001I'm James Wyatt. I'm a school student board member here. And on November 21st, the fellow school board members and I, we went to the Triple Eye Conference, which is a national conference for school board members and superintendents across [music] the state of Illinois. My most important takeaway was interacting with school board members, my fellow student board members, and administrators, hearing their perspectives, and learning new ideas to bring to Lockport, and just interacting with [music] new people. >> Hi, my name's Abigail Carroll, and I serve on your finance and facilities committee. My [music] biggest takeaway from the IASBI conference in Chicago this past week [music] was that we were able to connect with professionals from all over the education space across the state in [music] a less professional matter and connect with them on a personal
002level which will build our future. >> My name is Ryan Gleon and I'm one of the uh sitting board members on your board of education as [music] a student representative. My key takeaways from the triple I conference was the difference between our school and other schools on how they implement students [music] in executive decisions. At other schools, sometimes they implement an advisory board for the superintendent who directly advises the board. At some schools, they have sitting board members that advise the board. Our school has both though and we merge them together and it creates a really effective and cohesive way for conveying student thoughts to the board. >> Hi, I'm Evelyn Chalertic. I'm a student board member for the curriculum committee on the board of education. One of my biggest key takeaways from the triple
003I conference was that we are people first, professionals second. When it comes to the professional world, we always choose to present ourselves in a perfect manner. But we need to take a step back, show that humility, that humanity that we have inside to create approachability within us and to create community with our with our members. Without it, we aren't able to function as well as a team. [music] But with it, we can truly trust each other and understand the views that everyone has. >> This being my first triple eye conference, it was a [music] great experience. It was really amazing to spend time with everyone on the board and get to know everybody a little bit better. As professionals, we do sometimes get [music] to the business part of things and taking that time to
004have the person first perspective more often. It was a nice reminder and he did a great job presenting [music] it in a very fun-filled way. Um Wendy and I were also able to attend a superintendent evaluation um session that was very interesting. Really taught us a lot [music] as we know that um Dr. McBride is on his way out next year and that will be something [music] new that we'll have to do as a board when we um have a new superintendent. So a lot of good conversations [music] um were had. The first session that I attended was um new scenarios for [music] new board members. My big takeaway from it was what an outstanding onboarding process that District 205 has. [music] I was sitting with groups from all around the state. They did not
005have that kind of support [music] as you're coming on to a board. So, I'd like to thank District 205 for that opportunities that they do give us as a [music] board members. Appreciate it. there was a a lawyer that represents um the schools typically [music] and then there was a union representative that was there and both of them made a similar comment and they said this is [music] the one thing that you need to remember and I wrote it down. its working conditions are your child's [music] learning conditions. And I thought that was something that we really um needed to keep in our minds as um when this comes up in the future. [music] But it was a good reminder that um we are working together and that we do want a really [music] great
006place for our not only our our children and um but for the staff as well. Um [music] and we're really grateful for the staff that we do have. One thing that I walked away [music] with and um Miss O'Halerin and I talked about was implementing more of a formal calendar um [music] timeline. I know that we we do have something, but [music] it was interesting the way they had it laid out that it could be more formalized um only for [music] the sake of when you have new board members coming on just so they can understand and slip into the process. It just seemed like a nice piece [music] that could be an addition to what we do and it could help us be more effective as well and and help us with future decision
007making that we [music] we are going to have be forced to make having fierce conversations [music] about achieving results and one conversation at a time. The other one uh that I did go to [music] also was um in the it was the dollars and decisions. It was a balance, especially now when we're dealing with East and Central, you know, making those decisions. And I think that it was [music] um it like I think they were saying is you have to start preparing the message [music] to the community, start getting them involved as far as getting the word out as far [music] as you know, this is what needs to be done at East so that when we start doing those decisions, you know, we know [music] that we won't get that backlash of the community.
008I I want to say that, you know, just in speaking with other um schools there, we're doing a lot for our community. I mean, we really are. I feel like there's there's a great [music] camaraderie when you when you get together with people that are all kind of working towards a a main goal, which is, you know, obviously to serve your community in this in this role. [music] And so, I mean, it's everything. There's, you know, there's a a little thing you learned here, a little thing you learned there. But yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to next year to [music] just even learn more and work things out a little bit better so that I can [music] cover as much ground as possible. As already heard, I attended some of the same sessions some of
009the other board members too, but the biggest one that had a impact on me was um the [music] session with Dr. >> Horse Horseer >> um about trust and I know the district uh has experienced him before. Um [music] I actually did see sit in a session from him last year but for whatever reason this one was a little more impactful and I think the biggest takeaway for [music] me for that particular session was that um from his perspective and the work that he's been doing in this uh u area [music] for decades is that the when you drill down to where [music] um sources of conflict arise it all you can really boil it down to [music] trust and does does trust exist or trust or does trust not exist? We talked about the
010different eight pillars um that there's uh some of those are [music] where you have to have connection and ownership, follow through, integrity, and it has to be earned and you have to be vulnerable. And that kind of [music] goes back to I think something that the student board members experienced in their sessions is that, you know, you have to be a human first and doing that. um you know you have to [music] be willing to show your vulnerability and your ability to make a mistake and but still recover from it and have a good solution on the other [music] end. Um so that was really impactful for me. So on Saturday I attended a session for board presidents. Um it was um eye opening I I think just to hear [music] how just the other
011situations that other board presidents are going through [music] um and just having to you know try and build a cohesiveness um with their board. So again, I am also thankful for the things that we do with IASB for the onboarding [music] process and just us all coming together and having open and honest conversations because a lot of boards just [music] don't do that. But it it was just um interesting to see you know the perspectives from other people [music] about the tough decisions that they need to make for their board um and just making the right decision for the students regardless of you know some of the things all of the noise that is happening around them. My [music] big takeaway was you know just providing that support is going to be so important down
012the road.