001Bonnie, could you call the role, please? That's pretty good. >> Here. here. >> Here. >> Thank you. First of all, I'd like to welcome you to this regular meeting of the Geneva 304 school board. It is the February 24th meeting and this is, as I said, the regular meeting. Next item is the pledge of allegiance. Molly will lead us in the pledge and the flag is right back there. I aliance 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. >> There is an attendance sheet in the lobby if you'd like to register your attendance. And um that's really about it. Next item is the approval of minutes. We have the regular session and the executive session.
002Bonnie, have you gotten any corrections? Does anybody have any corrections at this time? >> Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I >> abain. >> I Hi, >> Larry. Before we go on to um item three, uh Mr. Choy would like to potentially join us via phone at some point. So, I think we need to take a vote to make sure that everybody agrees that that's okay. >> Okay. >> Could we have such a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> I I >> I >> Thank you. So now Dan will let us know when he can join. Thanks very much. >> Thank you. Okay. Item three, we're dropping part one of that. Uh we will get to that at the next meeting. Um item two of part three is the tradition of
003excellence Geneva Middle School South students policy choir in particular. So this is this is pretty special. We recognize um high school kids pretty regularly for some state level accomplishments with the tradition of excellence award but it's pretty rare we have an opportunity to recognize some middle school students uh for a state level award. So very exciting to have this chance and to have Mr. Blueby here today. Uh, since you're new to this as middle school friends and we haven't done this before, here's how this works. The board's going to come around the front. Mr. Blue is going to brag about you guys for a little bit. Then you get to come up and shake everybody's hand and we have a nice certificate for you and then stand up here by the screen and Mr. Baker
004will come take everybody's picture. Um, and maybe moms and dads will take some pictures too and it'll be great fun. So, well, take it away, Mr. Blue. >> I have a lot to say, so you might have wanted to stay in your seats. I mean, I don't know how long you're able to stay standing. So, uh, well, good evening. Uh, thanks for allowing us to come out tonight to highlight two students and and two of our staff members, uh, who have made Geneva proud. Uh, Emma Schumacher and Zach Atkins participated in the Illinois Educators Association Allstate Junior Choir. Almost 2,000 students from around Illinois auditioned in the fall for their district level choirs, which Emma and Zach both participated in. To be selected for the allstate choir, a student typically scores in the top 2%
005of students auditioning in their district. We were lucky to get two students in this group this year. Similar to the high school students that I think you uh met at the last board meeting as a member of the all state choir, Emma and Zach performed with students from around all around the state. Uh they learned five new songs rehearsing a few weeks ago on a Friday from noon till 5 and on a Saturday from 8 till 12, which getting up at for an 8:00 uh rehearsal is is an accomplishment on its own. Um uh and they uh uh did this with a director from the University of Illinois. Uh they gave fantastic performance on Saturday, February 1st in the Poria Civic Center theater. I would also like to highlight the work of Mrs. Rhonda Hibler
006and Mr. Eric Hibler, who are the two choir directors on the middle school campus. They obviously work closely with Emma and Zach on their singing skills, but help all of our choir students strive to be the best they can be. Many of our other students from both North and South participated in the District 9 choir festival back in November. We hope to see you again next time, next year at about the same time. This is the first time there has been a junior high choir uh course program like this, a statewide uh ability to have someone statewide be honored. Uh so up until now just those participated uh kids participating in just one of their nine different district choirs. It's a little bit like Hunger Games, you know, like you know, we we are in
007district nine, which I can't remember that was good or bad. Uh but let's hope it's good. Um, >> your perspective. >> Yeah, I probably probably um uh we are hopeful that Emma and Zach are role models for our future high school uh choir students. Uh thanks again for letting us come out and highlight our program. >> One at a time. >> Oh, sure. Sure. Uh all right. So, well, uh Emma Emma Schumacher, please approach the board. All right. And then Zack Atkins, can you please approach the board? >> Maybe uh Mr. and Mrs. Hibler, you could go as a pair if that's okay. [Applause] You guys got a pose for the paparazzi. Anybody else? [Applause] They have lots of singing to go do right now. Lots of lots of extra singing to go work on.
008Yeah, that's right. That's right. >> No, only the cool parts. They're cool parts. Oh, >> they could have done the pledge. >> Yes, they could have done the pledge. Next we have item three that is what makes your school special. In this case it's Western Avenue School and our Western Avenue friends are going to be coming forward here to make this official. You guys can come on up and stand kind of on either side of the screen there and Mr. Okonnell will go stand at the podium. >> I know, Mrs. Fuller. We're so excited to have you actually talking to us tonight. >> It's the first time she said anything to me. All right, Mr. Okonnell, take it away. We're excited to hear about all some awesome things at Western Avenue School. >> All right.
009Good evening, members of the school board and the community here tonight. My name is Casey Okonnell, and I am honored to serve as the principal at Western Avenue School. This is my second year um as principal of Western Avenue, and I will tell you, I'm a little biased, but it's the best school in the state of Illinois, right? Um, as you will see tonight, we have uh caring staff. We have Kathy Fuller, our library media specialist here to represent student council and Miss Pam Dah, one of our school social workers who will represent cross-hatch tutors and cross age coaches. Um, but before we begin, and we have phenomenal students here too, represent Western very well. Um, but before we begin, I wanted to share with you and brag about our wonderful PTO. Um, this last
010weekend, Western hosted their annual kids clothing consignment sale, a tradition that has been going on since the 1980s at Western Avenue School. The clothing sale is a great fundraiser ra excuse me, fundraiser for our school, but it also serves a greater purpose. Um, many families in surrounding communities rely on the clothing sale each year to support their own families. and I have learned that some of the same families come back year after year to get those great Western deals. It's great to be a part of this outstanding tradition that not only helps our school but also helps the community around us. Once again, I want to thank our amazing PTO for the countless, and I mean countless hours it takes to put this together. um months and months of planning and taking donations, tagging items
011and clothes, um setting up, taking down. I know some of our parents were there on Thursday night till midnight. And it went from 8 to um 6:00 to 9:00 on Friday night and 8 to 12:00 on Saturday. And most of those families didn't leave those parents till 5:00 on Saturday night. So, it is a lot of countless hours. >> I got several calls about the parking. So, you know, I mean, it's hot. It's hot over there. >> It is hot. So, it is an amazing event and I'm so happy to be a part of it. So, without further ado, I'm going to have our wonderful Western students here um introduce themselves and tell you about what makes Western special. >> Hi, I'm Natali Pentain and I'm in fifth grade. >> Hi, I'm Kennedy Johnson. I'm
012in fifth grade. >> Hi, I'm Sloan Cup and I'm in fifth grade. How we became representatives. >> There was a form that we had to fill out. There were two questions. why we want to be on student council and how we can make Western better. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students can fill out the forms. Mrs. Fuller, our our librarian teacher, read the forms out loud to the class. She did not say who the representatives were so that the voting would be anonymous. The class then voted for two people who they thought were the best representatives. Mrs. Fuller announced who the representatives were. We have a oh um we have a meeting once a month after school for 45 minutes to work on events for the school. We have a buddy classes. These classes are
013kindergarten, first and second grade. These classes don't have representatives, so we want to make sure they know everything that's happening in the school. We go to our buddy class when there's an announcement or is their turn to shop at the school store. Hi, I'm Camden Johnson and I'm in third grade. >> Hi, I'm Scott Strickler and I'm in fourth grade. >> Spirit week. So far, we have planned two spirit weeks for our school. We we bra we brainstorm the list of ideas. Then Mrs. Fuller gives it to Mr. Okconum and he lets us know which one we can do. We will be planning two more. Our first week has the week before holiday break. We have jersey day, mismatch day, stuffy day. We have to tell them stuffy must fit in your backpack. >> Hat
014day, pajama, and slipper day. Just last week we had kindness week and we did be kind to everyone. Wear red, pink, purple or hearts to school. Be a team be be teamwork together. Wear your favorite team jersey. >> Peace, love, and kindness. Wear some tie-dye to school. >> Share the spirit weess. We wear western wear or Viking blue. >> Cozy up with kindness. Wear comfy clothes or your PJs to school. We will plan a spirit week for before spring break and one for the end of the year. >> Hi, my name is Eden Bernard and I'm in fourth grade. >> Hi, my name is Sean Koteki and I'm in fourth grade. >> Um, school store. We run a school store on Wednesday mornings from 7:50 to 8:00. Each week, two different grade levels get to
015At the beginning of the year, we decide what items we wanted to sell. Some of the items we sell are mechanical pencils, lead, erasers, stickers, squishy items, keychains. At our meetings, we practice how to total the price and how to make change. Hi, I'm Andrew Spring and I'm in third grade. Radical Love. We work with Radical Love, a local nonforprofit that helps people new to our country. We collect new or gently used waterproof gloves in January. We collected 65 pairs of gloves. We are hoping to do another collection for Radical Love in the spring. >> Hi, I'm Abel Long and I'm in fifth grade. Hi, I'm Sloan Cup and I'm in fifth grade. Hi, I'm Keegan Martin and I'm in fifth grade. >> Hi, I'm Quinnby Pap and I'm fifth grade. >> And they're going
016to talk to you about what we call cross coaches. It includes both cross t. >> Sorry, Miss Doll. Could you do it in the microphone so they can hear you on the TV? >> Of course. I >> Yeah. >> Not my comfort. These four students are going to talk to you about cross age coaches which at Western Avenue includes cross age tutors and seal coaches, social emotional learning coaches. Take it away able. >> Cross age twos have been at Western Avenue school for 10 years. They are fifth graders who volunteer to coach younger students with letter names and sounds basic math facts and site words. We have 31 matches right now. Tutors meet with their younger students two times a week at the start of the day for 10 to 15 minutes. I have been
017a cross-age tutor for about the entire year and I'm working with a third grade boy. He is just getting better and better with his writing. Teachers give us materials to use and they check about our progress. I've been working with a first grader on her reading and writing. Perfect. >> Coaches help younger students with growing their social emotional learning skills in different ways. These coaches are fourth and fifth grade students that and are invited to participate by our school social workers. Western Avenue has had coaches for about eight years. I'm a fifth grader and my coaching combines with a growth mindset and athletic skill building. I like I appreciate that social emotional learning because when I engage with my buddy and find commonalities with him, it seems to boost his persistence and confidence a little
018more. And when I converse with him, it seems to boost my confidence, too. >> Excellent. Very nice. And that is our presentation from Western Avenue students. [Applause] They did amazing tonight. Let's give one more round of applause. Our Western Avenue students, >> I told them, we told them before, um, most adults don't have to go and speak in front of the school board. So, this is amazing. This is a resume building opportunity for you. >> Absolutely. >> Um, just really quick, I want to thank, um, everyone again for allowing us to share what makes Western Avenue special. And thank you to Mrs. Fuller and Miss Dal for being here tonight. Our students who represented us so well and the families who brought us here to support us and them tonight. So, thank you again very
019much. Picture time. >> Picture time. >> All right. [Music] >> Well played, Mr. Baker. No. Yeah, some in the Yeah, smart thinking, >> Lincoln. Thanks everybody. [Applause] do a brief introduction, but then I'll scoot up while you connect. All right. Well, that clears out the room a little bit. Thank Thank you for all your cooperation. >> Uh, next item on the agenda, item four, is the seal of biiteracy. Gina Thomas and GHS students, >> Gina. >> Yeah. So, as she's getting connected, I just want to um introduce Mrs. Thomas um and then she'll introduce her students, but she they're here today to talk about the seal of bi literacy program that Geneva engaged in this work about 10 years ago. So um it is something that um can serve our students well after high school.
020I don't want to say too much to um steal their thunder, but I also want to say uh another congratulations and kudos to our um incredibly articulate and supportive students from Western Avenue that just uh shared some time with us. But um again to our high school um students and Mrs. Thomas, thank you very much for sharing the skilled by literacy program. >> Oh, okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm worried about following up the elementary students. That's a tough act to follow up. They were so cute. Um okay, so we just wanted to talk about SEAL by literacy. We weren't sure how familiar everyone in the room was with this program. Um, but this is a great program through the state of Illinois um that allows recognition for students that are proficient in at
021least two languages, one of them being English. So if a student is speaking a different language at home or if they've learned another language at school, this program recognizes these students as being proficient in at least two languages. So CILA by literacy um is great because this is an official program through the state. So, this goes on the diploma um for the high school graduate. It goes on the high school transcript. It goes through ISBY. It's very official. Um and it just shows that Illinois recognizes the student as proficient in two languages. Um many colleges now are giving credit hours similar to AP credit. So, without having to take the AP class, students can get AP credit hours um through earning the seal of biiteracy. So, in the state of Illinois, all public universities are
022required to give hours and all community colleges are required to give hours and many private schools choose to. So, there's a >> Sorry, Mr. Thomas. Uh, Mr. Choice is just joining us uh via phone. He didn't want to miss his presentation. >> Okay. Sorry. >> So, I mean, >> okay. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, public schools are required, public universities are required to give hours. Um, they can they can determine how many hours, but community colleges are required to give them. Private schools are not required to, but most of them do throughout the state of Illinois. Every state now, as of a couple months ago, South Dakota being the last, has this program. So, some states also will honor the seal of literacy from a different state. Um, we also recognize students who
023earn this at senior awards night. And then also obviously like if they earn this this can this is a great thing to put on a college application, a job application, internships, resumeumés. Um and then this is just a kind of an example of some of the more common schools in the state and how many credit hours they give for the seal of biiteracy. The commenation to the right um is the step below the seal. So it means you haven't quite reached proficiency in both languages, but you're on your way. So maybe you're able to communicate in both languages, but you're not fully proficient in both languages. So there are a couple schools who will still give credit hours for even earning the commenation. The commenation is also something that goes on the transcript, on the
024diploma. We recognize it on the senior award booklet. Um so that's still a great achievement also. So in order to earn the seal of literacy, we do a test during class. It is the third week of March. Um so it's coming up March 10th. It comes up. It is through Avant as the company's stamp and we test in reading, writing, listening and speaking. So we'll do one test per day during class. So during class the first day we would do reading and then based on their reading score they might get a certain writing prompt the second day and then listening and then speaking the fourth day and then the fifth day if anyone was absent they can use that time to kind of catch up. So, the students with this test are able to retake
025one of the four components um after they get their scores. So, they get a score for each component and then they get a composite score. So, it'll kind of average it for them and they can retake one of those four components based on strategically where they think maybe they can raise their score the most for the composite. So, in order to test for sale by literacy, this is open for juniors and seniors at the high school. um if they are testing in a language that they're learning at school, then we have it open to levels four and five. Um or we also have it open to students who are heritage speakers who speak different languages at home. So last year we had a few people get the skill by literacy in Polish because that is
026a home language that they speak. Um this year we have a couple more. We have someone testing in Hindi, we have Italian, um Portuguese. So, we're trying to open that up as much as possible too to as many students who are speaking um second languages at home as well. Also, they have to prove proficiency in English. So, the um one way they can do that is through their standardized test score through the SAT or the ACT. They can show English proficiency. If they don't meet that proficiency benchmark through those tests, they can also take the English test through avant stamp. and we've never had anyone so far have trouble meeting it through this test. The cost is $30 for each um student that pays for the test, the proctors for the makeup sessions or um
027the retakes. All right. So, to earn the seal, students need to show intermediate high levels of um language proficiency. For the commenation, they need to show intermediate low. So, what that means, I know it's kind of hard to see this graphic from where you are. Um, but intermediate high means that they are able to communicate with unexpected situations. There might be several steps to a problem they have to solve. They're able to interact in a question and answer format. They can speak in the past, present, and future. Um, so it's a more complex situation whereas intermediate low is much more basic. So, they can use complete sentences. They can talk about topics that are very familiar with them. Um, and they can still have a conversation, but it's not something that is going to be
028totally unexpected, like, "Oh, my car brakes just went out and I need to solve this problem." These are just some examples of topics associated with the intermediate level. So, really, it's a lot of like everyday life things. So, holidays, um, health, transportation, contemporary issues. So, I wanted to let the students, um, go ahead and share with you how this experience has impacted them and how the experience has gone for them and then I also have data from previous years after. Okay. So, would you like So, Ellie Larson, we'll let Ellie start. >> Okay. Hi, I'm Ellie. Uh, last year I'm a senior in high school. Last year I received the accommodation seal and this year I'm enrolled in AP Spanish. So it's definitely like a motivator to help me like want to get especially because
029I was a couple points only like a couple points off from receiving the full seal. So it definitely helps motivate me to pay attention specifically in like categories that I struggled with on the seal like listening and stuff. So it helps me stay motivated especially with it coming up. >> Um hi my name is Sarah. Uh last year I also received the accommodation which was um good I guess but this year I'm kind of hoping that I can work hard and get the seal next year and um next year I'll be going to school at Baylor where I'm going to be minoring in Spanish. So it's just all the more like motivation to try and get the seal so that um some of these credit hours can um pass over to next year and I
030can graduate sooner. >> Hi, my name is Evan. Uh last year I was fortunate enough to get the seal of biiteracy in Spanish and uh this is really crucial for me in my next steps after high school. Um I'm looking to study Spanish in college as well um in a double minor format and uh it's been really helpful because it makes me a lot more competitive at the schools that I'm looking for and I also plan to study abroad while I'm in school. And so when I'm further applying for study abroad programs in Spain, it makes me also a lot more competitive and have a lot better chance of things like that. Hi, I'm Haley Jennings. I'm a senior and last year I got the commendation on my seal as well with a composite score
031of 5.75. So, since my score was 0.25 off, that also like Ellie was saying, um, like motivated me to stay in Spanish and I'm in Spanish again this year. And I think the test was just a good opportunity to accurately or more accurately see um where my Spanish skills actually were and to apply what I was learning in class in a more independent like context. And yeah, I think the seal was just a good opportunity all the way around. And I think it helped me realize um both how much I love learning Spanish and how I want to continue to use it in the future like evidence were saying like whether that's a minor in Spanish or um just helpful in studying abroad and things like that. Hi, my name is Lucila Scavo. Um, I'm
032currently in AP French. I'm a senior and I took the seal of bi literacy um last year for French. Um, I did earn the full seal. Um, and I think it's made me realize what I'm capable of doing as a student and how much the staff at Geneva High School really prepared um us going into the SEAL and how confident I was with my speaking skills and reading, etc. Um, and it's made me motivated um, as a student and also inspired me to want to branch off and learn more languages in the near future and hopefully become fluent in those as well. Um, and overall I had a really great experience. I felt very confident going into it and um, I'm really happy that I had the opportunity to take it through Geneva High School.
033Um, hi, I'm Luke Gaston and um, I did get the seal by literacy and I just found it like very useful in a variety of things. For one, I put on my college application. Like I think it's something that colleges find um, very impressive and so I think it made my application a lot more competitive. And one of the schools I'm considering is University of Illinois and I would get a decent amount of credit hours there. So that would be extremely helpful. And then another thing that was I think briefly touched on, but I want to kind of emphasize it is like how we did this in class and so I didn't have to do any work outside of school or anything like that. I think it was super convenient and um kind of like
034an allaround just good experience. I didn't have to take any time. Um and I used everything that I learned in the Spanish class. So yeah, >> great. Thank you. Um, so some data from previous years. So this data on this current slide, these are all students that were currently enrolled in Geneva High School last year. So the juniors and the seniors that were enrolled last year. So by the end of 2024, um, we had 78 students who had earned the seal of biiteracy. 35 of those students were juniors last year. So that means this year there are 35 seniors who already went into senior year with a seal of literacy, which is great. Um, and then 43 of the students who earned it last year were seniors and nine of those had earned it their
035junior year. So if you notice that means we went also from nine juniors two years ago earning it to 35 juniors earning it last year. We did switch companies um test companies and this one allows for the composite score whereas the other one didn't. So it kind of helps if someone is maybe stronger in reading and less strong in speaking and it kind of helps balance it out. But this is the test that all the surrounding districts were using. So we kind of tried it out and it seems like it worked very well for us. So um lots of seals. And then the commenation we had 153 students who had earned the commenation. 81 of those were juniors last year. So we have 81 seniors this year who already have accommodation. 72 of those students
036were seniors. Um and then 37 of them had already had it from the year before. 35 newly earned last year. And then just from last year's test, so these are students that just test it last year. Um, earning the seal of bi literacy, we had four students earn it in French just last year, two in German, three in Polish, and then 61 in Spanish. And then the commenation, we had 12 in French, 10 in German, 125 in Spanish. And this isn't up here, but I do want to point out too that there were only at most a handful of students that didn't earn at least the commenation. So by level four, which is the minimum um level to test for this, um almost everyone earned at least the commenation, which is great that they could
037at least have that. And then they can also try again for the seal this year if they were juniors last year. So this year we have lots of different tests ordered, which is amazing. Um, Bulgarian, Bulgarian we need, for some reason that's come up a couple times, but that one is not one that is widely offered. So, it is pretty cost prohibitive. But we have the Portuguese, we have 179 Spanish, two Polish, two Italian, one Hindi, the 17 German, 23 French, and then these three English tests are for students who already know they didn't meet the threshold with their SAT and ACT score. So, they're just going ahead and ordering it here so they can get that out of the way and meet that English threshold this way. Any questions or questions? >> I don't
038have a question, but I do want to brag a little bit about Mrs. Thomas because she will not brag about herself. >> Uh but she has assumed the responsibility of overseeing this entire seal of biteracy program. um in addition to her teaching responsibilities as a Spanish teacher at Geneva High School. In addition, she has been um paramount in investigating like what our surrounding districts are doing and through that work is where she was able to identify that we were actually having our students take a much more rigorous exam to meet um the standards for both commendation andor seal because it didn't you know give you a composite score. So I just want to thank her for her work in leading this program and um you know congratulate her on how well program runs at Geneva
039High School. So, >> thank you so much. Thank you for letting us share with you. We appreciate it. >> Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you. >> Oh, okay. >> Hang on. I'll mute you. >> You know, I I just want to add a comment. The ability to speak another language will serve you all well for your entire life. It can be a career and it can open doors all over the world. And it's an advantage you have. else. >> Way to go, guys. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Sure you have lots of studying to do. Uh if you haven't had enough chance to speak with the next is public comments and so this is your chance to speak to the school board if you'd like. I can't get anybody
040to do this. At any rate, seriously, next item on the agenda is public comments. And if you'd like to address the board, uh Bonnie, have you received any requests? >> Would anyone like to speak at this time? Thank you for your attention. Legislative updates, Jackie. >> Yes. So, there have been thousands of bills already introduced um in the 104th General Assembly. Something that I did appreciate is the IASB uh when they send out their legislative updates, they do now have the bills broken down by different categories, so you can easily click on the category and read what they're following. So, I don't have any specific bills I want to share with you today, but uh know that the governor did have his budget address. people have been reacting to that. Um the budget is just
041that just a proposed budget. There's a lot of time between now and the end of May when everything's going to be finalized. So uh don't read too much into the budget at this, but it is a starting point for the general assembly and the governor. So that's it. I'll have a hopefully more expanded report next time. >> Thank you, Jackie. Why the superintendent's report is next. >> All right. Thanks for the opportunity to share a few things with you tonight. Um first uh and this kind of really goes right along with the uh seal of biiteracy information. Um this is just some preliminary information for you. Uh but pretty exciting and and information we wanted to share. So as you've heard us talk a lot about um our advanced placement program as part of our
042strategic strategic plan. you know, we've been working to um or we recognize the need to grow um our uh uh dual credit program, right? That's not as robust in Geneva, but as we've said many times, our AP program is pretty robust. And every year we go through and review um and analyze the data and and what we're seeing. And um you know, uh we've seen some pretty awesome uh results consistently over time. And the most recent report we reviewed uh really made us uh you know pretty proud of what's going on at Geneva High School with our AP program. As you know and as we've shared before, we have almost um just about every single AP course uh that you could offer. Um presuming we have the program, right? So we don't have AP Italian
043obviously because we don't have an Italian program, but we have the vast majority of courses. Um, and I know the team at Geneva High School really made a concerted effort several years ago to start um, growing that pro program and not only growing it but expanding that rigorous opportunity to more and more kids. And what you see here is kind of the results of that. Um, we have had uh, consistently strong growth in both the offerings and in the participation um, in AP courses and in taking the AP tests. But what's really cool about that and I'll show you these two charts in a minute in a little more detail is that as that uh growth has or as that participation has grown um the pass rate has remained high and in fact last year
044was our highest pass rate ever. Um, many schools as they increase the participation in their AP courses, naturally that pass rate, kids who get a three, four, or five on the AP tests, tends to go down a little bit as they expand opportunities for more kids. But that's not been the case here in Geneva. Um, so, you know, when you see that increased participation while the pass rate is increasing, we really think that's a celebration. So, uh this is considered kind of the best overall measure for understanding um you know the the participation in the AP program in a school and that's the passing tests per 100 kids in your school. Um, and you can see since uh 2011, how high that number's gone from just about 14 passing tests per 100 kids in 2011
045to this past most recent year, 48 passing tests um per 100 kids in our school. So, that's pretty great. Now, a quick little tangent. You see that big jump um from 2023 to 2024. Um, part of that is a result of some new classes and another part of that is a result of um, remember there was some state law about uh, what courses kids could take depending on what their standardized tests were and that opened it up for us a little bit. So, a lot more kids uh, took some of those courses and took the tests. And then if you look at the next again at that next chart um you see our pass rate uh which is remember AP is you can score from a zero to five right and a three four five
046three four or five is considered passing um our pass rate is certainly well above the national average and the state average um but has remained pretty consistently high um not pretty consistently high very high when you see 88.5% of our kids who take an AP class um score a three, four, or five. That's that's pretty great. Um so something to celebrate um and something for us to be proud of as we look to see if there's even more opportunities for kids to to have some success in Geneva. Uh also wanted to just touch base uh about some community engagement and collaboration with our community partners that's been happening. Um we've been working with our partners at the Geneva Library for the last year and a half. um and they have an initiative on their end
047um for community engagement and you know collaboration with community partners as well. So um our our strategic plans kind of align in that way and one of the things that we've embarked on with uh them is a project to uh work to make sure that every kid and staff member in Geneva 304 um has a Geneva Public Library card and has access to all the resources at the Geneva Public Library. Um, so we've taken the formal steps to to start working on that process and are starting to look at what are some of the things we need to do on the back end to make some of that all work. Um, at this point we're anticipating it might end up becoming part of uh our enrollment or registration process. You know, families can opt in
048or opt out that way. We're still looking at some of the details. Um but we think this would be a great opportunity for that partnership and to again just to ensure that um every kid and and staff member in our district has access to the resources over there. Ultimately what this would mean if when we get down the road and have some details to share um it would mean a formal intergovernmental agreement that we'd bring to you and they'd take to the board of the the library board as well and we'd all um agree presuming it met everybody's uh goals. But we think this is a good thing and wanted to get this in front of you guys and the the public. Uh, also just wanted to talk about some uh ongoing uh I guess
049the best way to call it is institutional modernization that's going on um across the district. We have some some big things we're working on that are really helping nudge the district in many cases behind the scenes but in some cases you know it will be in forward facing. Um, but to just try to help modernize some of our systems. There's a lot of work going on in that regard. You've heard a little bit, I think, about the student information system. That's e school. Uh, this is something that touches everyone in our district, right? It touches all of our staff. It touches all of our kids. It our parents. Um, everybody has to use this system. Um, and our system has been around for a long time. And we've had uh multiple teams really uh digging
050into this and looking into this. Um and it's likely that sooner than later um members of that team will be coming forward to you all with a recommendation to uh make a change and and get a new system that we would then theoretically be spending uh next year preparing to transition to. Um so that that'll be a big lift because again it touches everybody but a lot of good quality work has been going on behind the scenes to start getting us ready for that. Um also our ERP our enterprise resource planning system which is like this the system behind the scenes a lot of people don't actually touch or see. Um but that helps us manage our core business function say in HR or finance or things like that. um you know our teams have
051been working uh hard to make a transition with that too and that'll actually be coming very soon. So I know HR and um the business office team and technology they've all been working real hard um and we'll be making that transition pretty soon. Another thing that we've been doing to help modernize um is started to embark on some work with records digitization um and that helps us in a lot of ways uh in some just concrete ways. You probably know there are some student records that we are required as a school district to keep for decades. Um, and those have currently been sitting uh in pallets of boxes in the high school in a space that we can't have not been able to use. Um, so we're starting to get those records, those student records
052digitized, but also in some real functional ways. This is helping us. Um, some of you might be familiar. There's a room back behind here that has all of the plans, all of the blueprints, and all of those documents for the whole district, you know, things going back hundreds of years. And if something goes wrong in a building, somebody's got to come over here and dig through that those big files and try to find the blueprints to this building from 1917, for example. Um and so we've embarked on a process to get all of those digitized so that uh and and into a system that our construction and our operations and maintenance folks can use and they can just pull up and look at things. So I mean that's that's a nice concrete way um or
053example of how this modernization is going to help us. And then last, hopefully people have started to know notice over time um some of the ways we're working to improve this experience uh for us and for the community. Um we have been working kind of slowly and methodically over the last several months uh to improve the the recording and the live experience in this room for our board meetings with some facility or some equipment and facility upgrades. This is an ongoing process we've been doing slowly, but hopefully you've noticed the microphone sound better. There's a lot less clutter in here. The AV equipment is starting to um slowly be improved. So, that means the feed that families can see is going to look a lot better. We'll be able to have the capacity for live
054stream of it if we need to do that. So really, we hope that all of this is leading to an improved experience um you know, for our community and and the folks who participate and want to know the good stuff that's going on in our district. So that's really all I have today, Larry. >> Thank you, Dr. Barrett. And uh yeah, very familiar with the new email addresses. That's really fun. Uh item seven, board dialogue topics and pending action consideration has no items. Item eight, work study topics and future action considerations. The finance committee calendar draft. The finance committee has reviewed and approved this draft finance committee meeting calendar. They are proposing that for 2025 2026 the finance committee meet before the second board meeting of the month instead of the first of the month.
055And uh unless anybody has any questions or comments, we've got Todd over there just ready to go. Okay. Hearing none, we'll proceed. Item nine, information. Um, >> no, no actions required at this time. Okay. Um item nine information, board meeting presentation schedule, a foyer request and board correspondence, suspension report, out of state trip requests, five-year financial forecast, and the 202526 preliminary resource adoption and seven Miller Act annual report. And this is for information only. There's no action required there as well. Larry, Larry, I think we just wanted to Todd just wanted to briefly talk uh about um about this Miller Act document that we need to make sure by statute uh we reference here in the board meeting. So >> yeah, that's correct. So this is basically a basically a new law that came out
056in 2023. And although we typically disclose uh disclose our cash balances during the levy presentation, uh this act went a little further and said that we have to take a three-year average and in so we have to demonstrate that our cash reserves haven't exceeded a threshold. I'm proud to report the board that we are under the threshold and no action is required. Should it be, we'd have to have a reduction plan in place and submit that to the Illinois State Board of Education. So this is just confirmation that we're meeting uh the spirit of public act 103394. So it's just further proof of our good standing. >> Well, thank you Todd. Any other comments or questions? Okay, next item 10, my favorite, the consent agenda. Item one is the personnel report. Now report to resignations,
057retirements, leave requests, changes in assignments, full-time equivalent, new hires. Item two, monthly financials for January. Item three, addendum to support staff working agreement. Item four, purchase request to purchase $145,89860 data center warehouse for wireless access points. And item five, request to purchase $90,482.80 80 cents data center warehouse network switching switching equipment discussion and then a motion. Anybody have any questions or anything? A motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Dan, you were called first. Damn, can you hear me? >> Uh, yeah. How do you hear my name though? >> You were just called by Bonnie. >> I >> thanks. >> I as well. Thank you. Okay. Final item on the agenda just about is the board member comments and reports. And uh I guess we should start with Dan since he's ready to
058go. I think it's I think it's safe to say Dan had a great time at the North PTO meeting. >> Yeah. And then >> Molly. >> Uh yeah, I will. Um, we had a technology task force meeting uh since our last board meeting. I was not able to physically attend, but it was really great. Um, I caught up with Mike Wilks afterwards. A lot of the update Dr. Barrett shared in his superintendent report um regarding the student information system, the ERP. Uh, he did share there was a presentation from learning and teaching on the use of instructional technology and internet-based resources, which I think is always really great. Um, my oldest is a second grader and I'm constantly blown away of the technology used. So, those of you parents and students at the higher grades,
059I'm sure it's even that much more. Um, so big kudos to our technology team for keeping everything up and running. Um, I was also able to attend the H Heartland PTO meeting. It was a rescheduled uh due to that bad weather that we had some weeks ago. Uh we got an update on a lot of the activities that the PTO is involved with and what they were able to accomplish. Uh recently they had the Candyland Carnival uh which my family did attend. It is just a phenomenal event. Such great attendance and excitement throughout the building for the carnival. Um they talked about trivia night um and other events that are planned for the remainder of the year. So big shout out to the PTO. Uh it was a Zoom meeting and there were so many
060people logged on to the PTO meeting. I thought that was super cool. So big shout out to H Heartland community for attending that. And um one really cool thing too uh for those of you um when you do attend PTO meetings, we got a really great opportunity to hear from Principal Hornberg and she gave us a little demonstration of the map testing and the software that is used. So I actually got to see what my daughter sees on the screen when she's doing her map testing and she explained it. Uh so that was really cool. So, thank you to Principal Hornberg for that. Um, and kudos to all of our students tonight. Like, what amazing work they're doing. Uh, the dual languages and our Western um, students. I I was really blown away. So, thank
061you all for getting up here and presenting the great stuff. >> Thank you, Molly. Paul. >> Yeah. Again, um, fantastic with all the students. I live in the western um uh Avenue School District area and it's great to see the kids out there. Uh last Tuesday I was at the uh theater boosters meeting and we are um in full process moving forward for the spring musical which is Susle and if you don't know what that is and I don't is it didn't at first it's a Dr. Seuss based musical. Um, very familyfriendly. There's going to be four shows uh on April 24th, April 25th, and two shows on the 26th, one at 1:00 a.m. 1 p.m. and one at 700 p.m. Um, it's very family friendly. There'll be a lot of kids there. So, please
062get your tickets early for that. Uh, I'd highly recommend it. The theater boosters also asked me to uh announce that um they have two scholarship um just waiting for submissions um of applications for those students thinking of majoring or minoring in theater. It's the Philip G. Walker Theater Booster Scholarship and it's two $1,000 scholarships. Um, submissions are required by April 21st and I think you can go online to get the application for that. This afternoon we had the facilities task force meeting and to show you that good things come to those people who come here and talk to the board. Um we were chatting today that um we were looking at the different projects that are ongoing and I don't know if many people remember this but after the summer events and the very hot
063summer um we had a number of parents come in and talk to us about uh seeing what we could do to improve the air flow and the cooling of the gymnasiums during the various summer camps. And the good news is is that um by the first of April or somewhere around that time, uh we'll be installing large fans in the two gyms at the high school. Um and there's going to be cooling for the training room, which I heard earlier today that that was a major issue in the past. So, progress is being made in that area uh for those kids that participate in various summer uh events at the high school. And finally, the other thing we talked about here a couple months ago was the the long-term program we have for changing all
064the lighting in all of our schools. And we are making great progress at Geneva Middle School North. Um 603 lights have been changed out since uh I think we did this two months ago. >> Yeah. >> Um we've all the hallways, the stairwells, uh the mechanical rooms are done. Uh four of the eight team centers will be done by mid-March. Uh the gyms will be done over spring break. Um and probably by the end of this year, the school will be uh will be completed, which is um fantastic. It's a cost savings for us and it's better lighting for all of our students. Uh next year it's going to be Fabian and Mil Creek elementary schools will be the ones on the on the hit list to get done. So we're very excited about getting
065uh that done. So great pro great effort by the uh O andM group on on this uh the projects that that we've set them to do. >> Thank you Paul Willard. Would you like to go next? >> Testing. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. So I I would like to say that I was um reminiscing or maybe just kind of um scaling scrolling back in time. I'm not a historian but um as I look at these uh children especially from um Weston I one word that kept coming to my mind was um affirmation and um 56 years ago not to bore people but that's about when uh President Nixon came up with this idea of what we call now affirmative action what I saw what I witness I think we witnessed was actually a number of students
066taking action to affirm others And that may may not be redefining what affirmative action is, but I think that we saw it in action. I'll put it that way. Um, President Kennedy in 1960 in his inaugural 1961 really his inaugural address said that children are our greatest resource. And I think that when we look back on that, you know, even though that was decades ago, sometimes it's good to just remember that they really are our greatest resource. And I think that what we see here is citizenship. And I was just really moved. I was just um quietly looking at these children affirming each other. And I think that may be a way of defining action to affirm each other. So I was really moved by that. I think the community has served quite well to
067have that as an example by students at Western and hopefully the other schools as well. Yeah, >> that's all I got. >> Thank you, Jackie. Yeah, I did want to thank everyone for coming um to our meeting tonight with the various presentations and awards. It's it's a lot to ask our students to come in the evening, their families to get them here to take time out of their own time to talk to us, but it is really meaningful for all of us on the board to hear right from them about all the things that they're doing. So, thanks to them for coming tonight. Uh I also uh attended the technology task force. The only thing I wanted to add to what Molly said was that I am impressed that um Mike Wils and his team
068have been really taking a look at pricing and different options for the equipment purchases we make. We have our capital plan in place for technology and we generally follow that. but he shared with us that maybe we might move some things around and make some purchases in a different year just because of pricing is better and the technolog is ready and they've been studying it and any question I had he was able to answer. So, um those are some of those smaller things that when we're on our task forces that we hear that doesn't always make it to the board meeting but our teams are looking at our spending and trying to do what's best for everybody and and by the time it gets to us we we approve it but there was a lot
069of thought put into it before we got here. So, Thank you, Jackie. Um, for myself, I can kind of echo what everyone said. I think that we've got a an excellent school system and we're moving ahead well in any number of areas. I I particularly want to highlight Paul's example of of the scholarships that are a possibility. We all always bear in mind saving people money, but that's the first direct offer I've seen. So, well done. Um, in any case, the the theater boosters are are really good and the lighting system that Paul mentioned and if you haven't had a chance to go to North to see that, it's a dramatic improvement and and we're very pleased to have initiated that and also initiated it at a very reasonable cost structure. The break even point
070is very short and from then on out we'll be saving money for the school district in every school building. So, that is something that I'm particularly pleased with. The next item on the agenda is notices and announcements. Unless there's something I'm unaware of, we don't have any. And that leaves one more item 13. >> Motion to adjurnn. Second. >> All in favor? >> Oppos? Same sign. Thank you everyone.