SD308 Board of Education Meeting Part 2 (04/27/2026)

001So we can stress and be advisor. We can over get a life, okay. Power went out and everything reset, so we're back. Um and we're going to let the Lexi continue here. And I'll just resume at the Oh, I'll restate the paragraph from before. Sure. Every student is different, but that's why accommodations like online resources can be extremely helpful, as they accommodate a large number of large number of conditions, mental and physical. That's why I believe it'd be a step in the right direction to bring back online classes for all students who need them. Thank you. Matei Bayma Hello SD308 board. My name is Matei Bayma. I am a freshman here at Oswego East High School and you might recognize me as I was here back in February to talk about the student run protest

002against ICE. I personally suffer from ADHD and anxiety, which I am actively being treated for. Yeah, my yeah, it impacts me daily. I suffer from procrastination as it sometimes get to a gets to a very bad point where I cannot focus on my work in the given moment. So I'll push things for later and I think that this is a thing that many students here in the SD308 can relate to. That's why when I went to take one of my classes as an online course after school, just as many others have done within the previous years, I was disheartened to learn that while my even though I know people personally who are taking it right now, they will no longer be offering it for future students to take as an initial course credit. My main

003focal point here today is to make sure our district begins to take more initiatives to support students with needed accommodations, starting by online classes being offered again for the next and following school years. Um, I believe that a few papers have been handed out to you guys that um I started a petition about 1 week ago or last Tuesday. Um, and already we have amassed 130 signatures. I went and printed out a sheet of everybody's name who signed, and I removed it I removed eight who were not in our area. So, that should be about 122 signatures from people in our local area who would like to see these courses brought back. It is truly a testament to show how deeply people in our community care about this issue. While it is only my first

004year in high school officially, I've been in middle school Sorry, I have been in the middle of a constant fight between my family and the district on and off for the past 3 years. It has been brought to my attention time and time again that this district fails to meet the needs of their students with students ripped of their IEPs, 504s, and accommodations either not being followed through on or plainly disregarded. Every day is a fight or a struggle for basic survival for a student with disabilities or mental challenges in the SD40A district. Multiple students have confided in me who wish to remain anonymous since starting this petition of how programs that rely that students rely on are being extremely limited such as the summer and after school programs and many other initiatives previously previously

005offered in the district that have offset their future plans and schedule. A student in our district with accommodation plans are not followed through on with teachers being uninformed, uncoordinated, and quite frankly a mess with absolutely no structural integrity. Steps to address these issues need to be taken even when meetings with teachers, principals, and district administrators and counselors uh happen, they all seem to come with the same result, either extra struggling and overall just the same results, just constant the same information being repeated over and over again. So, I come here today to make sure our voices are heard and that these accommodations stop being stripped away from our students. While these classes are not exclusively for students suffering from learning impacting conditions, they benefit these students benefit the most from these classes being offered. That

006is why it is such a matter to us students, right? Alongside the the names of the people who have signed the petition, I provided a page of comments that people left on our petition page. These should uh be included with different students here at Oswego East and Oswego High School. I also added a list of resources I used um and and a little explanation of why I think they're relevant. However, unfortunately, the recent decision for the district's following school year to strip away access to most online courses as an initial course credit is a step backward for inclusivity and educational equity. This decision ignores the diverse needs of students like us who require alternative learning formats to thrive academically. In recent years, the importance of online learning has become increasingly evident, offering a chance to

007many students who struggle in traditional settings to actually learn and enjoy their studies. Research has shown over and over again that online education can lead to improved outcomes for students who need a more personalized approach, catering to their strengths and allowing them to learn at their own pace when utilized correctly. While I get that some concerns of students' performance were brought up regarding online courses, a better designed option for students who rely on after school programs alongside their actual in-school classes are desperate need for our students to excel. Some students may not learn well in every online class, but the same goes for as in person. You cannot completely match every student to their learning style, but by providing more options, it most definitely is a step in the right direction. That is exactly why

008this district should keep flexible options available, but use them in the right way for the right students instead of treating a one format as the answer for everyone when people clearly are different and have so many attitudes of possible issues that may arise. Even when it comes to credit schedules and balancing home life. I would like to see a return of these classes brought and I will continue to put pressure on the district to make sure that every student has a chance of promising education and high school experience. Possibly a reworking how these classes operate could be implemented such as a more in-person sections of the core classes and more work given or perhaps a weekly timer to help motivate students to genuinely work through and understand the materials or a weekly goal of how

009much time a student should spend. All these are possibilities to help reform the courses if needed. So, I do not see any major excuse of how the district can strip these classes away. I'm not asking the district to choose online over in person, but to allow a hybrid model. The availability of these online courses in the districts have provided these students, friends, family, and so many people with the opportunity to excel and genuinely learn according to their unique learning needs. Allowing these people to truly grasp and absorb knowledge on a self-paced after school online learning workspace. Coming in for tests to check in with their assigned teacher. This should be seen as a support, not a privilege reserved for only students who have failed. If anything, it should be used to help students succeed earlier

010rather than letting them fall behind and then catching up to them then. Our students need to be thought of as individuals with people with futures that genuinely benefit from these accommodations, not just a one-size-fits-all classroom. We urge the SD308 district to reconsider its decision and reinstate online courses. We should work together to foster an inclusive and supportive educational environment where every student has the chance to succeed regardless of their personal circumstances. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you both. Jessica Quintero Good evening, board and staff. My name is Jessica Quintero and I am the HSA president at Plank Junior High. I also serve on the BPAC board and I'm a proud parent of two students in the district. Um tonight I would like to take a moment and share some wonderful experiences we've had

011at Plank Junior High and highlight the incredible sense of community within our district. Thanks to our wonderful admin team at Plank. First, I want to recognize the outstanding support we've received from students at Oswego East High School. This year, the high school volunteers have helped tremendously with our HSA events. We want those parents to volunteer, but sometimes that doesn't work out. So, our high school students have helped with our school dances, our hot chocolate run. Their willingness to give their time and energy has made a huge impact and we are incredibly grateful for their help. I would also like to give a special thanks to Ms. Ann Hiltonbrand. She is um my point of contact at As We Go High School um and she has really made this um connection and work effortless and seamless.

012Um I sent her the sign-up links and she takes care of the rest. Um I get all these notifications about uh students wanting to help us. Um another highlight that I would like to share is one of my favorite initiatives at uh Plank Junior High through the HSA. That is our teacher grant program. Each year we allocate, we the HSA, allocate $3,000 to support our teachers for classroom needs. And teachers are invited to submit their grant request. This year we had a request by Ms. Tutter. She is a teaching assistant working with SpEd and Rice students. She submitted a request for adaptive physical education equipment. When I saw the request, I immediately thought about my very good friend Ms. Katrina Cayetano who is a physical therapist in our school district. Ms. Cayetano's son, Avery Card

013at his young age of 15 years old was an amazing young man and a quadriplegic. He sadly passed away last year. He was also a triplet. In his honor a scholarship fund was created. Through that fund, the Rice students at Plank Junior High were a able to receive a thousand a thousand dollar donation to help purchase adaptive equipment they needed. The HSA board also approved $750 for that request. This moment truly felt full circle. Physical education was one of Avery's favorite parts of school. It is incredibly meaningful that this first donation is supporting something so close to his heart. It is a beautiful way to carry his legacy. In addition to her generous donation, Ms. Caietti reached out to both high schools where students will now be working creating adaptive equipment as part of their

014course work for future needs. I'd like to recognize the students at As We Go High School for their help. Uh Ms. Hiltonbrand, Ms. [clears throat] Caietti, and the Avery Card Scholarship Fund for their generosity and their vision. This is what makes our community so special. People coming together, supporting one another, creating opportunities that truly make a difference. I am incredible incredibly proud to be part of Plank Junior High, our HSA, and this school district. Not just as a parent, but as an avid volunteer. Like Dr. Doc Like Dr. Kilgatti said, this was not part of my speech. I added it. Um teacher appre With teacher appreciation around the corner, if anyone any parent or community member um was is wondering how to show their appreciation for our uh staff at school district 308. All of

015our staff. You can volunteer at their kids' schools, support their PTOs, PTAs, HSAs by being involved and by donating to the many events that we host each year. With that, I would like to say thank you. And um I am sharing uh so Avery, a little bit about Avery. He was I mean, this kid it was amazing. He sca uh he um uh played lacrosse, hockey um he water surf, he swam. I mean, he did a lot of things. And he was a quadriplegic. Uh Miss Cayalti is um with the help of Imagination Print um has come up with this hashtag live like Avery. And if anybody wants to donate uh the funds that are collected through this initiative will help other schools. Uh Plank Junior High was the first one to receive it, but

016I cannot wait to see where this goes. Um again, thank you so much for your time tonight. Thank you. Christina Hodge Hello. Christina Hodge, uh community member here since 1999. Hello Board of Education and Dr. Kilgati. I'm here tonight to inform the community regarding some serious concerns that are happening in our district. I'm going to assume that the Board of Education is aware of the following information. The Illinois State Board of Education has launched a new cyclical monitoring system that's going to oversee special education programs. Instead of just reviewing paperwork once a year, the state now uses a rolling 6-year audit cycle to perform deep-dive evaluations of every single school district. Oswego Oswego School District is in cohort three. This means that their formal monitoring window will begin in the 2026-2027 school year. Why is

017the district in cohort three? The Illinois State Board of Education does not go in alphabetical order. Districts are placed into six different cohorts based on a risk-based assessment. Being placed placed in an earlier cohort one, two, or three indicates that the state has identified specific data points that require closer attention sooner. There are many examples of why districts such as ours could be in one of these earlier cohorts in this program. Some of the examples could include performance gaps, recurring issues with meeting legal deadlines for evaluations and secondary transition programs or plans. State complaints a history of formal complaints or due process complaints where the district was found to be out of compliance. Equity concerns, data regarding how the district identifies or supports specific groups such as minority or underserved students. Another concern could be

018lack of transparency. Of grave concern to me is that the outward-facing communications to the community from the district is that they care deeply about the students' overall well-being, specifically including their mental health. However, internal communication is quite different. Should a student go to receive the treatment that they need to care for their mental health, behind the scenes, the district could refer to that student is going to a psychiatric ward for help, which is very stigmatizing, very disappointing. It's not going to encourage students to go and get the help that they need. Another reason why districts could be earlier or on have risk-based assessment early in the cohort could be restricted placements. High number of students being placed in separate or segregated settings rather than the general education classroom. For example, say the district's transition programming.

019If it defaulted to 100% special education, that would be a violation of least restrictive environment, which is something that the Illinois State Board of Education takes very seriously. How this is different than it used to be. In the past, monitoring was a desk audit. Now, it'll be a self-assessment assessment, but there will be a state deep dive. ISBE will monitor and then will come to perform verify verification review. They'll pull a random sample of student IEP files to see if the district self-evaluation was accurate. There was a public forum meeting not long ago regarding the district finances. The very end of that recording, there was a reference to the fact that if a student or parent goes through the process and the district has to fight, quote, the parents on the back end and they

020win, furthermore, they could be responsible for attorney fees. The truth is if a student and a parent is the prevailing party, that means that the district did not provide that student with a free appropriate public education. Providing students with free appropriate public education should be priority concern, not fighting parents or in students on the back end. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Sorry. All right. Oh, section eight. 8.1, school board member reports. >> Good afternoon board. Um, just want to thank you everyone for being here. So today we're going to give our final update on SSAC. Um, so at our previous meeting we celebrated SSAC's accomplishments and you know, we had everyone attend and it was just a great time to get together and celebrate everything. Um, we did

021get a chance to reflect on SSAC and to see how um like how we've done this year, our progress and to define it into terms of glows and grows. So in terms of glows, so what went successful this year, what we did right. Um you know, being a part of other organizations that focus on student voice like coalition helped navigate SSAC. Conversations were specific to current student needs. Students were able to freely share thoughts, opinions, and ideas without fear. All students were heard despite their personal background. This was truly a nurturing environment for everyone. Everyone listened attentively and being a part of SSAC built student confidence in everyone. Space was created that was comfortable and allowed students to be vulnerable and grow. It created we we were able to create structured action plans and we

022implemented those. When we engaged in work, roles were assigned based on student preference, but everyone was encouraged to try something new and to build confidence and gain experience. And SSAC had the opportunity to partner and collaborate with student groups at both high schools that focus on amplifying student voice to gain that support. And SSAC board ambassadors and alternates met with Ms. Prior every Wednesday. Weekly meetings should continue with whomever is leading SSAC next year. And this overall helped us stay organized and prepared and practice leadership and preparation for meetings with the entire SSAC group. Hello, good evening everyone. Hello. What a rainy afternoon. Not afternoon, evening. Yeah. So, as we discussed our accomplishments throughout SSAC, we also wanted to talk about some goals for the future of SSAC and future board ambassadors and alternate and

023alternate. Some areas that we looked at was attendance. Um SSAC uh is full of very talented and involved and heavily involved students um who are in sports, extracurricular activities, clubs, organizations, so attendance was inconsistent, but we hope um in the future we have um multiple meetings per month, bi-week bi-monthly, but attendance meeting times that are shorter. Um a lot of students recommended maybe morning meetings from the times between 6:50 a.m. and 7:20, so right before first period starts in the high schools. Um we also talked about communication with SSAC members through Remind, an app that a lot of teachers and organizations use to directly contact students. Um most students usually check text messages more than their email and G chats. Um we talked about working more on planning first semester execution and the second semester,

024especially with coming with our lunch and learns that we had to push back, but we executed it um successfully in the end. Uh we talked about clarity in communication when reoccurring when recruiting students from other clubs. So, we want to expand SSAC uh not necessarily like if you were to interview, you're automatically in SSAC, but we were talking about how we wanted to kind of expand it to all groups which has extracurriculars in both high schools. Uh, that would recruit more students to join and it would advertise more to increase membership. And a recommendation that we had for our board members was that in the interview process maybe mentioning if you were not chosen to be an ambassador, do you still want to be a part of SSAC and kind of understand what our um,

025organization/club really is about. And if they're willing to prioritize SSAC as a commitment, especially since a lot of them are upperclassmen, are you willing to commit your time cuz it is a huge time commitment. Um, and then with that, um, upcoming events, we have Oswego High and Oswego East prom coming up next week. It's really exciting and then we are followed with our graduation the next week. Uh, but David and I wanted to take this time to kind of give our thanks everyone. So, I'll hand over the mic to him. Yeah. Are you coming next board meeting? We got to We have a chance to thank you guys. Uh, One more. You got to give us one more. I mean, I'll see you guys the same week, so. Okay, we'll talk. Okay. No, honestly, um,

026this has been such a great experience. I I would just like to sincerely thank all of you who have made this experience, you know, so meaningful. You know, being able to be on this board, the tradition of celebrating the success of accomplishments from staff and students has, you know, truly uplifted the culture in this building and and throughout SD 308 and I can feel that impact. It's like not often that a student can gain such a rare experience and participate in such important matters. So, I just truly want to thank you for that. Witnessing all the projects begin to grow um, and come come fruition with all the presentations, really is very eye-opening for me. And being able to provide my perspective at times has, you know, not only strengthened my confidence in speaking up,

027but has also built my ability to adapt to the situation at times, communicate clearly, and collaborate, you know, with others from different backgrounds. You know, this experience has helped me develop stronger leadership skills, learned how to, you know, engage with different viewpoints, for sure. It's also taught me how, like, the importance of being committed and being consistent. It helped me understand like how the little details truly do make a difference, and how your small actions, like being prepared, being engaged, being attentive, you know, they really do add, you know, a meaningful effect to the progress over time. And, um, I can assure you that next year's board, like, I already had like a couple friends approach me, um, this past week, and they were talking about applying for the board. I'm like, "Yeah, you should

028definitely apply. It's a great experience to, you know, for you, and you'll learn a lot, so I'm, you know, grateful for next year's board." I just want to take this time to also thank like all the teachers and students who were able to attend the luncheon learn, and help make it such an engaging and, you know, valuable experience. Um, thank you to Ms. Plier, Dr. Waller, Dr. Campbell, and even uh Dr. Mitchell for your mentorship, guidance, and, you know, constant support throughout this journey. Like, your advice and encouragement have truly made a lasting impact on me. You know, thank you to the members of this board for your time, dedication, commitment to supporting students and ideas. You know, again, seeing how you're making such a big impact in today's world is is truly, um, gratifying.

029You know, thank you, um, to even like all the members of SSAC for the work that you put in, the ideas that you shared, and the passion that you bring to every meeting. It's truly a wonderful opportunity that I experienced. Finally, a thank you to our board members Joel, Manal, and even Sahara. I truly couldn't have done this without you. I'm going to I'm going to miss all the, you know, time that we had together. Um I really do appreciate the memories we shared and the work we've accomplished this year. It's truly been an incredible opportunity to work beside you. And good luck in college, and thank you everyone. Thank you. I can say the same way about Daywake and Manal and Joel as well. They were so amazing to work with this year. But,

030as my SSAC board notes and updates have come to an end for the very last time, I just wanted to take this time to thank every single board member here on the Board of Education of SD308, my teachers and team for helping me throughout my growth this year and the years before this. Becoming a student board ambassador has been nothing short of amazing. This opportunity not only gives me the opportunity to voice concerns I personally have, but also the concerns of many students across my own high school and district. This opportunity has allowed me to be the voice for students who might not always feel heard or seen. It has brought me into the spirit of conversation that at times are joyful and at others uncomfortable, but that's where I feel I have found a

031new sense of growth within myself. This position has not only allowed me to work more closely with the student body, but has also helped me to fully understand what it means to be a leader in my community. But I would But I would have never done it if it weren't for the teachers in those classrooms I walk into 5 days a week where it all started especially 4 years ago. I wanted to thank the Board of Education for seeing something in me to have upheld this important position and trusting I would give my 101%. I feel endlessly grateful I was given this opportunity and position, and I hope I met your expectations in my role. I also wanted to thank all teachers and staff members at Oswego High School who pushed me to become the

032best version of myself and speak my mind, even if I knew my voice would shake. I want to personally thank and shout out my amazing sponsor for SSAC this year, Ms. Prior, who has worked endlessly to make sure every student feels rightfully present in any area, in any building, and in any room. She truly has and will leave a legacy in this district and is an inspiration for many, and I will always carry her words of encouragement and coaching with me as I go into college. But, I would also like to emphasize to students who might be watching or listening at home or here today that as a student, if I had listened to every no or if I'd given up every time I was not acknowledged, I wouldn't be where I am here where

033I am today, sitting here. Throughout this year, I've witnessed many students use their voice, and it warms my heart to know that every student is willing to always speak up when they feel they need to, and they have their teachers right behind them to support them. What more can I say than that I'm proud of every student who has dared to come and voice change? It truly is inspiring, and I am grateful I have been present in this room to see it all unfold. With that, I want to emphasize to students across the district that your voice matters, and you are the future. You're the ones to push change and to make change happen within not only your school community, but anywhere and every everywhere you may go in life. So, as I graduate in

034exactly 2 weeks and 5 days, as of today, I'm not counting. Uh I hope I leave behind a message that whoever it may be sitting in this chair next year fully embodies what it means to be a leader and someone willing to speak up for those who can't. Thank you so much, everyone. Well, we'll see you in 2 weeks and 5 days. Excited to see you guys there. Um you know, I I did have question because you brought up, you know, ways to improve. You know, we were actually talking about that right after the interview process. What could we do better? Um how can we make it a better environment? How can we help you shine? Um you know. Anything to add? No, I was just going to say thank you, both. I You both

035have done such an amazing job not only like your leadership with the student event, which was I mean obviously all of our board meetings are fantastic but that was absolutely the best one and I'm sure we all agree. Um but also your constant representation of not only your own voices but the voices of your peers which was great and then I think the thing that I was most impressed by with both of you is like how comfortably you inhabited your roles and how you just felt so confident in asking questions and like even um you know, no offense Mr. Obafemi, we love your financial presentations but but I was actually really surprised that you all like had some follow-up questions for him and things like that. So um so just thank you for being so

036engaged and and you both did a beautiful job. Absolutely. And congratulations on graduating in 2 weeks and 5 days. What >> [laughter] >> I'm not counting. Well, if you think about anything that we can do better in the interview process, just let us know. Shoot us an email. Because you know you're going to be thinking about that. 2 weeks and 2 [laughter] weeks and 6 days. Any uh Thank you again. Thank you guys. Thank you. All right. 8.2 Board member comments. Um So last week I got to attend the epic soccer event which was for junior high and high school students. Actually it was for students of all ages. Um it was a really cool event and I also attended the Best Buddies Walk on it was a Saturday. Um which also was really fun.

037Um I only made one lap so you all can come next time and beat me. >> [laughter] >> Uh and then um Epic is also hosting an event on Wednesday for um dealing with finances and special needs children and what you need to do to prepare. Uh so, if you're interested in joining that, it's online at 6:30 and the information is on their Facebook page. That's all I got. And so, um I've attended a lot of track meets last couple of weeks and I'm really excited about that. The girls track team, they're doing an amazing job right now. So, um they actually have a meet this upcoming Friday, but um they did an incredible job last Friday. Also, um I'm excited this week to attend the National Honor Society and so, I get a chance

038to celebrate an inductee and I'm excited about that. It's a mom. Um I just want to talk, you know, address um our student ambassadors. Thank you so much. Um early on in my leadership, I had um a principal who would open up all of our meetings and would say, "How are the students?" And we could not talk about anything else until we talked about our student needs. And so, it reminds me of that every time I listen to you all talk and share your thoughts, your opinions and how we can be better as adults because really we have to orient our decisions in you. And so, thank you for giving of your time and making sacrifices because I know you can be other places, but you choose to be here and helping us to make

039informed decisions. So, thank you so much. I don't have any. Um I have to reiterate what everybody said. Thank you all so much for all of your time, all of your effort. Um we know it's we know it's not easy. We know it's not always fun, but you definitely contributed uh probably more than you even realize. So again, thank you and uh and good luck. And we'll see you we'll see you. Yeah, yeah, [laughter] exactly. Um the other thing I just wanted to bring up real quick, I wanted to give props to the people that put together the college and career fair couple weeks ago. >> Um I I stopped by. It was here at here at East and it was huge. Um you know, the gyms had were both filled with colleges and in

040the community room downstairs had careers. I I thought it was very well attended. I thought it was very informative. There were there were lines in front of certain colleges. Um you know, not so long in front of others, but um I think it gave everybody a really good opportunity and a really good exposure to a lot of different schools that they might not otherwise have have seen or considered. So, again, uh congrats to everyone who participated in that. And that's all I have. All right. Um I think the Gear It Forward team is heading down to worlds. Nice. So, safe travels through the storms and good luck at worlds. And last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Prairie State Middle School Concert Band Festival. Um where I saw Thompson 7th Grade Band. Uh

041so, thank you to Mr. Daniel and Ms. Kleinmeier. They sounded great. And I know the Traughber Wind Ensemble also performed and did a great job. And um I know Dr. Maxwell and Mr. Peno from Traughber were some of the coordinators for the festival. So, um thank you for for doing that both for the for the arts and for the kids. And well done to all the teachers and the young musicians that participated. Um this past couple weeks I was I attended the play play A Night Under the Stars. It was sweet, smart, funny, um well acted. They were very talented. And what I will say is that they haven't put on a play for like 3 years and they came out, you know, roaring. Hopefully they could continue doing that. Um it College Career Fair

042was great. And you know what? Um I want I want to add to a little bit of the, you know, you brought up a great point and so did you that, you know, your impact was probably more than you probably know. Um Often times when we're having discussions, you know, we can't talk more than, you know, one one-on-one. Um your your voice is referenced. So we, you know, like, but but Dominic. No, no. You know, like, so not but Dominic, but you know, like I'm >> And Dominic, [laughter] you know, um so I just wanted you to know that. Um so it's we we take everything you say. Um try to absorb it. So. It makes it past these meetings. Yeah. So. We talk about you behind your back. That's what he's trying to say.

043[laughter] Oh, in a good way. >> That was the deal. In a good way. Yes. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And in a well-intentioned way. In a good way. Um So I don't think there's anything else. Um 8.3. We're having our a board for continuation of our board discussion. Um Yeah. And Heather will be leading us today. >> All right, so last time we did this was I believe last month. We talked about how the agenda was developed. And now we're moving on to protocol number two, which is about asking questions about items on the meeting agendas. So I well, I I think most of the crowd that we attract at these meetings knows the rules, but um the meeting agendas are released um by at least Friday before and so we get a chance to look

044at that. As board members, we try to get our questions into the district leadership um in advance so they have the data that they need to answer the questions um when the board meeting rolls around. So, um just for the protocols, asking questions about items on the meeting agenda A, whenever possible, board members will contact the superintendent with questions on the agenda prior to the board meeting. B, board members understand that although they are asking questions prior to the meeting, they have a right to ask the questions at the meeting as well. Board members have the option to ask questions prior to the next board meeting um if doing so helps with meeting efficiency. And C, board members will request data in alignment with the strategic plan. Data shared with one board member will be

045shared with all. Interpretation of data should include input from relevant staff or experts when needed. So, that just kind of sums up first of all like what our process is when we do um look at those uh agendas, we have the opportunity to ask questions and it's just so that we kind of um like so the district team has an opportunity to prepare their data and their response, but also so we all don't ask the same question six, seven times. Um so, board members, if anyone has anything to add or question or change or review there, then speak on up. Pretty pretty simple. I I think the only thing that I'd add just for everybody else's sake is that a lot of times we'll bring up questions and we'll bring up questions in a session

046like this and whoever the respondent is will have an answer prepared, which sounds like they may have been asked prior to and chances are they have been. Um to your point, Dr. Martin, yeah, we we'd like to have the discussion so that the person being asked the question has the time to prepare an appropriate answer so we're not getting hitting anyone off guard um and it just ends up being more efficient and more informative. I think it also provides good opportunities for follow-up then if it does if it's going to lead to a discussion that's relevant or if it's going to kind of meander into something that might be more appropriate like at a different meeting or with a different topic. I was just going to say it's helpful because often times it supports like

047your own schema, right? It's really about um foundational knowledge and that you're not asking a lot of questions like I'm really building some background and some understanding um before we're trying to make a decision and then also thinking about um questions that's relevant to um the community and what I mean about relevant like the community may already understand certain background like certain background things about the topic, but then as we think about, you know, how we're moving forward being intentional with our questions as well. So, you might not hear all of them, but some of them is really 20 questions is just background knowledge if that makes sense. I think the communication is also helpful cuz we all um have very like different schedules throughout the week and so some people are able to look

048at the agenda as soon as it's posted. Other people might not get to it until I was going to say super late on Friday night or maybe Saturday or Sunday depending on on the person and the week and what else is going on with life and work and family, but um but kind of seeing the questions that have come up and knowing kind of how the conversation will go um not only what information's been added to it through the questions, but also how the conversation's going to go in the meeting um is always really helpful. One thing that we've um So, if you don't get your question in or you know, during the meeting if uh if if the answer is not available to them that they just got the question right at that meeting.

049Um there's an opportunity for them to you know, inform us after the fact. Um, and so what we built in, I you probably notice this is after we um, go to action items, we say, "Any further discussion?" And that's because you might have new information that you might bring up or anything along those lines, which just happened. Lightning behind you. Sorry. Oh, okay. That's pretty cool, Dominic, actually. Oh. >> [laughter] >> So, question. Light effects now. The power, Dominic. Oh, jeez. Um, >> [laughter] >> So, there was um, so that that was something that we we changed. And the other thing is I, you know, I I I'm going to bring back to the audience of this discussion a little bit is um, you know, sometimes you know, we get questions um, or he he'll

050get questions and it it's not clear, you know, kind of like how it like the interpretation part, right? You know, like what how can we help you? Um, you know, sometimes there's going to be follow-up and it's important for us to kind of give that context before they answer a question that they're not sure what they answer and spend hours doing so. Um, you know, but that's one thing that that courtesy that we need to make sure we're providing. I also Yeah, go ahead, Evan. I was going to add, I also think having been on the board for 3 years now and then having watched the board prior to this, this process or this protocol really builds like a good relationship and trust with the district administration. That when we're we're coming prepared to the

051the the board meeting, they kind of know uh, some questions we might ask. If we have any questions, they're not like on the like surprised about the questions um, or feel like uh, put on the spot in regards to the questions that we have. That being said, you know, I'm I often ask questions that I didn't have Sunday night, but I have Monday night cuz I've heard something else from the board or something popped into my mind. That's accurate. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I want >> [clears throat] >> I want to just say that our posture is one of success for our students and so the power of the board and also the public. And so when questions come in, it really helps us really vet our ideas and make sure we're working towards and

052if something is we don't know, we'll say we don't know and we will follow up and do the best we can and if it's something that needs to be delayed, um which is why I would say that often times we do take more time on certain decisions because we want to make sure we're able to get to the right or at least develop in the right direction that we can reflect on future. So, I just I want to just offer again both for the board and just say that our team really appreciates the questions and we also worked and there was a comment about the strategic plan and alignment which is that with 17,000 students, we could get 34,000 parent questions in any day. I'm not recommending that about a particular topic of sorts. So,

053I think it's always we as a team always have to vet where is that question landing and what is it related to in terms of prioritizing the time because time is not limitless. Um and so when we have to work very hard, our team to ensure that when we get questions, is it aligned? Is it the question at the right place, which is different than the particular topic, but I'm going to say that the board questions are always related to helping us. Is this connected to the strategic plan? Yes or no. Thank you. I think just for some additional context, if anyone is watching that is not frequently watching, um we are like the reason one of the reasons this is necessary is because we we're not allowed to just get together and discuss this

054stuff without being streamed um because of the open meetings act. So, we can only like Dominic alluded to earlier, we can we I mean I can call Dominic and have a conversation or I can call, you know, Mary Jo and have a conversation but we cannot have board conversations. It is it is a a two-person conversation and that is it. So, we don't really get to have prior discussions or kind of reach any consensus and and like I said with all of us on different schedules like even if we wanted to find out what everyone was thinking about any particular item that would not be possible. Like I don't even nobody nobody would have that time to do that. It would take a month to figure out where everyone stood on something. But but just

055for that context. So, it kind of is a way that these processes are streamlined while still you know, staying within the bounds and requirements of the open meetings act. Any other discussion on this or Okay, we're trying to keep this to about a 10-minute discussion or less. Um Okay. Um 9.1 Approve consent agenda. Thanks. Thank you. All right, can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, please? I make a motion to approve >> good night. I make a motion to approve all items under consent including 9.1 minutes from the Board of Education meeting on April 13th, 2026 open and closed sessions, 9.2 to acknowledge the FOIA request received by the district, 9.3 to approve a resolution to request Kendall County land cash in the amount of $543.55. Second. Any discussion? No. Ms. See?

056I. Dr. I. Dr. Martin? I. Mr. Serone? I. Ms. Wenmouth? I. Dr. Murillo? I. Motion passes 6-0. Information item 10.1, financial information. Thank you, Mr. President. We uh we included the uh the financial information for the end of February in the uh Oh, in the package there. And uh the the data is in line with what we expect at this time of the year. There was no uh no variance uh of an outlier. So, the budget uh budget to actual is where we need for it to be. Revenue to uh what was budgeted, as well as going back data for the last 5 years, everything is in line to what we expected. And as far as the uh CPI data for the month of February, the increase was uh 30 basis point, which is in

057in line with what we've been expecting. Now, the one that we'll bring next month will be a little different. For the month of March, I think the CPI for that month which will be in the next month's uh memo was 90 basis point, which uh is the highest it's been since 2022. So. It's and mostly due to oil prices and Yeah, I think that was yeah. Absolutely. [clears throat] Oil prices, energy prices is the uh the big driver that increase. Yeah, with War Dogs down, I you touched on the things that I had looked at. So, did anybody have any any questions um written down or anything? I don't like paper. I just fly through it. Written >> [laughter] >> written down on like paper? We have the internet. You could have typed it. No,

058I yeah, [laughter] I just No, I'm glad that I I made sure to look at it. Everything for sure. All right. Um Going to 10.2, the Lakewood Creek and the Wetlands carpet and gymnasium flooring re- flooring replacement RFP. And is that also you, Mr. Owen Family? I will I will take it up and then I'll have uh Mr. Shaw to uh close it out. Oh, okay. So, um what uh we did an RFP for the uh replacement carpet at Lakewood Creek and um and Wetland. Those carpets are original to the building. And we can only imagine that's the same carpet they used to eat on and also to to play sports on. And they're original to the building. And you know, so >> We know there's lots of organic material. >> [laughter] >> So, Thank

059you, Mr. Shaw. >> as the as far as the funding It's very dirty. I know that. >> the community can understand that, too. If the board remember back in November of of last year, the the district applied for school uh maintenance grant and we were awarded that maintenance grant. And that's actually paying for 50,000 of the 121,000 Oh, okay. Very nice. uh submission that we get from the RFP. So, we're coming out of pocket for 71,000. But, those carpets were long replacement. And being in the gym, I was trying to just imagine that. Yeah, and the and and again What color? Just out of curiosity. >> Lakewood Creek former Lakewood Creek parent, I can tell you they are absolutely Oh, I can't believe [laughter] it. Okay. Yeah, that that's why yeah, when the with the

060long-term plan that they were we were unique in our usage of carpet. Somehow I missed that. I was reading it this Saturday and I said this is a typo. There's not Okay. What is the reason we put carpet in the elementary school? Gym. Gym. It was cheaper. It was cheaper [clears throat] back then. It was the thing to do. Yeah. It was probably just capital you know. I think back then it was also a safety feature. They thought the carpet it might be somewhat softer for the smaller children. K through five. Um but yes, please. >> have to say it was value engineering is what I would say. Value engineering is when you building a building and you looking for every single week of court corners and save money. So the space wasn't repurposed. It's

061not in a repurposed space. Now that you know it's the gym. The original That was the intent. I mean don't they have grass >> only two gyms that we have that have ever had were fancy. I have I have spent some time at a grade school in Yorkville that also has carpeting. So yeah, in their gym it's not just us. Not that that's anything to be proud of. That's right. Yeah, let's just to confirm we're replacing it with flooring, correct? That is correct. Not like shag or a >> [laughter] >> I was I was I was wondering why it um you know, kind of leap leap frog some of the other items but it sounds like we had a grant. So that's how we it's a We actually have one of my team members in

062the finance department who went to the school who remember uh playing in the carpet. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Yeah, her and her daughter have both experienced the Weiland Okay. Yes. All right. Generations have enjoyed these gyms. Not [laughter] for long. Well, I guess End of an era. I've asked my questions. Anybody else? And to Dr. God's point, I think is is is important to point it out that we are replacing it with uh vinyl uh vinyl tile. We're not doing anything fancy. They will last longer and they're easier to clean and they're easier to make shine when you when you get in there. Wait, is it the square tiles or is it like sheet vinyl? It's a square tile. Okay. >> Which means that if one goes bad, you can just pop it out and

063put another one in without replacing the whole thing. So, it's something that's functional and also economical. It's a large space. Any Thank you. Mr. Oufemi. All right. 10.3 the science science and Spanish contemporary geography curriculum resources. And thank you for your uh patience. I'm going to hurry in case the power goes out again. Yeah. All right. So, hi board. We are representing the science and the multilingual courses that we have gone through and done our stage one and stage two this year and we are looking um to inform you on the resources that we would like to move forward with. Mhm. I have a clicker. So, I'm Dr. Jen Cooper Weldon, the executive director of high schools. This is Kelly Waldron, ML program coach. John Roth, science department chair at OHS. So, when we're going

064through and we're looking at our curriculum and we're looking at our scope and sequence curriculum maps um and looking at our resources, we really want to make sure that our resources align to our students. So, we're want to make sure that it's the rigorous, that it's aligned to standards, but that it also is going to have that culture and climate aspect. So, that when we are looking at our resources, we want to make sure that the students see themselves, but also that we are providing resources that are accessible to all students. So, for science, we focused on three of our core classes. We focused on biology, chemistry, and Earth and Space Science. And so, our review team was very large. We had myself, we had the AP of curriculum instruction from OE, Kurt Locksco. We

065had a dean, we had a both department chairs, and then we had a a variety of science teachers representing all of the different courses, and then also having multilingual and special education teachers involved. Science is unique in that it's been working on their curriculum map and scope and sequences for several years um and close to a decade, and we're now finally to the point where we have landed the plane. We are We have our curriculum map. We have our scope and sequence, um which is something that the team has been working on for several years, and we're finally able to say that we have those with common assessments um that will be ready to implement in the fall. And so, we worked prior to the school year with lots and lots of conversations happened. Wanted

066to make sure that we were all in alignment and focused on the next gen science standards. Um and And in January, we pulled the team together and we actually started putting down on paper what our curriculum maps and our scope and sequences were. Then we started working on our common assessments and then we started looking at a variety of resources. And so John will walk through the different resources that we have um chosen based off of the ones that we have brought in vendors. Um we had one that was um zoomed in from England, which was amazing. Um it was like 3:00 in the morning for them, but it was 2:00 in the afternoon for us. It was great. Um and then going through, looking at everything, making sure that we have our resources, we're

067presenting the resources for information to you now. We will then put it on a 30-day review um and then in June we will come back and ask for um you guys to vote on if these are the resources that you approve for us to use moving forward. So when we were looking at our resources, there were several things that we wanted to consider. One, we wanted to make sure that we were aligned to the next gen science standards, that we were looking at the social emotional learning standards, and that we were being culturally responsive in teaching leading standards. With a combination of all of those, we then wanted to make sure that the resources also aligned to our curriculum maps, our scope and sequences, and the common assessments that we were creating, um and the

068course objectives. When we were actually going and diving deeper into the resources, we wanted to make sure that they were hands-on. We wanted to make sure that they were inquiry-based and that they were interactive. When I was first came into the district, I realized that the last time we had done any type of curriculum um renewal for the science department was 20 years ago. Um so we really needed to update where we were, make sure that we have an online platform for the text so that we would have textbook resources in our classroom, but that students would then be able to use their Chromebooks and have access to the text at home. We also wanted to make sure that we had multi-lingual resources. Um and we wanted to be able to to make sure that

069we were pushing and offering those college and career um connections so that our students were still being able to increase their rigor, but also then see what the connections of the different science activities that they were doing and how it connected to careers. And then we wanted to make sure that we had the online resources for both the teachers and the students. I'm going to turn it over to John. He's going to walk you through the three different courses. Good evening, everybody. I will start with biology. So with our biology team, we have Mr. Scott Johnson, Ms. Britney Campos, and Ms. Katie Ludolph. Two resources are being uh proposed for us to adopt uh for our renewal cycle. One is going to be Biology Now by Norton, and then a secondary resource from BioZone, which

070is Biology for the NGSS. Um moving forward with both of those, there's going to be the actual text, uh the physical text, and we will have the online platforms. So just as a quick overview of what we really like about it is the fact that they are truly aligned to NGSS. They're written from the NGSS uh spotlight, right? Uh and so we're going to see story-based, phenomena-based uh anchors at the start of any unit, chapter, topic, and that way kids have something to continuously refer back to as they're learning and engaging. So we have different progressions throughout uh each of the different uh you know, uh chapters uh of our biology and we have created our scopes and sequences in order to use this resource along with it. Um but it is also not the

071complete driving force. So, it is something that is going to be supporting both our teachers and our students to be able to be successful in the program. This will be a This is more of like a It's almost like a workbook book setup where it is activity-based the whole way through with It's like a combo of a text to workbook type format where it's again 100% aligned to NGSS and they lay it out for the student as they're doing it. So, they see what the connection is to a standard to an objective as they're progressing through anything that they're doing within it. And moving on to our Oh. Here's the money stuff. So, here's our projected budget. It All the quotes that we have received at this time are linked in there for us and

072you can see we have future cost considerations for consumables that would come in upcoming years that we'd like to also investigate trial. Gizmos is something that we have used in the past and we would like to continue to use it to help support the programs especially from a interactive online perspective. Again, makes it way easier for us to differentiate and kind of access all of our diverse students. Is Gizmos like a thing or is it a online platform? >> It is an online platform. Yeah. All right, our chemistry team. I'll let you guys just read them. I'll keep moving. So, this is living my chemistry. Uh so, we're looking at their fourth edition. This is from DFW publishers. This again will be a physical text and online uh ebook with platform uh that'll be able

073to house student data for how they're progressing through again our NGSS. Uh this is the author here is actually one of the writers of the NGSS. So, it's a absolutely great resource uh for our efforts here. So, that first bullet point is uh very lightly stated, right? So, I it she wrote the NGSS. Uh so, uh again, it is from that perspective and that approach. It's going to be phenomena-based. It's going to be story-driven. Uh kids are going to be referring back and forth and learning more in an integrated way through the different uh through these different courses. Uh and what's really special about the online platforms that we've been looking for is that differentiation and that ability for us to uh kind of switch between different skill levels and different skills that are being

074taught throughout. And then, also having that access for our multilingual learners. Here's the money again. Same thing. So, future costs the Gizmos program is something that we pay for right now, uh but we pay for it kind of uh in my opinion inefficiently. Uh we do it on a one one-year renewal every year through our own budget. Uh but this what what we'll consider moving forward is being able to purchase it on a larger scale to help support what we do. And then, we have our Earth and Space Science Earth and Space Science team. Okay, two sources here. First one on your left is going to be Earth Science the third edition. Uh this again is going to have a very uh diverse uh online platform. It's beautiful in its design uh and the SmartWork

075GeoTour's Guided Learning Explorer 3D. It uses some really cool technology for us to explore uh via the internet since we can't pick our kids up and move them around the world to look at these things. They have some really cool uh the GeoTours and uh the Guided Learnings and Explorer 3D are really cool resources in order for us to really engage with some of the Earth Science. And then next to it is the laboratory manual that goes along with it. So again, it has uh NGSS aligned uh lab experiences for our students to engage with. So this is just a little bit further information about what the what the online platform allows us to have. Uh the SmartWork is another It is a uh student uh platform where we can see how they're progressing through

076different standards and different uh engineering practices. Uh and then again, just kind of their suite of things is quite nice to move through. And then again, the manual that goes right along with it. Uh it also uh drives into the GeoTour uh tours which uses Google Earth uh that really brings us to the actual places that we'd like our students to see. Uh and again, from that lens of there's some sort of anchor phenomena for everybody to come back to. Money again. Gizmos again. Uh so beyond what they have there, we also have been using this resource. If we find it to be something that um we we feel is no longer needed through this through this resource, then it's something we would consider not having. But it is again been very useful so far.

077I think that's going to end our sciences. And I'm going to turn it over. >> So, before you before you move on Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, go ahead. Wonderful. When you listed more than one resource >> Sure. for example, for biology, are you talking using both of those? Or either or? The biology now it would be yes, we're requesting both. >> Okay. >> The biology now is your formal textbook online huge platform that that again will house most of the data for our students. The other one is it's not a laboratory book, but it is a it's more of a lab guided activity book that again it's like a it's a cool hybrid between what a textbook would have and what a lab manual would have. >> okay, so or like a work through

078book, yeah. You're not necessarily presenting options, you're presenting proposals. >> is this is proposing what we would like to see for within our renewal that as Jen said, it's it's been a little bit of time, so Got it. And what's awesome about the biology one is it it brings it up to modern age. So, like there's a whole unit on the COVID vaccine and like things like that. Like that's how recent it all is and that's what our kids will be able to start engaging in with the resource. Awesome. I'm really happy to see a lot of this curriculum work for science coming through because I know that our district has has had a lot of stops and starts in regard to curriculum work and often I don't know why, but science sometimes is like

079number three on the list, right? It's language arts, math or math and language arts and then science. So, thank you for all the work. I do have a couple questions that were coming to mind as I was um listening to present. Are these Are the cuz I heard and I think for um um for biology, you have I forget what you called it, the Well, biology and chemistry, I think you said lab manual and like a workbook of some sort. Are those consumables or are those What we're So, what we're proposing for the biology, it wouldn't be a consumable. It would be a uh class set and then teacher resource. Um and then chemistry does not have like a secondary. It is just one program. Okay. >> so, but the Earth does have a a

080second program. Okay. Uh a lab book uh that again would be classroom set and teacher opportunities to be able to access all of its features. Okay. Thank you. But yeah, we wanted to have uh the ability to still have students physically and online access it, especially in scenarios where they may not be in the classroom uh to still experience those things. Mhm. So, in making our decisions, we shouldn't look at this as a 20-year investment. No. Or maybe you should. >> [laughter] >> That just keeps renewing and renewing >> I I know this is probably part of the rubric. >> have a cycle now. We [laughter] do have a cycle now. It's been a priority. >> I will say that as well. So, considering that cycle, these are 4-year preparations. So, to bring us back

081to this moment in the cycle. Um I know this is part of the rubric. Um I believe it's part of the rubric that you use you utilize to evaluate resources, but they have um language supports for multilingual learners. So, that's correct? >> Yes. All of them? Mo- Mo- that like you know, that drop-down button, it just goes forever. Just had to ask. Yep. Thank you. Any other questions? These are going to be available at the district office. Yeah, they'll be there for 30 days. Sorry, I have one more question. Yep. Yeah. Well, I would This is one package, so Yeah, there's Wait, there's Sorry, I'm the science guy. Yeah, I have one more question. Don't go anywhere. I was hoping you don't go anywhere. Next, Kelly, and then we'll come back to you, so Can

082I ask one more question about the science? >> Yeah. Are we moving on from science? We are. >> we're never moving on >> to never, but we're going over to those Spanish Um do we know if there As part of our process, do we consult with other districts that have used these resources to see if they are satisfied with them? And if so, what >> reached out um I mean, I'll I'll go ahead and talk We had reached out to uh multiple surrounding areas, and then we also reached out to all of those resources that were recommended. And then through this team, this is what we thought was uh bringing us to that level where we wanted to be in terms of really revamping the uh the the material that we had available for our

083students to learn. Many of our resources now are currently from the early 2000s. >> Yeah. And things have advanced. Uh so, yes, these were These were materials that have all have uh uh dates that are newer, so many of the districts have not even gone to this level yet. So, we would be uh beating some districts to the punch. >> Hey. Good. We'll be the cool kids. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. All right, on to Spanish contemporary human geography. This is our review team. And this is our staff. We had both the department chairs, teachers, gen ed social studies teacher, and uh multilingual, plus both EL coordinators. Our process has kind of been a fast one. Um in the fall you approved us to open our first ever Spanish chug that satisfied the TBE requirement

084that we needed to have. So, we have rapidly worked on creating a scope and sequence, curriculum maps, um aligning them to summative assessments, and we have reviewed three different um vendors and the team came back and they have come with a proposal tonight, and we're hoping that when we come back in June it will be approved. Our Spanish chug is there's a few things that have to happen. So, first we have to have SLA standards embedded in this because it is replacing that idea of an SLA class. So, we had to embed these within this course along with the social Oh, sorry. Spanish language arts. And chug. So, Spanish language arts standards are embedded within this course. Um along with the social studies standards. So, we have all of those and then we also have

085aligned it with the chug class that is the um monolingual class or the gen ed course. Um we >> Chug is contemporary human geography. Yes. Sorry. That's all right. Um There's other chug curriculum. >> [laughter] >> So, um we also added our social emotional learning standards and our culturally responsive teaching and learning standards. The material that they chose both of the novels so that they could include the Spanish language arts standards is from 2018 and the textbook that they've asked for. The reading levels are appropriate for high school and that was very important that they weren't too low with it being a Spanish text. The text is written in Spanish. They've both reviewed are well reviewed and they have awards. So our first is the novel Voces sin Fronteras and I will tell you I

086don't speak Spanish so if I butchered it, I apologize. This is the novel that they want to use to embed that Spanish language arts. And then this is the history book that they want to use and it's for Fisica y Humana del Mundo and that's the Spanish version and it matches very nicely with what they're doing in our contemporary human geography class. This novel is both English and Spanish so it helps with trans languaging which is probably the biggest part that they enjoyed. It is also vignettes so they could take parts and pieces of all of it and embed it in different units within the entire scope and sequence. The text the biggest selling point is it mirrors a lot of what the students will be doing in the contemporary human geography class so that

087students can have from the Spanish class Spanish version to the English version class they would be able to have conversations and be doing similar things. So it would mirror each other but they would be getting it Spanish which is important for them. Here's my cost proposal. >> [laughter] >> That's right. Um So, the both of the links are are um both quotes are linked there. And the only future cost is actually to replace novels if they're damaged, but we did pick hard cover books in hopes that we don't have to replace them and that we take very good care of them. >> [snorts] >> Yeah, are there any questions for Kelly? I do have a question about um is for the current human geography current human geography course in monolingual English, I'm assuming they have

088a textbook of some sort. Does that textbook do they offer a Spanish version of that textbook? And if so, what are the reasons for going with something else? They do not. Oh. So, um it was very hard to find contemporary human geography texts. Um actually, Dr. Campbell, when she was still here, helped to reach out to districts very very far away and we got a few more. Um for some reason, it's not a common class. Mhm. Um but our team had decided that's the class they wanted to use. So, it does not come in Spanish, but we did reach out to them at first. Okay. The I'm thinking of future curriculum um cycles, would it be best practice or to have this course along with the monolingual version of the course on the same cycle

089eventually? Is are they similar enough in regards to credit and etc. too? I would say moving forward it would be a good opportunity to have them work in tandem so that the Spanish version um does have similar standards. Um they have extra standards but that they do have similar units uh and But they'll have some a lot of the same standards as well, right? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Does the current textbook that you're um re re um proposing do they offer an English version of that textbook? Yes, they do. Okay. >> And the resource um but we have a English version on hand. One of our teachers probably have it right now cuz they were using it for some planning but yes. Are there um online components to this? There is a no Spanish online component.

090Mhm. And that's just I mean we I mean that seems like it was scarce findings as it was, right? Yeah. So there was um this is McGraw Hill. The other one was NatGeo. And then the third one came in and it wasn't really appropriate. It didn't even match what we were asking for. Okay. Okay. So then here's the wonderful chart that has how much all of it's going to cost um if we were to propose all of it. For the biology, the chemistry, and the Earth and Space Science um we looked at what we would consider like the Cadillac version where every student would have a textbook and have the digital online resources um and the staff all felt that the students didn't necessarily need a book that they would be taking home that most

091of them would just stick with their Chromebooks. Um so, we did not go with that. We also then thought, what would it be if we just had the on um textbooks in the classroom and not have the 4-year option um for the online component. And then we said, "Well, what about those students who are sick or who might be on homebound um or who want to learn more when they're outside of school?" Um so, we wanted to make sure that we had that online access. So, that's why we ended where we did in terms of coming up with three options, but then really going in the middle where we had a hybrid between the textbooks in the classroom as well as the online version for the students with their Chromebooks. But, all the students will

092be able to access Yeah. the material online. >> Yes. And the books would just be a classroom set. >> Yes. Okay. All of the science The science ones. >> But not would be available online, but not Sorry, I missed you. Mhm. Would we be using this curriculum for your honors chemistry or AP chemistry? Does it matter or is this So, right now we've focused specifically on the regular biology, the regular chemistry, um and the regular Earth and Space Science. So, essentially they would be using a different curricular resource. Okay. So, when we're looking at moving into next year, we're going to move into stage three for all four of these course teams. And so, during that time we're going to need to straight train the staff on their new resources, implement the proposed resources if

093they get approved. Um and then as we are looking at our common assessments, we will then be looking after each semester, reviewing the common assessment data, and then making any adjustments um and refining our instructional materials, um, to make sure that when we are ready for the 2027-2028 school year, that we have an even more refined curriculum for our students to use. Next steps. Um, so starting tomorrow, um, to your point, we will have at the district office all of the resources available so that anybody in the community can stop by with Miss Betty at door number one and be able to look at all of the resources. There will be a QR code in order for community members to scan and then provide feedback to the resources. And then on June 8th, we will

094be back, um, in order for you guys to vote on whether you're approving these resources to be used in Oswego School District, um, moving forward. And then anything that is approved and that we have in the budget, then after July 1, we will have, um, purchase orders ready to go so that we can have them for the start of the school year. >> [clears throat] >> I feel like we need a new new battery. No. So, I I wanted to thank you all, first and foremost, for your effort and your commitment and your collaboration. I know that it was really a collaborative effort that took a lot of, uh, commitment >> [laughter] >> and stick to it and stick together through it. I think our dist- our dist- not I think, I know that our

095students will benefit from this kind of a refresh and I'm excited for it. John, would you mind speaking a little bit about what you think allowed this accelerated experience now to go from a a broad period of time to a more focused experience where you were able to close this deal, so to speak, right? So, what what changed for your team and what are you excited about and what are your depart- other, you know, staff which about as you guys think about this. >> Yeah, uh there's been a pretty good buzz around it and I I got a staff member here I might call her up to say if >> Yes, I was thought you. We got a staff member here cuz she may she may want to come and join us here. But uh

096no, just the buzz around it like uh again, we had a a laid out uh thoughtful plan moving forward with this year uh and once we had the team together, we really had we paid just like homage to all the work that had been done prior to this year. Uh so, last year we were trying to do that as well. So, that was my first year into the district and uh just seeing kind of learning the history of what this renewal cycle has gone through. I in my mind that this became a priority number one like this has to we have to move it and we have to we got to get to an end point and we really got to we really got to kind of we got to lock in and like figure

097this out. Okay, sorry to use the words lock in but we had to. Uh and I think that's just kind of what motivated it. Once we once we got everybody on board and in there, we kept the excitement up around it. Uh we got through uh looking at how we've already done so much work to bring NGSS alignment uh into play. Look at SEL strands standards, look at the CRT standards. We've done a lot of this work. We've just never put it on paper and showed it to everybody. Uh and so, once we kind of made that realization, we were able to start start cooking through the process. Um and then again, once we started seeing uh through our our wheel here of where we're supposed to be be and we're supposed to let's look

098at resources, let's that let's that's when people got really excited like we could bring ourselves out of this kind of hole that we've been in in terms of having a physical and online presence for our students uh in in our classrooms. So, um so I do think that that really pushed the engine forward and we were able to get the work done. Um we were able to meet very very uh you know, often, right? Uh which was very appreciated uh and we were able to kind of bring it home. And I think we're in a really good place. I'll let I'm this is Laura. I'm going to let Laura speak as well. >> Yeah. Hi. Um I'm Laura Passi. I was on the Earth and Space team. I'm also one of the chemistry teachers. I

099just didn't participate on that particular team. Um for me, I think the biggest thing that helped to move us forward was instead of having this be all the science department getting together once a quarter to work through things, we had a team of volunteers. So, for each course, we had two teachers from each high school who wanted to be there, who were had buy-in and were driven to see this thing come to completion. Um we also were very grateful that we were able to meet on a very regular basis. We had uh a couple of hours chunk at a time and we had our um subs paid for by the district. And knowing that we could do this and have the time to do it and just not have to try to rush through it,

100I think, actually made it go faster. Yeah. I'll also say what was really great about the process is the amount of collaboration that got to happen in that room. It wasn't everybody working in a silo on a given thing. You know, so even though biology team was looking at biology resources, we were all looking at resources together and using and going through this checks process of saying, "Is it meeting what we want for our kids, right? Is it doing what we want for our students?" Um and everybody got to weigh in on that. And I love that we also set up opportunities to bring the whole entire collective together, the entire science team uh on like our SIP days to review where we've been and what we've done and get their feedback as well. So,

101this has really been a very big collaborative process. It's [laughter] working out really >> else you want to add anything? And And just thank you for your leadership. Thank you for those answers. You're welcome. I think the thing that makes it a reality is that we were able to bring both of the schools together so that we will have a common curriculum map, scope and sequence, and common assess- common assessments um for all four of these courses so that moving forward, if you're taking biology, chemistry, Earth and Space Science, or Spanish chug, you're going to have the same experience at both buildings. Um and so that was one of the the key things for me is how do we make that learning be equal um at those schools. So, I'm excited. I have great teammates.

102Um yeah, and I'm excited excited to see what our kids can do. You make it sound fun. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh 10.4, this is our student rights and responsibilities handbook uh information. Do I have that already? Okay. For those watching online, BoardDocs is down. The system is down, but we will be working you will to get it back. >> Board of Education, thank you for allowing us to present the student rights and responsibilities sheet tonight. Um we uh are required annually to update our student handbook um as well as provide the student handbook to any and all uh families within 15 days of enrollment or 15 days of the start of the school year. So annually we take a look at this document. It does go back and forth

103with our legal team um to make sure that we're in incorporating any updated legislative changes and those types of things, so we'll kind of uh provide you with a high-level overview. Um one of the things that we do uh is we do provide this to you in electronic, but as you will see this hard copy um is sometimes easier to compare and contrast when we're going through uh a summary of the items and the changes. Um and we've worked uh really hard to kind of indicate where those changes are occurring. Okay? Uh I don't know if we need introductions, but um Jeremy Bell, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, my counterpart here. Hi, Bailey Campbell, Executive Director of Student Services. All right. Uh and and with as with everything that we do, um we want to

104highlight kind of those alignment features with our our values, our strategic plan, um and the things that uh come to us every single day. All right. So just to kind of set the stage a little bit, um our rights and responsibilities a lot of times is interchangeable with our student handbook. Um similar to other districts, we have this kind of guiding document that really becomes our North Star as our buildings are working through a variety of things to support our students and our families every day. What's unique to us as we go through away is our rights and responsibilities is really all encompassing for all of our schools across the entire district. So, we don't have individual student handbooks that differ between building or level. This really becomes our guiding kind of administrative procedures, if

105you will, rooted in, you know, that day-to-day operations application for our buildings. So, when we talk about what that looks like, we really want to have that, you know, whole perspective from how our community interfaces with this document down to our individual students who are seeing themselves in this document. So, just to kind of highlight again, when we look at this document, it really is all encompassing of our 24 schools and programs that spans over our six different municipalities in this district. And that, you know, it's like that bottom column there is really powerful with the number of students and staff and families and community members um that are interfacing with this document, but remembering that at the end of the day, it comes down to that one shared purpose, which which really is our

106students. So, to just kind of set the stage before we start to really get into it, as uh Mr. Bell mentioned, this, you know, rights and responsibilities document that really, you know, comprehensive 70-page document that you have in front of you, you will notice um that it is definitely still in draft form. Um that's the purpose of bringing it to you all tonight. Um when you flip through that, and if you're looking at it or viewing it from home, anything that you see in red is the proposed changes um and/or room removal, excuse me, um from our building, from our families, from our students, from our administrators. Anything that you see in kind of that purple text is a addition or recommendation or proposed edit by our legal partners. So, I just wanted to kind

107of set the stage. Um keep in mind as well that page numbers um may seem off. We don't change page numbers until the very, very end because some of those graphics that are embedded are, you know, on the back end in a different program. So, just keep that in mind, too. All right, just a quick overview and I'm not going to read all of these to you, but we wanted to just kind of paint the picture of of what this team, um, in collaboration with, you know, the district and the community was able to do with this document since our kind of, you know, inception of the of this team. So, thinking back to 2024-25, which was our first year really together, um, in terms of Mr. Bell and myself and some of our wonderful

108team members, is really taking that document and and we wanted to make sure it was user-friendly. Um, so as you flip through it, you'll see some graphics, you'll see some visuals, you'll see some different restructuring. We really wanted to make sure there was table of contents and and it was easily, um, as much as it can be when you're talking about 70, you know, pages of procedure, that it was easily, um, manipulated by our students and families and administrators and buildings and staff that are using this document. Um, some of the highlights when we think about 20 the 25-26 school year, which was last year, was once it was user-friendly, then we wanted to make sure it actually reflected our students. We wanted to show the great work that the district was doing around portrait

109of a learner. We wanted to make sure that all of our student populations were represented within this document, making sure that we highlighted on some of our students that are, um, you know, in, uh, DCFS, youth in care, um, experiencing, um, the lack of, you know, consistent and stable housing. We wanted to make sure that there was relevant information in there for every single one of our students. Last year was also our first year where we did a comprehensive review with each department across the district, you know, working with diverse learners, working on our harmful language protocol, working with HR on Title IX. So, there was a lot of collective work and collective ownership across the district. That brings us to this year, um, and I'm just going to highlight, you know, high overview of

110of some of the the major changes, if you will, but again, as you flip through that document, you will see that there is a lot in there. Um, you know, some more procedural, some more aligned to policy shifts, and then some, you know, simply just format. So, starting with um that first bullet point, again, we really have done a lot of focus around our updated language around visitor management, including visible badging for staff, students, and visitors. So, again, that is something that um really has been a a focus for our team um as we look at the strategic plan and we look at some of those, you know, safety and security initiatives aligned with the safety and security audit survey. I'll pause, cuz I thought I saw a hand. And is your requesting that we

111are using our badges as well, I believe, if I saw that in the document, correct? In terms of the Board of Education members? Yeah, so that was a that was like >> wanted to make sure that we were aware of that. Yeah. Oh, sorry, did you want to say something? You want me to go first? >> was just going to add it you're probably going to say that came up during our committee meeting and it was a suggestion from Mary Jo that we thought was appropriate just to, you know, lead by example of um having a badge with us when we're at um during school hours when we're at events and things like that. Yeah, and so, right, um you know, part of that is that, you know, a visible badge is, as a lot

112of us have here, Dr. Kilgatti is always repping the badge. Um and then, right, for our visitors that are in the building, um that may not be a staff member or may not have their badge, you know, just making sure that that that visitor sticker is well represented, so we know who are in our buildings um and we can ensure the safety and security of staff and students. Um another, you know, added change that we wanted to make sure that we highlight, and this is definitely going to be more to come, is um we added some language, and this was in collaboration with our technology team, um around that implementation of a district-wide AI plan. Um there's a lot of conversations and policy and legislation that are happening right now, so that is definitely going

113to be um a full-force team that is really going to be engaging in the work with a variety of stakeholders across the district, um but we wanted to make sure that we had something captured cuz we know that that work is ever-changing and it's going to is and it's going to be fast and furious. So, as we think what we need to be prepared when we return in August for students, we wanted to make sure that there was initial language in there to to highlight that. Um, staff and student communication protocol. This was a uh welcome and added change in partnership with HR. Um, there was some expanded information around health screening information. That was a a section that was lacking in the previous um versions of this document that we find ourselves and our

114families asking questions about, especially on the onset of the new school year, you know, when we look at some of those requirements. Some clarity around enrollment information. This is a This is another one. Um, that section was always titled enrollment and attendance, but historically it only captured attendance information. So, making sure that it was true to that title, um, we know that enrollment, um, right, relies heavily on our parents, our guardians, and and our community members, but also knowing that that end user, that student, um, does have some some implication there, um, in terms of, you know, what that looks like for them returning, um, whether as a new student or a returning student. There was some refined language around attendance supports and procedures. I'm going to specifically highlight including information around student demonstrations and

115walkouts. Again, I think this is a really powerful example of how we listen to our community, we listen to our students and our staff, and we try to really look at the year, um, you know, in its in its entirety and understand what has happened, what's going on that we can make sure is reflected in the years to come. Updated definitions for bullying and cyberbullying. This is, you know, so that we're aligned, um, in compliance. And then another big section that you'll see a lot of uh proposed changes to is really just the um alignment and the structure and the formatting around, um, student conduct. This has been a work of a work of labor and love with our building administrators and really making sure that this this section is is comprehensive, is aligned to

116policy, matches what the Illinois State Board of Education is saying, and matches what we are entering in terms of our student information systems. Because when we triangulate that data, when we look at partnering with our, you know, research, accountability, and and data person, Andrew Parker, when we look at Educlimber, all these different things really are rooted in what is happening across our district, where is that consistency, what is that common thread, and coming back to our rights and responsibilities with, you know, what we define as gross misconduct, what we define as prohibited items is consistent at one of our high schools to one of our junior highs to one of our elementaries. Obviously, we know the severity of some of those things are going to look different based on level, but making sure that we

117have a common understanding and common language to come back to is is is critical. And then the last thing I would just highlight for the purposes of of today is that improved clarity around the athletic code of conduct. We worked very closely with both of our high schools, worked very closely with our athletic directors to make sure that we were, you know, making sure that that section was robust with explanations and included some some enhanced language. The one thing I would add about the student conduct section two is is that many times when people think about student conduct, they automatically go to discipline. Student conduct really is about protecting our kids. It's about protecting those that are in our space and our educational spaces for a variety of reasons. Making sure that they're free of

118bullying and harassment or in the event that those things do occur, we have mechanisms to be able to support them. Harmful language protocols, those types of things. So, don't think of student conduct always is that straight to discipline. It's really about, again, teaching our youngest people how to do life in an educational setting that where we have them as a captive audience for 7 hours a day. Um and so if we put all of us together in a room for 7 hours a day, uh 5 days a week, we would have to have some conversation around conduct also. Um just to make sure that everyone had rightful presence and was able to be seen in those spaces equally. Um one of the things that we have done differently this year is our stakeholder feedback. Uh

119you know, in years past part of code says that you have to put this in front of parents and and do some things and we've used superintendent's advisory group and we've used the SSAC and we've used different avenues to to be able to gather feedback from our stakeholder groups. Um and this year we took it a little bit a step forward if you will. As with any new thing that we do, it's really a learning opportunity. Um and and we could talk about the number of people that we have actually connected with and the reach in which we've able to been we've been able to do that. Um and you'll see some of those things highlighted here. Um that's not something we've ever been able to really accomplish and so we learned some things from

120our strategic planning process. We learned some things from from how we've done it in in the past and we want to highlight those things here. Yes, thank you. This was so exciting and shout out to the communications team for helping us get some of these survey questions out because seeing these, you know, responses flow in and really kind of help guide and ground us on where we want to go with this process was just really exciting and you know, I always get excited about you know, policy procedure but now I'm even more excited about right the next steps of what we're going to do with this and and where this is going to guide our work. So just really quickly to capture some of those numbers, right? the student responses we had almost you know,

121just over 1,700 responses in in years past we've captured roughly maybe 20 student voices. So even this even though this feels a little bit different in terms of the data just being able to reach and and those responses from our um 6th through 12th grade students is is phenomenal. Um parent guardians um same thing. We got, you know, just over 750, you know, responses. We also do a parent focus group. Again, communications really was a great partner um in letting us present and be part of one of their parent leader focus groups. Um so again, just trying to continue to get that that robust um you know, feedback from the community. So just to give you a couple of snip uh snapshots of some of those questions. Here is one of the parent guardian questions.

122And and right, the data is so telling. Um that first question is aligned to that first bar. So are you aware the district has a student rights and responsibilities? Um the majority of our families said yes. That was great to see. Um but when you look at some of those next areas of opportunity is how confident do you feel that you understand how the student rights and responsibilities applied? So again, that's where my excitement comes in because our our goal over the past couple years was making sure that this was a forward-facing document and our families and our students and our staff knew about it. And you can see we're we're doing okay in that area. Now it's time to take it to the next step. And and how do we then become um more

123fluent in what this means for you as a family, what this means for your student. That brings us to that next question is is really like how do would you prefer to learn about the student rights and responsibilities? So again, um we see that the bulk is email. Um and right, sometimes, you know, those of us sitting there are like, "Oh gosh, another email." Um but what we talked about that is is right, kind of that email campaign. How do we work closely with our building administrators to highlight some of these things that feel natural, right, during the school year? October is um national, you know, anti-bullying harassment month. Is that an opportunity where we can come up with a communication, you know, blitz, if you will, to really highlight what's rooted in policy and

124procedure around bullying and harassment? So those are the conversations that we're starting to have so that this becomes more than just kind of a a once-a-year kind of thing. And then same thing with our student uh rights and responsibilities kind of questions here is right again, did you know that your school has a document? A lot of them are saying yes, do you know where to find it? Some are feeling saying yes, some are saying maybe, some are saying not so sure. Um but the question I really want to highlight here is is right question number five is really powerful. Is there at least one adult at school you could go to with questions about rules or responsibilities? And to me that really kind of took us back, right? To the one trusted adult. it's

125really nice to kind of see that common thread, but again, knowing that we we always will continue to have work to do. And here's that same question for our students of how you would like to learn about the student rights and responsibilities. You know, presentations of course, um you know, really kind of hands-on. Um something that we have been talking about a lot too is that short video aspect. You know, um we've heard from, you know, our student board members in in meet past meetings about how to capture some of those podcast type things. Um and those are the exact same conversations that we're having right now with such a comprehensive document. How do we make those, you know, quick takeaways um to root it back into something that that they are using in their

126daily lives. All right, and then future focus. This really kind of brings us us to the end here and then we'll open it up for questions. Um you know, the biggest ask and now that we've gotten this document um you know, kind of into a a uh a living, breathing, you know, if you will document. Um we hear the ask from our families, we hear the ask from our students of okay, this is great, but how do I get a condensed version that's really focused on like high school? That's really focused on what this means for me as a junior high student, as an elementary student, as a, you know, special program student, whatever that may mean. So the conversation has really become about now that this is kind of our our guiding document as

127a as a district, how do we take that, pull it out, and make maybe an elementary specific, a junior high specific, a high school. Um when we talked about that with our building leaders, there was a reaction of like, "Oh gosh, don't take it away. Don't take it away." because our building leaders have become pretty reliable on this of, "Let me see what rights and responsibilities says. What does it tell me to do?" So, we're not going to get rid of this. There's been There's been too much work done to do that. But, we we do hear our community and we want to make sure that if there is an opportunity to pull out those most critical relevant, you know, items that we can make that, you know, comprehensible um and more user-friendly. So, that's

128kind of a conversation that we're having as we go into summer and what that would look like for, you know, beginning of next year. Of course, the ultimate goal with this is to make sure that we're not just regurgitating policy. That's what the the board policy has for us online. It's taking that policy, applying it to administrator procedure, and then really getting into, you know, those those details in terms of definitions, application, um and consistency. Anything else you'd like to No, I would just say uh the one thing I would say is that what we learn about from our schools is that if I have two kids in elementary school trying to sift through junior high information or high school information, you know, can be challenging. So, I I want to know when my kid

129goes to school, I want to know what the start time is. I want to know what the bus drop-off looks like. I want to know what some of those other things are. Um and although we can communicate those in multiple um modalities, um sometimes having that kind of guidebook handbook for Fox Chase or for Lakewood Creek or or some of those other things, it still needs to encompass much of the information that's in here, but we can make it very specific to those levels. That does change every year based on your teacher, based on uh a counselor, based on some of those other things. Um I think we covered everything um in terms of uh the the document, the changes, future focus. Are there any questions? I do. Um And perhaps you spoke to this

130when you first started, but when you're looking at the policies relative to because even as I read through, there's some procedural things that are here that you um are um permitting buildings to um adopt. One, how were we monitoring some of those procedures to be sure that they aren't rigid and punitive? Um specifically when we talk about attendance, right? Um and I see that there should be conversations before we pivot to detentions. And so, um how are we like revisiting some of those conversations because just full transparency, when I think about attendance specifically, right? And we just, you know, um understanding that um I just want to be sure that our policies or our procedures align to what the expectations are for adults, too. Right? What What was the question there? >> The question is

131how are we monitoring the procedures? So, you have policies here and you have some procedural norms, but how are you monitoring that because when we talk about attendance, right? It looks like we shouldn't just pivot to um detentions without conversations. So, that that's a wide-range multi-layered, right? Um one of the ways in which we monitor this is our uh student services directors meet with the buildings monthly. They run those attendance reports and look at those chronic absenteeism and chronic truancy numbers. Um and um even when we look at things like um 15-day drops and some of those other things, there's um specific pieces that they have to complete in order to be able to do that. Whether it's a home visit, whether it's a door hanger, whether it's those phone calls. With regards to the

132actual um assignment of a detention, some of the things that even our buildings most recently, I'll speak to OH, they did a tardy party where they looked at where are the highest tardies in those um in those periods and we said we're going to target those periods and we want to make sure that we have a reduction of tardies so that we're not just handing out punitive discipline for kids that are not accessing class, right? And so, I think if I remember the number, there was like 36 or 38 tardies in fourth period the week before, um and they got it down to like eight the next week. So, like they're intentional in what they're trying to do to be able to intervene in some of those things. I think there's still work to do

133around if a kid's not going to class, is a detention going to solve that problem? Or is if kids not going to class, what's the root cause, right? And so, the the attendance on its on its face seems like, oh, if you don't go to class, here's the consequence. Oh, if you if you skipped um this much or if it's unexcused, here's your consequence. You can or can't make up work. Some of those different types of things. But, I think it's a larger conversation about our mindset of why kids are not going to class, maybe avoiding class, or if they're missing for an extended period of time, what's that real reason? Um I I I would say that that monitoring piece comes in those monthly meetings when we look at those attendance reports and how

134we tier our kids. Which kids are missing the most, which kids are missing the next most, you know, and kind of down. Um I I think that as we continue to uh work with our deans, with our assistant principals, [clears throat] the ones that are kind of uh implementing those types of things, we we want to make sure that we're having common language, too. We're having common understanding about what's an excused absence, what's an what's not an excused absence, and what's truly a tardy, whether it's an actual minute, whether it's half the class, um and some of those different types of things. So, all of that plays into the discussion. Um but, it it's it's us being present. It's us having those conversations and sharing that partnership with our school directors and making sure that

135when we get in our AP meetings, when we get in our dean meetings, when we get in our principal meetings, we're having that mindset conversation, also. Chairman, can I just want to build part of your question I heard also, Dr. Pope, was really about, it, I think you named it, but I I think you've talked about some strategies for next year around Here is the expectation. How are we supporting the school or our schools to meet those expectations, right? So, you've talked about professional learning investments for staff in preparation for the school year. So, these aren't chance opportunities. >> We have to recognize the nuances of our buildings, too. Is not every building is created the same, right? Not every group of kids coming to those buildings may be the same, and so the challenges

136may be different. The barriers for why they're going to class, not going to class, getting there on time, not getting there on time. Um one of the things we look we were really concerned about was removing backpacks from junior high and increasing the tardy capacity. We haven't seen that come out in the data in the in the in that fruition. Uh and so there's any number of which ways we can tackle this. It's it's going to be move slow to move fast, um but we want to make sure we're really targeting the root cause and not just applying the disciplinary action. Absolutely, and I think the experience should always be the same, and we we talked about that with the curricular resource that we're adopting. And so, think that that's really important. My next question

137is, have we thought about um we have guidelines for reporting a complaint, but it looks like it's rooted more so in hazing. Um it's the athletic um section. And it looks like that is rooted more so in hazing, and I think that that's just a really vulnerable space where students should have an outlet or a space where they um can talk about their experience a bit more outside of just hazing. So, this particular section is directly related to the athletic code of conduct and the and the athletic space, um but that's not the guidelines for reporting any complaint. We have We have reporting mechanisms for our incident temp line, um get help now on our website, um bullying and harassment. There's different ways of reporting that complaint. This particular section here speaks to just that,

138athletic. And I think I'm asking because if I um, if I was in the athletic department, I would adopt this section as I'm building out the student handbook for the if I'm a part of, let's say, the volleyball team, right? And so, I think that it is important that students have out um, outlets in that space, too. Um, where they can We are very clear about how do you report um, certain complaints, be it relative to Title IX, be it relative to bullying that goes beyond hazing. Because hazing to me is a form of bullying, too. >> You're saying expand that piece to make sure that it's for any complaint, not just specifically to >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Sorry. I didn't understand. The adult may only look at that section and forget about all the

139other I thought you were referencing that section being the only way in which we had indicated in here how to report a complaint. No, I'm talking specific to the athletics. Like, it's in that section, but I think just given that is a vulnerable space, you would want to like name other things in that space where students might need to report. >> Understood. Yeah. Thank you. Um, I submitted a question. I don't know if you had a chance to to consider it. Um, kind of goes along with attendance. You know, if you have to You have to be in school half day um, in order to participate in after school activities. Um, unless it's previously approved by the administration or whatever. Um, what were the So, I think um, what constitutes prior approval? Um, you know,

140is it possible for students um, to understand what that prior, you know, what what constitutes that prior approval, the the steps a little better. Yeah. Um so, I can speak to this a little bit. So, this was a recommended recommended ad by both of our um high school athletic directors and and at collaboration with our high school principals. Um so, really this was just rooting back to if a student is absent for something that's like valid cause, um which is further defined in our attendance section. So, again, like we can kind of try to incorporate some language that's going to point them back to our attendance section so that they would know what would be constituted as an approved absence. That may warrant the ability to still participate in an athletic event if that absence

141is warranted. So, whether that you know, if we think about valid cause, um some of the uh one of the examples we were talking about earlier is if a student goes, you know, leaves school to go vote, right? That's something that if they're waiting in a voting line for, you know, several hours and happen to miss a half day, we don't want to penalize them for that. That is considered cause under the Illinois State Board of Education for an excused absence. We would want to make sure that they are able to still participate in that athletic event. However, if a student is absent, if it's an unexcused absence, that is something that historically our our schools have not allowed them to participate. So, um just going back to that number six, um for those of

142you who are following along, it's on page 76. Um we can definitely clarify that language and point them back to that attendance uh procedure. Yeah, I think I I specifically talked about like a mental health day, you know, um you know, like uh to me they should be able to still go to their, you know, like that might not be what they're trying to get away from. You know. So, I think that we can go back and make sure that we're specific in how they would uh seek that prior approval or at least put some footnote in there to be able to do that. Uh we'll work with our athletic directors to make sure that we understand how that needs to be worded in there. Um and that it does say valid cause. Um, I

143I want to be mindful of a student that misses a day versus multiple days or the day of the the competing event, what that looks like. Sometimes we have events that are on the weekends and they have to miss on a Friday, right? Are they still eligible then? Um, sometimes it happens to be a Friday night football game in the in in the uh the individual's gone that Friday. So, are they still able to participate? So, um it is important when we look at attendance, um but we understand valid cause or pre-approval. Um, that's something we're going to have to work on with our athletic directors to make sure that our coaches are on the same page, um that we can be consistent. Uh, and and we can come back with that information. I appreciate

144that. >> Yeah, and I think the one of the things that I really appreciate about your presentation this evening is moving the thinking around stakeholder and being um getting feedback from our focus groups and interest groups. So, that's a huge win and progress when we think about moving towards more equitable practices and learning around the process. So, getting the voices of those on the front line and who are most affected. So, when you look at work around racial equity progress, I would say that the disparity in dis- particularly in discipline tends to be always a concern, right? So, how do we reduce that disparity? So, in this instance, I think in your work mirrored just that focus of trying to lift that lens. One thing I would propose is that you also go to students

145directly, right? So, you have you have our student board of education that says that. You also have other opportunities when students um for students who are in various support groups. Who are those? What How do we get their voices into here? Who are most impacted? What's motivating them? Um, you know, I think one of the areas There are there are opportunities here. So, I know you'll think about that and and engage them as you think about what has been brought up around chronic absenteeism. And you got 1,700 responses. Cool. Cool. Kudos to you all. But we're not done. Like, I mean, we have we have so much more um uh that we can continue to evolve with, right? Uh around the stakeholder voice, um equitable practices, you know, this isn't we didn't sit in a

146room and say, "Hey, let's make these changes." You know, the two of us. We did try to get out there um and in front of those groups and those spaces. Um and we want to continue to do so, whether it's, you know, using short videos, whether it's using that podcast format, whether it's um being able to get into those spaces and talk with our administrators and our staff about mindset uh and look at the data and understand what the root causes for some of these things. So, we have work to do. Yeah. I think key for me is your focus on uh you know, that just-in-time information for parents, you know, um when do parents or students need this information that's applicable to their next 3 months of school, their next week of school. Um

147I have a junior daughter who has a prom on Friday, and she went in and gave me the policy for student attendance uh for her Friday prom. So, um I mean, and I'm sure other parents are trying to look for that information and um or students. And so, just having that information right on time, I think is is is is key as you you guys go about that circle. Yeah. >> And making it available to our multilingual families. One of the things that is is, you know, this text have been extracted from this document and put on our district website to be able to be able to translate those things. So, um again, we're we're not as well versed in, you know, 50 different languages of of every single aspect of this, but we're really

148trying to be intentional about making sure that the the information is accessible. Thank you. Any other? No? No, thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Information item 10.5, our board meeting dates for 2026-2027. Um Yeah, I was All four docks exactly are on. Oh, no. All four docks is working. Okay. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I just emailed. What is that? It worked. Excitement. No, I didn't go take it, I mean. As everybody's pulling that up, um this is regarding the school calendar. No, this is about board meeting dates. And so, we really um our team looked to build off of some of the learning from this year. Um we bring it for information tonight, but we also recognize that doesn't have to be decided at the next board meeting. So, if the board wants

149to extend some more understandings and spend a little bit more time in how this is set up, this could come back also. Um not it doesn't have to wait till the May 11th day, it can come after that, too. Cuz I know that there was some questions specifically about those dates and the process, so. Last year, our team did engage in some review of board meeting dates and looking at other structures from other districts. And ultimately, because this was a first year for this board, decided on really building on the consistency for this year. Um as we think about next year, there may be recommendations or questions that come up this evening, and we would invite um Brenda, did I get that right? Is there anything else you'd want to add um just about the

150structure of what we will went into designing this particular um Um as far as from last year, the only other change that we were recommending was moving the student-led public forum earlier instead of in March just because the agenda is heavily packed in March, so to move that to February. Yeah, and then the question that, you know, I posed after taking a look at our agenda for today and looking at the um just some recommended dates for next year's board meet- board meetings. Just this is my first year on the board, and it feels like every week, like we are attending a board meeting. So, we come every other week, and then we have committee meetings, and some of us do Well, all of us, we want to participate in other like district activities. So,

151even I think sometimes I'm left one I'm left making a decision, do I attend, you know, a board meeting, or do I attend, you know, my child's activity, right, for the day? And obviously, I want to do both, but it makes it really hard when they're every other week because essentially, almost for the entire month, once a week, you're committed to, you know, board meetings. Um And so, I think it's something for us to talk about, and I do know that there are certain months that we probably do need to meet twice. Um specifically when we're approving the budget, and so, but I'm just wondering if there is a way for us to just kind of think about um I know the information is relevant. I know that generally, it's pretty timely, but I I

152don't know what other districts are doing, and so, I was wondering if we could explore that a little bit. some of the things that we've talked about um is you know, potentially having um committee meetings being more uh on demand maybe maybe not scheduled out. Um the other thing would might be, you know, have committee of whole um for one board meeting and then action items in that so you'd have a a large agenda one time uh meeting of the or for the committee of the whole short agenda the the next um you know, that's and the the reason for the committee of the whole is to have a less of the need for committees. Mhm. Um and our board meetings our committees are not one of the concerns I have is obvious is the

153public. Mhm. So, our committee meetings aren't very well attended by the public. I don't know if anybody's looking at our um minutes or anything along those lines. And I'm not uh this is just to the public we're just talking. Um so one you know, one of the things the committee of the whole would that would be you know, opportunity for the public to um you know uh absorb whatever we're talking about as well as give their comments and then same with the action item meeting. Um so that's something to throw where it wouldn't be three times a month, you know, um but there are going to be times when when it's potentially that you know a committee would need to be uh maybe called upon. Um Mhm. I don't know. >> Absolutely. And that makes

154sense. Like >> I'm just I'm I'm spitballing. It makes sense and I'm not saying, you know, every single month is once. I'm just trying to think about how to be more efficient and what months could we potentially it's just that it's once a month. Again, I think not just me well, I haven't talked to anybody else about it, but I just want to underscore again that, you know, often times I am trying to make a decision if I can attend like this, you know, sport event versus I need to go to a board meeting and or a committee meeting or, you know, whatever the case may be. >> another option Please. I think Bren was going to say something earlier. I was just going to say I did do some research and I know that

155there are some surrounding districts that choose to do like one committee of the whole and then one board meeting per month. So, the committee of the whole is more or less to um introduce and to bring like new materials and presentations and that's where the discussion happens. It's more like informal, but it would be everybody all the board members would be present. Then the second meeting would be then you would vote on that and you would take action on that. So, the second meeting would be much shorter. Um and a lot of of I from what I've heard, I know Yorkville does that and it just kind of makes things more streamlined. It's more efficient. Um So, this this gets rid of it. It basically gets rid of the committee. >> It gets rid of

156the committee. So, you essentially would have your finance and facilities and um the equity learning and the policy and legislative. So, you would you'd present everything all at one one one time frame. I know their's starts earlier. I think it's like five. I was going to say, yeah. And then, you know, it'll go typically for an hour and a half to two hours cuz a lot of discussion and and new materials and then the next meeting you'll vote on anything that needed to be voted on that and it would it would just be more or less like an action meeting would be the board meeting. So, it would be like comparable in time, but redistributed essentially. It would be like a long meeting and a short meeting instead of two meetings of fairly equal measure.

157Yes, and it would also release them the or would um you wouldn't have the committee meetings anymore. >> Right. Okay. Thank you. Uh So, do they do all of the and perhaps I just need to look at go to their docs, their board docs just to kind of follow their process. Yes, and I I've started to create a document, too, and I reached out to their EA there, as well. So, when I get some more information, I can share it share it with the board electronically, so that you guys can take a look at it and see. And then the Yeah, so there's administrative considerations, obviously, um cuz we would probably need like a committee of a whole. We would need those agendas much sooner. Mhm. Because we'd have to get to that meeting you

158know, like super prepared. All the questions answered. Um Right. I'm not saying that we're not super prepared. I just wanted a conversation. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I I yeah. I'm glad you brought it up. But I also like yes, and I know some of our like I think it was our last finance facilities meeting was 10 minutes. It was it was pretty short cuz I I was like, "Oh, it's a good thing I got here on time, or else I would have missed the whole thing this time." >> [laughter] >> But um yeah, so I think while while yes, it would be uh you know, like a greater need for I think efficiency and you know, careful use of time, I don't think it would always be that pressing. Um cuz I'm sure it would

159ebb and flow, just like it does in our committee meetings. Mhm. I think what you're describing would take what I'm I'm open to trying new things. It would take a lot of some systems relearning, you know, like how quick beforehand you need to get this stuff, do we need when are we reviewing things? So, it's just something to think about as we move forward. Um I don't ever feel like I guess if I reflect, I'm never feeling like I'm at a board meeting and I'm not seeing or voting or listening something that's important, although some of the proposals we do listen to and sit through I've already sat through once Mhm. on the different committees. And so, that is something to consider, you know, um And we can I was going to say it would

160be nice. Like I know that um I personally feel like it would be nice to hear what happens in the committees that I'm not on um and just to have that representation. And I mean I know I know I attend as a No. But I think it would be nice to to all get that information. Mhm. Um because like you said sometimes you know, you're hearing it for the second time at a board meeting and other times uh you know, some other board members are hearing it for the second time and you're getting kind of kind of getting caught up. So one of the uh So one of the one of the reasons that we have our committees is for board feedback and then to incorporate any changes, you know, any any you know, you

161brought up board member badging which I'm okay with. I'm good with and I think it's a good good idea. I was just surprised to see it. Yeah. Um So You're talking about board members with badges. >> We're going to have to We're going to wear badges, yeah. Yeah, we're going to wear badges. Um unless we're going in as a as a parent, correct? Um and then we'll wear a visitor badge, right? Um But this That's why yeah, I mean we would have to give an opportunity for administration to incorporate those changes for the next meeting and then have everybody you know, like so it kind of has to be it's it is a little different way of So I have a feeling that these committee of the whole might say very long. Mhm. >> Um

162Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I also think about building a rhythm for these practices, right? So I think tonight's presentation by Jeremy Wachter might be responsible. Is a good example where in our second, third year now, where he's anticipating pretty early on the kind of community engagement he wants to do to get to tonight, right? So, he's already thinking this is a cycle So, there are cyclical things where we are getting deeper and deeper into type of feedback we're going to go after as we're planning for them. I mean, there are other kinds of I think the team, and I would ask the board some time, you know, it doesn't have to be a long time, but to engage in how do you prepare for those things that aren't on the agenda? That aren't in a cyclical

163manner. There may be new topics that come up. As you saw tonight, the presentation that our awesome curriculum team did from the high schools, right? So, they have now a rhythm that we established as part of the strategic plan that we are now thinking through. And so, what does it look like to come to that informational meeting or to I mean, to that meeting for the committee of the whole? What's the on-ramp of expectation the board has for when you're coming to that committee of the whole? That's not where you should be asking questions. The questions should be asked 2 months in advance to like, "Okay, here are the kinds of things we're going to be bringing." So, I just think it requires a little bit more forward thinking and planning um around what are

164the kinds of engagements that So, when it comes to the committee of the whole, you're not going 1 month you're not going to delay a project 2 months because it has to be vetted appropriately. So, does that make sense? Like, that I think is why there's a default of oh, no, we need two meetings a month because if a question comes up that stalls our work and I'm not coming back for a month and a half later, people are going to be like, "How are we going to get work done?" I think there's a advantage to start to think differently about the pace of these things. Let's Let us do more forecasting, right? So, we're not being What's the word? Um We move out of a reactive and much more planned. Something to think about,

165yeah. I have one other consideration. I don't know um I don't know if I we talked about this at one point or I had a conversation with someone else about it, but I know um when we had our election and we sat new board members, Mhm. um is there a consideration to make that just one short board meeting where you the outgoing people go and then you sit the new people and then kind of the meeting's over. You know what I mean? It's just a purely business meeting. >> Yeah, like a so like a yeah, a business/celebration as new board members get set. Is that noted or I'm just trying to remember. I don't I don't know exactly where it was put. >> up on this calendar. Well, it would be a board meeting though,

166so it would have to show up on the board calendar when you cuz when you seat your new when you guys were sat, that has to be in a board meeting. of education meeting. But it could be half hour meeting. You know what I mean? Teresa serves on I have the IASB or area. Huh? Yeah, it has to be within so many days after the certified election, you have to choose to seat. So, depending on where that fell in your meeting calendar, yeah. Yeah, I see. The existing ones are add one. I think it's 45 days after certified election or something like that. I have to double check the the numbers, but I'm just trying to think about being strategic cuz I know those um meetings have been long, also celebratory, and then new board

167members are there and they're all of a sudden voting on things. And things, [laughter] yeah. Uh and so that always felt like a little odd. Um so, I don't know if that's a good you know, a consideration. [clears throat] >> research, but I mean but we weren't I mean we weren't like >> No, I mean I was yeah. And then you had to be sat and then you started taking votes. >> Right. You know, when the information was there. >> And then you had to be sat and then you started taking votes. >> Yes. So, I'm what I'm advocating for is like maybe a half hour meeting where the transition happens. Yeah. Right, so that you can get the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. It would I think be a nicer Just like

168a more effective on-ramp, honestly, because you know, I mean, especially like Teresa said, it's within however many days of the election, which is kind of a crazy time, and then and then as soon as that's over, you're like, "Okay." And I mean, it's it's just a lot to catch up on all at once, and then to have that chaos and then to vote when like essentially for the first time in this role is like that. So, yeah. Overwhelmed. >> I was just going to say overwhelmed. Um >> we did good. We didn't There were no days. Like, we knew what to say. I think we did good. >> [laughter] >> I mean, there were like three options, so for that reason. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Um So, it sounds like what we're saying is maybe

169consider what a committee of the whole type of schedule might look like if it's feasible. Um and either reducing or completely eliminating committees. Well, committees would shift into a different form. Committee meetings would shift to a committee of the whole, which should have allowed >> No, no, I I No, I get that. I'm just I just think it's just a small shift. So, we could just even start by looking at a couple months, maybe. I don't know. I don't know if That's good. >> Well, and Ravel's even suggesting how do we just maybe have one or two less meetings in the year. So, what what what would work? Um and Sounds like Brandon's got a You're already on third. Thank you, Brian. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> that. Any other? Um, everyone's good I mean,

170we're not voting now, but I just want feedback. Everyone's um okay with Mondays and a 5:30 closed session. It seems to have been working. Yes. It has been. And um Sorry, the other takeaway is to consider adding another day um for swearing in. So. Or I guess the other option would be like really strategic about that one meeting whenever you're going to swear, whenever we swear people in. Anyways. I think I know what One one step at a time. That would be that would be a a nice first step. But we don't Yeah, we don't need to have to deal with that. The upcoming year is the following year. That would be the next year. Yeah, I want to change that. I'm thinking it's the beginning of the year. That's a whole year away. Never

171mind. Never mind. What? Okay. Erica, you've No, you're good. >> 11.1. All right. Okay. [laughter] I just wanted to be sure that I get the That's the point of educating All right. Okay, 11.1, action item, approval of school [laughter] calendar 2026-2027 amendment. Can I have a motion, please? I make a motion to approve the school calendar 2026-2027 amended as discussed and presented. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Cerrone. Aye. Ms. C. Aye. Dr. Martin. Aye. Ms. >> [laughter] >> Wyman. Aye. Dr. Mario. Aye. Dr. Aye. Motion passes 6-0. Action item 11.2, approval of Chromebook refresh. Can I have a motion, please? I make a motion to approve the Chromebook refresh proposal as discussed and presented. Second. Any discussion? Dr. I. Ms. Wenmouth? I. Dr. Martin? I. Dr. Morio? I. Ms. See? I. Mr. Serone? I. Motion passes

1726-0. 11.3, action item approval of the destruction of the audio recordings. Can I have a motion, please? >> a motion to approve the destruction of the audio recordings of the closed session meetings from May 6th, 2024 through October 7th, 2024. Second. Uh any discussion? Ms. Wenmouth? I. Dr. Morio? I. Mr. Serone? I. >> Dr. I. Ms. See? I. Dr. Martin? I. Uh motion passes 6-0. 11.4, action item approval of release of those closed session minutes. Can I have a motion, please? I make a motion to make available no closed session minutes at this time due to a determination that they require continued confidentiality. Second. Any discussion? No. Mr. Serone? I. Dr. Martin? I. Ms. Wenmouth? I. Dr. I. Ms. See? I. Dr. Morio? I. Motion passes 6-0. Action item 11.5, approval of personnel report. Can

173I have a motion, please? I make a motion to approve the personnel report as discussed and presented. Second. Any discussion? Dr. Morio? I. Dr. Martin? I. Ms. Wenmouth? I. Mr. Serone? I. Dr. I. Ms. See? I. Motion passes 6-0. Item 12.1, can I have a motion to adjourn? All I make a motion to adjourn.