001Good evening. Can I please have a motion to reconvene into open session? >> Oh, I will second. >> Thank you. at 7:08. Can we have roll call? I Butler. >> I >> Himenez or >> Yeah, >> I >> Palace. >> I >> Steinfeld >> I. >> Drenth absent with notice. Gonzalez I. Tavayto >> 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 to establish quorum. Himenez here. Steinfeld here. Gonzalez here. Butler here. Gabayto >> here. >> Dren absent with notice. Palace >> here. >> Thank you. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Elizabeth O'A Jimenez.
002I'm the president of the Berwin South School District 100. To my left is the superintendent Dr. Mary Havend. Um, do we have an interpreter today? She's not here today. Okay. Uh, thank you for being here. Gracias. All right. We are going to kick off our night with the superintendence report and I see some Hayawa families and staff here. So, we are very excited to invite up Oh, and students of course. Um, we are excited to invite up principal Jodie Meyer, assistant principal Loretta Cooper, biiteracy coach uh Christina Diaz to share the Hayawa spotlight. All right, thank you so much. Good evening. Um, as Mary said, I'm Jodie Meyer. I'm the proud principal of Haywa. And with me, I have Loretta Cooper, our assistant principal, and Christina Diaz. She is a biiteracy coach in the district
003and my principal intern this year. We are all very proud to stand up here tonight and give you a glimpse of the Haywa story. This year we kicked off the theme to our year as just keep glowing. Last school year we made some great gains and are working hard to keep that momentum going and most importantly not giving up. We referenced the movie Finding Nemo when Dory was telling Nemo's dad, "When life gets you down, you just keep swimming." The Huskys are doing just that this year. The staff and students just keep glowing. They are determined. They are risktakers and they are invested in our school's improvement. On this slide, this probably is u very recognizable to you as uh the little house that comes out with the Illinois school report card. And so you
004will see that visual here. Uh we are very excited to be recogn um recognized as commendable school again this school year. We are making great gains in a variety of areas including our ELA growth and proficiency as well as our EL progress to proficiency. We are very proud that we had 19 exits on access last school year and know our students will again achieve great progress on the test again this year. As a SIP team, we look to this data to help us continue to find areas to focus on throughout the school year. Displayed here is our ELA ELA SIP tree. This was carefully created by our SIP team in June that highlights literacy areas that had that we have identified as areas of focus. The strategy that our SIP team is focusing on this
005year is explicit teaching. In our weekly PLC's, we are analyzing student work in making instructional decisions to support to support our explicit teaching as well as help us reach our goals. In the area of ELA, our goal for this year is to have 48% of our students scoring in the proficient and or above proficient levels. In 2025, we reached 43% and are working hard to hopefully see a 5% increase this spring. Similar to the ELA SIP tree displayed here, you will see our math SIP tree. Our goal for this school year in the area of math is to have 40% of our students scoring in the proficient or above proficient levels. In 2025, we reached three 30.85%. And as a SIP team, we determined we wanted to achieve an aggressive goal. Furthermore, we are hoping
006to see an increase of around 9%. We are focused in the kindergarten through 2 grade levels on building independence in the areas of number sense. Whereas our third through fifth grade levels are working to solve problems as well as um constructed responses in our PLC's. We are observing some great examples of of this in our students work samples. We are very optimistic about reaching our goal. In both core areas, we are continually working to help our students grow and develop independently in both of these areas. Students are showing great perseverance in both of these areas, and it is shining through in our monthly schoolwide Lexia and Dreambox challenges. All right, moving on to some of our data. So, here you're going to see a snapshot. This is our most current um ELA map scores highlighting
007last school year and this school year so far. We're excited to see that each of those bars are moving in the right direction. The amount of students in the red range have been decreasing greatly since the beginning of last school year and we currently have the highest percentage of blue that we have seen over the past two school years. Based on the winter benchmark, we now have 33% of our students achieving in those green and blue bands. Very similar to ELA, you can see the math snapshot here as well over the past two school years. We are beyond proud and excited to see that we have 44% of our students in the green and blue and down to 8% of students falling into that red range. We wanted to dive a little deeper into this
008math celebration and looked at each grade level individually. So on this screen you'll see second, third, fourth, and fifth grade. And we couldn't be more prouder of these results. In all my years at Haywa, which has been a very long time, I've never witnessed these scores and I'm so excited about what's to come for the Huskys. So we are seeing some really great things in the area of math and are just very proud of each and every one of them. Shifting over to Fastbridge. This is an assessment that our kinder and first graders um do three times a year. Um and so as you can see, these graphs represent the ELA growth in English and Spanish. In English, 60.7 78% of our kinder and first grade students are growing at modest and aggressive levels. And
009as you can see in Spanish, we have 78% of our students growing at those levels. So our little ones are making huge growth in the area of ELA. They are becoming readers in English and in Spanish. On this slide, you can see achievement levels for the kindergarten and first grade students in the areas of ELA. You can see the amazing growth that they are displaying is translating into their is translating into their achievement. Onethird of the students in English are in the low-risk category and over 50% of our students within our dual language classrooms are in the low risk category. Our kindergarten and first grade teachers have been working really hard on teaching the foundational skills needed and the results are definitely just showing that just as we were seeing a lot of celebrations in
010the area of MA in Just as we were seeing a lot of celebrations in the area of ELA ma and math our second through fifth grade levels our First kindergarten through first graders deserve a big celebration, too. The top graph shows the achievement levels with almost 80% of our students in the lowrisk category and almost 78% of our students making aggressive or modest growth in the area of math. We are extremely proud of all the data celebrations that we have shared with you this evening. These results are a correlation of the hard work and dedication from all of our teachers that happen each week during our PLC meetings. We meet each grade we meet with each grade level once a week to analyze student work, look at data results from our common DIP assessments, analyze
011benchmark data, and make decisions as to how we need to adjust our instruction when and if needed. This is a screenshot of our third grade team agenda. The week prior to the PLC meetings, each grade level PLC agenda is ready and available for review. This is in an in an effort to provide our teachers time to prepare and gather any samples or data that they may need to speak about at the meeting. On this slide, you will see a few pictures of some of our PLC's. As you can see, everyone is engaged and focused on Hayawa student growth and achievement. All right. So, lots of celebrations in the area of data for Hayawa. We couldn't be more proud and it definitely takes a village. Every single person on staff helps contribute to all of our
012successes. But tonight, we'd like to honor three teachers especially. Um, if you would please come up. Miss Antos, Mr. Harvey, and Mr. Sienna. All right. I know it's awkward. They hate being the center of attention. So, this is really probably the hardest thing they've done all day. Um, so we are so proud to honor Miss Antos, Mr. Harvey, and Mr. Sienna who are all fifth grade teachers for consistently giving their time and energy to provide meaningful afterchool opportunities to our students. These teachers are forward thinkers and are always looking for ways to have our students finding success. Currently they are running six afterchool clubs. These clubs include two different grade level bands of accelerated learning, knitting and crocheting, creative writing, pop darts, and video game club. These teachers find ways to allow our students to
013shine, explore their interests, and express their creativity and unique and meaningful ways. We are so thankful for your dedication to Hayabawata and our students success each and every day. Thank you for always thinking outside the box and giving time away from your family for our Hawwa family. We have a little something for you guys. They're always thinking out of the box. So, it's a box of candy. All right. Um, you guys can stay up here with us because the next part of our little presentation is we have three students. We have a lot of students here from all of our clubs that our fifth grade teachers run. Like we said, there are six different clubs. There's not even six school days in the week. So, we have a lot going on at Hayawa. Um, but
014we would like to honor three of our students that are in a variety of these clubs. So, the first student I would like to call up is Milani Vasquez. So, Milani, don't be shy. Come on over, hun. You're good. All right. We have some nice things to say about you. So, Milani is in both Pop Darts Club and knitting and crocheting club. Throughout this year, we've seen Milani grow into a role model in fifth grade. She has learned time management, has been accomplishing all of her work, and has started her pop dark career. She's learned how to do basic crocheting and has grown so much as a student. We are all so proud of all her accomplishments this year. We cannot wait to see what is in Milani's academic future as well as how far
015she'll go in her pop dart journey. Mr. Santa is especially invested there. She is definitely has the makings of greatness. Congratulations, Milani, on receiving the award for being determined. This is for you. I wanted to see some of your teachers. Miss Sophie Sosa, can you come on up? >> I forgot to take their picture. >> Sophie Sosa has been in the creative writing club for two years now and this year joined the knitting and crocheting club outside of school. She is very active in swimming. Um, every day she shows up and does her best when it comes to academics, being a helpful friend, and being creative. Congratulations, Sophie, on always thinking in different ways and receiving the award for being innovative. >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> Can Jaden Jackson come up? Jaden is our first student in
016pop dart. Is our first student in pop darts to have landed the prestigious T-nobber. You guys got to tell me what that means. This is no small feat in which a dart lands on the target marker itself. Its closest parallel is hitting a double bullseye. What made his achievement even better is that it had it has not given him any type of ego. But he is still the excited young man who enjoys playing a game with his peers. Jaden now approaches new tasks with confidence, showing greater independence and a willingness to try without hesitation. Jaden has showed great sportsmanship throughout our season. He seems to be having a great year academically, too, which makes him an even better player. Congratulations, Jaden, on receiving the award for being confident. And now without further ado, we have
017a little showcase that shows a glimpse of the amazing things happening in Hayawa in these after school clubs. My favorite thing about the clothes is you have some you have some time to do something you like at school and even if you don't have it at home, you can still do it like inside of school. joy crochet club. You can get a little more expressive in like you can make better items in the yarn and crochet. You can um make like bandanas. It's really nice. I think that They they're nice. I like them and they can actually kind of motivate you a little more. >> Thanks for making the clubs at Hayawa. At Hayawaka, we >> dream. So, thank you again so much to everybody at Haywa, but especially these three teachers for giving all
018their time and really thinking outside the box. This is more than just ELA and math that we work on all day long, giving students opportunities that they wouldn't usually have. So, I do have to say Pop Darts is super fun. I was very intrigued by it. I now have a set. My family played at Christmas. It's a big thing. So, um maybe I work up to crocheting and knitting this semester. Okay. All right. Thank you for listening to Haywa. And we um if you guys would like to come take a picture, we can get a picture of you guys. >> Yes. Any families, please come up and take some pictures for a minute. Do you want to do it now or at the end? >> Yep, you can ask. Of course. Congratulations again to our
019students and our families and staff. You are of course welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting, but if families need to get students home, we understand that as well. Um so we'll take a quick break and also go if you want to ask a question. >> On behalf of the board, I we congratulate you uh the teachers and the students. Thank you. to the parents as well. I'm not sure if the members are going to be asking questions to the Hayawada administration that presented. >> So, I don't have any questions. I just want to congratulate you guys on your um success. Uh obviously you guys understand the correlation between um extracurricular and academic and social emotional and all the things they all go in hand inand um so I applaud the teachers who
020give their extra time because working a a regular school day is already a lot um but to give that extra time and to build that joy and passion for uh with those students is overwhelmingly um positive and on behalf of the board I definitely appreciate your um your passion for that. So, good job. Congratulations. >> Appreciate it. >> Anyone else has any questions? >> Thank you so much. >> All right. You're welcome. Thank you. >> All right. Our next item on the agenda is our um annual update on our advocacy efforts around evidence-based funding. Um, and this year we've added to that our mandated categoricals. Oh, sorry. Um, so as I always remind our board and community, um, evidence-based funding has been, um, something that has been amazing for our district. Um, back in 2017,
021a new law was signed which increased school funding for equity in Illinois. Um, evidence-based funding is designed to close the resource gap for students across Illinois and the core principles are based on looking at the individual needs of each school. So recognizing that individual student needs are different, accounting for the differences in local resources, closing funding gaps, providing a stable sustainable system that moves all districts toward adequacy. And the it was very important at that time to make sure while we were trying to bring up districts um to have more adequate funding that no district in Illinois lost funding. So how does EBF work? Um so we begin the state begins with calculating the costs of the essential elements for uh success in a school. Um so once those have been determined they apply other
022elements to individual districts based on demographics. So they look at enrollment um calculations include low income numbers, the number of English learners that the district serves, um special education needs across the district. Um it is adjusted for salarybased elements for region regional differences um across the state. It does then determine the district's adequacy target and what tier the district would be in and then tier funding is distributed. So um the per the way that that funding works is 50% of the funding goes to tier one districts. The next 49% is divided again between one and two. Tier three districts get a very small amount 0.9%. Tier 4 get.1%. And again, that was important because we didn't want districts who were adequately funded to lose any funding in the process of bringing up the funding for
023all other districts. So, EPF across the state has been extremely successful. You can see where we began on the left with lots of darkcoled districts who were not adequately funded to on the right. we have most schools um at or above that 65% funding. Now um obviously the goal is to get all districts in Illinois to that highest funding level. So in district 100 um this is what EBF has looked like for us since it became um became a law. So, you will remember back in um 2017 when when our district, our staff, our entire community was out advocating for EBF. District 100 was the sixth lowest funded district in this in the state. Um we were at 46 or 47% adequacy at that time, meaning we were only receiving 46 47% of the funding
024that we needed to serve our students. So when EBF came in, we started with very large increases to um increase the adequacy in our district. So in 2018 um we received 3 million and you can see that each year we've still continued to receive funding through EBF. It's been a little bit less. Um we started off as a tier one district. We are now a tier 2 district. Um, some of the other things that contribute to that decline, um, is the enrollment in our district continues to increase or I'm sorry, decrease um, which drives those numbers um, to look a little bit different. So, it is important as a district that we continue to advocate um for the state to continue to fund evidence-based funding because for a district like ours, other than tax revenue,
025uh EBF is the only new funding that comes into our district. So, with the support of the board when this initially began, again, we were at 46% uh adequacy. We are now at 77% this year which is tier 2. You may um remember last year we reported that we were at 80% funding and we were tier 2. So this is recalculated every year and it really depends where your district falls in comparison to districts all across the state as to where your adequacy level is. So although it went down a little bit this year, we still did receive additional funding on top of our base funding minimum. Um, and we are a tier 2 district, meaning we were in that category where we're not getting as much funding as we used to when we were
026tier one, but we're still continuing to get additional funding. So back in 2017, we began this process with the commitment of the board of education and the district to make sure that we put all EBF dollars into assuring ensuring that we met the EBF elements for the recommended uh successful school districts. Um, so some of those things we already had in place at that time like full day kindergarten, um, and embedded technology, but we were absolutely lacking in things like adequate social work, adequate EL and dual language, um, instructional coaching, tier 2 and tier three intervention. So what we have done year after year is look at those calculations specifically for our district to determine where should our staffing levels be. based on the uh students that we serve. And so I post this every
027year and add um what we have invested in EVF um over the years. So looking at all of the staff positions that have been added um the work on uh addressing staff turnover and improving teacher retention in our district. Um when we started, we initially had to rebuild from significant cuts that we had to make. Um but we started that rebuilding process year after year keeping the commitments of these extra dollars go to the EBF elements that we have identified, the state has identified and the district has identified as priorities. Um, so you can see all of the positions that were added over the years because of EBF as well as the investment in curricular resources. Um, and integrating some things that we added with ESSER dollars. Um, you know, we we were very committed
028to ensuring that we did not invest in commit um positions during the time of ESSER that we would have to cut when those funds went away. And so a few years ago or last year completely those funds went away and we did not have to remove any of the positions that we added. Um we made sure that we could integrate those into our budget um and that we were continuing to grow that staff. Obviously, you see that the investments have been a little bit less each year. Um, but that is due to the drops in in the additional funding that's come into the district as well as the fact that we have reached those adequacy levels in many of our staffing areas now especially because our enrollment has dropped. Um, so we have met many
029of those uh require or not requirements recommendations of EBF. So this year um the advocacy you may have noted in the communication that I sent out um that we added an advocacy effort around mandated categoricals. Um so while EBF investments in school districts account for most of the cost of what we provide in ed public education, there are certain things that the district is legally mandated to provide which are called mandated categoricals which you'll often hear referred to as MCATs. Um so recently um the last several years the state is underfunding MCATs um meaning districts are only partially reimburseed for these services. So um the services we're talking about that districts are mandated to pay for are things like special education provide uh private facility tuition special education transportation and regular regular transportation. Um, so
030what that means, that bottom bullet there talks about in FY26, MCAT appropriations fell short of claims by over 500 million in the state. So, what that means is, for example, if a school district submits a claim for say transportation for uh $100,000, when the state reimburses, what's happened is those reimbursements are prrated and the district is getting only reimbursed at about an average of 60%. So, if we put in a reimbursement for $100,000, we would be getting $60,000 back, right? meaning local funds need to cover the other $40,000. So this has become um this outlines kind of that proration piece where you can see that those funds have been prrated over time. But all the way to the right shows how drastically they have been prrated over the last couple of years. um which has
031led to this statewide effort to advocate for making sure that we are getting um funding in the budget which we know will be very tight this year um across the state to also cover these mandated categorical goals. So um we work closely with Advance Illinois who does advocacy across the district. our our uh district worked closely with them as well while we were advocating for evidence-based funding. Um so out there now we have um advocacy efforts of writing letters to the governor um just reminding how important school funding is particularly to districts like ours who have come such a long way due to evidence-based funding. So, we, you know, it's funny when I I go to meetings and and people say, "We can always tell when there's information out in Berwin South because we get
032so many letters from staff and families in our community." Um, so, you know, we we want to thank our staff, our families, our community members for continuing to advocate. Um, we all know and believe that our students deserve to be 100% funded. We're at 77%. We've come a long way, but we want to keep reminding when these really important budget decisions are made at the state level that we can't forget about how important these funds are for our school districts. So, um, are there any questions from the board? >> No. Thank you, Mary. >> All right. Wonderful. And while I'm up here, I will do you want to just put the calendar up? Um, the other thing that's on the agenda uh tonight for the board's approval is the calendar for next school year. Um
033it's pretty consistent with our calendars as you know our priorities are to make sure that we align with the uh high school for major breaks so we can ensure that siblings are um off at the same time as much as we can. Um our start date at the elementary is usually a little bit later uh than the high school but the other breaks do align. Uh this year we did have to work around a couple of election days which kind of complicates things. Um but we were able to effectively do that. We have a little bit longer of a spring break next year um due to that election day that comes right after. Um but and then we obviously have to meet all of the state and contractual requirements for our school calendar. So that
034is on the agenda for approval tonight. Any questions on the calendar? >> I do. And just for clarifications, how many number of contact student contact days do we have? 176. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. And and the full day parent teacher, we actually have 175 plus the full day parent teacher conference day counts in the state um calendar. So it's 175 plus one parent teacher conference is 176 required days. >> Thank you. >> All right. I'm going to go back over here for the rest. All right. Um, just a couple other things on the superintendence report. Uh, we had two FOYAs this month that were submitted. One around general purchasing records and one around um, paint purchases. Um we in the dashboard this month um you have your typical attendance, student staff attendance as
035well as uh the winter benchmark data that Hayawa referenced here tonight. You um have that in your board book for the entire district. So that is available for board review. Um and I will turn it over to Jenny for the financial report. >> Thanks Mary. Our bank balance as of today is 26.3 million. Um, and our investment balance is 33.5 million. Our revenue for the month to date is five million. Yay. Um, we're starting to see very little dribbles of tax money coming in. Um, the Cook County Office has released that they're hoping to have tax money released by the middle of f first and second week of February. Um, keep your fingers crossed. Um to date we have had to dip into our um balance, our fund balance to make payroll, keep the lights
036on. Um thank goodness we have a fund balance. There are districts around us that are not in the same shape that we are and have had to and do tax anticipation warrants or short-term borrowing and there's definitely a cost to that. Um above you see our cash flow for the month of December. Um revenue was um 12.9 million and year to date was 26.8 million. We're still way below where we normally would be right now. Um our expenses are at 5.7 million and year to date at 35 million. We're right on for expenses. Um, our grant snapshot is the next one. Um, you can see our grants are coming in, grant managers are managing those. You can see uh on this list everything that's rolled off from CARES. Um, this is what our normal quote
037unquote normal um school year would look like for grants. Also on the agenda tonight, you'll see the skip um renewal for our liability insurance. That's for our board and legal liability and our cyber insurance. And that's my report. >> All right. Thank you, Jenny. And that concludes the superintendent's report. >> Any questions for Jenny? >> Um, yeah. I just had a question about the Cook County tax debacle. Um, I was wondering if you know Jenny or uh Dr. Havis about a possible class action lawsuit and would we consider joining that? >> Yeah. And that would there are uh definitely uh things out there. Um there are some districts that are passing resolutions um that we can look at as a district if we would like to pass a resolution. Just acknowledging that this is a
038significant issue for school districts. Um again for us we our issue would be that we would need to outline that we are losing significant interest um because we are having to to dip into those balances um and you know we may not be in the position that others are in but it is still a significant loss. Um so I can get more information about that resolution if the board is interested um and share that with you and we can con potentially consider that for next month. >> Thank you. Um, and sorry, just for the record to clarify, this is not a class action lawsuit against Cook County. It would be against the software company that they're blaming it on because nobody wants to take the blame. So, they're saying that the software company did not
039generate those >> checks or whatever um appropriately. So, like everybody got screwed, homeowners, school districts. Um, so I think it is something to pursue. >> All right. Thank you. >> Uh, thank you, Marian. Um, I think if we would probably want to think about the resolution. >> Yes, I I I will send you a template. Um, I'll reach out and get that and send it your way. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh, person's report finance. Uh that's that's what we talked about the the Cook County taxes and and kind of where that uh is is landing for us right now. What payments we've received, what payments we have not, and then the uh hope hopeful hopeful uh resolution in early February. >> Thank you. Policy. >> Yes, thank you. Uh briefly, we have a group of
040um board policies that are up for adoption tonight. they are listed on the agenda for the policy committee. So with the exception of policy 660 which we will come back to in February, we are going to adopt the ones that are listed um in the agenda. And then um just wanted to bring attention to policy 6210. On the question of changing the procedures that the board on the question of changing the procedures, the board answered no, we are not going to change anything. we will continue the status quo. Um, and then policy 640, uh, we are changing the word both to all to be inclusive of all genders rather than both genders. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Legislative report. >> Uh, excuse me. On January 20th, both h the House uh and well,
041I should say the House was in session for 16 minutes. Um, the next day, caucuses were held. Democrats proposed six resolutions, but no action was taken. Um the House and the Senate will adjourn, I'm sorry, will uh return on February 17th, I believe, uh right before the governor's address. Things that um I am continuing to observe and monitor are some key issues that may uh have some decisions down the line uh in the upcoming months. Uh cell phones, uh that's going to be the s the bill SB2427. This bill will require school boards to limit cell phone use during class. Also, the tier 2 pension reform, that's bill SB1937, uh again seeking to amend tier 2 p pension systems. And um lastly, uh the bill uh HB 3772 on kindergarten, first and second grade discipline,
042um which aims to restrict suspensions and expulsions for K to2 students. That's it. >> Can you repeat the uh the two the last two legislations, the numbers? Yes. Uh K2 uh discipline, that's going to be HB and tier 2 pension reform, that bill is SB1937. >> So those are definitely the biggest ones to continue. >> Thank you so much. >> Yep. >> Uh correspondence. >> We had one physical correspondence this month. >> Thank you. Um we are at the public comments. Individuals appearing before the board are expected to follow the guidelines outlined in board policy to 230 and can come to the podium and state your name. Yes. >> Okay. Just a clarification. Um I see a few of you. Uh three minutes each person. Thank you. >> And up to 20 minutes uh for
043the comments. >> Hi, good evening everyone. My name is Christina Bronson Lassalde and I'm a parent to two children in district 100 at Emerson Elementary. I saw Miss Suki. Um I'm here tonight representing the newly formed Cicero Berwin School Safety Group. We're an autonomous group of parents and community members, some of whom are also educators, social workers, and community leaders in both Cicero and Berwin. Our goal is simple. To ensure that students, their families, and district staff are safe, informed, and supported during ongoing federal enforcement activity in our neighborhoods. Many of us who are wearing blue tonight are in solidarity with educators in Minnesota who in recent weeks have been forced to build safety responses under extreme pressure. We love our teachers and we recognize the weight they are carrying in this moment. Our group
044came together after a caravan of federal agents detained a US citizen just a couple blocks from Jefferson Elementary. I happened to be nearby. It was pure chaos. Um they went past three public schools right before dismissal time. Um I ended up helping a mom drive her car home from the school while another community responder drove her and her two kids to their house. Um there were the the kids were very distraught. Um, we sat in her living room and just helped to process, right? And in this moment, the only reason we knew that she needed a ride home, that she needed help getting her car home was because one of our responders sisters worked inside the school. We know that relationships are everything right now and that this is how communication happens and information is
045passed. Um but the immediate proximity to enforcement activi activity is really traumatizing families and children. Um this isn't hypothetical anymore. It is it is upon us. So um that's why the group started to form to just try and get coordination and communication um a little tighter and think through scenario planning ahead of time so that we're not in these situations where people are making um decisions under extreme pressure. So, um you'll hear from some uh colleagues and just very trusted lovely people um tonight. And we're asking for clear safety protocols, um clear communication channels during urgent decision-making moments, and proactive communication to all families, not just those who know how to ask or feel safe to ask. We'd also like to see virtual options offered and proactively communicated to families for meetings and events, especially
046including conferences and meetings related to special education like IEP and 504 meetings. And we just want to be very clear, this is not a political issue. Uh we can't talk around this anymore. We just can't. Um it's a safety issue, period. It is a safety issue for all families in Berwin and all families in District 100. So, we strongly urge the board to take action on these requests so that all of our students and families and staff um can feel safe and supported by their school community. Thank you. Hi, my name is Kayla Norris and I am a parent of a Persian student. Um he's in first grade. I know everyone in this room shares the goal of ensuring our schools remain safe, stable spaces where students can learn and where staffs feel equipped to
047respond to challenging situations. District 100 already has an important framework in place. Policy 4170. This requires the district to maintain emergency operations and crisis response plans including coordinated efforts with law local law enforcement and clear rapid factual internal and external communication. We see this policy as a strength. What we're asking for is an explicit enhancement to address the increased and ongoing federal enforcement activity occurring near our schools. When guidance is unclear or inconsistent, it puts an unfair burden on principles, teachers, and support staff to make judgment calls in high stress situations. Clear district-wide protocols allow staff to respond in a way that they are trained to respond in any crisis by following established protocols, communicating clearly, and keeping students safe. Specifically, we are requesting the following clarifications within existing emergency protocols. First, clear criteria for
048when enha enhanced or a soft lockdown procedures would be activated if federal enforcement activity is confirmed near a school. We suggest defining this as within a half mile radius or within the school's catchment area. So, there's a shared and predictable threshold across the district. Second, clear communication protocols to immediately notify staff and families when these pro procedures are activated along with a straightforward explanation. For example, the response is due to substantiated federal enforcement activity in the community. This clarity and rationale reduces confusion for staff and families and allows families to make informed decisions. Finally, we would we are requesting a pre-identified designated space inside each school such as a staff lounge where parents or designated caregivers who arrived during a soft lockdown can be safely escorted inside. This gives staff the clear direction and avoids
049improvised responses. Recent enforcement related incidents near school settings show that these situations can escalate very quickly. Preparedness and proactive scenario planning ensures that teachers and staff are not left guessing, but instead feel equipped and ready to respond just as they would to any other safety or law enforcement related scenario. We recognize that these emergency plans are reviewed annually, but given the current the current context, we respectfully request that these are these enhancements are prioritized and brought to the board at the February meeting with inter inter oh my gosh interim guidance issued to principles using existing protocols. Clear guidance supports staff, reassures families, and helps ensure our schools continue to be places of safety and trust. Thank you for your time and commitment to District 100. Um, good evening members of the board. My name is
050Miguel Gutierrez and I'm a dual language teacher and a longtime member of the Buring community. I want to begin by thanking you for your work that you've done to keep our families and students safe. I have a great respect for the board and their shared commitment that we have for our schools and our community. I'm here because in recent months, increased immigration enforcement activity in nearby neighborhoods have caused real fear and uncertainty for our students and families. We've had reports of federal agents operating just blocks away from our schools, including one instance where agents were seen in their school parking lot on a report card day. Although no agents entered our school building, families were frightened. Two families asked to change conferences to phone call conferences. And since then, we've seen increased absences and ongoing
051concerns about safety. I recall a conversation that I had with a student who apologized to me after being absent for two weeks and was very embarrassed and did not want to say and I just pulled him aside and said, "I know why. I understand and I didn't need more details, but this situation is causing a lot of fear for our families and our students. As a teacher, I feel a responsibility to protect and support my students. In response, I've taken it upon myself to monitor dismissal times, communicate with community members, and alert faculty and staff to any concerns. I have started my own activity to try to do this after school, before school and starting sporting events, choir concerts, after school activities. Some many of us came from the volleyball game that was at Freedom
052Today. Um 10 minutes before dismissal, I start with doing a twob block radius walk around the school to keep an eye out on concerns because it's been seen previously near dismissal time that we've had um federal agents present. Um other teachers have joined me in this, but we've also said that this has been an individual effort that's started by teachers who are concerned for safety. um we would like some more guidance on how to do that as not so much individual teachers but with a little bit of unity and support. Um there was an afternoon where we also had reported of uh federal agents that were very close to our school around dismissal time and I will say our school administration acted very quickly and reacted to ask teachers to be present after school and
053it was a very strong effort. We were very happy about this that more than 30 teachers showed up and were standing outside to support our students. We just were very concerned and worried and didn't have a lot of answers but had a lot more questions about processes and procedures. Should we delay dismissal? Should we allow families inside? Should we initiate a lockdown? We were unsure and we just know that uncertainty is dangerous in the crisis. So I asked what are other schools doing? Are our feeder feeder schools like we are freedom kaminsky hayawata and persing impacted? Do we have a district plan? I communicated this with my school administration and we've discussed the district plan. They've referred to the district plan as being that when there is near f federal agents nearby, they are um
054to be referred to district office with any questions or concerns. And we do feel that given the recent heightened immigration enforcement in the area and nationwide, that plan might need to be updated. It might not be as feasible given the situation recently. We've seen f federal agents near Freedom, Heritage, Kaminsky, Hayawa, Emerson. We want to make sure that our Freedom families, Heritage families, and Berwin community as a whole feel safe. So, in general, policy 4170 requires that the district maintain clear emergency and communication plans. We're just requesting that the board strengthen their existing plans to specifically address immigration enforcement near our schools. We are asking for repeated uh similar requests, clear procedures for confirmed ICE activity occurring in close proximity to a school, immediate communication protocols for staff and families, guidance for drop off and
055pickups and after school programs, extracurricular sporting events um to what to do in those types of qu situations. coordination with other schools, with our feeder schools within the district so that it's not just a one school plan, but a district-wide plan, something that we can co coordinate with the city and with local law enforcement the way that our policy does state. Families should never fear coming to school. Students deserve to feel safe, focused, and supported while learning. I'm here every day for my students to provide stability, hope, and a sense of normaly, a smile in the morning, a good morning, and a have a great day. And I'm asking that the district just help us to do what we're doing more effectively and continue to develop our policies. I'm willing to be part of any
056team that works on updating these plans. This is about collaboration, preparation, and protecting our community. Thank you for our time and for your continued dedication to our students and families. >> Good evening. My name is Rebecca Langford and I am a parent to a D00 student at Kamesky Elementary. He is here with me tonight. I want to focus tonight on one very concrete way to strengthen school safety and preparedness in a way that supports staff, leverages already existing community capacity and networks and enables coordinated timely response uh when situations involve both what is happening inside our schools and around them. We are past the point of sending out more tone-deaf emails about the federal laws and how we don't collect info on immigration status of of families. Those emails are not enough and they never
057were. We are requesting that the district establish a school safety team at each building. These are not the same as a crisis team. Crisis teams are designated to respond once an incident has already occurred within a school. What we are proposing is a standing coordination structure that addresses situations where external conditions directly affect school operations, safety, and family access, often before a crisis reaches the building. The goal is for these teams to reflect both school-based expertise and trusted community connections based on feedback from districts actively navigating similar conditions. Having a designated team responsible for internal external coordination has been critical in reducing confusion, improving response time, and ensuring staff are not left making decisions in isolation. Right now, many of these high-rust channels between schools and community contacts are being created informally out of necessity.
058Instead of creating a clear, reliable channel for communication, we are proposing that each school safety team consist of six to seven self- selected members and ideally could include a school level administrator or the designate, one social worker, one security officer, two to three self- selected teachers, and two to three community members who have real-time access to confirmed and substantiated information when safety concerns arise. Ideally, a safety team would meet at least monthly to plan, review protocols, and take responsibility for educating all staff on updated response plans. This structure provides the bridge that has been missing, connecting external conditions with internal school decision-making in a clear and predictable way. It ensures that educators and staff are equipped to respond as they would to any other safety scenario. It reduces uncertainty and reinforces reinforces schools as a
059safe, trusted space for families. Thank you for considering this proposal and for your commitment to thoughtful, proactive safety planning. Okay. Good evening. My name is Emily Reyes and I am a school social worker in district 100. This year marks my n 29th year as a school social worker and my 27th year in district 100. I am a proud member of the BSD 100 family. I have always felt valued by our administration, whether that be our building principles, our board members, or Dr. Havis. Thank you for all that you have done to allow me as a social worker the privilege to actually make a difference. As a social worker, I have loved the role that I have been able to play welcoming elementary school kids into the middle school and transitioning them into the high school.
060As a Spanish-sp speakaking staff member, I have been afforded opportunities to connect with and support members of our community that historically may have had less access to services and support. In December 2024, I was one of a handful of D100 employees that was sent to a know your rights training and then later I was asked to share that information with our admin and other social workers in our district. This information was seen as valuable, important, and necessary to keep some of our most vulnerable students and community members as safe as possible. When I learned that there was a group of BSD 100 parents wanting to collaborate with area schools in hopes of creating a stronger, more robust, and comprehensive plan to address the intensifying federal enforcement activities in Berwin, I agreed without hesitation. But to
061be honest, with some trepidation, because suddenly asking for something as reasonable and as necessary as parent and school collaboration regarding safety could be twisted by others into something divisive and political. But as others have stated tonight, this is not a political issue. This is a safety issue. As a district 100 employee and as a school social worker, I have been trained on the district policies for crisis response and I am in fact a member of the freedom crisis response team. I believe that the request made tonight that we create a school safety team at each of our school buildings is reasonable and necessary. I believe that the development of these unique teams is a natural extension of our crisis response preparation efforts to date. Based upon conversations with and training provided by professionals and districts
062that have directly dealt with the negative impact of enforcement activity near their schools, it is recommended that these teams be public facing and consist of a school administrator, a variety of staff members and community members. These teams would meet monthly to review and update the existing plan as well as be directly involved with educating and training all staff. And in the event that federal enforcement activity is confirmed within a specific radius around the school, this team would be responsible for executing that plan at the school level. I welcome the opportunity to work with district administrators, fellow staff members, parents, and community members to determine what these teams might look like and what their responsibilities may include. We are uniquely situated to make a difference in the lives of our students and our families. So many
063of them are feeling alone and scared. They are terrified. We are terrified. And we have it in our power as a school district to help them feel just a little bit safer. The time to act is now. And fortunately, we have a community desperate to help. Thank you. Hello, my name is Kimberly Trujillo. I'm a parent of two that attend District 100. I'm also a registered nurse at one of our local emergency departments here. I'm here tonight in the spirit of partnership. I know everyone in this room shares the same goal that our school remains safe, trusted, um trusted spaces and for students and families and places where people can stay connected, informed and sorry, informed and affects an entire community. From the parent side, we're watching in horror in recent weeks as students, teachers
064are tackled on campus snowbanks, preschools tear gas, not just in Minnesota, but right here in Chicago. And there is confusion about how escalated federal enforcement activity activity will affect families here in the months ahead. We've already seen incidents around schools in Berwin. This is not if, it's when. We are looking for clarity on the roles schools are playing in helping families feel safe and informed. As many of us said tonight, this is not about politics. We need to stop tiptoeing as if it were. We need to talk about the issue. This is a safety issue, period. And we need to address it as one. One example that has come up repeatedly is sharing of know your rights information. When asked, staff or admin sometimes refers to flyers in the office. To our knowledge, only one
065school has sent this information home to student folder in students folders. We want to state clearly that know your rights information is not political. It is an affirmation of protection that applies to every single family whose children attend our schools. In a reality where enforcement activity has become a more visible, unpredictable and increasingly increasingly violent affecting many of us just because of how we look is real. Ensuring families have accurate know your rights information sent home is not not just in the main office um is a basic safety measure that benefits the entire district community. Anyone who pushes back on this or says it's a political is clearly not experiencing how how it unnerving how it's unnerving it feels to drive shop move through the world in this mo moment as a Latino brown otherwise
066nonwhite person. This is not just affecting people who don't have legal status. It's affecting the vast majority of Berwin families and it's starting to feel tonedeaf to infer that only vulnerable families are affected. We are all affected. All of our kids are affected. Know your rights information sent home is a baseline and an important step and would signal to families that the district understands the realities many are navigating right now. These steps are about communication, clarity, and trust. They help ensure the school continues to function as a safe space and reliable hubs of information for the whole community. We appreciate the work you are doing and we offer these ideas in the spirit of collaboration and shared responsibility. Thank you for your time and commitment to the students and to the families. Good evening. My
067name is Kate Misaek and I'm a proud parent of a dual language student in District 100. Um, I am also a Spanish-sp speakaking doctorally prepared nurse practitioner with full practice authority and I pro provide medical and mental health care to families in this community, many of whom have children in this district. Before becoming a nurse practitioner, I was also a middle school teacher in South Central Los Angeles. That experience shaped how I understand trauma in class in schools. I saw firsthand how fear, instability, and community level stress walk into classrooms every day and how children often carry burdens far beyond what we see on the surface. What I am seeing now in my clinical practice feels very similar. This is not about politics as everybody has said. This is about what I am seeing through
068a clinician lens in our communities. I am seeing rising anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, and trauma responses directly related to federal immigration enforcement, and sudden family separations. Parents are afraid to leave their homes. Children present with headaches, stomach pain, behavioral changes, difficulty concentrating, and regression. These are classic trauma responses, and they are happening now. I want to be very clear, children do not need to witness an arrest to be traumatized. Living with constant uncertainty creates toxic stress, which we know interferes with emotional regulation, academic performance, and long-term health. The board's mission commits it to being responsive to students social and emotional needs, and policy 800 acknowledges that relationships with local mental health agencies are are essential. In that context, we are asking the district to move from reactive referrals to proactive trauma-informed support. Specifically, we request
069first direct outreach from school counselors and social workers to impacted families and students. This means proactively sending information home and not just passively putting flyers in the main office. And it especially means not expecting families to initiate these conversations. Second, bilingual district-wide communication about available mental health resources distributed broadly rather than relying on families to self-identify. Third, coordination with community mental health organizations to expand access to services. We also request a communication plan and a public response to these specific asks at the February board meeting. Again, these requests are not political. They align directly with the commitments this board has already made to student safety and well-being. As a medical provider, I can say clearly untreated chronic stress escalates. Prevention is more effective and more humane than crisis response. Our schools cannot change federal policy,
070but they can reduce harm. We look forward to partnering with you to protect every child in District 100. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Nicole Beal. I am a Berwin community member, the parent of two district 100 students, and the former social worker at Piper Elementary School. currently on long-term leave to care for my two young daughters. When I return, it will be my 17th year in social work and my 12th year in the district. In addition to these roles, I am also the daughter of a Mexican immigrant who came to the United States many years ago in search of a better life and opportunity. As a child of an immigrant, I cannot remember a time during my childhood that I ever feared for my family's safety due to my father's status as
071an immigrant. I was privileged in the fact that I could sleep soundly, attend school, go to the grocery store, and live a normal life. But we are living in a different time when our families are living in fear. When our students cannot freely take advantage of the right to education because of that fear and this constant dread is causing incredible trauma. Trauma for our students, trauma for our families, and trauma for our teachers and staff. As a District 100 social worker, I know that the district deeply cares about the social emotional well-being of our students and families. It's undeniable that we have a phenomenal studentto staff ratio in regards to mental health services when compared to other districts in our area. We have partnerships with multiple community mental health agencies present in many of our
072schools. Over the years, our entire social work department has been provided ongoing training on trauma-informed practices, and we've also been tasked with teaching these practices to every staff member at our schools. And yet, despite all of this training and support, I know that there are students and families that are scared of the potential consequences that could arise from asking for help. I understand this because we as social workers, as school employees, and as a district are also afraid of putting anyone at risk by offering certain kinds of assistance. But fortunately for us, we are not tasked with overcoming this barrier or bridging this gap on our own. We have a community of vocal, supportive, and knowledgeable individuals that are willing to work with us to help support our students and families. And in collaboration with
073this community, I believe that we can find a way to ensure that we are doing everything possible to address the very real consequences on mental health that living in trauma can create through direct outreach to impacted families, universal distribution of mental health resources and information in both English and Spanish, close coordination with community mental health organizations to expand services to our students and families, and intentional education and training for our teachers and staff. We can become an important protective factor in the lives of our students. Regardless of our political views, our religion, or our beliefs on immigration policy, our students and families do not deserve to live in fear or feel isolated. And they certainly should not have to cope with it alone. We as a district can help them feel safe, and we as
074a district can support them in a better way. And we all look forward to working collaboratively with the board and our community to make that happen. Thank you. Thank you. Gracias. >> I have a question. when you're ready. President, >> go ahead. >> Wouldn't it be great to get all this in writing so that like some of us were taking notes, but like if we had it in writing, maybe like via email or some, you know, some kind of way to see it all written down and then we can discuss it as a board. Wouldn't that be great? So what I'm probably going to ask for those speakers that came if you can uh email that information to uh to the board to the board email and then we will be able to uh see
075everything because yes I agree I was taking notes and I don't know if I was able to take every single detail. So I think that would be a good way for us to all of us go read them. Thank you. Thank you for the suggestion. Okay. Um uh now we have 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. Remove removed items may be taken up either immediately after the consent agenda or placed later on the agenda at the discretion of the board. >> Anyone? >> I move adoption of the consent agenda. >> Uh go ahead. >> I'll second. Uh, were we supposed to uh thinking about policy? Are no that's fine. Second. >> I
076I got them. Gavayo and Butler. >> Uh, I Gonzalez I. Palace >> I. >> Cavayto >> I. >> Steinfeld >> I. >> Butler >> I. >> Himenez I. Motion carried. >> Thank you. Um can we public comments uh individuals appearing before the board are expected to follow the guidance outlined in board policy 2230. Okay. Seeing none. Can we have board board member comments? Um, can I add uh to um board member Cabierro's um previous uh question wondering um the board of education email is B as in boy, D as in dog, O as in Oliver, F as in Frank, E is in Edward, D as in dog at bsd.org. >> Thank you. Um, I'd like to thank the Hayawa family, uh, and the families, um, the administration, um, and the faculty there. It sounds like
077you're doing a wonderful job and it may it seems like Hayawa is a wonderful place um, to to grow and learn um, and to be a kid um, in a time where it's so hard to be a kid. So, thank you for your dedication to our students and to the community um for all that you do. Um to the community members that spoke today, thank you for your willingness to collaborate, for speaking up for the families that cannot do not have who may not have a voice. um and for ensuring that all of the students within the district and their families can be as safe as possible in these uncertain times. So, thank you for thank you for showing up today. I will echo all of that. Um, Hayawa staff, thank you for everything that
078you're doing for our students, including actually every every staff member in the district, uh, for protecting our students and work and trying to do what is best for them and I know that you are doing beyond what is required of you. So, we appreciate every single one of you. um Hayawata the teachers that was very recognized today. I appreciate everything that you've been doing and I like I everyone said having this activities it is a way for students to to forget about the things that are going on in life right now. So thank you. >> Yep. As a Hayawa parent, I want to thank the Hayawata team for sure. Uh we always have a great time there and I love seeing y'all at the doors in in the morning. Uh it's wonderful to see. Uh
079to the community, I love seeing the community. Thank you all for coming out and speaking. Um we need parent voices. We need collaboration and uh it's it's powerful when when we see this many people come out to speak. >> I want to echo what uh board member Palace said. It's really nice having people in the room and it's not just us like talking to each other. So, thank you for showing up. We always welcome community input. We love having you here. And um I also want to say I'm so proud of the caliber of staff that we have in D 100 who are, you know, empathetic and caring and just wonderful individuals and willing to come, you know, into a very, I think, intimidating situation for anybody. But especially right like you're in front of
080your boss like that's hard. So I'm very proud of our staff. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um final words for me as an immigrant myself. I appreciate every single thing that you're doing as a child. I and many of you may not may know may not know I my parents were taken by and that trauma never leaves you. Uh so I understand everything that our students are facing in our community are facing, I am facing, uh many of us are facing as adults. So thank you for everyone that spoke today. Thank you for taking the time to volunteer and to do all of this on your own time. Uh that's something that you don't see every day. So we appreciate every single one of you. No more comments. Then uh can we please have a
081motion to adjourn? >> I will motion. >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> Gimenez. >> I Steinfeld. >> I >> Gonzalez. I Butler >> I Gavayo >> I >> Palace >> I. >> Motion carried. Thank you so much. Uh, thank you everybody for being here. Have a good night.