0017 board of education meeting for December 16, 2025. May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Reis, Mr. Burgerer, >> Mr. Adamo >> here, >> Miss Yan >> here. Miss Angelberg >> here. >> Mr. Lavin >> here. >> Miss Fitzgerald >> here. >> Motion carries. >> I invite all members of the board, administration, and community to stand at attention facing the flag with their right hand over their heart to recite the pledge of allegiance. All right. So, we had a student spotlight on the schedule, but I understand there's been some scheduling changes. So, we're not going to have the student spotlight and we'll jump right into the president's report and I'll keep remarks brief, but I just wanted to comment on this past year as this is the last board meeting of 2025 and
002reflect on frankly what a great year it's been for for district 67. Um, student scores are up, growth is up. Uh we had a fantastic renovation at DPM this summer that was on time, under budget. Uh our forward-looking financial outlook is on track and looking very positive. There's a lot of things to celebrate. Uh I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's not mission accomplished. We've got lots of room for improvement, but there's been lots of tremendous progress uh in 2025. So lots of reasons to celebrate that. Um, a lot of people have had their hands in a a great year, whether it's the administration or the teachers, but I also want to mention um the tremendous important role of the community because I don't think we give them enough credit and and
003specifically the number of volunteers that we have, whether it's AP, Spirit of 67, uh, member of the superintendent advisory committee, members of the technology working group, and I know I'm forgetting many, but there's many fantastic volunteers. ers that contribute to district 67 and have helped made this a a really great year. So, um just want to acknowledge the great accomplishments of the district this year and recognize there's plenty more to accomplish and we look forward to a fantastic 2026. With that, I'll turn it over to Dr. Montgomery for the soups report. Thank you, President Remis. Uh tonight's topic will cover um some outreach that we have done uh across the state and the country uh telling the lake for story and we will finish with um upcoming events as we quickly wrap up uh to
004Mr. Reis' point uh the last few days before winter break. Um I'll start with a presentation that we gave at the triple eye conference. the lake force team uh talked about uh the topic of the presentation was on the trust equation. So it was the team cabinet sharing about distributive leadership and how we have worked on shaping the culture in both 67 and 115 through a concerted effort on sharing leadership and building trust. Uh the presentation was wellreceived and it is our commitment to submit proposals for this statewide conference every other year. Uh and this was one of the years you know of course we have to get accepted but thankfully every time we have submitted we have been accepted and it is wonderful to sit back and uh hear the progress we've made and
005also be challenged by the audience. They ask wonderful questions about how we actually did what we're saying. And my favorite part was at the end of this presentation, we showed the results. So I didn't lead with the progress we've met or met made um we finished the presentation with oh by the way what we're saying actually translated into improved academic excellence. So I think the the presentation was well received. Both Sam and Cecilia presented at the TASH conference in Colorado and they were sharing our progress on MTSS which is the multi-tered supports systems of support. So when they were sharing the story they were highlighting um how intentional systems inclusive practices and targeted supports have enabled us to meet the needs of all of our learnings and earn learners and drive higher than expected growth.
006The presentation really was talking about what procedures we have in place and how they are minimizing that gap between um the different types of learners in the uh district. You know this because you saw the uh results of the district report card. They were telling the story of how we made that possible and that was well received and I will celebrate both of them and their leadership. As a leader, I want us out telling the successes that we're having and also learning from others so we can continue to improve. There are times where I think districts and we are not immune to this. We can become myobic and insulated and I think that there are a great deal of benefit of being out and uh sharing our successes and maybe our failures as well as
007hearing from others. So I thank Sam and Cecilia for their leadership. We had in partnership with the AP and the spirit. We had a u the benefit of in early December of connecting with award-winning author Bruce Hail and cartoonist Jeff Jeffrey Brown through the visiting author and artist programs. I have never been in a district prior to Lake Forest that offered these types of opport opportunities and I think the AP and the foundation spirit should really uh deserve all of the accolade. It's an exceptionally special opportunity. So students from kindergarten through 8th grade explored creative process firsthand, learning how curiosity, revision, and persistent fueled great storytelling. Uh there's a QR code just as a reminder of the grants that are open. Uh, and they'll they're due January 29th at 3 PM. We shared this out,
008but I want to reiterate it uh because winter weather is upon us. It's been one heck of a November and December already. So, I hope that is not a foreshadowing for January, February, and maybe beyond. Dare I say beyond. Uh, we had a joke this morning that it will Nancy downstairs and I were talking about it's going to be lovely again in May. Um, and May seems like a long time away, but um, buckle up. Here we are. So, it's important that we talk about our winter weather guidelines should we need to call a two-hour delay or call a full calamity day. This year, we will have one non-instructional day or snow day before moving to remote learning. I want to make sure the community knows that past the first day of traditional snow day,
009we will move into this um actual remote learning environment. So, as of note, K through four will students kindergarten through fourth grade will be sent home with a learning packet before winter break that will be used if a remote learning day happens during the winter months in lie of an iPad. So, they will have that ahead of winter break. Um, and we hope that uh parents will notice that as they're welcoming their students home for winter break. uh continued community outreach uh to continue our uh prov uh to continue to provide timely and accurate information to our communities. Lake Forest Schools is partnering with the external an external vendor to obtain an email database for the zip codes of 60044 and 60045. This new list will allow us to reach additional stakeholders more quickly, keeping
010them informed and will complement our other messaging messaging channels such as social media and printed publications like Insight and the Bottom Line. in particular. This will help reach our community members who no longer have students attending our schools. Remember that 80% of our population does not have students that attend the district. And also know that um as a important note, while additional community members may be receiving these emails, they will always have the opportunity to opt out or unsubscribe. Uh so we want to make sure that that is explicitly clear and we want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of our community yet still being mindful of those individuals who do not want additional communication. This is a wonderful time of the year and winter sings are happening this throughout the whole
011district. This is students pictured at Sheridan's winter sing. I think that Sheridan has the first winter sing of the season and Cherokee's winter sing was last Friday December 13th. We are looking forward to the DPM 6, seven, and eight choir holiday concert tomorrow, December 17th, and Everett's winner sing the following day on December 18th. So, there are many activities that are happening. I was at DPM all morning, and every time I turned around, there was uh practicing happening. There was the orchestra, small group of the orchestra was going office to office and playing for the the staff. There's certainly a lot of cheer in the district. Speaking of cheer, a huge shout out to Mariani Landscape and Todd and Katie Ozog for donating all of the District 67 winter planners. And as you can see,
012they are coordinating or coordinated to each of the schools color. So they're not they're individual to each of those buildings. Uh I'm grateful for that partnership because it does really elevate the experience for all of our faculty and students. Uh, some upcoming events, Mark Wood will be in concert with the DPM and LFHS orchestra on February or excuse me, on January 27th in the RMA. Mark Wood is best known as the original string master for the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Uh, certainly the Trans Siberian Orchestra is on the radio all the time now and we're excited to have him joining both LFHS and DPM on January uh, 27th. Other things that are on the horizon prior to our next regularly scheduled meeting, uh we will have our joint board coffee on February 18th. Uh you'll have
013a no school on uh both February 13th and February 16th. I'm working backwards. No school in MLK day on the 19th and then we back at it after winter break on January 5th, 2026, which is a weird day. With that, I say happy help and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. If not, thank you for your kind attention. Any questions for Matt? All right, we are now at the time for our first opportunity for public participation. Are there any members of the public who would like to address the board? Seeing none, we'll move on to liaison reports. Uh Mr. Dammo, anything to report on True North? uh True North approved uh an amended articles of agreement governing the whole organization in November. There is a meeting tomorrow night which I
014think will be sort of the day numa of the current board um with far more irregular meetings to come. So that is the current status. If I may add, the first meeting uh pending everything goes smoothly tomorrow, the first meeting of the executive, newly formed executive committee will be actually Monday, January 5th with the superintendent. So, right after break, we'll start meeting our monthly meetings and I'll be in attendance. >> Any questions on True North? All right. Uh brief legislative report from me. There's just uh one update I wanted to provide. There's a rare bit of good news out of Springfield. Uh earlier this month, Governor Pritsker signed some legislation that'll be helpful to the district and that it uh adds some further protections to the FOYA laws and protecting against technical threats including fishing,
015but also something we've seen an increase of and that is uh protections against AI generated foyer requests and requiring human verification uh to hopefully provide some protections there. So that that'll help us out going forward. We're going to move on to the action items. Uh the first item up, uh may I have a motion to approve the 2025 final tax levy? >> So moved. >> Second. >> May I have a roll call vote, please? >> Mr. Burgerer. >> I. >> Miss Yan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Reis? >> Yes. >> Miss Engleberg? >> Yes. Mr. Mr. Adamo. >> Yes. >> Miss Fitzgerald, >> yes. >> Mr. Lavin, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> We'll move on to the second action item. May I have a motion to approve the award to Pepper Construction for the Deer
016Path Middle School cafeteria? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> May I have a vote, please? >> Miss Engleberg. Mr. Adamo. >> Yes. Miss Fitzgerald, >> yes. >> Mr. Lavin, >> yes. >> Mr. Reis, >> yes. >> Miss Yan, >> yes. >> Mr. Burgerer, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> The third action item tonight. May I have a motion to approve the recommendation to approve the bids for the district 67 summer of 2026 roofing and HVAC project? So moved. >> Have a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? May I have your vote, please? >> Mr. Adamo, >> yes. >> Miss Yon, >> yes. >> Miss Angelberg, >> yes. >> Miss Fitzgerald, >> yes. >> Mr. Burgerer, >> yes. >> Mr. Lavin, >> yes. >> Mr. Reis, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Next
017up, the fourth action item. May I have a motion to approve press issue 120, the first reading? So move. Have >> a second. Second. >> Any discussion? Have a vote, please. >> Miss Yon, yes. >> Mr. Burgerer, >> yes. >> Mr. Reis, >> yes. >> Miss Engleberg, >> yes. >> Mr. Lavin, >> yes. >> Mr. Adamo, >> yes. >> Miss Fitzgerald, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> The fifth action item. May I have a motion to wave the first reading of updated policy 350? >> So move. >> Have a second. Any discussion? >> Have a vote, please. >> Miss Angelberg, >> yes. >> Miss Fitzgerald, >> Mr. Adamo, >> yes. >> Mr. Burgerer, >> yes. >> Miss Yon, >> yes. >> Mr. Lavin, >> yes. >> Mr. Reis, >> yes. >> Motion carried. Final action
018item. May I have a motion to approve the updated policy 350 second reading? >> So move. >> A second. >> Any discussion? May I have a vote, please? >> Miss Fitzgerald? >> Yes. >> Mr. Reis? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lavin? >> Yes. >> Miss Engleberg? >> Yes. >> Mr. Adamo? >> Yes. >> Miss Yon? >> Yes. >> Mr. Burgerer? >> Yes. Motion carried. >> We'll move on to the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda for this month? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion, please? >> Mr. Reis, >> yes. >> Miss Angelberg, >> yes. >> Mr. Adamo, >> yes. >> Miss Fitzgerald, >> yes. >> Mr. Burgerer, >> yes. >> Mr. Lavin, >> yes. Miss Yan, >> yes. Motion carried. >> Give an update on the
019outstanding FOYA requests. Uh, Academy Research Group, two of two are completed. Phipe Mullen, three of three completed. Bo Kim, one of two is in progress. Robert Dodson, one of one is in progress. And Tanya Campbell, one of one is in progress. We will now have a second opportunity for public comment. Are there any members of the public who would like to address the board? Seeing none, just a few announcements uh that uh Dr. Montgomery largely covered already, but just as a reminder, uh we have uh Martin Luther King Day, January 19th, and then the Tri Institute Day is February 13th. uh President's Day, February 16th, and then the next board meeting and education committee of a whole is February 24th, 2026 right here at West Campus. I have a motion to adjourn the Lake Forest
020School District 67 board meeting for December 16th, 2025. >> So moved. >> May I have a second? >> May I have a voice vote, please? All in favor say I. Yes. Hi.