001Member Kowalchek >> here. >> Vice President Leno >> here. >> Member Nelson >> here. >> President Bennett Kill >> here. >> Thank you. >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. So, we do have a board recognition for Black History Month. Yes, February is Black History Month, a time to reflect, learn, and celebrate the profound impact Black Americans have had and continue to have on our nation, our communities, and our schools. It is also a time to recognize that black history is American history woven into the stories we teach and the values we uphold every day. Throughout the month, District 57
002students will engage in meaningful classroom experiences that highlight the achievements, voices, and lived experiences of black Americans. Through lessons, discussions, and projects, students will deepen their understanding of history, culture, and the importance of equity and inclusion. District 57 is proud to recognize Black History Month and reaffirms its commitment to creating inclusive learning environments where every student feels seen, valued, and inspired to learn and lead. Thanks, Chris. Um, we do not have student board members with us this month, but we'll look forward to their return in March. All right, so this is our time for community comments. District 57 Board of Education welcomes community participation. In an effort to both listen to our stakeholders and keep the meeting moving, I want to remind everyone of our public participation procedures and guidelines, which is available in board
003policy 2 col 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 three 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 district 57 website under the board of education tab. Individuals should behave with respect and civility towards others and abide by board policy 830 visitors to and conduct on school property. Do we have any members of the community that would like to speak? Such a far walk. Um, thank you so much for letting me speak. Um, I'm here tonight hoping to lend a voice to the thousands of
004residents in District 57, as well as the millions of voices nationwide that are currently being targeted, discriminated against, silenced, and illegally detained. The United States has entered a critical point and it's currently teetering on the brink of total authoritarianism as evidenced by the brutal, inhumane, and illegal tactics being undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security and its offshoots. ICE and CBP have been documented on several occasions breaking local, state, and federal laws. And the Department of Homeland Security has blatantly lied about these constitutional violations. Despite there being evidence, video evidence that directly disputes the federal administrative statements. ICE and CBP do not have the authority to circumvent our Constitution. regardless of uh what those in the White House and some in this room tonight would believe. The constitutional law breaking is what turns this in
005Gosh, sorry. The constitutional law breaking is what turns this issue into a nonpartisan one. And it's why I feel it's so imperative to stand up and speak out. St. Paul and Minneapolis schools were targets of illegal operations. They arrested children as young as five, targeting those children and their families on their way to and from school. They pulled over school buses. They staked out school bus stops and attempted entry into schools multiple times. And no matter no matter what political party you support, this is egregious, despicable behavior. As both a mother and a teacher, I feel it even more important to stand up and implore this board to have a resolution that clearly states that ICE is not welcome on our premises, that it's a safe space. And I know that, you know, I've just
006listed that they are not upholding laws, but to have like something clearly stated if there is any type of punitive, you know, um, repercussions from what they're doing, us having like clearly stated that they are not allowed on the premises would help uphold the law at a later date, I'm hoping. Thank you very much. Have a lovely night. Is there anybody else who would like to speak? Go ahead. >> Hey, good evening, guys. Um, I'm Jamie Clark, a mom and uh of a kiddo in in D57. Um, I just wanted to also um voice my I guess concern for future issues. Um I don't think it's a a matter of um if. I think we should be prepared for a when um for our district. Um and um I think that uh for some sort
007of a public statement or something and I know last time we had talked about that there was an internal statement um and or something that was going to be um made more present. And I think that that um would be lovely. I haven't seen it yet. I maybe need to just dig through stuff. Um, but uh I'm I'm also a neighbor who's very much in support of of protecting our school properties. Um, and and I know that historically since we've been experiencing these things over the last year, um, I understand too that um, our neighbors are not going to be coming out and and becoming police officers themselves to do these things. I I don't think that that will set the precedence for this. I think what it does do though is um, it provides
008a statement saying, "Hey, listen. this is um your school. Your taxes are going to these schools and we also want to say that your children are safe here. Um we did have a family from this very school leave our country and go back to Mexico um because of the father being detained. Um and so one of our own Fairview families is now gone due to this. Um, that is a very sad thing for me. And I do think that us saying you guys are just as welcome here as anybody else. Um, regardless if you're from Poland or Mexico or Russia or Bulgaria or Chile or any other country, that you're just as valued um as as everybody else here. Um, so I think just making sure that we have a a public statement um just
009to say that we do support you. Um, we support all of our neighbors and we want to make sure that our property is utilized for our kiddos being safe here. That our focus is going to be learning and and being loved and cared for by all of our amazing teachers um and staff um and not a place where um teachers and staff would be welcoming for that kind of behavior to happen on our school property. Um, I as a taxpayer would not support I setting up um their whatever they're doing um in all the different ways and shapes that they've been doing what they feel is appropriate practice. And I think it's hideous. Um I would not be okay with that happening on the playground here or in our front door or tracking down one
010of our buses. My kiddo takes our buses. I don't want that happening for him either. He's at Lincoln now. Um, I don't want that happening at any of our schools. I want our kids to be safe. Um, and to know that it's not their moms and dads that are necessarily going to keep them safe at school. It's our teachers and our school staff that work so hard and and they love our kids so much. And I want to make sure that that love is expressed through policy as well. Not just like, oh, hey, I love you in the hallway, but also if there's a catastrophe outside, we're just going to let it we're going to let it roll. And I don't think that that's how we are, but I think that if we make a
011public statement saying, "Hey, listen." We're going to lock our doors up. We're going to call um our superintendent and we're going to say, "Hey, listen. Is this the documentation that we need?" If there's actual emergency and we have appropriate documentation, absolutely. However, if it's just a bunch of like crazy masked people, do we want them to steal a kindergartener that's coming out to the bus? No. that's when the parents will start going bananas when that happens. Um, and that's when our neighbors will start coming down to the school and and it will probably be a much worse scene than we want it to be. So, I think being proactive and making sure that we're making a statement um to say, "Hey, listen. We care enough to protect our kids. This is what we're going to
012do. We're going to lock up the building. We're going to do, you know, these these steps to make sure everybody's safe and we're not going to welcome them to be camped out on our playgrounds just as much as I don't want them camped out at 7-Eleven when my kid goes to get a slushie. Um, but I I I don't want that in our schools. Um, and we are paying our taxes for this. And I think that we want I I want something to to reflect that um for our statements. So again, thank you guys. I know this is a really tough topic. Um, but I I hope that you guys approach it with I hope that you guys approach it with a sympathetic or empathetic lens that I think a lot of us as you
013know my family has been here since the Civil War. Um, actually before he's been here since the 1600s. Um, so I don't worry about this stuff so much, right? But I do worry about it for other families who have maybe not been here as long or don't look as Caucasian as me. Um, and and I think that that's a really serious thing. So I I do think that we we approach this from a more empathetic or sympathetic lens that maybe is outside of our little our little households. Okay. So anyway, thank you for your time. Have a great night. >> Karen, I'm sorry. I just wanted to say I know we have a lot of interest in speaking to this topic. If maybe we could just give a reminder about the time frame for comments.
014>> Sure. That it's three minutes per Okay. >> For the sake of the many people that might want to speak, I just want to make sure we're staying on track. Thank you. >> No problem. Um does anybody else want to speak? All right. Seeing no more comments, we're going to move on to staff and superintendent reports. Um, first up is the Lincoln math instructional materials. Good evening. We are excited um to bring these recommendations to you. In your board packet, you will see the our presentation as well as a memo. I'm going to turn it over to do introductions. Hi, I'm Amy Marker. I teach sixth grade math at Lincoln. Alexa Martin, sixth grade math, Lincoln. >> Kyle Sackwitz, sixth and seventh grade math at Lincoln. >> All right, we are going to start. So
015before we begin, I just want to say that we have an incredible math department at Lincoln. they this has truly been a labor of love and hard work. Um there this year has been really hard for our teachers in piloting these materials. And what I so appreciate about this team is their dedication to our students and wanting to make sure that we have the right materials, the right instructional practices in order to make our math vision come alive. So they have done an incredible amount of work and this um team is representing the entire math department, special education department and multilingual team. So I'm very proud of them. It's been a lot. We're excited for the future. So I wanted to start with that. Um so just to give you a a quick overview what
016drives the need for um updated math resources. We'll talk about that. We will talk about how we prepared for our math resource pilot as well as building our math vision statement. We'll go through the process of how we selected the materials and talk about our implementation. So starting with what drives the need for updated math resources. So we follow a curriculum review process. So that's typically about every six years we review our curriculum. Um over time resources get worn, topics become dated. There are also um changes to different digital platforms. Um and then also research about best instructional practices are always getting updated and so we want to make sure that we are providing our students with the best instruction. So this whole curriculum review process helps us to monitor for that. I'm going to
017turn it over to Amy to talk about our resource our math resource pilot. The pilot pro process started in the spring of 2025 with the math department developing a math belief statement. We use the belief statement, the standards of mathematical practices and state standards to choose three curriculums to pilot. Carnegie learning, illustrative math, and math inu which is the updated version of our current big ideas curriculum. We piloted a unit in each curriculum this past fall and winter. Upon discussion and review, the math department reached consensus on our proposed curriculum and instructional practices. At the beginning of the pilot process, the department participated in professional learning and guidance from MCMI. We collected parent feedback through surveys and also connected with our neighboring school districts using survey feedback. state standards and current research. The department developed
018a math belief belief statement and began reviewing different instructional materials. The math department believes in highquality instruction for all of our students that builds deep understanding, critical thinking, collaboration, and develops a growth mindset to persevere through any problem. The math department reviewed multiple print and digital resources, heard publisher presentations, and chose three programs to pilot. We received training on each of the programs, and piloted each curriculum for about 5 to 8 weeks. Throughout the process, teachers and students provided feedback through coaching sessions and surveys to evaluate student engagement and learning. Alexa is up next, and she'll talk about collaborative coaching. Yes. Okay. So, the sixth grade Whoops. I don't need that off of there. The sixth grade team, what was that? Um, did collaborative coaching separate from the seventh and eighth grade math teachers, we
019did a coaching cycle for each of our pilots. So, for Carnegie, imagine and our current math and you, we would meet as a team. We had our Lily from MCMI along with Aaron and um Kristen Laura Hollis, our coach at Lincoln, we would get together and talk about the lesson we were going to do. Um what we were looking for in our student work as we were all in the room pretty much just all eyes were on the kids as we did the lesson. We had time for that. We went to the lesson um classroom. And we did this for each of our cycles in my accelerated math class with the idea that let's see how the kids respond to each of the curriculums um and the vision that we want to see from them.
020Once we did the lesson, we would get back together. We would reflect on the lesson, talk about what went well with our math vision being our equity and access, conceptual understanding, critical thinking and problem solving, our student centered learning, collaboration and communication, growth mindset, and persistence. All of the adults in the room would observe the students, take some notes, and we would have an area of focus that we reflected on when we were done with each of the coaching cycles. Um, so the resources that we chose align with our Illinois Mass standards. We chose because of the survey data. The students were very engaged in giving us feedback on what they liked, what they didn't like. They had some ratings. They wrote in good comments for us, which we spent a day as a team
021going through what the kids had to say. Um, really important to us. We spent a lot of our math meetings talking about the negatives, positives, and questions we had about our curriculums. Everybody who piloted was very invested in the process. This is what the sequence would look like that are standard path. Students in fifth grade from fifth grade coming into sixth grade would continue eighth grade math as eighth graders, algebra as high school freshmen. Our accelerated path, our sixth graders would be at sixth grade advanced curriculum. Continuing with algebra as eighth graders, geometry as high school freshmen, and our accelerated plus students would be doing the sixth grade advanced curriculum as fifth graders, moving to geometry as eighth graders, and algebra 2 as high school freshmen. Kyle is Kyle next. >> All right, Kyle is
022up next. So in regards to the instructional materials um for math and you uh we feel aligns with the Illinois math standards and standards for mathematical practice. If you go through one of the lessons, one thing I like is there are specific examples when we do guided notes that says this exercise aligns to this standard of mathematical practice. When you assign the problems to students, it shows them exactly which standard is focusing on. So, it's so nice as a teacher not to have to go and seek those things out. They're just given to us. It makes the the process of creating these lessons so much more easier. Uh coherent across grades 6 through 8 with learning that builds logically and prepares students for high school math. I know from the MCMI trainings we went to
023last year, uh, some of the Prospect High School teachers told us that they really love that our Lincoln graduates come to Prospect as freshmen and they have just such a solid foundational math base to build upon and that was big ideas and we we're going to see that in math in you as well. Uh, it's engaging uh encourages reasoning, critical thinking and real world application of math. One thing I like about it is I'm uh part of a cohort of teachers at Lincoln going for national board certification and I'm always uh filming myself in the classroom teaching these lessons and I'm always feel like I'm I'm trying to grab resources that I think are going to be really good to show in a national board video. And I feel like anytime I dive into math
024in you, I'm finding a performance task or this investigation that just goes so well with what would be considered best practice teaching. Um uh and it builds strong conceptual understanding too. Uh every lesson has an investigation where students are working with the concepts um within the context of real world situations but also trying to deal with these ideas more abstractly. So it really good for building number sense and conceptual understanding. And there's just a lot of uh strategies and resources for the needs of diverse learners. If you go into any lesson in math and you they're going to give you um uh tiered interventions to do. They're going to give you support for multilingual students. Um so it's really great just all of this stuff that can be so taxing as a teacher to go
025and try to find or create. It's kind of it's there for us. It's just a bevy of resources to be in any lesson that you want to do. So, it's really nice. And then in addition to math and you is just the additional math practices that we've been pushing as a district for the past handful of years, number talks and thinking routines. Um, just all these things that we do to fill 80 minutes of daily instruction. um that really get the students thinking um get them started in a lesson um uh brain breaks and things like that. Uh this is kind of round out what we're trying to do as a department. Thank you. All right, easy enough. um for the if you think back to the chart that we took a look at um
026the the the total cost uh for a six-year subscription, you probably remember from ELA and reading when we were doing this a couple years ago. Um most of these programs are are subscriptionbased now because they have um they have this online component. Um and so for a six-year subscription for this math, we're looking at the number you see there, $142,000. that covers all of the content areas that we showed. So that's the the core classes six, seven, and eight. And that's the advanced classes as well. Um in addition to the two high school uh topic areas that we get to teach in our in our advanced classes. Um and that's for the subscription the the uh set of student books and uh the teacher materials as well. Um, in terms of implementation, uh, we've already
027started with with staff training. Um, our teachers are incredible and they'll they'll speak over it pretty quickly. Uh, but these collaborative coaching cycles that Alexa was talking about, uh, was a lot of work. Uh, we were in her class, I don't know, like every other week it felt like. Uh, it was it was a lot of fun to get in there and it was a lot of fun to see our teachers in action. Um but that kind of work in a strong pilot um launches what you're going to do with implementation. Um we're going to begin with our official training of everybody else not involved in the pilot um in April. Um we'll continue with ongoing professional learning of course. Um and we'll be focusing on the practices that Kyle talked about toward the end
028of of uh his portion. Uh we'll continue with professional collaboration. Uh one of the other things that we did during the reading implementation that you may or may not remember uh was we had this uh specialist support. So uh we bring together a specialist from each uh grade level and through those meetings that allows us to hear from the grade level, you know, what kind of issues they're running into, what's going well, what's tough, what we might need additional professional learning around. And it's just a nice uh conduit between the practitioners uh our teachers on the on the ground doing this um and as we all learn together you know how will we implement it what kind of decisions do we need to make and what kind of learning do we need to engage in
029um and then of course we'll have some uh family education built in. Um, it's helpful to hear uh for families how we are stressing uh standards for mathematical practice and why things like number talk show up and and how things that feel like conversation in a classroom are super beneficial um when it doesn't it may not look to families like direct content all the time. It is great. Um we've already thanked these guys. I will thank them again. Uh it it is so much work. I mean, think about switching through three programs but starting with a fourth really cuz that's that's the old one and then switching back to another one for the rest of the year all while making sure that the standards for your grade level are covered and not just covered but
030but nailed and that's what they do. Um everybody on here uh was involved. Um, and I just want to thank these guys again, Alexa, Amy, and Kyle for coming and presenting with us tonight. That's how excited they are about the new program, and we are as well. So, thank you guys again. Uh, and we're all here for questions. If you want a teacher's perspective on something or if there's a question about anything that we talked about, um, fire away. >> Thank you so much, Kim. >> Thank you all for coming and sharing that information. Um, I do have just a couple questions. Uh, first of all, I want to clarify, and I think you stated this already, it sounds like this program, Matu, is the updated version of the current program that we're current that
031we're using. Okay. Um, well, it it sounds like it stands on its own merits, but I appreciate to the extent that the board's feedback was any part of maybe swaying you into making that decision. I think we've had several conversations about the curriculum and had said from the board table given the trajectory of student growth and achievement in math, right, we were sort of concerned about straying too far from our current practice, right? If it's not broke, don't fix it. And so, we're going to continue on with an updated version. Uh, which is great. I'm glad about that. Um my question given that this is the updated version of our current curriculum, can any of you speak to sort of what the differences are and whether we can anticipate that same sort of implementation dip
032that we had talked about when we started with the new ELA >> changes and we can take implementation. >> Okay. Okay. That sounds good. Um so some of the changes we've noticed the online platform we have a lot more our resources are much more organized for us our extra practice the way we assign assignments looks different um we still have all those in-depth great word problems it seems a little fine-tuned I guess they've taken some things out and focusing on the math practices like Kyle talked about Um the investigations have improved. We have trying to think about what else. Our support. So every lesson has levels of support for our students that we depending where we at we can meet them where they are. We have a lot of resources >> with that. >> Um
033what else am I missing? >> Just lots of good resources I think that are still in. And I agree. It's like the online platform. >> Yeah, the Yeah, the online platform. >> I was going to say too, um, you know, going back to this national board cohort, the idea that I can jump into a resource and not have to modify it for a national board, which is like truly best practice, is kind of speaks for itself. M >> um I would also say uh Alexa just mentioned the investigations uh the investigations are you know very much inquiry based and Alexa says they've improved and I would agree with that the current iteration of big ideas I um we we've always loved the guided notes portion of it but some of the explorations have been hit
034or miss >> whereas I feel like any exploration or investigation I've done so far with the pilot worked out really well um I was never overlooking one so That was uh really comforting um to be able to uh when those investigations work out, it's just uh like a 15 minute 20 minute chunk of the class every day that we don't have to try to be searching for other things to do. So that's always a good thing. I also wanted to mention um on Alexa's slide she had shared uh let me actually just go back to that. Oops. Um so if you take a look at our accelerated path you'll see sixth grade advanced seventh grade advanced and in those books um were intentionally chosen from our math department because it condenses sixth and seventh grade
035into one um section. And so that was a need um that our team felt was important because um prior in prior years it would just be one grade level above for content. And so with this new book um we anticipate that we won't have as many gaps as there were in the past. So we're excited about that change in terms of an implementation dip. There's always the possibility of that. Um but I think our team feels very confident in in the work. Um and in terms of the revisions, they shared some of the instructional changes. There are also some changes to chapter orders and what's covered for that. So it will take a little bit of time to get used to. There may be a little bit of a dip, but um I think we
036feel pretty com confident. I think that's what I would expect because it's new but not new. Yes. >> Right. So hopefully it would be a smoother ride in on the math side than maybe we've we've seen on the ELA side. Um just real quick I just have two other things. Um I recognize the immense amount of work that it's been to sort of test out test drive these multiple uh curricula. I'm curious. I understand the piloting is a really integral part of the process to know if this is going to work for our students, if it's going to sort of be of the caliber of instruction that we want to maintain in our district. It also strikes me as possible that that swapping back and forth and kind of jumping from different methods or or
037practices might impact the students that are kind of the guinea pigs of the process. Um, have we seen that bear out? Are we seeing I understand it's a very short period. Have we seen any kind of impact the students in terms of their growth and achievement because they've been a part of this process? >> I have seen positive growth. So all of the curriculums have allowed us to have them have a lot of collaboration, a lot of turnin talks. We are so used to the students writing. We want them to have that connection. So perhaps there weren't times for them to write in the other two curriculums. We made sure that still happened. So the practices that we would use prior to doing these, we continued these practices with our students every day. So we
038added pulled things from what we knew we needed to do to keep them successful and on track. >> I appreciate that. Right. Impact doesn't have to be negative necessarily. Um, I'm glad to hear it's been mostly positive. And then just last thing, um, in terms of the student comments and the student feedback, are there any favorite comments that you would care to share? Did it go beyond just I liked this or were they really sort of substantive and and thoughtful? There were some that were really funny and just when they're sharing their opinions about the different curriculums that we tried and they honestly they took the time to give some really good feedback and shared their opinions on each of those um aspects that we were reflecting on, but there were definitely some that stood
039out and you know just good honest feedback. So it was fun to see. >> I appreciate that. Thank you, >> Eileen. >> I was going to say thank you very much. I appreciate your presentation. You guys are very excited and the kids will be very excited about this updated programming and that's really it cuz Kimberly kind of she hit me all questions. So, anybody else have questions? Pam, >> not a question. Just to thank you. I am amazed and I think that when you let the students choose, when you let the children give feedback, that just builds confidence for them. So, thank you, Chris. >> Uh, I just want to echo what what's been said already. I really appreciate the rigor you guys put into this. I I think to Kim's point, and I know
040I've had similar comments about our math performance has been really good, so why change anything? But I really like how you didn't just say that, right? I mean, it would have been easy to say this is working. Let's go with the new version of it. Done. Right. And I think you could have been justified in in doing that. But really really appreciate the rigor you you put into this. As a fellow math geek myself, I I really applaud you for all the all the effort there. And uh Kim asked the one question I had. So great job. Looking forward to seeing how this go. I will say for my sample size of my one sixth grader, this was the one she liked the best too. So, >> any other questions, comments? >> Great. Thank you
041so much. And it is clear how much work you guys have put into it and we appreciate you being here to tell us about it. >> Thank you. Okie dokie. So, we are going to move on to the ice resolution discussion. Um, before we go into um Dr. 's um uh description of the resolution. There are a couple of things that I wanted to bring up when it comes to the purpose of this conversation. Um first is I want to be really very clear about what the purpose of this conversation in this meeting is. So this is a dis this is a discussion and consideration of a resolution. We will not be taking a vote to adopt or not adopt until the March 15th or the March meeting um because we go through a first
042and second reading process when it comes to adopting resolutions and new policy. And that process really ensures transparency and allows for thorough review and prevents rash decision-m. So it is something that we practice in in all aspects of our policym and resolution review. So stay tuned till March to see what every what the adopt not adopt decision is. The second thing is um the difference between a resolution and formal and policy. Um there's a distinction between the two and I wanted to make sure that that was clear to the community. So a resolution is a formal documented decision or actions taken by the board to express opinion, intent or adopt procedures. A policy is a guiding principle or rule that sets out rights, responsibilities or specific standards to be followed. So when we're talking about
043the resolution, we want to keep in mind what the uh the impact and the purpose of it of it is. So with that, I'd like to turn it over to Dr. Gore. >> Thank you. Um so just as we probably all know um this conversation began last month um in the January board meeting as board discussion and from the outcome of that meeting was uh direction for administration to come with a version a draft of a resolution to be considered. Um hopefully you all had an opportunity to take a look at it in your board packets. It is in a draft form. Um, and just some additional notes. I think as mentioned by President Bennett, um, you know, the the intention of a resolution probably aligns more closely with a statement of values and a
044position more so than um something that has necessarily the teeth of enforcement. So there I think there were um discussions that were productive last month about some of the concerns around action and and the possibility of um misleading the public or um our stakeholders about our ability to enforce some of this action. And I think there has probably been a lot of um continued reflection and consideration of that truth. And because um we're talking about the potential of limiting access to federal employees, there are limitations to even what our local um government employees, including the police department, have the authority to do when it comes to limiting the actions of federal employees. Um what what is drafted for your consideration would be a resolution that speaks of unlawful action. that would be action without a
045signed judicial warrant. Um, you know, that that would not be following our expectations around any procedures, you know, around um any of the um enforcement that might be taking place by um immigration officials. So, um I welcome the opportunity to discuss. I do think there are plenty of um areas where the proposed resolution does align with our current strategic plan and the values and the mission of the district and providing you know acknowledgement of a focus on learning and safety and belonging and um an ability for us to prioritize learning and um you know the productive work of our our schools. um that so clearly we are doing a great job in but um it is with understanding that this does bring a lot of um different layers and sometimes um emotions around you know
046this topic. So I appreciate the opportunity to talk about it and and welcome any questions or a discussion. Would anybody like to start questions? Eileen, >> it's not necessarily a question. I was going to just state that um I it was Arlington Heights, I believe, just the other day. Very similar, if not almost exactly the same resolution. They they did pass theirs at their last meeting. Um and I think this uh resolution, you know, touches upon what the intention is for us and um like you said, lawful versus unlawful. Um so I am I am okay with the resolution. Anybody else? No. Um, oh, go ahead. >> If you're closing discussion, >> No, I'm not closing discussion. I have something that I want to say as well, but if you have something that you >>
047Sure. Um, I recognize we've received a lot of community feedback about this issue. And in light of the many people that came tonight and that came the last time we talked and that have submitted comments, I wanted to be sure that I thought really carefully and um and diligently about this issue. And so I made some notes and if you'll indulge me that I just read a little bit of what I what I'd like to say. Many community members have voiced support for a resolution or some other action from the board because they are concerned about the safety of students in our schools and our community members at large. I share these concerns. As a district, our highest priority has been and will continue to be providing a safe environment in which the children of
048our community can learn and grow. There have been a broad range of challenges over the years that have led us to question the safety of our students. from the COVID pandemic to school shootings and now to concerns about immigration enforcement. I recognize that when scary things happen, we often feel compelled to take whatever action we can to feel more in control of the situation. I think the proposed resolution is an attempt to do just that, to exert some level of control over a situation that has caused fear to so many people because it feels outside of their grasp. However, I do not think that passing this resolution is the right step for our district. It is because I care deeply about the safety of our students, staff, and community that I cannot support this resolution
049because I don't think the resolution does anything meaningful to address safety. It merely conveys that the school district is opposed to a particular branch of the government having access to the school district's property. While a statement like that may be of value to some community members, it does nothing to stop what many people have stated they fear, the presence of immigration authorities in our community and particularly near our schools. While the district does have the authority to control who accesses our property, the reality is that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce a resolution against a federal agency, regardless of whether you find that particular agency to have any legitimacy. We already have district policy that speaks to who can access our schools and in what circumstances. A policy which specifically addresses law
050enforcement and that we have established would also apply to ICE. While a resolution might serve the purpose of making our community feel more safe, I don't think it has any real tangible effect to increasing actual safety. I believe that actions speak louder than words and we as a board have already taken action in the form of our policy to address this issue and as such I do not support the resolution. However, I prepared that statement notwithstanding the information, Mary, that you just shared, um, and I think to the extent that a resolution is meant to convey the values of our district, I would be in favor of something that spoke affirmatively to the things that we value, that we do value community, we value the diversity in our community, that we value the people who,
051you know, are ostensibly being marginalized by these endeavors. And we can do that in a way that affirms that reality while also continuing to live our values. And ultimately that's the the biggest part that I don't support a resolution like this is truly because our actions speak louder than words. We live out the ideas that this resolution I think is attempting to convey every single day in our school buildings. We just heard from a group of teachers who have gone above and beyond to make sure that our middle school students have the math education that they need. Now, that might not necessarily speak to safety, but it speaks to the level of care and concern that our teachers, our staff, our community has for the kids that come in our buildings every day. So, if
052we're in a position of wanting to affirm and support all of the students in our district, I will happily sign on to a resolution that says that. But I do not support this one. Anybody else? Pam, I appreciate what you said, Kim. I agree that our values have to be um presented to the community, but I also believe in the words that we see on our website um on our documents and it's every student every day and there are many students in our community who do not feel that. So you can talk about what you would do, but I think affirming that we recognize um that every student means um regardless of of color of skin, regardless of religion, regardless of language spoken at home, regardless of where they were born. um that every student
053is equal in our eyes and every day that student is valued. Without naming the entity that is trying to take that away from them, you're evading and avoiding the the um the issue. It's a very narrow focus that you're presenting. and I uh reread the portrait of a graduate and the things that are listed on here for every student. What we want desperately for our eighth graders to leave district 57 with um the ability uh collaborative, critical thinker, resilient, empathetic, adaptable. When a child is frightened, when a child is scared that either they are going to be taken or their mother is going to be taken or their father will be taken and they won't see them again and their life is disrupted because the bread winner is gone, they lose their housing. They lose
054their food. That child will never reach the goals that we have. That child will never be at a point where they can grasp the concept of what our teachers are trying to instill. When you are in the lowest Maslo theory of hierarchy, uh the fear for your safety for your life, adrenaline rushes through your body. It's a physiological change that stops the growth of the amygdala and of the um hippocampus. And when your brain is not able to develop during this the phases the the age limits that it is supposed to be developing when it is um stopped because of the adrenaline the the the chemical process of stopping the brain growth. When that happens you will get an adult who does not have the ability to think critically. They can't focus because the brain
055part of their body has not grown substantially to allow that. They won't be able to be resilient. They will be always in a position of someone accidentally hurting them, offending them, knocking into them, and they will react in a fight or flight syndrome. And so when we talk of safety, we're not just talking of the kind of safety that an adult would feel. We're talking of the critical biological, physiological growth of the brain that will not happen. And and I don't know um I'm not I'm not a a a doctor who could give you this. I think it it differs um person to person but when you are a child and your brain is growing I don't know how long threats need to exist. I do know that poverty and childhood trauma are the are
056the biggest stops to someone developing into a critical thinker into someone who can work collaboratively into someone who is resilient against life's many stresses. Someone who has empathy because you can't have empathy if you don't if you're always frightened. You're going to always be in that fight or flight. you're always going to be um intimidated and you will never be adaptable. >> Chris, >> so Pam, I everything you just said I don't think anybody at this table would disagree with, but I want to be clear. This resolution does absolutely nothing to prevent any of those things. Doesn't. I I grew up on Mount Prospect. I love this community. The fact that there are people that are feeling scared and hurt and uncertain by what's been going on is deeply, deeply hurtful to me. It really
057is. You know, just like all of you, I've seen some of the awful things that have been happening around the country, and I'm angry about it, and I'm afraid, too. And we should be. We absolutely should be because as an American citizen, they do make me angry. And when I am angry, darn it, I want to do something because doing something feels a lot better than doing nothing. It does. I feel like I have to do something to stop this because I don't want to feel angry anymore. I don't want to feel hurt anymore. And believe me, I get that. I absolutely understand that. But doing something for the sake of doing something isn't always productive. There are unintended consequences. There are dangers in doing things that might have the opposite effect of what is
058intended. And as a board member, I owe it to this community, to our students, to our staff, to our families to make sure we do not put ourselves in a position to do that. This resolution is problematic for a lot of reasons. It is absolutely unambiguously uninforceable. It is not enforceable. And I understand and Mary, I appreciate what you said that the intention here is to make this a value statement. It does not read like a value statement. It reads like a resolution. It reads like an enforcable resolution. If I walked in today without any context and I read this, I would absolutely assume this is an enforcable resolution that I can stick to and know this is regulation. This is law as far as the district is concerned and it isn't. The goal here
059is absolutely to keep kids safe and staff safe and families safe. This resolution does not do that. And I would argue it has the very high likelihood of having the opposite effect. And I would really hate for our families to think and our kids to think we have a resolution that bans any law enforcement from enforcing civil immigration law. If I see one on our property, I have every right to to kick them off physically or otherwise. I know that's not what we want, but that absolutely could be an unintended consequence of doing something like this. I think what would serve us well, serve our families well, and Kim alluded to this, let's make an an absolutely unapologetic, strong statement of what we value as a district, as a community. We absolutely value inclusion, belonging.
060We have a portrait for a of a graduate that that states what we stand for. Let's be very clear that every student who walks through the hallowed halls of district 57 is going to feel welcomed and safe by all of us who work here, who are administrators here, who have family members with kids here. That is absolutely what we stand for. I would feel much much better about us doing something like that that says we absolutely believe that what has been going on around this country is wrong and we condemn it and we do not stand for it. And here is what we do stand for. And keeping kids safe is and always will be our number one priority. And that's what this board should be focused on. So I do not support this resolution.
061>> Mayor Allen. >> No. >> Um I I don't think I have anything necessarily new to add that I didn't say last month. I guess a question that I would have for anybody on the board, especially those who have been here longer than I, is I think this is only the second resolution that since I've been on the board that we've taken up. Maybe there's been more, but I guess if somebody could sort of help me think through this resolution and how we're thinking about it in comparison to the Cook County Tax Advocacy Resolution. Um because I guess in my mind those are both resolutions and I my feeling is that the resolution that we passed about Cook County Tax Advocacy is again something that we can't enforce. So we cannot make Cook County disperse
062those funds to us. But we are basically saying through the resolution processes like this is something that we think is important. Obviously the delay in the dispersement of those funds has a real impact on our students education. Um, and so like in my mind, I guess that's a thought I have about this resolution is like again I completely appreciate that it is uninforceable in in my mind just as the Cook County Tact Advocacy Resolution is again uninforcable but again I I think it's you know is there some way that I'm thinking about this wrong. I guess I open open to feedback about somebody to correct me about that maybe I'm not there's something I'm missing or some connection I'm off on. So >> can I speak to that or would do you want to take
063it to raise question? >> No. Um I was actually going to to make sure everybody gets a chance to speak before we do a second round. So if you can hold that thought >> um Ellen you Okay. So I do have something also I I would like to say to add to the to the discussion. Um when it both you and Chris everyone who has spoken has uh emphasized their care and love for this community. I don't think that anybody in this room or around this table doubts the dedication, the commitment, and the um the depth of feeling that's that comes from and and to support our kids. Support our kids, keep them safe, keep them in uh in loving, highly educated environments. I have no doubt in my mind that that is not that
064that is not at the heart. Am I double negative negativity? Um, I have no doubt that that is at the heart of every single person here. Um, I also believe that we have as a board a duty to speak up when outside systems negatively affect our students. Um, this resolution really builds on our commitment to create a safe, welcoming, and supportive environment. It formally endorses the actions of our super that our actions of our superintendent has already implemented. And the resolution is also a natural outgrowth of existing policies and procedures articulated in numerous superintendent messages and conversations between staff and administration. I think that sorry that there are several things that the resolution does do. One of the things it does do is it clarifies the use of district property. It anticipates and responds to
065situations that may interfere with instruction or cause disruption during the school day. It also defines clear boundaries for areas managed and supervised by the school district. The things that it does not do is obstruct valid judicial warrants or legitimate criminal and criminal law enforcement activities. And it does not limit the lawful use of district property for purposes unrelated to civil immigration enforcement. And I think I will go back to the first thing that I said which is the duty that we have to speak to the um the values and not just the values but when systems negatively impact our students and the um reading of a resolution as a document of intent rather than um a pol a document that is uh prescribes policy is um where where we're coming from when it comes to
066the advoc advocating for this particular resolution. So clearly I am supported it of it. Um but I also welcome any other comments. Kim, >> I just wanted to speak to Ray's question. Um, and this is just my perspective and others are free to to say otherwise, but in in my understanding, the tax resolution that we talked about last month and this resolution are not very different because they don't seek to enforce anything, right? the or at least they don't purport to seek to enforce anything. The tax resolution was largely intended to convey information um particularly to the Cook County authorities regarding the impact of the tax kurfuffle on our district. Um to some degree I think that resolution can be seen as some version of a value statement from the perspective that we value getting
067our money on time and we um have been negatively impacted by the fact that we have not gotten our money on time. Um again in in my opinion I think if the intent of this particular resolution is to be a value statement I think it fails miserably in doing that. Um because Karen I think to your point it it does really read quite a bit like our policy which is already existing which we passed months ago. Um, and it it gives the impression intended or otherwise that it it has some level of enforcement. And I know we're sitting around this table and I know we're saying it doesn't. Many of the community members that have come and spoken to us have acknowledged that a resolution would not be enforceable and yet we are still hearing
068the support for it. Um, I think in terms of what you said, Karen, about systems negatively impacting students and feeling the need to speak up when that happens. I totally understand that and I think that we can use this opportunity of systems negatively impacting students communities um to speak to that issue in a different and more effective way. I think the resolution, and I I don't want to rehash, but the resolution right now is it it risks the impression that the district has more authority to address the issues that the community is concerned about than we really do. And I think our policy is a much better place for that um that guidance. And if if it's a matter of conveying our district values, I'm happy to do that in a way that is much
069more holistic than what's presented here. >> Uh and just to piggyback Ray to also answer your question, I I think to me and Kim allude to I think the big difference is the tax resolution was really a statement of values, right? It was we absolutely condemn the fact that our county leadership is unable to get their act together. I know that wasn't the exact words, but this is hurting our community to the tune of the dollar amount we put in. And this is unacceptable, right? It didn't it didn't seek to ban anyone from doing something. It didn't read like policy. It didn't say, "Well, if the Cook County assessor steps foot on our property, they're not gonna I'm joking, but you get what I'm saying, right?" To me, that's a very big difference from how
070this reads. This and and I'm sorry, I I will just say this again. This reads like enforcable policy. And I'm and that is a dangerous thing for us to be waiting into. And and I I don't know that we want to get into parsing the language here, but I have a lot of concerns about even some of the detail we talk about when we say use of district property. I think we're on shaky legal ground saying that that we can enforce areas that are by law public spaces and that's what they are. I mean the the parking lots of schools as far as I know are public places, aren't No, they would be consider I mean according to our legal council that we would have grounds to establish some as private property as um of
071you know the o the district the enforcability of that may be challenging in the moment. I think the enforcability or the consequence of violating that private property um and if they do not have legitimate use u to be there, we would have the ability to um assert that it is private property and and request you know the compliance with leaving. Um given that this scenario would involve federal employees that are not um under the jurisdiction of local authorities, there would be some challenge to actually implement that request. And should there be a refusal at that point, the recourse would likely be uh legal in federal court. Now, that's getting beyond um a you know the the scenarios that um that is not to suggest that we would or we should or it's it's simply hypothetically
072we could the board could pursue um that avenue as a um consequence of violating the private property authority. But this is just hypothetical. I think we've already established and I don't think there's any um disagreement about the challenge to enforce a violation. It would really be a matter of um the ability to pursue legal action in a federal uh court. I defer to our lawyer who appears to be shaking around agreement. I hope I have correctly presented this. >> Right. And I think as I guess to add to that that authority that we have to enforce our property as you mentioned does not come from this resolution. It comes from the nature of our operation as a district just in and of itself inherently and then also from the policy that we've already approved which
073says who can come onto our district on our district property for what reasons with what grounds etc etc. So the resolution does nothing to change the status quo. It potentially allows, you know, in that scenario, should there be um the pursuit of um recourse, it allows for there to be clear articulation of, you know, a position. >> Articulating a position that is not solidly grounded in law just seems like a fool's eron to me, right? And again, I I guess just stepping back from all that, I mean, what you just described, Mary, is a nightmare scenario, I think, for all of us, right? It is not what that is not a good way for us to spend taxpayer dollars or your time, right? If the choice is between potentially getting mired in that and making
074a a positive affirmative statement of who we are and what we stand for, I think it's a no-brainer on how we should handle this. I'm going to go back to the public comments and back to the fact that districts 21, 25, 26 have already passed a similar resolution. There's precedence. There's demand from the community. And uh I believe district 214 is looking at a resolution. it it's either next week or next month. I I don't remember um which which date it is, but um but it's coming. And there are other um entities that are brave enough to stand up and to pass a resolution that is um a statement. You know, it's like it it's our way of protesting. It's our way of resisting. and the community is looking to us to do that. Okay.
075So, one of the purposes for this conversation is the um ability to give feedback to administration about where we would like the resolution to to go. and the um rather than voting on whether we should adopt the resolution or not adopt the resolution. And I was recalling um in the main 207 resolution um which is uh something that we had gotten access well not gotten access to but something that we had based some of this um on. There are two items in that resolution that might um uh it might have some value to affirming um a more positive statement. Um, one is, and this is close to what it is that we already have written, but whereas the board is committed to providing an equitable learning environment that enhances diversity and individual student needs while
076preparing students to achieve their full potential as part of the global community. And whereas the district is fully committed to ensuring that all students have access to educational services in a safe and healthy environment, learning environment. Um would there be any um any appetite to add one or both or a statement an additional statement therein to our current resolution that will balance the both the um the articulation of what what exists anyways like it's immigration enforcement operations um require a judicial warrant on school property and to enter into school buildings. That's that just is um which I think is one of the things that the resolution does is articulate what is a um a current reality. But given the um the concerns from um from Kim and Chris about uh the preference for having a
077more positive statement, would we have again an appetite to have uh administration go back and um add some language for consideration that does have a more um positive value statement included in that? things over. Yep. Y >> I would say yes if there's not um a a limit on how much verbiage can be in that resolution. But it would be in addition to and not in lie of correct. >> Sure. Okay. I might I would that would make this better, but it wouldn't make me vote for this. Let's put it back. >> Okay. >> I'm certainly open to seeing a draft that includes some version of that. I think and certainly whatever efforts are made to revise, I think they would be tailored to our particular district, right? Not just snatching language from some other
078district who may have similar values. I I think the idea that I was proposing at least was to make something that's very tailored to the unique qualities of our district. And I I feel very strongly about this that we we live out many of the things that the community is asking us to affirm every single day. And the parents that have come to speak to us, they know it because their kids are in the schools. um they they've witnessed we've witnessed the dedication of our teachers, our staff, our administration. There's there's no shortage of love and respect and support for the students in our schools and for the community at large. Um, so I I would prefer to see something that emphasizes those aspects as a means of maybe conveying the kind of emotional safety
079that we're trying to create. Um, I recognize that something like that wouldn't necessarily speak quite as pointedly to this particular issue, but I think that actually is what makes it more valuable because it's not speaking to a particular point in time. It's not speaking to a particular crisis. It's speaking to who we are as a community, who we are as a school district, which is much more valuable and important. Um to the extent that there is a need to emphasize this particular moment that we're in, I I don't think it helps or I don't think it hurts to reference the policy that we have. Whereas according to board policy, whatever number it is, I forget, you know, law enforcement is not allowed, etc., etc., as a means of speaking to these particular concerns while also
080not giving a sense that we have any more authority than we really do. Go ahead, Ellen. >> Thanks for your patience. I'm the new guy, so I'm just taking a lot of this in, but um I recognize that this is very uh complex and an emotional state for everybody. Uh and just to say like many I think everybody here, I too feel very strongly. uh what's happening in our country uh makes me angry, makes me scared, makes me sad. Um full stop, period. The way I've been approaching this is trying to create pros and con lists for what happens if we do approve it as is. What if we don't? And I just don't see um how this makes us better as a as a district. Um, I I really appreciate the idea that we're
081floating around, which is more of a value statement, something that stands up long after uh this week, this month, this year, this administration term. Um, that feels like what we're here to do. And um I just worry about some of the things specifically on pages two and three where it talks about, you know, the prohibition of use and how will others interpret that. it just seems like a slippery slope. And so, um, I do think a second revision where we could talk about the values or or or even a new revision that talks about the values of what we stand for in this community feel like a better use of the resolution product and um would love to, you know, put that out there. >> I would I think we can actually close discussion on
082this. everybody has had a chance to speak and and verbat and um unless there's anything else that Mary would like to say. I would like to keep it open so that I can have a clear um confirmation that next month um when if if I am understanding correctly um and maybe I'm not but am I understanding that the board would like another draft provided for input next month? >> Yes. But but I think where I need clarity >> and it could just be that I missed it is that I think I want to confirm that a revision in like the preamble section but to continue to include the impact because I think I'm hearing two sort of separate concepts. Are you also like am I correct? And one I'm hearing, you know, change it to
083a function of a of a statement of values and take out the therefore which would be the limitation of a staging area and kind of the the impact of those values. And then the other I'm hearing keep those but add to a context of values. And so in the effort not to disappoint everyone, I ask do which is it and is there an appetite for the board to create a committee to be part of such a draft. So would you love it could maybe be more of a collaborative process? we had a >> yeah because I I I think all of you are making interesting and important points but I don't want to continue to um you know disappoint in or frustrate in like the word smithing if the assignment is maybe >> stab at
084both >> well I I'm open to anything but I just want to have clarity put them >> both out there >> I think that one of um again I'm going to go back to The origin and purpose of this conversation is discussing this resolution and whether we want to change it, update it, look at different language. Um if I am uh taking in everybody's feedback correctly, the uh direction that we would give to Mary is or to administration is to take the whereas section and include um a whereas that is a more um affirming and um positive um reading of of of what we're trying to do. As I said with the main 2071, that is just one of the first thing that I I thought of as a reference. Um, and there also is
085in other Sorry, I'm looking and trying to speak at the same time. It's not working. um other policies that have been passed very specific language of whereas board policy acts and applicable provisions of the Illinois school code requires and authorizes the board to promote the safety and security of all persons on district property and district events. That's from 207 again, but having something that um some items that more uh closely reflect where in board policy and um school code that that this authority is coming from. >> Yes, that makes sense to me. >> And then moving on, clarifying what would be the direction around that now therefore be it resolved section. Leave it as is >> in the draft coming back. Yeah. Okay, that >> okay. I'm not as sure about that. >> I I
086don't agree with that, but >> I guess >> maybe we need to straw poll that one. >> Yeah, I think we might need to straw poll that one. So, in uh Go ahead. >> I agree with that. I mean, the purpose of last month was deciding whether or not we would do a resolution. We decided we would do the resolution. Now, come forth. This is what we're going to lean towards. And I agree with doing >> adding the draft but keeping the now there. >> Thank you. >> I agree to the addition. I think it's good. I think it's more affirmative and more um reflective of who we are, what we are, but leave in the rest of it, which is acknowledging that we do not want ICE on our private property without a legal,
087constitutional signed judicial warrant. >> I think I know what you heard. >> Yeah, I you think you understand. Um, Alan, >> I'd rather have a resolution that spoke to our values more holistically um than referencing a moment in time. If we fast forward 3, four years from now, this this as is feels like in the time capsule, but something that speaks more to our values and our heart will live on indefinitely. And I think we should focus in that area. >> Okay. So, you would be in support of the additional clarification or descriptions under the whereas statements. Correct. And and removing the the prohibition piece, the the there now therefore section. >> Okay. Ray. >> Uh I'm comfortable with the uh basically what uh Dr. Gore had presented in terms of adding additional language and
088additional clarity in the whereas section but leaving the now therefore essentially as is. in Kim. >> Um I think leaving the now therefore section as it stands currently given what I'm understanding we would put in that whereas section would be redundant. Um and I I do agree. I think a more effective resolution would speak to a larger degree about our values and to a lesser degree about specific issues such as the ones that are addressed here. Um so as an alternative to the now be therefore be it resolved perhaps it's just one or two um points that just reflect and affirm the values that we've stated in the whereas section for example. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the district um the school board of district 57 will continue to uphold and um implement the
089values stated herein. Just something simple, basic. Um, but again, I I think the the preamble would carry the weight of reminding the community and giving asurances of the type of district that we are hoping to be. Okay. Well, it looks like um we have a majority to move forward with the additions to the whereas section and the therefore section remaining as is. Is that >> Yeah. >> Would there be um would there be a interest in um and no one has to commit now or RSVP, but would there I wonder if there would be an interest from the um three board members who, you know, initiated the concern of the preamble. given that outcome like would there be an interest in either having some involvement in collaborating on a revision? C >> can I just
090say one quick thing here? Yes. I I just I'll make this fast. I I think that what Kim, Allan, and I are suggesting, if we do it well, I think would be more than acceptable to the other four of you. I would much rather have a resolution that we all agree with and vote yes on because I think that certainly speaks better to us speaking with a unified voice than one that we're not going to all vote yes on. I don't think that I think that would send a stronger statement, frankly. >> I don't think we're really that far apart. >> I could be wrong, but I really don't. And I think a affirmative statement of values and reinforcing of our existing policies and something that you know then has a couple now therefore dot
091dot. I think we can get there. I really do. You haven't even seen it yet, Pam. You're shaking your head. I mean I I I'd love to try to do that because I think that would be a much I think we'd all feel much better about that outcome. I really do. I think Oh, sorry. >> Um, I hear what everybody is saying. I think that the if we want to change direction, which I think that's what we that's what you guys are talking about. That's not really this agenda item in what we're speaking here. >> It's not changing direction. H >> no, I mean um the speaking to the moment and having this be a um speaking to the negative impact that this can have on our our families and our kids and what have
092you. And speaking specifically of immigration enforcement operations on district property, um that that is something that a um if I'm not mistaken, a statement of values is not going to um necessarily encompass. I also hesitate for us to get really mired down in this. I'm not saying that we should cut off, you know, all conversation or not have any more, you know, anything else. But at the same time, we had made a decision as a board as a a majority decision previously to take up a resolution. administration brought this draft resolution to us. Um, and we're then going to take a uh majority guidance for administration in this case moving forward with additional language. Um, I would say that the a an additional statement or a separate statement. Um, as much as I understand what
093you guys are saying, and I I really do, um, would be something that we had to, uh, decide almost separately because this is already an item that we have taken up. >> You know what I mean? I I understand and I appreciate the efforts that you've made to sort of clarify and keep the conversation on track. My understanding based on what you said regarding the purpose of this agenda item is that we would look at this particular resolution >> and decide if we want to move forward with this language as it stands >> or if we want to make any edits. And I think the temperature around the table is that we want to make some edits. Now the temperature is higher in some areas than it is in others. But regardless, I think we've
094we've come to some level of consensus that there are things that need to be changed about it. >> I don't think that means starting from scratch. I think we can accomplish what it sounds like you're trying to accomplish while also addressing a broader perspective to affirm the things that we as a district really value and stand for. Um, I I recognize maybe the desire to move forward with something like this quickly and not drag out the process. I mean, we sort of created a promise to the community we were going to take action next month and maybe that won't actually come to pass if we make substantial changes. But I think our duty is to do the right thing and not the expedient thing. And if that ends up taking longer than we would like,
095I think it's worth it. So, I I don't know to what degree you're looking for feedback. I would love if it was possible and we could do so with some level of transparency to submit a draft of what I have in my head that I think would actually be appealing to the majority. And I think to Chris's point, when it comes to a resolution like this, it's really important that we all speak with with consensus. And we don't have that right now. Now, I'm not saying that means everybody should cater to the three of us that disagree. I actually think if we were going to do some level of committee, which I'm not actually asking for, that it should involve someone with a different perspective, right, to sort of balance out um balance out the
096language and all of that, but just a moment, L. Um, so I am what I'm thinking about and what I'm trying to kind of come to a place of where we can move forward is the it's it seems as if that the the difficulty with moving forward is combining the idea that you have of of what it is that you would want to see with it the idea that we have of what we're sitting is sitting in front of us because the um without an example it's really difficult to um envision how we would marry both of these um both of these desires because I don't think that there's anything about including more affirming language or um or uh statements of our our values beyond what is already in the um the resolution. I don't
097think there's anything that um is is wrong with that or the the statements that you guys have made is is incompatible with what we're doing. I guess my question would be is the um the direction of the resolution as stands and from our last discussion was to specifically limit immigration enforcement operations on school property. So, if that isn't something that is a um a component of a resolution moving forward, then it's not going to be affirming the decision that was the majority decision moving forward to take up a resolution about immigration enforcement operations on district property. So, I'm not entirely sure. I don't want us to um not give Mary appropriate direction um or specific direction. I also want to make sure that we are um staying within the intent of what we have in
098front of us. So, I'm not sure that I have an answer for that right now. Um, which is helpful, I think, to everybody that I don't have an answer for that right now. >> I mean, as a suggestion and again, I I I understand, you know, we have there's lots of important things that we as a board need to be doing and we can't allow this to consume the next six months. But I I think one of the struggles that I'm I'm guessing you may be having with this nebulous idea we've thrown out there is it's not concrete and what you have in front of you is. >> Mhm. >> So if we can make it concrete and put it and suggest something and put it on paper that we can actually talk about and
099discuss. Yes, that may take another month. But again, I if if we think it's impossible for the seven of us to agree on what we end up voting on, if we think that's impossible, I'd be disappointed. I don't think it's impossible. And I'd love to take the time to get there. >> I think that's really important. Mhm. >> I think we don't have the time to get there because ICE is has already told us that they will be back in the Chicago area come come March. Right now they're they may not be fully funded, but do not think that it will not reoccur. everything I see and I and I do spend time looking and listening. This is not something to play with. A resolution. I just want to make a correction on what a
100resolution is. The million years I've been in library land, we pass resolutions. The village passes resolutions on our behalf every year. We pass resolutions um to acknowledge a librarian who has retired and the resolution is we acknowledge how wonderful this person has been, the contributions that they've made. Then the person retires. The resolution is always there. Do we ever look at it again? There might be a few instances which are unpleasant to talk about. That resolution might come forth in honoring the persons in a celebration of life. But a resolution is not something that is glued to the wall in front of you for the rest of the duration of the entity. I all you have to do is just go to the library, you know, um do a foyer request at Mount Pros Public
101Library and ask for their resolutions. You know, there'll be many. We get a resolution every year for Teddy Bear Walk. We get a resolution every year for some of the other big events that the library does. And just because we have a resolution for 2000 2000 2001 teddy bear walk doesn't mean that we go back to it and look at it every year. Um the fact that we have things that are ongoing every year there's a new resolution for it. resolutions are not something that are concrete that cannot be put to rest and if there is a committee meeting on this I would like to be on the committee I do not want to see the work that we have done on this resolution isol um isolating what our community concerns are removing our committee
102our uh community concerns I don't want to see that removed I will I will be disappointed ointed and if anyone else is disappointed because we are ignoring what the community asks us to do I I I am sorry but we are elected by the community and we use our conscious state um to decide what we can do. Other school districts and libraries are beginning to do this um have done this. We are not unique. >> Karen, if I may, I'm sorry. I know we're looking to shut this down at some point. Um, if I can make an unpopular suggestion, perhaps the multiple of unpopular suggestions I may have made tonight. Um, I recognize looking ahead in the agenda, we were intending to cancel our March 5th meeting. I wonder if in the interest of maintaining
103the timeline that we're all concerned about without dragging out the issue too far, if we were to maintain that meeting on the calendar and set it aside for a conversation about a draft of an additional perhaps several additional drafts of a resolution that would maybe speak to some of these issues. >> I don't think it's a bad idea. >> Um I don't think it was bad. I said it was unpopular. Oh, sorry. Unpopular idea. Um, no. And I understand like it would be a committee of the whole type um board meeting. Um, logistically, Mary, what would that entail? So the question is like to use the fifth meeting as an open meeting of I mean it would just be an open meeting and it would basically be that would be the agenda item um as
104well as any other agenda items. But it would I mean if if uh ideally that would be the only agenda item just given the intensity of the topic and it would just be an open collaborative openr run meeting where it could be developed in a workshop model. Um I'd be happy to facilitate it or work and just kind of it's an open meeting so anyone could attend. we'd have public comment as in any um open meeting, but it would be really different probably in format because it would be more of a a session of open discussion and and probably action. I think one potential uh thought to that could be just in in the interest of efficiency there might be some consideration of having like maybe two or three board members also. It could be
105an open meeting, but it could be a a working group that would come with some proposals so that when the committee of a whole comes together, it you have some time to digest some of the different var variations. Um I think that's what makes this so frustrating probably um because it feels so um unproductive to get a draft, a month later get another draft, feel frustrated by what could be lacking of the draft. I just I can appreciate um how the flow isn't there in the way that you know a lot of ideas flowing could come together. >> Mhm. >> It would be an experiment and a collaborative experiment that district 57 board would be setting a setting the path district 57 leads the way >> which it always does. >> I love the idea.
106I will be on a business trip that day and >> cancel that Chris >> attend. But I I'm one of seven and I don't want to hold this up because of me. So >> I think I'll be on an airplane at that time coming back actually. But if I called them that might irritate a lot of >> they they could weigh in too. >> Okay. I think that um I think that suggestion meets a need here for both inclusion of voice and um maintaining the I guess the mission of the or the the purpose of the uh statement. And it doesn't seem like at this point it is a um that there is real clarity about what those additions or um we're not really able to give that kind of clarity to Mary that she
107would need to move forward. So perhaps we should take consensus as to whether or not we um bring this into a committee of the whole type conversation at a March 5th board meeting in order to have the time and space to continue this conversation and make sure that um the intent and needs of the resolution are maintained but also um supporting the concerns of the dissenting members. >> Oh, okay. Um, are we going to have a couple of drafts prepared already for us to go over and give our opinions on and our thoughts or are we crafting something? Cuz I think it'd be better if we had more to talk about like having something concrete in front of us versus >> creating something at that. March 5th is right around the corner and I in
108the in the spirit of trying to be productive and meeting the need I would welcome the collaboration of the board not because I'm sherking the work. I I can produce 50 drafts if you want them. But you know it I if there is a strong feeling about what are the elements that want to be inclusive to be a place where people can feel good about voting yes to something and speaking with consensus if that maybe that's not the outcome but if that's the goal to get more buy in around a topic and maybe that won't won't change any of maybe I think if there's realistic expectations to say the vote may be the same as it is today if it were taken. But in if there's the interest and the spirit of collaboration and openness
109and I think it could be a demonstration of that commitment. Um, one option is I come with a bunch or I send them out ahead of time. Another is that those who are interested want to submit some of the features that they are interested in being included and those can be incorporated. It doesn't have to involve, you know, time and and working it out together in a room. I'd be happy to try to incorporate things and make sure that we're showing clearly what changes would be tracked so people understand what changes would be made. >> Okay. I'm fine with that for the March 5th meeting. I mean, we kind of had the criteria what we really want, so we'll see what comes of it. I'm an open-minded person, >> so I can suggest some things
110ahead of time. Well, I would I'm going to need to follow up tomorrow with like by when I need them. >> Okay. >> Cuz I think as long as I can have them by a certain point, then it gives an opportunity cuz it it's it's right around the corner. I want to make sure we're >> I do think >> not leaving that meeting frustrated >> to help you, Mary. I this this the board really should take ownership of this, right? I mean, this is a board resolution. It's not an administration resolution. So, >> I mean, to that extent, I think we should be doing the heavy lifting on this. my opinion, >> anything that we're going to bring forward is going to have to be reviewed by council, >> of course. >> Um, the I
111100% agree that we should have options for discussion coming forward. And before we even get to that, is everybody okay with having a committee of the whole meeting on March 5th to continue this conversation? Yeah, >> I'm not. But I'm >> just kidding. No, it's a great idea. I I am sorry. I will not be here. You >> agree with that? >> Pam, >> my only concern is that three of the board members are disputing what four of the board members decided and I am willing to collaborate. I am not willing to delete the part that the community has asked for which is um how we view private property and immigration um ICE uh uh anti-constitutional ICE actions. >> No, I think Dr. did speak to that by saying consensus might be where it is
112exactly at this point where it is still 43 >> and this is just an opportunity to maybe come a little closer together as a board. So I think that's what the opportunity is for. >> Whether or not it comes to that we don't know. So but we do have our idea and what we want and having maybe a different thing we can add or put with this. But yes, the intention is what you think, what I think, what Karin and Ray at this currently think, but to at least have the input and hopefully maybe all of us agreeing that would be great. So, it's an option to put out there to at least hear these other options. But I agree with you that we've already made that kind of consensus what we want to see
113in this and we can see what is brought forth. Mhm. Um so yes on the March 5th meeting to have a committee of the whole awesome one decision made. Um the uh the other piece is bringing options. I don't want to put I think there's there's value in what you're saying Chris of not wanting to put all of this on Mary. Um would our dissenting members >> be willing to bring forth a draft? >> Yes. >> Of what you guys are thinking so that we can look at what has been um agreed to as the um immigration enforcement limitations and be able to see or incorporate or marry the ideas that you guys are having. Mhm. I love it. I would like us to hopefully not be referred to as dissenting. >> Oh, I'm sorry.
114I was just >> I I I think what we're trying to get to >> is a place where we can all feel good about that is a a good statement about our values and that is is not going to be ambiguously non-inforceable and potentially put us in in harm's way. I think that's where we're trying to get to. M >> well and I think that one of the values that we have as a board is consensus and collaboration and making sure that all of the voices that we have are heard and um and not and this is not something I'm saying that additional input would be but not watering down the intent of these of this resolution. >> So um I think that would be I know for myself that would be really helpful is
115to see what you guys are would bring forth is what your ideas are. >> We can do that. >> Now just to be the OMAS are we will not do that contemporaneous. So we will be mindful of those regulations and we will we will do that correctly and I know I have no doubt that will be done correctly but just for those watching at home that will be done correctly. >> I just do not want to give that indication. Yes. Um I if I I don't necessarily want to have the last word if there's others that want to talk, but I know we have a full agenda. Um I just want to recognize Karen, you reflecting the values of our board by giving those of us who do not currently agree um with the resolution
116as it's drafted the opportunity to um potentially craft something that all of us can agree on. You know, Pam, I I hear the urgency in your comments and the desire to really move this forward expediently, and I I recognize that, which is why I tried to suggest some version of a middle ground. It might not be satisfying to everybody. Um, but to your point, we could move this forward quickly by saying the four board members think a particular way and we're going to roll with that and that's the will of the board. Um, I don't think that that's truly reflective of the way that we have commonly worked together as a board. And so I just want to acknowledge the patience of our fellow board members, the patience of the community while we continue to
117hash this out. Okay. So March 5th meeting, you guys, you guys over there will bring something forward in >> name. I guess if we're have to come up with a team name or something, >> right? >> Not yet. Not yet. Yeah. >> By the way, I will be here on the 5th. >> Oh, yeah. >> That's wrong. I get in at five o'clock that day. So, >> awesome. Great. So, >> it's on time. I'll be here >> in collaboration with Mary with administration. There will be a an additional draft of a resolution brought forward for us to discuss with the current draft of the resolution at a committee of the whole on March 5th. >> Yes. Good. >> Yes. >> All right. Awesome. Well done, everyone. Thank you for all of your thoughtful comments and
118um willingness to um really start from a place of understanding that we are all coming to this conversation with the same desires and intents. when it comes to our the safety and well-being of our kids. So, I think that's an important part of this and that's kind of how we roll when it comes to um this district. So, do you feel like you have direction? >> Yeah, I am grateful and I do want to also acknowledge you know the the genuiness with which every person brings such intention to their their role as leaders. Mhm. >> So, I just I'm grateful and thank you for allowing me to have that clarification because that really helps me. Next staffing topic is the staff um the staffing plan uh which will be presented by HR director Karen Schwarzwell.
119>> Good evening. Included in your board packet, you'll find um a proposed staffing plan for the 2627 school year. Um the plan includes um consideration of student enrollment trends, programmatic evaluation as well as communication and input from key stakeholder groups. Um there the overall plan includes an increase of 1.6 FTE of support staff and 1.6 FTE of certified staff. Um and there were a number of adjustments that were made kind of using our old models that um were outlined in the memo. And then there were three that were more programmatic shifts that I wanted to just pause and talk about quickly. The first is a sore speech language pathologist at Lincoln Middle School. Currently, our sore program at both Westbrook and Lions Park has a dedicated speech language pathologist who acts as a co-teer and
120is able to embed communication for our students across their day. It has not been part of the model at Lincoln Middle School, but as we've evaluated it this year, we do believe that that would be an appropriate and necessary step for our students. So, that's one change. The second is um our board certified behavior analyst. Um we are just finishing our second school year having a board-certified behavior analyst as part of our staff. And this year in particular, we've really been able to see the impact that that person's been able to have on our student behavior, both helping with proactive supports as well as supporting students in the moment and supporting staff's building of their own capacity to support our really complex kids. And so we're actually um proposing doubling that effort and having a
121second board certified behavior analyst um as part of the district next year. And then the third ch larger change is actually having a float afternoon or evening custodian as part of our staff. This would allow ensuring that our classrooms and schools are clean and ready for students and staff even when staff are absent or aren't there for the day. We want to make sure we have that consistent environment. I welcome any questions you have about the staffing plan. >> Anyone? >> No, you are free to go. Thank you so much, Karen. >> All right, moving on. Building brighter futures update. Dr. Case, >> uh, good evening. Um, so it's getting exciting. Um, I say I think I say that every month and it continues to get exciting. Um we um had a great week over
122at Lincoln. You can see pictures of all of our students and staff outside signing a beam for the for that's going to be put up at Lincoln. They were actually able to kind of see beams have started going up. We'll see in in some future pictures. Um but they were able to kind of be be we were able to point out exactly where the beam's kind of going and they were able to see it. But it was really exciting. They came out uh during PE class on Tuesday. Um I think there's even a picture there with uh Dr. Gore, myself, and Mr. Larson um signing as well. Here is um so we have lots of holes that were in the ground with lots of footings being placed. Um lots of cement going around. It was
123really exciting until can you go to the next picture? They started building up. Um and everyone kept saying as soon as we go vertical it's it's going to look so different. And they're right. So, this is one of the staircases. Um, it's the staircase closest to our existing building right now. Um, that is going up and they put it up once they started. It went up so quick. Um, and then if you can go to the next slide, um, you can see the staircase on the left and then you can see the beams starting to be put up. Um, and if you can imagine science classrooms right there, those are science classrooms. There will be three levels of them. Um, but it's pretty exciting. We actually the um there's a bunch of classrooms on the
124right there that can look out uh at the construction as well as the staff lounge. So we've now uh the staff were asking for what am I looking at? So we've given them some some maps to show them exactly what's being placed. Um so it's just it's really exciting. In the next couple weeks um as soon as I think even starting maybe Monday um the gym walls which are prefab meaning that they come kind of already put together uh they will go up um and that goes up pretty quickly. So you'll see uh in the next two weeks I think the the gym put up and we'll be able to bring that back in March. So pretty exciting. Um as for Westbrook um we have I don't have pictures because there's nothing to show yet.
125Um but we do have um they actually have a meeting on site next Thursday as they prepare for um all the construction that's coming soon. So any questions about Lincoln or Westbrook? When when does Westbrook actual construction kind of start? >> Sure. Uh so they've done a little bit of just the um electrical that needed to happen to move the transformer. So they did the interior uh work over winter break. They'll do what needs to happen in the exterior and spring break. They do anticipate uh putting up some fencing starting on spring break and getting some work done. Um but really it's going to start then in the summer. In the summer the mobiles will go away and that's when Yep. That's unfortunate. We can't have the mobiles where the where the because that's where
126the construction's going to be. So, so they will need to go away right after school's out and then we'll and you'll see that construction start. >> And how are you accommodating for those molds being gone during that time? >> We're we're accommodating. We've been having lots of conversations about how we'll make it work for a year. >> Okay. And I think they're still available for purchase, right? >> They are still available for purchase. Just come and take them. >> I know. A she shed a he a he space. It could be the ideal gift for your loved one. Bam. Go ahead. I just had a comment. Um MPPL is works with the village to de accession taxpayer things like vehicles and um and I was part of that when we got rid of our um
127decrepit uh van. maybe call Sean Dorsey at the village and see if he could maybe put it in the um government auction. You have to have a gov.sam um sam.gov um uh login. Um but the village really facilitated a lot of that once I set up the SAM.gov for um MVP. It it might help there. You know, it's amazing. Somebody bought that old all rusted out van. Actually bought it. >> Excellent. I'll take a look into it. >> Chris, >> uh Eileen asked one of my questions. My second one is just are we on schedule? >> We are on schedule. And we we've and we've really enjoyed the warm weather recently because that is >> I was going to say we've had a fantastic winter construction. They they they you can't see in the picture,
128but right around the corner is where they've started putting up the walls for the maintenance area. And really when it's been too cold or or the weather hasn't um worked out, that's where they go and start working. And so they they are they do a great job um of just working where they can on that day. So there's enough to do. >> So we are still >> we're on schedule August 2027. >> 27. Yep. Excellent. Did uh and last question, did anyone do the Michael Scott bury their face in the cement? The wet cement? >> I actually just watched that one with my family. So, uh no, no cement. No cement yet. So, someone should have done that. >> There's still time. There will be more. >> Let's not give ideas. Let's >> The door
129isn't closed. >> If >> Okay, I do have to say um it's awesome to see every time, but I was not invited to sign a beam. So, just >> and for future reference. >> Guess what? There's more beams, Nicholas. A beam for everyone because we actually brought that up and we said, you know what? There might be some other stakeholders that might enjoy signing a beam. And our partners at Nicholas assured us there would be other opportunities. And I thought, I know just the seven people that might want to sign this beam. And we will not disappoint. There's more Sharpies, more beams. We will get it done. More concrete for face planting. We will do it. We will make sure we are going to make our mark on that building. >> All right. Uh thank
130you. Thank you for the update, Jason. Um it's always exciting stuff. All right, let's move on to the MPA contract extension. Yeah. So, um we are really thrilled um to give an update for um this topic and um later in tonight's board meeting, the board will be asked to take formal action to um uh hopefully approve our contract extension. Um there's a memo from uh Karen Schwarzel as well just summarizing but we were really um thrilled to be able to come to um consensus between um the Mount Prospect Education Association which is our certified teachers union and the board to um continue um the terms of um I should say I I should not have said extension. So I I retract that categorization, but to um lengthen the period of time that we will have
131a contract with MPA for um five more years. I'm sorry I'm not four more years. Four more years. I'm not changing any of the terms on this microphone and I should stop talking. So Karen's available if there's any questions to clean up whatever mess I've just made. Does anybody have any questions or comments? >> No, I will say that it was really a um again uh a really wonderful process working with MPA um to go through and do this and really come with a come to a place where we feel good about what um we have uh extended. They feel good about what they're receiving and continue that collaboration and great relationship that we have with MP. It's pretty pretty special. >> I agree. I do think it is reflective of um the state of
132collaboration and trust that exists right now between our amazing staff and the board and administration which is something that we work hard to continue to foster. I think all of those parties work hard to foster that connection and that trust and that inter reliance that we have to have as any organization does and um so that our focus can be on students. And so all of it is for students and through you know functioning um adult relationships and um us being um the kind of district where people can you know have that interdependence and um collaboration. And I think up to the highest levels as seen even tonight by this board. It really allows our staff to do the most important work which is be with our students every day and you know make the
133impossible possible which is you know open doors in the lives of kids. So that's the that's the I couldn't agree more with you. >> All right. All right. The full day kindergarten council update. All right. Thanks for sticking with us. We've got Westbrook principal Marty Hafner and I think Yeah, Dr. Monahart. No, just principal. >> She's definitely going to chime in though from time to time. Uh thanks everybody. I am excited to be here. Uh just if we just backtrack uh 18 months um when I took this role as principal. Uh one of the many things that really intrigued me about this job is this possibility of a full day kindergarten. Um so I'm really excited to share this with you, this update. um get your feedback, answer any questions, and then continuously update you
134as we um move along in this journey. Um it's already been a really fun process um and uh not only with construction uh but with also programming uh you know, internally in terms of academics, but then working just with the kindergarten team and uh visioning a program that's going to be, you know, best meet our needs here in district 57. Um, you know, the community here really wants full day kindergarten um yesterday. So, I think they're really excited about where we're going. Uh, so I think even just tonight will be good for the community to see um just all the conversations we're having, the planning we're we're talking about um and the progress we've made already. Um just a quick shout out to Dr. Vanderhar for reaching out to me, you know, in August to
135get the ball rolling. Um, you know, I think that, you know, this isn't until obviously 2027, but you can really never start too early when you're starting to think about, um, changing from a half day program to a full day program. It's a big lift. Um, it's extremely important. Uh, but just to get the conversation going. I'm just so appreciative of her support um, as we're looking, you know, to move in this direction, but do it in a really thoughtful way. um and bring everyone along on our journey so that everyone has a a stake in the game and and their voices and feedback can be heard so that we have a sound program. Um so I guess I'm going to use this here. Perfect. All right. So this year we're uh we've started a
136kindergarten council and the kindergarten council is uh made up of everyone on this list here. Um I'm on this list uh Carl Anderson, our assistant principal, all of our kindergarten teachers and anyone that supports our kindergarten students. So, uh, MSS, LSS, uh, ML, um, our Kim Storz, instructional technology coach at Westbrook who's been in, you know, um, very invested in in part of the process, uh, and special education, Mandy Stigmu. Uh, so you see everybody on here. Um, I can't thank this kindergarten council team enough. Um, we're meeting five times this year just as a cohort, uh, on our half days. So half days of Westbrook currently, um, are only for first grade students. And so our kindergarten team is meeting during that time uh in the kindergarten council. Sometimes it's all day. So sometimes
137it's, you know, from 8:30 to 3:50. Sometimes it's a half day and then we do some other professional learning in the afternoon uh as as a full school. But I really can't thank this team enough. I think that they've, you know, come to the table with so many wonderful ideas. Um and again, you know, our program is going to only be as good as the people that are on this list. um you know, thinking about their expertise um in working in the kindergarten uh setting uh but also thinking about how we're going to expand our program from half day to full day. um and how that's going to impact some of the supports we have, how that's going to impact um you know, the academic programming. And then, you know, just scheduling wise, you know,
138what that's going to entail um which we're going to talk a little bit about tonight and and how we're going to incorporate some different things into our kindergarten programming um outside of academics that is really going to be powerful for our students and really not only hits on our um strategic plan, but also really highlights their portion of graduate every day, which is extremely important. Um, so thanks to our kindergarten council team and all the time they put in already and the time they're going to be putting in over the next year and a half. Uh, so this year we are working with a consultant Karly Andrews. So she's the executive director of the Alliance of Early Childhood. Uh, she's really um an expert in play-based learning and how we bring that to life in
139in a classroom. Um, you know, there's we're going to talk a little bit about uh purposeful play, but you know, play in general of how we incorporate play to bring out also the academic rigor in a classroom and the skills that we can provide through play. Um, that not only highlight what we're learning in like math, reading, social studies, science. Um, but then also just unstructured play and the skills that we can produce with collaboration and problem solving and you know just peer interaction or peer conflict. all the really important skills that we're constantly working on as adults, right? And so, you know, I think that it's really good to figure out how to build that into the program and build it in very intentionally. Um, so having a part of our schedule where we
140do have some purposeful play, but then also thinking about how does play come out when we're, you know, working in HMH, which is our, you know, reading program or, um, you know, our math program, you know, throughout the school year. Uh, and so something we're going to talk about a little bit is how that scope and sequence is already being developed for academic uh, uh, progress, but also, you know, Carly's been a great um, advocate for just play in general and and bringing that idea to our team. Um, our team obviously has already eaten that up. Um, if you're, you know, familiar with Westbrook, our kindergarten team's incredible. Um, and so they're just excited to to figure out how to incorporate that and the the logistics behind that. But Carly's been a great uh support
141and and advocate for um bringing that into you know our vision. Uh so for thinking about what our goals were this year. Uh it's a conceptual framework um that includes play-based learning uh creating a renewed vision for uh kindergarten and then looking at a full day kindergarten schedule and then you know the logistics of that and how do we bring that to life. Uh so Carly's been you know great at leading us through this. Um you know it's an ongoing process. So if you look here on September 19th, we talked about the power of play. January 5th, these are the five days I I referenced earlier. Uh purposeful play. Um the last one we we touched on schedule. We're going to carry the schedule over into March 3rd. U play entry points. And then you
142know a big component is like the social emotional learning, the equity, and the inclusivity. And we think about play. Um it's a universal language. Um all kids can play. Um and all kids can can learn through play. And so just really valuing that um a through a schedule that shows that we value that uh but also bringing that to life on a regular basis. And then family engagement um thinking about you know how we're incorporating play into our day and like what does that look like? Um you know cuz I'm sure everyone here probably has a different idea of what play might look like. Um so just really defining that for the community so that when you know kids come to Westbrook they have an idea what that looks like, what that's going to bring
143out of our students. um and how it just fits into all the skills that we want them to have as they move on in their journey in district 57 and beyond. Uh so that's just a quick outline of what we've done in kindergarten council so far and what we're going to be doing. Uh this really ties right into our strategic plan of outstanding student experiences. Um just a quick board here. This is this was on our um EC board to start the school year. So uh play is learning and it just you know goes through kind of some of the things that comes out. problem solving, executive functioning, motor skills, um creativity, curiosity, sharing, self-regulation, all the skills that we want our kids to have and what can happen through play. Um both unstructured play,
144um but also structured play and figuring out what that looks like and how that's tied into the work that we're already doing. Uh so just uh you know, wanted to make sure that we're tying that in to the strategic plan as we should be doing with everything that we go through as well as just the portrait of a graduate and bringing those uh components to life. Uh the pedagogy of play is choice, wonder, delight. Um so you know that's something we continuously refer to in the kindergarten council is um you know kids given the choice. Um it creates the wonder and then the delight from that. Um and then how do we harness that into um helping students grow both academically, socially and emotionally. Um so it's something that is just kind of always on
145the the back burner and always brought up as we're talking through this kindergarten council. Uh play is crucial for children's learning and development. Um, so just research shows that so many things can happen through play. Um, and so that's why we want to make sure that when we're talking about building a full day kindergarten, um, that play is a big component of that. Um, don't want anyone here to think that kids are just going to show up and play all day. Um, but thinking about how play is going to be incorporated in a thoughtful, intentional way. And yes, there should be time where kids play um, you know, unstructured and and have that time to collaborate and work through different scenarios. Um, but there's also time that we can structure play that's meaningful around content
146that we're already learning. And so just thinking about how we do that really thoughtfully, um, is a big part of our kindergarten council this year. Um, and then carrying that over into next year and figuring out how we want to move forward, um, uh, as a team. So play supports children development. Um, just, you know, quickly highlight physical, cognitive, language, social, uh, skills, um, emotional, you know, regulation. And then on the right here, we have, uh, just kind of what a teacher's role can be. So teacher is a stage manager setting up things for for kids to play. Teacher is a mediator, someone who comes in and navigates certain conversations with students as they come up. Um teacher is a player. You know, we want teachers to be, you know, on the floor in groups
147working with kids, collaborating with kids. Um I know that's the best part of my job. Um you know, when I go into classrooms is getting opportunity to play um and talk to kids and learn, you know, what makes them go and and how do I help them grow just in terms of their everyday life. And I think that that's something that we're trying to, you know, harness here too as we build this into our our day. And then teachers describe. So someone who is kind of observing and seeing what's happening and figuring out how one day can lead to the next and we keep you know uh going in in a linear direction helping kids grow. So um we have both what you know play can do for obviously children most important development but then
148also like what the teachers role can be and just some of the things and themes that we're talking about this year as we're meeting as a council. uh to start this process uh we've incorporated a day of play at Westbrook. Um and so we did this last year and it worked out really well. So basically what happened is uh we had a global day of play. So in kindergarten specifically last year, February, there's a global day of play. It was February 5th and uh basically our kindergarten team set up stations in different classrooms and our kids came and they did play all day. And the goal there was just to see a you know how much fun the kids had and and just the excitement there but also just for the teachers to see you
149know kind of the impact of that and have some observations of like you know how are the kids collaborating when they have the choice to go into a classroom and play kitchen or clean up u when they go in another classroom and do crafts like who are they playing with? How are they interacting? Um, and so that was such a success, we actually incorporated that into first grade last year, too. And then this year, we took it a step further and we're doing it once a trimester. Um, so just again, it's it's more just to get acclimated to like what that can do. Um, you know, as we're looking at full day kindergarten, it's not going to be days where we play all the time, but it's more of like, hey, there's a certain component
150of our day that is play. What does that look like? How do we structure it? And just getting comfortable. I think that's a big piece of this too is as we're making these changes or as we're looking at expanding to full day kindergarten um you know the comfortability of our our teachers and staff to roll some of these things out is I want to give them experiences as we're kind of leading up to 2027 so they do feel confident and comfortable and we can flush out certain things and and get their feedback on how things are going so that when we do roll it out it's actually you know ready ready to go and it's fine-tuned and so like I said kindergarten had such a good time that first grade wanted to do it so
151we are doing it across the school. Um currently um EC plays actively currently already in their schedule. Um and I think one of the biggest things too is you know bridging that gap between you know EC first grade you know EC really playbased already first grade a little bit more academic heavy and so like how's kindergarten a bridge especially as you go for full day. So like when you're going from EC to kindergarten we don't want it to be such a shock where it's like oh my gosh we're just throwing a bunch of academics at them. Um but also we want to make sure that it's rigorous enough for them to be prepared for first grade. So thinking about like that transition is a big component of this as well. And so day of play
152has really helped us um navigate that which has been really fun to see. Um and uh actually uh President Benuel was able to come on a day of play which is super fun. Uh so um she's more than welcome to speak to that um later on. Uh which is really cool. Um construction and furniture. So just a couple things that are in line with this which is really cool. um is obviously what Jason mentioned, building better futures, but the construction and the addition of of Westbrook and the new spaces we're going to have. Uh but also the furniture. Um the furniture is a huge component um of of how we're going to incorporate full day kindergarten and what that looks like. Uh the way that we're doing our furniture pilot at Westbrook is we are
153rotating the furniture pilot through classrooms. Uh so um we don't have the space as Jason alluded to uh to have an extra classroom where we can use as a pilot furniture classroom where classes can go in um you know Lions Park and Fairview have a space to do that. So what happens is you know there's there's a classroom full of that pilot furniture and classes are able to check that out and use it for a period of time certain days certain activities. We actually are rotating that actual furniture through the classrooms themselves. So our kindergarten team all have had the opportunity to work with the new furniture and then along the way they're giving feedback on that furniture so that we can update tweaks you know here and there as we're changing classrooms. The goal
154there you know to our benefit thinking about full day thinking about the addition is that uh our teachers get the opportunity to actually work with that new furniture in their classroom for a long period of time. So they get to give me really authentic feedback around what worked for them, what didn't, and most importantly, our kids get to work with that furniture. So instead of just a group or a class working with that furniture for a period of time, I have my entire kindergarten group working with that furniture and being able to give feedback. Now, obviously feedback looks a little different kindergarten. Um it's not a survey. Uh but it's more of just like that informal feedback from the teachers, but also like thumbs up, thumbs down. Do we like this type of furniture? I
155really want our furniture to mirror what our kids, you know, are uh leaning towards or what they're excited about because ultimately that's what the furniture is for. And so it's really good for us to kind of rotate that through and give them the experience. But also it's good for our teachers to do that because furniture also can lead to different instructional strategies. Um and then if you don't have the opportunity to use the furniture, instructional strategies can be something that might be hard to understand or hard to incorporate because you haven't had the full experience. Uh, so it's been really good to see how that furniture has maybe changed some of the things they're doing um or some of the things they're doing um lend themselves better because the furniture is updated. So I just
156think all of that's really neat. Um but construction uh I'm actually going to show you a quick video. Um I know I know it's getting a little late, but uh this is the interior of our building um as we last saw it. We shared this with uh our staff in our last staff meeting. Um it's been in my weekly update for a while here, so our staff is is familiar with this, but um I'm just going to share it with you. I'm not sure you may have already seen it, but uh it's our interior um construction. So, that's going to be the outside of our NPR and our uh at the top our LRC, our library. This is going to come in here. This is where our kids corner entrance is going to be. So,
157we're going to have a new kids corner space. If you're familiar with with Westbrook, it's on the front and there's a ramp up front and it goes into the gym, but we're going to use the NPR for that. This is our um our lunchroom and our NPR. Kids are a little bit bigger in this video um than what we're going to see at Westbrook. Uh we're going to have a divider here. The goal there too is uh during lunchtime is we can have um if we have indoor recess instead of the classrooms, we can bring some some students into the space and have a more like movement uh recess, which is going to be really exciting. Uh here's our hallway coming out of there. Uh this is where we're going to go into a um
158a music room. Uh the furniture in here is just for props. It's not actually what it's going to be. Uh, but here's our courtyard in the middle there. We're going to have a walking path out there that's going to be very functional for learning. And then we're going to pop into this. These are This is one of our special classrooms. Uh, music is the way it's designed right now. And art is on the other side of the wall. Uh, but just an idea of what the new space is going to look like. So, as you see, there's seating out there, which is going to be great. We're going to have a little uh area for kids to learn outside, sit outside. Staff can sit outside and eat lunch, which will be really cool. Uh now
159we're upstairs in the LRC. The LRC is going to consist of a steam room. Um which is going to be really cool. That would be awesome, too. Uh yes, I like where your head's at. Um we could use that as a staff for sure. Uh but a steam room for learning. Um and uh so that'll be really neat. Uh so just an idea there. As you notice, um, we have a lot of the, uh, the the, uh, the honeycombs at the top. That was also in the, um, in the NPR. So, theme of of Westbrook bees, obviously, is throughout this new construction, which is really neat. Um, but just like a glimpse there, you know, as we're kind of having these discussions, which is really cool. Uh, so staff is updated there, too. And then
160if you look at the furniture in these new spaces, we're actually, uh, Jason and I, um, uh, are meeting next week with our furniture rep, I guess, consultant. Uh, and so we're meeting with actually focus groups for these spaces to talk about what furniture is going to be in there so we can get their feedback and then kind of bring bring that to life once we figure out what they want and what they need in those spaces. So that'll be really cool. Um, so again, just quick highlight. Um, we have the hive there. We're going to call this the hive, which is kind of cute. Uh, we have the beehive at the top. Um, which is really neat. So the kids really get behind that. Um, there's just another picture of the LRC. Um, and
161just the outdoor there. Um, and then as I mentioned, the furniture pilot's going through, you know, a rotation. Um, and then, uh, focus groups, uh, begin next week. Uh, furniture pilot. Here's just some examples. We have a sensory table, some more playbased learning there. Um, we also have sensory tables in our EC classroom. So, talking about that bridge, right? So, kids are going to see similar furniture in the classrooms they go into when they go into kindergarten, which also helps with transitioning. Uh, so small group tables. Um, one of the things that I really enjoy is like it's colorful. Um, and I know that's really simple, but our kids love that and it brings a lot of things to life. Um, and just the joy that they can see of color is is so important.
162Uh, play area in the back there, a kitchen. Um, which right now currently all of our classrooms have a kitchen. So, as part of the kindergarten council, one of the things we brought in, um, we have a kitchen through our pilot furniture, but also we found some older kitchens that we had in storage that we brought up so they can incorporate that into their center time. Again, more to get acclimated, more to use it, uh, just to get comfortable. Um, which is super exciting. art easel and then soft seating which is really neat. The way that teachers use soft seating now through the pilot is really cool. They use it so differently. They use you know sometimes they're on the rug and kids are using it then kids are using it to read. Kids are
163using it for small group. So I've been in classrooms where kids are working in like groups of three or four for math. Some of them go on the soft seating to get a little more comfortable. Um you know I think the idea of flexible seating is making sure that we're meeting kids where they're at. Some kids do need to stand. Some kids do need to you know maybe lay out or sprawl out a little bit more. um it opens their brain and and allows them more access to learning. So I think that that's a super fun um idea. And then as I mentioned before um the la one of the last things you know as we talk about um next steps is we are looking at um our scope and sequence for HMH which is
164our uh reading program. Um our uh coach currently Kim Sorts has already started to outline like module one what are the skills we want and then how does play reinforce those skills. So, not to say that we're going to play all the time, but again, how does play bring out those skills that we're already learning in module one through HMH? We're going to do the same thing for math. And so, the idea would be as we're hiring new staff, which we're going to have to when we go full day kindergarten, that we have an outline of what those scope and sequences are going to look like, and then an idea of what play can look like when we're incorporating that throughout the day so that they get an idea of a what our vision is,
165what's important to us, but how do we bring academics to a more hands-on u real life experience? And then next steps, um, talking about purposeful play, uh, classroom environment. Uh, we're looking at that curricular review and scheduling. So, scheduling right now, uh, one of the things we've done in first grade, which is awesome, is we we designated like a 30-minute morning meeting, um, that is across the board. So, basically, it's a it's a classroom community time where they get to circle up, they get to connect, they get to say hi. We're going to do something very similar in kindergarten, but along with that, we're also going to designate some purposeful play, 30 minutes a day, um, where it's designated in the schedule. One of the biggest things that we're noticing is that if we think
166it's important and we show it in the schedule, it it shows that we value that um and that we, you know, that we want to see that happen and have it be um um acted upon. So, I think that that's something that we're working on um you know, throughout this process. I think family engagement is a big component. I think that's what we'll be doing next year big is like family engagement as we're getting full day kindergarten. not only marketing that we're going full day kindergarten, but also like holding sessions of like here's some forums, let's have some questions, you know, let let me share some of these updates with you so you understand what you're getting yourself into. Um, professional learning, which we're always going to need. Uh, so thanks in advance to Kristen
167and Aaron just thinking about what that looks like as we go to full day and what that's going to do to a the amount of time we're reading, the amount of time we're in math. Um, and as well as, you know, adopting new programs through along the way. Um and then obviously the staffing which is you know one of the most important components of this. Uh so that's all I got right now for kindergarten. Um appreciate you listening. You have any questions for me? >> Maybe a question. Um thank you very much for your presentation. Very uh very thoughtful. There's a lot of information there and it's great that you guys are I mean I'm sure you were always going to be doing this but it's great that you're getting out there doing these things
168because I mean the kids are doubling their days even more than doubling their days because you got to add their lunch and their recess into it. So, um, this this is a great way to go and keep on going with this. And, um, I can't wait to see what the whole full day looks like. And I'm excited for the teachers who have had two kindergarten classrooms for so many years to be able to teach one class. I think it's going to be phenomenal for them. So, >> I agree. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, if I can just echo Eileen's sentiments. Um, I know from my perspective as we have approached the full day kindergarten conversation, it's one thing to provide the space and another thing to provide the programming. And
169so I'm really glad to see just how much thought has gone into shaping what we hope will be a a full day for these kids and especially the attention that's being paid to easing that transition from each level to the next. Um, and I I hadn't even thought about what you said about, you know, these teachers will have one classroom instead of two sets of students. And what what a great experience that will be for just in terms of the relationships that those teachers are able to build. I know they do well even across the 40 kids that they have in two parts of the day, but to have the same set of kids for the whole day consistently all the time, I think will will really um go a long way towards deepening those
170relationships and the impact that the teachers can have on the kids that are in their class. So, I'm very excited. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Uh again, thanks for the presentation. I was curious, are you or anybody in the kindergarten council concerned about something uh meeting this deadline? I know we have some time, but every day we get a little bit closer. Is there anything that's like keeping you up or wor or on behalf of the council that worries you? Um anything that like we should be aware of like, hey, we're kind of iffy on one of these times of topics. It seems like everything is green, but just curious if there's something on your mind that's >> No, I appreciate the question. Um not at this time. I I do
171feel like that we started the conversation early enough where we can look at as a team and I think even having the team members at all of these meetings allows us to get so many different perspectives that not only a small group might you know miss but if we have 13 14 15 people you know we're kind of catching everything. So at this time I feel like we're in a really good spot. Um, but that is something I will keep in mind, you know, as we kind of move forward because I think it's something that I would love to update you on if there is a concern just as we're navigating this a for support, but also just to make you aware just so that you know you're in the loop as we're kind of
172navigating, you know, the process. >> Great. And then um just the second one for the day of play that you're rolling out now with the kindergartens and the first graders, do they play do they have like crossmingling between the kindergarters and the first graders or do they stay isolated between their age group? >> So in kindergarten currently we they stay isolated with their class. They move with their class. Um uh one of the things that we're working on uh in first grade in particular is actually co-mingling as we're thinking about the transition from Lions to Lions Park or Fairview. Um, just a complete side note is one of the things we're going to be doing in trimester 3 is taking our lunch groups, mixing them up um, in the lunchroom so that they actually can
173eat with Lions Park people who are going to Lions Park. Same thing with Fairview. It allows them to kind of get acclimated with more people so that when they make that transition to a different school building or in different sections, they're like, "Oh, like we ate together for, you know, two months." Same thing we're going to try to do with Day of Play in trimester 3 where we're mixing them up so they have the opportunity to work with the kids they're going to be going to school with. >> That's great. Great future thinking. >> Thank you. Thanks, Well, I wanted to also extend my gratitude for this. Um, I was thinking about both the presentation and the amount of work and thoughtfulness that you guys have put into the the programming for the full day
174kindergarten. One of the things I thought of is that this is not the um the visible exciting work like Lincoln. We're getting to see groundbreaking and buildings go up and all of that kind of stuff which is really great and fun to see that progress. You guys are doing the exact same thing, laying the foundations, building the structures for the full day kindergarten. It's just a little bit more, it's not as visible to the community. And so I just wanted to acknowledge that you have done an enormous amount of work um preparing our our community for the full day kindergarten because it isn't just a new building. It is it is both of those aspects and they're they're equally as important. Um so thank you. Thank you for being here. Thanks for hanging with us.
175>> Yeah, of course. Well, again, I just thank you for letting me have this platform for your the exact point is so that we can update the community. um not only update you, but I think it's important for our community to hear of the progress that we're making and I look forward to future presentations as we navigate this. So, thank you. >> Right. Thank you. All right. Insurance committee update. Less exciting, but >> what >> still important? >> What? Um >> you can't compete with kindergarteners. >> Yes. Sorry. I will put up pictures of kindergarteners next time as I talk. Um so, in your board packet is a board memo outlining uh some recommendations being made. Um we are always looking at um how to reduce costs for both staff and for the district. Um
176as well as looking at the benefits and and what we're uh putting forth um to support our staff. Um and so um just uh to clarify the the recommendations being made would be implemented for next year's insurance which runs uh our fiscal year. So it would start July 1st. Um and so there are two recommendations in there. Um, and I'm open to any questions you have about uh what the committee has put forth. >> Uh, just a procedural question. So, how how do these recommendations get baked into the bargaining agreement? How does that work? >> Sure. Uh, it's the M >> A. Thank you. I always get MOA. It's the MOA that's attached um in the board packet. And so it would be approved by the board and then it would get added in. >>
177Great. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> No other questions. All right. You're off the hook. >> Mary, can we have the foyer report, please? >> Freedom of Information Act report. We have received nine foyer requests between January 15th and February 12th. The detailed report is available in your board packet. Thank you. And I'm actually gonna comment on the foyer report. >> Oh, no. >> I don't know. No. Is that an oh no. Um >> Oh, yay. >> I don't know if everybody else um in the community or in the district understands the extraordinary amount of work responding to these foyer requests is they can be very extensive and require um work from all levels of administration. So, it's not I want that to go I don't want that to go unagnowledged because it is something
178that is such a a vital connection between our community and the district and you really you really are spending a lot of time on that. So, thank you so much. All right, consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> I did the bills. >> Yes, I did the bills this month. They were fabulous. Everything's tiptop. So, thanks again to Jason and the uh the team over there in payroll and the various other departments to keep us afloat. >> All right, great. Um, can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Dorner, >> yes. >> Member Fay, >> yes. >> Member Kowalchek. >> Yes. >> Vice President Leto, >> yes. >> Member Nelson, >> yes. >> Member Deech, >> yes. President Bennett Hill.
179>> Yes. Nice job. >> All right. We have no unfinished business. We are now at our second opportunity for community comments. Is there any Are there any members of the community that would like to speak? Come on up. No, no, no. It's fine. Please come up to the microphone. Hello, Kathleen Schaefer. I am a staff member at Mount or I'm sorry, Lion Spark. Um, and uh, a community member for 28 years. Uh, with that, a proud parent of three district 57 graduates. Uh, one of them, our oldest, is a nurse living in the city of Minneapolis at a public hospital. And so we have um been uh our family has uh had you know a different lens to the ICE presence in her community. And uh so I'm just want to comment on the uh
180proposed resolution um that I feel it is a statement about this particular moment in time and this is what the community is looking for. um concerns about the enforcability are legitimate, but they don't really matter because it's the the message that we are sending to the community. And by community, um I know we talked about the students who are um at risk uh of uh having uh themselves or family members uh deported or or hurt. But um as as we've seen, it it doesn't matter who you are. This is impacting all of us in in our communities. Um and uh the um community wants ICE to know where we stand. Last year, ICE chose to spend hours at the 7-Eleven. Um and I feel it's because they could. Um and they knew that. And uh
181we want them to know that this isn't acceptable to us. We don't want dangerous masked uh men with guns on our property. Um, and so I think that's important to to make the statement. And uh, so I am appreciative of you adding back the March 5th meeting so we can move this forward because I feel that this is timely and it shouldn't be drawn out anymore than it should than it needs to be. Um, and I appreciate what you said about the quality of it, but I you are remarkable at pulling together quality um, work um, and with the deadline. Um so thank you for your time and attention to this um matter. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else? All right. Seeing none, we'll move forward to new business. Okay. Can
182I get a motion to approve the one-year contract for Brianna? I can't pronounce your last name. Grisbeback. Thank you. I always ask my kid if how to pronounce your last name. Um, as the principal of Lions Park School. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. Member Kalek. >> Yes. >> Vice President Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Member Deech. >> Yes. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Kill. >> Yes. Congratulations, Rihanna. We are so thrilled and um could not be more proud of Bri and excited for her to be the new Lions Park principal. She stood out um far and away um as just an incredible person for this role. And truly, we are all so sad to say goodbye to Principal Katie Kelly who has been
183such a force of excellence in Lions Park and District 57. You have really set the bar high for all of us and done such such significant work, Katie, but part of that work has been the mentorship of your assistant principal and your teammate Bri, who has just been, you know, such an outstanding um partner to you, I know, and someone that I know um will be aligned in her vision and her commitment to the greatness of Lions Park, which is just a such a special place. But we could not be more thrilled that um the new Lions Park principal will be Bri Grisbeck. She's going to be great. And I know the staff um are going to be so thrilled about tonight's news, as well as the families and most of all our kids at
184Lions Park. Um it'll just be a really important day, I think, to share the great news and just thank you to this board for being um so recognizing of how special she is and um just how great the future is going to continue for Lions Park, even as we say goodbye to our Katie. Yeah. Picture. Can we get a picture? Yeah. Thanks for being here. Did you Did you go down the slide? That's all I want. However you want Take care. See you. This is This is the 11th one of these I've drank today. >> That's >> I would have to hear >> right >> to not go once. >> Don't want to break the seal. >> You didn't want to hear. you'll be all of our uh all of our witnesses here that you
185did not hear the discussion that just was happening. You're welcome. Okay, let's move on to the MPAA contract extension. Can I get a motion to approve the 4-year contract with the Mount Prospect Education Association from July 1st, 2027 through July 30th, 2031? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Kalchek. >> Yes. >> Vice President Leto. Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Member Deech. >> Yes. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Kill. >> Yes. >> All right. Great. So, um, the next item on the agenda is the first read of the board of education meeting dates for 2627. If anybody has any questions or comments on the on the the meeting dates >> on one of them. Oh, >> you know, Larry. >> Yeah, >> I'm okay with
186it. Okay. >> I think that's not the first time that's happened. >> Can maybe we get a resolution just >> too soon. >> Okay. All right. Great. Let's move on to communications. Um, NSSO, please. >> Yes. Uh the NSSO governing board met on Wednesday, February 4th. Uh a couple notes. Uh so I think you all have heard me say or just knew that Brian Bulier, our wonderful uh director of Sunrise Lake, who is absolutely fantastic, uh is sadly retiring at the end of this year. Uh leaving some big big shoes to fill. Uh but we have filled those shoes uh with uh Andrew Picket who will be the new leader of Sunrise Lake starting next year. Uh Andrew is currently the assistant principal at Central Middle School in Gleno. Uh he has a strong background
187in outdoor and physical education uh specializing in inclusive programming and educational leadership. Has a passion for hands-on experiential learning in natural settings. So, makes him a very good fit uh for Sunrise Lake. Uh we had a chance to meet him. He was at the meeting and seems like he's fired up to uh to get started and looking forward to uh to working with him in the years to come. Uh the operational board which has now met twice Mary. >> Uh yeah, >> twice. So uh one of the things that they've done is is in an effort to try to streamline you know the source of what was a lot of discussion last year about how will the operational board interface with the governing board. Uh well one of the tools that they've come up with
188is a kind of a standard method to make recommendations to the governing board. So there's a you know without being you know too bureaucratic it's a streamline form that says you know what's the advice that we want to give what's the rationale and what is the recommended action that we'd like the governing board to take. Uh so just makes it very simple and have all the information in one place to provide that guidance to the governing board. So uh that's pretty cool. It's actually been used a couple times already. So uh very nice stuff. uh every year uh since at least I've been on the board uh there has been an unreserved fund balance that NSSO has. So uh they obviously charge all the member districts tuition and uh they do a really good job
189of managing those funds and at the end of the year and after their audit uh any of those funds that were not used are returned to the district. Uh and so there was an unreserved fund balance uh this past year of $377,18252 uh which will be returned to the district. So I don't know exactly what our portion of that is but it's it's not zero, right? So every penny counts. Uh and our next meeting will be uh Wednesday, March 4th. Yeah. How about that with the trip and >> All right. Thank you, Ed Foundation. >> Yep. So, the Ed Foundation uh would like me to remind everybody that their very big, very important Vegas vacation themed gala is two Saturdays from right now, February 28th. And you can get tickets at 57edfoundation.org. Um there are
190a lot of exciting things happening. Um, and tickets are going fast. So, if you have any intention of going, go to the website and pick up your ticket or tickets. Now, one of the very exciting in-person raffle items that they wanted me to highlight here tonight is a pizza night package generously donated by Novak and Parker. This includes a pizza oven, a Caputo's gift card, and the allimportant wine that goes with. So, um, if you are interested in something like that, please come. Please put your name on the in the raffle. There are a number of great silent auction prizes. So, if you've ever been stuck not uh you know in the back of Lion's Park for a concert. Um you could be putting your name on a silent auction to get front row seats
191for those concerts and those events. So, those are just some of the highlights, but there are lots of great donations and sponsors on the website. So, again, that's 57edfoundation.org and it's in two Saturdays from today. Just a quick question, Alan. At the risk of outing myself as not paying attention, the the I knew we had talked in previous meetings a while ago about the gayla date. The first communication I saw on it was today from at least on Parent Square and all the other is that was is that true or was there something sent out previously that I didn't see? It's been on my personal calendar for months. >> Um, >> yes. Okay. >> So, I think >> so I'm just not paying attention. Okay, that's that's fine. >> I've known about the Ed Foundation
192before I was appointed to the board. Correct. >> Okay. Well, it definitely snuck up on me, but I've been a little busy, but that's no excuse. I will I will share with Nicole that for next year we'll have an airplane fly over town with a big banner. >> We need every week there's got to be a No, I'm kidding. All right. Well, thank you Al. >> I think I think there's a good a good point here is that in general whenever you want to communicate something, let's do it three, four, five, six times just to get more people >> people who don't pay attention like me. >> There you go. >> Thank you. >> So that's the report. >> Thank you. Go ahead. >> What is the dress code for someone who's attending the event?
193It's a Las Vegas theme where which they pretty much have said you can do anything where it could be jeans. It can be formal wear. I think they've put it out where they don't want people to have to get a new dress or something. That's what I seem to gathered from other uh meetings or from what I've heard. So you don't have to no you don't need the tux but you can wear it if you want. All right. Right. I think Chris should delineate the what he and um his lovely wife wore last time. That was really cool. >> I don't even remember to be honest. >> You you you had like a vest, a black vest and then >> it wasn't by choice, believe me. >> I I know. I remember you said that
194your wife chose it. Yes. But but it was really cool. It was black and and red. I mean, it was so cool. It was very effective. >> Wow. I I honestly don't remember that. >> Okay, good to know. Thanks, Pam. >> Get those pictures. >> Have to look at the pictures. >> Yeah. And um just the first gal that I went to was the derby themed and we all had magnificent giant hats that we wore. You can Well, no, >> I still have mine if you would like to to wear a hat. >> I had a bow tie. I remember that. Um, and there was one guy that was wearing a um a jockey costume and then the other guy who had the inflatable like horse. >> Mhm. >> So, >> does that answer your
195question? Right. >> It runs the gam. >> Yes, it does. >> Yes. >> Elvis is alive. >> Spectrum. >> All right. >> Yes. Okay. Can we start with the PTO? Oh, yeah. >> Just just really quick. I I would probably do them a disservice by not uh reminding folks that it is a limited um engagement. It's only 7 to 10 this year. It's a little bit different than in years past. It's at the Friendship Conservatory in Displayplaines and again 57foundation.org. The timing is a little different than years past. I just wanted to make sure that I snuck that in there one more time. Thank you. >> Thanks, Helen. All right, let's start with Lincoln PTO. Sure, it will be quick. I had the misfortune of actually not being able to attend the most recent Lincoln
196PTO meeting. Uh there was a kurfuffle of sorts at Lincoln regarding their HVAC or something was happening that night. There was some repair going on. Um unanticipated, not construction related, right? Par for the course for our poor aging building. Um given that the meeting was not in person, there was a and a virtual option that I found out about after the fact and then was not able to join. It was kind of all around a disaster. Um I did however communicate with Nicole who um shared some updates with me and I think the primary one that I want to share is just another call for volunteers right as um the current board is preparing to transition over and many of the parents who are board leadership for the PTO are aging out of Lincoln. Um
197it's just so crucial. It's so important to get another crop of parent volunteers to continue the very important PTO program which serves not just our students but our teachers at Lincoln and really helps to round out um the experience of middle school for the kids and the staff. So that would be my my call to action. Uh the next meeting is next week Monday again at Lincoln and I hope to be able to attend in person or perhaps have more success attending virtually if it comes to that. >> Thanks Kim Lance Park. >> Uh the most recent meeting was on Monday, February 2nd. Uh the science they talked about the science fair which is a wonderful success. I think they said they had somewhere in the neighborhood of like 64 projects that were presented. That
198was on Wednesday, January uh I'm sorry, February 4th. Um the Palooa, which is the talent show, is coming up. That will be uh the family and friends show will be on March 4th. And then the show for the students at the school will be on Friday, March 5th. That deadline has already passed. And I know they were doing to actually register to be a part of it. I know they were doing like the initial come and kind of show us what you're doing so we know it's appropriate. um I think was that this week. So anyways, the Palooa will be coming up soon in the next couple weeks. Um let's see what else. There is a family trivia night that's coming up on Friday, February 27th from 6:30 to 8:30 and food and drinks will
199be available for purchase. Uh there is and actually at the time I I didn't write down the date and I know it just came out, but the fifth grade activities group has put out another event. They're going to do it at that altitude trampoline park in Shamberg. It is March anybody six. It's like a >> See how fast I can. >> Yeah. Is it? Yeah, it is in early March. Hopefully, Karen will shout out to me. >> No, it's like the eighth. Anyway, early March. Uh, and the um c and I won't I won't say capers. Cap ice cream cool school night. >> Thank you. March 8th is the uh fifth grade trampoline night and the Lions Park cool night is scheduled for May 28th. >> So they are very excited about having a date,
200you know, kind of later on so it'll be nice and warm. Plenty of ice cream to be had. And then the last comment that was made um there was some feedback given about how parents uh multiple Lions Park parents have commented about uh the additional clubs being offered at Lions Park. I know that I remember being at a meeting where there was conversation around, you know, Fairview does a really great job of, you know, offering a lot of different opportunities for students at Fair View and there was sort of, I'll say, maybe a challenge kind of given to the Lions Park staff and community. And it seems like there's definitely been an increase in opportunities and that parents have noticed and really appreciated some additional club opportunities being offered there. So, uh, last is their
201next meeting is on Monday, March 2nd at Lions Park Elementary. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Fair view. >> Well, I had a complete brain fart and I had it on the wrong week, so I apologize for missing that meeting, but I did go to the science fair, so I had a little fun going around seeing some of the projects. Um, some ideas were the longest lasting chewing gum. Um, I learned about lava lamps and tornadoes. Very interesting stuff about tornadoes. And they had like little this little bottle thing with the two bottles and squish it and do certain things and you get the tornado to do certain stuff. Very cool stuff. Very smart little kids. Um, uh, filtering dirty water. Learned that, um, they used sand, pebbles, and dirt, and sand was the best
202thing to filter the water. and she gave me a little quick fact that they actually do in some refrigerators use sand in the filters. Yes. Um so those were just some of the the few things that I witnessed and saw when I went to the event. So it was a great event, very popular. Um there were a lot of projects. The place was full from wall to wall. So it was a very good event. So, and the next meeting will be Tuesday at Fairview on March 3rd at 6:30. >> Thank you, Westbrook. Ah, Westbrook. It seems that many of us missed our PTO meetings, one thing or another. Um, they did not have a meeting in December. In January, I was at the um the fundraising topic um meeting at Stevenson. So, I missed that
203meeting. The next meeting is Monday. So, I asked Laura Degrroot and um Caitlyn, could you send me the minutes? I'm not in I I I I don't have access to the uh the PTO like I did last year. Is and I do you all have access to it? Well, you're parents and I'm not a parent. So, in Parent Square, I have, you know, I have groups, but the PTO is not one of them. >> You actually um you might want to check in with the PTO themselves. Just >> I I did and I and I talked to Roberta and And I was um worried about that because I wanted to have the minutes so you didn't think that I was um derelct in reporting in reporting. >> So, so they did send it to me.
204Um, it it's interesting. If you remember the LRC treehouse, the treehouse will be removed. And so Laura asked if they could donate the LRC treehouse maybe to neighboring schools or public libraries. So I don't know if that's something that SAM.gov, you know, here here's a treehouse. It's not it's it's not something that you can drive around in, but you might want it. Um, so I I thought that that was uh very uh anticipatory from uh from the PTO. I like that there's a school community drive um for coats and warm clothing. Uh and everything was uh purchased that was needed and sent to Lisa Rhino. Uh they were able to purchase larger sizes and were able to go above and beyond what the families were expecting. uh talk about the reading incentives. Uh Jan Rutled
205talked about that. LRC they're putting in more effort into building awareness. March will be leaping into literature. So parents who come in will get a little gift more info uh to follow up first grade connections. um an effort to plan wider grade school playdates with both Lions and Fairview students uh to hope that it goes through second through fifth grade and as they discussed Marty's looking into PTO planning a playd date at Westbrook Lions and Fairview open to everyone. I wonder if I can go. Um and so then they talked about the Valentine's Day uh parties. uh PTO will bring uh bin to parties and everything can be donated and inventories inventoried for future use. Social events they talked about the wolves game recap parents night out um family dance update tentatively April 9th location
206to be decided. Uh sweet celebrations happen celebrate here's the cool thing. So, celebrations of culture was an idea that they got from Fairview Celebrations of Culture. So, at Westbrook 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. on March 18th, the main event is going to be families that volunteer to share something about their culture, hoping teaching might want to get involved to share their culture. We'll purchase past books for each kid. We'll have some supporting activities like story time, book nook, reading a story in a different language, scavenger hunt, coloring station. Um, Caitlyn was going to talk with the ESL teachers and uh, Mrs. Kapper for recommendations. And once the passbook is completed, there'll be snacks and a tinker station to pick up from. Uh, we'll give trifolds to volunteering families. Uh, and no home-cooked food. I thought that
207was interesting given that very recently the Mount Prospect Historical Society had their annual dinner thanking the membership and everything is is homemade except for the um carry gold butter that I brought as a donation and um cornbread and and different kinds of of bread and things. So the historical society prides itself on making food but um the decision for for celebrations is to um buy the food. So and the stations uh can be uh about dress about traditions about music and they might ask high school students to volunteer to run the activities and then they're talking about spiritware. So I thought that that was really cool. I think the LRC treehouse and the um celebrations of culture are really cool. So that's it. And Lions Park, Mary, did you want to say something about MPPPL
208and Lions Park? >> Um yeah, so um kind of um related to what you had mentioned, Ray, that you know, the uh public library has been partnering with Lions Park to provide club. I don't know, Kristen, do you want to mention anything about it? that you probably would have more insightful. >> We are so grateful to the Mount Prospect Public Library. They have been great partners in a number of different areas. So, they've provided professional learning to our staff. Um they've also offered a an author um visit for us this year as well as last year. and we did reach out to them um to see if they would partner with us uh especially at Lions Park to provide a a club opportunity and so that was something that they did. So we we are
209so grateful to the library and we hope for continued partnerships with them. >> Go ahead. >> I just want to put out for the uh Fairview Global Gathering will be on Thursday, April 23rd at 5:30. just put that off. >> All right. Um Pam, when is the next Westbrook meeting? >> Next Westbrook meeting is next Monday. And unfortunately, it is also my MPPPL Foundation meeting and I am now the legal secretary as opposed to the unofficial secretary. So I have to send them a note and say remember to do the Zoom meeting and send me the recording because I won't be there. So, thanks Pam. Um, next is the board president report. I have two items, one of which is no longer valid. Um, so March 3rd is the IASB North Cook meeting and at
210that meeting we will actually receive our governance award that we were awarded last year. So everybody come lots of pictures. Um, that's an exciting thing. And um we are having a committee of the whole on March 5th instead of cancing that meeting. So that's all there is for me. Um we don't have any items for board discussion. Does anybody want to uh propose uh topics for future meetings? Okay. And we have no needing need no need for close session. So can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Second. Vice President Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Member Deech. >> Yes. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. >> Member Kowalc. >> Yes. >> President Benck Hill. >> Yes. Thank you so much.