001Roll call. Member Deitch? Here. Member Dorner? Here. Member Faye? Here. Member Kwalchek? Here. Vice President Ledo? Here. Member Nelson? Here. President Bennett Kills? Here. All right, can we start with the Pledge of Allegiance, please? Okay. Give me just a moment while I find my stuff. Just a moment. Do we have the special for the um special Olympics Here they are. Thank you. That's okay. I didn't That's okay. All right, we got it. Just taking a minute. All right. So, it is my pleasure to welcome Katie Ann Olson to the podium this evening. Katie Ann is a special education teacher at Fairview and coach for this year's District 57 Special Olympics team. For years, she has poured an incredible amount of time, heart, and dedication into supporting our student athletes and helping our Special Olympics program
002thrive. From organizing practices and schedules to communicating with families to encouraging and championing students of the every step of the way, Katie Ann goes above and beyond in countless ways that have often often happened behind the scenes. She's not only a coach, but also a tireless advocate, cheerleader, and source of joy and encouragement our students and families. We would also like to recognize the many staff members who helped support this year's Special Olympics team and made this experience possible for our students. Sarah Sicilia, Mary Kate O'Brien, Carol Benben, Paul Mesky, Katie Messing, Julie Gail, Chris Pylek, Paula Anderson, and Ashley Adams. Their support, flexibility, and care helped create an unforgettable experience for athletes. On Saturday, April 25th, our student athletes proudly represented District 57 at the Special Olympics Illinois Spring Games at Hoffman Estates High
003School, competing in both track and field events. Tonight, Katie Ann will share more about this year's nine incredible athletes and their experience at the competition. After her remarks, we'll meet in the back for a group photo to celebrate our athletes together. Hello. Oh, there we go. Thank you. Um, this year, we, like Green said, we had nine incredible athletes who participated in our Region B Spring Games for Special Olympics. For five of our nine athletes, this was their first Special Olympics Games. This is the biggest event our region puts on, and this year, Special Olympics Illinois had almost a thousand athletes participating in events. The Special Olympics oath is, "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." And our athletes were sure to do that and more. Our
004athletes represented our district well by embracing our Portrait of a Graduate characteristics by showing resilience, empathy, and most importantly, adaptability. Our event was at a new event venue, and having some technical delays, but they were patient, understanding, and we all worked collaboratively to make sure that the day was a great memorable day. I'd like to send a huge congratulations to our athletes on their events. Micah, whose first games were this year, placed fifth in the 50 meter run. Yasir, whose first games were this year, placed first with a gold medal in the 50 meter run. Caleb, whose first games again were this year, placed first with a gold medal in the 50 meter run. Noah, whose also first games were this year, placed second in the silver medal in the 50 meter run. He was
005here today. Um Connor Chung, whose first games were this year, placed sixth in the 50 meter run. Connor Kelly placed fifth in the 50 meter run and the softball throw. And George placed fifth in the 50 meter run and the softball throw. And Sammy, who's here today, placed fourth place in the 50 meter run and placed third, a bronze medal, in the softball throw. Teddy had a little scoring glitch. So, we're counting it as a second place win. Uh Teddy had a re-race, but unofficially scored a fourth place um in the second race. A big thank you to all of our staff members who were at the games to make sure our athletes were ready to go and so successful. We couldn't really do it without them and we're so incredibly proud of our athletes'
006performance at the spring games. All right, let's meet in the back for a picture. >> I'm sorry. I do that. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> What do you think about being a gold or a medalist. Was it awesome? Yeah. Yeah. Did you have fun? Yeah. Did you have fun winning [laughter] your medal? Yeah. Yeah. Do you like doing Special Olympics? >> Yes. Yes. Awesome. Can we clap for you? Yay. Congratulations. Yeah. Woohoo. You did great. Thanks, Sammy. Yay. Do you want to do another picture? Yeah. Can we Can Is it okay if we do another picture, everybody? Since we have a new Olympian. Okay. All right, cool. >> And this is Caleb. He got the gold for his first game. Caleb, come on over here. Can we get a picture? Can We're going to go in
007the back, okay? No. It's okay, Caleb. No. Can I get you a water? Hi, Caleb. Caleb, want me to come with you there? I want to. Hi. Then it will be my turn soon. The only one that can beat I'm done. All right. Are you ready? One. Two. Three. >> Thank you so much to our Special Olympians and their family. It's always a pleasure to have such wonderful athletes and kids representing our district. All right, we're going to move on to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Yes, May is a time to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and [snorts] recognize the many contributions, cultures, and histories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the United States. District 57 proudly honors the rich diversity within our community and the lasting impact AAPI individuals have
008made in every area of society including education, science, arts, business, public service, and beyond. The month of May was chosen to commemorate two important historical milestones. The arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States on May 7th, 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10th, which was made possible in large part through the labor of Chinese immigrants. Throughout this month, we celebrate the traditions, stories, achievements, and resilience of Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, while also recognizing the importance of continuing to foster understanding, inclusion, and belonging for all. Thanks, Chris. We also want to recognize that this is uh Staff Appreciation Week, which was last week. Yes, Friday Oh, sorry. From May 4th through the 8th, schools across the country celebrated Staff Appreciation Week. And here, in District 57, we took
009time to celebrate the incredible people who make our schools such special places for children each day. On behalf of the District 57 Board of Education, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to every member of our staff, our teachers, instructional assistants, therapists, nurses, office staff, custodial and maintenance teams, administrators, and support staff across the district. Our staff members do so much more than their job titles can capture. They comfort students on hard days, celebrate their successes, encourage them through challenges, and create welcoming spaces where every child feels seen, supported, and cared for. Their kindness, patience, creativity, and dedication are felt in classrooms, hallways, playgrounds, offices, and every corner of our schools. District 57 is stronger because of the people who show up for our students and families every single day. And we are truly grateful
010for all they do. Thank you. All right. We're moving on to uh agenda item number three, our student board members report. Um starting this week, uh well, last week, we helped out with the Fairview Multicultural Fair. Looks like the Um all the kids, they were so like happy to be there. It was just We helped out with face painting, henna, like bead keychains. Like it was so exciting. Like it was awesome. It was very community experience and just seeing like all the kids like be so happy to be together and represent their countries was awesome. Um as for the new school update, the new school is coming along really well. Like the gym and the cafeteria already taking shape and the metal framework of the school is growing every single day. I can just see
011it through the window. And I'm I'm so excited uh for the new school to be built even though I'm not going to be here. And I'm so jealous of the sixth graders that they're going to be able to experience it at least for one year. And finally, as we move towards the end of the year, Michelle, Josh, and Penelope are going to be leaving us very sadly. Uh So, we want to take our time to honor them as they leave us. Um I just want to say that being a board member, it was such a wonderful experience. Like I know when my brother and my sister uh went through District 57, they didn't have this kind of opportunity. And I'm so thankful to be able to like give back to the school and for what
012they've done for me and to make a difference in the kids' lives that I might have like helped being a board member. And I'm so thankful to be here. Mary, would you like to say something since you work closest with them? I would love to. In fact, um we will not be uh letting you graduate. Um no. You will be here forever. Um no. Um Josh could not be here tonight um and Penelope. So, we also extend just our gratitude to them. But, Michelle, um you are such a special person to us and you are such a natural leader. Um I know Safina and I and the and your fellow board members um really have enjoyed learning from you. You always have great ideas. You always approach every um conversation with possibility and what we
013could be doing. And I think that's just such an inspiration for everyone around you, adults and students alike. And we're always so blown away by your poise at this board table and how naturally you present yourself, which is truly a a great skill to have um mastered at such a young age. So, your future is bright. Um we all know that this is not the last we'll be hearing from Michelle. Um she has very strong ambitions and we are going to just be seeing and hearing about her for years to come. So, we just ask that you come visit us. We can't wait to celebrate you at your graduation next week. And I know Safina will carry on the tradition and keep the bar high in your absence. But, we're just so proud of you.
014So. And I just want to extend like our thanks as a board. Um so much of what you do and how you have contributed, excuse me, have [clears throat] been in your conversations and interactions with Dr. Gore. We've got to see some of the the more physical fruit of that, but know that your voices have been heard and are taken seriously by the by the Board of Education, and we truly appreciate all of the especially all of the time that you have put in. You're busy kids, so I know that this is something that is in quite a bit of extra time. So, we appreciate you sharing that with us. Does anybody have anything to say? Go ahead. I have a couple questions. I'm really glad to see that you all were able to participate
015in the Fairview Multicultural event. I know that that concept was something that we've been talking about you guys getting involved with for a while. I'm curious whether you were able to participate in sort of your board member capacity. Like, did you introduce yourself to people as a student board member? Did you interact with people in that capacity, or was it sort of just we're here to support this particular event? We did interact with a lot of kids, and like the kids where I was helping with the face painting, Dr. Gore helped introduce that like me to the kids. I know Michelle sadly couldn't be there or Josh, but Penelope was there. I was there, so we were helping out the kids, and yeah, they were just very excited. Did you get any feedback from the
016students that you interacted with in terms of They said they really enjoyed it. Like a lot of them they were just like, "Oh, I want to come back next year and do this." Like if they didn't get an opportunity to do something that they wanted, so they really enjoyed being there. Sure. But I guess outside of that particular event, did you interact with anybody who spoke to you as a student board member and said, "Hey, here's something I'd like to see for the student board member program, for the district in general?" Not really. Okay. And then I guess to you Michelle just really quick understanding that you'll be leaving us as some of our other student board members will be too. Thinking about, you know, as we bring on some new seventh graders into this
017role, do you have any advice or feedback that you would share to somebody who's maybe curious about pursuing a student board member position? Um I would say definitely have some ideas in mind of what you want to do cuz I feel like just sitting up here, I could have done a bit more in my time as a student board member. I feel like I could have like done more outreach and like created more events that students would want. I would like we tried to get a lot of feedback from the students, but I feel like um they don't really take it seriously. They don't feel like they actually have things to contribute to our student board members. So, maybe we'll try to incorporate things so it doesn't feel as I don't know the right word,
018stand-offish. I feel like we need to like incorporate something so it's more of like a subtle like something they might add. They can just talk to us more freely than just having like um one of those sheets where they fill out like what do you want to say to us? I feel like we need something more personal. Mhm. I feel like that's something that we could try to incorporate in like the other years and I feel like we like didn't have enough time to do something that intricate yet, but I want to in the future. Okay. That's good feedback. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you both for your service. Any other comments? Thank you so much. All right. We're going to move on to our election of Board of Education officers. Okay.
019Here we go. All right. Can I get a motion to appoint a chairman pro tem? So moved. Second. Roll call to appoint Dr. Gore as chairman pro tem. Do we have to move to a point something? >> Yes, I'm sorry. Board member, can you move to appoint Dr. Gore to serve as chairman pro tem? I move to appoint Dr. Gore to serve as chairman pro tem. Please call the roll. We have to second first. Oh. Second. We're just playing loosey-goosey with the rules today. Member Bennett-Kill. Yes. Member Deitch. Yes. Member Dorner. Yes. Member Faye. Yes. Member Qualche. >> Yes. Member Ledo. >> Yes. Member Nelson. Yes. Okay. Are there any nominations for the board president to serve for a one-year term? Uh I move to nominate uh current president Bennett-Kill to serve as president for
020a one-year term. Board member Ledo nominates Bennett Board member Karin Bennett-Kill for president. I almost said president Board member Kill. Um I acknowledge I acknowledge this nomination. Board member Bennett-Kill is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of president? If there are no further nominations for the office of president, it is now closed. Secretary Flack, please record the unanimous vote that President Bennett-Kill has therefore thereupon declared elected for a second term. I relinquish the chair to the newly elected president. [laughter] The what? Yeah, begrudgingly. President Bennett-Kill, you will now assume your position as madam president. Congratulations. Thank you. All right. For my first act as president, all right, I would like to open the floor for nominations for vice president. Are there any nominations for board vice president to serve for a term
021of 1 year? I nominate Christopher Ledo to serve as vice president. Okay, I acknowledge the nomination. Board member Ledo is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of vice president? >> [laughter] >> Board member Ledo is nominated. Oh, um after all that, yeah. If there are no further nominations, the office of the vice president is closed. The I instruct the secretary to record a unanimous vote for that for Chris Ledo for vice president, and he is thereupon declared elected. Thank you all. Okay. Okay, now do I administer the oath? Okay. Do we all stand up? I guess I don't. I do so swear. >> We are also going to reallocate seats. Eileen. >> [laughter] >> If Eileen can sit. I'm number two. Is Pam Betsy at one? Okay. Your that seat is one.
022So. Which number do you have? This. Three. Are you still there? Collusion. >> Move that. That is wild. >> [laughter] >> Don't forget your um Cuz we know she'll be there still, so. >> [laughter] >> Well, you know, we got to make sure we give you a different view, Eileen. >> Yes. All right. Thank you for changing your chairs. Um All right. We are now at the time for community comments. The District 57 Board of Education welcomes community participation in effort to both listen to our stakeholders and keep the meeting moving. I want to remind everyone of our public participation procedures and guidelines, which is available in board policy 2:230. Individuals wishing to address the board can do so during the community comments portion of the agenda. Individuals should provide their name and limit their
023comments to 3 minutes. Please remember that this is not a dialogue between you and the board. The board is in listening mode during this time. Individuals wishing to contact the Board of Education are welcome to do so via the D57 website under the Board of Education tab. Individuals should behave with respect and civility toward others and abide by Board Policy 8:30 visitors to and conduct on school property. Are there any members of the community that would like to make a comment? Katie Ann. >> [laughter] >> Seeing none, we will move on to our staff and superintendent reports. So, let's start with the Building Brighter Futures update. Excellent. All right. Well, we'll start with an update on construction and then jump into an update from CFAC from last week. So, on the next slide we have
024been very busy. The first picture of course, love that our board members are able to come out and do a beam signing. So, the beam is waiting to put be put up in the stairwell on the west side of the building which isn't being built yet. So, we're excited to come out there and also take a tour of the building. What's interesting I believe is the the second group that came out that was I want to say a Tuesday maybe or was it a Friday maybe? And like by the next week, if we go to the next slide, there were walls. So, there were no walls and then all of a sudden you I came to Lincoln, looked out the window and saw walls up. Really amazing. You're really starting to see exactly where the
025classrooms are. On the right side you can see that the door frame right there that goes into one of those breakout rooms that are between the two classrooms. So, a nice size room for students to be able to use for small groups. So, really exciting. On the bottom left is our cafetorium. So, in the back there it's kind of dark is the stage. And then they've been putting the roofing on. It's all put on now. But yeah, we're really excited. It's really starting to take that shape that that's really neat. So, very cool. I know they were talking about it earlier, but it's really going up quickly. So, gym is looking really neat. The roof is on there and the band, choir, orchestra area, the storm shelter, they're finishing up there as well. So, just
026just moving and moving along. The exciting part then is on the next slide. We've started at Westbrook. So, Westbrook put up fencing I want to say maybe May 4th. And right away they're working until school is out right now. They're working on the courtyard. So, you can see all the topsoil is being taken off of the courtyard. They're putting up if you go to the next slide, they're putting up putting in a lot of drainage right now. So, they're trying to get the courtyard all ready. Nothing's being built in the courtyard, but they're getting the courtyard ready so that when we enclose it, it's ready to go. So, on the bottom right there you see the dirt just being pulled out. We will have drainage going into into the hole. There's a big hole out
027there. And then on the top right you can see they've put down a temporary driveway. That is close to central over there near the baseball diamond. So, we're using that right now as a path in. As soon as school is out the mobiles will be taken away and they will start working on everything they need for the foundation for the addition. So, really exciting. We also this summer will be putting in all of the piping for the sprinklers in the lower level. So, just as a reminder we're sprinkling the whole building even though we're just putting in the addition. So, the sprinklers will be sprinklers will be put in on the lower level this summer and then next summer they'd do the first floor and it'll be ready to go when the addition's done. Questions
028about construction before I jump into some of the financial part. Okay. All right. And yes, we're still on track. Um >> [laughter] >> Absolutely. Uh no, we're still on track. It's going well. Uh we we're continuing to have our weekly meetings. Um we've obviously we've Every week we've talked about Westbrook a little bit, but now it's getting a lot more real, a lot more conversation about Westbrook. And um it's definitely different, you know, that the new building versus building on, you know, an addition. It's just that there's a little more, I think, to the addition that I um that we just need to take into account as you're like right next to that building and being part of it. So, we're figuring that out. And because some work is being done in the building as
029well, like the spring course. Uh we'll do some other things as well. Uh last month, uh if you remember, uh we talked um here at the board table um about the financials uh for construction. And And the good news uh that we uh the bids came in under budget and that we're right now trending towards being under budget. Um and so, we had a conversation about what that looks like and what it could mean. Uh the recommendation was um not to uh sell all 85 million of the referendum bonds, but to sell um an additional 31 million, which would bring it up to 81 million total. Um and we had a nice conversation here. And then last week, uh CFAC, our Citizen Finance Advisory Committee, met. Uh had a really good conversation around um what
030that meant um and what it would look like. Um Bob Lewis, who came last month to that board meeting, also came last week to CFAC um and did offer to come tonight, but I said I think we're we're good. Um but he um did a great job of helping present uh the financial impact. Um some of the conversations that we talked about um were um what's going to happen with the D-sub money that was earmarked for this work, uh which is about 6 million. Uh what's going to what What are we going to do with the fund balance uh that was earmarked for this work, which is another It was about 6.1 million. Um the conversations we talked about um where that both of those things are things on CFAC's docket for talking about this
031fall. So, when we meet again in the fall, and um the conversations will really, especially with the fund balance, having that conversation about some of those unknowns that we really um are worried about right now. Uh Cook County tax is on the top of our minds as we had to borrow this year and making sure that that doesn't happen again. So, does that mean we look at our fund balance policy uh to ensure that that doesn't happen? We also know there's legislature um in the state that could impact um our money and our revenue um and our expenditures. So, we want to make sure that we're watching that closely. Um we know that full-day kindergarten is is co- coming in a in a year and a half, and we have obviously estimates for what we
032believe it's going to cost, but you know, we'll have real numbers uh in a year and a half that we'll know. Um and then we just also know that um money coming from state or federal funds um is always there's a little bit of question mark around those, and so we want to just be careful. And so, we'll have a conversation at C-fac about fund balance, fund balance policy. We'll look at neighboring districts and what's what's the trend and what what people are doing, and we'll look at what our own money is and what it looks like. Uh the other conversation we'll have in the fall is about that D-sub. Um if you recall, we as a board or you as a board um approved the sale of those D-sub bonds. It doesn't mean we
033have to sell them, and we have 3 years to sell them. So, we have some time to figure things out. Uh we do know that there is um some other work to be done in the district that's not part of the referendum. Um Fairview playground is one thing that we're looking at, not part of the referendum money. Uh we actually met I met yesterday with some Fairview students to get some input, always great, um about what the playground could look like. Um zip line's very popular, in case you wondered. Um so, that's interesting. We also are having a conversation around just our administration building um and the needs for that building as it just continues to get old and has different needs. So, um that's the conversation that we had at C-fac. Um lots of
034good conversation, good questions, um, and they know kind of what our next steps are in the fall, which will be our normal, um, projections as well as the conversation around D-SEB and fund balance. Questions about anything or did I miss anything? All right, we're good. All right, thank you. >> So, sorry, I should have said, the next step is, uh, in June we will pass the resolution for selling the $31 million in bonds in July. All right, great. And I just want to call out Jason for running that meeting and making sure all of these not making sure, but getting all of those people together and getting all those voices in the room. It was really, I was privileged to be there and it was really a, um, it's a great experience whenever we can
035run these big ideas past our community members and really feel solid in the feedback that we get. So, thank you. All right. Uh, next item is an update on the ESP evaluation tool and mentoring. Thank you. HR Director Karen Schwartzwell will be providing an update for the board. It's on, right? Yeah. Good evening, everyone. We know that our ESP are so critical to our district and them feeling supported both in when they start in the district as well as through their evaluation tool are two ways that we are working and have targeted this year to help support them and make sure that, um, they have what they need. So, first I'm going to talk about the ESP mentor program. That's a new program. It was part of our negotiations for the contract that, um, started
036on on July 1st, 2024. Um, and this was the first year that we implemented the ESP mentors. Per the contract, there are four mentors, one per building. Um, and through com- communication with, um, EMPATHBA, we decided to concentrate this year really on our instructional assistants and really put in place strong mentorship for our instructional assistants. It's our biggest group. It's also the group that turns over the most. Um and so we had this year to give you an idea, we had We have a stipend per school, but some of those stipends were split between two members that they between the administration and the members they decided that they each would take part of the stipend and work together to support their new instructional assistants as they join their team. Uh we had 16 new IAs
037this year. Um seven started the school year and nine were hired throughout the year. Just to give you an idea of the scope of about how many staff members we're talking about. Um and we started the year with some training for our EA for our IA mentors as well as um our IA mentors joined us for our kickoff luncheon our new staff luncheon in August um and we're able to really support our staff as they came into the buildings as they learned their positions in their first weeks as well as first months and throughout the year. I think they've been equally as um Another thing they've done throughout the year is support staff as they've come in and as you noted, just over half of our IAs started not in August, but sometime really between
038September and now. Um and they've been able to welcome those new instructional assistants as they've started whenever that has been throughout the year. At this point we're collecting feedback from both the mentors and mentees to make any adjustments that we want to for next school year. We're really evaluating how effective their support was and making sure that we that we continue with strong support for them. The second thing I want to talk briefly about is our evaluation tool. Um we currently evaluate our instructional or all of our ESP biannually, every other year. And we have a tool that um has been in place for a long time. I actually can't find an origin date, which might be my research, not the not that it it's not there. Um and so we have met a number
039of times throughout the year um with a a group uh across our ESP. Um it's a really diverse group. It includes Kids Corner staff, it includes instructional assistants, custodians, um, clerical support, curriculum support, I'm missing something. Um, oh, building technology support. Um, and so it's a really diverse group. We've met and we came to a couple of initial conclusions. Um, we want to make sure that our tool really supports our staff getting the feedback they need to improve their performance and to understand how they're doing. And we wanted to make sure that the tool had the clarity to do that. And so we came to the conclusion that we want to build a rubric. The rubric it really is able to describe to staff and to the evaluator what excellent or proficient performance or unsatisfactory
040performance looks like in a variety of areas. And so that, after looking, we decided was the best tool to move forward with. We also, um, wanted to make sure there were some job specific information. So right now the the uh, evaluation tool is the same tool for all of those different people I just listed. And we want to make sure that there's some differentiation because we know the jobs are so vast. Um, we together have decided there's not going to be we can't do all of those job all the a different tool for each of the those groups because we feel like that might be cumbersome, but we've worked together to kind of streamline to a number of of tools that is grouping people that are that have more similar jobs together. Um, our next
041steps is it's working their way through, um, some feedback loops and we will, um, hopefully be finalizing it in the next few weeks. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has on either. Does anybody have any questions? Go ahead, Gus. First of all, thank you, Karen, for explaining that. That that's it's great to hear the uh, progress that's been made on that. I I don't know that I have a question, just a comment that it would be great to hear, I know you're collecting some feedback now, it would be great to hear those results. I'm not sure when you'll have it collected, but either early fall or something would be good to hear. Yep, absolutely. >> was cool. Thank you. Karen, can you just refresh my memory real quickly, um, where the mentor program kind
042of came from? How did that get into the the agreement though, the collective bargaining agreement? Yeah, I'm I can't remember who brought it to the table. I'm but it was it was brought up to the table and I think it was something that we immediately felt everyone felt like, yeah, that's something that we can do to really support our staff. We definitely have a mentorship program with our certified staff, and so we want to make sure that the the mentoring needs might be different in the way it's constructed might be different, but we also want to make sure we're giving our ESP as they enter the district experience. So, the support they need to be successful. Yeah, and I appreciate all the work that's gone into that. This has been a relationship that we've been
043building for many years, and it's nice to see so much of that coming for it to fruition. Any other comments? All right, thanks, Karen. Thank you. All right, now our FOIA report. Well, before we get into FOIA, I just want to show some happy photos from today's senior walks. Um, this is something that's our second year doing this, and we just love it so much. So, this is when our kids who are soon to be graduates of Prospect, um, come back and walk the halls and are cheered for and celebrated by not only our current students, but also our our faculty, our former faculty, um, and their families, and it's just this joyous, um, event where we just celebrate and remember the good old days when they were at students in District 57. So, um,
044I just wanted to segue into our FOIA report with these photos. We will have more, but we we couldn't wait to share them with you. And just what a happy time it is to, you know, just hear about kids' memories of being in our schools, asking for about certain staff members, sharing what's next. Just we actually had the cutest picture that Mr. Ofus took of a bunch of kids in their cap and gowns after this event playing four square at the Fairview for the good old days. So, there's nothing cuter apparently than the District 57 kids. And when they're all grown up, they're still the cutest. So, it was awesome. And we just love what a tradition that it's becoming. So, more more photos to come from Salerno Productions, but these are the first ones
045off the press. So, all right. And with that, FOIA. Yeah. Naturally. That goes right into our FOIA report. District 57 received one FOIA request between April 17th and May 20th, 2026. The detailed report is available in your board packet. Thank you. All right. Let's move on to the consent agenda. Um who did bills? I did. They were all good. Excellent. Thank you. Um Mary, did you want to talk about our personnel transactions first? >> Sure. Um let me just double-check um Are those listed separately? They're new business. Okay, so I'll talk about it in new business. Does that work? Are you Yeah. Okay. I'm wrong. No problem. Please hold. >> [laughter] >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Member Dorner? Yes. Member Faye? Yes. Member Qualcheck?
046>> Yes. >> Vice President Ledo? >> Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. >> Member Deech? >> Yes. President Benekel? Yes. All right, next is unfinished business. Can I get a motion to approve the student advocates and the alternative learning opportunities program, also known as ALOP? So moved. Second. Member Faye? Yes. >> Member Qualcheck? >> Yes. Vice President Ledo? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deech? >> Yes. Member Dorner? Yes. President Benekel? Yes. All right, now we need to approve the NSSCO fiscal year 2027 budget. Can I get a motion to approve the NSSCO fiscal year 2027 budget? So moved. Second. Member Qualcheck? >> Yes. Vice President Ledo? Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deech? >> Yes. Member Dorner? Yes. >> Member Faye? Yes. President Benekel? Yes. All right, we now have our second opportunity for community comments. Did anybody sneak
047in? No. All right. Um let's move on to new business. All right, so this the approval of the employment of the director of student services. So can I get a motion to approve the one-year contract for Andrew Piper as the director of special services? Or student services. So moved. Second. Vice President Ledo? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deech? Yes. Member Dorner? Yes. Member Faye? Yes. Member Qualcheck? >> Yes. President Benekel? Yes. And is this an okay time to say a little bit about Mr. Piper? Okay. Well, we are so thrilled, Dr. Piper, to welcome you to this role. Um Dr. Piper is coming from a amazing career in a special education cooperative, which for a long time has been known as NSSED, but more recently as True North. Um he originally began as a school
048psychologist, um which just fun fact, the last three people to serve in this role have been school psychologists. So, apparently we have a thing for school psychologists doing this job. Um but uh Dr. Piper, in addition to that role, has also been an early childhood program coordinator, an administrator of multi-district services, a district uh services coordinator, and most recently as the assistant superintendent of human resources. And um really um this is such an amazing opportunity for District 57 because Dr. Piper, throughout his um career, has really lived and breathed uh special education at every different role um within the district. And this is a wonderful chance for us to really benefit from the breadth of his experience as well as his passion for serving kids and families. Um and ultimately doing so through supporting staff,
049because that is the most important work that we can do as administrators is support the greatness of our amazing staff such as Ms. Katie Ann Olson here tonight, which you exemplify. Um so, we're really grateful um that the board has approved this contract, and we um as sad as we are to um you know, have our chapter closed with Sarah Tiburski, who has been an incredible champion for the past 15 years in District 15 15 District 57. Um I'm getting emotional. Um really we um know that the gift she has given through her service and dedication and sacrifice has been to transfer um to this new chapter and and leave the condition of the department in such great shape, so many strong and effective systems, so much great work has been accomplished during her tenure,
050and we're really looking forward to seeing how Dr. Piper continues to advance our work in our district on behalf of our students and families. So, thank you, and we are so excited for the next chapter as well. So, welcome. Um yeah, and then maybe we'll do it after the next one. It's okay. All right. Can I get a motion to approve the one-year contract for Kelly Binyoki? Yes. Yeah? All right. As the Westbrook principal. So moved. Second. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deech? >> Yes. >> Member Dorner? Yes. Member Faye? Yes. Member Qualcheck? >> Yes. Vice President Leto? >> Yes. President Bennett-Kiel? >> Yes. Congratulations. All right. Well, congratulations, Kelly Binyoki. We're so thrilled that you will be the next Westbrook principal, a job that we lovingly refer to as the dream job, and um the
051happiest place on Earth. Forget Disney World. Um so, Kelly also just brings a wonderful background that is going to be perfect, we think, for um this moment in Westbrook's um Westbrook's career, or Westbrook's time. Um because, as we know all too well, that this is going to be the last year before full-day kindergarten. And so, while construction has begun, really the real work of preparing for and um ensuring the smoothest transition possible, as well as that successful launch, is something that Kelly knows how to do because she's already done it at her role in Patton, [clears throat] where she's worked in District 25 for over 14 years as the assistant principal. Um in addition to that vast experience, Kelly has also had time at district office but both in District 25 as well as Lake
052Zurich School District where she's worked in the curriculum departments and but prior to that was a first and second grade teacher in District 25. So um also the breadth of experience, the knowledge, the different layers within an organization and coming from such um an exceptional school where you have just recently undergone that transition of welcoming kids in kindergarten for the whole day is such a perfect timing thing. Um Kelly said she really wasn't looking but this is kind of the unicorn position and we love knowing that um the reputation of the district and that school in particular holds such prestige that you know, it's people that are really happy doing what they're doing are willing to take a jump. So we're so grateful to Kelly and um know that again uh Principal Hafner, although we
053are so excited for his next chapter being closer to home and returning to the district where he taught, uh we understand that connection and wish him the very best. Um but we believe that this will be also a really smooth handoff in um transitioning to West Brick's newest principal. So welcome Kelly and we cannot wait for you to to begin. All right, let's meet in the back for pictures. I know. Uh >> Okay, [clears throat] moving on. So, the next item on the agenda is press policy update issue 121. This is our first read. There's no action to be taken. Did you want to say any questions? Yeah, I mean as as usual or has it been typical of the past couple I think press plus releases, it was a lot of reviewing where the
054commas go and where the semicolons got moved to updating legal citations. There wasn't a whole lot that was really substantive. Exactly, right. Updating some terminology based on legal changes. So nothing really impactful. But if there are any questions, we're happy to take them. Okay. I do want to offer my thanks that you guys have volunteered to do that particular role. Every time we get a policy update packet, I'm like, "I love them." Thank you so much for the time that you spend on I've been there forever. Well, that's what you get for taking that seat. >> as you're in that seat, you have to be on the policy committee. >> [laughter] >> All right. All right, let's go to communications from board members. Can I get the NSSEO report? Yes, first of all, thank you
055all for approving the NSSEO budget for next year. I will vote to approve that on our district's behalf at our next meeting. So thank you for that. Uh the governing board met on Wednesday, May 6th. Uh the May meeting is always a little bittersweet because we start or have uh before the meeting is always the retirement ceremony for all the outgoing retirees. Uh [snorts] this year there were nine staff retiring comprising more than 185 years of service to NSSEO. So it's always it's all you it really hits you when you hear that about the the amount of experience and and knowledge and you know, just the the caring for the kids that that is walking out the door. So always big shoes to fill. Uh but NSSEO always manages to fill them, which is which
056is awesome. So So that was fun. Uh at the meeting, um I'll give a shout-out to Mount Prospect's very own Gina Lozano who uh is an ESP at Timber Ridge. Uh she actually applied for and received a mini grant through the NSCEO Foundation uh to start uh cooking classes with kids where they got to learn how to measure, you know, how to bake things, how to do things that I know I couldn't do that I would burn down my kitchen doing, but you know, for those who know Gina, she is really active and and a fan fantastic at her job. And is always looking for for new ways to give kids some some really great hands-on experiences and this is just another example of that. So, I thought that was awesome. Uh Dr. Stortz talked
057about the Miracle on Minor, which was uh the first weekend of May, which was a really cool kind of a block party thing uh right outside Minor School. Uh >> [snorts] >> there were games, free play in the gym, face painting, uh the police and fire departments were there and just a really great opportunity for uh uh for kids to get to just have some really good experiences. Uh there was [snorts] a raffle. Uh $13,000 were raised in one day, which is pretty awesome. Uh so, a fun event. I unfortunately was not able to go, but I I heard it was was a big hit. Uh the Kirk HVAC project phase two uh is already in progress uh started during spring break. Uh already on track. They're actually projected to finish a little bit early,
058so that would be great. So, more than enough time to be ready for the next school year. Uh the uh as I think I reported here, uh negotiations with the bargaining units have been ongoing. Uh unfortunately, they hit a little bit of a snag. There was a tentative agreement reached uh that unfortunately did not pass the uh the overall union membership and so they're going back and sharpening pencils and that's still ongoing. So, I will hopefully have more to report on that next meeting. Uh we did uh vote on and you know, as we talked about last month, uh on behalf of our board, I voted in favor of this of drafting a resolution regarding ICE activity. Uh so, what will happen now is that the administration will draft something. Uh and then that will
059be brought back to the member district boards for us to discuss and ultimately then vote on. So, the uh goal is to have the draft of that resolution for NSSEO's next meeting. We would then take that to our boards. Uh presumably we might discuss that at our June meeting. NSSEO does not meet in July. So, we would likely not vote on that at the governing board level until August. So, we have some time to discuss and hash that out. Uh but that did move forward. And our next meeting is Wednesday, June 2nd. Thank you. Ed Foundation? Not much to report. Uh their last meeting was on the 23rd of April. I unfortunately wasn't able to attend. Um but according to the website, that was the last meeting of the year. So, I encourage people to
060check out 57edfoundation.org for more information over the summer. Thank you. All right, let's do PTO reports. We can start with Lincoln. Lincoln had their PTO meeting this past Monday, the 18th. Um a lot of the conversation was around end of the year activities, um particularly with a focus on 8th grade with graduation coming up next Um there was some talk thinking future looking around what would be suitable or interesting for our 8th grade students to do as like their big end-of-the-year event. Traditionally, that event has been a trip to Great America. Um I think this year the school decided to sort of steer away from that into a a different activity just because of the logistical challenges of taking a large group of kids to a very large theme park, the supervision issues, the uh
061the fact that it often means an extended school day for the kids, you know, they stay at the park later, so there's later pick up which interferes with students who have um other extracurricular obligations. Um so, there's there's some real work and thought going into contemplating what What is something that the eighth-graders would enjoy? What would be something appealing to them? What would be something that really sort of celebrates and would mark the culmination of their District 57 experience. Um So, to the degree that anyone has feedback or thoughts about that, I'm sure the PTO would love to hear it. Um and then I'll just reiterate, as I've said many other meetings, uh just a call for additional volunteers. Um a lot of the current officers of the PTO are moving off as their kids
062are graduating from Lincoln. Um so, those roles will need to be filled. Uh this is like a low-pressure situation, right? Like no experience necessary. Please just come with with care and concern for uh providing enriching experiences for the students. Um certainly the outgoing officers would be happy to provide whatever information you might need to feel successful in that role. Uh but it really is so important, it's such an enriching um aspect of our school community that I think really gets overlooked in terms of the fundraising that gets done and the way that those funds are used to support things like the equivalent of a Great America field trip, providing busting for various other field trips and and different experiences. So, our PTOs are really valuable and they really need our support. So, and then as
063far as I know, there are no meetings over the summer, so we'll return back in the fall. Thank you, Fairview. May meeting was canceled and that was the last one for the year, so until the fall we meet again. Thanks, Eileen. Lyons Park. Uh their final PTO meeting was this past Monday, May 18th. Uh outgoing officers were thanked and appreciated. New officers were installed and I just wanted to I made a note that they were uncontested. Um so, congratulations to all those new officers uh for their for winning those elections. Uh their And then, you know, there's a series of updates sort of similar to um what came out to say about, you know, end of year events. So, there's Cap's ice cream is coming up on Thursday, May 28th. Um so, before you attend
064the Lincoln graduation, feel free to stop by Cap's and get some ice cream and support Lyons Park. Uh the fifth grade picnic is on Monday, June 1st. Uh since the last PTO meeting, they had another successful second grade play date. Uh they're doing Kona Ice on the last day of school. Uh they were excited to announce, and this is sort of been something that's been in the works for a good part of this school year, is that through funds of the PTO, they received an Ed Foundation grant and also some district funds that they're going to be installing a kiln in the art room for next school year, which is really exciting for Lyons Park. I know the teachers, it administrators, staff, everybody is really excited about that opportunity. So, um and then sort of
065similarly to the Lincoln PTO update, again, there are still some open committee chair positions in the Lions Park PTO for next school year. So, uh the PTO asked that I again put a call out to parents who are maybe interested that there are still um some committees that need chairs or even really co-chairs. And again, there's lot I think anybody who has served in those roles in this uh school year or previous school years would be happy to help incoming chairs to give them whatever information they need to be successful. So, uh and then my last thing is just saying thank you to the Lions Park PTO for a great school year. So. Thanks, Race. Westbrook. Westbrook's um last PTO meeting of this school season was May 6th at Lady Dalia. It was interesting. A
066lot of people were there. A lot of discussion. Um the PTO people took a group picture. There were a lot of people in the group picture. It was nice. Uh discussion was over who is going to and how will they attend uh to the gardens in the pots? Where will the pots be? Who will water? How many families are involved? Um there'll be play groups during the uh summer break. Um outgoing officers are welcoming in incoming officers and hoping that people will reach out to the PTO uh contacts uh to do volunteer work and start up again as Kim and other people have mentioned, um do volunteer work during the summer. A lot of excitement built around the change, the renovation. A lot of gratitude for um the referendum passing and the ability to to
067better the school facility. And surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, but a lot of parents were praising Dr. Gore. I mean, your name came up over and over again with with just people saying >> [laughter] >> I mean, I you know, during during the regular meetings that it's more business-like, but people were they were just oohing and ahing over you and and so grateful to Jason and Mary. >> [laughter] >> I'm serious about this. Lady Dahlia. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> And and and they they were just in awe of the 57, so you who put this together and did so much work know that the community understands and appreciates you. So. And I will say one more thing, which is not the PTO. At the last Library Foundation, Marie Trustee Marie Bass came to talk about
068what the library what the board is doing and what the library is doing. And she her final statement was, "And the Tribune article on Sunday uh addressed the she didn't use the word debacle addressed the delay of Cook County Treasurer Pat versus office and how that is um offsetting the money's dispersed to the agents to the public libraries that need it." And and she talked about a big picture, she talked about everything. And then there was gratitude expressed because Dr. Gore is the one who brought Sue Reinders in and Sue Reinders brought the rest of the libraries in. This article focused on public libraries. Big picture of Sue. That that's something that Murray said. Um so again, um I just want to highlight um the second community uh acknowledgement of Dr. Gore. So. Thanks, Pam.
069>> [laughter] >> No No that No They They They might shut me up. So. >> [laughter] >> Thanks, Pam. All right. Board President report. So tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. Roberta will send the email for board member sign up for committee assignments. Oh my god, 8:00 a.m. >> And Well, we know what you agreed to, right? And the bills review with Jason for 26-27. So. You agreed to it. Yes. So set your Set your reminders. >> [laughter] >> Um and this is a reminder for all those who can attend. The Lincoln graduation is on May 28th at Prospect High School at 7:00. Okay. So as um we'd love to have as many of us as possible standing there to congratulate our uh outgoing eighth graders. Um Triple I registration opens June 1st. We got an email
070from Roberta um talking about the um the Friday workshops and um and registration needs. So for our newest board member the um Friday focus workshops are a really great place to have some more intense intensive um conversations with colleagues about some particular subjects. So we certainly encourage you to participate. Um coming up on June 3rd is the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast. And the Ed Red Mini Summit is coming up on June 11th. That is a um a one-day conference-like event with uh various sessions that people can go to and and um sponsored by our by Ed Red. Does anybody have any questions about any of that? June 3rd. Yeah, so a Wednesday, I think. I will just apologize to our graduating 8th graders right now. I unfortunately will not be able to
071attend. It's my wedding anniversary that day, so I will regretfully I think that that would be a great anniversary >> and uh very proud of you. But I just want to say congratulations to our 8th graders who are graduating and very proud of you. I really think Jill would like that that is an outing. Yeah, I think that would >> I'll bring that up. I think it would work >> [laughter] >> out well for you. Do it on the phone. I do want to just do a quick legislative update. We had There had been a lot of advocacy both by Ed Red and IASB about a bill that was going through the state legislature that would modify our ability to put barriers in front of our ability to use notice a notice of red notice
072to remedy in our um our engagement with tenure teachers. And it passed in the Senate, it passed out of the house today this afternoon and is going to be going for the governor. I believe there is still some conversation about advocacy going to the governor. The um One of the big reasons why this is a problem for school districts is that it really takes that tool out of our toolbox when it comes to handling um tenured teachers uh behavior issues and puts us in the position to have to move more quickly towards it takes a remediation option off of our off of our table. So if anybody has any questions a little bit more about that I'm happy to talk about it now or later and there's also one other piece that is coming up
073that they might try and get into an omnibus bill and that is the um the ESP unemployment benefits um so that would have a pretty significant financial impact on our district and again all advocacy is welcome. So if you have any need for contacting contact information for our legislators I'd be happy to pass that along and again if there are any questions about that legislation or um now or later please let me know. All right. Moving on to board discussion. So we are going to discuss possibility of developing a committee to refine the superintendent evaluation process. So I think Chris is going to get us started with that conversation. >> Yes. So I will say that in my four years on the board I think we've come a very long way with the evaluation process.
074I remember how it looked my first year on the board to now we have the super eval tool which is a which is great and I think goes a long way toward improving that whole process but I think you know I think we've all when we sat together and kind of went over this would probably agree that I do think there's still an opportunity for improvement in that area. Um I think you know, evaluating Dr. Gore is you could argue our most important job as a board. And it's critically important that we do it well, that we do it fairly, and that we do it in a way that is helpful to Dr. Gore as well, and that we're providing good feedback and setting goals that are both clear, measurable, attainable, and as objective as
075possible, right? And I think while as I said, we've come a long way in that regard, I think we can still there is still some room for improvement. So, the idea was to put together a committee that would look at really all those things, right? Is is how can we put together a a structure that would allow us to be more effective at goal setting and then ultimately at the at evaluating Dr. Gore's performance. Um so, that's kind of the idea. Is is can we you know, now that we are wrapping up the previous evaluation period, it's a great time to start thinking about how do we want to do this next year? And so, that is the proposal on the table to create a I don't know what we call this committee, but the
076uh the committee to refine the superintendent evaluation pro- I'm trying to think of a a way we can get an acronym in there, right? But So, that is the topic for discussion. Thoughts? Comments? Uh I'm in favor. I think I would echo maybe a lot of what you said, right? We have come a long way. Um I don't know that you had the joy of experiencing the superintendent evaluation process when it was on paper, several sheets of flipping back and forth. Okay. Um So, yeah, we we have progressed significantly, um but a tool is only as good as what you put in it. And I think that's really where we could stand to refine the process. Um I did notice that one of the Friday forum or the Friday um Friday focus which is what
077I should be doing. The Friday focus um sessions uh for triple I is in fact a session in the afternoon about the superintendent evaluation process. So there are resources available to us as a board as a whole but to a committee specifically that would probably dive into this concept a little bit more deeply or at least give us a foundation or a framework to work from. Um to the extent we move forward with selecting a proper committee, I consider my name in the hat. I would like to be a part of that process. Number one, like to be the first person on the committee. Um yeah, I think it's a great idea. I think it's a great idea. I think that we as a board can learn um steps for evaluating and and broaden our
078horizon and I would like to be on the committee as well. Um I I think in looking at I never had the paper privilege of doing the paper evaluation here. I've done it in libraries but the super eval is um it is very versatile. So so I think it works. Um I I have suggestions to make um where we don't where we look at not only goals based on uh strategic things but things that come up during the year that aren't part of goals. Um I think it's important to see the whole picture and not just part of the picture which is what the superintendent's evaluation is giving us right now. I think we need to broaden what we look at. I think it's very important and not be limiting. So, that's it. And evaluations
079are so hard. I mean, really when you're I I I think we need to take notes during the year and and maybe meet um maybe twice a year and and just talk about things. Um make suggestions as as a uh career librarian manager we didn't hold we didn't wait until the end of the year. We would go over goals four times a year. Um just to stay on track and update if needed. Sounds like we're having our first committee meeting. >> [laughter] >> Did you guys have any comments, questions? No, but I feel like if you make a comment, you have to also put your hat in the ring. >> [laughter] >> Um no, I I just I just I am putting my hat in the ring though for the committee because I'm just that
080excited about it. Um but no, I I think echoing what Chris said, I I absolutely value the work of refining and and making sure that we're giving Dr. Gore the best uh feedback and the best support to be the best superintendent for our district. So, I think anything we can do I I think it's sort of like you know, this work will be constantly ongoing. I don't think you'll ever sort of reach an end point. Um so, I but I think it is so important for us as a board to make sure that we are committing the time, energy, resources to like doing this the best we can do. So, that's my general sentiment. I don't disagree with what's been said and happy to be an important function to the subcommittee. What's a subcommittee now?
081Or We're growing. >> [laughter] >> That's right. Yes, subcommittee to the committee of the committee. >> [laughter] >> I'm all for it. The uh the SEPC. What do you think? SEPC Sub process committee. Just turn it around a little bit. I know, I was I was thinking SU PAC, but then I'm like I kind of tossed the P and the E around. It's kind of a mess. Something. Um the I also agree I think it's a great step um for us to take and um one of the things that I always that always comes to mind when we go through the evaluation process is um we all bring such diverse viewpoints of evaluating a person to that table. Um I have never evaluated anybody except for my husband. Um How's he doing? Uh he's all
082right. He's doing all right. >> [laughter] >> I know. Oh, I know. I get plenty of crap from him. So, he can take a little bit from me in public. Um I know that uh Chris and Alan come from the corporate world and they have some really great input when it comes to the evaluation process. Pam with her librarian um process. And then we have an attorney, we have another parent, [clears throat] and somebody who works for the park district as well. So, there's I don't know I don't know what your career is. >> [laughter] >> I'm a jack of all trades. Yes. She is she has no title. She is simply I'm an Qualcheck. Um but all of that means that we have a lot of different perspectives and I think it'd be really
083helpful for us to get a much more common language. And that would help lots so that when we are going into these conversations, there is a lot more clarity about what we are talking about when we use our specific terms. Um, I also did look into any um uh tools from IASB and they do have a workshop that they will that um they will put on for a board if we want to take that opportunity. So, I say um we move forward with it and I guess can you add uh Yes, can you add uh a committee uh three Yeah. So, um you get to throw your hat in the ring when the tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. So Is there anything else? Nope. Awesome. And way to go, guys. Like we did like put forth
084our best effort. Okay. Um does anybody have any board topics for future meetings? Okay. Uh we do have a need for closed session. So, can I get a motion to enter closed session? >> We have to say the purpose. >> Oh, sorry. Fourth I always forget that. For the purpose of the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees. Can I get a motion to enter into closed session? >> So moved. Second. Member Deitch? Yep. Member Dorner? Yes. Member Faye? Yes. >> Member Kwalchuk? >> Yes. >> Vice President Leto? >> Yes. >> Member Nelson? >> Yes. >> President Benekel?