001[Music] We are a destination cafe and we offer craft food and beverages, meaning we make everything fresh on site when you order. And all of our food and our beverages are prepared and served by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And then lastly, just say the name. Tom. Here you go. Enjoy. My favorite part of working at Dear Cafe is definitely interacting with friends I've met throughout the years and the expressing machine. My co-founder Amy Philpot and I opened Jerry's Cafe for job opportunities and staggering statistic tells us that 80% of adults with disabilities are unemployed. I believe differently and this is the place where our employees can work and feel proud and contribute and can see that they have value and purpose and they are given the responsibility that anyone would be given in
002a job. and we expect nothing less than them to perform at their highest level. So, we see great success in every single employee and their independence and their offerings and activities here at Jerry's [Music] Cafe. The large hot white chocolate pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It is to die for. It is delicious. It's amazing. Well, the uh favorite part of uh working here is that I I get to serve customers. I am a cashier. They understand to include people with us with exceptionalities. I wanted to tell you I've been watching you today. You're really good at your job. You've been doing I always I always like to serve customers. Customers go first. We are super proud of our partnership with District 214. District 214 has been a supporter from the very beginning of our foundation
003and several of the schools have done fundraising and helped us get our doors open to Jerry's Cafe. Proudly we have 12 or 13 graduates from the district 214 schools who will work at Jerry's Cafe as our active employees. This is where we do our salar prep. This is where we make all the salads. And then over here is the sandwich line. This is where we make all of our sandwiches. I have worked here since day one. I love it here. I love my supportive team members and I like serving customers. Here is one chicken Mediterranean trip salad. We know that our community members have lots of choices, but we're hoping that you will come and choose Jerry's Cafe. Thank you. When you come inside and engage with our employees, you feel a sense of joy
004and you will start your day feeling the best way that you can with a joyful heart and knowing that Jerry's Cafe has provided you with delicious coffee, breakfast or lunch. [Music] Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. All right, welcome to our 55th year of putting together an incredible community service project through our SOS class here at John Hershey High School. As you can see around me, it is organized chaos, but it is an incredible day for our students to serve our community by packaging and collecting food that's going to be going to local food pantries in our area to support those in need. We're really happy to be able to do the food drive here at Hersy because it really just brings the whole school together. And we are able to help
005our community and bring the energy with everyone here. All right, take it out. For the past, I would say about two months, we've been kind of working together with SOS, Junior Leaders, baseball, and we've all gathered together. We've done bag and tabs with 12 different communities, and we've all come together, and it's really amazing to see the turnout. And then later on, we're going to be visiting eight local food pantries, and it's really exciting. We're just thankful for everyone who's helped each other along the way. It's been really fun. It's a team effort, but it's been so fun. Prospect marching nights are heading to DC. [Music] We're in Washington DC. [Music] Prospect Marching Knights were invited to travel to Washington DC this year for Veterans Day. So, we're taking the band out um to our
006nation's capital. We're going to do some great tours of some of the monuments and the museums and a lot of the sites of DC. Um, but it all culminates with performances on Veterans Day. Um, so we've been working really hard to prepare and we're so excited for our students to have this opportunity. Throughout the trip, we had a few opportunities uh where veterans would actually see our group of students out out and about and spoke to our students. Um, so in addition to uh touring these places, our students were able to actually interact with a number of veterans over the course of the trip, which kind of made everything a little more real and genuine and authentic. So, our first day in DC was really impactful and gave our students sort of a big picture
007overview of the city and some of the history and really set the stage for our performance day coming up. [Music] So on Veterans Day, our morning started off with a performance at the Lincoln Memorial. There we were right on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial facing the Washington Monument. Just a really special opportunity for our students to have a a really great place to perform. It was an honor to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with the PMK where so much of America's history has taken place. The experience was very impactful for me. It was a unique opportunity that I have never had before and it was something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. One of our students, Emily Pollock, was also asked to deliver a speech at the
008Lincoln Memorial. I've always wanted to help people, so I'm going to serve my country. More specifically, I want to become an officer in the military. Her speech was really wonderful and got a really great reception at the event. In fact, after the event was over, I had a number of veterans come track me down to tell me how great her speech was. And actually, they wanted to meet her and take pictures with her because they were so moved by what she had to say. My father served in the Navy and so he instilled in me like the value of um serving and like caring for our veterans and those who serve us. And so being able to thank them today and um place medals around their and welcome them home was really impactful for me
009as well. [Music] It was an honor to play at the World War II memorial today. It was such an honor because music is a way to share emotions without using words. Our performances in DC got a lot of really good responses. Um, one of them, a story was told to me by one of our chaperones that there was literally um, a Marine veteran who was at a performance at the Ewima Memorial who was literally in tears watching the performance and just expressed to our chaperon how much it meant to him that this group of teenagers from from the Chicago area had come out there and was was performing. Um, and he was just really moved by it and uh, I thought that was just a really neat neat story to hear coming out of the
010the performance. So any trip like this uh takes a lot of time and energy to put together. I feel really fortunate that our school was very supportive of this endeavor. We had a bunch of parents who traveled with us and did anything they could to make this a great experience for our students. Um I'm so glad we were able to bring our students to DC. Uh Veterans Day seemed like a perfect time to bring them and uh it really just in the end I think the whole trip turned out really really great and I'm so happy we were able to make it happen. [Music] We're super excited to have the 911 never forget mobile exhibit here at Hercy High School. As the truck arrived, we had her parents out front with some patriotic balloons. We
011had her students lining the the sidewalks. We had some, you know, many American flags like they would show on the honor flights. The spirit was high. Good morning. and I'd like to welcome you to the Stevensilla Tunnel Towers Mobile Exhibit. We have a 5050 50-foot trailer approximately 1100 square ft exhibit. We travel our nation to commemorate the brave sacrifice of the firefighters, police officers that gave their life that day in the greatest rescue and recovery effort in our nation's history. The reason we're here is at Hershey High School to come educate our youth life day we've ever had. It was also the large largest rescue we've ever had as well. But just all the good that has come from that tragic day. And they're they're going to learn things that they they can't read about.
012Uh they're going to hear stories that some have never been told. Some have been told many times. Steven Silla was uh one of the 343 firefighters that died that morning. He was getting off duty that morning. He was going to play golf with his older brothers. Heard the plane strike. Heard all the news that the plane struck the building. Turned around, drove back to his firehouse, Squad One located in downtown Brooklyn. They had already been dispatched to the disaster. He got his gear, drove his own truck to the Brooklyn battery tunnel where he dawned 60 pounds of gear, ran 2 and a half miles through the tunnel, mustered up with the rest of the firefighters, and gave his life that day, honoring his oath that he took to protect life and property. So this is
013about remembering. So we want people to remember obviously for adults to remember and for the kids to learn. So we don't want this forgotten. It's not taught in most schools in in America and they have the privilege of talking to people who are there. You know, we can't talk to people who were in the Civil War or these other moments in American history, but they can. That idea is pretty special. Thanks for having us. And this means more to us than you. This means a lot to these kids. And these kids have been great. They're very respectful. They listen. It's uh it's nice to it's nice to see a special thanks especially the FDNY crew to the SL foundation to solders journey home to District 214 to all of Hersy. I I'm grateful for everybody.
014A special shout out to Bill Dustin for the for the magic spirit. Special shout out to Chief Harris Arlington Height Police. The coolest part about this project was there's like a whole bunch of people that were on it and did it. It wouldn't have happened without a whole bunch of people. The list is just too long. And to me that's that's actually a good thing to celebrate. [Music] This is the uh Rolling Meadows band alumni event. So, we decided to uh get the band back together. This year being the 40th anniversary of the Jazz and Meadows Festival. So, it was kind of an opportunity to, hey, can we bring people back at homecoming? I had talked to some of the previous band directors. That's Len King in the 70s, 80s, early 90s. We have Bill
015Jastro and David Bogs from the 90s. And then of course Chris Booty, who retired several years ago. Those people set the foundation for everything that we have here. I I'd have paid money to be here today. I really would have. It's is one of those things that I I paid money to be. This is the banner where your closest friends were really at in high school. So, you're with your closest friends and regrouping after 40ome years and going, "Holy cow, Mr. King is the reason why I'm here today. Not just at the school, but what I do in in life. I owe everything to Mr. King. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have gone to college. And if I hadn't gone to college, who knows what I would be doing, you know, some of
016the stuff that we we're doing right now is like we never stopped doing it, you know. You know, just to be around these guys again and just hanging out. 40 years seems like a long time, but it seems like it's kind of a short time, too. You know, this is fantastic. I mean, I I knew it was going to be good, but not this good. 52 of my actual students are in this group. I get a lot of feedback from them telling me how much they they enjoyed the music program with me and how they appreciate music for for their life. That's really special because to know that they are still thinking about me and what what we did here. It's it's just very satisfying. Well, I flew back and I'm glad I did, you
017know, especially to see Mr. King. He meant a lot to us. He just brought in the jazz and I mean, we had world class, you know, experience that kids never would have had, you know, a real depth of of exposure to great music because he was entertain. So glad I got to see her. It's so fun to be back though. I love it. My family's here. They're so excited. So is my family. Yeah, my son's here. My husband's here. So really great. If you are on the fence of coming, whether it's debating about whether to come or not, you should definitely come next time. It feels like a long time ago, but in some ways like you never left. Like I'm like, "Okay, we're going to go march over to the stadium." Good evening. This
018is uh the business meeting of Township High School District 214 Board of Education for May 29th, 2025. Miss Keys, could you please call the role? Waldino here. Dustling here. Fido here. Heinaman present. Seager here. Cryer present. And Chong, we have a quorum. Thank you. Could everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance 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. Uh, next is the approval of the agenda. Does anyone wish to remove any items from the consent agenda? Hearing none. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. There's been a motion in a second. Please call the role. Burrito. Yes. Heinaman. I. Baldino. I. Dustling.
019Yes. Sager. I. And Citer. I motion carries 6. Thank you. Next on the agenda is approval of the minutes from the open and closed meeting of May the 8th, 2025. A motion and a second, please. So moved. Second. Please call the roll. Veroid. Yes. Baldino. Yes. Dustling. Yes. Heinaman. I. Sager. I. Ander. I. Motion carries 6. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is uh uh board recognition. And if I could ask uh those here who are being recognized tonight and family members if you could when you got the award if you could please just stay till the end because we have some very special comments for you. Mr. Mgi uh thank you. Uh tonight uh we recognize Nicholas Associates for their valuable support of our internship program. Uh board president Kitzer and board member
020Dustling, please join me for partner recognition as well as Dr. Row. I would also like to invite Nicholas and Associates Director of Human Resources Chris Cotney to come forward. Nicholas and Associates has made a meaningful impact on District 214 students in a short time. Since joining us in summer 2024, they have welcomed interns across a range of fields including architecture, interior design, and sports marketing. Sports marketing interns have worked at the Nicholas Sportslex, mentored by Jared Van Hton, an Elgrove High School graduate and former Nicholas intern himself. Interior design interns have gained real world experience at Gold and Oak, a boutique owned and operated by the Nicholas family. In addition to hosting interns, the firm has supported the district's skilled trades fair, encouraging students exploring careers in the building trades. We are grateful for the
021commitment Nicholas and Associates has shown to our students. The partnership helps shapes meaningful career pathways and strengthens our broader community. Thank you, Chris, and your entire team at Nicholas and Associates. Thanks, Thank you. We'll now move to student recognition. Uh will our College Board National Recognition Program scholars please uh come up to be recognized? Uh the College Board National Recognition Program recognizes outstanding students in five national recognition programs which include the National African-American Recognition Program, National First Generation Recognition Program, National Hispanic Recognition Program, National Indigenous Recognition Program, and National Rural and Smalltown Recognition Program. Students are considered for this recognition if their GPA is 3.5 or higher and they score in the top 10% of the state on the PSAT or earn a score of three or higher on two or more AP exams by
022their senior year. Uh last month we recognized several of our schools for their achievements. This evening we're proud to recognize the following schools from Buffalo Grove High School. You'll be up first. Estabban Agira Garcia, please come on over. Oh, sorry. Apologize for that. Edwin Alvino Salgado, AJ B. Jordan, Diego Damian. All right. Marina Katoka, Maya Limos, Olivia Teodoric Katherine Velasquez, Chris Chi, Joe Igna, Jonathan Rivera Manzo, Jordan Serrano, Anna Velasco, and Maddox Watson could not be here this evening. We're going to take a school photo. [Applause] We do have one more student from B Grove, Estabban Agira Garcia. Is that correct? Come on over Estan. Thank you. Oops. [Applause] unable to attend from El Grove is Aryan Patel. uh from Rowing Meadows High School uh Michaela Kerion, Thomas Daly, James Davis, Damian Galler, Aiden Laguna,
023Alina Petrono, Emily Kirros, Armando Seagura and Kenneth Tran unable to attend are Benjamin Bazo, Erinette Kamacho, Karine Love, Avi Patel, and Oscar Zalooki. Congratulations to our College Board National Recognition Program Scholars. [Applause] Will Dr. David Scheler, please join us up front for recognition of the Dr. David R. Schuler Redefining Ready Scholarship recipients. The Dr. David R. Scheler redefining Ready Scholarship Awards multiple scholarships to graduating seniors across the district annually for post-secary education. The scholarship is named after former District 214 Superintendent Dr. David R. Schuler. To celebrate Dr. Schuler's impact and long-standing commitment to the students of District 214. Dr. Schuler was instrumental in implementing and believing in the redefining model within District 214. The recipients of the scholarship must restraate college, career, and life readiness beyond a test score and uh and high school. Each
024applicant took the time to craft a 30 secondond video detailing how they are college, career, and life ready beyond a test score. The scholarship is in line with district 214's redefining ready initiative, which empowers students to demonstrate readiness using factors beyond scores on standardized tests. This scholarship is funded graciously by generous donations and donors through the District 214 Education Foundation. I'd like to now invite Dr. Schuler to say a few words. Thank you, Mr. Maggi. I would just like to say uh thank you to everybody in the entire 214 community, the board of education, principles, senior leadership, and teachers, students, families for believing in the work. We're preparing kids for jobs that don't exist in this everchanging global economy. We have to prepare our kids for something beyond just being able to take a test.
025And you all joined us on that journey as an entire community to believe in that work. And it was awesome seeing the recognition of Nicholas tonight to continue to celebrate our business partners because we couldn't do it without the entire community coming together. So I just want to thank everybody for believing in the work and continuing the work. Thank you very much, Madam President and Superintendent Ro. Thank you, Dr. Shuling. from Buffalo Grove High School. An [Applause] Vargis, Elkrove High School. Allison Dstrom, unable to attend from Elgrove. Emily [Applause] Schnitzer from John Hersy High School. Amiran [Applause] Tahani from Prospect High School. Lucille Newman. And unable to attend is Alex Martinez from Prospect. from Rolling Meadows High School. Kate Foley. Congratulations Janna [Applause] Ptoello, Jonathan [Applause] Sroka from Wheeling High School. Sandra Papa We'll take
026a group. There you go. [Applause] Will David Kalish please join us up front for recognition of the Richard W. Kalish Arts Unlimited Awards. Each year the Richard W. Kalish Arts Unlimited Award is presented to the high school senior at each school who best exemplifies creative excellence in the arts. This award is District 214's way of honoring Mr. Kalish's spirited commitment to and support of the fine and performing arts programs. We as a teacher in district 214, a career that spanned more than 40 year 30 years. This year the uh Kish committee is proud to recognize one outstanding student from each of the six high schools. Mr. Mr. D David Kalish, son of Richard Kalis will join us in presenting this award from Buffalo Grove High School. Michael Morrison. Mikey's dedication to the arts at Buffalo
027Grove High School over the past four years has been nothing short of exemplary. Mikey's journey began as a trumpet player in the band program, which quickly led him to play for the vocal jazz combo. In 2023, Mikey was named a BG Golden Bison for his participation in band, choir, and orchestra. As a senior, he has grown into a suburb leader in all three disciplines. He also has a passion for the theater, dedicating most of his spare time away from music to building every set and running every show, even making a guest appearance on stage in emergencies. Congratulations, Mikey. [Applause] uh from Elgroveve High School, Emily Fiorino. Emily is an exceptionally talented and dedicated student whose contributions to the arts community at Elgroveve High School are outstanding. A highly skilled French horn player, she enriches performances
028in the symphonic band, and Symphony Orchestra, earning positions in the District 214 Honors Band, Honors Orchestra, ILMEA District 7 Band, and ILMA Allstate Band. Her versatility extends to jazz where she excels as a jazz trumpet player in the school's jazz band and the ILMEA District 7 jazz ensemble. As drum major of the marching band and a lead actress in musical theater productions for three years, Emmy Emily demonstrates exceptional leaders, musicianship, and stage personship. Stage presence. Congratulations, Emily. from John Hershey High School, Abigail Homaly. Aby's talent, dedication, and leadership make her an exemplary representative of the arts at John Hershey High School. A cornerstone of the theater program, she brings confidence and passion to the stage, shining in performance roles like Sandy and Greece and in leadership positions such as director for 1X and dance and
029captain in Tuck Everlasting. As a drum major, band president, and teachers assistant, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication to the band program. Her artistic excellence is further reflected in numerous accolades, including first place in 2D at the 2024 and 2022 Harper Art Shows and an honorable mention in 3D in 2023. Aby's creativity and thoughtfulness have made her a distinguished member of the Hershey art community. Congratulations, Abby. from Prospect High School, Maggie ShraMM. Maggie has truly embodied the spirit of a Renaissance artist, immersing herself in nearly every facet of the arts for the past four years. From her early days in marching band, concert band, and freshman choir to performing in productions like She Kills Monsters and All Shook Up, she quickly became a dynamic force in the Prospect High School arts community. Balancing performances
030on stage, in the pit, and behind the scenes. Maggie has excelled as drum major, lent her voice to honors choir, ac capella, and magicals, and play in the symphonic band and orchestra. Her artistic flare extends to art club, graphic design club, and even crochet club, showcasing her boundless creativity. Congratulations, Maggie from Rolling Meadows High School. Michaela Sios. Michaela is a four-year member of the art, music, and theater programs at Rolling Meadows High School. An accomplished visual artist, her work has been featured in the Harper Art Show, D214 spring art show, Arts Unlimited Reception, Art Expo, and Illinois High School Art Exhibition. She's an active member of symphonic band, marching band, and jazz band, including the inaugural women in jazz ensemble. Michaela has also been a cast and tech crew member of numerous Meadows Theater production
031since her freshman year. Congratulations, Michaela. from Wheeling High School. Jonathan Salgado, I believe, cannot be here this evening. Uh, but Johnny exemplifies exceptional talent, dedication, and creativity in the arts at Wheeling High School. A vital force across vocal, orchestra, theater, tech, WCAT live, musicals, and mariachi, his artistic impact is wide raging and deeply felt. As a member of the inaugural mariachi honors ensemble, Johnny continues to demonstrate musical excellence at a high level. His leadership, passion, and collaborative spirit have made a lasting impression on the fine arts community where he stands out as a dynamic and inspiring presence. Congratulations to all award winners. There we [Applause] We do have one student from Buffalo Grove who just arrived that we'd like to recognize for the college board national recognition program. Uh AJ B Jordane, if you would
032please join us. [Applause] What a great thing. What a super thing to recognize students. Tonight we recognized uh students achievement in the college board national recognition program, the Dr. Schuler redefining ready scholarship candidates and the scholarship recipients. We're fortunate to have Dr. Scheler here to present the scholarships. Um it's good to see him, good to welcome him back and certainly good to uh to have him give out the scholarships. Thank you. We also recognized and considered those for the Richard Kalish Arts Unlimited Award. Uh the recipients of the award were presented by uh his son David Kish and he's been here every year to present the award. He's also retiring this year. So congratulations to you. We'll look we'll look to see you have back next year, please. It is always uh rewarding and certainly
033amazing to hear about the student success that we hear about at these board meetings. Their accomplishments and to have them at the boarding meeting to be recognized is certainly great. We're all we're all very proud of you. Thank you to the school staffs for being such wonderful mentors and guides to the students. Uh you certainly take them to great heights. Thank you. As a tradition, after we recognize the students for their accomplishments at a board meeting, we want to take time to recognize the students and families that are here. And would you please stand up so we can give you a round of applause? Students and family, please. Uh we hope you all enjoy the summer. We're going to go on at the meeting now, but we can wait a few minutes if you'd like
034to leave, but if you want to stay because it gets very interesting. [Applause] We are going to continue with our meeting. Thank you audience. We're going to continue with our meeting. Thank you audience. There's somebody. Okay. Next on the agenda is public comments. And I do have one person that has signed up. And before I call that person up, let me read this, please. The board of education and the district value comments from the community and our meetings as well as emails. We appreciate everyone's appearing before the board and treat all with courtesy and respect. The board of education asked each person to please limit all their comments to three minutes. However, several people want to address the board on similar topics. The board president may limit the time to two minutes per person. The
035public comments agenda the public comments agenda item will only be the time that the board of education will hear public comments during meetings. Although comments may be made by almost any matter related to the operation of schools, comments will not be allowed identifying individual students or staff members. As this is the board of education business meeting, the board practice is not to respond to public questions or comments at this time because it is not an open-ended forum. However, we do listen carefully. If requested, a written response will be provided. Please ensure that Miss Keys, thank you, has your full name and address on the signup sheet. To be fair and consistent to all addressing the board, the same protocols and procedures must be in place for everyone. The green light indicates your time has started.
036The yellow indicates 30 seconds remaining and the red light indicates three minutes have expired. Please come forward to the microphone and clearly state your name for the minutes. Mr. Tim Burns, please. Burns. And my goal for this evening is to officially put the board and superintendent on notice regarding a matter of concern within your fine arts programs. The issue is with the myth that is being perpetuated by faculty, staff, and administration at certain schools that in order to enroll in some academic courses within the fine arts curriculum that you must pay a private parent music boost organization recognized under board policy 8.9 a participations fee for the privilege of enrolling in these courses. The central issue continues to be that the district has not bifurcated what are the actual academic required activities and what are
037the optional activities associated with these courses but has supplanted everything onto the backs of parent music boost organizations. I have said on numerous occasions that the district itself may collect any fee that it needs to and choose to remit these fees to the music boost organizations, but that there is no legal basis to insist that a parent pay a private music boost organization to enroll in what is clearly an academic class. This practice must stop and the message from the superintendent downward must be that all boost organizations recognized under board policy 8.9 are entirely voluntary. This is not a problem in some of your buildings where fundraising is plentiful and parents are confident in their ability to raise money. In these buildings, the music boosters are already orientated towards a voluntary contribution framework and the
038contributions of parents are generally considered taxdeductible donations to charitable organizations. In some of the buildings where fundraising issue is an issue and where parents are slinging hot dogs to make chump change, the boosters and some staff have resorted to telling parents that if you are enrolled in specific classes that they must pay the boosters a required fee. The mafia has a very similar operating operating philosophy in terms of protection fees. This is problematic for many reasons. The first is that this is potentially discriminatory because many students from lower income and minority backgrounds are dependent upon fee waivers to access the curriculum and the language in the participation fee states and is clear that fee wavers are not accepted. This serves as a barrier for lower income minority students and effectively serves to keep your music
039programs lily white and middle and upper class. Additionally, anything that is listed as a fee or a mandatory fee that is associated with an academic course is not going to be taxdeductible as a charitable donation. Additionally, as this is a fee associated with an academic course, it if it were paid to the district, it would be considered applicable to towards an educational tax credit, but because it is payable to the boosters, it is not uh it is not accepted as an educational tax credit. If push comes to shove, the music boosters will be in an uncomfortable position having to explain to state and federal agencies why they're in possession of fees associated with academic courses, which is contrary to the laws governing such organizations at the state and federal level. I ask the superintendent and
040the board to ensure that all recognized music booster organizations are entirely voluntary and that any and all district 214 staff members cease and desist any perpetuation of the myth that a family must pay a music booster organization for the ability to fulfill academic requirements associated with the fine arts curriculum. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Burns. No one else has uh signed up and we'll move along to superintendent report. Dr. Ro. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Quitzer. Um, I I have uh two items tonight that I'd like to uh to to highlight. Uh a quick a quick hitter and then a reflection on the school year from a student perspective. Uh start this evening. As you all know, we were forced uh to relocate our graduation ceremonies last week indoors. Uh while the decision was necessary,
041uh it accentuated the need for us to review whether or not uh holding our ceremony on our campuses outdoors is best for our students and families. So since then, we have reviewed opportunities for shifting our ceremonies to an arena style venue outside the district. Uh we discussed this with our principles this week uh and continue to evaluate the best option for the district. Um potentially being being a recommendation in June depending on how uh cost and opportunities come our way. Uh we're still finalizing that. I wanted to share our plans with you. Um limiting tickets to attend a ceremony is the last thing that we want to do and I believe it's time that we evaluate our options. So I hope to have additional information for you next month or at least an update. All
042right, my second item is much more rosy. We uh as tomorrow is our last day, um I wanted to take a moment and just reflect on another successful school year in District 214. Um, our students continued to raise the bar across all six of our comprehensive high schools and have tremendous experiences uh in our specialized school as well. Um, just some some of the highlights that I I we've heard about in in small snippets throughout the year and certainly I've communicated with you. Um, we either through social media or in my weekly updates. Um, but just to highlight some Prospect High School students were finalists in the NASA app development challenge and visited Johnson Space Center. Hershey hosted another standout hackathon bringing together over 70 students from across the district and surrounding suburbs. Rolling Meadows
043students walked away walked the runway at Macy's for a fashion focused career partnership. Three students won prestigious QuestBridge scholarships from Wheeling High School, which is out of this world. Elkrove auto program continues to create a direct pipeline for students in the local auto industry. Hershey High School was a blue ribbon school. All of our high schools were recognized in the AP honor role. We launched our first finance and investing competition at Forest View, bringing together students from every school to test their skills in real time market simulations. Our startup showcase featured a winning team from Prospect that found themselves on CBS 2 Chicago. Uh later that week, Wild Sting celebrated their 30th anniversary is preparing for the the world competition or national competition in uh world competition in Houston. And Rolling Meadows finally beat Elkrove
044in the cereal bowl. Sorry, Dr. Kelly. Collectively contributing thousands of cereal boxes to the Elkrove Township Food Pantry. Uh the grand opening of Golden Isles Veterans Village in Brunswick, Georgia featured tiny homes from a community center built by District 214 students to provide safe space for veterans to get spaces and support they need. And our robots battled it out at the robot rumble. Um and finally, a Buffalo Grove educator, Mr. Pete Duffer was named Chicago classroom legend by the Bears uh and and and his principal, Mr. Wle in the audience tonight was recognized as North Coat's principal of the year. And that's just on the academic side of the house. We head over to career pathways and real world learning. Uh regardless of the pathways, district 214 has solidified itself as a national leader in
045college and career pathways, providing students with valuable insights, as we all know. But a statistic that I think is worth uh recognizing in the class of 2024, the district received 844 career pathway endorsements that attributed to 35% of those awarded across the entire state of Illinois. We have high expectations that we will surpass that number and hope that the class of 2025 um you know beats that that number of endorsements and we're hopeful that they do and we continue to uh to spread that good opportunity for our students. Now, as you also recall, um, Miss Foley was here and we were recognized and invited to the White House, uh, because of the connection that that she made in Roland Meadows a couple years ago when the first lady Joe Biden visited because of the career
046pathway program. Uh, we were one of only two public K12 school districts that were invited to the White House to be part of that summit, something we're very, very proud of. Uh, on the arts and athletics and student life side of the house, our prospect musicians told a powerful story of a young cancer survivor through their original music. Hershey's band was one of five US high school bands that met the high standards required to perform at the Midwest Clinic in the Symphony Center that drew 18,000 people from across the United States and 40 countries. Prospect Marching Knights were invited to perform at the World War II memorial on Veterans Day in Washington DC. The 56 Chicagoland Marching Band Festival is held at Wheeling. And if you didn't catch the Wheeling Trio play the national anthem,
047uh you're in for a treat. Please go do so. I still get chills listening to that. Uh we also continue to celebrate student voice in the annual arts unlimited recognition reception. Elkroves softball coach Ken Grahams became the winningest softball coach in Illinois state history. Wheeling's mariachi program brought pride to school joy uh and continues to get invitations to play uh graduation parties and summer events uh in the community. Our athletes secured top finishes in bowling, cheer, track, track and field, wrestling, and more. Don't forget that Hershey state soccer championship in the fall. And we had our inaugural flag football season. Buffalo Grove and Hershey made deep runs in the playoffs. And it's such a fun event for our female athletes in the fall. Um, and just to to wrap it up, you know, the student
048experience across our district is something special. And these events, in addition to the outstanding instruction that are provided by our phenomenal staff, um, made for another exceptional year. There is so much more I could have shared with you tonight, but I wanted to just focus it on the students. Uh maybe there'll be a little bit more in June as we cap off some of the accomplishment the district made and the behind-the-scenes work on the administrative side uh next month. But as tomorrow's the last day of of the school year, I wanted to focus on the students and and wish them well as they head into summer um and and just accentuate a tremendous school year. So, Thank you, Dr. Ro. Uh, board member updates. Mr. Dustling, would you like to start? Sure. I probably talked
049enough tonight, but I'll talk again. Um, I was at the Wheeling uh, graduation uh, and I was amazed uh, on the front of their graduation paperwork. This was the 60th year commencement at that school. I mean, it's hard to believe that it's been 60 years. Absolutely. The other thing, um, I talked with Dr. Hubard. Uh because I was going to be at the uh graduation. Uh previous years I got tired of coming up with address for uh the students. It's all about the students and it's all about staff and it's all about the parents. So I talked with Brad and I said uh you know um all I'm going to do is accept the class. So I gave uh a 30 less than a 30 second acceptance to the class. And the amazing thing was
050after the graduation, a teacher came up to me and said, "Thank you so much for not speaking." So anyway, it was great. Uh with the mariachi band was mentioned. It was a great graduation. We did it inside. Everybody stayed dry and I heard nobody screaming and hollering because they didn't get tickets. So it was amazing. Thanks. Uh thank you, Mr. Dustling. Mr. Um yeah, so uh like all school districts, uh every now and then we have our hiccups, but uh our hiccups pale in comparison to what we've seen over specifically the last school year, but for a board member, the last six to eight weeks has just been a roller coaster of positiveness. Um whether it's the vocational program student recognition, the bilingual excellence awards, the youth apprentices recognition, the salute to staff awards, all
051the graduation ceremonies that we attended, which is the ultimate high as a board member for all the the garbage we sometimes put up with to give a a kid a diploma. It doesn't have to be your kid, anybody's kid, but it is the ultimate high as a board member to shake that kid's hand and hand them a diploma. Um, not to mention the uh the parent organizations as well. We talk about our students, but I've had the pleasure of attending the four parent organizations. The Rolling Meadows quarterly parent meeting, which has always been great. Great job, Meg. Um, Mr. Paul Kelly in the Elkrove PTC, very positive group. Jeff Wardle, your um, Buffalo Grove Parent Associations was my first one I ever went to as a D214 board member, and I just enjoy listening to
052these people. Very positive as well. And last but not least, the guy who really uh keeps all the ladies in the Hershey PTA on their toes with uh just, you know, questions that he throws out there and and just giving a lot of information that clearly the parents really appreciate. So to you gentlemen, I'm sorry I didn't get to a lot of the spur clubs this year, uh Brad, but um to the principles for leading these parent organizations and helping uh provide the information. That's really what a lot of these people go to. And there's been a lot of um stuff that's come out of them, too. I think the the freshman programs that we're putting together for parents that are newbies and come into these schools without, you know, knowing really what to expect
053or what to do. And we're doing that that in all of our schools. It just shows how we can, you know, transition from one thing to the other and just keep it going. So, like I said, these last six weeks as a board member, as a stakeholder, as a parent, as a student, as a a staff member, if if you couldn't find any joy or excitement or just positive and in any of these events, and I I really don't know where you've been, it's just been uh a great roller coaster of positive emotion for these last six weeks. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Mr. Heindman. Uh I got quite a number of things uh going all the way back to math collaboration uh between the middle schools and high schools. Um I was able to
054attend most of those meetings um that enhance and coordinate the students mathematics learning. Uh talked to a number of teachers both from the middle schools and from the high schools and their only regret was that they weren't with their students. So I don't think that's anything negative about the class. They recognized the importance of coordinating the middle school and high school math curriculum and uh yeah they're dedicated teachers that would prefer to be with their students. Um there was a college fair had to park blocks away. I came in the back way and I luckily found an unlocked door and kind of snuck in. But I but I snuck into a um wild staying robotics um workshop uh that they were working on and I got a very private tour of all of the things
055those stupid robots can do. Stupid's not the right word. Um magnificent. Yeah. um and really appreciate the engineering that's required to get those things done. Um they had QR readers and would operate um autonomously. Um and again 30 years um it's an awesome run. Also, I attended the high school ice hockey championships at the United Center. Um, with our Wheeling, Hershey, Buffalo Grove combined team. Um, it was back and forth and went to overtime as it was three to three in the third period. And, uh, sorry to say we lost four to three in that very exciting game. Um, but it was money extre extremely well spent. Um, it's a wonderful caliber of hockey that they play. Um, on the 25th of April, I attended the Disasters at Prospect High School Musical. Um, again, typical
056of what I expect from uh, high school musicals in this district. Um then the 27th I was able to run the Love Your Brain 5K at Prospect. Um disappointed there weren't more board members there, but um I had a really good time. Um personally invite us, Mark. Come on now. Well, we'll come 5K. I I get to walk, don't I? Yeah, there's a lot of walkers. Yeah. um attended several track meets that I have not attended in my previous life. Um and there was a boys invite held at Prospect that there must have been 20 or more teams there. I just was amazed at what a big track meet it was. And it's really impressive to see the pole vters and the sprinters and the distant runners and the um shot putters. Uh it's impressive.
057Those kids are in awesome shape. um also attended the Juliet Autobon for the Electraathon and the super super mileage event and that was fun and interesting. It's great to see the kids do so much on their own. Uh they do all the welding, all of the design. Um it's a blast. Uh let's see the vocational program awards was held at the Marriott Shamberg as a breakfast and again this that's been going on for 30 years. U very impressive. Um was able to attend BG teacher appreciation lunchon. Um and it was good to be with teachers one-on-one. Um it was wonderful. Um, AVID awards at Wheeling. Very impressive. Coffee with the principal at uh, Rolling Meadows. Um, was good to hear from um, parents. Um, attended the pack house practical, architectural, and construction. Um, open house
058uh, in Mount Prospect. Uh great to see what they have accomplished this year and they've got the house half done and they should be able to do the second half next year. Um Percy graduation was awesome. Um just amazing the difference in some of the handshakes. Some of them I feel like I can ring out my hand after shaking their hands and but most of them are very cool and collected. Um I attended safety meetings at BG Wheeling and Prospect. Um and got to have a really good facility tour of the new um fields at BG. Um everything's going good as far as safety goes. That's the end of my report. Thank you, Miss Maldino. Anything? I was at some of the same events that Mark was at. Um and I just wanted to comment
059especially on the Avid celebration at Wheeling High School which was such a wonderful event um attended by all these um beaming parents and family members um alumni some of whom also act as mentors in that program which is so incredible to see. Um the mentors invest a lot in those kids and hosted by all of the really wonderful teachers and staff at at Wheeling. That was um a really special evening and we got to hear the excellent mariachi band as well. So that was a really great celebration. and I attended the orchestra spring concert at um Rolling Meadows High School and I think one of the best moments was um watching the kids award give an award really of a plaque to um Kevin and Carol, their director and teacher. um and and really um
060the the emotional connection between the orchestra kids and and their their teacher was incredible to witness. Um I was also at the pack house um which is such an incredibly big project. It's much larger project than anything the district has taken on before. And so I thought that was really great to see. And I got to talk to some of the students, one of whom said that thing he was learned the most about is HVAC. And uh that was um he he was really proud of the work he had done. You could see how proud he was and his parents were with him um and they were really pleased with what kind of opportunities the district has provided with that type of a career path. And then um attending the specialized schools graduations, Vanguard Academy
061and the newcomers was um a very emotional and um wonderful celebration, especially hearing the teachers talk about each of the um newcomer graduates um and what some of those what some of those graduates have gone through in order to um achieve achieve so much. Uh it's just an incredibly inspiring event. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Singer. Okay, so the last few weeks have been about celebrating student accomplishments and growth throughout the years and also the connections that our staff have with our students. And so I I I attended the Elkrove High School band uh spring band and orchestra concerts. And um I saw that s same connection with Mr. Fiorito and Mrs. Brown and all the students who are the graduating seniors when they come out and they they they talk about their graduating seniors
062and you can see the seniors have such passion and such a connection to their their instructors and and those programs have brought them together and given them a way to express themselves and to learn and it it it was very uplifting. Mr. Fioro did an admirable job having one of the seniors be his senior and holding it together as a parent and still doing the program. Um, I also wanted to highlight that there was a a piece played called Sparkling Light that was actually commissioned by District 214 fine arts program um by David Gillingham. Uh, each of the high schools band programs had input into it and its world premiere was actually at Hersy back in December. Um, and each of the schools learned it and was going to play it as part of the
063the band programs throughout the year. And the cool thing is now it's open then other districts around the world can buy the rights to use that and it says commissioned by district 214 forever on it. Right. Um I attended uh a couple of the V shows. I did the Elcorf High School V show. I attended the Specialized School talent show virtually. I logged in online and I watched it and it was an amazing performance by the students. Excellent work by the MC's pulling everything together. I really appreciated. There was one student who did a run of pirate puns and so I would like to share one of those with you because it's very important to me that you hear it. Uh why do pirates have difficulty saying the alphabet? They often get lost at C.
064Such a good I I really appreciated that. And at the end the the newcomer staff performed a which was great. Again the the staff putting themselves out there for the students was was wonderful. Um, I attended the Wheeling AVID uh program as celebration, end of year celebration. Uh, I attended the Elkrove High School Fine Arts Award. Uh, one of our awardees tonight here received so many awards there that they required a box at some point to carry the number of awards that they had received. Um, and the another very impressive thing was the some of the art teachers had made awards that were 3D sculptures specific to each student that had to do with the project that they were working on. And so that's the dedication of the staff and the connection the staff to
065the students. Uh, I attended the pack house uh, open house, practical architectural construction. I wrote down the acronym as well um, in Mount Prospect. It was an amazing transformation when you see the before pictures and the after pictures. I spoke to some of the neighbors who lived across the street or Kitty Corner and they were very happy to see the the improvements and some of our municipal partners were there and we're very happy with our our our connection there. I attended the academy Vanguard and newcomer graduations and again that was a moment of celebrating our students, celebrating connections with the staff and and it was wonderful. Uh I attended the Prospect High School graduation. Uh, I want to thank all the parents for applauding when it was appropriate because that saves me speaking. It it
066let them cheer for their kids. That's more important than me saying anything. Um, and then tonight we there was a Mount Prospect had put uh the Mount Prospect library had put together civic connections and I attended that and that was very nice of them to put that together and just get a bunch of local elected you know school boards, park district, municipal members together just to give us a chance to chat with each other and get to know each other. It was very nice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you board members. Um, so I've been to a lot of the things that the board members already ent us mentioned, so I'm not going to be redundant, but I do have a couple of things. Uh, attended the um 51st annual those who excel in teacher
067of the year award banquet. This is where the uh the Illinois State Board of Education annually sponsors those who excel in teacher of the year awards to honor individuals who've made a significant contribution to our state's public and non-public elementary and secondary schools. We had numerous uh employees recognized and a few were in attendance. So, it was it was a great opportunity. And then um hats off to uh the staff at uh Buffalo Grove or Yeah. the Bison Buffalo Grove High School on a well-run graduation. I think we beat the record, didn't we? Weren't we like 70 minutes? Yeah. And Bill, my speech was 2 minutes and 30 seconds. It wasn't bad. Okay. So, one other thing I want to bring your attention to. Um, Dr. Row and I have been asked to do a
068presentation at the joint an annual conference, better known as the triple eye. And our um presentation is Saturday morning at 10:30. So, Saturday morning at 10:30 is also the delegate assembly. And you know, for the past 18 years, I've been a delegate. So, um they haven't finalized the um the program for the uh for the conference, but I want board members to be thinking about if they would like to take my place in the delegate assembly this year, which is Saturday morning at 10:30. So, if you're interested, let me know. Uh thank you. Okay. Next, we have the consent agenda. Can I have a motion and a second please to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Call a roll. Yes. Sager I. Baldino. Yes. Dustling. Yes. Heinaman. I. And Citer.
069I. Motion carries 6. Thank you. Now we were at 101. Uh these are roll call items. Uh, a motion and a second to approve 101, please. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Discussion. Call the roll. Sager. I. Baldino. Yes. Destling. Yes. Frito. Yes. Heinman. I. Ander. I. Motion carry 6. Uh, motion in a second, please, to approve uh 102, please. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Discussion. Call the role. Fito. Yes. Hineman. I. Valdino. Yes. Dustling. Yes. Sager. I. Citer. I. Motion carry 6. Thank you. Um, motion in a second, please, for 103. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Discussion. Call the roll. Fido. Yes. Heinman. I. Baldino. Yes. Dustling. Yes. Sager I. Ander I. Motion carries 6. And last of the roll call items is uh 104. Please. Motion and a
070second. There's a motion and a second, please. Okay. Second. There's been a motion and a second. Discussion. Please call a roll. Frito is first. Who is my first? Dustling. Mr. Dustling. And Baldino. I'll go for it. Yes. Dustling. Thank you. Baldino. Yes. Burrito. Yes. Heinaman I Sager I quite sir I motion carry 6 okay I I forgot to point out at the beginning of the meeting that um Dr. Ro had discussed this previously but anyone uh knew or previous coming to our board meetings that um each of our uh items will now have the strategic goal listed to that that item. So, um this is new for us, but um great job to show that we are what we're doing is uh what's going to be in with the uh strategic plan. Thank you, Dr.
071Row. You know, actually, if I if I could, I we were doing an announcement. I uh should have added this in my report, but beginning next month at our June meeting, we'll be shifting the start time of our board meetings to 6:30 p.m. Uh the board will open the meeting and we will go into closed session first and then the public portion of the meeting will start no sooner than 7. So, no change on the public portion side of things, but we'll begin our work at 6:30 so we can u expedite close session. Mr. D. Okay. Next on the agenda, can I have a motion in a second to go into close session for the purpose of discussing the employment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent
072contractors in an educ educational setting or legal counsel for the public body and student discipline. Motion in a second, please. So moved. Second. Call the roll. Hinaman. I. Sager. I. Waldino. I. Dustling yes. Yes. Quite sir. I motion carries 6. Okay. We will have action after close session and probably 40 30 45 minutes. Thank you. Thanks everyone. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Are you [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Whatever. [Music] are you? [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]
073Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Okay, we are now back in open session. Can I have a motion and a second for 1211, Mr. Heinman? uh for student discipline case 24-25-13 to expel the student for two years May 29th 2027 for breaking board policy I and I heard a second discussion call the rollin I dustling yes valdino yes yes zer I and quite sir I motion carries 6 a motion motion and a second for 1221 so moved second um discussion call a roll zer I Baldino yes dustling yes yes I cried I motion carries 6
074thank you motion and a Second for 1222 approval of notice to remedy. So moved. Second. Whereas the board of education of uh Township High School District 214, Cook County is empowered to manage the operation of the schools of the district including management of his employees. And whereas the board has the power to discipline and dismiss teachers pursuant to section 1020.5 10-22.4 and 24-12 of the school code ILCS510. Whereas the board has received and reviewed information recommendations from its administrative staff regarding the deficient and unprofessional conduct of Thomas Ringrose, a teacher on continual contractual service. And whereas the board has concluded that such information and reports of deficient and unprofessional conduct constitutes sufficient reason and cause for the teachers dismissal from the teaching staff of the school if the deficiencies are not corrected and remediated. Now
075therefore it be it resolved by the board of education of township high school district 214 Cook County as follows that Thomas Ringro shall be issued a remedial warning for the reason stated in the notice attached here too and incorporated in the resolution as exhibit one. The notice enumerates deficiencies in Thomas Ringo's conduct which if not remediated may result in the dismissal as a teacher in the district. that the president and secretary of the board are hereby authorized and directed to send the notice of u remedial warning to Thomas Ringrose by certified mail return receipt requested and regular first class mail that the superintendent dye shall personally deliver a copy of said notice to the teacher and subsequently supervises remediation efforts and observe his professional conduct that this resolution be enforced in effect immediately upon its
076passage adopted this 29th day of May 2025. Call the roll, please. Fioro, yes. Hinineman, I. Baldino, yes. Dustling, yes. Sager, hi. And C, sir. I. Motion carries 6. A motion in a second for 123, please. Approval of job descriptions. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Discussion. Call the roll. Baldino. Yes. Destling. Yes. Verito. Yes. Hinimman I Zager I and Citer I motion carries 6. Thank you. Motion to adjurnn please. So moved. Second. Call the role. Dustling. Yes. Verito. Yes. Baldino. Yes. Hinaman. Hi. Sager. I. And Chryser. I. We are adjourned. [Music] Tell me. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] feeling. I feel [Music]