001e we good yes all right see you behind all bags Welcome to our February uh 4th um Regular Board of Education meeting can we do roll call please Sandra Bradford here Barry aler here Leah collister lazari here Katie carum here Erin Chand ding here Steve Wang here Diana Clapton here I would you please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al flag the United States of America the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all I love a full house this is great um I'm going to turn it over to Dr winman right away because we've got some recognitions we want to yeah thank you Sandra and I love full house too this is a great evening we have a lot of student recognitions and
002staff recognitions tonight so thank you everyone for coming out and joining us um our first agenda item is to hear from one of our Roslin Bulldogs we have um Maisy Malin uh who's a fifth grader at Rosen and she's going to give a report on what's going on at Rosen Road Elementary School so welcome hi everyone you're good hi everyone I'm so honored to be here tonight as a fifth grade Roslin representative thank you so much for having me my favorite Tradition at rosin road is the variety show I love the variety show because we are the only school who does it which makes it extra special it gives the kids of our school an opportunity to boost their confidence on stage and have a fun activity with friends over the weekend winter break or
003even a random Tuesday as well as making memories on stage Solo or with friends that is my favorite Ro rosin tradition how I demonstrate my responsibility or ownership is with my learning at R Roslin is proving that you're doing harder things makes you more powerful and confident with the skills that you have I also learned resilience resilience to keep going don't care about what others think I mainly focus on what I think and my empowerment I focus on what I what myself and what I can do best to learn skills that you have never knew that you might have or use at rosin my teachers for the last 6 years have made it better for me to concentrate on consistently keeping up with work and having a good mindset for my learning that helps me
004most being confident and learning not let people push you down is what helps me most it seems that rosin my makes my new passions come true at first I was very passionate about drawing and coloring in kindergarten Miss Luby are art teacher made me grow as an artist throughout Elementary School Miss luy helped me concentrate more on improving what I am already good at I love art and I feel like I'm having a more artistic I'm becoming more artistic with her help my learning experiences were unbelievably unbelievably helpful when I was young I had difficulty speaking with speaking proudly Rosen helped me speak more confidently now I love to express myself through writing School inspired me to love language arts in fourth grade I wrote a creative story about Goldie Locks and The Moldy sandwich
005and this room this year I wrote an essay to you rosin has helped me especially others feel so welcome to our school diversity is an important part of our school and what makes it special because I know everyone feels welcome and they really like what we are as as Ros and Bulldog Community like the culture walk around from our spring success last spring when people set up their different St stations having the opportunity to experience many cultures so everyone could learn together the culture Rock put into action when everyone was being said about in inclusiv and belonging it spread this word about and was positively received by students and parents as something we value and plan to continue within our school activities how I de demonstrate my accountability is by showing responsibility for our school
006as our fifth graders can be silly I believe that we start showing more leadership some people I know do a perfect job of doing them we are offered to participate in safety patrol to help under kids third in third grade to guide their them to the classes and set good examples most of my classmates participate in this and enjoy and according to my teachers we do an excellent job goal setting has always been a New Year's resolution for me take accountability and to get into getting better grades or journaling every day to become a better writer perseverance is important to me because it shows what kind of person you are lots of our fifth graders show perseverance in showing a challenge is no problem and putting their best effort as as well how I show
007my responsibility and perseverance is by following up with the schedule being responsible every day is important knowing who I am I I know that can always happen waking up fresh for the day every day every morning is what I try to accomplish going to bed early is not my not my usual cup of tea but every day I give it my best effort you don't only show leadership you can show your you care by giving your best effort every day your effort can Define who you are to others too every day I have to feed my dog I show responsibility through my care of my pet by doing home tours or having Independence can de help develop responsibility I visualize my plan as a pyramid eventually my effort and follow through get on responsibility creates
008goal setting which at the top of the pyramid gets you to perseverance great responsibility accountability goal setting and most importantly leadership accomplishing that can be get more better by just one day it can make your whole life easier and peaceful more than just doing it can make your whole life easier and peaceful by just doing simple steps every day builds upon future success it shows what you have done and what you can accomplish if you stay focused on your goals and what you want to achieve thank you for listening and having an amazing night [Music] [Applause] Maisy I think you were like one paragraph in and I already wanted to give you a nickname Mighty Maisy yeah there you go that was an excellent report thank you for sharing so many things about your experiences
009at Roslin um I have a question what what was your variety show what did you do oh was that your question actually that but I also want to know what did the fifth graders do at act this year um we did so you can answer both this year we did R and pop stars and we um dressed up as pop stars and there reporters and everything and we did some dances with cool keep using the microphone there other questions Maisy that was so inspiring I feel like that could have been a graduation speech that was awesome um I'm wondering the culture walk around that sounds really cool is it newer it was last year last year cool is there what's something that you remember from maybe one of the stations or something that you learned
010from that I remember Norway it was about Elsa and Anna Elsa and Anna and Norway that is memorable that I'm glad that that'll keep going sounds great I don't have a question but I took mental notes on things to tell my kids tonight so I learned about resilience perseverance scheduling and we should always be responsible like I feel like you learned a lot I'm taking that home to my kids so thank you for such a great speech is excellent others uh I was to say before you go do you want to use the mic and introduce uh some folks to us that are setting the audience possibly you stole my line too um we're getting good at it yeah I think so um this is my sister Lucy my mom my dad my great aunt
011and my grandma and then my teacher Miss alfano and my principal Mr K awesome the Flo is still yours go for it Miss Luby my art teacher Miss oh okay thank you mighty Maisy thank you for having me can we we do have yep go ahead for joining us tonight would you mind if um we took a picture with the board and we have a certificate for for you as well as darington swag so is it right if we take a picture together all right you get three in the middle J J [Applause] you guys will be up and down a few times tonight oh feel free to stick around we get it we get it copy of that speech good yeah that was outstanding go yeah all right so we're not done we are
012not done recognizing students tonight so at this time our next agenda item I'd like to introduce Bridget teston who's going to introduce and recognize our Allstate musicians so come on up [Music] hi good evening everybody my name is Bridget tileston and I'm the K12 director for fine Visual and Performing Arts and I'm so excited tonight to present our Allstate musicians so we have nine students from Bearington high school and two from Prairie Middle School um but before we start I just want to reference back to the barington 220 Mission which is of course to inspire excellence in every learner and I just I thank the board and Dr Winkleman from the bottom of my heart for your support of the Arts um starting at a young age and um developing the talent and supporting these
013students to achieve these great things because it's a big deal to become an Allstate musician um which is why we're honoring these students here tonight so students awarded the Allstate musician title through the Illinois Music Association are vetted through a rigorous audition process at the school level at the district level in one of the most competitive areas of the state where we have many schools with fine music programs and then ultimately at the state level the small number of students selected for each instrument and award um were celebrated last weekend at the ilmea music festival and so tonight we're going to recognize the students one by one they'll go over and receive a little swag bag um from our music staff so we're starting out with Sally dong so if you can come up [Applause]
014congratulations so Sally was selected for the All State honors band on the part of flute and you can yeah you can do it this way come over here um and her involvement in BHS Fine Arts is in symphonic band symphonic orchestra marching br o and pep band and actually for each of these students tonight I asked our high school music staff to kind of describe the students and adjectives or qualities that they share and so our music staff said that Sally is dedicated passionate humble and obtains Superior musicianship um don't look so surprised me um and I also asked the students I don't know if you remember this last month to your favorite Fine Arts memory so Sally's was one of my favorite she said that her favorite Fine Arts memory is eating Costco cookies
015and band camp lunches so congratulations next we have Alex [Music] garia Alex was selected for the All State chorus um as a tenor his involvement in Fine Arts has been through chamber choir AC capella BHS musicals theater and magicals our music staff has described Alex is captivating to watch on stage passionate and an energetic performer his favorite Fine Arts memory is participating in noteworthy Acappella all four years congratulations [Applause] Alex next we have Ella hilderbrand Who's involved congratulations Ella who was selected for All State honors chorus as an elto and she's been involved in chamber choir she's our BHS choir vice president she's been involved in numerous Acappella groups and has been a featured Jazz soloist I've had a chance to watch her perform with Rhythm machine it's truly amazing and her adjectives that are
016teachers described her is hardworking a strong leader reliable a captivating performer and having excellent overall musicianship her favorite Fine Arts memory is a competition with overtones AC capella last year and she said it was so much fun being able to show our hard work and listening to many other groups from the area congratulations Ella next we recognize Faith John for All State honors Orchestra VI [Applause] faith is in involved in our chamber orchestra our symphony orchestra our chamber choir BHS magicals and our AC capella groups our teachers described her as saying she has a combination of exacting technique with deep musicality she's High achieving in both instrumental and vocal music and her favorite Fine Arts memory is all the friendships that she's made through all those different groups that we just listed and we feel
017so lucky to have her in our program [Music] congratulations next we have Eli Lee for All State honors chorus tenor one Eli is involved in chamber choir Acappella plays and musicals magicals and um is described by our teachers as passionate dedicated and a triple threat which in Musical theater means that you're a great dancer you're a great vocalist you're a great actor and I can attest to that I think Eli's like a total light up on stage and just so much fun to watch um and Eli's favorite memory is that after magicals performance we visited the sock monkey store and I got a hat you still have that hat do you still have your yeah I have to check it out come show it to me um next we celebrate Daniel mcen [Music] [Applause] and
018this one's pretty cool he um is I think only the second student we've had from Bearington selected for a future music educator award um going through a rigorous audition interview process and um I think Daniel would be a great teacher and his involvement in Fine Arts has been chamber choir String orchestra AC capellas magicals choir boards secretary and I've really enjoyed working with him as part of the Fine Arts leadership board his adjectives his teachers used to describe him are kind generous dedicated and compassionate and his favorite memory was when the chamber choir performed at iMac and singing illuminaire last year as well as the sensory friendly concert which was actually something um that I loved working with Daniel on it was an idea that music's for everybody and we should celebrate everyone in music
019and that picture on the left up there is Daniel who is one of our key organizers performers and he's there with his brother and I love that you chose that picture to share congratulations Daniel next we have Mel Miller for the composition track award congratulations so this is actually really um cool the students who are selected for this award compose their own pieces of music I had a chance to listen to Mel's piece earlier this week it was fabulous and we're so excited to recognize Mel so Mel's involvement has been through symphonic band symphonic orchestra marching Broncos Rhythm machine pep band um and some adjectives to describe Mel are creative dedicated Mindful and extremely hardworking and I love the memory so for the memory Mel wrote my favorite Fine Arts memory was getting to play
020in Winterfest with Rhythm machine after watching them play in middle school and you know I just think about like the place to be hashtag this year and the idea that like in our unit district that students see something they're able to be a part of it later and um you know that K12 event that I loved so congratulations next we have Vanessa n for All State honors Orchestra violin congratulations so Vanessa has been involved in Fine Arts through chamber orchestra Symphony Orchestra and Ensemble Club she's described by her music staff as passionate joyful and very dedicated to always achieving Excellence as a musician her favorite Fine Arts memories spending time with other musicians in our Arts community and then our last High School um student tonight is Grayson sites who's been recognized for All State
021honors Chorus for baritone and Grayson's highly involved in our fine arts program through chamber choir musicals and plays Acappella and visual arts our staff describes Grayson is intellectual driven passionate and a multi-talented musician and visual artist and I do think that's so cool because Grayson's Visual Arts are just stunning and amazing as well as the performances um and then lastly the favorite Fine Arts memory is singing helplessness Blues sophomore year with the 10 AC capella seniors so congratulations [Music] Grayson those so those are our nine High School um students who were awarding if we go to the next picture I just want to thank Jeff dols for doing this beautiful photo shoot with our students and taking so pictures uh throughout the district to celebrate uh what students and teachers do and um then I'm
022really excited tonight uh to introduce our first ever Middle School All State musicians so the ilmea the um Illinois music educators Association it's always been just for high school at the state level but they're piloting this year a junior chorus which will expand to instrumental music possibly next year and um we had two students from Prairie Middle School who were able to be selected for the all state junior corus so we'd like to recognize Logan Ford and naren [Music] Hawk so these students musical skills and dedication to music are just so impressive and we're excited to watch the development of those Coral skills for the rest of their middle school journey I think we have one in seventh grade one in eth grade am I right and Beyond continuing on at BHS so congratulations students
023and then um just lastly I have the the real privilege of seeing uh students and teachers work from kindergarten all the way through high school and we achieve this Excellence our students do um but that certainly is under the guidance of our teachers and all the way beginning in kindergarten through high school and so it' be remiss not to recognize all of your music educators from early on to now and then we're fortunate enough to have five of the teachers who've worked with this group the most closely we have a little gift for them too for Miss burtz in the back so I'd love to recognize our three High School teachers so we've got Mr kisc for band Mr Sheldon for orchestra Mr pton for High School chorus and then M D from Prairie choir
024and then Mr cook here who works come on up we got something who um works with our station choir and also with our high school students so just to being Round of Applause for them and thank you again to the board for all your support congratulations [Applause] yeah all right um do we want to do a photo do you think we can fit our our board members in if we tight it's a large group which is the best news ever that it's so many students but you think if we try to squish together could we do it we stay in the back right yeah all right let's try stay where we are is that should we squeeze a little bit Rene do you want us to come to the side or go in here we
025need to come in come on okay come out so don't run away after the photo be 11 all in one what's wrong with [Music] that one more round of applause [Music] [Applause] I am not there's still more fun to come yeah no that's me not you [Music] like all went all feel just you there's still more fun to come yeah so feel free to move around if you need to Downs of time places to sit in front don't be afraid to come to the front I don't right do it okay so we're going to go from uh accomplished and impressive students to outstanding and talented Educators uh so we're doing both types of recognitions tonight I'd like to turn over to Jordan Anderson who's going to introduce our national board certified staff I'm not sure
026if this is on on but I don't okay thank you uh so thank you everyone it's so great to be here tonight uh my name is Jordan nerson I am director of learning Services here for barington 220 School District uh I have the distinct privilege here of working with so many groups of talented Educators uh that I could go on and on about all evening uh but for tonight we are here to uh recognize a wonderful group of Staff uh who have worked so hard to achieve national board certification uh it is not lost on any of us in this room what incredible talent and dedication it takes to achieve national board recognition uh we have five staff members here with us tonight and when we think about our uh statement of empowering personal excellence
027in every learner these teachers have done it all they work with students they are so dedicated and have put so much time into this so we have four teachers tonight uh who have completed their renewal of their certification and we have one uh brand new certification as well I also would love to recognize we have Carrie waxler and Heidi Rockwell here tonight two of our amazing teachers who actually work with this group as they go through this certification process so I'm actually going to turn it over to them they are going to explain more about the process uh how this works and recognize all of our staff individually so thank you [Applause] again hi everybody uh my name is Carrie waxler I'm one of the social studies teachers at the high school I teach the
028government classes here uh my friend and colleague Heidi Rockwell uh who teaches uh English and Social Studies classes at the high school uh we're honored to be here tonight to represent the national board for for professional Teaching Standards Community here in District 220 uh national board certification is among the most rigorous and research based processes any professional educator can undertake uh the initial certification consists of completing four separate modules uh each requires the candidate to display a different area of expertise both in their content knowledge as well as in their pedagogical experience uh maintaining your certification happens every 5 years it requires teachers to demonstrate databased student growth uh professional development as well as dedication to not only your students but also to the profession in general um the relative Rarity of the certification is
029a testament to the rigor of what it takes to get it less than 3% of All American teachers uh have national board uh certification uh the results of the certification are clear in research done in Washington and Illinois and Florida respectively and independently national board certified teachers produce student gains equivalent to one and a half additional months of instruction for their students uh the equivalent gains cut across the different locals certification areas contents and the assessment methods the common threat throughout all of the 20 plus certification uh areas are we call the core propositions this is that national board certified teachers know the subjects that they teach they know how to teach those subjects they know the students in their classroom they know how to measure student learning and they know how to respond to
030that data appropriately barington 220 has built a solid community of 40 national board certified teachers which is a testament to both the board the administration and the teaching community's uh dedication to this process it's my honor to work with uh these outstanding Educators that choose to practice their craft in District 220 uh we'd like to briefly introduce each one of the five uh that either attained initial or maintenance of certification then turn it over to you for any questions uh that you have uh so we'd like to start with azb uh her certification area is Middle to Early Childhood Arts education um Liz said that going through the national board process was both intense and transformative working alongside my inspiring colleagues deepened my appreciation for my profession and the process pushed me Beyond simply teaching
031the standards challenging me to be intentional and how I deliver instruction based on my continual observations and reflections of each student's strengths interest and needs it also gave me the confidence to trust my instincts in the moment meeting students where they are and inviting them to join me on a journey of exploration and growth please join me in uh celebrating Liz [Applause] next We Have Allison Hudson uh Allison Hudson is certified in English as a new language early and middle childhood specialist uh Allison said as part of the national board uh the journey encouraged me to recognize and respect the diverse backgrounds learning styles and needs of my students this has made me feel more intentional in creating inclusive and Equitable learning environments where all students feel valued and supported congratulations Allison [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
032next up is Paula Vin uh Paula is certified in English language arts Adolescent and young adulthood Paula said about the process uh that uh maintaining my national board certification encouraged me to reflect on my instructional methods assess student needs more effectively and helped me Foster a more inclusive and engaging environment for my students ultimately the certification has boosted my confidence as an educator helping me create more meaningful experiences uh for learning in my classroom congratulations Paula [Applause] uh next is our initial uh certificate Marisella Mendes uh Marisella is certified as a generalist in early childhood uh she said the national board certification is a commitment to continuous growth both for me as an educator as well as my students as Learners it challenged me to reflect refine and elevate my teaching craft ensuring I provide
033the best educational environment possible for my students and their families congratulations Marisella [Applause] last we have Michelle whis uh who is us uh did her maintenance of certification as a middle child generalist uh Michelle said that she appreciated going through the national board process it centers around the five core principles that effective teachers are deeply committed to Student Learning possess thorough subject matter knowledge actively manage and monitor student progress reflect critically on their practice and actively participate in learning Communities going through the initial certification process in 2014 and maintenance of certification process in 2024 last year with these core principles in mind has had a lasting impact on my teaching practices and on my students congratulations Miss we want to um say thank you to the board for supporting us as we um go through
034these and we help uh the teachers it is such a privilege to work with the staff and I get to peek in Carrie and I get to peek in into their classrooms we get to peek into the work that they do and it's incredible it's inspiring and one of the things that we say repeatedly when we are working with teachers um the national board process is individualized as individualized gets because every teacher has to look at a student and say who is that student what do they need and how can I adjust my craft and my teaching to meet the needs of that student it's a daunting task but it is a privilege to do so and thank you so much for your support of the work that we do and thank you for um
035uh allowing us to be here to celebrate these wonderful teachers thank [Applause] you so are there any questions or anything from the board is I recall this is a it's a year-long process for both the initial certification and the recertification and and how did the assessments work and also congratulations that's awesome so I think it's a little bit different now because they changed the process in my initial certification but uh we had four modules with four portfolios and then you have a really long exam where you get case studies and you have to think on your feet and think you know I remember getting one that was um a music educator fifth or fifth grade have to integrate music education as well with the social studies concept and it was like I don't teach fifth
036grade and I don't teach music but let's you know figure you know so it's thinking on your feet it's coming up with creative ways to meet all students needs at all kind of all levels so that was my experience anyway you anything else were there any light bulb moments like oh my goodness I could do this cool thing with my students that I hadn't done before too hard maybe that's too hard or just special things that came up that you were like wow this is good I know all their portfolio so um really the thing that was so meaningful to me the first time with the initial process was just being in the cohort it was amazing to I had an amazing cohort you know I had amazing group of people that I was working
037with and it was so inspiring to see what they were doing in their classrooms and it made me really proud to be a 220 teacher I have to speak on behalf of Liz as well it's in the process teachers coming into this process think okay I'm going to prove I'm a really good teacher and the process exposes um your your instructional design it exposes your thinking and um it allows you then to um affirm the work that you're doing while also um challenging your pers ceptions of what you're doing and so it is the most vulnerable process and to open up your classroom to somebody else takes a lot of Courage um you're used to it with your students because they're they're your students you you're there for them but to open it up to
038a colleague is altogether very different and so to be in the classroom with these um incredible Educators and to see the work that they're doing and those light bulb moments that you asked about um they come all the time and what we will say is once you go through the process and some of us had to go through it multiple times in in order to um achieve it um and then you go through the Moc you have acquired the national board mindset which is why am I doing this how do I know it's effective and and what are the results for that how can I change what do I do and it comes every hour what do I need oh I'm and adjust so all of these Educators have proven um proven that and because
039the national board process is so rigorous so thank you again just very impressive thank you so much and uh thank you Mr Wacker and Miss Rockwell also for for guiding um and supporting these teachers as well it's very very impressive and I'm sure the kids can see the difference too so appreciate that yes and thank you again to Dr enman and the board for your support of national boards and congratulations to all of you congratulations it's up to you up to you guys you should take it yeah one more photo don't leave don't run away why is the staff always more reluctant students phot we get in the back still get one thank you thank you I know I fig I thought he said thinning out to be somewhere else wow very impressive and now
040it's my turn um I just I'll just reiterate again just impressed by all the talent um demonstrated this evening with all the students and the staff and um in honor of Mighty Maisy and the rosin rad vary show all expressing a variety of ways um that we demonstrate empowering personal excellence in every learner here in b dg20 um board the just as a quick reminder from the last meeting um the badc invited us encouraged us to do CPR training and um Bridget harof has graciously agreed to teach the board um the hands on CPR so look for an email and I'll be coordinating a a date for us to get together to do that okay um also today just today I received a letter from the iasb um congratulating us um and recognizing us we
041are one of 46 um School boards to earn the Illinois Association of school boards Board of Excellence recognition designation which we talked about a few few meetings ago and we are invited and encouraged to attend the lake division meeting meeting which is going to be on March 12th which is a conflict to another invite that we have as well um so Janine I'm assuming we can get with you to um get registered for that dinner um where we again uh one of 46 districts School boards across the state that will be recognized um and then I wanted just to mention the place to be this week and and they're all gone they can't even hear me but it is February so it is High School Musical time so I'm going to say the place to
042be is the the High School Musical we're doing Chicago the weekend of I wrote it down here somewhere February 20th through 23rd so don't miss that opportunity um to see that um and then last board we've got a couple people signed up for public comment and I think that Dr winlan is going to address some of these things in his um uh report this this evening is it okay if we switch the order and we turn it over to Dr winlan now before public comment and then we'll do public comment following okay fine okay perfect all right let's do that so I'll turn it over to you all right thank you Sandra all right so um February is there's a school resource officer Appreciation Day on February 15th and our district employs uh three full-time
043uh school resource officers um that are here this evening that we'd like to express our gratitude uh for working with us in our students we have officer gon who is a school resource officer at barington high school we should applaud yeah that's great um and then we have um officers at both of our two middle school campuses so uh also joining us tonight is officer rinos who is our school resource officer at [Applause] Prairie um officer serenon I always have to take my time to say that name um is out on leave presently um but she is returning uh next week to station campus um and we certainly appreciate all that officer sironi uh provides but I also want to do a special shout out to officer gruenthal who has been filling in uh during
044her [Applause] lead um also here tonight I do want to thank uh Chief dagel and deputy chief um allat for your leadership uh of the department um you know our resource officers uh they certainly do uh enhance the Safety and Security um at our campuses but they do much more than that um they're called school resource officers uh very intentionally um because they D they do serve as a resource um to our students and to our staff and our community um in their roles at um our secondary uh campuses and we certainly appreciate them being um available for all types of questions and just being good Role Models uh as well for our students and so I think we're very fortunate uh to have uh our officers in place in the relationship that we have
045between the school district and uh the barington police department so thank you for all of uh your service to our community thank [Applause] you and we like to talk a lot do our officers want to share anything about your experiences or anything with the of Education we're just thankful be part of the district you guys we love with the kids the Comm thank you thank you thank you so much thank [Applause] you all right and then um continue my report I want to spend a little bit of time um thank you um providing a kindergarten update is my report at our last meeting I mentioned um that we are at that time of year where we're starting to welcome um our new incoming kindergarten families and um we do that annually the first week of
046February with our Kindergarten Roundup uh we held those events last night at all eight of our elementaries and Steve I know you were at at Rosland and we had a wonderful turnout um across all of our elementary schools um at our last meeting I also answered a question um I think Dr Al Scher you may have mentioned about just the kindergarten placement process in addition to the Roundup event um because we were starting to receive some inquiries uh from parents about the placement process and so uh tonight I thought I really want to take some time I've got a few slides prepared I think it's an important conversation for our board to understand our process as well as for our community so we can go to the next slide so I'm going to start with
047um you know our School District like other school districts across Illinois um is Guided by policies and so one of those policies is policy 750 which is school admissions and student transfers to and from non-district schools this policy has been in place since 2003 um the first paragraph of this policy outlines the age eligibility for students to enter kindergarten in first grade revisions have occurred since 2003 um but over the past 20 years that portion of the policy has remained the same it has not changed um you'll also note that this policy uh towards the end of the screenshot I've provided there it does reference an accelerated placement for students and we can go to the next slide um we have a separate policy that speaks to accelerated placement programs across the district and how
048students may be eligible or enter those programs and as you can see um there is a provision for students that are seeking early entrance into kindergarten as in first grade as well and then there's a third policy that really speaks to our placement process and this is 7:30 um Student Assignment um this policy really addresses you know how do we place students whether that starts out very broadly where the policy talks about the district is divided into attendance centers and that helps us organize our students by School location and talks about transfers within the district and then it's very clear um that the superintendent or design assigns students to classes right so there's been some conversations uh occurring about what are the policies in the district um and and there's also been some conversations about
049have the policies changed um so I thought it was worth just spending a minute really talking about the policies um explaining the policies in enforcing our policies have not changed um the policies have been in place for a number of years and they have not changed um so next slide so if the policy has not changed why is this topic being discussed in our community and so um the board uh and myself we have received email messages from some parents uh over the last few weeks regarding kindergarten placement um we' become aware that there is some communication on this topic circulating online um within par parent groups and so as a result I've spent the last few weeks since our last meeting really gathering information to try to have a better understanding um of the
050situation in order to try to find resolution uh to the concerns that have been uh presented so um I've learned a lot I've I've I I promise I've really dug into this and and there are a variety of reasons I think of why uh this is being widely discussed within our community but probably the most significant is that the volume of requests uh for consideration uh to delay entry um has significantly increased this year um so how are we going to work through that process what does the process look like so if a parent has questions about kindergarten Readiness and placement what should they do um we have a a practice that we've had for a number of years in the district short answer speak with your principal um that is where we can understand
051the unique learning needs of the students from that critical component of the parent perspective um as well as and equally as important our staff and our principles being able to explain our programs the resources that we have available and so forth so um these conversations around placement they can't be solved at the board table they really need to be solved by by those one-on-one individual conversations for us to be able to really understand the the developmental needs um our principles are um highly skilled and and qualified to have those conversations really be able to explain our curriculum and so forth and you know what we also have I think some of the finest Educators in kindergarten first grade in the state um and our principls may bring some of our teachers into that conversation to
052meet with the child or observe the child and and make sure we're getting that full picture of what is the appropriate placement um for uh students that are seeking delayed entry as well as as I mentioned we have a specific policy about parents that are considering and seeking eligibility for Accelerated placement and we've been doing this successfully for a number of years we have a larger volume this year and so we're working through that um I know that individuals a couple weeks ago when I was responding to Dr aler and I had uh provided that perspective of you know reach out to your principal um over the last two weeks we have had parents do that and we have students right now that have been approved uh for a delayed entry because those critical conversations
053have taken place we also decided to be a little bit more proactive so our principles rather than just waiting for parents to take us up on the you know advice we've actually started calling parents and so we're starting to work through that process um next slide Janine but you know I think we've demonstrated that continuous Improvement is what we're about here in burington 220 and I think we've learned some things about the kindergarten placement process and how we might be able to improve so we don't have some of the misunderstandings or concerns that have come up this year in our community um a few examples of things that I think we have already recognized um we can update the website and uh improve the way that we're communicating about the importance of that process of
054reaching out starting those conversations at the school level um we were hesitant to start changing things on the website right now because we were afraid that may really confuse everybody if we started doing updates so um I promise we're going to make updates to to the website so that we have that forward-facing right transparent communication with our community that we always strive for um another area that has emerged is um over the last two weeks in addition to gathering information um I started reaching out uh to our preschool directors because they are a part of this conversation too and a lot of the parents that reached out you know expressing concerns um cited some of the conversations and so I started reaching out to our preschool providers and another way that I think we can
055improve in the future is we're going to set up an opportunity um late fall to invite all of our preschool directors into the district so that annually we start to have conversations when where we can share and provide um what we're offering for our students and also learn and get an understanding from our preschool programs what's going on so that we together because we're all serving the same students in our community um we have that open dialogue and collaboration and those are just two that I think have emerged there's going to be more and um I promise the board will continue to keep you up prise of improvements and things that and adjustments that we're making moving forward so just I know that was a little bit long and it was a few more slides
056but I wanted to take our time tonight to really just address some of the concerns that have come up and and uh do um a little bit better job to explain the process all right I have a couple more slides um my next slide is about uh you may recall uh earlier this fall we had a presentation provided by U Mr Ern our director of school Improvement and he explain that of all the states Across the Nation Illinois has one of the highest standards in terms of student achievement right you remember this conversation where we talked about I think we're like we have the fourth highest Benchmark as far as students meeting so the na uh dubbed the Nations report card uh is the only assessment that provides a common measure where now you can
057see what US students know across our nation not just from a state state level um it provides a unique snapshot of academic progress and a rare opportunity for comparing academic performance across States and so the results of the na assessment um recently came out and Illinois had the second highest eighth grade reading performance in the nation um again I think this speaks to when we talk about that Illinois has that high bar um when you start to look at scores that actually are considering students um across uh our country um were doing very well right um and Illinois had the fifth highest eighth grade mathematics performance uh in the nation as well and then you know I included a quote from our state superintendent DR Sanders so I wanted to share that that's kind of
058that state and National perspective um but I wanted to also provide some updates to the board more locally uh here in barington so uh my next slide um couple uh pieces of information um you know we annually provide assessments um at different Benchmark time periods throughout the year we just did our winter assessments which we administer the map and the fast Bridge assessment again our schools continue to achieve at high levels on our midyear assessments and then the second bullet there you may recall that same fall update that Mr erns provided we talked about the designations of our schools and um Sunny Hill in particular was one of the schools that was designated as targeted meaning that um there was recommendations for improvement um I want to share with the board and our community that
059um Sunny Hill um has shown considerable growth in mathematics which has been a core area Focus this school year um in our Improvement efforts um especially when you're comparing growth from the prior year so immediately we started putting a number of supports organizing the school differently interventions in place to make sure that um we're not uh uh spending one more day uh we're um needing to apply additional supports for the students there and we immediately put those in place this year even though many of the designation status occurs next year for that building um and we're already seeing uh really nice gains um at that building so I thought that was worth um noting at this time of year we'll give another update on performance uh later this spring when we've had a full year
060but I wanted to give a a midyear update and with that that concludes my report for this evening unless there's any questions from the board questions I had one I'll just say thank you for doing that because I know we've gotten quite a few emails and I know many of us have gotten personal phone calls so hopefully this clarifies and but thank you for doing it yeah of course echoing the thanks I do have a couple of questions Dr wilan um you said that we had a significantly higher number of families requesting a delay this year can you give us an idea of what we have typically gotten in terms of requests and roughly how many more this year so far and I know we're not we're we're still early February and also are we
061working it sounds like we are going and working with each individual family who thought that they could delay but are not sure now um in in going back so could you kind of give us sure a little bit of insight into that um so this year I think we have less than five families that are in a situation where a placement was delayed for them um I think we have closer to 30 families right now yes where they either fall into the category of their child would be first grade eligible but they chose uh to not enroll them in kindergarten uh this year and they're seeking a kindergarten placement for next year so of the 30 some uh families fall into that category and then there's another group that their child would be eligible for
062kindergarten but they're considering delaying and that's next year they would send them in a year from now so it's it's approximately 30 that fall into one of those two scenarios um our principls um I had another meeting uh yesterday and then one this afternoon just before our meeting tonight um those families that fall in the category of they've already delayed um all of those phone calls have occurred in placement decisions uh based on those critical conversations to really understand you know what needs exist the request as well as us having an opportunity to share how we might be able to meet those needs all of those conversations with that first group have Ur thank you for doing that because I know that I I was the recipient I think also other board members of some
063Panic like oh my my child has to go straight from preschool to first grade and I know that some of I've gotten some feedback that those conversations have started happening so thank you very kudos to our principles because they're the ones that I had asked I said you know rather than waiting can we be be proactive and they did a great job of immediately reaching out uh connecting with those families that had not connected with them previously and I think that messaging too with the preschool are surrounding preschools in the fall um I think that change will be really important too given the increase and can you also address we had a you know I know that our policy 750 talks about when you read it you see the minimum ages can you talk about
064why we don't currently have a maximum cap on you know that would address the delay and I I believe it's more and I think that's maybe where some of the confusion came from but I also think we've been intentional in not having a maximum cap yeah yeah great question so 750 um really speaks to eligibility this is where that conversation starts because your child is eligible for placement in either kindergarten or first grade based on their age um I putting Caps or or putting further definitions um to me it could be beneficial but it could also be detrimental because I I think having the policy the way that it is that it allows us to make those decisions that are Student Center because you could impose a cap or change the wording and stuff and
065then you discover you have a child that doesn't fit that Dynamic but now you have a policy that says you can't do that because we're going policies guide the district right policies is what we adhere to the way that it's written right now it allows us to start the conversation it's very clear of when kids are eligible but then we're allowed to have those conversations oneon-one and then make a decision that's very student centered right thank you thank you for explaining that yeah you're welcome just from like a class size perspective because I think that's number is even larger than I thought it was and I'm not saying everyone is going to be where we thought I mean is it is it spread throughout the district or is can you foresee perhaps a problem an
066issue at a school I to answer your question it is definitely spread across the district right it's not like it's all concentrated in one building and like I said those are there's families that are in both of those so some we may receive this year some we may receive a year from now so yeah I don't I don't foresee any concerns with just Staffing or sections because of this especially given the nature of where they're where they're located you were referring to the 30 number right yeah yeah when I thought about there's really two cohorts right the 30 yeah to be clear the 30 is both lot better yeah yeah yeah it's not all 30 for next year it's 30 that are either seeking it now or a year from gotta right yeah so they'll
067be spread out overin two years thank you I just want to just thank you too for reaching out to the preschools because I think one of the things that this board has done so well is we moved so fast and implemented our full day kindergarten right we'll be our second year in the fall and I think that um hindsight's 2020 but I think it'd be good to um have those more in-depth conversations with those those entities going forward I think it's great really appreciate thank you thank you if I could just put on my doctor hat for a minute um speak to the parents um as as Dr wman I said every child is different but I just want to caution parents not to just look at birth date because there are very mature kids
068who are late August birthdays and there are some very immature kids who have winter birthdays who who might need a little more time and a little more help and a little more uh um support from our district I encourage parents who are are concerned to also use your pediatrician as or your family practice doctor as a resource because they can also give you some good advice um but just be real cautious that just because your neighbors keeping their kid back doesn't mean you need to be pressured to keep your child back because you may have an advanced child who's just ready to go and you'd hate to waste a year when they could really you know get into the education system when they should be getting the education system so I just want to be
069careful you know don't compare neighbors because everybody is different everyone has a different story and our Administration will support you talk to the principles and you know really use the resources you have um so but I I thank you for uh um you know all the hard work you've had to do the last week or two to to combat some of the social media hysteria that's been there um and then I have a request for a future superintendent report could we look at attendance now that we have a new Administration and there's a certain population of students who might be afraid to to school I'm just wondering if if it's really affecting our attendance um so you know over the next you know weeks or you know 3 four weeks I'm just interested whether we're
070seeing an effect if you know after January 20th suddenly things change with a certain population of our students yeah so I'll answer it in general um we we're watching it be before and we've been watching it carefully after um I can do that next in my next superintendent report just to give an update that's more specific you know so what's really happening in our schools I know that the conversations have they were occurring right and then they've continued um we continue to reinforce a message of you know not choosing to to stay out of school to attend school and and so forth but I'll I'll be able to to give more specifics if we've seen um any changes in it interesting yeah thanks I haven't heard that we have but I think it' be good
071for the the board to have that information as well thank you I just want to say one more thing on kindergarten again like and in um in my my experience with the with the with the district to even if you make a decision and you find that maybe that wasn't the right decision go ahead and have that conversation with your principal too I've seen and you know students move um based upon their skills and what they're able to do um so know that that a possibility too that's not a hard decision on good point August middle of August but or whatever February right make sure you continue to have that conversation and watch your child yep and that was one of the things uh it's a great point one of the things that the you
072know I learned from the directors as well is that you know a lot of growth continues I mean we're we are talking about it because we're doing our Roundup there's things going on but the director really reinforced there's a tremendous amount of growth that happens you know over the next several months um because that continues and so yes it is a dynamic process so even if you have the conversation now with your principal and you uh get an update on progress and so forth from the preschool or you're wondering reach out again to your principal even when they're with us next fall and then we have a chance to actually work with students directly with you know our uh outstanding staff then yes we still look to see is this the best placement is the
073child going to derive the best learning um and so we we can adjust even during the school years great Point yeah all right all right thank you all right no more questions all right then I'm going to go back to public comment we've come to the time um in our meeting set aside for public comment and the board values their thoughts and opinions we ensure that all voices are respected and heard in according with our board Equity statement that states that we recognize Embrace and defend the identities abilities and voices of our diverse School Community the board has agreed to the rules set forth in our policy and um which the public commenters have agreed to as they have signed up um I'll remind everyone that this is a board meeting that occurs in public
074it's not a public meeting that public comment is not a conversation and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the board um and if any comments require further attention then we will ask ask Dr mlan to follow up and report back to the board all right so with that um Kylie humberg hi guys what a great night it's amazing to always see our awesome Educators and hear about all the awesome things that they're doing um and our students are always so impressive and thank you guys for being here again I recognize how much work this community is especially myself okay I'm going to go quick and read Because time is Bri is brief here good evening members of the Schoolboard parents teachers and community members I stand before you or sit rather um I
075stand here tonight not just as a parent advocate but as a voice for students who've been quietly erased from our district with the sudden cancellation of the special education SAS program which supports students with an emotional disability these are kids who've already been labeled set apart and too often told they don't belong and now with this decision we're telling them once again that their struggles make them Unworthy of being part of our school Community the statistics for outplacement speak themselves a study from the National Association of special education teachers found that 70% of students with emotional disabilities and outplacement failed to graduate from high school students placed in out District outplacement programs outside of District are twice as likely to be involved in juvenile detention centers and the cost of outplacement is significantly higher on
076average districts pay sometimes three to four times the amount that they would have in District I'd like anyone at home listening to understand why our district website it's says we specifically allocate taxpayer dollars to other objects line item on the website it says d220 public publicly reports 88.3% of our budget going to outplacement it says it right on the website District actuals were consistently around $4 million for years and now they're at seven um sorry I'm trying to go quick ah but beyond the financial cost let's talk about the human cost because I think sometimes we forget that when we're running an organization um what message does it send to families what does it send to the kids that they're not welcome here that they're too much if 11% of our student population with an
077ASD autism spectrum disorder diagnosis is outplaced which they are how does it make those families feel um and that is cited from isb's report card um The District administration proved that they can make changes to any programming with any label without a lot of you board members understanding pretty quickly and I'd like to see that change 20% roughly 18 to 20% every year kids with IEPs exist in 220 out of our call it 8,000 kids we have I don't know 1,500 IEPs so we need to be paying attention to this population we must be careful when we start labeling certain kids as too much and removing them from our own Community we're continuing a dangerous Legacy of exclusion these students don't need labels they don't need to be marked as different they need schools that
078embrace them as they are and we bring them in not push them out I urge you to reconsider disbanding the SAS program instead of pushing them away again let's bring them closer let's not cut funding let's invest in these kids and these families who need it most and if we if we remove support we remove opportunity and when we remove opportunity we remove hope and just because it might not be illegal doesn't make it make it unethical thank you so close uh Marsha McClary hello I'm Mar mlar um thanks for having me and thank you so much for everything and thank you to our security guards in high school and everything they do it's a lot um so I wanted to speak to one of the executive orders that was issued in the last two
079weeks that affects um the school systems dramatically um it's the ending radical indoctrination in K through 12 school 12 schooling um so section three says within 90 days of the date of the order advised the president in formulating future policy Secretary of Education defense and Human Services in consultation with attorney general shall provide an ending indoctrination strategy um to the president um and um containing recommendations and plan for eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K through2 schools including based on gender ideology and discriminatory Equity ideology um that being said um I my interest is to us to maintain our funding because we obviously have a lot of um funding going on referendum that was just approved all these things so um with that 90 days in mind there
080is a policy and there might be other things that I'm not aware of um that I would suggest we take a look at um this is policiy 710 equal educational opportunities the sex Equity section says no student shall based on sex sexual orientation gender identity um or gender expression be denied equal access to program activity service or benefits or be limited in excuse of any right privilege advantage or denied equal or um educational and extracurricular programs and activities students shall be supported in a manner consistent with their gender identity this will include but not be limited to use of restrooms locker rooms and other facilities that correspond with the students gender identity um that being said I appreciate that you um already announced going back to the previous Title 9 regulations given that that has
081changed um but now I believe that in addition to this executive order as well as the title 9 going back to um what it was previously I believe that this policy in particular and there might be others as well um is in Conflict um meaning that if um I just it could go either way but if a girl goes into the boy's restroom or locker room and there's a boy in there that says that day they're a girl or vice versa I think there could be a situation um and as well as looking at um curriculum and other things we have whether it's surveys um things that talk about um um you know using other facilities that might not identify with your um god-given sex um I think those are things that could put us
082in a bit of a um financial situation with the federal government so wanted to bring that up to your attention today and I appreciate you taking the opportunity thanks thanks Mara thank you um next up I apologize Phil k k CER I can't read it sorry I'll let you introduce everything at work I do too okay um I appreciate the recent uh statements regarding the kindergarten age requirement However the fact that multiple sources including parents and community members were unaware of this policy adjustment um doubts whether it was communicated properly over the past several weeks the messaging from school officials on this policy has shifted creating further confusion many parents not realize they might not be able to delay their children's entry into kindergarten and the policy appears to be enforced differently this year due
083to the number of potential students learning about the change late in the process left families with little time to adjust and some even missed Kindergarten Roundup the lack of transparency is especially concerning because it impacts young students at a critical stage in their education for students with birthdays near September 1st cut off this policy could shape their next 13 years in the school I want to say that we all take great pride in District 2020 and share commitment to the well-being of the many students who passed through our excellent schools to ensure the best outcomes for all students it's critical that the school board uh Administration and parents obtain maintain open lines of communication major policy changes should never be implemented or potential enforcement changed um without open discussion and also communicated properly moving forward
084I urge the school board and administration to establish a more structured and transparent process for policy changes or enforcement one that allows for community put and ensures parents are properly informed by working together we can ensure every family in District 2020 has the information they need to support their child's education and future successes thank you thank you Phil all right so uh three um and that that concludes our public comment there's three folks that came for with some um mey topics I just wanted one clarification maybe before we like the um the elimination of the S program does not it's not an automatic that the students that were involved in that will go to um an alternate setting is that correct yeah that's great clarifying question um no so those any decisions that um are
085connected to a student in the SAS program that will be decided at the IEP table so that the parents and our staff have an opportunity to discuss the needs of the student and then determine placement so it's not automatic um changing the way that we deliver services to our students whether it's through a SAS program or other programming that we have in place um those decisions are always generated at the I table so I just yeah great clarification yeah and I guess just one more thing I think each speaker talked about individual students in their in their situations we just spent what I don't know 10 15 minutes in your report talking about how we are treating kindergarten indiv ually I want to just make sure that we make the statement that we're going to
086do the same with all the other kinds of students that were mentioned in absolutely the parent in the public comment yeah I I think that's what um one of the things that makes 220 great is that we really do start with students and make our decisions based on students and starting there I think is the right thing um I will uh follow up uh with the speakers tonight on all three of these topics as well because it's hard to do in a in a board meeting setting but I absolutely will follow up appreciate it sure um I think there's an impression in the community that if you aren't in if you were in the SAS program and now the SAS program doesn't exist you have the choice of being in the mainstream classroom or being
087outplaced and I don't think that's true but how do you address that there's other options that will still be available right yeah um I've I've thanks for bringing that that back up um yes so we have a variety of programs to meet our needs of our students in special education programs um the SAS program is one of those opportunities um there are others so it's not just like sander was saying it's not an automatic that you're in a therapeutic Day School it's not also an automatic that you're in SAS and then oops excuse me that you go right back to mainstream we have other Service delivery model models that exist in our schools um and we will have those conversations about those opportunities during that IEP meeting with the parents can you give an example
088this is not a discussion topic too I just want to be careful that we don't go sure it here's why I'm hesitant to go in the weeds because I don't want anyone to interpret that we're making decisions about students placement now that happens in that IEP meeting and so yes we have a resource model that we can serve students through we have academic uh instructional models we have other um uh social emotional models that exist throughout the district I'm just hesitant that if I say one that people are going to gravitate towards that's the one that students are going I am not going to do that um we will decide those on a caseby casee basis during an IEP meeting uh with parents in review what is the best placement uh for students to derive
089their benefit in the least restrictive environment okay all right let's uh move on to our informational reports um any questions or comments from the board all right board committee reports have we had any yeah uh yes PTO president's Council met uh it was a very productive meeting I think it it was also evidence of why it's so important to have the PTO presidents from our various schools get together and share experiences um the elementary presidents this time we very patient because there's a very robust discussion between uh like a high school so high school BHS Prairie and station around uh how can we best serve our our Rising eighth graders when it comes to uh when it comes to transitioning uh because um the I think this year eth graders had to register in November
090for their classes and so a lot of parents were taken by surprise and I think we were discussing you know uh things that have worked in the past that have been helpful maybe bringing some of that back um in terms of inform maybe melding a you know melding the career fair that middle school students get to attend at the high school with potential like a a lens or preview into into what's available because our offerings are so robust it's almost like a a college course catalog at VHS so just maybe some more helpful ways to to uh for Stu eth graders especially and their families to navigate and so I think there was a lot of discussion around that so um so so that that centered on to U or that took up much of
091the meeting so I think it dovetailed really well with our focus on transitions this year as well so it's definitely something I think we're committed to to looking at and the administration wants to improve on as well so oh and also one thing from uh the Ed R dinner that um we had a that was last Monday and just really briefly we had a representative from uh aasa which is the organization that that represents the uh Superintendent at public schools around the country um Noel uh Noel ellerson in she came and she's actually one of the assistant executive directors who um does Congressional advocacy so she gave us a preview of what kind of legislation might be coming up nationally that could affect schools uh Supreme Court rulings um a whole variety of stuff around
092idea grants and so um our Ed R executive director Bridget Peach promised to have that slideshow available for us so for the all of you who couldn't attend I thought it was super informative it was being hit with a lot all at once uh so I think that once that's available I I can also check on it and see if I could send it to you Sandra and you could send it out that' be great if you could send it out I I tried to access it through her site you weren't able to okay see that she did promise that she would be able to send it out to us or have it can you just put it in the in your superintendent superintendent weekly sure if you can ask take one thing off my
093list facilities Matt do you want to talk or should I either way okay I'll do one you do the other how about that okay all right um I think everyone at this table remembers when Dr winman brought the rusty piece of pipe from the high school um next to the pumpkin obviously a very memorable moment up here um so uh tonight on on our agenda is the recommend for um the bids to replace the plumbing at um at BHS this summer um and we have a bid recommendation with a 67,000 favorable variance which is always great so that will be coming up the other thing that we talked about we got a more in-depth explanation but it'll be coming to the board too and we've been talking about it for a long time um is
094the long-term capital planning um the community and the board was is very interested in um using this new facilities inventory tool um that the administrative team has brought and put together it's been hours and hours of work basically like inventorying every sink in the high school every you know floor to ceiling like the rugs the carpet the lights you know everything in every building and when they may need to be replaced so it's you know it's very extensive it's kind of like what you might do at your home but like times 700 um and so we'll have this as a planning tool to look at our facilities needs and it'll help us uh look at our Capital requirements and capital planning where um and increase our summer planning budgeting for our our Capital needs because
095you know as you know inflation's gone up and we get less for our dollar every year so this is something that we also talked about at our last board meeting at the committee of the whole if you want to hear more about it from that too but this is you know this is going to be a very useful tool for us and for our community all right so I have two reports um the district Equity team met uh on January 9th and since we didn't have reports at the last board meeting just wanted to fill everybody in um we um sought feedback from the Elementary facilitators on their professional development sessions from January 6th because the middle school and high school is going to have professional development on February 14th and um it it seems
096the equity presentation was very very popular and really went very well at the January meeting so they want to use some of the positives from that to to make a worthwhile presentation on the 14th um and we brainstorm showcase options uh for more educational awareness in the community we really want to get the community involved whether it's a a a a re everyone a read all and then have a speaker um and then we also discuss the upcoming barington Library litfest so Saturday March 8th at the bton library um is something that it's for the whole community so that was our equity and then social media awareness also met last month uh I should say social media awareness and digital citizenship committee um and during the meeting the advisory committee leadership shared an analysis of
097the data gathered at the previous meeting uh the advisory committee leadership also shared an analysis of the focus group data gathered um what what the advisory committee did is they met with parents staff and students separate from our committee and um came up with some more ideas and some more suggestions and again it's a lot to swallow but it's great that everybody's thinking about this um and then we had a presentation from Dr d'vorah heitner she shared her research on social media and technology and she is phenomenal and I recommend her book very highly um and she provided further background knowledge and insights and now we're starting to look at what we're doing next with future meetings um we're invited to select three policy priority areas and um then we're going to break up into
098different groups depending on where we're really interested in in uh delving further so we've got a meeting coming up um next week next Thursday I think um so very exciting I've really enjoyed being on that committee good excellent all right well let's move into our um consent consent agenda do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented so move second all right there's um just a few things on there but I I think most of the things that are on there have been revised since since we received this um uh on Thursday or Friday so there are minutes from uh January 21th both open and closed and the open minutes were revised so I'm just going to take a little bit longer to talk make sure everybody has a chance to uh
099review them and um a revised Personnel report are we ready for a roll call all right let's do it Sandra Bradford yes Leah collister lazari yes Diana Clapton yes Steve Wang yes Katie carum yes Erin Chand ding yes Barry uler yes all right motion passes um let's I I guess one thing on the um Personnel report if people see that there are a number of uh folks retiring so a little bit more than usual and um one person listed there um just worthy of note uh Dr wink did did um let us know that he might retire in that time frame so we will be having uh more discussions with him on that and to be clear it's the 28 29th school year four years yeah four years from now sorry thank people have to
100announce ahead of time if they're intending to do that so no panic yet just wanted to make sure that we comment on it because it was it was notable thank you um um all right so we've got several action items the first one do we have a motion to consider uh to approve the destruction of closed session recordings so moved second any comments or questions from anyone do you want to just mention the time frame yeah the dates I didn't dates uh yes so I'm sorry j July uh 1st 2018 through December 31st 2019 it's in accordance with our policy as well thank you for that all right let's do a roll call Barry alcher yes Leah collister lazari yes Katie carum yes Ain Chand ding yes Sandra Bradford yes Steve Wang yes Diane Clapton
101yes all right motion passes do we have a motion to consider the approval of the release of confidential confidentiality of closed session minutes and that is from January 1st 2024 to June 20th 202 before so moved second questions or comments just again thank you to our secretary for her hard work secretary for all the hard work good J all right uh roll call Leah collister lazari yes Barry Al Schuler yes Diana Clapton yes Erin Chand ding yes Sandra Bradford yes Katie carum yes Steve W yes all right motion passes do we have a motion to approve the student fees as presented so moved second all right these are the fees for the 2025 2026 school year we talked about them I guess briefly at at prior meetings is there anything else you'd like to review
102here dring just just to we're not increasing fees except for the ID cards otherwise everything else is going to stay the same from this year to next year I did have a question um and I could be wrong but I maybe pull the high school students in here do high school students get a locker and a lock their freshman year they do um so all incoming freshmen they are assigned a locker and a lock but they're physically given they're well they're physically assigned to it okay whether they physically go to the locker and utilize the locker that is an individual decision that the students make um do we have enough lockers at the school for each student we do sophomores Juniors and seniors I reached out to Mr MC Williams um they they can opt
103out of the locker right and many choose to do that so we start with all incoming freshmen have a locker and a lock assigned to them which is in the fee structure right um I actually had uh opportunity to talk to Mr mck Williams who was over at the district office today um I think over time we have seen less students uh use a a locker and Locker assignment and so he is currently working towards Shifting the high school lockers um and the the actual lock itself um so that maybe we can catch up with what we're doing with the sophomores juniors and seniors um and and change that process he does not believe it'll be in place for the fall of next year but I'm hopeful that I can have an update and have
104Mr mck Williams provide the board and our community an update of what it may look like in the future so we are working towards that but we will uh for this next cycle still have the the lock and Locker okay so you prove this tonight there'll be no changes for the upcoming school year um but we're going to look at it in order to impact and this may look different a year from now a year from now at least that's Mr MC Williams intention just anecdotally I've noticed a change in locker Behavior between middle school and high school I think in middle school students are pretty dependent on it and I think my son has a an assigned Locker he's a sophomore and has no idea where it is just drags everything with him winter
105coat like change of shoes everything so I your your son is very similar to a lot of students it has shifted um that's why we started um the opt out for the students once they've you know gone through but it's a process and I think freshmen are also now more and more comfortable of not having a locker and that's why Mr MC Williams is like maybe we've told you know I think when they first said you could opt out of a locker they were like well freshmen won't know what to do I think they have figured it out and um that grace period probably needs to be rethought that's why I was very careful to say they our sign one every freshman right right whether they go there or not totally different uh conversation that's
106a big c yeah so you can obviously op to the fee as well when you up out of so the fee is only for freshman oh okay potentially not not this year but next year yes attention yes yes so I have I have a question then um you don't need obviously you probably don't it today but can you get or I don't know if the board is interested but can you get us the number of lockers that are unused then and what our annual maintenance Fe or maintenance cost I should say is on those unused lockers because if they're not being used I don't know that there's a purpose to continue investing in them well we have made some adjustments where some of the lockers have been removed from the high school that's where some
107of the new spaces common areas for students so that's what I'm saying this has not been a static this has been slow change over time and if we're not using them we've repurposed okay those spaces I think we've reached a point where I think we may actually be able to really think about it for all grade levels and then look to see where other savings are at okay perfect yeah well and I just wonder have we asked our students what their interest is in this because it's about them and I remember my students it was like the bus was here the locker was here so it was so impractical that it was like of course I'm not going to use that locker but maybe my friend who's a senior has a locker in the senior
108Locker banks by the bus and I'll share that locker and they'll help me and so I think it's important to ask them yeah you may not caught it um all every year in the spring we have a survey and our sophomores Juniors and seniors fill out that survey and they can indicate their preference so we are doing that so those three grade levels every year get to make that determination do they want the locker that's assigned to them or not um do they want to maybe their friend has a locker in a more desirable place and they want to partner up and use utilize that locker and so forth so yes Le that 100% is happening right now the only grade level that's assigned a locker is freshman okay and the only sorry I'm going
109to ask for clarification on one more thing because I get asked this a lot sure so the co-curricular activities fee that high school students get goes in part to pay for their ad there they get to go to games musicals whatever um help pay for referees help pay for entrance uh the school's entrance fee into things when parents and fans come and pay an entrance fee to come to or sporting events that money does not all go to the district correct like some of that goes back to ihsa yep and I'm assuming to continue paying referee I'm sure it's not all covered by I I just want to to parents to understand that this there's they're two different things yep so yes we charge a fee for admission to certain events the larger events that
110exist across all of the schools that are part of the mid Suburban League um there's actually a bylaw about so you don't have one school charging one thing and another school because we're all part of a conference right those large events like football basketball that typically see larger attendance than maybe some other activities um all of the schools in the conference um follow that same bylaw and the the charges is really about being able to help run um the event security security the gate all so like the fee goes back for us to be able to hold that event and offer everything that's going on there but then we also host um ihsa which is the state level that we're part of so we're part of the conference but then we're also part of the
111state um there are bylaws of what schools must do as far as charges and fees to the state organization that we're part of now we send that money in there is a portion of it that does return to the school again to offset some of those those costs good question sorry I just get ask that a lot yeah no it's these are all the nuances of our fees for sure how do I do Sarah all right yeah great I'm speaking to your memo so yeah gold star all right are we ready all right so Steve Wang yes Ain Chand ding yes Sandra Bradford yes Katie carum yes Diana kapton yes Barry aler yes Leah collister lazari yes all right motion passes and we'll look forward to updates for next year y um do we have
112a motion to approve the BHS piping replacement bid recommendation this is the good stuff guys so second oh wait for your facilities you take it second all right um this is already mentioned does anybody have any questions I do have a question I I don't want to have a facility committee meeting but are we comparing Apples to Apples just cu the bids were so yeah we did discuss we did we talked we and we know this is going to happen from time to time but yes absolutely that was one of my first questions too is did we have somebody evaluate all of the bids and the answer was yes absolutely um sometimes companies maybe don't know as much about our district as others do so they're going to take it you know a different approach
113to things and sometimes what we learned from Nicole is people will bid they might know that they're not going to get it or they can't afford to do it in a really costeffective way but they want to be on our Radar Radar and they want to be part of the process process so yes the bids are pretty wide but we're getting what we need to get from a company that we believe is going to do a great job for us so the lowest bid we're confident that we're going to get a nice quality uh job done yes and as you can see that's in line with our budget so if our lowest bid was much much lower then we'd probably be having some evaluative questions about what they proposed same thing if all of the
114bids came in mind much much higher you know what's the discrepancy due to and then this this column after BHS based bid breakout value that's included in the bid you're just breaking out for the uh Courtyard work and the I I don't know what mua is but mua unit that that's included or was that an extra bid that we didn't take I apologize Nicole wasn't able to join us this evening so I don't I don't on the spot I just notic there's an extra number notic I think no it's the I think it says breakout value so is that part of the original bid just that you're showing a different it looks like we're not accepting we're not yeah so we that likely is um an alternative Al alter sorry not alternative an alternate okay
115um which we if if the bids don't come in where we need them to be then we may not accept it but we'll put things in a bid so that we don't have to go out for a second time to get some pricing on things okay okay I think mua is makeup air unit but Nicole can correct me I think it stands for makeup air unit oh but that's just my Googling very [Laughter] quickly all right I think we've done that in other bids where we said hey let's do asphalt but hey can we do this extra thing and then it comes in higher than what our budget was and we say okay we're not going to do that extra thing it's it happens different times and sometimes it comes in the bids low and
116we say oh let's do that extra thing because it's still within the budget but in this this example it wasn't she did not get all right are we ready Katie carum yes Sandra Bradford yes Erin Chand ding yes Steve Wang yes Leah collister lazari yes Diana Clapton yes Barry aler yes all right motion passes um Last Action item we have a motion to approve the resolution of authorizing non-renewal of non- tene teacher other than a final year probationary teacher so moved second okay this is um an action that we take as necessary every year um at the required time frame and um that's not all we can say there all right let's go ahead Ain Chand ding yes Steve Wang yes Leah collister lazari yes Diana Clapton yes Sandra Bradford yes Barry Al Schuler yes
117Katie carum yes all right motion passes um all right let's move into our discussion item okay this time I'd like to invite Dr burn and Mrs Weagle up to the table to provide an update on our information instructional materials report [Music] we had Mighty Maisy we got Mighty teaching and learning here tonight one discussion item let do it thank you to our students for staying to hear about the exciting instruction of material now they can't leave we won't take it personally it's okay this is your stuff for next year you're going to be using these books so okay all right maybe those hearty students back there those Mighty students might get an opportunity to ask a question all right thank you so much for having us here this evening I'm here with Miss Weagle our
118director of language programs grants and family engagement Dr Gil and Miss Hansen are very sorry that they weren't able to join us here tonight so an overview of tonight you might remember that several years back we were in the process of getting our instruction materials approved in the year that they were being used so we did a reset several years ago so that we got the instructional materials that we are going to be using as core resources for the next year Well ahead of schedule so tonight we are here to share with you our instruction materials report for the 2526 school year so it's a discussion item on the agenda for tonight and then the board will take action at your February 18th meeting so of course bringing us back to our why and everything
119that we do is our students and to empower personal excellence in every learner and tonight's presentation and specifically our instruction materials in that process is specifically aligned to four of our priorities which are personalized learning future Readiness inclusive education as well as stewardship next I'd like to draw your attention to our curriculum review process that we use in barington 220 and it's important to know that we follow a cycle of continuous improvements so what does that mean as it relates to a curriculum review process so it encompasses four different stages so stage one is that research and study phase so we're taking a deep dive into the Empirical research our our data our surveys from our students and families about our current curriculum and resources stage two is the planning and developing phase so this
120is the the phase and the year that our curriculum steering teams are developing the written curriculum and taking a deep look at any core resources that are available for implementation within the classroom stage three is implementation so this is the year where it gets put to use both our written curriculum as well as any core resources to support that and then stage four so if you're not in one of those three stages is Monitor and refine in barington we believe that curriculum is dynamic and not something that's static so curriculum is fluid and we should be meeting the needs of all of our students in vering to 220 regardless of the programming that you're accessing so we're always willing and able to revise curriculum to meet the needs of our students and like we've said
121a lot and thank you to the students who are still here with us we take a student- centered approach to everything that we do and keeping students at the core so a curriculum review process encompasses multiple different components including but not limited to developing enduring understandings and personal success skills standards whether local state or national research-based instructional practices as well as assessment for Learning and research-based materials which is why we're here tonight get seeking approval for our instruction materials one of my personal favorite things to discuss at the board table is our Bearington 220 learner profile and since the adoption of our learner profile which has the six personal success skills that we want all students to have from Early Childhood through our transition program we inherently build these personal success skills into all of
122our curriculum since implementing the learner profile in addition we follow an integrated approach to curriculum development specifically as it relates to our strategic priority of inclusive education it is absolutely essential that all of our students in barington 220 are able to access the Core Curriculum regardless of the programs you're accessing or the services you're receiving so the first set of materials we are talking to you about tonight is Elementary social studies and Global Studies we are very excited to share that we will continue using our award-winning social studies Global Studies units at grades K through five with some updated core materials mainly non-fiction tradebooks the inclusion of these text supports our Illinois learning standards for social Global Studies this list also includes more resources in both economics as well well as geography and these texts
123ensure compliance with the updated Illinois mandated units of study which are released every year in the fall now we'll transition to our secondary core resources which is English language arts as well as Spanish level one we are very happy to share that after a rigorous process spanning the last 18 months the majority of Middle School English teachers have recommended adopting study sync as a core resource for next school year study sync is all green on Ed reports so what does all green mean that means that it's indicated that the resource is fully aligned with standards and meets usability requirements for both teachers as well as students so we did a synthesis of the feedback from the teachers on the curriculum steering team and here's what they said teachers found that study sync was found to
124be the stronger resource due to its alignment with essential questions and units that reflect their instructional Vision they highlighted its userfriendly navigation making it easier for both teachers and students to engage with the platform students responded positively to the content finding it accessible engaging and easy to understand with clear expectations for both assignments as well as assessments thank you um another culum area that we had the opportunity to really take a deep dive into and look at is something that's offered at both station and Prairie as well as barington high school and that's our world language Spanish level one um so our team came together over the last two years and really did a lot of vetting and looking at different options and we are making the recommendation that we land on a program called
125entas which means be between cultures um for our Spanish level one students um this curriculum is WI widely praised by Spanish teachers because of its cultural content and its authentic materials that are included um our teachers have had the opportunity to do a bit of a field study this year with the units and some of the things that they have shared is that it really allows for creativity with our level one students um it is it builds language in a very thoughtful manner while looking at all four language domains the listening speaking reading and writing um the students are reacting really well to the meaning activities that are built into the program um and it really does a nice job allowing for listening practice vocabulary practice and pronunciation so we're very excited to come forward
126with this possibility for the future and before we close I would like to give a special shout out to Renee for all of her help in rebranding the instructional materials report that you have which includes all of our core instructional materials so you will know notice it's a refreshed I did notice job thank you for your help and support with that so at this time we'd be happy to answer any questions that you have related to the instructional materials report and I also wanted to remind you that the whole teaching and learning department will be back later on the spring to bring to you a full update on the happenings of teaching and learning work this year excellent and and all these resources are available to parents to review yes absolutely absolutely so our current
127instruction instructional materials support for 2425 is on our teaching and learning website and then pending board approval then this will be our website too great stealing all my questions it's just so nice it is good any other questions the Spanish program sounds exciting because you know invariably a beginner Learner in a language class thinks a lot lot of the things that they're doing is really dumb and so if you've got examples that are meaningful and relevant and it it's going to be a better experience for everybody yes and so far we've found that to be the case the students are enjoying the different dialects that they're learning about and the different cultures that they're exploring so exciting yeah sounds good just want to make sure I'm reading this guide correctly so I think it says
128in here that the items that are new are highlighted but rather than like the yellow highlight we see typically it's a gray highlight right it's correct those are all the things you just outlined yeah right yeah I see those Spanish items highlighted here and for social Global Studies there's a hyperlink because we have it separated by grade level ah because like the picture on the screen is inclusive of all the text of course gotcha I just want to say thank you to everybody that's involved in this because teaching day-to-day is a lot of work and then doing something extra like looking at a whole curriculum on a team and evaluating things is more work and then being willing to change your whole thing for the next year is more work so it's a lot and
129we appreciate it yeah thank you agreed thank you good job Le so the the yellow highlight and this and social studies and Global Studies those are new materials as well okay I was really pleased to see some books on on like saving and budgeting some of practical um financial literacy because I think that's been a request from both students and parents like hey can I have a practical money course something on budgeting so I I'm very pleased to see that yeah and that's in alignment with our Illinois State Standards which financial literacy is a part of our standards that's great can I bring my kids back yeah right fresher courses are new I would mind going myself do they still teach how to write checks cuz I don't think they do checks what's that what's
130that what all right all right um thank you very much thank you than you guys we are I'm not going to ask for adjournment because the board does need to go back in Clos session this evening so um we don't do not anticipate um need need to come back into open but we will just double check as we usually do um no so with that no let's head back into closed and thank you all very much bonus points to you