District 57 Board of Education Meeting 11/18/2025

001Call please. >> Member Dorner. Member Fay >> here. >> Member Qualch >> here. >> Member Leto >> here. >> Member Nelson >> here. >> President Bennett Kel >> here. All right. Let's start with 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. Okay. All right. Well, I am so excited to share that we are going to be celebrating school board member appreciation tonight. So, um, we have a little video that we're going to start with and then we have some guests that are going to say some words. [music] >> I'm schoolboard rock. Have a day. 67 [laughter] 57 [singing] school board. We appreciate what you do. >> Do you

002know what a school board member is? >> Not really. No, >> I don't either. >> Do you know what a school board member is? >> [music] >> Um where like administrators meet like for a meeting. >> Surprise. [laughter] >> Thank you for your support. >> As a student here at Lincoln Middle School, do you have a special message to say to our wonderful board members? Keep doing your job and you're doing great. Do you have a special me message for our school board members? >> Um, yeah. I'm very thankful for all that they do to make our school like a better and diverse space. >> Do you have a special message for the board? Um, um, thank you for like everything that you do to um, make school feel safe. >> Do you have a

003special message for the school board members? Um, I mean, I looked in the school coming. It It seems pretty cool. >> Do you have a special message for our school board? [music] >> I do, Safina. Thank you for being an amazing school board and giving so much of your time and energy and talents to make District 57 the amazing place it is. We are grateful for you. >> You're the best school board. >> Do you want to be a board member when you grow up? Um, probably not. [laughter] But they do a lot of work and I don't think I can do that at all. >> They don't get paid. It's >> okay. >> They don't get paid. >> They do a lot of work when they don't get paid, don't they? >> Yeah. >>

004Yes, I agree 100%. >> School board. >> You've helped make district 57 feel like one big family. Thank you for caring about students, not just as learners, but also as just people. >> Thank you for supporting our students and staff at here at District 57 and for doing everything you can for us. >> We appreciate you even though we don't really know what you do. >> Thank you members. We hear that your meetings run late, but this makes a huge impact for us. >> Happy school board member appreciation day. Happy school board appreciation day. >> Thank you school board. >> Thank you for your support. >> I thank you district. Thank you, Mount Prospect School. >> Board >> members. Yay. [music] >> All right. Well, if you are in the audience and would like to

005share anything with our schoolboard members, this would be a good cue to come on up to the microphone. No pressure. [laughter] >> Oh, look. [laughter] Good evening. On behalf of the superintendent advisory council, we're excited to be here tonight to say a very big thank you to our board of education. You may not always get to see the impact of your work in real time, but we see it every day in our classrooms, in our activities, and in the way our school feel like home. You make decisions that affect what we learn and how we learn it. You give students more chances to learn, share uh to share our ideas and be a part of what's happening in our schools. You also support programs that help us grow, not just as students, but as people.

006Things like learning how to handle different challenges, being kind and inclusive, and making our schools feel safe really make a difference. Speaking of exciting challenges, we can't talk about appreciation without mentioning the new Lincoln Middle School. Even though our group won't be won't have a class in the new building, we are excited for students who will. It's a symbol of how much you care about the future of district 57. >> Your leadership and belief in what is po in what's possible has truly made a difference. You've shown that when a community comes together around its schools, amazing things can happen. So tonight from all of us, we just want to say thank you for listening to students, for investing in our future, and for making District 57 a place we're proud to call home. >>

007Happy Board Member Appreciation [laughter] Day. And at your at your table you have um letters and artwork and just notes of gratitude on behalf of our students and our entire district for your tireless and unpaid work because I think that is always a shock when people go what they don't make money doing this. is completely volunteer um in all aspects and it's a massive amount of commitment and um dedication. So we are just truly grateful for you and proud of you and um lucky to have you at this table making such important decisions on behalf of the district. So congratulations on this moment. >> Thank you Mary. Thank you kids. um just from the board to the rest of you. It's this is why we do it. We love having the children here and being

008able to see the kids that are in the schools. So you guys are are you're the meaning behind what we do. All right. Now we are going to move on to the next segment which is the school board members report. Student board members report. So for board appreciation month, we're dedicating this month to appreciate the wonderful people who make up our district 57 board. You guys make such a big impact on our community and all the students and teachers that are part of our schools. We are so thankful for all that you do and for the work and effort you put forth to make our experiences in district 57 as amazing as possible. Thank you so much. Talking about our new building, due to construction, it has been challenging a challenging learning process because of

009the drilling and the machines beeping. Lots of classrooms have been disrupted, but our teachers are doing great by continuing teaching instead of getting distracted. Everyone knows that this is for a great cause for our district, our future district 57 students. We also reviewed board presentations with Dr. Gore on the tent tentative tax levy, the draft school year calendar for next year, and the student achievement data from this fall. Hi. And this is a video that's just about us and the student board members and it intro introduces us to the students so that they get a feel of what we are and who and how we can help them. >> [music] >> Hi, my name is Michelle Gmanchuk and I'm in eighth grade at Lincoln. Hi, my name is Joshua Saji and I'm in eighth grade

010at Lincoln. [music] >> Hi, my name is Penelopey Prescott Cardi and I'm [music] in seventh grade at Lincoln. >> Hi, my name is Safhina Sadiki and I'm [music] in seventh grade at Lincoln. >> We are this year's district 57 student board members. [music] >> We represent you in our district by collecting your ideas. We take these ideas and share it with the school board, the people who lead our district [music] and call the shots. >> We use your ideas to change the district for the better and [music] make your time at district 57 enjoyable. You can get us your ideas and suggestions on our D57 [music] student board member website in your class link. We'd love to hear from you and we hope together [music] >> we will make our district better. >> We'll see

011you soon. Um, the next video is an interview on the November construction news and how building our new Lincoln is going. And it's just like a brief overview of what they done they've done in the past month. >> [music] >> Hi, Lincoln Lines. Josh and Michelle here with your Lincoln construction news. We're back again with site superintendent Matt D. And wow, there's been a lot happening out here. >> Yeah, huge mounts of dirt and the maintenance building is gone. Mr. Can you tell us what's coming up next? >> Getting the ground ready for the new school building. Building that up to grade so it's nice and level. Then when we'll start installing some of thing called a storm trap [music] and it's a big underground system that collects rainwater so the site doesn't flood. [music]

012After that we'll start digging for foundations of area A which is the first section of the new school. [music] >> Very cool. And hey, could we get a quick tour of your trailer? >> Sure. >> Basically, this is where we read our our blueprints. The blueprints are so big that there's two sets of blueprints for we have to have certain things like this up for um the OSHA board and like we have to have first aid kit. We have to have a a map and stuff to the nearest hospital. And um then basically, you know, kind of my calendar, my look ahead, uh what what we're planning to do for the next 6 weeks. And uh that's really about it. >> This is awesome. Before we go, will construction stop once winter gets here? >>

013Well, it'll slow down a little, but definitely not stop. We'll keep working through the winter as long as the weather cooperates. >> And snow. That's it for this month's Lincoln construction news. >> Go. [music] Does anybody from the board have a question? >> Um, very informative. I I enjoyed those. Are you going to be do you're going to be doing that construction monthly meeting and doing like a video for us? Yes, I'm pretty sure we'll be doing it every single month [laughter] for as long as we can. Okay, that sounds cool. I like that. I like that kind of updates. It's real live update. Um, and then the other question was you said you had for the the other video for the kids. You know, there's a website that they can go to for you.

014Is there other opportunities that you guys are going to put yourself to uh Lincoln in other ways for the kids to get to know you or ask questions or see what they can u do or bring to the board? Um, we do have a form that they can fill out. Some kids, one girl has filled out and that's where usually that's where our their ideas can go to and that's how they we they can reach us reach us. >> Okay. Just a quick question about it. Maybe I'm just tossing out an idea of like a meet the meet the board members like like just an opportunity through with within the day itself like you know something for them to have people come to them maybe or they can come to them like whether it's at

015the cafeteria >> yes obviously at Lincoln um it would be easier just um logistically and we've actually even sort of brainstormed it's possible we could get creative and think of a way to also kind of bring them on the road to the to go to the other three schools as well but I think That's definitely something that we're looking to be creative and figure out how can we have the most interaction so kids can really use them as a a voice to to bring their ideas. So yeah, I like that idea. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Well, thank you guys. Great work on the video. Lots of videos this month. You guys are busy. Amazing you have time to do your schoolwork with with all this stuff. But I'm kidding. uh on the video that

016you showed which was great introducing yourself to the to the students and and saying who you are. >> Did that video or will that video be broadcast at the other schools as well? And is it like during the announcements or something? How's that work? So, if you're a student at Lions or Fairview, will they see that too? We were thinking about emailing it to all the teachers at like other schools and at Lincoln and thinking about showing them during advisory or during any other free time that they have so that they can get to know us and know that that we're there to help them. >> Excellent. Excellent. Good idea. Great job. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. All right. We're going to move on to our board recognition section. So this month it

017is November is Native American Heritage Month. A time to honor the rich cultural diversity, history, and lasting contributions of Native Americans. The land we now call Mount Prospect once belonged to the Podawatami people, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes region. Today, District 57 recognizes their historical legacy and the cultural wealth of native Native Americans whose heritage continues to thrive in communities across the nation. Throughout November, our classrooms were invited to explore Native American history, traditions, and culture through readalouds, videos, and hands-on activities. Teachers also had access to lessons lesson plans, biographies, and additional resources to support meaningful discussions. By celebrating Native American Heritage Month, we honor the first peoples of this land and deepen our students understanding of the diverse stories that shape our country. And now we have a presentation on the

018portrait of graduate from our Westbrook administrators. All right. Good evening everybody. Uh Marty Hfner, Principal Westbrook. So I do want to echo echo this sentiments earlier. We just thank you for all your support. Um in particular my role. We feel so supported at our school uh staff and students and community and and we can't do it without you. So, we really appreciate that. I want to shout out Heather Serno, who is at the forefront of putting all these videos together, um, including the one you're about to see. Um, you know, you talked about the the best um, opportunity to to see how the district is doing is to see the kids doing it. Um, and she's always thinking about a way to put the kids [music] at the front and center. Um, so she's just

019incredible. Um, and then I have two kids that I want to shout out that are on our video. Uh, Samson and Allesia. They were brave enough to interview our staff and students about what it's like to be a critical thinker. So, at Westbrook, what we do, and you're going to see a little bit um of this recap here to start the video, but basically we focus on a component of our portrait every year. Uh two years ago is empathy, last year's being collaborative, and this year's critical thinking. And so, we interview staff and students about what it's like to be a critical thinker. So, hope you enjoy the the video. And our kids were super brave. So, again, Samson Allesia, thank you so much. [music] Over the last three years, Westbrook has been highlighting a

020specific portrait of a graduate characteristic each year, and we began everything we do. Two years ago, we focused on empathy. Last year, we learned about being collaborative. And this year, what it means to be a critical thinker. Tune in as we walk around Westbrook to interview students and staff on what it means to be a critical thinker. >> What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is when you use your brain to solve problems and to fix things that you come across during your day. >> What does it mean to think about something? It means like you wonder about something you like. >> What is critical thinking? Oo. Critical thinking is when you wake up your brain and you start to think of different ways of trying to solve a problem. >> What does it mean to

021think about something? Your brain's working. What is critical thinking? >> Critical thinking is when you think beyond a yes or no or a what question and you kind of dive deeper into the thought. >> Critical thinkers ask questions. They look for clues, make connections, and learn from their mistakes. They use their brains and their hearts to solve problems, try new ideas, and think things through, all with curiosity and care. >> Do grown-ups still need to be critical thinkers while >> Yes, grown-ups definitely need to be critical thinkers, especially teachers, because we have to be flexible when we're teaching you guys and adapt to what you're learning. And if something's not working, we have to change things up to make sure that you guys are getting what you need from us when we're teaching you. If

022your brain had a sound, what when when you are thinking, what would it be? >> Final rule. Do grown-ups still need to be critical thinkers. >> I absolutely think grown-ups should still be critical thinkers because our world is evolving. We are still learning so much about each other and there's so much to learn. >> If your brain had a sound when you are thinking, what would it be? >> Um, funny. Oh. Do grown-ups still need to be critical thinkers? Why? >> Absolutely. Grown-ups have to be critical thinkers because critical thinking is important because you need to keep growing and learning. >> If your brain had a sound when you are thinking, what would it be? Birds chirping. >> At Westbrook, we know that even our youngest learners can be critical thinkers because every day they

023already [music] are. >> I could be a critical thinker but not giving up. I can >> be a >> ba >> critical thinker >> by asking questions. >> High five. Give me this. You're awesome. You're the man. Have a good day. [laughter] [music] So, as you can see, um wonderful video and it just proves that my job is the best job on the planet. I get to work with these kids every day. Um and they just did a spectacular job. So again, thanks to those who interviewed, but also thanks to the teachers and and the students that stepped up to the plate to be interviewed and and answer such thoughtful questions. >> Thank you. >> And I I'm sure you don't have any questions for me, but if you do, I'm happy to answer them.

024>> Great job. >> All right. Now, we're going to welcome Mr. Schaefer up to talk about Lincoln cross country. All right. And Miss Bailey, sir. Maybe. All right. Good evening, everyone. All right. Isn't this sweet? Another trophy for our case. That is number six. That's number six. Not that we're counting. Not that I live vicariously through it. All right. All right. So, we are here to recognize some amazing athletes and their accomplishments. First thing you have to recognize, guys, is you don't know how hard it is to get to state. You have to know the road to get to state. Okay? There are 16 teams that are sectional meet. Only three get to go to state. Okay? And that and you have to do it just one time. You have one time. So, it's not

025like you can have a a great race in the beginning of the season and then you can use that to get to state and qualify for state. You have to do it on one day. It's one shot. that Eminem song or whatever it is. Okay. And Oh, yeah. You got that, didn't you? All right. Now, going into the sectional meet, coach and I, Coach Bailey and I, we weren't sure if we were going to take individuals or we were going to take teams. Our boys, I mean, they're good. They're young good, but on the boys side, it tends to be eighth grade laden and we are sixth and seventh grade laden with with Nolan in there. Nolan and the seventh and sixth graders. All right. And then our girls, we knew our girls were one

026of the top teams in the state, but there were three other teams in our sectional that were also one of the top teams in the state and only three of us were going to go. So there wasn't much wiggle room. If a team did not perform that day, they weren't going. So once we found out that the girls went I mean the girls uh qualified by winning the sectional meet not just qualifying but winning the sectional meet and and and they crushed it. I got to say um we were elated and then when the boys went through there was a lot of color up there and we didn't exactly know if they were in or out and we're looking at our apps and we don't know what we're doing and so we had to get

027Matthew B come up to show us what to do and he said we're in we're the third place team. So, our boys qualifying was a big big accomplishment as well. And once we knew that both teams were going, we knew that Monaco's pizza sales were going to be doubled with both teams going down. We have a Friday meal on those days. All right. So, what you find here is this. Okay. This state crew, these students have battled through highs and lows. Okay. sickness and health or sickness and in injuries. All right. Um and that they had their own individual goals too. Some of them were just trying to make the state crew. Some of them were trying to make the top seven. Some of them wanted to be all sectional. Some of them wanted to

028be all state. And we got all of that. We got all of that. They crushed it as a group. So, and in a very pressure-packed um stage too at the sectional and state meet and what is just as amazing is you have the acro that has committed to each other. They cheered for each other. They've picked up each other. They celebrated each other's accomplishments which was special to watch in lifetime. And Kelly and I are just so lucky to be part of it. We're just lucky. We just, everybody askked us what we do and I'm like, we teach in the right zip code. That's what we do. We teach in the right zip code. We have great kids, great parents that have supported us throughout the year driving um driving their kids all around the

029Chicagoland area, driving their kids to state, okay? And just and just being there for the kids because as much as we can do, we we know that the table talk is the biggest influence on the kids at this age. So, um, what we're going to do is now at state, our boys finished 20th, 20th, and they were the youngest team at state. And if they continue to love the sport and love the grind, who knows what's going to happen next year? Who knows what's going to happen next year? All right, have some more fun. And then our girls finished fourth with the trophy. And um why stop now? You know, we we have we have we're losing Millie and McKenna, but you know, we have a big crew coming back and Lincoln has stacked trophies

030one other year like 2004, 2005. We did it. Let's see if we can go for three times. You never never know. You know, that new school is going to have a big trophy case, so we got to fill it up. All right, so this is what we're going to do. We're going to start with the boys. Okay. We'll get them their certificate. You guys take pictures here and then we'll take pictures over there. All right. So, let's start with sixth grade. Um, Jackson, come on up. Say it for Jackson. Hey, good job, Jackson. Congratulations. All right. And go right over there. All right. Seventh grade, uh, Max Mr. James, let's go. JD, Peter, and then for eighth grade, we got Patrick, who's who's doing double duty tonight. Great, great videos, Patrick. Very, very good. And

031then last but not least, we got Nolan. All right. All right. Um, guys, you want to come out here and and they can take quick pictures and then we'll have the girls. Any any uh any parents want to take pictures real quick of this >> and then we'll do that one, too. No, they have enough pictures of us. All right, let's give it up for our boys. All right, boys, you can go back down. I'll get the girls down. All right. And boys, don't leave yet because because we're going to take a picture in the back. All right, for girls, we have sixth grade, we have Whitney, and we have Lily. Seventh grade. Let me see. I'm trying to read this. I'm trying to go look at that. Seventh grade, we have Is it just

032Julia and Alex? Oh, [screaming] Nora. Nora, come on up. We got Nora. Nora, I still have you lowercase on here. So, I didn't see that. My bad. And Nora. All right. Thank you for correcting me like you've done all year. All right. Seventh grade, we got Julia. All State. All State. Julia. That's why she has two medals. We got Alex. All State. All State. She got two medals, too. >> And then eighth grade, we got the Eminem. We got McKenna. You didn't like my joke? >> No, it was great. >> All right. Thank you for playing along. And we got Millie. All State. All State. That's right. She got two medals. All right, let's give it up for our fourth place girls. Want to get quick pictures of this. And as they're taking pictures, we

033have a video, short video of our state meet. We want to thank the parents for their their pictures. And Mrs. Bailey, you know, Mrs. Bailey does most things and then she hands me the mic and I go out. It's kind of like Mr. Steen was Mr. Steen and I was Mr. Angelio. He did all the front work. Mr. Ste did all the back work. All right. All right. So, here is our video. You guys could get that, couldn't you? [laughter] >> But we're not married. >> Hey So with this I had to put the one in there. Let's go down there. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [music] Heat up >> [music] [music] >> here. >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Parents, you will get one

034more email from me one more probably at 3:00 in the morning. All right, I'll send out I'll send out these videos so you guys can have them, too. All right, for your keepsake. All right, we need all cross country runners in the back. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> it's just easier. >> I don't know. >> And we just need to give a cheer for Coach Schaefer and Coach Bailey one more time. They are the best and we are so grateful for them. And thank you families for being here tonight so we can honor your kids. Thank you, Lincoln Cross Country, Mr. Schaefer and Coach Bailey. Thank you so much. >> All right, we are now moving on to the community comments portion of our agenda. District 57 Board of Education welcomes community participation in an effort

035to both listen to our stakeholders and keep the meeting moving forward. I want to remind everyone of our public participation procedures and guidelines which is available in board policy 2230. Individuals wishing to address the board can do so during the community comments portion of the agenda. Individuals should provide their name and limit their comments to 3 minutes. Please remember that this is not a dialogue between you and the board. The board is in listening mode during this time. Individuals wishing to contact the board of education are welcome to do so under 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 community comments? Okay, seeing none. All right, we're

036going to move on to our staff and superintendent reports starting with the tenative tax levy. Dr. K's It's all right. Um, I was thinking how how can you follow that? But I think nothing follows that better than the tax levy. So, I'm excited. I hope you're all excited as well. All right, here we go. So, we are here tonight to talk about our tax levy. Um, and we're going to run through uh just a couple different slides. Um, there are some um different vocabulary words on this page. Really, if you walk away with anything today, uh the one thing to walk away with is uh the difference between a levy and an extension. So tax levy is the uh amount we're requesting. The extension is the amount we receive. So when we talk about the

037levy, it's what we're asking for. When we talk about the extension, it's what we're going to receive. Um so just a reminder around our tax levy, we receive a majority of our revenue uh through property taxes. And so that's why this is so important as we look at what we're going to levy, what we're going to ask for uh from the community, and really what we need um to then um run our school district uh for the year. And so uh we look at a lot of different factors um as we start to look at the levy. We're going to walk through it today um and look at what we've done historically um and what we're going to be looking at for this next year. Um, back in the '9s, uh, this law came into

038effect, um, which really, um, looked at, uh, Cook County and, um, the effect that, uh, levies had on property taxes and put limits, um, on many of our funds. Um, and it was basically what CPI is plus new construction. Um, and so as we talk about it today, we're going to talk about CPI, which is consumer price index. Um some people look at it similar to like inflation. Um so we'll look at CPI um and what the percentage is and then we'll talk about new construction which is uh new construction that's basically on the books um that we can take um can collect uh property taxes from as well. Um CPI is a known factor. Uh new construction is something we don't know and have to estimate. Um [snorts] all of our funds that we

039talk about are capped except for the debt service funds. So debt service is the money we owe on our debt. um and and that is given to us that does need need to be levied uh because we have to pay that back. [snorts] There are definitely uh requirements around uh the levy. Um they're up there right now. So we're um approving or presenting and hopefully approving the tenative tax levy tonight um which is more than 20 days prior to the adoption in December. Um we um if a district is leving for more than 105% of the previous year, we actually are not, but every year we always um have a hearing. Um we want to make sure that we're transparent with uh the community on what we're asking for through the levy. Um so we

040will have a truth and taxation hearing. Uh we'll put a notice in the paper. Um and then we will have the hearing in December at our December board meeting. This is our timeline. So, November 18th today, um we'll see the um truth and taxation notice published uh on December 3rd. Um our uh hearing will be on December 16th at our December board meeting and then we will file I will file right away with the county. It is due by the last Tuesday in December, but we'll file right away um with the county. So, as we as I spoke about a little bit earlier, uh there are some things that are known, some things that are not known. Um, we know that CPI, uh, that we'll be looking at is 2.9%. Um, and on the next

041slide, we're going to look a little bit at historical CPI just to see where it's been. Uh, but we know that for a fact. Uh, we know what we received last year in taxes. We know, uh, the new property amount from last year. Um, and what we don't know is the, um, EAV for this next year, uh, which helps us figure out some things. Um, but the new property values is the big one that we don't know and we have to estimate. So this is a chart that shows CPI uh for the last 33 years. Um as you can see um it it even if you break it off by thirds um it's around 2.5 2.3% on average you can see the last four years have been high. Those two years where they uh it

042goes up to 5%. The the CPI was actually higher um but uh we are only allowed to collect up to 5%. So that's why uh it shows at 5%. Um but this is where it it is. We do expect it to be going down more towards the the average range of around 2.5 uh in the future. This chart shows our new property value um each year. Uh the one um 2016 that was the year the tiff fell off. Um so you kind of can take that one out of the equation, but um as you can see in these last uh five or so years um it's it's been all over the place. it's not consistent. Um we two years ago our new property values were around 500,000. Last year they were closer to 5 million.

043Um so it's a big difference. Um and what we want to make sure is um if we um levy under what we can receive, that's what we will receive. Um and so we want to make sure that we are accounting for the possibility of what the new growth will be, what the new property values will be. Um and so what um happens is um I take all those numbers um and then I put it into some different formulas to estimate uh what our levy will be. And you can see um in the middle row um so the top row is CPI each year. Um the second row is what we've requested our levy. Um the third row um is the percentage um that we received in the extension. So, uh I'm sorry, the third row

044is what we've requested in our extension. Um and the bottom row is what we received. So, for example, last year, uh we asked for 4.77%. We received, if you look at the very bottom of 2024, 4.04%. Um so, close. Um but we want to make sure we're accounting for we just never know what that new growth, that new property value is going to be. Uh this year, as you can see, um CPI has gone down to 2.9%. We are requesting uh 4.96 with that new growth last year. We just don't know where it's going to go. Um so we want to make sure we capture what we can through the levy. Um and we'll see how close we are and I'll show this chart again next year um to show you exactly where we where

045we end up. Uh this last chart um shows all our different funds. So we do levy by fund. Um, and the way we actually tell the county is um if our levy is reduced by what we're um uh if our extension what we actually receive is is a reduction of what the levy is, what we've asked for, uh they will reduce it from the ed fund. Um so um what I've done is I will look at where our balances are in the different funds. Um determine what we need to levy for this next year in order for our funds to be complete throughout the year. Um and then um I create what's that right column um of what we're you know the percentage it's going to go in increase or decrease. And so some of

046those percentages look big but also remember like that municipal retirement fund um is a pretty uh a smaller fund compared to some of the others. You know 214,000 last year. So going down to 100,000 looks like a big decrease percentage wise not a big decrease um in in numbers for the money. [snorts] um circled is that 4.96% um as you can see at the bottom bond and interest. That's not capped and that's you know based on the bonds that we've gone out for the debt that we have. Just a couple reminders. Um so the levy request is just that it's a request. It's what we're asking for. Um it's not what we're going to receive. We know that um the extensions are all based on the formulas through PTEL. Um and we and we usually

047find out about our extensions um midy year next year. Um [snorts] the extension uh will be increased across the tax boundary. So um as tax bills went out recently, I've never been so excited to get a tax bill this year. Um I actually was. Um but we um as people receive their individual tax bills um it doesn't uh necessarily mean if if if our increase is let's say that 4.96% it doesn't mean everyone's bill will go up 4.96%. It really depends on a lot of different factors. But overall it'll go up that amount depending of course on that what the extension ends up being. Um [snorts] and I've said it a couple times but uh never hurts the bond and interest levy that's outside of the capped funds. our next step. So, we're here tonight

048uh to approve the 2025 tenative levy. Um set that public hearing date for uh in December. Um and then we'll come back in December um to review the levy request. Um we'll do our our public hearing uh and then vote on the levy resolution. Um and the reduction resolution is if it's less than what we levy, where does it get reduced? Questions? just as exciting I know as Westbrook students interviewing each other or cross country >> Chris >> thank you uh very much Jason I always love this presentation it's always very clear and and easy to understand um I just I'm curious without getting too far in the weeds how you come up with that magical number that you come up with right I mean I know that >> there are there's probably a million

049things that a linear formula, but I'm assuming the big unknown is what you're estimating for new property values, right? >> So, what did you how do you do that given the craziness? >> It's a great question. It's a great Excel spreadsheet with lots of formulas, but uh in the end, I >> say that to me, >> I'll show you. I'm happy to show you what it looks like. Um in the end, I will put in a number to start. So, I'll put in usually about 10 million just to make sure. uh we have had if I go back uh there even like in 2019 it was a little bit above 10 million so I'll start with 10 million just uh there but then uh what I can do is I can test um I can

050test my formula to say well what if it was 15 million what if it was 20 million and double check to make sure that it still would work that we wouldn't be leaving any money on the table so I start with I start with a number that's realistic but I also test [music] the other thing that you'll see is uh here Um, one thing I try to do is take out the ED fund, but most of the funds, uh, nice round number. Even the ad fund is is pretty round, but I try to put round numbers in there. Just, um, if you start, like when I first put this in, the formulas will will give me, you know, 797,314. Well, that's just very easy to mix up as we as we start to write it

051on many different forms. So, I will make sure just to round it. Um, that's important. It it's I know that's not scientific, but it's also something that makes sure that it's it's accurate as we move forward. Sure. >> No, that makes sense. >> The the other question, and I'm going to try to ask this in a way that won't sound too silly, but there there's two scenarios that you could have here, right? One is we know what we want to levy for. It's probably less than what we would be entitled to levy for, but this is what we need, right? So, we're going to just go for that amount. The other scenario which which we've been in right understandably is we're going to levy for as much as we are able to levy for essentially

052right if you're in that scenario then you know given the risk of of underleving which is at least kind of real right what's to why not just say well we're going to levy for 9% right you're not going to you're only going to get what we can So does it make I mean why even take the risk of underleving in that case because you're not going to get 9%. You're going to get whatever >> we're able to. So >> absolutely I two two answers. One is I'm confident that this will not underlevy um because I've tested it to say if we have new growth at 30 million we'll still be fine. The other thing is that I I do think there's something to be said of you start asking for 10% people believe you need

05310% and then when it when you get 4% and they say well you were able to be okay with 4% why are you asking for so much and so I do think there is a part of that but I do know districts that go out for 20% 25% it doesn't matter because they know they're not going to get that much. No, and that's a a really good answer because that that is a good point, right? You you want to show that you put some thought into it and I do get that. >> Absolutely. >> As long and and your record is is stellar and never underleving too. So, uh >> yeah, I think >> so we obviously I I don't want you to think I I don't believe [laughter] that this is good. >> I

054I was just I've always wondered that like why you know if if you were not as diligent as you you could just say, "Well, I'm going to levy for some crazy number." >> Sure. >> It doesn't really matter cuz I'm going to get what I get. But but I do appreciate the Excel work you you put in. >> Sure. >> So awesome. Thank you, Jason. >> Any other questions? >> No. All right. Thanks, Jason. All right. We're going to move on to the 2627 student calendar first read. Does anybody have any questions? Um so actually um Karen Schwarzwell, our director of human resources is here and she's just going to give a executive summary and then if there's any questions she'd be happy to answer. >> Sure. We um had a wonderful calendar committee meeting

055uh at the end of October with representatives from all of our different stakeholder groups including parents to really talk through the calendar. Um, as I outlined in the memo, we have a new unique um pro um consideration for the 2627 calendar and that is the construction that we'll be doing during the summer of 2027 because we want to ensure that we have as long a summer as possible to get our construction work done. So you'll see in the summary the majority of the components of the calendar remain the same. We are starting the school year two years ear two years two days earlier than we have the last few years. Um, and the other big change is that we we um made a change with when a half day is. We're going to have a

056half day on a Tuesday in April to work with election day to kind of try to maximize our time in classrooms with students. Can I answer any questions for anyone? >> I had a question, but I just figured it out myself because I had to put in the right year. So, I was wrong. I printed up the memo for today and fiscal year 27 seems like not possibly coming up. >> Did you have a question? >> Go ahead. I understand you said that there were um some parent representatives involved in you know discussing this arrangement. I know we've heard some concerns from community members around half days and how difficult that can be childcare-wise for, you know, working parents to try to navigate. Um I guess I wonder was there any commentary in the course

057of the committee work about that and what was that conversation? >> Yeah, we you know laid out um as we started as a committee sort of what the variables were that we had control over and what the variables were that we didn't have control over. Um and one of the things we shared with the whole committee is that our various contracts with our different groups including um MPA dictate sort of how many half days, how many full days we have each year. So that was a that was a variable we had less control over. I think that we have as a team worked to assuage some of the concerns about the half days looking at a m looking at a partnership with Mount Prospect Park District for this year. Um, so the conversation when kind

058of looking at sort of what all the factors were, things like construction, things like state mandates, like we are not allowed to have school on election day and in November, I think helps people understand that there's like a lot that there are so many factors that we put into the calendar. >> Yeah. I I wasn't sure if we had talked about it before as a board or if it was um something that was discussed among administration about you know given that we know this is a challenge for you know some of our parents you know working families um had we pursued any options for you know even some version of an on-site you know after school club kind of a thing um would it be okay Dr. case to just give a summary of the

059um partnership that um Karen just mentioned because I think that actually came >> in response to some of the concerns that were shared. So I think it actually is a promising partnership. So >> yeah, absolutely. We uh are working with the park district um on those half days um and they've really been a great partner. They uh jumped right in and were very eager, I think, to work with us, which was great. Um and so we have options um at Westbrook, Lions Park, and Fair View for parents to sign up and we actually provided busing. Um so students would get picked up by a bus at the school and then brought to the rec center uh for the afternoon >> and so parents could sign up. We've had one half day this year and I

060think it went really well is what we heard. Um and so the rest of them are after the new year, >> but it's flexible, right? They don't need to sign up for all the half days. they could kind of do all a card and um you know, credit to the park district for being so easy to work with and collaborative with trying to make that possible. And honestly, we hadn't heard um not to say that there hasn't been a need for that, but we hadn't heard that expressed till the summer. And we thought, oh, like it was kind of a no-brainer to think this is a great opportunity and they couldn't have been more collaborative. So, we were grateful for that feedback because it allowed us it exposed kind of a blind spot, I suppose

061you could say, that we didn't hadn't pursued. Um, so hopefully it it helped, you know, families. >> Well, that's great. I guess we can check that off in terms of our strategic plan, building [laughter] community partnerships. >> Yes. Case closed. Strategic plan. >> All done. We don't need to do anything else. Um, I did just have one other, I guess, question. So you were saying for election day in November by law. >> So the state has advised us by law for the last three general election cycles. We have been the state but the state has had [clears throat] passed a law saying there couldn't be school that day. Okay. >> The state has advised us that they that we should be prepared for that, but they have not yet passed that legislation for next year.

062So, I think we're taking our best guess and assuming that it is going to come that that they expect legislation. >> Okay. And that's for election day in November, but not for the municipal elections in April. Correct. Even though our schools are still utilized as polling places for that election, too. >> Yes. >> Okay. Cuz I I think it was in this memo that it mentioned, you know, because, you know, in light of all of the various factors, we're intending to have a half day on the municipal election day. Um, and that we were intending to have some extra security on board for that day. >> Um, I guess my question is right where we're required to be open as a polling place. We're not necessarily required to have kids that day. I'm just my

063question is around the cost of the security. So, go ahead. >> Well, I I was going to say my answer is I can't remember off the top of my head. Um how much the security was. We did pay for um security at the different buildings. I I'm trying to remember. I can't remember the cost. I can definitely get that to you. >> Um yeah, I don't think it was a, you know, a huge amount of money, but it was it's definitely an extra cost. >> Yeah. I mean, my thought was in light of what you're saying, right? It's probably nominal. it's one day out of the year and in this case it's really only half a day that we would have students in the building. Uh but it is a cost and I guess my

064curiosity was you know if we're required to use our buildings in this way it stands to reason that we might have some other resources of paying for that security beyond just out of our own coffers. So I was curious about that >> like from the state. Is that what you're saying? Um it's something that we certainly could continue to advocate for. I know um I believe Ed Redd has that has pretty recently had that topic as a um an effort to advocate a with the state about this requirement and its impact of using schools as polling places. Um, I don't, to my knowledge, think that there's been a lot of success with moving that needle, but we're happy to continue to, you know, work through our partnerships and and we're certainly not alone. And I

065think it's pretty much in our area, I would say, the norm to have um, security just given concerns around the topic and, you know, that being such open access while kids are in in session. Um, so yeah, we can continue to advocate and keep trying to make sure our elected officials understand the impact to the local taxpayers, >> right? I mean, it seems like the alternative is not to have school, which we've done in the past, but then students losing instruction, you know, skews our calendars, >> right? >> There there's an impact whether it's financial or otherwise. And we've interestingly been able to, you know, Fairview has through Jason's savvy negotiation skills has somehow removed Fair View uh from their list. Please don't add them back. And um yeah, so it's just interesting because you

066know, even in the way that we s we can sort of advocate for which schools can be more secure in the way that we can cut off access, there just isn't a lot of collaboration with the powers that be in in that department. Understandably, they probably have all sorts of challenges to achieve their objectives. And yet, you know, schools seem to be the the most welcoming and accessible and probably easy to um we're just easy to work with, but we try to be advocating um during these times. So, Chris, >> thank you. Uh Karen, as always, uh to kind of following up on Kim's question, uh was there any thought to making the municipal election also just a non-attendance day? And just, you know, I don't know how we do that, but I mean, personally,

067I'm a big fan of not having students in the schools when there's when there are polling places. I just wondering if that was talked about, and if so, why didn't we do it? And if not, is that still an option? Possibly. >> We did. I think that this year, it's something we've actually talked about the last two cycles. This this year presented a an enormous challenge in that every day that we were not having going to be in session was a day earlier that we'd have to start or another traditional day off that we would have to not give to students and staff. And so that presented a little bit of a challenge in that for two reasons. We talked about the fact that moving earlier and earlier is just hard on everyone in general.

068And we also talked about a little bit of a whiplash because while we're moving earlier and earlier for this year because we want to end the school year earlier in the fall of 2027 because of construction, I imagine we're going to start a little later. And so like trying to equalize summers to the best of our ability so that we don't have a very short summer followed by a very long summer. >> Yeah, I I hear you. I I guess and I'm sure I'm way oversimplifying this, but that day I believe you said is right now scheduled as a half day. >> Yeah. >> I mean, could we have taken a half day somewhere else and just said we're not going to do that. We're going to do a full day on this day and

069and now we're not really losing any time, right? Okay, we're just we're losing a half day, but we're getting a full day. Kim's shaking her head. She doesn't like that. >> Yeah, it theoretically that could work. I Our challenge is that our full institute days are all in the fall and then in January, our January day is that day that's aligned with district 214 feeder schools and is really that combined institute day that is so important for so many of our groups that don't have Java lakes or as many Java lakes within the district. And then that October date is so far away from April that that October date we really use to leverage learning that a that April becomes a little bit late for. Um we definitely are still working on things in April

070and we like having that half day in April, but that that swap is not ideal. It's not something we discussed in great depth. It's definitely but that was sort of the rationale. >> Got it. Uh the other question I had and I don't know if Jason you know this or or Dr. Gore you would but given the construction going that will be going on at Lincoln and Westbrook is it possible that might make them less desirable as polling places just >> by chance take those two off go off as well now we're >> we would love that. Um I will say when we moved it from Fairview uh it was um it [clears throat] was a lot of work. It was a lot of conversations um and we were able to make it happen. Uh

071the hesitancy I think from them is moving polling places means people don't know always where they're supposed to go to poll no matter how good the communication is as we all could probably understand that. So I think that's their biggest hesitancy is in moving. I assume and we will ask and every year they ask us if we want to be a polling place. Every year we say no and every year they come. Um so it doesn't stop them but um but we will do the same this you know when they ask we will tell them and we'll reach out and say we have construction you know this is probably not ideal but I don't anticipate them moving. >> You have to answer no and we really mean it. [laughter] >> That's right. Thank you. >>

072I just had one in regards to the voting stuff. Um I know Lions Rec Center and Lions Park are both voting places which is kind of I mean they are right next door to each other. Um, I know since the Lions Rec Center is being taken down and being built, it really wouldn't it would be a moot point right now, but within a couple years, I mean, isn't that a possibility for Lions Park to be pulled since the rec center is literally right next door and they vote there, too? I mean, just a thought. >> Thank you, Karen. >> Thank you. >> All right, we're going to move on to our fall benchmarking data with Dr. Dr. Vanderhar. All right. Dr. Vanderhar is here tonight to go over our fall data. All right. Thank you.

073Um, in your board packet, you have a memo. Um, it's pretty detailed, so I'm going to touch on some of the highlights uh through this presentation, and then I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. So, I'm sorry. Let me go back. Um, so there are two things that I will be talking about today. One is our Illinois school report card and then the other is our fall benchmarking data. Um, and then just as a reminder, in the fall I bring to you our benchmarking data. So, this is where we are starting at the beginning of the year and then in the summer I review our growth data. All right. So we are starting with our um Illinois report card and accountability is measured in several different ways. You can see it up

074there. Most of it is based on English language arts growth as well as math growth that makes up 50%. Um we also have uh ELA proficiency and math proficiency. Um as well as um some assessments for our English learners, chronic absenteeism, and then completion of a climate survey. There were some changes to the Illinois Assessment of Readiness as well as the Illinois Science Assessment and that was really um something that the state decided to do to better align with ACT scores. So, you're going to see some differences. Um before it was based on a 750 score and you can see it changed um by grade level. Uh and I'll explain why a little bit more uh on the next slide. You can take a look at this graph. So, I know it's very small, but

075this has all of the states across the US. Um, [music] and when Illinois was looking at how we were doing on the National Assessment of Educational Progress or the NAPE assessment, this is the only standardized um exam that's administered nationwide. We had the the highest proficiency scores. Um and so really the state looked at those different scores and decided that it was too high. Um and so they decided to move some of those benchmarks um to better align uh both with the ACT as well as with the the rest of the states. And here you can see um how our district did compared to the state. Uh you'll see this slide for math as well. So we had 65.2% of our students were considered proficient. Um compared to 52.4% at the state level. Uh this

076is for ELA. [snorts] And then something that is new on the Illinois report card and this is something that is public so anyone can take a look at this is um I'm sorry this part isn't new. This is looking at how we performed over the last few years in terms of overall growth. Um, something that is newer is being able to take a look at it by grade level. Um, and so you can see at our middle school, our scores are a little bit lower in terms of overall growth, specifically in sixth and eighth grade. So, I'm just going to go back to the previous slide. Uh, you can see that overall our scores have gone down slightly. And when we take a closer look at our different grade level data, our sixth grade, which

077I've shared with you in the past, has been a little bit lower. Um, [music] and over the last couple of years, we've noticed that our eighth grade scores have gone down. And I anticipate some of the reason why the overall growth percentile has gone down for our district is really looking at those scores and specifically looking at writing. Um something that is newer again on the AR assessment is we are able to do item analysis and that um we can take a look at how our students are doing on different um different questions and then that's connected to standards and so we really are seeing a dip in our writing scores specifically at the middle school. We do have some professional learning for our staff in January and we're going to do some additional um

078item analysis related to reading. I'm sorry, related to writing. Um, so that we can really see our strengths and then uh areas of need. Here you can see our IR math proficiency. Um, so 57.7% um of our district is considered proficient compared to 38.4% at the state level. And you can see this is our overall growth percentile per or over the last few years. It stayed relatively consistent um for us. And then here is a breakdown by grade level. Um this is more consistent across the board uh with how we're we're doing in math. And then this is science um proficiency. So again these scores were also adjusted uh in terms of the those cut scores. So we had 64.2% of our students were proficient um on science compared to 44.6% at the state. And

079then the question is always how are we compared um to other districts within the area. So I wanted to provide this snapshot um for the the board. So you can see um the different scores on the left and then where we are for our district and then these are surrounding districts um to [music] 14 ft for districts. So we're higher than some lower than some. Um you can see that and when uh the Illinois State Board of Education um as part of what they do uh they give summitive designations to all schools. Uh so um students are considered and not students I'm sorry schools fall under one of these categories and so they look at how students perform across the board as well as different subgroups or student groups. Um so this could be based

080on race, this could be uh ethnicity, gender uh as well as different programming. So students who qualify for multilingual services, um special education, low income, and so you don't want to have any underperforming student groups. Um and then each year schools are compared to other schools within the state and they have a threshold or a cut score uh between each of these different designations. So on the right you can see what that cut score was for this year for those different categories. And then this um gives a a breakdown of that. So you can see our schools on the left. If you go all the way to the right, you will will see a summitative score. Um again, that cut score is at the bottom. Uh so you can see that we performed very well.

081Um we had two schools who were at that exemplary designation. One Fairview was very close. I think it was less than a point. And then um Lincoln was a little bit further away, but they've made um good growth overall. We always are looking for ways to improve. Um so you can see even looking at Lions Park and Fair View, um we see some differences in ELA growth and math growth. And so we're having conversations at the district level and building levels about what each school is doing so that we can learn from each other and grow from that. Here's our summit of designations. Again, we're very proud of these, of our students, of our staff. Um, these are very difficult to to have. Um, this is similar to what we had last year, except Fair

082View did switch again. They were one point away. Um, but these are all very good scores. All right. And then these are some of the takeaways. Again, there's more detail within your board packet in in the memo. Um, we did have two of our schools place um within the top 10% within the state. Uh, like I said, Fair View was just one point away. In comparing their um scores to last year, we did see that their math growth was slightly lower. Um, and then ELA growth did vary by grade level. We're also looking closer at our EL progress to proficiency scores. So, this is part of um our students who are multilingual learners take an access test. Uh so, really looking at those scores. We saw a lot of growth when we're breaking it down,

083especially for our students who are at Lincoln. And then, um like I've shared before, we look at this data multiple ways. Uh we have our district leadership teams, building leadership teams, as well as looking at this information um at team levels and grade levels. So, we are taking all of this into consideration as we are figuring out how we can better support our students and our staff. I'm going to jump over to our fall benchmarking data. Um, so I'm going to talk about our MAP growth. I'm sorry, MAP achievement and then fast bridge assessments. I want to start by sharing our student demographics. Um so this is um a breakdown of our district and then this is a breakdown of our multilingual learner students. So we saw an increase over the last few years. This

084year we have about 25 less u multilingual students. Um we've we're also seeing a shift um we primarily had students who spoke Polish or Ukrainian. we're seeing more of a shift towards Spanish um speakers uh across the district. Um and there was also a change so I along with Sarah Terski presented uh data to you in July and then about two days later there was a change to map norms. Um so every few years uh map looks at their data changes their their norms based on what they are seeing across the country. Um so you can see how 2025 norm shifted um more towards the left um compared to how the norms were in 2020. And I just want to reiterate that that doesn't change what students learn, but their so their RIT score would

085be the same, but their percentile may have shifted. And this really varied by subject area as well as by grade level. So especially on the lower end, there was more variability, especially in um reading compared to our math scores. But overall, there was a shift towards the left. Okay. And then this graphic um is looking at students uh by different subgroup who are at or above the 50th percentile on MAP. And I have this visual for uh ELA as well as for math. And sorry. Um I I think the the big takeaway from this is is really what's on the right side of that graphic and looking at those three subgroups of lowincome multilingual learners and students who have um who qualify for special education and have an IEP. So our students overall are performing

086well. However, we are noticing um this achievement gap uh specifically for those three groups. That is something that is very common across the state, across the country. Um, but it's this visual helps us to really see kind of where we're at in regards to that. We're also seeing that in math. Um, you can see just even comparing I'm going to switch back in just a second, but even looking on the right side, IEP stands for individualized education plan. So, this is for students who qualify for special education. So you can see I think it's 43% um or at or above the 50th percentile in math but we have lower numbers in ELA. So what our district leadership teams are doing, our building leadership teams as well as our different teams uh and grade levels is

087really looking at this data and identifying what supports we need for our our subgroups. I know that we are also doing some professional learning um to really help teachers connect at different sources of data. So Fairview for example um just really looked looked at their access data with our reading um specialists so that we can really identify where there are strengths and then areas for growth. We are also um Sarah Tyerski is leading our uh special education steering committee. So really looking at services for these different >> [music] >> um for that population so that we can make sure that we're meeting their needs. And then this graphic as well as the next shows our historical data. Uh this is looking at RIT scores. So you can say see that we've stayed relatively consistent um

088for ELA over the last couple of years. There are some grade levels that are a little bit above, some that are a little bit below. We also see that for math and we continue to perform well above the national average but um there is some variability in reading scores. Our English uh language arts curriculum is in its second year of implementation. So we are continued to we continue to focus on professional learning within that area. um especially at the elementary grade levels looking at small groupoup instruction and using data to inform that those that small group instruction and like I said as we're looking at I as we're looking at MAP we are noticing some discrepancies within our middle school and so there's um professional learning related to that um and then as I shared

089we do see some achievement gaps across demographic groups so that requires additional analyses and discussions at um different levels and with uh different teams to figure out what's working, what's not, and what resources are needed. And then here is our fastbridge data. So this is um for kindergarten and first grade. So these are uh what students take right at the start of the school year. So you can get a sense of where students are at. Um you can see kindergarten we have um it it stayed it's gone down a little bit for reading. Uh we we see some of those scores going down in first grade and that is something that we've identified in the past in regards to reading and how that's a need for us to take a deeper dive into that. I'll

090share more about professional learning about that in just a second. These are our uh math scores for kindergarten and first grade. [music] You can see that our students are coming in with stronger math skills compared to reading skills. And we do see a slight dip um in our first grade scores. Uh I do want to remind everyone that we typically have between 30 and 40 new first graders who come to Westbrook. Um I'm anticipating this is because of our half-day programming. Um, so just wanting to put that out there. All right. Uh, so, uh, some different takeaways for that. Our kindergarten and first grade scores are slightly lower than they have been historically. We are really focusing on professional learning related to reading. Um, we just had a a data data literacy um, professional learning

091session that I'll share um about, but it was districtwide. We are also doing professional learning related to small groupoup reading instruction. Our kindergarten teachers have already received that. We also have our kindergarten council um really thinking through what we want our day to look like at kindergarten, but also making considerations and um thinking through what our reading and math instruction will look like. Um what else was I gonna say? camera come back to it. I want to touch on this. So, this is I really want to credit our professional learning committee uh and really focusing in on the need for data literacy. Our teachers, our staff have a ton of data in front of them. And our committee wanted our district to focus more on data literacy so that staff really know how to pull

092their own data, how to look at multiple sources of data at once and identify strengths, areas for growth, how to use classroom assessment data to create different groups so that we are better meeting our students needs. So we had a data literacy professional learning day in October uh that was really focused on building those foundational skills across the district related to data. And then we will be continuing um to implement data literacy through our professional learning as well as through some of the structures that we have in place such as our data days so that we can um better support teachers in using the data that they have in front of them to um identify different instructional groups and the resources that they need to support our students. All right. Um so we are so

093here are the our reflections and next steps. Um so in addition to some of the professional learning that I shared um we are also looking at our different supplemental tools and resources to make sure that we are rostering um through those different programs so that we can use our assessment data within that. So that's through tools likel. There are also different supplementary tools that will connect to our curricular resources. So, um, Newella is a fabulous um supplementary resource that has a lot of different articles that can be changed based on reading level and we can connect that to our our science textbook um as well as different novels. Um so we are continually looking for ways to make those connections [music] and then as I shared we are looking at our data disagregating it across

094a district school and program levels and then here are some opportunities for growth and some next steps. Um we are continuing to grow our multi-tered systems of support. Um as I shared reading continues to be um an area of need especially at our kindergarten and first grade levels. Our elementary schools are reviewing their literacy support services. So, we are piloting several different programs. Um, prior to this year, a lot of our literacy support was um based on one program that hit on several different uh components of reading. and our literacy support specialists really wanted to focus in and target uh target skills and using materials based on student need. And so we are piloting that this year. Um as I shared, we are looking at ways and um having meetings where we are connecting different

095sources of data so that we are pulling our specialists together um so that uh especially students who may identify in different um programs such as multilingual learners as well as students who are receiving those reading supports, we can really connect our specialists together and um provide more targeted instruction. So, we'll continue to analyze this data, look at our um elementary literacy support services. We are continuing with our accelerated programming um committee. As I shared, Sarah Tyerski will be reviewing our special education services. So, we are um looking at data. We are considering professional learning and then really focusing on those specific uh supports for students. That was a lot. Any questions? Go ahead, Kim. Can I ask you to go back to the fourth slide [laughter] all the way to the beginning? Um, I'd like

096to understand better what you were saying about um, sort, you know, the metrics of this national exam and Illinois sort of being an outlier for the good, I would imagine, and how that came about that we had to change the standards so that we were more on par with everyone else who was not performing as So I would say it's not um hold on let me go back to one second. Uh so in this graphic I I Illinois State Board of Education shared that the previous performance levels were not matching classroom reality um and that it was more difficult than any other state to reach proficiency. So according to Isby, it was not um there was a a disconnect in terms of students being able to demonstrate their proficiency or um mastery within that content.

097>> Okay. So this graph isn't showing like it's not a rating of proficiency by state. It's a I guess I still don't understand. [laughter] Let me see if I can. Okay. So, the level of proficiency to which we would have to achieve is higher and that we weren't able to achieve it because it was too high of a standard. Is that maybe it? >> Yes. >> Okay. Does that make sense? Like it was too high of a standard to >> possibly even reach. So, they have to lower the standards because they made them too high for us to be even proficient. Okay, >> that explanation makes sense. I am not sure I agree with it, but nobody asked my opinion. Um, okay. Right. So, >> we're not able to make >> understood. Okay. No, I

098appreciate that. So, the the test sort of had to be re-calibrated so that everybody fits in that gray bar basically. And this wasn't just an elementary school. So this was something that you know the high schools have done a lot of articulation and trying to really you know as Dr. Dr. Vonar mentioned like cross-checking you know we have kids who are demonstrating you know outcomes in their you know standards aligned classroom performances and their scoring um in a manner on their ACTs and yet you know on the state level assessments there's a proficiency gap that it it's just you know wanting to level the playing field in the way that Illinois students are getting rated compared to their other states you know um peers. >> Mhm. >> So I think there is a level that

099the state specifically is be historically has taken the position that we are proud to be elite. We are proud to demon you know have a higher standard of what we're going to decide to be our cut scores our criterium for proficiency. But over time, I think there was a lot of advocacy to say, you know, you're actually harming kids in Illinois by having too high of a proficiency standard because it's looking like they're, you know, so out of the realm of proficient and they're, you know, really ultimately they are competing with other, you know, peers in other states when they're going to college and, you know, there's a there's that sort of need to recalibrate. So I think this this is something that I think is generally a positive thing that's a change for the

100state. But I think we're watching cautiously to be determining, you know, what is the impact of these cut scores and certainly there's something to be said that we want to have high standards and kids able to show that they can achieve what the standards expect grade level. >> Right. No, I I appreciate that explanation. Um, and I guess overall that sort of ties into an overarching question that I have, which is that, you know, you mentioned the reorming of the MAP test, and we've talked about that. I think in years past I feel like every time we talk about data the standard has moved a little bit like the test has been re-calibrated and I'm I'm wondering you know as we're seeing all of these recalibrations and the standards are moving this way and that

101way we're also seeing this kind of slow trend declining trend in our own students performance and growth. I can't help but wonder if those two things might be related. Like, can't we just have the test that's always the same and so we know if we're meeting the mark or not? Um, maybe I'm oversimplifying. Maybe I don't, you know, fully understand what the process is. I I guess like is that even a realistic reasonable conclusion to draw from this information? >> You are asking great questions. I want to go back to something that Dr. Gore said and then I'll answer your question. So, uh, just to help people better understand this in connection to our data. So, in order to if if you're connecting it to like map data, typically we we would say that students

102needed to score in the between 60th and 70th percentile on MAP. So, that is looking across the country in order to be considered proficient on IR. I know it's not an exact >> science with that. Um, but that is some of the the the things that the Illinois State Board of Education was finding that it's we want students to be above average across the board in order to be considered proficient. So, I hope that helps clarify that part. >> Um, yes, I I think uh it is a little bit hard. I know even with IR and ISA, so looking at our Illinois report card, they are looking to make changes um to what that looks like and how designations are are given. So that makes it a little bit harder. Um but I also think

103the the reorming is super important so that we are making sure that we're looking at our students today and and comparing it to um how students are performing across the country. there are some things that we aren't able to go back in because those proficiency scores have changed. Um, so I think it's important so that we see how our students are doing compared to other students across Illinois, across other districts as well as as the US. But you're right there there is a moving target in some areas. >> Okay. Um, and then just one other thing. Um, let me see. I think it was I have it on slide 12. How do we compare in proficiency to other districts? I just wanted to clarify um you said that those were 214 feeder schools and I

104just want to be clear when we say 214 do you mean prospect specifically or 214 in general? >> 214 in general. 214 in general. Um, I guess it seems like this information would be more valuable if it was sort of the other schools that go to prospect, like who are we competing against, so to speak, in terms of proficiency and growth. >> Um, you know, because I think as we're thinking about collecting data from Prospect in particular, right, that's where all of our students go. I understand there's other districts that sort of, you know, they get farmed out various places. Um, we want to know like how well are our students going to compare once they get to prospect. So I don't know if if it's possible to, you know, maybe moving forward. Sure. It's

105just my suggestion, but um >> I think I would be more interested in seeing that and kind of where do we stand among those other districts that are sending kids to Prospect specifically. That's helpful feedback. Thank you. >> And I would just add in addition to what's compiled here, all of this data is available to the public on the Illinois school report cards. So not at all to say that that isn't feedback if the board wants it compiled in that way. That's certainly easy. But just if anyone's like, I want to know, you know, that's actually right at your fingertips tonight because you can actually through the transparency of the Illinois school report card, you can really go in and type in any school, any district, local, you know, FAR, and really these are these

106are ways to compare and look at all of this data. the and and it really is pretty sophisticated in the way that you can run reports, you can run it disagregated by, you know, student groups. So, it's actually quite um the thing we enjoy doing on our Saturday nights. I think some of us um we admit that we enjoy it a little too much and we've looked up quite a few schools not far and wide. Um so, join us in the fun of the Illinois school report card because it's kind of addicting to do. Chris, >> thank you Dr. Vanderhar for the great presentation and and uh and the way you presented the data very easy to follow. Um going back to this whole reorming thing and I I know there's nothing we could do

107about this. I mean, I'll be perfectly honest. No one obviously asked my opinion, but I I don't find how we compare to districts nationwide to be really relevant at all. And and when we do this reorming, it it really prevents us from having the one real powerful thing that we can do with this data, which is knowing how we're trending, right? Are we getting better? Are we getting worse? To me, that is orders of magnitude more important than knowing how we compare to a school district in Omaha, Nebraska. Right. And again, I I'm, you know, yelling into the breach here, I guess, right? Because it is what it is, but it it does make it difficult for us to make those interpretations, which as a schoolboard member is is critically important. I mean, we all

108need to know, are we getting better? Are we not getting better? are we staying the same and and this makes it very difficult to do that if we keep moving the uh the goalpost. So again, no no question there [laughter] I guess. Um just two other questions. Uh getting back to the fast bridge data are oh sorry real quick before we go on to that. I'm actually glad Kim asked that question because I assume these were prospect feeder districts and they're not. So that's good clarification. >> Sure. [snorts] Um uh on the FastBridge data, are we able to, you know, getting back to the topic of, you know, a lot of these students in first grade did not attend kindergarten at Westbrook, their new student. Do we have a way of disagregating the data to

109know that? So, are we are we seeing gaps in performance between students who entered first grade at Westbrook from outside the district and students who were attending kindergarten at West? I'm just curious if there's anything that would would that be useful information. >> I don't know if we can do that, but I want to look into that. Um, and and I can get back to you on that. A and then the last thing and I do not want this to sound critical at all because it isn't intended to be that but it it does seem to me the whole discussion about moving goalpost notwithstanding that ELA has been an area of struggle for us for a few years and and you kind of see it right we saw it in this data with the you

110all the way from the kindergarten first grade and then the sixth seventh eighth grade right so we're kind of booked getting some, you know, less than stellar performance there. I I guess the the only thing maybe missing here for me is and and you do a great job of presenting this data and kind of saying, well, our next steps are we're going to look at this data. We're going to develop a plan of what we're going to do. And I I think we kind of have that discussion every year. it it would be useful to me to kind of have a little more depth around that. Right. So, I I know you and your team are working on that now, but but when you have those more concrete, these are the actions we're going to

111take to to address some of these areas, that would be a good thing to to come back with so that we could hear that cuz I mean, I'm really interested in that is, you know, we we we have this opportunity. So, what are we going to do about it? And I certainly have the utmost faith in in you and Dr. Gore and your team that we'll we'll get there. But it would be good to know, you know, hey, we we saw this, we dove into it, and now we're going to go do XYZ, right? So, >> thank you. >> Right. Um, I just I don't know if this is more of a question or an observation. Um, so we're seeing this is a a a decline year for the second year of a new curriculum

112for ELA. And I just wanted to put that in see if we can put that in a little bit of perspective. Is this are we I know you were talk we had talked about a year one dip um for implement implementation year one one are we expecting to have is that a is that a a a trailing indicator or should we be expecting within next year the the following to really see fruit from the new curriculum. >> So I think it depends on which uh data you are looking at. So, if we look specifically at our map data, and I don't know, Mark, if you could pull that up, perfect. Yeah. So, if we look at this slide, um this is looking at our RIT scores. So, again, these are achievement scores. Um this does

113not um vary by percentile. This is just looking at RIT scores. And what's different about MAP compared to AR is that MAP is looking at reading specifically. So you can see um the light blue is our R our R scores this fall. So I would say it that part has not really dipped. we do see um I think what grade is third grade we we see a slight dip um but when we look at our IR scores and I includes both reading and writing that's where we're seeing more of that dip um in terms of growth >> and that's what I was sharing uh when we take a closer look at that and do item analysis we're seeing that it's more in writing um there are some other areas in reading but that is kind

114of the the bigger need we're seeing I hope that helps. >> No, that helps a lot. Um, and would it be fair to say that the writing curriculum this time around is a lot more rigorous than the previous curriculum? >> U, it's it's our prior. So, when we were looking at reading and writing, um, we had a a writing curriculum. We continued with that. We did make some enhancements in terms of um our grammar and and making sure we're providing explicit instruction within that. However, our review focused on reading. Um so that is an area that we'll continue to look at. Yeah. Go ahead. And I wanted to add something because it is this is confusing in that um we have historically pres presented this AR data in the fall um because what's a limitation

115to the A state testing is that we don't receive this data until really the late summer and so it's not actionable and that we can you know these kids have now advanced to the next grade level. So what's what's always challenging when you look at this is that the AR is really like last year and so that really would capture really if you wanted to use that as a lens to you know look at the impact of that new curriculum year. I think it would be more appropriately applied to the AR analysis and we expect and hope that our AR data that you will be seeing next fall will demonstrate uh increase because this will be really like that first full year. We kind of like to call our first year of curriculum implementation as

116a year zero. They're really getting into it. they they've done a great job. But, you know, like this this year should be a year of traction around the covering of content and hopefully we will start to see those gains and that that measure is being quite summitative and that it's not really useful to us and that those kids are gone but we can deduce some some awareness as Dr. Baron mentioned about the item analysis like on average what types of questions were they not doing well the map fall which again just to reiterate what Kristen showed is like that's kind of fall is their starting point when they come back it typically is pretty low it's like we start we test the fall map gosh like we kind of say welcome to school sit down

117and take your fall MAC test it's not something that you know really cuz you want to know what they're coming and starting with and so Now, as we do our winter and then as we do our spring, our spring is like our Super Bowl cuz we want to really measure what happened over the course of the year. What was the impact of the actual instruction that kids are having happening now? So the these you know it's helpful and it's also revealing of how complex these conclusions are around you know we really in in the best ways try to triangulate conclusions or draw conclusions based on the triangulation of these you know data points and look at both these moments in time these summitive assessments what teachers are seeing in their actual assessment and that's where

118that interplay between all those points become so important. So I I do it really occurred to me cuz even as I was reading in US and I thought oh it it's always hard to remember cuz they're all kind of presented as bar graphs which is useful but really they're quite different in the way that we use them on the ground and how actionable they are for the change in outcomes for kids. >> Thank you. That was super helpful. Does anybody else have any questions? No. All right. Thank you Dr. on here. >> All right, so we're moving on to the code of conduct for the 2627 school year. Welcome Sarah Terski, director of student services, who is here to enlighten us on our code of conduct. Good evening, everyone. Um, so I provided you with

119a memo of some of the updates. And as I've been doing this a number of years, I'm always surprised on how often we change the language that has existed for many years. Um, we take another look at it. We have new members on our committee and we're like, "No, we can be more clear with this. We can give more examples with this." Um, so I'm very grateful to my committee members um for being part of it. And we've expanded our committee. So we have some additional members which I think has been helpful in reviewing um our code of conduct as well. Uh no major changes. Um the one that I will highlight is that um the language regarding um what bullying is because we have to attach our policies for um 7190, 7180 and 7140.

120So that's uh bullying prevention um our behavior and our search and seizure. Um there was a change with the policy that you were looking at for the bullying prevention with the language regarding um the lost my train of thought. Yes, thank you. the the the cyber bullying. Some additional language around was around there just with the new um technology and being able to um uh do images of people without their consent or knowledge and those types of things. So that was expanded. So that has been tentatively put in there um with your approval of the policy later. Anybody questions? >> Uh, not a question, just a a comment. I I I really applaud you for for having a committee that was as diverse as it was with the parent and staff and uh representation from

121the Mount Prospect Police Department. So, uh, kudos to you for doing that. I think it's great. >> It's a great committee. I just want to point out that we do have language saying district does not withhold food as a punishment um which is something I have been guilty of in my own home but I think that's specific because we do not provide food to children and I think that is in itself what they would consider to be a punishment. [laughter] um we might have better behavior if we could use some of the tactics some of us use at home to do with food but Sarah does an amazing job with as you said memberto she really does make sure so many diverse viewpoints are at the table in doing this work [music] so >> all

122right >> thank you >> all right now we're going to move on to a Cook County property tax update >> which may be a standing item Um well at our last board meeting as you know um the board took action to um approve um tax anticipated warrants um which was unfortunate but required and um at the time um we were cautiously um trusting I don't even know if optimistic would be a word but we were cautiously hearing that there was going to be some rumors of the tax bills um being mailed and and alas here we are and they have been but the price that we are going to pay as a district is still to be determined because we won't be able to quantify the exact cost of that delinquency until we are able

123to repay. Um we did have worked closely with um PMA Bob Lewis has been fantastic and our bond our bond council. So, in the memo, you'll see an update about the sale of the TAWWs and the anticipation of when we believe we'll be able to repay. But until that's done, we are postured to to um prepare our report. And I think at that time, it would be probably best to do a resolution as a board to be able to make clear, you know, to the community as well as to Cook County, the Cook County. I said that's so weird. Cook County. Um the exact cost, you know, of of this systemic problem and potentially take it so far as to kind of again extend that coalition of other districts like ours who are in that

124position and um really clearly articulate together what is the ultimate cost of this. But um I'd be happy to answer some questions. But in honesty, there's been a little bit of a pause um on this topic in that once, you know, the tax bills were mailed. I think everyone took a slight pause to say there's some competing other things grabbing everyone's attention in time. And I think there's definitely a desire to keep going and advocate. But I think let's get those tax bills in. Let's get that money in. Let's pay it off. And then I think let's organize if that sounds good. I think >> I was going to say I appreciate the state level engagement keeping our representatives being a part of it and >> and saying that this has happened what three out

125of the last four years >> that I mean this is a little bit too much and that hopefully I if I don't know if they talked about potentially I don't know if you can do statewide law regarding the county and this matter and >> it's always interesting when you start to talk with the different levels because I think it's fascinating, you know, to go, you know, how does the intersection of the state and the county and, you know, how much and there definitely is obviously the cross-section of how they work together, but it's a complicated >> um it's a complicated >> system. We're upheld to the state and mandates that they give us. So, I don't see why the county should be able to get away with [laughter] it. >> Just my thoughts. Like I

126said, we are pausing. We're waiting for that money and then I think we organize because I think there's definitely a a level of momentum around this topic that you know, although I think there's relief for many districts that were close to having to make some moves like ours but didn't because of the timing. Um it will be interesting. There certainly was movement at least within our coalition of there's there's people are awake to this in a way that and even our district I don't think we would have been able historically we haven't felt that pain because we are so careful with our reserves and we haven't had these types of bond payments. So really we haven't been the type of district that's been felt the pain in the last three times that this has happened.

127But for some districts, they this is not their first rodeo with having to do this. And I think but for that bomb payment, it exposed to us how quickly your reserves can be gone and you really don't have the luxury of time. So, >> thanks, Mary. >> Thank goodness for Bob Lewis. Mhm. >> Chris, >> um I I hate to sound cynical, but I I think if we're waiting for the state government to be the driver to create a solution to this, I I think we're setting ourselves up to be disappointed. I I'd love for that to be the case and I'm glad we're working on that. Um I I guess the other side of this though is the the renumeration to us for the damage the real damages that we're going to experience here,

128right? the um you know there's the the real loss in terms of the interest we have to pay and then there's the opportunity cost of not earning money earning interest on the money that we otherwise would have had. So are are we still considering or or thinking about what our legal options might be here? >> Yes, but I have no new updates on that. So, um I think I haven't had any updates that suggest that that's not possible, but I I am cautious and you know, I think that would be the ultimate success story if we could have that as the outcome. So, I would like to leave that on the table as a possibility, but I I I think in the pause that we've experienced, I haven't yet circle back into understand what possibilities

129um are there within the contract analysis. Okay, thank you. >> Go ahead. >> Uh my only question was uh now that the tax bills are actually out, do we anticipate when we think that we're going to do we have sort of an ideal date of when we're going to be able to repay? >> We you know it t it definitely takes some time for the tax taxes to be paid to the county for the county to get the money to us. So, uh, it'll definitely take weeks before we'll start seeing that and we'll have to see, um, a lot of that revenue come in before we can pay off, you know, $7.5 million. So, um, that'll take some time, we hope, within a month. Um, and hopefully earlier. >> All right. Thanks, Mary. Um, all

130right. Let's move on to our building brighter futures update. Jason, >> awesome. So, uh, yeah, you heard from the student board members, uh, exciting times over at Lincoln. I was definitely there the other day. They have a this machine that that um, Yep. Perfect. That, um, pushes the ground down and definitely shakes the building a little bit. Um, we think I think that machine's done now. But, um, as you can see here, you can see that they've been scraping the top soil and getting ready. Um I want to point out on the left side which is the north side of the field um that they're building a big hole there which is where our um water retention under underground will go. So I have answered um and tried to been proactive as much as possible

131but also answered some questions from neighbors who were like I thought the building's going over there and it is um and that will be a field afterwards so you won't know that it's there but it's obviously to help I think they said it in the interview to help [clears throat] with um as the rain in that flood. Um, so this is uh a picture from um from a drone. We do now have actually cameras up. Um, they're getting up and running. So, we're going to have um some cameras 24 hours that you know a day that we can grab and and look at time-lapse videos and different things. So, we're working on that. Um, you can kind of see on the right side near that parking lot. Um, that's where the shed was. Um, and

132if you go forward uh to the next slide, uh, this is from the other side just to give you an idea. This is from like the Candod side looking um to the west. And then if you go one more slide, that's the where the water retention will be um on the north side of the field. And one more slide, you'll get a nice video of uh we were having a little bit of fun here. So >> that I I have asked and asked to drive these and they just won't let me. I don't know why. >> Yeah, it dies. Nice. Yeah. So, this is our maintenance shed that was going down. Took a little bit of time to get all the approvals, but um obviously we we were able to work around it for a

133while, but um it definitely needs to go down in order for them to start figuring out foundation for the building. So, exciting times. Um there you get to see a third of it down, but the whole thing is gone now. There, there you go. Um so, that's exciting. So, they'll continue over at Lincoln. Uh they're going to start um like he said uh digging down and building some of those big holes. Um we also just you know have work uh being done at Westbrook. Uh they're starting that electrical work that we approved at the beginning. Um they'll do the interior the um work during Thanksgiving and winter break and then exterior um during spring break. Any questions? >> Okay, great. >> Thanks Jason and Matt. our um site supervisor. Is that his correct title? He's

134been wonderful. He's just been so wonderful. As you can kind of tell from the interaction with the kids, but just pleasant and they've been communicative. I would say even, you know, the teams that they work with, we couldn't be more just pleased with how collaborative and communicative they have been. So, Nicholas is doing a great job. I I did a driveby last week and she sent that video out and I'm like and I went by and the building was still going down. I was like, "Oh, it's still going down." I thought it was already down. So I I watched that for just a couple minutes and then drove around like the perimeter on the outside and it's like looked over and it's like mile high dirt. I'm like that's a lot of dirt and I

135see where it's all going. >> Well, that's maybe we could set up a time if anyone wants to stop by and kind of meet with Matt and take a look and you know maybe ride one of the vehicles. >> [laughter] >> I'm sure he'd be fine with it. >> Yeah, I'm sure it'll work. >> All right. Uh let's move on to our foyer report. Okay. Um our foyer report. So we received only one request between October 15th and November 18th. We sent a response and your detailed report is available in the board packet. And thank you to Eagle Eye board member Dorner for catching that there was a discrepancy in our number. But thank you for being he's a eagle eye. No, he might be have to join our foyer team. [laughter] And that concludes

136our reports. All right, let's move on to the consent agenda. Um Ham, you did the bills. How they look? >> I did the bills. The bills looked fine. Everything was reasonable and um up to snuff. Auditors will be happy. >> Thank you. All right. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. >> Member Qualch. Yes. >> Member Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Kill. >> Yes. All right. So, we have no unfinished business. Uh, this is second opportunity for community comments. Heather, do you have any comments? No. All right, let's moving on to new business. So, we had the press plus update 120. It's the first read. Does anybody have any questions about

137those updates for the policy committee? >> No questions. I know it it was uh quite a bit to get through. Not our largest packet that we've seen. Um I think as is typical the majority of the changes were just updating legal references, various sort of you know dotting eyes and crossing tees. There was only one substantive u matter that we considered which was um whether [clears throat] it would be prudent to add education about the Irish potato famine to our list our long list of >> and I was strongly recommending it. Mhm. Yes. Yeah. It almost came to blows. If it hadn't been a virtual meeting, it would have been [laughter] it would have been big trouble. Um so in in light of uh recommendations from our teaching and learning staff, uh we opted not

138to include that. Um however, [laughter] um this is a first read. So if anyone feels strongly that it should be included, we could certainly consider that at the second read and u consider it for approval. I'm with you. >> All right. Thank you, committee. >> All right. Let's move on to a resolution ratifying the proposed amendments to the NSSO articles of agreement for legal entity. Um, do we need to read the entirety of the resolution? >> You looking at me? [laughter] >> I don't think so. Okay. I don't think the other districts have done that. >> Okay. Then can I get a motion to approve the NSSO resolution? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Fay. [snorts] >> Yes. >> Member Qualch. >> Yes. >> Member Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >>

139Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> President Benil. >> Yes. >> All right. Now we're going to move on to Yeah, that closes the door on that one. Thank you for all the work that you've done on that, Chris. That was a lot. >> Well, interestingly, um, as it as I found out, as of last Friday, five of the member districts had already approved them. So, they've already kind of become quasi official, although the governing board still has to vote. But, uh, so it's good thing that we voted to approve this because if we did not, we would no longer be considered a district in good standing as part of the co-op. So, I didn't think I had to mention that before [laughter] we voted, but but uh no, it's uh really happy with the resolution we

140came to and it's uh I think it's going to be really good for NSSO. So, thank you all for voting for this. >> And just a side note, I was at the NSSO on November 1st. I don't know if anybody else got there, but um it was a fun event. I took Phoebe, of course. I always bring her cuz she's like, "There's animals, I'll go." And we did the paddle boats. She did fishing and we had uh Brian from District 25, the superintendent. He he hooked her worm and took off the fish. Thank God he did that for everybody. And uh she saw the animals. They weren't able to come out to be petted, but she was able to see, you know, those hissing cockroaches and the gecko and all that stuff. And then >>

141she leaf pile. >> You know what? She's she's beyond the leaf pile. >> That's good. >> She's beyond it. >> I'm not. >> And um well, my my thoughts in my head are, you know, tick. I yell tick [laughter] and don't go in there. >> I'm terrible. I do the same with sandboxes. I yell ringorm and they go, "Don't go in it." >> But it was a very enjoyable time. It was a beautiful day. The lake was great. The I mean the blue sky, it was beautiful. So had a good time. Bam. We went too and it was absolutely delightful. And then afterward, when I was looking at um the website when I got home, it looks like Brian is retiring at the end of this school year. And um I'm happy for him, but

142I'm sad for us. >> They're booked already through the end of this year. We heard. >> Yeah, that is true. >> [laughter] >> All right. So, our next item, action item is the approval of appointment of delegate and alternate delegate to the 2025 Illinois Association of School Boards Delegate Assembly. Um, and again, do I need to read out the whole thing or can I just ask for a motion? Can I get a motion to approve the appointment? So, moved. Second. >> Member Qualch. >> Yes. >> Member Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Hill. >> Yes. >> All right. We also need to have a discussion about the um the proposed resolutions so we can advise Eileen, our delegate, on how

143to vote. Um, so the vast majority of things to be voted on were constitutional amendments with only the one item for uh the one resolution. Um, does anybody have any questions or comments or uh about the resolution or constitutional amendments? >> Go ahead. Uh the only question I had for the group I guess was as being my first rodeo was item four related to the terms of office if there was any concerns that any other board members had with increase. I mean I read the rationale and understood the rationale but just wanted to see if there was any anybody else had any concern. I do not have concerns but again not [laughter] having full context about you know what that would mean in reality just wanted to see if anybody else was concerned about increasing

144the the term Ellie, do you remember if that was something that they um talked about in the >> They didn't really talk about it too much in the I only went to the last Q&A kind of thing. >> And um >> I just think they thought just to have the two-year is the is the goal of having for people who come in that they know that they have this two-year and that's all it is. It's not beyond that. Um, [clears throat] I mean, I could see the reasoning why to do a one-year because it depends on when you got in there. If you run for election when you've only done your first year of the term and you don't win your next election, then they have to. But, I mean, they will have someone to

145put in place for that second year of term. But, I can see why doing one year would make more sense and then they just they do that. But the other issue, well I don't know if it's an issue but the nomination process within that because of it being one year they kind of in my opinion kind of give it to that person for that second year. They have a process where uh if somebody wants to be um put on the well not even put on the ballot. If you want to be nominated by the nominating committee, um, you have to apply. You have to get your whole board behind it and approve that. And then you apply. They do an interview process and then they decide who they want to put on on the ballot,

146which is just one person for president, one person for VP. So that it's really not necessarily a ballot, it's who the nominating committee recommends. So you could have four people that applied, interviewed, and they decided to go with the person that they had last year. We're going to keep them again for the second year. So in a way, it's kind of like I don't know why they do this process. Um we and a couple from other board members from other boards I should say um you know had crazy ideas if maybe whoever applied if they meet the requirement if they're in you know if they do well in their interview that there's an actual ballot like maybe even a ranking system or you know just having other people on the ballot that have put themselves

147into this process instead of just picking the same person again that you just had last last year picking them again. Um I don't know if that makes any sense to you guys. Um so I mean that's in the process of number three with the nominations. The terms of office, I mean I guess it doesn't really matter here or there. If you're doing the two-year term, then you know at least it's a two-year term versus one year. And people put in for it and they're like, "Well, we're going to give it to that person again." So I think it doesn't matter either way whether it's one year or two year. If you know then it's a two-year like okay I know this person's got this gig for two years then I could apply and try whoever

148a board member would be that want to do that. Um, so I don't know in the nomination process this it would be another a different resolution that they would have to bring forth because it would be a change for that um which they haven't talked about um the way you know a different way to do it where we have an actual ballot or a ranking system with more people on it who actually um want that position. And I don't think it's a crazy number of people. I don't think it's 12 people that are applying. I think it's, you know, four, two. It's not huge. So, and even to break that down, if you had eight, you might actually only have three that really truly qualify for that position. So just my thoughts Chris >> the

149only question I had Eileen and maybe this came out in the meetings you attended is I mean this is only having one resolution up for vote is since I've been on the board the by far the fewest that they've ever had. Is there a reason for that? I think partly is they didn't have a lot of the resolutions that came in. So that's the one that they have. So they they went with it. But and so I think that's why they went with doing these constitutional amendments and change. They cuz they haven't done anything since the 70s. You were there for that meeting. And so I think it worked for them and able to get that portion down. And then well another thing quick bit about the nomination whatever. Um part of it is they

150say you can be nominated from the floor. And I asked this question when you're nominated from the floor. If you we we decide right here and we've made our decision. So if I we've already decided as a board that we're uh electing or our vote is for the person that you have on the nominating that you you guys have recommended that's who we're voting for and I can't change it. So sometimes I don't understand why we do nominations from the floor or even have like this debate. So, I asked that question. They said, "Will some boards allow for their delegate to change the vote?" I said, and I did I didn't ask this because I'm sure they don't know. It's like, well, how many boards actually let you do that? So, to me, I don't

151think it's a majority of boards that let their delegates say, "You know what? You get to decide. if if there's something that came up that you think that we would reasonably want to change it to that, then go for it. So, in my opinion, you we're going in with the set rule of what we're going to be doing, what we're going to be voting for. And then to think that I could just change it, I I don't think that's right either. So, so some of the reasoning that they have saying, well, some boards let their delegate do that. I don't think that's necessarily a good enough reason because we don't know necessarily know how many boards actually let their delegate change the vote. >> Yeah. I don't I can't imagine any board being okay with

152that. Like that just doesn't make sense. Otherwise, because really then you're voting for yourself, not on behalf of your board that you're representing. >> Exactly. >> It's kind of crazy. Um, real real just quick on this and maybe I'm reading too much into this, but was there any is there any concern that resolutions are not coming in because there's a sense that they're not really all that effective even when they're voted to be adopted. I I mean, if you think about it, these resolutions don't have a lot of teeth, right? They're essentially IESB is going to go advocate to the legislature on behalf of the school boards for something and which is great in theory if it actually comes to something. Was there any discussion about the concern that we're not getting these because people

153just don't think they're accomplishing anything or >> From the Q&A that Q&A that I went to, it really didn't delve into that at all. >> So, I'm reading too much into it. potentially. I guess you would have to wait to see next year to see how many resolutions are brought forward. So, >> okay. Thank you, >> Pam. I just wanted to add the nominations uh from the floor. I'm on uh several nonprofit boards and that's something that the library foundation board has as part of their officer election. Um and the condo board uh seems like every other year it pops up as something uh and it makes it difficult on the condo board because we can collect proxies and people will will vote on someone. So so a nomination from the floor has to have

154um votes behind it when they come in when they come into the meeting. And I just wonder if it's something that's part of Open Meetings Act or or you know some um throwback to something that was uh from the state. I I don't know how other states do it. I just wonder if it's something um integral to uh to Illinois. I I don't know. >> I don't have an answer for you. >> That's a good question, Kim. Well, I think Pam to your question, it sort of talks about that in in the explanation under Yeah. What is it? Section article 4, the section one nominations. Um, and it's basically that same idea, right? That for you to be in one of these executive roles, um, you sort of there's there's a vetting process, right? You

155have to have the support of your particular board, you have to, you know, indicate that you have the time to make the commitment to these roles. Um, which Eileen I think to your point sort of negates then why offer this as an option at all? Like I can't truly be nominated from the floor unless I filed all of this paperwork. Actually I we did ask about that and that is a requirement. If you are nominated from the floor, you have had to have gone through that process. >> Okay. So this would really be this is for people who go through that process and don't get nominated. >> So these are like people who have been vetted but weren't recommended by the nominated committee. examinate those people, which still is not a truly democratic, [laughter] you

156know, version of seeking the best candidate. Um, so I mean now that you mention it, having reviewed all of these, you know, I didn't see anything that was really egregious, but it might be worthwhile as a as a suggestion, maybe rejecting the um the suggestion to to adopt all of these and maybe kind of pulling that out and saying, you know what, let's revisit this nomination process. Let's really think about I mean all of you have to be in agreement with that for Eileen to move forward but um it it does seem like they haven't really fully considered the full scope of potential ways to address concerns that have been concerns for quite a while. >> Right. Would pulling that out mean that you would be calling for it to be pulled off the consent

157agenda? >> Yes. >> I don't know necessarily that you have to Hey, I mean I guess you just put the point of cost of what the reasoning is behind why we would pull it and say no that the nominating process should be a little different. Mhm. >> Anybody have any thoughts? >> And I'd be okay with that. [laughter] >> Well, I guess does anybody have any The um nominations would be the only one that would have an objection to the do adopt recommendation. Correct. That's the only one. How do we feel about pulling that one off of uh the consent agenda? Kim, yes, I know you you're good. >> So, just to be clear, pulling off the consent agenda and then we're we are we are going to advise Eileen to vote no on that

158item >> or we're just pulling it. >> Okay. >> Yeah, >> I'd support that. >> Thank you. >> Just like the potato fam. [laughter] Do you support that? The saying no to the way the nominations is right now. >> Yes, I support that. >> It's just guidance to her. >> Yeah, we don't need to take action. >> We We've never taken formal votes on this. >> No. Yeah. This is just to make sure that she knew how we wanted her to vote because she can't vote on her own. >> I mean, crazy. No. Yes. No. Yes. >> [laughter] >> All right. So then our direction to our delegate is to vote yes to adopt on all but item three article 4 election section one nominations. >> Okay. [laughter] >> All right. >> Got to have

159that special thing. >> Pull that from the consent agenda. >> Awesome. Thank you. Thank you and thank you Eileen for doing that. All right, let's move on to our communications. Is there an NSSO report? >> Uh well, a short one because we we took care of the major business uh about 10 minutes ago. Um uh governing board had their last meeting on Wednesday, November 5th. I was not able to attend unfortunately because we had our uh tax anticipation warrant meeting then. Uh however, I I did watch the uh recording and can just give a couple of updates. Um Harvest Fest uh did happen on November 1st. I unfortunately was not able to attend this year, but I heard it was a blast as it always is. Uh and I'll use this opportunity to point out

160that the winter wonderland is January 31st. Uh which is also a lot of fun. You got ice fishing and usually a big snow pile with uh with sledding and all that. So, uh, keep that in mind. Uh, and then just a couple other quick things. Um, we have actually started the process of, uh, negotiating the our contract with our bargaining units. Uh, I am, uh, one of the three governing board members that's a part of that, uh, committee. Uh, we actually have, um, I believe one of the superintendants is advising, not officially part of it, but a >> correct. That's right. Which is cool. which is again part of this new uh new structure that we have. Uh our first uh session is actually coming up already. It's on Thursday. So uh getting a good

161jump on that process which is uh which is great. Uh so I will keep everyone updated to the extent I can on on how that's going. Uh, and then one other thing, uh, January 5th, uh, for the last couple years, Molly Dunn, who's the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, has organized a very large professional learning, uh, day really. Uh, it's usually been at several sites. Uh, I think this year she's consolidating it all on Harper's campus so that people don't have to drive all over the place. But uh it's been very wellreceived and a lot of great professional learning on on all things in the special education space. So uh hopefully we will have some participation in that this year. Uh and again that's January 5th which is a uh institute day. And our

162next meeting is Wednesday, December 3rd, where we will uh I will vote on our behalf to accept the new articles and I will update everybody on how that went at our December meeting. >> Thanks, Chris. Um we do not have currently have a represent a representative for the Ed Foundation or do you have a No. >> No. >> Mary, were you able to go to the last edition one? But um um Jen and I were at the one previous and it was really helpful and I think um they're such a great group and I think they're really looking creatively on thinking about, you know, the path forward and how they can maybe take this, you know, just kind of evaluate what are the needs, what's the interest, where's the momentum. And there were a couple

163different kind of paths I think that were floated. And so I don't I don't have any updates, but >> okay, >> we'll be in close touch. I know their grant cycle closed and I think they had the funding to to fund the fall grants. I know they've got an upcoming so more to come. >> All right, thanks Mary. >> All right, PTO reports. Let's start with Westbrook. >> Oh, can I actually go because I really have to go to the bathroom. >> Okay, let's [laughter] start with Fairview. >> Sorry about that. All right. Um, actually I have Lions Park up first. >> Okay, >> cuz I took care of Ray. Uh that was on November 3rd. Um they're doing a lot of stuff with helping uh the families within the community and at Lions Park

164and the district. Um trying to help SNAP families and you know people who are in need but not necessarily on SNAP. Cub Scouts are collecting food in November within the community. And then in um beginning of December, all district 57 schools are holding um a donation thing for food to come in and then they're going to donate it within the school and then to the food pantry. Um Lions Park is doing their turkey shoot. They already did it. Um they're accept they accepted donations to give to their Lions Park families first. Um their science fair is going to be in February. Their Palooa in March and I think they're thinking of a spelling be potentially in April. Um, let's see. They had their they're having their pizza Friday this Friday coming up. They said their

165Halloween party went really well. Uh, their spirit wear just ended uh 11:13. They had their staff appreciation lunch for when they did the parent teacher conferences. They had Morettes, Jacamos, Miss Peas. They were very thankful. All good stuff. Um, let's see. And then they got school assemblies and then they're thinking about things to do with uh the money that they're coming in. They also had an idea and I then floated this with a Fairview PTA PTO improve positive school culture and the kids voted for an inflatable race for the staff to do to to race around in inflatable costumes. [laughter] I thought it sounded like the greatest idea, so I suggested it at Fair Pio. [laughter] They might not have thought it as great as I thought it was, but it was really cool. Um

166and then um the PTO donated $10 to each student for the book fair and it was for books not for gadgets. [laughter] And then there it's you know thinking of ideas to spend for gifts within the school whether it's um they're thinking of you know either new whiteboards and outdoor whiteboards subsidizing maybe field trips. They're thinking maybe a kil kiln for the art room or drums for the music department. So, they have a bunch of ideas that they're putting together and seeing if they can do a little bit of each or what they're going to do. And then at Fairview, one second. Fairview, we had I wasn't here for the last meeting that we had um that we were giving out the PTO reports. So, they had their um uh Tasty Bites is coming back.

167They had the boo bash and then we had um these kids from Prospect spin boots 360 spin boots. They were actually Fairview kids, G57 kids. They came back. They're in a business class at Prospect and their business is these 360. It's like this um platform and then they have a 360 camera that goes around. They could do slow-mo like and the kids take videos and they could do it to music or things like that. So, it's kind of like a music video look. And so they put this presentation to see if they could get hired for a gigs within the PTO. And so they hired them actually for the Boo Bash and they had a really great time. They said it was a big hit and they were able to work it out where it

168wasn't like something downloaded social media. The parents were the ones that gave the access and it was emailed like to the parents. So it worked out really well and they said the kids really enjoyed it. Um let's see. They said their conferences were underway. They had their book fair also. Um teachers, thank you for all the the food that it was given for the conferences. They are also doing their food drive. They're doing an Amazon wish list also potentially. Um they're thinking of starting that district, right? And that I think was brought up through Westbrook. Um same thing with the Cub Scouts. Um they have their giving tree. Um let's see, winter gear drive is now it's November 17th to December 3rd. And so that will be winter gear. that's uh donated by families and

169then it can be it's going to be donate it's going to be given to Fairview families first that need and then it will be given to Mount Prospect. Um Katie Deli is during their Tasty Bites. They decided on that and their winter concerts are December 17th and December 18th at 6 o'clock. Thank you. [laughter] Go forth. Um All right. Um, Westbrook, the the uh PTO people at Westbrook are just so inspirational. I I come home and I and I'm just like like I've gone to heaven. I mean, it's just wonderful. Um they uh Westbrook PTO has uh collected um some food for families in need uh who were on SNAP. And principal um [snorts] Marty's office is just filled with with things for people to pick up. And uh starting in December, they're going to

170do more food collections. Uh the Cub Scouts uh are helping with the donation. Um, spirit wear is coming in. Um, and they had an idea that that was really neat. They're going to approach um, Lincoln students and ask Lincoln to maybe design uh, a t-shirt uh, with four colors and and uh, they've discovered that that there is a company that does multiple colors more than just the standard three or four. It's a little bit more expensive, but but they're looking at that. Um, let's see. The Wolf Gang uh game is coming up and they're going to print flyers and and um uh do a promotional for it. Uh let's see. Parents Night Out. uh they're looking at a date. The date that they initially thought uh for this might not be good because there is

171also a play performance that same night for the girls. So uh so they're they haven't really set the date yet for that. Staff appreciation went well. Sweet celebrations um is this week. And then there were two um good things that they that they talked about. The first one was how to how to organize uh the supply list for next year. Is it better to have parents going around and getting the supplies themselves, which is not efficient, or is there a way to do it bulk and to get things that are uh wellmade and won't fall apart and maybe not everything uh that the teachers want could be in this bulk process. Uh someone made the point of a pair of scissors that broke the next day. So, [laughter] so uh so they're looking at that

172and I if they do it bulk it how would they cover that and I've spoken with Dr. Gore who will speak with um Dr. Case and then uh Dr. Gore will talk with the PTO. So that so that's good. It looks like there's a plan. And then um [laughter] when I when I came into the meeting a few minutes early, a number of people were already in the meeting and they were discussing a cultural celebration like Fairview. So they're in touch with the Fairview PTO. They're in touch with with um with other uh people within the community. uh they haven't made any decisions. It's in the planning stages. One of the the concepts that they were looking at was do we invite uh cultural groups from outside of the district um or do we just

173have people to do presentations from inside the district? And what kind of presentations uh do we do uh food? Do we do dancing? Dancing. Dancing. Um, Irish dancing was something. [laughter] I know someone who can do this. Um, uh, artwork. Um, they asked about the cultural celebrations that the village does and I was there. So I, you know, I I told them some stuff and I know I know different representations from the community and there is actually a Native American museum called Trickster in Shamburgg uh where maybe we could get people to come and and speak. So um but again, if it's outside the district, it may not be it it may be ruled out. So So that was exciting. Um, and then they're looking at dine and share opportunities. Uh, Chipotle gives 30%. I

174I did not know that. [laughter] I'm going to go back to the foundation and say, "Remember when we used to do dine and share?" Buffalo Wild Wings has something um that the foundation is doing now. It's a six-monthlong process instead of one night and it's 10%. So you would only go in uh to Buffalo Wild Wings and you wouldn't have to show a flyer. You could just say and this is for the uh Mom Prospect Library Foundation. So So that's >> the last part was the library foundation, not the PTO, >> right? That would right. But I I was offering it as a you know as a since they're doing diamond and share and who else does dine and share in the community and is it feasible? So, but Chipotle 30%, that's really good. They

175were excited about that. Thanks, Pam. Lincoln. Yes. So, the last uh Lincoln PTO meeting that I attended was October 20th. Their meeting for November was just this past I guess it would have been yesterday, but uh it was cancelled. uh they'd opted rather than have a formal meeting to spend some time cleaning up their supplies at Lincoln in light of the upcoming move. Um so there was no formal meeting yesterday. However, there was one in October and um at the time just some of the highlights I think um they were discussing there was a sixth grade outing that was taking place November 1st because we had no school on the 2nd. So they were taking advantage of the fact that kids didn't have school to have everybody get together um and uh and hang out.

176So a PTO sponsored gathering. Um I think the only other thing I wanted to share was uh just a comment that Principal Larson had made in the context of the meeting which was just you know again the the big topic of conversation is the new Lincoln right and um how you know our planning for that and our implementation of that is going to have an impact and one of the things that principal arson had shared was the hope that he and uh really not so much the hope but the anticipation that he and many other staff members have of uh having a space that's large enough so that students can view the performances of other students. Right? We have this amazing orchestra, band, coral, dance programming uh at Lincoln specifically and we don't have the

177space right now to be able to showcase students to their peers. Um, so that was something that I hadn't thought about in the course of all of our many, many conversations around the new school that I just wanted to encourage you all with, right? That will be amazing to be able to have our students encourage their peers and maybe be inspired by their peers to sort of stretch their own talents and interests. Um, so I'm looking forward to that. And the next meeting is, I believe, December, I just had it here, December 15th. and that's um in the LRC at Lincoln. I have it down at 6:30 p.m. >> Thank you. I only have one thing on the board president report. So, we are scheduling or have scheduled the December 1st for the special meeting

178for candidate interviews at 400 p.m. And so, we are cancelling the December 4th tentative meeting. So, that's going to be a fun day. Um, we don't have any topics for board discussion. Are there any topics for future meetings that you want to be brought up? Okay. Um, no need for close session. So, can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Member Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. >> Member Qualch. >> Yes. >> President Bennett. Yes.