001meeting of the whole is to order on Monday, May 18th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Roll call, please. Julie Getty Here. Jason Janzak >> Here. Bridget Sandlin Here. Catherine Potter Here. Mindy Hurtman, not here. Dee Darling, not here. Stacy Salt Acceptance of the agenda, um, items for discussion may be added to the agenda at the start of the meeting at the request of the superintendent or any board meeting upon majority approval of those members present. Does any board member have an item to add? Hearing none, we'll go to community input. I do not think anybody signed in. So, we'll skip that paragraph. Uh, approval of the previous minutes of from April 20th, 2026. Does any commit- mini member have any changes to the minutes? Hearing none, they'll be approved. And then we'll go to our first
002discussion topic. I think Mr. Shepherd will lead us off with the bills. Does anybody have a a question for Mr. Shepherd on those? Okay, we'll move on to the treasurer's report, Mr. Shepherd. All right, hopefully we'll make the treasurer's report just as simple as uh, the last item uh, covering the bills. So, let's dive right in. Maybe. There we go. All right, so when we look at our our revenue, and again, this is through the the month of April. So, uh, we are two months away from ending the the fiscal year. You'll see that our total revenues are coming in uh, right in line with where we expect them to be, if not just a little stronger than where they have expected to be. Um, local revenues, uh, again, right there, and the state revenues
003have caught up. Remember earlier on, uh, that number was not, uh, keeping pace with the historical trend. Um, we have caught up. That means that the state has been following through with its, uh, payment obligations, uh, for this particular year. For expenses, uh, again, uh, right where we want to be. We want to have our expenses, uh, being lower than what the historical trend is. Uh, salaries and benefits, you know, of course, are lower because, uh, we do have the summer payroll accruals in which we, uh, pay teachers, uh, for the months of July and August. Those get accounted for in June. And all other objects is slightly higher. Again, that's, uh, equating for, uh, any of the projects that, uh, we have. Our month end fund balance to date, you can see how it
004compares with the the prior year. And again, we're trending slightly stronger than we were at this point last year. Uh, month end summary to date, you can see the change from the prior, uh, year month to date. You can see that local revenues had increased substantially from where we were at this time last year. Uh, and then our expenditures, depending on what category, have actually come down. Um, capital outlay, 107% along with non-capital equipment, 272%. Uh, that is, again, tied, uh, to the projects that we have going on. Uh, this slide is helpful to show how we are comparing or how we're doing compared uh, the budget to the projections. And you can see that for the most part, when you're talking about, uh, a budget in the the millions of dollars, uh, the variances
005are are right where we would expect them to be. Uh, and you'll see here, hint, uh, towards the very end, uh, we're projecting a surplus of about a $877,000. We'll talk more about that in just a minute. Uh, for capital projects and debt, not a whole lot of action here. We continue to spend down our referendum funds and uh, the we basically we basically just finished the paying Briargate I want to say and of course we have other bills coming up for for the solar project and um our upcoming summer work. All important cash flow slide you can see that the trend lines do not cross we are projecting a slight surplus. The surplus may be inflated just a tad if I had to guess at this point I think the district will probably run
006a slight surplus of anywhere between two and $600,000. So we're in good shape. You can see our operating fund summary the education fund is very strong. The other funds are in deficit. However, those are planned deficits. We want to be in deficit with those funds to bring those balances down so that we can avoid tax challenges in the future. In our investment slide that key thing to point out here you'll see that at the very bottom where you have your liquid and max that's the amount of cash that we have on hand that's not currently invested. You'll see that that number is fairly high. This coincides with next month when we we ask the board to authorize that transfer the $6 million from the ed fund these investments to capital. Keep in mind those funds
007are helping pay for the transportation center and the solar project. We are going to ask the board to transfer up to 6 million if we don't need all 6 million. We will of course reinvest in both long and short-term options. I will say on this note that last week Mr. Glanzman and I met with PTMA and we were we had a riveting lunch talking about cash flow strategy and how to maximize that for the district. So I think you'll you'll start to see especially in the summer months when we have a higher cash balance, uh you're going to see uh the district uh uh try to do a little bit more short-term investing to maximize those dollars while we we have them. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Mr. Shepherd, not
008necessarily tied to the Treasurer's [clears throat] report, but did we We're in the window now for the bonds for the second round of bonds. Is that not Is that coming up? >> [gasps] >> Yeah, so the the tentative bond sale is scheduled to be June 1st. >> Okay. Perfect. Before things get even crazier in the market. Any other questions? Okay. Uh next topic is student lunch prices. So, over the last few years, we've been able to keep uh keep the lunch price for students uh flat, and we have not had to raise it in the last couple years. Um this is dictated by the the federal government and a tool they put out there called paid lunch equity. And the the purpose of this tool uh in helping you set lunch prices is to make
009sure that the program is is self-sustaining, meaning it's taking in enough revenue uh to pay for operations, right? Uh and over the last couple years, the district has run some pretty sizable debt or sizable deficit sizable uh surpluses uh in which we were able to use some of that surplus to help offset some of the cost of the lunch service program. That allowed us to keep uh lunch prices from rising. Um as you can see in our cash flow projection, that uh that surplus is coming back down to Earth, uh and we're getting to the point now where we are not going to have enough cash on hand to keep the lunch service program sustainable. Um obviously, we have federal funds, but the paid lunch equity tool looks at what local funds you have and
010you have to eliminate the federal funds that you get. Uh so as a result, uh it uh it tells us that we have to raise our our lunch prices by 10 cents. That is legally what is allowable. You can't go any higher than that. Um and so we would recommend that the board approve the 10-cent lunch increase in price in both the lunches and breakfast. The total lunch price, by the way, is $3.25. Breakfast is $1.80. And I know for uh the ideal lunch price, the federal government has a target of about $4 in there. So we're still far below that uh that uh max target uh that's set by the Fed. Mr. Shepherd, thank you. Um did will this have any effect on um free and reduced um lunches for students? It will not.
011If you are free or reduced, that those prices the the reduced price will remain the same. And of course, if you're free, um that uh is where we get those reimbursement dollars from the federal government. All right, thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Um next we'll go um to Mr. Shepherd and Mr. Martin for our summer construction update. Good evening, everybody. Sorry, can I backtrack just for a moment? >> Yeah, I forgot to say Student lunch price, would you like that in section seven or eight? Seven. In section Thank you. Sorry, Mr. Martin. No, all good. Got to keep those lunches. All right, so this summer we have tons of projects, literally tons and tons of projects happening at all our schools in the district. I'm just going to go down the list starting at
012Briergate. We already have the solar panels being installed at Briergate. I'll be getting some pictures for the next update. And more posted on our website under the construction page under operations showing some of those new solar panels getting installed there. Same the monument sign got its facelift that happened this past week Thursday Friday. And looks really good and I'm going to work with the school and the PTO to see how they want to decorate the the ground in front of it versus just mulching it. And then for Briergate the next thing is going to be parking lot signs. Cuz again what we did at Deerpath when they're all faded out. So they need to be updated and improved to make sure those are all correct. Oh, I did put some pictures on there. Excuse me.
013Does the parking lot signs also like re-striping like arrows in here and >> We do that like every summer like normally and I need to go get some pricing for that like just to make sure the price we got last year which was really good price but to make sure it's competitive still. >> Okay, thank you. Okay, some pictures for Briergate. All right, Gary Jr. So over this past weekend we did get the uh new roofing delivered and hoisted up onto the roof. So I don't have those pictures on here as of yet. But so right now on top of the gym and the administration we have all the roll roofing the insulation other supplies to get the roof done first. And then that's going to be started in the next couple of weeks here,
014as well. And then, once the roof's done, then Carrie Jr. is going to be getting the solar panels, as well. And that project will probably start over the summer after school is out. Um the other uh uh sections that's getting improved over the summer. So, all the like the first floor glass in the entryways, uh they're going to be changing all that glass out to laminated glass as an extra deterrent if somebody was trying to break in. Uh so, the laminated glass is definitely a lot stronger than the glass we have in those entryways right now. So, basically, all your exits we're going to get uh changed out to laminated glass. And then, more improvements are scheduled for next summer, 2027. Deerpath. Deerpath is going to be basically a brand new school inside. Um so,
015a new fire alarm panel, uh the new sound system for the audio enhancements, um the boilers and chillers, those are getting all changed out. New clock system, security cameras, the uh wireless door locks, so you would have to badge in and out of the or badge into the classrooms, uh LED lights, ceiling tiles, all new flooring, uh so, we're going to go away from the uh the VCT and get the luxury vinyl tile, what uh you've seen the floor in Three Oaks, basically a similar design to that. Um new casework, so all the cabinets are getting changed out. New marker boards, tack boards, um we're getting in the flat panels instead of the the smart boards that you can barely see. Um laminated glass interior and exterior, same like with the entryways and the the
016windows in the doors. Um exterior door replacements and select interior door replacements. So, when you walk in a Deerpath in August, it's going to be basically brand new, just as nice as uh the one side we did in uh Briargate this past summer. So, yeah, that one's going to be have a total facelift. When you say you have to badge into the classrooms, now, so like if a child goes out to the bathroom and comes back, will they have a badge? No, like um that was decided not to give the kids badges as a security concern. So, basically the closest student is uh is a helper like for the teacher. And then if the student's coming back in, they can see in the window and then just let them back in. Okay. Without disturbing the
017class too much. All right, our next school, Oakknoll Early Childhood Center. Um, so they're getting a new solar panel system as well on their roof. Uh that one's going to get started in the next couple of weeks once they wrap up what they're doing at Briargate. And um the delay we had last summer with the window replacement, so all their windows are ready to go. So, June 3rd as well, they're going to start uh swapping out all those windows, uh all the exterior windows at Oakknoll. So, they're going to get all brand new windows and a new solar panel system. So, it's going to be much more energy efficient in that school as well. And then Three Oaks, along with um uh Deerpath, the same company, Tyler Lane, is doing those renovations. Uh we're going
018to do the same thing with the door locks, so the badge into the to the rooms. Uh interior modeling, so in the classrooms, so imagine just everything off the walls, all new paint, new marker board stack boards, and the display monitors are going there. Uh their courtyard, uh the interior, like those windows and doors for that courtyard, but somehow they they really failed totally. And so all of those windows are getting changed out completely. So the whole interior courtyard is going to have brand new windows. And the courtyard is going to get power washed, cleaned up. So it's going to be a brand new on the middle inside the middle of the school as well. And transportation. So our transportation building So on our website as well, we got some new drone footage of the
019improvements and everything they've gotten done over there. So the paving and curbs, that's going to be going in in the next couple of weeks. So the curbs will do the outline for all the parking lots and the driveway in that area. And then once that's in, you'll be able to really see, you know, the shape of it and the parking for the uh employees, the bus drivers, and the buses. And um Yeah, that project's coming right along. So like now that we're past all the crazy rain, maybe now we'll keep it moving and that that should be all ready to go at the the end of June, early July. We'll have a uh a grand opening celebration over there. So we got that planned as well. Does anybody have any questions? Thank you for Mr.
020Martin. I have a question about the um about the wireless lock and badges and if you can answer it for security, that's that is understood. Is there some kind of manual override on that if there is no wireless or Yeah, uh so then each one of those locks does have a key. And so like we do have keys available. So if you've been in Briargate so they've been using it all this year. Uh and so far we hadn't have haven't had had to use those locks, but you can open it and then use a key to unlock it. Okay. If necessary. If there was a power outage or something like that. Thank you. But everything has battery backups, too. So. So, if there's a power outage, it doesn't default to open? Uh, no. No, like
021um, there's battery backups in the in the uh, building and they're designed to run the the uh, computer that runs the locks and then the locks are battery powered by themselves already. So, you'd still be able to badge in and out of those rooms. Do you know how long the battery last? >> Not long. So, probably about an hour. Yeah, something like that. So, it's not fail-safe, but if there is a little hiccup, you know, that we've had a couple of times, that there there is still is power to those locks. Okay. Any more questions? Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Have a great night. Our next topic is the district salary study and Dr. Thomas. Thank you. So, this is a salary study in your packet that was brought to the board in
022the fall. Um, and the board asked for it to go back to include There's one employee group that wasn't on there. That was the CESPA union, the paraprofessional and nurses and admin assistant group. So, we went back to Gallagher and got that amount. They did not charge us any extra for that. Um, and that was back in January, February. At that time, we were smack in the middle of negotiations, so the board decided to put the entire study on hold so that we could concentrate our time on finishing our negotiations. So, now that negotiations have finished, um, we're bringing the salary study back. Um, Ms. Canales, who's here tonight for her first official meeting. She's been in the district a week already, so thank you. Uh, we sent to the company to get an updated
023uh estimate of what it would cost, and they are going to honor the price that they gave us all the way back in November. Um so, what they do with the salary study, they will look at all employee groups. It's very extensive, so they look at um the market comparison, they look at benchmarks to other districts, they look at everything from salary to job descriptions, what's in the job descriptions, making sure things are aligned. They look at our structure and make sure that's aligned to our strategic plan and our goals. Um so, they do all of those things to take a look at um the different uh employee groups, and then make recommendations for where we might want to address. It's a little bit different than, you know, we do a lot of studying on
024our own when we're trying to do negotiations and things like, "Okay, well, Crystal Lake pays this much, and we pay this much." But, they do a much deeper dive into the total compensation. So, it's salary, benefits, um all the different days off, or things like that with the different employee groups, and and it's So, they're trying to take what we're usually doing apples to oranges, they're trying to make apples to apples, so we can understand not only where we are as a district, but how we really compare with other districts, and then they can make recommendations from there. So, that would just give us information and data to move forward on future negotiations, future uh compensation for non uh union groups, um and just every single employee group would be um touched in that way,
025which is a good thing, because then the board would have a lot of data going forward to make decisions on. Uh so, we are recommending that the salary study um be approved next week at the board meeting uh to take a look at all the compensation across the board for all of our 400-plus employees. If we have this study, is does it become public? Yes. Like, as soon we would get a report, a report from that company would be a public document. Do you Do you anticipate Gallagher um services to come in and and give a final presentation of the findings? Is that how the how you're looking at this working? I am assuming that, but we can definitely call Gallagher and find out. I would think with a uh something that this size and
026scope, I would expect that they would be able to come present the information, yes. The total cost, by the way, for all of the employee groups is $29,225. So, it's a it's a hefty price tag, but it's literally every single employee and employee group. It's the groups they're really looking at for the comparison data. Do Do we know how long it's going to take, did you say? It takes about 5 months total. Um it can be up to 6 months. There's the basics are all of the pre-work is done, takes about a month. There's about 3 months' worth of them digging into all of the things, and then about a month's worth of wrap-up and information. They did say that sometimes those can overlap, so you might be starting the process, but also starting to
027send out the surveys, and they might be gathering data from other districts and things like that, while we're still finishing the orientation part. So, it can sometimes be a little bit less, but it does take uh the estimate is 5 months. Okay, thank you. I guess I have I still have mixed feelings on this because um I right now we've got CEA and CSEA locked into contracts. And we really kind of still don't know the budget fall out from the CE EA. So, even if they tell us that our certified staff is underpaid by five we can't do anything cuz we're at our limit and we're in a four-year contract. Uh so we really still have our central administrative staff >> Mhm. Um our administrative assistants It's it's the 12-month employees. The administrative assistants most
028of them would actually be part of the salary study, but the 12-month employees which are the entire admin center as well as the technology staff. Yeah. And I I think we we know that we're lacking in those salaries. I'm not sure where a salary study would get us cuz we know we need to increase some salaries. I I I just wonder if we might be better, you know, if we could uh maybe sit down with our new CSBO and um look at the individual positions and kind of m- maybe do some salary increases one-on-one or and then, you know, make a- or or see how much we can go across the board without breaking our the next in the next 2 years budgets or something. I Yeah. I I understand that. I think the difficulty
029is um we toss around a lot of numbers we make this much compared to this one and compared to that one, but we're never ever looking at total compensation. So a group might feel like they're severely underpaid when actually they're not that far off um and vice versa. So I think the only way to really get to the bottom of it where we have some pretty significant structural changes that need to happen in the salary and it's not a short-term situation. So for example, if you want to be I think we're going to find a couple of groups that are going to be fairly far off of where our competitors are and it might take multiple years to get even close. I mean, similar to our contract that we just did with the CEA, it's
0304 years and it's pretty substantial increases each of the 4 years. You can't get there in a year and my concern with waiting on the salary study is that's just the likelihood of all of it getting pushed down the road. We've been pushing it down the road for a really long time particularly with the 12-month employees, that that gap just continues to get wider and at least this way you there could be a plan that the district could make for multiple years, which may not be putting anything in the first year. Maybe it's in year two or three, but at least being able to structure that plan going out in light of the contracts and where they sit as well. So I was anxious that we were even going to wait until after negotiations were
031done because I really felt strongly we needed to do this back in the fall. So I already feel like we're about 6 months behind, which makes me a little bit nervous. And I realize it's a new administrative team coming in. I've talked at length with Dr. Ketchatori also about the salary study and looking at the multi-year plan and crafting something which will be certainly on the new administrative team. But they can't do it without the accurate appropriate data and that's the piece that we're really missing. I just worry that, you know, since it's a public document, if people see that the, you know, this delta or something and we can't make it up right away, what does it do to morale? Kind of, you know. I mean, are we going to um have a lot
032of, you know, people leave or angry workers or you know, it's hard to please people or and ask them to for patience or, you know, So, I I That's kind of just kind of some of the Yeah, I completely understand that and I think, you know, the one thing that in schools we always say is go back to the data to go back to the data, but we're not even giving data to go back to or to create a plan from. So, that would be my concern is um we can do some things very short-term, but they are very short-term and, you know, we've been for years and years all about the long-term plan and and what we can do and this gives us an opportunity where we've got the employee groups, the larger employee
033groups, which are the ones in the union, we know exactly what to expect for the next several years from them, so we can work on the rest of the group in light of all of what's happening uh with the known contract amounts. So, I I just think the time is actually perfect now. It seems like why would we do it now? We don't have to worry about negotiations and stuff for a while, but we've got some other employee groups that um we're seeing a lot of turnover that we're trying to also stop. Um and I think, again, the plan is whatever the plan is will be a multi-year, it's not a one-time easy fix, so I think the more lead time the district has, the better off we're going to be. President. >> Thoughts? Yes.
034I originally shared the same concern. And then I shared >> [clears throat] >> the concern that, well, if we do this study and it's public, everyone's just going to look at us and piggyback. But, what got me kind of bought into this the need for this is defining that they're going to be helping our district look over, my understanding is, look over job descriptions, um be uh helping define the roles. Maybe perhaps there's going to to room there for where there's duplicate things being done and there's going to be room there to restructure the different the different roles and and perhaps that way we can have more efficient functioning. Um that way and and maybe save money too as well because I do think that I I want to know what I I know that
035admin has said that some of the job descriptions don't get updated until the it's empty. Um so that would be interesting to see it it just how I started looking at it was let's see what these roles are. Let's see where there's duplicate work. Let's see what they recommend um as far as I think they're calling it executive structuring or something. But that's kind of how I was looking at it. Although I understand where you're coming from certainly. A question the board has had uh at sometimes during the year that we've talked about is the the titles of the roles and is that appropriate to what the role is. So is an assistant superintendent here the same as an assistant superintendent somewhere else or is it really a director or is it Those are the
036types of thing that this helps sort out. They do comparisons of like the equity of that job description in our district compared to that same job description in multiple other districts. So even those types of thing for structural change are also included as part of the review. Ms. Allen Do you have some Yeah, I was just going to say it and and also maybe publicizing this will and the community can can read and see where we fit in with neighboring communities. Um and if we're severely lacking in paying salaries, maybe it is an eye-opener if we need more money, if more taxes are going to be requested because, hey look, Crystal Lake, Fox River Grove, whatever, are are paying so much more. If we don't come up, um we're going to lose teachers. We're going
037to not, you know, attract as many new, um hires. Um and then maybe we'll find, hey, our benefits way outweigh Crystal Lake or something. So, you know, even though the salary may look lower, our benefits are are meeting or exceeding neighborhood um communities and districts. Um and that would attract other. So, that that's my thought. It's just transparency. And there's no need to hide it. I mean, we should be have clarification, and then it'll give us 4 years to plan, right, for for some of it, if need be, if we really needed to come up and make big changes. So. Is this all? I have a question. Um well, I was for it last time, and I'm still for it this time cuz I think we severely lacked in this in the admin center, and
038I think super important for you guys for them to especially get this study. But, um how once we do it, like uh how long is it good for? Like, what's its expiration date? Does that make sense? Like, are we going to do it again in 10 years? Like, are we getting a 10-year plan? Cuz everything changes, or is this like a one-and-done? We've never done a salary study like this, so I don't really know the answer to that. But, but I would think it would be good for a few years, but the market changes so much that it's it will be I for me, I feel like the data will be very useful from now through the next negotiation with the CEA, which would be happening, you know, three three years from now. The contract
039is four years, but it would be negotiating in three years. So, the data should be relatively good at least through that amount of time. Um and if there are changes, we can certainly look at that. Um but it it would certainly be good for some amount of time. Um Going to give us like a five-year plan as part, you know, like or is that up to like what you would like the admin is going to do with it? Okay, here's the plan. >> they make recommendations, but then what the plan is and how that's structured is done by the administration. >> Okay. But we can we can we'll Can you put it on our list too? Belinda, we'll we can um give them a call and ask them like we'll get this data and we'll
040have this data say in September or October, whenever it is. And generally, how long is that good for? Like it's Do you expect that information is good in a year or is it just so variable with the market that in two years it's going to be completely moot? And that would be make a real difference. Yeah, okay. I was just curious. I believe it's a couple years cuz definitely in the three to five, I believe. I would I looked it up when we discussed this last time. Um but I do think we for the cost of doing both, um I don't know if we're going to be discussing just doing teachers or just doing what, but the cost of doing both, I think >> [clears throat] >> is we've spent we've spent more on wackier
041things than this. So, I I think it it needs to be done. That's just where I am and I will plan on supporting this. Well, I think it's the key to to our how to money for salaries is if we can control our um you know, having to use a contract like lab and if we can kind of halt that that that should maybe free up some more money for to spread around. Mr. Shepherd, is that a fair assumption? Yeah, that is. When you when you look at your budget there there are room there is room there to consolidate in certain areas and also that the savings that could come from reducing reliance on contracted services that is that's huge. That is a a large chunk of of money that could be distributed elsewhere. I
042think the thing that excites me most about the possibility of the salary study is just being able to have the apples to apples comparison. That's what we've struggled to provide, right? Because a tech specialist in this district is so different say from someone in another district, but they're going to really be able to provide you with the data that you need to make decisions on and how to use that pot of money then. So that you're using it wisely and hopefully using it to continue to retain quality staff. So I think the data you're going to get is going to be super useful. I think we know that there are going to be certain areas that we know we're deficient. We expect that. I've been in this district for 5 years. I've heard some of
043those same deficiencies every year for the last 5 years. So it's out there. People know it, right? And and I do think to the point of if it was to get to the point where you did need to go to the community to ask for more money. I'm not saying that's imminent right now, right? But there are quite a few districts in our area that are having these conversations that are planning to go for referendum sooner rather than later because of the economics. I think it's going to be super important to have that data to be able to make that argument to the community. In terms of the contracted staff, um just by way of a brief update, we have currently 12 staff in the district who are through contract agencies or individual contracts. And
044of those 12, for next year, we've already hired seven as uh of those positions as in-district employees. So, for next year at the moment, we have if we can't hire any of of the rest of them, we'll only have five instead of 12. It's a huge change. Huge change. >> And I'll just piggyback off of that. Um our budget for contracted services for this year was uh um just under um 1.2 million. Um we've overshot that, so it's going to be about 1.3 or 1.4 million for contracted services. So, the reduced number that we're looking at for next year, that that's huge savings. It's not going to be reflected in your budget that we're going to present to you because we have to leave that in there just in the event that we we need
045those in that line item. So, um you're looking at some pretty substantial savings right there. Jason, do you have a comment? I just wanted to It's kind of already been said. My biggest concern relies around the context, but in in the economic context of which it's done, right? And so, we've got a lot of unknowns heading in our direction over the next year or two. Um and we could say, "Okay, we have this done say in September and October." And the bottom can fall out of the market, right? And so, then does that make this data relevant um or not? And that's just kind of my wonder. It's not necessarily a concern. Um I'm but I'm just wondering if it's if it behooves us to wait until the start of the school year next year
046to do it. I understand that they probably change the contract price, but just the context of the economics situation that we're in is is my concern. Well, and keeping in mind, too, that this salary study, even once it starts, takes 5 months. So, we're going to see some changes over the next 5 months even so some of that will be definitely captured in the in that time. Absolutely. I just don't want to spend $30,000 on something that is like, "Okay, that was because the economy was growing or whatever." You know, and so yeah, absolutely I agree. It's going to take some time. There's going to be some lag with that. But again, that's just a wonder not a not a like red flag. It does it does fit into the district strategic plans, of course.
047Um goal five especially I I I think and the um Yeah, deliberately budget for recruiting and retaining exceptional staff. It's going to be tough. I also don't want to delay Jason only cuz like I get your point cuz it's a concern clearly. But but uh we're getting like a brand new admin team and I think they need this. Like and it's only going to kick the bucket down the road for them among all the other jobs they need to start fresh. I I feel like give it to them now. Let's start this new admin team with this rather than It's a fair point. to wait, you know. Cuz they need to act. So. Absolutely. That's a very fair point. Um Do Would you prefer I call you Belinda? Okay. Have you had experience doing a
048salary study previously? Can you turn your microphone on? Okay. Rule number one. Sorry. Um I have done you know, dummy salary studies with my district looking at um salaries of different um uh districts around us, but that was literally just something small. That is not what they are offering us. I mean, this is looking at total rewards for every position in our district, which is huge. Definitely not something that I could do or any HR person in the school district could do on their own, for sure. So, is there a consensus to move this for a vote next week? And since um Mrs. Darling and Mrs. Hartman aren't here, we'll uh we discuss it. Yep, we'll put that in section eight. Thank you. Okay, um next is um the review of um our policy on
049board board members attending uh conferences. So, the um the Joint Annual Conference, which is an annual conference for school boards, it's the School Board Association, the Administrator Association, and the uh CSBO Business Officials Association do the strength conference that you may be familiar with. That's in November. It's usually the weekend before Thanksgiving. And it is the largest conference uh in the state or in the area for particularly school boards and administrators to get professional development, a lot of governance information, a lot of legal information, and things like that. So, the um June 1st is when we can start registering. There's a lot of great information, particularly for school board members. So, I just wanted to I know I put this in my week in review, but I just wanted to highlight it here as well.
050Um I understand we have some board members who would be interested in going. Um all board members are encouraged to go, and I uh we put in here uh policy 2:125, which is board member compensation and expenses. So, this uh policy uh essentially says that the board can spend up to $5,000 um sending or reimbursing expenses, which is essentially what we'd be doing. The district actually could pay for it ahead of time. There are some exhibits that we'll be moving back into policy after uh next week. We'll talk about those in just a minute actually with expense estimated expenses and then expense reimbursement for things like paying for the conference in the hotel and things like that. We try to look up the conference amount for this year the dollar amount and it's not published
051yet because it doesn't open until June 1st, but we were recalling it's in the neighborhood of about $450 a person. I know that Dr. Ketchatori is going to be going. I'm sure Mr. Glanzman would be going and I believe they're probably the entire new cabinet is going to be going because there's a lot of administrative professional development for them. And I know Dr. Ketchatori would love it if as many board members as possible could go. It's a great opportunity for board members to get professional development. But I wanted to bring this up because the board will have to approve the expenses ahead of time. And June 1st is when we can start registering people and it's always helpful to register as soon as possible because hotel assignments and things like that are also done in
052the order that people register. So there's usually seven or eight different hotels to choose from. The prices are pretty reasonable for being in downtown Chicago about $200 a night which is almost unheard of in Chicago anymore. So just things like that that we would um I just want to make sure the board was aware we'd need to approve expenses. We can if we know who's interested in going and people can always add later, but if we know who's interested in going for next week we could work on approving expenses next week since the board is required to approve expenses ahead of time. So what would we be doing next week? Uh Exactly. If people are interested to attend then what we would do is get a copy of the estimated expenses forms to the board
053members to um submit back so that the board could approve those next week at the board meeting. We could wait and approve those in July. It just means if we're approving in July, there's just and it's not a big deal, but there's a little bit of a delay in the registration and it just means um ho- you you'd still get into the conference, but hotel choices and things like that become a little more limited and you might be a little further out from the conference. They There's just so many people that come to this that um you know, they have quite a few different that are part of the group. >> want to be but you want to be part of the action cuz I've stayed at a hotel off the away. Yeah, it's a
054bit of a hike. >> Yeah, it is. So, yeah, if that's a good point. Thank you. >> Uber ride. So. What's the dates again? November 20th through the 22nd. 20th through the 20th through the 22nd. >> Okay. Yeah, it's usually Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Um Sunday is just in the morning only. Um and it's also the weekend where they do the lighting of the tree and they There's a lot of things happening in the city that are just holiday related that are uh interesting. Um so, it's fun there, too. >> So, should we just let you know this week? >> if you could uh just let me know, email me, or send me a text message uh this week. I can uh So, the forms aren't going to be technically approved until next week, but we
055can send copies of the forms to everybody now. It's really modeled exactly uh off of the uh forms that we use for staff for estimated expenses. So, we can I can um send those out to everybody um and we can put those together to put in the board under section 8 for next week. If anybody isn't sure because of just the timing, the holidays are near and you're not sure, that's perfectly fine, but if anybody is interested and they know that now, it I think would be better to approve it sooner than later to make sure that we can get you in on the earliest possible um you know, uh opportunity on June 1st. Okay, um, next we have a press review, Dr. Thomas. Okay, so this is going to take a few minutes, but
056I will say, um, that, um, with these, quite a few of the ones that are in here are actually exhibits that, uh, if you'll remember a year and a half ago we moved the exhibits to the procedure manual. We have we're almost finished with the procedure manual. We're doing, uh, Mrs. Durflinger and I are doing the final review of all of the work that the group did, uh, with IASB, um, and just finalizing. And one of the things that we noted where there were some exhibits that we thought made sense, um, with in consultation with IASB, to move back into policy. So, a lot of the exhibits are in section two. Um, there's only one of and I think there's I don't even know how many. There's quite a few, but the exhibits have not
057changed since the board approved them, most of them in January 2025. So, the exhibits are exactly the same. The approval would really just be it says accept press on these, but it's really bringing back in what you've already approved in January. There's only one exception to that which I'll talk about in just a minute because one of the exhibits actually came in press packet number 121, which we're also going to review tonight. That said, I'll go through each of these. With each of the exhibits I will, um, just read the name of the exhibit. Again, there's no change. So, if people have questions, please ask, otherwise we'll just for the record read the name and number of the exhibit, um, so that we can, um, move those, uh, back over to the policy. There were,
058I will say also a handful of these exhibits we didn't move. If they were ones that really had more to do with, um, student issues and things like that, we left those in the procedure manual. It's really the board particular ones that were the ones that uh we felt made sense to move back over. So, uh starting with the first one, the first one is exhibit uh 2:70E, and it is a checklist for filing board vacancies by appointment. And that exhibit again would be just uh no changes to it. It would just be moving back over. Are there any questions about that one? If there no questions, um the ones without questions I'm going to plan to put in section seven, if that's okay. The next one is 2:80E exhibit, and this is the board
059member code of conduct, and that's an exhibit that again is related to that. Any questions about that one? Okay. Next, we have uh 2:120E2, and this is a website listing of development and training completed by board members. The next one is 2:125E1, and that is board member reimbursement form. The form that's in here is the form that I was talking about in the last uh uh discussion topic. The form that's in your packet is the uh the template the formatting got a little bit thrown off, but that will be corrected. Um and this is the form um one of the forms that you would get as part of the uh triple I conference if you wanted to go. The next one after that, very closely related to 125E2, this is the board member estimated expenses
060approval form. So, this one is before you go, this is the one that we would have you fill out. The other one is if you have uh expenses that you would need reimbursed directly. The next one is 2 colon 125E3, and that is resolution to regulate expense reimbursements. So, this is actually the exhibit that talks about the uh limit, the maximum allowable limit that the board has set for travel, meal, lodging, and expenses not to exceed $5,000. Um the >> I have a question. Is that the 5,000 just for board members? Yes. Okay. So, Okay. So, the 5,000, if all seven of us wanted to go there, 5,000 would be to use And if Dr. Kajitori and the administrative team, they have That's a separate line item. Uh-huh. Thank you. Um the next exhibit actually
061is the one exhibit of the whole packet that had some changes because this is part of uh issue 121, which is where the other policies that we're going to review tonight are coming from. Uh so, this one has changes um on page one. There's some notes in here. So, I'm sorry, I should read it what what this actually is. So, exhibit 2140E, this is guidance for board member communications including email use. So, there's on the first page you'll see there's a couple of updates about public records and how they're stored and you see an email for communication. Uh that's at the top. And the next one in that um first page under number one talks about uh not being able to respond if, for example, I send an email to the entire board, we're required
062to put a board member alert so that you know not to reply all. And they also suggest, which is actually a great idea, that uh we send if I'm sending, for example, something to the board, that I uh send it to the board as a blind copy to the board so I can send it to myself blind copy the board and then if a board member responds they can't accidentally reply all because if you're blind copied you can't do that and I could let board members know in the context of the email that this is going to all board members. And the reason we had that just in case anybody in the audience or at home would want to know it's to be in compliant with FOIA or free amendment I'm sorry not FOIA with
063the open meetings act. Um There's also an update related to the that on page two. They did change most of the time they said email they changed it to electronic means and then they also under number six on page two included that information about the board member alert again there. And a little further down just included some information about the public record that was amended where this is coming from. And then a couple of minor things on page three that really change email to electronic communication. So those are the changes that's the only exhibit that had changes from the last time the board looked at it. Are there any questions about those? The next one is a policy update. This is from press issue 121. This one this is 2:200 types of board of education
064meetings. There is a question on here that we need to answer and also on page one they just updated some legal references they've done that on many pages here actually. And then on page three there is a question that we need the board to answer and the question is this does the board post notices and agendas for special meetings at locations where the meeting is to be held in addition to posting at the uh district's main office. And then we answer yes or no. And the answer actually is just that the word is wondering is yes. We do actually post them not only at the administrative center, but we post them at the junior high at the front of the building. When we've had meetings at other schools, for example, Brier, Gator, Deer Park, we
065also post those at that school as well. Um so, in terms of what we actually do and we would plan to do, the answer to that would be yes, if that's okay with the board. Yes. Okay. Dr. Thomas, about this one, too. I agree, yes. That was it That was easy while I was reviewing this. Um it doesn't None of the language There's no new language in this, but it's but it's per Right. It's really legal references, and then we have to answer that question yes or no, so that they can update the language to reflect it. Yeah, I was just surprised that there was no language added about just no not being able to hold meetings on any election day, not just the general. It's like every election. >> Yeah, what happens with that
066is that something that the legislature passes periodically. So, that's why sometimes it's in here and sometimes it's not. The legislature will uh usually pass a law, for example, before an election to say, "Yep, you can't have school on that day." or or that type of thing. Um but right now, this reflects like what's in the law currently, but it does change somewhat regularly. Does it change then in the AP updates? Yes. Okay. Mhm. Yeah, whenever you see updates in the policy, the exhibits and or procedures may also be changed, depending on what the change was. So, if it's a legal reference change, those legal references don't necessarily show up in procedure because they're in the policy. Um but if it's any kind of substance change that gets reflected in bold. Thank you. Yeah, I saw
067that in the webinar for the press Robin webinar and it so when I oh, this will be exciting to see and then I didn't the language didn't change, but I get it now. Uh the next one is an exhibit. Um I'm sorry. I almost skipped one. 2: colon uh which is Board of Education Procedure. Uh Board of Education Meeting Procedure and in this one, sorry, I'm working on two different sheets here. Um On page one, there is a uh just a minor change. Uh but it has for Committee of the Whole meetings like ours at committee meetings, um you can add a board member can request to add a topic with unanimous approval of the board. This also allows discussion items that are suggested by residents. If they are fully approved by the board, then
068things coming from the audience actually could be added to the agenda that night as well. So that's the change in that one. So okay, do we have to then change this acceptance of agenda paragraph in here to include the audience? Um I guess we would need to update that to just ask that question at the audience if a board member or audience member has a change. Again, if an audience member suggests a topic, it would have to be unanimously approved by the board member in order to add it. And then the only other change on this one is on page three. It adds in here for um reasons that somebody can attend not physically but by video is if they're uh performance of active military duty as a service member is another reason board member
069could attend electronically. This one also has a question that the board has to answer. Um on this one the question is Does the board take a roll call vote on all action items? And uh the answer is yes. Is that current practice? As long as that's okay with everybody, that's what I'll mark on here. Okay. Mhm. Okay, the next one is an exhibit that is just being moved over. Actually, the next one doesn't the next 10 or so are just exhibits moving over. So, I'll go through them relatively quickly. Just stop me if you have any questions. So, we have the first one is 2:220 E1 and this is board treatment of closed meeting verbatim recordings and minutes. The next exhibit is 2:220 E2 motion to adjourn to closed meeting. 220 E3 closed meeting minutes
070And Dr. Thomas, is this >> [clears throat] >> Does the district have to use this form or will it just be is that just going to be a sample template? This is the form that we actually use now. Okay. So, it we would be using this form, yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay, 220 E4 This is open meeting minutes. 220E5, semi-annual review of closed meeting minutes. Which I think we're actually scheduled to do tomorrow. 220E7. This is uh exhibit access to closed meeting minutes and verbatim recordings. 2:220E8, Board of Education Records Maintenance Requirements and Frequently Asked Questions. Uh the next one is 2:220E9. Requirements for no physical presence of quorum and participation by audio or video during disaster declaration. Which we hope we don't have to use. Then we have 2:240E1. And this is press issue
071updates. Uh and the next one is 2:240E uh E2, Developing Local Policy. All right, the next one is actually a policy. So, it's 2:250, Access to District Public Records. There [snorts] are some changes on page one. These are primarily just minimal style changes. Uh instead of saying that was delegated, they just switch it to the word delegated. Um They do have some updates on here, which are great actually in terms of FOIA, uh including under the definition. It talks about the district's public records do not include junk mail. So, if something that is considered junk mail is FOIA'd, we do not have to send it. Um the other one is in requesting records, the fourth paragraph down, it does say email requests must include the entirety of the request within the body of the email
072and not as an attachment or hyperlink. So, this is because there are sometimes FOIAs that are created that are sent out that um have a hyperlink and the hyperlink is some kind of malware or other issue. So, whatever the request is actually has to be in the body of the email. If they don't put the full request in the body of the email, we are not obligated to click on random links. Mhm. Which I think is a good thing. That's also listed down at the bottom under number four. So, if somebody wants to FOIA your email, they can just look in the your inbox, but they can't go through your spam or junk mail? Uh that would be correct. Okay. Dr. Thomas, I think [clears throat] that um under Freedom of Information Officer on the
073very first first page of 2250 or page 101 if you're at home, is the responsibility for is repeated twice in that last sentence. Oh. Yes, it is. I will cross that out and we'll make that update. Thank you. You're good kids. Eagle eyes. I have nothing better to do. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Um on page two, there's a little bit more language. It's the carryover of number four there and then number five is also added. Uh Uh it the district has a reasonable belief that the request was not submitted by a a person. These are reasons that we can say no to a FOIA. Uh and the requestor fails to verify orally or in writing that they are a person within 30 days of the district's request for verification. So we do get FOIAs that
074look like they're not from an actual person or mailbox. Um there are bots that people send out FOIAs to thousands of districts across the country and we have the right to request that they provide their information and if they don't then we don't have to respond to the FOIA. We can deny it. Any more questions about that? Uh the next two are exhibits. Exhibit 3:40 E, checklist for the superintendent employment contract negotiation process. And then the next one is 4:130 E, free and reduced price food services meal charge notifications. The next one is a policy 4:165 awareness and prevention of child sexual abuse and grooming behaviors. There are a couple of uh changes on here. On page one they just removed the word grooming uh under number three you'll see that in the first paragraph.
075And on the next page they removed uh Number four previously said provide parents, guardians, and of students in any of grades K through eight with not less than five days written notice before commencing any class or course providing instruction in recognizing and avoiding sexual abuse as well as the opportunity to object in writing. Um so that is uh recommended to be taken out. We have things in place that we notify our parents before we do anything related to Aaron's Law and parents are allowed to decline to have their children participate in that. What is different between this and Aaron in the Aaron's Law notification? I don't know what the difference is, but as a district we would not do the Aaron's Law because that would also fall under topics that are I'm going to forget
076the word, but a controversial the controversial topics for us. So that is something that even though they are recommending taking that out here, that's something that doesn't change our practice whatsoever. So the district's going to continue to notify parents. They're maintaining that requirement. Right, the district will maintain requirement. We actually give parents much more than 5 days notice. We do this quite a bit ahead of time, several weeks typically. So it doesn't change our practice. This was just a change in the law, which is why it's being reflected here. Do you think well, I ISBE was talking about how they believe that this was excuse me that this was removed in error and that it's likely to be replaced put back like it's going to be remedied in some kind of government way that the
077state does it. Um Do you think I mean leave the language in if we're notifying parents already, if we're going to continue to notify parents or take it out cuz it's the law. I think we have the latitude to do either and honestly since we're doing it already, there's no harm in just leaving it in if the board would prefer that. I would like to know how the board feels about it. I just I as a parent, I want to know what's going on. I'm not necessarily going to say no, but you would I don't know if the district is going to I think it's probably best to continue to do it since it is a controversial or sense or sensitive subject matter. You're going to want to know if your kid comes home talking
078about stuff. Right. That that's what they're talking about and it's in a safe way and it's curriculum and they're not just hearing about it, you know, on the bus or something. That's how I'm kind of looking at it. Um also giving parents that option um to object. Yeah, I mean, truly we do anyway, so there's no harm in keeping it. I mean, that's the beauty of getting to tailor our policies that we can we can leave that in. It doesn't say we can't have it in. Right. It's just because of the way the law was changed it was taken out. I would just like to hear I don't know how the rest of the board feels about about it. No, I mean, I'll support leaving it in. Yeah. Why would they take out the word
079grooming when they have it in the title? I think just because grooming it could be any behavior. Grooming is one type of behavior, but any behavior that would lead to the outcome of it being grooming is I think what they were trying to get at. So, we'll put that in section seven, but we'll keep number four on page two. Is that okay? Yes. Okay. Uh the next one's an exhibit 5:20, resolution to prohibit sexual harassment. Again, no change to that one. The next one is uh 5:30. This is a policy hiring process and criteria. The uh only changes really, I'm not sure why they kept it in here, but they um the only changes really are on the legal references. The policy is unchanged. But the legal references that are changed, a couple of them
080are in the body of the policy, which is why I think they put it on our list as opposed to just the legal references at the end. Any questions about that one? The next one is 5:250, and I promise we're getting there. Um this one is leaves of absence. So on the this one on the first page, they in terms of who you could take a leave of absence for family bereavement, they added spouse. I'm kind of surprised that wasn't in there previously. On page three, there is a leave that has been added called family neonatal intensive care leave, which allows unpaid leave for a staff member whose child is a patient in a neo in a NICU, basically. And then on page four, we have another question. Um and this one is a pretty
081easy one. How many employees are employed at the district including part-time workers? And the answer is 50 or fewer or 51 or more, and we are definitely at the 51 or more. The next one is 5:330, sick days, uh vacation, holidays, and leaves. Uh this adds on page two and number five. This is related to the leave for a neonatal intensive care. So, that adds a number eight on the list on page two. The next one is 665, student social and emotional development. These are minor changes basically on page one, changing from Uh they literally like capitalized social emotional learning. And then uh made a little bit of a change on number two down there at the bottom. Again, it it doesn't change anything in what we're doing or how we're doing it. So, 6:145,
082migrant students. And uh they changed the word children to students. Um and that's really about it. >> I don't want to get controversial here, but I I've noticed that they are changing a lot of the language of just children over to student or students. >> Mhm. So, I just want to make a suggestion to the board for consideration that we also change in the first and last sentence of this policy children to students. On 6145, migrant student. So, the first sentence Yep. I got and I got the last one, too. So, first and last sentences will change. Just for consistency. That's fine. Thank you. Mhm. Thank you for that. Uh 6:170 title one programs. The vast majority of this, all it is doing is changing the word compact to plan. That's it. And it happens
083a whole bunch of times on both pages. So, it's no different. It's just instead of it being called a family and a parent and family compact, it's a parent and family plan. Under under district level parent and family engagement plan on this 6 there's the number three in parentheses and I would just say change that children um or was it number two? Oh, it's number two. Change Oh, it's It's already student. Under number two. Dang. Okay. My notes say children. Change children to student. Oh, you know where it is, Catherine? Down lower on number three on the last full paragraph. It'll uh yeah, school level parent family plan. Thank you. Do you think the rest of them say all say student except that one and I'm just thinking we should change it to as well.
084Okay, the next one is an exhibit. Uh this is 6:280-E. Um and this one came up during negotiations quite a bit and actually this is the class size and class size considerations for the board. And And is one we definitely wanted to move back into policy. And to clarify on the class size, that is um that is determined by the legislature, right? Or the Or No, these are just recommended ranges that our board has set. That our board. Okay. [clears throat] Thank you. But they're they're not um they're recommended, but not Not required. >> Not required. Okay, so that's a D26. Yes. >> Exit. Okay. Thank you. The next one is a policy 7:20 harassment of students prohibited. Uh minor language change across out the word school on page one. And on page two, we
085are changing the name at the top from Mr. Brian DeRue to Ms. Belinda Quinones. And that is one of the uh Title IX Yep. Next is 7:185 teen dating violence prohibited. And there's just on page one a very minor change. They cross out the word the term. I don't know why. Continuous improvement is usually what they call it. 7:220 bus conduct. Um this one the next several are actually have no change to the policy. This is only in here because it had not been reviewed for 5 years. So, ISBE periodically just reviews it to see if there's any updates. They're not recommending any updates. Um so we would just be reaffirming that this was fine. We actually accepted this because of our policy um process that we went through in January of 2025, but IASB
086has not updated it for 5 years. Dr. Thomas, I had a question about this after reading through it. Um it didn't really address, like other policies do, where a report about can be who Who would a student go and tell about um misconduct on the bus? Students can tell the driver, they can tell their teacher, they can tell the the administrators at the building, they can tell pretty much anybody. Okay. Is it the drivers then who fill out It depends on the incident. So if the driver is aware of the incident, drivers do fill out bus incident reports, yes. Um sometimes they're brought to uh the administration or to a teacher who brings it to administration. When that happens, then we actually go back and can review videotape from the bus to see the incident
087cuz bus drivers can't always see exactly every single thing that's happening in every seat, but there are cameras that allow us to do that. So I'm I'm curious. Should there just be some kind of sentence or something? I don't know if it's in the the student handbook instead of just where or a student can go or to report something something that's happening on the bus that might not even be happening to you, but you might have seen it or you might have heard it. And they other policies say go to a the principal, go to a teacher, go to the the complaint manager, or go to what whatever adult in the school you trust. This doesn't really necessarily say where any kind of reporting what direction that would go to. Yeah, it this would be
088covered under in the student handbooks. There's general information about reporting any kind of issue, whether it's on the bus or in school or even after school or things like that. That to me would be covered in the handbook cuz it's really more of a procedure as opposed to policy. Okay, I did not to be fair I didn't go and look in the handbook. Yeah. The next one is 7:230, misconduct by students with disabilities. Similarly, there's no change here. This is just part of a 5-year review cycle. Uh the next one is 7:280, communicable and chronic infectious disease. Same thing, part of a 5-year and there is no recommended change. The next one is 7:300, extracurricular activities. Minor changes on page one uh under number four uh they just change it by an insurance policy. They
089added the word insurance and then at the end under family insurance policy uh they took out the word concussion a little bit later. Uh under number six, they talk about the student athlete concussion and head injuries. So, I think they just removed concussion cuz it was repetitive. And then legal reference was updated. Okay, and the last one, 8:90, parent organizations and booster clubs. Again, minor update on page one. They changed uh where it said district to board and then they took out the word or a little further down. And that was it. So, we'll make the updates on the couple that we had a couple of changes either from press or that we changed with the students. I missed one. Oh, yeah. Can you go back? And I'm so sorry. 173, it's it's page 173
090of 80 if you're on here, but it's policy 7230 uh misconduct of students with disabilities. Under behavioral interventions, it's that last sentence, just changing children over to students. That would just be my suggestion again just for consistency. If everyone's okay with that. So noted. So, we'll make those changes with the students, uh the other change about keeping in that number four, and um otherwise, we will put all of those in section seven if that's okay. And thank you for bearing with me during all of those. And that brings us to the end of the meeting. May I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? So moved. Second. All in favor? Yes. Yes. Meeting is adjourned at 7:23.