District 96 Board of Education Committee of the Whole Meeting 02-07-24

001[Music] we are back in Open Session apologies for the delay just trying to get some clear next steps out of the Clos session uh so let's see do we have any public comment Kathy doesn't look like it okay uh so we will move into the welcome to Central by principal Pete G welcome everybody thanks for being here tonight um have a lot great a lot of great things going on at Central uh we're currently finishing our first Venture into one book one school reading Peter uh Browns the wild robot had a lot of great activities uh and a joint effort by the central PTO and uh members of the central staff uh it's just been a great experience we looking forward to continuing uh this this uh opportunity for kids in the future um obviously

002we're thrilled about the the approval of the campus improvements that are slated for this spring and into the summer I think it's been a long time coming for um for as long as I've been here and beyond that so I I really want to thank your efforts at helping get that accomplished um because I know that uh it's going to benefit uh Central it's going to benefit Hower it's going to benefit the community as a whole um and then later this month we also have bringing it back for the first time since post post pandemic we're having the central cultural heritage celebration and that's on February 29th here at at the school that evening we'll be celebrating right now currently 11 different cultures um throughout from throughout the world uh each of the rooms is

003sponsored by one of by a central family um that's going to have presentations and things available that are pertinent to their culture so we really looking forward to that family event um later this month but uh thank you all again and uh appreciate your support ongoing throughout the year thanks thank you thanks and we did Wild robot last year I think that's a good book I like that book um okay so we will move into committee reports we'll start with the finance committee and Mr B sure so I'm actually going turn it over to the Auditors are they on they are all right so I'm going to turn it over to you the audit is complete so they're going to go um over that I did meet with them I know Jims been working closely

004with them so with that I'll turn it over all right thank you can everyone hear me all right yeah we can okay all right good evening everyone uh my name is Chase Blazer um also online with me tonight is my associate uh Nick Smith um who was the in charge of the audit this year so he did most of the work papers W up the report and everything thank you very much for having us tonight um I'll keep this pretty brief um just want to go over a few things and and on some high highlights and uh if anyone has any questions feel free to hop in at any time and I can answer what I can and if anything pops up after then feel free to have a Jim or someone or Maha shoot

005me an email and I can answer any questions that way as well um so the audit went very well again this year um Maha and the rest of the finance staff got us everything we needed no issues um some of the previous issues that we had in the past with the tto um not making some cruel entries related to accounts payable even seem to get cleaned up this year which is great to see helped out a ton sped everything up um no no management comment letter again in the current year which is the same as last year which is another awesome thing to see for audits you don't you don't get that all the time um the single audit that we performed over the Federal Federal grant funds and everything um was clean yet again

006this year no findings being reported for FY 23 um in regards to journal entries ma during the audit uh aite from the various entries uh to correct fund balance because there are still some things that the the tto doesn't let let us uh let you guys book for the financials um besides that the journal entries were very similar to Prior years um as well almost all having to do with either adjusting to the cruel basis at year end or just small reclass entries um there was a new accounting standard uh implemented for FY 23 uh gasby 96 which is for subscription based Information Technology arrangements or subida is what they're calling it uh this standard uh is very similar to the one that was implemented uh last year for fy22 uh for leases of physical

007equipment except this one as the name suggest uh relates specifically to software leases um so we honestly thought it might have been a bigger implementation this year than what it actually turned out to be after we went through and did all of our testing uh we determined that no software leases were actually material um so no additional leases were required to be recorded on your guys' financial statements now uh getting into the auto report itself um if you if you have a copy of it in front of you great if not U no worries um if you are looking at it you'll find the management discussion and Analysis section starting on page six which is really I think page 11 of the PDF um now if you don't have time to read through the whole

008audo report and let's be honest most most people don't um I just I I just uh usually recommend uh reading through this mdna section it's about four or five pages and it's just a quick summary that hits on all the main bullet points if you're if you're crun for time um but moving on for that uh and going into the actual financial statements themselves uh I'll be starting on page 18 of the auto report which is Page 24 of the PDF um total fund balance of all the funds uh as the end of the year for 63023 um was right around $22 million um which is it is a slight reduction from last year's ending fund balance overall um but it it was a $676,000 decrease from the prior year um now looking at the

009fund specific funds themselves and the fund balances um when we do this we usually like to compare it to uh current year expenditures um and just see like hey you have this much in fund balance it really equates out to this many months or years of expenses we really like to see these funds be anywhere from the six to twoe range is kind of the goldilock area um so looking at that Ed fund first or the general fund in the audit report um that ended at about $6.5 million uh which equates out to roughly 6 months of the current year expenditures uh which is right right in that period that range that we like to see um and this is just slightly down from last year was at at about eight and a half months

010uh in fy22 onm fund uh ended at about 2.4 million uh which is just over nine months months of expenses um as you probably know debt Services fund is now essentially zero I think it's been that way for for a few years now since all your debts paid off so that's that's a great spot for that fund to just be sitting at without having any debt Transportation fund balance ended at uh right around 920,000 uh which works out to 14 months of current year expenses which uh that was very similar to last year because I know over the past couple years I think an effort was made to reduce fund balance I think from two years ago when there I think there was about five and a half uh years worth of expenses sitting in

011fund balance that's been I know that's been a a focal point getting that knocked down a little bit um IMF end ended at uh $750,000 in fund balance just over onee expenses again right in that perfect Zone there um capital projects fund is at 7 uh 730,000 fund balance um this is obviously just for specific projects and will'll fluctuate year toe based on planed projects so that that fund we're not usually worried about being in that six-month two-year range especially if you're trying to build it up for a bigger project eventually uh Tor fun ended at 710,000 which is about 4 and a half years of uh of expenses um it's still a little high I know in the past couple years this has been getting spent down as well I think it was 5

012and a half years of expenses last year and then the year before that was at seven so it is slowly working down which is nice um overall though the funds uh appear to be in really good shape and uh the financial profile score that's indicated on the AFR uh has you guys at a 4.0 which is at the recognition designation which which is really good um moving into the government wide financial statements um which are up on on page 13 and 14 of the audit report um these are the financials that you guys aren't used to seeing on a regular basis where um everything is adjusted to bring things like fixed assets and long-term debt and pension oped liabilities onto the books which normally are just expenses on the fund financials um so the ending

013net position for FY 23 was about $50 million uh which was a 3.3 million increase over the prior year um now there's there's breakdowns that we have in the report here they're on pages uh 16 and 19 that describe the reasons for the differences and comparing the fund financials to the government wide financials and I kind of hit on it already it's mostly just has to do with the booking of the fixed assets and recording of the pension and opv liabilities uh on the balance sheet for the government wide financial statements um overall footnote wise as you get further down in the report no significant changes from the prior year just besides from updating numbers and stuff everything looks very similar to to in the past um those were the main financial highlights I wanted

014to touch on uh does anyone have any questions on anything my only question might be on the transportation fund and the Tor fund I know we've you've noted that we have been bringing that down but I guess is that is that something we need to continue to focus on or like is there a recommendation that we need to continue pushing that down I I wasn't clear if that's like a a a hard recommendation or as long you guys are you guys are in that anywhere from six months to two years of current your expenditure sitting in fund balance that's like the best spot to be in because obviously if you get under six months then you're you know there's not quite as much in fund balance as You' like to see as soon as you

015start getting over two years uh of expenses sitting in fund balance for for the funds that you actually Levy property taxes for that's when you see an start seeing an increase in property tax objections so that's why we we usually recommend trying to keep it in that six six months to twoyear range now if you have a specific reason while you're while you're building something up you're like hey we got these money's here mark this money your mark for a big project or this or that um then it's perfectly fine but that's just usually when we start seeing a lot more uh an increase in those property tax objections yeah I I remember having that conversation now because with the capital fund it was getting pretty it was ballooning but for that reason that you're

016pointing out whereas those other two it wasn't I for it's the what did you the objections like yeah so it's it's to avoid the the more deeper dive objection that could be filed on it is is really what we're trying to manage there yeah they I don't they they start coming in like clock work as soon as soon as somebody sees that hey oh this district has a some high fund balance in a fund then all a sudden you just see them start rolling in and they send them out masks and stuff so yeah we'd really like to you know you guys would like to not see those coming in too much yeah I don't need more work to to follow up with Wesley can you remind me the state now has a law that

017allows um objections if it's if the balance if the final balance is over a certain projection I'm kind of mishmash my words but I thought there was something on the state legislature side that was going to allow greater protest property tax protests if our fund balances were considered to be too high quote unquote and I believe it's the can bring bring it to a question um in the Consolidated election that might be it I'm I'm trying to remember and asked to be reduced by 10% or something Jim do you remember the the it's like kind of a it was very recent yeah it's very recent that's why I'm kind of fuzzy on it because I don't think we've seen any real application of it yet right so it's a public voting question that's going to

018be on the it's potential and it was directly related to fund balances and if you were perceived as have you know right now Dave Dave talks about it a lot we've got you know a really good balance but the legislator's opinion was that if the balance is too high then that puts you in a point where the taxpayers should start getting involved that was the legislator's opinion not my taxpayers could ask for it to be put on the ballot asking the school district to reduce their fund bot so it doesn't automatically go on okay thank you I couldn't remember but I don't feel like I'm as clear as I'd like to be on all the details either so I can get that for you sorry it's thank you for clarifying it was obviously not quite

019settled in my head as to exactly what it was thank you it sounds like we're pretty far away from that point though yeah yeah right now well with this six months education fund that's good yeah so can you just remind us we put when we put in how much did we put into the balance the the fund balance again this year because we added to that correct you toal total fund balance yes right toal toal fund balance actually decreased from from fy22 to Sor decreased $676,000 on the fund financials on the government wide financials it went it went up 3.3 million that's what yeah that's what I meant right which that essentially just equates out that you guys purchase more Capital Outlet more fixed assets that got booked as assets when we put in as

020a government wide than you did in depreciation expense so you you bought more stuff than the old assets you had that were getting depreciated that's what caused that that big increase so we and if we just look at the operating funds we added 3.2 million but we also moved 4 million into capital and then spent it okay so as on an operating basis we added 3.2 million like a profit for the year just operating funds take away that and capital funds got it yeah then yes then then yeah I would say then it would be up like that yes did we I guess the work hasn't been done yet but did we overs Supply the capital projects fund now that we have the bid that's coming for uh there's not a big balance here at

021the end ah okay and we've definitely have some good size projects yeah still to be paid off so that's that's the capital projects fund right which we only have a million in right now so we're going to transfer the 4 million into there we've transferred 4 million we have transferred because this is not current this is last year's not the current balance sheet so next year you'll see the transfer we made in August I think it was and then the 4 million is mainly going to cover the central Houser campus project uh well to finish the projects that went on this summer and to start paying the ongoing cost for Central Houser so um we transferred some this year that we'll pay for most of that and we'll refine it as we get we got

022the bids and all that so yeah okay so I wonder in terms of uh controls were there any perceived weaknesses or anything that uh where there might be a single sign off or anything that anything of note that would look for Remediation in the future no everything was very clean uh we do we do you know our payroll test controls we do our cash dispersement Tes controls um and then we also do test controls when we do our single audit testing and um and we don't do every single one of those each year but over over a threee span we're doing at least one or two of those every single year and nothing popped on any of those so all all the internal controls that we tested and looked at and we sit that down

023and we do walk through of the internal controls with Maha and all that and not nothing came to light where like hey really controls are looking weak in this area or something like that or controls are being bypass nothing like that Rose during the audit awesome definitely anything else I know no all right all right thanks sounds like sounds like we're in a good position so appreciate your work thanks guys yeah great great working with you guys it's great it's great working with Maha Jim everything's always really clean and it's and it's it's it's it's a pleasure so thank you everyone have a great night if any questions pop up please let uh Jim Hal and they can reach out to me I can get those answered for you all right all right thank you

024thank you by all right congratulations Jim you passed your on all right uh let me get back to the agenda next up is Personnel committee go ahead uh let's see so we met when was it was it a week ago I believe uh week or week and a half yeah so uh we met at separate times uh because I signed in late my my apologies on that yeah so and I think uh Martha had an issue of uh adding to the social workers position that was on the agenda tonight to discuss Martha did you want to actually Nora's gonna come over and share I know she shared a detailed overview with all of you in a memo form I want to review the context and the need and if you have any questions that's what

025I'm here for um I know I um put a lot of information in the um memo um and would be happy to answer any questions you have after reading through that so my understanding as we discussed on uh in in our meeting was the idea of bringing in the additional FTE uh would be to spread the work out the idea that ble Park is now a two two-section School fully two-section School previously they were splitting uh social worker between Hollywood and ble so they're looking to have a full-time person at uh ble and then having the person who was previously at Hollywood um splitting with the early early Learners program in ases as I yeah the split essentially becomes then Hollywood and early Learners rather than Hollywood and blle and then blle has 1.0 um

026social worker MH uh the earlier Learners used to be well they used to be in almost every building in the district they they've traveled around but they're uh firmly located in Ames now um when they were at blle that 1.0 social worker was able to support um support their needs and provide that kind of ongoing consultation direct service minutes were where needed um when they moved to Asim when early Learners moov AES it just even though it's a small Geographic District trying to be one person across three buildings providing meaningful support was um found to be just too challenging and so that 1.0 was relegated to like Life Park and Hollywood and early Learners have just kind of um you know we've used the as staff um who were not looking for uh a lot

027of uh things to fill extra free time that they had but theyve made it work um and and never said no you know if there's a need in a moment of Crisis or behavioral challenge um and then we've worked with we the early learner teachers have worked with the social workers in the buildings that will be receiving the students based on their homeschools to kind of make sure they're trying to make that transition smoothly but um it's just difficult to not have a go-to person for hey I've got this question I've got this situation I've got this pattern of behavior developing I have a family who's got some needs that I'm not sure who to connect them to all those kinds of um pieces at the early learner program at BL park it has been

028challenging to have have two days each week when there's not uh mental health support in the building um the the numbers you know looking even historically at blle when they included the early Learners in their census so to speak uh compared to now when they are a full two-section School are it's not a dramatic difference in numbers per se but the needs of um three and four yearolds are different from the needs of third fourth and fifth graders um so it's it's a shift in the actual student need that we've been seeing so I think also something worth noting is the ble Park person well I guess if you're thinking of schools in terms of size am and Central are still a little bit bigger than ble so I think the the idea of the

0291 FTE at ble would be covering uh other students yeah like private school students we we are alocated as the um Public School District to do those child find evaluations when they're requested by private schools in uh Riverside that's really St Mary that we work most closely with um and right now that is a piece that we are assigning kind of as they come up I rotate through the social workers um but to have a go-to person in that realm as well um will be just a part of that b Park job description given the um slight difference in enrollment and I guess the question I had at the time uh and again given that previously Hollywood and ble were splitting one FTE if you take out blle and then you're just at Hollywood with

030early Learners is that enough to justify a full FTE uh I believe it is um based on the increasing needs at Hollywood um and the increased complexity of students that we're seeing in our early early learner I don't know why that's such a tongue trst for me but it definitely is early learner program as well um I think we have the typical number of students who have who are coming in through early intervention um and have that level of support that is indicated but we are also just seeing more um students who are struggling with some of those even three and foury old school behaviors that our teachers were kind of used to seeing them um enter the program with you know ability even negotiate uh minor conflicts of sharing you know the conflicts as

031a three and foury old are um they seem small but when there's 18 of them they can be um it can be a lot um and so we saw just an increase in the need in the classrooms but then also an increase in the number of families that we are turning to lzy rap services for to connect them with um outside you know community based resources or help them establish some good routines at home that that need that really has been increasing over the time that we've had this early L program and I actually had sort of the opposite question where we had the conversation about e given the high focus on Mental Health you know as we discuss trauma responsive schooling Etc like is this actually going to be enough or in a year

032we're can say hey Hollywood needs their own FTE I also recognize the 05 FTE are higher so um I guess I'm kind of the flip side of that question is this enough could we see this changing just as quickly with the needs that we've been seeing um I would say you know at this point the the population of Hollywood numbers wise is pretty um limited it's pretty yeah stable thank you um that uh I don't foresee a situation where that would be something where be looking at a a full-time uh you know 1.0 FTE for that population of students the also the benefit and the the reality of splitting between splitting one person between Hollywood and early lers for example is there is some flexibility built in they'll have specific days and minutes that they

033have to meet but if there's something happening at Hollywood and they need just switch there for a day and then do an extra date early the the next week like there is flexibility so that it's you know they can they can work between the two buildings I think um taking some of these responsibilities the the outside evaluations even some of the um problem solving that they were doing with the early larner program off of our existing Elementary social workers is going to have an effect too of lightening their load so it's it's on paper just ble Park and Hollywood that are directly impacted um in terms of FTE changing or you know shifting around but all of our elementary social workers I think feel the have felt the difference of not not having a a

034a go-to person for the Early Learning team so um I think at this point it's looking like this is going to be meet the need and I don't there's nothing no big wave that we see coming that um makes me think i' be back here in year saying we need two more or you know it's uh this is meeting the the need that I think has been kind of bubbling under the surface for a little bit thank you um and just real quickly because you because you brought it up um curiosity for the the a shared position like this I know we have others in the district outside of there being a need to spend time at one school over another what is like a typical schedule do they spend Mornings in one school afternoons

035in another certain days at one school um I can't speak for all of the itinerant staff in the district for this role specifically it will be full days because of our morning and afternoon um preschool sections so they couldn't do they could it would prevent them from being okay um kind of splitting the days splitting every day um that being said I know like right now when they split between um our social worker was between blle and Hollywood um she does mostly full days but some days there's meetings in one building and it's a day she's usually in the other she might split but typically it's just easier to do and more consistent for kids too to be like I saw her I know she's here today but why isn't she here you know to

036know like oh no Tuesdays are M wheeler two questions I think one is simple one's probably more detailed might need to be deferred how many remind me how many students we have in ECE right now in ECE we have um six sections it's okay yeah four of them are Blended two of them are Standalone special education so in those two we are I say all these numbers with hesitation because I we have I'm not going to quote you on that's what I'm trying to say is I can't activates my brain I'm like oh yeah I've got three ly meetings coming up but uh we're right about 15 for the two com for total for those two special ed sections going to be at 20 before the end of the year um we know that those

037addition children are coming in yeah through early intervention through uh we've got two that are starting soon we've got three more meetings that are coming up those are all have been on the radar they they're um you've been talking to the parents for a while yeah we're we're uh we're in conversations for sure uh the Blended classrooms uh each of them each of the four sections is about 12 tuition paying students and about six to seven um students with IEPs so it's about a 2third one3 ratio for each okay and the other question which I think is probably bigger just to your overall and probably needs Martha's how much how much is requested by the non by St Mar's basically is there a lot or um you know what it it's varies but it's increasing

038I would say it's driven by a couple of things um they we have an existing um pool of students over there who we know have been evaluated in the past for IEPs have been found eligible and we're required just as we are with all students to reevaluate them every three years to see are they still eligible we don't write them IEPs um because they don't have those Services there but it's keeping their eligibility uh we assess their eligibility to say if they ever wanted to switch into a public District they are eligible for special ed services so it's evaluations assessment it's not Direct Services right it's not Direct Services for social work but the evaluations are driven by that and then by um parent requests for evaluation just as um they do here they can

039request of the school and um we we kind of fall under that school umbrella when they're requesting of St Mary's if they with like a deeper look at what what is the eligibility my student might have for special education services those have been um increasing as they have in all of our buildings um there's a lot more uh parental access of private therapists private um evaluations Etc which is great I'm I could not be more thrilled than parents are uh and that the world of therapy is opening up for a lot of families um but it does then drive an increase in the evaluation and consideration of evaluation that we're required to do and I'm hearing in your voice maybe I'm hearing too much but it's probably increasing similar similarly what we're seeing in our

040own buildings yeah and so St Mary's that percentage has always been lower than our old our own buildings just my nature of it being a private school but I would say it's increasing um a l similar rate thank you mhm any other questions I've been trying to stay quiet you know this is a hot for me so um is the social is one additional social work the only thing we need across the entire special education program or are we just honing in on this one specific role that we have uh this was the most immediate need I would say I don't um and I don't say that um saying oh I'm definitely thinking that we need six other things and I'm just not saying yet um I will say the principles are really fantastic in

041terms of keeping me up to date um in terms of what are the trends they're seeing what are the needs they're seeing what are the changes they're seeing their student population I'm obviously you know I'm talking to staff meeting with spell every month um hearing you know checking the pulse basically of where are the needs and how are we covering things right now um this this was the most immediate and there's no other area right now that is um in obvious need of additional support okay I just go ahead I was you know PA professionals is an area that can fluctuate based on a unique student move in a student who might need a on to one like when you look at the audit report that's a a more fluctuating number than maybe others but

042that's different than a certified staff position that's that's much more driven by as Martha said individual student need I will actually say um one more thing one more change that I made as I um and um this was just in the last week was working with lzy we forecast with I forecast with lzy like what are our needs going to be in terms of purchase Services um from them each year uh in the past we have done they offer bilingual speech and language evaluations um which are it's a great service that we've used frequently in the past we've used it much more frequently this year to the point where um in talking with them I asked would it make more sense to just say we're going to need a half day each week of bilingual

043speech language um support most of that is going to be evaluation but it also then uh makes that more predictable for us in terms of what the overall cost is because we just have that time built in and then if we have time that we're not using for evaluation we can bring them in to say hey I've got this student this is how I'm working with that is there something else you should be doing from that bilingual perspective too so that's the other change but it's it's not a cost change it's just a way that we're accessing it and being more predictable about this is the support that we have your comment on the the assessment piece of it was um one thing that was in my head and I noted in your memo you

044specifically like appreciate the evidence-based funing I did not read the entire 58 page document yet I might get around to it I we see um but you did note in here this was done a decade go and it does not account for the recent Nationwide data suggesting an increase in mental health needs and I can just say like I can feel it just talking around the neighborhood and like being in the schools and I just took a phone call the other day about hey I think I need to get my kid assessed for this thing how do I go about this process and um it just feels like there's a ton more of that that I've experienced in The Last 5 Years but I don't know how to translate that into what's actually happening so

045it's fact that you noted it it sounds like we're feeling it too and that's kind of where some of my core questions are coming from of just with the E thing like Stephanie was like are we making sure that we're trying to stay ahead of the waves and I think the it seems to me like that stigma I think what I kind of heard you say I'll say it a different way is like that stigma around mental health is kind of going away and part of how I look at it is you know I think back of when I was a kid and all the kids bouncing off the walls and everybody's like oh they just can't sit still I think today that turns into a medical diagnosis which then possibly turns into a 504

046IP so it's not new it's just we're assessing it and evaluating it differently so I'm just curious like are we going to like we're going to continue seeing that impact I think right I don't think it's going to slow down uh we are I think there there one of the things that we're looking at is how do we continue to educate the entire Community about what is uh what is the process of 504 and IEP um services in a school school what are the standards we have to meet as a school team because it is very different from um a private evaluation and even private services so um we are seeing more uh interest and more requests come in and we are working to educate on this is a request for an evaluation but in

047order to move forward with this we would need to be having data in the school setting of an educational impact of something that's uh being affected by you know something that's happening outside we specifically with a social worker role there has to be a school-based goal and a school-based need versus the role of a more um traditional private therapist so there is an increase but I think there's also an opportunity for some education in terms of what is special education and what are um what is is data that would require or that would suggest that these accommodations are needed in a school setting versus what is um you know a private evaluation and things that a student is working on that it's okay to be working on but doesn't require specialized education yeah there's a

048there's a big difference between those that not very clear to most people so yeah um so it it is it is definitely an increased need that we're feeling but um I'm always balancing if we are you know I and not myself not only me all of the directors that I'm in touch with too are were constantly balancing uh increasing FTE to meet a need for evaluation or trying to educate around is this evaluation really necessary meeting doing our due diligence of saying school-based evaluations are a more specialized um request and there the answer is not always yes there has to be a school-based evaluation so it is it's a for yeah yeah and I think there's a lot of stuff I've been either listening to or reading about of like adults you know 30 40

04950 years old like particularly adults like in their 40s and 50s that get diagnosed with ADD and they're like oh my God like if I had known this when I was in Middle School grade school like life could have been so different and like that's just sort of what I have in my head all the time and uh just you know we're we're not a perfect system and you know people aren't always going to be identified and and there is a difference between school services and private services and all that but well not to get too deep into the r hole CU I could literally talk about this four weeks um this is what lights me up um but the uh I think another shift that we're seeing though is we are you know we're

050seeing additional uh or parents accessing additional resources in the community and and maybe getting more diagnoses and everything I think that is also not just changing the number of requests our psychologists received but our teachers are responding and are incorporating more and more practices that are good teaching practices but that are these recommendations for teaching neurodiverse and um you know students who might come with different diagnoses so like even if you have a diagnosis of ADHD it doesn't mean that the school classroom is the same as one that was um a student with those behaviors was facing 30 years ago too so I think there's been um some adjustment and some reflection of just the reality of the students that they're teaching in the classroom that's a fair point I didn't have Wiggly chairs when

051I was in all the fancy chairs that we have that topple and wiggle and bounce and all that like no sit down sit still yeah so yeah okay cool I'll cut myself off yeah that's all I have for now I love talking about this stuff too so anybody else okay thank you nor all right uh up next education committee um I'm met with Martha and Angela um last week I don't know my weeks are going together but um I'm actually going to turn over to Angela she's going to give an um overview of the assessments that we give students I think it really kind of helps outline give us some perspective on what the kiddos are doing right now this here we had some board questions I know that often represents Community questions how many

052how much you know our goal obviously to keep this all in balance with assessment and instruction so good overiew good evening everybody uh as Marlo mentioned I am here tonight to talk about the assessments that our students take over the course of the year and in theory I could work there we go so we'll start by talking about um the purpose of our assessments then move into our assessment calendar and talk about specific assessments that are given at the beginning of the year in the middle of the year and at the end of the year oops so the assessments are an integral part of our instruction they determine whether or not our goals are being met so our goals as District goals um you know that our kpis include some assessments that we give our

053goals at the build level as well as goals classroom teachers have for their class as a whole and their individual students our assessments impact our decisions about placement for students curriculum resources that we utilize and any instructional needs students might have whether it's for further supports or even enrichments um we ask ourselves often when we're looking at our assessment data are we teaching what we think we are teaching and are students learning what they are supposed to be learning so looking at our grade level standards to ensure that they're learning learning what um is mandated that they learn through the state common standards and then we just look at is there a way to teach this subject better when we're looking at our data the assessment calendar is located online if you go to the

054curriculum instruction page there's an assessment tab that will take you to this calendar it's updated every summer for the upcoming year and it tells you during which months we take which assessments so in the beginning of the year we use these assessments as Baseline assessments they tell us how are our students doing when we start the school year we give them in August and September and we give them right at the beginning of the year because they are going to help us determine what supports and enrichments are needed for students when we give these assessments it's about a twoe time frame for whether it's at the beginning of the year the middle of the year or the end of the year it's about a two we time frame to assess that includes ensuring all the

055classroom all the students were able to take the assessments but also providing time for any makeups that need to be given if any students were out when their classes were taking the assessments following that twoe window for assessments we have um about a week where we're looking at that data analyzing that data and determining how looking at how our students are performing and then determining whether or not um added supports are needed through our mtss process or if enrichments are needed and then we have our data meetings within that week following the twoe assessment window where we talk with um the Specialists the reading math specialist social worker psychologists and then the grade level teachers have meetings throughout a day or two to talk about the students at every grade level um the data shared

056and teachers look at it across the district um so if I'm a second grade teacher at Central I will be able to see how my kids fell among all second graders in the district but then we also talk how are my students doing at my my school how are my students falling and compared to all the students at my school and then the teachers are aware of their own classroom data too so that they know where they need to how they need to address student needs at the classroom level too so at those data meetings there's a lot of comprehensive talk about student needs whether they or not they need to receive tier 2 or tier three supports and or enrichments um how principles and Specialists interventionists can help support the classroom teachers in their

057needs um and then we talk about when students might receive those supports and enrichments um what days of the week how many days a week all of those types of things so we give the assessment so early in the beginning of the year because now we're at three weeks into the school year and then we start those services at that third to fourth week of the school year if we waited to give the assessments um till say mid September then we're talking about students who need supports not receiving supports until say mid October right so we want to give the assessments right away at the beginning of the year see where our students are starting know when our Baseline is and then continue on you see here the assessments that we gave at the beginning

058of the year um we have the access screener the assessing comprehension communication English state to state that screener is only given to new English language Learners in the district it's not a it's not the assessment that's given to all of our English language Learners it's just given to new English language Learners they um are assessed in Reading Writing speaking and listening and the screener is a short assessment compared to the actual test that comes later on in the year the screener is a short assessment 30 minutes for kindergarteners 45 minutes you can see for first or eighth graders we give the I ready diagnostic assessment kindering through fifth grade which coincides with our I ready ma classroom Mathematics Curriculum so teachers use that data to then determine their small group assignments with their I ready

059math instruction we give fastbridge fontis and panel and uh the NWA map assessment as what's called a Universal screener and a universal screener means everybody's going to take it so that we can see how everybody's doing and then that's where we that's the data we use to determine our mtss tier 2 tier three supports so if anyone qualifies for tier 2 or tier three supports they would have some data or assessments that would be um digging a little bit deeper into what their specific needs are fastbridge assesses um a number of different reading and math uh skills depending on the grade level um at the primary grade level or kindergarten grade level it might be in reading things like letter sound onset sounds um nonsense words uh print concepts things like that at the uh

060second through fifth grade level and reading they do a curriculum based measure in Reading where they read a passage at grade level read it for a minute and then that assessment will tell them such things as words correct per minute um total words that were red their fluency their accuracy rate that's the information we get from the CBM um the curriculum based measure for reading and then in mathematics um our primary kiddos take uh individual Assessments in areas like our kindergarten first gr to take individual Assessments in areas like uh number ID matching quantities um taking a number and breaking it up so decomposing if I have the number five I can decompose it into two and three so Kinder and first graders do that type of skill and then our second through fifth graders

061take written assessments a written assessment on process a process assessment in math which is multi-step word problems at their grade level um and second or third graders have 10 minutes for that assessment and fourth and fifth graders have 15 minutes for that assessment and then they also take an automaticity assessment which is computer-based and they get four minutes for that and that's just testing their math fact fluency at their grade level um most of you are probably familiar with the NWA maap assessment in reading and math it's about on average 60 minutes per subject some kids take a little bit longer some kids like mine take a short amount of time not quite the middle of the year not quite the beginning of the year in October we do do our social emotional screener for

062second through eighth graders it takes about 15 minutes for them to complete online and we um have our teachers complete the kindergarten inventory developmental survey the kids State mandate assessment um and that is teacher observations our kids aren't doing any paper pencil assessments for the kids survey um they're not they're not necess they might be sitting with a teacher and showing how they can count but that's just part of good instruction that's part of their instructional work um and so the teachers take their observations from August through October and they enter that into the state system that we have for kids the midle of the year is used to show how are students growing since that beginning of the year data and is our instruction impacting our students growth and if we're not seeing growth

063is that because we're not seeing growth again we look at this this uh Universal screening data this middle of the Year data we're looking at it as a grade level across the district we're looking as grade level at my school we're looking as my class and so if they're not growing is it something in my class is it something at my school at the grade level or is it a district concern which then goes back to that curriculum issue is our curriculum working for our kids so at the middle of the Year we're looking at growth than seeing if and how our students are growing and the reason why we give it in January when we return from break is because our school year is about 35 to 36 weeks long and we give three

064we give a beginning of the year assessment a middle of the Year assessment and the end of the year assessment and we want to have a time for our students who are receiving supports and enrichment we want to have a time to do what we call progress monitoring we want to see a few weeks into their supports or enrichment is the work we're doing the targeted work we're doing with our small groups or our intensive groups is that meaning their needs or do we need to switch interventions or supports so we need a halfway point to be able to do that progress monitoring so when you take the 35 weeks and you divide it up for three assessments and you make sure that's it's an equal amount of time between them you end up with

065about about 12 weeks between the beginning of the year the middle of the Year assessment and then between the middle of the year and the end of the year assessment so that the six week Mark our students receiving supports interventions and enrichments can be progressed monitor to see if they their interventions and supports are meeting their needs or if we need to change that um and we do have six we check-in data meetings also but those only involve the teachers who have students receiving supports and engagements from our specialist interventionists so at the middle of the Year you'll see we repeat the I diagnostic assessment fast bridge fontas and panel and NWA map and we take our fall data to see where we went for the that winter data um and then you can see

066that in January we also start our access assessment so this is for our English language Learners and this is the longer one and it is 60 minutes per subject so you can see our students are assessed quite a bit but it's state mandated and they have to take a reading assessment that's about 60 Minutes writing speaking and listening and they're all about 60 Minutes um they don't do it all in one day a student wouldn't do it all in one day it is spread out over time but that's why reel students access testing if you look at the calendar online it says access testing runs from mid January to mid-February it's because of the 4our testing so real quick before we move on that one I know Selena kind of brought this up and I've

067always thought about it but I never really said it out loud but like is there a specific reason that we do it after break instead of before break it's that window of time so it's between um Janu between the beginning of the year and January if you go from the beginning of the year when we first start servicing students at 3 weeks after we started the assessments 6 weeks from that gives us our six week check yeah and then six weeks from that puts us at January but there's no instruction for two of those weeks that we're counting it sounds like right so is there like is for the beginning two weeks of the year or when well we have a two- week break and then we come back and immediately test yes so is

068there a reason we do that after a twoe break instead of before a twoe break like is that intentional or is there yeah because that we don't count those two weeks as the six weeks it's six week the six so you need that final week of instruction and then it just happens to go into a two week break okay yes okay in doing that do we feel like we're getting the best result in the best idea of where our students are academically and their growth yes absolutely and the reason why I feel strongly about that is because if the students learned it learned it to the ability of being able to remember it winter break's not going to change it um when we were talking that's what I told my kids so I'm glad I

069gave them the right we were talking at cabinet actually about that very question and um someone likened it to riding a bike you can learn to ride a bike you can get off the bike for months years and you can get back on it but because you knew how to write it you're going to be okay you might be wobbly at first especially if you're my age you might be wobbly at first but you're going to be okay you're going to still know how to ride the bike if you knew your math facts if you knew your geometry volume formula you're still going to remember it after winter break if it wasn't solid then you're not going to remember it and that's going to show us that we didn't teach it to Mastery and we

070need to go back and review it so testing after winter break testing after spring break those don't impact the scores because we're going to get the solid knowledge the kids had okay it almost sounds like you're going to get a better assessment of not just what they memorized the day before but what they actually retained for a two week break in that or a one we break in that knowledge correct yeah okay I think that's an important point that you make um the feedback that I do hear from the community often is why are we testing the kids right after they come back from break and I just know like in terms of my own learning and knowledge I'm will generally not study two weeks before I need to know something I'll study you know

071leading up to it and I'll probably do better if I reviewed that knowledge it doesn't mean that I know it or don't have a good sense of it but I'll probably do better if I study the night before a test rather than two weeks before a test right right so like you know you're you have the knowledge because you've done this for so long but um intuitively it seems to me that like testing kids when they're sort of like you know two weeks on a uh forget everything like not forget everything but you know it's just not as fresh for a lot of kids I even notice it in in my kids like it takes them a little bit of time to sort of get back in the swing of things and it wasn't just

072even so much the feedback from the community that I heard wasn't even so much just around the test performance maybe around the I they were there's more concern about performance because that goes to the state report card and that one I see again as being given the week after spring break but um just about like the and anxiety inducement of coming back and immediately testing when you are a little bit out of practice and how anxiety and testing can impact performance was sort of raised to me by people as like I think the important thing to remember is that one you can't study for any of these assessments are up there like this is just you know it or you don't and the other thing to remember is that our teachers work really hard to

073not make these high stake tests for the kids just show me what you know this is just so I know what you know so I know what I need to do to teach you so it's if it's a matter of rushing cobwebs off it's okay right and the as you'll see if if you read the assessment letters I send I don't even read it we just got we just got the map letter and I'm like oh is that a great letter from your director of teaching of and learning and my husband's like yeah I didn't read it um but in the assessment letter it does say like this is just one piece of information in a point of time right so yes your kids might not have the cobwebs not not might not be dusted

074off from that break but their teachers also know them right and it's not this assessment doesn't make or break placement it's just one piece of information that informs r instructional practices that informs how we support our students we're also looking at how are they performing leading up to winter break we're also looking at how are they performing as we're teaching as well on different formative assessments when we're talking to them or having dialogue or they're doing a quick quiz or an exit ticket all of those pieces are telling us what our students know it's not just these assessments that we're taking I do think there's a critical point to continue repeating and I think it kind of goes back to your comment Dave a while ago about um when we were setting the the kpis

075for goal one objective too and it's like these are just goals and it's just an assessment of how you're doing in this point in time it doesn't mean you're failing I mean maybe it does but like it doesn't necessarily mean you did a bad job you just didn't hit the mark and I just had that that same conversation with my son before 15 minutes before I arrived here today was all freaked out about some test tomorrow that he wasn't going to get a good score I'm like who cares man it's just then we'll figure out what you didn't know and then we'll study and you'll know it next time he just was all worked up about it so and that was my message to my high schooler right like it's okay if you didn't pass

076it we're going to we'll look at what you missed and we'll review it and it'll be okay you'll probably retake it or make test corrections so that's the same thing here these are just a point in time these are just a piece of the big picture for your students there's so much more that goes into US figuring out who your kids are as Learners yeah no I I get that there's you know it's not just down to data and there's a more comprehensive view of a child that we um view in order to decide what interventions need to be made um and so for the map i' like I I get it I'm I'm curious for your perspective on the I though because that's let talk about that a that's one where it's not a

077comprehensive thing not quite a middle of the year January assessment we have our February March assessments that includes that excess assessment is still happening for our English Learners um our third and fifth graders take the cognitive assessment test the coat that's N9 10 minute sections and so um if you have a third or fifth grader they're actually in the middle of that now or they started that this week um and usually what how that works is they do it's a verbal battery a non-verbal battery and a third battery that is skipping my mind at the blanking my mind at the moment but they usually do a battery a day so kids will take three 10 minute sections a day um we do the social emotional screener again and then the Illinois science assessments for Fifth

078and eighth graders and that's one assessment that's about 60 Minutes long on average um and that Science assessment is done the window for that is two weeks before spring break so the fifth and eth graders take that two weeks before spring break what is the point of only Fifth and eighth grade there like what's the is are those is there like a an age thing that goes with that or what it's just um I actually do know um it's the end of elementary school by the state standards and then the end of middle school before you start high school science and then it is science sophomores I think sophomores or Juniors that take it then also 11th graders it's 11th graders I take it um so then what would be considered the end of the

079year assessments April and May are looking at our fall to Spring growth how our students grew over the course of of the year and did our our instruction again impact our students growth um I'm going to skip that first line just show you again as we're looking at those end of the year Universal screeners same assessments as before the I ready fast bridge fontas and panel map um those are those repeat assessments from the beginning and middle of the year and then you see at the bottom a curriculum based measure that's our assessment to see if our curriculum met our students needs and so third through eighth graders take that in Reading math it's about 45 minutes per subject um and then as you see there the Illinois assessment of Readiness the I is given

080in April um and then for a select few number of students students who are um significantly and I'm looking for the exact term so I don't mess that up children with significant intellectual disabilities who are usually on an alternate curriculum will'll take the dynamic learning Maps alternate assessment that is is a very small number of students who take it um in the time that I've been in this District no more than one or two students have taken it in a year um so it's a very small number of students everyone else does take the I so why do we take the i in April the state gives us a window for the Illinois Science assessment and for the Illinois assessment of Readiness and that window is mid-march through mid April um we are compared we

081know that our I scores are compared to other schools across the state so we want to make sure we utilize as much instructional time as possible so we don't want to take it before spring break because there are other school districts then that are taking it in April and they have that extra three weeks of instruction that we wouldn't have if we took it before spring break so that's why we don't take it in March of the window but the state's window closes around the 20th or 21st of April and and just like we do with our two-e window assessment we give two weeks to assess for I and we actually need that full two weeks especially at the elementary level because if you think about the I for those that know have had older

082kids run through already um there are three Assessments in math and three Assessments in ela and we give two assessments on average we give two assessments a day we give one in the morning and one in the afternoon so a third grader spends about three days testing and if they're there all three days that's great but if they miss a day or two days we've got to do makeups um so we need the full two weeks the first two weeks of that last three weeks of the window to be able to get the assessments done so that anyone who's not around we can use the last week to get the makeups completed because if students don't take the test that's counted against us so we want to make sure our window allows for makeups to

083be completed so we can't push it back any further fur again we want to make sure we have we um utilize all instructional time possible but we can't push it back any further to give us like a couple of days or a week after spring break because we wouldn't have enough time for our makeups so that's why we start the I pretty much when we come back from Spring Break um and then just some final thoughts the data from State mandated kids assessment is one time a year for each cohor student so it's not really usable data for us but it's a state mandated assessment that we have to do so we do complete it in October um the data from the state mandated I and Isa Isa is often received the following summer and

084fall so we utilize that data but if I'm a second grade teacher I don't no longer have those students once that data comes so that's more of a global picture of how our students performed and how are curriculums working for our students and then also talks about like like where helps us have conversations about where might we need to shore up some of our instruction for the next group at that grade level but it's not actionable data for our teachers the actionable data the data our teachers are able to act on throughout the year are those Universal screeners fast Bridge math I ready Diagnostic spontis and panel and then the spring curriculum based measure those are the things that we're able to act on and the teachers appreciate and that we continue to utilize Even

085in our empowered teams PLC work looking at data to have conversations about how we can continue to support our students so that's our assessment calendar the assessments we give why we give them and when we give them and why we give them when we give them any questions um sorry I don't know these SL these slides make me a little sad it just it feels like so I get that some the state mandated Etc I just H it feels like so much testing for our kiddos so much for on our Educators on our teachers but some of that aside not to Bel the point on the timing of tests just a question for clarity and then um a comment if memory serves right after winter break when we came back my daughter who's in junior

086high took map testing that week like Tuesday but my son who's in elementary took it the following week it was that is that accurate it was like week one so like I even saw a difference in that like her coming back and then the Tuesday of break taking it versus my son having like a week to kind of settle back in and then you know take it the subsequent week so if a sub if even just one additional week even if you're not teaching to the material because they should have learned it before break like just getting back into that academic mind frame illnesses whatever people late from their vacations I just wonder if the extra week universally would help it worked for your son cuz his class for whatever reason I don't the the

087principes and the teachers plan their schedule so you saw your son at elementary get a week but not all elementaries correct because of the schedule so there are grade levels that might have started testing that Tuesday I know the principals work really hard not to have testing the day we get back okay they at least try to start the second day or third day after we get back um so there are some grade levels that do start that first week at elementary schools while other grade levels might wait there's an added bonus in Hollywood in that um our second graders don't have Chromebooks so we have to share the Chromebooks and make sure we get a class set to second grade so a grade level loses their Chromebooks while they share with the second graders

088to take the map assessment because it's on a Chromebook and a night there's this added bonus at Hollywood when there's three classes testing four classes testing with second grade for map you can put it off a little bit longer but at Central and as they have 12 classes testing for map and three of them are second grade classes so they have to fit in those 12 classes testing two subjects over a course of time plus the small group assessment so okay Hollywood schedule actually looks a little bit different and I know that the Hollywood schedule was just the like I didn't realize that and I don't know and you wouldn't notice I don't if that creates issues to have to not have a consistent testing pattern among all the schools and you know to be

089able to have a baseline of the same grade from one school to another who tested one week versus the other again maybe I'll tell you when we're looking at the date cuz we're looking at Mid data right now and as we're looking at the midyear data I don't see a difference between those weeks of instruction okay um the the kids who we can see if kids were not showing growth and the principals are starting to have those conversations with those teachers um the teachers know and the principes know why and they're working on what are we going to change instructionally if kids were showing growth the principales know why and it hasn't it it the timing one week to another hasn't impacted that okay that's helpful then I think I said I had something else

090oh um the other it's just a comment both as a parent um in the district and then as a board member having parents comment to me who have children at various schools so this is not just like a Hollywood Thing feel like when it comes to this testing like I appreciate you hearing like the message that kind of should be going out consistently from Ed the teachers but I feel like I've experience and I've been told similarly different experiences so some teachers you don't even know your kids map testing and they come home and you're like oh crap you had map today others send that perfect email get a good night rest have breakfast tell your kid it's no big deal and others are like this is going to determine if you're in advanced learning

091you have like very vocal about goals puts their goals you know so it's like there feels like there's inconsistent messaging um and I don't know if that's the experience or if others have heard similar happy to kind of take it offline but you know I guess what is done for our teachers to ensure that they are giving you know kind of consistent messages to families um when it comes to testing time the principal send home letter or note in their principal letters pretty much what you're saying that middle one right like get a good night's rest your child will be taking the map test you know the make sure they ate breakfast it's not nothing that they can study for just tell them to do their best that type of thing trying to make it

092make sure it's lowkey um and then hopefully the teachers are communicating that same message um again in trying to make it lowkey some teachers probably don't make a big deal about it should be communicated that they're going to do it it is why the principal say like check with your teacher on the schedule um the one the consist the message shouldn't be this is what determines advanced placement and all of those things like it shouldn't make it high stakes for kids one map testing isn't the only thing that determines advanced placement but two we don't want kids stressing themselves out about this assessment the goal piece is something I know some staff members do just so kids are setting goals for themselves like I got this so I know I want to get a couple

093of rip points higher just so that they're vested in trying to do better trying to show growth but that from what I'm hearing might need to be a better communication from me to our teachers on how we might be able to do that or if it's a consistent practice right if we want our children to be given a goal goal um a measurable goal that they can visualize and and look towards um and that's something that I'm hearing I probably need to work on a little bit with the staff yeah and again I don't know it's one one opinion and some conversations that I've had so um and then last thing and I'll close out you just mentioned I brought up also advance I I'd love something similar with like the M TSS like to

094better understand the I have children at both ends of that triangle um so and even it's confusing for me I get the letters and and I'm like I'm a board member I have to like I should understand this and it's still can be confusing to understand like why you know why this why that and I I guess I just love to learn more or be reminded of our process and then you know is that the best way to continue doing like what we're doing for um either support or like our kind of advanced learning students so yes I kind of hear that maybe one I'm not sure if anybody else would and we can talk more about that and see if that's what if that's something that the whole board is interested in we can

095work on that um I will say in terms of advanced learning we might want to put a pin in that one just because that is uh the next review cycle that's going to come up and there's work that's going to be done on the advanced learning process so I wouldn't want to really present on it yet coming down the pipeline we review Advanced learning much like we review our curricular resources okay and you're thinking of next school year I am thinking next school year yeah so put a p it's it's it's a complex process right we don't mean next month we mean next year yes yes we don't mean next month the um orientation that I was given when I came on the board this year was actually I don't know if it was more

096developed than maybe what you experienced when you had like the my initiation day where Marlo and I came to the district office but it was really there was a lot of good content I thought around the mtss and maybe that's just something that could be shared with the board um I think I want to say you did I did the same but it's just like again more of like I I have probably or as a brand new board member it okay information overload so now I see it through a different lens and like now that I a more established board member I'm like oh to better I know what better questions to ask and um but maybe it is more tied into the curricular review this is what we've done here's what we're thinking we

097need to do or we're going to continue doing it cuz it works I don't think I don't think a refresher a bad idea cuz I want to I remember you doing this maybe when you first came on board which would have been three years ago mtss specifically oh no way yeah yeah oh my God oh my God we had a pandemic in there and time or time depending on the day years yeah you're right okay okay so it's been a while I remember you doing this for us but like I'm even I'm just thinking like if you even just take that deck and repeat it or I don't think it needs to be from scratch but like I think ref saying even your recent or whatever's in there maybe just that like eight months ago

098at some point we can figure out where we fit it in but I think a refresher on all these things are good we don't live and breed this like the team does so and I think your point is valid cuz I feel the same way you know year one vers year two vers year three vers I mean you just you learn learn so much through it and then it's like could you go back and ask different better questions so um we can fig find a spot for it I was you know the only comment I make on the email thing is like I completely agree with you I feel like every day I spend like at least an hour of time collectively talking to people about communicating clearly and competently and stuff I think the

099consistency piece is is super difficult because like you don't want to take away that personalization but you also don't want mixed messages so I I think we could always strive to be more consist but that's a really hard thing that like in specifically on that topic too that's a really hard thing so maybe it's not so much creating a template but it's a don't say this like don't put it as two highest States or something yeah that's what I'm specifically referring to this is not high stakes this is one element of and that that's part of what if the message is read by the parent then they relax a little bit which means they then relax their child a little bit more and it becomes more organic I think some of that also too Stephanie

100goes back into some of the conversation we've all had about the number of communication right and like where it comes from and then I hear from parents all the time oh I don't read my principal stuff I read the teacher stuff but like because I just I get all of these and I got a pick and it's duplicative and so I just delete all of these and I read all of these and I'm just like okay I get it but you're missing stuff I'm telling you um so I don't know what the right answer is but somebody's always not going to like something so we just want to be realistic with it we can continue to improve but it's never going to I mean and then you have children like my own son who's going

101to get the message of you just need to sleep and eat chill out and they're still going to get very anxious about the test right nobody is going to make them anxious but their own self regardless of all the messaging and and reassurance at home but so you're always just going to have I think it's good feedback I think we should always have that feedback and it's just you know what do you do with it is always the big question so just throwing that out that that's a very hard one so I do appreciate though that with the exception of a couple of the assessments that there and because I had asked this question when we met I I said I think it would be helpful to know how long these assessments are so having

102that piece of like it's you know a 10minute assessment it's a um that I think the kids I don't know if it's cuz my oldest is really is doesn't tell me anything but I I think because it gets built into the day I mean minus the ones where he knows what his score was and what his goal should be and he loves that he lives for that kind of stuff but um you know that it's like built into the day and it's just like it's another thing that we did and he comes home and shows me and oh hey we did this today um but I do appreciate that because I said I think we're a group that grew up taking the Iowa tests and the ey Gap tests and stuff and you know that

103that took days and it was hours everybody's looking at me like am I that old I'm not that much older Iowa Test right like I don't know mine was like Star something yeah like all those tests that was like days and everybody did freak you out because this was going to determine everything and then and then you didn't get your score for a while so I love I I really appreciate kind of knowing what are the things that the teachers are using in real time to adjust what's going on in the classroom or with an individual student um and and I because I think we just I think all the parents that I talk to especially who are you know oh God they're taking another T but this is It's not what we think it's

104different so um I think I think this information is very helpful so I'm going to pck it back on this because I had it in my head some of these tests the kids look forward to or at least the small group that I've talked about like the I ready Diagnostics my kids and like their friends talk about it all the time like in a very positive way kind talking about it yeah but they seem to like it yeah and even the fast brid made my night so my question was like is that like do you is that sensed like do are is testing just perceived differently then like I've removed all of those memories from my brain which is why I'm looking at you that way like I do remember them being atrocious but I

105don't get the sense that now the i in the the map those feel more intensive I think it's the time but like what is the sense from the kids of all this testing like do they feel like it's all this testing or does it just feel because you smashed it all on a slide like man that's a lot of stuff yeah I think it varies from student to student so I love to hear that your fifth graders like love the I ready I had a couple of fifth graders at my house and they're like you know what you got to do something about the I and the map at the same time and I'm like I hear you thanks for letting me know teachers and I talk about this often um so I think it's

106a matter of just who the kids are some of them love it thrive on it I mean Marlo just mentioned her son lives for goal setting and map and he comes home and knows his score he do um my kiddo is just like you made me take another test so it it just depends Kid to Kid yeah okay yeah but I love that yours love it and the kids are hanging out love it hanging out with love it that's one of the great educational phrases what works for whom and under what conditions you know I mean yeah and I may be overemphasizing but it's sure that's the way that they approach it with me so um yeah cool all right well thank you for this I did a question though as well so I gu

107when when you were talking about I think it was the science uh part where there's a window a month-long window from mid-march to Mid April but it sounds like the majority of districts kind of backload it to the end to take advantage of that extra instructional time so given all the different windows and different expectations I'm I'm wondering it would uh most other districts have a calendar that looks pretty similar to ours in terms of testing or do ours vary to any degree um many districts will put their assessment calendars online but it varies from District to District who does and who doesn't I think what you're really asking is do you think all most districts give the same number of Assessments not so much that it's published well given the same number of of

108Assessments in the same general time frames I and maybe maybe not I don't have an answer is that a question you would like me to look into or districts are hard to put their assessment calendars online okay I me I think like probably not the prominent item on their website but so when did you say it's March what the window yeah the I window is I believe the second week of March through April 20th or 21st and every school dit is going to have a spring break in there and I think like I it is an interesting question because I mean it sounds like you if you took everybody else out of it you would have well I guess you're I guess the reason you're making this decision is because everybody else is in it

109because if everybody else was out of it maybe you wouldn't care about taking it on week one but the advantage of taking it in week at the end is you get those extra instructional weeks and if everybody else is taking advantage of that then that puts us at a disadvantage is kind of how I heard that it is when talking about the comparison but it's also just for our students too if we gave the test at the beginning of the I window then that's three weeks of instruction that we can't give and usually in math at least what that means is less geometry because geometry is usually the unit at the end of the math curricular resources so it's usually not scheduled to be taught till April or May but what teachers end up doing

110is changing it around changing the units around so that they can get that in in March but if we gave the assessment in March we something would get taken out of instruction so even if you did not have the comparison issue we would still want to because you would literally be taking a test on stuff you've not even learned right and we want to maximize our instructional time for that I assessment okay I don't know is it's super super helpful thank you it's a lot of information that I think will be helpful to take back to people and I'll have a good answer for them now when when they ask why am I taking the M today do we want any additional assessment on like timing stuff to Dan's question or I don't want to

111ask D Angela to do something that I don't people shaking their heads now okay I mean it sounds like regardless like it's still an advantage for our students because we're giving them the knowledge they need in order to absolutely get a good score on the test okay and it looks like the way that this proposed school calendar looks that we might be in better position in the next school year you're trying to jump um I wait for the if that's a segue we can do that but I usually wait until after you approve the calendar to set up next year's assessment okay take that putting together my thoughts uh any other questions on the assessment part before we move into the equity proposal okay why don't we transition to that we'll we'll hold that thought

112for the next topic so as part of our strategic plan goal two learning environment and culture goal which is cultivate a safe secure and inclusive learning environment that is responsive to the evolving needs of each student we are looking at having staff professional learning in the area of um diversity equity and inclusion and we are also looking at a new program to receive some student voice so I'm going to start actually with the student voice because that's the part that addresses um being responsive to the evolving needs of each student and what we're looking at doing is um conducting what's called World Cafe so in December of 2024 the 2024 25 school year our fifth through 8th grade students are going to participate in a world Cafe event each grade level will have its own

113time and fifth grade will be done at their own school so each fifth grade group we'll have four fifth grade groups going um this is an opportunity to engage in structured conversations with our students to collect their firsthand perspectives and experiences is um in Riverside School District 96 and we do that by asking three or four two-sided questions so for example we might ask something like um what do you like most about your school and then on the flip side what do you wish were different about your school or in what ways does your school do a good job of making you feel safe and welcomed and on the flip side in what ways does your school need to improve to make you feel safe and welcome so we'll have four double-sided questions we spend

114um about 10 to 12 minutes on each question in small groups so kids will be in groups of about 6 to 10 with a teacher who's just typing their answers teacher will ask the question kids will spout out their answers teacher will type the answers every student at a grade level participates it's not a select number of kids we're not looking for a representative number of kids we will pull six graders at a time they'll all go into their six to 10 small groups I'll be pre-assigned um and it's random assignment um because we just want we don't necessarily want them with their friends but we don't want to prevent that either just a random assignment sit chat answer questions um and then following 6 78 and then the four fth grade groups following all

115their world cafes uh Dr duil Who is a person that we the administrative team worked with for our uh diversity equity and inclusion series professional learning that we just wrapped up as administrator Dr dubiel is going to synthesize all of that data and provide put it into themes and then provide suggestions on next steps based off those themes so very excited to hear from our students about their experiences in District 96 and we'll be doing that work with Dr dubiel in December for staff professional learning we are going to have our staff members go through the nine session series that the administrators just went through we just wrapped up our last session last week um um and so we found that very valuable as administrators and would like our staff members to now participate so

116they'll participate in that nine session series um we'll start at the April halfday session this school year so this April that halfday session two hours of it will be sessions one and two of that series and then our opening Institute day will be sessions three and four our October Institute day will'll do five and six and then our um February Institute day of 25 we'll do 7 8 and N so very excited to bring that work to our staff to have reflective conversations with our staff members as well any questions for me about the equity proposal for the people Dr duil brings in does she have more than just herself there is it multiple of her staff it's just her coming but she's working she'll work with our staff at our October and so today

117she'll do the two-hour session on the um diversity Equity inclusion piece and then we're going to spend an hour training our grade level teachers and our um support staff members it's actually our teachers and support staff members who are sitting with the students typing their answers so um she doesn't bring anyone with her it's all it's all our Manpower so just like here that how big how big are those small groups generally um six or what six to 12 kids okay m and when will we get the result at the end of the school year well will who I'm sorry so she's GNA like distill all this data and or this feedback and present it to us when would we see the presentation or um that is what we work out when we're talking about

118the committee of the whole calendar and agenda um but I believe in the contract um I don't remember she says dates to be determined or not but um I believe it could be ready by January is what I think was in the contract which means we could present February March um the presentation we do I would like to make sure it has what our next steps are not just her recommendations but what we want to act on so that we are providing the board information on what our next steps are not just these are ideas of next steps so it would also yes you'll have the information by January but I want to have time to work with the building leaders on what we're going to do with that information and in her experience in

119working with districts is this something that's kind of like a one and done something that you integrate every year I mean I love the idea um I was even thinking about it I know it's only limited to 5ifth through 8th but you know alongside when the students are doing like the five essential surveys just like because they're being more reflective on their experience with this you know with their environment and school but yeah I guess my question is is this just something we would be doing one time is this something that she recommends is an ongoing practice school districts she said have done it both ways one and done great have our information and then they move with that and then some have done it ongoing that's going to be um something we're going to

120have to decide as a leadership team along with any board input um on how we want to move forward we are currently in your three of our strategic plan four year three of so that might end up being part of our convers when we're talking a new strategic plan as well so there's there will be time for us to talk once we have the data we see how it goes we'll obviously talk about how did we like it what worked what didn't work and even do we want to do it again and then we'll we'll we'll make that decision together as a group yeah and it's not really or at least I'm assuming based on everything I've been doing over the last decade or so it's not like repeat every year it's a Contin continuation

121type thing so I really hope we don't do a one andone our strategic plan you know the whole thing was like don't just put it in a binder and stick it on the shelf right going to be a complete waste of time if we don't expand it and continue it in whatever capacity that looks like but yeah and talking about time flying you're going to be done at the end at by the time you're done with this we're going to have to move into strategic planning so I guess the timing on that is really really good but um yeah okay and you know we had talked about like a broader Equity action plan work and there were really two key elements that had seemed most pertinent one was professional development for the adults which our

122administrative team has participated in as Angela said now moving it to our staff and then really the other part that really was coming out from our own professional development among our administrative team was that the importance of student voice and wanting to move that more quickly so this idea of the World Cafe and getting student voice and student feedback um feels critically important to all of our our leadership sh team is really the group that that's made this decision um but it doesn't mean that the uh the World Cafe is the strategy to repeat yeah it might be that based on what we learned from the World Cafe she has another idea like she's talked about other ways that you bring student voice into your student um you know into your buildings right and so

123this might be one way to get it started and she might have other ways you know to continue to work with us so correct great I like that idea of it's going to unfold and I mean student voice is important to us in otherwise but we've looked at really you know honing in in this way and we're excited about this possibility I want to say Dr dubiel was she the one on that um she that did your School Board Association um session yeah which I thought was yes that's right and because like just and it was a very high Lev conceptual thing for two hours but I did like her approach to it I seen this done very very poorly and I've seen it done very very well and kind of a mix in between

124and I've read the horror stories that people go through I've seen some uh I this is a very good thing if you do it right and so I really appreciate the methodical approach of kind of easing into it and like you all did it and then you're kind of expanding it and like really thinking about how to do it so um I I just like that approach I think that's a better way to do it because I've seen it just shove down people's throats and people then just throw up and react to it and you're not really it's kind of anti the whole purpose of what you're doing so um I think this this seems to be very well thought out and everything I've seen and read and heard about Dr dubiel she does this

125very well so I hope that continues to be successful and we we sort of were very careful in our selection and we knew she was working with our special education Co-op we knew she was working with Riverside Brookfield High School we knew she was working with our neighbors in Berwin you know so it was just um there were a lot of districts we had a lot of feedback from other District leaders um kind of to your point that it was well done thoughtfully done done at a pace that makes sense you know customized to what what we want me so that was the Reflection from our leadership team just today that people really felt that she her her messaging her approach really resonated with with our team you can really ner nerd out on the

126neuros pychology stuff that goes into it I mean it's quite fascinating because it's just all brain Dynamics and and well not all of it but her list of shared resources is like a coveted you know item just like yeah deep knowledge don't have time to get through it all but you know yeah no but it's it's fascinating to read I think it's fascinating not everybody um okay any other questions comments all right let's talk about that school calendar let's talk about school calendar so um after we had brought the calendar Jeff calendar to the board the concern of the last day of school being on Monday was heard and so we went back to the drawing table and worked with the um Rec to come up with a few ideas and and as we came

127up with a few ideas what we landed on is a recommended start student start date of Thursday August 22nd 2024 with an end date of Tuesday June 3rd 2025 um that means that the first Institute day teacher Institute day will be on Tuesday August 20th and the second one on Wednesday August 21st um while we were working on figuring out how not to end on a Monday one of the things we noticed is that um we need to account for the primary Consolidated election on Tuesday February 25th 2025 as well as a Consolidated election on Tuesday April 1st 2025 so what we did was um if you were to compare the two drafts December's and now we moved the Institute day that was on Friday February 14th to the Tuesday February 25th election day and

128then we talked about how to address Tuesday April 1st we come back from spring break on Monday March 31st so we don't want to have spring break come back on Monday a day of non-attendance because of the election and then start school again that feels disjointed so what we are looking what we are proposing is that our ele students Hower is our only polling school um and so we're looking at our elementary students having uh End School attendance day and Hower having an e-learning day on Tuesday April 1st so that they're not in the building during the polling time and then for the um the area that connects Hower and Central we would have an armed security guard there to make sure nobody is going into um any areas they not supposed to be but

129specifically into Central we'd also have another armed security guard by the polling place just to make sure people aren't roaming Hower anyways so that's how we would address that um that election day and then just a reminder that summer school uh for the 2024 summer will begin Monday July 15th 2024 and run through Thursday August 8th so that is our new proposed draft calendar questions or concerns I have to say I like the calendar a lot better than before so I I really appreciate you going back to the drawing board on that so thank you for that I do have a question sort of about the the security guard I mean um I just sort of and I know this doesn't really pertain to the calendar who pays for that does do we pay for

130that we would pay for that okay Jim we would we would pay for security during polling place um it would potentially be our own local police so I think it's like they're but they're off duty so we would pay them no I I don't have an objection I have no objection to it I have more the objection that we are once again a polling place because I don't think schools should be a polling places you know so there's legislation introduced which my understanding didn't pass right of saying schools should not be schools should be prohibited um places for polling we've worked Jim and I both have sort of talk directly to the Cook County Board of Elections and what we were able to get is that they were willing to consolidate all the precincts to

131Hower so get it out of Hollywood and it had previously been at life it had also previously been at ases years and years ago and we're able to stop that the year we did construction and just said there is there's not even a like a vestibule to be in right um so yeah I'm a big supporter of a legislation that would make schools uh prohibited from being a polling place um as you know you all heard it we had a lot of uh Community feedback as well as our own staff um feedback around schools being a polling place so it was one of those things that used to happen and people thought it was a nice way to sort of watch you know civic responsibility in action and the world has just changed around school

132security and this is I think a good solution the Houser polling place would be such it's would be the library so able to close it off they would have to enter from an exterior door it's way down over there um so but we would still not have Houser staff and students here they would do e-learning so okay staff could be here if they want to be here same way we do it on a like a winter weather e-learning day um they have the option to be here so you know I feel like at the school is going to be safe we're going to have you know extended security as as Angela mentioned mention um but it's really kind of a personal choice at that point no and I appreciate the fact that we're doing that

133and and I appreciate the fact that the staff are willing to um do an e-learning day at Hower for this because I know that's not a and we've never done the split ele in and you know Houser out but um the Houser schedule is also much more conducive to just how the e-learning day goes they have access to all their instructional periods so we reviewed it with ourc team block for Math and Ela um so it's it is it's more conducive for the older kids than than if we were to do it for elementary as well the only comment on make is I was really hoping we would end on May 30th selfishly and I just kept looking at it going I don't think it's going to happen I I think this is I think

134this is good um with all the diff like the weird challenges that you have in with the the Tuesday November day off and then the election day and everything so I I was selfishly hoping that too I didn't see that happen but you know I'll take I was doing my own assessment going it's not going to happen but you know third's good all right thank you thank you thank you thank you oh you were going to tell us about okay so then so now that we're giving you this direction then you're going to plan the testing thing just to tie that back together yeah okay so now I go back and start working on next year's assessment calendar gotcha okay thank you thank you all right then let's see Mr marhol do you have anything

135for us on facilities today not right now we have a meetings scheduled for March okay 18th and Miss gun anything on policy nothing on policy all right wait what we got all of our yeah all of our press stuff we did PT that last one we were able to decid it at our last regular business meeting so great job never drizzles anymore it's just when it rains at por large packet or it's nothing okay and I'm going to guess no additional public comment I don't see anybody here okay uh future meeting dates for the next couple meetings will be February 21st 2024 regular business meeting 700 p.m. in the Hower Auditorium March 6th 2024 Committee of the whole 700 p.m. in the Hollywood multi-purpose room and March 20th 2024 regular business meeting 7:00 p.m. the

136Houser Learning Resource Center and with that this meeting is adjourned