001No, you it's all your [laughter] fault. Tuesday, January 20, 2026. And I call this meeting of the board of education to order. Cindy, would you please lead us in a roll call vote? [clears throat] >> Here. >> Carol, >> here. >> Thomas, >> present. >> Kilberg, >> present. >> Meadows, >> present. >> Siger, >> present. We will now do the pledge of allegiance. [clears throat] >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Tom, are there any items to add or remove from the agenda? >> Uh, we have just one item, our celebrations. Uh, unfortunately, the student uh from GMS and family could not make it tonight, so we'll have them come
002back next month. >> Awesome. Thank you. However, just you guys today. So, this evening we are celebrating and recognizing the Betavia Special Education Parent Network. Uh we have Leanne Rodriguez and Nicole Smith here to tell us about the Battavia Special Education Parent Network Resource Fair. >> Yes. >> Welcome. Please tell us a little bit about it. >> I will. Okay. Um thank you um for having us. I'm Leanne Rodriguez. I'm a speech pathologist at the Alice Cuffs um early childhood and this is Nicole Smith. Um she is a wonderful parent volunteer uh co-chair along with Ashley Myrtle who wasn't able to be with us here this evening. Um, but also we have Krie Ru who's very supportive and and a part of our bigger team. I mean, Holly is so great about helping us and
003promoting us. So, there's many many people help uh BSP be successful. So, um I just wanted to let them um greatly for that. Um but uh I've been the co-chair along with all of the wonderful volunteers that we have um since it originated in 2012. Um it's just a network and a support for families. So we can organize things that would bring them together that they could network with each other, learn about resources from each other, maybe about how the district and what the district can provide, but also from each other about what the community can um you know have to them at their access and they teach us all the time about new things that are popping up. So um at every event we end up hearing about something new. Wouldn't you agree? Absolutely.
004>> Yeah. We end up learning about new things. So, it's really kind of a great um event whether it is a parent education night, a social event, or um the resource fair that we'll be talking about. Um at the start of the school year, we always kick it off by inviting families to our annual meet and greet of BPS special education director team um with Mrs. Rue, Carrie Rue, um but also all of the um administrators come to we tend to do it at Pel Joies because they're so gracious at um having us there for that great event. It's a great way to kick off the school year. Um the families really enjoy coming and talking with us but also talking with each other. So it's a very informal night. So we um kick off
005that usually in September. So that was very successful this year. Um BPN also hosts an um usually an annual parent education opportunity. Um we have one coming up in a couple weeks here at RJAC. Um on the 29th um we'll be discussing the overview of the transition process. Both um Brian um Lindberg, how do I say his Lindstöm? Brian Lindström will be here talking about the our BSPN BS 101's process about the transition um you know process but also inviting um one of one of the many agencies but we're inviting um the parent alliance employment project PA to come and they'll talk about opportunities that they help families in terms of connecting with their older adult and um having them you know doing some go job coaching and those types of services that they can
006offer. offer. So, it'll kind of be a nice event for um families to see what opportunities might be um beyond 101. So, that's coming up. Um one of the other things we plan are some social events. We have one coming up on Thursday. We're going bowling at a fun way. Um we did this last year. Um the families really uh appreciated us inviting uh having events, but that siblings can come to. So, they were really happy that they could um bring their um siblings and um we got to bowl and be together. And so, we're offering that again this um this Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30. And Funway has been a wonderful partner. They've um invited us to come and you know um help us organize and have it be the best um situation for
007our families in terms of us having our own lanes and um you know, those kinds of things. So, that's been great. Um and then we also just did did a sensory skate. Um this year uh in working with Funway last spring on the bowling um they thought about maybe expanding an opportunity for families to do a sensory skate once a month on their own. So they are doing a century skate once a month. Um I think it's a Tuesday night once a month. You could check their um their website. But so we partnered with them and then we u invited our families to come on a Tuesday night and we had um families there and again they were very appreciative. Siblings were there. They got to have the whole place to themselves and it was
008um great. So um we hope to do more of that with with Funway. Um but our biggest event is our annual Bavia Special Education Parent Network BPN resource fair that we offer um coming up in February. It is going to be February the 19th at the Betavia High School in the cafeterium. Cap cafeteria. Yeah. From 6:00 to 7:30. Um you can tell my kids were here when it was a cafeterium back in the day. Um but uh but um since our uh first resource fair um um we have really grown from 13 vendors to now over 55 plus. So we have really grown. Um vendors reach out to us now asking when we're having it. there. Um we have area districts and um um administrators but also families that have heard um of us offering
009this. So um I think the information is getting out there and people are wanting to come from um all over the area. So it's free to our families but also area um surrounding districts and anyone that else would like to come and check it out. And really the vendors offer some really great um resources to families and also like how to get access to them. Sometimes the families just don't know how to access what they need and how to go about doing that. So they take the time, the tables are filled, you know, filled with um just a lot of talking and sharing. So it's a it's a great evening. Um but we we find that you know from doing this year after year I think our families do feel supported by each other but
010also by the district but also by um the community. So we're happy to keep um organizing that and having that for our families. So anything else? >> We're always looking for more volunteers. >> We always are looking more volunteers. We are we're a small little ship but we keep going, right? [laughter] Um but yeah, so that's going to be again February the 19th. So we hope if you can stop by, we really would [clears throat] appreciate that. Um we have a lot of volunteers also coming. We have B PAC coming um to help um families um if they need some um interpreting and and then we also have just a lot of just uh faces you'll see from around the district popping in. So it's nice to see everyone supporting the BPN but also families
011that come that evening. So I think I've seen a lot of you come through, too. [laughter] Um and again we just want to thank the district for supporting families in the Bavia special education parent network. Um we do have a website so we um encourage you to check out our website. Nicole Smith is great about updating the website with all the things that are coming up. We do have RSVP links on there for things we need RSVPs. And again it's a rough number just to give fun way. It's a rough number just so we know how to set up a room. We will always take everyone. So if someone comes in late and says can I come? we always of course have more space but um it does help us just to kind of know
012what we're planning for um and so the BPS fair is also like I said open to everyone so we want to see lots and lots of people so please pass the word so >> yeah so thank you [applause] >> we have anyone to address the board today >> thank you on to BPS partners BEA president Drew Breway music. >> Can we do walk up music? Is that a thing? Can we request that? >> Is there like a formal >> process beatbox? Tom Q beatbox for me or >> No, you >> I tried. I tried. Um, hi everyone. It's been a while. Um, hope your 2026 is off to a good start. Uh, before I forget, uh, Cindy was kind enough. You should have flyers for the BA trivia night um, in your folders. It's February
01326th uh, this year at the Moose. Uh, round of applause for Leanne for all the organizing and and and everything she's done for the BA. [applause] >> Uh, yeah. 6:30, 8:30 the moose. All the proceeds benefit our BA scholarship. We look forward to seeing everybody there. Um, just a couple >> Oh, and get a table and, uh, maybe the board could do a basket. >> Oh, wow. >> Just laying that out. >> I'm just I'm just making requests tonight. I'm just going to keep going. >> All right, guys. I think the challenge has been [laughter] laid down. >> Wouldn't that be a great idea, everyone? Yeah. you don't for [laughter] me. >> Sorry. Uh so just a couple things for you tonight. Um first I always like to report back when the BEA and district
014administration are engaging in some good oldfashioned problem solving. Over the past four weeks we've had a variety of discussions around our approach to professional learning and how we prioritize that learning as a district. Um, with the abundance of curricular shifts as well as the ongoing need to be responsive to our students and expectations from the state, there is a limited amount of time for this work uh to happen. Additionally, we don't want to overload and overwhelm our staff either. This challenge isn't going to go away anytime soon, and I'd like to thank the administration for their willingness to be flexible and creative as we continue to strive to meet those needs. Um, likewise, next week, our EEL staff will be meeting with district administrators to discuss what's going well with our EEL programming across the
015district as well as areas for growth. The association is looking forward to these conversations and appreciates the shared commitment to supporting our EEL staff and students. I loves me some good faith uh future focused problem solving and I hope we can all continue to lean into that energy. Um, with that in mind, although we are not formally starting until around this time next year, the Bavia Education Association uh has already begun the preparation process for collective bargaining, negotiating a new contract is a great example of aligning our values with the structures that support educators and students. Speaking of which, I'd like to spend uh send, excuse me, positive vibes to our brothers and sisters in the Rockford Education Association. uh they've been working without a contract since the start of the school year and are
016advocating for fair wages, reasonable workloads, strong working conditions, and professional dignity. Uh while the BEA and the REA are in different stages of bargaining, our goals are deeply aligned. Um and finally, if you'll indulge me for a moment, um I'm a Bears fan, heller high water. Uh there were lots of emotions at the Ray household on Sunday night. Uh it's been quite a wild ride this season. Um, but so this past Friday, um, I was dropping off some paperwork for our building reps, uh, across the district, and I was over at Louise White, and as I was walking out, there was I I think it was a fourth grade class, and they were walking to PE and a, uh, a student, uh, yells from across the, uh, cafeteria, right? Uh, not the cafeterium, uh, yells
017across the cafeteria, I I like your shirt. And I was wearing my Caleb Williams uh, number 18 jersey. So, I did what any adult would do, and I turned around AND JUST WENT, GO BEARS. AND ABOUT 10 TO 12 kids in response also screamed much louder than I did, GO BEARS. [screaming] UM, and I share that with you. Um, because communal excitement and communal uh, communal commitment towards a common goal, whether it's for our beloved Bears, um, our beloved Bulldogs, or our beloved school community, that's a hell of a thing. So, I'll leave you with the, uh, immortal words of coach Ben Johnson. Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good gets better and your better gets best. That's a mindset I think that every school district, including ours, uh, should probably always
018strive for, and I hope you agree with that. Uh, solidarity forever with BESPA and our union siblings in Minnesota. Peace, love, and bulldogs. Good night, and good luck. All right, student ambassadors, Ka and Grace, welcome back. >> Yes, we missed you. >> Happy missed you. >> Long time no see. >> [laughter] >> Okay, here's us. Um, our first thing for sports, we're also covering from back in December because it's been a second. We had finals. Mine went well. How'd your finals go? Great. So, yeah, all things are good. Uh, last semester of high school. That's crazy. Um, but we're glad to be back. For sports, a lot of things have happened, especially for celebration, like wrapping up different seasons. Um, wrestling had their senior night. That was really sweet. Everyone was taking their pictures. Um,
019celebrating a great year. our girls wrestling especially I know has been like super successful and it's been growing at like rapid rates over the last couple years so that's really great to see. Um boys basketball placed fourth in conference 11 to7 so go them go Bulldogs. Uh the cheer team placed fourth place with a record high score. So that was really wonderful. All of our sports are great. And then dance team had their conference um and they placed fourth and then they have another competition on Sunday at Huntley. That's our sports updates. Um, okay. So, this one has some interesting pictures [laughter] because there's not been like too much, especially with like finals coming up. So, we scavenged as many pictures as we could get. Um, [laughter] um, incoming freshman night that was to help
020all the different eighth graders kind of uh get to see the different clubs. It's always a huge success and it's great to see like all the new littles that are trying to find their clubs and their interests and they're just going to flourish over the next couple years because uh Bavia does such a good job supporting all of our interests and our futures and however far we want to go, we can do that here. Um so that's like a picture off to the right center and we have some students sitting down. They were talking about key club. I love key club. Um then we had write for rights with Amnesty. That was actually today. So that's a really big project that Amnesty does every year where um they write to like with certain issues they
021write to different prominent leaders around the world kind of just to advocate and it's a really fun thing that we're able to be a part of. So that was today. Picture should be on Instagram soon but um we did the best with what we had because I was there. So uh that's the picture we're getting today. Then for youth and government um in December they had another legislative like preession to go over bills. Everything's going great there. We have some pictures dropped in. The group is really big this year and they have a wide different spread of issues that they're working on. So, we're proud of them. The Girl Up had their annual single mom's drive. That's on the left top. Um, we packed bags with self-care items for single moms in the community. Brought
022that to United Way. Again, a great service project. NHS had their snowman showdown with uh the different food the food drive to give to the food pantry. So, students were able to get involved with the community there, too. They went like door to door passing out different notes. It was just really great to see everybody getting together to help with a pretty prominent issue. And then we got to watch our teachers run around the school in snowman costumes. So, always a win for us. And then the Dukane Conference, they had a chess tournament on January 10th. And then there were um a lot of different Dukane art conference winners. So, we can see that on the TV back there right now. >> Our arts program is great. I thought it was there earlier, but we
023always have good art. Um there's art behind you. All looks nice. They start us early. But that's our club updates. Um okay. And music and drama. In December last month, there was Festival of Carols, which is the top two choirs and some orchestra students and they just get to play. Um some of the drama program juniors and seniors get to go to theaterfest and some of our improv team members made it into all state improv, which was amazing. Um, swing singers competition season is starting next month. Actually, it starts on Valentine's Day. So, it's a little bit sad, but um, winter show for improv is right there. You can see my beautiful face with my tongue out. Um, government inspector is the winter show. It's actually next week. Everyone should come. It's going to be
024hilarious. Um, and there's a jazz concert happening right now. It's all or all city. All city. I was gonna say All State. um all city. So the middle school is there as well. Um and then RMS I did not find very much. Their musical is February 20th I believe. It's Legally Blonde. They're also at All City Jazz. They had their NJHS induction last week. It was really cute. And their wrestling and basketball seasons are actually going really well, I think. Okay, so we did a new thing this month. We sent actually Dr. Smith sent out a form for us to the students um and asked them like which one of your staff members would you like to shout out and like why what do they teach etc and we did it by grade level and
025we have little things that yeah um so the freshman said Miss Castro is amazing interactive with her classes understands her students very entertaining and fun to be around then for the sophomores they had Mr. Kaufman they said Mr. Kaufman is a really funny teacher and is good at explaining concepts. I actually look forward to chemistry every day because he makes the class interesting. The junior said, "Miss Jersa makes the class so fun and creates an environment where writing was not just improved, but also enjoyed." And then the senior said, "Mr. Vanclay is always there for his students and stays positive even when times are hard. He makes class enjoyable and cultivates a positive environment every day." BBK has done a really great job of getting students excited about music and also done a great job
026with scheduling things to make all activities work out. He's an awesome teacher and all around great guy who deserves recognition. >> You'll notice he has a nickname. It's BVK. It's because his name is Brian Vanclay. [laughter] >> Um CO Chris Owen. He's the other band teacher. Everyone loves him. >> Um and then people from each grade level shouted out our nurse nurse Rose. Um, they said, "Rose goes above and beyond because whenever I go to her office for anything, she remembers who I am. I went into the nurse's office last year during first semester, and I hadn't seen her since the previous school year, but she remembered who I was. I'm comfortable with her because of her character, and recently, I've heard many peers talk about how sweet she is. She gives each student who
027comes into her office her full attention and treats them respectfully to try and help however she can. And we love her so much. She's so sweet. Actually, all these teachers are wonderful. I've had most of them and I don't know, they make such a positive classroom environment that's like exciting to go to class every day. >> Um, so yeah, that's what we have for that. And then just looking ahead at the weather app, it's going to be really, really chilly on Friday [laughter] and I know, yeah, I know we brought it up last year. Just wanted to bring that conversation to light again with the snow days. Wanted to put it out there. I know there's been some discussion back and forth between staff and students about it being cold. Just want to put that
028in the air. We're the voice of the high school students and they're saying it's going to be cold. So, just [laughter] wanted to put that out there. Yeah, that's it. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank [laughter] you. [applause] >> Throw that out there and then run. I appreciate the maxi there speaking up. >> All right. All suspended. >> Yeah. Right. >> Consent agenda. According to our board policy, we designate a portion of the action items of the agenda as consent agenda. For those items that usually do not require extensive discussion before board action, these items generally are routine, recurring, and can be grouped together for efficiency. Brad, it's you today. >> Yeah. So, stand in here. 5.1 and 5.2 are the approval of the December 16th regular meeting and close session meeting minutes. 5.3 is the
029destruction of close session recording as the time elapsed for keeping those has gone by. 5.4 is a small personnel report. 5.5 is our regular payroll and bills. 5.6 is the acceptance of donations. So, a special thanks to the the music buffs and Betavia youth athletics for their donations for uniforms and gear for our teams. Um 5.7 is the approval to renew the student photography contract with HR imaging and 5.8 is the approval of the consent agenda. >> Does anyone have any questions or comments? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve all items in the consent agenda as presented. >> So moved by Katie, second. >> Second by Aaron. Sydney, please lead us in a roll call vote. >> Jiki, >> yes. Gilbert, >> yes. >> Gonzalez Thomas, >> yes. >> Arandu, >> yes.
030>> Gerals, >> yes. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> Sliger, >> yes. >> Thank you. Motion passes. Reports. Foya. Tom. >> All the foyers that we received have been processed and presented to you in the report. >> Any questions? >> Okay. Treasury report. Tony. The treasures report and its attachments are there for your review. Nothing out of the ordinary for this month to share. >> Any questions for the Nothing Out of the Ordinary. >> Okay. Thank you. Committee updates, Tom. >> Yeah. So, um, you know, we're in the midpoint of the year. Committees are flowing and I know board members have been able to attend. So, I I don't know if there's anything any of our board reps would like to share in particular, but as what we've been doing as a are recently fairly recently
031new practices, including our messages that go out, u we've been putting that into the board book for the board and just for transparency to anybody in the community. So, I don't know if anyone wanted to share. I'll share one community update that the hall of honor is still accepting applications for the Hall of Honor. We're accepting them as late as February 1st and you can drop them off here or you can go to hallofhonorpaviaoundation.org uh to get an application and we uh accept nominations for uh teachers uh uh friends of the district and I'm blanking on someone. Uh >> alumni alumni. >> Alumni. No, they're all alumni. Yeah. >> Not necessarily. >> Well, not alumni. You're right. Yeah. Um, so yeah, so there we encourage you, we have a lot of great nominations, but we're
032always looking for more. So, uh, there's still time to nominate someone. >> Any others? >> Uh, for RACK, we had a discussion, there was a discussion about, um, a new subdivision that I think was, uh, supposed to be JB Nelson. Um, they're currently being built. And because JB Nelson is the one elementary school that's kind of close to being full, um, a decision was made that they should we should change that to Hooverwood. It's within an a mile and a half of Hooverwood. So that would make it walkable for those any students that end up living in those homes. >> Okay. All right. Any others? Okay. Thank you. All right. Item 6.4, advanced placement and dual credit. Brad, >> I'm going to invite Dr. Joanne Smith and Mr. Bob Deetsz up to the podium. They're
033going to take it from here and give the board an update on our advanced placement and our dual credit programs, a little deeper dive than we've done before on this. >> Hi everyone. So, um, one thing we always want to bring to the forefront is our post-secary opportunities that we provide for our students, and a couple of them are advanced placement and dual credit. We have quite a few, but, um, we wanted to give you some more information about AP and dual credit. So, I'm going to hand it over to Bob for the AP part. >> Sure. Nothing out of the ordinary. >> Done. [laughter] Nice. >> Nicely done. >> Best presentation ever. >> There we go. I tried. [laughter] Um, all right. All right. So, let's talk about um one of the ways that
034our high school students can take college level courses um at the high school. Um advanced placement or AP is a program through the college board. Um it's their curriculum. It's their um their courses taught by our teachers. Um so, obviously it is a college level course. Um so, there are some, you know, differences between the regular courses at the high school. The pacing may be a little quicker that students may go more in depth in the content. There's a you know, greater workload for these students. Um, so it is they take they will spend a semester in a um AP course and they will be exposed to the rigor of a college course and then at the end of the semester or at the end of May um they will take the AP exam and
035hopefully through their scores earn college credit and we'll talk a little bit about that later. Um we're really proud of um we have over 20 um AP courses at the high school. Um we have 19 AP teachers uh in the high school so we're really proud about that. Um, you will see some of them are in bold. Um, and that just means that they are not only AP courses, but they're also dual credit. And we'll hear a little bit more about dual credit later. So, here's the overall five-year data. Um, and I [clears throat] guess I mean 2025 rocked it. Um, in five years in every single category, it went up. Um, we have more AP students taking classes. We have them taking more exams. we have more AP students uh receiving a three or
036plus. We'll talk about that in a second. Um a score of three or three or more. Um and then this is a shocking one. We wanted to go back in the archives. I don't know if this is the highest it's ever been, but 85% of the overall students taking the uh AP test scored a three or higher. And the three or higher is kind of the sweet point. Um, in Illinois, um, if students receive, um, a three or higher, um, they automatically get the credits at a public university or community college. It differs from state to state um, and university, but three is, um, the sweet spot for our students, um, attending schools in Illinois. This is just a fancier, prettier, colorful version of what I just said. Um you can see the upward trend
037of those students um receiving scores of three or or or better. Um there was a slight dip in 23. Um not sure what happened there, but again that 85% is a pretty huge number for us. This is uh a a table of the number of students that um broken down by race, ethnicity, and grade level who took the AP exams. And now I know when you start adding numbers and percentages, it can get kind of confusing. So I'm going to do my best. not a math major like Dr. Smith, but um sometimes it is better to look at the numbers, the raw data to kind of look at some trends and some gaps where there may be. Um so you can see on the lefth hand side that's the category of the ethnicity followed by
038the four grade levels, how many students from that group took those uh courses or took that exam. Um and the second to last column is the total students that were in that category. And so you can see that 22 Asian students took that AP exam out of the 442 or whatever it was. That 5% is out of that number. The total number of test takers in um for the the the test that in May um obviously uh 12 black or African-American students took it. They represented 2.7 out of those 442 students. The far column is the percentage of the total population of the high school. So, um, black or African-Americans make up 4.2% of the total population of the high school. Um, so what we want to kind of look at and what this kind
039of does for us, we look at the numbers and we try to make those percentages to be as close to possible as you can. Of course, we want every student to take every AP class that they can, but you know, realistically, you know, that that's every student has a different goal after high school and has a different path. And so AP tests or AP courses may not be part of their their future goals. Um, so we try to we would like that, but that that's not it won't be possible. Um, but what we can do is we look at the percentages. We want to make sure that say for the Hispanic or Latino group they make up 14.7% of the student population but for the test takers they only made up 8.1%. So that gap's
040the biggest right there. I think it's 6.6. Um so that is probably an area of growth where we have to look at too. So that's why you kind of have to look at the numbers um sometimes to kind of look deeper into the data. If you were part of you saw any social media, you know that the cohort, the students that just graduated, the 2025 um graduates, um they they were on the AP school honor role and had the silver uh designation. 50% of those students who just graduated took at least one AP exam in the four years that they were there um at the high school. 39% of those students received a three or higher um on the AP uh on on the AP test. and 12 and I don't even know if this
041is a high number but 12% took five or more in the four years. So that is that's great. So I mean that's just kudos to you know the hard work of our students um our AP teachers and preparing them for that test and allowing them to earn that credit because that does save time and money for when they go to college. So those are all good things. And then lastly, just the key takeaway is again, even though we have seen a a decrease in enrollment over time, our numbers have increased with the enrollment in the AP courses, how many tests they're taking and uh the number of students that are earning college credit. Um obviously that 85, we still keep talking about that. Um but that is great news. And then, you know, always room
042for improvement um and looking at things to make things better. um we do have to look at working on closing that gap of our Hispanic students and allowing them opportunities um to get into those AP classes and take the take the test because we know once you're in the class um they're successful in the class and then they're successful in the test. So that just benefits them, you know, for their future goals and plans. >> That's it. >> Hey Bob. >> Hey. Oh, you're going to cold call me? Okay. I love it. >> Do a little cold call. >> Yeah. So if you sign up for an AP class at Pava High School, do you are you required to take the AP test? >> You do not have to take the AP test. So some
043schools do that where they if you sign up for an AP class, you have to take the test. So you're like automatically enrolled, but Tavia has chosen not to do that because there's data that shows just getting kids to experience an AP class has a tremendous impact on their academic rigor and their ability to handle post-secary work. The test is kind of that bonus piece, right? So we try and encourage students to take that test to show what they know to go after that three or higher, but we don't require them to do that. So you will see our total enrollment, our total test takers are very different numbers because some kids they're like, I'm going to take this class, but I have no interest in that or they know where they're going to school
044and they know that they won't take that. That happens quite a lot. Um so they they don't take that test. So we have a different system. Some neighboring districts down the river here have a very different system where it's a required part of that. >> I have a quick question. How much is the test cost? >> Uh I believe last year was $105. >> That's per test, correct? >> Correct. >> Yeah, we try to run it even. So we have to obviously pay for, you know, sub sometimes. And the test itself, I think the test itself is $90 from from College Board. So, we try to keep the payment obviously uh as small as possible for the parents because we do know that that is a concern at times. >> Okay. >> Can I can
045I just ask like a a scenario? Um, if a student is interested in taking an AP course, what kind of uh is there some kind of process with like teachers that like guide them like saying, "Hey, maybe right now is not a best time to take this course or yes, you know, we think you're you're ready to go into this course." Are we giving them that sort of guidance? Yeah, I I mean I think with any course, whether it's AP honors or uh you know, dual credit, um they have conversations with their counselors and um they look at their test scores from previous years and how they're doing in the courses that they're in right now um and kind of trying to guide them on what's best for them. You know, I my feeling is
046if a student wants to challenge themselves and take an AP course and be exposed to that rigor that, you know, I think the safety of being in the high school instead of experiencing that when you get to U of I or wherever you're at in college, I think that's a benefit to us because we can kind of rein them in and help them a little bit more than say a college professor could. Um, so I mean, yeah, those conversations are happening regardless if it's an AP class or not. that guidance. >> I think our teachers do a nice job of encouraging students, you know, if they see someone who's done a really nice job in a class and they think they should challenge themselves more, whatever that path might be, our teachers do a really
047nice job of promoting them, telling them, "You should take this class." You know, it's sometimes they're a little bit hesitant because they hear that word AP or honors and they're a little scared, but the teachers do a nice job of saying, "No, you can handle this. I know you can do it." And that usually is one of the best ways to get kids to take a tougher class. I'm gonna jump on just while we're talking about AP because you're gonna talk about the old credit. I am. >> Okay. So on AP, one thing I'd like to point out is a bit of a com commendation and I will never say a word bad about the block schedule. So do not read this as that. But there is a little bit of a challenge with the
048AP with the scores that you guys are getting that is good that there's a lot of classes that you might be doing in this fall that that exam isn't for four three months after the last of that class. So there are like my boys elected not to take the exam a couple times because there was that lag and they didn't they weren't doing a similar kind of class to kind of keep refreshed on it. So you know >> yeah at one point we did do a study of um students in first semester classes versus second semester classes and their AP scores and there was no difference. >> It's amazing because even on the second semester you're not all the way through the class yet >> right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we try to combat that
049by running um AP review sessions for students that may have taken the course first semester during second semester. So they can kind of get like a re refresher um with that. >> And I'm only laughing today because my son told me it's his first day taking because he's doing a music minor, his first day of music theory. >> Oh. >> And I was like, [laughter] should have >> Can I ask a question about the slide that has the percentage by race? I was a little confused by this, so I reached out to Tom and I think with the explanation, it makes more sense. Um, but I was looking at it as, well, could you not take the number of, as an example, Hispanic students that took the test divided by the total number of Hispanic
050students in high school to get a percentage and then compare those percentages, which Tom pointed out like, well, this is looking more at who took the test. Um, I think both could get a different information though and I I'm wondering if we have information about So, this is specifically who took the test. Do we have information about who took the class by race? >> We do. I don't have it on the slide, but we Yeah, we look at it on our basis. It's similar. >> Just one other quick congratulations by the way. I think these are phenomenal results. So, thank you. So the honoral the honoral recognition that the college board gives high schools incorporates Kristen I think to your point um when they look at who are being enrolled into these classes it it
051it also takes a scan of what our um students demographic breakdowns look like in in the building and that's what helps is one piece of the formula in providing that recognition for the school. um you know if we had like for us we don't want to settle there right as Drew said good better best good better best right um that's what we're aiming for is to continue to build on those numbers but for us that I think is also a marker though that our buildings our building has uh done a really good job of trying to promote that program and make that program feel for all students that hey this is something you might potentially be able to take and challenge yourself but be successful at the same time right So, it's good. >> Yeah.
052And I believe if we if we um operated under the where we are are forcing them to take the AP exam, obviously that 50% or whatever it was would go up um and could land you in the gold category because it's it's the who takes the exam, what they score, and how many um throughout their four years that could land you up. But we, you know, it's just a different philosophy at different schools. >> Can I ask a question? If someone took the class and then they had a financial hardship and had a hard time paying for the exam, I'm assuming there's resources. >> Yes. >> Would never turn anybody down. >> Are you ready for dual credit? >> All right. So, the diff major difference between dual credit and AP is dual credit is
053in partnership with a local school. Um, most of our dual credit is in partnership with Wanzi Community College. For AP, in order to get the college credit, you must take the test and get a three or better. For dual credit, you have to take the course and pass the course. And so, it's a little bit different. So, you're you're getting that credit from Betavia High School teachers. Um, our Betavia High School teachers are accredited by usually Wanzi. We have one class on here that's through College of Deage. Um, but that's how they get um certified to teach the dual credit class. So, they are we're in partnership with that university. So they get that university credit as students as soon as students are enrolled in these courses they start a transcript at Wanzi Community College
054for example once they start taking these classes. So the courses in bold like Bob mentioned those are classes that are AP or dual credit and we let students choose. So we let them choose if they want to do it for dual credit or for um AP. There's a few of those and those teachers are just dually certified and so we let the students choose. Okay. Okay. So, lots of lots of benefits to dual credit. There's not many downsides to dual credit. Uh, college credit early. Again, kind of that same idea as AP where they're in our classes with our teachers getting the support of a high school environment. Um, but doing that high school, sorry, doing that college level coursework um getting that rigor, understanding what that looks like um while they're still in high
055school. Um, early credits. I mean, they're get some of these kids are leaving high school with 12, 15, 18 college credits. Um, and it's not not unusual at all for our kids to leave with that many credits. And then obviously cost savings, which I'll talk about in a minute here with some real numbers. Um, but it is significant cost savings for our families. So here's an example. So it costs $36 at a high school to take the first year composition one class. That is a Wanzi community college class. That's three credits. So it's $12 a credit. Um, for those of us who are paying college tuition right now, and both of us are, I can guarantee it's a lot more than $12 a credit hour that we're paying right now. Um, and those are just
056some examples with Wanzi, Northern, and Bradley, and kind of the cost comparisons for, um, dual credit versus taking it there. So, our total enrollment, um, this slide is a little deceiving. I want to explain that, but we did have a dip in total enrollment. So, I want to let you guys know why that is. So, first of all, just our student body has decreased over the last three or four years. Um, AP enrollment has increased. So, if kids are taking more AP, they're taking less dual credit. But number three is probably the biggest reason and it's confusing. So, I want to explain it. So, in the past in 2022 and before that, our first year composition class, which is our senior level Wanzi English class, used to be one semester long, six credits. And so,
057the kids were earning six credits. So it's like uh if you like can compare it to like a 101 and a 102 English class in college. Um after many years of doing that, we just were realizing that it wasn't working for our students, it wasn't working for our staff, it was putting six credit hours in 18 weeks. And when you're talking about writing and getting that writing cycle and getting feedback to students and having them fix and draft and revise, it just it wasn't working for us. And so we actually split those classes now. So if you are in first year composition one at Pavia High School, it's a semester long class and it's three credits. You also have the opportunity to take first year composition two as a high school student and get three
058more credits. In the past before in 22 22 and before that you were in dual sorry first year composition. So that was a double enrollment. So every kid in first year composition was basically counted twice. So that 1492 includes about 300 kids counted twice for first year composition if that makes sense. So that's the number three is the biggest reason why you'll see those dip in numbers is just because we made that decision to help our kids become better writers. >> Um and then just we are seeing finally I mean we harp on this at every eighth grade orientation night like not every kid has to take every honors AP class under the sun. Um, and we are starting to see families and kids make some choices in balance, which is wonderful. We're starting to
059see some kids say, you know what, I don't need to take every class that's a weighted grade at the high school or a dual credit class at the high school because I want to be a competitive swimmer. You know, there's like other priorities and it's it's it's nice to see that there are starting to to find that balance a bit more. This is that same idea breakdown. We do get this these numbers from Wanzi Community College and then our takeaways. So, one um gap we talked about quite a bit and I talked about this with you guys at our um school improvement our school improvement planning was our lowinccome students and the disparities we see there. Um dual credit is one area where we're showing major improvements in closing that gap. And so, um, for
060our low-inccome students, we are seeing an improvement in increase in the number of them taking dual credit classes. Um, our African-American students have, um, increased doubled in dual credit and which matches this the district demographic. And then, um, with our EL students, we have an opportunity there to try to help them get that level of support and that level of rigor at the same time. And my last slide is just talking about what's the future. So just in AP, there are some AP physics options there. Um it looks like next year we may have the opportunity to offer AP physics 2 for the first time in Ohio. We have enough student requests there to potentially do that. Um with dual credit, we are looking at strengthening our relationship with College of DuPage as well as
061our Wanzi community college. College DUP page offers more of those arts experiences for dual credit like the culinary arts you see up there. So, we're working on those. It's just a matter of getting our teachers certified those those schools and getting those credits lined up and the curriculum lined up. Um, but there's some opportunities there for some future more dual credit classes in the future. And I'm going to hand it over to Brad to talk about the success network. >> Sure. the success network. You know, Tom's work on the Aurora Education Commission has been great of finding partners who are doing really interesting work and I know some board members are very interested in data. The success network has a great website. So, if you Google it, they have some great dashboards up which show
062about postsecary enrollments and these types of things all across the state. So, I know Mr. Kilberg [clears throat] will ask me like how are other schools doing in this? There's a dashboard on the success network which will show you you can drill down into any any uh district within the state and look at their postsecary work. Um it's just a valuable resource and we would probably not have known about it without Tom's work on the Aurora Education Commission and Edith at the success network is a great partner for us. So appreciate that. It's a good source of data if the board wants to or the community wants to dig a little bit deeper. So, I'll just make a comment. So, I I mean, I think this is just outstanding, like a shining star in our
063district, and I always use my anecdotal story of my daughter who uh probably was out of balance, and I think she did take every AP class against our advisement, but um she entered college a sophomore. >> Um but beyond that, I always ask her like, "Did you feel prepared for the rigor?" And of course, there's always an adjustment, but she said, "Yeah, I was ready to study, to work." Um, so I think any student or any family that has the opportunity to take advantage of this, it would be a wise choice. >> Any other questions? >> A quick shout out to um Brian Gamlin and Randy Caterero who handle all of our dual credit numbers, enrollments, transcripts, you name it. So, quick shout out to them because it's a it's a big job with that
064many enrollments every year. >> Yeah. So, I think just to wrap it up, uh first of all, thank you for the presentation. Um I thought this was a great great um kind of unveiling of some numbers and just hasn't been done on a long time. Uh Brad and I talked about this a couple of months ago. Um and you know, Brad had shared that this was not a presentation that's been done for the board in many years. Um, and so we thought like, hey, let's bring this to you. This is a I think when we talk about return on investment uh back to the community and to the taxpayers, I think one of the things that we can highlight and put on a marquee is that your your property tax dollars that go to the
065school district. You literally have the opportunity to recover those funds if your child is thinking about going to college or community college or even certification programs because we offer that through the Fox Valley Career Center as well. And so there's a pl abundance of opportunities for anybody to really find a path um that whether it's a traditional path or a nontraditional path. Um one of the things that I I'm really proud of about our particular dual credit program speaking as a parent uh with a child in a different school district with in high school now age and we're talking about her sophomore year schedule. Um I'm don't talk about balance, but uh you know I I'm comparing and it's just amazing to me how much there is here and um you know wanting to figure
066out ways to support that. But uh you know across the state, every community is striving to kind of if they're not at where we're at, they want to get to where we're at. And if you're in a position where we're at, you want to keep expanding that, right? and so that our kids truly are the ones that are driving their own path and driving their own future. Um, so really good opportunities here. Kudos to our teachers, to our support staff, and to our administration for the programming. >> We have an AP teacher in the audience, too. >> Yay. >> He's over there. >> Great job. Great job. >> All right. On to action items. Action item 7.1, adopt or amend board policies. Second reading, Tom. >> Um, the board has had a chance to review
067these. Um, I know Raquel and Aaron also covered these last time we discussed these policies. I don't know if there's any questions or if we're ready to move forward. >> All right, no questions. I will entertain a motion or to adopt or amend the board policy revisions as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion by Aaron. >> Second. Second by was that Raquel? Thank you, Raquel. >> Sydney, please lead us in a roll call vote. >> Sliger, >> yes. >> Swiki, >> yes. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> Arandu, >> yes. >> Carol, >> yes. >> Kilberg, >> yes. >> Gonzalez Thomas, >> yes. Thank you. Motion passes. Item 7.2, approval of contract employees through Blazer Works. >> Yes. Um, so we are currently in a master contract agreement with Blazer Works. They've been supplying us with
068hard to fill positions that are especially the ones that are immediate and in terms of necessity to u fill a certain FT that are open supporting usually um in some of our specialized programs. This would be a similar case. However, this is for a certified position that we've had posted to try and bring in support for one of our um programs. And we have not had luck in securing a candidate um at this point. Part of that reason could be due to the fact it's a mid-year hire and it's hard to find certified staff at this point of the school year. Um, you know, we we typically find ourselves in a better place once we hit the spring hiring season and look for next year's, you know, uh, employment. So, um, so that's why that's
069here in front of you. Um, we have a program that has been growing even currently through the school year. We've been adding on some students that have um you know different types of learning needs and they've fallen into eligibility for a program. We're going to try and make sure we get the support for those teachers in there. And um so what you have in front of you is an ask for a uh $50,000 allowance, which is why it's coming to the board. It exceeds the $25,000 threshold. Um, and it's a contract worker, so they'll be compensated at an hourly rate of 9450, which is the contract rate. But in total, we're looking to help fill that gap for this remaining semester. And then um I know Carrie and the team have been looking through options
070to to fill in staff uh for next year. >> Any questions? >> Will this still be posted on our internal website for hiring this year >> for the current semester? Yes. >> Is that the answer? Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> If there are no other questions, I will entertain a motion to approve a contract special education teacher at Hooverwood School. The contract teacher will work from January 28th till May May 20th at a cost of approximately $50,000. Motion by move. >> Motion by Katis. >> Second. Second by Aaron Kilberg. Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. >> Arlu, >> yes. >> Gonzalez Thomas, >> yes. >> Kilberg, >> yes. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> Swiki, >> yes. >> Sligger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you very much. Item 7.3, approval of approve
071renewal of paper cut maintenance and support contract. Dave. >> All right. So, those of you that don't know what Paper Cut is, um, Paper Cut is a software solution we use on all of our copy machines that basically let you walk up, scan your badge, let you print. It also lets students print with their Chromebooks. We've also added some mobile functionality for some folks as well. So, it basically handles all of our printing. Um, I would usually come here annually to renew this solution. I was able to work a deal this year to save a little money to do a five-year agreement this time. Um, so this locks in a five-year price point, no increases for those five years and saves us a little money in the process. So, any questions on that one? >>
072Just a point of clarification, the total amount over the entire five years is $249.90. >> Correct. >> Per year. >> Correct. Yep. We save about a thousand bucks a year going to the five-year plan. So, >> any questions on the exciting world of copers and >> right >> accounting? All right. I will entertain a motion to approve the renewal of the paper cut maintenance and support agreement for a 5-year term in the total amount of 24,990. >> So moved by Danielle. >> Second by Raquel. >> Sydney, please lead us in a roll call vote. >> Siki, >> yes. >> Sliger, >> yes. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> Kilbert, >> yes. >> Gonzalez Thomas, >> yes. >> Geral, >> yes. >> Arandu, >> yes. Passes. Thank you very much. Item 7.4, the authorized purchase of student
073and staff devices. >> This is another annual purchase that I do. Um, so this I've kind of consolidated together uh to actually save some money here as well. Um, so those of you that don't know, um, all of our Chromebooks have a four-year cycle. So every year when I come here, I'm building first, fifth, and 9th grade purchases for that. Um, generally our Chromebooks as far as like keeping up with the trends in the classrooms and things, we try to keep that four-year cycle just because everything's evolving and speed and usage and everything and abuse on the devices. We have to do maintenance on these things to keep them up to date. Um, we do trickle some of this stuff back into spare pools as we roll out after year five. We pull them back
074as spares and then we recycle the older spares just because they're usually six years or more older based on usage and they're usually pretty beat by then. So that's the Chromebook cycle. Um for staff, uh we also have laptops for them. We do that on a three-year cycle just because of the some of the demands for the classrooms that they have for projection and all these other things that they're doing on every day. Um we try to keep these things current for that reason as well. Um the computer labs at the high school as well. Uh those actually have like specialized software naming like Adobe products or AutoCAD products, things like that require a lot of performance and things like that. Um so or specific use case like special monitors and the photo and graphics
075labs and we try to maintain those just to keep up with those software updates that come out for those products to make it more real world scenario type stuff and they're very demanding. So I keep those on that three-ear cycle as well. and recycle the rest after that as well. Um, so this basically this year is the high school. Uh, so there's three computer labs in this uh attachment here. You can see we're doing the photo, the graphics lab, and then the video lab is the most demanding. Um, obviously the most pricey machines we have. Um, doing a lot of that 4K video editing takes some pretty serious performance. Um, so in total, um, I didn't write that down. I'm sorry. Um, this is in this is included in the tech budget. I budget for
076this every year. I try to put a little extra in there because especially this year now they're cranking memory prices up because of AI. So, I'm battling that. One of the reasons I consolidated is to get this done quicker to try to avoid some of those increases. Um, we're trying to also avoid any emergency purchases if we have a lab that has something that breaks or something fails. Warranties and things like that come into play. So, these also have three-year warranties on top of this. So, it's covering us for these three years every time I pull a cycle through. Um, I also throw this through competitive processes on the back end with some of my vendors I use. Um, I always try to hold everyone accountable for their price and I've tried many different brands
077and HP generally pulls through for us every time. So, management wise for my team, it's also a little less, you know, involvement as far as managing these devices. HP has some nice tools for my team to keep these things current and maintaining all these hardware chips inside of these devices. So overall, it's the best choice for us to use. Um let's see here. Total device counts um for student Chromebooks is about 1300. Staff laptops about 200 lab desktops about 90. So in total that's like 1590 devices. uh grand total of 898,900 bucks for that and that will put us on cycle for three years for the staff and labs and four for the Chromebooks. Any questions? Did I cover all of that? >> Did Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Great. >> Anyone else have any
078questions? >> All right. I will entertain a motion to authorize the purchase of student and staff computing devices for the 202627 school year from Xerox in an amount not to exceed $898,900 as a part of the district's scheduled device replacement cycle. >> So moved by Rob, second by >> Raquel. Second. >> Raquel. >> Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. >> Thomas, >> yes. >> Arandu, >> yes. >> Swiki, >> yes. Yes. >> Sligger, >> yes. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> Kilberg, >> yes. >> Motion passes. All right. Item 7.5, Mark. Award bids for JB Nelson and Alice Gustoson flooring project. >> Good evening. Um, you have seen this before. I brought this up last year. That was the board meeting. We had to reject reject all bids. [clears throat] did a little
079um more I would say research in flooring specifically in the gyms. So the next two so this one and 7.6 go together but they have to be voted on separately. Um so what we did is we looked specifically at the gym flooring and used a specific product that really in the end is going to be better for really everybody adults and students. Um, it's more right now it's VCT, [clears throat] so it's just a standard floor tile that you see all over. Not the best um to put into gyms, but it's the most economical. VCT is really the cheapest product to use and it's used majority all over the place. Um, this will be better. It's going to last longer. Um, it's not only going to be better for um students, it's going to be
080better for really after school, too, for different clubs. I mean, our gyms are used all the time. So, I know I'm combining these, but it's easier to explain if I do. Um, we also went out um uh bidding and it's a different product that was used. We weren't as specific this time and in general. So, if you combine them both um and we added in um the kitchens in both schools, too. That was VCT VCT as well. Um not again, not the best product to be used in a kitchen. Really, definitely not in a kitchen. Um, so in adding that and from last year's price, um, we're going to end up saving just over $40,000. Um, which considering when I'm usually up here talking, I'm not talking about a savings usually ever. I'm talking about
081percentages of like 18%. I think about a month ago I just talked about. So I think overall we saw much better pricing in the uh, general bid. And then the other with the gym, it's very specific. um we were able to choose the flooring we wanted um because we went through what's called source well so it's already um bid out competitively um so between those two um I feel much better up here this time around um talking about uh this project this will get done um really as soon as school's out again it's some demo you have to worry about and get those demo contractors in there but um it will take u most of the summer to do both buildings so one building each will take about a month to I would say till
082five weeks. So the first one you were just um voting on just the hallways and cafeteria at both Gustoen and JB Nelson and then I'll stop and then I'll talk more specifically about the next one. >> Any questions on the first one? >> I know we're not voting on the gym flooring now, but you said the new the floor for the gyms would be better. Is it like softer or what makes it more >> Yeah, so there's more padding in it. So, it the best way to describe it um is if you've been in the fieldhouse. >> Yeah, that's what I was thinking. >> It's not the fieldhouse flooring. I don't want to say that at all, but it's a version of that. It's more of like a rubberized type floor. It's a juror if
083you know. I'm looking at Craig because I know Craig knows what a juror is. Um so, it's used a lot of like civic centers and and things like that. It's really they have different product lines that basically the thickness and it is used for elementary gyms >> because right now we don't. It's not like a hardwood like basketball court. They have like tile. >> No, it's it's tile on concrete. >> Yeah, it's very hard. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, the only elementary school that we have that has a wood floor is Louise White. And that's been that way for a really long time. I don't know the number of years, but it's been a wood floor for and to my knowledge in history that was done through uh basketball program at the time. They needed
084another gym um to use and it was Louise White that they picked to do it. >> So, I know last time there was only one bid and now there were quite a few. Is it because the >> a different floor was used? >> Well, last time we did have um more than one bid. Um we rejected it because it was just too much. It was way over budget. Um yeah, different flooring material helped. Um we changed the pattern a little bit too. Less cuts. Um not as many cuts and um that that obviously drove down the labor as well. And then I think I think it was when we had the tour of HC Storm you had mentioned that >> you're trying to get consistency with flooring so that it's more easy to replace and
085repair. Um so is this >> Yes. >> of these two buildings going to be the same and that's the idea that at least they would share the same. >> Yeah. And really the I mean the long-term goal is just to continue to do this um you know throughout the buildings because flooring needs to be placed but obviously there's you know you have to start somewhere and these are the two schools that definitely need it the most. >> Is it something similar to what Storm got or is it something completely >> Yeah. So we we blended. So um Gustoson and JB Nelson had the entryways done three years ago now. Two three years ago now. So the entry as you walk in has different flooring, but then as you go right or left, um the flooring
086is just a VCT. So we tried to blend that together. So there's a lot of things you have to look at because you have door frame colors, you have door colors, you have lockers in there, you have, you know, all kinds of things. You have to, you know, blend them. And you don't want to put something in there that's difficult to clean either. So this too will be much easier to clean. You don't have to wax these floors. So you just use a score um a floor scrubber. Um so you know that will help too in in in savings. [clears throat] All right. On item 7.5 I will entertain a motion to award the bids for the JB Nelson and Al Gustoson flooring project as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion by Katie. >> Second
087by >> Danielle. Thank you. Cindy Pley lead us in a roll call vote. >> Armandu, >> yes. >> Gonzalez Thomas, >> yes. >> Kilbert, >> yes. >> Susiki, >> yes. >> Sligger, >> yes. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> All right, motion passes. Item 7.6, approval of gym flooring purchase and installation. Mark, anything else to add? >> Unless you have any other questions about that. I, like I said, I kind of blended these two together because it's easiest to explain. All >> right, hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve the purchase and installation of gym floors at Alice Gustoson and JB. Whoops. Is that at both schools still? >> Yes. >> Okay. I want to make sure I was reading it. At Alice Gustoson and JB Nelson schools as presented. >> So moved. >>
088By Raquel, second by second. >> Was that Rob? Yes. Okay. Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Sliger, >> yes. >> Arlandu, >> yes. >> Geral, >> yes. >> Kilberg, >> yes. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> Gonzalez Thomas, >> yes. >> You motion passes. Item 7.7, adopt resolution of intent to implement full day kindergarten. >> Thank you. Uh, as the board, I'm sure, is aware, we've been talking about it for several years, the implementation of full day kindergarten, and we have are choosing to implement a year earlier than is required. So, that would be in the next school year. We would choose to implement, we would otherwise have to implement the following school year. So, this has been a key assumption in all of our financial forecasts for the last
089at least two, probably three years as to what this would cost. Um, one of the requirements of that is that we're we're asking you to approve tonight is a resolution that would you would adopt that we could then send to the state board of education that they will then count our kindergarteners in the evidence-based funding formula as being 1.0 or full-time students. As right now, even though we offer essentially a form of a full day program, they're only reportable to the state as.5 FTE. They're there for learning under our kindergarten program as a half day. And because there's a timing element to this, EVF is a myriad of variables that the state has to compute and every school district is relative to the next. And so they have to have all the data into that
090formula on the front end so that they when you compute what schools receive in terms of funding that you can't change the variables on the other end. It just it literally changes the amounts. So they need to know this ahead of time. And so that's why we're asking you for this now. We can have to submit this no later than March 1st. And this is our intent. You know, if we decide that we're we're not b it's not binding. It's simply intent. But um we could back out of this technically. It's not a requirement. But for the state to compute this the right way, they need to know that the board is intending to do this. And the course was like how much money much more money are we going to get? Uh the reality
091is unfortunately given where we are in the funding formula nothing this does help them compute it accurately but we do not expect that we'll receive any more money because as you are aware our enrollment has been declining for several years we're in that fourth tier guaranteed the money we received in the prior year. However uh even though that we'll be reporting more students attending because they'll be instead of being counted as 0.5 as 1.0 it's not going to be enough to get over that threshold. not likely to any questions. >> Any questions? >> Okay. I will entertain a motion to adopt a resolution of intent to implement full day kindergarten beginning in the 2026 2027 school years and authorize the superintendent or designate to report this intent to ISBE for evidence-based funding calculation purposes. >>
092So moved by Raquel, second by >> second. Second by Kristen Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. >> Meadows, >> yes. >> Kilper, >> yes. >> Siger, >> yes. >> Swiki, >> yes. >> Gonzalez Thomas, >> yes. >> Arandu, >> yes. >> Gerals, >> yes. >> Right. Motion passes. Thank you very much. That wraps up our action items. So item eight is for board discussions. We have two items um for discussion today. Okay, the first one is meeting dates for our May June data presentations. So, as you guys may have seen from Tom's updates, the thought process is is instead of spreading these out to multiple special meetings over time is to just do both the buildings and the district in one presentation on one special meeting date to not conflate it. So,
093that aligns a little bit about what we've talked in past meetings as boards of trying to say, okay, we're going to do special meetings for these special things and then kind of minimize our long long board meetings as much as we can. So, it's going to move those to a special date. Anybody have any objections to that concept? >> Just so I'm making sure I fully understand. So, we're going to do the the schools and the ad uh central office ones on >> the same day. >> Okay. >> But a separate meeting. >> Yeah. Right. It'll be its own meeting. >> It's own meeting though, right? >> Yeah. It won't be a regularly scheduled board meeting. It'll be a special meeting. What did we run on those meeting lengths this last time around? What would
094you say? Was it two hours each? >> Um >> the buildings uh went probably like two and a half. Does that sound about right? Two and a half guys. And then I think the district night one hour and a half maybe. Um, however, one of the things we can do a better job of is making sure is that um, we have a a little bit more of a streamlined uh, presentation as we come forward. I mean, I think we got better from year one to year two on it. We can, you know, by the time we come to you uh, the end of this year, we'll we'll work as a team to consolidate that as if it goes to one night. >> Are you thinking, Mr. Aranda, that's too much in one night? >> Yeah.
095No, no. My my my point is are you are you thinking or is the idea behind this for this provides the presenters some benefit or are you thinking >> well I think you're going to hear then the message all in one night is one of the benefits added values to it. You know you're hearing what the buildings are doing to finish up the year and then boom right there. We're also going to provide you with the overall picture of the whole district after you just heard what the buildings have all been doing >> as opposed to a month later or weeks later doing the district one. >> Well, this meeting can also start earlier than seven. >> Yes. >> Hint hint hint. >> Yes, exactly. [laughter] >> Okay. So just from my perspective, what I
096liked about having separate meetings was focus that at least I I I'll speak for myself, the focus I had for each of those meetings. Um I felt very in tune with uh uh listening and taking in the messages that were given. Um I worry when we extend past three four hours that you know we tend to naturally lose some focus and I don't want to deprive any of the presenters of their their our attention to their to their messages. So that's my concern. If it's four hours I think if especially if we start at seven maybe if we start earlier it might be a little bit better but that's my thought on it. I share your concern. >> So the other thought that went into this as I understand it was also to manage number
097of meetings we had to do because at the last one we had people that weren't able to make it to those days. So this is also a thought process toward and I'm just putting out for discussion to say okay if we have one date known early enough it's a special day it might be a little easier to manage that and at least people that are there can be hear the consistent message across all levels but I share your concern three plus hours is a long board meeting and I also agree that if we do that in my opinion we should shoot to start earlier so that we can shoot to finish in time. >> Um the time the time for the uh for the night or for one of the meetings was 1 hour and
09842 minutes and the other one was 1 hour and 39 minutes. >> Okay. >> So it was a little over three hours for the two meetings >> on top of it. Cindy, thank you. >> Data it wasn't a three-hour meeting. So about threeish hours. >> There's uh I agree. I I would hope as we get used to giving these presentations and hearing the presentations that uh we get more comfortable digesting the data. I agree if we do this and it's like a five hour meeting or four hour meeting then we should probably look at breaking them up again. But I think I'd be willing to give it a shot to see if we start like at six to try to do it in one night see how it goes. I >> have a question too.
099I don't remember. Did we get the administration one prior to the meeting? >> Do we know the presentation? >> Yes. >> Did we didn't get the school ones? >> No, because the timing with the schools is as it's too on top of when the data is kind of coming to us, you know, through the the winter assessments. And if you think about coming toward the turn of the end of the year, the data windows are going to be closing and then they have to turn around immediately and start working with their teams to build out that presentation. So that board book date is already pretty tight for our principles uh given that they're also closing out the buildings for the year uh with their SLTs. So that's a challenge. Um but if we do it
100in June, they're all gone for the year as well. So that it that's why it's a tricky, >> you know, situation. >> My question would be I think the last day of school is the 20th. Is that that's a lot to put on them to finish out the year and then turn around like less than a week later and do that presentation? I mean, no, they're not waiting till the last minute to put it together, but um you're confident that that's not a burden on the buildings? >> Yeah, I think we can get it done in the 26th or 29th. So if the meeting was three hours long in total from the two sessions, does the board feel that that's a doable number? >> Yeah, for me that's that's a doable >> because one of
101the uh just to add to what Craig said, one of the things was the chase on finding a good amicable date too. So that's why we tried to like narrow down the calendar already as we came to you to give you some ideas or options. We worked it out as an admin team to say like, "Okay, principles and and uh district office teams, we can definitely do the 26th or 28th. Those are open." That's why we're just trying to help you guys with the the calendaring of a date. >> Yeah. Right now, I'd be good with either date. >> I'll be on vacation for both of those. >> Oh, no. Okay. >> Um but I don't want me to be the thing that holds that up. Okay. >> All right. Anything on that one? As
102>> can I just mention I just had one administrator come back and say that if we could do it the 26th for him it'd be better, but I didn't get anything back from anybody else. >> That was concerning. Okay. >> So, as we circulate dates, I mean, we don't have to tell them we're available today. So we can Cindy or Tom will get an email out to just kind of say okay just to lock in and make sure everybody's good. So okay that work. >> So we are going to use one of those two dates. >> One. Yeah. And one of those two dates. And if we can make it work for the 26th that just to try to make it so that we can cover an administrator challenge. >> They get Katie an electronic
103copy. >> Yes. >> I'll read it in Greece. That's that's a little rubbed in, but it's deserve. It's okay. >> I don't believe you. >> I don't believe [laughter] you. >> I know. >> Yeah. All right. Item 8.2 is a continued or followed up discussion on personal electronic devices. So, since the last meeting, uh Tom shared some survey data that was not quite ready yet for um the any of the presentations. Uh so that was shared amongst us and the question before us is one you know as the board is responsibility [clears throat] is to kind of administer the policies. Is there anything that we feel needs to be referred to the policy committee to for further consideration or if there's any specific kind of opinions or thoughts that need to be shared to Tom
104in regards to you know next steps if any of any if any exist. >> I appreciated the the feedback from the BEA and to hear from the teachers. Um, I had kind of gone into this thinking, you know, we have a policy, first impression, it seems to be working, but then that kind of made me think that there's maybe some work to be done there. Um, and I, you know, I know there's a bill again making it through Illinois. It's not going to go away of, you know, banning cell phones. Um, so I looked at I just was just googling and I came across uh Bington I think it was Bington School District. Yeah. So they have the same board policy that we do. But they have a web page with detailed explanation of how
105that policy is handled at the elementary school level, the middle school level, the high school level, including you know expectations and how they're different at each level. Um I think they break it down like the middle school they have opportunity to use personal devices at lunchtime sometimes, you know. So they break it down for each level. Um, there's detailed corrective actions listed if kids are caught using their device when they're not supposed to. Frequently asked questions like if a parent is wondering, what if I need to contact my student during school hours? What if I need to contact them after school hours? So, there's this very detailed website which I found really helpful. Um, but like I said, their policy is the same as ours. So, there's definitely some procedures that um I know that
106we don't decide on, but I was impressed with how thorough their website was. >> Thank you. >> I think the other thing too is the smart watches. We probably have to make sure that the smart watches are in the policy. Yeah, the language is just personal electronic devices. So, it by default gets included. >> But it should be clear. >> Well, we could say electronic devices and then parenthesis cell phones, smartwatches, iPads if they bring iPads, but something tablets. I think we could spell it out a little bit more because I don't think people feel like that's a personal >> time piece. That's a right. It's that's a clear issue though that came through very clearly at the elementary level that that is a struggle. >> Yeah. >> So you think maybe we should re
107the policy committee should review that language to be a little more explicit on what's defined as a >> just add that might make sense. >> Yeah. I would just encourage to review it so you don't make it over constraint like say specifically like for example maybe is the right language. Right. So yeah, >> they're run by lawyers, but you could probably add some language in there. >> It'll be smart glasses, >> right? That'll be the next thing. >> It's already here. >> Video messaging between you and your parents. So I guess what I would say with the board like the policy committee to review that policy again that language to see if we could uh be a little more explicit of course consulting with our lawyers so we're not too narrow that we exclude something
108we can't foresee new technology or something coming. >> I don't feel like our policy is what is the issue. I think it's more the enforcement of it um at each level. I I read a lot of teachers saying like this is a problem um and I don't know how to solve it. Um I guess I just always come to there is no data that suggests that cell phones are good for kids um period but during the school day and there's lots of data that suggests that they're not. Um, so I would be of a mind to go more toward like a a ban at the high school the same as we have at the middle school, but I don't know what the consensus would be on that. I to me it looks like more of
109a procedure thing than a policy thing, but that's just me. >> Do you think we're having a problem at the middle, too? >> No, I think the middle school doesn't have a problem because they're not allowed and it's real clear and they've, you know, they've worked that out. To me, I think that that shows like a success story and then we see a struggle where we don't have that in place. >> I think the issue is where the middle school is is they have lockers whereas the high school the the lockers are really optional. They just carry everything in there. >> Nobody uses a locker. >> Yeah. You don't use a locker. And I think that's the problem like it's because right middle school you just put it in your locker. You know, you don't
110see it. Whereas the high school it's like no one uses the locker. So, where are they going to keep it? >> Yeah. >> You know, in their car and then at the middle school, I think, not positive, they can maybe use it at lunchtime. >> So, >> I think they said this the year that they can. This is the first like year that that this year like nobody can anymore. They phased it in if I remember correctly. >> There's a VIP day on Friday. So, if you get if you're a >> VIP earn use of your cell phone for lunch on Friday. Wow. >> How do you become a [laughter] carrot? >> I think I think that table gets to be VIP. >> It's amazing. Anyway, okay. >> Nintendo, right? >> So, is there because
111our current policy states for Katie's point that >> [clears throat] >> teacher discretion effectively about the use of it in the educational environment. >> Like for me it's the high school where it's the issue and I guess it is enforcement. I mean has there been discussion at like DCC about discussions about how we can get more consistent in implementation. >> Actually we had a robust conversation. Um, you know, part of the questions that we have are what are the other 72% of our staff thinking? You know, there was a 28% return rate on the survey itself, right? So, you have to just wonder, you don't want to assume what are those 72% people thinking, right? We want to dig into that a little bit more. But within the responses we did receive, it was clear,
112you know, that the the high school staff were struggling. And and I think if you looked at the comments piece of the survey, it it was a really wide range from we just need to get rid of them or ban them or put a hard policy in place to like I feel like I'm fine. But what the challenge is is my colleague, you know, that they're coming from or going to the next class has a very different set of expectations or to some there are some who said I I think I'm fine. I think I can manage this. So there's an opportunity to probably look at the procedural aspects at the high school um you know similar to uh what some other buildings have done um you know whether it's through uh the SLT at
113BHS or possibly a discussion between uh leadership with uh the BEA leadership reps and and administration. I think there's some avenues that could be tackled. I I think the the idea that this the notion that it's a procedural uh area to address and seek makes sense to me because it allows you to kind of be nimble to what the needs are. You know, especially with the age groups. Um you know, you mentioned smartwatches at the elementary level. That's definitely clearly an issue that was being cited and and who the culprits are are parents [laughter] texting and the kids are expected to kind of like start clicking and respond to their parent. Uh so you know that that's the idea and you I I don't know if some of you have seen some of the messages
114that our principles at the elementary schools sent out trying to remind people that hey there's if you want to get a hold of your kid please call the main office. Don't use these. Right. So, so the Yeah. So, we we at DCC went through a wide range of things. We didn't want to make any presumptions about what we thought the board might want. So, we kind of had a great discussion about it, what some ideas could be, but then we wanted to see where the board landed. If the board's landing on maybe not necessarily a policy change, but maybe it's more of a procedural thing, we can take that back and I can start working with Drew and we can kind of start calibrating what that might look like, you know, to move forward. Um,
115but we wanted to make sure we had an understanding of where the board wanted to be with this. >> I think that's where I would land right now because if there's confusion, then we need to get clarity. And, uh, also the survey was pretty small in scope. So, there's that whole other majority of people that didn't respond. So, if there's a way to capture more of those voices in the process, that would probably be valuable as well. I think >> it was a short turnaround time. So it's >> that would that's not a bad turnout for a short turnaround time but >> you are getting limited. I I do I would understand how a ban is really hard and it's going to be a lot of work. It's going to take us time. if we
116personally if we could have the procedural route looked at and um worked on, you know, I would love to do that before considering that sort of policy change personally. Um I'm not against it whatsoever because like Katie said, there's so much data out there that really supports kids not thriving during school days with their phones. We have Chromebooks, we have other technology available, but if you are confident that it's something that maybe procedurally we can take care of, that's great. And like to what Kristen was speaking to and I've mentioned before, the educational piece to the parents. Um, you know, my son goes to Storm. Mr. Milk has done a wonderful job at kind of reminders, but I think like something like that where it's this is what happens. Here are the expectations. I think
117procedurally that also kind of puts you all in a place of we have to have a across the board same thing happening so you're not having some staff member say this works this doesn't work this is what's happening and then that I would like to really see that educated to the families on a regular basis whether it's a website whether whatever it is but right now I don't know that there's anything that really parents can turn to and have a really clear understanding and especially when you have kids in different uh levels. So, yeah, that's I'm kind of there, too. >> And and if you're looking, you're going to go see a cell phone policy that says, "No, they're not allowed." So, then I think that's confusing, right? Right. For a parent to say like,
118"Well, then why is my kid telling me that they're they've got their phone all day or I know they have it, they're texting me, or why, you know, our policy says no." And I wonder for staff if it's would be easier for a staff member who does not want it to be able to implement things knowing that it's been educated and knowing that they can say hey no parent this is >> per what we have going in place this is what we are doing I don't allow them and here's why this happened >> it wouldn't be perfect but I'm just saying there's at least some sort of communication >> and to know that there's corrective action in place like >> this is so they can have a conversation with their kids if they are able
119to to say if you get caught this is what happens if you go get caught again then we move on to this you know the through the steps of what the consequences are >> right so I think for me like personally in lie of a policy change something is not working right it's not working so if we're not looking to make a policy change which I understand then that would be my hope personally so I'm okay with not making any change beyond like this the smartwatch kind of maybe that that verbiage being a little I think so. I think so, but it's really not going to make a huge impact if we're not spelling things out and making some procedural changes, but I think it would help. >> And that might be something to push
120out for the elementary schools, too, just to specifically say like we are dealing with some confusion around smart watches. And just to be clear, >> Mr. like I said, I only have that experience. He he's done an amazing job after just really clear like, hey, hey, where am I? considered a device and yeah >> and and kind of like citing the policy which was great. >> That's my feedback. >> So what I'm hearing is one that the board sees that there seems to be particularly at the high school level some concern about implementation and procedures and then that you feel that a good effort and time for Tom and respective parties would be to evaluate and investigate that more. Whether that means also finding out from the other ones that were either didn't respond, didn't
121have time to respond, or felt they didn't need to respond to get a little more breadth of understanding and utilize that through the process of evaluating that, put it back in the hands of in a lot of ways staff and teacher discretion to clarify. >> Yeah. And I think I'd want to look at the data again because the discipline data that's been reported doesn't isn't maybe entirely congruent with what is perceived to be the big issue, but our discipline data is not reflective of that. >> And so we also have to kind of like, you know, from an a study standpoint like understand where the gap is on that. And I think again it may come down to procedural um differences and maybe needing to shore up the uniformity in how um from one classroom
122to another that that's being handled with our students. Um I don't know you know th those will definitely be things to explore. Yeah. >> Put it back into the hands of our collaborative processes. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. >> Okay. And then the second part is for our esteemed policy committee to go back and take a look at it from is there a mechanism to site some specific examples as a reminder within it to make it clear. >> Got it. Get a date on the calendar. We want to >> thank you >> set a time for so we're all have the same expectations about when we might be presented with more information or feedback that asks to >> do we do it >> I'd like to I'd like to have an opportunity to talk not just with
123my team but with our BA colleagues as well >> just to because we you know we're right now in the midst of a scope of different initiatives to try that we're kind of plugging along through the year right now. So, I just want to make sure I gauge what our our bandwidth is as a team to give you an accurate timeline to that and then maybe what I could do is provide that in a weekly update that if that satisfies work, I can share that with an update once I've had time to check in with with everybody. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, you provide a bit of an update about the timeline and when you think >> there will be capability to focus on it. >> Yeah. >> Does that work for everybody? Okay. Anything
124else on item 8.2? All right. Item nine, administration comments. Tom. >> All right. So, um, as we enter a new year, there's a natural opportunity for all for all of us to reset as the tradition with the new year. Um, but to reset our all of our hopes, our intentions, and our commitments to each other as a school community. Um, tonight my message is really simple. Let's make this a great year together. Not by chance, but by choice. Let's will it to happen by being good partners to one another across all roles, across all perspectives, and across all BPS community stakeholders. Um, when we are curious and actively listening and working collaboratively, I truly believe that we strengthen the foundation that supports our students here in Betavia. Uh when that partnership is strong, our schools
125become places where students feel safe and valued, where curiosity is welcomed, questions are encouraged, and fe learning feels meaningful. Progress comes from a shaped purpose, a steady effort, and the belief that what we do together truly matters. So, I'd like to kick off the new year with a lot of gratitude here and say thank you to our board members, our staff, our students, our families, our administrators, and community partners for their leadership, trust, and commitment to the Pavia Public Schools. I'm grateful to move into this new year alongside all of you and making it a great year. >> That's it. >> Thank you. >> Board comment. >> I'm not forcing. >> Is that going to work? >> Seems to be every time. >> You never come the other way. You You got eggs. >> There
126we go. >> Uh I just wanted to wish everybody a happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day a little belated and I want to read uh my favorite quote by Dr. King. Uh what is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice and justice at justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love. Um, and I just want to say that I hope power and love can come together in these spaces this year instead of being antithetical to one another because those two things do not cancel each other out and they have to exist at the same time. So, thank you. >> I mean to go on to go
127after that. You could have gone for [laughter] >> um I don't have anything prepared. I wanted to say to Bob and Joan, um the incoming freshman freshman night was awesome. Um you guys, there was someone there. They had like this was their eighth eighth seventh time being at a freshman night. I was just like [laughter] what? What? This was my first one. Uh, and I did have to call out that Bob mixed up um Britney Britney Spears and um Taylor Swift. >> People were like freaking out. >> It was not planned. >> It was great. It was great. But you guys did such a You guys did a really phenomenal job at like bringing together um >> It's a lot. It's a lot of It's a lot. It's a lot. Okay. I'm I'm like [laughter]
128I'm having a hard time. Um but you you really did a wonderful job pulling everything together and you know my friends and I were talking that just community is hard um even at elementary but in middle school it kind of changes a little bit and if your kids aren't my daughter's more about like you know she's in student council and she got inducted to national junior honor society and I so I don't get a lot of those spaces with with parents in her grade and it was so great to come back and to like be in the same spaces see these kids who are like giants now But they were so excited just running around from table to table and they're just so excited about what their future holds and the options and it was
129it was just a really cool night. Um, and you know, just speaking of community and these kids, we know we've been getting a lot of emails from about girls flag football and the community these these young ladies felt together and the number, you know, I know you can speak to it, Erin, a bit too because you were part of it, but it's really cool. um just to see what that means to each like different groups of kids and and in hearing them actually our kids are amazing speakers and I don't I will always give them so much credit for that but to write an email so well and just to speak up for what they desire and what really makes them happy and feel part of a community it's been really really um it's really
130nice to to read and just inspiring. Um, community is really important, especially in hard moments and and all of the various moments. So, I just I really appreciate the night that was put together. I appreciate the ability for communities to come together. Um, I'm not going to go into the girls football much, but I I God, I hope that we can make some sort of effort because we have kids yelling like, "This was an amazing opportunity, amazing community, and I I just I love that so much." So that's I guess community is where I'm going to leave it and I'm just really happy for some of those spaces that we can have that community. >> Very good. Yeah, I a big supporter of girls fight football, of course. So, uh yeah, I love to see
131that kids speaking out. I'll be short. Uh I just want to thank everyone who helped us get ready for the second semester. It's a lot of work to get that machinery moving again and especially in in this extreme cold and weather. I am also always very cognizant of the men and women that are working so hard to keep our streets and uh parking lots and walkways clear and safe. I was up at 5:00 this morning and I saw several vehicles out there doing their work. Uh that's pretty thankless work, hard work, and uh but it's absolutely essential. So, thank you to all those people. >> I just say welcome back. Let's have a great second half of the year and that's stay warm. Thanks to everyone that's keeping the buildings warm and keeping everyone safe.
132>> I'm going to echo that. Uh hopefully everyone got off to a good start uh for the second semester here. Staff, students, administration, teachers. Um I wanted a couple shout outs. one has uh had an opportunity to go to the best buddies gift wrapping at the prior to Christmas and you know it's just a great event and uh they saved me a lot of time so appreciate it if you haven't uh >> yeah taking advantage of it uh I highly recommend next year you consider it they do a very nice job so um I do want to another shout out uh I I'm pretty excited about the AP and dual credit uh message that you uh Mr. Deetsz and Miss Smith gave [clears throat] this evening. Um you can't underestimate that financial impact that she
133shared with us is is really big for a lot of kids. So it really does make a difference. So uh I'm glad we're we're seeing a rise in the students taking advantage of of that program. Um and then uh just you know o over the break you get a chance uh especially with the age of my kids um to talk with some of the returning students and um you know of course there's always some some comments but in general it's just positive to talk with these young people returning to Betavia from their various locations and they still have a lot of love and respect for this community. They have a lot of love and respect for the education that they received here and um I forgot where it was mentioned, you know, benefited. Um they
134definitely recognize um the benefit that uh growing up here in Bavia gave them as as they moved on to their um as they're going through their next stage in their life. So um it was positive to hear that message. I have a little show and tell. [laughter] I went to the Best Buddies concert in December. So, this was their program. It was the program on the inside and then they true the outside, which is very sweet. It was honestly one of the highlights of the holiday for me. It was heartwarming and just really lovely. So, if you ever get the opportunity, I know it's during the day, so it's harder for some people to make it, but it was it was really wonderful. Um, I also went to the ECC open house. So, that was
135nice. I got to take a look at that those spaces. Um, they had a one of the rooms open classrooms open. Uh, and I'm hoping to go to the BPN open house. So, I appreciate I just want to appreciate everyone that comes and, you know, shares with us what's happening in the school district and all the schools. So, thank you. >> All right. My only comments are thank you for everybody that's been kind of writing the emails and what's important to them in particular as was mentioned before the students. I really appreciate that as well. U and then for the time and deliberation that this um order and everything that they do um on a slightly anecdotal I find it fun like my son was one of those both of them were that had the
136kind of went in his credits. So I got the same conversation with my son in like his junior like his sophomore year was like I'm a junior now right same kind of thing. Then your university went yeah you're metriculated bing added extra charges on top of everything because she's now in his degree program. So >> I mean I'll say all right one last comment but I will say like my daughter now is enjoying her college experience >> so much like oh gez year and a half. >> You better slow down a little bit here so you know she's almost exploring ways where she could have that fourth year. Yeah. No. Yeah, >> that will be a conversation. >> Neither of mine managed to get out early. >> Yes. >> And my oldest one is graduating
137in June. >> Law school. So, it's been a long time, you know. So, so thank you to everybody for all the time and effort it takes to pull these presentations together to not only educate us, but anybody that happens to be watching or listening or anything else. Um and so um and then you know the only other thing I would say is and and it kind of hit me a little bit when um one of our student ambassadors, our student ambassadors mentioned it's like their last semester and to hold your little ones close while you have them while you can um and for them to enjoy but not forget that they're still in school for the next three months. So thank you everybody for the time. Um that concludes our regular meeting. Um, we will
138be coming back, but we have no other action items um at the end of this. So, we're going to be adjourning to a close session. So, I will um the board is going to go into close session. We'll not have any any action items. As I said before, you are welcome to stay if you like. Thank you. But if you do decide to leave, we want to thank you for coming out this evening. Um the time is 8:46 and I will entertain a motion to move to a closed session as allowed under the open meetings act for the purposes of exceptions 5 LCS 12C5 and one >> so moved by Raquel second by Katie city please lead roll call vote >> yes >> Thomas >> yes >> meadows >> yes Gilbert. >> Yes. >> Right.
139Thank you. >> Right. Thanks, folks. >> Yeah. Let's head in there.