001of Education April 25th 2023 at seven o'clock P.M Cindy could you please call the roll here look present here Meadows present weitzler here and Mrs Meister would you please lead us in the French of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all um Dr Hastings are there any items removed from or added to or changed to our agenda tonight um we just have one public comment so we're going to do that first and all right so we're going to move that agenda item to the front here all right so welcome to the Board of Education meeting everyone if anybody wants to address the board I know we have please see our recording secretary Terry will have you fill out the form uh with
002your name and address so that we can keep our detailed set of minutes um I'm just going to hand it over to Holly teachman so she can explain to you our process uh thank you president Journal speakers will be called up in order of form submission the first form received which we only have one tonight is the first invited to speak when your name is called please come to the podium so that you can be heard you'll be limited to three minutes a three minute timer will be shown on the screen so you'll have uh mindful so you can be mindful of your time at any time during the meeting written comments may be submitted to our recording secretary Cindy Rodriguez at my right speakers should conduct themselves with Civility and respect toward others and
003our one and only public speaker is Daniel Russo good evening I'm Daniel Russo the retired lrc director at Batavia High School and this is National Library week and school library month and the theme of this year's celebration is there's more to the story and I want to just talk very briefly about Librarians in that story when you think about libraries you probably think about books shelves of books but that's something lifeless a librarian is the person that brings those books to life a librarian sees displays contests book lists author visits and the librarian's most important tool is the book talk in the book talk you pick out tantalizing details you build to the critical moment and then you stop and if you're lucky a week later a student's going to come into the library and
004say do you have another book like that one and if you're really lucky a student's going to say this book was not too bad but do you have another one like it and the librarian then knows that the reli that a possible reluctant reader is turning into a dedicated reader now some people think about technology when they think about libraries libraries have always been big on technology and when I started the librarian's job was to get the light on the VCR to stop blinking but today Librarians partner with classroom teachers they work together to integrate technology and they do it in a framework of information literacy skills so students learn how to use media efficiently and responsibly today their tools include 3D printers podcast makers and of course an endless array of apps I know
005my time is short I love to go on but I want to leave you with three ideas number one Librarians have one of the biggest classrooms in the school and that classroom never closes because of its online presence number two Librarians have the biggest teaching load in the school because they work with all the students and all of the staff most importantly number three because of that big beautiful classroom and because they know everyone in the school librarians build community everyone is welcome supported invested and everyone learns please visit your library you'll discover there's more to the story thank you thanks Dan foreign [Applause] the next item on our agenda is our consent agenda which is an opportunity for us to pass a number of routine business items with one vote all of which are
006outlined in the board book so I'm going to ask Mr Pierce to walk us through there thank you uh 3.1 and 3.2 is the approval of the March 21st 2023. 3.3 is our Personnel report you'll notice there is a lot of hires on there I'm like to give a little shout out um to our all of our different interview teams our principals and a special shout out to our special ed Department we have seen significant challenges in hiring our special ed Personnel over the years and to be where we are in April is absolutely incredible I think that our uh our initiative to kind of get started on this early has been massive and we're we are in as good a shape with hiring as we've been in many many years so I'm really excited
007about that 3.4 is our payroll and bills 3.5 is our donations we have three sizable donations from the American Institute of Aeronautics and astronautics as well as beefy we appreciate that 3.6 is the classroom use agreement with Mid Valley 3.7 is a textbook that is on display 3.8 is the canvas of our votes or the votes in 3 0.9 is the award of copy paper and Elementary student school supplies bid lastly 3.10 is the approval of this consent agenda application or right then I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I might start a second by kilburg all in favor aye any opposed all right next item on our agenda is our standard reports I'll hand that over to Dr Hitchens um I will call up Josh bulac for the next
008two action items but while he's coming to the podium do you have any questions about those reports that you see every month all right then we'll move right into our action Josh if you take us through those two items all right so the first one is um a request to transfer on equipment to um Batavia specifically Rotolo from um Batavia youth football so back in um a committee Matt it was 80s I was one of the 80s at the time football coaches and we looked at the landscape of football in Batavia and the way it was structured we had an eighth grade team only and the decision was made to transition 8th grade football to Batavia youth football that way there were less stops along the path of playing football after three years of looking
009at that there's been some successes but there's also been some challenges and a group of ads and coaches Matt and talked about it and really one of the biggest pieces of it is who we play now um the local schools won't play Batavia youth football because they're not associated with the school so the recommendation here is to transfer the equipment back to Rotolo but not only the eighth grade program but to start a seventh grade program and that way we're in line with every school in this area so that we can play local school districts and the kids don't have to go on Long bus rides to uh to their competitions any questions about this I'll just make a comment my son played 8th grade football this year and um it was a overall a
010very positive experience but to Josh's point scheduling was very problematic and we ended up playing one school twice and so and then even just because the games would kind of pop on the schedule like the week of it would be challenging sometimes to get to the away game so the way I'm kind of looking at this is access like I'm sure there were some kids that had a hard time making some of those games and so I think this is going to be a positive move it's been like that for years yeah all right well then I would entertain a motion for the board to accept the transfer of ownership of 7th and 8th grade football equipment um from Batavia youth football moved by kilburg second by lock on favor aye any opposed all right
011next item Josh all right so the next item is the approval of a service con uh administrative service contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield now this typically doesn't happen at this time of year so in September the board approved all the health care packages for our employees one of the changes was to move from Blue Cross to healthgram and this committee did a lot of research and work to make sure that this was an appropriate move to better get quality care to our employees at quality costs and manage costs after several months of being with this company um there's been some hurdles and whenever you make a change there's difficulties but the difficulties here were literally if a staff member tried to go to Northwestern they wouldn't take the insurance even though it was registered
012under the insurance having that access denied or made more difficult is a stressor that the staff doesn't need so typically if there's an issue with Health Care we'll try to you know weather the storm if you will and at a natural time make that transition in January but what we were able to do was get out of our contract with healthgram if the board approves that and then re-up with Blue Cross for the remainder of the year so we're looking to re-establish our relationship with Blue Cross starting July 1st I mean I guess I'll speak to this one again because I'm on the insurance committee I feel like I was speaking to Weight Watchers tonight but I just want to commend Josh in the committee you know they made a decision to go to healthgram
013with the best intentions and at the time on paper it made a lot of sense and like Josh said there was going to be some anticipated hurdles but there were some unanticipated things and so I think a credit to Josh and the members of the committee they listened to the teachers and said this isn't working and when we found out there was an opportunity to go back without any penalty and I will say you know I had we had a meeting earlier we talked about a mental health program that we're implementing that's intact that's not changing so really we're just kind of going back to something that uh people wanted in hindsight and you know there's still challenges ahead on managing costs that's not going away but I think in the short term this is
014the right movement my understanding is it's been enthusiastically received by the teacher so that's always a good thing too all right I would entertain a motion that we approve an administrative Services only contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois effective July 1st seven second move by matter a second by Mike sir all in favor aye any opposed all right uh that passes the next item on our agenda is we're going to um celebrate our XP members and Mrs meitzer was going to um celebrate our um our student rep I sure am um so Madeline um view is exiting as a student ambassador with us and I had the pleasure of being one of the board members that helped um welcome Madeline on to our student ambassador position within the Board of Education and from the
015time that you interviewed I knew that you were special and we have hundreds and hundreds of students who are special thousands actually every one of our students is special but Marilyn you really stood out in the crowd and we could not be more thankful to you and more proud of the way you held this position and this is a special position within the Board of Education we only have two at a time and so you're really the student voice and that's why all of us are here that's why each one of us has a position and the board is for the students we're here for the students and so we're super thankful for the connection that you helped us make as a direct line to the students how you report it out each month about
016what was going on in the high school and Beyond helped us have a better purview to our our constituents as well as the students at the high school as well as the other schools and um I want to thank you very sincerely because you took time away from family from work from school clubs activities and more to do the service to the community and it is a service and when I think about student servant leadership I think about you so thank you so much for everything you've done the board has a little has a little present for you um I'll meet you around thank you so much to you [Applause] thanks Aaron I don't know who I'm guessing the doctor I do have a little presentation for today as well um so this is just
017um some current things that are going on in the school so all spring Sports have now started and are all going very well um prom spirit week is next week followed by prom on Saturday May 6th most seniors have been announcing their amazing plans for next year whether that be a four or two year university the workforce military Gap year or any other plans to have clubs are wrapping up for the year and already planning amazing events for next year and summer camp registration for sports are now open and accepting many student athletes to participate in the camps and students are finishing the school year strong and getting ready for summer break and then the student the other student ambassadors were not able to be here tonight but these are some of their plans for
018next year the student ambassadors will continue to be the voice for the student body and present current events in the district we plan to continue to work with other schools in the district to make the education as students better and to bring the different schools in the district together and then being the voice of the student body is very important to us and we will continue to represent the student body as a whole and then I prepared a little speech for the night too since it's my last night um so as my time as student ambassador comes to a close I wanted to mention a few things I've enjoyed over the past two years and to thank the board and my principal Dr Smith for the amazing opportunity over the past two years I've had
019the opportunity to learn about the Batavia School District the way things work and why they make the decisions they do in order for the district to function and to provide the best opportunities for all students I have been able to work alongside my principal to solve issues going on within the district and create solutions to set issues for the betterment of the student body I have also been able to work with the other student ambassadors and gain their perspectives on topics which has also helped me broaden my Horizon I have learned amazing leadership skills as being the person who represents their student body and speaking for the students as a whole I was able to be the voice for the students which helped the board understand our perspective on what occurs in the school as
020they continue my academic career at the University of Missouri I will always remember the knowledge and experiences I've gained from being the student ambassador thank you thank you Madeline I was going to ask you where you were going to school so thank you for answering that and I did just want to add one more thing I apologize um it takes a lot of courage to be in the position that you were in the last two years and it's not easy coming to these board meetings as as an adult but as a student I just really want to speak to that courage and I hope that you find your voice throughout college and throughout your adult life so thank you for being you and thank you for being authentic I feel it and I'm thankful thanks
021Manny all right tonight we have two board meet uh meetings actually in one tonight is two meetings in this meeting that is about to adjourn is this is the last time this board will be together so um some of the board members have prepared remarks for the exiting board members I'll start with Aaron all right um uh so I'm going to speak on behalf of Mr Lowe here so uh College staff Community thank you for this opportunity it is with appreciation and honor I have the opportunity to speak on behalf of my colleague and friend Mr chrislo as he prepares to leave public office as a member of the Batavia school board but before I begin speaking about Chris I would like to recognize the other two outgoing members Miss Aaron meitzler and Miss Kathy
022Dremel I just want to thank them for your service to our community and your mentorship and your friendship I know my children have benefited from your leadership and it's been a real privilege to serve with you so thank and I would also like to welcome the new board members who are in attendance in the audience Miss Daniel sliger Miss Raquel Gonzalez Thomas and Mr Rob aralandu and their families I see some of them in attendance as they prepare to be sworn in as new members and we're excited to work with you and face the challenges that are ahead so thank you for that um so Mr Chris Lowe he is a recovering architect you might have heard him say that before he was elected by our community twice in 2015 and 2019 and you might
023remember his campaign signs they had a very catchy slogan aim high and vote low for eight years Chris sister with passion dedication and unwavering commitment to our students I would like to recognize his wife Jill and his children Quentin and Addie for the sacrifices they've had to make to allow Chris to serve I know there's been a lot of nights we've had a board meeting and as soon as it's over he's checking the score of a basketball game a volleyball game the results of a track meet so he has definitely made sacrifices as well as they have during his tenure Mr Lowe has served on the capitol projects committee curriculum and assessment advisory committee resource responsibility advisory committee and has been an Illinois Association School Board delegate Chris has been involved with the student ambassador
024program he has been a liaison at six different schools and has worked as both a booster and Park District liaison to list just a few of the areas Chris has provided leadership however I believe Chris's greatest and I could see maybe two of his passions amplifying voices and equity Mr Lowe has been a champion for anyone who feels excluded or is interested in having a greater voice in our community Chris has been one of the driving forces in our District's evolving Equity Journey his passion for creating a safe and inclusive environment throughout BPS 101 Batavia and Beyond is undeniable and I have a feeling your work in this area has just begun Chris so I do have to say on a personal note as the person who has said to your right at every board
025meeting for the past 24 months we've discussed about every topic you could imagine could come before this body and there is a lot we've agreed on and we've also had our fair share of disagreements and sometimes they've been heated disagreements but we've always been respectful to each other we've always tried to listen and we've always tried to understand and because of that we've been able to find common ground and I know because of those conversations I've grown as a person so thank you for that I look forward to the conversations we're going to have in the future and so with that your time serving here in this chamber is almost complete so I just want to say thank you for your service and I want to wish you and your family health happiness and success
026in whatever endeavors you choose to pursue next godspeed and be well thanks appreciate it [Applause] well after all those prepared remarks I told Kathy I hadn't even written anything down because I've known Kathy for even before she was on the school board we went our kids both went to AGS together so I don't know 15 years since we moved to Batavia so 15 years um it's been a wonderful time serving on the board with you and it's been truly an honor I think you've served this District quite well in the last 12 years it's been a pleasure there's so many things that I would love to share but I don't know that I can as our text this afternoon mentioned the thing I'm most proud of what we've done together as a board is I
027think giving Chromebooks to all the students I think that was probably one of the best things that we've done as a board and I don't know if you're going to mention that later and I've stolen your thunder but I think under your tutelage we've done that and it's been great privilege for the students here I wish you so well in any future endeavors I know you've grown as a woman um from where you've come I I remember sitting on the back patio at AGS during the flower sale do you remember that oh yes that was the first time I met Sue and she told me I don't play nice with people with people yeah here I sit if you could imagine if you could add up the volunteer hours between the two of us plays
028a lot nicer than yes but all the volunteers things we have done and I know there's a lot of people out there it's all volunteers that make this possible and that's what we all do that's why we're here to help the students that's what yeah that's what this District runs on is people that just want to do best for the students and that's what Kathy has done so I wish you well and good luck in the future thank you thank you thank you thank you I can give you money I'm next I'm going to speak about I'm sorry is it okay Wallace yeah so I do have some things written down here about Aaron meitzler um I requested the opportunity to say goodbye to Aaron on behalf of the school board because of the impact
029that she's had on me she's the one who initially got me on track to join the school board she talked to me about the opportunity to impact the community and make the difference in lives of all the families so I'm always going to owe this rewarding part of my life to you so thank you for that Aaron and her family moved to Batavia around 10 years ago and she served the community ever since her list of volunteerism in the past years is more than I would imagine most people do in a lifetime I've heard from a lot of people that volunteering can be a thankless job so I'm going to thank you for some of the things that you've done so bear with me because this might take a minute so thank you Aaron for
030participating in the Batavia foundation for educational Excellence as a vice chair thank you for co-chairing the Batavia inter-school Council for being the VP of the music Buffs acting as the liaison for Road solo Middle School thank you for being a Committee Member for the BPS 101 hall of fame or Hall of Honor committee and for being a member of The 100 women who care in Fox Valley let me scroll down thank you for serving as part of the Bulldogs on lease auction committee co-chairing 100 kids who cared Fox Valley as well as being the coach of the 2018 Batavia October family day thank you for volunteering at h.c storm is a committee and chair member and then as PTO president for two years and for being the PTO executive on the executive board for four
031years and not to mention that you've served the community for four years as a school board member and as a VP for the past year thank you for representing the school board at various committees over the past years you've been represented as a plaque uh Beck that the equity commission and with the uh with the student council or student ambassador representative and I I think I just want to thank you for being a great representative of the school board in general and um basically what being a great active citizen could be in Batavia every time I speak with you you're positive and insightful you I know you put your family and your community before yourself um and I know that you've already volunteered to stay stick around with Bic as a co-chair member so I
032know you're not going anywhere Aaron's going to have children in elementary real middle and high school next year so I'm sure we will see you around I don't think you're stopping anytime soon so thank you for everything that you've done thank you um the three exiting board members are going to make comments tonight Chris we can start with you okay last time you have to listen to me do this um good evening wow what a journey this has been it's difficult to believe that I began volunteering in our schools 12 years ago I began as a volunteer at hooverwood school I joined the PTO worked my way up to PTO president while there I helped start the Watchdog program in our district in a program that continues today PTO opened doors for me to meet
033people across the community some of whom encouraged me to run for school board I looked into it and I was surprised to find out how easy it is to run for public office did you know that you can get on a ballot with as few as 25 signatures for some offices I believe the number is 50 for school board considering we have around 25 000 citizens in Batavia that's not a high bar for entry initially I was surprised the community decided I may be a good leader and elected me to serve on this board I have since learned imposter syndrome for those who don't feel like they're part of the mainstream is a very real thing I have been honored to not only be elected once but twice by this amazing City while times haven't
034always been easy and the pain non-existent I would not trade away the experiences I've had I've made a conscious effort to get to know as many community members parents staff and students as possible I have made my best effort to speak with anyone who has concerns about our city or our district I have done my best to answer questions and Lead folks in the right direction to get the best resolutions for those concerns I wanted to truly represent the people and do what's best for our children and our community as things have been winding down these last few weeks on the board I spent some time reviewing documents and emails I created during the last eight years in 2018 I created the idea to start a group to empower batavians a few of us gathered
035and talked about the ways that we can make Batavia a better place following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 that concept merged with the ideas of other community members and evolved into the Batavia Community diversity initiative we have spent the past three years educating ourselves and the community and making our town more accessible Equitable and welcoming I began encouraging community members staff and students to use their voices to speak to speak regarding Equity concerns over the past few years I have seen more folks reach out to our Administration and board I have seen an increase in emails and we all have witnessed the stream of students parents and teachers who poured their hearts out about experiences they had in our district while it was may have been heartbreaking to listen to some of the
036stories and I know it was difficult to share your pain I want you to know you have made a difference local efforts have forced the district to acknowledge that we do have biases that prevent some students and groups from receiving the same opportunities without barriers that many of our students benefit from we have used this information to try to do better and the fact that we're even talking about it is evidence of that while these efforts may not have been as successful as some would like and we may not be seeing the bet these benefits in all classrooms we have made tangible strides to do better we adopted an equity statement and created a space on our website for people to follow our Equity Journey we provided training opportunities for staff we created an equity
037committee and hired a consultant to help guide that committee Equity concerns were a driving factor in the characteristics our communities said they wanted in a new superintendent as a result we have hired Mr Kim who is inspired to continue our work the voters have elected three diverse newcomers to the board in what I believe may be the first women of a latinx descent and the first man of Asian descent to represent our town we are having conversations regarding inequity and bias that weren't even on the radar when I got on the board as I said several years ago when we began this journey this is a marathon not a Sprint while progress may not be where some people would like to see it it is plain to see we're in a better place now than
038we were just a few short years ago last week I was asked what I'm most proud of having served on the board of education while we may have accomplished a lot of us aboard I take special pride in knowing I have empowered others to give their voice power knowing I have incurred encourage others to follow the chain of command to make themselves vulnerable at board meetings to volunteer for committees and even run for office is all the Legacy I could ever hope for knowing there are community members who are motivated to pick up where I'm leaving off and continue this journey is allowing me to step away knowing our district and Community are in good hands even if there is still a lot of work to do I've made a few observations lately that give
039me tremendous hope for the future I learned that Millennials have recently overtaken Baby Boomers as the largest generation over the past few weeks I've watched students lead protest and disrupt the traditional ways of legislating in Tennessee to push for gun reform so that they can feel safe in schools and in society and I was shocked to learn that canelan has elected a 19 year old college student with only 291 votes as a writing candidate to sit on their newly elected School Board just a few weeks ago I'm sharing this with you because I want young folks out there those in our schools now and those who have graduated to know that they can change the way things are done just because things have always been done one way doesn't mean we have to continue on
040the same path you are the ones who have to live with the decisions made by our elected officials your local government controls a lot of things that contribute to your daily experience from streets and sanitation to how well your neighbors are educated to what to what amenities we offer in our community and who has access to them are mostly determined by your city council School Board Park District board and Library board this past election only the school board and Park District had contested races as I mentioned earlier it's surprisingly easy to get on a ballot and often you don't have competition okay I'm almost done in conclusion I want to leave you with this plan step one educate yourself on how our elected bodies run attend meetings or watch them online make an effort to
041introduce yourself to elected officials and administrators get to know them if you can watch and learn about what what they discuss and how they make decisions step two use your voice to let them know if you have suggestions or concerns learn how to follow the chain of command don't be afraid to escalate your concerns if you don't receive the resolution you're speaking send emails speak at public comments request meetings with the public officials to speak with them one-on-one they're your neighbors and Most Wanted do want to serve you the best way that they can they're just waiting for your feedback step three volunteer to help ask if you can be on a committee offer solutions to problems you see fill out the surveys participate in the focus groups see if there are ways you can
042use your voice to influence our future step four run for office the best way to make a difference is to be in the room where the decisions are made take what you've learned in steps one through three and help us create a welcoming Community for all where more opportunities make a better life for everyone be the change you want to see in the world with your leadership I am optimistic our community will only get better thank you for tolerating me for the past eight years I'm not going anywhere but the next time you see me I'll be speaking from the other side of this desk perhaps I will see you in the audience here or at one of our other governing bodies together we can build a better Batavia thank you Chris yeah well I
043just want to take a few moments to thank a laundry list of people um Lisa Brad Steve Cindy Tony Hawley Todd it's been a pleasure I've enjoyed every moment of working with each and every one of you and it's been a journey and um like Chris said it's not a Sprint it's a marathon and the destination is constantly changing and so the one destination that remains constant though is the students and I'm really really proud that this board and um our leadership is so student focused because that's why we're all here um I want to thank my peers here Chris RJ Craig Sue and Aaron specifically and first for serving alongside me it's it's been the honor of a lifetime truly it has and all of the things that I um did and accomplished before
044I came here brought me here all of those steps um enabled me the opportunity to serve in this way and I am forever thankful for that truly truly I am and I just want to say a few words specifically about Kathy um Kathy you know many of you know in this room actually that one of the biggest reasons I ran is because I felt strongly very very strongly that the the elementary schools needed a voice on the board I was not shy about that and it was not quiet about that and it was not very popular on the board at that time and I wouldn't let it go I would say things like we have sex other schools we need to think about the elementary schools and Kathy said I'll never forget it she's right
045we do and I will ever be forever thankful for that because it really was a turning point and we did a lot of really really great things that I think focused on elementary schools because at the end of the day if we don't get it right at those six schools it makes it much much harder later to get it right at the middle school and the high school and so I just want to thank you Kathy for helping elevate my voice because although my voice frequently shakes I am very very um deliberate and what I say I don't often speak but when I speak I feel people listen because they know that I'm thoughtful in my Approach and I've taken a long journey to get here and I want to thank you for supporting that
046because I really do think our elementary schools are better for it and ultimately our high schools are high school and middle school is better for it so um thank you for that and thank you for always always listening to me say but what about Mental Health but how are the kids doing emotionally how are the kids feeling because that to me is the most important thing and I also know that that's not always the most popular thing to say but it's true because if our kids aren't healthy here they cannot learn they cannot function they cannot be socially healthy and I want to thank this board for always um supporting me bringing that up so thank you and thank you for everyone that believed in me and enabled me the opportunity to serve in this
047way um I like Chris would encourage anyone and everyone to find the courage to run for Library Park District or School Board city council um PTO PTA anything because that's what makes a community great is all the different personalities all the different viewpoints um that's what makes us stronger so thank you and that's it thanks yeah [Applause] who are a school board meeting junkies probably are aware that I actually rarely speak at the end of a meeting um but tonight I'm going to uh I have been on the school board for 12 years and for 10 of those years I have sat in this chair as president and I did as Sue alluded to talk to some of our former board members about the things that over that history of time they were most proud
048of and I'm going to start with the fact that um almost the first thing I did as a school board president was get to welcome Dr Lisa Hitchens as our new superintendent and so um one of the most meaningful things for me personally is the fact that Lisa and I had almost the exact same tenure the time she was superintendent I was president and that was probably one of the most meaningful opportunities for me to grow in my life those of you who know my story know that I have been so passionate and so in love with work as a school board member that it led me to going back to school 10 years ago and getting a math degree and six years ago I started teaching high school math apparently I've told I've heard
049from the Illinois Association of school boards they've heard a lot of teachers becoming school board members and the first one they know that has done it the other way some other things that that other school board members have mentioned and some of my own experiences uh hiring Lisa as Sue mentioned we brought Chromebooks to all students in the district and we were actually uh better prepared than a lot of our neighbors when it when we were hit with the unexpected um difficulties of covid uh we created this amazing partnership with the boosters and put in a turf field and for a landlocked school this tiny patch of land went from being used a handful of times a year to being used literally constantly we have probably the best dual credit programs anywhere and many of
050us on this board have had children that have gone to college my own daughter is going to graduate her undergraduate in three years thanks to her dual credits um we are one of the first schools to focus on social emotional learning and um spearheaded a lot of that focus and that just ties right into what Aaron was talking about with mental health we had a huge growth in AP class offerings we've had all of these authentic learning experiences including our partnership with wabanzi Community College for their manufacturing program um we were we got kids back in the building during covid despite some very strong objections from from some of our stakeholders because we recognize that kids needed to be in our buildings we've repeatedly been named one of the top 25 excuse me one of
051the top music education schools in the state and we were recently named one of the top 25 schools in the state for athletics um those are all amazing things we've done one of the things that as a person who originally had a business background that I am most proud of that I think is some of the most important work we did and sadly Tony iglesi is not here to um to to hear this tonight but we owe him a debt of gratitude our finances have taken a return to the Titanic people we went from a form of financial warning to now we are a school district with financial recognition we don't have to issue tax anticipation warrants any longer in the spring we have changed our insurance program so that we are actually um uh
052incentivizing the behavior that is good for our employees that gives them the opportunity to make good health decisions have great coverage but also do it in a way that saves all of us money we created a new salary schedule that I know is often confusing to our employees but truly when you dig into the numbers and if you want to dig into the numbers Tony can help you shows that we are paying people more money less money out of pocket to have that professional development that gets you raises and that's something else I'm really proud of and the reason why these things are important is for is twofold we are Financial stewards for our community how we spend our money is extraordinarily important even more important than that is all of those things have allowed
053us to offer so many of these opportunities to kids we have Community Preschool we have elementary school supplies at no cost appearance we have electives that we've been able to offer we have a full day kindergarten experience the list of things that we have done in the in the past 10 years once I started getting input from other people was amazing so I'm incredibly proud of the work that we did and one last comment I want to make and I think this is a huge tribute to Dr Hitchens there has been one one constant for the 10 years that I've been on the board people come and people go our four senior managers have been the exact same four managers all 10 years that is unheard of I had the incredible privilege of working with
054Steve Pierce Dr Newkirk our newly minted Dr and glacie and Dr Lisa Hitchens for 10 years they are probably 10 of the best years of my life the best work that I ever had a chance to do so thank you guys um those are my comments I would entertain a motion for us to adjourn scene Ada thank you all right now I have an entertain motion so move root by lock second bite loud all in favor all right all right all right we will adjourn we'll have just a momentary recess as we move people around and people say goodbye and then well then we'll take your gamble I don't know where you're gonna use Paul to order the special meeting for the reorganization of the board education at 7 51 pm and so our very
055first order of business before we call roll is to swear in the new members board so I'm going to turn that over to Craig Meadows who didn't get to speak at the last minute we're going to let him speak at this meeting so okay go ahead and square them in all right so as I mentioned everybody I'm going to kind of read just each bold you guys just respond back all of you will read together yeah go ahead all of you guys too okay I do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the school board of Board of Education of Batavia 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
056to the best of my ability 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 I further swear that I shall respect taxpayers interests 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 prayer word while respecting the privacy of students and employees shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others by respecting the privacy of students and employees I shall recognize that as 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
057I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority of an individual and the decisions can be made only by the majority vote I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels while retaining the right to see changes in such decisions Technical and constructive channels as a part of the Board of Education I shall accept the responsibility for my role in the Equitable and equality education of every student in the school district as part of the Board of Education and she'll 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 in the community formulate goals Define outcomes and set the course for
058the Batavia School District I shall assist in establishing a structure in an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to 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 continuous assessment of student achievement in all conditions affecting the education of our children and to compliance with state law I Shall Serve as as education's key Advocate on behalf of our students and our community schools to advance the vision for Batavia school district and I just observe as education is our community schools school district and I shall strive to work together with the school district superintendent
059to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created fostering Excellence for every student in areas of academic skills knowledge citizenship and personal development to work together with the district superintendent to lead to leaving the vision of the board created Wall Street Excellence academic skills knowledge citizenship and personal development thank you [Applause] Cindy will you call the role of the new board please here Gonzalez Thomas here Harry Gilbert here here R.T Mathis here present Danielle sligar here right um the role of the board president is normally to run in the meetings we are currently without a board president this is the reorganization meeting so to launch this meeting someone has to be selected to serve as the temporary president and temporary secretary and so I would recommend I would actually entertain a
060motion to appoint Lisa Hitchens that's me as president pro tem and Cindy Rodriguez as secretary Pro Tem so do I have emotions oh that is so exciting move by math this second second second um all in favor all right any opposed the motion passes so just temporarily I am the board president so the our very first order of our business is the favorite thing that we do as a board of education and that is to celebrate our students so thank you for your patience um I'll call up uh Miss Kathleen terryton right now to celebrate our graphic students hello I'm Kathleen tierriton graphic Communications teacher here at BHS we have recently updated the program offerings for graphic Communications which is part of both the Fine Arts and Career and Technical education departments in order to
061better reflect the career possibilities and design we continue to refine our classes and curriculum the new courses that ran this year included gay Martin design which you can imagine has been a blast um students have been learning about storytelling and Design Within an ever-growing industry while advancing their design and communication skills we took a field trip thanks to funding provided by the CTE grants to an independent arcade in downtown Aurora not only did they get to play a range of classic and modern arcade video games how cool and yes you can all come next year but they got to learn about how they work and even see the inside of a pinball machine while talking to the arcade technician emerging Technologies also ran for the first time this year which included units of study on
062user interface design Motion Graphics product design and augmented reality each of these projects offered students a chance to learn more about possible career Pathways related to design the future creative professionals club which I sponsor recently took a trip to learn more about creative professions through local Partnerships in the area 15 students visited Wilson Street Mercantile and Water Street Studios here in town and Rule 29 in Geneva it is so powerful to have these collaborations and Partnerships one of our best supporters is valleys which is an organization based out of waubonsie Community College and helps support the area CTE programs each year values organizes a team-based challenge in design where each school is partnered with professional mentors while they work on a design prompt that culminates in competition the competition itself includes two components A Team
063Challenge and a portfolio one you guys can come up here now this year our seniors Lucas Rojan and Eric Perkins teamed up to create branding for a fictional record store they were partnered with Gail gaboda the Batavia Park District's graphic designer and Jesse skirty an area freelance graphic designer and college instructor as their mentors are you pulling up some some gorgeousness all right um Lucas and Eric worked on this for about a month you say a month as part of their Graphics internship class which is another one of the classes that has emerged from our kind of re reconstruction um because they were doing independent studies and we want they're they're doing real stuff and so I really wanted on their transcript for it to say internship because that's what they're doing they're working for
064for people in the world so that was one of our cool course uh changes see I went off script um so uh they worked on this for about a month as part of their Graphics internship during term three and then presented their work along with their individual portfolios to a team of Industry professionals the judges were impressed with their design work the consistency of their brand the connection to historical and contemporary design Trends and their attention to detail competing against teams from four other schools Lucas and Eric were selected as the winners for this year's graphic Communications Team of the Year so much to celebrate as Lucas and Eric continue their education next year in the design field after being part of the graphics program for these past four years and what a four years
065it was to to study design that was interesting semester in Spring of 2020. um so uh as they go on I'm going to miss them so much Eric Perkins is off to the University of Cincinnati next year to study digital media and Lucas Rohan is headed to uh University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to major in graphic design congratulations guys Hallie's clicking through them presenting at waubonsie showing off their stuff um a little secret they won because they wore their t-shirts uh so they did a great job and it was beautiful work and they are pleasure and currently um Lucas is working on a map for the Batavia Garden community garden group and so hopefully we'll see that up this summer down at the Riverwalk and um uh and you also did I say Eric I
066said Lucas okay and um and the Banners are coming too so that's fun so thank you guys and then I've got one more celebration but I don't think Rachel's here unless she's hiding in the back somewhere um you can sit or you can stand another great opportunity we had this year was to participate in the community flag contest sponsored by the Batavia Chamber of Commerce this project emerged out of a great idea to create a community flag for residents and businesses to unite around all the great things about being a Batavian I presented this contest to my introductory Graphics classes and the students created a fantastic range of designs as part of the committee um sponsored by the chamber I was able to kind of review all of the submissions and was forced to vote
067which were over 100 submissions from uh designs of all ages and experiences from the submissions the committee worked down to 10 finalists which will be on exhibit in Limestone during the month of June and um included a total of out of the ten five of them were current or former BHS Graphics students and from those designs the design submitted by BH Graphics student and current sophomore Rachel aggro was chosen as the winner so congratulations to Rachel Rachel's design is professional with a clear communication of the strong aspects of our community the river the windmill history and I look at it and I just think the optimism of our community comes out too and that's something that I love as a parent Community member and educator here in the community the flags are available for purchase
068from the chamber and they will be soon all over the community they're popping up now and they are so beautiful in real life um when you it's you're just going to love them if you haven't seen them yet um and congratulations Tamal thank you Kathleen yes and because I asked for this to be included in our celebration because I was so impressed and Marty I'm sorry Marty's not here to hype this up a little bit more but there were submissions for this World from worldwide so it was done like kind of blind voting and so just to have it won by a Batavia High School student is amazing um all ages um but there were submissions from around the world and to have a you know come down to a Batavia High School student we
069thought was amazing so and um yeah Batavia the chamber you can order it through there and proceeds do go to the flag Monument yeah so you'll be seeing it all summer they're going to be down there's the operation like three by five and then there's also a yard size one yep so thank you though but you're welcome I was so pleased that I went to high school student s thank you thanks for celebrating your program and our students um next comments we'd like to invite our partners Todd Swanson from the Batavia Education Association and Mark Schuster are you coming yes with the Batavia educational support Professional Association and they invited some special guests we did yeah retirees come on hi everyone uh first off um I want to introduce Marcia Schuster who is coming best
070for president and you're going to see a lot of her at our board meetings we're going to do a lot of work together through Bea and that's welcome Marcia and take this opportunity tonight to recognize um some very special people as well um that are retiring and leaving our district this year after many many years that's these people you see standing before you so Marsha and I are both going to do a little bit of recognition for them at this time and I do have to apologize to them because I kind of enticed the retirees to come tonight I usually give my talk around 7 10. 7 30 and so they're all looking at their watch now so thank you guys for sticking it out so I appreciate it uh good evening members of the
071board tonight both the Bea and buspa come before you to celebrate and congratulate standing with Marcia and myself are some of the incredible people who'll be retiring from their service to BPS next month all together with the 10 Bea retirees and I think there's eight Busby retirees these amazing Educators and support staff have worked in BPS for Combined total of 378 years some of our retirees are here with us tonight but we do want to take time to recognize all of our amazing staff members who will be retiring at the end of the 22-23 school year so I'll let Marcia start with Best Buy thanks Todd so my name is Marcia Schuster and I'm the vice president of this meeting I want to thank them for their dedication professionalism and commitment to Batavia Public Schools
072all these years they will certainly most people will most certainly be missed by all their co-workers and friends that they worked with along the way and I wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors so the retirees for Best Buy are Tim Beckers and buildings and grounds for 14 years Sophia Bertha mandarino she's a pair a special ed Pera at the high school 14 years Deborah ewert special ed Pera at BHS 16 years Karen logodice special ed parent at JB Nelson 19 years Deborah nirad special ed Pera at BHS 18 years Sherry polis special ed Pera epic BHS 23 years Denise traskis special ed Pera at Louise White 21 years and Michael Weiss right there building custodian at JB Nelson nine years thank you and for our Bea retirees we actually have 10
073that are retiring this year from Bea we have Kelly Cook who's the lrc director at the middle school who's been with the district for 19 years Brian drendel who's science teacher at the high school has been here for 32 years in Batavia Joe Franz who is a social studies teacher at the high school has been here for 33 years Donna Hanrahan right here is the lrc director from Louise White school and she's been in Batavia for 16 years Meg Lincoln a special ed teacher at the high school and has 22 years in the district Diane O'Hara who is at the middle school as a Communications teacher and interventionist has been in the district for 33 years Christine Shepherd uh who is first grade this year at Louise White but many other hats in the district
074as well Christine has 28 years in the district Audrey Solana who is our speech and language person at Louise White school has been in the district for 30 years uh Barb Spence who is Grace McQueen kindergarten teacher and Kane County educator of the year last year uh 21 years and Batavia and lastly is Walt Zimmer who is the music teacher at Louise White school and he's been in the district for 33 years and if you heard me say Louise White School of several times they're taking a big hit this year so congratulations to all of our retirees and I just wanted to thank you all for your time and dedication to the thousands of BPS students that you have impacted and made a difference in their lives in your time here with us in Batavia
075you've seen many changes in staff educational Trends curriculum and you even learn how to still connect with students and help them learn and grow through pandemic filled with virtual learning it is an honor to present you all to the board tonight in celebration and recognition of your upcoming retirement we wish you all the best and whatever this next chapter brings for you we also know there happens to be another retirement in the room and that is someone from our Jack as well but we do have a few more meetings with Dr Hitchens so our message to her will be forthcoming in the months ahead so at this time I'd like to thank the retirees for um coming tonight and congratulations on your retirement and [Applause] but a change for them in our district as well
076and our next celebratory and congratulatory moment is with our past board members um who have either stayed like Chris or for Aaron and Kathy as well uh so oh Aaron's here yay thanks Aaron so Aaron Chris and Kathy uh both the Bea investment would like to thank you for your service and to the community the staff of BPS 101 but most importantly to the students of BPS the role in time commitment of a board member is at times demanding overwhelming and frustrating but at the same time can be rewarding and lightning and gratifying in year 10 you're on the board you've celebrated District district and student successes you've mourned the loss of staff and students alike and you two had to find it within yourselves and how best to navigate a worldwide pandemic as members
077of our Board of Education a thank you is nowhere near enough to acknowledge the time and dedication that you all put into your role as board members but please know we all truly do thank you for your time and service to BPS and we wish you well in whatever and wherever the road of Life takes you next ly to our newly elected board members Raquel Rob and Danielle congratulations your heart and drive paired with the experience and Leadership of RJ Craig Sue and Aaron will help you become a cohesive and transformative voice in working with all district stakeholders for our ultimate goal the ultimate and absolute best educational experiences and opportunities for the children of Batavia combine this with the arrival of Tom Kim as our next superintendent there truly is a New Day Dawning
078in BPS and just as this portion of the board meeting is called BPS Partners working together we have the collective responsibility to help build back trust through transparency and collaboration change is never easy but more often than not the results of those changes turn out better than we even anticipated we anticipate a great working relationship with this new board and our new superintendent as BPS moves forward into this next new chapter again to our retirees enjoy your retirement you've dedicated your lives to your students their families your colleagues and your District now it's time for yourselves once again congratulations to all of those making a life change in the very near future thank you [Applause] okay we have some action items and that would be to elect we have four officers on the board and
079three of them are elected positions so we'll be doing that right now and um the first position that we need to fill is the role of the president the most obvious role would be the per the their most obvious thing that you would see the president do would be to run the board meetings they look over the agenda and there is a whole host of responsibilities that are listed in the board policy so at this time I would like to open nominations for the office of presidents so if you would like to nominate someone you can nominate yourself or someone else I'll take those names I would like to nominate Craig Meadows for president a second pet so I will take any nominations for the office of President is there are there any other nominations
080okay the nomination window has closed and seeing that Craig Meadows is the only candidate nominated for the office of President um I declare Craig Meadows as the president of the Board of Education you want to swap out your name wait there well but Rob can stay there one of your rules is to um we'll talk tomorrow but you have to figure out where everybody sets up here so that's one of your jobs open to suggestions all right I'm gonna sit here all right we also have the position the next position that we will elect is vice president and um vice president steps in should the president be absent and at a few other roles in the policy as well so I will open up the window for nominations um for vice presidents so if anyone
081would like to nominate themselves or someone else I would like to hear their names I would like to nominate Mr Aaron kilburg for vice president I'll suck with that are there any other nominations all right we will close that nomination window s um seeing that Aaron kilburg is the only candidate that um was nominated for office of Vice President I declare Aaron kilburg as the vice president of the Board of Education and then we have one more um position and that is the board secretary again the responsibilities are listed in board policy make sure that all the documents are prepared uh is the official signer of the board decisions that are made so I would Now open up nominations for the office of secretary would anybody like to nominate anyone or themselves for the office
082of secretary I would like to nominate Sue lock board secretary are there any other nominations all right the window has closed so seeing that sulak is the only candidate nominated for the office of secretary I declare sulak as the secretary of the Board of Education Joy all right there's one more officer in Mr President is it okay if I keep going or I have that okay um because I wasn't sure who it is so I do have uh notes oh no no the treasure is is a nomination not a um no I was saying for the president I do have notes if you want to take off in a meeting at this point um so the position of the Treasure of the board is an official officer but it has some very specific qualifications they
083have to have the ability to compile monthly reports and they have to be properly bonded and the treasure um the the board can appoint a non-board member for the office of treasure and this board has always appointed the CFO as the treasurer so I would entertain a motion to appoint Dr Tony iglesi as treasurer of the Board of Education second this is hard moved by kilburg second by luck all in favor any opposed motion passes all right so then our next order of business we have um one more agenda item do you want me to just keep going let me take over with the notes I can't I don't wanna no no these are the last agenda items so why don't you look those over but I will um I'll at least start the next
084one so the next the last vote that this Board needs to take tonight is to set the dates and times for the regular meetings of the Board of Education and um it's you're required in your policy to set those um dates in the spring for the following year so that in full transparency everybody knows when your meetings are happening and the way that we put together this um calendar is just by tradition we pick a Tuesday every month and for payroll purposes because you approve of the payroll they need a little time to prepare that and so um we picked the date that is on or after the 19th of the month and there might be an exception for holidays but for the most part the media things are all on a Tuesday that's the
08519th or after that's tradition and so those dates have been in the board book previously and is there any discussion about that was there an issue wasn't there an issue with like a November December date I had asked about it but was convinced that we can't move it because it impacts the other dates too much but there was an issue with payroll or something um well they said they can do that um they would be prepared yeah it's okay and then RJ's concern is that there would be too short of a time between the two meetings but we're gonna there's gonna be a short turnaround either in either direction I was just more concerned with payroll the payroll said they can do it that's like a one-time okay then it's any other questions I'll throw
086one thing out there for a discussion but I know transparency has been an issue with the board and it came to my attention during my tenure that like for example for this evening every governing body in Batavia is currently having a meeting right now I'm not sure if they're still going but they're having a meeting and I know the city council meets four times a month um and they kind of rotate between a Monday and A Tuesday meeting and the library board I know meets on a Monday and a Tuesday so I thought we might not have enough time to discuss it now but I thought it might be open to discussion to perhaps moving our meeting to a Monday instead of a Tuesday now I know what the payroll that might I don't want
087to put any more undue pressure on the team to put the reports together but theoretically I guess if somebody in the community wanted to attend all these meetings it might be still impossible but you know like tonight they wouldn't have to pick from 104. so I just wanted to throw that out there and at least wanted the community to hear that it's something that we're aware of and I mean these are broadcast on VA TV so it is accessible at a later date but I just wanted to throw out there if that was something that was of interest to anyone else on the board if it's not I don't have any problem keeping the schedule as presented interested in moving it but okay just for my own personal schedule but it's a good observation yeah
088from my perspective I'd like to figure out how we can make that something that can happen whether that's maybe special meeting nights or we figure out if there's ways we can adjust as we move forward to be able to integrate us you know and allow people to participate or have them participate in some of our meetings occasionally so I think that's something we need to look at as we move forward I would not sure we could do it tonight curious to know how many people watch it at other times and I know Holly that can be done can't it not um on television but when but on the food put them on the on the website yeah they're up on YouTube yeah and that people do watch that yes they do oh yeah hundreds hundreds
089five no we're usually no but they're I mean so does that mean people aren't attending because they can't so they watch or it's just convenient so people watch probably a little both I think it's both so I like the idea of just for more interaction between us and the other groups that was my other thighs yeah you would have an opportunity to attend some of their meetings on the Craig was saying vice versa so that's why I wanted to bring it to the board's attention special meetings and senate hours notice it can be done I think that's a good mechanism potentially that you can explore right we have to vote on that I would entertain a motion to approve the times and dates for the regular meetings as presented so much second again kilburg kilburg
090okay moved by kilburg second by lack um all in favor any opposed paid motion passes and we're allowed to do for the new board members the president is allowed to call just all in favor that type of vote without calling everybody's name unless it's something Financial or some of the bigger votes will go individually but in some of those routines you'll just hear the all in favor and you just say yes or no so nice job and then there isn't a closed session tonight and so the last thing that we do traditionally is Administration and board comments so do you want to I'll start because I'm first on the line yeah I'll let you go and then yeah I'll call names afterwards yeah I would just like to on behalf of the entire staff as
091superintendent sometimes I get to speak for the staff and I want to welcome all of you and thank you for this commitment that you've um decided that you're willing to take and I hope that you ask me and the fellow board your fellow board members lots and lots of questions there's no question that's too small too silly so please reach out to us a lot because we need you to we need to bring you up to speed so that we can continue to just run and we don't have to pause and um the transition will be better for kids if we can just all get up to speed so if you're afraid to ask a question don't be um you're gonna you're you can ask any of us questions um and then also the board
092president will be calling you and talking to you about mentorship so you'll have a mentor that's assigned that would be like your go-to person but I know that these people would answer any questions and so would I so um welcome and we really look forward to working with you thank you next on our list are you okay we throwing you right up in there um yep so first of all just thank you to the community for giving me this opportunity I don't take this responsibility lightly I'm going to do my best to represent the students the teachers the support staff and the community as best as I can and I look forward to working with the entire board here and uh let's get let's get some stuff done Raquel so just just thanks to all
093for their time of volunteering and a dedication to the board and thanks to the community uh for electing us three um I know we all try our best to listen to everyone boys concerns and so forth and also to the current board I look forward to working with you all to make BPS a top tier District and as I look at this board I'm glad that we have some representation so thank you Mr kilburg all right so I have a few more marks prepared I feel like it talked way too much tonight but I'll try to be brief but Kathy touched on a couple of these things but I usually like to end with some recognition and there is a lot to celebrate so just in like the last four or five days uh WGN
094TV did recognize Batavia as a top 25 sports program throughout the entire state if you go to wgen tv.com and type invest high schools for Sports in Illinois Batavia will come up there there's a lot of parameters they used to determine that but we're very proud of that Kathy also mentioned our music program got recognized so there's a foundation called The NAMM Foundation n-a-m-m it's a national Foundation Foundation that advances active participation in music Across the lifespan by supporting scientific research philanthropic giving and public service and Batavia was one of 830 districts recognized throughout the entire country for other outstanding supportive music program so we should be very proud of that and then just today I was on Twitter and I saw that the women's varsity basketball coach Kevin Jensen was recognized as by his
095peers in the Illinois basketball coaches association is one of 57 winners recognized as a 2022-2023 high school coach of the year so congratulations to Kevin and the girls and the staff and then finally oh I always do like to thank everybody at every meeting who attends everybody who's here to the end I appreciate that everybody who sends us an email again thank you for your participation in that and uh two other things as far as we talked a lot about volunteerism and we've got uh two examples of probably volunteerism at their best next week we have prom and uh you know that takes a ton of volunteers to make sure that our kids can have a safe and fun evening it's stressful for parents it's stressful for administrators we just want to make sure everybody
096comes out of it uh with a good experience I want to thank all those volunteers and then we have teacher appreciation next week and I know a lot of our community is going to reach out and do a lot of different types of events at the schools to show their appreciation for the teachers when they work they do so I want to thank everybody who's going to do that and show our love to our teachers they deserve it and and then finally I just want to say we are on the stretch Run next time we meet we're going to be talking about commencement which is uh emotional I have a junior so next year I'll probably be crying when I talk about this but um to our new board members I got my first chance
097to participate and it really is sort of not that you need validation but when you're up on that stage and you hear those students speaks and you feel the energy and the pride of those parents it's it's an emotional experience for everybody so I look forward to that but I will say we're just going to take it one day at a time and enjoy the rest of the steps in this journey because that day will come very soon so Sue I'd just like to congratulate the new board members and welcome enjoy that's about it yeah welcome to the new board members I really appreciate that you are all you know servicing the community this way it was really great to see seven contestants and the last race so congratulations on it um and also I've
098been just thinking a lot about the high school kids that we've got problem coming up and then graduation so for any student that's in their last month I hope you all enjoy I hope they all enjoy their last month of school here because I know it's going to be really memorable for them um definitely sitting with a lot of gratitude thank you so much for the outgoing board members for all of the work and for everyone here you guys Lisa and the board you guys have been a lot of help already and I know you mean it when you say ask us any questions and I really appreciate that it's it's a lot um to kind of take in at once so it's been really helpful um you know I'm definitely ready for this opportunity
099and to serve the community I think our Batavia spoke really loudly like we're ready for some representation for a little bit more diversity and we don't represent every group that's out there but I can say with confidence I feel that we're going to do everything that we can um to serve the entire community and really make sure that every voice is thought about when we're making decisions and having conversations um that's something I look forward to Growing with you guys and um I really think that um we're going to be able to make some changes together with all of our diverse backgrounds whether it be our cultural backgrounds um you know educational or professional so we have a lot to bring to the table it's really exciting and I guess the last piece that I
100just want to have gratitude towards is are working at the school for a little bit of time it was completely different than volunteering the PTO or helping the classroom I really got a chance to you know work alongside some amazing people and like this last month is going to be insane so I just really want to say thank you to all of our staff for the push through we see you we appreciate you we love you and um it was amazing to work with the students too so I'm really excited to be on this side of things with them in mind so yeah I'm just a lot a lot to take in but a lot of gratitude as as for president I get to go last which may have been a thinly failed attempt to
101get me to not talk much but it's not going to work Jared uh no I'm just there yeah I'm just gonna say a couple of things um one the um really I want to be stuck with a couple things I'm as everybody was kind of giving speeches for or about our exiting board members you know usually I get a chance to kind of fill my cup as they say when we hear all the kids talk about the things they do but today really for me today while the kids are doing good things and I'll get to that in a minute just hearing everybody talk about it and remind everybody about their kind of passions and what they learned and what they what they achieved why they were here is amazing and one thing that as
102I've kind of talked to the new board members over the week while I'm getting to know you guys there's still little seeds and kernels that I see in each one of you that are kind of like filling that void here you know so that there's people that had passions for things and I see that in one of you or an excitement for things and I see that in one of you so I you know we are new people but I think there's going to be really good opportunities here and I think we have every opportunity to see that moment and kind of Bring It Forward um one of those things I was going to remark on because as a professional person in the design profession um to be able to see that we have two
103instances today that that our abilities to provide programs for kids to be able to interact with professionals and to do the work they do that when you were looking at it and this is I when I was in school I I interviewed kids for going into architecture and design school as a big d right graphic design landscape architecture everything else what I'm seeing that I remember seeing those kids almost 30 years ago were doing compared to what we're seeing here is amazing and I would not know as a person who sees professional graphic design work all the time that those done were done by high schoolers it's that good so congratulations to you more importantly congratulations to those kids they worked hard for it I've been there I know how it works and the fact
104that we gave them opportunities to kind of Reach Out is even better so good job and then lastly to our retiring teachers um one thing that struck me my kids went to Grace McWane and they did not have an opportunity to be in Barb Spence's class but I want to let all of these teachers know that you know while my kids weren't in there because of the collaboration and how they worked together and all those teachers their presence was felt even though those kids weren't in their class and that's one of the things I took out of Grace mcquain for my kids as they left so with that I am going to do one thing and say nothing about marching band this week so [Laughter] yeah that's the thing and I'll wait to next week
105to cry because I have that kid that's graduating so thank you everyone and as Lisa said there's no closed session today so we will be um I would entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second was moved by lock second by Mathis thank you everyone we have to all in favor motion passes meeting is adjourned right