welcome public comment at this time if anybody in the room or online is interested. Okay, we will move on. We'll have another time for public comment at the end. So, we'll move to the reports. Um I don't see PTO or Alliance today. I personally don't have one. Lisa, >> yeah, just a few reminders. So, number one, um Lake Forest trip 115 is planning their student and board mixer. I think Dicky went last year to the student and board mixer in May 10th for Lake Forest D High School District 115. Um, so they would again love to invite our board and administration uh on
003February 25th from 6:00 to 7:30. So if you want to go, please mark your calendars, let me know and I will let them know that uh who would like to participate this year? >> February 25th 6 to 7:30. Yeah, it's a Wednesday. I'll put it in the Friday update. Also, >> what typically happens then? So, I think it's kind of new, but there's usually like um a focus group kind of atmosphere where students and board members can ask questions and it's kind of an informal um how are things going? How was uh your preparation that got >> okay? >> Do you remember going last year for that? >> I got a good memory, but sometimes it's short. >> That's okay. Yeah. I just It's okay. I remember it was I remember you enjoyed it and
004so that it was a good opportunity. >> Okay. Um, >> take care of people. >> He said, "So then [laughter] we are also watching the weather for tomorrow. We sent out a communication tomorrow and Friday look a little dicey tomorrow for snow in the early morning and Friday for cold. Just a reminder that late start is an option. That would be a two-hour delay as well as a closure. Um, if we do close, we would be making up that day at the end of the school year. Uh we understand that travel's really hard on these mornings and so we really do take into account safety um and we want to make sure everyone's safe coming to school. Um and then uh actually that's it because we'll talk about the committees later. Great. >> So all
005set. >> Okay. Thanks. Um all right. Well that concludes our reports but we can move to discussion and presentation. We have um Lisa and Tracy for True North update. So, I'll just start briefly by saying True North has had their first uh executive committee meeting of the superintendent of all the member districts. It went very well and uh we continue to meet as a reorganization committee every week uh and to support our two interim superintendents as they're working their way through uh the planning that we've been doing that we are heavy into commitment season now. So member districts are putting forward their commit their asks in terms of staffing and student support. And so that uh kind of dovtales right into staffing and looking at our needs as a cooperative and what the staffing is
006going to look like. And then ultimately that will inform tuition. um we just continue to kind of roll with this reorganization and deal with kind of whatever comes up and there's always something that seems to be popping up, but we're I think handling it well as a group and everyone is still really committed and feeling good about the direction we're going. So that's my update. Um but Tracy has an update on Lake Bluff services moving forward. >> Yeah. And before I dive into the presentation, I just want to share that this has been a very fast but thoughtful process in terms of just reorganizing and redesigning what the cooperative looks like, but then also what our own district services could could look like as well. Um it has given us an opportunity to really rethink
007um how we staff our programming and what programming we provide and um what type of expertise we would like in our own um staff members as we move forward. Um I also want to share my appreciation for Lisa, for Jim and Jimmy, um for my district 67 and 115 counterparts who have been thought partners in all of this. And then I I also just need to share um how incredible our True North staff are because this is a really challenging time and it it must be hard to come to work um each day not knowing kind of the future of their own roles and of the cooperative, but they are such professionals. They work so hard with our students and really are just doing a phenomenal job each and every day. So I just wanted
008to share that before we dive in here. So, as I stated, um, with the tra changes in True North, it really allows us an opportunity to rethink the way that we provide services within our district. So, I wanted to share, um, some options with you on how we could move forward um, utilizing the cooperative. So, just remembering that we continue to value our partnership, we plan to remain members of the cooperative and with whichever option we choose, there will still be services that we access um through through the cooperative, whether that be um therapeutic placements for our students or some of the services that um are really just those hard to fill or highly um expert type services. um we will still be utilizing and partnering um with our cooperative. So we really have two
009two main options um as we look forward to the 2627 school year and beyond. Now the first path would really be to continue on with our current model of accessing many of our related service providers when we um need less than a 1.0 0 position um from our True North partners. Keeping in mind that as we move forward, True North is requiring a 2-year commitment for these related service providers, whereas in the past, we made a one-year commitment. So, when we think about choosing our path forward, we really have to think over the next two years. Um the services that we would like to contract with Trudinworth. The sec second option would be to build our own in-house capacity. So thinking about what related services can we bring on to um build our capacity within
010our own staff or hire on um in our own staffing model so that we're able to provide those services in house. So when thinking about um continuing our service model through True North, the services that we're talking about are our our speech and AAC service services. So AAC coaching. So we have been contracting a 0.5 speech language pathologist for a number of years. That has fluctuated up or down based on our numbers, but it's been consistently a.5 or 6 position. We also contract a point one for an AAC coach who helps us do evaluations for students who need augmentative communication devices. So these may be students who are non-verbal or are um have some expressive language um challenges who require a device in order to communicate. The AAC coach evaluates the need for the device,
011um, determines what device is needed, and then provides coaching to our staff to ensure that students are building their repertoire of language on that device over the years that they're using it. We contract a.3 or just under a.3 um, in physical therapy and have for a number of years now. We also when we have assisted technology evaluations conduct those through the cooperative. So that would be for a student who requires um additional assisted technology above and beyond what we offer for every student. So um if a student needs a screen reader or a student needs um an assisted writing device, that's the type of evaluation that the assisted technology team at True North provides. And then the last one um here for related services is our vision services. So any student whose vision requires additional
012accommodations and modifications, our True North partners provide the evaluations as well as some um consultation and direct service with students. So, if we were ever to have a student who moved in or came up through um our early intervention who was considered blind and needed to learn Braille that they would also provide that type of service. Now, it's important to note in terms of the cost um we are still unsure of exactly what the cost will be. Um True North has not released an exact figure. So, the cost that I used was about a 4% increase from last year's cost, knowing that the costs will go up and they won't be exactly the same, but what we have listed in here is not the cost that True North has released yet. Um, I did want
013to give some sort of figure so that you could see what the differences between the models are in using an estimate in terms of the cost. So, additionally, in either plan, we would continue with our students who require those therapeutic settings. At this point, we would have two students um in the additional cost of onetoone assistance. We do know that True North will no longer be providing professional development to our staff. And so we are required to use 5% of our IDEIDA funds on professional development for um in for our special education service providers. Part of this will go to CPI training that all of our special education staff are required to take. However, not 100% of the staff required to take CPI are special education service providers. So we cannot use all of our
014IDA funds on for that $18,000 there. So that would come from a mix of IDA funds and also district funds. And then the last piece here is adapted physical education. So currently we have um a contract through True North to provide adapted physical education for a small number of students. Um less than eight students we have receiving adapted physical education. Many districts along with us are moving would like to move to a model where because True North would no longer provide this service to districts where we have our general education teachers certified and adapted PE and we provide them coaching support so that they're able to accommodate and modify for students within the classroom and understand how to um write and monitor IEP goals. So as you can see that would be the estimated cost
015in order to continue on with all of the services that we can it's true um and that we have been receiving in the past. So the second option would be to build our own in-house capacity. So, we would I would propose to hire um a speech language pathologist who also would within their job description take on that AAC coaching role. And so um currently the speech language pathologist works solely at the elementary school. However, with this new role, the AAC coaching portion would be districtwide because our True North A coach works districtwide. Under this model, we would work with district 67 and 115 to hire a 1.0 physical therapist between the three districts and we would pay our portion of that through an intergovernmental agreement. Um, and again, this is kind of a placeholder amount.
016um because we don't know exactly what that cost would be. Um and then what we uh would also propose is to increase our um occupational therapists to a 1.0 who could then um would have the room in their schedule to take on those at evaluations to provide that assisted technology support for our students. Last, in terms of the vision services, we would likely stay with True North for our vision services because they are difficult to access um individually. However, depending on the cost, which they're not sure of right now, we could access those through other cooperatives in the area um in order to make a, you know, financially responsible decision. So this is just an overview, a side-by-side comparison of the two models. Um, we know that when we have been when we have received
017most of our services through True North, this is a partner that we've worked with for a very long time. We know the expertise that our True North um service providers hold. Um however we really feel that with aligning with the services within the district will give us greater flexibility um and sustainability along with the changes in the cooperative. So our recommendation would be um the second option to really build our own assets within our district, grow our expertise of our own staff within our district and hire on um these staff members ourselves. We would also be able to ensure some the fiscal sustainability because those teachers would be on our own um teacher contracts and so we would know um how to allocate for those staff members. Um, I think while the cooperative is trying
018to build stability in their model by requiring a two-year um, commitment, I think there is still there are still some unknowns in terms of what the actual financial costs will be. So, um, in thinking about this model, we know that it would increase our staffing plan. Um we know that we can provide the professional development required to um help our staff become experts in some of these areas such as the AAC coaching the assisted technology evaluations and we would utilize those IDEIDA funds to ensure that we're building the capacity of our own staff. We would be working with dis district 67 and 115 to finalize an intergovernmental agreement and be bringing that to you for approval. Um and then working with families to ensure that they know what the plans are um moving forward with
019this option and so that they know and understand that there will not be a disruption to the services that are provided to our students in either model. Um while we believe that the second option is um the recommendation, we know that in either model that moves forward, we would be able to continue to provide the services that we have been providing in in a way that makes sure that we do not um our you know level of service does not drop or we will still continue to provide a high level of service for our families and students. So while we don't need any formal approval today um we would be again bringing forward um and I wanted to make everyone aware of there would be the request of increased staffing um on the next staffing
020plan to account for the staffing that would move over from True North um to our district staffing plan and then that intergovernmental agreement um would need approval um before we could make that official. So any questions? >> So [clears throat] um so we already have we have um Mrs. KD that's uh she's a speech I think she's part-time >> or is she full time? >> She she is part-time. So we would technically have two part-time speech language pathologists then because Miss Katie is over at the middle school as a point8 and this would be an additional.7 that we would be recommending. Um we do um have some interest in the position and so we do believe be able to fill the position. Sometimes it is hard to fill partial positions that aren't 1.0 0 positions,
021but in this case, um, we do believe that we could fill that position. >> Do we have space in the building to accommodate like more staff? >> Yes. Because we for the staff that we will um the way that we'll be doing this, we'll be accounting for the occupational therapy time with our own occupational therapist who already has a space. Okay? And because our current contracted speech language pathologist was a 0.5, they do already have escapes in the building. And so those um it's a great question because we know space is um is a commodity and sometimes it is a challenge. But because we already have those staff members working in the buildings and have space allocated for them, um we wouldn't need to find additional spaces for them. So, um, just refresh my memory
022a little bit, I think last year we paid to Nor something like $700,000. Is that close? >> So, so either one of these alternatives is saving us $200,000 over >> what the number of students. I'm sorry, but it es and flows based on the number of students and their services. >> Yeah. services that we needed. >> So almost >> it's not because we would s potentially depending on how when True North releases their final numbers on what a 1.0 related service provider would cost I I believe we will save money for the related service portion. The the students who are in a therapeutic setting really is just dependent on the number of students. we could have two students move in over the summer and that 300,000 could go to 500,000. So I that part is
023more challenging. Um the thing I believe that we have more control over in terms of knowing costs and being able to budget for are those related services >> are I assume district 67 and 115 are open to splitting. >> Yes. [laughter] Yes. We've been doing a lot of collaborating and a lot of planning um in order to be prepared because we know we have to make a commitment to True North by February 1st to let them know for the next two years. And so we've been working very hard to ensure that we're in a good position before that commitment on February 1st to be able to make really good decisions about it. And the number of full-time would this be 1.1 additional staff member? Is my math correct? >> So, well, yes. Um, and there's
024an additional I don't know if you want me to talk about this right now, but we are requesting an additional point one of our occupational therapists. >> That's due to just our numbers. Um, and so we would go from a point 8 to a 0.9 for our occupational therapist and then to a full 1.0 next year to add on that role. So >> yes, [laughter] >> thank you. It's not on our um agenda tonight to um as an action item, but if it needs to be in by February, >> the OTA piece or the intergovernmental agreement, this piece, your recommendations, >> um as long as we can move forward with these options, I know we can't formally approve till we bring the staffing plan some of those positions, but I think as long as um
025we're in agreement to kind of move forward with this plan. >> Okay. So, you just need consensus. >> Yeah. >> So, with option two, >> sending our students would be staying in house or they go to True North and get these services by our staff at True North or are they going to be staying in business? >> That's a good question. So, with the staff members that we hire on, students within our own programming would continue to receive the services that they're receiving with True North staff members who come into our programming. Only the students who are in therapeutic settings would receive services outside of our setting, but that would be staffed by the True North um True North programs. >> Hi. Right. Any other questions? >> And do you want a out loud agreement
026here? >> That would be wonderful. Okay. [laughter] Anybody oppose to the recommendations by Tracy? >> No. >> I support. >> Same. Thank you. It was really good information. Done a lot of work. Thank you. >> And I can bring forward once we have more solid financial numbers, I can share that information if you're interested to know. Yeah. you know how it turns out in terms of any cost savings or you know >> cost is huge and just to hear how it goes and what our entry into the next school year looks like it would be great like a progress thanks thanks >> okay >> um all right we can move on to world language update by a button There is a >> Yeah. Are we doing Nate next or do you mind doing >> I'm
027sorry. You >> I just thought they were very excited to hear your presentation. [laughter] >> Well, that's the second time I looked at it and was about to call your name. So, yes. Well, let's just not move so quickly. And staff climate and culture update family and student engagement metrics by Lisa. >> We won't do that. also >> uh so first of all I want to thank you for uh your patience on this presentation. I'm sorry it came into the packet. Um but as you recall we have uh been doing for some time now I think four or five years we've been doing a human survey with our staff on culture and climate engagement and satisfaction. And then we instituted a couple of years ago also a family engagement survey and a student engagement survey.
028All of the full results of those three surveys are in the board packet. As you recall, we do the staff culture and climate survey twice. So, we get two chances to meet our goals on the staff culture and climate, which is our 80% threshold. But with families and students, we only do those surveys once per year. We do them in the fall. And those that's our one chance to kind of meet our goals. So, we'll go through these. um our administrative team has been trying really hard to get a grasp on using AI to support our administrative um duties and responsibilities. And so this presentation was using a tool called Notebook LM. So you'll see it looks a little bit different um but it was interesting to load these three reports in and get some
029insights into overlaps especially in analysis of the data. So big idea um and I don't think this is going to be surprising to anyone. Um the heart of the organization is strong staff pride, student safety, families feeling welcome. So I love those because I think that's true of our district. People feel safe, they feel welcome, they feel like this is a kind and good place uh to be. In terms of some areas in which we could do a little bit better, communication gaps in terms of personal feedback across the groups is something we need to be working on. Uh as well as personal communication specifically towards families which we know that we need to work on and we'll keep talking about those data. And then again some some lower even friction points. Students starting the
030day with energy. This has been in our bottom five for a few years. I look at Nancy as we as we went through this report before the meeting um as well as student choice but also some staff coaching or the administrative relationship. So just to ground us again the scale is one to five. So anything within that four range is an agree strongly agree like we're in a good spot if we're within a range of four. The three is a neutral and anything below a three is a disagree. So really the only metrics on here that are below a neutral are the student energy and student choice. In terms of staff pride and engagement, uh staff are feeling very proud of working here. They feel engaged in their work. They're driven to the success of
031the organization. They have a growth mindset. Um and that domain of engage and inspire continues to be strong here. So our our staff are really very emotionally invested and feel good about their work as well as the work on their teams. However, um while the peer connection and the teammate connection seem strong, we're in a we're in the neutral zone in terms of supervisors and coaching relationships, spending quality time with the supervisors um and getting recognition for a job well done. So, it it seems like we're doing well peer-to-peer, but between the administrative team and the staff, there's a little bit of a disconnect and something that we will be working on. So we continue to see a very strong commitment to an antibbias culture like we really feel like a sense of inclusion that
032everyone feels like their voices are heard um and that we have a growth mindset. However, we continue to see business decisions in that neutral zone um where staff don't feel quite as involved in the business decisions um although they feel like the organization is moving in the right direction or staff don't necessarily feel like they have a voice in making sure that the decisions that are made uh are consistent with the mission and core values. In terms of students, uh, our students are feeling a sense of belonging and connection and safety. And these are great to have in our top five. Um, this is what we want and these are this is really the only way that our students are going to be learning in our organization if or if these things are strong. Um,
033as we know that hierarchy of needs is important. However, in the survival area, we continue to see that students don't have a lot of energy at the beginning of the day and we're kind of in the neutral zone in terms of them getting enough to eat at school. So, not sure. We had some thoughts about maybe some of the our procedures concerning IDs. Maybe Nancy wants to talk about that. >> Yeah. Um like at lunch and stuff if you forget your ID you can only get like the main meal and sometimes they're just small and then you can't get a bag of chips and if you're hungry you can't get that and then they won't let you go and get your ID so then you just can't get anything else. >> So >> and then
034having a lot of energy. I don't think you're ever going to fix that. Um, unless like maybe late start every Monday or like bring back that early release on the Wednesdays. >> Who jumping into here? >> Um, no. I mean, but there are some things here that we want to consider in terms of barriers for kids getting the food they need during the day. Um, in terms of starting the day with energy, I'm not quite sure what we can do about that, but it continues to show up um, in the survey for sure in terms of the students. Um, they definitely feel cared for. Um, but some of those areas with regard to choice um, teachers co-creating rules or having choice in activities or making decisions about their learning are still in that neutral zone
035um, to disagreement. Now, I know that we have had conversations before about the degree to which we want students to choose. Um, and as an administrative team, we kind of we are talking about this a lot because especially now given that much of our engagement online is personalized to us and we are getting only the things that are interesting to us when we go through social media or we see things online. We actually are starting to feel strongly that students should be encountering things that they may not be that interested in so that we can have exposure to different ideas or different things that might spark their interest. So we're still debating kind of the issue of like to what degree do we want choice. But I know that when students do have choice, they're
036tend to be more engaged in their learning specifically with regard to what projects they might want to do or areas that they might want to study. So, it's just a balance that we continue to look at. In terms of our family survey, it's great to see that our uh front office staff continue to be very highly rated as well as our facilities and certainly teachers treating families with respect. So, basically that immediate those face-to-face interactions, the community feels really good about those. Parents feel really good. Uh however kind of when you get past that personal touch um the scores go down a bit in terms of district use of website and social media communi the district communicating with parents personally and again we're they're lower but we're still in that agree to neutral zone. Um
037as you know we've been working on our website presence and social media presence and trying to be really respectful of student privacy and even staff privacy with regard to pictures and things like that. So, I would say we're still kind of in process with figuring that out. So, I'm not sure if that's having an effect on it, but it might be. Um, in terms of family engagement, we are still in the neutral zone with cafeteria meals, although we feel strongly that are we aren't going to maybe get out of the neutral zone with regard to what whatever plan we have. Um, but we have gotten lots of positive feedback about the change that we made a couple of years ago as well. And I also in terms of reaching out with feedback, you know, that's
038one of our goals to collect multiple data points on and we will be reaching out to families in February with our second pulse check on how families are feeling about being personally informed about their students growth and progress. So, we're hoping that we'll see a little bit of improvement there as well. I love this slide because I think uh it's true. No matter who you ask on any of the surveys, people are feeling safe and cared for and respected and that this is a great place to go to school. Um but when we talk about where we could get better, um it's really this issue of individualized attention, right? So families are looking for some more personal contact and communication. staff are looking for more supervision and maybe coaching and feedback and students are looking
039for a little bit more personalization or choice in their learning. So, um that's where we really need to focus our attention is how can we make sure that we are just really getting to those individual needs whether it's staff, students or families. So student agency and coaching for teachers. So one of the action steps that you know that we're already doing is we're engaging with the audit the CIC walkthrough that'll happen in February with our neighboring districts. We are actually going to be asking them to take a look at student ownership of their learning. So we will be providing some artifacts to show how we're trying to get students to take ownership of their learning and they'll also be looking at lots of other aspects as well. But we're hoping to get some feedback on
040why students aren't feeling that they have the choice or agency in their learning and some suggestions about what we could be doing better with regard to student agency and decision-m and in addition to that we'll be taking that feedback as well as our surveys and try trying to translate them into an instructional framework. So along with the district transformation work that we've been doing with Pat Howerin from Illinois State, uh one of the suggestions was to get really clear about what we expect out of instruction and what we want our teachers to be doing when they're designing lessons. and that this we're hoping this data plus that walkthrough data can give us more concrete information to align with our strategic plan and make sure that we're just really clear about what we want our lessons
041and learning experiences to look like when they're being designed alongside that guaranteed viable curriculum. In terms of personal outreach, we're still working on it. You know, we're still trying to improve and getting information home to families about their child's growth and achievement. We know we have room um to grow in this area and we'll keep monitoring it for a few more times this year um as we work through sending home more student work, communicating through Seesaw and Spooligy um making sure that we have strong parent uh teacher conference information, you know, data and participation. So that has been a target area for us um since the beginning of the year and obviously it continues to be a need. Um I think it is great that our teachers show uh a they feel like they embrace
042challenges and opportunities for growth and have a growth mindset. So I know that we have a great starting place to continue to improve in all of these areas and we will continue to do that. This was a highle overview of the district data but next month each of our principles is going to present their school improvement plan which gets a little bit more specific into the building level data which are different. So this is just the district as a whole, but each building will present the strategies that they're going to be using specifically geared towards their own human data on terms of staff, students, and families. So we did not I'm going to go down now to get the actual um dream boxes. So in terms of the parents, we have 58.88 88% highly um
043feeling proud and like they get a high service quality. Our goal is again 80%. We slid back a little bit. So we have work to do in terms of the family engagement. In terms of staff or sorry students, we went made a little bit of progress but we're still under the 30% mark and our goal was 40%. So again, we're going to be trying to get information from our partners and our students about what we can do to engage them a little bit more in their learning and get um get our learning experiences to be more interesting and engaging for them. And then finally, our fall shot at our 80% benchmark fell short a bit to 78.45%. Again, we want to be at that 80% mark. So we again still have a little work to
044do. and each of the buildings will be presenting their specific data with regard to that as well. So the full reports are in there. Happy to answer any questions that you might have at this time. I will say we've talked about before these surveys weren't not were not designed specifically for education. They were designed for business and modified for education. So, we continue to look at other options for surveys that might be more native to like what educators do and what students and families are looking for from their school as opposed to like clients looking what they might be looking for from a business partner. Um, we're still in the process of looking for one because we're trying to get a survey that can meet multiple needs. We would like to eliminate lots of survey
045options for families and really just find one that we can trust for staff, students, and families that we can start to build um some trends. That was one of my questions was this was what we had discussed a couple months ago about how these questions were being given to the kids about you know voice and things like that. Um my one question was if you could give an example of a business decision, what does that consist of that the teachers or the staff um because that was our lowest score set. So I'm just curious what does that mean? >> So we actually our principles when they debrief the human data actually ask for teachers, you know, when you encounter that question, what does that bring up for you? What are you thinking about? because we
046try not to direct them towards anything that we think they should be something about. But some of the things they talk about are the way we spend money or budget, um staffing decisions, um I was class sizes, those types of things that fall outside of the realm of what a principal and uh teacher might decide themselves. >> That's good. Thank you. So in the um the parents um communication initiative that was focused on uh teacherto parent primarily not so much broad level communication but >> but more individual student you know information about the particular student is that >> so the little the micro surve survey that we're doing a few times this year. We didn't identify teacherto parent communication, but it really points to that because the question we're asking is how informed do you
047feel about your students growth and achievement? But then we ask them to list in what areas they feel very informed or less informed and those really point to all the different classes that they might be in or different areas of your instruction. So, it really points to teacher student communication. Even though we don't ask specifically like how do you feel about your teachers? We're just trying to get an idea of how they feel, whether or not they feel like they understand how their student is growing. >> Which is perfectly logical and what you would expect to hear. >> But some of that comes some of that comes from map data. Some of it comes from assessments, you know, that are larger scale than just the classroom. So, that I'm sure goes into it. But for
048the most part, it's teacher parent. >> Okay. >> And the first one we asked right around parent teacher conferences in the fall. So the next time we ask it in February, we'll get an idea of communication how it's been between parent teacher conferences and now and in a little bit less, you know, maybe a little bit less of engagement with formal opportunities like >> I I thought we only did it once. >> The survey. >> Yeah. >> We're going to do it three times. Oh, >> the little text survey that we're sending that has two or three items on it. >> Oh, okay. >> Because we really just want to get a pulse check throughout the year and see if we're improving and what areas they feel good about and not good. >> Okay. >>
049And we actually got really really high engagement off of that survey. And in terms of the numbers, we had about 300 change families fill out this human survey, which we think is about half of our families. Um, and then all third through eighth graders and then about 110 of our teachers. 120 teachers and staff questions. All right. Um, all right. Are you move on to the world of chips? What? I know. I don't know where this but there's frequently analogy presenting or something. Right. >> Good evening again. I'm going to be uh presenting some updates and some information uh the world items program here at LBMS. So uh we'll start by uh sharing uh some a bit of an overview of the past 10 years enrollment in world language. Uh then I'll share a little
050bit of data about future enrollment. Um some considerations about how we're going to uh uh handle the impending retirement. Morning SOS stack will be retiring in two and a half years. And so we'll talk a little bit about how that influences some of these recommendations. Um ultimately I'll make some recommendations for your consideration uh and then finally talk a little bit about the pros and the cons uh of those recommendations. So first of all um this is a uh a graphic representation of our Spanish and French enrollment into sixth grade over the course of the last 10 years. Uh red represents our Spanish enrolled sixth grade students and blue represents the French students that are enrolling. What you can see there in particularly in the last four years is a pretty steady uh decline in
051French. And so that's something we've been paying close attention to and keeping an eye on and wanted them to think will that trend continue. So that prompted a survey. in November and December of this year, uh we reached out to our parents of students in third, fourth, and fifth grade. Um and they were asked to provide kind of their interest in enrolling their students in French or Spanish when they arrived at middle school. And we got a fairly strong response rate, 171 respondents in total. Uh you can see there uh we had 60 parents respond on behalf of fifth graders, uh 52 on behalf of fourth graders, and 59 on behalf of our third grade. If you're curious about the total enrollment, that's the table on the bottom. We have 102 students in fifth grade
052currently, 103 in fourth, amendment, only 90 in third grade, although the highest response rate third grade. So, way to go third grade parents. Um, the raw numbers there, just in case you want to know what they are. Um, in fifth grade, uh, 58 families responded that they had an interest in their student taking Spanish when they got to Lake Middle School. Uh, 12 in French. For fourth grade, 43 indicated interest in Spanish where nine indicated French. And in third grade, 54 uh chose uh French Spanish as the preference and five uh chose French. So if you were to take all of those 171 respondents from third, fourth, and fifth grade, you'll see that we had 85% of incoming students in those grades uh indicating preference for Spanish. Uh and then a smaller percentage 26 uh
053only 26 of those three grade levels indicated French. Now if you go to the next slide, we'll take and [clears throat] contrast that and compare uh the average to our future predictions. Uh on average over the course of the last 10 years, we had 64% of students taking Spanish, 36% in French. And if you look at the coming year, we're estimating that 85% of our kids will be uh enrolling in Spanish and only 15% in French. Um at this point I would like to share a little anecdotal commentary um and share with you that a shift like this is not unique to Lake Middle School. Uh there are other schools and other districts that are experiencing similar shifts. Uh so I wanted to make sure to point that out. Uh I also wanted to speak
054to uh our our staffing. Uh we have three outstanding world language teachers. Uh Anna Ogrren, uh Morin Sak Angelica Rios. they are doing a great job. Um, and I have no reason to believe that there's a a deficit or a weakness in those programs that are attributing to uh this shift. So, I wanted to be really upfront about that as well. >> Even at me, >> I'm glad it's not just me. >> Yep. No problem. >> Um, all right. So, as we uh consider making a recommendation for change, I want to be really clear. Uh, enrollment is the primary driver behind that. Um over the last uh decade, French enrollment has shifted from a high of 38 students representing 36% of our students in 2122 to a low of only 16 students representing 18% and
055that's this current year 2526. Um we anticipate the coming year to represent our highest number of students enrolling in Spanish and that's going to be 80% of our incoming sixth grade uh students in 26 27. Uh, so I wanted to mention that the next few bullet points we're going to come back to in a few slides. Um, obviously the retirement that I mentioned earlier is something worth considering. Uh, with Moren Soak, our current French teacher, uh, retiring in 2028, there's some things to consider uh, with regard to recommendations. Come back to [clears throat] >> Nate, excuse me, just to clarify when you say 16 students, that's in the sixth grade, >> right? >> Okay. >> Yeah. as I'm talking about enrollment focusing on incoming sixth grade knowing that they metriculate on through eth and generally
056speaking if they enroll in French in sixth grade they tend to finish up uh with some exceptions. Yeah. Um obviously considering how many changes to our programming might impact Lake Forest High School. Uh I've been in contact with Lake Forest High School over the course of receiving and reviewing the data from our third, fourth, and fifth grade. Spoke with um Aaron Leonard just this afternoon. talk a little bit about uh that in the coming slides as well. Uh I did want to mention that there are of course staffing impacts although uh the recommendations that I'll be presenting tonight are cost neutral. They are not uh an increase or decrease in FTE but just a reallocation of that FTE. Um and then finally uh kind of what impact would any recommendations have on our master schedule?
057We will get to that as well, but let's first get into those. Um, what I'm recommending based on the data that I presented to you tonight is that we begin the gradual process of eliminating the French program at LBMS starting next year, 202526. Um, if we were to proceed with that recommendation, French would now be offered to incoming sixth grade students. This would allow for students that are currently enrolled in French this year to continue into seventh grade and then also into eighth grade. So, we would not be uh removing anyone currently enrolled in French in favor of another language or another class. U but given that there's a consistent decline in the enrollment, this is what I believe is probably the best course of action. I I want to be clear, a gradual uh
058phasing out of the French program is not a recommendation that we take lightly. um given the many factors seems like the time to have the conversation. So that's what we're uh presenting tonight. Um moving ahead to kind of pros and cons. Um obviously there we go. Thank you. Um pros uh the impact on currently enrolled French student is well there is no impact. They'll be able to finish out uh French with the plan that we're proposing. um reduce constraints in the master skill. Currently, we have two sections of French offered each grade level. Uh that's constraint. So, if we have a student who's in French, we know they have to go into one of those two periods and sort of dictates uh where their schedule has to be we we start with the world language
059because there's only two sections. We move into uh math placement. We take a look at that. Um if there weren't the French constraint, that would make it easier to balance class sizes across the board. So, I wanted to make sure to mention that um with the impending retirement, um by the time our current sixth grade students finish 8th grade, if they were in French, they would finish out French and that would be the point in time when Mrs. Soap would be retiring. So, there wouldn't be a need to uh riff. We would just not simply need to rehire for a French position the following year. Um, and of course the pro here is that we're trying our best to address the uh the gradual enrollment decline in the French world language. Um, cons fewer world
060language offerings. Students coming into Lake Bluff Middle School uh would all be enrolled in Spanish going forward. The exception being students there are some that would be uh enrolled perhaps in a resource class, a 504 or a um academic enrichment. classes are designed to service 504 goals and minutes. So, um, some students choose not to move forward with the world language as a result of that. Um, and I mentioned already, uh, Lake Forest High School has offered French one in the past. So, that French for students who are interested in picking that language up in high school would remain an option so long as there were 15 or more roughly students that were interested in French in high school, they would they would bring French one back as an offering. they've tra historically offered French
061one. This current year they haven't. Um some of the other factors include um St. Mary's feeds into Lake Forest High School does not offer French and so there's a a number of students from St. Mary's that would likely be enrolled in French. Uh Aaron Leonard also shared with me that they are eliminating Mandarin at the high school level. So there's another group of students that would have one less language offering. So, uh, hard to predict. This wouldn't necessarily be well, it'd be another two and a half years before Lake Forest High School would have to, uh, make that decision, but, uh, I wanted to make sure to, uh, share that information with you. Uh, I'm here to answer any questions you might have. >> Yes. So, if if this trend is happening across most districts,
062is it getting harder to find French teachers? >> Appreciate you asking that question. Um, I'm sure there are French teachers out there looking for positions. I've heard anecdotally of districts that have hired a French teacher and then the next year looking for another French teacher and the next year looking I think that they're while they're there uh there are at the middle school level a variety of uh subject areas some are much harder to fill than others. We anticipate a French position being ded. >> Yes. >> Um, great information and I appreciate your recommendation. I guess I would for for all of our listeners and joiners in the um, community. I guess I'm just looking for more of a community response. if anybody is extremely strongly feeling a certain way and like could shed some
063light on that side of things cuz right now it to me it makes sense to remove it as well just for the schedule the cost the spend of time. >> Yeah, be happy to compose some information and a summary of the seedbased presipation. Push that information. I'll want to make sure to present it to you the board first. But um yeah, that's a logical next step. I'd be happy to take that step. >> And if you hear anything, would love for it to be shared. >> Yeah, you know, interestingly, when we solicited feedback from our third, fourth, and fifth grade parents with that survey, um as I said, we got a pretty high response rate, which I was excited about, and and very few questions. So, um I think that there is probably an understanding
064that we're taking a look at it. U but having a more pointed piece of communication is is I think a good idea. So, >> thanks. >> Go ahead. [laughter] It was kind of a sad day though. I mean, Madam Stose just she's magnificent and so beloved by so many of her ex- studentents and everything, but you know, everything you read says to really learn a language to speak it and everything, you need to start the earlier you can start the better. And we're not doing it at, you know, in the elementary level, but we do do Spanish. We got Spanish in elementary level. Um, I mean just personally, you know, I didn't take a romance language till I was in the like the 11th grade. So, I mean, you know, it's not that you'll never
065learn French or, you know, they will have an opportunity to learn French and they can learn it very well if they get a first year at at the high school. >> I I appreciate you sharing that, Dick. I I also acknowledge that it's a little early to start my retirement speech for Morning Sad. Um, but uh I've had a lot of good conversations with with her as well as uh our other world language teachers. Uh yeah, I mean she can take great satisfaction knowing she's done an outstanding uh made an outstanding contribution to this school and this district over her time here with us. Um she is very supportive and excited about some of the opportunities that will be presented if we choose to go in this direction. Uh, and we've got some ideas about
066the best way to capitalize on her as a as a resource here going forward. So, I'm excited about that. >> I think it should be said too, this wasn't decided because she's retiring. This is 100% based off. >> Definitely. Yeah, appreciate that. I mean, we've been keeping a close eye on those numbers and over the course of the last four years. Uh, they have continued to come down and um, so yeah, definitely in more minutes. I know this is three years into the future, but um if it were to be only Spanish offered, would there be a need for a an additional Spanish teacher? >> Yeah. So, as we look at uh reducing the number of French classes offered, we would be increasing French by the same kind of amounts. We to be to be
067fair next year we could accommodate this without increasing any FTE or hiring for any French or Spanish teachers. We'd be reallocating some of Mrs. So tax rules and responsibilities into a different teaching role. Uh the following year would be a little bit a little bit hard for me to predict because right now uh as we look down into the elementary school and our upcoming fifth grade route ML support needs are going to reduce just a little bit which would allow for us to increase uh Anna Ogrren who's right now part-time eighth grade Spanish and part-time ML support to accommodate for the increase in Spanish. Uh it's then in that following year where we got to take a a careful look at what we're working with as far as the need for ML support. Thank you.
068So, >> yeah, the >> the balancing class sizes is really important because our Spanish classes are higher >> in terms of number of students in the classroom. And so, if we were to go with this recommendation, we could balance across those Spanish classes as opposed to having smaller French classes and larger Spanish classes. And I should say that uh both Anna Ogrren and Angela Dios are really excited to be co-planning and working together and both taking on some uh some seventh grade Spanish courses u as well as eighth grade for Hannah, sixth grade for Angela. So great partnership there. Questions. we would be looking for approval next month um for this program change as we go into staffing. So, we don't want to build our staffing plan until we know uh the board's decision on
069this program. But, we do want to give you a month to have conversations with people in the community for us to send out the information, see if we can solicit more feedback. >> All I can say is car is that >> [laughter] >> I took Spanish. I don't know what he's talking >> about cheese, right? [laughter] >> Thank you. Um, okay. Moving on to Jay with our resolution abating working cash fund to operations and maintenance capital projects fund, which we've talked about quite a bit. >> Okay. So this will be the last time we were talking [laughter] service clean up. It's been a long road. We started back in August where Tammy came to present on potential doing it. We got for a consensus on the 16th of September and on the end of September
070you approved the resolution declaring the intent to issue the bonds. Then we held a public hearing in October and basically had to wait for 30 days to let the public comment and give them a chance to petition if they wanted. On the 18th of November, you passed you authorized the bond sale by passing the parameters resolution. You sold the bonds on December 10th. You paid off the bonds on January 12th. And now the money is sitting in our working cash fund. And so it takes a board resolution to move that money out of the working cash fund and into the first operations and maintenance fund and then we can transfer it to the capital projects fund. That's just the goal to do that. So that's what this resolution does. um takes that the bond proceeds
071that are in the working cash fund and allows us to move the fundamental projects through capital. >> Actually don't mind that we talked about it every single month because it like you see it from start to finish and >> it's the the insuranceances are a long time >> small >> and a win-win for both. >> Yeah. the forest high school bought our bonds. So we are paying our interest back to our taxpayers >> and they addressed their policies. >> Great. >> Any questions for Jay? >> Awesome. Thank you so much. Um moving on to a discussion of a finance committee. It was brought up by Dick to me after ISBY um triple I that there were other districts that were doing finance committees and he was wondering why we don't have one. I'm not getting
072choked up just I feel it really deep inside about this. Um so thank you. Um Dick brought some talking points and I thought we could all just discuss and see how the rest of the board was feeling um about potentially >> including one >> I could project this but um do you want me to >> but you wouldn't but you wouldn't have it you know access to it. Um but I made I just made some copies so you can make notes. We'll check you know death. Um so this is I mean really just a um you know it's a discussion document. Um we have done one short um and and it really came out of um seminars that I had discussions around you know around informal discussions with uh board members from other districts. Um
073also some webinars that I listen to talking about what districts are doing like all over the country. Um and then also drawing my own experience from um business where you know I worked in supporting board level committees that were doing exactly that this kind of a thing. Um so um the objectives of the committee would be to really augment and enhance um the input and review of of key financial events. Um, also to allow for and expand through the committee meetings and um um agendas, communication of direction that the district's going to all the different stakeholders that that are, you know, teachers, uh, parents, uh, taxpayers. Um and hopefully would make it more efficient for the board that it could do things um and spend more time on specific things than really the board would
074uh be require capacity for without additional meeting or something. Um and it's [snorts] also then a contact for taxpayers. I mean that I heard this a couple of times comments that if the taxpayers know there's a finance committee then the chair vice chair of that tax committee kind of is a is someone they they look to or go to. Um they know there's a focus there. Um so I came up with three kind of areas that I thought um that this could be of value um through the board. Uh one is in budget preparation which is you know really starts like February March kind of time period building that up um looking at new things that we might have to do or eliminating things um and having some insight knowledge of what that process is.
075Um long-term planning for capital spending. >> Yes. >> Um and non-recurring expenses. And this is just like a two or three year time frame. Um, just so that we know, look, here's what's coming down the pike for the next two to three years. Um, and specifically give a review of that. And I'll talk about each of these a little more detail and then very specific project funding requests. So for budget preparations, um I learned that a lot of boards have like two one or two or sometimes more working sessions February or March with the financial staff as they prepare the budgets. Typically these are larger uh districts but you know these are like all day Saturday events that they're involved in discussing as to what do we need to where do we need to redirect
076money where do we need to try to improve what results are we trying to achieve. Um so the committee would help provide input review of the new initiatives or even cutbacks being developed. Um ensure the budgets focused on the goals or to help understand and see where that uh focus is helping to redirect any funds uh to try to improve our outcomes. And this isn't you know I mean this is just providing kind of board kind of inputs or board um suggestions um and some decisions you know that that especi you know may have to in fact end up being communicated or decided by April and communicated you know to any affected staff like fair before the budgets typically are even are even um kind of finalized and finally it would lead to the full
077budget presentation to the board in May or June. Um but by then the the this committee would would have had a chance for some understanding of what's in the budget and and what's changes have happened and where it's going. Um long-term capital spending. I mean these are pro significant you know large projects happening over the next two or three years just so and it's it's like an understanding of what the project is um and an a good you know reasonable estimate of what the cost is going to be so we know what's coming down the pike and I would say projects with estimated cost of 35,000 or greater you know that number could be bigger um you know um however we want to make it, you know, we got the white report that called for
078like 4.5 million over 10 years, you know, so that's a really good place to start and just say, okay, which of these projects are we going to do and you know, and what are the projects, you know, so we understand them approximately what they're going to cost and just what's going to come down the pike over the next two to three years. Not it's not 10 year, we don't need a 10year plan, but just two to three years. then that list would then be presented to the board for their approval in principle. It's not specifically saying yes, we're going to do this. It's saying okay, that sounds reasonable. Let's plan on doing that. Let's, you know, work towards that. Um and and this would only really need to once we get it in place would
079really only need to meet once a year or a couple hours just to review, update, revise, add new projects that are coming in in the next year. Um the final thing would be um specific in spending request against those um when I talk you know the long range plan approval in principle so you've approved a project in principle now you know here's the specific request for the funding here's the justification the objectives the alternatives benefits the full presentation of to how we're going to use that how much money it really is, not just an estimate and how we, you know, what we expect to benefit from that. Um, this would still, you know, obviously be submitted then to the board for final approval, but it would have gotten some review and some input in advance.
080I just think a good example I thought was the um backup generator project that we just looked at. First off, with the long range plan, we would have known, you know, okay, it's slated for, you know, next summer or something that we're looking at doing this and here's the approximate amount. So, everybody knows this is going to be coming up. Um, and then when we get the presentation, then we will have looked at the the actual project and we want to get it funded. um you know then we would be able to uh looking more at the details but we would have already ensured that you know some of our the questions concerns that been answered in the initial presentation. Um and this committee would like meet as needed. Um two or three times a
081year um you know working closely with um with Jay to to you know to get the projects um to understand the projects and make sure that you know they're presented to they're presented to the board you know has um like all the bases kind of covered. Um so the structure of the board and I'm no expert in this at all but just looking at some of it I mean I think it would be a board level which I think actual wording would be a standing committee the reporting to the board. Um the chair and vice chair appointed by the board with the superintendent and financial officer you know would be the core of the committee. Um it it would be subject to the open meetings act I believe and it could meet as a like
082a committee of the whole so that really any board member that wanted to attend could attend you know as well as it's obviously open to the public but um it's not just limited to you know two or three board members. um anyone could attend, no decision- making authority, everything. It would just review, try to enhance, provide input, and then um submit to the board. And it would probably end up having to meet like five or six times a year in total. And then and it could be meetings of an hour or two hours. Um the benefits, um I think it would improve board input to an understanding of the budget process. um we would end up with a formalized process for long-term planning for capital spending something you know we kind of know I mean
083the right project was the first kind of first time I'd saw you know things out there three or four or five years so I something like that that just we know what is likely to be coming down the pike um I think that sends a good message that you know we're doing some longer term we know what's happening We we coming down, you know, we we're doing some longer term planning. Um gives us it would give a a detailed insight specific capital items. Um let's see board would be appraised of future projects. Um the board I think you know it would help make the board a little more effective, involved, a little more efficient. Um so that that when a project did come to us in final format I mean we you know we got
084pretty good confidence in knowing that it's you know it's um covered all the bases. It also permits stakeholder input and awareness um in the district's directions. Some of the concerns though are you know I mean this is time commitment for the staff. Um you know some of these meetings could be held during uh the daytimes to avoid you know requiring staff attendance you know at after school hours. um it's more preparation time, more time for, you know, the board members that are going to be involved or want to look at it. Um you know, it's kind of complex with the open meeting act and whatnot. So that's kind of just where I'm thinking about it. I don't know that it's um certainly not critical, but but it's something that I know other boards uh rely
085on. And I'm I'm just looking at a couple of things where I think it it could, you know, add some value. >> So I had time to look at this, not this specifically, but you and I discussed over email a little bit and you know, I looked into a couple things. So I agree that other boards have finance committees. I think they're super useful in certain situations. um you know, if you have a new C CBO, if you're dealing with kind of a bigger district, um or we're having money issues andor, you know, we need referendums or things like that. Um my concerns are that I feel like it might dilute the transparency a little bit just because there's more meetings happening outside of the hole where for me personally if I'm not involved or
086listening to it I feel like I wouldn't get all the information which kind of goes to like how how is it very different from what we do now because I do feel like we do get the plans we do get the proposals we have time to look and discuss things. Um, I'm not seeing a whole lot of like something that we're not all doing already. So, I'm just curious like if there's one or more specific things that are different from what we're doing now. >> Um, well, I I think the budget's an example. I mean, I kind of see the budget, you know, like in, [laughter] you know, four day four first time 4 days before the meeting in, you know, June, May or June when it's first presented. Um, and it's pretty, you know,
087it's it's pretty much in a finalized type form and and that's where I'm thinking the board just not and you know, and I mean the budgets like one of the most important things that you know we're we're involved in and look at >> and I'm just not sure that we really necessarily understand or um have talked about okay how does you know what's new in the budget what's coming down what's how you know are there funds are things in the budget that really could be uh redirected to helping us improve results s uh academic results. Um so I just don't in the format that we have it's it's a tough format to even understand the budget fully. It's complex. Um and um to be able to formulate those kind of understanding and questions. So I
088mean that would be um probably the biggest thing. And the other thing that's really the easiest um and and could be done in a board meeting uh but it may take an hour uh would be a long range plan um you know just to put those off to be able to discuss each one in general terms what it is and what's the estimate. So and that that's something that could certainly be done in at you know in a board meeting. Um um but just looking at it said, you know, that that's something that a committee could do and then come to the board with >> and it take 15 minutes instead of an hour. >> Yeah. And something you said, you know, you called it a committee of the whole and I'm curious maybe if
089if this whichever way this goes, maybe we have a committee of the whole meeting the month of the budget where we have more time to discuss or so that it's not the same day or the same >> meeting. Um, yeah. But anybody else have thoughts or feelings >> piggy back on what you were saying Carrie. Um and what Dick was saying. I understand the concerns. Uh but I got to say I think Jay does a good job. I mean I know I've only been here for a few months but I know the budget came in presented and there were a lot of questions and it's not like we have to close on them right then and there. questions get answered that, you know, Jay will come back the answers and kind of builds in, you
090know, helps us understand a little bit better. Um, since like there's a backup generator, I remember we had a good discussion and then Jay came back with amazing numbers, a whole presentation for us to really kind of make it make sense. So, my only concern is it's like almost like too many fiction, I guess. life. It seems like to [clears throat] me it seems like things make sense and if we have questions we get answers. So I'm just not sure if we need to put too much effort into the process if that makes sense. Um >> well I think it touches on like our role as the board and maybe if I'll keep going or if you want to speak first. Um I don't know like I think our role of the board is 100%
091uh finance based. Sorry BS freaking me out. And um so I just it it it makes me a little nervous to get too much in the weeds of like certain things, but I do think having discussion on maybe process of how I don't know. It sounds like there's not a whole lot of discussion on how we get to the budget from point A to point B. If that's something that we need to have on the agenda, I don't know. or what were you going to say? >> I was I wrote a lot of sleep. Sorry. So, correct me if I'm wrong because I I could go back through the notes, but I'm not going to go to but like the example of the backup generator and I could be wrong, but when I first heard
092about that, that was something that was under the budget threshold, so didn't need to go to the board to approval, but was something that Jay is super transparent and even if it's under the threshold of what needs to go to the board, he's like, "By the way, here's what's happening." So, I feel like there's a lot of transparency, which is awesome. And I absolutely understand the idea for a finance committee. We should all absolutely know what's in the pipeline, what's coming down. Um, but that's sort of why I like discussing it as a whole board. But what I am hearing is that it's sort of like some of the stuff takes you by surprise and you're like, I could use a few more days to like mle this over, have a deeper discussion about it.
093So, I I agree. I kind of don't want to change it because I like having all the information. I like being able to email Jay with all my questions, but I am hearing like we need more time to absorb and hear what's going on. So, I think, you know, maybe not like five meetings, but like if you know, we had like you said like a month before the budget, we could have a longer meeting to like get into the weeds if we want to, if Jay has the bandwidth for that. >> Yeah. to deal with to babysit us for a few hours while we >> and I do want to when I arrived there were there was a twopart tenative budget presentation. One [clears throat] was budget parameters and how the budget is put together.
094That was the first part and then the second part was the actual tenative budget. They were typically about a month apart. We actually stopped doing the budget 101. It could be because that board had been seeing it for years and years and they felt like they already knew kind of how the budget was put together and so it didn't feel like that was really like informing. But we do have new board members. We can bring that back as [clears throat] to like this is the parameters we're working under. This is how the budget's developed. Um and bring back that two-part before the tenative budget is brought to the board. And again that's the tenative budget in June. And then we have a budget hearing again in September and then approve that final bud. So it's
095still a two-part with the tenative and the final, but we could definitely bring that other piece back. >> Sure. >> I like that. That covers >> same thing that can happen. >> Yeah. The budget part of it. And then in your one of the ideas was for the capital projects, the big things coming down. I feel like we've seen that chart of like >> I do have a long-term capital plan. I have presented it in the past presented it while Dick has been on the board. >> Okay. So maybe you haven't seen it. >> Seen it. Um some of these projects like with like the generator as an example a year prior I brought a proposal to but for grant so >> it was clearly was planned was aware of and voted to apply for
096the grant for the generator. So, >> right, we do have a process. It just >> Yeah. >> totally formal. >> Yeah. What I what I'm suggesting is not like um necessarily individual, you know, in an individual project discussion so much as it is here's the next three years. We're going to do these. We're looking we're looking at and subject to change. we're looking at doing these five different projects of improving the building or making changes here or a a new curriculum, you know, something like this. Um, and it's um, you know, here's the estimated cost and we think we got the money or we don't got the money um, for these things. Um and I and I think you know just having a list like that one one list um is solves the problem. >>
097Is that something we could make like a yearly presentate like I know it wouldn't change necessarily but like here's our outlook for the next five years of capital. >> Yeah. May I say over the years we have changed >> we have modified what we present to boards based on the boards what the board wants to do. >> So some boards after they've heard the same thing for >> you know what that's enough of that. So then come on we just did the board >> one here. So like I don't want you to think that >> we just say oh >> there's a urgent capital need like let's do it like this has been long planned out. We had a we had a report like this and we've been working through it. We do have >>
098capital planned out for you know 10 years and things crossed out that were identified that team and we taken care of. So all these things are happening. It's just a matter of what forum you want in which form you want it to happen. So I can present it to a committee. I can present to board. I can to present to a committee the whole that's really your what you're comfortable with. >> Well, that's something we should all kind of verbalize tonight is how how involved. It sounds like we want more Jay 2026. Um, so I don't think that's the vote, but do we want to separate it out and have a committee that reports back or do we all want to hear it together? >> And >> yeah, all together and >> should we do
099we have two? >> We do have two meetings in September. So we have a committee in the hole in September already. So we can include the budget 101 budget parameters. Uh well, we we would need that in May or April. We could do an April budget parameters and then or May and then June tenative budget. >> Um and then if we also have a committee of the whole in September. So if we needed to >> Yeah. And I think this was really good reminder that some of the things did go aside because we probably heard him multiple times but for we should pretend that every meeting is new and for the public listening as well to explain things that we might think we already know. But >> I will say we also do bring the
100staff >> and that is 80% of the budget. So we do have discussions [snorts] >> along the way at various points of the year about all the different components of budget. Budget's really me just putting everything together that board has already seen improved. So it's not like >> you know here budget you've never seen any of this before. It's taking like all the staffing plans and all the other little and putting them together just in one package so that I can report it to the state. It's not I don't sit down and just generate the budget and you know 40 million there it is >> the board is having all shouldn't be surprised by the budget. Do you think in the future if we do have a special circumstance where something's happen our tax levy
101or we need to go to the community uh to talk about how we need more money or something like that where we're in a different financial position than we are now? Um that might be a great use of a committee like that. I think and I like I've said to you to Dick and Gary, I think when I got on the board, um the overwhelming sentiment was we want to be as transparent as possible and do as much together as a board as possible. And so that's how all of these things come to the full board. So it is just a matter of adding back in those pieces that we kind of put away and we can do that. So [snorts] that's good. Yeah, I get I just get a little worried about getting too
102out of our position if we were to discuss things separately from pre that's just I I think finance is one of the most important aspects of what we do which is why I'm like I don't want to form a committee and then get the information filtered from the committee up to the board. I want it to come directly from Jay and then a conversation between everybody. So I am like I'm almost I feel like yes finance committee but all of us should be on it if that >> it's helpful meetings for all of us. >> It's helpful to hear everyone's questions >> together as opposed to >> being filtered that was asked at another meeting that the whole board wasn't at. >> Yeah. >> And then that might information might not get filtered >> to
103us. There's times where something I might not realize I had a question till I hear somebody else asking. That's a good question. notice without >> and if there are aspects of budgeting or controls or purchasing or approvals or those kinds of processes like Jay said those are all processes we have in place we can make them more transparent by doing a presentation on something like that as well like what happens from when a teacher asks for something all the way through when they receive it. you know what is that process and how many approvals and what do they how do they put in a requisition and where does that fall in the budget we can do that as well if there are specific questions about like shedding light on certain aspects of that department as
104well we can easily do that so what I'm hearing is you brought up really really good points that some of us probably were missing and so um we put him in separating out of finance committee but um bring back more of Jay in 2026 Jake Jake see your >> k I really appreciate the the opportunity to present these ideas because I mean they just been kind of floating around >> yeah that's great exactly what they should be doing >> I thought it was a great discussion to figure out. >> I agree. >> you know that there might be some things we need to be doing differently >> or focused on a little differently >> process or you know >> change changes in some processes. So >> yeah. >> Um thank you very much. >> We'll
105look at our presentations for this year because we have a calendar presentation for this year and we'll add in one before the June >> tenative budget. Yep. >> Wonderful. jumped up again. Okay. Um, okay. If everybody is good, we will move on to our action for discussion items. So, our first one >> here, >> can you just kidding? Um, okay. So, we are moving into the Krina Blue Cheek LLC transfer of engagement letter. Um, do you have anything you want to add? >> So, really quickly, Kria Bochek has been um, uh, one of our firms that we use for legal counsel. They supported us through our negotiation process. We're really comfortable with their lead attorneys that we use. They have been acquired by F3, which is a national um, firm. And so, this is just
106a transfer of through the boat check to F3. It's basically just authorizing us to engage with the new firm. Um, but nothing will change on our end. We'll still be able to access the same attorneys and utilize them for the same services >> and it's the same costs like the same I'm just saying that out loud. >> Thank you. >> Um, great. So, yeah, in the memo it mentions their hourly grades and all that stuff. So, may I have a motion to approve the transfer engagement letter as just presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Great. Any discussion? Okay. Amy, can you call vote, please? >> Laura Brickstone, >> yes. >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Carrie Steinbach, >> yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. >> Tim Pennet, >> yes. >> Great. The motion is
107passed. Move on to B the approval of resolution abating working cash fund operations and maintenance capital projects fund that we just spoke about um by Jay. Do we have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Wonderful. Amy, can you call vote, please? >> Tim Bennett, >> yes. >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Gary Steinbach, >> yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. >> Laura Brickstone, >> yes. Okay, the motion has passed. Moving to the personnel report. Um, we have personnel report for January 20th, 2026. We have Anjie Ra who is an occupational therapist. She's a non-licensed new hire at LBS and LBMS effective 130 2026 um with an FTE change of8 to.9 at a salary rate of $116.73 per hour. We have a resignation of Kevin Colts, director of technology in
108our district office building effective 2226. And then a licensed new hire three. Stacy Eisman is the music teacher for grades 6 through 8 at the LBMS building effective 16206 to 43 2026 replacing C at an annual salary rate of $284 a day. We have a licensed new hire of Kathy Driver, an LBS1 FMLA position at the LBMS building effective 112 2026 to 2126, replacing Sarah Coleman at $284 a day. And finally, Kavita Swam Nathan is our math teacher at LBMS effective 12226 to 42226 replacing Alina Grant at $284 a day. one FMLA of Sarah Coleman uh position LBS1 at LBMS um effective dates 1526 to 3126 plus interment that do I have a motion to approve the personnel report is just presented >> so moved second >> great any discussion >> I have to recuse
109myself please >> all right so then you can doain Epstein. Okay. >> So, perfect. You can call vote and then just call. >> Okay. Um, Richard Driver, >> Epstein, >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Carrie Steinbach, >> yes. >> Penet, >> yes. >> Laura Brickstone, >> yes. >> Okay, the motion is passed. >> Can I just take a moment? I just want to congratulate Kevin and thank him for his service. You've done a tremendous job here. >> Thank you for having me. We really appreciate you. Hawthorne's very lucky to have you. We are sad to see you go, but we we know you'll remain in our network and um we just appreciate everything that you >> Yeah, you've done an amazing job. >> I booed. [laughter] Not >> didn't boo you. >> No, never boo.
110All right, so we're moving on to the consent agenda. The consent agenda items are the open session meeting minutes of December 18th, 2025, the treasures report, the impress report, the bills report, and the pecard report. Two, I have a motion to approve the consent agenda for today, January 20th, 2026, as presented by administration. I think I have a funny little thing, but anybody want to approve? Don't worry. So moved. >> Second. >> Great. Any discussion on the consent agenda? Anybody want to pull anything out for a separate vote? >> Lovely. Uh Amy, would you like to call? >> Carrie Stemer, >> yes. >> Laura Breakstone, >> yes. >> Tim Penn, >> yes. >> Andrew Carlson, >> yes. >> Richard Driver, >> yes. Okay, >> wonderful. It's passed. Um, we have four H FOYA requests. Since
111our last regular board meeting, this FOYA section of our agenda is simply a report item and does not require approval. Are there any questions for administration before we move on? You guys need to >> Could you verify if those are humans? That is a human requesting. >> Just just >> these are from the usual. not a human like stated they were human I think >> I can't Oh yeah whatever all right so um so no questions we'll move on we are in our final public comments got anybody in the peanut gallery okay so may I have a motion to return the 20th of January board meeting oh my gosh at 8:39 All in favor? >> I I >> Any oppose? Great. This meeting is adjourned. I'm not contagious.