001This is the regular meeting of the Geneva School Board for Monday, September 16th. It's 7 pm. I'd like Bonnie to call the role, please. >> Here. Here, here, >> here, here, >> here. >> Thank you. Uh, first of all, welcome. I got my Christmas sweater on just so we can note the holidays are approaching. I'm sure you're all aware of that, but uh, welcome to this meeting in December. The next item is the pledge, and Shanette is going to lead us in the pledge. The flag is over there for it stands nationisible for all. >> There is an attendance sheet in the lobby. If you'd like to register attendance, it would be nice if you could sign that. The uh next item is the approval of minutes. Bonnie, have you received any changes to the
002minutes? Uh any at this time? Anyone? >> Motion to approve the minutes for the regular session of November 11. >> So moved. >> Second. I >> I recognition item three, recognition, awards, presentations, public hearings, uh traditional excellence, GHS students, girls swimming, art students, girls cross country, and varsity football. Andy, would you like to? >> Yeah, Mr. Rogers. Uh, a lot of students tonight with a lot of accomplishments when I'm sure they all want to be studying for finals tonight. So, uh, thank you guys for coming so much. And Mr. Rogers, tell us some great things. Brag on these guys. >> Thanks, Dr. Barrett. And thank you to the board for the opportunity to recognize these outstanding students tonight. >> Uh, before I start bragging, like Dr. Barrett said, we'll just go over a quick uh,
003process and how this is going to work. When your name is called, if you would please make your way up to Mr. choy there on the far left and then you'll shake hands with each person as you work your way to the right and then in each with with each group I'm going to introduce each group one at a um we'll do one group at a time each group when you're done going through the line stay right up here in front of the screen we will take a group photo esteemed Mr. Baker will be taking that photo tonight. I believe parents, you'll also have the opportunity to take a photo as well once we've got the photo taken for social media. All right. So, the first group we're going to recognize this evening is our
004IHSA girls swimmers. Um, I always have to clarify this because I think a lot of times people who don't really understand the swim team situation in Geneva, they scratch their heads thinking, "Wait, how do we have a swim team? We don't have a pool." Well, we are very fortunate to be part of a co-op with West Chicago and Betavia High School. So, we swim at West Chicago because they have a pool. Uh, but let's be honest, our girls swimmers dominate that co-op team. Without our girls, they would not have much of a team. Uh so tonight we are recognizing seven young ladies who qualified for the IHSA state swim meet held Friday, November 15th and Saturday, November 16th at the FMC Natatorium in Westmont. So I'm going to introduce each of the members and then
005I'll tell you what they qualified for and it is quite an extensive list. They didn't just qualify for one thing and go down there and swim Friday afternoon and come home. Uh they dominated their sectional um at St. Charles North I believe it was uh and their amazing results at the sectional qualified them for a number of races at the IHSA state meet. So at this time please congratulate Jenna Billet. [Applause] >> Oh come on. I just gave the instructions. Jenna, freshman mistake. We'll give it to you. All right. Claire Conklin, [Applause] Emory Larson, [Applause] Ryan Lehan, [Applause] Claire Schumacher, Maddie Sakura, [Applause] and unable to be here tonight, Claire Simon. All right, so now let's go through the list of events that these girls swam. And girls, as I recognize you again, just raise
006your hand so everybody knows who we're talking about. Jenna Billet swam in the 200 medley relay, the 400 four sty freestyle relay, and the 100 butterfly. Claire Conklin in the 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay, and 100 freestyle. Emory Emory Larson, the 400 freestyle relay, 200 freestyle, and 100 backstroke. Ryan Lehan in the 200 medley relay. Claire Schumacher, the 200 freestyle relay. Mattie Sakura, the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay. And Claire Simon, the 200 medley relay. Now, Clark Conklin placed 11th in the state. So, the way that the U state meets, you swim in the preliminaries on Friday, and if you are in the top 16, then you advance to Saturday, and they award a top eight and an um and a ninth through 16th place. Uh it's a very very prestigious
007meet, very competitive meet, very difficult to make your way into the finals on Saturday. But Claire not only qualified for Saturday, but earned 11th place in the state in the 100 freestyle. Congratulations, Claire. Next, Claire, Jenna Billet, and Emory Larson were part of the eighth place 400 freestyle relay team. Way to go, girls. And finally, the other team that uh other team that qu sorry placed in the state, Claire Conklin, Claire Schumacher, and Mattie Sakura were part of the 16th place 200 freestyle relay team. Congratulations to our girls swim team and we're grateful to Sophia Parr who is the coach of the co-op team. And the amazing thing about this group, all seven, not a senior in the group. So, we're expecting some outstanding accolades coming our way again next year. So, good luck, girls,
008and congratulations on a great season. All right, pictures >> or not? Wow. >> All right, parents, come on up if you'd like. >> Mrs. Leehan's gonna share. All right, our girls swimmers. Great job. Next, we're going to change gears for just a second. We're going to talk about some outstanding art students. We had three students earn recognition at the Chicagoland 4x5 art show. What is the 4x5 art show you ask? It is an art show where the artwork that is created and entered in this art show must be 4 in x 5 in. And it has been around since 1999 and it is called the largest small art exhibition in the nation. And we had three Geneva High School students enter artwork in this uh show who earned uh outstanding honors. Starting with Cecilia D'Angelus.
009Don't think she's here. Cecilia placed third in the mixed media category. Next, Willow Hul. Willow received honorable mention for analog photography. And finally, Miles Shepard. Miles Shepard placed third place in the digital photography category. So, congratulations to our outstanding art students. Next, girls cross country. For the third year in a row, we are recognizing Sophia Border. Come on up, Sophia. Sophia is a junior at GHS and this fall she finished eighth as an individual at the Glenbard West regional. She and her teammates advanced as a team to the Lake Park sectional. At that sectional, Sophia finished in 15th place as an individual and that qualified her for the IHSA state meet at Detweiler Park in Peoria, Illinois. Sophia is a junior, so three in a row means she's been to state each year of her
010high school career. And on November 9th in Peoria, uh Sophia finished in 51st place out of 235 runners and it was her best time of this junior year season. So congratulations on the three repeat, Sophia. Congratulations on all of those honors and we look forward to a great senior season as well. Congratulations, Sophia. And I do want to thank uh Coach Beth Morrison who is the girls cross country coach. I don't think she's with us tonight, but she does a great job with our girls team. Borders, would you like to take a picture? All right. Okay. Next up, our varsity football team. Uh we're doing something unique tonight because we couldn't possibly bring the entire football team into this room. Uh so we've asked our team captains to represent the team this evening so that
011we could brag about the team and our captains and our coach uh here tonight. And then tomorrow night uh Dr. Barrett and I and a couple of board members are going to attend the football banquet at the high school where the entire team will receive their certificates that their uh teammates are receiving tonight. So representing the varsity Yes. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's right. Thank you. So you guys will have to take the picture as m as Mr. Baker asked with or without. You're taking it without. Yes. Thank you for that clarification. But anyway, recognizing representing our varsity football team this evening, please welcome our team captains, James Buckz, [Applause] Tony Chahino, Sha Lane, [Applause] Joe Pettit and Talon Taylor. These boys were the leaders of our varsity football team that were crowned upstate 8
012conference champions, defeating Betavia for the first time in 14 years. I remember Talon telling me, I think it was your sophomore year. We're going to get it done this year. We didn't get it done sophomore year or junior year, but you got it done before you graduated. Way to go. They next uh after completing the conference season defeated Chicago Amenson 49 to7 at Burgess Field hosted a second round playoff game and defeated Burlington Central 42 to28 in the quarterfinals at Lake Forest High School in pro probably the game that had the most recovered onside kicks in high school history. Uh we defeated Lake Forest 49-14 and then hosting the semifinals here at GHS defeated Kerry Grove 28-26 and that victory qualified the Vikings for the state title GA game against East St. Louis at Illinois
013State University. Unfortunately, we know the result was not what we had hoped. We lost 48 to28. But let's keep something in mind. East St. Lewis had allowed seven points for the entire playoffs. Not seven points a game, seven points for the entire playoff run that they were on. We scored 28 points. At one point, we were down 34-28 and we ended the game, if you look at all eight classes of state uh of the football playoffs for the finals, uh we had the second most competitive game of Friday and Saturday's eight playoff games. Um, these boys and their teammates qualified for the IHSA state meet for the third time in school history. First time being 1975, long before any of you were born, 2008 and now again in 2024. I hope boys it is a
014memory that you will never ever forget. Uh, the community uh, I know in these instances when we qualify as a team, the community never forgets. There are still people talking about the 1975 game. I'm one of them. I rode to the 1975 game in the back of my parents' station wagon. I'll never forget it. And it was even colder than the game we played uh uh that uh just this couple of weeks ago. So with that, I would also now like to introduce the gentleman who coached this team to the third state finals appearance in school history, Mr. Boon Thorguson. All right, it's now picture time. Anybody else? Okay. Uh, just as I mentioned, I hope the boys never forget it. Girls, I hope you never forget the experience of going down state. All of
015these accomplishments, Sophia, all of your accomplishments are absolutely amazing and we're very proud of the accomplishments. our art students, even though they're not here, all of the things that our students do are absolutely amazing, and we're so grateful for uh the way that you represent Geneva High School. Not just because you're successful on the field or u on in the pool or whatever, but the way that you represent us in each of these events is also very, very important. So guys, girls, thank you very much and congratulations parents. Congratulations to all of you. Are we going right into our next recognition as well? >> Okay, guys, would you do me a favor? We're going to recognize a staff member of ours who's retiring and then we can all depart together if you don't mind. So,
016the next person I'd like to introduce tonight is uh Geneva High School's registar for the past 29 years, Debbie Hansen. Debbie, would you make your way up? Debbie has been an extremely dedicated employee at Geneva Community High School. um when she broke the very unfortunate news to me that she was going to retire. And I'm realizing I'm getting older and older because um I I keep thinking that I'm going to outlast all these people, but I keep getting these retirement letters put on my desk and I keep saying, "No, no, please don't leave." Because it's very difficult to replace people like Debbie Hansen. 29 years of keeping track of everyone's GPA, tracking down teachers at the end of each semester to make sure that their grades not only have been turned in, but their grades
017are perfectly accurate, making sure that the transcripts for all of our seniors are meticulously calculated and done so that the colleges and universities that our students attend uh all receive them. making sure that all of the families, think about the number of families, Debbie, that have moved into Geneva who have had residency u issues that they have to take care of and Debbie handles all of that with them. Parents, families who leave Geneva High School have to work with her. So, uh, when I finally came to the realization that Debbie was in fact going to leave and I couldn't talk her out of it, um, I said, "Okay, could you please give me a job description so that we can share the truth about what this job looks like with your replacement?" Well, I was
018expecting maybe a page at the most. How many pages did you give me? I think six. Pretty sure it was six front and back. Um, and that is a good summation of just how important Debbie has been to Geneva High School for the past 29 years in our counseling and advising office. She is just a uh a wealth of information. Um, she is the resident expert and the good news is we still have her on speed dial and the district has uh gotten her to to agree we are investigating the possibility of changing our student management data system. Debbie's the expert on the current system. So, we're utilizing her ex utilizing tapping into her expertise to determine what do we need to do differently in the future. So, we are very very grateful for her
019help with that. I would also add that uh not only and and like like many many people in our district, uh Debbie was a very devoted parent of two Geneva students as well. And her students were very involved in music and drama. And Debbie took it upon herself as a member of the music boosters and theater boosters to become our basically ticket manager for all uh musicals and plays and um had a seating chart developed for the auditorium. Uh provided all the data after each show as to how many people attended, how much money we collected, how much money we had to spend. um she did that during her students time at Geneva High School and well after her time uh after their time when they had graduated. So we are going to miss Debbie
020for a wide variety of reasons. U but Debbie thank you very very much for your dedication for your meticulous work uh your attention to detail and uh just being a great colleague to all the people at Geneva High School as well. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you so much. And I'm gonna miss I'm gonna miss you guys. >> We know Dr. Barrett and the board, thank you very much for this opportunity to honor everyone here this evening. We appreciate >> it. And then there was one. >> This is my saddest saddest part of the meeting when everybody leaves. But I'm going to blame Todd. >> Well, that's why I'm here. You hear Todd? I I think we're all expecting Todd to do the 2024 tax levy presentation and that would be correct. That would be correct. >>
021No, this is real. This this is final. >> Oh, it says tenant, doesn't it? I open the wrong document. >> Too many of them. I just AV muted you there. So, uh, did it? >> There we go. >> How about that? Absolutely. I've uh given you the same presentations because I've had no reason to change our levy, which I think is good news. Nothing's came forward that would make me reconsider it when I present it to the board of education. So, tonight is the uh final levy I present to you. This is up uh for adoption. Uh tonight, you'll get the same reason that you've had, so I'll go through it fairly steady. I'll cover the major points and you can have your uh truth and taxation hearing and then you'll have an opportunity to
022vote on this later on. All right. So again, we talked about previously about the components of a tax levy with the EAV, our new property as a result of construction, PTEL, how CPI affects the uh levy process, our tax rates, our maximum rates, our total extension, our revenue recapture, and our truth and taxation which we will hold tonight. Our EAV is just essentially the valuation of the property. Um it's done by uh each township assessor. It's provided to the county and it's given to us as a district to utilize for our calculation purposes. This was the history of the rate setting EAV. Um so you can see how that's changed. Um there are two different types of EAV. So we have a total EAV of all of the properties in the district that we can
023levy against for taxation. And then after you take out the tax increment financing and then there's a final what we call the rate setting EAV. So you if you've ever seen two different numbers in here I think you had that question Mr. Troy that's why so we have one that we look at all the taxing bodies and then after that is what we think we'll actually get after the tiff district uh dollars are removed. Uh this was our new construction. We received no other information to change um what we estimate. It can't go up or down because this is an estimate provided by the county. Again, this is the PTO law. That is basically our tax cap. We are one of those counties here in Kain County. Uh the limitation essentially the lesser of 5%
024or CPI and that's our consumer price index. It was set at 3.4%. We were notified by the county that that was our CPI for this tax levy process. This is our consumer price index again 3.4. Uh this is the uh funds that are subject to ptail. So it's all funds with the exception of bond and interest. Uh the county clerk will actually do the assessment for the bond and interest. It's what we have on what we call our debt book. That's the principle and interest and then they add 1% in case there's some shortage of individuals paying their taxes. So we're not short when we pay that bond in interest. We have our have our working cash bonds. Uh we don't live in that anymore, but we did it one time through a referendum process.
025That's essentially our investment account. And then revenue recapture is any changes that happen at the border review uh that or flow dollars back to the district um either errors, omissions or changes in assessment. This is our limiting rate. Uh this is the calculation that we go through in my office to um come out to that calculation of what that rate is. This is our uh limiting rate history. Um so as you can see our total rate has been drawn down. um that is typical when um an area sees an increase in overall equest valuation and that is also reflected in our cap and our non-capped. Our noncap goes down because that represents really the debt that we paid off as a district. Those are our bonds that we're paying. This is our historical ley request
026to the extension. Um so this is what we're asking uh for historically and what we actually received. As you can see, they're very close. There were just two years that um we actually received more money than we' asked. In most cases, we receive less than we ask, but very close, right? We always run a very tight calculation process. And then lastly, this was a summary that I've given you for all the assumptions um for the 2024 tax levy year receivable in 2025. our CPI, our PEL, our estimated EAV, um that increase over the prior year, uh our new construction, our cap levy, our bonded interest, our estimated tax receipts, and our tax receipts that are over the prior year. So, we expect to receive 3,577,475 new dollars. This was the calculation that we go through
027uh looking at prior year. All the information that I talked about is put in this calculation to get to our rate. And then the bottom amount is here in the bottom right. Uh it is our 104,872,193 which represents a 3.53 increase over the prior year. The non-cap was higher. It was over 5% but after we apply the bond interest it pulls the total levy amount down. This is the uh certificate of levy sheet um that I'm required to file with the county and this is the truth and taxation process and you'll have that hearing in a little bit tonight. Uh this is the public disclosure act which requires me to capture a point in time of our fund balances. Uh this is probably one of the highest points in the year after we received most
028of the tax dollars and then we spend those out through the year and then uh this is the process tonight. So, we'll have the public hearing. Um, it was published in the Kane County Chronicle. We do the hearing tonight. Um, we'll adopt and approve the tax levy through a resolution, our certificate of tax levy and our tax levy. Um, so once Truth and Tax A says we comply, that one says that that's our resolution what we asked for. Then, if everything goes well, which I hope it will, I'll go to the county tomorrow and I'll fire a levy and then it'll be on public record. Okay, that concludes my presentation. Is there any questions from the board? Excellent. Then I've done my job. >> Any questions at all? Okay. Um the next step is for
029me to convene the public meeting and welcome those in attendance. So, welcome. The the tax levy proposed increase is has been pretty thoroughly covered by Todd, but if there are any questions, we can discuss that. Hearing none. Uh levy testimony. Anybody have anything they want to say on that regard? And uh unless there's something else that we need to do. No, I think I would I would just add as testimony. I thanks to Todd for his work on this. I know that um uh it's a lot and some it feels repetitive for him probably and repetitive for us, but that you know being detailed and thorough with that that's good for our district and good for our taxpayers and I appreciate that that level of detail that he he he gives this for our community.
030So thanks. >> I would certainly agree with Andy's remarks, Todd. You've done a fine job and we do really appreciate it. And with that, I'll close the hearing. We'll take action on this a little later in the meeting. The next item is public comments. Bonnie, do we have any public comments? Are you sure you would like to say anything? It's your chance. Legislative updates. Item five. Anything to say? >> Just wanted to follow up with everyone after the delegate assembly that we had since our last meeting. The way we voted on the different resolutions was the way everything played out at the delegate assembly. If you recall, there were three resolutions that were recommended do not adopt and they had an opportunity to sort of plead their case at the delegate assembly. Uh three of
031them came forward. They were given a few minutes to speak and then the delegates had to vote and it had to be a two-thirds majority to even consider voting on those three resolutions. and none of the three received the twothirds of the vote to come forward and continue discussion. So, uh that is what happened at the delegate assembly. Um if you read your IASB resol or um legislative reports that have come out, you saw that we did have veto session, two different ones in November. There was some new legislation that was submitted or um brought forward. it was regarding the tier one and tier 2 retirement programs and trying to um address some of the issues that are perceived with the tier 2. So, we'll just keep an eye on that um new legislation that
032was introduced and otherwise nothing too exciting has happened since then. And that's my report. >> Thank you very much, Jackie. >> Superintendent report. Working on the buttons in my computer. I'm getting I'm getting better at this. All right. I'm getting better already. Just a few things to share with everybody. Uh thanks for the opportunity tonight. Um first I just want to talk a little bit about uh vision 2030. I think it's important for the board to have some background information um on this. Uh and then um there's potential that uh the board could pass a resolution or can consider passing a resolution on this. So I want to share some background information. So uh vision 2030 um this is the second time that you know kind of key organizations uh education organizations like IASB you
033know the schoolboard association the administrator association the state board of education uh etc have gotten together to kind of vision cast and almost kind of set their strategic plan. Um the first one was called vision 2020. Um and uh some successes came out of that. I think the biggest one would be uh evident the evidence-based funding model that really kind of changed how um funding uh for public schools is done at the state level. And while that doesn't necessarily have a huge him impact for our district, um it really has been a gamecher for many districts uh across the state. Um and also some of that work actually some of the things we talked about a little bit in our policy committee tonight with workforce and career pathways uh there was some work that came
034out of vision 2020 with that as well. So, um, one of the things that's unique about kind of them setting these goals, right, is that, uh, you know, there a lot of, uh, what we can actually do depends on the legislature, right? So, they can kind of set these goals, but part of their goals, part of the initiative is to say, can we get enough support to then go encourage the legislature um to support some of these initiatives? And so, that's kind of what we're going to talk about tonight. So this this um kind of vision vision 2030 is centered around kind of four key things. Keeping students safe uh keeping high-quality educators uh in front of students, enhancing post-secondary success um and improving measurement of what's working. I think those are all noble goals.
035Um some of these actually pretty similar to vision 2020 um as well. There's kind of three big places where um there there's three kind of big goal areas. The f first is future focused learning. Um and in here that we're talking about a few key things. One um is promoting college and career exploration and better preparation for college and careers. I'm pretty excited about that one because that aligns right with our strategic plan and some of the goals, you know, we're trying to tackle as a district. So, it's nice to see that we align with the state there. Um, enhancing safety and security and well-being of students. Um, I think nobody can argue with that. And in fact, I think um, you know, I was on a meeting uh, the other day with some superintendents
036and some superintendent uh, were commenting on some of the things our district had done and they said, you know, you guys we kind of are following your model. Um, so it's nice to see that we've been a little bit of a model on on that and would be nice to see the state take some action there. Um, ret retaining attracting and ret retaining high-quality educators. We know that's uh more challenging now than ever. We've heard from Dr. Law about some of that. Um, and promoting some curriculum and instructional flexibility. That's kind of embedded throughout here. And this is one we'll see if they can get there, but I think this is one that we have some excitement about. Again, in the policy committee tonight, um Mrs. Sims talked about our policy 660 that has a
037lot of curriculum requirements that are all from just different laws that are passed. You guys have heard me talk before about um all the unfunded mandates and the number of, you know, new things that they throw at us every year. And there's some goals embedded in this vision 2030 to finally um talk about what are the what would be the essential things and what would be discretionary what can what can districts have some local control over when it comes to some of these mandates um and you know what are some of the things that maybe you know we don't have to do especially if they're unfunded. So that could be interesting. So that's the future focused learning area. Uh the second key area has to do with accountability and this has a lot to do
038with um reforming both the uh assessment systems in the state and uh the accountability systems in the state. You guys have probably again you've we've talked just this year about the transition from SAT to ACT and how that's been complicating. Um, we've talked many times about how the state will uh have us administer a test to students um and then we don't see the data for six months or longer and that's not helping teachers teach kids um when that happens. And so, uh trying to reform both the assessment system and then the accountability system. You've also heard me talk a lot about um that big complicated uh stew that is the uh Illinois report card, right? And how they then take data about growth and about proficiency and about absenteeism and about graduation rate and
039about uh you know all these kinds of things and put it into this very complex calculation that says if schools are you know exemplary or commendable. Um the state has acknowledged that that rating system uh is broken. Um and they need to they need to fix that and that's a that's a goal of this process and and I think that that's noble. I hope they can do it. Um and then the last one which I think on the staff side that I think a lot of uh school administrators and educators would applaud is um the the need to uh reform the state um I don't know what I would call the state student information system the system that we use as uh educators to input our data. that's called IWAS. Um to work through state
040required reports, to work through grants that we're required to do is so archaic and it's it's very clunky and old. It needs to be updated. I mean, it needed to be updated probably 20 years ago. Um and this is a goal of theirs and I think gosh, that's one I really hope they can do. Um and then last would be uh you know predictable funding for schools. Again I think the evidence-based funding model was a very welcome change for many school districts for most school districts across the state and now making sure that they can protect the integrity of that um is going to be important. Recognizing that um strengthening the the pension system with some pension reforms. uh these agencies and bodies recognize that uh there's some challenges uh with what is called the
041tier 2 pension for our educators. Uh and that that has to be fixed. That has to be fixed. Um and so they're t, you know, noting explicitly that that should be a goal. Um and I think that's good. And then also giving some financial flexibility to folks like Todd when you know they're running the numbers um and need to make the best in the best decisions they can at the local level. Um and so they're looking to build some flexibility for districts into that. So all in all, you know, I would say my cursory view of this is that these are all pretty good goals. Um, again, we they would need to rely on the legislature for these things to happen, but the idea here would be, can they get enough of a ground swell?
042Can they get a call to action and get support for this so that these bodies can then really go to the legislature and say, "Here's all the school boards in the state are telling us this stuff is important." Um, so when when vision 2020 came out, 90% of the school boards in Illinois supported it with a formal resolution. Um and you know these bodies would tell us that that support really was helpful in getting things like um you know EBF uh over over the hump. So uh again you can read the whole vision 2030 in detail. I'd encourage you to check it out. I'd be happy to uh you know, I'm not an expert uh in it, but I'd certainly be happy to get more information. If there are specific questions you you all would
043want answered or specific things you would want to know more about, um I'd be happy to do that. And then uh obviously these bodies are encouraging our district to consider um you know, formally supporting this with a resolution. Um so I guess I'll stop there before I have just two other quick things. I don't know if there's any conversation or um questions that I could get more information about or anything like that. Okay, good. Then I will um you know think about it. I would encourage you to read it and uh you know maybe I'll bring some I'll continue to get you guys some information about this if we think at a future meeting later this year um maybe I can share more information and we can kind of decide if if you all think
044you want to support this D. Do they have like a deadline and when they want us to to >> That's a good question. >> make resolution or be supportive or not supported? >> I think it would be this spring, but I'll find out specifically. Yes. Thank you. >> You sent us the whole document. >> Yes, sir. >> Sorry, I went through it. I wasn't sure if this was the last version of it. >> Yeah, that's the most that's the most updated version. Yes, sir. I think it does say up there uh December January meeting is what they were aiming for. Board of Education guys serve me that top paragraph. >> Look at you with your >> sample >> that's a sample resolution for us. Um, so maybe what I'll do, I can share this sample
045resolution with you all um in in my next updated communication and you can check that out and see what you think. We have a couple meetings in January. So maybe we could talk a little more uh in our first meeting in January and then if you decide you want to support it, we could look at the second meeting. How's that sound? >> Yeah, I have to say that I took So I took AI to general generalize it summarize it for me. So it was I think it's accurate but but that's a that's a good shortcut to use AI to summarize it because it's quite voluminous. >> Yeah, it absolutely is. Okay. Uh two more quick things. One, just a reminder to the community if they're watching. I've got a community connects event coming up uh
046not long after the holiday break. um you know, two sessions to just talk with folks about what's going on in the district and um we're hopeful folks will sign up. I know S uh Sandy Manis or not Maniscoco, Riley, our communications coordinator, um has uh another newsletter coming out and is continuing to push out communication about this. But I'm looking forward to this and hopefully um we'll have some great conversation like we did last year at some of these events. Uh and last just uh you know, happy holidays to the community. um between this short window between Thanksgiving and uh the winter break and Christmas is a real whirlwind. Um but it's been a great first half of the year and uh just want to wish everybody well uh and take some time to rejuvenate
047this break. It's all I've got. >> Thank you, Dr. Barrett. Um it might be a possible subject for discussion at a retreat as well. >> Yes, absolutely. Good call. All right. Next item, uh, board dialogue and pending action consideration. Item number one, GHS proposal for new and modified courses. This was presented at a previous meeting. Questions can be directed to the pledge of allegiance leader Shanette Sims. >> I would clarify that this is just related to that um, AP US history, those two textbooks that were delayed in um, production. Second. I >> I I >> I think board action on the adoption of the resolution authorizing the certificate of tax levy for 2024. Any questions or discussion? >> Good. I have a motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I I >> I
048thank you. That takes care of that obligation. Item three, board action on the proposed 2025 2026 school calendar. Chanet Sims will present the 202526 school calendar recommended by the calendar committee to the board for review and hopefully approval. While Shanette's connecting, I just want to thank her for her work leading the calendar committee. Um, you know, these are always, uh, there's lots of strong feelings when it when it comes to something like this, right? Um, and so, uh, but Shanet did the omen's work of shephering this through here to our recommendation today. So, I want to thank her for that and also thank the community for their patience. I know we've gotten a few calls. What's the calendar? What's the calendar going to be? So glad to bring this forward to you today. >> Thank
049you, Dr. Barrett. I would also like to thank the community members which are representatives of both our ele all of our ele levels, elementary, middle, and high school. So um they bring a lot of, you know, feedback back to the uh group for us to consider. So a few important points. Um the staff will start on the 18th of August. Students will start on the 21st. So we'll have those first three days that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday for um professional development and um time to just get prepared and ready for our students on that 21st. Our school year without um the use of emergency days would end on June 1st. Uh the fall teachers institute day instead of f falling that Friday before Labor Day holiday. Again, that's going to be at the beginning of the
050year in those first three days. Um, as it relates to our King County schools, we are uh we will have the same calendar as Burlington. Um, the other King County schools are starting that earlier week. Um, starting that earlier week makes our semester or that later week makes our semester a little more imbalanced. Um, our high school staff that were on the committee um are aware of that, shared that with their colleagues at the high school and that's something that um they've worked through um for the past several years and they're prepared to do so again this upcoming year. Um so again that's just the calendar. Um some things to consider with one thing I just referenced was just the imbalance of the semesters. Um so um there is a difference between the you know
051um first semester being 78 days and the second semester being I can't see that far away right now to go back the other one and then the second semester being 97 days. Um so they're aware of that and are willing are able to prep for that. Any questions on the calendar? >> I had a question. So, um I know that the high school's aware of it and I know Dr. Barrett had said that um we're kind of looking at this over the to get feedback from the past year to see and give this another try this year to see if it works. Is it mainly that high school aspect that we're looking to see the impact of that? >> Yeah, the the impact is really at the at the high school. The trimesters are equal.
052Obviously, the semesters are there's not really a difference for the elementary because they go the trimesters as well. Um it really is those high school two semesters. So, for the future, just because we're doing this two years in a row, we could decide to change back to the earlier date next year. We're gonna take the feedback from all of this year and going into next year when we make that decision. >> Correct. Yeah. We were originally going to look at a two-year calendar but opted for just the one year for that reason. >> Okay. And so then in the future, do we think a two-year calendar is a potential option? Is that the way we would prefer to do it? >> Hindsight, probably not because there was like we had the day that the election
053day that got moved in there. So, we just don't know like what could to come up and then to have to adjust, you know, after it's been, you know, publicized and given out. Um, we'd probably prefer um with your support to just go with an annual calendar. >> Okay. I think that's helpful. I only ask so that anybody watching or might any parents might understand how this works and what to expect and just because we might be continuing with this this year, we might change back if it's not working. Am I accurate in that? I do think I do think that's accurate. I think it's fair to say that um this is this is a hard this is hard um and many school districts have um made the shift to that earlier start because of
054um the way it balances the semester at a high school level. Um and also uh candidly because of um this has implications for dual credit classes because dual credit classes need to be done prior to winter break. So because they're associated with the community colleges calendar. Um, so, so high schools that offer a lot of dual credit classes, they almost can't do the later start because they need that first semester to end prior to winter break and they need that second semester to end when community college schedules end more in that mid late Mayish time rather than June. Um, uh, so that's really what the calendar committee in our district is wrestling with. um you know, for all kind of the personal reasons and um just kind of the life reasons, everybody just feels like
055gosh, coming back on the 10th, you know, or that week just seems so early and it, you know, seems like you're taking away summer from kids and all this kind of stuff. Um, but you know, at some point, especially as with our goals of expansion of dual credit, this might get too difficult. >> Yeah, I'm glad that you shared that because that is our goal of ours is to maybe expand dual credit or looking at that. So, good to know that that that might be an impact in everything that we're balancing in those conversations because it is difficult. And I I would also say kudos right now to our our teachers of those classes and our teachers of our semester long classes at the high school. Um this is harder for them. This this one
056week later start is is much more difficult. They're having to move units around and maybe um you know kids in one semester might be getting you know an extra unique unit of instruction or something like that. this is putting um you know this is putting some extra work on those folks um and they're stepping up and we had some of those folks on the calendar committee who said yeah we can do that if we think this is the the right thing for kids um I do think it will be something that we will have to revisit every year for a while >> because and just a reminder because we are a community unit district we follow the same sk calendar for for every level so that's why this plays even though it might seem seem
057like for one level the later start might be better. This may we have to think about every level and what makes sense, right? >> Yeah. Correct. I think you know as you guys know like in DuPage County most of the school districts are split, right? There's high school districts and there's elementary school districts. Um and you know the elementary districts that feed into the high school districts, you know, they play nice in the sandbox, but when it comes comes to something like this, the elementary just makes their schedule and the high school just votes for their calendar. they have different boards and different administrations and they can just kind of do what they want. But as a unit district, um, you know, we've got to make that one decision for all the levels in our
058whole community. Anyone else questions? Well, you might start to notice a pattern here. We need a motion to approve. And Stephanie, since you've been talking about >> So moved. >> Second. I >> I the next item four transportation school bus supplemental bid and recommendation recommended bus purchase. Todd Leam will share with board information on the bus. Questions can be directed to Mr. Laam. And I have the language for the motion in front of me. >> Hit the button. >> Good evening. Um we did have the opportunity to look at uh our budget this year and find an opportunity to go out for uh bus purchases. So on November 7th, um we notified uh opportunities through the paper that we would be conducting bus bids. We uploaded those on November 19th at 8:30 here in this
059building. We had two biders. They were Central State buses from Asiggo and Mibus Transit Equipment from Cana Key. Um I've listed some of the major areas that we looked at as a committee. There was uh probably four or five of us that were part of this process uh at the bid opening. Of course, there's always the cost per unit or food uh fuel type and availability and our best match to our specifications. That's a key uh component for us because it gives our drivers uh familiarity with our buses regardless of what we purchase, our safety, reliability, um the seating needs that we had, our parts, support, and our service. Um we were able to open those bids and we believe we put before you tonight um this following recommendation. So, our recommendation is is that
060the uh board approved Midwest Transit Equipment um for the sale of eight buses. Those are 30 passenger gasoline buses to us. Uh that price um is 88 I'm sorry18,868. The total price for all 30 passenger buses was $950,944. We also recommend that we accept their bid for the 24 uh passenger plus one. That's our bus with for special needs students. It came in at $124,769, a total of $249,538 for the purchase of those. So, in total, we're asking the board to approve 1,200,482 so we can purchase the buses. It'll give us ample time to put them on order and hopefully have them in before the end of the school year, which would fall in line with our budget um planning. Any questions or discussion? In the interest of expediency, I will read the motion and
061make it also a motion to accept the bus bids of November 19, 2024 and authorize the assistant superintendent of business services to purchase eight 30 passenger gasoline buses at a price per unit of $118,868 at an all units extended price of $950,944 and the purchase of two 24 plus one passenger buses. with a with a lift at a price per unit of $124,769 at an all units extended price of $249,538 from Midwest Transit Equipment Cane Illinois at a total cost of all buses 1,200,482. Is that correct? >> That is correct. >> Well, that's the motion. >> Second. I >> I I >> I Okay, we have a second motion, which is a motion to authorize the sale of two 72 passenger diesel buses to community unit school district 430 that are considered surplus to reduce
062the fleet. The sale price of each bus is 34,500. And Todd, do you have anything to add to that? >> Yes. So, um, we did have these buses in reserve um, just to make sure that as we entered the school year, as you know, we moved to the propane fleet, not knowing if those, uh, would work out as we planned. So, we did keep these buses uh, these two in reserve. Our director of transportation, Mr. Johnson, has determined that we can make those surplus. We did have a school district ask us a year ago when they knew that we were going out for bid if we would consider selling them directly to them. Um so we recommend that we do that. Uh this price is fair in line with what we um sold back to
063um the central states when we bought um some of our other buses. So this is a fair price and we'd recommend the board move forward with declaring these surplus and approve them for sale. >> Any questions? >> Yeah, I do have sorry I do have a question. So they being sold as is or is there condition with these buses. >> They're asis, but we did look them over to make sure that we put a fair product out there. It also comes with the Secretary of State mileage requirement that uh is required. So, it will be a bill of sale. It will be asis and it comes with the odometer reading uh to complete the transaction. >> So, there's no potential liability if something is right with the bus after the after sold. I'm just asking
064>> uh with the AS is there is not, but we did inspect them. We had our mechanic look them over. uh with likely with any bus to make sure that rolls out of our uh transportation yard is uh suitable and prepared to take the road. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> That's a good question though. >> The only It's not a question or a statement, but in our board book, it's the um we have the same memo twice. So, I >> I wrote one memo, but we decided it should be two motions for clarity. So, uh motion to approve. Well, that motion's there a second and vote. >> Second. I >> I item eight. Thank you. uh that is uh work study topics and future action consideration and this is primarily policies. They are either
065updated or updated reviewed and very rarely new. Anything to say from the policy committee? >> Most of these policies just have verbiage updates or small changes within them. So this is a first reading. Everyone can take a look through them. Now, there wasn't much discussion during our policy meeting during these since there weren't a lot of changes, but you could always reference that meeting from last month. Um, if you have any questions and then bring any other discussion or questions to the meeting to our next meeting and we will approve them. >> Thank you. Uh, action is not required at this time. So we can proceed to item nine which is information board meeting presentation schedule suspension report foyer requests and board correspondence and outofstate trip requests are all available in board book. There is
066no discussion required unless anybody has anything they'd like to ask or add. Thank you. Now, my favorite, the consent agenda, which we have worked hard on the facilities task force to shorten, and I'm grateful to say it's working. Item one, personnel report, resignations, retirements, leave requests, changes in assignment, full-time equivalent, and new hires. Item two, monthly financial report for November. Item three, proposed construction management master contract. And item four, 2025 district-wide capital improvement projects. Are there any questions? There's a >> Oh, there's a five. I had have to turn the page over. Gifts, grants, and requests. This would have been sad to leave out. $500 from Hogan Design and Construction Corporation for GHS Special Olympics program. And we thank them for that in in advance. And approval is recommended. Questions or anything about these? >>
067A motion? >> So moved. second. >> I item 11, board member comments and report. Um I think we'll start with Dan. Anyway, um uh first of all, I wanted to thank um everyone for for coming tonight and I think uh I love it when we have a a big even if it is for the tradition of excellence. It's always nice to um have people tuning into to our meetings. Um uh I think um since the last time we got together, we had our um big um schools conference um downtown. And so um was lucky enough to participate in in in some of that um the conference. And so um I think the best part and I think those that went last year um expressed as well um was just the ability to network with with
068other boards and board members and um I thought that was that was great and uh um was able to to meet quite a bit of uh fellow board members from from our county um u conference or from our conference I should say. And so um that was really neat to uh collaborate and just talk about the things that are same and things that are different. So anyway um and then uh let's see some of the things that uh um you know the the football team doing so well and so we heard a lot about that tonight. So that was really great and uh um all the other um fall sports that finished up very very positively and looks like we're having a good start to our winter season athletically. So that's good. um caught a
069little bit of culture this week at the um the um uh the U tide. So that was awesome. So that was really really neat to see that. So I'm sure that everyone else has some things out. So I don't want to steal everything up that everyone has. So thank you. >> It's hard when so much time passes to remember what occurred when. So if I'm out of order, I apologize. But um a lot is happening even amidst the breaks and the holidays. Um I just first wanted to thank you Todd for all of your continued work with our financials and the levy. I I'm always super impressed with that. So thank you for your hard work. Um to all of our tradition of excellence recipients, great seasons for our athletes. Um congrats to our artists.
070I think that our students just really do some truly amazing things. Um, we had a chance to get together with some GA members and I thought that was a really great opportunity to keep that relationship uh going uh and in communication open and just supporting one another. So, that was really lovely. So, thank you to the GA for reaching out for that. Um, there's a lot happening with the holidays with concerts and programs. I am going to be attending the Gelp concert on Thursday. I know we got some communication. So, please, if you want to see some of our littlest um singers, please come. I think that's going to be so fun. Um >> are you wearing >> my >> Are you going to wear a lighted? >> Yeah, I have a a necklace of
071lights. So, I will be all lit up for to to be on a theme. Um yeah, and just to to our students, all the best with finals, to our family and to our communities. Have a wonderful break. Enjoy it. Disconnect from school if you can. and just enjoy the holidays. So, I think that's it. >> Yeah. Um, so a few things I agree with Molly. I had a lot of things over the past month. So, we did meet as a communication task force recently. It was a very productive meeting. We reviewed the results of the communication survey that the district had sent out and discussed some of those results. So I think a lot of it was in line with things that we would expect. A lot of positive feedback on directions that that the
072district is moving. Of course, communication is a very personal thing. So um not everything is always 100% perfect for every person, but we're really looking at what's working for majority of our families to make sure that we're communicating effectively and that everyone is getting the communication they need. Um, some of the next steps are really about working across our schools to kind of see like what does communication look like from each school individually and kind of get uh like just a catalog of that and then align a little bit to make sure that we're evenly communicating and we've had kind of set the right um cadence of communication. And then of course we're always working on our community involvement and the different things to we do to build community involvement and Andy shared some of
073that a little bit earlier. So overall a great meeting. I think that also I wanted to point out that the communication task force itself is a great example of our community building. It has board members on the task force obviously Andy and the district team and then we have parents and community members. So really great to see how we're we're listening to um different perspectives in that meeting to make sure we're communicating the right way for everybody. Also, we met with the class size committee. We had made some changes um between over the summer on class sizes to really make sure that we were in line with what was best for our students and our teachers. And we just met to kind of review the changes we made and get some feedback on how things
074were going. And so far it sounds like we have a lot of positive feedback from our teachers and our parents from what we're hearing as well and that things are going well with the changes that we made and very much appreciated. So just some things we're going to continue to refine and look at and make sure that we're we have the numbers in the right place and everyone has what they need to be successful. But overall going well and that was a positive meeting with with the teachers there. I also got to participate in lots of different activities this this past month. So, we did have the Yield Tide Festival like Dan had shared and that's just really a treat. If any anyone gets a chance to go to that, I recommend that you do
075it. It is hard to get a ticket to that one. It's like a soldout event, but um a really great great opportunity. >> Dan sculpted one to me for $200. >> Oh, was that the going price? But just really great to see all of our um music students at the high school level perform at once. Just really nice in different ways. So that was great. Also um the theater program put on um a Christmas carol which just was perfect for heading into the holiday season. Some really great performances there. And then um today I got to see our Viking Voices group at the middle school perform a little holiday carolling. So that was really fun too. So I know everyone's super busy, parents, teachers, students doing all these great things. But really nice to see.
076And I also wanted to call out that I have gotten to see our students perform in the community with the schools which has also been really great great to see our connection with community that way. both um at the Christmas walk our choir and our theater students performed and then also at the Lion's Club Santa breakfast we had our choir our band our orchestra all perform during that which is a really nice community event and getting it it's really great to see like little kids running around and our high schoolers singing and our middle schoolers and high schoolers volunteering so just really great community building there but a busy time and I hope everyone has a happy holidays and just a really great week with finals ahead and everyone's able to relax a little bit
077afterwards. >> Thank you. I don't know how you found time to get your meals in, but well done >> doctor. >> So maybe not in the right order as Molly said, but I wanted to just share that uh I attended the um duage division meeting and I was trying to be incognito, not being noticed or anything like that. So, uh, they were recognizing their schools that, uh, received a blue ribbon. And so, I'm sitting there running my own business and said, "We have one guest here tonight, you know." So, uh, and, uh, they had me to be recognized coming from this, uh, school district, but also recognizing that we had a blue ribbon school as well. So, that was something unexpected. That meeting, uh, was the the theme was generative AI, and that was quite
078illuminating. I do have the PDF of the presentation to share with um Andy and Russo if you want it. Um that was interesting because he talked about let me just I don't put his name down but um he's excellent. Anyway, the idea is that it was interesting as he's talking about new teachers um when they have things like lesson plans and things like this. We're finding out that this generative AI can do quite a bit in terms not just lesson plans but even uh instructional uh things but the downside is you know what's the thinking and cognitive not I'm sorry critical thinking that goes into that. So that was kind of interesting. I went to the U joint session downtown and I don't know which ones you may have attended um Dan and u whether
079you went to one but it was there was one that went on personality did you go to that one? Yeah it was interesting because it was the theme was basically uh trying to help boards to work together. We know about the you know type A type B type C kind of personality. This is a little bit different. Uh so it's uh interesting that it may be something we may want to explore because there I found out that it fit me quite well in terms of going by the book or the rules and things like that and some people are driven by fear or motivated by fear to do certain things and some people are motivated by um uh wanting to be perfect. You know it's kind of interesting or from a board perspective we don't
080know as each other as we as much as we may think or we don't even know ourselves. So I thought that was a pretty interesting presentation uh at the joint session. Uh I had opportunity to I wasn't trying but uh I crashed a party so to speak at the dinner time I was eating with the board of Byron and so uh it's kind of kind of a flashback from my past because I taught uh at the uh district 205 in Rockford when I first moved to Illinois. So um I'm planning on attending the galp as well. uh uh I don't know which session I'll go to probably the morning one uh that that group or that age group I don't know them personally but I started out many years ago uh seeing children in early
081intervention and of course over the last 40 years I work with so many young children who have been through special ed um circles so I'm looking forward to seeing that and learning a little bit more about how that roles in the 21st century because I flashbacks of what I did back then. Uh I would say the U type festival was uh quite uh nice. I just picked up where I did last year uh using the parlance of the Navy. Um I was a hatchbody. I was opening and closing the doors, you know, one of the parents, you know, as these children, I mean, these students were going in and out on these different things. So, uh some of them remember me from last year said, "There's that man again, you know, he's opening and closing
082the door." So, but it was a good opportunity. Even though I didn't have a seat, I I just enjoyed working and helping to volunteer in that kind of way. So, uh yeah. So, I'm looking forward to uh seeing more great uh excellence come from my students. I appreciate what we had tonight, especially the football team and u I didn't realize there was a 16-year gap between beating uh Betavia, but that that's quite remarkable and commendable. So um looking forward to seeing uh great things from our cross country star that she has one more year to close the gap. Uh but yeah this was um quite uh inspirational meeting as many of these are. Thank you. >> All right. Uh I also attended the triple I conference and did the workshop on Friday. Uh made some
083good connections and hopefully can share some of that in future meetings. did the uh GA outing. That was good to catch up with our um friends there. Uh attended the Harrison Street school PTO meeting. Uh heard a number of updates on all the great work that they're doing out there. Uh they were a fun bunch. A lot of folks showed up for that meeting. So we had good conversation. The technology task force had met. We got updates on various uh projects that are happening now. And next month we will be seeing the preliminary capital plan technology plan. So, we we kind of reviewed that. Um, at that meeting, I did uh attend the turkey trot a long time ago. Uh, I chose not to run that. I had to go in the morning and if
084you recall, it was kind of snowy and freezing and I thought for my own safety, I should probably not run. So, I chose not to, but I did go outside and and cheer on the students as they did that. Uh, speaking of cold, I did attend the state championship football game. I made the trip down to Normal and with my daughters and some friends. that took a car full down and that was a lot of fun. Uh so proud of that team and uh what it means to our community and what they did and also proud of our other students that come through that uh maybe don't get all the recognition that they deserve, but there are a lot of athletes out there and musicians and artists who who do a lot and we they
085come to our meetings uh but they don't always get the the headlines. But it's was great to see all the folks tonight and I look forward to seeing more of them this year. Uh thank you to uh Hogan Design and Construction for the donation that they're making for the Unified Vikings night that's coming up. I am planning on attending their first home game tomorrow. So I'm excited to go to that. I did go to the the U Tide Festival and I wanted to just shout out on a couple of I thought were amazing performances. Uh the wannabe, an English magical that started and I was listening and I was trying to place this song. Yes, it's the Spice Girls song that they sang in this amazing uh arrangement. It It was lovely. Uh they did
086a I think it was a quartet who did an instrumental of Mele Kiki Maka that was excellent. And then also the 12 Days of Christmas. I have no idea how they were able to memorize and sing that song the way they did because I could not have ever tried to undo the muscle memory of that song in my head and sing the different parts. So if anyone's not gone to that, it really is a a wonderful evening and kudos to everybody who put that on. It was a lot of work and the students had to do it twice. So yeah, it it was lovely. I also want to say uh good luck to everybody on finals and happy holidays to everyone in our community. >> Thank you, Jackie. Um golly, I I haven't done everything
087that everybody did, but I've done a few of the things that each of you did. I I think standout certainly the football team is a standout and I think seeing our guys on TV with a really good call play caller was was maybe not as much fun as actually going there but it was much warmer. >> Yes. >> Um I I think the Christmas Carol was a a really fine example of student play and uh I was very impressed with people's ability to not only remember long periods of dialogue but actually occasionally when things didn't go right to cover very nicely. So well done on that part. In general, I agree uh we all want to wish you the very best in your finals as you go forward in your education. This is a wonderful
088time of year for everyone, I think. And certainly this meeting shows how wonderful it is with these people getting the rewards and awards that they deserve and have earned. Uh we're pleased with their accomplishment and we look forward to seeing accomplishments from many other students uh as we go forward. That should cover that. Anything else on that? Okay. Well, it wouldn't be a full board meeting if we didn't have an executive session. So, I will read this executive session to consider matters pertaining to appointment, employment, compensation, or discipline performance of specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational, educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public body or legal council for the public body. Skipping a bit here that doesn't apply. Um, however, a meeting to consider increase in compensation to a
089specific employee is subject to the local government wage increase transparency act and may not be closed and must be open to the public. Um, may we have a motion to go into executive session. >> So moved. >> Second. I >> I uh Thank you. We will take a five minute recess or thereabouts. If uh anybody needs a break, if everybody's feeling good, we can charge ahead.