001like to call the April 21st regular meeting of the board of education to order with the pledge to the American flag. There he is. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Booker here. Mr. Diesel here. Mr. Herrera here. Mrs. H here. Miss Mayel here. Mr. Zicker. All right. Are there any items on the agenda any members of the board would like to amend or move? Hearing none. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda of the regular meeting of the board of education for April 21st, 2025 as presented? So move. Second. All right. Mr. Herrell and M. Hulk. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Herrera. Hi. Mrs.
002H. Hi. Mr. Diesel. Hi. Mr. Booker. Hi. Miss Mayville. I. Um, quickly before we move on to the next agenda item, I just wanted to take a second and recognize the anniversary of the 1967 Belvadier tornado. It's been 58 years today. Um we had um 24 Belier residents who were killed in that tornado and um 13 children who were students of district 100. So um a lot of those families are still part of our community, still in town. Um so I'd just like to take a brief moment of silence to remember those victims and their families. Michael Bates, age six. Cindy Day, age nine. Lawrence Decker, age 17. Cecilia Eeken, age 83. Kemp Ferguson, age 12. Harold Gustoson, age 72. Pamela Haynes, age 14. Mary Gene Hamry, age 65. Craig Heiser, age 8. Barbara Johnson,
003age 10. Gilbert Julene, age 63. Bruce Lindley, age 13. Christine Lutzau, age nine. Sandra Mlan 21. Theodore Nelson 15. David Wayne Poe 13. Dwight David Shaw 11. Timothy Smith 17. Vicky Joe Smith 9. Jack Stall 23. Johnny Tate 6. Phyllis Van Brocklin 13. Rebecca Vogelang 8. And Norm White 81. Thank you. Um at this time with a little bit of sadness and a great deal of relief um I would ask for a motion and second to adjourn Syot. Second. So member and member Herrera. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Dameer. Hi. Mr. Herrera. Hi. Mr. Booger. Hi. Mrs. and Miss Mayel. I motion carries. Do we have a motion and a second uh to officially appoint Dr. Shug as temporary chair? Do I need to do it? That'd be great. I really just as that
004little extra. All right. Motion in a second to appoint Dr. Shung as temporary chair of the board of education. So move second discussion. Roll call, please. All right. Mr. Herrera, hi. Mr. Diesel Meer, I. Mrs. H. I Mr. Booker. Hi. Miss Mayo. I. Motion carries. All right. Thank you. Absolutely. meeting adjourned at 5:34 p.m. Uh we will after our close session this evening be uh recognizing our outgoing board members. However, at this time I would like to invite our newly elected board of education to come to the front of the room to take your oath of office. So are we partying my own? No, after this. After this part. Yes. And then you just Yes. But I hope you'll stay. But you're going to stay. Yes. For just a little bit. I thought that was
005after the next one. All right. All right. You guys are You can do this together. It's kind of long. All right. So, please repeat after me. I insert your name. do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education of Belvadier Community Unit School District 100. I will faithfully discharge 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. I further swear that I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. [Music] Protector of the school district assets. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing
006before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion of my fellow board members and others who seek the hearing before the board 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 decision made only by majority vote at public 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 decision while retaining the right to seek changes and such decisions through ethical and constructive
007channels. 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. As a 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 Belvadier Community Unit School District 100. particulate goals outcomes and set school district 100. 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. shall assist in establishing the structure and environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to retain their maximum
008potential through a sound organizational 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 in all conditions affecting the education of our children in state law. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision for Belvadier Community Unit School District 100. I shall serve as education advocate on behalf of students and our community schools district 100. 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. to work together with
009the district superintendent to lead the school district towards fulfilling the vision board has created fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development. Congratulations and welcome to the District 100 Board of Education. You may come and be seated at the table. We will get rearranged in close session. Just sit wherever you would like for now. It is now 5:39 p.m. and I would like to call the April 21st regular meeting of the board of education to order. Roll call, please. Mr. Diesel here, Mr. Herrera here, Mr. Hempy here. Mrs. Ho here. Mr. Mueller here. Mr. Piggy here. And Mrs. Young here. At this time, the nominations for the office of president of the board of education are open. Does anyone have a nomination for board president? I would
010like to nominate Mr. Herrera. Um, he has a ton of experience up here, six, eight years, I don't remember, but he's been around a while. He is very kind, hardworking, thoughtful board member, and I think he would make a great president. Mr. Herrera, do you accept that nomination? I do. Thank you, Holly. Is there a second for that nomination? I would like to second that motion. Right. Uh Holly Hul nominated Jorge Herrera and member Jeff Diesel Meyer seconded that nomination. Are there any other nominations for president? Hearing none, I have do I have a motion and a second to close the nominations for the office of president? I'll make the motion. Second. All right. Member Diesel Meyer made a motion and member Hul seconded the motion to close the nominations for the office of president.
011Discussion. Roll call, please. Mr. Diesel Meyer. I. Mrs. Hul. Hi. Mrs. Young. Hi. Mr. Hempy. Hi. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. And uh Mr. Herrera. Hi. I'm not sure yet. You're not voting for yourself yet. So, do I have a motion and a second to accept the nomination of member Herrera as a president for a 2-year term? We do. No, I need another motion. I'll make a motion and a second. Second. Was that right? All right. I love it. Uh, member Yunk, seconded by member Piggy, uh, to accept the motion of member Herrera as president to a two-year term. Discussion. Roll call, please. Mrs. Young, I. Mr. Piggy, I. Mr. Mueller, I. Mr. Diesel, I. Mrs. Ho, I. Mr. Hempy, hi. And Mr. Herrera. Yes, you can still vote for yourself. And it is
012now my pleasure to declare member Herrera as your newly elected board president for a 2-year term. Congratulations, Mr. Herrera. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to invite member Herrera to take his seat next to me. And uh although I enjoyed my time serving as board president, I am very happy to turn this meeting back over to you, Mr. Herrera. Thank you. Um at this time, we're we're going to have the election of vice president. Um so the nominations for the office of vice president, board of education are open. Do we have a motion for a nominee? If I could, I would like to nominate Mr. Diesel Meyer. um he hasn't been with us that long, but in the time he's been here, he has been a very um great board member and I know
013he has a lot of board experience outside of here, too. So, if he would like to be vice president, I think he'd make a great one. Do we have a second? I'll second it. All right. Perfect. Um any other nominations for the Office of Vice President? Seeing none. If not, I do I have a motion and a second to close the nominations for the office of vice president. I move. It's going to take me a little bit to learn your learn your voices. Thank you. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right. Thank you. So, member Humpky made a motion and member Mueller seconded the motion to close the nominations for the office of vice president. Roll call. All right. Mr. Hempy. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mrs. H. Hi, Mrs. Young. Hi, Mr. Piggy.
014Hi, Mr. Diesel. Hi. And Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay. Do we have a motion and a second to accept the nomination of member Diesel Meyer as vice president for a two-year term? A motion. Second. Okay, we have a motion by member Hal, I'm sorry, member Yn and seconded by member Hal. Discussion. Roll call. Mrs. Young, I Mrs. H. I Mr. Diesel. Hi, Mr. Piggy. Hi, Mr. Hempy. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, and Mr. Herrera. All right. Okay. Motion passes. It is my pleasure to declare member Duma as your new newly elected vice president for a two-year term. Congratulations. Okay. Okay. At this time, the nomination for the office of secretary of the board of education are open. Do we have any nominations? I would like to nominate Mrs. Hul. She has been a member of the board
015for a number of years. Uh she's had a great deal of involvement in the school system, the community. um she's been a a really uh welcome voice on this board and uh we would greatly appreciate it if she would be secretary. Do we have a second? I'll second. All right. Any other nominations for the office of secretary? If not, do I have a motion and a second to close the nominations for the office of secretary? Motion. Okay, I second. All right. Okay. Member Yunk made a motion and member Humpkkey seconded the motion to close the nominations for the office of secretary. Roll call. Mrs. Young. I. Mr. Hempky. I. Mr. Diesel Meyer. I. Mrs. H. I. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. And Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay. Do we have a motion and a second
016to accept the nomination of member Hal as a secretary for the two-year term? I'll make the motion. Okay. Second. Okay. We have a a motion by member Dieselmire, seconded by member Piggy. Discussion. Okay. Roll call. Mr. Dieseler. I. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mr. Hempy. Hi, Mrs. H. Hi, Mrs. Young. Hi, and Mr. Herrera. Hi. Thank you. Passes. It is my pleasure to declare member Hul as our newly elected secretary for two-year term. Okay. At this time, um, keeping in keeping with best practices, regular meetings of the board of education are held the third Monday of each month unless otherwise dictated by holidays, with those being the third Tuesday of each month and the first Thursday of the month unless otherwise noted as tentative special meetings. Do I have a motion and a second
017to keep the current day, time, and location of the regular meetings of the board of education? Make the motion. Okay. I second. [Music] Okay. Okay. Member Dismayer and member Hempy seconded the motion to keep the regular meeting of the board of education on the third Monday of each month unless otherwise dictated by holidays at 5:30 p.m. at the central office. Any discussion? Seeing none. Roll call. Mr. Dieseler. Hi, Mr. Hemi. Hi, Mrs. Hul. Hi, Mrs. Young. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mr. Piggy. Hi, Mr. Herrera. I Okay, motion passes. Okay. Do we have a motion and a second to adopt all present and existing policies, handbooks, salary schedules, agreements, contract obligations, legal counsel, and designated depository institutions? here to here to for approved by the district and board of education. So moved. Okay. Member Hul. Do
018we have a second? Second. Young. Okay. Member Hul and member Yunk and member Young seconded the motion to adopt all present and existing policies, handbooks, salary schedules, agreements, contract obligations, legal counsel, and designated depository institutions. through four or approved by the district and the board of education. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Mrs. H. Hi. Mrs. Young. Mr. Hempy. Hi, Mr. Diesel. Hi, Mr. Piggy. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay, moving on. Do we have a motion in a second to go into closed executive session regarding section two heading C exceptions sub number one of the open meetings act to discuss the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal council for the public body collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or
019the representatives or or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees and student disciplinary cases. A motion. So moved. Okay. Decent. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. Member Dire made the motion. Second by Mr. Hempy. Member Piggy. Oh yeah. No. Second by Piggy. He made the motion. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Member Piggy made the motion seconded by uh member sorry bear with us. Trying to get in learn everybody's voices while we're up here. All right. Um okay. Roll call, please. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Hempky. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. Mrs. Hope. Hi. Mr. Domeire. Hi. Mrs. Young. Hi. Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay, we will now close for a closed executive session. We will now open for closed exeive session if you will. And I will just again say we will be recognizing our
020outgoing board members immediately following that closed executive session. Um as well as having time for public input. Thank you for your patience as we convene in close session. just give them a whole handful of Hello everybody. Hi. Hello. Butler from Mhamm Elementary. Um we're so glad to be here. We belong to a group, dance group, Mexican group called Amura and we're uh based a lot of students from the district. We have a lot of students from Washington, a lot of students from Mihan and we want to bring a lot from our roots and our family roots to this community. So please enjoy. We're going to have two two dances. The first one is called um Elero deer de las that it means like the the part north part of Mexico in Montter I don't know
021if you ever been in Mexico is the north part and the second one is called loitos and it means the old people so it means like even we're old we still have fun so please enjoy this is with a lot of love we're not professionals we're just like a lot of students and teachers that we want to pretend this okay thank gift. We have some students. Hello [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ready. Heat. Yoo! Yeah. Heat. Heat. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] Yeeha! Heat! [Music] Heat. Heat. Thank you very much. We're going to do a picture and we also have Mr. Herrera has something for you here. Thank you Butler for bringing the students in and performing. We have something for them. Yes. Uh is Miss Hadley out in the hallway? Oh. Oh, there's another dance in the
022back. Oh, there's more kids in the back. Okay. All right. Okay. Oh. Oh, I didn't know we had a costume change. They're all people. But even this is interesting. Yeah. This This is good. This is good. Okay. Don't ready. [Music] Oh my [Music] [Applause] gosh. How [Music] many? [Music] Everybody Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Wherever Miss Hadley is, she is going to take your picture. There she is. Thank you. Okay, it is now 6:28 and we are out of closed executive session and we will reconvene the regular meeting of the board of education. Roll call, please. Mr. Domeer, here. Mr. Mr. Herrera here, M. Mr. Honky Hanky here,
023Mrs. Help here, Mr. Mueller here, Mr. Piggy here, and Mrs. Young here. Okay, before we start the regular board meeting of the board of education, as a reminder, all board members are expected to follow our approved meeting norms and board protocol, we will now have our district celebrations, and I would like to turn this portion of the meeting over to Dr. Shug. I will go through that. Uh, Mr. Mr. Rera, did you want to ask about moving item M to immediately following district celebrations? Are we okay, folks, with moving um item N, which is um public uh hearing of visitors, if you will, um right after district celebrations. We're okay. All right, fantastic. All right, then we will go ahead and begin our district celebrations. At this time, I would like to recognize our outgoing
024board members for their time here in District 100. Uh, is Mr. Booker still out there? Yes. Come on up, Mr. Booker. We would like to extend I'll wait for you. Oh, okay. You No, up here. Up here. Uh we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Mr. Tom Looper for his dedicated service on the board of education since April of 2021. As a member of the business services committee, Tom has been a strong advocate for accountability, transparency, and most importantly, our students. His contributions to the district's strategic planning process have helped shape a clear vision for the future. We deeply appreciate his commitment and we know that he has made a lasting impact on District 400 during his time on the board. Thank you. Make sure I'm giving the right one. There you go.
025Thank you, Mr. Booker. Thank you. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Carla Mville for her dedicated service on the board of education since April of 2013. Throughout her tenure, Carla served as vice president from 2013 to 2015 and as president from 2019 to 2021 and again from August 2024 to the present. She has contributed her leadership and insight through her work on the educational services committee and the facilities and long-term planning committee. Carla has been a steadfast advocate. Her long-term planning, fiscal responsibility, and the success of both students and staff. Her impact on District 100 has been significant and lasting, and she will truly be missed by many staff, students, and community members. Thank you, Matt Zicker was not able to be here tonight and we will recognize him for his years
026of dedicated service to District 100 at May Sport meeting coming. All right. And we also have some board shoutouts. Uh Michelle Maguire, Jessica Romano, and Julia Zachary from Calonia. Do we have any of them present? I I do know. Okay. Thank you. Um I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of wonderful educators, but your team stands out. They were so kind and welcoming to me. I was impressed with each teacher's skill sets. Each of them were very open-minded and willing to try each new strategy offered. I know in education we we often don't hear enough of the positive. So, I just wanted to share with you that I was especially impressed with your teachers. I really can't say enough positive things about my time at Calonia. This was submitted by an educational
027consultant for the district, Renee Bal Balabusco, Lisa Johnson, and Linda Smith from Washington Academy. I would like to nominate Renee, Lisa, and Linda for a schoolboard shoutout in recognition of their dedication and impact on our school community at Washington Academy. Having served in the district for many years, Renee, Lisa, and Linda are true team players who consistently go above and beyond to support both students and staff. They have a remarkable ability to connect with and support some of our most challenging students, demonstrating patience, empathy, and perseverance. Their commitment to creating a positive and inclusive learning environment has made a lasting difference in the lives of many. We are truly grateful for Renee, Lisa, and Linda's hard work and their contributions deserve to be celebrated. And Jeremy Fu from SMS. I want to shout out Mr.
028Fu because he is always making sure we understand the math material he teaches us by giving us great explanations and making sure we get help if we don't understand it. He is by far one of the best math teachers I have ever had and he has helped me grow so much in my seventh grade school year. He makes sure we understand everything before giving us tests and he makes it fun at the same time. He is such a great, funny, trustworthy teacher. Is anybody here tonight that we uh just recognized? No. No. No. Okay. Okay. We'll get to that. We'll get them their uh this gift of appreciation later. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Shug. This point then we will move on to hearing of visitors. First up, we have Guy Refett. I believe I pronounced
029that correctly from Waste Manager. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Guy Ruffet and I am Waste Management's account executive assigned to the 12ear school district. This year we have twice submitted bids to continue as your partner for your waste group for needs. as advanced disposal and now waste management. We have serviced your district since 2013. Although we were told we submitted the most economical bid, I was told that committee was planning to recommend make sure recycling and disposal as your new vendor. I'm here to explain tonight why we think that decision is not in the best interest of your school district. The bid specifications were for a three-year agreement, and Waste Management's pricing came out to a grand total of $271,770 compared to LRS's bid
030of $321,000 31 $321,31 amounting to a savings of slightly more than 49 $49,000 over the course of the 3-year contract. While LRS specified a flat rate for the three-year contract, WM presented pricing that included a maximum 5-year increase in year two and three. Those increases are included in the compar comparative totals that I just gave you. I was told that the primary reason that LRS's recommendation by the committee was because WM did not submit a stable contract price. As I have outlined, we did and we were transparent about any increases in the yearly cost. Further, we were not asked to submit a bid with no increases. The bid document specified that any bid with more than a 5% yearly increase would be rejected. I believe that we have provided safe and reliable service to the
031district for nearly 15 years and have now presented the most thorough, transparent, and economical plan to continue our partnership with the district. I appreciate your consideration and welcome any questions that you may have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Um, I should have mentioned this before, but um, I'm new to this role and so I'll just mention it now. As a reminder, any person appearing before the board is expected to address the board only to at the appropriate time and follow the directives of the board president to remain to maintain order and decorum, identify oneself, limit comments to three minutes, and conduct oneself with respect with respect and civility towards others and otherwise abide by board policy 8 colon 30 visitors to and conduct on school property. Next visitor is Sarah Brener. Sarah, you may approach.
032Good evening, District 100 Board of Education. Tonight, it is my great honor and privilege to recognize someone whose impact on Belvadier School District 100 is not only significant but lasting. A dedicated leader, advocate, and champion for our students, staff, and community. And her name is Mrs. Carla Mayville. Over the past 12 years, Carla has served on the board of education with unwavering commitment, thoughtful leadership, and a heartfelt full of passion for public education. Her service has truly shaped the direction and success of this district in powerful and meaningful ways. Through her steady leadership, including her time as board president, we've witnessed transformational change and enduring progress. Under her guidance, we've expanded and refined our K12 dual language programming, ensuring that our students are more equipped than ever to thrive in global society. She also was
033instrumental in our early childhood expansion, laying a strong foundation for more of our youngest learners. Thanks to her vision and collaboration, the facility's master plan became more than a blueprint. It became a guide to help the district ensure safe, modern, and welcoming learning environments for for all of our students. She also helped to lead the charge in implementing the innovative strategies like high school scheduling improvements and win time, giving students more personalized learning opportunities and support during the school day. And when the world faced uncertainty during CO 19, her driven and thoughtful leadership helped us navigate those uncharted waters. She worked handinhand with the health department, superintendent, administration, the board, and community partners, always pushing for what was best for students, especially the return to in-person learning. Following difficult moments like the closure of Kisswalki
034Elementary, she played a key role in mending a community relations and reestablishing trust in the board. Her care for people was always evident as a prime example being the opening of the health clinic in Belvadier also, which now serves staff and their families. Throughout her tenure, she helped hire and extend contracts of two superintendent, bringing stability and strong leadership to the district. She supported the hiring of countless staff members whose work continues to elevate in our schools. She championed partnerships with Rock Valley College, including Running Start from the Technology Center and expanding for our students far beyond the classrooms. And without a doubt, she mentored me as a board member and board president for which I am truly grateful. And beyond all of these accomplishments, Carla brought something that can't be captured on paper. She
035brought drive, high expectations, integrity, and deep rooted belief in the potential of each child in this district. Carla, on behalf of the Belvadier School District stakeholders you serve, the students, staff, families, and community, thank you. Thank you for your time, your energy, your leadership, and your heart. You leave behind a legacy of progress, hope, and a stronger Belvadier for generations to come. We are so grateful for you. Thank you, Mr. Okay, next on the list is Jennifer Hunter. Hello, my name is Jen Hunter, current district 100 teacher of 20 plus years and the current special education team leader at Belvier Central Middle School. I'm here tonight to discuss my concerns about the continuum of services offered in district 100 middle schools. I became a special education teacher in 1992. When I was about to finish
036my student teaching, I remember talking to my cooperating teacher about being nervous to interview for potential teaching positions and in particular how to respond to the question, "Can you explain your teaching philosophy?" I was not quite 22 years old and brand new to a career I had come to love even more than I expected. My cooperating teacher told me not to worry about it. I could borrow hers. Her philosophy was simple. If they need it, they get it. I'm 54 now and that lesson has seen me through many highs and lows over the years because special education at the end of the day should always be if they need it, they get it. And as a teacher and case manager, it is incumbent on me to do everything in my power and use all of
037the tools at my disposal to provide it. At times, it means that I have to use my voice to speak for those who can't speak for themselves, our precious students, and the parents who entrust their education to us. I believe this is one such situation. This past February, my team at Central was informed of the removal of instructional science and social studies programming, beginning with sixth grade during the 2526 school year and rolling up to seventh grade the following year and then 8th grade the year after that. If you aren't familiar with the term instructional classes are taught in small group settings with specialized instruction, modified curriculum, and slower pacing. I can speak for my entire team in telling you that we were shocked as we have been told repeatedly this year that our special
038education department is following the directives set forth in last year's special education audit. One of these directives is the provision of a full continuum of services. The elimination of instructional classes removes a layer of that continuum, shrinking rather than expanding it. The special education audit includes at least 14 references to providing a full continuum of services. The audit also contains multiple mentions of transparency between leadership and certified staff. The decision to eliminate instructional science and social studies was made without any classroom visits or observations and without any conversations occurring between CO leadership and instructional teachers, students or parents. When our team pushed back asking for data to support this decision, we were told that eliminating instructional science and social studies would be fine because students don't have disabilities in science and social studies. Obviously, we
039know that and our concern lies in the fact that as content becomes increasingly more challenging and abstract, these students continue to have significant deficits in areas such as reading fluency and comprehension, basic math problem solving, expressive and receptive language, including vocabulary and ex executive functioning. These students have severe learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and sometimes behavioral difficulties. The teachers who teach these classes are often required to create their own curriculum to meet the needs of the students they have in class time while still teaching the grade level standards. They are truly gifted at this. And when students are ready to transition from an instructional setting into a co-taught one, they are ready to meet the challenges and experience success. I suspect that if conversations between CO leadership and building level leadership had occurred, we would have
040been able to let them know that the elimination of instructional science and social studies had already been attempted several years ago. It failed, which is why we once again began providing these classes. I feel confident that I am speaking not just for myself, but for many of my CMS colleagues as well as our counterparts at South Middle School in bringing these concerns to the board's attention. We are open to making changes or adjustments in programs but ask that data would be collected and that we who know our students better than anyone be given the opportunity to be a part of the decisions which impact them. Least restrictive environment is meant to be the least restrictive placement in which a student can experience academic success. We as a district owe it to our students to provide
041them the full continuum of service as mandated by law and is designated by the special education audit paid for with thousands of taxpayer dollars. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Mrs. Hunter. Anyone else that would like to make public comment? I just hit that lady with my cane. My name is Lisa Whit and I live in the district. Um I don't have any kids here now, but um so I just wanted to say welcome to all the new board members. It's a big job and you're about to drink out of a fire hose. Um but what you do is very very important and so um I want to say the remarks that were just made by a teacher. While I understand there's a continuing debate about what's board work and what's staff work, you'll
042all find your own rhythm where that's concerned. But I would encourage you to read the special education audit that was done, right? It's a lot a lot a lot of pages, but if you're new to the board, you can't possibly know how your role as a board impacts and affects your ability to address those concerns that were just brought up until you read it. So I would encourage that to be the second thing that you read. The first thing you should read are the policies, right? Because there's no debate or dispute about the fact that as a board member, your responsibility is to ensure adherence to policy. You only have one employee, the superintendent. And so you won't really get involved in things other than making sure that the vision of the board is followed.
043It's got to read the strategic plan and know the mission and vision and value statement and read the policies. All the policies. There's a lot of them. But when parents, teachers, community members come and speak about items that relate to the law and audits that are completed and other things like um the former speaker just mentioned. If you haven't read them, you won't know where to reference to ask hard questions. And I'm going to encourage you to ask hard questions. Ask hard questions of yourself as board members. ask hard questions of the individuals who can best help you understand and interpret policy and best collectively make decisions. I'm the first one to say that we all have individual decisions but your responsibility is then after being made decisions as a corporate you follow those decisions.
044We didn't always agree. You won't always agree but you follow those decisions. But if you don't make informed decisions, you're cheating the people behind me and you're cheating the people at home in the community and you're most importantly potentially cheating kids in this district. If you're not familiar with policy to help dictate and outline it, if you're not reading policy so that you're aware of how to implement it and hold people accountable. I heard words like transparency and accountability. You can't possibly hold people accountable and expect transparency if you're not familiar with the information. So those questions that were just brought up or those concerns that were just brought up, where does your role as a board member fit in? What policies are associated with that? Where do you where is your role? Where is
045the place that you find what all of you said you wanted to do when you ran for election is to serve the community, right? You do that through policy and you do that through accountability and transparency. And so please take that job seriously and start your reading when you get home. Thank you, Mrs. Whipcom. And thank you for your past as a board member. Anyone else? Good evening. My name is Lori Wagner. I'm the regional sales manager for Lakeshore Recycling Systems. Um I just wanted to take a few moments of your time in regards to the waste and recycling RFP. Um Lakeshore Recycling Systems has offered um an immense savings year-over-year when compared to waste management's previous price pricing. Um we have also developed great relationships within the community. Many of your neighboring school districts
046have recently made the switch to LRS, including Elgen School District, Woodstock School District, Aurora School District, and Cain School District. All within the last two years, and all of which are extremely pleased with our personalized service. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Wagner. Anyone else that would like to make public comment? CNN. Uh up next we will have our student council representatives from both high schools share what is happening in our in our district 100 schools. First up is Belvadier High School. Do we have somebody from Belair High School? Yeah. Okay. Hello, I'm Ruby. Um I'll be reading the April 2025 board report. Washington Academy. This past month at Washington Academy has been filled with growth, collaboration, and pride. We are proud to share that our student incident rates are the lowest they've been since 2010.
047A true testament to the positive culture within our school. That same dedication and focus were evident as our students demonstrated incredible perseverance while complete completing the Illinois Assessment of Readiness. Building on that momentum, our staff engaged in a powerful professional learning. opportunity by partnering with Perry and Nihan Elementary School to conduct interbuilding math walkthroughs which pro proved to be both productive and meaningful. We couldn't be prouder of our students and staff continuing to make Washington Academy a place of excellence every day. Mihen Elementary School. I'm excited to share several from our school. Our K second graders students showed incredible support for their five third fifth um grade peer during state testing by creating colorful signs and lining the hallways to cheer them on as they took the Illinois assessment of readiness. This meant a lot
048to the students and helped boost morale during testing. Additionally, we received particip participation in math walkthroughs with Washington Academy, providing our teachers with a valuable opportunity to observe and learn from one another. The insight and strategies shared during the collaboration have been greatly appreciated and will be in implanted in our classrooms moving forward. In other news, our BTL successfully completed its latest fundraiser, selling over $10,000 worth of butter braids. The fund raise will these funds will raise port student events and help fund improvements to our playground, ensuring a more enriching experience for our students. A huge thank you to goes out to the Mustangs families for their support and participation in this event. South Middle School. This past month has been a busy one for SMS students and staff. Students worked hard on their AR
049state assessments right before spring break and have started the fourth quarter strong. Our drama club put on four outstanding performances of Little Mermaid Junior and track season has begun with 123 seth and eighth grader student participating. Our art club is gearing for their art show later this month and our garden club and tech club just started meeting. We are looking forward to our upcoming spring math assessments to see the growth and that staff see every day. Keep up the great work bucks you rock. Belier high schools has began the fourth quarter on track to exceed its goals for this school year which are the percentages of students with language services earning six credits and reducing non-classroom discipline referrals. Celebrations from this past month includes AP Lang students competing in the ethics competition at Northern Illinois
050University where two of our teams finished second and fourth. FFA also finished second in the statewide dairy judging contest. We had our fourth quarter giveaway of bracelets to recognize autism awareness day. We also celebrated par profofessional day, school librarian day, and assistant principal. Everest High School has something to report this month. Thank you, Ruby. All right. Do we have somebody here? Do we have somebody here from Belair North High School, Diana? Okay, we will move on. All right. We will now have our board committee report starting with the business services committee meeting on April 1st. Mrs. Armstrong, do you have anything that you would like to highlight or share from the business services committee meeting minutes? I think they're contained in the minutes. Um there was a lot of discussion about the recycling and refu
051um and the exceptions that were part of that um needed. So the committee considered all those when making the recommendation to go forward with LRS. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Armstrong. Does anybody have any questions for Mrs. Armstrong or myself? Okay. Moving on to educational services committee meeting on April 2nd. Mrs. H, Dr. Carson or Dr. Johnson, do you have anything you would like to highlight or share from the educational services committee minutes? I do. Okay. Uh, does anyone have any questions from Mrs. Hawk, Dr. Carson, or Dr. Johnson regarding those minutes? Okay, seeing none. All right. Next on the agenda. Next on the next on the agenda are our consent consent agenda items. Are there any items on the consent agenda any members of the board would like to take out for separate consideration? See
052none. Okay. Hear none. Uh, do I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items numbers number two to 14 as presented? Make the motion. Okay. Member Damo made a motion. Second. Member Hul seconded the motion to approve the consent agenda items two to through 17. I'm sorry. As presented 14, right? 14. Any discussion? Okay. At this time, I would like to acknowledge the following donations. Multiple teacher appreciation gifts and a mural to be painted in the library um in Calonia. Uh thank you. Thank you for that. Um okay, thank you for those u donations. Do we have roll call, please? Yep. Mr. Dieseler. Hi, Mrs. H. Hi, Mr. Piggy. Hi, Mr. Hempy. Hi Mrs. Young. Hi Mr. Mueller. Hi. And Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay. Motion passes. Okay. Next in the agenda
053are the roll call items. I'm sorry. Roll call agenda items. First item being the refuge and recycling RFP. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the refuge and recycling RFP as presented? So move. Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. Member Peggy made the motion. Member Hul seconded the motion to approve the refuge and recycling RFP period as presented. Any discussion? Mr. Winters, is there anything you wanted to clarify regarding that RFP? Yeah. Um, I guess I would say that when Mr. Refford spoke of the relationship between the district and waste management/advance, made it sound like there were no issues. We had multiple issues. My biggest one being who's my rep. It took me over a month just to find out who I can talk to to tell them that they
054weren't picking up garbage. Um we had instances where we put um dumpsters on vacation trying to save money and then we had Washington school. two weeks we had garbage not only in dumpsters but in our uh dump trucks and they went back and forth saying we have overflowing dumpsters and they argued that no we know the driver was there and I had to send pictures of our dump trucks full of garbage. the um the RFP that we put out was very specific about keeping the term of the contract for the price. Now, it's a three-year contract with two one-year rollovers. Waste management took exception to over 15 items in our RFP. LRS took zero exceptions. They took our our RFP as is and responded as is. Um, I have no other contract. I've never been
055asked by any other vendor for them to go with a three-year contract, guaranteed pricing, and for them to ask me to wave that that they can raise their fees on um on whatever they felt was necessary. two things that they that they selected on that. The first thing was uh and I'm I'm going to respond. This is their exact response to their exception. um contractor takes exception to prices remaining guaranteed for the period of the contract and request waste management be able to um increase I'm sorry adjust pricing for um for unforeseen costs and the right and the right to adjust an annual I'm sorry and and right to assess an annual price increase. I'm going to ask you what's the point of having my contract if I can't get guaranteed pricing. I need guaranteed
056pricing. I know where I need to be this year, next year, and the following year. So, um and again along with all the other exceptions including, you know, uh CPI. So, that's it. Any questions on that? Any questions for Mr. Winters? No. Thank you for that. I would just like to add I was also at that business services meeting on April 1st. Um, one thing I did learn there on that meeting was that between July 6, 2023 and December 2nd, 2024, our current provider had reported about 365 contamination incidents resulting in over 40,000 of additional charges, if you will. So, um, again, it when we look at our the proposal that we're looking at from Lakeshore, um, the difference here is that what we understand is that Lakeshore isn't looking at those exceptions or those
057ancillary fees that we were charged that additional 40,000 we are with our with our um current provider. Um, in the long run, that will save us money in the long run, right? Um, from what we understand, um, yes, there there may be some ancillary ancillary fees, I'm sorry, but at the end of the day, I think the goal of of LRS is what we were looking at was to maintain 0% ancillary charges throughout the contract. That's a big difference from the current provider to what what is being proposed for the new provider. So, um, that stood out to me when we were discussing this in business services. Um, another point to to look at, I mean, While there might monthly basis cost for for waste management might be slightly lower in the long run if
058we look at history that could be higher for us. So um I as I look through this and as we discussed in business services I do support the uh current proposal um for LRS. Any more discussion, questions or comments? So the committee and the administration recommends. Okay. Okay. Roll call, please. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mrs. H. Hi. Mr. Gomeer. Hi. Mr. Hempy. Hi. Mrs. Young. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay. Motion passes. Next. SC uh roll call item. Middle School Literacy Adoption. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the middle school literacy adoption as presented? So moved. Second. Okay. Member Hawk made the motion. Yeah. Member Hawk made the motion. Member Dies seconded the motion to approve the middle school literacy adoption as presented. Any discussion? Dr. Johnson, is there anything
059you wanted to highlight in there? Yeah. Um so this was um for middle school. This is for the English language arts curriculum. Um our curriculum cycle is that every six years a different content area has their turn to be reviewed. So our English language arts teachers from middle school uh were able to meet with Dr. Valant our direct curriculum and um they were able to review data and research. um they identified seven different possible resources um and went through like a vetting process. So they reviewed all of them um they utilized a rubric that they had developed um they sat through presentations asked questions um and in the end narrowed down to HMH um into literature. So, the quote that is here is a six-year quote. Um, it includes the print and digital resources that
060our English language arts teachers have identified. Um, as well as some professional development. Um, and so this particular item went through business services as well as our ed services um committees. Um, and at that time both um were okay with moving forward with the proposal. So you said it was teachers that chose that narrowed it down and chose it. Yep. So um the way that it works is we pull representatives from whatever schools are impacted um and then they have a excuse me a process of going back to any other teachers that either weren't there or couldn't participate just to make sure um that all the voices are heard. But yes, definitely this process is is driven by that cuz they're in the classrooms and they know what they need. So yeah, they group did
061a really great job and uh we're confident that um this resource will really help drive them into the future. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. Any other questions for Dr. Johnson? Okay, roll call, please. Mrs. Hul, hi. Mr. Dieseler, hi. Mr. Mueller, hi. Mr. Piggy, hi. Mr. Hempky, hi. Mrs. Young, hi. Mr. Herrera, hi. Okay, motion passes. Do I have a motion and a and a second to approve the BEA teacher request for additional sick days? I make the motion. Second. Second. Okay. Member Diesel made the motion. Member Hempy seconded the motion to approve the BEA teacher request for additional sick days. Discussion. Okay. Seeing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Diesel Meyer. I. Mr. Hempy. Hi. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. Mrs. H. Hi. Mrs. Young. Hi. And Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay. Motion passes. Do I
062have a motion and a second to approve the ROE, student support specialist, as presented? Discuss. I'm sorry. Go ahead. You have a motion. So, do we have a second? Second. Okay. Member H. And in the motion, member Peggy seconded the motion to approve the ROE student support specialist as presented. Discussion, please. Seeing none. Roll call, please. Mrs. H. Hi. Mr. Piggy. Hi, Mr. Hempy. Hi, Mrs. Young. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mr. Diesel. Hi, and Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay, motion passes. Do we have a motion in a second to approve a career readiness facilitator as presented? I move. Okay. Second. Okay. Member Hempy made the motion. Member Hul second of the motion to approve a career readiness facilitator as presented. Discussion. I just wanted to highlight typically a new job description would go through our policy
063and personnel committee. We did not have a policy and personnel committee this month. Uh this is what we are bringing forward tonight is just a job description, not a hire. Uh but this would enable us to post this position. Again, it's a new position for the district. Uh however, the funding is going to come directly out of our Perkins grant funding. Uh this is somebody who is going to be uh hands-on supporting our career and technical education program uh falling under our director of student services and career readiness. Uh we think it's really going to lend great support to our workbased learning programs uh at the secondary level uh which is an area where we're really looking to grow and expand. So that is why that that is there. So is it a kid contact
064position? uh it is a kid contact position and an adult contact position. So there will be some opportunity for engagement directly with students uh getting work placements and things like that but also working with teachers to coordinate that Dr. Carson and also with business partners too. So they would definitely play a role with identifying. So not like classroom setting, not more central office setting like extended learning really. So it's out in the community. How how can we get kids work based experience whether that's you mentioned something about internships too. Do we have like internships already set up? So we have a workplace experience class and so this again this this role would help go and identify partners that could provide those uh internship opportunities for our students. So there's still a classroom teacher. This one
065coordinates with the community and brings it to Exactly. And is that different than what the the career readiness like Matt Fry's position does? It is different from Well, and again, do you want to speak to that? It complements the work that Matt does, right? So, um Matt has done a lot of work with the teachers to develop the courses and the offerings that we have to align them with our post-secary partners. And then this is really to we just need the extra resources to make those connections um to provide these internships and workbased learning opportunities for the students. So it's a complement to what Matt does and that's why we would be able to use our Perkins funding for it because it aligns with uh the purpose of those grants. So it's all grant funded.
066That's not costing us anything. So correct. Is there an identified deficiency or is this very few internship opportunities that kids are able to take advantage of? So that's exactly what we're looking to do is grow those opportunities for students. Absolutely. So if I hear you correctly, Dr. Carson, this creates opportunities for members of the community, board members to um share their contacts on possible internships that may be available at be very welcomed certain companies and otherwise and likewise. So, um yes, I I I saw this. I was really glad to see this career readiness facilitator. Um I will speak for myself and I'm sure other board members would be pleased to to get acquainted with when the new hire comes on place at that time uh to make introductions and introduce ourselves to um introduce
067the business community and opportunities that may be out there. So, um, definitely want to give our kiddos here in district opportunities, opportunities to be out there and find internships or other careers that that may be applicable. So, yeah, that's my two cents. Thank you. Any other questions, comments for Dr. Carson? Okay, seeing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Hempy. Hi. Mrs. Hulk. Hi, Mr. Piggy. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mr. Diesel. Hi, Mrs. H. Mrs. Junk. Hi, Mr. Herrera. I Okay. Do we have a motion in a second to approve the 2025 through 2026 administrative contract for 12-month director of special education? Make the motion. I second. Okay. Okay. Uh, member Dieser made the motion and member seconded the motion to approve the 2025 through 2026 administrative contract for 12-month director of special education for Brett Vosber.
068Discussion, please. See none. Roll call, please. Mr. Dameer. Hi. Mr. Hempky. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mrs. Young. Hi, Mrs. Hul. Hi, Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay, motion passes. And we do have Mr. Bosber here in the uh audience with us tonight. Uh Andy came out to support our build a bike fundraiser as well. Uh so we are very excited uh to welcome him to the team week. He's going to be a fantastic contribution. uh he's a Belvadier resident uh family here in Belvadier and I think going to really be an asset to our special education program which as you can see uh there's a lot of passion around our uh students with IEPs and a lot of work to be done there. So welcome Brett. Anything you wanted to say? Oh thank you
069for the opportunity. Appreciate it. Thank you Brett. Welcome to the district. All right, moving on. Do we have a motion and a second to approve the 2025 through 2026 administrative contracts for 12 month bilingual supervisor? So move second. Second. Yeah. Okay. Member Hawk made the motion. Uh, member Peggy seconded the motion to approve the 2025 through 2026 administrative contracts for 12 month bilingual services. I'm so sorry. Bilingual service, I'm sorry. Bilingual supervisor Consuelo Laredo pro um, sorry. Discussion. See none. Roll call, please. Mrs. H. Hi. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. Mr. Hempy. Hi. Mrs. Young. Hi. Mr. Domeer. Hi. Mr. Herrera. Hi. Okay. And we also I'm sorry, finish, you can finish your statement first. And then I would say we also have Canuelo Larredo here this evening. Uh Canuelo is currently serving as
070an assistant principal at Beladier South Middle School. And there's no one sadder uh than Mr. Kair and the staff itself uh to see her leave that position. Uh but we are very very excited to have her in this new capacity. uh she's been a wonderful teacher for our district, a wonderful administrator for our district and she will really uh bring a needed uh support in that bilingual supervisor role. Thank you and welcome uh to your new position, Consuelo. Anything you wanted to share? No, I I'm also very grateful for the opportunity. Like you mentioned, I've been with the district for 10 years. I started as a PR professional in a kindergarten classroom and a school teacher, middle school teacher, and more recently as an administrator. I'm very excited to reach more families, more students, more
071teachers. So, I'm ready to go. Thank you, Miss Mrs. Lorettto. And congratulations. All right. Do we have a motion and a second to approve the 2025 2026 administrative contracts for 12-month principal administrators? Oh, I'm sorry. All administrators. So okay I think Mr. Um, member Dire second. Second. Okay. So, member Hul motioned and member Dire second the motion to approve the 2025 226 administrative contracts for 12 month. Sorry, no it's mistake. Okay. For all administrators discussion. Okay. Roll call, please. Mrs. Hulk. Hi. Mr. Domeer. Hi. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mrs. Youngstein. Mr. Hempy. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mr. Herrera. I Okay, motion passes. Okay. Do we have a motion and a second to approve the 2025 through 2026 non-union employee group wage increase? So, move. Second. Okay. Member Hul made the motion. Member Piggy seconded the motion
072to approve the 2025 2026 non-unit group wage increase. Discussion. See none. Roll call, please. Mrs. H. I. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Hempy. Hi. Mr. Mueller. Hi. Mr. Domeer. I. Mrs. Young. Hi. And Mr. Herrera. I. Okay. Motion passes. The following items have been added for discussion or will be coming up for the further review and or possible action in the future. Background information has been provided and the board may ask questions and or request clarification at this time. Upcoming contracts and renewals. I have nothing to share unless there's any questions. Okay. I would now like to turn it over to the meeting over to Dr. Shark for administrative reports. All right. Uh I'm going to start uh with a superintendent's comments and I'm going to quickly run through this. Uh for new board members, this
073is typically uh some of the celebrations we have going on in the district. Uh I just want to spend a few minutes highlighting some of the great things we have happening here. We have our South Middle School Renaissance Awards. Uh South Middle School awarded nearly 400 junior Renaissance students uh for significant achievement or grow growth related to academics, behavior, and punctuality. To celebrate them, students received extra snacks and congratulations uh for their purple purple, silver, and gold junior renaissance recipients. Uh the Rotary Club of Belvadier uh has been working collaboratively with our National Honor Society, DECA and Key Clubs uh where they did a uh roadside cleanup uh despite the cold, rainy, really absolutely miserable day that was slated for them. Uh they went out there uh they did hard work, they made a difference.
074Uh and we truly appreciate that connection with our uh local club. Uh BHS had their annual live art day where students created original works of art throughout the day while many classes visited to observe and learn. A really spectacular event. And we had our student leadership award winners. Uh congratulations to all of our student leadership award winners who were nominated by their staff or their school principal. These students were recognized at the Illinois Principal Association Student Leadership Breakfast last week where they received a book and a certificate. Elementary School's Pizza Challenge. Uh Mr. Win Winters, Mr. Herrera, Mrs. Armstrong, uh and I all had the opportunity to sample 11, uh pizzas, uh crafted by our elementary students. Uh and they were wild. Um, but it was wildly delicious. They were wildly delicious, some wildly spicy.
075Uh, lots of I mean, some were like an inch thick on their toppings. Uh, it was really fantastic again to see the collaboration between Organic Life, our food service program. Uh, and our students, they had a fantastic time. Uh, and our winners, uh, were Austin and Gunner from Calonia. and they uh win the a pizza their pizza is on the menu at all of the schools. When is that going to happen, Mrs. Armstrong? That will happen at all schools next month. And um just for context, the name of the pizza was Into the Unknown. And when you want to hear about what they had on the pizza, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, pepperoni, red pepper, ham, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, and chicken. And it was delicious. It was delicious. Uh that was definitely among the
076fewest toppings. I mean I think they really selected they refined. It was delicious. Uh it really was good. It was hard. There was a few spicy ones out there. So yeah. Well, you know, after you've had, you know, 11 pizzas, it gets a little tricky to distinguish. A very fine palette, however, and I think we made the right decision. Uh they did a great job. Uh so yeah, you know, if you have the opportunity, get out there and sample the Into the Unknown Pizza. Uh highly recommend. And uh Kaylee Seamers uh was named teacher of the week uh at North High School for 97 Z's uh teacher of the week program. She was nominated by Christy Star. Uh Christiey's son, Gavin, is one of Kayla's uh students. Uh so a fantastic recognition for Kayla. And
077that's all I've got for your superintendent update, unless you have any questions. It's just a spattering, a spattering, a smattering, a really quick overview of all the fantastic things we have going on in the district. Uh strategic plan update. I'm going to click in there and I'm going to ask uh Dr. Carson if you had anything you wanted to highlight uh for goal one for this month. Yeah. So, uh, this last month we actually had, as you heard, our kids took IR and ACT. So, we're eager to see, uh, the results, um, in the coming weeks here of how they did. Uh, kudos to, um, Dr. Valant and our content leads and appreciation to the board for approving the adoption of the materials for our middle school. So, we now have K8 uh, new materials
078adopted that we'll be working to implement. Um our high schools are working with their teachers to have all of them trained in SCUP uh which is uh strategies to help language acquisition. So that work got started because of the designation they got and um working to get 100% of our teachers trained by the end of the summer. Our prek schools just completed their state audit and so that's been a big event that they've been building up towards and so uh kudos to um Dr. Bowman and her early childhood staff um and all the work they did to prepare for the audit and again we'll look forward to those results and then um in special education there's all sorts of professional development that um that Dr. Pavecheek and the team are working on um from seeds
079to uh co-eing to slant to FDA and BIPS and IEP writing. Did I get all of it check? All right. So lots of professional development that uh her and her department are preparing. So that's some of the highlights from goal one. Dr. Johnson, highlights goal two. Yeah, school two. So the conscious discipline um representatives had come out to all six of our elementary buildings um and were there to essentially um take a look at what we had been trying to implement for the past year and a half to help support student behavior. Um and so very similar to academics where they come in and look at what we're doing in teaching, they came in to look at the behavioral side. um and they had a lot of really great reviews uh for all six of
080our elementary buildings. And then in one of your staff shoutouts that was uh specifically highlighting the three teachers from Calonia, that was a shout out from that actual organization. Um so really exciting to be parallel kind of parallel work with academics and behavior in terms of consultants coming out telling us what we can do, what we can work on. Um so that was an exciting partnership. Um related to 2B, um we have been able to get a lot of students some additional counseling this year due to that stronger connections um grant um where we have students that are receiving virtual counseling and in-person counseling um to help support their mental health. So I'm excited that we're able to make those connections for the students. Um and then related to 2C um thank you earlier for
081your discussion in regards to the um internships. Um we have uh five students that are completing an internship related to our IT department. So it's exciting that we're able to have some in-house but also some that are outside partners as well. Um but that level of work um we it's great to be able to have someone that can help facilitate to that detail. they'll be able to expand it um much faster as Mr. Fry wears many many hats. So um I'm excited to see how extended learning opportunity grows with that new role. So thank you. Goal three uh is the goal that I lead uh and hopefully in your homes you received a postcard from D00 asking for your feedback on our communication. We are in the middle of a communication audit. I encourage you
082to respond to that uh survey feedback. Currently we have uh well over 250 uh responses uh from adults in our community and we are now actually over 900 responses from our students. Uh so uh we are excited about uh that feedback and we are also going to we completed our website audit. Uh we are continuing to build our our alumni uh network on our alumni Facebook page and our first rebranding meeting will take place in May as we explore an official rebrand of the district over May and that's really looking at that D 100 uh logo as representative. We are and this is a great opportunity looking for a board member uh to sit on that uh rebrand team. We'd love to have you. Uh so if you think that might be interesting to you,
083uh please let me know. And goal four, Dr. 80. Okay, just a couple things I'd like to highlight. Uh again, um uh since the pandemic, we've we've struggled with subfill rates, but we're starting to to truly bounce back from that. Now, our sub pool is well over 200 now, uh which is as big as it's been uh since before the pandemic. So that's good. More people are wanting to come back to work. Uh, and we have another 34 that are currently in the onboarding process. Uh, we had a really rough January and February with five different kinds of viruses that were floating around out there. Uh, but but despite that, we're we're starting to bounce back now. March and April's been really strong. Uh, we're in the 80s, which which we haven't seen in a
084long time. And uh, because of January and February, we we had to fill a lot more uh, as well. Uh I think we we're close to eight eight or nine00 more to fill this year and despite that we're still 8% ahead of where we were last year at this time. So um so really happy about that and our our subcoordinator Olivia Ivan is is uh has had a lot to do with that. She's really uh done a lot with that. Our sub newsletter went out today. She's done a good job with that too. But uh overall really happy with that. Can I ask you said it's 8% ahead of what it was last year but what is that? What is our percentage? Our fill rate right now is 79% like 79%. Yep. And last year
085we ended up at 70%. So So it's better. It's Yeah, it it is a lot better. I know. It's still terrible. It's still It's still not super good, but um it's uh I mean I I I believe that we could be in the 80s before the end of this year, which would be great. We haven't seen that since 2018. I think it's such a hard area to fill. Yes. When they're unfilled, do I can I ask a question? Yeah, absolutely. I guess. Okay. When they're unfilled like that, does um like does admin here, like central office admin, do they ever step in and and rotate into the unfilled positions? Because I know that's really hard on the schools and then they get as many teachers to sub as they can and then they're pulling during
086co when it was when we were at like 60. Oh, 50s. 50s. We we did the hard part is because of our our roles have us facilitating meetings which staff may be participating in for example it's hard to be like oh so yeah and it's really hard when we pull staff for meetings because then you have to try to fill a sub and yeah it's just it's a it's a bad I mean there's no way to fix it easily. I get that. I just wondered if there's definitely a balance to it but 79 is better than what we've been 50. Yeah. Yeah. And that's going back a few years, but and comparatively with with other districts in the region, we're we're as good or better. So, yeah. No, I mean, it's definitely a bad thing
087everywhere. It's just that's one of the things that I hear a lot as a community member is, you know, from the teachers that get pulled, you know, they don't get to do their specials, they don't get to do this, they don't it's it's just and there isn't an easy fix for it. But I just wonder where what percentage I mean 8% better is good, but we're still and and and even even with where we're at now, I mean I I I hear a a lot less complaints from the building uh administrators and teachers. I mean I mean that's that's how I know because my phone's not is not, you know, ringing off ringing off the hook with that. So still got a ways to go, but I mean we're definitely trending in the right direction.
088Right direction for sure. What is the onboarding process? So uh Olivia brings them in. there's there's paperwork to fill out and and actually first before even that they do an interview u and then they just got a series of of of of HR paperwork that they have to uh complete in order to uh to be to be hired. So there there's several I mean there's several things to it but there's uh uh they uh uh ask them questions about uh uh uh what their interests are, what what grade level they want to teach or they're more comfortable with. um if there's certain buildings that they would rather sub into, we try to honor that as well. But uh the the onboarding process um probably takes like like up to a week just because they got
089fingerprinted. There's a lot of other things that uh background checks and that type of thing too. It's definitely better since it's in house though than when it was at. So that's a way Yeah, that's another thing. We we had uh an outsource subs for a while too and that that was uh that was pretty rough. Yeah, I mean the pandemic didn't help either, but uh I think I think staff like the personal touch of having our, you know, our own people do it and I think they feel more like their district 100 employee. U so all of that all that really helps. Well, and of note on we do our POSUP survey for staff and uh families and the subs are their own group and they report uh a high level of satisfaction. um they
090were up ahead of uh a lot of our other areas in this last round. I think so feeling feeling valued and I think uh the HR department has done a really nice job of increasing that feeling of value. Everything from giving them a nice mug right to spending a day uh doing an orientation. So part of that onboarding process at certain times of the year is doing an orientation with them here. Uh a lot has been done to make that more personalized. uh and uh that's really come out of that uh our BHR department really targeting this part of the strategic plan. So still more work to do but I it really is on the right track. Can I ask what is how much is the sub rate? Uh it varies. I think our daily
091rate right now for that daily sub isund I think it's 140. Um and then we have a rate for for long-term subs. I'm sorry I'm on the spot now. I can't think of it right now, but uh it it varies anywhere from uh 140 up to I think 185 uh depending on if you're retired or not retired. Um and then we also have a perma subs uh and they make $33 uh,000 a year. And for perma subs, we've got two perma subs in each high school, each middle school, um, and then one and then one at each of the elementary schools and and yes, in early childhood, too. And that's helped a lot, too. And they feel like they're part of the building that way, too. All right, lots of questions on goal four tonight.
092Okay. Uh, that's great. Uh, what about goal five? Uh, Mrs. Armstrong, anything you want to add to that? So, um, just quick update. Goal five, uh, strategy 5A is really working on the robust, um, operational plan. So, as everyone is probably very much aware of, we've been working on a facilities master plan. Um, and we have gotten the approval. We've moved forward with years one through three. Um, actually secured the funding last month and closed on that a week ago today. Um so those health life safety amendments for the projects of 20 uh essentially 21 million we have those funds available to start working that project which we working with Nexus on those projects now. Um the other 10 million the district transferred over from fund balance into capital projects that fund those funds have
093been moved over um and we're developing that timeline. So that timeline will be coming uh to the board as we get those updates now that uh we have the performance contractors and uh the funding in place. Uh currently uh we are starting to really take a comprehensive look at the emergency management plan um and kind of defining what our emergency operation plan looks like. Uh we've had one that's been in existence. We're trying to get that all in one place where people can access it very easily and make sure that it's up to date with technology changes and the way that we're doing business. Um, so they've worked on that and the tech team is really worked on our cyber security plans. We've done phone server upgrades already done during spring break and the Chromebooks
094for next year have been pro are being provisioned right now. Um, the board approved those purchases part of our refresh last month. Um strategy 5B is really kind of my area of the financial and allocation side. We have started our allocations for next year looking at where we um have the need where we're seeing uh populations pop in different uh areas. Uh special ed is doing their review of their par staffing and how the allocations work there. Uh we approved budget amendments last year where we were or last last month. I apologize. Uh where we had to record an additional $2.1 million that we got in grant funding, which that was a huge plus for us as we got a lot of those carryovers and some additional school improvement money that Dr. Johnson has been
095working really furiously at getting these amendments and these new uh grant funds distributed out. Um, and that's we are never short of activities in full ballet. And that is it for the strategic plan unless there's any other questions. And then Miss Fabian has a special education um board of education update. Again, was a hot topic this evening uh and something that we're uh really striving to implement. uh the special education audit that we had uh last year and uh Miss Fabian Czech is on her I think third update to the board on the progress uh towards the implementation of that audit. Thank you. So just a brief uh update on uh the work of the department this year. Um so special education audit had uh multiple multi-year recommendations. Um and what we did this year
096is um in order to prioritize and also make sure that we are aligned with the district strategic plan uh specifically goals one two and three. Um we worked with a number of committees and workg groups. Uh so I'm going to introduce that next. Um and th this was this is just a visual we use to prioritize to make sure that we start with what's essential to do. Um so uh one of the uh committees that is a district-wide special education building leadership committee. We have representation from every building and uh those are the members of special education uh department. Uh so something that was identified in the audit was uh uh that the district website did not uh have um any information on special education uh department. So we have a web page right now
097and we do include continuum of uh services and there um I just want to add that while we uh while it's up and published we are also adding different uh parent and community resources around special education uh topic. Um so uh next I wanted to talk a little bit about so I did link that uh web page there. Um uh so as far as the continuum of services, it really outlines from least restrictive meaning services provided within general education to most restrictive which would be a residential uh placement which is very rare. Uh so we heard some concerns around the continuum of special education uh services uh uh tonight and I wanted to share that uh we take I I really appreciate feedback uh from teachers uh it's it's really important for us to take
098different steps in planning of professional development um for uh middle school and and this is something that we uh continue to do um and most of all to make sure that we are meeting individual needs of the students. So all these concerns concerns and uh feedback is taken very seriously as we're uh planning different meetings and supports which would include professional development for the for teachers. Uh so moving on to uh some of the um so I just mentioned professional development there were some additional recommendations. Uh so uh right now every building has a special education administrator which uh uh in this case it's assistant principles who serves uh serve as LEAs in IEP meetings uh and meetings for section 504 and uh what was recommended is to provide training for them specifically uh to
099address different uh legal areas of special education and uh just procedural compliance. ience pieces and different guidance documents. So this is something we've been providing monthly um and uh we uh called it seminars and uh uh leases really provided us with some great feedback and and uh really benefit from that. So that's ongoing. Uh something that is being developed that was also recommended was uh IEP writing. So, uh, I'm going to mention that again because as we plan a new teacher orientation and a SIP day for next year, that's going to be a kickoff for our department to provide that training for all of our special education staff. Uh, something that we did complete this year is um, and it uh, aligns to a goal to uh, is uh, functional behavior analysis and behavior plan
100work group. And uh so we completed uh uh both sessions part one and part two that we developed internally. So we have internal trainers who are very knowledgeable. That means we don't have to um use vendors for this type of training. And so far uh these are the uh numbers of our participants that we were able to train. We have a total of 167 certified staff members uh in special education. And uh so so couple of additional pieces are uh that uh we have social emotional and executive functions program for our students with uh behavioral and social emotional needs. And we had um we have this program only at elementary level and the students transition uh to middle school. What we needed to do is uh have another committee uh to uh develop the program
101at the at the middle school. So that then has already uh started and it's ongoing. We have multiple meetings scheduled. Um, another one that is related to uh high school uh and our essential elements programs is uh the development of curriculum based instruction process and this is to look at our students who may be with us up to the age of 22 and they age out from special education services. Uh so really developing partnerships in the community for postsecary options for work. We know uh that for special education students uh finding a permanent job may be difficult. So uh really working closely to uh address that. Um I already mentioned professional development and so for next year we'll basically have a department professional uh development plan where everything will be kind of shared with all
102the staff members options link for registration and things like that. Um and then finally um I already kind of touched on that we have uh planned for new teacher orientation and August sit day and those are just some of the highlights that would uh continue. Um however the the workshop for IEP writing would be just something that's uh continuing throughout the school year and um that uh those are some action steps so that we can continue to finalize them, share them with the board of education and uh move on to next uh priority. Um and that concludes my update. Any questions? I'm curious since we were told to read the special education audit. Where do we find that? Because I went on the website and I don't see it. Maybe I'm not looking in the
103spot. But so we could provide the board with the the update. It's a it's a PDF document of 132 pages. Just trying to do my due diligence. They told us to read it. We we can absolutely I was going to ask the same thing. Yeah, we can absolutely provide that and we'll have that at the new board member orientation so that you will have access to it electronically as well as hard copy because it's kind of hard to read something that big electronically in my opinion. So we Yes, we will get that to you. Paperless. Yeah. Yes. Any other questions? Yeah. What's the dots plan? Connecting the dots. Yeah. Yeah. The dots plan there. Okay. Uh does it say dot the oh the yeah uh so uh when before students are connecting the dots is
104about uh the fact that before students uh are eligible for special education uh services we have to evaluate them. So there are many evaluation components and you kind of connect each dot together to develop and and decide if a student is eligible for special education services and that information serves the next component which is if they are eligible. you develop the IEP and uh IEP goals, accommodations, and so every single piece is sort of like connecting the dot because it comes from something that was shared or or evaluated before we can come up with that plan. One one thing that stuck out uh to me from Miss Hunter's uh letter conversation was just that um she she felt that the central office didn't didn't communicate or didn't uh invite the the teachers into the decision
105regarding the science and social studies and um what what is your response to to that? Were they were they invited into the decision making process? show. So it it it really kind of started with um uh working with the building leadership and identifying that there are many students that are in self-contained settings um and not necessarily having a full access to general education curriculum. Uh so um looking at that component then we scheduled meetings in middle school with the teachers and discussed that uh uh fact and also the fact that when students uh come from elementary setting in um K through 5th grade there are no self-contained options for them for science and social studies. So they are uh receiving that instruction that content within general education setting. So then the thought was that that's
106all they know. They have not been in a self-contained setting. Uh so as they transition to middle school for sixth grades in particular. Uh this would be to provide them with support meaning having co-eing options for both science and social studies but not having a self-contained uh type of classroom uh which is more restrictive and uh since then we we have uh like I said each building we have scheduled multiple meetings to kind of plan that process and have included the teachers in a in a conversation. uh but the initial uh thought about transitioning and providing less restrictive options for our students and more access to general education did stem from just the review of how we are providing services. Mhm. So we're I maybe I'm not grasping it and we're a little late to
107this discussion but so are we getting rid of social studies and science for our No, no, no. They they are right now they are in what's called a self-contained classroom. But there's different levels of special education. So not all kids are self-contained. Uh correct. So the ones that were not self-contained will continue within general education. Uh we also have resourced students uh from elementary school transitioning next year uh to middle school. And these students have only been exposed to science and social studies in general education. Uh so this group of students when they transition to both middle schools would have the option to be in a co co-eing class for science and for uh social studies. So we're not eliminating uh any any of the content. It would just provide them to be with their
108uh grade level general education peers when they are receiving that instruction and special education teacher would be the co-teer for science and social studies. So the support would be prov for each class there would be two teachers essentially. Thank you. We're still providing Any other questions for Miss Fabian on the special education update? Do you have an acronym key? I know. It is needed. It is needed. Uh and we can work on that for you as well. What was SED again? Seed is social, emotional and executive functions development. Thank you. Okay. Um so we are we actually have the acronym cheat sheet um that uh is going to be posted on the on the website and an explanation. So the committee that I mentioned that is posting on the web page. We also have an
109explanation for what each program sort of does in terms of supporting students. So that's just not been published. Great. Yeah. Great. All right. Thank you very much, Miss Fabian. Uh, that is all I have for uh administrative reports, unless anybody has any questions on any of the items under admin reports other than what we just went through. All right. Okay. At this time, um, we're going to go back into, uh, close executive session. So, do I have a motion in a second to go back into close executive session regarding section two heading C exceptions sub number one of the open meetings act to discuss the appointment employment I'm sorry the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of a public body or legal council for the public body collective negotiating matters between
110the public body and its employees or the representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees and student disciplinary classes. So move. Okay. Second. Okay. Okay. Um member Piggy made the motion. Member Diesel Meer second to the motion. Roll call, please. Mr. Piggy. Hi. Mr. Domeire. Hi. Mrs. Young. Hi. Mr. Hempy. Hi. Mrs. H. Hi, Mr. Mueller. Hi, Mr. Herrera. Hi. Is there anything after There is nothing after Miss. Thank you so much.