001call this meeting to order Janine may we have a roll call please present Angela here very old Schuler here Leah kazari here Aaron Aaron juding here Katie Karen Steve Wang here all right I'm gonna turn over to Dr Hunt because I believe we have a student here we do so as a reminder if you haven't been to a board meeting in the past or if you're joining for the first time on home at home we recognize one of our exceptional elementary students before every board meeting and ask them to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and our tour took us to Sunny Hill in search of an excellent student and this young man is described as an exemplary student for many reasons he works hard he follows Direction and he's mindful of others however
002he's so much more than that he's funny joyful kind-hearted calm and thoughtful he works hard but he also plays hard too because I had the pleasure of watching this young man participate in basketball for the boys and girls club he not only played like a champ but he was excellent at seeing his teammates and making sure he passed to them so they could show their skills that is that is how this young man behaves on a regular basis he's not in it for himself he's in it for everyone he cares about others and he helps them when he can he's a natural leader inside and outside of the classroom because of his ability to involve others his peers see him see this in him and they respect him for everything he does he exemplifies what
003it means to be a star student here at Sunny Hill so please join me in recognizing Raul ornelas a fifth grader at Sunny Hill please come on [Applause] please stand whenever you're ready for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right take a quick picture no go away I'm coming to you all right foreign [Music] [Applause] great job you all uh it's always a good way to start our meeting so welcome everyone to our regular board meeting on September 20th of 2022. first up is or next up is my report I've got a couple things here first I want to have a huge thank you to um courageous Community the Ed Foundation the baron Terry library and be strong and and to Dr Hunt last Wednesday we had
004we held an incredible event we're about 800 community members witnessed a conversation with Abby Wambach um it was eloquently moderated by Xena Jacques um even Abby took a moment to pause and and thank her thanks Xena the evening was electric open honest humbling and it was a really fun discussion I hope we'll be able to continue to share that experience with the community um again thank you Dr Hunt for your introduction and to all the community and the board members that were able to attend that event I also just want to take a moment to acknowledge Hispanic Heritage Month I think we'll probably be celebrating that across the district as well um and if you haven't heard uh this week is our fourth annual safety week in Barrington 220. Dr Hunt's going to speak a
005little bit more about the events that occurred at Barrington High School this past Friday but for now I just want on the behalf of the entire board to thank the students for raising the awareness and I also want to thank the Barrington High School administration and the Barrington Police Department for acting as they did to ensure the safety of all the Barrington High School students staff and visitors the vent really reinforces the importance of many of our Barrington 220 initiatives and if you're not familiar with what those are you can find all of our 220 initiatives right on our website I want to take a minute to the board remind the board that our next meeting is on a Monday in the community their next meeting's on a Monday October 3rd so please make note
006of that um and also on October 18th which are two meetings from now we're going to be holding our first Community to whole for this year um we'll hear more about that tonight um and right now we don't have a closed session planned for that evening but please reserve that time in case of a need for a closed session prior and another reminder to please update Miss Stark if you want to be included in the tours that are going on at Grove station and Prairie and make sure that you let Ms Stark be aware of any uh join us for Java events that you plan to attend um we also talked about a social dinner we did we surveyed we didn't have a date that where everybody could attend I think we had a date
007where Maybe five could so I just wanted to if you guys could let me know do we want to hold the dinner without the whole board or do we want to wait and try to get a date I'm guessing we'd probably have to think about January so maybe you guys can just let me know get back to me on that um and then I sent an email to you all last night but um I wasn't sure if everybody was getting like the village of Barrington updates with all the construction and and road work that's going on the village is doing a good pretty good job of keeping the community aware what's happening and if you're not on that list let me know and I'll make sure that um we get added and then last um
008is um last night we received an email and that 2022 resolution committee report has been released so a reminder from last year that we'll review all those and we'll send a delegate to the uh the conference in November so we'll be going through those um at a future board meeting so please take a look at them in the community is always engaged in that report as well so feel free to take a look and that is all that I have okay all right so next up is public comment we've come to the portion of our meeting set aside for public comment we do value your thoughts and opinions and we will ensure that all voices are heard and respected in accordance with the board Equity statement that states that we quote recognize Embrace and defend
009the identities abilities and voices of our diverse School community the board has agreed to the following rules for public comment which I am charged to enforce and you can find them in your in the pamphlets that's on your chairs as well address the board only at the appropriate time as indicated on the agenda and following the directives of the board president to maintain order and decorum for all use the sign-in sheet which you can now see on the screen as well identify oneself and be brief state your name your Elementary attendance area or relationship to the district before you begin your comments time cannot be yielded to another person be a please be attentive and and listen for your name conduct oneself with respect and civility towards others and otherwise abide by board policy 8
01030 visitors to in conduct on school property which is also mentioned in the pamphlet as well we ask that you address issues and do not attack people please do not delay or impede the public comment or the work of the board instead of repeating comments already represented please consider standing to show your support and as board president I'm responsible for ensuring that we maintain order and we're able to get through the business to the business of the Board of Education this may include having to shorten the amount of time for public comment which we will not have to do this evening because we have less than 20 people and if the public is disruptive we will be calling a break in which the board will leave the room together and we will ensure that we
011do not violate the open meetings act and anyone that's disruptable [Applause] this is a board meeting that occurs in public it is not a public meeting public comment is not a conversation and does not necessarily reflect the views of the board if any comments require further attention we will ask Dr Hunt to follow up and report back to the board so with that I would like to call up John landgreen drink good evening uh John leganke I have uh Countryside as my base Elementary I have two students one in high school and one in Station Middle School I recently received an email uh from the school district indicating that uh VSC saw some sexually explicit material might have been exposed to my child how ironic that I haven't received an email that this school district
012is now purposely exposing my children in high school to sexually explicit items there's many studies that many of you are probably aware of that our children's Minds the prefrontal court text is not fully developed this area is responsible for skills like planning prioritization controlling impulses because these skills are still developing teens are more likely to engage in risk behaviors without considering the potential results of their decisions this means they're also more influenced by surroundings and to content to which they are exposed the legal age for smoking is 18 the legal age for drinking is 21 because at a young age these acts are more likely to lead to addictive and destructive behaviors in their life the same holds true for explicit sexual content which is being discussed tonight in a previous meetings exposure to this
013will increase the probability our teens will act out on what they see and the fact that this is in a school environment only means the behavior becomes acceptable our children are developing and while we support inclusion in respect of all Natures there are better ways for us to find to support the abuse of the school district than to show explicit material to them I have addicts in my family I have addicts that have started because they were exposed to Things Early in their life and at foreign foundations that were destructive to them and their families I would argue that no one in this room would wear a t-shirt in the community with the images that are in the books that are in our school library you wouldn't go to church you wouldn't go to see
014clients or patients or anywhere in public with some of the images that we are allowing our children to see yet we still do it it's explicit there are views where people believe we should be open to material and literature and I support that but we would not support having literature in our schools about how to do methamphetamines how to run a Ponzi scheme how to do many other criminal activities that are out there it's just not right we have a responsibility to our children that responsibility means keeping explicit images and materials out of our schools doing so in a respectful way that there are different views we want to Foster those things but there are absolutely better ways to do that than what this school district has chosen to do I do not support any
015of this material in our School District whatsoever and encourage this board to reconsider previous actions and future actions as such thank you thank you John next up is Ryan triggy good evening my name is Brian prigi I have students at lions in the ELC as some of you may be aware September is suicide prevention Awareness Month suicide is the second leading cause of death in children 10 to 14 and the third leading cause of death for individuals 15 to 24. lesbian gay and bisexual youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers suicide attempts by lgbtq youth drop almost 25 percent for youth that identify school as an affirming space tonight's agenda calls for you to consider whether or not there's still a place in our library for the book flamer
016a book in which a closeted gay young man seriously considers suicide as a way to deal with feelings he couldn't yet understand I can't imagine that the irony of considering that book this month is lost on many I'm asking you tonight to affirm that Barrington schools are safe for and accepting to all of our students regardless of sexual orientation by voting to retain both books on the agenda recently the National Suicide Hotline moved to the easier to remember number of 988 from a toll-free number calls to the hotline increased 45 percent in the days following the change clearly when resources are easily available they are more effective both of the books tonight are resources that ought to be easily accessible to our students thank you next up is Margaret Dahlstrom hello I'm Margaret Dahlstrom I
017had three kids go through district one still in high school our elementary school is huff and I just wanted to follow up on a letter that was read at the last Board of Education meeting by Gina Williams from the mother of a child in the lgbtq community in this town one of the points made in that letter is that during their entire journey of getting health care and mental health care for her child no professionals they encountered recommended these controversial books none the people in this community including some people on the board have stated they feel the books should remain at the library without any restrictions on access just in case it might help one person I'm here to challenge that what's the basis for that conclusion I know some people point to the fact
018that the books are approved or recommended by the American Library Association my sister-in-law is a librarian in California and I am aware of the extensive Education and Training she has gone through but I'm pretty sure their training does not Encompass the training gone through by mental health professionals therefore rubber stamping their recommendations isn't due diligence on making informed decisions when there are controversial books brought up for review does the d220 process include consultation with professionals in a given area of expertise I think it makes sense to include that and when there's a discussion and a vote following that review process I think those professional recommendations should be part of the conversation in a transparent open manner thank you Nelda Munoz you may not yield your time so I came a little bit late is there
019any way that I could be added to the agenda for the last person I you know I I have to work and I have a tremendous amount of work and it's very important for me to speak if you don't mind again I'll go last I'd really appreciate it I have eight homes that's a president board I'm gonna just say sets a precedent that we've been letting everybody else so I'm going to ask the board if they would like to hear this gentleman speak I would greatly appreciate it yeah potentially thank you so much thank you and you want to sign your name here sir let's just while you're here let's just have you sign it yes thank you so much appreciate it so you are not speaking though which way you want it I can
020give him now the time or I'm happy to go last okay you you can go right now well I sent you up here if she okay now they're still speaking so Rick please go ahead now thank you my name is Rick heidner I've been a Barrington resident for since 19 uh 1994 we started with our first home in in South Barrington we now live in Barrington Hills I own eight homes in the Barrington District I also own some commercial property I pay over four million dollars a year in real estate taxes to the Barrington area District 220 which most of the money goes to the Barrington School District I have one child in this school district which we're about ready to pull out okay if you want to try to help the children I would
021suggest you try to find some way to have them and have all the children in the district not bully other children and not you know find ways for these children to make the kids you know feel bad for themselves I have no problem with any gender you know I'm I'm happy for anyone that that finds a happy life but what's Happening Here on a heterosexual uh condition I would be appalled for anyone to see what's being shown to our children at this point um you know you know it's a hard life it's a it's a good life for everyone but also we all have to find our paths but what what is being proposed is such a difficult thing and again for a person that that you know lives here has put their whole family
022or all my children have homes in this District bottom all homes and and you know you're making it into something that is very very hard okay again when when just on a heterosexual way to show images and to to do what everyone is like seeing now and what was actually approved even on the last uh meeting um there's no place for it there's just absolutely no place for it in the school district there's no place for it anywhere you know so we want everyone to be happy but but but showing people these things and showing children these things it makes them the acceptance to try it or do it and as much as you're trying to help the children that are in that you know way that they're happy you're you're also showing thank you
023them thank you you need to wrap it up the other kids to you know try it so please next up is Todd Charlene [Applause] Todd chilling okay oh good evening my name is uh Todd choline I guess my area is Huff Street I've not spoken with voice group before um we're my wife and I and our family are 30-year residents of Barrington and my two children graduated from 2 20. so we're very proud of them and I just wanted to get up and say that I appreciate all that you do for the board as a trustee in the village of Barrington I understand what to go through on a on a basis as a board member of of this community and I just wanted to put voice my feelings that I am opposed to any
024kind of book Banning I just find it um not productive and I feel if we are educating our young people to be responsible adults in our school district especially in the high school level that they should be able to make the decision for themselves whether they want to read a book or not read a book and so I am just to say I'm opposed to any kind of book value thank you great filter hello again my name is Rachel Turk and I live in Barrington my two older Sons graduated from BHS and my daughter's now a freshman this week is the 40th annual band books week the theme for this week this year is books unite us censorship divides us sharing stories important to us means sharing a part of ourselves books reach across boundaries
025and build connections between readers censorship on the other hand creates barriers banned books week is both a reminder of the unifying power of stories and the divisiveness of censorship and a call to action for readers across the country to push back against censorship attempts in their communities I agree 100 that pornography does not belong in school libraries it gives kids unrealistic and often very unhealthy messages about sexuality that will influence them later to some degree however I also strongly agree on what some people in our community are calling pornography just because a book is a sexually explicit scene and it does not make it porn 's only purpose is sexual arousal and gratification it is fake there are no relationships there are no character development people don't care about each other it exaggerates it normalizes
026abuse and most importantly there are no consequences to actions on the other hand books with literary merit that have some sexually explicit material have three-dimensional characters and character development they have complex ranges of emotions they have relationships with families with Friends with Community members as well as partners some of these books deal with spiritual issues and philosophical philosophical values most importantly these books address consequences these books often provide Insight that there can be a lot of complex emotions and consequences after sex many of them not great and our society doesn't acknowledge that complexity very often teens need to think about those consequences ignorance does not lead to abstinence flamer and this book is gay have literary merit and are not born please keep them on the shelves at Barrington High School thank you foreign [Applause]
027my name is Paul rudnicki I have students at Countryside in the high school first off I want to thank the staff at Barrington High School for their efficient professionalism end at the School District staff during Friday's lockdown as a parent I was happy to receive the communications that I did they were informative timely and increased in detail as the information became available almost every you know 20 30 minutes after I got the first one we got a couple emails you know um I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when my son texted me from the bus BHS lockdown not a drill well now we're having a different day um thankfully it's my first as well at least he's on the bus but what about people who aren't on the bus you
028know what's my next thought so uh glad that that worked out the way it did I'm glad that the precautions we have in place functioned this time um I hope the school district takes suggestions learnings from anything that may have gone right gone wrong things do better but I'm sure that's in the works so I would move on to the next topic that I wanted to speak on this evening and remind the board that like I did last time the definitions matter and the two books being considered this evening do not meet the definitions for obscenity or pornography um however people may feel about it the objectivity of decisions you know and words and what they mean you know actually mean something so in the decision making process um again I'd like to remind the
029board that the board's Library policies support the American Library association's freedom to read statement which is very very inclusive and very very Broad in terms of access to books and students being left those choices um I'd also like to remind the board that simply because you might not like a book does not mean it should be removed from the library there's plenty of books I wouldn't recommend people read but I'm sure they're on the Shelf somewhere um that's the beautiful part of how a library works you can walk in browse around pick a book up put it back down if you don't want to read it um the good news is if you need to read it it's there um also I'd like to to be a little more clear on the fact that the
030books simply being in the library are not necessarily meaning they're being shown to our students or they're in the curriculum it just means that there's an access to them these students have a lot of access to a lot of different things through various Technologies in their pockets so let's let's not go overboard in fact these are it's not like we're aligning the students up and saying here look at look at this explicit page and only this page of a book that's not happening so please keep these books on the Shelf [Applause] can you pronounce your last name for me good evening thank you for allowing me to speak my name is Benjamin jinno I've been a resident on county line for about seven months one of the reasons one of the many reasons I moved
031here was because I was told we have an excellent School District so it's my surprise last time I came to one of these board meetings you all voted to keep the book genderqueer in the school library and I want to thank Steve and Katie for standing around on that and I mean that so now you guys are talking about this book is gay and flamer so first in flamer there is a part of this book where a bunch of boys masturbate into a bottle and they say that whichever boy does not ejaculate has to drink the bottle now can any of you look at this credit crowd and objectively say that that is not obscene that's not the half of it I only have three minutes this book is gay um first of all both
032of these books are openly uh anti-christian um this book is gay goes as far as to say that David from David and Goliath was homosexual there is a chapter called the ins and outs of gay sex where the author talks about handjobs detailed descriptions even goes as far as to give instructions on how to clean out your rectum prior to having homosexual anal sex that's not wholesome that's not the hand of it let's get to the glossary we have um a glory hole you know what a glory hole is how about uh or scat apparently sket I learned this from this book Scat is apparently eating poop Scissor Sisters are you all out of your minds with this this has very little if if any educational value this is obscene there are a million and
033one ways to be inclusive and to make kids feel safe in an environment without being vulgar and perverted so all over the country we are seeing districts be more Brazen and more direct with their indoctrination of these of kids with sexuality the only thing these books do is open up the door for sexually explicit discussions between adults and children while the parents aren't present in Washington state a board a school board member held a a class at a sex shop inviting children as young as nine years old to learn about sexual pleasure that wasn't even a school function in Loudoun County Virginia little girls were being raped in the bathroom because the staff there allowed boys to go into the girls room and I apologize for the vulgarity I know there are some minors in
034this CL in this uh In This Crowd right now but that's the nature of this discussion look if you want your sons and daughters to know how to effectively give a or a hand job you can teach them that on your own time public school is not the place for it thank you thank you Benjamin Chase heidner Chase hi my name is Chase heidner and I'm an alumni of Grove Avenue Station Middle and Barrington High School after the August meeting I went out bought and read from cover to cover gender queer flamer and this book is gay simply put I'm terrified for the mental and physical well-being of our youth Trends I recognize throughout these books are hypersexualization the normalization of hookup culture and Casual Sex the demonization of Christianity or faith in general and
035thus the exposure to physical altering interfer interventions I just want to ask what is happening people come here and think that us wanting to remove these books are somehow somehow anti-lgbtq you're wrong I am here because I want to protect children period this includes children who are among the lgbtq community and in fact I think they need more protection now more than ever with the with these books at their disposal there's a normalization of pornography in both books flamer the kid the the main character watches his dad's porn and masturbates and this book is gay on page 197 he says porn is fine and fun not to mention the psychological repercussions that is coming out in research of pornography consumption and this book is gay he mentions uh grinder which is a dating app more
036research saying engaging in online dating May in turn cause secondary adverse mental health outcomes such as depression or sexualized drug use despite some advantages online dating seems to be associated with many severe threats in the area of mental health there's also descriptive explicit sexuality and this book is gay he talks about how handy is how to give proper handys and blow ease that's the language that is used oral sex is popping another dude's peeing in your mouth or indeed popping yours in his it's more about sliding your mouth up and down the shaft of his get away from the volcano before it erupts what kind of language is this this is absurd that's insane bombing the universal truth is men like sticking their Willies inside of things then it normalizes casual sex and hook up
037culture page 187 if this book is gay if you're that horn you want to have a sex meet meet the trick in a public place for a drink the trick you mean a human being have you any always have as much or as little sex as you want not to mention he tells you where to find it uh I was the generation where hookup culture was a booming and I can tell you that all the ones that I love that participate in hookup culture have massive psychological and physical repercussions just from the engagement of it talks about binders suppressing your breasts hormone blockers hormone therapy and surgical change to these beautiful healthy bodies when maybe maybe in reality like there's a there's a a body image issue you know human beings hate change we know
038that and puberty is change that's what happens and if if you allow if you suggest a child hey maybe you don't have to go through these changes if you just take these pills maybe they're going to be more likely to take it with this being said if these contents of these books are available in the high school library that means that students and staff have the ability to discuss the content through and through so I don't know about you but I don't want students children minors talk about handies and blowies with their teachers or even allowing that conversation to exist so I ask you what is the hiring process to ensure that our children aren't being exposed to things child Predators thank you I hope that you ensure for that and just protect the mental
039health of our children [Applause] foreign maybe just one clarification because I think we heard on a couple different reports about um the books being part of the curriculum can you just clarify quickly yeah they're not part of the curriculum they're housed in the high school library okay thank you so next up is your report Dr Hunt uh thank you um I want to just highlight a few things going on district-wide and Jenny will get that up for you in a minute first of all it is safety week we're going to talk um I can talk about Friday and during my report or I can wait for the discussion so I'll probably want some guidance from the board on that but it is safety week and I think someone mentioned earlier um there there are always
040uh Lessons Learned when you go through these types of events and we certainly have spent the time with Barrington Police Department to debrief but a lot of things went well in terms of how our students and how our staff reacted and I think it's due to the fact that we Implement and integrate uh safety on such a regular basis and this week is uh no exception to that as we highlight safety uh in the importance of safety uh throughout our school district so I appreciate the the the work of our staff our principals and and certainly our director of Safety and Security Austin Johnson in putting this week together if you don't know to today uh there was a focus on weather emergencies on Wednesday there will be a run height and Freight flight drills
041our high school after what they went through on Friday we're going to just take that time to do debrief and have conversations with staff about that experience so we can solicit feedback and certainly constantly try to improve in that area Thursdays staff School evaluation specific to fire drills and Friday is a conversation about trade and crosswalk safety so it's these types of things that are done on a regular basis that help prepare our students and prepare our staff to react appropriately when we have to put these things into place and certainly appreciate the support and the conversations not only happening in our schools be it but reiterated and engaged in at home as well go ahead I want to recognize doctor or I'm sorry officer Gayton our entire staff as we go through who who
042serves as our school resource officer for the Barrington School District as we get to and talk about the events of Friday uh her quick reaction the way and ability that our staff reacted allowed a very very scary time for parents students and staff to be minimized and handled inappropriate in a professional way and and we talk about this the slogan of see something say something and many of you know after a lot of my research was around crisis in school and school events and the the reality is identification on the front end reporting of issues those are the things that prevent things from going wrong and this is an example of how stepping forward sharing information can address and and minimize the impact of what could be a very serious event so I do appreciate
043not only officer Gayton but our entire staff their reaction at the high school on Friday we just a reminder we did talk about this a little bit at our last meeting on October 18th we're going to change the format a little bit of our uh regarding our Board of Education meetings we're going to have a committee of the whole right now we are present planning to present on work that's happening within the district this year specific to two of our priorities within framework 20 220. that's both personalized learning and future Readiness also going to ask Mr lobbins and Mr alfs to show us and introduce and talk about how the new space and the referendum is impacting teaching and learning and and provide the board with an overview of how they prepared staff for that
044uh safety will be an ongoing conversation over the next month certainly within our school district and and uh probably at the board level uh we are going to have a conversation about safety specific to those new spaces as well at that meeting also be an opportunity for dialogue conversation where uh our public can ask us questions about these topics and then we'll also provide an opportunity again where people can kind of wander through the space tour it and see it interact with board members as well during that time so that's kind of how the agenda sits for the October 18th and just a reminder that will be at Station Middle School and I'm going to end my report um with some good news that came yesterday um as we recognized a teacher at Countryside Elementary
045and McNamara she's been recognized as a Chicago Bear classroom Legend winner recognized for work [Applause] ability to continuously go above and beyond for us and often you know without notice or recognition just as one of those people that puts students first always so I wanted to point out and and congratulate her on that recognition as well always a fun event shoot up so board I do have on is a discussion item later Safety and Security um I'm happy to kind of talk through and work through the events of Friday now or or we can't get to it at that point in the meeting wanna pull that up to the agenda now I haven't talked through it I think it makes sense so we we did have uh our director of Safety and Security Austin Johnson
046and Dr winkelmann scheduled to present prior to Friday so there is a presentation that will come and we'll leave that for that discussion item where they talk about some of the Safety and Security measures we have in place regarding the referendum and I'm going to ask my team Mr McWilliams Dr winkelmann uh Austin please jump in as I go through specifically about Friday I think every parent of every Educator's worst nightmare is to get a call that that a building's in lockdown due to you know what we've experienced across our nation and you know when that when that happens um there there's there's a time in which the the training and the safety and the planning all kind of comes to a head and you hope people can react and put that training to um
047into action and I think a lot of a lot of that did happen on Friday one I want to talk a little bit through timeline just so the board understands obviously we we drill for lockdowns and and we drill for run height fight and and these these events but time of day matters and certainly impacts things and as I've said with road construction it seems to be everywhere we would would not like it to be this is a time where you know kind of the worst case scenario you've got students arriving at school in hallways interacting when this happens so at age 12 a.m it became reported that there was a possible weapon in Barrington High School and there was a quick reaction from officer Gayton and administrative team to quickly isolate that situation uh
048confirmed that it was you know there was a weapon present and very quickly take the the individual into custody so by between 812 and 8 16 that took place so when you when you look at response time and research and to the ability to have someone present having an officer on site being able to react that quickly certainly makes a huge difference so I commend the school district long before my arrival here to commit resources and and make a property uh to integrating a school resource officer into the building the uh the individual was taken off of Barrington High School property by 833 communication went out to our families at that time and there was just a series of communications as about the incident I've had a few questions that I think important to address
049tonight and board I'm certainly happy to address others that um you know that that you may have had or may have heard about the incident one thing being resolved in four minutes uh means that various levels of reaction and responding didn't take place so we've had questions about where were other officers from other communities and our our Police Department uh directly with officer Gayton was able to minimize the issue and the threat very quickly and communicate that out uh preventing the need for a more a broader call for additional resources so I know that question has been there obviously the question of traffic and road construction and trains uh all all came into play as well but again if that if that timeline would have been longer if the incident would have been uh more
050significant there would be additional response from communities and those interpersonal interdepartmental Agreements are in place uh practiced and and would happen for sure uh we we you know like I said there are things that we looked at in in hindsight and reflection that we can't improve on we've looked at bringing students onto campus buses letting students out we're having all of those conversations to make sure that we can do the best we can in terms of learning from this and taking that information forward so I know uh Steve is going to work with his high school staff on debriefing you know the whole incident in terms of what can be learning game what should be should happen differently in the future we're also going to ask Mr Johnson to take those Lessons Learned and take
051them to the other buildings we shouldn't have to practice this again if you will or you know to take the lesson to learn and apply them to other buildings so that that will happen as we go forward here but again I think from a staff perspective um and and response and Reporting I'm very proud of the staff of Barrington High School I appreciate the response from Barrington police department and and will continue to make safety a priority for the school district so I think this time I'm happy to open up to questions or comments that the board may have I'll regarding this issue and as we kind of continue to learn and grow from it I think thank you for that summary I think it was great and I just wanted to add um you
052know for community members who may have been questioning I know that specifically Dr Hunt mentioned this but as far as the train coming through at the exact time as the emergency what um we learned we obviously had an emergency Safety and Security meeting right after to review what had happened and obviously the entire board has sat and talked with our First Responders as well as the Safety and Security uh head and Mr McWilliams Etc but the the the police car that was sitting at the train was not in active pursuit to engage in an active situation the situation had already been neutralized within four minutes of the initial Dr Hunt mentioned had that been a different situation there are other options and ways for police to get to the campus and also to call in
053other police forces from neighboring communities to assist as well but since the situation already been neutralized they were waiting when the train cleared they went you know and continued on so it I know that you know it's it's a terrible situation we see you know ambulances by the train we see you know a police car it it causes you know some frightening responses as community members but in this particular situation the situation had already been neutralized at the high school so I think that that's something you know that we just wanted to make sure that the community was really clear about because um it's hard to know that when you're just sitting in traffic any other questions yeah I just also want to commend those the students who said something I think that's they went
054right away to school administrators and said hey this is what we saw and then the administrators actually responded the way they did um heard a lot of positive feedback from that um I also heard some questions from folks in our community about what can we do to prevent weapons even if they're pellet guns which I think often look real or actual weapons from coming on to school grounds and I just want to assure the community that our team has been thinking about this additional Safety and Security measures even before well before this incident and those are being discussed and I don't know if you want to add anything to to answer that question I think I'd take a step back there's there's always a balance when you're evaluating facilities in terms of how far you
055want to go with hardening the facility and you know that blending that line you know the quote is a prison or a school and what makes the most sense from a culture standpoint but yet does provide the necessary levels of Safety and Security and honestly the events you know my own thinking has changed over time regarding some of this as well as the technology has changed right so we are evaluating different technologies that we could Implement in our building to enhance our levels of protection moving forward and I think you know I don't want to get into a ton of specifics on that today but I think more information will be forthcoming to the board and I also want to thank the staff for following up with all the students involved in the incident and
056then those who were really scared you know in inside of the school and just making sure that we're flagging um kids who need extra support um and just start call out that our services are there right if students continue to need to process the incident questions okay next on the agenda is informational reports does any board member have any questions about the report none let's move to committee reports we've got a lot of committee stuff coming up in actions and in discussions is there anything anyone would like to add too yeah Equity met for the first time we had it we welcomed uh we had a great very strong turnout we welcomed new uh parents who are involved new staff who are involved in our district Equity team and our we do have a barrington220.org
057forward slash Equity 220 website and that has resources for our different cultural heritage months like Hispanic Heritage Month that Sandra mentioned and resources to for teachers for parents for families students to learn more and talk about so please check that out and then Leah you want to keep going with the sure recap of the meeting sure so um it was great to get together with the team which is made up of people from around the district administrators board members family and so also this year it's rolling out at the school level so there's Equity teams of people that are teachers administrators at each of our schools who are working on Equity work and um there's also some involvement in some of the ptos getting involved about our we belong campaign how we belong to each
058other is kind of works together with this you know awareness about each other and our different backgrounds are different Heritage or different interests so that's kind of coming together and then also um talk about you know diversity and Equity inclusion at the PTO and at the school level for parents to get involved so it's different all our schools have different different uh personalities different groups of people who are involved but I encourage everybody to um to jump on board and get involved because we had a great kickoff last week with uh with our speaker with Abby Wambach and we want everybody to feel like they belong in the Barrington family so yeah it was good holy actually could you speak a little bit more to help people get involved because I know that there's not
059a way to time when meetings are on how does a parent or Community member know when they can attend something or how do they get involved in their schools so um the different ptos have different ways to get involved but I'm sure if uh I always found that if you call the school and ask the person at the front desk how when's the PTO meeting how can I find the website how can I get involved when can I attend oh I can't make it who can I call and find out what's going on and how I can volunteer there are lots of resources there and they'll connect you to the PTO president or to one of the the parents Who's involved and they'll say oh do you want to get involved with the book fair
060we're having a book fair this week or I was at North Barrington last night they're having a movie night this Friday and then they're having a book fair so there's lots of fun activities at these schools you know and if you're at the high school there's a lot of things going on if you look on the calendar if you go BHS calendar because I know the website is new and I'm trying to figure it out but if you put in their BHS calendar and then it comes up you can see oh there's a football game this Friday oh there's the 24-hour theater experience was last Saturday night it's in the black box and if you're not sure call the high school and ask them the main number and they'll find the person or email you
061know Mr McWilliams he knows or the principal and you can go to the website and go barrington220 North Barrington and stuff will come up and then you can contact somebody and if you can't find any of it email me and I will help you connect because I want you to be connected and it's there's a lot of cool things going on so many that I don't even know all of them so does that help and like Leo said every school is exciting thing is that these teams are are forming at every school and every school is different depending on the culture so for example Grove has an action project that is really focused on this year making sure every student is is fully learning about themselves and other students and that other students and staff
062are valuing each other and being fully seen and so there's a lot of initiative about just learning from and about each other in different backgrounds and cultures and that's intentional that's specific to Grove and I know Rose does something totally different there's a there's every night that there's an amazing every year every night would be awesome but an amazing cultural night that Rose throws and I think there's more initiatives there and so yeah I second what Leah said is just the best ways to contact your school and ask how do I get involved in our Equity work at the building level what is our PTO doing who's the best staff member to contact so I think the board the board does receive two updates a year who originally were October 18th but with the change
063of that we're moving into that first week in November first born in September well if you have a cool idea for your school then bring it to them you know lie lines some some family members were like we should have a book club so they're having a book club now it's different schools and different families you know want to do different things you know I know when I was at one school there was you know a community garden and then different schools different you know depending what parents are there they you know those families are interested in and have a strong feeling about stuff when you mentioned the um the teams at each school and you said they're comprised of other teams just admin and teachers or their parents in those teams too so right
064now say again parents are suffering so right now this is the this is um at this the teachers in the administration level um this year is what's going on at all the schools so they're starting with special training they're working with the ptos when in the principles that some there's some overlap between the building teams and the ptos but to really get at the question that was asked about how do you get involved I mean we are encouraging parents to route through the PTO but all of our buildings are doing I think it's five or six belonging themed activities throughout the year so you can really contact your building principal and start there because there may be other groups that are working on some of those themes and activities around belonging that they could get
065involved in as well in addition to working through the PTO if there were new parents and staff members at your meeting how do you join that part so so the district Equity team is a committee similar to Safety and Security where it's the administration's committee and and it's not open to the public that everyone can come and just to think about it like Safety and Security it there's things that maybe the whole public shouldn't be aware of but there's things going on behind the scenes that are super important with Equity there's some things that are happening there's education there's personal space of talking about deep-seated emotional issues and so it's a it's also a committee that's not open to the public right now at the district level if you want to get involved and help
066with different things or get involved you can always contact Nate Rouse and say hey I'm available I'm deeply interested in this can I help and I would think he would direct you but he might direct you back to your school and say hey right now why don't you get involved with your PTO yeah and I think also with with those committees you're seeking a certain type of representation you know depending on the initiative and work within the committee I think we we felt like we had a gap with people's services and some of our special education students and their representation so I started Dr Lewinski whiskey just sit in on the committee and as well as find a parent that would sit in on the committee as well to represent that group I believe that
067parent I administrators right based on the fit for the that specific committee and you want people to support the mission of the work obviously okay any other committee reports policy met but we'll talk about that in a little bit Yeah and um I mentioned earlier Safety and Security had an emergency meeting after the incident on Friday and um that was a productive meeting and we have a lot of good next steps to follow up on that will probably just be hearing more about later so I'm not going to be redundant thank you and uh referendum committee met as well and that's also a discussion item later so we'll we won't try to duplicate that here okay any other committee reports okay so next up is the condensed consent agenda do we have a motion to
068approve the consent agenda as presented second did you get that yes um any questions before I read through and we take a vote okay um on our consent agenda first I want to recognize some gifts that were given from the katlow Clark's Bakery Einstein's Bagels Fleur Salon Francesca's and mcgonagalls each had an in-kind donation so we appreciate their support we also have on the consent agenda minutes from September 6 both open and closed we have Finance reports um including the gifts and grants that I already mentioned um we have August reports for exception bills nslp exception bills activity accounts from Barrington High School wage payroll report treasurer's report and revenue and expenditures and then for September the bill list report and then we also have uh I was about to say revised a Personnel our
069Personnel report which is not revised this time any questions or comments all right let's do a roll call Sandra Bradford yes Leah Callister lazari yes Angela Wilcox yes Steve Wang Katie Karen yes Aaron chanding yes Barry alt Schuler yes let's move into our um action items uh first up do we have a motion to consider the approval of the adoption of the 2023-20 2020-2023 budget so moved second okay um do you want to give a report or we had a hearing last meeting yeah I think Finance had a meeting uh and reviewed the preliminary budget we had a hearing last month I don't believe there's any material changes to point out to the board um that it's transpired since the preliminary budget so we're asking the board too or attend the budget I'm sorry um
070we're asking the board for uh approval of the budget as as submitted okay before we vote um are there any questions or comments okay before we vote you may not leave tonight until you sign the documents in this folder yeah good point so we could pass it right now after we take the vote um oh you have that's not this I thought it was demonstrating very well then look through the folders okay um and you have to sign multiple times correct please please sign off each of us everyone has to sign six things okay why don't we do a roll call very old Schuler yes Leah Callister lazari yes Katie Karam yes Aaron Chan ding yes Sandra Bradford yes Steve Wang yeah yeah Angela Wilcox yes [Applause] congratulations thank you Dr buying your staff for
071all their hard work thank you sir lagers here's done a ton of work on the budget she's done an amazing job this year and thank you board will be working as we shared with you previously on submitting the meritorious budget award now that the budget has been approved we're excited to get that in and we'll report back on that progress awesome so don't go too far because uh next action item do we have a motion to approve the resolution to transfer funds to capital projects so moved second okay so we're asking the board uh to approve a recommendation to transfer 2.4 million dollars into the um Capital fund historically the the board has looked at budget surplus and and made decisions on allocating it to the capital funds to prepare for emergencies that happen through
072the throughout the district unforeseen uh things that come up projects that maybe weren't included in the referendum uh and and I think you know generally that has been done in the past and fairly more recently Dr bind you know correct me if I'm wrong um has ear you know identified but you know projects in which those funds would go to um we are you know we've provided some detail in terms of how those dollars would be spent in terms of expanding the Blended learning space Barrington High School in preparation for some ongoing work into in terms of expanding that offering to our students Woodland and James Street contingencies and as well as future projects and I know we do we have we have had some initial conversations with regarding Safety and Security I think at
073this point we could look at these funds and allocate some of those to support that work in the district as we kind of finalize what exactly we want to do and then maybe minimize some of what we're doing in the expanded Blended learning space so instead of a renovation maybe it's supporting removal of lockers additional Furniture to start to walk down that that space without a complete renovation but looking at kind of pressing needs some of the conversations we've had I I think over the last year quite honestly regarding some of the Safety and Security needs there are some additional enhancements that I believe we could bring forward and make recommendations to utilize some of these funds so I guess what I'm saying to you is we're confident in the the 2.4 but we also
074believe we may allocate some of that to the Safety and Security enhancements that we're having conversations around I would just comment that while we have done this frequently in the past we haven't always earmarked it for specific projects correct so I don't I personally don't feel the need to have to earmark it but I love having the ideas and concepts of what it might be used for and if there's an instance where we want to I think we did that with Prairie parking lot I think a couple years ago so we have in this uplight but so we don't my opinion is we don't always have to earmark it but I think it's great to have the discussion about what it could be used for and the motion doesn't intermark anything no that's correct that's
075correct Dave can I ask I I don't want to put the card before the horse but are we comfortable with 55.3 million I mean in terms of the numbers to this is the time that the board normally is considering a recommendation like this so if there's an opportunity to do this you're considering it now and if uh approved we share with the auditor what uh the what the approval has been by the board they finalized that within the audit so we've really got numbers that are well settled and the timing on this is normally such that we're able to talk about it at the finance committee that meeting that happens the beginning of September with a plan to be able to talk with the board about it and have you consider a resolution at the
076end of September that way we can have the auditor show up and present the audit not just to the finance committee but any other members of the board that want to attend the finance committee which is the next one that happens on that Monday first Monday in October and then at approve the meeting after that the final audit so like that's the normal sequence so we're right at the at the time this would normally be considered so yes we're comfortable with the numbers and this this recommended transfer actually keeps our fund balance percentage uh flat from last year at 29.9 percent uh board as you know we have a policy that puts us between 25 and 40 percent that that is your objective to be within that that range unlike many districts in in the
077area we have a very clear fund balance policy that governs where we should be and we actually have a much smaller fund balance percentage than many districts do as a result of that so just to be clear for our community even though we're not earmarking anything with this transfer Safety and Security enhancements could fall under capital projects absolutely absolutely support if I could I'd like to recommend priorities consideration an alternative to transferring this to Capital budgets or capital projects excuse me and it would be to consider an abatement we have a 5.3 million dollar Surplus approximately if we were to if we were to keep 2.9 Million of it in the in the fund balance as as Dr Pine stated it would keep us at around 30 29.9 to be exact and you know rather
078than again putting this towards Capital I'd suggest putting this towards an abatement for our taxpayers because it has been a you know challenging few years the district has done an amazing job of managing the funds the precious resources that we are given and I think it would just be a good you know a good sense or a good you know idea to try and do something back for our community and then at the same time we do have funds as you know Dr Brian we discussed during the finance committee meeting we do have funds in our capital budget that are not already earmarked for our referendum and if I correct if I'm wrong it's about 11 million it's about 11. okay it's about 11 million it's unencumbered right so we do have a cushion in
079our you know Capital funds that you know doesn't you know doesn't scream that we're in danger of not being able to meet our demands and as far as we've discussed there's nothing pressing that we're aware of correct they're as the board knows when we talk about summer projects we always have a much larger list of of items so there are you know so we always have millions of dollars more in requests and needs um you know range from you know a lot of water issues you know replacing domestic water piping it uh fixing the chemical dispensing system at the high school there's a laundry list of items that that we're always evaluating so uh you know Steve as as we've talked there isn't a a big you know giant issue that oh my gosh we
080have to do X but I have many many items that I would be sure glad to improve on our facilities great um a repair replace right and that's totally fair I I guess what I'm saying is there's no like no streaming issue that we have at this stage well again we do have a question and I would add that we we did provide the board with some uh information regarding what our Capital spends should be to main maintain facilities we we often fall short of that due to limited funds um and I think that should be taken into consideration as well um I don't I don't there isn't a pressing issue but if there was a pressing issue that's what these funds are for well and I guess my my reply back to that would
081be this should be a challenge the administration then to further you know constrain our expenses over the next year and generate yet another Surplus we have a budget surplus let's make it bigger and you know this way we're not going to run into that issue like next next school year Finance commit committee discussed this at all so well I I I'm gonna get this wrong Dr Vine so I'm going to leave it to you how to describe this but there is a process by which we can vote to allow this adjustment it would take some time to put together paperwork because it's not readily done but it's correct if I'm wrong you're waiting for the entire Board of Education to basically affirm um you know my recommendation right so at the finance committee meeting there
082was discussion around this topic of abatement as well and the committee agreed let's move this to the full board for a discussion tonight the board has the ability to accept the recommendation as it is to change the dollar amount to a larger or smaller dollar amount or to not not act on this or to you know to table it or to vote it down and if the board were to direct Dr Hunt and me to come back with an abatement resolution for you that we would be able to do that in conjunction with whatever your decision is tonight so um that that I think that hopefully that clarifies sort of where we were and should sound very similar to what Steve was just saying so yeah and you know what I'm did not mention which
083is that we can adjust the numbers so if we're not comfortable with a 2.4 million dollar payment we could do a two million dollar payment we do a half a million dollars it's whatever the board's comfortable with but my suggestion is if if keeping 2.9 Million in our operating budget excuse me operating fund will maintain keep us right in that sweet spot that Dr mines recommended for us in terms of our uh you know percentage balance I say that we take this 2.4 million in its entirety and put it back towards an abatement so for the board's information if we were charged with 2.4 and abatement uh Dr Bond how how best would we do an abatement and is this the path to do it so if the board we're going to consider an abatement
084my recommendation at this point would be to table this recommendation if you're doing it for the the full for 2.4 million would be to table this the funds would remain in the operating funds an abatement would then uh I would bring that back for your consideration if you approved an abatement I would recommend debating out of The Debt Service fund and then there would be a transfer out of the operating fund of the same amount back into debt service to cover our debt service payments so um there's a few pieces to to doing this but that would be the basic process is that the end result would be the money that you would retain right now would then be transferred into debt service in a beta data Debt Service can you tell me what a
085500 000 home would get from a from a 2.4 million dollar abatement I mean about how much can you give me a Walmart it'd be about a uh so I would estimate right there's a variety of things that may be careful yeah difficult right and uh you know in Cook County for example uh the multiplier um the preliminary multiplier is out the final multiplier is is coming out um the final is normally much higher than the preliminary all right so if I use last year's final number for Cook County um if I assume uh a ten thousand dollar homeowner exemption um and it comes out to be about 121 dollars for a 500 000 home in a 2.4 million dollar payment so if we if we abated this entire amount does that give us less
086flexibility to use for Safety and Security enhancements that we were talking about or anything else if we as opposed to transferring it to capital projects like how does I'm worried about hampering especially because we're you know those discussions are ongoing and we'll probably cost something so I yeah well certainly there are fewer funds available to be able to do that and I think then the question becomes uh you know question of significance you know are are we okay with 2.4 million dollars less that's difficult for me to say as uh as I mentioned we've got approximately 11 million dollars that is unencumbered in the capital projects fund that that's available so that's available to spend uh whether that is for um something like a acquiring the um Little House on the Prairie Property uh for
087you know return resurfacing you know the baseball field there's some bigger items that we have used uh those funds for in the past safety insecurity certainly there but so I want to provide the facts for you and allow you to be able to come to that individ you know your independent opinion about well how much do we need to have so is there reduced flexibility will there be reduced by 2.4 million dollars over what we would otherwise have if we do the transfer so don't determine an art center that some money can go towards the Fine Arts Center I was going to say a large learning space that we don't that we would like to build what um when when do we typically vote on dsub uh you'll actually that'll be a topic we'll be
088talking about coming up in uh the next month or two and what is that amount it's about two point it's been about 2.3 million it goes up each year according to CPI uh that I think the number might be right about 2.35 I don't have it in front of me I think I made it very well known that I do not like our dsub borrowing um it seems like it's about the exact same amount amount that we're talking about tonight so I would throw out to our board that if we can make a commitment as a board to move away from our dsat borrowing considering that we do have this amount on the table tonight why don't we move forward as proposed in the initial motion but make this our not just goal but our
089our priority this year to be the board that eliminates the d sub borrowing yay [Applause] so this that would be a one-time decent borrowing though because we do borrow many many times right that's correct I think what what Angela's proposing is is this is a con a convenient time I I don't want to put words in your mouth but uh Community time to be able to take that because there's no no pressure in the first year but what I heard her say was that she would she would like to see that not returning years after but I can tell you that that right now based on the funding that that we have um certainly what she's proposing would work for one year a year from now less than a year from now is we're considering
090the budget we'd be attempting to identify 2.4 million dollars out of the existing uh budget that we would have to cut up from other things if we're going to maintain the same level of investment into our facilities as we have which as Dr Hunt has mentioned is is sort of at the at the bottom of the recommended threshold level hello an 11 million dollar Surplus in there already we're contemplating adding 2.4 so I think we could probably work within that but it's year after year after year and that's because we have 11 million this year understood we're you know robbing Peter to pay Paul or you know I mean you're taking away I think you're not necessarily being responsible for being on the facilities committee I mean our needs are great and I don't want
091to cut off our hands so we're like we can't do what we need to do and these are these are needs and that wants these are necessities and you know as Dr Hunter said we're underfunding our facilities committee right now so I just don't want to look at ways to fund them less than we're funding them currently so how many square feet do we have to maintain and what is a recommended amount to be spent on Capital every year we've got about 1.5 million feet under roof across the district the I don't have it's a board members I know I've provided you some information we prepared in the business office I would need to come back and and I just got to have I don't have that up in front of me to be able
092to to quote you that number but we our annual investment as we look all in inclusive of um the referendum spending was we spread that out over 20 years we are at the at the bottom level uh you know really the lower recommended level of that so we're right about where we should be um board I'll also just remind you that not doing a decent borrowing in one year does not preclude you from being able to do it in future years so uh just you know based on the feedback I want you to understand that uh while you could choose to not do that um you know going forward you could also choose to not do it for one year and then and do that again another year so you you do have options in
093front of you to consider at night there are opportunities to talk about a potential abatement Right Through The Debt Service Levy process of being or using regardless that we go through that service yeah it wouldn't it wouldn't be necessarily time-bound related to the to the levy the timing of the abatement would be related to uh the the levy cycle but the board could consider an abatement at other times I'm going to ask what the administration's recommending to the board our recommendations in the memo so this is this is your recommendation yes okay to do the chance yes okay I guess I'm going to support the recommendation because I don't I well I like the idea of an abatement I'm not sure it's the the timing is right now um with um the referendum just kind
094of coming to an end and we have so many buildings and we have so many other initiatives that we've been talking about I'm not comfortable um doing an eight-minute video that's my opinion and that this was just brought to us are we able to detained or is this something from a timing perspective uh this is really the time to allow finalization of our audit so if you chose to table this and revisit an upcoming meeting I would I would need to recommend to our Auditors that they file for an extension of the due date to submit our audit so it'd be a time to be able to do this but we could do the reverse we can make the transfer tonight and then consider an abatement in the future right okay I've been Aaron I
095would challenge you then when do we want to put that as an agenda item for discussion of abatement in the future at a future meeting we have time to think about it right and it would be in conjunction with our Levy process it could be funds don't go back and right so I didn't I didn't know if that's a true thing you could transfer back yeah I wasn't thinking we could transferred back but think about potential potential for abatement in the future we're spending this year to look at [Music] um we have as a strategic priority to look at I want to call the large learning slash fine arts space at the high school I'm just not comfortable moving money around and keep you know I until we already have fun set aside for that
096we do not we have fun set aside for the plans for design only but we wouldn't need a referendum to put to put that through anyway I don't know maybe not we don't know we don't we want to see what the plans yield so there's potential to use Capital Project funding sure that absolutely shortened it it's not going to be a 2.4 million dollar project The Early Learning Center the referendum was turned down we still built it and you know we built it with non-referendum funds right I mean it can be done though giving the fact we know CPI is not coming down this next Levy is going to be a battle again too I know 121 dollars doesn't sound like a lot but I we just let's keep multiplying and multiplying and multi-andual point
097at some point it does become a budgeting issue and not spending money just to spend money so or even just house money for the purposes of hacking emergency funds when we already have a million 11 million dollars you know I guess that's where I come in and I'm going to just be very blunt here and just say I don't know if our responsibility is to necessarily be a bank for the community we but we're barely I don't understand but we're lower than most other districts you're talking about spending you're not talking about no no I'm talking about the extra money we have when you look at something like Stevenson they have a much higher um no it's fair so no we're not putting a savings we're being very frugal we have a very low for
098you know our 29 is lower than a lot of other districts right so we're doing what we can to minimize well the effect of our Europe operating here okay so do we talk about do we have four members that want to that wanna um defer this and do an abatement an abatement so you see one so I think we can move forward with the vote unless there's any other questions I am very what you're saying is 100 accurate as far as we do not house money but when we came to this community three or four years ago with our referendum that was our explanation we come to you for every large expense and what I'm hearing here tonight is discussions regarding building a large learning area at Barrington High School potentially with these funds I
099just said I'm not comfortable with I don't think so with doing that I want to know we're going to spend this year talking about it and doing the plans well I am not comfortable with that I think please please do I don't know what the number was say what I'm saying the 13 million isn't going to build a finance Center no no I'm saying I want to see the plan well you guys are both talking about holding on to money for a potential plan because you don't know what that plan will be and what the cost will be so that's I don't know we're saving money for a rainy day I mean I think we're gonna be responsible for our taxpayers and not have to come to them for every nickel and dime um but
100a hundred dollars or whatever is is you know I'm not downplaying it I think we all want to look at our taxes going down I just want to comment one thing yeah I agree with you we have to look for ways to be less reliant on DC right but I don't think it's all or none I think we have to come up with a plan to figure out how we can because I I think it would be a big hole in our budget to just say from now on We're Not Gonna We're Not Gonna assess a decent I think we need to figure out how to budget so we can not depend on the DCF and and as we've said before we don't want to tie future boards you know we're going to make decisions
101now and then four years from now the board's going to say wow we've got a deficit here we're missing whatever amount of money because this board may have done things a little prematurely so I think we need a plan I think you know I want I want our our financial people to say how can we get away from dsub I don't think it's all or none though I think we have to figure out how to do that I do agree Angela We could decide this year that we don't I've been on this board for eight years for eight years I've asked and for eight years I've been refused and I've never seen a surplus like this before so I think now is that on this tonight and then we can still decide if we're gonna
102do decent borrowing it's a different different discussion but I guess what Angela you're saying is you want a commitment that when we do come to the table again and discuss D7 I don't want the unilateral no yeah like I feel like I get it every time I hear you I hear that yeah I hear you I mean I think the question is what are we going to replace the dsat fund right with right yeah yeah the Surplus that we but that's one time that's a one time that's not uh forever I understand but it's still I mean and and you're right we do have to look into future boards when we make our budgets but we also have to be Cosh cons cost conscious as well so you know I came in here completely comfortable
103with this and now I'm getting the heebie-jeebies because I you know I I I I think that what we do at the high school it needs to be the way that we do things we come to the public we ask do you support building X at the high school and if so then we run a referendum yeah and I would say I don't believe we've had zero conversations about this fund being able to fund no absolutely right I mean some of this is a you know we were having this conversation is there an industry formula out there where you have X amount of square feet and you need an emergency there's no way to know some of this is a little bit of a gut check right what do you think is enough or not
104enough in that fund to be prepared for those unforeseen things that are going they're going to happen I know I've been I mean I've heard about the bridge that collapsed yeah so a million dollars pop up out of I I I completely understand the rainy day fund yeah but I just want to be clear where I stand on this you know I mean I don't I don't want this to be misconstrued okay just so before we take the roll call um the motion on the table is to approve the resolution to transfer the 2.4 million dollars from into Capital project fund every doctor can't bring up regarding capital projects or emergencies and potential for Safety and Security enhancement potentially but we're not earmarking that is an idea that has been okay you're you're not voting
105on specifically what's right we're just voting on the transfer that's correct okay let's do a roll call USD sorry yes yes Barry all Schuler yes Angela Wilcox yeah Aaron chanding yes Sandra Bradford yes Katie Karam no Steve Wang no okay motion passes thank you good discussion all good things to continue to consider do we have a motion to uphold the recommendation of the district district level review of materials specifically the book flavor second so the Board of Education was provided an up an overview of the district review process and findings for this book also included in that District level review is a copy of the building level review which occurred prior to that per our process do you want to speak just briefly to the process because that's been talked about at upcoming meetings we
106we have had the opportunity to meet with legal counsel make adjustments talk to our staff and are prepared to have that conversation regarding selection process and review of materials at the next Board of Education meeting okay any questions or comments so doctor and I can appreciate the district level reviews as well as the uh you know justification I guess what I'll say is you know I would suggest either restricting or reclassifying these books I would hope that you know the rest of the board would consider that as well but I want to make clear is this is not has nothing to do with you know Banning because I actually am against Banning uh and I won't get into my personal history but it's not one that is you know necessarily support of that because I've
107experienced it in my in my culture so I'm not going to go there what I will say though is that we need to provide parents with a platform that they can make the decisions for their children um you know having read flamer I I shared with some of the board members I was talking to about this you know there's there are things in there that I just find offensive language and Dr I know you and I spoke to this as well off the Record as far as I'm not author record but as far as you know what the contents in the library are what books and what percentage of books might have follow language in it and given that the number is relatively High I think that's actually another argument that we might need to
108have but as it relates to this particular book it's language that I don't think is appropriate because you know minor children and by minor children I mean under 7 under 18. um and so you know when you have a book that's available in the library in a school library where the parents aren't present typically I understand that we can say let's opt my child out so that my child cannot borrow this book that's fair but the point is my child can also go to the library not check the book out pull the book off the shelves and read it and you know again I won't speak for anybody else because I don't want to parent anybody else's child but for my child that's not okay and again I can tell her tell the librarian but
109I don't want her or him to allow my child to take the book out but she still have access to it and I think that's you know the general issue I have here um you know there are other Concepts in the book too but I find problematic there's misogyny there's racism I don't know those are not things that I want to expose my child to even even when she's 17 years old [Applause] and and you know I I would challenge again with Administration to consider are there other alternatives to this because I totally agree if you if for those who know me I'm absolutely supportive of everyone and anyone and what they need and I want the district to provide that but is there a way where we can do this without having graphic images
110without having to foul language of having you know sexually explicit and you know language that's being utilized um I guess that's you know where I want to vote and again I asked my fellow board members to consider can we either restrict or reclassify not ban not take off the shelves literally keep that keep it in the libraries but allow it to level librariance control the children which child can see these materials so I just want one clarification yeah so Dr Hunt we're allowed that parents can say that their children are not to read these books is that correct that's correct okay so there is a vehicle even with if we approve the recommendation as it stands that is correct again to go through and read first of all we they don't have access to our
111online library or the library so to find books out of thin air read them and then go one by one to the librarian who I would say is our Librarians are amazing and should be able to why would we even be providing children with books that a parent would have to go through and say is inappropriate for my children so we can cover something thank you I just feel we can have an inclusive Library without Expo I can't even believe I have to say it and I guess maybe I'm referencing this book as gay more here I do not think it's the district's job to teach children how to sexually pleasure other children so I'm here with Steve I don't I I feel like there's a compromise here and I can't believe that we're not
112willing to get there and just saying oh a parent can call them that's that's not really a great compromise that's really putting the onus on the parent when the owners should be on the district to make sure we're not exposing children to inappropriate material I'll make sure it's clear if we're talking about this book sorry my point stands for all of it no Dr Hunt I'm sorry Sandra you made a point I want to understand it so you're saying that if a parent opts out what does that mean but the books remains on the shelf right so my daughter can still go to the library when she's you know 14 in high school and pull the bug off the shelf and read it in the library she just can't check it out is that correct
113correct okay so then yeah my point stands it's not about the restrictions only that she can't take it out of the library but she can still sit in the library during or after school hours without my knowledge or you know her mother's knowledge and read these materials okay yeah I I mean I I wasn't able to attend the last meeting where we discussed this I had a family reunion um I I definitely um you know read these books and I do view certain portions of these of these books as obscene um and I do understand that there is literary value when you look at other parts of the book but I equate it to so we watch Christmas movies every year as a family and my favorite Christmas movie is Love Actually and every year
114Gemini put it on and have you seen Love Actually it's it's like there's like six or seven corresponding um story lines and you think that it's all separate and then kind of at the end it all combines and you realize that they're all and it's all about well thanks all right yeah wow there's a Twist so it and all of the story lines are are lovely there's like the Prime Minister Who falls in love there's um you know this lady who's in love with yeah and then the little boy who's the cutest little boy you've ever seen and he plays the drums and he's trying to get this little girl to fall in love with him and my son's a drummer and I'm always like I'm gonna show the kids this this movie it is
115so good but there's one storyline that goes through it and again it's endearing but it's it's a couple and they are you they don't really explain what it is but they're I think there's stand-ins for filming so they're completely naked and they're simulating but but they're talking they're talking about oh the traffic was difficult here and oh the weather is so nice today and and you try to to like say okay well the overall literary value is so great I'd love for this to be for my kids but it's rated R and every time Jim and I watch it and at the end we're like oh we still can't show the kids like it's it's it's tough because I don't want to not show them this movie I think it's the best movie but it
116can't because there's content that's inappropriate for children so when you know I I you know and obviously there are um there's an explanation as to a step by step on how to perform sexual acts on another person and and you can't deny that that is in one of these books and there's another book that does explain a masturbation scene and so even though there is literary value Those portions are inappropriate and like Steve I do think that you know the books are here I'm not into Banning I wish we would stop using that term because we're asking for rules and our school has rules we have rules about everything we have rules if you're 18 years old you can legally Vape but yet we are involved in a class action lawsuit against Jewel because they
117provide access to Vapes for children but we do have kids at the high school who are capable of vaping but not within our school and so we have rules about it and we are so passionate about it that we're even involved in litigation we have staff and children who have medical marijuana and there's no ban to that but there's rules I mean we worked on the policy to decide where you can have access to it um and and it's even though there is access provided There Are Rules around it and I think that all of us as parents who are trying to protect our children and we do have rules of our own and then we have rules within the school I think that we want to see some sort of alignment where like Katie
118said we're not reading every single book in the library but at least there could be a classification of mature content and when you're registering your child you can click do you want your child to have access to mature content or do you not want them to have access and I think that you know we've been given these children there are responsibilities if we don't bathe them clothe them feed them we are responsible and we also have our responsibilities as to what we believe is the proper way to raise them to grow them what to expose them to and to have that taken away it makes parents feel powerless and I know there is an option but again the proactive option of going through I mean we just redid our website Samantha how many languages are
119on our assume Anthony here I don't even say Okay bad eyes but we have five we and we tout it this is inclusive everyone can read our website you can click on anything and it's going to translate well we don't have the same thing for all of these Publications and there are a lot of obviously non-english speakers and to put that onus on those parents is it's unfathomable it just it doesn't lend itself to The credibility of one individual said it's so nice we are we are trying to create an environment with Publications that are safe for and accepting to all individuals well maybe as a parent I don't think that publication is safe for my child but I don't necessarily know what the name of that publication is so I would ask as compromising
120reasonable working together board members and maybe we have very differing opinions as to what is obscene what is inappropriate what is appropriate for my child but can we reach some middle of a classification of mature content that that is that is dealt with separately and it doesn't put the onus on the parents to uncover what that mature content is because you know we have talked about slippery slopes and um you know if we well if we say that this book is bad then why wouldn't this book be bad if we say that well I and I'm sure Leah you learned this in life law school so I never argue a slippery slope because the Earth is round every every Hill has one side it has another side too and you know the slippery slope goes
121both ways so you know if these books are are in the library I mean clearly you know okay I I will put myself as the person okay so Angie cook at the time walks in 13 years old and I have written a book report and I have taken straight from the library some very graphic descriptions of how to perform a sexual act and I'm asked to get up and speak in front of this the class and I'm going to read my report and I read it and the teacher is like that is inappropriate you are not doing that in my classroom and what is my what is my argument I got this out of the library you know and I know it's it but it's a slippery slope Sandra and it does fall both ways
122the more access that you allow why wouldn't that be a valid argument for a child to say I got it at a library what are you gonna do why can't I didn't say that it wasn't I'm just I was what my comment was going to be is that typically when you do a book report like this and you're presenting in front of the class you've already had a conversation with the teacher about what the book is and maybe if the if the child chose something that um the teacher felt was inappropriate they might have a conversation about that and it's not part of the curriculum so this book is not part of the curriculum right now we're specifically talking about flamer um the teacher thinks it's too inappropriate to be presented to the class why
123do we think it's appropriate for any child to take out of our library I'm going to allow the teacher I'm gonna I feel like my job here as a board member is to make sure we've got a process in place right to trust that process and validate that process when we need to if there's a if there's a discrimination I feel so I'm going to get into a little bit about what's what's coming in the next meeting but I don't feel like we have the education and the tools to make these kind of decisions that's why we hired Dr Hunt and that's why we have professionals at the table here and Librarians to make these decisions and we've gone through the process we've talked about how it doesn't meet the definitions but I agree with
124you 100 we have Professionals in there that can actually categorize these books for parents so do we have four people that want to um add a classification process well I thought we were addressing process next week as a discussion on the website I'm trying to I hear I hear a request but I think this motion is about flavor but Aaron I think we are asking you to come to a compromise on the books that have been brought up for review could I just make a couple comments first before we so so this book 366 pages of flamer is about the story of a boy who is coming into his own identity he's many things he's filipino-american he's gay he's a boy scout he's Catholic and in the process of the book he hates himself right
125for for some of these things and who he feels like he's becoming and toward the end there is a journey of increased self-acceptance and I mentioned this the other time the you know during our discussion around genderqueer and I believe it's our charge as a school board and as a district to represent the more than 8 000 kids in our district and there's somebody in our district who is going to identify with the intersections of who this character is so I'm I'm just I'm wondering what are we saying if we pull a book like this that has already been vetted that has already been selected to be available not taught not explicitly shown but available to students who want to read it and we have a process where parents can restrict their own students their
126own children and if we policy wise and procedurally say that we subscribe as a board to the Ala Library Bill of Rights and the access to Library resources and services for minors from the Ala says that libraries and their governing bodies that's us shall ensure that only parents and Guardians have the right and the responsibility to determine their children's and only their children's access to Library resources and we have a very very thorough recommendation from a district Review Committee that says that this book does not meet the definition of pornography it does not meet the Miller test for obscenity and it it it's a very very very thorough process and it says that the recommendation is that this book remain available to students without restriction or reclassification because if we restrict and reclassify that is
127a form of banning yeah so so I I mean I think we need to trust our district Review Committee we need to trust that parents and their kids will have conversations about subjects like this we need to trust our students to be able to digest and process books that are available to them and so I agree with the district Review Committee and I'm going to vote to uphold this without reclassification and restriction in our library sorry so I just want to say I agree with what Aaron said and I think it's very important that we have a process we're following the process the administration followed the process we have Librarians the book is recommended it's won awards there's not we don't have to always compromise as a board there's not a reason to compromise here
128but sometimes there aren't this board is should be in our library it shouldn't be restricted from all students if parents want to restricted they can as a board member it's not my job to screen books there's many many books in the library we have a qualified staff qualified Librarians I'm here to listen to the community and represent all the students in the community all the students the lgbtq students the black and brown students all the students the students who are afraid to come and speak up the families that are afraid to come and speak up I'm here to listen and hear what what's needed and represent everyone so I I agree that we should follow the recommendation [Applause] librarian setting up books as perhaps having explicit material preventing a child from putting and from checking
129out that book so if we I think we've proven that they're not so so having us a section of books that are contained explicit material and giving parents a warning that they're there and the option to opt out are in how is that restricting anyone other than the ones whose parents as the Ala says chooses not to let their child check out that book because then a child who's curious about the book who made sorry I can't hear if there's if there's a child who's curious about this who's who's feeling insecure who's having feelings like Aaron was talking about in this book trying to find their identity and then they go look in the Restricted Section people are going to say oh look who's in the Restricted Section so maybe there's another opportunity for discrimination
130and bullying that we don't want to agree I think we're not taking the power out of parents hands because rather than my child coming to me you're not just going to the library and you know making a decision on their own and whether they're 13 or 17 they're still minor children and my responsible for my daughter she's my responsibility and at this stage I don't have the ability now I can have a conversation with her but the library will pretty much negate that in decision I disagree with that I think if you ever I I I think we're we need to give our parents power yes but I asked everybody talk to your kids don't tell your kids telling your kids is what is why they're going to go in and look at look at
131that book if you can't look at that book They're gonna go look for it I mean the the the anti um Flame or people have not put this book in in big letters everyone wants to go see it I mean you know and and so I disagree with you I think you need to talk with your kids every family in Barrington needs to have these discussions with their kids but that doesn't mean and and yes if you don't want your child having access to that book I respect that I absolutely do there are this is a um I I I guess I call it mature themes but it's not much it's not too mature for our high school kids I have to talk about flamer just for a second okay I am not Filipino I
132am not in the closet I am not Christian and I was never in the Boy Scouts and this book spoke to me I I when I was in Middle School in high school whether I was bullying somebody else or I was being bullied or trying to to uh identify or or belong or and I have to tell you all of my friends even if they were kind of bullies they're doctors and lawyers and very successful so these are good people but you know in middle school there's a lot of that kind of stuff going on and this book really was like wow that's what happened to me wow I I you know and this kid walked away when he saw this Bad scene he didn't participate in it he walked away he said I'm not
133part of the he had the strength to do that and I'm hoping he would give another kid the strength to say you know what I'm not part of that group because part of this book tells you to say no I'm not part of this but you need to have those books for the high school kids to see themselves and I'm talking about this from 50 years ago or more I was like wow I wish I had that book when I was in Middle School or and if not and I'm not saying we should have in the municipal libraries don't get me wrong but but I I really wish I had this book years ago because it spoke to me and yet I didn't fit into any of the groups that this young man was in
134it's a universal theme belonging and yes middle school kids talk about masturbation middle school kids talk about girl I'm talking about guys now talk about girls they talk about touching and you know what talking taught is cheap that doesn't mean these people go on and turn into perverts I'm very insulted by some of the people that are sending me emails telling me I'm a pedophile you know what you should get out of here then okay okay we're not using this is why you can't have a discussion we can't take our our put our minds together and say let's talk about this because we have people making accusations they're and and it just makes me sick that that these kind of people exist in in Barrington we are going to take a break we need to
135be able to have this discussion okay that you're sick okay all right so do we have I've heard the request to have add a restriction to the motion that's in place do we want to add a restriction to the motion do we have four people you know we're talking about children right I think we need to take a break board let's let's exit and we will come back in uh five or ten minutes it's children we're adults children [Applause] just gonna say a quick reminder that this is a time for the board to do their business I think every board member has had a chance to speak a little bit about this book um there is a request to add a restriction do we have four board members that want to consider adding a restriction
136I see one two and three I'm I'm not going to add a restriction at this time okay so I think let's go ahead and call the question do we need Janine she's right here oh my gosh most important person here that's not going to fly can we ocean to reclassify them rather than restrict and have this place I kind of considered it the same but if we can I can ask the board this question would you want to which which way did you want me to ask the question whether we can reclassified or something we classify does anybody want to I understand but I think it's important to understand I see one okay you have two three okay but only only three okay I mean I can do the Roll Call I'm happy to do
137it okay you are so fast sorry that was my bad I checked the most forgot to check the most important so we are ready for a roll call okay yes Sandra Bradford yes Katie Karam no Angela Wilcox Barry alt Schuler yes Steve Wang no Leah colster lazari yes okay motion passes and flamer stays in the Barrington High School Library without restriction [Applause] um I should have I meant to just mention that what a yes vote meant um do we have a motion to uphold the recommendation of the district level review of materials for this book is gay moved second okay um just because of the time I mean I think every board member is is does anybody want to make any specific comments about this book I would actually yeah okay um I as part
138of the review process um it says that this book is gay is in line with um books in our library that have a heterosexual Focus um in line with books content and subject matter from a heterosexual Focus so I actually asked to read some books that I honestly it bothers me that this has become an lgbtq versus for me it's never about that I can unequivocally say I don't think it's the district's job to teach children how to perform sexual X that's just where I weirdly stand uh so I asked to read some books from a heterosexual Focus but I can tell you and I'm I'm sure they did not give me an exhaustive list but not one book well they may have had a sex scene or a romance scene there was never anything
139in there about Handy's blowies bombing um I guess maybe what I mean how to use lubrication how to use your fingers how to give oral sex how to use strap-ons so while I wish and I could go on I don't like that this has become focused on one side it's just I we could have an inclusive library and we could teach people about themselves and to feel safe and think about themselves without teaching them how to perform sexual acts on each other I just cannot believe that we think that that is our job as a school district and that is where I stand on this book because I it is very clear this book there are some great it's it's funny and it's great and they hit on a lot of stuff but I mean
140teaching kids how to get on sites in order to meet people and I that it's that's not in other books in our library okay I'd agree with you I mean I I don't recall who I shared this with but having read the book and looked at the first you know practically 200 pages I thought you know what I'm actually learning some things here about how I how I view things my world view and it and I think it did enhance my perspective as a human being um but that being said when you it kind of goes off the rails for me as far as sexually explicit and graphic depictions that's where I kind of drew a line and said well although there's a good message in the first maybe 200 pages there there's just again
141inappropriate content that I don't think any minor should be subject to and to your point there's things that you know are I think have nothing to do with lgbtqia plus it has it has everything to do with just the fact that the graphic and sexual nature which things are being presented so you know for me I make the same um you know plea to my fellow board members which is let's consider or at least let's discuss either restricting or reclassifying this in a way such that the parents ultimately have the control as far as what their children see and again not just allowing them to not take it out of library but actually not align them to even look at it in the Library without their parental you know consent it's very reasonable anybody else
142have any comments I guess Barry I kind of felt like about this one like you thought about the other kind of I thought it was a good reference and um uh I thought it might be it would serve more than just the lgbtq community it talks a lot about safe sex and appropriate and things like that so I think there was a lot in that book not just for the lgbtq community but the entire community um I'm just gonna reiterate we are now saying that it is we feel that it is our job do not put words but it's not what I'm saying I I cannot I'm saying it it can be as a reference in the library which is not it's not part of our curriculum it's not something that we're saying hey Leah
143come over I want to show you this book we're not the teachers are not doing that okay it's it's a reference in our library so please do not put words in my mouth I think there's a different between like the district is not teaching this it's making we're making it available to students who do not have a restriction from their parents who can restrict the book for their own children uh to to read through it um I think our students are still you know majority growing up and assists heteronormative world and I think this book is a is a practical way to say you know what CIS hetero it's not everybody is going to identify that way and they're a different this it's more practical than anything mixed in with with humor uh that I
144think people who are not necessarily cisgender or CIS Hut will identify and we'll learn things and people who are will learn things so I mean I think and again our district Review Committee went through a very thorough process said the book does not meet the legal definition of obscenity does not meet the legal definition of pornography and also the recommendation is not just that it remained on the shelf and be available but that we update it with the 2021 version so that it's more inclusive of all members of the lgbtqia plus community and so I I think that when we consider the recommendation we're also considering the update as well right for the 2021 version I would say so that's what's written there I believe the first version was published in 2014 so the 2020.
145the one we reviewed is the 2021 version the 2021 version was the one we reviewed I think it had more about uh transgender Community correct as well and non-binary yeah the author talks to the changes I I know many parents are going to say this is a cop-out but everything that was in that book can be found under Google and so the kids are going to have access to this and and and I understand parents can limit their availability to Google they can limit their availability to to you know get these books in the library um yes I found the last couple chapters shocking eye-opening um you know at what age would I want my kids you know exposed to this book I say all that but yet I'm talking about my kids and in
146220 I want to make sure that that's available to somebody who really needs this book um and as I said before parents talk to your kids every you know every every week at the dinner table we say what are you what are you reading what you know I mean you know really show your kids that you're interested and believe me if they get into these books they're going to want to talk about it with somebody and if they don't talk about with their friends they're going to want to talk about with their parents so you know be available to them don't judge them let them come to you okay so um another I think you have a lot more to cover tonight I really don't want to take another break can I ask one question
147okay yeah if I can if I can hear you if I am a Spanish-speaking person I don't speak English and I'm a mother of two kids in the high school tell me how I manage opting out because we keep saying parents have the the right to opt out of certain books tell me how that I get that I know to opt out of so how do I do it we don't have a Spanish version correct no I someone said pay attention I I I've seen for someone who doesn't speak English and we're saying you have an option to opt out but if they don't speak English and they don't know what the books are that have questionable content how do we put that onus on parents how do we not classify them and just say
148do you want your kids to have access to this or not I don't understand why that's controversial I don't think it's controversial I think it's you're going to have that issue all the way through with your child and there's some level of trust right and to you to for a parent to you know have that ability they they're going to have to have those conversations we don't have a list we don't classify the materials and put it out that way seem acceptable yeah I mean I I agree I think it should be hard because I mean for most of us up here on the board we're working parents and and even if we're not we have so many different obligations and responsibilities I I I have one child and I find it hard to keep
149up with her schoolwork I don't know how parents with multiple children can do it and um you know the Stark reality is if we're going to be the parents are going to be policing every last thing I think that's just you know I think that's a formula for disaster I mean if we can't reclassify recertify at a minimum then if there's already you know because our Librarians do have a understanding of these books because they've approved them perhaps we can compromise and say let's put together a list and say you know here are things that might have some sexual explicit content here or some books that might have some you know foul language that your child might encounter at their grade level and allow the parents to say you know uniformly okay we're going to
150opt out we're gonna oh we're gonna do nothing I mean that I think that's not ideal but I that would be better than just leaving them available for any of which person to grab and read come over the list you know the color purple I mean there's there's plenty of things that plenty of books that parents might object to sure um and and you know you I'm afraid as we've talked about slippery slope before yeah right you could probably go in and and half the fiction will have something that's going to upset somebody um in in a library and I I just again genuinely concerned where we would draw the line at this but honestly I have no idea I I don't know what would be enough because if we're going to follow that if
151it's not sexually stimulating to you then it's not it can't be I mean that as Angela said the slippery slope goes both ways it's not that it's I think maybe maybe when we talk about the process we can talk about those definitions a little bit because it's not about your interpretation of it's the intent of the of the book in the text right so I think I want to be very careful about how we talk about what those criteria and the definitions are it's pretty clear I mean you mentioned race earlier racism I mean you're opening up a whole another realm of books that are available for kids and stories and understanding the stories of those who have experienced that and dealt with it so you know I guess we're back to the line of
152the night which is slippery slope where does that go sure and what makes that list what topics well I do think that when we tell parents that they need to police right this is what we're asking for right exactly I mean people will show up and be upset and I think that that is on us and that's okay I think that's okay and we have a process and we have okay for our community well from a practical standpoint as a parent I can it's much easier for me to see the stack of books my kids are reading than what my kids are watching on YouTube like it's much easier for me to have a discussion with them about these about the printed page and even books they access on their iPad rather than you know
153what they're like in their room watching or accessing accessing on social media so from a practical standpoint I mean I I find it easier when it comes to a tangible book I think many of our parents trust that our children are coming home with appropriate material and that they don't need to place I think a lot of parents just assume that and maybe that's their bad well but even before that Aaron I mean you're talking about what they bring home that's fair I guess the question is what about what they don't bring home what if I'm not gonna use your children what if a child just pull something up off the shelf and it is objectionable to a parent but they don't bring it home so they decide to read it in the library it's
154a great opportunity for you to have a conversation with your I have no kids hanging out in the library you say what if you're what are you reading what did you read in library day my guess is Mr Williams my guess is we don't have you know a mile long line of people wanting to get in the library and sit there and read I mean I hope I wish we did right the more books you read the more um wisdom you gain and your perspective you gain I'm saying the parents aren't involved this is a board discussion you said that children are a necessary casualty I'm just gonna wait one second okay since we're allowing that since we're we all know how this is I'm just gonna say according to this review this book is
155in line with many heterosexual Focus books we have in our libraries so just as a warning we might want to take a look at some of those because I I don't know all right are we ready to take a vote I think so let's do a roll call Katie Karen no yes Steve Hollister lazari yes Angela Wilcox barely alt Schuler this book is gay remains in the Barrington High School library and we still have a lot more to to do um so next up is our discussion on referendum projects [Applause] yeah we'll ask the board we didn't okay presentation is all on October 18th uh Ford is it possible if we pass down the signature page that uh yeah we can still Focus here while we're signing we're doing a presentation anyways okay so we
156just take the time are we ready to have this discussion all right I want to hear it I'm excited I want to hear it I want everybody to hear it all right good evening board we have an update tonight on our build 220 projects um our presentation will consist of four items we'll give an update on our project timeline touch upon updates on design as the board as well where we have a lot of construction going on so we'll give some highlights on construction and then provide a financial update so project timeline we started uh the build 220 process back in May of 2020 and established a little over a four-year process and as we look at all the lists of the 12 schools up here you can see that we are more than halfway
157through that list and I'm probably breaking every presentation uh rule but I wanted to show it in totality I'm just kind of where we're at um you know overall and then zoom in a little bit here this is a little bit easier on the eyes right so we're at the point where we've moved and some schools have gone through all the construction and they're in punch list after a ribbon cutting ceremony but tonight we'll talk a little bit more in depth about Countryside Sunny Hill and huff that still have some construction underway and then as you can see on this slide those last four schools we're in the last phase of design as we conclude here at the end of the month so um looking at the progress we've made we have design updates at
158four buildings ELC lines and then our sister schools North Barrington and Rose but just a few weeks to go we have Community presentations that we're starting we had our first one last night at North Barrington School and one of the parents in attendance last night gave some really good suggestions very familiar with that campus of how we can even add to some of our safety items there with a sharp turn near the playground that maybe could use some additional Ballard so we're getting that last bit of feedback as we conclude the design phase and then we will my slide will advance uh be looking to bring uh to the board I'm sorry well to start October 7th we'll release the bid to the public November 1st looking at opening the bids and then bringing to
159the board on November 5th those last four schools as we then move from the design phase into the bid phase and then into construction so with that I'm going to shift because there's a little bit of design work that still needs to occur absolutely I'm glad you brought that up as was mentioned a little earlier we have some Fine Arts money that's set aside in the referentum so board members you might recall when the referendum amount was being approved there was a a piece of money that was set aside that would be dedicated to do some investigation around potential Fine Arts kinds of work that's the way it was it was described at the time and to see if we could come up with a conceptual design that might meet instructional needs and that potentially
160be brought to the community for additional referendum consideration the components of of that project as we would move that forward include taking a look at our existing facilities and seeing where are we what do we have and how well does it meet our needs and that includes evaluation of user usage patterns so how often are certain spaces being used and by how many students and in what ways then there will be a visioning process that would include feedback from four staff students in our community about what do we have and what is the vision for the future and then that would lead to some conceptual designs so we've taken a look at at Architects that we think would be um you know well suited for doing this kind of work and to with an attempt
161to try and identify the architect that would be best suited to assist the district and would like to bring forward for you for discussion at the next board meeting a proposal that that you might then have at a future meeting consider for approval the project it's likely about a six-month project to get through all of those components that I described including the facility assessment uh the the gaining input from all of our constituents and then doing some conceptual design development the end of that process would include then a presentation back to the board of here are all the findings along with some conceptual designs so let's move on to the construction side um so as we walk through our schools we've got ongoing work at Sunny Hill the playground that you can see which is
162here it's been under construction uh the basic installation backfill is completed and we're doing some wood fill and then the playground actually will be ready to use we've got some asphalt paths that are in progress that we anticipate being completed in the next couple days so a lot of great work happening there there are some open items so we've got some rooftop units that are are still coming some door and frame uh doors and Frames uh back by the stem space that are still coming and then some other punch list work at Sunny Hill but we're especially excited about the the playground students are really anxious to actually get in there um at Countryside there's really two things happening at at Countryside there is the addition and you can see this Edition by the way
163these pictures are are as of uh Friday so I mean it's a relatively new um I actually um walk the the space uh today I was having uh lunch in the cafeteria with students with Sarah and I went over as part of our nslp work and then decided to walk through the space to to take a look at it today construction is going really well on the addition just as a reminder that addition was not scheduled to be delivered by the start of school it's actually scheduled to be delivered in February other items at the school are it's punch list items that are remaining to work on I'm really pleased with the progress on the addition um as we go to Huff similarly here at Huff the addition is scheduled for February so we're not
164looking at at that being ready to go right at this point we do have some other stem room construction with sun room some construction progress mechanical installations coming up and we'll be seeing drywall and ceilings going in and we've got some HVAC upgrades that are still forthcoming at Huff as we take a look at the high school just as a reminder we started the high school really focused on the site work and not the interior work so a lot of progress especially once we get through the gravel strike so you know if you've been over there you've probably noticed a lot of progress on the fields at tennis courts you see polls that are up on the tennis courts Stone base going in baseball fields got Stone base going in will be followed by fencing
165and grandstands we're anticipating Turf going in in early October so actually really a couple weeks out probably from that a Field of Dreams uh excavation underground utility work is is going on will be followed by fencing and dugouts we'll also have turf anticipated in ER in October um and then we're working on the concession stand renovation the multi-sport field we actually that we anticipate being you know Turf beginning the end of this month wow um so it looks right that's good we're getting really close there uh very excited about that the greenhouse another area we've been working on the electrical work was finished today and we so what's really remaining there is the programming of the automated system uh which will be done soon that is the only open item at the greenhouse the space
166is currently being used and will continue to be used but we've got to get the automation part of that done all right so with as a as an update wanted to stitch you with the you know sort of financials as to where we started this should look familiar uh from the last time you saw it because it's pretty familiar the last time that you saw it um and I just want to remind you we've not really completed any projects where we've got final bills outside of the ejector pump at the high school which was relatively speaking a small project so but uh Grove Prairie and station was a 35 million dollar commitment now we're almost done with this but um you know as we finish these projects out we've got final bills on the schools
167which always lag when we've got substantial completion done then we'll see what contingency dollars free up and we'll be able to provide other updates in coming months about exactly where some of those projects are but we've committed 35 million on these um Countryside in Roslyn was another 12 million dollar commitment Sunny Hill and huff uh it was another 11 million uh the high school was the largest portion uh the 65 million dollar commitment there um and uh we're preparing to bid the remaining four schools so we actually those will actually be going um out to bid shortly it's hard to say exactly how those are going to come in you may be aware of uh inflation being high this certainly affected construction prices uh but we're anticipating actually with those and based on where we
168were with these other projects that we're still able to complete the work that we committed to the community at the um at the 147 million dollar amount so certainly as we get some of these other projects wrapped up if there are funds that that are uncommitted we'll be sharing that information with you includes our update any questions for us exciting I'm wondering if there's an opportunity for before we get design plans for Fine Arts for those of us who aren't as familiar with the existing space if we could maybe take a tour or you know ask Bridget to kind of explain things to us and see the catwalks maybe yeah right here absolutely [Laughter] again it's not just a want it's a need yeah I'm only familiar with like the performance spaces yeah I'd like
169to make sure that we have you know Mr Williams staff there too because I think yes it's not just you know like we talked about the new field right it's not just for those people that participate in extracurricular Athletics it's for everyone at the high school there's lots of uses that Auditorium gets used I wish I could remember exactly what Bridget presented but a 363 days of the year or something like that it was multiple times it was many times a day so it's not just used by Fine Arts I want to make sure that that's very clear and um that we as we bring people in bring the board members in to see the space we talk about all of its uses and not just the Fine Arts probably be really helpful for like
170the administration to be there too because I don't know how many of you all have been seen it and so you can talk it up understand it you know I think it's the whole team right um and also tours of local comparable High School uh facilities to see what what other schools have and what what is typical you know because yeah this is an opportunity for a learning space where like the whole history Department could go and have a speaker from the Holocaust come and everyone could go and like right now that's not possible there's not enough seats you know so yeah one of our goals with the with in the first restaurant was be able to get a class you know one class a freshman class sophomore class in the space that's what I
171remember you guys can um right so I just want to make sure we talk about more than just friends I think that that message is I think all of this feedback is great and we'll obviously track it but as we go through the proposal at the next presentation the reason we're bringing it to you is to give additional feedback and bring you know those items you want to see as a board in that process to the next meeting so you can provide that okay talked about at the referendum at one of the meetings about you know what what's the right wording for this you know it's not an auditorium it's not it's a community center it's a learning center what's the right name for it to like you know express it clearly to the community
172what the what the purpose is and the possible uses are so that it's not limited I don't know what's all the projects we've always tried to look at it from a how do we maximize the use of the space so it's flexible so that it can serve purposes during the day for one reason another one after hours and so forth and we would take that same approach with this because we want to get as much use and as much students and Community into this space as we can right well it's kind of like that field in the back that's going to have turf that's a multi-purpose for gym for sports for sport a b c d physical education physical education that's right so yeah this can be a multi-purpose space too for lots of learning
173I think that will come out during the visioning process that uh that I'm suggesting that we incorporate as part of the work once we kick that off to that will lead to a design and it includes the assessment of the existing space to figure out how might that be used and do we do we just need to remodel that do we need a whole addition what what is it and that's all I think the process that we're laying out will will bring that out so that what we end up with are you know possible conceptual designs of something that will really meet the needs of the the board the district and community this is any other questions it worked thank you um maybe don't go anywhere I think I'm up for all yeah okay so
174um we have about 12 minutes left right we our goals are to get out of here at 10. um I'm gonna recommend that we we already talked a lot about safety tonight is there anything pressing that we need to hear that we haven't touched on could we I think we could reschedule that um what do we have on Austin would love to come to another board meeting um I I I think we are um we are planning to address safety what's going to be specific to kind of the new Middle School wings but I think what he has here uh at the October 18th meeting we could probably include in that presentation if the board wants to that sounds fair so we're not going to ask you for any more time you're already going to
175come now I just asked you to stay the whole time [Laughter] okay is that okay is everybody okay so we got policy I think we've just got one policy to talk about we have one policy we held our policy committee meeting and we looked at policy 2 colon 230 specifically public participation at Board of Education meetings and petitions to the board highlighted in blue just to orient the board is that we if it's recommendations from press you'll see that in green highlight if it's recommendations from our committee it's in blue Highlight which is what you see here tonight so we did discuss this as a committee we did also consult our attorneys to help us with some of the language development and then we talked about it as a group and then I will ask
176if there's any other additional feedback or comments from our board reps on policy committee to add this is a discussion election right of the of the workshop that we held correct right yeah okay go ahead at the workshop we talked about uh 60 Minutes at the front and then coming back at the end of the board meeting uh it's a public comment if there's any additional but in our policy meeting um we we reworded it a little bit to give the board president and the rest of the board a little bit more flexibility uh by saying that the additional citizen participation may be conducted by extending the public portion our public comment portion or the conclusion of the open and any closed meeting time and this is something that I think Angela brought up a
177good point and that was well what if we only have you know like one speaker like one or two dangling speakers and we say in as a board we say okay we'll extend it for you know 10 more minutes after probably so that so that it it looks like we could conduct it before um you know we just add on a little bit of time and we don't need to make that one person or that's two people wait till the end of the meeting so we just thought that could but we could if we wanted to have them wait as well um Angela do you want to add on here I think that was just for more flexibility right that was oh you explain it great at the end of two and the beginning of
178four are the same do we are we duplicating or identify oneself then number four identify oneself ordinarily they're three minutes I just wondering is there a reason why we're no that's a good question she'll get rid of it in two yeah we we talked about moving that up to two because it fit her there so that should have been struck okay okay so you know so would you strike off yeah not all four well no you're right though because the second sentence is redundant too so yeah we can strike all that would we do number four we'll start out with an unusual circumstances okay yeah so okay well um my concern is is uh in three the word vote majority vote well it might it might not even be necessary if you maybe if you
179go down there's like in the 5 A and B you could put in like if um you know because it talks about the board president's decision when necessary and appropriate to shorten the time or to determine procedural matters and then you could put a c in there and say or you know extend the time for that one extra person and that doesn't because otherwise I could see us voting every meeting like are we going to extend the time and like all of us having to vote every meeting and that might be really awkward why is that awkward I mean this is what the this is what our attorneys suggested I think we talked at our at our board self-evaluation about how we would want to make it simple and so how we would want to
180make it have a policy that we agree to that we could just have happen and not be deciding every meeting because that's confusing to the public we have our policy and this is what our policy is and every once in a while something strange might happen but normally like tonight there were not not as many people to be 60 minutes so it was just a normal evening of the amount of time and the amount of minutes per person and sometimes we've had like a very large meeting where it was very obvious that there was a lot of people and we would limit the time to two minutes and if we do this policy there'd be 60 Minutes the beginning and then if there's 10 more people would be at the end and that would be
181the expectation so people wouldn't wouldn't get upset and it wouldn't be a surprise because that's our policy but if we kind of have a voting thing in there where well you know probably we'll vote every week that gets confusing for the public and then it puts us like disagreeing with each other possibly when we want to be a unified board with one policy I think but it already provides for flexibility because if okay so we're saying where the goal is to keep public comment to no more than 60 minutes then it says the board president has some flexibility within that 60 minutes if there's more than 20 speakers you can limit it and right now we're limiting public comment to two minutes if there are more than 20 speakers so you can't say like oh
182so that means that there's going to be X number of speakers I mean there's there's there has to be some wiggle room here and I think that this allows for it without putting the entire onus on the president to say oh there are two more speakers um I'm not going to let them talk or hey the board is agreeing that we're going to let two more people talk or not I mean but I think it's easy to like let's say Sanders the president and she sees there's two people and she looks around and goes hey you know what is everybody okay if we let these two people talk and and we kind of Nod our heads and go yeah so isn't that what it says my only concern is the word vote that would be
183my concern is is can we just check with the attorneys to make sure vote isn't okay I mean when we vote it's usually an action item like I I want to be imply that we're gonna have to have an action item we didn't suggest this this is what the lawyers brought to us okay okay can we just I can check on the vote are you suggesting we say like majority consensus I'm going to suggest at this point we talked to the attorney and see if we if there's another way to say vote okay and the requesting can ask the attorney if there's a different way to say it than simply majority bring that back what other way we have to vote to me that made it I liked it better in number five but um
184yeah extend the time [Music] either either way the policy committee talked about that and he preferred it in three I don't mind sending it back but it does sound like policy committee talked about it consulted with the lawyers this is what they were told to do and this is what they brought for us I mean we we didn't draft this language the lawyers did so I think they it clearly I mean you can I guess double check and see if it has to be an action item but you are right they did suggest it as permissible to do and I I think the word simple majority vote I think that's what they were attempting to do it's so crazy a board president discretion she'll look to her colleagues of course on the board for guidance
185as to what to do but that should not be a formal vote you see the language there yes it just has the word vote and that made me yeah we talked a lot about vote over the last couple years and um spokesperson yeah so what we could say um I I would just we can change that of course we'll bring it back to the board to review but that should be in the discretion of the board president instead of by vote the consensus of the board with the consensus abort that's great so who are both us who what who who wrote this I wrote the first draft and then I went to the committee but this is what the draft said well I'm seeing what the committee has given input on the strap I have
186not seen I don't remember the vote being in the original draft was it yeah it was the only part we changed was we put a period after 60 Minute limit and then we said that we could extend the public comment portion I think we added that part in committee but you you drafted this though but then it went to the committee I'm on the committee I can tell you that nothing was added as far as the word vote that came to us from you a majority vote came but I don't understand now why it's a problem I'm the one that asked yes I asked it bothered me but I thought it was because it like it would be an action item it had to be an action item and so my question was does it
187have to be an action item nor should it be you should have a really smooth policies that are clear so each meeting you're not sending votes on things like that that's all I'm suggesting is that we we look at it see if there's another work and then vote so just a different word than vote that's what I asked you when I suggested consensus and she the lawyer said yeah what if you got rid of the word vote upon a simple majority that's fine with me I like that did you study English well this is more sounds like what we talked about in our secretary so this is finally I wanted to make sure I'm fixing it for a second reading so upon a simple majority of the board let's take the word vote out if
188I bring that back for second reading does that work s that's fine yeah and then we're going to change two we're not going to change two we're gonna keep two and modify four strike the first two sentences in four so that we don't have that redundant language I'll get all that cleaned up for a second reading all right thank you thank you thank you um one last thing number four should we strike the lessons too with multiple individuals wish to address the board on the same session with the group is encouraged to appoint a spokesperson that's kind of already in the middle number three which says if individuals wish to address the group is encouraged to appoint a spokesperson wow yeah that last sentence is redundant yeah and I'm sorry so you're going to remove
189redundant sentences and remove the word vote what if we just circle this circulate this back to policy committee not have a meeting just circulate based on these changes Aaron and Angela take a look at you guys yeah will you guys meet before the next meeting or we could just bring it back again I'm not suggesting a meeting just take the changes okay have them run by make sure we're okay and we'll read the board what does uh I'm sorry what does allocate time mean in number three so like when we agreed that if there's more than 20 people we would um would change it from the standard three minutes to two minutes okay so it's not trying to say that although I I think well all right that's fine we'll talk about it in a
190second reading got it there's something you don't like yeah I think we should just clarify that that's what it means the board president shall reduce it to two minutes if they're moving 20 and then keep it at three minutes if there's less important don't say that no but does it it's looser than that but in our board protocols it does say that so that's the clarification okay when you do the math right three minutes times sometimes so many or two yeah the intent was to keep it to 60 minutes all right okay good we're close guys it's 1002 yeah um on October 3rd thank you um thank you very much on October 3rd we have approved engineering cost for several projects I just asked the facilities will not meet before October 3rd is that okay
191that we have this I mean just so we haven't discussed it uh yeah yeah that actually suggests that we don't remember first of them so what we what we really have our our um yes so and we'll have bids that will likely be coming in right about that point as well for next summer um and I think the engineering cost approval will really be next spring so okay okay looking for looking for the 20 or look for your you to tell us if we need I mean this section um uh the audit report is this are we going to have a finance meeting before the next meeting so we have our opportunity to talk to the Auditors so actually at October 3rd it would be a reminder to go to the finance committee if you
192would like to hear the auditor um and then the final report would come to you on October uh remember actually actually on November which does I forgot about the the keep on forgetting about this change with the committee of the whole yeah it did mess me up a little bit tell the truth um that was our intention thank you not um so uh you know we you know we do need to file that uh middle of October so I you know I think we have formal approval as long as we've got a thumbs up at the finance committee third and approved on the third as well we can do that on on that same night if the board's comfortable with that so it'd be in finance and then on the full board agenda I guess
193think about that board if you if you don't like that then let me let me know and we can it has to be filed in October though yeah so it's it's due to mid-october pretty much Choice yeah but could the whole board get just a summary of the audit I mean just something to provide without shooting the whole yes and we we can do that I mean we'll have the you know what based on the resolution tonight um otters will prepare a final draft so it's essentially final that we can provide to you in advance of the next meeting and you know then we can provide a summary for you as well if you'd like on the outside of Finance or following the finance committee meeting if you'd like have you seen the pre-audit you've
194got a great audit is there anything surprising nope let's clean on it I would encourage the whole board this is our opportunity to talk to the Auditors to attend the meeting October 3rd okay and then we have our discussion on this book selection and book review procedures and process you mentioned the board policy then the action on the second reading the board policy we just talked about yes thank you all right anything else 1005 if we didn't have a five minute break we would be right on time do we have a motion to adjourn some of second okay all in favor aye any opposition we are adjourned thank you sir before you release it