001Good afternoon again. Um, I have a motion to reconvene into open session. >> A motion. >> Second. Cabay. >> 712. Okay. >> I Cabayto >> I. >> Butler absent with notice. Steinfeld. >> I. >> Palace. >> I. >> Jimenez. >> I. >> Drenth. >> I. >> Gonzalez. I. Motion carried. >> Thank you. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, and liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Um, please respond here. Himenez, >> here. Steinfeld >> here. >> Gonzalez here. Cavayto >> here. >> Dren >> here. >> Palace >> here. >> Thank you. Uh, welcome everyone. My name is Elizabetha Himenez. I'm the president of Bwin Si School District
002100. Dr. Mary Havis, superintend Dr. Mary Havis, our superintendent. All right, good evening everyone. Thank you for being here tonight. I can't believe we're at our last school spotlight of the year. It has flown by, but we are very excited to have Kmenky Elementary School here tonight for our school spotlight. So, we'd like to welcome up Dr. Leticia Valadis, principal, assistant principal Sarah Gamrat, and Louise Miller, the literacy coach. hiding over there. Good evening and welcome to tonight's sport meeting. I'm Leticia Valadees, principal of Kmenki. It's an honor to share our learning journey through our writing focus and our commitment to student voice, pride, and success. At Kaminsky, we believe Oops, I want to make sure I don't forget about the clicker. Sorry. At Kaminsky, we believe that students learn by doing, exploring, and taking
003risks. Brazilian philosopher, educator and advocate of critical pedagogy, Paulo Frier once wrote, "To learn is to construct, to reconstruct, to observe with the view of changing, none of which can be done without being open to risk, to the adventure of the spirit. Active learning allows our students to explore, amplify their voices, and take pride. At Kmenky, we believe that learning isn't about simply receiving information. It's about building and rebuilding understanding. We believe that true learning invites us to question assumptions and revise our thinking, not just confirm, not just confirm it. Meaningful learning requires vulnerability and risk-taking. Risk is exactly what makes learning dynamic, creative, and deeply human. Our focus and commitment to continue school improvement have led to consistent growth in core subject areas such as English language arts, math, and math. We have embraced
004risks and explored creative ways to maintain high levels of student attendance by partnering closely with our families and listening to their feedback through the five essential survey. While we take pride in celebrating our progress, we recognize that success is a journey, not a destination. The Illinois report card highlights the need for continued focus on written expression, science proficiency, and chronic absentism. We know that when our students are present, they are learning. Our dedication, our dedicated team of teachers and staff have implemented explicit targeted instruction to strengthen students writing writing skills and enhance the clarity of their constructive responses across all grade levels. And you'll see some of the some of those examples tonight. This evening, we are excited to offer a a brief glimpse into how our students show and develop as writers from preschool
005through fifth grade and truly highlighting uh the early childhood impact in setting that strong foundation from the beginning. Perfect. Um, so our school improvement focus is strengthening written expression in ELA and math. And at Kmenky, we view the development um as students walking up a staircase from preschool to fifth grade. And each step um is building on the last. So at every step, foundational skills and composition are woven together so students can express what they know and think with increasing proficiency. Our goal is that every student continues climbing and gaining confidence, skill and voice as writers. Um, our PLC's are how we have ensured that growth happens intentionally with every student. So before starting a new math or ELA unit, our teams come together to build plans for learning. We identify what all students need
006to learn. We anticipate where they may struggle and we design instruction that supports both the whole class and individual learners from the start. Then after we engage in that learning and we collect their work, we shift to acting on evidence. Um, our teams analyze student work and data to understand what students have mastered and where they still need support. From there, we make informed instructional decisions. We adjust, we retach, or we extend learning as needed. This ongoing cycle, planning with purpose, and then responding to the evidence ensures that instruction is not static. It is responsive, it is targeted, and it is centered on student growth. Um, and as Dr. valid set too. We will be featuring some of our student work that we see during our PLC's. Um so in our preschool and early primary
007grades, which we will be sharing more of the work next um students begin and the first steps of that staircase by developing oral language, drawing and early phonics skills. They learn that their ideas matter and that they can represent those ideas through pictures, labels, and simple sentences. As they move into the intermediate grade, students climb higher by strengthening spelling, sentence structure, and organization. They begin writing with greater independence, expanding their thoughts, using evidence, and developing clear beginnings, middles, and endings. And you can see that reflected in our student work. Um, from first to fifth grade, it's up there. By the time students reach upper elementary, they are taking the top steps of the staircase. And here they are refining their ability to write for a variety of purposes and audiences. They apply grammar, structure, and
008voice more intentionally and craft writing that is not only correct but meaningful and engaging. While we enjoy the blossoming flowers and bright orange pumpkins, today we want to take a closer look at the strength of our roots, the foundation that makes all future learning possible. Today we celebrate the nurturing, active early childhood classrooms at Kmenky. Mrs. Hana Martinez and Mrs. Antonia Almanza have created a preschool environment rich with active learning opportunities and realworld experiences. Our youngest learners not only explore new ideas and topics, but also engage in meaningful experiences beyond the classroom, applying their learning in authentic ways. As Paulo Fere reminds us, learning is about building and rebuilding understanding through our creative curriculum in preschool and kindergarten. Our students do exactly that. They discover new ideas through hands-on exploration, meaningful exposure to print, and
009tools that encourage play and curiosity, all while developing critical early phonics and literacy skills. Children in Miss Sonia Pesarsk and Miss and Mrs. Norma Brionis' classroom take learning to another level through dramatic play, learning stations, and interactive writing. Learning becomes active and meaningful. Students have both choice and voice in how they learn best. Mrs. Pisarik nurtures their curiosity through the question of the day, a structured and engaging routine that helps students build literacy, language, and critical thinking skills, the roots of future success. Mrs. Parsik brings learning to life by connecting each unit to real world experiences that deepen and extend student understanding. As Po Ferrer reminds us, learning is to observe with a view to changing. Our students bring their learning to life in meaningful ways. For example, a visit to the Berwin Post Office
010inspired them to write letters to one another, strengthening their writing skills as they match letters through play and exploration. Pride is on full display at the Lion's Den, our monthly celebration of learning, where students become authors as they share their work with their fellow Lions. A love of learning develops early and is deeply rooted in our preschool classrooms where children's natural curiosity guides their learning each day. In our dual language kindergarten classroom, Miss Deoya and Miss Pacheco continue to nurture the roots of literacy development through culturally and linguistically responsive teaching. Our students oral language flourishes as they move fluidly from Spanish to Spanglish and English. Early print awareness and reading skills emerge through explicit phonics instruction during skills and lecttora. Writing in kindergarten is truly crosscurricular. Just ask Mrs. Bayas and Miss Pacheco. Kindergarteners strengthen
011their oral language skills as they explain their mathematical thinking. The writing studio provides opportunities for students to be creative while practicing a range of writing genres, including opinion, narrative, informational, and purposeful writing, and putting these skills into practice. At Kmenky, our students learn by constructing and reconstructing. By observing with a view toward change, we ensure that every child has a strong and steady start. We nurture the roots, the foundation that allows our students to grow and blossom. How do we know when learning has truly taken root? Here is concrete evidence that Kaminsky preschool students are ready to decode and apply essential print concepts. And here you'll see our students use letter sound knowledge and write to convey ideas and information. Our kindergarten students are developing an expanding and expressive vocabulary, an an essential skill for
012literacy development. At this age, they're able to write to clearly convey meaning. Our kindergarten lions engage deeply with texts during readalouds and book conversations, transferring their early literacy skills into richer thinking about ideas in books. They're able to retell stories, building knowledge, sparking discovery, and cultivating a love of reading. Our dual language kindergarten students demonstrate a strong and steady start with 100% of students showing growth and performing at or above benchmark. Strong roots have laid the foundation and we are ready for new learning to take root and grow. >> Great. Tonight we want to celebrate not just writing but student voice and pride. Let's turn up the volume because student voice voices are leading the way. It is my pleasure to recognize and celebrate our new student led podcast Little Lions Big Voices Beenos Leon
013Grandes Voes. I'll now turn it over to our very own podcast crew to share why this podcast is so important to them. >> Students Claudia, >> Naomi, and Max. Each episode features authentic conversations inspired by student interest, school life, and ideas that matter most to our school community. At Kmenky, we believe learning comes alive when students are heard. This podcast brings our vision for learning to life and showcases the incredible voices at the heart of our school. >> Listen in, lean in, celebrate student voice. >> The Lions are ready to roar. If you haven't yet, I do encourage you to get a podcast uh or get a um Spotify account and start listening. Our students have um great ideas and pers uh perspectives they want to share with the world. So, I would like to
014invite Claudia Morales, I Naomi Payne, and unfortunately Max. I don't think he made it tonight. Um Claudia, >> thank you >> Naomi. >> And we also have other gifts for you. >> Thank you. Yay! Thank you. Thank you so much. Watch out world because these girls are ready to take over. That's for sure. So, they will actually um walk us through the Lion's Den. Um it's a monthly celebration that we have at Kmenky. um and they will introduce um our amazing teachers who are being recognized tonight. All right, >> good evening and welcome Oh, >> yeah. Go ahead. >> Good evening and welcome to the Lion's Den. I need this. We make all the drinks. page house. First, we made the hay house, the stick house, and the brick house. We also wish the red
015box is weakas the box. We drop up the mail in the box. We made a a house out of boxes. And this is this is donut that that has frosting on. This is me with my pizza. And this is bread. And this is chocolate bread. And then yeah, people take their their their pets to the bed uh when if they get sick. Pets get rescue from the animal shelter. means to move to the question S L t S vegetable. >> All right. Good evening and welcome to the Lions. At Kaminsky, we showed pride, curiosity, and global responsibility every day. And we hope that tonight you have seen all three in action. >> Be prepared to impress with our preschool and kindergarten students riding. >> All right, I know everybody's super impressed. So, I would like
016to invite Hana, Antonia, Norma, Tracy, and Miriam to join us to be recognized. Come on up. Stand for you. Sure. >> Sorry. All right, let's give it up for our team. >> If anybody wants to come up and take some pictures, you're very welcome to do that. Wait, one more. One more. You want me to grab all this? >> All right. Does anyone have any questions? Sorry, we're just trying to clean up. >> Right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. I do want to thank uh the parents for bringing your children and to the children, congratulations on a job well done. I actually followed the podcast and so I I've watched it or heard you and watched it for a couple of weeks uh actually couple of months. So you are doing a great
017job. Thank you. >> Thank you. Congratulations to our students and staff that are here tonight. Uh we we appreciate all that you do and we are truly enjoying that podcast. So, thank you very much. Congratulations. The next presentation is just a followup. The board had asked for some data last month after we went through the student enrollment presentation. Um so this is just that data kind of in presentation form um for the board. So I just wanted to share that with you. So um we did share um just historical data around special education um student and teacher staffing as you can see. Um we also have that in compared to our special education enrollment and staffing um trends that we've seen throughout the year or the years sorry. Um and then our current um special
018education service models and what percentage of our students are in each of these educational environments. Um so as you see we still have our largest percentage and we still exceed the state in the number of students that are in general education 80% or more of the time. Um and then you can see each of those different ranges. The second one is typically the 40 to 79% of the time is typically our middle school students um in self-contained special ed programs for some of their classes. Um the next one less than 40% is typically our special programs at our elementary levels and um then we have about 6% that are currently educated outside of our district. Um so these are based on current numbers. They've pray they have stayed pretty um consistent as you probably remember
019with all of our um Illinois report card. So this just highlights our intervention staffing. Um you can see that we have really worked to build that staffing for interventionists and we see great value in their support within our schools um and the growth that we have seen with our interventionists. Um so you have seen that that has has grown. Um we have our total enrollment and in comparison with our EL staffing again you can see back in 2019 when we did not have adequate funding we were not adequately funding our um e staffing and so we have worked to build that um to ensure that our students are getting supported in all of our schools. And this highlights the EL enrollment um as compared to EL staffing. So you can see that um you know
020our as our enrollments decline, we've also had a similar decline in EL staffing or I'm sorry EL student numbers. Um but they've been more consistent for us over the last several years. And then the next two are just simply the E data broken down by school. Um, and you can see the EL enrollment numbers there. Our staffing varies in EL based on if schools have dual language or not dual language. Um, because in our dual language schools, our students that are in duel are also getting supported through EL with that dual teacher. Um, but our schools that don't have duel then need additional EEL teachers to cover all of the students. And then this is dual dual language enrollment by school. Um, so this just gives you some numbers um that were requested last month.
021I know you probably need some time to look through those. Um, but you know, if the board um would like any further data as we really kind of dive into enrollment, um, please let us know. We're happy to put that together, but um, I did want you to have that and have that available to you in board book so you can go back and review it as needed. Any questions? I have a couple questions, please. Um, I guess first, what would your takeaway or your conclusion be? Um, as far as going back to the first slide, for example, um, seeing the total number of special ed teachers, um, versus the enrollment um, how would you interpret that data for us? like >> well just that we have you know the the district has always been
022invested in ensuring that to the capacity that that we can um staff general education with co-teers either um shared between classrooms so we can service the majority of our students in the uh general education class. Um we have noted over the past few years that we've needed more of those teachers in special programs. Um and so some of those staffing uh shifts have happened in that um you know we've kept consistency with our staff. Um but we've had to move some of those roles into um our special programs as well. >> Thank you. That anticipated my next question. Yeah, it seems like um looking at the second slide, right, the numbers number of teachers has stayed pretty consistent while the enrollment numbers um decreased. >> However, you're saying that some of those teachers are then
023being moved. Okay. >> Yeah. And you know, as we've discussed, it really also >> it really depends on how many when we have a neighborhood school model, right? It's how many students are enrolled in that school. you still need the same number of teachers and so case loads can vary um across schools and you but you still need special ed teachers in all of those schools even though case loads may look different at different schools. >> May I ask one more? >> Sure. >> Um so then looking at the intervention staff slide. Um the way it looks to me is our number of interventionists has increased while our student enrollment numbers have decreased. Um, so I guess my main question is how are these staff members um allocating their time? Are they mostly doing pull
024out intervention groups? Are they pushing in? Um, as we're having less students, how are they utilizing their time? So there they are primarily pulling students for tier three intervention um at both middle school and elementary. So those increases, if you remember way back when we were trying to model our our staffing against the EBF recommended um staffing and we were very far below in intervention based on the needs of our students. Um and so we've continued to increase the increases the last two years were in adding a math interventionist at each middle school which was an area that was lacking. We had added math interventionists at all of our elementarymentaries during um with ESSER dollars and then had made sure we could put those into the budget when ESSER dollars disappeared. Um and we were
025noting a lack of intervention in math at the middle school and so we were able to add middle school intervention as well. >> Yeah, absolutely. Jump in. And the only piece that I wanted to add to that is that the teachers are not pulling children out of core classrooms. There's actually a win block. So a what I need block. So we've built that into both the elementary and the middle school schedule so that students are able to get their core instruction and the additional support from a certified uh from a certified teacher. >> Any other questions? >> I have a question. Uh so I think Heritage has like 76 students in uh in dual language or is it E langu students? >> Dual. >> I think it was >> dual. >> So every student even
026newcomers that come to our let's say that enroll this year they go automatically to duel. >> Yes. At the middle schools. >> In the middle schools or any grade level. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So um how are we supporting them? Um when in a dual language class? Well, dual language I guess how I I have a question. How is it in the middle schools? Uh is it one class only in one language and another class in another language? How is it? So they have ELA and SLA. So they have ELA in English, SLA in Spanish. and then social studies. >> And how do we support the um newcomers that are only coming with Spanish uh in the ELA? >> You mean go ahead. >> So that's where the uh dual language teacher will provide uh
027you know that comprehensible input during instruction. So the various strategies because ELA is English class for them. So their their goal is to learn English. So that's where the uh teacher should scaffold and will scaffold for the students to help them access the content that's being taught. So that could be uh you know some translation. They do have that on their devices because they do have both uh access to both languages. Um it could be uh just a variety of other you know accessible type of strategies that they would use in the classroom. Do the teach are the teachers u monolingual teachers or bilingual in for the ELA? >> Bilingual. Bilingual if they're are newcomers. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I have a I have a question or not a question I guess a request
028for more data going forward. So I noticed that obviously there's a much many more dual language students in the elementary schools than than get into the middle schools. Um, I presume that that's possibly because it's a new newer program, so it hasn't all filtered in. But are we also losing students who drop out of the dual language program when they get to middle school? Um, so I would be interested in seeing those types of numbers um going forward um as to how many continue through and what it's going to look like in the future for the middle schools if we have this many more dual language kids coming in. That would be and I'm not asking you to have the answer right now, but if we can get more information, >> we can gather that
029data. >> Yep. And keep in mind the way it looks too is when you're talking about an elementary school, they they have dual students in five different grades and then your middle school is in um three different grades. But we would we would absolutely be able to provide data on how many are staying from when they start all the way through 8th grade. All right. Okay. Um this month we had six foyas. um variety of topics, purchase records, transportation vendors, email requests, um PD contracts, employee information, legal service contracts and payments. All of those uh were sent to the board and submitted. Um the dashboard is available that has all the attendance um for staff and students in board book and I will turn it over to Jenny for the finance report. >> Thanks. Our
030bank balance of today as of today is 35.9 million. Um our uh we also have investments at 33 million. Our revenue for the month to the date is 12 million. We're getting up there. Um we did start to receive the second installment of the taxes. um coming in um our cash flow short above our re revenue for the month of March is 6.6 million overall is 45 million our expenses for the month of March were 5.7 million year to date are 52.8 8 million. Um, our grant snapshot on the next grants are starting to uh close out for the year. Um, we do still have some expenditures left to put through, but they are coming through very nicely. Um, on tonight's agenda, we have the budget FY26, the tenative amendment to approve that tonight. Um
031the biggest changes I just want to point out in the budget is uh scroll down just a little bit RJ right there. So you'll see bonds sold that was the bonds that we sold in the um uh first semester were 2.5 million and then if you can go to the end of the second page the major difference is in the capital projects. Those bonds were sold for capital projects. So, you'll also see in fund 60 that was increased by the 2.5 million. Um, I did update all of the account numbers for all of the grants and carryover money and any new grants that came in and everything has been updated. Um, so that is our tenative amended budget. This will be updated again next month. Um it will be on display for 30 days over
03230 days at the district office um per Illinois code and it the final will be presented to you in June for approval to be submitted to the state. It has to be submitted by June 30th to the state. Also on the agenda, not for you, but also on the agenda tonight, you'll see um approving year two of the four-year renewal contract with Organic Life. Um, this is a yearly renewal. Organic life, um, consistently provides a great service and a great product. Um, I can attest for myself and several administrators who got to enjoy some leftovers today. Uh, we did administrative lunch for MNA and for administrative assistants at Lever and Organic Life catered it and I h it was hands down. It was unbelievable. and I spoke with them afterwards. It is exactly what they
033feed the kids. It was delicious. So, I recommend that re renewal. I also heard good notes from um custodians that they don't see a lot of food left in the garbage, that kids are getting in line, kids are eating, and there is not a lot of waste. So, good things all around. That's my report. All right, that concludes the superintendent's report. >> Thank you, Jenny. Thank you, Mary. Um, president's report, finance. >> Yep. Today we reviewed the uh tenative amended budget and uh that was pretty much it. >> Thank you. Policy. >> Sure. Um, sorry about that. So, tonight was the first reading of about 10 policies that are up for review. Um, we will look at them again next month. >> Thank you, ladies. Oh, we have no legislative report. Uh, correspondents, we received
034one email. Thank you. Public comments. Individual appearance before the board are expected to follow the guidelines outlined in board policy to 230. Good evening everyone. George Lambis, director of buildings and grounds. Happy Earth. Today is the actual Earth Day and I just want to remind everyone that Saturday we will be doing projects at all the schools. The principles all have things planned and come out and get your hands dirty and uh have some fun. Thanks >> George. What time does it start? Sorry. >> Um at the schools I mean I don't know what time the principal like about 8:30 9:00 >> 9. Yeah, like we'll be open here with some coffee and treats and we'll have treats sent to all the schools, too. So, with water and juice and all that and then can come
035back for hot dog lunch. Some schools, we're going to deliver the hot dogs right to the schools that are a little further away from here so that parents don't have to slip their kids over to the school, bring them over here. So, uh, we're trying to adapt and and change and make it more user friendly for the families. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, see no one else. Um, action items on the consent agenda. Items may be removed from the consent agenda and the request of any one member. Items not removed may be adopted by general consent without debate. Removed items may be taken up either immediately after the consent agenda or placed later on the agenda at the discretion of the board. >> Okay. >> I move adoption of the consent agenda. >>
036Thank you. Second. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Roll call. >> I Gonzalez. I Jimenez. >> I. >> Steinfeld. >> I. >> Cavayo. >> I. >> Dren. >> I. Palace >> I. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. Public comments. Individuals appearing before the board are expected to follow the guidelines outlining board policy 2 to 30. Seeing none. Board member comments. >> I'd like to say happy administrative assistance day to MNA. I forgot. Sorry. Happy administr. You do a lot for us. Thank you so much. As well as to all of our administrative assistants in D 100. I echo that. Thank you for all you do. >> I did also just want to share that heritage band um has qualified to compete at the state level and is competing this weekend at Nutrier I believe. Am
037I right Michelle? So we wish them the best of luck. That is the first time and it's very exciting. >> Congratulations. Anyone else? Okay. Um adjournment anybody a motion >> second >> I'll second >> at 7:56 I Jimenez >> I >> Steinfeld >> I >> Gonzalez I Cavayto >> I >> Trent >> I Palace >> I >> motion carried >> yes thank you and thank you administrators from Kaminsky for bringing uh the students It was a pleasure having you all here and thank you for everything that everyone does in the schools every single day. We'll see you back in May.