001Hello everyone. Bonnie, could you call the role please? >> Here >> I'll talk just a little bit more about welcome to you all. We're very pleased to have a nice full house tonight. We know that means there are a lot of people who did wonderful things and we look forward to honoring you. >> With that in mind, the next thing is the pledge of allegiance and the flag is in the back. I pledge allegiance 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. If you would like to register your attendance, there is an attendance sheet in the lobby and you're welcome to sign it. The next item is the approval of minutes. Um Bonnie, have you
002received any corrections to the minutes? >> Does anyone have any corrections at this time? A motion to approve. >> So move. >> Second. I >> I >> thank you. The next item three, recognition, awards, presentation, and public hearings. This is the tradition of excellence with GHS students and staff. As Mr. Rogers makes his way up, I'll just uh so everybody knows how we do this here. The board's going to come around and stand uh in the front of the table while Mr. Rogers uh brags on you a little bit. Um and uh when he calls your name, come on up and start with Mr. Choy over here and kind of work your way down uh the line. I should have a um a certificate for you and we'll then have you stand in front of
003our lovely blue Geneva 304 banner and we'll get some photos taken at the end. So, take it away, Mr. Rogers. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Barrett and members of the board. We appreciate the opportunity to honor some great students who are doing amazing things at Geneva High School. And we're going to start tonight with three members of the boys co-op swim team. The Geneva, Betavia, and West Chicago co-op swim team. Notice I always put Geneva first. I'm sure the other schools put their names first, but it's the Geneva Betavia West Chicago co-op swim team. Well, you're going to steal my speech here. [laughter] Mr. Walkington wanted just put whispered in my ear, Geneva carries it, by the way. Yes, we're going to find that out as we recognized three young men who qualified for
004the state finals with that co-op swim team. And I'm going to introduce each of the boys. And as they go up and shake hands with the board members and Dr. Barrett. I will then, as they're making their way down the line, share what events they qualified in as well as the sectional accomplishments because these boys were part of the sectional championship team. Um, as a team, they earned that IHSA sectional championship and then in the process, as you'll hear, they qualified for individual and relay events, which was held at the Westmont Netiatorum on February 28th through March 1st. Starting with congratulations Jace Christensen. [applause] Jace was on the sectional champion 200yard medley relay team and also qualified for the state finals and on the sectional champion 200yard freestyle relay team. Next up Brady Jordan. [applause]
005Brady was a member of the 200yard medley relay at the sectionals. And then also uh and that team again was the sectional champs. He was on the sectional runner-up 400yard freestyle relay team that qualified for state. He was also the 200yard freestyle individual sectional champion and then at the state meet finished 10th in the state on Saturday. was also a 100yard backstroke individual qualifier by when he placed third at the sectionals and then finished 16th in the state on Saturday and then was also a member of the 200yard freestyle relay team that finished 10th in state on Saturday. And the third state qualifier from Geneva High School, Nate Walkington. [applause] Nate was a member of that 200yard freestyle relay team that earned a sectional championship and took 10th in the state on Saturday. He was
006also a member of the 400 re freestyle relay team which earned a sectional runner up and the 200 individual medley sectional champion and then swam at state in that event and was also swimming in the state meet in the 100 butterfly after he finished as the sectional runnerup. So as you can tell and as Mr. Washington reminded me these guys were in a vast number of events at the IHSA swim meet. Congratulations to the three of them. Um, none of them are seniors, correct? So, we have more swimming success to look forward to. So, congratulations, boys. [applause] >> Parents, if you'd like to get up and take pictures after Mr. Baker is done. Feel free to jump up there. >> All right. Once again, congratulations to our state swimmers. [applause] Next, back on March 5th
007through the 7th, we had Geneva High School DECA state qualifiers. And the list of students that I'm going to read, uh, all of them earned some type of award at the DECA state competition. DECA, by the way, is a uh state business uh curriculum competition and our students regularly succeed as a result of the leadership of Mrs. Jamie Dunlap and Mr. Eric Mays from our business department at the high school. Uh in addition to earning awards at that state competition, there are also some students that I will note who have qualified for the international competition to be be held in Atlanta, Georgia in April. So, Mrs. Dunlap will be taking a a group of students to Atlanta. Uh, and I'll I'll note those accomplishments as we go along. So, I know that not everyone is
008here tonight, but we will recognize everyone. Starting with Ben Banks. [applause] Ben earned a top 10 finish in professional selling. Congratulations to Mina Choy. [applause] Mina finished in third place in apparel and accessories making and has qualified for the international competition. In addition, she took home a first place award in the roleplay competition for apparel and accessories marketing. [applause] Alexa Kausski. [applause] Alexa finished in the top 10 in financial consulting. Uh Hamza Farooqi. [applause] Hamza was part of a twoperson team with Fez Sadiki, who I also believe is not here. They earned second place in the roleplay competition in the travel and tourism marketing competition. Next up is Cam Foso. [applause] Cam was part of a threeperson finance operations research team and I'll introduce the other two members of his team momentarily. But Cam was
009also an individual in the quickserve restaurant management competition. He earned second place with his threeperson team as well as second place for his quickserve restaurant management competition and has qualified for international competition in both events. [applause] Josh Freers. [applause] Josh participated in the principles of hospitality and tourism competition where he earned fifth place and has qualified for the international competition. Reese Gimmery. [applause] Ree earned a top 10 in the hospitality and tourism professional selling competition and also a second place on the exam for apparel and accessories marketing. Shioangi Goyle. [applause] Shiovangi earned sixth place in the retail merchandising competition and has qualified for the international competition. Will Hansburgger [applause] Will was part of a two-person team that compete competed in the stock market game and they earned tops in the Midwest and have qualified for
010the international competition. and will also earned a top 10 finish in professional selling. ANISHKA JANE [applause] Anishka competed in the international business plan competition where she earned a top 10 finish at state. Aaron Mason Cup. [applause] Aaron was person two of three on the finance operations research team along with Cam and as I had noted earlier that team earned second place and qualified for international competition. Next is Charlie Mandi. [applause] Charlie earned a top 10 finish in the hospitality and tourism professional selling competition. Joe Padet. [applause] Joe was Will Hanssburgger's partner in the stock market game and as I mentioned finished tops in the Midwest region and has qualified for the international competition. Brennan Post. [applause] Brennan is the third member of the Cam, Aaron, and Brennan Finance Operations Research Team, and they earned second
011place and are advancing to the international competition. [applause] And finally, Cole Steban. [applause] Cole competed in the hospitality and tourism professional selling competition and earned a top 10 at state. So these are a number of the representatives who did an amazing job at the DECA competition and good luck. First of all, congratulations to all of you for qualifying for state, earning awards at state and for those of you advancing to the international competition. Fantastic job and good luck. [applause] We're going to have you athletic as fast as you can. Hang up your [laughter] practice. Everybody got the pictures they wanted? All right. Congratulations, Deca. [applause] And our last recognition from GHS tonight is uh an opportunity to recognize one of our faculty members in particular Lynn Fors, a Spanish teacher at Geneva Community High School
012and to share more about the award that is being given to Lynn Fors. I'd like to thank and introduce Liz Simpson, a fantastic AFS local volunteer, and she is going to share information about the award that Lynn Forest, Geneva High School Spanish teacher, has received. [applause] >> As Mr. Rogers said, I am Liz Simpson and I am a local volunteer for AFSUSA. Um, AFSUFA empowers people to become globally engaged citizens by delivering meaningful intercultural experiences that provide the knowledge and skills needed to help create a more just and peaceful world. Each year, AFS awards the global educator award to an educator who has made uh global engagement in intercultural learning a part of their everyday instruction and school environment. I nominated Lynn Force for this award for her influence as a Spanish teacher, her longtime
013role as adviser to the GHS international club and earn and her involvement with AFS. Lynn has welcomed around eight we figured maybe a over a hundred kids that have been foreign exchange students in Geneva since she started the club and um and uh she al as well as of course the kids in Geneva who attend international club. So um I am pleased to present Lynn Fors with this award which recognizes her as a finalist for the AFS Global Educator Award. [applause] You guys stand to take pictures. [laughter] Congratulations. [applause] >> Thank you again, Dr. Barrett and board members for the opportunity. We'll see you again next month. Oh yes. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Yeah. Very nice. Yeah. Yeah. >> Trying to put it together. Trying to put it together. >> Thank you. >> All three. Yeah.
014>> Be here a while. >> Yeah. He's stuck [laughter] for a while. >> All right. Oh, no. They're well back for spring break. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> You were the rest of us. We're getting ready. [music and singing] Yeah, thanks. >> Well, I see we were able to honor all of those fine people and now we've got much more room for you all. Next item uh is item two on this agenda, the elementary literacy project update and proposal. Would you like to say that? >> Yeah, I'll just pass it off to Mrs. Sims. think the board knows there's been a lot of work by a lot of people over the last couple years uh to get us where we are today. And Mrs. Sims and the team, I think the the large accomplished team is
015about to make their way in. And uh plenty of seats in the front row, everyone. Plenty of seats in the front row. >> Mrs. Sims, it's all yours. >> I'll give everyone a second to get settled. 10-minute presentation by each committee member tonight. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Oh, no. >> Wait a minute. I get a vote on that. >> All right. Thank you very much. Um, this is the majority of our committee. So, first of all, we're very thankful they were able to join us tonight. Some of them will be sharing their experiences as well and then if there are questions that they can assist with, they will assist with questioning as well. So, as you alluded to, Dr. Barrett, yes, this is the culmination of a lot of work. Uh, with that, I'll turn
016it over to uh Dr. Prep Mezis to start us off with the presentation and then we'll be taking turns. >> All right. Well, thank you everyone. We are very excited uh this evening to uh move forward with a recommendation to the school board for HMH into reading for our adopted uh literacy curriculum uh to start next school year. Uh as you recall, if you recall this image, this is a Scarboro's rope. These are all of the components that go into um what we call skilled reading. Uh the bottom portion of Scarbor uh Scarboro's rope refers to you know word recognition word recognition includes things like funological awareness decoding and site recognition for that part of the rope. We do have really great reading as our foundational skills uh curriculum. A few years ago, uh, our
017classroom teachers gave Shanet and I some very much needed and appreciated feedback on the language comprehension portion of Scarboro's rope. And at that time, we began a journey with this group and many others uh to begin looking at a resource that would target the upper portion here, the language compreh uh comprehension portion of uh Scarboro's rope. So just to recap the journey uh this journey actually began precoid and then um in earnest again about three years ago. Uh we started talking about just as a committee like what is it we need to know about effective literacy instruction. So we spent time delving into you know the current um research as well as the 40 years worth of research that has been out there about um literacy instruction reading. We did some work with um how
018the brain learns to read and had some experts come in and speak to us on some of our institute days. We've also of late been um delving into you know cognitive learning theory and things about things such as that related to how it is that students learn and how um we as the adults um can learn this new curriculum and the implementation of it. So we also then as George referenced we piloted two curricula this year. We piloted benchmark advance and HMH into reading. Um obviously we've settled on one which is why we're here tonight. Throughout the process of this year um or throughout the process of piloting this year uh we've continued to learn into question. We found both of the representatives from the different curricula very open and approachable. They spent a lot
019of time with us. We had regular meetings where it was just the opportunity for our piloting staff to ask questions to seek clarification and really even to delve into like whatifs or would it be better if this, you know, was was in the curriculum. So, we've appreciated that. We then engaged in an evaluation process actually very recently uh a week ago tonight uh where we, you know, looked at the two curriculum. We had a series of um criteria that we used to evaluate and then we ultimately um settled on a selection which is again HMH into reading. If you'll recall in this journey we've brought to the board before the Illinois comprehensive literacy plan that was adopted in January of 2024. In these two curriculum, we were looking to see that it aligned to these
020seven components of literacy and both do and the one that obviously we are recommending for um consideration does as well. Uh with the really great reading, we're addressing some of these issues with word wisdom. We're addressing some of these issues and obviously with that comprehension piece of those strands of like literacy development, uh we are addressing the others. [clears throat] Pardon me. push all this through. Uh so um what is it that HMH interreing offers? Uh so what it we liked about the curriculum is that it is comprehensive. It does address foundational skills. So that is an area that you know we will be looking into. However, that's not something that we're using immediately. the feedback you'll hear from our staff um in their um collected responses and student collected responses that they loved the
021text that came with the curriculum. Some of the components of that that we liked is that there were text in hands for kids as well. Um kindergarten's a little unique with their big books, but um otherwise that was one of the criteria that we had was that students actually had text in hand, not just screen um reading. It also allows for I'm gonna end up losing my voice before the end of the night. I'm sorry. It also allows for differentiation where needed um both in the classroom and then outside of the classroom where um you know there's need for that if a student needs additional support both uh within our reading program or also within like our area of MTSS. And one of the things that we knew we needed may help it'll be really
022quiet in my house by the end of the week. The other thing that this has that um we knew from the feedback from the staff was that that was lacking in what we were trying to create oursel as a district for immediate feedback. um we would have gotten there, but it would have taken um a longer period of time were assessments and assessments not only for immediate feedback for the classroom teacher to plan accordingly for their students within the classroom, but also some um assessment data that we could use as a district [music] to evaluate how well and effective the program is being and also to determine, you know, if there are any gaps in anything that in that whole continuum of literacy development. So, um, a few key, uh, components of the program that,
023uh, I believe all of our, uh, piloting teachers recognize was the diverse literature and writing, um, components of the program, lots of robust resources, not only for our teachers, but our students, uh, as well. Mrs. Sims uh spoke a little bit about the comprehensive assessment tools that are used both uh in the immediate where teachers can uh use that data to uh then guide what uh happens in small groupoup instruction based on student need but also as a district to identify you know whether or not this program is working and our students are benefiting from it. There's a combination of digital and print resources which was very important for our teachers. Um we wanted opportunities for students to have uh resources in their hands um but also the digital resources uh that were available students
024fell in love with uh as well. And there's also an intervention portion of this. So if students are struggling, there are portions uh of this program that could be utilized as a tier 2 intervention either in small group in uh instruction or um even you know with a uh smaller group with a a specialized um uh person or reading specialist to to deliver that intervention if needed. All right. So, I will uh turn over the microphone now to some of our piloting teachers who will speak to the experiences they have had in piloting um into reading >> and have have that mic nice and close so they can hear you on YouTube. >> Okay. My name is Lauren Wagner and I teach fourth grade at Williamsburg. And um I'd like to start off by saying
025that even though the piloting um period is over, I'm still using this as a resource in my classroom for um not only the reading components um but also for the writing and the grammar. So I'm very excited that we're um moving towards um recommending this program. Um the modules um focus on three weeks of um of um structure. So, the first week will start off with one text um that is um fairly long but also really engaging um to students and fun for teachers to teach because I think that's important too. Um week two will usually be split up into two different stories and then the last week will be an additional story as well. All of them in different genres. So, um the genres spiral throughout the year um but we're not teaching specific
026to um fantasy or specific to realistic fiction. Um, and even if we're spending one week on a certain text, each day we're coming in and looking at it with a new lens and um, you know, talking about different strategies or skills with that story and then we'll go back with a different lens the next day. Um, and the writing, um, is used with those mentor texts, um, as a focal point where we can pull out not only what they're using in the writing, but also with the grammar that they can use, um, inside um, their own personal writing as well as identify it within the stories that they're looking at for each module. Um, it's explicitly taught vocabulary for every single story. um there are um experiences where they can use um vocabulary in context.
027It's building background knowledge. It's looking at literary elements and analyzing the text itself and making those comparisons between the different texts throughout the module unit two um and overall being able to um utilize those skills in their own reading and writing um through those intervention lessons and um the suggested materials that go with each module. Hi, I'm Aaron Shannon. and I teach fifth grade at Western Avenue and also have been piloting. So for our teacher feedback, it was a unanimous decision that all of us agreed that HMH into reading was what we should go with and essentially some of what we already shared and what George and Chernet have already shared is just the idea that teachers can get kind of as deep into it as they want. So the manuals are very friendly. The
028online platform is very friendly. And there are a lot of resources where if you want to use the online platform, that's great for students. But if you have younger learners or that takes too much time to get your computer out, you don't need that for every single lesson. So it's definitely very user friendly. Even our manual has the questions right there that you need to ask. So someone can pick it up and is really able to just teach it from day one and then, you know, you can dig in as as the time goes on. For students, the biggest thing for them was that it was really engaging. So something that students loved is called class craft. And those are the slides that can be teacher or student facing but can also students can be
029on engaging with that text. They can do quick responses. There are feedback questions right in there. So teachers can immediately see, hey, do they understand this vocabulary word? What do I need to go back and retach? The kids love seeing their own responses on the screen. And then I think one of my favorite parts was just the student choice that it allowed. So letting students, you know, if they want to read the story on their own, if they want to listen to it, if they missed a day of school and want to go back to listen to it, and all of those things are available. You can set assignments so that you can easily see them, but all of the texts are available without you having to assign them. So students can just pop it
030open. They know exactly where to go. They were just doing it today. They said, "Can I listen to it instead?" We said, "Absolutely." And then they had an option of whether they wanted to type or write their responses. So that student choice piece also really helped them stay engaged. And then just the content, they really enjoyed it. It was a mix of enough genres and then enough science and socialized concepts that they really enjoyed it. So their feedback was overwhelmingly positive from a student perspective. 3.35 thumbs up from the kids. >> Well, Mrs. Sims is coming up. I might just add uh very quickly uh Aaron noted that there was a the committee was unanimous 100% of the committee was unanimous in selecting this resource. I have been on a lot of committees selecting a
031lot of resources. Never ever one time have I been on one where there was 100% unonymity in selecting a resource. And that was and most of the committees weren't as big as this one. So, um, that I really think that says a lot, um, that the entire committee felt that way. So, that's pretty cool. >> I would also share, uh, Lauren referenced, we are going to have our piloting teachers continue with HMH throughout the end of this school year. So, the company knowing that it the decision is not final until um, board approval, they are still going to ship those materials out. so that our students wouldn't have to shift between now and the end of the school year, you know, to adjust again. So, we've referenced this a little bit, but um again, the
032ease of access for the assessments, that was a critical piece when we were, you know, seeking feedback from the work we were doing um before looking for, you know, a published product. So, again, this idea of the daily formative check-ins is great. It really gives our teachers the opportunity to on the on the fly in the moment understand, you know, where students are and what their thinking is. Um, and then it also with some of that class craft stuff, it um to a certain extent can almost be like gamified in terms of you can put it up there and they can see like their responses. They can see how they compare to others. I know one of our um teachers had shared that um the students themselves like you know challenged themselves to come on
033we can do it and get it right. So um all that is you know a benefit to the program. The other thing that um is beneficial as you guys will recall from many many years ago when the common core state standards were adopted there are numerous standards that have to be addressed at each grade level and in you know all the content areas and as it relates to literacy as you can imagine there are you know upwards of a hundred that have to be addressed. um there are actually um assessments that can be given that will pinpoint down to the standard and the skill where a student might still need a little extra support. So again that's some immediate feedback that can be given to teachers um in a easier fashion that what where they
034might have to dig for it um in another manner. um they can actually go on take a quick assessment. They get those results and it again tells them what they can utilize. And the program itself has additional lessons and activities that they can utilize and assign. [clears throat] Our focus right now um now shifts to uh planning pending board approval. So um a big part of you know the success of any program is um putting together appropriate professional development for all of our teachers uh so we could ensure a uh smooth transition. We've already been in uh talks with HMH uh into uh into reading. They would be moving us to a different team so they could share with us. They've done this many many times before. So we're looking for their feedback uh while
035we'll also provide uh them with uh the time that we have in our school year to to receive this professional uh development. We are coordinating the distribution of all the materials that will will come. There's a lot of materials. Um so organizing these in each of our buildings uh to make sure that they are ready for all of our teachers on the first day of school if not before then. and of course ongoing uh coaching and support that is part of that professional development plan um throughout next school year and of course communicating to our families all that is involved in this program um and how you know they could support us at home and uh how we could support their children here at school. So, the cost of this program is uh right around
036724,000. Uh it it translates to about $38 a student. Uh $38 per student. And that includes all of the digital resources, the print resources, the assessments, um all of those things. And that is for six years. Forgot to mention that's a six-year cost. It's not not per year. And of course, we would love to thank our pilot teachers and the committee in general for um all of their work. It is not easy to pilot uh two programs. Our students start off the year learning the lesson language and our teachers start off the year learning the lesson language of a specific program, the routines that are connected to that program. um gathering feedback, connecting with students, uh only to then shift to a new program and learn all of those uh routines, be familiar with that
037new lesson language and the spiraling that takes place. And so that is a a huge um huge task to take on and they've done a great job coming back month after month sharing their feedback, their honest feedback uh so we could come to an informed decision. So, uh, for those that are here today and for those that are not here today, we sincerely thank them for their time and effort in in in piloting these programs so we could, um, make a recommendation to you today that we feel confident about. Thank you all. And so, questions have a question. Thank you so much. Yeah, and not trying to muddy the waters, but numeracy is of course different from literacy. My question is uh to the extent that children uh and I know you know this uh
038have difficulty of word problems and the national council of teachers of mathematics as you know one of the bedrock things they do is emphasize the reading component knowing what they're looking for when and how. So, if you have a child that's haven't struggled with math, with word problems, is there something I'm not I I I like what I see, but I'm just I just wonder what what happens then for those children that struggle with just comprehending that reading component for math. >> Yeah, I would say what currently is happening is that first of all, they you know, as you can imagine, they break apart those story problems, >> right? >> U making sure they understand first of all what is the mathematical vocabulary they need to know, sum, dividend, quotient, etc. Um, and then they
039start to pull out the, you know, relevant information from the, you know, extra information. Um, but again, hopefully, >> yeah, >> with a robust literacy curriculum where they're learning to, you know, expand their vocabulary and sound out words and decode unknown words, >> um, that will help with that. But again, they still have to pull apart what is the math from the story problem, >> right? And I know that those are two different areas, literacy and numeracy. I just wondered um because the children I've worked with they struggle with the word problems because they don't understand the language and so I just wonder do do you work with math teachers? I mean does it just kind of annihilate by itself? >> I mean you would think that you know Dr. Pomez has paid you $5
040for that question because [laughter] >> he's going to be coming forward um in the next year for sure because the next elementary lift actually elementary middle school lift will be a math curriculum. So, right, >> I'm sure as they begin researching that, >> all of that will be part of that and that math literacy and vocabulary. >> Yeah, >> I will I will add to that uh the Illinois numeracy plan will be published this summer and that will kind of serve as the um uh start of our work as a district. Uh we've already put together a numerousy committee um that I'm sure will tackle a lot of the um issues you mentioned today. I did have a question, but first I wanted to say thank you to everybody. I know this was a lot
041of work that not only the pilot, but ever all the discussions to get to this point. And honestly, I was telling Mrs. Sims, this isn't where I thought we were going to land. Um, but I'm so glad that you all are so confident in this because I am too. Um, I did have a question though just through this conversation about the online piece and I'm sure with any new curriculum it was going to have a heavy um digital presence, but we do have families who are really concerned about the amount of time that our younger youngest learners have on the screen. So, it does sound like we have options and choices or at least choices for the students. Are we starting to think about what um structure or guidelines or even just strict parameters we
042have about how much digital time we're having, how much actual like books in hands or discussion or non-digital time we're having with the youngest learners because it sounds like more is available. So I just think we have to be aware of that as we're heading into rolling it out. >> Yeah, I would say those are cursory conversations at this point. However, the curriculum itself does dictate that. So, for example, in kindergarten, and we have two of our kindergarten reps here. Um, it's a it's a big book, whole class readaloud. So, that is actually text that they're seeing. It's not necessarily in their hand. Uh, but it's not something from the screen that they're reading. And if I'm incorrect, Dominique or Lynn, feel free to You have to come up to the microphone though if you're
043going to respond. Otherwise, >> you can't talk from your seat. We have to hear you in the microphone. >> [laughter] >> again. We need you on YouTube. We need you on YouTube. >> You know, I've always being a kindergarten teacher, I've always got our youngest learners in mind all the time. And that was a concern of mine as well. Is it going to be too heavily, you know, on online? Are they going to need to use their computer? And um We can teach the kindergarten curriculum completely without any um use of technology. We like it for certain pieces because we can show a a um focus chart that we just made, where we're headed, what what we're learning, what what kind of knowledge we're building. So those pieces are really nice to project to all
044the students. But we can also make that we also have paper copies that if we weren't using it at all, we could put on the on the involved. So, yeah, that was a concern of mine, but I feel like we can do it if it did come to kindergarten teachers or kindergarten parents saying, "Hey, I really don't want my child on technology." >> That's great to hear. And I think there's a huge difference between what's projected and if kids are on their individual screens. So even hearing that that's the the limited amount of digital is great to hear and that we're thinking about that as we're we're >> and they do have the opportunity to do all those other things as well. So it is there for them to try or to but it's not
045necessary. Yeah. In all grades. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yeah. One question. I mean, it sounds like you have a very strong recommendation for this, but was there any part of this when you when you went back and looked at it, you said this part could be stronger and you took it back to the HM >> and and are they >> are they tweaking it to strengthen that? Is there anything in that area that we should know about that needs further development? Yeah. So, one of the areas that we feel the feedback from, you know, those that, you know, we're teaching it every day feel um could be a little more robust is the writing, especially the if you think of like the formulaic or essay writing. Uh so, we did take that back to
046our sales rep at this point. I mean that we haven't been put in contact with any of our PD providers or anything like that. Um and that's information that, you know, um so there are many other districts that are piloting this this year. Um, so it's information they have heard and at this point he just it's just where they're aware that they're hearing that but they haven't, you know, commented that what the solution would be. But that would really be the one area. Any other areas that I'm remiss in? >> I have Go ahead. >> Go ahead. Yeah, >> I just have uh um well, one question just came up as Paul was asking, but what does HMH stand for? I guess I just >> Hardcourt >> Putin Mifflin Hardcore. >> Yeah, I'm think >>
047it's a publishing company is the name of the company. >> It's the one right down the street. Is that 25 or 31? >> Right on 31. Right there on 31. >> All right. Thank you. >> Hardcore. Y >> that wasn't my question. I just thought about it as Paul was stumbling through the acronym. [laughter] Um part of the implementation plan on your slide talked about the family communication engagement. Could you uh explain what that looks like for those that are watching? >> Yeah, absolutely. I think our plan fully is to uh notify our parents and community of all of the components that inter reading offers um and the scope and sequence. The great thing about uh this program it is thematic. So every you know every module is a different theme that spirals you know
048from kindergarten through fifth grade. Uh so communicating when we when we say communicating with families letting them know all that is offered where what resources they could use at home um of course sharing with them the assessments uh that we are providing and how we are using that data to kind of guide our small group instruction. So I think at it at the most basic level communicating with our stakeholders and our parents and letting them know this is this is a new curriculum. And so um and and that's another piece that uh interring offers. They have a whole community engagement um part that we plan on kind of sifting through and identifying what's appropriate to share with our families. >> Anyone else? Oh, >> yeah. Just one last thing. I want to again commend you
049for all the hard work you've done. There's a old adage of uh when you're aligned you know it's hard to break you know and I like the alignment of the unanimous uh support. I have one question and it was related to the writing and I was taking notes here. So um and I understand what I wrote here from my notes that if a person a child needs um remediation that you have a a mechanism for that. So the question is uh as you know written expression uh carries the same tenants of reading comprehension. So when a child is going through the remediation remediation rather is there a trigger or criteria where a child needs say special help like from a speech pathologist when that doesn't work so that they don't fall through the cracks because
050I've seen my share of children or actually parents who are in a panic that the child is in grade five and they can't construct a paragraph and then they need speech therapy. So how do you make that decision? Yeah. So we look at uh our universal data assessments that that we give to all students. Um we have an MTSS plan that looks at uh specific >> Can you share what MTSS is? >> Yes. A multi-tiered system of support. Thank you Dr. Barrett. In the world of education we get lost sometimes in acronyms and we forget that. Uh so multi-tered system of support. So we have um we are currently working through developing what those um what those tiers look like. you know, we have defined criteria of what qualifies a student for tier 2 support
051and tier three. We're fine-tuning that. Uh we've started that work uh this past year and are working with our uh reading specialists and our uh classroom teachers to to identify what that what that system looks like. But at the heart of this, we we start with student data. Um, and then our schools meet multiple times throughout the year as a data team uh to uh begin the conversation with that data, but then also ask the teacher, what are you seeing in the classroom? Does this match what you're seeing with students? And so ultimately what we want to do is we want to keep that student in the classroom first to receive that small group that that first level of support within the classroom with small group instruction. But sometimes that student requires a little bit
052more. So we move to a tier 2 level of support. that tier 2 level of support could mean a couple things. It could mean we're meeting with that student more frequently in the classroom or we're pulling that student out with a specialist outside of the classroom to receive that level of support. So, we are working through those guidelines and that criteria. We've I think we've made some great gains this year and identifying what those are. Um, but like everything, it's a work in progress. Yeah, >> it's probably a presentation next year though coming up I would guess. >> Anybody else? A lot of people think school boards do important work, but I know the work you guys are doing is really important. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Item three. We can give a claps.
053Sure. [applause] >> While Mrs. Sims disconnects so I can sneak on up. >> Oh, you guys don't want to see my elementary capacity analysis update? Yeah, we want you to present it both on screen and by books if we like to read the book. >> It's only only 39 slides, right? [laughter] >> All right. Well, I know uh rarely, occasionally, I make my way up here to um share a presentation from the podium instead of from my seat. Um and it's when we've put a uh uh you know, a separate item on the uh agenda that we think um kind of should have a little bit more significance than kind of me just sharing from my chair. So, I want to have an opportunity tonight to um I laid some breadcrumbs about this at our
054last meeting and actually we've been talking about a lot of these topics over the course of the last maybe two years and tonight is kind of an opportunity uh to have kind of a formal conversation um that synthesizes some of the things that we've some of the big key things we've talked about over the last several years. So, some of these much of this is information you've seen before. So, for our audience members, if I go through it a little quickly, please know it's because we've talked about this at several board meetings in the past, but I need want to recap a little bit of background before we get um to one of the things that I think the board is going to need to uh start considering here for the future. Uh and I
055think again it's important to note that that is the goal when we think about our um you know strategic plan and that whole first goal of enrollment and staffing um and right sizing our district and all that kind of stuff. This fits directly into that. Um so uh I I think the idea here is that we'll get to the end tonight with something that I think the board is going to need to be thinking about here um over the next several months um to year or so. uh and hopefully this is uh uh some important information for the community to know as well. So uh again here here's our quick timeline and we've shared this with you before. We started our strategic plan in 2024. You know we conducted a demographic study um that noted
056very explicitly our declining and then stabilizing enrollment. Um and then we had some of those unknown uh unknowns with new potential developments that we'll we've talked more about and I'll talk a little bit more about. We also conducted a formal capacity analysis where we looked at how our building usage has evolved over uh the last decade in terms of different programming models that have been added um different staffing models and additional staff. We talked about our class size targets that uh we built um out of our class size committee um that have fostered more consistency across the district. Um and we also did one of the new key components uh you know last year was this uh facility conditions assessment that really evaluated um you know what's the state of our um of each of
057our facilities and we've talked through that with you all too. And then kind of two new key things that have happened since we last talked. One, obviously we've had a lot of conversation about this new development out in LAX, right? Um and so that's a component to consider with all of this um along with a presentation uh that we had to the board earlier this fall. So just to recap very briefly um you know the new Lefox development is really what I want us to be thinking about today as it relates to the uh capacity analysis and our demographic study and our conditions assessment. So we know that um work continues to um progress on this uh development called La Fox of Camden Hills approximately 900 homes all that would be within the boundaries of
058Geneva 304. uh theoretically we understand it'd be a 15 to 20 year timeline till complete buildout. Um and ultimately again there's a lot of unknowns but the potential for for hundreds of new students to the district. So the question we really want to ask and be thinking about what are the likely implications um of this development on our elementary attendance areas. Um, and so in order to answer that, the first thing we've got to reflect back on is what do we know about our elementary capacity and um the usage efficiency of our elementary buildings? And again, this is information that we've gone through in previous meetings before um but we're trying to kind of weave that all together. So, we can we'll get at this chart a little bit later, but you'll recall we talked
059about this in the past um where we looked at our uh enrollment across our elementary buildings and our um based on our class sizes, our kind of capacity, our class size capacity at each building. Um and we went through a kind of whole analysis of that and gave a presentation um that kind of had these four key takeaways. One that we're using our buildings pretty efficiently. Our elementary buildings are all kind of between 70 and 95% um capacity when you consider uh gelp at Fabian, right? Um our class size targets at the elementary level really helped establish more consistency across the district. Um, GELP is a strong uh robust program. That's the Geneva Early Learning Program. You'll recall um that we know again helps enhance our facility capacity at Fabian uh explicitly. And then there's
060also this this uh Leox development um that is the new big variable. So this fall we came and made uh kind of a recommendation and we said at this time we think it's important to maintain our current elementary boundary structure for all the neighborhoods that currently send students to Geneva 304 based on that capacity and how we efficiently we were using our buildings. Um we also recognized the need to have additional conversation about the long-term facility needs for the Geneva Early Learning Program. Um, and we can talk a little bit more about that, uh, and and we will, but again, it's housed at Fabian, which helps build build up that efficiency usage at Fabian. Um, but we're not sure that's the best long-term solution. Uh, and then what we need to do is determine the
061most appropriate attendance area for any potential new students out of this new development, right? Um, so let's take a look at our our boundaries here real quick. This is our current boundary map. um as it exists uh this is the entire district and uh you'll see as I tried to superimpose there in the top left corner that's basically where the new LFO development is. So do you see where I added that in there? Right. Okay. So that's basically where the new LFO development would fall. Um right here currently that blue boundary that's within uh the boundaries of Mil Creek Elementary School. Okay. And you'll see that that development is closest uh to basically the boundaries of three of our elementary schools. Again, it's currently within Mil Creek's boundary. And Mil Creek, you'll see, is that
062blue arrow uh or that blue point right there in the corner. Um also over there to the west obviously is Fabian Elementary School. That's the orange boundary over here. Um, and then here's the H Heartland boundary, right? So, the next thing we want to do is circle back to this capacity, right? And acknowledge that if you look at, well, let's do that. If you look at Mil Creek, where that neighborhood would currently fall, Mil Creek's current uh, you know, usage efficiency capacity is around 76%. Right? um H Heartland around 72%. And then Fabian, remember, we have kind of a a two-pronged piece to this because uh Fabian with Galp included is high, right? It's above 90%. Um but if you took Galp out, it would be much lower and it would be around 55%. So
063really we want to be thinking about these three boundary areas um as we're thinking about what could happen with Lefox of Captain Hills. So the next piece we want to dig into is uh our demographic trends as we understand them at least at this point and what the implications of that will be. So, I thought the easiest way to look at that would be to pull out from our demographic study uh you know what those trends looked like for each of those three uh elementary attendance areas, right? Uh so the first would be Mil Creek. Uh and you see here's Mil Creek Elementary um you know 25 26 you see as we uh would expect um and as we've talked about a lot right those numbers have kind of had that long trajectory down they're
064going to come down a little bit and you see uh our demographic um uh trends would suggest that it's going to come back up a little bit right so Mil Creek you're going to see those numbers rebound uh and come back up a little bit. At H Heartland, we see something uh similar, but also based on the trend, um a greater likelihood that that number goes up much more significantly. Right? So, you see at Mil Creek, we see we've had that kind of long slow decline like the whole district, a little bit of a plateau there and then a coming up slightly. um at H Heartland we see that decline and that plateau with the potential that that number goes up uh more significantly. So that's an important factor for us to know here. Um
065and then with Fabian if you look at that you see that kind of there's actually not as much of a decline right if and you'll recall we've had these conversations uh previously uh actually for the amount of housing that lies within the Fabian boundary um enrollment at that within that attendance area has actually been m stayed pretty stable. Um, and what we see here with these trends is that that plateau to likely stay and then potentially even come down some more. Okay. Um, in the next several years. So, if you look just over here to the west, um, again, here's where that development would exist. Um, one of the things that you can see here is again that development is close obviously right to Mil Creek, but also you'll recall that, and I might take
066the microphone off just to point because it might be a little easier. Um, you'll recall one of the key factors about this development is that all the um, entry into the development is over here at the west. if you remember this right. So there's not um even though a lot of this development seems like it's close here to Keslinger Road and Brundage which is mer where Mil Creek sits at this corner. Um based on all the rules that Cam Hills has established with this development um there's no getting in and out of this development over here. The only place to get in and out of this development is over here. Okay. So coming out would be coming either way coming out and down this way. Uh did you have a question Dr. H? >> Yeah.
067So I just uh was at the train station. I know that this they have some construction road construction. Is that part of this? Uh >> you know I don't think it is yet. That's actually just part of uh the construction for you know there's a big construction project happening here right >> where they're um >> yeah ex basically extending from Lef Fox Road out to Bunker right is this Bunker Road right >> all the way down to um Keslinger and it'll be a roundabout at Klinger >> right so it comes down here um and so you can get in and out here or you'll be able to get in and out here but there's no road access in They're over here. Thank you. Sorry for let me move there. >> So, uh, you know, and
068you can I've got access uh to our actual boundary map here. Um, if folks want to go in and and play with that and look at that, it's actually pretty slick um in a Google map that uh Mr. Wilks uh helped build for us. Um, but based on all that information and putting all that information together, I think that there's some options um and considerations that we need to do as a district. Um, and so one of those options I think we need to consider uh is changing the boundary attendance area for the La Fox of Cam Hills and that surrounding neighborhood area from the Mil Creek uh boundary area um to the Fabian boundary area. Okay. Um and here would be the rationale for that. Um, first, the current Fabian attendance area continues to
069have uh limited potential growth. It's just based on the number of households. We went through, we talked about this a lot in our demographic study, there are just a lot less a much smaller amount of residences in that boundary area um compared to the others. And also, as you saw when we looked back at the projections, our projections would suggest that Mil Creek and Hartland are more likely to see additional enrollment growth in the foreseeable future than Fabian. Um, and the third piece, and I think we've talked about this before, but, uh, well, I know we've talked about this before, but just to reiterate, um, you know, Fabian and the Geneva Early Learning Program, for a wide variety of reasons, that facility is not an ideal fit for the needs of that program. And we're,
070again, we're having a lot of conversations about what that means. Um, but it's just that's not an ideal fit for that program anyway. So, if that's something that we're thinking about, what's the best long-term solution for the Geneva Early Learning Program? And we recognize Mil Creek and Heartland have the potential to see more growth, and we recognize that Fabian um you know, doesn't have as much potential for growth. Um is this uh a potential solution? And I think one thing I didn't put here but important for us to think of remember that this development uh nobody lives there yet right so um you know when you're thinking about uh boundaries as we know and as we've talked about before elementary boundaries can be um uh a very tough and a very emotional conversation sometimes if
071you're talking about moving families where relationships and everything has been established. Um but at the moment there's not even uh a shovel hasn't even technically gone in the ground yet, right? So if we were going to um make a change for that new development, you would want to do that before you started um you know before people started looking at models and and all that kind of stuff. You'd want to establish that early. And so that's why we're just trying to be thoughtful and be get ahead of the game here and be thinking about that. Um, so again, there's not a need to, we're not close to having to decide anything right now, but I really wanted to kind of put all those puzzle pieces together for everybody to see and, you know, be able
072to see on the YouTube and um, be able to start thinking about and asking questions about. So, what would the what are the things we're still needing to think about? Again, one is that long-term location for the Geneva Early Learning Program. we've got to find a a more permanent solution for that program. Um, and you know, we're we're doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on that and there'll be more information to come there. Um, we need to establish a timeline for decision- making about this. Again, I think um, we don't know, as you know, because we've talked a lot about uh, the Laox of Cton Hills development. There's still a lot of variables with that in terms of whether or not the village of Campton Hills is going to establish the tiff out there
073and when they may or may not start um start on this project, but it would be right to if you were going to make such a decision, make make that decision before that happened. Um, and then the last thing we would need to make sure we did is, and I'm gonna maybe come back here, um, uh, think about the options for current students because here's here's a little, um, caveat. this whole uh development uh it would be brand new, but sprinkled throughout there right now are a few residences where families currently live. Okay. So, there's, you know, as you noted, Dr. Hooks, there's like a few homes out here around the middle of Hampton Hills, and there's um you know, some stuff over here, and maybe a few things up here. So, uh, we candidly
074know right now how many students that is. Um, and it's a very, very small number. Um, and it's even a much much smaller number when you're thinking about just elementary students. Um, but we would need to make sure we were thoughtful about um, what we were going to what we were going to do and how we were going to support those families. And I think there's a variety of options that would be very um doable um and uh would be welcomed by families who lived out in that area. But that's one of the important things that we're going to have to think ahead on if we want to explore going down that path. So, uh what are our next steps? You know, we're going to keep digging into this more deeply. We're going to get
075more information about La Fox of Captain Hills. Again, this is as far as that has ever gotten, but it's still not like done done yet. So, we've got to keep getting information about that and plan for the future of the early learning program um and look to make an ultimate decision uh here prior to uh the start of construction for that development. So, that's what I kind of wanted to get on the record and get everybody thinking about today. Uh, I'm happy to answer questions if you have any. >> The only thing I have, Dr. Barrett, is down over in the Fabian um boundary area, there's no talk about development in that land down kind of down on the southwest down there. Is there? >> Yeah, a good question. Right now, no. Um, so there
076is a lot of open land down there. You see around like Hughes and Bunker. right now. I there there's nothing. There are a few small developments. Um actually, let me go back here. Um and I can point to them, too. Man, I'm just like Phil Donahghue. You know who Phil Donnie is? No, I didn't think so. [laughter] Uh there are actually a few small um developments that we're kind of tracking right now over in this area um of maybe a few dozen houses um that again we think would be great for Fabian. Um and we think Fabian could accommodate new students if if either of these developments came online. But this is that big spot you're asking about and right now nothing. Anybody else? >> Just one question. Have we thought about how long of
077a bus ride that is for students from that distance? >> Yeah, actually uh we have. I've actually spent a good deal of time uh with uh Mr. Johnson at transportation about that. Um and so again, it's actually if you're out that way, if you out drive that, it's it's actually not that far. because ingress and egress to the development is already over here. Like basically you would come out and come out right to this corner where you just come straight here and straight here to Fabian and it would be you know like kind of two turns really. So um it it's it's actually not very far at all. Yeah. Anyone else? Dr. Barrett, thank you very much. >> Yes, thank you. >> Next item on the agenda is public comments. Bonnie, have you received any
078requests for public comment? >> Would anyone like to say anything right now just for fun? We're always open to uh receiving public comments. Okay. Pro going ahead, legislative update item five, please. >> I do not have any report tonight. H so long. That's tough. Um superintendent report. He almost can't get back in time. >> I know >> you could have. >> I should have probably. I'm sorry. [laughter] >> You know who he is. >> He's my brother. >> What? >> Oh, all right. Let me go back here. I just have a few um few few quick slides today. Uh so let's go here. Let's go here. Come on. Oh jeez. There we go. I should have just stayed up there. I don't know why I disconnected. I apologize for that. There we go. You don't
079know Phil Donnie here? >> Oh my gosh. >> Good for you. >> I get I Yeah, I get that all the time. Uh, okay. If you filled down, he he was a TV talk show guy. The first guy who walked around the audience with the microphone and it was Chicago, right? Wasn't he Chicago? >> Yeah. He like he was like pre Oprah. >> He was like preopra being absolutely silent. >> All right. Just a couple quick things I want to highlight. First, uh since we last met, we had our countywide institute day. And this is just um I think it's important to highlight because it's a it's a really valuable day where all of our staff has an opportunity to do things that um uh you know I I think are pretty meaningful and it's
080the day that there's the most variety because Kain County all of Kane County and DuPage County have the day off. So that's where there are there's a lot of options. Um and so I know our teachers uh like it and appreciate that especially our high school folks and our specialists. they really appreciate having those days where they can pick something um that is targeted to their unique roles. Um and you know that can be hard for us as a district if you have you know teachers who teach some of those more uh niche or smaller programs might be hard for us to develop an opportunity but when all both counties are off there's more opportunities for that. So that's a good day. um you know and it's also a day that we've uh we kind
081of hold this rotation for safety and reunification training um that I know is very valuable for our staff. So just wanted to thank everybody for the opportunity for that. I also wanted to highlight just um briefly we've talked about this uh before um but just what u a big impact capital projects um can make uh for our kids. Um, I know we spend a lot of money on capital projects, especially recently as we're seeing a lot of needs. Um, but you know, I I met with some students last week uh in the library at the high school and just walking in and being there and seeing all these I mean, you can see down on one end there's a whole class having a class session. There's different groups of kids meeting in different areas of
082the space. I got to go and meet with kids in the space. Um and so just we do these kinds of things to create usable and modern facilities that uh you know also are safe and secure for our kids. Um and by doing this ongoing care and maintenance I I think it really does make an impact for our district and I just think it's important to uh acknowledge that we do that. Um that went a little fast. And last I just want to say um thanks uh to our our residents and neighbors. We talk a lot about um our kids and our families and all the folks who are here um you know accessing the school every day. But obviously um we talk about this with our demographic study and our demographic trends. There's many
083households in our district that don't have don't send kids to our school, who still are big supporters of of our district, who still come out to events, who still um are contributing their tax dollars to make this a great place for kids to learn. Um and I think it's important to acknowledge them. Um you know, folks came out when I did my uh community connects events. folks come out to big community events like, you know, the parade or um our unified Vikings game. Um just recently we had uh some awesome career day opportunities and citizens from our uh our community came out and and helped talk to our kids about that. So, we're just we are as grateful for um uh you know the members of our community who who aren't sending kids every day.
084And to that end, you know, we're working Sandy Riley, our communications coordinator, is is really trying to help us um expand our outreach efforts um for those folks because we want to be able to engage with folks um and have them know uh how much we value them. So that's it. Just wanted to hit those three things today. >> Thank you, Dr. Brett. Next, board dialogue topics and pending action consideration. Item one is the 2026 27 finance committee calendar draft. This calendar has been reviewed by the finance committee and district administrators and approval is recommended. Any questions or a motion? So >> second. >> Yes. Hi >> I >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> And >> I know that Todd's not here, but thanks for putting the the items of the of what are on
085the agenda. That's great. >> Yeah, that was a good tip. Thank you. The next item is a resolution to transfer funds from the working cash fund. And u Todd can present uh any information if it's No, he's not here. So he's not going to present anything, but if if anybody has any questions at this point. >> Yeah. Or I'm happy to speak to it too. >> Can you just explain this real quick? What is this for? >> Sure. So we have um as you know, one of our uh benefits that we have for our employees is um a flex spending account. And uh anybody who has a flex spending account knows that um the way those typically work is you set up your flex spending account um to be uh you know a certain amount
086of money. Um and then that money is withdrawn from your paychecks pre-tax over the course of the year, right? Um, but one of the interesting caveats with a flex spending account is, you know, say you're taking out uh 1,200 bucks. Um, it might take out a hundred bucks a month, but all $1,200 are available to you to spend immediately. Um, so this happens sometimes when you get to a point in the year where folks have technically spent more of their flex spending account than they have put in so far at this point in the year. By the end of the year, that trs up because they can't spend any more out of their flex spending account than than they put into it. Um, but so basically what Todd's asking for is he wants to do
087a little temporary loan from working cash into this account because uh folks have spent a little more of their flex spending money than they've put in at this point. And then by the end of the school year, that money will get back in there. it'll get tred up and he'll put that we'll bring back a resolution to put that actually we won't bring back a resolution to put that money back because this resolution already promises that we will do that by X date be a lot of shoulder injuries uh in >> yeah I mean you know people falling apart around here >> I'm not going to say anything any other questions >> I'll make the motion to approve >> it has to be restructured pass that down the motion has to be restructured Fancy motion
088to read. >> You may read it. >> I was going to do it, but thanks, Dan. >> All right. Motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the loan of $10,000 from the working cash fund to the flex benefit fund pursuant to 105 ILCS 5/20-5. >> Second, >> I I >> I Oh, thank you, Dan. >> See, see, I love to delegate. Yeah. >> Uh item eight, work study topics and future action consideration. Um the 2627 preliminary resource textbook adoption, which is policy 6 semicolon 40. Contained in the packet is information from Assistant Superintendent Sims regarding textbook and instructional materials being proposed for adoption. No actions required at this time, but are there any questions? >> Do you have anything that you would like to say or anything? >> No, other than just thank you for any
089support for the first item on there, which is our um literacy recommendation. >> And again, kudos to that committee. They were with us. Um, I'll make the older reference, see who gets it through the good, the bad, and the ugly with three years of this work. So, >> yeah, I remember that one. >> I would add these resources, as you'll recall, need to be on public display. >> Um, and sometimes we've rolled the cart in. Um, as you can imagine, with comprehensive literacy resources for all of elementary plus all of the additional resources from the high school, there's a lot. So there um it's a very fine display uh upstairs by the um one of our conference rooms that the public can come in and see. They'll be on display for the next month. Um
090and anyone can come see and review all of these resources that are outlined here. Um, and you know, this is an opportunity just uh this is our pretty standard process and if folks have questions after reviewing them or if you all have questions at a future meeting, you can um get them to Mrs. Sims and u we would take it from there. >> Barrett, I had a question. So, uh, is is that something that the public would know about? I mean, I know that we're announcing here on >> Yeah. So, it it'll go in um the district digest. So, we'll put it in our weekly communication this Friday >> that um those resources would be on display. >> I did have one question which doesn't necessarily need to be answered now, but um I did
091notice that we had some German resources on on the list and that was something that we were um questioning last year whether that was a class we would continue in the future. So, I was just wondering like what our our confidence is in in buying a three or a two-year resource for a class. >> I can say with great pleasure that at both junior highs, they have a full class of German one and at the high school they have a full class of German one in response to advocacy on the part of both staff and other German students. So, we're doing fine with that. And I might add uh just to add to what Larry said, I think one of the things we know is that you'll recall when we had this conversation um that
092we talked about uh ensuring that the program could sustain for anyone who started it, right? Um and so because we do feel uh strongly that if we're going to teach it, we want to teach it with the very best resources. Um, and you might also recall that over the last several years, we've updated the resources for our other world language um, programming. Um, uh, you know, like you say, it's kind of a multi-year process here, but we know that once you start it, you're doing this for at least five years because we want to maintain that for those kids who start. So, um, you know, that's a long enough time that we would think, um, yeah, let's make sure we have the highest quality resources we can have, um, for supporting those students. Does that
093make sense? >> So, the current um, materials are not sufficient is what you're saying. >> Yeah. >> I mean, German is German. I'm just trying to understand this. >> Yeah. So, I think um, Mrs. Sims, I don't want to speak out of turn if you want to go. So, the new resource is actually um by the same publisher that has produced the new Spanish and French materials that we've been rolling up over the last several years. It has um novels that are now used within the curriculum as well. It has some online components that uh were not part of the um older curriculum that we're using. And the older curriculum, I don't know the exact date of it. it. I can get that for you, but it is it is dated in terms I understand
094German's German in terms of the language. >> Yeah. >> But um >> what makes it dated? I'm just curious. I mean, because the cost benefit of expending this kind of money, even though we don't know how long this cohort's going to last, I understand you have a a full class, but what do you consider full class? I mean [snorts] of cohort if you will if you're gonna start this and give it a fiveyear run. How many students are we talking about? >> I don't know off the top of my head I can get that for you. But enough that at each middle school right now um it's like would be one full class of German one. So that's two. So I I think it's between 15 and 20 kids at each school. And [clears throat]
095then same at the high school for German one. And then those those students would roll up. And I think in terms of dated, I think the answer to that would be one of the things we learned about um from our world language peers uh when we were kind of rolling out these resources in the other programs is it's a lot more about um uh contemporary texts. It's a lot more about um you know seeing uh like actual kind of primary resources and not learning the language in the abstract. Um >> you know like Mrs. Sim said novels, contemporary videos, learning how to use the language in action rather than just kind of more purely academic. So if that makes sense. >> So you're saying the current materials are insufficient for those kinds of things. They
096haven't been learning novels or contemporary German literature. I'm trying to understand why they need >> the teacher has had to supplement. >> Oh, okay. >> To to make that stuff happen. >> So, the district doesn't have the resources. So, you're now going to have them through this. Irect. >> Okay. >> Kind Deutsch. However, I've been following this pretty closely. I imagine and they definitely have a need for this this curriculum and I think they're well on track to utilizing it. I think they're well on actually using it for a long time. >> Stephanie, I didn't know if I finished answering your question before. Seemed like you had more of a question. >> I know I think you answered it. >> You sure? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. back to the microphone. Okay. Item nine, information. This
097is the board meeting presentation schedule. Two is foyer requests and board correspondence. Three is a suspension report. All are in the book. Uh there's no uh discussion required, but this is for your information. Item 10, the consent agenda. Uh item one is a personal report, resignations, retirements, leave request, changes in assignment, full-time equivalent, new hires. Item two, monthly financials for February. Item three, annual resolution for joint agreement as part of the Fox Valley um I just drew blank on that. Community cooperative >> Career center. Thank you. Um, the IHSA membership renewal item five, gift grants and requests bequest for $3,43567 for Fabian Elementary School PTO and SNA. That's a new one on me. >> Starting new at golf. That's why I don't know it. Equipment. Item six, gifts, grants, and bequest. $2,000 from the Humpky
098Group for the GHS Robotics Club. Item seven, a bid summary award for 2627 copy paper bid. And item eight, a bid summary award for the copier bid. Approval is recommended. >> Any uh >> so move >> discussion. >> Second. >> I I >> I item 11 board member comments and reports. Would anyone like to start or shall I just pick and end? >> Okay. >> Um well, thank you to everyone who presented this evening. I thought that was very helpful information from Dr. Barrett and we've had a lot of those conversations, but nice to wrap or tie it all together as we continue further. and I'm so excited about the new reading curriculum and I know that was so much hard work, but thank you so much. Congratulations to all of our students who we
099recognize tonight. Always wonderful to see um different varying types of um activities happening at the schools and ways to recognize those. For me personally, it's been a lot of um wrapping up the winter, a lot of music concerts over the past few weeks um we've that I've gotten to to enjoy and experience and now it's like full steam ahead into spring. So, we have our next theater booster meeting coming up later this week as the theater department prepares for the spring musical um which is Chicago. So, more to come. That's all I've got. >> Yeah, I'd like to commend uh the u presentation as well on the uh literacy. I just really impressed with the support of the teachers and the interconnectedness that I saw. uh that's really going to bode well as he expand
100to numerousy in these other areas as well. So I really appreciate seeing the as um as we heard from Mr. Wils um Dr. Wils the um scope and sequence of this that it's not just something that we're doing statically for one year has a horizon beyond the horizon I should say. Also like to commend the um swimmers because that's something that was new to me. I knew that we had students that were involved in swimming, but it was good to see their uh excellence in the water and knowing that we have a corporation with different districts. I mean different with the West Chicago area as well. So um kudos to all that uh received recognition tonight. Thank you. And the parents of course most important. Yeah. >> All right. Um I want to give a
101shout out to the literacy committee. That was a lot of work. they put in over many years and to put together the pilot and get it out to the elementary schools so that we could actually see it in action and make an informed decision on that. So, congrats and also the fact that it was 100% unanimous that they wanted to go the direction that they did. I want to say congratulations to our students tonight. Again, kind of a mix of athletes and academics. several our DECA students are swimmers and then also to Lynn Forest for her acknowledgement that she won that award for um Spanish. It's excellent. I wanted to once again um point out a presentation that was given during the finance committee earlier today. Uh Adrian put together um a really comprehensive look
102at our finances compared to some of our peer districts um looking at the numbers including enrollment things like student teacher ratio just quite a few different fig facts and figures that were in there and I think it it's worthwhile taking a look at that and just at least looking at the deck if you can and listening to it on YouTube later. Uh there's a lot of good information in there that kind of gives a snapshot of where our district is now and where we think things might be heading in the future. That's all. >> Thank you, Paul. >> Yes. I just want to say congratulations to all the students that were here tonight. Um I think it's great to see not only sports uh students as here, but also the DECA. I think those are
103interesting things and it excites the kids. Um today we had one of our facilities task force meeting. Uh the good news is at the end of spring break all the projects in for 2025 will be completed that we intend to have completed at this point. Uh we're well on our way to being ready for our 2026 um projects for the summer in terms of bids and we're even starting to look at uh 2027 at this point and getting our plans ready for that. So uh kudos to our team there that is really doing a great job in bringing structure and direction to this effort for um maintenance of our facilities. >> Uh I would just echo what's already been said. Congrats to our tradition of excellence uh recipients uh shet to you and your team
104and the committee for all their work um and also for the um textbooks you know of recommendations. a lot of work goes into making sure our curriculum is uh of high excellence. So, I appreciate all the time and energy that goes into that. So, thank you, Shanet. >> I really have nothing to add what everyone said. I think uh um all the presentations tonight were was excellent. um the what Adrian put together in the finance committee. I thought um as as Jackie mentioned um something to go back to take a look at or to listen to because um very comprehensive in terms of comparison between not only our district and surrounding districts but also kind of gives a little foundation to um some of the things that Andy talked about in his um district boundary
105conversation. So um a lot of those things tied together. So, um really good good presentation that we all should listen. The only question I have in regard to the um literacy presentation. Uh several meetings ago, we had some elementary school some young students that came by to talk about is that part of the same program or was that a different totally different >> That was a different program. >> Okay. All right. That's all I Thanks. >> All right. Thank you. Um a couple things to add. I I certainly second everyone's comments about the teaching people to read. It's really fun. I was able last week to go to the IASB conference, the Kishwaki division meeting that was a long ways away at Harlem High School in Mcchznney Park, Illinois. The subject, however, interested me greatly.
106It was AI in schools and um the fellow who then who spoke was really quite an expert and makes a lifetime of studying this. And I think that um as a result of that, I'll be talking to our policy person and we'll be possibly working on some enhanced AI policies uh to try and keep up with what's happening there. The other thing I had a chance to do this week was at Harland School. They had an event for students called creps and art. And they had an art teacher and one of the former French teachers from Geneva uh making creps for the students and they got to taste them in the in the French style and also u actually a local sculptor who presented information to the students about art. It was a very interesting
107presentation on both counts and I certainly think the students enjoyed it. It's already been scheduled for next year at this school. So I think things are going well and u very pleased to with all that that we see. Uh last item here is notices and announcements. That's not going to require anything at this time. So item 13, executive session to consider matters pertaining to collective negotiations matters between the public body and employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning the salary schedules for one or more classes of employees. For this we need a motion to go into executive session. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I Hi. >> Hi. Thank you. Uh we'll be going into executive session now, which means thank you all for coming >> and we'll uh undoubtedly have results for this later,
108but probably not announced. So, no further action will be taken.