00126th, here at Fairview School. Can I get a roll call, please? Member Deitch? Here. Member Dorner? Here. Member Faye? Here. Member Kowalczyk? >> Here. Vice President Leto? Here. Member Nelson? Here. President Benite Kelley? Here. All right. Can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? All right. It's good to see everybody in the audience. Um let's move on to some board recognition. Um uh Member Leto, or Vice President Leto, can you read our Women's History Month acknowledgement? Yes, absolutely. March is Women's History Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the countless women whose courage, creativity, and determination have helped shape our nation and our communities. From historic trailblazers who expanded opportunities for others to everyday leaders who make a difference through their work, service, and care for those around them, their stories continue to inspire us.
002In District 57, we honor this legacy by helping our students learn about these influential figures, and by encouraging every child to see their own potential to lead, create, and make a positive impact in the world. Throughout the month, our school librarians have curated collections of books that highlight remarkable women from history and today. Teachers also have access to a variety of resources to integrate Women's History into classroom lessons and discussions, making this an engaging and meaningful learning experience for all. Thank you, Chris. All right. We're going to move on to our Fairview Portrait of a Graduate report. A good evening, everyone. My name is Dan O'Keefe, Principal here at Fairview School for those of you who don't know me. Thank you for having me. As you know, for this year's school spotlights, we have been
003highlighting a different District 57 Portrait of a Graduate characteristic, and this month we highlight the important skill of collaboration. When Heather Slearno and I met about 8 weeks ago, we wanted to discuss what we what could we do to highlight collaboration at Fairview School, and it was right in the middle of our fifth grade musical week, and what better way to highlight the excellent skill of collaboration than through the amazing work our students do through the fifth grade musical. Many of you board members have already seen fifth grade musical either on stage at Lions or Fairview School, but tonight's presentation will give you a little bit of a background on what goes behind the scenes with collaboration from both staff and students alike, so we hope you enjoy. >> [music] >> In District 57, our
004Portrait of a Graduate highlights the skills we want every student to develop. >> [music] >> Skills that prepare them not just for school, but for life. One of those skills is collaboration. Follow us [music] through one of Fairview Elementary's biggest projects of the year, the fifth grade musical Willy Wonka [music] Kids. And here he is now, Mr. Willy Wonka. >> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> Hello, and welcome back to interviewing with Miss Beauregarde. Is there anything that you guys would like to say about how we collaborated and worked together as a team? Everybody was just like so in sync with all the dances and performances, and it really just brought everything together. We did, didn't we? I say we collaborated well, because look at this stuff. It's a masterpiece. As you can imagine, doing
005any kind of musical requires a lot of work, not just from the director, but so many people come together to make this a success. We have so many staff members who have helped with backdrops like we have here, various scenery. Parents came together to make props as well. Um in the office, Chris Terzios makes the programs every single year. Our custodial work is a very big job and extra hours that I know are put in by Abel in particular and all of our custodial staff. This is literally just a portion of the amount of people who have come together. This year during our class, our fifth graders worked together to create the scenery for their musical Willy Wonka Kids. We have five fifth grades this year, and students worked together to paint eight panels, and
006the panels are quite big, they're 4 ft by 8 ft, so it was a big project, and it took us about 5 weeks to paint all of our panels. I think collaborating in this way helps students to feel comfortable taking risks and trying new things because they had that teamwork aspect, and so if students needed some feedback or maybe made a mistake, they knew that their classmates were there to help them. But the magic doesn't stop in the classroom. >> [music] >> Families and volunteers play an important role in helping bring the story to life. So, my role is as the costume designer for this production. During this process, I fit every single fifth grader in the entire school, and I've been doing it for 4 years. It just gives them self-confidence. They are able
007to be on stage and have these beautiful costumes. Really truly allows the students to shine. When a school community comes together, incredible things can happen, and at the heart of it all are the students themselves, >> [music] >> learning what it truly means to work together. I cannot have done this show without Miss Miss Kaminsky, Miss Piscitello. It was just like they donated so much of their time to us, and I'm so thankful for everything that they've done. Being part of this Fairview team and just creating the musical just made me feel so awesome. Just working with all of the other people, it just gave me such a confidence boost that I could do pretty much anything I wanted to. I could not have done this show without Mini Me and all the stage crew
008and everybody in my class. All of the work we had to do, we had to do it all simultaneously while still being able to communicate with each other and not argue a lot. It just It was difficult, but I think that it turned out good. A musical may last just one night on stage, but the lessons behind it last much longer. It's nice to see how not only are is each class collaborating effectively, but the class dynamic comes into play where each show really truly is their own, and it really what was quite special to watch. At District 57, collaboration isn't just a skill we talk about. It's something our students experience every day, because when we work together, the possibilities are truly golden. >> [music] >> And it was a lot Heather and I
009had a lot of fun putting that together with the students. You saw that they had a hard time getting out of character in the beginning, so we made sure we included some of that for you tonight, but any questions? I'd be happy to answer them if you have them. No questions, but looks like you had a fun time, or they at least had had a fun time, a good time. >> we all did. >> [laughter] >> I do have to say, I know it started during COVID doing doing the individual plays for each classroom, and that's continuing to still go on. At Fairview, that's what we're doing. Yeah, we just saw that it was quite special to be able to put more kids on stage and have more kids have opportunities, so that's that's been
010quite quite impressive. I think it's awesome, yeah, because you have then so many more leads, and it's just great that they get more participation within the play since it's a small group for each each player each night they perform, so that's great. Thank you. Go ahead, babe. I just wanted to say that as a children's librarian, I used to teach drama classes. We used to put on plays, and the reason that I did it was because we know that public speaking is the number one fear of many adults, so you're giving them the opportunity to possibly rephrase if they've forgotten their words. That's so confidence building. Thank you. Thanks. It was neat how Will said there, you know, it was it was difficult, but we did it. You know, you could tell that sense of
011accomplishment. Thanks, Dan. Thank you. All right. Now we get to do our student spotlight. So, board recognition for Michael Sanowski. Tonight, we are proud to have to recognize eighth grade Lincoln Middle School student Michael Sanowski for an outstanding achievement. Michael recently participated in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Patriots' Pen Essay Contest, a national competition for students in grades 6 through 8. This year's theme asked students to reflect on the question, "How are you showing patriotism and support for our country?" Michael's essay was selected as the winner for VFW Post 1337 and went on to win at the state level as well. His essay is now advancing to the national competition, an incredible accomplishment. In his thoughtful essay, Michael reflects on how patriotism is demonstrated through service to others and honoring those who came before us,
012including his grandfather, a World War veteran who earned the Purple Heart. We are very proud of Michael and the way he represents Lincoln Middle School and District 57. At this time, it's my pleasure to invite Michael Sanowski to come forward and share his award-winning essay with us. I need a little help here. To me, patriotism means serving my country through meaningful actions guided by the purpose our nation was founded upon. Our country was built upon the idea of democracy and that all men are created equal. The Constitution is commonly considered the document of our rights, but it also includes our duties and civic duties. Civic duties including include voting, paying taxes, and actions like community and public service. Though I cannot participate in voting and paying taxes, I participate in many forms of volunteering. I
013put up flags on Memorial Day for veterans' graves. I volunteer in Boy Scouts. I help kids with disabilities play soccer through Top Soccer, and I serve at my church. I've learned volunteering is more than helping people in your community. It's a way of neighbors helping neighbors and a way of strengthening our nation cuz at the end of the day, we are all citizens of America. These experiences taught me These experiences taught me that patriotism isn't solely about what you do. It's about why you do it. In addition, I've learned that patriotism is not limited to the confines of formally helping. When I simply say the Pledge of Allegiance or put up an American flag on my porch, I show patriotism. "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction." JFK. I do all these
014acts of patriotism and you may ask, "What is my purpose?" Anybody can volunteer and claim their loyalty to our country, but without purpose, is it truly truly sincere? Anybody can volunteer and claim their loyalty to our country. My grandfather fought in the Battle of World Battle of Iwo Jima during World War On Depot's to, a mortar came down his truck his leg, sending countless pieces of shrapnel into his body. As a result, he earned the Purple Heart. He showed one of the highest levels of patriotism. My grandfather, though no longer here, is a significant role model and he's my purpose. My purpose is to live with the same courage and service he showed, not just in war, but in everyday life. I try to honor heroes like him and preserve our country's democracy. Every year,
015I visit his grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. to honor him. Real patriotism comes from both the heart and the actions that come from that purpose. When purpose guides our actions, we honor heroes like my grandfather and strengthen the democracy they risked to protect. Oh, sorry. There's a little bit of feedback. Um I know that VFW Commander Matuszak would like to say a few words. Every time he reads it, it gets better and better. Uh Mike, District 57 board, uh Michael has been an outstanding ambassador for VFW Post 1337 and the Patriots' Pen program. We are incredibly proud that he has advanced to represent our state in the national competition. This is an extraordinary achievement for Michael and a proud moment for his family, for the school, the community, as well as our
016post. We are just over the moon. Um we are truly amazed how strongly our community has come together to support him. Michael has demonstrated great poise and confidence by reading his essay here and at other events that he's needed to read it at. Um we also look forward um to working with Ms. Burger again. She provided us with his essay and other teachers um this year's for this this year's contest. And we'd also like to um also we do have a Teacher of the Year recognition that we would be honored to look to District 57 schools for nominations for, so I'll get with the principal at some point. Um I want to thank the VFW American Legion members for coming and their support of this program. And we would like to present Michael with the
017VFW Post 1337 challenge coin. It's a symbol of respect, gratitude, and belonging within the veteran community. Traditionally, a challenge coin is presented presented through a handshake, quietly passed from palm to palm, signifying trust, honor, and the welcoming of an individual into a shared tradition. It is our privilege to share this meaningful gesture with Michael in recognition of his achievements. Thank you. Thank you. We would love for you to join us back at the at the back of the bill room for a photo with the board. >> [music] >> We're going to move on with our meeting. Congratulations, Michael, again. Um let's move on to student board members' report. All right. Well, um we weren't able to have our student board members here due to some conflicts in their busy schedule, which we know these are
018busy, busy people and they are in in a lots of different amazing things. Um, first and foremost, their academic pursuits. Um, but we've met several times since our last meeting and we were so grateful to um, be able to have a collaborative call with our Fairview team who's um, um, organizing the multicultural fair this April, um, which was such an amazing um, celebration last year and so this will be the second one. Actually, Westbrook's, I'm sure um, we'll hear a little bit later, um, about um, member Nelson's visit last night to their multicultural fair. So, they're really setting an awesome new trend in District 57. Something that our student board members would love to be part of and lend leadership to. So, um, they are working closely, um, with that team and are going to
019be, um, working on different um, booths and interactive things for kids and families to experience when they're at the uh, multicultural fair, including different arts and crafts that kids can make both, um, to take home, but then also participate um, some ideas around some, you know, um, art that might remain in the building. So, it's still in the early stages and um, we have a lot of exciting ideas, but speaking in the theme of collaboration, huge shout out to those amazing Fairview teachers for being so open-minded to the way that um, student leaders could be lending their talents and passion as well. So, they'll be excited to give an update soon. Thank you. All right. This is our first opportunity for community comments. District 57 Board of Education welcomes community participation. In an effort to
020both 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 comments 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 towards others and abide by Board Policy 8:30, Visitors to and Conduct on School Property. Do we have any members of the community that would like to make a comment?
021Everyone, um, my name's Chad Heifell. Um, I have a concern. Um, it's becoming quite uh, clear that um, technology entering classrooms is actually lowering the intelligent level of students. Um, there's pretty groundbreaking study you guys can look at that shows the generation under us as less intelligent than um, the generation before it. And they contribute that to uh, introduction of technology in the classrooms. Um, I would agree that technology is important especially with what I do for a living. Um, but I would like to have a better understanding from D57 what um, they plan on doing to address these new data coming out and dealing with limiting possibly technology in the classroom uh, in other forms of education. And that's all I wanted to to address and I'm happy to take this offline with anyone
022for follow-up questions. Thank you so much. Any other members of the community like to speak? All right. Seeing no more comments, let's move on to our staff and superintendent reports. First one will be the elementary math instructional material recommendations. Dr. Vondrahr. Good evening. I am beyond thrilled today to be joined by these lovely group of this lovely group of educators. They have a hard job every day of teaching and this year they have really gone above and beyond. Um, I every July I come to you and I share our wonderful math data and I I know the board has been very pleased with with the work that we've done and I just cannot tell you enough of how hard this group has worked to really identify the the instructional materials, the practices that are going
023to continue with those high test scores, but more importantly, create strong mathematicians, um, and that will really develop and practice those portrait of a graduate characteristic that you heard about today. Um, so I am excited. Uh, I'm going to have everyone come up and just introduce yourself quickly and then I'll get started. again. I'm still Dan O'Keefe, principal at Cherry. Hi, I'm Mandy Steckmiller. I'm a special ed teacher at Westbrook. Good evening. I'm Kim Storts. I'm the instructional technology coach at Westbrook. Good evening. I'm Christie Roy and I'm one of the first grade teachers at Westbrook. Hi, I'm Grace Bronzell and I'm also a first grade teacher at Westbrook. Hi, Natalie Cottner, math support teacher at Lyons Park. Hello, I'm Alyssa Redman, second grade teacher at Lyons Park. Thank you so much. So, you'll hear
024from each of us today, um, and I am confident that you will hear the love and care that these teachers have for your students and really wanting to find what's best for them. Um, we have a lot of challenges ahead. We're excited to really dig in again, not only to these instructional materials, but these practices to create those lifelong learners. So, we'll get started. All right. And some of these slides you'll notice from last uh, last month. Uh, whenever we are reviewing curricula, we look at um, what is out there. We compare it to what surrounding districts are doing. Um, we look at what's uh, in the research in terms of best practices for instruction. And so today we'll go through what what drives the need for that, uh, how we prepared for this math
025resource pilot, how we selected the materials and what that implementation will look like. So, like I said, what drives that need for updated math resources? Um, it's we we want to make sure that we are providing our students with the the best instruction and so, um, we want the most um, updated program, the most updated materials as well as those strong instructional practices. >> [snorts] >> I'm going to turn it over to Dan to talk about our pilot. All right. So, how did we prepare for our math resource pilot and what did it look like? Let's take a look. Let's start by talking about a timeline here. First, last spring the elementary math committee met to develop uh, belief statements about what we believe math instruction and learning math should look and sound like. Uh,
026we'll talk more in-depth about this momentarily. Uh, after developing those resources are the the math belief statements, then we looked at some initial resources and we talked more about uh, which of these are going to align with those beliefs that we just created. Uh, and three different curricular sets of materials emerged. One was I-Ready Math. The next one Illustrative Mathematics and then Math in Focus. So, then in August of 2025, I-Ready was our first math pilot and so we had some program training around that in August and then midway through the fall it just shifted to Illustrative Math and then in the in the early winter Math in Focus. And with each pilot we had uh, different program training at the start. We did periodic check-ins throughout to make sure we're checking in with the
027pilot teachers and getting their feedback. Uh, had a collaborative coaching cycle, which we'll talk about a little bit more in-depth in a moment. Uh, and we surveyed both uh, students and teachers. And then in February we met as a whole committee to talk about our experiences, look at that data from the surveys and uh, make some recommendations based on on what we saw and what best aligns with our vision. Uh, and that's where we are today as as now presenting that uh, about best practices in math and about the standards of math practice, which are a part of the Common Core State Standards. Uh, we also surveyed parents to gather their input and uh, between these two things that helped. So, diving further into the math vision statements, uh, we came up with six key
028uh, areas of focus. First was equity and access. It was important to the committee that all materials selected promoted equitable access to rigorous math by ensuring students were actively engaged and supported in multiple entry points and scaffolds uh, for diverse learning needs. Next, we wanted to uh, make sure that our curriculum would foster conceptual understanding by having students explain their reasoning, use models and represent thinking, uh, and compare different strategies. Third, the next curriculum curriculum selected should promote critical thinking and problem solving by encouraging students to explore multiple strategies, analyze and revise errors and extend their thinking through deep questioning. Next was student-centered learning. Our instruction should support student-centered learning by prioritizing student voice and agency through discussion, choice and strategies and tools, and opportunities to generate their own questions. Fifth was collaboration and communication,
029which is all about having students work together, build on peers' ideas, use mathematical language, and share their reasoning through discussion, writing, and visuals. And finally, growth mindset and persistence. We wanted to foster a growth mindset and persistence by encouraging perseverance, treating mistakes as learning opportunities, um promoting peer support, and supporting ongoing revision and improvement. So, we figured that if we could do all of this with our math lessons, then students would be in a good position to become more confident, to make strong growth, and be appropriately challenged, and most importantly, really enjoy their math class every single day. All right, I'm going to turn it over to Mandy. Is this my slide? Wait, hold on. No. Oh, okay. So, nope. I've never used a clicker before. Okay. So, when we began this process, we looked
030at a lot of different curricular, and we brought it down to the three that we decided to pilot. And to make sure that we were going to do everything to the best of our ability, we received training in it. We learned all about the ins and outs as far as what we were going to be teaching, um the other resources that were available, such as online resources and things like that, so that we could fully dive into it. We did then have the pilots, and throughout the piloting procedure, we were checking in with um the people that created the curriculum, so that we can make sure that we were doing it to the again, the best of our ability. So, that included collaborative coaching sessions, and then we did the surveys as far as how
031after each pilot, how did it go? Second and fifth to fifth grade students actually also were able to say how they liked those particular pilots, and then teachers that implemented it also went through and said what were the good parts, what were the bad parts, so we could really compare them to one another. And part of that was the collaborative coaching cycles, which is again, a way to spark that collaboration and make sure that we were able to effectively reflect on what we were presenting and what we were assessing. So, we were able to meet and talk about it with the people, everybody that was involved, focusing on the classroom. People were observed teaching lessons in the classroom, and then got to reflect upon that afterwards. To make sure that everything is in line with
032the vision statement that was just read, aligned to the Illinois math standards, and again, really taking into account that student survey data as well as the teacher feedback. Okay. All right. So, after that very careful, thorough, and thoughtful process that was just described, we are excited to share that we have our recommendations tonight. The kindergarten and first grade team has selected i-Ready, and the second through fifth grade team has selected Math in Focus. And so, tonight we're really looking forward to sharing with you things that stand out to us about both of these programs. So, we'll start with i-Ready. And there are four big things that stood out. Some of them have already been mentioned um previously as overarching elements that we were looking for in our math curriculum. Equity and access is number one
033on our list here that we found with i-Ready. It really provided multiple entry points for all of our students >> [music] >> in every lesson, every day. It was student-centered. We could really draw from our students from their experiences using the curriculum, seeing what they were coming up with and how they were working with one another. And it really focused on conceptual understanding and a growth mindset. All right, I'm excited to tell you guys about some of the highlights from i-Ready, just things that we really loved piloting the program at Westbrook. One of the things that we noticed is that this program is inviting for all students. So, it has that low floor, high ceiling where every student can get something out of the lesson, the warm-up, or the activities. Um and that provided a
034really developmentally appropriate foundation. And that's really what we're focused on kindergarten and first grade at Westbrook is building that foundation in mathematics. The program also focuses on a really strong math community through structure and routines, talking points and conversations. Students even brought some of the discussion techniques and strategies they learned through i-Ready into other subjects, other programs. So, we found that to be really positive. It encourages students to be active participants in the math lesson. Something we loved about i-Ready was at the end of each unit, they have something called Math in Action. So, it's an end of unit project that incorporates hands-on opportunities, critical thinking, and extends the chapter skills. So, for the one we piloted, students were able to build fruit kebabs and put different beads on a pipe cleaner representing different fruits
035with 10 in all, so knowing all the different combinations um to 10, and and that was really fun for them to engage in. We also enjoyed the family communication that i-Ready provides. Each week, there's a newsletter that teachers can send home, and that newsletter also comes in different languages. So, you know, teachers aren't um uh trans- you know, changing those. They can just rip them out of the workbooks and send them on home. and those letters also provide resources that families can use at home to support their child's growth. Some more highlights that we saw were just the classroom routines. Like I said, i-Ready really helps implement strong and structured routines, and that leads to a fluid math environment that motivates, engages, and helps the students make connections. Um there's also engaging games and centers.
036I really enjoyed these. There's hands-on games, online games, and the fun thing about the games in i-Ready is that they're all differentiated. So, you can kind of group your kiddos and give them exactly what they need with that skill at their level. And so, that was awesome. Um there's a big emphasis on peer collaboration and discussion within i-Ready. Lots of opportunities for students to share their thoughts, work together, and that can be seen in the warm-ups that start out the lessons, the lesson itself, and then leading into the games and activities. It really is student-led. Um so, we're very excited about that. Okay, some of the components that you can see on the slide here, um just are a glimpse of the various different aspects of the instruction um within the kindergarten and first grade
037classroom. Teachers start each lesson with a number sense or warm-up. And it gives children opportunity to explore a problem, share their thinking, and also allows teachers the opportunity to quickly see where students are confident and where others may need a little additional extra support. Um within the program, students are actively and continuously using manipulatives. They are drawing models, they're talking through strategies, and connecting to real-world problems to help build a deeper understanding. Another important aspect is the flexibility of the program. Teachers can adjust, support, and challenge their students while working on the same math goal. So, why does i-Ready matter for Westbrook? It ensures that every student can access math and be successful. Students come to us with different strengths, experiences, and learning needs. And this allows us to support multilingual learners, students needing additional
038support, and those ready for deeper challenges. It supports the broader skills we want our students to develop as part of our portrait of a graduate in our district, thinking critically, persisting through challenging problems, and explaining ideas. Importantly, it gives students multiple ways to engage and show their thinking, which increases understanding and confidence in the math environment. So, as we continue this work, we focus continues to remain on creating classrooms where students are engaged in learning and develop skills that are reflected in our portrait of a graduate. Math in Focus. No, this is Math in Focus. Sorry, just 1 minute. All righty, I didn't print off the first. I'm going to hold this so it's easier. All right, so Math in Focus is our current curriculum. However, we're going to it we're asking for recommendation for
039the new edition. Um Math in Focus um we've used it for a number of years at Lions Park and Fairview and at Westbrook and we have seen strong success for our students. Math in Focus is grounded in a Singapore math approach, which emphasizes deep understanding and problem-solving. The visual highlights the key components of the problem-solving model. In addition to learning core math concepts, students build important mathematical skills such as estimation, data analysis, and effective use of math tools. Students are expected to apply their thinking to solve problem problems and clearly communicate their reasoning both verbal and in writing. They also reflect on their problem-solving process, which deepens their understanding. Together, these practices build student confidence and competency in math. This slide highlights the concrete pictorial abstract progression, which is a key component of the Singapore
040math approach used in Math in Focus. Students begin with the concrete stage, where they use the hands-on materials and manipulatives to model and explore mathematical ideas. This helps them build a real tangible understanding of concepts. Then they move to the pictorial stage, where they represent their thinking with drawings, diagrams, and visual models. This step helps bridge the gap between hands-on experiences and more formal math. Students progress to the abstract stage, where they use numbers, symbols, and equations to represent their thinking. This progression supports a deep understanding of mathematics because students just don't need to memorize the procedures. They develop meaning at each stage. This leads to stronger retention, flexibility in thinking, and great math confidence. This slide highlights how Math in Focus supports students throughout content, process, product, and environment. For content, students have access
041to different or differentiated materials include reteaching, practice, and extension activities. Prior knowledge is activated to support new learning and math journals help students build understanding and explain their thinking. For the process, lessons are designed to build understanding step by step. Questions become more complex over time and the engage, learn, try structure supports instruction with try serving as a quick formative assessment to help teachers know that. This is all grounded in the concrete pictorial abstract progression. For the product, students show their thinking in multiple ways through real-world problems, performance tasks, and steam projects. Stem projects. For the environment, instruction supports flexible grouping and meets a range of student needs. Together, the elements help build strong understanding, engagement, and confidence in math. Okay, so Math in Focus 2020 follows a clear and consistent instructional pathway to support
042student learning. Each chapter begins with a chapter opener, which activates the students' prior knowledge and introduces key concepts. Instruction is then broken up into sections, where students learn new skills through concrete, pictorial, and abstract progression. Throughout the chapter, the math journal provides opportunities for students to explain their thinking and deepen their understanding. The Put on Your Thinking Cap tasks challenge students to apply their learning in more complex ways. At the end of the chapter, students complete a chapter warm-up wrap-up to reflect on key ideas, followed by a chapter review to practice and consolidate their learning. This structure supports a gradual release of learning and helps build strong understanding over time. Uh this slide um Math in Focus has been very successful for our students for years, providing a strong foundation in problem-solving and mathematical understanding.
043However, our committee felt that additional practices are needed to fully bring our math vision to life. One of those practices is to include more number talks in our instruction, where students engage in critical thinking, problem-solving, with communicating the different strategies and models they used. Number talks encourage students to reason mathematically, share their thinking, and consider multiple approaches, as well as give students an opportunity to talk and have that math conversation and math dialogue, which is very important to math instruction. Another key practice is to use language routines. These [snorts] intentional strategies support sense-making by amplifying language, helping students create their own meaning from mathematical ideas. Language routines also help students clearly describe their thinking to others verbally, visually, and in writing, while strengthening opportunities for constructive mathematical conversation, which is extremely important for them to
044do. Together, these practices not only deepen students' understanding of math content, but also promote reflection of their own learning and their learning of their peers, creating more thoughtful and collaborative classroom environment. Okay. Um to promote a growth mindset and persistence, we will implement a consistent problem-solving model that guides students to understand the problem, plan a solution, carry out a plan, and check their answers to make sense of it. I think I did I skip a slide? Okay. Thank you. Okay, thank you everyone. Um equally important is cultivating a strong math community, where students feel confident taking risks, exploring multiple strategies, and learning from one another. We will dedicate time to establish math community norms and routines that promote collaboration, communication, and shared problem-solving. These practices encourage students to reflect on both their learning, their thinking,
045and their ideas of their peers, as well as foster supportive, engaged, and growth-oriented classroom environment, which we think is very important so they can feel confident and be willing to take risks and not afraid to share their thinking um even if they're wrong. It gives them that opportunity that they could be in a risk-free environment, where they could explain themselves. So, what will implementation look like? Um Dan had shared that we are starting our professional learning uh in April and really focusing on those number talks, language routines, and really um identifying ways that we can get our students talking more in math and communicating in different ways. Um so, we're very excited about that. You will notice that our vision statement is the same that I shared last month, so we have a unified K
046through 8 math vision statement. Um and we've already begun work in really looking at the scope and sequence and identifying different number talks and language routines. Um that was something that was that 6th through 8th grade is also working on. So, we are um very excited that our students are going to be communicating in different ways and really displaying those um portrait of a graduate characteristics. So, with that comes costs. Um so, this slide uh displays that information for you and there's more information within the memo. Um when we are looking especially at the K through 5 um math materials, a lot of that is focused on manipulatives and again, that's very important for this age. Uh having those concrete materials where students can can really visualize um and and move things around in order
047to get a deeper understanding of those conceptual um understandings. So, uh this is the cost. This is for a 6-year subscription and it includes everything that's listed on there for you. And again, I just want to commend the math committee. You all did a fabulous job representing the committee. Um this is I I again, I'll use this phrase of a a labor of love. Um you can tell how much our teachers care about our students and really finding the right materials, the right instructional practices so that we can really support our students and and help them to thrive. So, with that, any questions? Go ahead. Thanks for the presentation. Um I have a question around the transition from Westbrook to Lyons Park Fairview. If you're going from I-Ready to Math in Focus, is there any
048um crossover that we need to be thinking about in terms of like from one series of materials into a a brand new language and series of materials for when the kiddos get into second grade? Sure. Uh we were actually working on that today with our our coaches and really starting in looking at the standards and looking at the alignment. Um I will say that uh as the Westbrook team shared, there's a lot of focus in that math discourse and problem solving and that was something again um that Fairview and Lyons Park shared that we didn't see as much in Math in Focus and so that's why we're embedding those practices. Um so I I think with the standards and then also increasing the or in including those practices, I there's going to be um alignment
049with that. And then my second comment is is mostly um joking but do you expect or would you call it a measurement of success if in um the second through fifth graders, the kids are walking around and doing those hand gestures of I agree and build on uh I and and is that material that we think we should be bringing to the parents to reiterate that type of behavior so that it it just feels more natural as they're you know, not just in math. Those are those are common not ASL but they're common phrases that could be used throughout the school day. Thoughts? Yeah, I I I think that's a great idea. I think the more that we can share with families, I I think we're going to make it stronger, right? That connection. And
050these are practices that our teachers often use but we want to make sure that there's something that's consistent. Um and I think Christie or Grace had shared that there were lots of things that we we did during this pilot that we started to see in other subjects as well. So uh the more that we can do that that that's going to help our students more. Great. Thank you. Chris, did you have any questions? Uh uh yes, just a couple. Uh first of all, great presentation. Thank you for for that. Uh very detailed. You guys can hear me, right? I hope. Okay. I hate to go through all that and then someone say, "Can you repeat that?" Um I I want to just make sure I have this right. So is it safe to say for
051the middle school curriculum and the two through five curriculum, we're basically continuing the curricula in each case that we have been using just uh updated versions. Is that fair? Updated version and those additional instructional practices and there's alignment between two five and six eight. So both of those teams felt those pieces were were missing and so they felt it was important to include that to make our vision come alive. Okay, perfect. And but I-Ready is a departure from what we are currently using at Westbrook. Is that correct? >> Yes. Okay. So I I guess I I have a a question and then maybe a mild concern but you know, you alluded to it earlier, Dr. Van der Haar, that our math scores have been fantastic and we're you know, extremely pleased and proud of all
052of you for for making that happen. Uh you know, I guess my question would be what what was missing? What is the I-Ready curriculum? And I know you you praised many of what of what it has or what it does but why is this better than what we're using today that seemingly has been pretty successful? Maybe share some examples? Yeah. That'd be tough. Yeah. Um I mean just thinking off the top of my head, um I-Ready was the only curriculum that we piloted where students didn't cry. Um yeah, due to frustration or misunderstanding. Um it was the one where they were most excited for math and it's the one they missed the most when it was gone. It's also the curriculum that um Grace and Kristen have also shared um that for us it was
053the first one that we piloted. So it's how we began our school year and that is the one from which we pulled the most elements and brought them not only forward into the other math pilots but forward into all other subjects during our day. Where we were saying, "We love the way this is building culture. We love the way this is allowing students to demonstrate their learning." And so that just kept coming forward. And all of us loved those elements so much that that's what two through five is pulling forward to round out um the Math in Focus to make our vision fulfilled. I don't know if anybody wants to add on. Um I would just say I had the pleasure of co-teaching and supporting in um Christine Grace's classroom and to see the students
054when they were engaged in the program, um and it was all voices. So when we compared with the three that we um piloted, all voices were shared um in this program and that really stood out as being an important component for us cuz if we are instilling the portrait of a graduate and trying to have um students begin to speak for themselves and to share and to um have their voice heard, um that was pretty amazing for us. >> Yeah. I mean even to add on to that, it just allowed for a lot more collaboration. Um students were able to really work together, hear from each other, learn from each other and I didn't felt like I didn't feel like I was standing up there talking at them. Um which you know, I mean we
055do kindergarten and first grade. They're little. They really need that hands-on. Um they need multiple entries and and that we felt like this curriculum really provided that for us. Great. Great. Well, thank you. I we certainly don't want kids crying during math so that's that's a >> [laughter] >> Great. Thank you very much. Are there any other questions? No. Thank you so much, math team and Dr. Van der Haar. We really appreciate your recommendations and work. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to our audit firm for fiscal year '26. All right, and we are so grateful to have Betsy Allen here who we recognize and know because she has been with us for many years um through Miller Cooper but has recently been um joining another esteemed firm and so there's a
056summary um provided from Dr. Case who is out of town tonight but um Betsy would be here to give a little overview of that transition. Yeah, I'll just take a few quick minutes. I don't have a lot prepared but if you have any questions, um this also as John might want to just give a little background. I didn't just leave Miller Cooper. Um Miller Cooper made a decision months ago to no longer service governmental clients. Um so I'm really the only one at Miller Cooper that worked full-time um year round uh servicing governmental clients. Um so I had to uh find somewhere else to go um and hopefully taking clients, any clients that want to um come with me. Um as Mary [clears throat] said, I had have worked on District 57's engagement for many
057years until John um was promoted and took over the engagement but we do all really work together um as a team. Um I am the only one going to Sikich as many of the rest of the team does work doing corporate work. Um I spent a lot of time looking to where I wanted to go to make sure that the firm I was going to did quality work just as Miller Cooper does um as well as somewhere I was comfortable with and somewhere I would be comfortable with taking my clients. Um Sikich, where I am going to, um does have a year round state and government state [music] and local government practice. So the people that will be working on the engagement do work on state and local governments um year round. Um I have
058no doubt that the level of service that you will receive will not be any different um than you had than you've had with Miller Cooper. Um one thing I did talk to Sikich about that any clients that are coming with me that I want to be working on those clients um cuz I feel that that's the only continuity that um the districts will be getting um is having is having me um work on the district. Um I know Sikich um I did I did read today. I didn't see the letter that they sent. I really just started this week. Um so I did review the memo that Anthony did send over and I think it gave a good um uh background and description of the services that they would give you and just some information
059about Sikich also. So if anyone has any questions or >> [snorts] >> um concerns, I'd be happy, you know, to answer them. But I am actually I'm very excited that District 57 is considering um coming over there and like I said, I I don't see any um service issues and I have told Jason to, you know, if there's anything going on or any issues you're having, just like when you were with Miller Cooper that you have to, you know, feel free to always reach out. Thank you. Anybody have any questions? Chris? Uh nope. I'm good. All right. Thank you so much for being here and we appreciate um and then we'll look forward to the continuity of our relationship. >> Yes, thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right, next is the Cook County
060property tax update. Well, it continues and as many of us were paying attention that the primary elections occurred earlier this week and we are even more motivated to continue to engage with our elected officials. We were encouraged that our coalition was able to get some movement, some commitments from the Cook County board, specifically President Preckwinkle and several commissioners publicly at a meeting and also in writing that they would deliver our requests for a public hearing on the Cook County Treasurer and also the Tyler Technologies and who knew who who knew what when and and what why were there no contingency plans for this process throughout the migration which has been a decade coming and why weren't there processes in place to avoid what happened. We also demanded and were given assurances of an audit. We
061have used the term forensic audit and we expect and will continue to demand that it's a forensic audit and not just the audit that we were just hearing about at which is you know required by law every year for governmental agencies but we want a more thorough process to see where the money was, who was making interest on the money while it was in the hands of the banking firms that held it for the county before it flowed through to its proper deposits for our bodies such as our school district. And then lastly what appears to be most simple but seems to be the most difficult is regular communication because that is a no-brainer to us that there needs to be predictable timely engagement with all taxing bodies that the county is responsible to communicate
062with not just selectively or sporadically but with regularity and a sense of value and something that we can expect and rely on given what's at stake. So that is encouraging that we had these commitments but again that was prior to the election results and we are understanding that that might have been a component of their interest and we will continue to engage and follow through on our end. I think last month I mentioned that we have merged our coalition is now includes the public libraries which they are a force which we know member Nelson they're a force. So our amazing public librarians of Cook County and the library directors they have just elevated our group and charged with a whole new velocity. So it's been awesome to collaborate with them. And lastly we are encouraged
063that there is some developed state legislation. So we have Lightfoot down in the Senate has Senate Bill 3638 and our local Mary Beth Canty House Bill which are two similar bills that would be aimed to require repayment and you know this restitution from the counties should there be delinquencies in in on their end. So it's not yet on the floor but that will be a timely bit of legislation for us and advocacy in our upcoming advocacy days which I know we'll talk about a little bit later in this meeting. I will prepare a summary for those of you who will be representing 57 at the capital as well as for all of the Cook County um coalition districts so that we can all be speaking with a united voice and articulating our support for these
064bills and just continue to really go after this aggressively because we we we wish we had better news but even what's coming now in bits and first it's it's not clear which tax bills anything's coming from. The portal's not transparent. It's not up and running. It's it's continues to be a very opaque and messy disaster. So we still believe there's a utility for our group. Thanks Mary. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Chris, I can kind of see you out of the left my eye. Oh no, sorry. Just a just a comment and it's really just to commend you again Dr. Gore for your just amazing leadership of this group and and really fighting for our kids and our communities and taxpayers. I I know you have an extremely busy day job and you've
065added this to your responsibility so just really can't thank you enough for all you've done. Thank you. I took great joy to have President Preckwinkle's cell phone number in my phone. I kind of got excited. I I don't even know what to say but I do have his number. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, we appreciate you do continuing on the good fight and keeping it up. Okay, thank you and next we're going to talk about the superintendent goals. >> Okay, in your board packet you have our quarterly updates of the superintendent goals. Again this is really reflective of a significant amount of work from not only the entire cabinet but also the district at large. Tonight's presentation was a great illustration of just what things look like on the ground and how many people are involved
066in moving the work of the district forward. So hopefully in the updates it was pretty clear-cut where we're at with some of these items but I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any. Are there any questions? Chris? No. Other than I you know great job Mary and I know you you're doing a lot great stuff. I I will still use this opportunity to say I think you have too many goals but great progress on the ones you have. So thank you. Thank you. Dr. Gore um as the as the new guy first time really seeing the fuchsia column um could you highlight maybe one or two that you would call in the yellow camp meaning they're not green, they're not smooth sailing, things that need like some tinkering, some some hands-on work. Um
067I I have a hard time digesting all of it to know like what I'm reading so um it would be helpful to me as the new guy to know like oh this is green and it's smooth sailing from green to orange to fuchsia. This one's yellow and here's the plan to get it to green or if there's any of these that are red for whatever reason your focus is dedicated here or the team's focus is dedicated here that that would just help me kind of digest Yeah. all of this. That's fair. Um So I think that you know the work of the teaching and learning department has been massive throughout the strategic plan and you know Kristen's presentation tonight and every meeting reflects just how complex and involved the initiatives have been because you know
068it involves you know reviewing the math curriculum, reviewing the reading curriculum champ being champ being championing that's that's a challenge. Um so many new areas of focus for us like looking at the grading, the feedback and assessment, looking at how we're making sure that we have appropriate challenge and enrichment for kids throughout the district, taking on equity and you know looking at that thoroughly. So I think that one of just the ways to answer that and area that just continuously feels just massive in the the scope of it is our teaching and learning work. And as a learning organization that is our primary function so that really should always be the answer because that is our that is our output our first and foremost output. You know the work of the district we exist to
069advance the teaching and learning you know of of our teachers and staff respectively. And really the learning of everyone. So I think that is the right thing for us to be always grappling and trying to make sure we're moving it forward with the depth and capacity that we need to but it stretches I think with how ambitious we have been with the time period we have set our expectations. I also think that hand-in-hand with that is managing just the bandwidth of our staff who are just incredible and committed and extremely talented but are in fact human beings, you know, that have their, [clears throat] you know, families and life and they they're pulled in a million directions and so to keep charging and fueling them and, you know, sustaining their um levels of capacity and
070engagement to do this work in the midst of sometimes really challenging behavior or just all of the elements you know, from our speaker tonight about the side effects of just how um technology is interplaying in the way the way our kids are programmed and the what they're coming to expect and entering our classrooms. I mean, it's just a complex time. And so I think hand in hand in the work of the teaching and learning department is really making sure that we are taking care of our staff, understanding what their needs are. Staff not just those who are teaching kids, our administrative staff, our support staff, like, you know, that's an organization like ours, we have over 300 staff um all in and it's just everyone has different needs, they're in different places in their career,
071and what is going to take each individual to the next level. And being really um refining our processes to make sure that we're not just sort of one size fits all in the way we think of moving everyone along. So I think that's an area for us that we're just continuously inspired to keep refining. And then lastly, things like the outside world, you know, like I don't think in developing any of this we think about Cook County taxes and its impact and that is right now such an important thing for us to be pursuing and um I'm grateful for the support of this board to understand that you know, sometimes you got to off-ramp a little bit so you can chase some things that were unexpected but were we we can't let go because they're
072too important and they have too much impact on our future. Um so it's just trying to navigate that constant outside environment, too. Um so a little bit of everything um but we're proud and I think, you know, Jason's not here tonight but he is doing an incredible job managing the complexity of construction, being extremely detail-oriented um within a major, you know, project that um we are committed to delivering on time and exceeding expectations but the amount of um of collaboration he has to do both inside the district and outside the district on a daily basis is incredible. So I think you know, everyone's managing kind of what their charge is and doing it in a way that hopefully, you know, kind of like our Fairview students, doing it in a way that peace is happening
073and we can all laugh and and support each other but um we're we're really proud of, you know, what we're going after and I think um but we're feeling stretched, you know, but which I think is a good thing. No one's resting on their laurels. In reflection of the answers that you're giving in terms of like some of the more challenging areas of the quarterly review, is there anything that you or you as the conduit to the 300 staff members need support in in order to feel better about moving the needle towards some of these goals? Is there something that this board should be aware of that would be helpful to making that outside world a little bit easier or having more empathy for what these 300 folks are dealing with while teaching our students
074and also dealing with the things that are outside like how do we help them in these goals move it closer to a green or positive like Well, I think just the question itself is so um meaningful that there's even the posture of that concern for staff from this board and um just working in a district where our board is concerned about our staff in a way that they would even center that the these types of questions is really special and I think is in itself maybe it feels symbolic but I think it goes a long way in that these questions are being asked. I'm looking at our staff here tonight and they're agreeing. Um I think it's just the awareness and we talk all the time that these are complex jobs and people want to
075do them, you know, these that's it's by no shortage of talent or capacity. They could do anything, you know, they could be in any field but they chose this and they're they're committed to this work. I think it's probably um I would say the way that we have a responsible staffing plan um we believe philosophically should be the number one way that we are really responding to the needs of, you know, the the work and doing so that we're adequately staffing it but we're also doing it with an understanding of the limitations and fiscal responsibility. So when we bring, you know, that staffing plan to the board, it's really with a lot of thought and um awareness about when we ask for additional positions um or we come to the board and say we really
076think this there's a need here, it's um continuing to ask great questions and challenge us wherever you see fit but knowing that there's a a lot of care put into those requests and that no one would be frivolously saying more staff or more teachers or class sizes of 10, you know, like we are responsible um so that's one. I think two um just continuing to um invest and support and be focused on the development of our staff, which this board has really done well and you care so much that our professional learning plans are you know, meeting the needs that they're aligned to the vision of the district, that we're holding ourselves accountable in the way that we're reporting outcomes, we're asking for feedback, we're reporting that feedback. I think the more that we are
077listening to our staff and they're feeling safe to be honest about things, that's the best um environment for us to feel that there's going to be that two-way communication so that I can then elevate what those requests are to the board because I'm coming understanding what the needs are from the staff. And that goes to the trusting relationships with building principals and building assistant principals and all administrators. The more that um people feel safe to be honest about what their experiences are in the district, the more confident um we can be when we say we need this or we believe this change would make the difference that it's going to actually make an impact on the ground. So thank you for asking. I was going to say a pony but I actually think that would
078just cause way more problems. So that would no, thank you. Thank you. I actually have a few questions. Um and just kind of tangentially to talk about to address your first question, um when I'm was going through your the goals, it really stood out to me that the um sections on teaching and learning. So the um a 2B and um that that is really where so much of our work is doing, that that's where the focus of um my questioning certainly was. Um everything else falls within the the realm of what seems like normal progress um moving forward. So okay. So under the um goal 2B implementing Danielson, um one of the items was about impa- including student growth or not in no longer including student growth as part of the evaluation process. I was
079just curious as to um why that would be something that wouldn't be included. So that is a um new option that the state has provided um in looking at student growth and and if you look at Danielson and our educator evaluation committee has has really dug into it. Um when we look at the professional practice in evaluating staff on that, there is a huge focus on students and families and building this um really this culture of of learning and growth um and this is something that we've talked about with surrounding districts and I think all of us are are really kind of grappling with what what to do with the the student growth measure um because that is is one component. However, if you look at Danielson, it is very the new rubric, it is
080very rich and so I I think as we're looking at those instructional practices, that's going to tie back to to student growth. Um the process that we use right now is an all-in model um and so we look at MAP scores for math and reading um and and so that's one component but really where that growth occurs is through the professional learning and the conversations that our principals have with teachers in in making everyday practice stronger. Um but like I said, this is something that all districts uh I think in in Illinois are taking a look at and having conversations with. So we just wanted to share that that's something that our committee's talking about. Thank you. Um all right, I have like five questions. They should all be I'm not going to say they're
081going to be short because of course they're going to be a million million strong. Okay, so um for under the strengthening partnerships with Oh, I'm sorry, not that one. I'm trying to interpret my own comments from my own notes. Um So the evaluation tool differentiation for ESP staff. Um is that something that we're going to be able to get a presentation for to the board for? Sure. Yeah. I think it's in development and so um I'll do this summer. Yeah, at some point. I think, you know, and right now it's in process and Yeah, but I think once it comes to fruition as as it gets to the stage that we'd be happy to. Awesome. We've really I know we've really spent a lot of time and effort with our ESP staff to make sure
082that they're really um getting all the engagement that they need. Um if there's an item about the learning hub also under 2B. And I was just curious how that's being received since there's been several if there's been positive staff feedback or we have positive usage numbers when it comes to that. Yes. Um so there's a couple of components about our staff intranet pages and I really want to credit Heather Salerno to helping to organize all of that. Um so one component of that is um for all of our heritage bonds really having um comprehensive resources for teachers is a part of that. Um and our learning hub we are working alongside our professional learning committee to figure out the best way to organize that right now. We provide a lot of professional learning for staff
083and so we're working alongside them to take all of those presentations and make it so that teachers can use it. So that is very much a a work in progress right now. Great. All right, we're almost done. Um under goal 4A. So um are we on track to reach the goal of all furniture being determined by the end of the school year? Christy. >> Yes. Yes, we are. [laughter] Um we Jason and I have worked really closely with Anne and again we want to thank our teachers. They have been incredible and our students have been amazing in in providing a lot of great feedback. Um we Jason and I have um different meetings set up uh at all of the different grade levels. We've done uh check-ins throughout the year. This is our second year.
084Um so I I feel like this has been a very comprehensive process. So we we piloted furniture, we got feedback, we changed that out and then again we're getting a lot of staff and student feedback. Um so we are meeting with those different groups and and we'll have decisions by the end of the year. Great. That's wonderful. It's such a big project. Um and my last question is for you, Mary, under 4B. So at the very the it's the one about um the district working with the village for permits and what have you and it says that they're waiting for we're waiting for approval from the water reclamation district and I know they can be a little sticky. See, I was just wondering if there was anything obvious that was >> Um I I have
085do not have knowledge that we are at a concerning point with that timeline. So um I think yes, that that always remains that that approval is always a big celebration when we get it. Um but we're not at a point where our warnings flags are going up yet. Terrific. Thank you so much. Um I think the goals are great as well. Yeah, thank you. >> Thank you for all the work you've put into this. Kim. I just had a clarifying question regarding what [clears throat] Dr. Van Der Haar you just mentioned about Danielson and measuring student growth. So if if I'm understanding correctly what you said, student growth will not be a component of teachers' evaluations because we're using the Danielson framework that has a more robust um evaluation aspect in terms of the the
086methods of instruction. So if I'm understanding what you said, ultimately we're not incorporating student growth as a component of teacher evaluations because we're going to be evaluating them on the way that they're teaching and doing so in such a way that we feel it will lead to the student growth that we would otherwise want to see. Yes, and let me add so currently the the way that it's structured in Illinois is that 70% of a teacher's evaluation is based on their professional practice. 30% is based on student growth. Um so that definitely plays a role within that, but um with the new Danielson we we feel that um those conversations and through the evaluation process um that as we're having conversations with our pre-conference, we're observing and then providing that feedback, that is incorporated within
087that. Um so that's what our our committee's discussing. Okay. So the state standards still require a component of student growth. No. So that's the change. Sorry if that was unclear. >> The state has said that schools no longer need to have that specific growth component within. So it's supposed to 70% being it would be 100%. Got it. Okay. That's what I wanted to clarify. Thank you. Yes. All right. Yes. Just one comment on goal 3B regarding Parent Square. I think even though in the December update it says that um PTOs are now being able to run financial transactions. So I think there's still an opportunity to work with the PTOs. I know there is some heavy customization uh and and a bit of complexity at least at the Lions Park PTO um that they would
088uh really appreciate another look at Parent Square if that could be something worked on in the quarter. Um they are getting hammered with PayPal fees that I think might be something to release that pressure if if Parent Square could be supporting that. Thanks. All right. Let's move on to our Building Brighter Futures update. So excited to um share tonight what we've got. So you can go to the next slide. We've got um our Lincoln progress. So we had um a tour um recently after one of our um construction meetings and we were able to see the development. It's been amazing to see how quickly things are moving forward and hopefully if you've driven by um you've seen it too because the just the design it comes behind the building. It's so encouraging. That height feels
089so exciting. Um but we would love to set up a time if the board would like to take a tour and check it out and get out there with your hard hats. We would love to set that up. Um but you can notice just kind of what are some of the areas that are listed that have been updated. We've gotten even some community questions about that storm trap which is the water retention area and just how complex that whole system is to make sure that all the runoff ground water is stored and avoiding flooding. So it's been really amazing. Um it's been cool too to see that um Principal Larson has taken teams of his teachers out as well as students. Um so I think we've got some pictures of that as well. Um so
090you can see Oh, there's me making sure things are going correctly. Um Oh, there we are. Um we and rained the next day. So we were so lucky. But you can see that whole area um they were installing those massive concrete um structures where the tubes are going to go through and it just is incredible um to see how complex the system is, but they were saying that um just the grading of the ground it was becoming something that they had to move along because there was so much um erosion that was happening over time with all the heavy vehicles that were driving through. So it's quite incredible, but who knew all of this was underground. So it really does give credit to the water reclamation district um to see. Now these walls are all
091um you know, built and put together um at a site outside and so when they're delivered on the long trucks that bring them, they're you know, assembled together, but it that's what makes the progress look so fast because they are not building these kind of from the ground up. They're they're delivering them in their heightened form and assembling them together. So it is incredible to be in there. Um once again, the work of putting that together. Um an aerial shot. And this These are some of the teams that you'll see um standing in their classrooms. Isn't that so fun? So um Bart and Elizabeth were standing in their future classroom spots. We've got the PE team standing in the gym. Oh, this is so cool. So we have the beam that the students and staff
092signed right there. Nicholas is working on it. We're going to have make sure a beam for the board. So they are working on it and we are going to get it scheduled after spring break, but they are on it. So, we will make sure you guys get your signatures on that as well. But, that was such a fun experience for kids and that's what we got. So, don't give me any hard questions. Jason is not here. >> [laughter] >> But, yeah, it still continues to be really awesome and exciting work. Thanks, Mary. >> [laughter] >> I was I was going to say you answered the question which was getting a tour. Yeah. Of the work site and cuz I looked at my hat the other day and it was very white, very clean. >> need
093to get some mud on that. We need to get that scuffed up a little bit. Yeah. Randy, do you have something? Yeah, I'm going to steal Chris's thunder and just ask the question he gets to ask every month about schedule and cost and assuming that we are on schedule >> Yeah. at cost. >> Yeah, we are. I mean, that's we've been so lucky because of good weather aside from, you know, the little blizzard we had this week, but um yeah, that was nothing. Um it's yeah, we're really lucky and they're moving quickly and they're just it's such a there's so much energy on that site and just the coordination of so many different um groups and workers and huge shout out to Nicholas, our site supervisor Matt has been awesome and he is just really
094as a Lincoln graduate himself, he's very committed to this work going well and we've been really impressed and grateful for how wonderful and responsive they've been. So. Did he steal your question, Chris? I was just going to say Ray took my question, but but I yeah, I think a tour would be awesome. So, looking forward to that. Definitely. All right, thank you, Mary. Um just real quick Oh, I'm so sorry, Kim. Go ahead. >> I was just wondering, I don't know that we've talked about this previously, but given the sort of historic nature of the current Lincoln building, for better or worse, right? We can joke about it. Um and just to your point, like how many people, some of our board members included, have been through that building, right? And um how much it
095means to to the community, um >> [clears throat] >> whether it's good memories or maybe not so great memories. It has there been any discussion or thought around like preserving some aspect of the current building as like a memorial? It's a good question and I think the school that we toured in Skokie um had a very historic original building that they were really masterful in the way that they were able to bring some of those historical like stonework into the new one. It was really beautifully done. I think um unlike that example, we haven't quite found that inspirational place in the existing Lincoln to say that's the thing we want to preserve and bring over. Um some of it just architecturally is because it's just from the era that it was and there just wasn't,
096you know, some of that like artisan work that um we I think there's a willingness to think about how that might be, but I think at this point there isn't one kind of area that we think is going to be historically incorporated. That said, there there are questions about the student artwork and how will we make sure there are some elements from the the kids and the staff and the the history of that building and how can we artfully incorporate that in to the designs and spaces. So, I think those types of conversations are happening and trying to be keep it within line of the design and the style, but there are going to be a time there's going to be a time capsule that we're going to put together and be part of the
097new Lincoln. So, that's in the works. There's going to be, you know, different I think special opportunities for, you know, these Lincoln classes to incorporate things as the being, but just other ways I think we're always going to look for those opportunities. And that's the kind of thing I was really thinking about more so than like the bricks. There's nothing special about the bricks. >> We're still looking. Like we're like maybe there's something we haven't kept, you know, we haven't we haven't caught that inspira- inspiration yet, but no, but we'll be sure to incorporate like the student component of it. You you can auction off uh who gets to push the detonation switch. >> [laughter] >> Yes. I'll be happy to take my old locker. >> [laughter] >> Well, there will be a price. So,
098you can bid for the for the highest bidder. >> [laughter] >> The foundation might host it there their gala there next. I just wanted to add that libraries were selling bricks at VPL when when we did the renovation, the last one, five bucks a brick. Ooh. And they are I mean, they I I have two of them. They they are not like normal bricks, they are like huge. Yeah. >> So, you know, so somebody the community may want We'll talk to Alan. Alan's kind of our creative force of like what we could do. So, he's always coming with some ideas. But and and and maybe not necessarily even sell, but just cuz what are they going to do with the bricks? They're old. Can they reuse them? When Jason returns, he will have that question
099on his desk. >> [laughter] >> I'm not 100% sure, but I will find out. I do appreciate though to Eileen's comment as a fundraiser of sorts and there would be insurance liabilities and all these things involved, but to you know, the school's [clears throat] going to be demoed anyway if we turned it into a rage room. And just had everybody come in there with their crowbars, right? Tear it apart. Graduate, anyone saying didn't love middle school years the way were those not your favorite? Have any lasting feelings you want to get out? >> [laughter] >> You don't even have to be a Lincoln grad. BYOS, bring your own sledgehammer. Yep. All right, thank you for all of that. Um and now let's move on to our FOIA report. Two FOIA requests between February 10th and
100March 18th and the detailed report is available in your board packet. Thank you. All right, moving on to the consent agenda. So, who had bills this week this month? Uh I had bills this this month and reviewed them with Dr. K's on Monday and everything was in order. Excellent. All right, can I get a motion to to pass the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Member Dorner? Yes. Member Fay? Yes. Member Kwalchek? Yes. Vice President Ledo? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deitch? Yes. President Bennett-Kile? Yes. All right. We are moving on to unfinished business. Um Do I need I had a question. Do I need to read the draft resolution before we We do we Okay. Yeah, I didn't know if we had to do the whole thing this time. I don't cuz that would take
101a while. >> No. All right. Can I get a motion to approve the resolution regarding school access, student privacy, and immigration enforcement actions? So moved. Second. Member Fay? Yes. Member Kwalchek? Yes. Vice President Ledo? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deitch? Yes. Member Dorner? Yes. President Bennett-Kile? Yes. It's nice to have that a unanimous approval on that. All right, can I get a motion to approve the fiscal year 2027 staffing plan? So moved. Second. Member Kwalchek? Yes. Vice President Ledo? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deitch? Yes. Member Dorner? Yes. Member Fay? Yes. President Bennett-Kile? Yes. All right, we'll move on to a motion to approve the 2026-27 board meeting dates. So moved. Second. Vice President Ledo? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deitch? Yes. Member Dorner? Yes. Member Fay? Yes. Member Kwalchek? >> Yes. President Bennett-Kile? Yes.
102All right, can I get a motion to approve the memorandum of agreement accepting the insurance committee's recommendation? So moved. Second. Member Nelson? Yes. Member Deitch? Yes. Member Dorner? Yes. Member Fay? Yes. Member Kwalchek? Yes. Vice President Ledo? Yes. President Bennett-Kile? Yes. All right. We now are at our opportunity a second opportunity for community comments. Are there any members of the community that would like to address the board? >> I just have a follow-up question about the the new math. I'm not sure that the question that the vice president asked as to given the great math scores that this district has, what prompted the district to go out and and and uh seek a different strategy. Most of it which sounds a lot of about [laughter] some really great skills, critical thinking, collaboration, uh investigation, things
103like that, but um my question would be what happens in a year when whatever tools you all are judged against in terms of your math skills are not doing well and you have a 6-year contract that uh that it sounds like is part of the uh programs that would be would be purchased. And um I love the comment about there's no crying in math, but um uh the crying it sounds like was taking place when they were introducing the new uh trying out the new systems, not necessarily in the old in the old systems, but just it struck me that I I didn't hear the answer to the question that was asked. I'd be curious to hear that. Any other comments from the community? All right. We have no new business. So let's move on
104to our board member communications. We'll start with NSSO, Chris. Yes, thank you. Uh short meeting. NSSO met on Wednesday, March 4th. Uh really only had one topic as part of the open meeting. Uh we did discuss uh knowing that, you know, all of the member districts uh have been discussing uh what we just passed, which was a possible resolution related to immigration enforcement on NSSO property and we brought up whether that would be something that the governing board would want to take on as well. Uh it's a little bit complicated as you might imagine. Um not all of the member districts have even broached this subject, let alone uh passed a resolution. I know 26 59 and 211 at least have not passed anything on this yet, so uh remains to be seen whether we
105will take this up. Uh but the discussion was we we need to kind of know that all the member districts are uh are interested in wanting to do that first if that was even to become a discussion, so uh so more to come on that. Uh other than that, we went into closed session to discuss the bargaining unit negotiations, which obviously I can't share the details of that, but uh that's going along. And uh we'll hopefully have something to report to all of you on that in a month or so. And our next meeting is Tuesday, April 7th. Thanks, Chris. And say thanks to the baby as well for his comments. Uh I'm sorry, did you guys hear that? >> Yeah. I apologize. She picked the one moment that I wanted her to be not
106talk. No, it's great. Brings a little bit of levity to the NSSO report. Thank you. Um uh Ed Foundation. So yeah, the um Ed Foundation Gala was last month and it was a great evening. Uh the report from Nicole's um is that it was very successful night. The change in venue was great, the food was good, and the staff were super easy to work with. Um based on early counts, they raised over $10,000 and she and the team wanted to thank everyone who came out, bid on items, and won raffle prizes. Um they are looking forward to start planning next year's event in the next meeting, which uh will not be next Thursday due to spring break, um but rather the 23rd of March and um excuse me, of April. So 23rd of April. So
107they're meeting actually right now or maybe they're done. They had to move their um meeting for next week to tonight. That's why they're not here, of course, um cuz they're meeting themselves. But otherwise they'll be back in action at Capri on the 23rd. All right, thank you. Um can we start with Lincoln for PTO reports? Sure. The Lincoln PTO meeting was this past Monday and um you [clears throat] know, it is almost spring break, which means we're that much closer to the end of the year, which means our eighth graders are that much closer to graduating and leaving our district. Um so there was some discussion at the PTO meeting about possibly uh making an opportunity available for eighth grade parents and families to commemorate this special occasion. I can't give any more details than
108that. I'm sworn to secrecy, um but hopefully it will pan out and um those who are interested can take advantage and possibly also the PTO could get a little kickback um for their trouble as well. Um I think also um Principal Larson was there and had shared that as a part of the five-star program, students will be able to purchase essentially raffle tickets to be able to go out and tour the construction site. Um which I expect might appeal to some more than others, right? Those who like big machines and and construction uh equipment and all of that. So um we're really excited that that opportunity can be available for the students. The next PTO meeting is I think April 20th. Lyons Park? Uh the [clears throat] uh last Lyons Park PTO meeting was on
109Monday, March 2nd. Uh some highlights from that were that uh the PTO were talking about that they were certainly open to and actively recruiting for next school year uh positions and committees. So I think they put an open call out for that of certainly if there's interest and I've seen additional stuff come out, you know, um from the PTO just talking about, you know, gauging interest and um from parents for next year's PTO. Uh they talked about they have Kona Ice booked for June 4th um at the schools, or sort of like the last one of the last days of the school year. Uh the fifth graders from Lyons Park and Fairview did a joint fifth grade event uh this on Sunday, March 8th at the Altitude Trampoline Park, uh which was a big success
110and lots of kids. Um they thanked all the uh parent volunteers and the teachers that who helped with the Valentine's Day parties. The March reading calendars were distributed. They had an all-school assembly, which was the Prismatic Magic Show, which apparently the kids really enjoyed. Um Palooza, which is the talent show that the school does, was back on the 4th and 5th. The 4th uh was the family show, the 5th was the show for the students. Um they also talked about with the I think it was last month where we approved Ms. Grisbeck's uh uh promotion to principal that they are actively now uh screening for assistant principals to replace Ms. Grisbeck. Uh there was a spring book fair. The third graders are doing their wax museum on May 15th. And the next meeting is on
111Monday, April 6th at 7:00 in the Lyons Park Teachers Lounge. Thank you. Fairview? Well, their meeting their last meeting was on Tuesday, March 3rd, which was the North Cook dinner where we got our recognition at, but I did have them send me notes. Um just some quick highlights. They had their spring spirit wear, which they said they did awesome. They doubled the profits that they did from last year. Uh their Hoop Nights, they filled all their slots and I believe Hoop Night already happened on the 12th or something. Yeah, Thursday the 12th. And they're going to have their Global Gathering on April 23rd. It was It was an awesome event last year. I'm looking forward to going to to it this year. If you can go, it was really, really cool. They have a lot
112of interesting, very diverse community we have here at Fairview. Um the plant sale is underway and the pickup is the Saturday before Mother's Day. Uh Leap into Literature was a success. They had quite a few participants. They kind of changed it up a little bit. I see that there was a prize awarded. I don't know exactly what the difference what they did. I know they were talking about changing it up a little bit, but seems like it was very successful. Um and then they're thinking of a spring parent social to be set up in May and they're looking at testing what they're going to do with that. The next meeting is on Tuesday, April 14th at 6:30. Oh, and they also have Fairy Follies is April 8th, Wednesday, if anybody's interested. Thanks. Westbrook? Um the
113last meeting was the 23rd of February and the next meeting was supposed to be next week's uh actually no, it was supposed to be last week. Um but they rescheduled it to be the 30th of March. And so um they PTO is working with uh Mrs. P to get things going for field day. Um they gave a great treasurer's report. Uh >> [snorts] >> let's see. I've got their notes from them. So the the exciting part was um the planning of celebration of cultures. And >> [snorts] >> um hearing just a little bit at the PTO, they had a flyer. Um the flyer had seven languages in it. They talked about tables and uh giving an opportunity to people from Westbrook, students from Westbrook, and their families to uh come and and have a table
114and present their culture. So, I thought it was going to be more like uh the Villages celebration of cultures. If you've been there, just tables with all sorts of different things. Uh the stipulation was that you can have store-bought food that represents your culture, but not not anything that's homemade. Um so, that was interesting. Well, I went and it was simply it was beyond my expectations. Yes, they had the tables with the cultures. And um the students from Westbrook, if they were able, dressed into uh the the customary apparel of their culture. It was magnificent. I didn't take pictures of of any people, of any of the kids, because I thought that it might um not be a good idea without having like a release, a parental release. That's what we have to do with
115at libraries. Um but the the um the apparel was stunning. And um Ukraine shared a table with Pakistan, and the young student from Pakistan had this gorgeous red um sari on, and and just uh absolutely beautiful, eye-catching. Her mother had um an uh uh customary um apparel on. And the Ukraine table, I'm a quarter Ukrainian. So, the Ukraine table had all sorts of information. The mom was was dressed um in in customary apparel. The father was dressed in customary apparel. And the the young student was dressed. And so, it was interesting because they had artifacts uh from Ukraine. And I shared the name of one of our uh strong Ukrainian members, community members. And suggested that that they get in touch with her. Um so, it was the tables. But when you first came in,
116there was a table that you would come to that you could pick up a passport. And it looked like a a regular passport until you opened it, and there was nothing in it but places to stamp. Um and there were these little squeezy balls of a world globe. So, the kids really liked that. And beyond that was everything you could think of. Um librarian Capra had set up two or three tables with um multi-language books. And and that was fun. I I saw the kids um looking at that. There were two tables set up with uh coloring sheets to represent different uh cultures. Uh There was a table against the wall that had two monitors. And the monitors had a YouTube program on, Five Little Monkeys. You know, five little monkeys jumping on the bed,
117one fell off and hit his head. Um [snorts] and it was in a multitude of languages, and you could change the language to the language of your culture, and you could hear Five Little Monkeys in that culture. There was also um another program that was running that was the Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes um finger play. And that was uh fantastic. There uh was something really fascinating. At they had um a a large flash card uh uh representing different countries. So, each flash card would be of of the country with a simple phrase on it like, "Hello, goodbye. Um Are you hungry?" And then they had a QR code on the flash card. They had a uh the name of the country, and then they had some symbols representing the country on the right-hand side.
118And if you scanned the QR code, you would be able to hear um the word the word that you were looking at in English, you would hear it in that language. And I thought, "Oh my gosh, where did they get these? This was this was fantastic." Um The number of cultures that were represented was phenomenal. Uh it was really nice. Um it looked like the parents and the kids had a really good time. Um There was um uh a set up on the wall that people were taking pictures, sort of like what we have over there. But it but it was uh a globe um and and a lot of pictures were taken, and the kids who had dressed up were there with their parents, and people were taking pictures. It sounds like there is
119a ton of really great things that were there. It it was just amazing. Um and it was their first one, so hopefully >> we'll get to see it again. Mhm. Thanks, Pam. All right. Board president report. Only a few items. Um we're going to cancel the April 2nd tentative meeting. We don't have need for that. Um there is a retirement reception. We have an invitations. I'm going to read the retirement reception invitation. Um On behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to extend a warm invitation to our District 57 community to join us in it's in celebration celebrating five outstanding educators and staff members who are retiring this year. On Tuesday, I'm sorry, Thursday, April 16th, we will host a retirement reception from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. in the Fairview Elementary School Multipurpose
120Room just prior to that evening's Board of Education meeting. This special evening will honor Westbrook instructional assistant Kathy Manogue for 13 years of student of service. Lincoln's social studies teacher Loretta Rose for 21 years. Roseann Schmidt for 21 years. Alicia Driver for 28 years. Carol Gray for 32 years. And Michelle Loger for 41 years. Together, these dedicated individuals have given more than a century of service to District 57 students, families, and staff. The reception is hosted by the Board of Education, the Mount Prospect Education Association, and the Mount Prospect Educational Support Professional Association. And we would love to have members of our community stop by, share their thanks, and help us celebrate these incredible contribu- the incredible contributions of these four retirees. Hm? I said six retirees. Sorry, six. Six retirees. All right. Yeah. All
121right. I have a quick update about some legislation that I wanted to um that we have that has been brought forth in a couple of uh places. Um that is going to of concern for school districts. So, um this is HB 4416 and SB 3286. And what it is is um providing unemployment insurance for our benefits for uh our ESP staff. Um the issue at the the biggest issue with this one, the biggest impact is that the district will bear the entire cost for the unemployment um that is paid out, the unemployment filings. So, um IDES will bill back the district for any money that they pay out for um insurance claims. And that's at about 75% of um of current pay. So, that creates a significant dollar amount that is added on top of
122our um our our our our expenditures already. It works out to just about um $34,000 per week just for our instructional assistants for each week that they would be receiving unemployment insurance unemployment benefits, which is um there's potentially 15 weeks of insurance of that they would be eligible for. Over the summer break and then winter and spring breaks as well. Um It could also make us difficult to staff our summer programs. Um as it would be difficult to compete with um a a positive incentive to have our staff programs um excuse me staffed our summer program staffed. There we go. And there are some other um other ways in which it could affect um future negotiations. Um my request is that within this that we call and email our legislators, Nicole Grassley, who's our state
123representative, and Mark Walker, who is our state senator, um to voice our opposition to this just um primarily because of the significant financial costs that it will um burden the district with. And I'm happy to answer questions about that if you have them. Um Eileen and I will be uh bringing this to the attention of our legislators at the Advocacy Day next Tuesday, um March 24th, down in Springfield. Yes. Who who if we didn't pay the 75% last year, who who paid it? Who who paid the unemployment? They are not not currently eligible for Okay. Okay. Okay. So, this would be creating that eligibility so they file. Isn't part of it they're thinking that it's unemployment insurance? That's what I'm That's what I heard from that one meeting in um March where they believe it's
124the insurance that would be covering it, but not realizing that the board is act the school district would actually be covering Yeah. I'm just saying like the legislators think it's an insurance thing versus No, it is tax dollars, the government's money. Our money, district's money going to pay for this. >> Yeah, it would be our regular budgets that are paying for it. So, rather than unemployment insurance, it's an we are paying an unemployment benefit. Um it's just going through IDES. Do you have like a rough calc if you were if this was introduced a year ago, what what's the dollar that this would have impacted? Do you think 57? Not yet. I did the calculator thing it's like 500 and some thousand. Yeah. >> did the 15 weeks of 34,000 * 15 weeks and half
125a million. Thereabouts. That's for all of our instructional assistants. Well, it's really the 9-month staff, excuse me. It's really the 9-month staff that this is going to really apply to rather than the 12-month staff. And the number was half a million 500 10,000. Thereabouts. I'm working on a more um accurate number. >> [snorts] >> So, so I have another question. If it's 9-month staff, then it would be 3 months worth of It would be it's um summer break, winter break, and spring break. There would be eligibility for each of those three. Okay. >> Cool. Um I appreciate your continue advocacy on behalf of the district. Um Want to move on. We don't have any board dis need for board discussion. Um board topics for future meetings. Any topics you want to add? Yeah. Um if
126if we do any of the tours, I was fortunate to um go to the Lincoln tour and was in four classrooms and again, it was just so impressive. What I saw outside of the content was um just just the leadership, the critical thinking skills that these kids were learning and the the math concepts that were brought forth. It was um manipulatives, but it it wasn't handheld. It was on a on a um an iPad. And it it was just amazing to watch the four different classrooms. So, Yes. So, >> We'll be looking for um maybe having board members who have gone on the tours give a report at a meeting. Okay. Or or any outside things that we do as a board just just so that the community knows that we are you know, that
127that we're not just sitting in a meeting. We're out and about. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, we do have a need for close session. Can I get a motion to enter close session for the purpose of the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees and or specific individuals. So moved. Second. Member Deitsch? Yes. Member Dorner? >> Yes. Member Faye? Yes. Member Kowalczyk? >> Yes. Vice President Leto? Yes. Member Nelson? Yes. President Bennett Kill? Yes. All right. Thank you so much for