001[Music] All right. Uh, tonight is uh, let's see, it is May Wednesday, May 7th. Uh, it is a 7:11 p.m. This is the Riverside School District 96 um, bianial reorganization meeting. Kathy, could you call the role? Okay. Mr. Barc, present. Miss Gun here. Miss Kay here. Mr. Marh here here, Miss Claps here, and Mr. Mir here. Present. Okay. Uh we will start off with public comment and we do have one person here to make comment. Um Nicole Newsome. We do have a three minute uh general time limit. You're here by yourself. So I am here by myself. Is this the microphone? I should That is It does not project. It's more for it doesn't. Okay. Now, is this getting my good side? Okay. I just wanted to make sure. All right. Um, good evening to
002all of you. My name is Nikki Newsome. My husband Travis and I have three daughters in this district, one at Hower and two at Ames. We moved to this district from Berwin because we believe that a strong education is the key to their future. Tonight, I want to talk to you about my oldest daughter. In 2022, she began losing her hair, large patches at a time. We saw her dermatologist, even her butician, and there was no clear cause. Now, nearly three years later, we believe that we have found the missing piece. Stressed from being bullied and targeted with racial slurs at school. Now, if you know my daughter, you know that she is a rule follower. We taught her to speak up when something feels wrong, and she did. She reported what happened to her
003teachers and her principal. But instead of meaningful action or communication with us, her parents, things were handled quietly and behind closed doors. The same student who called her a monkey and a baboon, who showed her pictures of enslaved people picking cotton followed her to Hower, and so did the panic attacks. We eventually met with the students mother with the support of Mr. Havales and she informed us that her child had indeed been disciplined back in fourth grade, which was news to us. I just want you to imagine for a moment your child being hurt and you, her parent, being left completely out of the loop. And that's exactly why I'm here speaking tonight. Now, this just isn't about my daughter or the other two daughters that'll be uh coming along behind her. It's about all
004the children who are dealing with racism and harmful stereotypes at an age when they should feel safe and supported. To the parents who pull me aside at school drop off and pick up with their stories. It's about the silence that allows this harm to persist. Now, my husband and I, if you know us, I'm I'm meeting many of you for the first time. We're not here to ask for disciplinary records. We understand that there are state um and county uh and city guidelines with that. But with respect to those privacy policies, but when a child is being targeted, their parents must be informed. Otherwise, you rob us of the ability to support and protect them. I urge this board to review current communication protocols across all schools within the district and ensure they prioritize transparency,
005consistency, and stu student well-being. I will I guess o I don't know if I open it up for questions but I do want to thank you for your time. I do want to thank the old uh regime, the old board as well as the new board that's being installed tonight. I do believe that um you know your role is to listen to the community and so I felt it was important I come and make a public statement tonight. Thank you. So I should have said this at the beginning. It is public comment. We don't do like the Q&A piece of it but thank you for coming out and sharing that with us to inform us of your experience. We do appreciate that. Thanks. Okay, that is the only comment I have for tonight. So, I
006will move into uh I I'm sorry. Can we just maybe take a moment to say I'm terribly sorry for what you've gone through and what you've experienced. That had to be very hard on you and your family. And so we'll absolutely take a look at that and spend a little time looking at how we go about communicating to parents when harm is done to their child. All right. Um we have a pretty light agenda tonight. So any I'm assuming there's no changes to the agenda or suggestions for it. Okay. Uh so the first item here is confirmation of the consolidated election canvas results. There's no action here. It's just an acknowledgement of the uh four seats that we had and the four uh individuals that were elected into those seats. And so then that moves
007us into the appointment and oath processes here. So before we get into the oath, we need to elect a president prom. Are there any nominations for a president prom? Dan, I nominate Joel Marl. I was putting it on you. He's got to do the oath, though. So, it can't be the four of them. Okay. It's got to be the one of the three of us. All right. You want to do it? You want to want to do it as you're uh I will do it. You're going out present. All right. Um is there a motion to appoint Joel Marhal as the president prom? So, moved. Second. Kathy, could you call the role? Okay. Uh would be Miss Class. Hi, uh, Mr. Barl. Hi, Mr. Barcott. Hi, Mr. Hun. Hi, Miss Gun. Hi, Miss Kick. Hi.
008And Mr. Mayorhead. Hi. Okay, Wesley or Jul. All right. Next moment is to administer the oath of office for the new board members. up there. Yes. Traditionally, we stand Joel. And I guess there are two microphones because the silver one does amplify. The black one goes into the YouTube feed. So if you want to stand at the silver, you'll get information. So where? So the silver microphones. turn. So, not looking at the board, looking at you. Okay. I will begin this, but then I will have you read the rest of your oath of office because I don't think we need to repeat it twice. So, you will take you will take your oath. I your name do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of a member of
009the board of education of Riverside School District 96 in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Illinois and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. And so I I further swear we keep going from there. Okay. Or affirm that or you No, you should say your name. So we start from the beginning. Start from the beginning. Do it again. And do it in order. You'll say I David. Oh, we don't do it together. I then Sorry. Then we couldn't hear your names. All right. I David Barati. I Stephanie Gun. I Dan Hunt. I Matt. And now the rest together. All right. do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of
010education of Riverside School District 96 in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. I further swear or affirm that I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at a public board meeting. I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through
011ethical and constructive channels. As part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility of my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. I shall foster with the board extensive participation of the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course for Riverside School District 96. I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students in our community schools to advance the vision for Riverside School District 96 and shall strive to work together with
012the district superintendent to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created, fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development. Thank you. I think you anything longer you need us to read. You know, Dan, I'm I'm realizing technically Bill is not on the board anymore. Uh, no. Once Matt comes and sits down. Yeah, but you're the president from town and now you're leaving. Life goes on. will be president prom until it's until we have the election. Right. So you could I suppose he could still sit here as president prom. I mean technically I think he's got to do the next part, right? I think so. You have to call it to get a motion. Joel, we were saying you should pull up a chair
013and stay as president for changing things. Didn't didn't think it through. Should put it that way. happens like going you have one more responsibility before you're you're done. So you just need to get a nomination and roll call for to your president term. We currently need a nomination for the president for of the school board district 96 for the next two years. Uh I will nominate Wesley near Mirus. Is there a second? Second. Kathy, can you call the role? Okay. Mr. Barati. Hi. Mr. Hunt. Hi. Miss Gun. Hi. Miss Kick. Hi. Miss Claps. Hi. Mhm. Okay. Because I have Matt. Okay. Yeah. Or I would say Mr. Okay. Mr. And Mr. Mayorhead. Hi. Okay. Okay. Now you may now. Okay. Um just a quick comment before we go through the rest of the agenda just
014for like public awareness. So we are not allowed to meet more than oneonone. If there's if there's three or more of us by law we are not allowed to discuss official board business that leads to board decisions. Um so part of this process every other year when we go through it is just uh the board president historically called around to the board to get ideas of committees that people are interested in etc. Um so we do have a general outline related to that uh that will guide the rest of this meeting. Um so the next action is for vice president then secretary then committee chairs and just general representatives and le liaison to different uh informal committees that we have going on. Um so I currently need a nomination for vice president for the next
015two years and I don't know if I'm allowed to nominate. Can I nominate? I guess I'm a board member like everybody else, right? So, my thought was uh with Joel going off having Dave step in as vice president. So, I'll put a motion to nominate Dave as vice president. Second. Uh Kathy, can you call the role? Okay. Mr. Gun, I Miss Gun. Hi, Miss Kick. Hi, Miss Claps. Hi, Mr. Olic. Hi, Mr. Barcadi. Hi. And Mr. Mayor. Hi. Okay. Thanks, Dave. Um, next is board secretary. And one of the proposals that I had talked to everybody about was either Stephanie or Matt. Um, Stephanie's been doing it for a couple years. Responsibilities are recording the closed sessions, making sure the meeting minutes and everything are are up to date with C. Kathy does most of
016that leg work for us on our behalf. Thank you, Kathy, for doing that. Um, so I will throw it out for any nominations that you want to make or I can make one if nobody has a nomination. We'll go for it. You okay if I nominate you again? All right. I'm going to nominate Stephanie Gun as secretary for the next two years. Give you a bit of reprieve on the board. Are there any other nominations? No. Okay. Kathy, could you call the role? Okay. Miss Gun, I weird. Sure. Miss Kick. I Miss Claps. Hi, Mr. Olic. Hi, Mr. Barcadi. Hi, Mr. Hunt. Hi. Mr. May, I Okay, those are the three U elected positions uh for the board. Now we'll move into the appointment of committee chairs and these are just appointment processes so we
017don't need an official motion vote and all that kind of stuff on it. So I will just kind of run through the synopsis that uh I had called and talked to everybody individually about um policy Stephanie personnel Dave finance Selena education Dan facilities Matt and then uh Martha and I had been discussing creating a new committee for family and community partnerships and uh I'd reached out to Marlo about that one because she is currently on that unofficial committee but it is something that is a very important issue to us. We've had it in our strategic plan the last four years. It is a common topic that comes up in different capacities. So I think elevating this to an official committee makes sense here given the amount of time that we spend on this particular topic.
018Uh and so Marlo was interested in uh switching over from education to that. just uh to give a public synopsis of kind of what I was thinking through this as I was running through it with everybody else and and um hearing feedback from other board members. Stephanie does a really great job with policy. It's something that is uh pretty important to her and she has done a great job facilitating it. She has been doing it for a few years now, four years now. Um but it's something that she has a really strong interest in. So, uh, I I was perfectly fine and everybody else was pretty much in agreement with that as well to let Stephanie continue doing the great job that she's doing. Um, Dave moving over to personnel. Dave's been on finance for
019the last four years and looking at the transition and the future of the board and some of the other uh, staff change that we're going to have over the next couple years. seemed like a good opportunity for a new board member to kind of get their hands into some of the more meaty stuff here and um give Dave an opportunity to to do something a little bit different having been on finance for the last four years and finance being tied to facilities. Uh so with Selena going into finance like I just mentioned finance and facilities are are pretty intertwined. finance also reaches into just about everything else that we do because it's our our main job here is facilitating um the budget and how the money gets spent. Um so giving Selena that experience there
020coming off personnel moving into finance feels like a good opportunity for the board um to just continue to to grow and develop itself. Dan had been president for four years policy before that and hadn't been on the education committee. So that'll be a new uh opportunity for him and he's got some some young ones in the district too. So I'm sure some of that at the elementary level will be pretty tied into from what you're hearing, seeing, feeling. As I mentioned with Matt being new facilities, uh it's a lot of what we do is is related around facilities. So that feels like a good starter one. And then I already mentioned the family and community partnerships for Marlo. So un uh it absent any disagreement or uh change of opinion that we want to discuss
021here. That was my general outline for committee chairs this next two years. Any dissenting opinions or additional conversation anybody wants to have? It's been a little while since I've talked to people individually. Um just the additional conversation for me is I don't know if we have to do this in what manner but policy 2150 committees that lists out does not currently have family engagement. So if we're making that an official committee then we want it um added to our policy 2150 along with education finance policy personnel and facilities are all listed in there as standing board committees. Okay. It's a good keepers policy. Yeah. You just justified that decision. Email to send to you probably. Okay. Uh, do you want me to read that again? Kathy, are you got it? Okay. I tried to go
022slow first time because I I watched last reorganization. I read it too fast for you. So, slow down this time. Okay. Uh, so that is done. Like I said, there's not an official vote needed on that. Those are just uh appointment positions. Same as the next group. So we have PTA, PTO, EDRED, RECC, which is the uh the union, the behavioral interventions committee, and the Illinois assoc association of school boards. The PTA PTO probably definitely is the one that has the most activity around it with the monthly meetings with the five school um PTA and PTO president. Presidents. Thank you. Um, Ed Red, that one probably made sense talking through it with Stephanie as just a liazison. I don't think there's a whole lot you do there, but it's all policy related, so it felt
023like a good connection. Just to leave you with that one. Um, RECC, you don't have a ton of engagement back and forth, at least like directly with the board or not. Most of that goes through the administration and Martha. But um this one felt like, you know, with it being more of a union thing, I could potentially be the the contact there as the board president if there if there is something that's that's needed. But I don't think we've I can't think of anything we've enacted in the last few years. Anyway, we meet regularly. Um I know Claire Leforge is here in the audience tonight. So uh we meet every month our administrative part of our administrative team along with the RECC co-presidents. um which I think is a really important ongoing just relationships and
024communication. Um but we have not typically had a board member involved in that and I I think that's you know I think our goal is obviously to be able to address things um internally. So I I don't want to in any way sort of disregard um the importance of REC and the importance of our relationship and important communication. Um, but it does make sense that I think if they were to want to reach out to the board that maybe the their sort of like good structure would be that they'd reach out to a board president. Yeah, which everyone's comfortable with that. Kind of thinking through like the what is it? The president is the voice of the board or or whatever the phrase is. So um unless somebody else really wants it, I figure that
025one that tie-in probably made sense. And then um quite honestly, I don't know that we've done a whole lot with the other two, the behavior interventions and the IASB stuff. So I think it's really just if something pops up some um behavior interventions they meet at least one time a year um by by requirement per policy and I believe state law. So Marlo I think yeah so that's that's been valuable. It's not a big time commitment but it's at least a one time a year meeting. Oh okay. And you join that. Okay. I want Yeah. Yeah. Or have have Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. It's something Nora runs and then with I think with the IASB for the conference, right? Is it is it mainly the conference? I believe so. Or like if we need a rep
026Yeah, if we need a representative to go like vote or something like that. Yeah, exactly. I know. I think you went down for the some Yeah, we I think we firearms and we re we rotate. I mean, if I didn't make it I think I know Stephanie went once and Oh, as a delegate. Yeah, as a delegate. I mean it Yeah, there wasn't there isn't much. They have those um divisional regional meetings. It's something that uh this board of education hasn't really participated in a lot in recent years but I think that's some sometimes I think there maybe our boards of education get very active with that professional organization but it's really it's a very personal choice I think or if there's a a burning issue I think you've all engaged when and where needed
027so whether or not you want to name somebody or just like TBD as needed up to all of you I almost there I mean, my personal opinion is almost TBD as needed based on how it's been in the past. Yeah, I do look at the when we get those emails about those divisional things every now and then there's been something of interest, but they're usually really far away and it's got conflicts with my schedule and I I really I struggle making most of those when they're when they're there when they're out there. Um, okay. I think the so unless there's a different different opinion I think Stephanie for Ed Red because it's tied to policy myself for RAC just as board president and the connection there. So PTA PTO's I guess Marlo do you want
028to or does somebody else want to take the behavioral interventions committee? Sounds like it's a once a year thing. I guess one thing Oh, the behavioral inter you were talking PKP. I was I'm sorry I changed course but that's okay. I don't mind staying with behavioral interventions if it doesn't if nobody else wants to take it out. I don't mind staying done. Okay. Uh and then IB will just figure that out if if and when we need something. So PTA PTO is probably the biggest the most active thing here with the once a month meetings. Um you two are kind of flip-flopping or we were like tag teaming it. I mean my my personal opinion unless you I my opinion was I think that having two sort of alternating was worked out well. I don't
029know what your thoughts were on that Selena but it definitely helped out because there are times that I couldn't go and yeah it works out as well as a Friday morning 9:00 a.m. meeting could work out for any other working professional. You know we could change the day. I think I think we went with Friday mornings thinking it was good for all of you, but that's we we tend to meet the the um following a board meeting, right? So, it's the Friday following a third Wednesday. Um I know Matt's been involved with I would recommend splitting the responsibility between two people. I'm still involved. Yeah. Are you the still the PTA president? Probably need to talk about that if you are. I think I am for a week. Okay. So, they're going to change over
030quickly, too. Oh, that's true. Because school's almost out, right? Okay. Um, anybody, do you want to continue? Do you want to not continue? I'm happy to pass along to somebody interested. Um, I can continue unless somebody Stephanie or Marlo or Dan I'll be reading policies. I mean, I don't mind tag teaming. Is that okay? because I'm on our PTA board. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I don't mind T. Okay. This Friday morning is a Friday morning a good day. I mean like No, not ever. But I can make it work. Yeah, I'll figure it out. But we can talk. We can I mean, we can change the date. We've I think in my years here, we've had it different times. It's somehow in proximity to a board meeting that I think is valuable, right? It's it's valuable
031to report out to the group the what the board may be most engaged, focused on, what's been on the agenda. So, And it was usually or it was when I was doing it, it was after the regular meeting because then it was this is what we voted on the official actions we were taking rather than the committee of the holes which was more talking about doing stuff. Um the other topic that I want to um take up with the PLT so I don't want to make a decision here tonight but curious to your input. I mean one conversation has been to meet less than monthly like should it be a quarterly meeting or something? I mean PTA and PTO leaders are busy. Um I think it's been really valuable to communicate board activity. Um we
032also have other ways we we do that and can't do that. I mean I think this is again one of these committees that's held a certain amount of tradition and sort of cadence and frequency for a long time. But I know it can be challenging to get to a one time a month especially when it's the Friday after a board meeting when you've already had a lot of board time and activity. So, um, I would do that only if the PTA and PTO presidents were interested in that. The other idea could be that a board member attends three to four times a year as opposed to monthly. Just some thoughts. I mean, get a feel for the next because there wouldn't be any more. Are there any more this year or this school year? I
033mean, or would it start up again in August? Yeah, I think there'll be one at the end of May. Okay. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And then June, July, we don't meet in the summer. August would be off I think cuz Right. Okay. I think our I think we have a board meeting before school starts or maybe the day school starts or something like that this year. So it wouldn't be till May and then September it would kick up again. Okay. So I know as PTO president it it is a valuable meeting monthly just hearing from other schools and I think like every month something comes up and it's like this school does this school does this and why are we doing them differently and it's I don't know if it has to be an official meeting
034but if the president's talked in that forum it was very helpful and I think that's something I've really seen like evolve over my years it's there's I think there's a very collaborative spirit with the PTA and PTO presidents and I think that's valuable and even you know, just sharing ideas on fundraisers, etc. Um, and then hearing from a board member is is good, too. Yeah. I'm okay with that. Do you want me to take the other behavioral committee chair or what was you? Yeah. No, that's that's been pretty because we've been able to do those on Zoom. Okay. Um, so I can that's totally easy to work with. But no, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. It's fine. We can also connect you by Zoom to a parent leadership team meeting too. Oh,
035okay. That might be easier if you're at work. So, do you want to continue or is that something you want to Oh, yeah. Or happy to be involved. Okay. Do you want to do that? Oh, yeah. Then we can save Yeah. Dave all three. Okay, Dave says he's happy to pass. We need trimester. Okay, so then PTA, PTO, we'll do Marlo and Matt. And then you guys just figure out what days work for those. Um, Ed, Red, Stephanie, Rec, me, uh, behavioral intervention, Marlo, and we'll figure out IASB if something's needed. Okay. Good. All right. Okay. Um, couple more things and we're done. So, establishment of the regular meeting dates and times. So, this is in board book. Um, I know Kathy has a printed copy of it. You got it. Okay. So, it this
036I believe if I looked at this correctly, this is just continuing the first Wednesday, third Wednesday of every month. Um any any proposal to change our current structure from what we have? Nope. Okay. So get those on your calendar. Um let's see. Motion that the board continues to operate under the present policies, but we have no action required. This is just us acknowledging that our board to board to superintendent agreements uh are we are going to continue to adhere to these. And then Martha and I, just as a side note, met with Natalie, who is our B B representative for our June 4th um self assessment and we'll go over all of these in more detail if we want to make any changes and it'll be a good opportunity for Matt to weigh in or
037ask any questions around those. So read up before you come to that on June 4th. Can we go back to a that needs a motion and a second and a roll call for the board meeting? Oh, because it's okay. All right. Sorry. So, is there a motion for the board of education to approve the regular business meetings, dates, time, and locations as presented? So, moved. Second. Kathy, could you call the role? Miss Class. Hi, Mr. Ol. Hi, Mr. Barcat. Hi, Mr. Hunt. I Miss Gun I Miss Kick I and Mr. Mir I motion passes. Thank you for catching me on that. Do you need to motion the cow or no? That's kind of included both. Oh okay. The first and third meeting. Sorry. The regular meeting. Yeah. So those are okay. Under the regular Well,
038the motion was just for the regular meeting. Yeah. I think it meant the regular meeting schedule, but you can take a second one. I mean if you want to. I'm going to do it just so that we don't have a technicality later. Is there a motion for the board of education to approve the committee of the whole meetings, dates, times, and locations as presented? So move. Second. Kathy, could you call the role? Okay. Uh, Mr. Olic. Hi. Mr. Barati. Hi, Mr. Hunt. Hi, Miss Gun. Hi, Miss Kick. I Miss Claps. Hi. And Mr. Mad. All right. Okay. So, one of these documents specifically says regular business meetings. So, we'll just that way it's very clear what we just did. Okay. Um Okay. So, then present policies, board agreements, the superintendent agreements. Both of those are
039just recognition items. And then, uh authorization of signitories. Is there a motion for the board of education to approve the authorization of signitories, namely vice president for the board in addition to the president and secretary as presented? So move presented. Second. Kathy, could you call the role? Okay. Miss Class. Mr. Olic. I. Mr. Bari. Hi. Mr. Hunt. Hi. Miss Gun. Hi. Miss Kick. Hi. And Mr. your head. I pass. And last one, last vote. Uh, authorization of signitories for impressed account and financial reports. Is there a motion for the board of education to approve the following positions as having authorization as a signatory on the impressed fund account/checks as well as financial reports sent to the school township treasurer and the Illinois State School Board of Education as presented. the superintendent, the director of finance
040and operations, and the director of teaching and learning. So moved. Second. Kathy, could you call the role? Okay. Mr. Barcott, I. Mr. Hunt, I. Miss Gun, I. Miss Caleb, I. Miss Cl. Hi. Mr. Olic. I. And Mr. Mer. I. Motion passes. All right. So that is all of our formal actions that we need today tonight. So what we have left is some acknowledgement of Mr. Marhol's commitment over the last eight years. You've just did two terms, right? Yeah. Eight years. Um I will go in order of the agenda here and I will invite the Riverside Education Council up for some comments. Hello, my name is Claire Leforge. I'm an eighth grade science teacher at Hower, but tonight I'm here representing the Riverside Education Council. On behalf of the RECC, we would have liked to extend
041our sincere thanks to Joel for his service and partnership during his time on the school board. Joel approached his role with a genuine curiosity to understand the perspective of the staff while also fulfilling his responsibility to represent the community. His kind, courteous, and thoughtful manner helped foster a respectful and collaborative relationship with our union. We're grateful for his dedication to open communication and his steady support of both students and staff. Joel's contributions have made a lasting impact and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors. Thank you, Joel. [Applause] Thank you for coming out and providing your commentary. Appreciate that. I will turn it over to the superintendent. All right. Um and Joel, I just want to on a personal level, superintendent level, thank you. Thank you for eight years of service to
042the board of education. It has been a pleasure as I reflect on your work here with us. Um the thing that certainly stands out to me is facilities. So Joel um comes to us with an engineering background and one of the things the ISB is always clear about is you are not brought onto the board because of your professional duties and responsibilities but because you're elected by the community, but there are many of times we kind of leaned into Joel's engineering background and very appreciative. And if it wasn't always just about the engineering, it was really, I think, saying we can do this work. We are financially sound enough. This work is needed for our students. Um, so I I certainly acknowledge that first and foremost, but really what I want to say is that
043the work you did was really for our students and for our staff and for our team. So, thank you so much. Thank you. [Applause] I'm presenting this as well. All right. So, lastly, board of education. So, I'll make a couple comments and I'll invite anyone else that would like to say anything as well. Um, we'll make this nice for the camera. Yeah. So, uh, Kathy was generous enough to print off a certificate of appreciation for Joel indicating your time of service here and all that. So you can find a nice place on your wall to hang that up. And uh we also got you a gift here that you can open at a different well we can open now or Okay. Uh I'll just say much to what Martha just said. Uh I can personally
044thank you for when I first came onto the board. It was nine months before COVID hit and you had raised your hand to partner up with me to kind of help get me through the curve that Matt's about to go through here. uh getting up to speed with everything that was going on. We had just I think we had just broken ground maybe on one of the one of the construction projects that we did. Spent four years navigating through all of that. The the part of this building that we're standing in right here was was a part of that bigger puzzle that we did. and uh nine months into it getting hit with COVID and kind of throwing everything out the window and all of us just sort of figuring out what to do, how
045to engage, how to get through it safely and continue educating our kids was uh that added to the learning curve for sure. So, I appreciate the support you were there for and others on the the board helped me out with that too. But I did kind of lean on you as the person that kind of raised their hand as as the direct mentor, so to speak. And when I had questions um or just trying to understand things better, it was always nice to be able to reach out to you and sit down and grab a beer or just talk on the phone or whatever it is and and uh have you help kind of guide my thought process around what I was learning and what I didn't know and and all of that stuff. So,
046uh very much appreciate your help for the six years that I've been on the board. So, thank you. I've always enjoyed our conversations about district stuff and we'll continue with other things. Yeah. Uh before I'll step to the side is if anybody else wants to bring anything up, I'll welcome you Joel. I just thank you for ask kind of also although along with you when I started on the board you were always so great to explain things and if I ever had a question I always knew I could ask you and just your overall friendly demeanor and I've always enjoyed seeing you at meetings and chatting after the meeting. You'll be missed and being rescued today. So, I remember eight years ago, a little over eight years ago at this point, uh we were at
047a voter information session at Hollywood House. Yes. Yes. You remember those? We used to have those. We should have those again sometime. Yes. We we had one of those. I think I made a joke about WVU. The school I went to uh was in the NCA basketball tournament at the time. I remember you jumped in on that joke and I thought, "All right, great. I have a partner in crime." But Joel, just it's it's you've been on the board so long. You've been such an integral part of the board, it's hard to imagine you not being here. And I I'll say and go back to jokes again. It's a standard joke for whenever someone's leaving the board. I'll always say, "Okay, we'll see you here next week or next two weeks." And you know, Joel,
048in your case, you might be here. Uh I I've threatened to show up. Yeah. It's it's it's uh you just always continue to give so much of yourself personally. I mean, yeah, I don't know what your position on this on the pool is anymore, but I half the time I'm there, I see you fixing something outside, so you just when you're diving in, you give of yourself so freely, and I definitely appreciate all the all the time and and uh everything you've given to the community, and uh I will definitely miss your presence here on the board. I will miss our regular regular interactions and talking on the side as well. And I've got other things I have, so I'll I'll save them. I'm not going to do a round robin and make everybody say
049something. Anybody else wants to jump in? No, I I wanted to just quickly say something if that's okay. Um, you know, you've always been my partner in snacking. We've led by example here, being the first to go after the snacks. So, I brought you a small going away snacks. Um, no, I' I've really always appreciated your insight and your thoughtful questions and your very close reading of policies. I don't know who's going to grill me on footnotes the way you have. Um, and I think a really common theme that I'm hearing is when I started on the board as well, you always checked up on me. You would send me a text just asking you. I think sometimes you could tell if after certain meetings I was feeling a certain way or not quite myself.
050and you would always check up on me and that will always mean so much to me. It really made transitioning onto this board much easier. Um I'm going to miss working alongside you. I really appreciate everything you've done for this district and it's been a great pleasure getting to work with you. So, thank you. You're welcome. And I guess like Dan, you and I both came on the board at the same time. So, um both going through the same struggles and learning getting up to speed on everything. But I do have to say we've been through a lot. Um I really appreciated while you and I didn't agree on everything. I did appreciate your insight and you did change my mind sometimes just a little. Um so but I do appreciate that and you are
051going to definitely be missed. So, um, well, I had to write things down because to be honest, I always appreciate the fact that everybody allowed me to lose my train of thought. And actually, Dan reminded me that at that um, at that forum, you were asked to come talk about yourself a little bit. And I started speaking and then I was completely and utterly lost. And there were a long moments of silence as I tried to gather my head back and get something sensible and eventually it came. But it was that happens. Um I I I I really believe that we're in a good place. I hope I've been part of that. Um, I've Martha I've always enjoyed our conversations that diverge from the original reason you talked. We get into these discussions about culture
052or just where where society is at and educational philosophy and those have been great fun. Um, I hope I wasn't wasting too much of your time then, but I absolutely love those. Um, Nora and Jim and Angela and Don. Um, we've already talked and emailed a little bit. Um, but know that when what I said then was sincere. Um, we'll do lunch or a beer before too long. Jim and I have had a few. Um, old guys need to go out. Um, going backwards with my board friends backwards in time. Um, Selena and Marlo, it's been two years, but Selena, your desire to question things combined with that the times of just genuine positivity and your sincerity is when you spoke to Miss Newsome. I very much appreciate that and Marlo, the things you already
053said, but your understanding and insight into higher education and connections to where we're at now and the rescue and just genuine friendliness. Um, Stephanie, I remember when we were collecting signatures during CO and we all did a roundroin thing and you were you were nervous a little bit wondering what the heck you got into, but your willingness and desire to look at policy and making sure that we're always attentive to um the life circumstances of our kids and making sure that people are treated fairly when they come through our doors. We've had conversations about that. Um Dan and Wesley and Dave just I I roll you together because I didn't want you don't need to hear me talk that much. But um just some of the great discussions and insights we've had um or Dave
054mentioned it. We've come at ideas from totally different perspectives and we have not agreed, but we've always come around and um genuine friendship that we've developed. Um and then getting to know you guys. Uh receiving some good counsel when I needed it. That's been appreciated. Um we'll continue to these friendships. And then Kathy, you thought you were forgotten. Nice try. um your patience with me and some of my uh procrastinatory uh communication style and then making sure that we were taken care of and just genuinely always being positive. Um I think we've really done good work. You will do so in the future. Um thank you for letting me be a part of this. Thank you. pick up on a picture of everything blasted out there on social media I should say not all right
055thank you Joel very much appreciated your eight years that you have uh dedicated to this district. All right, with that uh we have no other public comment. Um and future meeting dates will be May 21st. We'll have a regular business meeting at 7 p.m. in the Hower Auditorium. June 4th will be the board self assessment that I mentioned earlier in the meeting. That'll be here uh at the Ames Elementary School up in the the library. And then June 18th, a regular business meeting at 7 p.m. in the Hower Learning Resource Center. And with that this meeting is adjourned. [Music]