001ation meeting. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Cerrone >> here. >> Dr. Martin >> here. >> Dr. Mario >> here. >> Dr. Pak >> here. >> Miss Robinson >> present. >> Miss C here. Miss Wenmouth >> here. Let's all stand for the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> All right. 4.1 staff and student recognition. >> So before we get started this evening, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Kgatti so we can take a quick moment. >> Good evening board and those listening at home. We want to take a moment to acknowledge the sad news of the unexpected passing last week of Asiggo East High School student special education teacher Paul Kitler. Mr.
002Killer truly embodied the values of this community. He is greatly missed. We want to extend our condolences to his family, friends, and all the lives he has touched. Please join me in a moment of silence in thanking and recognizing Mr. Thank you. >> Back to you, Teresa. >> Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Katti. All right, we're going to amp things up to an exciting moment now. Um, tonight we are so excited to celebrate Black History Month, which is observed every February. This is a time for us to recognize the individuals who have impacted the past, continue to make a difference in the present and will help us to shape the future. This evening, we're joined by several student guests who are eager to showcase their passions and talents. So, if you guys want to come up,
003we'll start to introduce you. So, first we're gonna hear from Mila Thomas, Autumn Meakans, and Kevin Mintosh to share about what they've prepared. >> All right. So, I'm Kevin Mintosh. I'm here representing BSA, also known as Black Student Association. And within our club, we like to celebrate our culture in our And what we do mostly is we like to >> hold the mic up close. >> Oh, my bad. >> Well, it's everybody else. You We heard you crying, but yeah, it's it's the audience. >> Start over. There we go. >> So, uh, my name is, uh, Kevin Mintosh, and I represent, uh, Black Student Association, also known as BSA, at Augo High School. And within our or our organization, we like to put on different uh like different activities throughout the year uh such as
004like Halloween and re and currently we're about to go on a trip to an H.B.CU. Yeah. In Tennessee. And in the recent years, we've been to uh Atlanta, we've been to where we go Alabama as well, things like that. And so when within our club, we love to celebrate our black history and like things like that. But then every single meeting we uh we put on a little presentation about a black inventor such as last week we talked about the invention of the three light stoplight which was a black person who invented that and we just within our we just love to show our dedication and things like that. So going around we do all types of community service like not too long ago we made uh blankets for niku babies. So we made uh
005how many did we make? We made a lot. I'll just say [laughter] yeah. So yeah, >> um kind of what Kevin talked about. So I'm gonna talk about the community service aspect. >> Can you tell us who you are? >> Oh, sorry. I'm Amila Thomas and I'm going to keep going on the community service aspect. So BSA really strives to show community service in throughout our district. And we wanted to show everybody that we are here and like the Black Student Association is not just something that's only happening once a week or like once every Thursday. We want to show everybody that we are here in the community. So with that, like Kevin said, we did um the blanket making for Martin Luther King Jr. and we have other community services like feed my starving
006children and we've done that as a group and then we also like to collabor collab with OE and do things with them to keep like all of us like together as like one group and I feel like that really helps too because we get to uphold everything and be very great with all the community service we've done. Hello, I'm Autumn Meakans and I'm be talking about like future dates and things like that. So, this upcoming Friday, we're going to JJC for the Black Teen Summit where multiple different schools come together and we talk about being great as African-Americans and up uplifting each other. And specifically during this time, they sometimes help seniors really push themselves and understand the process for going to college cuz we need more black education, more educators. Um, we're also having
007days where we go out as a group together and having days like that. So, we're going bowling on Monday, February 16th. And then later on, we're having our Black Excellence Bowl, which is um February 21st. And that's where we honor all of our honor students, our black honor students at the school, and uphold like all their achievements throughout the year because it was a very long year and a very hard year, but we all stayed determined and we all got our grades up. And then later on at the end of this great month, we're going to be going to Tennessee as my other board members have told you guys. Okay, so a little bit more about the ball. What that is, as Autumn Kaida explained, is that all the honor students of a black student
008association who have over a 3.5 GPA will get a certificate and they will get honored with a crown. And we've done this for the last few years. My mom has really taken account of making sure that every student gets to be seen throughout the school. Even if you're not in Black Student Association, you still get invited because you want to be seen and you get honored and you get recognized through dinner and all everybody gets to show up. You get to have dinner and then you have a party afterwards and it's this great thing that we've gotten to do for the last few years. And so more recently it's become more popular and more people have like seen what it's about and seen how it's growing and so Yeah. >> So where is it? >>
009It's at Asiggo. >> As we go on the 21st, right? >> Yes. >> Which is a Saturday. >> Do we have Kobe doing some artwork? Hi, my name is Kobe Jones and I'm going to be presenting some artwork that I've made in the past year um during my time at AP 2D art and design. Um so I'm gonna start with this piece. Um it's color pencil and um it basically resembles like what like Africanamean children specifically like little girls what they've worn in their hair and stuff and how like it really expresses like color throughout their um >> their hair and like how they can express ourselves. And then this one um is a painting I made with acrylic paint. And I used hues black and blue. And I also added like a 3D touch
010to show like how um African-American females and how they try to like express itself through their afro and they really can't do that sometimes and how it makes them feel and how the community sees it as. And then this one, this one right here, um I used oil pastel. I was um trying to do something new and I think it's very successful. And basically again with the afro, I was trying to show how afro are so big and expressive and how I feel like it should really be something that we like use in our community to express ourselves even more cuz I feel like in our community nowadays, we don't really use our afro to express ourselves and we use hairstyles that like are influenced on to us and I just really like like kind
011of like emphasize how big and fun they can be. Amazing. [snorts] And to finish us out, we have Kirsta DS to sing a song. [clears throat] >> Lift every voice and sing [singing] earth and heaven ring. [singing] Ring with the harmony. [singing] of liberty. Let our rejoiceing [singing] rise high as the liing. Let it resound loud as the rolling [singing] sea. Sing [singing] a song full of the [singing] faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising [singing] sun of our new day beun. Let us march on [singing] till victory is one. Wow. Thank you to all of you for sharing your wonderful talents with us. Don't run off too quick. Forward, we're going to ask you if you'd join
012us in the middle so we can take a celebratory photo with our students here this evening. And then we have a certificate and a little gift for you. You Thank you all so much for being here. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah. Um, I love that. Um 5.1 >> great invitations for summer school. >> Great. Thank you board. Um seems like it's far away but for us we are our team has been deep in the thick of it getting ready for what's to come. So return over to the team. >> All right. Good evening board. I'm I'm excited to present to you an overview of summer school this summer here in Asiggo. I'm joined by Dr. Dubiel our assistant superintendent of diverse learners. and we wanted to give you an overview of really why we do
013summer school annually. Um we know that learning does not uh stop after the official school year ends. Uh we want to give our students opportunities for not only enrichment but opportunities to continue to build on skills um and also transition to um potentially that next level of learning for them. Um, so we're going to give you an overview of the students that we are um, serving during summer school as well as more specific details about the things I mentioned like academic support, credit recovery, enrichment, as well as acceleration. So to start off, I'm going to share a little bit about what our elementary students have opportunities for over the summer. Um, we have something called summer connections. We do this annually for kindergarten through 7th grade. Uh this year it will be hosted at Fox
014Chase and Grand Park. You can see the dates listed um on the screen as well as the times. Um in addition, we also um provide um more learning opportunities using a uh curricular resource called called Scholastic. Um and that is for English and math and our students have opportunities to continue to build on skills in those two areas. We also offer something called step up to kindergarten. We've really seen quite an increase of students who have attended this uh program over the years. Um we're really intentional about inviting students that attend our early learning center as well as as well as reach out to our community and encourage our early learners to attend the step up to kindergarten experience as they transition to kindergarten. Uh this year it'll be held at Long Beach and Old
015Post and it'll be early August to really kind of capture that essential learning as they transition into kindergarten. Uh we are excited to continue to provide maker spaces in our elementary schools this summer. This is something we started several years ago. It's really that opportunity for kids to create and innovate. Um we have a variety of different resources and we've provided training over the years to help our teachers really create those amazing spaces for kids. And we include our families too. It's really fun to see our families participate in that as well. Um and finally, we're going to continue our uh summer tutoring with our partner um Huntington Learning Center. We've partnered with them for the last couple summers. We're really targeted at providing that intentional tutoring for our students that attend Long Beach and
016Oldpost. And what's great about it, too, is we give our students a pre and post test to see their skill development, where they're at when they enter the tutoring, and then where they um end up at the end of the summer. And that data is shared with our elementary schools so they can hear and learn more about how to support their students. Our junior high offerings um are um at the at the dates you see listed in June. Um it is self-paced through Egeneuity. That's a platform we use throughout our system for the last several years. It's very individualized and self-paced, especially for our learners that are um accelerating a whole grade level. This can be really important because when they start the year, often when you accelerate a whole grade level, there's a grade
017level that maybe they skipped. And this provides that in intentional instruction to help them continue to be successful in areas like math. Teacher support is the dates listed there and that transitions into high school offerings. You can see this year it's at us we go east. We have opportunities for our students that is self-paced both initial credit and credit recovery again through egeneuity. And Dr. Dubial is going to give you an overview of our ESY program throughout our district. >> Thank you. Um Dr. Campbell. So extended school year is for students with an IEP. It is designed for students to recoup any learning that was previously um needing to be enhanced during that summer school um opportunity. It is ga a um aimed towards academics but related services are provided for students if it is
018determined in the students IEP. The staffing model for ESY will depend on the program. So we have five sites for ESY this year. Um that is a broke call as we go high school that will be for grades 6 through 12. Prairie point which will house our elementary EVA skills and stars program. and then Churchill which will house our DHH ISP resource and rise and then transition students in paths. Um so as part of getting this um organized and early there's a lot of moving parts so we actually coordinated pretty mid to late fall to get this going because ESY is not our only summer school opportunity. We actually have to hire for site coordinators about this time of year because they have to hire the staff um and the internal staff that will be
019um facilitating and teaching during our summer school um or our ESY um we have institute days. So, right after school is officially let out and before ESY begins, which I believe is January 2nd, we have a small window where we're able to provide institute days for our staff and build their capacity in to be ready for ESY. We also work very closely with transportation, not just ESY, but summer connections as well because we really are running a fullscale um summer opportunities for multiple programs within the district. Um pretty soon the registration for ESY will open up. Um families are invited to participate in that during the IEP process. Um we will be hiring again and we hired for the site coordinators. Very soon we will be hiring for uh the staff and the related services,
020the nursing supports that will be needed during this time and then case managers continue to work very closely with the team and families to communicate the timeline for ESY. Any question? >> I have a question regarding the ESY. Last year we had some pain points. So, are we benchmarking that data to see how we can do better this year, especially when it um pertains to transportation >> pain points? Are you referencing trans over summer? Yeah. A lot of >> pain. Yep. So, that's one of the reasons why we started early. So, this year we started earlier than ever to plan for transportation. And so transportation has been a thought partner with all of the summer school. So one of the thing that was new this year is ESY has probably met with transportation historically but
021it wasn't ESY and summer connections and summerbridge all meeting with transportation. So one thing that was new this year is we bought all the thought partners that were leading all of the summer school opportunities to come together early in the year and transportation was part of that conversation so that we could have a smoother transportation operation. And then for the ESY program, I noticed in being a parent of a neurodyiverse child, the ESY program is not necessarily as fluid when it comes to curriculum. So has that been benchmarked and kind of studied to figure out how we can better service our children during the summer. >> So the curriculum models, what we do for the school year, I think across the system, we're constantly finding ways to improve the curriculums, the interventions, the resource related
022to curriculums. So right now it currently the students that will be participating in ESY will be for that curriculum or that regression that may have occurred during the school year. Now the curricular resource may vary depending on the program. So for example um a stars will use utilize an alternative or replacement curriculum whereas skills will use general education curriculum. Now, the curriculum improvement that needs to occur, that's still very much in the cycle and we're still very much working with that to improve that. >> So, does that mean by the time summer hits, it'll still be kind of >> Yeah, we're currently in phase three of the curriculum renewal cycle for ELA K through five. >> Okay. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> I asked this at our uh committee meeting as well because you
023saw a preview of this, but could you just talk a little bit about how um multilingual learners are supported through these programs? >> Yep. So, they get to participate in summer connection. So, summer connection is for general education students and it supports any student um that um is eligible or is highly recommended to participate in recouping academics. So, it's not just ML students but um students in our TBE program. So, they have dual language pieces as part of summer connections. >> That's where they would be pulled in would be through the summer connections. >> Correct. >> Thank you. Are there any uh plans or thoughts of moving away from the ingenuity uh model and having actual live teachers again? >> Um we are currently discussing that we have been the last couple years. Um we
024uh are not ready yet to explore other learning platforms but that is a conversation we've been having internally. Okay, thank [clears throat] you very much. I >> thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. >> I think that the the the naming of the for forward thinking in terms of what the board uh the team has done is very helpful and I'm glad that you named that for the board. We recognize that this is there were a lot of new folks last year and that also included opportunities for those pain points. So now this is really exciting news to know [clears throat] 6.1 superintendent's comments. >> Sure. >> [clears throat] >> So, good evening board. Um, I would like to first um thank everyone. Um, just for the support this evening with our students for from the
025Black Student Association. That was really special and it fit right in with my comments. Um, as I think about this month as we lean into Black History Month, um, this is a period of reflection. All of our months throughout the year are opportunities to reflect on our history um our collective history and to provide those windows and mirrors into our lives and into our work and what brings um importance to our work. Uh for me, I was born in West Africa growing up there many thousands of miles away. It was a time um for me when my mother um she was born here in the states when even though I was born far away, she brought to me the history of Black History Month in Togo, West Africa. And this year I was at an
026event last week that really reminded me of that story that my mom really made that very special for me. and telling stories throughout my childhood even though I was in a predominantly you know uh in Togo in Lome um where the idea of the experience of the African-American struggle was not prominent. She made sure that as I grew up as her black son that I understood what her journey was like in America and that she had to confront um the negative messages in schools. She actually grew up in a segregated school system in New Orleans and really the stories of my childhood um of her childhood which she conveyed to me about how her community had overcome to really bring excellence into her life and to ensure that all the children in her experience were
027given the best that they could. Um so those stories traveled across an ocean to reach me as a child. And last week I joined uh really a host of community leaders at the a black coalition empowerment event in Aurora where there was no less than 50 leaders from um there were people from Asiggo from Aurora from Planefield leaders who came together to reflect and there at that night I actually ran into former mayor Irvin who shared with me something that I thought was very appropo to share with the board this evening which is that his great-grandfather, he always corrects me, not grand great great greatgrandfather, so one generation back um actually was um born here, born in Tennessee into the slavery and left that escaped that and came here in 1859 and rose through resilience.
028He was actually not allowed to live in Aurora as a result of that settled on the Fox River here in Awiggo. Did not know that. That was a big surprise. And so Mr. Richard Baxter Irvin rose through resilience and skill and really became a part of shaping the village of Asiggo. Many of the structures in older Asiggo he probably had a hand in building and really he was a me. We talk about the trades quite a bit. We hear about the importance of the trades and here was a gentleman whose history um we can look back to where he brought that craftsmanship, that perseverance and that sense of belonging in our community. What I have come to learn is that Black History Month is not simply about remembering the past. It's about recognizing that the
029past lives in us, our families, our communities, and the places we call home. It is not something just for people of African descent. is for all Americans to really understand that it's our history, not their history, someone else's history. It's a part of our history. It's a moment to look at them and I'm so grateful for the students who spoke tonight. I want to reaffirm our district's unwavering commitment to every student. Everything we do begins and ends with them. The structures we are working to build, these are not things that are just like the mason does. It's not something that's just fixed immediately. It takes time. Brick by brick, we have to commit to systems of equity and justice. Amid a busy year, it's important for us to pause and celebrate the things that are
030happening in our schools and the diverse community that we have and make SC 308 so special. And it truly is a collective effort. Our school serves as bridges and for those reasons I just invite everyone to really think about with every recognition every time we have an opportunity how can we make more bridges in our work with each other. I want to now invite the board to share some of the other many highlights that are coming this moment but I thought the board would appreciate this opportunity and the community to hear about the legacy of an individual who who really stood up in a period and brought and I don't know if you ever seen Mr. uh mayor, but that person is undeniably his great-grandfather just from the way he stands. >> Listen, >> did
031he share the picture or >> Yeah, he shared it with me. >> Did we find the the article or did he share >> No, he shared that with me, too. He gave it to I texted [clears throat] him over the weekend. I said, "Can you send me I said, "Can you send me anything you have?" And he said, "Yeah, I'll send it to you." So, I thought it was pretty special for us to know the history um of, you know, an individual in our community. um in 1903 actually I will say and he was part of that you know if you know Matt Kellogg and um and his brother his their great great great great-grandfather right opened the first uh one school community in our community and his dad his I mean again great great
032great-grandfather was a teacher here in Asiggo and I love to think about the fact that this gentleman and Matt Kellogg's great were all connected because it was such a small intimate community in fact what I was reading reading this this over the weekend. There was actually uh they live side by side. They actually lives by side by side. And in 1903, we had the first African-American to graduate from our high school here in Asiggo. Um so you've got to think about that, right? So it can be rough sometimes in our community, but it's really the that roughness also speaks to that there are also many points of light where we see justice and inclusivity continue to shine through. So something to be proud of when we think about our community, something to hang on to.
033>> So appreciate it. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Congratulations to instructor Megan McCarthy and Parasiggo High School students on winning the state floral design competition at the College of DuPage on January 30th. This competition allows students to shine through their floral design related skills and the OS team has dominated the space, winning first place most years they attend. >> [applause] >> Some exciting news from the Southwest Prairie Conference. Asiggo East High School is the Scholastic Bowl champion of the SPCI of the SPC. The varsity team went a perfect 20 and0 in the conference this year. Additionally, the boys varsity and junior varsity co-op swim and dive teams won the SPC championship this weekend. Congratulations to these students. Uh, congratulations to the OS co-ed cheer team for competing at the state level for the fourth year
034in a row. Additionally, several of our student athletes were honored during last week's signing national signing day. Congratulations to these students from OS and OEHS who have committed to continuing their academic and athletic careers at the collegiate level. The Plank Junior High School robotics team, the Octabots, are heading to the first um Illinois Robotics State Championship this weekend. The Octabots earned second place in robot performance and received the engineering excellence award at the Betavia Sectional Competition. Congratulations and good luck to the team. The Changemakers Club at Grand Park Elementary School has been hard at work giving back. Students made tie blankets for Project Linus, an organization that provides handmade blankets to bring comfort to children in need. Prairie Point's Helping Hands Club also volunteered at Feed My Starving Children recently. We're so proud of these
035students for modeling our values in the community. The Murphy Junior High School spelling be was exciting. A number of skilled spellers participated in the competition and after 28 rounds, Bridget Issacs became the champion. Bridget will be representing Murphy in the upcoming Grundy Kendall County regional spelling be in March. Congratulations and good luck, Bridget. Our girls bowling team saw success at the regional championship. OEHS won and OS took fourth. Both teams have qualified to compete at sectionals. Additionally, OEHS wrestlers Quinn Jason's and Ella Cooper had strong performances at regionals. to qualify for sectionals. OHS gymnast Sarah Dansen and I apologize, Suba Kanan and Caddy McDonald Franny Schult Alli Zeba also qualified for sectionals. Congratulations and good luck to all. >> And with that, that concludes my superintendent comments. Thank you, board. 7.1 opportunity for the public
036to address the board of education. >> Yes, we have a couple. >> Okay, >> we do have some comments today. Um, so on behalf of the board of education, I would like to thank the public for attending tonight's meeting. We value the feedback we receive from our members of the public and encourage everyone to take an active interest in their public school system. Individuals interested in speaking to the board at this evening are asked to have completed a comment card and presented it to the secretary to the board. Any members of the public who have not yet turned in their public comment card to the secretary of the board are asked to do so at this time. When the secretary calls your name, I ask that you come to the microphone, state your name and
037uh for the public record and provide your feedback. Please note that comments are limited to five minutes per person and no responses to your questions are permitted. Uh, comments should address the board of education as a whole and not be directed to an individual board member, audience, or staff member. Followup to your questions or concerns may be addressed by administration through the contact information provided on the comments card. Thank you, >> Grayson Kramer. >> It's at the table up front there. This one Hello the board. Um we understand that in the community there's been recent protests at schools and we wanted to take a moment to actually come and address the board directly. We have a speech from one of the students at OE that he wanted to share. >> Hello board of education. My
038name is Grayson Kramer and I'm here to present my speech on uh the protest going on at Asiggo East and Asiggo High School about ICE. We've been told for countless years that we live in a country where there is justice. But what is justice when there have been homes raided, families taken, and ICE has been stuffing people into centers where they are without freedom? The protest in our oe OEHS and OS will not only stand up for our own rights and morals, but it can exhibit our own values which are being violated by ICE on a daily basis. The first amendment of the constitution states US citizens with five core freedoms. Religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. Now, let's take a quick look at the actions ICE has done over the past year. With the
039right of religion, ICE has continually disregarded religious practices and confiscated various items that express identity. With the right of free speech, many reports have indicated that ICE has targeted activists for their protest and more specifically the No Kings protest that occurred. With the right of press and assembly, ICE agents have stopped, threatened, or confiscated many devices from citizens filming in public or even within their own homes. And finally, for the right of petition, ICE has refused direct court orders to refuse immigrants that have been detained. Now, I and the rest of the people who have organized this protests all agree that everybody is entitled to their own opinion, whether or not society believes it is correct or not. But we have done our research in this matter and we have met with our school to
040ensure that the protest will remain safe and peaceful. We as American citizens should have the right to express ourselves and I know that we can continue doing this with the future. Thank you board for hearing him out. And we just wanted to make sure that the um district is taking the effective measures to make sure that all students are staying safe and that um they're taking measures, you know, push back against ICE and stuff like that. I know that there's been much push back from parents about this and I've seen a lot on Facebook. They've been attacking students directly and they've been from what I've heard spamming the the district with emails about this and we just wanted to let you know this is completely peaceful. We're working with the school to make sure that
041we can do this effectively to keep all students safe and we're not here to riot. We're here just to peacefully get our voices heard as students as we're not able to vote. We're not able to vote. Sorry. Um but we want to still get our voices heard. Thank you very much. And um so many students around the school have been trying to just help support this even if their parents are saying no. I had students coming up to me um making pins even just today, making signs at home and trying to get the word out even by putting on their social media stories or making videos about it. Even the social media Tik Tok that we made for this already reached over 450 followers. And I think that really just shows what the student body
042wants. Is there anything you like? >> We are doing this protest to we're doing this protest to voice those who cannot have a voice, those who are too afraid to even go outside their homes because of all the horrible things that ICE ICE has done. And we just hope that the district can like have those proper measures to keep students safe um as well as staff members. I agree with what um my partners have said. Um u I just want to point out just making sure everyone knows again this is uh just a safe protest and everyone is entitled to their opinions. So of course we respect everybody and yeah that's >> um also there has been a Facebook group going around spreading much false information. No, students are being pressured into doing this. And
043I know that there were some things about threats, but from what I looked out, but from what I heard, um, they were all just things taken either out of context. I don't really know what they were saying in there, but it was one of them was we like our ice crush. That was apparently a threat according to a Facebook group. I don't really understand what they're trying to say, but it's clear that they're just taking out their political beliefs on students. And I had a friend who got personal information leaked on one of this groups and it's just been really crazy. But we hope that the uh district can just support this and allow us to show our voices. >> Thank you very much. If there's any questions, please let us know. >> Thank you.
044Thank you, >> Cheryl Flynn. Hi everyone, my name is Cheryl Flynn. I am the president of EPC, the special needs PTA for asiggo school district. I'm here to advocate for our neurode divergent students and the families who fight for them every single day. For every year my children have been in the district, I have asked that we formally recognize autism acceptance week. And yes, there has been progress. The district moved from not doing anything at a district level to just last year encouraging schools to participate in a spirit week focus on autism and neurode divergent acceptance. That matters. Progress always matters, but let me be clear, it's still not enough. Autism diagnosis have increased by nearly 300% over the past 20 years. Improved screening and awareness explains some of that, but the reality remains. These
045numbers are significant. Black children are diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 27 compared to 1 in 36 for white children. In some regions, the rate is as high as one in 19. These are not statistics on a page. These are real children, our children sitting in classrooms, walking hallways, and trying to figure out where they belong. Illinois recognizes the first week of April as autism awareness and acceptance week and encourages schools and communities to participate in educational events. Current legislation also supports neurode divergence education in K through8 schools. But whether something is mandated or not should never be the question. The question should be is it right? And education and acceptance are not optional. They are essential. My own children survived junior high because of educators who truly saw them, who chose understanding over
046convenience and compassion over silence. When I first pushed for autism acceptance week at that level, someone asked me, "What do you want?" My answer was simple. I don't want a classroom announcement. I want the school. I want the same energy we give every other spirit week. Last year, Murphy Junior High delivered exactly that. They hosted a spirit week, distributed neurode divergent acceptant acceptance pins, facilitated real conversations about differences, and the mural club painted an autism acceptance mural in the main hallway. This was a school without an autism program. Yet, they showed up fully. They did they didn't just participate, they led and they proved it can be done well. This is not about blame. This is about leadership. This is about a culture. This is about whether we are willing to stand together as a
047community and say that every child deserves to be seen, valued, and understood. As president of EPAC, I have had the privilege of witnessing what happens when educators choose to lead. Through our collaborative EPAC elementary gym nights, Amy Walters, an adaptive PE teacher, brought together staff, volunteers, and community organizations to create inclusive spaces where students can simply belong. More recently, EPAC hosted a junior high and high school gym night, and I attended with my children. When we left, my son had to smile from ear to ear. That doesn't happen by accident. That happens because another educator, Robin Smith, who is an adaptive PE teacher at OS, rallied incredible support from the school community. I was inspired by that gym night. So, when I thanked Robin, I told her I was rewriting my public comment for tonight
048to include the gym nights. She replied, "Glad PE has changed the culture at OS so much over the years. It's one of the things I'm most proud of in my career." That is leadership. That is commitment. That is what happens when adults decide our kids are worth the effort. Today, I am asking the board to take the next step. create a district level committee to plan and implement a week of acceptance during the first week of April in honor of our neurode divergent population. A committee that includes parents, educators, administrators, and community members. A committee that ensures consistency, visibility, and the meaningful engagement across all schools. and that continues supporting our students beyond a single week. We cannot be broken. Not when it comes to our kids, not when it comes to inclusion, not when
049it comes to doing what is right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um 8.1 student board member reports. Good evening board. Um we just want to give you a an update on what SAC has been doing. You know, it's the funny thing is because like at the start of the year, we had the idea of hosting a lunch and learn all have um been with us on and the progression that we've you know embarked and the amount of effort we've put into it and now seeing the action plan come into fruition is it's really beautiful moment. I'm happy to be part of it, have the opportunity contribute to that. So really grateful and really gratified for that opportunity. Um so to go over the highlights of what happened at our last SSAC meeting that we had
050um four days ago. Um we were discussing the lunch and learn. Now we're getting close to the date. The date for the lunch and learn at OE will be on the February 19th which is a Thursday. And OS's will be at um on March 3rd which is a Tuesday. So those are our two lunch and learn dates. >> What time is it? just like 10:30 to 2 or whatever. >> It'll be during lunch. >> During all the lunches? >> Yeah, because these are school days. So, um from fourth period, fifth period, sixth period, and seventh period, that's four periods of lunch for students to come in, teachers to come in and improve the relationships. though. Um, at this SACE meeting, the biggest thing I could really say is that we grasped a visual of like
051really like the event because we we actually visited the community room and just being able to conceptualize what are we looking at? Do we have tables here? We have chairs here. How many chairs are we going to have? Um, where's the food going to be? Is going to be in the back? What's what is the visual going to look like? Right? What's the plan? What's the idea? So just being able to have that idea planted in all of all the SSAC members that we can cohesively work together that was just a beautiful moment and it was really the stepping stone into our action plan. Some of the perspectives that the students were providing at the SSC meeting were regarding like the delegation of roles because this is an event we need people. We need volunteers
052and at that meeting we were encouraging those opportunities for the students. So, we actually have um a couple of members who have received club um incorporation and support from VSA, Bionic, and Coalition. So, they're willing to give volunteers for this event and to support that lunch and learn. Um we also have our assistant student ambassador for um board of education, Joel Asuk. he has volunteered to specialize in the decorations and design of the lunch and learn because I mean if we're going to host it, it's got to be very inviting, right? We have to make sure that the students come in and they're they're enthusiastic and they're in a very comfortable environment. Um we also had another um student member at SAC, Milo, who will be in charge for creating the upbeat music to also
053ensure you know the comfortable environment because you know this is we're we're building some steam here, right? You can see we're placing one block on the other and we're getting there. So um and during the lunch and learn event, we really want to capture like what's going on, what the interactions are looking like. So um our one of our student ambassadors on the and also on the board meeting um I mean on the SSC board man she actually had the idea and also Sahara had the idea to have um to incorporate Coco no AI it's an AI tool that we can use that will record the conversations and then create summaries create a podcast maybe create some other form of um writing that will be used for feedback and reflection. So, you know, being able
054to capture and convert like any sort of source into like summaries and organized notes, that's that's really an effective way to um you know, provide future reflection and to also like see what it will be like next year. So, um yeah, that's that's pretty much um what we're looking at past SACE meeting. So, yeah. [clears throat] >> Hello everyone. Uh just to touch base a little bit on the use of this AI tool. A lot of people think that AI is kind of a way to like cheat a code, but we're using Cocoono as a way to find statistics and to find like our qualitative feedback for our study, which is obviously our lunch and learn. Coconut will be listening to different groups at different times and then automate um a transcript which then will
055put into a different AI tool which was introduced by Miss Prior who also introduced it to her other um peers as well which would turn our conversation into podcasts. So then we could hear back what other students were talking about and kind of finalize and see what um we can change in future plans. Um next this following week uh OE has sent out invitations for the lunch and learn to staff and stu for only staff but we are currently training student leaders from other clubs such as bionic coalition lasso BSA to come and help out during these lunch periods. We'll be from 10:02 to 107 I believe the fourth, fifth, 6th and 7th for our lunch periods at these schools. Uh we really want to emphasize the importance of these lunch and learners which is
056to connect with student teacher relationships and to understand what we can work on and kind of look forward to for the future within these groups. Um and then also said OE's lunch and learn is going to be on the 19th and ours will be on March 3rd. And then we have a meeting this week in which we'll talk about like training of the volunteers and the notetakers who will facilitate the entire group. >> Yeah. Looking forward to the output. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I hope I can come by and and to check it out a little bit, but it's been a little work. Um, any questions or >> No, just [clears throat] thank you. We're looking forward to hearing how it goes and getting some uh feedback. Um, so thank you guys for all
057the hard work and organizing. Appreciate it. >> I think I can be there for March 3rd, so I'll definitely check it out. >> Great. >> No. Okay. just look forward to hearing. >> Um, unless there's anything else, we'll move to uh 82, the board committee reports. It looks like it was just with us. >> Um, we held the equity and learning innovation um committee meeting. Uh, just a quick synopsis. There's notes in our or report in our board um agenda, but um we saw the same presentation about summer school and was able to ask some questions about that and then we had an update on um all our actions around equity and cultural responsiveness uh presentation on that. [clears throat] uh lots of things that are lots of efforts obviously in that area and I
058was reflecting at that meeting uh about how uh how much we've done not just in the last two years since I've been on the board but for for several years I feel like in some ways you know as we've been a leader uh in this area and thinking about it so just continue that good work all right three board member comments I'll start over. >> Uh, sure. I uh attended both the uh epic um open gym night on Thursday and it was uh really cool to watch. Um all the uh collab PE students that were there were cheering everyone when they walked through the door and um >> Oh yeah. It wound up some sort of game that no one really knows what the rules are, which are always the most fun. And they were
059um all scooting around on carts. So it >> was Churchill, right? >> No, [clears throat] it was at Asiggo High School. >> Oh, okay. >> Because I got to see the new floor. It looks awesome. >> Oh. >> Um I think that we need to do a better job of advertising those because I've found out that a lot of people didn't realize that was happening. Um and uh think it I think it would be a great event to continue. Um I also went to the uh community versus cancer event on Saturday and um mostly because the Special Olympics team was doing a scrimmage between the girls varsity and the boys varsity games and I will say the uh atmosphere in that room was amazing. Um, every basket was cheered like it was the final four.
060I mean, it was nuts. And the kids all had the biggest smiles on their faces. And, um, I I was really impressed with a lot of the students were just coming up to say hi to the Special Olympics team. So, um, following with what Cheryl was saying, I think there's a lot of, um, I think we have to give a lot of credit to the students because they are definitely leading the way on this idea of including everybody. Um, but yeah, it was a it was a really cool event and um, I'm glad we got to host it. So many of you know I am a gymnast mom and so I've done a lot of uh gymnastic meets these past I want to say last couple of months. We're on the tail end of the
061season. So I'm really excited because our girls are doing a phenomenal job. Um our JV team just finished up a couple weeks ago. Um however we have I want to say a meet on Saturday. So, I'm really excited about that and those opportunities and I look forward to talking about a win right um at our next board meeting. Uh, also that being said, I'm just really proud to be on um to sit on a board where we have the Black National Anthem sang during a board meeting. Um that was really powerful and a great way, you know, to um to honor Black History Month and just to honor the diversity that's here in the district. So, that's what I have. Oh gosh. Feel like the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday is very Monday. Um [laughter]
062>> it's a it's a he it's a very Mondayy Monday. Yes. Um so uh right after the last board meeting I had the opportunity to attend the legislative breakfast which was kind of a collaboration. It was it was a bunch I think it was hosted by the village. Did the village put that together? Thank you to the village for putting that together. Um, but it was all of the legislators who serve our community as well as uh all the public entities within our community. And we each kind of had the opportunity to um talk about what we're doing in our own our own spaces and um talk about what needs there are for advocacy from our legislators. And one thing that came up that was really kind of exciting, I think it was our last
063board meeting where we recognized and congratulated our um NextGen uh cohort completers. And so that actually came up. Um, State Senator Logan Kappell, who is the um, chair of the Senate Education Committee, was talking about how when those grants come up, um, she frequently cites us uh, 308's kind of execution of the grant and how they are using that money to support, uh, and grow their own kind of community and promote from within. And so, um, just hearing her recognize that and knowing that she recognizes that throughout the state, um, especially because it was maybe 36 hours after we had recognized, uh, our own teachers who had just completed their hard work. Um, it was it was really great. So, shout out to everyone that has had a hand in executing that program as well
064as all the people going through it. You are doing wonderful work and we appreciate you. I wanted to I feel compelled to share some some thoughts on um our our students and um the protest that was held or the walk out that was held with OHS students and uh the planned uh the students that are planning for the OEH OEHS walk out. Uh as Dr. Kad and his team has is specifically stated, you know, our district is not sanctioning those, you know, events. um we are not you know ad advocating for or against them. Our concern is student uh safety um and making sure that um that our students are safe um and that they also have an opportunity uh to express their uh first amendment rights. Um but my comments are a little bit
065more broad in that although it's not a school sanctioned event um I think we can all agree that education happens um both inside the school and outside of the school. Um outside of the four walls of schools all of us have learned so much about life and civic life and relationships. Um and I myself as I reflect on my you know education broadly most of what I have learned has happened outside of classrooms. Um with that I would just offer some reflection on how we worked on that at our house. So, we had a student, we have a daughter who participated in the walk out um at OS and while we were talking about it the night before as part of her education, we made sure that she understood what she was walking out for,
066what the consequences were, uh how to um do it in a peaceful way, how to abide by laws. Um and that in itself is really an education. And so I encourage all the adults in our community to whether or not they agree um with the students or not that they take an opportunity to think about how they might use this as an educational moment uh outside of the school walls. Um and I'll just leave it at that for now. >> I just got sandwiched in the middle. But I'm going to I'm going to piggyback actually off of what you said. Um, I truly believe that, um, although I personally am not an educator, I I truly believe that education happens both inside and outside. Um, people will often bring up math and and and reading
067scores, and those are really important. Uh, but so is learning to be a well-rounded individual and and I I refer to the events that have happened, but I but there are other things, too. Um, I think the goal of education is is really to raise people to be raise students to be our future, to be freeth thinkers and and to be able to, um, assess information on their own and and to go for the truth. So, on that, um, in the in the past couple weeks, um, I would like to recognize some of the events that I've been at, speaking of freethinkers and talented individuals. Um, we have so many in the school district. Um, first of all, I I wanted to quickly shout out um we've been to continue our tour of schools. Um,
068I'd like to thank the teams at Grand Park, Trrowber, and the Wheatlands that we've been to in the past couple weeks. I'd like to thank them for their ideas, for their thoughts, um, for their openness, um, as we try to get kind of a feel for where each individual school is at. So, we do appreciate their time and effort. Um, I made the drive down to Poria one day. Um, got myself a speeding ticket, too, which I will not charge to [laughter] the will not charge to the district, but um anyway, I went >> unless you don't like I could do a gofund me. Uh anyway, >> um I went down to Poria, as I said, to um to check out the ILMEA performance by uh Asiggo East and by Benic. So, it was Asiggo
069East wind symphony and uh Benarc's symphonic band. And I'll tell you, we have I I'm saying it too much. We have some really talented individuals. Their performances both were um they were astounding. And I hats off to the students, to the directors, to the parents, and for everyone who put in so much hard work. Um it definitely paid off. Uh there were a lot of com uh compliments that I heard as I was walking out. Um so again, uh congratulations to both of those schools there. following along on Ben Narcich. Um I happened to accidentally on purpose run into the science bowl that was happening at Murphy Junior High. Um boy, that's that's nerve-wracking. Uh they were teams of of junior high students that were being asked questions by um you know, professionals from places
070like Argon and you team competition and I'm happy to report that Benari placed third out of the 10 teams. So congratulations to them. Um, and then also really quickly went to the Mosaic multicultural event at Asiggo East. Um, ate more food than I really needed to, but it was amazing. And shout out to the table from India with their uh with their mango dessert. I would have gone back for more, but anyway, there were performances as well. It was well done as it as it always is. And then finally, the last multicultural night that uh I stopped by at was at Fox Chase um which was also very well attended. So, enough from me. Thank you to all of our students, to our parents, to our teachers and staff um that helped to make our
071district uh great. >> Thank you. I went to a few of those things. You did, but um not going to rehash, but uh yeah, at uh Chase with a lot of familiar faces and a lot of lot of smiles for sure. Um, we're going over to 9 point or no, give me a second. 9.1, the consent agenda. I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, please. >> I make a motion to approve all items under consent, including 9.1 minutes from the board of education meeting on January 26, 2026, open and close sessions. 9.2 2 to acknowledge the foyer requests received by the district. 9.3 to approve field trips for overnight and or more than 200 miles. Second, >> I have a a quick question about the foyer request. I'm not sure who to direct
072it to. >> Um just a just uh for my own educational purposes. I know that in the report there is there are several um pending um requests um and I'm just wondering and they that number seems to be a little higher like higher than usual than it has been in the past. So I'm wondering what our obligation is as a district to stay on top of those requests and what those timelines look like >> or is it Go [clears throat] ahead. Typically, if it's a pending request, it means that we've requested additional time on them. Okay? >> And they're very they're very uh tight deadlines around those. >> Okay. >> They are going to be really a result when it goes to pending is we're still assessing how much time it's going to take those.
073Okay. >> Um uh unfortunately for some of them and the types of when they come in, there's attorney review that's involved in those. So, they become very cost um overwhelming for our system. And so when you see penning, it's because we've gotten a voluminous number of reports. Yeah. >> And so, but they are all time bound and there are very specific guidelines that are communicated to the individual about when they'll get the final response. >> Heather, Dr. Concade, this lives in your department specifically. So you want to add to that? >> So there is an initial timeline, but we do have the ability to request additional time. So as Dr. Kagatti mentioned, we do remain within those. Sometimes there is um some additional dialogue in um in situations where the FOYA is just too broad.
074It's either voluminous or potentially no record. So there is communication though within and we stay within the guidelines >> um even uh when there are attorney uh communications. >> Okay. And just related to that too, we've seen lately a significant number of lawyers >> from different groups >> being sent to other school district asking for similar information. A lot of document are being requested at the same time to the point where attorneys that represent school district as well as committee group have introduced legislation to be considered uh by the state legislator to try to help uh school district manage that. And what has happened because of the volume of that is a significant amount of money that school district are incurring in attorney's fees to be able to fill that requirement. And sometimes some of
075the requests are intentionally burdome and and just voluminous. The expectation that the requesttor will be able to get the attorney's fee paid for. So it's becoming a significant problem. So that four bills were introduced uh before the legislature to be considered this legislative session. >> I didn't know that. Thank you. >> Yeah. There are examples that have emerged from legal reporting that I've learned where there are they're using AI to send in multiple uh foyas to a school district or autobots, right? And then there's an attorney behind it and then when the district has said this is voluumis, whatever, then they filed a appeal and then they've gone to court and then they've settled out of court. So they're using it as a opportunity to essentially sue school districts to get money. I'm not saying
076that these are what's represented any of ours, but there are that that is something that in speaking with attorneys recently, I've learned that that is becoming a pretty standard practice now because they're able to send a thousand. We have 800 districts. So, you can send to every single district in seconds, multiple Hoya requests, and then if we don't fulfill it, you can then turn around and say, "Well, if you do this, then we're gonna >> sue you for whatever." >> Yeah. >> It's becoming a scheme. So would you say just outside of like resources or financial resources because we obviously we have to pay attorneys for a lot of this when we talk about staffing and staff resources and the number of people that you have to put in front of this to ensure that
077we are meeting the deadlines um that would be burdensome as well. >> Absolutely. >> Well it pulls away. So we have an individual who manages the incoming requests and then you're involving technology department and then you're involving an attorney and then you're involving the deputy superintendent who manages that department and then it's going to then go so you and then if it's a specific ask for let's say the communications office or the human resources office. So now you're avoid you're impacting all those individuals and so schools department. So you're looking at honestly from a a tax. So again not to dissuade anybody from submitting a foyer in fact that is the right and that is an important part of our transparency but the first question would be is that information available online and then to
078create that information what is the impact of it so and what's the goal >> thank you education piece for me >> did we >> any other discussion Miss C. I >> Dr. Pock >> I >> Miss Robinson >> I >> Dr. Martin >> I >> Mr. Cerrone >> I >> Miss Wenmouth I >> Dr. Mario >> Hi. >> Motion passes 70 uh 10 information per 10.1 ESL course proposal and recommendations. >> Welcome Miss Lopez. >> You Thank you. All right, good evening. My name is Maria Lopez. I am the director of multilingual learners in our wonderful district. Um, tonight we are coming to uh uh discuss and or share and inform on a new ESL course proposal as well as a recommendation for change in a current uh ESL course that we have two courses
079that we have at the high school at both high schools. So for our current curriculum course change recommendations, right now we have an ESL1 course that is uh for EL students at O and as well as an ESL2 class right now um at the high schools. We're looking to change the names of the ESL courses because we want it to reflect correctly on the transcript so it doesn't look like the students are taking the courses out of order. Um so right now our recommendation for ESL1 uh for this uh upcoming currently it's called named ESL1 for next year it would be foundations um ESL 2 is uh for next uh actually we want to change that to connections and then um we are looking to ESL 2 uh is is not a course that we
080will be necessarily running next year we'll be running ESL1 one and one course proposal that we would like to discuss in a moment. Um but more but the purpose for those changes and I'll I'll share the the name of the other course in a moment is really so that that reflects on the transcript and it doesn't look like the students are taking the courses out of order on their high school transcript. So for the new curriculum course proposal we're looking to add ESL3 which we will um be calling we would like to call bridge um that's really bridging um the students um language development. The purpose for these courses is really for our newcomer students. And our newcomer is defined as students who have been in the country for three years or less um in
081EL students because you could be in the cure country three years or less and not be an EL student but are EL learners. And the the purpose of this uh for these courses is really and for this course ESL3 is so that students are getting that language development support in all four domains of language which is speaking, reading, writing and listening and to support that content area. So when they're in those content areas is looking at that academic vocabulary that that can support them when they go into those content areas. Strategies that that they can use utilize when they are in those content area courses. um and as they're as they are uh progressing and becoming more proficient in English in their English language development. Um ESL3 will be the highest level for this course
082for our students who are newcomers in English language development in ESL. Um and so that is what we are proposing for next year. Uh to look at ESL1 and ESL 3 and then the following year bringing in ESL 2 again so that it will be taken in in order for the students to be able to to to participate in that. Um there are no costs for staffing in regards to stuff st uh cost recommendations. We're looking for that bridge at OE and O um at this time to look at about 40 texts at a cost of $85 per item. Um and a total which will total about $3,500 um in regards to the to the uh cost recommendation for this course to run at both high schools for next year. >> Is that cost for
083the books uh is that new or is that you find uh like expanding it. >> I'm sorry. Say that one more time. I apologize. [laughter] >> I didn't phrase it very well. Are those new books that we have to buy in order to run this free? >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. We will be coming back to the board with the recommendation um for the text that selected. Um we are here for information about the new course first. uh we'll come back for action at our next board meeting and then the team will um start the uh curriculum alignment and tech selection process. We will come back for information then go to 30 days of play and then come back for action but we wanted to make sure that we were comprehensive of
084the entire uh plan and cycle from the onset. >> So Dr. Cancade, I apologize if my question is repetitive. You probably answered it, but I thought I heard that we already offer the courses. We're just changing the title. No, that's not true. >> We currently offer ESL 1 and two and >> yeah, ESL 1 and two. Just like Dr. Concade said, we that's what we're currently offering and we would like to now add the ESL3 course for the language development for our students. So all three courses will support English language development for our newcomer students. Um depending also their class when they go into each of those courses depends also on the access score that they get that they obtain um or their screener score when they're coming into the program. >> So currently we
085rotate ESL1 and two. We do not offer them simultaneously. So, they would like to continue that rotation, but then add um ESL Bridge as a supplement to provide a three-year sequence for our newcomers. So, we're trying to strengthen the program to support our our newcomers. Is that the reason why we're not offering ESL 2 next school year? >> So, >> ESL2 right now is the way it is presented. ESL1 is at one high school. ESL 2 is at another high school. So what we're trying to do is those students who will be going into ESL1 next or excuse me those students who aren't currently in ESL1, right? So that moving them up to an ESL uh 2 course and then ESL 2 to ESL3. I apologize because it's I'm sorry ESL1 and two are are
086not are are in that rotation. So those students will have that opportunity and then next year develop what ESL 2 will look like for our students. In addition to the ESL bridge work that will be completed um upon approval, we are also putting ESL one into a curriculum renewal to make sure that it is an alignment with our then ESL123 sequence. So that work will also be done in conjunction with ESL bridge for next year. >> So the courses are sequential. So the courses would be on rotation for what is currently one and two within an addition to three um which is the bridge. So a student could come in and be placed into a one or two and then a three or just be placed in a three. It's really dependent on um years
087in program or years in country in conjunction with um their screener scores. Okay. So really trying to tailor student need with language development. >> Hence the realignment. >> So is this additional supports like there are other supports that our Okay. >> Yes. You have to provide supports in content. This is a specific course for newcomers and it's viewed as an elective to support that language acquisition. >> I was going to ask are one and two are those also uh in content with studies. >> No, no, they do get support in those classes and they could be through cola, blended or self-contained model, but the new the foundations connections and bridge is solely to support language acquisition for those students that are eligible or qualify under newcomer. So, it's an additional support on top of content
088support. >> How burdensome would it be? I think I'm wondering if you know um if it's possible to get like a landscape of kind of like the different courses and how they impact. Would that would that be a possibility? I think that that's something maybe we consider for the board. As I'm thinking about the questions, I'm wondering if some kind of like a pathway alignment of explaining the differences may be helpful. I think a sample uh if I could add on like a sample of like >> a student like >> you know Amy Mario comes to Swiggo East as a newcomer. What is she taking her freshman year? What is she taking her her her sophomore year, her junior year kind of to see it through the the student lens? I'm still not clear about
089why we're not offering English or ESL or I should say connections um to next year. Don't we have students who are who would benefit from that and would qualify for that support >> for that? Yeah. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Okay. So, to help understand it, there's three basically there's three years of newcomer support >> that is being offered. Foundations, >> connections, and bridge. Foundations and Connections is for students whose ELP level in literacy proficient is from a 1.0 to a 2.5. >> There are students for example Sally comes in and she's a 1.0. So that year we're providing connections. Connections and foundations is very similar. The difference is we don't want the duplicate of that connections and foundations to occur in the transcript twice for consequential years because the students will be graded and it
090will appear as though they failed when they actually can benefit for more language support. So if Sally comes in at a 1.0 ELP and finishes foundations their freshman year, their sophomore year really doesn't matter what year because it really is based on their ELP, they can benefit from connection or the opposite again because of 1.0 to 2.5 and then 2.6 to 3.4 is for those students at the bridge. So as part of the newcomer as suggested as mentioned um they have to be in the country for less than three consecutive years come from a country that's non- English speaking actually qualify to be an ML student and then um based on an ELP of 3.4 or lower. So in addition to all the content that a newcomer would get in ELA and all the four
091core courses, this is an additional support of possibly three years, 1.0 to 2.5. They can get two years of that support. We have to give it a different name because of how it appears on the transcript or bridge which is 3 2.6 to 3.4. >> Yeah. So essentially a student can go foundations connection bridge if they need three years of support or depending on when they enter the cycle they could go connections foundation bridge because both foundations and connections as Dr. Dubil said supports that 1.0 to 2.5. So those two can be taken [laughter] connection foundations. >> Got it. >> Correct. >> The one and two was confusing. >> Yes. We wanted to build longevity of support with flexibility of scheduling. Got it. So, hence the change in title because we didn't want it to
092go one two versus 2 one as Dr. Dubil said didn't want students to appear to be going backwards in a sequence. >> Thank you. Okay. Does the do these or do you anticipate that these curricula will collaborate in intensely I guess with the core subject areas to support the specific vocab that's needed for or or other academic skills and literacy skills for government class or biology or whatever the case may be. or is it a separate curriculum that just kind of holistically develops their English ability? >> So that is the goal because ultimately what we want our students to have is that academic vocabulary in all of those uh four domains and be able to to support that within those content areas. So that is the goal. um the the ESL I apologize the um
093it is an extra support as we would say just for language development and language proficiency because it cannot be considered as EL support ESL support >> because ESL has to be in a content area. >> Yeah. >> So those students would have this elective right and then have a content area EL class whatever that may be. Um, so this is an extra support for that. But the goal for that is that this this will help them with those strategies to develop that vocabulary and and hope with that collaboration as well with teachers is understanding this is the vocabulary that we're looking at and and um in in these different content area subjects and especially one of the things is that that this ESL support class um will be [snorts] great. It's a mixed grade level.
094So it's not where it's just ninth graders, 10th graders, 11th graders, more about their language proficiency. >> So yes, >> the other thing I just want to highlight because Dr. Dubl, you responded to one of my questions that students can also opt out of this if they >> not that we would encourage that, but if they really want to take music and that's like their passion, we don't want to they have an option to to opt out and hopefully they get all the support they need in other ways, right? So, just wanted to ask ask that question to make sure I'm understanding it correctly. >> That is correct. >> Students and explain each of those courses and encourage them that they could benefit from that course. >> I just know when you take up an
095elective course, you're often sometimes sacrificing a passion that a student might have and I think families and students need to weigh that the the cost benefit of that. So, yeah. Um, excuse me. Yeah, I had a question actually. What is the um um like is it a semester long course or a year long course for foundations, connections and and bridges like >> it's a year long course? >> Year long course. So wait all three of them or all three. Okay. So like um the whole point is to make sure that the students who are coming from different countries as you were saying who might not have that foundation of English proficiency for from a standpoint of reading, writing, listening and speaking >> to be able to establish that and then integrate them into other courses
096>> plan because within language development you're looking at academic language and social language. And so our goal is always the kelp which is the cognitive academic language proficiency and you need the social language in order for that to happen as well. So absolutely that's where that's at. >> Great question. Thank you. >> Actually one more thing. What happens if I'm really curious what happens if um like like Sally for example is excelling in um reading and writing >> but they're struggling with listening and speaking like how um and there like does that mean that they're not able to progress to the next course or >> absolutely not. So when we're looking at language proficiency in regards to language and academic, right, we want to make sure that educators are able to then when during their
097instruction are able to provide opportunities for students to um increase their their to increase their oracy through speaking. So are there opportunities within that class and opportunities for them to be uh active listeners and be able to produce that language? Um and it also depends on their so what we look at for language development is something called the WEDA eld can do descriptors right so what we're looking at is if a student comes reaches a level three let's just say 3.4 for on and access literacy proficiency was reading and writing. What we look at is as teachers and when we're evaluating is saying, okay, this student can access the standards and be able to to show us, but but based on those can do descriptors, how are they going to be able to then uh
098demonstrate their understanding? But it should not stop them or be a hinder to them or hindrance to them moving on to to a to to a a higher level of a class. Any other questions? >> No. >> Sorry for the confusion at the beginning. >> No, no confusion. [laughter] >> Just you, Dr. Yeah. The whole reason you're doing this to prevent confusion, right? >> That's right. [laughter] >> Well, thank you for the team and the collaboration involved. I know it was many many hours of working through this is you know doesn't even tip u hit the surface of the amount of work that has gone into this. So really thank you so much for your due diligence and the flexibility and really ensuring that educators were part of the process as well. So thank you
099for all the work again many hours and uh to all the staff out there who are part of this thank you for your efforts as well. >> Thank you. And I don't do we need that considering still >> maybe not. I don't want to put extra work. >> Everybody understands? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Check. >> Done. All right. Thank you for the questions. Yeah. Um 10.2 intergovernmental agreement uh shared consultant services with the village of Asico. So, as part of the redevelopment of the old trauma uh school, middle school, um since the building is small here in a tiff district, which is a tax tax increment finance u uh zone, we're required to do some due diligence especially with the developer as it relates to things like uh performer adherence to the uh
100tiff rules law which are very specific and technical. What you normally would do you engage uh a firm that specializes in negotiating these types of deal and we work with the village of Asiggo who is a partner and we interview a number of uh firms and we settle on Johnson research. This is a firm that's got over 30 years in doing this type of work. They've actually worked extensively with the city of Chicago, which to give you some context, the city of Chicago has over 200 tax active districts in the city. They help [clears throat] with the doing the report and doing the compliance that's required. So when we selected the um the the firm what we decided to do instead of uh each paying separately for the service of this firm since we have
101similar uh intention of having co-development of this property. We decide to go jointly and the cost of providing the technical support for the review of this uh project is 20,000 and each of the entity will pay 10,000 each. The village of Asiggo already approved this and we just need to approve it here in order for the contract to be valid. Any questions? >> This well I guess my only comment was this is stand procedure I would assume for something like this. >> Absolutely. Because we just just like the village doesn't we don't have the technical knowledge. It's a very specialized bill uh in helping us negotiate the best the best financial term to participate in the redevelopment of this project which will be funded in large part funding. >> Right. So, so basically by us
102spending the $10,000, we're we're in a sense doing our due diligence to make sure that everything's done >> absolutely that we can get the the best deal from the developer in the development of this property in the interest of our taxpayers. >> Yes, it's probably not just due diligence. It's probably my assumption. Do you foresee any situation where the villages uh interest are um in uh >> diverges from ours? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Uh I I don't think so >> because then at that point wouldn't the consultant have to pick which one? >> No, I don't think so. And the reason being that we found out that the property was actually put in the tiff district Washington main tiff district intentionally in the event when the time comes and the district needs to re
103redevelop the property the benefit of having tiff increments actually helps to chain up to encourage development from a private developer. So from from the very beginning of the establishment of that tip in the area it was set up to assist the district in developing the property. So that was that was always the what was being contemplated the beginning and additionally since we're not in the business of property development the villages that is what the village does it makes sense to use their co competency in helping us get the best deal possible when we're developing so I will say that in the last three years this is the second time we have brought in outside support when working with thirdparty and governmental entities. Um for example, we when we were working around impact fees, uh we
104brought in a third-party consultant to help identify what was the best recommendation. Prior to this, there was a lot of frankly uh cold calling. Board members would call each other or there would be a lot of discussion. Became a very to be honest with you a very politicized process. I'm not saying I'm not going to name a particular time, but it it becomes very much a show of who has the most political capital, right? And we felt uh two three years ago when we came in when I came in that it was important if we're going to start to work as good partners to each other that we identify meaningful steps to pursue understanding where the line begins. We all have where the line begins around sharing fees like impact fees, right? And so what
105we approached the village with at that point was that we should out hire an outside party to review what those are. And so in this instance in a similar way, yes, there are competing demands, right? They want to make as much as they do and we want to gain as much return on ours, right? So at the end of the day though, we all serve the same community body, right? And so in those instances where sure you could go back to a political process, right? Um and those look like bad mouthing the village or uh the park district or any of those things. You could go the, you know, Mr. President, would you please call the village uh mayor, Mr. Kaufman, and say, hey, we think it should be this and let's go grab lunch
106and make it that way. Right? So, I want to name this for the public because I think if we don't name it, people don't understand what we're trying to do differently here, which is we want to move out of a a hyper political process. There's always some level of politics, right? Let's just not be naive about it, but there's a hyperpolitical process that's aside from any reliance and an expertise judgment. So we've now worked together and we have identified a partnership or this this will subject the village say okay we are going to agree to do this at the end of that we will see those same results and we can agree or disagree we could even look at the results say you know what we don't agree with this proposal right go back to
107the drawing board right we may say we don't believe these words let's get another one right but ultimately the goal is to find an objective source to help us get to the other side of this because I think a lot of times uh governmental entities get stuck in political wrangling when that's not necessary. >> Dr. G, I will say though uh me say that I've worked with different municipalities before my career. I've never worked with this municipality that is very been very open >> very much. >> They've never attempted to hide anything. They've been whatever request of them to provide they've been very open in door and there's a recognition unlike what I've seen before that we serve the same master and we serve the community of >> but we also serve a bunch of
108other communities >> and that's kind of where my point is >> that you know what's good for asiggo may not be ideal for the whole >> Absolutely. Absolutely. But I I say that in context that there's an openness >> to sharing information that we have to you are absolutely right. We have to make a decision that is in the best interest of of the the folks that we represent here which is in keeping with that the negotiations that's been going on right now. When we start talking about contracts the village retain its own attorney um and we retain two attorneys serve our interest. So we are not being naive in saying whatever the village decides we just got to go along with it. The village has its own legal counsel. We have two legal counsel
109>> that we look at based on what the direction the board gives us to make sure those things are achieved in writing in an agreement in a contract. So this consultant is going to look at the whole project make recommendations but then we will have our own representative. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. >> Absolutely. Because at the end of the day, what will what will be the final determination is the RDA redevelopment agreement and that will be vetted by the village attorney and it will also be vetted by the two attorneys that works on behalf of uh of the school district. Any other questions? 11.1. >> Sorry. No, we have a reminder. Sorry. We wanted to remind everyone that um next month on March 9th, our board meeting will be student led. Our second annual speak
110and spark student led board forum. The theme is belonging and will feature many students ages K through 12. So, please mark your calendar for Monday, March 9th at Plank Junior High, beginning at 6:30 p.m. We look forward to showcasing many of the clubs that help foster belonging across our school district. >> Thank you. >> Great. Great. Yeah. Thanks for uh bringing that up. All right. 111. Action item. Approval of bills for payment. Can I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to authorize the payment of bills in the amount of 34,882,878.76 as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Mr. Cerone. >> I. >> Miss C. >> I. >> Dr. Martin. >> I. >> Miss Wmouth. I >> Dr. Mario. I, Miss Robinson. >> I, >> Dr. Pock, >> I. >> Motion passes
11170. >> Action item 11.2, approval of OE diving board replacement. May I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to approve and award the contract for the Asiggo High School diving board replacement project to Landmark Aquatic in the amount of $25,391. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Nope. >> Dr. Mr. Pock >> I >> Miss Robinson >> I >> Miss Wenmouth >> I >> Dr. Martin >> I >> Dr. Mario >> I >> Miss C >> I >> Mr. Serell >> I motion passes 70 action item 11.3 approval of personnel report I have a motion please >> I make a motion to approve the personnel report as discussed and presented >> second >> any discussion >> I just want to congratulate Dr. Campbell. >> Yeah, >> we haven't voted yet. Oh, sorry. [laughter] >>
112And you stole my >> That's You're good. >> Um, but thank you for all of your years of service. Um, as you embark on this new adventure, we will definitely miss you here in Asiggo. >> Sorry, Joe. >> No, no, it's okay. I'm [laughter] gonna wait for the vote. >> Congratulations. Drum roll. Take [laughter] the vote. >> All right. I think >> Miss Robinson >> I >> Miss Wenmouth. >> Okay, here's where I say grudgingly [laughter] but grudgingly because we'll miss you but so very happy for you and you deserve it. Um I >> Dr. Martin >> I >> Dr. Mario >> I >> Mr. Cerrone >> I >> Dr. Pak >> I >> Miss C. >> Hi. >> Congratulations. Yeah, >> congratulations. >> Motion passes 70. >> Make us proud, Superintendent Campbell. [laughter] >>
113Um, can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I make a motion to adjurnn. >> All in favor? >> I I seconded that. >> Motion passes. We are adjourned.