001All right, I call this meeting back into order. Can everyone please stand for the pledge? 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, with liberty and justice for all. >> Great. Does anybody have anything to add to the agenda? >> Can I please have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Motion second. Tiffany and Vivian. All in favor? >> I. Any oppose? >> Eyes have it. Academic spotlight. Mr. Gold. >> All right. We have a lot of exciting stuff happening tonight. I'm going to start with Dr. Bianc Colana and her elementary team and they're going to share an academic spotlight. >> Okay. >> All right. Good evening. Um, I am going to turn the microphone over. I have
002our El uh Big Hollow Elementary Student Council officers with me uh for this evening's presentation. They're going to introduce themselves. >> Hi, I'm Scarlet Schiff and I'm the student council president. >> Hello, I am Madison Siver and I'm the vice president. >> Hi, I am Isla Adams and I'm the student council secretary. Hi, I'm Duke Ferguson. I'm the student council treasurer. >> Okay. Um, while these students are distributing some artifacts connected to our presentation, I'll go ahead and give a little intro. So, if you want to go ahead and No, just right here. Oh, put it in front of them. Just right on where they would sit. >> Okay. Thank you. So, one of my college professors told me, "If you want to inspire and motivate children to learn or accomplish something, challenge them." And
003so, over the years, we've offered a number of challenges, including reading, math, science, and kindness. And next year, we plan to add social studies to the list. So, vocabulary has been an area of growth for us. and the principal vocabulary challenge gave our students a meaningful way to stretch themselves, work together, and celebrate learning. I'm proud to say that they met their goal of learning 1,000 vocabulary words. In fact, they even exceeded that um as collectively as a school. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to our student council leaders who will share more about how the challenge came to life and the reward they earned in this video. Okay. So, are there any questions from any of you for our students or for me about >> Did you just get to find
004words on your own that you wanted to learn about? Um, yeah, you did get to like find your own words that you want to learn about and it was cool because you got to like put it on your own sheet and learn about it and find the definition and draw a picture and everything. >> Awesome. >> So, how many words did like each student do to get to a thousand? >> There wasn't a certain amount that we need to do. It's just the whole entire community of Big Hollow helping each other, making the challenge happen. >> Oh, very good. What would you say is your favorite word you learned? >> That's what I was gonna say. >> Um, my favorite word that I learned was super califragilistic. >> What does that mean? >> Um, it
005means extraordinary. And I was really happy when I um was able to like spell that word because um it was it's a very long word. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, this is going to feel a bit like an awards ceremony, but we got some great stuff to celebrate tonight. I'm going to start with our students of the month, uh, which we honor every month. Miss Mullen, we will start with you. >> Thank you. All right, our prek student of the month is Megan Schlaf. Megan, come on up. And our kindergarten student of the month is Castile Cas. come on up. >> And our first grade student of the month is EMTT Black. Come on up. >> Okay. And for elementary, our uh focus this month uh was on self advocacy. So for second
006grade, our student of the month is Isla Valentine. Come on up. And for third grade, Stella Ivasa. And for fourth grade is Mia Son. All right. And for the middle school, our fifth grade winner is Emerson Marzano. For sixth grade, we have John Hackert. Seventh grade, our winner is Aiden Cancan. And for eighth grade, we have Ryan Kaminsky. Parents, feel free to come up and take pictures if you want. It's okay. >> Feel free to come up and take a few pictures. As I tell them, every month we select one student per grade every month. There are between 180 and 200 kids per grade. So, when your child is selected, it's a quite an honor. So, you should be very, very proud of them. >> Smile to your cameras. Okay, thank you very much. Great
007job. Do you want to do? >> All right. Next, we are going to recognize our IESA state qual uh state bowling qualifiers. Can I have Miss Heman come up, please? So, bowling is a new sport for us. Is it this year? No, last year. Last year. So, and we already had quite a few uh qualifiers for the state bowling tournament. So, very exciting and we're excited to see what they can continue to do. You want me to >> Okay, I'll do it. >> All right. Uh Haley Cooper, Khloe Hardle, Seria Mcbine, Olivia Miller, Jasmine Paddock, Adriana Vargas, Evan Baker, Luke Bem, Kaden Kankite, Thomas Grub Graph, Rodie Golifer, and Tyler Hayes. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, um I learned a lot about bowling this year and if anyone is new to bowling, it's very exciting. Um
008we actually had 34 kids come out for the bowling team. Um and I would something that our school should be super proud of. I was proud of every place that we played at. Um Raymond's bowling alley was our home practice field and we got so many compliments about the way our students um behaved their sportsmanship. It was something very cool to be proud of. Um I am proud of you. I was proud of representing our school and um you should all feel that too because you're the product of that. So thank you for showing up and representing our school. So, our top six bowlers um is who represented our team at the state um champion or uh placing and our top four bowled as a team on Friday. And of our teams, our girls finished
00916th and our boys finished 20th. And then we had two individuals that went on to bowl on Saturday as individuals and represented our school. So, Jasmine and Kaden um competed as individuals and finished um not in the placing finishers, but we had some tough competition, but also very, very proud of how you represented our school. So, thank you everyone and come back next year. Let the good times roll. I think I think hearing how you represented Big Hollow makes me uh happier than even qualifying for the state finals. So that it's very good to hear. We have three uh educators that we want to honor tonight who are retiring. Um the first is could not be here. Uh Miss Amy Howard. Um 23 years of service at Big Hollow. I think we have a letter.
010Uh, do we have a letter that Okay, Kevin, do you have the Oh, you gonna read it? Okay, perfect. >> Oh, would somebody read the letter for me? This is from Amy Howard to uh what she want to share tonight. >> Sure. Dear Dr. Gold, Josh, Amanda, Brian, district leadership, and the school board. As I reflect on my time here at Big Hollow, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for the incredible support I've received throughout my years as a teacher, especially the last couple years as I encountered unexpected health challenges. Josh, Amanda, and Brian, I am so sincerely grateful for your compassion and reassurance while I needed time off for surgery. It meant the world to me and made a difficult situation much easier. I was very fortunate for your leadership because you truly cared about me.
011I also want to express my sincere gratitude for the recognition of my 23 years of service here at Big Hollow School District. I am sorry I was unable to attend, but want you to know it is truly an honor to be recognized by you, and I appreciate the acknowledgement of my commitment to our students and community. Reflecting on the past two decades, I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent my career in this district. I've witnessed immense growth and change, but the dedication to fostering a positive learning environment has remained constant. I'm proud to have been part of this school district for so long. It has been a privilege to work alongside so many wonderful colleagues with the same goal of helping students to learn and grow. I wanted to take a moment to express my
012s sincere gratitude to Bob for the support you have shown me during my time here. I'm fortunate to have worked under your leadership and glad that I'm retiring before you. Thank you for making Big Hollow a wonderful place to work. Dr. Gold challenged us often about our why. My driving motivation has always been to have a positive impact on students. I share a couple of notes from students who reminded me of why I became a teacher. To everyone, your encouragement has made all the difference in my career, helping me grow not just as an educator, but as a person. I am truly honored to have been a teacher in this wonderful big hollow community. Sincerely, Amy Howard. >> Awesome. Thank you very much. Next, I want to have Donna Crutch come up. Donna, do you
013want to say a few things? It does say on the uh agenda that Donna has been at Big Hollow 10 years, but officially 10 years, but she actually served here longer than that, being a part of Seedall. Uh uh she served here for more years than that. So, I can tell you I I've worked alongside Donna for a while, and I just really app having a social worker in our system that cares so much about kids is just such a real benefit. I'm gonna let Miss Mullen share a few things. Oh, this is a hard one for me. Donna has been my right-hand woman since I started here at Big Hollow Primary School. So, I'm gonna highly have to read this. When I joined the primary team four years ago, I quickly saw the incredible
014impact that Donna had on our school community. It was truly been a pleasure working alongside of her during this time, witnessing the care and dedication that she has brought to her role each and every day. What stands out most is the way that the students gravitate towards her. She felt safe, valued, and cared for in her presence. And that is a gift that leaves a lasting impact. I feel like I could cry and I'm not a crier. Through her work supporting students social emotional needs and reinforcing our star expectations, she has helped shape the positive and caring environment for so many of our children. She has touched the lives of countless students, staff, and families, and her kindness, patience, and compassion will deeply be missed. On behalf of all of us, thank you for the
015difference you have made in the lives of our children. We wish you a retirement filled with joy, relaxation, and happiness that you greatly deserve. Um, thank you so much and thank you for the recognition. Thank you to the board and to Mr. Gold and Rachel and all the administrators I've certainly um have worked for. Um, it's really been an honor to be part of the Big Hollow family. Um, and throughout my 27 years in education, I've always been in Big Hollow, um, since day one. Um, even at the old building. So, um, it's just amazing to be part of the Big Hollow family and just to serve our students, um, families and colleagues. It's really um a blessing for all the relationships um and lessons and um memories that I'll take with me into my
016next season um you know of retirement. And I'm just going to just seeing all the faces on I I'm going to cry too just um and seeing all the faces in here that I recognize that have um come through the primary building and also worked with them at elementary as well. Just I will miss the smiles um and the good morning Mrs. crutches and the hugs um every day. So, I just, you know, thank you for all those memories. It's really been an honor and a blessing. Thank you. >> Last but not least, Kelly Murphy, 13 years of service at Big Hollow as our school nurse at Big Hollow Middle School. All right. Uh, so tonight we honor Kelly as she nears her retirement. You still have a couple weeks left, and there's a lot
017going around. As you begin your retirement, we want to recognize and thank you for the care, compassion, and steady support you have provided to our middle school students, staff, and families over the years. School nurses play a unique role in the heart of a school and your calm kindness and dedication have made a lasting impact on countless students during some of their most challenging and important moments. Let's all just forget about co right. Uh Kelly, you've spent your career looking after everyone else. We hope your retirement is finally a time to look after yourself. Thank you for the care, the kindness, and the years of dedicated service you have given to Big Hollow. And we will miss you. the uh for the record, the pandemic should have counted for about five years of service for
018you because she had a lot going on then. Thank you, Kelly. And next we have uh annually there's a Lake County Educator of the Year awards and the school district nominates one teacher for each category and um um we want to honor those teachers. They were selected by their peers. Um, I'm gonna go ahead and call them up. Do we have anything to give them? Okay. All right. Sorry, we don't have anything to give you because you received your award last week, but we want to honor you tonight in front of the board and from our community. Uh, first, can I have up Howard Mitch Coulter, middle school band, middle school STEM teacher? Is Mitch here tonight? Mitch is not here. Sylvia Garc, eighth grade science teacher at Big Hollow Middle School. >> Sylvia, how
019many years have you been at Big Hollow? >> Eight. Eight. >> Sy's been a solid solid educator for us and was nominated by her peers at the middle school here. Welld deserved. Uh Hannah Ironside, elementary pair professional. Congrats, Hannah. Hannah's uh been a pair professional now two years and she's a part of our program where we're trying to grow our own and she is going back to school to get her uh teaching certification and we would be excited to if she could possibly uh end up here as a teacher someday. So that's our goal. Uh Chris Jacoviaak, is Chris here tonight? Chris is not here tonight. primary PE teacher, Skyler Mley. Skyler's middle school special ed teacher. This is Skyler's first year at Big Hollow, but uh not her first year in teaching, and she's
020done a fabulous job here at the middle school. Enough so that uh was recognized by her peers in her first year in our district. And last but not least, Kelly Schmidgall, elementary instructional coach. Kelly's just been exceptional and uh as an instructional coach in our district, she helped us bring the program here and uh um has just really truly been exceptional and and honored by her peers. Um and we uh just wish her the best of luck as she just accepted a job in Lake Bluff. So, uh Kelly, we're gonna s be sad to see her go, but uh she's just been an amazing addition for us. So, thank you all. Appreciate it. Not >> yet. >> No, >> I had this off the agenda, but they snuck it back on. So, >> I didn't
021see it till before the meeting. For our final award, we'd like to recognize Mr. Bob Gold, our big hall superintendent, for being named the 2026 Superintendent of Distinction by his peers at the Lake Region of Illinois Association of School Administrators. Thank you, Bob. >> Okay, last but not least, is Miss Lancaster here? Oh, she is here. All right. So, we had the awesome privilege last Friday of u or Thursday >> of surprising Miss Lancaster. She was uh selected one of 600, right? 600 for the golden apple award for Illinois. So, uh our second gold apple at Big Hollow in the last three or four years. We asked the we asked them last week, how how many schools can you do you know have had multiple? and they said Chicago public schools and Evston's. That's the
022two he could come up with. So big hollows on that list. So Christina, you you uh represent us very well. Thank you. Come on up. Come up. >> Can you say anything? last week. No, I just I couldn't do it without all of you at Big Holl. You guys, most of you know my story. I was one of you at one point. Um, but my heart was really on a path to teaching and it I took a strange route to get here, but was really excited to start at the age of 47. Kind of old, but I love what I do. I love coming to work every day and it's because of the parents, the teachers, the board, the superintendent, my awesome principal, and all my students. And there's a lot of faces in the
023crowd of of students that I've had in both second and fourth grade. So just thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> Well, thank you. We are finished with our awards. So you're welcome to stay for the rest of our meeting, but uh you can not going to offend us if you have to go. All right. Board member code of condonic review. I'll just read it. I'll prepare for and attend and actively participate in schoolboard meetings. >> Okay. >> Anybody have any questions on the consent agenda? >> No. >> Can I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion. >> Second. Doug and Vivian. >> Yes. >> Uh superintendent court, Mr. Gold. >> Not much to share tonight. Uh just giving you an update on our our summer office hours and uh
024eighth grade graduation information. If you I guess if you're not planning on coming, just let Melissa know. >> Okay. Um, but other than that, nothing else to report right now. Pretty quiet month for us. >> All right, >> moving on. >> Uh, anybody any questions about the substitute teacher rate increase? >> Can I please have a motion to approve an increase to the substitute teacher rate by 3.5%. >> Motion second. >> Tiffany and Vivian, >> yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Any questions on the extracurricular assignments? >> Uh, can I please have a motion to approve the extracurricular assignments for 2627? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Yes. Uh, the annual school treasures bond. Any questions? Can I please have a motion to approve the school treasurer? >> Dot. >> Doug and Vivian. >> Yes. >> Uh,
025anybody have any questions on the board policy update on first readings? >> No. >> Can I please have a motion to approve the board policy update on first reading? Second >> Vivian and Ash. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? >> Eyes have it. Annual certified certification of hazardous bus conditions. Any questions? Okay. Please have a motion to approve the certification of hazardous bus conditions. >> Second. >> Vivian and Ash. All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? I say. Uh. Anybody have any questions on the April employment recommendations? >> Can I please have a motion to approve the April employment recommendations? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Tiffany and Vivian. >> Yes. Resignations. We accepted resignation from Veronica Flurry, primary school parah, effective at the end of the school year. We accepted a
026resignation from Lydia Diaz Moya, middle school e bilingual teacher, effective at the end of the school year. We accepted a resignation from Mary Lavinoli, part-time lunch monitor, effective at the end of the school year. We accepted a resignation from Karen Jansen, middle school reading interventionist, effective at the end of the school year. We accepted a resignation from Riley Hudac, second grade teacher, effective at the end of the school year. We accept a resation from Estella Serrano custodian effective June 30th, 2026. We accept the resignation from Francisco Serrano custodian effective June 30th, 2026. Anybody any questions on the foyer request? >> No. >> Monthly reports for the board. >> The next regularly scheduled board meeting will take place on Monday, June 8th. Close session beginning at 6 pm and open session beginning immediately after close session
027ends. board will enter back into close session to review the consolidated superintendent evaluation data after the regularly scheduled board for meeting. We have any public comments? Uh can I please have a motion to journ Tiffany and Vivian? All in favor? I any >> oppose? I say it being a journ.