001Good evening, everyone. Today is Wednesday, May 20th. It's 7:00 p.m. Tonight is the Riverside District 96 School Board meeting. Cathy, can you please call the roll? >> Okay. Mr. Hunt? >> Here. >> Ms. Garn? >> Here. >> Mr. Olick? >> Here. >> Ms. Klap? >> Here. >> And Mr. Barsotti? >> Present. >> A quorum is present. >> First on the agenda is public comment. Is there any public comment? >> There is not. >> Okay. Even though there's no public comment, I'd still like to read a statement that we've started reading at at the beginning of every board meeting regarding public comment. So, the board welcomes and encourages community engagement in all board meetings. Therefore, time is allocated at the beginning and end of each meeting for audience members to address the board. We kindly ask
002that you limit your comments to 5 minutes. Please note, this is a board meeting in public and not a public forum or town hall. The board The board does not directly respond to questions or comments during the meet during the meeting, but may ask the superintendent follow up to follow up with you as necessary. Next on the agenda is are there any changes to the agenda? >> No. >> All right. Well, I'm going to turn it over to you, Martha, for the superintendent's report. >> Thanks, David. Our first item on the agenda tonight is a student achievement award. So, here we are at almost the end of the school year, and we have an auditorium full of family members and students. So, we are going to ask the board to come on up on the
003stage, and Chris and Katie, our principal and assistant principal from Hauser, are going to go up to the podium, and then Nora Geraghty and Molly Marcourt are going to help me as we distribute all the awards. So, stay tuned. We're going to get ourselves organized here. >> Everybody, my name is uh Sorry about that. It's a little loud. >> Uh my name is Chris Herbell, and I'm the principal here at Hauser Junior High. Uh I'm going to start by reading some elementary school awards. So, this first award is for the Riverside Historical Society Women's Poster Contest. The following students won a first-place prize. Jonathan Bingman Lillian Clapps Elsie Colmoni Vivian Hefner Oh, this is on me. I'm sorry. Yep. Elias Hollingsworth Gabriela Manzano Wyatt Sekoyak I'm sorry Wyatt I mispronounced your last name. Samuel Waters
004and Victoria Zientarski This next group of students were the Riverside Historical Society Women's Poster Contest honorable mentions. Zoe Blackburn Eleanor Bradshaw Brooke Garcia Melanie Haberland Bennett Hahn Julieta Juarez Natalia Lopez-Harrison Emma Montalbano John Neal Adriana Palmisano Yunasano Meredith Schwolzer Congratulations guys. Next up we have students from our Noetic Math Contest honorable mention. James Berea Robin Barrs Carlton Bode Tyler Bosey Bose, thank you buddy. Tyler Bose you were also a team winner. Great job. Gabriel Bolchert was an honorable mention. Penelope Brooke was a team winner. Mac Maxis Bersu was honorable mention. Violet Filkausky honorable mention. Remy Gaspar honorable mention and team winner. Aris Graham honorable mention. And Veronica Ivy honorable mention. Then we have a couple more from our math contest. Uh Wendell Gisa. Freddy Cap Craftnick. Charles Marzillo. Woodson Penegor. Meredith Schweizer. Schweitzer, sorry guys.
005Ari Stromberg. Mara Webber. Ben Wickmanowski. Grace Williamson. Kieran Worth. And Alexander Zausch Zauschi. Is Alexander here? Zushi? Great job, guys. Next up we have four Hauser students that helped with our district strategic plan. So they attended three evening meetings for a couple hours on weeknights um told us all about their experience here in District 96 and what we can do here to make District 96 a better place in the next 5 years. Our four students that attended were Harvey Klaps, Addy Cochran, Jack Gamboa, and Lydia Newsome. Next up, I've got a group of fifth graders that won our West 40 School Citizen of the Year Award. I have Lola Madonia, Aria Sanchez, and Violet Sweeney. >> Good evening. I'm Katie Kest, I'm the assistant principal here at Hauser. We're going to shift over to some
006Hauser awards starting with our annual Hauser History Bee. Taking second place this year, we have Ian Durban. In first place, we have Frankie Harford. And third place is Lily Staysak. In our History Bee top scorers, we have Aman Ahmad, Evan Colmone, Ian Durban, Mia Ganjemi, Nari Gyamfi Skaman, Frankie Harford, Andre Jimenez Abarca, Daniel May, Lydia Newsom, Stella Prosser, Jack Siegel, Lilly Stayzak, and Max Viscari. Many of those are our eighth grade students who are on their way back from Great America right now, which is why there's some that are not in attendance. We also have our 39th annual West 40 speech and drama competition first place and awarded the golden microphone award. It's Harper Willhide, an eighth grader here at Hauser. She has demonstrated commitment, leadership, and dedication throughout her three years of being on
007the the speech and drama team. Our next award is for our seventh grade girls basketball team that placed first in a tie with SEF Gross in the Salt Creek Valley conference. Anel Chernichenko, Scarlett Eaker, Grace Evans, Sienna Encandela, Hazel Jurgens, Stella Marzillo, Mara McGarry, Julia Miller, Nyla Nayeli Pena, Stella Prosser, Luce Ungaro, and Ruby Walsh. Our eighth grade girls basketball team also tied for first place with SEF Gross in the Salt Creek Valley conference. So, our eighth graders are Iman Ahmad, Sophia Alcala, Adele Ellie Josias, Samantha Jacamelli, Judy Gisa, Anna Lorch, Evelyn Mitchell, Olivia Navarro, Felicity Noah Martinez, Gracie Ortiz, Lucy Ortiz, and Anna Lisa Sandorf. Each month house will recognize our students of the month. So, we're going to go back a few months and recognize those students starting with our April students of
008the month. Seventh grader Thomas Bradford, sixth grader Amy Butcher, sixth grader Lindsey Faught, eighth grader Mallory Faught, eighth grader Aiden Hughes, sixth grader Clara Knowles, eighth grader Jayshree Muthusamy, seventh grader Abigail Springer, and seventh grader Levi Stars. Going a little out of order, we're going to go back to our February students of the month, too. Eighth grader Ruben Acuna, eighth grader Nicole Aguayo, seventh grader Gabe Ecklund, seventh grader Josiah McCarthy, sixth grader Elani Meza, eighth grader Cohen Morrell, seventh grader Declan Roldan, sixth grader Olivia Santana, and sixth grader Alejandro Talancón. >> Taking a small break from our students of the month, each year Hauser holds a creative writing contest. Our first place winner this year for her piece El Mismo Mundo is Ivana Sanchez Hernandez. In second place for her piece I will rise, Adali
009Cochran. And in third place for her piece A Sky Without Wings, Nelly Kalnitz. Now recognizing our March students of the month. Sixth grader Marigold Angelopoulos. Seventh grader Beckett Blomgren. Sixth grader Harvey Klapps. Seventh grader Shiloh El Jamal. Sixth grader Connor Huffman. Seventh grader Emmy Johnson. Eighth grader Timo Matson. Eighth grader Veda Pitchman. And eighth grader Sebastian Rosales. >> Next up we have awards for our Whiskey Annual Student Art Expo. Um the following students were participants. Maya Aboud. Ruben Acuna. Sarah Asaf. Karina Blinkova Alice Buffin Ruby Camacho Diaz The following students had their art displayed at the Whiskey uh Student Expo. So, they're exhibiting artists. Mila Cardoza Carolina Casares Clara Cochran Savannah Cotham Ivy Davis And this student is a winner at the Student Art Expo, Maribel Dickert. Couple more um participants, Shiloh El-Jamal Mali Essenther
010Jason Espinoza Emily Wangon Violet Filipkowski and Xanthi George. There was also a coloring page contest, and Hauser was fortunate enough to have the winner of that or I'm sorry, Hollywood Elementary was fortunate enough to have the winner of that, Jonah Gillan. We have another student art expo winner from Blythe Park Elementary, James Greer. A couple more students that were participants, Dominic Gusky Bennett Han And another expo winner from Blythe Park, Jesse Hunter. Couple more student participants, Adeline Katz. Jack Leone Milan Nijo Nev Lamel Giana Miller And another art expo winner from Blythe Park, Emma Montablano. A few more participants, Rhett O'Brien Natalia Prosekki Maggie Ricard And another student art expo winner, Yuna Sano A couple more exhibited artists at the show were Meredith Schweltzer. I didn't get that one. It's my fault. I'm so sorry,
011Meredith. Um, Mora Tolin. Luca Trinick. Amelia Whitfield. And that was the last of our whiskey student art expo. Let's give it one more time for our participants, our winners. Great job, everybody. Next up, we have a group of students, um, ranging from fifth to seventh grade that participated in our Brookfield Zoo Science Fair this year. So, we have Emmy Butcher. Beatrice Franco. Ann Harford. Harrison Hunt. Lulu Jansen. Aidan Ketchmarchik. Zachary Ketchmarchik. Emmalina Martinez. Dolly Mullins. Veronica Ross. Aaron Rockman. Francis Wetzel. And Alexandria Watka. Another huge congratulation from us to all of our student winners. Thank you guys. Mhm. >> All right, thank you so much. Chris and Katie, thank you. To our Board of Education, thank you. And most of all to our students, thank you so much for all the things that you get
012involved in and in the way that you show us that you lead and do wonderful things for our district. So, thank you very much. You're of course welcome to stay for the entire meeting or more of the meeting. We also know it's busy busy time of year for families and you're welcome to depart if that's easier. Oh, good for you. What? >> I didn't tell her. I'll leave it to you. I left it to you. >> Oh my gosh. Yeah, okay. I I thought it was like a prank. I thought that she just like found somebody who had one that She probably paid for it. She probably paid the full price for it. It's like Yeah. I mean that Yeah, that tracks. That tracks for Evie. >> I didn't I didn't share, Chris, once I
013knew. >> I was like, wait, what's coming? >> No, I was giving it I I gave you that privilege. I wasn't going to >> Are they back? Are they back? >> I was >> faster than you got here in the Oh, oh, it's fine. I was just curious. >> All right, so I will I guess I'm continuing on with the superintendent's report. So, and I see Gary Zabelka just arrived or was able to get past the crowd coming heading out. Um so, the next thing on our superintendent's report is we're going to present an overview of the new strategic plan. So, with that we have a presentation, and I think the curtain was going to open and we're going to It's very dramatic tonight. He's going to give Gary a mic over here. So, Gary
014and I agreed we would kind of do this together. So, I'm going to stay here in my seat and you get to stand at the microphone if that's all right. Um he's got another one right there. So, so I think our Board of Education, everybody knows Gary Zabelka and the other people in the audience that I'll thank and welcome in just a minute. Also, know Gary Zabelka because Gary facilitated this most recent development of our new strategic plan to carry us forward for the next 5 years. So, I think we have the presentation up there now. And I just want to sort of give everybody a a quick overview of the timeline that we addressed. You all remember the Board of Education hired Educational Leadership Solutions and Gary to facilitate our strategic plan and we
015started that back in February, is that right? Um Yeah. So, in January we sent out a district perception survey throughout the community. We had 432 responses from parent staff members and community members. We were really pleased with that result. Of course, we always love to hear from even more, but we felt like it was a it was a solid response, and it really helped us understand some of the needs and interests, um questions, and concerns within the community that really helped us think about our next steps, and we'll touch on that more later how we'll use that information um even further. Um but then next, from February until April, we had three different meetings, each 3 hours long, where over 40 representatives of um staff, parents, administrators, board members, community members, and students um met
016to talk about our vision, our mission, our values, our goals, and direction for the next strategic plan. Um that is what we're excited to share with everybody tonight. And then after the plan, um all of the participants were provided a survey just to make sure that we had indeed captured the elements of the strategic plan that people uh felt were indeed the ones to be uh to be part of the plan. Um I I want to take For me, this is maybe the most important slide, uh our core stakeholder team. There we go. Um I know we have a number of staff members and parents and some of our students, I know were recognized tonight for being part of the strategic plan process. So, this is a slide that shows all of the representatives from
017our core stakeholder team, and I would just ask if you're on the core stakeholder team and you're here tonight if you'd be willing to stand up, and uh I know some some of our parents even brought their children to understand the importance of this work as it will certainly shape the education that they'll receive in the years to come. So, I just want to For those of us that are here, a big round of applause for um just a really wonderful team, uh amazing conversations that happened in the room that really helped us shape our direction. So, thank you, thank you, and thank you. And also, we had, I I everyone noticed on the slide, three of our Board of Education members that also participated, Dan Hunt and Matt Olek, and then Marlo Kalik isn't
018here tonight, but they were also key key members of this core stakeholder team. And if you're not busy enough in your evenings, I know that was yet three more evenings that uh jam-packed with a lot of valuable conversations. So, thank you again very much. I'll turn it over to you, Gary, for the >> So, with that, from a sideways standpoint, looking at this slide in particular as well, I just wanted to echo what Dr. Rantoy said as far as the quality of this group of people. Uh this process does not work without the input from everybody. We only facilitated the process, but the thoughts, the ideas, and the suggestions that actually became part of Riverside's future plan came from all of you. I also want to point out that we had four students that I
019appreciated I was here to see that they too were recognized as participants in this process, and they were not simply participants as far as students that sat at a table. These were participants who were highly engaged. These were students who were not shy about sharing their thoughts, and then also uh representing their table's thoughts to the group as a whole in ways that I think the board would be very proud, uh staff should be proud, and parents should be very proud of their students that they were so willing to um be an active part of the process that they were. So, overall again, could not say enough about um the quality of the product being contingent upon the quality of the team that we had to work with. So, thank you all for for that
020part as well. So, we spent 9 hours in developing this plan, and you may wonder, well, how do you spend 9 hours talking about the things that we do? Believe it or not, these two simple statements that are up on the board right now are statements that are going to represent Riverside in a powerful way moving forward. The mission statement is something that as a district one would ask, why do we even exist as a district? What is our purpose? Why are we here? What gets our students to school gets our in the morning? What gets our staff to school etc. And that is this and that is where we landed was nurturing and empowering every learner every day. Sounds very simple but having studied mission statements for the best organizations in the country and
021even in the world, one of the things that we've learned is that it's got to be something relatively short, something that people can remember, something that is inspiring and something that again will help motivate people in a way that they feel that this is why we exist and the purpose that we stand for. So again, nurturing and empowering every learner every day. You may look at that and say, wow, that took believe it or not that probably took a good 3 hours to come up with not to mention additional time beyond that. Then we're looking at the vision and the vision is such that where would Riverside like to see itself in the future? If you could look at that ideal district 5 years down the road from now, what would that look like? Again,
022a lot of conversations at the tables the tables the group that you saw listed by name earlier were divided up amongst staff members, parents, students, board members etc. All at tables where they could interact with one another and talk about what would that ideal school look like for their vision in the future. And again, the the statement that was developed is this one and that is to cultivate a joyful inclusive community that fosters a love for learning and inspires confident, courageous students. Now, if we could look back 5 years from now and say, "Wow, we have truly made headway in becoming this district, that joyful, inclusive community fostering that love of learning throughout that inspires confident, courageous students, then we will have made that headway in that direction that we would like to see for
023the district's future and and in making that vision. So, again, something to truly aspire to and something that is not only going to take people in this room, not just the board, but it's going to be staff members, it's going to be parents, it's going to be students. It's going to require everyone to keep their eye on the ball, if you will, if I could use that as a metaphor and say, "This is who we want to become. What are those things that we need need to do to become that district." Okay? Moving forward, we also then revisited your district's core values. Now, you had core values in your previous strategic plan and we did this one by looking not only at those that were in place, but then by surveying all of the core
024stakeholder members as to say that if you had a choice of 50 different values that were presented, what would you single out as the five most important things for the Riverside community? And then we collected all of that data and this is what we learned is that those values are the bolded items that you see there, respect, community, creativity, belonging, equity, and achievement and knowledge. Actually, this was the actual order in which they came out through surveying that respect was a number one piece of that. And when you take a look at your entire community, it was neat to see your um entire auditorium filled a few minutes ago. You can just appreciate I didn't know most of the people in the room, but they're saying hello to each other. They're being very cordial, friendly,
025congratulating one another, congratulating their kids, and so on. That's a great sign of respect. That's important. This as one of your values, these as all of your values, should be reflected on a regular basis and reminded. And when you see people acting in ways that are not consistent with the values that have been determined and selected, then it's incumbent upon the entire Riverside community to say, "That's not how we act or respond here." So, you've got the respect, you've got the community piece, um again, creativity, belonging, equity, and then the achievement knowledge. I think the first one and the last one bookend each other nicely. You look at the respect, you look at the achievement knowledge, and you take a look at everything in between, and it creates a great picture of what you'd like
026to see for your district moving forward. So, those are the core values. Then from there, we took a look at if those were our core values, if our mission is what we had listed, if our vision is what we had listed, what are those primary target areas that we should be focused on? And we actually took a look at that survey data that was um collected during that survey that was administered in January, and we took a look at what are some of the things that need to be focused on. And again, not going in a whole lot of deal detail, but again, just briefly kind of describing what these we call these gold target areas. And to the average person looking at them, you might say, "Those look pretty broad and pretty um pretty
027vague potentially, okay?" And I would just share that this is exactly what you'd like to see. This is what again 40 plus members of this core stakeholder team developed as far as what are those broad um big ticket items, if you will, that we'd like to see the district focus on for the next 5 years, okay? This is not the specific uh goals that are going to ultimately be worked on, okay? These are going to provide the framework for the goals that will be developed in the months ahead. The the use and the workings of the core stakeholder group was to paint that picture that would provide the direction for the district moving forward. What are those areas that we should be focusing on and what will that look like in a broad brush stroke,
028but the specifics will be worked on in the future and of course the board will be hearing more about those because that will be the work where resources will probably need to be expended um along the ways um in order to accomplish you know all of these. The first one, student learning and student experience, okay? What is that going to look like? Again, that will be determined and that's uh actually I spoke with I spoke Excuse me. I had spoken with our other facilitator and there are already dates that are set up this summer for these meetings that will address um the more specific aspects of these goals. Also, those of you who are here that were part of that process of developing these strategic goal target areas may remember that there were opportunities to
029provide certain bullet points and different ideas that would fit within this framework. And we have all of that data as well that we will be sharing and reutilizing to ensure that we are hitting those aspects of these broad target areas that were developed. So, you see though that we are touching upon the student learning and student experience aspect that we're looking at, uh, addressing the learning environment and school culture aspect. Talented and invested staff. Very important piece for, you know, a quality school district to stay focused on. Communication and community engagement is another one. And then the finance and facilities. And again, we'll give you the opportunity to take a look at these a little bit more closely. But again, it was through looking at the data that was collected in the conversations of everybody
030in the room at those times when we held those meetings which these were developed. One of the things that as the board, if you don't mind my sharing this piece in particular, um, under finance and facilities. Every year the board um, um, passes a budget for the district. And people would like to know a little bit more about what is involved in doing that. And rightfully so, and that was one of the things that came out through the survey. So, one of the broad-based goals, if you are, is to create a transparent budget plan that makes that financial data easy for everyone to access and understand. It's not being hidden right now, but by making, using this as an example, by making a goal similar to that, you're going to look at finding ways to
031make it more front and center and available and accessible for people that truly do want to know more about it. And and that's going to be a large focus. Just as these other areas are as well. Same thing with the facilities plan. And again, same thing with the communication, the staff, etc. throughout. So, these are the areas of what that looks like. And unless the board has any questions, we shared this with our our graphic designer and and this is what your your overall plan looks like if you were to take a look at what we'd call an executive summary, this is what your plan looks like for the future moving forward. It's got your Riverside logo on there. It's got your mission and vision right up there at the top. The core values are
032at the center of it. And then those strategic goal target areas are beneath it. And this is the work that the district and hopefully you, the board, will be sanctioning to continue to move forward with to address all of these areas in the next 5 years. The specific aspects for each of those goals, besides the actual action plans, will also include timelines for achieving each of those goals, will also include how are we going to know when we got there, measuring data, etc. And therefore, all of those pieces that you as the board would like to know so that you can truly understand the progress that is being made. So, I share all of those things then to say that the next steps. And Dr. Ryan Toy, would you like to kind of take this?
033I know I have already touched upon what the next steps are to an extent, but from your perspective, potentially what you see moving forward. >> Sure, as you pointed out, we have two summer workshops already scheduled with our leadership team members who will dig into these general goal areas. So, similar to the strategic plan that we've been implementing over the past 5 years and then we talked about goal champions or goal leaders that come from our district leadership team members. We'll really dig in and start to turn these more into smart goals, measurable goals using the information from the survey, from our district data that we know from other areas, student achievement, climate and culture data, etc. Research around education right now and then also what we know, recollect, and we're part of in terms
034of the table group conversations that happened in those 9 hours of meetings and turn those into goals that will then come back to the Board of Education. I know the last this last iteration of the plan we identified key performance indicators. If you recall, I think that really took us that first year to develop what those would be with a lot of feedback from the board and then ultimately approval from the Board of Education. So, summer schedules are already getting developed and and as as Gary shared, Kieran Maturo from the educational leadership team will meet with us to sort of help us begin goal development and then we'll be available to each goal leader to kind of help finesse and discuss some of the research, etc. Kind of offline and in between meetings and then
035by the time we would convene in August, we would be able to bring a more complete set or more refined set of formalized, more measurable goals from these goal target areas. So, I see that process is pretty similar to the the way we've kind of grew into what we called living the plan, living the strategic plan over the past 5 years doing something similar as we move forward. Obviously with with new data in front of us, with new feed new feedback, and um I know for me uh having been part of really two past iterations now of the strategic plan, uh we think that we've accomplished so much, and yet there's always more. Schools evolve always, and um looking at new new goal areas, new growth areas, new directions. So, it was exciting, also a
036little bit daunting. So, um anyway, excited to bring all of that back to you in a process of conversation and and feedback as we really dig into all of that. So, and I was also I should also add, I know it always feels a little funny. At the June 3rd Committee of the Whole, we are going to bring our final scorecard of the current strategic plan to all of you because we always do that essentially at the end of the school year in June. So, we'll look at that plan, and certainly that plan is a jumping-off point for this plan. That we really want these two plans to feel connected and interconnected, and they already do. I mean, I think there's a lot of knowledge and ideas from the current strategic plan that really helped
037inform these next steps. I mean, these target goal areas, uh the language is different, um but these really are essentially the five same buckets, big buckets that that we've talked about. And which really represents the organization of a school district, no surprise. There's you know, yeah. >> Sure. I was just going to go ahead and mention, having worked with a number of districts that I have over the years, I think it's a credit to you as the board that and the administration, if you will, Dr. Ryan and her team, that the strategic plan has been at the center of all the work that gets done in the district. And that sounds so simple. One may say, "Shouldn't we be doing this?" But I can't tell you the number of districts that we work with, they
038develop their strategic plan, and then they're off to the races with what's the next big concern beyond that that we see in our district, and stay focused on those things rather than um a a systematic process whereby uh Dr. Ryan Toy brings the leadership team together on a consistent basis, looks at all of these aspects, how are things moving along, and maintains that uh that that progress throughout to the point where uh I'm I'm positive most of you have been here in the last 5 years when you took a look at your overall survey data from your community, your staff, and so on. You had probably some of the highest scores I have ever seen in districts that I work with to your credit because people see, notice, and recognize the progress that's being made
039in this district. And by renewing and starting um fresh with a new plan again uh I have no doubt you'll be seeing those continuing results in the future. So, good job. >> And I know I want to thank Gary um Gary Zabelka, I mean actually Dr. Zabelka, um and his educational leadership solutions uh team. It was a pleasure to work with you, Gary, and the team had been working with us on our living the plan um over the past several years, and so it uh was a great partnership and already had a lot of knowledge of the district, and I feel it really helped us move things forward and have just those really robust conversations in the room with with the 40-plus team members. So, thank you. >> And we feel the same way, so
040thank you. Thank you very much. >> Any questions, comments, feedback? >> No, I guess I would just sort of like to echo uh I guess a deep sense of gratitude and thanks. I know not everyone's here who's on that list, but this was not an easy task, and it might seem sort of small, and then but this is like it is a strategic plan, and so it's leading us in the future. So, I thank you again for everyone who's participated, especially those who are here. Um and I have to say I I the core values uh respect being like sort of the foundation of that, the first one, that is like so important today. And that is knowing that this team came up with this, I'm confident that we are set for the next solid
041for the next 5 years. So, thank you all. >> So, as I said, we will come back June 3rd, Committee the Whole with our scorecard uh from the current strategic plan. Um certainly if there's more conversation to be had about this one, and then I would anticipate at the June Board of Education we would bring it to a formal uh vote for for the board. If you recall, you you formally approved this this last one. And then start to line up our Committee the Whole meetings again relative to each goal area and updates for for all of you. Okay. >> All right. >> Okay. >> Yeah. No, thank you. And thank you to those of you in the in the room that joined us, that were part of the team, and uh really really much
042appreciated. And I hope hope you're all so happy seeing the what the results look like here. The results which are really just the the new beginning, so. All right. Thank you so much. >> you. >> I have a couple other items on the uh superintendent's report. And again, thanks for letting us kind of move some things around. I I knew that there were family members coming to hear about the plan, and wanted to make sure that we accommodated that early enough in the meeting agenda. So, um but it is also May, it is Teacher Appreciation Month. I want to thank uh certainly thank our teachers for uh being the outstanding educators that they are. Uh I also want to thank our PTAs and PTOs who did so much work to recognize our teachers during Teacher
043Appreciation Week. Um if you followed uh the schools on Instagram and such, you were probably able to see a lot of great wonderful celebrations for our teachers. So, there is a proclamation here, I think in the years past we haven't read it unless people would like that read, but um a really strong a strong proclamation um that uh talks about the importance obviously of teachers that um bring their passion and skills to educate our children and um just much appreciated in every way. Um it is also nurse appreciation month. So, um want to make sure that our nurses also feel recognized and appreciated. They also have a very unique job. Nurses in our schools are sometimes our unsung heroes that uh are taking care of all the little things and occasionally and unfortunately sometimes big
044things that can happen in our schools with students and uh their well-being. So, just very much appreciate that group and we have a really wonderful group of nurses here in the district as well. And then I will continue with my appreciation. Um our music teachers received the National Association of Music Merchants Best Communities for Music Education. This is an award they have now received for several years in a row. Uh I know it is something our music department is really proud of. Our leadership team is really proud of our music teachers and I think our entire community benefits from having such really talented um music teachers educating our children. So, a special appreciation to them also here at the end of the school year. And then to all of you, um the Illinois State Association
045of School Boards um awarded all of you uh the Illinois Association of School Board Governance Recognition. This is actually the second time, right? That um you as a Board of Education have received uh the School Board Governance Recognition Designation. Um and as this says it this resignation is uh resignation recognition is designed to acknowledge school boards that have engaged in activities and model behaviors that lead to excellence in local school governance in support of quality public education. We commend you for your hard work and distinction as a School Board Governance Recognition recipient. So, thank you for that. That's uh and you all have a pin um that you can wear whenever you'd like. So, um um and again, continuing on in this uh May is good. It's a good time to thank people. We have
046um an annual safety meeting and I think it's always important just to point out that we do that, that we meet um at least once a year with uh fire and police from Riverside, North Riverside, and Brookfield. We actually bring everybody together in the same room uh with our entire leadership team and talk about our shared goals around student safety. Um talk about if there's any changes in practices or procedures that we should be informing and working together on. Um it's a great opportunity to put faces with names for all the people that help us keep our schools safe and um really just appreciate the time and the ongoing effort um that goes into safety, which is as we say always our number one priority because without our children being safe and our schools being
047safe places, that we can't continue to do the great work inside the school. So, um also uh key area of importance. Then, I have two more quick ones. Um half We had a half-day professional development on April 24th. Um as you know, next year we're moving into a total of four half-days. Um but at this particular professional development half-day, we um teachers had shared with us kind of two key areas. One is that they wanted to understand more about AI and artificial intelligence. Molly Marcourt Molly Marcourt did a presentation for our staff um that met with a really mixed reaction because I think that's just how people are uh and feel about AI right now, but I think it was really honest and helpful and a great conversation with our staff. And then also uh
048we had uh personnel from LADSE, our special education cooperative, come and talk to our teachers about um how to address what are sometimes challenging behaviors that can occur in the classroom. So, just an ongoing topic that um teachers continue to have an interest and want to continue to gain skill and learn in that area. So, that that was a uh afternoon well spent. And thank you to Molly and Nora who who brought those details together for everybody. So, thank you. And a quick announcement that Hauser graduation is next Tuesday. So, that is kind of hard to believe. I know there's what David and Stephanie both have children graduating. So, that seems crazy. Anyway, that is it for the superintendent's report. >> All right, thank you Martha. Uh so, next on the agenda is the approval
049of the consent agenda. Can I ask the board secretary to read tonight's uh consent agenda? Or actually, is there uh I guess first is there any um go ahead sorry yeah nice >> we can discuss. >> Yes. >> Um tonight's consent agenda consists of minutes of the following previous meetings, the April 8th strategic planning session minutes, the April 15th regular business meeting minutes along with the April 15th closed session meeting minutes, the personnel report as presented, the payables prelist as of April 30th along with the payables prelist as of May 20th, the 2026-2027 staff appointments and the school district library program grant. That concludes the consent agenda. >> All right, is there any changes to the consent agenda? Or is anyone want to point anything? Okay, so um Yeah, I have a motion to approve
050tonight's consent agenda. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Uh is there any discussion on this? All right. Uh Cathy, can you please call the roll? >> All right, Ms. Phelps? >> Aye. >> Mr. Oliphant? >> Aye. >> Ms. Gunn? >> Aye. >> Mr. Hunt? >> Aye. >> And Mr. Barsotti? >> Aye. >> Motion passes. >> So, uh next on the agenda is the uh approval of the administrative uh contracts. Um So, is there uh a motion to approve tonight's uh Um is there a motion to approve tonight the Board of Ed uh motion to approve tonight's uh administrative contract renewals? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, is there um I'm going to serve We I know we've all talked about these contracts, but this is now just solidifying the roles. Here, uh is there
051any discussion on this? All right. Cathy, can you uh please call the roll? >> Okay, Mr. Olejniczak. >> Aye. >> Mr. Hunt. >> Aye. >> Ms. Glass. >> Aye. >> Ms. Gunn. >> Aye. >> And Mr. Barsotti. >> Aye. >> Motion passes. >> Uh next on the agenda is another contract. Uh it's the approval for a contract modification for um our director of finance, Steve Wilder. Um is there a move Is there a motion to approve uh the modified administrative contract for Steve Wilder as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh if you might recall, but this is the one we talked about. Uh he There's been some changes. He was able to uh start a month earlier. I guess Martha, I don't know if you have anything to add, but uh I guess
052is there any discussion on this? >> Um I'll just I'll just add that Steve is here tonight, too. Thank you for making the the long trip back from wherever it was you were earlier today. Steve is working in the district currently 2 days a week, and starting June 1st is able to join us full time. And we'll talk in a few minutes when we're talking about the boiler about uh this actually that uh Mark Kusnosky will be finishing up his time with us on May 26th. >> All right. >> I'm going to thank you later, Mark. >> All right. Is there All right. There's no other discussion. Kathy, can you please call the roll? >> Okay. Mr. Hunt? >> Aye. >> Mr. Olin? >> Aye. >> Ms. Clark? >> Aye. >> Ms. Gunn? >> Aye.
053>> Mr. Barsanti? >> Aye. >> Motion passes. >> And next on the agenda is another contract. Um and it's for the elementary elementary intervention and support coordinator. So, is there a motion for the Board of Education to approve the 2026-2027 contract for the elementary intervention and support coordinator or of Jennifer to Jennifer and I apologize I'm going to got to get your last name right, Dubron, as presented. >> Dubron. Sorry. >> Second. >> Uh is there any discussion? >> I will just share that Jennifer is also here this evening. So, thank you. I told Jennifer this is always early in the agenda. It's an I know we're we're an hour in with student awards and strategic planning. Anyway, welcome welcome to Jennifer. We're really excited about having Jennifer join us. As you all know, this
054is a position that we started just this past school year. As I say, it's a bit of an assistant principal across four elementaries, primarily the two bigger elementaries, Ames and Central, but truly and and more importantly, we wanted this obviously to be a focus on students. Assistant principals focus on students, too, but we know sometimes getting caught up in logistics, and we really felt that the multi-tiered systems of support and the ways that we support our students and support our teachers to support our students is an area that we really wanted to dedicate more of our administrator and leadership support. So, um Jennifer came from a a large um group of people that we interviewed for the position and we are really really excited about having Jennifer join the leadership team. >> If there is
055no other uh discussion, Kathy, can you please call the roll? >> Okay. Ms. Gunn? >> Hi. >> Ms. Klatt? >> Hi. >> Mr. Orlich? >> Hi. >> Mr. Hunt? >> Hi. >> And Mr. Barsanti? >> Hi. >> Motion passed. >> Welcome. >> All right. Uh next up is the Riverside Education Council. Is there any comment? All right. Uh are there any board member comments? >> Just the end of the year whirlwind. Always bittersweet and great to participate in um yeah, just all of those last-minute activities that really showcase the strength of our districts and yeah, special thanks to our teachers, our staff, our yeah, just Well, I hope you have a well-deserved summer summer break. >> Let's see. So, we got to uh meet the new principal at Blythe Park uh the other morning. Um
056gosh, the name is totally escaping me. Chris, thank you. I knew knew Reed. >> Yeah. >> So, yes, uh Chris Reed was uh was met with uh some Do you know what there were? Probably about uh 12 or 15 of parents in the the library there and it was great to uh meeting Chris again. I'd met him here at uh the board meeting prior and he seems like a great uh great choice for the principal for Blythe Park and we're looking forward to having him uh get started. So, I don't know that he committed to uh doing Cardio Kids in the morning though, so we'll have to see about that, but Casmera, Cardio Kids for those not initiated, I guess. Casmera definitely did a great job of leading the on a morning run uh couple
057times a week when the weather got nice. And so yeah, so there's some big shoes to fill there, but we'll see how that goes. >> I think cardio kids will continue. Casimira just assured me that two of the teachers have really taken the leadership role with that. So >> Mhm. >> And Chris is going to have to become a runner, I guess. >> Right. Okay, anything else? All right. So next up on the agenda is uh contract for the boiler. And so before we get started, I guess is there a motion that the Board of Education approve approve the uh train turnkey proposal in the amount of $1,349,890 for the completion of the Hauser Central boiler plant retrofit. >> So moved. >> Okay, so uh we've all We call this is sort of like the
058we've talked about this a lot um getting a boiler, sort of replacing it. It's one of the last boilers for us. Um so I guess Martha, I know there's >> Yeah. >> you had some you had been going to turn it over. >> Yeah, we have both Mark Zuzki here and Zachary Prozen and and Steve Wilder. We have a lot of people that can talk about the boiler if there's any questions. I don't know if there's anything more that you'd want to share. Um Nora and Molly could maybe talk about the boiler as well. >> I mean just just to point out the obvious that the difference between the proposal last brought to you and the proposal now is roughly a $30,000 decrease. And that was due to a much more thorough scope in their
059engineering and they they found a replacement where they wouldn't need to run less. It was which they got with the hot water tanks, but not the hot water tanks, they're space tanks. So, that's it. There you go. Perfect. >> And if I recall, this is we did this a little bit differently than we've done in the past. We I forgot the process, but >> Now, so so the the difference in this process is it's one self-contained firm who is using its own engineers versus us using multiple hands, our own architects. So, there's a reduction in cost savings, so there's less markup and less markup going to multiple vendors to get product and So, it it it's a in a turnkey process for some things that school districts can do. Boilers being one of them. Um
060there could be cost savings. I believe that believes that the district has realized significant cost savings to doing this as evidence when we compare it these prices to what you paid for other boiler projects that were not done in the past in this process. >> Thank you. >> Is there any discussion? >> I think that some one of the items was like they were removing additional equipment that had been there previously. From a from like previous installations. I'm looking for it in the thing. >> Removing the old boilers? >> Not not just removing the old boilers, it was something else that was that was already previously there, but disconnected I thought I saw. I'm looking for it here in the contract. I'm not seeing it now. >> It says removal of two condemned and that
061>> Condensers, that was it, yeah. >> So, um they're also removing motors that are now actually installed into the new boiler. So, you want to have to go through it. And then the heat exchanger we're going to be installing on Cuz they're not making steam, they're making hot water. So, then the old boiler made steam, made it as that into hot water and that the surface is So, 5 10 animal crackers. Mhm. Does that provide any additional room there or is there any anything advantageous about having more stuff taken out that was initially anticipated? >> we're removing Oh, the old They took out the old air compressors that they were >> It was something like that, yes. Compressor sounds right. >> That is the system that gave your building back in the days that that's
062just got knocked down there and abandoned. Um so, you don't use that system anymore. They have They gave you air pressure in your classrooms that regulate your thermostats that that spring that What what This doesn't matter. It's been a It's been a It's been a hot time and we're trying to get it removed now so we get it get it more space. >> So, there will be more space for storage. Yes, yes. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? All right. Kathy, can you please call roll? >> Okay. Ms. Clapps? >> Hi. >> Mr. Hunt? >> Hi. >> Ms. Gunn? >> Hi. >> Mr. Ollick? >> Hi. >> And Mr. Barsanti? >> Hi. >> Motion passes. >> Um so, next on the agenda is the uh appointment of the Township Treasurer Trustee appointment of
063the Trustee for the Proviso School Township Treasurer's office. Um So, is there a motion uh that the Board of Education appoint its Director of Finance and Operations, Steve Wilder, to the serve for a 1-year term, which may be renewed as the district's trustee for the schools of for the school of Riverside Township, schools of Riverside Township? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. So, we might just recall this was There was some changes in the Township office, which allows us allows us to appoint a trustee. Before we had Jim Fenton, and then I believe it passed on to Mark, and now we're going to pass it on to Steve. So, is there any questions or any discussion on this? All right. Uh Kathy, can you please call the roll? >> Okay. Mr. Olick? >>
064Aye. >> Miss. Platz? >> Aye. >> Mr. Hunt? >> Aye. >> Miss. Kahn? >> Aye. >> And Mr. Barsallo? >> Aye. >> Motion passes. >> And actually, David, before you I I did want to take a moment and thank Mark Kaznoski, who has been our interim Director of Finance and Operations for this school year. I'm more excited to welcome Steve full-time into the role, but I'm not sure, Mark, when I bumped into you and said, "By the way, might you be willing to help us out?" And truly helped us so much with just the general operations of the business office, and I was a great partner. Really appreciated working with with you this year, Mark. He joined us on our strategic plan team. I've something he was bound and determined not to do in his
065retirement, but we really appreciate but I have appreciated and I and I know I don't want to speak for the board, but I know I think everyone has really appreciated your jumping in, and certainly the new boiler at Aim at Central, sorry, Central Houser certainly represents some some fast work that we needed to do, and and a lot of organizational work that we needed to do. So, this is Mark's last board meeting with all of you, and his last day in the district will be next Tuesday. So, thank you, Mark. >> Yes, thank you. >> Well, I echo everything Martha said. You know, Mark, you came in and have been such a pleasure to work with and everything having to do with facilities and finance and you got yourself deep in the weeds of nearly
066every project that you became involved in in addition to all the stuff that Martha said that you helped out with. I know you were instrumental in hiring some of our our leaders and played a big role in that and the creativity that you brought to it and the experience that you brought to the position and although it was just something that was going to be short-term is really impressive. So, thank you for all you did. >> Thanks, Laura. I really appreciate those words. >> Thank you, Mark. All right. Um I guess uh last on the agenda, I mean last on the last uh motion on the agenda is for the uh we talked about the um new math curriculum. So, is there a motion that the Board of Education approve the anticipated Hauser math curriculum
067adoption pending favorable results and feedback on the math curriculum pilot during the 2026-2027 school year. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> So, I know we discussed this. Um there's been a lot of discussion on this. We were looking at um piloting EdGens. Uh so, I know it and it's going to be a pilot uh for I guess what, 3/4 of the year and then we're going to make a decision on whether or not to keep it at that time. Um but I guess is there any discussion or any questions on this? >> So, if I'm recalling correctly, that was like 3/4 of the year because they don't pay anything until it kicks into the fourth correct last quarter. Correct. Okay. >> Which we knew was kind of strange timing. Um you know, and certainly I
068just want to also reiterate that the the Hauser math team, Chris Harvalis, Kismara Gorman, everyone who's taking a close look at this, um feel that that they're choosing a curriculum that will sort of pass muster for them in that first, you know, two trimesters part of the year. So, we're not uh we're not looking at something that we likely won't want. We're looking at something that we very, very likely will want, and that's why I wanted to bring this because I know there was a question about the finances, and there's always an interesting question about Boards of Education and their formal role in approving curriculum. So, um wanted to bring this forward. It just felt like the most transparent and clear way to do it, and we will keep you up to up to date
069as as the implementation of the pilot moves forward in the fall. >> Thank you. There's no other uh discussion. Kathy, can you please call the roll? >> Okay. Mr. Hunt? >> Hi. >> Ms. Gunn? >> Hi. >> Ms. Clark? >> Hi. >> Mr. Oldak? >> Hi. >> And Mr. Barsanti? >> Hi. >> All right. Next up Next up, there's uh new business. We don't really have any new business discussions today. Uh so, is there any public comment? >> There's none. >> All right. So, uh future meeting dates, uh we have June 3rd, Committee of the Whole, uh in the multi-purpose room at Hollywood Elementary School. Uh June 17th is the regular business meeting in the Hauser Hauser Learning Resource Center. Uh July 1st is canceled because of the holiday. Uh July 15th we have the
070regular business meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the Hauser Learning Resource Center. Uh August 5th, we have the Committee of Whole meeting in the multi-purpose room at Ames. And August 20th, uh we have the regular business meeting 7:00 p.m. in the Hauser Learning Resource Center. On September 2nd, we have the Board Self-Assessment Committee at the Committee of the Whole meeting at 6:00 p.m. in LaGrange Park Library. And with that, this meeting is adjourned.