001e e e was all right uh Julie let's call the Mee meeting to order please can you do the roll call please Caston Ken Dawson here chosa here Charelle Fuller here Jenny hagstrom here Terry pavich here Don rener here rahan Hashim here and Jason tro here thank you all right thank you having a quum let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance you guys came in I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right first order of business is approval of minutes can I get a motion from the Board of Education to approve the minutes of the August 19th 2024 business meeting the August 19th 2024 closed meeting the September 9th 2024 Workshop
002meeting and the September 9th 2024 closed meeting so move moved second Terry moves Chris seconds thank you Terry pavich hi Chris janosa hi charl Fuller I Jenny hagstrom hi harck Caston hi Ken Dawson hi and Don rener I mocean carries uh item number four reception of visitors Julie do we have any um slips thank you turn it over to you Hank for item number five getting there good evening everyone uh the first one uh board members will remember this from year to year there is an administrative teacher and salary benefit report that must be post on the website every year by a certain date and then we must inform the board that we've done so we have done so all right uh the next one uh we have our two uh associate principles for athletics
003here this evening uh we're joined by uh Dave Rose who's new to the district and Brandon Murphy who's been with us for the last year and they're going to walk us through two topics this evening uh the first one is a discussion of co-oping boys gymnastics I'll turn it over to these gentlemen here right uh to kind of go further than just the uh the information that's in your packet as well um but this conversation as we looked in some history as Dave as he mentioned Dave is in year one and I'm in year two now within the district uh we looked back at some of the board notes and we saw that this came to the board actually in 2019 as a discussion item and uh since then though there's been a lot of
004change throughout the state of Illinois with boys gymnastics so if you can see in bullet there one ihsa which is the governing body for All Sports in Illinois for high school no longer sponsors boys gymnastics as an official ihsa sport it's currently classified as an emerging sport um it's listed that with a lot of sports that are actually growing um but this is the first one that we've seen actually go that direction the opposite action but it is currently classified as that and just in case it ever continues to grow back to to the classification for classifications to go to that they're looking for about 10% of the school uh student uh School body in Illinois participation to reach that threshold to become an official sport um last year though was the first year that
005the iosa did not recognize a state sponsored in in voice gymnastics to have a state series The IH sgca which is the state coaches association did and we have members of our uh District our student body that did participate in the state tournament last year and we're recognized for that it is also we are uh a members of the west of Burman conference and this boys gymnastic is still a sponsored sport within the boys gymn uh within the West ofb Conference uh to do that you have to have over half the schools in our conference that still have that sport so if you have over half the schools that represent that sport then it's considered a conference sport last year you can see in the post here 23 24 four numbers uh at dgs and
006dgn we see those numbers as as a good as a spot that we still have a participation level that could with a co-op could grow to even more and uh with our staff we could do this in a safe Manner and also be able to participate in multiple levels of where our current athletes skill levels at um we're bringing this also Dave and I with conjunction of already talking and working with our head coaches uh from both schools so they're in favor of this as well this proposal um we believe this would continue to provide opportunities to be meet the threshold of a co-op it has to continue to provide opportunities uh cannot take an opportunity away from anybody uh we believe this could have possibly uh long-term cost savings just for a few things
007as in maintenance things like that equipment cost over time because You' be facilitating one school instead of two schools for supplying those um and then really it's the appropriate level though of skills and we have a wide range you to be able to take our coaching staff and be able to put uh athletes in the proper skill sets in within that level right now we have some in certain levels but not enough to maybe go to that level so we wouldn't go to that competition which since they just don't go um so that by having a co-op we'd be able to offer an opportunity to more students at a at a better level for them safely uh I just say Co-op so what we're going through at this process any Co-op that is offered through
008the ihsa which our district already offers multiple co-ops between the two schools in conjunction is always valid for a two-year window so if we approve a co-op it would be good it would go to the ihssa for a final approval even with it being an emerging Sport and that would get become a granted for two years so any questions on I guess boy jymnastics Coop would this have any impact on the number of kids who can participate in the sport would it be a become a cut sport or would all kids who come and try out be find a placement on the team yeah boys gynastics has not traditionally been a cut sport we don't believe this would ever get to that level uh if we got to that level we would probably be recommending
009to go back to individual School body at that time okay I would say boys gymnastics is a fantastic Sport and um discipline that it teaches perseverance I mean it's just a fantastic sport unfortunately it's being downsized and eliminated from a lot of the universities as well so anything we can do to continue our program I think is fantastic I agree MH we were here a few years ago having the same discussion about girls gymnastics there were a lot of concerns about would this lead to the demise of girls gymnastics would this destroy the program in the district I think the evidence is to the contrary right um and really groom uh you know I I think that uh we've already seen the potential and the opportunities that come with gymnastics being co-opt in this way
010and you know if it turns around it goes the other way and starts growing to the point where you know it it builds back up again and the numbers are pointing to needing different programs we just come back to the board and talk about a program at each side of a town but uh so far it has worked over in in girls gymnastics I have no reason to believe that we wouldn't be on the same trajectory here with boys MH so since we had it before do we have all the equipment already and do the coaches of the girls so we have coaching I saw and you're think girls coaches coach the boys or who coaches uh they have different staffs we do have members that represent both but they're different seasons and we do
011have they are fully staffed at this point okay and the equipment is there it's really the long term if there was repair needed for those things but we' be able to combine those and combine if there was that and we do have graduates from Down's Grove South I know um over the past what four or six years that have competed at division one level so there have been talented gy gymnasts that have come out of our schools yes for sure all right so any concerns it's not an action item but it would just be good for Brandon and Dave to know if there was any reservations on the board's part of them moving forward with this process so that if eventually we have a step that ends up back in front of the board uh
012you know we knew to look into that or to address that concern con er uh as we go through this process yeah I'm fine I don't think so right hearing none fantastic go for it thank keep moving forward gentlemen all right uh s we're going to be here to talk about this and there's been a few board members that wanted just some updates on how our athletic programs are going across the district I figured we'd monopolize their time this evening and have them give uh an update on athletic programs across the district uh so that's next topic and I will click when you guys tell me to uh all right yeah this uh first slide here is just kind of a very general overview of uh the athletic programs at both high schools uh a
013lot of you probably already know some of this information um but just kind of for the sake of of kind of getting everyone on the same page it's just kind of the broad uh Strokes of of Athletics in in d99 um we're both members of the West Suburban Conference the West bbon Conference is broken up into two um kind of subc conferences uh North as part of the silver uh and South is part of the gold um both schools historically have been very competitive uh had had a lot of success in in their uh respective parts of the conference um and it's it's I mean it's arguably one of the the most stored conferences in the state of Illinois so it's it's I mean it's a great uh great conference to be a part of
014um and also kind of leaning into that gymnastics it's one of the only conferences that's so recognizes it so it's a it's a great opportunity for for our kids in this area um so we have 58 total sports that are offered uh between the two high schools uh with about 180 teams uh which that includes all the lower levels as well um and those are are broken down into you know depending on what sport it is you could have a JV level um or a sophomore level and then your freshman and freshman a and freshman B levels um so we are supporting uh quite a few programs and and um giv giv students a lot of opportunities and a lot of choices uh in their Athletics uh number of coaches uh we have about 230
015coaches uh that are paid um or stiped between the two schools that does not include volunteers um doesn't include you know game workers things like that um just goes to show just the sheer number of individuals that are involved in supporting these programs uh whether it is directly coaching uh or helping us manage events and and things like that um facility management is just listed in there obviously we've done a great deal of work uh the last year or so um in updating the facilities uh and it's a great um emphasis for our coaches athletes um I mean we've gotten a lot of feedback from parents and and all stakeholders that that have seen those those boards the fields and all that so um it's it's a big emphasis for us and and um a
016point of Pride for for both programs um emerging Sports uh we we just mentioned um kind of gymnastics there uh as listed as an emerging sport some other sports that are heading in the opposite direction um as far as increasing numbers and and increasing popularity um in the conference uh is boys bowling um so just just kind of mentioned it there just to kind of get it on your radar that uh boys bowling is growing in in specifically the the West Suburban Conference uh as well as girls flag football um this one was just approved last year and it is skyrocketing uh in in popularity typically when a sport kind of breaks through that emerging sport into an approved sport uh it typically takes a couple years for a lot of schools to kind of
017adopt it um I think the best example would be lacrosse within recent memory where um you know you had a handful of schools that that adopted it and then throughout the course of several years um it's it's consistently grown uh girls flag football is it's exceeding that in initial popularity so uh that is an emerging sport um in Illinois as well as the West Suburban Conference and and we've obviously gotten some questions and some interest uh within d99 too so just wanted to highlight that um we do plan on sending out a a d99 student interest survey it's something that's been done in the past just to kind of gauge you know what our students are thinking about uh we anticipate that in that survey that that uh fight football is going to be uh
018highlighted on there um so we'll we'll be sending that out probably in October um and and get those numbers and kind of go from there when we look at the emerging Sports one thing that the Board needs to be aware of is there's been quite a a number of emerging SP sports for women that have shown up in the last few years and girls flag football football is another component in there where you see boys gymnastics dropping off uh we're going to need some male Sports to fill in to keep that equality across the two genders in the the number of offerings that we have uh so just something that we'll be keeping a close eye on in the coming years does it need to be offerings or does it need to be number of
019participants no it's it's off opportunities that we have well if you go with the flag girls flag football would bowling boys bowling be the emerging thing that you could balance it with it could be although at the same time we have boys gymnastics fall although we maintain it as a sport falling out of ihsa so maintaining that helps us keep an equal number of opportunities but it's something we keep a close eye on as we look at emerging Sports and well for the first time I it's an emerging sport but it's a a change in status for boys gymnastics yeah I just say list right now about a dozen emerging Sports um and some have are close to the like becoming an actual sponsor sport and some have been on the list for decades and
020haven't really gr taken off that's kind of where Dave was alluding to how flag has rapidly grown within a two threee window unprecedent that we haven't seen another another Sports in the past mhm where where did Sports emerge from do they emerge from other high schools in the country or the college level down or is it all over place it's a combination a lot of times it is top down where you'll see it at the Collegiate level and then sometimes it's opposite sometimes it's youth up so you see it on both ends a different ways um girls flag is now a Collegiate level sport too and they kind of did this in hand in hand and in a lot of conjunction with the NFL um so you saw a lot of support from the Chicago
021Bears in Illinois as in others other pro professional teams in other states as well and they really help get get the sport off the ground mhm okay cool uh so I get the privilege to talk about our coaches and some of the expectations we have uh for our coaches um we see Athletics not as really an extra but really A co-curricular as as strictly a um an extension of that classroom uh coaches that coach at a high school level have to be uh follow a lot of guidelines and follow a lot of policies and starting with our own so you'll see we have a coach's handbook that is um also in like our employee handbook then our coaches have a specific one too and a lot of those mirror a lot of the things that
022are listed in our core values itself um such as effective communication what does a student uh relationship look like as a secure relationship we want every one of our coaches to work with our athletes so the athletes feel like they're seen safe secure supported these are the things that we we talk to them about as well and that they're using the proper channels to communicate not only with their athletes but also with their families community members things of that nature uh besides our own local handbooks that we work with and it really this was a great year it was the first time that um I think maybe in our district definitely recently big part was that Dave and I are both within first two years uh but this year uh we had to kick off
023the school year with an all District 99 coaches meeting uh usually we have our own individual one but we put all coaches for North and South in the same room and went through a very clear message from a district level uh kind of going through those District level policies not maybe building specific but things that they would be we would like to you know make sure we're adhered to from that District lens as well so that that was a great kickoff and a great way to kind of start the school year and go and some of those are just a lot of them are reminders and review some things besides our own policies every coach has to go through the ihsa guidelines they have to go through testing each year as well as meet the
024standard to what a high school coach can be so they either have to have a coach's license or be a certified teacher um and then each year have to reup some some protocols well they all have concussion testing performance en enhancing drugs hate speech these are all just some of the parameters that coaches go through as well uh and then we have our own conference we mentioned before the westurban conference just last year was in its 100th year of being a conference so it's the one of the most established conferences in Illinois and one of the longest standing with the amount of the pro uh schools that had not left the conference and stayed stable those conferences in each sport we have our own guidelines so if you're whatever coach you are for that sport
025besides the coaching guidelines you have to be able to understand your own specific Sports guidelines as well and adhere to those as well um prior to all that but besides just our conference our state our our our handbook we have obviously regular preseason meetings as all coaches meet with their counterparts within the conference and go through and have a preseason and a postseason meeting in case they want any changes within the sport within the conference as well so they advocate for our school and represent our school in the conference meetings in those pre and postseason meetings in conjunction with Dave and I as we go to our our monthly meetings and and speak on the behalf of the conference from our district as well and then uh we asked every coach to also have a
026preseason parent meeting and our Guardian meeting and and we're always a lot of times we're a major part of that as well so that's that's a lot with our coaches big part of though is that they're this is uh that extension from the classroom uh next portion here is obviously the most important part the athletes um so with the athletes and and we stole this kind of subtitle here from from South uh building on tradition and forging the future um which again kind of highlights the uh that Athletics are again an extension of the classroom it's everything that we value um educationwise in d99 and how can Athletics go and be um an extension of that and improve those skills and retach those skills and and all that so um the students much like the
027the co coaches um have a lot of of rules and regulations that that they um are expected to follow the biggest one is the d99 student code of conduct uh every athlete 247 365 um needs to abide by those by those rules and those uh those regulations um if if they do violate the code of conduct there are consequences um it is a pretty lengthy process um involves obviously counselors teachers um it involves Us in in just kind of making sure that if there is um a slip up that we address that uh that they learn from it and that they can take the appropriate steps with support from everyone involved to to uh to improve um they also need to meet ihsa eligibility requirements um that is primarily academic requirements uh they're required to
028pass 25 credits um during the course of a semester uh they have to um have 25 credits at the end of each semester if they don't meet that requirement uh then they are in um ineligible um so there's um 29 different sports uh that that our athletes again can choose from uh we feel that you know we we do a great job of of providing those opportunities for our students and we're continuing to look for those opportunities which is again highlighted by the fact that um you know we're looking into these emerging Sports and seeing if there are other opportunities for them uh and then taking a look at these surveys and things like that to see if there's something that that were missing that the students would be would be interested in getting involved
029in um and then uh community Outreach there so uh as far as fundraising uh with our individual programs uh there is a portion that's tagged on to that if they are going to be reaching out to community members and doing some fundraising of their own uh there is a uh a kind of a a philanthropy aspect to that as well so it's a way for our athletes to kind of give back to the community um and that's I've seen that take in my my short time it's taken um several several different shapes I mean they've done stuff around the school I know some do stuff around the community um it's just again a way to say thank you and and give back and and really get involved with the community um and then of course
030the the benefits of being an athlete and I think this is universal regardless of what what school you're at um it provides leadership opportunities um it leads to success in the classroom you obviously have additional um eyes on you it's the coach the athletic director um it's the ihsa requiring uh that that you meet the grade requirement so there's just an additional level of support for our student athletes um provides postgrad opportunities and then again um connecting to to the school and the community in ways that that um you know you might not otherwise be able to um without uh without Athletics any questions for uh Dave or Brandon thank you both for being here this evening but hopefully this provides an overview of our programming questions that you have for them have you seen
031just in in sports like do you look at trending kind of year to year and see like if if a sport is really growing dramatically over the course of a couple years or declining and do you like any examples of that like what are some of the sports that might be growing most at each of the schools or declining and yeah we we we see this at a um kind of Statewide level um most of the sports that are offered at the 29 sports are offered here we fill almost every single level that's a conference level at both schools so our our numbers have been very stable uh within the district but there are some sports that we've trended with with our opponents within the conference or within other schools that we compete with that
032may not have all the lower levels so if we're competing at four levels they might be only competing at two or three and then we need to go find another opponent that week when we're playing them for that other third or fourth level and that happens and sometimes it's that's a little tricky every once in a while to go find just one level out of one other team but um so it is a few Sports over time that have done that but I the trending is kind of in that emerging level um boys gymnastics was in that difficult spot and um and that's kind of where we're at with them right now but um I think overall between the two schools that I've seen so far in the competitions we're pretty we're pretty stable with
033our numbers yeah and we we do get registration numbers at the end of every season and then we can look at those at the end of every year too just to kind of see year in and year out what sports you know maybe dropped a couple athletes what are what are gaining a couple athletes and then um you know sometimes it's just any given class of students maybe just dropped a little bit in interest and then in another two years you'll see it go up again um but then I mean sometimes you do see a trend where you know 10 years ago maybe you had 100 kids and then all of a sudden now you're down to to 20 and those those registration numbers kind of give us an idea of um just like to
034speak specifically I know in our in this District I know a lot of growth has been in volleyball so girls volleyball has grown greatly in the last decade all over the place but we've seen it here as well so we added we've added a coaching member we've added we've added staff we've had we F fill every level so these are things that I think we've seen girls volleyball is taking a big increase I'd like to say I think um d99 Athletics is something that we all should be very proud of in our community we definitely have one of the elite programs in the state of Illinois um you know the positive impact Athletics has on our students is immeasurable both success in the classroom leadership teamwork it breaks down a lot of the barriers that
035Society puts on each other and the athletes are like brothers and sisters and it's it's really a very um special thing uh in addition to that I'd like to highlight we have two down Grove South alumni one who competed in the Summer Olympics in track and field and another who is currently a member of the Chicago Bears not to mention we have have numerous athletes who uh have earned division one scholarships every year so it's something that we really should take pride in and I thank you guys and all the coaches for everything you do you left out the Downers Grove North alumni who is a member of the um Buffalo Bills there we go it's endless and North High par Olympian right yes yes so with that White Sox and we there's another South
036with the Yankees too so it's very impressive and and currently in track and field and cross country we have athletes both men and women which are top in the country which is amazing yes appreciate that I think too you know one of the benefits of having you here um is to maybe talk let you tell us about some things that might be some pain points or things that maybe you're that you struggle with um we've been discussing facility rentals a little bit you might have some comments on you know things like that or when you know how how you feel about I'm too new to complain I'll just say I'll just say I I am a I am a swimming Advocate and I know that there's a lot of Sometimes some pain points around both
037pools um so you know there's there there's a lot that's been put into our facilities um but there's probably things that you might need too and this this would be the time to say it I I appreciate that offer um and I'll will take you up on if I if I get to that point um I came from a a previous employment that we had a swim team without a pool so I'm very grateful for all the things we have in this district and all the things that were just provided in the last in the last uh cycle and that are continuing to be developed so I know there's discussions that going to continue and then we're lucky to be a part of those so we'll continue to be a part of those appreciate it
038and the rental aspect the direction that we're going with with rentals and and growing those I think is it's great as far as uh a community outreach aspect and giving our kids access to our facilities before they're even at the high school level um but obviously there's growing pains with that and it's additional stressors on the facilities but I think the benefits of that outweigh some of those costs and pools it's a great opportunity for kids there's always regardless of what school you're at the the pools are there's there's hidden hidden cost to maintain oh they're not so hidden I yeah yeah how are the uh both the coaches and athletes enjoying the new digital scoreboards the new astro turf fields the new tracks I've gotten a lot of lot of positive feedback from from
039both all those members right all those stakeholders from community members that come up and discuss those and then uh we're getting ready to have Homecoming this weekend so we're excited about to Showcase that off this is only our second second home event so we're outside inside we got one right now so uh both a lot of our teams have made highlight kind of hype videos to really uh showcase off those boards and really make themselves Visual and um it's it's real exciting cool great yeah um when my daughter started High School um she immediately joined the cross country team and that experience um helped with the transition from Junior High to high school immediately she was surrounded by upper classman who would invite her after practice to go to Culver's when she's 14 or 15
040years old and can't even ride in a car with friends um that kind of experience just backs up what you're talking about as being a co-curricular um it it is an extension of the classroom and the things that she's learning in being a part of a team um taking on leadership roles as a captain it's it's just as important in my mind as everything that she's learning in the classroom so I Echo your sentiments and I applaud you for um saying that tonight um another point that I'd like to raise with you is is the importance of solidifying relationships with um the um local clubs and athletic teams at the junior level um whether it be soccer swimming lacrosse football basketball um partnering with those organizations who are sending their kids to our high schools
041and having our coaches at North and South develop relationships with those with those clubs um and even potentially sharing some of the same philosophical ways of how to coach um could bring um ex you know fantastic benefits at the high school level that I think would both benefit the Junior programs and our high school programs so um I would just ask that you guys keep that in mind I'm sure you're already looking at that um but I think that's really important um and I'm going to I'm going to ask you again cuz Jenny asked you I'm going to ask you again I'm going to put you on the spot um do you you know Brandon you've been here a little over a year David you've only been here a few months um so it may
042be premature for both of you but what do you what do you guys see as the strengths that we have here at District 99 with regard to Athletics and is there anything that you feel that there are weaknesses as as far as how we approach Athletics are we doing anything not you know that isn't supporting you know Athletics uh I'd really like to hear some comments it doesn't have to be all Rosy tonight that's okay I got you um really what you just said means a lot about the connections and that's the work that we're kind of really working on uh I know that's coming up in future board meetings that's why I was going to let that kind of happen naturally sure but um that work is a passion I think of of all
043of ours that we see as as a benefit as well those those connections with with the feeder programs or youth programs however you want to word those out uh with our staff with our community with our school um the connection you you mentioned about your daughter starting as a freshman that can just start earlier not guaranteeing anything but they feel comfortable walking in a building they there's Pride already established at a at a youth age that when they walk in they feel very very at home and we want to just start that earlier so that's something I wouldn't say is a pinch point or a hurt point but something that I know that's been working on and we're real excited about as a future possible outcome uh what is our strengths is our people uh
044we have some amazing amazing coaches that um that are there night and day all week all the time I've been in a lot of places been around a lot of sports and our coaching staff are very very dedicated um I I live in the community I see this I see them in the community working even uh in their craft and I also my my children will go to go to this District um and I see it on both in both schools the amount of work that the coaching staff put in and that's not uh that's not always the case at every school they're this they're they're they're passionate about what they do um that's more than just their job they don't think of his job they this is who they are this what they do
045this what they love so I say that is our strength our students um then learn that as freshman or hopefully you know sooner they come in they fall in love with it that passion starts with dealing within them and that's why you're seeing as you mentioned some of the greatest success in the state and even National levels CU these some of our student athletes are taking all this and and running with it literally so I think if there's anything to work on it's just building those connections continuing that making sure that's our Focus here's one uh great connection since we're talking about gymnastics right here in Don's Grove we have Premier Gymnastics which is um fantastic world class program and on both the men's and women's level and they produced numerous division one athletes as
046well as someone who competed in the Olympics uh recently so that is a great uh opportunity for a possible connection yes I I have a son and I have a son and daughter that are at that gym right now as we speak oh wow I completely is aware I'm very aware about Premier there's uh as Dave mentioned and we're the one of the last conferences has almost every member school that still has gymnastics because of the historical value of the sport and in our in our conference um so as you're seeing in our area it is still here it is still present in our communities it's just Statewide you saw some drop off but that's why we we're still advocating to offer it as a within the district great great I I just wanted to
047add kind of based on what Don and Don and um and oh gosh I'm thinking can't get your name here I wanted to say that it's um important to with you guys coming in I know we're asking about what is working what isn't working you guys bring an embedded base because you came you know a different background than being here for a long period of time please um feel free to share too any best practices as you guys come into the role there are things you know that were happening or you've experienced or just we we want to hear those kind of things too I know we're doing a lot of things right and but as you know what's happening in athletics and if there's changes or just thoughts we we welcome all that too
048it doesn't have to be just centered around kind of um here bring your outside experiences to weeks up that and then the next thing I wanted to share is that to piggy back off done my daughter started cross country too she started prior to coming you know as a entering freshman and it was an amazing experience for her her as well I actually probably help cross country cuz any parent that stops me as they're talking about their kid becoming an entering freshmen and they're like I don't know what should you know I I tell them all about cross country and experience and the fact that my daughter had the opportunity to develop friendships like you said well upper classman and she felt comfortable like these were people that she you know had something in common
049with and she didn't wasn't treated like she's you know I'm a freshman I can't hang out with those guys so that is really um something that I think that we do a great job at I had a parent call me talk to me about an income her her daughter was transferring and in as a junior and I talked to her about you know what she could do because obviously she didn't have the opportunity to have friends for two years here already so um all great stuff yeah so thanks Jen and I know when we start the school year we we meet with every student pretty much uh all incoming fresh and everyone that's the first message anybody that's walks into any school gets is get involved um whether that's Athletics which we hope for in
050a lot of ways but that doesn't for everyone and then there's activities as well so we we try to make sure that they're involved and we ask for two things at least get involved with two different things we like you to be in activity and Athletics if possible but not be in two of them um and you see that in our numbers as well and if your to your question of is is it's kind of been repeated of of what else can we do or what's best practices I Blown Away with the strength as well is the fact that you asked that question that we we're always looking to evolve here and that's that's one of our our mission statements and we're right in there and our values um we're we're not just status quo
051and we're just going to do what we did last year because that that work it's always what can we do better take those best practices and grow from there so actually one last thing if I can add just like a paino that I do here so my daughter is a senior and I think there are certain sports like cross country and others that are no cuts that you can participate but I I know other senior parents you know kids will play for example volleyball um and the teams get smaller and smaller as you get older and so I do have friends whose kids have been playing a sport for you know more than high school perhaps and then they get to senior year and and they get cut from the team because it's small so
052like I don't know what the solution to that is but it's a difficult time to like pivot and you know you're so used to having an after school activity so I don't know if there's any conversation around that but I just we've had a few people come to the board over that it it is a topic um and I feel grateful my daughter's on a no cut Sport and that wasn't her experience but I don't know if if that's something you experiened you do you talk to parents about that or is there any solution to that I don't know I just that is one that I hear from my peer senior parents about yeah that is uh tryy out week for the sports that have actual triy outs is the hardest week of the of
053the year um we have conversations with the families coaches do with the athletes it's a it's a difficult process a lot of it is is because of levels or facilities and constraints it's not just on numbers it's there isn't just where it's at and the spacing a lot of times too so but it's it's a something we don't we take we don't take lightly it's a it's a process that's that could be very difficult and we know that somebody could been doing this a long time but we want to offer a lot of things though and that's why that's why we have a lot of different opportunities for them as well yeah I will Echo that that it is the coaches worst day of the year if they are in a cut sport um especially
054when I mean cuz these coaches are they throw their entire lives into their programs and into the kids um so when you have like in in your um example when you have a a kid that's been in program for three years they're going to be a senior coming into your program um and you're trying to do what's best to try and put the program in in you know a good position um and unfortunately you're kind of backed against the wall and and you have to cut that player that you've developed that relationship with that you know is is just as passionate as you are about that sport um it's a incredibly difficult decision to make um and they do I mean no coach is cutting a player unless they absolutely have have no other choice
055um but it is a conversation we have um and um like Brandon said it's it's why we offer so much it's it's so and like you said senior year is tough to to redirect and go towards something else but you know hopefully it's you know there's an opportunity in another sport or another another club or another activity that we offer that that you can go and and and cut or non-cut or is it equal or like are most sports non cut or most cut is it a equ mix it's a mix it's a mix um you know this end this we're about we're kind of getting close to the end of The Fall season as well so I don't know but see you mentioned senior it's tough even at the end of the season cuz
056a coach has to make a decision that week and that's hard but 97% High school athletes at the end of this season if you're a senior and this is your last season as fall only about 3% of athletes continue on to the next level um in any in any way U and about 1% are actually getting financial aid in in in capacity so it's very rare uh we're seeing a higher percentage of that in our district uh but it is something that as coaches even these last games these State series it's an emotional ride all the way through their whole their whole journey so it's something that we understand very well can you talk a little bit about how you um like determine how many coaches are needed especially in the no cut Sports when
057you don't do you know if you don't have a sense until possibly registration if you're going to have 30 kids or 60 kids if you need an additional coach yeah how is that how is that determined um for the no cut Sports a lot of times it is trending we have summer camps we have things like that so we kind of have have an idea what's coming in those relationships benefit that too a lot but we do have a process if if if U if a program needs an additional stien or additional coach that we work that process through a coach has to Advocate and show show that data show those points which if it is a lot of growth rapidly that's very easy to show um and then we can demonstrate and take that
058up up to the next level to get approvals or not um and then some sports it just depends on spacings may eventually have to become a cut sport if it had to be but but traditionally non- Cuts stay non-cut but I mean if you had like 30 people in one season and then suddenly 50 You' see me advocating for a couple extra coaches away I don't there hard is it hard to fill you know cuz these aren't these aren't long seasons is it hard to some some are um some we we're we're lucky here we have a lot of of of staff that are either capable within our within our buildings um or we have volunteers maybe already on staff that if there was an opportunity and they and we needed them they they could
059jump in more regularly um so I think we've been able to do it here so far I'm a year two but so far I've seen these things um traditionally though numbers growth things like that are are really pretty patterned we rarely see that like a flag would be really rapid that was something that had taken off um and same with opposite if numbers shrink for some reason we would evaluate those staffs at that time as well so it kind of works both ways yeah and I I think just going to the the question that was asked a few times as far as you know what additional support there could be um this is I think the same at every school you're at um we're talking about how athletes getting involved whether it's sports or clubs
060or whatever it might be makes them better in the classroom uh gives them a better experience I think the same is true for coaches um and I think or teachers rather I think teachers that are invested in the school outside of the classroom whether that's being a a sponsor for a club or being a coach um I think a lot of times you see not only are they better teachers but um I think a lot of your best coaches are also teachers um just because they are so closely related um they're building those relationships with the kids in the classroom and then after school um and it's something in again I've only been here a very short time but it is very apparent in d99 that there are a lot of coaches that teach in
061the buildings um not only that there are a lot of teachers that live in the community um and I think that goes a long way in building successful programs um not just wins but just those great experiences I mean cross country and and track have had a lot of success but also they're great programs that kids just enjoy being a part of um and I think having community members and teachers that are also involved in in clubs and sports um is a huge part of that so uh it's kind of a something that I think is is already a strong point but I think it is something that that should continue to be kind of highlight highlighted when when we're looking at um you know coaches and teachers and and that all right any other
062questions for Dave or Brandon no but I I think uh the amount of questions and interest uh maybe uh call for not necessarily a uh twice a year but maybe once a year for them to come back and Report would be a good thing in the future I this being my second set on the board I can't remember the athletic directors ever coming in my first stent on the board uh so I really appreciate you guys coming here tonight um the board is interested in athletics and does see as it as an as an extension of the classroom so um we're very glad to get an update from the two of you and uh hopefully we'll see you back sometime maybe next year uh to give us a update on how things are going we'll
063be back second semester for reporting on our strategic plan stuff so yeah that be that's great yeah and it's related to you know the student involvement and numbers and all that so so it'll kind of fit in okay what we're talking about and vice versa there's anything specifically you want us to talk about please let us know too okay thank you all right make sure you guys have nothing going on in the buildings and would like to stick around the whole evening but thank you for being here you're both welcome to head out thank you thanks guys thank you thank you appreciate you all right uh the next one is Scots and this is an action item uh this evening yeah so the state of Illinois is and isby is um Gathering more specific data
064around Bowling and harassment and so um we made some internal code changes um so it's not affecting the consequences or or that it's just really as you see it um just breaking it down into more categories and you can also notice on there that they're looking to gather information on um you know the Cyber aspect um of bullying and harassment so um you could see all the code changes that we're proposing Implement and Scott this doesn't change our practices just our recording way we record it so we can report it is so um you know once upon a time I did practice in school law um not anymore but um some of these could be done offsite right um like C harassment sure um can we discipline students for actions that occur outside of school
065um we can if there's a Nexus back to the school so something happens outside of school say for like cyberbullying and it it causes A disruption and is affecting the school then yes we can okay so we're very cautious though in identifying where those things do create an Nexus and we recog recogniz that we are not the social media police the police are the social media police right and uh there are people in the community that wish we were and are looking for us to be that solution for their child's online experience and that's part of the reason we've been communicating to staff or to families to start this year of like parents need to be aware of what's going on there and if it's happening out in that space it's parents and the community
066need to to to supervise that space we are when it crosses into our our environment but we are not the primari primary Defenders of the social media space what about um on these does AI come into play because I just saw a big U segment on the news tonight about um where they take people's faces and put them on AI bodies and you know I mean that's really frightening that would fall under the same category like what you're seeing there it would either fall under some kind of harassment or cyber harassment you know that type of a a piece if it's somehow connected back into the school environment right so I mean cyber bullying is bullying right and harassment or bullying using AI or any other technology it still just I mean it comes back
067to bullying harassment you know however we segment that out it isn't allowed right regardless of which tool you are using to harass somebody is really Irrelevant in the whole scheme of things right if it's harassment it's harassment whether you do it writing on a piece of paper or posting on an online Message Board is irrelevant from the whole of we're responding to that as if it's harassment okay have we gotten to the point where we have we're um entering any information about Ai and our uh Communications I know as your mentioned falls under you know cyber um bully and a cyber harassment a um AI but are we are we at a point where we're having to talk about that from any perspective in our technology yeah we we talk about it you know on
068our administrative team we've done some professional development in the building with our staff on it um but like you said it is just it's technology right it's you know uh so we we don't have anything that calls it out specifically but it would fall underneath the existing policies as they are it was actually mentioned at the um curriculum night for the I went to the senior parent one and they were talking about applying to colleges and they actually not specific to d99 but they talked about you can use AI to start your application but when you to write your essay or whatever but you know you need to finalize it by so I feel like some teachers are doing a good job of kind of incorporating it right like so that was one example recently
069that's a perfect example even in using it for you know for good yeah writing your your essays and things like but anyway I digress I just thought I'd ask about it in the way of this yeah all right any other questions for Scott all right like our other changes uh just procedurally so the board's aware the way that the student handbook works is it is officially board policy we are allowed to update it in real time and then take it to the board for approval right if we see a change that we need to do to respond to something so I believe Scott this is already existing in the online already updated we have updated the online policy now the board is bringing in line their approval of those updates if in the future we
070ever reached a spot where right now you were like no right we'd have to roll back this isn't one of those cases but I just take this as an opportunity to emphasize our procedures and protocols and how the student handbook works so tonight we'll ask you to approve that and then that technically that online handbook comes in line as board policy and when there are changes that impact consequences or whatever we obviously communicate that to students right yeah this one is more of a proced thing behind in the background so all right uh tenative budget uh we've been talking about this for the last kind of eight weeks with the board um jury apologizes that she can't be here this evening uh we as a board changed the date of the meeting remember so we
071wouldn't have backtack in September she had already had a vacation plan so was uh she chose that over us at my encouragement so uh but as she has been keeping the board updated over the last several weeks Tammy is also here to answer any questions if if you have them uh this is the overview of what we've already communicated to the board right uh and including the last several meetings we end up with a projected deficit of is primarily caused by the state reduction in uh corporate personal oh come on Tammy what's the personal property replacement tax thank you I always stumble on that acronym uh so that reduction was obviously we projected a 14% has been shared it came in at 30 32.6 yeah 32.6 which was an additional reduction of $367,000 plus uh
072to to get rid of the original deficit we projected we made the reductions listed there technology outplaced tuition Communications Transportation uh so we end up with that overall deficit uh projected of 29 or uh greater than the original projected number uh we are continuing to reinforce with uh employees throughout the District of the ways that we can you know make decisions reduce that with things like electrical use Transportation decisions purchases uh printing a whole bunch of different ways that we can chip into that over the course of the year we anticipate through that and other administrative decisions that we will close that deficit number over the course of the Year barring any unexpected changes um but we're asking the BR the board tonight to approve uh that deficit of $55,850 which puts our fund balance
073at a projected 6.1% at the end of the year which is well above the board mandated threshold of 3% uh there's a couple of slides in here to go into details uh I'll turn it over to Tammy to see if there if there's any questions you can ask them of Tammy as we move through these next couple of slides uh otherwise we will then open a public hearing for anybody that wishes to comment on the budget after this presentation so returning revenues I don't think anything in here has changed significantly other than cppt uh board has seen this before any questions in slides here a reminder the big reduction is obviously interest rates you've already seen federal rate change on that we're doing Tammy and jeree have taken measures to try to protect those interest
074earnings already this year uh but we do project that would be a reduction there's nine cuts Federal 8 is obviously reducing wither funds going away and funds from the the pmic any questions on revenues no okay then returning from before expenditures have been adjusted within there with those items that I outlined earlier uh you can see the biggest reduction is capital outlay because we moved some of those projects into summer projects using those Bond proceeds otherwise things stay pretty close to what we expected questions on any of the expenditure no hearing none uh fund balance this is what represents that deficit you see there at the 455 8.40 in the tenative budget that overall reduction in the fund balance ends up at uh total fund balance at the end of this year project rejected at
0756.1% uh you can see that we do have a significant deficit in the educational fund but we do have surpluses in other areas you will see us making adjustments when we come to you with the proposals for the levy in December January that amount of time to try to equalize those funds moving forward or those funding accounts moving forward uh are there any questions here on on balances Tammy on the budgeted revenues the 114 879 number and I was just comparing that to the page one Revenue budget of where it seems to show 115 134 now can you explain the discrepancy there between the 115 134 and the 114 879 it's not huge where was the4 um fund balances operating funds one more I think yeah so revenues is saying 114 879 projected for budget
076but when I compare that to the revenues on page one it's 115 134 uh cuz on if you go to the fund balance tab that 255 um working cash below the 114 mhm oh two of those total yes okay so you're pulling out the working cash Revenue When comparing it against expenditures mhm yeah because there's no expenditures in there okay hold on Tammy you got put on the spot what is a working cash revenue is that just interest on the working cash okay okay thanks well I'm glad you were here Tammy it would Tak me a while to find that one any other questions on this I would just reiterate what we talked about last time for the Public's benefit is that instead of attempting to uh take away from our expenditures and potentially make
077cuts um we've decided to adopt a budget that shows um uh a little bit of a negative balance but we're going to work very hard through the school year to try and uh diminish miate that you know that shortfall to the best we can while still properly maintaining our fund balances well above our policies so I feel comfortable moving forward with this budget personally absolutely all right thank you uh one more thing uh per state law we are required when we talk about the budget to present to the board and to the public what our cash balances were as of the end of the last fiscal year those are on display for you here um I think that meets our requirement I correct Tammy so um the only thing I will say is that uh
078these fund balances include the tax money we received in um May and June um we defer some of that tax money that's why the differences from what you were seeing in the previous slide with the fund balances uh at the beginning of the year are different from that so that's the main difference in District 99 we try not to spend the money until we have it so that's why the numbers look different Not a Bad Thing to practice yeah wish the government would do that all right uh so uh with that uh we can move move on to the public hearing after okay um do we have any slips or do we have any members of the public okay we still technically have to call the hearing um so I'm going to open up a
079public hearing to receive public comments on the 2024 2025 tentative budget um seeing that we have no public participation um I will then close the public hearing on close it we'll need a motion to close Okay um can I get a motion from the Board of Education to close the public hearing on the 2024 2025 tentative budget so moved second Terry moves K seconds thank you very much Terry pavich hi Ken Dawson hi Chris Espinosa hi cherl Fuller hi Jenny hagstrom hi Eric Caston I and down Runner I motion carries okay moving on to item number just I have update the board that thank you for that uh for Freedom of Information requests we have received them updated them and they're available on the website okay okay sounds good um item number seven of the
080consent agenda before the board votes on the consent agenda is there any agenda item a board member would like to pull out of the consent agenda for further discussion hearing none um can I get a motion from the Board of Education to approve the consent agenda as presented which includes a personel report appointment certified transfer position classified appointment exempt and appointment classified B Personnel report retirement certified resignation classified C August Financial Pages d student trips e acceptance of donation uh Jerry SMC from t99 and F settlement agreement so moved second Terry moves 10 seconds Tre pavich I Ken Dawson I CHR Espinosa I charl full hi Jenny hagstrom I Cara Caston I and Don rener I motion carries and a huge thanks to Jerry for that donation yeah yeah item number eight recommendations for Action
081um can I get a motion for the Board of Education to adopt the 2024 2025 budget as presented so moved second uh continuing theme Terry mooves and Ken seconds thank you Terry pavich I Ken Dawson hi Chris Espinosa hi charl Fuller I Jenny hagstrom I car Caston I and Don Runner I motion carries uh item number B can I get a motion for the Board of Education to approve changes to the student parent head book discipline code so moved Chris moves second Cara seconds you just miss I'm done hi thank you cara Caston hi Ken Dawson hi cherro Fuller hi Jenny hagstrom hi Trey pavich I and Don rer I motion carries item number nine do we have any old business uh yes uh returning our uh the policy committee report recommendations this is the
082second reading of policies for the ones projected on the board uh these all were reviewed by the policy committee uh came to the full board at our last board meeting uh I have not received any feedback or comments or recommended changes on these these are all all emerging from press recommended changes uh and it is the administration's recommendation that the board approves these revisions this evening any questions this evening yeah this is second reading okay do we do you need a motion yep I need a motion for the board to approve the policies as presented okay um can I get a motion from the Board of Education to approve the policies as presented so moved second Chris moves was 10 seconds for you Chris Espinosa hi Ken Dawson cherro Fuller hi Jenny hagstrom hi Tre
083pavich hi carck haston hi and Don rener I motion carries item number 10 any new business no new business item number 11 um Julie do we have any slips from visitors no sir thank you item number 12 um Jenny can we get an update on lend please oh Cara's gonna do it right Cara so we went to the um kickoff meeting for the year um I did have some notes uh sorry um we had updates on um ebf which stands for evidence based funding okay and they talked about the four tiers um and a representative typically a superintendent from each tier School kind of gave an overview of what that funding means to that tier we are tier one correct tier four we're tier four okay sorry about that um then we got some other
084updates on um hot topics busing certifying uh bus drivers and keeping them in districts they don't go take other jobs um a few other topics and then we broke out into groups with elected officials and heard about their kind of agenda for the year I think that was the high points yep okay sassad I don't think Charelle has had a meeting yet we had one with the Chris Chris is CHR Chris now I'm getting lost sorry no that's my fault uh not since the budget passed last month you have one coming up though right I think um I think so yeah yeah because you'll have to approve the final yeah budget so uh we met last week uh with the group of superintendents this more of the managing board uh you know they're off to
085a good start to start their school year um they're they're kind of lagging behind uh in Staffing like we were the last few years where we've been able to kind of get away from Outsourcing pair of professionals they're still needing to Outsource a great number of them so that's an area that they're looking to close their gaps in new executive director getting up and started um so you know it's like a a new superintendent in the school district right so a lot of finding out what's going on around the district and moving forward but they they're off to a pretty good start uh eles so that's kind of what we heard last week Terry can we get a update from the foundation yeah um uh we uh were discussing the grant rollout um and it
086went well uh the first deadline is the end of the month so if anybody wants to turn in anything I guess I'm speaking to the um to the staff um the end of the month and we're also talking about um future ideas for the Mark McDonald fund um we're trying to figure out exactly what to do with that um uh we didn't raise as much money as we thought we would and um we're still going to try to raise more money but uh we've got to figure out what to do with that once we get some and and then uh we had a a meeting with Hank to talk about things that the district might need and uh what kind of projects were in the in the works that we can help with and um
087so it gave us some ideas and we're going to be hashing that around um in the October meeting so that's it thank you Jerry Ken any updates from my ASP yeah there and we're having there going to be two exciting events this fall in a ASB the first being on Wednesday October 30th the D division meeting and that's going to be held at the Carlile in Lumbard and it's a great opportunity for us to meet our peers and network and I'm hoping that we'll have good representation from our board I know I'm planning on attending and I'm sure Terry is and hopefully other board members will as well and then in November we have our joint annual conference which is the whole state getting together for networking meeting people conferences training it's a outstanding event
088this is only my second one but uh definitely looking forward to it as I'm sure all of us board members are so it's exciting times and uh tying back to a topic this evening on the October uh 30th meeting the focus will be Ai and its impact on education so it it's well worth umer and we would like to see as many people uh from our board come to that meeting so please please put that on your calendars and let Julie know um because it's really important that we keep this going preliminary notes right Julie remind me I I got a little lost said what you were talking about car the car October 30th Wednesday October 30th at 6:00 okay it's in preliminary notes if you want to look back I think I RSVP for
089it but I just want to be you're supposed to attend in costume sh I'm going to be a butterfly that's a good that's my middle child's 35th birth day thanks Ken uh any report on the downers grow plan commission cherelle at this point I do so I had the opportunity to attend the September 16th meeting because we didn't have our meeting that night so there are a couple public hearings there was one for a p petition seeking approval for special use for trade school so I thought that was pretty interesting and timely for me coming to U being there that night and hearing that um they're interested in in pra School uh the property is located northwest of the intersection of Wood Creek Drive and Lake sty Road um with a common address of 3110
090Wood Creek Drive the other thing is the petition that was um interesting as well is that there was a petition seeking approval for a zoning map Amendment from our four residential detach house 4 to be three General Services what that means is that on that particular lot which is known as 814 and 818 Ogden Avenue which in uh 4244 for am Street Downers Grove Illinois they're interested in resoning that for Andy's Frozen Custard yes however I don't know if it's going to make it because there was quite a bit of um Community uh consent around um lighting and traffic andies are pretty well lit but they did share that they were even willing to turn down the lighting because um um we have a different lighting Cod than other um areas about what level of
091lighting we could have on the Ogden so very interesting meeting I don't know where that one would go because there was quite a few Community people concerned that live in the area about the traffic the noise the lighting where exactly on Ogden is that is that where the um Boston Market no that's Westmont that's Westmont Walgreens is a thousand Ogden Ogden and Maine is ,000 so two blocks east of that East from my understanding it's a vacon it's a open lot that's been open for quite a number of years is what the next to the speedway is that yeah that little I saw it um on the map um it looks like it's closer to um you down in that area kind of going on often down there well that's Westmont isn't it no I'm
092going toward um oh the other way the other way yeah nor so it's 8 814 88 Ogden if you want to put it in the um Google it'll show you the location so more to come on that I'm not sure how that's going to turn out based on um the community speaking to the plan commission about their concerns around those items yeah than sure thank you thank you um as a reminder our upcoming board meetings uh next one is October 7th there'll be a workshop meeting here at the ASC at 6:30 p.m. followed by our regular business meeting on October 21st again at 6:30 p.m. at the ASC uh next item is um I need a motion for the Board of Education to go into Clos session to discuss the collective negotiating matters between the
093district and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees employees so moved Charelle moves Charelle yes Chris second thank you cherelle Fuller hi Chris rasposa hi Jenny hagstrom hi Terry pavich hi Cara Caston hi Ken Dawson hi and Don rer hi motion carries and as a reminder to the public the only action the board will be taking when it comes out of closed session is to adjourn we are in Clos session thank you take a few minutes to turn the room over we'll be back in here look