School Board Meeting 10/10/22

001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the October 10th board of education meeting. Could we have a roll call, please? Here. Thank you. All right. Our first item on the agenda is written communication. Dr. Davis, do we have any written communication? Yes, we do. We received written communication and it was forward to the board from uh Max Weinberg. We also received uh a letter that was uh sent on behalf of several folks. I'll read their names into the record and that was also forwarded to the board. Uh, and that came from Chris White, Noah Pearlman, Kristen Scotty, Katherine Rush, Barry Doyle, Nicholas Condan, Mary Lafrren, Julie Burrat Greenfield, Asha Luna, Darlene Murray Cannon, Lindseay Wade, Onyx Condan, Johnny Price, Sula Kim, Betsy Wilson, and Megan Davies. Okay, thank you. All right. The next item on the agenda

002is um well items for information. We're starting with the staffing report. Who's going to lead that? Dr. Bramley and uh our assistant superintendent for human resources and uh Angela Gartner, our associate director for human resources. Um we think we have uh I think it's a good story to tell about um some of the efforts we're doing with um trying to uh make sure that our faculty is uh reflective of our student body. So Dr. Bramley and Angela will lead us in a short conversation. Well, good evening everyone. I don't think the clicker is working, so uh thank you for the assist Dr. Davis, appreciate that. Uh, so Angela and I are here to give a report that I, if it's been given before, I'm not aware. Uh, so we're super excited to be able to

003join you this evening and give this presentation. Do it. Oh, yeah. Wonderful. Thank you. does it all. Oh, wonderful. There you go. Board member Auntie does it all. Thank you. Appreciate that. Servant leadership on display. Um, so normally I'm here talking about reading. I won't be doing that this evening, although it's still very important and valuable and I it's a passion of mine. But tonight we're here to talk about our staffing uh in relationship to uh some of the goals that we've been developing and some of the work that we've been continuing for many years here. Uh so last year several members of our community came to the board and discussed our need to have a goal to recruit and retain teachers of color, specifically black male teachers. Gave a lot of data and a

004lot of teachers in our school community signed on to those reports. Um, one thing that may have been missed a little bit was the ongoing work that Angela and I had been doing with those groups. So, the first time they were talking about this wasn't at the board. We had had been in conversation with them. And so, we'll talk a little bit about that this evening as well. Um, my goal tonight is just to do a little bit of a highlight, a snapshot. You have the report um that you were able to read and we just want to bring um a little bit of this to life for you and tell a little bit of our story. Uh but first I I would be remiss um this is just about a year in that I've

005been in this position in HR and uh being Mary's last board meeting I really just want to thank her and give some appreciation to the collaboration that we've been able to have uh our two departments. So thank you Mary. [Applause] She loves that. So so thank you back. There you go. There you go. There you go. Uh so, just a couple things. We want to set the context uh for this evening. Uh we're going to focus a little bit on our um recruitment and retention efforts for teachers of color. And it's really important because, you know, what whatever research report that you look at or that you read, you know, it's a pretty standard percentage out there that there are about 16 to 20% of the educators in the field in America identify as teachers

006of color. um you know, approximately 7% are black, African-American, approximately 9% are Hispanic or Latinx. And so we know that the student populations are way outpacing that nationally. Um and we have a similar story to tell here, but I would say that our efforts at Evston Township High School have been um bearing great fruit. We are moving really, really close to being more representational. We have some areas for growth there that we'll continue to focus on. But um as I work with my colleagues in the region um just as recently this Friday we had a meeting um we are certainly um in a really good position here at ETHS. One of the key factors that people brought up last year was that we do have people retiring. Um and so we got to make sure

007that we're continuing to maintain and continue to grow um our population here. Um so one of the things that also comes up a lot when it comes to staffing especially when we're trying to make sure that our rep our licensed staff and our teaching um staff is representational of our student population is the number of teachers just in in the field of education. the numbers have been going down overall and when you isolate race as we do here as a norm for Evston Township, we certainly recognize that um there's only about 25% of the teaching core that identifies as people of color and that's really some of the concern that people have um when it comes to national data locally. Um, I think we have a a a great opportunity in the way that our

008school district has been committed to equity and excellence, the way that we have promoted professional learning, the way that we use affinity models, the things that we do here at Evston are certainly attractive to potential teachers, um, and we're able to have multiple candidates who identify as teachers of color in our pools when we have licensed staff openings. Um, that is that is kind of rare in the area. So, I want to highlight that as well. So, I thought it would be nice. Um, Dr. Campbell has his three-year goals as our new superintendent, and he has made the point several times that his goals are the district's goals. They're not his personally. We all have ownership and responsibility. And so, that's not that's no different for the human resources department. We want to make sure

009that the district's goals and values are seen in our work and that we're connected to it. Um, these aren't all the goals for the department, but I just wanted to highlight a few of them from the reports. One of which is to examine and evaluate procedures and practices that are discriminatory. You certainly want to make sure that when we do recruit um staff that we have a place that's welcoming and inclusive and actually um honors and recognizes their identities. Um that's an important piece to retention. Uly recruit and retain licensed staff and district leaders of color. Strengthen our partnerships with universities and local agencies. And then also to provide support, guidance, and mentoring. Um, again, these are all these are goals for the district, but they also found in the research to be some of

010the things that educators of color have identified as ways in which to retain um, and what keeps them in the current positions that they're in in the communities that they serve. I also just wanted to highlight really quickly, we have several um, staff here at ETHS who are fellows for Teach Plus. Um, Teach Plus is an organization that is working on these similar goals um, in education. It's a policy advocacy arm that really tries to promote um state level and national level policy to promote and u the retention and recruitment of teachers of color. Um and just a couple things I want to highlight here because I think it's uh germanine to our work. In that report, several staff identified that schools should be places that culturally affirm teachers of color, that schools should be

011places that affirm a teacher's humanity and racial identity, where you can feel free to be your authentic self. Create schools that invest in teachers, pathways to leadership, informal and formal mentoring opportunities. Build a schoolwide family that's in which it's easy to build relationships, find a mentor, and hold each other accountable, and make hiring and retaining teachers of color a priority. So, I think that report was released in 2019. It still holds true today, and these are the things that we've been working on, and I hope that you can see those um strategies represented in our goals. I'll turn things over to Angela who's going to talk a little bit about our partnerships and our collaborations which we believe is a a key component to our retention efforts. Hi. Um so we the HR department we've

012um worked on a number of collaborations um starting last year and we have some um collaborations that will be going forth starting this year. Last year, we worked with our black caucus um members and we um I'm sorry for hiring staff of color. It included sharing data, brainstorming of various recruitment efforts and feedback on the lived experience of our um staff of color. We also in conjunction with the black caucus uh we held a pathway to lensure um for our parapros and other staff in the building who would be seeking um possibly teaching positions. Um we had a great turnout about 98% of those staff members were um staff members of color. Um, moving forward, we intend to collaborate with the other caucuses in the building. Um, continuing to meet with the black caucus and

013stride towards a district goal to recruit and retain uh staff of color. We've also started this year with our um evaluation document review committee. Um, we think it's very important that um staff members get relevant feedback and timely feedback um for their performance in the job. and we want to be sure that those documents reflect um what they're actually doing in their roles. Uh we've also uh resurrected the joint insurance committee through our um negotiations this spring. We found that you know the joint eval or the joint insurance committee had not really met in several years and so we've resurrected that. Uh we have a new benefits coordinator, Alexia Monttovon, who kicked off that meeting this past week, did an excellent job, met with various uh members from the dis different union groups in the

014building. Um and so we want to make sure that we have transparency um for the uh insurance, you know, rates and plans and things like that. Uh we also found out through the evalu I'm sorry through the um negotiations and we've created a new racial and equity committee that will begin um this year. Um what we want to do is center the voices of educators of color to inform, create, collaborate, and review equity policies and programs for students and educators at ETHS. And then also Dr. Bramley is running a new program for our new leaders in the building. They meet once a month. Um, and it's more to uh support and um encourage the excuse me, encourage those in new leadership roles. Um, and I think, you know, that so far has been going well.

015And we did uh just recently hold a job fair in September. Um we were on had on-site interviews for safety temporary nutrition staff employees um special ed paras and substitute teachers. Um it was a half-day event. There were about 31 folks who attended and did on-site interviews and several have completed additional interviews and are at various stages of the hiring process. And just lastly in this area, just focusing on some of our partnerships with local universities. Uh just a couple to highlight. Um last spring we started a relationship with Chicago State University, our like local um H.B.CU in the area. They have also partnered with district 65 and we were kind of intentional about having some independent partnering at the beginning because the high school experience versus the elementary through 8 experience was a little

016bit different. But um we're actually kicking those conversations back off again actually Friday. Um unfortunately the dean of the school left uh Chicago State. So we're kind of re-establishing that partnership. I've also reached out to Central State University in Ohio which is another H.B.CU. Um and what you know one of our challenges is that we have found that teachers especially teachers who identify um as educators of color try to stay local local to their communities. They want to serve in those communities. And it it's kind of challenging to get somebody to come from Ohio to Illinois. But one of the things that Illinois has done is provided much more um flexibility with teacher reciprocity in terms of lensure. In the past, it was nearly impossible. We didn't have a very good relationship with our neighboring

017states. Um but now we do and that's really important for us. Um a couple other organizations that we're partnering with um include um NAPSI, which is the National Alliance for School uh for Black School Educators. We send a group of faculty and staff there pretty much every year for their national conference. Um it's a great opportunity for us to network and learn u more strategies that we can bring back to the to ETHS. Also trying to work with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities which um supports um Hispanic serving institutions of higher education. Reached out to them a couple times to get connected. Um, there's also the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendent and the Latinx Education Collaborative, which is out of Missouri, but they hold a virtual job fair every year. That's pretty

018well attended. And another opportunity, again, can we get somebody to come from Missouri? Maybe, maybe not. But even if we had one person that was interested, it's one of our efforts to try to expand um our outreach. Um, one of the things in the literature very recently is that, you know, gone are the days of just posting a job online and having a bunch of people apply for it. You know, we're very fortunate that people want to work here. We're doing amazing work. Our students are amazing. Our community is great. Um, but we still have challenges as well and one of the things we need to do is diversify our approach um to trying to um collaborate. The collaborations are important because it really is part of our effort to make sure that we communicate

019that this is collective work. We're a community together. The human resources department alone cannot do this. Um and and the best efforts that we have to recruit if we don't have a community and an environment that is responsive and inclusive and affirms identity then we will lose the people we recruit. So it's important that it's a collective effort. Um a couple things that I just want to highlight here. um is that uh I really want to thank the teachers from last year who came forward, the teachers who have worked with us. I I always say that our best recruitment strategy is our own staff. Um if you can be in a conversation with someone and communicate that this is a wonderful place to work and you feel valued and seen, then people are going to

020want to come here and join your team. If you can't communicate that, if you don't feel that way, then we'll be hardressed to recruit anybody to work here. So again, this is a collective effort that we're trying to really work toward. Um, and you know, one of the things that, uh, this really relates to as we talk about the potential for teacher residency programs and grow your own programs, um, which were which are on the horizon for us. Um, we're still working on out some of those pieces. But one thing that, um, I want to just quote here, um, Damian Harris, he's the co-director of the building our network on of diversity bond project in Maryland. You may be familiar with it. Some of you went to summit. I don't know if they presented, but

021um most recently, but um he said that if school was a better experience for children of color, maybe more of them would become teachers. And I think we're trying to make this school a better place for all of our students, especially our students of color. That works directly with our efforts to make sure that there's representation in the classroom. Um so we're we're really um trying to strive toward that goal. Just a couple staffing numbers to highlight. We uh in the report you'll see there's 664 staff who work here or 646 staff who work here. Um and I wanted to highlight the licensed staff really quickly. So this visual here I just want to show how we're trying to flip this. Right? So on the left you'll see is um this doughnut pie chart where

022the orange color is 65%. That's our current licensed staff who identify as white. The 35% in blue is the staff who identify of staff of color. Okay, 35%. That's our overall number, which again, we have we have room to grow there, but we are in a way better position than some of our neighboring partners in schools. But if you look on the right, this is this current school year, the licensed staff that we hired. And what's really important here is that we flip this, right? And so this current class, this cohort of new licensed staff hires, 61% of them identify as educators of color um and 39% as white. So again, if we're if we're going to continue to build um a licensed staff that's representational, we need to continue to be pacing at this

023level uh moving forward. And obviously with the number of new hires we have and the percentages will will eb and flow, but um this is an important goal for us and we're really um excited about how we landed this year with very intentional efforts. So um they're paying off. I wanted to highlight that. All right, I'm going to turn things over to an here who's going to talk a little bit about the comparison between our staff of color and our students. We currently have 336 um staff members, licensed staff members. Um and if you look at the chart there, um 8% of our staff, they identify as um Asian, and that's about 23 staff members. Um if you look further, 65% or 217 of our staff members identify as white. 17% or 57 staff members

024identify as black, 9% or 29 staff members um Hispanic or Latino, and then 1% or five um identify as two or more races. And so it appears that, you know, if you look at the the those who identify as Asian, two or more races, you know, they kind of balance out, but the others with the efforts that we have moving forward are hoping to um kind of, you know, balance a little bit more with our student population. This is again as a as a as a foundational report, this is a great place to continue to look for in the future. how much are we closing this differential between our student population and our staff, right? And our goal obviously is to have it come closer and closer together and be more representational. Um we think

025we're making some good progress there. Um this next slide here just really quickly um presents a three-year trend of the percentage of hires licensed staff um racial identity in each of those years. Right? So again, you'll see um we're at 65% now white in the in the middle column there. Um we were 69% 3 years ago. Um 7% to 8% Asian, 16% to 17% black African-American, 7 to nine Hispanic, Latinx, um and two or more races. Again, we normally wouldn't report the number is very low, but it it's going to flow between 1 and 2% there. Um so again, we're trying to make progress here. We want to make sure that we're seeing an increase in um these areas with a decrease in the white over time. That's our goal, right? To be more representational.

026Okay. The next thing really quickly here is just this is this current year. So again, we we showed you the the historical, but this is that cohort of licensed staff we hired this year. And this is the comparatives between the staff and the students. And again, here you'll see we are getting closer, right? If you look at, you know, 17% of our licensed staff that we hired this year identify as Asian compared to 6% of our student population. 22% identify as black or African-American compared to 25% of our student population. And 22% identify as Hispanic or Latinx compared to 19% which is our student population. The student numbers are from the 2021 Illinois school report card. Um, and so just kind of to highlight again the efforts that we're making. This is our goal. We're

027we're working toward that goal and we're excited about that. And this is our HR team. um three staff members joined our team um this fall and none of our efforts would be possible without the assistance of the HR team. Um both Scott and I would like to give a huge thank you um for all their hard work and dedication um to supporting our staff who support our students. Yeah. And just really quickly, lastly, before we get to questions and comments from the board, we just trying to provide a little bit of a snapshot tonight. There's a lot of other efforts that are going on across the district to um help with the recruitment and retention, especially in our induction and mentoring program, our Evson Educators Academy. Um that's a a program that's not run out

028of the HR department, but it's very near and dear to my heart. And I just wanted to uh highlight that as well and thank them for their efforts because again once we have staff join our family how are they being supported and that's a huge vehicle is our induction and mentoring. So any questions or comments? So I I just want to say thank you for uh the two of you and and to your staff. Thank you for showing the staff and and and giving that shout out to the staff because I know it's it's quite an effort. Um, Scott, would you talk a little bit more about that um, induction and mentoring program because I know how important that is for retaining to retain people. Yeah. So, it's been on a quite a journey. Several

029years ago, we revamped the entire program to again respond to the goals of the district. And so in the first year, um, all of our licensed staff and all of our new staff are together in a cohort and they and they go through a foundational learning, um, based on Jeff Duncan and Drade's five pillars. Um, and they are, you know, it's a it's an article called um, gangsters, wsters, and rders. Um, and so if you have ambitions as a rider, um, he's a real academic, though, by the way. He is. He is. He is. you know, you got to be pity with the titles. You got to get people in. So, um yeah, so that's the foundational pillars of how we want to show up. And then we expand on that in year two and

030really applied in the classroom with specific strategies. Um and then year three is kind of mirroring, you know, the the facilitators really talk about, you know, theory and practice together, right? So, how are we applying what we've been learning and it's through the the care model um through through u formerly through PEG. Um, but the care model is kind of a basis for looking at how am I being introspective and reflective of my practice from the perspective of my students, especially students of color. Um, and they do um a student shadow day that is transformative for educator practice. They follow a student all day um and are in classrooms and now with our block schedule, they were with their students for 85 minutes in their block um and to be able to experience that. But

031that program is um it's it's it's for teachers run by teachers. It's something we changed several years ago where we decided to make more of our investments of our professional learning dollars into our own staff. Um and most of the staff who facilitate our induction and mentoring program identify as staff of color as well. Um so again having them to be paid for their work in this area. And if you read the literature and the research on why teachers of color leave the profession, a lot of it is because their work is done for free and the microaggressions that they experience daily and then all their work is put upon them. And when you're one of a population in your school community, everyone asks you to do everything, right? And that's been the experience of

032a lot of our colleagues who have come here and they've reported, hey, there, you know, I'm not the only person in my department who identifies this way. Um, so those are some pieces that we've we've tried to make sure was prominent there. But our teachers, our licensed staff facilitate and run that. Um, now it's under the um the um support and uh care and guidance of Dr. Brown who who is the new AP for instructional literacy. So great. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. Other comments, questions, comment. I think this is really good. Thank you. cuz I don't think in my years we've ever seen this. So now we have something to um start from and improve upon because it's it's not all happy news. Um but I'm I'm excited about what you're doing.

033So thank you for that. Um so I graduated from the University of Minnesota and what the college of education so the master school program did was they recruited um students from H.B.CU to come and receive masters in education at the University of Minnesota because they believe that well of course they did it to diversify because there were hardly any of us at U of M. Um but so that was one goal but they recruited from H.B.CU because they believe that the cream of the crop came from H.B.CU. So, um, Big 10's are hidden jewels, um, because they're recruiting from there. And then the those students that are graduating with their masters are looking for the next place that they're going to go and teach. Um, so just so you know, you got to hit them

034both ways, the H.B.CU and and other spaces. Um, but that's I think that's a smart very smart move. Um, but knowing why they don't stay, we don't stay is critical to the success of us increasing that number. Um, because the three-year trend doesn't look promising, but what does look promising is your new hires, right? Because then hopefully we can catch up. So, thank you, Pat. Um, well, I just want to pick up on something that Mon'nique just reminded me of. Um, I don't know, you probably read this, but the Education Trust did a great um report. They did focus groups and interviews all over the country with teachers of color. It's it's a horrible report in what they reported, but it's very grounded in lots of teacher voice and real experiences. So, I just toss

035that to you. But I also want to thank you because this is terrific. This is really what we want to see. We really want to see the deepening of our equity work in every little corner of this place. And so, it's great. And I know that this work is not just started yesterday. I know this has been ongoing um for you and others, but um but it's just really good to see this level of commitment and clarity and depth. So, thank you. Um I just huge shout out to the racial equity committee. Um I love that we're going to be listening to the voices of our own people. um just like we want to hear from our own students, we can't forget our our staff in general and then specifically our staff of color um

036around this. So, thank you. That's terrific. Um, one question I had and I I did mention I think I've mentioned this to you before, Scott, but um I think this is ter terrific progress and and you're thinking very systemically and creatively, but um have you looked at or thought about and you don't have to answer this getting some outside counsel to kind of give you some other perspectives based on other you know examples and work because there is this isn't um it should be more prevalent, but there are districts and there are people who are doing some interesting work in this area and you know I just think of us as kind of um good at getting that kind of perspective from others. So, I would encourage that um piece. And then um the last

037thing is a little bit off um but there was a paragraph in the report about the mental health professionals and restructuring there. And um I think that's terrific and I think making sure that um our representation as you showed on the screen is there as well, not just in the classroom. Um, but I do want to just maybe go off a little bit to what we talked about last month. Um, well, first I have to ask the question I ask Ty every year is do you need more social workers? Um, which I'll ask again at the at the student wellness report. But, um, I always ask that that's my my perennial question. But I think that what we talked about last uh month in terms of the needs of our students and what we're seeing

038in terms of violence in the community and discipline issues and just we're in a we're in a a new place and it's not a place that any of us want to be um including and especially our students and so I really as the you know how can we be creative how can we restructure how can we give different PD I almost flipping to instead of starting with and again I know I'm a little off but it does relate to the structure of the staffing how instead of starting with the end and the problems and the consequences what if we started and reimagined this whole thing and said what would it look like if we supported all of our kids in the way that they need to be and really re-shifted and re- imagined and reshuffled

039our perspective on the issues that our kids are conf are confronting. So that maybe in the end by doing that we've done all the professional work of restructuring and adding new people or different people so that we're we are impacting outcomes in the end. And so again, I know it's a little bit off of of your report, but I I really feel strongly that we've got to keep doing that. And and in this day right now where we are in this community, in this school, it's essential. Um, so I I would just kind of push that out to add to your list of uh all the things that you're doing. And I know this is important and that our our team is doing that work, but I'm even saying great people, smart, creative, stop what

040you're doing and pull out a clean piece of paper and see what you come up with. So thanks. Thank you again for this report. Mia, I have a quick question for you and um thank you as well. Um I'm I'm taking notes. Um do you feel that there is a particular area of problem? Um, so I'm thinking about the pool versus let's say the hiring committee and um then my followup would be if it were also a part of the committee work are you looking to do training in particular and could you tell us a little bit about that? Yes. Uh so um was not an exhaustive report so thank you for asking that question. Um, I actually attended a workshop recently. Um, it was run by, um, Francic, but it was, uh, a black

041male partner at Francic who who was talking about these issues and this topic and really giving us some guidance. But what came out of that conversation was um an opportunity for 24ish local school districts that are part of a HR group that we're a part of um really start to identify their processes and a couple of the schools shared their antibbias training that they do with hiring committees. Um it certainly piqu my interest and something that I want to look to do differently here. um we have not done training with every committee every time they go to do a hiring process and I think that's an opportunity for us. Um what we have done though and this was work that started actually Angela and I partnered on this when I was AP creating a process

042that was streamlined for all hiring processes that was common and consistent especially on the licensed staff end right like the number of committee members how you recruit the committee members the questions that you're asking um vetting questions so we're doing some of those pieces now um but we have some opportunity there for sure uh especially on the implicit bias training um we certainly recognize that's human nature to want to um be an affinity and connection with people and sometimes that's a barrier um um if we don't have a diverse population on the committees um and we want to make sure that we're not trying to just bring in um the same type of candidates we've always brought in right and that's part of the part of the efforts that I think um nationally are happening

043and when when you talk to when you read reports like the trust report or you read the each plus reports. Um it really becomes pretty evident that the types of questions that were asked and the way that people experienced the school from the interview committee um has a huge makeorb breakak moment. Um so I think that's a great opportunity for us and thank you for highlighting it. Um thanks again for this report. Um I just wanted to I guess query a little bit around the idea of the pipeline and how we are potentially um thinking about this issue earlier and also helping our students at the same time. So I'm wondering I remember listening to a lecture I think by Miriam Sheren at Northwestern who does a lot of studying in the school of education

044and social policy on on teacher career pathing and and one of the things that struck me was that she said just like you've said that that teachers tend to work within a 30 mile radius of where they grew up and um I'm wondering if there is a way to tie this in to our students and career pathing for our students and maybe um starting them thinking about careers and how they would go about, you know, from high school into college and prepare to become teachers. and if there is some programming that we could create around around our students of color in particular to encourage them to consider teaching as a as a career path, a viable career path. And especially I noticed in the Evston patch the um top 25 school districts and pay for

045salaries for teachers and I think it says here that ETHS is number six on the list. So, um, that's good marketing, good advertising usually. Um, so I don't know if there's if there's a way to sort of, you know, meet the need on the teacher level, but also address our students as, you know, and the career potential for them. Yeah, absolutely. I think uh so two things uh one is we are in talks with Northwestern for a teacher residency program um a little bit different than the one that was tried with district 65 it's going to be a little bit different here at the high school um but one of the challenges there is making sure that there's a diverse candidate pool within their school of ed so that's part of our work with them

046um in collaboration but we just started talks at the beginning of this year and we're kind of waiting we're going to assemble a team here to work on that um but one of those pieces is is this kind of grow your own idea um within your own school district. But last year when I was talking to um Chicago State University, that was part of the plan. So we were going to do one was was a was a direct commitment to student teaching placements that we currently have in place with Northwestern. So you know, everyone submits requests, but with Northwestern, we get a spreadsheet from them and we place as many of their students as we can because we have a partnership with them locally. So reproducing that program with Chicago State was part of the

047goal. The other part was to see how we could get their students, their undergraduate students here on our campus working with our students in ways other than just student teaching and and um career opportunities, but actually being a part of like mentoring. And we have a a great mentoring program that um uh Dr. Campbell and and Lauren Hamilton and some other colleagues started, you know, last year or two years ago that's thriving now and and will continue to thrive moving forward. Um so how do we tap into those experiences with um students from the university so that they can see viable pathways for education? Um she's behind me. She doesn't know this yet, but um Hope Stoval from the CT department um will certainly be a part of this group. um as we work on

048uh career pathways in education, but I would love to see us we have ch early childhood education which is great but we need to have intro to teaching class. We need to have classes here that students can take um and you all know this. I was a board member in another school community um in the past and we did something with the elementary, middle school, the high school and a neighboring university. Um love to be able to do something very similar to that here. So that's part of the long-term goal and vision is how can we create classes here that lead to pathways for students to go into education? How can we subsidize that? How can we incentivize it? um similarly to how we sent uh incentivize um you know our support staff members taking

049classes and we give tuition reimbursement for that and uh how can we do similar things with our own students. Um so that's part of the long-term goals. We're not quite there yet. We're in talks to do that. Um but one thing I want to be really sensitive to is like what university are we partnering with and is that really achieving our goals? Sure. And then and then the other um thing I remember from opening day this semester was how many of the new teachers are ETHS alums. And I'm wondering do you have that data on how many of our teachers are ETHS alums? Because that might be actually a a potential sort of resource and nut to nibble on. Yeah, that data is a little hard to gather. Um, I'm sure we could probably, you

050know, do some kind of surveying and pull that information together and provide that to you. I mean just to just to use it as something to give back to the I mean sort of mirror back to the students that you're cultivating maybe as potential teachers using the ETHs alum teachers as you know mentors or guides through that possib and show that there is a path. Yeah. There's a there's a path. Yes. Coming back home. Right. Right. Yes. Yes. It's good. All right. Well, thank you again. Thank you all. This is this is exciting. Um because you're right. I don't remember seeing anything like this be before. So, thank you. All right. Where are we? All right. Our next item, Dr. Campbell, is post high school planning update. Yes. So, uh, Dr. Davis is going to

051just moderate a brief conversation with, um, some of our staff and guests. You all can come on, make your way up to the table. Uh, first you have, uh, Miss Lacitzia Jimson, who is the executive director for the Youth Job Center. Hello, Lacricia. And then there's, uh, Neil, uh, Gamble with the MAK. And then we have Hope Stoval, our new uh, CTE department chair. And then there's Amy Verdick, our assistant director for special education. And at the end there is Dr. Mia Lizo, our new associate principal for student services. So Dr. Davis briefly uh a brief conversation brief. Um I'm I'm going to frame the conversation though because I feel like it needs to be framed. So uh I'm actually really excited. We haven't done a panel here. I haven't I've been here for a

052long time. We've never done a panel at a board meeting. So here we go. So ETHs, right? Like most high schools in the 90s and the early 2000s was a 4-year college for all operation. That approach left many behind. In fact, depending upon the year, it left about 40% of our graduates behind. Going to college and completing college are two different things. Students who leave college without a degree or a certificate gain no advantage in employment or earnings. It gets worse. Students who leave college without a degree or certificate often confront a significant amount of debt. The good news is things have changed. We've made significant strides here at ETHS in the last 10 years. We now have 45 different CTE courses running across seven career clusters. We have a freshman and sophomore advisory where

053we work on post-secary planning with our students. We have a career partnership and workbased learning coordinator that never was even in the conversation 5 years ago, uh, let alone 10. Um, we have strong partnerships and and that's going to all be on display tonight. In fact, I'm going to steal some language from Neil Gambo. We're now at a point as a district where we can say that we're here to help all young people find their path to a career and that we believe there are many roads to success. So, we work to shine the light on the full range of career opportunities and the many ways to get there. Whether their entry point is straight from high school or from college, we help young people make plans to choose a job with a future to

054succeed and thrive. That's what everybody on this panel tonight does. In fact, that's what our teachers and administrators do now. See, students need both traditional academic knowledge and workplace skills to qualify for good jobs. That's why career planning, exploration, work-based learning opportunities are essential for our students. So, we're responsible to continuing that work together to support students and families in making informed decisions that lead to career paths and career achievement. So, welcome to the panel. Panelists, wait till we jump in. I just like us to go straight through real brief here. Describe the work you're doing currently to support students in this endeavor. We'll start with Hope. Good evening. So, my name is Hope Stoval and I oversee all aspects of the CTE program. Some of that work will include connecting to the post high

055school planning pillar which would be um articulation of courses for dual credit at our partnering institution Oakton Community College or other uh high schools of higher learning. Also the articulation of embedding industry credentials in many of our CTE courses. Also expanding our partnership with our practicum courses to include um business partners as well as manufacturing partners in other sectors of the industry that actually connect to the trending data um in the workforce and also to continue to create an impact for our students. Thanks. Okay. Hi, I'm Lacricia Jameson, executive director of uh Youth Job Center, YJC. And um I guess we take the guesswork out of workforce for young people, uh helping them understand their first experiences when it comes to workforce and what's to be expected. I kind of call us a human form

056of Indeed or LinkedIn where you kind of connect that young person to the opportunities and you connect the employers to the young people. So I um I believe in wraparound services and you Job Center gives a lot of the um the barrier reduction and the challenges that go on with trying to find um their next step in life. So helping young people understand that college is short-term programming and that it's not always a fearful thing for college. That college has uh six months programming, two-year programming, short-term credentials. And it's not a andor. It's not an or it's a andor. If you want to go to college or you want to do both, you have an opportunity to work and to also gain credentials while you're doing so. So that's what we do at Youth Job

057Center. Thanks. Well, MAK, as as most of you probably know, is a completely volunteer organization. Could you hit that button? There you go. I said to myself, don't forget to turn it on. But anyway, Mak is actually a total totally volunteer organization with about 55 employers in it. Oakton, uh, ETHS, work workbased learning, uh, opportunities and so on. What we do is we connect employ uh employers with young people that are not going to college specifically and these are career opportunities in the local employer network uh health care, culinary, manufacturing, plenty of opportunity and we are providing opportunities for these young people to get uh job shadowing experiences and internship experiences. This year, this past year and this is pretty something kind of blew our mind a little bit. We did spring break job shadow

058with 26 young people. They were one sophomore and two a bunch of juniors and seniors. It was a 20hour uh paid job shadow experience with nine different employers. By the way, half the kids wanted healthcare, so we managed to get them all there. Um it was transformational for these kids. We we thought the internship program was pretty cool. This job shadowing was far more impactful. And I I I'm going to read two very short pieces from um two students. We asked the students, "What was the most important thing you learned about yourself?" One of the students wrote, "The most important thing I learned about myself is adapting to a different environment quickly and not being so confused every second. What pushed me out was being able to work in a place with food because I'm

059very interested in culinary but I've never worked in hospitality and food service before. And one of the other questions we asked and all all 26 kids answered this. Which 21st century skills did you gain through the experience? Uh one of the class of 22 2022 graduates said communication, problem solving, critical thinking, work ethic. You know, so you think about that. That was far more impactful than the internship program we do at the end of the school year with the graduates that do the 10-week internship. We did a 10-week internship program. 28 kids, all paid. Uh again, half of them want to go in healthcare. Uh after they finish their paid internships, 11 have been hired by the by their inter, you know, their their host employers. Two more are in the in the chain. they

060were in manufacturing, healthcare, culinary. Uh we had five decide they're going to go to four-year college. That's that's an okay outcome. And then we also had the rest of them, there was nine of them, I think, that are enrolled at Oakton. You know what, Neil? We got a call from one of those parents uh just the other day called Tana Franelo and said uh that uh she wanted to thank uh thank Tana and thank uh thank the team for creating that opportunity u and that her son is now working at SNC Electric right out of high school full benefits and a retirement plan. So she was very very she was just thrilled. Uh and I visited SNC Electric with you years ago and I just want to say that this is the work that makes

061a difference in a kid's life. We need to do that 200 more times a year. Thank Yes, we do. Here. Here. Amy, you're up. Such an intro. Such a leadup. Quite the segue. Um, hello everyone. Uh, Amy Verbick, assistant director of special education. Um, and I do the great work of working with our administrative team in special education uh to support our staff in um very uh highly individualized work um around post high school planning and transition planning per their uh per students IEPs. Um and so um you know our our work is really about ensuring that our staff is well informed about the robust resources that ETHS has around post high school planning um as well as developing our um programming within the department um particularly around our students with uh significant disabilities. And

062so our work this year um has really been about refining that um building upon our foundation um and developing increased opportunities for employment in the community. um very supported um through building um on students independence um as well as increasing opportunities for them to have paid work um through our partnerships um through DRS um center for independent futures work um as well as a recent grant that we received uh through the University of Illinois for resource mapping which again is individualized work to support students in identifying the the community resources that are available to them for employment um as well as for accessing um for all aspects of um independent living um that are needed to have a full life. Thanks, Amy. We got we have Mia next. Mia's new to the new new to

063Evston, uh new to the role. So, I'm curious what you're going to answer, Mia. No pressure. So, I do have an answer. Of course you do. because I have the fortune of inheriting and coming into this space of a a department that was so well-run and um our counselors are just phenomenal and we have college and career counselor and we also have our regular um academic counselors but they're not limited to that and they are all focused on looking at the whole child and looking at building what their needs are from the collegegoing perspective. perspective as well as partnering and with these great people particularly. We're going to be working um more exclusively with Hope and her department to open those pathways for our kids who may not be degree seeeking students initially because sometimes

064we know that kids alter they alter their trajectories and we want to make sure that we're preparing them for that space. But we also utilize for our early, you know, with um our students who are younger and not looking only at our juniors and seniors. We have our freshman um advisory study halls and our sophomore advisory which is FASH and SASH and um they look at career career exploration and there's a lot of work that's being done in that right now to really build that to a robust program so that we're preparing them not only academically as freshman and sophomore but moving them through their path so that they can be prepared to um take those journeys beyond high school. And it looks different for everybody and we want to make sure that we're meeting

065the needs of every student, not just one particular student that, you know, we have students going to Harvard, but we also have students who um decide that they're going to go into apprenticeships and I think that we need to celebrate all of that and that's what we're here to do. Thank you, Mia. Um so now is the time we're just going to think about future plans. What are the future plans 3 to 5 years out? Uh where do you see the work going with our students and supporting them? Obviously, it's going to evolve and change. This is where we get to do a little bit of the crystal ball. Um, so uh I'm going to start with uh hope. Why don't we just we'll go through it again. We'll go the same order and then

066I'll play around and then I'll play around popcorn in a little bit. So we have some amazing things that are actually happening within the CTE program. And so today I actually met with the team and we discussed a lot of the amazing work that's actually happening within the department. and I shared with them that my goal is for us to create collaboratively as a team a stellar CTE program where we are the model CTE program for other school districts. So part of that work is going to include creating and defining true career pathways. I'm happy to announce that we will have a health science career pathway for the upcoming school year. Students who actually go through that pathway will have the opportunity to earn 14 credit hours, two industry credentials as a result of participating

067in that three course sequence for the health career pathway. And so over the next three to five years, we will be adding more career pathways that will look just like the health science career pathway. Thank you. You know, I think our job is to support you guys. Um I I believe that workforce organizations need to support high schools because you guys have a specialty and that's really educating our young people to get them off to college. And then there comes this weird time where you have to say goodbye to some students that don't have that pathway. And um I believe that you know organizations like Youth Job Center, MAK, our opportunities are to really look at how to support the student once they're you know leaving that that situation. I believe brain development is different

068too. As you get to 20 years old, things change in your head in regards to what you want to do versus your 16-year-old self. So you reintroduce yourself all the time. Um I do believe in and where I see the work going is definitely understanding where workforce is going. A lot of automation is coming in workforce. Um however you have pathways that will not be automated in anytime soon. You got uh construction. You have certain things that will not be automated where someone still needs to build the brick and mortar and keep the infrastructure of the US uh vibrant. regardless of what there will be a job in that. And most of these young people, I was the dean of um career tech education at city colleges where they leave out making an average of

069$24 an hour versus a college student that leaves out making about $19 an hour. And there are viable careers in this. So to help you guys uh we want to help introduce these uh industries that can give a living wage to young people coming out of your high school and immediately starting to do work. In addition to that keeping a breast like we have you know to support it we have multiple grants for it health care different things like that the collar but then the non-collar jobs that are very vibrant and um have a lot of good opportunity behind them that are um some of the construction industries some of the uh banking industries that that do not need a degree but they're also there and all you need is some experience. So, being able

070to use paid work experience to help some young people get to a certain point and get the uh experience they need to basically help employers hire off potential versus credential and so that they can learn the field versus giving a a um a certificate or an industry credential right away. Coupling that with um short-term programming, hopefully we can help, you know, some of the young people that are the 20% that do not go to college. I always say 67% of America um adults do not have a degree. So, it's not the norm. It is something that we did that was very different from other people. And although we surround ourselves with those with degrees, there's so many people that do not have it. So looking at um the industries that would be uh working for

071those young people coming out of this high school, helping them out and um connecting them to their next career versus a job. As my mom always said, just over broke is a job. So we want to make sure that people have a career so that they can continue on. You know, I really appreciate hearing that because that really validates the work we've been doing with Neil over the years. Um I remember going on tours um and I called it my BA Blinder tour. I thought all these jobs required a bachelor's degree. Shame on me. And Neil and and and Shelley uh Gates kind of opened my eyes through field trips. I actually went and visited and asked folks, well, you know, what's your background? And I was, you know, I was struck and and to

072your point, I think it has to do with what we surround ourselves with continually. Yeah. I ran a lineman program and every student came, someone came to me every semester to show me his W2. I don't know what they told each other like, "Go tell the dean. Go show her this W2 that's going to be three times what she makes." And it actually it actually worked. That's right. Okay. So, these short-term programs that are in very highskilled, high wage jobs should be introduced to our young people so that they're able to understand how to make their life work regardless if they have a degree or not. So, I think that's very important. Okay, Neil, your turn to dream. I turned it on. Um, what I I look at this thing and and we've always looked

073at this thing from the MIA viewpoint through the lens of the employer. You know, what's the employer looking at when you see young people coming out of high school, what we've learned, especially as we've done the job shadow and the internships over the last few years, is employers would like to see a little better career readiness. Okay, readiness meaning, you know, have a resume. I don't know why every student doesn't have a resume. Let's talk about things that are important. You know, everybody talks about soft skills. Oh, you know, you got to have creative thinking and stuff like that. Yes, that's all really good stuff. But I would like to see over the next couple of years students coming out understanding what it's like to be in the real world. And then I'm not talking,

074you know, let's and one of the things you said, you know, college is not a career. College is a stepping stone to a career, but it's a good important one. But let's talk about the young people that are going to go directly into the workforce. Let's make sure they're ready because we have seen where the, you know, uh, tardiness is something that, you know, the employer kind of like you to show up, you know, or not pull out your cell phone when you're not supposed to. That's another whole another ball game. So, at any rate, the soft skills, but we also want to really expand job shadowing and paid internships. We think that's where the magic is because that's where the young people get to see it. And I don't think you can be it

075unless you can see it. And then then uh so we're hoping to add a lot more employers to the MAK database. We we've only got 55. There's uh 595 employers in Evston. We ought to be able to get a few more. And uh really do some things including considering ETHS as an employer. you know, you are an employer, not just with teachers, but you've got safety staff, you've got maintenance people. You know, let's take a look at you guys as an employer. You know, that's interesting. It's the same thing that that Northshore said, right? They have they have opportunities in different path in different areas, not just the medical field. Well, we put kids in internships in the finance, in the maintenance department. uh we put them in it, you know, at Northshore. So, and

076I think three of those kids got hired because they're pretty damn smart and we're not going to college. And I might add, too, all these kids that got those uh employment after those internships are all with employers that have tuition sharing. Yeah. Yeah. It's big. Amy, hi. Hi. Well, uh great segue again. Um because when you talk about ETHS being a great employer um you know the same is true for our students with IEPs that it is often um a great location for our students to begin their work experiences. Um so in terms of our dream uh with our uh with our department um we do have a number of students who are currently working um on site at ETHS um unpaid um to have that experience and have job coaching um and uh we're

077looking to expand that um even further um again because many students need that very focused um uh support in in those uh work sites with those soft skills um that you mentioned um as well as the technical skills in order to be successful. Um so we're looking to incre increase those onampus opportunities as well as continue to expand our community-based work um experiences. Um we've actually doubled um the opportunities that we have uh with our partnerships uh within the community. So, that's really exciting and we're looking to continue to grow that um in alignment with that resource mapping that I referenced so that it can be um uh increasingly individualized um and cross more genres um of the workforce. Um we're also looking in special education to increase the number of students um that we

078support through our our DR uh DHS step grant. So, again, that um provides us an opportunity for additional funding for those work sites. So that we increase students participation and then the reinforcement of employment uh through the um you know earning uh earning a paycheck um and then utilizing that as well for the expansion of those skills that that come with being um a paycheck earner. Um and then we're looking to increase our direct support of students transition plans. And so that has to do with a reallocation of our human resources within the department to um again provide that person centered uh work that students need as well as support for our case managers who are doing small group and and large group work um for our students with IEPs. Um as we said um

079we're doing the resource mapping. We're focusing on our students um with significant disabilities and our more supportive programming. Uh but we certainly want to see over the years that that resource mapping extends to any student with an IEP. Um so that they have a tool that uh goes with them whether they graduate or accept their diploma at 18 or at 22. Um again with those really viable and meaningful connections to their community. Um, and then lastly, um, we want to expand our special education website to include these resources that we're talking about so that informs families, um, of this range of continuum of services around transition planning and post high school planning uh, that we offer. I have to take a deep breath. Um, so I was thinking about what I wrote versus what I'm

080feeling and how I'm processing where we are tonight. And um, I think I would be remiss. I I feel like it's so important. I I love the the trajectory, right? Um, we're doing the the the school to work pipeline. I love that. I think that is so important. um particularly for students who may not situate themselves and that uh or see themselves as someone going to college. But I don't want to lose sight of the very important fact that there are students who are not sure because no one has ever given them the opportunity to see themselves as somebody who could be successful in college. And I'm speaking from personal experience from being a first generation college student and what that feels like to accomplish something that people have shared that or made you feel

081that you couldn't accomplish. So I don't want us I mean we are a school right and we need to um look at when we're planning three to five years being very inclusive with that and very intentional and um not leaving out um the students who have trajectories that are very farreaching um graduate school doctors attorneys and things like that because those are very um valuable um positions to hold as well as our um school to work um pipeline. However, I think what also is important is us being realistic and the realism of our college retention rates are dropping dramatically. So for the student services department, we really want to again wrap around that entire student and help them pick colleges that are not only affordable but have a chance of success where they can see

082themselves successful. Everybody has this ideology of, oh, I want to go Ivy League or I want to go and we we do we pick schools that, you know, maybe stretch us, but we have to also look at schools and help students identify schools that will really meet their needs and that may be a smaller school that again may be a um trade school and things like that, but we want to give those opportunities. And so looking at really building um the capacity to meet our students exactly where they are but helping them to see where they can go. So I think that's the most important part for our student services department. Thank you. Briefly big challenge. What's the big challenge going forward? What's the biggest challenge? My biggest challenge I think is changing the perspective

083of folks my age on what schools do. um folks my age really came through that college for all kind of experience, the four-year college for all and have those BA blinders. That's my generation and that's a lot of parents out there. So, really kind of educating folks on that, educating folks around what ETHS is about. We've done CTE and and MAK meetings before here. Uh we've put out all the numbers, we've put out all the data, but yet those myths persist. That's my biggest challenge is getting out in front and really breaking down that mythology uh around this. And and I will say this again, I think for a four-year college student, for a parent of a four-year college student, the saddest day is the day second semester senior year where that student walks into

084the career center and that's the first time they thought about a career. That's far too late. So, I think casting that light earlier and often and being transparent about it to me is the work and the challenge. But I'm going to turn it over to our experts because I'm just I'm just who I am sitting where I am. Go ahead. Whoever wants to jump in and we'll just hear from a couple of you and then we'll open it up to the board. I'll just say the biggest challenge is educating the educator on the importance of workforce. It's not really a challenge of educating the uh client or the young person, the student. It's really about helping people understand that the same job or the outcome that you want that person to have can happen in

085different pathways and that I always say the person that lives next door to me, he is um an electrician, has the same Chicago bungalow, drives a much better car than me, has a wonderful home and is laid out his backyard very well. The personally opposite side of me is uh she went to the army and then she went into some other way and she owns the same type of house I own. Has a wonderful car, paid off everything and gets much more done at her house than I I can. I feel like we need to start to advocate for workforce in order to understand the different pathways that people will go down in order to achieve their personal dream. not the uh family dream or the micro and macro uh environments that they live in

086but really helping them understand their personal journey and that may not be our journey. So I think that a challenge is number one helping educators understand the value of workforce and not that we're just saying get a job but we're actually living wage opportunist where we're saying we want to help you get to your dream and I think another challenge is also helping employers understand to open their minds to a younger workforce and it's been um connected to baby boomers forever. the baby boomers were retiring when I started working and then 10 years later the baby boomers were retiring again and now 20 years later well 25 years later now the baby boomers are retiring. Okay. But helping employers understand that a younger workforce is just as productive as it was in the 60s and

087the 50s where you had this young workforce ready to explore and grow into your organization and to help them understand the value of taking someone who's green who who was ready to grow opportunist and to grow them in your organization whether that is in IT, healthcare, construction, manufacturing and grow them into someone else. Most people that go back to college are people who have been in industries that um that they need to get a management degree in, right? They've done the labor and now it's time to go back to college. They'll eventually come back to the situation and figure it out. But um educating and advocating for um the workforce is really the challenge. But I know we can do it because from where we started in 2000 when I got out of school when

088nobody was saying forget workforce. everybody was saying that to now where you guys are in this room saying how can we help those who do not have that plan for college is amazing because I've been in plenty of um colleges or or high schools and you walk in and say 100% of our students will go to college right and you're like and I'm here to talk to them about something else you know so this is a wonderful situation that if we keep advocating will help uh regrow the opportunity for apprenticeships and that traditional American job pathway of learning and then doing. You know, I think you did such a good job of of summarizing the challenges. I think we're done with that. Um, I'm going to open it up to the board and hear what

089the board and and kind of where the board wants to go with the discussion for a few more minutes, but I'm I'm mindful of time. Maybe like 10 more minutes. All right. Well, thank you. I just want to say thank you to all of you. This was really good and and and I'm excited to um to just keep exploring options for our our youth to make sure that they recognize um and I think that's one of the biggest challenges is to help help students understand that there are options because just as you Dr. Davis. Um I think many in our community see this as um this is the place that we prepare students for college, but you know it's much bigger and and so many um opportunities, good opportunities like you said, um are out

090there that these these kids don't know about. So thank you. Um Gretchen, you Yep. Um, I already was emailing with Neil today on this point, but I just would like to for Neil to share um with the rest of the board um who hasn't been as intimately involved with our Evston cradle to career collective impact effort, how the work uh that you're doing on workforce development, in particular post-secondary planning, um relates to our collective impact effort here in Evston. you and I and I think at least one or two other panel members were at um what might have been my 40th 40th quarterly cradle to career partner meeting goodness last week. Um and we we still obviously aren't where we want to be on that. Um and in fact we're refining goals and trying to

091make some progress. So all of this stuff is intimately connected with what our goals have been for the last 10 years in cradle to career and even under what we're talking about the new iteration of the those goals. It's it's still there. I've been on the prepared for adult life action team for all of those 10 years. Um and so that's another set of you know like 50 or 60 meetings over the last 10 years. So, how help us link that up a little bit, Neil, because you've been involved nearly as long as I have. Yeah, that's a that's a what a challenge. Um, basically, you know, when you when you look at the uh how kids evolve through their, you know, their their young years, if you want to call it that, you really

092can't just say it's high school because it's not. You know, we've we've learned now through the and you guys all know this. I'm preaching to the choir here, but you know, a lot of this starts in middle school. And one of the things that really, you know, the cradle to career, you know, they they they figured out they that preschool is important. We get that, but then they skipped over to high school, not un not, you know, saying that how what what about the preparation to go to high school? You know, certainly the reading and English, we reading and math, we get that. But if that kid's got an interest, how do you nurture that when they get into high school? Because I, you know, I don't have any kids in school long, long time

093ago. But I remember talking to parents to say when that kid went from 8th grade to 9th grade, it was horrific. But a lot of that can be taken care of. But cradle to career is still evolving, I guess, is the best way of putting it. And we're not going to let them forget the idea that district 65 has a responsibility to the district 202 and to the rest of the community to prepare prepare their young people as best they can. So it it's it's not an easy solution, but I know from the MAK viewpoint, we we now have our MAK employers in middle school, not talking about careers. A middle schooler doesn't even know the word, but they know interest. they know they can figure out an interest. Let's nurture that. Thank you for

094speaking to that piece because I think that um um you know it as we as cradle to career evolves, we refine our focus on these three three areas. Um the danger is that we treat all of our individual organizations as sort of independently functioning unconnected units and um the whole point of a collective impact effort is to align the work of our organizations towards a common goal. Um, and we need to revisit that point constantly. Um, or we can really lose sight of where we need to be. Um, and I think frankly we have lost sight of it over the last few years in part because of the pandemic, but I think we've got to stop blaming the pandemic and um, and actually make some real change and and it's going to involve everybody actually

095coming together. Nobody's off the hook here. So thanks money comment. So um Pete very good point about one of the challenges. Um but I think the best way to break that myth is to recruit our alumni, our young alumni who have gone a different pathway. I have one living with me. Um, and so as a as a college athlete, of course, he naturally went into the college um way to earn his degree and figure that out. And and like Miss Jameson said, he was still developing in terms of what he actually wanted to do because all he knew to do was to play that sport. Um but now after figuring out that that wasn't the route, he has um a certification that he's going to start out making what took me 10 12 years to

096make um with a degree. And so I think we have access to our students who have said I tried this this is not the way and who didn't know you know what they actually wanted to do um because they were predefined by some other thing and it took them a while to figure that out and thank God that there was an opportunity that could take them a different route. Um where he now of course will probably you know surpass me which is my which is every p person or every parent's goal right but you know that's the only way we're going to reach our young people and I appreciate all of us who are in the field trying to do this but sometimes we're not the spokesperson and we're not the decision makers. um when

097it comes to trying to reach our youth that we need to back up and and prepare someone said to to convince the employers to look at younger people as being intelligent as being capable as being you know ready to to do these professions um and that also means being the decision makers. So I have two I got one and I know I know several that have said you know so I mean that's how we do that cuz then that's he changed my perspective as a graduate. I'll make two comments if I might. When we do the job shadows and internships the employers get as much out of that as the kids you know so that's how you that's how you change that attitude. And the second thing is when we bring employers into the classroom,

098we say, "Hey, bring one of your kids that's an ETHS grad that's younger than 30 so they can at least relate to it." So, and that's been quite successful. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. It's good stuff though. Yeah. Very good. All right. Well, thank you again. Thank you for coming and speaking to us and putting a lot on our minds and thank you board. Can I add this? The funniest thing and was that he didn't have a a resume, right? Because he he did volunteerism, but he didn't have, you know, he worked at the Y lifeguard, you know, all of that. He knew somebody. Um but but so what he did and he was the captain of the football team. So what he did was he listed his skills, right? And and so because he

099didn't he didn't have that job, he listed his skills through what he did being a high school student and working in other nonprofits um as those things that employers looked for like dependabil like you know reliability like you know being respectful and all that. So it's yes because we have a whole bunch of Emanuel Woodberry I just I want to say one thing about challenges. So I was watching well before this the Chiefs and the Raiders. They're on tonight which I'm probably miss the rest. But the reason why I like their matchup is because they are both um they say the worst stadiums to play in is the Chiefs, the Raiders, and a couple of them. Loud, super loud fans, horrible, you know, sportsmanship, everything. But they persevere with each other because they're used to

100the challenge in their own situations. And I was just kind of thinking this in my car and I was watching the game. I was out in the parking lot cuz I'm in Evston and it's safe in the parking lot to watch a football game. I was watching it. But I thought about this when we were when I was coming here. I was like, that's our youth. if they have all of these things going on for themselves when we say, "Well, you know, this one grew up in a rough neighborhood and they didn't have the background that some young people have." They have resilience that's very different that puts them in environments that can, you know, they can outlive and outshine other people because they've already been put in different environments that have challenged them. So,

101I think if sometimes we kind of concentrate on that, that's a good thing. I grew up in a little community called Inglewood in Chicago and resilience is everything where you're able to learn and feel and expose yourself to different things that you know that kind of hardens you in some ways and kind of helps you understand in others. And so if we do this with a lot of our youth that um don't have all of the bells and whistles and everything else and understand where they want to be and say I'm okay and where I in this path for me will be able to do that and they can thrive a little bit better than others because they built a resiliency around themselves. So, I just feel like we need to pay special attention to

102them cuz they can be great leaders for us in general in our in our country versus just in our neighborhoods, you know. Absolutely. Right. But that's it. That's great. That's great. Excellent. All right. Thank you. Thank you again. Okay, moving on with the agenda. We're at um just a bit of a recap from uh the summit for courageous conversations. Um the summit was held in Washington DC and four board members attended the summit. Hi, thank you. Um so we had four board members and uh superintendent was there as well. uh the assistant superintendent principal attended and uh how many staff and faculty? I think we had about 18 staff. Okay. Okay. All right. So, we were well represented and I asked um board members to um just prepare just a little bit brief recap of

103your experience and I don't know who wants to start. Pat, Liz. Okay. So, I'll um start off by saying as a white woman, which is something we say a lot in Courageous Conversations, um as a white woman attending Courageous Conversations annual summit, I felt deeply privileged to be immersed in black joy and black love and to join a level of crossracial engagement that I've really not seen anywhere else. Um I took Beyond Diversity 2 for the second time. um because the last time was way before the pandemic and um I made profound connections with my peers across racial lines in that class. I'm grateful to the black and brown folks who were willing to do this work with white peers knowing there was a potential for racial harm to be done in the process. I

104was moved and motivated after hearing Yaba Blé, Eddie Glaude Jr., Kimberly Krenshaw and Angela Davis speak. We were in the presence of greatness. The underlying message was here's why things are hard, but also hope. We can accomplish our goals if we do this together. Um, one of the classes that I took was called abolishing white supremacy in educational spaces. Um, the class left me with some questions that I can keep top of mind as a white woman doing this work at ETHS and in my personal life. Firstly, am I conscious of how white supremacy values influence my position in the community I serve? Am I willing to examine my own internalized white supremacy and work to dismantle it? Whose voice and opinion am I listening to when I make decisions? What is the potential for

105harm when I make decisions? When I am leading, when am I leading and when am I following? And also, who am I leading and who am I following? Is recognition a motivating factor in this situation? Am I doing this work to be recognized or because it's the right thing to do? Whose comfort am I prioritizing? Will I allow discomfort in myself and others in order to further this work? And what risks am I willing to take to address racism in this situation? This is the difference between being a white ally and being a white accomplice. Are you willing to take a personal risk to risk your relationships, your job, your community standing to fight racism? This is the work of anti-racism. And lastly, what am I afraid of? Am I afraid of losing social capital,

106or can I be brave and stick my neck out so that others don't have to? I invite others, but especially white folks, to ask these same questions of themselves when doing this important racial equity work. At ETHS, our first stated goal is equitable and excellent education. quote, "Recognizing that racism is the most devastating factor contributing to the diminished achievement of students, ETHs will strive to eliminate the predictability of academic achievement based upon race." End quote. This is where the rubber meets the road in this work. My goal for the conference was to increase my racial literacy and to become better at speaking about race and racism. I feel like I achieved that goal and I look forward to having these conversations with the community this winter. Members from my white affinity group who reside all

107over the country reminded me that many school boards are not having these kinds of discussions and are in fact banning racial equity work. So I'm feeling humbled and grateful to be able to serve with my fellow board members who support this work and that we have a school that prioritizes this work. So, I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to attend the summit and to have a courageous conversation about race. Thank you. Thank you, Liz. Pat. Um, well, I'll start where Liz ended, which is I wanted to thank Pat and Marcus um for and the district as a whole for um allowing us to go and making this possible because it is such an amazing experience. Um, and this was uh my third time u being at Summit and I just feel

108like I learn it just ramps my learning so much and my thinking so much and I'm I'm very grateful for that opportunity. Um we did we had them it was really amazing people lead the keynote addresses and um Liz listed them. Angela Davis, Eddie Glaude, um Kimberly Krenshaw and they were they were amaz each of them was amazing and they each had their own message but what I really found helpful was the way they contextualized um what's happening now in history. I was a history major, so I love that. Um, but really understanding the threads of of where we are and how action um is related to those that came before us and the young people that are leading us now. And it was very powerful the way in different ways they really were able

109to help put that into a context of both action and remember where you came from. And I I thought that was really powerful. Um the sessions were all great. Um there was one that I went to that I found particularly interesting called Engaging Whiteness as a lever for change. And um the woman was a a DEI director from a small college out west. Um and she was she was great. She um she was very humble and very vulnerable in sharing two case studies. one in which whiteness sort of snuck up on her facilitation that she didn't expect and kind of what happened with that and then uh one time where she actually used whiteness to kind of um sort of help teach and it was very powerful and very um instructive as a schoolboard member

110um first because I think that level of vulnerability and that level of um you know, being honest and being humble and and saying, "I I didn't do it right or we need to do this better or to really be able to confront um the real work of equity is not a clean line. There's a lot to it and she was really a good model for that." Um, but the other thing that it did, and I think this wasn't new, but it really deepened my um awareness and and drive around the fact that this work is um is very complex. It's everywhere. Whiteness is a part of every conversation, every system. and but that we as white people, myself as a white person and other white people, I really believe have to do a lot of

111the heavy lifting on this. Um I think we are all grateful to our our friends and and colleagues of color um for helping us um to to understand and to do better and be better. But we have to do that work on our own and we have to work with each other. And that's something that is a a big barrier. I told um Pat at another summit I was at, a white woman said to me she didn't want to partner with me. She said because I want to partner with someone of color so I can learn. And I remember saying to her that's not how this works. And I just feel like, you know, I I have been thinking about that for a long time. And this really being at Summit really reminded me yet

112again. and and deepen my commitment that I have to do this personal work so I can help ETHS, my community, the white woman who lives down the block, whatever it is. And and I feel like that is such a huge gift um to me and hopefully to anyone that I get the privilege to work with, including this amazing institution. So, um, I I'm just grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be a part of these conversations and to have the opportunity to personally reflect and grow and question um because ultimately it's great for me, but it's also I think um hopefully going to be great for for the work that we do here. So, thank you very much. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you. Yeah. Well, thank you. Um, all right. I will keep this short because I

113know our night is getting long. Um, I am We'll talk a little bit just about Kimberly Krenshaw. Um, who I thought, um, was just brilliant, of course. Uh, and she talked a lot about how um when we're looking at critical race theory in particular, but um just critical theory in general, how it is so important to question the very body um of the discipline itself and the role it plays in the problem. And so I keep thinking about how education and in schools and on boards, we have to ask what role are we playing in the problem that is before us, right? And so um and one of those ways is the ways in which we stand in as a barrier to our students um and how important our youth are in our leadership. Um

114and then what role does that place upon us? And so, and I think um Liz, you said this as well and pet, the goal of of us as adults is really to be a resource to them to hold the historical and um otherwise, you know, kind of stories. uh she talked about her mom being her go and so so that we're not holding them back with what we think our truths are or the way it is, but we're really poised to listen and then provide those details when they need it. Um and so I love this call to action um for educators to get out of the way so that we can um support our youth because the future is really in their hands. And I I thought that was just the way I want

115to lead um as well. So um thinking about the games in which we create the con kind of thinking about the conceptual still segregation that we can create um for kids if we don't watch out and so then how if integration is truly our goal um how how can we do that and uh so that that's where my mind was during conference um and it was an amazing moment to be back at summit. So yeah, I think that um as I reflected on the the national summit, I I I I felt like um maybe because we haven't been there for three years, uh we haven't been together for so long. Um it was it was extra extra engaging, um extra sustaining, extra deepening um and and I made a conscious decision. I didn't present and

116it's the first time I didn't present at the summit in a long time. So I really just tried to um just receive just take it all in. And there was so much to take in um uh and I did. I I feel like um this journey that that I'm on um was was great and I could be intentional about um having others um watching others on their journey without being responsible for others. And so many of the speakers um the keynote speakers were just over the top this year. um and the presenters seem to at least the sessions that I went to seem to um really um do this major call to action. Really there was a lot of conversation about the times we're in now. Um Kimberly Krenshaw talked about that. Um these are

117the times these are this is the the atmosphere. This is the the um the reason why um this attack on critical race theory is successful because there were efforts to do that before. Um Angela Davis talked about this critical time and and how and why um so much is happening now that we haven't seen before. And it wasn't just some of the some of the obvious um reasons um being in in DC, you can imagine what they were, but just really um how this all seemed to kind of come to a head. Um and um so I just felt really moved by so many of them. Uh Dr. Yaba Blé, who I've not heard speak before. Um, I felt like her honest conversations uh really empowered me to just be truthful um with myself about

118what I was feeling and when I felt like um engaging and um and when I felt that it was important for um another person like a white person to do their own work and it was okay for me to say, you know, I'm not going to do this for you. Um so um I just once again uh I too feel really grateful that we have a board um we have a board that attended Courageous Conversation and I know that many of you um didn't go for for a personal reasons. There's there's a lot it's a lot it's a lot it's a lot of time. I get that. Um, but I also think that that we're extremely um fortunate to be having this conversation at the board table. Um, and I am really grateful. I I

119don't think I could be here if this wasn't I Well, I know I couldn't be here if this wasn't happening because I just wouldn't I wouldn't feel like this is where um I could really make a difference. and belong in in this space. Um so I'm really grateful that I don't live in a community where books are being banned and um talking to so many people that is the reality for so many. Um so I'm I'm really excited about that. Um one of the sessions that stood out for me was um a a conversation on allyship versus co-conspirator. um and really making sure that um the the difference the difference is profound and they're not the same. Um and really just really walking the talk, taking theory into practice. I just really think that was

120a whole theme of um the whole summit, you know, recognizing that we haven't done this in a while and here we are. Times are different. There's an urgency. Um just as we're talking differently about how we we we work with our students and what options they have and what future opportunities there there is for them. There is things are different. Things are different and and at summit that was um discussed embraced and we were all challenged to think about our world in a different way. So, um, so that was cool. Um, Dr. Campbell, I didn't ask you to speak. I don't know if you if you want to add anything. Well, thank you. Um, I don't really don't have much to add, but that I um feel the same way. Um, summit was very powerful.

121There were a lot of um powerful keynotes and powerful breakout sessions. But what brought me some of the most joy and I think I shared this with the team is that of the 18 people that we brought, I think it was 18 right Ty 18 people that we brought to see them bond and connect uh around this work um to do the work with our students in this school. It literally brought tears to my eyes. So uh it was just powerful all the way around uh the programming, the speakers, but also our team that attended. Um, I was very proud of um what I was able to um observe with them. Yeah. Super. And Dr. Kinsey, how about you? I don't know. I I I don't mean to put you on the spot really. Um,

122so I'll just add um it was an incredible opportunity and absolutely witnessing our staff. Um, so to build on what you were saying, Dr. Campbell witnessing our staff and many of whom hadn't really ever been together in those spaces and how every step of it was about how we were going to do better by students and amplify student voice. So it's it's amazing just every every step as we are centering equity as the table that we are building this on. So that was you know people's minds were just constantly going what else are we going to do? So it was tremendously powerful. Excellent. Excellent. All right. Well, thank you all and and we'll keep talking and referencing um I and I'm know that we'll continue to to hear um how those experiences really impact us

123and and our thinking as we u proceed um with the work very important work ahead of us. So, thank you all. All right. So, um, the next item is district goals discussion. So, um, Dr. Campbell, you going to lead us off in this? Yes, I'll lead I'll lead you off. Um, so Dr. Davis and I worked on a draft of a recommended process for your goals, uh, which are set to expire soon. Um, and we are also recommending that this be a standing agenda item for you um until you reach the point where you are satisfied with um with where we land with the uh with the district goals. And so um Madame President, I'm just going to turn this over to you to uh foster a conversation uh amongst yourselves about what you think

124about the process, how you want to engage the process, and um we will take that feedback. Right. Thank you. And I um this is our first conversation and and it doesn't have to be extensive or long. I but I I do think that um you know we've been talking about the fact that our goals are going to expire. We have to think about our goals. Um and um I love the questions. Do we maintain the goal? Do we eliminate the goal? Do we decrease the goal scope? Do we increase the goal scope? Um or or just create a new goal. So, um, at some point we will need to to take a very close look at all of our goals and make those decisions. Um, I think it's important to think about um how to

125involve or hear from as many community stakeholders as possible. Um, so I'm going to throw that out for um my fellow board members. I know that I I I know that we have um um the talkback sessions that Dr. Campbell is has scheduled. Um so I invite us all to do that and um other other thoughts from anybody. Um two things just real quickly because it is late. Um I would love to hear a little bit more about the medic framework. um which has nothing to do with medicine or anything medical, but it's a little confusing when you see it. Um but it it makes you know on its face it makes perfect sense to me. I would just like to know a little not tonight. Let's not do it tonight, but um just a

126little bit more about like where it came from. Has this been actually useful for other people in other contexts? Um I tried a little googling and I was running into some weird places. So um just a little more context would be helpful. Um and then secondly I would say that um well actually two more things. So secondly um Alma Advisory who helped us out with our superintendent search and that yielded a pretty good result I'd say. Um uh also does strategic planning work and I would just toss out there that um they might be somebody we'd want to talk to. I have never been blown away by the IASB. I don't I I I don't mean to badmouth them here, but I I'm not sure that they are, you know, they are our statewide organization,

127but I'm not sure that they have to be who we turn to as as the best resource to sort of lead us through this effort. Um, so I would just toss that out. I would love to have some conversations with Alma and see what kind of proposal. I think there was a lot of creative thinking from Alma when when we were going through this other process and we do have that information. Um yes, we have all that information. So um and it's it's available. Yes. Um so we we've got that. So, that's something to think about. And I and I would also say that um yes, I agree that we need to gather input and we did do that that big all day thing, although that was kind of torturous, the the length of it

128all day long. Um You mean a few years ago? Yeah. More than a few years ago. And it was And it was on a beautiful, beautiful, sunny spring day. No, it wasn't. It was in February. Oh, that was then. Maybe it was our previous one where we had an all day thing, but it was a beautiful day outside and we were all in here. That's all I remember. Um, we'll do it in February. So, yeah, that's I like the January February idea. Anyway, do it in the winter. So, anyway, those are just my off the top of my head thoughts. Thank you, Pat. Yeah, I would just um say that it's really important to um gather voice and so through I mean, we're going to participate or go to the sessions that Dr. Campbell's doing

129with the community which I think is great but I also would love to do some where the board is listening and maybe it's through some question you know some kind of process but um really want to get their voice but I also I want to hear more from staff and students they're our stakeholders too and um you know I think there is an elevated sense that the voice fill in the blank of our students our staff our community is really important so I just whatever ever process we've map out. I think that's really a a key component. Others, well, I would say I I agree with both Ann. I mean, if if um we can get a group to facilitate it, that would be that would be great. So, we could all participate. Um but

130I I also agree that um this time around we have to um engage different ways methods to make sure we get the voices we want. Um last time we did have the invite into the school. Um and we're doing this with with Dr. Campbell, but um we may have to do some virtual groups, some affinity groups. um some in-person groups and so forth. I think we have to go deep um and it you know whatever we have to do because it is very important. I mean this sets the work um for our district. So whenever it is and however long it needs to be this is critical work. I like the idea of a of a variety you know again um things are different now. Yeah. So we know about different ways to gather information.

131We don't just have to send out an invitation and have everybody come in here. This is what we did before, right? Was this we started in this room with about 80 people. Sure did. Um, and I do remember it was the temperature was warm or maybe I was just nervous. But um, but we but we know now that we can reach some people who who don't have the option to come in. We can reach them virtually. Yeah. And I and I think last time we also communicated this so differently. You know, last time we made sure that it was um shared in places we wouldn't normally share our information so we could get a true representation of the community. I think it has to be that intentional as well. We Yeah, we have to definitely

132be intentional. All right, other thoughts? Mera, you look like you have something on your mind. Look at that. Well, I guess I'm just trying to make sure I understand the question because I think what I want I'm thinking about I don't know if it answers the actual I'm thinking so the question that we are we're discussing now is process. Okay. The process we're not talking about what the goals would be. We're talking about how do we get there? Is that correct? Correct. And um and how do we make sure we have taken the time to hear from all of our stakeholders um so that we can come into this looking at our goals really understanding our our community, our students. Um voice. Yeah. I guess if you can remember the book that you gave me.

133Um I do have effective board leadership something to that extent. I'm trying to look it up. Yeah. Um I really think understanding what balanced governance looks, sounds, reads like would be really important for us. Um because I do see aspects of that missing from these current goals. Yes. Um, Gretchen, I know you said that that we wouldn't necessarily need to use um IASB. IASB, but we we might want we might need to think about having a representative. There is a new field. Yeah. I mean, I I I'm not saying that we cut them out entirely. I'm just, you know, there there is value. There is some value in ISB in different ways. I mean we've done various board trainings with them with varying degrees I would say of of usefulness um you know sometimes better

134than others depending on aspects of the programming or the particular person leading us whatever um and I also think when I tossed out Alma that there I that can be alongside of oh yeah all these other you know pieces I'm just thinking out loud mostly a little coaching a Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A little whatever I you know I new and fresh insight. And I think what struck me in the process around the superintendent was Alma's willingness to um really gather the community in in creative ways. Definitely. Definitely. So keep thinking. I'm gonna um move move us along and um Thank you. Yeah. And we'll come back to this at our next board meeting and the next and the next. Well, the one after the next one. The one after the next one. Thank you. That's

135true. All right. Okay. So, we are at comments from the public. Dr. Davis. Um, yes. Uh, we do have we have four uh comments from the public. Uh speakers who have signed up for public comment will be invited in the order they signed up to address the board for up to three minutes. I will keep time and signal uh the speakers at the end of 2 minutes uh as a courtesy. I'll also let folks know when there's a minute. Um I will end uh when the three minutes are up uh the timer will will go off and I'll fumble with it. Uh speakers are asked to come forward and speak at the lect turn. Please state your name. Uh, public comments generally pertain to school district matters, but comments about any individuals are expressly prohibited.

136Please understand that the school board does not respond to public comments, but will listen carefully and will follow up as the board deems appropriate. So, I'm just going to get my timer set up here. And as I do that, uh, I would like to call up, uh, Chris White. Evening. Thanks for having me. I have a lot of friends on the District 65 school board. I really appreciate the amount of time and service it takes to serve on the school board. I have a junior at the day school. I really appreciate the services of the day school. It is sometimes difficult to figure out what information applies to our family versus the day school. And that came up during homecoming dance. Um our kid has a lot of barriers to coming early. It didn't it

137was confusing to get a clear answer of how to get the tickets. And then late the morning of the day before the dance, I we heard that there might be a problem because of their tardies. Their tardies are related to their disability. While we were able to resolve that, it was a big deal in our kids' social emotional learning to actually volunteer to go to an in-person social event. That was a big moment for us. It was very frightening the idea that that was at risk. It does not seem that punitive punishment is a good response to tardies. It seems like it's a sign to look for what supports does the kid need. It seems like if the tardies are disruptive, it should be a chance for a transformative way to transform the harm of

138disrupting. Maybe they could support the class in some other way. I don't know where the this policy comes from. It seems very counter to everything else we've heard tonight of all the efforts at equity. Thank you. Our next speaker is uh Kristen Scott. SO tti. Do you mind if I sit here? Sure, no problem. Just hit the um the button. There you go. Hello, I'm Kristen Scotty. I'm the parent of a junior and I'm here to also talk about the tardy policy. Many students on tardy probation currently are disabled. These students are being excluded from school related activities. My child doesn't have a tardies because they have an ex extended passing periods as a disability accommodation. That accommodation is not shared by many other disabled students whose disability impacts their ability to get to class

139on time. If this were the only policy issue, modifying IEPs and 504s would make the policy equitable. But it's not the only issue. I think a preliminary step in creating policy is to identify systemic issues that may promote discrimination. if the policy were implemented. It doesn't seem like this was done here because in addition to disability discrimination, we have notoriously late buses for students who rely on public transportation to get to school. This both inhibits their ability to attend AM support to make up tardies and subjects them to additional tardies. Two minutes. We have students who do not feel safe in class, who don't have trusted teachers that they can speak with, who avoid class to escape harassment from other students, and in some cases from the teachers themselves. These students are being further marginalized

140by tardy violations that act to further exclude them from the school environment. There are seven genderneutral bathrooms at ETHS. So to comply with the policy, the expectation is that many trans, non-binary, gender fluid, and gender expansive students must check theirelves, their emotions, and their bladders at the classroom door. Also, not all disabled students have 504s or IEPs. Evaluation processes are timeconuming and costly. Folks of privilege have better access. When two other parents and I tried to address this issue with a dean, we were told that disabled students do not have any inherent right to attend ETHS events. I hope I don't need to remind anyone here that this view is an opposition to federal law. When challenged, Dean said that parents just need to speak with the teachers. That just carries a lot of weight

141here. We spend a lot of time simply attempting to enforce already approved accommodations. This policy also privileges folks who have the time to go back and forth with teachers and administrators. I implore you to abolish the tardy policy, look for root causes of tardiness, and address the systemic issues that cause students to be late for class. Thank you. Next, we have Onyx Conan. C O N D O N. Good evening everyone. My name is Onyx Compton. I'm a junior here at ETHS. I'm here tonight to talk to you all about the tardy policy that makes it so students that have more than 10 tardies are unable to participate in school sponsored activities such as clubs, dances, sports, and more. The school also recently said on an email telling students that anyone who has zero tardies

142can go to a school sponsored Six Flags trip. This seems like an incentive to people. Didn't we all get the memo a long time ago that giving out perfect attendance awards is ableist? As a disabled LGBTQ plus student, I've often avoided my classes because I don't feel safe. I should not come to school in fear of being bullied because of how I identify or because of my disabilities. I know so many people who have avoided classes because they don't feel safe, which is of course resulted in tardies. But it only becomes a tardy if they come to class at any point. If they just don't show up, it becomes an unexcused absence, which I do not believe adds to the 10 tardies that exclude you from things. As stated before, one of the things that

143you are excluded from is clubs, which means that you are excluded from GSA, Gender Sexuality Alliance, which isn't okay in the slightest. I have been going to GSA since seventh grade. It was there where I found my family within the school. When I came to ETHS, I sadly lost that family due to the teacher who was running the club being abbleist. I was only It was only this year where I got it back. It's now run by all LGBTQ plus staff. I feel seen. I feel heard. No one should ever be denied the ability to go to a club where they can be themselves. Because as much as ETHS prides themselves on inclusiveness, sadly, it's not. Every day when I walk into the school, I am not myself. I am some other version of myself.

144Because if I'm truly being myself, I'll be called slurs and hateful words. Thank you for having me tonight. Thank you, Lindsay Wade. Sorry, I finally got that video off my phone. No worries. Uh, so, um, sorry. I'm Lindsay. I'm the parent of a senior here at ETHS. Um, I'm also here to talk with you guys about the tardy policy. Um, I wrote something down. Um, but I essentially share the same sentiments as uh Chris, Kristen, and Onyx. Um, I'm asking that ETHS abolish its t current tardy policy that excludes children from enjoying extracurricular activities and celebrations as a punishment for being late to class. Um, I'm also asking you guys to consider reframing the extreme tardy policy that results in students getting an automatic unexcused absence for being a few minutes late to class. Um

145earlier this month, as Chris mentioned earlier, multiple students, um a number of whom had multiple doc or had documented disabilities were unable to attend uh the homecoming dance due to ETHS's current Hardy policy. I want you guys to be aware that this policy has a disparit effect on students with documented and undocumented disabilities and on other vulnerable um student populations such as those who are impoverished and or have unreliable transportation resources. Um, furthermore, I want you guys to realize that extreme tardies make um, being a successful student um, at a high school using the block scheduling system even more difficult than it already is. As you know, you're only allowed six absences now from uh, classes um, as opposed to the eight that students used to get. Um, I would like you guys to realize

146that exclusion has been shown in multiple studies to be harmful to student achievement and school climate. Um, in addition to that, um, you guys are effectively excluding children with disabilities, impoverished children, and other vulnerable groups of students from enjoying the same education and privilege as their peers. In addition, I understand that there are systems to eliminate tardies and to incentivize students not to be late as Onyx described before and so did Kristen. Um, however, these um are also ineffective. They make students feel, you know, uh students who already have difficulty managing their time are expected to come in and manage their time um in order to get their privileges back. And in addition, students who are running late are essentially being told that they shouldn't bother coming to class at all. Uh this seems counterproductive

147to preparing students for work. Um in which it's definitely better to come in late than not at all. Um and counterproductive to preparing students for college as well. Um in which such policies like this don't even exist. Um, in addition, I don't think that these practices align with ETHS's um values and um and strategic goals of being equitable and um I don't want ETHs closing its doors on students anymore for being late. That concludes this uh evening's public comment. Okay. Thank you. [Applause] Right. Um, so before we go to the next item, well, let's do the next item. Yeah, let's do foyer. Yeah, do the foy. Let's go ahead and do the foyas. So, I'll read really slow. No. Um, we have uh three foyers. One from uh Dherty, one from Celely, and one from

148Castro. and the responses are in your packet. Okay. Thank you. All right. Okay. Now, before we go into the next item, this is the last board meeting for uh Mary Bodino. Uh and we have a little We did see that. I know it is late. It's your time. We You know, it's like your time. Yeah, that that's why we we we planned this all on purpose to do this at 10 o'clock. No, but we do have a cake and it's getting late and I want us to take a little break so that um we can get a piece of cake and uh then we'll come back and uh and I'm going to share a few words. I've been looking at that cake all night and I'm sitting closest to it. So, that would be awesome.

149All right, why don't we do that? Sounds good. Yes. Take a break. No break. Keep going. So, Mary, before we we proceed, I just want to just say just a couple of things to you. You started in 2006, so you're finishing 16 years in the district. So, just um how much we will miss you, how much we appreciate you. Um I've I've watched you really take heart the values of this district and make sure that they're reflected in in our finances. and you listened, you learned, and um and you have definitely been a part of this extremely important work that we're doing here. Um, so I really value that, you know, and our in our entire community. We've been we've benefited from from you and your work, your commitment, your courage, all those awards that,

150you know, we just now have just I won't say taken for granted because we try not to we we try to name the fact that these awards don't just go come to every district. this doesn't happen routinely and um um but we can count on that. You have been just remarkable as our CFO and um it is with all my heart and blessings that um I say to you today that I wish you a wonderful and joyous um time ahead. Um don't forget us But I'm sure you'll find many ways to engage. You know, may may your time be filled with fun and joy and rest and peace and um just a contentment um and gratitude that you've done some really good work and you've left us, I think, in really good hands. Um so,

151um so don't worry about us. Um, but I I just really think that that this community um has just will really appreciate the legacy that you've left for all of us. So, thank you, Mary. Those [Music] are really the hug me now. I'm going to see you till Friday. Mary, I know that you really wanted one of [Music] I just across my old one, but now I have a pair. You have a new one. Thank you so much. Thank you. Do the horseshoe. Yeah. Only the people I won't be seeing again [Applause] tomorrow. Thank you all. You for last stages audit committee. Thank you all. I I I just want to say I've always appreciated the support of the board and I I think that I've met a lot of people over the years who

152don't have that support of their boards. And um I always used to say that when I would go to a meeting of my counterparts, I wanted to come back and hug the superintendent and the board. So I don't know how many people feel that way, but thank you. I'm looking forward to a lot of rest and everyone tells me I'll get bored, but I want to volunteer a little and if I get bored, I'll do something. But I my goal was to retire when I was young enough to enjoy it. And so I feel good about that. And I'll miss all the people, but I don't think I'll miss all the work. So, thank you. I just want to And I'm not sure. I never really verified this, but I think I was the first

153woman here to be in charge of the finances. I mean, I've gone back as far as maybe the 60s and just seeing names. So, I think that's that's been an honor and I'm glad that things finally changed and passing the torch to another woman. So, even better. Thank you all. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. I can't believe our audience. I know, right? It wasn't on the agenda. Oh, that's why if they knew there was cake, maybe they're watching at home. Yeah, maybe they'll come back for it. Okay. All right, let's keep going. Um, board committee reports. Are there any reports? Still fairly new in the year. All right. Want to bring bring that back. Um, I'm going to encourage us when we have these meetings to to just write a little

154paragraph just summarizing um and myself included. Um, and then we can report have something to report at our board meetings. Okay. Student board report. Nicole. Okay. Finally. Yeah. So, I was getting a little I was getting a little antsy here. Um, but there's not much going on. Um, trying to keep it brief, but um, the end of the quarter is coming this Friday. Um, so that's it's a little weird cuz it feels like time is going by so fast, but also so slow. So there's a lot of stress kind of in the air. People are trying to get assignments done, late work. Um uh the last two weeks have been kind of wonky with a like some days we've had off and like parent teacher conferences and holidays and stuff like that. So we haven't

155been able to have a student union meeting. Um currently we are working on creating table topics for our student voice forum which will it used to be the witherbell forum but we decided that we will have a timeless name which is just going to be the student voice forum straightforward and um we will have a leadership team meeting tomorrow before school. So, um, some of the topics will probably include tardies, which is brought up a lot today, um, other stuff, lunch, um, discipline, um, safety policies and things like that. And then the last thing I kind of just want to bring up that I've been seeing a lot of is um I don't know if you received an email, if you saw the email, um someone uh Noah Polish, does that name ring a bell?

156Yes. Um she emailed the board and I was included in it. Um cuz anyway, so um Myra Bazison, a senior here at ECS, uh she it was this was homecoming, so the homecoming football game, she had um she had pepper spray on her. She it was with her. She didn't use it. Um she was going through the safety check-in kind of through the before the football game. um which is routine and you know we all know that happens. Um but she she had it there and it was immediately it was confiscated and she was suspended. Um she will most likely have 10 days of suspension and um a recommendation for expulsion is what I've heard recently. Um there's been a petition floating around on social media which is what I've seen. Um students have they're

157reposting a petition um made by another fellow student um and students are showing their frustration and there have been over 3,000 signatures on the petition by not only students but also people of the community um just standing with Myra and kind of um just showing that they don't agree with what the admin had decided for her punishment. But um that's just that's been what's going on. And that's that concludes my little spiel. Thank you, Nicole. All right, Dr. Campbell. All right. Thank you. Um, I guess before I start my report tonight, I just want to say thank you to the board for not just caring about policy, but actually caring about kids. And um, I just needed to let you all know that I appreciate that and that's very refreshing. So, thank you very much.

158Um, on the heels of a conversation about uh post-secondary planning, uh, tomorrow ETHS will host its first ever aviation day and our career and technical education department has brought an amazing day to the school to showcase exciting career paths um that wild kids may pursue in aviation. This event will feature aircraft displays, presentations, panel discussions with leaders in aviation. And I mean we have pilots that you know that are representative u you know women of color who fly big 787 Dreamlininers who going to be here tomorrow. Gigi Coleman who is the granddaughter of Bessie Coleman will be speaking here tomorrow. American Airlines will also be here tomorrow looking to hire our students who may want to work directly for American when they graduate from ETHS. I mean tomorrow is going to be a an amazing

159day. We also had a some other plans that we u didn't come through. Um I was going to come to school on a helicopter. That's what they were planning for me to come to school on helicopter. Um but that fell through. But nonetheless, we it will be a day uh to remember uh tomorrow as we uh celebrate. Yeah, it was pretty it's going to be pretty great, I think. Um to uh to celebrate and to honor and to recognize that aviation is also a place uh that our kids can find themselves in. We have great partners uh who have been working with us for the last two years to make aviation day happen and it's happen. And the first day this was planned was March 13th. Oh my gosh. 2020. Oh my goodness. And so

160we're just getting back we're just getting back to um aviation day. And we're excited uh for what's going to occur here at the school tomorrow. Uh my listening and learning series kicked off this fall. In September, I attended a talking circle, faculty talking circle with Dr. Kinsey. And these monthly conversations provide an opportunity for viewpoints and ideas on what is working on how we can grow together. And I look forward to participating additional talking circles with Dr. Kinsey and hope hopefully hearing from more staff. The formation of the new ETHs Community Advisory Council was just recently announced. Joining me on the council are three current ETHS students and five ETHs parents and community members. And I appreciate the time and effort that people took out to submit nominations. We got a lot of nominations to

161be on this uh advisory council. I think the council membership is a strong representation of our student population and I'm looking forward to our first meeting this Thursday uh October 13th. We'll be discussing emerging areas of needs and the group will also share perspectives on school processes and initiatives which I'm sure will include discipline. Um continuing a listening learning series, I'm hosting the first community talkback. Uh November 7th at 6 p.m. at the Fleetwood Jordane Community Center. ETHS families and community members are welcome to attend. The November 7th talkback is our first of four sessions I am hosting with our district leadership as we build to strengthen relationships in the community to come together to define our purpose, values, and our goals. And so there are any challenges and concerns that people have about whatever

162is happening in the school. you are welcome to attend these community um talkbacks um because that's where we can really address and kind of get into the nuance in the weeds of some of these things that are that have been coming up but we won't discuss individual student matters we won't do that but just in general whatever uh concerns are u emerging and finally I want to make sure to plug the wild kid way podcast you can find it wherever you get your favorite podcast including Apple iHeart and Google the first passport released last month with my guest Dr. Kinsey and we had a great conversation about how we value the ETHS family and working positively to impact the lives of our students. And my next podcast will be released in November, so be on

163the lookout for that. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Excellent. All right. Next item on the agenda is the finance committee. Kendra told me I could take the night off, so I'm gonna stay here. Yeah, there she is. She left and Mary's not a little my gift to Mary. So, good evening everyone. I will say I'm hopeful that this is not the new time slot for finance items. All depends on you. So, uh, tonight we're going to be going over, uh, capital the capital program and the, uh, we'll do a recap of this previous year and also looking forward into, uh, the plan for this upcoming summer and the future years. Which one of these? This was this one that didn't work. Sorry. See, you do need No, I don't. I know what I

164do. I think that's what's going to do it. There we go. All right, Mary, I need you in other ways. Don't worry. All right, so we'll just go through general background. um like I said the projects that have been completed and also what's upcoming and we'll also talk about uh the financial piece of the capital program and so uh for this slide in the background we have uh an aerial view of the district and you can just kind of see how large and expansive a building we have here and so you know at ETHS we're talking about over 1.2 2 million square ft of building, 60 plus acres of campus. And so when we start talking about capital improvements, we know that there's a lot of work to be done. And uh so, you know,

165we talk about how we plan for that over 5 years. And it's just important to make sure that we're on it because there's a lot of pieces that have to come together in order to make these projects and renovations and upkeep of the building happen. And so, uh, we'll be talking about that and, uh, about the larger projects that are, uh, generally over $25,000. So, like I said before, a lot of work to be done. We just don't have the financial capacity to fund everything that is on our wish list at any given time. And so, um, knowing that there is a finite amount of money and an extensive wish list, we have to make an improvement plan. and determine what comes next, what we have to plan for in the future and move accordingly.

166Um, and then just to give some more context, our depreciation, uh, when you look at our audits, we're depreciating about 3.8 million annually. And so if you're just even trying to keep up with your depreciation, right, um then you would be talking about spending at least $4 million uh in capital in capital projects each year. And we can't we're we we don't have the capacity to even do that most years. Um typically we're running about 2 to three million when it comes to the projects that we're doing each year. Uh we are limited with our debt service levy. we have legal caps on how much we're able to uh seek in fi in financing when we do debt certificates or bonds. And so there's just a number of reasons why we have to be quite

167strategic in what we do and how we do what we do here um to just make sure that the building stays up and running to the best of its ability to serve our students. And so, uh, right now when you look at the 5-year plan, there was $31 million of like estimated of estimated costs. And as of now, we only have 27 million in funding sources identified. And so what will happen uh is that in the uh year proposed that we're going to be discussing or recommending be approved, we make sure that all of our financing and our needs are met. And then in the future years, we know that we may have to remove a project or we may have to look at alter alternatives to that project if we don't figure out a

168way to up our funding for it. Um but we address those needs as time goes on. And so we'll be looking at that in those those um deficits as we near those years. And so uh the different categories when we come up with the with the program site improvement, mechanical, electrical and plumbing, toilets and roofs, masonry, windows, asbestos, and then education. And so just to give some examples of those items, we know that we had an extensive project with the locker rooms that would be considered a site improvement uh when we are doing uh the windows or or um on that we did in east school or we may have to repair a roof that's going to be an upcoming project of that nature just to give some examples of these different categories. So for

1692022, a recap, we completed the second uh the second phase because girls locker room was done in two phases. So we did that second phase over the summer and uh we also did I just mentioned east school uh windows. So we did the east elevation of windows for east school and we also were able to do a full renovation for the nurse's office as well. uh that also included a separate HVAC system. So, uh we had some huge projects this uh past summer that we're extremely proud of and hope that you guys will also be able to see those spaces because they're amazing. And it's also just really great to see when you know you spend so much time planning and going out to bid and working on these things. And so when it all

170comes together and you see how it helps to better serve our students, to support our community, it's an amazing amazing thing. So 2023, uh we would be proposing major roof replacements and so we uh just have so much to do when it comes to our roofs, masonry, things of that nature. So, we would want to be tackling uh four roofs next summer and then also um proceeding with our auditorium HVAC uh plan. Technology, our IIT department has a major Wi-Fi uh upgrade project that they are going to be taking on over the summer. And then uh this year is actually a little different from previous years in that we had enough funding to do um more projects, but we have decided that instead of um maxing out the funding this year, it would be best

171to conserve those funds and then next year complete a project uh where we would be able to move the book distribution office and then use that space to create more classrooms on the first floor of the building. And so, uh, which would be a better utilization of the space. And so, that project is expensive. It it there was some sticker shock when we started to go out for those prices. And so, you know, we had to start thinking, okay, like I said, there's always a a lot of pieces. How are we going to make this work? And so, the best way to make that work is to say, okay, we're not going to max everything this year. let's conserve some of our funds and then next year, you know, we can tackle that and get

172it done. And then as far as future needs go into the future, uh windows, you know, just major major uh replacement of windows, whether it be in our courtyards, uh there's some windows that have leaks in the building, just addressing those needs. Masonry as well, science labs, and then also uh our arts wing renovation that's going to be amazing in due time. And sorry for the financing plan. Um you know like I said we have all of these needs and so where do we get the money from? So every other year uh that's the schedule that we've been keeping up with. We'll issue debt uh whether it be debt certificates or bonds. And when we do that we spend those funds over the course of two years before we issue debt again. And so last

173year uh in spring of 2022, we issued debt and we were able to get about $6 million. And so then we use that money to fund the capital program for for two years, like I said. And so that's what's going to be um funding this year's projects as well as um TIFF funds that when the Washington National TIFF ended the increase that we saw in funds, we decided that that could be diverted to um in part to the capital um fund unless we would need it for operational unless we had operational needs that came up. And so that's another um source for funding as well. We know that the foundation contributes to our capital improvement program. And then uh if we do have reserves that are healthy enough um then we are able to at

174times transfer money from another fund such as the operations and maintenance fund or the transportation fund. And so, uh, with that, it is the recommendation that the board approve the five-year capital improvement plan and that we're able to proceed with the plans that we have for fiscal year 2023. Questions? Just one quick question. Um, I know it's late. Um, I sent a note earlier uh today and you kindly responded. I just wanted to lay it out there. I was just wondering if there was any um case to be made for spending um the $250,000 that's allotted for 2324 on security cameras um and moving that up. Just a thought and I'm happy to vote. I know we're approving tonight. You know, we don't have to make the change tonight. I would just put it out

175there that maybe that's something that we could slide up, figure out a way to do it. And I know Kendra, thanks so much for your response because you you responded. You said there may be some logistical staffing issues and so forth. So I totally understand. Don't mean for that to all get resolved tonight. Just making the point. Yes. And so thank you so much for that point and recommendation. And uh as I said, we'll definitely be evaluating to see if um those logistical pieces will serve as barriers where we may have to hold off or if we will in indeed be able to move forward with that um idea that you brought forth. And then if so, I would be coming back with the recommendation to amend this plan. Um before as we continue with

176the finance committee meeting um as you um got the presentation last month about the budget, there's a part in the presentation that talked about Cook County and uh tax um payments and uh I just wanted to bring that back before the board just in case in November we were need to come back for short-term borrowing based on what the county does. So Kendra, do you want to just share a little bit about that? Yeah. So thank you. So, we're moving on to the next item then. Yes. Okay. All right. So, uh with that, just to give you guys all an update. Um right now, we know that Cook County has said that they will be sending out the bills um before the end of the year and that those would become due in December. And

177so, that's the expectation as it stands right now. What it has not been said for sure is exactly when once they collect that money, they would turn it over to the district. And so without knowing for sure what that would mean for us, if we were to not receive that money until, let's say, January or February, there would be a need for us to seek short-term financing in order to continue to cover our operational expenses. And so, as Dr. Campbell mentioned we did not want that to be a surprise for anyone if we did come back and say it in November, but instead wanted to provide as much information as possible upfront that this is something that not we're not the only district obviously that's facing this challenge um or potential challenge, but that we

178do have a plan to address it if needed. right now because we uh have healthy reserves, we have been able to cover um our expenses despite I mean we're in October. Normally we would have received the bulk of our property taxes by now. So thankfully we have been okay for now. We would be okay if we received the money in December, but we also recognize that Cook County, it's Cook County. And so we always always try to make sure that we have our contingency plans in place. And so this is just one of those times that we're making sure, okay, if they go left, what will we do? And so we just wanted to speak on that briefly. Any questions on that one? No, that totally makes sense. And and good planning and preparation for

179what could certainly happen. the reality that that could happen. Yes, I am hopeful still, but planning nonetheless. I just want to compliment you on your modulated tone of voice. It's very comforting. I do not feel alarmed at all. I feel like we're in very good hands. No worries. We're all good here. I actually never really noticed that about Kendra because when we're in the office, you know, it's a little different, but I was thinking the same thing. It's not really helping cuz it's late, so it's making me even more tired, but it was a very calm and soothing. Totally noticed the same thing. I thought you just study in some ways. I All right. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Kenja. Okay, so we are at items for action. Here we go. My voice

180isn't so calm. It's like action. Just the word action means that we're getting close to the end of the the agenda. That's why I'm excited. Okay. The first item is approval of capital improvement program. Can I have a motion? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. The next item is approval of new courses, course changes, and course deletion proposals. Madam President, can I make one just there's an an two things happened between the first the uh intro and now? Make it quick, Pete. Yep. Okay. So, we we we're going to hold off on computer applications one, two, and Microsoft suites. We're going to give that another year to breathe and focus on the B-Net. And the second thing is we're going to have an anatomical health science course that's going to be for upper

181classman for for upper classmen in science which is what we sort of have but it's a little it's changed a little bit. That's the only thing I still make the motion. Thank you. Second. And that's in the appendix correct? Okay. Yes, it is. Okay. I thought I remember reading that. Okay. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. The next item is the consent agenda which includes approvements approval of minutes from September 12th, 2022 regular meeting and close session. Release for public information minutes of closed sessions from January of 2022 to June of 2022. and the destruction of close session tapes, approval of bills, and the personnel report. So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Yes. Yes. Okay, we're at old and new business. Is there anybody want to bring up any old or new

182business? I'd like to bring up some old business. Okay. Um, last month at the September 12th um, board meeting, my colleague spoke very eloquently about um, the need for the community to really come together around issues of safety for our students. And I just I feel like it was a missed opportunity. I was the only one who didn't speak that night. Um, but I really just wanted to voice my wholehearted support um and solidarity with my board colleagues um around this issue. I think tonight was a really um fine example of the holistic work that ETHS does in our community um to support students from high school to their post-secary plans, whatever they may be. Um, we talked a bit about discipline. We talked about um we didn't really talk about school safety tonight, but

183these are the issues um especially in postcoid world where we are a lot is being put upon this school and upon its staff and upon the members of our community here, especially in our students to really come through and um grapple with a lot of issues that are going to affect them and and they're coming in with a lot of issues that are affecting them. And so we need to be particularly um strong together. And um and I would just say, you know, it's easy to sit here and watch the work, the hard work that our teachers and our administration do. Um, but I really would call upon members of the community and key members of our community, leaders in our community to really um, answer the call for help that I think we're extending

184and to join us, work together in figuring out how we can support our students, make them safe, give them a sense of well-being and belonging here and a future that we can be proud of. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Stephanie. All right. Um, any other comments is before we close? If not, can I have a motion for adjournment? So moved. All in favor? I. This meeting is adjourned. Okay.