001Fade to District 128 logo Fade Into board members seated at at table to get started if everybody could take their seat please we're going to call the meeting to order thank you everyone if I could everybody ask if I could ask everybody to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance the flag is right behind you everyone stands for the Pledge of Allegiance I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible Justice everyone returns to their seats thank you roll call please Jim baon here Cara Benjamin here Don carmichel here Cara drumkey here Lisa hessle here mides catwall here sonal karney here we note all members present and we are going to start tonight with student recognition camera turns to Podium Dr John
002Gil Liam approaches the podium pause for technical difficulties with the microphone for the next 30 seconds [Music] there we go right turn up oh here we go all right good evening everybody I'm John princip of ber high school we have to Cate tonight we're going to start with some students that perform Super well in our local US History Fair so I'm bring up paer talk little [Applause] [Music] [Applause] class this we a total of 17 students uh in the project qualified for nation state competition and we have four students and five who earned the honor of being uh State finalist those students are shist I and for the the highest in the state of those State finalists the top two in each category to the national competition which in University Marland College par a lotc
003and this year also has our third project student qualified for national competition one of the top two research in the state and that guy is here with [Applause] us students receive certificates and Tak pictures with school board members for about the next 30 seconds [Applause] Dr John Gil Liam all right good job then we have uh a new club to Vernon Hills High School this year business Professionals of America and uh had some great success in that club some uh State finalists and National placers or they're going to be going to the Nationals and I want to invite Dr Debbie beagle to share some more about those kids Debbie beagle approaches the podium all right yes the business Professionals of America this is our first year at our club and these four ladies um competed
004at area and then at State and then at Nationals and we were unaware that they could be called back for a second day so we got back to Vernon Hills High School and um this year Nationals was in Chicago so close trip so we made the commute back and forth and got back and we're like oh wow we're going back tomorrow which is super exciting and then even more exciting was that they Place third at Nationals which is awesome so their category super awesome their category was user experience design team so congratulations to all four of you and we have the awards for sney and shristy and cavia and [Applause] [Music] RMA students receive certificates and takes pictures with school board members for about the next 30 seconds [Applause] all right then we have a
005sizable crew in black t-shirts over there that's members of the Hills Wind Ensemble I'm going to bring up uh Dr Drew Russell and Randy sundell to talk a little bit about our first and state Wind [Applause] Ensemble this is a this is a super special recognition for a bunch of reasons the first one is these students were selected as one of seven schools in our class which is 1A to go down to Champagne and compete in the state competition for bam they went down there it was a wonderful Sunny 11: a.m day in Champagne I got my favorite Mexican food right before I watched them perform and they were unbelievable but even more importantly they were selected as the state champion that day for the sixth time so thank you so so the way that
006the way that this works is in music you can't be the state champion every year what happens is when you're selected as the state champion the next year you go back to to the contest in champagne and you perform as the honor band you're a model they put you at the very end of the of the concert and you're there for everybody to see what a model performance Ensemble looks like and so when I say they're Champions six times well that means there are six times where they couldn't have been Champions and in fact I went this is this is actually really important standing right here is Mr sundell so he's been the band director at this school since it opened before that he was the assistant at Libertyville High School so as far as
007I can tell there's only been 10 times in the history of our school when this Ensemble could have even possibly been named state champion and out of those 10 six times they actually did it it's unbelievable like there's nothing else the only other thing that's like that is Libertyville High School under Don sh there's literally that's the only other example so it's especially important because next year is Randy sundell last year as an educator here at buron Hills High School he's retiring and because he's the honor band we won't be here recognizing him because he can't win the state champion otherwise I'm sure he would win it let's let like let's before we get the kids up here who are unbelievable let's just give Mr sundell a round of applause for a remarkable [Applause] career
008now with wi with that said with that said we understand that our job at the high school is really the tip of the iceberg there there are teachers that teach in all the Hawthorne schools at the elementary level that get these kids started on their instruments shift them around there there's Mr kandalo who is is basically a celebrity in Vernon Hills who teaches at middle North right we've got Terry PL who teaches at middle South and every and and all of these people along with with these students parents build a foundation that then they take and they run with and it's only possible if if you walk down in our music hallway at any time during the day you will see every practice room full of kids and these are the kids who are in
009the practice room and the reason why we're able to go down and and and compete the way we do is not just because of Mr sundell but because of their work so thank you to your families thank you to you for all of your hard work congratulations this is a huge accomplishment and let's take a picture [Applause] students receive certificates and takes pictures with school board members for about the next 30 seconds [Applause] Dr Tom kentes approaches the podium all right from an extraordinary Ensemble at Vernon Hills to a dynamic duo from Libertyville High School uh I'm going to bring forward our relative it's a relatively new club at Libertyville High School but already in their infancy they have been uh taken the World by storm and getting all kinds of awards including what we're
010going to celebrate here today a State Championship we're going to bring forward this sponsor of deca Mr Luca chicolini to talk about two outstanding Deca students from Libertyville High School joining joining Mr chicolini is our other Deca co-sponsor the amazing Mr [Applause] gerlock uh like he said it's a brand new club this is the second year um and before I kind of acknowledge there accomplishments they are on my eboard um and they actually grew the club to 92 members this year which is the largest competitive Club at LHS um which I think in itself is an accomplishment for them to do that in such short time um we had 92 obviously compete in area we brought 40 to our state competition um and my students were able to place fourth in their event um while
011fourth place may not be first through third it uh definitely is a hard accomplishment to get to that point um over 2,000 kids were competing at the state level um and then they obviously Advanced to Internationals where they competed against 23,000 kids from eight different countries um in Anam California this year uh so i' like to acknowledge uh Campell kypers and lyly France okay good students receive certificates and takes pictures with school board members for about the next 30 seconds everyone returns to their seeds Dr John Gil Liam approaches the podium Dr John Gil Liam our last group uh to recognize and we'll just have not sure how many made it over but a few minutes ago we left the Vernon Hill Studio Theater where we recognized uh some diag movers for uh for those
012of you that don't know diagonal movers are PE are students who we Define as moving up in in the curriculum rigor and so these students were um next year will be taking an honors or AP for the first time and so uh they were there for some information uh they saw a wonderful panel of students Orlando Ariana and Evelyn uh they heard from one of our most famous and uh wildly successful AP teachers Mr Paul Friedrich was there uh and so if you are a student who was recognized as a diagonal mover just please stand so we can applaud for you I'm not sure if you made it anybody give him a hand [Music] anyway Lisa Hessel so at this time our principles are going to help us acknowledge the um outgoing student board reps
013who are finishing their last meeting of the school year and we are going to acknowledge the incoming student board reps sure uh Dr Kay and I have the privilege of working uh with three each wonderful students who last year at this time went through a rigorous uh interview process and were selected as 2024 board reps so um the six of them have performed wonderfully in their positions uh they have obviously been here prepared ready and willing to share uh the goings on of the school many of them great things happening also though willing to go there on on issues that that they' face that aren't perfect and uh I know as administrators we appreciate it and I know you as school school board members appreciate it it well as well so we want to recognize
014these six uh before they get out of here tonight uh so I'm just gonna name my three you guys can stand up over there uh parab aora give him a hand Maya Ral and rui submaranian [Applause] and from Libertyville we have Louie Perry Mali Neri [Applause] and roaya Elman [Applause] shawii students receive certificates and takes pictures with school board members for about the next 30 seconds we're also really fortunate because um these students have been tremendous Role Models uh for the students that will succeed them and take over their positions next year and it's really important to understand that these students in addition to uh being involved in all of our academics and our Fine Arts and Athletics also attend all of our board meetings and they meet frequently with Dr Gilliam and I uh
015and other administrators in our building they help us with interviews and when we have issues happening like the construction projects these students are frequently uh attending meetings to consult on those things so they spend a tremendous amount of time uh representing student voice across our district and we have six new students who are rising seniors who will take over and they are here tonight um so from Libertyville we have Prem araria Victoria Martin and CRA Abraham [Applause] Dr John Gil Liam and from Vernon Hills uh Iman deel Daniela Gomez andz and last but not least Griffin Nichols students receive certificates and takes pictures with school board members for about the next 30 seconds thank you Dr G and Dr K CRA Prem Victoria Iman Daniela and Griffin we look forward to working with you every
016year we think that the bar has been set really high and these outgoing student board reps are no exception they have set the bar very high but we have seen that Dr G and Dr K have a perfect track record when it comes to selecting the finest student board reps that that could ever be so we look forward to working with them in the future um at this time we are going to move on to a public hearing for the 2025 driver ed education fee waiver so at this time at 7:21 p.m. I'm going to declare the hearing open if there is anybody that has public comment regarding the 2025 driver education fee waiver please step up to the podium at this time pause for the public going once okay seeing none we are going
017to move on to the 2025 driver education Fe waiver presentation and I'm going to turn it over to our business office and Mr Stanley thank you um so in uh January uh we discussed uh looking at the driver's ed fee and uh state law restricts it to 250 and in order for that to increase at the 350 that we talked about there has to be a waiver process it's very common many many school districts do this but this is the process that's required um we believe that granting this request that we have to ask for the general assembly down in Springfield it will fulfill the intent of our driver education mandate and allow us to operate more fiscally responsible manner so that's we believe the direction will go Lisa Hessel okay do any of the
018board members have questions Cara dry can you just remind can you remind us that by increasing it to 350 we're still within that 50th percentile of our comparable districts for the fee in total we've been well under yeah Mo most districts are at the 350 or more level pause for discussion and questions okay any other board comments or questions okay seeing none I'm going to declare the hearing closed at 5:23 p.m. at this time uh we are going to move on to communication for the general board meeting uh and I'd like to extend an invitation for public comment um and would like to remind everyone to please stay as close to the three minute limit as possible um I do have a list of people that have signed up I'm going to call them in
019order that they signed up don't worry if you haven't signed up and you'd like to make comments towards the end you will have a chance to get up and add your comments um so first I believe Perry you have not you do not want to address the board okay then we're going to move on to Katie zagger there is a three minute timer on the screen k Zager approaches the podium hello my name is Katie Zager and I'm here as a concerned parent of a future ver Hills High School student I have to say this is quite a wild Forum where the public gets to scream into the void with zero response from you it is also quite perplexing that so many of you seem quite relaxed some look bored and some are even goly
020despite the seriousness of the topics discussed and the criticisms that you're getting so we stand here pleading for reason and common sense to Prevail and you in turn continue to tune us out and stay the course come hell or high water and bodies you have to walk over to get there be damned never mind that the bodies you're trampling on are the teachers teachers who are the first line of defense and who are trying to protect the students from your ill thought through plans teachers who are exhausted and feel like they're banging their head against the wall all in vain there's seven of you on the board all supposedly with different breadth of experience and expertise and not a single one of you thinks that wait a minute maybe the community is on to something
021and we should really listen not one of you has the courage to stand up for what is is right no you stare blankly and plow on do y' all really think implementing these initiatives despite everything you heard at these podiums is still in the best interest of the students if so I truly question your competency or are there so many skeletons buried in your closets that you're afraid to go against the grain because someone might find them out and this is why you remain silent and unresponsive to the public ringing the alarm bells and asking you to stop pressing on and come to the Forum for an open dialogue between you and the concerned Community from what I've gathered th far we can't retain top teachers but we have millions of dollars to spend on
022skylights 96 teachers were involved in the grading pilot but only 12 teachers completed the survey out of the total 23 responders and you think that enough to make decisions on so far the data presented has been incomplete and uncleared best is your goal to confuse the community into submission if you really want to get this right and if you have your students best interest in mind I implore you be daring jump off the bandwagon mentality with these initiatives and first and foremost spend the time and effort to rebuild the trust that you have lost with the teachers and the community and only then revisit what needs to be implemented and how it is not too late even the villains of Vernon Hills and Libertyville can realize the air of their ways and redeem themselves thank
023[Applause] you next is ellerie Schumacher ellerie Schumacher approaches the podium good evening my name is ellerie Schumacher and I'm a junior at Libertyville High School I'm a dedicated student to our Latin program as well I'll be going into my fourth year of Latin I'm a part of our executive board and I've gone to Italy with the program this year we went through the struggle of having a combined class of two levels Latin three honors and Latin four honors our class had 28 students total 16 of them being Latin 3 and 12 being Latin 4 we were not given an option for this so we tried our best to make it work this year and it was not easy there were unnecessary challenges for the instructor and students in this environment the room was always packed
024it was loud there were too many people and it was too difficult to learn in such a large group setting for everyone in the room moment pause it was a struggle as well considering that these classes had a year of learning in between them and our curriculum had to adapt so that both levels could learn new information this was my largest class I have had at LHS and ultimately my most difficult due to this difficulty that resulted from such a large class several of my classmates dropped taking Latin in the future there are select few of us that want to further our education in the Latin program onward and have signed up for Latin 4 I've recently been informed that next year we will once again be combined with another class this is not fair
025to any student in either of these classes considering we at completely different levels and learned a completely different curriculum in the year prior I am devastated not only that the board has considered this and still chosen to combine the classes but that there are kids like me that want to learn that enjoy the Latin program that want to Advance your skills in this class and this just will not be possible with a combined class of such a different in skill I ask that you reconsider this disadvantageous decision and consider the students who are being inhibited by this Choice Libertyville High School is known for its ambitious students that want to learn so I ask why are these students not being given the proper environment to learn in is this a fiscal problem our language department
026is facing another issue of not offering French one for a district that Prides itself in educational opportunities I am disappointed in the obvious lack thereof these students will not be given a fair opportunity to learn thank you [Applause] next is Liz Hudson Elizabeth Hudson approaches the podium since March this year I've been aggressively working to get educated on the d128 initiatives I spent many hours speaking to various stakeholders some of you on the board several concern ConEd community members students many parents teachers both d128 and the eighth grade teachers that feed into d128 other District leaders and an expert in high school education design that happens to work in the Dei space what I found is everyone is for every student's access to excellent education not one person said diagonal movement is a bad idea
027yet amidst this high level alignment of alignment why is there such widespread disagreement with these initiatives the concerns that parents teachers and students are voicing is the lack of a realistic and sustainable plan along with the lack of a clear specific information to families on what is happening and how life will change next year if placements are blindly followed let me convey this concern using a skydiving analogy some have been been training to skydive for years they met requirements of age weight Etc they trained and they did their first tandem skydive from there they found themselves ready to solo dive and are moving on to other technical Maneuvers many more may want a Skydive and that's fantastic let's make that happen but not without the same requirements and support being in place without it it's
028at best a dangerous jump down at worse it's ill- faded as we shove them out of the plane without a parachute at all and by the way given the Deep care from our teachers towards the students the teacher is often jumping out of the plane after that student while the rest of the kids are left on the plane to figure out things on their own versus learning the rightful next level of rigor we think we're helping by lowering requirements to create more access but we're not we're crippling our students lowering the bar will set them up to fail in that demanding setting and leave them feeling inadequate further the students that are ready for the r are being short changed as we just heard holistic success can only happen when there's a common starting point
029of foundational Mastery understanding of the work required and a gritty mentality of tenacity so I'm going to suggest two very practical Solutions number one slow down come up with a robust sustainable support plan with rollout metrics we're not ready a realistic plan is not there yet but we have a huge group of involved concerned concerned and willing community members these Business Leaders Financial Wizards legal minds and marketers do this kind of work professionally and have great expertise and that brings me to number two get help ask the community for help and then act on their good proposals related to support systems getting the word out doing this isolation is not only hard but it's a one-sided approach simply sled slow down and get help thank you [Applause] next is Amy Kamai Amy Kamai approaches the
030podium hi I'm Amy Kamai I resident of Vernon Hills my third child graduates this week from Vernon Hills High School and my fourth is finishing her freshman year my family and I continue to be disappointed in the lack of accountability the district has demonstrated with regard to the simultaneous initiatives being implemented District administration and board members are stewards for the district we entrust you to make appropriate decisions and provide leadership to take the district in a Direction that's not only appropriate for students and staff but will also enable Vernon Hills and Libertyville to remain top tier schools in Illinois as stewards of the district you are failing you are failing to acknowledge the significant stakeholder feedback you've received you are failing to adjust your plans to address that significant feedback you are failing to engage
031in bidirectional dialogue ensuring you get back on track and stay on track in failing your stakeholders you're negligent in continuing to proceed on a path that cannot and will not result in success in other professional environments you'd be on a performance Improvement plan and if you continued to ignore stakeholder feedback you'd be headed toward termination let's acknowledge there's time to change course the community implores you the administration and the board to take the following action number one immediately pause acknowledge the need to pause the current initiatives to reassess their viability and the intended impact number two course correct engage in ongoing and transparent dialogue with stakeholders to identify and Implement necessary adjustments for Success this must include a comprehensive change management effort with ongoing Communications and checkpoints for alignment and number three commit to success
032Define clear metrics and strategies to ensure that these Endeavors align with the community's expectations and the Dearing Mission it is imperative to address these concerns collaboratively with your stakeholders lean in lead hold each other accountable and do what's necessary to ensure the success of d128 in 2024 and Beyond thank [Applause] you Amy France Amy France approaches the podium good evening my name is Amy France I'm a parent an English and social studies teacher a special educator and a former board member I'm here to address what I feel is probably the biggest misunderstanding that we have going on currently the District administration and board want to focus on the why why so many conver in issues why we are doing this but the teachers the parents and the students we are questioning the how how are
033we going to implement this in a systemic [Applause] way and by what criteria will we measure the success failure or need to change as we move along how is this going to be measured the district leadership and this board are operating under the false assumption that everything is fine right now we're being told to stop questioning things and let you move forward because we have this ranking or this success measure we're fine however you need to listen to the teachers the students and the parents explain how this is happening how we are maintaining our strong standing as a district despite many academic and social emotional gaps post pandemic the teachers the parents and the students of this District simply refus to fail despite a lack of operational processes and systemwide supports in place to track
034measure and respond to challenges and the teachers have been coming here for 15 months telling you this is the case and they have reached a Breaking Point trust me they don't want to be [Applause] here we are still using pandemic and assessment practices because we are still recovering our current system today not next year today is a house of cards that has at best not been built upon a solid foundation of mtss and operational long-term planning this is placing a tremendous amount of burden on our staff and our students please listen to them the devil is always in the details and a shift of this size in education takes years of operational planning not weeks and months I've been through this it includes careful training and time for our staff to be out of the
035classroom and working together to adjust their practices please stop we need to adjust the plan for next year specifically let's focus on getting into compliance with 7030 a 2015 Act and the APA act in in the least disruptive way these two things alone would allow us to challenge all students in this District without singling any of them out and allow all of them to reach their highest and best possible achievement this would give everybody the same access if we focused on these two things thank you for your consideration [Applause] Jack Birmingham Jack Birmingham approaches the podium good evening my name is Jack Birmingham I'm a graduating senior at Libertyville High School I've been in District for all four years of my high school education and I have been living in Libertyville with my family since
036fifth grade when we moved here from gry Lake one of the big selling points of Libertyville was how good its education system is momentary pause it's amazing there aren't a lot of words to describe it we're consistently ranked d128 I mean not even just Liberty Bill is consistently ranked as we saw recently top top 10 in the state or better we have award-winning athletic teams we have award-winning clubs and extracurriculars we consistently test higher and do better and perform better than many other schools and at the last meeting where I spoke I said the way I see it things never needed to change so why are we changing now I think back to the board meetings that I've been to there have been a few this is not my first I'm hopeful that it will
037not be my last despite my graduation I still remember my first board meeting which was my sophomore year and the big issue then was the mask mandate looking back I know that the meeting was very tumultuous there was a lot of chaos there were a lot of dissenting points of view but looking back I can say with confidence we still stood together as a District administration teachers parents students we moved forward d128 was doing what it did best being the example for other schools to follow the truth is high school is hard it's hard it's hardest on the students the world has changed so much since my parents my grandparents some of my relatives were all at the point where I am now and you know what even then even then I still know and
038I knew from the beginning that I had it took to make it through but that was not because of me that was because of the resources that were presented and I wouldn't have made it this far I wouldn't have made it through high school I wouldn't have graduate I wouldn't be walking across the stage on Thursday if it weren't for my teachers my social worker Administration within the Liberty Bill High School building friends my principal there are so many people who have helped me get to where I am so I'm the last person who should really care about these plans because I'm aive graduating senior I walked the stage in three days and I will no longer be affected as of May 23rd 2024 like 9 o'clock pm give or take a little bit right
039but people are going to be affected and just because it it's not happening to me doesn't mean that it should be happening people are going to be negatively impacted by these changes that's just that's just a simple fact and it's not a fact you'll find on one of the sheets that were passed out with a list of grievances about what has been done wrong but it is still a fact nonetheless people are going to be negatively impacted by these changes we must ask ourselves why are we not doing what we do best and being the example d128 could serve as the model for other schools facing these same tumultuous times it's not too late we can still be the example and I'll leave that up to you guys [Applause] [Music] [Applause] John hle John hell
040approaches the podium good evening John hell I have two daughters one an incoming freshman one a junior this upcoming year greatly concerned about what's Happening Here but before I get started I want to say thank you to the student council you guys have withstood a very adverse year with what's been going on in this District thank you for your resiliency teachers thank you for your resiliency because it has been a very adverse year the teachers here in our school district have been the glue that holds the school together and the education under superintendent Herman's chaotic divisive deceptive disorganized defiant disingenuous and distrustful tenure the last three years it's become quite evident M Herman and Mrs hle and other Schoolboard members members have lost the trust of the teachers students parents and the community this school
041board has been complacent regarding all the current matters in D28 d128 and have not held superintendent Herman accountable for all the chaos she is creating here in our school district and community complacency equals complicity superintendent Herman and many of the administrators are operating in as Silo with evidence of bullying and a toxic culture from within the District administration and the school walls as we have learned from foyer requests and evidence by the extremely poor staff teacher surveys teacher Union confidence teacher Union grievances the trust has been lost the school board members have remained steadfast in their support for superintendent and specifically Lisa hessle Don carmichel and Jim Batson covering all the bad mistakes covering up all the bad mistakes being made the last three years superintendent Herman and Boe president hessle have been gaslighting this
042community in public statements made District Communications to everyone and then it's all completely contradicted by the teachers parents and Community it's now become evident there was no structured organized effective plan developed for mtss for the teachers and students to to support the new education initiatives proposed the plans you see today weren't even in draft form two months ago superintendent Herman has been negligent in making our district academically compliant on 7030 and the APA communication and implementation what was the superintendent Herman doing the last three years now we have a third new grading platform in three years equidistant grading and it was not even a grading platform four years ago and is not broadly used in the US it literally lowers the bar on student gr grading we have yet to get superintendent Herman Administration to
043clearly explain the new e of distant grading platform if they can't explain it how are the teachers students and parents going to understand it this community and teachers don't trust you superintendent Herman and Lisa hustle Don carmichel Cara Benjamin and Jim Batson your ego's arrogance and lack of accountability are remarkable putting them over the students teachers and Community concerns well-being and input we must have accountability and restore trust in our teachers students parents and the community superintendent Herman mus go and many of these school board members in the next election cycle otherwise our students best interests and teachers will be compromised for years [Applause] [Music] Nate wers Nate recers approaches Podium good evening my name is Nate reers and I'm a senior at Vernon Hills with graduation sitting just a few days away I wanted
044to start off by taking a moment to thank the amazing teachers and staff we have in our building our staff is tremendous at their respective jobs and they're even better people we love you all your support inside and out of the classroom is truly appreciated and makes a huge impact on our lives my peers and teachers here would tell you just how much this community has meant to me and how much I have cherished being a cougar so much in fact that I've decided to pursue a degree in secondary education hoping to continue the legacy of the amazing teachers who have touched my life with this being said many of my peers have been concerned for some time only growing more concerned with each day that passes I've attended many board meetings throughout the year
045and have now spoken three times this year as well previously many of my peers and I spoke about our opposition to the changes to the calendar later in the year I once again spoke this time about how students felt unheard I am far from the only student who has shared their voice and many of us feel our voices are being completely ignored beyond that our teachers feel ignored and it is apparent to us each and every day while our teachers are fighting for us they're growing increasingly frustrated and our stressed uh yeah in our stress teachers feel unheard unseen and unappreciated as powerful initiatives continue to be forced upon them without feeling they have the support to make them successful they have gone to express these concerns at many board meetings prior to tonight our
046teachers do everything in their power to foster a community and stand by our mission statement while it feels leadership above them continuously ignores the same statement documents regarding discrimination lawsuits against our district have become public information this week and many students have grown concerned it is hard to admit you're a cougar when the D and daring is starting to feel like it stands for discrimination the once Lively and prideful student body now feels like we're moving in the wrong direction a student created petition calling for reconsideration of our leadership has reached 71 signat since being created just two short days ago we are pleading with the community and the board to now reconsider who is leading the district and ensure that our beloved schools do not take a turn for the worse I would like
047to end with a quote from Maya Angelo that reads a leader sees greatness in other people he nor she can be much of a leader if all she sees is herself it's time to see our students and our teachers thank you [Applause] shuti Rosario shudy Rosario approaches the podium hi good evening my name is shudy Rosario and I am a senior here at bhhs throughout my time here teachers faculty staff and my classmates have thrived in a school that is built on community the community here starts with the foundation of our mission statement our daring statement reads as follows D for dreamers and doers a for aware R for resilient I for inquisitive n for nimble and G for Global the work to uphold this statement is significant and requires great leaders and great people
048with a working Vision to create consistent positive change in our community at this time students feel that the District administration has not lived up to this same mission statement while the D and daring is supposed to stand for dreamers and doers we feel that the board has disregarded our dreams and refused to listen to student voices when attempting to act as doers within the community for example despite extreme pressures from parents teachers and students the board decided to go through with the highly opposed new student calendar next is aware while the community has been extremely vocal given our concerns with school boards work this year once again regarding the calendar and now new initiatives we feel that the board must be unaware of the way it has affected our community if they were aware we
049feel different actions would have been taken the r stands for resilience and the school Community has been extremely resilient throughout this year dealing with challenges is nothing new for anyone and our school Community has done a great job at being continuously strong when giving the school board a chance to be resilient we feel they have continued to blindly push initiatives and not listen to parents students and most importantly teachers about necessary steps to make these successful the I stands for inquisitive and while the student body understands the complicated aspects that running a school requires we feel that the school board has lacked creative thinking and has rushed decisions made this year without community support from teachers students and families even currently we are pleading with you for change the next letter we have concerns with
050is the G Global we feel that the board disregarded this piece of the statement going through with the operational calendar and not appreciating the diversity within the special Community we have the student body is pleading with you to reconsider the leadership in the district to better represent the daring Mission Maya Angela once said when someone shows you who they are believe them the first time thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] next is adash jail Adar jail approaches the podium good evening esteemed board members my name is Adar I'm a senior here at Vernon Hills High School I stand you stand before you today as a representative of the student body to address a going concern that affects both our students and us the the teachers and our students it is an issue of frustration frustration that
051starts with our teachers and in inevitably spills over to us creating a cycle that undermines the very Foundation of our educational experience as daring students we hold our teachers in high regard we see their dedication their passion and their tireless efforts to educate and Inspire us our loyalty to them is unwavering we want them to succeed not only for ourselves but to honor the commitment they show us every day however we cannot ignore the reality that many of our teachers are feeling increasingly frustrated and demoralized due to the decisions that have been made over the last couple years their frustration is palpable and as empathetic beings we students absorb it when our teachers are disheartened it affects their ability to teach effectively which in turn affects our ability to learn imagine walking into the classroom
052where the teacher overwhelmed by external pressures and frustration struggles to maintain enthusiasm it becomes a place of tension rather than a sanctuary of learning we feel it and it impacts our own morale we begin to question our own efforts and potential when we see the support we rely on become compromised we are here to ask for your support in addressing these concerns we plead with the community and board to listen to the teachers our loyalty to our teachers is a testament to the respect and admiration we have for them but loyalty enough is not alone we need action it is a part of the mission in daring to be dreamers and doers and participating with the belief to create change let us work together to build a better future for our schools where teachers feel
053valued and supported where decisions are made with respect to the people who get impacted and students can flourish in a positive and encouraging atmosphere I leave you with the quote from Maya Angelo develop enough courage so that you stand up for yourself and then stand up for someone else thank you [Applause] haly Diaz Haley Diaz approaches the podium good evening to the board teachers families and fellow students here in attendance tonight my name is Haley Diaz a senior of vhhs and a representative of the student body and in support of our Community the reality of our situation is dire the student voices of d128 feel disrespected and ignored us students come to school every single day with a passion for Learning and building connections but most of all a passion to make a difference the
054district has created a unified and undeniable outrage among students that has led me and my graduating peers to speak with you tonight our teachers have known shown us nothing but love nurture care and motivational words of kindness that push us to succeed the pride of being a cougar is immense and we could not do this alone our teachers and staff are an integral part of our success and they exhibit dedication to their jobs each and every single day on behalf of my peers who spoke before me Nate shudy and a Dar we would like to emphasize the passion we have for this District the four of us all graduate this Thursday on May 23rd during a week that is meant to be celebrating not just our success but the successes of our entire senior class
055we are still here fighting for the future cougars of Vernon Hills and the wild cats of Libertyville we plead with the district to hear the community's cries and act accordingly the future of the district relies on making important decisions and we hope our Legacy is creating that positive change please listen to us but more importantly hear the voices presented before you tonight in conclusion I would like to leave you with one final quote from Maya Angelo you have no idea what your legacy will be because your legacy is every life that you touch thank [Applause] you Robin Sherman Robin Sherman approaches the podium good evening I am Robin Sherman and I have students in the LA school here and before I speak I'd like to address the panel because as I was sitting there observing
056everyone a great number of you are showing very little interest in what people are saying out here many have an expression on their face that they are annoyed or they are looking at their computers or finding something better to do and maybe that is why we're in the position we're in today is because you refuse to listen to everyone here begging and pleading to hear us but today I'm going to focus on what a previous speaker has commented on already and I'm going to address the lack of Interest or I would like to address my concern over Miss hussle's conduct and performance as a board member and officer Miss hustle you were part of the board that hired Dr Herman without vetting her background obviously you are also part of the board that prematurely extended
057her contract by five years you have a clear allegiance to Dr Herman and a deep content for the community you firmly defend her and belittle the constituents that elected you you approved millions in wasteful spending and very questionable hiring you approved teacher cuts while simultaneously moving forward with the curriculum over call that requires more staff not less your words and actions have been disrespectful and dismissive of the parents students community members and most importantly the teachers I'm left wondering why we are in this position you were elected to represent us but it seems like you are only representing Miss Herman and I question what the reason for that is if we are getting all this misinformation what exactly are you doing to clarify this information with us because I have had no one reach out
058to me to clarify any misinformation that has been going on this goes for other board members as well I have read texts that were sent by board members pretty much bullying members for questioning the board this is unacceptable Behavior it is time to do the job you were elected for and represent your teachers your students and the community thank [Applause] you Maria Monahan Maria manahan approaches the podium good evening my name is Maria manahan I have two children at LHS the first thing I want to do is address the teachers and I am going to be a little bit presumptuous and assume I'm speaking for everyone here uh audience members if you agree with me then feel free to clap and eat up some of my time because I'm a fast talker I'll get through
059all of my points teachers you are phenomenal we love you we support you 100% pause for Applause the teachers know our kids they know what works in the classroom they are the experts that we trust and from my experience teachers have that growth mindset that's such a big catchphrase in the field right now they really are continually looking for ways to improve their craft and they're very open-minded so if they come across something and say wait a minute you know we have some concerns we don't think this is going to work it's not because they're rigid or inflexible it's because they have real concerns and you need to listen to [Applause] [Music] them um May maybe it's a poor analogy but I'll run with it I feel like you have uh essentially purchased the educational
060equivalent of like a ShamWow you know or a Ginsu knife set and you were told like oh this is going to take care of all these problems but when the teachers got it they said wait a minute uh this knife is dull this one is a stick I can't do anything with it uh I have helpers in the kitchen but they're not really qualified to handle this and if the kids use them you know they might get stabbed or hurt um so I really think you need to listen to them if they are telling you that it doesn't work it doesn't work and I would just ask you please if this fails which seems to be that that's what the teachers think is going to happen when this doesn't work don't blame the teachers don't
061say that it's because they didn't implement it properly or that they didn't buy into it because that is a coward's way out so do the right thing listen to them and vote accordingly thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you Erin Khan Aaron Khan approaches the podium good evening my name is Aaron Khan I'm a lifelong Libertyville resident and a mother of two students my oldest son is currently at LHS and my younger son will be there in another year tonight I want to tell you that your decisions matter more than you think and I want to emphasize how they impact our home values I have been a full-time realtor for 19 years in Libertyville and the greater Lake County area I have worked through the housing boom the housing crash and every Market in between
062for most people their single largest asset is their home that means when you purchased your home it was the single largest purchase of your lifetime the value of your home is likely very important to you and here are the real facts Illinois has lost population for 10 consecutive years in 2023 Illinois had the third largest population loss in the country number two Illinois is is the second highest property taxes in the nation and lucky Us Lake County has the highest within the state number three Illinois property values are not keeping Pace with the nation or inflation and came in dead last for home value appreciation in 2023 homes have appreciated only about 133% over the last two decades whereas States like Florida Texas Montana and Idaho have increased 139% and scary to believe we rank
063lower than Michigan where they suffered the bankruptcy of Detroit what has always driven our low our local market though is the excellent schools but it doesn't seem to be enough for people anymore they are willing to uproot their children from these schools for greener pastures and I am the boots on the ground realtor who is experiencing this firsthand in my own business I have had more sellers leave Illinois over the last four years alone than my entire 19-year career and five months into the year I have had all sellers leave the state of Illinois this year board members your voice is supposed to be the voice of your community the taxpayers are already suffering enough and your legacy on this board will follow you for years to come you have the power to keep our
064community strong and we rely very heavily on the success of our schools when it comes to our home values we care deeply about our community our children's future futes our own Futures and the futures of our Educators who made this District what it is I look back to 2008 when I had to tell sellers that their homes were not even worth what they owed on their mortgage I don't ever want to see that happen again to any of us please listen to the community we want our school scores to remain high we want positive energy back in our schools we want teachers to be heard and valued we want fiscal responsibility with our tax dollars we want a competent and honest superintendent fix these things listen to the community and help keep Libertyville and Vernon
065Hills a valuable place to own a home thank [Applause] you Gwen Jansen Gwen Jansen approaches the podium good evening um I'm here tonight to raise my voice in support of our amazing District 128 teachers um but also to share some concerns and questions that I have about the path forward like many other people I have serious concerns about the support draft plan being called mtss I'm especially concerned for the students new to rigor and expectation of high school honors and AP cherry-picked data Paints the picture that only an additional 17 students will be taking their first AP or honors courses this fall beyond what is typical preap but why is freshman data left off all presentations how many more freshmen are taking AP or honors courses than past years I and others have emailed the
066district to request freshman enrollment data and tentative freshman sectioning for 2024 2025 we wanted to see just how significant the impact is with that group we were told the information would be shared by Foya request only this is not transparent this is not open communication what this is is concerning and frustrating and interesting I also find it interesting that incoming ninth grade families were told that their children were recommended for honors or AP but we were given no context to understand how drastically the benchmarks had shifted without Benchmark context how were we expected to make informed decisions about where our children would be successful the APA stipulates that students should be enrolled in the next most rigorous course but how is it acceptable that students at bhhs are recommended for AP courses because half a
067dozen missing core content honors courses are not here that are available at Libertyville and at what point can we admit that accelerating students into more rigorous coursework without a well-defined plan for support is negligent and doing this without providing clear context for placement is entrapment We are failing our students our families and we are failing our amazing Educators we need to do better please do better [Applause] Daniela gavick Daniela gavric approaches the podium good evening board members parents students teachers um I want to say my name is Daniela gavick I'm a lifelong resident of Libertyville I only not lived in Libertyville four years when I attended College I have three kids that are going through or have gone through uh d128 I am a senior director of it so I am someone who has led
068major initiatives especially around training and upskilling and so I have a little bit experience to understand comprehensive plans I said all of this in context because I recently became aware of multiple impending major changes at d128 and have been paying really close attention to the information that has been presented and put forth by The District administration I'm really shocked to hear and learn that the District administration is launching not one two three but four totally new unsupported educational initiatives in the fall and with absolutely no plan and minimal existing support and over the past few weeks I've attended these meetings and I've done research and I'm trying to understand how you Cobble together some sort of makeshift multi-tiered system of support so this mtss is really supposed to um have students intervention in mind and
069be time bound and there should be smart interventions which means they should be specific measurable and consistent that's what smart goals are I create them every year for hundreds of resources so I understand when you create goals you have comprehensive plans that support it this requires synthesized data systems such as a foundation with all staff so what those that I work with that would be trainers Educators Administration that really has access with all of the standardized metrics and they drive through student mastery across a Continuum and in a previous webinar District leadership touted varsity tutors as one of the solutions for our students struggling in their classes so I did some research and we were told that Varsity Tutors are experts and they um include retired teachers College professors and even current teachers this is
070not an accurate description Varsity Tutors pay their tutors only $15 an hour they are there are no college or course requirements to be a tutor in this content area and there is currently a class action guess what lawsuit by employees against Varsity Tutors and the employee tutors can more accurately describe their tutoring experience so I'm going to quote them one stated you have no support system not even a supervisor or manager to assist a person to talk to live or any type of coaching you're constantly flying bind by the seed of your pants with minimal communication or guidance and another Varsity tutor described tutoring as there's virtually no support for remote tutors there isn't anyone ever available from the help desk I work in it that's a problem and no one ever answers emails and
071there is minimal training and no one responds to requests for clarification or help and if tutoring themselves these tutors feel like they're ill prepared to help our students how will our own students feel and I have three kids one graduated d128 the other one's a junior at d128 and I have another one coming in in a couple of years they all have different learning styles and experience so I'm really if you wouldn't mind please wrap it up it's a real what we need to talk about is this is not a real plan and it's not going to help our students we would be better served taking the $100,000 and hiring a full-time teacher for the arc or mash my students have used this I just want to wrap up and say superintendent Herman's plan is
072asking students to stretch Way Beyond what and without an effective comprehensive plan in place to ensure success it's really unacceptable by a board that you approved these sweeping dramatic changes you enacted it without having operational procedures in place to be successful and as a result it's going to be a total mess in the fall of 2024 when I have a senior going through and her younger their younger sister is going to try to emulate and look up to and try to emulate what's happening so there's four unsupported initiatives we shouldn't be in the position as a community to pay millions of ta taxpayer dollars for this this board must behold themselves and superintendent Herman accountable thanks Mar novaro Marney Navaro approaches the podium good evening I am Marney Navaro lifelong Libertyville resident proud District 70
073and District 128 graduate and mother of of a current District 70 student I speak to you tonight as always as a deeply concerned individual incoming D20 D 128 parent and taxpayer it was a short three months ago that I first heard that District 128's historically High performing curriculum was being dramatically altered the first thing I did was email superintendent Herman and ask for a sitdown meeting to understand what was happening and more importantly why I and three other deeply concerned parents current and incoming parents all Savvy professionals sat down and met with superintendent Herman and left the meeting feeling more concerned not less we've since spent countless hours and copious amounts of time researching and issuing floods of foas to get to the truth about what is happening and continues to happen in District 128
074under the short and tumultuous three-year tenure of superintendent Herman and it is much more and much worse than we could have imagined we've prepared substantive summaries which are available to the public online at District 128 United or Dare Facebook pages and we also have hard copies here tonight I've also taken the liberty of emailing them to the board members every District 128 taxpayer current and incoming parent and Community member should be aware of what is happening in District 128 and to our hard-earned tax dollars at this trajectory there won't be a district 128 worth attending by the time my daughter makes it to LHS tonight the district 128 Union actually this morning made an unprecedented move and overwhelmingly voiced over 90% vote a vote of no confidence in superintendent Herman and called for her immediate
075termination and well done we parents students community members and taxpayers Echo that call and you our duly elected representatives our seven representatives are the only ones who can do anything about it we've watched in despair as our many emails and inquiries go unanswered as our mics are cut and we as we are disregarded gaslit and treated with contempt by board president Lisa hustle and this Administration how far our district has fallen how disappointed I am to see and hear how this Administration bullies our students into silence for board president hessle to bully other board members into submission in the face of this loud unanimous outcry bipartisan outcry of all your stakeholder groups this is our hometown many of us moved back to raise our CH our children here predicated primarily on the historical strength of
076our Schools board members it didn't have to come to this the teachers have been crying out to you for over 14 months and have been completely disregarded once we parents got wind we've been crying out for three months only to be met with the same gaslighting smok and mirrors and circle talk the relationship between District 128 teachers and superintendent Herman is irreconcilably broken even if one agreed with any one or more of her imminently impending initiatives they would have zero chance of success zero without the teachers that's a zero you have allowed superintendent Herman to drive our district to the precipice and rubber stamped the hemorrhaging of millions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars make no mistake superintendent Herman and her leadership represent an attack on everything this community believes and holds true hard work a
077solid and rigorous education for our children their Readiness for College and Career meritocracy free speech and representation by our our board and the last thing I will say is tonight last thing tonight we heard from numerous students who embody what it truly means to be daring sharp contrast to superintendent Herman who reduces its meaning to her $117,000 custom furniture in the daring colors shameful the audacity this is our hometown not yours Mrs Herman we will not let you and Miss hessle destroy it thank you [Applause] Risa McDonald Risa McDonald approaches the podium for 25 years I have worked as a higher education strategy consultant helping colleges and universities across the country to evaluate develop Andor execute strategic plans and large scale programmatic change I'd like to outline just a few of the hallm Mars that
078all of my successful clients had in common one they began by defining desired outcomes and working backward to figure out the proper initiatives that were going to get them there and how what metrics they were going to use to measure them I ask what are the desired outcomes here because anytime I hear anyone ask that question or about metrics goals or anything else all I hear from our superintendent is increased access to rigor increased access to rigor rigor rigor rigor rigor is not an outcome it might be a goal it's really more of a value and it looks different for everyone so simply touting access to rigor without talking about what it looks like for different kinds of Learners and not just in terms of their level but in terms of whether they are kinetic
079visual auditory Learners means nothing two their plans were thoroughly vetted locked and loaded and stress test faculty and staff fully trained in implementation before rollout and yet on May 13th our superintendent sat here and said the plan is still in such draft form she wasn't comfortable sharing details because they were going to change so much then she sent an email with a plan that included basically things that already exist and are almost entirely student initiated ask a teacher in class really that's just School peer assistants and study groups they already exist too but unless there is Interventional support to ensure that everyone is in one and is a part of the curriculum then they mean nothing and they don't help if you are shy unpopular the kids in your group don't get it any better
080than you do or you're in a group with that one kid who comes and says yeah let's see your answers first uh Mash Arc those already exist but how are you resourcing them because there's going to be a significantly higher need this is not one- siiz fits-all and you can't leave it up to the students to seek help there's nothing new here and there's nothing Interventional here three my successful clients all all recognized that faculty are the experts and they are the one engine that will make or break your plan here period full stop so this is not a top down by Fiat kind of thing that's going to give you success and we have a superintendent who has no confidence from the union who keeps doubling down on the same empty rhetoric instead of
081listening responding giving a thoughtful response even if she has to hold to some unpopular decisions there's no acknowledgment of the concern I don't understand this but it is not leadership and it is not success um faculty for all my successful clients had a place at the table from day one had equal voice in the decisionmaking and then were trusted to go back out to their peers and figure out how to make it work that is how you succeed with strategic planning and widescale programmatic change I will leave it to you all to decide whether or not you're meeting these Hallmarks but if you're not then this plan is doomed to failure thank you is there anyone else that would like to address the board someone in the back raises their hand in response Socrates Vel
082approaches the podium Socrates Vel Vernon Hills thank you for the opportunity I have to say you always make sure that everybody is heard um I normally don't sign up but I'm just sitting here listening to all this a lot of us have lived in the community for 20 years most of you have as well and as the student said there really is no need to change I had a concerned parent come to me a couple days ago uh in tears thinking that we're we here that we're trying to push to end that movers uh advanced placement and I had to let her know that that's not what's happening and I think in all this noise the message is getting lost but it's basically we're asking you to pause and to make sure that this gets
083done right because at the end of the day the kids are the ones that are going to feel the pain I know some of these board members join for different reasons board members this past 12 months just look back at how much time you spent energy your time on these topics that I know you didn't join the board for Mr carmichel I know you have this big thing for solar panels I don't think you're gonna get them you've been on the board almost two years five years uh Benjamin Carl you joined because you're very Pro teachers union you know look look at how you spent your time the past two years talking to lots of teachers good and community members at that hours and hours you have a lot of teachers here that are hoping
084that you can go to bat for them and this is nothing new I've seen them for past 15 months come and it it's really hard to tell what's going through your minds as some some of the parents here have said you don't care Mr Kelly is probably the worst um sorry but that's how it is every board meeting you're just looking at your laptop not listening to to what people are saying I'm sitting beside Mr Kelly and he's taking very careful notes on what every single constituent is saying this evening for you to for you to indicate that he doesn't care I can't even I can't even put into words every person up here cares I get it but that's that's the image you're portraying I'm not I'm not accusing anything for the for the
085principles I know a couple times and I apologize that you've been thrown in the fire I have a lot of respect for Dr G and it seems like they're the ones that are sent off to deliver the message and I know in the past few meetings you have almost it sounds like you throw the parents on the bus for diagonal movers a lot of times if you don't connect the message that you're putting out is not connected with people you're basically not really connecting with the parents but I just want to say um just hopefully you can get this right because we're all over the new new now and it's somewhat embarrassing thank you Mrs Carl for addressing some of that it is not board protocol to engage in public comment and I am sorry
086if I stepped out by doing that this evening but I'm not going to let you stand here and speak mistruths to the community we deeply care about our community our teachers we are listening and there is a difference between listening and doing exact what people are asking you to do and every single day of our responsibilities we balance that with the duties we have been elected to uph and the school code they were we are elected to uphold by the state of Illinois until you sit in these shoes You couldn't possibly understand what goes through our minds what goes on in our family's homes related to all of this I don't need any thanks validation anything I'm thrilled to do this for the community but I don't know why we're laughing I am I'm thrilled
087to be here thank you it's hard but I will say something you speak to our support or lack thereof for teachers and I just want to point out one quick thing before I turn this over several years ago a lot of people in this room were calling for our teachers to be fired because they were refusing to come into school with proper protections during a global pandemic it's not a lie it's not a lie I'm I'm done I am done we're not going to let we are not going to let this devolve but let's call a spade a spade I think we should move on we are gonna move on to invite can I get are you finished respond real quick yes so I understand how you feel I we've heard your words from everyone
088but the actions are not following through so I'm sorry that there's that disconnect but thank you for addressing that thank you for your [Music] [Applause] time Julie landra approaches the podium I am Julie landra I'm um a Vernon h resident um first and foremost I just want to say that I stand here in solidarity with our teachers my parents parents were teachers um I think that um I've spoken at a lot of the board meetings now and it has been to support them they're the backbone of our school and the Frontline to our students as a new d128 parent I stand here in awe that the past several months where the community has been engaged and concerned about the initiatives and where teachers have been concerned for way longer than that we still have a
089um haven't made a decision to pause what's going forward um you've lost the teachers confidence so how we can expect them to come to a training in the summer when they deserve a break to figure out how what the plan may or may not be is um ridiculous I just hope that tonight moving forward we can regain the trust of our teachers so we don't lose what's most valuable to our district which is their expertise and knowledge with teacher shortages our teachers can easily find work elsewhere and I'm just asking to please act to save the teachers in our district thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] an landra approaches the podium good evening I'm an landra I've been in a resident of District 128 for almost 39 years and I'm not surprised by the recent action
090of the teachers they have been expressing their concerns with the changes in the curriculum for well over a year and are frustrated with the lack of dialogue on these changes it's not an easy job being a superintendent or an administrator you have to have great communication skills within the school and within the community and you have to be willing to dialogue with those two groups to ensure that any concerns are being heard it's not an easy job to find a superintendent I know I have done it twice in this District pre the two previous superintendents I was on the community uh interview committee for Dr cluf and I was on the board that hired prenis Lee both superintendant who understood the need for open dialogue search firms do a lot of the leg work and
091helping look for a new superintendent but the school board should also do their due diligence on candidates we have heard some very questionable background on Dr Herman from the previous from her previous districts it always concerns me when I see people jump from job to job District to District in a short period of time I want to know why I am not sure as the board that you asked that question it seems like the information on Dr Herman was very easy to find and I have to ask if the board did their due diligence in hiring the current superintendent if this previous background information was hidden from you then I and then you hired Dr Herman blindly you had to accept what was what was told to you but if you did see that these
092issues were on her background and you hired her anyway I have to question your judgment and if you were not on the board initially when the hiring happened you also just renewed her contract in just the last year there seems to be a breakdown in communication between Dr Herman and the teachers this has been Pro problematic in her previous districts the teachers over uh excuse me the teachers are the ones that are are taken tasked with the delivery of the curriculum for our students and that instruction has led to our schools being ranked within the top 12 of the state I think they know what they're doing they need a collaboration with the administration and developing any changes not a top-down decision I am very disappointed with the district and this this has been a
093wonderful District I am so proud of our students but I can't be supportive of what's been happening lately with the lack of dialogue and effective communication and by the way I still have not heard anyone supporting these changes [Applause] Kevin Horowitz approaches Podium hello my name is Kevin Horowitz I have a sophomore at Vernon Hills High School and a fifth grader I'm not gonna quote Angelou um but I do want to quote um something a little less than and that is Batman and where Alfred tells B tells Batman in Disguise why do we fall down master Bruce to get back up again in doing so we learn the value of failure of learning what went wrong and doing better to get it better the next time to the board this is what failure looks like
094in this room this is not normal and it's been many many board meetings that we've needed more space to account for the extra people that have needed to be here that is also not normal that is what failure looks like and the hardest thing is accepting failure it doesn't feel good but we brush ourselves off we get back up and we do better and in order to do that hair we have to listen to our nearly 90% of teachers that have said they do not have confidence and that the damage is irreparable for those of you that hired and extended our current superintendent you need to reconsider accept the failure allow your community to forgive you and let's move forward with new [Applause] [Music] [Applause] leadership John hul approaches the podium hi I'm John hul
095I have two students at LHS um what you need here what we heard tonight from these students was incredible very eloquent well spoken and they learned that from their parents and then their teachers all right and they showed just how good this District can be all right now when you have initiatives the most important thing you can do for or can have a success or have them be a success is Buy in all right you need to have Buy in especially from the teachers because if the teachers aren't buying in no matter what you say or do it's not going to work I'm sorry you're going to be wasting time and money you need to get out of this Echo chamber you have here and start talking to us and learn what we're thinking especially
096them see what they can do all right they're the ones doing the work so please rethink this thank [Applause] you someone from the public approaches Podium good evening everyone so I've been listening to these meetings for three months and all I hear is complaints complaints and complaints and everyone feels like you guys are not doing anything you just have to stop and hear the complaints if you heard the parents surveying we had I don't know probably a thousand people surveying and saying you guys need to stop I'm not sure why you're not stopping I'm here to support the teachers I mean if you don't have the teachers you have nothing absolutely [Applause] [Music] nothing if the teachers are telling you this is not good you have to listen to them and I'm sorry to say
097this but this is becoming a very hostile and sick and toxic environment and I don't think there is a way out so please stop and do the right thing thank [Applause] you Andy tro approaches Podium good evening my name is Andy trob and I'm a soft at LHS I'm going to keep this very short your job is not to antagonize the teachers students and community members it is to listen learn and represent us we have voted you into these positions and we have the power to vote you out please listen to us listen to your students listen to your teachers and listen to your community thank you Michael Shank approaches the podium Michael Shank Vern Hills resident uh graduating senior to incoming freshman next year so I wasn't planning on speaking tonight but unfortunately as
098I learn not to in the distant past if I don't have if I have something to say they say it because I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow so it was I was disheartened saddened when I woke up this morning and saw the um report from the teachers unit for the no confidence you know I'm a very big person I love our community and I want you always want the best for your community and anytime any of our momentary pause I would say um our government or our Park District or schools take a hit on the reputation it hurts it truly does but we have to ask ourselves how did we get here and last few weeks I've been really you know I got some friends in diff different High performing districts higher up
099in the administration and just having conversations with them you know get in the lay of the land and then understanding because I'm not an educator I'm not but I am a parent so I count that as education because we have to do our part too and couple things came to mind one it seems that at some point here we got out of the student space and moved tooo much into the adult space and it's hard to explain that but I think you guys can figure that out and I think what we need to do is figure out a way to get back into the student space and with that there's only really one you can ask my wife I like to fix things something's broken I'm always trying to fix it come up with ideas
100I don't sit here and complain or well can't really think of the I don't really want to use the inappropriate word but but what I would love to do is just get you know get your hands in get dirty and fix it and how do I think this can get fixed it's something that we've been lacking it's collaboration collaboration from our teachers are needed collaboration from our parents are needed and collaboration from our board is needed we can't put the walls up we have to get through this because guess what we're in it and this isn't a good thing as I think a previous speaker said but in turn it is a good thing because that means people care our parents deal our parents deal with our children every day our students our students are
101on the front lines with our students every day and I know you guys set the policies but there's something to be said in this group if they feel that the ship is going rudderless right now we got to get back under control and we have to figure it out and collaborate is the key get everyone involved in these teachers on these initiatives you might have to strip it down to fix it I'm not going to sit here and attack anybody individually because that's not what I do because I know somebody can easily attack me and that's fine I can handle it so please if you guys think collaboration is the key is that what you want can collaboration get us out of this let's hear it come on let's go guys we can fix this
102we're not we're not dead yet [Applause] would anyone else like to address the board Lily France approaches the podium good evening my name is l fron and I don't have anything prepared today but I'm a junior at Libertyville High School and I'm gonna keep this very short like Andy most importantly I want to thank my wonderful teachers for all they have done with me for me within my at Libertyville High School I have witnessed firsthand the success they diligently produce every day I beg for you to listen if you won't listen to the teachers or the community members or the professionals please listen to us listen to the students who are who are you are supposed to be supporting with this plan please take a step back readjust and re-evaluate our success as a community
103needs it thank you [Music] anyone else okay at this time I'd like to turn it over to the teachers union for their [Applause] report Monica called deot approaches the podium good evening my name is Monica cicat and I have been the library media specialist here at Vernon Hills High School for nearly 20 years I am also president of the d128 Federation of teachers I am so glad to see many of my colleagues present here [Music] tonight many of us came right to this meeting from our snacks and study night events at two branch locations of cook Memorial Public Library for about 10 years now our Union has hosted and staffed two study nights each year near the end of the semester we want our students to be well prepared for final exams and just as
104importantly we want them to know that we care about them on behalf of our teachers I extend our sincere congratulations to our sister Union the d128 educational support Personnel [Applause] Union our sister Union has recently settled a fair contract with this Administration both our unions are focused on the education health safety and success of our students and we look forward to continuing our effective partnership it was energizing to hear the strong voices of our community during public period public comment period tonight thank you so much to the parents who shared words of encouragement and thank you especially to our students for making us so proud with your thoughtful words and your smart smart delivery thank you as Educators in this incredible District we care about our students their parents and the taxpayers who provide the
105foundation for district 128 we too have spoken out about poor decisions made by superintendent Dr Herman puts in Jeopardy the awardwinning educational practices and ACC claimed Student Success we strive to build on every day in our classrooms members of the d128 Federation of teachers are committed to positive change and growth which is why effective leadership is crucial sadly the fact is that Dr Herman has repeatedly shown that she is incapable of leading d128 through the complex and multifaceted change that has been planned and our students are suffering the most parents and taxpayers should expect a superintendent who can identify the school district's needs and properly plan to support students and staff to address them instead you've all watched for nearly three years as half-baked plans as board member sonel karney correctly named them have been
106floated and changed while the superintendent who inspired them has remained unwilling to work with teachers and administrators even those she handpicked to help our students Thrive a leader who does not listen is not an effective leader members of the school board Your Role is to listen ask questions and oversee the highlevel operation of this school district you depend on the administration to make effective day to-day decisions and to bring to you educational plans that make sense Dr Herman has thrown you under the bus making you the fallu for her poor leadership the hot seats you feel under you are not deserved you can only work with what you're given and Dr Herman has not given enough our students parents and taxpayers deserve much better that's why as concerned Educators who cared deeply about this District
107we had no other Choice than to take this important vote and make our voice heard therefore the d128 Federation of teachers has taken and overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Dr Denise Herman nearly 90% of our members approved this resolution of the members who voted 99% voted [Applause] yes our resolution reads whereas Dr Herman has created a chaotic and hostile work environment forcing multiple administrators to leave our district in the past year whereas Dr Herman launched a multitude of educational initiatives simultaneously opting to eliminate some effective supports for students while failing to create thoughtful and organized plans for new ones for the 2024 25 school year therefore leaving students without a fully realized system whereas Dr Herman violated our Union's collective bargaining agreement by completing the sectioning of 2024 25
108classes with no discussion or input from the union despite our contract clearly stating this discussion requirement whereas Dr Herman has squandered d128 funds by making poor financial decisions that have cost taxpayers money whereas Dr Herman has fed distrust among educators by misrepresenting our involvement and approval of d128 decisions whereas Dr Herman riged on the imminent settlement of a 2022 union grievance in which District administration violated our collective bargaining agreement by allowing Department shares to direct and overpower the work of our professional learning communities whereas Dr Herman condoned the change ing of a correct grade assigned by an educator in favor of an inflated grade issued by a department chair after a three-hour private summer tutoring session with the student whereas Dr Herman has not met any of her three self-assigned culture and climate goals whereas
109Dr Herman has repeatedly ignored the history and tradition of professionalism and Excellence that d128 Educators have grown and fostered resulting in unprecedentedly low morale whereas Dr Herman attempted to block the legal granting of professional tenure to 12 Educators whereas Dr Herman resisted paying the stipend owed to seven Educators in the English learner program despite the fact that the stipend named District identified priorities in our collective bargaining agreement was suggested and written by her own Administration whereas the d128 union has exhausted all avenues to communicate concerns with Dr Herman at Labor Management committee meetings via Union messages and attendance at school board meetings and even directly to her at regular superintendent Union president meetings and superintendent roundtables Dr Herman's unwillingness to listen is notably apparent therefore be it resolved that the d128 Federation of teachers strongly
110expresses a vote of no confidence in superintendent Dr Denise Herman we call for the Community High School District 128 Board of Education to remove Dr Herman immediately we call for a leader who is capable of maintaining and fostering the Excellence that has long been recognized at d128 as well as to promote positive change and build upon the outstanding Legacy of this District on behalf of the teachers in District 128 we urge the board to make a desperately needed change in leadership our district deserves no l us thank [Applause] you pause for Applause pause for Applause app pause for Applause camera turns to board members Dr Denise Herman good evening it's human nature to want to be liked but whenever that desire or need becomes a leadership motive or the reason why you make decisions in
111your organization expect trouble effective leadership is all about doing the right thing not what's popular when facing tough times or hard decisions disciplined leaders call upon courage to consistently make ethical choices following Illinois school code and fully implementing The Accelerated placement Act is not a choice it is the law following Illinois school code and implementing heterogeneous classes to comply with the 7030 rule is not a choice it is the law following these laws has meant going against the status quo and losing allies the fact that some people believe these laws do not apply to our school district or that students should not benefit from access to a rigorous learning environment is disappointing all students deserve access to a highquality education the state legislators knew that without these new placement practices being required by law some
112communities would push back for some of the same reasons our teachers and community members are citing doing the right thing and not the popular thing means sacrificing convenience or struggling emotionally physically and mentally at times regardless of the pain however here's a certainty every leader experiences time when that line must be drawn this is my line I will stand by my unwavering values of integrity and Equity I will not back down from doing what is best for students and student learning I will continue to practice what brune brown calls courageous leadership she says the only thing I know for sure is that if you're going to dare greatly you're going to get your butt kicked at some point if you choose courage you will absolutely no failure disappointment setback setbacks even heartbreak that's why we
113call it Courage that's why it's so rare in leading the school district I did not anticipate this level of Challenge from the teaching staff or Community especially given their commitment to the daring Mission our strategic plan and the district's adoption and allegiance to the racial equity and inclusion policy 7 col 12 every decision I have made has been aligned with the district's policy with state law and is in the best interest of all students but especially those voices who have been traditionally marginalized some people question my calm demeanor during these turbulent times and may think that I'm not listening or that I do not care but nothing could be further from the truth it is my deep care for students student learning this school district and the future of public education that I am staying
114strong resilient and peaceful peace it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise or trouble or hard work it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart thank [Applause] you I'm going silence please we are not going to devolve into that kind of a meeting we are going to review the agenda from here on out and we are going to um after I review the agenda um we are going to have our student Schoolboard representative reports and review foil requests as well as additional good news our consent vote agenda includes items that we have reviewed extensively in our committee meetings um these are items that are routinely approved by the board with a single motion minutes destruction of closed SE session recordings
115educational tour requests employment matters disposal of obsolete Capital Equipment bills payable and financial reports these items have gone through board committee review and recommendation documentation concerning these items has been provided to all board members and the public in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member do we have any board members wishing to remove items from the consent agenda tonight no okay seeing none after the consent vote agenda we will move on to items for Action uh the first four items came out of the program and Personnel committee and Don caruk will take us through those and then items e through I came out of fnf and Jim Batson will take us through those after we complete the items for
116Action we will move on to items for discussion we will have a a review of the student and staff support plan for the diagonal movers we will review our board policies for a first reading this is our second set that we uh reviewed last week in committee um and then we will have a discussion of our fiscal year 25 tenative budget after completing the items for discussion we will have items for information including the superintendent report we will discuss board comments and events do we have an iasp report this evening nothing from IP do we have a seall report nothing from seedall uh we will review future agenda items and then we will retire to Executive session we will move to convene in close session in order to discuss Collective negotiating matters under 5 IL
117cs120 2c2 as well as employment of employees under 5il cs120 2c1 and I am very pleased to confirm that after we return from open session we will be taking action to approve the first educational support professionals Union contract after that we will move to adjourn so at this time I would like to turn it over sadly for the last time to our student board Reps for their final report than than pure of Aurora thank you everyone before I begin I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the great privilege I've had to represent the Vernon Hill students these are the people I've been fortunate enough to grow up with these past few years I've become friends with many of them and I'm extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to represent them in these board
118meetings with that it's been a pleasure serving and here's my last board report firstly on April 24th 17 Vernon Hill students attended the national National History Day state competition in Springfield for the US History Fair of the 17 five placed and earned the state finalist title momentary pause from there they will now advance to the National History Day national competition this summer at the University of Maryland at College Park congratulations to Katherine Eustace Ana Gupta Michelle utus braa Malhotra and Caleb gun and special shout out to Caleb who was the fifth student in the last four years to advance to Nationals this year was the first year in which students had digital AP exams after conversing with a few students who've taken both the digital and writing AP exams it's clear that the digital AP
119exams seem to be popular among AP social study students as they claim it's easier to type out their responses to Long essay questions and short answer questions additionally they noted it was easier to manage their time as the timer on the program would allow them to not have to hunt for the clock in the room every time they would need to check out the time the student organized senior Sunrise took place this this Saturday Sunday after an exciting night at the senior party more on that later there over a hundred students had a good time playing volleyball skipping rocks and swimming in the lake as the sun rose conversely a few decided to go with the calmer route and sat with with friends picnic style while watching the sunrise lastly with graduation right around the
120corner staff has selected CI steel to be the senior speaker for the class of 2024 graduation she was honored today at the honors graduation thank you rui sub [Applause] renan May was a great month in the fine arts department with beautiful final performances being performed by dedicated students firstly the final band concert of the Year took place on April 30th there soloist Karen Kai performed a meticulous flute performance there talented seniors received awards for their contributions to the music department and Dr director Randy Sandell was given a life siiz cutout of himself holding a Sunny D bottle by the class of 2024 if you'd like to see it it's still in the music department hallway we would also like to send a big hearty congratulations to our Wind Ensemble who performed at the University of
121Illinois superstate band festival and was named the honor band the state champion for the sixth time with Randy sundell directing the final orchestra concert took place last Tuesday May 14th there senior solist Noah Kim performed a breathtaking performance on piano seniors were honored and celebrated with the traditional senior video taking place where students were are shown animated by a VH Alum telling their favorite Orchestra memory on May 10th and 11th dancers performed in orchus with this year's title Fusion this breathtaking show was created by hardworking dancers who choreographed pieces and also diligent sponsors who helped create dances some notable pieces included red light choreographed by Paul Paulina cha and Lisa nudin and better have my money choreographed by Tanya m in addition to these beautiful shows student run Publications like Whispers and the Yearbook were
122distributed and celebrated in the past month students excitedly took their yearbooks to classes this week waiting to sign notes onto each others the yearbook is made by a hardworking class in BH who works hard to make their make the 271 page remembrance of the school year students notably mention the senior connection where the staff of the yearbook meticulously connected the class of 2024 by whether they went to the same middle school together or if two people played little together Whispers is the annual VH literary magazine housing student artwork poems and short stories this publication shows the sheer amount of talent at BH and the creativity the students hold Whispers also had a booth open in the Arts and action show on May 17th arts in action takes place in the foer of our school where
123student artwork is displayed and a small stage is built from 600 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. there was never a dull moment whether you were getting your face painted a butterfly observing the beautiful Creations from students in art classes or listening to love notes perform additionally talented students were selected to display their Arts at the 2024 Illinois High School Northern Regional art exhib exhibition in Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago Illinois congrat congratulations to Cali Bennett Joy ning Leila Ramy Orlando Alis sandal Sunny Catalan and Veronica demitria only one student is selected from each High School to enter into the live live draw figure drawing Throwdown Challenge and this year it was The Talented cretive Val by kova with the end of the year approaching this also means that the gring pilot is Ting and next year
124it will be fully implemented while at the beginning it was slightly Rocky with many different grading scales by the end many teachers have found a rhythm with what they're doing and students know what to expect to do in each class however with the new grading policy some questions still remain unknown to students like how will affect finals week finally I would like to express my gratitude to the board my fellow reps and Dr G for this opportunity to represent my school student voice is so important to the daring Mission and I can say with confidence that this position has allowed me to grow into a daring person and carry that perspective into higher education and Beyond as I leave this rule I want to continue to stress the importance of student voice and participation as
125I hope this role flourishes further in the hands of Danny Griffin and Iman thank you endlessly Maya Ral good evening following today's board meeting in mark the end of my role as student board representative I wanted to start off by saying thank you to Dr G my fellow board reps and the d128 community and board of education for allowing me to share perspectives activities and celebrations from buron Hills High School each board meeting while hearing my input on various topics discussed at the meetings I believe that student voice is so important and valuable for the success of school of the schools so I look forward to continued collabor collaboration with the board and the next group of Representatives on the topic of being some of the last the seniors just wrapped up their final year
126with the honors assembly this morning where the seniors were recognized for their outstanding achievements during their time at vhhs they also had the time to celebrate with each other during the senior party which took place at the Sundance Saloon in mundeline this past Saturday many of the seniors said they enjoyed the various which had activities like tarot reading and airbrush tattoos seniors also celebrated their decisions on their post secondary plans on May 3rd pictures were taken and some breakfast was had while recognizing their decisions they have made with their future with senior celebration the class of 2024 vhhs graduation is set to take place at the new venue Rosemont Theater on Thursday as we were approaching that day I was able to have some conversations with a few seniors on how they felt about this
127change in summary many felt that their parents are pleased with the additional tickets provided momentary pause but wish for the location to be closer in order to have some of their friends who are in their younger grades be there personally speaking the increase in the number of tickets provided to each of to each of us was definitely exciting for both my parents and I as I now can enjoy this accomplishment with a few more of my family members while the change in location from the high school is Bittersweet as a ceremony will not be in the halls of the high school anymore on the sports side of things vhhs spring Sports have been crushing it our girls track team finished a CSL Champions and Senior Anna Anna Lester qualified for state in the 800 meter
128and 1600 meter she finished 19th over overall out of 44 competitors for our boys volleyball team they've won the CSL once again as well as after clinching a victory against n North this is the team's fourth time in a row winning the title badminton is also doing their thing with Junior naha karney leading the way and several others qualifying for the state tournament girls soccer just upset at the Deerfield Warriors to take home the Regional Title on home soil they are looking forward to continuing their postseason run on Wednesday against St berer our boys track and field team also had a successful season and will continue it with many athletes making it to the state finals good luck to everyone and thank you [Music] again Molly ner field trips have returned to LHS is all
129lingering Co restri restrictions have been lifted AP Literature took a field trip to watch Romeo and Julia at the Shakespeare Theater AP biology ventured to the Lincoln Park Zoo Outdoor Ed took on a ropes course AP environmental science continues to visit various natural research research sites and so many more classes in so many more places these field trips are a great way to apply experience and enjoy the concepts discussed in class to local areas field trips are also taken advantage of by clubs as members of the Student Life Committee of principal Advisory Board took the train downtown for field trip to the merchandise Mark Junior Maddie bleer accompanied this trip as part of yearbook and shared that she thought the field trip was not only super fun but also important as she had a direct
130voice in choosing the new flexible Furniture she would be using in the yearbook classroom next year next I'll talk about two end of Year celebrations seniors participated in senior day before school in the cafeteria where they wore shirts that reflected their future plans took photos enjoyed a variety of snacks and marked the map to celebrate their next year plans senior zingle thought it was a great way for seniors to recognize and reap the benefits of all the hard work they've put in during the year she enjoyed sharing her plans with staff and other students and thought all the activities were super fun overall the event was great to get seniors excited for what's to come Friday there was yearbook distribution day complete with bouncy houses balloon animals a dunk tank snow cones and of course
131yearbooks editor and chief Caitlyn guyovich shared her thoughts about the day being able to see our hard work be put in the hands of students students and students excitement about the event and signing each other's yearbooks meant so much to our staff and was so impactful I really hope this event continues for years because not only is it a fun event for our students but it is a very touching it is very touching for our yearbook staff now time to make it about me first I would like to thank Dr k for granting me this opportunity and the various staff and students that have helped me out and supported me in my position this year especially my fellow board reps R Kyle Louie Maya RI PAB I'm not only grateful but honored to be alongside
132you I will miss you and I can't wait to see what you all accomplish in the next few years next year I will be attending the University of California Irvine for biological sciences and bioinformatics I will continue to stay involved continuing to share my voice and thoughts in this new environment finally to next year's board reps sitting over there I wish you best of luck continue to share your voice as it's your most powerful asset and I look forward to seeing seeing all the greatness that you'll bring to these chairs next year thank you Lou Perry good evening first of all thank you to Dr k for your support throughout the year and the opportunities he gave each of us in this possession thank you to the students of LHS who allowed us to share
133their position and experiences throughout the 2023 24 school year thank you for the opportunity to learn and understand how an elect Body Works in a school Community with various and differing perspectives from all stakeholders a special thank you to Mrs debruler in the front office at LHS for her patience and constant writing of passes for US representatives and student voices of perspect and perspective on policy decisions is very important valuating those perspectives and hearing them as well as integrating them into policy is even more important and I look forward to seeing how our future board reps will amplify those voices and challenge to find ways to keep student perspectives at the Forefront of the district now Switching gears finals are approaching this week for L students at LHS there has been some confusion for some
134seniors in their teachers regarding exemption and non- exemption senior Ella dmore said I was confused by final policies and how it seemed to be confusing to teachers no one really seemed to know the answer for whether you had to come to class or not because it felt it wasn't communicated as well while Julia bogs and other senior said she just wish she knew what the policies were sooner than later overall P finals policies weren't initially clear and some clarity to some students with set exemption policies and one email or Google draft would have been beneficial rather than getting new information that changed each day from class to class regardless We wish all students the best of luck on their upcoming exams the varsity boys tennis team had a great season according to junor Jack Herber
135we all had our ups and downs but in the end I'm proud of what we produced he said the team dominated at conference and the fresh singles player Chase purus will be heading down to State Gerber also said overall next tennis I've seen from the boys and I can't wait to win state together next year Libertyville students took part in the 30th annual orchest performance here students of all different dance levels can either choreograph teach learn or perform at the two night showcase which happened earlier this month Vanessa Zang president of the orchus executive board who choreographed a grand total of 12 dances over her four years of participation said orchus is a really cool place where dancers who don't usually interact get to collaborate and grow close in the same space you have people
136from the dance team outside Studios theater and more all coming together to get inspired by each other's choreography it helps dancers practice teamwork collaboration leadership and creativity among other traits which is why I've always valued my time here thank you Raa Elman Shai good evening everyone tonight I will be discussing LHS prom the best buddies talent show and the mental health awareness month 5K walk this past Saturday the seniors had their last ever high school dance which was very Bittersweet students spit about a month in advance and chose one of the 15 buses with their group to head over the Lincolnshire Marriott venue the night started off with a dinner that included Pizza Pasta and chicken sandwiches along with a soda bar it had the best Shirley temples I have ever had which was amazing
137after the students ate they took they they went to the dance floor or the silent disco both both were super fun and the students were able to make recommendations to the DJ which was very nice there was also Mario Kart and board games for those who are who aren't into dancing one thing I noticed however was how late we left for example my bus was the second to last to leave a little bit after 11:00 p.m. and by that time a bunch of students were bored and tired senior R bavis said one thing that came be improved is having students leave around 9:30 to 10 p.m. but it was overall a fun and memorable night the annual best buddies Talent the annual best buddies talent show took place this past month in the studio theater
138where buddies as in students with disabilities performed their talents on stage such as singing dancing and magic tricks here buddies typically assist their buddies with their perform with their performances for example for example sophomore Mary Weatherly and Caitlyn Malik had a fantastic hula hoop tricks show they even spun around with more than two hula hoops around them which was very cool as a four-year member of best buddies I was so happy that we had such a great turnout and it was such a fun way to say goodbye the program I will reminisce forever the psychology club and the student w wellness program had the mental health awareness month 5K walk which had over 25 students staff and parents walk around the Butler Lake but walk around Butler Lake and donate money which was sent to
139Lake County Youth and Family coun Counseling which provides free therapy for those in need after the walk concluded they received goodie bags with mental health risk bands stickers and granola bars as a thank you and there was also an AP Psychology study session after which many students attended as I wrap up my final student board representative report I would like to thank Dr k for giving me the opportunity to take on such a position to represent my peers and learn communication skills I wouldn't have acquired otherwise I'm very grateful for the d128 community my teachers my fellow board reps and my fellow board Reps for supporting me during my service I'm excited for the new board reps to take on this position as there's definitely a lot to work on in terms of hearing what
140students have to say and room for growth in our district thank you [Applause] Lisa Hessel thank you once again to all of our student board reps Dr hessle is it okay if I add something sure I just wanted to thank all my teachers who I've had uh this has been a really special moment these past four years and you guys have shaped me to the person I am today and I cannot be more grateful for you guys so thank [Applause] you Lisa Hessel well said everyone and we will miss you thank you for your service thank you guys and and I just wanted to say you guys have grown so much in in the one year and we are really excited to see where you all land up and all the great things you do
141for everybody good job Lisa Hessel okay we are going to move on to our next item on the agenda which is to ask for a motion to approve the consent vote agenda oh I'm so sorry I'm skipping an important uh item enf uh we're going to review foyer requests and then have good news for Dr Herman sorry about that thank you for correcting me we've got good news to share but first uh there are six Boyer requests that we received in process and all of the responses are included in the board packet um we have additional good news a lot of it is about our faculty actually um first off we have two District 128 staff members app parent and a board member who were honored at the May 10th distinguished service celebration award sponsored
142by the Illinois chapter of the national school Public Relation Association D 128 honores were Megan Huber who's the president of the Libertyville High School parent cats our own Carol scoten executive assistant to the [Applause] superintendent John yes very well deserved John Gilliam principal at Vernon Hills High School and next to me here Jim Batson Board of Education member who was nominated by his his professional School District but was also celebrated by those of us in attendance at District 128 so congratulations Jim next up uh we had seven staff members who were honored at the third annual Lake County educator of the Year celebration held the Lake County Fairgrounds on May 8th congratulations to Amy Dylan from Vernon Hills Esther Beasley from district office Jennifer Khan from Libertyville High School Ray Albin from Libertyville High School
143Wendy Meister laer from Vernon Hills Pascal ATO from Vernon Hills and Alan andio from Libertyville High School next we had 17 Vernon Hills High School staff members who recently received a staff you make a difference award congratulations to Stephanie fre Freel excuse me freckles Laura rash Melissa amarine Jen Shepard Nora mckernan Mark prosise Brian todk Jessica Chapman Margaret Cayman Amy Dylan Debbie Layman Freddy Baron Melissa zurowski Sonia Stevens Matt Hardy Nikki Collins Kedrick Greenwalt and Steve Zabo Libertyville High School was awarded first place in High School Division for the Illinois Green school project their entry was a plan for cafeteria sustainability they will be recognized at next week's uh Illinois Green Schools project celebration event Science teacher Jennifer Khan assisted with the development of the project next Libertyville High School freshman Samy Powers a student
144in French three honors has been awarded the afsusa Global Citizens scholarship for a two-month-long language and culture study in cap anise cap D anise near nce France the summer and finally we have two more Awards we have Libertyville High School students who received achievement in writing Awards contest zirra Abraham mateline Chong Jak kinsky Mora nenant rashika tardi Kathleen Griffin Chetan Nickerson quinland Hunter and Leanne Lynn and then finally congratulations and best wishes to the district 128 staff members who are retiring at the end of this school year we thank them for their dedication to our students and wish them the best in their retirement Ray gosell Libertyville High School art teacher cam trout Libertyville school nurse Paul Reef Libertyville English department chair oie Stevens Libertyville director of student services and Es Beasley District 128 special
145services thank you and congratulations to all the retirees and now I will ask for a motion to approve the consent vote agenda car Michael so moved Batson second thank you uh roll call please pause for roll call Batson hi Benjamin hi carmichel hi Ry I Hessel I cwall I karney I thank you motion passes we will move on to items for action and I will turn it over to Don to take us through items a through d right the first thing up is uh item a the board policies this is our second reading and we will adopt those policies tonight Brian Kelly there any questions on the board policies many of these board policies are due to um legal updates and or press doing some um updates on their own and there have been no
146changes since we discussed it at committee last Monday correct no changes since last Monday okay Don carmichel very well then can I have a motion to approve and adopt 28 to board policy updates as presented that's so moveed John Key second further discussion pause for discussion roll call Benjamin hi car Michael hi drum key hi I catwall I OK Carney I Batson I all right the motion passes uh next we have a uh an agreement with rise Aquatics uh who run our swimming program I turn this over also to Bryant so the rise Aquatics again is a private club that uses the Libertyville High School swimming pool this is our you yearly agreement with them um and we do have a um agreement intergovernmental agreement with Vern Hills Park District for the use of the
147Vernon Hill swimming pool um although this agreement says Rise uh could use Vernon Hills pool because of the usage by our own um um programs and then Vern Hills Park District rise really just has uh use up at Libertyville High School um for their S Pool so this is our yearly agreement uh for you to vote on and just as a reminder these four items have all been discussed to committee already so we have had a throrough discussion about each one of these so can I have a motion to approve the 2425 partnership agreement with rise Aquatics as presented hustle so moved Batson second further discussion roll call please car Michael hi drum key hi hessle I catwall I karney I Batson I Benjamin I motion passes moving on to Educational Tours um momentary pause
148okay so this is the Latin club tour yes so we have one additional educational tour request since our last meeting it's the Latin club that'll travel through a travel agents to Italy and Greece from June 5th to June 14th 2025 cost of the trip is noted there at about $4500 per student and guardian cancellation trip insurance has been secured which is 48 hours for international travel and um as with all these tours they are approved by the board but are not provided by the Don carmichel and we heard about a student who had taken that to her uh during comments this evening uh may have a motion to approve the following educational tour requests is presented that occurred after the May PMP committee meeting bson so move got any second pause for discussion and question
149questions any further discussion roll call please drum key hi hessle hi catwall hi K Carney hi bson hi Benjamin hi carmichel hi and the motion passes moving on to employment of employees again these are uh after the P&P meeting in committee and there is a change on the in the coaching extracurricular staff Kurt heronimus replacing Amy Hol that's a full-time position and then John stanzak kevich replacing uh Bill Mi that's a full-time incorrectly said each of them were 0 five but they are full-time positions so Amy hzford and and Bill uh stepping down after long time with the program and then Kurt heronimus and John St stanevich being hired in those positions very well uh can I have a motion to approve the employment items as presented that occurred after the May PNP committee meeting
150hessle so moved bson second no other discussion roll call please hessle hi catwall hi K Carney hi Batson hi Benjamin hi carich hi drum key I all right and I will turn it on to my esteemed Dr Batson for the remainder for the fnf Jim Batson okay uh first item on this list is uh administrative contracts so we're bringing our uh 10mon um administrative contracts um and some 12-month administrative contracts or 10-month administrative contracts are are um Department chairs team leaders um Student Activities directors um they are yearly contracts um that we bring every year uh last year we did um some changes to our 10-month administrative contracts to ensure that um these positions were marketable um to um not only our internal candidates moving from the teaching ranks to um Department chairs but also
151for outside candidates and so this is really it was a twoyear process of changes so uh there are some changes that are listed in the memo U for the 10-month um administrative contract so there's the annual contra contract renewals for 10 month and then there's also three new uh annual contracts and that's for um previously approved um department chair is Lauren katsman uh for English department chair at Libertyville High School Gabriella Martin World languages department chair at Libertyville and the Kristen Schwarz CTE department chair at Libertyville so those are brand new annual contracts um also um bring it to you our um our threeyear um and retirement contract um and so our cycles of Administrators um they're either some of our administrators are on three or fiveyear contracts um and so not all the 12-month
152administrators cycle on and off at the same year um and some of these are new positions too so we're bringing you the three-year um administrative contract for Ray Albin um principal at Libertyville Jenny gch um assistant principal for student services at Libertyville um Kelly Hartwig director of special services at district office Joe Bryant associate principal at Vernon Hills John Woods um on a retirement contract so he declared uh his retirement and it was approved by the board previously a director at Libertyville and then Andrew Young the assistant principal for student services at Vernon Hill so we're bringing those contracts um to you um and also the current um 12 month there's 12 month um staff that are on contracts um last year we again we started the process of looking at our 10-month um administrators
153and the compensation benefits and we made changes to those plans and we said that we would review the compensation plan for 12-month administrators so we met with uh 12-month administrators during the review process uh we looked at market analysis of comparable school districts and both salaries and benefits um um and based on the analysis there was not a recommendation to increase any benefits for 12- month administrators um the benefits that were in place are very similar if not the same at a lot of other school district for 12-month administrators those probably have evolved over time of of schools doing uh analysis of the health benefits being offered vacation days um and uh sick days personal days and some of those um benefits sick days and other things personal days mirror some of our teachers um
154in in terms of those contracts um however one of the things that we also wanted to look at with the with the salaries of the 12-month administrators previously um salaries were raises were determined by averages of the teacher salary which included um teachers that were on the salary schedule teachers that had moved off the salary schedule to longevity so teachers are on a salary schedule um um and then once they um move off the salary schedule then they um go to a lower percentage to longevity so looking historically 12 months had the average raises of those um teachers again uh removing teachers that were um uh on the retirement track because of so those were kind of thrown out of the mix but that was the average that was given to administrators however that was
155um one of the things that we looked at when we looked at teach es is they're on the salary schedule and then they move to longevity and so they move down in percentage and our 12month administrators we needed to look at um slowing down some of our um raises and kind of set up a longevity for some for some of the salaries um but also we wanted to look at ensuring that the again just like we did at the 10mon that we're marketable to our own employees to step into those position but also for um people that are interested in these positions from outside of District 128 we also need to look at um with a change in a law coming up that we need to be able to advertise what our salary ranges are
156so when we post jobs so one of the things that we were looking at similar to our teachers is that we try to look at a target range uh 50 keeping salaries in the 50th to 85th percentile so we you know um being a high performing District um you know we value our administrators uh we value our teachers we value you know value our educational support professionals and so looking at that we trying to keep them in that band um and instead of giving everyone the same uh raise that had been done for historically for years is that those that administrators that are on the higher end they would receive a smaller rays and then those down at the lower end or need adjustments to get into that band would receive a um a higher
157raise and so we looked at really that um uh momentary pause the administrators would fall within one of those three things and again the analysis that was done by uh Dan was looking at comparable school districts um there are this took a lot of work because uh not every position is the same from school district to school district so when you start looking at positions they may have different duties but we really try to break it down into the same positions and so again our recommendation for our um is for our 10-month annual contracts renewals new 10-month uh contracts the 12-month administrators and then raises for administrators within um those bands thank you before we get into discussion can I get a motion in a second momentary pause I moved to approve the recommended administrative
158contracts and salary increases for 2425 Benjamin second okay thank you I I just want to start by thanking you and the whole um administrative uh Team for putting such a a detailed memo together uh really laying out a lot of information and just to note that there was significant conversation discussion uh in close session uh a week ago about um contracts and and administrative uh salaries contracts that kind of thing so this is not new to us so this is uh uh a lot of recap of information that we've already been discussing so uh any questions or comments by any of the board members son Al Carney I I do have a comment um and what I say might sound a little drastic but we have gone over the 5% um CPI two consecutive years
159um I would I would almost recommend that anyone besides the folks that are in the lowest band which is 50 to 70% and of course if someone has a contract for uh retirement that we actually freeze salary raises for this year we have a lot of new spending coming our way we've got to fund an mtss program that we've not had to before we're embarking on a really significant capital budget and when I look at all of those things together um I think that's where I am and I've done a lot of thinking about this after the really late session last last week and this is where I am right now um when the other part that I'd like to do and perhaps this has to be done as part of our Retreat is for
160leadership positions we need to start thinking about moving to pay based on performance that's what happens to anybody in private sector is you get a salary raise is based on two things one is how did you do with respect to your goals and how did your organization do with respect to financial viability and we ought to come up with a formula like that that makes it comparable and we can pay for performance I I know we can't talk about this right now but I'm I'm talking about going forward I have seen some sites uh some schools that have embarked on these things so I know it's happening I I would recommend we pick that up um I'm not sure what's the right venue but I'd like to start looking at that framework Cara dry I
161I also had a question um and thank you Dan for putting together the 14 page kind of memo to explain that we are not although we've been criticized as being um Cara pull your mic a little closer although we've been criticized for being the most expensive Administration in Lake County I think you shared with us that it's not easy to find Apples to Apples because different positions are reported differently but it appears like we are not but we are definitely up in the top but we're also a high performing district and we expect a lot where I struggle is just strictly by going on the ISB website and comparing the average teacher salary for the past five years versus the average Administration administrative salary for the past five years teachers have gone in the last
162five years from an average of 109 to 123 which is reflective of 133% in total in five years administrators average have gone from 148 to 177 According to isby which is a 20% increase over 5 years and I feel like until we have some if we've gotten to this point because of a me too philosophy until that me too is looks more reflective in the long term I would also suggest that maybe pausing for a year in those two bands that are over the 70% I I want us to continue to be marketable with our administrators because we're going to have some turnover with our Administration and and we know we have some administrators on longevity I can see the 10% or the 10-month employees uh administrators in the schedule but when we're talking about
163those 12-month administrators and more than 50% of our 12-month administrators are in the 85th percentile or above and that also if they've been in that position for more than five years they've seen a 20% increase over five years that is not the same as what our teachers are seeing I'm having a hard time even with the 2% increase I'd agree Dan you had mentioned the slowing the rate of increase over time gets us to the same place that by giving a 2% raise over a period of years would in effect do the same thing as pausing for a year and then coming back to it did I am I mischaracterizing that Dan Stanley in I mean in theory the math does that it's just it's a factor of time so if you're concerned is salaries
164and then your option if you're looking at is freezing or decreasing that gets you there a whole lot faster the 2% that was recommended was based on um a similar methodology with teachers that it's slows down at the end and balancing that with the interest of attracting and retaining high quality staff so that's that's why the 2% was recommended it will we do believe this model will get us within the range um momentary pause Rome wasn't built in a day this District was not built in a day um any numbers that you see just weren't built they were built over years and so we believe that this is a strategy that over a few years will will get us back in because if the whole Market uh goes up for example so we don't know
165but say the whole Market goes up four or five percent and then we have those at the top end at 2% that would slow them down I don't know what the data is until I get the data for next year but that's in theory how it would work Jim Batson so I think the the issue right now is we have a motion and a second to approve a set of contracts um momentary pause I think we have what three items we take a vote um if it passes it passes if it doesn't pass we go back to the drawing board uh or we could I guess I'm curious what would be the consequence of pausing this of momentary pause you know basically postponing this vote until the next board meeting son Al carne um I
166don't know that postponing the vote is going to make a difference I me I think my philosophy was you know if you look out there and if you look at industry if your organization isn't making its earnings then you don't get a pay increase you don't get bonus um and I where we are is you know we've asked for more money from the taxpayers I got my tax bill last week and it it's added about $3,000 to my tax bill so we have asked for more money we have a lot of extra additional spending we're doing so My Philosophy is we should look at where can we tighten the build if this was my comp I've I've gone for years without getting any salary increase if a company had was Ty its belt or worse
167yet you get Rift right that's the reality of a lot of people out there who are paying the bills who are that's funding this so yeah postponing it isn't going to change where I am I would I'm and and I'm suggesting something kind of drastic here but yeah I mean postponing would say that we are missing some data I don't think we missing a data in making our decision it's a philosophy that we are struggling with right the point the point is is we have what's presented and what's been the motion has been made for this set of contracts we can't make adjustments to them now we either vote on it so I I I think we take a vote and see where it lies and then I mean is it possible if we were
168to postpone this that I think where most people are having a trouble with is the 12-month administrators do we pull out the 12 you say most people do not me that's mine yeah that that's my my concern then is the the discrepancy between the 12-month administrators so if it's not possible to review that then let's take the vote I'm in favor of taking a vote okay okay should we take a roll call catwall no Cole Carney no Batson I Benjamin abstain carmichel I drum key no h i momentary pause okay just back to the drawing board okay momentary pause all right let's move on driers education waiver so I I think we're just looking to um approve the driver Zed waiver that we're applying for Jim Batson can we have a motion please drum key
169motion to approve the renewal of the waiver of school code to increase the driver education fee to 350 beginning in the 2025 2026 school year with second okay and this is what was discussed at our uh hearing earlier so uh any further questions or comments by the board okay broke call please Co Carney hi Batson I Benjamin I carmichel hi drum key hi hle I catwall I okay motion passes 2024 inm indemnification agreement easy for me to say uh this is a a standard agreement that we do year any background on this Dan Stanley not anything different than what we did at committee a week ago okay all right we have a motion please car Michael move to approve the Lake County indentification agreement is presented gney second okay any questions comments again it's already
170been discussed in committee so can we have a roll call please Batson hi Benjamin hi car Michael I drum key i hessle i catwall i Carney I okay motion passes internal transfer resolution um any quick background on this Dan just an annual transfer for in interest that was in uh interest earned on monies in our working cash fund to transfer the money to our education fund uh if not at the end of the year it stays part of that fund and it's just harder to get that money out yeah so we do this every year to transfer the interest okay thank you can we have a motion please Carmichael moved to approve the resolution authorizing and directing the transfer of interest from the working cash fund to the education fund hle second any further questions
171comments roll call please Benjamin I carmichel I drum key I hustle I catwall I Carney hi Batson hi motion passes and lastly the uh FY 25 treasurers Bond again something we do every year uh we do every year this one is a little bit different a new law pass that allows us to bond for Less which spends less so we'll go from spending 18,000 a year to 6,000 a year on the bond so that's good good to me we have a motion please drum key motion to approve the fiscal year 25 Treasures bond in the amount of $6,000 second okay okay any questions comments roll call please carich hi drum key hi hessle hi catwall hi Co Carney hi Batson hi Benjamin hi okay [Music] um can I just as a point of order can
172we review not to be laborate but the administrative contract vote we had an AB stain and we had Carol scoten um three I three nay one abstained you need four votes to pass it yeah so the abstain guess basically goes with a not yeah okay all right just wanted to so then what happens momentary pause we one other question is we do have the attorney that you can always ask uh that would no more than I would on how that stuff works U but assuming it's it did not pass then we need direction from the board because we have uh administrator positions right now that don't have a contract for NE for employment for next year we also have language in those contracts that is different from what some of you are calling for the
173language in all of our administrator contracts say that the administrators will get average raise of all other administrators so asking for a freeze when other administrators are getting a raise is going against what is written into each of our contracts so we will have to consult with our attorney that's all and we need direction from the board on what you want to do so that in terms of like what next Lisa Hessel I I'm not sure that the board member who voted for the motion can give you that guidance because we agreed with your recommendation so it's difficult to ask for consensus from that when we had a split vote Dr Denise Herman I also think bringing back clarification from our attorney will show that some of the things that those of you who were
174not in support of this were asking is not a legitimate path forward because of the way our current administrative contracts are worded so how is it different from agreeing to a sliding I mean if I'm not arguing and I'd like to hear from our attorney if the administrators have agreed to a sliding uh salary increase what's the difference of what I'm asking if it's a freeze right well that would be saying that we've created a new structure that all men that are going to be applied to all administrators if you're not on the retirement or any other so we're developing a new system that will be applied at equitably and consistently to all admin 12month administrators this is saying that some people who were on retirement contract or um something else will continue to get
175their raise and other administrators will have a freeze and so that's not what the language of our contract calls for so I'm any call discussing this I I I just as a point of order I think we need to either re revisit the motion and continue discussing this or we're going to have to figure out when we do this in the future because we can't just extemporaneously decide to engage in an agenda item that we've already voted on unless somebody wants to motion it again and second it so that we can continue discussing it Jim Batson well yeah and I I don't disagree with that I think Dan's point was if nothing changes you know they they need Direction on what could potentially change that could change um the outcome so I guess if that
176means we go back and make the motion again and open the discussion on this or is there some other way you know since it's contractual or whatever is this a close session topic again is this what can we get Lynn's input since he's here so just to clarify our choices are number one we can discuss it in closed session because we have properly noticed an Oma exception in our agenda lawyer speaks to the board indistinctly off screen lawyer speaks to the board indistinctly offscreen that is correct yes lawyer speaks to the board indistinctly off screen lawyer speaks to the board indistinctly off screen and if the board is not prepared and the administration is not prepared to discuss each of those 12-month employees tonight but we are prepared to approve the 10-month contract tonight are
177we permitted to reopen the motion to approve the 10-month contracts tonight momentary pause if we wanted to continue discussing the 12-month contracts in Open Session could we also motion to remotion the same thing that we that we just voted on lawyer speaks to the board indistinctly offc screen okay not to belor it but my suggestion is that we make a motion to approve the 10-month employees vote on that make another motion to continue discussing the 12-month employees and then see if we come to consensus at that point I I'm not trying to make this meeting any longer than than it needs to be but I I out of fairness to our administrators I think it's on the agenda and if we have a chance to get their contracts would say that they need to be
178renewed I I think we need to spend the time to that tonight since it was on our agenda yeah that's a that's a fair okay anyone want to make a motion for the um 10-month administrator contracts move to approve Carmichael sorry move to approve the 10mon annual contracts as presented John Key second okay and again those are the we're GNA have to give her time here because there's a new motion is going in yeah again those are the administrative staff annual contract renewals 1 through 20 and then the administrative new annual contracts one through three those are your 10-month administrators correct momentary pause okay any further discussion on this motion roll call please we did a motion in a second that's okay uh Carmichael [Music] moved and who was the second uh good pause for
179roll call drum key I hessle I catwall I co Carney hi Batson hi Benjamin hi carmichel I okay um so for discussion have to have a motion for the 12month contract uh administrator contracts so hessle let me know when you're ready Brian Kelly staff 12-month administ of Staff contracts and raises salary raises is for the 12-month administrative staff contracts and salaries raises were you looking to do this now or were you I'm just I'm a little confused we're making the motion so we can have the conversation we can't you want to the discussion [Music] okay as presented yes that was hustle car Michael second ready okay discussion okay so for discussion Dr Herman do you mind explaining again what you meant by how the 12- month contracts work in conjunction with other contracts Dr Denise
180Herman so and Bryant is actually the expert on this exact language but the contracts read rather than setting a specific Target or a number it gives flexibility so it can correspond with what the teachers might have or the ESP might have so the language says that administrators will get the average of What the other administrators get momentary pause and so to all administrators 12 months 10 10 months are but based on teacher contract yeah 10 months are different because they're based off of this teacher salary schedule plus stiens and the 12mth are based on Dr Denise Herman they um whatever they were hired in at at the starting salary for that particular job category and then the raises that they have based on their longevity so in the past our district has done what's typically
181called a me2 kind of raised system where all administrators get the average of What the teachers get so and that's what this board unanimously approved last year for the last 20 years the board has approved me2 raises and so for example this coming year the teachers will be receiving a 5% raise but some teachers are on longevity and so they receive a 3% raise so we don't say either we truly stay to our practice of saying the average of the teacher raises that typically ends up being about 4.33% but how does that correlate with you're recommending for us to do a 2% a three and a half% a 5% absolutely so one of the reasons in looking at the salary schedule and doing the market analysis we did we did it last year for 10
182month we said we would do it this year for 12 month so we did it this year for 12 month and what we came to see is that some of our administrators are very high for their job category others are not others are at 70 or 60 or 50 or one even in the 40% then we said what is some of the Target that we would want our administrative salaries to be in and as an admin team and looking at other districts we said we'd like our salaries because we have to publish a range starting January 1st 20 2025 so knowing that that uh requirement for the state of Illinois requires us to post not just a starting salary but a salary range we wanted to establish this year and bring you a range that
183was based on evidence so we set 50% to 85% as what we thought would be the range for a high- performing School District to attract and retain um administrators that is very similar our Target for our teachers is also 50 to 90% so our teacher salaries are within that target range and again some people's are lower at the lower end and higher at the higher end it depends on how different unions negotiate their contracts but that is also our target range there so we're trying to be very consistent rather than having because administrator salaries being higher than teachers when you do a 4.3% raise year after year after year for people at the top it does continue to grow that we as a administrative team don't think that's appropriate we think that people at the
184top end should have a cap similar to what teachers have and that's called Longevity so teachers for us rather than getting 5% once you're off the salary schedule you get 3% because again for teachers your salary is much higher so our recommendation was to again to try and adjust the way we were giving raises to administrators to be more like teachers where we have a salary schedule that's very competitive and then when you get off of that you go to a you don't get no raise we don't freeze for teachers but we say you're going to get a less increase and for us that's 3% and if I remember the formulary that we saw from more than 50% of our 12-month administrators are over 90% in the 90th percenta so we have read we've met
185our goal for more than 50 and and some of those are can someone take a look at that to make sure that that is correct because I I don't want to guess yeah and some of again the one of the challenges is several of our 12-month administrators are on retirement contracts right so we have no control and those are those the right right so some of the people who are at the upper end are also on retirement contracts so we don't have any authority to change the particular way their raises are given according to our retirement plan pause for discussion Lisa Hessel there was a comment made about other districts that tie their administr administrative salaries to profitability and that I'm I'm not understanding what how that could work and there was in the 90s
186and early 2000s an attempt for some school districts to try and tie teacher raises and administrator raises to increases in student achievement it was very very difficult for a student achievement to be Quantified in such a way because we we don't have a profit so our outcome is student learning and so the districts who tried to do that particular method of uh allocating teacher and or administrator raises it failed miserably and all that I know of have been abandoned I don't know of any um School District that uses that I do know of some school districts who use goal attainment for um um some some of their actually to have a multi-year contract you have to have in Illinois you have to have some of your administrator salaries tied to goals but just how mine
187I have 11 goals right now and we agreed on those mutually so my performance will be eval evaluated on my attainment of those goals so our we do Lisa hessle because you're our employee we do tie your uh performance to the outcome of your review yes son Al Carney and I wasn't suggesting profitability I I understand it's it's a different space but we all still even in a Prof Prof itable situation or momentary pause I get evaluated for how I met my goals but you do see the difficulty in applying a corporate standard to a public education I understand I don't I'm not saying use the same goals but the the philosophy is that you get paid based on whether you are successfully meeting your goals or not and if these are goals that we've
188mutually agreed to and someone did not meet those goals then why why should they be comp so are you asking that in the future I'm not suggesting doing it right now but i' like so you're suggesting that Denise consider for her employees A system that takes into consideration pay ranges as per the the administrative contracts as well as attainment of established goals in the future is that what you're saying yep and we do the same for Denise or yeah well we that is how we do it yep but right now that's not how our contracts are I just think it's very important for us I I think if that's the way we want to start writing our administrative contracts in the future I think that is something very important for the board to talk about
189but that is not how our current contract maybe I'm confused a little bit we keep referring to the contracts and then here we are asking to put in a system that is different from the contract anyways so how's our request of freezing something or changing the structure of this any different from what is put in here and being asked to vote on we just asking for a different structure to be applied and a different scale to be applied we have and so how can we use one argument at one place in saying that's how our contracts are written and hence we can't change it versus we are asking for a different structure to be applied we not asking for anything radically different from what is proposed here it's just a different structure that we want
190to agree on just use an agree argument both ways I feel Dan Stanley what what you were talking about proposing Works within the structure I I think the the tricky part was when emotion dies and there's nothing else what happens if there's nothing else that's the part where we run into really it we run into problems because if there's if there's no motion to adopt anything different then we're going with the existing language and the existing language is be tricky to figure out how to implement but if for instance if if if there was a vote to approve the plan that you mentioned that is direction that fits within that fits within those that structure I'm I'm I'm hearing two things I'm I'm hearing a uh uh the concept of changing how we determine increases
191and having it more having it in some way based on performance and goal and that kind of thing which I think we all agree that that's not something we can do with these contracts these contracts are already a future motion that's for some that's a future conversation I suggest we not you know not worry about that tonight we'll figure out a way a time and place to do that uh the other piece that I heard though was a concern about the percentage increase for each of the bands and can you just review the top band and what percentage increase is being included is being proposed in this uh sure uh but before I do that I just there was a request on the numbers and the people in the things so I just looked and
192of the 23 12month administrators uh nine of them are over the 90% um of those I think it's five are in the retirement check four or five one two three four five of them are in the retirement track um so just give you that's the concept so there's there's four people that are in that how many are above the 85th percentile so we that's the band that you picked above the 85th it is I was trying to ask answer the question of how many were over 90 so if the question of how many are over 85 you're talking momentary pause 13 of the 23 of those are what over 85 over 85 of those 13 momentary pause six are in the retirement track so the net is seven just trying to make sure so we're
193looking at seven contracts right now Lisa Hessel which would which are being recommended for a 2% 2% to slow to slow the role that is our recommendation the if if we were if we were in every other year that we've normally been in we would have said the the average raise would have been 4.34 because that is the blend between the teacher on schedule which which is at 5% which is roughly twoth thirds of our teachers and a blend of the 3% longevity which is roughly onethird of our teachers so the mathematical blend of that is about 4.34 and so that's that's what we would have done normally versus what we're proposing is at the at the 85th percentile and above a 2% between 70 momentary pause yeah 70 and 85 3.5 and basically below
19475% is essentially what we're proposing um and our best sense is that average the average raise that it'll work out to is that instead of 4.34 it's more like 3.13 is like that average that's that's what we were seeing the differences in terms of those numbers Jim Batson and so the concern was between 2% and some suggested that we freeze those at 0% in the impact I'm not comfortable doing not comfortable doing I'm kind of confused about can we change the contract to have this sliding scale or can we not so so the current contracts read the current contracts read the percent increase for each additional year will be the same as the percent increase for all their administrators not in the retirement contract the contracts before you that are brand new contracts that language
195has been changed to be able to reflect this um practice that we would like to do so when we look at the new contract s um coming before you uh we change that language and I'll read it to you here um to say that the percent increase for each additional year will be determined by the board in consultation with the superintendent um and so that would be the new language um now there are um administrators that are on a current contract that says it'll be the same as everyone else but um we are working with those administrators for the agreement to um to go to this new system they've also realized um 12ms were um that our on current contracts were in this um group and realized that we needed to slow down and couldn't
196sustain for the district the 4. you know 34% raises and that those at the higher end needed to move down um to the 2% so so that's why we're changing the contract in the new 12mon um and then those will cycle through and that'll be our language moving forward to adopt this method that we're recommending now if we want to look at a different type of method in the future um for administrators that's something to look at but this is the the you know what we looked at um with the market analysis and looked at our administrators a opportunity again to slow down the salaries for our 12-month administrators um and they agreed to it yes all part of the conversation so you have our Administration making a recommendation to us that based on conversation
197with the people who are the recipients of these contracts correct even those that have a contract that implies they should get more correct pause for discussion and questions L any further discussion request questions pause for discussion and questions we want to take another vote roll call it's up to you to call let's do a roll call okay catwall no B Carney no Batson yes Benjamin yes harich yes drum key no Hessel yes okay thank you everyone for momentary pause good discussion deep discussion but we'll have more discussion momentary pause Lisa Hessel speaking of discussion we will move on to our first item for discussion uh student and staff support plan for diagonal movement um I wanted to go ahead and just acknowledge one thing we're going to hear from the teaching and learning team about
198the multi-layered support plan for students and staff however one important component of the support for teachers is not included tonight because it was not supported by the district 128 teachers union when asked what resources would be most helpful many many teachers replied more time at the last board meeting the union spokesperson said lunch and learns and teacher Institute days are not sufficient for the learning she desired the state of Illinois allows school districts who need additional time for systemic change to add School Improvement days we developed a proposal for six 2hour School Improvement dates to increase time for Teacher learning and collaboration however it was not accepted by the union instead they ask that we more efficiently used the current time that is allotted to us and we will do that what you'll be hearing
199next are all of the other amazing things that we're putting into place to support teachers and to support students in implementing the APA and heterogeneous classes thank you well can we put up the presentation please ready pause to put up presentation on screen all right Dr Brian wagley nice all right we look forward to providing an update to our support planning progress to begin the 2024 25 school year with expanded academic support for diagonal movers and heter het genus classes which are our freshman College Prep courses District 128 is committed to enabling all students to achieve their full potential and we have a history excuse me of success with students who challenge themselves with courses that offer increased rigor and we are also committed to providing expanded academic support I want to thank everyone who
200has continued to work on the plans that are in front of you and you see them summarized in the me Memo and then the presentation our administrative team has gained insights from our mtss team heterogeneous teachers and developed and contined to evolve plans in front of you several teachers including instructional coaches and administrators who are proposing to run 13 District 128 university courses and we right now have 182 registrants for that we have 151 teachers who are participating in summer curriculum and summer work projects many of which are attached to supporting our students next year and as we discuss these plans just keep in mind tier one supports are for all students and that begins with high quality instruction in our classrooms and then our tier two supports for are before about 15% of our
201students and then tier three are approximately 5% and I'll turn it over to Dr gilam and Dr cenus to review our significant supports that will be in place for the fall when we start the school year pause for slide how's this scy work right there Dr John gilam thanks as we begin to discuss our supports for each support in place we've drafted a process Bo sorryy pause for technical difficulty uh We've drafted processes to refer to approve to support to monitor including exiting students who meet the goals of the intervention these processes will be fully developed and approved this summer through Department share and teacher teams it's important that we get key individuals together to make sure we have this part of the plan correct next year we will also include building mtss teams who
202regularly review and evaluate how these interventions are succeeding just to set the stage before Dr clinta shares updates since our last presentation we want to quickly recap our intervention programs we've talked several times over the last weeks about our program assisting with success or pause tier 2 support again this program's full period executive functioning component has been in place for years at both buildings however the numeracy and literacy components were designed together by teachers and administrators at Vernon Hills these programs address literacy and numeracy skill deficiencies at ninth grade and use PSAT 8 scores and star feedback for entrance and exit criteria LHS will be jumping on board with skill development with th skill development portion of the program this coming school year new this year are the academic labs for English Math Science and
203uh in college prep classes ninth grade lab interventions again happen during lunch study hall with coordinated leadership uh through certified LHS and vhhs teachers these Labs benefit from newly updated curriculum completed in math English and science uh uh teaching teams ESP will provide high impact tutoring in coordination with course teams to guarantee alignment to course standards and skills labs for other students in college prep courses will take place before school with the same high impact tutoring provided by certified class teachers from both schools the board has the Board of Ed has approved uh H start again the Board of Ed hasn't has opened the door that if be the oh the Board of Ed it's a little late the Board of Ed I Got the Board of Ed has opened the door that if the
204before school strategy doesn't fit student needs or fits too many students we have too many we could expand the program into to other periods throughout the school day and we're grateful for that Latitude um this academic uh Road road map is developed to help us give visuals for students needing support you've seen this before but the roap will be used in programs like freshman transition link crew ninth grade orientation and counselor meetings to Foster support conversations and interventions for plans uh with kids as a matter of fact this document was even shared just hours ago in our diagonal movement uh meeting to help explain where the interventions will be available for those kids and now I'll turn it over to Dr Kay to share updates uh in these areas since we last met so we
205want to talk about um the work to build out the enhancements of our academic support systems um and this has been a primary focus of our work over these past several weeks and will continue throughout the summer at this time we're going to provide the board with a quick overview of the progress that we've made in the various areas um so our primary area of focus has been enhancing our supports for our students and um with our master schedule complete we are now able to review our duty pool and analyze staff available to be assigned to our mash and Arc um in addition to that we've posted and begun the hiring process to increase the academic support available to our students through the hiring of instructional AIDS what's important to understand is Vernon Hills is
206actually hiring more instructional AIDS because they have less teachers available in the duty pool so we've adjusted based on the data uh that is school specific and adapted the hiring needs um to make sure both schools either through duties or through instructional AIDS had fully built out their mash and Arc as you saw earlier this evening we've also created a program both to celebrate and encourage our diagonally moving students uh part of the program this evening was to provide these families with an understanding of the academic supports that will be available next fall um this was uh delivered this evening um was a a lovely ceremony um there were um two students that I spoke to from Libertyville High School who felt it was a valuable experience attending that program we've accessed our Varsity tutoring
207licenses and we will use the summer and early fall to develop the processes for helping students learn about this resource and access it when needed so they will attend the mash and the arc we will have systems in place to help connect students to this resource but we will also work on communication that is available so students who don't attend the mash in the ark would still know that this resource exists and know how to connect to it um in addition to our freshman tutoring or excuse me our freshman transition programs we will work to explain this information to sophomores through seniors um we also communicated tonight that our uh diagonal movers the opportunity to participate in our back to school academic workshops that we are planning for next July July 30th and July 31st
208we've allocated summer work hours and are inviting AP teachers to help us design the curriculum and the resources for this Workshop pause for slide um we are also this buzzed it like shook in my hand so I don't know if that tells me something it just tells me it moved all right this is high-tech um so we also know that for students to be successful we also need uh increased staff support um so as Dr wegley shared um we have allocated significant resources more than we have tally allocated to the summer work and District 128 universities um we have as mentioned um approximately 151 or 151 uh staff members 20 administrators who are participate in the important summer work and um we have offered we are offering 13 d128 U classes with 182 registrant as
209of 4:30 this afternoon uh both of these These are important because because these efforts are primary led by teachers for teachers um the summer work in particular is completely focused on teachers and staff having the time to work to address together to address the curriculum assessment and instructional efforts that they have proposed um that they will need to make uh next August to best support their students in a variety of ways not just connected to our heterogeneous classes or our diagonal movers but in addition to other curriculum and and um programmatic efforts that they are making our teaching and learning team including our instructional coaches is beginning to organize our professional learning Focus for next year so these efforts we anticipate will be intensely focused on supporting staff uh with differentiated instruction needs and also
210ways to build a strong sense of academic identity and belonging with all students District administration has listened to feedback that Staff feel overwhelmed with the pace and volume of change and in response um with discussions with administrative teams District 128 committees and Union leadership they have um assessed ways that various efforts might be slowed or the runway for changes extended to provide staff more time to focus on the major efforts needed to best imple implement the supports for diagonal movers and heterogenous classes next fall most noticeably we had our district 128 grading and assessment group um come back with recommendations about two aspects of that work that we could pause and it was an administrative recommendation and action that um teachers have that ability and that has been communicated to our staff and we are
211collecting data about the course teams that will take advantage of that pause finally we continue to work on aligning our mtss process with staff this is important because part of the stress our staff feels has been from their efforts to support student academic needs andal needs without a um fully um built out mtss system enhancing and communicating our mtss procedures are intended to Design Systems of support that partner with staff so that when students struggle and a teacher has really used all of their best tier one instruction they will have strong options beyond their own efforts to support our students um continuing with our supportive staff we've also just completed all of the curriculum alignment for our ninth grade heterogeneous uh courses and as we've discussed we've allocated significant resources uh to furthering the curriculum
212work this summer we know however that support of our staff needs to extend beyond the summer um therefore next fall we will enable Department chairs to work with course teams to create extended PD options where teachers working with new heterogeneous classes or significant amounts of diagonal movers will have time to collaborate on the instructional efforts needed to best support these students so they can request a half day or a full day release um we were hoping that we would be able to utilize some of the um late start time to also address this need that was something that we um didn't get approved this year through our discussion with the Union um but another action we can take is that our master schedule next year Andy young and oie Stevens have worked very hard to
213try to maximize the common prep and planning times that teachers on course teams have we've targeted um course teams that are working with heterogene uh classmat or have high numbers of diagonal movers giving the teachers the ability to collaborate during the day is a way that we can hopefully uh respond and support the reduction of Stu of teacher stress because when you have a common prep period with your teaching colleagues you can meet during the day not have to come in earlier before school or not have to stay late after school um in order to be um planning with all members of your team finally uh we want to con speak uh quickly about the progress for um supports for families um as we talked about our assistant principles for student services Olie Stevens and
214Andy young last week sent a comprehensive newsletter to all LHS and vhhs families outlining the ways family could review the student course selections for next year and the timeline for requesting changes this spring and summer we strongly encourage all parents to review the newsletter carefully as it is a wealth of information about their students academic plan for next school year and the ways that this might be adjusted if needed um as students and families return to school next year both schools will be providing information about the ways students can access academic andal supports when needed and while some of that will be done in writing um John and I are also um been discussing what type of back to school webinars are needed in order to convey information through that median our goal is for
215all families to feel that there's a shared academic support system for all students staff and families when they return in August um and I think Brian you're gonna take Staffing progress for Staffing as we discussed um the certified FTE positions have been expanded in our ninth grade pause and in our newly created labs when you take those two interventions together that's 10.4 FTE that has been assigned to that there was a question actually we receiv received tonight saying well some of the data we've shown really shows the kids who are already here 10th through 12th grade and the work that we've been doing as a reminder has been on diagonal movers Beyond freshman because the first work that was done was for our freshman and I'll tell you of the resources that I'm put in
216place this is robust 10.4 FTE that is assigned for your pause intervention and your lab is significant um support that's in place the data that we've been talking about since has really been about our other diagonal movers and what support are we going to have in place for them and that um work has been ongoing as well um as was mentioned we have English Math and Science AIDS in our ninth grade um lab and in our uh an El Aid who will serve in our lab for other students along with our 6 FTE AIDs that are going to be in mash and Arc that band the support Beyond just those um teacher duties that are in place mides cwell Brian one question if I may stop you there right so and maybe just a dumb
217question when you say assigned does that mean there are actually teachers assigned to those categories that you're talking about or is just the plan to assign those many so those teachers for the they signed up all our our teachers are now receiving their schedules and being uh placed in courses and and those that 10.4 FTE has been assigned to teachers who will be in these resources for support the positions that are AIDS have been we've drafted the job descriptions they're posted and we are getting applications for those positions and those are qualified applicants at this point we're going to continue to have those commit okay okay um and as wased I just want to highlight just a couple other things uh that we have on the plan so you've heard about the the summer work
218that is work to refine and complete plans for labs and resource areas is enhancing our curriculum to support diagonal movers and heterogeneous classes so and you've got a list of several of those in the memo there's there's some some quality work that's going to occur this summer and a lot of that work was proposed by our teachers we did an all call we have things that we knew needed to be done and we have teachers who have volunteered to be part of that work and we have teams that are put together for the work that we know needs to be done and we've also listened to our teachers that's been supported at about twice the rate that it normally is and for our d128 universities those are things like 128 unlocking engagement that course is
219actually um maxed right now so we have a a waiting list for that class as we see that um and there's several other options that are available as well including leveraging backward design and some other things for differentiation so there's a lot that's available for our teachers and then as Tom mentioned teaching and learning are going to continue to build out the systemic support that's going to be needed for the fall and I think that we've got a list of things that we know we're going to get started on the late arrivals would have been a great mechanism for that we believe but we also know we're going to take advantage of the time we have the Institute days and then we also have days that are available to us on Wednesdays that um are
220our building professional mornings those partially support our departments and their needs and they will also support some of these systemic needs that we have we continue to progress and build into um the continue support that we have we now open this up for questions Dr Tom kentes go ahead sorry if if I missed you say this but just wanted to highlight to that we did in uh hire or assign an additional 1.0 FTE to generate greater flexibility for students to drop down levels if needed um and that was brought after finding the pinch points so we didn't just blindly assign that we looked at what are the courses where we're seeing the highest amount of diagonal movs and where would be the courses where they would potentially drop into um We examined the uh ratio
221of students that are in those classes and looked for areas where we felt we needed more flexibility for student movement um and that was an additional 1.0 that you as a board approved those positions have been um those classes have been added most of that was um able to be absorbed through a lot of our part-time staff going to Greater amounts of Ft but that did generate some hires for us um which we are which we have posted and are now in the process of seeking pause for questions what's your uh interest like for the stien positions now that is work that is going on with the Union um and Bryant is working with our Union on on those so that is in progress R you want to talk about that yeah so since those
222are the stien positions with the union we need to work with the Union on an MOA on uh creating you know what that looks like so job description pay for that and so once that uh MOA we're in discussions on that once that is completed then we can um look at what interest will be so what's the timeline for it I mean we're in the last week of school right now um we've met with Union a couple times so we're hoping that we can bring that um to our next board meeting for approval son Al carne and after that MOA is done then we start hiring or offer positions to teachers correct for those extra Duty statements yes so at this point we don't know how many if we will have interest or if you
223will have enough staff or not would that be an accurate statement I I do not know because we you know we haven't advertised it yet okay I'm going to ask a more philosophical question because I was counting every other word that was being talked about said the word teacher that isn't in my mind in conflict with everything I heard today it's like we're talking about two different I think in one of the communication Partners had said it's a tale of 2 D1 128s how do help me Square this I I can't I can't put left and right together it's not an equation it's an inequality sign I don't know how else to ask this mides kwell I had the same thought Dr Tom kentes yeah I think that we have with the Freshman um part
224of The Proposal um or the Staffing plan um we had teachers involved at Vernon Hills in the design and the building of that model um when we as a district moved that model over to LHS there were fewer teachers involved because it was a pilot program done at Vernon Hills that was moved over to our building so depending on who you talk to a teacher from Vernon Hills could say I was directly involved in building that a teacher from LHS might say I wasn't involved in building that um as we've worked to build out our sophomore Junior and senior um some of our teachers have been involved in those discussion but others have not given uh two things one the time of the year that we were working on those and two the um the
225fact that not all teachers are impacted by those changes we've tried to pull and focus just on the teachers who are in the heterogeneous courses or who we believe have the greatest amount of diagonal movers so there has not been a full large staff meeting where every single teacher and staff member was involved in the discussion of this and in the building of this some staff members were involved in mtss discussions uh because of their connection to that team others were not um we know that we need teacher buyin and support and so one of the things that we've been talking about is um who are the teachers that are needed in order to help create these models and then what is our communication and staff learning plan for the other staff members who were
226not part of this so that when school starts in the fall they have a full understanding of how these supports will work how they will utilize them and how they would be um connecting their students to them son Al carne okay I mean I I'll say this again we're in the last week of school and I know I'm looking at you guys because you're in my line of sight but and I think um from what I've seen I think you're in the hot seat now but you got pulled into developing this late in the cycle so um that's that's just how I see it but everything you're saying it still needs to be done we're in the last week of school you know teachers don't have to work over Summer from what I understand so
227how are we come come August 1st what confidence does anyone have I don't have confidence right now that we're actually ready to pull this off but if help me change my mind here I I don't see it I I'll be more direct I feel we are running out of time right given where we are the amount of work that still needs to be done to get us to a point where we have confidence you know I'm not trying to diminish the amount of effort you're putting on this right don't take it that way what I'm trying to say is that if I have to do like my typical progress chart of what's been done and what's still remaining and what who are the people who will need to be involved for the what's remaining I
228don't see the confidence to get to the 100% Mark I think there's there's work ahead of us for sure you know when I joined and started working on the work that's that we're talking about here um everybody has jumped in and done their level-headed best to put together a plan to move us forward given the the work that has been undertaken by the district and I understand that there is um there's some anxiousness about getting this work completed what we have tried to do is take each each facet of this work and move it forward as well as we can and develop plans that are in place for the start of the Fall I think we have plans in place for every aspect of the plan that's in front of you to get built between
229now and when we start school and it is going to take a lot of effort with summer work and summer curriculum work to move forward um and finalize the pieces of the plan but I don't think that it is fair to say that the plan isn't drafted out at this point we have a lot of these pieces that are in place and and for the interventions that we're building those interventions have um a flow through them that needs to have teacher voice and needs to have insights to build out and I think when we get to the fall do I think these supports will be perfect I do not think they'll be perfect do I think they will be robust and support our district as we move forward I do think that they will be
230supportive as we move forward and we're going to need to continue a focus on the work that we've been doing as we go through next year and Beyond and we need to do it in a way that includes voice and includes our teachers and gets to a point where where we're all a lot more comfortable with this as we move forward and when will we do that work yeah because we are running out of time is my major concern there are plans mean it in the nicest way but every aspect of the work that remains from where we are right now to where we will begin the school year there are projects in place and people assigned those projects to do that this summer and much of that work has been done we're not starting
231from Ground Zero there's been a lot of work that has been done to put the plans that are in front of you in place and I understand that that there is a desire for more voice and there we need to be together as we move forward um so there is work to do but that work is planned the the work in front of you with the 151 teachers and 20 administrators those aspects of the work are planned and I would invite you guys to answer that as well son Al carne I I'm going to go back to on April 15th when we met at the LHS Auditorium one of the questions that was asked of board members is what do you need to be comfortable my number one ask was I would like for you
232to identify all failure points and have a plan B when I asked this question by email today and I think Maes you said I would like a exit strategy or a back that we talk about and I understand both don't exist as of now and no matter what we're just going to go ahead that's what the email said in my question how can I be comfortable with that I mean especially in the backdrop of what the students said today and the backdrop of what the teachers have said today what what data points do I have today to say yes we are actually ready momentary pause I mean my fellow board members if you guys have seen something I have missed then please help me I'm not trying to be difficult here but I I'm not
233seeing it I think one of the things that's different when you talk about a roll back is in response to the board questions it's not can can we roll back either of the two laws that's not the question those we have students placed in the class they have their legal right to have access to those classes that's the point that is not a roll back what we are doing is rolling forward we're going forward and doing as much as we can to enhance the systems we already have in place again I think the thing that middle is challenging Den that's a little bit in contradiction to what transpired at when that question was asked last time cuz as much as I remember when I asked the question last time of what will be a can
234we have a roll back plan in place in case we can't get the elements of this plan and what I was told at that time is yes we can put a roll back plan in place no from what I'm understanding right now is that that roll back plan even if it's conceptual just like we are trying right now the conceptual plans to move forward and work through it what's the the conceptual roll back plan if it's not being developed then just tell us so I guess I'm not understanding what you mean by a roll back plan when I think about the law that we're required to follow when I hear your original questions and all it was what kind of options if you can't hire enough teachers then what will you do if you can't
235do this what will you do so that we have uh we have been having conversations with teachers about applying those we have people who are interested in signing up for them they just we haven't been able to reach an agreement with the Union net to get them posted and we have typically added sections over the summer and we typically have teachers who very much would appreciate the monetary value of the additional overload for many people this is doing what they love helping students who are struggling in a Content area that they're an expert in and they will enjoy doing this and their families will benefit from the stipend all that may be true but in in light of what the union said today I'm not sure and I mean let me ask you my main
236question I understand roll back is hard but the point of having a plan B is you know what to do if your best intended actions don't pan out so let's say you are on August 13th and the support staff that we wanted to have in place is not there and now we have what 350 some students enrolled in a higher level class not counting incoming ninth graders what happens I I'm hearing this and I I think there's a difference between you know we talk about a roll back plan I don't think there I'm talking about R back no no no I just the concept of a roll back plan I don't think that concept exists in education I think it's a constant movement forward we might not get as far or as deep as we
237want to get yet with any plan but we're going to continue to move forward we're never going to retreat from the plans that we have in in place and I think that you know the there's two major components of this in my mind and I I may be oversimplifying we have the the diagonal movers and we've always had diagonal movers and we've always been able to support those diagonal movers we have a few more this time and we have some that are maybe you know uh uh entering into more rigorous courses for the first time and so what we're attempting to do is put a lot of supports in place so that those students can be as successful as possible so if we get to the fall and for some I I have confidence that
238that we will have supports in place I think our our district I think our buildings I think our our our staff I think think our teachers I think everyone wants to support the kids so I I think there's going to be some supports in place will it be an absolute 100% perfect of what Our intention is no I don't think it you know that's that's not I don't think realistic but will it be additional supports for those students absolutely will it help those students absolutely so I think we we have to look at it as not you know we're we're either moving forward or we're not we have to move forward with some portion of this and plan it out and collaborate with whoever needs to be collaborated I'm I'm confident that there will be
239some additional supports that are there that haven't been there before um that's just my my thought I would like to sh I mean when we started talking about this movement and we were being told two years ago about heterogeneous and Tom you won me over when you discussed best practices for our het heterogeneous placing and our team taught students that was two years ago and we set the parameter of yes we buy into the Y but here's the parameter the curriculum's not going to change our expectation is that the student is going to get the same exact experience in college prep and honors and AP so we are saying that we're hearing I mean in general we're hearing that the teachers are not buying into this they've told us they're not buying into this um
240our I agree with you that our students are going to be successful because sorry I'm going to roll back it's late we said that they have to have the same experience and they needed two things they needed support to get there and we needed to support our teachers as well those were our parameters um we're questioning whether we're ready for our support for students and what I'm hearing in general is trust us we're going to get there I can almost buy I I struggle with that secondly where is the where what's the difference going to be and my feeling is that we are going to be overloading already overloaded teachers to get there uh if our supports aren't ready our teachers are going to do the job because they've always done the job to support
241students outside one of the as I was trying to problem solve what so one of our concerns was are we over taxing an already over taxed faculty is there a way that we can measure our student our teachers I've talked to tons of them are with students on their prep time on their you daily time is there a way that we can include in this plan some measure that the teachers can be reporting that says I met with this how many students for this period which is outside of their rostered time for additional support because if our if our supports that we have in plan and this plan is is effective we should just see a natural decrease from teachers supporting students outside of their rostered time and being supported by these plans the plan
242that we have put together and that's the fear that's what we're hearing from the teachers is they are going to already they are going to be even more overwhelmed than they already are but they're going to do it because they're professionals and because they care so how how do we measure if our plan is working and not overb and it's not overburdening the teachers and they're not able to report that I like the suggestion of them having a way to report that though I mean we have a data person it seems like it would be pretty easy for them to be able to report how many students they had to give additional instruction to outside of their rostered time if that is and we should see a natural decrease from that Dr Brian wegley it's
243hard to understand how we're going to track data for something we haven't tracked data right is that something I'm just curious because I'm not a teacher is that something that you track in your district is that something you tracked in I would anally like every morning I would go in and open up my lab and students would show up or they wouldn't show up and there's certain times where after you've taught a course for a while you know when those kids are going to show up and so that's what you focus on asking but it's anecdotal yeah suppose something anecdotal you're asking for something that I'm wondering does that mechanism exist in other districts that's something that's practical to uh to to track I don't know oh I'm sorry is that something that exists in
244other districts that's practical to track Cara drum key so in my own experience because I'm not working in periods and I'm working in a general General Ed and Elementary it's not because the teacher is with the students all day long they don't have a 40 in a period for just English or social studies but it seems that if you're working in periods there's some kind of natural way that that can be done that if a teacher is being that that is what we're hearing the teachers are being asked to make up that difference of support right is that I mean am I wrong Maybe I'm Wrong maybe I'm wrong I'm I'm hearing I didn't hear that tonight and I I just want to ask the question it the goal of providing the extra supports is
245to provide additional support for students who may struggle because they're in a class that is more rigorous than they're accustomed to because they're in a heterogeneous class that they're not accustomed to it's not to decrease in any way the natural propensity for a teacher to work with a student after school or before they run into them in the hall and answer a question whatever that I don't think the go goal is to decrease student teacher interaction I think it's to add additional layers of support to those students that might well I do think it's both um I think that you're right our teachers and right now um before school many I don't have the the actual number but just from my experience being principal of Libertyville High School walking our Halls many of our teachers
246work with many different students before school school that is a very busy time for teachers in their classrooms for supporting students um the thing that I am excited about is that I do believe that the enhancements we are making will not eliminate the need for a teacher to support a student and and quite frankly a lot of our students they'll bypass the other systems to seek out their teacher because that's who they have a relationship with and that's who they know cares about them and so what we are doing though by building out the supports is making sure that students do have other options Beyond just their teacher so when their teacher is not available they will be able to get support and that our teachers as these systems get developed will be able to
247say to a student for these types of issues I'm going to ask you to go and work with these um resources allowing the teacher to be able to focus in on students with the most intensive needs I do think we could and see some reduction in the amount of students needing to seek their individual teacher as these systems become more robust and students realize they're not just dependent on a teacher to answer their questions um that there are other places in the building where they could get that information for them so um to your point Mr Batson that is kind of you know a secondary um result that I anticipate and while we haven't tracked the amount of students that teachers are meeting with on a daily basis um outside of our resource Labs that
248is certainly something that um if the board were interested in knowing we'd be able to at least ask teachers their perception of has the need increased decreased stayed about the same since you know uh We've implemented some of these programs and we could look at that um on a somewhat frequent basis over the course of the year and we do have an app that'll be part of Power School unified insights where we will be able to track the use of these interventions we're putting in place uh and I think most importantly next year will be how we analyze and how we evolve these supports with our teachers with voice with moving forward together and be cautious about not adding more to our plate as we continue to work on these things that are mandates these
249things that we have to get put in place so I think that's going to be most important is the how we analyze these things and continue to move Son Al carne I'm sorry I'm going to sound like a broken record but I need two questions answer question number one is all these best laid plans if they end up not going the way we expect to I'm not expecting Perfection Perfection is not a measure it's very subjective yep but we have to have a measure of success that I haven't seen that fully defined yet but what if that happens where everything we want to have happen is not happened what happens to these 300 some students and what happens to the incoming ninth graders who have been placed into a higher level class because the apaa
250lowered the bar what happens to those students I would like question number one and question number two is what steps are we going to take to mend the relationship and the trust with the teachers again I I every other word that is spoken here is the word teacher yeah but that's the one group that is not supportive of what's going on sure so two questions please that's the foundation that's the foundation we are going to stand up this plan on right question so to me that question number two is probably more important and what do we do Lisa Hessel so there were two questions the first one what is the measure of success is that the first question what's well let take it one at a time question number one what are our measures of
251success and if you we don't have that now I'm I'm okay we need to have them question number two is come August 13th 14 whenever school starts if the plans that we had set out to have in place were not as successful as we thought we didn't have as many teachers who signed up or whatever happened and your the support structure we have designed is not fully staffed what happens to those students that's question two and of course third one is what steps will be taken to build trust with teachers second one is a much bigger question I think we're GNA need um other voices on the first is really you would ask the question where are those pinch points where are those those potential areas where we might not see success how are we
252going to measure this we're going to measure this shortterm and long-term shortterm for the interventions if we just focus on those we are going to be um looking at the students that are referred the criteria that they come in with the support that they get the attendance that they have and that they meet that criteria and exit so we will be tracking that and our mtss team our building mtss team will be tracking that longterm we're gonna be looking at all the indicators of success that we already look at our our student performance our graduation rates how our kids are going to college how they're performing once they get there those things our act and SAT scores those things are a long-term um projections as we look at what are the pinch points what are
253the places that we could have struggle the first is going to be students who have move that may need to move back and that has been part of Staffing that has been something that has been paid attention to to even to the point of analyzing that need for diagonal movement perhaps moving backwards to find out where we need additional staff where the best laid plans needed some additional FTE you put an additional 1.0 FTE in place for that that that's your plan B that that's a potential area that we know there could be difference in how are you going to know that you need to activate that because it's already in place so as we see students that's not that's not the question I'm asking what's in place right now is we have plans we
254have a plan to staff up as n number of FTE yep my question is come August 14th yep if your n minus yep if your n equals zero then what are we going to do on August 14th for students who need help which is another potential area that's a pinch point so we have we know that hiring aids for example for the certified FTE we are going to have that in place right we've already assigned that certified FTE for the um the extra Duty stien that needs to continue its path of negotiation so we can get that in place for the ESP if we find that there is not a sufficient pool of applicants there is going to need to be um some additional discussion about what we do we can take those 6 FTE
255increase them to 1.0 if we're not filling those sixes we can look at it additional stiens for extra duty stiens if those are not in place there are there are options that the team will be working on and can work on if we find that those that those positions are not being filled and when's the timeline to have those discussions we when when is right now we have applications for them so I think we need to see how the first round of hiring goes and we might be able to report to you by June 10th that we've started to fill some of them so we will only engage in that conversation if we face the fact that we don't have enough people applying for them and again we've had a robust amount of applications within
256the first five days of them being posted that's fair but what is the time that you you make a call and say we don't have enough people so when would we make a call to shift that model this part of Plan B is knowing when something fails fa what has failed and what am I going to do about it so time time is important in there I don't think it's about failing it's about um you know are hiring these positions similarly to other education support professional positions that we haven't filled all year um some of them and we adjust and we adapt and we move people around so I think you know we look at these positions they are posted we are starting to look at applicants um this is still early um in the
257um hiring season though for educational support professional positions um because they're not summer positions and because they're not teaching positions um sometimes commitment for people is difficult in May um but we just like our other positions that we have to hire we will work through them in um you know through the end of the school year in June and then by mid July if we see that we have openings I think then we start really you know making um decisions but our team I think has shown in the past that um we've had to make um changes we've had a we've had teachers that uh for whatever reasons um maybe we're out on uh parental leave and we didn't fill them with a sub and we've had to adapt and make changes so I think
258our team has always been doing that so it's not whether passing or failing this it's we have a a very robust system in place and we will do what we do in hiring the best possible people for this I don't mean failure as a failure or we failed I mean that with every every objective that you have in a plan no matter how big or small the plan is there is an opportunity that it doesn't go the way that we intended to and we need to know when that has happened and what we will do about it before it happens not after it happens Brian Kelly I think there's more than that goes on that nothing is perfect in our plan in in putting teachers in place when people go on Parental leave when people
259are sick so there's a lot of adapting that we do throughout the school year and working with our department chairs and our teachers that I don't think a lot of you know the board is aware of or that a lot of other people Ware of that our team is constantly adapting and making changes this one obviously is one that is on our radar way in advance and we're looking to August and we have a long time to be able to adapt and make changes I mean there's times that it could be a Monday and I find out somebody's going to be out for a month we didn't have a chance to really plan for it I think so in this case we have a long Runway to plan and you know I am conf confident
260that our team our department chairs and working with both of our associate principles will um you know they are in the system already looking at applicants and if we can get people to commit as early as possible we will do that so son Al carne and then my question number three was what what are we going to do about everything we heard from the teachers today Dr Denise Herman well one of the things that I'd like to comment on when um I've met one on one with the Union president and some other union members from on their exec board and asked that question what would be some because I listen carefully to the remarks that were read in in April and I printed the copy and I sat with them and said what would be
261evidence of these things that meski listed and when I brought some ideas about a shared learning experience when I brought ideas to the table none of them would would be acceptable to the executive board right now what that person said was time it's going to take time and um I'm going to continue to brainstorm additional ways for us to build trust but one of the things that I'm that we're facing is momentary pause many of the issues when I talk one-on-one with teachers they say we aren't resistant to change one-on-one many teacher every teacher one-on-one wants to help kids it's when it becomes a group that it becomes much less flexible and I think that's one of the things that we're dealing with is as a group it's becoming less and less flexible and we're
262just going to have to continue to to offer supports and listen one of the things we can't do however is not move forward with things that are required of us implementing school code is not an option it's a requirement and I want to work with the teachers on meeting that requirement and I will continue to offer every opportunity for teachers to have voice in how we do it but that's not been the past practice when we're offering more time for teachers to learn and collaborate that wasn't accepted there there's just some things that in order for there to be a trusting relationship it has to be a two-way street and I will continue to continue to offer communication and opportunities for collaboration that's how you build relationships and I'm committed to that but it has
263to be a two-way street here here's another thing I would say because I I sense some some conflicting feelings here so there's this there's this sense that we're late it's already the end of the school year and what what have you done here's what we couldn't do the last few weeks the administrative team gets together makes decisions and then comes back because the teachers are going to say rightfully so you left us out of it but what we also can't do because they're drinking from a faucet right now a fire hose right now we also can't say why don't you come out of class for the next three days and sit with us and we're going to plant they have AP test they're trying to get final exams ready they're trying to end this so
264it can't all happen one of the normal rhythms of a school system is that over the summer you have time to take a breath say okay what were those things that as we were closing a very busy and hectic and chaotic you heard those words today end of the school year that we now have time to take a breath to actually pull some of those staff members in with us to say all right now we can focus let's let's get together let's build some trust back let's build this system together so that when we kick off in August we're all on the same page we have our we have our exit CR entrance criteria we have our exit criteria we have a much of the staff in place as possible we've got the curriculum lined
265up with the the staff leaders who can say okay these are the skills the kids are going to be short all of those things but when does when is there time to do that there's time in the summer to do that and I understand for somebody who's not in the educa that that seems like that's the 11th Hour how could that be the time that you're going to do this work but as an educator that's the time that we do this work think about this there are new classes we're running next year that don't have a curriculum ready why because teachers are doing curriculum projects to set that stuff up so that they're ready to go in August you could say you're late the the curriculum's you got two months to get this done and
266there's going to be kids in your but that's the normal that's the normal flow of a system in education so you're you're not seeing us Panic up here because we know we've got enough draft to the to the skeleton of this thing that when we pull ourselves together when we have time to breathe we're going to be able to put this together now it could be ship it and fix it like we're we're gonna start the school year it's to Brian's point it's not going to be perfect but we'll pull together and say all right let's tweak here let's we might need to hire some more stiens if we can't find ANP instructional aid but that stuff happens all the time with us um so it's just a different perspective I think the trust thing
267is if we can get teachers around the table working together with us to say okay let's work together to figure out what this looks like so that your students are successful so that the system seems to work right so that we have data that we can check to make sure that you know you talk about teachers meeting with kids I don't know that if if I'm as a principal if I see a sharp decrease in the number number of teachers meeting with kids I don't know if I'm going to feel like that's a success I'll only feel if that's a success if the number of kids that are coming in in the morning to the lab is astronomical that's okay now I can take that balance but the two of them together like if both
268so we're gonna have to kind of see what that looks like as we go and and I think we're gonna we're going to be able to do that um well I I I agree John and I think the other piece that's very clear to us is we have to be more intentional than ever in doing checkpoints along the way with teachers and with our students and families so where we might have evaluated something after a semester we are clearly needing to evaluate at the start where we at and in real time as this moves along to get uh that voice so that we're not um lacking awareness of where these things are going well that we need to build upon and where there are pinch points or issues that the best laid plans are not
269delivering in the way we thought and rather than just waiting for the end of the semester like you say it is about making adjustments as rapidly as we can we believe that the board has indicated your willingness to hear us come back to you and say hey we've discovered an issue here can you help us in terms of resource allocation you've given us an invitation to do that um and we anticipate that if that is a need that we would um put those ideas together and come to you um as quickly as possible son Al carne thank you for that I I'm still stuck in know I'm stuck because I keep hearing conflicting things and I'm trying to just Square things away so if this is kind of routine this is how School is run
270it's routine practice then why in this year do we have such an outcry from families why is that the case what's your sense of it you guys are the ones that work with families and students so when you say outcry from families we we have had significant public comments but I think let's let's keep it in proportion to the number of families that reside in our district we had a petition from like a thousand individuals did you read the petition yeah I did I I found it flawed if I if I didn't know anything and I read that petition I would think oh my gosh I absolutely agree that there's this problem this problem this problem but I know that that's not the case but that's problem right but that is a problem that we
271have I mean it's all part of the same Dr Denise Herman well and I think that's why it's so important that as we have these dialogues as a board we keep coming back to what we know to be true and I think there has been a lot of misinformation several of the things in that resolution were false they were actually incorrect facts I noticed that you know of falsehoods in it all right my son Al Carney we've had successive board meetings where we have a lot of public comment that is not happened before this is my third year on the board it's only started happening in the last couple months so there's no smoke without fire I'm I'm not an investigative journalist to go and do what we call a corrective action preventive action in
272in my industry but there is something going on there that's resulting in I'm going to say broadscale discomfort outside of the people who show up here I'm accosted by people I know that would have Ord nearly never brought this up to me one of the one of the quotes that I wrote down tonight from a public comment maker this is our hometown not yours we won't let you destroy it um some of the things that we're facing are people fearful of change our demographics are changing in our district the person who said this momentary pause um also in public comment has talked about wanting to maintain um a more Elite system of having people enter our AP in honors where the state law says that no longer is possible so there are people who are
273clinging to the status quo of how we used to run honors in AP and that is no longer legal so we are facing a backlash this is a systems change and it is painful for many people that's why as elected officials it's important for us to say I took to uphold the the Illinois school code and I know it's making people uncomfortable it and it's not fun it's not fun to hear these comments coming in it's not fun to hear the teachers union their own if I'm looking at their website they have a resolution supporting heterogeneous classes supporting all the policies that we're talking about but our own Local Union is not there yet I I I'm working hard to try and help them see these are not optional changes they're required changes and our
274job is to try and set administrators students and families up for success I also think a segment of the community is working off old information stale information that they they are not willing to update their Viewpoint based on that stale information and I keep hearing it time and time again in my interaction with community members and son you said where there's smoke there's fire sometimes the smoke alarm goes off because there's just smoke sometimes you have to go fan the smoke away from the smoke alarm go back and check to make sure nothing is on fire and then you can proceed and I I asked last time when we were in in our board meeting two weeks ago I do feel like something is is not a Miss is not in some of these plans
275like I I do hear some of your concerns and I I challenge our district administrators to to answer some of those concerns but at the same point in time I'm looking at our mtss I'm looking at the plans we're having you know built upon this summer and from an educational background myself like yeah this whole this whole you know teaching you get the Summers off rumor it's it's blone I never had a summer off in all the years I taught I still don't I I just I don't I've seen a progression with the information and the plans that have been brought To Us by the DT over the past couple of months and I'm satisfied with the progression Mr wegley keep saying I we're GNA come to a resolution I'm sorry I mean interrupt no
276I'm just saying Mr wle is saying it's not perfect right good enough good enough sometimes is good enough about this for two years years yeah and John and Tom I think you inherited this problem and You' have done an amazing job with what you inherited because this was supposed to be work that's been going on for two years and it doesn't seem like that work was been going on in a substantive way the how was not being put together and it kind of fell in your lap and you've done an amazing job in the time frame that you've had to create this framework and create a plan that I agree with you looks it looks okay but we've had two years and I know we can't go back and change and and that is kind
277of the communication that we're hearing it takes a lot of work to create an mtss plan that includes substantive interventions with identification measure I mean I don't need to go through it you all know that's not where we are right now it's a good start and it's a good plan but that's the frustration and if we don't have buyin from our our number one people who are responsible for executing this plan how do we expect success and that I guess is why I keep coming back how are we going to measure success I mean I guess the the cat is out of the bag and you're answering these questions to us and we're going to hold you to this measurement of is this working but the frustration is we missed a lot of time that
278a lot of this work could have been done for two years and we could have been bringing in some of these other stakeholders and not have the acrimony that we're facing right now and and because the how is getting challenged people are going back to why are we doing this if we had a plan in place that was agree with what Cara said I don't think anyone would be challenging the the why we doing this I personally don't challenge it I believe that it's necessary but that doesn't mean we are ready to do it I think um couple things I think um we have uh done we have very clearly as you have heard the feedback um from community and from our staff of um needing to be much more connected and in partnership with
279our teaching staff around major initiatives um that is come through loud and clear and with this particular one we have had a challenge by the board by our community um to build out greater levels of support um to help support a broader number of students and I think we've created plans in order to do that that um do have a Time basis of August I personally don't believe we're going to be able to resolve all of the concerns about communication and Trust um by August but what for my role as I'm transitioning into a new position this summer I'm working with Dr wegley that everything we're building and moving towards with next year will be designed to be inclusive of teacher voice and teacher leadership in the work that we're doing moving forward um and
280that is a commitment that um I know I need to make as a soon Tobe District leader in the work that I do to help build the supports necessary for our students to be successful and our teachers to feel that they have the resources and the tools they need to be successful um that is a the spirit of which I wanted to step into this role was to empower our teachers to find um the ways to be in leadership of these things with District moving to support that work we are certainly um not able to demonstrate that in all aspects of this work um but that is where we believe uh we need to head where what is good for our system is to have that in place and the work that we're doing as
281a transition is trying to get us so that in August not that it's a fresh start but that those types of opportunities become clear to our staff and we make very real and um continuous commitment to seeking staff voice and participation as these initiatives continue to evolve so I do agree with you on that and I think that's it's my perspective that's probably part of the problem the last 3 months or two months of acrimony that we've observed right I think part of it is it's Amplified by distracting information in there but it is also Amplified by us saying we are moving forward we are moving forward and not telling them we hear you right A lot of times I think the statements that we make are unequivocal support and we are moving forward we
282know we are doing the right thing instead of just telling them hey we hear you right I think we need to challenge ourselves to put that line of communication we we are not going to get it perfect for them at where they are we are not going to get it perfect and part of what I'm hearing is that it's not that's not how Education Works and I get it right I don't know that and but I think we are not putting the message out there that we hear you or we got to it too late and so part of the move forward is that building that trust and and I'm going to be direct in in what I say next is not by saying that I'm not going to back down I'm going to move
283forward that appears to them as if that you're not listening to them you're not listening to their voice that's how it appeared to me in the statement made today right and in the backlash that you get what you need to have is the the empathy that hey we listen to you we are willing to work with you there are things that we have to do so that you know the the amount of distraction that is created from the what the what is not to be questioned right I I don't question the what I don't even question the how maybe right now I think it's it's that surrounding communication that is being questioned a lot and that's what we need to make the commitment and move forward and change our messaging a little bit to start
284earning the trust I don't think that is being done right now and I think yes and and I like your your commitment because you're you're absolutely on the right path and and in addition yes acknowledging hearing those concerns but more importantly I believe for our staff is wanting to see the actions that demonstrate an understanding of that and um that is something that we I believe as a district leadership team have really begun to discuss is what specific actions might we take to demonstrate not just our understanding then and say that we understand but show that we understand some of the challenges we have is is finding those agreements with the Union so that the things we want to do to show that are the things that they would support as well um being receptive
285but there are some things we can do just on our own that we have to take responsibility for and then seek compromise with them on other things that in uh require their agreement to I appreciate that Dr K thank you and I appreciate everybody uh commitment to getting this right I do feel the responsibility to move this along and with everybody's permission I would like to complete the agenda so that we can go into Clos session and come back out and approve the contract and conclude our business for the evening so unless anybody objects um we are going to move on to Item B and as we did at our last board meeting in April because this is a first reading I'd like to push this to committee um read is there any opposition to
286moving forward with no pushing that to committee um then um I will turn it over to Dan to give us um the uh brief on the budget hearing that's scheduled for June 10th and if there are any changes to the uh fiscal year 25 tenative budget that's in our packet from last Monday there are no changes from last Monday um but given the support staff Union contract that will that will have some changes so that'll take me a little bit to incorporate but those should be those will we've got time for those to be in place um so I've got the information there um so if you have questions happy to answer or feel free to reach out this is also for the board but also for the public to kind of keep this in
287the front for several meetings so that the information is there and available for everybody Lisa Hessel are there any questions from board members about the tenative budget at this time none we are moving on some time at fnf pardon me we'll have some time at fnf to talk about um on June 10th you may yes yeah um so moving on to items of information uh first on the list is the superintendence report there is one item that I think we want to visit right um Mr Stanley um has an update on the creative Entourage contract yeah uh so we had intended to do this at the May committee meeting but I completely forgot so everyone this is all my fault that I did not remember so here it is uh the agreement with creative Entourage
288was for $91,500 Plus reimbursables for the community engagement process um the decision was made to terminate the agreement and so this is an update on the final cost the original cost was $91,500 the way that works out is it's a 10-month period so they take that amount divided by 10 months and we pay 9,150 a month so what we actually ended up paying was two months of that contract based on when they started and then um based on a clause in their contract that is not that was not the um the the June 1 deadline it was a different part of the contract that we were able to activate um that essentially caused a 20% termination fee of the difference remaining so that was the math it was cheaper to do that and um than
289to go with the other direction and so at that point uh we gave that to them and they said yep that makes sense to that that makes sense to them so the total cost out of that 91,500 is $32,950 which represents about 36% of the original contract in addition there was reimbursables that we have for their travel in time so that's $2,574 51 but that's not part of the 91500 because the contract was 91500 for their services plus reimbursables just like when we have other contracts like for gilbane or St they have their contract price there's then there's reimbursables based on the contract that's in place Lisa Hessel that's the information the total is about 35 Dan Stanley uh the total is 35 but it's not 35 of the 915 the the part that's the
290915 is the 33,000 so the total that we're going to end up paying is right about that thank you those two numbers added together together and the 20% termination fee was a part of the contract it was part of their Master agreement and based on our reading of that contract and the everything else that we had uh that seemed like the preferred option to go and it resulted in a lower B that we ended up paying because the other option was you notify them by the end of the original language is escaping me right now I was think it's notified by the end of May to be done in June something like that and then you would basically end up paying two-thirds of the cost uh so we were able to avoid that thank you
291and then superintendent Herman has an uh brief update on her completion of the iso cor cohort yeah for the past 18 months um I've been one of 25 superintendents across the state of Illinois who've been coming together um to learn from and with each other and also to have coaching cycles and to have books that we've read on leading change and systems change um and a Friday we had our graduation um and so I'm proud to say I'm one of the uh 25 fellows of the isil cohort number seven congratulations um and thank you to your commitment for uh your continue Learning and Development um in terms of board comments and events the one thing I do want to point out is that Ed red um is partnering with the Lake County Roe to host
292a mini Summit conveniently right here at Vernon Hills High School it is on June 12th and the link to register uh is there but Carol if we have board members that want to register can they do that through you yes thank you thank you so um it's going to be from 8 8 to 12 and there is a uh 12 different workshops um it's being offered to Educators as well as uh board members and administrative staff um so there will be PD offered for uh teachers and um there's a whole host there's 12 different workshops available um with a lot of very interesting things so if you haven't I encourage you to click on that uh website to register if you would like to attend um the information about The Joint annual conference is also
293included but we don't have to review that tonight um seeing that we have no ISB reports or seedall reports I'm going to ask if we could wave any other reports unless there's something any board members feel the need to U share um we can review the list of future agenda items does anybody have any U additions or concerns then uh at this point we are looking for a motion to convene in close session to discuss Collective negotiating matters under 5il cs120 2c2 as well as employment of employees under 5 cs120 2c1 Benjamin so moved Ben second thank you roll call please Co Carney hi Batson hi Benjamin hi Carmichael hi drum key i hle i catwall i motion passes we will conven an executive session and we will be taking action when we return Fade
294to Black Fade Into board memb seat at a table everyone returns to their seeds everyone returns to their seeds everyone turns to their seats Lisa hessle ready okay um may we have a motion in a second to return to open session Carmichael move to move to open session Batson second thank you roll call please oh Voice vote I'm sorry all in favor say I I opposed motion carries we are returned um now I would like to ask for a motion and second to approve the agreement between the Board of Education Community High School District 128 Lake County Illinois and the Community High School District 128 educational support professionals local 504 if AF AFL CIO for the dates from ratification through J June 30th 2027 Carmichael so moved Batson second thank you roll call please Batson
295I Benjamin I Carmichael I drum key I hessle I catwall I co Carney I the motion has unanimously been approved congratulations thank you to everybody that put in the work to make that contract happen may we have a motion and a second to adjourn the board meeting Carmichael move to adjourn drum key second thank you voice vote all in favor I opposed motion carries we are journ thank you everyone Fade to Black end of meeting