School Board Meeting Live 5/13/24

001good evening everybody Welcome to the May 13 20124 Board of Education meeting could we have a roll call please here here here here here here here thank you the first item on the agenda is written communication Dr bavis do we have any written communication uh we have no written communication this evening okay thank you the next item on the agenda is comments from the public do we have any comments from the public uh yes we do we have one comment from the public and let me read my introductions to public comment and then I'll call that person up speakers who have signed up for public comment will be invited in the order that they signed up to address the board for up to three minutes I will keep time and Signal you at the end

002of two minutes as a courtesy I will let you know it is time to stop at the 3 minute Mark in the event that becomes necessary speakers are asked to come forward and speak at the lect turn please state your name and address public comments generally pertain to school district matters but comments about any individuals are expressly prohibited please understand that the school board does not respond to public comments but will listen carefully and will follow up as the board deems appropriate our first public comment this evening is Joel sternstein hi my name is Joel sternstein I live on Main Street Evon my son is a uh Rising Jr here um I'm addressing the comments uh from the April 8th board meeting um regarding the change.org petition concerning the war in Gaza uh first I

003want to say that I very much regret the deaths in Gaza and those deaths are all human beings both Israeli and Palestinian um However the fact remains that Hamas started this war in 107 funneled by money from Iran and the United Nations and others and Israel to survive has no choice but to finish the war what is extremely regrettable is that Hamas uses its own citizens as human Shields unfortunately the comments made by community members and parents here on April 8th were riddled with lies and Hal truths the speaker said that parents are weaponizing their Jewish identity and are engaged in oppression silencing and censorship of eths Staff this is false many Jewish parents are concerned that some teachers here are presenting a one-sided view of the conflict Jewish parents are concerned that their kids

004are F to speak minds and show their Jewish identity while Educators here are entitled to their own opinions when they're at school they must teach section 6.70 of the ET eths Schoolboard policy manual says that when teaching about religion Educators shall give neither preferential nor derogatory treatment to any religious belief section 6.80 on teaching controversial issues states that the Educators must present a balanced academic and well researched View and respect the rights and opinions of everyone if teachers here are promoting a learning environment at eths that is openly hostile to Jewish students that behavior Must Be Stopped many of the speakers here on April 8th spoke of zionists as the enemy and sought to separate Zionist from Jews a Zionist is someone who advocates for an independent Jewish state where Jews can live safely as

005of 2021 the Pew Research Center reported that 82% of American Jews see the state of Israel as important or essential to their Jewish identity at the end of the Passover sedor Jews say next year in Jerusalem when you demean zionists you demean the overwhelming majority of American Jews this is unacceptable speakers on April said that support for Israel is the equivalent of white supremacy this is also false according to Wikipedia 25% of Jews in Israel Trace our country of origin to Africa and other parts of Asia including other countries in the Middle East one minute there are almost 2 million Arabs who are citizens of Israel 168,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent live in Israel and as of 2019 the Tel Aviv pride parade is the largest in Asia with 250,000 participants Israel is one of

006the most diverse and tolerant countries on the planet the April speakers said that is genocide in Gaza again also false there is a war in Gaza and both soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict are dying genocide the term coined by rapael lpin towards the end of World War II is the killing of an entire race of people 340,000 Palestinians lived in the Gaza Strip in 1970 and as of 2021 there were over 2 million while the deaths of 24,000 Palestinians is a tragedy it is not genocide I've witnessed two panel discussions at churches one in January in Glen viiew and one in April in Evon where young Israelis and Palestinians traveled to the us to talk about peace about putting aside ancient blood feuds and disputes behind them about living peacefully side

007by side no anatas no Rockets no military occupation why can't eths sponsor sessions like this thank you time that concludes public comment for this evening thank you um so I just like to just say and I say this after each uh public comment session uh the board would like to acknowledge members of our community that have taken the time to provide public comments at this board meeting so thank you very much for doing that we recognize that this requires you to take time out of your day to prepare your remarks and to attend our meeting in addition for so many people sometimes addressing the board in such a public setting may be stepping outside of your comfort zone so we want to acknowledge that as well thank you again for taking the time to attend

008the board meeting and for providing the comments for our board thank you all right so we'll go right ahead with our meeting um the next item is um items for information and we're starting with student recognition um the DECA International competition all righty uh we're going to ask Jenny Weber um one of our Deca sponsors um to come on up and uh recognize our Deca students for the incredible job that they've done this year Jenny you guys can just like line up line up and face the board y you just face them face them don't be shy it's like a role play or you're presenting all right um what's up okay okay all right um good evening it is with great honor that I'm able to stand here before you to recognize these students who

009have dedicated so much of their own time in Deca these students started working on their 20page marketing research plans entrepreneurship plans Community giving and Community awareness projects or their 10 to 20 Page business plans within the first two weeks of school starting they dedicated their lunch periods fre periods coming in before and after school to work on these projects in January these students began to practice their presentations with me starting as early as 7 AM that's very early for a lot of them they have spent uh time before sorry they have spent time before and after school taking practice tests and practicing their role plays in preparation for competition as well as you might know Deca is a High School competitive Business Club where students can compete in role plays and written competition this past

010February 32 students attended the ill Illinois Career Development conference in Rosemont that hosted over 18 High School 1800 high school students from eths that's our largest state conference to date um I had the pleasure of working with 20 of these students individually it's my pleasure to notify you that of those 20 students all 20 plac top 10 and all 20 Place top three in their event uh in their written event at the state competition in addition we had eight students plac top 10 in their roleplay event one of those students placed in the top four at state that student along with the 20 written winners earned the opportunity to compete at the international competition that hosted over 19,000 high school students from across the United States as well as from other countries such as Mexico

011Guam Spain China Germany Brazil and a lot of other countries that I can't remember um that was hosted in Anaheim California so just kind of going over their projects and their accomplishments when I call your name just kind of say hey so they know who we're talking about the following students placed at the Grand awards ceremony at state competition students who plac in the top four for their roleplay event events to the international competition students who placed in the top three of the written event advaned to the international competition that took place April 26th through May 1st so for franchise a business plan we had Campbell and Monroe who earned first place for for writing a business plan plan uh for purchasing franchise rights to fona martial arts and developing a plan to open up

012a location in barington Illinois next we had Maisy who earned second place for purchasing franchise rights to Crossroads and developing a plan to open up a location in Champaign Urbana Illinois our next events were business operations uh events the first category was sports and entertainment marketing Aiden and Josh are in second place in developing a plan to help recruit hire and retain employees for the company level up the next business operations research event was hospitality and tourism Lan and stav earned first place in developing a plan to help recruit hire and retain employees for the company to Salos Pizza business service operations research fent um Anthony and Shane earned first place in developing a plan to help recruit hire and retain employees for company for the company Paramount plus Eli and Dante earned second place

013in developing a plan to help recruit hire and retain employees for the company Northern Bay contractors the next event category was Community awareness project Max and Theo earned first place in the community awareness project where they developed a campaign to create awareness about gun safety at Evanson Township High School these students met with Administration students teachers and community members and developed a panel to create awareness about what the school is currently doing to create a safe environment the next one was was Community giving project Kathleen and Maya earned first place in the community giving project they partnered up with fora and developed a tutoring system for younger students eths high school students had to go through a specific training prior to working with these kids before they could go ahead and tutor the students um

014at fora the next category was Independent Business Plan Caleb earned first place in developing a business called mom's muscle muffins these muffins they're actually Delicious from what I hear the these muffins were created for the athlete um that needed a healthy high protein snack the next one was Kate and Celeste who earned second place where they developed a business called resport their business focused on used sports equip equipment that was targeted for the female athlete the next category was start up a business plan Eddie earned second place in that category Eddie created a Riverside Inn located in displays Illinois where he decided to open up a open up a bed and breakfast in targeting families and individuals who wanted to have a a feel of a stay-at-home that wasn't the typical Hotel Vibe Ellie did

015our international business plan Ellie earned first place in in the international business plan where she created a business in franch called baswan 24 I think that's how you say it yes yes ban 24 is a 24-hour convenience store that carries groceries along with any other everyday essentials you might need this is something that currently does not exist in France and then our roleplay winner Jesse Jesse took first place in the principles of marketing um he is our solo roleplay competitor at the international competition so congratulations to you on that one we don't have the results from the international competition in terms of if students earned an 80% or higher on their event or their test SL roleplay um those should be coming in the next couple days on a final note I would like to

016uh thank my co-advisors mitt Patel and Chris Manila there work with the roleplay individuals has been outstanding lastly I would like to thank you the board for continuing to allow us to continue to run Deca here at eths the opportunities as well as the experience that these students get from the conferences are truly amazing and it's something that they're going to carry on uh for the rest of of their life so thank you again for your continuous support students before you students before you leave we're going to GNA come around we oh you're getting their pictures okay no I'm not parents you can come up here and take a picture come parents come up parents come behind us so that you can get a good a good place look here look here looking right here

017guys one no all right let's try one more [Applause] time okay let's try beautiful okay stay there for the parents so stay there the board's going to stand we're going to shake your hands as you come around and we have a gift for tonight uh to say congratulations did everybody get their picture though everybody okay all right congratulations conrat conrat conrat conat congratulations got it right on [Applause] time Dr Dr Campbell I was going to tell them they all have to stay till the end but that was a mean joke you all are free to go go yeah thank you for coming all right so I think we're going to keep going so we are at the sustainability update just going to introduce this yes so we have John Crawford crawf Tim minestra and group

018of students to come and share a little bit about um our sustainability efforts uh and um I'm going to turn this turn this over to John and and Kim I'm John Crawford director of operations and sustainability I'm Milo s I'm an outgoing senior at Evanson toship high school I'm dexa edinberg as current Junior at eths who is involved with ewn Sunrise I'm Kim anestra the director of nutrition services and we're going to report on sustainability at eths so the highlight of our year is was definitely the the passing of the eths green New Deal sustainability policy I just want to say a couple thank yous um first to the school board thank you for not only supporting the policy but recognizing the importance of creating a policy and putting it in place you know 10

01920 30 years from now when everyone in this room is a different person um we we have the confidence that they'll be making their decisions based on the policy we passed this year so I thank you for that uh Administration thank you for being involved throughout this whole process um Administration Presence at our sustainability committee meetings is uplifting to our students staff and Community um that that this has Merit and that everyone's involved and lastly but not least thank you to the students staff community members city of Evon District 65 industry experts for their commitment their time their effort sharing their Vision sharing their expertise um I really appreciate everything that we have done um we could celebrate what we have done and we have done some good things this year but there is a

020lot of work to do so on to the work goal number one of the policy calls for a sustainability plan and a scorecard um that's something that we developed we have some of the plan here is in your packet um we're going to outline specific strategies and actions to meet the overall goals stated in the policy provide metrics of resource consumption as well as emissions and student involvement and experts in the field are key to developing this plan um we've established subcommittees for each goal that includes student staff the Community and Technical experts each subcommittee is tasked with uh developing Baseline data resources outside of energy use and uh performance Benchmark for greenhouse gas reduction um we're working with Communications on building a public facing web portal to report our data um and in a

021userfriendly format where it's interactive and more entertaining than what we currently have um the uh the subcommittee meet are plan I'm we're plan on meeting on our quarterly meetings with the whole committee but the subcommittees will meet on a monthly basis um to see if our strategies are working what needs to be tweaked and and how we're doing um actions will be presented every year at this annual sustainability plan um meeting all right so gold two is education so obviously that's something that H hits close to home uh for us students and something that students are hopefully going to be engaging with on a daily and weekly basis so um our education goal states that eths will incorporate sustain ility into the educational curriculum and employee training so that upon graduation all eths students will

022have a foundational understanding of the causes impacts and solutions to The Climate crisis uh right so um some of the things we've worked on with education are uh providing opportunities for professional development outside of the classroom that reflect the eths green New Deal sustainability policy um so whether that's you know speakers coming into the Hub uh and talking about sustainability you know opening up on School links um you know sustainability career Pathways uh things of that nature uh new employees will be presented with the eths green New Deal sustainability policy and plan as part of the onboarding process create a multi-discipline teacher working group to develop sustainability based curriculum across multiple subjects um this is something that we've already started working on we passed the framework for uh with the help of Dr bavis and

023some of the people in this room um we developed curriculum for freshman biology and sophomore Civics classes that is being implemented Now by teachers across those departments and we're hoping to to continue that work um create a sustainability toolkit that the uh teachers and staff can use in their areas to conserve energy resources waste and conserve water uh recognize and highlight student staff and Community efforts in supporting the eths green New Deal sustainability policy and plan greenhouse gas reductions so eths commits reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy resources following this intergovernmental panel on climate change um our goals we set were 45% reduction by 2030 80% by 2040 and 100% by 2050 and these are based off of our 2018 um levels all new Billings and Facilities will be constructed factoring in our commitment to

024these goals and energy resources include the campus as well as Transportation Fleet uh we're going to continue our participation in the ComEd n core gas sem uh it's been the key factor into into our current energy reduction LED lighting upgrades we do it every year we're doing another 500 this summer we at the end of this summer we'll have about a th left which probably around two years will be done um we're developing a detailed Energy Road matat that factors in Energy Efficiency upgrades solar renewable energy procurement and electrification of our current steam system installation of variable frequency drives and energy efficient Motors um we have over 100 constant volume Motors in this in this building if you could believe that and um installing variable drives would would be a huge energy reduction um and

025keep building Upon Our energy Audits and upgrades and look for ways to incorporate uh more efficient Technologies as they become available so our goal number four in the policy was is water conservation so um the official language in the policy was eths commits to reducing current water consumption and increasing water use efficiency throughout eths um some ways that we're doing that are we are working on adding subring to better track our current water usage um and we are having any Renovations and new buildings facilities um that will they will have uh construction they will be constructed factoring in these new commitments to reducing water consumption um and we're also electrifying and right sizing our current domestic Hot Water Systems um and doing a yearly steam trap audit to reduce boiler makeup water usage as well

026as lost steam capacity um and electrifying the current steam absorption Chillers um which need to be replaced due to age and air cooled condensers to replace water cooled condensers yeah um and then uh goal number five was waste um which the official language there is eths commits to reducing non-energy waste to landfills by 50% by 2030 75% by 2035 and becoming zero waste by 2045 which closely mirrors karp um the city's climate action and resilience plan um waste includes but is not limited to landscape waste food paper Plastics and building materials so will periodically review the procedures for reducing Solid Waste generated by academic administrative Food Service grounds keeping cleaning and other institutional functions with the goal of maximizing diversion from landfills and reducing waste at the source uh so what we're doing right now

027to reach that goal is we're working with some industry experts to perform a full waste audit which will happen in the fall of 2024 to develop a baseline for Waste um we are improving our current composting practices by educating students teachers and faculty um we also as students created some um banners to make the waist sorting stations in the cafeterias more visible um and South Cafe uh will be the Summer School lunchroom so we'll use that to kind of prototype some different things that might help students learn how to compost better um and correctly divert their waste um and then also Renovations will prioritize the ReUse repurpose recycling or restoring of materials and equipment to divert landfill waste and we will continue to try to reduce our single-use Plastics um goal number six is food

028by January 2025 um we hope to include at least one locally sourced and freshly clicked plant plant blaz menu item per meal service we're currently doing a lot of that right now by January 2030 so 25% of its food locally prepare 50% of the meals from scratch and offer a minimum of 50% plant-based options um that Lo sorry that that logo up there um we plan to make denote um any food that is vegetarian vegan and then we'll also be expanding that into Halal and kosher meals as well um how we plan to get there we took out what we call it's the food forward pledge it's a resource that's um highlighted through the Humane Society to assist us with culinary uh training programs custom recipes and menu development and environmental impact measurement there's a

029training right there with our new um chopper with our staff all right goal number seven is healthy in outdoor environments so the goal States healthy indoor and outdoor environments eths commits to providing healthy indoor and outdoor environments to our students staff and the community all right so allo all indoor improvements in new building facilities will align with our commitment to healthy indoor environments and implementing indoor environmental quality measures that include Air Quality Lighting thermal Comfort Acoustics and ergonomics any improvements to outdoor spaces will align with our commitment to healthy sustainable outdoor environments EHS will endeav to increase native tree shrub rain garden and pollinator plantings across the campus to improve biodiversity storm water management and opportunities for curricular connections uh I can also add to that I've been involved with that subcommittee uh that we've

030been working on the last few months and we've talked about things like um you know creating an outdoor classroom spaces um and generally getting students outside more and getting students more interacting with the the nature that we have around us goal number eight is purchasing so eths will create a sustainability purchasing plan that factors this policy zero waste goals into purchasing decisions procedures and specifications so ATS will periodically review its procurement procedures and specifications for alignment with the goals of the eths green New Deal eths will provide targeted solutions to minimize waste encourage environmentally friendly Supply chains and look for innovative solutions in the general field of energy water construction HVAC lighting maintenance Landscaping Food Services Transportation Information Technology paper products and refuse and fulfilling our commitments to environmental stewardship all purchasing should meet or

031exceed guidelines for environmentally preferred purchasing set by the USA or one of the peer-reviewed sustainable product rating programs and the last one is a big one uh create a sustainability budget account to track current and future sustainability measurements um and that way we're really we we're keeping better track of of what we're saving and what we're able to uh hopefully final into sustainability measures in the future Al also taught Milo about fun 10 fun 20 fun 60 so yeah he's truly a pleasure in my last week of Bol so how are we doing uh so sem is our our main electrical and natural gas reduction and this year we reduced our natural our electricity by over 284,000 kilowatt hours which is a 3.3% yearly um reduction but add that to what we've been doing since

0322019 and we've saved over 2 million uh kilowatt hours for a 23.1% uh reduction from Baseline on the natural gas this year we've saved 38,000 thms for a 4.3% yearly reduction but added to all the years we're over 386,000 for 34.7% reduction from Baseline greenhouse gas emissions 38,000 um I'm sorry 34 49 tons of CO2 reduced for 4% yearly savings and added in in 3,815 tons of CO2 for 35% greenhouse gas reduction and Kendra's favorite slide how are we doing avoided costs right so electricity this year we over $190,000 in in re in avoided costs natural gas $193,000 um part of the sem is we get an incentive check for our yearly savings and this year it added to 19,90 for a total of over $43,000 so so some updates of kind of how we're

033doing some highlights um so so far we've had um 520 LED light replacement uh Replacements through isbe um they do a 50k matching Grant and we do it in-house um so the labor is not outsourced to anyone um it's just the engineers from here um we are repurposing any LED lights that are removed through Renovations um and they get sent to something called the Alumni Hall project um and all student Chromebooks are EP certified gold or silver U which is just a certification um and Landscaping is now 100% electric SL battery powered um and the Landscaping waste is composted so that's pretty cool um in O as of October 2023 um we had 21 native trees that got planted um on July 1st 2024 operations is switching to pathosans which is a chemical-free cleaning disinfectant

034which is like salt based and electricity and water it's some interesting chemistry thing um and the sem public sector alumni cohort um which is a bunch of there six different high schools two different colleges a municipality um two correctional facilities and two hospitals that were kind of competing against to get us to be more energy efficient um so that's just kind of we got first place out of those groups um and total SC and total thms um savings and also percentage of thms and we got second place in kilowatt hour percentage okay so how the food committee is doing um we tried to start with some low hanging fruit right off the bat and some of the smaller catering events or events that are outside of the lunchroom we switched immediately to 25 people or

035less to reusable um dinner wear and silverware and things like that we also um don't allow anyone to order water bottles anymore and they have to get the bulk water or we have stainless steel bottles which are much more expensive so most choose the the bulk um and then inside of the lunchroom um some of you may know we move from the cartons to the bulk dispensers and then also we are not doing any individually wrapped packets of condiments anymore everything is bulk and in bottles all right so the big question is how are we funding all of this and how will we continue to fund all of this so um continued strategic Energy Management opportunities um no to lowcost measures uh savings from current projects will help fund future projects uh if you notice

036we've saved quite a bit recently thanks to Mr Crawford and others um ComEd Energy Efficiency program we can get rebates for lighting HVAC kitchen equipment nyore gas rebates program uh rebates for boiler tuneups pipe insulation steam trap audits um isbe School maintenance project Grant is $50,000 ma matching grant for Energy Efficiency projects Illinois shine Illinois solar for all incentives for solar inst uh installation and I'll add that there and this is in combination with the last point which is that the inflation reduction act and just government grants provide a lot like really a lot of money um for make taking sustainability measures and so this a really great opportunity that I hope uh you all take full advantage of in the future um so uh we can get tax credits for solar thermal energy storage

037um I could also just take this moment as we start to wrap up um I know this is the last slide I was assigned to yeah I know but last one I'm doing um um just like a bit of a reflection on like our time here and just um I hope that you you're noticing from this presentation that we're this is not just about like a few a group a few group of a group of community members a group of students a group of teachers but uh we really want this to be like integrated into the framework of eths and we want you know every student to leave with a fundamental concept of what is um climate change to have been well educated on this in their classrooms this is something that is really important

038um students need to be equipped for what the future holds um which is a bit scary it's very scary um and I hope that you all continue to um invest time and resources into these measures it's really important for students to learn in environment that models the future that they're trying to create um so if that's just what I'll try I'll leave you all with all right so looking ahead um which kind of adding off of what Milo was just saying um Outreach is really really key so I did mention that there's a waste audit coming in Fall of 2024 U we will try to get like lots of students and community members involved with that um to one make it easier because there's many hands make light work um but also to help people

039see kind of directly what waste goes where and why it's important that it gets where it needs to go um and then also within that Outreach bullet point um we are going to be making some videos to hopefully advertise this more to the whole school maybe like how to waste sort kind of video on Tuesday tidbits or something um we're going to have some various events and um maybe that will be during lunch to try and get some students who might be intimidated by being a part of a subcommittee um to just kind of make it really easy to get involved with um and we're trying to really uplift what we're changing to a broader audience overall um we've done a lot so far as you can probably tell um and last only in a

040couple of the past few years so much more to come um and this committee will continue to meet regularly and create new goals that will be both short and long term to really change the foundation of the school um and really make it a more sustainable school which is really important all right questions well so first of all I know that my my colleagues will join me in just saying thank you to all of you thank you to the students and your committee um you've brought us so far in the last few years you know I'm looking at you know how how we doing those slides and where we were and how we've come how far we've come and how much we've saved um from 2019 till now and we'll just continue looking at that

041you've got the audit coming up and um I just really just want to say how much I appreciate what you've done how much I've learned from you um so thank you so so much and um what you're doing for your colleagues and for the for your peers and showing them um basically what they can do and how they can do this and demonstrating and and coming up with different uh ways of of teaching them uh will just make such a difference so um so really I appreciate what you've done so far um so questions Pat um well I just wanted to say thank you add to what Pat said um you know we've I've been on the board long enough that there was a few years ago where there were a lot of students at

042the the podium telling us we weren't doing enough and part of that In fairness was we weren't communicating what we were doing because we knew from Kendra's um predecessor that there were a lot of things going on um that just weren't as well communicated so that was part of it but what you have done has taken us to a whole different place and I feel like what you just did show is the best of what I believe eth is that there's all these great students who are smart and articul it and have passion that have com worked with these wonderful leaders in our building um professional leaders you know teachers and working on the the education and and impacting like the civics class like how brilliant is that and I know you worked with Dr

043bavis on that but it working together and listening to our students is what I believe the best of what we are in at EHS and so I just I'm just thrilled and I really grateful to all of you and um Milo I just want you to know that Kendra gets us a little crazy too so but usually she waits till 10 p.m. with us so at least you got to talk to her earlier no we we always tease Kendra we love Kendra but and seriously though what you're doing is doing the work that needs to be done in sustainability but in a way that is financially you know sustainable as well and maybe pushes us to add a little bit more and that's good but these things can't be done in in sort of a

044pie in the sky way they have to be done with the reality that Kendra brings to the table so I just want to thank all of you and really um acknowledge just what you represent in in terms of the great work that can happen when students and adults in eths uh can come together so you guys are awesome thank you wonderful anybody else Miss hi I just wanted to say um I just wanted to congratulate you all on your success so far and I'm so proud of everybody that's been involved with this um this is such a robust plan I really I can't even really fathom how robust it's become over the last couple of years um and it makes me very happy to see the progress that the school has made and a lot

045of that was the vision of the students who really brought that to the school um and and um I I'm glad to see that we have a little bit of solar on the roof that's going to be happening I was a little surprised that we only have I think it said nine roofs that we can put solar on but you know I know we have a lot of stuff up there so that makes sense um I did have a a question I was just curious do we have anything that's coal powered on our properties and if we don't okay I wasn't sure if that's what the corner power plant was run on or not that's natural gas okay okay just making sure all right thank you guys it does have the old coal Hoppers though

046if you ever want to take a [Laughter] tour yeah just adding a really brief comment um and that is I just wanted to also in terms of talking about the road bus plan I think that your plan is a really good model for all of us in terms of how um clear delineated it is in its goals and the idea that you have the score card card and you're going to have that public facing and be very clear about what you're achieving what you need to tweak how you're getting to your goals that's a it's really impressive and I think is a lesson for everybody greton I just wanted to say I was minding my own business in my kitchen the other day and listening to WBEZ and up Pops Milo um so I thought

047that was kind of fun um and he you did it a tremendous job it was very unexpected I felt like we needed you needed a press release or something to let us know that was coming and I was glad I caught it but I think you can go back and get the recording because you probably sent it to mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and all that right anyway it it was a terrific um you know opportunity to highlight the good work that that you guys have done and I I do appreciate your work in particular Milo I happened to be at the policy committee meeting where I think it was just Pat and I and we had a very small turnout and there was Milo and you of course you were there and

048you know we got to get the preview of the policy so thanks and congratulations all of you for the good work great well thank you again thank you so much for this and uh we look forward to the monitoring and the audit and just continuing to hear about how this is unfolding so thank you [Applause] all right so moving forward with our meeting um the next item on the agenda is the first reading from the Press policy issue number4 um Dr bavis do we have any comments about this um just a couple uh one is this is the first reading press 114 policies are in your packet you will notice that there are several asterisks yeah uh next to some policies those indicate that we are under attorney review and I've been in touch with

049our attorneys and we will have answers for that before the final vote and I'll brief everybody on those changes okay thank you right okay the next item is the adjustment to student fees and I believe Kendra's gonna lead that I know right it's really early for you I hope you can do this keep it going uh oh so interesting all right good evening board good evening so uh myself Rudy we're here this evening to talk to you about a proposal to adjust student fees and so we just wanted to be sorry uh be able to go through uh a brief presentation to explain some of the rationale behind the proposal and then uh this is just kind of the road map of where we'll be going today and then if you have any questions we'll

050go through those as well so just as um a brief background for student fees um of course we know that you know everyone has a right to a free and public education but the Illinois statute does permit public school districts to charge students a fee for the use of textbooks and fees for consumable materials and supplies that are used in the course of a student's education and so we have used this Tool uh not to cover all costs by no means do student fees cover like all the costs associated with a student's education here but to help defray some of the costs that um occur uh through different programs in the school and so just wanted to clear up that like a student registration fee is not tuition if you look at ours uh the

051Illinois state report card for the district it is actually about $26,000 when you look at the operating cost per student $26,000 um is what that amount is and so if we were to charge tuition that's what that would look like and that's not at all what's happening with the student fee bills that we have and so um also just to give some context student fees are less than 1% of our total budget so we'll go we'll have another slide where we kind of talk about the financial impact later on but just in terms of you know are you using the fees to kind of make up the budget it's a very um instrumental tool that we have to support the education and well-being of our students but it is in no way making up like

052the majority of the budget are in any way all of the cost that we're using to spend on our students so I just wanted to be really clear about those things because uh sometimes it does get confusing for people um when they are issued a student fee Bill we want to make sure that we're transparent in what's happening uh with that and so also just a little bit of background for us that uh over the past decade we have significantly enhanced our educational offerings uh we know that about 10 years ago we adopted a actually 10 years ago is when we began the process of our onetoone Chromebook initiative so uh it would have been in 1415 when we started by issuing Chromebooks to freshmen and then each year we had another class that had

053Chromebooks until all of our classes had them and then also we have greatly expanded our extracurricular opportunities uh we know that we had an opportunity to hear from uh Student Activities Athletics um community service about how we're just doing so much more there's so much uh more opportunities for students that we know support their well-being and so there's been a lot of advancements um a lot that um we have done over the last 10 years but in the last 10 years we have not increased the student fee bill so the last time that we saw an increase in uh that student fee bill would be in 1415 um and so it's been 10 years despite these Rising costs these um expanded offerings and so we're here to talk about an adjustment to that all right

054good evening everyone so for the Need For Change why change right um due to inflation and Rising operational costs um it's crucial for us to adjust our U fee structure and continue providing High um Quality and uh Equitable education so I'll get into a little bit more detail um for the specifics of the change but that is pretty much why we're here and why we want to U bring this to your attention so right now our current fee structure um for grades 10 through 12 uh we currently charge 340 for registration fees um freshmen and transfer students pay a different costs so this cost includes the uniform package package there's a heart rate monitor that's that's included in it and there's also a CPR certification so 10 through 12 they pay 340 and then our

055freshman and trans transfer students pay 380 um those who qualify for free and reduced lunch they pay a reduced fee which is $25 so they don't pay the uh the costs that our 10 through 12 grest pay and also the The Freshman transfer students the proposed change um this is what we're proposing uh we want to simplify the registration fee we want to charge 365 for all students um the reduced rate will remain the same at $25 um and this just simplifies our registration fee a little bit um um easier and simplifies that for us the technology of upgrade um this is a introduction of smart watches that we want to replace our heart rate monitors with So currently our freshman um receive a heart rate monitor their freshman year um and they use that

056for all four years um and that is included in their PE package along with their uniform and um the CPR certification so we want to introduce the smart watches that our PE team has has brought to our attention um so smart watches what are they um so this is what our P team brought to our attention um polar watches provide accurate data for fair and equal assessment um right now the heart band that they currently use is strapped around their uh back and under their chest area so that's what they currently use now um the PE teachers have a little device that they give to the students that gets attached to it but now if we go to the watches be a little bit simpler they'll just put it on their wrist and they'll be

057able to um um get accurate data and and all the stuff that they use for p through that um it incl it promotes equal recognition and transparen and PE activities it also allows our students to Monitor and manage their their Fitness efforts and this also helps us on the financial side where a lot of our students currently um if they lose their heart rate ban they'll they'll need to go to um the PE office to purchase a new one if if they lose it and that's an additional cost and sometimes that's a burden for some of our students who um might not be able to afford it so being able to have these watches also helps eliminate that issue within our our PE department so here's a little bit of the structure and what we

058kind of want our fees to be laid out through all four years um for our students So currently it's the 380 as mentioned before um that is for our freshman and transfer students um our sophomores Juniors and seniors will pay 340 all right and that's the current structure right now um all four years the total of that is 1,400 the proposed fee structure um we're proposing that they don't pay to 380 when they start it'll be 365 for all four years so it'll be a little bit easier just to to kind of expect what to to pay um every year for the school year and that totals out to 1,460 um this increas is about 4.2% um for a family over the course of four years and the increase averages up to $15 per year

059so that is um our our proposed fee structure um fees will not increase for any of our students who are on free reduced lunch or qualified for that fee waiver program uh that will remain the same for all students who qualify for that all right and then also thank you Rudy this is why I have you thank you so um so also talking through the financial impact like we went over the financial impact for families but also for the district um so the current amount budgeted for fees would be $860,000 um in the the annual budget and so as I had mentioned before uh that's less than 1% of the district's budget and the proposed increase would be 31,500 is how much would be anticipated to increase the budget um by and so we're talking

060about 3.7% increase to the amount that's budgeted for student fees um so when we're looking at um The increased cost that we've experienced with textbooks the cost for uniforms the cost for the smart watches versus the heart rate bans all of these different things um it's hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of the last 10 years right so once again um this would be to help defray some of those costs but in no way um are we looking to put all of the cost off on our families and also um remaining sensitive to the fact that we do have a free um a population that is able to get a waiver based on um the eligibility once they do the form for free and reduced lunch um and so we wanted to make

061sure that we kept that in mind in this and so that's why we are putting forth a proposal that does not include increasing that fee for that population but also allowing for um us to address some of the needs uh of students and recognizing the um the benefits to some of the things that we're doing for students so these changes ensure that all students regardless of uh economic background similar to what Kendra just mentioned for our free reduced lunch students have access to the same high quality resources and opportunities that other student we have in the district the standardized fees promote fairness and transparency within our community so um with that we are open to to any questions that any of you may have regarding our fee structure and the proposed fees also sorry just

062before we get into it I also want to say that we do have it posted on our website like what we use our fees for so even though we will be having like this simplified fee structure we will still continue to have that transparency available on our website uh if anybody ever wanted to look on there and say well what do the student fees even go to wordss um that has been available for a number of years and will continue to be available so I just wanted to um put that out there and one more plug before we go into questions and just as we're talking about student fees I want to make sure I told taia that I would do the plug to make sure that all families are encouraged to return their textbooks

063because we find that a lot of fees that are charged are actually for textbooks that don't get returned um maybe the student didn't understand that they needed to return it at the end of the year and so I want to make sure that everybody knows please return your textbooks please watch out for return your calculators because those things add up and before you know it you have more fees in books than you have in actual fees right like registration fees and then also the other plug that I will put out there is please also um complete the form that we were mentioning that household form uh regarding the your income because that is uh the best way for us to ident identify students that may be eligible for a waiver and often times if you

064don't fill that form out in the year it's not something that we can go back and do for previous years we always look at um extenda circumstances we have a a whole different vehicle for that for evaluating that and making sure that if somebody's in need that we can address those um those situations but just from the the start fill out the form let's make sure that you know if you qualify to have your fees wave that we can get that done on the front end because we don't want it to be any more of a challenge than it has to be for our families thank you thank you for that those plugs at the end and uh if someone's completing a form and they have questions do they call your office that's right call

065the business office always happy to help and sometimes we call you if you think we could be of help okay all right good thank you U questions question uh thanks very much this um makes sense to me I know not everybody's happy to see fees go go up but it makes sense um and you've explained it very cogently and responded to some questions I had about the total dollar amount my only remaining question has less to do with the fee really and more about um these new watches and the data they collect and I don't know if you're even the person who can respond to this question um but I'm curious about what kind of data is collected by the watches and how you protect our students privacy in connection with that data um that

066may have been an issue with heart rate monitors I don't even know but um in this day and age it seems to me that's something we'd want to be very careful about do you have any information or do we need to get that from our PE watch experts yeah they may be the best team to reach out to I'm giving you an out there but what I do know is that um the the they serve the same purpose right um sure it's easier it's easier for our our teachers and our students to be able to access the watches rather than um utilizing the the heart rate um um yeah no argument for me on that point yeah and I think our students probably I mean I saw some faces in the audience saying oh watches

067um you know I mean they're very Savvy with the technology and you know I'm wearing a smartwatch right now so I certainly like it it really has less to do with you know the fact that people use these and and because of that very usage um I think we need to be very cognizant of of who can access it um and in the case of a watch like this even more so I think than the heart rate monitor it's collecting your health data and and that's you know a particular a particular concern from from a privacy perspective so I would just I would just say maybe not to you but I think we need to get to the bottom of that and and make certain that we're taking appropriate precautions and coordinating with our tech

068people maybe even um not you know not to say that we're not going to do it um but this is an issue absolutely I was just going to say yes scretchen um coordination with our Tech um Team Our IT team will ensure that and we've got a number of ways that we already do that so I think we'll streamline it as especially to be soapa compliant as well yeah thank you okay um Pat so I just feel that since I do tease you Kendra um I you know it's just a joke because this is a great example of what you and your department do to really push our values based budgeting and really focus in on the students that we haven't raised our fees in 10 years and that in the end you're raising them

069but for some people it actually goes down so they they don't feel it quite as harsh harshly and then of course that we work with students and make sure that everyone um no one is shamed that we work with everyone and figure out whatever their circumstance so I just I just want to very sincerely raise up how much we appreciate that you take what we care about and what our values are and what we talk about a lot um and you make that happen financially and that's just it's such a great a great um gift to our students and to the well-being of this building so thank you very much to both of you and all the team back back in the business office that makes all this magic happen but it's really terrific so

070thank you thank you and thank you to the board you know you guys set the pace and the tone so thank you on yeah I just have a quick question um how are or how will our um incoming freshmen and parents know about this or know to even ask for help or reach out to you like are we communicating to our eighth graders and parents yeah so we we there's a mailing that goes out each summer regarding student fees also when um uh students are doing freshman orientation that's another opportunity where they'll be hearing about student fees um I actually had a suggestion come up from someone in my department this year about having a visible table so usually we're in the office and we we stay late so that people can come and buy

071their Venture cars and we can talk about their fees but we're in our office and they're directed to our office instead we'll be coming out of the office to make sure that we're visible um for all to like you know know know hey we're right here we're ready to help what can we do um so that's just another you know thing that we'll be implementing but we're always kind of looking for ways to make sure that um students and families are aware of what can be done I'd also say we'll have a brand new communications director to strategize about how we can do things uh to be a little bit different than what we always do right all right well that that'll be good because the student fees were the last thing I was thinking

072about for my incoming freshman right I mean it's it's overwhelming so um I know for some families they don't know about it until it's too late then it's like what what did this so some of our families don't know that we do this and they definitely don't know why you know why this is done so I just think it's it's important to communicate the multiple ways or however many ways you can but definitely to not do it inside the business office right because I feel like I'm paying a a you know utility bill or something so right and it's it's more to it than that and um so I just know because I always hear like last minute I didn't know you all were charging for you know this is a public school and so

073they don't get they don't get that um and and I get that it's a small percent of our um overall budget and I guess the communication person can can address this um I wouldn't negate the importance of that number I mean I wouldn't personally I wouldn't keep I wouldn't say that because it is critical that we need parents to participate in this because of so many reasons that um we want to make sure that this education is at its highest standard that it can be and so forth and so on cuz if I when I hear that I'm like well why are we doing it then you know and I don't want that to be the response of famili saying if it's not that much then why are we charging no we're we're charging because

074we have to because of all these things and these reasons and we want you to be we want you to know and be informed and be transparent which I know you have been um so just talking for the folks in the back and I I appreciate that I appreciate the perspective and the reframe because definitely while it may like I said it's less than 1% of our budget but it's no drop in the bucket we're talking about nearly a million dollars yeah right right so nearly a million dollars goes a very long way when we're talking about how it can support extracurricular activities right that pull so many of our students in and all of the different ways that we're able to utilize that to go way I mean you know people talk about well

075it's a public school and free and public education but we're that that's like below that we're doing way more than that here way more are we're not talking about the minimum right and if we want to continue to expand what we're able to offer to our students this is one of the ways that allows us to do that and so I in no way would want someone to think every every dollar is important to me so I I I want to make sure that that is clear so thank you Monique thank you we do know that every dollar is important to you because really all of what we do here really often rest on uh back in your office so I also appreciate you um supporting our goals and our values and really making sure

076that all of our students have access to all the great things we have here at eths so thank you so much thank you to your office thank you to your team thank you thanks for coming Applause we pause these Foy okay so the next item on the agenda is uh the item number seven for us Dr bavis I think we have a few yes uh we have seven for lcvi diani czy Hernandez godki Ginsburg and Hayden and the responses are in your packet okay thank you all right the next item is board committee reports and um I know we had a board committee meeting uh this the city schools meeting a couple of days ago I did not do a report for that committee I don't know Liz if you were able to do anything

077or we all had to leave early because we were presenting at the scholarship night we left early we miss a lot of it so we missed that meeting so I think we should wait for the the minutes to come out for that meeting um from what I could see the beginning of that meeting really mirrored what was at the beginning of the past of the previous meeting so I'm sure there might have been other things add it so we'll wait any other board committee uh meetings no we have a um discipline committee tomorrow okay okay so we'll hear a few next month all right so we are at the student board report so Nicole looking forward all I'm just gonna pop a squat over there with uh I don't know why I said that we're

078just gonna move over there um for this uh student report sorry all right so um just a little bit of a scenery change you know um today we're just I'm here with um two of my classmates and friends um who have been who I've been collaborating with on like a separate project in a different um extracurricular um called emerge um it's a leadership program we have at here at eths which I probably have mentioned a little bit before um but we're just gonna jump right in so hi everyone my name is jacqu Philip uh my name is Brandon Roseman um we are restorative justice okay so um what is restorative justice uh just a show of hands anybody who has heard of restorative justice just raise your hand if you know what restorative justice is

079if you've heard of it and then keep your hand raised if you have actually participated in restorative justice um in any form or fashion so that's great there's a lot of hands raised but there's also a lot of hands down and that's the number that we're looking to increase so um restorative justice is the idea of responding to conflicts and harm crime Etc in a reparative way um usually in situations um where harm has been done responses are typically like disciplinary or punitive practices um which is um very expressive in schools as we see in terms of like suspensions and detentions and things like that um restorative justice kind of Al offers an alternative to that um so what does what do restorative justice practices look like um they address and discuss the needs of

080the school Community um resolve conflicts and hold individual groups accountable um repair harm and restore positive relationships between uh students and students to students staff to students and staff to staff um and reduce and prevent reduce prevent and improve um harmful behaviors and build healthy relationships between the Educators and the students within this building all right so um just a little bit about what we did last year so this is an ongoing project that we've had in a merge um we had a panel discussion last year with eths staff members including um Dr Kinsey Dean boy Mr King who's our restored practices coordinator here at eths um the sro's and then um a few more other administrators who were who sat on that panel um students were able to come with their classes and um

081they were able to learn about eth's ets's administration's perspectives on restorative justice and ask questions of their own so our goals coming into this year um we're continuing to work with um the Moran Center and then we wanted to create mediation and conflict resolution programs uh family group conferences spaces for students to feel safe and supported uh change the way we think about discipline which we talked a little bit about um last month or the month before in our discipline report and then also eliminate punitive responses to conflict so basically a culture shift yeah so as Nicole said we work with the Moran Center and aerg you way to have a community partner that you're going to work with the Moran Center is located on dster street where Valley is dster and Dodge and they

082offer a bunch of different resources a lot of the times it's the students so it could be Legal Services mental health services and the thing that we are focusing on restorative services so we have collaborated with a bunch of the peace Builders which we've been very very lucky to work with em mabugu PM citen bomb uh eths Alum Aries and Amari also EHS Alam and then Janet who are all peace Builders then our method so the way we implemented or tried to build restive practices into eths was holding Community Building circles for students we held those twice a month on a variety of topics about safe spaces Community and Mental Health we worked with Aaron who's here today um Miss Hamilton and a bunch of different people and the biggest thing was just inviting all

083these students together during lunch in the community service office and just having people able to come together and talk a lot of the times some of the students were even able to facilitate which is something we were very very happy with and it's exciting to see that we're able to participate in it too because this is something we definitely believe in and at the end of the year we held Affinity specific circles called the solid solidarity series that was with Miss Hamilton so we held spaces for black boys lgbtq and seniors and that's something we hope to continue next year um so our training um which started for us three um last year um we started working with the raran center um towards the ending of our last school year and during the summer um

084we received training in which we learned how to lead restorative practices uh restorative justice circles um and in Implement restorative practices into our everyday lives um since uh attending these trainings and sessions we're now able to lead our own circles um at the school um those jaot kind of talked about um they are kind of community building circles where we're able to begin to establish relationships in with each other but then also kind of understand like some issues that students may be dealing with while attending eths in ways that um we as students can be a support to them and bring those things to um the staff in the building and then kind of begin to have a more cohesive Community within eths um so our kind of analysis over the course of um our

085year um some of our strengths have been um people who didn't know about restorative justice were able to learn more about what restorative justice is and actually be able to get involved um and attend the circles that we H held um we also were able to sustain relationships with the Moran Center um and we're able to make a stronger uh plan to take more action um going into the next year which we'll talk about later um some of the weaknesses or struggles that we had um was the scheduling which interfere uh interfered with the availability of connecting with one another um as we are all seniors and athletes um in the school and um captains on our respective teams um it was a little difficult kind of setting aside time in order to kind of

086meet with each other to be able to coordinate when we would host those circles and when we would plan um for the circles um and this year we focused more on spreading the word about restorative justice um and didn't really get the chance to take um a lot of the action that we kind of set in the beginning of the year in terms of our goals um but still like progress is slow so understanding that like that just building that that first step and building Community within um eths um is a really good big step awesome so um our circles have helped many students at eths learn about what RJ is and recognize a way they recognize ways they can explore using restorative practices in their own lives um additionally we were able to gather

087information on student opinion on certain aspects of eths that may benefit from a shift to restorative method So within circles we were able to have one-on-one conversations also and just really gauge like what students were feeling and especially about like the topic of that specific um we were also able to have some conversations with Mr King um that I mentioned earlier who our restorative practices coordinator um he let us know that some of the work we were doing was actually already being implemented in his work with the Dean's office so going back to that communication you mentioned earlier and that coordination yeah so heading into next year as we all mentioned we're all seniors so we won't be here but we're going to pass the Baton off hand it off to another group of students

088to continue work working on this we want to work closely with Mr King as Nicole mentioned the restorative practice coordinator here at the building to get students more involved in restorative justice and try and shift more to conflict resolution circles instead of well the ones that we've only been doing have been community building so again shift to conflict resolution circles possibly even have some of the students facilitating them uh we want to continue holding circles for eths students based based around community building we got a lot of feedback throughout the year and one of the things that really stood out to me was that you HHS is a great school all these different opportunities but you can sometimes get lost just because of how big it is and just trying to build that Community like

089we just said by having these types of circles and then holding circles for each HS staff U throughout the year we had a couple staff members able to attend Dr kiny came to one of the circles which was great but inviting more teachers to come in more uh SRO safety Etc and also possibly shifting this format of our Circle such as like a Socratic uh Socratic what's it called Socratic seminar or where it's a Inner Circle talking and then Outer Circle listening and just having different people either on the inside or the outside whether it's like students and safety or safety on the inside and students on the outside just shifting up how we've been holding circles yeah so um just to emphasize like once again like restor practices and restored justices are all about

090like this our mindset going into this project and like looking at um ECA J is just really a culture shift and um something that we want to ask of you all is like kind of the ways that maybe you can support us in more like policy ways I guess um because again it is a culture shift and we need as like a whole school as a whole Community to come together to really make this an impact or to make an impact and um yeah okay so thank you any questions well thank thank you thank you for your presentation um and it's always good to hear how restorative justice practices are being implemented here at eths especially by the students and and how um this continues to grow so thank you so much um board anybody

091any questions Dr C I just want to say congratulations to all of you seniors with that awesome all right thank you thank you okay so the truth was that Nicole is holding on to a mic because this is her mic drop moment it's her last student board report it's a fake mic [Applause] okay well Nicole so this is yeah were you gonna say more oh no I I just wanted to like this is this was originally supposed to be a part of like the student well-being report and that kind of got moved to the next board meeting and um we won't be there for that so we want to that's helpful kind of take use this like opportunity this student board report time um so thanks Dr Campbell for letting us do that um we

092appreciate you and um yeah that's that's it I've talked a lot today yeah a lot yeah well so Nicole this is your last board meeting your last meeting with us and and we um we all want to express our appreciation for you you've been with us for years and um which is a lot you've seen us grow you've um you've not Shi away from some difficult conversations you've been right here at the board table when we've been trying to figure out and navigate some pretty complex issues and um and I've always appreciated how you've come in and weighed in on that and and um your comments have been really thoughtful you recognize that you're trying to represent your peers um but with caution because you know that you can't represent all of your peers and

093all the various perspectives and I've just really appreciate appreciated your sensitivity to that um so um thank you congratulations on your your Awards your recent award you know I was there for scholarship night and that was really exciting you you were up there a lot so that was really [Applause] good if I may add one thing Williams of course um yes thinking about Nicole and I know you're about to do the presentation I just think this um really fits that Nicole won the um outstanding senior award which is what you were talking about and I just think it's worthwhile to explain to everyone that that was nominated um that's a scholarship nominated by peers so Nicole was nominated and won the senior outstanding senior award for senior who ranks first among the members of their

094class in allaround qualities intellectual ability capacity for leadership sense of responsibility and distinguished service to school and Community congratulations I had to say it [Applause] thank you thank you for for giving us more information about that award because that was really awesome tonight um any other board members would like to speak do I unmute um Dear Nicole when I used to get to sit next to you over there it felt like such an honor because to sit next to a student is such a I think even more impressive window into what's happening um and we'd write notes back and forth um and I loved your questions and your teeny tiny writing um and I really respect your um ability to sit and engage uh and then to ask me those questions um because it really

095kind of pushed me to think more uh about what was happening so um and I I wish you good luck um and I want you to keep this um enthusiasm that you have even the other day when we saw each other at the track me and you're like hey you know I'm like oh that's so cool because she could just like walk past me and be like you know um but you didn't and you don't um and there's something really beautiful about that so keep that about yourself and good luck out there yeah um Nicole I just want to say it has been a real treat to have you here with us at the Schoolboard table um for two years which really is notable I know everybody else is going to remark on that as

096well but it's a rare event I mean I've been on the board for 15 years and we haven't had anybody else do it while I've been here um so I think it's really tremendous um and as others have already said this might get repetitive you're a terrific representative of all students in this school um it's I think probably a uniquely hard thing to do in a place like eths where the variety of our students is vast um but you've done a masterful job at that even when the issues are very difficult and and there have been a few difficult issues where I think you have really stood out for your ability to come to this board meeting make your report and confront some of those tough issues I can just think of a couple times

097in particular which we don't need to rehash but um but I also need to remark on the best thing of all which is that you're going to Carlton College in Minnesota which happens to be the same school that both of my children attended um and we have a really good pipeline of students going there from eths so you're following in following in the footsteps of so many students um hopefully maybe you'll have a couple of eths companions there this year I don't know um but I think you're really from what I know as a parent of a Carlton student it seems to me that you are very well suited um to that campus and it's just a beautiful place and I wish you all the best there um and please stay in touch with us

098good luck Liz hi Nicole um I just want to say it's been really great having you on our board for the last two years years um I always appreciated that you came prepared to our meetings and I know that you know it's impossible for one person to really represent a school this big but you were very conscientious and thoughtful in um making sure that many different student voices were heard in your reports um so I just wanted to say thanks again and did I hear correctly that you are going to be studying Premed and pre-law oh my gosh well you have a very exciting path ahead of you so I wish you all the luck it's wild okay P so a lot of um repetition but um it's really been a pleasure getting to know

099you a little bit I don't sit on your side of the table which I said to you at the beginning it's hard um we don't get if these meetings are a little more challenging but your role here has been so important and I think um as others have said you really um ask good questions and weren't afraid to ask the questions which is a lot I mean there are a lot of adults who much older than you who would have a hard time asking some of the questions that you've asked and Pro in you know probe areas that we need to think about um that we haven't quite gotten where we want to get yet um and I think partly that you are able to do that because you are so involved and so engaged

100um in the in the school community and I think more broadly in the community and I um that is a really powerful tool in your toolbox and I really hope that you take that with you um you we saw tonight what happens when students get together with adults and make change and you can continue to do that as a student in college but also as one of us someday when you're you know older and um on a school board or part of um Community organizations or protesting against Community organizations whatever the role I think you really have um you have a very strong voice that you have worked hard it seems to me to uh cultivate through action through listening to other people to working with other people and those are skills that really I

101believe are the most important ones that you'll take with you um so I hope you'll continue to polish them and use them so congratulations on almost graduating we'll see you on Sunday uh next Sunday I guess or this Sunday um and uh have a great time at Carlton I no don't have as much experience as as Gretchen but I do think it's a wonderful place and and they're lucky to have you and you'll you'll meet some terrific people too so thanks for all your hard work thank you Nicole so I'm gonna ask that you come around and can I say something oh I'm sorry that's okay she's she's ready to have you go around yeah um so I I didn't go to Carlton I went to graduated from the University of Minnesota so you know

102I saying yeah sort of kind of um you know what what I I appreciate about you Nicole is um your authenticity I mean you have you you are just authenticity you um just have the ability to be yourself no matter the situation and I think I didn't know you were going into pre-law is that what your Russian lovees that you're you're doing that um that that's really really good that's really good because you know what you have a way of saying things and creating a sting in a very like quiet storm kind of way and I mean there have been some times when you've told us about ourselves and I was just like oh okay let me sit let me just sit in it right because it was true was it was honest um but

103you were authentic and you you presented it from a place of compassion and and caring and and just being very honest um that maybe we're not who we think we are all the time right and you have been that voice um for so many different students and you've also recognized when student voices were being unheard and um and so to be able to do that um I don't I know I didn't do that when I was your age so to be able to do that in this capacity um I think you even stung us at the ju The Joint school board meeting you you know you you just do it and I don't think you know that you're doing it or you may you may know you're doing it but it is so good and

104I'm I'm saying don't lose that like don't lose that ability to be bold and to be brave and to still be who you are take up the space that you stand in because you're powerful AES I just want to say thank you again I just I've had so much fun being on this forward like the first time I ran I was like wow like this would be a good thing to try and the second time I was like wow this is the place where I feel like I really belong and I have a lot of fun and i' um think that this has you all have definitely shaped a lot of my high school experience so thank you to you all too thank you now you can okay now we'd like you to walk around

105take the walk the first one before the real walk the one that really [Music] times thank you thank you thank you what is it I always wonder I got AER hopefully it's not another paper she got one of these is it another paper weight Marcus Dr Cell Lisa knows Lisa knows Lisa something the gift what is the GI you're not in that you're not in that is it a paper weight Lord have mercy it's Crystal she has two okay okay yeah she is [Laughter] with those with those two majors you need that you'll need that okay so Nicole and for everybody so we are really at the point now where we are going to review the student election and uh we'll hear the oath for the student board representative and Dr bavis is going to

106lead us in that all right so I have this resolution declaring the results of the student Board election I'll just read it real quick be it resolved by the Board of Education District 202 County of Cook state of Illinois that the return from the student election held April 12 20124 in said High School District for the purposes of electing one student member and one student alternate member of the Board of Education of said District to serve from May 13 2024 to May 2025 are as follows and those results are in your packet so here we go therefore the board of uh education finds and declares that the following are duly elected student members with the office as specified below the Board of Education Rachel Durango Cohen is our student member the Board of Education and

107uh and Anna Stevenson is our alternate student member for the Board of Education and if we could Anna and if we could get a uh we actually have to motion and vote on that okay um so could we have a motion to recognize and accept Rachel Durango Cohen as our new student rep and the alternate Anna Stevenson Anna Stevenson we have a motion please so moved second roll call please AE yes I'm messing with them yes yes yes cars yes rwood yes Willams yes okay all right and uh now we will do the oath of office at the podium here so join me up here okay do I have to repeat okay I Rachel Durango Cohen a student member of the Board of Education a student member of the Board of Education of EV Township

108High School of Evon Township High School District 202 District 202 County of Cook County of Cook Illinois Illinois do solemnly swear do solemnly swear to support the Constitution to support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of Illinois of the state of Illinois and Faithfully discharge and Faithfully discharge the duties of the office the duties of the office to which I have been elected to which I have been elected congratulations thank [Applause] [Laughter] you take your name no just the plate though right [Applause] [Music] oh yeah oh welcome Rachel how does it feel get used to it it's good to have you here to be here yeah good okay okay so we'll go on with our meeting and the next item is the

109superintendent report Dr Campbell all righty um congratulations and welcome Rachel all right uh we're approaching uh the end of another Academic Year and the final months are always you know busy with activity and uh this month was no different uh since the board met last we have had our uh We've opened the new Health Science Center we've held our uh Middle Eastern North African student Summit we've had our abilities conference we've had Matilda the Musical we've had our climate Justice Conference we were honored to welcome HHS Salam attorney gen attorney general Alan Rosen Bloom of Oregon uh attorney general Brian Schwab and of Washington DC and attorney general quami rul to eths for a discussion on the influence of social media and mental health the well-being of students the event uh convene students in an

110open exchange delving into topics uh and complex challenges posed by social media and exploring Avenues through which attorneys generals can Champion healthier online experience for youth we were especially proud to welcome uh attorney general Rosen Bloom back to her Alma Ma so it's been a very very busy month we've also hosted a steam design thinking and Innovation Capstone demonstration where we welcome back eths alom Gordon seagull to our steam design think um um class uh this partnership with Northwestern University provides a unique college preparatory experience that engages students and applying science technology Eng engineering arts and math through Innovative lens of design thinking and I attended those uh uh presentations with the other um eths staff um and administrators there's a lot happening we had our Latin X recognition ceremony and we've also held the

111teacher excellence awards during staff appreciation week so last week was the staff Appreciation Week at eths and our staff were many hats and in various roles or mentors Advocates cheerleaders listening ears and so much more and every student deserves Educators who go above and beyond to support their success our staff uh are at the heart of our school embody embodying the values that make eths so special and we're deeply appreciative of the way they show up for every day to serve our students and our community so I want to recognize once again and congratulate the recipients of the teacher Excellence award uh Erica sver from World languages Claire gsof special education Angela Sena Gatson English and toly Walker in our English and reading Department uh and so uh since 1975 the ETS tradition has been

112recognized the exceptional leaders for their outstanding work so congratulations to those teachers who were recognized last week during teacher excellence awards um we've had many senior events on May 8th was the last day of school for the class of 2024 and we celebrated their um their Journeys with our annual well it's not Ann now it's annual our senior send off and uh usually the kids would last day of school the seniors would just go to the parking lot and we were all very terrified of the things that were happening in a lot so we gave them a structured environment now with their food trucks and ice cream give them an opportunity to socialize sign your books and be happy that they have just finished her um uh finished their time at eths and this past

113Saturday uh we held prom at Navy Pier with over 800 students who attended and participated in prom um Saturday night at uh Navy Pier with no issue so I'm really happy that our students as we would expect right uh and lastly but not least our boys gymnastic team competed at State for the first time since 1972 that's 52 years and not only did they compete but they came in home as medal winners in various competitions our very own Eric Van leer class of 25 is the state is the Vault state champion and the team itself was the state runnerup congratulations to our boys gymnastic team and our girls Batman also competed at State this weekend and made us proud and finally our girls water polo team will be headed to State soon after winning the

114sectional Championship congratulations to all all and wow eths what an amazing school we have a lot going on and congratulations to all of our students and staff that we recognize tonight wow that concludes my report that's quite a report that's quite a report it's quite been quite a few weeks all right okay so we are at our next item number 12 organization of the board so I would like to call for a motion and by the way that memo in there is not from Eric Withers by the way we'll we'll fix it yeah we'll fix it yes all right um I'd like to call for a motion um with the roll call vote to be made to retire the board to S da um could we have a motion please so moved second can we

115have a v call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes okay so um Dr bavis you are now the president poim all right I'd like to call the uh like to call the meeting back to order uh and ask for a roll call here here here here here here here all right so I'm going to take nominations for the office of President and then vice president and secretary to follow nominations need not be seconded each nomination will be voted on in the order of their nomination and once a candidate receives a majority of votes of the board four votes the election process is over so I would like to call for nominations to the office of president of the board of education for a one-year term I nominate Pat Savage Williams for president of

116the Board of Education okay are there any other nom Nom minations I'm going to close the nominations and call for a vote yes yes yes yes yes yes yes now the new president will assume uh the chair and continue the elections thank you all right so I'd like to call for a nomination for vice president of the board I would like to nominate my colleague Monique Parsons for vice president all right are there other nominations for vice president hearing none I'll close the nominations can we call for a vote please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes okay so now now I'll call for nominations for Secretary of the board of education for a one-year term I nominate Pete bavis as Secretary of the Board of Education are there other nominations for secretary sorry Pete

117I'd like to close that nomination and could we have a roll call Boat please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you so I'd like a motion to appoint Kendra Will Williams as a as the School treasurer of the board of education for a one-year term with a compensation of $1,000 so moved second all right the motion is on the floor could we have a roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes okay thank you so our board has just reorganized so we're good for Year all right um so we're at item number 13 and I'm just going to read all of these items together um organization of the board um approval of the following resolutions a resolution ratifying acts contracts policies and bylaws B resolution resolution designating signatory C resolution regarding

118check signatures D resolution establishing dates to review closed session minutes e resolution establishing regular meeting dates and place and F resolution ratifying approved depositories so moved second B call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes okay item 14 items for Action uh the first item is approval of pride month resolution and I believe Pat Manel is going to read that for us lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer pride month 2024 excerpts from past Proclamation by President Joseph R Biden Jr whereas the uprising at the Stonewall in in June 1969 sparked a Liberation movement a call to action that continues to inspire us to live up to our nation's promise of equality liberty and justice for all whereas pride is a time to recall the trials the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer LBGTQ plus

119Community has endured and to rejoice in the triumphs of trailblazing individuals who have fought bravely and continue to fight for full equality whereas the LBGTQ plus community in America has achieved remarkable progress since Stonewall whereas historic Supreme Court rulings in recent years have struck down regressive laws affirmed the right to marriage equality and secured workplace protections for lgbtq plus individuals in every state and territory whereas all of our progress there are many states in which lgbtq plus individuals still lack protections for fundamental rights and dignity in hospitals Schools public accommodations and other spaces whereas our nation continues to witness a tragic spike in violence against transgender women of color lgbtq plus individuals especially youth who defy defy sex or gender Norms face bullying and harassment in educational settings and are at a disproportionate risk of

120self harm and death by by Suicide whereas we recognize the resilience and determination of many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically whereas we affirm Our obligation to hold the Dignity of all people and dedicate ourselves to protecting the most vulnerable Among Us Now thereby we be it resolved that the Board of Education of Evanston Township High School District 202 recognizes the month of June 2024 as lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer pride month and celebrates the achievements of the lgbtq plus community and the great diversity of the American people thank you thank you very much could I have a motion for approval please so moveed second V call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes next item is approval of special education Transportation contract so moved second vote call please yes

121yes yes yes yes yes yes next item is approval of administrator and exempt staff salary increases for the year 2425 so moved second roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes and the consent agenda is the next item and that that consists of approval of minutes from March 11th 2024 regular meeting and closed session approval of bills treasurers report from February 2024 Personnel report yeah that's it those short so move second V call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes next item is old and new business are there any old or new business polling of the board just want to say when we're back here for our next meeting school will be out so we'll wish everybody a really safe wonderful restful summer and and congratulations congratulations to the seniors yes the

122graduating senior years which we'll be able to celebrate on Sunday all right could I have a motion for adjournment so muched all right this meeting is adjourned at 9:29