District 96 Board of Education Regular Meeting 11-19-25

001[music] All right. >> Today is Wednesday, November 19th. It is 7:02 p.m. and this is the Riverside School District 96 regular school board meeting. Kathy, would you please call the role? >> Okay. Mr. Baradi, >> present. >> Miss Gun >> here. Mr. Olic >> here. >> Mr. [clears throat] Hunt >> here. >> And Mr. Mayorhead >> here. Okay, a quorum is present. >> All right, thank you. Uh, we are going to start with our public hearing on the tax levy 2025 pro property tax levy. Um, wait, no, I'm sorry, I skipped it. Public comment is first. So, the board welcomes and encourages community engagement at all board meetings. Therefore, time is allow is allotted at the beginning and end of each meeting for audience members to address the board. We kindly ask that you limit

002your comments to five minutes. Please note that this is a board meeting in public and not a public forum or town hall. The board does not directly respond to questions or comments during the meeting, but may ask the superintendent to follow up with you as necessary. With that, Kathy, we have one public comment. Um I'm sorry, I don't know how to Miss Chararma. Mr. Chararma. Mr. Sherman, >> can you hear me? Uh, is this audible? >> It doesn't amplify. It only goes to our our broadcast. >> Okay. Um, uh, good evening, uh, board members. Uh, my name is Shhat Sharma. I also go by Kate, so please feel free to call me K. Uh, this is my wife, Amuta Sharma. Um we are co-founders of uh uh Launchpad Robbo Lab. It's a robotics uh coaching

003company for kids. And uh we are here today because uh you know we believe that uh u the kids of uh Riverside District 96 uh deserves uh the world-class robotics uh coaching uh programs and support. Um as you uh you know uh discuss the strategic plans uh for the upcoming future um we would like you to think uh about this that American kids um uh do not compete fairly against their um Asian and European peers uh because uh they don't have the access to the same kinds of robotics programs and they don't uh um end up doing so well in international competitions. We saw this firsthand as parents of um our our daughter who's who's now a high schooler, but we have seen over the past number of years how she struggled to get the

004same kind of um support and access to robotics education that uh when we go to these international competitions, we see kids from uh Asia. Um just as one example, uh Malaysia has robotics programs starting in the early grades of elementary school. So when they get to these international competitions um and they're competing against kids from the US, they do far better because they have they've been learning this for years and years. Um over a number of years uh I you know we first start got got into this as parents trying to help our own daughter and then bit by bit year uh year after year we we uh we saw how the difference was in terms of the support that other kids were getting and we we thought we needed to do more. Um so

005this year we finally started we founded the launchpad robbo lab. Uh we come from technology background both of our uh both of us are engineers and MBA and and we felt uh we had the the uh the right background to help our kids. Um hence we founded Launchpad Rob. just in uh the 2025 season alone uh we've been able to achieve uh or rather we've been able to help our kids uh achieve something that uh none of the US teams have uh uh done in the past. Uh we had an all girls team that um uh reached semi-finals of Robo Sports uh in America's Open. uh a competition where they were competing against teams from Asia and Europe including uh Romania, Japan, Korea, Vietnam um all countries that have a long history and tradition of

006uh doing well at these competitions and uh our team um you know won against them reached the reached the semi-finals that no other US team has been able to do. Um we want to uh we we we have uh uh created programs for uh kids all throughout uh elementary um uh middle school and and high school. Um where we teach them how to program autonomous robots. Um I brought one example with me here today. Uh it's made of all Lego parts. Uh something that the kids uh of young young age as well as even you know middle school and high schooler can build um um easily. And uh they program they v various levels of complex uh routines um to make the robot function on its own, carry out certain tasks or or challenges. Um,

007as far as uh this one which has a camera sitting on top that helps um detect um uh ping pong balls of different colors and depending on the colors uh takes a specific action um uh trying to outmaneuver uh the uh the competing robots on the other side of the field uh in a robo tennis game. Um we um we would love to offer uh you know a demo uh of uh um and more information on our program at a uh time and place of convenience and uh would really hope to continue the conversation um at a later time. Uh I'll pause for in case there are any questions or comments uh before we we turn it back to you. Yeah, at this point for public comment, we don't do back and forth on it,

008but I do see that you requested a response from the district. So, uh, would you like to communicate more with Dr. Ryan Toy here and see just kind of what you're thinking and how it might fit in with what we're doing? >> Sounds great. >> Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate the the context there. Thank you. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Is that it? Anybody else? No. >> Okay. Okay. Um, so that moves us into the public hearing for the 2025 tax levy. Is there a motion for the board of education to open the public hearing on the 2025 property tax levy? >> Second. >> Uh, Kathy, please call the role. >> Okay. Mr. Ol. >> I. >> Okay. Mr. Hunt. >> Hi. >> Mr. Bari. >> Hi. >> Miss Gun. >>

009Hi. >> And Mr. Mirhead. Hi. >> Okay. Hearing is open. >> Okay. And uh you said there was one person that would like to make comment or at least one person that would like to make comment. >> Good evening. Uh just because you guys should have some feedback on this. Even though it could be it can be difficult to see payments go up every year. I continue to support a tax increase at the rate of infl or sorry tax levy at the rate of inflation. However, I also believe that the district needs to work within the guardrails of maintaining the traditional 40% um fund balance and this also may mean that should the guardrail of a maximum tax increase in inflation and that 40% it may mean um cuts or reductions are necessary to stay

010within those two bounds. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else would like to com comment? Nope. Everyone's here for the kids. All right. With that, is there a motion for the board of education to adjourn the public hearing for the 2025 property tax levy? >> So move. >> Second. >> Kathy, will you call the role? >> Okay. Mr. Hunt. >> I. >> Miss Gun. >> Hi. >> Mr. Barati. >> Hi. >> Mr. Olen. >> Hi. >> And Mr. Mayorhead. >> Hi. Okay, the hearing is now closed. >> Thank you. Uh before we proceed with the agenda for tonight, are there any recommendations for change? >> No. Okay. With that, we will jump into the superintendent's report and I will hand it over to Dr. Ryan Toy. >> All right. And I'm very excited to introduce

011Kazmir Gorman, our principal from Blle Park School, who has some students with her tonight [snorts] uh to talk about mathematics, I believe. Yeah. So, uh, good evening members of, uh, the board, Dr. Ryan Toy and Miss Parino. Thank you so much for having Ble Park here, um, and allowing us just to share a little bit about, uh, what we're doing, uh, this year, uh, specifically in the area of mathematics. Um, so at Ble Park, the students have been practicing what we call lead behaviors with the goal of improving um, their skills and level of knowledge in the area of mathematics. So lead behaviors are specific high lever actions um that are both uh predictive of achieving a goal, but they're also in directly influenceable by students and teachers. Um although sometimes our ultimate measure is

012to see improvement on some type of assessment whether it's a unit test or the MAP assessment or the Illinois assessment of readiness. Um we're showing students that the best way to track improvement is to count how many times they engage in behaviors or actions that help them practice and improve their skills. So, we have uh students from kindergarten through fifth grade, and they're just going to share a little bit about the lead behavior that they've selected for their grade level and what they're doing with it. So, >> I'm Sophia. >> And I'm Bryce. In fifth grade, our lead behavior is using the three read strategy. We practice the three read strategy by reading the math problem three times. Each time we underline an important detail about the problem. First we underline the topic. Then we

013circle the math facts. Last we underline the question. Why is the three read important you may ask? Three read strategy is important because it helps us understand the question better. It also helps us catch all the details and it gives us more time to understand the problem. It highlights the important information so we know what to look at. Every time we use the three read strategy, we transfer a duck into a jar. Every week we see how many ducks we transferred and we update the goal board so we see our progress. Our school's theme is leveling up this year. When we practice using the three read, we get closer to our goals, which is like leveling up in a video game. >> Hello, my name is Zoe Blackburn and I'm in fourth grade. >> Hello,

014my name is Sloan Cavalier and I'm also in fourth grade. >> Our lead behavior is practicing multiplication facts 1 through 11. We are doing mislead behavior so we can do the multiplication facts quickly and accurately. We practice this in school by doing different activities such as timed multiplication fact quizzes, multiplication games and fluency flights and are ready. >> This lead behavior is important because we do multi multi-digit and multi-step computations in fourth grade. Knowing the facts with fluency and accuracy will support and help us do large comp computations. Hi, my name is Margaret. >> Hi, my name is Albert. >> In third grade, we are working on addition and subtraction fluency for our leap behavior. Here are some ways they are shown. Fluency Fly is an activity to do on our Ready. You can do

015this every day to practice your facts, but you can only do it once a day. You can unlock islands and upgrade islands and do activities. Bump is a game where there are different spots and you roll dice. You add or multiply the dice together and the answer you have is on the chart and you put a counter on the chart where the answer is. Our lead behavior is important because we can practice our math facts to help us get better at math even at home. >> Our lead behavior is important because we won't get stuck with little problems if we know our math facts. You're fine. Hi, my name is Franklin and I am in second grade. Hello, my name is Arwin and I'm also in second grade. In second grade, our math lead behavior

016is using tools and pictures to show our math thinking. We have been learning about place value and how to add two-digit numbers with regrouping. Our class practices the lead behavior by using our 10 blocks to represent numbers. We can use our tools to help understand regrouping. Using tools and pictures help us see the numbers being regrouped. It is also helpful to move the tools. We think this is an important lead behavior because we can be hands-on with our learning. Hi, my name is Ocelot and my name is Jack. The first graders have been working on using different strategies to [clears throat] solve addition. Using different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems. Some examples are using a 10 frame, using number bonds, drawing a math picture, and using math cubes. We have been working on

017sharing our thinking with our classmates and talking about the different ways to solve problems. It is important to show and explain our math thinking because it helps us better understand how numbers are related. >> Thank you. In school we are seeing numbers in a different ways. We know >> we know >> we can >> see numbers >> all day >> at school. [applause] >> Thank you. We also have a really quick video just to show you what we're talking about. Um, believe Charles hasn't queued up. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. There are three seals. Four more seals join them now. I mean, how many seals are there now? Um, we're learning the nearby double rules. I used the equation of the near die but doubles on is 4 + 4 =

0188 and I knew when was 8 - 1 it would equal 7. Yes. [music] Hey, now down. Thank you so much for letting us be here and present to you about lead behaviors. >> Thanks, Miss Gorman. I sometimes our board [applause] members have questions. [cheering] So, any questions for any of the students here that did an amazing job presenting all this information. Thank you. The topic itself was pretty straightforward, but um I'm very curious the ducks. Why? Why ducks? >> Is the duck like a Did you get to pick the duck or how did the duck come to be? Because in the fifth grade teacher at a school and one of the co-workers placed a little duck on his desk every day. >> Got it. Okay. >> I figured there had to be a tie

019in somewhere. Just a fun thing to do. I don't know. >> They count how many times they practice it every week. And so when they score it every week on the weekly board >> Yeah. >> that's what they're scoring. They're scoring how many times they practice something. >> Okay. Because the fact that they we want them to focus on the fact that the practice is the important part, >> not necessarily what you get on the test. >> It's the habit of practice. >> Yep. Yep. >> And is the I mean from the video and everything, it's more of a question for you. This is just like a foundational strategy that we're using within the curriculum or is this like an extra layer on that that we're doing? It's just, you know what, it's just a

020strategy that we're doing at BL Park that we we really wanted to work on improving um our proficiency and our skill and achievement levels in the area of mathematics. Um and we wanted to just be very intentional. It comes from a this is comes from a business model I learned in a professional learning session for administrators. But it it makes a lot of sense in in the idea that they they talk about the whirlwind about everything we do in the course of a week to try to do our jobs and that sometimes and it's all important work but we're always busy and sometimes when we do those things our strategic goals get pushed to the side because we're trying to get everything that we get done. like you know if you think about anybody's job

021like your emails, your phone calls, your meetings, whatever and then that strategic goal is like hanging there. This puts it front and center every week so that we make sure that every week we practice that behavior because we know it's going to lead to improvement. >> So this was a a building level strategy like board speaking level strategy to target something at your school that you want to try to prove. Okay. All right. It's very neat. You all enjoying math? >> Yeah. >> I figured that would be a yes if we were here. So, >> all right. >> Well, thank you for coming out. That was a very good presentation. You all did a wonderful job. Can be a little nerve-wracking getting in front of all these people and speaking. So, you did a great

022job. >> You guys did a great job. Thank you so much. >> Great job. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> We continue with the fun stuff and I know um young children and perhaps need to go home for bedtime or homework or whatever else it may be. So, you are welcome to leave. You're also welcome to stay if you'd like to do that. Um, the next item under the superintendence report is our board member appreciation. And I we have some gifts here. I think designed mostly by our art teachers, but uh very excited to share all of this with all of you. And I know um I'm also lucky enough to be a recipient even though I'm not a board member. But, um thank you all. Well, it's board member appreciation day week and

023uh truly this is a job that uh there aren't enough thank yous for the the many many many hours of volunteer time that you put in as our elected officials, board of education members here in district 96. So, um tonight was also just a great example of the wonderful things happening in our classrooms that that you make our reality. So, so thank you so much. >> Oh, chocolates. There it is. Okay. I was looking for the >> And if you feel like we have a minute because Molly Caster is here and thought maybe it'd be nice to take a quick photo maybe in front of the you make Hower shine. So that's a sign from the Hower students. >> All right. >> And you have the card signed by our staff member. So >> thank

024you so much. >> Do you want to see the picture now? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> How would you like this all done? >> I would like you you can grab like your little ornaments or whatever. I took a picture. So >> yeah, that's pretty colorful. >> So cool. Beautiful >> one, two, three. >> Thank you guys. >> All right. Thank you, Molly. I don't know. >> Okay. >> Google it. >> What map looks like this? >> All right. Um we will we will keep moving forward. We have um two groups here that are uh here tonight to present to the board of education about our next strategic planning process. So um I'm going to first welcome uh Dr. Gary Zabilka who's here from educational leadership solutions. And uh I don't think board members have necessarily

025met Gary before, but uh currently Gary and uh Don White from Educational Leadership Solutions have been helping us with our living the plan portion of our strategic plan. they were not involved with us from the beginning but um have been very much involved with us in the the years since the initial development. So going to turn it over to to Gary to Dr. Zilka I should say. Right. >> Very good. >> Yeah. >> Good evening board. First of all, it's a tough act to follow the first through the fifth graders or the fifth graders. >> I'll do my best to try to keep your attention for the next few minutes. U my name is Gary Zabelka as uh Dr. Ryan Toy mentioned. Uh I'm a lifelong educator. I've been in the profession 45 plus years.

026I've served as a teacher, uh, principal, and superintendent. Um, and in my years of retirement, I've served as a consultant and a mentor to many, many superintendents. Actually, Dr. Toy was one of my mentees. Uh, I hope you don't mind my sharing. She's also one of my students when I was a professor at Loyola University when she was getting her superintendent endorsement. So, not that I deserve any of the credit. She's done most of it on her own. And uh anyway, it's good to be back with her and uh to be before you this evening. In 2020 when many people were locked in uh due to co uh three colleagues uh two colleagues and I decided we were going to start a business and as such we took our collective wealth of knowledge as administrators

027and superintendents and thought we would develop a process for strategic planning uh that we felt would be you know widely used by districts and I'm pleased to say that in the uh 4 and 1/2 years that we've been together as a business, uh we've grown to the point where we've got a dozen associates or so that work together with us in providing strategic planning for districts across the state and we've done um upwards of 25 strategic plans for districts um around the state during that period of time. Little bit about our model as far as how we approach strategic planning with school districts. We like to first of all keep the distinction between what we call a phase one and a phase two of our process whereby phase one is a part that primarily rests

028with the board's governance responsibilities. Other words as members of the Illinois Association of School Boards this actual slide with the exception of the bubbles on the right uh belongs to the Illinois Association of School Boards. And they say this is what ideal governance looks like in a school district where you have those bottom tiers, the mission, the vision, the values, beliefs, and the district goals. Basically, are the foundations of what the board's responsibility is. In other words, the board is the one that sets the direction for the for the district um by determining what those should be. often times and in accordance with our model, we recommend that you do that in conjunction with your community. You enlist community members to work with you to help develop the mission, the vision, the values, beliefs, and

029the district goals. And I'll talk about what that process will look like in just a bit. That's what we call creating the strategic plan. That's just those basic parts of it. However, as many of you may know with a strategic plan, those pieces are the directional elements of the strategic plan, it's the um the pieces that follow that are the most important pieces which are the action plans, the timelines, the specific aspects that happen. Those are the pieces that then determine the superintendent goals, the principal and building goals, the classroom and teacher goals, and even so far as the student goals as far as how much they are promoted, excuse me, and embraced throughout the district to truly accomplish those goals that occurred uh in the process at that lower part in those blue levels.

030So, we've got two different phases. the development of those basic aspects and then actually developing the action plans. You'll notice that the development of the action plans takes place with the administrators for the most part. As school board members, you want to make sure from a governing standpoint that you've got the right pieces in place to provide direction to your administration. But then the actual living the plan the actual actual uh action plans and timelines um measures of success and so on are determined uh by the administrators. They are still reported to the board so that you have full knowledge of everything that is going on in the district. It's just the way that we keep the separation of responsibilities between the board governance and the administrator's uh implementation of the plan. You've got a

031flowchart uh and I know you've seen, you know, the handouts on these pieces. The flowchart uh describes what we call that phase one, the development of the mission, the vision, the core values, and the goals. And that is one that rather than looking at this slide, I've broken down because this is the piece that I think uh you would like to see the most as far as what does this look like in actual practice. Well, first of all, we believe that you should engage your community in this process by enlisting anywhere from we say 30 to 45 here. There's no magic number there if you wanted to have a few more people involved in the process, but to involve anywhere from, you know, we could even say 30 to 50 stakeholders. And that would be

032some of your parents, some of your community members, staff members, administrators. We even believe students should be involved. Okay? Maybe not your younger students that you had here tonight, but some of your older students. In fact, we typically recommend sixth or seventh grade students. The reason why we a we target sixth and seventh grade versus eighth graders is because eighth graders will be short-lived in the school district. They will be graduating fairly soon. The sixth and seventh graders, if they're involved, are going to be around for at least a year or two to see the benefits of the work that they've contributed toward. This core stakeholder group is a group that would meet um at least three possibly four times to develop or actually in your case since your district already has a mission, a

033vision, the core values and strategic goals would be to review all of those aspects and make sure that they are still warranted and valid. Those meetings typically consist of about three-hour meetings. Uh so we're looking at roughly three three-hour meetings that are typically held in the school district in a room similar to this with tables that we would then take those 30 to 50 people and have them at tables cross-section um with uh some staff members, some parents, uh students and so on at each of the tables so that they could have conversations with each other about your district's mission, vision, etc. What they will be doing is that they'll be reviewing what you have to make sure that it's still valid and relevant and if there are any changes that need to take place.

034In the meantime, we also um inform and educate this entire group as to what is a mission statement supposed to look like? What is a mission statement uh supposed to what's the purpose of a mission statement and a vision statement etc. So, we make it an educational process for them as well. And it's one where they're highly engaged. Basically, that picture that you see at the bottom. It's not an actual picture, but it might as well be. That's pretty much what it looks like when we're engaged in the process where we have the 30 to 50 people all at tables like that talking with each other about the different aspects that we're looking to create at the same time. And oftentimes even before we pull together that group, we also provide um a survey that

035we can send out to your staff, we could also send that survey out to your entire community, your parents, etc. that will give you feedback and data about what they currently think about your current practices here in the school district. So for example um do people feel that your uh academics are rigorous enough? Do they feel that uh students needs are being met? Do they feel that your facilities are adequate? It's it's basically a satisfaction survey on all of those pieces. typically somewhere between 25 and 35 questions long that we ask as many people as our members of your district, whatever stakeholder position they may be in as constituents to go ahead and complete that survey. We compile that data and then we share that back with this group that's working on your strategic plan.

036That way we have somewhat of a baseline as to how does your community feel about different things that uh the district is doing. Are they satisfied with um your academics, your financials? Again, facilities, communication, those kinds of things. And we ask questions about that. This questionnaire, by the way, is one that although we've got a template for, we actually work with your administrative team and or board members to ask the questions that you would like to have answered. As long as we're surveying, we can customize that survey in any way that you'd like so that we could answer the questions that we'd like to have answered so we can get uh good data to take a look at. Your district currently has these things in place. As I look behind you, you see your empowering

037learners for life. You see your mission statement. You see your vision statement. These would be the pieces. Again, you're you're a district. You've got these things in place. As um Dr. Roy mentioned, uh my partner and I have been working with your district's leadership team to make sure that this is still being uh embraced um by that leadership team and then hopefully back in the buildings as well. But the whole purpose of sharing this piece here now is to say that all of this would need to be reviewed. Is this what we still see is the vision that you have here at Riverside. And if it is, great. We can leave it. We can leave components of it. And yet at the same time as we've done this work with other districts before sometimes I

038say you know what that vision was exactly what we needed 5 years ago but at this point we may be looking at a different vision and we work with the entire group to determine what direction do we want to go and basically we would facilitate those conversations with them in a large group setting uh first as small groups and then pulling that group together for a consensus. this to see that we're working together uh to accomplish what the group would like to have. And we do that for your mission and your vision and then also for your core values. Basically, a final product of the work that we do and you've got one that looks similar to this basically looks something like this. You know, some refer to this as a strategic plan on a

039page. This is another district um from uh North Cook actually. And you can see there they've got a motto, they've got their mission, they've got their vision, and then they have their strategic goals. That's that phase one part. And again, your core stakeholder group that we'd be working with that 30 to 50 people would basically develop this. We also have um our own graphic artist on staff that we would then create a new logo, not a new logo per se, because you've got we wouldn't touch the Riverside logo. We know that that's sacred. Yet at the same time create a new visual, a new graphic for you for your district and the uh mission, vision, belief statements and the uh strategic goals. This is uh a part of the conversation then as well and again

040much of much of this is reached through that survey and that is how is the district currently conforming these performing these are the um the goal areas that your district currently has. You've got student growth and achievement. You've got learning environment, high quality staff, family community partnership and stewardist stewardship of resources. we'd have to look at are those still the same five areas that we'd like to see your district address. Now, I will be one to say that it being one that has studied missions, visions, and uh those kind of things for organizations, not only educational but also corporate organizations. your best organizations don't typically change their missions and their visions and their core values very often. Okay? So I recognize that in sharing this that you may say we're going to leave all of

041those things the same. And if that's the case, then as long as the whole group also buys into that, if we can make that case collectively as a group, then the challenge is determining what are going to be those strategic goals for those next three to five years if that were all to remain the same. So, you're in a good spot as a district that you've got these things in place, but do you want to leave them in place as they are, or are you going to look at potentially changing them? And we work with whatever the group consensus is. By the way, our definition of consensus is one that although everyone may not totally agree with whatever it is that we come up with, people can live with it. Okay? Is basically what our

042definition is. So although it may not be exactly the way one likes it, if they uh can live with it, then that's where we reach consensus because what we've not noticed working with 30 to 50 people, it's challenging to get to consensus, but we do it every time to get to our final products. Moving right along, uh we develop then the new goal areas and the new goals for each of those major areas that are identified for your district. And then uh we look at alignment. We want to make sure that your mission, your vision, your core values, and your goals all recognize and alignment as a direction uh that the district wants to go. Again, another sample of what a final product looks like uh utilizing our process and the final phase one product

043comes to the board for acceptance. Remember I said that that's a board's responsibility in governance is making sure you've approved the mission, the vision, the core values and the strategic goals. That's when the board has approved those things that we begin that phase two part and that is developing the action plans for those goals. Those action plans also include timelines and then performance indicators so that you've got measures of success built into the action plans moving forward. So you've got the plan here. We say now what? Um and here's where as administrators we ask what are those action steps that are needed to accomplish those goals that were set forth by ultimately the board by the approval of that plan. We've got a list of guiding questions that basically you can see how this takes

044one down the road of developing those action plans. You know, so what are the actions that are needed to um achieve those strategic plan goals? What measures are we going to use? What resources are you going to need in order to take action? Um what's the timeline on these things? What are we doing in the first year? What are we doing in the second, third, etc. years? Um all of those pieces become part of that living a strategic plan that second phase and this is actually a lot of the work that we're doing now with your current leadership team and Dr. Ryan Toy what that can look like and this actually resembles one of your goals um and that is hiring talented invested staff. You've got one that looks very similar to that and that

045is action steps, the measures of success, the resources, and then the timelines for completion. Okay, so that's just one sample for one goal, what an action plan uh can look like. And that's only one part of that goal's action plan, just to show you how specific it can get. Although the board's not involved in created creating this, the board does ultimately see this as they're kept a breast as to how the district is moving forward with those goals. So basically that encompasses our entire process looking at a potential tenative timeline. Uh we're looking at, you know, if the board were to make a decision, realizing you may not be making it tonight, but even in December, possible of kicking off the process in January of February or February of 26, getting the core stakeholder group

046together, developing the survey that we'd like to create. I will also mention again those three meetings that we do have with the core stakeholder group. That's a relatively quick process and we do that intentionally because if you're asking people to give up their time to be here to volunteer to be a part of a process like this um you don't want to belabor it. We are very efficient in our use of time and we expedite the process not too quickly but at a speed that we feel is just right so that the process doesn't linger on for months and months which often times can be the case. March, April would be when the action plan work would start. Um, and actually I've got a colleague that does that work. I would be the main facilitator

047for that phase one part. I work closely with our other person that does the living a strategic plan piece. uh she wasn't able to make it here tonight, but she is high energy level, lot of experience as uh as a school leader that is uh skilled at creating the action plans and the timelines. So now we're looking at um roughly May reporting out, reporting back to the board where things are um actually in June and then July 1 implementing your new plan. So overall, that's been a quick snapshot, if you will, of our process. Uh, is there any are there any questions that I could answer for anybody? >> So I I have just a quick question when you were talking about the components of >> the the [clears throat] focus the initial group. >>

048Yes. >> Of 30 to 45. >> I think it said three to seven board members. >> Yes. So, how do we avoid any problems with open meetings act? And >> you know what? Actually, it's a transparent process. Although we invite those who participate to be a part of it, if somebody wanted to watch it, they could. They just don't participate. >> So, you'd post it as an open meeting. >> We would post it as an open meeting. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Which is different than how we did it before. We just had two, >> right? >> The office. >> No, we believe actually if all seven board members wanted to participate, we, you know, encourage that as much as possible. We re recognize that often times schedules don't allow for that but we feel

049this should be a wide open process. There's nothing hidden here and you know grant even the people that are selected to be a part of this group which by the way we work closely with you and your teams to um to select that group. Uh often times we ask on the survey should the survey go out before the process even begins. We would ask, are you interested in serving as a member of this core stakeholder group? We put an asteris there. It says we'll require three to four three-hour meetings in the evening that you must commit to. And if they're willing to participate, then we take a look at those names of those people. Um did a presentation like this the other night and somebody said, "Would you take just anybody? What if you got,

050you know, a negative soul, if you will, in the uh community that wants to be a part of the process? We've had that before. We say, you know what, invite them because basically the power of the group oversees any particular vested interests or individuals. We've done this enough times where we see that uh I've actually had board members say, "Oh, we hope with the strategic plan that we'll get this built into it." And as we know, none of us has any power by ourselves. It has to be the consensus of the entire group. And unfortunately in that case for that one board member, we came up with a phenomenal plan for them. It just did not include that one pet project that they wanted in particular. And that tells us the process works because it

051shouldn't cater to anyone's with all due respect to the board, the administration or anyone. It should be a consensus of all your stakeholders as to the direction that the district goes moving forward. >> Question about the consensus. I mean, you said the consensus is like essentially where people can live with it. >> Yes. >> But um sort of what you're alluding to before like like a bad I think you use bad soul or something like that. >> How do you handle that? Because um if you don't get consensus, I mean what if there's like a handful of people that say absolutely not. I can't live with that. But the majority says yes. >> Again, as a facilitator, you know, that's kind of the work that we do. If you've got, you know, we often times

052sit at tables and you have a whole table of people, >> this is the consensus amongst five out of six tables. What would you like to see? What would you do differently to get consensus here? And if they can't make any significant often times they're like, we're not sure. We're just being naysayers. >> You know, they got a whole group watching them be that way. And often times they will say, you know what, we're not crazy about it. Fine. I hate to put it in those terms, but that means they'll live with it. So, but I'll be honest, we haven't had it that drastic. Okay, that was a drastic example. Um, I perceive that potentially happening someday in this day and age. Yet at the same time, um, we believe that asking the questions, as

053I just demonstrated, um, there's the power in the group and hopefully that greater good, if you will, will um, win out the rest. And again, that's been our experience. And some pretty tough districts, some pretty goodsized districts. We did Crystal Lake last spring, which had 8,000 students. So, we had about 60 people involved in that one and um we were able to reach consensus. Look at their website. I think I may have put it on our materials as a link. Look at what they came up with for their strategic plan. They had some uh pretty cool things in mind. >> I guess how do you list the number of people that you're looking for? How do we decide? Is there like a cap? Do we I mean is there like a minimum that we need?

054>> Yeah. Well, we'd like to have representation from your entire district. So, more than anything, if we saw that if we did it via responding to the survey, we had nobody from I know BL school was here tonight, not enough people from Ble, for example. Uh we'd probably talk to the principal and say, are there a couple of parents we could reach out to? like to have all the buildings represented by parents and staff so that we've got a nice cross-section of everyone represented, not that any building um doesn't have any representation. Good question. We try to make the evenings fun. We typically encourage food to be served to help draw them there. And um what our feedback has been primarily from the core stakeholder teams they've enjoyed being a part of the process and

055they feel like they contributed and that's an important piece because again as a board you're the ones who are delegating that work to them. Ultimately you're approving the final product that collectively is created but at the same time it's a win-win because you've involved as many people as possible and even the students. And that was another piece uh to your question regarding naysayers. When you've got some students that are part of the process, adults behave a little bit better is what we have found. It's the truth. So any other questions? Just kind of dovetail on that. How do you when you have a group that big, how do we make sure that uh people are actually speaking up >> and just Okay. So, do we we just kind of monitor and make sure like, hey,

056you haven't said much or you Yeah. Okay. >> We set ground rules. We encourage everyone to talk. We encourage we actually when we actually when we determine the tables where people sit, we put uh some of your district and building level administrators at tables. You know, they're all teachers. They all were teachers at one point. We asked them to help engage everybody at their tables as much as they can. And then actually as the main facilitator I have a tendency where the students are at the table I'll ask the students the questions to go ahead and speak up. They're the ones who like to to speak on behalf of the group group and then once the other people find the students doing it then they're more apt to talk as well. So there's some dynamics

057that occur as a part of that process that we feel very comfortable with and uh we feel we get good feedback from from everybody uh as a result of that process. >> Could you give us just a quick I know you're doing this for us already, but what does the living the plan part look like? So we approve it and then hand it over to the administration. Could you kind of just give us a walkthrough of like what happens? >> Sure. >> Uh between that and the next board update. Absolutely. What happens then is so that you will have left just big strategic goal areas. In fact, I've got your current plan here. Your your goal is to ensure high levels of learning for all students. Okay. What happens there is we take a look,

058we sit down with we target key administrators uh to lead these goal area conversations. So actually um Dr. Angela, if I may, um she was responsible for the student growth and achievement appropriately. So, we had um another administrator for the learning environment and so on. We have lengthy conversations with them to saying what exactly do we want this to look like. Also, as a part of the key stakeholder group, as we're developing these goals, we ask people, are there particular areas that you'd like to see highlighted? Uh be a part of that. We don't ask for the goals. We just ask for topically what are things and then we share those back with the goal leaders to say here's what came up in the core stakeholder group. We need to come up with a strategy

059that's going to address and or relate to what has come up with. These are lengthy conversations with each of the goal leaders initially and then those goal leaders have teams that they work with and it's part of your overall leadership team that they work with at seeing that these goals are being implemented. So for example, we've got a date out >> December 5th. >> Yeah, December 5th. Um I'll be coming out to meet with your leadership team and the team leaders to address Where have you progressed to at this point as a part of the plan based on the timelines and and pieces that we had talked about at our last meeting which we met last last spring. Okay. To see where things were, how have things progressed since then. So it we call it

060the living the strategic plan part because this is the part where you keep these topics and these conversations alive uh foremost with your leadership team and then amongst the staff and the buildings and and so on so that it's not an isolated document that just gets put on one of your shelf saying well this is our strategic plan we'll revisit it in five years. It keeps it current and keeps it up to date. And uh by us coming out two to three times a year, we have that check-in on all of these goals to make sure that they are progressing. And again, I'll speak for you know your team to say that they all take this work exceptionally seriously as they should because this is what's moving your district forward. Um full day kindergarten was

061a result of your last plan. Okay. And that was an initiative that was started there, but it came to full fruition as a result of the living the plan and putting in timelines and, you know, measures for success. Where are those next steps that are going to need to to happen and what are those things that we're going to be measuring to make sure it's being me uh implemented as it should? So, you've got a good plan in place. the the question I think always is, okay, we've got a good plan. What do we need to do moving forward? And I think that's the challenge. It's a great challenge to have as a district. You've done exceptionally well. Um I know you used a different group the last time. That's okay. Um yet at the

062same time, I think you'll hear similar things from them about how you need to review and update things on an ongoing basis. Interestingly enough, I like to compare when I work with a big core stakeholder group a lot of corporate examples. And I always like to mention we've got an airline like Southwest Airlines that has had the same mission statement for 35 years. Okay? So, it's not out of the ordinary to leave your mission statement as it is as long as it is um is demonstrating your district's purpose for even existing as a district. Okay? If it [clears throat] looks like it needs to be changed or modified, then you look at changing it or modified. But as an organization, there should always be certain pieces that are relatively stable within. As long as you're

063in stable times, which I think as a district, you guys are very good place. Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Zoko. Thank you for the opportunity and um congratulations on board of education month. >> Thank you. >> Enjoy it. Short. [laughter] >> Appreciate it tonight. >> Thank you. >> All right. And we have one more group that's going to come in. So, we have Crystal Connelly and Alisa Brent from uh CEC who are going to talk with us about the CEC process for strategic planning. And um it is worth noting that uh CEC was was the group that helped us facilitate the initial development of the plan 5 years ago during Z on Zoom during a global pandemic. So um it's nice to see you in person. >> Nice to >> Well, thank you

064so much for um having >> that does not amplify, but we had small children here earlier. So if you want [laughter] that >> it doesn't amplify the room, but it goes for the broadcast. So >> got it. Well, >> we had a bunch of littles in doing presentations, >> right? >> And they were adorable. >> Yeah, >> they were super cute. Well, we're very excited. Um, so we um we were part of the first time you did your strategic plan, so we're super excited that um you reached out and invited us back. As she said, I'm Alisa Brent. I'm the managing director at CEC. And this is Crystal Connley. She's our field director. Um, and so we you keep going. [laughter] >> So just Oh, it's right here. All right. Thank you. Um, a little

065bit about us. So CEC, um, we have been in the state of Illinois for about 38 years. and we started as a um small cohort and we have grown to be all over the United States. So we are now approved vendors in multiple states across the country. Um a lot of our work that we have been sustaining here in Illinois has put us kind of on the map. We're excited. We're an approved vendor through ISBY. And so we've been doing lots of strategic plans, but one of our biggest strengths is that we support districts both at the leadership level, at the educator level, and at the student level. And we have a lot of impact measures that we use to support the work that we're doing. So most recently we've um joined some of the

066um bigger research companies in or or researchers that are out there such as Ripple which is associated with Brown University and Annenberg um where we are working with them on a lot of little R research around the work that we do. So that's pretty exciting. Um, a lot of districts come to us for many reasons. One is we are on many approved vendors lists here in Illinois. We're onesies. Um, we are very responsive to all of our district's needs. So, one of the things that we really pride ourselves on is we are in the trenches. So, we are in classrooms. We are coaching leaders. We are coaching teachers. We are looking at data. We we are not um removing ourselves from the classroom. None of us on our team ever want to say nope, we've

067been out of the classroom for this long. That is not who we are. In fact, tomorrow I'm going in and I'm modeling lessons for um in a school. So, it's it's something that brings a unique twist to the work we do. Um, we love to look at your bigger strategies and help you simplify things to make it practical and things that our educators really embrace. And we don't want to just keep adding things to people's plates. We want to take the platter and make it just a small little dessert plate. Um, and then we look at building capacity and sustainability. And so I think that is one of the bigger reasons people come back year after year. When we look at our strategic plan, we like to think of it as a blueprint. And we

068like to think that when we create this, we're moving you beyond this this simple here's our strategies and goals. We want to create frameworks that really help you grow as a district. And one of the things that we know about your strategic plan that you've had is it's been super successful and you've done a phenomenal job. I think when we first met and we saw all the dots and all the great things that you've been doing and I think that that's something that we've really um we really attribute to the fact that when you do a strategic plan that is a blueprint that can really grow with a district, it's lasting. And so we really look at those pieces. [snorts] Now I would say one of the biggest reasons districts come back to CEC is

069um well there are several but I the one that I hear a lot the reason districts contact me to say Crystal can you come back to do our strategic plan is because of the inclusivity of our process. We are very intentional about the way that we collaborate with the district. So you lead the strategic planning process. We co-lead it with you. So we follow your vision, your ideas, your thoughts. And the wonderful thing about having um supported your last development of your strategic plan is we know you. We know your plan. We were there with you. We heard the voices of your stakeholders. And so that allows us to not come back in and start fresh and start over. What we want to do is honor the work that you've done, utilize that and build

070from the strengths that you've already grown into from your last plan. And so that is using that and listening to your stakeholders of what does this look like now today in 2026 when you start your new plan. Who are we now? Does this still fit or where do we need to really imagine ourselves five years from now, seven years from now? Because those are the little kiddos that you're planning for. So what is that world going to look like for them then? And are we does our current plan fit that? How might we need to tweak? So our process is not requiring you to go back and start everything fresh. it is let's leverage the things that are going well and then continue to tweak where you need to to tweak to keep your your

071district growing. So our partnership process is very intentional. We have our team who works with you and we work with your steering committee team to kind of guide the work of your plan. So, we do all of our pre-planning with you. When we have our data workshop where we're looking at data to say, what does our current data tell us? Where are we today? We're looking at that current reality. That's something that you will lead. You you'll talk tell us what data you want to talk about, what data you need to look at, what data is relevant to you. Will we make suggestions? Absolutely. But that is co-built with you deciding which stakeholders are going to be a part of your group. One of the things that is super important in this um process is

072the voice of the students and it's one of the pieces for us that is a critical part of our process. We have students voices every step of the way. They're an integral part of our team and they are part of the full workshop sitting around having discussions with adults about what matters to them, what works for them and what they want and look for in their school. One of the other benefits of working with CEC is yes, we help you develop an amazing plan, but we don't just stop there. One of the things that we know from almost 40 years of doing this is you can develop the best plan and it sits on the shelf. No one knows what it is except the people who were sitting at the table to develop it. Implementation

073of a strategic plan is the critical part. The easy part is the writing of the plan. What happens is when you get back in the swell of the district, so when all of the things that are coming at you in a day, sometimes strategic planning can sit um get pushed kind of behind the scenes. One of the things we know from Riverside is that you don't do that. You live your strategic plan. And our organization, part of our process is to walk that with you, support you through that, help you think through these are the barriers we had last time. How can we overcome those? What do we need to think through this time so that we can be proactive to try and miss some of those pitfalls that might have hit us last time?

074[clears throat] We bring with us a full toolkit. This is an elevation from the last time you've worked with us. We have a toolkit that gives you all of the tools that you need to live your strategic plan over five years. So that includes not just action plans, but we also work on implementation plans. We talk about what are the adult actions that need to shift as you're implementing your plan. How do we measure those things? What does that look like in continuous improvement cycles? So we help you look through those things. We give you the tools to monitor, to celebrate, and to continuously keep your strategic plan at the forefront of the work that you do. Now, we have developed many plans over um the state of Illinois and I would say the country.

075Um but one of the benefits of working with CEC is the continued partnership. Um, it is the feedback when we hear from clients three years later, Crystal, can you come back in and help us with this piece of our strategic plan? We hit a snag. That lets us know their strategic plan is in use. They're living it. They're using it. It's in the fabric of what they do. And what I truly believe makes a difference there is every single stakeholder sees themsel in our plan. So lots of plans have a portrait of a graduate. What we've expanded in our plan is not just a graduate. That is of course the heart of your strategic plan, but it's really important to think through who are the other people that are surrounding the kids. Who are they

076and what do we expect from them? So we help you build portrait of an adult which is who are all of the adults working in our schools? What are the competencies, the expectations that we have of them to be able to help kids meet that portrait of a graduate? Then we look at portrait of a family and community. What does it look like for a family or a community or caregivers to be a supportive role in learning for students? What does that look like? We help you define that as part of your vision. And then lastly, your portrait of a system which says what will we ensure in our system so that families and adults can support kids and give them what they need so that we can live this vision of our portrait of

077a graduate for our kids. And so that's a really powerful piece of the visioning that we do with you because one of the reasons that we have districts keep coming back is because of that inclusivity where all stakeholders feel a part of the strategic plan instead of it living in your district office. >> So several things really um occur during this time. One is the collaboration. So, a lot of our workshops are completely collaborative. And I think as Crystal said, we don't just come in and say, "Okay, here it is. Follow our our lead." What we do is we set up clear milestones and real clear progress that's visible to everyone, but with your guidance. We are your partner and we facilitate with you. And I think it's really easy to come in and say,

078"Okay, here's the template. What are the goals? What are the strategies? Thanks." That's not who we are. We want you to go through the work. And so in this case, since you already have a plan that has been very successful, maybe now it's just what do we have to refresh? What do we have to look at and say what what have we accomplished? How much more do we have to go? Or how do we sustain this? Right? Because it's not about yep, check the box. We met this goal. Now, it's how do we sustain this goal? So, we may have three more that we want to add, but we want this one sustainable. So, does it still live there? And I think that that's something that we really um want to support and really encourage

079versus all right there's the old one now let's start from scratch with the new one. So some of the things that we want to do is we really want to align this with the vision and really take that current plan plus the next phase and create the new living plan. And so when we look at this, we want to really start thinking about what are the needs. So in the proposal, we put everything that we do. You don't need everything. So when when we sit down to really look at that, a lot of that will come out um because because you've done some of that work. Some of it will stay in because you do need to be communicating with the the the families and the stakeholders because some of your families weren't here when

080you created the last one. So, you know, that's in that piece. You know, I look at it as that's like the big Cadillac version. So, now what do we need to pull out to really meet your needs? And so, everything we do is very flexible and we want to work with that. So when we move forward, we really look at this in three phases. The readiness phase and so that is when we sit down with your immediate steering committee team like who's the small group. So you know your superintendent, um the cabinet, some of you, you know who and we plan like how is this going to be laid out? What are we keeping? What are we expanding on how? How How is this going to look together? Then we take that to the bigger

081group so that they know that you're going to be part of this bigger group. What does that look like, sound like, feel like? Um when are we meeting? What's in person? What's your homework? What do we do? What do you do? Then we have our three workshops where we meet to re refresh your vision, where we'll set the goals, and then where we pull it all together so that now your goals have your strategies and then we move to that and then we get you started on that living the plan piece. So we look at it in three phases and within those phases you kind of tell us what we need where we need to go. What questions do you have? >> How many sessions do we when you gather this information like when we

082get to stakeholders involvement? How many sessions are we looking at having and how long are those sessions? >> The the workshop sessions. Um there are three workshop sessions and they're a full day. >> Full day. >> Yeah. Now, but that's the only um that's it though. I mean some of the other sessions are virtual or just with a committee the smaller committee >> and we have an orientation with the full group that is a virtual session that's about an hour and a half just to get everyone oriented to the process and how we'll work together and dates and things like that. And then we also have a virtual um hour about an hour and a half session after all of the workshops as a final let's look at the plan one more time. we've gotten

083our last feedback uh from the stakeholders. Um one of the things that I don't think we mentioned is we have a very intentional feedback cycle during the process which is very intentional. So yes, we will have a large group there and we will have their voice. You will have brought in data from the perspective of your other stakeholders. So we'll be looking at that during the data workshop. But after each workshop, so for example, that first workshop where we're looking at data, we will come out with a synopsis of the data and what we feel is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, those things. We send those out to your full stakeholder group to say, did we get it right? So that's the question we want to keep asking your stakeholders, not just at the end, but all

084the way through. So then our second workshop is the visioning workshop. This is the amazing one because it is where we say let's what what's the most amazing thing you can imagine and so we have everyone really thinking about if you could design your own school district what would that look like? And so we have everyone we have students, we have parents, we have community members, we have board members, we have admin, we have teachers, we have support staff, all of these people in on the team who are having these really rich discussions. So at that vision retreat, we come up with what we call a preferred future statement. Preferred future statement is your mission, your vision, your core values, and those portraits that we talked about. And so what that does is it really

085gives you a robust vision of where you want the district to go. And so at the end of that second workshop, we take that preferred future statement that the team drafted together and we send that out again. Did we get it right to survey your stakeholders? Once we get that data back, the first thing we do at the next workshop is always review the data and decide, okay, well, based on what stakeholders told us, did we get it right or do we want to tweak anything? So, there's tweaking along the way from all of the stakeholder voice that keeps coming. And then that third ret, the third workshop is the setting direction. And so that is where we say okay well we looked at our current reality where we are we've developed this vision of

086where we want to go now what's our pathway to get there and so that's when we develop the goals and the strategies and things like that. So um that stakeholder feedback loop is is done all the way through >> and that and that's really critical. So we so after a workshop, we take it all back. We put it in the the Google form. We send it to to you. Your communications director sends that out to everybody. We monitor that and then we create charts and graphs and all the notes so that when we see you again, you can see what is what does the, you know, entire Riverside community see. So we we take that on and do that, but we think it's really important so there's no secrets and no one coming back to

087say, "Well, my voice wasn't heard." Yep, you filled it. You know, here it is. So, it's very helpful. Um, you know, we have done, you know, an option within our proposal is we could do focus groups. Um, you know, or we don't have to. We do >> community forums. >> Yep. We've done all those different pieces. It really just depends on where you think the community need what role they need to play. If the if the feedback is all they need then then we adjust it. So when you talk about the inclusivity part um how like what's the process to go about that to make sure that you've got the right balance or what however terminology you use for that? >> Yeah. So a lot of so in some of the districts that we've worked

088in recently um when they look at this they invite bes you know your cabinet um they put it out to the to educators like who would like to participate from the educator pool who from the board wants to participate you know they send out messaging to parents right so depending you know I'd say that in the last few groups we've had, there's been about 60 stakeholders, >> I would say 40 to 60. >> Yep. >> That have been participating. And we also look at students. So we look at students that have attended here. So you can invite middle school, you can invite some of your high school students. We also look at feeder schools. So where where do your students feed into and do those superintendent want to come? um any of the collaboratives that

089you're associated with within the community, special ed collaboratives, um you know, other elementary um school districts that are nearby. Um in the last one, we had four superintendent from neighboring school districts that wanted to participate. And we've even lately had um park district leaders come in, especially when districts are very intentional about their partnerships with park districts or maybe the library system. Whomever you feel in the community could be good for them to be involved in your future vision because maybe there's some partnership opportunities as you're going through. The the the awesome part about that is if you have, let's say, a library, you know, leader in the room, they're hearing all of these things that you are looking to these areas where you're looking to grow. And then it's sparking in them, oh, these

090are ways we can help. These are ways we can help when usually you wouldn't have that opportunity to even be able to brainstorm in that way. So that's why we always recommend like the libraries, the park districts, those people because they can be listeners in how they may be um supportive partners in the efforts that you have in your plan. The um the last one we did as well had um um community members that don't have children in the district as well who who just wanted to have a say and I and many of them were really helpful >> to see it from a different lens. And one of the things we do in our pre-planning when we work with your steering committee is to help you really think through who are the voices we

091don't usually hear from. And we're usually very intentional about that. Who are those people? How might we be able to communicate with them and maybe solicit them to try and be a part of the team? um whether it is um newcomers or um English language learners, whomever those people are that usually are not the ones coming to board meetings, you know, the ones that you don't usually hear from. Um we're very intentional about >> figuring out a way to communicate with them and invite them to be a part of the process. even if they can't commit to the full team days, what we do is we say, "Okay, well, even if we only need a focus group just for this group, how can we make sure that their voices are still heard and are a

092valuable part of the process?" >> We we had interpreters the last time and we had a a group of um Spanish speaking parents that came >> with an interpreter and they they had a lot to share. >> Awesome. It was awesome. >> So, it was nice. >> Yeah. the student part that you were talking about students every step of the way. We had um I think two high school students, high school graduates that joined us for the last time, but I think it was just the two of them. I'm sure it was very overwhelming being in a group of all these, you know, adults that are talking about stuff that you maybe don't quite understand or whatever. Um it sounds like you go a little bit deeper with that. So, like what what does that

093look? Is it a bunch or not a bunch but is it like a larger group of students and are they in all of this? >> Yeah, the last one I think there were what like eight there were eight students and I was say we had more students >> but they you know it was during the pandemic it was on Zoom and so our students kind of fell off. I mean I think they were busy and timing wasn't great and I think we had arranged for maybe six and they were not high school but they were middle school graduates still in high school. >> Yeah. is always to we don't necessarily give you a specific number but here's what we want. We whenever we have a full day workshop where everyone is working together, talking together,

094collaborating, brainstorming, ideulating all the things. That's why it's a full day, a lot of really deep discussion. We want to make sure that every table is represented by all stakeholders. That means every single group has to have a student. So what we do is we figure out about How many people will you have about? Are we going to have six to eight people per group? Awesome. Okay. Well, then how many groups will that be? That dictates how many kids we need. But here's what I'll say about the students having done this for so many years. High school students are awesome, but when I tell you the best students, especially in a district like Riverside, it's middle school. your middle school students who are currently experiencing your system are some of the most powerful conversations and

095all it takes is for that first hour for them to get the and and we're very intentional about talking about everyone is equal here everyone's voices are just equally important students your voices mean the same as a superintendent if you're sitting at the table together don't feel you know shy to tell your opinion all the things it usually only takes them about an hour to loosen up and after that the middle school kids run with it. They love it. They will tell you everything that they want, everything they don't like, what they think should be changed. But what's so cool is their voices totally change the whole conversation of the adults at the table. >> And I think the high school students bring that lens of now that we're getting ready for college, here's how

096this has helped me along the way. Um, I think the only thing they were really anxious was that they didn't know if they were allowed to get food off the back table. >> And so once they found out they could eat, they were all that that was it. They were happy. Like they were so all so polite like, "Are we allowed to go get the bagel?" Yes, you can go eat. >> So once they got over that, it was good. Um during during the sessions, how do you facilitate that to make sure that like everybody you you're kind of talking about like make sure everybody feels comfortable and like if you see quiet people kind of what's the approach to just make sure that there's not something that they're just not >> or uncomfortable speaking

097or something like that. So I I think our strength is in the fact that most of the work we do is professional development. So we run this whole thing that way. Meaning everything is an we their activities. It is extremely structured in the the the way we get people to communicate and talk and anchor charts and post-it notes and you know silent reflection time. Now turn to your partner. Now turn to the three, you know. So we build activities in because that's that's our strength, right? Is taking a whole group of teachers and keeping them engaged all day to to to do that. So now we're doing it with this. So, we've taken our background of that and we apply it to this piece so that people leave not with walking away thinking they learned

098something today, but they also were part of a bigger process. >> And I would add to that to say that we're very intentional about how the activities are structured in that there are roles for each group. there are structured discussion questions and conversations um that are very intentional and proactive and productive. So, one of the things um I I did a strategic plan last year and the superintendent said, "Crystal, I just need to let you know we have a community member who is going to be a part of the team and she wants a football stadium. That's the reason she's getting on the strategic plan. It is she does not care. That's that's her goal. So, we're going to have to be really careful." I said, "It'll be fine. It will be fine." So in

099our visioning workshop, we go through what are the amazing things that you want, what what would you imagine? And the football stadium came out. But the way that our activities are structured is in a let's all come up with ideas. Let's consolidate. Let's consolidate. Let's consolidate. So that we're getting consensus multiple times throughout the the session. So everyone feels like my voice was heard. Everyone listened to me and okay, I understand why we're going this way. This woman never brought up the football stadium again >> after that one time. She voiced it. Everyone talked about it and it was a really great conversation about, oh my gosh, that would be amazing, but we really need a new reading program. So let's talk, let's prioritize some things. And so through that process of the prioritization and

100um uh calibration and consensus along the way removes a lot of the um >> barriers of keeping people from all having a voice. >> Yes. The barriers and the and the self um what am I trying the the the agendas that people can bring to the the team. >> Yeah. I mean, I think that's good too just in general, like there's always concern about having too strong of a dissenting voice or a group or something, but I think it's good because you got you need that counterbalance and >> yes, >> if you can work through the maybe we can get there or here's why we can't. I think I mean I think it's better off in the end anyway. So, >> absolutely. And we encourage you to do that. >> Yeah. >> Those voices where

101you know sometimes you're like we don't know if we want them. Oh, no we do. >> We do because they have a loud voice for a reason. What is it that we need to hear and help them think through and talk through as a group? Because at the end of this, we want all of that to be gone. We want to be leaving this as one united vision moving forward collaboratively, you know, without the dissension. So, you know, we are very intentional with our process to make sure that you leave without that. Matt, Stephanie, >> um I was just thinking about, you know, as you work with a number of course of districts, and I presume some of those have been their second or maybe third, you know, plans as as would be the case

102here in in Riverside, I guess. What are some themes or kind of common trends that you've seen? You said like we've already perhaps done some of the initial groundwork and laid some of the frameworks. Um, have you seen districts go in vastly different directions? Have you seen at the very least some common goals and missions staying the same? Like, is there a theme that emerges more often than not when you're working on second, you know, or third versions of, >> you know, I I think I think you see a little of both. And sometimes it just depends where we are in the in our cycle of education, too. like what what are some what are the some of the trends happening in education? So, for example, when we look at yours, Illinois has a new

103literacy plan and some new different ways of that they've put out for literacy, you know, based on the sur the read act and the surrounding area states. So, that wasn't here during co so maybe that is something that we want to address and look because it's may not be in the plan that we look at things as aligned to some of the new ISB processes. But then on the other side of that, we um we have districts who say, you know, this goal is something that we're we we're just not there yet and we want to keep that or we love our vision, but maybe we just tweak these two words because of the of the language that needs to happen now. So, it really just depends on the district itself where they are. Um,

104you know, sometimes there's been a lot of turnover in a district, even though we did their plan, but now that you know, some of the cabinet members are new. Um, maybe the superintendent is new, but the cabinet has been there. So, I think it just really depends on the district's pieces. And to me that's something we would talk about with that immediate steering committee is you know the first questions would be what do you like and you know what do you need to change. I also think too then even before then is looking at all the different offerings to say what do you need to do like I know when we when we spoke some of those family you know reaching out to families are things that we need to keep but maybe we don't

105need to focus groups because we did those five years ago. So, it just it really depends on where you're at. And I think those are conversations we need to have as we move forward. >> And I would say um in situations like yours, I would say mostly the structure stays the same. >> Um the overarching goals mainly stay the same. Your strategies may change. Some of your strategies will probably continue over if you haven't finished them, but there may, like Alisa said, be new ones. Like right now, a lot of districts are trying to wrestle with what are we going to do about AI? So, some districts are really looking to how do we address some of those technical changes that are happening um in the world. So that would be, you know, a similar

106one to what Alisa's talking about. But, um, with a really successful plan like you have, um, we would absolutely start with, okay, well, what are we keeping? You know, what structure probably um how are you feeling about the goals? You know, so we'll start kind of examining there um without starting from scratch for sure. And that might be one of the first surveys that goes out. You know, this is what we have. What is what what is what is a and then we can decide is it this big of a a stakeholder group or is it this big? You know, to see. >> And just in your experience working with all these different districts, is there sort of a a sweet spot or magic number in terms of board member board member involvement? I mean,

107would you want all seven? like what I know we did it differently in 2020 for various reasons but >> you know for for for a lot of districts you know it you know some of you have other jobs right so it just depends on you know the last district I was on we had three board members um not all of them >> where it's been all board members >> but again you have to now open a board meeting you have to do all the things so most districts I would say choose to have um less than half >> just so that it's not an open board meeting. I would say usually two to three >> is usually >> and that's something common >> you know and it was decided based on schedules >> almost always

108based on [laughter] who actually who has a full time who has babies who you know it's like you you you get to decide. >> Yeah. And sometimes we've had it where maybe only one um board me one board member is actually available to attend. But then what we can do is if it's something that you want, we actually have presented to the board to say here's an update from our last session. So after each workshop, we can come to the board and give you know like a private not private but like a personal um update. here's where we are and to get personal feedback from the board on the artifacts that were created if the board members are not able to be in attendance. We've done that as well. >> All right. Okay. Thank you.

109Thank you very much for coming out. Appreciate it. All right, we're gonna >> chug along. That was the superintendent report. I think that's super report. >> So, um to do a lot of talking though, >> right? Right. On to a consent. >> All right. Uh yep. Okay. So, moving on to the consent agenda. Could I have the board secretary please read tonight's consent agenda? >> Um tonight's consent agenda consists of um minutes of the following previous meetings. the October 8th committee of the whole meeting, the October 8th close session meeting, and the October 15th regular business meeting. The personnel report is presented, the district office supports staff salary approvals, the payables pre-list as of October 31st, and the payables pre-list as of November 19th, uh the school fees for the 2026 um academic year, and

110the school maintenance grant. >> All right. Thank you. Uh would anyone like to take anything off for further discussion before we vote? No. All right. Well, then is there a motion for the board of education to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> Second. >> Kathy, will you please call a role? >> Okay. Miss Gun, >> I. >> Mr. Olic. >> Hi. >> Mr. Barati. >> Hi. >> Mr. Hunt. >> Hi. >> And Mr. Mayorhead. I >> All right. Motion passes. >> All right. Next up is the approval of our new director of facilities and maintenance. Uh before I do a motion, maybe I'll ask you for maybe just like a quick over and we've we've kind of talked about this back and forth in a couple different um actually I guess it's mostly been

111closed because it's personnel. So maybe just a quick overview of this new position that we created. >> Yes. Um so we changed the title and um changed the job description really with uh goals in mind of essentially sort of elevating this position um support more at the district office level. Um want to certainly congratulate and thank Bill Radkey for his many many years of service as our director of buildings and grounds. Um but we also know we've been talking in recent years a lot about our aging facilities, the importance of facilities, the importance of really maintaining a very clear maintenance plan and um just the the day-to-day impact that that really does take. So we are um very very excited to have been through a really thorough um interview process and Zachary Pros is here

112with us tonight actually. Um, so after the vote perhaps he can say a few words and um um so yeah, we're we're excited about where this is going to go. I know talking to Zachary tonight we're saying that he will have an office at the district office. Um Bill Radkkey offices in our maintenance garage, but again just uh with a clear goal to turn turn this more into like a really proactive um role that can really examine things before they become a problem hopefully most of the time. Um and just more communication also with our building level leaders. I know our principles um often feel that they have a lot of facilities work that sort of uh lands on their plate. I know that's some reality in that, but really would like to um relieve

113them of some of those duties and responsibilities. So um really excited to have uh Zachary joining us. >> Thank you for that. Uh, so is there a motion for the board of education to approve the 2025 2026 contract for the director of facilities and maintenance for Zachary Pros with a start date of December 1st, 2025 as presented? >> Second. >> Kathy, will you please call the RO? >> Okay. Mr. Hunt, >> I. >> Mr. Olic, >> hi. >> Mr. Barati, >> hi. >> Miss Gun, >> hi. >> Mr. Mirhead, >> hi. >> Okay, motion passes. All right. >> All right. Congratulations here. You want to come say a few words [applause] [laughter] >> Martha didn't tell you to write a speech, you know, hour and 45 minutes of great for this opportunity and looking forward

114to work. Well, every single one of you. >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Do you want me to say a little thing about myself? Um, I'll I'll say I mean, so Zachary lives in North Riverside, so we're also um struck by his proximity to the to the district because things do come up and uh sometimes there's very early mornings or late nights that might be needed when we have facilities issues. So, we appreciate that. Um, Zachary's been most recently in Mannheim School District, so also is coming to us with um specific school district experience that we really appreciate. >> His own kids go to Kumar School District right next door. Right. >> Correct. 13-year-old pros and a 9-year-old Harland pro. >> Yeah. Well, welcome. I'm personally I just I'm excited about that.

115We've been talking about facilities since the day I joined the board, since before I joined the board and we've done a lot of work here, but as you are probably aware, we have very old buildings and Mark makes us very aware of that in his uh tenure with us too. So, being being very strategic about what's going to break before it actually breaks and from time to time stuff breaks and we don't expect it. So I I think this is a good position to have to just really be a little bit more high level on on kind of what we have done in the past. So welcome. >> Thanks. >> All right. Uh with that, Riverside Education Council, no comment tonight? Nope. Okay. Uh board member comments. We had a play tonight. >> We did.

116>> Did anybody go to the play tonight? >> Not tonight's show, but prem tonight's show. So, okay. >> I wanted to call out uh Casmir left, but uh at Ble Park last night, we had a book club. It was the second meeting, second of three, where we talked about the book, The Anxious Generation. I wasn't I wasn't able to attend the first meeting, which apparently I think there were 30 parents there. And last night it was maybe about half that. Um but we talked about safetyism. We talked about uh the the right to play and and a lot of conversation on the parents part about about the right to play law and how that's implemented and does it apply to middle school, does it apply to elementary? So, a lot of good conversation back and

117forth and I really appreciate her uh in instituting that, bringing that up and and hopefully that's something that can be that can happen again uh or happen at other schools. But it was really it was a great book. if you haven't read it, it it uh it has so many insights that uh so many things like oh so that's where that comes from. Um so I highly recommend the book and I would recommend having that kind of discussion with uh with parents uh at other schools as well in the future. >> Had a lot of people recommend that book actually. I should probably get it and read it. I've heard a lot of positive reviews about it. So you sounds like you liked it and it was a pretty engaging discussion. >> I did. I

118did. There's there's one particular thing where I'll I'll put on my Cubscot hat just for a second. When our when our den came up with a cheer this year, our den's kind of about 50/50 girls and boys and the girls voted overwhelmingly to say beans. And I'm like, what? What on earth? Why are they saying that? Okay, sure it's beans. And then like I'm reading about things, okay, and like an an online influencer, a female online influencer says beans. I'm like, "Oh, wow. Now I know." >> Interesting. All right. I might I might have to pick up that book. >> Central's wrapping up for one book, one school. Um, this whole week's been spirit week, so the kids are all dressing up and having a lot of fun. [cough and clears throat] Pretty engaging. >>

119Um, I just general comment on kind of board business stuff. Matt and I attended all three of the uh commissions. I always call them committees, the commissions around our Ble Park thing. Dan joined us for the landscape one and uh board packets out there if you want to read through stuff that's sent over to the trustees. They're going to be discussing that tomorrow. And so at some point soon, we should probably have some feedback or I guess we'll know tomorrow which direction the trustees go or what kind of feedback comments they have. Um, so I'll be at parent teacher conferences tomorrow until from like I don't know 5:30 to 8:00 PM because I have two of them here and it's right >> six minutes over 18 periods adds up to a lot of time. So

120I don't think I'm going to be able to go but uh I'm definitely interested to see what what happens tomorrow and and what direction we get on how we how we move forward with this thing. So >> I should be there tomorrow to listen. >> You give me a live stream. Yeah. During during parent teacher comments. >> All right. Cool. All right. Uh, old business tax levy 2025. Is there a motion for the board of education to adopt the resolution approving the 2025 tax levy? >> Uh, Kathy, will you please call the RO? >> Okay. Mr. Barsi, >> I. >> Mr. Oleg, >> I. >> Mr. Hunt, >> hi. >> Miss Gun, >> I. >> And Mr. Mayorhead, >> I. >> Okay. Motion passes. >> All right. No new business tonight and I'm no new

121no additional public comment. Um so future meeting dates I'm not going to go through every single one of these. December 3rd committee the whole 7 p.m. at the multi-purpose room at central December 17th regular business meeting at 7 p.m. here in the Hower Learning Resource Center. Uh January 7th we will be having a committee of the whole meeting because this year it's actually the week uh that that meeting is usually during winter break. this year it's not. And then the 20 January 21st we'll have a regular business meeting at 7 p.m. in the Houser Learning Resource Center. Skipping a few dates. April 1st will be cancelled because this year April 1 is going to be during spring break. So essentially we're bringing January 7th back and we're canceling April 1st. So net equal meetings just

122uh different timing on on how we do it based on how the calendar fell this year. Uh and with that that is it and this meeting is adjourned. >> [music]