001Uh >> oh, there's a guy. Well, good evening and welcome to this the May 11th, 2026 meeting of the Geneva 304 school board. We are pleased to have you all with us today. >> Arie, would you call the role? >> Here >> thank you. Uh just as a reminder, there's an attendance sheet in the hall. If you'd like to register your attendance at this board, we can appreciate that. The next item is the pledge of allegiance. And since I forgot to ask anybody else to do it, I will lead it. The flag is right there. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Next item on the agenda is
002the approval of minutes. We have the regular session and the executive session. I'm not aware of any reason to split them out. Bonnie, have you received any corrections or additions? >> Are there any corrections or additions at this time? Motion to approve. >> So move. >> Second. >> I abstain. >> I abstain too. Wow. I >> I thank you. Item three, recognition, awards, presentation, and public hearings. And we have some GHS students here. I see Mr. Rogers is going to come up and uh you know, it's awesome to have these opportunities and see all the very diverse and amazing cool things our our students do. So, um, here's what's going to happen, uh, guys. Mr. Rogers is going to brag on you, and the board's going to make their way around the table here. And
003when he's done, and he calls everybody's name, if you would come up one at a time and start on that end, um, and shake hands of all our board members, and then we have a certificate for you, and we'll have you stand up here, um, for a fabulous photo op. So, uh, we'll take it away, Mr. Rogers. Tell us about these awesome, uh, young people today. I will. But before I do that, I'm just wondering the light is red on the mic. Do I need to change the battery? >> Start talking. >> No, our always prepared tech person is going to just swap the microphones. Look at how efficient that is. >> Mrs. Butler is on it all time >> or until it dies. Right. Right. >> Okay. There we go. All right, Dr. Barrett
004and members of the board, thank you very much for this opportunity. This evening, we are presenting Viking Leaders Awards to our GHS Robotics Team, otherwise known as the RoboVikes. Uh, this is an incredible group of students. And I say incredible because I have no idea how they do what they do. They build a robot every year. literally build a robot every year and it works. Not only does it work, but they show it off all over the place. They go to these amazing competitions. Um and so um unlike some of the other groups that we present uh who enter competitions, those groups compete at a conference or regional or sectional level and then qualify for a state competition. This group just commits to what is actually an international competition and they can choose a variety
005of competitions in the Midwest. This year they um competed in two competitions here in Illinois. And I'm just going to share a little bit of information about um actually you know what? I'm going to back up. I'm gonna I'm not going to uh share information until we meet the team and we'll get them up here and we'll make them uncomfortable while we brag about them when they're standing in front of the background. So, at this time, I'm going to introduce the members of our team that are present this we'll introduce everyone, but if you are here this evening, what we would ask you to do is please go up and starting with Mr. Choy on the far left, shake hands with him and work your way down the line. And then you're going to line
006up in front of this backdrop while I then share information about all of your accomplishments. Thank you. Oh, sounds so much better, doesn't it? All right, let's meet the team members. Starting with Luke Benhu, Ben Bond Oak Defensza, Colin Diamond Gwen Franzac, Aiden Gerafola, Daniel Godfrey, Lou Hawkins, Noah Jackson, Jacob Jones, K. Cusack, Liam Maloney. We were on a dry spell there for a couple minutes. Sebastian Manning, Eastston Piper, Mary Lee Ruiz, Henry Tottman, David Vesca, PZ Finn Wilson, Hunter Wit, and David Zikus. Their mentors are >> ghs teacher Jessica Mthaney, And I'll uh expound on this in just a moment, but awardwinning mentor Ken Wilson. We are also very fortunate to have uh three other volunteers who are very instrumental in helping this group accomplish what they do. and that is uh Rebecca Zikas,
007a ghs parent. We also have a gentleman who works at Fermy Lab, Mr. Adam Watts, who is very instrumental in the group's success. And another ghs parent, John Diamond. We appreciate his help. Okay, now that we've got everybody up here, um, first I want to highlight since I mentioned it, um, Mr. Ken Wilson was nominated by one of the members of our team uh this year to receive the Woody Flowers Award which is named after a very instrumental uh robotics uh mentor. Um and each year they accept nominations for an outstanding mentor award and our very own Mr. Ken Wilson received that honor this year. Congratulations and thank you. So now more information about the team. As I said, uh they competed twice here in Illinois and they are international competitions. There are teams from
008all over the country and all over the world. Um and each year this group becomes more accomplished, I guess, is the best way to say it. And the way that the competitions work is you compete in preliminary competitions to try to earn standing so that heading into the finals or the playoffs, you hopefully can select other teams to be part of what they call an alliance. Um over the years, our team has been selected by other teams. Even if you don't uh achieve a high enough standing, if you are competitive and you're demonstrating that your robot is working well and you are um doing everything well, you can be selected by those teams that are in the playoffs to be part of their alliance. But this year, for the first time ever, our team achieved
009a high enough standing where we were the ones going out and scouting other teams and we were selecting them to be part of our alliance, which is a huge accomplishment. So, from a competition standpoint, that is wonderful. And as a result, we ended up being fifth out of eight alliances going into the playoffs. And uh Mr. Wilson, who was kind enough to share some of these facts with me, indicated that for the first time in his tenure, we were able to this year pick those teams going into the playoffs. So, congratulations to the team for that. Also, during the playoffs, unfortunately, at times, and happens with everybody except the champion, eventually you get eliminated, but this year we were eliminated in both competitions by the eventual champion. So, we lost to the best team. And
010I think that's a pretty huge accomplishments in the world. And Mr. Wilson also noted, the two tournaments in Illinois are among the toughest in the world. So, we're competing against the best of the best. And as we prove this year, we are among the best of the best. Um, but it's not about the competition with this group. Quite frankly, I, as I said at the beginning, I'm just so amazed at what they can accomplish and how they can and and what I mean by accomplish, not in terms of winning or losing, but putting this robot together, spending time. They're they are committed. Uh, they are also uh, in my opinion, they they are very persistent. They persevere because I can as I can imagine and as I've watched the robot over the years, it's a
011trial and error. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But this group has made this robot really work very very well. And they've been very proud of their accomplishments and they've been integral uh to the success of our school in a number of ways this year by giving their time and their talent bu building this robot. And the first thing that they did was they were very very generous when we celebrated our uh had our second small 150th anniversary at Geneva High School. Uh had a celebration on a Saturday afternoon. These kids came to me and said, "We'd love to show off our robot in the Geneva Commons." And when people are touring the building, they can see how our robot works. So they came early. They set up their whole uh uh playing field, if
012you will, got the robot ready to go, and they showed it off. And let me tell you, people were very, very impressed. Um, people from the community who had no idea that we had a robotics team were absolutely amazed. So, thank you for doing that. And then they did the same thing just a uh what about two weeks ago, we had our uh activities fair for incoming freshmen from our middle school uh two middle schools here in town. Again, they offered to set up their robot in the commons. And so that was another opportunity for students to come and see uh one of the amazing things that we have to offer in terms of extracurricular activities. And it doesn't stop with the robot. They take time out to go to feed my starving children. Uh
013this activity also is an extremely expensive one. I'll be honest. They do a great job of going out and getting donations and fundraising so that this uh activity can be possible and so that they can make the two trips that they make every year to compete. So, um oh, one other piece of information. Not only are they doing things to benefit GHS, but each trimester they are going to the middle school campus and they're sharing their expertise with eth graders who are taking uh courses related to this type of curriculum. So, we're uh probably a recruiting tool for Robo Vikes, but also helping uh Mr. Nikkum, I believe, is the teacher that spearheaded that effort. And so, they're going to Mr. Nikkum's classes each trimester to share their expertise with the middle school. So, again,
014I think uh Dr. Barrett, when we established this Viking leaders award, this group is the epitome of that award. So, congratulations to our Robo Vik students tonight and their sponsors. And now we'll take some photos. Mr. Baker's the official photographer, so we need everybody to kind of squeeze together. >> If you can make a robot, you can figure out how to line up for a photo. And then when Mr. Baker's done, parents, feel free to get up and take some photos as well. Everybody's face up smiling. >> Parents, if you want to get front and center, feel free. this might >> No, I'm good. I'm not worthy of uh of the expertise that they uh exemplify, >> but I will say I think it's the biggest paparazzi we've had for a group this year. Well
015done. Uh the robotics team is doing a fundraiser tomorrow at Chipotle in St. Charles from 5 to 9. So if you don't want to cook dinner and you want to support the team, come by. Just make sure to mention the robotics team, please. >> As Dr. Barrett said, go eat go get some burritos. Um, I would ask in closing, I would say that one thing I didn't mention, this group has a sense of humor. Just as I was beginning my remarks this evening, a little white duck of some kind appeared on the podium from the gentleman sitting immediately to my left. Appreciate it. Trying to throw me off my game, but it it didn't work. Thanks a lot for coming everybody and Dr. Barrett and the board. Thank you very much. Thank you. I I
016don't actually know what to say because you guys you guys didn't bring a robot. You could have brought a robot. And we get a choir. They they win a prize and nobody sings. The dance team wins a prize and nobody dances. We need a little more showtime here. >> It would be cool to get the robot in here. >> Kevin. Oh, watch the video. >> Video me next time. >> What do we got? >> Awesome to have an audience. >> Yes, indeed. Andy, do you have a description of the robot, dude? I don't even know what it looks like. >> Yeah, I know. I should uh I'll put that in my next super. >> Yeah. Yeah, it' be cool to see. Is it Is it neat? Okay. >> Or video. >> Even a video, right?
017>> Video or Yeah. See if I can send that. >> All right. Well, thanks to the Robo Vikings bikes, and I appreciate them being here. Next is public comments. Bonnie, did you receive any requests for public comment? Would anybody like to say anything at this point in time? This is your chance. Well, maybe next time. Uh, legislative updates. I have a brief report for us tonight. There's one piece of legislation that I had brought up before. It's House Bill 4416. that has to do with um certain staff being eligible to apply for unemployment over the summer months over particularly some breaks as well. Um I was checking out the bill this morning. I'm not sure if it's still moving forward because it did not make it out of its chamber by the deadline that we
018typically had um talked about last time. But there were some notes that were added to the bill on the uh general assembly website that were talking there were fiscal notes. So they were um doing sort of an analysis different agencies at the state level an analysis of the bill from the fiscal side and they all had made notation that this would be a significant financial um implication for school districts should it pass. Um it was one from the state board of education, one from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and one from the Department of Employment Security. So they all kind of weighed in saying that if this bill did move forward, it would be um I'll say a burden on districts. So kind of keeping an eye on this one to see where
019it shakes out. Uh again, the end of the session is scheduled for the last day of this month, so we'll see what keeps moving forward at this point. And that's all I have tonight. Thank you very much, Jackie. Next is the superintendent report. Dr. Barrett. >> Yeah, thanks uh Larry. I appreciate the opportunity here. Let's Let me just get connected. We're moving so quick tonight. Uh and we do have a little bit of a um shorter meeting this evening. I think our next one might be a barn burner. So, uh, lot of, uh, lot of, >> no, no, a lot of great stuff to talk about next meeting. So, um, just a few things to highlight tonight. First, I just wanted to, um, highlight, we just recently had, we've talked a little bit about this,
020but the Geneva High School week of giving uh, was recently. Um and this is an initiative that got started pretty recently at Geneva High School where they um you know have events and activities all week where uh the students are participating in service projects and service activities and acts of service in and around the community and um you know highlighting some of the ways that they conduct those acts of service uh throughout the year. Um as you guys know that's part of our um kind of strategic plan in terms of cultural competencies. um and preparing our kids to you know be caring citizens in a in a diverse world. So it was pretty cool um to be part of that. You can see things here that um you know kids brought as donations um for
021different uh uh organizations that they were collecting for throughout the week. It's also kids who came in uh in the top corner there uh students who came in to um pack some lunches and meals um for a local homeless shelter. they came in uh before uh their required time to be at school. So, uh that's pretty cool that all those kids came in and helped do that. So, I just thought it'd be important uh to highlight some of that great stuff that's happening there. Um, also just want to the highlight last week was teacher appreciation week and uh I know we um talk about how awesome our teaching staff is uh a lot but um given that we officially had teacher appreciation week. I just wanted to acknowledge our teaching staff um and um you
022know by association all of the educators in in our district. Uh we are super fortunate and super lucky to have um so many just phenomenal educators here. Um and I know our schools uh did a bunch a wide variety of things to support and um kind of acknowledge our our educators last week. Um I know our parent community just always goes above and beyond um to acknowledge them with some cool appreciation opportunities. Um, you know, we have uh a big staff with over um, you know, 430ish people classified as teachers. If you think about um, you know, all our kind of licensed and certificated educators, you're looking at around 500 folks in the district. Um, and you know, like a thousand people when you think of all the people here in our district doing great
023stuff that we really need to um, that we're really grateful for and want to appreciate. So, I wanted to acknowledge uh teacher appreciation week. Um, and then last, I just wanted to uh to kind of say, you know, I'm really proud of um as I think about those teachers and all of our educators. Um the the caring and resilient uh school community that uh we have here. Um had a difficult week last week. Um and to be in a school with uh um educators who are just you can you can just literally feel how much they uh care for their kids um and um how much they do to support those kids. Uh it's it's really something. Um, and you know, the iceberg analogy seemed fitting because a lot of, you know, we see often
024just what's above the surface, but we have no idea what's going on below the surface for individuals. Um, and as a community, we often have no idea what's going on below the surface uh to uh support our students and our community and each other. And so much goes on underneath that surface to do that. And so I'm just um again, last week was was hard in some ways, but also a week to be proud of the educators in our district because it did highlight just how caring and how hardworking they are for kids in our community. So I wanted to acknowledge that. That's all I have, Larry. Thanks. >> Thank you. Next, uh board dialogue topics pending action consideration. These are all policy. Um they're updated, reviewed, and a little bit a few are new.
025And uh there is 25 of them. And Stephanie isn't here, but I believe we're in a position to approve this because this is uh the second time. And uh any questions can be directed to anybody here. Me, I guess. So >> yeah. Or I I'd be happy to address anything, too. I know these are these were this was from the most recent round of updates. We we had them here at the last meeting as well. Um mostly it was just kind of legal references and um uh you know as uh some things changed press as you know we have to make sure our policies are updated and aligned with the most current kind of legal understandings. So that's mostly why they're here today. And with uh no questions, I'd like a motion to approve. Or
026you have a question? >> Um I don't know. Jackie had a question about policy 6.145 last last meeting. I'm not sure if uh that got answered for you, Jackie. >> It looks like the language is the same. It's not critical. It was just one of those if we could change it, we could. But yeah, I noticed it was the same. And I'm fine with that. >> Okay. >> Thanks for checking. >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> Second. I >> I >> Okay. Item eight, work study program future action future action consideration. There's no items there. Item nine, information, board meeting presentation schedule and number two is foyer request to the board. This is again is information only. No discussion is required unless somebody wants to bring something up. And of course, my eternal
027favorite, the consent agenda is item 10. Uh item one is personnel report, resignations, retirements, leave requests, changes in assignment, full-time equivalent and new hires, and I was glad to sign paperwork for some new hires. Item two is designation of depositories. And item three is the gold book toolkit membership contract. And that's been have the attention of our lawyers. Um, if there are any questions, we can do that. And otherwise, a motion to approve. >> I just had a question about the gold book toolkit membership. Can you explain what that is, please? >> Sure. So, this is a it's a tool that um our uh student services staff uses um to help kind of drive uh programming and supports for students who have IEPs. So, it um provides uh you know kind of help helps with
028goal writing steps that can be taken as kids are you know working through goals and and things like that. Um, we can I'm certainly not the expert on that. Our uh student services department would be, but we could maybe have a presentation about some of that or have it included when when um Mrs. Scalia does her kind of annual student services update. Maybe I'll ask her to talk about that a little bit. That's generally what it's for. >> That's great. Thanks. >> Sure. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. >> I item 11 board member comments and reports. Willard, would you like to start? >> Sure. Uh just a moment. I've written down some things. Only 17. No, I'm just kidding. Get to them. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. >> Told you, Andy. >> So,
029um yeah, I just want to thank uh the participants in the Robo Vikes. I was just as I was listening to their accomplishments, I thought to myself, especially when they were uh when we were hearing about their um outreach to the community um no pun intended, but maybe it is. You could say they were rather autonomous or they don't they're selfarters uh in terms of what they need to do uh to build community. Um and that initiative obviously even though they are building uh machines that are taking their commands it seems like they they're well grounded in understanding a bigger picture not so much the competition but obviously in some ways to make the world better and um that may not be necessarily technical but I think it starts with a grounding from uh inside
030themselves. we envision what we like to see the world to be and whether it be through robot robotics or some other medium u I could see that spirit in in the presentation today. So I appreciate um uh the board having opportunity in the community as well to see that uh in action. So that that was just my takeway on that today. Um, wanted to also congratulate uh, Roboikes for coming tonight and learning a little bit about what they have been working on this year. And I really hope you can see a video or some pictures of their robot. That would be fun to see. Um, I also wanted to just mention that it is Maycember. I've heard this phrase before. It is so busy this month. There's a lot going on. I just want to
031tell everyone to hang in there. Uh, we're getting to the end. And I know there's a lot of activities that everyone's trying to fit in and parents are trying to get everything together for the end of the year. So, good luck to our students who have finals because I think they'll be starting them just right after our next meeting. And uh preparing for all that. Um and I heard that prom went well on Saturday night. So, that's good. Um and we'll uh yeah, we'll make it to the finish line. That's all I have. >> Thanks, Larry. Um, again, congratulations to the Robbo Vikes. It was great to see them here. It's it's nice to see such a large group of kids and you can see they really enjoy what they they did and and it's
032neat to see them also being able to go down to the middle school and recruit uh for the next generation of of students that are coming up to the high school. Um, we also have a a big meeting at the end of this week, uh, where we're going to sit down and talk about our future uh, capital needs for the for the facilities. Um, and I think that's going to be a really interesting discussion that we have moving forward. But other than that, uh yeah, before we know it, we'll be uh standing up on the on the stage and welcoming all the students to the uh for graduation. >> Uh I would echo the sentiments to the roboikes. Uh big congratulations and thank you to the parent volunteers also and the families that support. Uh
033thank you to all of our teachers, you know, in in line with the teacher appreciation week. Um Jackie and I think we'll be attending a PTO meeting in a couple days at Fabian. Uh so I'm excited to learn a little bit more about what they're doing to wrap up the school year. Um and then I just, you know, in kind of in line with what Dr. Barrett mentioned in his um uh superintendent's update and to Jackie's point being Mayber, did I May? Um it's very busy, you know, as we close out the school year between end of the year activities, events, celebrations, getting ready for uh graduation and final exams and you name it, it's happening with students, with families, with teachers, and in the community. Uh that it can be very easy to kind
034of get lost in the the present and and not be as present. And um like Dr. Barrett mentioned the community, you know, is kind of reeling from last week and it was a very difficult week and I just um my heart goes out to anybody who is affected and I want to just remind everyone that um a lot is happening. So, it's okay to stop for a moment and and pause and for all of us to check in with one another and see how we're doing, see how your students are doing, how your friends are doing. Um, and if anything is needed, further support to reach out for it. Um, and just to to take take a breath from time to time. It's a lot. So, I thank you for mentioning what you said, Dr.
035Barrett, because I I do appreciate the resilience and the amount of care that um was was observed in the community last week and moving forward. So, that's all I had. >> Yeah, I don't think I have much to add. I think uh everyone kind of stole all the all the things that I had on here, but um I thought for our Viking leaders tonight, I thought that um was interesting because that may have been the first time that that we've had not only students, which were great, but also the mentors and I remember um a lot of the the extracurriculars that had the mentors or at least the mentors that came up and received a certificate and so I thought that was really awesome. And then the gentleman that had the um the the award
036for for um their mentorship that I think that's fantastic. Just volunteering out of their time to to do something for the for our students is phenomenal. So um thank you and congratulations um to everyone um on the Robo Vikes. Um and then uh Jackie mentioned prom and um I was able to um sneak over there for the postp prom just to peek my head in and um it's amazing how many volunteers that we have for that. So thank you to the community and a lot of the parents for u volunteering to um to give back to our um students in order to make postp prom a success. And um everyone was smiling as they were leaving uh postp prom. So I'm sure that it went went really well. Um, uh, let's see. Oh, yeah. And
037I couldn't say, um, like you did, Molly, but thanks, Andy, for for what you mentioned in regard to the tough week our district had last week. So, anyway, that's all I had. >> Thank you all, actually, and and as I usually say, not that you've stolen what I was going to say, but that I agree with all the remarks that you've made and uh can't say anything except I had one opportunity this week. I read a book to Christina Kavarak's third grade class and after a lot of discussion she wanted me to read a book about airplanes and uh so I I did that and I put my uniform on to do that which I haven't done in 20 years. I really had fun. I I recommend this activity to you all and uh other
038than that it was a fairly normal week in my learning about the third grade. Aren't Aren't you Aren't you putting that on again later this week too? >> I've heard that that's the case. Mhm. >> The Western school has has a lot of things going on there. At any rate, uh a good time was had by all. >> Glad it still fit you there, Larry. >> Yeah, that's that's your bike. >> After all that time, not sure the hat still fits, but anyway, uh that was fun. Okay, next item is notices and announcements. I have none. And the last 13 is executive session to consider matters pertaining to appointment, employment, compensation or discipline, performance or dismissal of a specific individual bulls who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational or educational setting or specific
039volunteers of the public body or legal council for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee, specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in park, recreational, or educational setting or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel uh for the public body to determine if its validity. However, a meeting to consider an increase in compensation for a specific employee that is subject to the local government wage increase transparency act may not be in close session and must be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with the act. Thank you all for listening to that. And so we have need for a motion to go into executive session. So move >> second. >> I >> the the short version of the story is you're all
040excused. >> Yeah. This