School Board Meeting 11/10/25

001Good evening everybody. >> Welcome. Welcome to the board of education regular meeting November 10th, 2025. Can we have a roll call, please? >> Here. here. >> Here >> thank you. Okay. The first item on the agenda is comments from the public. Dr. Davis, do we have any comments from the public? >> Uh, we have no comments from the public this evening. >> Okay. [snorts] All right. The next item is written communication. Dr. Davis, do we have any written communication? >> We have no written communication this evening. >> All right. Okay. So, just like that, we're at our items for information. And the first item is student recognition. >> All righty. Where's Chris Levatino? Oh, there he is. Chris is [laughter] >> Chris is going to come and and talk and recognize our our friend fencing

002conference championship and boys golf. All right. >> Yes. Thank you, uh, Dr. Campbell and thank you board for giving us the opportunity to celebrate some student athlete success here tonight. Uh we'll start off talking about fencing. So last winter an ETHS fencer did something that's never been done before. She became the first ETHS Wildit to win the Great Lakes/State Championship for any weapon and she was only a sophomore. Here to tell you more about Lily's incredible season is assistant fencing coach Jacob Novak. >> [applause] >> Hi everyone. That's fun. Uh [laughter] uh last year, Lily put together uh the greatest fencing season for an Evston fencer ever. Uh in varsity team play, she was nearly perfect going 27 and one. uh and then helped our foil our women's foil squad finish fourth uh overall at

003our team championships. Individually, Lily meddled at every invitational with each placement being an improvement over the last. Uh Lily persevered from a quarterfinals finish to the semis to silver until finally at you know the most important one uh she brought home the gold. Uh Lily's dedication to the team and passion for our sport has not faltered with her great success. Uh so far this season, Lily's uh meddled again, except this time we've brought two golds to start the season. Um I often feel very lucky uh to have the privilege of coaching uh Lily as she's put in so much work uh at practice and outside of practice, both, you know, in the sport and academically. Uh is a joy to have on the team and I'm so proud of her and I'm excited for what's

004to come in the future. Thank you. [applause] >> Lily, we would like to the board would like to shake your hand and offer a a pin. Congrats. >> Congratulations. And here's a pen. >> Good job. All right. And our boys golf team. So, in the history of our school, boys golf had only been to the state meet a handful of times. In the last two years, they've tied for the lowest team score both years, and finished second place in Illinois both years. Last year, Kieran Low was the state runnerup as an individual, which is the best performance we ever had as an individual. And this year, younger brother Lester won the state championship as an individual for the first time in ETHS history. >> [applause] >> Here to tell you more about our team's incredible

005season is assistant golf coach Colin Cy. Colin. [applause] >> Greetings y'all. Um my name is Coach Sali, Mr. Sali. Um, these boys, their success, their work ethic, it speaks for themselves. Um, I couldn't be more fortunate to be around a more focused, um, determined group of young men. Um, Lester, Kieran, GM, Weey, uh, they are the the nucleus of our squad, which is made up of 12 players. A hyperco competitive sport, maybe the most human sport that exists. Um, if you've ever stood over a golf ball, it's like looking in a mirror. Um, and you really have to dig deep and and just play with your conviction. And, um, these boys are the exemplification of patience, uh, hard work, perseverance. Um, in an individual sport, they really came together to make more of a team,

006uh, spirit. And like I said, it speaks for themselves. um to tie both years is almost mathematically close to zero I would say um in that particular sport and um and we've we've we've been able to do it and the boys are just special and um can't wait to see what they have next. Um Lester is a sophomore, older brother Kieran will be uh playing golf next year at Boston College. Um so he will continue to compete. Um, Miles Gonberg will play somewhere wherever he chooses. Um, and Henry Way is also a sophomore, so we got a very young nucleus and, um, we couldn't be more fortunate and grateful for not just who they are as golfers, but who they are as young men. Um, so that speaks to their families and their love for

007the game. Um, I also need to shout out Coach Jed Curtis, who uh could not be here tonight, but he's always with us. Um, and coach Jake Mills, who is obviously now the math chair, had to step away, but a big part of the program still. Um, they're the reason that I'm standing here in front of you now. So, thank you, Jake. And, uh, thank you, Jed. I know you're listening up there in Michigan. And, um, we have Lester, Karen, Miles, and Mr. Way, and they will come and shake your hand. So, thanks, guys. [applause] Congratulations. [applause] [laughter] >> Congratulations. >> Take that with you. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Usually >> Colin, do you want to make your Do you want to make your way around? >> Do the horseshoe. [laughter] Can you even get

008a pair? >> Colin is a former ETHS athlete himself. [laughter] >> All right. What a wonderful way to start a meeting. Yes, let's keep this vibe. All right, so the next item is the data quarterly update. We're going to hear about attendance, discipline, student involvement. >> Yes. And that's from Dr. Carrie Levy. Come on, Carrie. >> Um, >> yeah, I know. I'm sorry, >> but you can do it. Have confidence. [laughter] >> Yeah, it'll match your jacket, actually. >> [laughter] >> Okay, I'm starting with the data dashboard. >> Start with the mic. Carrie, you need to jump. [laughter] >> You want to hear me? All right. Good evening. Um, so I'm doing first a data dashboard with this year's first quarter update. So I have this screen up first just as a reminder especially with

009the our nice new website where you find it. So it is found under when you're at our home screen you're at about and then research and data and then the data dashboard is there. So about research and data and the data dashboard. Okay. Um so I'm going to walk through most things are the same. So I'm just going to show you the one thing that we really made some changes. So the first piece that we have is very similar reporting as last year. We have our um students accessing different supports and this we report just quarterly every quarter. the number of students accessing the academic study center, the homework center, lit lab, wid academy, and for those that are larger, have larger attendance, we've disagregated by student demographics and uh cohort. So, we [clears throat]

010have the academic study center disagregated. We have our homework center disagregated. Still very much the same layout as last year. And then also Wild Kid Academy. That's the same. Okay, let's scroll back up. Then attendance. So, this is where I'm going to talk a little bit. So, it's going to look the same format wise. So, last year we tried to estimate the number of students unexcused kind of on track for unexcused where they would be at the end of the year where there'd be chronic uh truency. And we were trying to capture um kind of the number of students throughout the year where they would be probably chronic absentee by the end of the year. And what we were do is just counting kids. We were taking the number of students and just counting up

011absences unexcused or total absences. And we realized at the end of the year that is not how the state did the calculation when we looked at the report card. So we completely re um configured how we're capturing attendance this year. So instead of numbers, we're looking at the port proportion, which is what the state does. The state formula is they take the students regardless of how many days. So a student may be here from the beginning of school or whether they enter later in the year and they that's their number of days and then they count and they look at the percent. So we've changed our formula. So we are res reporting every quarter students with 5% or more unexcused absence. That's our like proxy as we go through the year for on track for

012chronic truency. And then our percent of students with 10 uh sorry students with 10% or more total absences and that's approximately for throughout the year on track for chronic chronic absenteeism. [clears throat] So we're following the state formula and we're hoping that as we go through it's much more accurate this year. So the first the pie charts here just show you the percent of students like I said with 5% or more unexcused and then 10% or more total absences that's unexcused that's excused and mental health um and then excuse me both we disagregate it by uh student group and then also by cohort a class of whether it's this uh 2026 or the juniors sophomores 2028 and the freshman class of 2029 and then it's the same for the students with 10% or more total

013absences excused unexcused mental health disagregated the same way. Okay, so that's really the big change. Everything else is the same reported the same as last year. Um okay, my thing doesn't want to cooperate. All right, discipline also reported the same as last year. We start out with a percent of students with any discipline incident. So in the first quarter, uh 91% of students had no discipline incidents where we read this 9% had at least one discipline incident. And then with that then we take that 288 students. We just aggregate them again by student group, by class of um chart there and then just how the discipline actions of those 288 students all of their discipline actions how that breaks out. So you see the majority 53 over half are conferences uh de uh detention social

014probation uh restricted lunch and then over here a small percent 4% had inside suspension 3% outside 4% alternative and 4% restorative practices. So that's how we um reported the discipline last year. And then the last section is also the same. It's two pieces. The first is um through our student services data, the total number of universal referrals and then within [clears throat] those so it's the total number of students. So the 457 students is the first bar and then of those the total number of students that had social work referrals. So 157 in the first quarter the total number with AIT referrals. So in the first quarter 65 and then the total number of five or four plan referrals. And then we also look at um students with an IEP. And our special ed department

015looks at students who are actively engaged in problem solving and intervention around at risk factors. And so of all of the students with an IEP, 89 are accessing special ed interventions and 11% are actively involved in problem solving around risk um at risk factors. And so that's all the data points seem as parallel except for the attendance as last year's. And then you can also see at the top you can always reference. So last year's right all of the quarters from school year 2025 are up here and um [clears throat] school year 23 um data we have some data from the previous years and I just lost myself any questions questions board I think that um so I I love this and and I think the way to really use it if you'll kind of

016demonstrate hovering over some of the >> the charts because you get more information >> when you do that >> and that's where you at least for me I could spend a lot of time. >> Yeah, this um this platform we use so you can hover right and it'll highlight whatever you're hovering. So, for example, I'm just with the students with 10% or more total absences and 17%. So, it'll just call out that or you can hover around. It'll just call out the data point you want to look at. I think almost all the charts are like that. >> Um, well, except for the pie charts. I don't think the bar charts do that. >> Just the pie chart. So if you want to see just isolate like the class of 2026, seeing [clears throat] how

017the seniors are doing, you can kind of go around and sort of highlight those. >> This [clears throat] is a nice visual visual feature. >> Yeah, it's I just think it's great. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? Board. All right. Excellent job. >> I just thought of a question. Sorry. Um, great job. This is awesome. Do you have any um analytics on how many people are using it or looking at it? I'm curious if the community is paying attention. >> I have no idea. That might be a question that our communications office could help with. If they um [clears throat] know how people use our website, it's really >> Yeah, I'm just curious if that's available sometime. Let us know. >> Kind of curious. Yeah. >> Thank you. Yeah, that would be good to know.

018All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You staying. >> All right. Don't go anywhere. Okay. Now we are at the opening of school report. >> I'm back. >> You're back. [laughter] >> Different hat. Okay. This [clears throat] one is short and sweet. It's a our annual enrollment report. It's our official enrollment as of September 30th every year. Um so and I just have a few slides. The big picture highlights. So this year our [clears throat] total school enrollment is 3570 and I every year I report like five years. So you can just see there's just been a little bit of a trend down over the five years. Excuse me. >> [clears throat] >> And then um in the report all of our student groups are disagregated by race, ethnicity and so these I have

019for [clears throat] five years you can see the trends. So almost all of them the trends in the number and the proportion or the percents are kind of going down but that [clears throat] parallels with our um uh trend overall trend um enrollments ticking down slightly. Uh so we have this here 22% of our population, excuse me, is African-American black. Um our Hispanic Latinx is the only population that's kind of everywhere just every year ticks up a little bit. So they're 20.8 almost 21%. Um our students who identify as white are 40 Thank you 44% 43.8 8 and students right now who are two or more races are 7.4%. [clears throat] But those are just ones that I highlighted. And then our enrollment in the special ed department. This is for at um building one

020which is main campus, all school and day school enrollments. And so this [clears throat] year it's 477 students at um those at our main campus and day school. It's more when you include off-campus. Those are just the main highlights from the report that I pulled out. The ones I usually mention. I was thinking about the um numbers the the um enrollment particularly of African-American students and how that coincides with the number of African-American families leaving Evston. Or I guess it doesn't, right? It's not as big. I've been looking at some of the data from the city. >> I mean, the continued decline definitely supports >> What's happening in the city? I don't know how that would compare like proportionally since we're like a small group of the larger city population, >> right? Yeah. >> Only

021people with kids in the >> Yeah. Something to think about, you know, how to how to how to make sense of it all, >> right? >> Pat, you had a question. >> Yeah. I just a a quick question. So, I noticed that there was um a gender breakdown and it was just male female and I was wondering do we not have non-binary because the government doesn't use that or what is the >> we do but at this time it's too small to disagregate that across so the gender is disagregated by race, ethnicity and grade and so students who identify as non binary it's too small to disagregate it across all of those. >> Got it. Okay. Thanks. >> But you can like if you look across I mean it's just doing math but if you

022see any numbers that don't add up [snorts] that difference would be students who are non-binary. >> So they're in there just not me. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I think Leah's >> I should go. >> Um two questions. One I think is a question for later but I'll just ask to confirm. um for special education students off-campus attending private and public facilities, there was like a really significant jump from 79 to 94 this year. And I was wondering if we had any idea what was behind the increase. And I'm wondering if that's something that maybe special education is going to talk about anyway. >> Yeah, I can talk about that later. >> Okay, that's what I figured. So, I just wanted to like get it out there before I forgot. Um and then the other question

023I had was um this I just does this mean anything? Um in looking at the you know we know enrollment is going down. So when you look at class enrollment by department you know there's generally it's going down because there's less students less uh class enrollment but it's a little bit more significant um in CTE fine arts and world languages. Does that mean anything? Uh, I'm gonna put that to Pete. I don't know about department. >> You know, it's probably too early to tell if there's a pattern there because last year it was up. So, if you look across, it goes >> it goes from 2010 to 1903 to 2027 to 1854. So, it seems to be fluctuating. >> Um, but we'll look more into that. We'll have a firmer idea on what that means

024once we do ourh sectioning this year. >> Thanks, >> Monique. >> No, I'll wait until the special. >> Okay, it's about time. >> All right, John. >> Yeah, I I had a couple questions. Um, in terms of the overall decline in enrollment, um, do we have projections of what we expect that to be over the next 1, three, five years? No. Okay. Um, the the one thing I was looking at when I was looking at um, it's labeled part 1A at the top and it has that kind of that that nice grid laying out like grade 9, 10, 11, 12. And if I'm reading this correctly, like the way I look at it is um we start in the upper left. There was 107 students back in the 2122 school year at grade 9. >>

025And then I just read it diagonally down following that same grades progression through the school. Is that interpreting it correctly? >> So by 24 [clears throat] 25 when they're grade 12 it was down to 8.94 which is substantial, right? That's 10%. >> Yeah. Yes. Do we know the the factors that contribute to that? >> So the um that one's a little trickier to look at it that way and we try to capture it in the part one B >> because this one also includes students who are reclassified. So you may have started out in ninth grade and maybe not have enough credits to go on and so they would be counting here because this is by grade not cohort, right? And so say by the time say if you're looking at that group and you're

026seeing okay in 2023 [snorts] grade 11 is 953. Um that could have some students who were in the cohort before they're in grade 11 that can have some students that should be in there that are still in grade 10. So there's a little bit >> it's not necessarily >> but on the next one it's hard to put it all together but in the next one and part 1B there is that number. It just doesn't tell you by which cohort they are. The reclassified is the so of that 107. So for example that top left that you were looking at 2021 22 >> of that 1007 67 of those students that they're identified as class reclassified. So they're from a different class. >> So it's 940 of the incoming freshmen plus another 67 students still identified

027as grade nine. It's kind of um moving every year. >> Yeah, I can see that. Do you know I know it's not in or they said I don't think it it was in this but do we know how our grade nine um enrollment numbers compare to district 65 eighth grade graduate numbers? Like do we see a big jump or >> never looked at it like that. No, >> no, >> they're not the they're like two different. >> Sure. But just from the like the the [clears throat] concept of like where are our students coming from, right? >> But I I recall and I don't know exactly where but in the report it said most of the kids who leave 65 come back to ETHS. >> I remember reading that. So I don't know where though,

028but I read it to you know for this board meeting. >> Yeah. And we said we have a um we do have a [snorts] portion of students who enroll from outside of district 65. >> Okay. Yeah. Where where was that? Sorry if I missed that. >> I don't think I just we don't have like where they come from. >> Well, but even just the percentage like >> I can look that up and get back to you. We don't have that in here, but that would I see what you're saying. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. We get a number of kids from private and parochial schools. private prochial coming from out of the country, out of state, CPS for >> other just coincidental moving in prior to freshman year and you know >> Yes. >> Okay.

029Thank you. >> Okay. Are there questions board? Thank you for getting that information to John and I'd be interested in that as well. Okay, our next report is the year in review and Dr. Davis is going to join you. >> So, we've got a crew of folks. Um, Dr. Levy is going to stay. Uh, and we have Dr. Davis, uh, Dr. Lizo and Dr. Robinson and uh and Amy Verick all coming to um really talk about the uh comprehensive uh data from um last school year and um moving forward for this school year. you all will see us kind of talk a little bit more in real time about those quarterly reports and how are we handling discipline, how are we handling attendance, and how are we handling some of the other uh um data

030points that um Carrie highlighted tonight in the quarterly review. But this will be the last time, right, that you will see last year's data. So, okay, we're talking about last school year um 2425. Okay. All right, Dr. Davis, I believe you're taking it away. Oh, Carrie, you're starting. >> I'll start. All righty. So, [clears throat] like Dr. Camel has, we have a whole new report. Uh, we've incorporated probably about five other board reports that you get throughout the year. So in addition to when I come to you with this annual report, we've gotten here the discipline report, the school involvement report, literacy and numeracy, um post high school um uh reported one more that I know I'm forgetting um well-being. So those are all now in here. We have them in sections to kind of

031create like one big picture of the year. Um and so how all these areas connect, right? So, how does academic and attendance and the discipline connect with all the wraparound services? So, the way this is laid out is um trying to think about sort of how you go through the year, right? So, the start of the year we have our literacy and numeracy report freshman on track and that's sort of like the new students, the incoming freshmen, where are they starting and then we have throughout the year engagement and academics. So engagement goes through how are they doing with attendance well-being their school involvement discipline and then the academic piece is advanced coursework GPA for the you know the end of the class of 2026 right where they ended with their final GPA and then

032we shift over to future focus and so where are they where they planning for their future right post high school career exploration graduation rates and we keep an eye on post-secary enrollment event. So we have all of my colleagues are going to talk about this. We have some takeaways, some areas of success and areas of um highlights for opportunity and improvement. So one area of excess is our freshman on track and especially uh increase for our students with an IEP. Um our sense of belonging. We do a sense of belonging survey. We've talked about that yearly. So we have a high rate highest rates of students feeling belonging and that their teachers care about them as a person. our school involvement. We've had increasing participation particularly in student activities and clubs last year. Our advanced

033coursework that Peter will talk about where we talk about increase in dual credit enrollment. More students taking AP exams and earning a three or higher. And then our post high school career exploration where we have higher attendance of our um business partners, MAK business partners and IP IIT job shadow and internship partners at the career and aviation fair and then an increase in the number of students earning industry credentials and then my colleagues will also talk about areas for improvement that we're highlighting. of numerousy. We've seen an increase in pre-alggebra and one algebra enrollments which highlights our need for more support for foundational math skills. Our attendance, we've seen kind of a lower average attendance rate across all student groups and that's been a trend over the past couple of years. Discipline, we've seen an

034increase last year in the number of students receiving discipline incidents and total number of incidents. And then we'll talk about what the ranking in the ISBY racial disproportionality and exclusionary discipline means. And then our graduation rates, although overall we've seen kind of a trend up, we'll talk about our grades for our students with an IEP last year, which was lower for the four-year grad rates. Right now, I'm going to turn it over to Pete. >> All right. So, um, ETHS is committed to meeting students where they are and developing them over time while they're here at ETHS. The first few slides we're going to go through are going to provide a sketch of how students are doing entering the high school. >> Okay. >> So, the first is reading. Go back. There you go. Uh

035the data in in grade nine reading proficiency demonstrates that the percentage of incoming freshmen uh demonstrating an instructional reading at or above 8th grade has increased to 65%. The greatest gains seen among Hispanic Latino students. we see a a uh a flattening or a slight downturn in terms of our African-American black students. Um the bottom line for with this slide, the takeaway is that literacy continues to be a priority for [clears throat] incoming 9th graders and I have really good news on this in terms of if if you've been on the board for a while, uh you know that when we would do these joint board meetings, we would talk about getting the data to to align and to talk. Uh I'm I'm happy to report that beginning this year, our foundation, District 65, is

036administering the STAR reading assessment to its students. That aligns to the STAR reading assessment we give here, 9th through 11th grade. So we can create a we can really look at student growth across both districts. And if you've sat at this board for a while or if you've watched from home, you know how big a deal this is. >> Yeah. >> So that's a huge takeaway. Um let's let's yeah we're ready to keep rolling. All right. Um so [clears throat] the data in the next two slides uh are on numerousy. Uh they spotlight pre-alggebra and one algebra enrollment. We see a significant increase in number of sections needed for both pre-alggebra and one algebra between 2023 and 2025. Students enrollment in pre-alggebra in pre-alggebra has increased 207%. Um we talk about meeting students where they

037are and that's exactly what we're doing. Um we take that very seriously in terms of uh of how we do that. The bar charts here illustrate a key takeaway. More incoming students require intensive foundation math support than in previous years. Uh the practical outcomes of these findings is that we must allocate additional resources to support foundational math skills to ensure that students are prepared for the math pathway. Uh in response to this data, we introduced several uh interventions, more co-taught uh courses. Each section of one algebra is co-taught by two teachers who provide additional one-on-one support uh to students uh that students need in the classroom. And those classes are cohorted in about 18. So it's 18 two teachers. So it's a 1:9 ratio in those math classes. Uh in the algebra classes, teachers also

038identified uh and made changes in the curriculum uh that are being implemented this year. And it's also important to note that one algebra teachers have also partnered with our social emotional learning coach to integrate social emotional learning uh into the curriculum and create activities that build a growth mindset and normalize productive struggle. This is really important because most of the students in one algebra are taking it for a second time u and have an internalized have internalized all sorts of negative feelings around mathematics. So we were very proactive in uh in getting our coach to work over the summer with our teachers and continues to work with our one algebra uh teachers so that we can we can have a better um better experience for our students and and hopefully better academic outcomes. All right,

039freshman on track. Uh, being ready to graduate in four years means getting off to a solid freshman year. Freshmen who are considered on track for four-year graduation are students who have completed 10 semester credits and have earned no more than one semester uh F in an English, math, science, or history course. These are referred to as core courses by the state. I always bristle at that. I think that the core I think that's an antiquated term. Uh I'm that's why I'm just going to say English, math, science, and history. Uh we've seen a steady increase in freshmen on track over the last three years. Uh but there is a big piece of news here, and that's what I'm going to let Amy talk about on the next slide. Thank you. Um we're happy to report

040that um 85% of students with an IEP um in the class of 2028 were on track for the four-year graduation marker. Um, and this is the highest ontrack rate uh that we've seen since before school year 2023. Um, so much to celebrate there. Um and um it is very much a direct result of some work from our special education administrative team um in supporting and guiding our freshman IEP uh team and IEP coordinators in a tiered intervention process um that is uh monitored weekly, monthly um quarterly um very systematically uh so that we could really follow individual students, cohorts of students um and provide those tiered intervention ions. Um, so I'm really proud of the work um of our department related to this uh statistic. >> So Amy, what you're saying is that on track

041number for students with IEP, that didn't just happen. That wasn't random. >> It was not random. [laughter] >> Thank you. That's good news. Really good news. >> Your mic. >> I'm sorry. We're gonna shift to talk to [laughter] engagement um variables throughout the year. So I'm gonna start with Mia, Dr. Leisa. >> Hi everybody. Uh [clears throat] so um I think it's no surprise to anyone that um across the country there are just the attendance numbers are just grim. And I given that we're still doing much better than other schools and our numbers are excuse me um this is still going to always be an area of growth for us and we're intentional with the work that we're doing to wrap around our students to provide opportunities for growth in this area in many ways.

042But um just something to note is that um the average attendance rate in school uh year 2025 was 91.8%. 8% and it's the same as the Illinois state average. However, we did see a decline in our numbers from the 20 uh 24 school year. But again, as I said, we're working vigorously like and intentionally um as a student services team with in collaboration with other departments to implement a comprehensive support system to address that. That's not limited to our SST um teams, our academic intervention team. We have repurposed some of the work that they're doing to broaden uh some of their case loads to include some of our students who are truent and um primarily those who are in school truent. Uh we are also doing and I'm writing I had to write my notes

043because we're doing a lot but I wanted to make sure that we captured that. But we're also partnering with our student advocates that are on site um with uh from North Cook and we have two new ones that have just been amazing and very collaborative and the work that they're doing is again aligning with our goals and again with our strategic priorities as well. And we also started taking advantage of the attendance liaison program with North Cook as well where we're referring students who've had and they have to meet a certain criteria but if they have 10 um unexcused absences or days out that um and we've we've done everything we could in terms of our our truency um officer and um residency team going and doing home visits with social workers, counselors. Um there's

044just a large um group of staff that are trying to be intentional with everything that they're doing to address this serious um issue with attendance. And while it may look like the numbers are good for somebody else looking in whose numbers may be lower in other districts, we know that when you're not a body in the seat that they're missing instruction, which ultimately leads to freshmen being off track, al also our graduation rates declining. So, we're really working and being intentional with our supports. So, when we talk about [clears throat] well-being, you know, it's it's not limited to just social emotional wellness. It's how students see themselves in school, um their mental health, but also their social interactions and things like that. Um, [clears throat] and so we support them throughout our MTSS system, our

045multi-tered systems of support. [clears throat] I think you will be excited to know we're really increasing um our efforts with expanding our MTSS. That's something you'll learn about next year. But it's it's really good because once it has an impact this year, we are very hopeful that we'll see a decline in the um number of students that are not that are showing up in our numbers in terms of our suicidal ideiation, suicide risk assessments, um social work referrals. But we have to keep in mind that sometimes what's happening in our social world impacts how students respond. And we're trying with to be intentional with our uh social work team, our again our academic intervention team, our counselors and psyches are really trying to hone in on our tier 2 interventions. Um [clears throat] this something

046I talk about all the time, so I don't know why I'm nervous, but um I think it's something that's so important and it's so critical. Um something to note with our our three tiers, uh you you know knowing that our tier one is where we hope to have 80% of our students and we have a lot of programs that we're trying to implement. We have things that that are common that we do our Wild Kid Futures Day FASH and all of those things, but we're looking at being more robust even and meeting um and expanding that. But our tier two is where we find um a need for our students and that's where we'll see like 10 to 15% of our student and those are more intentional interventions and that's where you see our social

047work groups and uh things like that and our counselors will be meeting with students as well and our tier three is our very intensive. Our goal is always to keep that to one to 5% of our students but then that's where you see our students who have alternative placements. We have um alt school and we're working on trying to get some other things in place that can help support those students with our highest needs. And looking at our suicide risk assessments, it's just something [clears throat] important to note. Sorry. Thank you. I'm not going to drink it though. [clears throat] While um the numbers anytime we have to report numbers such as these, it's it's something that is impactful to all of us and and it pulls at our heart. However, it is important to

048note that we are seeing a downward trend in our suicide risk assessments. Um we saw that in our first quarter but also from last year. Um there were 137 total suicide risk assessments with 94 students and it is a decre decrease excuse me from our school year 2024 and both the number of students assessed and the risk assessments also keeping in mind that we have unique students. So we have these numbers while it being there are multiple sometimes some students have multiple risk that's when we look at more intensive um interventions to support those students. We're looking at partnering and we have started getting into um ISBY has required a mental health screener a universal mental health screener. So, we're looking and doing research right now to secure that and implement that for next year,

049um, 2026, meaning January, so that we can start trying to catch students early, making sure that students have a post high school plan and all of those things that may have impacts because we're doing a little bit more research and being more intentional with that. >> Okay. on the sense of belonging data. So, we've been surveying students for several years um about their sense of belonging um asking them if they how much they feel they belong, how confident do they feel, how much they feel their teachers care about them as a person. Um and so this year we've seen the highest last year, April [clears throat] 2025, we saw [snorts] the highest percent of students reporting that they felt like they belong at ETHS. They felt capable and confident. They felt their teachers care about

050them and that their teachers helped them. And so we know there are differences across the student groups. Every student group had an increase from the year before. And it was not just a small increase. These were pretty good differences. And this data also triangulate with some other data we saw throughout the year around this um area. Sorry. Uh first I just want to give a shout out to my team um the deans uh office a couple three of them are here today. Shout out to Vanessa Stephanie uh Tish Hinkle who's not here watching from afar. Pedro Seraniano and Tamil Moore. and also appreciate my team in the um upstairs in student activities led by uh Denise Clark and her team as well as our community service with Aaron Clays and the work that they're doing.

051It's weird the the air is weird over here. Uh so there's no mistake that we uh and the the district goal is to have all of our students participate in at least one extracurricular activity including athletics, student activities and club. I'm happy to report that uh our students uh there was an increase uh from 46 to 56% uh in from 2024 to 2025. We're tag tag teaming this one. Uh, Miss Berick. >> Yeah. >> No, thank you. Um, for students with IEPs, we see a steady number of students who are participating in extracurricular activities. We certainly would like to see this number increase over time. Um, but um, an additional shout out to student activities department. Um special education has been working very directly um with the student activities leadership to identify um those students

052who are seeking extracurricular activities and participation in clubs and then also identifying the supports that they need. So whether or not that's paraprofessional support or transportation um so working to um collaborate on that so that we can increase student involvement and although we celebrate the increase uh in participation in student involvement, we certainly don't want to celebrate the increase in the number of students who uh received an incident uh for discipline. uh this particular chart uh you can see uh the one positive here is at least 40 you know half of our students 49% of the students who did have or need some corrective behavior uh it was kind of a oneand done you know typically these are freshman students they come in welcome to high school something happens okay I'm done I'm sorry uh

053and we move on and those students continue to have a great experience uh the Orange indicates students with two to five incidents. Two to five incidents. And again, that's a little more than a third. So when you're talking about students feeling like they belong, uh they now have an opportunity to have a relationship with more adults in the building. Uh their SST team and deans who are looking to support and provide more more supports for them uh to get better. And again, that I think is is a win. uh a significant amount of students uh between zero and 10 and five incidents. Now the concerning piece and I think we all know this each year we're always worried about um or trying to support that very small percentage of students and that's uh the same

054and it reflects here as well. uh 7% of students have 11 or more and uh those incidents are typically a numerous uh number of incidents and uh again unfortunately we're looking when we disagregate the data our our African-American and black student uh who identify as such uh they kind of lead the category uh in incidents um having the the more numbers and the most incidents. And again, it's broken down uh by year. And this one's also broken up by uh ethnicity. Uh and again, you'll notice uh our African-American males, although there are 183 students, they made up 911 incidents. And I'll highlight also our uh girls. Uh there were 120 African-American girls who made up 408 incidents. And again, that seems to be a trend throughout the school year 2023 and 2025 as well. This

055is the group I thought maybe >> by graduation class. I can't see that. >> It's all good. [clears throat] >> class of 25 and 26 class of 26 and 27 there's a a definite trend throughout the years uh we kind of knew this coming in uh every time we articulate with uh students who are coming in uh sometimes there's a trend of students needing more success and this definitely uh mirrors uh that constant uh from year after year with the same classes Um it's good to see the decrease but it's also interesting I think for us to see that the same band of students throughout the years uh were consistent with the number of incidents uh that they had. >> So as Dr. Robinson um mentioned, you know, when we look at this disagregated data

056um and then look at it for students with IEPs, um we continue to see uh patterns and concerns. Um for school year 2025, 24% of students receiving discipline incidents were students with an IEP with an N of 186. And the unique number of students receiving discipline increased uh from school year 2023. Um, additionally, the total number of discipline incidents students with IEPs receive also increased over time from a total of 549 incidents in school year 2023 to 1,079 incidents in school year 2025. Um, and a sobering statistic um, and number that we're grappling with is in school year 2025, 43% of total suspensions were administered to students with an IEP. Um, and so, you know, there's a lot for us to dig into here. Um and um from the previous charts uh we certainly are

057looking at the intersection of students with IEPs and the other um disagregated groups, right? So the intersection uh with race, with gender, with class of um with EM status, uh with free and reduced lunch, um we know that there are intersections there that we need to address um and look at our interventions um and programmatic supports. Um we have been looking at this data um and we um have made some moves this year around some of our programmatic structures um to provide more support to some of our students. We also know that some of this pattern data um is what we um as IEP teams need to consider when we think about more supportive um programmatic supports um andor um placements for students with IEPs when we see patterns um of disciplinary uh incidents. Um

058I do also want to acknowledge um and shout out uh Dr. Robinson and the dean team, special education and uh our uh dean team work really closely together. Um we have uh regular uh meetings where we review students and um identify ways in which we can problem solve, engage uh team members, grade level team um other resources around student needs. Um, so that work is ongoing um and critical to our success in meeting uh responding to student concerns. >> I'd be remiss uh to not acknowledge the work of uh Anthony King, our restorative uh justice coordinator, who also has done a lot of critical work with all of these students. And I can't imagine uh the numbers that may exist uh without his support. Okay. So the last part with discipline is the exclusionary racial

059disproportionality ratios from the state. So, ISBY defines um this as the ratio of the percent of students of color receiving suspensions over the total number of students of color relative to the percent of white students receiving suspensions over the total number of white students. And that's the ratio they use to determine this exclusionary racial disproportionality. So this chart um but looks like it's hard to see that. Uh so last year we had 7.5% uh students of color compared to 1.2% white students with suspensions. Um and a quick note that the the state definition is suspensions and expulsions, but we don't have expulsions. So our DA is really just focused on suspensions. And over the past few years, our ratio has gone down. And just have to look at the difference between the two different proportions.

060They sort of changed slightly over the years. But for example, between school year 24 and last year, the percent of students of color reduced from 9.2% to 7.5. So um but that's how we are uh annually have been on their uh list of uh schools that meet this. It's just based on the proportion of our different student groups. But the data underscores what the work that Dr. Robinson and his team um has been talking about underscoring the need for continued focus on targeted interventions and restorative approaches. Right. Now we're going to shift over to Pete with our academic experience data. >> All right, the first slide here is a cumulative unweighted and weighted GPA by student group. I think GPA is an interesting thing to look at actually. It's a comprehensive performance indicator that captures

061a lot of different things. Uh it goes well beyond a single test score and it goes well beyond a single grade in a single class. So what you see is the class of 2025 had an average unweighted GPA of 3.25 25 and an average weighted GPA of 3.61. Uh what's interesting here is that most student groups had average unweighted GPA above the ISBY's college and career readiness marker benchmark of 2.8. There were times when I would do this report where where many groups were under the 2.8. So that's that's a move in the right direction for the unweighted GPA. And again, that's a cumulative piece. Uh but it but it is trending in in the right direction. Uh, next. Okay, so I want to take a minute and just just let y'all take this slide

062in. Our district goal one calls for the elimination of the predictability of academic achievement based on race. This slide is concrete evidence of our work in this area over years. our work with DTracking, our work with Pathway to Honors, our work with advanced placement, our work with Project Lead the Way, our expansion of dual credit, uh to the point where we now have 99% of the class of 2025 took AP Project Lead the Way, dual credit or honors, uh which is incredible. I just want us to just acknowledge that. That is amazing. There are folks behind me who did a lot of that work. Dale Beth is here. They've done a lot of this work over the years, but this is the work of of an entire school. Uh, this is the work of an

063entire group of dedicated folks that goes back to my beginning of my tenure here at ETHS and well before I ever got here. So, I just want to point that out. It's pretty amazing. Um, and then when you pull back and you say, "Okay, that's great, Pete, but you have honors in there. What if it's just AP project lead the way dual credit?" That's 89% of the class. 89% of that graduating class, that class of 2025, uh were able to to do that. Uh that those are early college courses. So 89% of the class of 2025 took at least one early college course. And overall, the number of students taking dual credit courses has more than doubled. Uh we had 488 students in 2025 compared to 179 in 2023. I just want to point out

064back in 2023, we thought 179 was a pretty good number. Uh, but we've really we've really done a lot to expand that. We've expanded our dual credit partners. Uh, we expanded our work with Oakton. We've partnered now with Harper. Uh, and we also have a partnership with Lake Forest. So again, uh, I just want to just take a moment, enjoy that slide. There's a lot of work went into that. Um, we'll get back to reality in a minute. We'll get back to we'll get back to some other stuff, serious work, but I think, you know, taking a minute to highlight that is important. Uh, students earning scores of three or higher on AP exams. Uh, in school year uh, 2025, 1,27 students took at least one AP class. 85% of those test takers earned a

065three or higher in at least one exam. 62% earned a score of four or higher on at least one exam. The number and percentage of students earning a three or higher on at least one AP exam has increased every year for all student groups between 2023 and 2025. Um last year we had over 1,000 scores of a three or higher. We there was a time we didn't have a thousand tests. We had a thousand scores of three or higher. Um it's pretty pretty amazing. Um but again that didn't happen overnight. That was a lot of work. And our pre-calc class, our AP pre-calc class is a real uh gamecher in terms of uh in terms of AP exposure, AP experience, scores of three or higher. And uh we continue to work, we continue to expand

066on uh on that success. It's pretty it's pretty impressive. um you know pretty amazing. All right, let's keep going. >> Uh we had the post high school uh planning. >> Okay. Uh in addition to all the work that's done um with our counseling team and when u we had college and career services supporting um student services efforts um we last year um had a career and aviation fair where um 750 students attended the career fair um and again it spoke to I think what Dr. spoke about with our MAK business partners and we had 29 IIT job shadow and internship programs. Um this is all feeding with um our goals with um having not only um college going but also career pathways as well. And those this is continuing because we did something really amazing

067this school year as well that you'll learn more about. But we had an amazing college and career fair which um was part of our Wild Kid Futures Day. Again, another um universal intervention for our tier one and all students had access to uh our work-based learning experience. We had 57 students participate in job shadow during spring break. Uh we offer uh I kit job shadow uh over spring break. 57 students participated in that. Um and you see the breakdown uh on the on the right hand side. Uh health sciences was our leading uh job shadow of 27 uh followed by manufacturing, agriculture, human public service relations, arts and communication and financial and business services. We had 80 students participate in our summer uh IKEA internship. And again that breakdown kind of is is interesting as

068well. You know again um 39 health science and technology um we had 10 manufacturing engineering and trades, human and public uh services followed by hospitality, business, marketing, education, arts and communication. These were all through our partners. Uh and one of the things that helped to make this uh possible and to and we're going to continue to do this is our is our works with our hospitals in town and our healthcare providers. Um, in addition to that though, we're looking to expand this into uh into work into some opportunities in the trades in the in the year to come. So, you know, through our partnership with the trade collective >> and in addition to um what Dr. Davis reviewed related to those work-based learning um experiences which um could include students with IEPs who uh participated

069in those. Um the special education department uh also provides work-based learning experiences uh for students with IEPs who have more complex needs. Um and uh we had enrolled 35 students in 25 onampus or community-based vocational training sites in school year 2025. Um and we maintain those 12 ongoing community uh vocational partnerships uh this year um and endeavor to add additional community resources um in alignment with students transition plans and career goals. Um but we're proud of the work that is um in alignment with the the district work-based learning opportunities. Um but then provision of special education supports um in that realm as well. >> All right. We have a graduation rate. Uh four-year graduation for the class of 2025 was 93.9. Um, and the 5-year graduation rate for the class of 2024 was 94 95.4.

070Both of which are increases over the prior year graduation rates. Uh, they're there for you. Uh, we do a four and fiveyear uh, graduation rate and we're ahead of the state in both of those metrics. I think that's an important benchmark uh, as well. And when we look at graduation rates for students with IEPs, um we see that the four-year grad rate for the class of 2025 was 68.6% uh which is lower than previous years and the 5-year grad rate for the class of 2024 um are 85.6 which is an increase um over uh the previous the school year 2024. Um when we look at that number of 68.6% we remember and uh recognize that students with IEPs are afforded education um past four years if it is deemed necessary per their IEP uh related

071to their transition plan. And so some of the factors that come into play here are um that we do um we did have a larger cohort of students in the class of 2025 who uh stayed on for transition services um and and will likely stay on for uh the four years that they are afforded um per idea um based on uh the level of needs that they have. Um but I can also make a correlation that that number is lower um because of some of the previous data that we've reviewed tonight related to um attendance rate um which has had an impact uh for students with IEPs as well um uh meaning that students were are in position of credit recovery and uh recruitment um of credits lost um because of the truency and attendance

072factors that have been uh impacting student success. So, um, you know, that will fall under that 5-year graduation rate number. >> And finally, we're going to look, uh, just briefly at post-secondary enrollment. We do keep an eye on this. Uh, 75% of the and we look at students who enroll in a in a post-secary institution within two years of graduation. So, that's why we don't have the 2024s up there. It's just so just so we're clear. um 75% of the students in the class of 2023 had enrolled in a post-secondary institution within two years of graduating from ATHS. Uh and you see that prior to that it was 78 81779. Um the class of 2023 was the the group that um they had the uh co their COVID uh online year was junior year. I

073know that well because it's my kids class. So that's one of my kids. Um but you know this data speaks there's a national trend too in student in this is why we have to be very serious about how we uh provide uh post high school planning for our students and something we've been working on in the last several years. Uh that's part of the work with our um our IAPS which are in here. We talk about IAP completion. We also uh do our career exploration work, our work with uh the trade collective and uh just because we want to we want students to be able uh to make informed choices u and and I think that that is critical. So if we can look at this and and and look at it again down the

074road, I I caution against making any inferences about the percent that enroll. Uh to me, it's the percent who make an informed decision and enroll. And I'll say it I said it last time, I'll say it again. Uh the most expensive degree is the degree that is incomplete. >> And we want to do as best we can here to provide post uh high school planning for students that really says ultimately you need two pieces of paper. You need a high school diploma and another piece of paper. Whether it's a certification, whether it's an associates degree, whether it's a four-year degree or some other uh some other piece of paper. But we really are very clear that it's really a two- piece of paper. Uh high school diploma is not enough. U and that's why we've

075expanded our partnerships uh folks like the trade collective. So that concludes that concludes the presentational part and now this entire panel and the folks behind us are going to be open for questions. And the way it's going to work is this. If we ask a question and the folks on the panel don't have all the details, we may call one of we may phone a friend back here and they our friends will come up to the podium and answer that question. I do ask that we be brief in our responses uh given the given the time constraints of the evening. So >> you hear that Dale be brief [laughter] >> kind of looked at I looked at him >> uh but yeah we're we're open and available to to questions. Well, thank you for the

076comprehensive report. It's very thorough. I feel like I have a really good sense of um the areas that we we're doing well at as well as those that we really need to to continue to look closer at. Um, it's clear to me as as in every year, no matter what kind of data we're looking at, that we have to really continue to consider race um that that disparity continues to just be highlighted in almost every area. And so when we look at things like um or areas such as discipline and and suspensions um it just jumps right out to me. Um and and I know that you said that there's this um intersection between race and students with IEPs and I totally understand, you know, I get that. Um, so I don't want to just

077pick on you about the IEPs, but um, those numbers are alarming and um, as well as we're doing in some of the other areas and I know we have a goal for our academic measures. Uh, I I am still very concerned about discipline and suspension. Uh those are the two areas that really just jump out at me. So those are just some of my thoughts as I look at this. I could almost um I had trouble even >> I wanted to stop. I wanted to stop but we you know we were going but I wanted to stop and start just talking about about it once we uh once we were there. >> Um but anyway those are my thoughts. I'm sure other board members have thoughts, John. >> Um, so I I wanted to go

078back to discipline also. Um, so when when we're going through it, you know, um, one of the things that we're talking about was 71% of students feel that they belong and 77% of students participate in at least one extracurricular. Um, is there any, and that just got me thinking, you know, because I think that's coincidental, right? But, but it got me thinking is, do we have any data cross referencing students receiving discipline and whether or not they participate in extracurriculars? >> Can we get the data? [laughter] Is it like do we have enough of like granularity there to be able to do that now? >> Go ahead, Pete. Go Pete. Go ahead. >> I was gonna speak for Carrie. Uh [laughter] she she she looked over at me and was like, but go ahead, Marcus.

079Sorry. Okay. I was going to say [laughter] yes. Uh we have rosters, we have IDs. We can cross reference that and and get a get get a number for you. I mean, I have a hunch. Um >> we've looked at that before, though. you know, >> seems like >> we have >> I think we've looked at it in terms of like we've definitely looked at in terms of like GPA. We looked at in terms of athletic participation and GPA. >> Um I'm fairly certain that that tracks within season too. Uh >> but you know, broadening that out to clubs and activities is another way to look at it as well. >> Uh so I think we could >> because I think that that goes along well with the goal of having every student participate in

080at least one extracurricular. What what are like what's what do those initiatives look like to try to get everyone? Is there are there specific things or is it more a a big picture type goal? >> I'd say there's a great effort with trying to get students to get engaged. >> Yeah. Uh and it really uh comes down to relationships and for those students who we see who are not engaged trying to find out um you know which adult in their life knows the kid enough to say hey let's go try this out. Um, so I know that's happened. You know, I've personally been able to connect students to different programs. Okay. >> Uh, through student activities, but how frequently does that happen? >> I don't know. But I know there's some anecdotal data data as

081well with those students who are in season. You know, you don't see those students participating uh in inappropriate behavior that's causing them to go down. you know, so having that support in season especially uh and the support of the coach, you know, it's not uncommon for uh the dean's office to get in contact with the coach as a means to support and say, "Hey, we're having some some, you know, concerns here. Can you help us out?" And they do partner in best supporting the students and that goes not just for athletics, but it goes to other activities and clubs as well. >> Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. Um this is going back so in my PDF it was page 35 but uh the overall incident percentage and and I want to look at that 7%

082of the 11 plus incidents. So um I it looked like the population for for the prior year was 779 incidents 7% were 11 plus incidents. So the the way I interpreted that was just out of the total number of students that represented the 779, 7% were in that 11 plus category. In terms of like how many raw incidents like how much do did that 11 plus cohort were they responsible for? Am I I'm not I'm kind of fumbling through my words, but your question is very like was that like half of the 779 were those 11 plus students? Was it a quarter of those in Does that make sense? >> Yeah. >> So like Yeah. So like this bar chart like you know it does a good job but like if we looked at it

083in in kind of taking into account like the weighted average or what does that look like? >> You know what I mean? >> I do. Yeah, >> I don't know if I cut it up that way, but I look at that. >> Okay, we used to cut it up that way, Carrie, previously. And we're taking notes because the kinds of things that you really want to see in this, we're going to make sure that this is included in previous and and more comprehensive reports so it reads like you wanted to see it. >> Yeah, I'd be Yeah, I'd be interested in that for sure. Um, okay, last one. So this is also on the racial disproportionality based on the so is that based on the total number of incidents or so it's a similar question

084total number number of incidents or total number of students. So does a student that perhaps had five incidents go into the numerator five times or one time? One time. Okay. Just wanted some clarity there. >> What's that? >> Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Sorry >> we did. We asked that question before. >> Yeah, that one was more cut and dry for sure. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. This was this was excellent. >> Mera. >> Okay. Um yeah, as far as reports go, and I'm always taking notes because I you guys are my role models. Um and I really appreciate the types of reports you're providing us. Um I think this isn't really a question but maybe um just some thoughts on as we move forward. Um we're disagregating um almost everything but not suicide risk

085assessment and um you said you had the numbers or excuse me the disagregated data for student um belonging and well-being but kind of chose to keep it in the aggregate. Um >> um so we don't keep a um breakdown of Are you saying like are you asking about racial identity or race and the suicide risk numbers? Yeah. Um, we could look at a way of doing that, but I'm wondering because of the decre the the number of students if it could become more identifiable just because uh the number is I mean it's it's significant. It is significant but it's still low. And um when our our mental health professionals, excuse me, are meeting with them, we're not taking that into account, right? We do have their student ID numbers though, so there's a way that

086we probably could do that without any problem. I just I do think um it's important for the reasons of understanding how systems of oppression, whether it's white supremacy, whether it's we're looking at um gender and we're looking at um toxic masculinity, all these various um and complex systems. And I think so it's so important to understand how that also impacts all of our different students um within especially as we're talking about race. Um and one of the things that I keep thinking about is the inferences um as you mentioned Dr. Davis um we're looking at our students and we're talking about how they're not achieving in different ways. Um and you know I I respect and think highest of our staff. However, or and I think about well so what is the inference then when

087we're you know we're constantly looking at our students especially of color who are not um the the opportunity or we'll say the risk ratios are higher when you're in our building as you pointed out Carrie around um suspensions. If you are black in our building, you're approximately seven times more likely to be suspended than a white student, I think, is what that data pointed out. And so then I think about our adult responsibility. And I just wish, and I know this is like anti almost every school district in the country that we were able to have staff data, too. You talked about the program and what the things that we're doing for our kids to help them. Um, and that's what I'm talk I'm not talking about like putting negative necessarily staff data, you know,

088but what are the ways and those pieces that we're taking care of our kids so that we can see and you said this too, Dr. Robinson, some of the things that we're doing are really helping. Um, I believe you talked about um, Mr. King and his work. And so I'd love to just I don't know we're doing something so revolutionary with our data already but understand the complex kind of systems around our kids that are helping them so that we cannot just see these isolated you know these are all of our students who are getting Fs or D's or these are our student and they're black or these are the kids who are if it's a suicide um and they're white or whatever the um impact is. understand some of that adult data around our

089kids um to maybe understand how complex this is. I've gone all over the place with that, but I hope it's not really a question, but kind of just a thought and I'm curious of what your reactions are to that. >> I would say what comes to me uh right away is how do we capture the touch points of our staff with being preventtor preventtors of incidents? Uh I can't tell you how many times students go to adults, trusted adults, uh before something happens or report something before it happens. So again, it goes back to the relationship piece u the authentic relationship piece that our staff have with students and that's where the rubber meets the road. Uh because it, you know, I I just wish we were able to qualify that. Um >> do you

090think though that in that um belonging data where kids do report they have one or more staff that we could do some triangulation with the kids? Maybe you can't present it. Maybe the numbers are too sensitive. But there's going to be a group that say no they don't. And then we're going to see kids who are getting suspended more or in more trouble or maybe that same group doesn't have the sports or the club. But I just feel like yeah to your point that's that it seems like we do have that data then >> and and I think what you'll also see are the students who are needing the most support are getting so much support. I don't want that to go unnoticed. You know these are students who are um being supported and talked

091about um weekly in some cases daily. So we know who the students are and our and I really credit our staff uh with how creative and you know with how they are supporting students the out of the box thinking uh something that's you know super prescriptive with what could work for that particular kid. Um, so again, I I don't want the data to be lost with the work to on the other side that our staff is doing and I and I really appreciate their efforts. >> Um, disappoint you asked about the sense of belonging. I had done a whole other report on the sense of belonging data and it was all disagregated and then much more robust. So, uh, next time I can think about bringing more of that in or maybe adding more of

092an appendix. So, >> I remember we've talked a lot about how to even ask the question about um of students. Do you feel you belong? Do you feel that you're connected to an adult? What does that mean to students? And and I know that there's some complexity to that piece as well. And in terms of what staff is doing, I'm sure that that there's so much staff does on a regular basis for our students that that's not captured. I know I know that is just because I know the people who work here and and how much they care and their commitment to these students. So it's um this is really difficult because as much as um as we talk about these students they all have a specific story and so there is no onesizefits all.

093[snorts] So that's that's what makes this so challenging. doesn't mean we're not going to try and keep working at this. >> I know that Pat um >> You want to go Mark? >> No, I just say something. >> Okay. Can I >> um >> Thank you. Um so I just want to pick up for a second on the discipline. Meera, I think, did a really good job of talking about the data and and Keith, you talked about how there's all these different things going on and conversations about individual students happening all the time. I think um we've talked about this in terms of GPA and achievement and and kids who are struggling academically. Um but I think in the area of discipline this this connection to their sense of belonging and their con their engagement

094in the school is really important and I know with our athletes we've done a lot of you know that making those connections they have those study tables I'm kind of jumping around but the concept of engagement in the the school in whatever whether it's chess club or football or anything in between um I think is really an important part because it is a positive. It's not it's not seen as a negative and so building more of that positive I think is really important. So to the extent that there's a checklist, which I know it isn't an official checklist, but I really think that's something we should and I'm sure you are um but I just want to enunciate that's something we really need to focus on with the kids um particularly the 106 that were

095suspended and the you know I know 779 is a large number but um we want all those kids to be engaged and maybe there's a way to bring that up and then certainly with the the kids who are repeat um have repeat incidents just bu building more of that getting them into the in in the positive aspects of the school. So Keith, did you want to say something in response to that? >> Sure. >> No, you just moved your mic, so I just didn't want >> Let me move it and turn it on. >> Okay. >> Uh I I'll I'll wait and >> I'll just Yeah, I'll Okay. Um, so I have two a comment and then a question. So my comment is thank you. I love this report. Um, because I've been on the

096board a long time now and every year each month we have discipline or uh AP or C whatever the the report is. And I will be the first to say I'm probably the worst offender. So what are you doing now? Well, what's the data now? um what are the interventions now? So, this is a great way to get us sort of like level set like here's what happened last year across the board. Um and just it gives us a a touch point going forward. So when we hear from Keith on discipline some other time in the year or um Mia on some of the work that we're doing with our students um social emotional stuff we kind of have this is our base and then you can give us progress reports and updates which I

097think is really val and in the moment. So you know Carrie's done a great job of creating this data dashboard. This is kind of like the qualitative data dashboard right is that you can can do going forward. So, thank you for all the work that's gone into it and and for doing it because it's really a great great report. Um, my question goes way back to the beginning of the report around um, black students reading. So, oh, thanks Pete. So, a couple things. So, this is incoming. This is this is where they stood when we first received them as our students. Correct? So number one, yay. Finally, the star um assessment. Yep. Is going to stars. >> Good. The stars will align. >> The stars will align. >> It's awesome. >> Awesome. Mark Mets is

098on his bike somewhere and I'm gonna I just want him to hear that that's happening. Text him. >> Um yeah, I think I will. Um but um I guess and and I'm not necessarily you have to answer this now but I'm curious what is the growth in that one year. So we got them this is fall of 25 so it's now late fall of 26 and I'm just wondering or maybe even the end of of the uh spring semester. What's our growth? because I'd really like I mean these numbers are very very upsetting. You all know that we're all upset about it. So I I and I know you all are working on these things. But I'm curious because this is when we get them >> where they come in. >> I'd like to see

099what our growth is for that first year and then obviously subsequent years. But just with this this uh cohort, you could maybe let us know how that one year worked. >> Yeah, we can we can certainly do that. we have the data and and we can get that. We've done that in previous like literacy reports, but yeah, that makes we could we could get that and especially now that everything is now that the stars are aligned. >> Yes, >> we can actually go back into middle school and and look at that growth sixth, seventh as they build that assessment profile out. We can really look at all of that across districts and see how kids are doing, where they grow and and where they where they where they slow down. But if it's consistent with

100past cohorts, there is growth. Yeah, sure. I'm sure we'll get you a we'll get you some numbers on on what that growth looks like >> because I think it's I mean, first of all, having the star uh test uh done by 65 is huge because then we have a consistent measure across and I remember Pete when you had to do all these formulas to I didn't I was like I don't even get that but you know I know you did as the best you could but it was pretty complicated to take map scores and try to figure out what that meant in star points. And anyway, it's it's a little crazy, but I also um I think it's important to we, as Mon'nique always says, we really only have about three and a half years

101because the first semester is really getting to know the kids. And so I think it's really important that um you know knowing earlier is only going to help us help the kids get further before they leave us. So yeah, so I I I think that's really important to know. The other thing we can do is we can look at um the as we build this out, we could we could look at the academic profile of kids while they're here based on those test scores. >> So if we know that 36% met that target of 8.0 um or higher, what happened to the students who were below that? And what do they what does their academic trajectory look like in different courses, in different pathways, >> particularly reading and English? We also look at science. We

102know that science is a challenge. We've done transdisciplinary science to answer some of this question so they can provide kids with a science experience that is uh meet students where they are, provide them with a rigorous experience that's valuable uh and then you know have make informed choices on their electives junior senior year. So we we've taken strides but it would be interesting now that we've had those for a while to really be able to look at what were those course taking patterns and how did they go. We could we write that we should we got to do that. That's great, Pete, because I mean that's the whole point, right? We always talk about the lit, you know, read to learn is where we're at in in the literacy continuum and our kids who are

103behind in reading are obviously going to have trouble with some of our very rigorous classes and and the content that they can get here, which is excellent, and we want all our kids to to have it. So, yeah, that's great, Pete. Thanks. Thanks, >> Leah. >> Okay. Um, I have a comment and um question. Uh, so I was just going to echo that I think that what's really wonderful about this report um is that it's emphasizing the point that it's all connected. Um, and so I'm I'm thinking back to how Pat, our president, started and talked about the um racial disparities um really being saliant and um whether that be academic achievement, we're look we're talking a lot tonight about discipline and I I think it seems clear that as we've been talking about the

104sense of belonging is so related to that and this idea of building relationships. Um, and I and I think that those are those that too is so connected with those disparities. So, I want I think two things are true. I think it both it's so important to both really really applaud the work that the staff and all are doing um to um build those relationships and the sense of belonging. And I think that there should be celebration and pride that the number of students um saying that they belong that 71% is growing. That's amazing and is so key to everything we're talking about. But I think it also is only fair to say that at the same time it's a clarion call for the fact that there's still 29% of students who don't have that

105sense of belonging. And that's an awful lot of students. So I really truly want to celebrate but also say I just that that's something to really also jumps out at me. Um uh I actually have two questions. The first question is just a data question. Carrie um in line with when Mera was talking um in terms of disagregating um Pete made the point that the most expensive college education is the one you don't finish and it's so important to have access to and through. So if that's a student's path and they're going to higher education. Um so we have postsecary graduation rate at the end of the report. Can that be disagregated? >> Yes. >> Okay. So that was >> that was just a simple yes question. Yes or no? >> So I'll turn on

106the microphone and >> sorry >> the answer was >> yes. [laughter] >> Okay. Um, and then my real question was I just wanted to go back to what I said at the beginning to um to Amy uh Miss Verbick. Um, so you contextualize like the 68.8 68.6% with the graduation rate with special ed students. Um, can you contextualize the outplacement in private and public facilities? How it went up from the 79 to 94 and is that a fluke or I just wanted Yeah. wanted to know what you had to say. >> Yes, thank you for bringing uh bringing me back to that. Um so, not necessarily fluke um but um a little bit of an anomaly related to um having a high level of a high number of students who have transferred into the district

107and also transferred out who um were students whose IEPs were for off-campus placement. Um and so that had an impact on our numbers. Um it also is um you know as you think about students with IEPs and their placement um we also received students from district 65 at a higher rate um who were in off-campus placements um so we support those as um they metriculate into the district um and then obviously become their team and monitor their progress and work towards um reintegration planning. So, I think it's a two-fold um kind of endeavor that has impacted those numbers. Um and that was a data point of a total. Um and so it doesn't necessarily represent that all of those students were in an off-campus placement for the entirety of the year. Um but at one

108point uh within that school year um they're uh they were off-campus. So um you know that's how we capture that number. Um, but it is those are the three kind of key factors for why that number is a little bit larger than we've seen in the past. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Great, >> Liz. >> Oh, >> um, I have a question about the discipline. Um I'm looking at the sort of pie chart on the data dashboard about types of discipline and um we've talked a lot about how the sense of belonging has a positive impact on academic success and then also um you know the participate participation in um activities and athletics um leads to the sense of belonging. Um, but I'm thinking about the the social probation and um my understanding of

109social probation is that it would it could prevent you from attending like a dance or something like that. Um, can you talk a little bit about how um some of the discipline actions might actually prevent students from these positive things like athletics and activities that would then also create a sense of belonging and then maybe there's like this vicious cycle there. Mhm. >> That's a great question and thank you for it. >> Uh right before that, you know, I wanted to kind of demystify that, >> you know, incredible number uh of incidents and and perhaps when we talk about a sense of belonging. Uh just to break it out there, one of the largest issues or incidents that we have with students is unauthorized presence where students are seeking a place to belong. All right.

110And another 954 has something to do with the cell phone. So again, a place where you're seeking to belong, which counters the positive but balloons the negative. So I just wanted to make that uh counter. And as far as with uh the social probation, uh we every just about every incident that students have, there's an opportunity to reduce it. So, we're very very proud with offering students an opportunity to reduce it. Uh perhaps through a restorative conversation or connecting with some other u intentional supports uh to help process the behavior. As soon as that's done, students are off of social probation, you know, so we look at it as an opportunity to provide uh support for students, to educate, provide strategies for students. Um, so we're super proud of that. Uh, in some cases, students

111may get on social probation, which typically uh is because of a more egregious uh behavior uh typically a safety uh concern. As soon as they complete whatever the dean has given them as a part of their reduction, they're immediately off. They'll start with 30 days and if the student completes their assignment uh within the next couple of days, then they're off. So, it really does uh depend on what the student, you know, how set they want to participate uh or not. So, I hope that provides a little clarity. uh and some insight and about 2,000 of those incidents. >> So, um so I understand they could resolve the sort of social probation. Um, but if you're talking about something like athletics that is a seasonal activity, um, and say the discipline happens at the beginning

112or the middle of the season, it could pretty much disrupt whatever athletic season they're in to where they would no longer be able to participate like the season would be over basically or >> so it depends. So athletics, they have a code of conduct that they have and students depending on how egregious the behavior is and how unsafe it is, they'll go through their process. So that's a part of the reduction. So again, whatever the athletic department may have or a student athlete does go hand inand uh with the collaboration of trying to find a way for students to be supported again, provide them strategies, but also we want them to re-engage as quickly as possible. Uh some of you may remember students used to be on social probation for a year >> and would

113extend beyond. we've really uh looked and really thought about and and understand the sense of belonging and we've really tried to bring that dial it back. Uh I remember we dial it back from a year to a semester to a quarter and now it's 30 days. Uh but again, we look at it to really look at it um as an opportunity to have a different or deeper conversation with students to provide strategies uh to further reduce that suspension, get them back engaged uh and hopefully stop uh or change the behavior. >> Yeah, I'm really glad to hear that because I I do remember the days of the sort of year-long social probation and it just like continued to the next year. um and how I'm sure I can imagine how frustrating and kind of hopeless

114that could feel to a student um to feel like it's never ending. Um so I'm really glad to hear that you've kind of cut that back and it it gives them more of a goal to really resolve it and and move on and not have this kind of albatross hanging around them for a long time. Um, so I'm really glad because I don't want us to have a situation where we're kind of like sabotaging um, well, while they're on this probation where we're creating a situation where we're sabotaging them moving forward and participating in these things like I just want to make sure that they understand how to resolve their probation. They have these goals that they can reach. >> I thank you again for that. And I just wanted to talk about the other

115side of the coin. For those students who continue to not be on social probation or tardy probation, they have access to so many cool uh things uh from dances to um you know, we took students to Frightfest this year, for example, to be able to uh you know, celebrate uh there, but also being able to participate in going to games and and dances. So, uh, you know, it's it's on top for us, uh, the importance of student engagement and participation, uh, and we want to get students re-engaged and plugged in as soon as possible. >> That's great. Thank you. [snorts] >> Okay, let's see. Um, well, you know, first and foremost, I I think this report, um, it's a lot of information. Um, and without a doubt, there are some areas that you stay stuck

116on, you know, because in all honesty, we know that we are a very, very good school. Um but we also know that we have some huge historical issues that we need to face um and confront and discipline continues to be one race um that is a clear indicator across the board. is, you know, clearly transparent. Um, and so I just I have a couple of questions because I don't want to repeat what's already been asked. Um, Pete, you made a comment about the I think the reading proficiency and um I forgot I forgot what you said, but I I wrote down because it was something that Pat said, the conversation that you had and I said that um I would like to know also if they are the same students with the discipline issues that

117keep repeating, right, that keep surfacing. Um, I think the more we narrow it down, and I know you all do this every day, but the more you share that with us, gives us a clear indicator of the type of student we're looking at, right? Because right now it's it just looks overwhelming. And I can only imagine um how it feels for staff, but I like to see how they intersect. You know, what are the intersectionalities? Um so that we can be clear about the areas we can control, right? And then realize which areas we need support and partnership in because this can't continue. It's it's been >> too many. >> We're too we're too good for that. So um >> so I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned about the girls because I'm like, did we

118forget about them, you know, when we were this year of, did we forget about them? And now we're having to um remember them. I keep I've said this a couple of times. This is one of the the benefits of um going to conferences. You get new lingo. And I mentioned this a couple of years ago. We keep talking about this sense of belonging for some of for all of our students. It means something different >> and and it and it's been co-opted, right? Like what does that mean? Um now especially what does it mean? [laughter] >> We can we can say things. We can you know write uh mandates. we can um tell you what we stand for and feeling belonged doesn't count for a thing today. >> I believe you talked about mattering, right,

119Monique? >> Yes. Yeah. >> So, I'm talking about like do they feel like they matter. >> Yeah. >> Um and and somehow we have to define that for our students and communicate what that means and hear from them about what that is um for them. But my question goes back to the suicide risk assessment which was the first report that I was triggered in. Um are there any trends or themes that come up during those assessments from our students? like when you I know there's this assessment that you take them through that determines which tier of support they receive, right? Is there something that keeps surfacing for our students? Because I'm I'm curious what they're dealing with during these times. >> Um I can find that out. I think that's a report that what happens

120is we did just change our screener. And uh we made it more meaningful and we're using the Colombia screener because the other one was just incredibly long and um it was re-triggering. We felt that it was re-triggering students because of the length of it >> and asking sometimes the same questions over and over but in different ways. Um but that's that's not hard to find out. But what we do um and what we have used um is the data from the well-being report to kind of form our groups and understand what are students reporting because again we have the the risk assessments I think we may have had of the 94 students last year 58 maybe 58 of them were unique students and um just looking at what's re-triggering. So sometimes those are things that

121are happening outside of our control that may be happening outside in their or in their social environment. Um >> but we also utilize uh referral GPS because we know that sometimes what's happening with a student may also be a byproduct of what's happening at home and we're referring families also um to utilize those services too. And it it is a um it depends on how much a student is really willing to share. We have had recent incidents where something is happening in the home that triggered the student, but then the parents may interfere in how we offer support um and may be re-triggering and they'll have multiple suicide risk assessments in a week. That happens. And what happens is then we say, "Okay, this is more intensive. What are some additional um services that we're

122going to do to wrap around? Let's start start talking to teachers." and and so we do a great job at that and and making sure that our social workers um they meet weekly. Uh we have students that we're working on. We have ELT. We also have students that we talk about that may be surfacing for us and we're saying hey what are some like you said some reoccurring themes >> but I can't name those specifically. >> Okay. Okay. I'll I'll just share I know that what what I'm seeing and what we're seeing um after school hours you know are you know kids that don't feel connected to anything and they isolate themselves and I don't I don't know where that leads but I I know it's something that's coming up a lot um and and

123so I'm just curious and I'm concerned especially with things that are um that are happening now how this this time that our our children I call them children because they still are to me um that they're living in um you know how that impacts them and it and it may not impact them but but what they're experiencing either through a certain situation or someone else may be impacting them. So, I'm I'm just curious about that. >> Um, >> right. >> But I I think that's it. I of course I'm deeply concerned about the discipline and all the things on here. So, I I guess I'm I'm just like, okay, we have the data. Thank you. But what now? >> That's a good, >> you know, like we Right. We have it. We know what it

124is. It hurts. Some of it hurts. Some of it is great. Um, what's been great is still great. What hurts is still hurting, [laughter] right? So, what what now? >> So, I'm glad you asked the question. I want to if I can. >> I want to, you know, just jump into [laughter] your f. >> Um, so yes, what now? Um, now that we've level set it and we've got this um, we've gotten this comprehensive report, I want to say out of the way, but have a a context. Now, when we do the quarterly reports, we can really drill down on what the real right now is, right? Our interventions, our targets, our all of the things so that when we come back here next year and we look at this report, it should be different,

125>> right? So this is going to be a great way for the board to progress monitor right what's happening daytoday real time and Dr. Levo and Dr. Robinson Dr. Vavis crew is going to be back when we do the quarterly reports and uh Dr. McNeel will also be here to uh to help lead those because that will those will be the conversations that drive our work in the daily right in the current year. Um, and there's a couple of other things I wanted to add to that. I I shared with all of you in uh last year's evaluation that we were doing going to engage in a program evaluation of special education. >> And so, right now uh the team that's there and myself and Dr. McNeil are engaged in a program evaluation of special

126ed. Uh how are how how are we um supporting our students across the continuum? And it's going to get at the question, Mon'nique, as to who has the highest recidivism uh in the dean's office, right? It's going to be able to help us to understand exactly who we're talking about and how do we begin to address the metrics in that way. So, we are like, you know, with this report and I hope you appreciated the way that it looked and it was presented uh because we want to be as transparent with the board. We want to be transparent with the public as well as the staff like what's really happening so that everybody can understand that situates oursel and okay now here we are moving forward how we plan to address um some of these

127concerns that have been just lingering for years >> um because I don't believe that and I have this last point and I want to make it >> um when we look at I think it's uh charts A through D in the appendix it's chart C that's what you all are used to seeing seeing when we talk about number of students suspended one or more times by race and ethnicity from tuning of 9 to 2025 has gotten really low, right? But that's not the floor, right? Uh that's not the floor because I really believe and when we start talking about recidivism and suspensions and so many other things and I know that I'm not going to get ahead of Dr. McNeil tonight that I know she's thinking of we're going to see a difference in in

128those metrics, right? And so I am uh optimistic about the kinds of what we're doing now to kind of get at some of questions that some issues that we've know that we've had and addressing those questions differently. I hope that and I hope that that makes a little bit of sense. >> I look forward to it. >> Yeah, it's putting this to to use. >> So the next quarterly update, I hope that we can all as you know drill down and say, okay, how's it working? How's it going? What are we doing? Etc., etc. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thank you for that. >> All right, board. >> Thank you, team >> for this. >> Yes. Awesome. [laughter] >> Carrie, you can stand now, >> right? And you can turn your mic off. [laughter] >>

129I know. I know. I know. >> Okay, we're losing our audience. >> Wow. >> Like mass. >> Yeah. Right. Okay. So, we are at our finance committee report and Kendra is at the table. It's about your time, too. >> All right. >> We are. Yes. [laughter] >> No. Right. >> All right. You sure know how to clear a room. >> All right. [laughter] Is it me? >> Okay, here we go. I am now officially convening the 2025 tax levy public hearing. This public hearing is being held due to the district's intent to adopt an aggregate levy of 3.6% in excess of the 2024 levy. The proposed levy will provide funds to support the usual expenses of Evson Township High School. An amount in excess of 3.6% overall increase is to be levied to ensure that

130our extension base increases by the tax cap of 2.9% plus any new property. >> Thank you, Madam President. Anyone desiring to present testimony may do so at this time. >> Okay. Miss Williams, do you have any comments? >> I do. I have a short presentation that I'll be sharing with the board and then I can take questions. >> Okay. All right. Here we go. So, we're going to go through our tax levy hearing. Like I said, a short presentation um where we'll just discuss some general background um the inputs that go into the tax levy and um also how it will affect our um our tax base [snorts and clears throat] and timeline. So, just the general background when we're talking about a tax levy, we're talking about the amount of money that the school

131district will be requesting in order to operate the district for the upcoming school year, which is different from an extension, which is what the district actually receives. Um, so that extension is limited by tax caps and when we levy, it is based on the prior year's extension. So um the we are able to increase or to levy for the lesser of prior year CPI or [clears throat] 5%. So when we're talking about prior year CPI as we go through this presentation we'll come to see that that's 2.9%. In this instance, because 2.9% is the lesser of the 5% or prior year CPI, we're only able to increase our levy by that 2.9%. And so that's the tax cap limitation that we have to work with. and and uh that's an important figure to keep in

132mind because you can see here this this would be the history of CPIs used over the last 10 years. Um but you can see that it's tracking down. So that has a direct impact to our budget. Uh because the vast majority of the district's revenues come from property taxes. So, if we are only able to increase our property tax levy by 2.9% but we're seeing higher increases in some of our expenditures, then that poses a challenge to the budget that we are then um having to deal with. So just always uh important to keep in mind uh with this levy because like I said it's a pretty huge input for our revenue and if you're not bringing the money in then you cannot spend the money. So the levy in the budget yeah continues and

133so um when we're talking about the uh levy cap rate it was 3.4% 2025 2.9%. And so because our um when we're talking about these levies, they go on a calendar year. However, our um fiscal year, [snorts] it is a blend because our fiscal year starts in July, July 1, and then ends in June 30. And so that's why you have that blended uh levy rate. And that blended rate, you know, you saw in the chart before that the the CPI is being used are decreasing. So we even see that this uh levy blended levy rate is about a percentage less than what it was even a year ago. And so um when we put the budget together and we're discussing revenues uh we always indicate uh the spring and the fall for our property

134uh taxes the revenue. And so that first installment equals about 55% of the prior year's tax liability while the second installment um is the balance of the extension for the current levy year. So speaking of second installments um uh this year we had a significant delay in that second installment and so we recently got news within the last few days that those bills will be going out at the end of the week. Finally. But >> yeah, right. Finally. >> So incredibly excited. Still still [laughter] quite disappointed. It's >> Yeah. So truly truly just so excited. Um breathing a little bit easier knowing that there is a light at the end of this tunnel, but just an incredibly disappointing situation to be in because we have been operating through our fiscal year. Uh now at this

135point we are heading into uh the sixth month of our fiscal year and we have not received the revenue that we really need to keep this building going. So uh happy to be getting that in the very near future so that we can continue to um pay our expenditures. So uh this slide will talk about a balloon levy. So when we are um doing the levy once the levy is filed it cannot be increased and that's important to keep in mind because at the point in December where we have to file the levy we do not know every all the inputs are not known. So, when it comes to uh how much new property uh what the value of new property will be in Evston, we don't know that number until months after we file

136the levy. And so we and that's an important input because we're able to increase by the uh CPI percentage plus any new property. So if we were to only increase by let's say the 2.9% our if we were only to levy for 2.9% and then we were to have like 50 million in new property this [clears throat] would be amazing but but then we did not uh make sure that that was included in our levy percentage then we could potentially be leaving money on the table and as we see by the decreasing CPI we don't have any room to leave any money on the table uh when it comes to supporting um the growth and learning of students each and every day here at Edmonton Township High School. So what we do, we use this

137tool, balloon tax levy, which just basically means that we will propose a levy increase that is higher than the tax cap rate in order to capture any of the new property. And typically we put it at an amount that we feel comfortable that you know it's going to be above what we could get so that we're not leaving any uh stone unturned as far as what we're able to reap in revenue. And so this is what this is what the numbers work out to be uh for our levy. This is what we're going to be submitting to the Cook County Clerk um across the different funds. And um once we get our extension, which will have been months from now, then we'll know exactly what uh that amount is going to be that we can

138budget for. And so then the estimated effect on the tax bill, so ETHs is about 25% of the property tax bill in Evston. And so on a single family home uh use the home value 459,000 just based on what like the average home uh value is right now in Evston. [clears throat] And with that for the increase that is seen in next year's tax bill approximately 31 $31 sorry would be attributed to district 202 to ETHS. So, um, not $31 of the whole tax bill, but of the increase that is seen on a $459,000 home would be attributed to the increase in our levy amount. And then also when discussing levies, we also want to talk about um the city of Evston tiffs because that is also another component to uh that gets considered um

139in this calculation because when we're talking about tiffs tax increment financing, it's a tool that basically freezes the baseline property value in a specific area. And what ends up happening is that that baseline property value is frozen and as there's growth in the area or as um EAV increases, the revenue for the district does not increase. The property tax revenue does not increase. It's held frozen and then those funds are used to reinvest into that area uh so that there can be uh greater economic impact that can happen over time. and it's intended to increase the overall tax base in the long run. So that um so with that there's five active tips in Evston. The next one that's going to be closing will be in 2028. The last one to close was in 2018

140and there is a joint review board that meets annually uh to talk about the well-being of the different tiffs and how they're doing how how things are going with them. And I have a slide that actually shows that these are the five tiffs when they were adopted and what the final collection year will be. um for Evston timeline. Well, today we have the public hearing right now and then next board meeting December 8th, 2025 is when we would be adopting the tax levy and then by December 31st, 2025, we would have to file that levy with the Cook County Clerk. I could take any questions or comments. Thank you. Questions, John? >> Yeah, I I had a couple. Um, so I so I know the county said uh property tax invoices or are going out

141the 14th due December 15th. Did they say anything about the first half payment for 2025 being delayed? Like are we are we anticipating this will be have like a rolling issue for into next year? So, no, I do not anticipate that it'll be a rolling issue because the first installment um that happens each year is an is actually just a calculation of like 55% of the prior year. And so, usually that's a more straightforward process it seems for the county. We haven't seen delays on that bill. Um, in the last 5 years, four out of five, the last five years we've seen delays and it has always been on the second installment. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. [clears throat] >> Um, going back to the the slide on the increase the $31. >> Yep. >>

142Was that I I just want to make sure I interpreted it correctly. It's just saying like um on on that single fa single family home valued at 459K >> the the delta of the increase in the property tax the portion of that attributable to 202 would average $31. >> Correct? So, uh just to play this example out, the numbers won't be too far off, but on a $459,000 home, let's say that your tax bill would be about $10,000. ETHS would be about 25% of that, maybe a little bit closer to 26% of that, right? So then we're talking about $2,500. However, whatever increase you see from last year, and these are all estimates I want to just say as I'm running through these numbers, but um all estimates, but then the increase that you're going

143to see from last year, if it was $2,500, whatever that increase is, about 31 of those dollars would be attributable to ETHS. >> So like 2531 or like Yeah. All right, cool. Okay, >> that's it. Thanks, >> Pat. >> Thank you. Um, just a quick question. Do we usually have a separate levy for special ed? >> Do we do that every year? >> Yes. Um, >> okay. I guess I need to drink more coffee when I read your documents because I it just kind of struck me that it looked different this year. But >> yeah, it looks different because uh in our in the budget, we don't um you'll see a line for it. um a special ed uh property tax levy. There is a line for it in our budget, but it all goes

144into the 10 fund. So, I think that you're just more accustomed to thinking of it all as education fund because that is where it all goes, but when you're completing the levy, there's a separate line for it. >> Okay. Thanks, Kendra. >> Yeah. >> All right. Is there any further testimony? Hearing none, I now declare this hearing closed. Thank you so much. >> Thank you everyone. >> Always make it so clear. >> Yes, >> she is. [laughter] >> All right. So, we are at foyers. Dr. Davis. Yes, we have uh six foyas in the packet. Two from Wang, one from Watts, one from CT Mills, another from Duke, and one from Weineberg. >> Responses are in your >> responses are in the Thank you. All right. So, um so we are we have several board

145committee reports and I asked the board to write reports and submit them just so that we could just have them. I don't uh expect folks to go over all of these reports. Um but um if there's something you would like to highlight from the reports, my assumption is that everyone has had the opportunity to read them. Uh if not, you can read them later. Um but if there's something you'd like to highlight, um I'll open open it up for any of that. And um why don't we wait on the national summit for courageous conversations? I think that's like a bigger conference. So any of the committees um ED red there was an ED red kickoff lunchon and oh that that's the only one we're doing this month right the ED red kickoff lunchon um and

146the um Illinois association of school boards had a division meeting and there was a city schools liaison committee meeting so those reports are in the packet all right so let's go to the national sum Summit for Courageous Conversations. So that was a conference that um John Martin, Mon'nique Parsons and I attended along with Dr. Campbell and other staff members attended as well. Um and um there a couple reports in there, but uh John or Mon'nique if you'd like to highlight something. John. Yeah, there there was one thing I wanted to highlight like the the the summit overall was was amazing. It it was fantastic to be a part of it. But one of the biggest takeaways I took was there was I think almost 30 judges from Colorado that that participated as part of um

147the Colorado Judicial Equity Project. And so for me it was it was very it was mind-blowing. It was impressive to see a systemically racist institution like the judicial department um take this active action to to to try to remedy some of the atrocities of the past through this present-minded approach to avoid prejudice when they're sitting on the bench I think is is admirable and will hopefully we will see repeated and expanded. you know, I would certainly love to see this in in Cook County and and Illinois and beyond. So, it was just that was that really struck me and that was a highlight I thought um was worth sharing with you all. >> Yeah, I agree. It was really impressive. Um I had a chance to talk to some of them and I will say

148that they were doing the work. >> They were they were present for um the presummit beyond diversity next generation. Mera, uh, I apologize, Mera. You were also at the summit. I know you were there with a different hat, so uh, but you were there as well. Um, can't really take off the ETHs hat, you know. [snorts] >> You just can't. So, um, [clears throat] yeah. Yeah. I did not ask for a report from you, Mera, because I knew you were there with a different with your other district, but feel free to share. But John, thank you for li for lifting that because that was that was very impressive. >> Yeah, that is very cool, >> Monique. Um so I think for me the um the part that of the the summit that really reframed much

149of my participation through the conference was our presummit >> right and in which we participated in beyond diversity next generation. Um so you know this session challenged participants to reflect on their personal racial identities among other things. But, you know, it felt like it was to me a move from, and this comes from the summit, um, presummit from intentional to purpose, >> right? What we intend to do versus, you know, what our purpose is by articulating our personal racial equity statement or our why of doing this work. And in doing that, we examined how anti-blackness manifest in ourselves, which was deep for me, and our environments. Um, and so the the question, the one question that I I really had, I guess, a challenge answering, although I knew it the answer very well, um, was,

150"As you reflect on race and power, where do you see yourself and others in the tension between individuality and racial patterns? What helps you stay open to both truths at once?" And so I was stuck on that question. I remember during presummit and um really you know I felt like it was asking um asking us to examine the balance between personal identity like who I am as an individual and group identity. How race and systems shape who I am um or even how I'm seen. >> Right. And um and then try to hold space for both. And I was just like, "Wow, do I need to answer this really?" You know, how vulnerable do I want to be? And that question without knowing that that was going to be a question really reframed the rest

151of the conference. So I, you know, I participated in the sisters circles, >> um, black women and film as medicine and how we need to be authentic to who we are, but also um, navigate a space that may not be ready for us, you know, and how do we do that and still keep sane, be sane? um liberated at work, another great conference on examining the systemic barriers that limit um black professionals and you know how to show up and be liberated. But then the one that really stuck with me was using mindfulness to deescalate conflict. And I was like, "Oh, I could do that. I could but not only use it to deescalate conflict, but do it in 30 seconds." So, I was like, [laughter] "How do I do that and then just move

152move on? My day would be so productive if I could just get through the mess and and just go." Um, but it it felt like to me this conference was about sort of um channeling my inner gifts and my my inner power to deal with the mess that's around me, >> right? And it just felt that way. I I I Glenn said something like um and Glenn is the of course the the um person who is responsible for um presenting our courageous convers conversation summits that we've gone through to year after year. But he said something um that history is never truly behind us. It exists in its presence. Like it's it's happening now. Like we think things that are happening to us now um have never happened before. It's just changes clothing, but it's

153happened before, right? And and so, you know, we can get caught up in that. Oh my goodness, I can't believe this is happening. will believe it cuz it's happened before somewhere in our history um in our American history. Uh what's his name? Glaude. >> Eddie Glaude. Remind us of that, right? how things resurface and and then just being mindful of how um how great we are, how we have the power within already to deal with the um the issues at hand. So this was very internal for me um this summit which was really different to the the previous summits that I've been to and um so yeah happy to participate and left feeling full and um realizing that even I contribute to um you know some of the the issues that I'm trying to hold

154other people accountable four. Yeah. So >> I think that um I think that the summit this was like the 15th summit >> and um you know of of course the the the core of the summit is to advance the dialogue critical to um to to really having um these conversations around truth and justice and reconciliation. Um and that's that's the goal is to realize our fullest humanity. Um and and that continued. Um I I too agree that um having the pre-summit that uh new generation of beyond diversity was really powerful and um and and my understanding of that curriculum and Mera um and Monique and John help me if I'm wrong Marcus I think he wants to continue um putting it together. So, the curriculum isn't finished. It's not done. In fact, I'm pretty sure

155I have a a a Zoom meeting later this week. >> Hopefully, it's in my calendar [laughter] um to to review um that experience and talk some more about the curriculum because he wants feedback. Uh he really wants to get this curriculum done. um and definitely having um a couple of proud moments and one of the proud moments was to see Evston Township High School listed as a 2025 Courageous Conversations partner >> in the bulletin. So that was there that looked really good. There was quite a write up about about us. And then we had two faculty members uh Carla Clark and Fernando Compos received the National Summit Award for learning and teaching and um Carla accepted it in a very >> Carlo way. It was beautiful. >> So uh and I recorded it so if

156you want to see it I'll be happy to share. Um, you know, it just shows that we continue to recognize and encourage our staff to practice this work. Um the keynote speakers were great as as Monnique uh laid out. And just generally I I think um highlighting the summit my highlight for the summit is just the thinking of antilackness and how that is uh so much a part of what we're seeing today. There were there [snorts] were many many many many many references to what's happening in our world today. In fact, I felt like um it was sort of hovering over uh Glenn and uh there was a weight there um over him and really all the presenters. Um so this this new beyond diversity is an attempt to take in the changes the the

157new um well just the the critical pieces of our society um and continue of course at summit to dialogue with with people who are like-minded is extremely helpful and um and how ETHs really has continue this work and remain committed to this work. >> You know, I'm glad um you said that, Pat, because I I think about it um that you said, you know, 15 years >> 15 years >> um and it is so critical. I I wanted to be there to witness this year in particular in the face of um the politics and the atrocities that are happening in our nation and across our globe to be with both like-minded um people but also thinking about that as I think Glenn said this ancient architecture of conversation. How do we use that now? >>

158Yeah. um and how important it is. Um maybe more than at any time, right? Um and so it feels like such a privilege to get to go and to be with people, but to know that we're going to then bring it back, right? Um and one thing that stuck with me was uh we were doing this workshop the presummit and I can't think of the man's name who was uh presenting but he presented something called frog theory and he was talking about essentially the way to cook a frog is um you put them in a pot and then you increase the heat a little bit increase it a little bit more and it never really knows what's happening in the point so it doesn't jump out because it's you know, scolding. And I think about

159where we are right now. Um, >> and even when we're talking about all of our data and we're talking about what's happening, I feel like what's so beautiful is that we are not being subdued. We're not allowing ourselves to just sit in the pot and get kind of lulled by the data or by different issues that are happening to our students or our staff. like we're ready to jump out and understand really what's happening and and that's what's so critical too is that consciousness. So it is quite um an important place and I don't know will we have another year will there be 16 but it was really important to be there for this year. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see what the future holds. >> All right. Okay. So, we'll keep going and we're

160at the student board report. >> Well, hello everybody. Um, I hope you're enjoying our first day of winter weather. [laughter] I talked about these events last meeting, but just as a recap for the month of October, um, homecoming homecoming festivities occurred on the week of October 5th, ending in the homecoming game and dance on October 11th, which overall was a success. Everyone who attended really enjoyed themselves. First quarter ended on October 10th, which I think was an emotional day for many students in both ways. joy at grades resetting and anxiety around the grades they ended with, but that's how it always is. Um, okay. A new path system has been implemented here and while I think it generally has been effective, I know many students are confused as to what it actually is, including myself.

161To my knowledge, there wasn't any direct communication with students about the past system, and that has made it um a matter of confusion for many students. So, if some kind of direct communication like an email could be sent out about exactly what the new pass system is, that would be really helpful for the student body. Um, the student union hosted the student voice forum on November 3rd where we really love to see a lot of you there. It was a great success. We had over 800 students attend and collectively over 200,000 minutes of discussion. As a student union, we will be looking through the data collected during the student voice forum over the next couple weeks and then we will move forward with conclusions drawn from that data as the year goes on. Um on

162November 2nd, disruptions in SNAP funds prompted over 150 volunteers and over 8,000 members of the public to come together in a massive food drive to support those who were without food. Um, if you look at the pictures online, though it was a result of a very hard situation, the food drive I thought was a really beautiful display of our Evston community. Um, and lastly, on October 31st, ETHS went on a soft lockdown because of the suspected presence of federal agents outside. Because of this and because of many other events going on in our country, um there's a lot of fear within our student body relating to federal activity. The idea that any student coming to ETHS to learn could be in danger is to put it lightly horrific. Um as a student representative, I commend

163the board in instituting this soft lockdown on this day, but I also want to urge the board to continue to do as much as possible to protect our students from federal agents. No one should feel unsafe inside our school building. And that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. All right, Dr. Campbell. >> Thanks, Eva. On that note, uh I'd say that over the past several weeks, our school community has navigated a r a range of experiences that speak to both the challenges and the strength of ETHS and our uh school community and the broader community of Evston. And I want to acknowledge that the anxiety that many of our in our community feel following the ICE activity in the area, notably on October 31st uh when we mentioned our closed campus

164protocol. All right. Um and then um I'm deeply grateful uh to our staff for the guidance and reassurance provided to students during that time uh ensuring that our safety protocols were implemented with care and dignity. And our goal was and remains to ensure that every student feels secure and supported at school and that their rights are protected. Uh reports of immigration enforcement activity continue to cause deep concern and fear for many in our community, particularly among our Latino students, families, and staff who are disproportionately being racially profiled and targeted. We know that there are students of many backgrounds who are afraid who come to school uncertain about what waits for them beyond our doors. Um so ETHS is and will remain a place of safety, learning and care for every student regardless of immigration status

165or circumstance. And our commitment is not conditional. It is rooted in our belief and the inherent worth and the dignity of every young person who walks through these doors and our halls every day. And we will continue to work with our city partners, city manager, Evston Police Department to stay informed and to ensure that our school remains a place where all students can focus on learning, connection, and hope. And we hold uh steadfast to those values because that's who we are at ETHS. Uh and in that same spirit of community, I want to acknowledge and highlight the recent uh emergency food and mutual aid drive organized by our community service office in partnership with local food pantry and assistance programs. Thousands of community members, 8,000 in particular that Eva just mentioned, uh line the streets

166and fill the fieldhouse with food and essential items in support of local families affected by the SNAP benefit freeze. This outpouring of generosity was power was a powerful reminder of the values that define Evston and coming together in this way brought a sense of healing and hope for many including myself included as I was unloading cars on Dodge. Um even in the midst of uncertainty we witnessed hope and unity and how our community responded and I hope that solidarity continues. Uh this community continues to demonstrate what it means to lead with empathy and collective resilience. These moments uh people showing up for one another reflect who we are and what this community stands for. Uh and as I said in the statement last week, I've never been more prder to lead this district that I

167am at this moment. And I just want to also take a minute to thank all of the faculty and staff who came and helped us with dismissal that day on the 31st. And then all of the parents and community members that came up to the school, ETHS, and along with other schools in district 65 was surrounded with adults that Friday at the end of the day. It was very uh a very powerful powerful moment. Uh that concludes my report, but I have one more thing to say. Uh that's a bit of a it's a um uh in a different vein. uh because as we've been clouded with all of this stuff, there's still so many other things that are happening at ETHS and that is as you all know that October 30th ETHs received another

168AAA bond rating. Um so um that needs to be said and shared. Congratulations. >> It's not an easy thing to do. >> No, it's not. >> In this environment where we're not getting property tax payments >> and everything is so expensive and our budget is really tight. So, congrats to Kendra and the team and the district for for for such a an incredible uh marker of financial stability and grade. So, nice job. >> Excellent. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Campbell, for for lifting that up. And thank you, Kendra, to your team. It's amazing. Not to be taken for granted. >> Not at all. [snorts] >> Not at all. >> No. All right. Okay, we're at action items. The first item is acceptance of Illinois school report card. Could I have a motion, please? >>

169So moved. Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Yes. The next item is approval of resolution providing for the issue of not to exceed $17 million general obligation limited tax school bonds of the district for the purpose of refunding outstanding bonds and increasing the district's working cash fund. providing for the the levy of a a direct annual tax to pay the principal and interest of said bonds and authorizing the proposed sale of said bonds to the purchaser thereof. >> So move second. >> Roll call, please. >> Yes. The next, >> Madame President, sorry, I would like to actually table item C. Okay. >> Um, until next month. We have just one more outstanding item on this one that we want to resolve and if we could bring this back to the board for approval next month.

170>> Okay. Thank you. Happy to do that. All right. Okay. Okay, then we're at the consent agenda which consists of approval of minutes from October 6, 2025, both special and close session meeting, the treasurer's report from August 2025. Um, approval of bills and personnel report. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. Do we have any old or new business to be presented? >> I wanted to add something today. >> Yes. >> Um so this evening I was able to attend the girls swim um awards banquet, girls swim and dive and Eva Hansen, our student board rep was there also and they did their awards ceremony. I couldn't stay for the whole thing because I had to come here. Um but I just wanted to shout out. Um they had

171a great season. It looked fun. and they were very successful and it was a great season for swim and I wanted to shout out coaches um Kevin and Veronica too. >> So that's it. >> Thank you. Lovely. Thank you. Thank you. >> Can I just say something? Yes. >> We're sending seven athletes to state next weekend. >> Wow. That's awesome. >> Okay. Um any more polling of the board? Any any other comments? If not, could I have a motion for adjournment? >> So moved. >> Okay. This meeting is officially adjourned at 10:15 p.m. >> All right.