001e e e all right thank you apologies for being a few minutes late um so I do not have a long president's report it's very brief and I just want to again continue my thank you to the uh the staff the students the administration and the community for their continued support of our lovely high school and um I think we're off to a good start hopefully and we'll get into the spring and more good weather but again appreciate all of your attention your support and um our ongoing dedication to this community and this High School so with that I'd like to please pass on to um Dr Montgomery to provide his report as well as the assistant superintendent principal Report with uh Dr lonard thank you good evening everyone uh tonight we are trying something
002a little different where we are going to combine presentations between myself uh Dr lonard and Dr Fitz Simmons so we will be tag teaming this presentation uh in a new format to try to synthesize the information to all of you in streamline our up dates so forgive me as we bounce around and try something new and hopefully it will work let's begin with the portrait of a graduate and Dr Fitz Simmons is going to talk a little bit more deeply about how we're trying to bring the portrait of a learner to life thank you and thank you so much for the honor to share a brief update on what is happening with the portrait I can say that I feel as though this while biased this might be the most important board priori simply because
003it truly is everything that the community has put together in terms of what we value with competencies who we want to see as our Learners and our graduates and truthfully these are the competencies that we want to see our students leaving with to show AC academic excellence and then also to ensure that we are Paving the way for their careers and their future whether they're leaving with an artifact a resume a college application the Capstone and I'm putting that in quotes we haven't formally named it yet but we are doing the work to actually create not only a process for learning based on Research models as well as a product process being the most important and one of my most favorite uh quotes is the quote of John Dewey where we don't necessarily learn by
004doing but we learn by reflecting on what we're doing and so much of the work with the portrait of a learner has truly been around what does that process look like which is including all of the documents Ing and the reflecting of our learning so I would love to just share with you a little bit about what we are focusing on um first of all we are Steve dun and Aaron and myself we're making sure that we are having conversations in the right places with the right people we want to have Buy in we want to make sure that all of our staff that they feel empowered with this and we also know that much of this work this great work is already happening so it's how are we ensuring that this is um coming
005to life and we're not just checking boxes but that we're actually creating meaningful experiences um the other thing that we've been doing is we've been having these conversations we've been listening we've been learning and we are definitely trying to build excitement and tell the why of this critical work um some of the other things that we've been working on in the background with um the leadership of Ste Steve D is creating a prototype digital platform we're looking at what can we do inhouse what would we potentially look for outsourcing with that and then we are also um looking for that way to track student progress where they can self assess where they can set personal goals and track their progress and reflect on that process um we're building a dashboard of opportunities where they can
006showcase the different competencies and we're also continuing to gather feedback from as many people as many stakeholders as possible making those adjustments and then building the portrait team as we go along one of the things you'll see here in terms of our four-year journey of a student is that in year one we are um planning to roll this out to our freshmen next year in the 25 26 school year so it's that introduction of the portrait to our students the development of those personalized plans students will be setting goals exploring the different opportunities where they can showcase their learning and their growth in the different competencies and then making meaningful connections which will ultimately help them create those career Pathways for themselves that includes documenting their progress reflecting on their learning and ensuring that they're
007starting to think about their future year two year three year four those are all still under development with the appropriate stakeholders but in year three what is exciting is that portrait showcase would ultimately whether it's an expo whatever that looks like would include the artifact or the product in some way that they could use to whether it's apply to colleges or begin their career so we're happy to start this work and to continue to present you as we go along all right so I actually am going to talk just briefly about the student and board and parent mixer or listening session that we just had on February 18th um this was such a well attended event by our students and I and I give no credit to myself I give it all to uh Miss
008yakes down here our student rep as well as the principal's advisory Council seniors who pulled together an incredible evening with n through 12th graders and district 6567 and 115 board members who attended just to hear about the student perspective at Lake Forest High School well I'm not ready to have all of the information fully synthesized for the board to talk about tonight we are hoping to do that in an April or May board meeting in General Session I will say that some common themes that aren't surprising given what we've been talking about for the last couple of years continue to emerge especially around that transition from middle to High School uh Dr Fitz Simmons is actually bringing this to the transition from elementary to middle school as well and some of her work to make
009sure that she's bridging um she's bridging that Gap in the middle years if you will but that transition and especially with regards to how you do school the executive functioning skills those things that students tend to struggle with once they get to Lake Forest High School how are we coming together together to make sure that we have a plan of action and success criteria if you will so that was a um a theme that emerged interestingly another theme that emerged uh was really around the rigor in the curriculum in the middle school and how we make sure some of those rigorous so those harder learning activities and opportunities are present in the middle school so the students are ready for it in high school so that means it might get a little bit harder at
010times or feel a little bit harder but it really is about preparedness and about our shared Journey from middle to um high school so that was one of the themes another thing is we really need to think about at Lake Forest High School how we're making sure students are aware of all of the intervention resources Mental Health Resources all of the things that you can access whenever you're in need students were saying they still aren't quite sure where things are and what things are there where's there a quiet space if I want to study if I want to do work on my own where is there a quiet opportunity for me to do that at Lake Forest so we need to do a better job of maybe naming those spaces um and then a lot
011of celebrations about Lake Forest as far as the culture goes um as far as our serving students who have special needs as well so again a full report will be coming but it was an exciting evening and I thank you many of you for your attendance that night U moving on to the superintendent advisory Council uh you know that we meet quarterly with the superintendent advisory Council about 27 members from the community and the last meeting uh was exceptionally productive we have one more meeting scheduled that Dr lart shared about um earlier tonight with the idea that we would take the board mix information and see what resonates with the superintendent advisory Council what doesn't uh also ask the superintendent visory Council to weigh on the board goals and if there's anything that they particularly
012want us to focus on from that uh from their perspective the 27 members are um individuals who have students in the district uh individuals who do not uh some of them are grandparents we had a representation of both Lake Forest or Lake Forest Lake Bluff and nolwood and we were trying to make a wonderful cross-section of the communities it is a 2-year term and uh these individuals have been Paramount to getting real-time feedback on a whole host of topics a quick referendum update we have phase one beginning uh within a week so March 21st is when I can't believe spring break is coming up that uh quickly I hope you are all as excited as I am uh we are uh two weeks out but phase one begin on the Friday uh of spring break
013March 21st we are going to host a neighborhood coffee and update on March 13 uh which is going to we invited all of the neighborhood uh members that are adjacent to the building to answer any questions they might have about the uh about the phase one construction because they may be impacted in one way or another we want to make sure that they are some of our most informed members of the community uh and they can ask any questions at that time please look for the community direct Mailer on the referendum progress that should be hitting mailboxes with the next two weeks as well uh this is an attempt as we talked about at the board uh Workshop about trying to get information to all of our residents uh some of those are some residents
014um have more direct connection to the district or the students uh than others and we want to make sure we're communicating with all of our uh residents within the communities community outreach continues to be a priority we hosted the uh Chamber of Commerce and reals uh in the area on February 27th to give them a district update uh we did that with uh 65 so uh Dr Le Ali joined us in that uh presentation we have Lake Forest Place coming up on April 4th we're making an annual um effort to visit uh Lake Forest Place today I had the opportunity as I shared to meet with the ministerium which is the local group of pastors uh that make up these communities and we had lunch over at Christ Church uh so we continue our plight
015to make sure that our community is informed all right and I had got to host last week along with many of the administrative team lfhs 101 so that's an opportunity for the rising nth grade parents to come together in this room um and what was really to me special this year not just getting to be with the team again um but just seeing how much much our team has come together over my last four years and really grown into our different roles from Dr Abrams who does summer school as well as mtss and hearing how that program has evolved Dr Nadler who we know is the director of special education who's who's new um just hearing how the team has really grown their programs and they're able to deliver better services and more services to
016our students um not just that it was really interesting to me this is the first year where the room was jammed and I asked how many of you currently have a student at Lake Forest school and only one did and usually there are several so I kept thinking I must be awesome and they just already know everything there is to know about Lake Forest and then I realized maybe it's just that we kind of are coming to that next group of parents who this is going to be their oldest at the high school and what an exciting opportunity for us to welcome a new crop of Scouts a new crop of parents and to really be a part of the journey together and I think that's exciting because their first interaction with us their first
017time meeting with us and meeting with the team that's their first impression that means everything and I think the team did a great job so it's always an exciting evening and then this is actually something I think I'm going to kick this down to um cat the Els basketball game can I put you on the spot because I'd love to hear the student perspective what I do know about it um Simon you jump in too it is the happiest day of the year not because we don't have many happy days at Lake Forest High School but this is really a time when all of our students come together to celebrate another tremendous group of students so cat do you want to talk a little bit about the El basketball game and just what it means
018to you especially as a senior and what's your experience has been yeah totally oh god there um so I am this year I'm actually in the integrated Wellness class with Mr spagnoli over there and I cannot tell you enough how it like has totally transformed my perspective on the high school it's the best class that I think I've taken without my within all my four years and this day in the high school like you can ask almost any of the students any of the staff that it is the happiest day of the year and it's something that a lot of other schools do have but they don't come together like we do as a whole and it's just the G I've never seen the gym more packed and it's everyone's cheering for the same cause
019and whether it's our team or our opposing opponent's team it's just you see Smiles across the board from parents to staff to students it's it's just it's a wonderful day and this was the first year and this was actually from student and teacher feedback we changed the schedule so every student could actually access the basketball game at some point uh during their lunch period previously the way it would overlap it would be a little wonky for students but any student who wanted to attend could and it was jammed and then at the halftime show we had a wonderful video um saying farewell to coach spagnoli who'll be talking about integrated Wellness um this is something that I know he's passionate about and he's done tremendous work around so we're really excited to celebrate you as
020well tonight coach BN uh this is just a quick note on a continued e effort to have thought leadership in the field uh last week I had an opportunity to present with Harvard at a National Conference uh and the topic was you'll love this navigating difficult conversations uh my bride said this is all I do every day and I could use some of those practices at home and do better uh but this is our life right now as the world continues to get more and more pulled the Harvard Professor was talking about from a research standpoint um how he applied um he was leaning into Aristotle's ethos pathos and logos and then I offered the practitioners perspective and we went back and forth as we talked about um what the research says about navigating diffic
021difficult conversations than what I was seeing in the field uh so it was quite a rewarding experience and that was last week and I want to thank Melissa for all her help in preparing uh that event for me important dates coming up you know it is our commitment to continue to have conversations with parents and community members on um how to support raising young people this Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at croya we will host Ellen galinsky's uh conversation on the Breakthrough years which is her latest book uh if you are available to attend I would uh I would beseech you to come listen to what her message is she talks about raising individuals from ages 10 to 25 and how to look at the teenage years a little differently than what maybe uh we have
022been accustom to and when you hear people talk about um how it is to live with teenagers at home um or to be grandparenting uh teenagers or to work with them in your day job uh she offers some pretty unique uh research strategies that help uh change um how I interact with them after I've read it and I've interviewed her once before last year so I'm excited to spend time with her she'll be um on campus with students tomorrow night and then uh with the AP uh audience on Thursday morning spring break I shared already starts Friday March 21st and then the next book author that is or the next author we're bringing in uh is Dr Doug Bolton and his new book untethered um is coming out this week or next and it's a
023another idea of how we are raising young people in this day and age uh particularly in high wealth well resourced environments and there is a research that he shared when he presented to uh the community a month ago that said that um our students of high wealth and extreme poverty manifest their symptoms of mental health almost identically so student hear that students of extreme wealth and students of extreme poverty have very similar makeups when you look at mental health and it was an interesting correlation that uh didn't make like I didn't automatically or just have a predisposed decision that I would put those two together um but it was interesting and remember um right now this is a topic of conversation because nationally 53% of females exhibit anxiety and depression the team is tired of
024me saying this three out of 10 females are having females and males are having suicidal ideation and one out of 10 are actually pursuing uh attempts of suicide this is the state of the world right now so we need to L level up our resources for not only our students in classrooms but for our parents and Guardians and aunts and uncles and grandparents it is a CommunityWide effort to try to wrap our hands and our arms around our students as they go through these turbulent times of growing up in this day and age that concludes our superintendent report and we are happy to answer any questions you may have thank you so much um want to turn it over to our Lake Forest High School update with Special Olympics and wellness with uh coach spagnoli
025and uh Mike mizwicki yeah you have to use the microphone for the for the for the audience you have to use the mic three online okay okay um all right so here tonight to talk about our Wellness Department that includes driers education and so I found a uh just a basic definition of wellness and um the part I liked about it was at the end it said instead of just striving you're thriving and so when it comes to our Wellness Department it's not the old school PE mentality and by that is they're thriving because they want to come to class they they love it there's joy in it anyone can take a kid out on the track and make them run but at the end of the day that's not going to help them later
026on in life if they hate running so our goal is to help find them some way to improve their wellness and if we go down into some of the aspects that we work on which would be the next slide um these are some of the components of Wellness that we're working on so physical obviously it's it's it's physical educ but those other parts are just as important as Dr Montgomery just mentioned to our students today um there is a time to work on Fitness we do do that but at other times for other students their need at the moment might not be Fitness it might be something else and we like to offer classes that relate to that so if you go to the next slide um so here's some of our goals students will
027learn Insight experience in many aspects of Wellness so it's not just Fitness we all know there are so many components to Wellness and and that and we want to kind of address our students needs and their interests so the second goal we're going to let students choose classes that fit either their needs or their interests again with the ultimate goal the third goal here is they can continue to work on their Wellness improve their Wellness maintain their Wellness for the rest of their life um if we just take them and throw them into a PE class we take 40 students that have all different needs wants desires throw them into one PE class write their name on their shirt make them go out on the track and run and the next day we're all going
028to go play softball uh I've taught PE classes at other school that way there's not a lot of value in that that's that's a that's a holding tank it's really hard on the teacher when the kid sits down and refuse to do it there's kids hiding in the bushes there's kids running over here the kid that is not something that happens at Lake Forest they love coming to their PE class and the major component of that is we let them pick what they need to work work on um so here's some of the examples uh freshman year if you go to the next slide all of our students take uh Wellness for life so that is a combination of health and PE kind of mixed together so they get exposure to all of those different
029aspects kind of the basic Foundation of wellness and there's also a PE component inside of that and then sophomore senior Junior and Senior year we let them pick from a variety of courses so here's just some examples you want to work on physical fitness we have strength and conditioning maybe you need to work on your your your mental or emotional health we have a class called Healthy Lifestyles now that class has some physical components in it but our focus is mental and emotional well-being we have some intellectual classes first aid and fitness where it's a dual credit first aid and CPR course we have lifeguarding we have classes like that that work on skill we also have and this is why I brought um coach bolian to talk tonight um we have some classes that
030really specialize in the social aspect of one Wellness uh outter education would be an example of it um but probably the greatest example of it is our integrated wellness program that that coach uh runs coach good evening I um I didn't prepare any of these slides so let's just move forward and I'm just going to talk to you about what I think and then we'll move on I think excuse me the first thing I think that's really critical for all of us to understand and now there's kids in this room that I've have in class some I've coached in football and and uh I think it's it's critical that those of you sitting here please understand and and I mean no disrespect we've got some of the best kids in the world and none of
031us in this room have anything to do with it there parents have done an incredible job with them and that's why we're blessed at our high school and you know we appreciate the work that everybody in here does and uh but if I if we don't if we don't really and truly look at these kids and realize what we have we're we're just too egotistical to go on having said that K I can tell you um our class and the integrated wellness program specifically we don't do anything different in there than we would do in any other part of our life Franklin all it's about is relationships community and respect for each other it doesn't matter what the student's disability or uh strength is we treat them all the same we treat them all exactly
032the way that you would hope you'd be treated and we have a lot of fun with each other there's times where there's sarcasm there's times where there's tears there's times where there's incredible joy and and frankly that's what you know I as a teacher in this class strive for and I will tell you that um we get it every day it's the best part of my day every single day I don't know if there's any questions specifically I don't know what other slides you have but you could just cruise through there I guess but that just happens to be a team photo from afterwards which um that's a really big picture of you in the back though do you see that excuse me I think that's a huge picture of you in the back though
033is that you yeah I think they did some fat heads it's a fat head very nice didn't that's actually shrunk from reality but um I do have a big head but uh I I I can't I really and truly I can't thank the kids in our in our School enough because um every class that I teach we have incredible kids those that don't know it when our kids leave class they say thank you to the teacher I you know we didn't teach them that it's a it's a great environment and as Mike said I think the most critical element whether it's a TA program or a regular you know PE traditional class it's about lifelong learning and that's what our kids I think really absorb at our place and um proud to just incredibly proud
034to be associated with them so thank you unless there's any questions perfect thank just a a big thank you thank you all right thank you coach thank you Mike really appreciate you guys coming and sharing all that with us um the uh board will now hear any public participation uh public comment subject to the board policy so this is for a Time anything on our agenda tonight uh that you wish to want to speak up uh and all I would ask is that you state your name and what you're where you're from and um and we'll uh if you need to go longer than a couple minutes like three minutes then we'll kind of be politely told to stop but you're welcome to uh speak now so anybody for the uh public to like to
035address please dear board my name is Maggie Corbett and I'm a sophomore at Lake Forest High School I'm here because I'm upset about Senora tanu's resigning she's been the best Spanish teacher I've ever had I know not only students I know I'm not the only student who feels this way Senora tanoko made learning Spanish fun and actually helped us understand it as someone with ADHD and a 504 plane she drilled vocabulary into our heads and made it stick in a way no other teacher could she helped us learn tenses that no other teacher could help us learn she genuinely cared about making us learn and it showed in everything she did this year has been a really hard year for me both in school and with friends Senora tanoko has been there for me and
036way that no one else has she took time out of her mornings to help me with school when I didn't have anyone else who could she meets with me every day and talks to me about how I'm doing unfortunately my current Spanish teacher hasn't been able to teach as effectively as her being moved out of her class has taught me how much easier she made it learning in her class I know teachers come and go but losing Senora tanoka would hurt all of us students please remember her resignation please reconsider her res she's an incredible teacher and the school would not be the same without her please think why are we allowing for great teachers to leave and allowing for teachers that are failing us to stay Thank you thank you very much good evening
037everybody my name is Michelle grza and I live in Lake Forest my Caboose is a junior I didn't think I'd be at another board meeting since Co but I felt that this was important an Gavin really really loves Senor choko and he is at volleyball trouts tonight and could not be here to speak so I came to speak on his behalf so this is written by him honorable members of the school board I stand before you today with a heavy heart speaking on behalf of countless students whose lives have been touched by Senor tanoko we are deeply concerned about the possibility ility of her resignation as she has been a constant source of support guidance and kindness in our school Community Senora tanoko is more than just a teacher she has been a mentor a
038counselor and a friend to each of us she has always made herself available whether it's early in the morning late at night or during weekends to ensure that her students succeed and feel heard her compassion goes beyond the classroom as she takes the time to understand and care for each individual her presence has changed our lives fostering an environment where we feel supported and understood her commitment to our growth and well-being cannot be overstated we ask the board to consider the profound impact she has had on us and to support her remaining time with us so that she can continue to inspire and guide generations to follow that is from him what I would like to say is that throughout the school year Gavin has a tendency at times to be up to some Shenanigans
039and I remember him saying wow this teacher can be really strict but she really cares I felt behind I went before school she helped me I went after school she helped me we have a lot of good teachers at the high school there is no doubt but the amount of times he went out of his way to mention her kindness and empathy and and really her determination to help them learn Spanish really um sets sets her apart in terms of of what his experience has been so uh I just thank you very much for your time and thank you Michelle dear board my name is Rex Morrison and I a sophomore at Lake Forest High School I stand before you today as one of the many students who have had the privilege of being taught
040by Senora tanoko I understand that there are concerns regarding her ability to continue teaching at our school and I'm here to offer a perspective that highlights the qualities that make her an exceptional educator first and foremost I acknowledge that teaching is a demanding profession teachers like everyone else face challenges and difficult moments however I ask you to consider what truly defines a teacher's ability to lead a to lead a classroom is it a Flawless record of never facing adversity or is it the ability to preserve through challenges and most importantly to connect with students Inspire them and help them grow from my personal experience Senora tanoko has demonstrated all of these qualities she has made made a profound impact on my education and that of my peers not just by teaching us the language but
041by imparting invaluable life lessons in resilience empathy and perseverance yes we have witnessed moments where she faced obstacles but those moments have never detract her from her commitment to our learning instead they have highlighted her strength and unwavering dedication qualities that are vital to any educator in her classroom Senora tanoko Fosters an environment which students feel safe to take risks make mistakes and grow without fear or fear of judgment we are encouraged to speak up and use Spanish even when we are unsure of our abilities um because we know that our mistakes are a part of the learning process she is always there to guide us to correct us and support us when we need it these are the Hallmarks of an outstanding teacher someone who recognizes that teaching is not just about knowledge but
042also about creating a space where students feel valued supported and empowered to succeed while I understand that there are concerns I urge the board to consider the broader picture of what Senora tanoko brings to our school the dedication care and passion she consistently shows to her students are not qualities that should be overlooked or dismissed she has been a driving force in creating positive and dynamic learning environments and her passion on our lives goes is far beyond the classroom I respectfully ask you to reconsider any actions that would lead to her resignation rather than focusing on challenges she has faced we should support her provide her with resources she needs to succeed and allow her to continue to inspire and shape the future of students like me thank you for your time and for considering
043the perspectives of those who are most directly affected by the decisions you make thank you thank you Rex hello everyone my name is Cole Ward and I'm a senior at Lake Forest High School I want to start by saying Senor tanoko has had the biggest impact by far uh By Any teacher um as a student and human being um I would like to share a story of an account with Senora during freshman year freshman year I was extremely disconnected with school and had zero motivation to be there I was having a hard time at home and would not care about focusing in class one day Senora noticed that I seemed stressed or worried about something she asked me if everything was all right and I responded with the typical response I gave any teacher I'm
044fine um this was different because normally teachers would just dismiss this and move on with the class filling us with information that we can't contain at the time this was the first time i' had ever seen a teacher care more about the information or excuse me this was the first time i' had ever seen a teacher care more about the wellbeing of their student rather than dismissing it and drowning them with more information from this interaction I had opened up to Senor expressing how I felt learning Lots about myself I had never known before after we talked s could tell there was more than just common stress so she gave my mom a call and suggested I would go to the doctor with this test I found out I had some issues that were quickly
045attended to due to the fact that Senora noticed I was off I was able to Ain a 504 which undoubtedly helped my academic career now I share the story not only to offer a personal account but I know that each and every one of her students can all agree that Senor is one of the most caring and best teachers in the school on top of being amazing and able to recognize when her students aren't feeling well she's also a great teacher who gives their students every opportunity to do better in the end of my four years I can confidently say Senora to tanoko is the best and most impactful teacher I've had thank you for my time and I really hope you reconsider her resignation thank you Cole hi my name is Jen Goldman and
046I'm here to speak on behalf of my son Josh Goldman who couldn't be here because he's at lacrosse practice in support of Senora tanoko I am Josh and I'm a junior at the high school I was lucky enough to have Senora tanoko for Spanish 2 my freshman year and Spanish 3 my sophomore year learning a foreign language like Spanish is hard and I was worried because I had heard High School Spanish was especially hard I couldn't imagine anyone else teaching Spanish the way Senora did I looked forward to every Spanish class with her as a junior I knew I would be taking Spanish for and I knew she didn't teach that class so I made the decision to TA for Senora in my junior year just so I could spend a period of time with
047her before high school I always liked Spanish class even though I wasn't too sure how good I was at it during those first two years of high school that were taught by seora not only did my ability to speak and understand Spanish increase tremendously but I also strengthened necessary life skills in class it wasn't just lecture after lecture for me I don't learn well that way and unfortunately that is how many teachers teach but not Senora tanoko she would teach us something and then we would do Hands-On activities so we would retain that information my favorite thing we ever did in her class was our freshman year final usually I find finals to be very stressful I remember stressing before I knew what our final was turns out it was a project it was a
048project where we pick a partner and we write a fairy tale this wasn't just a plain old story written on a document it was a Google slideshow with pictures and cartoons and it was fun that is one of the many things Senora does when she teaches she keeps it fun and interactive I remember I liked it so much it didn't even seem like a stressful final anymore what I find even more impressive than me getting an A on the final is the amount of Spanish I learned learn from it not only does senora have us do projects to learn and strengthen our Spanish skills she's a fan of online games to help us learn when competing against your classmates to win the game it makes learning so much easier and more fun I'd like to
049conclude by bringing up something that not too many teachers are good at and that is connecting with their students on a personal level Senora is the most personable teacher I've ever had not only to me but every single one of her students it is so clear how much she cares about us I remember one of the first days of high school she said you guys are like my children and I thought it was just something she was saying to make people like her but she kept saying it and kept saying it I believe that actions speak louder than words and I realize she truly meant that by her actions on one occasion I wasn't having the best day and somehow Senora found out she asked what she could do to help me right then in
050there I realized that this teacher truly cares and treats her students like her children all in all not only has Senora made me a better Spanish student she has made me a better person and I will be forever grateful that I was able to meet and be taught by Senora tanoko please reconsider her resignation thank you good afternoon everyone my name is Antonella brunetti and I'm a student at Lake Forest High School today I want to take a moment to talk about someone who has made such an impact on my life my Spanish teacher senor tanoko senor tanoko has been my Spanish for native speakers teacher my freshman year and my current sophomore year and I cannot say enough how much of an impact she has made in my Spanish Journey Senor tanoko is not
051only a fantastic teacher but also a kind and supportive person who genuinely cares about her students whether it's through her patience in explaining difficult Concepts or the encouragement she offers when we Face challenges she always makes us feel capable and confident her passion for teaching goes beyond just the language she creates an environment where we feel comfortable to ask questions make mistakes and learn without fear Senora has always gone the extra mile in bringing us hot chocolate she made from scratch with pastries buying us cookies from the bake sale with her own allowance and arranging a secret Santa for my Spanish class to ensure that everyone gets a gift for the holidays it's clear that her dedication to our success comes from a place of genuine care and love for what she does in closing
052I urge the board to reconsider Senor Tano's resignation her impact on us both as students and as individuals is immeasurable I believe that with her continued presence we would all Thrive even more please consider the profound effect she has on us and the positive difference she makes in each of Our Lives thank you for your time and understanding thank you hello I'm Julia tochitsky and I am sophomore at Lake Forest High School today I want to take a moment to recognize someone who has truly made a difference in my life and my learning experience here at Lake Boris High School my Spanish teacher Senora tanoko walking into her class this year as a sophomore I quickly realized that this wasn't going to be just another Spanish class from the very beginning Senor tanoko made learning
053engaging fun and interactive whether it's going through group activities creating lessons creative lessons or the way she brings the Spanish language and culture to life she makes every day in her classroom something to look forward to even on days when I might not feel my best her energy and enthusiasm makes it impossible not to be engaged but what truly sets Senor tanoko apart is the size of her heart she genuinely cares about every single one of her students not just as learners but as people she takes the time to make sure we understand the material always encouraging always encouraging us to ask questions and never making anyone feel embarrassed for making mistakes more importantly she checks in on us supports us and makes it clear that she believes in us even when we might not
054believe in ourselves her kindness patience and dedication have made a lasting impact on me this year thanks to her she has made learning and experience filled with encouragement excitement and personal growth I suggest that the board reconsiders their decisions thank you for listening thank you hi I'm Claire Jensen Senor chanoko is currently my Spanish 2 teacher she has shown me so much kindness and respect and has proven to me in a short time that I've known her how much she cares for her students one time I remember Senora being herself was when I was having a really hard day at school I remember no one noticed but at the end of class Senor asked me to stay behind confused I stayed to talk to her this is when she asked me if I was okay
055and tried to make me feel better Senora was able to realize that something was wrong even when teaching my very large class demonstrating how she was looking out for all of her students I have never had a teacher who has cared as much as her for everyone's wellbeing aside from Senora's kind heart she's also a great teacher in my educational past I have struggled to comprehend languages and Senora realized this and helped me so much to consistently improve my Spanish learning there are so many teachers in the past that have indirectly put me down but I'm never minded because I knew at the end of my day eth period Senora tanoka was there to support me thank you thank you anyone else all right G move on to Liaison reports um so the Ed R
056legislative update report I'll attach that after the meeting um there are some things in motion but nothing specifically being passed or considered at the moment so move on to action items um action item number one please uh may I have a motion for the uh to approve the baker Tilly for auditing services for years 2025 and 2027 so moved second uh any discussion Jen do you want to give a highlight to this one at all I will only just give a brief highlight to say thank you to the uh the members of the board both 67 and 115 Mr Vern specifically um we did Issue an RFP we reive qualified proposals um they did participate with us in um some interviews of the top qualified firms very hard decision very good firms there was really
057no wrong decision um but we have made the recommendation for a change which is Baker Tilly at the uh the race that you see before you tonight thanks um any questions for Jen Jen I just wanted to um complement you on I thought the uh summary of the decision was was really well and thoughtfully put together so thank you for that it really helped me to see who else applied and the strengths that each one brought so so thank you for the thrownness there and just one question because I know we're moving from a a longer term relationship and this is new um so I 100% behind this but is there any point like is there a one-year Market which you're going to kind of re-evaluate and make sure that you feel like this is
058going well well I'm not going to say it's not going to be without probably bumps because anytime you make make a move and I was part of the the original move to Miller Cooper it will take you see we went for a threeyear intentionally it will take a year or two before this Smooths out it it always does to they they make their schedules they you you learn about each other how you work how our systems work how our Reports look um three years I think is actually a fair measure um on both sides yeah and I Al I also want to say uh you know thanks for considering the change I know it's not going to be easy for you and your team to do it but you know given you know the summary
059and and the experience that we had I think it's definitely worth going with them um they definitely seem like the most professional not to say that our existing auditor isn't but they really were impressive and so I think it's it's great that you're willing to take that I don't want to say a chance but you haven't worked with them yet really in person so I appreciate you going and and dealing with going up that learning curve and the extra effort that it'll take for your team to create that partnership so thank you and thank you for involving the board in the evaluation and the decision thanks for your time on that da thank you uh may I have a roll call vote please miss Helms hi Miss zzer hi Mr Noble hi Mr Burns hi
060Mr wein burner hi Dr Vinson hi motion carries may I have a motion to uh item number two may have a motion to approve the bids uh received for the the exterior trim project for the referendum improvements I moved second uh any discussion um I will just chime in and thank you for this and I really like I appreciate the uh the breaking up and the creativity basically look at kind of the project and basically I think get pepper involved to keep the scaffolding up and leverage a bunch of things so the the bid I think was really helpful and I think there's I I'm hoping and it looks like there'll be some savings at some point it just there's a little bit of an un un undisclosed or um what's the right wording it's
061uh unassigned right so do you have a flavor not to hold you to it but um do you have a flavor of what this in terms of doing it this way what we're what we what's the opportunity in terms of some savings potentially that's difficult to say I know we're that our original budget when we put in looked at the entire historical window project was in the 2.2 to 2.4 million range we won't know until we have our final number on the renovation of the actual Windows themselves but I'm hoping to pick up several hundred thousand and that's what it looked like but I really appreciate the and to the community to understand um and just more for the record the the care and the time that I think everybody took and listening to the
062community and having so many voices to come to the conclusion of where we are today so I really applaud that and thank you so much may I have a roll call vote please I had one sorry please sorry I didn't understand what I was reading in this is probably just my own ignorance with regard to construction what what the alternate alternate one and two meant yeah so within within the project there was some unknowns at the high school so especially in an old building like that so specifically we had things built in on several ways we could have addressed different projects so it might have been related to the fascia it might have been related to you know some specific trim pieces and so going after how we might add address those and wanting to
063see what the price was before we committed to how we might solve them so we have a base bid and we could have several alternates on any of our any of our projects and then we decide once we see those prices do we want to accept them or not any others all right I am beyond excited about the trim press it's in it's it's silly how excited I am about it but I think it will make the difference in the details are what make this building so exceptional to our community and taking that building in terms of the trim up to where it was when it was designed I think will make the community even prouder of that historic space no I completely agree and I think that's what Jim and the the historical folks
064they all felt that so I think addressing everything verses leaving the trim no offense crappy and beautiful Windows that's really kind of a missed opportunity so I I appre appreciate everybody coming together for that so may I have a roll call vote Please Mr Noble I miss Helms hi Miss zzer I Dr vincon I Mr Burns I Mr webiner I motion carries item number three may have a thank you TI may have number three may have a motion to approve the referendum phase one Furniture purchase so moved second uh one more time if you want to just highlight on the Furniture as you can see we are we are Mo moving Full Speed Ahead um obviously this is an up to amount of $415,000 of furniture we are starting with the classrooms that will be
065renovated this summer we are moving into in the fall specifically those are some World Language classrooms I forget what the other ones are at this point um and then we're going to keep going in the order in which we will finish because there's no reason to wait on furniture so you're going to you're going to see this come up in kind of a a rolling sequence we want to stay ahead head of the escalation um and also let the current students enjoy as much of the the referendum improvements as they possibly can even if it's only only Furniture so um this will be the first of many packages Whitney is meeting with each department she was there all day today um with our furniture designer um specifically going through our menu to say what works
066for your department because what works in English might not work for World Language might not work for social studies and having those um conversations on how they might move that furniture around what might be Innovative what can we look at differently um and then we're going to um hopefully get this order in before Spring Break um so we can guarantee that things will arrive in time great work thank you so much have a roll call vote please Dr venson hi Miss zzer hi Mr wein burner hi Mr Noble hi Miss Helms hi Mr Burns I motion carries thank you item number four may have a motion to approve the custodial Services contract renewal so move second um I think it was self-explanatory I don't know if there's any other comments it was just a recurring
067contract with the folks that have done a really good job so uh may I have a roll call vote please miss zinzer I miss Helms I Mr Burns I Dr vincon I Mr wein burner I Mr Noble I motion carries thank you item number five may have a motion to approve the 2025 2026 student fees please so moved second um I know we talked about it briefly so with any discussion before we do that Jen if you just could highlight the the main changes on that and I think this is a if I remember right from my time on finance and Sally's time uh this has been a continuing theme that we really and I applaud the the committee and the time everybody's been looking at that and trying to find ways to kind of
068make sure uh the fees were moving in the other direction from where I think we we got trapped a few years ago absolutely so we continue to reduce our Reliance on on student fees so this year we're making the recommendation to reduce the student stud parking fees from $575 per semester to $500 per semester um so that's a net reduction of approximately uh $188,000 of Revenue per year in addition we are making the recommendation to move the athletic fees from $215 to $200 that is a net reduction of Revenue of 45,000 finally the last change is to move the textbook service which um no longer really is hard hardbacks uh textbooks it's really now um we renamed it digital learning resources and text book fees which are subscriptions digital resources paperbacks anything that you might
069receive in your actual classroom um all but 53 of our students participated in that service last year all students actually received the materials so we're making the recommendation that that is a mandatory fee next year um to kind of streamline efficiency and also to be fair across the board great thank you may I have a roll call vote Please Mr wein burner hi Mr Noble hi Miss zenzer hi Dr Vince I Mr Burns I miss Helms I motion carries thank you item number six may have a motion to approve the 2025 2026 textbook recommendations please so moved second uh any discussion on this may I have a roll call vote please miss HMS hi Mr Burns hi Mr Noble hi Dr Vinson hi Miss zzer I Mr we burner I motion carries thank you um
070may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items including item number one through five please so moved second any discussion have a roll call vote Please Mr Burns I Mr Noble I Mr wein burner I miss zinzer I Dr vinon I miss Helms I motion carries thank you foyer request bokim one of one parents care two of three completed Frank McCormack of two completed um at this point I don't see anybody who would like to do public participation but if there were and someone magically arrives you may do it at this time thank you all right uh announcements seeing none we'll move on um announcements Friday March 21st 2025 to March 28 2025 is spring break Wednesday April 16th will be the next finance and Ops committee as a whole and Board of
071Education meeting at will be at 7 pm following that discussion there also will be a um Thursday April 10th uh board meeting for a couple open items uh regulatorily that we need to finish in time based on their announcements and that will be done at 4M I believe in this room lovely um may I have a motion to a adjourn Lake Forest Community High School District 115 Meeting for March 11 2025 so moved second may I have a Voice vote all in favor please say I I I meeting adjourned thank you so much