001[Music] Okay. Doesn't doesn't do the same when it's not on wood. Yes. Yeah. All right. Um we're back from close session. We are now back in open. Uh so we will continue on with our agenda. And the first topic on the agenda, uh actually first off, uh is there any public comment tonight, Kathy? Okay. Um, any changes proposed by any of the board members to the agenda tonight? Nope. Okay. Then I will hand it over to Dr. Ryan Toy for the superintendent report. All right. And this is great to see so many people here tonight. This is what the end of the year is all about. So much to celebrate and so much uh enthusiasm. So, thank you all for being here tonight. We are going to start with our student achievement award. So, April
002May, our principal at Hower is going to get us started here and our board members are going to go up on the stage and April's going to help the students know how to do this whole thing. Are coming up. Um, students, when I call your name, you're going to come over here and Dr. Doel will be here to help give you your certificate and you're going to come up the stairs just like these fine people are doing. And then you get to go across the stage and shake every single person's hand. Put your right hand up. Put your right hand up, students. That's the hand you shake with. So, you're going to put that hand out and shake. Okay? And then you're going to go down the stairs. And then we do know it's a
003very busy night. We know that you guys are very active students. If you do have somewhere and more activities that you need to get to, we all understand if you need to just walk right out. That is also fine. So, thank you to everyone for coming out. Um, I will apologize in advance that I will probably mess up your name and it's not p purposeful. I'm going to try to do my very best. Okay. All right. So, we're going to start with honoring um the 8th annual WSCE annual student art expo winners. So, those students, when you hear your name, come on up. Gabe Bolert, Ruby Kamacho Diaz, Fielding Campbell, Adeli Cochran, Delila Kachuba, Enzo Kinoida, Roman Lopez, Romero Owen, sorry that is put backwards. That's Owen Romero, Asahi Sano, Maggie Schley, and Abigail Springer.
004Congratulations. Next, we have the 28th annual AAW poster contest winners. And this looks like these are all fourth graders from across the district. So, welcome on up and congratulations to Penelopey Brooke, Naami, Berdine, Lzette, Cabanis, Aaron Carrie, Josephine Cheetum, Caroline Carolyn, sorry, Conrad, Joseph D'vorak, April Edmonson, Isabelle Gaitton, Hazel [Applause] Gardini, Sulio Gomez, Veronica Ivy, Camille Kerr, Lola Monia, Wley Moore, Meen Marillo, Sebastian Patterson, Noah Rodriguez, Cole Ryan, Hannah Shyman, Ava Thompson, Josephine Tuset, Annaise Waters, Mara Weber, Ben Witchmanowski, Amelia Whitefield, and Alexander Zushi. Congratulations Also, students, when you come up, if you'll just tell your name to the ladies here, that would be helpful. All right. Next, we want to congratulate our seventh grade girls basketball team on winning the Salt Creek Valley Conference champions. So, welcome the seventh grade girls basketball team. Iman
005Ahmad, Sophia Alcala, Adele Alajus, Charlie Cervantes, Ella Denicolo, Sam Jacamelli, Judy Ga, Anna Lor, Evelyn Mitchell, Felicity Noah Martinez, Gracie Ortiz, Lucy Ortiz, Anna Lisa Sandorf, And that's the team. Congratulations. Next, we want to honor the creative writing contest winners from here at Hower. First place, sixth grader, Nelly Kalnitz. Second place, seventh grader, J. Shri Muth, I'm sorry, Muthasami. And third place, seventh grader Lily Stayek. Congratulations to our [Applause] writers. We also have our history B winners from Hower. First place eighth grader Dominic Cowell. Second place eighth grader Camden Trudale. and third place eighth grader Graham [Applause] Brower. All right, this next one's a long list. This is the noetic competition honorable mention and national honor role and these are for fourth and fifth graders across the district. So here we go. Kai Aboud, Jabbron
006Ahmad, Maragold, Angelopoulos, Robin Bars, Maxis Bers, Emmy Butcher, Grace Daly, Nollie D, Angel, Joseph Donlin, Jonas Ecker, Jason Espinosa, Lindsay Fought, Aris Graham, Veronica Ivy, Aiden Casmarek, Freddy Kfnik, Colton Cretz, Alexander Leucius, Leon Leucius, Oliver Mattson, Amelia May, Grady McCoy, Dolly Mullins, Shane Orut, Olivia Santana, Tommy Strobble, Tio Thorp, Maximleian Vega, Mara Weber, Lexi Wadka, Ruben Giannis, Elma Zalooki, and Alexander Zushi. Thank [Applause] you. Also honoring some fifth, sixth, and seventh grade students who participated in the WSCA Brookfield Zoo Science Fair. We have Angeli Anthanathan, Emma Bogats, Maya Bogats, Emmy Butcher, Beatatric Franco, Lulu Jensen, Clara Nolles, Dolly Mullins, and Agatha Tokars. Moving on to our speech and drama team from Hower, we have got Brooke Bennis, first place. Fielding Campbell, second place. Kaylee Kerry, second place. Ronan Sean, first place. Cameron Samino, second place.
007Jolina Diaz Deleó, second place. Ali Favarula, second place. Ayla Gordon, first place. Vehas Graham, first place. Catalina Guio, first place. Anessa Ana Hernandez, first place. Nelly Kalnet, second place. Lewis Lockwood, second place. Leila Mamemed first place. Donnell Owens first place. Isabelle Ruiz second place. McKenna Schwind first place. Kennedy Cerin first place. Sal Smeaggo first place. Ruby Walsh first place. Harper Wilhight first place. And Ethan Willie second place. Congratulations to all of our speech and drama. And finally, we want to recognize the students of the month here at Hower for February, March, and April. So for February, seventh grade, Lyanna Burke. Seventh grade, Ella Cheeseman. Eighth grade, Ryan Cruz. Eighth grade, Monica Munch. Sixth grade, Stella Proer. Sixth grade, Baylor Ratma. Seventh grade, Christopher Rivera. Eighth grade, Owen Romero. And sixth grade, Lucy Oggerro. That's for
008February. Congratulations. in March. I'm sorry these aren't in order of grades, but seventh grade, Lucas Baka. Seventh grade, Emma Bogatz. Seventh grade, Luca Caputo. Sixth grade, Lulu Jensen. Sixth grade, Isabelle Kachiba Kachuba, sorry. Eighth grade, Riley Mcccleintoch. Eighth grade, Sonia Peterson. Eighth grade, Fogle Reed. and sixth grade Gretchen Umbrich. Congratulations to the March students of the month. And finally, our last students of the month for this year in April, sixth grade, Lucy Avalos. Eighth grade, Nikita Bolt. Sixth grade Campbell. Eighth grade, Anton. I'm sorry, Antonus Cernachenko. Seventh grade, Miriam Hawaji. Eighth grade, Charles IP. Sixth grade, Naelli Pñena. Seventh grade, William Sidler. And seventh grade, Ian Yelson. We made it. Thank you. And congratulations to all of the students. [Applause] [Music] One more. That was it. The office I have just a couple other appreciations
009I want to share. Um, our our wonderful music team here in district 96 also once again received the National Association Music Merchants Awards for being one of the best communities for music education. I don't think anybody's here from the music department, but I want to send that congratulations to all of them and thank them for their wonderful work in that area. Um, it also May has been teacher appreciation as well as nurse appreciation month. Um, I should thank all our teachers and I also want to thank all our PTAs and PTO's for really doing an outstanding job of uh appreciating our educators this this month. So, thank you on that. Um, also want to thank our public safety officials in both Riverside, North Riverside, and Brookfield. We had our annual safety meeting, so I always
010publish the agenda for all of you to take a look at and thank them for meeting with us every year, but also for the work they do all the time and in between. So, uh, that's wonderful. And then on April 25th, we had our half-day professional development. uh one of our unique half days where we provide half a day for our staff to work on a a variety of things related to curriculum implementation and the work that they are doing. So I've shared that agenda and then just a quick reminder to everybody that we have graduation next Tuesday. So I know a number of you will be here um be actually will be over at Riverside Brookfield High School for that. So that is the superintendent report. All right. Thank you. That moves us into
011the consent agenda for tonight. Could I have the board secretary read the consent agenda? Um, yes. Tonight's consent agenda consists of minutes of the previous meetings. April 2nd, committee of the whole, April 2nd, close session minutes from session one and session two. April 16th, regular business meeting minutes. April 16th, close session meeting minutes from session one and session two. The personnel report as presented. the payables pre-list as of April 30th along with the payables pre-list as of May 21st, the 2025 2026 staff appointments and the approval of holidays administrator district office non-union support staff. Thank you. Is there any individual item that any of the board members would like to remove for further discussion before we vote? Okay, Kathy, would you call the role, please? I'm sorry. Is there a motion for the board of
012education to approve tonight's consent agenda? So move. Second. Could you now please call the RO? Okay. Mr. Barabi. I. Mr. Hunt. Hi. Miss Gun. Hi. Miss Kick. I. Miss Claps. Hi. Mr. Olic. I. And Mr. Mayorhead. I. Motion passes. All right. Next item is uh approval of administrator contracts, which is a smaller list than in the past with some of the uh new people that we've already approved previously. Is there a motion that the board of education approve the administrator contracts for the 2025 2026 school year as presented? So move. Second. Did you get a second on that? Second. Yes, I did. You had two of them. I just wanted to make sure you picked one. Okay. Uh Kathy, could you roll? Okay. Mr. Hunt. Hi Miss Gun. Hi Miss Kick. I Miss Claps I
013Mr. Olic. I Mr. Barati I and Mr. Mirhead abstain. Motion passes. So that moves us into the approval of elementary intervention and support coordinator which is a new position that we created. Um before we vote, Martha, would you like to give just kind of a quick overview of this one? Absolutely. So, uh, I think a lot of our board members know that, uh, really it's been for a period of time, we've really been contemplating a way to better support our principles at the building level, uh, to support our really important MTSS process, um, and to support students in needs in greater in greater ways. And, um, after much deliberation have, uh, determined that an administrator working across really all uh, four of our elementary buildings would be a key way to do that. We know
014that we're unique here in Riverside and that we have uh two more sort of perhaps I'll say typical size elementary schools A and A as Central and uh Ble and Hollywood that also need the support. So rather than a particular assistant principal perhaps at one of the schools or two of the schools um really decided to think differently and and not consider this an assistant principal but to come um came up with the title and a job description that matches the elementary intervention and support coordinator. Um, I'm also really thrilled that one of our current teachers um has um expressed a lot of interest, went through an interview process uh with all of us, and it is my recommendation that Nikki Maza be named into that position for the coming school year. Thank you. Uh
015with that, is there a motion for the board of education to approve the 2025 2026 contract for the elementary intervention and support coordinator to Nikki Maza as presented? Second. Kathy, could you call the role? Okay. Miss Gun, I. Miss Kick, I. Miss Claps, I. Mr. Olic. Hi. Mr. Barati. Hi. Mr. Hunt. Hi. And Mr. Mayorhead. Hi. Motion passes. And Nikki is here. So I want to Thank you so much. I absolutely love working. It feels like home to me and um having this opportunity to support students and staff and fellow administrators really means the world to me. Um I'm very excited for this opportunity. So, thank you very much. All right. Uh, next agenda item is Riverside Education Council and I understand we have a Go instead of that. Yeah, right there. Good evening. My
016name is Rachel King. Claire Leforge and I are the co-presidents of the Riverside Education Council. We wanted to share with the board of education the results of the current voting for the collective bargaining agreement to let the members of the Riverside and to let the members of the Riverside Education Council know that we are here to support them and work towards a unified membership to the best of our abilities. The CBA was ratified by the slimmest margin possible. Almost half of the Riverside Education Council members that voted voted no. It is due to this very slim margin that we ask the board of education and administration to keep an open mind during the next five years of this contract to work with us towards preserving a continued quality labor relationship. We are happy to meet
017with any members of the board and the administration to further discuss the membership's concerns regarding the CBA and possible solutions to increase overall membership reassurance and the board of education's commitment to retain and hire qual highly qualified staff. Thank you. Thank you. The next item is uh just open board member comments. Does anybody have anything that they would like to share tonight? No. Okay. Well, with that, we get into old business. Uh, I got a couple items here. First up is the before and afterare recommendation. Um, we've done pretty extensive process here with vetting multiple vendors, having two of them come and do a public presentation. We've solicited a number of pieces of feedback. Um, tonight is the official vote on that. I think just a couple additional pieces that have transpired since our last
018meeting. Thought I would just get kind of a summary of some of the feedback that we got. Uh we received roughly 20 emails over the last 6 weeks. Uh the board would really appreciates the feedback that the community did provide. Uh it's very impactful on our decisions. These are not personal decisions. These are we're making at this table. These are community decisions that we're making. So whatever feedback we can get from the community is much appreciated. So, thank you for those families to take the time to send us uh a varying degree of experiences that they've had and their opinions on how we should vote. I would say the uh the themes of the emails were generally very positive, having good experiences, liking the local staff, the flexibility that's provided, etc. Um there was some
019feedback for improvement around training and supervision. Um some some suggestions for programs changed, none of which are in our direct control as a district. So hopefully those suggestions are being provided directly to Riverside Parks and Wreck. Um and I it was interesting a lot of parents did indicate that they use the program out of necessity, out of out of work out of work demands. Uh but for the most part, everybody seemed to be pretty pleased with it. And of course there's always room for improvement, but overall the the feedback that we got was fairly positive. Um with that, I will make a motion if I can get back over here. Is there a motion for the comments? Yeah, go ahead. Um, I as well just want to thank the community for their participation throughout this
020process. Um, you know, we heard from a lot of community members about their experience with Riverside Parks and Recreation. And my vote tonight is based on consideration of that feedback along with my own personal experience. while we're um making a decision based on what we think is best for the community. Um given that I have I've enrolled my children in these programs, I feel like I have an intimate more intimate understanding of these uh of of this program. Um, I want to recognize that while we did receive community feedback and the majority of it, majority of it was very encouraging, um, my own experience with Riverside's parks and rec before and afterare program was not so satisfactory. Um, both my husband and I work and so I deeply understand that having safe, reliable, constructive care
021is an absolute necessity for members of our community. Um, we found again the program to be unsatisfactory and as a result had to find alternative options for care that were not so convenient. Um the effort that Parks and Wreck extended in their presentation along with some of the commentary provided by Parks and Wreck around how we should keep the funds in our community to benefit other programming suggests to me that this program has been income generating for the department. Um, if this contract is approved, and I suspect it will be, I'd be delighted to see Parks and Wreck use some of the revenue generated from this program to better serve the families that are in need of the before and afterare programming rather than funneling this revenue to benefit other programs or department expenses. Um,
022I know that the parks and recck department in Riverside has a lot of passionate, very dedicated people who are capable of pulling off terrific events for our community and capable of running really great programs. So, I sincerely believe that this RFP process has encouraged some critical internal review and I hope that if this contract is approved that the department will make good on the promises to improve some of the services offered that they put in their presentation. Um, you know, given the community feedback we received and my own experience, I just think that this is a case of it being a bit underresourced. And so there's a significant opportunity to improve staff training to and to improve staff training specifically related to large group management to sensitivity training and to some of the unique care
023needs for the children that are in the program. I also believe that there's an opportunity to create more structure in this program and create a more productive and consistently engaging environment for the kids. You know, again, I I just want to thank the community who all reached out to us. We did receive a lot of emails and a lot of those were really helpful in uh I think shaping the board's view on the on these votes. But um you know regardless of of where we end up tonight, I do think that this process, this RFP process has been constructive again because it's encouraged us as a board to just consider the role of before and afterare and the needs of the community and also hopefully for Riverside Parks and Wreck to do some internal reflection
024on how they can improve the program. All right. Thanks, Selena. I was actually going to make some clarifying comments after, but I will I'll just go ahead and and just piggyback on what you're saying. And I'm just focusing on the training component of it. There's a lot of feedback that I've received from individuals. Over the last couple years, I've had some personal experiences that were not great, but that's old. Um, my kids haven't been in the program for at least three years now. So, I was encouraged by the presentation and hitting on a lot of the feedback that I've heard verbally from a lot of families and like recognizing that and trying to plan for it and correct in the future. Unfortunately, a lot of those individuals that provided some of that comment did not
025email in. And so that does make it tough when you're only talking to one board member and the rest of us don't have that information. So I would continue to encourage people to provide whatever feedback that you have whenever you have it um through public comment or emails, preferably directly to if it's related to parks and wreck, directly to them, not uh necessarily to us. I I think we will continue to have an uh supportive and try to strengthen the the communication and the support and the the relationship. We want we want it to be successful as well. Um but yeah, I I will echo that there. While most of the feedback we got, the majority we feedback we got was was very favorable. There is a a segment of the community out there that
026I think just needs to feel like they're being heard and and represented here. So, I would echo echo some of the comments that you made there, Selena. Uh any other comments or discussion before we vote? Yeah, I'd like to also point out as as you mentioned, we had a lot of comments for and like you I haven't had my kids haven't been in a long time either. Uh but I have to admit to it was not always that favorable, but one thing that I should be pointed out and I hope this information gets to Riverside Parks, right? Even though the favorable ones, we had a lot of favorable, they're significantly all favorable. A lot of those had areas that there was a lot of areas for improvement. And so I would really encourage through this
027RFP and encourage Riverside Parks and Rex and even the people who've like emailed us, let the Riverside Parks and Right know what you want because um we have to go with what the majority people said. I mean um and but just let let us know let the Riverside Park Direct know what you're expecting. I think the only thing I was going to add was, you know, just in reviewing the language of the IG, you know, some of the changes and additions that just to provide more kind of oversight that perhaps the district has not previously um had. So in here about like communication, you know, meeting no less than three times per school year. So kind of creating more parameters for ongoing monitoring, accountability, you know, uh just having a better pulse year round on
028what is going on. Um additional language on like staff coverage, the enrichment classes that were um sort of promised during the presentation as well and the the pricing uh tuition free. So all of that reflected in the IG um provides me with some of the additional reassurances as well that I was looking for out of uh out of renewing this. And I'll also say like I know you and your team or principles things like that are always in constant communication, always have been. We'll continue working with that to to make sure that we can do whatever we can to support this and make sure this is successful program for everybody and and hopefully continue to improve it so that we can even increase enrollment quite honestly. So, um, while there is opportunity for improvement here,
029I don't think any of us are saying that we don't have faith in this. I think it's really just trying to call it out and be supportive of continuous improvement here. Any other comments before we vote? Okay. Is there a motion for the board of education to approve Riverside Parks and Recreation as ongoing vendor for the provision of before and afterare services at all four elementary schools in district 96? Is is the Hold on. Is the final agreement pending still? The final agreement is still pending legal review. The final agreement is pending legal review uh with both district 96 and Riverside Village of Riverside. That's it. So move second. Miss Kay, you second it. Yep. Okay. Could you call the RO? Okay. Miss Claps. No. Mr. Ol? Hi. Mr. Barati. Hi Mr. Hunt. Hi Miss
030Gun. Hi Miss Kick. Hi. And Mr. Mayorhead. Nay. Motion passes. All right. Um, let's see. I know. Actually, I know Riverside Parks and Wreck is here. Ron Malchyot is here. I didn't know if you wanted to say anything or I didn't want to call him out in case he did. Okay. Putting you on the spot here. Okay. Um, thank you. We were very grateful for the opportunity to continue our service to not only the school district but the community and uh I have had conversations with uh Dr. Ryan Toy that uh we believe that the expectations are clear moving forward uh in regard to curriculum and communication. Uh we will also be providing the board a annual report at the end of every year which will include results from our semester and year-end survey. Thank
031you. Thank you. Uh, okay. So, that brings us to the next item, which is approval of the Riverside Education Council or RECC agreement. Um, this is our collective bargaining agreement that was just commented on a few moments ago. This is uh 2025 to 2030, a 5-year contract. Um, does is there a motion for the board of education to approve the Riverside Education Council agreement for the 2025 to 2030 uh school years as presented? Second. Second. Is there any u let's see Selena and um Dave were on the negotiating committee and as well as Martha and a number of other administrators. Would you like to make any comments or anything before we vote? Yeah, I just want to begin. I'm probably not as eloquent as Rachel and Claire were tonight. So, thank you for your comments,
032but um certainly I want to recommend to our board that you approve this contract as presented. Um I do uh want to share a few words. I want to particularly thank Dave Barcati and Selena Claps who are here. uh negotiations takes a lot of time, a lot of heart, a lot of knowledge, a lot of effort and uh really thank both of you for that and your volunteer board capacity. I know it's a there's a moment of above and beyond. So, thank you for that. I also want to thank Angela Dozel and Jim Fitton and Kesmir Gorman for their role on the negotiating team as well. Um equally putting in uh the time, the conversation, just the thoughtfulness about what it is that um is needed in a a long-term contract with our team. I
033also want to acknowledge Claire LeForge and Rachel King. Thank you for your comments tonight. Um, thank you for your leadership along the way with all the members of the negotiating team. I know it was Dana Dylan and Debbie Jennolini, Molly Curos, Caitlyn Rogers, Carly Williamson, and Jeff Widra. And I think I've got everybody there. Um, negotiations aren't easy at all. Um, it's truly a collaborative process that is really filled with compromise, uh, with the goal of setting a future direction for District 96. Um, it has always been a clear goal, I think, of all of ours is to make this a great place for our students and our families and also a really great place to work. And so, we have worked really uh long and hard together to um work toward that goal. I
034know um as Claire and Rachel point out, it was a close vote. So, we know that there's more work yet to do and there's always more work to do. And I know I speak for myself uh as the superintendent, but also I'm sure I speak for our board too and saying that uh we are always available for conversation, communication, um and continued collaborative work in making this that really truly great place as we said for our kids and our families and for each other. U there are a couple key items that I do think are worth just pointing out um to the community and to the board. Uh we had a long-standing professional development agreement of some what we called 75 minute PD after school professional development time eight times over the course of the
035school year. Um we've eliminated those in the interest of putting uh professional development for teachers within those institute days, the half-day school improvement days. Um we know that it's a long hard day for teachers and that having those additional 75 minutes after school uh really was not the most effective way uh to deliver that professional development. We are not changing our school calendar for the coming year the 2526 school year. So for families and board everybody is aware that um we have the four institute days. We have one half-day professional development. We will utilize time as we can with our wonderful instructional coaches for what we call embedded professional development opportunities. Um and then we'll look at how how much more or what we need in terms of increasing that time for teachers to be
036able to gather together in teams. Um we have way of getting substitute coverage and making uh that work within the school day too which also certainly has its impact. I do anticipate in future years we're going to take a closer look at our school calendar. It's part of why we went through the RFP process with before and after care to see how we might be able to provide um care, social, recreational opportunities for students um but also provide some professional development time for staff. So um that was an agreement we made in the contract that happened within the contractual day um that we have some flexibility there to think about in the future. Uh we also were able to increase plan time for our elementary teachers by adding the additional PE per week, 30 minutes
037of PE per week, which was again something that I think I know the board was very supportive of and felt very important as a opportunity for our students to simply have more PE time for gross motor and movement opportunities. Um, we made some changes to stipens, not a lot of changes, but I think again just really being able to offer that enhanced opportunity for our students to participate in a lot of co-curriculars, athletics, um, and for our staff to lead those and and that's really valuable, I know, to all of us. Um, I want to clarify, there was a a question about parenting leaves and the use of available sick time. Um, I've reiterated that to staff um by email, but also just to share here publicly that um staff have the opportunity to use
038all and any of their available sick time for an appropriately um agreed upon FMLA for a parenting leave. Um compensation is probably the hardest piece to address. Um it is always our goal to make sure that our teachers and all of our staff, our support staff, everybody in the rec um is absolutely fairly compensated. And I know um I don't want to speak for David and Selena and for the board, but it's a careful balance, right? It's a careful dance of um making sure that our teachers are absolutely um I don't want to say just teachers, our RC members um are fairly compensated. We have always valued being at kind of that I would say high average end of compensation, but also being fair to our taxpayers in terms of their commitment to providing this
039wonderful public education system. So, um, our it's our goal to recruit and retain outstanding educators and every class of employees and I think we've achieved that. I know with some disagreement certainly that Claire and Rachel have pointed out and uh, but I really do want to applaud the the compromise and the thoughtfulness that went into all of that. So, those are my comments about the contract and I don't David or Selena want to say more. No, I I guess I mean it was a it was a very collaborative process I have to say. I mean, I felt that we made it was done uh well. I appreciate the people on both sides of the on both sides. So, um I'm glad that we uh came to an agreement. I'm sorry it was not more unanimously
040uh accepted, but I'm glad we were able to come to a mutual agreement. I don't have much to add except thank you all for being here and you know as you asked for us to keep an open mind and engage in conversations. Please at any time make sure that your members know that the board is available um to reach out to us if they think that you know um construction conversations can happen to um improve the happiness of all of our stakeholders. Yep. Thanks. And I'll just uh yeah, some of the comments that you just made around the staff too, just uh goal three, high quality staff is we spend a lot of time on that one. So, just just to call that out. There's a lot of stuff in there and and it's very
041nuanced, but all the close session stuff we do, it's really with that focus of like how do we do good for our people to further the organization and all of that. So, just a that public commitment is is very much real. So, whatever we can do to continue working together is is very much heard and appreciated. Um, I already made the motion. Correct. Okay. I got I got to do this in a I got to keep in the same order. I'm going to screw myself up. Uh, Kathy, could you call the RO? Mr. Mr. Bersi. Hi, Mr. Hunt. Hi, Miss Gun. Hi, Miss Kick. Hi, Miss Class. Okay. And Mr. Mayor, I motion passes. Um, that's it for old business. So, we've got a couple topics under new business. We have advanced learning program update
042is um Angela, are you coming up here or? Yeah. Okay. We're not going to give a big presentation, but we realize we are out of board meetings and committee the whole meetings for the school year. And so, we wanted to make sure that there was a brief update on advanced learning. I certainly anticipate we'll be able to dig in more um in the future, but wanted to have provide you with an update here in May. Thank you. So, good evening everyone. Um before I talk about the advanced learning update though, I just want to thank all of you for um earlier and the student recognition awards. I know that it adds time to board meetings, but I have to tell you when I get the RSVPs for when I send out the invitations to families
043and start to get the RSVPs, the families really appreciate it. They're very excited for it. They're very thankful for it. And just the little gesture of having students come and be greeted by you and appreciated for the work that they're doing in the district is well appreciated by our community. So, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for doing that for our community. Um, as you know, we this year, District 96, um, worked with engaged with the Northwestern University Center for Talent and Development, um, to conduct a comprehensive review of our advanced learning program. And that review focused on our program strengths, areas for growth, and our alignment with current research and best practices. We through this review with uh, Northwestern CTD, there were five components to the review. So we
044had stakeholder surveys that were conducted in the fall and through those surveys um 913 students participated in the surveys. 205 parents which represented um over 320 students participated in the surveys and then 72 of our educators participated. From the surveys, focus groups were had so that um the consultants from CTD could dig further into certain themes that were addressed in the surveys. And um the focus groups were uh voluntary for our staff members and for parents. And then we had selected some students to participate in the focus groups. So we had 119 students participate. 34 parents participated both parents of students in the program as well as parents who do not have students in the program. And then 23 staff and administrators participated. Another component of the process was a data analysis where data from
045the 232 24 school year and the 24-25 school year was analyzed and it was analyzed to assess our performance and demographics of students in and out of the advanced learning program so that we can see what trends we have in our district for the um the students how students are performing across the district whether they're receiving advanced learning services or not. Um data that was included included the uh cognitive abilities tests, the NWA MAP achievement and growth assessment uh results and then the Illinois assessment of readiness just to name a few. Classroom observations were completed by the consultants from CTD. They observed 35 classrooms, some advanced learning classrooms, some of our core classrooms. They observed in language arts and in math as well as in science and social studies too. Um, one of the things
046that they said is that we have just a high level of student engagement and um, a high level of academic rigor happening in our classrooms. And so we have a great foundation for continuing to work to build our advanced learning program. And then the CTD conducted a document review. They looked at our online presence, our website information, um, our state report card data and demographic information that we had. And they took those five components and they put it all together and they have come up with five or with uh recommendations based off of best practice research for um servicing advanced learning students. And so some of the key findings in the report include that district 96 is a high achieving district with average growth in reading and math. Our current service model for advanced learning
047blends enrichment and acceleration with a strong with strong stakeholder support. Our students in advanced learning programs do show faster growth than their similar peers. Assessment tools at Hower may not fully capture our growth among our advanced learners. So looking at how are we assessing our students to truly look at the growth that they're showing both in and out of the advance or for the advanced learning program. It was noted that some student groups remain unre under underrepresented in our advanced learning services. So when we think about our strategic plan, this is going to be an area that we're going to want to continue to look at for equity and opportunities. Um and it some of the one another key finding is that the needs in ELA and math are compare are comparably diverse. Some of
048the recommendations for future action are to improve our communication. One of the things that came out of the process is that staff members and parents find that um communication about the advanced learning program is one hard to come by. Um, two, when they do come by it, it's not always very clear, including our identification and how students are identified for advanced learning. But that's convoluted and confusing and hard to understand for some of our parents and staff members as well. So, we want to look on improving communication around identification process and the continuum of services. Looking at refining the K8 service alignment, particularly our tier one instruction or enrichment opportunities. updating our identification acceleration criteria so that it may not just be based on so it might not just be based on um academic testing
049and looking at other ways that best practice research shows that students are identified for programs and then looking at expanding professional development as many staff members talked about wanting more professional learning around how to best service students in the advanced learning program not just in advanced learning math or ELA but how do we service advanced learning students in science and in social studies and in our encore and special area classes. So, where we go from here is we're going to have a meeting with our advanced learning team to dig into the report um and to look at some of the specifics of the report to then talk about what are the next steps from the recommendations. which recommendations are some of the recommendations that we might be able to take and put into place right
050away and what are some of the recommendations that might take a year or two to advance and to fully put into place. And so as we do that work next year and we look at those recommendations, we'll come up with a timeline for that work and then I will come back to you and share where we're at um where we decide to go as well as where we're at along the way. Any questions for me? Will there be any change to the ident identification criteria for the upcoming school year? There isn't going to be for the upcoming school year. So, we'll stick with the matrix. We'll stick with the appeals process and we'll work through that. Um, and we'll just increase communication around it and make it definitely understand and trying to I'm going to
051try to work through the summer letter that's sent out because that's also very confusing. Um, full disclosure, I know when I first started my job, it was confusing for me too. So, if it's confusing for me, it's going to be confusing for families and for staff members, too. So, I want to see how I can rework even the summer letter just to make that a little bit more understanding. Um, it's the time of year where parents are starting to ask questions about how can their parent their children be better enriched because MAT scores are going to start coming out. We finished MAP testing Tuesday, this upcoming Tuesday. And so, parents are starting to ask questions now that it's spring into the year. And so, I'm trying to be more transparent and here are your options,
052here's what we have. And so just really being cognizant right now that we need to work on communication. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. When your child comes home and goes, "I got a 220." You're like, "Okay, that's great. What does that mean? Give me context." Yeah. Yeah. I have a daughter that's going into fourth grade and so a lot of the families that we're friends with have started to ask me a lot of questions around this um because I have an older son and and they think that I should know more than I do. When is it typical for families to find out if their child will be in the fourth grade advanced learning program? A letter goes out to all students in third through fifth grade that tells their assessment profile. So it tells all their
053scores for um the coat assessment, MAP assessment, and the curriculum based measure that kids take in the springtime. And then attached to that letter, what has normally happened is your child is, if your child qualifies, it says your child is qualified for this class. And if you're a fifth grader, this class and this class or this class or this class. Um, I think the confusion comes in. Some people get a letter. Some people don't. They just get the scores. They look at the scores and they say, "What does this mean?" So that's where I need to make that a little bit stronger. But then to for to answer your question, that letter goes out in June. Okay. So the scores in the letter will go out towards the end of June. Yeah. And is that
054just for that's just for um ELA, right? ELA for fourth grade and then ELA and math for fifth grade. So like fourth graders don't find out about math until the year starts cuz they take an assessment at the start of the year. They'll pretest in the fall for fourth grade math. Um because math is pre-ested every trimester for entrance into a trimester advanced program. And I should probably sounds like I probably should include that in the letter somehow just so parents know why ELA not math. Okay, helpful. Thank you. So there were a couple bullet points that I was hoping you could elaborate a little further on. So under the key findings, the last one needs in ELA and math are comparatively diverse. I'm not sure what exactly what that means. Um that we have
055students that are are along a spectrum of needs for ELA and math. Um and it's similar in both. And that spectrum is um that we have very very high performers in ELA and math as well as students that are high average or average. And so we've just got this we've got a diverse amount of needs that we are looking on how we can best meet. Okay. Sorry, one one more question from me. As you were um was there any recommendation from these consultants that we should potentially increase the amount of resources that we're putting towards advanced learning or you know based on other school districts that they have evaluated are we sort of allocating the appropriate amount of resources to these programs? And when you say resources are you thinking staff and or are you
056thinking like curricular resources? uh primarily staff. Um so they don't give specifics on you should do X. They do say look at how you're providing services. And that's part of what we're going to talk about then when we meet to dig into the report is what are some of the things they've seen from other districts and what does research say works and then I continue to work with my counterparts also to see what's working in districts that are around us that we work with too. Um so that then we come together we'll work through as a committee what might be the best way to deliver advanced learning services and then working with the consultants they tell us like yes that follows re best practice research or no you might want to look at it this
057way and so it's a dialogue and a conversation but they don't specifically say you should do X. Gotcha. Okay. Dan did you you said a couple. I did. I had one more. Yeah we we can keep pinging back and forth if you want. I'm done with that. I'm done. I promise. Uh yes, the second one was under recommendations where you you mentioned refine K through8 service alignment particularly tier one instruction and enrichment opportunities. I'm just hoping you could elaborate on that a little more. Absolutely. So, one of the things that came up in focus groups was that our classroom teachers and this comes with the professional learning piece too are looking for how can they better service students who are in their classroom. So looking at that core instruction, what are we doing to provide
058enrichment opportunities for all students in the classroom, but then are also challenging those advanced learning students that are in those core classes as well. So that tier one level is that core instruction for everybody and how are we enriching our students through that tier one instruction as well. Okay, thanks. Yeah. Yeah. I I had a question regarding the under key findings sort of going off along the bullets like we're talking we're a higher achieving district but there's average growth. Can you elaborate on what that means? Because I would sort of expect a different correlation. Yes. So, we have high scores. Um, when you compare us to other schools in our area, you compare us to schools in the state, as you know, we do have high achievement scores on both the state assessment as well
059as on our MAP assessment. But when you look at the map growth not but as you look at the map growth the there's this um measure that you can look at with map that's called a conditional growth index and when you look at that we are growing on average with similar age peers um at a similar time. So you can look at you can compare your growth percentage with um growth percentages of others just like you can compare achievement percentages and we say if you scored in the 98th percentile you scored better than 98% of the students at that age level. You can do the same thing with this conditional growth index where you can see how are we performing compared to others and we're performing at an average pace with others. So we're not
060performing faster or higher than others in growth. We're right at that average mark. I was wondering that too and um the recommendation to expand professional development to meet the needs. Is that where we can be better than just average? That's where Yes, it's where we'll be able to um some of the professional learning will help us with how do we better provide enrichment for all students because again it's that tier one piece that Dan was asking about. So how do we um continue to enrich all of our students which will then lead to better growth indicators too. Can I potentially grossly oversimplify what I heard? Yes. So, you and I have talked about like the criteria of getting in and it's very heavily test based and so you know my opinions on only using testing.
061So, what I heard and what I wrote down is that we're looking to expand beyond just testing to really capture the full student and capabilities and not just like a point in time thing. Yes. And that's what best practice research shows is that you look at a profile of students, not just at testing. So that is one of the things that we'll continue to discuss um into next year when we work on these recommendations. Anybody else? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh I think next up is playgrounds, right? Yeah. Ryan Kelly, writer. Yes. I see I see our our friends in the back there, our famous playground designers. Um, okay. Up next is the proposal for the Ble Park playground. Um, we've got I don't know how do we want to kick this
062off. I guess we we have a we have an agreement with the village now. We've ironed out about the space over there because we don't own the land. Um, we finalized that RFP and now we are starting to No, not RFP, IGA, too many acronyms, right? Um, so now we've got this proposal to uh have DLA and uh start working on committees and and designing our our last playground that we have not upgraded yet in the community. So I don't I'll just I'll turn it over to you for additional comments or do you want to I'll turn I think Ryan, Steve or Ryan, I don't know Josh how you've worked it out but if one of you or both of you want to come up to the microphone and I know we have a we
063have something up here on the screen and this is again um our first new business discussion. I know we've had a lot of discussion getting to the IG and with this concept in mind of improving the playground and been able to put a little more detail to the proposal. Uh this is a first look for the board at the proposal with the idea that we would bring it back to the June board meeting for then for as an action item. Yeah. So I'm here to uh give a little idea of scope to this project. Thank you for having me. Uh I know some of you some of you I'm getting to know and some of you I haven't met yet. So thank you for having me. Uh I'm Ryan Kelly with DA Architects. Um can
064you go to the next slide, Charles? Um so just to give a little bit of idea of scope. Um, you already talked a little bit about the, uh, land ownership investigation that has been going on for a while. Um, and the intergovernmental agreement that's come out of that process. Uh, so now we're really talking about that playground redevelopment. And there's about a 5,000 foot playground uh, which Ble Park School has been able to utilize. Um, it has been on the park property or not on the park property, and that's some of what, uh, we've been talking about. Uh, but there's been an agreement to redevelop it. So, that's what we're talking about today. Um, so maybe we could go to the next slide. I know this isn't convenient for you all because it's behind you,
065but they also have it on their screen. Oh, you got it on your screen. Oh, perfect. Um, so we use a term uh in our business, end of useful life. So, when that that maintenance that ongoing maintenance outlives the uh the value of that equipment and I think that's where we are with this playground equipment. Um, so just a couple of photos. Obviously, maintenance is ongoing with equipment of this age. Uh, and something that, uh, is a district goal since we've been working with the district since 2018, uh, to separate playground and parking, uh, and really improve those facilities. So, um, if we go to the next slide, um, the existing site is something that we want to talk about. So what we've uh talked about previously in the redevelopment of playground at Ames and
066at Hollywood uh the least expensive part of this process and project is the equipment. Um so that's one part of it. The under drainage and what happens underneath the playground is the more expensive part of it. So uh we can see that this site in particular has some drainage issues. Um we want to alleviate those. Um, we want to improve that surfacing, make it safe for fall zones. Um, probably code things that weren't in place when this was originally developed, but now or code things that we definitely want to pay attention to to make it safe. Um, so that's really the scope of this project. We're looking to stay within that existing 5,000 ft uh footprint um and uh provide new equipment. We think we can probably double the capacity of that playground. um definitely
067make it accessible um and uh provide an accessible route from the school to that playground. So that's really the scope of what uh we're looking at in thatou that I think you've seen. So I'm happy to answer any questions about that. Um but uh we've done a little bit of preliminary research. We know that uh there is some uh MWRD which is Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. there's a review process that we have to go through with them uh for the drainage and also with the village. Uh so that's part of this process. Uh so we've done a little bit of preliminary work and um now we're here to kind of get the green light to go through the rest of the process. So with drainage at Ames, drainage at Central, and now drainage at Ble,
068have we fixed all of the drainage problems in Riverside or we still under the playground? Yes. Okay. All right. We have some other uh Ames drainage issues that we're That's fair. All right. Yeah, we're currently dealing with um which again it's it's what happens under the ground uh that makes the above the ground uh part work essentially. On a more serious note, uh one of the convers so Martha and I met with um the village president and manager just talking through all of this and just trying to get some context between the organizations and like intent of the project etc etc and it was mentioned and listening to the the village board as well not being necessarily relegated to the footprint like that red area on the very first slide but I've gone over there
069a couple times and like with the slopes and the trees and all of that like is there I heard you say you want to stay inside the footprint and double capacity. That was one thing I was trying to figure out is how much equipment can we get in the current footprint and if we do expand it, how would we actually do that? So, I guess my more serious question is is there does it even make sense to think about going outside of this footprint or you think we can get a really good um need for this school, the size of the school and everything within the current footprint? I do. Um and that was our first question is can can we stay within that footprint? The other concern we have uh and the village is
070concerned and the districts uh is uh the trees. Yeah. Right. When you start going outside that footprint, you start undermining trees. Um I've learned a lot about the last couple years. So uh it's not something we want to do. So our first task was what can we fit within that footprint and not go outside of it. So based on what's existing and what we can provide, we think we can double it, which is around 115 students. Um which is good. Uh it's about the size of Hollywood. A little bit smaller than Ames. Uh but appropriate for Blight Park. Okay. Uh so we think that's that's a that's a great win. Yeah. I had the whole I think it was Central. We were talking about the canopies and the roots go out to the or something
071like that and I was walking around going I don't know where you're going to made it not possible. Yeah. Okay. So it really truly was not possible to go outside of this footprint without damage to other things or drainage or for here we deemed it not necessary. Not necessary. Okay. So, um I think we could investigate it. There are directions that we could go, but not too many directions. Okay. When you all did the playground at Central, Yeah. Central, you had student input. Um we did on the playground. Is that similarly happening with like Yeah. So, we again we I'm talking sort of uh the uninteresting part of it. Um the preliminary investigation, but yes, that'll be the part of the design process. That's the best part of it. We'll meet with the kids, go
072through a visioning process, get their input on what kind of equipment they want. Obviously, talk with the board. Parody is important in this district. Um, and that'll lead us to the equipment that we end up with. So, we know that we know we can accomplish the capacity that we need. Um, what exactly that is is yet to be determined. And just to call it out, part of that, and I I don't think you intentionally left it out, but like one one thing that's unique with this is really partnering with Riverside Parks and Recre. They've done a lot of visioning around playgrounds just within the community as a whole and so really partnering with them to make sure that that kind of fits in too. So we'll we'll make sure all different stakeholders are involved and
073input and whatever to try to get the best design that we can. I just read it like our our goal or you know our plan with this is to for the board to consider this now as we head into June for a possible approval because what we did with central and really we did it with Hollywood as was really part of a whole master facility planning process. So the timeline is a little different, but really early in the school year, like I think it was September when we met with students at Central, but exactly as you said, Wesley, it's going to be kids. Kid kids really are the best playground designers. Yeah. But um families, it's we've gotten input from families and I think in this case, we know like we'll reach out to parks
074and wreck and get more village input, but also the neighbors, right? Because this is this shared property. So I I envision our planning sessions will be kind of multi, you know, multifaceted. will have more than just kids sessions. Really, by the time we met at Central, it was just kids because we had met so many times getting to the the final footprint and we had had parents in and talking about pickup and drop off routines, etc. So, we had had a couple different community engagement sessions and by the time we were ready to do the playground, we knew we had to hear from kids. So, yeah, that's fun. You'll get to see that. It's it's I mean they get to blue sky, you know, draw and you know talk about what a playground means to
075them and that's definitely input that we you know take to heart in designing it. So when you said that you can almost double the equipment in there is the goal to fit more equipment or is the space underutilized? Uh underutilized. Okay. Um so you can fit equipment that has more capacity than what's there? That it's really the short of it. Like we learned and I think it's like the climber at central. It's one of those like like in theory 30 kids can fit on it, but it's still kind of in a Well, we know contained space. We looked at a couple things. Again, this is very preliminary. We know swings are important. Uh we know these multi-use climbers are important. They offer a lot of um not only mobility skills for the kids, but they
076they like doing different activities. Um some playbased activities. So, we we threw in a couple of things that we've learned through the process that are important. Um but obviously, we're going to vet those all with the the kids through the visioning process. So we we feel confident that we get the capacity and give a bunch of different options. Is is a zipline a good thing to have here or no? Because I know that's going to come up. It came up in every but how would that I mean just to get ahead of it, how would that zipline takes a lot of space. Swings take a lot of space. I mean it's all based on fall zones. Yeah. Right. Um so yeah I mean if if the zipline is something we can't live without, then we
077have to readjust figure out. So that's that's the process we'll go through. Uh part of the IGA was the current tennis court and there's a there's been a lot of conversation around basketball and I know the village is taking that part on the way I interpreted our conversations together was it was all going to be together. So is that part of this process of you assisting with any of that or is that it is not I mean we're happy to engage in however that makes sense for the district. Um right now we're focused on the playground and that how that you know serves the school and can serve the community. Um it seemed like some of that was unclear. Uh maybe that becomes clear as we get closer to I don't know if that's any
078clearer today or not, but um I did hear from the village and I know Ron's here not to put you on the spot, but um I did hear from Jessica Francis even just uh late this afternoon and it sounds like the basketball court will be on the same footprint of the current tennis court. Um so there would not be any sort of expansion or addition there and that would be the responsibility of the village. And my understanding is that they' probably look at they're looking at just from their own sort of budget and development phases, etc. their capital planning that I believe that's going to happen more in earnest with the village in August. Okay. Right about that. So that's probably more of a striping issue than anything else if you're not changing the footprint.
079I don't know. I don't know. We have to get into it if that's not right. Oh, that's true. You'd have to put a hoop in. Yeah. Okay. I was just curious if we were how we were going to try to put these things together. Happy to engage in it. This is solely for that playground footprint and what and again uh an accessible path from the school to that playground is is the scope of this and that's what it was spelled out in the IGA was that we would take the playground the responsibility of the update of the playground and they would update that tennis court basketball court. Wonder as as a parent of of kids who go to Ble and and just seeing how the how the land is utilized. I mean that there is
080that one section that one corner here where there's not a lot of trees which seems pretty underutilized a lot of the time that I'm there and which is fine. We can have open park space but can you go back something I noticed or second whatever the where the the one you talking about the that strip of land there. Yeah they in right along the street in the to the west of the tennis courts there. Yeah, to the west and a little bit to the north, I guess. Or just up left. So, yeah. So, kind of where there are no trees there. That section there, the whole little area down there. Yeah. It's just it's it's it's, you know, again, and it's fine. It is. It's definitely underutilized compared to the rest of the parcel that's
081there. You just hardly see any kids there or any adults or, you know, it's just I don't know. It's kind of hilly, I guess. But I I do wonder, is that an opportunity? That was the weird thing with I was looking at with like the contour of the land like how much grading would we have to do and what would the impact be and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, it does have quite a contour to it. Yeah, cuz like I know just moving dirt costs a lot of money too. It's expensive moving dirt. Yeah. Does the specify that we should stay within the current playground space? Like no. Uh well, I can't remember what the exact language was, but I think it was open enough that we just we can't damage the trees. Like
082we we've got to make sure that we take care of the grounds, which I think both sides of the table firmly agree with that. And that that's why I was kind of over there pacing around going like what option would we even have? I mean, northwest and I'm I'm going to assume this is an accurate tree survey. Northwest is really the only option to expand. Um other than that, you're pretty pinned in by trees and large ones. So yeah, those are Yeah, the ones down here are a lot bigger than these little dots making seem for sure. I don't know. That might be something just conceptually if there's anything that you guys could sit on it for 30 minutes and go maybe and it might be worth maybe we don't do it, but it might
083be worth just thinking about. Yeah, cuz I I agree. The only place that's accessible that you know that's not blocked by huge trees is that one section and it's just it doesn't get a whole lot of use. And now it does say Selena like we're not going to use any kind of um any any I'll call it fake materials like it's got to be mulch and natural things and stuff like that. So yeah, my my only concern is that it seemed to me that in the discussions that the village was having that it was their understanding that this was more of a replace the equipment where it is, not a expanded into the northwest corner of of the lot. And so I I just want to be sensitive to like what they agreed to versus
084what we're sort of conceptualizing here in terms of moving it and whether or not that sort of creates a a need for us to go back to them and say, "Well, I know we we sort of conceptualized it here initially, but we're thinking here this other corner now." Well, and that's another reason I was calling out like making sure we work with parks and wreck and like whatever other stakeholders from the village might want to be included um to try to get ahead of that and not delay that just the way we do board meetings and they do board meetings take forever to get through. So, making sure we have the right stakeholders in those meetings. I think when when we when Marvin and I met with the village, it was the comment was like
085and if you if you want to expand, we'd be open to it. I don't know that they were thinking a park here and a park here. So, like your your comments are valid. Are we on the right path? But I think doing the conceptual design piece and getting that buy in, I don't know that it makes sense from a cost perspective. Potential there's no drainage issues up there and that could reduce the cost a lot. There is drainage issues everywhere. There's no such thing as a no drainage problem in this town. I guess my thing is I mean I remember what sort of head is recommended to like stay within this current. I guess the thing is why would you even consider because that's obviously a bigger area. Why? I mean just keeping options open
086Dave but do we want to build more than we need? No pro well right and so that's where I think that's sort of why I started with do you think this is enough value add I wasn't thinking we could get enough of an expansion in that space but you seem pretty confident with new equipment apprehensive too. Yeah. Uh but I mean I think the proximity to the school um makes sense. Uh we can improve I mean that that site has some issues. You know you can see from that last slide the elevation it's lower than the rest. We can improve that. We can improve the drainage. Um I mean I think in looking at it it makes more sense there than it would to the northwest. Yeah. Uh which is the only other available open
087space. Um, but I mean we certainly can investigate other things and and to your point the the village will be in part part of that review process, not only from a design standpoint and as well as the parks department uh but an engineering standpoint. So, you know, they'll they'll be with us through that process. So, it won't be a surprise as to what we're doing. Yeah. As far as recess, do the kids have access to the whole area? Are they confined to the playground at recess time? No, they play in the Rachel's here. She teaches at the playground. It's the amphitheater area, the grassy area. So they have a lot of grassy play space. The amphitheaters like that area often. They do. Mhm. They do. Yeah. It's their teacher will take them over there. But
088yeah, they actually enjoying. Yeah. Okay. So maybe don't want to Okay. Yeah. That's what I was wondering because I know in the playground things are spaced apart so a lot of running back and forth but if they can get to the whole you know run in the field areas that's a good thing. I mean I think we've heard uh that I know this we haven't done visioning yet with fly park but at the other schools that a combination of play you know not just the equipment but hard surface grass play you know quiet areas to sit you know benches to read you know that that's really kind of diverse play environment is what you know we've heard that the the schools are looking for and the students as well. Yeah. And to your point, Dave,
089I I don't want to create twice as much as what we actually need, but at the same time, I I don't want to box oursel into just keeping options open since we're in like high concept type. Well, we can always go up into the trees and do like what goal type thing. Um I think I'm trying to think if I asked this during the Hollywood, but if I did, I forgot the answer. Um what does disposal of equipment look like? Like I mean as we talk about our footprint like even just also our environmental or carbon it's reached the end of its life so there's no reuse or donation and so is there a way do is it recycled it when it's demolished or taken? That's a great question. U this particular equipment there are
090uh companies out there that will uh donate that equipment uh to uh foundations to different countries to you know neighborhoods in need. This particular equipment I don't think is a candidate for that. Uh but certainly recycling, I mean those metal posts, all of that is is uh consumable goods that can be recycled. So that's something we can definitely incorporate into it. Yeah. Yeah. Especially with the villages. Um yes, environmental c see something. Thank you. Yes, that's a good question, Stephanie. I'm assuming this won't be fenced in like the other schools. This will stay open. I don't know if that's a requirement. Uh we weren't intending to. I mean, again, we're just kind of early on in the process. Um it will accommodate a variety of school age kids. Usually, we only do um fenced in
091for uh younger school age kids. Um so, I mean, if that's that's something that we want to look at and discuss, we could. Um I think that' probably be, you know, a village discussion as well as what we do, where we do that. not a requirement, but I don't think that's going to go. And I'm thinking with AS and Central, it's because you had those two hightraic roads and the playgrounds are central playgrounds not there, but that field is there. And um with Ames, it's right on the pickup line and that that traffic over there is awful with school and everything, but I don't I don't see Hollywood. It was really about street safety. The age doesn't dictate it. It's usually proximity to traffic or drop off. I don't think we I don't think we
092have Dan, you would know better than me, but I don't think we have heavy traffic issues on that side generally, do we? Do you not with cars? Yeah. Well, I mean it, you know, for drop off. Oh, do people drop off on this side? I drop off. Well, I mean, they're coming that way. People are coming both directions. Okay. So, it kind of gets backed up. It's not terrible. It's by by no means it's it's not Hower, uh, but it gets a little backed up. But I guess do people play in the park play in the park playground during pickup and drop off? I mean you know Hollywood they they don't I mean they line up. So well often they'll have you know afterare there they do at pickup. I do think that safety needs
093to be an absolute priority, but the path of least resistance for us here and getting this playground upgraded as soon as possible is preserving the aesthetic of that beautiful school and that beautiful piece of land. And so if a uh you know safety experts deem that a fence is not a requirement in that space, I I think that preserving the the the land as it is would probably be really appreciated by the neighbors in the community. So you would drastically change this if there was fencing. I I think that there's a there is often push back against fencing in our community. And I'm going to say a village thing, but I don't mean like trustees. I mean as a village something we want. And so it was we knew that going in with AS and
094central and we worked it out. Um yeah, that's an interesting question. Do we actually need one there? We'll have to figure that out. Hopefully not. That feels to me like it's more tucked in, but I think right we'll take a closer look at it. I mean it is a little especially with it kind of like the other sites that we've looked at. I'm I'm sorry to open up this can of worms again, but I I feel I have to. Um, and again, I just having walked it again today, I I see that from the last uh last project that we had, the sod that was laid has died along the north side of the building. So, I don't know if there's something that can be done along those lines or have a path. I think
095that it's, you know, there's there's uh it's people walk over it, myself included. So it's it's not a surprise that the sad has died there, but that I wonder if that's something that can be looked at as part of this as well. And I don't know how much that adds to the scope of this, but hopefully not too much. Yeah, we certainly could look at that. I mean, it's we we found that in multiple schools where either continual play or foot traffic um just makes grass untenable. But I think there there's been a change in how it used to be there doors that are on all sides. So, it used to be accessible to everybody coming and going to all sides, but since we've had it secure. So, in the morning, that's only accessible to
096the uh to the this side of the building. Okay. So, that's causing people from, you know, most people that are coming from the other side of the building, they're having to walk and cross that way. And if you're there, you know, with 5 minutes till the bell rings, you're crossing the grass. Are we talking about the by the auditorium? Well, yeah. We're we're showing north parking lot. So that side of the building there. Yeah. Just the sod that's there. It's it's it's you know it's been trampled and and dying and pretty sparse because that's people that's where people are coming from. That's where the families are and the kids are walking to cross to get to the front side of the school to get into the school before the bell rings in the morning. Yeah.
097I mean there's certainly some concrete work that's going to happen with this project. So if that's a priority, we can definitely investigate that. I know that is a a a cut cut across if you will. Yeah, it has effectively become a cut across and I think it was an oversight from the last project. Yeah. All right. No action tonight. First conversation. So, we'll um I think I heard you say we'll put this back on for June. And that would be for the proposal to have them like approve the money to have them start the design and everything, right? Yep. So, yeah. And just to clarify, the proposal is uh for divisioning the design uh construction documents to take that out to bid uh and then construction administration through the completion of uh the project through
098construction. And you guys have a roughly $560,000 estimate of total cost on this one. Yep. Yeah. We worked with FAR Construction to do they provided our cost estimate. Uh and we feel that with our civil engineer and our playground consultant that that's pretty on target. How much of that is drainage? More than you want to know. I can tell you the numbers, but you know, 70%. Oh, that high. I was going to go 60, but Okay. All right. Maybe 60. Cool. Uh, any other questions? Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. Thank you, Ryan. Uh, last thing, facility advisory committee. That's also an item we usually put on a committee, the whole agenda, but we had a meeting this this week. Was it Monday? Um Matt now as facilities chair and Selena's finance chair, our board members,
099and just wanted to share the agenda. So, I don't know if there's any particular comments, but wanted to um provide that for everybody. No particular comments, but I just as a a general reminder, we've said a couple times, but it never hurts repeating it. Uh summer maintenance projects is the the one thing coming up. So, uh, low roof work at Hollywood, just one section of the Hollywood house, the tuck pointing at Hower and Central. That'll be a bigger project that people will notice. Ames boiler. Nobody's probably going to know that even happened. Um, they'll sneak in, sneak out with a giant boiler. And, uh, fixing the four square thing over here, which was had a like a I don't know, poor installation or didn't set right or I I don't really really know what the
100issue is, but tearing that out and put a new one in for for that. [Music] Um the Ames grassy area considerations would is that just are we trying to figure out what to do with that? Yeah, it's just too wet and too heavily used for the grass to grow. You know, I know we fenced it off for a really long period of time. The grass grew in and it sort of immediately got trampled back down. And so unfortunately the the fix on that would probably be to put in more drainage um and not a and may then maybe potentially wood chips and not even try to have grass in that area. I mean I know so Jim is looking at that right the the Ames grassy area where getting different price estimates on different ways
101to fix and improve that. It's also a heavily used area like we call that is it just maybe not that important you know principal you know has remind us that's very important that is where we talked about how kids like to have playground and hard surface and an area to play like you know football or kickball or one of those those games. So that's what that area at Ames is used for. I mean I know this has been this was a hot topic with Central and it's kind of a contentious thing in town but I mean it's hidden. Can we contemplate turf or something that is not going to be det I don't really like personally I don't like the idea of mulch like that's hard to can't play kickball and mulch but I don't
102know that that's an that's an interesting one. So I think we brought that up and and I at least at the time and this was the the other members of the facility advisory committee David and we thought that that probably wouldn't go over well it wasn't discussed those and wouldn't go over well or it's too costly. it would not be well accepted by the community based on input that we had uh when we were talking about uh what we did at um central and hower. Well, I don't know. I think the reality is that grass is not a viable surface in that space and so that's why there's an effort to explore other surface right now just because it's it's a mud pit doesn't work in front of a school. I'm not disagreeing. And I'm
103just saying like that's why the discovery is underway on what we can do to what are alternative surfaces. Yeah. Whether they be wood chips or whatever else. I just say personally I would not take it off the table. I hear what you're saying. I get it. I think with central it was a very prominent location, very seen area. I go by Ames all the time. I never see the grass mud pit thing which is why I always forget about it. It's like right in the center of the building. Um so it just it feels like I get that but I don't think we have better options and mulch doesn't really feel like so. Anyway, um that one's top of mind. My kids went there, all that kind of stuff. So, that one's a little bit
104more top of mind for me. Just trying to look for a more permanent fix because it feels like a lot of things we've tried to do to stay in the constraints of the rest of it has just really been challenging or not working. So, I personally would say everything anything's on the table. I'd be open to anything that is a playable surface on a consistent basis for the students there. Just um speaking of grass viability, uh it's not on the facility advisories committee agenda, but I'm just curious. Okay. So, my understanding is correct. This whole year, uh, we did not use the green space back here, but are we are we It looks I mean, I walked by and it looked green and and lush, but are we on track to be able to fall
105of 25, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then we'll see if everything underneath work across it, April, as we stand open of it. Everyone's sure been paying attention to it. And the big fences are down. Part of the the construction fence along Aken Side is down. And I sort of thought we'd maybe have a worry about kids playing over there. Well, let's wait for the summer. Yeah. Didn't say a thing. Didn't say a thing. Okay. Well, I've been wondering the same thing. Okay. Uh, all right. That's our last item. Any other questions or comments on that topic? All right. We did slide a couple generally cow things in here just because of timing like you said, Dr. Rentoy, but okay. Um, nobody's left, so I'm guessing there's no other public comment. Future meeting dates will be
106June 4th. That will be a fully closed session with our AASB rep for a board self assessment at 6 p.m. at the Ames Library. June 18th, we'll have a regular business meeting at 7 p.m. here at Hower down in the learning learning resource center. Uh our first Wednesday falls on July 2nd this year, so that one's canceled due to the holidays. And then we will meet again on July 16th for a regular business meeting at 7 p.m. in Hower Learning uh resource learning center. Um, August 6, Committee of the Hall at BLE, and then August 20th, a regular business meeting here at Hower at 7:00 p.m. And with that, this meeting is a motion to go into close session. Uh, oh, right. That's right. We did not finish our conversation in close session. So, is
107there a motion to return to close session for the reason of any matter involving an individual student? So, moved. Second. Kathy, can you call the RO? Okay. Miss Gun I Miss Kick I Miss Claps Hi Mr. Ol Hi Mr. Hi Mr. M I Mr. I and there will be no voting activity after this. We will just end the meeting. [Music]