001I will call >> All right, it's 6:30. Julie, would you mind calling the roll, please? >> Of course. Cara Caston? Here. Katie Courtney? >> Here. >> Ken Dawson? >> Here. >> Chris Respinosa? >> Here. >> April >> Here. >> Don Runner. >> Here. >> Michael Risky. >> Here. >> Ryan Enright. >> Here. >> Romina Papaverga Gonzalez. >> Here. >> Thank you very much. >> Having a quorum, let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, I'll turn it over to Hank for student recognition. All right, I will turn it over to Anne. >> Good evening, everybody. I'm so happy when we have
002students to celebrate and tonight at South, um we're celebrating three different groups of students. I'm going to start by introducing Chris Blum and he is going to be celebrating our IHSA short film entry, which won fourth in state. >> [applause] >> Hi there. Um >> [laughter] >> You know, we'll just pull it. Hi there. Uh my name is Chris Blum. Um I wear many hats in this district, um but one of my uh that I'm very proud of is sponsoring these amazing young people in creation of their short film entry for IHSA. Um it's an awesome event that is completely student-run, student-directed, student-edited. I'm merely just there for whatever they might need, any access in the building or anything like that. Um so, real quick, I just would like to introduce the director, uh Marley
003Birch. Uh they're going to speak on the behalf of the film real quick and uh and that's it. So, Marley. There you go. >> Hello. Uh my name is Marley Birch. I am the screenwriter and the assistant director. Um our director could not be here today, um but yeah, it was a really great experience um and we got a lot of support. And I really enjoyed it. So, yeah. That's really it. >> [laughter] >> We need TO ASK HER ABOUT >> OH, OH, WAIT BEFORE I go. I apologies. Um this is everyone who was involved, some of them who are here today. Um so, if they're if you're here, just like raise your hand, please. Um Miley Birch, Gretchen Hazelhorse, uh Adrian Harris, Leo Popovich, Kate Wills, Pierre Brown, Joseph Conyers, Brady Dillon, M Dow,
004um Camilla Oh, no. Roast Roast Road Rodan, and Miles Price. So, that's the people. >> [applause] >> Okay, cool. >> [laughter] >> We need to ask her about the short film about >> Great job. Will we be able to get a copy of the short film? >> Yes, we will get you a copy of the film. I think we did that last year, too. So, we'll make sure we do that again. All right, next up I'm going to introduce um our head varsity cheer coach, Shannon Lahey. Um we have two of our athletes who qualified for All-State, and so we're going to be celebrating them now. I'm going to turn it over to Shannon. >> [applause] >> I am Shannon Lahey. I'm the head coach at DGS, and we are very thrilled because last season
005um was a record-breaking season for Downers Grove South cheerleading. Um we received the highest score ever in cheer history at DGS. Um and we were the first all-girl team to make it down to state, um ending up in the top 25 of the state out of 90 teams. So, we were very excited about that. Um but we are more excited to celebrate um two of our athletes um as they were recognized as All-State athletes. Um Olivia Rodriguez, who cannot be here tonight cuz she's currently competing um, in Orlando for her All-State team, and Jada Mixon. Um, and in order to be selected as the All-State team, you really have to be the best of the best, and you have to show the highest caliber of skills in stunting, tumbling, and jumps. Um, and Jada has
006done that not once, but now twice as an All-State athlete. Um, and we are truly blessed to have our um, one of our leaders on our team, not just for her skill set, but her dedication, her character, and like I said, just the leadership that she brings to our program. So, we're very excited to hopefully see her go for a three-peat this year as, you know, another All-State nominee. So, way to go, Jada. We're so proud of you. >> [applause] >> We can also get you her video as well that we had to submit. >> Love to see it. >> Look at all the videos. >> And next, um, we had two of our students win top five in state for FCCLA. So, I'm going to invite Ms. Amanda Forrest to come up and celebrate
007them. >> Hello, everyone. I am Amanda Forrest, and I am the FCCLA advisor at South, and I have here with me Victor- Victoria Zeibert. I almost butchered your last name again. Um, who was not only um, honored with the top five award, she earned a perfect score in her FCCLA competition. So, for fashion construction and all of FCCLA, um, the competitive event categories ranges completely, and students work all year long competing, um, are just working on their competition category. It's an independent, um, competition, so it's everyone against the rubric and they have a chance to improve and change things and Victoria is extremely talented in fashion construction. Judges were amazed by her, um, seamstress work and her quality of everything that she put together. It really is so fun to watch her like bloom in
008this setting and at state. It was fun to have her there as well, so let's give it up for Victoria. >> [applause] >> Evelyn by and Evelyn Benitez also earned top five and this was her first year competing in the pastry arts decorated cookie competition. She can't be here tonight, but we are so proud of her, too. So, thank you. >> [applause] >> All right, we have some more students here from a little brief staff recognition before we get there. This last week the DuPage Regional Office of Education had Educator of the Year an Educator of the Year ceremony and District 99 had quite a few nominees as you can see on the screen. In the categories of school administrator, educational support and high school educator. So, quite a few of District 99 recognized recognized
009on this evening. Then advancing to the podium later on that evening, Darren Gibson for educational support person, Jeff Grant and Mary Beth Sensor for high school educator and Ms. Gina Zaccardi for school administrator. So, they were all finalists and then at the end of the night Jeff Grant was recognized as the 2026 DuPage ROE Educator of the Year and he is a North High science teacher. So, uh we did pretty well in our community this last week. So, congratulations to all of you. >> [applause] >> All right, at this point, I'm going to invite our students that were part of the ISBE Student Summit up to talk about their experience. >> So, you might remember, um we had actually the same crew um last year, and they were invited to participate in the ISBE Student
010Summit. It was in Springfield this year. So, they are able to they're invited as students from Downers Grove South to go participate in the Student Summit, and they share their perspective with everyone at ISBE on what the high school experience is actually like, and what they're working on, and they really have a chance to be leaders and have agency in their school experience. But, I'm not going to steal their thunder. I'm going to turn it over. They created slides to kind of walk you through what that experience looked like. So, I'll let you guys introduce yourself, and then we'll put their slides up. Okay. Yep. >> Oh, hello everybody. My name is Anvi Krishnardula, and I will be talking about our ISBE Student Summit. This is >> Samira. >> I'm Daniel Pacheco. >> And so,
011as soon as these slides are up, we're going to start talking about the ISBE experience, which for those of you who don't know stands for stands for our Illinois Student Board of Education. So, this was where we were able to go to the next slide. >> Sure. >> And then, so here's the formatting and the scheduling. So, when we arrived, they had this really fun bingo scavenger hunt, which was a warm-up activity for you to get to know everybody there and feel comfortable in a space where you were able to discuss your ideas. So, it was little things like find somebody who has the same mascot as you, or find somebody who shares your same opinion on cell phone use, or it was just little things like that that was able to get you into
012the environment to set up. And then, they had the introduction and the purpose of the summit, where they just went over the schedule and everything. Then, you split up. You were given a little ID that had your name on it and it told you which group you were in, and so you would go through that. And so, one of the breakout rooms was student involvement preparation, the second one was advancing technology, which Yume led and he will talk a little bit more about later. Then we had lunch and then another breakout room about life after high school. And then our fourth breakout room is something we all know a lot at DGS and Downers Grove South in general. But it was the longest. And then we had a little conclusion where we shared ideas and
013we shared one word that we described our experience. I'm pretty sure I used mine as a static cuz I was so excited to just be there and learn about the ideas of other people. So, we have Samira to share three new things she gained from this. >> So, um overall, this experience was really fun, like being able to communicate with other like high school students who have different opinions where you can learn from them and also share your opinions, too. And some stuff I learned was many different programs that other high schools had and it was just like internships and other subjects with like direct applications. Like something interesting was that one school had a um construction math class, so it was just where you could go to construction sites and learn how to use
014math and apply it in real-world applications. And that seemed really a fun opportunity. And then I also learned about more like after-school prep for ACTs and APs and other classes like that. I feel like it was so interesting learning about other things that other schools does and talk about the stuff that our school does, too. And then like ACT preps that we have and AP stuff we do, like AP preps for science classes. And that was really fun being able to share my opinion as well. And going on to diverse opinions, I feel like I was able to learn about multiple perspectives on how to use AI and cell phones and that was really valuable about learning how other schools used um had different cell phone and AI policies on how to use AI in
015a way that can help you grow and not really stifle your creativity. And another really fun thing was learning about like belonging and how to um reduce chronic absenteeism and learn how different schools approach um creating a sense of belonging and I feel like South is one of this great school that like really shows the importance of um being a Mustang and or um being a part of like this DGS DGN community. I feel it was it was really like valuable learning about um multiple ways to be part of school whether it's joining different clubs, um making meaningful connections with your teacher and overall just doing your best and being there every single day. And that was a really like valuable experience I got like learning from different people and ideas about how to really
016feel included in an environment whether it's um going out of your comfort zone and doing different stuff. I feel like that was really fun and I really enjoyed going to ISLC. >> [applause] >> You can go back a slide. Okay, I'm back and I'm going to be talking about basically like a little bit about my perspective of the three things that Sameer talked about. I also learned about different perspectives and just to sum it up, we all had different environments and so of course we all had different opinions where we came from. I came from a school that didn't have cell phone policy before this year, and learning about how people had it before or how people didn't have it, it was really interesting to see their perspective on it. I realized that my perspective
017is having it like newly [clears throat] implemented was way different than people who had had it for years and who had experienced problems with it already. But, I feel like that this year that we implemented it, we saw a lot of positive growth at least in my classroom. I was able to see how we were able to connect more when we weren't on our phones 24/7. And so, it was way easier to see the different perspectives, and I thought that was a really neat perspective of this. And then, two was the preparation. We talked a lot about the different kinds of preparation that different schools give us. I know that at South, there was an amazing internship program that we have developed about how you can go to different places, and if you reach out,
018we can help you get to the place you want to be. I know that I am exploring different connections into the mayor of Darien and how we can help be parts of our community that we didn't really see before. And so, many different schools talked talked about the preparation of after high school and how there are so many student-led programs, too, leading into that leadership that you would have to need after high school. And then lastly, belonging. We talked about belonging just like Samira, but we talked about the little bit more specific aspects. So, many schools had cultural cultural of Well, cultural affairs, and so they talked about how different cultures were able to melt, and I know that we love having those clubs at DGS, too. And so, it was really important to see
019how culture kind of melts into community, and it really does melt into the the future of belonging. We talked about broadcast and social media representation, which I know we have a ton of at DGS. And throughout our D99 program, I know so many of us with different clubs have social media broadcast and different platforms where they're able to share their voice. So, you're able to reach this sense of belonging outside of just your community and outside to people who aren't knowing of what you're doing. And then we also talked about chronic absenteeism, which we were able to help with the scanners this year and how it's just different for different schools and how we're solving it together. Cuz at the end of the day, we all reached on the message that if we wanted to
020have a sense of belonging, this was something that not only teachers, not only staff, not only students could do, but it was something we all had to do together. These were the three new things that I gained from this and honestly, it's not something that I would ever be able to recreate again because it was just amazing. >> [laughter] >> All right. And then as a member of the student advisory council, I helped run the AI and cell phone policy session. So, that we gathered data at our monthly meetings. So, we got to hear from the finance um committees. We got to hear from support services. We got to hear from Dr. Tony Sanders as well and they really helped help gather data for the student summit and then for our presentation next week at
021the Board of Education meeting. We heard a lot of concerns about the environmental stuff and then also about like cell phone policies, how they affect learning and how pockets should be in classes to help reduce cell phones. So. >> Yes. As you can tell, I really like talking, which is why I'm up here a ton. >> [laughter] >> But just overall, just to summarize all the amazing things we did, what we did was meet amazing people and students from all over the state with so many different perspectives from so many different environments. We learned about different schools and what they do to support their students creating their sense of belonging, which is different for every school, different for every environment, different for different people. And we learned how we adapt that way. And then we
022also recognized all the opportunities that D99 has to offer us. We're all going to talk a little bit about all of them, not all of them cuz there's so many, but just a few about each of them. So, I'm going to talk about the fine arts. At Downers Grove South, we have band, we have jazz band, we have rock band, we have regular wind ensemble, we have choir, we have so many different variations of choir, whether it's madrigals or treble ensemble. We have so many programs and orchestra, too. And musical, we have so many programs, just like short film, which congratulations to them, that completely supports D99. And as somebody from the fine arts department, I think it's so important to help us pursue creativity in school, when sometimes it feels like all of it's
023academics and all of it's the same routine, you come to that class and you can feel, for me at least, a sense of relief, a sense of belonging, truly, is when you can be in those fine arts classes and not stick to the same schedule, but instead have some fun and embrace that creativity. So, that's my experience with some of the opportunities D99 has to offer us. >> And then, I wanted to talk about the intro to teaching program. So, I wanted to thank District 99 for offering that opportunity. Not a lot of school districts have that opportunity. Being able to be in a classroom and having that hands-on experience is so important. I was able to be at Meadowview, my alma mater, elementary school. And I really got to build that relationship with my
024mentor teachers, who really helped me become a better educator, and I do plan to pursue secondary education as my major. So, I'm really grateful for the opportunity that District 99 offers. >> Um I'm talking about APs, and I feel like we offer so many APs, and it's really a fantastic way to like get comfortable with college and be more prepared. And I feel like one of the like the APs that I take is one of my favorite classes, and I feel like being able to have access to a college class that many other schools don't really provide opportunities for is really a valuable experience, where you could like prepare for college and learn and actually like enjoy the learning experience and have fun. >> [applause] >> That's all we have to offer, but I really
025do hope that some of these experiences stick with you and help you show that D99 truly does some amazing work and it just takes us a little time to appreciate it all. So, thank you. [laughter] >> [applause] >> I NEED JAMEEL TO STICK AROUND FOR A SECOND. >> YES, WE NEED TO Jameel to stick around. So, one thing I didn't say at the beginning is Jameel has represented Downers Grove South and District 99 on ISBE Student Advisory Council. Jameel, are there 20? >> 21 students apply or ma- many students apply, only 21 students are selected from all across the state. So, it is a really big deal um whenever any district is able to have a student represented. So, Jameel represented us there. Um that was why he was leading one of the sessions and
026then we have something special for you on behalf of us and ISBE. >> Yes, so I have a letter here from uh Dr. Tony Sanders, who you now know, uh who is the State Superintendent of Education uh recognizing your excellent work for the year. So, we'll give that to you. You also receive a cord to go uh to recognize that and your very own plaque from >> [applause] [applause] [laughter] >> Thank you all for representing us at the state level. >> Thank you for having us. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Um we will celebrate our student board members in a little bit. There will be cake, but >> [laughter] >> um they have a little bit of work to do, one last run of uh student reports. So, who's up first this month? >>
027I'm going first. >> [laughter] >> Um so, good evening, everyone. Um as the year's wrapping up, everyone's very excited to finish the year strong. Um, so this the seniors last full week of school. So, Tuesday, May 12th is the last day and then Sunday the 17th is graduation. Um, but still everyone's still focused on activities, uh, projects, tests, all of that is still wrapping up. Um, I've noticed that even in the last few weeks of the year, messaging continues to be strong. Students are encouraged to be in class everyday on time and stay engaged. Um, we continue to see student accountability through the phone and scanning policy. And even if teachers don't necessarily require you to have the phone on the pouches, um, it's still not a problem in classrooms and students continue to show
028those good habits. Um, for activities, so students who achieve, um, those expectations are being rewarded with things like food trucks, which we had, um, a few weeks ago. And there's also a raffle for headphones for attendance that, um, Mustang Way leaders is, um, doing for the whole school. So, also AP exams started today, um, with AP Bio, AP Micro, and AP Euro, which I really hope I did well in. >> [laughter] >> They continue for the next few weeks. Everyone, please pray for me tomorrow for >> [laughter] >> Um, senior prom was also a few weeks ago. Um, it was just great to see everyone dressed up, having fun, and celebrating the end of the year. Um, we also have a lot of concerts coming up with the jazz concert, the orchestra concert, and the
029band concerts, and choir next week, too, I think. Um, senior awards were last week, where we got to recognize all of our incredible seniors with the distribution of cords, scholarships, and academic awards. And spring sports continued to be in full swing. Um, for resources, for the decision day last Friday, everyone wore their college shirts, um, and the college and career center was giving ice cream to seniors who completed a survey. They had like different backgrounds to take pictures and they had like gifts and merch for um the different colleges. So, it was just a great experience to just celebrate um you know, everyone putting in the hard work and um just our future. So, really exciting last few weeks and upcoming um weeks, but yeah, everyone's very excited to wrap up the year and finish
030strong. Thank you. >> Perfect. Well, thank you, Romina. Um yeah, so as Romina said, so our last day of school is May 12th. Um and then graduation's on the 17th, which is Sunday. I can't believe I feel like it went by so fast. Um and I know everyone says that, but this past week um I had the opportunity to go to Atlanta um with DECA for Nationals. We brought um six students and we had one of our students place top 25 in the world. All of us placed top um at least 75 in the world. So, um that's a really big accomplishment that we had six people represent our local community on a world stage. I think that's really cool. Um other than that, we had um Excuse me. We had senior um senior awards
031on Wednesday um where we kind of got to celebrate all the accomplishments and community scholarships that everybody applied to um and were ultimately chosen for. Um and we also have AP testing today. Um I'm not as busy as Romina with the AP testing, but >> [laughter] >> um a lot of my friends said that it was stressful, but it was a very quiet environment. Um we we talked a little bit about how we can um make um put them in the white gym, which is kind of away from a lot of classes, and it just made it a [clears throat] quiet environment, a good testing environment for a lot of people. Um this past weekend, we also had prom. Um I was so impressed with the organization and the administration of that. Um I worked
032very closely with Mr. Merendola and just the work that goes into that. Um It just I'm so impressed. And we actually used our um phones for like our Infinite Campus to um uh like kind of count as our attendance, but also like just our verification that we paid for our ticket, but we are um they're also saying who we are. And I thought that was an amazing idea of us using that as our identification. And then also, if you had a guest, it was super easy just to scan your ID and just be right in. It was super secure. I was really impressed. It was a lot of fun. Um other than that, I think this year the overall focus has been attendance um and that everyday branding. And this being my last year at
033DGN, I think this is one of the one of the first years where we've had one consistent message that has been above all others. Um obviously, there's other things that are important in our school district, but like the fact that we focus on one thing, which was being there every day, being present, and really attendance, I think that was something that was really effective. Um and I I can't wait to see and see some of that data, and I know we break down some of that data on the board side. Um but I I guarantee you there's some type of um um benefits from that. And anyway, but I I think people are are have been more present this year than in my last 3 years here. Um overall, um I just want to say
034thank you so much everyone for this amazing opportunity. Um and I just can't believe 4 years went by so fast, and a year went by so fast on this board, but I mean the one thing I have learned is I didn't realize how much decision-making and effort went into everything behind the scenes. Um you know, you I so I first started going here, I'm like, "Hmm, I wonder what Dr. Thieman does in a day." Oh my gosh. >> [laughter] >> Oh my gosh. And that goes for everyone, all of our administration. So, that is like one thing I've learned is like every piece of decision-making that goes along has always been student first, but they think about every single perspective that leads up to that. And that's just one thing I've learned and the importance
035of that, and I just want to celebrate that. So, thank you. >> Thank you both. >> Um I want to second Ryan on that really quick. Um first of all, again, thank you all for the opportunity. And again, just seeing the work that you guys put in, I think honestly, I don't think you guys get appreciated enough for the time and energy you put in. >> I agree. >> [laughter] >> Second. Second. >> Everyone agrees. >> [snorts] >> Um so again, I just want to appreciate you guys for truly all the hard work you do and I've noticed that you truly do care and that truly means a lot as a student. So, thank you. >> everything all the decision-making has always been the student first, the student perspective and I think that's important to
036know um from the public and community perspective. >> So, thank you. >> All right. There'll be a little more celebrating both of you in a little bit, so stay tuned. Well, I I will just commend the two of you. You both have been fantastic. Um never lacking in um sharing and uh expounding upon your thoughts and opinions, but hearing your perspectives about the implementation of things >> [clears throat] >> we've been doing is it's really helpful. It really is. Um you know, we can we can talk to students and we can we can get uh hyperbola, but getting direct feedback from the two of you on the ground is super important. So, I'm really happy to instituted these positions, but just really happy with the two of you and really excited for both of your
037futures. I I think you guys have fantastic futures ahead of you and you should both be very proud of your achievements here at D99. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> [applause] >> We'll circle back to them in a little bit to find out about their future plans and of course there's cake. All right. Uh as Ryan mentioned, we do a lot of gathering information about uh feedback on >> You are so on brand today. >> Yes, you are on >> [laughter] >> You have been on brand. You have both been on brand all year. Uh so, this is the time of the year where all of the spring surveys and feedback that we gather uh basically starting after winter break on, uh we bring back to you as a holistic presentation
038that will end and lead into the next agenda item, uh, which is our proposed statement of work for next year. Uh, so this is, um, kind of the why we're proposing what we're about to propose, and I'll give you the what. Um, so I have a very distinguished team of leaders here with me tonight to work through this uh, set [clears throat] of presentations. Uh, you can see there's the state required climate survey, the spring so state required climate survey, Jill leads that process, and you'll see some amazing results from that this year. Ryan, uh, for how many years have I been having you do spring surveys? Four? T? Uh, >> [laughter] >> uh, Ryan has consistently come back with feedback from uh, you know, all of our stakeholders to help direct what direction we
039go in, uh, especially through the student lens, uh, moving forward. Morale surveys is Kelly, who will update you on that ongoing set of surveys, and then I will wrap up. The first survey we give is actually to the administration and to the board before we start gathering feedback from anybody else, so we can check at the end if what we thought was right is actually what everybody so everybody else thought, so we can determine do we have our thumb on the pulse of the district. So, we'll start state required climate survey with Jill. >> Okay, so I'll be first in the four-part series tonight. Surveys at District 99. Um, the first is the, um, state mandated school climate survey. So, all schools in Illinois are mandated to issue a survey, and the majority of schools
040use the five essentials, um, survey instrument, but we last year made the decision to use the comprehensive school climate inventory, and we feel that that's more, um, better indicators of a high school district. So, um, this was the second year of that, and I pulled a slide off of the CSCI website um, because it's spring and because it shows all of the different factors that factor into a healthy, positive environment for school. So, those are the five main domains that we measure. You can see positive relationships, safety, engaging teachers, inclusive environment, and supportive leadership. And then through that, then there are 14 dimensions that um, support each one of those domains. So, you can click. Um, again, this is the second year, and we really look um, to the state at the student response rate.
041That's the only measure that um, matters. Um, it all matters. [clears throat] The feedback matters, but for the state um, uh, designation, the factor that factors into our summative designation is the student response rate. Um, unlike the other surveys that you'll hear about tonight, we cannot customize these questions. Um, they are very specific, and um, from year to year, they are the same. Um, and again, that measures those 14 dimensions. This year, we were more intentional and started [clears throat] our process earlier than last year um, to make sure that we could capture all of as many students as possible, and I just want to thank all of the people from the schools, the principals, and all of their teams for ensuring that when students were in school, Brian, you were in access, Vermina, you
042were there, and um, and you filled out that survey. And you were also enticed because we were saying, "Hey, if you fill it out now, you'll you'll be eligible for the raffle of a $5 cafe credit." I don't know if either of you or your friends managed [clears throat] to Okay, good. So, not sure if this helped, but um, our goal was 95% response rate, um, which is very high if you ever issue a survey. We achieved 95.9%, which is about as much as we could [applause] get. So, >> [applause] >> very happy [clears throat] to achieve that. Um again, it ensures that we will capture all of the points from the state. Um we don't know whether that'll be a differentiator. They're changing some things this year, but at least we're we're guaranteed to
043to get those points. Um again, people respond to um statements. Hank, I just have a slide with all of this the statements. So, students, in addition uh in addition to students, staff, including staff members and teachers, respond to a survey, as well as families. And they're each um group is offered up a a series of statements. You can see a lot of statements. Um almost almost a hundred. Um little lower [clears throat] on the families, but um these are aligned to those 14 dimensions, and people uh rank if they strongly agree that Likert scale agree, agree a little, disagree, or strongly disagree to each of these statements. And then you can see um and in in addition to the individual responses there, um what we're going to look at are the combined responses, which is
044the median numbers. And anything 3.6 or higher is considered positive. Um 2.5 to 3.5 is neutral, and 2.4 or lower is negative. Flip to that. That just captures each group. Um the student, staff, and family. And all dimensions across all audiences, it's it's positive. It's 3.6 or higher, which is phenomenal. Then the next slide captures some more detail. It's easier to see on this handout that I created for you. If you want to take a look at that instead, you can see the student, staff, and family numbers. And then next to it, which is not up on the slide, is the national benchmark um for it as well. So, this is comparing us to other high school districts across the nation who also take the CSCI. So, it's a specific group. But, um I've also
045highlighted for each category for this year's uh the green if it's an increase from last year or red if it's a decrease and if there's nothing then it's then it's the same as last year, which is pretty incredible when you look at it and consider that we had so many more students responding and there wasn't that much variation in the results. So, um, anyway, pretty pretty positive across the board and, um, I just want to point out two things, two takeaways in that safety domain under rules and norms up top, you can see that, um, staff ranked it 3.9 and last year it was 3.0. So, that was a huge jump and probably contributed, um, by our new policies surrounding the cell phones and attendance and so forth. So, um, people felt, um, more confident
046in what our policies are and that supported the rules and norms. Um, that also probably impacted leadership and efficacy. Um, so that's another takeaway. Um, last year it was 3.2, this year it was 3.6. So, we rose up to that 3.6 um, positive threshold. We're still a little bit behind on the national benchmark, um, but all in all it's a very positive survey and, we'll look forward to next year when we issue it again, we think for the third year and then have even more data. So, that's kind of a review of the the required survey if anybody has any questions. >> What did you do to get such an outstanding student response? >> We bribed them with caffeine. >> [laughter] >> No, we specifically targeted access. So, they were a captive audience and specifically
047asked the teachers to ensure that their that their students were focused on taking that survey. It was so important. And then those that we didn't capture who may have not been in school were called down to take the take the survey. And and we know that other schools have done this tactic as well. So >> out individually? >> Correct. >> Yeah, well we uh yeah, both schools took a a slightly different tack. I think one asked the staff to wait until later, just focus on the students doing it. Check it off when you see the green light. [clears throat] Yes, they did it. Um the other school I believe had like one teacher fill out the survey while the others were not in the room and then switch. So uh it was >> as well.
048>> Yeah, so it was definitely an all-hands-on-deck make sure that you see the green check mark on the computer from the kids before they close it. Don't just take their word at it. Yeah. >> Yeah, adding on to that like during access I think we did it on a pass day. So like if we want to leave or go get extra help like we had to take first before our teacher would let us leave. So that definitely helped. Cuz like I was they were like oh you have to take the test and I was like okay, hold on. >> It's a survey, it's not a test. >> Or sorry, survey that's right. >> [laughter] >> It was terrible. It was like a test. >> It's a survey, I'm sorry. >> Um but yeah, so that
049I think it being during access and all teachers knowing that it was like mandatory and that we could leave after plus the cafe stuff helped. Yeah. >> Good. >> Can I just ask about the numbers for staff? Is that just teachers? Is that support staff and teachers? And what percentage of our staff actually did the survey? >> Um our response rate for staff was 47.8% and that included teachers and staff. >> And do we have a breakdown of teacher >> Um I could I could find that for you. >> I think that would be yeah. Okay, thank you. And then my second um thing that I noticed, families we know that it is always hard for families to go through all the different emails and messaging. Um we have approximately 5,000 students between our two
050buildings. Let's say you have two to three, you you know, the number of students are going to decrease your family. So we're looking at maybe third what 11% to maybe 17% is our family input? Is that an >> yes of the survey. >> Yep. So is that something that is a good enough collection of data to even look at the data for it to make to give us what we want to be able to see. If I make if I make myself clear. >> to be statistically significant it needs to be 10%. That's kind of the best >> So you were just above it with the >> Okay. >> Um and that's kind of proven by our past response rate of students being around 40% and now it's 95.9% and it the data did not
051change significantly. So it really was um it is indicative of the larger group. >> Okay. >> Um so um but we do have the other surveys um that that families resubmit on to as well. So >> [clears throat] >> um and I also issued a communication survey which which had a higher response rate than than this survey. So survey survey survey. But I called it quick so maybe that increased the response rate. >> Like to be quick about it. >> 84 questions minus 10. >> I'm a little bit concerned with the um response rate for the staff. Uh if you go back to that slide. >> [clears throat] >> It was okay so it's 47.8%. I would hope and that the response rate for the staff would be equal to or above the response rate
052for the students. Number one. Then number two last year it was 68% and we dropped all the way down to 47% which is definitely not positive. Um, is there any reason for that or is there anything that we can look at doing next year to get a much better response rate from the staff? >> I think we were so focused on the students and really that 95% was a heavy lift for a lot of people. So, as Ryan described I think in the classroom instead of filling out the survey themselves in the moment which is when they may have may have typically they were circulating around the classroom to ensure that students were completing it. So, but but I agree we could throw out some cafe coupons for staff. But >> [laughter] >> but I
053think it's just so many surveys. So, I think we might take a look at consolidate like I mean we we need to do this but really focusing on what information is most valuable to us and emphasize that going forward. But do they >> a large enough sample though. It is a statistically large enough sample to be indicative of staff opinions in that. Right? So, 95% although it's a great huge number [clears throat] there is no statistical analysis out there that requires that kind of response any group to get statistically relevant data back to make decisions. Right? As Jill said, it's a much smaller sample size that's required than that. So, the family one is a little light. Right? That's a little lighter than what we would hope to see. But the other ones are definitely
054large enough to make decisions off of. >> But do they I agree that that's a 20 20% difference from last year to this year. Do you give the teachers time in their PLCs or specific time during their planning where you're like we're saying to these students, you're going into access with an understanding that part of your time will be sent and spent this way. I know as a teacher when I'm with my PLC and I have the five essentials coming up, we we want those numbers to look good, right? You want your teachers to take time and to go through and there are a lot of questions. But we're given that time. Are we are we giving the teachers the time because to see a drop of 20%, that makes me also wonder if some
055of these numbers that we're seeing here, why the decline? And are it is the positive that we're seeing truly a true positive? Do you know what I mean? If if it's going down then >> relevant. Right? So, statistically, these numbers are all valid, A. B, yes, staff do have time in their day to complete the survey. There there is time in their day to get this done. >> So, like we say, here's the window. >> multiple windows of time in which staff could get this accomplished during the school day. >> We we throw it out weekly in our internal newsletters. Hey, reminder, so >> department chairs probably follow up with a nice reminder and >> Well, the principals do in their newsletters. So, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. >> And sometimes when people are happy, they don't
056take a survey. >> Well, I >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> For interpersonal relationships for number eight with the teacher and student relationships, there's a decrease for staff 26. Can you talk a little bit >> last year, so it was a slight decrease. I should should that number in there. Pointed it out. So, okay. >> And same with the physical surroundings for students. Um it was 4.1 last year. >> Got you. >> Now it's 4.2. >> And can we do we get the raw data on this and the questions that are asked? >> Sure. >> I would love to see that. >> I'm happy to provide that. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> of questions. But it is interesting >> But as a teacher I think it's it's I know what questions I see and
057I know how we talk in my own department. So, I think it's very important to see the questions and to see the results by the teachers and maybe a breakdown of the teachers' feedback versus your support staff feedback. >> I'll see if I can parse that out for you. >> If that I don't know if we can disaggregate it. We can look and see how we can disaggregate it. >> Okay. >> But that you're about to see we gather a lot of data from a lot of multiple perspectives, right? So, I think this is one piece of the larger puzzle that you're about to see. >> Okay. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Hi everybody. Same guy, shorter hair. I'm the Ryan behind the scenes [clears throat] unlike Mr. Enright. So, since we're talking numbers,
058I'll just start with the numbers. Staff responses last year was 295. We went 361 this year. So, I appreciate the partnership with Karen and Josh and Jocelyn who helped me push making sure that as many staff members responded as possible. Also with students, we also did an access last year was 2600 students responded and we're over 3000 this year. So, you know, I I hope that's representative of that when the survey results come in that they see some changes like they did like students drove some changes is the schedule and access, in the past. Our families dropped, for sure, a little bit more than half. I sort of anticipated it last year when a lot of the free responses are, I don't know, ask my student. And I'm like, I did. So, that a lot
059of the questions are about impact on students in the classroom and student-teacher relationships. As you probably see, I do have the questions listed next to the results, and so you can see what those questions are. That families do their best to respond to it. But they base that based on the information that comes back with their student. So, I do heavily rely on staff and student responses. So, the first thing that we asked, last year was the first time that we had asked, staff and families, would you recommend District 99 to your friends and family, either as to send their student or a place to work? You can see 2025 on the left-hand side, 2026 on the right-hand side. I did give the percent breakdowns. Last year when I was here, I said, I'm not
060trying to get zeros to 10s. I'm trying to get zeros to sixes to sevens and eights, sevens and eights, nines and 10s, nines and 10s. I'm just trying to keep them there. So, with 66 more respondents, it's difficult to say, right? It's an anonymous survey, so I can't track to see if someone moved from a six to a seven. But with only 66 more people taking it, we went up 86 responses in the nines and 10s category. So, the jump from staff being 26% to 45% as recommending it as a place to work is a huge win. I do Um, put a lot of that in the cell phone policy. Anecdotally, uh the staff around October when we waited until they sort of settled into their year and asked, you know, how's it going? What's
061it like this year in comparison to last year? And a lot of them said it feels like school again. Um, which is great. Um, that, you know, students will respond. They will interact with each other. We put them in groups and they interact. Um, and so that's good. So I think that that feeling of more kids being there and when they're there and not being on their phones did have, I think, a positive impact on these numbers specifically. On the next slide, you'll see the families. Um, last year again on the left Um, and then this year on the right. We did increase by 4% for nines and 10s. Um, and then also we decreased our zeros to sixes by 2%. Um, which is great. But again, [clears throat] um, my sample size is smaller.
062Good thing is is that the sample size that was more than twice this, the percentages are pretty close. So, um, the feelings of the 321 versus I think it was 689 or maybe 700 last year. Um, that they fall in line with each other. Um, so, it's broken down by board goal. So, first, um, equitable and supportive environment. What our consultant does is takes all of the questions that are related to a topic, adds those things together and so we get to see what the overall staff feels. So that while the data may be higher at one school than the other, I'm showing you what the average is across of those. Um, and specifically, um, under equitable and supportive environment, we do talk about the belonging, cell phones, and behavior expectations. So, for cell phone
063policy, we asked um staff, do you uh did it have a positive impact on students engaging with each other? And then, um also the collaboration in class. You can see that 86% of the staff reported favorably, which is a four or a five on a five-point scale. And um the same thing about the academics and collaboration in the classroom. Students did not feel so strongly about having their cell phones taken um from during class. Uh 33 and 34% said it had a positive impact on their learning. Uh for expected behavior, um the staff last year, um I have the tools to support positive behavior, um and I feel like the school sets clear expectations for student behavior. Last year was 47%. Um and that 47% came out of their personal tools being higher than what
064they felt the school's tools were. So, to go up to 72% that while some staff may feel we still have ways to go on those tools, um both of them um increased quite a bit. Uh so, having a 72% from 47% with the first year of the goal is great. But, it also shows that we have some some still have some work to do, which is why um you'll see at the end that the recommendation is to continue um with that academic and um uh accountability goal. It holds strong with students and also with families. Most of their data is pretty similar. Um but, again, when you see the school's behavior management strategies are effective with consequences. Last year was 14%, right? And that was the average across both schools. One school was uh significantly
065lower than that 14%. Um and so to get up to 53% in 1 year, um that's that's a pretty significant change in how we are were approaching things. Um and so hopefully building on that, we'll be able to see an increase next year as well. >> Can you touch upon examples of consequences that the staff is responding so positively to? >> Uh sure. Uh that um for cell phones, it's super clear, right? That uh I've asked you to put it into the case. The minute I see it out, you had your option to put it in the case, but now we're going to consequences. Um that because there is far more communication between um about consequences. And um I know that some I believe South was doing a sort of like a a roving, you
066know, sweep the halls in that first 10%. The staff feeling that presence of getting students to class and making sure that we are holding kids and that we're not letting down our guard on it. I do I mean do we have areas to grow in consequences? Sure. I think there at every school that I've worked at, the the the common thread is how do we increase connection or how do we increase communication between our counselors, C triple S, and the teaching staff. And that's something that while it's improved this year, I think that's something that can continue to improve um based on what the staff um has said of making sure that if a consequence is given, that they know what it is and why it was in a timely fashion. That is something that
067takes a bit longer to get moving as especially changing systems in an infant campus. So. >> Thank you. >> Can I just ask I I feel like it's interesting that the staff jump is so high with consequences, right? But the feeling among students and families it hasn't changed that much which I think is a good thing, right? So people are like the consequences make sense. We're not over We're not kind of taking too hard of a line. Like do you read that the same way? >> that the students and the students last year into this year said like yes, I understand what the consequences are. And I think the staff last year would have argued maybe that's because there aren't enough. Um and so the jumping of that is that the staff is seeing and
068feeling those consequences more whereas the students are feeling it the same. The students who were in class are in class like before. So they have no change their consequences and students that maybe did not have as strong a consequences now understand and feel those consequences a little bit better. >> Cuz I love that you you hate for the consequence to be where you know because of the couple we're treating everyone sort of more whatever the word is harshly or strictly. But that doesn't seem to be the same. >> say that if we you know student responses, some of them did say that. Like hey, I'm a good student. I should like uh they may have said like I do not have an attendance problem. Um I do pay attention to class. I would love to
069have my phone when the work is done. Um but then families on the other side will say, "Hey, we appreciate that you're waiting till the period is near over to have these kids get their phones back. However, I think my kids rushing through their work. Please hold on to their phones until the bell." Um because I don't want just work coming in. I want good work coming in. And I I say the staff echoes that. That in that accountability part of engagement of like I don't just want them here, I want them here. And so that is you know kind of feeds into that larger goal. >> I can interject. If you look at expectations and how much it jumped and then you see the staff in staff and then you notice it in the
070consequence. I think clear is kind and the meaning of why we valued them being here was intentional this year and I think that is where we we're seeing our staff respond to that. Like we are one message coming across. We want you here. This is why we want you here. That sense of belonging. So I don't think the kids felt it in the same way that our staff might have felt it. Thanks. >> All right, relationship mapping. So last year when I came I talked to you about how I was mad at my question, right? Relationship mapping made me more aware, right? For the staff the word more aware is like I was really aware. So that was like strongly disagree. Whereas someone else with a very positive feeling, yes I am more aware. They
071all they were strongly agree. So I didn't get a great response to that question. So this year we changed it to I have made efforts on student belonging in my classroom as a result of relationship mapping activities because that's really what we were kind of going for. We're doing this relationship mapping. Is it having an impact in the classroom? So while there is a big jump, I can't say whether or not it's a real big jump. It's could just be the same 55% >> [laughter] >> responded last year if I had asked a better question. So for our students that we do see a slight tick up about having an adult that you trust and talk to. A slight decrease 2% from families Um, then students holding strong about um feeling like they belong 2/3.
072That's sort of across the board. And whether or not it's the additional consequences that have affected the family input going from 74 to 72, I don't know the answer to that. I think I would have to wait a third year to really see that tracking. Um, so the attendance having the year of deliberate focus, that has been a major part of it. I wish that I had given the survey a little bit later for like two reasons in the slides that are coming up. One, talking about the calls home and the sort of um, I don't know what to say I the clerical part. Um, that came across loud and clear from the staff feeling like there was maybe a clerical burden on them. And just after that Phil had implemented like something that took
073some of the clerical part off of them about automatically putting their interventions in into Infinite Campus. So, I wish I had like asked the question like two weeks later. Also, you're going to see that about PD here in a little bit, but I'll I'll address that when we get to it. Um, so the school provides adequate support for addressing attendance and I feel empowered for attendance. Again, last year it was really low. That was why it was a main focus for us last year, right? It was like 16, 15%. And this year again going up to 55%. So, that's a huge jump and that was the reason for that. That's also a reason I think that 74% of the staff is saying, can we stick with that and broaden that definition of what accountability means?
074Meaning we also want them to be accountable for doing the work while they're here. Students feeling that support or families being aware of those resources, it's great that with some of our outreach that families feel more aware about that support. Students are basically holding strong. And then the the second set of bars there because it's about this year's adjustments, we didn't have that last year, so I can't have something to compare it to. But that they've had a positive impact on attendance in their classes. About 2/3 of the staff respondents. And then families at 39 and 44, when I go through those results, it's a lot of them saying I do not have an attendance problem. And so with the 321 from my families, many of those families, their students are compliant. They probably filled
075out the survey, too. And I asked the families, "So they're compliant?" I was like, "Yes, I'm going to fill it out." But their students don't have an attendance issue. And so, you know, I do think that that sort of accounts for the students and the families why the result is at 1/3, whereas the the staff is at 2/3. >> Real quick, I'm sorry with attendance. Because I know I get emails from my junior, "Great job, you made it to school." Um can you remind me with the attendance if a if a student misses one class versus missing the whole day, how that data's collected? Because I know that there's different times where I've heard parents in the community say, "Oh, I I didn't get something because my child was there or not there. And then
076how does it work with doctor's notes? Like do we as a district ask for those doctor's notes for the excuse? Because I know that I have a lot of students that will be excused, but there's no documentation other than the parent saying, "I've called them in." >> I would love to say I'm an expert in this area. I am not. Kelly though used to work in that office, so I'm going to defer that question to >> Yeah, cuz I know I've I've had a lot of parents asking questions. >> Absolutely. Um if it's excused, that doesn't mean it's documented. But if you bring in a dentist or doctor's note, that becomes documented excuse. So it's a different level. So they don't count the same way. So if depending upon when you brought in the note,
077might you may or may not then get the communication. So if you had a pre-planned visit, that would be pre like we'd enter that in or the parent has entered that in or the family has entered that in, and you wouldn't get the call back or you wouldn't get the email sent to you. Um but if it's like the day of and you call your student out because you were able to get a doctor's appointment, you probably are going to get a notification cuz it's just not in the system yet. But you would see that reflected in Infinite Campus. >> Okay, so we do ask for doctor's notes. >> Yes, we do. For it to be documented. >> But they can be undocumented and excused. >> Correct. If if they want to have one of
078their excused absences. >> And then is there a number where what's that number where you go from oh >> eight >> It's eight, right? So after >> per semester >> eight per semester >> semester. Okay. >> So if it's documented, it doesn't count on the eight because it's a doctor you're visiting. >> So you can go higher. >> be a above that, but if it's not documented, you have eight before they flip to unexcused even with the call in. >> Even with the call in from parents. Okay. >> So, we encourage right off right off from the beginning, like if you're going to the dentist or you're going to the doctor or you're seeing a medical professional, please bring in a note ahead of it so that it doesn't >> So, then it doesn't count
079against you. >> Yes. >> Okay. And then mental health days, is that still a thing in the state? >> a thing. >> And how many are those? >> Five. >> Okay. >> But they're >> They count towards the >> chronic absenteeism. >> And count against us for it. >> Chronic absenteeism. >> It counts against us. >> Every absence counts against us regardless of the reason. >> Okay. >> Well, it counts against >> I just know that there's a lot of different >> Yeah. >> messages going out to our parents and I think that it can be confusing at times to know and to see like a note and kind of go, "Okay, this is what's expected." Or why am I getting this? Why am I not getting it? Or I feel like there was an
080increase lately in messaging going out to >> full year there was an increase. >> But I mean just like in the Have we Have we made changes over the >> of students now that are So, if uh they have more than 18 absences over the course of the year, uh or uh by the end of the year, right? They are chronically absent. They missed 10% of the school year. So, whenever a family hits that 10% threshold, they get communications to them. >> Okay. >> At this point of the year, you're getting to the point where a lot of them have added up and now you're flipping into the chronically absent range and that comes with a whole set of communication requirements, both internal and external requirements. >> Okay. Thank you. >> How did I do,
081Cal? >> That was perfect. >> And that is why I did not answer the question. >> [laughter] >> All right. I have a I have a question about this slide. All right. So, I'm not sure who can answer this or maybe we don't have an answer, but I'm I'm looking at the staff um the staff questions for support. Um, I appreciate that we went from 16 to 55%, um, but 55% is still like only half the staff answering favorably. >> Yeah. >> So, I don't know again that we know the answer, but I would I would love to dig into a little bit more into why that is and what else we can be doing to empower the staff a little more on this attendance issue. >> Uh, which is great leading into the next
082slide because they have asked for more student accountability and engagement PD, um, as one of their top three asks. So, um, that it's if, like, uh, some uh, teacher was it last year said, um, "Just get them here and I will teach them." And now they're like, "They are here. Help us engage them." And so that is, um, for number three. That, you know, even the research I think that Kelly and, um, Dr. Feely are going to talk about, um, in a little bit, um, talking about, like, the engagement component for some students, right? If they're not feeling the pressure to come to school, what's the engagement component that will get them there and keep them coming back? Um, and we last year we started addressing that through belonging and activities and, you know, really
083making it that concerted push and we've done that again this year, um, but for some students that's not it. They like participating outside of school and it is the engagement within school. Um, and so what are other ways that we can engage students who aren't engaging now? Um, and so that we hope will start to bridge that gap. Also, as we tighten our processes and procedures around attendance and consequences and communicating with the staff about that, I think that will also drive the number up. Um, the AI in the classroom is the top one. Um, we do see course, uh, team collaboration time, right? Um, that does come up as number two. Um, that is something now that that has sort of been a trend um over last year as well. Um, and then also
084grading policies and differentiation. So, this is one that we've struggled with. Um, that last year this was also an area of struggle. Um, and you can see while it went up a little bit in impact, it went down a little bit with aligning unto the role. We did have a strong focus on attendance this year. We have talked a lot about doing a lot with Infinite Campus trainings as well. Um, I think the communication, like having more administrator time talking to the staff about things that they need to get across. Um, but I would say that of course as soon as I gave stopped giving the survey, um, that it was open until Friday and the Thursday before it closed, they did a new style of PD at South and the last response that came
085in the staff survey was, "We should do more PD like we did yesterday at South." Um, so that's good. I wish I had 2 weeks later um to ask that. And again, it was a staff being asked to present something that they were working on their classroom. So, um, we had building thinking classrooms, um, a couple of teachers doing that. Um, talking about literacy strategies. So, um, it empowering the staff to teach the other their peers about things that are working in their classroom. That has been very positive this year and I know that Kelly and the team have been working on, you know, uh specifically with the instructional coaches with cycles um for next year um and really digging into preparing for when our staff our veteran staff um starts to retire and me
086being one of them. That uh making sure that we're having PD that is taking all of the wealth of knowledge that they have to give us. How do we keep that and then pass that on to our younger staff or our less veteran staff, I should say, as we kind of move forward with PD. But that this one you know, is one of our markedly low ones and this is the second year or maybe third year in a row that we've had that. So we are making a concerted push specifically about AI and student accountability and engagement because those are things that they're really asking for and it is you know, something that's forefront of their minds right now. I know that Kelly has a couple of committees going on both of those topics. >>
087And just to to kind of set the framework and you're seeing how all of these are kind of working together. At the start of this year with the one singular focus, see it like a macro level. It was very structural. Like getting the kids to here, understanding the why, putting in some systems in place from like a macro come to school lens. And what you're seeing is a response in their voice saying, "Okay, now that they're here, let's go micro now like with our PD." You know, at the beginning of the year we were talking Infinite Campus roll out. Like that's structural and it's not so their responses are reflective of what we kind of anticipated the responses might look like because now we got to dig in. So now micro in my classroom, how
088do I have engaging strategies so that my students who are present in class are also activated in their learning. So we're seeing just kind of like it almost walks itself right into it. >> Yeah. And when they see the larger structure, they're more willing to then buy into that in their classroom and the engagement strategies because they see that the building is supporting them. So I don't think that we could have done it the opposite way. >> I think too on the AI front, you know, companies are struggling too. And so I love your idea of something we do at my company. We, you know, we have sort of a corporate strategy and how you use it. Here are the tools you can use, but then everyone sort of and I work very closely with
089someone who's very into it. He's been doing it for years. He does it on the weekends. And so we leverage him a lot to teach everybody else. Um, so I think that's a great model of there are people that just want to do this in their free time and want to learn the tools and what they can share. And so we try to say to people, walk before you run. Here's a whole host of things. Pick something that works for you and but everyone. So I think that's a great model since AI is the top of your of your list. >> Ryan was saying was they called it spark sessions at South and they did a choose your own adventure um, at North cuz we were at the ready, you know, we're ready to do
090that. And what we used to do, you know, I'm going back away. I'm I'm old here. So we used to have our PPL share outs and we would like have teachers sharing out what they were learning in PPL. We're going to bring that back to. >> great. It's a great idea. >> So and I love that AI is in the forefront because there is so much change going on. What tools are we currently using in our buildings that are helping teachers when it comes to detection of writing and different AI where AI doesn't belong. What do we have for that? >> Yeah, we're investigating a wide variety of tools. I mean, right now, I I mean, within Google you can see those things themselves as to when things dropped in and showed up and those
091kinds of things, but there is no singular tool that can consistently detect AI at this point with fidelity. >> We don't have it. So if someone does >> exist. There's not a credible tool out there yet that can detect AI. What the tools more demonstrate is how a document was constructed. So, you can see how was that document built? Did stuff get copied and pasted from one location? Like the how did it move around and those kinds of things, but AI detection tools are are actually very poor. >> So, like the chat GPTs that we see our students using >> Uh-huh. >> where the whole document has been brought from the search into their paper. You're saying that the teachers don't have anything that's going to put like we can't put it into anything right
092now and say, "Oh, yeah, this is that student wording?" >> Yeah. Yet. There are tools coming. But, there is not a reliable tool right now that will do that. >> We did we piloted two different tools this year and decided on >> [clears throat] >> neither of those. But, we we have had there's free tools out there. Brisk is one that that our staff our staff have tools. >> Okay. That's what you mean. >> And and we've talked about some different our our coaches in our buildings have talked about here are some tools. We don't have a tool. Right? That we say, "This is the district tool." >> tool. >> Nor like we're we're paying this amount to this one company. But, there are tools that are out there that will watch the construction. Brisk
093is one of those. There's obviously we don't have a paid version of that. >> Mhm. >> But, there are tools you can utilize that and see the whole construction and be able to see did they copy and paste? There there are tools out that we that our teachers have available. >> All right. That's yet. >> Um so, I just have one slide left. Um so, um basically uh the from the staff and uh talking about the attendance focus, but specifically saying like we don't want it to be just like we did it this year. If it's not going to build into something more where it's talking about engaging students in the classroom and making them accountable for doing the work, then we should shift focus. But that's so you'll you'll hear about the broadening of
094that focus of attendance and accountability. Um the student experience that there are a little bit of drops in some areas. Um and so making sure that we're going through the scanner frustration was a big one. Um that um some students like as as we continue to ask about the belonging, um they're thinking about it more. And so um you know, we have increased sports, we have increased activities. Um and in doing that like, you know, are we getting too big? I don't know. Um so I have to dig into that more. Um that uh you know, whether or not it's class size or schedule concerns that, you know, if I have my resource period on the day that I have my study hall, like I'm not loving that. Um and that you know, can't come
095out. Uh building on the cell phone policy and making sure that we're all doing it consistently and that we're holding those phones all the way to the end of the period. Uh families really feel strongly about that. Um that you know, I I think that as we get further, I would hope to see that students' perception about the impact on their education by not having those phones will grow. Um but for the first year um that we're at 1/3. Um and then Overhung PD um just spoke about. Um that that is something that's uh that's front of mind and also making sure [clears throat] that like as I talked about C-CSS earlier, making sure that we're doing specific PD for our deans and for our counselors. Um that is something that they really reach out
096for just like our co-teaching staff did um last year. >> Our policy is to have the cell phone away the entire period. Are you saying that some staff are allowing kids to bring them out after if they've completed the course work during in the classroom? >> Anecdotally, that is what students and families have said. >> Our policy does allow for the teachers to determine how it's used in the >> Sure. That's right. >> That's right. Um I I just as you've seen all of this and you've seen the numbers, I just want you know, as you're looking at this final slide, right? We've we follow a very high bar here in how we represent our data, right? So, when you see 33% of students, that's 33% of students have selected a four or a five,
097right? We're not counting threes that are neutral statements in there, right? These are definitely positive numbers. So, when you see a 33%, it could be a large number that are like, "Eh, it's fine." right? We're looking for positive, right? In all of the data survey instruments that we give you, we're going for fours and fives. We're going for nines and 10s, right? We're we're going for that level. So, I I just want to caution you when you see 33 uh percent agree, that doesn't mean that 66% necessarily disagree. There's a chunk in there that are neutral, right? Right? But, we're always trying to move those numbers all into fours and fives. >> Guys, I >> I would also just add to your point earlier that it the matter is that it's statistically significant. You're never
098going to get and that 95% of the students, like I can imagine how much work that was. We did the same thing at my company, an engagement survey, and every as low as they could go to see they participate, I mean, every leader was like reaching out all the time. We're at 60, we're at 60 and so, you know, we hit the number we had to hit, but not without and that's in the workplace. So, I just I know we want to hear from but I do agree that there is a level where you start to get consistent feedback as you've sort of addressed. So, I think we do have to keep that in mind as we talk about all the other stuff, the clerical work on teachers and other stuff like all this takes.
099So, just as someone who works in that arena as well, it's very consistent in the corporate environment. So, I do appreciate you trying to call that out. >> All right. Um next one up, Staff Morale. >> With Kelly. >> So, this one is the the shorter one. Um and this is trying to get a pulse and this is just coming from our staff. Um so, our total responses were 383. That's about accurate, a little higher than it was even in the fall um when our the rates were like through the roof. And that's just a breakdown of how the the respondents were. But I wanted to break it down further from our last conversation about how many like actually participated in and what what does that look like? >> So, this is the percentage by
100all responses by >> Yeah. >> Per group and then the next slide gives you what's the percentage of that group responding. >> [clears throat] >> So, for teachers, like certified staff, you have 74% responded to the morale survey. 36% admin, 25% of the support staff, 13% of CMG, and 24% of our exempt employees. Just to show who responded to the survey. And again, when you're looking when I was doing my dissertation, if you're looking outside, just going back to what you're saying, if you're looking at an outside response, 10 is like that's amazing, right? And so, internally, you're hoping for something between 30 and 50. Of course, we want it as high as possible. Um but the morale survey is a shorter survey. Um it all hits around the same time. I think the most
101important thing is not one survey by itself, but how much these are talking to each other and how much the thread is the same for all of the surveys that we issued. All right, so just again just to remind you that we were looking at our target. We picked ownership and input for our target for this year to move ownership and input into those four and five range. So I don't change the survey questions. I only at the very beginning ask just a pulse. Like tell me the pulse of how how you're feeling. I asked it at the start of the year and then again I this was right before spring break. I just wanted to know how were they feeling within the year if they feel positive still and again the next slide will
102kind of break it down by percentage for you. And the first question was I feel positive about the school year. This is right before spring break. 65% strongly agreed or agreed. That's a pretty significant number. >> If you're going to pick the worst time of the year to ask a survey. >> be that would be it. >> [laughter] >> Um [clears throat] but their voicing voice being reflected in the year, how they feel connected to the district goals still and how they feel a sense of collaboration amongst their colleagues all were again extremely high. And now this is the one that I don't change anything and this is a three year trend. So you can see the three year trend. Again our target was moving that keeping that ownership and input up and hitting fours
103and fives. So our goal is fours and fives and not losing track on what what we've gained and you can see this year scores. We hit fours for every single category minus one. So it's re-shifting our focus possibly for next year to recognition and value because we stayed at neutral for the past three years. And there's about in each of the questions there's about three questions per category. So there's six categories about three questions. But I wanted to highlight ownership and input because that was our target. So the next slide will show you one of the questions and how we try like how it looked all three years. So this one is I have ownership and control of my professional practice in my work environment. And again, made major strides, 72% agreeing or strongly agreeing
104in this question. The next one is that your opinions are heard and valued by district leaders. And again, you can see where it was it's still growing. We're we're making the right moves. And then valued by their school leaders. And again, this one look at the jump with the green for this year. I mean you're talking 47.3% saying they agree or strongly agree with that statement. So that was the target of ownership and input. So I just wanted to highlight where we targeted. And then I asked some open-ended questions. So again, this is less than 25 questions. It's a pulse. I want to make sure that we're meeting the needs of all of our staff. And so this is their free responses and it just consolidated into one. And just like Ryan has shared already
105and Jill as well. So they loved having that singular focus. Now they want us to drill it down. They're like, all right, now you did great. We had that macro focus. I call it that cuz I'm an economics major. But like, all right, now you had the macro, now we're going micro. What can you do to align some more consistency accountability for my classroom? Like they want us to continue, keep the consistency going, but now help me in PD for my my space. Keep this and look at the bold student engagement. They're here, now how do they activate into their learning? When they're here, how can I support them in bridging that gap? Any questions? This This one's the shorter one. It's kind of the one that just comes together for morale, for just And
106this is only our staff. >> As I previewed before, um the first group we ask questions of is board and DLT. So, that's administrators, department chairs, and obviously the board here. Uh and the question was uh same one that was very similar, I think maybe the same that Ryan asked the whole staff, which was I believe we should continue with the same attendance accountability focus for next year on a 1 to 5 scale. So, five would mean keep it exactly the same. 1 through 4 would be make a change in some way. So, you can see how this kind of played out across those three groups. Uh department chairs/teacher leaders includes the DGA president, that's part of that. So, you can see it's all favorable to, you know, keep going someone in the same direction,
107but maybe make a little bit of changes in what we're doing. So, this is from the written responses, some themes that come out of it. Uh really the first one, continuing build, is what you heard from uh the other three survey responses, right? Uh also deepen into student engagement, which you also heard in the other three survey responses, and the idea of culture and belonging, which you also heard in the other three survey responses. What this is important for the board to see is that your part pulse on the district and the leadership pulse on the district was exactly what we heard after we gave the surveys, which means it's a good gut check for us that what we are seeing from the leadership lens is matching what uh boots on the ground want to
108see happen. So, those are all the surveys. Any questions survey related at this point? Cuz that's the why, and then I'm going to tell you the what next. Uh thank you to Jill and Kelly and Ryan. It's a lot of data. I think 46,000 something data points, something crazy like that. Like it this is a ton of data that we sift through and try to make sense out of to find out what we should be doing uh to best serve our students and our families and our staff. Um so the what plan we're going to bring you is is shaped uh based on all of that. Remember continuing the goal of the singular focus. So [snorts] thank you to the three of you. >> Well, I just want to say um I I think all
109of the work that you're doing is making our district a better district. And I think we're seeing that in these results in your survey. So all of the time and energy and investment is having a true positive impact on our kids and our staff. So thank you for all the work that you're pouring into this. >> All right. So that's the why. Let's get into the what. Um so this is just as I came to you last year at this time with a singular focus and a draft statement of work, we have revised that for this year. And this is it it's wordy, but I bolded the the key parts of it, right? So you can see here build on the attendance and accountability foundation by focusing more intentionally on student ownership and engagement. Two
110themes you heard very clearly in that survey responses. So then it explains what that means being president and present, investing in their learning, feelings of connected to the school both during the school day and after the school day. And then you can hear the the clear call that came from teachers that they want to be supported through differentiated professional learning in this work focused on instructional design, student motivation and participation, uh and belonging. And then success, you can see once again, just like we did this year, attendance attendance data, grades, climate survey results, uh and then obviously tracking our tiered interventions and supports. You saw all of those things as metrics this year, and you saw through that singular focus of attendance and accountability last year, all of those numbers moved up. Right? And we
111believe that if we focus next year on ownership and engagement engagement, all of those numbers will go up as well. You If you go back to last year, it was attendance and accountability, it was grades and intervention were the next two focus. You're seeing a trust that if we continue the work, grades are going to continue to go up. So it kind of falls, you know, I keep saying like uh attendance is at the front of the stage, right? Last year the backup singers were interventions and grades, and everybody else was in the choir. Next year you're still seeing attendance needs to be at the front of the stage. We kind of change the gown next year from accountability to engagement. Back behind it, interventions is still a backup singer, but now professional learning comes
112out of the choir, moves up on the stage, has a a louder voice, right? And grades, we trust they can kind of go back into the choir now. Doesn't have to be as as in the forefront cuz we're seeing those things move the way we expect them to do. So that's the what. That's the proposed what. You saw it happen in uh the feedback you saw here really from showing up to leaning in is kind of the idea, right? Last year, get them here and force compliance. Dean attendance focus, structure and predictability. You heard Kelly talk about those. Whereas next year, it's about investment, right? It's designing opportunities. Um it's more about belonging. It's more about caring and those kinds of things, right? Um So, you just what I talked about, attendance, professional development, connected
113and belonging are the ways to get there. So, our interventions need to lean into how do our interventions make students feel like they are cared about? How do they feel make them feel more like they belong here to emphasize those things. The other ones we've talked a lot about, but one of the things that in attendance patterns, >> [clears throat] >> what we have learned from all of this data we've looked at all year is that once we get a student here to start the day, they tend to be here on time and they tend to go to class. That first period of the day is where the majority of our bad data comes from. So, we are going to pivot that focus. So, and Katie, you heard from some parents like, "What do What
114should I be listening to?" right? So, we want to get really intentional about those communications next year. And we're we're really strongly looking at pivoting to asking teachers the first period of their day, making that the focus group that they are all in on. Now, obviously, if they see trends with the student later on in the day, but really get to know your families in your first period of the day, get to know your kids in that, and let's work on getting kids here to start the day and here on time. Cuz once they're here, it works. It works. So, we really need to dig in on that. So, we'll be looking at the action plan um as to how we do a little more of that. Plus, then it takes some work off of
115teachers' plates and refocuses it into an area that we think will make the biggest difference. So, really, we're asking things of every group, right? From the board, this visible consistency in what we're doing, ownership of the action plan. We'll eventually bring an action plan, the how, to go with the why and the what. Uh for staff, continue to expand on those, increase the likelihood the students will engage. If you remember last year, uh even in the opening message to staff, talked about doing 100% of your 50%, right? You can't make a kid come to school, right? You can increase the odds that that might happen. It's the same thing with engaging. You can't force somebody to engage in what's going on, but we can increase the odds that it might happen. And that's what we're
116we're going to be working on. For students, we want them to continue taking active ownership of their learning, stepping into those new expectations, leaning in. And families, we really want them to partner in those routines, ensuring on-time arrivals this year. Both sides of town did uh both administrations on both sides of town did tardy kind of interventions, interviewing kids as they came through the door to start the day. Whether it's true or not, a lot of kids their response was I'm late because my my parent made me late, right? Or they're standing there with their Starbucks that they waited in line with with their parents as they got dropped off to school, right? So, uh we're going to really continue communicating with families that like it's important to get here on time to start the
117day, then the rest of it takes care of itself. It's you It's hard to learn if you're not here, it's impossible to engage if you're not here, right? So, uh that's the the way we turn this up into the next school year. Uh over the next few weeks, I sent my survey out to staff today. One more survey, uh where there's a couple of questions we're asking, which is uh can you support this is our statement of work for next year and any kind of general feedback on that. Two questions on what they believe student engagement looks like in the classroom, and student disengagement looks like in the classroom. Our research partner EAB, we've been working with them of what the researchers say engagement looks like and what it doesn't look like. We want to
118pair We will pair that with what our teachers say it looks like and doesn't look like. So, it's Here's what the researchers say, here's what our own experts say, and kind of put those things side by side in a matrix. Um we will also be working on I've shared with the board a draft of considerations for our action plan. Uh should the board approve this on the 18th as a statement of work, then for the next kind of 4 to 6 weeks, we will work on taking those considerations, making them a solid action plan with solid data and metrics that are going to be measured behind those things. Um So, any questions on that? Why or what up to this point? All right. It's a lot to take in. Yeah. Yeah, well, that's why we
119won't be back to ask you for a yes for 2 more weeks. So, you have all of that information including the document that went out to the staff today. I encourage you if you haven't had a chance to dig into that to to dig in. Um there is a lot of information there and we're very transparent with the work that we're we're doing. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Gina for the consolidated district plan. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to talk to you a little bit today about the consolidated district plan, and I often say that this is not the most exciting thing to talk about. However, I want to point out today that I was struck by the students who were at the ISBE um student summit, and what
120Ryan and Romina shared just about AP classes and AP testing and the student shared about internships and intro to teaching and all of that because all of those programs that we have, all those courses that we have are actually part of the CDP. And so I thought the timing was was good for that. So we're going to dig in and it is still very much at this point a draft. We just uh last week um Ken and April joined us for our our uh parent teacher advisory meeting and we're still getting feedback from those that attended. So there could be some little tweaks, but this is our eighth year of doing consolidated district plan. There have been a few changes this year, but it's not they've they're really not that significant. They are identified in
121the document that I shared um that's in the um online for the board and for the public in red, those that are newer or changes. And so the CDP, as we call it, is a single plan that encompasses all of these various grants. So title one, um only South High School is a title one school and that's primarily funding that we receive for academically at-risk students. Title two, we heard a lot today about professional development and title two funds, it's the primary grant that funds PD in District 99. We get two title three grants and they work primarily with EL, our English language learners, our EL students. We also get title four grant which is about well-rounded education and that provides various programs for our students and then our IDEA grant. And basically the plan
122requires that we look at various data points and these are the data points that we looked at for this plan which will go into effect for next school year. So it's fiscal year 27. We looked at graduation rates as a key indicator. Primarily looking at four year, although we do look also at fifth and sixth year, but we focus more on the four-year because of course the goal is for all students to graduate in four years. We looked at we look at ACT scores. We even look at pre-ACT scores, but we focus really more on ACT scores. We look at chronic absenteeism, which you heard a lot about tonight and even something that's being talked about our students at the summit by our students at the summit. And then we looked at first semester grade
123data. And we look at all of those data points with the intention of looking at what interventions and supports do we need to put into place to support our students. So the plan consists of a series of questions in both that needs assessment and in those interventions. And this is some of the takeaways that are embedded in the plan. And so while if you look at our all data, it's pretty good. If you look at our graduation rates for all students, it's very good, both fourth, fifth, and sixth year. But there is some disproportionality. And that means that certain subgroups of students, certain groups of students, perhaps low-income students, called economically disadvantaged by the state, or our Latino students, or our EL students, various different subgroups, we see lower rates in some cases. We also
124have students who will fall into more than one group. And so the data can sometimes be skewed that way. And then we look at interventions not just for the all of our students, but also for those specific groups of students. And so as we're addressing the questions, we're looking at that data for all students and for different groups of students. The plan asks us to answer various questions about the programming that we have, and that's where it kind of relates to some of what we heard tonight. Some of the changes from previous years, we do have one more AP class that the board approved in the fall, coming on board for next year, AP Business with Personal Finance, which we're really excited about. Um while not new, it was interesting that the one student mentioned
125Introduction to Teaching. It's interesting for a couple of reasons. One, it relates to our pathway endorsements, which Ryan Doherty, who was here, was here tonight, talked about the survey. Um we've actually increased the number of students earning pathway endorsements, which is significant. And it also relates to dual credit because Introduction to Teaching are two dual credit courses with COD, and it's one of our long-standing um courses that provide students with dual credit. So, I just thought that was sort of interesting tonight to hear about that. Um we we have obviously a lot written into the plan. Um some of the interventions are interventions that have been in place for years, and some are newer. Some are interventions that we offer to students every year, and some are during the school year, some are in the
126summer, but it varies from year to year. Um as we look at those interventions even in summer, so we offer several interventions in summer that you might not think of as interventions. So, they're geared towards AP students. So, we have an AP Chemistry um summer bridge, for example, which is obviously geared toward to being successful in an AP class. And then, um as we look at the plan, there's several new things for the last couple of years. We continue to increase uh the number of EL classes and resources that we provide to students. Um we Last year was the first time that we offered an EL English course, and that is for students so they could get ahead. Certainly, if a student was unsuccessful, they could take the course again. But, the primary was to
127get for students to get ahead. Um and we are offering that again this summer. We also have EL enrichment courses, and we've offered those for decades. Um our Math 3 lab is going strong and will continue. And then, our math specialist, while not a new position, um but our math specialist started the sports science. And so that was really a great addition for this year. We also for next year are very excited for the first time District 99 will have a multilingual coordinator working with EL students and EL curriculum and programs district-wide. And the goal there of course is to evaluate our programs, to look at how EL cuz EL has really kind of uh been created differently at each campus based on the needs of students. And we've had some opportunities to get together
128and pull those together to kind of go on the same path, but this will be an opportunity for someone to dig in in terms of curriculum. And also support obviously students and families on both ends of town. And those are the key highlights of the CDP. Any questions? >> So just a question, this is the report out for next So right? >> This is for next year. >> So just and I know we've gone over this in a couple years since I've been on the board. What happens with all the, you know, looking good for next year but the uncertainty like do you if funding doesn't come in as you expect, like how do you how are you expected to >> So >> respond to that and we may have done that in the past
129but I just was curious. >> No, it's a great question and we can do that now obviously. >> So um we just received last our initial allocation for Title I, Title II, and Title IV. They come together in one grant, so that's why. >> Mhm. >> This is interesting because Title I this year for our first allocation So often times what happens we get an initial allocation, we write our grant >> Mhm. >> and then later often times it might be late summer or in the fall, we will get an additional allocation. Sometimes it's for Title I, $10,000. One year it was $100,000. So, it can vary, okay? And [clears throat] in the years that I've been working with Title I, which this is, I think, 13 or 14 now, um typically, the initial allocation
130has been around $300,000. Give or take. Last year at this time it was $391,000. The initial allocation for next year, which starts July 1, is 205,000. So, that is concerning because it's significantly lower. Will we get another allocation? Perhaps like that one year when we got $100,000, which was great. Obviously, we're very hopeful for that. Our Title II has also gone down, but not as significantly. Um this year, for example, in Title II, we received $82,000. And for next year, we're just over 70,000. So, a decrease as well. Interestingly, Title IV, which is by far my favorite grant, um but that's just because we get to do some really cool things with it. Um we're just about the same. We're a few hundred less, but not much of a variance. Um Title III LIEP, Language
131Instruction Education Program Grant, we're usually around $26,000 a year. Um we have [snorts] not received an initial allocation yet. I literally checked today. So, unless it came out after 11:30, we have not received it. Um Sometimes it'll come out this early, and sometimes it'll come out June or July. I have no way of knowing. Title III Immigrant Education Grant, that typically comes out November-ish. Um some years it's been as late as December, January. It's hard to say. Um and that grant this year was between 10 and 12,000 dollars if I remember correctly. Um, and some years we don't receive that grant. It's based on an increase and there's a very complicated formula the state uses, but just at the macro level there's a formula that they use to determine if our increase is significant enough
132to warrant getting the grant. We have gotten it the last several years for sure, um, but it's possible we may not even receive it. And I honestly do not know when IDEA allocations come out. >> going to say, I just because my work with Lend I do know that, um, it's an increase this year of 20 million to the overall IDEA budget. So, I don't know what that will mean for us, but um, and obviously Lend folks are very excited knowing that the state level, you know, things are going to be So, I I feel like that one, but again that's just for this year. So, that's why I was sort of curious on the other. So, we just sort of cross that bridge when we get to it. Yeah. >> IDEA I do not,
133so I'm not sure when that is. >> out late May. >> Is that what you've heard though about the >> I haven't heard anything about when it's going to be released, but that's usually when we know. >> But it seems to be in good shape. People are feeling optimistic about it. >> heard any Yeah, I haven't heard anything. >> Yeah, all of the federal funding has stayed flat or has gone up, but it's just how it trickles out to us. So. >> We have a couple of other grants which are not necessarily included in the CDP, um, which is for CTE education. So, our Perkins and our CTE I, um, and while we haven't received an allocation yet the word that we've been told, um, through DEOS is to plan for a similar dollar amount.
134Um, so I'm I'm hopeful. Um, the one that, uh, again we may not get is the immigrant ed grant. That one's always we don't know and won't know for several months. >> And then another one that's probably not on this though is the the SNAP one, right? And the change there is just making eligibility a little more frequent and cumbersome and we're prepared to address that. But it requires more support on this side of the school, right? >> Okay. Yeah. Thanks. >> And so the CDP is pretty much written. It could change a little bit based on feedback we might receive. I really didn't have many questions that I received that night from participants or even recommendations, but there could be a few little tweaks based on that. But this will come back to the
135board later this month to vote. >> Any questions for Gina? Thanks, Gina. >> Thank you. >> All right. Review of Gina's slides. >> All right. SASSID, there is a an update coming in the in the bylaws. And this will work it through the governing board that Chris sits on. But because we are looking at consolidating, we we are spread out all over the county for classrooms. For the past year, we have been looking to try to find a permanent home that nearly all of our programming could fall inside of. They're getting very close to a recommendation on that and then a funding model where we would basically The short answer is moving what we're paying for rent into mortgage. Right? And that it would be a one-for-one swap of rent for mortgage, which then long-term
136allows us to actually cut down on costs cuz that is a containable cost rather than a you know, once you pay it off then it's paid off, right? So it's a a great long-term programming. From that should come programmatic efficiencies because we could centralize administration and supports and all of those kinds of things in one place. Because it's a pretty big change, uh, they want the the group is proposing to change the bylaws as to how you get out if you don't want to be part of this going forward, right? And to get out of a cooperative is like an 18-month long period. It's not quick. So, the bylaws set up a process in which you could declare that you intend to leave and then a process where you could start to leave to then
137ultimately leave. So, that the cooperative knows generally how many students are going to have before they go purchase big chunk of property, right? If If half the group wants to leave and not buy property, which I don't think that's the case, but that would drastically impact kind of what we're looking at doing. So, we kind of need a spot and a draw a line in the sand of you're in or you're out and that's what these bylaws essentially do, right? So, if you cut through all the red line and all of those kinds of pieces, it's basically saying after this deadline, you're in, right? Um, if you want out, tell us before that deadline and then you can get out, right? And that's that's kind of it. So, that's the in English version of the
138redline of the bylaws. Um, those will come back to uh, vote on uh, I think next board meeting or the one after it or something. >> The May 18th board meeting, those bylaws come back for for approval and then we need to take action uh, as to who will be our SASED representation at that point, uh, which is the next one. So, >> [cough] >> that's on the bylaws. Chris, anything else to add? How did I do? >> Good, yeah. No, efficiency and like spacing location for SAS has been a huge issue the last couple of years. >> [cough] >> So, I think this gives them the the opportunity to eliminate some of those inefficiencies across the program. Cuz the space they're at now is not equipped for students of the amount of students that
139they're getting into the program at this point. Yeah, so I I No, that that was good summary. >> Thank you. >> [laughter] >> All right, so then we move into the board work of the committee and liaison appointments, [clears throat] Don. >> Yeah, I didn't hear any comments from any of the board members. So, my plan is to just keep our committee assignments that are present unless I hear any objections tonight. >> All right. Okay, hearing none. All right, I've shared with the board reflections on my leadership events from the year. It's in the board packet. Overall, I broke it into um areas in which I lead and areas in which I learn. Both have really guided the work that we've done this year. A lot of what you saw tonight is heavily influenced by
140that work that I've been involved in and I think it speaks for itself in in products that we're turning over to the board and to our staff >> [cough] >> doing across the district. So, if there's any specific questions, I'm happy to address them now or if board members ever want to reach out at any point, I'm happy to discuss it. But, thank you for the opportunities you allow me to to engage in. >> But, you feel strongly that that it's having a positive impact and the ideas and concepts you're bringing back into D99. >> Not only that, I think it also helps me aware of trends that are coming before they arrive, all right? And that then we can prepare for We're not shocked by things when they show up. It's like, "Oh, we
141heard heard rumblings, you know, especially some of the rooms I mean at the state and national leadership level. The event I was at last week, um, was talking a lot about the big beautiful bill and the impact on federal funding and and all of these kinds of things and this is how it's going to impact you 12 months from now or 6 months from now or after potentially after the next election cycle, which as a general superintendent, I wouldn't be in the room where where that happens, right? And then I'm able to take that back here, able to take it back to Len and to do Paige and and at the state level with IASA. So, um, we do get and we have a lot of people in leadership roles like that in this district,
142right? I mean, Courtney leads like that in the principals level. Gina has led that way with the title directors. Travis, Scott Like everybody on our team is leading in different levels at that way and it puts our our district at a great advantage to be be on the front end of where things are being considered. So, uh, I appreciate the board encouraging that for me and the for the rest of the staff to do that. >> [snorts] >> All right. Now Now to the cake. So, recognition of uh, current student board members, so Romina and Ryan, I want [clears throat] to personally thank you for all of your work this year. I will say we we have had student board members here for 8 years? >> 4 years. >> Yeah, wow. >> Some a while.
143And um, I will say that of all the board members that we have had, you have been the most boardish. Um, [laughter] in the fact that Not boring. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> Boardish. In >> the fact you have both been very focused on the goals of the district this year, the strategic plan, and making sure that the board understands how that's impacting you as students and other students in that experience. Um and your intentional connection back to the work has been greatly appreciated. Uh as a superintendent, you guys say a lot of the things so I don't have to. Your reports cover those things for me. So So as a as a superintendent, I couldn't have two better ambassadors than I have this year. So thank you very much. Uh I do have a
144little token of token of appreciation for both of you in a moment. Um and cake. And cake. Don't forget the cake. But before we go on, could you both share what your plans are next year? >> Yeah, I can start. Um so I'm committed to the University of Colorado at Boulder. Um and then I'm going to dual major in finance and marketing through the Leeds School of Business. So that's a little bit about me. I'm super excited to go to Colorado. Um I don't know if any of you have been been there. Um but it was such a toy tough choice between Boulder and Champaign. So it was it was hard, but I ended up choosing um Boulder and I'm super excited for next year. >> Um I'm committed to the University of Michigan and
145I'm majoring in political science. Um I'm very excited and Urbana's an amazing town and I'm very very excited to continue my academic career there. And I was also between U of I and >> [laughter] >> um Michigan, but I visited and I fell in love and it was the right choice for me. >> Awesome. And congratulations to both of you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Uh is there anything any other board members would like to say to Romina and Ryan in front of the whole group? If not, you can talk to them over cake. >> You guys set the bar really high. >> Yeah. >> Whoever's coming in next year, they have big shoes to fill. >> Oh, thank you. >> Yeah, I would just like to say your honesty and engagement has truly
146been amazing and every report you give I feel like we're in the school with you and really picking up the vibe and the culture within those buildings and it's really fantastic. You guys have really done an outstanding job. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. What we're actually going to do is work through the last couple of piece of our business and then break for cake between this and the closed session. So reception of visitors. Julie, do you have any motions to close? Okay. And then why don't we take an action for closed session and then before that we'll have cake. >> Sure. Can I can I get a motion from the Board of Education to go into closed session for open meetings exception number one for personnel and
147open meetings act exception number two regarding collective negotiating matters. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Ken moves, Chris seconds. >> Thank you very much. Ken Dawson. >> Aye. >> Chris Espinosa. >> Aye. >> April Finan. >> Aye. >> Michael Risky. >> Aye. >> Cara Caston. >> Aye. >> Amy Courtney. >> Aye. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. >> Don Runner. Excuse me. I'm so sorry. So sorry. [laughter] I had a I had a majority. I was good. >> [laughter] >> And for just a note for the public the only action the board will be taking when we come out of closed session is to adjourn. All right, let's take a short break.