Batavia Public School District 101 Board of Education Meeting April 22, 2025

001We call it the witching hour. The witching hour. It is now 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025, and I call this meeting of the board of education to order. City, would you please lead the roll call vote? Arandu here. Gonzalez Thomas present. Meadows present. Sliger present. Matis here. Lock here. Gilbert present. I would like to invite Raquel Gonzalez Thomas to lead us in the pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Great. Thank you, Raquel. Tom, are there any items to add or remove from the agenda? No. Great. All right. This evening, we will celebrate the success of the computer science program at BHS. The college college board recently recognized BHS for improving

002female representation in AP computer science principles. According to US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, women represent just 26.9% of the 6.5 million people employed in computer and mathematical occupations. Joining us today are Chris Ozarka and Kevin Jensen, BHS computer science teachers, and three of their students, Sarah, Mthali, and Michaela. So, Kevin actually had a baseball game, so he wasn't able to make it. I don't know where the other two are. Hey, 26.9. And I uh I just before I start, I I did have four hours of proctoring the ACT this morning, so if I'm a little fried, I apologize ahead of time. Uh do I have to talk into this or Sorry. First time here. Uh I'm Chris Ozark. I teach math and computer science at BHS and I appreciate appreciate the opportunity to come

003here and celebrate our successes while allowing me to promote our CS program. I started working at BHS 11 years ago and Brian Gamlin uh the assistant principal at BHS. He had this big overarching vision of creating a sequence of CS courses. Back then it was just a intro to computer science class that was just a term long and that was it. But he wanted to make like a whole sequence of it just to kind of push people if they're interested in that uh in majoring in computer science. Um, here's the courses right there. I can talk about them forever. They wanted me to talk about them. Um, I'm not going to because I'll go over time with that. Um, but I do, yeah, those first three are the ones we have. Now, that fourth one

004is in development, um, cyber security, and they're all primarily focused on career pathways because it's just there's tons of jobs, tons of growth in this field. So, um, those are the courses we have right there. Um, as the CS program gained popularity with students, we need another teacher to cover all the requests. He's not here, but um Kevin Jensen took over the intro class, completely reworked it, kind of made it his baby while I took over the uh the two and three classes there. Um and while the program grew, one thing was lacking was female representation. In the early days, many of our classes had little to no female students. Like there was times we just had zero. Um and so we started researching this and and we noticed a trend. Um we found this

005graph here. It says, "What happened to women in computer science? Percent of women majors by field." And uh I'll try to use this laser pointer here. So if you notice like around the 60s here, super low with med school, law school, physical science, computer science, but they all started in the same spot and then as time went by, they all kind of went up here around 50% which kind of makes sense given the population, but for some reason computer science kind of peaked here and then went downhill. Um that's the only graph I can find. I know it stops at 2015, but it was the best one I can find. Um and I believe you said it was 26% now. So, still kind of around. I mean, it went up a little bit, but yeah.

006Um, so there's a story there. I actually talk about this in our class just to kind of make it known of why that is. Does anybody know why by chance? 1984. Um, so we actually started having computers in the home now. So, personal computers. Apple had a ton way back in the 80s. You can look up the commercials on YouTube still, but they were all focused primarily on pushing it to for for boys. It was all boys marketing for boys. And so because of that, they were still focusing on majoring in computer science, but it kind of got viewed more as a boy thing. Computers were a boy thing, excuse me. And it kind of persists to this day if you think about tech pioneers, you know, Zuckerberg, Gates, Bezos, you name it, Steve Jobs.

007Um, so it kind of persisted that stereotype. So that's why it kind of continued from there. And there's a lot of other factors, but that's the main uh factor with that. Um, so yeah, computer started entering the home. Um, to overcome this stereotype, what we started doing with BHS is just getting counselors more involved, talking to students. Um, the students themselves. That's why we have a student here that's going to talk about that, just promoting it. Um, the women in STEM club is a new club run by Susan Fricky at the high school. She kind of promotes that stuff as well, having guest speakers come in, talk about that. And then our own re uh our own research, our own outreach um, reputation of the program just kind of started building it. So, we're getting

008closer to that 50%. Um there was research done by Harvey Mud College. So here's another gra. This is the last graph I promise. Um where it kind of shows like US average um for computer science majors. But then Harvey Mud started doing interventions kind of the same thing that I was talking about um before just um outreach uh focusing on more like collaboration rather than competition within computer science. Just making it more open to females. And they actually cut that into about 50%. If you look up there it says 48.8%. um toward the end of it, it's actually higher than 50% now. Again, that's the only graph I could find for that. Um so we're trying to mimic kind of that MUD model of what they did, Harvey Mud College, what they did. Um so

009sorry. Um and as parents and educators, um so why is this important? As parents and educators, we want our students to have options. And if they don't have options, if they don't know they have options. So that's the big thing that we're trying to um encourage. Um this graph again going back to this it it would have kept trending to 50%. If that you know marketing and other issues um didn't happen. So we're trying to close the gap on that. Um and the main thing that um critical thinking is what we want to focus on in all three of our computer science classes at BHS not just how to code but how to think. So by empowering students especially females with these skills we're not just teaching computer science we're shaping the next generation of

010problem solvers and innovators. And then I kind of want to end with this quote here which I think is kind of meant to be tongue andcheek but it's kind of funny as well. Uh and then I'm going to introduce one of my students to talk. Hello. Um good evening. So my name is Sarah Alf and I'm a junior at Bavia High School. And my freshman year I signed up for a class called computer science principles. Didn't really know what I was going into. I've done STEM and robotics my entire life, but for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to go into engineering, and I thought it was so cool. And being part of the computer science program was a huge part in my journey. Like I mentioned, when I first started, I was

011the only girl in my class. And that was kind of intimidating, but it also pushed me to grow and find my voice in a field where I didn't really think I could belong. But I was able to come up and work in a place where I did belong. And with the support of amazing teachers like Mr. Ozarka, I was able to find the confidence not only to stick with the field of engineering, but also build a community where other girls could um feel welcome to and as you mentioned like I've we've encouraged friends and younger girls to join the classes because it does truly open up so many doors and opportunities especially in our growing world and that's why the award from the college board means so much to me personally is it shows that

012Bavia is making real progress and creating a space for girls like me to feel um have confidence and leadership and opportunity. in this ever growing field of engineering and computer science. And I hope that this award inspires more girls to take the leap and to try something new and to find their creativity and voices in tech because we truly do need that. So, thank you for supporting programs like this and have a great night. [Applause] comments at all. Thank you very much for Yes. Yes. Go for it, Chris. Chris, this award, what are the parameters? What's it based on? Why'd you get it? Um, so this one in particular is APCSP. Um, so that's the the second PL. Is that what she was referring to or Um, she did take that class. She also took

013the APCSA one as well. Um, this particular award was more for how many students took the AP exam. Um, so it's for taking the Yes. Yeah. taking the APCSP exam. But is it based on having females take the Oh, I'm sorry. Females. Yes. Yeah, the over the 50% mark on that. Yes. Over 50% took. Okay. Or maybe it's 50%. Exactly. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And we're actually probably going to beat it again this year as well because we just have really high numbers again. But starting off for having none. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a long way. Okay. That's I was just curious. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome. Appreciate you guys taking the time to come out here today to show us this and talk about it. Yes. Appreciate it. All

014right. Public comments. Welcome to the meeting of the board of education. If anyone wishes to address the board this evening, please see our recording secretary to submit a form for addressing the board. Please put your full name and address on the form. Do we have any for today? We do not. Okay. Then I will spare everybody the indignity of me reading the rest of that. All right, BPS partners, Mr. Drew Ray, are you hiding back there? Good seeing you, sir. Likewise. Good evening, everyone. Uh, shout out to the computer science program. That's a pretty awesome award. How's it going? Seen you in a while. Um, uh, first I wanted to extend, uh, good evening. Sorry. First, I wanted to extend a special congratulations to BEA members Lefield Hubble on their nominations for the King County

015Educator of the Year Award. Um, when your own peers nominate you for an award like that, it's a powerful acknowledgement of the profound impact you've had on your students and colleagues. Both Lisa and Monica are incredibly vital parts of our educational community, and I'm thrilled to see them recognized for their commitment to our profession. Um, second, tonight, big night tonight, we will be swearing in the winners of the April 1st BPS 101 school board election. Kristen Geralts, Aaron Kilberg, Craig Meadows, and Katie Swissiki. That means that this will also be the last board meeting for R.J. Matthysse and Sue Lockach. Uh, to R.J. R.J. and Sue, a simple thank you is not enough to express our apprec appreciation for the time and energy you've devoted to your roles on the board and in support of

016our school district. I'm sure serving on the board of education has at times felt like a thankless task and at other times been incredibly uh rewarding. It's not an easy position. So, for both of you to have dedicated yourself to this work, I extend my deepest gratitude and thank you for your service to the district. With that said, also congratulations to Craig and Aaron on their re-election to the board and a heartfelt welcome to our newest board members, Kristen and Katie. Hi, how's it going? Uh, the Battavia Education Association is thrilled with the outcome of the April 1st election and I think that this new board will have a healthy mix of perspective and experience that will be of a benefit to all of us. And um I'll talk more about this at our upcoming

017May board meeting, but if you'll recall last year's May board meeting at Betavia High School, the BEA expressed their appreciation for the administration and board's recommitment to improving our educational environment by addressing concerns related to trust, transparency, and communication. I truly believe in my heart of hearts that we have been moving in the right direction this year. With that in mind, what I want to say to all of you as members of the board, both veterans and new and incoming for that matter, is this. You have a partner in the Bavia Education Association. While you face the incredibly difficult task of balancing the interests of all district stakeholders, it is vital that we continue to lean into our collaborative structures to ensure that educator voice, those professionals who work with the students every day, the

018people on the front lines, continues to guide the decision-making process. And let's not forget every decision we make as a district should lead back to our students. We are all here because public education is important. And I think you'd agree that our number one goal is to provide a welcoming and robust educational experience for our students and to simply be there for every single student in the district. And the best way to do that is by working together. So again, congratulations to the incoming board members and to the board as a whole. The BEA is looking forward to continuing to work with all of you. Let's meet the moment with courage and care. Um, before I wrap up, uh, Tom, you reminded me I I didn't have this on my, uh, prepared uh, comments here,

019but we do also have our May 8th retirement and recognition ceremony at Enticing Cuisine. I I forwarded the uh, invitation to Tom, so hopefully he will pass that along to everybody, and we look forward to seeing you. It's a good time. Uh, good food, good memories. It's it's a lot of fun. So, that's all I have for tonight. Go Bulldogs. Happy Earth Day. Solidarity forever with our brothers and sisters in Besa. And congratulations on your new contract. Uh, good night and good luck. Thank you. Next is BESA President Sue Bottoman or Kevin Bottoman. Sue is Kevin back here somewhere. There you are Kevin. Good evening everyone. Uh nice to see you all again. My comments will be brief because I'm going to step aside and let Jillian uh step up and address you. As you

020know, my uh personal circumstances kept me from participating in the uh talks on the new collective bargaining agreement, but other members of the executive board, primarily uh Laura Vasillo, uh Sharon Matowski, and our treasurer um who joins me here tonight, Jillian Thor, uh participated and uh with members of the administration, couple of members of the board in uh completing those talks. Jillian's here to speak to that uh agreement and that effort. I will step aside and Jillian if you will take over at this point. Jillian Thor. Hi, good evening. Thank you for having me. Um so I was one of the main leaders that was in charge of negotiations along with um there were nine um negotiation team members along with Susan from IEA. Um we worked for four and a half days. Um and

021we had with administration and then we had Rob and Craig both um alternating days with us. And so thank you for doing that for us. Um the negotiations were smooth. Both sides had similar suggestions and thoughts on contract um changes. We were pleased with the results of our three-year contract. We went from a 5-year to a three-year contract. So everyone is very excited about that. Our contract, which we Tony and I have talked about this, passed our ratification unanimously. every single person in the union that attended the meeting voted yes for it. So, we're super excited about that. Um, some highlights from our new contract include competitive uh compensation for all support staff, additional pay for PAR professionals in the DO and ILP programs. We have 403b match which we did not have before. So,

022we now join our partners with BEA in that great accomplishment. Um we have new um subcommittee that's going to be updating um our training and uh starting a mentoring program which we did not have before. So we're very excited about that along with the joint committee looking and revamping job descriptions along with evaluations to bring them up to date for all of our members. Uh we will be working with the administration on that and we're very excited. uh dedicated time to all paraprofessionals which not everyone had that time before to collaborate with um our BEA friends and work together to achieve the best goal for our students. And then we had clarity for administration and staff on um evaluation versus progressive discipline. There was kind of a little bit of a confusion there. So we

023wanted to clear that up for everyone so they understood. Uh more details about the work calendar. We talked a lot about work calendar and um about how many days everybody had, how many train days and that was really important for our members. They wanted to be able to know what they their calendar would look like going forward. And then we updated my biggest excitement I guess because I'm a secretary. Um we're now administrative assistants. So we're very excited that we have a modern-day name of administrative assistance across the board. Um overall we are very pleased with the final results of the negotiation. I wanted to say thank you to the administration and the board um for your support through this process. It was a great experience. Um and then we are very we're looking forward

024to um working with the administration on these joint committees for job descriptions, evaluations, trainings and mentoring program along with a variety of other things over the next three years. So thank you. Thank you. My if I may also add to that, excuse me, that um the contract I think was uh the fruit of efforts that really started more than a year ago and and and reflects the improved relationships between VESPA and administration. It really has been um a new day so to speak with um with those relations and the efforts uh uh working collaboratively. I think a big part of that are the monthly meetings that the BESBA board has with the RJC team here. And what I what I think that this new contract really um helps with or sets the stage for is

025the next contract that will come up three years from now. Um it really does uh mark a new phase. the the last contract, which was a five-year deal, really left many people um uh in BESBA and outside of BESBA with a bad feeling about where relation uh ship stood between a district and its uh workers. This new contract is a different story and as we talked about at best, but we really believe that it sets a nice foundation for when this contract reaches its term and the next round of talks begin on the next collective bargaining agreement, it will be on a firm and and solid foundation. And the group that does that will be in a very good position. So, thank you for everyone who had a hand in in putting this one together.

026It is very much appreciated and we thank you. We look forward to going forward together again. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin. All right. Next is consent agenda. According to our board policy, we designate a portion of the uh agenda as consent for those items that are usually do not require extensive discussion before board action. These items are generally routine, recurring, and can be grouped together for efficiency. Brad, what? No, we're doing moving them toward the end for a little bit of celebration. I asked and clarified. I should have announced it unless you were ready to go right now. Are you ready? Yeah. Got a little celebrating to do at the end. So, okay. Um Brad, as a change of pace, would you like us to walk walk us through it? Sure. The consent agenda has

027a number of items, including 5.1, the approval of our February 18th close session minutes. 5.2, 2. The approval of our March 18th, 2025 meeting minutes and the close session meetings is 5.3. The approval of our April 8th special meeting minutes is 5.4. 5.5 is the close session from that night. 5.6 is our monthly personnel report. 5.7 is the approval of our payroll and bills. 5.8 is accepting donations both from our Rotary Club and Amy Flanigan. Thank you very much. Uh 5.9 is our classroom use agreement with Mid Valley Special Education Cooperative, which we're a part of. 510 is our approval of our food service contract renewal. 511 is the approval of our K8 meal prices, which have to increase. 512 is the award of our copy paper bid for next year. 513 is the approval

028of our stop-loss loss insurance contract. 514 is the approval of the textbook, the language of composition for Lang. 515 is putting the textbook Every Falling Star on display for our freshman English class. 516 is accepting the official canvas of votes. And finally, 517 is the approval of the consent agenda. Well done, Brad. Anyone have any questions? Yes, I do. Uh so 5.9 the mid valley is renting the high school able room. How often do they use that room and is it during school hours or after hours? Yes. Every school day that's their classroom that they they house there. So every school day they don't do things after school or beyond the school summertime too. They're not there. They host uh ESY, the summer programming at a different location. And then 5.12 is the copy paper.

029Have we ever used that vendor before? Garvey. No, that would be a first time. Uh and then 5.15, this is for freshman English. Yes, freshman English. And then one last one is um just out of curiosity for the personnel report uh the staff hiring of Amy Blakeley. Uh this always says to be determined. Is that because it's going to be a new school year or is that because um our like years service or that one I wish Steve was here. I don't know the answer to that one but we'll get it to you. Okay. Thanks. That's all I got. Anyone else? I have one comment on item 5.11. The uh K through8 meal price increase. I just want to point out that you know the cost of goods and food and services is at on

030everybody's mind these days and uh that increase is only 10 cents. So that's pretty modest uh compared to where some things are. So I wanted to say good job to our team. I think we're providing good value in that regard. So good job on that. Rob, um had a couple questions about the stop-loss insurance contract. Um is the vendor that we went to, is that our current vendor or is that a new vendor? Yeah, it's the current Josh knows more about that one than I do. So, so yes, that's our current vendor. Okay. And um maybe just a couple high what was the there was eight eight uh vendors looked at what what was the reasons we we went with this one. This one was actually slightly higher in cost than a new one. The

031difference was though this one looks back six years whereas the other one looks back only 12 months. So if a claim didn't come in that in a medical claims sometimes come in late then we would have been at a loss. So that's why we want this one. And then is it just normal practice to do one-year contracts or is there any advantage to doing multi-year? When it comes to stop-loss generally we're looking at things a year at a time because of the changing nature of our claims. So sometimes we entertain multi-year we have in the past and sometimes we don't. It really depends on what's going on in our claims history and what the issues are. So it's very situation specific. Okay. So it's advantageous for us to do the one year. Yeah. And last

032year we got a really good rate. This year it's not bad. And that's the it's insurance on insurance. So depending on how we perform, that's how we get these um rates. So thank you. Could you just because insurance is pretty confusing insurance? Yeah. So basically we're a self-funded insurance plan. That means all the medical bills get paid out of our uh account, right? So if a large claim comes in, this puts a limit on that claim so that this company pays those bills instead of us paying those bills. So basically, it's insurance against a catastrophic event on someone on our insurance. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved. So moved by Raquel. Second. Second by Aaron. Cindy, please lead us in

033a roll vote. Carolandu, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Gilbert, yes. Siger, yes. Meadows, yes. Matthysse, yes. Lock, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Under reports, Tom, would you like to lead us through the reports? Yes. So we are presenting uh our monthly reports of foyer requests. This month uh had a little larger volume than normal but other than that uh we were able to grant all the requests. Any questions? Any questions? Okay. I have a weird question that I wasn't going to ask but I decided to. Now you're going to. Yeah. Wonderful. Bang. My friend. If I was wonderful, if someone was so inclined to find out who an anonymous requester was, would they be able to request that via FOYA? That is a interesting question. No, because a FOYA is for a public body and so

034waiting to ask that question, haven't you? I just I've never seen such an amount of anonymous requests. Have we gotten anonymous before? This, in my recollection, is the very first time we have ever seen anything like this before. Okay, cuz I asked I thought this was I didn't even know you could submit a request that I'm going to be sending a lot now. There are some schools of thought, but we're sticking with a safer approach for the district and responding. There's nothing against it. No challenges. Okay, Tony, treasur report. U Mr. Kilberg asks me every month if there is anything uh anomalous to report on the treasures report and indeed this month this there is nothing anomalous to report. So the usual things are thought you were gonna just kill it. Sue's last meeting. So

035yeah, no one nothing new. Okay. Any questions on nothing new? No. Sue, you sufficiently recovered to the move on to the next agenda item. Okay. Item 6.3, committee updates. Anybody have any committee updates? Okay, Raquel. Uh so plaque had a meeting last Thursday. Um we kind of went over the ISB professional development requirements as a minimum of two training sessions to teachers who interact with EL students. Um so they're kind of saying do they want these sessions to be during department meetings for grades 6 through 12 or staff meetings for elementary remote trainings and also there is no time required for the trainings like so like training doesn't have to be an hour can be 20 minutes 30 minutes. So um that's that county institute days for staff learnings and trainings. Do they organize those

036by buildings or what the teachers teach and they give them three options like a conference meet with the team PLC or attend district approved professional learning. Um they also give an update and I think this is kind of important for SIGDS pro update um and they kind of found that black male students in BPS have a four times chance of being labeled with a disability whether that's emotional or behavioral. So this is a system problem. They are examining our systems and the hypothesis is maximizing core instructions for the black males and we're seeing progress and addressing that. So that's kind of good news. So sent out um to elementary swap dates for Illinois literary train literacy training. Um, and they picked July for their retreat date and then they shared the PLC, I'm sorry, the

037plaque dates for next year and they are meeting on the same days as CAC and student services in case they ever want to potentially combine uh meetings with CAC or student services. They have like a common theme in them and that's all. Okay, anyone? So, stipen committee met. Um, I think there was there was a thought that we could wrap up uh our work um and approve all the stipens at the last meeting, but um there were some more questions uh that needed to be investigated. Um so, we're going to do that uh do that due process work and um we have a meeting early May, I think May 3rd, and uh we should be wrapped up by then. But um my comment here really is I appreciate the thoroughess of thoroughess that is going

038on with these evaluations of these requests. They're not being taken, you know, lightly. It's um there's really some real work going into investigating um getting feedback um benchmarking in certain cases um the request. So um I appreciate the thoroughess. Any others? I I just uh I'm on the insurance and benefits committee. They have two pretty important meetings and they might even hold more if they need to. They've got some important topics to discuss that they're trying to complete by the end of this year. So, I'm just throwing it out there that they've got a meeting next week and then I think one following two weeks after that that if a board member is able to be assigned to that pretty quickly, it would probably be a good idea to have somebody there. Unless you want

039to volunteer to R.J. I'm continuing beefy through the end of the year. Oh no. So not unheard of for you to continue your committee. Taking my badge, so I won't. So close. You should let him. I'll look for it. Josh already said his goodbyes to me. So I don't think I could go through those goodbyes again. Too hard. It's too hard the first time. All right. Any others? Otherwise, I'm going to You want to make a comment about this? This is new, right? Like this update here. Yeah. Um with this information. Yep. So, this is the second month I believe we're trying this the second board meeting. Um board, if you recall, when we would do committee report outs, we would come back to like policy committee report out and they kind of there was

040a sense of redundancy after some conversation we had about that. And so we thought what it would be nice maybe to put it all together in one spot uh because under port board comments I think sometimes we were also having some committee discussion updates. So we we have it all here but also this gives an opportunity for the administration uh chairs to assist with some of the committee information being um kind of publicly displayed uh you know as part of the conversation as well. Yeah Rob thank you for pointing it out. Uh, I have CAC and Equity up there. I'm dealing with like a nasty migraine, so I don't Sorry, I might be kind of, but um, CAC had their last meeting. I know you missed out, Brad, but they had their last meeting um,

041as soon as I was getting down all of the different acronyms. We're like wrapping up the year, but um, they have um, developed a new document that will actually be tested out by one of the new programs for ELA. Um this is where when we are having those field tests for any new resources um you know the salt teams and anyone who is um going through those pre-implementation stages can go ahead and give their feedback and really have a collective way to kind of see how it it's working for everybody and what tweaks might need to be made. Um so that was approved and um will be utilized like I said by uh the K through5 ELA. Um, with that they voted to go ahead with the field test. Um, they do want to have

042an option to possibly field test a second publisher. Um, there were some concerns around that, but um, I think that the idea is, you know, you don't want to, okay, then what happens after that one or after that one, but they seem to have a good relationship together on the CAC team just to really kind of keep it um, streamlined and just allow to hear voices. And hopefully this will be the one that that goes through. So, um, that looked good for math at RMS. Um, that's looking good and they're they're going to move forward to, um, pay and get materials for the new Eureka program. Um, and then I don't know if Brad you have any update, but uh, the social studies, I think that's K through five, right? The Y, that one was

043like we weren't sure where that was going at the time and they were going to have a subcommittee meeting. Was that done? And we've met today. Okay. Okay, so we had a half day meeting today. We talked through like how do we get to next steps? How do we seek feedback from the staff that piloted? So we have a plan for seeking some feedback and then a recommendation for KAC to consider probably at their June meeting. Okay. To keep the work moving forward. All right. Okay. I think I might have hit Super STEM is doing great for science. I think that's my notes that I took. Then equity was like one of the shortest meetings ever. We um there was a request from student services committee to uh um have equity take a look at

044and help spread the word on feedback. Um Tommy could I don't know if you can explain it better, but ISB is updating their standards and um this is kind of going into the process of that as well as more PD correct to kind of feed into the adult part of Yeah, got it. Um it's all aligned and uh with theCCL standards uh being updated, it's aligned in and all the shifts that we're making to try and uh continue to push our tier one um you know uh systems that we've been putting in place. And like you said, the student services team uh asked if the equity committee could provide feedback after reviewing all their work. So they got a Google form. Yep. I think their last meeting is May, so they're not done yet. Okay.

045That's what I got. Any others before I fess up that I didn't make rack this week and ask Tony or Josh to give me a little give a little update. I just have a quick question or or Rob, you can give it if you like. Well, that's why I brought this up because it's kind of summarized right there. So, I didn't want to just repeat it, but you could just read it. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. No highlights. Everybody can read. So, sorry. That's okay. I just had a quick question with the cat. Um the ELA, what grades was that for for the field test? They want to do that. K through five. K through the We had a K12 team, but we're at kind of a different place with both the secondary level and the elementary

046level. So, we have a team working on the elementary and we're continuing professional development and some work on the secondary as well. So eventually you'll see more on what's happening with secondary and yelling. All right. Thank you very much. Wrap up for the committee updates. All right. Items item 7.1, approval of new collective bargaining agreement with BESBA. Tom, do you want to walk us through that? Yes. So, um, I think we heard some of the highlights from both Kevin and Jillian. And you know the one comment I'll just add is I think it was a awesome process in showing that uh both teams had a lot of similar if not identical at times priorities and trying to uh bring forward a really healthy contract but also one that supports our employees and supports the work

047that they do for our students um and the level of collaboration in that. So really nice job. I'll turn it over to Tony. Tony acted as our chief negotiating uh negotiating officer. So Tony, you want to take it away? Uh, I don't have much to add. I think Jillian and Kevin did a really nice job of contract. Say that we're really excited about it, too. Um, this will, I believe, help us with recruitment and retention of of members of this group. And obviously, this education doesn't happen every day without their assistance. This this wouldn't work without them. And so, um, we believe that this contract honors that work and puts us in the heading in the right direction. So, we're excited about it. All right. Any board questions, comments? Rob, anything you want to add

048because you were there? Um, no. I I guess I'll just echo it. It was very collaborative. Um, and there was uh mutual respect demonstrated uh from both sides throughout at least the the negotiations I saw. So, that was very positive. We used a it was new to me but it I used a interestbased bargaining framework which I think really helped um frame the discussions that we had. Um, so that was very positive and I guess you know shout out to Tony. Um, we lost our I forgot the title, the facilitator that we had due to he was a federal employee and you know there was uh some cuts that that happened in the federal government. So we we lost his services and Tony uh stepped in I think and fulfilled that role. So appreciate that.

049I helped a little bit. Yeah, I appreciate that. But I would have to say a lot of credit is due to our attorney Justin Petrarcha and his expertise and experiences and then the best uniserve director Susan Thorson. She stepped up too. So helped make that work. So we really appreciate their contributions. Team effort. It was terrible. Any other questions? Well, I just have a comment that I'm really happy to to really to see that this went through and so smoothly and to hear from Kevin and Jul Jillian that you really feel like this is like a new foundation especially going forward into the next years and the next um contract. You know, when I got on the board, there was, you know, I was in schools and I was hearing a lot, especially from Vesa,

050just kind of feeling a little left out and just kind of pushed aside and upset about the five-year um not knowing that what was lying ahead with COVID and everything. But I'm really happy to hear that the work that's being done together by admin and byes to really like strengthen that relationship and that it seems like a lot of voices were heard. Um, so I really am excited for that and I love to hear that you really like that foundation is so important. So I'm I'm happy to hear about the hope that everyone's feeling right now. And I I guess I'll just echo that. So um you know contract negotiations can be very divisive and it can be damaging to the culture of any institution where it's occurring. So to have both sides participate in

051good faith to work hard for a common goal of a fair contract for both sides is u outstanding and to have uh BESPA tell us that 100% of the members ratified is probably unprecedented and it is a very diverse group of constituents that you represent. So that's um just really exciting to hear and uh you know Mr. Ray in his comments talked about a culture of collaboration. I can just say in my four years that I don't think we've ever been in a better spot with all our partners as far as communicating and what I'm excited about now is that we all can put our eyes on serving students and uh so I'm really excited about the work ahead because we're all in this together now and uh we're ready to get to work. So

052congratulations to all parties involved in negotiation. Thank you. Any others? Okay, I will entertain a motion to approve a collecting bargaining agreement with Betavia Educational Support Association for the 2026 through 2028 fiscal years. So moved. So moved by Rob, second. Second by RJ. Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. Lock. Yes. Mats, yes. Kilberg, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Arandu, yes. Sliger, yes. Meadows, yes. Right. Thank you. Next is public hearing and authorization of the school calendar waiver. Brad, would you please explain this item and conduct? Certainly. Um, we are seeking a waiver from the state board of education uh to craft our calendar a little bit differently than is allowed by the different machinations of school calendaring. It's actually a pretty complex process to uh create a school calendar and get that approved

053by the state. Um, one of the ways that we are kind of banking time is that there's a minimum school day and if you go over the minimum school day of five hours, you can bank that time and use it but only in half day increments. So, if you look around at different school calendars, for instance, just uh to the north of us, they have a number of half days, typically about one per month, and they're using banked time in order to do that. Well, half days are very difficult on our families. So about 5 years ago, we went through this waiver process as did uh 204 who was um kind of a model of ours uh on this process and they we asked the state to approve us using that bank time in a

054full day increment and we do that because it's easier for our parents than half days are really difficult for child care or elementary. We have a lot of kids unattended at home and also it's better for our learning too. So we're invested in adult learning which we are. We want to make sure we're providing the best learning environment. So when you teach for four hours and then you have to go into a a PD session, it's not the best environment. So this uh waiver allows us to do this in a full day increment. So if you were looking at the school calendar, last Friday was a SIP day, not an institute day. we call it in day because people don't know what school improvement days are. But um um on the inside behind the scenes,

055it's focused on school improvement and the work that we're doing to support and better our students. So that waiver is expiring. So we need to re-up it and renew it. So as a part of that process, we contact all of the legislators in Illinois uh and say that we're interested in doing this. We talk to our associations um to let them know that um they have ability to to weigh in on this and then we have to publish in the newspaper that we're holding this hearing. There's a lot of paperwork that goes behind the scenes. So, thank you to Marcia Schustster who's kind of coordinated this for the CNI department. And kind of the final piece is that we hold a public hearing to see if anyone wants to comment about why we're seeking this

056waiver or what that would mean for the district. And then once we close that hearing and the board approves this, we would send all that paperwork into the state and um get approval to do our calendar the way that we have it planned. Okay. So Cindy, do we have any comments from the public as a part of the public hearing? Not at this point. Not at this point. Okay. Thank you. All right. Are there any comments or questions from the board? I would like to say that I've never been a fan of half days. You know the spread. So I remember doing this five years ago and I'm a big fan. So I would support this. Makes a lot of sense to me. Any other questions? Okay. I will entertain a motion to approve of

057the application seeking the school calendar waiver. So moved. Moved by Raquel. Second. Sue. Sue. Sue. Sorry. Thank you. Second. Aaron. Correct. Correct. All right. Sydney, please lead us in a roll call vote. Arandu, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Kilberg, yes. Lock, yes. Matthysse, yes. Meadows, yes. Siger, yes. Motion passes. Item 7.3, adoption of resolution to accept the Betavia Bulldog Boosters donation pledge. Mark, would you please come to the podium? Good evening everyone. Um, as you can see, this was a longer one. Um, but basically what this is is the Betavia Bulldog Boosters is um donating. Basically, it's a donation, but um it's a pledge over five years. So they are pledging to donate back to the district $50,000 a year for a new scoreboard at the stadium. Um so you can see in the attachments that

058the letter from the board president uh the booster board president is in there and the other one is for um basically um this board to sign. So, this is a very similar agreement, and some of you may remember this, but um thank you, Sue. Back um when there was an agreement between the board and the boosters for the turf at the high school. So, it was very I mean, the agreement is very similar. The amounts are different um but it's both for the stadium. Um I don't know what other if there's other information that you want from me. Um, I'm more than happy to answer any questions and I also have uh Dave Andrews who's the associate principal for operations and athletics at the high school. If there's anything that I cannot answer, I brought

059him here as well. Any questions? Yeah, I have questions. So, what happens if the boosters don't come up with the 50,000 in a year? What happens? Well, we will be so as the district, we will be purchasing. So, you'll see a the next action item is for that purchase of the scoreboard and then the work. So, if they do not I mean in conversations with them, it is in their bylaws to follow through with all of that. Um, but as far as legal ramifications, you know, I would have help Tony ask Tony to help me with this, but really we I mean it's it's a donation. So, they're donating the money. But they did as an executive board all vote unanimously to ex accept this donation to the school district. But let's just say if

060they didn't, we are still paying the money as a district and they're donating that money to us then. So with the scoreboard, how long is the warranty and what does it cover? The warranty. Yeah. So the Oh, on the scoreboard. So the scoreboard itself, there is a basically a two-year L or warranty on parts, things like that. And then any installation, there's a one-year warranty on that. And then what type of maintenance or upkeep is needed for the new board? And then who will cover that? Any upkeep is would be on the district. So upkeep would be, you know, if something were, you know, to go wrong with that's all LED. So if something would go to wrong with an LED panel. So there's off the top of my head, I don't know how many

061panels are, but the the board is made up of individual panels that go together. So if there was something in there, we would, you know, obviously have to fix that for the scoreboard to work. So you can relate it to basically a light bulb. you know, if you have to replace a light bulb, you're just screwing up the light bulb. This is an actually LED panel that you would have to um do maintenance on or really the maintenance is not much. It would be if something were to fail to that. So, the vendor doesn't have any type of service um obligation as part of this contract or part of the purchase? No, it would just be within the warranty. And then there's approved, you know, there's approved people that that work on any of these

062scoreboards. So, and then this another um so in the agenda it says that you know community and high school events. It says movie nights and I'm just curious has there ever been a movie night at BPS? I don't know. I there's always one in the park. No, there Yeah. Yeah, there have been. Um Dave Corave could probably answer that a little more. So, yeah, Dave, you do have to come up here. Mr. Mr. Andrews, we need you at the microphone, please. Yes. I was going to ask Mr. Andrews to go through, it's in here, but I mean, you could literally read it, I guess, but like all the different student populations that and community members that will benefit from this. Yes. As far as the movie night goes, our student council um sponsors a movie

063night every fall in the stadium. And they've done that for as long as I can remember, you know, 15 years at least. Um they typically rent a company to come in and do a a large blowup screen and then obviously project it on there with you know the students come and boosters serve popcorn just out of gratus and then you know the students you know lay the blankets down and they just kind of watch a movie. It could be you know just a fun back to the back to school type event to kind of a mixer for student council to sponsor for the students. So yeah we do have movie nights um every year for that. Um, as far as everybody else that's involved um, in the stadium, obviously we have our major sports, you

064know, football, soccer, lacrosse, track, um, that take place for as far as the high school students in there that would obviously benefit from this. Um, uh, scroll back up a little bit just so I have it other way. Other way. Yeah. So then we have special events um, um, through outside vendors as well. Our BYA um ha uh sponsors um youth football nights there under they call it under the nights lights under the lights night. Um you know to give all the you know the youth football players in the community opportunities to you know to participate on the stadium and obviously um this would definitely enhance that as well. um just with the the usability of our our mobile cameras through the the huddle system that the boosters also supplies this integrate that this would

065integrate directly um with that scoreboard so the kids you know get to see themselves on the scoreboard so they they'll think that's um very cool um obviously the homecoming dance um now for the last couple years since co has been out there um again the DJ um that we use would be able to integrate any special effects um with that as well um the marching band obviously uses it Actually, the marching band actually uses the the stadium actually more than any other um you know program in the district um just with their their summer programs and their practice times. And then they also do the the very large fall community presentation um that um that it it packs the stadium if anybody's ever been there. It's a pretty amazing um you know function. Um, so

066again, that would be an option for them to use for any of their whether it be their practices, their camps, you know, or that large community band performance. Um, and then obviously our physical education, you know, students are out there every day, you know, when the weather's nice. Um, it fully integrates into iPads. Um, so teachers can pull up YouTube videos, instructional videos, a scoreboard app, you know, so whatever they're doing on that stadium, you know, for curriculum can also that can also be displayed onto the um, you know, the video board as well. Um, and actually we have one of these boards in our main gym and with the help of our tech department, we have actually now been able to integrate our laptops just like a screen beam like we're doing here um,

067with that. So actually we have teachers now using it in the in the main gym as well. So we we have a triedand- trueue method now to be able to help. Again, our baseball team used it actually for practice to to break down some video. So um yeah, so it's um I mean I don't want to I don't know if we have an exact number, but pretty much every student um in the high school would definitely benefit from it. And then obviously with all the community um partners that you know I discussed, it even extends that far as well. Any other questions? Uh yeah. So were we BPS looking for a new scoreboard or is this kind of this fall in our lap? Hey, we want to do this. No, we have been looking for

068a new scoreboard. So there have been with our current scoreboard there have been a number of issues at least the past three years um to the point where we've basically done everything that we know and our contractors know to do with it. um to the point of really hard wiring it. So there's actually most scoreboards are wireless. Most of them are wireless. They work off a controller. This one is hardwired um because of the age of it. So our maintenance team ran from the press box all the way to the current scoreboard. A hard wire. And I'm not going to say it and I know Dave's not going to say it, but it it's working. every time we turn it on, we hope that it works. It a little bit more part of that just

069the scoreboard components are they are becoming they are obsolete and so um we've been putting together with duct tape for the last couple years and so we're definitely long overdue for a replacement. Then like so one last one, right? So if uh the turf was a donation like we kind of did it here obviously was the booster successful in repaying us for that turf? Yes, they were. Oh, yeah. I just want to make sure. No, those are good questions. I mean, again, I've been working with this booster club now for my 15 years, and they always come up with a very robust wish list where coaches, you know, supply items that don't get covered onto the regular budgets, um, you know, for their athletics. And so, um, annually they submit the wish list. in that

070can range depending on district commitments that ranges anywhere between $50,000 up to $100,000 annually. Um, and they've never not paid their bills, their commitments. Any other questions? Yeah, I I I kind of like on Raquel's one question. I know she asked what happens if they cannot um raise donations and you know, are we on the the hook for it? Then can you just kind of clarify what that the risk of that is for us? I mean, what are we I want to better understand what are we potentially what could we be potentially on the hook for from our budget if they can't I mean I know you say that's never happened, right? They've never come through without donations. How much are we potent how where are they at for the full amount needed? I guess

071at this point, how much have they raised and how much more do they need to raise? Right now they have $200,000 in the bank. Okay. Okay. And then they obviously have $10,000 in scholarships coming up here. They got a the spring wish list items they still have to pay off. So, um, they were actually initially ready to write the $200,000 check, um, just with some estimates of construction and install, um, and just materials and who knows again where the prices are going to lay, um, when we actually get the board. Um, we weren't comfortable with just 200,000. That's why we went up to 250,000. And so, the board felt it more comfortable, the the booster board felt it more comfortable to let's space it out over those five years. um for that and a piece

072I guess we didn't really talk about it here is the board is the revenue generator um through advertising um and so the goal would be to take the the hard posters that are in the stadium and obviously you know change those over to digital advertising probably not 100% but again that will we'll have more opportunities for you know income you know through more sponsorship and advertising and this board would obviously ly help that support that. They're obviously keeping an eye on the budget and they're not going to continue to spend over what if they to be able to meet the Yeah. The the treasurer is a is an accountant and he holds us very accountable. Yes. This is pretty much exactly the way the turf was handled, right? 100%. Yeah. 100%. And that was twice

073as much. Yeah. The turf was $600,000 donation. I I know I know a bit about the turf. think we're just in different times where I think we're just really like warm, safe, dry is kind of where we're at. And with everything that's costing so much more money, it's just I just want to make sure that anything that's beyond warm, safe, dry is something that we are definitely okay with. They're raising the money and paying us back. And so our concern, can they pay us back? Yeah. I want to know the risk. Like what if they can't? I don't think there's any risk. You're right. The risk is if they can't pay us back, we would owe it because we got to buy the thing up front. So we're entering, right? I mean, one way or

074the other, bet if if something unforeseen hack happens, they're they're paying off portions of it and then we're getting a pretty good deal on a brand new, this is my opinion, brand new you, you know, scoreboard system, you know. So, that's again my personal view about it. Um, I've seen plenty of times where that has been used. I've also seen in other districts that have utilized the advertising as a way to actually pay for their their scoreboards in and it of themselves, you know, and enter an agreement with some advertising companies or whatever else. So, it gives plenty of options there. So, like if something happens on that front, then other avenues could be looked at to help offset the at least long-term, you know, financing issue that maybe the school district could have with

075some creative thinking by just by way of example, one of the last the last couple of payments for the turf field fell in the years where the pandemic hit and the lockdown hit and then the subsequent year about hybrid and that severely impacted obviously the booster's ability to generate revenue because events weren't being held or they were heavily modified and it affected their cash flow. And so what we did was we stretched out those payments over a couple more years. They paid all the money in full, but they needed another year, if I recall correctly, to make all the payments. So, that's the possibility where we might face if there was some serious adverse impact on their cash flow. We could stretch that over time. Thank you. But you don't necessarily, you know, if they're

076not willing to donate the money, they're a separate organization. We can't necessarily compel them to, but they're pledging here with faith and credit that they're going to pay us back for these costs. It usually looks pretty bad on organizations if they raise money for a particular thing and don't actually pay it off. Kind of gets it hard to get money later for other things. So, everybody gets a little wounded if they don't pay up. So, okay. Any other questions? Thank you for to you guys and thank you to them for kind of working together. I mean, I I've personally firsthand seen what the field has done to be able to kind of extend the use and the education of the students in the district and provide a lot of opportunities for them. I'm kind of

077excited to see how Mr. Rowan and team are going to be able to put the probably marching band transgressions on kids up on the big screen and teach them how to do it better and football programs and whatever else. So, I think it's a a great opportunity and to kind of broaden kids education in different ways. So, I appreciate everybody's effort on that. All right. I will entertain a motion to adopt a resolution to accept the pledge of $250,000 from the Bavia Bulldog boosters over the next five years. So moved. Second by Aaron, second by R.J. Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. Meadows, yes. Matis, yes. Kilberg, yes. Arando, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Lock, yes. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right. Next is approval of said digital scoreboard purchase. Mark, would

078you like to explain it all again? Not really, but if you need me to explain something, I more than But yeah, this is just obviously it has to be in this order. So, this is to purchase the scoreboard. I if I could I I just have just one comment I want to make is I just want to share some gratitude and appreciation for our booster club and parent volunteers for donating that that type of resource to the district. I've worked in several districts as you all know and I just uh didn't realize how big of a donation they made on the field turf now to come back and make a donation of this size for a new scoreboard. I just pretty impressed and grateful for that. That's all I have to I'll make a comment

079too that um I appreciate everyone who's worked to maintain the scoreboard, but I have been there on the nights when we're crossing our fingers. It's going to start working. So, it was at its end of its life cycle and uh to receive a donation. So, uh Danielle, you mentioned that, you know, we are watching our budget very closely to uh to receive a donation this large that means we can use our funds on other things that uh are needed. So, I want to also say thank you because there could be one day that that thing just doesn't work in two years and we're stuck doing something less than whatever this is. You donating pieces of the old scoreboard to people or selling it off as a raffle? Nothing. No. Missed opportunity there. Keychains. All right.

080Anybody have any other questions? I will entertain a motion to approve the purchase of a digital scoreboard for the Vetavia High School stadium from Fair Play in the amount of 171,325. So moved. So moved by R.J. second. Second by Sue. Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. Yes. Meadows, yes. Matthysse, yes. Black, yes. Kilbert, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Arando, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Approval of the intergovernmental agreement for electric vehicle charging station at the Betavia High School. Tony, uh, this is your, uh, approval to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Betavia to do as you stated, install a electric vehicle charging station at Battavia High School. would be installed in the southwest corner of the school's parking lot and folks would have an opportunity to bring their electric cars

081there and charge them. The management of this, the installation would be provided through a grant from the federal government supported by the city of Bavia. And in the event that after five years, we were no longer interested in offering this charging station to the community, the city of Battavia would remove it and restore the premises to its original state. This is an opportunity to partner with the city of Battavia to support um some of their initiatives particularly around um charging electric vehicles and access to those sorts of things so that we have the infrastructure in place to support families in town and transportation questions. You know, my one concern or thought was what type of liabilities do we have? I I see the city ownership and full financial responsibility. Um that's also for any damage

082to vehicles, any human injuries that may occur somehow. It's all incorporated into the agreement. Yeah. Okay. So, it's not just for school people use. It's for anybody muck off the street can pull anybody. Yep. And at any time of day, too, for 24 hours a day. So, you mean sometimes folks will pull in there, park their car there at night, and charge it overnight. That would be okay, too. I mean, so the way I understand this is going to be probably about as far away in that lot from the building as possible. It's almost directly across the street from the fire station. Correct. Right. Yeah. Sure. And the way I read this is really our responsibility is just to keep the area clean, remove the snow, what you'd be doing anyways, basically, right? So, we're

083not really taking on risk or cost or we're not taking on risk or cost. No, this is it will not cost us anything to do. Um, the one side effect is that perhaps is that when we have pretty heavy attended events at the high school, there could be some less parking available, but some people might also use that parking to charge their car. So, it might become as an advantage in that regard, too. Um, this area was carefully chosen by the city to support infrastructure throughout the city and where people live and where access to these kinds of services um are predicted to be necessary. And that's one of the requirements of the grant. What if I park there with my regular car, not an electric car? You will I get a ticket? Yeah. Or

084you could be towed even on corn boil day. I mean, I'm just saying it's one of those things that we had talked through. Yeah. And just for clarity, whose electricity is supporting this? That's another factor for this is whose electricity and one of the reasons why this location is advantageous is because of where the distribution mains are for electricity and the city handles all that. We're picking up the electricity running. It's not ours. We're basically not our electricity. Intergovernmental agreement for two parking spaces effectively. Okay. Any other questions? All right. Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to approve the intergovernmental agreement with the city of Battavia for the installation and operation of EV charging stations at high school. So moved. So moved by Rob. Second. Second by Danielle just for some difference in the

085day. All right. Sydney, please lead us in a roll call vote. Thomas, yes. Arandu, yes. Yes. I got to say no. Okay, I'm going to vote no on my last night. Sorry, Tom. It's okay. Matis, yes. He saw that coming. Meadows? Yes. Yes. All right. Item 7.6, authorization to execute contract for natural gas. Well, uh, you want to handle this one, Mark? Go both. Jump up. It's okay. We got to do it and go on. Well, we do we do need to do something. Uh, this would be your setting the parameters for uh us entering into the next contract depending on market conditions. Correct. So, as you can see in this report, um, we basically had a cost per therm at 27 cents, which is really unheard of. Um, so it was really good for

086the district for three years. Again, if I would take it back, we would have went for 10 years if we could have, but really with natural gas, you don't know where it's at. So what we're trying to find out is working with our adviser is get the best parameters as far as when is the time to lock in another year. Um right now we have a year of 45 cents per therm because at the time was a little while ago that was kind of the best going rate. Um this is what we're trying to do the same thing here. So, we're going from 27 cents to 45 cents. Obviously, our natural gas bills are going to go up next year um in the tune of quite a bit, but this is why we're bringing this

087now. So, we're trying to find out any way to lower that cost even into delivery costs. So, that's the other piece of this is you have to pay for the natural gas, the actual therms, and you also have to pay for the delivery fees too. So, this is what this is about. though it might be, you know, if this is approved, it could be in the next two months, it could be 10 months down the road, but at some point in the next year, we have to um go into another agreement. When that happens, I'll bring that back to the board and then you will agree on what or you'll vote on what that agreement actually is. You'll accept it. Yeah. What you're giving the administration the ability to do is to act to issue

088an RFP to go and seek proposals when the market timing is right and because timing on those sorts of things is really important. You know, they don't offer deals that you know take this back to your board in a few weeks and see if it's still that's not how this works. You're giving parameters to us to seek for the right timing and execute that. We'll report the results of that back to you as long as it's within these dates and it doesn't exceed these prices. So, but we would use our judgment and the judgment of our adviserss to find the best rate given market conditions and things are fluctuating right now as you would expect given what's going on in our economy. Any questions? Okay. I will entertain a motion to authorize the administration to

089accept and execute a competitively bid contract for the delivery portion of natural gas basis for the ter term not to exceed 48 months beyond the current contract's expiration of June 30th 2026 at a cost not to exceed 0.05 05 thems. That's dollars. I will further entertain a motion to authorize the administration to accept and execute a separate agreement with the natural gas commodity NYMEX for the term not to exceed 24 months beyond the current expiration date at a cost not to exceed 50 cents per therm. These contracts may be executed at any time through January 1st, 2026. The final pricing and contract terms will be reported to the board at the next regular meeting following execution. moved. So moved by Raquel, second. Second by Rob. Sydney, please lead us in a roll call vote. Meadows,

090yes. Siger, yes. Thomas, yes. Arlandu, yes. Kilberg, yes. L, yes. Matis, yes. Thank you. Motion passes. Approval of the FY26 staffing plan. Tom, will you lead us through this? Sure. Um, this is our general FTE request for expansion and posting and hiring. um for next school year. And we have two FTE built in as a buffer for that request in case we have summer movements um changes that happen to you know move some of our uh section sizes at different buildings. Uh this 2.0 0 FT that we use as an extra FTE has been something the district has been using for several years now and seems to have worked as our as a good cushion. All right, any questions? Maybe a quick comment. Um is this we may not necessarily fill these positions, right? Um

091the 2.0 FTE, correct? Um that's definitely something we would not use unless we needed to. Uh but some of the other FTE built into the memo is are the sections that we are anticipating opening for next year and that you'll fill. Okay. Because I thought a couple at least one of them we talked about would be challenging to find qualified people. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? I will entertain a motion to approve FY26 staffing plan as presented. So moved by Danielle. Second. Second by Aaron. Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. Nez, yes. Yes. Kilbert, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Yes. Meadows, yes. Yes. All right. Thank you. That was the all for our action items. All right. Celebrating exiting members. Could our student ambassadors please approach the program podium? Do we let

092them do their presentation? If you guys could do your presentation first, we're just saving you time of walking back and forth. I think first um All right. I know this is a long awaited presentation. Um but we got you covered today. So, lots lots have been going on. Um personally, I love covering sports. So, um, you know, we've got baseball going on, tennis, softball, and also lacrosse. They actually have, um, a game tomorrow against Weaten Warrenville South. And track and field has been going on always. I have to mention that. Um, guys had a meet uh, at Weaten North. And then the girls had a meet today, which I actually came from. Um, so shout out to track and field. Um, also girls soccer. It's something cool. They actually had recently had their teachers appreciation

093night and it's cool because they could seniors get to honor uh one of their favorite teachers from high school. So I thought that was super cool. And this month we had a lot of exciting field trips. Uh two of which that me and Zara attended. One for a leadership class which we went to the Fox uh Valley Special Recreational Center. to who to people who know about it. It's basically a program that helps connect uh people uh with people with disabilities and we go and do activities. This is actually your second time going. This time we painted rocks with them and uh we colored and decorated cookies. It was really fun, interactive, lots of laughter. And then another activ uh field trip that we went to was for the honors society uh French. Uh we

094went to RO middle school. There we were teachers for the day. Uh we taught them numbers, animals, and just it was a really fun day. And I'm so excited that we got the opportunity to go and do all that we did. And I also have to mention I actually went on three field trips. I went to the zoo. Um I actually I took AP bio for going to the zoo. So yeah, so our AP environmental science classes and our AP bio classes get to this go to the zoo each year. So it was really fun. It was kind of funny because there's a lot of kindergarten classes and then there's juniors and seniors. But we all enjoyed watching the animals and everything. It was a fun time. Oh, um, also the Spanish classes went to

095like a Spanish restaurant the day before that and we went I was in Spanish last semester, which that was delish. So, the field trips are super fun. Um, we've had a lot going on at the school, but generally this season is very like academic heavy because school year is wrapping up. Uh today the juniors had the ACT which was so fun. And and then next month we have uh advanced placement testing. So Mr. Ozarko was here talking about that for CS, but all the other classes have that. So students are definitely working on their academics. That's super heavy. But Amnesty, which is a club at the high school, had this like Jamnesty event where basically they have a bunch of different like student music groups come together and play music just to like build the

096community. Uh, which is cool. And then this weekend is prom. It's like unofficially Rapunzel themed. It's going to be super cool. Uh, we're all getting really excited, but we have a spirit week, so people are dressing up even in spite of heavy academics. Okay. Then you know me, I had to do my fine arts um slide. So, oh, it'll turn in a second. There was last week the spring play Wrinkle in Time. It was pretty great. There was a lot of flying as you can see right there. There was a uh fine arts festival where there was groups from the middle school and the high school and they just kind of performed a bunch of music. You could walk around, do art, see art. I don't know, everything to do with fine arts. And there

097was a choir concert. There's one acts coming up soon that are student directed performances. I think they're next week. Um, band students got back from New York. They went over spring break. It was pretty great. And there was some all city band and orchestra concerts, which is basically like everywhere from fifth grade to the top band at the high school all orchestra at the high school all performs like after one another and they just all get to kind of hang out and it was great and it was so fun. Yeah. Yeah, that's us. And um also, as some of you may or may not know, this is me and Dared's last meeting. So, we wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone. Like, it's been such an honor serving the board. We have had

098so much fun like bringing presentations up and it's been amazing. So, do you want to say anything to that? Um, no. Just thank you to everyone and Mr. Kim especially to you as well. Um, yeah, we're super grateful that we had this opportunity and um yeah, thank you. Thank you. Well, if you two would stay there for a second. [Applause] Don't go far. can't get away that fast. Nice try. I didn't hear. So, I'm gonna say something. You guys can stand. Where's a good spot? Right over here, maybe. Okay. So, I um I'm going to speak on behalf of the board and I just want to say I was um part of the committee that uh chose you to be student ambassadors. If you remember, that was at the height of COVID. So, we did

099it virtually. Yeah, I remember that. So, uh, I want to say on behalf of the BPS 101 Board of Education, we extend our deepest gratitude to Miss Jere Alenaro and Zara Amed for your hard work and leadership as student ambassadors. Your growth as leaders over the past three years has been undeniable, and you have inspired others to engage, lead, and advocate for positive change. In particular, your invaluable contributions in the development of the district's five-year strategic plan will be a legacy that endures, and you were both front and center in driving that important work. You both facilitated small groupoup discussions with members of our community, providing invaluable insight into the needs and wants of those living in the district. You also provided leadership on the steering committee, a body that included faculty, staff, administration, the

100superintendent, various community leaders, and board of education members. Others your age might have been intimidated to lead those discussions or sit on that committee. But you were both strong leaders who gave powerful voice to the student perspective. Your insights and commitment have helped shape the future of BPS 101 for the better, ensuring the goals and decisions of the district reflect the needs and aspirations of those we serve. As we move forward, please know your legacy as student ambassadors will continue to inspire future leaders. Thank you, Zara and Jere, for your service. We will miss seeing you every month, but we are proud of all you've accomplished and we wish you the best in your next chapter. You will always be Bulldogs and you will always be I'm getting emotional here. Be a cherished part of

101the BPS 101 family. So, thank you so much for your service. We have some plaques for you. Wow. Crazy. Oh my goodness. Here you go. Why don't you hold those up so everybody can see that? [Applause] [Music] So, thank you so much. [Applause] I want to say huge thank you for this really honor and I think we're also asked to share about some of our future plans. Beat me to it. Thank you. I was going to ask what's your next step? What are you doing? Um for for me, I'm pursuing a global studies major at U of I or University of Illinois Urbana Champagne and I'm also planning to do a pre-law track. So, that's exciting. And then this summer, I'll be close by. I'll be interning at Illinois Representative Matt Hansen's office. So, if

102anyone has any uh constituent questions, I'll be there. So, yeah. Um, I like Zara. I'm also going to U of I and I'm also in a law track. I'll be majoring in political science and um, yeah, this summer I'm just working. So, um, yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Next is our board members. Someone get to a tissue. So, I'm just gonna speak I'm gonna celebrate a little bit about Sue and R.J., but I'm gonna start with Sue first. So, um I've I've had the good fortune of knowing Sue for my entire duration on the board. Um and Sue predated me by two years or were you a whole cycle before that? I was two years interviewed you. Yes, you'd interviewed me and look what you did. So, yeah. So, how long

103have you been on a board, Sue? 12. 12 years. 12 years. Yeah. So, um I just want to let you know at least from my perspective, I appreciate uh your perspective, you know, the um advice that you've particularly given me over time. Um and all of you like all the things that that you've really done because really in there's a lot that's happened in the past 12 years. I mean, you were speaking to me a little earlier about some challenges earlier on, some things that we're going to be potentially facing later. We went through a whole global pandemic, a couple of teacher contracts, a couple of VESPA contracts and so um and you know referendums though they didn't go the way we wanted it was very much kind of appreciated on the effort that you

104kind of put in and I just want to say at least for my part um and I'm sure for the rest of the board we thank you very very much for your time and I know the community absolutely appreciates your time and effort and involved and I wish you the best on your next endeavors. Don't worry, you have a little plaque down here, too. I'll get it to you in a minute. Um, R.J., thank you for your time and effort. You've been here for uh one term, but you know, really, I wanted I was thinking earlier about the things a lot of people see in their kind of singular terms and um you've been through them all, I think, in one singular term. you know, there was some real good guidance that I think you

105along with the other board members, but um you in particular gave a really kind of good level head about a lot of the things that you talked about, your kind of commentary and your um things that I always knew that you were thinking about everybody else and those in the room and not in the room. Um and that you were really trying to make sure that the good decisions were the best decisions we could do at the time, even if sometimes they were challenging to be done. Um, I will say on a slightly humorous note, I will miss unless you do it again later today for the not, you know, voting yes for closing out a meeting or two. You've done that in the past. He wasn't at one and I made a comment at

106one and he called me up like the day next day after he watched the video like, "Hey, dude, seriously." Because I poked a little fun at him. So, thank you for your time and effort. Um really like I said it it you've accomplished a lot and I appreciate all your time and effort and thoughts you put into that as well. So thank you very much. It's been an honor to serve with you both. We do have a little parting appreciation folk. So I will bring that over to you RJ. Thank you very much sir. Welld deserved and appreciated. [Applause] Yeah, take your plank with you. I'm not going to Oh, like this as he runs out the door. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very. All right. Thank you guys. All right. Board comments. Kind

107of historically uh speaking and as a matter of tradition, we let our parting board members do their final comments. Which of you wants to go first? your choice. Want me to go first? Does matter. Okay. Um, thank you very much. I appreciate it. It's It's definitely been an honor to be on this board for four years. When I signed up for it, I didn't really have much of a clue of what I was getting into. Um, so congratulations to the new people uh that are now getting into what I didn't know I was getting into. But, uh, it's been great. There's, you know, the I I guess just thank you to everybody. This whole group here has been amazing to work with. Um I have a lot of confidence in the future of the school

108district. I think that this is a a fantastic board to be part of and I did vote for the two people that are joining as well. So I guess I could actually say I voted for everyone that's going to be on the board for you. So maybe that's one side of that. I don't know. But uh all the principles, the faculty, I've talked with so many students over the years and people that have come here and spoken at the meetings, the involvements from these gentlemen here, everyone on the the boosters clubs, the the different committees I've been part of. It's just been amazing that it the collaboration is amazing in this town. Um and I know we just celebrated the the new BESBA contract having that the the contract with the the teachers as well.

109um having Drew step up, having you with your new contract. I mean, it's just I feel really good. I feel like we've accomplished a lot. We're in a really good spot. So, thank you to everyone for letting me be part of that. Um and thanks to my my wife and my children for supporting me over these four years. I know they're going to be uh happy to have me home instead of uh here. They they like me, so it's nice. That's all. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Thank you, R.J. Sue. All right. Um, first thing I want to do is thank my family for allowing me this opportunity. Um, it is a big sacrifice and we'll find this out that it does take time away from your family. And so, I do appreciate them

110allowing me the ability to do this. Um, I want to thank Superintendent Kim for his work and our collaboration uh, working with Dr. Hitchens also for the 10 years that she was here and I was on the board. Got a lot of people that I want to thank. 12 years is a long time. Um, senior admin, you guys have been wonderful to work with. I probably am gonna cry now that you say that. all the staff at RJC, Cindy, Teresa, uh the BEA, uh Vespa members, everyone, the staff, teachers, everyone. It's been a wonderful experience. 12 I was thinking about this today. 12 years is a long time. Um I mentioned this to Cindy when I walked in here tonight. That's almost the time it takes a child to go through our district. And there

111have been a lot of changes. And one of the things I'm most proud about, Erin asked me this, I think the other day when we met, um, when I first got on the board, my son was in fifth grade. Can't believe that he was piloting a program, glad you remember this, with the iPads. Think about that. None of the classes had computers. The students had computers or anything. My son's class was the first class they had iPads over at AGS. Then the next year they had couple of classes I think at Routollo that used were they iPads or maybe I think it's just iPads still and then they slowly rolled it in and they middle school and the high school and I was there the very first day with Dr. Hitchens at the high school

112when all the students were getting we were handing out Chromebooks. Um and now every student in the district has a device and so that's happened within 12 years. It's a long time but I mean we've been fully integrated for years now. And you think about how would we have survived COVID if we hadn't done that. And that took a lot of work, not only on staff's part, but also for the board to step up and say, "This is something we need to do." Um, and that's one thing I'm very proud that we were able to do. Um, so the other thing that I've want to say is that over the past 12 years, I've worked with a wide variety of members on the board. We all have different opinions, different experiences that we come from.

113There's one consistent factor that I've always found, and if you can think back 12 years, 10 years, you guys know there have been a lot of different people on this board, but we've always had one main goal in mind. We want what's best for the kids. It doesn't matter what we, you know, what I want, what you want, whatever. We all want one goal in mind. And if I can leave you with anything is just to keep that in mind that we all want what's best for the kids and that's why we're here. That's why we sacrifice all the time that we do. Um and I urge you to keep that in mind and the new people too that we may have differences. Um when I first got on the board and I think you

114guys we were like seven mind seven people just with the same mind. We all got along. We we knew exactly what everybody was thinking. Boy, we knew what Gaspar was thinking every time, you know, and it's changed, but we still all have one goal in mind. And so, just kind of keep thinking that way, if that makes sense. Um, the other thing I wanted to say, and it's gotten better over the years, I think, but when I'm out in the community, I've always had people tell me or say things they they don't trust the administration. They have problems with they don't, you know, there's something wrong in the school. They don't believe what's going on or they don't trust people, what they say, what they hear. I am here to tell you that in the

11512 years I have been here, I have never heard anyone say anything untoward, anything nefarious, nothing. I have had a positive experience with everyone. And if I ever saw anything that I didn't believe was proper going on, you know, I would be the first one to stand up and start yelling and screaming. You know me. Um, so I just It's always bothered me when we get emails about people complaining things aren't going this way, they're not doing the right thing. Everyone works towards the same common goal and I think that's important. So I wish everyone the best, good luck, but like I said, everybody here does it for the kids. So thank you. Thank you, Sue. All right, I will entertain a motion to adjourn seen die, which basically means temporarily. So moved. So moved

116by Sue, second by R.J. Oh, I killed you, didn't it? So moved by Sue, second by R.J. All in favor? I opposed. It is now 8:35 p.m. The meeting is adjourned. We'll take a 5minute break and move right into our special reign. saying goodbye is tough. Yeah, it's tough. Did I get demoted? I got demoted. We lost the pay for pay cut. Yeah, big pay cut. All right. This is the regular script. Oh, yeah. All right. Um, is everybody ready? I'm a little nervous now. You should be the one that's doing all this. Okay. Um, let me get my script. Hang on a second. It's harder than it looks, isn't it, sir? Oh, take it easy. Take it easy. All right. Here we [Applause] go. All right. Uh, it is now 20:44 or 8:44 p.m.

117April 22nd, uh, 2025. And I call this special meeting for the reorganization of the board of education to order. Our very first order of business before we can call the role is to swear in our new and returning board members as elected in the April 1st consolidated election. So, if we could all uh come join me at the front of the audience for your swearing in. I think it's just I thought it was everybody gets no just you guys. So, the camera will be there. So just kind of cameras there. Okay. Um if you just repeat after me. I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education of the school district. swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of

118member of the board of education of the school district in accordance with the constitution of the United States, the constitution of the state of Illinois and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. Constitution of the United States of the state of Illinois and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. I further swear that I shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. I shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall encourage and respect the free expression

119of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek ad while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at a public board meeting. I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made by a majority vote at a public court meeting. I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels. I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions ethical and constructive channels. As part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility for my

120role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. As part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. I shall foster with the board extensive participation of the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course for BPS 101. I shall foster with the board extensive participation from the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course for VPS 101. I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to maintain their maximum potential through a sound

121organizational framework. I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law. I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compiance with state law. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students in our community schools to advance the vision for potato school district. I shall serve as education advocate of students and our community schools to advance the vision for school district. and I shall strive to work together with the district superintendent to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created, fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development. And I strive to work together

122with the district superintendent to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision board, fostering excellence for every student areas of skills, college, citizenship, and personal development. Congratulations. [Applause] [Music] All right. Um, okay. All right. To move forward from here, Cindy, would you please call the role? Rolandu here. Kristen Garos here. Raquel Gonzalez Thomas present. Aaron Kilberg present. Craig Meadows present. Danielle Sligger present. Katie Swiki present. Okay. Um, oh, just messed up this computer. The role of the board president is to run the meeting as one of the president's primary responsibilities and we are currently without a board president. This is the reorganization meeting. In order to launch this meeting, someone must be selected as the temporary president and temporary secretary. Therefore, I would like to entertain a motion to appoint Tom Kim as president prom

123and Cindy Rodriguez as secretary prom. So moved. Second. All right. Motion by Rob Alandu and second by Katie Swiki. Okay. Thank you. Go. All right. Uh for this we can do a voice vote. So all in favor I I All opposed. Okay. Um Holly and Cindy, do we have any public comments? Yes, we do. Okay. Great. Welcome to the meeting of the board of education. If anyone wishes to address the board this evening, please see our recording secretary to submit a form for addressing the board. Please put your full name and address on the board on the form. In general, the board will not answer questions or engage in a dialogue during public comment. This does not mean we do not take your concerns or comments seriously. The board values active community participation in the

124district's endeavors and encourages people to engage with the district using the appropriate channels and systems designed with your input in mind. Board members are not involved in the day-to-day operations of the district and cannot engage in district business individually. If you have specific questions or would like to further engage with the district, you may submit your questions using the link on the website and the appropriate staff member will communicate with you. Our BPS 101 communications manager, Holly Deman, will now explain the procedures for public comment and call up the speakers. Thank you. We have one public speaker, Chris Low. Will you please approach the podium? Uh you'll have three minutes to speak. I will show a threeminut timer up on the board and we ask that you address everyone in the room with respect and

125civility. Thank you. Good evening board members, superintendent, staff, and community. As a former board member and as a parent and advocate, I want to first congratulate our newly sworn in members. Your election represents progress and with it the community's mandate for change. To our returning members, the clock is ticking. When I was on this board over two years ago, our board and district committed to addressing systemic inequalities. Yet, a year after passing a strategic plan, we still lack the dashboard to track pro progress. Marginalized students, black, latinex, LGBTQ plus, disabled, and others cannot afford delays masked as caution or concern for causing more harm. Their trauma is not theoretical. It is daily documented and demands action. I know this work is hard. I served eight years fighting to move this district from denial to accountability.

126Progress requires four things. A clear goal, resources with authority, a deadline, and the fortitude to enforce all three. I believe you now have the majority to deliver this. The community stands ready to support you with expertise, labor, and even funding. But we will not te to tolerate weaponized incompetence or performative allyship. Leadership is not about saying the right words. It's about dismantling barriers even when it's politically or socially uncomfortable. To Mr. Kim, you were hired to lead, not plate. One of the most important reasons I supported your hiring was because you pledged to confront injustice. We need you to act like it. To senior staff, resisting change, adapt or please step aside. To the board, use your power. Reject the glacial pace of progress that keeps failing students. And to the community, hold them accountable.

127Pack these meetings. Demand transparency. Transparency. Our kids' lives depend on it. While we are here to help, our patience has run out. The time for excuses is over. The time for courage is now. Let us get to work together. Thank you. [Applause] That was the last application. Okay. Thank you. Um we have action items which are to fill four positions of officers on the board. Three of them are elected and the first position we would like to fill is board president. The most immediate responsibility a board president does is to preside over the board meetings. They look over the agenda and there are a whole host of responsibilities that are listed in the board policy that they fulfill. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else, please say so. Now, I would like

128to nominate uh Craig Meadows for president. Y are there any other nominations? The window for nomination for board president has closed. Given that there is only one candidate that has been nominated, uh we may proceed by declaring that that person is present if they are accepting and we will do it by a roll call vote. Do you accept the nomination? I accept the nomination. Okay. Cindy, would you please do a roll call? Arandu? Yes. Gerals? Yes. Gonzalez Thomas? Yes. Kilberg? Yes. Meadows? Yes. All right. The next I guess I got to take over now. My time is done. Your time is done. The next officer position will be elected is board vice president. The board vice president fills in when the board president is absent and fulfills other responsible responsibility as noted in board policy.

129I will open the window for board vice president. So if you would like to nominate yourself or another person, you may do so now. I would like to nominate Aaron Kilberg for vice president. Has a moment to think about anybody else? All right, the window for nomination for board vice president has closed. Since there is only one uh person nominated for that, should he be willing to accept it? We can do a roll call vote. Do you accept? I accept. All right, Sydney, please lead us in a roll call vote. Susiki, yes. Sligger, yes. Meadows, yes. Kilberg, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Yes. Arandu, yes. All right. Thank you. All right. The last officer position we fill is board secretary. As indicated in board policy, the board secretary makes all makes sure all of the documents

130are prepared, minutes are accurate, and is the official signer of decisions that the board has made. I will open up the window for board secretary. So if you would like to nominate yourself or another person, you may do it now. I'd like to nominate Katie Smith. Okay. I was gonna nominate myself. Got a friend. Sorry. Sorry. All right. Hearing no other nominations at this point in time. The window has closed for the secret nomination window for nomination for board secretary is closed as there is only one if you would like to accept since you're going to nominate yourself. I accept. All right. Thank you. We can do a roll call vote. Cindy, please lead a roll call vote. Gilbert. Yes. Gonzalez Thomas. Yes. Garos. Yes. Harlandu. Yes. Swiki. Yes. Sligger. Yes. Meadows. Yes. All right.

131Item 5.4. Appoint treasurer. There's one more officer. The position of board treasurer is a specific office where the treasurer must be able to compile monthly financial records and and they must be properly bonded. The board is able to appoint a non board member to fill this office and is historically this has board has appointed the CFO as treasurer. With that, I would like to entertain a motion to appoint Dr. Tony and Glaciy as a treasure of the board of education unless there's any questions first. Tony doesn't get to ask to comment. Notice I don't have to ask if he accepts. All right. I will entertain a motion to appoint Dr. Tony and Glacia as the treasurer of the board of education. So move. So moved by Danielle. Second. Second by Raquel. All in favor? I

132I All opposed. All right. Thank you very much. Congratulations to all those that have agreed to get a pay raise. Yes. Yeah. No. Good luck. All right. Item 6.1, times and dates for regular and some special board meetings. So, the last vote that this board has to take tonight is to set the regular dates for the board of education as well as some special meeting dates. It is required by board policy that every spring the board sets the dates and times at the regular board meetings for the next fiscal year. This is done so that in full transparency everyone knows when the meetings will be held. The way this calendar is put together is due to the district's operational needs this coming year. A Tuesday after the 19th of the month is the regularly scheduled

133in the draft dates. So it is the first Tuesday after the 19th. This allows our finance department to meet deadlines such as payrolls and bills. While it might not land after that date, we try to be as close as possible. I would like to mention that the meetings seem to land on the third Tuesday of the month, but that is not the guideline we father whether that is it is after or near the 19th of the month. And if you find a way to get Outlook to tell you how to do that, please let me know. I haven't figured it out yet. Does the board have any questions or comments on that particular policy? All right. All right. I will entertain a motion to approve the dates and times for the regular board meetings held

134from July 2025 through June 2026 and all special board meetings as presented. So moved by Raquel, second by Aaron and just for you guys as new board members, uh board policy allows a voice vote such that we use to appoint the president promp and the president. However, for majority votes, this board will be doing what we call a roll call vote. For this action, we will do that. Cindy, please lead us in a roll call vote. Yes. Meadows, yes. Kilberg, yes. Gonzalez Thomas, yes. Carol, yes. Sligger, yes. Arandu, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Administration and board comments. Tom, do you have anything you'd like to share? I am just congratulations everyone. I'm really excited to get working together as a as a new board now. So looking forward to it. That's all I have. Great.

135Thank you. Board, any comments you guys would like to make? We want to make the newbies go first or do we want to fill in first? I'll go. Okay. Thanks, Raquel. Uh just good luck to R.J. and Sue and I thank them for their service. Um welcome to Katie and Kristen. Look forward working with you and then just happy Passover, happy Easter, happy Earth. It's also National ArabAmerican Heritage Month. It's also National Autism Awareness. So, let's be honest. I'm sure you're surprised about that, but uh how many pages is it? Just one, but I filled the whole page here. So, uh I want to say again, um how exciting is to have the BESPA contract uh approved. And I again want to congratulate both sides in that negotiation. It was really turned out being a

136very positive experience. So, I'm very excited about that. To move forward with everybody, I want to give a shout out to two BPS 101 events that I attended recently. First was the vocational expo in Aurora that was on April 10th. Uh, Miss Butles, who was here recently presenting, and her team did a amazing job partnering with Balls, which is a vocational group in the area, and the local trade unions. We brought uh a bus of students over there. I think we had about 40 students. I might have that number wrong, but uh it was from freshman to seniors and uh it was uh they got to meet uh different representatives from all the different construction trades uh the plumbers, the pipe fitters, the painters and I had a lot of conversation with students that were

137excited to learn about these opportunities and I know there was then followup. So, uh, the kids were there was discussions on, um, how to join these apprentice programs, how to write a resume, uh, when they can get started. So, you know, I really think we're doing a great job of giving that as a a viable career path and exposing them to those opportunities. The other was the All City Fine Arts Festival. There's a sticker here on the computer I got that day on April 12th. I think Mr. Kim attended that event. Um it was in my opinion like sort of like every all the arts were there performing in one spot. The Bertollo and the high school I saw uh orchestral and choiral groups perform large and small group. There was galleries of art, graphic

138design. Uh one of our student ambassadors here was performing. Um Mr. Owen said this was a tradition we've had for years. Co sort of disrupted that. Um, but now I think he said they anticipate a thousand folks were going to attend that day and we're going to he thinks big. So, I can't wait to see what he does next year. So, uh, if next year when we have this event, I would encourage everyone in the community to go check it out because it really is a chance to kind of sample all the skills and talents of all our students. Uh, this week is prom. It was brought up in the previous meeting. It's an exciting night, but also an anxious night for a lot of parents. So, I would just say to everyone out there,

139have fun, but be safe. Um, and then also that we're in the the stretch run when we next gather as a body. Uh, we'll be talking about commencement, which will be the next evening at NIOU. And I know a lot of students are announcing their decisions for their future plan. So, I just want to wish them good luck and I want to wish their parents good luck as we sort of have the beginning of last this and last that. And then I just want to close with saying congratulations to Miss Geralt and her family and uh Miss Swissi on their election to the board of education and congratulate Mr. Meadows on your re-election. I look forward to serving with all of you and the entire board for the next four years. And I also want

140to say thank you to all those who voted and supported my re-election, especially my wife Kathleen and my children Emma, Jake, and Millie. And Emma, who got to vote for me this year, so that was exciting for her. Um, I promise to serve the community to the best of my ability and always put student needs at top of mind. And finally, to the outgoing members, Mrs. Lockach and Mr. Matthysse, uh, I just want to say that it's been an honor to work with them. I told them privately how I feel, but I can say that they gave their best and uh, in service to this community was honored to serve with them and I just want to wish both of them good health and prosperity and the best of luck in their future endeavors. Thank

141you. Um, thank you to Sue and R.J. It was an honor to serve with them. I just leave it at that. It was a real privilege. Um, Katie, uh, Kristen, welcome to the board. I look forward to working with you going forward here. And I think I will leave it at that. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Sure. Hi. Um, also I'd like to extend my gratitude for R.J. and Sue who took off as fast as they could. Um, I appreciate their service um, given and welcome to Katie and Kristen. I'm excited for the voices and um, knowledge and perspective you guys are bringing to the board. Um, I wanted to I had uh let Craig know beforehand that I did want to bring up that I would kind of want to put feelers out or just

142kind of put this out there maybe for a board workshop um that's this summer um discussing the board tenure. No, um length of term. Thank you. Thank you. the length of time for our officers. Um we are per our policy we are a two-year um for each of them I think for vice president, secretary and president. Um and I know on my onboarding it was very hard to vote and I know for you too I mean it's it's awkward to vote for people you've never worked with, people you've never met. Um and two years is half of your term obviously if you don't run again. Um, and along with that, I just feel like there's some other pros that would go into if we were to talk about shifting into a one-year. Um, that would

143allow on boarding members to get to know their board. Um, potentially they may be able to I mean, it takes a little time to get your feet wet, you know, six months to a year potentially be if there's any interest in them running um or taking on any of those duties. Also, it give the new board um the opportunity to discuss the roles. You know, does the president takes on a lot. I mean you spent a lot of time doing various things. Is there any discussion or any ability based on what ISB has in line or um however it works that whatever we do have to follow but is there anything that can go on to whether it's a vice president or other board members um that give them the opportunity to be present um

144in meetings or with various duties that would have relieved you there's obviously president roles that you do have to do in different communications um as board president but I think that would be a great opportunity um just to kind of give a new board that ability to have that back and forth and that open dialogue um and then potentially if there are any changes it may allow for someone to take on um one of the roles. So, I know it's probably a hard thought of like I the first thought I had was, well, that's a lot of shifting, you know, every year. Um, but I think there could be benefit and allows more of the board. We're seven of us to have the opportunity. Not all of us will run for multiple terms possibly for

145various reasons. Um, but we are all here. We're all a board of one voice. So, I just feel like that it gives a better opportunity. So, I know tonight that's just my comment to you guys and I would love to maybe add it to our our workshop and then if we are able to apply it um put into policy if it's something that everyone kind of agreed on. Um along with that, I just want to be able to say again, thank you for the the time that you put in into this role and I know we are all working together. We're two years working together at this point. Um, we've had some bumps and and we've discussed some things and I just want to make sure to put it out there that my expectations and

146I I I'm open to anyone sharing theirs of mine with me as board members. I know we are open to um, you know, making sure that we hear each other's voices and and give that mutual respect which I think we do very well. Um there are things that I would like to ensure that as board members we are working on a little bit more thoroughly in this next time like under your president role vice president and under our time as board members. Um, I want to ensure that, you know, we are following along to when there is a request for a poll or things to be put on the agenda that we don't run into as many um barriers with that part of it so that all of the board feels like there is a

147voice that regardless of who we are. Um, I want us to really work on that part of it. Um, I think that we've all kind of discussed uh putting in for committees to maybe be shared and I think that's something that Erin you brought up and um maybe we'll talk in our workshop about that as well. Um I just really really want to put out I just want to empower you as our president. Our role is to make sure we are a healthy board and you know we do employ Tom and he employs admin and I think our role is to ensure that we are as healthy together as possible and our role is to back each other up and ensure that our voices are all heard represented and we're not putting roadblocks up for

148each other or else we can't do our jobs to represent our kids and support our kids. If we are barriers for each other, we cannot be effective board members for our kids. Um, and so I think a lot of that I think we've talked about like communication again, board workshop. Um, we all communicate differently. We all have different backgrounds and I think we need to make sure that we are understanding there's a best interest at play and hearing people out, active listening, right? not dismissive or defensive if someone is saying something that maybe you don't agree with or don't understand. Have curiosity and really work to support each other and our voices together so that we are unified voice for Tom, he's a unified voice for admin and we're unified voice for um the kids.

149I just feel that we've had again some road bumps but I have that confidence. I would not have voted yes. Um, and I hope that we can continue that conversation. And again, I hope that with that we can potentially talk about that policy, that term change so that we can kind of mix things up possibly and give other people the opportunity, especially when you have people coming in. It's hard to run up against the incumbents. It's hard to come on into a board and say, "Yeah, I'm going to do it." When you've never been here before and you have to wait a whole two years and they're still whatever. So, That's kind of what I wanted to share and I realize that we'll have to talk a little bit more in the board workshop about

150it. Okay. I usually go last so I'll let you two go first. Okay. Uh just thank you to the voters of Betavia and to my family and my friends for supporting me in this endeavor and I am so happy to be up here with everybody. Uh, I look forward to discussing some topics at board workshop and kind of getting to know how everyone is going to work together. Uh, and I'm just excited to get to work for the kids, the students in Matavia. Right. Thank you. Um, I was going to just kind of wrap up by um, saying, you know, I not going to disagree with anything anybody said. This is a board that should work together and this is a board that will discuss how we want to work together because there's an upcoming

151board workshop where we all get together and it is within the bounds of the laws that allows us to kind of have a close session meeting to really talk about those things and hash things out and work through them. Um I know we will come out at the end of that better for it for whatever goes on in that meeting. Um and then additionally just congratulations to um our parting board members um for what they've got in their future in in their student ambassadors in particular. Um I was just talking to them about kind of sharing with them that because they both mentioned they were on a interested in a pre-law kind of track and since my son is going through law school at Boulder right now I was filling them in on getting ready

152to write a lot of papers. Um but um they're very excited about their future and I really think that that's kind of a credit to the opportunities that they've created for themselves and taken advantage of of what the district gives them the opportunities to do. I won't say that the district has done it for it because they've done that themselves. Um so um I will say that um I appreciate um that we have two new board members at this uh table today. I'm very much looking forward to working with you two and everybody else. I think we are on a a good path. a lot of things have gotten kind of cleaned up in the past couple of years with various contracts that we don't have a lot of those hanging over our heads so

153we can get on to doing a lot of the good work as opposed to the things we have to get done. Um, but those were a very good process. So, I appreciate all our partners that really worked favorably for that. And I am looking on a more personal note, I'm looking forward to hearing about the women in STEM session that's going on tomorrow because two women in my office are going to that they were um I was invited to ask if somebody in my office is an architecture firm. We had any women that would be to attend the women in STEM and kind of give a little talk to them tomorrow. So we have two, one of them's a partner of uh the firm I am also a partner at, one's a younger kind of

154new project manager and I'm looking forward to hear all the excitement because we're a firm of uh about I think it's a little over 50% 60% women in our firm which is almost double the average of architecture firms. So to that end I'm looking forward for them to show everybody what a fruitful career is. If not in the arts, it is also in science and arts adjacent at a minimum. So, thank you everybody for your time and effort today um and all the um and sitting around through all those action items, particularly the families that came today to support the new board members. Um I will entertain a motion to adjourn the special reorganization meeting of the board of education. So moved by Raquel, second by second second by Aaron. All in favor? I opposed.

155Thank you. It is now 9:16 p.m. We had two and the median board education is returned.