001yes art um our school board meeting we will continue with the approval of minutes that you're entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the July 19 2022 regular meeting of the Board of Education as presented so moved second all those in favor aye any opposed motion pass the chair will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the closed session of the July 19 2022 regular meeting of the Board of Education as presented so second all in favor all right any opposed motion we'll move to public comment I'll briefly read the guidelines a public comment is a time for Community to address the board with comments and questions um we ask that you have those comments limited to five minutes we'll notify you when your time is up there's a total of 30 minutes
002for our public comments and for comments and questions requiring a follow-up response the board president or superintendent will follow up so we have George Wilson good evening I filled out the new survey and to be blunt I didn't like it question two has too many responses which are rich and loaded it kind of reminded me of the GLC survey um it's hard to know what one response means relative to another and it makes me think that question two could be more simple and direct maybe even broken down into a number of questions now I know it's not that easy to write a survey but that was just my impression for what it's worth also I really hope that you've taken action to get more responses than you got from the last survey because that was
003disappointing to say the least the other subject I would like to talk about is comprehensive sex education Bill 818 first things first Mr Kerry you said the law requires that school districts Implement a comprehensive health education program I don't know whether we're playing word games with sex and health but I don't think that is true that it is true that we have to implement this new sex education as implied himself stated that the new sex education standards voluntary as a district we can opt out of this new program indeed the majority of districts school districts in DuPage County and Illinois as a whole have opted out of the new sex education I can only find four school districts in DuPage County that have opted in we do have a choice the bill talks about national
004sex education standards it's just a name they are not national standards no other state has signed up to these standards here's a quote from Monica Klein the previous Planned Parenthood sex education instructor by looking at the standards and resources the national sex education standards provide States who encourage adoption of this content are advocating for the abuse of our children by exposing our kids to obscene sexual Notions and inappropriate ideas for their age put simply they are enticing and grooming our children for sexual activity let us not forget the age of consent in Illinois is still 18 years old I would like to encourage parents to look up Seekers that's s-i-e-c-u-s the company that produced this program they are part of the dye industry diversity inclusion equity and they boasted in their 2018 annual report that
005they weaponized sex to combat pro-life messages and disseminate its sexual advocacy agenda I don't have anything to add on that I just want Westmont taxpayers to know where their hard earned dollars are going I know this is not a question and answer but I am curious to know whether any of the board members have actually read the bill and know what is in it section 5D of the bill mentions monies and grants it appears there will be Financial incentives to implement this curriculum is that the case and if not then what on Earth is section 5D talking about sections of the bill could be credited to the Illinois Ministry of Truth the Fate the phrase age and developmentally appropriate appears just before content that is any that is anything but it appears to be bringing
006sex education right down into the K grade the second thing that stood out to me is that the curriculum is said to be based on science and medicine it is not it is not based on science and medicine it is just a way to get gender ideology into schools I've presented some information that I have found I am happy to be corrected on any points you as the school district have said next to nothing about the new sex education curriculum I don't think that's because you're trying to sneak it through without anyone noticing I'm not that cynical what seems more likely is that you as a board have not read through the bill and are relying on Mr Carey's advice which you will rub a stamp one final point this new sex education will require
007more of our students time so much of which is already taken up with die subjects like social emotional learning the last scorecard I can see for this school says that we have a 52 math proficiency rate I remember last year Mr Carey presented some alarming figures on the deterioration of literacy for Miller School which no one seemed to pick up on our kids lost a year in schooling we are playing catch-up with our surrounding areas 52 math proficiency rate almost half of our students leave Westmont schools without being proficient in maths we should be focusing on the basics and not adding more stuff and ideology to class time thank you okay we'll move on we don't have any for uh for the comments and we'll move to the consent agenda the chair will entertain a
008motion to approve the consent agenda as presented one Personnel recommendations Sarah Payne literacy teacher wjhs Nicole stancy Miller kindergarten teacher Stephanie cleito Miller first grade teacher Janet Lockridge long-term sub-counselor Westmont High School Bridget lit Martin social worker Jessica zielinski school psychologist Amy stroke long-term science Westmont Junior High School Colleen Alexander nurse Manning Jennifer Thompson assistant band director Westmont High School Adam McDaniels sophomore boys basketball coach Westmont high school and resignations two certification of hazardous Crossing three board authorization of vehicle use for approval of additional July 2022 expenditure report five approval of student tour requests Athletics so moved second broke office Mr Marin yes Miss Fredonia yes Mr Avia yes Miss stecketty yes Miss Hoover yes Miss Conover yes um we'll move along to information and discussion the first item is our iasb superintendent search uh
009good evening thank you for uh allowing me to have just a few moments tonight I really mostly wanted you to be able to put a face with a name my name is Patricia Vineyard and I will be assisting Mr Al mulby in the superintendent search the process which you know has already begun I was filling in for another colleague whose wife had surgery that evening that Al came here and so I was unable to be here the night of the presentation and so um I didn't want it to proceed any further without you knowing who I am I'm in my I think 42nd year in education all in Illinois I've been an elementary principal I started as a teacher I've been a high school teacher and an elementary teacher a general and special education teacher
010then a principal I've been an assistant superintendent for a small High School District been an assistant superintendent for a very large 7000 K-12 district and then in 2000 13 came up to this area a superintendent of LaGrange Highlands and so that's just a little bit about me Mr Moby sends his greetings I think pretty much you all know him or know of him the other thing I wanted to thank Mr Kerry and Shannon for all the work that they have done already there's a lot of behind the scenes and things that we interface on and so thank you for your attention and apologize for the additional work this brings but it's important work and I appreciate it so I had shared with Shannon and I believe you all have a copy of the timeline that
011Al and I worked on and so very briefly I just wanted to sort of say where we are where we're going and then see if there were any questions and then I I will leave you so basically right now we're at the part where we're gathering information so we can put together the formal announcement it's an electronic brochure we will probably give you a few paper copies for your files but essentially it's an electronic brochure and in there there's a lot of information about the district so as somebody who sought a superintendency I can tell you that this announcement of vacancy is very very important because it's if you don't know if you don't live around here or live close by and even if you perhaps are in the Chicago suburbs but just don't know
012a lot about your District it's your first impression of the district and what you're looking for in your superintendent so there's financial information there's a little bit of information about board members how long they have served there's information on everything from synopsis of curriculum information about transportation and food service and what's your website and where you located and a variety of things also in that is one of the columns in the brochure is the type of candidate sought what are the traits and characteristics that this particular board is looking for in their next superintendent we will come to that we will tease that out and shape that up based on the survey that's going on right now so staff members parents if you post it on your website community members can fill that out board
013members have a separate link they're filling it out was made available in an alternative I think Spanish also I believe so that will continue through the 16th and then Al and I will come back on the 23rd and we will give you a summary of the results of the surveys and then a draft of the announcement of vacancy Shannon asked a great question when we were chatting before the meeting about what that means announcement of vacancy because we've already technically announced it Statewide and Nationwide it's listed on the iasa job bank and that is where Educators across the state and Nation who are interested in Illinois that's where they go to get information and it's listed on the iasb our website that's what we call the preliminary posting because what's not there right now is
014that document I'm talking about that gives specifics what are you looking for in your next superintendent on some of the other dates so sort of two waves of announcing and the first one's done there are folks who have already started the app application process I think that you know you're going to be very pleased I I believe with the Slate of candidates brought forward your district has such a great reputation and it certainly has a wonderful location so we'll be back at the end of uh or August your August 23rd meeting and then something that Mr Carey and Shannon and I are will work together on that they will work with administrators on is finding dates and times for those focus groups so we will have a series of focus groups I will facilitate those
015each will be about an hour it can be a little less if there's a certain reason why we need it to be less like a part of a teachers Institute day or a before after school opportunity for teachers and then usually there's one or two in the evening that we invite parents to and I will present those summary that summary information also in Open Session and that information is very helpful it's very informative and a lot of times it will help Drive questions that the board will incorporate into the interview process um and then I think I'll probably do a great job of explaining the rest of the process but I will stop talking at this point and just simply ask if you have any questions for me I have some questions so um first
016uh this the survey was launched on the 4th of August right correct and the the deadline for completion of the survey is the 16th of August so tomorrow is the halfway point uh what how much how many responses do we have so far um I uh meant to jot those numbers down before I came I need to get those from our Administrative Assistant I will have those uh sent to Shannon first thing in the morning and she'll share those with you or through Mr Carey okay great um because I think that um one of the things that we talked about as a board a number of times leading up to the launching the search or even finding someone to do the search or help us with the search was the need to to get community
017involvement and get as much feedback from the community as we possibly could um and so I guess I have a second question I don't know if it's for you or for the or for the school district or both but that is what are we doing to promote the existence of the survey and and because what I've seen so far as a as not a board member but as a community member has been an email one email announcing that the launching of the survey and I'm just wondering what other channels are we announcing this through and what are we doing to make to maximize participation yeah great questions um and so typically it is more at the district level we provide language for that initial email and then sometimes there is just a flood of response
018it really depends on the community and if um often though typically what a district will do is promote it through their other social media Avenues so if you have a large Facebook following and or a large Twitter following or what have you um and would be and we did this when I retired we used IAS beef to find my replacement was we sent out a couple of additional reminders uh where you know one more week or eight more days or four more days so just those reminders and just to say really want your input it's a very short survey um so and and I can certainly provide that language should you need it but it's pretty um excuse me it's pretty straightforward and self-explanatory but I would say just additional reminders and then the Avenues
019that you typically have good success in reaching parents like the other social media Avenues I guess then my next is more of a comment or a request the school district let's I think it'd be good if we if we Amplified this a little bit more I I know that no one likes to get emails in their inbox every single day and there's especially this time of year with the school starting and so many emails I'm sure going out on all kinds of topics but let's not spare any effort in in in publicizing this as much as we can um and then another question I have about the process here is the focus groups I know that the times are TBD or the dates are TBD but uh in theory those focus groups should be happening
020between the 16th and the 23rd or in my misunderstanding the timeline yeah not not necessarily sometimes if it tends to be a little more doable to do the focus group groups prior to the announcement of vacancy being shaped up if this if it's occurring to this during the school year because it's easier to find Opportunities to that teachers are already all together so there's um we'll have an after school a couple of different days we'll have an after school opportunity for teachers or they have a built-in PLC time or we say I'll sit in the um teach in The Faculty Lounge teachers can drop by on their planning periods when it's this time of year it's sometimes more difficult to get all of those completed before the announcement of vacancy and that's okay a lot
021of my colleagues don't even try to do the focus groups prior to the announcement of vacancy that really will be driven by the survey the um the results of the focus groups are an important opportunity additional opportunity for people to express their views about what is going well in the district what challenges would uh in their estimation lie ahead for the district for the board for the superintendent the kinds of characteristics if they were looking for the superintendent what kind of person skills or traits would they be looking for so whether regardless of when that happens people tend to really appreciate that opportunity and I always remind them and tell them this is an additional piece iasb has a standard search and then there's some are some additional pieces that boards can select and your
022board of education selected this focus group piece and that just tells me how much they're interested in community feedback that they want as much input as possible so I always make sure they know that you that how important this is to the board and that it's not just standard that we do it in every search and so that synthesized information we code for themes that is important for the board to have not necessarily prior to the the closing or prior to the announcement of vacancy occurring but prior to you starting to interview because often that feedback drives interview questions gives you a little wider lens to think about those candidates as they walk through the door and I'll give it an example um of of a really resounding piece of feedback that came from staff
023and parents somewhere else in the state with focus groups that we had done that the board found surprising didn't realize there was a disconnect and they were so happy to have this information and it had to do with communication out of central office and in particular from the superintendent that they had at the time who had had and has many wonderful qualities but there was really a disconnect with communication and to to the place where it was becoming a little bit of a problem so that really caused the board to rethink some questions they were going to ask of the candidates reference questions when they called references how some information they were going to get from the current folks either superintendent if it was an assistant superintendent or board members if they were sitting superintendent
024so it will drive your lens for interviewing and considering the kind of person who you want to name I hope that helped it helps what I'm looking for is is is an understanding of when in particular because I think the focus groups are more than just Community it's also well it's also people that are already in the district so I apologize if I misunderstood timing is really your question yeah my question is can we get a sense of timing or maybe or maybe can we commit to buy the next board meeting having at least a window if we don't have dates set like here's what I'm thinking I know that there are people that watch these board meetings they don't come to the meetings they watch them online or maybe they watch the replay or
025whatever and and for any in general terms for any Community member who would like to participate in focus groups knowing in general when those maybe the week that we expect to do it or the two-week period in which we expect to do it would be helpful for them to plan for it and and and as far and advanced as we can give that notice the the better likelihood we'll have a higher participation in those focus groups as well thank you for sorry you had to reiterate your point well made and yes absolutely so very soon I think those conversations have begun typically for the so for for the majority of or for many aspects of the search uh the the board president or his or her designee is a key contact for focus groups it's
026typically more at the district level so the superintendent the superintendent's assistant executive assistant and so um those talks have begun and uh I think that I I know you mentioned that tomorrow you are going to be having a conversation the I will tell you that they will be soon and I know that's not a window I would say I would like to see them by mid to late September so they will be early in the school year the dates are going to be determined very soon and then I will give you language to go ahead and and actually the invitation to go ahead and put out early get it on people's minds have principles incorporated into back to school nights reminders if if you have a and sometimes they're even built into opportunities like that
027because they don't take a lot of time we can get a wealth of information in 45 to 60 minutes so if there is already a back to school night or some event night that's one of your larger schools you already know you're going to get a lot of parents we can incorporate into that even I just we would talk about the kind of space we would need so it will be in the next month the date will be decided soon and we will give information about making awarding to make sure that word gets out just to paraphrase you you don't expect them to happen in August you expect them to happen in September is that correct correct they that's up to the district yeah so we I think the earliest it's up to the distance
028would be that last week of August okay would be the earliest um we're starting the school year next year next week and so like you're looking at the week of the 22nd would be the earliest and then extending into the beginning of September I have sent August and September dates that are not good for me so August is is a possibility for me okay all right I got it thanks yeah sorry that that was not clear thank you for the asking the clarifying questions and I know um like you said there are talks already and that's part of our discussion too that are happening but also considering you know with the curriculum nights considering parents that have multiple kids in multiple schools so people want their ideas that let's do at this particular curriculum night
029um but you know we have to think of those opportunities for and not for some so we're just right looking at those and wanted it early in the school year because you know everyone's excited everyone's getting in we have principals who are interacting with parents to also give the word out here is a flyer there's something you know paper so typically and particularly if we are driving a distance so I'm working with a couple of of districts right now that are an hour or an hour and a half away we really try to make sure all of the focus groups are the staff ones are during the day or after school and uh the parent ones are in the evening I live very close and so I and I mentioned this uh already to Shannon
030I can come a couple of different evenings also for those parent ones um I have a couple questions on the focus groups will there be separate focus groups parents and staff yes okay um so um generally the staff ones are during the day or after school so something's incorporated into the day or or if it's a later start school and they already have an hour designated before school generally the staff ones are during the day in larger districts sometimes we're asked could you do the administrative or or directors and or leadership could you do that group separately and yes we can so that sometimes people just say just do it by school and anyone in that school comes or we're just going to have a couple of different opportunities invite people to come but would
031you do administrators and directors and leaders separate we can do any and all of that and then generally then the parent ones are in the evening and again whatever times and locations you think will will be most appealing we tend to not get a lot of people but the ones who come really appreciate the opportunity and have uh and have a lot to say and a lot to offer um I was going to say something else about that and we don't screen sometimes someone I may be a teacher and a parent so I I'm part of the focus group for the staff but I also want to come to the evening one yeah as long as as long as we'll be able to see that this is like staff yes response and and same jam
032on the survey so we had a separate link for board members so I'm assuming that's so that you can say this is you know the board characteristics yes the parent characteristics slash Community characteristics yeah do has the staff gotten a survey link so we can see staff and when I say staff I mean support staff and certified staff as well yes so the um there are two surveys one is just board and one is Staff parents Community but they indicate what uh stakeholder group they are in and uh and so staff would be uh could be a support staff or a teacher and those results are disaggregated by those groups outside nodie but I was just thinking forward to like getting interview dates on the books or for the board members at least to start
033like doodle polling about interview dates because I know thinking forward you know for coming into a busy season absolutely for everybody so the sooner we can get those dates booked off for those of us who need to you know make different plans as work and kids and all that stuff is concerned maybe we the Board needs to start talking about that but um and then the other piece on the um on the survey and I just want to kind of um hook onto what Carlos said about getting it out there right um I haven't seen it Amplified like in the PTO groups I haven't seen it Amplified in like the um graduation year groups which are also run by the PTO at least at the the younger grades um and I want to make sure
034that we Amplified in a way that is not only digital so I've seen it on Facebook I've seen it on Instagram not everybody's on Instagram not everybody's on Facebook and maybe that's like a QR code in like a little you know handout for all the families at back to school night on Monday [Laughter] back to school night right like a little QR code that we can scan and go straight to the survey um something that is just very very easily approachable for for all of us that's not only digital um because because I do think it's incredibly important this is the beginning of this process um and we do not want to be at one percent you know of the community and that other um I don't know how we do this but getting the
035community right feedback not just thank you not just parents the community pays their taxes which pay for everybody in the school district and it is not just the parents the current parents right that should have this feedback so how do we get um or can we focus I should say more on on that piece of it does that make sense it absolutely makes sense um and is very important for the reasons you said their taxpayers they're invested in this community in many ways and usually a district has the ways that they connect with Community groups so sometimes the superintendent is part of rotary or chamber um or there are business partners that you uh that schools are connected with groups um retired folks who come in and read or serve as mentors uh and so
036those um Community the your community leadership mayor council members those kinds of folks so no two school districts are alike in who or how they connect with in the community and how they reach those folks with information but you know how you do it for this community so besides because you can put it on your website but if someone doesn't go to your website how do they know so I've certainly seen in all the PTO groups I've searched the website or where do I find these things but that's what I that's what I would recommend are all of those kinds of community groups that you've worked with on grants sometimes the 21st century after school whatever there's just so many ways and avenues and projects that you are already interacting with Community groups or businesses
037with you reach out to them we really want your input and your feedback it's a short survey here's the link so then I'm specifically thinking of Amy right and her and her commitment to the community and being is that the Westmont first group that she's on yes um but also you know Village Hall and how we can work with maybe they can mention it during the Village Hall meetings like um and if we need to extend it by a day because I just think the the 16th is the day before school starts right like absolutely is that okay because maybe that is not a problem I'm literally even thinking like Carline you know QR codes in every single staff's hand at car line don't forget to fill out the survey today today's the last day
038right like just a real to make sure that we can get as much you know I'm going to say even a day or two uh would give still give me time okay so yes that is not a problem I appreciate you asking and brainstorming ways too we'll be grabbing a email addresses with that information so that we can then also be able to blast them out info um I don't but I I I don't believe that we report out uh email I don't think that we give email information I would have to check on the back end if they're capturing those I'm guessing that they are but there's also um the reason we don't give those out is there's an expectation of privacy for someone filling that out so but I think you can say
039to um to when you extend the invitation and give the link say please for those who are interested please stay up to date with the process by and then tell where that update is going to be and usually it will be on kind of front and center on a District's website here's the timeline and here's where we are right now kind of highlighting where we are what's happening and and even saying when you send those out to community members when the board gets down to the semi-finalists um uh we'll be having an opportunity for folks because we'll be having the same conversation when we get to that point where I believe we are going to be facilitating stakeholders in our acting with those semi-finalists and it's the same kind of thing we'll send out an
040invitation and for that we do need to know exactly who they are their name their email address what questions they're submitting because I need to be able to communicate with them information okay great questions thank you so much anything else I guess I have a question for Kevin can we use like how we get phone calls can we remind people via phone calls uh like the automated the phone blast yeah yeah we can a text through uh the text account apparent link do that that's a good idea then I wanna piggyback on that with if a QR code were to come up um is it something we can get to the library and have posted up because I know there are parts of our community that don't have personal computers and they do go to
041the library for that and that would not notice otherwise if they don't watch the meetings yeah we could get that later on that note I wanted to mention something that I've seen done for this type but also other types of surveys is um and it works really well especially this time of year when you're inviting parents in to back to school night curriculum night meet the teacher night what have you is to have a bank of iPads or tablets or laptops available and even have I know you don't want them right by the computer but a little refreshment area so you get your refreshment area and then someone facilitating and saying hey there's a survey it's in English it's in Spanish just takes a couple of minutes do you want to come over here use
042our device and fill it out right here while you have them at school and also another Avenue not huge but it's something at our table at the how many more cruising nights do we have is it one more yes we are last one that we attend because once we start the school year it's tough to get out there but so those Thursdays and if at least the QR code and the posting that's there yeah I mean it's so it's the QR code is so easy just like the bang and you know just give us give a URL give make a QR code print a bunch of them you're done yeah okay so I think we talked about working the PTO yes helping the PTO Amy and seeing some other avenues for getting it out more
043emails texts phone calls all that good stuff yeah and also thinking about the board themselves with dates um looking at the calendar yes when you mentioned that I think it was uh you uh Leah that mentioned that and you really almost can't start thinking about that too soon um so typically the Slate that is brought forward is six candidates occasionally it will be one or two more and if so there's a reason and I will have communicated with you to let you know that reason and occasionally it's one or two less not very often but once in a while it will be one less and maybe there was someone that looked like a great fit but shortly before I was going to bring the Slate to you they took a job elsewhere and so I
044will look to see if there's someone else really excellent to move into that but I'm not just going to fill a spot to be filling a spot if it doesn't look like a really strongly viable candidate so at any rate that's why we say generally it's six candidates and so um some obviously there's a variety of ways to plan interviews thoughtful interviews for six people and sometimes a board will find two nights and do three interviews each night with a break between to clear their heads or three nights with two per evening and occasionally people's schedules are just get so difficult to coordinate that I have seen boards do all of them on a Saturday or a typical it's a Saturday but across a day and do three take a break lunch break and do
045three more there really isn't a right or want wrong way it's what works for you and so we're talking early November yes for initial interviews that's our we're talking about dates yeah that is correct because when we bring the Slate to you on October 25th um we will have yes when typically when I bring that slate I will bring a schedule of first round interviews I schedule them for you so by the middle of October so you could plan them for just a few days after that October 25th so October 26th 27th I don't know what day of the week that lands on you could do your first one then um so by at least about at least a pro a one week prior to me bringing the Slate to you I would need to
046know those dates and times because I schedule those for you and this is a question for us as a group do we want to just put this on an agenda for September and I've set some dates or how what's the best way because I mean I think we should big dates we should pick dates before the next board meeting honestly that's like early November like that's starting to get real crazy and then we have our conference I can work with Patricia on her calendar as well and then do like a doodle poll with uh perfect and times and the issue is just let's get it let's get it done what people can lock in and I'm glad you said that uh Kevin because that jogged my memory on something else typically the candidate or excuse
047me typically the consultant is not present and involved in those first round interviews we will be giving you a lot of excellent information you can call it a mini Workshop or an orientation or what have you and I was talking with Shannon about this earlier it can be done the night that I bring the Slate or it can be done at a previous meeting but it will be in closed session obviously I give the names in closed session but also in closed session we have really important information about first round interviews second round interviews protocols dues don'ts questions forms rubrics to complete for each candidate and so we'll be providing all of that prior to your interviews therefore we typically are not present in the interview unless there is a request for that and there's
048a valid reason and you want me in those interviews we can talk about that and that's doable and just so you guys know which may be helpful there's we have three weeks from the time that that's late it's given on October 25th until our next meeting so we have a good chunk of time is that October is that October 25th okay already okay so the next one after that is November 15th so we need to plan or ideally we should plan that October 5th closed session is long for you guys to or to be or after closed or and again you know everybody's schedule is can be busy but you can also have a special board meeting for that purpose as well so that that could be the focus of um just check and say
049something did you say you have a um a board meeting on October 5th 2015 yeah 25th I bring the Slate when is your other October meeting it is October 11th 11th um I could be back for that so I'm just um saying that one possibility would be I think we would have obviously have the focus groups done by then I could bring the focus group results uh that would be an open session but that same night I could do that orientation about the interviews just mentioning that as a possibility you and I were talking about that before both of those could be done on the 11th from my perspective and then we could follow up also on the 25th I feel to me that feels very kind of natural of like doing the 11th focus
050group introduction you know all of those pieces and then we get this late on the 25th and then if anybody has additional questions after the 11th that you know came up we can hit him on the 25th yeah what's nice about that particularly if you are wanting to schedule interviews fairly soon after the 25th when I bring the Slate if I'm just giving you the information that evening there's a lot of information and you're going to need some time to talk about questions and format and protocols and the flow and just a variety of things so um from my perspective it does not make a difference for me thinking about your ease and being prepared and being comfortable and not feeling rushed I like the idea of the 11th being the focus group results and
051what I'm going to call you know the interview protocols and uh then just the Slate with any follow-up questions on the 25th and also that night I would bring the interview schedule great question thank you so much for your time and attention I I know it's a lot but you obviously know what an important undertaking it is anything else I can answer at this time thank you so much thank you thank you if there are no other comments about this it will move on to our next discussion item sex education and legislation so with regards to sex education legislation I did a board memo and this is kind of where the district is at um again there are mandated unit of studies that schools are required to teach and um that there's a whole gamut
052abandoned units expand everything from different ethnics groups contributions to history uh to gender to sexual orientation in terms of their contributions and so forth but there's also for the um Sexual Health there's also mandating units units and studies those are separate from the national sex standards so when districts are opting in and opting out you don't you have to teach the Mandate units that's what we've always taught so nothing changes there but teaching the mandated units when it comes to the national standards and deciding to adopt those or not the flexibility school districts have is this school year 20 2022 2023 districts can do what they've been doing teaching the mandated units like they always have and take the time to really take a look at those standards take a look at the road curriculum
053and seeing if there are some cases there are lines some cases maybe not the other Advantage we have as unit district although part of the issue is we still haven't gotten a lot of clarification or direction to the State Board of that but one of the possibilities is as a unit school district is it possible that some of those standards are taught at different age to different age groups and and different grades than possibly what is is currently in place and so you know some of the concern about how young students are being exposed to certain topics you know there may be that flexibility well as a unit district you can address that standard later you know you don't necessarily have to do it at that moment so so basically this school year nothing's changing
054for our school district we are teaching mandated units like we are required to like we always have we are going to take a look at the national sex standards and and table look at our curriculum and then make a determination whether or not going forward we're going to adopt those standards or if we're going to just continue doing what we've always done and do the mandated units so no changes for this school year correct from previous school years correct and but we get a chance to review and when we review it is that something that we need to approve as a board does that come to us as a board approval um that is up to the board typically what happens is uh as far as curriculum the board directs the superintendent to implement curriculum
055and standards but if on a topic of this nature if the board wants to weigh in on it then later on in the spring that could be a topic and then there could be board action on it so I feel like um thank you for the memo thank you for the clarification too I'm looking at the last three sentences of the memo um that talk about how parents can always review the curriculum and materials parents always have the option to have their child opt out of field trips or topics and then parents can contact their child's school I appreciate that I think given the time the current time that we're living in and the amount of dialogue that's happening out there about this topic wherever people feel about it however people feel about it I
056just think it could go a long way to put like a little one pager or something together to kind of demystify the whole what is actually what is already happening what are the mandated units by grade level what what is happening because I think what I'm hearing is there's a perception that a tremendous amount of time instructional time is being used for this and I'm not sure that that's the case either and so I think again it just comes back to something we often have to work on which is just transparency because there's is a disconnect between what's actually happening and what's perceived to be happening so I think the sooner we can get something like that put together and publicized on our website and however else I think the better um I think also
057an important piece of that is just including some of the research about you know about sex education and all that in general like what what's been proven what's been researched why are we doing this why are we doing the the mandated units what's been proven about how those are beneficial for students um so I think it just comes back to our age-old issue of communication um really yeah I was actually thinking the same kind of it would be nice to just see at kindergarten you know this is what this is what we're teaching this is how much time it takes first grade because if you do I have younger students and so I know what those are but I certainly I'm not going to remember what that is when my kids are in fifth grade
058or my kids are out of the district I'm not necessarily going to have that so having that kind of one pager and then also down the line if you decide to make changes to it for next year it's very easy to say like this piece we'd like to actually see here and so we can kind of compare and contrast that would be very helpful great idea or like this is the tool or material we used here's how it's going to maybe be updated now that we're using these standards and so I think it's just I I appreciate they can always Reach Out out if they want to and they still can but I think given the circumstances we need to just be proactive and put it out there sure I can talk to Nadine Norris
059about putting that together and we can get that on our website just a couple things to be explicit about a couple because we're going to have an action item here about approving policies and within the conversation about um the sex education legislation tonight when we vote on the policies are we are I think in your board in your memo on sex education legislation it mentions 6.6 and the policies are we voting on any changes to 6.6 tonight the the only change is to 660 recommended by uh press are any legislative changes to mandated units of study um they don't the policy cells does not call for the adoption of the national sex education standards so we're not voting when we vote on that because we're going to vote on all this all at once and
060it's right it's a lot so specifically calling out 663 there is no there is no adoption of national standards right in 660. right and secondly we're not voting to increment the time allotted to sex education at any grade level in this evening are we yeah all right so good thanks um I have a general question just with um just for clarification from you Kevin when they're talking about opting out or opting in it's it's confusing that their recommendations haven't been given right or shared from from the state board so what what are what are they opting out of right it's it's whether or not the school districts are going to adopt the national sex education standards for this school year and so some some school districts are and I think could be wrong I think
061many of them are high school districts so it's a little bit different you know when you're talking about high school age students versus one of your unit districts so I think some of the high school districts are opting to to adopt those standards and to teach those standards um the opt-out is again you cannot doubt or the mandated units of State mandating units um so we're not opting out of that it's it's just that you're not right now we're not going to be teaching the National Association standards we're going to take a look at the standards look at our curriculum you know and we can use 2223 for that purpose there's also though I think some some of the confusion as well is and this is true of any of the uh mandated units that
062we have as part of our curriculum parents always have the opportunity to review the curriculum and they can have their child opt out certain portions of it so you know historically one of the Prime examples has been dissection you know um in a biology class a child doesn't want to dissect a frog so the parent can have their child opt out of that you know activity so so that's also part of you know parents have the option of having children opt out of you know even even right now um I still call it the Robert Crown Center it's changed but even now the elementary schools send out information to parents hey just let you know two weeks you know fifth grade's taking a field trip to the rapid Crown Center they're going to learn about
063puberty and and other topics here's an outline of what's going to be covered if you know please contact us if you do not want your child to attend so there's always been that option of to opt out I I just like to comment that it's it's hard I I do like to see the examples of what's happening around us but we have to realize that we are different than um other districts and we have a uniqueness about us so using the excuse that well someone else did it this way it's not reading reason enough so I like that we will examine different topics and see as a district um and as a board if we um have issues with anything or we want movement something Improvement Upon Our curriculum but it's always something that we
064should do so I like that that that's our plan I was gonna put my two cents in I really I always appreciate the fact that there is that opt out option um we're giving knowledge to the public and it's not being required if it was required then I think there would be a problem would parents see it it's there you don't like it you pull your student from it that is the most important part is that that they can opt out so thank you any other questions or comments okay we'll move on to the third topic tcd d-a-o-e-s joint agreement and so uh one of the action items for the board is to approve the intergovernmental green agreement um our students at the high school attend the Technology Center of DuPage but the board similar
065report of education is Deus to DuPage occupational education system and uh each district has a representative I serve on the board as our representative and periodically the intergovernmental agreement needs to be amended and changed and one of the things that um the language called for was in the event that tcd were to ever dissolve which I don't anticipate that happening but there was a question of okay what happens to the to the assets um of you know the building land equipment all those things and so uh there was language in the agreement but the agreement only referenced the initial eight original school districts that were part of tcd when originally formed 201 was one of those and so um at that time in 1986 and then in 1986 is um when they expanded to 14
066districts and so at that time the value of the building and assets was 20 million and so the agreement that was reached is that that initial investment those eight schools made an initial investment into tcd that uh 20 million dollars would be divided up amongst the eight original school districts based upon your initial investment and then at the time that the district dissolves or the Technology Center dissolves if it's 10 years from now 20 years now whatever there would be another assessment done of the building and property and obviously there will be a new value above the 20 million and so the remaining that 60 million that 40 million of them would be divided among the 14 member districts um and so that's really the only significant change in the intergovernmental agreement and so the
067um board is being asked to it was approved by the deos board we all voted for for the approval but now each individual district has to also vote to approve their government agreement any other questions or comments we'll move to item four policy first reading as the stated policy numbers in our agenda and actually this is our second reading exactly so there's there's air apologize for but uh second reading and one of the things that uh um as the board was reviewing the policies for the first reading that came to our attention is that the board remembers um I think about two years ago I think it was uh the term of office the officer's term was changed from two years to one year and so anytime a policy references the length of term of
068office ours will reflect one year and so those changes will be made to any of these policies that reference the length of the term of office but that's just so that the board knows that when we um approve these um policy changes that that will be reflected when those are posted on our website that are term of office is one year any questions or comments okay we'll move along to our action items um on the same note the chair will entertain a motion to approve the listed policies as presented so moved second roll call Mr Avia yes Miss deckity yes Miss Hoover yes Mr Marin yes Miss Fredonia yes Miss gone over yes motion carries number two approval of tcd d-a-o-e-s joint agreement that share would entertain a motion to approve the tcd d-a-o-e-s joint
069agreement as presented should I move second roll call Mr donio yes Mr Avia yes Miss decketty yes Miss Hoover yes Miss Conover yes Mr Marin yes we'll move to the superintendent's report um probably depending upon uh who you are parents I'm sure are going to be happy with this announcement but students will be unhappy um next week we open school year uh Monday August 15th our staff will report the 15th and 16th will be Institute days students do not report and then the first day of student attendance is Wednesday August 17th and if a family still has not registered their child they were out of town they just haven't been able to do it if they contact their child's School the school office will make sure to get them registered in time but again we're
070excited to start a new school year and we look forward to our students on Wednesday August 17th board reports um I just had two things that I thought of during the meeting um we previously uh in the consent agenda approved the Hazardous Crossing and so I just wanted to bring up or re-bring up that Crossing at neighbor and Washington for Miller now that grade level centers have been uh the lay of the land what we're doing for that Crossing and how we're working with the city to at the very least get it um marked much better as a Crossing because you are coming like up a hill going pretty fast there and that's the youngest kids and I know that I've never seen a first or a kindergarten or a first grader walk to school
071alone they're not allowed but it's still we have a lot of signage up at the Manning Crossing on Naper so what we need to do for the for the South one and how we can work with the city for that and then the other thing was just um that we have on our next meeting agenda or the one after just a review on our plans for that snow day remote day situation since we didn't get a chance Last Winter to test out our our one remote day what our plan is for this winter so that parents can be clear early in the year any other reports um I just like to put on everyone's radar about this year and just stay tuned for announcements as we celebrate our anniversary as a district so it's exciting
072the band and this freedom is working really hard with her students so this should be exciting homecoming is uh October 7th is that the first kind of celebration at this point we're um well we're going to uh do something with the staff next Monday we've got uh pictures of our current employees who graduated from 201 so we'll have their picture as graduates and see if people can figure out who they are so we're going to do that we have uh pillows for all our staff as well and board that will be handing out and then um homecoming will probably be the the next big okay all right um we don't have any other public comments so we'll move to Future meetings and events as we think about dates we're getting surveys out many new family
073orientation August 11 6 p.m at Nanny Manning and Miller Supply drop-off August 15th 4 to 5 30 p.m Manning and Miller Elementary family fun night bring your own meal August 15th 5 00 pm to 8 pm at Thai Warner Park I guess I'm not sure if there are any PTO meetings within that but we'll try to get that publicized the first day of student attendance against August 17th 17th and it's a PLC day and please stay tuned for those this missile times preschool screening is by appointment only august 19 2022 at South school and then our next cusd 201 school board meeting is August 23rd 6 pm at here at Westmont Village Hall so at this time I will entertain a motion to re-enter closed session to discuss Personnel issues and collective bargaining so move
074second all those approved sorry any opposed also to the public there will be no action after we close so um I just want to make that present that we will adjourn right after closed session