001Good evening, Buenes. No. Can we please have a motion to reconvene into open session? >> I will motion. >> Second. I'll second at 7:14. Uh Iron Palace >> I >> Jimenez I Steinfeld >> I Gonzalez I Cabayo >> I >> Butler I >> strenth absent with notice. >> 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. Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here. My name is Elizabeth O'ha Jimenez. I'm the president of the Berwin Southeast School District 100. Uh to my left is Dr. Havis, our superintendent. Dr. Mary Havendias. Um, roll call for to establish quarum, please. Himenez here. Steinfeld >>
002here. >> Gonzalez here. Butler >> here. >> Cabayto >> here. >> Palace >> here. >> Drenth absent with notice. >> All right. Good evening everyone. We are going to kick off the superintendent report with our Persian Panthers which I see a very large crowd out there tonight. So, yay Persian Panthers for being here. So we would so we are going to start with our school spotlight. So if we could invite up um principal Danna Akabazi, assistant principal Joel Duket, and then we have Julie Janisk, Maria Gonzalez, and Amanda Dunigan. Yes. Okay, come on up. far away. I guess not. Okay. Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here. It's been an emotional month. I'm just really feeling the love for this school lately with all the like holiday things going on and stuff. So, I'm
003g do my best here. Um, I'll be honest. I have the best job in the world. People often ask me what makes Persian school special, and I usually can't give a short answer because my love for the place kind of covers everything. It's um, it's in the high fives and the hugs from our students in the morning. It's in our friendly com competitions um scattered throughout the year. It's in the tireless dedication of our staff that treat every classroom like it's their second home. Um and it's in our parents whose partnerships make our school a true family. At Persing, we aren't just a building, we're a heartbeat. Um educating the whole child. Oh, I forgot about my clicker. Sorry. Should probably move on. That's not right. Let me try again. Up. Nope. Down. Nope. >>
004There's nothing to help me with, guys. I really know how to work a >> Oh, it's turned different. >> I was I just I was holding it upside down. Um um educating the whole child has been a staple at Persian school since my mentor Marilyn Mcmanis was running the show. It's been 11 years since then and we continue to keep that at the forefront of our why. Making sure our students understand that we care about them more than just their grades. Um and that's an essential part of what makes Persing such a special place to learn and grow. We foster a love of learning. Oh, why? Okay, sorry. We foster a love for learning, develop a sense of purpose in every child, and we push and support our students to persevere and try hard things
005along with developing a strong sense of what it means to have an impact on our community, all while showing the Panther way. This year we were designated as a targeted school. Our students with disabilities subgroup did not demonstrate adequate growth in ELA and their attendance didn't help or lack thereof. Um but we're not worried. Last year our school as a whole was commendable and actually improving from the year before in both proficiency and growth in ELA and math. to keep our growth going. You can see um our SIP goals for the year up on the screen. These both um both of these goals reflect a 5 to 8% increase from the year before. The two areas of focus and helping us to hit our targets this year are working on extended responses and explicit and
006intentional instruction. Now I'm going to hand it over to Joel. >> This one. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Um I will just reiterate Persing I said this this is my second year as the assistant principal at Persing third year in Berwin South in the school district and I said it last time and I'll say it again. So, I I've had the opportunity to work all over the state from southern Illinois, very rural southern Illinois, um by the shiny national forest, um and from Springfield where I'm from and more of an urban setting and then all the way up into the Northshore. I worked three years in Lake Forest. So, very different experiences, lots of different schools, lots of um opportunity to work with with different professionals. But there is not a better community that I've
007ever worked in than working here in Berwin. It has just been awesome. From the families to the staff, our district leadership, the and then, you know, everyone that's in the building, the few the folks that are up here. Um it's such a joy to come to work every day. There's not a day, you know, there's been moments I've worked, not here, but other places where you dread a little bit waking up like, "Oh boy, I got to go got to go in today." It has never been like that. It is so much fun to work every day in this place and Persian I think in particular is just so strong in that. Um our staff is awesome and I love working with the kids and the families have been nothing but great and supportive. So
008um with that we'll look at a little bit of data that's uh not nearly Yeah. Yeah. Um and also I was going to say too this isn't normally how I dress. This was ugly Christmas sweater day at Persing, so I felt like I had to wear this one today. Um, but usually I'm looking over at Marty. You know, he's, you know, dressed like a principal should be. That's typically how I would be coming to school today. But, uh, so, um, so with that, we, um, have been doing really well. Um, as Boss had said, we've made progress over from last year to this year. We see that within our SIP goals, making that uh making progress in both uh our reading, writing, and math. We've been intentional about a lot of that. You're going to
009hear some really cool things that we've done. Um um and we're continuing to do to support our our reading and math and writing. Um here you can see this is just overall in reading uh map from we just this is hot off the press here this data. So you can see that last column on the right that is our winter data. uh we just finished up sort of last week and a few people even at the beginning of this week to get all of those makeup tests done, but overall we've been demonstrating good progress. It's also worth noting like winter last year to winter this year. Uh so that's second from the from the if you kind of track over the second column would be winter last year. And then compared to winter this year,
010we're doing a lot more. In particular, we're not only raising those students that are in the high range, so above the 80th percentile in performance and reading, but also really reducing those students who are in our low range. Um, and this is across all students. Um, this just highlights here too, as a whole school, we're at the 56th percentile in growth. So, you can see again where we kind of shake out um with nearly a quarter of all students in the high range of growth uh in reading. Um there at the bottom you can see achievement again from the fall being on the left side there um winter achievement on the right side. So we're growing in all areas and reducing then in those lower areas which is exactly what you'd want to see. So
011really positive both in the growth and then just in the achievement. So we're seeing that sort of dual area of uh positive performance. That would be for reading. This is for math. So math we've grown quite a bit as well. Um again looking at we've increased quite a bit um our students that are in that higher range above the 80th percentile. Um our goals are looking to get that what that you little yellow bar through yellow green and blue higher. Uh and we've seen that the growth in that um over the year as well and we're improving from our winter. You can see most of the time in winter we've taken a little bit. There's some historical data. Looks like it takes a bit of a dip sometimes in winter, but we have not seen
012that trend this year, which I think points back to what we've really been explicitly teaching reading, uh, math, highlighting, uh, additional skill development, and really making sure that we get a lot of learning trials in. Uh, same thing here. We're at the actually at the 66th percentile for growth in uh, math. Uh, so that's really positive. again 33. So onethird of our students uh taking this test are in that high range 80th percentile or higher in growth which is really awesome to see. Um and then moving from the 44th percentile as a school to the 55th percentile in achievement in math from fall to winter. So really positive really positive growth overall. Um oh no that slide is on here. I'm just going to say a couple other things then too because there would have
013been one more slide. It's fine. Um we I put one more in there. It was late late edition. So u but specifically our sped so our our students with um that are highlighted with disabilities that were in that targeted um range. We have grown so much in our math and so much and are they're the highest achieving and highest growth group in our school this year both in math and in reading. So, one of the areas that we were really looking for and highlighting um was in English uh growth and the ELA growth and we've seen that again the highest growing group in our school is that group of students. So, that's really awesome to see. The other thing too was with attendance last year at this time we had 11 students in that same
014uh group that were chronically truent. Now we're down to two. So, we've increased our attendance overall. As a school, we see attendance growing quite a bit, but particularly within that group that we've really been targeting, we've already seen some pretty wholesale changes overall. Again, I can't say enough about the staff that's really dedicated time and energy into doing that. Um, they really have made this whole thing go, I mean, in such a short amount of time that we've been highlighting this and we've quickly seen those changes. So, lots of positive things happening um in all of our academic areas, which is awesome to see. All right. We have some really cool other things that we do though at Persian that you're going to hear about now. >> I'll switch you over. >> Thank you. >>
015Okay. Hi, I'm Julie Janisk. I'm the literacy coach at Purging and this is my fifth year here and we are doing something that's one of the coolest things actually probably the coolest thing I've done as a coach because of what the staff is bringing to the table and the support of admin. Uh so this year we are doing collab labs. I'm going to try and summarize this quickly because I literally could talk about this for an hour. That's how cool it is. Uh so basically we are so we're in our second cohort right now. Our first cohort of these collab labs uh was called the word herd and it was all about vocabulary and we are currently in a cohort about writing and we're called the syntax squad. Uh so basically what it is is
016it's a voluntary experience for teachers. They can sign up to be a part of the squad. Uh it's a sixw week six session experience where we come together before school about once a week and I teach a strategy about vocabulary or writing. So all connected to our school improvement plan. Um so I teach a strategy, a practice, a routine and then we talk about it. How are you going to implement this into the work that you're already doing in the classroom? We plan to go observe each other, try the strategy in classrooms. Um, currently in the syntax squad, we have uh 15 teachers that are a part of this experience. So, it's a lot of observations, a lot of going in and out of people's classrooms. Uh, Bos and Joel have been super supportive with
017that, with helping with coverage. Um, our support staff has been helping with that, too. So, it really is this like beautiful team effort to build collective efficacy and get into each other's classrooms and grow and learn together. Um, so after we talk about how they're going to try the new strategy that week, um, and who's going to observe who, uh, then we we go through and and experience that for the next week when we come together the following week, the first thing that we do is talk about how it went. So we reflect on what you saw in different classrooms, how it felt for you to try the new strategy or routine or practice. Um, and then I teach the new strategy and the whole cycle starts over again. So, what's really cool about this,
018um, not only obviously is it connected to our school improvement plan, we're learning, uh, evidence-based research practices, um, all of the the work that we do is from me kind of sifting through tons of, uh, my own professional learning books, uh, workshops, um, conferences, sifting through and kind of funneling down into like the most high leverage, um, researchbased practices that we should try in our classrooms. that can be transferable K through five in all different situations. Um, so that learning obviously is is connected to our school improvement plan which is really cool to see, but then it's not just like a oneandone. So one of the other things that we talk about in our school improvement plan is being intentional. And so that third bullet point up there is a squad packs. Um, so at
019the end of each session, we actually talk about like what are our intentions? how are we going to make a pack to ourselves and to each other to try this new strategy out? So, it holds us accountable. Um, it builds this collective efficacy and this feeling of we're all learning this this together. Um, and it's just been a really cool experience to see like teachers observing each other, giving each other feedback, building off one another's ideas. It's been super positive. Um, and I am so confident that it's having a very positive impact on student learning. So, those are our collab labs. >> I'm Maria Gonzalez. I'm the universal coach um for PBIS at Persing. >> Um I'm Amanda Dunigan. I'm on the part of the PBS team. >> Um I had a much prettier slide
020here. Oh, talk to that. >> Um, I had a much prettier slide, so I'm feeling a little bit upset because it was a much prettier slide and there was a lot of um the visuals that we used. So, we just wanted to explain a little bit about PBIS at Persing. Um, we've had continued success with PBIS this year. Um, the student and staff buying has increased tremendously this year. Um, and the students look forward to earning those blue and gold paws that are supposed to be up there. Um but basically students earn these blue paws, gold paws for um behaviors that we are focusing on. Um we have continued to use a universal language across the school. So we've been using the panther way a lot this year. Um and that has really made the
021school feel like a team. Um so that's something that's been really awesome to see this year. Um, we have a monthly focus that targets three behaviors um that we want to see like sharing and taking turns, um, using compassion towards others. And really focusing in on those specific behaviors helps students, you know, recognize what they're doing. And it helps teachers also to see like, hey, they did such a great job sharing and taking turns. So, we've seen a lot of success with PBIS this year. And due to the staff and student buyin, we have seen referrals um decrease so behavioral referrals decrease so much throughout the year already. >> Um okay, students are also looking forward to our monthly PBIS assemblies where we highlight specific students as well as classes. We have classroom awards um
022for the class with the best attendance for the month. So that really encourages our students to want to get into class so they can win that award. They get a certificate as well as um a reward from it, free time, whatever they may get. And then we also reward the class who the teachers vote um and all staff votes in Persian for the class that is showing the best panther way. Um following our three monthly targets as well as our um overall safe, respectful um kind. So, we do that. We also with our blue paws, we do a raffle. So, we draw um five kids from each grade for a blue paw reward. Um and then we do three gold paws from the whole school. Um the blue paw reward um changes, but a very
023common one that they enjoy is extra recess. Um and for our gold paw winners, they get to be principal for the day. Um, they get special paws made by Miss G, um, in their favorite color with their faces on it and they get to follow our amazing principles around for the day and see what it's like. Um, they also get to make a rule for the day such as pajama day. Um, and that is a really big um, >> incentive. Thank you. For our >> lunch. >> Yeah. The principles also get a special lunch with their best friend of whatever they pick. >> Um, >> yeah. And so we look forward to seeing those um negative behaviors decreasing and the positive ones increasing um with the continued success of PBIS. >> First one first. Okay.
024No, it's the other one first. I want to do them first. >> Now, I'd like to welcome up to the podium our Persian ESL powerhouse, which includes Mary Orbina, Katherine Flynn, and Donna Valatiara. >> Joel, take this. >> Come on. Just so you know, Guys, don't go behind me. Everyone wants to see you. You're the You're the awardees. Okay. Joel and I along with our Persian team had no question regarding why these three lovely ladies should be um recognized tonight. From the moment these three joined Persian school all at different times, um they genuinely have gone above and beyond. I know I know we say that a lot about teachers and the things they do, but they genuinely go above and beyond to support our teachers, our students, and our families. They don't just co-e
025and support. They don't just accommodate, you know, make accommodations and modifications and scaffold. They are enthusiastic about bringing learning to life for the grades they work with. At the drop of a hat, they're willing to jump in and help in any way possible. They have amazing ideas that make our school better. I could go on, but I'm just going to name a few things. From Mary's leadership in running the Latino Family Literacy Project with Medica, who's in the back over there, um to Katherine's ability to mentor our new teachers and make them feel at home in that first year of teaching to Donna being able to step up and take the lead in helping a maternity leave sub start the year in third grade. Start the year. Starting the year is hard as it is
026as a teacher, fifth year, 10th year, first year, but to do it as a sub, it's a hard job. So, thank you. Um, Donna made that transition a breeze. We all feel very lucky to have all three of these lovely ladies as part of your team. And I also have writeups for all of you that um the Persian team has written about all of you. But if I wrote them, if I read that all, we would be here for another half hour because they have tons to say about you um within the classroom. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you for everything that you do to support the students at Persian. Now, we'll go into our powerhouse of students for this month. That first child up there, Miss Mia Favlla,
027is in our front row with her family. And she may look kind of familiar because her sister was actually here last year when we did our Persian um leaders of the school. So next all we need is little Mario on the floor over there. Once he's there, we got to show him up. We got to get him up on the board. But um this is what Mia was recognized as a portrait of a graduate um from her teachers, Miss Campabell, Mrs. Campabelloo, and Miss Dunigan, who was just up here earlier. She is receiving this award for her collaborative nature. This is what her teachers had to say about her. Mia, you want to come up before I start reading? Makes sense, right? Come on up, Mia. He's not there, but they want to see. All
028right. Mia has shown amazing collaboration in our class since the first day of school. She's able to work patiently with anyone in our classroom. She can always keep herself and her partners focused on the task and working hard. She's very helpful whenever another student may feel confused or stuck on a problem. She's very uplifting, reassuring, encouraging, and kind to her peers. We are so lucky to have her in our class. Congratulations, Mia. All right. Next we have Diego. You want to come on up here? Diego Barahas. Here we go. >> Love this outfit. >> Cut is very jealous. >> I am jealous of this. Ty looks great. Uh Diego is getting um he's um uh getting the collaborative a certificate of achievement and collaboration here uh from his teacher. Um, Diego listens actively, contributes thoughtful
029ideas, and works respectfully with classmates to achieve shared goals. His positive attitude helps create a productive and supportive learning environment. And I will just say every time I'm in there, this might be the most studious student that we have at at Persing. He is always always focused and on task. It's very impressive. So, way to go. Here you go. Lastly, can we get Miss Ali Alana Almanza to come on up? You can come to the front so you can take the pictures. >> I was gonna let him afterward. Okay. Ready, Ally? Turn so everyone can see your beautiful face. All right. Alli is a kindergarten student and she was recognized by M. Deloreier, her teacher. I also have to say Ali is a what would you call it? Um, generational Persian student. Her dad right
030here taking pictures was a student when I was teaching fifth grade. He did not have the luck of being in my class, but he was a fifth grader that I worked with sometimes. Um, and also she has her two older brothers and cousins and everybody that has um, come to Persing. So, here we go. This is what Miss Deloreier has to say about Ali. Look at your dad. Ali is a joyful example of confidence and curiosity. She believes in her ability to learn and isn't afraid to show what she knows. Whether she's sounding out new words, explaining her thinking in math, or sharing ideas during class discussions, she approaches challenges with courage, enthusiasm, and a let me try attitude that inspires those around her. Alongside her academic confidence, Ally is consistently kind and responsible. She
031treats her class she treats her classmates with empathy, offers help without being asked, and takes pride in taking care of her materials and classroom jobs. Her kindness and thoughtfulness, I'm sorry, her kindness and thoughtful choices make her not only a wonderful learner, but also a wonderful friend. She's a shining example of what it looks like to learn and lead with a kind heart. Congratulations, Miss Ally. You are getting this for being confident. Okay. And I believe that's it for us, right? If any parents want to come up and take pictures, you're welcome to do that. Or teachers or staff. Yes. Thank you everybody. >> Congratulations to our staff and students on your recognition for tonight and thank you so much for being here with us tonight. We're very proud of all of you. Looks like
032you're going to take some more photos in the hallway. All right, we're gonna uh move on to our 2025 audit. We're going to let um R.J. pull up and ceue up our video of our auditor. Uh he was not able to be here tonight, but he's going to give us a video update of our audit. And it's all available in board book for our board members as well. Smith Michaelesco. >> Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board. My name is John Michaelco, partner with the accounting firm at Gas Smithco. I'm going to briefly go over the results of your annual audit. Uh background of the audit. Uh we come out over the summer and we examine your records in the district. By that we um confirm all cash and investment balances on hand. We
033look at revenues received from the district um by source to make sure that not only are they recorded for the right amounts, but they're recorded in the right funds. We also look at expenditures. Um we make sure that the amounts being paid were approved and recorded in the proper amounts and funds. Uh for payroll, we do similar testing. We make sure that the individuals individuals that we test are paid based on the proper amounts. Uh when we're done with our testing, we form what we call a conclusion. Um the conclusion is an opinion. Your district received a clean or unmodified opinion. Um that means that all the financials that we give were presented in accordance with the standards. Uh at the end of the year, which is June 30th, your district had positive fund balances
034on all your funds. Overall combined 61.5 million uh with the bulk of that being in your educational fund. The cash on hand at the year end was 64.4 4 million which was uh increase slightly from the year before. Uh we found that revenues were down from the year before. However, that was attributable to the delay in property tax payments received by the district. Expenditures that we um looked at we found in line with the year before. Um overall during the audit, we found that the records were in uh great shape. Uh we had no concerns with any of the uh products that were given or the underlying condition of the records. Uh we also look at student activity funds and those appear to be pretty uh properly stated as well. Um your district did expend
035over 750,000 of federal revenues uh which means we have to do what we call a single audit which is an extended um layer of testing on the federal programs. The district had no uh instances of non-compliance with the federal programs. So you received another clean or unmodified opinion on the federal programs. Um we also did issue the state uh AFR form which is the ISBY uh version of this financial statements uh on their metrics. Your district received a recognition status which is the top tier status. So overall another good mark for the district. Um we did have no other inconsistencies or disagreements with management. So there were no other findings to report there. um overall was another great year of the business office and we found everything to be in great return. Thank you very
036much. >> All right, so that is available um for you to to review. Um again, congratulations and thank you to our business office um who really make sure that we our our audits are clean. So, thank you so much and it is great to hear again a recognition status which as we learned recently with our bonds that really does contribute to um the overall status financially of the district. So, thank you Jenny and the business office. Um next on the agenda is um just anformational item for the board. Um so within board book you will see the results of the middle school uniform survey. If you remember, we talked about serving our parents and our students um regarding their feelings about the the uniform. Um and you will note uh we had 285 families respond.
037We had 562 students respond. Um and the student the survey was created by our student leadership teams at both middle schools. Um and the parent survey and and the student survey clearly show that generally they are very happy with our current uniform policy. Um but would like maybe a little bit more flexibility and maybe adding some colors or also making sure that we have clarity on specific pants and things that they can wear. Um but overall our families and students value the the uniform. They cited things like simplicity like we know we're get up in the morning this is what we wear. Um you know our middle school principles have noted that even when we have dress down days we have lots of students who choose to make the decision to wear their uniforms. Um
038you know the stu both students and parents did have some ideas of how we can continue with that dress code policy um as it exists but also add a little bit of um you know variety to it. So, our two schools will kind of look into that a little bit further and present something closer to um the springtime when we're updating our student handbook with the dress code that might that would reflect um some of the feedback that we received. Um so, this data is here. We're also going to post the data on the website. I wanted the board to see it first, but so families can see that, you know, we we did take this data and look at this data and are absolutely making decisions on based on this data. Um, but overall
039our community is is happy with our current policy. So that was nice to see. So more to come, but I wanted to make sure that you had all of the data in front of you. >> Can I uh just uh make a comment? Uh I appreciate that you provided some additional narrative. I did look at the the data in there and it's just the data that was that was presented. Um so I appreciate the fact that there was followup. there's the narrative that you provided there sort of answered the question of well they said they wanted more but what was it and I appreciate that that's been heard and that's being considered and and we're going back and looking at those policies again. So thank you for that. >> Yes, absolutely. And there were a
040couple of subjective like questions where it would be like if you could change it what would it be? And so we we had you know 500 responses of different things. It was interesting the color choices that some of our um students proposed. Maybe some orange or purple. So just that, you know, those are some fun things that they put in as ideas. But um you know, I think that that there will be we have enough information from the data as well as that um feedback that that they shared in writing to help us make some good decisions that I think will be supportive of everyone. So thank you. All right. Um, we had four foyas this month that um were submitted. Um, the dashboard in contains our student staff attendance for the month and I
041will turn it over to Jenny for the financial report. >> Thanks Mary. Our um bank balance as of today is we have 16.6 6 million which is in our beimo and 33.5 which is in PMA investments which are secured in investments. Why that is important to know or to break apart is we have not received taxes and it's now the middle to end of December. Um a lot of districts around us are uh majority of the districts are in a world of hurt. Um, we are down right now in our fund balance by exactly 16 million. Um, we have been covering payroll. We have been covering keeping the lights on. We have been covering all of our expenses, paying for our bonds. Um, but we have uh little to no revenue coming in. Um, thank
042goodness we have a savings account. Thank goodness we have a savings. Um, we do not need to go out and do tax anticipation warrants. We do not need to go borrow from a bank. Um, and right now I'm keeping an eye on that 16 and that 33 because I don't want to break that 33. If we have to dip in and break that 33, then we start paying penalties on our investments and that contradicts putting money into investments. Um, so I'm really keeping a close eye on things. Um, our revenue for December to date is only $2 million. Um, keep in mind every time we issue a payroll, it's at least 1.3 million. Um, when you factor in taxes and everything else. So, um, it hurts and we're feeling it. Um our cash flow short
043which is up above um our November revenue was only 2.9 million for a year total of 13.9 million which is only at 21%. You can see towards the bottom I have a number 42 listed there. Normally you would like to have at least half your revenue in by now. We don't even have a quarter of our revenue in right now. Um expenses to date are 8.7 million. Um with year-to- date at 29, we're right on target for our expenses. Um but keeping things keeping things uh in mind. The grant snapshot is the next one. Um John, our auditor had mentioned there is a decrease in revenue. when he presents the financials for the audit, he presents things on an acrruel basis and he had mentioned we had lack of tax money coming in. The tax
044money that we were supposed to get in August would have been reflected in this um 25 audit because it's uh 60 days back they roll back in our grants. We're also low in revenue because we don't have all the the different CARES Acts and now we definitely don't have them. The grants that we do have, we are doing very nicely with. Things are coming in, things are being spent, the state is paying on them. Um, knock on wood. Um, keep keep that coming. Um, along with our grants, we also are out right now for a maintenance grant. On the I believe it's on the agenda on item E on the agenda is the approved the school maintenance project. Um that will we've been as you notice you come into Heritage you'll see we've had new
045doors put in um we have other projects of new doors to go throughout the district that was part of the grant through the maintenance grant project. Um, the other thing I want to mention is because our financials were as good and because we have a savings, we got our bonds back when we did the bond sale and we got a better interest rate than what was expected. So, that saves even more. Originally, they thought we'd save 300,000, then it was 500,000. We're now at over 600,000 that we can save by redoing our bonds, which is absolutely fantastic. Not only that, but because our financials were in such good straight, basically equated it to your credit. You go out to buy a house or buy a car, our credit was so good that we didn't have
046to buy basically buy points to buy down the rate, which also helped us get a better rate. So, all around we're in good shape that way. Now, if we could just get tax revenue. I know. Thank you everyone for paying your taxes, but Cook County hasn't released them yet with no date in sight. That's my report. >> All right. All right. And that concludes the superintendent's report. >> Thank you. uh presence report finance. >> Uh we talked about the uh restructuring of the bond and the additional savings that we made there as well as the uh audit um and then the current tax situation. >> Thank you. Uh building and grounds. >> Hello. We met today before the meeting. Um, we talked about the work that's going to happen over uh the holiday break, which
047is basically just finishing projects, pipe coverings and thermostats and things like that. We also talked about the projects for summer of 2026. Um, and that is going to be something that's on the consent agenda tonight, which is the Piper bids um for uh the UNI events and the roofing. Um, we also had good news with that that there the preliminary report says there's no asbestous that we have to deal with. That's very good news. Um, another thing that we're going to be um, voting on tonight that I think Jenny mentioned is the maintenance grant. Um, so that's to continue to replace the doors and uh, the interior and exterior doors. We also talked about the district education center and saw some pictures. Everything is going really well over there. Um, it's on schedule to be
048completed um, on time. Uh the heating and air conditioning units were going on the roof and they are pouring cement. So everything is going really well. They're getting it ready so they can keep working through the winter. Um and then finally uh we have our have our compliance and health and safety check going on shortly. That's what we discussed. >> Thank you. Policy. >> Yes. Thank you. Um so tonight in policy committee we looked at um policies for first reading um and then they'll come back next month. Uh we had a couple of language suggestions, language changes um as well as there was yes or no questions that the board will have to vote on. So we're going to look at those again next time and then um I guess we'll take a vote. Um
049and then the policies up for adoption uh are pretty non-controversial. The changes are really just to the legal citations or maybe minor um housekeeping type of language. So we are recommending adoption of the policies as listed in the agenda. Um and we receive no questions from anybody. >> Thank you. Can we have legislative report? >> Yes. Um, I would like to highlight a few policy and um legislative issues statewide that I find it uh relevant um and somewhat adjacent to our school district. Um, first of three things that I'm going to um go over. The Illinois State Board of Education extended the public comment period on a proposed overhaul of the school accountability system. This um is delaying a plan vote, but it's to allow more community input before finalizing new performance labels for schools.
050Secondly, um Illinois be will become the first state to require universal mental health screenings uh for students in grades three to 12 with districts getting statewide provided guidance and resources. Um and lastly, um Governor Pritsker signed a law restricting immigration status disclosure at licensed childcare centers and public colleges. Um again, a policy that I find relevant to our school communities as a whole um dealing with the heightened federal enforcement. And that is it. >> Thank you. correspondence. >> There was none this month. >> Thank you. Um Okay. Uh we have a action items cons on the consent agenda. Items may be removed from the consent agenda and the request first. >> Oh, thank you. >> Sorry, I forgot I skipped a line. Uh public comments. Individuals appearing before the board are expected to follow the
051guidelines outlined in board policy 2230. Okay, seeing none, now we go to action items on the consent agenda. Items may be removed from the consent agenda on 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. >> Um, yes. I I move to remove uh item G D. >> Okay. So, it's going to be removed item G D and we're going to be uh deciding to either vote uh at the end or postponing for another a different date. So, can we have a motion to approve the consent agenda excluding GD? >> I'll motion. >> Second. >> Thank you. Sorry. Who motioned first? >> I
052uh Gonzalez I Palace >> I >> Cavayo >> I >> Steinfeld >> I >> Butler >> I >> Jimenez >> I motion carried. >> Thank you. Um do we want to vote now on the GD or >> No. Okay, we don't want to vote. We don't want to vote. I think we want to vote. Well, not removed it. >> We have to move move it >> respectfully. If we remove it and we passed everything else, it just doesn't pass. >> Oh, really? Oh, okay. Thank you. I thank you for telling me. >> Okay. So, uh let's see. Uh public comments individually appearing before the board are expected to follow the guidelines outlined in board policy 2 to30. Please state your name. Good evening. I am Richard Leija, third board alderman. Uh, I just wanted to
053thank all of you for another year of service. Um, I think being on the board is a labor of love, and I know it's not always easy, but um, I I think everything's going in the right direction. I love coming here and getting all the spotlights and the highlights and especially all the children. I go to the schools for the different functions. I hear nothing but great things about what's going on. So, I think you guys are doing a great job. So, thank you very much. I hope you get some downtime over the holidays. Uh, merry Christmas, happy holidays, and Phelis Navididad. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, board member comments. >> Um, I want to uh congratulate um Persian on their speedy um growth gains. Um, I know as an educator how hard
054it is to be hit with um what can be perceived as negative or bad news um when you've been trying so hard. Um but you guys went right in and you know I mean the the the amount of you know highest what is it the sped highest growing group and that was the one that gave us you know the biggest thing. Um also attendance um the collab labs like I want to join um and even like the intentionality of um you know structuring your PBIS around the school um you know and and and to something that really suited and to to tailor it to your students um desires and their needs is just phenomenal. So really congratulations to you guys. >> Thank you >> to I'd like to echo um Miss Butler's sentiments. As a
055Persian family, I couldn't have asked for a better place to send my daughters and I know that when I send them there that they are loved and cared for as much as they are at home. So, thank you for all that you do. >> Okay. Um I wanted to just comment on the financial presentation and thank Miss Hosty for the great news. Um I'm not in the finance committee so I didn't know about all the great savings. Uh excellent news going into the holiday season. Um and so I wanted to say thank you for that and thank you for um providing us those reports in a way that is um approachable and understandable um and very transparent. So thank you. >> Thank you. And I want to say thank you to the Persian families especially
056like and the staff definitely um one of the things that I always say I miss how the Persian families come together and I've been in another district for 11 years now and I still miss those Persian families. So please thank the families and of course the staff for everything they are doing to support our students. >> Okay. And I wanted to also thank Jenny Hosti and the business office. Um again, uh even when I was coming to board meetings prior to being on the board, I really appreciated how simply and how well she broke down you break down the u you know all of the complexities of of of the numbers. Uh but another great audit and thank you for your leadership in that keeping us in a place where we can go $2.8 8
057million in debt and still have money to pay for it. So, uh >> yeah. So, thank you. >> I echo those sentiments as we were talking earlier. Um I think 10 years ago we were in the negative and thank you Mary and thank you um Jenny for all the work that you both have been doing for us so that we can be uh fiduciary responsible for our community. So thank you. Okay. Um adjournment. Can we have a motion to adjourn? >> I'll motion. >> I'll second. Thank you. Roll call. I or nay. >> Uh, Jimenez, >> I. >> Steinfeld. >> I, >> Gonzalez. I, >> Butler, >> I. >> Cabayto, >> I. >> Palace, >> I. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. And thank you everyone. Have a good um break during your holidays. Take
058some time to rest and for yourselves. >> Yes.