001Board, yes, we are community unit school district Board of Education meeting. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Serrano? >> Here. >> Dr. Martin? >> Here. >> Dr. Morio? >> Here. >> Dr. Ms. Robinson? Ms. See? >> Here. >> Ms. Wenman? >> Here. >> Okay, everybody, let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice >> Starting our day today, with staff and student recognition. So, 4.1 our pride recognition. >> Thank you very much. Tonight, the Board of Education acknowledges pride winners from the staff at the transportation department, as well as the district office, for the month of May. Pride stands for proudly recognizing individuals demonstrating
002excellence. The Board of Education began this program 10 years ago to recognize, promote, and celebrate the many contributions made by teachers and employees across our district. We thank our generous district partners who support this program, which is presented by Serve Bank, and supported by donations from Chick-fil-A, Culver's, Imagination Print and Design, Huntington Learning Center, The Scoop, CCT Credit Union, Texas Roadhouse, and 113 Main. Your contributions make this program successful. We would also like to thank all of those who nominated individuals for consideration. Each nominee has been recognized with a certificate. Awardees, after your name is called and we share your nomination, please come forward to be congratulated by the Board of of Education and Dr. Kilgati. And please stay up front until the rest of the individuals from your department have been called up. First
003we have the transportation department. Bus monitor David Shamboz's attention to detail when caring for the students on his bus makes a big difference every day. He takes the time to truly interact with students and is willing to assist in every way from helping students tie their shoes to fixing their headphones. It is clear that he makes the effort to ensure students feel safe and secure. As shared by a fellow employee, Dave is the gold standard of kindness that we should all hope to find in ourselves when working with students in our district. Congratulations, David. Next we have Gene Kirk. Gene's dedication to his role as a bus driver Gene's dedication to his role as a bus driver is evident through all he does. His warm smile fills students' days with warmth and his kindness spans
004far beyond bus doors. He even spends the final week of the summer calling each family on his route introducing himself and helping ease any back-to-school nerves. A parent stated, "He represents the very best of what we hope for in someone entrusted with our children, dependable, compassionate, joyful, and deeply committed to the well-being of every student he serves." A veteran of our country, Gene also has had the opportunity to go on an honor flight last month. Congratulations, Gene. And finally, bus driver Scott Shields. Scott strives to create a positive start and end to the day for each student he works with. His kindness, humor, and patience allows him to go above and beyond any job requirements. He's reliable and always ensures his students feel full acceptance from him while on the bus. One co-worker wrote, "Family,
005students, and staff are all fortunate to know him and witness the selfless human being he is." Congratulations, Scott. Let's give a round of applause. And let's take some pictures. Congratulations, Dave, Jean, and Scott. Our next district spotlight is our district staff. As the executive administrative assistant to the assistant superintendent of student services, quite the title, Camille. Camille Simmons keeps everything in her department running smoothly. Whether sharing a quick reminder, adding a helpful note to a folder, or making co-workers birthdays feel extra special. Her thoughtfulness shines through all of her actions. Her nominator shared, "Ms. Simmons is a kind and caring individual who always seems to take care of the little things no one sees." Congratulations, Camille. Next is Moises Martinez Lopez. Moises is fully committed to his role as the district translator. He places students
006and families at the center of everything he does, and his passion for work shows in the ways he goes beyond all expectations with various tasks. He makes sure to celebrate the culture of our district's families, communicate clearly, and always follows through. His nominator shared, "The work he does is never just a job for him. It's meaningful." Congratulations, Moises. And our final Pride nominee record person of the year is Jess Hates. Jess is the digital and communications coordinator, and she demonstrates excellence in all aspects of her role. Often working behind the scenes to make website edits or form social media strategies, she supports both her team and the district's needs as a whole. Her ability to teach and empower while mentoring others is deeply admired. A co-worker shared, "Her willingness to share her knowledge and invest
007in those around her has made a lasting impact, including shaping much of what I know today." Congratulations, Jess. At this time, any leaders from these departments, please come on up for some photos. All right, one more final round of applause as we recognize and celebrate these amazing staff members for all they do. All pride honorees, please proceed out into the hall and gather at the landing of the stairs for a group photo. Thank you to the families and colleagues who are here tonight to support our winners. Next, we have our student recognition for the month of May. Tonight, we are welcoming several of our students to be recognized for their recent achievements. Our first student, do we have Eric Gonzalez here? He is not here. That is all right. Eric, he is one of our
008journalists and he was he recently competed at the IHSA State Journalism Finals. Among those students are Eric Gonzalez and Taylor Urbanowski of Oswego East High School. Is Taylor here tonight? All right. Eric placed fifth in radio news and Taylor placed third in advertising and fifth in yearbook page design. Congratulations to both of these students. Our next honoree is Taylor Anna. Taylor represented Oswego High School well at the IHSA State Journalism Finals placing sixth in news writing. Congratulations, Taylor. At this time, any journalism advisors and OH administrators, please come on up for a photo with Taylor. Congratulations, Taylor. Our final student recognition this evening is for a whole team. We would like to highlight Gear It Forward Robotics. All student representatives representatives from Gear It Forward, please come on up to be congratulated by the board
009and Dr. Kilgore. This year, the team earned back-to-back wins at the Midwest Regional and Miami Valley Regional. Gear It Forward went on to have a successful showing at the World Championship in Houston, Texas, as well. The team also received the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Midwest Regional and at the World Championship. This award highlights their commitment to spreading STEM throughout the community. Congratulations to these incredible achievements. At this time, if we can make sure all coaches and administrators come on up to join these students in a photo. >> What an awesome >> That was a great start. >> Yeah. So proud of the >> So many So many unique accomplishments as well, you know, and shows how much >> our team is here and >> Yeah, and how talented our students are and the broad
010interests they bring to us. We're going to go to action items 5.1. Action item approval of district administrator contracts. Can I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to approve the district administrator contracts as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> Ms. Wenmoth? >> I. >> Ms. Sea? >> I. >> Mr. Serone? >> I. >> Dr. Morio? >> I. >> Dr. Martin? >> I. >> Motion passes 5-0. We're very excited with this vote. We will turn to Dr. Mitchell to welcome new administrators to our district. >> Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, President Serone, Vice President Martin, and Superintendent Dr. Kilgati, and members of the Board of Education. As Dr. Kilgati mentioned, I'm excited to bring two district administrators for your approval this evening. Our first is Dr. Amelia Herrera. She is a recommended
011candidate for the Director of Student Services, the K-8 position. Dr. Herrera brings a depth of experience, proven leadership, and a clear commitment to student-centered learning that makes her a strong candidate for the director role. Her track record includes successful leadership as a building principal, climate and culture and SEO coach, and assistant director of pupil personnel services, where she demonstrated the ability to enhance strong, lasting educational practices for the future. Dr. Herrera's experience in coaching, mentoring, and data-informed decision-making positions positioned her to build capacity in other leaders. She prides herself on her parent and staff relationships. Dr. Herrera exemplifies the qualities needed to lead a school community with consistency, trust, and high expectations. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Amelia Herrera to District 308. >> Thank you. >> Next this evening, we have Sarah Fischer. Sarah
012is the recommended candidate for the executive director of diverse learners position. It is important to note that we are consolidating two positions for this role resulting in a savings for our district. Sarah Here back there. brings a wealth of knowledge to special education. She currently serves as the director of special education, high school and non-traditional programming in the district. Previous to her current role, she served as the assistant director of special education, assistant principal of Prairie Point Elementary School and special education program administrator. Sarah has guided and supported the oversight of IDEA regulations, ISBE requirements across all programs and services, grant allocations, facilitation of therapeutic day school, EVA, and transition programmatic pathway needs. She has extensively collaborated and support supported other departments. Sarah is deeply committed to students by capitulating rightful presence through professional learning,
013legal awareness, appropriate curriculum, and strengthening related service relationships. Please join me in congratulating Sarah ON HER PROMOTION. >> ALL RIGHT. ACTION ITEM 5.2 approval of building administrator contracts. Can I have a motion, please? >> Yes, you can. >> I I make a motion to approve the building administrator contracts as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> Dr. Martin? >> I. >> Ms. Winmouth? >> I. >> Mr. Sarone? >> I. >> Dr. Murillo? >> I. >> Ms. C? >> I. >> Motion passes 5-0. Anything? >> Adam Herder is the recommended candidate for principal of Traughber Junior High School. Adam is a student-centered leader who maintains a strong big-picture focus while remaining grounded in district priorities and realities. He prioritizes student learning, voice, well-being, and safety while also bringing an innovative and future-focused mindset with a clear vision
014for growth. Adam builds strong relationships through authenticity, active listening, and consistent follow-through. He demonstrates the ability to navigate difficult conversations, repair relationships when needed, and value diverse perspectives. Adam integrates social-emotional learning into collaborative student-centered structures and maintains high expectations while providing strong levels of support. His background in instructional leadership, curriculum implementation, and systems thinking makes him well-positioned to lead Traughber Junior High School successfully. Please join me in welcoming Adam to District 301. >> And I I just want to point out that you are decked in the tie and the shoes. You are representing Colony >> He's ready. >> I didn't I didn't know it's the colors of the district. >> Hey. >> Unable to be with us tonight is Tyler Cleland. Tyler is the recommended candidate for the Dean of Students position at Oswego East
015High School. Tyler is currently a junior high math teacher. He brings experience as an assistant principal in two large high schools in Texas. His supervisors and colleagues in Texas praise his strong work ethic, powerful connections with all students, and partnerships with families. His current principal shared that he has been a wonderful addition to their teaching staff, quickly building connections with all stakeholders this year. Through the interview process, Tyler's strengths are his knowledge of administration, student discipline, and making meaningful connections with staff and students. Please join me in welcoming Tyler to District 308. That concludes my report. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Mitchell. And uh we'll be to 6.1, our superintendent's report. Dr. Solgany. >> Good evening, everyone. I just want to uh take a minute to add to something Dr. Mitchell said,
016which is that I want to thank all of our hiring committees. We we we Tonight we get to uh bring to the board our recommended candidates. And what we don't always have an opportunity to do is to recognize that behind each of these recommended candidates is a very full process. We have families involved. We have parents, community members. We have staff who are part of the hiring committee. We have union representation as part of the hiring committee. We have a a a range of individuals who really step in to really support the process. And so, I really just think that it's it's really a celebration, but it's also a testament to our efforts to ensure that we are having an inclusive process when we bring forth this hiring, especially when it comes to our school
017leaders. And so, whether it was the Oswego East uh position um and this evening as well. I just want to thank those uh participants for their contributions to the hiring. Tonight, I just uh what a wonderful weekend, Board. Uh it was I hope many of you had an opportunity to celebrate. Really, I know Mother's Day is a time for reflection and honoring um both directly those who are in our lives, but also for the the strength of women through the generations and just learning this past weekend about the role that um Mother's Day had originally in terms of social justice and really the rights of women. And so, I think it's it's a a while it's uh become a wonderful day of joy, but it's also a reminder of the importance of that strength in
018our lives. Um um I'm excited to uh say that we're on the final stretch. Kind of hard to believe. What an incredibly busy year this has been. And this is really a truly a rewarding time of the year as we have an opportunity to think about all the ways in which we've celebrated as we think about last week, teacher appreciation week, and then all the other opportunities we've had to celebrate our staff and really celebrate our students for their tremendous accomplishments. And we've seen that this year. Um this coming weekend and this week we have a number of exciting things. Oswego High School and Oswego East High School students will be participating in their alumni walk, which is really wonderful tradition we have in our district where students will make their rounds through throughout the
019district and the halls of their elementary schools. It's a chance to say hello and and good luck on the next step of your journey. Um then our students will bid their official formal farewell as students this coming weekend graduation ceremonies. And we are just so proud of them and excited to see what this next chapter will bring for them. I I really have been thinking a lot about the district's and the board's investment in the power of recognizing that our students' journey doesn't just end with graduation. And we're really invested in their future beyond their graduation. So their return as alumni and their participation in our community is important. Then the week after we celebrate the end of our school year at towards the end of it. We have our early childhood students will have
020their last day on Thursday, May 21st. And the rest of our students will have their last day on Friday, May 22nd. As things wind down in our classrooms, they are ramping up in other areas. We are excited to welcome everyone to our one of our two town hall community meetings this month. Sorry. One will be this month, one will be in June. And where we'll be sharing information about the future of our district while also offering opportunities for input about how we have to think about our capital improvement. Many families, if not I think the whole community, received information about both those events. The first one is May 18th at Thompson Junior High School starting at 5:30 p.m. and then on Tuesday, June 2nd at Boulder Hill Elementary School starting at 5:30 p.m. And now
021I want to invite our board members if you would like to share some of the additional celebrations cuz there is a lot to reflect on this coming year. >> Okay. Um we were honored to celebrate our educators during Teacher Appreciation Week last week. Thank you to our PTAs, PTOs, HSAs and more for taking the time to recognize the hard work and dedication put in by our staff members. We know your efforts to make this week special for them was greatly appreciated. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you to everybody. >> Um and secondly, doctor, and I want to emphasize the word doctor, uh Dr. Adakora Agoro, an evening custodian at Grand Park Elementary School since 2015, graduated with his PhD this weekend. >> Wow. >> In addition to working in the district, he's dedicated lots
022of time and effort to pursuing this degree and serving as an adjunct professor of pure mathematics at Northern Illinois University. Congratulations to Dr. Agoro on this incredible achievement. >> That's like way to >> I have to look up pure mathematics. >> Yeah, it's supposed to be pure mathematics. Uh we recently celebrated students from Plank Junior High School, Oswego High School and Oswego East High School who concluded their time in the SD 308 dual language program. This was a wonderful evening filled with pride and excitement. We're so proud of our students and wish them all the best with their next steps. And then, several high school students showcase their hard work and talents in a variety of competitions during the SkillsUSA State competition. Caitlin Filk, Caelum Sampenars, Jacob Dillon, and Addison Torossian will be moving on
023to compete in their respective events at the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, Georgia this summer. Congratulations to all of them. >> SD 308 eSports team had a strong showing at the IHSA State Finals. Aaron Montoya and the Rocket League team of Gavin Zuber, Liam Scarpino, and Lucas Scarpino finished among the top 16 in the state. Congratulations. >> 10 high school students were recognized at the skilled trade and military signing day as they prepare for the next steps towards careers in skilled trades or military service. Congratulations and best of luck with all that's on the horizon. >> Nice. That was our first uh skilled trades signing day. So, that's a momentous moment to celebrate. Yeah, that's everybody that's a big shift that really speaks to the the breadth and depth of our our our team there
024in both of our high schools. So, thank you to them as well. >> Well, speaking of first ever signing day, students from Oswego East and Oswego High School pursuing a career in education were recognized at the first ever future teacher signing day. Congratulations to these students and good luck with your future teaching endeavors. >> Did Did we get like three contracts with all of them? To kind of like, you know, >> You said three contracts? Yeah. >> Three contracts. attending SD 308 email your resume when you're done. Yes. All right. Um thank you, Mr. Strom. That that our Great. Um next item on the agenda >> None were turned in. >> Okay. Um So, 7.1 is public comment. None were turned in today. Um but, I would like to say any members of the public
025that have not yet turned in their public comment cards to the secretary of the board are asked to do so at this time if there's anybody that wishes to do so. >> We don't have much public left. >> Well, that I'm I'm I'm getting everybody's eyes, I think. So, all right. Um then we'll move on to 8.1, uh board committee reports. And Here's uh we had ELI and policy and legislative. I had to leave policy one early. >> What do we want to do first? >> We'll start with the ELI. >> So, we heard some previews of some of the information that we're going to hear tonight as well um regarding um our title one school wide plans um or our university's direct admit programs. We also We also got a presentation on high school
026grading practices, which we're going to continue discussing um I think uh at the beginning of the school year and the work that is being done on that. Um and then we're also going to We also had a a uh some information presented to us on the accelerated placement program. And policy. >> And some of those are going to We're going to hear about tonight as well. >> Okay. Shall we move to the policy? >> Sure. >> Okay. >> So, for um policy and legislation, actually we talked about several things. Um we did go over um some updated um updated policies in uh press 121. So, we reviewed those. I think those are those are up for information today. Um we also talked about um Mr. Bellas working on the IGAs between different municipalities. As you
027know, we have um we have agreements between the school board and and Oswego police, Oswego fire, or etc. Uh so those are uh worked out every year and need to be signed. Um so he's working on that. Uh we were had a presentation about um ex- students being put in the accelerated program. There's a slight change about those that are put in there automatically as opposed to those that are automatically invited to join, if I said that right, Dr. Kincaid. Um so we'll be hearing about that and then finally um Mr. Arneson did a save this for last did a presentation on um who and what the parameters are for uh naming certain parts of the school. For example, uh Ken Pickeral Stadium. Um there are certain parameters that we didn't have in place before
028as to what needs to be what needs to be done before something like that could happen. At the same time, parallel to that, uh if there was a large corporation that wanted to donate a significant amount of money to have part of the school or part of something named, there are procedures for that in place, too. So, um again, those were procedures that didn't exist in the past and now all you big corporations, if you'd like to come by and and offer some cash, we'll name a room after you. Maybe. That's it. >> Any questions or No. I have a We can go over more of those later if you want. All right. Approve consent agenda 9.1. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? What's that? Oh, 8.2. Terribly sorry about that.
029Thank you for catching me. All right. Thank you for catching Um our board protocol discussion. Who is leading that today? >> I am. But anyone else, feel free to lead it next time if you I'll take I'll take the next one. >> All right, you're signed up. >> This one's an easy one. >> All right. >> Um so, just a reminder, we're just reviewing our protocols so that we have an opportunity to kind of not only be transparent with the I don't know, six people in the room and the other maybe six online, but um >> 100 plus. >> There are. Um but also so we have an opportunity to discuss it amongst ourselves and just uh provide clarity and um kind of evaluate whether or not anything's going to potentially be up for discussion
030um in the future. So, tonight we're looking at protocol number three, which is a pretty straightforward one. It's board member communication via email. Um so, board members, part A, board members will be judicious with their use of email and understand that most emails are subject to the Freedom of Information Act and as such can be made public. In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, board members will not reply all to any district email or text. Board members will CC the board on questions emailed or texted to the superintendent. And if an email is sent to the entire board from a community member, the board president will respond. So, I know last time we hit a little bit on the Open Meetings Act and how we are kind of bound to like certain um forums for
031for group discussion and that includes uh texts and emails. So, um So, yeah. So, does anyone have any questions or points of discussion? I will kind of say with the email that goes to the entire board and the board president will respond, I think. There have been times when maybe a particular board member might know the community member or might have like a have had a previous conversation and kind of request your you know request that they email on behalf of the board instead of you. But I think it's pretty straightforward. But for everyone else, that's why you get one email back when you send seven. >> Yeah. And I try to I try to be clear that it's on behalf of the board. Um and I if I'm not it, I'm I'm We do
032a pretty good job. I I would say probably 95% 99%. If I miss any, please let me know, send that email again and I will reply. Um and like so we'll get notified of things from you know, like something happened in the district and it's sent to all of us. Um but we're not responding. So we're able to to gather the information collectively, but we can't talk board business um amongst the seven of us. So that's it's pretty pretty strict, I guess is kind of my point and we you know, adhere to that. So if we ever call each other, it's one-on-one. And you know, so most of the discussion is is happening here or at the committee meetings or uh so is uh I think we all have a lot of things outside of
033you know, being on the board as well. So um Dr. Kilgatti lets himself be uh very available. Um you know for us to >> conversations >> you know, if we have conversations and you know, we need to discuss with them. Um I don't know any anything else with this one? >> think so. I said this one was pretty straightforward. >> Pretty straightforward, yeah. >> I would say like I'm looking at C just I'll just add that apart from like um C seeing the board president our questions as part of our other protocol it also get added to our information that results from those questions get shared with the whole board. >> Right. >> So, in our commitment to like everyone knows if one knows everyone knows. So, that's kind of like a follow-up to that
034protocol. >> I will say D like the part about the president responding on behalf of everyone was probably the one that took me not the longest to get used to, but I felt I feel like if I get an email I'm supposed to respond to the email. Yes, but I'm not um >> I I had I had the same I had the same thought when when we were talking about that probably before you came on the board. I I I think I was probably the hardest one to >> Yeah. >> convince um >> How the tables have turned on me. >> Well, no no yeah. No, I was >> Well, I think there's a there's a cumulative effect in the district as well because if you know, when I was a teacher if a parent
035had a concern or had a question for me if they went straight to the principal and then give me a chance to respond, I always wanted first that engagement. And so, in this instance it's always helpful. Similarly, when the board one entity the board gets a message there's a designated person who's responsible versus all seven. Like he gets mad. It's to avoid kind of this uh individualized approach to board management when there's one board and the board has free flow of conversation. Um it's actually a little different than the principal example, but I think it's the goal though is to to have a process that's free and fair that everybody can understand and transparent to be honest with you. >> And to have one united message going out. >> Yeah, you know, I think attached
036to this particular one is you know, that the um board members um we might be kind of you know, ex- not experts, but you know, our our job is to uh understand what's going on and you know, make informed decisions, but we're not in the weeds. Um and so, a lot of times the communication will be you know, somebody will, you know, that can answer your questions and and give you the full story, uh will respond to you. So, um that's why you get those. Um cuz as a board member, you don't you don't want me to be us to be you know, dictating bus routes. You know, um we'll mess that up. Um the operations. So. >> All right. >> Here he goes, like, "Did you just say that?" Oh, no, I didn't know.
037I speak it the truth. >> You do. >> All right. Okay. I think we'll move on to 9.1. All right. 9.1, consent agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda consent agenda, please? >> I make a motion to approve all items under consent, including 9.1, minutes from the Board of Education meeting on April 27th, 2026, open and closed sessions. 9.2, to acknowledge the FOIA requests received by the district. 9.3, to approve field trips for overnight and or more than 200 miles. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Ms. C? >> Aye. >> Dr. Martin? >> Aye. >> Mr. Serrano? >> Aye. >> Ms. Wenmouth? >> Aye. >> Dr. Moriel? >> Aye. >> Motion passes 5-0. We're going to our uh section 10 of the agenda today. Uh our first information item is a
03810.1 uh solar project that Mr. Obermiller. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh I suggest that what we've been doing, we've been looking for different ways to manage expenses on things that we have control on. It's a way to to mitigate the challenges that we face with revenue from the state and the federal government. One of the areas that we've zeroed in on are the cost of utilities. As we know, electricity cost has been going up significantly, not just here, but all over the country. And we looked at the possibility of installing solar as a way to mitigate that increase in electricity cost. Especially with the installation of um of data centers in our area is driving up the cost of electricity. So, with that, we've had conversation with a with a firm that specialize in
039installation as well as the uh the implementation and financing of solar performance services. So, we've asked them to come and share some of the information that they provided to the district regarding the opportunity for the district to realize substantial savings with the installation of solar panel. So, I'm going to ask our Kurt from PSI and his colleague to come on up and talk to the board. >> I'm I'm I'm sorry, I didn't catch the names. I know you said it, but Is this a sign? >> Yeah, I'll introduce Thank you very much for having us. I'm Kurt Hinz. >> Okay. >> I am the uh business development manager for performance services. And this is Charlie Narwold. He is uh he's a solar guru, basically, but now he is uh kind of deals in all of
040our rebates, incentive programs. He helps with um a little bit of everything solar related. Appreciate you guys having us in and our family, thank you. Tonight. Um About a month and a half, 2 months ago, we were asked to look at some opportunities and solar is not only been an amazing opportunity for schools to offset a fixed cost, but there's an IRA tax credit that's available still before the end of June. That is a huge opportunity for the district to take advantage of some federal funds. funds. And so, >> It's a inflammation inflammation inflation reduction act. >> Inflation reduction act, exactly. And that is uh um the program's going to change, and so we as we discussed options, we mentioned that the end of June is kind of a a deadline to get um locked
041in to make sure that if if the district decided to move forward, that they would have that opportunity to put solar and receive potentially up to 40% of the installation cost back. So, what we put together is um we looked at two high schools and the five intermediate schools and gave a couple options. And so, what I just wanted to kind of walk through was a few of the important aspects of of what this uh What you're seeing here is the first two uh high schools, and this would be roof-mounted installation at both locations. Now, these projects can be individual. So, I I want to start by saying that. We grouped them together for this uh part, but they are all potentially separate uh projects. All of which have unbelievable payback. And the payback comes
042from not only the huge energy savings because of as Rafael mentioned, the spikes that you're seeing in your utility costs, but also in the rebate money that's available and the um other IRA tax credit that's available along with the S Rex which if you're not familiar the S Rex stands for the solar renewable energy credit that is offered through ComEd because you are um continuing to pay utility bills um they are looking for ways to offset and so by you producing solar that helps them with the grid and so it's actually a renewable charge on everybody's bill even at home and this is one way of capturing something that everybody's been paying into for years and years and years and so um when we look at how this kind of breaks down the two high
043schools would be um considered large installations and what we mean by that is they're over um they're both over a megawatt DC and so the way solar works again power of the sun hits the solar panel there's a bunch of um energy energy transfers protons neutrons moving through and there's uh obviously some equipment inverters and things like that that transfer the equipment to AC which is the power that everybody uses uh to plug everything in and so when we talk about the size of the system we talk it about it in terms of DC which these two high schools would be a little over 2.2 megawatts with the AC almost uh 1. uh little over 1.7 megawatts so that's a huge offset to um both buildings and the reason that this says that it's only
044it's 22% which doesn't sound like a lot it is a lot because you consume so much in these high schools if you look at uh your annual building usage it's over 11 million um kWh which is again very typical for a height large high school and you have two of them and they're open 22 22 hours a day, six or seven days a week. And so when you're doing that, that's just a lot of a lot of costs going out. >> Are these numbers for both schools together or for each? >> These are for both this what you're looking at right now is combined for the two high schools. >> Okay. >> This is a budget. Now when we budget, we go through a pretty extensive process. We have done over 50 megawatts of solar
045installations in the northern Illinois area. Sorry, well over 40 in Illinois and 50 as a as a company which is which is quite large and we very proud of. So we have actually really current data from installation costs from what the solar racking costs are, the solar panels, all everything that goes into the process. So we feel really good about the budget. Typically our budgets do come down but we haven't bid anything yet. So I just want to make sure everybody knows that this is just a rough idea. This would be if you did both high schools. Obviously it's not exactly uh you know, split down the middle but just a reference point I can tell you that the Oswego High School is a little over is about 4.3 million and which would leave about
0463.1 million for East High School. Just rough rough rough breakdown of of the system costs. >> Is that because Oswego East can't hold as many uh panels because of the tubular building roof thing? Okay. >> Yeah, we we take into account and Charlie does the designs a lot of different factors. So we kind of look at the roof and say, all right, one there's got to be a setback. Two, where's the equipment? Where are the drains? This is very flexible. This is just a very preliminary what you're seeing. The high level pictures there, those are the high level what we would think the designs would look like. They easily could change. Typically, they're they they they could go up, but most of the time they probably would end up coming down. Again, I want to
047stress we haven't done structural analysis yet, either. Uh all that would happen after uh the board would decide to move forward. That that happens uh secondary and full bidding process, everything happens after that approval. But, in this case, yes, the system because of the majority of the main part of the building has uh a roof that really isn't conducive to putting solar on it. Um uh so, here the installation, again, roughly three you know, seven point round number, 7.5 million. You're you're looking at over uh $550,000 in a ComEd smart inverter rebate on those high schools. And that is a one-time payment. It's based on the system size. It's calculated at $250 per kilowatt produced. So, in this case, simple math is, you know, that you have 2.2 26 uh DC times $250, that's how
048we get that calculated. Um the wreck income, like I mentioned, is calculated over the first and paid off over the first six six years, a little over six years, which is huge. Helps with the cash flow. Which is the second page that we'll turn to is actual cash flow to show you everything, which you might have seen. Um but, that's again, that's 1.7, almost 1.8 million dollars in wreck income that that would be provided to the district. And those come quarterly. And we help the district set up a system where they're implementing um meter reading. There's a separate meter that's put in. Sounds complicated. It's very It's not at all once it's all all set up. Again, we have a whole team that that helps with the training and um And then we mentioned the
04940% IRA tax credit. And again, that is uh just under $3 million, which is which is huge. So, if you take you add those up, you're looking at over $5 million in almost $5 million in Actually, excuse me. Over $5 million in income back on a $7 million project, which is huge. And that happens almost immediately. The rest of it comes from huge energy savings opportunities, um which again, over the life of the panels, which are going to continue to produce. The first panels that were ever made 60, 70 years ago are still producing. They don't produce at the same level. They're not even close to the same size as what we would be putting in here, but they do still work. The technology hasn't really changed. Um so, you're just looking at an infinite
050opportunity to offset a huge fixed cost in your utility bills. And that's why a lot of districts in the area, a lot of businesses are doing uh solar. Solar was great before the tax credit. Solar will still work after the tax credit. You have an opportunity, if you so so choose, to take advantage of a huge tax credit that is potentially going to go away or change and may never be as lucrative as it is now. Second page again is is really what it talks about the actual financial piece. So, I mentioned a payback is uh is roughly just under 7 years, which would include um potential finance costs, anything that would go into it. Again, this is still based on a budget, but those numbers typically would even come down and get a little
051better once the project was fully bid. We use uh a solar degrade degradation, which is about a half percent. That means the solar is not going to produce as much year 2, 10, 15, or 20 as it does uh the first day as those panels continue to uh to be weathered. It's probably more like a 0.25, but I always describe uh Farm Services as a conservative engineering company, and so we'd rather we'd rather under promise than over promise, so. Your consumption rate is right now 6.9 cents. Um we know for a fact that's going up and has gone up, and it will continue to go up, and some of the spikes you're seeing are enormous. Um other districts have seen 20 and 30% spikes, and we've been told pretty regularly by ComEd that these spikes
052are uh are going to continue. So, um the the great thing about solar is whether you are producing at 6.9 cents, or you're producing at 7.5 cents, or you're producing at 10 cents, you won't see the impact because you'll be producing solar alongside those increases. So, the money that would normally be lost and the district would have to pay is offset by having the solar. So, it's a huge huge correlation, especially in the market that we're in with these uh as Prophet will said, the big data centers are taking and they're they're they're causing an already problem and making it worse by uh by increasing the cost of the uh service of the uh service that's coming into the district. Um we did we put a 5% escalation rate on these numbers for this serve
053to show you what we think and what we expect some of these spikes to look like. So, that's that's represented in these in these projections. Um And so, when everything is said and done, you're potentially, like I said, looking at a brown of 7-year payback uh from start to finish, which is absolutely uh un- unbelievable, outstanding. It's a It's a way to take a short-term investment and and make it into yourself and and recoup that money and use it for a lot of other things. A lot of districts started to do solar because they had roof roofing needs and the solar offset it the future roof costs. And so, we looked at two high schools, and then we also looked at the five elementary schools like I mentioned, and then we grouped it all together
054um to show you. There are ways to break it out. We can pick one building, two buildings. We can just do a high school. There are a lot of different options, but what we discussed was just giving you guys the opportunity to see the potential and let you kind of understand that there is a financial windfall potentially for the district if uh you were to move forward. The hard part is the decision is uh is coming up quickly. Um again, the end of June is when the IRA tax credit will uh and the safe harboring would uh would potentially change. Again, not knowing what that change looks like, I can only talk about what it's uh what it's currently looking at. Just gave you a lot. I can uh pause. I can answer any question.
055That's kind of why we're here. We can go through the other one as well, but it's just basically going to be the same. Um the other buildings, if you include them, they're they're smaller buildings. They have actually better uh offset to utilities. If you think about the high schools use and consume so much, the element the middle schools are large buildings, but they consume a little less, but the footprints allows for quite a bit of solar. So, the actual percent offset on those buildings uh increases. So, if you were to do all the buildings, you'd be looking at almost 34% of your utility costs would go away. Again, individual buildings might might be closer to 80 or 90%, but adding in the high schools, the fact that they're much much larger is why uh that
056percentage is smaller. Percentage doesn't mean as much as the fact that you would actually get such a large dollar value. >> Kurt, can you walk us through the one of the cash flow projections, please? If you can do the ones for the high school. >> Yep. Okay, so um the way it's set up here is you have your what we would generate in year one for uh the solar, which is again around using a round number 2.5 uh KWH 2.5 milli KWH. Um at the two high schools, you're spending about 1.3 almost 1.4 million dollars. It just goes to ComEd. Now, you would not recoup all your money even if you were to 100% offset. There's filing fees, there's taxes, there's all kinds of different things in your bill that solar doesn't offset. And we
057take all that into account. This is purely energy savings along with some some demand. And the way demand works, we're not going to offset demand completely. We're going to shift your peak demand day from the highest most expensive day because that's the warmest sunniest day of the year where everybody pays that high peak demand. We're going to shift it because we're producing solar on that day to a much less expensive day where maybe uh you you get a savings because you're you already have the solar that's producing at the higher point. This helps ComEd. This is things that they they need to do. So, again, we're not offsetting demand completely, but you do pay a lot in demand charges, and so it is a nice offset. The year 1. uh three almost one 3.5 million
058um would be reduced by uh call it rough number in thousands of dollars would be taken off for the two high schools. We would We would throw in that rebate I said of uh for ComEd, which is 556,000, the smart the ITC credit, which is the IRA, and then wreck income, which is again paid over the 6 years. We added in some future O&M costs. There's not much to do with solar, which is great. Once it's put in place, it's kind of plug and play, so you almost set it and forget it. But, you want somebody to help you just diagnose it, make sure if there's anything needs to be tweaked. You So, we typically recommend the installing company um do that. And we put together they have a plan in place. It's not expensive,
059but we we used about $15,000 a year annually after uh first year. That first year gross savings is obviously huge, like I mentioned, 4.2 million. The next year is obviously going to be a little less, but if you notice again your utility savings now went up because again, you're going to be paying more, but you're producing solar, so you're getting a better savings. So, that number goes almost to $300,000 of real dollars um that the district spends ComEd would go back and be used for other infrastructure, facility needs, whatever uh roofing, wherever funds you decide to put it in. And that continues all the way through. The wreck income uh continues to get paid at $253,000 roughly a year. We've taken out the O&M, and this is how we get to roughly the 7-year payback,
060which again is outstanding if you think of uh in terms of the money in and the money out. >> Any final questions? >> Okay. >> I have I have lots. >> Yes, good. >> So, I'll I'll see what I'll let you all >> Are we um as a district purchasing the panels, or are we and Are we purchasing the panels in my first question? >> Yeah. Great question. Uh so, there are two options again. There is the uh the ownership model, which is absolutely what we're showing. You own the panels, you own the system, you own all the rebates, you get all the energy savings, everything. There is other option that people might have heard of. It's called power purchase agreements. That is where you basically just lease your roof. You give access to a
061company 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to come anytime they want cuz it's actually their system, and they give you fractions of pennies back. Um we have not used that model. We have not seen success, and obviously, when we're talking about this these huge rebates, feel the district would be better off with those. Most of the companies that do the PPAs, they collect the the money. So, um in this case, this is purely an ownership. It's your system. You at minimum have to keep it in place for 15 years for your wreck income uh contract. After that, you're welcome to do uh with whatever you want. But again, it will continue to produce if you just leave it and forget it. >> Is there any significant maintenance that we need to consider as
062costs? >> Yeah. That So, we added about $15,000 a year in annual just checkup, tweaking things here and there. There's a an extra supply of um of panels that come with and inverters. Those are inverters are usually the thing if you're going to have a problem, that's where it's going to be. Um there's a lot of electrical components. Um the racking panels, they all come with 12-year warranties. The The actual produce uh there's a production warranty on the panels that they'll produce at least 80% 25 years from now. So again, there shouldn't be a lot um of warranty needs and a lot of fixing. Big snow, huge ice, yep. Guess what? The panels are going to be covered for a bit, but they're they're black, they heat up once once the sun touches them. They
063usually uh melt and take care of themselves and rain is actually good, it washes the panels uh from dust and debris. So there isn't a lot that you have to do. And anything that would be really considered maintenance is probably covered under our warranty type situation where we would be there to uh help you guys uh with any issues. >> And with the um health of our roofs uh impact what we are able to do and also what happens when we need to do a roof repair and they're covered in solar panels if we own them. >> Yep. >> be a maintenance >> These are great questions because these are what we get all the time. So um we do not know the exact life expectancy of every roof area. This was preliminary. We do
064know we would have to do structural analysis. We do know that we've talked with Rafael and Andre and the team about uh different options. I have always recommended solar and now it's been um 10 plus years that I've been doing it that there's at least 3 to 5 years, you know, 2 to 3 is probably the minimum and 3 to 5 would be great years of life left on the roof. And then it's worth doing it because the rebate and the incentives are so big right now. When in the future, you would have to replace the roof, those panels would need to be moved. So, either you would do the roof in shifts and and sections, or we'd have to crane crane the solar off, do the roof, crane it back up. There are options.
065Um I will say we have extended the life of many roofs because now direct sunlight is not hitting the roof, it is hitting the solar panels. And so, um that is a huge opportunity to extend something that is, again, going to need to be fixed, but how do how much does it extend it? Can't say. Is it a couple years? Is it five? Is it seven? We have examples of different uh roofs that have been um extended, but every roof is different. We have talked and we think we have a pretty good idea of what uh areas we have fixed. And again, our focus for the short term would be to do the roofs that can handle it. And then, we're worry about fixing roofs uh for the future. >> I have one last thing.
066I don't know if you can speak to this or not, but I feel like just in conversations and education circles that I've heard over the last 10 years, it's been like, "Oh, it's not solar's not worth it. Like, it's not cost effective or or something like that." Are you familiar with that? And and what has changed if so? Is it the rebates that it makes it more cost >> So, the rebates are huge. Uh the the the tax credit is absolutely huge. Uh I think I I haven't heard that much in schools in large uh commercial settings. I hear that a lot in residential, and the reason I hear it in residential is because your roof at home can only handle a couple panels. They have to be facing south, and if you don't have
067a perfect roof that fits enough panels, you're not going to offset that much. Plus, how big is your bill at home? A few hundred dollars? Maybe if it's crazy, it's four or five hundred. So, you're offsetting a very small piece. In this case, you guys are spending 1.4 million, and every dollar you can offset becomes a large asset to the district. So, um again, we've we've done a lot of solar, and it's been very successful. A lot of districts in the area have it. So, I haven't heard that from the school district perspective. I do hear it from from the um residential more, but yes, I am definitely biased because um solar is something that we have uh we've really enjoyed doing. >> And then, the other part of it is it used to be
068there was a significant startup cost to be able to install solar. But, with the rebate and the tax credit as big as they are right now, it goes instead of looking at maybe a 10-to-12-year payback period. Now, you're looking at 6 on the app payback period. So, you actually get the your investment back quickly. And then, what happens is in the out years, it's just gravy. The savings that you normally would be given to ComEd. >> Uh are we is ComEd buying energy from us, or would the energy only be used for on-site? >> So, because you're not really getting to that 100% offset level, you there is very little time where ComEd you're going to be pushing power back. You will. You will in the summer in the peak, and and we've modeled how
069that works, but most of the time what happens is if you are overproducing, the meter will spin backwards and it immediately catch back up in the in the shoulder months when you're not producing as much. There's definitely a bell curve. Um the summer months out way out produce the winter, but one of the biggest misnomers in the is always been in the Midwest in this climate uh it's not really great for solar. The truth is the way science of the solar works, this is the best climate you could have. We don't have as many sunny days as they do in the south and in the west, but the temperature being cooler actually helps the solar move faster and more more fluid. So, we actually on a really sunny day here can almost outproduce what they
070do in the west. Again, we get about 230 sunny days at maybe a max, and they get about 320 sunny days. So, the numbers don't equal, we we will we have taken all that into account in our model when we are even predicting what the solar would do for the district. >> Uh does the money that we would get back also grow with the cost spikes? So, if ComEd is charging us 6.9 cents, and it goes up to 10, are we getting more money back from ComEd, or we're just not spending that 10 cents? >> Yeah, you're basically offsetting the 10 cents because they're not buying as much power. You're not buying as much power from ComEd because you'd be producing at that 10 cent level. >> Uh does the system involve batteries? Are we
071storing the power, or is only used on demand? >> This system, this proposal does not have battery storage. Um there is battery storage options. There are solar and battery storage incongruent. We actually just turned in a RFP proposal today for another district that is had solar that we had already done and now they wanted to do the batteries as backup. But, short answer on this, there isn't. That would be something that the district could definitely look at. Um, but that would be a ancillary to to this. >> Can I just interject? Um, maybe I understand. Since we're not over producing, it would really only be for when we have power out. >> You you would never know if you're on you're producing power or you're on ComEd. You're always on ComEd, but typically in the
072summer you might get over that 100% and then they would you would send some back to the grid, but most of the time you're just going to be consuming everything you're you're you're buying. And when you do send it to the grid, it shows up as credits on your bill. It can either show up as a kilowatt hour credit or a a dollar credit. That's offset later. >> Um, the the lifespan of the panels that did you say was uh they're warranty for 15 years, is that right? >> Uh, the material is 12. They have a production warranty of 25 years and most of the time panels that I said panels that are still out there from the beginning of solar are still producing. They're just not going to produce the same level, but um
073we model this around making sure that it's at least going to cover the whole 15 year rack rack there. >> Um, the the inflation reduction act credit, is it contingent on the contract being signed or the panels being installed? >> No, so it's actually that's great cuz there's a and I'm going to let you Harry explain exactly, but it's a 5% um, safe harboring. So, whatever the project costs would be, the district would would have to pay 5% before the end of June. If you do that, you're locked in as part of the program. And then once you've got that contract signed and the 5% paid, uh you have till December 31st of 2030 to have the systems energized to then receive the tax credit. So, plenty of runway. >> And would we get the
074credit then only after they're energized or >> Yes. >> So, if we did a phased install, we wouldn't get the money until we have everything up >> You would get it phased as well, though. >> Right. >> take a tax credit on each building. >> Right. >> Depending on how or how many or many buildings you did. Yes. >> And how does the tax credit work if we don't pay taxes? >> Exactly. Yeah, so we are not tax We are not tax consultants, either, and we highly recommend that you you hire an outside tax consultant, and you pay them to help you. But, going through this process now number of years, I've seen the checks. I didn't know where it was coming from, either. This is a >> I can speak to that. >> government-funded
075>> I can I can speak to that. The tax credit is actually a check from the US government. It's a big fat check. >> But, it doesn't go as like a tax credit. >> No, no. It's just a check. It's a rebate check. >> Okay. So, it it it's not really involved in taxes so much. They They give you the money. >> They give us the cash. >> That was the incentive in the IRA for nonprofits to start using energy solar. >> I reserve my right to ask more questions, but I'm done for now. >> Well, what I was going to say that one of the things that we really would invite is continued questions. Um this is again a preliminary uh presentation review. Um this is not any decision-making making tonight, but it was
076really important to at least because of the time sensitive nature of it, one of the board to have full questions and whatever you submit, we'll have we'll do our best to make sure that the next board meeting those questions are answered to satisfaction. If not, we need to continue to engage and continue process. So there's no no feeling of like you have to be forced to make any kind of decision. This is really >> Yeah, I hope I didn't I hope I didn't make that >> No, no, no. I just want to name that public hearing. >> doctor. Yeah, I I absolutely this is not a pressure. This was rational. >> I'm hoping mine are relatively quick because I got some of my answers already. Um So, you basically you lay out 30-year kind of
077cash flow here at year 31 and beyond we're going to be cuz these are not a lease. We're going to be keeping these and they would continue to offer savings. The other part that I wanted to kind of understand is so it's a 7 and 1/2 million dollar project. Is that you know, if we just were to do the high schools? Um I know it's a 5% in order to lock in the credits. When would we have to pay that potential you know, like I know that this is a rough estimate of the price. When would that cash outflow actually happen? I that's what I need to see is kind of how that >> Yeah, it would be months from now. Um The the way the process works is it's progress payments from when the
078installation starts. How maybe you receive a bill for 5% that cover engineering and we we would make sure we're at a little over 5% just in case the system sizes change at all. But basically that would be the the extent of what the district would be out per se. And then it wouldn't even be until you started doing the actual installation. So typically once there's a contract between the contract signing and design, we're talking months. Um there's a lot of back and forth between racking and the structural engineering and figure out exactly what the panel layout. So For argument's sake, let's say or decided in June. I wouldn't think you would be making payments until the fall at the earliest and probably installation wouldn't even probably start until >> Did you Raphael I think you
079>> No, that's okay. >> That's that's pretty much >> Oh, okay. What I wanted to ask Kurt if you don't mind if you can talk about some of the school district that that you've done work with and what kind of savings they saw with the project. >> Yeah, I mentioned we've done over 40 megawatts of of just K-12 schools. So we have a combination of many big high school districts New Trier Lake Park Glenbard has three of their high schools has these are ground mounts. Grayslake has two big high schools. They have combination of ground or sorry roof and ground mounts and so they've actually uh um really standing closer to to you here have five elementary in Valley View. So that's Bolingbrook and Romeoville that have solar um Warren Warren Township High School has
080a huge ground ground mount. um Barrington has high school and two middle schools Lake Zurich high school elementary and two middle schools and we're still in the process of those but uh that that's moving on. So um I could keep going I could keep going on and on but it We we provide all of them. We provide all the references. We want you to call Both, both Deerfield and Highland Park uh, high school, um, which is closer where Doc came from, have, uh, have solar as well. >> No, it's a, I mean, it's a great return on investment. Um, but I'm I'm going to I'm going to >> Yeah. And what what I would >> You're going to dot your eyes and cross your tees. >> Absolutely. >> There's there's definitely a lot on even
081the public document that you put out there. I wonder what the next steps are. So. >> I mean, what I just want to say is if you remember, I think, 2 months ago, we came up with, uh, with an idea to reduce, uh, expenditure on electricity by doing a reverse auction. There are very few things that we have control on when it comes to our expenses because, as I always mention, short of laying off a bunch of our teachers, um, which ties up 80% of our expenses. So, then we're left with 20%. If you look at those 20% of the expenses, the biggest expenditure driver of those is actually utilities, which is why we've been looking for ways of trying to mitigate that. And this is one way of us being able to mitigate that,
082and then the savings that accrues from that being able to invest in our buildings, be able to to do the things that we need to do as a district with our building. So, which is why we we explored this as an opportunity to be able to do that because, there, as I said, uh, it's a repeat myself, there are very few options out there for us to be able to to reduce expenses when it comes to utilities. >> Any other questions? >> I I just have one quick one. Is Is there any cost saving or cost difference, and and I mean, initial outlay, if we were to do this in pieces as opposed to doing, you know, both the high schools or both the high schools and the junior highs? >> Um, we've we've given,
083uh numbers as a a la carte, so >> Okay. >> we're showing you what two high schools look like just because we were trying to maximize what the potential return on that uh IRA tax credit would be. But you absolutely could just pick one high school, try it out. Difference might be if that tax credit changes too much, >> Sure. >> uh I I don't know. Now, if you safe harbor the whole thing and didn't move forward, uh I mean, that that that could be an option as well. The fact is you have till 2030 or 2031 to be completely energized, so you you would have time in between. But there isn't there isn't a big uh there is a little savings to the project management and and having the contractors on site to do
084a couple buildings versus just one. The truth is they're going to do one building at a time just based on how solar works anyways. It's it gets a little complicated if you're if you're piecemealing. Lighting you can do multiple buildings at the same time. Solar you you want to make sure you you get up there and finish and and keep everybody safe. >> Okay. Well, thank you for bringing this to us, uh Raphael. Thank you as well. >> Thank you, gentlemen. >> Thank you all very much for the time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Have a great rest of your night. >> I was going to offer you you could stay if you like. >> stay and listen to our >> We have wonderful presentations coming up. Um 10.2, our ESL curriculum resources. >> Yay.
085>> For information. >> So, I would like to welcome Kelly Waldron up. Uh she has been working with a team of high school teachers. Uh, earlier in the year the board approved them restructuring to our ESL courses. So, Kelly is back with additional information in regards to a proposed resource for our ESL 3 uh, ESL bridge course. >> Thank you for having me tonight. Thank you for introducing me. I'm Kelly Waldron, the ML program coach. So, this aligns with our developing and aligning curriculum and our support for ambitious instruction. We are also working on a culture and climate and intentionally trying to make sure that our students feel rightfully present. Bridge, we also refer to as ESL 3. Um, we haven't all gotten on deck yet, so you're going to see ESL 3 cuz there
086is ESL 1, 2, and 3. So, 3 is our newest one. Here is our committee that we have. So, we have Dr. Er We have Maria Lopez, she's our director, myself, both of our coordinators at the high schools, and we have uh, Kurt Lasco and Tonya Sharp are our APs of CNI. And then we have two teachers on our committee as well. We've began this and we are sprinting. A marathon. Um, so this group has worked very hard, I want to say. We started this, we brought it to you in February um, to open this course. So, in that timeline, they have already developed the scope and sequence. They have aligned it to ELD standards. And they have also added common core state standards. In addition, they are we've brought in resources to look at
087and we've then made some changes. And tonight they have come up with what they would like to present to the board for their vendor. So, as I said, they've aligned it to the ELD standards. Those are the English language development standards and we use WIDA for that. Um, there is text complexity and there are literary strengths. As I said, we've aligned it to the common core state standards for English language arts 9 through 12. Um, we have added the social emotional learning standards and the culturally responsive teaching and learning standards. Their rubrics and their assessments are also aligned to these standards. They publication date of the curricular resource is 2023 and it does have different reading levels, student interest, and relevance. The resource is by Vista Higher Learning. It's called Bridges, ironically similar to the
088same so it helps me. Uh This resource is it works on all the different demands. So, first with an ESL course, you should be doing reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And it also covers all the different content areas. So, social studies, science, math, and language arts. It's a pretty heavy um material and it covers all things, which is great because then they're not trying to like pick and choose from different This resource has it all in one. Um, it has the varying levels for proficiency levels. So, for an ASL course, you're normally looking at a 1.0 to a 3.5, and this covers that, and then it can go beyond. So, it scaffolds their instruction. It's rich, it's interactive, and there are supports for the teachers, including like media, um, there's audio that helps in speaking
089and interacting. This is coming in at 10,497 thousand dollars. The teachers' editions are 651 and 90 cents. The training's a thousand dollars. So, it's approximately 12,463 thousand dollars and 86 cents. The only consideration is if we would want to use a consumable in the future. Right now, the workbook is all digital, so that is in the cost that you're seeing there. The cost is also a six-year license. We have one course, one section at Oswego East, and one section at Oswego High School. So, moving forward, this will put us into stage three. We would need to train our staff on the new resource. We would need to implement the new curriculum. Um, next year, we would also need to look at refining and making any changes and reviewing our students' performance overall. So, tomorrow, we
090would put this proposed curriculum at the district office with a QR code. In July, we would ask that you vote on it. And if it's approved, we would be ordering shortly thereafter. And that's it. >> Thank you. >> What questions do you have? >> Just one quick question. How many resources were reviewed? >> We looked at three. >> Just wondering. >> Definitely three. Um HMH, Estella, Savvas. >> Can you share a little bit? First of all, congratulations. I know that as you said, this is a lot of work. Uh sprint marathon, I like that term. I haven't heard that before. Um can you talk about how you will have thought about the professional learning for the educators who will be using this, where that would fit into the sequence. I think that's been a big
091Um I know that's a priority for the team. Um and so, how do we do that in a way that's thoughtful and respectful of the the role that teachers have to play then in adopting this. >> So, that's a question because we're bringing this so late. >> Yeah. >> Um so, that was one thing they asked that if they got summer hours, they would like to use part of their summer training to to actually do that. That was what they really proposed. Um if not, we would bring it in toward the start of the school year so that we could get them trained fully. Um the company will give us a digital license immediately once a contract is signed. >> Right. >> Um so, they will have access to that. Currently, they have the materials
092on hand and the rep is very eager to work with us and answer any questions. >> Actually, do you all does you want to add anything in terms of what you observed and the work >> Uh what I will add is to the team because they really did a sprint marathon um to get this going to dive standard. to Kelly and the team. >> Any other questions? >> I I do have a question. Um just because I don't know much about this, is this a class that's like a one section class and then they do topics on math, science, reading, and social studies? Kind of like a self-contained classroom in special ed. >> It is self-contained. Um I would not say like a day is math or a day is science. It's embedded within what
093they're doing that day. So, um think about elementary school when you're teaching like English their language arts class and they're embedding like a social studies topic within it or a science topic or a math topic. So, they're learning both things at the same time. >> Okay. >> It aligns directly with what they take on their ACCESS proficiency tests every year. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Well, thank you. We appreciate Thank you again. All right, moving uh 10.3 the athletic training RFP. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Griffin? >> Yes, in the past we've always just used an athletic company that supports our athletes in the district. So, we decided to shift and follow the process that we've been using the last couple of years, which is to do an RFP. And then doing the RFP, we
094received two submissions. One was from Athletico and the other one from is from ATI. And as you can see in the submission here, the RFP was for 1 year with 2-year option renewal. And there's a significant difference in the pricing that we got. As you can see, uh Athletico submitted for a 3-year period if we go with them, $605,816 compared to $952,000. while letting uh for ATI. And by the way, based on experiences that we've had with uh with both companies anyway, Athletico, they the folks who do the work, I prefer to work with Athletico. So, with that being said, we're recommending that the board approve uh us signing an agreement with uh Athletico based on the the outcome of the RFP. And in in the process of developing the RFP, there was a lot
095of engagement that took place from the athletic department to make sure that folks who will be impacted by this uh were involved in the discussion and the development of the RFP and also in the selection. So, there were stakeholders who engaged in making sure this came together well. >> Stakeholders being from the athletics department? >> Yes. >> Coaches? >> Yes. Uh administrators, those Yes. >> Great. Any questions or No, I do um I do want to call out that uh it's been a commitment to make sure that we're getting as much input from the people that use the, you know, um the end the end user, I guess you would say. Um make sure that we're satisfying their needs. Um and teach and particularly union engagement and um so, it's been a very important strategy
096that we're using. So, it's it's not an option and I appreciate uh that everybody's, you know, going that extra stuff. Not that extra stuff, but that necessary stuff. So. All right. Amy, you're >> I'm good. >> You're good? >> Yes, thank you. >> Okay. Um next item on the agenda is 10.4 photography services RFP recommendation. >> Same process. In the past, we we haven't used RFP. Each building just kind of did their own thing. Which is highly unusual for school district, especially a school district our size. So, we decided to develop an RFP process for photography, and we got some really good uh submission from there. I believe we had seven companies respond to to the RFP. We reviewed the RFP very thoroughly. And what we found out, we looked at the pricing of the
097end product that will be sold to our students and eventually their family, and the support they'll provide us with different level of photography. And at the end of the day, we found out that uh uh Lifetouch actually came in They have more experience with district our size. They uh They they do work with our neighboring district, Plainfield. Which is, you know, a pretty good size district, and the pricing they provide was uh was competitive. And something else that was helpful is they were willing to share revenue with the district. Which uh they promised us uh over 3 years revenue sharing of 75,000 up front and some additional percentages of sales, which we intend to use to augment our services that we provide to our kids in the schools. So, which is why I mean, to
098be to be very frank, all the um the responders, they they they they responded with really good uh really good product. So, it was a tough call. But at the end of the day, when we reviewed everything, and we just Lifetouch came up and above the rest of the companies. And if you saw, we have a list of uh school districts where they work now. They work in 129 and neighbor 131 playing field. Uh so, yeah. So, uh we checked their references. They came highly recommended. By the customers who used them now. So, we asking for approval of a 1 year with an option for two additional year options of renewal. >> Are we using them now in some capacity? >> So, >> we use uh I don't believe I think we use Van Gogh
099right now is who we use instead of uh Lifetouch. >> We've definitely used Lifetouch before. >> Yeah, we have Lifetouch. >> Yeah, but not now. Yeah. >> Okay. >> But they have a they have a good reputation and um check with them. And they uh they what we asking for is a year. So, we try them for year. If there any concerns from our customers, and then you'll be we'll do it again uh in the middle of the year. Another RFP. But if they do a good job as we expect that they will based on the uh references that we got, we'll probably renew for another couple of years and then do the RFP after the third year. It's the longest we'll go anyway. >> I'm glad we looked at the pricing to the to
100the guardians. >> Absolutely. >> And then um is there any significant shift in you know, how this contract is going to work compared to current? Is there a commission-based different or better or anything along those lines? >> We didn't the way things work right now, I don't think we negotiate anything. They did each of the school just got a good deal. So, that's that's what is different about. So, in a district, what you normally do, you do an umbrella like we doing right now, and you negotiate. So, it gives you a better leverage. It gives you a better opportunity to set standards that you would like to see and make sure it's implemented instead of each school doing it. >> All right. Thank you again. Um moving on to 10.5, our intergovernmental intergovernmental agreements for
101municipalities. Who is Mr. Bell? All right. Coming up. Welcome, Mr. Bell. >> Um thank you, board. Uh as you know, uh our intergovernmental agreements with our municipality partners, this includes our Oswego Fire Protection District, um Oswego Police Department, Plainfield Police Department, Montgomery Police Department, Kendall County Sheriff's Office, uh and Aurora Police Department, um all get reviewed on a regular basis. Um uh our Oswego Police Department um uh agreement is a 2-year agreement, um and that's due to the fact that we um uh participate uh in payment with the Oswego Police Department for the SROs. Um and those SRO uh union contracts are on a revolving um kind of cycle. So, um what you have uh in uh board notes here is a summary memo that kind of bullet points all of the changes for the
102linked resources. Um not all of them are linked um in terms of we're missing two currently, um and that's the Plainfield Police Department because um in working with our legal team, they wanted to make sure that it's representative of some of the services provided. Um Plainfield Police Department does supply an SRO to our uh junior high school, Murphy Junior High, one day a week. Um and so, we wanted to make sure that that was reflected in there. Um and then Aurora uh Police Department um is always like a small uh entity of kind of going back and forth just due to the size and the way that they operate and do business um, is a little bit unique. So, um, those two are not linked and those are still kind of back and forth in
103our legal process. But, the ones that are linked here are in draft format. Um, there has been um language updates uh again highlighted here clarifying the purposes for how we share information, what the roles and expectations are. There's legislative changes about um, the need to refer um, uh or I should say the need to report at the state level um, and federal level about referrals to law enforcement and what that means. There's legislative changes around the evaluation of the SRL program. Um, and those things are highlighted um, in this uh board memo for you. Um, as I said um there's not a tremendous uh variation um, but we uh in working with forensic this year um, to do a full refresh of our IGAs um, all of these uh will have substantial language additions and
104updates. Um, so I'm not sure if there's questions if you had the opportunity to kind of look at some of these. Um, we we did uh um, bring a few of these to policy committee to kind of highlight um, the work that has been done um, specifically indicating how this strengthens confidentiality and student reporting, how this strengthens um, guidance uh around trauma informed practice and my handle with care process. Um uh just overall looking at the liability and cooperation we have with our municipal partners. >> I just have a couple comments. Um, and their comments are uh ideas and thoughts that I shared at the committee meeting as well. So, I first want to say like I I appreciate that like it's a lot of the clarifications and some of the revisions. I think it
105provides some good clarity around roles and expectations for each of the entities. And when we we did these 2 years ago, I had some of the same comments. So, I'm just going to read you know, say them again so that I I you know, I I speak my speak my heart here and that um I don't necess- I know that um we've had SROs in our buildings for many years and that we have a good relationship with the Oswego Police Department. Um but I'll also say we're we're paying SROs um a good chunk of money and there's not necessarily a lot of research out there that supports that they increase safety of students. In actuality, there's more there's research out there that indicates that it can have a negative impact on SEL um or socially
106emotional issues for for students, particularly students of color, and increasingly immigrant students given stuff happening in the world. Um so I don't think our SROs or the Oswego Police Department is intentionally doing anything and I know that this is good practice and it makes our community feel safe. I just don't think that it's necessarily based in research and so um I just wanted to put that out there. >> Just to make sure >> We've had a lot of conversations about that, so. >> And we will continue to do so. I think that every voice is valid, right? I do want to highlight, you know, that the the our SROs are co-teaching a class um for our criminal justice classes. So, there's some added um components to um them being on that payroll. Um but um
107I I've worked in a number of different um worked with a number of different municipalities and um the Oswego Police Department is committed to kind of bringing that community engagement component, that community policing. Um and I would I would echo what you said, that if our SROs operated in a traditional law enforcement setting, um I don't think that they would be as favorable of a conversation. Um but um we have we've hand-selected these these folks to really uh bring a a sense >> Yeah. >> of safety um and establish this relationship with kids. So, they're meeting them on the outside of our school school walls uh in the community, there there's that relationship that is established. >> I do believe that all intentions are good. I just want to put that out there. I just
108don't know that the results are always what the intentions you know, could be. Not just in our community, but in other, you know, across um across community lines. So, just wanted to speak my opinion on that. >> Thank you. >> Lots of questions. Thank you. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Um 10.6, our consolidated district plan. Dr. Kincaid. Coming up is Frankino. >> All right. Oh, okay. So, we are going to actually present um both 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, and 10.9 as one consolidated presentation. So, here tonight um is our director of grants, Julie Frankino, as well as Principal Jeff Rinaldi from Fox Chase, Principal Pete Meismer from Boulder Hill, and Principal Phil Murray from Long Beach. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> So, through our consolidated district plan, which um Ms. Frankino will be speaking of,
109that covers all of our federal grants, and then um we will look at our school-wide plans and school improvement plans that is representative of our principals here tonight. So, with that, um Julie. >> Thank you. Every year districts that receive federal funds must submit a consolidated district plan or CDP to demonstrate that to ISBE that those funds are being used thoughtfully. Approval of all of our other federal grant plans are contingent upon ISBE's approval of the consolidated district plan. So, we're just going to provide a brief overview of that today. Uh this slide shows the team. It was developed by a team of internal stakeholders consisting of district leaders in various roles that impact both the ISBE and district requirements of the CDP. Uh These team members represent a wide range of functionality and responsibilities
110within the district. Uh Every component of the plan must address either an ISBE or a district goal. So, our district goals are incorporated in our strategic plan plan with which you are very familiar. The ISBE goals, there are three overarching goals: student learning, learning conditions, and elevating educators. Uh most components of our plan address all of those goals plus some of our goals in our strategic plan. CDP application content areas include needs assessment and programs, needs assessment impact, stakeholders, parent and family engagement, private school participation, preschool coordination, student achievement, college and career readiness, professional development, safe learning environment, Title 1 specific information, IDEA specific information, youth in care stability plan, and bilingual service plan. So, each one of those bullet points is a whole page or in some cases multiple pages of the application. So,
111that's why this is just a very high-level overview because altogether that's between 50 and 60 pages, I don't recall. It's long. Um CDPs require districts to demonstrate the federal funds are used in a manner that is aligned with both the district and ISBE goals, as I mentioned. Um We also are required to incorporate input from stakeholders. So, accordingly, some team members conducted consultations with internal or external groups, including needs assessment surveys of teachers and staff, and meetings with parents, private school partners, and members of the business community. So, the CDP brings brings plans together for the use of all of the grants listed here. Title 1A basic programs, which you will hear about more in depth in a few minutes. Also, Title 1 uh school improvement, Title 2 professional development, and I'm going to jump
112down to Title 4 because those are all wrapped up together. Then, we have Title 3 language instruction and Title 3 I-S-E-P, so language instruction is our broader uh multilingual grant, and I-S-E-P is specifically for immigrant students. And then, also uh the IDEA flow-through grant and preschool. >> So, before we go on to the next slide, um the consolidated district plan, the 50 to 60 pages that Julie referred to, is linked for you. Um so, in the review, we are here today for information, and we'll be coming um on June 8th for action for the consolidated district plan. >> Thank you. That's what I get for printing a black and white. Uh this slide shows the amounts that SD 308 has received for the grants included in the CDP since FY 23. The current year's totals
113are listed as estimates because all of these grants are reimbursement basis, so we need to spend the money first before we get reimbursed, and many of them have carry over. So, those numbers may vary slightly. But, those that's uh this reflects our allocation that we're uh like the total that we could spend. And again, funds carry over typically if we do not >> So, with that um as Julie mentioned, two of our federal grants that we want to look more in depth in is our Title 1 and our Title 1 SIP. So, we have currently three schools, Boulder Hill, Longbeach, and Plank, that have board approved Title 1 school wide plans. We currently operate Title 1 uh programs in eight of our schools. Five operate a uh targeted program, and then the three that I
114mentioned uh operate a school wide program. School wide gives our schools flexibility to use their Title 1 allocations on any student in the school. So, um every year the schools are required to pull together a team, review their plan, uh review their needs assessment, so their data from prior years, and then uh draw conclusions and write the plan based on the needs of their building. So, this year um in order to automatically be eligible for a school wide program, your low income rate has to be 40% or more. So, both Boulder Hill and Long Beach do qualify for that, but we have the opportunity to submit a school wide waiver, um which we did this past year for Plank. Um this current year, so going into SY27, both Lakewood Creek and Fox Chase would also
115have also requested to submit a school-wide waiver uh to ISBE. So, this year we are bringing new plans. All five of them are linked there um to submit to the state uh for and really to operate a school-wide uh Title 1 program. So, all five schools being Boulder Hill, Long Beach, Lakewood Creek, Box Chase, and Plain. So, the reason why is they want to be able to focus on all students within their building. Um and in addition to not only the needs assessment that you'll see in the plan and then the goals from the plan, we are also required to um infuse parent involvement throughout the process. So, our first uh requirement is really to look at our data, analyze, write the plan, and um bring those plans for approval. The second thing that we
116want to bring for your approval is our Title 1 school-wide or sorry, Title 1 SIP plans. So, uh school year '23, uh Black Sha- I'm sorry, Boulder Hill and Long Beach were identified as part of the uh school improvement process. So, in that school year they were both designated as targeted. Um Long Beach because it was a second time within the school improvement uh process was then designated as comprehensive. Both of those schools being Boulder Hill and Long Beach were identified because of their subgroup of children with disabilities. As a result, they have gone through the school improvement process, which included a planning year in school year '24, and then year one and year two implementation in school year '25 and '26. Um happy to report both of those schools, Boulder Hill and Long Beach,
117are no longer in designation, and both of those schools, um, in school year 25, were recognized as commendable schools. So, the process though set up by the state of Illinois is once you are in that school improvement cycle, you continue for not only the planning year, but you receive funding for 3 years of implementation. So, Boulder Hill and Long Beach are entering year three of implementation. As you can see from the slide, this will be knock on wood their last year of implementation, um, because, uh, the the goal and objective is to continue that commendable status. Both of their plans, which, again, they bring together a uh team from their building, they review their data, they write goals and objectives in three areas, um, focus on our children with disabilities. Um, these funds must be
118spent on our children with disabilities. Um, Fox Chase and Old Post are similar in the process, uh, just 1 year behind. So, based on data from school year 24, Fox Chase and Old Post were identified as targeted schools. Um, they also were identified by, um, one subgroup, children with disabilities. So, their planning year was in school year 25, and they just finished their year one of implementation. Similar to Boulder Hill and Long Beach, there is also celebration for Fox Chase and Old Post. Um, in school year 25, both Fox Chase and Old Post, um, their designation was also commendable. Um, so, none of our schools are currently in an active school improvement status of targeted or comprehensive. They are currently in that cycle because of their performance back again in school year 23 or 24.
119So, the plans linked here for Fox Chase and Old Post are reflective of their goals and objectives based on their subgroup of children with disabilities. Um, so as mentioned before, on June 8th, we would like to bring to you our consolidated consolidated district plan as well as our five Title 1 school-wide plans in order to operate school-wide programming and our four Title 1 SIP plans in order to submit those plans to the state to access our year two and year three funding for our children with disabilities. Is there any questions that you would like to ask Julie, myself, or Phil, Pete, or Jeff? >> Erica? >> No, I already saw this presentation, so >> So, you're good? >> I don't have any additional questions. >> Okay. >> I'm good. Thank you. >> Okay. >> I
120I will underscore that back in the fall when this shift occurred and the the public reporting happened at this board, we spent quite a bit of time talking about the intentionality and the focus of your school improvement plans and the work that you all had put in to think about this. So, I just want to thank both um Julie Dr. Kade and all the teams that were listed and especially our principals here this evening and the collaboration with our educators to make these changes. So, I just want you to know that we recognize and we are we are appreciative of the leadership work you all have undertaken in supporting our students and their growth and success. >> Biggest priority? >> Yes. >> So. All right. Thank you. Next on the agenda is 1010 our board
121policies for first reading. Going to stop there. >> Yeah. So. >> Thank you. >> In our policy and legislative meeting this past week we reviewed press issue 121. Throughout this issue there are some policy legal references, footnotes, and then some language recommendations by press. Really focus on continuous improvement review. With that we would just like to highlight a few of the policy changes as well as there are four questions that we must respond to as part of this press review. The first question is in policy 2200. The question is referring to open meetings act posting of the agenda. Our current response would be yes to the question because the recommendation is to leave our current practice as is. So, currently we post our agendas in both our district main office or district administrative center as
122well as the location of the board meeting, which in most cases is us we go east. The second question that we have to provide responses to is policy 2220. Based on legal review the first uh recommendation is to respond no, uh, to restrictions to our board agenda. What this would do is leave our current policy as is, so it aligns to our current practice. The second question, um, the recommendation is to respond yes, uh, to press' questions, um, because our board currently takes roll call for action items. So, again, this leaves our current practice as is, it aligns to current practice. The last question is in policy 5250, um, and the question is simply just about the number of full-time or part-time employees, um, that we have. Um, one response is about 51 or more,
123and then the other option is 50 or less. We definitely have, uh, more than 51 employees in our district, so that will be our answer of 51 or more full or part-time employees. So, some of the other highlights that we would like to bring, um, as part of the redline version in your packet, is policy 2220, um, which adds active military, um, within the changes, recommended changes from press. 2250, um, brings some recommended changes based on FOIA practices. removes prior notice, uh, to instruction. Uh, this is a change to Illinois school code. Um, policy 5550 provides some provision, uh, to on-call employees. 5250, um, includes spouse, and then also, um, includes some changes to the family neonatal intensive care leave. Uh 530, uh rewrites um some of the election day. The current policy is specific
124to the 2024 election, so it changes the language uh to a more uh broad uh application of the school code that restricts attendance on certain election days. And then last, 6170, um aligns uh some uh ESEA Title I. Uh currently, it was uh the Title I Parent and Family Compact, and the new language is the uh Parent and Family Plan. So, the remaining policies um in your packet for first read really focus simply on changes to legal references, but notes, and then some minor language changes based on uh continuous improvement review. So, with that, is there any questions? Um for now, it looks like. So, we will be bringing these policies on June 8th for uh action and second read. And obviously, if any questions come up, shoot them over. Um All right. 11.1, board
125member comments. Erica? >> Um got to go to the uh BPAC um dual language graduation ceremony with I think everyone else was there. Um it was really uh it was my first time, so it was very uh exciting to see all the joy and pride in the room. Um even though I did not understand about 75% of the ceremony, you could tell by the looks on people's faces that they were very excited to be graduating. Um and then also went to the retirement dinner along with everyone else and um that was pretty awesome as well. Um the Wheatlands really showed up for their staff and >> Yeah. >> It was nice to recognize the years of service of so many of our staff members. That's all I got. >> Great. >> Um I will reiterate
126Deepak. Um this is my third time going and it was it actually was a it's usually just kind of Don and I I think from from the board that goes. So it was really nice that everybody else kind of joined in, too. Um I thought that was that was pretty cool. Uh I also sat there even though I'm on day 366 of Duolingo. Um I also sat there and and nodded. Uh >> Well, they're not much better than we are, yeah. >> I have a couple of them that have lost their streak. I had a couple of streak freezes, but anyway. Um so there was that um and and the retirement dinner for sure. Um I we also went today to I think it's the second-to-last school connections. Um so it's been um and this
127one today was at Wolf's Crossing. We've got we've got one more later this week and we're done. Uh again, it's been really interesting and really telling to kind of check in with um people that do have their boots on the ground to see what their uh what their questions are, what they think is working well, what they think is working not so well, uh giving them to the opportunity to dare to dream a little bit. Um so that has been um you know, here, too. That's been quite the experience, so. Um I think that's it for me. Oh, um speaking of Wheatlands, um I understand there's a live-by >> Yeah. >> on Wednesday morning um at 7:00 with WGN. I'm debating whether or not I'm going. Leaning toward no. Um but um yeah, for a
128retiring teacher. So, >> Oh. >> up and out and about and like to wave crazily, be there. >> Cool. Amy? >> Um I'll just reiterate everything about BPC's graduation night. It was a great night. Although I did understand >> Good job. And you you presented as well. >> I did. I was able to address um the graduates and their families and so that was really um special and and nice to to be invited to do so. So, thank you to them. Um dido on everything with BPAC and with the retirement and years of service recognitions. Um I also want to congratulate I believe we had and I apologize if I'm missing anyone, but I believe we had two bands perform at Superstate this weekend, which is amazing. Bednarzik Symphonic Band and Oswego East Wind Symphony.
129Um so, congratulations to those directors, to those students. I know um I I very It was an insanely depressingly long time ago, but I very vividly remember my first time uh like the first note I played in Krannert Hall. So, um I hope you all had as magical an experience um as I did so very long ago. Um and I know we also had a lot of musical groups um perform and go to Six Flags this weekend. So, um they don't list those programs. So, I apologize for not being able to name all of them, but um congratulations to all those musicians and directors and hopefully uh everyone fully enjoyed themselves at Six Flags, but not too much. Um and yeah, I think that is it for me. Oh, one thing, we had I know
130we had a lot of lot of things for information tonight, but I just wanted to kind of Um one thing that kind of occurred to me as we're going through all of the RFPs and all of the stakeholders and um you know, the conversation about the SROs and our IGAs. Um I just think there's like a really nice theme of um just like critical reflection and um and like really examining all of the choices we're making and weighing our options and um reflecting on everything. So, I just want to just kind of shout out some kudos to everyone that's been making that happen. So, um thank you to the district team for always making sure that, you know, when we enter into any of these agreements, you're doing everything you can to make sure we
131get to uphold our responsibility um of fiscal towards the district. >> Yeah, and your our principles. >> Yes. >> Make sure they're worth Make sure they're worth upholding. Thank you for that. Um You know, while we uh three of us over here Heather and Dr. Kilgatti, um we attended along with another district employee, uh Oswego Chamber Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony. That was um >> It was very fun. >> Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Um it was uh so 43 years of uh Oswego Chamber and they've grown so much and um a lot of information was shared by the village and by um you know, all the movers and shakers in that room. Um a lot of business owners. >> Yes, yes. >> They said something like what was it like a 4%
132>> There's only a 4% like vacancy rate. It's like a 15-year low, which is good. We had four students receive scholarships that evening. Yeah, two from each of our high schools. Yeah, and um No, it was uh it was very nice. And then um I got to attend uh This isn't what I normally do. I don't normally go to these, you know, galas too much. Um but I went to a Kendall County Food Pantry gala on Saturday. Um donated quite a bit while I was there, but walked away with two door prizes, you know, type of situation. And they gave us some chocolates and things like that. But um Oh, there was a there was a live auction and somebody two people got like bourbon barrels you know, like I don't know. It lifted up
133and $8,000 each It was like And then with all two of us, that was essentially 56,000 food items. You know? >> Oh, wow. >> Just for one of that that bit. So, it was a successful night for them. Um I think it might have been their first one and more to come, I'm assuming. Probably not the last one, you know, that would seem pretty successful. Um so in the future, if you hear about that you know, everybody out there in the public, make make plans to attend. Um and I think that's it for our board comments today. We are moving on to our action item. This was a a thick agenda and we're getting through it. >> What is word? >> Yeah. >> Cruising. >> Let's keep on keeping on. >> All right. >> Yeah,
134I know. I know. I know what Erica's thinking. 12 12.1 Uh action item, approval of bills for payment. Can I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to authorize the payment of bills in the amount of $2,756,520.42 as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Mr. Serrano? >> Aye. >> Ms. C? >> Aye. >> Dr. Martin? >> Aye. >> Ms. Wenmouth? >> Aye. >> Dr. Murillo? >> Aye. >> Motion passes 5-0. 12.2 action item, approval of board meeting dates for 2026-2027. Can I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to approve the board meeting dates for 2026-2027 as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? I would like to just make note that um we are considering um you know >> committee of the whole and you know but the
135dates won't change and we can always add a an emergency date if needed um anything along those lines so um I just want to make sure that everybody up here kind of knew that that was the plan. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Uh >> add that I think part of that is really to increase community engagement in the board's work um cuz some of the committee meetings are not highly attended and this would be a way to um foster more community awareness about the board's conversation and the kind of questions that are arising as you've heard quite often from board members and so the idea of moving to an opportunity engage or hold a committee of the whole would be to really foster that kind of public available. >> So I I I >>
136I will expand on that since it was brought up and um you know one of the options is kind of it's like bringing the committee meetings to the committee of the whole and you know as I attend um I've been to many you know committee meeting um but you know at present I don't go very often but I've had to fill in quite a bit and a lot of the topics a lot of times the discussion ends up um well there's only two or three of us here >> Mhm. >> you know and so everybody would be able to participate as well so it would be a better board representation you know as well so it it's just these are considerations. >> And I think from a scheduling standpoint I mean I won't speak for
137all of the board members but I know for me personally like being able to I mean we have those you know every other Monday on the calendar already with our board meetings and then sometimes finding time with the committee meetings like the committee I'm on is great and I I get there maybe a few minutes late but I get there but like some of the other committees I was unable to engage in because of the time constraints so this would just be a better way to make sure that we are all available. >> Eventually. >> Mhm. >> We'll definitely bring it up and see what everybody thinks. >> Yep. Um Okay, great. >> Ms. Wenmouth? >> Aye. >> Dr. Martin? >> Aye. >> Dr. Murillo? >> Aye. >> Ms. C? >> Aye. >> Mr. Serrano?
138>> Aye. Motion passes 5-0. 12.3 action item approval of Lakewood Creek and the Wheatlands carpeted gymnasium flooring replacement proposal. Can I have a motion, please? >> Can't do this without smiling. I make a motion to approve Lakewood Creek and the Wheatlands carpeted gymnasium flooring replacement proposal as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> And any discussion? I think that >> No. As as a parent of kids who came back from PE with rug burn, I'm very excited about this. >> Yeah. >> We'll see. >> Ms. Wenmouth? >> Aye. >> Dr. Murillo? >> Aye. >> Mr. Serrano? >> Aye. >> Ms. C? >> Aye. >> Dr. Martin? >> Aye. >> Motion passes 5-0 and We have that 20-year golden buzzer. >> When does that start, tomorrow? >> Yeah. >> Tonight? Tomorrow? And thank you for the uh
139>> What What did we hear believe it when we see it? >> Well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't believe it when I'm walking on it. And we did get a very very informative email with a lot of visuals about some of the dust that accumulates in those carpets and and what it looks like during the cleaning, so thank you for that additional context. So, yes. >> Yes. Thank you. Um and 12.4 um action item approval of personnel report. Can I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to approve the personnel report as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Nope. >> Dr. Murillo? >> Aye. >> Dr. Martin? >> Aye. >> Ms. Wenmouth? >> Aye. >> Mr. Serrano? >> Aye. >> Ms. C? >> Aye. >> Motion passes 5-0.
140Um item 13.1, can I have a make Can I have a motion to adjourn? >> I make a motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right, we're