SD308 Board of Education Meeting (11/17/2025)

001Have a roll call, please. >> Mr. Cerrone, >> here. >> Dr. Martin, >> here. >> Dr. Mario, >> here. >> Dr. Pock >> here. >> Miss Robinson, >> present. >> Miss C here. >> Miss Wedma, >> present. >> Let's all stand for the pledge. [snorts] >> Aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> I should probably assure everybody that um my voice is just from yelling at the football game on Saturday. It's not I'm not sick. Okay. So, um All right. We have a new student board member and uh new alternate today. Um we are proud to welcome our new Asiggo High School student board member Sahara Sahare and student alternate

002Nal Kuram. >> Your willingness to serve in these roles reflects the strength, leadership, and passion of our students. The voices of our students are truly integral to the work we do and we look forward to learning from your perspectives as we continue shaping the future of SC38 together. Welcome to the team and thank you. Yeah, thank you for your time. >> And now uh 4.1 our pride recognition. >> All right, we are here tonight to recognize some pride award winners from the following schools. East View Academy, Prairie Point Elementary, South Ferry Elementary, and Asiggo High School. This is for the month of October. The pride stands for proudly recognizes recognizing individuals demonstrating excellence. The board of education began this program 10 years ago to recognize, promote, and celebrate the many contributions made by teachers and

003employees across our great district. We would like to thank our generous district partners who support this program which is presented by Serve Bank and supported by donations from Chick-fil-A Culver's Imagination Print and Design, Huntington Learning Center, The Scoop, KCT Credit Union, Texas Roadhouse, and 113 Maine. Your contributions make this program successful. We would also like to thank all of those who nominated individuals for consideration. Each nominee has been recognized with a certificate. Awardees, after your name is called and we share your nomination, please come forward to be congratulated by the board of education and Dr. Kilgotti. And then also stay up front until the rest of the individuals from your school have been called up. First of all, we have East View Academy. Starting with Sarah Glendy. Sarah displays an unwavering commitment to both her

004students and colleagues, approaching every challenge with professionalism, grace, and a desire to make a difference. She is passionate about her role as a teacher and shares positive attitudes that uplift those around her. One of her nominators shared, "Sarah is not only a trusted colleague, but also a role model whose hard work and kindness make our school community stronger." Congratulations, Sarah. Next we have Marvina Allen. Marvina has a talent for building rapport with her students, ensuring that they feel valued, supported, and understood. In addition, she is highly collaborative with her colleagues and always willing to help wherever needed. A nominator stated, "She is one of the first friendly faces to greet students each and every morning, helping them start their day on a positive note and with a smile." Congratulations, Marvina. And next up from East

005View is Brooke Sloan. Brooke is passionate about the work she does, and it shows. She approaches every situation with a student- centered mindset and her positive composure always shines through. As shared by one nominator, Miss Sloan collaborates closely with her colleagues to problem solve and share ideas and strategies that support student success. Congratulations, Brooke. All right, at this time, any building administrators, please come on up. Mrs. Sulken, come on forward. for a group picture. All right, one final round of applause for East View Academy. Our next spotlight is Prairie Point Elementary School. First, we have Carrie Rothman. Loved by both her students and their families, Carrie is a caring and enthusiastic [clears throat] teacher. She fosters an environment where students come out of their shells to find their strengths. As one parent shared, she embodies

006everything you would want in a teacher and truly shares her passion for learning with everyone around her. Congratulations, Carrie. Next up, we have Christina Tibbles. Christina finds value in building relationships and strives daily to support students. Everyone in her building appreciates her care for others and knows they can truly trust her. One nominator stated, "Prairie Point is a better place to be because she is found throughout it each day supporting both students and staff." Congratulations, Christina. And finally from Prairie Point, Josie Marcus. She is not here, but we'll still give her Let's give her a round of applause. Josie truly makes a difference in students lives. One parent shared that previously their child was hesitant about going to school, but this year he wakes up every morning excited to see his teacher and get to

007Prairie Point. This parent shared, quote, "She sees our child for who he is, believes in his potential, and advocates for him in every way." Congratulations, Josie. And now we would like Mrs. Lond to come on up for a picture with everybody from Prairie Point. All right. Thank you, Prairie Point. Our next school is South Berry Elementary School. First of all, Christine Victorine. Christine fosters a learning environment of growth and ensures each of her students has the unique tools they need to succeed. Beyond the classroom, she is heavily involved in the community. As shared by a nominator, I have heard a parent say that no other teacher has cared for her child like Miss Victorine has. Congratulations, Christine. Next up, Michelle Bailey. Michelle takes the time to understand her students, focusing on their strengths, struggles, and

008what makes them shine. Students who had her as a teacher years ago recall her kind personality. In addition to her commitment to her students, a parent said she connects with parents just as thoughtfully when offering support and feedback that makes us feel like we are part of her team. Congratulations, Michelle. And next up, we have Tess Tusaki. Tess's passion for teaching and learning is contagious. Her thoughtful guidance and words of encouragement make everyone feel seen, heard, and respected. A nominator said, "Teresa is more than a mentor. She is a role model, a steady source of encouragement, and a true advocate for those lucky lucky enough to work with her. Congratulations, Tess. And now we need Miss Decker to come on up. Let's hear it one more time for your sharks. Oh, there's another picture. Thank

009you, South Perry. And for our final celebrating building tonight, we celebrate Asiggo High School. First of all, we have Iron Herrera. Mr. Herrera knows how to connect well with his students while making sure they all feel supported. He even spends his mornings before school in his classroom so students have a safe and welcoming place to congregate. One n one nominator shared, "Iram is dedicated to our students and deserves to be recognized for the time and energy he puts into being more than just a teacher. Congratulations. Next up, we have Kristen Anderson. Kristen is accommodating to all of her students needs. She strives to ensure her students have a firm grasp on what she's teaching and is quick to offer extra support when needed. As highlighted by a nominator, she is a safe space for many

010students to go and is overall just an amazing person and teacher. Congratulations, Kristen. Next up, we have Adam Jensen. Adam makes learning fun. His students find him to be helpful, a good listener, and easy to talk to. A nominator shared, "His enthusiasm for teaching and genuine care for others inspires those around him to do their best and work hard." Congratulations, Adam. Next up, we have Keith Sternad. Keith cares about his students and their best interests. He has played an integral role in providing students the opportunity to learn American Sign Language while also taking on a special part in the local deaf and heart of hearing community. One nominator stated, "Mr. Sternad has genuinely been the most caring, outgoing, patient, friendly, and helpful teacher I have ever met." Congratulations, Keith. And finally, we have Tim Lny.

011Tim's work behind the scenes at OS, tackling a variety of maintenance requests throughout the building. He goes through every day with a great attitude and a smile. He demonstrates a strong commitment to preventative maintenance, often identifying and addressing potential problems before they escalate. Congratulations, Tim. And now we need principal Rays to come on up for a OS photo in the All right. Congratulations, OS. We would like to recognize and celebrate all of these amazing staff one last time. Honores, please proceed out into the hall, gathering at the landing of the stairs for one large group photo. Thank you to all the families and colleagues who have been here tonight and who have nominated our great staff. The next round of Pride Awards will be open for nominations starting December 8th. As they close out, I

012want to thank the communications team and Mr. Francis. One thing you did not hear tonight um is just how excited the students were. Every single classroom for the board, every classroom that we went or space, students were just overjoyed. And um I just have to say that it was such a moment of pride for every one of the students whether it was in first grade all the way through. Um so just again just reiterating um how important it is to recognize the power of our staff and really changing the lives of our students. So again thank you board for for this time and uh to our communications team for organizing all the various intricate details. 5.1 action item uh approval of district administrator contract. Can I have a motion please? >> Um you can in

013just a second. >> Sure. [laughter] [clears throat] >> I make a motion to approve the district administrator contract as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> No. >> Dr. Martin >> I >> Miss Wmouth >> I >> Miss Robinson >> I >> Miss C >> I >> Dr. Mario >> I >> Mr. Cerrone >> I >> Dr. Pock >> I >> motion pass 70 um 6.1 superintendent >> okay and with that we want to welcome just uh welcome to the team Mr. Omei do you want Oh, >> are you please do you want to stand and be recognized? >> Okay, [laughter] >> we'll get it together. Welcome to the [laughter] >> Congratulations. >> It brings me great pleasure to introduce you to Nicole Mana as the recommended candidate for the newly created controller

014position under the supervision of our CFO, Mr. Raphael Beuffi. Nicole brings over 20 years of accounting and financial management experience in both the public and private sectors. She currently serves as an accounting manager at Jones Lang Lasowl, overseeing financial reporting, accounts payable, accounts receivable operations, and general ledger integrity. Nicole is known for her leadership, integrity, and analytical exper expertise. References describe her as supportive, communicative, and solutionoriented. Someone who leads by example, promotes collaboration, and continuously seeks process improvement. Nicole embodies both the technical acumen and leadership integrity essential for this critical role. Her experience coupled with her strong analytical inter and interpersonal skills align directly with the goals and standards of SD308 and make her the recommended candidate for the controller position and an asset to the district's financial leadership team. Welcome Nicole. >> Welcome. Thank

015you. >> Okay. 6.1. >> Yes. Good evening board. Uh thank you for the opportunity to share some highlights. Um I do find that as with every moment I've been getting more and more great news over the last uh 72 48 hours. So uh just to uh start with some history uh making moments. We've got first and foremost this past weekend our IHSA uh state swim and dive championship happened in Asiggo East Ma Katie M set a new state scoring record of 515.75 and is the back-to back state dive champion. That's a big deal. I um we also had our Asiggo Panther football team who is heading to the IHSA um 8A state semifinals for the first time in school history. This will be hosted here in um that we're hosting the final the the next

016playoff game here in our uh field. So just to be clear, it's not the first time they've been there. It's the first time we get to host it here locally. Um, and we'll be taking on the Panthers at 5:00 pm on Saturday, November 22nd. So, come out uh for the big game. Um, at the end of October, I did want to take a moment u many members of our community and I grew up and I lived in Kenya for many years. So, uh I I finally remember this holiday which is Diwali which is a festival of lights. And so at our last board meeting, it was a public forum, so I didn't have traditional public comments, but I did want to recognize and celebrate that um we are it's a tradition where there's a lot

017of light involved in time of celebration. Um and uh it's celebrated throughout the world actually a really important celebration. So I just want to thank and appreciate all of our in our community who celebrate Diwali. As you all know that in lie of our regular board of education meeting uh we ho two weeks ago we hosted the board hosted its public forum at Plank Junior High School. Um it was a outstanding evening to really hear the voices of community members who came out um both online. We had a very robust Zoom space and uh in person uh to share their reflections on a variety of topics. Uh we were encouraged uh by the questions. such an important time to be able to reflect on what's happening in our community, the important things that are that

018are coming up. Uh last week, our schools did just such a incredible job. If you had a chance uh to participate in the Veterans Day activities, um I'm always humbled by the dedication and service by of our veterans, those who have served and in this way. And we want to extend a huge appreciation to our schools and our students for taking and making time to really honor our veterans. Um that act of service for our country for our our vision of a a really unified and diverse nation is really important and we want to thank them for their service and preparation for that. on uh this past Saturday, we celebrate school board member day and this is such a important day. You know, believe it or not, board members are not paid for their service.

019So, it's a labor of love and we are truly honored. Um when a board member makes that decision to step into the arena of this kind of service, um it is such a exciting and opportune time. We know that it carries a heavy weight, but we wanted to take a minute and we have a small token of our appreciation um that I think you've now received at your table. There it is. Yeah. >> And uh just a small and also just some additional little surprises in there for you. And so we just want to thank you for your service and uh it it's really important and I am just truly grateful when we start to think about all the ways in which this board has already had an impact on our work and you think

020about from the policies to the the demands for higher and higher expectations um particularly in how we collaborate well with our each other and our staff and our families. So we want to thank you for that. This week we kick off our first um well it's actually our second in a series of student assignment focused community engagement sess sessions. I want to thank Dr. Concincaid um for her leadership in working with our our school leaders with community members with teachers with staff to really think about the way in which we have to think about the growth in our area. From the day I landed the district the growth is coming the growth is coming. So how do we prepare for this right? How do we think about this? How do we do this in a

021way that really acknowledges the fact that we have all the seats we need? We just have to make sure that we're getting um we're we're being thoughtful about those decisions. And so this week, you have two opportunities. Please come out if you're interested. That's Tuesday, tomorrow night, and Wednesday evening at 6:00 at Asiggo High School. And um there is a lot of excitement. It's coming up. We have our uh break starting this uh coming Saturday or the following week. We will not have school but uh we want to wish everyone a restful wonderful holiday season with your families. Um and also just remembering those who may not have and maybe there's an opportunity to give some service and to give something back during that period. So I just want to uh just say how grateful

022I am to be able to serve and and to celebrate this period with all of you. So, and with that, I want to invite our board members to give out some more positive shoutouts because there is a a lot to cover and I want to thank you for your sharing your your joining me in these shoutouts. >> This week is American Education Week. This is an excellent time for us to celebrate public education and our schools while honoring educators, support staff, students, and parents. >> You know, I just quick question. Was that the first segment for the public forums that we did the Zoom where we were taking questions from the audience online? >> Second time. I know that my first year we did so that was the second time we did it. Yeah. >>

023All right. Just thought it was cool. >> Yeah. >> Um at this weekend's >> Do you want me to All right. At this weekend's IHSA State Swim and Dive Championships, Addie Miller of OEHS was the state champ in the AWD 100 breaststroke and took second place in the AWD 200 freestyle, second place in the 50 free AWD and second place in the 100 free AWD. Congratulations to Addie. We appreciate the volunteers of Maddiey's Mitten March for setting up at our district's office today, handing out coats and winter gear to keep kids and families warm this winter. And thank you to the Ashawigo Transportation Association for their assistance in coordinating the distribution. At last week's signing day, we celebrated several student athletes who officially committed toi continuing their academic and athletic careers at the collegiate level.

024Congratulations to these students from OS and OEHS. >> Um, Josiah Watson of As Wego East High School has been named to the 2025 Illinois High School Football Coaches Association honorable mention all state team. And Danielle Stone, also of OEHS, has been selected as Chicago Bears honorable mention all state flag football team. Congratulations, Josiah and Danielle. Murphy Junior High School's math team placed third at the annual Marmian competitional. Congratulations to these students. >> Uh, finally, Community Cares, as you know, every year does a holiday project where we collect names of families in need and we look for sponsor families to uh basically purchase gifts based on suggestions for all of these families. we and uh we distribute them close to Christmas just a way to make the holidays brighter. Uh we do have our collection of

025families. We are still looking for sponsors um for district families and again these are our these are within our community so they're our district family. Um we're still looking for sponsors as part of the holiday project. Please consider taking part in this act of service. Uh visit the community cares Facebook page for more information. um or you could certainly contact me and I can give you information, but please consider helping out this season. Thanks. >> Thank you very much. >> And we we do have as we close out uh this week, there are some exciting scrimmages with Special Olympics. So, coming up, so please look out for a scrimmage at OE um where our orange and silver team, high school teams will play each other. So, those are and then there's a tournament this coming

026weekend. That's correct. >> Yeah, the the scrimmage is tomorrow night at 5:30 and Saturday. Uh there's a tournament going on and they could really use some volunteer scorekeepers and referees. >> So if you can >> donate some time, uh it does count for uh uh service hours for the high school students. You can reach out to uh Jessica Wade um at jwd308.org. >> On our social media, >> scrimmage for what sport? Uh, it's basketball and it's the two high school teams are going to play each other. >> Thank you. With that, Mr. Serum. >> Um, moving to 7.1, uh, 2025 general obligation binding. Um, >> thank you, Mr. President. >> The community. >> Thank you, Mr. President. So, back on November 4th, we closed on the uh refunding of a bond that was issued back

027in uh 2016, it was uh due to be uh to be refunded in 2025. And that bond amount was $88 million. And just to be clear, by refunding the bond, we didn't extend the duration of the bond. All we did we took advantage of the opportunity to get lower interest rate than what we will pay to bond holders and the savings that acrew from that uh actually goes directly to the taxpayer. So, I've asked uh a municipal advisor, Jason Pinkerton, to come before the board this morning, uh this afternoon, this evening, and just provide an overview of the uh the final sale of the bond. >> You thank you, Dr. >> Welcome. I wanted to just as you open uh for those who may not familiar, this is essentially a scenario where you're refinancing, correct?

028So, it's like if in a personal loan, if you're refinancing your home, you're not extending your 35 year. You're just changing the rate. Correct. Okay. >> I think he's having issue with the mic. Could we just check over time? We just need it for people online. >> Testing. Testing. >> Oh, there you go. You're live. >> Perfect. >> All right. We hear you. >> And it's also only during a certain period of time. >> Correct. So, as Dr. Kati referenced uh a bond refunding unlike a like a refinancing of your house can only be done at certain periods of time and that coincides with the optional redemption date of the original bond issue which is typically 8 to 10 years after the original issuance. So, in this case, the 2016 bonds were callable uh February

0291 of 2026, and you're allowed to refund the bonds 90 days in advance with the with a closing date 90 days in advance of that call date. So, we were in that window to to be able to look at the 2016 bonds and we did sell the bonds on October 1st and I have the privilege tonight of uh sharing the results of that sale with you. So, get started. like we need a drum roll for this. [laughter] >> We we definitely do. Um so in July um PMA uh presented in front of the board uh initial estimated savings for the 2016 A bonds and the initial savings were roughly $5.5 million on a cash flow basis. We also look at the refunding as a measure of present value. So what is the the value of

030kind of the future savings today? Uh, and that estimate was just over $4.5 million. The estimated rate or all-inclusive cost of that refunding at the time in July was 4.1%. Um, we did uh reamortize the bonds. We did not extend the bonds. Just reamortizing means within the uh the [clears throat] maturities that already exist of the bonds, we did reamortize a little bit. So that's why you see a little bit of that uneven savings. That'll become more clear in a couple of slides. What we attempted to do was smooth out the district's bonds because the prior bonds were uh there was a little bit of a slope to them uh in the future years. So, we created a kind of flat plane so that it's an even uh even levy going forward uh levy years

0312028 through 2033. >> And that's that's through the combination of all our debt service. >> Correct. Yes. So, this is just analyzing one of the bonds. It was a substantial uh bond that was outstanding at at $85 million. So, it was a large amount of principle that was callable, which made it an opportune time to to smooth out some of the future debt service years. All right. So, where did we end up? Well, ultimately, let's talk about the market a little bit. So in July interest rates were near to uh close to highs for the current year. Uh in April we had liberation day which was the the tariff imposition uh from the federal government and that created a small increase in interest rates. Those interest rates remained fairly steady, slightly below May, June and

032July. In July, we started to see evidence of the economy slowing down. While inflation has been a steady kind of sticky topic for the last 3 to four years, um the jobs market started to show evidence of the economy slowing down. In particular, it was a revision to a jobs report from June that caused the the Fed to take a new outlook on what the potential inflation outlook for the rest of the year was for the bond market. That was really good news. Interest rates came down quite a bit. Uh, and the net result for the district is when we sold the bonds on October 1st, the district obtained cash flow savings of 11.3 million, >> which is almost double what we were seeing in July or estimating in July. >> And those savings go

033directly to taxpayer and the district doesn't keep any of it. >> Yeah. So that's $11 million that we will not collect. >> That's $11 million. the bond holders, the bond holders would not see the the previous bond holders would not see. >> So those are principal and interest payments that are levied payments that the the district will levy for annually. >> Right. >> That is a reduction in those levies. So that is >> we're legally obligated to to satisfy our debt. >> Correct. >> Um so now there's 11 million less of that. >> Correct. >> I'm trying to be very clear because I mean it's a nice chunk. Is there 11 million less of the debt or 11 million less in in payments than >> it's principle in interest. It's payments. Correct. >> So it's

034not a reduction necessarily in principle. It's a reduction in primarily interest. And that comes from a reduction in the rate of the bonds by financing these new bonds at an all-inclusive cost of a 335. So when we were estimating what the interest rate would be in July, we had estimated a 410. That's a significant reduction of 0.75% between the estimate of July and October 1st when the bond sold. The present value savings were at $9.1 million. So on a present value basis, that's 9.1 million and on a percentage basis, it's 10 a.5%. So more than double uh where we were on the on a percentage basis from July. >> Can I ask a question? as a millennial and a homeowner. So when we state that it's going to go back to our community or our

035taxpayers, can you kind of break down what that would look like? So in 2026, and I'm claiming taxes or what have you, can you kind of give us an idea again as a taxpayer in the community what that would look like? >> Well, in 2026, there is no impact. So if you look at the savings, the levy year 2026 savings is or levy year 2025. So taxes collected from 26 coincides with the February 1 of 2027 bond payments. So if you look at that savings column, it's $3,000 and the next year it's actually 400. So the next two years there aren't any realized savings. that savings increases three years from now where the uh cash flow savings are at 3 about 85,000 for two years and then your substantial uh impact is in five years

036where the the debt service payments are just under $3 million less per year >> and we I I'll show you what that looks like graphically. >> This isn't something that is variable. This is something that's locked in. >> Correct. This is a fixed >> I mean it's not >> this can't change >> those dollar changes >> those dollar savings per year is what this would be >> Yep. It's it's a fixed cost. It's a fixed rate. Uh it's locked in for the term >> and we generally collect 35 million a year. >> So it all depends. So for the 26 uh >> for the 26 uh let's go year 26 budget the debt service payment I believe is about 36.9 million that's what the debt service payment now for the um for the 2025 levy

037which I'm going to uh present a little later on and that amount is 36 uh 36 million 895 5,000 is what that debt payment would be in levy year 25. >> So I'm I'm doing public math, >> forgive me. >> Um, so I'm looking at 2031 >> and I'm seeing about 16 million of total payments and it would have been that red line. So it would have been about 19 million. >> Correct. So >> 3 million less from 19 million. So I mean that's like What? 18%. >> Yeah. >> That's like So in in 2031, that part of your tax bill will be 18% less >> than what it is today. >> The bond and interest portion of it. >> The bond and interest portion, which is the part that we no matter what it

038is, we have to levy for. >> Yes. >> And to be clear too, where the principal payments are matter. um because ultimately if if there's only an interest payment in those years, the savings are just the difference in the interest payment. So that the savings will be minimal in those years where there was interest only. So where the 2016 bonds were located were in the final six maturities. So you see those green bars um where where the savings was normalized. some of the the dollars or some of the savings from the last three years was moved into the first three. Um, so the unfortunately looks like the margins got cut off here. >> You have a pointer. >> Press that middle. >> The middle button, the green one. >> Dr. PK, your nemesis. [laughter] >>

039All right. So some of the savings in these years was taken to normalize these years to flatten out these final six years. And so you can see where the original levies are. This this gray shaded area. So this orange or red line is where the original levies were. And you can see where the the primary savings are right there. So, not only is there going to be an incremental saving kind of that year one, you'll it'll continue and you won't have a surprise year. >> There was 380,000 of savings in these years um on a on a 36.9, you know, million dollar levy, which is what this graph is showing here. Um obviously that looks fairly nominal. Um but it it on a cash flow basis it's it's still $385,000 of savings. So, >> yeah.

040Um, cool. I'll let you continue on. Oops. All right. So, looking back on what transpired on the day of sale, uh, PMA acts as a financial adviser to the district. So, we're municipal adviser. Raymond James, uh, is the underwriter that sold the bonds. And so what this is is it's a snapshot of uh Raymond James' hard work. And you can see the maturities 2031 through 36 where the bonds are located. You can see that they received orders of at least one time subscription, meaning that they had uh a full amount of orders for those maturities to as much as three times uh subscribed here in 2035. And that's an indication of uh how investors, you know, valued the district's bonds. And we saw uh quite a bit of uh investor appetite to the point that

041we were actually able to reduce interest rates on the day of sale. >> Um the >> Yeah. So just to be to be clear, uh try to put it in layman's term. When we went to the market to price the bonds, >> they were more interest buyers wanting to buy the bonds. Now we have the number of bonds available to sell. So what that happen is is kind of like demand and supply where if you have more demand than you have supply, it tends to uh push the prices down, >> push push rates down. And one of the key reasons I would say before the sales of the bond proceeded, we had to do a rating call with Moody's where they went through our financials and other things that we've done in the district to

042move the district forward. And Moody then releases uh a report that investors tend to look at that provide an independent opinion of where the district finances are. and the report points to a positive outlook with the finances of the district. So when investors will look at that, that gives them a really good feeling about the the trend the trend if you will, where the district is going, which helps with that. I think it's a it's an affirmation of the work that uh board has done, the direction the board has taken in making sure that we are we're really managing the district's money. >> So, yeah. So, basically the the the market and investors um feel that we're we're a better buy than we used to be um and we're better managing our funds. So, and

043we're being rewarded. We know the market is not emotional. It's about making money. >> Well, that's why that's why yeah, I kind of pointed out here. >> And so I I wanted to kind of elaborate on that point and and share uh what we as kind of financial professionals in this municipal bond space look at um in terms of how we evaluate how the district's bonds sell. Um, so what what I call this is uh this is our comparable sales kind of perform a file. And so when we're selling bonds, what we do is we look at other comparable bond bond issues similar to if you're buying a house, you look at comps, um, similar in credit rating, similar in length, similar in issue size, uh, maybe call date. uh and we examine how they

044price on a spread to what is called the municipal market data index. And what the municipal market data index is MMD for short, it is a taxexempt um benchmark that we price to in in the municipal bond industry. So similar to like liebore um or even like the a US Treasury, this is the taxexempt MUN benchmark. So when we look at the district's bonds because these were taxexempt bonds, we focus on this blue shaded column because that is what's called the spread to the MMD. And if you look at uh a couple of bond sales that priced the week prior to your bonds, uh this Tazwell County School District uh 52 sales, so Washington 52 as well as Cook County School District 102, so Lrange uh Lraange was a very close comp to the district

045because of the size of the bond issue. Uh looking at these blue columns, you'll note that the district, which has an A1 underlying credit rating and an A1 credit rate, a recently upgraded A1 credit rating. Um which is comparable to from Moody's. And then uh Washington actually has an A+ which is comparable to the district. Um it's kind of the the exact same credit rating but S&P. And then this A min double A minus from from S SNP which is actually a step above a notch above the district's credit rating. So a little bit better than the district's credit rating. You'll see in the corresponding years where we're looking at this blue column, the district actually priced on par with or better than those other bond issues that had priced the week prior. So on

046a spread to MMD basis, the district's bonds priced very very well. Are we So I I never heard that. [clears throat] I've been, you know, working in the finance committee and all that stuff for years. So is that a trend? Is it a relatively new trend or I'm just wondering >> of pricing to the MMD or pricing better than than other >> prices to the market? Yeah, pricing to the MMD. No, this this is a a pretty common um transaction. Uh this is something that we look at for every negotiated >> I was just wondering if if like 10 years ago if that was a lot different. >> It it would have it would have for the district specifically if if the credit rating history was per say worse. I suppose um what you would

047see is much larger numbers than this blue shaded area. you'd be pricing wider. You'd probably be looking at differently rated school districts as well. Um so that that ultimately the the reception of this particular bond transaction and the the credit rating of this transaction um allowed it to price favorably compared to some of some of your peers. >> Okay, that's fine. Appreciate that. And then the last slide here is just some of the details of the bonds. So the the 2016 bonds were funded just under 87 million. Uh we included the the interest rate that was refinanced which was a 4.91%. Um so you can see kind of the difference between what you're you're paying going forward versus what you did or or were paying if you had not refunded the bonds. Uh final maturity

048no extension was February 1 of 2036. bonds closed two weeks ago uh and they're non-allable which means going forward because there there's only 10 years of outstanding bonds there's no call date associated with the this financing um underlying rating A1 from Moody's and then BAM is a credit enhancement that's associated with bonds that are below uh double A rating you Jason something else I wanted to point out that the day we went uh to price the bonds there were two bigger issuance from one was from county and the other one was from Will County. They have a higher credit rating than we did. So we was we were kind of concerned that uh they may crowd us out of the market but we held our own and we were still over subscribed. So we still

049got really good interest rate and I think it speaks to the work that's been done in the district. >> Well congratulations to you and your team for your due diligence. Um it seems to me that that kind of effort require it's not by chance but it's really the result of very tactical careful attention to our finances and movement for us to get this kind of I guess attention from the market right so I want to thank you all >> and I just I just want to confirm for anyone for anyone at home that's joining us late this 86 million has already been spent was spent long ago >> long many many years ago >> many many years ago this is not new money. Um, this is something that we have been working on paying down

050over time. Um, it's just a loan that we've refinanced at a lower rate in order to benefit taxpayers, but it's not new money. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> Well, thank you. Any any other questions? No. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your time. Thank you for coming out. And then um moving to 72 the 2025 Illinois school. >> Now moving on to some more um important and exciting news. Right. So in the strategic plan there's a lot of focus on both how we do business and what is our business and we are in the education business. So tonight board I want to invite members of our leadership team to walk us through the annual report that came most recently. um regarding our summitive designations and some of the progress and opportunities we have uh to

051strengthen our core practice and really in this presentation it really I would just say is that the the final result at the end of the day as you're listening is really appreciation to our educators and our school leaders for their really due diligence in the community and their work. I want to invite um I know Dr. Waller and Dr. Campbell, are you all gonna stay where you are or you want to and Dr. Dubiel? So, you're Okay. All right. We're gonna pull over from there and >> floor is yours. >> Yeah. >> All right. Good evening. >> Give me one second. I want to encourage you to ask any questions and >> provide any input um throughout the, you know, any of the presentations. Um this one is going to be about uh kind of

052>> where we stand, you know, from our report cards um with the So, >> okay, sounds good. >> All right. Thank you. Good evening. Tonight we >> mic's not working. >> It's not. >> You got to be closer, I think, or something. >> Closer. >> Okay, >> there you go. >> Yeah, like you got to be right on it. >> All righty. [clears throat] The next All righty. Okay, these Oh, went a little too fast. Oh, is it on play? >> I haven't hit any button. You could pause if you had access to you could pause it after each slide. >> You can take it off. >> When I clicked on the agenda, it's a power. It's a a slides. >> It's slides in our agenda. >> PDF slides. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you.

053>> All right, take two. Tonight, we're reviewing the 2025 school report card results and summitive designations for school district 308. There we go. These data results reflect how schools are performing compared to the state and how our improvement efforts are impacting student learning. Tonight, our objectives are twofold. To explain how sumitive designations are determined and to share key takeaways from the 2025 state report card that inform our district improvement priorities. First, sumitive designations and what are they? ISBY has determined four major summitive designations exemplary, targeted and these summitive designations are the state's way of identifying school improved school performance and growth. They incorporate both academic outcomes like proficiency and growth and student outcome indicators such as attendance and climate. To help the state determine these summitive designations, they have cutoff scores for each of these

054designations. These cutoff scores change annually. All right. For four, excuse me, for K8 schools, designations are based on 75% academic indicators and 25% student success indicators. The biggest contributors for K through eight are ELA and math growth, each weighted at 25%. So growth matters more than proficiency alone. This approach allows schools to be recognized for moving all students forward, not just those already meeting expectations. High School summitive designations have 75% academic indicators with 50% focused on fouryear, 5year, and six-year cohort. In addition, we have ELA and math proficiency at 7.5%, science proficiency at 5% and English learner progress or proficiency at 5%. In addition, 25% of student success indicators include chronic absenteeism at 10%, 9th grade on track, and the climate survey at 6.67%. ISBY has released um new business rules this year. We know

055that our high school summitive assessments have shifted from the SAT to the ACT. Because of that, proficiency reach from 2025 onward cannot be directly compared to prior years. Illinois is also redesigning the accountability system for a 2026 launch. So this year's designation serves as a bridge year. Okay. So this house shows how Isby calculates a school's overall designated score. You can think of each indicator as a room in that house and together they will form the foundation of how success is measured. where academic growth in ELA and math, which I said before, makes up half the total score, showing that Illinois values how much students improve each year, student success indicators, attendance, and climate make up another 25%, reflecting that learning conditions matter as well. In this example that you see here, the overall index

056is at an 83.85, which would make this school exemplary. As you can see here, um, Homestead Elementary has earned an exemplary designation, placing it among the top 10% of schools statewide. Let's give them another quick round of applause. All of our other schools, 12 elementary, five junior highs, and two high schools, are rated commendable, meaning they are performing above the state average with no subgroups in the lowest 5%. Congratulations. >> That's a big deal. >> So, Fox Chase, Old Post, Boulder Hill, and Long Beach are all working through their improvement plans focused on supports for students with disabilities. Foxchase, OPOST, and Boulder Hill were targeted previously, and Long Beach was comprehensive. Each school is in a different stage within their cycle. So, as you can see here, Fox, Chase, and Old Post are in year

057one of implementation. Next slide. And Boulder Hill and Long Beach are in year two of implementation. >> Mr. Murray [clears throat] >> [laughter] >> All righty. So, what you see in front of you is a comparison of our local school districts. Um, listed here is West Aurora 129, Valiv View, which is Poland Brook School District, Planefield 202, and Indepian Prairie um 204, and US at the bottom there for Asiggo SC 308. Um when you look across the lines there and you see the number 0 5 10 15 those are the number of schools. Okay. And so as you can see the dark blue is ex exemplary excuse me the orange is commendable the green is targeted and the light blue is comprehensive. And you'll notice that no schools in any of the districts are listed

058as comprehensive. So when we look at SD308 alongside our neighboring districts, specifically Planefield 202 and West Aurora, which we are snuggled right in between both, um SD308 leads or yes, leads with 58.2% proficiency, whereas Planefield is at 55% proficiency and West Aurora is at 33% proficiency. So, this shows that our tier one instruction and literacy intervention practices are making some headway. Yay. Now, for our math, um SD308 is at 43.6% proficiency. Planefield 202 is at 42% proficiency and West Aurora is at 27% proficiency. Um in math, we're closely aligned with Playingfield. Um but we significantly out outperform West Aurora, but we also understand that math remains to be an important opportunity for us in our district. We will continue to unpack the school report card data but provide an overall enrollment demographic information. As you

059can see, the overall enrollment from 2024 to 2025 dipped a little bit from 16,696 students to 16,61 students. Our diversity remains to be one of our strengths as the population grows. All right, so let's get into our Illinois Assessment of Readiness data for ELA. Our district saw a significant growth in both ELA and math this year. Um, as I stated before, our ELA proficiency rose from 45% to nearly 58% and our math grew from 32% to 44%. Both of these areas exceed state averages showing the impact of our work thus far. This is a huge win um excuse me for our growth. Next here we have our Illinois assessment of readiness breakdown by demographics. You can see the yellow represents not proficient and our green represents proficient. >> I think the term growth is really

060important here and you've said that a couple times. >> It's a huge one for our work around growth and >> I know that uh even Dr. and were talking about this earlier and so I just really want to underscore that we're not talking about a summitative comparison we're talking about the growth compared to like peers >> and how our students are doing in comparison to >> yes thank you for sharing that and I so to your to just make sure I'm clear here so the IA growth measures how much progress students make from one year to the next compared to other students across the state who had similar starting points. It's not necessarily about the proficiency. Did they meet the standard? But rather, are they growing? How did they improve relative to their peers? Now,

061here we have the comparison to the state. So, in the previous slide, it was showing us the not proficient and the proficient for our district overall and understanding where our demographics are as the breakdown. And then we wanted to take it a step further and compare where we are to the state. And so where you can see here is that we are at a higher proficiency rate in all subgroups except for one demographic in our ELA state comparison. Now in this slide we are focused on our math proficiency. SD308's average math growth percentile is 50.4 in comparison to the state average of 50. [clears throat] That means our students are growing at a slightly faster rate than their peers across Illinois. And then we've done the same thing here for our math AR. And you'll

062see again in that yellow not proficient and the green proficient. And the numbers in this area vary. We recognize that we are going to continue um growing our students with disabilities, low-income students, and our students of color. And as you can see here now, we have the comparison from within our district as well as with the state. And we are at a higher proficiency rate in all subgroups except for two demographics here. So, as you can see here, this is the summary of the growth. At the top, you'll see our um growth ELA data, and at the bottom, you'll see our math data as it compares to the state. And looking at both of these, you'll see that the state average of 50 represents the middle median point. So SD308 students are at a roughly

063the same rate as the state overall when we're looking at ELA. And as I noted before, we are making slightly faster growth than our peers in math. So as you can see here in 2024 our meets and exceeds cut scores are not going to be equivalent to the 2025 proficiency scores. So these two are not going to be equivalent because the math has shifted but what will remain the same. So even though it's meets and exceeds from in 2024 proficiency that language is still the same. So our I data was 45% meets and exceeds in 2024 and now in 2025 it's at a 58.2%. And then for our IRA MA math it was at 32.2% meets and exceeds in 2024 and now it's at a 43.6% proficiency in 2025. Our proficiency rate set a new

064baseline for 2025 and cannot be directly compared to prior years. Next set of data is our high school ACT data. First, looking at our ACT English uh data, you can see that we're at 59.1% of meets and exceeds, higher than the state at a 51.7% in English on the ECT. The next slide gives you a demographic breakdown where you can see um our comparison between the state, if you go to the next slide, um provides a demographic breakdown. We are the blue and the gold is the state. Uh we are higher than the state in every subgroup except two. The next slide gives you our proficiency of meets and exceeds for ACT math. We're at a 46.2% in comparison to the state at a 39.3%. And the next slide provides demographic breakdown. Again, the district

065is blue, the state is gold. You can see that we're higher than the state in all subgroups except two areas. Even though this is high school data, it reflects the long-term impact of our K8 foundation of tier one instruction. The next slide provides an overview of our Illinois science assessment. You can see that science results remain steady but trail slightly behind English and math performance. We continue to focus on the curriculum renewal cycle with science this year at the 912 level going into stage one and stage two of the curriculum renewal cycle which we hope to see an impact on our student achievement uh scores in the future. When it comes to subgroups, our English language learners are the only subgroup that we want them to test out. So when looking at this slide, start

066off with the upper right hand corner. 15.2% 2% represents all of our multilingual/English language learners. That translates to a little over a little under 2,500 students. Each year, our English language learners are exiting per the access assessment. So last school year, 9.7 students exited. This is one of our fastest growing subgroup population and the exit rate is increasing. So comparably this is um an increase in improvement in language acquisition. If you look at the charts on the left hand side with the different shades of green, those represent the different levels of language acquisition. Most of our students, just like in the state of Illinois, are at the developing stage of English language proficiency. The next set of data gives you fouryear, 5year, and sixyear graduation rates. Um, if you read from left to right, you

067can see where we started in 2021 to where we are in 2025. Last year and this year, we remain steady at 95.5%. Our district's graduation rate continues to trend above the state average. You go to the next slide, it provides the 5-year graduation rate. Again, we are higher than the state and we have been for the last uh several years. And then the six-year graduation rate again shows um higher than the state with last year at a 96.3%. This is evidence that early academic growth, strong middle school transitions, and consistent attendance are paying off. This demographic data provides an overview of the four-year high school graduation rates uh by demographics. Uh you can see that we are higher in every demographic group than the state overall, which is a celebration. the next year or the

068next slide provides um an overview of our nth grade on track which is an area of focus for both of our high schools uh with a goal of by the end of nth grade students must have at least five credits and not have failed more than one semester of a core class. You can see that we remain higher than the state at a 93.2%. This slide gives you an overview of our demographic data. uh we are higher than the state in every demographic group except one subgroup >> and this is an area I just want to underscore um there's a lot of research that speaks to nth grade on track in relation to graduation rates and also college uh what do you call it retention or really completion of college and so I think this

069is the fact that in the last slide we saw that increasing slope and I know that both of our high schools have made that a part of their school improvement planning work a priority. And so I just want to say kudos to our high school and really as uh Dr. Campbell has mentioned it's really a K12 effort but we at the high school level that this has been a targeted area. How do we support our freshmen uh in their start is really important. So and you all are in high schools. Good job. >> Yes. Thank you for highlighting that. Um, we know that students who are on track after nth grade are almost four times more likely to graduate on time. >> So, this next slide gives an overview of our demographic data. Um, you

070can see it's a comparison from 2024 to 2025. The lighter blue is 2024. The darker blue is 2025. You can see that in um almost every subgroup we are higher than we were the previous year. So we are continuing to show growth of students graduating um or being on track uh from their nth grade year. Uh this next set of slides is actually um district 308 data on chronic absenteeism. Uh the state defines chronic chronic absenteeism as students who are chronically absent from school 10% of the year including unexcused and excused absences. You'll notice the data in 2021 is lower um significantly than 2025. That was uh our still coming out of the COVID era. Um but we continue as a district to um actually see a decrease and the numbers actually need we want

071to see trend in the negative. So we want to go down not up. Um so we can see that we did show improvement from last year to this year. We're at a 20% overall for chronic absenteeism. This is demographic data. Um overall you can see that we're at a 20% again lower than the state um in all subgroup areas except one. Um this remains a focus for our schools. Um, our student services department at the district level leads monthly meetings with our schools to talk about students that uh are not attending school and provide supports both for students, families, um, community and teachers to um, find ways to bring our students to school. So [clears throat] overall, district 308 is performing above the state in proficiency and showing strong growth across our schools. Our focus

072continues to be on sustaining the trajectory and closing gaps for students of color, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. We're seeing the power of coherence. When systems, leadership, and instruction align, student success follows. Thank you. >> Dr. Concincaid, you've uh led this presentation for a few years now. So, is there anything you'd like to add before we open up for questions? Um, congratulations. Uh, thank you team for your presentation. I know that, um, is there anything else that you think you'd like to add? >> No. Okay. All right. Thumbs up. Any questions? >> No, I don't have any questions. Um, I do have a comment though. I think that it is really impressive and I talked about this during our policy during our uh committee meeting not policy committee meeting but during our committee meeting.

073Um I told the team first of all I just want to congratulate those stu those schools that were comprehensive and targeted. It is not an easy feat to shift um when we talk about designation. So for those four schools kudos to those teachers to the administrators to those students and families. it is so important. Um the other piece that I do want to call out I always say numbers don't lie right like um the work is being done given the fact that we are exceeding the state just across the board specifically when we talk about subgroups that are just hard to move and in most districts they are not moving they're stagnant and so the fact that we're doing that here at SD308 we need to congratulate again our teams great job I am really

074excited about this. I was excited last week and I continue to be excited about this presentation. Absolutely wonderful job. We're on the right track and I think it's just about a standing behind these numbers and strengthening and strengthening these numbers. Great job. >> I have just a couple comments. Um I saw the presentation at the committee meeting as well. So I've had um that time to digest and and reflect a little bit as well. Um I concur with everything Dr. Paul is saying and I appreciate um you know that our state when they give designations take into consideration other things besides just one cut score, right? like they have this growth aspect, they have a climate aspect, they have things related to special, you know, populations, etc., etc. And then even in this presentation, I'm

075glad that we are highlighting um a variety of data rather than just the you know the the you know we have the science data, we had the absentee like we have um that um data that we're looking at because our students are more than just a number right than whether or not you're proficient or not proficient. Um and so I think it's important that we are always thinking about um different lenses to see our progress through and um I think this is one of those lenses and so but and I think we're moving in the right direction just like with any big sets of data you can see like some great successes and moving forward and then we also have you know opportunities for growth you know you talk about those um different populations that

076are sometimes hard to move yes we're seeing growth u but there's more growth to to happen right and so um I think we're on on the right track and um again kudos to the team. >> Um just another quick comment that I and it's in line with everyone else. Um in some of the in some of the cases you see the numbers move from year to year um what looks to be very minuscule you know like less than 1% 6% or whatever. Keep in mind that we have a very large district so 1% represents almost 1,700 students. So if we're moving in half a percent while it doesn't seem what? 10%. >> That's 10%. >> It's 10%. Sorry. Seven. It's 170. You're right. 170 students. >> A lot of students. >> Yeah, I was in

077math honor society. Um [laughter] but >> they've changed in all these years. But regardless, we're still talking a significant number of students. So it may look like nothing. >> Um but it's it's not. And each of those students counts. Sit back quietly now. [laughter] >> Randy questions. >> No, I'm just really excited as uh Dr. Pulock and the rest of the members have um stated. So excited to continue to see the improvement especially for our subgroups that you know need that special attention. But again, kudos to the district and all the people that continue to help [clears throat] our kiddos. Thank you. I'm looking forward to the seeing next years to be honest on the things that couldn't be compared year-over-year um when you can get a new set of data, you know, but the

078the information was good. So, um you know, that's that's the only thing whenever they change it, it's like every seven years it's like a um but I appreciate How do how will we I I do have a question. Um will we specifically one celebrate at the school level? I think I asked that during our committee meetings. Um and then also how will we communicate this to families? Like obviously we're talking about this but what this really looks like for each individual school because obviously we are seeing like an airplane view of it. And while we can't compare like year after year, we can most certainly compare to state data, which is a huge deal because it's not unique just to us that the yeah that [clears throat] the needle has moved just a bit. Um,

079but we can still compare to state data. And so, um, I think that this is something that should be shared. And as a parent, I'd like to, you know, specifically delve deeper into maybe, well, my kid is at East, but East data, right? And just what does that mean as a parent? how do I support this work? Um, and so I'd love to hear more about it. Not today necessarily, but definitely if we can bring that back and talk a little bit about that, that would be helpful. >> We definitely want to find a way to underscore it and celebrate it and communicate it. So, I'm sure um, as we've uh, principles were chomping at the bit. I know that some have already started to share that in their newsletters and and share it out

080some of that news. I know that Teresa received a couple requests. When are we can we get out of the embargo and so I know that some schools have already really to celebrate it. So, uh stay tuned for more if it hasn't come to your neighborhood yet, but we will be sharing out that news and we will support our schools and reflecting out the the good work that's happening that our students are. And when you visit our schools, you can really see the attention and the focus and the the commitment that our students have. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, >> one quick question. Is this updated on the Illinois school report card website? >> So you could go and look at your individual schools if you'd like to. >> Yes. Okay. >> Yeah.

081And when I ask like explain or communicating to parents like obviously I can read through it and I fully understand it but some parents perhaps can't right and how do we really break it down and put it into context like I was looking at my daughter's ACT scores and trying to make like do a crosswalk and make the connections. So that's what I mean when I say >> Oh yeah, we got to push that then. >> Yeah. >> Count on parents to go. >> Um All right. 8.1. Are there any public comments today? >> No. >> Okay. Um you know any member 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. Buddy. Okay. We will move to

0829.1. um student member report. [clears throat] So, um hello everyone. We just um want to give you a brief update on SSAC's pro progress and what's sort of been going on in the in the committee. So, so um in our last meeting we um we voted on our action plans actually. So um we dialed it down to um two action plans. We had like um our first idea is a lunch and learn which are which is our um primary um area for like like targeting. So and our second action plan was hosting a student teacherled competition. And I just want to remind like everyone like um these action plans are like trying to benefit the student teacher relationship and we're trying to like reinforce that idea that um rightful presence is like you know should

083be in the school and wherever we don't see it um we should try to make um a change there. So um yeah, so we began developing our action plans and um it was just a really great time like like for the lunch and learn like we have to like there's like so it's like a very big structure and there's so much like minor factors that have to go into this process. So we were like addressing the next steps, potential dates and times, topics to cover, um questions to ask, and like essentially what are the resources that we need for to make this action plan feasible. So yeah, and then um in terms of like the student perspective and what everyone else is sharing, we had a lot of ideas at the last meeting and um

084when it comes to the scope of the situation, students are really into in like they're really like interested about the opportunities um that rely like on the lunch and learn and just finding like the right balance of student participation and the teacher relationship. ationship is really important because um if we are going to host a lunch and learn, we don't want to have like like it's really a question. Do we want to limit the amount of students who come or do we want to limit the amount of teachers who come? It's really depends on the demand of students and the demand of teachers. So getting in contact with them is really essential to um starting this lunch and learn idea. Um yeah, students outlined the steps and timeline like um for our action plan for

085lunch and learn. We we just went through everything we need to kind of like put in our action plan and it was just really good to see how like um this committee can collaborate together and you know share our perspectives and you know work it out um like together. So yeah, teamwork makes the dream work. Yeah, completely agreed. Um, with our next steps that we want to foster into this, uh, we're hoping that admin administration involvement is approved at both OIGO and OGO East as well as staff and student engagement as well. Uh, we want to work to continue to uh, garner uh, student voice because we do want students to participate in this equally as much as our staff does. Uh we want to reach out to bigger student bodies such as Coalition and

086Bionic who are huge groups at both Oiggo and Oiggo East. We believe that these students have voices that want to be heard especially when it comes to these student and teacher relationships in the classrooms. Um so SSAC is looking for everyone to kind of collaborate including staff and students. Um, we're working through our action plans to kind of collaborate and figure out when, what time, what day. Uh, we want to create a intimate setting, not something that could be like in an auditorium, something to be held in like our community rooms such as like this to collectively agree and kind of like share out our problems and issues in our school buildings individually. Um, and with that being said, we continue to look at these actions to our next SSAC meeting tomorrow. Um, and we

087also wish everyone a happy break for those that celebrate and yeah, we're looking forward to working with everyone at both schools. >> All right. Um, student teacher competition, what what were your initial thoughts? I'm I'm wondering. >> So, uh we had multiple action plans and um just at our last SSAC meeting just dialing it down to like uh one per quarter. So, we chose the lunch and learn, but our second contender was the um uh it was the student teacher le competitions. >> Okay. So, the you're going to do the lunch and learn, the student competition. That might be another quarter maybe. >> Yeah, that might be second quarter in the future. I think they're both great ideas. >> What is the um competition like weightlifting? Um spitballs. What is >> hot >> or or

088still to be decided? >> It's still to be decided, but who knows? >> Come to us for suggestion. [laughter] >> If the demand says weightlifting competition, who is to stop us, right? So, >> so yeah, >> Thank you for that. Yeah, appreciate it. Um any other any other questions? Did you have any anything else? Okay. Um 9.2 um board committee reports uh policy and legislation. Uh the board committee report anybody see we have a lot of cursory policies. >> We reviewed a whole lot of policies. As a matter of fact, we did not even get [clears throat] to all the policies that we needed to review. So, our time was basically spent doing that and and and having those policies under discussion. >> It's one of the committees I haven't been a part of. Is

089it like is it very tedious or like >> uh our leaders do a good job of preparing and making it not as tedious for us but there is some tediousness to the work um >> but mostly our administration's work and not ours. A lot of the work a lot of the policies that we approve I think are on a fiveyear cycle. So we just kind of have to like lay eyes on them every five years. Am I saying this right, Dr. King? And then sometimes we're just like approving like a small um legal reference. >> Yeah, that's why I was wondering. Yeah, but then I I do see there's some some meat that happens. >> Yeah. And then there's other policies that we need to weigh in a little bit more. >> Yeah. Substantive document.

090>> Yeah. substantive changes will will require and will will will elicit in us a response to really engage in a more communitywide engagement from everything from community engagement to like you said there's a common place that the state has decided they need to fix right so um >> yes and we have two policies tonight that we will discuss that we have to it's >> on the agenda make decisions uh regarding >> okay um finance facilities committee would anybody like to report out or you don't have that document the not um Mr. Orophe your new assistant has taken copious notes or has taken very well notes are very good notes. Uh I think it's all pretty much inside the notes. >> Okay. And then the uh equity and learning and innovation committee. >> These are in

091the notes as well, but we saw a preview of the presentation that we just saw on um the different uh report card uh items. And then we also had a chance to um hear a presentation on the pathways program as [clears throat] well as the professional learning in in 308. So um both presentations very well received. >> Okay. >> But Dr. Pollock, do you have anything else? >> You did an amazing job. There's nothing else. [laughter] [clears throat] >> Okay, we'll move on to 93 board member comments and I'll start Erica start here. Anybody comments? No, I don't have any additional comments. No, >> I don't have anything tonight. >> No, >> I do. I guess if >> Well, yeah. >> No, I I just wanted to thank um we had mentioned earlier about uh

092Veterans Day. I managed to get out to uh to five different schools, which I have to plan it better next time, but anyway, I made it out to five different schools for some really great presentations. Uh Boulder Hill did a a a flag raising and a a a presentation uh at about 9:15 on a very cold morning. Um in the afternoon I did get over to Long Beach and prior to the presentation I went up and I and I said to um Mr. Murray um who I have seen the past few years when I've been at the presentation and he's gotten all teareyed. I told him that I was coming to the presentation because I wanted to watch him cry and he told me that he was not going to cry this time. Um, and

093as well, you know, I really couldn't tell you if he cried or not because by the time it got to the end of the presentation, I was crying. >> So, um, very well done. Um, as as always, and to all the schools actually that that did anything for Veterans Day, you could tell that there was quite a bit of work put into it by staff and by students. Um, so again, well done. And you know, other than that, football, swimming, um everything else that's been going on, it's been uh it's been busy. >> Um I only made to three. Um and uh I don't I don't I think this was in the last couple weeks. Well, at least the last four. Um, I attended uh an epic open gym night and that was um that

094was really really well attended. Um and that was over at Fox Chase and I think they're going to be doing it at Churchill. So keep an eye on the district website. Attend if you can. Um this is for uh children with special needs and it's run by uh Epic uh exceptional parents exceptional children. Um, and I think there's probably like I don't know five or six more this year. And um, so please if you can make it out among other things. I can't even remember. So like Mary Jose. >> Um, I know we took a moment to congratulate the individual athletes with their accomplishments and um, you know, I just wanted to congratulate everyone on their seasons. I know fall seasons are coming to a close. To those of you that were champions and, you

095know, had those amazingly long seasons that you maybe you weren't expecting, congratulations. But to everyone that spent their fall working, uh, whether it was in a sport or a fall activity, just, uh, well done. And, you know, if you are not, uh, about to engage in a winter activity, then I hope you enjoy your break. But good job everybody. >> Okay, I think we're moving on. Um section 10 um approve consent agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda, please? >> Um yes, you can. I make a motion to approve all items under consent, including 10.1 minutes from the board of education meeting on October 20th, 2025 open and close sessions and minutes from the board of education public forum on November 3rd, 2025 open and close sessions. 10.2 to acknowledge the

096foyer requests received by the district. 10.3 to approve field trips for overnight and or more than 200 miles. And 10.4 forward to approve the fiscal year 23 early childhood grant repayment. >> Second. >> Any questions from anybody comments? No. Okay. >> Mr. Cerone >> I >> Dr. Martin >> I. >> Dr. Mario >> I >> Dr. Pak. >> Miss Robinson I >> Miss C. >> Miss I. Motion passes 70. Um 11.1 financial information. >> Thank you, Mr. President. uh the um the October 2025 financial [clears throat] is being shared uh in the BUDA and the one note uh that I want to point out is that if you look at our revenue it actually decreased by 3.3 in October compared to October of 2024 and the big driving factor of that is federal uh allocation

097last year if you remember We still have the last year of the uh co money and that co money's gone away and that's really what the uh the big difference is that's the reason why we have uh lower revenue in the federal category that um than the rest of the category but otherwise all the uh other revenue and expenses are in line with what we are projected will be this time of the Yeah. Questions. >> I are we getting the federal uh funding that besides the co money that we were supposed to be getting or >> it's coming in. >> It's still coming. Okay. >> Any other highlights or questions? And of course uh we included the CPI there that was released late for the month of uh September and um you know you see

098inflation is seems to be trending down a little bit than it was um previous month. So that's that's helpful. But other than that everything is uh if you can if you look at a copy of the uh the charts that we share the revenue as well as the expenses you can benchmark uh for example historical trend and year to date and it's pretty much aligned total revenue historical trend we should have about 38.24 we at 36.41 41 and the expenses are the same. They align with historic good. No outliers except for the federal revenue that I mentioned earlier. >> Okay. I think one of the important things to call to is Mr. Rob the practice you have in your department of leading a cash flow review. >> Yes. >> Related to this. um why is

099that significant in our district and why is that an important practice that you've introduced? >> I think just for >> and who's involved in that conversation. I think for the board to be aware that there is a monthly cash flow meeting and who you bring to the table um internally and externally to essentially assess the financial health of the district >> much like you would a monthly check in on your own bills, right? So would you describe that a little bit for the board's education? >> Yes, sir. For two reasons. It allows us to have a better idea as how much we need monthto-month and then since we get a big chunk of um the second installment in September. So it allows us to then develop a way to manage that money to be able

100to leverage that money by investing it so we can get the residual uh yield from those investment to be able to fund things that we're we're doing in the district that way. And secondly, it allows us to be able to plan and see if we would need to borrow money uh from the low point of uh April, May till we get a first installment in June. And the way it looks right now, we we should be fine till we get a uh first installment of the 2025 levy uh by the uh the last week in May. And in doing the financial projections, we do it internally here in the finance office. And we just wanted to make sure that what we're what we're saying as far as the projection is balanced against what uh municipal

101advisors do too. Municipal advisors, they help us with the uh investment of our money. So we have them to do the uh we share the projection that we have with them and see if there any variances with them. So we meet once a month and uh we we check numbers we have conversation. We also take the time to talk about investment opportunities that is available out there that we can place money since the cash flow drives how much we need from month to month. So if we have any extra, instead of just letting it sit in a bank account, we look for the appropriate investment that allows us to gain some yield and still have money available to be able to fund uh district operation uh both personnel and non-personnel. >> I always like to

102stress that that's a relatively new practice and it's yielded probably five million. >> Yes. A good amount of money. >> Couple years. Yeah. >> So started that uh when uh started here this is the third year we met with the municipal advisor. We said we will do cash flow internally and uh we will have them do their cash flow independent of ours since they you know they do our investments for us and we'll compare node and we'll have discussion to see if they where their variances and the rationale for those variances to try to leverage their expertise with the internal expertise that we have here and involved in that conversation is the bookkeeper the director of finance uh Miss Sitta behind me Michelle uh on the district's uh team and then we have the uh

103the managing director of their municipal advisor uh Mr. Bob Lewis and then the um the associate vice president of uh PMA investment company. We get together once a month and we have that that review. >> I remember the first time I saw the the investment strategy and the the layouts, I was uh was I was a little nervous. you know, we hadn't done that and uh but it's it's it's worked out and worked out well. So, um you you took your time to make sure that we were accounting for our cash flows, ins and outs, and in the appropriate time. So, >> just putting our money to work the right way. >> Well, yeah. >> Instead of the bank putting our money to work and they're not giving us anything back because that's really what

104they do. They take our money and put it to work, >> right? and we don't see any value of >> any other questions about our finances. >> No, just just a well I guess this is a question. Um all of the financials etc on an ongoing basis are available online to the public. Yes, we post it the the the following day after the board meeting, but we include it as uh in the BDO for the public to see and then we post it on the finance website monthto month so they can review it all the information available there. >> So if anyone has any questions that would probably be the first place that they should go to to to find the numbers >> by all means. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> I appreciate that. Mel,

105anybody else? >> I have a question on the fee collection data. >> Yeah. Um, I know there's a little asterisk on the bottom letting us know that it's a snapshot. Is it So, is my assumption correct that by the end of the school year that cor that collection rate could look quite different or >> Yes. So, the asterisk is because it's a snapshot in time. Every single day there are fees being added, refunded, um, etc. It doesn't even include all the fees like it doesn't include meal fees. It doesn't include little fees like parking passes, >> right? >> Books, um, things like that. But, um, I did want to point out that the fee collection rate went up a little bit. So, I'm glad. So, thank you for that. Um, and we're still collecting fee

106waivers and food waivers. So, please apply if you need it. >> Thank you, Mr. >> [clears throat] >> And I think uh moving on to 112, correct? Long range facility. Drum roll, please. Oh jeez. Yeah, I saw some of this. Mr. Andre, could you come to Stephen? I just want to make sure is is uh Andre on camera. I just want to make sure. Okay. He has very important things to share tonight. So, I don't want him to lose you. Welcome again. Thank you, Mr. B. >> All right. Good evening board. Uh we want to uh welcome again this evening. This is the culmination of uh close to 13 months 14 months of deep work across the district. multiple people involved and really leading uh this project and this process which is really to really

107move us from a place of uh really sometimes what feels like uh waiting for the next emergency to occur into really some deep profound thoughtful planning where we're really scoping out and preparing ourselves for the future. So, I want to I want to thank our partners at Whiten & Company for their leadership and also to all the hundreds and thousands of staff members, students, community members who participate in this effort. So, with that, I'll turn it over. >> Okay, Mr. Andre. >> Thank you, sir. Hello, board. Uh, this first slide, I'd like to point out a couple key details. Um, as you can see, it states that the average age of our building is 29 years old. Uh, I had to take a double look at that because knowing the amount that we opened after

108the year 2000. Uh, also knowing that the four last schools that we built off of our referendum were Hunt Club, Southbury, Trober, and Murphy that are now in their 18th year. Um, just wanted to point out that we don't have a district full of brand new buildings anymore. um they're getting to the point where it takes a lot of uh love and tender care to keep these buildings running. Um so the age of our buildings, as you can see on the slide, many of the buildings are all constructed in a short period of time, meaning the useful life of the mechanical systems, the roofs, flooring, and other essential components are running out at the same time. Additionally, we have a handful of buildings that are several decades older. Um across the district, comprehensive, proactive, and

109preventative maintenance has been delayed for many years at a cost-savings measure. Uh our team has done the best they can with preventative maintenance. Um but not being able to have contracts with specified contractors to come in to work on some of these more advanced systems has put a strain on the buildings themselves. However, this means we are forced to be reactive, having to rush to spend more urgent situations when things no longer work. We need to get back on schedule of planning maintenance, understanding the anticipated life of each asset, and systematically planning for how and when it may need to be replaced. The educational spaces need modernization. Classrooms, labs, libraries, and student support areas must evolve to support current and future learning, including technology upgrades, flexible spaces, and specialized program needs. Strategic, transparent financial stewardship.

110A comprehensive plan helps prioritize projects, align investments with available funding, and provide a clear roadmap for reasonable, sustainable decisions, reducing surprises. And with that, I would like to pass it to Dr. Kinc. >> As Andre mentioned, we really started our journey um examining the mechanicals and the operational functions of our building. But as we launched our strategic plan um through the feedback of not only our teachers, our staff, our building leaders, but also our students and our community, we wanted to really expand beyond operations into what is the educational functions and how are we currently using our building, but where do we want our programs to go educationally? So um through the objectives for this year um we dove into um through the help of White & Company and then also um our communication leaders

111and our building principles um really looked at phase three of how do we engage our students and our um parents and families of what could be part of our educational process. Um, as we look throughout the night, um, we'll see information not only about our, um, operational needs, but then also about what was the data that was collected, what was the input provided, both of what is and what we would love to be. [clears throat] Um, so we're really here tonight to bring together our story across all three phases um of our strategic plan connected to our long range facility plan. Well, I guess that's we're up now and um I think that was all really well said and in some ways you almost heard it all, but we're going to add a little bit

112more detail uh to that to underscore everything that um those points that were just made. We wanted to remind you that um we're the architects and the engineers, but we're um also a part of a team and that team includes the district. So, um, we want to thank that thank all of you for the partnership and making this happen because getting those meetings scheduled, making them happen and getting people to the table is is really the success of the project at the end of the day. And it's also the part I think that I enjoy personally the most. Um, not here tonight. McKinstry. Oh, where are they? Oh, there you are. Okay. Sorry. He snuck in before I I knew he was going to be here, but I I didn't see him come in. So,

113um they they're here to support us in this presentation. There is a lot of um in some senses technical um under underllayment to some of the ideas and numbers you're going to see tonight for the physical conditions, assessments, the systems, things like that. So, they're here to support us. Uh beyond your base is the other logo you see up there. they're going to get involved to help us explore some additional um community engagement um some consensus building some understanding of the support of how we might fund this project in the future and take that into the next step. So in some ways we're closing a chapter but we're about to start another chapter of really looking at how to implement it. Um let's go to the next slide actually. So, we have a kind of

114a basic agenda tonight. We're going to take you on a little bit of a journey and um go back in and talk a little bit about some of that stakeholder engagement and in a little bit more detail. And then phase three, which is really what we've just finished, and it really is the planning phase, it's really where everything comes together. we take all the data whether it was about what it cost whether it was about what needs to be done but equally importantly how to meet your educational vision. So when you see the presentation tonight you're going to see it um our goal is that we tie it all together for you and what ties it all together in fact is your strategic plan and we developed what's called guiding principles. You're going to hear

115about that in a moment. And and then tied all the ideas and the things that are being done to achieve those guiding principles. Um and then we're also going to take a little bit of a look um by type of building and and grade levels in the buildings themselves. You can get a better understanding of how we organized uh the analysis of the building so that we have a comprehensive plan. And then finally, we're actually going to look at the the cost factors. Um, and maybe the the last point I'll make and I'll stop talking. Um, oh, I have another slide after that is that this is a long range plan. It's a framework. So, tonight we are not talking about how does how do things get funded, how do we implement it, when do

116we implement it. It's a 10-year plus plan. So tonight you are looking at and and learning more tonight about um the whole entire plan and and what's in it and then as we move forward in time we will uh come up with very creative ways to focus on that. So this is the diagram you've been the schedule you've been seeing um pretty much from day one we're in phase three we passed through conditions and education alignment. Now, we're we're planning and compiling and we have a plan and we have a direction and we're and we hope that uh you'll be equally excited about it tonight as we move through it. [clears throat] I didn't introduce myself. Um we started so quickly. Stuart Bradsky. Um we're all three of us up tonight are with Whit and

117Company. I'm a project director, planner, um project man, actually need our project manager, but sometimes I do that, too. and um just inspired by the opportunity to help you achieve your vision. >> Good evening. I'm Steve Shear with Wayne Company, design principal. >> Before I start speaking, I'm Nidish Sha. Um as as Stuart said, I'm project manager and architect of Wayne Company. All right. So, um I think the first part we really want to iterate is a stakeholder engagement. We were really lucky that the district and the community was so involved in all the aspects of this plan and it's really about our story or our plan. So, we really wanted to have your um your take on it and your input. So, you know, we had a lot of different engagements, 500 community parent

118responses, over 200 meetings, 800 student responses, peering committee meetings, staff surveys. We interviewed principles. We had workshops with um principles and staff. Um the district was lovely enough to create these places and spaces sessions which um Mr. Murray will talk about in a little bit. Um and Teresa Katas was you know critical in creating all these great um surveys and communication with students and staff and parents. We had three um community engagement forums and we also um McKinstry and as well as White went on site um they McKenry visited every single building and met with every building engineer for interviews to kind of get the lay of the land and understand each building. And then throughout this um this presentation you'll see kind of little tidbits from all all of our engagement. So you can

119see this quote here from a junior high student. Um and so we really wanted to bring that to every aspect of this and see how that was implemented and that we did really take that into account when we were making this plan. So um one vision many voices we had a number of engagement sessions um three total with white. The first one here on the left is um we met with your staff at each building type and did workshops back in March. The second photo is from September. We had a community engagement session over at Murphy Junior High School where we uh met with community members and went over um what the what a long-range plan is and got some feedback from them. And we were lucky enough in October to actually meet with some

120junior high students over at Thompson, engage with them as well um while Dr. Kayatti and uh your team was meeting. So we were able to kind of connect with the students which is really great pleasure. >> I'll hand it over to Mr. Murray. So the uh places and spaces an opportunity that each of our schools had to invite our parents and our students to our building and I think it made them a little more comfortable. Sometimes you get nervous when you're coming out to a whole district meeting. So with all of our schools, I think there were 22 plus that we had. It gave the teachers, it gave the students and our parents an equal voice and really had some great input that we had there. Um it was very welldeveloped. uh the plan for

121the night. The feedback that we're getting was consistent across all of the schools and um you guys had put together a really good demographic for each of the buildings that shared that information with them. So, we had great turnouts and able to get that voice from the people who want to see the building. They're in the building and we gave them a voice for what they want the buildings to be for the future. So, it was some interesting comments that came out of them, but uh we'll see where we go with it. But it was great for the opportunity, I think, just to get as many voices as we could through our places and spaces events. >> Thank you, Mr. Murray. So, now we want to spend a few minutes and sort of summarize phase

122three, which was the final and last phase of the long range planning. And as Stuart said, this is the phase where we put it all together. This really becomes a comprehensive long range plan for you. And so we take some of the gaps or needs that was identified in phase two, the education alignment, and we look at each school building and try to understand what improvements need to be made to fill those gaps and and meet those needs. Um, and you know, we opened with the strategic plan. So, um, to no surprise, it kind of became a guide for us when we looked at the planning of each of the schools. and we sort of leaned on the five characteristics of a portrait of a learner to become our guiding planning principles. Um they simply

123made a natural connection from physical space and buildings to what type of students you want to develop as a district. And as a reminder, it should be noted that there's actually two additional categories that arose out of all the workshops we've done with um the staff and the administration. And those are the ideas of creating active and informed citizens and creating ambassadors of the environment. And those really speak to how the physical environment and the design of your schools could go a long way to um invoking this idea of community and how students are part of a larger community or as we talk about the educational needs of students. Some of these improvements we're making are also speak to the social needs of students, the emotional needs of them. Um and that's the idea of

124even the the wellness needs of students. So some of these improvements talk about just the overall wellness and health of students. Um so these kind of seven principles became our guiding principles as we looked at each school and we thought we'd offer just some highlights from each grade level. So at the elementary schools for example, the idea of dedicated space for steam was something that was identified through phase two and sort of echoed through some of the feedback we got from families and students and the community. So in addition to art and music, getting spaces where students could gauge in more hands-on project work that tie in science curriculum and technology and engineering. Another common thread across the elementary schools was getting the functionality of related services sort of correct at each school. These are

125programs like social work or sensory rooms for students or intervention rooms that over time has simply just taken over space throughout the school because that space was available even though that room might have not never been intended for teachers and students or sometimes these spaces have taken over classrooms. So the more we could get that right and properly sized at the elementary schools, it sort of makes frees up classroom and provides you as a district more flexibility in how those classrooms are used. Um, one specific kind of highlight at the elementary level, there's a handful of schools that actually share their cafeteria with their gym. Um and that comes with a lots of scheduling challenges, some limitations on how gym could be used, some operational challenges in terms of take up and take or setup

126and take down. Um so that was something we identified in the long range plan is is there a means to get dedicated cafeteria space separate from gym space across all elementary schools. And a lot of these planning priorities continue on to the junior highs both at the elementary level and the junior high levels. We identified libraries as a key opportunity. Um it's a common space that impacts all students. So in what ways can those be updated um to become more collaborative, more dynamic and multifunctional? Um key to the junior highs is that there's a lot of space across the junior high level that was once a computer lab, but as technology sort of evolved, those spaces are um an opportunity now to be repurposed for more STEM and steam activities. And this would be in

127addition to, you know, the great offerings that you already have in terms of the electives and the exploratory programs. Um, outdoor learning was something that, um, we identified in phase 2, but also heard a lot about community feedback, especially at the junior high level, too. Um, a lot of, um, sort of buying into getting outside and engaging with the outdoors for for teaching and learning. Well, we looked at the high schools. the planning priorities, you know, they differ from high school to high school simply because there's just a difference in age. Um, and as we go high school, it's underwent um significant amount of additions over time. And then with that comes um some nuances specific to that school. But we talked a lot about sort of redefining the heart of the school at Asiggo

128High. And this impact spaces like the library, the cafeteria, which over time as additions get made sometimes that kind of gets lost. um but do it in a way where it becomes a great resource for students. So in those common spaces, students have access to deans, access to counselors, access to college and career, access to some sensory needs. Um the other highlight is the idea of career technical focus spaces in the fine arts spaces. Uh there's great programs being offered at the high school, but sometimes maybe the labs are a little too small or maybe there's not enough daylight in an art studio. Um so great opportunities both in fine arts and the CTE spaces um for updating spaces and making them more conducive to the programs that are functioning in them. Um some outdated

129science labs at as we go high that are sort of just due. They're at sort of that 20 plus year mark. Talked a lot about collaboration and what furniture and technology could mean. Um and then we talked a lot about not just the building but the campus itself. So we heard a lot about families. There's sort of a constant priority about vehicular flow and parking being a high priority. Um, but also some opportunities with the athletic rounds too and what ways can fields be improved with turf that increase opportunities for every student when it comes to physical education, band, music, outdoor learning. Um, there's also some opportunity to gain some operational efficiencies too in terms of how those fields are maintained. Um, Asiggo East slightly different priorities, some common. Um, Asiggo East has underwent additions,

130but it's one of the newer of the two campuses. So, it actually has a lot more efficiency in terms of its overall square footage. Um, but a lot of comments about just providing more common areas where students can be that isn't just a classroom or isn't a hallway, but students get there early, students stay there late. Um, so just providing more social and uh common spaces for study or individual work or group work. Some of the fitness and wellness spaces at East are a little bit more challenged again just because of certain additions that went in over time. They're a little bit challenged on their functionality and the ability to be supervised. And then like as we go high um the CTE spaces there was clearly an addition built at a certain time and we

131can look at what ways those are supporting the current programs um but what ways can they become more adaptable so as future programs um come in that you have the space to accommodate that um and then same comment about site improvements at athletic fields at as we go east. We also looked at the building on route 71. This is the building that houses a lot of the extension programs like Pathways, um, EDU Academy, the goals program. Uh, a lot of space needs and comments that we got regarding the Pathways program. Um, space needs that could just offer more authentic learning opportunities for vocational training or life skills through the pathways. This is a building that houses lots of different functions. So, um there's also some opportunities just to um allow different programs to share spaces

132when it makes sense, but also make some clear separation of functions when um that that's needed to. And then related student related services and student support, that's another kind of function that's just kind of expanded and kind of organically grown over time. There's an opportunity here at this building to sort of rightsize those spaces, making them more intentional for both staff and students. So um what we did from there is we went building and building and we kind of assigned an expected level of scope to make these improvements at each building um so that the education alignment goals are met. And I think the best easiest way to explain this is like understanding that when you redo the bathroom at your house it's more costly than redoing a bedroom or putting audition on is more

133costly than renovating your living room. So we kind of went building by building and assigned an expected level of scope um to sort of make these um needs a reality. And we looked at every building and kind of were was able to understand the scope involved. And what that allows us to do is then to provide an anticipated budget for each building. And this will fold into the last bar. So with an anticipated budget and a magnitude of need at each school, you could then begin starting to think about how you're going to implement it. You we could begin planning funding strategies. And through here, you could also see that there's certain schools that just kind of fall under what we call a comprehensive need, and those are schools like Long Beach and Boulder Hill

134just because of the age of those buildings and the complexity of those sites. um in addition to targeted improvements, they're just going to need simply more work to achieve um these goals. >> The index on this page matches than the index color on the next pages to >> So like the traffic light of colors kind of >> Yes, it stays [clears throat] the scope. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Um and we did the same methodology at the junior high school. >> Steve, sorry, one more question. >> Yeah, I had a quick question. So I'm looking then that's actually helpful this kind of graphic like color coding. Um so if I'm reading it correctly all of our schools are either in this red or based on this plan in the heavy I'm sorry what does that

135say? Heavy reconstru reconstruction scope or the new construction scope. Is that right? Um, no. The new construction would be um any of the blue color that you see. So, that's really an addition needed to create like a dedicated cafeteria, some of the elementary schools or we even rolled in some capacity opportunities in the long run. >> So, if I look at Long Beach for example, what color is that? >> Yeah. So, Long Beach is highlighted in that color blue because we were trying to denote that as one of those comprehensive improvement schools. But in that case, blue is not the traffic light, >> right? It's just a way of highlighting that those are standalone schools. >> Oh, >> that need more comprehensive work than just targeted areas of light, medium, heavy, >> but the shading

136on drawings is tied to the key, but the words are not. >> Right. Right. >> So for like let's look at old post real quick. So that's that light green is that area of the building is light renovation scope. Correct. >> And there's a part that could also be a new correct. >> So they don't just have one designation. They could have more than one. >> Yes. Right. >> Thank you. >> Oh, I see now. Okay. Thank you. >> Um yeah. Uh, and then one quick note, some of the areas are in gray, and that's because even though they might not be getting renovation work to to solve an educational need, they're still getting the capital needs and repair and improvements that were identified in phase one. >> Are there areas of any of the

137schools that don't need attention? >> Um, yeah. So, that's pretty much the the gray areas from an educational alignment standpoint. they still need some capital repairs that were identified in phase one like infrastructure needs. >> But I see if I keep on scrolling for example like uh like the high schools I can see some areas that are just white and so that would indicate really no no like there would be no touch to those except that be impacted by maybe some of the infrastructure stuff that we would plan on doing. Yeah, the high schools because they're such big campuses, those are more targeted areas of improvement and um they're simply areas of the building that from walls and doors might remain as is but would be improved over time. Um and then two other quick

138notes on this last slide too. So we talked about the high schools like targeted areas of improvement. Um, but we also included the the building on Route 71 that's also highlighted, probably should been highlighted in purple just to be clear, but as a comprehensive building. And then we did identify some growing program needs though there's some expansion opportunities that broke off for the program the expanded programming needs of the early learning program. I like the soundtrack behind us from the guard up practicing. Hi. >> Makes it exciting. >> Um, all right. So, kind of a reminder about what we're when we talk about capital investment and the planning and the implementation. We're adopting a framework. So, this is a playbook or a plan that can last 10 or more years. Um, and it's your total

139need and there's options. So, you see the you'll see numbers coming up and that's a total, right? But that doesn't mean we have to do we're not doing everything and we are still in the process as we move along to create um priorities and um and organize and analyze all the information. So we have you know we're at the plan where we kind of collected all the data and created this whole 10-year plan. Um and there's more work. This is the beginning of the next phase right. So um just kind of a asterisk there. Um >> just just this is uh I'm a construction novice. Okay. Um >> I am I know >> um so we know you know like the things that are of need right um we've already been presented um with that

140information. Um and then these are things that uh to improve our uh the functioning of our building and in order to improve scores, right? In order to satisfy the needs of our children better. Um is there any relationship? Is there any synergies by doing both at the same time? Like >> Yeah. >> There. Okay. And so the numbers that you're going to present >> are those like in assuming these synergies or are these we fix something and then three years later we do what probably could have benefited with the >> so the you know the the uh point of a long range plan is so you're doing these as efficient as possible. So when we look at the planning and we look at phase one versus phase and phase two, we kind of layer them

141together and create uh projects that are combined and that'll happen with the implementation and the phasing there. But if we look at um for example, if we look at um the high schools and looking at the li you know putting a library and we're saying okay this also needs lighting and a mechanical upgrade and new flooring. Let's do that all at the same time because if you have someone out there doing the pricing, you bid it at once, it's all going to be much more efficient and cost effective. So, those are kind of parts and pieces of how we looked at this and how we kind of layered it together. Does that answer your question? >> Yeah, I I I appreciate that we still have to prioritization kind of exercise. Um, >> I'll let you

142continue. >> All right. Um, [clears throat] thanks for that was a good question. Um, so I think we said again, this is a long-term plan. Um, so it's multi-year, you know, all of this doesn't happen at once. Um, we have to, um, kind of backing off that, we organize the plan into manageable phases. So, we have to make sure first that your school can be still running, you're still using the buildings, and that, um, they were we're doing this based on urgency, impact, and readiness, and also priorities. So we kind of will create criteria um teaming with the district to reassess that priorities and create priorities throughout the process. So these can change as the years go on, right? We knew that CO threw a big wrench in everyone's priorities. We don't know if that

143might something like that might happen again. Times change. So really the plan is meant to be um changeable and adjustable. And then, you know, we'll analyze funding strategies and um create operational efficiencies as we move forward. So, you know, you might get more energy efficiency and save money there. Um, you know, how long we put something new product in, for example, carpet in your hallways, maybe not the most life cycle effective cost. You're replacing that x amount of years. Maybe you have a better material. We'll look at all those things when we start implementing this plan. Um, lower maintenance, all these things are going to be considered when we look at this plan. I don't know the carpet stories I'm sure we've all heard. [laughter] So >> um and then last you know throughout this

144whole thing we're not done you know engaging with you and this the community we want to make sure the stakeholders are you know there throughout the entire process um as we adjust the plan. So, uh, the way we kind of broke this down, uh, we have four budget categories and I'll go deeper into them, but the one first is, uh, capital repairs and infrastructure. Um, two is safety and security. Three is educational environment. So, that's really what Steve was talking about with um, all those changes um, within the buildings and learning. And the last is capacity and comprehensive reconfigurations which is also you know in those plans those blue buildings that um have bigger uh pools. I'll go into detail in each one of the next slides. So the first is capital repair and infrastructure.

145So this is really um the phase one process that um Tim and McKinry team really helped implement and had really great data for back in June. Um so you can see some photos there of some some elements in your buildings that are have need just need maintenance and repair. This is really about your facilities, the age of does a HVAC unit need to be repaired, is it time to replace your roof, does your windows need replacing, um your carpet and things of that nature. Um so we know that over 77% of the budget is HVAC roofing and flooring like I just mentioned. And as uh Andre said earlier, about 16 of your 22 buildings were built between 2001 and 2008. So all of those are coming up in replacement and just maintaining your buildings in

1462028. So those are kind of really big key items. And this is um probably the only one that really does have because of the um the nature of the facility condition, it has a life cycle cost and recommendations of when these your units or your systems need to be replaced. So we do that does have that breakdown of the years and the cost per that amount of years. Um the next is uh safety and security improvements. Um you know this is improvements. So you the district as a whole has done a really great job with safety and security. I know a couple years ago you added the secure um phone in the outside of your buildings. You have card readers. So, this is really about enhancing what you already have. Um, getting the up most

147updated cameras and um systems. And really, we know that families want a safe environment. And really, your students already feel safe and comfortable in their building. So, we're just kind of um enhancing that in this um in this section. The third is educational environment. So, we'll break this down similarly to what we did with Steve with all the different um areas. So, elementary schools, um, I think as we stated before, steam and gymnasium separation, um, or really an outdoor learning were the key learning environment items, um, and what parents and families prioritized. Um, and as we said before, the gym cafete at some of these newer um, elementary schools, and really separating that and creating separate spaces were something that um, the parents also really um, reflected on. the the itemization is that available to

148our administration [clears throat] you know like what sums up to that dollar amount is that available to us already or no >> not yet we we will be implementing so at the end of this we will give you we create a book um it's five five sections if you want to read through the whole thing it's a big book [laughter] and it has all the data and all the backup of how we got to the numbers what we got to >> okay Second is junior high. So um as we stated before, steam again with these computer labs was a big point that all the um parents and even students um outlined. Outdoor and flexible learning um was you know was important as well and students wanted um active and social spaces. So they really want

149to collaborate with each other. I will note that um all these junior high elementary um they don't include the comprehensive res renovations. So this is just the newer building. So it doesn't include Thompson in this one. That that's another slide in a different category. So I don't want you to be shocked by that. >> That slide. Yeah. >> Um let's speak high school. Um the students um I will I don't know if this is true. You could tell us um throughout this and east really wanted bathrooms updated. Um so that was one part um focusing on steam was important um and CT spaces as well as collaborative learning. Um and I think they really wanted um um they also want a cafeteria space at Aspiggo High School because I know that um they feel students

150who feel crowded. They want more space to have different options for where to sit and to um study and to collaborate. Um both high schools like we said before really even the students really talked about parking and the exterior um you know site as well as the fields and getting improvements there. >> Yeah. Yeah. And then um I know there's like a huge like um like there's like a huge lineup I'm pretty sure like for to get a spot but um so it can be like really competitive and like um to get a spot and I'm pretty sure like you know I was just my like whenever I come to school every day like there's been like kind of like a decrease in employment I think like for the people who like you know um

151the traffic workers. So like um getting a space also like like impacts that as well. So um yeah, I think like there's been like um kind of like people who want change like in the in the parking space and definitely in the bathrooms too. I mean it's kind of like um more like I mean whatever like concerns there are I mean it really be interested. So um I just feel like sometimes like the bathrooms are a little bit like smaller but um that's one thing. And actually, one of the interesting things is if you go all the way to like um like that side of the building, there's one bathroom that's way bigger than the other ones over there. So, that is uh one weird thing. I don't know why that's [laughter] >> I wish

152I could go into the brain of the designed it. >> Those are good comments and you actually echoed a lot of what we heard from your fellow students and families, too. Bathrooms and parking and vehicular traffic I think were two constant priorities we heard. >> Just kind of hit on east already because you're Are you east or Okay. Um so uh traffic and parking here as well and we know that the juniors don't all get parking spots and it's a lottery. So kind of getting every student who had can drive a spot would be ideal. Um really they talked about um they really enjoy you have a newer school you have a lot of collaborative and flexible environments that you guys enjoy but even more um is always needed or nice to have switched live.

153Thank you and um again the bathrooms and then better spaces for performance, fitness and creativity. Right. Final slide. So this is really about the comprehensive reconfiguration. So we pulled all these separate because these kind of have a bigger well we know these are older buildings um these kind of to create the learning environments and also to upgrade all the facility needs really create a bigger um pull in need. So, we have Boulder Hill and Long Beach with which are both elementary schools. Um, which if you look at the planning, we show some additions to the administration areas and the cafeteria addition in both areas and then a kind of upgrade throughout the entire building um to get all your spaces up to the learning environments. And we need to do that in terms of the

154lighting, the fire alarm, um your PA system. So, there's a lot of systems that we overlap that is, you know, really great to do at once. Um Thompson's similar. um they are they you know space-wise they're in good condition but they have you know some really missed opportunities with this big hallway they have the stars program there that kind of in classrooms so kind of getting this school up to date is the same and through extension um you know there's classroom renovations to you know meet the needs of those students separation creating clear you know entrances for each where you know where you're supposed to go um and then separate from the district office and making sure those students have the correct secure sequences and correct spaces. They also have a lot of um shared

155spaces that they could maybe have separate or updated um such as right now the cafeteria is also the library. So creating designated spaces there is important. Um one thing there's some capacity notes you know and that's this is a separate study that um Dr. Dr. Concade is kind of heading up with RSP and associates. So, we'll see more from that. But we did um account for additions that are options in terms of early learning um at OPOS and Brokhaw if that's a need in the future for expansion of those programs. So, as we said before, some of these are kind of big picture options. That doesn't mean everything's going to happen, but we're just kind of saying this is what your you know your alleart list and we can it's a starting point. we have

156to narrow it down from there. >> I I want to echo that what we've what's been achieved here is moving out of the squeaky wheel syndrome. And what I mean by that is when you've got a district as large as this, you don't have a comprehensive plan that really takes everything into account from the facility assessment done by McKin Street and start to really think about how you protect the resources. When I landed this district two and a half years ago, uh some of your colleagues at other architectural firms came by and said, "Hey, you know, if it wasn't for our schools, you wouldn't have the development in this area, right? You wouldn't have the level of economic interest, you wouldn't have folks even, you know, in some of the more um say middle-aged to

157retired places that are building here, right? The value comes from what's surrounding it and what's driven that economic engine here. So, I think it's really important to underscore that that this attention is crucial. And I want to invite Mr. Murray, who's been in one of those buildings where that's has that's been under, you know, a lot of pressure and stress for a long time. And I think can you speak a little bit about what you've seen um as a long- serving principal here in the district um and how this approach may have been different than what you may have experienced before thus far. So, if you could speak to that, please. >> And I think I could a little bit. I did spend three years at Hunt Club in years 2, three, and four when

158it was new. >> Um, and just seeing the the differences in the buildings and kind of over the years, uh, just starting my 13th year at Long Beach and the number of issues that have popped up because it is, you know, the second or third oldest in the district. And I I think just giving our students the best opportunity that everybody else has. That's what we hear a lot at our building is we don't have as much space as everybody else. So, I think part of this plan while we were going through all of this, it was all taken into account that we want to get the best facilities for all of our students, too. And I think that's why there's differences in so many. Um, but it's it's that learning environment that the kids

159can be proud of. And I think we've taken a lot of of um input from our students that I think if we can turn that that input around into action, I think they would see that pride too. And this goes on. I know earlier when you're looking at the budget, the years 2031 and 32 seem like far away, but that will get everything ready for those students when they come too. So it is a long term on here. And thanks for pointing out how long I've been here too. [laughter] >> Mr. Fei, do you want to build on that a little bit as you look at this? >> Yeah. So, uh, since I lead the operations, Tim, we're the folks who, uh, who spend a lot of time trying to put band-aid on on our

160buildings, and it's not for lack of effort. What has happened over the years is the district is had significant challenges, and when that happens, uh, folks in charge have to make a decision. And it's easy to make a decision to defer maintenance on buildings because buildings don't talk. Buildings don't have parents who are going to come and protest. But what happened is when you defer maintenance though over time it becomes much more expensive. And that is what we seeing here. So over the years, in order to be able to balance the budget or to have enough money to do other things, the uh buildings were just not been taken care of and it's just gotten to a point right now that we absolutely need to do something about it because the window envelopes right now

161uh they're in bad shape and things are just falling apart. Like rooftop unit that keeps our building uh warm or cold. when they go out, those are expensive machine. They're about the size of an 18-wheeler truck. So to fix one of them is about a million dollars. And if you have five of them in a building, if you need to fix all five of them, you see how much you got to pay for that. And the other part is on average, our buildings are about 200,000 square foot. And when you have a building that big, you have a number of uh roofs, I mean, huge roof that uh covers that kind of building. And to even fix one section of that building, you're looking at two to three million, one section. And in a lot

162of cases, you may have six to eight sections of the building that you need to fix. So there are so many patches you can apply to those groups gets to a point those don't work anymore. And I think an example would be uh long beach where uh Mr. Mar is uh is the principal at. So I just give that as an example that over the years uh the folks over here they've done a lot of things that they can do but they've been limited by the amount of natural resources available to them to be able to fix the buildings and the fact that those buildings were a lot of were built at the same time doesn't help too because now they all need TLC and it's harder to choose what you fix what you don't

163fix when a lot of your buildings uh need to be fixed at the same Thank you. [clears throat] >> Are we asking questions now? >> Well, well, there's one more slide actually. Sorry. >> We can ask questions. >> Well, you can ask questions whenever you want. >> Yeah. I my questions are um with the older buildings that we have, Long Beach, Boulder Hill, Thompson, um the building on 71, are they at a position where it may be more cost effective to tear them down or is it more efficient to renovate them? >> Um >> I mean obviously there's >> so needs but >> So you >> what was that? Um, when we uh did the phase one portion, there was something pulled called the FCI score, which kind of told you the amount of money

164you need to repair in the next 10 years compared to the overall if you want to build a new building. And unless it was over 30% that you need to basically um upgrade or swap out that kind of pulled that that's not worth um you know creating a new building. So that was none of your buildings were at that point. U maybe some of them were teetering close, but all of them were below that threshold. So that's how we made those decisions. >> So as far as as they age, things like foundations and uh well foundations and like underground sewers and all that, that stuff is still going to be usable for the foreseeable future. >> I think that you have to maintain it as you go along. So that's part of your plan. But

165at this point, not that that's something that's not all you have to do all that once you can plan of when you need to create those updates. I think an example of that would be for example Aiggo high school's sewer system not the sewer system but the piping system is connected with the city. >> Yeah. >> Right. With asiggo and so we actually that's more of a partnership work >> where we have to think about our draining system. Is that correct Mr. Rob Femmy? That it's really more connected to our drain system than it is a unique problem with our sewer system. Those are interconnected problems and require some shared work. And in [clears throat] that case, some in that particular example, we're actually working to get that figured out. If you remember in August,

166we had that flood flooded the uh the gym that we had to replace. Now, we um we've engaged our civil engineer to hire a contractor to put a camera through the to see [clears throat] is there an obstruction? Is the obstruction on our side or is it um on the uh municipal side. So when we find out the result of that, we have a better feel for what is causing that uh backup. >> Okay. I have another question. Um there's a lot of talk about uh parking issues at the high schools. Would there be enough space on the current properties to accommodate that or are we looking at needing to acquire more land? Currently, we're showing your existing property. That being said, you know, um we haven't done the full analysis of your um storm

167water needs. So, that might be something that we'll have to look at when we do that project of kind of what what's the domino effect of putting a parking lot somewhere. So, we'll have to determine what the best spot is on the site. >> And that's part of establishing the criteria, right? So how does you know parking is important but when we look back to what we're really bringing to the board is saying here's what the community here's what our staff here is what we've learned around how we validate what becomes urgent uh costly what are the the efficiencies so what you're really looking at as you've mentioned a couple times is a framework so how do we start to think about these problems systematically and then prioritize them because you know I think uh

168there are certain problems. For example, when you have heating and cooling, significant heating and cooling issues in a building. That's a very important issue compared to yes, a very important issue around parking, but one is a day-to-day I mean, I wouldn't say parking is not day-to-day for the student who's upset or concerned, but um parking issues going to have less of a influence on that day-to-day instructional priority. I I know you get it, but >> keeping the students in their seat learning versus correct >> other >> improvements. I'm done now. >> I'll have more questions, but I'll let you continue. >> Well, and I wanted to make another quick kind of point. If it weren't obvious, the costs that were up there are total project costs, not just construction costs. And what we mean by

169that is when you build a project, you've got the costs that the contractor would bid to build the building, but there's everything from permitting to professional fees, furnishings, technology, equipment. So, I just wanted to um bring that up because I wasn't sure when I've heard everybody reflect on numbers and and the work and things like that, I want to make sure that was clear. Um >> since you mentioned those numbers I'll ask one question then I have some more questions after these next steps. Um I heard am I I heard like uh in the presentation like the this is the big picture list. So this is everything in the bucket, right? And so those numbers indicate what it would cost if we did everything in the bucket. Is that right? So we might hear scenarios

170where we might do something less than what's in the bucket. Am I am I reading this these next steps right? >> I'm saying that not may possibly the board will consider different options but possibly we might not >> do all of the things that are on this presentation. >> Consequentially we might not >> have to >> go for all of those millions of dollars. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. And I and I think and and I'm sorry I think the way it was presented I think needy what you said was it was the alle cart version. It's not necessarily it's not necessarily everything but it's like these things will cost this you know ABC and D. >> Pick what you want. >> I think that's important for the community that's listening in right that this is not

171a final presentation of what we're going to >> Yeah. And they're going to itemize they're going to have an itemization of each of those buildings and you know the >> Yeah. not just a physical or not just a picture that I still don't understand which is fine >> because money is a consideration as we all aware and uh we don't have a limited finance so we will have to make decision >> based on what uh what would be considered critical right and then go from there >> yeah the the the hope is that as you look at it there's there's prior pertization. There's also time. So what so one of the points we were going to make um on the next steps is um we're going to we've issued this presentation and this information. We're

172going to have a more comprehensive report. We're going to receive feedback from you and we're going to kind of incorporate that. And then we're going to begin to look at what are the most critical needs that have to that are pressed up against time. So you might remember some of the detail we've shown you in the past that there were periods of time associated with them particularly category one the physical conditions things that really need to be done in the next couple years things that need to be done in three to five years and and then five to 10 I I think those were approximately the categories we were looking at so there's so as we look at funding priorities we're really going to focus on that first five years. You're going to as we

173get into this further, you're going to see that. But you don't want to forget also that um there's a strategic plan and a lot of educational goals um that are important, too. and all the great work that's been done that was presented tonight with student success and and student experience on a day-to-day basis is impacted by some of the money that you're even going to spend in your physical conditions like carpet and paint and other things like that and other aspects that really didn't get discussed today. um furniture makes a huge difference in delivering education today versus um what you've experienced in the past. So, there are things that could contribute in a in a really important way that we're going to want to help you understand and then work to prioritize. We're also going

174to be able to spend some time evaluating um different ways that funding happens and how that is compartmentalized over time, if that makes sense. So, there's some work to be done on that. And um I analyze the funding scenarios, look at critical needs, and continue to seek community input, get a task force together that is cross-representational of the community so we can begin to evaluate ideas and get a better understanding of how that's been reflecting. um look at some potential um additional surveys and things that where we can gather the kind of input that's going to begin to give a sense of of the broad-based support for and what makes the biggest difference for your your community. So that is really um our goal and I think really our our next step is the December

1758th board meeting. That's where um you would be adopting the plan. In other words, adopting that framework, that playbook and then then then the then in some senses the hard work starts again because we have to break that back apart with the detail and put it together the way I just described. >> I'll do the last. >> But we're we're here happy to answer more questions. I'm just um can we clarify what we're going to be asked on what we're going to be presented on the December 8th meeting and what can we get some clarification because I hear you saying like there's going to be a framework, right? And >> this this is the framework. >> This is the framework. We have an executive summary that we're working on >> that will provide some more

176detail, >> get into a little bit more detail about um organizing the results and and things like that. Some charting of the priorities and the needs are [clears throat] >> we are we voting on a plan, not a that's about it. Not not the funding or the timeline or anything along those lines. Not the prioritization. >> That's correct. You're adopting the framework. >> So basically let's just >> I don't understand are we adopting >> it's basically a strategic plan for the buildings >> correct. So this essentially say we've identified the framework which are four major the categorization right that these are established >> um and then within that are priorities of how we would we would work to address >> terms of our planning. So, >> are we voting on something or are we just

177adopting something? I don't know. It feels different to me to like consider a plan of action when to vote on a plan of action if we haven't considered funding scenarios and a calendar of when things are going to get done and things like that. Um, I don't know what the other board members >> they have somewhat of calendar. >> Okay. But yeah, I'll I'll let you I'll start with what you normally do with long range facility planning. It's a comprehensive plan >> of how to um what kind of facility the district what kind of condition the district's facilities are. And then that's one thing. And then you have the educational plan envisioning where we are now looking into the future. What do we want our buildings to look like? And then you go even further.

178You look at engaging the stakeholders to see what kind of input they want to provide in that study and then you put pricing on the on the on the uh the framework if you will >> and that that that becomes a template for the board to approve and say based on the information that we receive this is how we want to move forward. Right? And then the other part that after the board approves that is how do we pay number one what do we prioritize and of the critical things that we prioritize out of this whole uh framework how do we fund it that will be the next step to start >> so I think the friction I'm feeling in my thoughts are that we are going to think about approving this framework which does

179have numbers and money like money numbers attached to it and some of the conversation and the comments that we had about this being all the possibilities are on our list. So we're going to so the ask is that we consider a framework that includes all the possibilities and then do we >> we don't attach any funding. I think that might be the >> but then but we have money attached to >> but we don't attach any funding. Maybe that's >> I know but there's a cost. >> So the estimated cost to all those things >> No, I get it. I'm trying to I'm trying to bridge but I'm not succeeding. >> Yeah, you're good. >> So the estimated cost to all those all those framework, >> but by voting on it, we're not saying the

180board is not saying go out and do this and spend this money. >> I understand that. >> So it's just it's a framework. It's no different like what uh Erica said. It's a strategic plan for our buildings. And then based once you you accepted that then you start thinking about okay of all these items how do we prioritize once we prioritize that how do we fund the projects that's a different conversation. >> Okay. Well I guess coming from project management when we're planning we typically talk about how we're going to fund. So like for instance when we talk about the junior high school at 59.2 2 million those conversations such as deliverables what have you would all be encompassed in that 59.2 2 million ask. So I guess kind of maybe to her point, how

181do we kind of break that apart to understand what that looks like? Does that make sense? >> Right. So it does. So what it is is if everything were equal and all the suggestions that were made from the facility assessment, from the educational uh assessment, from uh thinking about the future, this is how how much everything is going to cost, right? But we know those are those are just framework right then you are proving the framework of the work that has been done with assessment with input with design everything and then then we'll look at based on how much that we can get to be able to make this happen and based on the importance of the different items that uh that put in the framework you identify what are the key that you want

182to manage. Now, if you remember, they said 10 years. So, over 10 years. So, [clears throat] we'll look at what are the immediate things that we want to do within maybe a year to five years based on the the the criticalness, if you will, of those those items. And then we try to figure out how do we get funding for those things. >> Raphael, can I Oh, go ahead. >> But shouldn't we have an idea of what that is, right? In my head, I feel like we're kind of putting the cart before the horse. So, we're we're giving this framework, right? And we are understanding the scope and the different variables that come with it. But I think to >> Dr. Maria >> Mary Joe sorry on the I like uh perspective >> how do

183we incorporate that now so when we go to the planning portion of it on December 8th we know what we are >> approving or what the true framework is really going to be not just because when we I I'll say like this the strategic plan is very thorough rigorous right it gives you an idea of all the pillars and so forth so we understand and are able to associate what's next all the different phases, right? >> But it doesn't include any costs. Like if you took the costs out of this, it would be the same thing. >> But I think as a parent and I see 59.2 million, my first question again, just a parent, where's this money coming from? Much to what you just mentioned, right? That's going to be our next topics. However,

184I believe just in theory, we should have an understanding of like the now, right? Like what does that look like now? So if we were to go through the junior high schools theoretically would it be 30 billion right based upon we did XYZ I think we maybe we should limit our scope before we move forward with act an actual plan if that makes sense >> it I guess so here's a theoretical like so the numbers and I and I would ask you all to speak if you could a little bit more about the numbers because these are real costs that whether we approve or not we may be facing these right so whether what this does is it actually gives us a coherent way to think about the range of costs that we're facing. to

185your point um Stu can you or I you know any of you could you speak to a little bit about when you use the word framework I think when we you think about instructional framework which are competencies that highlight I think there's a semantic issue here too which is this is really what are the priorities that emerge for us in our district about how to structure the next stage of what comes first second third and fourth right so and then how different is what you've done here with us compared to um 204 that just approved a $450 million uh lots of districts that you've been through and I'm not proposing for anybody listening that we're going to do a 450 referendum at all right so just no referendum in that context right in that way

186but I just want to name like I think it's important if that for the public to understand that we are talking about a framework really a prioritization of the And if I can just add on to that, yeah, wasn't there a report a couple reports ago that kind of broke down what was, you know, what was kind of like one to three years and then three to five years which started to put some of those kind of priorities in place. >> And that's what's in here actually. Yeah. >> I think um be maybe before you respond, I think my the again the friction in my mind is when I vote on something >> Yes. as someone who's representing the public and we've seen a presentation where numbers are attached like what are what are we

187promising to the public in regard to uh in regard to our vote. So, if we're voting on a framework and one of my fellow board members made the comparison to the strategic plan, you're right, there's no numbers attached to that strategic plan, but we just saw something with some numbers attached to it. And but if if I if I think about it through that lens, that makes sense. But are we going through the strategic plan then and saying, "Yeah, we might not be able to do this, you know, three years down the road, we might say, we might not be able to do this because we don't have the the the funds to do so." And is that the same process that we're going to take take on here? Like we approve a framework that

188includes everything that's that we've seen tonight. And then I hear we're gonna are we prioritizing everything that's in the bucket or are we thinking about do we need to take stuff out of the bucket? That's I guess my question. >> I'm going to lean on our experts who've done this more than I have. I'm going to add to just the importance of making sure that the plan is a comprehensive long range plan because if we were to leave stuff out of the bucket that doesn't you do you a service in terms of how you plan it to. >> That's fine. I just want to know that we're voting on everything in the bucket. >> Yeah. I think >> the answer is yes. That's fine. >> Comprehensive need and vision for the facilities over the next

18910 plus years. I think that's really what you're adopting as that playbook. >> Okay. Typically what phase one of implementing a plan typically is much less than the total need just because you have it's often that you do it in phases too. So um what phase one might be in a in a sister district it's actually much less than their total need that they identified in their comprehensive plan. Okay >> and it might take five plus years or closer to the tenure mark to get to phase two. So it's often a phased kind of implementation where and that's really tied into the funding strategy and what you could do right up front. But it's important that it was comprehensive so so you could plan accordingly. >> Thank you. And um if it's a like let's

190say like I think again I love the um comparison to our strategic plan because we've talked about our strategic plan as a living document. So like let's say we get through the first five years and we've been able to secure funding and do all these things and then we're at a different point in five years the economy is different population growth has changed. This can be uh a living document for lack of better terms. >> Exactly what it is that is helping. >> We're not we're not voting on on this the steps over the next 10 years. >> Yeah. I just want to make sure when we vote we're promising >> but we're promising to the public. We're we're adopting a framework that in our current moment um demonstrates what our facility needs are and

191we are also in that vote or in that adoption dedicating ourselves to viewing this as a living document. >> Yes. >> Okay. C >> can I ask you a quick question? Uh the numbers that you have in here >> from like the one to two and then you've got six to 10, those include like inflation and increasing [clears throat] costs over time. Yes. Okay. >> Just to be honest though, no one knows what inflation is going to do. I think we use a baseline number. They use a baseline number >> and best available right now and there's a way to adjust that >> based on what inflation is going to do it. >> I anybody else? >> So maybe just one more kind of cap on that. There was a slide with seven ideas on

192it. We call them guiding design principles. Is that is do you agree with that vision for the district that at the end of the 10 years or however long it takes to do it that that would reflect the values >> and and be a a way to and I know those were very brief statements. >> We've written them in longer format >> as well. um they don't tell you everything because at the end of the day there are some physical conditions that have to be addressed otherwise you know you'll you won't be addressing the the immediate needs for maintenance and things like that. But on the other hand, there are different ways to achieve the goals that are the principles that are outlined in there. Even though it may not be physically done in exactly

193the same way and many of our clients over that even over a 5-year period of time, it changes. And um we had a client that that decided they wanted to look explore a referendum and they realized their community would not support that. So we changed the way that we would implement the plan. Even though our original plan had some budget numbers on it, we changed the way we looked at it and the order in which we were looking at it so that they could achieve it over a little bit longer period of time in smaller bites and pieces. >> That's exactly >> if that makes a sense. It Yes. It's a flexible plan of changes. >> Yeah. >> And if the ideas are the right ideas, the buckets are the right buckets. um we'll work

194with you, we'll be with you for that 5 to 10 year period of time and make that happen. >> Yeah. So we are essentially committing to the framework but not timelines to get this done and there's a lot of flexibility in this but it's just an overarching idea where we say yes we agree to what the vision is and we definitely we are adhering to what the community the input the community has already given us but we're not committing to a timeline necessarily. Is that what I'm hearing? >> Yes. >> Okay. So I just had a couple basic comments. Um so we've had some discussions about you know over the years maintenance and things along those lines. I just wrote down deferring is not a cost-saving strategy. Um, and then I, you know, I think

195about my priorities and I look at that and I'm going to, you know, the way I look at this and not trying to speak for everybody, it's what needs to happen and then student achievement and long-term projects that can pay for itself. So those are kind of the things that I and then after that the things that instill pride, you know, like pride and student achievement. Yes, there's probably some tie, but is it $100 million worth of student achievement or could we do that with um you know, other ways? So I I'm I'm when it's all said and done, we're here for student achievement. So that's just kind of the way I think about it. And um >> I just underscore that you know you asked I think do you agree with these principles and

196I think yes and I think um I just want to underscore I think the process has been really thorough so I appreciate it. I just want to make sure that when as a board we consider things in front of the public that we >> we understand and they understand what we're what we're committing to and we're so um I appreciate it. Well, and to kind of >> piggyback off of that statement, I just the alignment with the strategic plan is really helpful not only for the vision, but also for like kind of the marriage between the growth of both our students and and what they're accomplishing, you know, academically and and personally in our district with kind of the mirrored growth of the facility. So, I do really appreciate the organization um and thought you

197put into that structure. Um, but I also, you know, uh, yeah, I appreciate the conversation as well. >> Yes. >> The only concern I have, and I'm sorry, this this just goes back to project management and just dealing with us on a day-to-day basis, is just the timeline, right? Typically in our planning scope, right? We're always talking about the timeline. So granted, we're gearing 10 years, but in reality, we say within the first year, we're going to do XYZ as far as allocating resources. different dependencies may come up. So I guess in my frame of reference and dealing just with project managements and so forth, timeline is so critical because that allows you to know if you're meeting the mark or you're not meeting the mark. So granted, yes, we may not be sitting here

19810 years and our kids may not be here, but I think it's going to be pivotal to understand what is happening within the first year, second year, third year to equate the to the 259 million that to your point, we may have to do XYZ in order to gather that, you know, particular monetary value in order to move forward with this particular plan. >> Does that make sense? Or >> it does. >> Again, it's just more the timeline. I'm kind of >> It Yeah, it does. whether we're talking about design or whether we're talking about infrastructure. NE and I do a lot of different types of project management. So, we we appreciate what you're saying. Steve focuses a lot on on design, but even then he has to have a plan and it has to

199make sense and it has to be knitted together. Um, so that is really the more detailed part of what you said is really the next step. This is complex. I mean, you can see that there's there's four dimensions of the categories of cost. You've got 23 plus buildings. Um, and you've got seven seven ideas that really are going to inspire students and your educational um delivery within these structures. and we have to work with you to prioritize that and and come up with the right um combination of that that meets your budgets um that's fundable and and that is going to reflect the values of your community in the future. So let me just ask hypothetically if you were to choose a particular school based upon having no timeline what would that initial school be

200that we start connecting these dots to based upon the framework and so forth that we've been presented to tonight and again hypothetically since again we have no timeline and so forth on and in in the planning phase >> I'd pick a school I'd probably pick a category and that would be with category one because that has timelines associated with it. So, you'd start with that and that's the um infrastructure and um physical conditions and the maintenance items you have in your buildings. That's kind of the that's why we number them that way. One is that's this is the you know you're going to start with next is security and safety and then three is the learning environment and four is a comprehensive. So, the the last two kind of go hand in hand. first two

201are really critical ones we I'd start looking at first and those kind of heavy have years associated with them because your systems have a very direct life cycle and when you need to replace those. So that's the starting point that we would take when we start looking at. >> I think it's also important to notice that we we don't want to start messing with the the the pretty things with the roof still leaking because it's going to ruin any work that we do. So the priority needs to stay on the building envelopes and making sure the buildings are waterproof. Really? [laughter] So that makes sense. But again, I think it goes back to the theory of a timeline, right? So to your point, >> we can be sprinkling water going through a school, but is

202that going to be a critical point where we say, "Hey, how do we fix that?" Or do we move to another uh more critical issue that may be happening with a boiler system at another school? Right. So I get what you're saying, but I think it takes presence to understand what those steps are in order to ensure that we're doing right by the students that are in that school and our staff. >> So that is articulated and I thank you for underscoring that that is articulated that we do have a timeline. It's pretty aggressive in terms of one to two years for some of these costs, right? Repairs, right? So there is a timeline in here saying that these are not things that can be ignored for very much longer. and the the we had

203a pretty thorough assessment of what those are and to ensure that we are thinking about those um you know I hate to bring up a well we had our own roof right so we had a our own lockport moment so to speak right uh thankfully didn't shut our buildings down for a longer period than two days three days right we're very fortunate in that regard because we have a number of buildings that and when you talk to our building engineers ers, they work extremely hard to keep our system going. It's like a 20-year car that they make it look like it's still running really well, but you talk to our building engineers, they will tell you that we are playing with fire. I hate to speak to that in that way, but they are working

204really hard to make sure that we are able to maintain our our our engineering systems and and it's not for neglect. is for really the the level of support that's come through the years. They're very careful. They they watch these things very carefully. They know every single nook and cranny. And so I would argue that we have a very thorough um well articulated I guess you could say plan of action here around the years and the kinds of things we'll have to invest in and what comes first, second, third. Now down to the month categories. We haven't got there but in terms of a broad category of a timeline and what we would bring to the board next and you know this is really this first phase is to say here are the things that

205we've identified through community through public through engagement what comes next then is then the more as you've said well-defined plan but have we gotten to this is this does this make sense for the board is the question that Dominic has named right does this make sense did we miss a category somehow right that we we like pest control nobody has in here like you know removing you know, you know, birds in the roof or something. >> Well, I I would like it to tie I'd like it to tie to expected achievement teams and you know, those are the types of things. And if it's an investment type of situation, you know, kind of like a field um you know, what would uh the savings be annually to pay that back and those are the types

206of things that I would want to know, but that I don't know need to know today. Um but uh as we're deciding which checks to cut and which projects to take on, that's what I'm going to look at. >> Okay, that's helpful. >> And I just want to clarify for timeline. The only slide I see the timeline on is for that first area of work, right? So when you're referring to a timeline, you're referring to that. >> Yes. >> The other ones will Yes. Those are all the those are the most critical. >> And yeah, those are the Yeah, those are the ones that we know should be taken care of. Yeah. Yeah. >> Anybody else? >> Teresa, >> great discussion. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you all. >>

207I got to do something. [clears throat] All right. 2025 tax levy adoption cycle and okay I want to thank uh next up we want to invite Mr. Obami to talk about a really important part of our work here which is our tax levy adoption cycle >> thank you Dr. Uh Katti and Mr. President, >> good night. >> Uh is that time of the year again when uh as a school district we are required to prepare tax levy to be approved by the board? So uh the [clears throat] 2025 tax levy is what is being presented tonight. So this is the levy adoption cycle. Today is the 17 which is the presentation that we put before the uh the board today. And then uh on the 28th of November we have a an ad copy that

208uh is going to be published by the major newspapers here. And then on December 8th at the next board meeting, we will do a a truth and taxation and the adoption of the tax levy resolution. And then once that is done, it will be filed at the three counties that we levy from uh the last Tuesday of December, which this year happens to be December 30th. So the levy I think it's important to to kind of clarify. A lot of time folks get it uh confused. They believe the levy is the actual amount that we get from the the county treasurers where we actually levy. The levy is actually an ask and uh what is actually sent out to tax is the tax extension which is the actual amount that we get and uh there's

209always a difference between the levy what an extension is. One of the key factor in determining what the levy is is the CPI and uh that came into being with the uh detail law that was passed back in 1991 that applied to us in the uh caller county in 1994. And uh another term that I I think is important to keep in mind is the equalized assess value and that's really all the taxable properties in in the municipality where we we levy. So the final levy amount as I as I mentioned earlier is what we asked for but then that is uh subjected to PTO. We cannot and the PEL law uh require that the maximum amount that we can [clears throat] that can be actually be extended by the uh county clerk is 5%

210or CPI even if CPI is higher than 5% which it was a couple of years ago the most we can receive is actually the 5%. But in the 2025 levy the CPI which is the December 2024 CPI is actually 2.9. That is the the uh the uh the inflator rate factory uh factor that the county clerk will use and then the board is required to adopt that that levy uh before we set file it with the county clerk in the three counties. So I wanted to kind of show the the process that the levy goes through. We develop the budget as as a taxing district and then uh the the board approves it and then it goes to during that time though even though we required to do the levy. Now the the whole taxing

211process is just in the beginning. None of this will be finalized till July of uh 2026 even though we are required to submit it right now on December 30th. So we have to make a lot of assumption and I think sometimes that gets confusing with our taxpayer who thinks whatever it is that we levy is what we expect to get. That could not be further from the truth. So I showed a sample of how uh a property tax is calculated in a residential I mean really in any uh property. So you have the market value the market value is actually is a baseline number and then the uh then that's multiplied by uh one/ird and then um in a residential tax uh bill. Uh the homeowner gets uh just about every homeowner gets a general

212home instead exemption which reduces the amount of the property tax bill and there are other uh exemptions that are out there. The veterans exemption, the senior citizen exemptions that can be added on top of that. And then what you you deduct that from that and you get the taxable year and then you get the tax rate. You multiply that by the tax rate. So what you get in this partic particular case for a house that is uh has a market value of 400,000 you have a tax amount of 68.41. So essentially the tax rate, the multiplier tax rate is uh $5.37 for each $100 of EV. Please ask me any questions as we go along. And this is the funding source based on the FY26 budget. The largest source of uh of revenue for the

213district is actually property tax, which is why it's very important. Then the next source of revenues is EBV AEB equal uh evidence based funding and then you have uh other local funds then you have federal and uh and other sources. So property tax is an important part of how we get the money to be able to run the district. So just to to show the relationship between the levy and the budget, we develop the budget and then the uh the the revenue that we actually get from property taxes crosses to fiscal year. this levy that I'm presenting before the board tonight. The first installment we will get in June of 2026, which will be fiscal year 2026. The second installment is actually the real amount from the 2025 levy. The first installment that we get

214since the appeal process is not settled till July. What the treasur will do is they will look at the 2024 levy which will be the completed uh extension period and it'll give us 50% of the completed amount. That's what we'll get in the first installment. The second installment will be after all the appeals have been completed. uh a taxpayer can appeal the assessment value of their property. If they don't like what the assessor says, they can go before the PTO property tax appeal board and if they don't like that, then they can go before the circuit court and that doesn't conclude till July. So after that is concluded, then we get the second installment in September. That's actually 50% of the actual amount from the 2025. Then the I I mentioned CPI is the factor

215that is used to determine the maximum amount that we can get as a mean as a taxing body. Now the CPI is really it's a basket of uh of expenditure that household that we spend money on and one of the biggest factor of that is uh housing. Housing is a big factor. Utility is another big factor. Food is another big factor. So those are the things that drive the CPI that we use. It's an inflatory factor for the uh le calculation. And I [snorts] just wanted to show the historical 10year CPI as you've seen uh back in 2014 CPI was only 80 basis point. the uh the following year after that was uh 70 basis point and then if you look at the years right after during the co when inflation was really high in

2162021 CPI was actually 7%. But as you heard me mention earlier we were limited to just 5%. So even though the cost of the real things that we were buying as a district was 7%. most that we can actually levy for was 5%. The same thing in 2022. Then uh 23 which is the 2024 levy uh was 3.4. The 25 levy was based on the December uh CPI which is 2.9 which is what we will be using for the 2025 levy. And this is the same thing just a different way of showing it. And then the uh the different funds that we levy off of the ad fund is the most versatile fund that the school district has and that is what pays for the majority of the things. It pays for most of our

217educator salaries and most of the expenditure that we have as a district. Then operations is dedicated to the facility maintenance of the district. And then transportation I think that speaks for itself. special education. Same thing. IMRF is the uh is the uh levy that we assess just to pay for non-licensed employees such as our custodian, our maintenance folks. Uh we're support staff people. We levy for that and that's what pays for the pension cost that they're entitled to. And then of course social security, working cash. Working cash is kind of like a bank that we levy from. So when the district needs to borrow money, we can borrow it from the from the working cash fund and then pay it back. Just to point out the IMRF and social security, whatever is in that fund

218can only be used for those purposes. We can't transfer it out. We can't use it for anything else. And we only required to levy exactly what we need for those two funds, not a penny more. So the uh >> can you repeat that last thing? We're only required to levy >> to levy what we need for IMRF and social security. >> That's the only requirement. Everything else is >> we can levy more than what we need for those two funds. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Because they are restricted funds. You can't use the money for anything else. >> For anything else. Yeah. So the other big uh portion of the levy is bond and interest which we kind of got a lesson about earlier. This is to pay for all outstanding debt that uh the

219district has. And just to point out, I know it's a significant amount of money, but the majority of that was borrowed back in uh 2006 when there was a referendum done when the uh Kendall County at that time was the fastest growing county in the country. We needed to build about 12 million, 12 schools all at the same time. So we issue, I believe, $250 million in bonds. of that amount we still have 185 million left in principal. The rest uh I believe is in interest. So the cost of servicing that is uh $36.8 million. And this is the comparison of the extension to levy. As I wanted to point out again, the extension was the actual amount that was uh that the taxpayers paid in 2024. Levy is not what we are going to

220get. And one thing that I want to point out why a lot of time we do what is called balloon levy is that we have to do the levy so early in the year before all the appeals are done that we have to just estimate And a lot of time we have to overestimate big component of the amount that we request too is new construction. We do not know where new constructions are until the assessment period has been completed in July. But the downside of that is if we don't balloon if you will over estimate the amount that we will get for new construction. If we underestimate that we lose that money forever. And the way the levy works, it builds on prior year exemption. So if we under levy, then we will lose that

221uh the resources that we need to educate our children. And I dare say just about every district in Illinois balloon levy for that reason because new constructions are unknown. But you have to estimate and you have to overestimate. Even if you overestimate the only amount that you get is the actual assessed value of the new construction. not the estimate that you have. So if you look at that, I mentioned earlier that the increase that we're going to see this year is the ptail of 2.9, but if you look at the bottom line, you see 7.02. That includes the balloon as well as the new construction. That's why it's high. But at the end of the day, the um the county clerk as well as the treasurer are limited by PTEL to the rate of inflation

222of December 2024, which is 2.9%. >> So the C Yeah. So basically the county clerk is going to tell us what the amount is going to that is the extension. >> But if we said 1.5% they would take that. >> Yes. Yes. So we can say 50%. >> And they're going to turn around and say, "No, you're getting 2.9. What are you?" >> That's exactly true. >> That's the low. >> Can I ask a question just in my own education about levies? Um why why does this process exist rather than I mean I'm going to add to that question rather than just the clerk extending to us what they've collected? Why why is a public like why why is that the case? >> It's the way the law is written. It's the way the law

223is written. It doesn't have to >> be would there be is there any reason like why couldn't outside of the being the law it would make there's a set amount that we're going to get as long as we ask for um for more. >> Right. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, another way of looking at it is this. There's only if you look at Kendall County. >> Yeah. >> There I can't even begin to tell you how many taxing bodies are in Kendall County. So, asking the county clerk or the county treasurer to be responsible for calculating all those taxing bodies levy just the county clerk's office have to be huge to be able to do that. >> So, the responsibilities for the taxing authority to do the uncalculation based on what they need to run

224the entity. So, as I mentioned earlier before, the budget drives the the levy. We need x amount of money to be able to educate our kids, to be able to pay for everything that we need to provide a good education. Now, just to be clear, 80% of how much we need to be able to run a school district is tied to salary. the majority of whom are teachers >> and the administrators who work with those teachers. >> Yeah. My question is not so much like why we need the it's like the process seems >> um yeah indirect. Thank you for the the adjective indirect. >> Um I think especially when a taxpayer sees on their bill, right, that okay, the school district's the largest taxing body and they tax me this amount. Well, then that's

225the amount you're getting. Right. Right. That's the right then you're getting from this house and and it seems like you just you know >> sum the column and that's what the the school district would get but doesn't sounds like we as a taxing body just the process requires us to advocate for what we need. >> Right. Right. And then the uh the uh the county clerk would then put adjustments on it based on ptail and also their rates limit to a lot of the funds too by the way. So for example, the headphone doesn't have a rate limit, but then the total amount that you can receive is capp. There's an aggregate amount that you can get. So you can distribute it. Some of the funds, as I mentioned earlier, IMRF, social security, there's a

226cap amount that you can get. So it gets a little it gets I can actually talk for a whole day about taxing. It's a very involved process. >> Um Right. >> So, as I mentioned, the lever represent a 7.02% increase over last year's extension. >> But rest assured, we will not get anywhere close to that. I think it's important for me to state this categorically because I think when someone is reading this without the deep understanding of how tax cap work, they can walk away and say the school district is increasing my taxes by 7.02. 02. That's not true. >> Can I Can I ask what drove um that increase? The 7.2. >> The 7 is mainly new construction. We don't know what the value of new construction is. So what we doing is we're

227ballooning we're ballooning the amount of money that we're asking for for new construction. And then after the assessment period is complete in July, then the uh the clerk would the county clerk would know what the actual amount is. They'll add it to our extension. >> Are you asking about why we're increasing the levy? >> Correct. To the 7.2, >> right? >> So like for instance, to your point, right, it's the housing and it may other factors could be whether it's salary contracts, special education. So in theory, right, it could be a premise of things, but to your point, as you just shared, it's >> new construction. Yeah, it's the unknown new construction. It's important that we estimate we belong there. So, and if we needed more money and we don't belong there to capture the

228new construction, it will be unfair to existing taxpayers who will continue to bear the burden that we don't get the money that the new construction is supposed to contribute to to the uh to the extension. It's kind of like the way I look at tax levy, it's [clears throat] like a scale, right? If one if one one side is light, the other side is going to be hit. So it's important that we be fair and we provide as much information as possible so that everyone pays a fair amount towards the education of our children here. >> Thank you. >> It's a great question. [clears throat] >> So why levy to Jakab? I I think I mentioned that before, but I can't overstate the fact that because of the key unknown of new construction. That's why

229we do that. If we're under levy, we lose the revenue forever because the base becomes the base for this year becomes the new base for next year. So if the base is lower for this year, then [clears throat] the the base for next year will be artificially low. And the reason why we we need the revenue that from property tax, we need it to pay for staff programs and services. We need to fund facility maintenance which is appropo. We just talking about long range facility planning a moment ago. We need to if possible build up our reserves because as I as it was mentioned previously for 20 straight years we borrow money uh just to make it to complete the year. We paid interest for that. And if we if we have enough taxes, if

230we we do the levy appropriately, we can have some reserve that on a rainy day, we have enough money to be able to weather the storm and we wouldn't be borrowing money and incurring uh cost of borrowing to. But just to be clear, the property tax is capped by by CBI, not a penny more. So an important factor in property tax uh system is uh tip which is uh a process by which an area in a taxing uh municipality that would not generate growth but for an intervention of uh of tax increment finances is used to create um to create increment provide some invest investment in an area that encourage uh development in that area. Now it normally takes over 23 years for that period to end but once that period ends if it's done

231properly there'll be an increment that will result in increased uh property value and it will lessen the property burden on other taxpayer in the district. Now I wanted to give an example of the three tax artif districts in in our taxing area. The first one is the Montgomery route 30 and it was established back in 2005. The base tax when tiff is uh developed is frozen out of base e and then any of the increases during the uh the tiff period is actually goes to the t district that is used for economic development after the 20 after 23 years is over any increases that resulted after that now goes back to the toxin body. Yeah, I was saying that that percentage looks impressive, but it's not a very impressive number. >> But I mean, still

232we go from 36,000 to 30. >> I don't think that they developed anything there. >> So the next >> Montgomery side it's a tiny >> went up in value just because not because of development, you know. >> Yeah. So the next one will be uh the OGO main in Washington which interestingly enough old trouble school district uh building is located in that district as you can see that uh district was established back in 2015 and the base is 6 point was 6.7 at that time and now it's grown to 20.5 which is uh an increment of 13.7 million Now if it continues to grow uh when that comes up for uh for expiration around 2039 2040 all the taxing bodies will benefit from the increment from it. And the last one that I put in

233the third one here is [clears throat] the Montgomery Caterpillar. The old Caterpillar uh facility was established in 2021 and the base EAV rate was 10.2 2 million and it's it's almost double in value with an increment now of 9.8 million. So I just wanted to show I know there a lot of time people make comments that school districts should be opposed to tiff but I really think it depends on how wellconceived those tiffs are. some tips if they're wellconceived. It benefits uh it results in economic development for the municipality. It also result in increased tax for the taxing body which will overall lessen the overall taxes on all taxpayers in the area. So, we are recommending that the board accept and approve the 2025 tenative tax levy as presented to authorize the tenative 2025 tax

234levy public hearing to be held on December 8, 2024 25 at the next board meeting. Thank you. >> Any any further question? I do. Um, in regards to the TIFF, and I apologize as you were going through the slide deck, um, how much revenue is the district losing each year because of the tiff districts? >> Uh, we can, so if you look at, for example, the if we look at the Montgomery tip, the first one, it has a base EAV of 36 uh 36,000. Now, if we do the calculation of that, the one that I just did going back here, that shows that for so for every $100 >> is $530 uh $5.37. [clears throat] >> So, that is not a significant amount of money that the district was receiving from that. But if you

235look at the increment, the increment has gone up by 325,000 >> then the yes we go main. So >> well our property wasn't getting collecting tax. So it's kind of hard to >> Right. So to ask how much we're losing would be to look at it from a shortsighted point of view, right? Because if we if the tiff the uh Montgomery Caterpillar TIFF for example when the base EV was set it was $10 million. Right now it's it's grown is almost double by now. So by the time uh the TIF expires in 2039 uh 2040, chances are we may be looking at about 30 to $40 million in in taxes that will go back to the tax role. So there's no way that I see possible. >> Yeah, I >> that I see possible if

236we didn't establish a shift there that will get that kind of money. If I remember the as we go Maine in Washington it was like 10 grand a year and that's basically so it's 10 grand a year for 23 years that's 230 grand and then we're going to get at year 24 you would get like a big multiple 230 grand >> and not only that it also benefits the the municipality >> right >> you know the the the village of because now we have businesses now where people are employed they have jobs and you have a blighted area that's just been sitt that in there that's now being used for to generate economic development to generate you know taxes uh on and the the infrastructures that have been built in the area but for the

237the revenue from the t district I can envision the village having that kind of resources to be able to build the infrastructure improvement that is taking place in that so even if the business leaves in the future you have a a well-developed infrastructure that'll be [clears throat] attractive for new business to occupy. >> Makes sense. Thank you. >> All right. Anybody else? >> Uh can you go back to slide six? So I think it's important to point out that this is just the calculation for the basically the school district budget. It doesn't include the bond, >> right? >> Bond repayment. Like there's another calculation for that. And then those two numbers are totaled together and that's what's on the tax bill. >> Yeah. And the tax bill just doesn't separated, which would be nice >>

238um if we understood which was part of the general obligation fund or bonds. So >> yeah. Um so I I always say that basically 20 25% of your school district portion of tax bill is for bonds. So one of the key reason educating children is very labor intensive is very labor intensive is mostly educators teaching 80% of the money goes to pay for teachers on the benefits investment. Yeah. Um so was that 1134 and far? >> Yes. [clears throat] All right. Unless there's anything else. All right. >> 114 >> public notice >> estimated tax levy and truth in taxation resolution and then next meeting we'll vote [clears throat and cough] moving to 1160 the intergovernmental agreement with Yorkville. So what we do as a district, we [clears throat] actually reach agreements with other school districts

239>> whom because of the fact that we have a a really strong program for special needs students, the uh the schools in the surrounding area, they actually reach agreement with us to place their student in our program. And in return for that we charge them the actual cost of providing the education to uh to their kids and we also charge a 3% administrative fee. So what you have there is for a student who is actually doicile in Yorkville 115 but is uh been educated in in one of our programs here. we reach an agreement to provide the uh the uh the service to them the actual cost of providing that service plus 3% administrative fee that's the IGA that we presented before the board >> and that was through 28 I think right yes and

240um so there's some there >> yes and we have similar agreements with [clears throat] other district it's a way for us to subsidize some of the cost of special education that we pay internally >> is this a continuation of an IGA Yes. >> So, it's all the same stuff. >> Yes. >> They provide their own transportation. >> If we provide transportation, we'll charge them for that. So, yeah, we don't [clears throat] we don't carry any of the cost because they uh they do not uh they're not our residents. >> Thank you, Mr. Questions. >> Do we do we do the IEPs? Like does our staff create the IEPs or is it New Yorkville staff collaboration because the student is um our student while they're in 308. So, we collaborate with um certain administration and staff

241at the partner schools to keep them updated on the IEP, but we discussed the services that we continue to provide to students based on their goals. >> I have a question um Dr. So, does this mean that we are keeping the DHH program until 2028? >> We're always keeping the DHH program. This is just in relation to that we service Yorkville students in addition to several other students. We needed to update the hygiene with Yorkville school district. >> Well, I only asked that because I'm sure you're probably aware there's a lot of communication about that program, right? What's happening to it. So, I think it's intentional at this point as we're kind of going over this agreement and it does bring up the DHH, right? How it's going to be obviously here in our district

242and how we'll continue to move forward with it. Yeah, it's always important to recognize that um we have to ensure we have staff to support our students and those students that we uh partner with neighboring districts to support. >> Anything else? 2026 school maintenance project grant. >> Thank you. Uh this is a grant that the state of Illinois actually provides to every school district that applies for and I think in the past [clears throat] we never did apply for it. So over the last three years we've applied for it. Essentially you have a a maintenance project that you do you put off $50,000. the state will match that $50,000 with you. It's as easy money as you can find for 50,000. So the last two years we've done it and we've applied [clears throat] we've

243been awarded we've used it for things that we would have done anyway. It's just a way to get a 50% subsidies on on the on maintenance cost. So we applying uh for it again for the third uh year and that's that's what this is. We have to vote on that. >> Yes. >> The board the board has to authorize it. >> Okay. >> I feel good with this. Anybody have questions? >> All right. Um 118 state waiver for driver's education fees. Okay. >> So, currently our driver's education uh course fee is $400. Um, in order to charge $400, we need to reapply for the state waiver. Um, the state uh currently caps us at 250 under board approval. Um but with our transition from temporary teachers and part-time teachers to full-time OEA members um the

244our current cost of driver's education uh does exceed both what we collect in course fees and the driver's education reimbursement that we receive from the state. So, um, at the next meeting, we would like to hold, um, the public hearing in order to then apply for the renewal of the state. >> Questions? >> You know, just off the top of my head, I mean, we're still seeing demand for the program. Obviously, we have the teachers. Um, they're full-time. So, um >> we are still seeing uh course demand and our costs are still lower than if you went to a private facility in the area. >> Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Okay. [clears throat] 119 board policies for first grade. >> Thank you again, Dr. Concane. I know the committee Can you go over each one in

245detail, please? >> I would be happy to. I know this is the most exciting time of our uh evening. Um the only the only thing I would can I can I just when you know we get the uh the summary which I appreciate I don't know is there any way to give sections like uh um or identify which ones are more than press plus you know like like that have substantive changes so we can like focus more on >> because there's a lot to read. You know, >> there definitely is a lot to read. We're going to highlight some of those substantive changes and the changes that need to be agreed upon um by the board. Um and we can look at >> just just in >> I'm not asking for like any >> and

246keep in I'm sorry, keep in mind that most of the changes are in line with what press indicates. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I see sometimes >> it's rare that we get very creative. It's just like uh referencing a different statute or you know like >> correct. >> So um a lot of the changes so um our um board of education uh policy committee reviewed press issue 120. So a lot of the changes that are coming tonight are really in alignment with that issue. But there are two policies that we really need to dive a little bit deeper into tonight. So overall there are many um the changes are either legal references um but there have been some changes in school code. So, if you look at um the redline version, you'll see some changes regarding

247student fees, the annual financial review, the AFR, curriculum, safety, racism free schools law, and the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act. What I would like to draw your attention to first though is policy 660, curriculum content. So there has been uh quite a few updates um some related to um our health curriculum in terms of drug and alcohol abuse and prevention. Um also some things in terms of our uh health curriculum with human ecology, health growth and development. Some also our internet safety. But if you take a look at um we have one choice to make and it really um based on uh the it's it's um the Irish famine. So we have the ability to add in the Irish famine into our curriculum board policy in conversation. As you can see, the curriculum content that we're

248already required to have is um elements 1 through 29 in conversation um at the board policy committee. The default from press plus is to not include it and there was support in the committee to go with the default and to not include another element that is required. um that uh to our current board policy. So that is the first one that I would like to draw attention to. The second element that we have to decide on um is in board policy um 6210. Um this is in terms of how we adopt our uh curriculum materials. So the decision that we would have to make is currently we adopt what we consider our core instructional materials. So textbooks and licenses. Um press is um asking us if we want to also include all instructional materials. Um

249that is currently not our practice. Um our practice is all core materials. So the discussion at the um policy committee was to still maintain current practices. So, anything that would be any core instructional text or resource. So, for example, we have some of our grade levels where it's not a textbook, but it is an online textbook. So, that would be still, even though it's a license and not a physical book, we would still be bringing forth for board approval all core materials. So those are the two things that we have to submit to press a decision. Um and the recommendation from the policy committee is to again in 660 go with the default to not include the Irish famine above and beyond the changes that are required through school code. and in to um yes

250uh essentially keep our current practice as is. So all core instructional materials would come to the board for approval but not all instructional material. Any questions? No, >> no questions, >> I guess. >> No. >> All right. >> Thank you, Dr. Jane. Um, all right. Action items 12.1. 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 6,532,9125 as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Mr. Cerone. >> I. >> Miss C. >> I. >> Dr. Martin. >> I. >> Miss Wenma. >> I. >> Dr. Mario. >> I. Miss Robinson I, >> Dr. Pock, >> I. >> Motion passes 70. Action item 12.2, approval of English one novels. Can I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to

251approve the two new proposed novels for English one and honors English one as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Great books. Dr. Pock. >> I. >> Miss C. >> I. >> Dr. Martin. >> I. >> Miss Wmouth. >> Hi. >> Dr. Mario. >> Hi. Miss Robinson I. Mr. Cerrone >> I. Motion passes 70. Action item 12.3 board policies for second read and approval. Can I have a motion please? >> I make a motion to approve board policies section 4 operational services 490. Section 5 general personnel 5270 section 7 students 740 as discussed and presented. >> Second. Any discussion? All right. >> Dr. Mario, >> I >> Miss Robinson I >> Dr. Martin I. >> Miss Wenmouth. >> Hi. >> Mr. Cerrone. >> I. >> Dr. Pock. >> Hi. >> Miss C. >>

252I. >> Motion passes 70. Um 12.4 action item. Approval of renewal of milestone support. Can I have a motion, please? >> I make a motion to approve renewal of milestone support. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Miss Wmmouth. I >> Miss C. >> I >> Mr. Cerrone >> I >> Miss Robinson >> I >> Dr. Pock >> I >> Dr. Mario >> I >> Dr. Martin >> I >> motion passes 70 12.5 action it approval of destruction of audio records. Can I have a motion please? >> I make a motion to approve the destruction of the audio recordings of the closed session meetings from November 6, 2023 through April 22nd, 2024. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Mr. Cerrone. >> I. >> Miss Robinson. >> I. >> Dr. Martin. >> I. >> Miss C. >> I.

253>> Dr. Mario. >> I. >> Miss Wenmouth. >> I. Dr. Pock. >> I. >> Motion passes. 70. Uh. 12.6. Action item. Approval of the release of closed session minutes. Um, 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? >> Dr. Martin. >> I. >> Miss Wenmouth. >> Hi. >> Mr. Cerone. >> Hi. >> Miss Robinson. >> Hi. >> Dr. Pock. >> Hi. >> Miss C. >> I. >> Dr. Mario. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. 12.7. Action item approval of personnel report. Can I have a motion, please? I make a motion to approve the personnel report as discussed and presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Miss C. >> I.

254>> Dr. Martin >> I. >> Dr. Mario. >> I. >> Dr. Pock. >> I. >> Mr. Cerrone. >> I. >> Miss Wenmouth. >> I. >> Miss Robinson. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. >> Can I have a motion to adjurnn? All in favor? >> May I make a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> I. >> All in favor? I I