001Where are you gonna go? >> He's gonna sit right in the middle. >> Go over there. >> Patrick, she won't bother me. >> Thanks for making me sound over here. >> All right. >> Okay. Call the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Spinosa >> here. >> Trader >> here. >> C here. >> Landers >> here. Reynolds >> here. Kas >> here. Stand for the chair. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> We have a motion to approve the regular meeting agenda. Yes. >> Yes. >> Trader. >> Yes. >> Reynolds. >> Yes. >> Landers. >> Yes. >> We have any public comment this evening. Okay. We have a
002motion for consent agenda. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. 5.1 disposition of minutes for January 2026. 5.2. payment bills 5.3 district treasures report 5.4 activity fund report cafeter >> yes >> trader >> yes >> 61 for your requests >> um like I think every district in the state of Illinois we did have a foyer request for background checks of school board members which isn't a thing. Um, and so this person who I believe is in the suburbs somewhere is now going to court trying to get all tax levies um, ruled as I don't know unlawful because schoolboard members don't have background checks which is not part of the law. So anyway, he's going to have all kinds of fun with that. A lot of attorneys are going to get paid, but we
003did have that one. >> 6.2 administrator reports. >> Yeah. A couple pieces before we get to our Lincoln presentation. Um the uh the high school board is interested in a joint dinner. I think the tenative date that we had um put out there was March 10th. Um so I think we're just going to do a dinner together in social and and try to um just spend some time together. So check your calendars and if for some reason you can't make that um let me know. >> A new member too. >> What's that? >> They have a new member. >> They do have a new member. >> Um and then the other thing is it's it's really nice. It's great timing that we're that we're in this room because one of the things that we're currently
004getting bids for is uh some summer work and part of the summer work is actually to have this room divided. Um I don't know if you've ever been here during the school day um but very often we have students in a hallway in front of the office um in for a variety of reasons. Um, and so we have a proposal to uh divide this room kind of right across from where Amanda is sitting straight out. Put a door here into the office and then also there would still be plenty of room on the other side for meetings like this and then there would be a separate door to the hallway over there. And so would be would be much more conducive for our office staff to be able to work with kids. um you know
005in in quiet to be able to regulate them um to not have them you know to allow them to to calm down and work through things while they're not out of a hallway where people are passing by. So um >> it's good that we're in this room. >> Uh other than that u we we are at Lincoln. It's the uh we're on the back half of the school year, which means that we're um this is the first school of our board tour as we go to the different buildings and at each stop. Um we are asking the principles to kind of give us a little update on some of the things that have been going on in their buildings. And in addition to that, this year um we are going we have asked our first
006year staff members and our retiring staff members to come. And so, you know, the gives the opportunity to for the board to not only see new faces, but also give a personal thank you to people who have really dedicated, you know, a big chunk of their lives to um to the children of Mandota and 289. And so, um, Principal, do you want to get us started maybe by uh making some introduce introductions? >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to start with my new teachers sitting in the back row here. In third grade, Miss Sydney Wright in second grade, Miss Madison Bean, and at Blackstone and Lincoln in our music program, Mrs. Samantha Farb. Um, we also have the gentleman who hired my two retirees here tonight. I, you know, I think I'm supposed to
007thank him, but they're two of my honest, so we're losing some honorary members on our staff here. So, Mr. here supporting them. >> So, my lead teacher, a special education resource teacher, also Mrs. Amy Leelman, will be retiring this year. And the first teacher I knew here in Modota, though she doesn't remember it, is Mrs. Petra Strata. She was working as a secretary when I did an internship with the migrant summer program back in the day. So, I was just telling Amy, she was talking about her first year, and Petra couldn't remember what her first year was either, or was it vice versa? But I said I go I was two years old. So it's welld deserved. >> TONIGHT FOR YOU GUYS it's welld deserved. >> Okay. >> Oh. So yeah um you know we're
008losing two very great staff members who have a well-deserved retirement. that Petra was talking about her plans for spending time with her mother and her grandchild in retirement and finding that time to volunteer and do all the things. And Amy's got another new grandbaby on the way, too. So, lots of fun things for these two in retirement. And, you know, our tier 2 teachers only, you know, how many more years for you to go? >> Don't count. Uh, so for my presentation tonight, I wanted to give you guys an update of what's been happening at Lincoln since my last presentation. I do have just a little bit of unpacket for you with some of our committee updates. And then I have some fun pictures to show you of the fun stuff that's been happening this
009year as well. Hi. Hi. All right. So, um, when we last spoke, we talked about, um, how we were going to really start working towards the norms here at Lincoln with administrator switch over and a lot of new teachers. Um, we kind of didn't know what we didn't know and we wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. So, one thing that the staff brought back that they had done in the past is the Lincoln School Creed. And this is just starting our day each morning with what we as a staff what we want our students to truly believe. So when we do the pledge in the morning, we also say our Lincoln school creed. So at Lincoln School, we are respectful, responsible, and safe. Lincoln school is a better place because I
010am here today. And you know, I always end my announcements with, "It's a great day to be a Lion." And I truly believe that. I think this is a great place to be. And I want our students to have that home and feel safe here. So um my son, for some reason, hates the Lincoln School Creed, though. um and gets very angry that we have to say it every day. So, Heather Waldron likes to tease me about that a little bit. I said, "I'm going to get a shirt made for him with it." Um, so one of the committees we spoke about was our school improvement team and what we were going to be working towards this year. And since our last meeting, we've really started digging into those norms. So our goal was to
011review, establish, and communicate schoolwide norms in the areas of behavioral systems, attendance, arrival and dismissal, intervention, and MTSS, consistency and grading, and communication. So in that packet is the different um areas that we've focused on so far this year and what the committee has come up with as our norms. As we have set those norms, it's been communicated out at team meetings, at staff meetings, and it's also posted on our teacher landing page, which is a Google doc that has any calendars or important documents that they may need throughout the year. This will be a very nice thing to have going into next year as we kind of start the year off for any new staff members um or just kind of as reminders of kind of what the expectations are and what we truly
012drive for as a staff. Um so far this year we have um as a PA pride committee looked at our behavior systems. So towards the end of your packet is kind of our plan to transition our students. Um at Northbrook they use an X system for behaviors. Here at Lincoln we have the pause. We have found especially our fourth graders do not have buyin for the pause. I would say by October. Um it's just not developmentally appropriate as much anymore. Plus we need to prepare them for Northbrook. So next year they're going to be using the X system that is completely in line with what fifth grade has. We're going to start that transition in third trimester for our fourth graders this year. Um and that has been communicated out to parents. A letter was
013sent home. Teachers talked with parents at parent teacher conferences about this as well. We have our um big paw pride assembly next week and we'll be kicking that off with students to introduce that system because our fourth grade is moving to this model next year. The third graders who will be fourth graders are also going to transition in third trimester to this X system to prepare them for fourth grade. Um this was a decision by our Paul Pride committee and I think it really helps us be that bridge. You know, Lincoln is that weird in between school sometimes where we get the kids over and they're still Blackstone kids when they come in at second grade and we really need to prepare them to be Northbrook students. So, really looking how we can more efficiently,
014you know, transition and be that bridge. Um, as a school improvement team, we have looked at attendance, arrival and dismissal, um, and communication. The areas that we're going to continue looking at are our intervention and MTSS, kind of like our data digs and our tier three problem solving and what those are going to look like and make sure that all staff is on board with how those tier three problem solving meetings run. And then consistency and grading carries over from CSS, our committee that we have looking at consistency in the district. And we're really going to dig in here at Lincoln. Some things we've noticed are like teachers spend all of these time in their team meetings going through how many points everything is worth. Um and then sometimes we look at our grade book
015at the end of the trimester and there's still some inconsistencies. So, you know, showing teachers, kind of having those conversations with teachers um about how often we're updating our grade books, you know, making sure that if we're doing it in a paper grade book, how often does it get translated over to teacheries so parents are seeing those um and we're as consistent as possible. Um, also, you know, there's some objectivity in greeting. So, looking at how we can make sure that certain things can be, you know, um, as specific as possible. Um, and then Paul Pride Committee, like we just talked about, we're going to be really looking at that transition from Paul Pride time and the golden tickets to the X's system that they use at North Park. All right, so now for some
016of the fun that we've had going on here. Um, so we really like to shout our student successes from the rooftop. Every Friday, something that we have is fist bump pride Friday. It's tied into our paw pride system. So the tickets that the kids earn every Friday, a kid from the class gets their name drawn to come down for a prize and a fist bump in the office. Um, it just keeps that positive reinforcement going more than just at the assemblies. Um, we also have our reach award winner. So it's real effort and citizenship honor. Is that a Mr. able original still carried over. >> Read your hand. >> Very nice. So that is, you know, a tradition that's been here at Lincoln for a very long time, but it is, you know, a very
017nice way to recognize those students who go above and beyond. We make sure they're announced on the announcements and then we have a pizza party for them. We did move it this year to the gym because the kids want that time to go in and play and, you know, not just sit in the AP room and have their pizza. So we have a pizza party in the gym and they get some time to play um and then they get to go back to their classes and you know enjoy that. So um and these at the bottom are our John Orth winners. We really look at our um goals for our students that you know being respectful being responsible and being safe. And um teachers in fourth grade each nominate a male and a female student
018in their classes. We send that out to all staff and staff votes. So this year our winners are Llaya Cervantes Escatel and Manny Canana. So next Wednesday we will be going to a breakfast at Streeter High School where they'll get a plaque and they'll be honored for all of their great work here. So out and about this year some things that we've been out of the building doing. Um every year the Lincoln students attend the Veterans Day ceremony. This year we really tried to tie in maybe a little bit more history building and understanding what it is we're going to the Veterans Day ceremony for. Um something that was alarming to them was the 21 gun salute. And so we did some background and history on what that is and what to expect before they
019went um to hopefully, you know, allow them to get a little bit more out of going and really realize what we're there honoring. And then we also our third and fourth grade students visit the library each year. So our third grade students already made their trip. Um, and we know that Emily does such a nice job running that program there. So, she shows them the different things that they offer, how to check out books, how to get a library card, and it's a really great um, opportunity for our kids. Grandparents Day, the only pictures I had at the moment were of my my family, but um, what we do is we invite our grandparents in for a big open house. Um, this year we had over 300 grandparents in the building. It was very, very,
020very busy. Um Stacy Kelly and I talked about how we maybe break that up next year um because her building was crazy also um just to make sure that they get the time because we like them to go around they do a scavenger hunt and find different things and show their grandparents different parts of the building and then we have cookies and juice and everything for them and I feel like sometimes they wait in line longer than they're doing anything but um those the grandparents love coming here and they love the kids love showing everything to them and introducing their teachers. Um but yeah, so 300 was was a lot in here this year. Um our fourth grade this year, we have our new CKLA reading curriculum and part of their units are poetry. So
021they organized a poetry cafe in each of their classrooms where students had been writing their own poetry throughout these units and then they got to select two poems, one of their own and one from somebody else to present. Parents were invited in to come watch these performances. Um they provided treats for the kids. The kids dressed in all black and gave each other snaps and really got a chance to showcase all the work they've been working on that unit. Some community involvement this year. Um our third grade before Christmas did a canned food drive. Um we were able to donate over a 100 pounds of food this year to them, which doesn't seem like a lot. Um, but right before Christmas when there are food shortages and everything going on, we were really proud of
022all the work that they did organizing that. And then our fourth graders sell candy canes every year and they donate that that to a local organization. This year they raised $1,090 for the Modota Food Pantry. So they came and they collected their food and the money for the donation from our fourth grade students. It was our ninth annual Guns and Hoses event this year. If you don't know what that is, if you hear the sirens in Mandota, uh right around October, the police and fire departments and EMTs come in and play a kickball game against our fourth graders each year. Um it's a huge turnout of the police and fire. They there's a big parade that comes in of all the emergency vehicles. Our fourth graders, it's the morning. We have like zero absences, zero
023tardies because they're out there on the black top ready to go. We usually do like three real innings and then we just make sure every fourth grader gets a chance to kick and run the bases. Um the fire and police are wonderful about, you know, oh, oops, I dropped it or, you know, overthrowing the bases. The kids talk a lot of trash, but it's a lot of fun. We kind of like to tease them that we win every single year. I don't know how that pans out. Um, and then we got a big group picture with all of the fire and EMT and our fourth graders who were there that day. A new tradition we started this year to um kind of increase parent involvement and do something maybe a little bit different than classroom
024parties was trunk or treat. We did have 22 parents sign up this year and I think of the 22 18 showed up for the actual event. One of which was Sarah. Um so our parents came out. It was it was amazing. They decorated their vehicles. Our students had a chance to go around and collect the goodies. They got class pictures. Um, we had parents and grandparents dressed up out there on the black top. Um, you know, we hope to continue to grow that. It was it was just, I think, a really neat way to get involvement. And, um, Mr. Strauss even dressed up for Halloween on that day as our loved Leo the Lion. Um, Mrs. Estrada's class has been working with a pen pal. Petra, do you mind just talking a little bit just
025because I know this is very special to your heart just about who she is? >> Um, Marggo Ster is a community member and when her husband passed away, her daughter Randy contacted me and said, "Mom's having a really difficult time with the passing of dad. Can she help you out in your classroom?" It was during CO. So, she made masks for all my students. And then she started writing to them and then my students would write back to her. And since co, since all of that, she's continued that. And my students are learning how to write letters, postcards. We actually wrote her reflection pages where they talk about what it means to have as a pen pal. And we addressed an envelope, which we don't do that anymore, and put a stamp on it and
026mailed it to her. And she's been doing this faithfully since then. Um, this is what she got them for Christmas. Each child got an owl, a stuffed owl, and she got them at PetSmart. >> So, she talked about how she's helping the kiddos and at the same time helping animals. The kids love her, and she's glass. I mean, everyone remembers her since those years because they remember her throughout the years. And so, that communication between her and my kids has been phenomenal. And I just love Margot and Randy. And it's like we're both mutually helping each other through difficult times. >> Yeah. So, >> and she carries that over into our third grade group that's with Mrs. Fry as well. So, for two years, you know, they're pin pals and they do this program which
027is just great. She comes in and delivers these once a month and talks to Holly and I in the office and kind of catches up on everything that's going on. So, it's a really great kind of community piece and a great tie for our students as well. So, we will make sure that that tradition lives on here. All right, some fun. Just some random fun we have going on. Um, I am a diehard Packers fan. >> And this is killing me to have on here, but um, we've had a little bit of fun this year taunting each other over Bears and Packers. Um, Amy may encourage it a little bit, but um, one day on a random day, we had all of these students show up in Bears jerseys to school. I couldn't quite understand
028how that happened, but I think there may have been some teachers and lunch people behind that organization. Um, so we have a lot of fun with that. Now we're going into Cardinals Cup season, so we'll have fun with that one as well. Um, and then this is a new club that we have here at Lincoln School. This is our fourth grade kindness club. Kim Mel organized this club this year as a way to really encourage kindness and also leadership in our fourth graders. So, some things that they have done, they made bird feeders and they put them outside on the trees. They made Valentine's for the people over at Stonecraftoft. Um, she was talking about how they are looking at organizing maybe going over after cold and flu season to play bingo um with them
029at Stonecraftoft. Um, for teacher appreciation week, they have some things planned, I think, for staff members. So this is just and you know really we try to encourage anyone who wants to be part of this to be part of this and really just encourage that love for you know kindness and taking care of others. So this has been they've had um three official meetings so far and they've done a lot in that time. So I can't wait to see how it continues to grow. Um so we have our hundth day of school. Our students dressed up as hundred year olds. Um and then we have Santa and Mrs. Claus came and visit and brought socks for each of the kids um at Christmas time. So each of the kids got a candy cane and a
030pair of socks from Santa Claus. Santa likes to tell puns and jokes that our second graders definitely do not get. Um but you know, they laugh at him nonetheless. By the time we get to fourth grade, they usually understand him a little bit better, but second graders just kind of smile and nod. And then, you know, every Friday we have our school spirit here that we're dressed up in our Lincoln attire. Um, you know, our fist bump Fridays, our Lincoln school. Uh, so there's me and my Delaney all dressed up the same that day. Um, and then we also make sure that we're supporting our high school in that transition over to Modota High School. So, when they were the soccer team was going on to state, we were out cheering them on. Kids came
031in their purple and gold for homecoming as well. Um, and you know, I I just love that we continue that passion for where all these kids are going to be going in high school and supporting them as well. And then like I said, how I end every single announcement every single day is it's a great day to be a Lion. So that's what's been happening since the last time that I spoke to you guys. I think, you know, going forward, we still continue really looking at those norms and continue looking at how Lincoln serves as that bridge and that we're consistent with Blackstone and Northbrook, which is sometimes a tricky piece. um you know and making sure that our students are as successful as they can be. So, thank you. >> Any questions for Principal
032Albert? >> Um if you don't mind, can you give us um a quick update? I know we've had a lot of u meeting and conversations on departmentalization >> at Lincoln. >> Absolutely. Um so, we are knees deep in scheduling right now. Um, so we kind of took our departmentalization committee and looked at what were the top concerns and priorities of, you know, each of our teams, specials teams and the grade level teams. And then we had a subcommittee of kind of people who were interested in helping with that schedule piece. Um, we have, I would say, a schedule that I think is maybe 95% there right now for next year. Um, keeping in mind that anything we do does affect Blackstone and North Brook because we share staff members was kind of a piece that
033we had to look at. Um, so what it's looking like for next year is fourth grade is going to be departmentalizing and our second and third grade for the following for this year are not going to departmentalize. We're going to stay self-contained. I think, you know, the piece of we don't know what's we don't know yet with it. You know, as we talked about it, like we have kids with executive functioning needs that we're like, you know, maybe we need a consistent way to turn in papers from teacher to teacher if they're going to four classrooms. So to really get it solid in fourth grade with some of our older students I think is step number one and then we look at if that would be effective and appropriate for our third graders the you
034know subsequent years. Um so right now our um committee members have those schedules to bring back to their teams kind of do that final problem solving layer. Um Stacy and Paula both have the schedules as well to look at you know their buildings and how that affects them. Um, and then we kind of start looking at our placements of our teachers and who's going to be teaching what using our ecas datas. You know, one piece of that. I also sent out a confidence and interest survey to our fourth grade teachers to kind of gain their insights into, you know, what they want to be teaching and then having those one-on-one conversations with them as well. Um, it's opened up a lot of really interesting conversations as well about how, you know, social studies can support
035ELA, how science can support math, and really making sure that if we're doing this, we're going to have those crosscurricular ties and have that ability to do it because right now to get science and social studies in some days with a reading curriculum that's 120 minutes is not possible. So, this kind of allows us that ability to make sure those kids are getting what they need before they get to North Park. >> Would it be fair to say that fourth grade is at this point in time leaning towards departmentalization, but but the other two are kind of in a wait and see for future years. >> Correct. Yep. Um I would say second grade, I think the overall feeling was they did not feel that that was appropriate for second graders. We're we're really just
036trying to get them into our building. we are really just trying to acclimate them to our rules and everything that we have here. Um, third grade I say would say was pretty open to the conversation if we can find a way to make it work and make it appropriate for our kids. So I think in subsequent years looking at third grade X would kind of be the next logical step. I was also going to update on the boards. Can I talk about that a little bit? So we've got two Prometheian boards in here that we are um triing right now. So tomorrow they'll go to their first two teachers who are going to spend a month with the boards. Um it's two second grade teachers. So Tanya Blue and Kelly Becker are going to start
037with the boards for a month. Um and then we have uh a couple third and fourth grade teachers, four total who are going to spend a month with the boards as well and really see if they serve our curriculum a little bit better than our current technology. Um we have the menos and the projectors. If you're a downstairs classroom, sometimes it's dizzying to watch the board because as kids walk it shakes. But also a lot of our curriculum is you know on the projector now the reading has a whole component that needs to be projected. So to be able to interact and have the students interact as well is really important. So the feedback that we're really looking for is usability but also how our curriculum works with these versus our current technology to see
038if that's something that you know the district can invest in going forward for you know not just our building but other buildings too. So um our teachers are really excited at the prospect of this. So, I thought I'd present on it tonight because I'm very excited about the prospect of these two. So, >> all right. Thank you. >> Yeah. Just uh one more thing for me. Um I love the fact that we've got some staff members here that we can, you know, um get to meet and and to recognize and honor. And I just think it's I just think it's so fitting because um what two great people who are moving into retirement, right? I mean, so many times um especially since I've been here where you know, Amy Laughlin has been like the rock
039of the ship and you know, and so some times where we had some chaos and I'd go to Amy and I'd be like, "What's going on? What are we doing?" Right? and she was, you know, we we all know that there have been, you know, some some rocky times here and, you know, could not appreciate more, you know, you being there and everything that you've done and, you know, Petra, the way that, you know, you built a program and built a community and the lives that you touch and just the all the the dedication to the community of Menota. Um, you know, I don't want to speak for the board, but couldn't couldn't be more appreciative of you two ladies. Can I just say something real quick? Um, so um when I attended Lincoln school
040here with Mr. Ael as my principal um it was neighborhood schools and Petra was our school secretary and um having grown up that this was this school is very special to me. Um, so and then coming and doing some observation hours in your room. Um, when I was getting my ESL endorsement and just how passionate you were, um, and seeing how far like you went from that school secretarium and went back when you were raising children. Um, you went through a lot of administrators after the rock here. Okay. Um, but just seeing and seeing that just how amazing you are and just from that little second grader here or that little kindergartener to now being that adult that has went into admin and has just been in the classroom. I can't begin to tell you
041how much you have meant to me personally and professionally. Um, so thank you. I love you. >> And seeing you here tonight, it's like, oh my god, >> send me to the office. >> And then having and then having you here is also special. >> There's no plan. >> Yeah. No, I just think it'd be really interesting to hear us first year. Like what is it everything you expected? Are you feeling supported? >> SO MUCH BETTER. >> HEY, my Holly was my principal. IS THAT I was not your principal. I was your dean of students. Thank you. >> And I got in trouble for getting you here. >> I got in trouble. I got >> I did too. Um, but I I I feel very supported here. It is night and day difference. Um, it's
042I just I love it here. I love Moda. So, I'm so happy to be here. >> What about you guys? >> Um, well, graduating and going to grade school here and coming back. And I've always said I wanted to teach at 289. I did my student teaching over at Blackstone and now I'm here and I absolutely love it. I know I can count on a lot of people here. I still am in contact with uh Rutder. I ask her all the questions. I ask questions over here all the time. So, I'm so happy to be a part of this district. >> I like it here. >> I'm not from I'm from Peru. So, it's nice to know a different area. So, I kind of just dove head first, too, cuz I coach at the high
043school, too. So, yeah. I like the district. Everyone's really nice. I Amy's awesome. She's great. She's helped me a lot. I kind of actually want to get my masters in special ed now after seeing her teach and everything. She's inspiring. So, >> yeah. >> For sure. >> Thank you. >> It does. Yes. Thanks. >> Cheerleading basketball cheerleading. And I know that you would all love to stay, but if any of you would like to be dismissed and go about your evenings, >> please feel free. >> Holly, not you. >> Absolutely. Oh, yeah. >> All right. We just saw him, too. >> Tell me about it. different way. I don't know. Okay, move right along. We had no board committee reports, so we will move into board meeting dates for 27. >> Yeah. Um just just
044really uh cut and paste. Um it's the >> third Thursday like always. Um the only exception to that is we moved the November one um to the second uh Thursday this year um to kind of work through and around uh the schoolboard conference in Chicago. Everybody seemed to like that and so we're going to continue with that model. >> Any questions on it before I make the motion? >> Motion, please. >> I'll make a motion to approve dates for fiscal year 27. >> Second, >> yes. >> Reynolds, >> yes. the annual seniority list. >> So, this is uh just something that we that we have to do every year by law. Um and it's just a combination of seniority and um teacher evaluation averages and it's just a bunch of numbers. >> No anticipation of
045needing to reference. >> Nope. >> For that purpose, >> correct? >> We don't have any questions. a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the reduction enforce list as presented. >> Second. >> Yes. >> Financial report. >> Um, you all have your balance copy. Uh, does somebody have the one that says Brad on it? >> Yeah, I do. >> Okay. You've got my notes. There we go. >> I want the brat copy. >> Um, so tonight the part of your auditor is going to be played by me. And so, um, I have in your bound copy, I've actually tabbed and bookmarked some things. So, I know that when when the auditor goes through this, everybody's always fumbling around. And so, hopefully that'll make it a little bit easier. So, just kind of just kind
046of as an overview, what does an auditor do? Right? So an auditor comes in a checks our numbers right to make sure that all that the numbers that we come up with internally that everything's done correctly that everything matches through that when we say we've got $9 million in the bank we really got $9 million in bank right okay so we're going to we're going to go through that. The second thing that they do is they check our processes. They will go through and say, "Here's here's one thing that they they go over dozens of things." You know, they'll say, you know, "What's your inventory system? How do you inventory everything? What's that look like?" I bring up that because a couple years ago they had a finding on it and they said, "We we
047need to do inventory better and so we changed some things." Right? So they check your processes and then they check they give us reports on specific situations like how much debt do we have? What's our what does our tiff revenue look like? That kind of thing. Okay. So you should all have a sheet that looks like this. And it's and it should be in your book at page nine. Okay? And so this sheet is just a copy version of page nine. Okay? And so it when we say that they check our numbers, let's page. Okay, if you look at all of the yellow, okay, the yellow that's highlighted here and then this number down here, $945,000. Okay, so they checked through our numbers and they said last year we put $945,000 in the bank, which
048is very close to what we had in our books. Okay, so they're checking our numbers. The next row or the row at the bottom, which is in green, when you add all of those numbers together, that's what we refer to as our as our M289 index. How much money do we have in the bank at the at the end of June in 2025? And again, it's that 9.09 million, right? So that this audit checks what we've done. We make our we make a few corrections here and there for always, you know, within thousand dollars somewhere. The way that the way that our numbers 99% of the time, the way that our numbers differ from a audited numbers are the timing of things. When we start a fiscal year and end a fiscal year, we'll have
049it recorded one way. The auditors will say, "No, you need to have it recorded this way." And so, we'll usually have a little bit of discrepancy. At the end of the day, whatever they say, that's the way we have to do it, right? So that's that's the first piece is checking our numbers. So we like all that. If you go to the beginning here, right right at the front, you go out four pages, you should have a you should have a page bent over right here, right? And and so if you go on the bottom of that page, you should have something highlighted in yellow there, right? And so in this year's audit, as as they say in the report during our audit, we did not find any uh we did not identify any deficiencies
050in internal control that we considered to be material weaknesses. So in the past where we've had finding one, finding two, we've had to correct some things, show them how we've corrected our processes. this year that we didn't actually have any findings and actually kind of want them to find a couple things to make you better, but that's okay. Um, so what that tells us is that the way that we've separated all of our processes out, they like they think that we have good internal controls with with our processes are working. So that's a really good check. Um, also, so then if we go to the next page that's bent over which is about page four. You should have another little bend over here. If you go to page four, this is one thing they talked
051about last year and we'll we will um we'll try to get an amended budget done here this spring to take care of it. Um this is called the um financial profile. This is a a state board mechanism that tells you kind of what the health of your district is. Um so they have so they have five major categories they look at um fund balance to revenue expenditure to revenue days on cash um short-term and long-term borrowing. And then they give you this this score down here. And our score is 3.1 which they put us under the category of review. There are four categories. Recognition is the top. Review, warning, and watch. Um the reason that we're not in recognition is because they don't like how we handle our um our construction. This reflects um this
052reflects a lot of spending in fund 20 and which could very easily move to fund 50. That's actually what Russ suggested we do when he was here last time. Um If we can have find the time to amend the budget, that's what we'll do and and change that kind of kind of clean that up. Um but really no concerns there. That's that expenditure to revenue um when if we move some things over to site construction, which is where Russ would really like for it to be. And that'll clean that up quite a bit. And then the next one is we go to page 39. You should also have a little over here. Page 39 is the is the complete uh calculation. That entire page is the complete calculation for the per capita tuition charge. And
053so our annual financial report, which is a big part of of this, what we refer to the bal copy that we're looking at, um the annual financial report tells us the per capita tuition charge. So if for some reason we had a family that said, "Hey, we're going to move to town next year, but um we want our kids to start now, even though we're not moving in yet. Um can we tuition our kids in?" Um, we could say, "Yeah, but it's going to cost you, you know, $12,000 a year, however much a day that is, right? We would prorate that out and then you lit, we would literally charge them tuition." Okay, that doesn't happen. That happens very, very rarely. Um, I don't think it's happened since I've been here. U, but that's what
054that that's what that number is for. when when you have kids that are going to from outside your district that are going to attend your district for um any reason, there are some very defined ways on how you come up with or how your auditors come up what with what you charge them. So that's what that calculation is. And then the last thing I wanted to look at is kind of back towards the end. It's on it's in notes number eight. There's a another little tab page that on those eight. And uh that's a great little table of what our um debt repayment looks like. So if you want to know what the debt repayment schedule looks like um at the top 26 27 28 2930 that's what our debt repayment schedule looks like. If
055you look through this question, don't hesitate to give me a call, shoot me an email. It's a lot of just kind of high-end auditor stuff, but um how if if you see something that interests you or you have a question on something, don't hesitate to ask. I think we do I think we do a nice job of kind of talking through kind of where we are, you know, with how much money we have in the bank and, you know, what our path is. And, you know, we've had conversations about trying to flatten some of that out with our next levy come uh December. Uh, and so >> yeah, just let me know if you have any questions. >> I do have one question. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Actually, it's two questions. How long have
056we now been go using these guys? So used to be with >> Bill Bill Newer, right? And so um Bill lost staff to the point that he had to reduce the number of clients that he had. And there are very few firms in the school auditing world, right? And so I think we've been a new clerk newer client for a decade or so. And um we you couldn't get anybody to come on. Um I worked with Gorens is out of Poria. Um I worked with them the whole decade. I was at Eerie. Um I worked with them. Russ is great to work with. The high school district has been a client of theirs for years. And so um I kept bugging kept bugging and I'm like Russ I can't I literally can't get anybody else.
057And so he's like, "All right, fine." He said, "We'll take you on, but your audit won't be done on time." I'm like, "I don't care. That's fine. This is this is supposed to be done by the end of October." And >> and is this our first or second year? >> This and so this is so to answer your question, this is our second year with awards. Yeah. And they they've done a great job. >> My other question that I had was where you mentioned about what the tuition would be. Um I know we have the waiver. Do we have any teachers that utilize the >> I don't think we >> we did last year. >> Okay. I just >> but not this year. >> Okay. Can you discuss the portion in the initial page four
058where it's highlighted where it talks about sort of the limitations and it talks about how the limitations are when you read above it's because the district is the opinions were adverse due to the financial statements not being prepared in accordance with the county principles generally accepted. >> Yeah. So, so there's there's there are a lot of things at play there, right? Um the the o overall um auditors like for schools to be on um an acrual accounting system where where we're cash based. So in an acral system you um you you might actually record an or revenue months before you actually write the check for it. U most school districts our size I want to say all most if not all school districts our size are on a cash basis. So basically um whatever whatever
059our bank balance says we have in the bank on June 30th that's the end of the fiscal year right it doesn't matter that we still have obligations for the next couple months that we're going to pay it's it's whatever it is sold. So that's probably the biggest one. Um the other piece to that is that um we're not a huge organization and so in a perfect accounting world um the all of the processes to do with how money is handled um would be broken apart by eight or 10 different people, right? Um whereas you know Sakoro does accounts payable and receivable, right? That shouldn't in in like a perfect accounting world of separation of powers or duties that shouldn't be one person, right? And so to to account for that then we have a we
060always put in a system of checks and balances right on how things are done. So, you know, multiple signatures, multiple people looking at it um to cover for that. But um so that's that's kind of what they're referring to there. It's a pretty long I just noticed and I haven't read the whole thing obviously but like note one which is referencing that accounting policy is like four five pages long. So that's there's nothing else significant in that. We have a motion for approval. >> I'll make a motion to approve the annual financial report. >> Landers, >> yes. >> Reynolds, >> yes. >> Trader, >> yes. >> Esposa, >> yes. 1%. >> Yeah. So, I don't I couldn't put my thumb on exactly. I'm not going to look it up when exactly we discussed this last.
061Um, so just as a as a review, the the 1-cent sales tax is a just that it's a one- sales tax that is collected at the county level and is earmarked specifically for school facilities. um school safety and um student mental health. And so originally it was facilities only u but in 2019 they amended the law to add a few of those things under the umbrella which is which I think is great um because then you know one of the things that we've done that we've done as an organization recently was the need for an additional social worker right and that one of the best things that we've done right but that's mental health and so um so the fact that they broaden that umbrella a little that it's not just spending money on classrooms
062and and facilities. U that's that's nice. The I think so in a in an overview about half of the counties in Illinois have this um the last time that it was voted on in Las County I think was 2012 and 2013 and I think that it got in the neighborhood of 45% yes each time. Uh so it was close but hasn't been voted on since. The really appealing thing from my perspective about about being I mean myself I'm a Lasal County taxpayer. I think the the wonderful thing about this is we have we have two significant corridors through Lasowl County in 39 and 80 and we have whatever the number is 2 million tourists a year to start rock and so the amount of sales tax revenue that is generated by people who don't even
063live in Las And so if we're able to capture some of that, um I I think there's a positive upside to that. >> So Lee County does have it. >> Correct. >> And we get a significant check every year. I mean significant considering the volume of kids we have from Lee count like the per pupil amount I guess if you were able to multiply that times all of our students would be a significant number. >> Oh, most certainly. And so we have I don't know what the number is 80 kids from Lee County give or take. And what do we get? 75,000 50 75,000 a year from those kids. >> 6,000 a month. >> Yeah. So, um, so the, uh, I think the numbers are, uh, and it was in the materials that I sent
064out, and for us in Lasal County, it would be about a million dollars, you know, and if we were to if we were to say even if we were to say, you know, the one of the things that as as the superintendents in Las County that we're looking at right now is to actually come up what that number is. How much sales tax is generated by non- Lasowl County residents, right? And so even if we said look if the if the number is 60% 60% of the funds are generated from people who don't live in Lasowl County if even if we say the 40% that we're collecting from Las County residents we're going to use to evade bonds it's still $600,000 that we're ahead. Um you know if we there there are there there are
065lots of positives to it. Um What are the negatives? >> The negatives is it's another penny on your sales tax. >> But I think it's important to note it's not on everything. So it's not on medicine, it's not on doctor's appointments, it's not on groceries, it's not on utilities, it's not on things. It's we kind of we kind of refer this refer to this as like the entertainment tax. So it's if you go out to a movie or you go out for dinner, it's 1% added to your bill. So, yes, it's it's more, but it's like called the penny tax because for a dollar, it's a penny that goes in. And if you're if you're truly going out to eat or going bowling or doing something that's like entertainment above and beyond and not basic
066food, housing, um you know, medical related stuff, typically this the penny isn't noticed. And in counties where you have significant amount of travelers, it's huge because it does fun. And it also is important to note that it's based per pupil. It's not based on like which district is the biggest or the smallest. Whatever is collected countywide gets divided by every single student that goes to school within that county gets that same dollar amount. And it's a it's a revenue stream. At one point there was legislation in place where Illinois was going to put it everywhere, but then they were going to take all the state. Um, and since at least half of the counties do already have it, there was some significant lobbying to protect it from going to the state because the fear is
067we wouldn't get it back. We get it prorated back like everything else, >> Like everything else. Um, so I think the hardest part about getting this this passed in any county is the education around what it is taxed on and what it's not. Um and then unfortunately it's the wording when it has to go on the ballot is incredibly confusing when it goes on. >> So it is really hard to I think if if it's going to pass and the counties have seen it pass and it's a very coordinated approach educating every employee within your school district, every parent within your school district. If you get that full contingent to to consider it and you market it to your homeowners that the needs of the district are going to be met in a different way
068instead of passing more on property taxes. It can be very successful. It's just a matter of a lot of people automatically vote no on anything related to taxes. >> Well, and I think this Lee counties is significant because you think about what does Lee County have? They have Wood Haven. They have they have five campgrounds. You know what I mean? They have like Teresa was Teresa was saying they have they have a it's it's all the entertainment. >> So we at my other place then we we give a significant amount of money back because of what people spend. You know Brad probably spends a lot at at Wood Haven or you know I mean at the places in in Amboy that so gives it right back to Right. It's a matter of educating our homeowners
069to like people on tight income. They're like, I can't do another tax. It's not going to come on your groceries. It's not going to come on your medicine. It's not going to come on your gasoline for your car. None of that is included. There's a whole list of exemptions. It's truly like the the splurge. >> Is there a way to maybe like put it on a Facebook post explaining a little bit about it? >> Yeah. So, um, so the way a referendum would work, so the in order to get on the ballot, the boards, the school boards of schools representing 51% of the students um, in the county have to approve it. So, um, for I I think for years part of the, um, hesitancy in Las County is that Peru um, the city of
070Peru had their own 1% sales tax for for this reason. Um, well, that's rolling off the books next year. And so as that comes off the books then um the not only the school personnel but hope hopefully the residents of Peru would be inclined to put it back on. But when you have when you have a county if if the and every vote every vote matters but if you have pockets of Modo Lasal Peru Streeter or Ottawa that aren't in support of this then it becomes very problematic. Um so the so the school boards individually voted on and as soon as enough boards decide to do that then it goes on the ballot. Um and then once that happens then it's um there are certain things that schools can and cannot do and school personnel
071can and cannot do um with respect to supporting and encouraging people. Um I think that this is one of those things that um it's all about information and that's something that the school can always do, right? It's not a matter of saying go vote yes for this. It's a matter of saying this is exactly what this is, where it comes from, how it will be used by by our school district. And so that's something that we can always do. So yes, so the it's a long-winded way of saying most certainly it would be Facebook posts and town meetings. >> Who led that educational piece? Was that Bernard? So, this is um ever since I got here um at our at our regional meetings, which is mostly Lasowl County Superintendent, a little bureau, a little Putinham.
072Um I've been a huge advocate of this to to keep this in the foreground. Um, there are a couple of other area superintendent that that have been making sure that this, you know, stays a part of the conversation. And so, uh, so Bernardi Securities, we use Kevin. Um, I think we're the only school in Las County that uses Kevin. Um, and but that's because I've always had a relationship with him. Um, John Vizetti does all the schools uh in Lasal County. And so um I was at a meeting recently where where we asked as a superintendent group, we asked John and um Kyle Harding who's from Chapman Cutler. They're the basically the law firm that's behind every bond issue. So whenever we sell bonds, we have to have all of the process and oversight approved
073by Chapman. Um so they were at a recent meeting um of ours and that's that was the I copied and sent to you. >> And John is a graduate of Peru and lives in Peru. Um and dad used to be on the school board. >> Yeah. And I think his dad is was a banker. Yeah. >> Financial at least in the financial. >> Yeah. So John is very invested in it being that um he's very tied to the crew. >> So as far as like what Jenny was saying with then like the educational piece, will there be like a a committee or is there like a somebody stepping into sort of like a proono consulting role or somebody is going to help to try to organize. >> Most most certainly most certainly and um again
074there there'll be two sides to it. There'll be anformational piece that will be led by um school leaders and then those school leaders will then provide information to and help a community group that would that would be able to you know actually that kind of thing. >> A teachers union is independent of the school and could choose to endorse a referendum >> certainly >> and its members could choose to put financial backing behind it if they wanted to or time or effort but true like not at work, not on employee time, not district level. >> Correct. Correct. >> Staff. >> Yep. So um >> you got like straw interest at this point. >> Yeah. So most definitely. So one of the things that um you know as the Lasowl County superintendent we have currently have
075a um you know a shared uh Google doc that says would your board support this? Right. And two years ago I we had this conversation and I was able to say yes my board would support this. So, I just need that straw pull just to be able to say, "Yep, when we start tallying where everybody is, 289 is ready to go." >> Conversations with they discussed it. >> I don't think they've discussed it as a board yet. >> Question is, is Ottawa LP Streeter on board with this idea? >> I mean, when you talk about student populations, those that's where it's concentrated. >> Yep. Y and >> and do you have any feeling how they how those superintendent feel? >> Yeah, I think from from my conversations, my perception, most of those that you just
076indicated are ready to go for this. >> Why do you think this time? >> I think the big part of it is the fact that the 1% that was specific to Peru is rolling off. >> Um I think of that. So, so if you say that or eight or nine kind of larger districts in the county. Um, if I if I had to kind of in my head look at it, I would say that at least six or seven of them are would be very much in support of this and the others would be more non-committal. They wouldn't be like no or not. It just would be another board would >> right >> and even looking at those bottom four that are smaller, it would be be a no-brainer for them to say no. would
077benefit them. You know those ones with the under 100 students that we know a couple of those districts like it would be a no-brainer for them to say no money district. >> Yeah. And it's, you know, if if you have the conversation both at the board level and at the community level, um, and people really understand that, you know, if a if a a board could very easily say, "We're only we're only going to spend the money that we know is not Lasowl County money." and and that that is we're going to abate on your property taxes. I don't know how you I don't know how you could say no to that. If I if I'm going to get my property taxes lowered by money that's coming from the suburbs, okay? You know, as long
078as as long as you people really understand the the the way it works. Um even even a school district of 100 with you look like a hero to get it passed because you'd be lowering your property taxes. >> Or you look at it the other I mean we don't have to do that. >> No. >> So you look at it too of what what was our needs list for the next five years. When we looked at that it was that we know we can't do all those things because we can't pass that burden of the cost on to homeowners. But could we do things? Could we update? Right. Are there things that we could do for our kids for um you know mental health supports for obviously our facilities are we have some facility needs
079in every building and is there an opportunity to do things to make significant change in the daily experience for kids? I think it would be time to weigh that out. If you ask an average homeowner like if the if the potential going down is only going to benefit somebody, you know, $12 a month or could we do these many millions of dollars of work overtime to the district and have this significant impact if we could let our community kind of help inform some of that. But >> incredible. I've never seen a downside. To answer your question a while ago, it's just a matter of understanding. >> So is is there do I have a straw pole support nodding heads of >> Okay, that's that's that's the conversation I need. Thank you. >> Love it. >>
080Pleasure. >> Anything else? >> We are North Brook next month, >> correct? We have a motion to 7:40. Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you. >> We have to give this back, right? >> No, that's yours. >> I thought we had to give this back. >> No names. Doesn't matter. Open.