May Board Meeting 2026

001Yes. Spinosa >> here. >> Trader here. >> Landers >> here. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Motion for approval of the regular meeting agenda. >> I'll make a motion approval of the regular meeting. >> Yes. >> Reynolds. >> Yes. >> Landers. >> Yes. >> No visitors or public comments. Mr. Cox, >> sorry. >> No visitor or public comment. No. >> Okay. >> Can we have a motion for approval of the cons? Well, >> yes, we'll need a motion and then we can discuss motion and second before we talk. So, we have a motion for approving consent agenda. >> I move to approve the consent agenda consisting of 5.1 disposition

002minutes for April, 5.2 payment of bills, 5.3 district report, 5.4 activity in court and 5.5 >> prior to um we have a second prior to roll call um just the personnel report. This is the first time we're seeing this, right? >> Um it was in the packet and then this is updated. >> Okay. >> Um >> what are the new ads? So, um, >> the new ad is the new hire and Brook false resation. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And and we already had a conversation, somebody reached out and said um that the personnel report was harder to find in this packet. So, we already had a conversation about making sure that it's >> um right after the minutes right towards the beginning. Yeah. So, we'll make sure that that is a lot clearer in the

003future. So there is no new teacher here yet. >> So so with respect to um our retirees um of the five through attrition, two of those positions are not being filled. >> Okay. >> Um the fifth grade position has been filled. Um that I believe was in February. Um the the other special ed positions was filled I believe in April. >> The only the only outstanding position uh that we currently have right now >> um is sixth grade math and that's just a lack of candidates. So >> so Lincoln with all like the switching whatever new teachers coming in >> there there are those have already been hired. Um if you like I can just We were just talking about this. Um I in my next report I'll give you an update an updated roster

004of who's where and >> because I actually like noticed the new hire thing was blank before tonight and I went back and looked at April and March and I didn't see like any new hires. So I was just wondering where when and where they w were all at. >> Yeah, for sure. And so um like so like tonight um very often though there's an initial report that goes out um in the um in the packet and then if there's our hiring during the week then we update that um for the night of um and so I can I can >> think it'd be good if we start emailing it like once you update it >> just in case right especially if it's part of consent so like we sit down and immediately get into consent

005and we didn't get a chance to look at it >> okay >> I I had actually brought that up to Brad when it was just the two of us here um having if if especially if we're not here or if it gets brought here if we could get a copy of it because I know that I had been asked like I asked myself who did we hire for this position and at a meeting at Blackstone somebody said well we hired him back in February but I didn't know we hired him because I wasn't here at that meeting so I had that was just one of I said >> no for sure we can clean those things up >> we're not going to hear all Stacy contract for not those two. We're not out of you

006know sometimes you have to fill and have certain amounts like change the number of certified positions in the district. >> Yeah. Not an issue. We've been in contact with the association all through this. They very much understand that they're defining enrollment um and that you know we're trying to we never want to say never. We're trying really hard not to have the conversation of um with declining enrollment, we have to reduce the number um with when without somebody retiring. And so they're appreciative of the fact that that's when we do look at that number is when somebody's retiring. So we're not actually looking at removing somebody who's already started working for us. Um it's just not filling as they retire. And so they're appreciative of that attrition. very much understand all that math. >> My

007other question on this one was 14 cleaners plus paint. What does that compare? Is that in line? >> Yep. >> It is. >> Okay. >> Yep. You got >> And that goes for six weeks pretty much. >> Um yeah, maybe. Yeah, you put the 4th of July in there and and maybe seven. Y >> right. Right. >> And that permanent sub is that an an additional position or is this a replacement position? >> Yeah, it's um we've fluctuated once since we've had the inception of the permanent sub position. We've kind of fluctuated between three and five. Um this puts us back up to five. We've gone down to four. Um but we also anticipate having kind of some heavy needs of those people for for next year. >> Um I think one other thing that

008just as we're discussing the personal may be helpful is just a column that says if it's like a new or replacement for so and so like that just might be helpful for us because it sometimes I feel like I don't know. >> Sure. >> Especially since it could be months between when we get somebody's retirement or we hire somebody and then we don't remember who's you bet. Okay. >> Any other discussion? >> We and we don't have a PE as of now. >> So it's PE. So that's true. >> PE in sixth grade. >> James Weinberg just >> so we currently have two open positions in the in the district. They're posted on the >> Yeah. And we're in the process of Y. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Okay, please. >> Yes. >> Esposa. >>

009Yes. >> Trader. >> Yes. >> 6.14 requests. >> Uh yeah, we had one from Starbridge for purchase orders. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Before uh Mr. Pierce takes over and presents. Um, I want to u be the first to release a little good news. Um, as you know, we've been a part of the CP um lunch program that allows us to provide free breakfasts and lunches for our kids. That's set to expire at the end of this upcoming year. Um, they're getting ready to change a bunch of kind of regulations on how that's calculated. Um, so we actually withdrew from that um and then recalculated everything and reapplied. So we just this week got approved for a new four years. >> Oh, nice. >> So now instead of this being the last year of that, that's

010going to extend to 2030. >> So super good news. We will get nice press release on that. >> Just say that. >> Yes, ma'am. Cool. >> Evening everybody. >> I will be talking about just some curricular updates, everything going on. Oh, where where we're at kind of different programs. One of the many hats they get to wear. And I know there's a lot here. Uh so I'm going to hit the highlights for a lot of it. Uh and obviously as you go through whether it's now or later anytime, please do ask any questions you have, email, whatever available. Um so overall the big picture for this last year, um it kind of comes from teacher surveys. It comes from the five essential stuff we hear back from kids. uh comes out of our CSS uh

011uh committee which really looks at the consistency across the district. We identify our needs kind of look at you know where do we go? So this particular year is one of the big things we looked at um science and social studies uh the change in instructional time especially in fifth grade was a big deal. Um curricular alignment we continue to work on that when Brad put in the CSS committee we started going oh there's a gap here oh there's a gap here. uh there was scope and sequences that were put together a decade plus ago uh and a lot of it seemed almost like a compliance piece more than a functional piece. Uh so we're really trying to make sure that we have it updated but also you know helpful and not just something to

012look at especially uh as teachers do retire and that's always one of the biggest challenges is we get a new great piece of curriculum and we go through all the training and everybody gets on board and then people retire or people move on for whatever reason and now there ends up being these gaps and inconsistencies and so having something you know that we can kind of point to go this is what we're doing this is why it's helpful. Um, we're working on writing development, uh, some technology integration and how that looks across the grades and then continuous support for multilingual learners. Of course, obviously, special education is a factor in all this. That's not my area especially, that's uh, Cara Rutherford. I'm sure she'll answer any questions you have as well. I know some of

013the key programming she's doing, but uh, being that's her uh, domain is something I'm not covering tonight. Um so looking at science uh one of the big things is uh we updated to really have a foundational science program uh for the first time in many years. Uh we went with open sedy slogan. I'm sorry. I don't want to block the camera. Uh uh it's actually name of the program. It's one of the top reviewed programs. It's open platform. Uh so it is free use. Uh but it is one of the top rated programs. Uh what's nice about it is some of that funding we would have put into buying all those textbooks we can now put into actually doing science. Uh so it focus is the NGSS the next generation of science standards which puts

014a lot of hands-on stuff in the classroom. Uh so we've been buying materials for the teachers to use. Uh one of the big changes this year as well of course was fifth grade having daily science. Uh, and there was definitely some some learning, you know, growth going on with that early in the year as everybody's kind of getting to the rig roll of it. The same things we used to see in sixth grade, all the adjustments of, oh, now we're transitioning class periods and now what is real science class look like as opposed to what they had done earlier, uh, is happening in fifth grade. Uh, and so, you know, it's kind of a tough year because this happening sixth grade or the kids who had it for the first time, now it's happening fifth

015grade for the kid. So, it's a double whammy. Um, but I think everybody adjusted really well. We hear a lot of great feedback from kids, a lot of great feedback from parents. Uh, Lynette Pillar, who's the fifth grade uh, science teacher. You know, I think for a lot of people it really kind of we saw what how impactful it was with the NASA launch, excuse me, NASA launch a couple months ago. The kids were enthralled. They were tracking it, interact. I mean, like it was this whole thing. And that's exactly what we want. You know, we want people to live the content. And it's one of those things that connected in a way that yeah, you could have done it, you know, as a happen stance when you had science maybe 20 minutes here, 20

016minutes there, but being a daily class, they would do updates. You know, they got really passionate about it. Uh and we're really excited to see eventually our I data uh is the ISA uh sorry I should say ISA data element science assessment which is fifth and eighth grade because it's the first time we've actually had real science class in fifth grade. So we're curious how that's going to impact those scores but in particular track that so when this group of fifth graders becomes eighth graders what kind of growth can we see there? Um and of course next year fourth grade uh going to departmentalization is going to have more frequent science and social studies as well. Uh but it is one of those things that that's again we're looking for another you know great impact

017of that change. uh social studies. Uh the big thing is uh we started looking at it uh with the changes with fifth grade uh this you know social studies teacher this year was Vicky Gain uh with her retiring and then with fourth grade for a good chunk of the year we weren't sure if it was going to departmentalize or not where we were in the conversation. Uh so we decided to basically carry over the current programming we had uh which is SAVIS for uh 2 through 5 and NAT geo for six through eight uh continue that for one more year. So next year we will be going through a review process with all the teachers to look at what programming is best uh what curriculums are out there. Uh one of the great things is

018you know particularly with having departmentalization you end up with content specialists uh particularly in social studies which is such a dynamic class of conversations and connecting it to what's going on in the world. Uh a lot of times the book ends up being more of a guide uh when you have equality teachers which is great but we also want to make it you know so that regardless of who the teacher is that they have something that it could be turnkey ready if need be. uh especially as a new if a new teacher comes out of college, they're not going to have the same skill set as say Sarah Henle or Brandon Shepard who've been doing it for like 20 years. Uh we want to get them there and they're a great resource, but we want

019to make sure we get great quality programming. Um one of the things I didn't put it in here uh couple years ago, we had worked with the high school. Uh they're uh a freedom school. It's a civic-minded idea. Uh and we had kind of kind of gone down that path a little bit. They're like, "No, we're not doing middle schools right now." Uh and really all it means is just the way we approach education, the way we approach particularly social studies education. Uh but they finally open that up to middle schools. Uh and they actually reached out specifically to us because we we had a connection with high school. Uh and that's something that we're kind of poking around. There's no commitment yet to that. Uh but that's something that I will share more information

020uh as we go down that path. Uh again, the more things we can do to bring attention, uh you know, think about all the things that Sarah Henle and Brandon have done with the civic engagement. Go back a year or so ago, the the walk to school and they're mapping things out. Those are all things that we we like to highlight. Uh math, this was a quiet year for math. I like it. Uh they, you know, they've been in the same content for a few years now. Uh the biggest thing that happened this year with math is we expanded uh which is a supplementary program used uh we're really using it first grade up although kindergarten does have access to it if they want. Uh and what it does is it adapts to kids abilities.

021And so if you're a top tier kid or a middle tier or at the bottom uh when you log in it's going to pace you based on your abilities. It's going to give you practice repetition. So if I'm a teacher I'm working with these three kids over here. these kids can continue to work at their pace and at their level. Uh and so it's kind of a nice little program. It goes in supports uh we also use it for uh English uh for North Brook summer school. Uh it's one of those things that becomes a program they can kind of pace and work on. Uh but one of the big things that with some of that change over at Lincoln, some new teachers coming into the district, uh we have already arranged some coaching sessions

022uh with H.M.H, which is the math company. Uh and it's up to us how we choose to utilize that. you can actually schedule it. You're going to meet them, you know, this day or this day. Uh or it could be a little more open-ended where the person will reach out and go like, "Hey, I need I need help with this concept." Uh, one of the things we're really pushing is with, uh, this being year three is utilizing the team resources. That's kind of the great thing about particularly K3 is that they're all teaching the same stuff at more or less the exact same time. Uh so you have people who've been in the system who know the system know know the shortcuts knows what makes sense knows how to explain it. Uh so we really

023want to utilize their strengths uh with the new members. Uh and the great thing is a lot of people coming in have experience just maybe not particularly with our program. Uh so that should be a quick uh update for them. uh technology. Uh this would be Tina Msgrove with steam, Stephanie Klener with library, computers, and then Mary Cooper Schmidt uh at the junior high with uh technology classes. It's it's kind of all three of those together. Again, we've been really working on set up our scope and sequence. One of the feedbacks we've heard through CSS committee, through teacher surveys, uh is teachers are like, "Well, I really wish kids knew how to do X." and it could be use a Google doc, a Google sheet, uh find a website, uh send an email. Uh and

024so we had these conversations of looking at when we started, you know, teaching them in our spoken sequence, but also well, why are we going to teach something in second grade if nobody's going to use until fourth? What other skills could we be doing then? Uh so really trying to kind of, you know, unwind that yo-yo back and kind of go, okay, where do we need to start? Uh so they've been meeting a couple half days here and there. uh to really kind of start laying that found work with the foundation. We're looking at uh the teacher surveys uh and it's been really helpful. Uh and the the three ladies, the three teachers have been great. They're really excited about it. Uh because, you know, again, they want to make sure that what they're teaching

025the kids is helpful across, you know, all the all the other teachers. So, they understand that the skills they're working on there apply across uh the curriculum. And so, it's kind of a cool thing to watch what's going on there. Uh, one of the big things that we're going to, you know, continue to work on next year is, uh, kind of creating a common language that they're going to, you know, talk about in, you know, keyboarding in classes like that that they want teachers to use, too. So, it's not even about, you know, having to do like, oh, I need you to do extra work. But for example, if a teacher is opening a website in class using the correct terminology that they're using in keyboarding and technology classes so that everybody's hearing the same

026language. We don't want somebody saying, "Well, you click on the little boxy over here." And somebody else saying, "Well, you're going to click on the tab." You know, we want to use the the correct language. And that's one of those things that that's good, you know, common curriculum. Uh, but it's also a conversation we've had a lot in our CSS is common language needs to be the same. Whether that's based in the the content curriculum we're using or that's something we agree to. Uh it's one of those things that it's better for the kids so there's not confusion. I have teacher A and they said this and I have teacher B and they said this because then they all confused and like some get it through context clues others don't. So we want to work

027on that. Um the big thing especially the second half of the year here uh was uh ELA and writing uh this is the second year of inflight CQLA for our K2 uh first year for 35 uh and the reviews of it for most of the teachers. It is a hard thing to adapt to at first because there's some real rigor to it. Uh but it's also something that there are adult like wow the kids are you know a lot farther than we thought they would be at this point. This is not where they normally were. Uh that's nothing against our old curriculum. They just really like the new curriculum. Uh but one of the issues will always continue to be and I don't care what reading program you're looking at, it's going to be the

028writing piece because it's a reading program that has writing with it. Uh so uh came out with CSS conversation in February. Uh so we put together some surveys and talked to teachers. Uh, and one of the things we did at one of our half days in February or March, uh, we had every team kind of go through and like what writing are you doing across the curriculum because if if writing is a skill, it needs to be happening everywhere. It can't just be happening in isolation in an ELA section where you do a little bit of 20 minutes of writing. So, you know, every grade level went through and kind of gave down different examples of types of writing they're doing, the length they're expecting of it, is it a sentence, is it multiple sentences,

029is it pages, uh what's the goal of it, how is it graded, uh then obviously again the subject. And so, it's one of those things and we can see this is what they're doing in social studies because it's going to reinforce those skills elsewhere. It's also, you know, you have to explain yourself, especially to get the higher grades, you have to explain your thinking. Uh so it's one of those things that you're going through and we're trying to understand what everybody's doing. We took that information and then we had a writing committee meeting at the end of April uh and really kind of talked about like is this something we need to go out and get uh a supplemental writing program or is this something that we can really hone in on with what we

030have and just do better with it and be more explicit with it. Uh the conversation went around and like at first, you know, it's kind of fun conversation. They're like, well, you know, I don't like this, but it does this, this, and this. And it's like, well, when we realize that the shortcomings are more internal. Uh, and so our solution for that is one, it's that common language. Uh, again, a simple thing like, and I think I can't remember if I put an example in here or not when I was uh putting it together. You know, do you say uppercase or capital letter? Would you say a big letter? That matters because again, if five different teachers say five different things, it's just going to get confusing. We want to be consistent with what's in

031our uh curriculum because that's what's going to be exposed to them over and over and over for years. So, it's that common language. Uh you know, again, you know, you're talking about writing. Are you saying, you know, top, middle, bottom, or you saying upper? Those are just those little things. So, working up some of the, you know, documents of creating that common language and then, you know, really making sure that, hey, especially as people come in, these are this is the wording we're using. So, make sure we're all on the same page. Uh but then the other part of that is uh we are uh have already booked up with amplify uh to bring in some more coaching. Uh kind of the growing of the you know content is going to be they'll come in

032they they'll observe they'll do a little modeling and really kind of check in individually with teams uh to you know kind of really start to grow those skills. I think particularly K2 since this this is going to be year three for them uh they've got a strong understanding a strong uh grasp of what they're doing but they're all kind of going like I don't have questions about what to do I just want to know how to do it better how do I continue to you know do those things we have a lot of teachers who are online you know Facebook you know groups and everything else like looking for tips and ideas because that's what teachers do right once you once you have it down like how do I get better how do I grow

033how do I continue to take this to the next level uh so That's really exciting and we're going to continue to meet next year uh and kind of check in on that and see how that goes. Uh the last thing uh one of my multiple hats uh uh ESL and bilingual education uh we continue to provide programming throughout the district in if you're not aware uh up through second grade we have bilingual classroom uh and then after that it's more or less EL ESL. Uh we are lucky enough uh last year to add an intervention uh person ESL interventionist over at Lincoln for the 2 through four uh that paired with the one we already had at Northbrook for 5 through eight. Uh and you know we've used different models. So Lincoln focuses a lot

034on the developing kids, the kids who are just you know figuring out how to read, write, uh listen, speak. where at uh the middle school historically we've been working on the bubble kids the kids who uh are doing well but just haven't reached the mastery level and according to the state the mastery level uh is the exit number 4.8 8 on the access test which is the ego's proficiency test given to all ESL identified kids. Uh and so one of the things we've been tracking is how those kids do. And so when we look at our scores, this is the nice thing about access. It's done in January into February. Uh we actually get the raw data before school's out, which is great. Not only so I can present to you guys, but we can

035celebrate the kids during the school year. And we actually have just done it. Uh Northbrook had theirs today. Lincoln had theirs earlier in the week. Uh we can celebrate the kids's growth and their achievements and nothing against I but telling a kid in October, hey you did really really well last March with a different teacher now. I mean it just becomes one of those things. So a couple highlights from this year's access 10% of our students exited. Uh again that's the goal of programming. We still continue to monitor them. We can still provide supports if need be. uh because it's not just hey you exited then to the wind with you. Uh we do track them. Uh to give you an idea of the growth that's happened uh go back a few years we were

036only at 6%. And now the the beautiful challenge of this is if you exit awesome you're no longer taking that test and so the best best kids exit then we start fresh with the next group next year. So you know it's not like the IR hey you did really great and you do really great the next year and the year. So the best, you know, top kids exit the program and we continue to refresh. Uh 52% of our students improve their scores by 0.5 or more and going go back a couple years ago uh really before the linking component piece. Uh then again how we we shift to some programming at Northbrook uh it's up from 33%. That's great growth. Uh and it's one of those things that our ESL teachers one of their you

037know side pieces of all that they have to be advocates for the ESL chuh children in their classrooms. Uh, and it's one of those things that if you are an ESL kid, particularly up uh through third grade, you are with an ESL certified teacher that they have extra training, extra qualifications. Uh, but the other kind of cool thing here and that's the little thing on the very back. Uh, we did uh find out we received the bilingual education award from ISBY. Uh, and that little infographic, I won't go into all of it. Um, but there's a few different component pieces. one uh we earn it based on fiscal responsibility and use of title three funds uh which is for ESL and bilingual learners uh so it's use of that uh but it's also things like

038access test proficiency uh growth uh basically hey you guys are headed in the right direction doing good things for ESL and bilingual kiddos. Uh so that was really kind of awesome. Uh I do like to highlight particularly our bilingual team. Obviously everybody in the ESL team, all of our teachers are important. Uh but uh our ESL team is amazing and particularly the bilingual teachers which is a key component of uh that award uh which would be uh Petra Estrada, Elizabeth Canana and Becky Kramer. Then also give a shout out to Erica Courier and Gloria Bower ESL interventionists who do a lot of programming. Uh and again all teachers are important. All ESLs are important. uh but particularly those ladies have been really set in the benchmark. Uh and when we look at access scores, for

039example, we had uh 10 kids exit from K4. We've never had that kind of numbers. That's because the work they're doing. Uh and so it's just one of those things we're really excited about that overall looking at next year. Uh it's a whole thing. Uh again, continue to look at instructional opportunities in the core classes. We're continue our alignment work that never really ends. It's one of those things. It's not like, oh, we're in year four of everything. We're just done. Uh, as new people come in, new ideas, what do we need to look at? Uh, and then again, the big thing is going to be student growth and achievement. Uh, I didn't put it in here just kind of give you two heads up and, uh, usually I come back around October, November to

040talk. Uh, might be more around next year as I have to shadow Brad for my superintendent, uh, classes. Uh, but, uh, two state, federal things kind of changing. One is the state report card is going to look different next year. Um the Illinois board uh passed it now has to go to uh the federal government. So two big changes in the report card that we're expecting. Uh one is going to be how schools are labeled. Are they you know excellent, targeted, commendable. Uh it used to be like the only the top percentage of people to be you know the top tier and everybody else. You basically are competing against everybody else to be the best of the best. That's gone. Now it's going to be you earn whatever label you earn. So if a 100%

041of the schools and only were truly commendable, okay, that's what it's going to be. Uh but there's still going to be targeted systems like that. Uh they're going to get additional state supports. Uh but there's change of the names and they're going from like four levels to five. Uh the other big thing is going to be the attendance. Uh attendance is still a major focus for the state. Has been for years, but particularly post pandemic. Uh it used to be you got penalized and we got penalized. Another district got penalized uh for absenteeism for kids being gone too much. Regardless of the reason too many absences that we got penalized and our scores came down, they're kind of flipping the script. It's no longer uh the stick, it's a carrot. So now instead of going,

042well, you have more than 10% are absent. It's like, congratulations, you have 90% who are there. and they're going to, you know, basically allow you to, it can bump you up in the ratings by having higher attendance, but it's not necessarily going to drag you down in the ratings for having poor attendance. That doesn't change our concern. That doesn't change our focus of we want kids in the seats. We know school is one of the best places for these kids. Uh then sorry, the other part that was that one, the other part was access tests. So, uh they changed the access test. This was the first year the new version of the access test went out. Uh and so this July they're doing a standard setting uh and so they're going to adjust uh basically

043the cut scores uh for access tests. That's not going to change the outcomes we have already. They said basically use the data we have now from the state on who passed. Uh but what that could mean is that eventually Illinois changes that 4.8 number for proficiency. Uh and honestly we don't know what it's going to do. I scores went down. Remember if you remember last year what it meant to be proficient had to do less uh but the science test went up uh with access they've been really focused on the English language descriptors uh basically English language development uh skills and that's really rigorous so there's a lot of conversation that score rate might go up what they expect to be might go up but we don't know and obviously I'll share that once we

044know more and and a great partner in that is our ECRA our our data partner because they have an ESL consortium across Illinois. It actually has more participants and students involved than the entire Chicago public school district. Uh which gives us a greater data set than basically anybody else in Illinois. And so as we look at data, they they're going to be crunching those numbers for us and going like look and we get excited because well I get excited about the data. >> Uh any questions or thoughts or anything you want me to follow up on or >> um so I have a couple. All right. So um the ha hm math is that into >> uh for the higher grades. Yes, the lower grades is still math. >> Okay. All right. Um and then

045c and because I had brought this up, it was another thing that I had brought up when it was just bragging. Um not knowing that this was what you were actually going to talk about today. Can we get this on like a sheet that says like when we adopted it, maybe what we had before? >> Yeah, I I I have that. Yeah, >> I thought you did. Okay. And then with there being the two different curriculums for the um ELA and writing um the amplify for K5 and the into reading for 68 um are we seeing a gap or will do you predict that we're going to see a gap especially terminology especially with terminology and >> uh well that's that's where the advantage of again the CSS committee and again we also have uh

046language like you know so ELA teams meet social teams like So we have these content meetings and that's one of the things we've been working on for the last two or three years is that common language uh and that's really closed those gaps. For example, one of the things I had an example there is said CER which is claim evidence and reason uh which is an approach to writing that you you know basically I'm doing this and doing this and then doing that. Uh we switched that a few years ago from uh race uh which >> yes >> sounds more risque than it is. is just race was it's same idea just different terminology. >> It's like cuffs and math. >> Yeah. And we had switched uh to be in alignment with the high school.

047Uh we we do these uh uh alignment conversations with the high school. Again, it should make sense start here in kindergarten. We should try to work in a logical pattern. Uh so we wanted to work with kind of what they were, you know, discussing. So we kind of switched to do what they wanted. Uh our teachers like that's fine. It's the same idea just different acronym. But again, try to get everybody on the same page. So that's something that we've been working on. >> Okay. Okay. And then I have two other questions. So this this chart here um what you were just talking about like what is like example like what grade is is >> that one right there is uh sixth grade. >> Okay. Okay. Yeah. >> And then my other question regarding the

048ESL and bilingual um how many do we have in each program um or each grade that are in each and then like the number that for example like historically have exited out you know I mean like this current current group of third graders they started in whenever they started. >> Yeah. and then they started with this amount and then how many have exited out and that because we still obviously even if they meet the 4.8 we still need to still represent that you know there's still Spanish speaking at the house and like having that ESL background as a teacher >> so the way the way the state we have to track it with uh the state and this was a we had a title three audit this year >> uh and so it's one of

049those things that we do with them is if you exit we track you for three more years. Yes. >> Uh and so we look at, you know, IR scores, uh academic grades, uh because, you know, that is one of those things. It's not just cut bait and be like, "Hey, you pass no longer a problem." Uh we want to make sure that you're being successful. We don't want one test to define everything you could ever need or who you are. Uh now, statistically, if you pass the access score, you tend to be some of our top performing academic kids regardless of your primary or your first language. Mhm. >> Uh and it's actually been one of the big complaints and that's why we don't have the data yet cuz this is a new version of

050access. Uh we knew for example when you when you look at the data in order to pass kindergarten access you actually would have had to score in the 80th percentile of all English >> uh ability regardless of your your primary language. So you have to you have to beat out basically 80% of all kindergarteners. That seems a little unrealistic to expect of people because in fourth and fifth grade it drops to about 50%. Yeah. >> Is what you have to be proficient at. And so like that's that's a conversation. And then so this new test is supposed to be addressing that. Uh we don't I say that was another thing like you could at some point get us >> like you're like about data too. Like I I like like how many did we start

051with this? Like this year had this many. Yeah. >> And we had this many or how many do we have in each class? >> Yeah. >> In each grade that are >> Well, I I can honestly say one of the things that's been challenging and it's kind of the nice thing of being audited is that you get really good with the paperwork. >> Yes. >> You look at all the stuff. Uh and so you know we've we've found some people moving into the district particularly uh who came from other districts that were identified as English learners but then got lost in the shuffle and they have no access scores. They have access that that >> Yeah. And and we've had a few of those cases and so we work with our principal consultant for the

052state uh title 3 and she's amazing and she's like okay well you'll screen them and then if they get identified you program that's I mean they'll take the test. Uh, and a lot of those families have like I don't want services, but they still have to take the test. We still have to track them. >> Uh, and again, realistically, especially when we get to the middle school, uh, our ASL teachers, maybe our science teacher here, a social studies teacher here, a math teacher here, that kind of stuff. Uh, they're getting overall wraparound services. And that's one of the parts of our professional involvement, too, is that everybody has to get ESL training regardless if you have ESL certificate because everybody's going to have ESL kids. And we're responsible for all the kids, not just, you

053know, the the native English speakers. But no, I could I could pull some of the data and get that to you or get that to everybody. I'm not just Holly, but >> sorry for all the questions. >> No, no, >> it's also my >> Well, that's like, you know, and I talk about like, you know, hey, go back to yours. I started creating a master uh that's not Excel. I guess it's Google sheet. Uh where I every single year like this was their score last year, this is the score this year. And I share that with all the ESL teachers so they can see their kiddos and go like, "Oh, this is a growth we're doing. This is, you know, and it becomes a conversation too of does it surprise you? Is there a discrepancy?

054Like, so one of the things we identified by doing that is a lot of the kids can do really well on on speaking because they put a little headset on and it's like they're working McDonald's drive-thru and some of the kids actually pretend like they are. Uh but they get really well that they do pretty okay in speaking uh to the listening. It's they're reading the writing. >> Yes. >> But that's also part of the conversation of we need to do better as a we know that writing is one of our weaknesses and that's part of the writing committee's focus and all those things. And so that's not an EL issue. that's a district issue and again we see that in IR some of the writing weaknesses and so one of the nice things with

055amplify is that new series uh there is a strong skills component there's the knowledge piece which is like they're learning about uh India or whatever uh but they're also having to apply it in a in a way that they never had apply that kind of rigor at those lower grade levels so but unfortunately any new curriculum it takes a little while to metriculate up uh and so again we're really excited next year the second graders hey they've had it since foundation they had K and one they're going to have it you know so the growth that we're expecting in that is is exponential >> thank you >> any other questions >> I have a couple >> yes ma'am >> um under the technology one the second sentence says the works intended to ensure students develop

056practical and digital literacy skills directly supporting classroom instruction and future readiness and I know for us this year we've had significant challenges with students and how they're using technology appropriately or inappropriately discussions about what that might look like with the classroom >> um Chromebooks in the classroom or at home. How is that being how is that major problem being addressed earlier potentially as part of this digital literacy? >> Uh and so like one of the one of the challenges is a lot of especially you with Tina uh and Stephanie Collectner expect they're doing desktops. So it's rockets now. So but it is about appropriate use. It is you know technology is a tool. It it is a privilege. It is not a right. uh you have to learn how to use it appropriately. Uh and

057so that's one of the things we're we're adding in there is very explicit like how you how you turn it on appropri appropriately. What's your responsibility especially uh when you are using a shared device uh like I believe fourth grade uh and maybe some of in the middle school will be doing like a shared Chromebook rotation a little bit. Uh, and so once you get on that Chromebook, laptop, desktop, doesn't matter what it is, your first responsibility is to check it. And because you become responsible, if you don't say anything, and then you turn it in later and somebody's like, well, look, there's a key missing, they're going to point the finger at you. Well, I didn't do it. Well, you didn't say anything was wrong. Uh, and so some of those learning those basic

058skills, but also basic etiquette. It's no different than, you know, you know, I don't think anybody enjoys having to be the like everyone wants to just do the cool stuff and work on the cool things, but you have to learn to walk before you run. You have to learn the bike with the training wheels. Uh, and so I think they get that. Uh, and so I know like Kleener and Tina Muskro particularly other lower grade are uh, again, we're kind of working on the language, but again that language they're going to use in their rooms, but then also they want the other teachers to be using as well of this is how we go about this. this is why it's important uh and kind of track those things but it is that conversation I know

059we've had a little bit with CSS a little bit as admin team of you know the eb and flow of things where you know for a while there everybody has to have technology all the time and now it's kind of back the other way a little bit and there there has to be a healthy medium there because kids are living in a digital age and they're going to be digital citizens uh and so it's kind of that find that balance and I don't think anybody has it down perfectly yet and we continue to struggle with that uh but We continue to deal with those struggles. Every time something pops up and we have conversation, we talk with the IT guys. We talk to other districts and kind of go, "What are you guys doing?" >>

060uh trying to find a middle of our own >> as I'm sure I know I know you're familiar with what's going on this week. >> Um have the conversations come up at all yet around and I know this is such a giant like elephant terminology, but like AI and how we're using not using >> No, absolutely. Uh so uh Brad and the IT guys I would say about what four or five months ago uh really started having the AI conversation particularly Justin and Will had been out to a technology convention I think it was in November uh and we had already kind of started loosely come out as advent team like you know what are our expectations what it look like and so uh through our technology committee uh they've really the last few months

061put together the foundations for our AI policy uh and so the plan right now is uh one of the first two days back in August uh our teacher workshop days uh they will present kind of our expectation for teacher use uh as we continue to kind of flesh out our uh student use policy uh for example the only only appropriate acceptable AI in our district is going to be Gemini because it's through the Google suite that we have some uh more you know bumpers we can put on uh but again it's that conversation about you know for teachers you're not using anything that's identifiable student data you know, again, furpa rights and privacy. Uh, but we're going to have conversations about what would be appropriate use as a teacher to use that as again I

062don't we don't want them I shouldn't say I we don't want them, you know, putting stuff in and just, hey, grade this kid's essay. Well, then you don't know what the kids actually do. I understand it makes life easier, but we don't want that. Uh, so we were talking about more about like how could we take an article and create questions? uh how could you take something and make it differentiated for an ESL kid verse a low reader those kind of skills and so our our conversation right now is and we'll map it out for sure in June but uh in September at our half day we are talking about having a workshop with teachers of practical applications for AI again obviously we can't control what teachers do outside of these walls but we want

063to make sure that what they're doing inside the walls with AI is functional appropriate and best for kids >> yeah and they know and that all of our staff knows um really what the what the most critical pieces are of using it. Not just um you know that they can't just use it um for a finished product. You know, tell it to do something, it spits something out, they just go and do it. That there has to be you know a human end piece to it. You know what they can and can't do with inputting data and inputting prompts and all of that. So, um we've had some really good committee meetings on it with I don't a dozen or more maybe 15 staff members in on that committee and then we'll have a lot

064of implementation to start this week. >> So I love all that for staff. I'm just wondering if the conversation also parallel around student use. I know some districts early on were like we're going to ban everything but like if the reality is that kids do use it and so if we say don't use it and then we're going to invest in the technology to make sure they didn't use it then are we you know what I mean? Like how do you >> that's that's an unfolding part of the conversation. or not. I mean, that's that's kind of the next the next part of the conversation. >> We I think we wanted to set the framework for what we expect teachers who are they're going to have to model that. >> Well, yeah, you're absolutely right.

065I go back, you know, it's been eight years I've been in the classroom, but I remember uh you know, when math teachers are like, I don't even grade math homework the same way anymore because you can Google every single question and they'll give you step by step. And so, okay, well, I understand that. And so again, uh, a lot of teachers have switched, especially when they're writing on the on the Chromebook. The writing is going to happen in the classroom because they could watch it on GoG Guardian. They can see it in real time. Make sure you're not opening anything else or that kind of stuff. Uh, you know, of course, that then means the only writing they could do is here because you're not trusting the work that's not there. And what's stopping a

066kid from going home and pulling up Claude or Chad GPT or whatever on their own on their own device and giving me 10 ideas on this uh like so yeah it is that that tough reality of it's in front of us it's not going away. Uh the hard thing is like it's growing at such an exponential rate. It's like nothing we've seen before and it has all the possibility but we also know kids and humans uh make impulsive decision make bad decisions make easy decisions. You know again as an adult like I've I've read things like hey I need to find you know articles. Can you give me 10 articles that might be relevant to this? But then like breast like it's still my job to go find and read those articles and see is

067it relevant >> right so it can be useful if it's and I don't want us to take the stance that we're like >> oh right it's not going away >> no well that's why that's what definitely districts that are further down the AI road us having these conversations and so um you know I I do feel feel that we've got a good you know plan laid in place we've got a lot of people in the conversation My only other question was you kept talking about we have two more um common language you know decisions across whether they're curricular resources or even just the language that's being used in the class and I love that continuity. Are we taking that same conversation to find to make sure that we aren't going oh well we're going to

068say this this way fifth, sixth, seventh and eth and when you get to high school it's totally different. Like is that conversation? >> Yeah. So, uh, usually I we usually have two shared articulation days or meeting days with the high school. Uh, you know, and again, it kind of changes from year to year. Sometimes it's more of a morale team building, uh, situation with them, but usually at least one's always an articulation where anymore, it's usually seventh and eighth grade kind of meet with them, uh, continue to map out the policies. But yeah, it's that it's that shared kind of common kind of language. A lot of it, uh, as we worked with Denise and Joe over there, we don't want them just to tell us this is what we want. So that's not fair

069cuz again we have the foundation and so it's is give and take. Uh but it's a lot of that kind of conversation like this matters to them and it it doesn't matter to us. we don't have any you know anything really in that race like okay again like the cer we switched to okay you know like it's still getting the same concept if that makes it easier for them cool and again I I think about Brandon uh and Sarah particularly have done a lot of great work with the social department uh the science departments coming along again you're finding out like this is their gaps in science that they're finding like oh we can do more of this okay we can we can program it still has to meet our needs right >> uh but

070again those are small changes is that go a long way. >> Yeah. And like I said, I you know, get a chance to talk with Paula. Uh the articulation we did uh with them in, sorry, this year's bl been a blur in the second half. April, I think it was April we met with them. Uh it was one of those things. It was a master class by our eighth grade teachers really just explaining why these things matter, explain the kids and the data and and the high school is just like awesome. Like they they're really appreciative of that. Can I feed you back on yours before you do your last one? Um, so that same common language discussion like when you were talking about it and I was thinking like how great that is like

071to set them up for success when they switch teachers and switch grade levels and get to the high school. My only fear is that like your example of like capital letter and uppercase um like in my head I'm thinking of like for example citations like learning MLA versus APA and stuff like that and then students get out into outside of Modota um or in college are they going to be used to only hearing one language because we don't expose them to it's also known as or you may also hear it be called this because we're so focused on the common language then they don't ever hear other >> yeah I think uh and it's nothing we don't have anything explicit like hey once they get to seventh grade you can also introduce it's kind of

072like I think about you know you learn multiplication and everything was x then like fifth or sixth grade it also could be a dot >> you're like what >> why did you teach teach me the dot in the first place you know like uh so it's kind of the same idea uh I think there's a natural kind of conversation. But like for example, like the MLA, like we only use MLA, and I'll pick on uh Jordan Zelda, for example, he's in the sciences. As a social studies guy, I use APA. As a doctoral student, I use APA. That's >> uh I had a professor once like, we do Chicago terabian. >> Okay. I've never heard of that. I found the book. And okay. >> Uh but yeah, so you part of it is you teach

073them the skills to be able to adapt to whatever. Uh, but like we only use MLA because everything is, you know, language arts focused, which is MLA, modern language authors. Uh, but like Jordan Zer when he does a research paper, he works with Missy Croll and intentionally uses MLA to support what we're doing in schools and most of the high school and again unless I I don't know everything uh that they do for all their subjects, but most of it's going to be MLA uh just because again most English teachers are doing MLA for research and papers. Sure. >> Uh but again, like once you go to college Yeah. >> that was more just like And I can't even think of a good example of something that would hinder our students when they leave Menota.

074Like maybe there isn't one and I'm just overthinking it. But I just didn't want us to get too used to not throwing out some put the blinders on everything else. >> Yeah. Like especially with technology. I know I've been to um workshops where we're learning to use and they like talk about they I can't even remember what they called it, but one of the drop down menus they were calling it some word that I'd never heard. And I I was like, "Wait, what? What?" So, I just didn't want us to like >> Yeah. >> zone in so much that then they don't they're not able to use context clues or hear other things. And and I'm sure all the teachers are doing >> I I don't I think that's a logical conversation to have with

075our committee, but as well, you know, particularly I would say around seventh or eighth grade where like now they've we've laid that foundation, understand you may also hear it as this. >> Yeah. >> You know, we're using this, but understand that this could be the same thing. And again, I think some of those things because usually it will happen organically. A kid will say something like, "Well, my mom called it this or my dad said this. My brother said this." And then it's like, "Well, okay." Yeah. You know, that's, you know, and going to use an example and like not trying to Gulf of Mexico verse Gulf of America. >> Right. Right. Yeah. >> Well, right now all our textbooks still say Gulf of Mexico. The International still said Gulf of Mexico. That's not saying

076one's right or wrong, >> right? But everything they're going to have from our stuff says Gulf of Mexico. The teacher's not going to say Gulf of America is wrong. And the but it's a conversational point. Like you're right. Hey, United States adopted it. It changed it to this. Then you can have a little bit of the conversation like okay I'm not going to take points off if you say Gulf of America but understand I'm saying Gulf of Mexico because this you know that you know it becomes a quick teachable moment. My only last question was just a broad I know it's embargoed but what is our early five essential data look like good bad >> couldn't tell you >> looked at that >> we got stuff going on >> it's been a sprint >> I

077was just so curious because I wanted you to say it looks amazing and we're GOING TO COME BACK next month and tell you all about it >> um so I have I have another question. Um, you how much and it goes back to the the next part of it. How much are are because there's the big push for them not to be on devices as much. Like I'm reading two book studies for the summer for that and I know my district is really doing the push of them not being on the computers during ELA time. Um, >> that how much are our students on devices in a day and then how much Especially because we're saying we're expanding our ex implementation. >> Yeah. >> Um is that I know you said that it's both, but

078like how many minutes are they on? >> Not not as much as you think. Uh and again it it does e and flow obviously what different grade levels. So for example uh >> like not like five assignments on math like you know what I mean? >> No because we don't want them living on a device. No, absolutely not. Well, and again, like it's the wave of everything, right? It's the new shiny thing gets all the attention and it becomes the new thing. I remember when iPads first became available for schools. Oh, everybody has to get an iPad. Then you realize how horrible it is to try to type on an iPad. >> Yeah. >> And then schools got Chromebooks and then it kind of es and flows. Uh but I think about uh for example,

079our math department in the middle school. Uh go back on the previous before the the current uh curriculum. Uh all the only book they had was an ebook. And so they'd pull their Chromebooks open when they were doing their math problems for the day and they they still have to, you know, do it on paper, but their Chromebook was their book. >> Uh they're like, we don't want that. >> And part of it was functionality uh and getting the kids to interact, but also that's just an added layer they don't need. Uh now everything we have has an e component, but most of the teachers foundationally are going to be using consumables, which is a whole another conversation that it's hard to get a giant thick book you can use for 10 years. that's all

080consumables now. Uh but yeah, so a lot of them have switched to that. So usually the stuff they're doing online is unique and value added. So again, I I'll pick on social studies in middle school. Uh if they're doing an activity online, it's not because well, this is your book. It's because it's an extension of what they're doing. Like you're going to go up and you're going to find five examples of the 10th amendment or whatever it's going to be. >> Uh so it's it's trying to do that. Uh but again like you know for writing there's not too many longhanded essays. It's going to be typing which again it's a tough thing because typing is a skill if we don't practice it. Uh it's one of those things that that's a hard thing right

081now. Like I remember when I was in high school I took a whole nineweek class of keyboarding Mavis Beacon word right you know word eraser all that stuff. Uh that guy was actually the superintendent of the schools. Now random thought popped my head. Uh but it is one of those things that you you have to develop any skill and again we know that so often if we're not providing the guidance uh or the education uh it's left to just whatever they want. And again the same reason why again we kids do get in trouble for misuse of computers or just disrespect to the computer of you know you see kids what's the bag just slamming in the ground like whoa whoa whoa you're responsible for that you know that's again privilege you don't have to

082have that. Uh so we are you know I don't say we're not necessarily trying to avoid the online uh we're trying to make sure that it makes sense and it's not just being online to be online. >> Yes. >> Yeah. All done. >> Sorry for the 90 questions. >> No, that's Hey, that's part of the gig and I enjoy it. >> No, >> thank you so much. >> And I will look into the the data and try to get that back to you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And um Sarah was there and so we had um our returns from Gallagher on it Tuesday. And so our our original renewal was at um 26 and a half and Wendy was able to get that reduced to 19 and a half. Um so that's a that's

083a total reduction for us of about $210,000. Um so our our new money on the from the district standpoint for next year is going to be a little under 500,000. And so um you know we're We're looking at being more aggressive this year on our um on that on that health insurance committee meeting monthly on having um monthly conversations about you know what can we get out this month. Um, and you know, we've got a long, that committee has come up with a laundry list of different ways um that we can, you know, help people um be more mindful of how they access um health insurance. And so, you know, pretty optimistic about what we're going to be able to get. >> Did we get the data we had requested in regards to like where

084the largest increases or costs were coming from? You talked about like is it outliers because just a few people have some major expenses? Is it like we're seeing an upward trend in diabetes care? Like so we aren't just like shooting in the dark. >> Sure. Yeah. Um and and just just kind of in just in generalities um our loss ratio last year was a was a little over 100%. It was about 105% which means that we actually % more claims than we actually put in. Um, right now the industry industry trend for both medical and prescription is is over 10%. And so, um, the typical renewals right now, um, that Gallagher is seeing are in the low to mid 20s. And so, um, yeah, when you put all that together and you also put in

085put when anytime you have a renewal, Blue Cross also has to build in a buffer for administrative costs and and be able to to get things done. Um, so >> I just think if you're talking about like how do we do a wellness committee like just shooting in the dark and not knowing what type of wellness or where our claim costs are that why are we not at 95%. Like where is that number coming from? Is it you know sometimes and when you're self-insured like you know two claims can totally change a year for you. But if if we're seeing trends of we're seeing this uptake in this in clinical weight loss, okay, well then maybe that's something that we need to be focusing on when we're trying to put dollars at the front end

086of it as opposed to waiting until those become the multi-,000 claims, right? >> Yep. And that's the that's the nice part about our um this is now year two of our biometric screen and that actually um was we we added another I don't know 5% to it. I think the first year we had about 60% of our um of our uh members take place or take part in that and I think this year was about 65%. So now we're starting to get trend data and we don't we don't see individual people's results on that but we do get that that bulk data and so now we're able to start using utilizing that to see okay what are the different health pieces that we might want to as a wellness committee look at. >> I think

087the other thing that we've talked about several times um is well a couple things. One was plan structure. So potentially offering >> y >> options that would be lower individuals as well as us. And the other one was looking at potentially alternatives like getting involved at like a first stop health or a tea do or something like that where it's completely free for members to utilize that as opposed to going to the doctor and lifts all of that. >> Yeah. And that's something that in the wellness committee we already talked about starting to move forward with something like that. So when when do you think like some of these potential changes would come to fruition? >> Um I would so now that now that we're through kind of the renewal section. Um again we plan

088on having that committee meet monthly. So I would think that our first kind of next steps would come in June. How do we pick who's on that? Not the board, but like how does the the employees on >> the association does and and we really um we really haven't been I think everybody has um I think we've been transparent about where we are with this. I think everybody's tried to be on board with it. I think the contract says you always supposed to have somebody and somebody but we've kind of added to that and tried to encompass more people in that conversation. And are only association members receiving our insurance benefits? >> No. >> So there's no voice to people not in the association as part of this committee. >> I don't think there are

089anybody. >> Okay. >> So I think that would be because oftent times if you're an hourly employee potentially the way you're looking at >> cost savings and what you want. I understand we have kind of like the best of the best as far as like a Blue Cross family po 8020. like we have a great one, but if you're looking at a $15 an hour job >> and then like if that affects contract negotiations, but they're not a part of the >> Right. But I but if we're talking about a wellness committee meeting meeting every month to try to find out other ways to lower like I just think there's a whole part of >> people missing. Yeah. >> Administrative. >> Now, what was that? >> I left my folder with the notes from that

090meeting Tuesday in the truck. Um what was that list of like the all the um >> Yeah. So um um when you present that there is a there's a separate kind of blue cross track that um has a more limited network and so that's something that we really might want to really look at in the future. Um we also might want to look um seriously about trying to get into um a cooperative in the future. The cooperative that we kind of u had conversations about over the last couple years, they're actually in a period of kind of restructure and so we're probably um looking at trying to get into that next year as opposed to this year. So, >> did we spit out to employees the numbers? I know we talked at the last meeting

091on what they've gone through the last >> Yep. We, like I said, we've been we've tried to be really transparent about where we are and where we've been. >> Okay. >> Um, discussion move on to the audit 7.1. Any questions in regards to that? This is just the contract. You bet. You bet. They've been with us a couple years now. They were the high school high school even before that. They've done a nice job. They're thorough. >> Any questions about it? >> I'll make a motion to approve the physical year 26 audits and associates contract as it presented. >> Second roll call. >> Yes. Espinosa. >> Yes. >> Trader. >> Yes. >> C. >> Yes. Landers. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. Press policy 121. Any questions outlined in former meeting the first read substantial changes?

092Any questions? Motion please. >> I'll make a motion to approve the press policy 121 as presented. >> A second call. Yes. >> Reynolds. >> Yes. >> Landers. >> Yes. >> Trigger. >> Yes. >> Espinosa. >> Yes. >> 7.3. This was bringing up the cost of adult lunches more in line with what cost. Correct. >> It's so um as we mentioned earlier with our participation in the C program for free lunches. Um, part of the stipulations is that your adult lunches have to be within a certain amount of what our reimbursement is for students. And so we're just matching guidelines. Our adult lunches were too low. Do >> we have a lot of adult participants in adult lunches? >> Yeah, I think so. >> Are we matching to the lowest guideline? >> 100%. >> You were

093too low. Create a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the increase of $1 for the adult lunch for 26 202 school year. >> $1 for the adult lunch. There you go. >> We have a second. >> Yes. >> Landers. >> Yes. >> Shider. >> Yes. >> Reynolds. >> Yes. >> Esposa. >> Yes. >> All right. 7.4. Authorization for administration processing fiscal year 27 requirements. Any discussion? >> Motion, please. I'll make a motion to authorize the administration to process all fiscal year 27 state and federal grants. Espinosa. >> Yes. >> Lander. >> Yes. >> Reynolds. >> Yes. >> Tenative revision to the 26 budget as presented. This is the move of that's separate. >> Correct. >> It's reflecting the changes though in our expenditures initially forecasted. >> Correct. Yeah. And um the auditors really like

094you to have a revised budget anytime that you miss um a in a partic in any particular fund um that you're going to be off by more than 10%. And um just by the way that our summer payments fell um when we put together when I put together the budget in the fall um I actually thought we had a couple of GRP weight payments made that were actually later and so they fell in a different fiscal year and so um our fund 20 expenditure ended up being a little bit more than I I had anticipated in the original budget. questions. I make a motion to approve the tenative vis. >> Yes. >> Landers, >> yes. >> Reynolds, >> yes. >> Trader. >> Yes. >> Esposa. >> Yes. is the financial transfer from fund to fund

095to cover those >> correct >> expenses you just talked a little bit about. >> So I was looking at that just now. >> Would you be able to maybe explain it one more time because I see like >> of course >> money moving like with the education like how's that tied to like summer projects? >> Yeah. So so um And this is just accounting, right? It's it's just a it's just a a >> a pile of money, but the >> the auditors have us use fund accounting, which we have to, you know, by school law. And so one of the things that the auditors don't like to have is is a zero or sorry, negative balance in any of the particular funds at the end of the year, right? And so this is just moving

096money around so we make sure that we don't have that So I think what you were asking like so what's coming from fund 20 which fund is that into fund 10 >> right. So what so last year um when we sold working cash funds then we moved all the working cash money into fund 20 which is the building fund operation and maintenance. Right. And um in a perfect world, that money probably would have been moved to three different funds a year ago um to to be able to forecast correctly of how everything would have been would have been broken down. Um, this is just then taking that big lump that we put in in fund 20 and make and making sure there's enough in transportation and education so that when we end the year every

097all those individual funds are are in the black. Thank you. >> Make a motion transfer million from 20 to 10 and 30,000 from 20 to fund 40 in accordance with the presented resolution. >> Second to over there >> Reynolds. All right. Reynolds. All right. >> Yes. Espinosa. >> Yes. >> Trader. >> Yes. pass. >> Yes. >> Landers. >> Yes. >> Reynolds. >> Yes. >> All right. Our 26 calendar is presented. >> Just throwing in the uh the two days. Um like our cold day and our snow day. Bumping everything back. Wrapping up the calendar. >> Approve the final school year 2026 calendar as presented. >> What happens if we don't approve it? >> Do we get to school be ending right now? It's already over >> tomorrow. That was it. It was over today. >>

098Right. >> Good question. >> I mean, we might really impact our funding and licensing and all of the other things, but >> you know, >> but wouldn't that be interesting? >> Sorry, I just had to >> for that. I think you have to do the motion. >> I move to approve the final uh school year 26 calendar as presented. >> A second. >> Second. Trey, >> yes. >> Cass, >> yes. >> Anders, >> yes. >> Reynolds, >> Yes. A calendar waiver. This is to allow us to do the full day professional development. >> Yes, ma'am. On October 9th. And so, um, that coincides with the with the all day training that the high school has. So, they always have that day off. So that helps our calendars mesh um just an additional day. U we've

099gone through all of the steps in the waiver process including last night's uh public hearing which I had zero people show up >> if you want. >> It's okay. I just sat out on the bench enjoy the weather for a little. Um and so then um so we'll get that waiver um approved and um we'll have an amazing day on October 9th of teacher training. questions. >> I'll make a motion to approve the school year 27 calendar waiver as presented. >> Landers, >> yes. >> Reynolds, >> yes. >> So, there was two different proposals, correct? >> No. Um, two different kind of thought concepts. Okay. Right. And so, if So, our track, this it's it's seven years old. You can you can get by with with um without resurfacing a track for about 5 to

100seven years. The the rubber is not going to last much longer than that. Um we had a lot of conversation last year about resurfacing it last year, resurfacing it last year after year six. Um and I kept saying, "No, we can push another year. We can push it another year. It's, you know, that's it's it's going to be six digits. It's a big number. Let's push that as far as we can. And then when the track season started, um it was starting to wear through in spots. And so we're to a point now where if we don't resurface it and we try to run on it another couple year, it'll actually start damaging the base underneath, which is a whole separate cost to scrape the base off, redo the base, and then recover. So, if

101we don't do this really now, then instead of a $100,000 repair, we're looking at a quarter of a million dollar repair because we're in a base. And so, >> are there any spots that if they like are fixing the top and they find like can they patch up any base issues? >> Right now, we have no base issues. >> Oh, okay. Good. >> Right now. And so, that's that's the important part of getting it done. We had to we had to have um some emergency patching done this spring in order to have our events um this year. Um and that was in addition to having some patching done last fall. Okay. >> Um and so we we had some patching done last last fall and then once they started running on it after a couple

102weeks they're like we we've got some more issues again. So we had to have some emergency patching done. So, >> I was just making sure like if they got in there and found areas to be worse than what we're thinking or something if that would be a higher number if they got in there. >> No. And and the and this company is company that that is super familiar track and so they're going to do a great job. >> Um and when is this going to be done? >> July. >> Okay. And what where are we where are we getting the money out of this? >> Yes. So it'll be out it'll be out it'll be out of next year's budget. And um you know if you'll recall we are >> considerably um le spending considerably

103less on facilities this summer as opposed to last. Um, so even so last year our our total summer spend um was almost $2 million. Um, this year's total summer spend on additional projects. Um, even with this is only going to be about 350,000. >> Okay. And we're going to communicate that and make sure it's locked so that nobody Okay. >> Of course. Of course. And since this was something that was um really heavily discussed last summer. Um the the track company and you know the price of everything has gone up. The track company said, "Yeah, you should have done this last summer. We'll honor our quote from last summer." >> I think they did ours right before existed. >> A couple questions. So when we put the track in, there was a friends of the

104track group that formed um because the track is so heavily used as a community asset and you know, we technically only use it for small little bits of time and it's a huge community asset. So, there was community funding that was received to replace the track. >> I think given that again, it's not a closed lock door that we or closed lock gate that we only use for our gym classes in our track. It is by far used way more by non-school function than school function. I think approaching that same um group or or a different group or talking with like >> the Yeah, I was going to say talking with Annie or you know the city there's got to be some other conversation because this is this really is a community facility. I mean

105between soccer and football and people walking on it and you know groups practicing and things happening it's >> shouldn't be only our expense >> right the wear and tear is escalated because of the use of it um so I would really like us to see about talking to some people about that again >> I really do think it was called friends of the train >> yes it was >> okay >> um and a lot quite a bit of money was raised through that group >> there's a flyer that moved Um and then the other question is with the timing of it, have we discussed the people that primarily utilize it like the junior? >> Yeah. Yeah. We'll be fun to follow. >> Okay. Okay. >> Y >> we charge rental for >> So we So

106we don't charge a rental currently for anything. I think one of the conversations that we've started to have internally actually is um if we don't want to start charging something during track season for other schools um because um there are very few there are very few schools in our conference that have their own track. >> Yeah. But even like the totally not school related stuff that gets used there on other pieces >> there there used to be um it was back when I ran the YMCA programs there was a um an intergovernment agreement that if community organizations wanted to use school facilities for example like YMCA programs back in the day wanted to use because I used Blackstone when I ran the programs there was no charge in that >> but that was an agreement

107between the Y >> um it was actually organization. But now that the city has created >> MLUS for any sports team to use any facility, >> there's a $500 fee for any sports team to use any property on the city. Yeah, I don't say I agree or disagree out there happening, >> but I think this is a perfect opportunity to approach the people that do regularly schedule events there because it does cost more when people are on our bleachers every weekend and walking the track and we have to enter the trash cans and all the things go the parking and everything else like >> the grass and >> right so I think if we talk to the people that we know are very regular >> users of it as an organization I think we can

108say hey we're not looking necessarily this huge step, but shouldn't be all of our expense because if we shut and lock that gate, our stuff's going to look great. But >> right, >> that was the point, right? >> Yeah. >> Those are great conversations for sure. >> So, if we're not doing this till July, can I ask the question of do we need to approve it now? >> We do because this this company only has so many spots and they're holding a spot for us in order to get the work done. So as far as payment when it's payment >> it won't be it won't be till August >> so new fiscal year >> right >> to the conversation >> yeah I would say like >> yeah and I and I don't know that I

109mean I I understand how the two conversations are definitely related, right? But um us getting this work done does >> it's going to have to be done anyways. >> It's going to and and not only that, but um that doesn't that doesn't mean that we still don't have those conversations that we still that we still don't go down all those, >> right? I guess what I would say is, okay, if the district's making $100,000 investment without any kind of >> pitching or whatever, then after the work's done July 10th, the doors are like the gates are locked, right? Like we're going to protect our investment or it becomes a community investment. Like it's one or the other. So, I wouldn't like us to really >> focus prior to that work being done on >> Yeah,

110you bet. I can I can definitely have an update on that in June. I think that's important especially now because isn't the city's taken over a lot of the YMCA things and they should why can't they help support the >> I mean can like if we start to have those conversations beginning of the summer and we get some groups to agree that use it a lot like like how can emotion look as far as us approving to do it and pay for it. Like will they pitch in and just pay the school or like where we're not paying for it till the work's done? You know what I mean? Like how >> every what five years and they could start doing a stipend annually and build that up when we have to do it again

111as well. Something along those lines. >> We can approach it. I I would think we could approach the conversation as the district's going to make the spend every five to seven years no matter what, but hey guys, like we're trying to keep this being a community asset. So to offset at least 25% or whatever we think is a fair number, like the the groups that utilize this almost every day in the summer, you know, we're looking to be not charging an official necessarily rental fee, but like an impact almost right of some sort. And so if we know that it cost $100,000 every five years at least. >> Y >> then how do we divide that out? It's $20,000 a year. We expect that at least 25% of that come from the organizations that are

112using you know what I mean? Like I think if we can kind of come up with something like that. So, if all we're doing is approving the work project, >> then I really would like to hold us accountable to in June figuring out what that source of finance looks like. >> You bet. Well, and I think I think >> going back to what going back to what Teresa is saying like we can also go, hey, um like the some of the financing by, you know, instead of going to an all day tournament at Earlville for soccer, let's host one here, make the money on and then we don't have to bust teost a tournament you're going to you can make maybe on the gate and you know what I mean and showing off the facility.

113once it's done. If we could host an all day tournament here on a Saturday for soccer instead of going somewhere else, you know, just ideas that ad former ad back then. >> What were you say? >> Well, I'm just wondering organizations like Maze and uh football and the rest, do they have that kind of revenue coming in? I mean, I I'm most of those things are run on a shoestring. I mean, they're not making a heck of a lot. They've got all volunteer coaches. They >> Right. But I think like even if they were to say, "Hey, um, football, we're out here five days a week and all 100% of our games are here all summer long. If the school locks the gate, we don't have an organization anymore." So, when we look at doing

114our fundraisers this summer, let's think about like maybe a percentage of our fundraisers and we shoot for a higher target or what I'm not saying like they have to pay it out of their pocket today, but I think we have to change the >> city. Right. Right. I mean, using them for nothing, it still costs us, right? Yep. >> We still have to switch out scoreboards and paint things and empty trash cans and do what? the the city the city had no no about creating their minimum on their MOU to use the any of the park fields then >> so like is Maze and like the the B the little league are they all paying to >> yeah $500 $500 and if they if there's an emergency call out to one of the bathrooms it's

115$100 an hour or whatever. Yeah. >> Okay. So they just instituted it. We're trying to maybe take a softer approach and allow the option of the company or the organizations to work out how they could help. But if it if we're met with no, >> I think we need to re-evaluate >> the openness of our facilities, right? >> No, I >> Where are we at with speaking of it? Since it's tied to the same property, >> part of the same property. >> That was a question that I asked. I was already locked in for that. >> Yeah, cuz we were It was such a big push. >> Where's that? >> Interesting. >> Solid now. >> There you go. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> All right. So, this is us agreeing to do the work that's

116necessary, but we expect in June that there would be some by June there'd be some movement around what our other organizations are thinking in the city. >> Yeah. and what that what that offsetting revenue looks like. Sure. You bet. >> All right. Can we have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the track resurfacing as presented. >> Second call. >> Esposa. >> Yes. >> Sanders. >> Yes. >> Reynolds. >> Yes. >> It hard. This was Chromebooks and some of the smart technology in the >> correct. Correct. So, this is um this is our typical Chromebook refresh. Um we refresh um every year at second and fifth grade. And so, all of that's standard. Um but one of the things that we're doing differently this year is um we had a um a great

117beta test with um our teachers that were interested with Smartboard technology. Um we had we had nine different teachers across Lincoln and Northbrook. And um of those nine they each they each got to spend up roughly a month with with a smartboard. So it wasn't just you know you know a week or something to to really be able to dive in and um you know get a little training and to see you know how they can use it to better engage kids. Um, and of of the nine when we when we got the survey data back um after their test, of the nine, eight of them were like, I use it all the time. It's this this is a game changer. This is I mean, so they're all like our technology forward, right? Um, and

118so this is also a proposal to now get those nine smartboards permanently and or sorry, those eight out of nine. And so then um next year we we'll just continue to walk this through. We'll you know we'll open it up for another you know eight or 10 uh teachers throughout the course of this year um to see who would like to test it and you know spend some time with it and dig in and those teachers that are really going to use it and it's really going to be impactful then we'll we'll get them as well. >> Questions on that? Are they going to be um Or will they be movable like the one that um when we were at Lincoln? Will it be on its own little thing that it can move to different

119rooms? >> Yeah. So, >> will be attached to the floor or to the wall? >> No. So, these these that were purchasing are going to be attached. >> Okay. >> Um because they're going to be in that teacher's classroom. Those kids are going to get used to using it every day. That teacher is going to get used to using it every day. And they But we will still have um >> we will still have the the three that we currently have on movable carts and those are the ones that will go around around and continue to >> do those teachers know that it's no longer going to be a mobile thing like I don't know if any of them like like and that's that's been part of the that's been part of the process. Um,

120we've only had feedback from one of the the eight saying, I think I'd like to have this on the cart. And so, um, you know, we're going to have a conversation about whether or not we can get them, you know, kind of a flexible amount. And so, you know, trying to >> because I can see the benefits for certain situations. I don't know about some of the rooms if it's feasible, but like being able to change the location. >> Is it also a subscription service or is it just a flat out buy? >> Just a flatout buy. Um, I just think in my head of all the old obsolete items, electronics always, you know, we used to have the overhead projectors and then we had the big TVs and is this a great purchase or

121is it something that >> as a classroom like it replaces the projector and all the things? >> Yeah. And that's why um we're taking our time. We're not we're not just saying, "Hey, we're going to buy 80 of these and everybody gets it, right?" Um I don't anticipate, you know, if we've got whatever the number is, 75 or 80 teachers. I don't anticipate this being at the end of the day maybe in a third of the rooms, right? It's only the people who are going to engage it, embrace it, really have it change the way that they engage. Um maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's more than that. Um but we're not but we're not just going to mass wholesale it and just >> you probably more of it at your K1, two, three, maybe four.

122Um, just because of the technology with all the things, but there as as a classroom teacher very used. Um, and we have Prometheians. So, >> I think the high school, too. >> Yeah. But it's just something that um it's it's something in addition to. So, Make sure that everybody is aware that >> and just a little side note if you train your inhouse subs also on these >> because I've been thrown into that situation where they had >> oh you're like >> that is very true. I would I would agree with that, but I guess I've always been able to like just figure it out. But if you don't know how to >> especially have a lot of retired teachers that are >> Yeah. >> teaching that may not have the technology. >> I'll make

123a motion to remove the IT hardware for school year 27 as presented. Second. Reynolds, >> yes. >> Landers, >> yes. >> Trader. >> Yes. >> How do you write sales tax? >> Yes. So, um, we had another meeting this week of well, South County Superintendent. Um, just so we have a little background. Um, so we're talking about the 1% countywide sales tax. um doesn't impact um you know uh doesn't impact groceries, but you would have to pay it if you went out to eat. Um you know, it doesn't impact >> farm farm machinery, medicines. There's a whole laundry list. Um in in Lasal County, the 1% sales tax for all schools would generate in the neighborhood of $15 million. Our share of that would be in the neighborhood of a million. We already get this

124from the number 80 80 kids that we have a Lee County give or take. So we already get I don't know $100,000 from Lee County >> right um that we get this but we're but uh this is an effort to get that on the ballot. In order to do that you have to have school boards representing 50% or more of the students in the county. And right now we're already over 60% um of superintendents who've talked to their boards. The board said boards have said yes, this is something we're interested in. Um so the next step now is a formal board resolution um to put it on the November ballot and we're looking at then in kind of June July I think it has to be I think um all boards would have to certified

125by the end of August in order to get it on the November ballot. Um, and so now we're in the process of starting to have boards actually pass the resolution to put it on the ballot. And so that'll come next month this year. >> Is there anyone stepping forward or is there any talk around like who's going to lead the educational campaign association? >> That's next week's meeting, >> right? >> It will never work if people don't understand because The language is horrible. >> It just sounds bad, but it is so good. >> Right. Well, especially in this community where so much of our schools can be funded by people that don't even live here to pass through traffic on 80 and 39. There's so many places and ways to >> In my career, I'm

126three out of six of passing >> rep. Not that good. It's 50%. If you do it twice, it's going to pass. >> No, we're only doing it once. got it. >> Well, the state did like multiple times have come forward and said that they were going to try to pass something to say that it's going to be statewide and they would get the money and then distribute it, which we know we would never see. So, we really hope that doesn't ever come to fruition. But yeah, the thing is with Lel County and Star Rock and >> Yeah. >> the two million visitors that >> through that place. >> But but that's where I say like you've got to have a company that's going to run those numbers to go like the impact on residents expected

127to be this and this much of our education is funded by outside visitors, non-essential expenditures. Like if there's so much of it otherwise it'll just be a no, they don't need any more of my tax to look at my bill. >> Yep. And and you know, I mean, you know, just as a as a quick aside, um, for for every dime, like countywide, all schools, um, for every dime that we can keep school tax rates down, that dime cost the South County farmers threequarters of a million dollars. A dime. And so this is this is so great for so many people, >> but that's like Then that needs to be going out through the egg too to get that group. >> But like have you guys talked about for like I know there are consultant

128groups that literally just >> Yep. >> Like what that might look like and how much everybody would have to pitch in and >> it would pay for itself if it gets passed. >> Oh, for sure. >> Okay. Because it has tried here and not worked. >> Yeah, it's it's been a hot minute. plenty of time. >> Okay. And nobody else is doing referendum for like no one's looking to go like after referendum or anything. >> Okay. All right. Cool. Motion to >> make a motion to adjurnn at 811. >> Seconds. All in favor? What day? What time is the end of the year? >> I got to wear it around. Because this looking established