001All right. Let's call to order the Prairie Hill Community Consolidated School District number 133 regular board meeting. Today is Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. Today is 5:32 p.m. Mr. Bucken? Here. Mrs. Ischen? Here. Mr. Anderson? Mr. Sheffman? Here. Mr. Finnigan? Mr. Gallant? Here. Mr. Luke? Here. Let's do the Pledge of Allegiance. >> [clears throat] >> 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. Visitor comments? It's no taking space. I I'm actually going to speak, if that's okay. >> Yeah, of course. Very briefly. I'm going to look at my phone, which is just a moment, but No. I'm not speaking. Um so, I'm Dan Bresler for those of you who don't know me. I'm
002a social worker at Prairie Hill, and also secretary of the teachers union. Um and I was asked to speak today on behalf of the union's executive board to express our appreciation for board members' recent visits to our schools. Um we recognize that there can be a natural disconnect between school boards and the day-to-day experiences of teachers and students, and we appreciate any efforts to bridge that gap because we believe the district will have the best outcomes possible when we maximize shared understanding between teachers, administrators, board members, and families. Um to that end, we would like to express our willingness to collaborate with building administration and the school board to facilitate future school visits or other activities the board may pursue to understand teachers' perspectives and experiences. For example, there may be value in shadowing individual
003staff members for for full class periods or even several hours to get more than a short snapshot of their day-to-day experiences. We know that some members some teachers may be more comfortable with that than others, and that you all would want to avoid either being intimidating teachers or imposing on student learning. And so, if you were interested in pursuing that sort of more extended observation, we would be more than happy to facilitate communication with uh union members in advance to help them understand the goals of the visits, uh and request volunteers who would be comfortable hosting board members in their classrooms at specific dates and times. Please don't hesitate to reach out to uh the union executive board through our email address, which I can share with you if you don't have it after the
004meeting. And we welcome opportunities to collaborate with you and appreciate the work that you do for our district and our schools. Thank you. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Start with looking for an approval for January regular meeting minutes, January committee meeting minutes, February bills totaling $145,133.37, February payroll totaling $248,711.52, and the student activity funds. So moved. Seconded. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. All right. Sure thing. Thank you. Um we are in the middle of conference night. I can't believe second trimester conference nights. We're between the two. Trimester two ends tomorrow, so we're already 2/3 of the way done with the school year. It's crazy. Big shout-out to uh PSA and the teachers union for providing the conference meals for those two nights. Um Excuse me. Jackie and I are in the middle of making
005sure our families do the five essential survey for our schools. Um if you have students at either Prairie Hill and or Willowbrook, we do ask that you do them for both schools. Um right now, I'm only at 15%. I don't know how you've how you're doing. Uh it's We need to [clears throat] get to 20. We need to get to 20. I need 40 more parents to Thank you. Thank you last uh thank you last week. I appreciate that. The pre-K lottery was a couple of weeks ago. Um it went well. Everybody that um signed up to reserve a spot um received a spot. We do have about five openings left. They're all p.m. slots, but um the lottery went well. Usually it was done on a Saturday morning, but we did it on a
006Friday after school, and seemed to go just fine. Um applications for our two open positions have been coming in for our kindergarten opening as well as our resource opening. We have a really good pool of candidates for both positions. The interview teams have started to meet. We're going to final up finalize our process next week, and then we're going to start interviewing. Right now, I think we have about 10 interviews scheduled already. So, we should Would Jackie beat me, too? Yeah, that's amazing. That's not me. Um The interview process will not be done This is I mean, it's Sorry, it's distracting. It is. It's distracting. We're all paying attention, too. There I won't We won't be ready to make a recommendation for probably either hire at the March one, but we'll have one. It'll be
007We'll probably have a decision in early April. Hopefully by the April board meeting, we'll have a recommendation for the fall. IAR is coming. We will I think we're on the same page. We're going to start after spring break. Our third and fourth grade students and teachers are working hard to prepare. Um based on the I-Ready winter scores, um I'm looking forward to how this year is going to go. I think they're going to Our kids are going to do awesome. Kids Heart Challenge. Thank you to all the parents we had that day on Thursday last week. I think we had well over 50% of the school represented with an adult. Um when I talked to Mrs. Sackness last week, >> [clears throat] >> uh she just texted me now. I'll see if she gives me
008the number. Um as of last week, we had over 19,000 raised. Awesome. So, she was going to give me an update updated number, which she's giving me right now, but 20,000, that's about where we're at. That's pretty awesome. Um unbeknownst to me, she kind of told me it was one of those ask for forgiveness situations. Um I'm going to get pied because they reached their goal. Hey, would you like to be pied? Sure. So, at a later assembly, I will be pied by multiple students. Um I just requested to Mrs. Sackness that we do that towards the end of the day. Um said that would It's okay here, but it's not fun. And I've been pied before. It's Um Mrs. Watts, our new full-time ESL teacher, she spent a good four weeks hammering out ACCESS
009testing. That is a big task. It is one of our state-required um assessments. It's a standardized test that has to be given to all of our students who receive ESL services. So, she more or less had to stop her her normal business for about a month and individually test kids one-on-one, and she tackled it all herself, and it was completed last week. So, thank you to her. Um not sure if you heard the good news. Mrs. Fisher was 97 ZOK's teacher of the week a couple of weeks ago. Um I will have a picture that class picture in my newsletter that will hopefully go out tomorrow after school. And then, to echo what Mr. Bresler just said, I wanted to thank Christina, Mrs. Ischen, Mrs. Finnigan for stopping by last week. I had kind of
010a general good report from staff members that they enjoyed seeing you in the building. So, thank you very much. That's PHS. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Um over the last month, I should say, we had pretty good things. One of the things that kids do every year, uh Mrs. Holden has a gentleman come in from a theater company, and they do Shakespeare day. So, that tends to be a really appreciated presentation by students. Um they do like a whole assembly in the cafe first, and then he goes to their literature classes and does extra things with them there. Um and that kind of lines up with her McBeth novel that they do in class, and it's kind of gives them that Shakespearean background knowledge, which they will dive more into their freshman year. Um
011we had the Java Jam, which is put on by both Haley Bucha and Kieran Crippen. So, that is base pretty much all band and choir kids. They get to choose songs that they would either sing and or play, and sometimes they combine in groups, and they instruments and also sing. Um but it's more of like a passion project in music. And then, they come here. It's usually us like There's a goat. There's a goat, which sounds like a goat running in You're being distracting, buddy. Um >> [laughter] >> So, they do that fund rais- It's also a fundraiser. So, there's a bunch of gift baskets that Haley Bucha has donated from different businesses in the area, and people can come and bid on those baskets, and then they'll listen to music. This year, it was
012on Valentine's Day um in the afternoon for a couple hours, and then Mrs. Williams, who you can see here, is running our book fair at Willowbrook. She also opened the book fair on that day to get kind of an additional jump start because um often in the middle school, it's a little bit harder to get parents to come in and actually see the books in the book fair. It's usually kids coming in and buying those things so that was another opportunity to have that available to the community. We obviously are wrapping up or getting really close to wrapping up girls basketball season. They're playing right now this is their last home game so they're honoring sixth eighth graders that we have out there tonight. Um on Thursday we had our Blue Blue Day which was
013focused on perseverance and we had a gentleman by the name of Jason Smith come um and speak to each grade level at a time talking to them about working through your identity with one label so kind of the idea that sometimes kids might say I'm smart or I'm funny or I'm athletic but they kind of think that's the only thing they are and recognizing that labels can be positive in many ways but you don't have to have just one label you can be many things. And then also that labels aren't always a positive thing based on what his latest are. So the message is how do you persevere through those things or times and phases in life and recognize that you are more than just one thing you are said to be or thought to
014be and how you kind of gain experiences and shared um characteristics sometimes with other people that you don't even expect to gain them from. So that was a great message and I thought he's kind of a really chill dude. >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me so when you come you're like oh god so you're going to come in middle school kids right because I don't think it takes kind of a finesse. I think he did a really good job reading that kids need to move and there were three or four opportunities where kids got to move and interact with each other about his message which was neat. Um and I kind of quizzed all of them at the end of each I said I need five things or three things or tell me something that
015you learned or took away from this and I would say I felt really confident that the kids did receive the message that he was trying to give so that was cool. Um we as well are doing conferences here at Willowbrook. I will say they are not as highly attended as the fall teams. Part of that I think is because eighth graders have course selection night at the high school and one of the nights that they offer is the 19th which is our first conference night. So a lot of our eighth grade teachers didn't see as many faces as we normally would have but the high school also offers a course selection night on the 23rd which was this past Monday. So all of our eighth graders are getting excited about that transition and that next
016step. Um this weekend we have the eighth graders it's not technically put on by the school but the kids get to do it which is kind of a cool thing you can see for that trip if they signed up for that for the long weekend. Um historically we will have really low eighth grade attendance on Tuesday and everything it's not an after but they need their sleep Kim so usually they take an extra day but it's a fun it's a fun trip for those who go and South actually does that with them and usually pulls a couple other adults to go with her for that. We are approaching our first ever boys volleyball season so there's open gyms that are happening tryouts will happen in March which is exciting to see how that will how
017it will go down. Um track will also be kicking off in March as well. Track is a really good place in where kids just want to dabble in an athletic event but aren't really sure how or what they can contribute because our coaches do a nice job of finding something that they all can do well. Um which is awesome. And then probably the most exciting thing of the month uh was that Haley Gucha our choir teacher did win the Golden Apple. She was a Golden Apple recipient on the 19th so she got to start her morning with a surprise visit from really going. I I I locked it too. It went it came from the outside and I Oh. not from the inside. Yeah. So that was fun who did surprise visit for her from
018all the Golden Apple people but then also Linda Julian was a part of that delivery party and if you don't know who Linda Julian she is the choir teacher that was here before and she also was one of Haley's teachers when Haley was a student at Prairie Hill so it's kind of cool to see like a whole circle moment. Um her family came she had no idea and I told her I was like you're killing me cuz she asked me every day she said do you know have you heard do you know have you heard and so of course I knew but I was like no idea. Because we wanted to be a surprise for them and we wanted it to be special so that was a fun moment for her and we're really excited
019for her. Thanks so that's Willowbrook. I thank you. Yeah just a few updates from where we were at a couple days we talked about it at the Committee of the Whole. We are looking to approve calendars for the 26-27 and 27-28 school year tonight. Um I did take a look there there's going to be two variations of calendar for 26-27 one with an election day and one without an election day. We just got an update I think it was last week and essentially they're saying that we may not know until summer time if we're going to have to take that Tuesday off or not so what we'll likely do is assuming they get past tonight throw both those versions up. It's not going to affect the beginning of the school year or the end [clears
020throat] of the school year or the big breaks that everybody takes a look at and usually goes on vacation for but it might mess with the conferences a little bit if we end up putting the conferences on that Monday night taking Tuesday off like we did a few years ago. So please just keep that in mind and as soon as I know whether or not it's a thing we will put the actual one up on the website and take the other one down. Um we had a forum on Monday night for Hononegah Nations about the 1% county sales tax started at 6:30 at Hononegah. All of the superintendents there were there for the nations a couple board members from Hononegah showed up and Greg Brown from IPS showed up and gave a presentation similar to
021what he gave to you as a board. Um that let me just get the zoom inside. It's a new occurrence Kelly. It really is. Never escape Emily Thompson. It's a safe space. What else? >> [laughter] >> We need another blanket over there. Blanket that's what I was looking at too. Could be a possibility. Can you put the bunnies together and like can Oh it's a boy and a girl. No. Yeah you don't want to take that chance. And maybe they >> [clears throat] >> Um anyway Uh so we have had going on that lasted till about 8:00 Monday night. We all sent them to our community and our staffs and we had one person show. Um but Mr. Dugan did see some people during freshman orientation and had conversations with them out in the hallway
022so that worked out well too. So we'll see how that goes on March 17th. Uh one. Yeah from Kinnikinnick if you're wondering but [clears throat] Hononegah does have a board member that lives in our district so we count that as well. >> [laughter] >> So there's that. I I do feel like it was productive for the individual that was there in the middle of us but another good presentation by Greg so we appreciate him coming out for that. Uh we have the reunification MOU that we talked about which is all of the school districts in Winnebago area uh partnering with local emergency services police paramedics that sort of thing so if there was ever a mass crisis we could partner with the city on that so we'll have that up for approval tonight and that
023just gives us all of the resources readily available in some different spaces that we could potentially have reunification at if if we had to leave the buildings and we needed a bigger space for parents in the community to come pick up their students. So that's on the agenda for tonight as well. Uh I talked to Mr. Carter about the preschool playgrounds and we talked a little bit about the funding and the um the grant that he got he is going to reach out to a couple more companies to get us a couple more quotes so he's working on that now and whenever he has some feedback on that I'll bring that back to the board likely March or April is what I'm guessing. And then finally [clears throat] for the tuition waiver that we discussed
024in the wording on policy including an inservice policy I did send that to legal last week and or maybe the week before anyway they're going to take a look at that and vet that so as soon as they get that looked at I'll bring feedback to the board we can take a look at that again >> [clears throat] >> and then I'm thinking likely it would be in our best interest if we're going to approve it to approve it in March or April and get it into policy so. >> [snorts] >> And outside of that Mrs. Thompson and Mr. Carter hit the things that were happening in February. Committee of the Whole building and finance. Um The only thing of note that I have is just that Clint and myself and a little bit of
025Tina had some emails recently just regarding the audit getting done and kind of where you know the new treasurer how she is getting acclimated and things of note. So as we have it right now Tina's going to reach out probably even tomorrow I think and talk to that new treasurer um as well as maybe she said it's fine. I don't know. Do. Okay. From bending I don't know why but yeah so we're just working a little bit with Clint there and just make sure that anything that's to do with the new the how to get the audit done later um um I did get your email. Okay, yeah. I just wanted to No, he was okay. I just wanted to share, you know, what had been happening since it was for that committee, but it
026wasn't going to be anything Okay. to report at the moment. Um education transportation, do you want to give us like a little rundown? Yeah, so Liz and I went to Prairie Hill a couple weeks ago and went to visit Mr. Carter. We had a really productive discussion. It was I would say we were there for what 2 and 1/2 3 hours? It was nice bulk of the morning and we actually went to every classroom. Um every teacher was very welcoming and the students were so well-behaved. I mean, you cannot say that any teacher there does not have their classroom totally under control and managed and they were a delight all the students. I was most impressed because I mean, I knew we had administrators, great administrators, great teachers, but the students were just awesome. So
027that was really fun to see. Um it was a very quick in and out just you know, saying hi to the teachers and the students. So we didn't spend a whole lot of time in any of the classrooms. Um we did get a tour by Mrs. Wright um and she kind of was explaining things on the tour. So that was helpful as well, but I would like to get your email and I would love to come shadow um any teacher willing to have me um and to maybe go through like the short little questionnaire, um but Liz and I can get together. I have my notes. I was nervous about sharing them because I didn't know if it the quorum. Can I share them with you? If we and Liz just email you the notes
028then? I mean, we did talk about some personnel things. Yeah, don't share Yeah, don't share it. Well, I I Yeah, that's not in there. It was just >> No, I mean, you don't need to though. Just like what you're doing now. >> Okay, perfect. >> and if we get if as you have another meeting with them if we dig into it deeper, you know, at the COW and stuff, but if you ever do want you can send an email though. Just like update on something that you or that tell us that you had the meeting or whatever, we won't reply all Yeah. Yes, but Liz and I can get together too and kind of think about um just some ideas we were brainstorming. Yeah. Um and then we met with Mrs. Thompson Monday and you
029as well. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> And walked around the school for a bit. All the teachers were amazing and we walked into a couple classrooms and it was just a couple things that I noticed that I really really loved was in Mr. Brown's classroom, he had kids standing, sitting under the table, but nobody was misbehaving. It was just he knew how these kids wanted to learn. And no one was being outrageous or talking while he was talking. So I just thought that was a really cool thing to see that they were just moving about their day and he knew what what he had to let these kids to do to listen to his lesson plan. Um Miss Holton welcomed us into her classroom. She introduced us. She had the kids ask us any questions or
030let us know whatever [clears throat] they where they wanted to see changes and I'm supposed to tell you that they really dislike i-Ready in seventh and eighth grade. And they would love it if we could look into something else. >> [laughter] >> I promised I would share that information on Wednesday. Um that and they wanted the dinosaur game back. >> [laughter] >> That's something that's blocked on their It is. It's blocked and they were like showing me and I'm like, "Well, you can go home and do this, right?" And they're like, "Yeah, but it'd be really fun to do it at school." So but no, they were they were great and and Miss Holton actually did invite us back. She was really disappointed on the day we came because she was just doing like interviews
031with the kids, but she wants us to see her whole Shakespearean lesson. She was really excited to I think that was some of the feedback I had gotten is what Dan had mentioned that they were like, "Bring it back. What else is there anything else we can give them a schedule for the day?" And I was like, "Determine that out." Yeah, for sure. We would love I have 9 years old in education committee and we did nothing cool like this. So I might just >> Well, yes. I mean, I think they did any of you at any of your Yeah. It was very like honestly, it was everybody was so welcoming. Nobody gave us like a weird look, you know, cuz I know like I think did you email the teachers maybe that we were
032>> I just said there may be some visitors. >> Okay, right. But nobody looked at us like we were Yes, and at Prairie Hill, no one looked at us like we were intruding on their space and um I'm really lucky that I have kids at both places. So I got a lot of highs from a lot of kiddos. You know, that was special, but >> [clears throat] >> anyway, that was that. Okay, perfect. Policy. Nothing. I just have the uh section six items to look into, which I'll take care of next time. Okay. I'll just I'm sorry, covered the other part. Okay. Mhm. Okay. Um FOIA request. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want to I Yeah,
033I was like, "Whoa." Uh Chad. I think hearings, okay. Hearing systems and supporting company contracts service agreement and purchase orders. Smart procure all current employee information. I don't know just ask for contract records, special services. This um appeared to be AI. So we requested proof that we were an AI and they were Got it. We're saying Yeah, we can do that now. Okay. Chris Miller with Public Info Access LLC records policies or schedules identifying dollar thresholds for purchasing and contracting approval authority for school administrators, central office [clears throat] staff, the superintendent and the Board of Education. Uh Michael Henry regarding the board member background checks. Was that the one you were expecting to get? >> Yeah, so that was um that was sent to I think every district in the state of Illinois. >> I
034had that impression, yeah. Yeah, um and so we I I talked to the nation supers. Um we talked to some legal representation and and essentially board members are not required to do background checks. Um >> [snorts] >> it's something that the county handles. So we we basically responded with you know, we responded with information and the county said which is pretty uh standard with the other other districts in the area. This time, I will entertain a motion to enter executive session to discuss employee appointment, employment, compensation, and discipline performance or dismissal of a public employee to see one. I don't think you're going to vote on closed session then if you're already took a look at the little packet. >> Oh yeah, lock the closed meeting minutes pursuant to 5 ILCS 120/2a. So moved. Second.
035Yes. I think Yes. Yes. Yep.