001here at a board meeting. Just >> thought that'd be helpful. All right, welcome to our board meeting. This is our regular business meeting for October 16th, 2025. Can we start with roll call? >> Vice President Choke >> here. >> Member Dorner >> here. >> Member Fay >> here. Memberwalchek, >> member Leto >> here, >> member Nelson >> here, >> President Bennett Kell >> here, >> and could we have the pledge of We have the Girl Scout Junior Troop 47459 here to present the flag and lead the pledge of allegiance. Aliance 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. [Music] Thank you, girls. All right, we're going to move on to our board recognition and the
002spotlight on adaptability from our portrait of the graduate. Who do we have doing that? So, we actually have um do you want to come on up? All right. Um Principal Cali and Vice Principal Griezbeck are here. They are our first brave school to um work with the Solerno Productions team to um do a spotlight on our portrait of a graduate which this month is going to be adaptability. So take it away, Principal Kelly. Um well, thank you so much for having us. And this was really fun because I think what was very exciting about the project is that we weren't totally sure how it would go and we weren't sure how much the students would be able to tell us about adaptability. And we were very impressed that, you know, given that this was um
003filmed mostly during September and so they hadn't revisited a lot of it since last year and they certainly hadn't gone through each characteristic in depth at the start of this year. I was really impressed with what they were able to recall from last year and we had a lot of fun um talking about it with them and you'll see we filmed it from a few uh a few different ways but the kids were really super impressive all of them second through fifth grade and what they came up with. >> All right so without further ado here's the video enjoy. [Music] Last year, our district 57 students learned about our portrait of a graduate. Five essential skills that will help them thrive and reach their full potential. Join us on the journey. First up, adaptable. >>
004My mom got a new job, so I have to wake up early in my new schedule and I have to get ready faster. >> This year I had a new school, a new teacher, and a new classroom. I was a little scared, but I felt fun when it was my second day. >> Now I feel like grateful that I get to actually come to school earlier so that I can play with my friends. >> Now when I go to school, uh, I have a great time. >> I made new friends and today we have to see my fifth grade buddies. >> Adaptable. Being adaptable means going with the flow, even when life throws you a curveball. I went to Belgium and I couldn't understand everything they were saying. So every time we went out to
005eat, I had to point to what I wanted because I couldn't read it. >> This year my brother went to middle school and it's a lot different because like this year he wakes up earlier. So like when me and my sister are still sleeping, he makes lots of noise. I'm adapting because I'm getting used to the noise. >> Our students say adaptability can be tricky. Sometimes easy to handle, sometimes hard. Kind of like broccoli or math homework. >> So we took some deep breaths and did this. Before social studies, we breathe in and breathe out. We did it through our nose and then through our mouth. Yeah. Just like that. And then after that we started social studies. We just calm down and then we can do whatever like math, reading. Being adaptable will help
006me like get out of fights and helping to predict fights. So, it's going to be easier to adapt when I'm older and easier. And the more I adapt, the more easier it gets. In District 57, adaptability isn't just a skill. It's a superpower. And our students are ready to use it at school, at home, and everywhere life takes them. I can be adaptable by going with the flow. >> I can be adaptable by staying calm when plans change. I can be adaptable with by working with different people. >> I can be adaptable by being flexible with my schedule. >> I can be adaptable by finding ways to solve problems. >> I could be adaptable by doing new things. >> I can be adaptable by trying hard things. I could be adoptable by getting used to
007things that I'm used to not getting used to. >> Honestly, I just go with the flow and see what that tastes like. [Music] Thank you, Lions Park. Those are always great. Um, now we have a statement on principal appreciation day. Really excited I get to do this one. Um, Friday, October 25th is principal appreciation day. We couldn't be prouder of the exceptional leaders guiding each of our stu district 57 schools. Marty Hefner at Westbrook, Katie Kelly at Lions Park, Danas at Fairview, and Eric Larson at Lincoln. Our principles treat their schools like second homes, creating welcoming spaces where students, teachers, and staff feel supported and inspired to thrive. They model the very skills we aim to instill in our students through the portrait of a graduate, adaptability, empathy, collaboration, resilience, and critical thinking in everything
008they do. Their leadership goes far beyond managing daily operations. They are mentors, visionaries, and problem solvers who foster a culture of excellence, inclusion, and growth. They inspire students to dream big, teachers to teach with passion, and families to stay deeply engaged in the learning journey. As we celebrate principal appreciation day, let's take a moment to thank these outstanding leaders for their dedication, their care, and their impact on district 57 community. Thank you to all the principles and our sister. All right, we're going to move on to the student board members report. Okay. Well, tonight is such an exciting night because we are actually going to hear from um both our current student board members, Michelle and Josh, but we also are announcing our amazing new members to our student board member team. So, um Penelopey
009and Safhina are going to be introducing themselves in just a moment, but I think first we're going to start with Michelle and Josh. This month at school, we learned about adaptability. Adaptability is being able to adjust to different situations and conditions. This is a this is an important skill to have not just in our classrooms, but in our everyday lives. We will need this skill in future jobs and when interacting with other people. Although construction has limited access to PE recess areas, as students, we appreciate how the school has implemented alternative options such as board games or study hall to make sure we feel supported during this transition period. While this is a challenging period, we understand that construction is a good is for a good cause. creating improved facilities that benefit future students. Although
010we wish it could have happened a little bit sooner. >> Um, thank you. And can you do the video now? All right. So, do you want to give a little segue into what? >> Oh, so this video is uh the newest construction update about how they put up fencing outside the school so that construction can finally start. [Music] >> Hi, Lincoln Lions. Josh and Michelle here with your Lincoln construction news. Today, we're talking with site superintendent Matt D. Mr. D, we hear this project is a little personal for you. Why is that? >> It is because I went to school here for the first graduating class, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. >> That's awesome. So, what exactly does a site superintendent do? >> Oversees the project, enforces safety, schedules all the trades. orders and that's
011really about it. >> Very cool. What's the latest constru construction update for October? >> We are setting up construction fence. We will start excavating the construction road to get into the job site. Then we will be removing the maintenance building and then start staging areas and removing asphalt. Removing the soil and start putting stone down and then removing asphalt. That's probably brings us to the end of October. >> Sounds like great progress. >> That's it for this month's Lincoln construction news. >> Go Lions. [Music] [Applause] All right. Well, you're going to be hearing more from our amazing student board members. And thank you to Miss Lero, too, for putting together such a great interview video. Um so without any further ado, unless there's any questions from the report, um I am so proud to welcome
012our new student board members um who are going to um introduce themselves to the board and then we'll have an opportunity to do pictures as a group. But I want to give a special um shout out to member Dornner who gave so generously of his time and um talents to help us um as a team of four really have the difficult decisions around who to recommend as our new seventh graders to join the team. Um, but Safhina and Penelopey were absolutely exceptional and really stood out in their interviews and their applications and we really couldn't be more excited for you to meet them tonight. So, we can start with Safina if you want to come to the board. Okay, take it out. I agree. It's easier. Good evening. Evening everyone. My name is Safhina Sadiki.
013I'm a seventh grader at Lincoln Middle School. In the past, I have attended both Westbrook and Fairview. I applied to be become a student board member because I want to be a bridge in helping my peers reach our board. I feel excited to be a part of this great community. I'm eager to work alongside everyone here. Thank you. you can stay up here. And then Penelopey, come on up. She's going to introduce herself. Hello, my name is Penelopey and I'm in seventh grade at Lincoln. Um, I really wanted to be a student board member to like unite all the voices at um, Westbrook through V through Lincoln and try to make a difference at um, um, the district 57 for the better. Um and uh I out of school I enjoy to do lots of
014like activities like reading, soccer, um swimming and um cross country. And I enjoy being in the community and helping out and trying to do good. [Music] Awesome. All right. So, um, before we do pictures, is there anything either maybe member Dorner wants to say on behalf of, um, the interview committee or anything, uh, the board has any questions for our new members? >> Um, no, as Dr. Gore stated, uh, it was such a pleasure to serve on the interview committee with Michelle and Josh and Dr. Gore. It was a really difficult choice that we had to make. We had amazing applicants who came from a broad uh set of perspectives and interests and uh and it was I know a really difficult conversation. We had some really um uh sort of heated not heated but
015uh not heated at all but uh I think rich conversations about who would be the best fit and uh and I think Safhina and Penelopey definitely were at you know rose to the top of the list and so we're so excited to have them join our program. Well, behalf on behalf of the board, welcome. Um, it's wonderful to have you here. We love having the voices of our students on our board. So, congratulations and thank you for being here. >> All right. And we're ready for pictures, you think? All right. Come on back, please. another special children like this All right, thank you our spur student board members. We appreciate you taking the time. All right, we're going to move on to our community comments section or portion of the evening. The district 57 board
016of education welcomes community participation in an effort to both listen to our stakeholders and keep the meeting moving. I want to remind everyone of our public participation procedures and guidelines which is available in board policy 2 col 230. Individuals wishing to address the board can do so during the community comments portion of the agenda. Individuals should provide their name and limit their comments to three minutes. Please remember that this is not a dialogue between you and the board. The board is in listening mode during this time. Individuals wishing to contact the board of education are welcome to do so via the district 57 website under the board of education tab. Individuals should behave with respect and civility towards others and abide by board policy 8 col 30 visitors to and conduct on school property. Do
017we have any comments from the community? Seeing none, we will move forward to our staff and superintendent reports. Starting with our enrollment and pro enrollment projection report. >> So we are joined uh online uh with Dr. Coffan. Um, tonight, uh, Dr. Coffron helped us last year, um, in doing an enrollment study, uh, specifically looking at kindergarten as we were starting to have that conversation around construction. Um, and he's back this year to, uh, give us that full enrollment study, um, and share his findings. So, welcome, Dr. Coffin. Can you hear me? >> Yes, I can. Can you hear me? >> Excellent. We can. So, I'm going to pass it off to you to start your presentation. [Music] >> Okay. Uh, thank you. And, uh, I think I'm going to have Mark help me, uh, um,
018flip through the slides. Is that is that is that correct? >> Absolutely. Yeah. Just tell them when you need the next slide. >> Okay. Okay. So, let's let's go to next slide. And >> are you seeing the project summary up on the screen? >> Okay. I can't see the screen, but I've got a um I've got the the slides in front of me. So, uh yes, this is the project summary slide. Um the purpose of of uh this this uh this update which is also a development project was to extend the district's study of births and kindergarten enrollments by uh by developing a complete K through8 enrollment projection model. uh in last year. Uh what the the the task uh my task was to take and and uh assess the utility of of um counting
019births and using those births to project out what kindergarten enrollments would be. Um based upon that result the district decided to well let's go ahead and and take and using the same methodology uh let's extend that through uh uh for grades 1 through 8. So using the the base mapping that uh I developed for the uh the initial study um I geocoded uh births that the district obtained from the Illinois Department of Public Health for calendar years 22 and 23. These were coded through two uh kindergarten uh class cohorts uh and provided a and provided an empirical base for looking at enrollments at the kindergarten level uh through uh school year 29 uh through 30. Um the second part of this was to generate enrollment projections for the next five school years. And to do
020this uh using essentially the same methodology um I took uh and obtained from the school district oh about 20,000 or so student records uh we coded these to classes and uh for the purpose of uh projecting I developed cohort survival ratios that allowed me to project out from the last known year u um of uh enrollments uh through once again, school year 29 and 30. Um, also as part of the uh the the process uh uh and to provide the the district with a uh a useful tool. Um although I projected K through8 for uh residents in both Fair View and Lions Park. uh using those as tabulation areas. I rolled up the enrollment totals for Westbrook um and for Fairview and Lions Far Park for grades 2 through 5 and also for Lincoln grades
0216 through 8. Um if anybody would be interested in looking at where the um where the births or with the where the enrollments are coming from for either Fairview or Lions Park or for Lincoln. uh that data is available for grades K through eight uh for each of the two main tabulation areas in the district. Let's go to the next one. And what this does is this shows you the uh the results of taking live birth records that again the district was able to obtain from the Illinois Department of Public Health and to geocode those to the base map. This base map was provided uh in our last study and as you can see uh we're projecting uh out to 2930 which uh is a tenative projection of what the number of births would be
022given uh a given a uh um multiplier essentially of three. Um and uh using the last u uh four months of uh calendar year 2023. Um the data itself is available in the next um slide which uh again provides for the two tabulation areas fue and lions park. uh the the numbers that were counted for uh each of the years from 2017 through uh 2029 2030 uh kindergarten cohorts. And again, this is going back to 2011. And uh uh once again, using the the calendar year data through uh uh 2023 to uh uh create those counts for uh kindergarten cohorts or essentially the the u the number of kids that would be eligible to attend kindergarten in each of those school years. Let's go to the next one. And uh from that and using the
023uh enrollment totals, I was able to take and project uh total enrollment for the uh the district um looking back to 2017 and again this is by school year uh through 202425 and also projecting out what I would expect the enrollments to be in 202930. Again, this is information that's based on uh live birth information and also the number of kids that are currently in the school system uh by grade. and toward the next slide. Uh if you were to take a look at the uh the graph, uh you'd see that enrollment stabilized in 2024 uh at the 2023 level with uh with essentially the same enrollments. uh I kind of expect the the high projection series and the snapshot projection series uh to be the better or more credible uh trend lines for projecting
024out what total enrollments are going to be in 2029 and 2030. Um these data indicate that the more likely range is going to be between 2,46 students and 2,145 students in 202930. And that reflects the total number of students in grades K through 8. Next slide. And again, rolling up the totals of uh K through8 projections for Lions Park and Fairview tabulation areas uh for K1 uh enrollments. Uh this is the resulting graph for West Point. Uh as you can see from uh this particular graph uh there was a a sliding of enrollments between 2019 and 2022 uh due to the CO 19. probably these these CO 19 impacts. Uh what was not expected was the decline between 2022 and 2023 down to a level that uh was uh lower than what had been previously
025observed and that level uh stuck uh at the same uh level in 2024 25. However, if we go to the next slide, you can see that uh it appears that uh these enrollments have stabilized in 2023 and 24. And based on the last two years of enrollments and births, I would expect that enrollments will likely increase by about 25 students in 2029 and 2030. And again, that's based on uh the total number of uh births that were counted uh through calendar year 2023. Next slide. Looking at the profiles of Fair View and Lions Park for enrollments in grades 2 through five, you can see that the uh the two u the two graphs um are are different. Uh in the projection window, you can see that uh um the snapshot projection, the high projection series
026is looking at enrollments that are trending up in the Fairview uh uh resident enrollment series. Whereas in Lions Park, it looks like the uh the uh uh enrollments are trending uh slightly downward um uh between now and uh the end of the decade and 202930. And here's a lot of verbiage on the next slide um about the data that's in those two graphs. Uh the enrollment projection profile as I mentioned are are different uh for Fair View and Lawrence Park. The snapshot projection which is if you recall uh from last year is based on uh two consecutive uh years of enrollments only. um uh it um it shows that in the February area it bends sharply upward after the 2526 uh school year and um largely on the strength of 2023 and 2024 enrollments in
027uh resident enrollments in the Fairview area. uh more likely that Fairview resident enrollments will range between 507 and 601 students in 202930 assuming that once again the current trends over the next two years continue and that's in graph 4. The Lions Park area experienced an increase in enrollments during the COVID pandemic time frame but then declined in 2021 and which is in graph five. the uh the enrollment projections uh or the enrollments have pretty much stayed the same in 2022 and 2023 but then continued to decline in 2024 in the Lions Park area. And again, these are uh totals for grades 2 through 5. Uh with the decline in 2024 enrollments, I would expect that uh Lions Park enrollments will continue to decline through 2028 before edging slightly upward in 2029 and 2030. And I
028would expect Lions Park enrollments to range between 339 and 357 students in 2029 and 30 using the mid and snapshot projection series. Next slide, please. And taking a look at uh total enrollment in grades 6 through 8, you could see that between 2017 and 2024, the trend line was pretty pretty stable. Um there was uh really no CO impact to speak of. uh in 2019 through 2021. Um there was a little bit of a blip in 2023 24 and that was probably due to uh smaller uh that were affected by the co pandemic uh in the earlier years in the elementary years and uh from that data and also looking at numbers of enrollments uh in 2024 I would expect that uh again using the snapshot projection that the enrollments will pretty much stay the
029same. They're going to edge up slightly uh looking at the high projection series and I would expect the snapshot in the high projection series to be uh to be the better uh tools to use to predict um enrollments in grade 6 through 8. Um as you can see uh the the u the high projection series is really a weighted average of cohort survival ratios that are used to project out uh enrollments. And the snapshot is the u is the result of taking the last two uh succeeding years of enrollments and developing cohort survival ratios and moving those out into the projection window. Next slide please. So here the findings uh summarized in bullet form. Um they were not you can see that the middle school enrollments were not impacted significantly by the covid pandemic although
030there were uh there was a slight dip in enrollments probably due to uh um the impact uh experienced in the elementary uh uh grades earlier. The med middle school impact of student enrollment stayed steadily steady from 283 2018 through before dipping a little bit in 2023. Uh they bounced back in 2024 and it's expected they'll stay at if not increase slightly over the next three school years. Next slide please. So having going through and uh taking a look at uh again over 20,000 records assembling these by um by classes or what we call cohorts. Uh taking a look at birth data over the last 11 years. Um these are the findings uh uh coming out of this study and also um the data that was generated uh as part of this effort. Um, going forward,
031I would strongly recommend and I would love to take a look at the 2025 student address records uh um that uh would be geocoded and would be compared to the uh projections uh that were made for 2025. Uh this would update the projection model uh uh adding those student records to uh um to the uh the data that we currently have. Um, I'd like to be able to compare these projections to the actual 2025 enrollments to see if I'm on track or to see if there are any significant departures. Also, it'd be interesting to see which trend line would be better in uh projecting out uh the u uh the enrollments uh over the next uh four or so years. Um, I'd like to be able to uh take and using 2024 births when they
032become available. Uh, I would love to take these and project out to 2030 31. Um, using births. Right now, the only thing that I can do is to use averages of births which again are are not empirically derived but simply averages that uh uh would be considered to be placeholders uh in the projection model. But again, as 2024 birth data become available, uh we would geocode these u and add them to the projection model. And when I mention geocoding, I'm I'm really kind of talking about address matching. Uh both not only your student data, but also uh the birth date. Um this is uh this is something that's uh a little bit more exacting and a little bit better uh of a predictor in assembling projections than it would be to simply take averages or
033to uh take a look at uh building counts. Um the data from 2024 would be used to finalize the 2029 projections of births that are currently in the projection model uh and provide empirical data for a projection of what the class size would be in the kindergarten class size would be in 2030 2031. And now with that I move to the last slide which again is a question comment slide. I'd be more than happy to entertain the questions or comments from the board. >> Thank you, Dr. Coffrron. Does anybody have any questions? >> Uh, thank you, Dr. Coffin. I have a a few questions, maybe two are for our admin, but the one for you. Um obviously the the challenge with any kind of modeling like this is the factors that are changing, right? And
034so obviously with our move to full day kindergarten, there's a you could make a pretty good assumption that the I think you call it the cohort survival ratio between birth and K is is almost certainly to go up, right? because there are and I'm I we probably even have data on this. I'm sure there are kids who are born in the district and would otherwise attend kindergarten at Westbrook but for the fact that it hasn't been full day kindergarten up till today. Right. So when that changes that rate should go up. I don't know. I have no idea how much but is there a way to account for that in this model? Absolutely. Uh that's why uh and parenthetically I'd like to I' I'd like to suggest this at the you know at at the
035front end and that is uh it's important to uh um to include and to keep the projections uh current. Um the cohort survival ratios are part of I think they're part of the report if I'm not mistaken. Um, >> yep. They are >> table two in the appendix. Yep. >> Right. If we if we go to the report, uh, and if we take a look at I'm going to try to pull that up real quick. And this would be not it. This would be okay. I'm looking at cohort survival ratios by grade centers. This would be table two. >> Yes. And what those represent uh for the high, mid, low, and snapshot projections are the cohort survival ratios which are very simply uh for the snapshot uh the um the current uh enrollments uh divided
036by the total number of births that were counted for that particular cohort. So for Westbrook and the snapshot uh projection, the BTOK uh cohort survival ratio is 669 or roughly 67% of births that were counted and coded to um um to the 204 or 2023 kindergarten cohort uh attended uh kindergarten programming in the district. which means that uh roughly 1 minus uh 67 uh uh is a little bit more than 30% of the uh the eligible babies born in the district uh were not attending kindergarten. Okay. So, as uh as you go to full day kindergarten, I would I would certainly expect those numbers to go up. And and I make that assumption based on the the uh the next line of cohort survival ratios where over 37% of the number of kids that were
037attending kindergarten are moving into first grade. You see how that works? >> Yes. Okay. The um again the the data for Fairview and Lions Park for grades 1 to two through four to five uh follow the same um uh follow the same uh algorithm where you for the snapshot uh series. It's basically the last two years of enrollments. for the high, mid, and low, it's the last five years of enrollments that go into creating these um these cohort survival ratios. So just uh just to take u you know the last line which is the cohort survival ratios for Lincoln Middle School for grades 7 through08. Um last year roughly 2% more uh students uh from grade 7 moved into grade 8. And uh looking at uh the high, mid, and low projection series uh that
038pretty much uh is the same number across the three different projection scenarios. I is it uh is it so if I look at the snapshot for the K to1 survival ratio is that am I interpreting this right? is that that means that that there are 38% or basically 138% of the kindergarten cohort shows up in first grade. >> Uh the birth cohort. >> Yeah, that's what I mean. Sorry. The birth cohort, >> right? These would be births to actual kindergarten enrollments. And what that 1.37 represents is that uh if it were 100% or 1.00 it would be the same number of births that are found 6 years later in uh your September kindergarten enrollments. What this is telling us is that there's u uh for K to K I'm sorry for K to one uh
039there are essentially 37 the class size is 37% larger in first grade than uh what was uh what uh uh what was counted or what was found in uh the previous kindergarten uh class year. So, uh, when when I'm looking at 1.37, it's it's, um, that class size in first grade was 37, uh,% uh, larger than the, uh, the number of kindergarters in the preceding grade, >> right? which which is pretty fascinating because I would interpret that as yes, there are there are fewer members of that cohort attending kindergarten at Westbrook, but then most of them are moving to Westbrook for first grade despite not having attended kindergarten there. >> That's exactly that's exactly what's going on here. >> Okay. Yeah, cuz that >> Oh, go ahead. Sorry. >> Yeah. Yeah. What that also tells
040you is that there's, you know, you were you were making the comment about the size of the first grade class which is 37% greater than the size of the previous kindergarten class. Uh that there's plenty of uh that because of the size of the difference that there is quite a bit of a difference in in um in accommodating uh students. uh if you were to go to a full uh full day kindergarten, >> in other words, there would be uh your capture rate would be higher I would expect to be higher than roughly the 67% that uh it currently stands at now. >> Yeah. Actually, I I would theorize that the BOK number would go up and the K to one number would come down. They'd both >> That's correct. >> They both coalesce around
041one more. So, and the reason I'm asking this question is my concern is when we offer full day kindergarten, are we suddenly going to have an inrush of kids who were not only attending kindergarten somewhere else, but then staying at that school all the way at least maybe through first, if not further. And if if those kids suddenly all attend district 57, which would be wonderful, but that could be an influx of kids we're not expecting and planning for, right? And and what could that do? But but your at least this projection would suggest that is not the case today. At least by and large, not the case today. >> Yeah, I'd agree with that. U okay. Uh the the uh again we can get uh we can get further into the weeds and talk
042about uh how we can uh uh crystal ball gaze into what are some of the variables that might bring more uh households with preschool kids uh into the district. Uh those that are not accounted for by births. Uh but generally speaking, based on simply uh births and uh the number of uh uh kids that are currently in kindergarten, you can expect uh a plus up of about uh 38% uh looking at the number uh the size of the the kindergarten class to attend first grade. >> Yep. Now I would I would also agree with you that that if you you take a look at and again they they they pretty much move around one and that that that is correct that uh the uh the number of u uh or the the cohort survival ratio
043for um the birth through K going to uh full day kindergarten. uh if that does increase then certainly it will lower the cohort survival ratio for K to1 which would be easier to manage I think from an administrative standpoint than uh than looking at a 37% or 38% plus up uh the following year >> right yes if the K to one number snapshot today was one then I would be concerned that with full day kindergarten the BOK number is going to go up and then it's likely that the other number is going to go up as well. But uh All right. No, thank you very much. This is really fascinating stuff. Very cool. Um two more quick questions. Sorry. Probably more for uh Dr. Gore and and Jason, but >> I was really fascinated looking
044at the projected trends of Fairview and Lions Park. I mean, I've always just thought of them as, you know, they're basically the same size school, same number of students. And what what do we do if that actually comes true? I mean, if if I assume Fairview is not built to handle 601 kids, >> right? >> I'll jump in. >> Uh well, um the easiest answer to that question is that we uh we move the boundaries. Um >> that's where I was going to get it, but >> I'm gonna I'm gonna jump in Dr. Coffin if that's all right. >> Sorry. >> And and by the way, The way in which we do this is uh is it's all data driven and it's it's all there for public comment and for uh um uh >> for
045for public consideration. Uh right now I have over 20,000 student records from um uh your history dating back to 2011. Uh I have those records that are on a map. Okay. Um, so for each of the tab what I call the tab tabulation areas of Fair View and Lions Park, I can take and I can cut up those polygons uh to reflect what many would consider to be planning areas. And what we could do is we could see how moving one neighborhood or one block of students from uh one attendance area to another might be used to um uh to come up with a strike a better balance of uh total enrollments and we can do that by grade. So um all of this uh feeds into uh the possibility of of using uh again
046what was uh uh what was started in the benchmark study and what what has been furthered with uh this particular study to come up with a way of u um assessing the impacts of uh of boundary changes uh if you want to go that route >> and I think you know thank you Dr. conference. I think a couple other things too is I think when we look at projections, we also know that and we talk about it with financial projections in January that as you look further out, it's less reliable. So something we we're obviously going to do is continue to watch closely to see how this goes. I think there's a lot of different options we can talk about as well. We can look at district programming and as that makes sense on which
047school that's at um and and rooms there. I do think when we start talking about boundaries, that's obviously um a large big conversation that we want to have with lots of input. Um and so I think we're going to, you know, watch this closely and see where it goes um and see see what happens. I think we also, you know, we try to build in um as much as we can flexibility within schools, too. So I'll throw out like for example right now at Westbrook and Lincoln with the new construction, we have planned for a certain amount of classrooms. We also at both schools have planned for some flexible spaces that can be used in different ways. Um at Westbrook, for example, there's two classrooms that'll have a door, a wall going down the middle.
048It can be used for small group space, it can be used as a full classroom. And so depending on the numbers, and sometimes they go up and down and um throughout the years, but we want to be able to have that flexible space. So, uh we're planning in that way as well. But I think it's a good question to ask. It's definitely um when you look at that data, you say, "Oh, let's let's keep an eye on that." And that's what we'll do as we as we kind of go forward. >> How wide would the disparity have to get until we'd really have to start talking not necessarily about changing boundaries, but just about doing something different? I mean, what what would be the trigger point to I don't know if you have that answer.
049It's maybe a hard question. >> Yeah, I think and I I know Dr. Go to answer too. I my only thing I'd say too is I think it it could probably be two different conversations. One is disparity between the two buildings, but also it's just about room in the building. So, you know, it it could be Lions Park's here and Fairy's here, but we're okay with it because there are there's classroom space there. So, I think that's one conversation. Um, but then there can be a conversation of, oh, if there's this many kids here again, if classroom size if is the same, then is that okay? That's a conversation to have. >> Yep. >> Well, I'd like to also add that again, the the uh the cohort survival ratios by grade centers are exactly that.
050And uh the cohort survival ratios have been calculated uh for what I'd like to call once again the tabulation area that that major you know uh line drawn uh across the the district and and down uh I think either a railroad track or a highway if I recall correctly. But again, all of the uh all of the data has been assembled for grades K through 8 uh and also cohort survival ratios for grades K through eight by these tabulation areas. So that you know you can go back and you can take a look at the number of uh the number of uh kindergarteners uh that you would expect out of the the Fair View area or the the Lincoln Park area. You can also see that there's quite a bit of a difference between the
051total number of births coming out of uh Fair View and Lincoln Park. Um if uh you were to scroll up to the table number one, those are the birth counts by tabulation area and kindergarten cohort years. You can see that there is quite a bit of a difference uh between the two. So that's going to translate into larger larger kindergarten class sizes uh in Fair View. Uh and uh if you do move to all day kindergarten, I would expect that that uh again those those differences would remain unless you decided to uh um to move boundaries around. So >> the the other thing I would add is uh and what will be interesting to watch is all the new construction that's happening in the Lions Park boundary. you know, everything within the tiff. We know
052that I think last year we had six students living in the tiff and I expect that number to go up as more residences are going up and so we'll see will these numbers stay. Will we start seeing a movement a little bit more towards Lions Park? We did our part. We moved from the Fairview site. >> Nice job. >> Everyone just has to do that. >> Uh last real quick question. Uh remind me again what the new Lincoln is built for. >> 850. Okay. For anyone who may be wondering, watching the projection, hm, is the new Lincoln built to so even in the the high really conservative projection, the new Lincoln will house easily that number of students. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Uh just a just another comment.
053There was a question from a board member about the the dots that were outside of the district's boundaries in that map uh that that I provided. Um the um there were roughly over the last 10 years there were anywhere from 15 to 20 students or so that came from outside of the district. Uh the total enrollment projections are for uh and and and because I I there there's no way to uh assess where they were going to go to school. Uh the total enrollment projections include both the cohort projections as well as um a separate projection of the number of students that live outside or reside out of outside of the uh the uh the district's boundary. So, uh, if you see any differences between the total numbers and the numbers that, uh, you would
054add up from Lions Park and Fairview, it's because of the, uh, the addition of, uh, 19 or 20 or so, uh, students that, uh, that reside outside. >> Thank you, Dr. Coffin. >> Oh, my pleasure. Thank you. Uh, thank you for, uh, for your attention and, uh, I really appreciated the the opportunity to present. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right, let's move on to the fiscal year 2025 audit presentation. Dr. Case. >> Excellent. From looking to the future to looking a little bit to the past. Um, I'm going to invite John Eper up from Miller Cooper, who performed our audit for fiscal year 25. >> Good evening. Thanks again, Jason, for introducing me. Uh, the package that you guys received was labeled as an incomplete work product. And what that really meant was
055that all the numbers have been adjusted. they had been through my review, but they hadn't gone through our quality control review. I'm happy to report that that has now happened since the time that you had received it in your board packet to now. So, a formal draft has been issued, and we're not anticipating any changes, and there were no significant changes within the the document that you had reviewed. Um, so I'm not going to go over the whole 114 page document. We'll be here forever. So, I'm just going to highlight a few areas just to give you sort of a refresher on what some of the statements look like. You don't have to follow along, but just to get an idea. and then if you have questions at the end uh we can we can
056go through those. So the financial report itself again is is 114 pages long. It does not contain the opinion as of now. Um we reserve our right to change that up until the point in time we issue the report. But as of now we're prepared to issue a uh clean opinion which is an unmodified opinion which is the highest level of assurance that we could provide. Which means that everything that we found is materially uh stated in all material respects. It's all good. It's all good to go. The next page that I always like to refer people to beginning on page six is the management discussion analysis. And this is a good summary of a lot of the good information that's within the financial report to give you sort of a highle summary of what
057you're going to see once you dive further into the details. Um it it really does sometimes give you everything you're going to need to know um without having to see everything behind it. Beginning on page 16 is the statement of uh net position. And this is basically takes all your funds, puts them together, and then certain items such as long-term debt and capital assets that normally would be considered uh expenditures uh on the fund level that you see on a monthly basis. They get capitalized and and appreciated uh for all your capital assets. And your debt would be a liability and runoff as payments are made. those liabilities would be reduced. On page 17 is sort of your income statement. Uh for those of you who looked at a a a public company financial statement.
058Um and this is effectively all the revenues and and expenses that the district had again on that same basis of accounting when you smooshed all the funds together and looked at everything on sort of a governmentwide basis. >> There is one adjustment in here related to a new accounting pronouncement. So it's brand new this year so you wouldn't have seen it in the past that resulted in a $5.6 $6 million adjustment or an additional liability and that relates to uh Gazsby, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, went and re-evaluated compensated absences and tried to determine when certain compensated absences should be presented as liabilities versus when they should not. Um the major change came with how sick leave is accounted for. So the majority of the time teachers and IMRF employees are allowed to contribute excess
059sick time that they've accumulated toward pension credit but they are also at some point taking some of the uh sick time that they've earned and taking it over their career path. So you have to do some estimates based upon how much do they have in their bank now that they're going to use over a future period in time. So it's a it's a significant estimate. It's very high level. It's not presented on the fund level. you won't see it on a day-to-day, I'm sorry, month-to-month basis in your financial statements. No different than the pension and the other post-employment benefits that came into play a few years ago. Uh, I think if you ask my opinion, it's more of presenting more of a sticker shock of looking at what uh is out there that may not
060be sort of uh in incorporated on a day-to-day basis. But if you have any further questions, we can go over it a little bit more detail uh in a bit. Then uh on page 18 you're going to see your governmental funds balance sheets. So this is very similar to what you see on a monthly basis. So it presents each of the individual funds all of their uh assets and liabilities at year end. What you don't typically see on your monthly uh statements is like accounts payable and other acrruel type items. Uh those are there and presented sort of only on an annual basis. Beginning on page 21 is sort of again your income statements for the fund level. So, it presents all of your revenues, expenditures, and other financing sources and uses by fund. Uh,
061and in between those schedules, you're going to see reconciliations that bridge the gap between the two different types of statements and what the differences really are. That goes line by line and and details them out. Beginning on page 25 is the notes of the financial statements. So, this contains a lot of summarized financial information. uh I'm sorry, detailed financial information that is otherwise summarized uh and presented on the face of the financial statements. So, a lot of really good policy related information and additional documentation of how the numbers were derived, especially when they come to significant estimates such as pension liabilities and other post-employment uh benefit liabilities. Beginning on page 72 and the rest of the report is sort of supplemental schedules. So they include um you know budget to actual comparison schedules, multi-year pension
062related information, a lot of good statistical information that are is required to be presented within the financial statements. I'm going to move on to the letters real quick. And I say letters because ordinarily you'd receive two letters. One that's considered a controlled efficiency letter and one that's considered a required communication to the board letter. I'm happy to report this year we do not have a control deficiency letter because during our our our procedures we gained an understanding of internal control and throughout all of our testing we didn't find anything that warranted uh communication of control uh matters or deficiencies that need to get reported. So that's a really good thing. I think it's the first time we've had that uh probably in the last five or seven years. I I can't remember when but it's
063not there. So kudos to Jason and his team for uh really honing in and and making sure that that was uh we were well well prepared this year. So the other letter that we do have is our required communication letter and this goes over sort of what our responsibilities are which is what our standards are that we have to follow the fact that we have to be independent with respect to the district in all material respects. Um it goes through also some new accounting pronouncements that are effective this year. one of which I went over, the Gazsby 101 related to compensated absences, and then some that will be effective for future years. I don't really see any other ones having any significant or material impacts in the next couple of years. But again, we always
064have to evaluate based upon how the interpretations are rolled out how they will impact the district. But as of now, I don't see any more significant uh ones that will affect you in the future. We're also required to communicate to you any material corrected misstatements that we had. We had various adjustments that we made but nothing that we would consider material. They were just sort of within the scope of the audit that we performed uh to get the uh books and records up to where we needed to report to. In addition, we're required to report any uncorrected misstatements. So those that are not significant that we say we could just pass on because they don't really interfere with a user's view of a financial statement. We didn't have any uh this year as well. You
065will see a table in there, but that's sort of just the reversal effect of something we found last year. When it has an effect one year, it then reverses and has an opposite effect the next year, but nothing to be concerned with. And then within here, ordinarily, this would be in our sort of control efficiency letter, sort of a recommendation, is sort of a standard data security and technology risk um I guess primer that lets everybody know that it's an everchanging environment. You have to continue to evaluate and and determine where you might have vulnerabilities within your IT systems. With that, uh, does anybody have any questions? >> No, thank you very much. We appreciate you making an opaque subject a little bit clearer. >> Sure. Have a great evening. >> Thank you. >> And
066Dr. Case, thank you for all your good work. All right, we'll move on to our superintendent goals. >> Thank you. In your board packets, you have um the October updates for the superintendent goals and be happy to ask answer any questions that you have. >> Questions, comments. >> Go ahead. >> I had just one question, Dr. Gore for the uh goal one D. >> Uh I'm not we so you have here the math growth on spring map as the one of the metrics or goals. >> I'm just curious why I didn't I unless I'm missing it. I don't see ELA on here. Are we or reading on is that on >> that's an error. Um, but it is it should be on there, but we don't have that data because it would also be pending
067spring data. But I will be sure to update that as a placeholder for the next update. Um, >> yeah. I mean, honestly, if we were going to pick one or the other, reading would seem to be the one we'd want to pick, right? Because that's where we have the most room for growth, at least based on the letter. >> But based on last month's meeting, the feedback was to have both. So, I'll I'll be sure to um include that as a placeholder for the update. Thank you. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Uh and then I just have one question about those similar ones. Um I know it's pending spring data. Is there any updates on kind of what is happening around the fall bench? Like I I assume app's been taken. >> Yes.
068So um I believe Dr. Dr. Vanderhar next month we'll be providing um a presentation to the board um for the fall data um that that data is in and has been reviewed by um school level teams and district level teams as well as um data level support meetings um both at the administration level as well as the teacher level and staff level. So in next month's presentation um Dr. Barnhar will present that data. I'm happy to also include that preliminary fall data in the um updates as well so that there's a reference to kind of where we're starting and where we're ending. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. I think it would be helpful just as we're thinking about like the goal of >> supporting the district where it's needed >> if we see something in there.
069I think it's important the >> Yep. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Um this one might be for Dr. Vanderhar. Uh, with regard to the math curriculum pilot, um, I know when we last looked at the data, there was at least some consensus about the progress that had been made with our current curriculum. Um, and I thought at that point you had mentioned that one of the curricula that was being considered was basically an updated version of what we use now, but I wasn't certain that that was one that was listed. So I just wanted to confirm. >> Are you looking at elementary? >> Right. >> Yes. Um math and focus is the updated one. So math and focus 2020 that is one of the ones that we will be piloting and
070then uh like Dr. Gore shared in November. I'll provide an update there uh regarding our data and there were um some changes with MAP. Uh they updated their norms. So, we did see some changes based on kind of percentiles that I presented in the summer. So, I'll share that information as well, but math and focus is one of the ones that we will be piloting. Is that not listed on there? We can update that if it's not. I guess I didn't see anything that was immediately familiar to me as something that, you know, we had been using already. So, I just wanted to confirm that I hadn't misunderstood you when you talked about it before cuz I know I think I was among the board members who felt really strongly about if it's not broke,
071don't fix it. Right? If we have something that's working and that's helping our students grow in this area that we realized we were behind in with, you know, all of the co impact and all of that, um, I would much rather devote our efforts and energy to something else. And I think as I'm thinking about the timeline, so as an October update, we are finishing our first pilot I Ready and moving to our next one, illustrative math. And then math and focus is going to be the third one. So that is likely why you don't see it on there. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> No. Thank you, Dr. Randar. Thank you, Mary. >> Thank you. I just want to also reiterate my praise to um Dr. case
072and his team because they really have been so focused on, you know, getting better and better. And I thought that was so telling that our auditors were able to declare that that level of the absence of any of the findings is such a significant milestone for um this department, our district, and just the efforts of the intentionalness of Jason and his team to really get stronger and stronger. So, it's a huge um it's a huge celebration to their work and credit. >> Well done, Dr. and we'll stick with you for the project. >> And I will just say I I um truly a team effort. Uh I think my team uh after last year's audit right away rolled up their sleeves. This isn't something that can happen at the end of the year and say,
073"Okay, the audit's here. Now, let's do it." It it happens all year where you're getting ready, you're preparing, you're keeping good data, um and making sure we're doing the right thing. So, um it it was it was a really hard and good work that the that the team did. So, I appreciate everything that they worked on. And with that, we'll talk about the budget calendar. Um, so every year we approve a budget calendar. You've seen uh it referenced when we talked about the budget in June and July, August, um, all those months. Um, and so, um, it looks very similar to, uh, the other years. We really will hit the ground running starting in the spring after the personnel plan is approved. Um, and it'll be finalized by September. Um, so it's there for approval
074or really to share. Sorry, I shouldn't say for approval. >> Does anybody have any questions about the budget calendar? >> Thank you, Dr. Case. Moving on to our building brighter futures update. >> Excellent. So, I I think we started the meeting talking about adaptable, and I really appreciate um what Josh and Michelle said about um the students understanding um the need to be adaptable as fencing was going up. Um and I appreciate the staff um as we've jumped into construction this week. Um so, as first, let's uh talk about our celebration. I thought it was great, the groundbreaking. I want to thank STR and Nicholas for all they did to um have an amazing groundbreaking. Also, the band, as you can see in the picture, did an amazing job, I think, performing. Um really appreciate
075all the words that were said and just exciting exciting times. I think I think really started that excitement and got us ready for construction. Um and as you can see on the second slide, we've now jumped into construction. It looks a little bit less exciting. Um but we uh fencing's been going up uh starting last week and this week. Um unfortunately we have taken down some trees but know that there will be more trees planted at the end. We just need um some space to be able to maneuver around but the um construction company has been doing a great job of getting fencing up. We're trying to be as proactive as possible in letting people know exactly what's going on. Um, but we hope um that we plan for uh the maintenance shed to be
076coming down in the next couple weeks and then um they're going to be starting to take that top soil off and digging holes and and getting ready to go. So, um just an exciting time um for Lincoln. Um quick update about Westbrook. Westbrook uh actually they were planning on starting some work in winter break, but they're actually going to come in a little bit over Thanksgiving as well um to do some of that pre-elect electrical work that we've talked about. We went out for bid early on that. Um and then that will be done inside over um Thanksgiving and winter break and then in spring break they're going to do the the exterior um work for that getting ready for the construction that'll start most likely in the summer. Questions about anything with construction or
077anything else? >> No. Thank you, Dr. Case. >> Thank you. >> All right, let's move on to our foyer report. snuck up on me this time. Oh, we have received six FOYA requests between September 20th and October 14th, 2025. The responses have been sent diligently um by our department and the detailed report is available in the board packet. Thank you, Mr. Paige. Okay, let's move on to the consent agenda. And the bills were reviewed by Ray. How's everything look? >> Despite my attempt to find something problematic, I was thwarted by Dr. Case's. Everything looked tiptop. >> Excellent. All right. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. Member Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Vice President Choke. >> Yes. >>
078Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Kell. >> Yes. >> All right. We've come to our second time for community comments. Do we have any comments from the community? No. Seeing none, we'll move on to our news new action. Our new business um to approve the fiscal year 2025 audit. May I have a motion to approve the fiscal year 2025 audit? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Vice President Choke. >> Yes. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. >> President Bennett Kilt. >> Yes. >> All right. Now we're moving on to communications from our board members. Starting with the NSSEO report from Chris. >> Thank you, Karen. uh NSSO governing board met on Wednesday, October 8th. Uh there were several uh items.
079You all saw a lengthy email from me on the progress of our uh articles of agreement revision. Uh I will just paraphrase some of that here uh for the community and anyone watching. Uh I think we're actually in a really good place with this now. Um, as you will recall me saying, there was a little bit of, you know, just concern amongst many of the governing board members about, you know, the fact that this proposed operational board was not terribly well defined in the articles of agreement. And you know many of us and I know all of us kind of agreed with this that well gez you know how can we vote to approve something knowing that this is a pretty big change and we're not really sure what the operational board is going to
080be responsible for. Um so where we've we kind of landed with this is uh Dr. Schnure had created kind of a proposed responsibility matrix where it would say here are all the things that the governing board does today or here are all the things that NSSEO admin and the governing board does today. Here's the current state and here's the proposed future state and she shared that with the superintendence council of which Dr. or is obviously part and their meeting on October 1st and which was a really good discussion as I heard and where they've kind of landed with all this is that while it is clear that the superintendent and clearly want a voice uh in in what goes on at NSSO as they should uh given that we're a co-op uh ultimately there there
081really wasn't a desire amongst that group to take on any of the responsibilities that are that currently rest with the governing board. You know, so for example, you know, there was a proposal at one time, well, the operational board will approve expenditures below a certain amount. Uh there didn't seem to be any appetite amongst the superintendents to do that. Uh there was a proposal at one point that the operational board would have a role in, you know, actually being part of the any future superintendent hiring. and you know they kind of said well we'd like to maybe be on the interview committee but we really don't need to be you know a major part of that. And so where this has kind of landed is that all of the major decisions regarding expenditures of taxpayer
082dollars uh any decisions on on hiring and evaluating the superintendent. uh any role in approving collective bargaining agreements with the unions, any decisions on contracts, those will all stay with the governing board. Now that said, the the operational board uh should the articles go forward uh would have a say in making recommendations to the governing board in having you know opinions on things like when the budget gets routed from the finance committee before it gets to the governing board the operational board would weigh in say yes this makes sense no it doesn't so so really where where this is all ending up the the RMS of all this is that the proposed operation ational board now would really serve as an advisory role, not one that would actually be formerly voting on things. And that's
083what Dr. brought back to the governing board in our meeting. And uh and all of us on the governing board said, "Well, that sounds great. That's kind of exactly where we were hoping this would land, and now it seems like that is where it's landing." Now, the the sticking point with that, so great, we all agree with that. The articles as they exist today do not say that, right? They are extremely ambiguous on on what the operational board will do and we all acknowledge that. So the plan is to update the draft articles much more clearly spelling out the proposed role of this new operational board as I just described it and do that relatively quickly such that in our next meeting the governing board's next meeting on November 5th I want to say November
0845th had it in front of me here November 5th uh we would we would see the new draft draft articles with all of this new text in there. And the governing board at that time would vote to say yes, we want to take this to our member district boards uh and then have our member district boards vote in our November meetings, which for us would be the 18th 18th of November, I think. >> Is that right? Okay. We would then vote on November 18th whether as a district we want to ratify the proposed articles and then the governing board in our December meeting would formally vote to ratify them. So what I will do is as soon as these new article is the new as soon as the new draft is drafted uh I will
085send that to all of you for your review and give you plenty of time to look it over before our November 18th meeting. Uh, and as I've done before, if you have questions or what does this mean or I'm not sure I agree with this, we we can discuss that in advance of our November meeting. Uh, but then the goal would be at our next meeting to vote as a board to uh for me to then vote to ratify the articles in our December governing board meeting. I hope I said all that right. But did that make sense? Any questions on that? I I think this honestly I and and I sort of wish we had gotten here sooner, but I think this is sort of what I and I think others had sort of
086hoped for and intended all along, which is to provide an additional opportunity for the superintendents to have a voice without interrupting or or or putting at risk the the governance and oversight responsibilities that the governing board has and should have. So, so I actually think this is a really good place that we've gotten to. Maybe took a little longer than we wanted, but uh but I think we're in a good place now. And with that, the only other short update I have is just a reminder, uh Harvest Fest at Sunrise Lake, always a great time, is a Saturday, November 1st from 11 to 3. So, if you can make it, please make it. It's lots of fun. big leaf piles for your kids to jump in. And that's it. Thank you. >> Thanks, Chris. Can
087we move on to the Ed Foundation? Uh, no big Ed Foundation update other than they did have they ended up cancing the fall event, but they did have a raffle of piece that went out. Um, and so I know that was being bid on. Um, I was getting email updates, but I'm not sure how that went yet. There's a meeting next week. Yes. um for on for the ad foundation. So I will learn more um but that is what's happening at the ad foundation. >> Thank you. So PTO reports let's start with Westbrook. Westbrook has not yet met since the last meeting. Um our meeting is uh this Monday the 20th. Um there was a request for donations of candy. So, I will bring that 5 lb bag of individually wrapped chocolates for the trunk
088or treat because the people who are who are decorating the cars um are doing a sufficient amount of work and the rest of us should help out by donating the candy so they don't have to do both. So, so that was good. It's exciting. >> Thanks, Pam. And our Fair View rep is not here today. So, Lions Park. Yes, Lions Park. Um they had their last or their most recent meeting was on October 6th. Um they were able to report back that our Lions Park's um largest fundraiser for the PTO, the Warren run. Um they exceeded their budget on a money raised. So that was wonderful. And so the PTO has started to already discuss um you know additional projects and and in communication with uh the school about any extra products that could get
089funded from that additional funding from the roar and run. So that was wonderful. Uh additionally they had a third play date at the ball factory for their second graders. So they're new second graders at Lions Park. Um and uh they were also discussing uh setting up like a joint playd date with the Fair View second graders just to kind of start to make those connections between the two schools. Additionally, I know room reps were hard at work. They're finishing up the planning details for the Halloween parties. Um, and the there was also some conversation and actually I heard this as well that um I believe the construction fencing around the Lions Recreation Center is going to be going up here in the next week or two or very soon. Uh maybe even this week. Um
090they thought it was going to be around October 20th, but um again the construction fencing is going to go up around the Lions Recreation Center. Um, and just it didn't seem like there was going to be necessarily any impact to the spaces that are available to the students at the school, but just something to know as they are neighbors. Uh, and then the last thing is that the next meeting is on Monday, November 3rd at Lions Park School. >> Thank you. We have a Lincoln report. >> We do not. They have their meeting on Monday as well. So when we come together in November, I will have two Lincoln PTO meetings to tell you about. Thanks, Kim. All right, so board president report. Um, so we received the 2025 ISB resolutions committee report packet last
091month and so we need to you should re review that which will be discussed at the November board meeting. Um, also board members who are interested in serving as a delegate for the 2025 IASB delegate assembly um will be asked or can you ask, excuse me, if you are interested in being the delegate, you can let me know by this coming Monday and we will we'll decide on that. A delegate and an alternate will be decided. And my other item is a piece of sad happy news. Um, tonight we take a moment to recognize and celebrate the contributions of our colleague and friend Jennifer Choke, who will be stepping down from her role as vice president of the district 57 board of education. Jennifer's resignation is due to her announcement of an exciting new chapter
092as the director of government relations for the Illinois Association of School Boards. While we are sad to see her leave this table, we are incredibly proud to see her step into a role where she will continue to advocate for students in public education, this time at the state and federal levels. Since joining the board in April 2021, Jennifer has contributed to important initiatives, including serving on the strategic plan task force and the development of the D57 portrait of the graduate, helping ensure that every decision aligns with the values and skills we want for our students. adaptability, critical thinking, empathy, resilience, and collaboration. Jennifer has also been a passionate advocate for student voice, encouraging students to take part in leadership and board conversations. Her belief that students deserve a seat at the table has made our
093district stronger and more inclusive. Of course, one of the most exciting moments during Jennifer's tenure was the groundbreaking for the new Lincoln Middle School, an unforgettable milestone that symbolizes progress, community partnership, and a shared commitment to the future. She also helped guide the district through the successful Westbrook edition planning and took pride in seeing District 57 recognized at local, state, and national conferences for strong governance and innovation. Beyond her many accomplishments, Jennifer has brought a spirit of collaboration, curiosity, and care to her work. She has modeled what it means to listen deeply, to seek multiple perspectives, and to make decisions that serve every student every day. Jennifer, your leadership has left an indelible mark on this district. We will miss your thoughtful insights, your educator's heart, and your ability to bring people together for the
094common good. On behalf of the board of education, we thank you for your service to District 57 and to the Mount Prospect community. We wish you great success in your new role at IASB. And we take comfort knowing that even as you step away from this table, you will continue to champion the values that make our schools and our students shine. Congratulations, Jennifer, and thank you for all your service. [Music] Wow. >> Chen, did you want to say anything? >> Yeah, I'll say I'm going to read it too just cuz you know. Um, so I will say I will I wouldn't be stepping down except I have to. Uh it is a conflict of interest for me to serve both as a school board member and also work for the Illinois Association of School Boards.
095So I will say that coming into this um I have I am so incredibly grateful to all my fellow board members past and present. Um the work that board members do is hard but incredibly rewarding, especially when it is done alongside people who care deeply about the community they are serving. Even when we disagreed or needed to have hard conversations, I have been grateful for the way we respect one another's perspectives and our humanity. I am so glad that I've had the opportunity to serve alongside you. To the staff of D57, thank you for the work you do each day. I know the hard work you put in and the amount of time, talent, and effort you give to this district. And I truly thank you for that. And to the students in this district,
096thank you for all that you do to make D57 the best place it can be. From serving as students, board members, and on advisory councils to participating in clubs and sports to volunteering to giving your all in the classroom, you are truly what makes D57 a great place. and to the community. Thank you for trusting me with this role. It was never my intention to leave before my tenure was up, but I'm excited to continue to serve our students, the community, and the members of the board in a different way in my new role at the Illinois Association of School Boards. So, thank you so much. Now, it's time for a picture. Thank you. [Music] Heat. Heat [Music] up here. [Music] Thank you. And there were definitely plenty of pictures to choose from. So, thank
097you, Heather. That was beautiful. All right. Thank you again for all you've done for this board, Jennifer, and for um every contribution you've given to the school district. It's been going to be missed. So, we're moving on. We don't have any need for board discussion. Um I just have a quick update for the possible topics for future meetings. There are three items in the queue right now and we're working on where best to include that in future agendas. Does anybody have any additions to that that um that queue? No. Okay. All right. So, we have need for close session. So I will entertain a motion to enter close session for the purpose of collective negotiating matters where between the public body and its employees or the representatives deliberations concerning salary schedules or one or more
098classes of employees. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Member Leto. >> Let her take it. Right. >> Member Leto. >> Yes. >> Member Nelson. >> Yes. >> Vice President Choke. >> Yes. >> Member Dorner. >> Yes. >> Member Fay. >> Yes. President Bennett kill. Yes. All right.