District 96 Board of Education Committee of the Whole Meeting 11-05-25

001[music] We are back into open. Sorry for being a couple minutes late. Um, let's see. We are I'm going to start by inviting principal Todd Gearman up here to give a welcome to Ames. >> Good evening, District 96 Board of Education, Dr. Ryan Toy. My name is Todd Gman. I'm principal at Ames Elementary School. I want to welcome you to Ames and share a few highlights. Uh school has been off to a great start. Uh it's hard to believe we're rapidly approaching the uh end of the first trimester, but uh we had some really great stuff going on at Ames. We were just recently named a tree campus by the Arbor Day Foundation. The tree campus program recognizes a commitment to environmental stewardship, sustainability, and community engagement. By meeting the rigorous standards set forth by

002the Arbor Day Foundation, Ames contributes to a greener and healthier school environment. uh fourth grade just recently hosted their medieval theme station rotations. So they had a CKLA unit on medieval times and they uh had stations actually right here in this room with complete with personalized crowns for everybody. Uh stations include arts and crafts, creating stained glass windows, physical movement, archery and target practice. >> Yes, with the Nerf stuff. Yeah. So um and STEM castle building. So it's really cool. Really cool. Uh, Miss Reder, as you might recall from previous school years, her class always adopts a cow. So, uh, they adopt a cow. They watch it, you know, grow up through, uh, you know, social media, so on and so forth. And their new cow, they just name Rizzo, and, uh, there's a connection

003with Rizzo. Her mom is the adopted cow from Miss Reiker's classroom two years ago. So, that was pretty cool to share. Uh, Ames has a new program we started this year with social emotional learning, and it's called Making a Splash at Ames. And it's it's a whole schoolwide initiative for students to really show that Dolph being respectful, responsible, and safe. Students can earn these make a splash tickets as a class. You have to earn them as a class for uh walking down the hallway and showing respectful behaviors, walking down the hallway to art, music or PE, just having a really good day at lunch and asking to throw out your trash, so on and so forth. So, the class has to really work together and that's a collaborative effort. And they earn the making the

004splash tickets. Tickets go outside the uh doorways. So, at any given time, you might even see them as you're walking through the school right now. You'll see making the splash tickets out there. We just started it for the month of November. And then, uh, we we have three sections at every grade level here at AI. So, there's one winning class from each grade level that wins a prize. It could be some extended recess. It could just be um a popsicle party. But then if we reach a schoolwide goal, which this last one was 200 uh tickets total for the school, we do a schoolwide celebration. And I'd like to all invite all of you. You'll get the invitation from me in your inboxes. We're having a glow stick dance party in the gym. And I

005see the excitement. Yes. So, we're all going to RSVP to Todd and uh we're going to be there, right? No, it's 15 minutes. It's going to be a lot of fun. Every kid gets a glow stick. They have a dance party for 15 minutes and it's in celebration that as a school we met our goal. We're upping our goal for the months of November, December because they're shorter months due to Thanksgiving, holiday, and winter break that um we have a goal of 300 tickets for the school, but we'll still have those winning classrooms from each of those grade levels. Second grade just uh finished their first monthly STEM project in October. It was based on the book Room on the Broom. They designed and built which brooms and then they tested which which broom could

006carry the most pumpkins. Our monthly STEM projects are possible thanks to the help of our parent volunteers at AS who helped to gather the materials and actually help to support the students during their learning while they're having it right here in the multi-purpose room. And then finally from farm to table or should we say hydroponics to table. We're it's currently taking place here at Ames. The process of growing lettuce in the school in our indoor hydroponic gardens, which you've probably seen around the school and maybe in our other buildings as well, develops teamwork, responsibility, and a deeper understanding of sustainable agriculture and food production. All fifth graders involved will plant, harvest, create, and serve salad to their classmates and their teachers. And it's a really great community building activity that brings fifth graders together to

007enjoy a nice, healthy salad as a snack. So, those are some of just a taste of what's going on, no pun intended, at so welcome and have a great evening. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh that moves us into public comment and um our new process here is to just uh state how public comment works. For those that uh watch and observe or plan to come early uh at some point in time in the future, uh there's usually a lot of questions around this. So, the board welcomes and encourages community engagement at 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 that you limit your comments to 5 minutes. And please note that this

008is 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. And with that, we do have public comment. So, I'll welcome Joel Marhole up to talk about the playground. You might be our first former B board member that I'm aware of to come back and give a public comment. >> It's a little bit different being on this side, but [laughter] I'll take that. All good things must pass and new experiences. Um, I'm here to speak to the long discussion you had last two weeks ago about the playground and the fence and how it was designed. Um, overall I think DLA, Ryan and Jason did a good job

009living up to the uh the mandate we gave the board. Sorry, not we anymore. uh the goals that the board gave them to keep the uh playground footprint within a reasonable uh size, not to expand it too much. Um ideally to protect all the trees as much as possible and they've done an exemplary exemplary job of doing that. Um with that then there was a discussion about how DLA arrived at some of the design elements and the board had a long discussion um which originally seemed fairly it not originally it was started off being very uh well balanced kind of neutral on what the board thought about offense and um ultimately came to a majority who was all right with going with moving forward with the design that included a fence surrounding the entire property.

010um thought about this a lot. The and my initial reaction on a very personal side is not super in favor of the fence, but overall the the driving factor of this fence is because of the curb, which is because of drainage. Um, I believe that there are other ways to address the drainage problem. I was present at the preservation meeting uh on Monday and we did have the opportunity to talk about some of those and um I think there are other options that could be less intrusive and invasive. Um, as you know, my thoughts tend to ramble. Um, some of the thoughts in favor of the fence on the board level were that certainly staff had a desire. They'd like to see a little bit more containment. Miss Collapse mentioned that people with smaller children

011may like to have that containment for their children as well, that it just makes it easier to supervise. Um but I would remind everyone that this park is actually a shared space and actually the entire campus is a shared space between the village and the school and as the shared space it works really well together. So, um you've got this honestly the school BLE probably gets the best green space of all the schools. Uh a fence would by containing kids um doesn't really serve that. I had the opport I went out last week on Friday and then Sunday or sorry Monday and Saturday and kids are running around. They're able to just use the entire entire space. They can cross the boundaries. They get to do whatever. Um Ryan noted that there is some erosion

012in the vicinity and there certainly is. Um I would contend that that erosion is probably mostly due to children and hanging out by the trees and uh just being kids. So I don't erosion shouldn't be the driving erosion and drainage should not be the driving factor in pursuing the fence option. The fence is one. The fence and the raised curb are one thing. And really what I would like the board to do is allow Ryan and Jason opportunity to look at different options, other options potentially maybe a short raised wall that acts as seating as well. Um I don't want to infringe on your design opportunities. So that's one idea, but there's others. And what I'm asking the board to do is allow DLA and WT the option to look at other options, try and

013come up with things that may be less in intrusive. Um, someone is probably going to bring up the idea that, well, we're going to throw off the village approvals. I I don't really believe that's the case. The fence is probably the most intrusive, at least vertically, thing that we could come up with as a designer. Other things that could be less intrusive or invasive or visually obstructive should be able to be approved or pass muster with the village without going through an entire process. So really what I'm asking is DA is allowed to look at some other options and that the board not be too wedded to the idea of a fence. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Joel. All right. No other public comment. [clears throat] So that moves us into the first

014item here. Uh we had SK uh designed this for DA to go first. Um, I would like to keep this focused on that comment actually around the fence. Uh, that we've gotten just a couple emails in related to comments on the fence. So, I'll invite um DLA and and WT up to kind of talk through where we're at with that. We had at the last meeting we moved forward with one option which included the full surrounding fence. I think part of that, if I'm interpreting our conversation correctly, was that was the harder thing to get through all the committees because we know that fences are a topic of conversation in this community and we we asked for the the looking at other options, what those other options would do. There's been a lot of work

015with the village forester and um public works around making sure we protect the trees, etc. So, uh with that, I guess we'll move into facilities. Matt, is there anything that you would like to add being the facilities chair before Ryan and Jason come up? And >> just Ryan went in front of um preservation committee Monday and that was passed through there. So >> yeah. >> Okay. You want to come up? [clears throat] So I think maybe just to kind of help kick it off and and try to keep it focused, we heard some comment around different options, things like that. I think what h could you walk us through what the other options are, why we chose not to go with those, what options we do do or do not have on the table, how

016some of those conversations have gone. And I think that's kind of the core of it is just helping us stay apprised of why we're going with this design and and the challenges that we have with this space and why this is the solution for it. >> Sure. Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me tonight. Um Ryan Kelly with DA Architects, Jason Green, WT Engineering. Um so, as you remember, and I won't rehash it all, but I think we uh all recall that option two is what we moved forward with. Um erosion uh around the playground was something that we were uh tasked to address. not only for the muddy conditions uh but also how it degrades uh the playground and the surface uh which does impact the safety to some degree. Um so it's something

017that we were trying to solve from the beginning. Uh our original solution uh was to raise the elevation of the playground three to five inches. As you mentioned uh Wesley, we met with the village uh the forester uh and director of public works. Uh they thought that that impact of uh additional soil and the compaction on the existing tree roots would be detrimental. Uh so we looked at other options. So, the other option was uh some sort of retaining wall around the perimeter of the playground. So, um that was one option we looked at and I I'm going to run through these kind of quickly, but Jason can speak to these in in greater detail. Uh we looked at steps uh to mitigate the grade change there. Uh those would necessarily have to be inside

018the playground uh because that's the lower elevation. Uh that would be a tripping hazard. uh gates uh you have to have a landing. Swinging them outside again becomes a challenge uh because you've got that higher grade outside the playground. Um we did talk about seating walls. Um we do think that the the way that a seating wall would need to be constructed would be more invasive. Uh creating a foundation and a footing below. Uh even peers would be you know of sizable nature um so that they stayed in place and did not get overturned. Um, that was our our thought and belief. Uh, so the minimal curb and I'm gonna I'm gonna jump a little bit around here. Maybe could I zoom out a little bit, Charles? Thank you. Appreciate it. So, so I'm going

019to point here. So this curve here uh would go down uh 24 in um and would vary from uh 12 to 15 in. At certain points on the south side it would be as uh as small as 6 in. So it would basically follow the grade change on the exterior of the playground. Um doing that creates a tripping hazard. So the fence was something that we erected to be a barrier. Um, again, looking at things like a seating wall, we felt like that in the dark in the dark playground, uh, or dark park, uh, that that that gray drop of 15 in could be a more significant hazard, um, than erecting a fence. So, that's kind of why we arrived at the point that we did. Uh, we looked at eliminating some of the fence

020on the north side. Uh, but really the grade changes uh, don't allow for that. I'm going to Anyway, we'll we'll work through this, but um we have an exhibit. If we could scroll up a little bit, Charles, thank you. There. That one right there. So, I'm going to let you talk through this, Jason, here. So, this is um this is an exhibit that shows uh the existing grades. It shows the initially proposed grades uh in red uh in the first design. Um and then in the dash line is uh where after meeting with the village where we would propose those grades to be. So, Jason, if you want to >> So, this is this is the existing grade here. without the mic. So hopefully talking about that's the existing grade and then our initial design

021before we met with the forester was the red line. So you can see quite a bit of more excavation on the outside. And that's when we we decided after our meeting with them, we decided to put the raised curve to act like a retaining wall so that we could reduce the the amount of grading outside of the playground to this from this. Uh so that was the main intent. Uh probably the biggest change that that came from the uh from the meeting with the forester. Um, and again, we wanted to raise the top of the curb a little bit above the outside grade so that as as water as rain falls on the ground, if it's eroded, the sediment and the dirty water would flow into it would be stopped by the curb so that

022it could be directed into manhole structures. And then that way we could divert that that muddy water away from the playground rather than through the playground like like it occurs now. Uh so the mud would get into the wood promotes uh deterioration of the wood quicker. It becomes a harder surface because it's the the gaps the area the fluffiness of it is filled up with sediment and it gets a harder surface that isn't safe if somebody falls on it for fall attenuation. Um, go back to another change that we made was um, initially our our utility design was shown in red. So you can see that we had these series of mantles and pipes around the perimeter of the playground and the forester was very concerned with the way that the pipes kind of uh

023cut across the tree. So as you can imagine, trees have roots that grow out in in a radial form around the tree. By doing something like this, I was just showing uh that pipe trenching going right across multiple tree roots that come out randomly from the tree. So what we were able to do was to to reconfigure them as shown in blue so that the pipes the structures would be on the outside but the pipes would come into towards the playground away from the trees not across the trees. So I think these hatches show depict how the biggest changes were made on the utility side here too. >> So we're going from the pink to the blue. >> Correct. From the pink. >> Originally it was the pink concerns changed it to all blue stuff.

024>> Correct. So I go to the next or previous. >> So this gives a little bit more idea. The pink again was the original design. Um it showed the uh excavating limits. >> Yeah. Yeah. the excavation of grade limits uh required by that and the concerns that the village had around that. Uh the redesign uh is the is the blue. >> And so the all of these really speak to um what uh not being able to change those grades makes us need to mitigate those grades in some way around the perimeter if erosion um is an important item to address. though we feel that it is for the duration of the uh the playground equipment, the surface uh and the safety as as Jason mentioned. So um that's that's why we ended up at the

025raised curb. Uh we felt it was the least intrusive uh to the surrounding trees uh from the beginning. I think that was the most important thing to the community um as well as the school district uh to maintain Ble Park as it is. Um, and that fence we felt was necessitated uh to eliminate that tripping hazard. So, we looked at again looked at trying to eliminate part of it, but uh unfortunately the park to the north and the west is exactly where the grades are um the most differential, you know, are the are the greatest. So, um, just to give a visual, I know everybody's very familiar with Ble Park, but sometimes the perceived, uh, change in grade is it's not something you remember or recognize, but, uh, as we, as we look at it

026here, uh, it is, you know, that that playground does sit fairly low. And just because we haven't we said at the last meeting but not here one the first maybe not the first idea but an idea was to raise the whole elevation but that was actually >> concern about compacting the roots and potentially damaging killing trees. >> Yeah. So that was we went out there and met with the village uh with that first design and and they were not in favor of that for that reason. They felt that the compaction of the roots would be uh you know extremely detrimental to the health of the trees. I you can see the proximity of the trees to the playground. So, uh, it's a tricky needle to thread, um, in terms of redeveloping, uh, dealing with some

027of the water issues in and around the the playground, u, making it more useful, uh, and safer. And just to be clear, cutting is is even worse than filling over the because you're cutting if you if you dig down, you're going to be digging up roots that were there. So, they don't want you to cut. They don't want you to fill too much. They want to Try try to stay with what exists so that you're making the minimal impact. >> Stuck again. >> Yep. >> So, and there's no midpoint in that. There's no raising it some, raising [clears throat] the playground some f having the curb some. There's no middle ground there. I guess >> we actually >> go ahead. >> We are raising just a smidge. Um, and the the reasoning is the wood

028fiber because it's so loose and it's not as heavy as dirt. It's uh we're not like filling we're not putting that much >> wood fiber on the ground, >> right? There's 12 in >> Mhm. >> of wood fiber which weighs a fraction a tenth of what the soil would. >> So really that's equivalent to like close to an inch of soil as far as weight goes. So we've we've raised it up with that in mind that the weight of the w of the wood is not equal to what the what the soil would be. So we've equated that. So we've raised it as much as we could in order to meet that 12 in of depth that we need for the fall attenuation, but we've done it. We've raised it up so that we're not

029cutting down to not cutting down a foot to put that in in the soil. That makes sense. And there's no way to raise that or raise it any further than what it's at right now. >> We've maximized the raise the raising by otherwise we would be putting more weight on the soil. And >> so if we weren't using wood fibers, if we used, you know, another artificial surface for playgrounds, >> would how would that change the design or how would that change things? >> Most of those surfaces would be heavier. So, poured in and place rubber, uh, synthetic turf, they would all have a heavier weight because they have a a gravel base which is heavier than the wood fiber. So, the wood fiber is the the lightest of of the options, >> less impact.

030>> So, it's heavier, but I guess impacting. So, it's heavier, so it would have more. >> It would push more. It would push more down, compact the soil around the roots more, right? If it was heavier. So the wood fiber I think is the right choice for this option just because it's it's a lighter material. >> So I I guess from from that aspect so and it's it's a shame because we don't have them here to hear their decision or how they arrived at it. But I guess so your initial pro proposal of of raising the center did not have that concern for the impact in the roots with the village forester and someone else from the village. Was it the manager right there? Uh, we went with >> Public works manager. Yeah. [clears throat

031and cough] >> So, I guess I guess I'm just trying to get into their decision- making or their thought their thought process on that, >> right? >> Yeah. They were I got my notes here. >> Mhm. >> So, they were um they were concerned with raising the grades, [clears throat] lowering the grades. So raising putting too much pressure on the on the soil roots the soil and roots or cutting meaning cutting and and and tearing up tearing out roots that were that existed. Um they uh didn't like this piping going through the root zone area which I totally agree with. >> Uh >> that that yeah that that makes sense. That's that's easy to to see that. I guess the with all the playground equipment that's there currently, I I guess I'm I'm I'm not

032sure and I'm I'm far from an expert on any of that how many routes there are there at this point. Anyway, >> it's hard to tell. Nobody will know until we until we get in there and start >> uh investigating during construction with uh with excavation. One thing that they did, you know, that one exhibit with the tree, the tree, >> sounds like we're hanging a lot on a hypothetical, >> right? In in general, there's there's a there's rules for the approxim approximation of roots. >> So, it's it's uh one foot per inch per caliber per inch of the of the trunk of the tree, and that's the radius versus the diameter. So, we've used that. And then we've also uh drawn in the uh the drip lines from aerial imagery which in general the

033the drip line of the tree will mimic the root zone below roughly >> the canopy above the roots below. >> Right. Uh so so that's that's what's shown in in orange or yellow. um the areas that were working within those uh approximated drip lines >> and roots root zones. >> Um they did want us to do uh air spading which is using pressurized air to blow dirt away from the root zones so that we can see the roots before we start digging. And then in cases where we have to dig where there is a root, we do root pruning, which is surgically cutting the root, not just taking an excavator and tearing and pulling because that will do more damage to the roots. So it's surgically cutting the limits of the uh of the of

034the root removal so that you can just sock cut it surgically, leave most of it, and then just remove the the remainder. So, I guess if we're doing that anyway, I'm not sure what the difference is, why raising it would be impactful if we're already doing that. >> We still want to we want to keep as many roots as possible. So, um >> you know, the more the more that we excavate, the more roots that will be unavoidable to impact. >> And just so I understand the process, my dumb question. So, arborist, you said what was the other department? >> Director of public works. So that's it. They say no and that that option is off [clears throat] the table. There's no other I don't know recourse, second opinion committee. It's it's a no. So

035we can no longer explore [clears throat] that option. >> Well, if they say no and this is this is complete hypothetical and conjecture on my part. If they say no and I'm a village trustee and my staff comes to me and says this is going to kill all the trees, I'm not going to vote yes. >> Gotcha. I that that's my thought process on it. >> Or is there like a a second opinion that it might not kill all the trees to put this weight on it, this amount of weight on it and compact the soil really won't have >> I mean I guess from our perspective we are working with the public entities. Obviously this is a review process we have to go through with them to tailor the design uh to satisfy everyone.

036Now that's not going to happen uh to satisfy everyone. Um but you know I mean I think uh the second opinion is is is the village you know the village board of trustees venture in terms of uh fence no fence elevating that playground. We are going to go through landscape advisory uh committee uh which I'm sure this will be talked about in great great length. So, we've adjusted our design to accommodate what the forester and um the director of public works has suggested. It seems to me that a retention wall is sort of inevitable here. [snorts] Is there any option outside of a fence then for to eliminate the tripping hazard that this retention wall could pose? So, like I think we've received some emails that suggested maybe some hedges or a hedge like some

037kind of plant line. Um, is there anything we can do other than a fence? >> I think if you went to the retaining wall, the raised curb, um, I think anything that doesn't have some sort of vertical visual signal is going to be more hazardous uh than a fence. I mean, I think if there's if there's a raised curb and I um issues. But if we went back to that exhibit where um you see the existing grade and then the playground grade and you've got in some places a 15-inch drop, I think in a dark park that's that would be a hazardous situation. >> Um I know it's not lit. Uh and for good reason. Um so uh I mean I think the short answer is we've looked at a lot of uh other options

038stairs um seating walls uh and I think all of them propose greater hazards than um and certainly a fence would. So um and then again this is with the initial directive of eliminating the erosion some of the water issues you know and that that speaks to the health of playground equipment the surfacing. Um [clears throat] so those are those have been sort of the the main uh the primary accomplishments when we set out on this design. So to that point, I think I just want to try to make that clear as I'm wrapping my head around all of this because I was I was in favor with Dan like if there's an option to keep this more open, I'd love to have that. I think that would be the the ideal state, but what the

039focus really needs to be on is to that question. This is the the best solution to take all these challenging situations is to create this curb, this wall, whatever. And now we have this uneven perimeter that I mean kids are running around, adults even. Um I work in insurance, people trip over stuff all the time and that puts liability on us as a school potentially. Depends on the situation. Um I got to imagine that would be on the village's mind as well. That the legality behind that I think differs a little bit. But the fence is really it's not about keeping the children contained or easier on staff or easier on parents or or some of those other comments. They're not untrue, but really the focus is not we are in favor of offense because

040it's easier for people. We're looking for a solution to prevent a potentially dangerous situation. And what it keeps coming back to is fence is a very clear barrier that prevents people from tripping over this area. and you vetted a bunch of other options and they all have [snorts] other negative challenges that are not favorable. >> We we could say that it's not our intent here now, but I don't know that, you know, we can't place a sign to say that. Meaning that the people in the neighborhood are going to see it how they see it. >> Sure. >> Um >> I'm just trying to be clear of what our discussion is at this table. If people want to pay attention to it and watch this meeting, at least that is directly stated. Um people are

041going to have their opinion. and they may not still like the fence. I think in my opinion I'd rather have a playground than not have a fence. So I it just doesn't seem like we either to me it seems like the choice is we don't do anything or we do this. I don't I'm not hearing another >> No, I agree that is that is we've investigated a lot of other options. Our initial design did not have a fence. It was [clears throat] raising that elevation because we knew you know we've worked in the village. We know that fences are not uh something that are necessarily appropriate in every case. So, we've investigated that. Um, that didn't seem to be a good option. Uh, and then a lot a lot of other engineering solutions steps um

042that all present other challenges uh and hazards. >> Really, we're here because we're trying to protect protect the trees because that is >> that's important in the community engagement. Everyone's like, don't touch the trees and this is where it fell because you don't want to harm the trees. Yeah, >> I don't want that to get lost. I'm not here advocating for a fence. >> Very clear about that. I'm good with not having a fence. That would be my preferred solution. It just you guys have done a lot of work. I've asked a lot of questions outside of these meetings as well, and it just it just doesn't seem like maybe maybe there's potentially another viable solution, but there's there's negative potential negative consequences with every one of them. This one, the negative consequence is visual

043appeal. >> It's more than visual appeal. It's absolutely more than visual. >> What are the other >> Well, it's it's again I've seen the kids play there. It's it's it's incorporating the field and the trees to the playground itself. That's it's all one one big playground for them. It's it's more it's definitely more than just visual. It's I'm >> trying to keep the way for the kids the way the kids are using the playground now. you know, I'm trying to preserve that for the next uh the next set of equipment. Seems like we change out the equipment, but we're going to totally change the way the kids play. And that's really what's what's distressed me about this. >> So, would you prefer to do nothing? >> I just I'm just trying >> I don't know.

044I'm I'm honestly I am so torn on this. And I mean, the feedback I got from the neighborhood has been universally negative. I mean, it's >> about the fence or the upgrades to the playground. >> No, the upgrades to the playground everybody loves. myself included. >> It doesn't sound like we can have both. >> I understand that. I I understand that. I And I am very torn. And I I guess did we discuss how high the fence is? >> It would be uh 3 feet I mean four feet. >> Four feet high. Okay. And I think that there's there's a gate on one end. Correct. >> So we've got gates on the east end uh and then we've got them on the northwest end as well. So, uh, we were showing one, uh, gate, uh,

045but there could be a double gate there, you know, gives a little more openness. So, on the east end there toward the school and then the northwest. >> That's the key. I guess that's the one. >> It's not great. Uh, I mean, there's no other place to put gate. You know, the challenge is, you know, if we put gates on the north side or northwest side, which is something we looked at too, we really need to bring that um sidewalk around there uh to keep it accessible, to keep it effectively operating um and that would be invasive to the roots as well. So, >> we've looked at a lot of options. And the sitting wall, I don't know that that really I don't I don't know that that fixes your I mean, you're gonna have

046to jump up and down over this however tall this sitting, 18, 24 in or something like that. It wouldn't be 3 ft, but it'd be 2 feet. >> Could be, but it but it still it still changes the pattern of play that you're concerned about. So, I don't know if putting 12 in of extra height on it goes one. So, a sitting wall or a fence to me is kind of the same physical barrier, but the the sitting wall concept because I' I'd be in favor of that, too. But now you're saying there's more just potential negative impact in how you would have to create the foundation for that to make sure I'm concerned that if we dangerous situation >> yeah if we did a sitting wall it you know to to make it effective

047uh long term you know you would have a footing you would have even if we did peers you know at a certain you know four four feet or whatever certain uh spacing um I'd be concerned about overturn of that that sitting wall over you know, if we didn't put a a legitimate foundation in or some sort of footing >> like sitting wall, you're envisioning [snorts] something similar to what we have at Central. >> Yeah, kind of something like that, which probably wouldn't look like that. >> They would say that that's a safe the safest scenario for a play space. >> Okay. Cost a lot more. >> Is that because it's on top of pavers and not wood chips and grass or >> That's because kids can hit their head on the corner. Well, that that's

048[laughter] I mean I can come up with lots of dangerous scenarios of the playground. >> I will just point out that the central playground it's a very different space, right? It's a much more constructed with the parking lot and the playfield and the four square and basketball, but that's a fence playground where kids run to go play four square, run to go play basketball, run to be on the grassy field. Um I don't know that they feel limited, you know, by the the fencing. I I still see kids sort of going back and forth. Mhm. >> It's not running into a wooded area like it is at flight. I understand that parking lot running in the park. >> They don't miss running between parked cars. >> Yeah. >> And there's not an option in which

049we don't address erosion because the Yeah. I guess like that for me it's like do we care more about erosion or do we care more about >> if you don't do anything >> it shortens the life of your turf. It shortens the life of your equipment. It um it doesn't solve drainage issues around the >> but it's it's an option. >> And I don't know that the mud situation came up last time or I don't remember it but I think that's a good call out. You get all that soil that comes in there now. You're almost creating like a concrete surface which is supposed to be a soft surface. >> So was just saying so much mud. >> Yeah. >> Which is part of the problem today but in a different capacity. It's just it's

050such a difficult space and I mean I don't know. I'm I've been I've been wrestling with this too, Dan. And I think >> I just it seems like you guys have done and some of this could be professional opinion to your point too. Like we could get another arborist out here that says it's not going to be a problem and we could get another architect out here that says we don't need to do all this extra stuff that you guys are concerned about. I don't know if those are right or wrong. you find out in 10 years when it goes right or wrong. >> Um >> I I don't know when when the last playground equipment was set up, but I doubt that there were these level of concerns were addressed back then. >> Parks

051and wreck had a sense, right? I want to say 20 years, 25 years >> uh >> of the how long that equipment has been there, that playground structure. >> I don't know. I I honestly don't know the age. >> I mean, I with not having a fence. No, I had sided with having a fence at the last meeting, but then after kind of the discussion and and what Joel brought up too, I then I was like, "Oh, I mean, fine, if you don't want a fence, don't have a fence." But I I mean, you can't I granted I live in Brookfield, not Riverside, but given that we're somehow below sea level in these two towns and everything floods, we can't do anything in Brookfield without somebody saying if you have proper drainage because of erosion

052and water problems. So, I'm not surprised that this is because like 25 years ago, they were not worried about that and now we're all paying for it in our basements probably. So, I appreciate the fact that this is not going to become a swamp in that sense. And if that's what [snorts] it takes, I mean, you can't have everything. >> I've ever seen it a swamp now, but I I definitely can could sympathize with Kasmir and that there I'm sure there's mud that gets tracked back into the school. I don't know that it's really a swamp. >> Water all around it. What? It rained one. I mean, has it rained lately? I didn't even >> I'm just saying like I >> I'm just surprised that anything could be built anywhere without some consideration to erosion

053and water drainage. >> And you know, we weren't waiting for the worst day to take these pictures. Um, >> it probably >> it's not the best day, but it's, you know, it's not it's not the worst either, I think. >> But, but it is good to understand what the worst and the best looks like, too. So, >> true. 100%. Yes. I would say I would say this is a standard rain day that is a nothing rainstorm, but that's what happens all around town. >> Yeah. >> So, to your point, I thought we were going to have to spend $2 million putting a big hole in the ground like we did at Central just to capture water >> and we're not doing that. I don't even know if that's an option that but then you then

054you're talking about cost and how much are we going to spend on this playground. So, I think I think it's a balance of a lot of things. Yeah, >> it's just hard. It's really hard. >> It is a balance of of a lot of different elements trying to solve a lot of different problems within a very confined space. >> Um, so we we have a lot of other meaty well at least one other meaty topic on here. We're at roughly 30 minutes. Um, >> thank you for the update. I think that was the main thing is just to be able to get everybody together, have this dialogue, the additional research. I think um so we've got landscape next week. We've got parks I believe the Monday after that and then the village trustees after all

055those committees provide their feedback to the village then that's the ultimate yes or no or or whatever. I I think when we started this the village said we were required to have the mulch the wood the wood fiber or did I misunderstand that? I think it was just through the assessment, right, for the w the appropriate level of water drainage with MWRD. >> Um, no, I think uh I think there were some comments about uh engineered wood fiber being the appropriate surface. >> I just don't know if it was a require like I've >> Okay. Okay. I'm not sure. >> I could have misunderstood that. I thought that was just a when you do this, this is the material that has to be there because that's kind of where we landed on. >> They wanted

056to be poured rubber, you know. So, I don't know what other choices would be. >> Permeability, I think, was the goal. the most permeable. >> Yeah. Um so we we've still got feedback from all of those. I think the fence discussion is going to be probably similar in all those uh especially at the village table too. So I think part of this for me getting the rest of the board informed was >> what options do we really have after kind of going back and looking at things and it it doesn't we have options but none of them are good options better options than what you've originally proposed. Yep. >> So, I guess the question there would be, do we have enough people at the table that want to stop this project >> or do we

057want to continue forward with it in the fashion that we have it? Because if if we're going to have concerns about the fence, then I don't see the point in in wasting all these other committees times and proposing it in front of the village. Um, I'm not a proponent of that, but I think it's worth at least throwing it out there. That is an option. We could just stop If we think it's a concern enough, >> my vote to move forward with the fence stands. We voted on this. >> Uh well, we gave we gave guidance. >> We don't we won't officially vote until we get all the approvals and then we go to bid. We actually vote to go I think it's the vote is to go out and have the bids and then

058vote bids. Yeah. >> Yep. I think that yes, it's a challenging space, but it's such a beautiful space and it's going to be a beautiful playground fence or, you know, and so like I think this playground needs to be upgraded and and we've presented a really thoughtful way of of making this a better space for our kids. And so I'm definitely in favor of moving forward with it. And I'm not pro fence necessarily, but I think in this case it's the right solution for the space that we have. >> Yeah, >> I would like to keep repeating that about myself. I'm also not pro fence. I'm pro playground. So >> I just want to be very clear that I'm not fighting for a fence. >> Yeah. So yeah, you said you were kind of aware.

059>> I'm either way on the fence, but if the fence is necessary for the playground to be done, then that sounds like that's what has to be done. Or if Yeah, that's what Selena said. >> I guess going back to the scenario where we just is there a scenario where we throw erosion? Like I feel like when you're balancing the two, wouldn't people want the no fence over the erosion? What's the >> But if that lessens the life of the equipment, then we're having this conversation again way more years sooner than we should because we have to replace everything because it's falling apart. >> I don't know that that really has been stated how many years. >> I know it was stated. Yes, it would. Yeah. I mean, I can't quantify, >> you know, a

060number of years that it would, but it will degrade quicker with erosion and and water. >> I mean, that's just a reality. >> Mhm. Sure. >> I'll come back to you, Matt. [snorts] >> I still think we should go forward. I don't think there's a a better option. I I don't think this I don't think this is a bad option. Again, the not pro fence, but um doesn't sound like there's an easy way to make that that happen and meet all the requirements that we're trying to meet. >> Yeah. >> I think >> you on the fence, Dan, you have >> I'm still on the fence. Yes. Oddly enough, I'm on the fence. Um it's again, I just I' I've been there so many times and I've seen the kids, you know, play how they

061play, how it's unhindered, uninterrupted. They go seamlessly from the playground that's there currently to the trees to the field. >> I I really that's that's what's bothered me about this from the get-go. And when we've seen the other emails coming in from other parents, >> they all say the same thing. >> It's two >> Well, okay. Yes. Two two emails. But then I guess I've when I was we did trick-or-treating, talked with a number of parents there and and some who sought me out, some that I sought out. >> That was all the similar concept. Okay. similar similar concerns. >> I mean, I think you have enough, but I'm happy to voice my opinion. Um, yeah, I mean, I I find it really hard to deprive, right, the community, these students, future students of this

062beautiful playground because of a fence. Again, there's still access to the space. I know it's not the ideal ability to fully run, but I also want to be mindful like I'm not a I'm not a resident of, you know, I know when we were doing having these conversations about Hollywood and Brookfield, it's like, wait, I live here. I, you know, I have a better understanding. So, I want to be considerate of that, but I just find it really hard to fully pull the plug over the fence. Similarly, I wish there was a way. That's why I'm like, okay, well, do we just let erosion happen and that then we deal with some then I feel like we're getting emails like this is an unusable space and it's always a mud pit and [clears throat] so

063yeah, I mean again it it's not an easy discussion, but I don't want to pull the plug. I do wish and I appreciate all of the information and uh scenarios that you've been through to try to figure out a way that we could do this without fence. >> Thank you. You are here to give your >> I mean, yeah, you've got enough to go forward, but >> Yeah. And and it's not a vote. I think I just want to make sure that we're going we're going to continue moving forward. We want to continue moving forward and we will continue to collect community feedback. This is not a vote and it will not be a vote for several more weeks. We've got multiple committees to go through. So, feedback will keep coming in, but thank you

064for coming out and just giving us an update. Um, >> yeah, I appreciate it. >> I thought the timing here was good. Before you get into like landscape and parks in particular, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of dialogue here. So, if anything new emerges, I think we're open to it and >> we'll keep listening to community feedback as well. And at any point in time, we can just decide not to go forward with this. So, we can do all of our homework and just kill the whole thing. So that is just to state that out loud. That is an option that is is still available for a few more months. It's not final until we get a bid and they start putting shovels in the ground, I suppose. Right. So >> actually

065once we sign that contract, then it's >> and the shovel >> you either do it or you lose your money. One of the two. But >> I I appreciate the consideration and you know, we're not pro fence either. Uh and we looked at a lot of different options. So um hope we've been transparent with you know what what is possible and what requirements we're trying to satisfy. So >> yeah. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. [snorts] Appreciate it. >> Okay. Trying to be as very open and transparent about this this whole process as possible because it is a it is a a big topic of of conversation around town. Um >> we have one other thing under facilities that we added >> the school maintenance grant. Yep. >> Which probably requires about two minutes

066of time. >> Yeah. Feels like a quick hit. Um, yeah. >> Or to >> you can you can sit next to Stephanie. >> Okay. >> We're trying to make the committee meetings a little less formal. So, >> okay. Thank you. Well, um, in in light of all the hard decisions you were just pondering. I hope this seems relatively easy for you. the um and I provided a memo to the board, but the school maintenance project grant program is available almost annually to districts for up to a $50,000 matching grant. Um the grant has opened and I've been working through um submitting the grant and I've included two pages for you. One is just kind of outlines the work which is related to the tuck pointing that you've already approved to be done next summer as

067a continuation of what was done at Hower this year that I selected that grant because it matches the criteria for the grants that go through primarily being one that we know we're doing and it's been approved but we have not yet started. That's kind of the key. Um so you can see the total estimated project cost which is not only the tuck honing but architect fees and management fees and the such. Um and that you know they we're requesting $50,000 because the project is certainly more than $50,000. And then the second page is just really uh a part of the grant that I have to submit. So um I know Wesley already signed one of the pages for the grant earlier. This is where I would fill in your name and fill in the date

068that the meeting occurred where you authorized the grant. So on November 19th, I would ask the board to have a action item on their agenda authorizing the school maintenance grant. And then I'll [snorts] input the date and I'll hit submit. and we'll wait to see if our grant is approved, which is primarily based on when the state releases funding to Isby for those special grants. So, I guess I'll caution you that we'll we'll submit it and if the funds are there, we'll have a $50,000 windfall on a project you're already going to do. And if they're not, you've got the reserve funds to pay it. So, it's not a project that's contingent on getting the grant. Happy to answer any questions. >> Has any board ever declined submitting a grant? >> I can't imagine why.

069>> Is there a re It's never We've done this a couple different times and the questions for whatever reason never never popped in my head. Why do we need to approve this? >> Yeah. And I think the reason why you're approving it is because it is a matching grant. You're essentially >> it's been before you instead of me just submitting it saying, "Oh, we have $50,000 to match because we have to spend 50 to get 50." >> Yep. So, it's >> Well, we have to spend 100, pay 50, they pay 50. >> So, I think that's probably why um this requires that authorization. >> No, that actually makes sense. I did not take that part into consideration. Okay. Um, and this will you're gonna your recommendation is to approve this at the next meeting. I

070think if I read put it under consent agenda, right? >> Or consent agenda. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> This is a very it's a very formal grant, but it's a very informal process. So, >> any anybody opposed uh to putting it on the consent agenda next meeting? No. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Mark. >> Thank you for your time. >> Okay. Okay, now education, the fun stuff that we wait for every year. Where's Dr. Dozah? Come on up. Come on down. >> Sorry, I took that away from you. I'm supposed to have my [laughter] I took it away from Dan. I'm sorry, Dan. As committee chair, would you like to give an intro to the student achievement report? [laughter] >> Welcome. >> We're not I know there's still packets. Although in seriousness, is there

071anything that you want to stage or >> I guess uh what we had we met on this what was it just yesterday? >> So yes, uh it was hot off the presses and uh definitely I'm sure everyone will be interested to see what it what the report shows. So take it away. >> All right. Thank you very much, Dan. Thank you everybody. Um and I want to give a special thank you to um the leadership team who's here to support um in support of this information being shared with the board. So, thank you all for taking time out of your evening as well to join us tonight. >> Well, I'm not sure why you're all sitting back here, [laughter] >> but thank you for being here. >> They want to be on TV. >> So,

072our uh annual student achievement report is here. And as you know, the as you [snorts] may know, the state released uh the state report cards uh last Thursday uh October 30th. And so, you may have already gotten a sneak peek of the data, but I'll give you some background information. and some data that you don't necessarily see on the state report card as well. So, tonight we'll talk about MAP growth and achievement because that's one of the benchmarks we use, KPIs we use with our um our strategic plan goals, our AR growth and proficiency. We'll review the equity journey continuum, talk about the state report card, celebrate our successes, and then talk about our further areas for growth. We're going to start with our MAP data. And with MAP data, we're going to look at

073both reading and math. We'll look at growth, achievement, and then talk about cohort progress as well for both those subjects. So, the first thing we have here is our map reading growth over a three-year period with that blue line um showing the 22 23 school year, the red line showing the 2324 school year, and the green line showing the 2425 school year. And what you're seeing here is that we have sustained district-wide growth compared to national norms with the national norm being at the 50th percentile. So you see that we are as a high performing district continuing to show growth above the um our median growth is above the national percentile. We did notice as a leadership team um that that green line the 2425 school year growth is uh lower than the previous two

074years. And so I'll talk a little bit about that when I get to the end. [snorts] This is our map reading achievement. So while our growth this past year may have been lower than the past two years, you will see that we are the high performing district that we claim to be. You see that our achievement um what you're looking at are uh how each grade level has done for the past four fall administration. So fall of 22, fall of 23, 24, and then 25. And you can see that as of this fall's testing, our our achievement in reading on MAP ranges from the 85th percentile to the 96th percentile, representing the high achievement um that our students and our families are accustomed to here in Riverside. When looking at the cohort progress, um you

075might remember from previous years I would show you cohort graphs with probably like 24 different bars on it. This time I am taking it down to our fifth grade group, this year's fifth graders, and that's the class of 2029 there. And you can see their score in the fall of their third grade year, their fourth grade year, and then their fifth grade year. And while there was a slight dip in that uh fourth grade year, they overall have made progress. And then class of 26 are current eighth graders. You can see how they performed on the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade test. And I chose the fifth and sixth graders for the cohort look because the fifth grade, the second through fifth grade test is a different assessment than the sixth through eighth grade test.

076um for MAP for MAP the elementary students take what's called the MAT growth 25 and then the middle school kids take the MAP growth 6 plus so they're assessed on two different um assessments at those two different levels which assesses two different standards so that's why I broke it up this year and then we'll look at the same charts for math so here for math you see our growth over the three years and this time you can see that our growth this this year the 2425 school year or this past year um is right there with the growth of the other years. Um it's not lower like you saw with the reading growth. Our math achievement also continues to be high um ranging this fall from the 87th percentile to the 98th percentile. And then

077looking at our fifth and eighth grade cohorts again, you see that um there is continued steady growth for students in math through third through fifth grade and then sixth to 8th grade. So that's our MAP data. I'm going to now dig into our A data. Um, first I'm going to talk about, you probably have heard that the state adjusted the proficiency benchmark. So, I'm going to talk a little bit about the background on that and what that all means for our data. And then we'll look at our student growth percentiles, um, why we look at student growth percentiles and proficiency. And then we'll actually look at those growth percentiles and proficiency rates. And, um, then we will look at comparisons to our geographical and our lookalike peers. So, first just a bit of uh quick

078history on how testing has been since 2006. So, um in 2006 through 2012, we would take what was called the ISAT and um tested math and ELA in Illinois. And you can see that achievement in the state of Illinois was high for math and ELA. Um 80 between the 80th and 90th percentile for math and between the 70th and 80th percentile for reading. But then in 2013 the state decided that well something must be wrong. So we need to adjust the cut scores. and they made the cut scores so that you can see those same like those same students weren't getting less smart but the cut scores made it look like they were less proficient. So now you see proficiency in 2013 with those new ISAT cut scores then went around the 60th percentile and

079that happened for a couple years before the state then said well nope now we want a new test. So then they introduced what was called park and park was they had high expectations for park and what the park test was going to be again tested us in math and ELA and when park was introduced that structure of the test ended up causing our proficiency rates to drop again. So again, students weren't getting less smart. It's just policy was changing how the proficiency was determined. And so in 2015 through 2019 when I was introduced, you see that the proficiency in Illinois was somewhere between the 30th percentile and the 40th percentile for reading and math. In 2019, the state introduced the Illinois Assessment of Readiness. And that was the first year we took it. And you

080can see the cut score stayed the same, about the same. And then COVID hit and we know when COVID hit there was some learning loss that happened due to um just that whole the whole pandemic structure and you can see that the state started to rebound from the pandemic up to where we're at now where the new AR cut scores were introduced. So why the state why did the state decide now's the time to introduce new cut scores? Personally, I was really perplexed by this until I attended a webinar and I'm going to try to hopefully explain it and help it be clear for you once as it was cleared up for me. >> Can I ask one quick question? When you say the state, who are we talking about? Legislators, >> Ill Illinois State

081Board of Education. Um there are there's like a governor's committee of people who sit and make decisions that will then be sent to legislators to vote on. >> Okay. So this is a uh expert body that's giving regist u recommendations but it is legislated >> but it's not just legislators getting lobbyed it's no >> okay all right >> so um okay so what this shows you is the old cut scores for ELA and math and I'm going to talk about ELA and math more than science right now but the old cut scores for ELA and math were 750 regardless of what grade level you were at And the um scores, the scale scores work like shoe sizes, right? So it doesn't matter what grade you're in. A 750 is a 750 is a 750. Just

082like [clears throat] if you wear a size nine when you're five, sorry, and you wear a size nine when you're 12, it's the same size nine. So that 750, the state looked at that and they said, "Okay, to be proficient in the state of Illinois, you have to have 750." But what that meant, and I'll explain all these colors and lines to you because when I first looked at it, I'm like, "What? What is this?" Huh? It looks like the L. [laughter] [snorts] >> I want to start with that blue curved line. That blue curved line is the percentile line. So if a student scored 600 on the assessment, that 600 would be the zero percentile. Conversely, if they scored an 850 on the assessment, which is the last one, it'd be in the 99th

083percentile if you go up to the blue line. So 750 being the cut score, regardless of what grade or age you were, if you go to 750, that was about at the 75th percentile. So the state was saying to be proficient on assessments in the state of Illinois, you had to score at the 75th percentile. Illinois has, if you have seen in research, had one of the most rigorous, highest standards for proficiency. And that's what the state was starting to notice. And that's why they determined we needed new cut scores. So now, if you'll remember, the new cut scores are different at every grade level. So you see from third grade, 735 to 745 at 8th grade. Now it's saying if you're a third grader and you're taking the math test, to be proficient, you

084need to score 732. So that's where you see that red box there. And that red box goes to that red hexagon which shows at 7:32. That's the 56th percentile instead of everybody having to reach the 75th percentile. But the state's still showing rigor because they're not saying everybody has to get just to the 56th percentile. They're saying as you get older, you're supposed to get to a higher percentile. So the green hexagon is eighth grade where the proficiency is now 745 and that represents the 68th percentile. So, not quite at saying everybody has to be at the 75th percentile to show profic proficiency. Now, depending on your grade level, that decides your percentile. Um, but still over the yellow line, which is the average of 50th percentile. So, the state's still showing rigor, still saying

085above average, but saying everybody doesn't have to be at the 75th percentile to be proficient because that's not that's a hard bar to hit. and it's great to achieve high aspirations, but what we were seeing is that Illinois was showing that we had less proficient students in the state, but it wasn't that we had students who were not as smart as students in other states. It's that our our standard was higher. [clears throat] So, we're going to talk about student growth percentile as we look at these next graphs coming up. And I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page. >> One more quick question for you on that last comment. So, where do we stand up? like our state was just our standards were super high. Where are we like

086in the average? Are we we're still high? >> We're still high. Yes. >> Okay. >> I don't know if we are the highest like that hasn't been reported out. Um but we are still high. >> So we Okay. I think I think that to me that's a key takeaway is like our standards are much higher than most other states. And so just as we look at other states that is something to keep in mind. Okay. >> Yes. >> Does anyone need to be like in the upper grades? Is does anyone need to be at the 75th now? >> No. seven the 68th percentile 745 is the highest for second through or third through eighth grade. >> Um okay so want to talk about student growth percentiles. Um and I want to make sure we're all

087on the same page with what student growth percentiles are. So it's a percentile. It's not a percent. It compares our students growth on average um compared to other students growth. And it doesn't tell us how much students grew. It only tells their [clears throat] growth compared to those other students who started maybe at the same not maybe who started at the same scaled score. So if Angela scored a 732, then it's going to compare Angela that next year to all other students who scored a 732 to see where did I fall amongst all the other students in the state who had that 732. It's very similar to like when your child goes to the pediatrician and you find out your child's in the 75th percentile for height, right? That means that they are taller than

08875% of the student or the kids their age. That is how the student growth percentile works. If a cohort has um a student growth percentile of like 62.1, that means that that cohort of students or that student grew faster than 62% of comparable students. So, we look at growth because it recognizes learning gains for all of our students whether or not they're achieving proficiency. So, when we look at the graphs that I'm going to show you in a minute, we're going to look at what's called a cohort student growth percentile, which is looking at how does students compare to other students this past year. And then we're also going to look at a baseline student growth percentile, which compares how did students grow compare to the past benchmark year. And the state is currently using

0892019 pre- pandemic as the past benchmark year. So when we see this data, it's compared to the growth since 2019. And then we do look at proficiency also and we will look at proficiency. Proficiency is telling us did I meet the standard? Yes or no. So we'll look at how are all students growing whether you met the standard or not. And then we'll look at um did we what percentage of our students met the standard? And looking at both rather than just one gives us a more complete picture of how our students are doing. So we'll start with ELA proficiency. And what you see here is the first bar is our overall district ELA proficiency rate. So 80% of our students were proficient or above proficient on the ELA assessment between grades or the testing

090grades of third through 8th. And then you see the breakout of each grade level there. And then we have our math proficiency rates. Again, the district overall proficiency rate, 74% of our students were proficient or above proficient in math with the individual grades broken out there. And then the Illinois science assessment which is only tested at fifth and eighth grade. So you see proficiency rates for our fifth graders and our eighth graders. So, as you know, we work with Don White from the educational Oh, I have it. >> Solutions. >> Educa. Yes. Is educational leadership solutions um who works with me to help um look at our data and make it digestible for the public. And when he works on that with me, he uh sets up comparisons for us to our geographical peers, which

091are the districts in our west suburban consortium for academic excellence districts, our whiskey districts, which are all located in Cook and Dwage County. Um have a range of enrollments from 428 to 5,480. have a range of expenditures from 139 to 30,464 and a per pupil instructional expenditure range from 7,227 to 16,06. And the average low-inccome ranges range from 1.8%, there are a couple of whiskey districts that do not report low-income students at all um to all the way up to 63.1%. So with our whiskey districts, there are large ranges there. And so what we also do then is look at our lookalike peers as well. And how Don pulls those lookalike peers just real quick for you is that he funnels the district data, the state data through five different checkpoints. So what he does

092is he takes the state data and he first funnels out all the ele he takes all the elementary school districts. And so then from all the elementary school districts he then puts in to show only the districts that have a population between 1100 and 2300 with Riverside's population you see being 1705. Then from those remaining districts he funnels out the districts that have a per pupil expenditure of 15,000 to 25,000. And then from those funnels out the districts that have an instructional expenditure between 8,000 and 14,000. and then from there funnels out the districts that are left to see which ones have low-inccome percentages between 15 and 30%. And he does that so that we're comparing ourselves to districts that are structured and put forth the same money towards their student learning as we do

093so that we're looking at more of an apple comparison. So just a reminder here are whiskey districts. Um, and then this is our ELA cohort and baseline growth. So remember we talked about cohort growth is comparing to last year. So that's going to be the blue bar and baseline growth is comparing to that baseline year of 2019. The red arrow is Riverside. And because other districts should be able to tell their story, we know that we um cover the other district names. Um, but looking at Riverside, you can see that our cohort growth, the blue line that goes across, so you can see where it measures up to the other districts, is one of the highest growth percentiles from our Whiskey Districts with um our district growing 73.7% faster than comparable students for this past

094year. And our baseline growth, the comparison to 2000 from 2019 is at 78.6%. And also one of the higher ones in our in our whiskey districts. That's ELA. This is our math growth. [clears throat] And we did not calculate science growth because of the way um the state had changed those or those growth measures and the way they have been um it wasn't till last year that they started looking at proficiency as part of the state report card. Before that they were looking at participation. So we will have science proficiency or growth next year. But here are proficiency rates with our whiskey districts. So we had in ELA 82.6 6% of our students were proficient or above proficient. And you can see we fall in the middle of our whiskey districts for proficiency in ELA.

095That is for math at 72.4%. That is for science at 67.3%. And then we'll talk about our lookike peers. So our lookike peers for this goound it are Milbour Milbour River Trail Center Cass Community Consolidated School District 89 and uh Moina. These are some of these are different from our lookalike districts from previous years. Last year our lookalike districts included um Nippersync school district number two. they are no longer part of the lookalike because their enrollment dropped below, 1100 um and their per pupil expenditure dropped below 15,000. Shanahan is no longer a lookalike was last year is not this year because their per pupil expenditures dropped below 15,000. Prospect Heights was a lookalike is no longer now because their low-inccome percentage increased to 39%. So they fell out of that search, that funnel that Don

096does. And Summit Hills population increased to over 2,300. So that's why those four are no longer part of our comparison, but instead we now have uh River Trail, Centercast, and Mokina that are now part of our lookalike. So when we compare ourselves to our lookalike peer districts, this is our ELA baseline or cohort and baseline growth, our math cohort and baseline growth, our ELA proficiency compared to our lookalike peers, our math proficiency compared to our lookalike peers, and our science proficiency compared to our lookalike peers. So, part of our state report card includes the equity journey continuum. And we've talked we talk about this each year since the state has um instituted the equity journey continuum. And the way the continuum works is it's looking at where are gaps in terms of student learning, learning

097conditions, and elevating educators. So you can see for student learning, we're still in moderate gap step two, but we did slightly decrease. And that slight decrease comes because well, first student learning includes the um participation in or the the kids data that we submit to the state for kindergarteners. Um we assess them after the 40th day of attendance to see their kindergarten readiness skills. And so the state looks at the readiness of our students, our kindergarten students, and that's part of the uh student learning piece. um ELEL's making t on target annual progress to proficiency and then also how former ELEL's perform on the um in their ELA course as reported by the student information system that is a part of student learning and then the number of students who are enrolled in passing advanced

098uh eighth grade math which is our algebra 1 standards that's part of student learning as well and so the slight decrease in our student learning score this for the 24 year and I'll come back to that in a second is due to a slight decrease in the number of students that took advanced math that qualified for advanced math. So we had less students qualify so less students could pass it. Um as well as we had a slight decrease on our students our um former EL students who were receiving a passing a final passing grade in their ELA course as reported by our student information system. I want to go back to why it's the 24 school year, the 23 24 school year. The equity journey continuum uses data that's already published. So because data [clears

099throat] is embargoed for that current for the 2425 school year, the equity journey will always be a year behind because they're using what data was published at the time that they were working on the equity journey continuum. So this data is from the 2324 school year. So it looks at how many students were enrolled in advanced math in 2324 to get that number. That's not our current students enrollment. It's not our current students access test scores. It's what was there before. Um learning conditions takes into consideration out of school or suspensions both out of school and in school. We did have a decrease in our inschool suspensions from the 22 23 year to the 23 24 year. And then it takes into account student attendance. Um, and it also takes into account different components of

100the five essentials survey. So it looks at the teacher response rate rate, the student response rate, and the parent response rate. That's a part of the learning conditions. We were steady at the teacher and student response rate, but we did have a decrease in our parent response rate. So that played a role in the slight decrease. And then it looks at a few questions. One of the questions is a student centered question. It's a question the students are asked on their assess their survey about their environment being a supportive learning environment and there was a slight decrease there in the 20 remember that's the 23 24 school year and then there is a question on um that the teachers receive about families being involved and their influence on the teachers influence on decisions that are

101made and both of those questions were studied and there's also a teacher question about teacher parent trust and there was a slight decrease on that question um in the 23 24 school year as well. So that's what contributed to our slight decrease at learning conditions. And then elevating educators is just looking at what teachers are we putting in front of our students in terms of racial components and how does that compare to our student racial makeup as well as um the education of our students if they have a master or teachers if they have a masters or higher and um the evaluations of our teachers if we have teachers who are receiving proficience and excellence or if anyone's receiving things below that. And so that slight decrease comes from um a slight decrease in the

102number of teachers we had that were teaching with a mast's or higher in the 23 24 year as well as the um percent of our students who were taught by teachers who had a proficient or excellent on their evaluation in the 2324 school year. So the state report card we know can be accessed at the illinocard.com. the information you receive at that website includes all of those bulleted points. Some of the things we've talked about, some things that we haven't really talked about, but definitely a place that families, board members can go and dig into more. The state report card also contains the summitive designations, and the summit of designations are given for individual schools. They're not given for a district as a whole. And just as a reminder to the board, these are the

103pieces that make up the summitive designation. We get points for each of these pieces. And then those points are weighted as you can see on this chart. Um growth is a heavy factor in the summit of designations as it's 50% of the designation. 25 from ELA, 25 for math. 20% of the designation comes from proficiency on ELA math and science. 7 and a half of that math, seven and a half ELA and five of it science. And then our English learners progress to proficiency, the access test is 5% of um our our summitive designation. The final 25% comes from um our chronic absenteeism percentage for 20% and 5% from our five essentials participation. So if you go to the illinoportcard.com website, this is the snapshot that comes up right away. You can see on the

104snapshot we have two schools that were rated exemplary, three rated commendable. Um which is wonderful. Um really truly we are a high performing district and it shows in these ratings. Um again as a reminder to the board exemplary what the state does is they take those summitive designations. We get the points I talked about and they take those points. They give you an index score and that score then they take every school in the state, list them from the highest to the lowest, cut off the top 10% and those schools are exemplary as long as they didn't have any underperforming subgroups. Then they look at the bottom 5% and those schools are targeted comprehensive intensive schools. And then everybody in between that top 10, lower five is what's commendable. So commendable is great, exemplary is

105great. Um we are not we don't have any underperforming subgroups. We are doing um we're doing a really good job here in district 96. Um I do want to talk I know that chronic absenteeism is something that we talk about. It's one of our KPIs. It's something the board is vested in. And so you probably will notice that our chronic absenteeism did increase from last year. It is um it was 11.3%. It did go up 1.1% to 12.4%. Um and we as a leadership team have had some conversations, we'll continue to have conversations about why that might be, who those families are. You know that we've talked about with the board that really chronic absenteeism is something we look at at a case- by case basis, family by family, because those students who aren't coming

106to school, it's usually for certain reasons. And so our principles work very hard to work with families to determine what might the needs be, how can we meet those needs, what can we do. They work with um Nora with RAP services. We work with West 40 as well. So there are many things that we're putting in place to try to meet our family's needs to continue to address chronic absenteeism. Um and then you can see there the spending states 21,000. We do share, you know, here's the historical average spending per student. Uh, as you saw on that snapshot, 21,000 for the FY25 year. This chart does make it seem like it's a larger jump when you look from 21 to 24, but a couple of things about it. One, the typical increase from 21 to

10724 was about 4 to 5%. This last year it was above 11%. Um, but what's important to know is that this number represents all of the district spending minus capital improvements. So that includes operations and maintenance as well. And that's actually where the jump came from is operations and maintenance were hit pretty hard this past year. So what does all this mean? Um here are some of our successes uh that the leadership team has talked about. It is great that all five of our schools received an rating of exemplary or commendable from the state board of education. We continue to maintain our high achievement. Um, our reading and math achievement remain well above our national norms and most grade levels are scoring in the 85th to 95th percentile range, which is wonderful. Um, we have

108sustained growth over time. For three consecutive years, all of our grades have exceeded the national median growth percentile in both reading and math. You see cohort consistency happening where cohorts are maintaining or improving their achievement as they progress through grade levels which is showing that there is instructional stability and [snorts] then our post-pandemic recovery. We're continuing to recover from the pandemic um in both reading and math which is demonstrating that we have strong tiered support systems. But we know that there's always room for growth. And so as we look at our areas for continued growth, we do note as a leadership team the recent growth dip. And while we're still above the national norms, we do know that our district-wide median growth percentiles in reading, sorry about that typo, in reading declined across all grade

109levels in the 2425 school year. Um and this real quick um and one of the things that we talked about as a leadership team is that we want to work on how we are increasing our student growth percentiles. So what intervention supports are continuing to help our students show growth. But then on the other side of that MTSS diamond that we talk about, how are we helping our students who are accessing the tier one curriculum and need enrichment? How are we helping those students grow as well? We do a very good job of ensuring our students who need supports continue to grow as we're trying to get them to grow to the standard. We want to make sure that we're doing that same great job of helping our students who are achieving at a higher

110level also grow because we want all of our students in district 96 to show growth. Um variability by we have some variability by grade level. Some grades spans show lower median growth compared to prior years. We have some equity gaps that persist. Um we have small but consistent disparities that remain between demographic groups and assessment growth and advanced coursework. We know that um students who are accessing our advanced classes are not representative of our district population and that's something that the advanced learning committee is looking at. How are we identifying students for advanced learning so that we are ensuring it's truly representative of our population. Um, sustainability of growth is another continued area for focus because our year-over-year decline in growth for reading suggests the need to ensure our tier one instructional consistency and intervention

111is coherent across our schools. And part of that is aligned to the implementation of CKLA. And we talked about when we adopted CKLA that as you learn a new curriculum, you will probably see an implementation dip. And that is what we're looking at. We are right now going through professional learning with CKLA consultant with ACKLA consultant where teachers are going by grade level into a class to observe um instruction. We're coming back then to talk about what did we notice, what did we see, how is this going to change our instruction in our classrooms. Um and also just becoming more familiar with the fidelity of the program now that we're in our second year. Um first grade and second grade have worked through that process. We actually have a learning lab tomorrow with half the

112first grade team. And one of the things that came up in first grade is just um that you know there are things that when you're doing it the first year and you're just trying to stay afloat, things that they didn't realize might be were things that we need to be doing. And this year now that they're able to they're not drinking from a fire hose. They're able to digest some of the things that are happening. They're like, "Oh, that makes sense now. I feel like I can put that into action." So, we're already seeing just some key takeaways come out of these learning labs that will help with our tier one instruction and reading. Um, as well as the instructional coaches are continuing to provide sessions for coaching sessions for our teachers in both reading

113and math from K through 8th grade. Um, instructional coaches also at the middle school working on uh instructional coaching cycles on engaging instructional strategies which is a goal for uh Mr. for Havales and Miss Kayasa for Hower on just how are we ensuring we're utilizing engaging instructional strategies across core and encore classes. Oops. And then um also continuing to explore ways to address individual family needs to ensure student attendance with our chronic absenteeism. And so with that, are there any Thank you. And are there any questions? Angel, I just have one question. Slide seven. What's the dip? That was the map growth. What's the dip between sixth and seventh grade? >> Huh? Um, let me just Yeah. Working my way back there. That way, right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Wait. Yeah. >> Is it

114that way? Math. Okay. >> Um, the diff between sixth and seventh grade on the growth. That is um a question that I don't have an answer for you yet just because since um you know this is >> all the map data is not just becoming public but when we are looking at it all together triangulated I haven't had my meeting my curriculum meeting yet with Mr. Males and Miss Kayas. So that's part of something we are exploring as well. >> Okay. >> But I can get back to you. >> Yes. Yeah. [laughter] But definitely something that I will I can get back to the board on. >> Just curious. Thanks. the um the ELA proficiency rates at our fifth through 8th grade levels are just super impressive >> on math >> no for I >>

115okay >> um and so when I when I sort of look at the spread between the ELA proficiency rate and the math proficiency rates and how So that spread has moved over time. It does seem that like ELA must have had a stronger focus at one point in time relative to math and then at some point maybe three or so years ago there was a rebalancing. Is that correct or and was that purposeful or like >> about three or four years ago we adopted I Ready? Okay. And so at the elementary level, the focus was we're working on math for the implementation of a new curricular resource and put a lot of focus into how are we restructuring for small group instruction in math and how are we using our instructional strategies in math. So

116we did put more of a focus on math then. >> Yeah. um at the elementary level, at the middle school level, we three or four years ago started to really work on our win time structure. Um where our math and ELA have out of the 80 minutes take about 20 minutes to do a what I need time and it's something that continues to develop over time. It's nowhere near perfect. It's something we continue to work on, but it has continued to grow and evolve. um along with the resources that we've used for win time at the middle school. So we have put a little bit more of a focus on math in the past years and now we're flipping back to ELA. >> Okay. Over time, do you expect that the proficiency rates of math

117and ELA should be roughly equivalent or how do you >> that's what we would hope for. That's what we shoot for. That's what we're trying to get to. Um >> okay. And I will say I said, you know, we we put a focus now on ELA, but the instructional coaches were very intentional with me at the beginning of this year and said we don't want to lose math. And so a lot of their coaching cycles have been around math. And I know um they're working closely with one particular principal on um just level setting math, win time, and instruction. So, we're not not focusing on math because we're turning back to reading instruction and working on tier one instruction, reading, but um we are the focus is probably heavier at a district level with the

118reading with the coaches and supporting the math piece to your point try to get us leveled out. >> Got it. Okay. Um, I think, you know, based on our our conversation, I think in the spring following the MAP, um, uh, we thought that there was a lot of wood to chop around implementation of the CKL curriculum and whether or not it had been successful over the last year. I I I have to say like I'm really impressed by the ELA proficiency rates that this test has shown. And um and while I know that, you know, there are still challenges with implementing the curriculum, um this does give me confidence that, you know, we're we're doing quite well. And so, um, I know the landmark sort of recognized you and and said, you know, maybe you

119have a big smile on your face or something to that effect, but I think it's also important to just really recognize that in addition to all the work that you've put into this, um, our school leadership teams and all of our teachers have really >> been the real drivers of this success. And so, thank you to our teachers and to um >> to our district leaders, school leadership teams for um >> for these results because I know it's a lot more that goes into it than what we're seeing here just in a in a a bar and I'm glad you say that. Thank you for acknowledging that. Um the great thing about newspaper stories is they don't say everything that you say in a on phone interview. Um, and one of the things I did

120say right off to to Greg Voss was that um, these scores are something for us to definitely celebrate, but it just is it's the work of the collaboration of our staff, our families, and our students. Um, that we can't do it without that collaboration, and it just shows that we're a high performing district because of everybody working together and showing the care and the thought for it. >> So, I'm glad. Thank you for acknowledging that. Great. >> So, I'm going to use that as a dovetail then because in at your very last slide talking about some of the opportunities and I heard you say a lot of things that are already ongoing in professional development and I know that collaboration piece has been a very big um focal point throughout the district over the last

121couple years. So it it does seem like would would you is it fair to say that a lot of that work over time with professional development all the focus on collaboration in addition to the curriculum um I think the coaching we've added a lot of that coaching there that seems to be really helping sort of drive that implementation and understanding in the classroom and everything like it feels like this is kind of a culmination of years worth of effort and focus year over year that's really kind of starting to to pop out That is how I am the leadership team. I believe the leadership team, if I'm speaking out of turn, let me know since you're here. But that is what we feel that it is coming together. There's still work to be done. Always

122is. Always, right? But um yeah, we're starting to see some of that come together. We're you can see with some of the teams who the work collaborative work is fluid and um comes naturally. You can see how they work with each other to um just continue to grow their instructional practices. So yes, it it is it is all working together and it continues to move forward. Sometimes it feels like change is slow, but yeah, it's happening. >> Big change is slow. >> Um and probably should be to get it try to get it as right as possible. So part two of that question, I kind of I heard you say some of the things or I heard things that are part of professional development this year get noted. So, how does how does this play

123into what you're thinking about next year as far as like any kind of particular focus on professional development or whatever we might need to be doing? >> Yeah. Um >> I'm not trying to hook you into something yet, but I'm just kind of curious how you're thinking about going in next year. >> Absolutely. um what I want to do and obviously continuing to watch data to see where we're at, but I I feel like tier one instruction is something we'll continue to need to work to ensure we're shoring up. Um meeting all of our students needs, especially on the advanced side of the diamond is something that we need to continue to work on. I'd like to see um and it depends. It really this is this is Angela's thoughts as a director of teaching

124and learning. This is nothing that we've talked about as a leadership team yet. So that's what I'm I'm not sure. >> Nothing is set in stone, right? Um, and it also just depends on how this year unfolds to see if we end up with these things. But in my head, I'm always trying to think of what other things do we need to be looking for and getting ready to work on. And one of the things I'm hearing in the advanced learning committee meetings is the need for professional learning on how are we addressing our higher achieving, more advanced students in classes. And not just in our advanced classes, but in our core classes as well as in um you know, we have a great advanced program. We have a great advanced programming at the middle

125school for 678, but that's for math and in ELA. And one of the things that came up in the um advanced learning review is advanced kids are still advanced in science and social studies, too. So, how are we addressing those needs in other subject areas and in encore areas? So, professional learning and how to address higher learners is something I would like to look at too if that fits with where we end up with priorities. And again, this is Angela, the director of teaching and learning saying what her thoughts and areas are. But we have a new strategic plan coming. We have continued work with advanced learning coming. We have continued work with MTSS coming. Um that's also where we probably need to do some professional learning just to ensure that we've level set and

126set um the course for consistency with uh our SEAL and TSS structures, right? Because if you have a feeling of belonging and you want to be at school, that's when a child is able to learn best. So we need to make sure all those are in place too. So, um, probably verbal vomit of a whole bunch of things are in my head of where I want to go, but again, just one person of a 11 person leadership team ideas on next year and >> a couple and I think that last point right there, we talk about that a lot, culture, right? And like just the inclusiveness and the belongingness. If a student can't come in ready to participate, they're not going to succeed. So I do think that is a critical component of it beyond

127>> if you don't have that you're not going to get stuff like this. So >> exactly and that's something that all of our principles continue to talk about too that climate and culture is important for student learning. It it's all part of that whole child aspect. Just had a quick question just in regards to some of the areas of continued um improvement like obviously on the equity journey continuum right kind of went backwards on all three measures. >> Yeah. >> Um I know we don't do the in-depth comparison to our geographic or even lookalike peers but are there schools that have smaller gaps? They're more in like the step three step four. Is there anything we can be learning? I I I'm in higher ed. I know rankings the you know all of the algorithms

128what goes into it some of it's outside our control the percent of people that fill out a survey you know some of those frustrating uh ways that you come up with these that they come up with these numerical ratings but yeah I just kind of wanted to learn a little bit more about how we can go in the direction of the arrow that we want for momentum and if there's anything we can learn from surrounding or lookalike schools that might have smaller gaps in there in these elements. Um, so I am curious to see how our English learners progress to proficiency goes now that we have had >> um, you know, even our EL teachers have talked about how they've been able to better support students with the increased staffing, right? Because remember this data

129for Yeah. is >> year it's 23 24, right? >> So I'm curious to see where we go from there um with that piece as well. >> Does it fall under the student learning piece? >> It does. Yep. And then um the advanced eighth grade math piece is going to look at our continuum of services for math. And so part of that's going to come from our advanced learning committee work um which we will be working with the Northwestern Center for Talent Development still and they're going to bring to us how other districts are looking at advanced continuum of services and how services are provided so we can see what's working where um and also talk about what research says. So they'll be playing a role in helping us with that too so that we can

130look at that piece. Um then within the learning conditions, those are all climate survey pieces and I think those are the parts that like you talked about are a little bit less out of our locus of control. But as we continue to work on the climate and culture in the district for both students and for staff, looking at um why our students supportive environment decreased from 22 23 to 23 24 comparing see where we're at. or 24 25 because we do have that data in our hands at least. Um and looking at why there were decreases in a couple of the other questions so that we can see how we can address those. That's how we would address that's how we could start to look at the learning conditions and some of that might be

131looking at lookalike peers. Um but some of it's also just looking inward, right, and reflecting on what can we do to help with those five essential climate questions. And then the elevating educator piece um really is just continuing to try to do it, continuing to do what we're trying to do with our um goal three of our strategic plan and looking at our workforce and what's contributing to our retention and looking at our hiring and who are we putting in front of our students. That's um that's where we'll go with that. So, I think that the equity journey continuum, the student learning pieces are pieces that we might reach out to other districts about, but the other parts are probably more reflective of how can we improve within within our structures and systems. >> And

132then my last question, it's just a data understanding question. It might be slides six and nine, the cohort progress for MAP. Um, so am I reading this correctly? That the map reading cohort progress, the achievement percentiles were exactly the same as >> the math ones. >> Shouldn't be. Did I not change numbers? >> I don't know. Like, okay, so 88, 83, 90, right? And then if you look at the reading ones, they're like exactly >> that's a bummer. >> Sorry. And then that's like [laughter] wow that's that's like they were exactly the same that >> many eyes have been on this. You're the first one to catch that. [laughter] >> Sorry I call you out. This is such a comprehensive report. >> I can I could get that changed and get the right numbers to

133you. >> Okay. >> And it would change in the report book. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I as many eyes have been on it. No. Yeah. >> Thank you though. >> You did read it right. It's just >> okay. I was like wow. It's just wrong. [laughter] >> So, I will get that corrected. >> It's the policy eye. >> I appreciate it. >> I'm kidding. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions? >> All right. >> I'll just echo what Selena said and what the newspaper said as well. um these are really good results and there's always opportunity for improvement, but I think we continue just to have really high achieving district, high achieving schools and students and so yeah, everybody that put work into this should be happy with this and we'll keep chipping

134away and trying to make them better. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. I I know this group that's sitting back here um they were thanked before, but I also want to thank them that truly the the progress that students make and the supports and services that our students receive are um our great group of teachers, but our principles leading them makes just a huge difference and a huge impact. And I'm also going to suggest that they all leave. They really wanted to be here for the student achievement piece. And I don't know if they they are welcome to stay for the tax lobby, but um >> that's the most important part. [laughter] You got to pay for all of this. >> I I am not going to hit my 900 p.m. target.

135So, you're more than welcome to go for coming. >> Have faith. [laughter] I'll be quick. >> Table morale. David's not here. I would say something like, I know our teachers don't really want us to, but we might have more data. I have the development board. Maybe I'm just like I know this is getting long. So, just a thought. I know like we like I don't want to keep burying it either. So >> we've only got >> I don't think there's much to talk about on ice but okay I might make a pivot. Um all right. Uh so we're moving on to finances. I'll hand it over to Miss Claps. Uh we just got the tax levy. >> The finance committee met last week to get a preview of the tax levy and I will turn

136it over to Mark for detail. >> Yeah. So, uh, I'm not 100% familiar with what you received in the past. Um, I did provide a memo, which I think is self-explanatory about, um, some of the key points, which I think the one I'll going to reiterate maybe three or four times tonight and again on November 19th is that the CPI is at 2.9%. which means that um the board is capped on any existing property to raise it no more than 2.9%. So, um, what gets lost in that conversation is the board's, uh, should be the board's desire to levy somewhat higher for the single purpose of capturing any new property that would come on to your roles because if you don't capture that property, you can't go back and ever get it again as part

137of your EAV, equalized assess valuation. So, but again, 2.9% is the CPI that's being applied to the levy. Um and that would be on all existing property. Um there are three pages. One is the certificate of tax levy. This is what is um submitted to our tax assessor. So you have what you approved last year um in December of 2024. You can see each fund laid out um how much money you levied in those funds. And if you wanted to do a comparison between what you levied last year and what you're levying this year, um that's what kind of page two or three, however you're reading the packet, lays out. So typically from year to year in a district like this and many um next door to us and around, there's not a whole lot

138of new property. So you're not going to see significant changes between one year and the next. And in fact, um, we'll we'll skip over the ED fund for just a second, but that if you see in 2024, you levied about $3 million in operations and maintenance, and you're levying about 3,300,000 this year. So, it's not a it's it's an amount, but it's not a huge amount. The primary and fundamental difference between last year's levy and this year's is you'll notice that you only levied in 24 $6,000 for transportation. And you will recall that last summer uh prior to Mr. Fitton leaving, you made a fund transfer in the amount of about $600,000 to transportation to cover your unexpected transportation costs uh associated with special ed. So, uh, what has been done in the 2025 levy

139is to take some of the money that otherwise would have been used in the ED fund, which is where you transferred your money, and just levied it more appropriately into the transportation fund. So, the biggest change is going from 6,000 to 606,000. And that 600,000 came from your education levy. So you can see there's only about 200,000 diff in addition which typically would have been in the neighborhood of 800,000 more in there. We've just reallocated that in the levy from being levied in ED to levied into transportation. Okay? So that you are um I won't get in to the weeds the significant advantages of levying appropriate to you but you you don't need to overlevy in one and then transfer out for another. it should be levied appropriate to where you need your expenditures to

140be. So that is the fundamental difference in in the levies that being in transportation. And then the last page um for those of you that have no sports events to watch this evening and want to really dive deep into uh tax rates and calculations. This is a um this is a worksheet that is nothing more than a worksheet for how I arrived at the numbers and what I do to make sure that you are not overt taxing or extending beyond your your acceptable tax rates. So it's nothing more than if you're like well Mark how'd you come up with these numbers? This is kind of a worksheet behind deep in the weeds that I use. But if you were to look at the levy certificate and that first column, that's the amount that appears on

141the levy. And all those other numbers going down essentially just show a final tax rate in the final right column. And I have to make sure in your operations and maintenance fund um along well we don't really we don't do in life safety and your working cash and special ed that we have not gone beyond the tax rate ceiling or the limit if you will. So there are three pertinent um funds for you. You can see operation and maintenance in that fourth column over the tax rate ceiling is 55 cents. we are at 49 and then in special education it's a 40 cent uh tax rate ceiling and we are at just under 30 cents. So um that's just calculations to make sure I have not put the district in in a position to exceed

142the tax rate for those three funds that have limiting factors. [snorts] But again, more for my calculations, but if you I didn't know how deep in the weeds this board wanted to be. So, um I'm going to take this collapse um suggestion again and reiterate that the 2.9% is applied to existing taxpayers. >> I the the transportation thing caught my eye as well. And I think I was just kind of going back a couple years with one of the audits where I think we had didn't we have too is that the fund we had too much money and they're like you need to transfer that down or >> I think years ago and then we underleved because of that to try to bring it down. So I think this feels like it's maybe just getting

143back to normal. And what I would what I would probably say makes sense to me and I don't know the exact years, but when you say a couple years ago, um, transportation used to be a fund that you were allowed to levy money into and then transfer that money into, say, your education fund or your O andM fund. The law changed a few years ago where you're no longer allowed to levy money into transportation and then transfer that money out to another fund. Similarly, like you transferred ED money, education fund money to transportation, you would never, if you were had too much money in there, you couldn't transfer it. You used to be able to transfer out. You can no longer do do that. So, if you had money, for example, if you were under

144leving in the education to put money in transportation only to transfer it back out. That was a common practice. It lowered and got you underneath the ceiling rate in the ED fund. But now there is no ceiling rate in the ED fund. So there's no reason to do it. So they've eliminated that allowable transfer. So that would seem to make sense without going back in a whole bunch of your levies. But that makes sense to me that that would have happened. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Any other questions? >> So this would just be this certificate of levy would be on the November 19th board for approval which I will also be at if there's any further questions. >> And that also requires the public hearing at the beginning of the meeting and then >> it

145required is a strong word. you're you're levying under 105% which does not necessarily require a public hearing but as part of best practice you should open a public hearing which looks similarly to the public hearing that you would open for when you pass the budget. You open the public hearing, ask if there's if there is none, you close the public hearing, you move on to your meeting, and then under probably old business, you'll approve the action item to accept the levy. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, just looking at the clock, I'm going to suggest a pivot to go to family planning engagement and the IASB thing and then depending on how we're feeling, come back to the staff morale just because that I I don't know how long that discussion will go

146and we're already past nine. Is anybody opposed to that adjustment? >> No. Okay. So, I will hand it over to you, Miss Kick, for family and community partnerships. >> Sure. So, um, parent leadership team met on October 17th and, um, we had started out by discussing the board, um, the last board meeting, but, um, kind of the best part of the meeting was, uh, Alex Coa Lopez, who's the EL lead, um, gave us a lot of updates about her bilingual parent advisory committee, um, and kind of the activities that they're doing to engage families. um they do have a diodelos more dose event on November 13th and she kind of presented to the PTAs and PTO's you know just like other ideas that that we might have to kind of team up with her um

147you know to help promote inclusion of families um throughout the school. She also talked about how uh she has a monthly newsletter and so she tries to gather information that's sent out from each PTA and PTO to include in her newsletter that goes out to her families. Um, and so she asked to be added to mailing list so she could include that information um, and be more inclusive of that. And also pointed out that S'more lets you translate into any language, which I didn't know. And as the corresponding secretary of Hollywood's PTA, I totally switch over to S'more and it's like awesome. Um, and it literally translates into any language. It's very cool. Um, great ideas for inclusion. Um and then at the end um this all the schools kind of shared just their upcoming

148events. Talked a lot about spirit wear and who our vendors are. Um different community nights uh dinners night out trunk or trunk and treat trunk or treat trunk and treat I don't know. Uh fun runs um and there was so basically all of our PTAs are doing a great job with some family engagement all across the district. And then family committee partnerships met on October 30th and um it was really kind of like an introductory meeting I guess because there was some new folks on the committee. But we talked about um what the committee has done since 2021. Um you know starting our family learning nights, doing one book, one school um throughout the district. Um kind of working with the fifth to sixth grade transition um connecting uh to PLT and having our parent

149ambassadors um to some degree at each school. prioritizing community communication with parents and working on various ways to engage in our with all of our district families. Um, and then kind of throwing out ideas that we could kind of work on for this year, but then I had to go because I had [laughter] a virtual open house for my residency program. Uh, and so I did not hear what the end of the meeting kind of entailed. But I think we were probably just going to continue talking in our next meeting. >> Right. We f we focused a lot on communication. you know, sort of the the ideal goal of just having really seamless two-way communication with families in real time about what's really happening in the classroom, how to best support your child at home

150because you actually have the details of what's going on. Um, there's tools that do that and I think looking at, you know, tools keep evolving in terms of their effectiveness, but also in terms of the challenge around their use, teachers have good systems for that kind of thing. But, um, talking about maybe a more unified district-wide system is just something we're going to explore. And I would emphasize that explore, we don't want to take away the tools that are really working well for classroom teachers already in place. Um, and we also talked then about uh a family survey. So two years ago, it was November. It was in conjunction with parent teacher conferences. We did a family engagement survey um where we got some, you know, helpful results. I don't know if it was earthshattering,

151but it was it was helpful to us. Um, we talked about it. I had also been doing some research because we're coming up on our new strategic plan, facilitation, development, renewal. Um, at the November 19th board meeting, you're um going to meet two different facil facilitator groups um for the strategic plan. Both groups really use surveys in a very robust way. Like it really is part of how we did our strategic plan back five years ago and how we would do it moving forward regardless of the group we choose that we really think it'd be kind of redundant to ask families now about sort of what are their kind of hopes, dreams, aspirations for ways the district can improve when we're probably going to do it in multiple ways in the spring. So um we're

152going to hold on the family engagement committee kind of hosting or sponsoring that survey and move it to the spring. So that was something we talked about. >> Those surveys will probably be more in-depth than what we would even get at. >> Yeah. And like CEC was reminding me that was the group that did it five years ago. They surveyed families at three different junctures. Each sort of like when the sort of vision was ready, you know, is this like do you concur? Are there other thoughts and suggestions when the um essentially the goals and strategies were read? Like do you concur these you know? So we're going to you know again even and the other group we're going to look at is educational leadership solutions also does surveys. Both groups also would offer like

153community forums or focus groups if we want to even hone in more, but it'll be a great time to gather feedback and it will be really meaningful and useful feedback. Not that it's not meaningful and useful all the time, but I think just the timing by just a few months we can I think just get more out of it and and be a bit more efficient with families too as opposed to potentially suffering survey fatigue with them. So >> and we need the feedback for the >> Yeah. >> for the strategic plan. So, and our next meeting is um >> December 11th. >> And there was some discussion about the family um this family math night. Yeah. The next family math night would be in February um or family learning night will be math and

154it will be in February. Did we >> and Kathy we you remind me we have to look at the calendar. It's people had two different dates, February 25th and 26th. So we somewhere we're >> we have to make sure we're >> on the same page and I >> have it one way in my calendar. So we'll double check that. I promise to double check that for the group. >> So yeah, >> thank you. Um the transition to Hower thing, I've had a few people that had kids transitioning from fifth to six fifth to sixth, but we had the construction at Hower. Is that going to be a problem again next year? problem again because the whole window project will be >> major as well as the ongoing tuck point. >> Yeah, I was wondering if

155the tuck would be smaller that maybe we can >> Yeah, it's the windows now that'll be the the reason to not be on that campus. That was something >> for what it's worth. People really like it. >> Yeah, that was something the group talked about that even though it wasn't at Hower, still the idea of learning to use combination locks, they use some video and sort of um and also just the coming together of the four elementary schools, the kids and actually meeting kids. So, um, families that did participate reminded us that it really had been meaningful even though it wasn't on the Hower campus. >> You just missed the walking the schedule and familiarity with the building. But, yeah, >> but there was extra time built in, right, for the people come and walk

156their schedules. >> Sixth grade transition day that happens like just before school starts. They built it for a longer time like the day before. >> That's when kids really walk their schedules because they don't really walk their schedules in the summer school class. Oh, that's right. It's a schedules. They do walk the building and they get to spend a lot of time in the building and that is very nice and >> and it's possible, you know, like we could do like a walking field trip. Again, it's all going to depend on the project, but yeah, all window replacement sounds pretty major. And >> I would just throw out if there's an option. >> I would I would say we take it because it's it's one day for a short amount of time. I don't know

157how that would screw up the schedule if they could just not work that day or or something, but like I don't know. Just throwing spitballing it. Angela might have some updates on >> I didn't I didn't realize that was something [laughter] >> like um just we've talked about this at leadership team um with transition to houser and when students were doing a schedule at hower during transition to houser it wasn't really a schedule right it was just because they don't have their schedules yet go here go there >> right it was just how to navigate going from room to room and finding different areas and different places Um, so what uh Dr. Dwer and I have talked about in looking at the fact that we weren't going to be able to use Hower again is

158um Mr. Mason had done the transition to Hower class at AS last summer and he still provided that opportunity for students to move from room to room and he set up like this is the gym like he put signs and stuff throughout Ames and so they still have the experience of okay you've got this much time to get to this class to get to this class to do the transitioning part or the moving between classes part so we would continue that and then everything else was still the same because it's also just about transition to Hower is more than it that's the fun part running around Hower. Yeah. >> Um, but it's more than that. It's about uh the executive functioning skills are needed when you're going to a middle school class and how are

159you keeping track of all of your materials and your folders and like the locker lock that all the kids are worried about. And so even when we were at Hower, he would still use the oldfashioned combination locks for the kids to practice, which isn't the same as the Hower lockers. We all know, especially those of us that have kids using the Hower lockers. Um, but they were using those combination locks even when transition houses was at Hower. So they'll do that at Ames as well. And then Chris and Katie will have those times built in that, you know, we have the sixth grade night that kids can come set up their lockers, do their do their real schedule. So we'll still have those opportunities as well for the students. But Dr. Dwire already plann we

160were already planning because we were told you're not going to be able to use the building on how can we ensure that um kids are still having the experience of transition to hous. And Mr. Mason did a really great job last summer of accommodating that at the last minute and now he knows ahead of time so we'll be able to even be more on top of it and then be able to let families know ahead of time because that was part of it last year. Some families are finding out the last minute and they didn't know how we were making those adjustments so they felt that it wasn't the same program but it really it's pretty much the same. It's just not located in Houser. >> Yeah. No, that that is that's very helpful. just

161if that comes up again over the summer or something like that, having that additional information is good. >> Thank you for letting me jump in. >> Anything else on this? >> No. Any other questions? >> No. All right. Um Okay, I will pass it over to Miss Gun for policy. >> Yeah. Uh not exactly policy related, but seems to be the most natural Yeah. place to uh have this on the agenda. So, we do have the IASB joint annual conference coming up and um I guess kind of one of the first questions would be do do we know who from the board is is planning to attend that or Kathy do you have what you need? >> Oh, boo. >> I am unable to go this year. >> Okay. So, that would be the first

162step confirming that anybody from before we get into is there a delegate? Do we need a delegate? Um planning to attend. I was planning, but I believe I can only go Saturday. So, I still I wanted to make sure that was still worthwhile based on the sessions, >> the 21st to the 23rd of November, >> the weekend before Thanksgiving. >> It was like Friday, Saturday, >> be able to >> I'll be out of town, so I won't be able to. >> And if there aren't key delegate items. >> Yeah. So, then the second part was I, you know, just based off of as part of the conference, there's resolutions for consideration. you appoint a delegate. Um, and this year's resolutions include just one. Yes, there's like consent agenda items on amendments, you know, all fairly

163straightforward. All do adopt. So, I presume those will just kind of move through like business as usual. The only one that uh was up on the resolution was like the the bus. you. I've never seen it to with just one, but anyway, I don't know that it is as imperative that a delegate be at this. It also takes away as we experienced last year from really key sessions. Um, and I think just better use of this board's time than than going to share our vote on, you know, I think it's like a bus I can't find it now. >> School bus safety funding. school bus safety funding, which again is a is a recommend it's not at odds with ISB's um the resolution committee's recommendation to adopt. So they'll just put it through the consent

164agenda. So, I guess it really just comes down to I I would recommend we don't need a delegate at this year. And if a board member is going to attend, they spend their time in sessions unless someone feels strongly about voicing having a voice on school bus safety funding. Okay. Well, Kathy, I I'll connect with you. I just wanted to look at the agenda for Friday versus Saturday just to make sure there was enough Saturday to make it worth the district's >> money. I mean, it's not, you know, Yeah. I mean, there's a cost to sending us, you know, >> just go to one seminar. It might not be worth it. >> Yeah. So, I just want to make sure there's enough there. And um otherwise, >> but I will re I've gone the last

165what, three years, I think, and all of the seminars have been good. Some have been great and others are just like >> in uh reinforcing maybe, but they're still good just to get that reinforcement that's out there. So, I've enjoyed all the ones I've gone to, but I just I can't go this year unfortunately. So, but yeah, if you got enough three or four of them, I mean, >> yeah, I think I I I know I can go Saturday. I cannot attend Friday. Unfortunately, I have a work um commitment that conflicts during the day. But, all right, that's I guess that's all I have. And this isn't exactly on the agenda, but I do have the latest issue of Press 120 here. The ISV not to discuss tonight. Just so you all know, it is

166coming. Um, I don't know when this is due back. >> I want to say February 20th. >> We don't have a January cow because it always falls during winter break, but this year Janu first January is January 7th. So I was just looking at that like if we wanted to have a January we can also do board you know we can do um policy review at a regular board meeting too >> right ISB um webinar which I always find incredibly helpful is coming up on November 12th so thereafter we'll meet in committee >> I tendedly slated it for December cow just for a first read and just but we could do it in January >> I hadn't looked at the 26 calendar yet it always falls like right after um New Year's which it does

167but the calendar shakes out that we could >> because the first Wednesday happens to be the 7th. Yeah. >> Okay. I am going to suggest we don't go back. I mean it's what 9:20. Um unless there's a strong desire to get into the morale survey stuff. Uh I think it it really just is a discussion and a report out. It's not really action or anything. is just kind of going over some of the results and some of the things that you've talked with leadership team about how to react to it um appropriately. So, if nobody's opposed, maybe we could do that at the next meeting. I'll try to keep an eye on how much is on the agenda. We knew this one was going to be tight, but >> this Yeah, right. With the playground

168and the student achievement and the tax levy. So, I mean, all of it. Um I I have the the morale survey information is attached. It's attached for other people if they want to review it. Um certainly don't want to feel like it's being buried. I know David also as personnel chair has has been really invested in kind of shephering the conversation through. So that might be helpful. David isn't able to be here tonight. We could do it at the November board or we can do it at December cow. >> So my thought is we could see how heavy the next meeting is because we know we have a couple items on here and if it's not overly stuffed then maybe we slide it in there. If not, I I don't I don't see any concern

169waiting until December unless I don't know any preference. >> Okay. >> And I just want to assure the board, but also assure other people that are listening that um you know the survey data is out. It's in the hands of all the schools. The schools are already at their building leadership teams taking a look at this data. Um we've given it to the rec to take a closer look at our leadership team has taken sort of a very initial look. Um, real honestly the student achievement I believe as it should really had to kind of take more center stage than the morale survey data but not forgetting about the morale survey data at all but I know even the building leadership teams were digging in on the student achievement data um and understanding their own

170state report card etc. So we will certainly get to the morale survey information. >> Yeah, I'd rather not rush it if we can spend more time. Well, and that was my other thought is we might just be like, "Okay, you know, by the time 9:40 runs around." Um, yeah. Okay. All right. I want to give it the time it deserves or whatever. I don't want people to feel rushed or whatever on it. So, okay. Uh, what that then this meeting, no more topics on this meeting. So, future meeting dates, November 19th, regular business meeting at 7 p.m. in the Hower Learning Resource Center. December 3rd, committee the whole 700 p.m. at the Blle Park School Library. And then December 17th, regular business meeting at 7 PM in the Hower Learning Resource Center. And then we

171have January 7th canled, but maybe potentially not since that actually falls in line >> on the regular stream of things. >> Yeah, we'll update that in the future. With that, this meeting is adjourned.