001Welcome, Frank. How are you? >> Great. >> And we've got Evan Spisano on the in the back room, right? We're good. Yes. Are you good? Okay. So, what I'd love to do is welcome you all. We're going to uh do uh the pledge of allegiance. So, good evening. And if you could all uh stand up and we'll do the pledge of allegiance. Thank you so much. Awesome. Thank you so much. Um, we are gonna just jump into the Lake Forest High School updates. So, student council one, we are one report, right? So, you guys have the floor. One second. I'm just having trouble connecting. Yeah, this one. There we go. Sorry. Okay. So, this is our December report. Um, so we had our first Vox Box uh on October 23rd and went really well. We
002got about 43 minutes of raw footage that me and Josie combed through and we picked out some uh great quotes from students and we're grateful for everyone who participated. And then we sent over those quotes to the uh communications team and they were kind enough to make us four videos centered around um the topics uh what students are grateful for and their thoughts on peer tutoring and resource centers of the high school. And then we had a topic about students just speaking their mind which we got incredible feedback from. Really that video is amazing and we're posting that pretty soon. And then um we also got about um what yeah what they're grateful for. And that's this video that we have right here. And we're just gonna show it to you guys to see um
003just so you can see the quality that we got out of it. And also just some of the great responses. >> Hey folks, >> that's not the link. Hey guys, thank you so much to everyone who participated in our first class. >> Here are some of the things that students. >> I am thankful for my parents teaching me and getting me to this point. >> I am thankful for my mom because if she wasn't there, I probably would not be doing as good as I am right now. She does a lot of things to help me and she's really great. >> Well, I guess I'm grateful for like, you know, the weight, you know, I like I'm thankful for my siblings that I get the opportunity to go to school with them and see them
004in the hallway. It's really fun. I'm so glad that I'm so close to them. My brother, I'd say because he's been a really good role model to me. He always has such a positive attitude about everything and it ultimately ends up putting me in a good mood when I'm around him. >> I uh I love school and students, teachers that there's school for us and that we could learn. It's really fun to be here >> for the community because Everyone's just so open and I've made so many new friends. >> I'm really thankful for the teachers at the school because there's not a single teacher that does not care about all the resources that we have at Lake Forest High School. All the teachers, they really want to help you. >> My family, friends, and
005their support team for the people who give me school as well as like the bus driver and teachers that educate me to successful life. So yeah, that was just one of the four videos and we thought that was just so amazing and you guys heard a lot of emphasis on how uh how much effort the teachers put into really caring about each student and also the connections that they have among their uh siblings throughout the school. And our next box is on January 8th, which is coming up pretty quickly. And um just from what we found from the video that we skimmed through earlier, we thought Speak Your Mind had great feedback as I mentioned before. So, we're going to keep that topic in. And then we're also going to um ask about how they
006are feeling about finals. And then also, I think in the next one after, we're going to see if they preferred the finals before or after winter break because I figure that's a pretty controversial topic right now. And then we're also going to have a question just directed towards seniors about how they thought, how they felt um throughout the college process and how the school helped them through that and then maybe ways of improving. And I think one of the main reasons that um we uh have liked the box so much and I think a big part of Melissa Oakley reaching out to us originally is uh so that you guys can see uh the like the voices of the students that you don't like see just walking around the hallways. So wonder if you guys
007had any questions that you would want us to add to our next box. >> Yeah. So I I would love something that takes the journey from freshman to senior. >> Okay. So when they're say what can improve but what's actually for them what is what's changed for them or what's been maybe most impactful for them what's what's allowed them to succeed or maybe they struggled with or they wish could have been there something like that but but being that they've got those three three and a half years of time that's kind of be it'd be really insightful for us. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you. I think it also be interesting if you said to them, you know, if you had an audience with the seven board of education members, what would you want to
008either ask them or tell them? >> Yeah. >> I'd be curious to know what students would say. >> Okay. >> Yeah, those are I think those will go along. Yeah. >> When they're doing this, do is there anybody interacting with them at the moment or prompting or helping? >> Yeah. So we have a um the videographers have a like a sheet with the four questions that we have and then they can either pick and choose or just answer all of them. >> Yeah. So one of the things that would be nice to do is for that person is if they give any simple or standard answers having them prompt to understand what that means before because sometimes people will answer a survey or something and say hey I don't have time. >> Yeah. >> But
009the answer is they got plenty of time. It's it's it's it's the layer below that that is the real answer and they may not be willing to share in this environment. But >> yeah, >> being able to feel like if they're trusting this or this that you can get to that next level of questions, I think you can get a little bit more uh we we can get a little more action on what what is actually going after or going on in their minds for that. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Is the videographer a student? >> It is. Um I'm bling on his name right now. Mr. Borowski. Yeah. So, he helped us out. And then also Thomas Gity is there with um just asking the questions. >> And we're planning for our next one
010in January to have students um there with um like the camera crew so that students feel more welcome to come up to like other students and it's more a more like not as intimidating space. >> Yeah. >> And then um if you guys want to see the other videos, we are posting them on the Lake Force High School student council Instagram. And then also um that one that we just watched is on the Forest Scout and then we're going to post it on we're going to post some more on the Forest Scout as well. >> Um so last uh meeting we talked about food brands that we were preparing for. So we did those in October. We delivered them on Halloween to students as like a little bag of candy and we sold 120 of
011them which we raised around $600. So that was awesome. and we had um these big letters that we wrote um for Gabe and Libby who are two um kids in our community who are battling pediatric cancer. So we had um LFHS students come and they we were so grateful that they wrote a little note of like wishing them well and saying you're so strong. So that was awesome to see. We drop those off at their houses. And yeah, >> uh so coming up in these next few weeks, we we really want to take advantage of having this open week before finals. And one thing that we're doing with student council is these holidays, which is a little bit of play on words with the spelling of holidays because we're decorating the halls to be like
012festive themed. And we assigned the freshman to the basement and then the sophomores to the first floor and then going up. So, so those are all going to get decorated. The one of the basement's already decorated. It looks amazing. And then the rest is getting decorated throughout the week. And um one thing that the senior student council is doing, we are going to be putting uh candy canes with like nice little notes just thanking all the teachers for what they've done. And then we're going to be hanging them on like the door handle of their cars um on Thursday. And then um something that was going on this week is snowed in which is uh it was kind of a last minute thing but we uh we have been we had a table set up
013at lunch and you make like a little paper snowflake and then write a letter of gratitude to teachers or just anybody in the staff and then we're going to hang them on the doors of front commons like snowing in the school and we think that's a pretty fun idea and just a good way to give back to our teachers and then we're going to be uh having a spirit week in the next week just to get ready for the holiday and get in the spirit. >> Um, so here's the principal advisory council update. So about a month ago, a couple of the senior pack members went to the JLT meeting and one of the main things we're working on is the uniformity throughout different classes. So like the different teachers like the varying curriculum within
014them. So we're working to unify that. So, we have already contact contacted the head of the English department, um, Mrs. Carlson, and we've talked to her and she is super open about it. So, we're going to be talking to the rest of the English department soon. And then we've also contacted Mr. Don, the head of the history department, and we're going to be working to um work with the rest of the uh history department for mostly um AP US history and regular US history. Um we also are going to be meeting with Mrs. Drager for to talk about lunch prices because they have escalated quite a bit in the past year. So, and we have a couple of our pack members on the food committee this year, which is new and exciting. That'll be in
015January. And then also AP exams. last year. This was I mentioned this earlier earlier, but this was a big thing is subsidizing the first three exams because we found that um sorry um that students some students aren't able to take the especially like the late fee is an additional $40. So by subsidizing those first an opportunity for those students who aren't normally able to afford it. an opportunity. Are you ready, sir? All right, there we go. Thank you. Unload. Thank you so much. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, tonight's update is going to cover several topics, starting with the referendum and ending with some holiday cheer about some exciting things that are happening in the last few days before winter break. I'm going to start with a referendum update and just some highlights that are happening.
016It's been an exciting uh week or so for the English department because they have started moving into their new spaces of the classrooms that are being renovated. And at the same time, we will quickly transition to take or recapture um the remaining English rooms so that that work can begin at the start of the second semester. Furniture is getting delivered um in waves right now and we should be good to go for the start of the second semester. Start after winter break, forgive me. Also, we released a new under the hard hat. Episode 14 is available on the website. And I want you to know that we have not had a uh uh community update on the referendum yet this fall. So, we are scheduling that in January date to be forthcoming. We want to
017make sure that we continue our commitment to keeping the community informed and up to date with how the referendum is progressing. And we have so many wonderful things to share. I'll kick it over to Dr. Dr. Fitz Simmons for the triple I update. >> Thank you, Dr. Montgomery. Um, this was a wonderful conference that we had the privilege and honor of attending this fall. Uh, the triple I stands for the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Association of School Administrators, and the Illinois Association of School Business Officials and it's really recognized as one of the premier conferences for all of the Illinois school leaders. And we were excited to be able to be a part of the learning. Some of the learning was around collective bargaining, around educational equity and advocacy and technology. So
018many more topics as well. We were proud to have been able to present as a team this year. Um up at the top you can see there is Jordan Salis, myself, Dr. Leonard, Melissa Oakley, and Dr. Montgomery. And we presented on a topic called the trust equation. So, it was a wonderful way for us to share our shared services model, the different things that we've done and how we've maximized our resources and established those systems of um just educational leadership and distributed leadership and ultimately how we've met our strategic plan goals, board priorities, and ultimately hopefully the students will agree created a wonderful experience for our students who embody the portrait of a learner competencies and are ready to head out into the world. >> Thanks so much Dr. Simmons. Uh, on the same theme
019of conferences, I'm happy to share that Frank Lesniak, Jeff Sumi, Drea Serado, Steven Dunn, Ashley Malik, and Ryan Abrams all presented in Boston on the topic of system change through distributive leadership. The learning forward annual conference uh covers uh how to plan, implement, and measure highquality professional learning that changes educator practice and improves results for all students. Uh this is our commitment to share the Lake Forest story and to hopefully help impact other districts who are going through um the same type of work that we are and uh hopefully contributing in an exceptionally positive way. I was uh so fortunate to be there and to cheer the team on and they knocked it out of the park and uh they even did a protocol where districts were taking our practices and translating into their specific
020districts and I know that people walked away much more informed than they were uh prior to starting the experience. So, I'm grateful for the team and I know Frank's here. So, please make sure you congratulate him because it was a job well done. the alumni panel. Uh this is actually the fifth annual LFHS alumni panel and it is hosted by both the AP in support of the alumni in support with the alumni association and it gives our current scouts the uh opportunity to hear from uh alumni who are recent graduates to help them understand uh what is out there beyond the high school experience and it is always a wonderful event and I thank everybody who made that possible. We have two students who uh we were able to uh honor both Jasmine Scott and
021Dakota Aello who signed letters of intent during the school's first athletic college commitment day for 2025 2026 and it was held on Wednesday December 3rd in the LFHS cafeteria. Jasmine is going on to continue her work in track and field and then Dakota will be uh continuing uh the lacrosse uh program. We are starting a new community outreach and we just want our community to be aware. So to continue to approve uh to provide timely and accurate information to our communities, Lake Forest Schools will be working with an external vendor in order to obtain an email database for the 644 and the 645 zip codes. This new list will allow us to reach additional stakeholders, including those who don't currently have children in our schools, which makes up about 80% of our population in a
022quicker manner to help keep them informed and will complement the other messaging channels like social media and printed productions like Insight and the Bottom line. It is truly the Oh, the video is starting. I'm going to let the video go first. That video is a small taste of the mag rolls and uh beltos, forgive me, for a recent performance at the Nwood Club. Uh it is the most wonderful time of the year when these LFHS students start to share their festive talents with the community. Uh the LFHS festive or festival brass and choir braved the cold to sing at the Lake Forest tree lighting the day after Thanksgiving. The applause spaghetti dinner was held last uh Sunday where the community was able to enjoy performances by all of our talented students. So if you see
023any of our students, please help us celebrate them because it certainly brings a smile to my face as we see them sharing their special talents with everybody in the community. some upcoming events. Uh, as I said, winter break is on the immediate horizon, but after winter break, uh, just some highlights. Mark Wood, Mark Wood will be in concert with the DPM and LFHS orchestras on January 27th in the RMA. Mark Wood is best known as the original string master for the Trans Siberian Orchestra, uh, which is certainly getting a lot of airtime this time of year. So, that should be an exciting opportunity for our students. And the winter play will beginning uh will be at the beginning of February, February 5th through 7th in the Little Theater. And this year's production is Oscar Wild's
024The Importance of Being Earnest. With that, I wish you all the very best in this holiday season. And thank you for your commitment to the students of LFHS and beyond. >> Right. Thank you, Dr. Montgomery and team. All right. Uh public participation. Um and I will seeing none, we'll move on. uh reports. So, Mr. Frank Lesniak. So, we're gonna >> All right. I'm gonna introduce Mr. Lesniak who while he's getting set up um in his third year as the assistant principal of student operations and one of his areas of responsibility is of course assessment um as well as the dean's office. So, year-over-year he's also been presenting on some of our attendance information. This year, he wanted to um give a little bit different of a report. I think the students are going to be
025involved in sections of it because the student experience in assessment or classes is so important. But really just as we have for the last three years as you see the data really impressive data around dual credit around AP participation and scores around seals of biiteracy career pathway endorsements. You're going to see all new data around that and improved data. It really is because of the board's investment in a strategic plan and board priorities that focus on making sure we have access and opportunities for all students. I think you're you're going to see evidence of that tonight. So, without further ado, I bought you some time, Mr. Lesniak. >> Good timing. Yeah. >> The time is yours. >> Thank you. >> All right, I'm ready. Finally. Uh, thank you, Ethan Frell. I appreciate you, buddy. Couldn't
026have done that without you. Um, so, uh, thank you. Welcome. I'm Frank Lesniak. I'm assistant principal at Lake Forest High School and and very proud to be here and uh excited to get started. So, we're going to jump right in um to our uh annual assessment report. Um so, just quick agenda um as you know, we're going to we're going to talk a little bit we'll start with the uh goal 1A um that that is be college and career readiness indicators and kind of and talk about distinguished scholar and college career scholar. I'm not going to focus much on the test scores of that because we we do a lot of talking about that. But I really want to spend some time talking about the pathways um and what that what that leads through uh
027through there. Uh then we'll we're going to talk about some student experiences with AP dual credit and ACT and then we'll get into the data for AP dual credit um as well as ACT data. And then um lastly, we've never really touched on the seal of bio literacy in this report and um that's something that the board has made a priority and I want to touch on that as well today. So, um, as you I' I've shown this slide in in past reports and, um, I did I did include a link, um, right up here. Um, I'm not going to click on this, but you guys have access to this, and you can click on this, and this is pretty good guidance from Illinois State Board of Education to as to what the it's a
028really nice packet of what what it takes to get to earn a distinguished scholar, a college career scholar designation. um the uh what I like I said there's there's the academic stuff, there's the attendance stuff, but then I really want to focus on these pathways and um some of the work that we've done along the way to uh to improve that. Um so Lake Force High School has um 12 unique career pathways and and um I I I just got to say that's that's very impressive work uh through that Steve Douglas has done. I want to give him a shout out to um to to the work he's done to to do that. And um the the state has mandated that we have there's seven endorsement areas, right? The state has mandated that we try
029we're we're set a path forward to get to seven. Um they didn't expect us to be at seven right now. We're there already. Um and um that's just through the work and the partnerships that Steve has developed with his uh with his uh his his departments. Um, so four different departments are um are are here, you know, are are through this. You know, we have our um let me find them real quick. I apologize. Um yeah, our wellness department, our world language department, new media and business um are all represented here in our thing. And and what's really unique what's really unique about this is 50 seniors are on track to receive a career endorsement a career pathway endorsement this year which is great work um given given where we started and where we've come
030um we are nowhere near finished and Steve with through Steve's leadership I mean we're he's pushing hard to keep growing this. So um very excited about the the path that we're we're on for this process. Um, going back to our our distinguished uh scholar and and and um and college and career scholar, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about how much attendance matters, right? Attendance matters a lot to me. I I was a dean for many years and and um now as a as the assistant principal, I I supervise the dean's office and and attendance matters a lot to me and I I you know, I be I just want to take a minute to give a shout out to Laura Kle and and Jonathan Silver, our deans, who do for their work
031in supporting our our students. Um, in order for a student to earn um either a distinguished scholar or a chronic or or a uh college or career scholar, you have to have 95% attendance um for your the average of 95% attendance for your junior and senior year. Okay. Um that's that's significant. I mean, missing that's a that's a little that's not a lot of misses, right? So, um that's something that we just want to keep putting out there for our kids to understand, especially when you look at the data. you know, freshman year, kids don't miss a lot. Sophomore year, kids don't miss a lot. Junior year, they start to miss a little more. Senior year they really start to miss a little more, right? So, that's and there's some things that come into play
032with that. I mean, there's college visits. There's there's I got accepted to college and now I'm in cruise control. You know, there's that. I mean, that plays into it, right? Um there's I have plans in my future and I'm I'm good. I'm ready. I'm confident. I've I've accomplished what I need. So, it's our job to keep keep this engaging for our seniors and making sure that we're pushing them all the way to the end so that they're they're excited and they can earn these wonderful distin distinctions. Um, our uh our attendance our chronic absenteeism rate is at 9.3 uh percent. Very proud of that number. It did go down a little bit from or I guess up. It went from last year um when but uh but you know we're we're continuing to strive our
033you know for our our goal is strive for five. That's kind of what you know is catchy and it's fun and easy to say. So, we're going to strive for five and we're going to keep trying to get that and if we do accomplish that and we'll have to come up to something better, but we will we're going to keep pushing for that. So, that's our goal. Um the the remainder of this presentation, you know, is going to I'm going to focus on the board priority ac uh board priority one academic excellence. And um we're going to talk about the ACT, SAT performance, more of a focus on the ACT. Uh we're talk about some AP stuff and dual credit. Um, so I want to get get into this. Um, this AP data, the five-year
034AP test data is um is here's our right here. And and if you look at our this current year, the stuff highlighted in blue is very impressive. Um, so in in a in a time of of slightly, you know, lowering enrollment, declining enrollment, we still have 601 total AP students um taking 1,412 exams. I mean, that's that's a lot. That's a lot of exams. Our exams went up quite a bit from last year. Um, the percentage of students that are that that got a three or better is 94%. And that just blows my mind that that you know 94% of our our tests resulted in a three or better. And just what why that matters, what a three means. College Board designates a three or better as you are qualified. You are you're you're it
035measures your your qualifications. you're qualified to pass and take that college course, you know what I mean? So, um that's that's why they use that number as three or better. Um so, again, pretty impressive data. Um we're always hovering around the 90% uh rank, but you know, going up to 94 in that in that one is pretty pretty impressive. So, very proud of the efforts of our of our teachers and our students there. Um the AP participation uh again look I got five years of of AP participation here and um our graduating class the 2025 graduating class had 335 students in it and 243 of them took at least one AP uh test um which is 73% of the class took an AP test. Um so again, proud of those numbers, proud of the access
036that we're providing our our kids um our students that it's not um you know it's it's we can really get it's accessible to almost all the kids, you know, I mean, if they want it, right? So very proud of that and and kids can manage to take and find um one AP test in their four-year career at least. So that's really good data for us. Um, I met with these people and I I'm going to be very honest. I screwed up and forgot Ethan Frell was on this. So, he's not listed here, but Ethan, you're awesome, too, pal. Um, but uh uh I just wanted to uh I did meet with them and give and ask if they'd share their opinions on their thoughts and their their experiences. So, um I'm going to turn it
037over to Josie and Spec. Um sorry, that's what I call her. I can't ever call her Elizabeth. Um, Josie and Elizabeth are going to talk about uh their experiences with the AP exams. So, I got a couple questions here or just one question really. How how is LFHS students prepared? How are LFHS students prepared for their AP exams? How do you feel about that? Um, so we kind of talked about and agreed that a huge part of us feeling really prepared is the preparation in class because our teachers really tried to implement more of the FRQs and MCQs relating to AP tests into the classroom so we get more practice. Especially a lot of students felt uncomfortable in the multiple choice questions relating to English and like for example AP literature, AP language and teachers
038really focused on implementing that practice into classes which really helped. And then going off of FRQs specifically for classes I've taken and I know Josie has too. Um, some of my classes like AP stats, our teachers really really highlight and focus on the need for terminology and evidence needed to be there. So, they also really prepare in a lot of courses and every course really. Our tests are very similar to how the actual AP exams are. I mean, going into the AP test, I felt like I'd seen tens of like hundreds of the questions that they asked, and I felt really, really prepared. And our teachers also really highlighted the fact that each piece of evidence and each terminology was really important and that it contributed to a big part of the grading overall. So,
039our teachers really did well in implementing that into our classes. So by the day of the test, honestly, I really didn't even study that much before because I felt so prepared throughout the year. Um, so yeah, that was my experience. >> Um, yeah, I totally agree with everything Elizabeth said. Like for example, this year in my AP psychology class, my teacher will take questions from past AP exams and like put it on our test. So, we're basically taking like mini AP exams throughout the entire year so that when we take the test in May, we we're so prepared and like Elizabeth said, like don't even we don't even have to stress that much because we've been doing this all year. We've gotten that repetition. Um, also in my Spanish class this year, my teacher like
040is constantly constantly telling us like this is exactly what you need to say in order to get like all of your points, which is so helpful because without that we would kind of be like, oh no, like what do we say? But she's like, you need to say A, B, and C in order to get a a four or whatever. Um, so that has been super helpful. Like our curriculum is basically based off the AP exam, which I find very helpful because like I said, I'm not as stressed anymore. And like everything we do in class is like getting ready for that AP exam. >> Outstanding. Thank you both. That was very, very articulate and amazing. Actually, way better than I could have done. Um, okay. We're going to move on to uh dual credit.
041Um, and uh dual credit in in enrollment. I again the thing that stands out to me it's amazing is our anticipated number of 519 students are going to earn dual credit uh more than double what we had last year. Um and again this goes to uh the tremendous leadership by Steve Douglas and and the amount of work he's done in bringing dual credit opportunities. What he's really done is brought he's connected our teachers to local universities, Lake Forest College, Lyola University, uh CLC, and and got them together to talk about what it takes to be uh ready to teach these graduate level courses. Um so our our our teachers are eager to take these graduate level courses so that they can become uh certified and and uh and understand that what what it takes to
042have the the CLC. there's a plan that where CLC requires for our teachers to have in order to to to teach what would be a college level course to offer to make it dual credit optional. Um so this is really a great a great work by Steve. They also started the uh business principles class. Um and this new new class has is opened up a lot of opportunities for students who um who take taking it and they're taking it for dual credit and it's it's the pathways in entrepreneurship, law, accounting and marketing. Um and and and as a result of all this work, you'll you'll see that we're anticipating 519 kids um earning earning dual credit this this school year. Um the reason it's an anticipation is it's including second semester's numbers and we you
043know we're just predicting that. We're not 100% sure on that, but uh really proud of that data and and and what does dual credit do? Um, we have a I I I I was had the uh pleasure of interviewing a couple um not interviewing but just reaching out to a couple Gret alumni who have um shared a video just a real quick video to share their experience with dual credit. Um in terms of time, do we play both of them? Do I just play one of them? Do you do you guys have a preference? Just one? That's what I assumed. Um so I'm going to this one. I'll choose this one. I'll explain why at the end here, but this is Lauren Fabry and she's a graduate of Lake Forest High School. Um, and had
044a ton of experience with dual credit. all the opport Sorry about that. Um, okay. So the reason I chose that video is uh J Jack Freriedy who is also an alum produced that video for Lauren Fabry which is actually really impressive. So he graduated already and has um has tremendous work in he has he's has I don't know exactly what he does but it's definitely in the new media tech you know media field and so he produced that video. So I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone there. Um moving on to the ACT data. Um, oh, before I get into ACT real quick, we do offer dual credit in in eight classes at Lake Forest. Spanish 5, um, uh, accounting honors, new media, fitness and first aid, law one, law honors, business principles,
045and marketing. Um, and although we haven't crossed into the the core classes yet, we have teachers and uh, IDs and and staff that is eager to make that happen. So, we're still working to to get that to happen there. Um, okay. So this this shows our ACT data and we've talked at Nauseium about ACT and our and our data and where it is and all the things we're doing to prep to get our students ready. One of the things I want to highlight on this page is that in 2024 2025, you'll notice that the valid number of tests went from in the 500s to 836, right? Um and the the real the reality of that is that's when that's the first year that ACT obviously mandated the test during for all of our all of
046our students. So, the SAT used to be the test and now the ACT was um what's unique about that I I looked at the SAT um for for that same year. Um we had 98 kids take it, you know? So, it's like it's the ACT, as you could tell, even in previous years was valued, you know what I mean? And it's always been valued more by our community. When I reached out to the counselors, the students send their ACT scores in more than they send their SAT scores in. Um and uh so and the data shows that you know like I said we had 98 students that have taken the SAT during that time. So um it's it's interesting that you you know these these the things how they work out and it it seems
047that our students are happier that the ACT is the is the is the test that that they take because they're they're willing they're wanting to take it more which is kind of what this data proves. um our proficiency standards. These are the right size standards um and uh and and that Illinois created and and you know we're proud of these numbers obviously very proud of these numbers and in English language arts we are 85.5 math 77.6 and science 82.6 six. And um these are all things that uh that these numbers are really proud of and it's through the work of our students willing to commit to all the things that we're asking them to do in their classes every single day dayto day. And then alongside the the different all the um support from the
048board from you guys that allows us to to do all the ACT test prep that we do. Um and that's something that we're really proud of and the work that we're really excited about. Um so again, these scores are the right size scores. when I when I fast forward to what this is, we talk about the ACT SAT concordance data and um you know what these really are is it just it's a way to compare the ACT score to the SAT score. Um it's not apples to it's not an exact science. It's not like if you got a 23 that counts as this number for the SAT. It's it's gives you a an you know a ballpark figure rather a tool of comparing the scores. Um so again this link is a live link. I'm
049not going to click on it, but it is a live link that takes you to a nice chart of how to compare the scores. Um, when you go back to using our ACT concordance data, again, our our proficiency levels are still really great. Um, you won't see science on here because SAT didn't doesn't test for science. So, you'll see the um 69.4 for math and 72.1 for English. And again, those are both increases of 3.8 and 3.9% from our previous years. So, um, we're doing well. We're on the right track. We keep moving forward. And I'm I'm really excited to see what where we go based on the all the the ACT test prep that we're putting in um and your guys support and not only is it support from a financial standpoint, but it's
050also like your belief. You know, your belief goes a real long way and we really appreciate that. So, um thank you for that. That's really great. Um again, we're going back to our student experience here. I got we got um Costa and and Frell, if you have anything you want to add, please jump in at any time, pal. I did not mean to lead you off, but Costa is going to um take us uh through some uh standardized testing here. A question about the ACT. And question I asked you, Costa, was do you feel supported by LFHS prepping for the ACT? >> I mean, the whole experience of my junior year was like really supportive. During almost every single one of my classes, my teachers would always give us ACT practice problems. And that really
051gives you a feeling for how the ACT really is. Like being able to understand how questions are phrased, how problems are in the ACT is great. I had lots of help from Mr. Hay, Ryan Abrams. They would consistently email us practice tests. It was so much it was really a lot of resources. And with those resources, it felt like I had really great preparation. like I I couldn't be more supported from the school if I could and even with like even without taking like many rigorous classes I still felt extremely supported like the support was really well and I think it was great >> outstanding thank you Frell you want to add anything jump in there pal >> yeah I agree with a lot what uh with a lot of what Costa said um In
052my math class specifically, we had a whole day before the like mandated day of testing. And we went through some stuff that we hadn't talked in a while, but also some of the more like low-key topics that they um bring up in the math section. And that was really helpful because some of it I like I mean I obviously reviewed and had a tutor for the ACT, but it was something that you don't you don't expect like the math to be because it's not too advanced of math, but it um it's a time that you really get to. And she helped us get some tricks on our calculator to speed that up. And also, um, I went to some of the I know we touched on this a lot in the last meeting, but I
053went to the, uh, Saturday sessions and those were so helpful. And you can tell every teacher there was really just wanting to help you improve and like help us make our time worth it since we were there on a Saturday. And but I mean, I'm making it sound like a bad thing, but it was so helpful and it really helped me get my score to where I wanted it to be. >> That's awesome. Appreciate you guys. Thank you very much. Um, and you know, again, this is just goes to show like the support that you guys provide. our school district and our students and and the outcomes that it that it leads to. So, um thank you for that. It's really impressive work. Um I want to move on to the seal of biiteracy and
054this is something that um I I'm learning about to be quite frankly I I didn't know a ton about this and and uh I wanted to just highlight some of this stuff because it's it's amazing numbers and amazing data and amazing work of our students. um the Drea Drea Serado um part you know is the one who's kind of leads this work and and her her school her teachers in the world language department um but you know last year we the board made a commitment to um supporting the the stamp to making the stamp exam a priority um and um that commitment um is paying dividends and I I have some data here that's going to back that up. So um what you're looking at is just the the different types of awards that that
055the the distinctions that can be given the designations that that can be given in um for the seal of biiteracy. So you to to earn the seal the the seal winners we had we had 95 seal winners um and in order to earn a seal winner you got to you got to range in that advanced mid to um intermediate mid range um on the right for Illinois. Okay. Um and then and then we so we had 95 seal winners and what it means to be a seal winner for a seal of bi literacy is you have to be you have to it it means it's recognition of of the highest level of a high level of English proficiency but also your other language like the other language which is why it's biiteracy. So um and
056these students are awarded uh pres they're they're given a present an award at graduation. um they can earn the the um the seal at any time through their high school career, but it it's designated on a transcript and on the diploma um at graduation. So, uh really proud of this stuff for these kids. But um so again, the the 2025 graduating class had 95 SEAL winners, 100 commenation winners. A commenation winner is is intermediate mid to intermediate low right there in that in that section of Illinois. Um and then you move over to the global side and these are um people that really uh earned distinction. Um they have global functional awards meaning you can it's it's it's even bigger than Illinois obviously. So that's like what Drea represented to me like the bronze medal
057right and then you have 10 global working awards which is the silver medal and two global professional awards um which is the gold medal. And and I just want to touch on the professional awards real quick because the way that was described to me is we have two students who in the 2025 graduating class that could be could be doctors like could work in the highest level of profession in their in that language of of their second language other than English, right? The highest level of profession, whether that's in a a doctor in an ER or a lawyer in what you know in in a courtroom or a judge or whatever, the highest level of profession. um and um whatever that is, right? But pretty impressive that we have two students that were able to
058do that and and and what I love about this stuff is this is something that you know we we saw as we had K students that weren't taking the stamp and exam because there's a cost to it and um Drea advocated went to the board talked to Jen Hermes and the finance committee we made it work. We made it happen and we're we're supporting this for some of our students and it's it's something to be really proud of and and the data is, you know, paying off and it's in our favor. So really happy with that. Um last thing is I I the the Illinois school report card um gives a kind of a holistic view of subgroup performance, right? Um and and what I wanted to touch on here is is um really brief
059that LF LFHS has done a tremendous job of reducing the gap of our traditionally underperforming students, groups of students, right? So, if you look in 2023, the Illinois State report card said that we had um a large large gaps in our student learning. Okay? Um and if you look to 2024, it went down to moderate gaps. 2025, we're still in the moderate gaps range, but we're getting to smaller gaps. And what I love about this data is we're not doing this by lowering the standard. We're not doing this by bringing um our our highest level of students down. We are raising everybody up. Um and uh and the da the proof of that is in our scores, in our AP exams, in our AP data, in our dual credit data, all those things, all those
060opportunities for students that it's raising kids up and it's and we're opening up access to kids and to students and it's really impressive. I'm gonna I'll briefly read um you know what these say and what these are if you just in case you had questions but um so the definition of what they talk about for student learning is every child will make significant academic gains each year increasing their knowledge skills and opportunities so they graduate equip equipped to pursue a successful future with their state paying special attention to addressing historical inequities. Um the so that's something that again we've the the district has I I I don't even know that it's been a intentional priority but we are intentionally I know we are intentional about making sure that we work with all students and we
061are intentional about making sure that we are reaching any student that we feel is traditionally not not achieving to the way we want them to achieve. So, in that regard, it's intentional. Um, but we're intentionally trying to just bring them up and give them all the access and opportunities that we can. So, really proud of that data as well. Um, and and um and that's it. That's all I had for the um assessment report. Unless you guys have further questions or comments or concerns, I'm happy. But thank you uh to everybody on this list. I definitely left some people off. Ethan Ferrell for one, but I also left off like Steve Douglas and Andrea Serado. I definitely should be on there. And um I just wanted to thank thank all you guys publicly. I really
062appreciate your time and uh thank you for the opportunity. >> Thank you, Frank. >> Thank you, sir. That was that was great. It's really nice to see just some of the work that's been at least thrown out to Matt and Aaron to implement and and Aaron and the team and the school. It's just it's remarkable. So, we had an email, I would say, uh, come from a community member about quantifying the results and how are we doing and how do how do we describe what the portrait is and what it means and and it's interesting because I think what you're highlighting these are objective results and what I loved most of what you said there a minute ago was that you've made it accessible to all students and it's lifting all of them up and
063giving all of them that opportunity and that speaks to me the most important thing which is culture. >> Y >> the culture shift that has changed from when I Jenny and Dewey first stepped on the board and what it sits at today and people keep asking well how do you quantify that was I don't know it's every single group every single set of kids um and I love that you're nodding they're all seeing things better um they struggle there's still anecdotes there's still difficulties you guys work through challenges every single day but seeing the the movement and enthusiasm and the willingness for so many different people that I would say six years ago were not willing to help. And I don't know of a group of teachers, staff, community members that are not stepping up
064right now to make things better on a daily basis. And it's and it's showing in terms of that. And I think the momentum is fantastic. And I think I thank you guys all for sharing what you're sharing. And I know you talked a little bit about standardized tests and how you're preparing for it. But I could also hear in your enthusiasm that it's not just about the test score that I can see in how you behave and how you carry yourselves and even the graduates. There's more learning going on and it's carrying into other disciplines that you are doing in your life. So it's it's it's meaningful to all of us and it's not lost on us the work you're putting in and Frank the team and and Erin how you lead this group. It's
065it's it's really powerful and um so none of this could be happen with I think without everybody. So thank you all. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. appreciate it. Thank you. >> May I just add that I loved having the student voice in this report. This is the first time we've done that and I just want to thank you all for contributing. That was a huge value ad. >> I would be I have to give the credit to the boss lady. She you know she might have put that in my ear just a little bit. >> Yeah, >> she's a good boss. >> All right. Um we're going to move on uh to liaison reports. Um Ed readen legislative update. Um I'm going to share this a little bit with Amy. Um we we have
066the uh triple I conference and I just wanted to share that from the uh vote for the ISB everything that we asked to go support the one resolution and the the uh constitution changes of how they function and work um at ISB were all passed. So thank you all for your support and I I'm sure they were happy to get that. So, it was a relatively painless meeting which was great and um I think Amy was there for the for some of the sessions and I just would love you to share kind of what you experienced there and as much time as you like. >> Sure. Yeah. Um so this was the fifth year that I had gone so I've seen a lot of different presentations and and sometimes they overlap a little bit or
067but you there's always something to take away from any of the sessions you go to. Um, and so I try and diversify what I go to see and who's presenting it. Um, and this year I went to go um, I went to a safety and crisis um, communication presentation that was good and makes you think and makes you think about what we are already doing and other ideas. Um, and you come out of all of them thinking. Um, and I also went to one um, a school district spoke about their MTSS systems and how they didn't have any in place and what they've done in the last um, handful of years, which was great to listen to. And there they actually had some students in it, which was really cool. Um, and then the one
068that I really enjoyed the most was one that was a topic I'd never seen before, and it was connecting board members with students. Um, so I found that interesting. And of course, they talked about having student representatives at the board meetings, which is fantastic. And then there was a lot of ideas of how board members can get to know students. And the the funniest part was that they had a video and they were interviewing students before they did before they even rolled out this new idea of getting the the board members involved a little bit. And they asked students, "Do you know what a board member is?" And there were all these students that replied with what? And then there were a couple that did know what they were, but the only one that really
069knew much was um a kid whose mom was on the board. So it was really interesting. And it was a a community that was um northern Illinois. I try and pick I try and pick more communities that are going to be a little bit like us. Not mean to sit through something from a rural community doesn't give me a whole lot of information very often. Um but it was um it was a great overall experience. You always end up talking to other board members. It's always great to exchange some information or people that you've met years in the years past. Um so I appreciate the opportunity to be able to go. It was um fantastic uh night and two days of good information. >> Thank you for that. Um the next update is at True
070North Educational. So I don't know if you're going to share this with Matt or if there's or who best you'll >> next week there is a meeting. It is the final meeting of the reorganization uh process and pending a successful meeting. The newly formed executive committee made up of superintendents will meet for the first time right after winter break on January 5th. So it has been one heck of a journey but I am excited to see its completion and then also uh the new formation of the group where we can help move forward in a positive way. >> Thank you again for your time and effort on that and it's going to touch a lot of folks. So that's really great. Um on to our action items. I'd like to move this forward. So action
071item number one, which is the adoption of the two 2025 final tax levy. Um may I have a motion to adopt the 2025 final tax levy, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Um any discussion? I I think notewise what I want to just share briefly is that albeit this is the final tax levy, this is what we're approving today, there are some discussions we're taking forward in terms of really determining the district's financial philosophy, there are some benchmarks and markers that we already have and we share around our fund balance and those things. But this is going to be an effort to take another level down below. Really talking about some of the specific financial drivers, how we think about our capex, how we think about uh what's been going on with the the
072referendum, the interest earnings, some of the other things we committed to to the community. And we're going to be delivering this sometime between February and March and April um in additional discussions. And a lot of this is going to be led uh Dr. Hermes and um Dr. Montgomery really bringing specific recommendations back to us how we can think about this. Um we've had some active uh discussions in smaller groups, but this will be bringing this forward. And so um understanding this levy, we'll have some specifics and it doesn't go technically final to the district uh to the community um not community, excuse me, the county um until late March, early April. Yeah. So um any other comments on that agenda you'd like to share? Right. Um any other discussions or questions? All right. May I
073have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Helms, >> I. >> Miss Conno Donahghue. >> Miss Enzer, >> I. >> Mr. Noble, >> I. >> Mr. Wine Burner, >> I. >> Miss Gam, >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Item number two. May I have a motion to approve the sunb belt speech path contract6? >> Cut you off. So move. >> Second. >> Uh, any discussion? I think I had asked a question about this and I just I want to be clear because the um intro that was attached to the contract said the cost was hourly and then there was an annual cost and so I just wanted to clarify exactly how that works. Um and I think you had shared with me just recently the scope of work which was not attached. >>
074Yeah. No, good question. So the uh annual rate is what we pay for the services up to a a cap of the annual of what it could be. So we've requested what it could be as a maximum amount, but we'll pay whatever the services actually provided are. >> Great. May I have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Connell Donahue. >> I. >> Miss. >> Mr. Noble. >> I. >> Miss Helms. >> I. >> Mr. Wine Burner. >> I. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Um item on number three. May I have a motion to approve the first reading of press issue 120? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on this? >> I can just report from the policy committee meeting that virtually all of these were really footnote updates um and nothing significant.
075I think that the only kind of actual change that we had to make to policy, if I'm remembering correctly, was um just updating our um procedures for substitute teachers needing to be prepared for emergencies, but other than that, they are mostly footnotes. >> Thank you. Uh may I have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Helms, >> I. >> Mr. Wein Burner, >> I. >> Miss I. >> Miss Connell Donahghue, I. >> Mr. I, >> Miss Gammer, >> I. Motion carries. >> Item number four. May I have a motion? Uh, >> I don't want to wave the I want to actually do the first reading. Can we do that? >> Yeah. So, we need to modify item number four. And to that, we're actually looking to not wave it, but actually approve the first reading.
076>> So, do I do what just can I What do I do? I need to make a motion and do that or I'm sorry. Okay. Fine. Yeah. So, so we'll do we'll do it as as written to wave it and then we'll we'll table the Yeah, I'm fine. So, um just for clarity, we're going to table items number four and five. Um do I need a motion to do all that or no? I can just Yes. All right. So, yeah, we'll do Yep. We're going to table item number or may I have a motion to table items number four and five and we're going to defer these for the February meeting board meeting. There's a line or two in here that isn't exactly the word and we're working on it. So, thank you uh Dwey
077and thank you Annie um for taking that on and we'll have that ready really by the weekend. We just won't have another board meeting until February, but the intention is um it is set up pretty well just as a little tweak. So, may I have a motion to uh table or not defer item number four and five to the February board meeting, please? >> So, move second. >> Any other discussion since I already did it, but okay. All right. May I have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Enzer, >> I. >> Mr. Wine Burner, >> I. >> Miss Cameron, >> I. >> Mr. Noble, >> I. >> Miss Helms, >> I miss Donald Donahghue. >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Great. Thank you. All right. Consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve
078the consent agenda items one through four, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Did someone second? Um I was coughing. My apologies. Um any discussion? Uh may I have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss I'm sorry. Mr. Wine Burner. >> I. >> Miss Helms. >> I. >> Mr. Noble. >> I I'm sorry I have the wrong name here. >> Miss Gam >> I. >> Miss Connell Donahghue >> I. >> Miss Zinder >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. Foyer requests Woo Park 101 in dineing 101 Heather Kerr 202 uh Academy Research 202 all completed. Uh public participation one more time. Britney anything? No. All right. There we go. Um so announcements. Monday, December 8th, which was this week, we had the joint policy committee. So, awesome. I think it went well. Um, have
079another one. Um, so Monday, December 22nd, winter break will start. I think it'll start for some people on Thursday, the Thursday before that, but Friday, June se uh January 2nd, uh, 2026 is when we will end that break. And then Tuesday, February 3rd, will be our next board meeting. Education committee of a whole will start at 5. Board meeting will be at 7 right here in Lake Forest West Campus. May I have a motion to adjourn Lake Forest Community High School District 115 board meeting for December 11, 2025, please? >> So move. >> Second. >> Beautiful. May I have a voice vote? All in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Meeting adjourned.