January 2026 - D128 School Board Meetings w/AD

001>>Good evening. I'd like to welcome everyone to the January 27th, 2026 Board of Education meeting for District 128. We'll start off by joining me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Flag right over here. >>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. >>Okay. Carol, can we have a roll call, please? >>Oh. Nina Austin. >>Did you hear me? >>Here. >>Nina Austin. >>Here. >>Jim Batson. >>Here. >>Rahul Deshmukh. >>Here. >>Doug Fleegle. Mithilesh Kotwal. Wes Polen. >>Here. >>Julie Simpson. >>Here. >>Okay, we'll notice that we have two members out of, not here tonight, they had... travel issues and that kind of thing, so... But we have a quorum, so we'll move on. I did want to just briefly, at

002the top of the meeting here, indicate, especially to those watching from at home, might look a little different. So, we've been discussing and decided to try out, starting this month, a little bit different of process. Normally we would have committee meetings earlier in the month and then one board meeting, and that board meeting always took place at Vernon Hills High School. While we've decided to try to become more efficient and do all that work in one evening so that we were all together maybe for a longer evening. So, a couple things are different. One is we're at Libertyville High School. We will be moving back and forth between the two schools so that we're in each facility, and we're starting at six o'clock in order to give us enough time to accomplish all the work

003we need to do that we would normally do in two nights. So we're gonna try this out and see how it goes, and if we decide it works out, then we'll make this our normal routine starting next year. So, just wanted to kind of give some context to that. So, thank you for, especially for all the crew here for accommodating a very different setup. But, so we will move on. I'm gonna review the agenda very quickly. We have... student recognition that we're gonna start with, which is very exciting. We have a D128 Foundation for Learning campaign that we're gonna discuss. Have an invitation for public comment, comments from our student school board representatives, discuss some FOIA requests. We'll have a superintendent report. We'll have a special services update. And then moving through the consent vote

004agenda, have a few action items. Semi-annual review of closed session minutes, board policy updates, the district calendar for '27/'28, HVAC installation bids for Vernon Hills, Vernon Hills roofing bid, seal coating of parking lots. And then informational items, board comments and events, anyone that wishes to share. I'll have a brief IASB report, Illinois Association of School Boards report. Do we have a SEDOL report? We- >>No, just- >>No, no, nothing. And then review future agenda items. We will be going into executive session after that, and when we return, we will not have any action items after that. So once we go into executive session, it's that, that will be basically the end of the public portion of the meeting. So, rewind back to the top. Communication, we have some student recognition. >>At this time, I'd like to

005introduce our principals, Vernon Hills principals, Andrew Young and Libertyville principal Ray Albin, to the podium. >>All right, good evening. It's our pleasure, Dr. Young and I, to give a brief introduction to our All-State theater and music students tonight. These students participated in early January in this competition and this evening we're gonna have the Fine Arts Department chairs from both buildings, Mr. Dustin Helvie and Mr. Drew Russell, to do introductions of both groups. >>Yeah, I just want to quickly add, this is really the highest honor and distinction in the state for these musicians, our theater students, et cetera, and I just wanna thank, we want to thank, our students and their families for their extraordinary work and time dedicated to these programs. And, of course, our staff that lead them in the amount of time that

006they put in before, during, and after school for these programs, 'cause it's truly extraordinary. So, with that. >>Gentlemen? >>Hey, everybody. How are we doing tonight? It's lovely, Libertyville High School, new location. It's bright. So, just put a little numbers to this. So, roughly five percent of the students in the state that audition for this All-State, it really, it starts as a district audition. Roughly five percent make district and then about one percent, or fewer than one percent are selected for All-State. So we kind of get together every year like this, for those of you that have been on the board for a while, and we have like, you know, a dozen from Libertyville and a dozen students from Vernon Hills and we might become used to the fact that we just always have a ton

007of All-State musicians. This is really abnormal. For, especially for both schools in the district, this is a super abnormal thing, and I distinctly remember being in education school down in Champaign and a professor once told me, "Where you see a great fine arts program, "you probably see a great school," and I think that's true. And that starts at the top with all of y'all. Mister, Dr. Young, rather, didn't acknowledge you, but it really starts with commitment from the board to the district, the down to the, the building administration and on down to parents who are schlepping kids around, paying for lessons and doing all these things. Thank you so much everybody. Oh yeah, and also students, thank you for all of your hard work. Without further ado though, we'll read some names and we'll have

008them come up. We'll have both schools take a picture together, or separate, what do we? (Andrew indistinctly speaking) >>Okay, so come on down, get your certificate, shake my hand but hang out here 'cause we're gonna do a picture. First up is Jairus Buque. Come on down. (audience applauding) Dr. Young, can I give these to you as we go? Thank you. See Dr. Young for your certificate. Shourya Shrivastava. Do we have Shourya? (audience applauding) Some of these folks may be busy doing other impressive things. Ashva Ramesh. Ah, see? (audience applauding) Busy doing other impressive things. Ethan Park. (audience applauding) Simon Manson. (audience applauding) Go Bears. Ryan Jin. (audience applauding) Francesca Gaus Ehning. (audience applauding) Jeremiah Catane. (audience applauding) Samuel Burton, and also Jonah Burton. (audience applauding) All right. Do a picture of this group. (audience applauding)

009>>Good evening. I have our Libertyville All-State musicians, Max Gardiner. (audience applauding) Caroline Guiard, who is a future music educator. (audience applauding) Kai Chamnankit. (audience applauding) Joey Kim. (audience applauding) Annabelle Gohr. (audience applauding) Braden Weaver. (audience applauding) And Andrew Schinler. (audience applauding) >>So, we're... Yeah. (Ray indistinctly speaking) Everybody come on in. (students indistinctly chattering) >>I don't know. >>Doing great. >>Yeah, yeah. Sure. (audience applauding) >>All right, in addition to our All-State musicians, we also have a couple of All-State theater students to recognize, and the theater students participated in the Illinois High School Theater Festival, which is the oldest and non-competitive festival in the country. This festival highlights workshops and masterclasses as well as feature performances from high schools around the state. And then we had, I believe the number was over 500 students from across the state

010audition and they chose a company of just over 100 students to participate and perform in the musical "Newsies." And we had five students in crew, cast, and orchestra that we'd like to recognize. The first one you've already seen, it's Andrew Schinler. (audience applauding) Andrew was in the orchestra. Akshay Jaladi was a member of the orchestra. (audience applauding) Matthew Brown made several flats and carts, and the crew was working around the clock, literally. Matthew Brown. (audience applauding) And Michael Bowman and Nate Wagner were also part of the cast in the production. (audience applauding) I also neglected, we had one student, Ava Thomas, who was not here with us tonight as All-State music. So if we could just do a quick round of applause for her. Thank you. (audience applauding) >>Again, congratulations, that... I want to reiterate

011how significant that is, to have that number of students participating in these programs... at a state level, it's just, it's very incredible and a testament to... the students, especially, the families, the teachers. So, thank you and congratulations. Next up, we have a D128 Foundation for Learning 1-28 Giving Campaign, so take it away. >>Good evening, I wanna do a special shout out to Mark Koopman for his birthday today, before I get started. Good evening and thank you for allowing us to present to the board tonight. My name is Diane Phillips, I'm the executive director of the Foundation for Learning. We'd like to give you an update on the impact of work that the D128 Foundation for Learning has for our students and teachers in District 128. And as you see, our mission is very simple, we

012want to provide support for the success of all students in the form of innovation, learning experiences, and unmet student needs. All right. Pause for a second. >>There we go. >>We presented in November. This is just a summary of the impact numbers that the foundation has had since its inception in 2007. On the blue paw, you will see what impact we made last year in the form that we've basically donated $46,000 back to both, to all three schools and locations. But what makes me proud is that since 2007 we have donated $655,000 to all of District 128 in the form of innovation grants, students in need, which is our latest project, and student scholarships. So, we are proud that we're able to assist and give back as much as we have and we're looking forward to

013hopefully giving a little bit more. And I'd like to introduce Erica Rendall. >>Thank you, Diane. Yes, my name's Erica Rendall, I am the current chair of the foundation and I am a Vernon Hills High School mom. And I wanna share with you, all the things that Diane just mentioned would not be possible without the support, the financial support of this community. And every year we have two major fundraisers, the big event that Diane mentioned, as well as our campaign that's kicking off tomorrow, which is January 28th, 1/28, which is our annual giving campaign. So that is an online-only campaign, and we use this as an opportunity to shore up the funds for those three key priorities, our students in need, our DARING Innovation grants, and our scholarships. So it kicks off tomorrow on 1/28 and

014runs through January 31st. Just, I wanted to highlight what the money, like, what your dollars do. So, in a little bit more specific terms, if you were to donate $2,500, that would fund an entire grant for a teacher to run a program in his or her classroom that would be above and beyond the annual budget that's granted to them. $500 would purchase five AP test registration fees for a student that can't afford it otherwise. $750 would be the cost of one scholarship that we give every year, and we give 10 of those a year. So we really would appreciate any and all help towards the goal, big or small. And that's the QR code, and all of our donations could be given through our website at d128foundation.org. And before I go, I just wanted to

015highlight something new that you may see in this building, as well in Vernon Hills High School, on January 13th of this year, we dedicated a new donor recognition wall in both of our schools as a way to highlight and thank the donors who have gotten us to that $655,000 back to these schools over the years. We invite you to go take a look at them, especially on your way out. Take a look at the one here in Libertyville High School, it's towards the lobby. But it was really a way for us to say thank you and to encourage more giving. And in addition, it was a way to recognize Anne Landgraf. For those of you who don't know, Anne Landgraf served on the board of education here for 10 years and she was the president

016of the board for many years within that. And then coming out of that, she was one of the driving forces in creating the Foundation for Learning as well, in which she served for many years as a trustee as well as a board member. So this project was actually funded by John Landgraf in recognition of her dedication for the many years of service, and we are very grateful to both of them for all of their donations over the years. That's it, thank you. (audience applauding) >>Thank you. Thank you for that. The foundation does some great work, so keep it going. Next up is invitation for public comment. Carol, did we have any? Nobody signed up. Anyone wishing to speak to the board? Okay. Hearing none, we'll move on. We'll turn it over to our student school

017board reps. >>Good evening. I wanna start by saying, it's very nice to be at LHS tonight. And today I wanna talk about something that was talked a little bit beforehand. I wanna talk about Theater Fest. In early January, Stage Players, LHS's drama club, got to go on an exciting field trip that occurs once a year, Theater Fest is a theater convention in Illinois that allows theater kids from all over the state to come together and take part in different workshops and let them see productions from other high schools without making a long drive. This convention is highly looked forward to by students every year, as it is a fun time to explore the world of theater with your friends. On Thursday, January 8th, 36 students were bused down to Illinois State University to participate in

018amazing activities. Throughout the weekend we laughed, learned, and enjoyed the wonders of theater. From the starting ceremony to the final bow of the last show, where we got to see all of our amazing friends perform, we enjoyed every moment. This is my third year in attendance at Theater Fest and all three years have been absolutely amazing. I've learned so much throughout workshops about crew and stage management, and I've had so much fun with my friends together, in figuring out how to navigate a college campus. Theater Fest has taught me many valuable lessons and skills, not only in the theater world but in real life, like independence, responsibility, even time management. My friends and I have learned so much over the years and I hope future students continue to have as much fun as we did

019in the upcoming years. Thank you. >>Good evening. As you all may know, evert student at Libertyville and Vernon Hills is provided with a Chromebook, like this one right here. Given to us at the start of our freshman year, our Chromebooks are an invaluable tool used every single day over four years. For me, my Chromebook allows me not just to complete my homework, but to collaborate with classmates, access my online materials, and stay engaged in my extracurriculars. Yet this year I've noticed that my device has started slowing down. Can't hold a charge as well, it can't handle too many tabs at once and it needs to be restarted almost every day for it to function properly. Importantly, the vast majority of seniors I've spoken with have shared similar frustrations. Unfortunately, these aren't just minor inconveniences. In

020my calculus class, CalcPlot3D, an application my teacher has used for years to visualize conceptually difficult math problems, no longer works on our Chromebooks. As a result, labs and other activities have had to be adapted to a new, less useful program. I plan to discuss these concerns with Libertyville's IT department directly to better understand what support and troubleshooting options are currently available for students. At the same time, I encourage the district to more closely investigate the overall student experience with these aging devices and ensure there are clear and accessible paths for students to receive timely technical support. The Chromebook program is a tremendous asset to the district and I hope that with stronger support systems for our devices, we can ensure our technology continues to be a reliable tool for student learning. Thank you. >>Good evening,

021everyone. I'm extremely excited to share about LHS's Business Club, DECA's performance at our most recent competition from earlier this month, DECA is an international organization offering competitive events in marketing, hospitality, finance, entrepreneurship, and business management and administration. It is also D128's largest club with over 170 members. Our focus on building real-world skills and improving students' business knowledge has paid off tremendously. At regionals this year, or last year, 30 members earned about 50 medals. This year, that number jumped to 50 medalists and nearly 90 medals, marking the most successful performance in our chapter's history. As we start preparing for our state competition, we are seeing that the cost for this opportunity is growing significantly. We are incredibly grateful for the board's support in handling these financial costs, but DECA is an expensive organization, especially for a

022large chapter, and those costs rise alongside our success. Aside from school-provided funds, we fundraise to cover the rest of our costs. In October, we sell apparel in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. In November, we continue our tradition of DECA Donut Friday, where we sell Krispy Kreme donuts during lunch periods. We try to approach fundraising with purpose and creativity, making it a community-wide effort that excites members and unites our DECA chapter. By being more intentional in our fundraising efforts, we can fuel our competitive preparation while cultivating a chapter culture grounded in unity and intentionality, thank you. >>Hello, and good evening members of the board. Tonight, I'd like to highlight the benefits of our ongoing collaboration with the College of Lake County, particularly through Tech Campus opportunities and support of our College Resource Center. Together, these resources

023ensure students are prepared for life after high school and supported when plans evolve. Across suburban districts, career and technical education and dual credit partnerships increase student engagement, post-secondary readiness, and career clarity. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, students who participate in career pathway programs are more likely to graduate on time and pursue further education or certification. District 128's partnership with the College of Lake County gives students early exposure to college-level expectations, industry standards, and hands-on learning environments that prepare them for both college and the workforce. These benefits are reflected in student experiences. Emma Isa Canyon, a senior at Vernon Hills High School in the Tech Campus Certified Nursing Assistant Program, shared that the program has been extremely helpful in kick-starting her career in the medical field. She explained that it solidified her decision

024to become a nurse and allowed her to begin practicing in the field while still in high school. By earning clinical hours through the CNA program, Emma will be able to graduate early from college, saving both time and money. In addition to career exploration, our College Resource Center plays a critical role in supporting students through the college deferral process. For many students, including myself, deferral can be confusing and stressful. The center provides clear step-by-step guidance on responding to deferrals, including timelines, required materials, and communication strategies. Counselors also help students explore alternative pathways such as strengthening applications or considering additional post-secondary options, allowing students to move forward with confidence rather than feeling overwhelmed. Together, Tech Campus opportunities and the College Resource Center reflect the district's commitment to meeting students where they are and supporting a wide range

025of post-secondary pathways. Thank you. >>Good evening, my name is Annika Talaty and I will be sharing how engaging in community outreach, especially for middle school or elementary students, is beneficial for fostering a collaborative environment. A significant way VHHS is reaching out to the community and involving younger students is through the annual activity fair. Ms. Amy Christian, a teacher in the English department and club sponsor of SAGA at VHHS, shared how her son Ricky really enjoyed this fair. She said, "He was like a kid in a candy store. "Ricky was aware that VHHS "has a lot of opportunities beforehand, "but the fair made it clear "what an abundance and variety there are. "I think it helped him to start visualizing "his next four years a bit more concretely. "While I've seen the fair from "a club

026sponsor point of view for years, "seeing it as a parent was extra exciting." An opportunity for any future students interested is also taking CrossFit at VHHS, which I have taken for six semesters now. Ms. Alison Kolinsky, the CrossFit teacher at VHHS, shared, "How by running zero-hour CrossFit, "we are supporting students with their schedules "as well as building community "inside the classroom and outside of it." We can apply what we learn here by going on field trips, and when students study abroad, they feel comfortable going to a CrossFit gym in another country because of this class. Additionally, the CrossFit program also allows students to participate in the worldwide CrossFit Open competition. An exciting event that took place pertaining to younger students was the Girls Knight of Code hosted by VHHS Girls Who Code. Rehtaeh Mutekar, co-president

027of Girls Who Code at VHHS, shared how there were around 15 girls from nearby middle school and elementary schools who came and participated in fun activities that introduced them to engineering. We ended the night with a panel of seven women in STEM who are all VHHS alumni. They all work in different ranges of STEM careers and companies in biotech such as Google. To conclude, events at VHHS for younger students in the community often have a great impact because they provide these students with important experiences and opportunities before they even get to high school. Thank you so much. >>Good evening. Today, I'll be sharing how the extracurricular scene is expanding this year, especially through new opportunities in service and civic engagement. This year, Vernon Hills High School has an expanding extracurricular landscape, including three new clubs:

028Mock Trial, Model United Nations, and FLAG, the Future Leaders in Activism and Government. What's been especially exciting for students in these clubs are that they create three unique pathways to get involved in civic life and service. And this didn't exist in prior years. Ryan Jin, an executive board member of Mock Trial, has emphasized how quickly student interest has grown. He has seen the firsthand passions that Vernon Hills students bring into these activities and how fast these clubs have become. And they've become recognizable spaces for students who want to participate in academics beyond the classroom. Students are joining clubs to build identity, leadership, and a sense of purpose. A strong example of this civic engagement is a major collaboration FLAG is planning with the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee. FLAG, along with over six VHHS cultural clubs,

029is hosting a cultural celebration night on April 23. This event will include cultural cuisines from over seven different Vernon Hills High School cultural clubs and interactive tables. It will also raise a lot of money for a local nonprofit that supports immigrant families in the area. Even as national developments can create instability for certain communities, students are showing that our school remains grounded in unity and respect for others. FLAG member Christine Lee also noted how important it is to have clubs like these, spaces where students can channel their values into real action and feel represented while doing so. At the same time, several executive board members across these new clubs have shared a consistent request, more coordination with school administration. Specifically, students have asked for more streamlined documents clarifying event rules and scheduling steps, since the

030current process involves many compliance details related to District 128 standards. Additionally, student leaders have suggested more social media collaboration such as features on the VHHS Cougars social media account that would help these new organizations reach more students and families. To conclude, with more administrative coordination and improved outreach support, these programs can continue to grow and strengthen the inclusive culture that Vernon Hills High School and Libertyville High School are working to build. Thank you. >>Thank you all for the great reports. It's always enlightening to hear all the comments and I always learn something new about something that's going on in the building, so we really appreciate that. Next on the agenda, coming up is a review of some FOIA requests. The board has had those, and just for your information, and then I'm going to turn

031it over to Briant Kelly for the superintendent's report. We'll note that Dr. Schaffer is out of town at an educational event, so. >>Thank you. I'm excited to share our good news report today. Start off with the 2025 Advanced Placement School Honor Roll has recognized both LHS and Vernon Hills for their efforts to promote an increasing college-going culture, providing opportunities for students to earn college credit and maximizing college readiness. To qualify for the AP School Honor Roll, schools must meet specific standards related to college culture, college credit, and college optimization. The AP School Honor Roll offers four levels of distinction, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. LHS was recognized at the platinum level and Vernon Hills was recognized at the gold level. Congratulations to both of our schools. Vernon Hills coach Suzanne Curry was selected as a

0322026 inductee to the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Also, LHS coach Matt Thompson was named the 4A Coach of the Year by the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association. Some more honor for our staff, at last month's Learning Forward National Conference, D128 educators, Abbie Gutzmer at Vernon Hills, Matt Karnstedt at LHS and Vernon Hills, and Rebecca Garcia at Vernon Hills graduated from the prestigious Learning Forward Academy. The Learning Forward Academy is an intensive two-year program where educators design, implement, and assess the outcomes of research-informed school improvement effort. Only 48 other educators nationwide achieved this milestone this year, and we have three from our district. Episode four of "D128 Voices", our monthly podcast, is now available and you can find it on the communications website. In this episode, Superintendent Dr. Marc

033Schaffer welcomes Libertyville High School Band Director Adam Gohr and student band members Caroline Guiard and Aarna Mishra to discuss the busy and exciting year that the band has had, what is coming for them in the next few months, and how the band experience impacts students. Listen now wherever you find your podcasts. LHS social worker, Emily Ike Meyer, has completed the process to becoming a Nationally Certified School Social Worker, NCSSW, through the School Social Work Association of America. This is a significant professional accomplishment and reflection of the dedication, experience, and care she brings to her work every day. Vernon Hills science teacher, Amanda Molina, has completed the process for receiving her National Board Certification as a science teacher in biology. National Board Certified teachers are recognized for their dedication, perseverance, and commitment to raising the bar

034of excellence and accelerating the learning of all of our students. And that concludes our good news report. But now we have a special presentation. At the end of last semester, we announced a new honor that will be awarded beginning this month and at all of our board meetings, the D128 DARING Champion Award. This monthly recognition celebrates one certified staff member, one support staff member, and one community member or organization who exemplify the district's DARING mission. Nominations are submitted by D128 staff. Nominees must demonstrate elements of our DARING mission. D, which stands for "Dreamers and Doers," A for "Aware," R for "Resilient and healthy," I for "Inquisitive," N for "Nimble," and G for "Global." A selection committee of staff members reviews and evaluates our nominees. Each month's honorees are recognized at a Board of Education meeting,

035like tonight, and will be highlighted in D128 publications, social media, and on the website. We are excited to recognize our inaugural group of honorees tonight. At the conclusion of the awards, we'll also take a group photo of our honorees. So to announce our recipients. In the, first, in the community category, Mothers Trust was recognized in the community category accepted by Executive Director Lisa Cervieri, and presented by their nominator, Larry Varn. >>Good evening. Mothers Trust Foundation is a powerful example of our district's DARING Mission. They truly show what DARING means in action by demonstrating multiple elements of the mission through its unwavering commitment to supporting students and families in our district, particularly those in need. Mothers Trust Foundation has been a true champion for inclusion by ensuring that all D128 students, regardless of their financial circumstances,

036have access to meaningful opportunities. Their support consistently removes barriers that might otherwise prevent students from fully participating in enriching experiences. Most recently, by fully funding several student participants to participate in our DARING Ed Tour in October, Mothers Trust ensured that no student was excluded from the experience due to cost. This generosity affirmed that every student belongs and deserves equal access to learning beyond the classroom. Tonight we present the DARING Award to Mothers Trust Foundation, being accepted by the executive director, Lisa Cervieri. Lisa. (audience applauding) >>Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, we're so thrilled. Next, in our Educational Support Professional Category, Jennifer Roberts was nominated by Alice Leafblad. And Alice, please come and present about Jennifer. >>Hello. First of all, thank you so much for the opportunity to recognize Jennifer in this manner, especially

037anything having to do with the champion. Definitely over here. So Libertyville High School education support professional Jennifer Roberts is nominated for the D128 DARING Champion Award for her exceptional dedication as the vocational consumer education teacher's assistant and the operational heart of the Wildcat Warehouse, our student run coffee shop. She embodies the DARING model by arriving early daily to set up shop and tirelessly working to teach students with learning differences the resilient professional skills needed to maintain future employment. Jennifer's keen awareness and collaboration provide vital feedback that shapes the classroom curriculum, ensure students develop independence required for success in the global community. So, congratulations. (audience applauding) >>Thank you. >>And our final honoree tonight in the Certified Staff category is Jason Rush, Vernon Hills High School teacher. He was nominated on behalf of his nominator, Adam Lueken,

038who couldn't be with us, he's coaching right now, so I'm stepping in as Adam. So as Briant, Marc Schaffer, and nom, Adam. So, we'd like to introduce Jason Rush. He is Vernon Hills High School CTE teacher. He truly embodies a DARING mission through his dedication, flexibility, and commitment to authentic learning. He is a true dreamer and doer who gives students hands-on real world automotive experiences, teaching them how to check tire pressure, clean and detail cars, complete oil changes, troubleshoot issues, and assist staff with actual vehicle needs. He is consistently inquisitive, always looking for ways to improve his practice, even working at an auto shop over the summer to expand his skills and bring new industry knowledge back to his students. Jason is incredibly nimble as well, routinely helping students and staff before school, after school,

039and on weekends, all while managing a full schedule with many preps. His willingness to serve, learn, and adapt makes him an outstanding example of the DARING mission in action. Congratulations to Jason. (audience applauding) Jim, so you wanna come up? We'll take a group photo. Thank you so much. >>Thank you. (audience applauding) >>And that concludes the superintendent's report. >>Thank you very much. Moving on, our next agenda item is a report from the Special Services... Group, Special Services update. >>If it's okay, can I present from here? >>Sure. >>This on? You can hear me? >>Now. >>Yeah. >>Okay. >>Yep. >>Good evening, board. Good evening, community members, my name is Kelli Hartweg, I am the director of special services for District 128. I am very honored to be able to present for you this evening, a state of the state,

040if you will, on special services in our district and the way we support our students with learning differences. I think that... If I can get it to work. (Eli indistinctly speaking) >>Thanks, Eli. I think it's helpful, before we get into our data, to understand some legal context around special education requirements at the federal level. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was initially authorized as a federal law in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This was really an extension of the Rehabilitation Act, Rehabilitative Act of 1963, which was intended to provide protections to employees with disabilities in the federal workforce. And over time, the laws related to our economics and our employees extended to the classroom and the learning environments. And the law stated, really eloquently, the fact that abilities vary, that is

041a part of human nature. And though abilities vary for people, it is important that our public institutions create opportunities to ensure that people can participate, thrive, live, and succeed as independently and as self-sufficiently as possible. The way the IDEA does this... I was so close, is by ensuring that students are entitled to, or have access to, a free and appropriate, meaning at their need where they may need it, public education, or FAPE, that is provided through an IEP, or an Individualized Education Plan, that recognizes special education is not a place, it is a service. It's not somewhere we put kids. It is a service we bring to kids in order for them to be able to access learning in the least restrictive environment, or the LRE. One thing we love in special education is our

042acronyms. So I wanna introduce you to a few of the most important ones. The law really emphasizes, over and over in its reauthorizations throughout the years, most recently in 2004, that to the maximum extent appropriate, students with IEPs are educated with non-disabled peers in the general education environment, accessing general education content with general education experts to the maximum extent appropriate based on their needs. And I think that that is an important recognition for us to have because the CDC tells us that there, one in four adults in American society today who have a disability. So it's important to understand that if the law is about ensuring that students can move on into adult life and fully participate, we have to recognize many people have variances in their abilities, and therefore we may need to make

043sure that we are providing inclusive opportunities from the way they learn to the way they will function in our adult society. One thing that I also want to point out as we're speaking this evening is that the information I am sharing is specific to students with IEPs. The Illinois Report Card, which is where we're going to talk a lot of our data in a little bit, disaggregates students into two types of subgroups: students with IEPs, or who access special education services, and students with disabilities. Students with disabilities includes both students who have 504 accommodation supports and students with IEPs, but we will specifically talk about students with IEPs, a subset within the disability population, okay? So, let's take a look at how the IDEA comes to life in our district. And I think it's important

044that we start with our continuum of services. That FAPE, or free and appropriate public education, I mentioned earlier, requires that we consider a continuum of supports that move from the least restrictive, or least supportive, because students have the most independent levels of functioning on the left side of the continuum. So we wanna serve them, we wanna support them less, if you will, or to the need that they have, to more restrictive and more supportive services on the right-hand side of the continuum, which might require separate instructional environments and even separate school opportunities outside of our walls and our buildings. In this district, 12, roughly 12% of our students, or about 375 students, are eligible for special education services. This is pretty comparable to many districts around us. It's a little bit lower, in fact, than

045some of what you might think of as our comparable districts, and it's a little bit higher than the national average of about 9.9% according to the annual report to Congress from 2024, which highlights data from 2022. The feds are a little bit behind. When we look at where our services, or excuse me, where our students are eligible in District 128, we see that... there are four areas that kind of pop, if you will. We have, when you look at our top four areas of eligibility, that includes students with learning disabilities, other health impairments, emotional disabilities, and autism. Students who qualify for special education, they qualify as having a disability that may not only require accommodations, but that also have learning needs that require explicit, specially designed instruction that goes above and beyond what is offered

046to any student through the MTSS, or multi-tiered systems of support, the tiered interventions and instruction offered to students who do not have IEPs. All students are general education students. All students can access the multi-tiered systems of support, but some students need more. And our job is to make sure that our continuum affords students the opportunity to be in the general education for their learning as much as possible, because we know in the long term that is where they will derive the best chance at attaining their post-secondary outcomes. When we look at our data within the report card, we see that in District 128 last year, nearly a little over 64% of our students access their learning in the general education environment for 80% of their day or more. I'm here to tell you, that is

047rare. We are a high number when it comes to that type of percentage in a high school environment, and we should be very proud of that, and we'll talk more about that as we move forward in our conversation this evening. Specifically, and in thinking about inclusive services, I would really like to focus our conversation this evening on two elements on that left side, or least restrictive, side of our continuum, which are inclusion facilitation services and co-taught services. I have to flip through my screens, excuse me. When we... One of our newer services that we've implemented in the last few years at the high school level, and we are a leader in this, other districts are learning about the way we provide inclusion facilitation at the high school level because this is something you see more

048often in elementary settings and is a little bit harder to implement in a high school environment because of the number of teachers, the number of sections, the number of courses and subjects that are taught in a high school world. Inclusion facilitation is really about coaching. It is about consultation with general education peers, whether that's classroom teachers and our paraprofessional partners, like Jen, who work in the general education environment and support all students, some of whom are students with IEPs. The idea of the facilitator is that the learning behavior specialist consults with the classroom educator to support the implementation of accessibility strategies for targeted students who don't need specially designed instruction, but they need that accessibility support. That might be scaffolding instruction, it might be timelining assignments, it might be... providing visual cues and prompts, it

049might be creating alternative assessment design opportunities for students. The nice thing about this is while their collaboration and partnership creates access for students with disabilities to places where they may not have had in years past, courses that we might have run that students just didn't access when they had disabilities for a variety of reasons, is that all students derive incidental benefit from the support of that inclusive coaching that happens through that inclusion facilitation design. Another area that we should take really great pride in, if I can get it to come up, is our co-teaching effort in this district. We've been co-teaching in this district for about 11 years, really longer actually, but with intentional design for the past 11 years, and I would say with really professional integrity as far as our professional learning and

050our targeting of students for the last four to five years across the district. Co-teaching is about bringing partnership into the general education environment. In a co-taught environment, a general educator and a special educator co-teach a course that has the same rigor, the same standards, the same expectations, and the same outcome as a non-co-taught, or a single-taught, section of that course. No more than 30% of students in the course are students with IEPs. And those students are targeted because they have goals that can be supported with specially designed instruction, so those students can access that general education content. Those students belong there. The teacher, the special educator, or learning behavior specialist is there to help embed specially designed instructional strategies into the teaching. And again, the rigor, the content, the expectations, the outcomes are all the

051same as in single-taught classes. Nothing has changed in either of these settings except that all students in those classes are likely to derive incidental benefit from the best practice differentiation and accessibility and intentionally designed strategy about how we learn that is embedded into those courses through our facilitators and our co-teaching partnerships. The services are delivered at the point of instruction, and the research tells us over and over and over that is the most important and impactful strategy we can use to help our students with disabilities, those who access special education services, achieve academically and post-secondarily. And when you think about incidental benefit that's provided to all students by the services provided in these classes, it's important to think a bit like a curb cut. The curb cut was designed for people in wheelchairs, who use

052wheelchairs, to be able to cross streets safely. But in fact, we all benefit from the use of a curb cut. If you're riding a bike, if you're riding an e-bike, or excuse me, a scooter, or an e-scooter is what we see nowadays, right? If you're pushing a stroller, if you're jogging, if you rollerbladed, some of you might be too young to know what rollerblading is, but if you ever did, a curb cut was a very important thing. It provides incidental benefit to all users. And that is what inclusive service delivery does for all students, not just students who access special education services. Mentioning that services delivered at the point of instruction, because of our inclusive work, and not just inclusion facilitation and co-teaching, but the takeback of our programming like transition pathways, the takeback of

053our functional academics and the educational life series, the takeback of many of our related services provided formerly by SEDOL, by our deaf and hard of hearing instruction, all those things that we have done over the years, and our stronger and more coordinated MTSS efforts have resulted in a trend that shows more of our students with IEPs are accessing the general education environment, and more of our students are being served in our buildings instead of outside of our walls, or in our community, instead of communities elsewhere when they access extended transition services. Okay, here's the scary part, but it's not. Our graduation data... Oh, excuse me. Our achievement, when we look at our academic achievement data, it is true that our data year-to-year shows that there are academic achievement gaps for our students with IEPs and

054our students without. That is true in English, math, and science. I cannot deny that. But the fact of the matter is that there are some variables here that play into why those gaps exist. And for us in our district, while we have gaps, we continue to make efforts to close them. I think the first thing to understand is that the basis of qualifying for special education services in many of our disability areas is rooted in the evaluation requirement that a student is not making academic, excuse me, adequate achievement for their age as compared to their peers or towards the state approved grade level standards. That is part of how you become eligible under special education areas of eligibility. Even with our proactive and tiered MTSS service and supports, some students need more, and their disabilities,

055or the adverse impacts of them, will directly impact academic areas, which I noted in detail in the report that was shared with you. 30% of our students have a specific learning disability, and the first criterion for eligibility is students are not making adequate achievement towards state standards. That's the first component of eligibility. I think another thing that is important to understand is that over 36% of our students last year were not accessing instruction in our core academic areas in the general education environment. That plays into the data from the last slide I showed you. We have 60-some percent of students who are accessing the gen ed, but 30-some percent who are not. 10% of our students are not accessing learning in our walls. That means they are receiving modified instruction from special educators. We work

056hard, we have passion about subject area, some of us are highly qualified in subject area, but I do not have the teaching expertise of a math teacher. I do not have the teaching expertise of an English teacher, which is why the IDEA says it is so critical that to the maximum extent appropriate, our students are learning from general education experts in their general education environments and our special education services meet students at the point of instruction to support their ability to access, progress, and demonstrate proficiency in those areas. As long as we have students not in general education settings, and as long as students qualify for disabilities that are defined by the fact that they do not achieve at the same academic level as their peers or as the standards might expect, we will see

057gaps, they will exist. But that doesn't mean we say, "Eh, some aren't gonna learn as well as others, "that's a bummer," and move on. We continue to ensure that we are reviewing and monitoring our systemic structures, our inclusive supports, the way we deliver services, and the fidelity of our instructional interventions, that specially designed instruction, to ensure we're doing everything we can to raise academic achievement levels for students, students with disabilities in particular. I think some celebrations when we look at our academic achievement data, and I direct you to the visual in front of you, is that in the area of English language arts, District 128 students with disabilities have the fifth highest ELA academic achievement in the state of Illinois. And at the bottom of that slide, you can see the schools that have a

058bit higher of achievement than we do, though most of them are right in the ballpark of where we are at. We look at, confer with, and partner with those districts to understand what they're doing differently. Why is their achievement higher than us? What models do they use? How do they determine eligibility? Is it inclusive, is it restrictive or exclusionary? What tools are they using, what methodologies? We partner to learn and grow from them, just as other districts come to partner and grow and learn from us. That's pretty impressive. In the area of math, you can see that we are, I noted in the report, we were in the top five, and I apologize, as I was pulling the slide together, I realized we were actually tied to be in the top four districts with the

059highest math achievement for our students with disabilities. And the report card, the Illinois Report Card, does not give achievement data in a scatter plot design or comparison for science. But when we look at science as compared to those districts that are performing above us in the areas of math and English, we are in the top three performing districts for our students with disabilities in their science academic achievement. So, as we think about what opportunities do we have to continue to address our students' academic and social-emotional achievement, we have some areas that we can count as successes and celebrations and some areas where we need to continually strive to grow and enhance our service delivery and our partnerships. The first is in staffing. For the first time since 2020, last week, we became fully staffed in

060our special education department. For the first time since 2020. When we are fully staffed with experts and professionals who can do what kids need, kids will do better. But having that staffing, having the people is important, and the other side of it is a commitment to intentionally designed and well-crafted and thoughtfully provided professional learning for them. The bodies are great, but the expertise and the continual growth of that knowledge and strategies and tools is just as important. The second area that we have to celebrate is that we have a ton of growing and intentionally designed inclusive interventions. And that starts with a really strong partnership and synergy with teaching and learning in our multi-tiered systems of supports that have become more tiered, more clear in their intentional targeting of students, in the fidelity of the

061way they intervene and monitor student, the effectiveness of those interventions with students, and then the referral to special education for support for additional services. I think of it like Goldilocks. We're trying to find the "just right" approach of support. We don't wanna support too much, we don't wanna support too little, and special education is part of that continuum. It's important that we align with those supports, and I'm very grateful, Tom, and to Joe and to Jenny Loika for the partnership that we have with teaching and learning. It is easy for districts to silo special ed, but if you recall, it's not a place, it's a service and it's part of our broader continuum. We also have phenomenal inclusive instructional services in special education in the way we provide our services and special education. But it

062doesn't mean we're done. It means we continue to explore and look for areas where students might not be able to access, areas where students are not achieving the way we would hope and want to ensure that what we're doing is done well, that we're looking for the best methods and the best strategies, and that we are providing those services to students in inclusive ways without restricting them or prohibiting pathway opportunities for them in all of our learning opportunities that we afford. Board, some things that I would encourage you to think about in this, areas for growth and partnership, and how you can support continued work in the field of special education, and really all education, is to continue to honor and look for opportunities to grow our professional pipeline. We have fewer and fewer requests

063for student teachers and internships every year. It is hard to find subs who are qualified in our related services and our special education staff because fewer people are going into our profession. So as you work with your professional networks and oppor... ED-RED and IASB, and you think about the platforms and all the other things that you may be part of in your roles as community members and as advocates, please continue to champion creative ways to get people into our professional pipeline. We need them. The last thing that I would say, and a really important facet that we don't think about, is the funding of special education services. The IDEA says that the full funding of a student's educational experience, if they have a disability, should be funded by the federal government at 40%. Meaning if

064we spend a thousand dollars to educate a student with a disability, the federal government should provide $400 of that. But in fact, they have never funded at the federal level more than 12% to 14% annually. That means that funding comes out of our local funds and our state appropriated funds. That impacts the quality of the services and the amount of staffing, the amount of materials, tools, supplies that we could have for all students. So advocacy for that full federal funding and increasing funding is really critical to ensuring all those things above happen. So, I am so grateful for the work that our educators do. The fact that more students have been supported inclusively since the pandemic is absolutely astounding because when you look back at that slide, the state data tells us for every district

065like us, where more students with IEPs access general education, that means fewer students in other districts were achieving, were accessing inclusive opportunities because the state environmental or education environment data stayed flat. Where ours went up, the state stayed flat, we went up, someone else went down, became more restrictive. I'm very proud of and very grateful for the efforts of our special educators, our related service providers, our partners who co-teach with us, who work with our inclusion facilitators and our related service providers, and all of teaching and learning, and our leadership truly as a whole. This is an inclusive district. It is a district that genuinely believes in the DARING mission of giving every student an opportunity to pursue their post-secondary interests. And the way we do that is by providing access to those opportunities for

066our young learners. Thank you for this time tonight. I'm so happy to answer any questions you have, and I'm very honored and humbled for the privilege to be part of this work in this district. >>Thank you very much. Any board members have comments or questions? >>Just a comment from my end. First of all, Ms. Hartweg, thank you for this very comprehensive presentation, and I personally appreciated your curb cut analogy. Many of us do not recognize the spillover effects that come out through this type of a process. And I teach my students something very similar that, you know, you may have a bucket that is leaky, but as the bucket goes along a pathway, it'll keep on watering the plants and supporting the- >>Oh, I love that- >>The vegetation in that area. The same thing happens,

067and the more our students with the, I would say differently abled students, have access to these opportunities, that spillover effect comes to our regular students who can benefit from those interactions, yet to understand the world. Again, thank you to you and to the whole team who is supporting this. One question I did have was regarding that 40% funding thing that you mentioned. >>Mm-hmm. >>Is that a legal requirement or is it a recommendation that came from the IDEA Act? >>The IDEA specifically says that the federal government will fund special education for students at 40%. >>Okay. >>But it has never been fully funded. So I don't wanna say it's an unfunded mandate, but it is not a fully funded one, that's for sure. >>Okay, appreciate it, thank you. >>Anybody else? >>Yeah, I have some questions. Thank you

068for this. >>Mm-hmm. >>This is a lot. (Kelli laughing) Very thorough. Appreciate that. In the update or memo, you describe successes and celebrations and successful access. What metrics do you use to define those? What's a success? >>Which specifically? >>Just, you know, throughout the entire memo, because you're talking about, you know, successes, I guess one of which is the inclusion facilitation. >>Mm-hmm. >>So, you know, that's a success, putting more students into the general ed. And so, you know, we've seen movement here, but... we haven't seen any movement on how the students are performing. >>Mm-hmm. >>So my question is, how are you defining success? Like what metrics are you using? >>Sure, so I think that, I appreciate that question because the... In special education, we have an obligation to meet different indicators, okay? And those are compliance measures

069that are looked at annually by the state and periodically at the federal level, audits may occur. When we look at educational environment, or the screen in front of you shows our educational environment data from last year in the bottom, we can see that one success is where the students are learning. In many districts, students are not accessing our general education settings. By default of that, their academic achievement rates are even lower than ours because they're not accessing the general education content. So, one success is looking at where our students learn and the fact that they are learning from our content experts. I think that trend data that comes from the Illinois Report Card is also important because it tells us that access in the general education environment continues to grow, or increase. So getting the

070students to the space of learning in general education is the first hurdle that most districts struggle to get to. And that's why it's important that we have a mindset, special education is not a place, it's a service. But over the years, the law has become convoluted to be believed that you take those students who are striving to learn because of their disability impacts, and you educate them in a separate environment. The second prong then is if they're there, that's great, but how are they doing, right? And so again, when we look at our achievement rates, we can say, okay, from an academic achievement standpoint, gap still exists, that is true, but... Not "but," and... we have incredibly high academic achievement rates for our population of students with IEPs. That doesn't mean the work stops. We

071continue to have to explore the fidelity of the instructional supports we're providing. But we have the students there, right? We're getting more and more of them in the gen ed setting. Now we need to make sure that we are using creative and inclusive strategies to support their access. So when students are in a classroom, we don't wanna just say, "Okay, general educator, "they're there, go do your thing." We wanna say, "What do you need? "How can we support you to help these students be here, "to be with you?" And that is part of that expansion of access through the heterogeneous course design. Classes that are co-taught historically, or even inclusively supported through inclusion facilitation, students wouldn't have been in those classes. They would've been restricted to a modified setting in special, with a special educator.

072And we would've said, they're getting the same content that their gen ed peers are getting. But again, I'm not a certified math teacher. Even if I'm good at math, which everyone here knows I'm not, but English, let's say, it does not mean I have the skills that a certified English teacher has. So keeping our students in that environment and then supporting them with fidelity is the first step. We continue to look at how we can support our students increasing in that academic achievement area, but we also have to honor the fact that they are eligible by default of the fact that the definition for eligibility says they're not at the same academic achievement rate as their general education peers. It's a catch-22. >>All right. You mentioned the creative implementation. So, how are you ensuring consistency

073then? 'Cause if it's creative, you know, we need to make sure, but, which is great, but we also need to make sure that it's consistent too, because, you know, you also touch on how the rigor's not changing. >>Mm-hmm. >>So how do we know if we're being creative from case to case? >>So, creative... You know, I think another way we could look at that is to say, what are the research-based strategies for inclusively providing specially designed instruction and access for students with disabilities? There are not many high schools across the nation, and I know this from attending national conferences where we learn about inclusive opportunities, inclusive design, where you see an inclusion facilitation model happen. That is a difficult model to provide at the high school level. Lots of co-teaching, but our co-teaching and our inclusion

074facilitation is not just about throwing a special educator in the environment and saying, "Go figure it out." It's about teaching those professionals, providing them the professional learning to understand, how do you inclusively facilitate? There are actually three research-based models of inclusion facilitation, and again, it's about accessibility for students where students might not have been placed before. We see a lot of facilitation happen in electives, and that supports our students' access to exploring multiple pathways. So that's not always what you would think of where you'd put those resources, but we look at the places where students have had a hard time getting to, and then supporting their ability to be there and their teacher's ability to help them by teaching our professionals how to then go coach and consult and support and partner for accessible design

075with those general educators or the paraprofessionals working with them. This is our second year of providing this service. We've started off very small. We have a 0.4 allocation in each building. Our facilitators work with probably six to 10 teachers right now across multiple sections. Multiple paraprofessionals, they work with multiple parapros. So we're impacting a lot of students, and we're learning how do we do this in a way that creates a sense of safety and not a sense of judgment for our general education partners... to support them. Our co-teachers are provided rigorous and ongoing professional learning in best practices and research-based design around co-teaching models, co-planning, small group instruction, and intentionality of when, why, and how you choose to implement different small group instructional types, and a strategic and effective way to embed specially designed instruction

076into the content without changing the rigor, the caliber, or the outcome of that content. So, you know, co-teachers might look at their students' population together, and one of the first questions that the special educator would say is, "Where are all kids struggling in this class, "or in this upcoming lesson, unit, activity? "Where do they tend to stumble?" And they start from there and from there, then, with their partner, they look at, "And what are the IEP goals "that these targeted students have "that are going to intertwine with that area "where all students tend to struggle? "And now maybe we provide mini lessons "on organizational strategies or strategies "to break down and task analyze a large project "or a long-term project, or write an essay or whatever." And they teach different strategies to that where everybody

077can benefit from that and everybody might learn that. Often we hear from our general education counterparts that they take those strategies and go teach them in their single-taught sections too. >>The leaky bucket effect. >>Yeah, the leaky bucket. All the flowers. >>So for... I wanna touch on MTSS for a second. >>Mm-hmm. >>And so, you know, I agree it must be implemented with fidelity across all facets, as you said. So, how are we measuring MTSS fidelity? >>I mean, MTSS is bigger than me. What, what do you mean specifically in that? >>Well, do we have any current results? How do, I mean, how do we know we're working, from a board governance standpoint- >>Mm-hmm. >>You know, I'm looking at, you know, so this is what we're doing. Well, how do we know whether or not it's working? That's

078what I'm asking. >>So, I can't speak to what specifically happens as far as like intervention impact with specific students who are in the different tiers, but what I can tell you is that our referrals for special education case study evaluation have dropped drastically in the last couple of years. I don't have concrete data in front of me, but I'd be happy to get numbers for you and follow up. But one of the ways that we, that I can quantify an example of that data is that in years past, we had eight periods of flexible service intervention at Libertyville High School and six periods of flexible service delivery. That's a special educator in a, think of it as a, like a non-subject, a subject-neutral role, if you will. So not as a special educator, not as

079a math person or anything like that, providing pre-referral intervention for students who were struggling for a variety of different reasons, academic, behavior, executive functioning, social-emotional. They would be recommended into flexible service delivery. And we had enough referrals that we were seeing eight periods of need in one building, six periods in the other. Last year, we had to shift that and we decreased it to five periods of support in each building because the referral rate was so much lower because kids were being served through our MTSS tiers and they weren't making it to flexible service intervention. >>Yeah, I think that the topic of MTSS is an important topic, but... not wanting to put you on the spot and not really, you know, I think what we should do is include that on the future agenda item

080to get a similar update on how the MTSS program is doing. >>Okay, well it was mentioned in the memo- >>Yeah. >>That's why I was touching on it. >>Sure. >>And just quickly, so how many IEPs has D128 created this year? >>I don't have that number off the top of my head. I'm sorry. >>That's okay. >>There are different data points to that though. How many students have been, how many case studies have been requested? How many students have been referred? How many parents actually agreed to case study evaluation? How many evaluations resulted in the recommendation for eligibility and parents accepted or refused? I mean, there's, there's a lot of data points that could go into that, but I don't know how many actually resulted in eligibility determinations that were accepted and implemented. >>Okay. And then, so I

081understand the 30% for the IEPs in each co-taught section. >>Mm-hmm. >>So is that a hard stop then? >>When we section for how many, let's, let's take algebra one, I'll pick any subject. We look at how many students were targeted by their IEP team the prior year for co-taught, the provision of specially designed instruction in the general education algebra one section. For every seven students, we say one section will be co-taught. Historically, if we didn't offer the co-taught environment, those students would've been taught in a special education separated environment. They can handle the content, but something about their needs requires additional support on a daily basis in order to really demonstrate their proficiency and access that instruction in the gen ed environment. Once staffing plays out, so we staff to those needs with a divisor of

082seven. Seven out of 25 is, is 30%, that's where seven comes from. Then we schedule students. The realities of life are that kids change their wants, and that in turn changes their schedules between when we staff in late February/March to August. So sometimes we had seven kids sectioned, in a section, and four ended up actually enrolling in that section because their schedules changed and for whatever, or their course preferences changed. Sometimes we have students move in, and now we have x sections of co-taught, but we need to add a student. So sometimes we go over that. The other thing that is tricky about that 30% is that that's based on a minimum of 23 kids being in the course, or in the section, excuse me. So if we run a course, or a section, and

08322 or fewer students actually fall into that section, we are likely going to go over 30%. If we said seven of those were going to be target students for that course. It's the tricky nuance between how we staff and what really happens come August. >>So if we go over 30%, then what happens? >>Then we do a couple of things. Number one, the co-teacher is there, it's the highest level of support that we could possibly provide to that general education environment. We notify those teachers through a notification of a 70/30 deviation, and we submit those to the state during the year to notify the state that we've deviated from our compliance with no more than 30% of students in the section having an IEP. And then we have to explain why that happened and what we're

084doing to try to support that section, and also what we might be able to do in the future to prevent that from happening. >>Okay. But there's no, we don't get fined or there's no violation or- >>No. >>Okay. >>We don't go to ISBE jail. (board members laughing) >>So, again, I wanna thank you for all this work, but I guess, you know, I was a little disappointed that there was, was lacking the data on the outcomes. So, when I see an update like this, you know, it's very heavy on conclusions, which I appreciate, thank you. But it's, you know, light on the outcome metrics. As a board member, I'm left to wonder whether the data is missing because it isn't favorable or whether it isn't being tracked at all. >>Can you clarify what you mean by outcome

085metrics? >>Well, just once again, how do we know it's working? Like our inclusion, I know what, you know, it's working because you know the number's going up, but are those students in those classes, are they doing better? I mean, do we have grade distributions? I mean, how are we measuring whether or not they're succeeding? >>Okay. I hear what you're saying. We do have that data. I didn't include it in this type of a report, but I'd be happy to provide that in the future. What our co-taught data, I can start with that, tells us is that our students in co-taught in general are performing as well, or sometimes better than the single-taught sections in grade distribution. >>And that's great. >>Yeah. >>I just wanna see it. >>Sure. >>You know, I wanna, you know, how well are

086our students doing? Are we servicing them? You know, I, you know, and the other recurring theme too that I want to address, and then I'll be done, is that, you know, yes, things are hard. We have more complex needs, staffing challenges, social pressures and so on, and I don't dispute any of that. But at the same time, hard isn't an excuse. And, you know, all meaningful work is hard. It's the district's legal and moral obligation to serve students, you know, with IEPs and disabilities. And it doesn't become optional because the conditions are challenging and I can't help but see our achievement gap. You know, it's not getting smaller. And, you know, so with, you know, the work is harder, then we need to have clearer priorities, we need to have measurable targets, and there needs

087to be a plan. And it, you know, not permission to lower any expectations. So, I just really wanna make sure we have a plan so that, and that we're measuring how, you know, our students with IEPs are doing. >>I appreciate that. We need board members to ensure that all students have equitable outcomes and opportunities. So I really respect and appreciate that directive, and I will continue to work towards that with our teams. >>Thank you. >>Okay. Thank you so much for, you know, very in-depth... presentation, I appreciate it. And congratulations on the full staffing. >>Thank you. >>For a change. That's a, that's a very helpful thing for everybody, and we appreciate it and look forward to hearing more in the future. Okay, moving on. Consent vote agenda. Does any board member have any item on here

088that we wish to address separately? Okay, hearing none. Can we have a motion and a second to approve the consent vote agenda? >>Motion to approve the consent vote agenda by Simpson. >>Polen, second, >>Any discussion? Okay, roll call please, Carol. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Batson. >>Aye. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Simpson >>Aye. >>Okay, motion passes. Moving on to action items. Semi-annual review of closed session minutes. You all saw the closed session minutes and this is just a standard... thing we do twice a year... to maintain the confidentiality of closed session minutes. Can we get a motion and a second? >>Motion by Simpson. >>Austin, second. >>Okay. So the motion is to, for the need for confidentiality still exists for all closed session minutes, and those listed shall remain in the closed file. Any additional comments or questions? Okay, roll call

089please. >>Batson. Sorry, Batson. >>Aye. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Simpson. >>Aye. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Okay, motion passes, yeah. Is it possible to turn Carol up a little bit? >>Oh, I could get a little closer. >>Yeah. That'd be great. Having a hard time hearing over here. Okay, next is a second reading and adoption of a group of board policies. We've all seen these multiple times, so if we can have a motion please. >>Motion, Simpson. >>Polen, second. >>Okay. >>Can you read the motion though, before you, when you make it? >>Oh, you want me to read the whole thing? >>Yes. >>Where are we at? Motion to approve and adopt. >>Motion to approve and adopt policies. >>What's it? >>Oh, it's right here. >>Can you see it in the- >>No. >>Are you logged in? >>Oh, yeah. >>Yeah, yeah. She's there. >>Motion to

090approve and adopt updated board policies as presented. Oh, it's right in front. >>And we had a second. >>Polen, second. >>Polen second, yeah. Okay. Any questions or comments on these? I know we've all seen them, so. Roll call please, Carol. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Simpson. >>Aye. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Batson. >>Aye. Okay, moving on, thank you very much. Next on the agenda is the... 2027-2028 district calendar? Do we have any background we wanna share, Briant or Tom? >>This was discussed at our previous committee meeting. The... main difference... is that the community, our students, and staff... asked, as their number one priority, that the school year not start prior to the second week of August. So the calendar committee... was able to develop a calendar that moved our start time back a week, but that also moves our end

091time back a week. So rather than ending before Memorial Day, should this schedule be adopted, we would end officially after Memorial Day. But we worked with our students and our calendar committee to create this calendar, and we think it meets the... the priorities that our students and our community indicated, and our staff. And so, though this is a difference in the calendar we've had recently, it's one that reflects kind of where our community has said their interests lie with how we shape our calendar. This also will... coincide a little bit closer to our feeder calendars as well when school returns in August. >>Okay, thank you. Can we get a motion to approve the recommendation- >>Jim, before you do that. Carol? >>Yes. >>The, if you go into the district calendar, where we voted for the board

092policies, that's listed under the district calendar for the motion. 'Cause right now, if you go into district calendar on my screen- >>Oh. >>It looks like we already voted on that. The calendar. >>The motion, the motion and the votes got pushed down to the wrong agenda item. >>Oh, that's weird. That's weird. >>You can- >>It's, yeah, I, I... I don't see that on my screen. >>Yeah. >>It's, yeah, it's on our- >>I don't see anybody had made or seconded. >>No, I think it, yeah, it's a technical issue with the board document system, just so we know that it's... We haven't voted yet. >>Yeah, 'cause I wanna, so, so let me go back to, wait, let me see if I could go back to the other one without messing this up. Hang on a second. How do I get

093out of here? Let's see if I go back one. Take action, now cancel. Okay, let me go back. Save your action, cancel, action. Okay, let me go back. Hmm. Let me see, if I go here. See, whatever, okay. It won't let me go back, I'm sorry. Let me. Okay, so I show- >>So, I- >>For the semi-annual review of closed session minutes, I have- >>Yeah, that's right. >>Motion by Julie and seconded by Austin. And then- >>I think it- >>Policy, it won't, wait, it won't let me- >>The board- >>Get out of here, wait a minute, let me- >>That vote section should have been with the minutes, or not the minutes, but the- >>I wonder what the heck's going on? >>Second reading of the policies. I think it just got jumped ahead. I think that should have been

094the pol, 'cause there's no... no votes on the policy section. >>That is so weird. Okay, wait, so let me go back to motion. All right, I see I'm in board policies now. Okay, so... Let me go motion. Oops. "The board policies as presented." All right, so then, and that was Julie? That was Julie. And so it was Julie and Wes on the board policies. >>Mm-hmm. >>Okay. And then everybody... Save action. Okay. So now I'm in board calendar. If I say take action. Okay, now I'm in the calendar. Does that look right? >>Well, we haven't voted yet, so- >>No, I mean, but the other one, the policies. >>Oh. >>Is it on there? >>Yes. >>Okay. >>Yeah, it's on there. >>Thank you. I'm not sure what happened. It must have got jumped. >>Yeah, so it just got, yeah.

095>>Yeah, jumped down. >>Apologize for that. >>It's okay. Thank you for catching that. I hadn't scrolled down to see that. >>Thank you. >>You're welcome. >>Okay, so, so can we get a motion to approve the recommended D128 2027-2028 school calendar as presented? >>So moved, Deshmukh. >>Austin, second. >>Okay. We ready for roll call? >>I'm ready. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Simpson. >>Aye. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Batson. >>Aye. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Motion passes. Moving on. We have VHHS pool HVAC installation bids. Need a little background on this one? >>Yeah, part of our summer 2027 capital projects is to replace the HVAC system in the Vernon Hills pool. Previously we had approved purchasing the equipment, the actual equipment. This is now the installation of that equipment. And so, there's two bid packages there that you can see listed in the motion for those bids. And so

096that's, that's the information... on there. >>Okay. We need a motion to approve the base bid package number one to MG Mechanical Contracting LLC for $874,000, and base bid package number two from Efraim Carlson Construction for the amount of $597,000. >>So moved, Deshmukh. >>Austin, second. >>Okay, any questions or comments from the board? >>I do have one question, and sorry if I'm missing it, but was this within the, like the budget what you thought it was gonna be? >>No, this, this, the overall cost for the pool HVAC is higher than what we estimated it to be. And so that will, that's impacting the next item after this. >>Okay, any other questions, comments? Roll call please. >>Simpson. >>Aye. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Batson. >>Aye. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Motion passes. Okay, the next is the VHHS roofing bid... situation. >>Yep,

097so this one is more just a big picture. We have more things on the list than what we believe we can afford for next year. And so, given the increased cost to the pool and the priority of getting that HVAC system replaced, we are recommending rejecting all the bids for this project. And this one we'll look at to do in a future year. >>So we'll push this out then? >>Yeah. >>To another, okay. So we need a motion to reject all bids for the 2026 VHHS roof replacement project. >>So moved. >>Give me one second. >>Second. >>Okay. All right, any questions or comments? >>Comment though. >>Mm-hmm. >>Again, I think this is to do with budgeting in general, and we do understand, you know, there are going to be differences in terms of the initial pricing and what

098eventually comes out. So I think it's important as we look at big projects that we are keeping that into consideration. We do have contingencies built into many of these large capital needs projects, but again, being more thoughtful as to how close we are going to be to the target that we are projecting, I think it's important. And in the future, I think collectively we need to be more thoughtful about those projections. >>Okay. Any other questions, comments? >>Yeah, so I mean, we can't afford what we can't afford, that's for sure. And I, you know, decisions can be hard of what to do and what not to do. But is putting off this roof work, I mean potentially is, could that cause more problems? I mean, how necessary is the work to have done now? I'm not

099a roofer. >>Yeah, I'll say one thing, I'll let Mark chime in. So what we've been looking at is a multi-year phase approach at replacing the Vernon Hills roof because of its age. And so we've pieced that, kind of broken that up into different phases over the last several years. And so, we try to prioritize the roofs based on the roofs that are in the most need and in the most areas. But, so it's been based on that. And so, given the context of the roofs that are there, I think the decision was there are other things that are, would be a higher priority. So I dunno if you add. >>Yeah, Dan is correct, we... As we've moved around the building, we've prioritized, we collect our data, what roofs have the most leaks, what areas, and

100we have addressed those, previously, as we've worked around the building. The roofs that we're rejecting and putting off for a year are still in good shape, but they obviously are, you know, past their life expectancy. So we just keep monitoring them, and I said then we, we move around a building if another, as we, as we're going around the building, we will evaluate again what is, what roofs need to be done after this year's... winter and, you know, winter season and summer and spring and, you know, and that's how we base our decisions. >>All right, so if we pass on this, Vernon Hills High School isn't gonna have a bunch of buckets- >>No. >>Come this time, right? >>No. >>Okay. >>Yeah, and to his point, so like it's, it's not necessarily that the roof's in bad

101shape, but we have to start a cycle of replacement. >>Yes. >>Because we could not replace the entire roof at the same time. >>That makes sense. >>So we're starting this cycle, or we're in the middle of this cycle to have this- >>Yeah. >>Rotated out on a reasonable basis. >>Even though so much of it was built at the same time, you have to, you can't do them all at once. >>Correct. >>Yeah. >>Okay. >>And it's, and it's to our advantage to split them up as we go. We, through, since the building was all done at one time, as we split it up in the future, the age of the roofs now will vary, it will be easier to budget for and make adjustments with, with your roof replacements in the future. >>Yeah. >>Thank you. >>And that kind of

102bucket would not water any flowers... Going back to the earlier analogy. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments? Roll call please, Carol. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Batson. >>Aye. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Simpson. >>Aye. >>Okay, motion passes. One last item here, a seal coat of parking lot. Any background, Dan? >>Similar story, it's part of our summer 2027 capital list. And so we got prices for that co-op pricing for Patriot Pavements to basically seal coat all our parking lots. >>Okay, we need a motion to approve all four proposals for sealcoating parking lots to Patriot Pavement Maintenance for $200,665.50. >>Not a penny more. >>Polen, so moved. >>Deshmukh, second. >>Okay, any questions or comments on this one? >>Again, just a comment, or more of a curiosity question. So these, the parking lot, since we know, you know, the wear and tear because

103the traffic is the same, snow, weather, and all those things matter. So is it like every few, what is the timeframe over which we need to do this? >>At a two to three-year schedule. >>A two to three-year- >>To seal coat, to maintain... the parking lots, and we've replaced the majority of our parking lots... Vernon Hills is a little bit, a paving left to replace. It's been done since we, since before COVID. And then we're coming up on Libertyville, the back parking lot here and some other spots. And we have it on a 20-year rotation. So we're trying to maintain what we have by sealcoating. We crack fill, keeps the water from penetrating and, you know, especially in the winter in heaving. >>And do we expect that with more harsher winters, like this year, we might

104require more resources towards these activities? There's too many, so snow plows coming in more often than not, and that obviously impacts the- >>That impacts wear and tear. >>Right. >>But, you know, it's figured in a bit, you know, for seal cracking, sealcoating, you know, and crack fill. If we do have any damage, we will address that... from a different budget. >>Okay. Any other questions or comments? Can we have a roll call please, Carol? >>Batson. >>Aye. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Simpson. >>Aye. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Motion passes. Moving on to informational items, board comments and events. I'll start, and anyone else that wishes to chime in. A number of us attended a great event last night that the organization ED-RED provided. We do this every January, so it's unusual we're meeting here on a Tuesday night, but it's always

105the fourth Friday, or fourth, a Monday, I should say, of the month is this ED-RED event, which we, we typically attend. And so, we always schedule a January meeting for tonight in order for us to take advantage of that. Anyone wanna comment or anything about that? Congressman Brad Schneider was the speaker, was the guest speaker. So it was an interesting event and a good networking event where we got to meet with a lot of individuals and a lot of our state legislators were there from this area. So it's a, it's a great event. Anyone else have any events or comments? No, okay. >>No, it was a good event. It's too bad the weather prevented some people- >>Yeah. >>On being able to attend. >>Yeah, it was, was not as well attended as they had- >>Yeah. >>Had

106people signed up anyway, so. So, next on the agenda, IASB report. Just a couple quick informational items for the board members. The IASB advocacy day, Carol sent out a note if anyone's interested in attending that. I know we've heard from a few people, but just as a reminder, that'll take place late March. It's actually during spring break, but it's an opportunity for board members from across the state to meet up in Springfield and speak with our state legislators. I'll also mention Lake Division meeting on Wednesday, April 15th, if you're interested. That's our division, here in Lake County, and... they'll have a presentation on artificial intelligence in the educational setting. So, Eric Santos will be joining us for that keynote, so that should be a good one, so. Moving on. Nothing from SEDOL. Do we have

107a list of future agenda items, although we may wanna consider where we put in something for MTSS. And so, that being said- >>Um, um. >>Yeah, go ahead. >>Do we, it says, "Board members "just may propose future agenda items." Do we pause to give us the opportunity to do so? >>Well, we can do it now or any, at any point in time you could email... Dr. Schaffer or myself... and we can add those to the list. These are the, the ones that have already been sort of considered and many of these are the routine ones based on the month of the year and what we need to address. >>Okay, I was just looking at the description, and it sounded like we could say something if we wanted. >>Yeah, I mean if, if you have, it's, could

108do it now or it's- >>I have something. >>Yeah. >>I would like to see if there's consensus among the board to consider possibly updating our policy regarding PE waivers. The state of Illinois has a four-year requirement for PE. However, the school code does allow for flexibility for our 11th and 12th graders and our, as our policy states right now for District 128, it's pretty strict, and I think that we seriously need to consider if our policy is truly what is best for our students. >>What is the policy now, state, or what, what do you find is the problem with the current policy? >>Well, if you'd like to look it up, it's policy six, colon, or- >>I don't think that that's what we'd be doing right now, though. We're describing- >>Yeah, we're not- >>Putting it on a

109future agenda for discussion. >>Yeah. >>So I don't wanna get into it now, but- >>Yeah. Yeah, because it's, it's off- >>I'd be interested in seeing it on the agenda. Yeah, I'll just add that. >>Yeah, yeah. >>But any discussion I'll talk about when- >>Yeah, I think it, it's something we will note, and there has been multiple inquiries about that. I know Dr. Schaffer's... looking into it as well. >>Well, and we also received an email to the board, a very thoughtful email at that. >>Yeah. >>So, you know, I think it's worth having a board discussion. >>So Carol, if you could just make a note to- >>I did, yep. >>We'll talk about it For future agenda items. >>Thank you, Carol. >>Oh absolutely. >>Yeah, yeah. Okay. Anything else? >>No. >>Okay. So we have an executive session, and as mentioned before,

110we won't take any action afterwards. So we will, we'll move into, the board will convene in closed session to discuss the placement of individual students in special education programs and other matters relating to individual students. That's under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(10). So can we have a motion to convene in closed session? >>Polen, so moved. >>Deshmukh, second. >>Okay. Roll call please, Carol. >>Deshmukh. >>Aye. >>Polen. >>Aye. >>Simpson. >>Aye. >>Austin. >>Aye. >>Batson. >>Aye. Okay, motion carries. Thank you all for coming and we'll see you next month.