001I call this regular board of education meeting to order on Monday, November 17th, 2025 at 6 PM. If we could all please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. If we can get a roll call, please. Mindy Hartman >> here. >> Darling >> here. >> Bridget Sandlin. >> Jason Jansik is absent. Julie Jetty >> here. >> Stacy Salt. Katherine Potter >> here. >> Okay. Next up we have community input. It looks like there was nobody that signed up today. So we'll move on to the next which is open form for the board. Uh >> we really want to do this now. [laughter] There
002were no foyer requests for this month. Uh, next up we have board member comment, Mrs. Hartman. >> Well, I'm really looking forward to this Veterans Day thing. I feel like I've seen a teaser twice. It's been great. Um, just happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope everyone has lovely conferences with your children's teachers. I hope everyone is happy, safe, gets some time with their family, and otherwise that's what I've got tonight. >> Thank you, Mrs. Jetty. Um, I really like when I'm paging through Facebook, I know that's a little maybe a little old school these days, but it's me and I see a, you know, a little blurb from each of the different schools of stuff our children have done in the classroom or projects. um you know years ago the Northwest Herald used to come
003out with a whole section on Saturday of the community they called it and all these pictures would be in there every week and stuff. We've you know I know newsprint is not nobody does it anymore but um it is nice to see those pictures of what's going on in the school. So, who who's ever doing that along with the Spanish uh language translation on the marquee uh I really it's really nice. It's a good touch for the school. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Potter. >> Thank you. Um, I I guess since I'm it's it's almost Thanksgiving, I do want to say um that I'm really grateful or and feeling really thankful to be able to serve our community and for them to um be giving our district the support that they do. Um, I
004do also want to say that I'm thankful for this uh superintendent team uh Dr. Thomas, Miss Rivera, Mr. Shepard um for stepping up and filling in. this has been just so good and you guys work so well together and I know that I'm thankful for the work that you've put in and just everything has been great Dr. promise you sit there and nobody knows policy like do [laughter] and to sit there and answer all my questions the way that you do and the patience that you show with me is something that I'm thankful um Miss Rivera I've recently I've been very thankful for seeing the different things that you're doing uh it you have got so many teams and committees that you're on and the informal walkthroughs, all of the different ways that that plugged
005in to all of the different goals of of the strategic plan. Um, top to bottom, it was like I was just checking off all of these different things. I was so impressed by that. And um, it's it's great. And Mr. Shepherd to um when I first got on this board um you're like the fourth finance officer that we've had since I've been on this board. And every single audit that the district has gone through, the annual audit since you've gotten here has gotten better to have I will go over that, but um I guess I'm thankful for that. And my opinion of you is unmodified as well. So again, thank you and um for everybody serving on this board and I'm sorry that this took so long, but there's just a lot to feel thankful
006for. Um and sometimes it's hard to remember that. So thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Sandlin. >> Oh, you made me follow her with that. Come on. Um, no. I reiterate her thank yous as well and just everyone have a great, happy, safe Thanksgiving. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Saul. >> Um, I just have one thing. I am so lucky that my work route takes me past Aldi every day. So, watching them dig piles is so exciting. And today there was a semi. So, that's my celebration every day, Monday through Friday. [laughter] It's awesome. >> Thank you. And again, I'll just reiterate with the board, I wishing all of our uh Kerry community a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy spending time with your loved ones. Um speaking from personal experience, you never know when they're not
007going to be around anymore. So, um cherish these times that you have together. Uh next up, we have the superintendent report. Dr. Thomas, I have just a couple quick things. Um, I want to just remind everybody we've been putting information out about Parent Square, which is our new mass communication uh platform that we're going to be using. Uh, it can be accessed a number of ways through um, uh, text, phone, email, uh, online and, uh, there's also an app which is actually very handy to use and very easy. It translates languages. It's 10 and some languages. Um, so while we often do all of our communications in both English and Spanish, this is can be for any parent in any language that they need. And we do have quite a few languages represented in our
008district. So I think that'll be really helpful. Um, we're going to be doing a test probably the week after next to send it a message, a test message to make sure it works. On the off chance that we have uh inclement weather that we need to um reach out to people or anything else, we'll have the ability to do that. And I do with that want to say a special thank you to three people who were instrumental in getting this um moving very quickly and that is Jessica Neil, Andy Fitz Simmons and Laura Dorfler did a lot of leg work getting this up and running. So thank you all. Um just a reminder there's conferences next week on the 24th and 25th, Monday and Tuesday um followed by Thanksgiving break. No school on Wednesday, Thursday,
009Friday. And I want to wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving. >> Thank you. Next up we have our teaching and learning report. Miss Rivera, >> just a friendly reminder that this Friday report cards go live. We'll be sending home a uh notification tomorrow uh just reminding parents how to access the digital report card. Um last week we had two celebrations. It was World Kindness Week um and right there in the middle of the week was World Kindness Day. Um, and I think it was like a year or two ago you had mentioned I think it was Three Oaks that had done the Iron Kind and you had said it would just be great if like we could do something district-wide everyone. So, here it is today. I'm going to highlight with you. There's a video
010uh that celebrates um our veterans and just I know that that Veterans Day is a core value to us here in Kerry 26 and so I like to highlight that um in addition to highlighting what the district did for putting the eye in kind. So, I'm going to start this now for like the fourth time if I can get it to start from the beginning. Okay, here we go. This is Veterans Day. back and you know this is I'm going to follow that one up with World Kindness Day here and Carrie 26 as well. Let's see if I get the volume. It is. I just want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. Thank you to all of our educators, teachers, administrators. Um, thank you to Jessica Neil who is the one that put together both
011of these videos for us and is out in the schools capturing these moments. So, I was about to say merry Christmas. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. >> Let's not rush it. All right. Next up, we have the committee of the whole reports. Um, basically everything that we're talking about tonight. We had the, uh, treasures report uh, briefing. The actual treasures report will be presented tonight. Um, we had a lot of policies that we reviewed as far as press um, which are going to be on here. Um, discuss the McDade IGA. had our tax levy presentation and uh the resolution authorizing the levy for special education purposes. [clears throat] Next up, we have the consent agenda. Included are those items that are routine in nature. Should any board member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda,
012the item will be discussed at the end of section 8. 7.1 are the open session minutes from October 27th, 2025, the regular board of education meeting. 7.2 to the open close session minutes from April 21st, June 23rd, and June 30th, and August 25th of 2025. Board of Education meetings. 7.3 are total bills and payroll for approval in the amount of 2,224,91861. 7.4 is the treasurer's report. 7.5 are the resignation dismissal retirements. 7.6 is employment. 7.7 are the destruction of closed meeting audio recordings. 7.8 are the disposal of assets. There were none. 7.9 is the state maintenance grant fiscal year 26. 7.10 is the acceptance of the fiscal year 25 audit. 7.11. Our policies 220, 250, 270, 410, 430, 480, 510, 590, 5100, 5200, 5280, 5300, 620, 640, 660, 6130, 6160, 6210, 6280, 770, 7150, 7180,
0137190, 7290, and 830. May I have a motion to approve the following 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7 7.8 7.9 7.10 10 and 7.11. >> So move >> second. >> Any discussion? >> Hearing none. If we take a vote, please. >> Darling, >> yes. >> Bridget Sandlin, >> yes. >> Julie Jetty, >> yes. >> Stacy Salt, >> yes. >> Katherine Potter, >> yes. >> Mindy Hartman, >> yes. [clears throat] >> That motion is approved. Next up, we have agenda items that are requiring discussion and board approval. First, we have the approval of the revised McCade IGA. Dr. Thomas. >> So, this uh updated IGA had some additions or changes, I would say. Um that primarily had to do with the attorney general's role in this. So, initially in the agreement, the attorney general
014was listed as a partner, but they clarified that really they would serve more in an advisory capacity. Um, as a remember, the McKade Alliance is for if there is a catastrophic event in any of the school districts or sedum within Mckenry County. Uh, that all of the other districts would provide support and help in whatever way they can, whatever way is requested, whether that be sending counselors, sending transportation, and things like that. The attorney general isn't really a partner because they don't have those types of services to send, but they would be on hand for consult and anything that we needed from them. So, they did ask for a couple of updates. So really those are what the updates are related to. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the revised MCAD
015IGA as presented? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. If we could take a vote, please. >> Bridget Sandlin, >> yes. >> Julie Jetty, >> yes. >> Stacy Salt, >> yes. >> Katherine Potter, >> yes. >> Mindy Hartman, >> yes. D. Darling. >> Yes, that motion is approved. Next up, we have the 2025 tax levy presentation and hearing. Mr. Shepard. >> Yes. So, there wasn't many changes made to the original presentation that was given uh couple weeks ago uh in October. Uh so, we're going to go through this uh fairly quickly and I'll highlight the changes from the uh original presentation. Uh so, again, this fits in with goal five, fiscal responsibility. Uh as we'll discuss in just a bit, the tax levy provides us with the resources for a large uh portion
016of the revenue that the school district takes in. Um our goal is always maintaining a balanced budget uh deliberately budgeting and recruiting and retaining exceptional staff uh and create a proactive capital improvement plan. Uh this part of it would address almost all of these pillars of this particular goal. Uh just a quick review on the levy calendar. Uh tonight we are going to be holding the hearing and approving the levy. Uh this really is the start of our fiscal year 27 budgeting season. Uh once we know what our revenues are going to be, we then uh start working on the expenditure side which will take us through probably the month of March or April. So what is the tax levy and how is it calculated? Just a a a brief review. The tax levy is
017what we are officially asking for. So, we are going to submit our request by the end of uh December. What we actually receive is called the tax extension. So, in the fall, you we will give our levy request, our levy. Uh and in the spring, the county will extend the taxes to the taxing body. That's what we receive. A district's levy is determined by the following factors. The prior year extension, the CPI, equalized assessed value of property, and any new property that's come on the books. So the key information that uh we need to cover is the prior year extension uh was a little over 27.5 million. We had originally asked for 27.7 million. Uh the 2024 CPI figure which our levy is based on is 2.9%. The EAV this is the the highlighted change
018from the previous presentation uh went up slightly from our original estimate that was based on this is based on new information that we received from both Lake and Mckenry County. Uh it went up slightly. Uh I believe the previous figure was 7.95%. This one is 8.13. Uh new construction remains at 1.6. Uh the actual new construction for this area is going to be less uh than the 1.6 million, but it's imperative that the district uh inflate that number to make sure we're capturing all new uh property that's coming on the tax roles. Uh and just a reminder, these figures do not include debt. Uh so this slide just shows you how all of this fits together uh to determine what the district can actually expect to receive from the tax levy. Uh the CPI figure
019is really the driving force here. Uh so again, you see how we take the prior year extension and multiply that by the CPI figure. Uh we then take that figure in step two and divide it by the EAV minus new property. That gives us a tax rate. And you can see the tax rate changed ever so slightly. It was at 2.88%. 88% exactly before and now it's at 2.8752%. To determine how much the district can expect, you take the EAV and multiply it by that rate and we can expect to receive a little over $28.3 million for the upcoming year. And again, this process repeats each other uh repeats each year uh with this process. Uh I like this slide because this shows the relationship between EAV change, CPI, and tax rate. And you'll notice
020the one constant on this chart is CPI. That's really the driving force. So if your CPI is higher, that means the district could uh receive more in tax revenue. If it's lower, the district won't receive quite as much. And hopefully we'll never have an experience where the CPI is negative uh because that could actually mean that our revenues could contract uh rather than expand. The tax rate and EAV are designed to mirror each other. So if the tax rate goes goes down, the EI EAV is going up. And if the tax rate is going up, it means EAV is going down. So we're going to hit a couple of statistical slides. Now for CPI, the historical average is actually a little over 2.5%. Uh and that's despite the uh some somewhat varied swings in CPI
021growth. Um we actually use 2.5% uh to 3% in our projections based on these averages. So historically EAV you could see 2025 we're at somewhat of a high point. 2014 that's when housing uh area property values were bottoming out from the 2008 crash. And as a result you'll see the inverse on the tax rate slide. You'll notice the tax rate was highest in 2014 when property values were lower. Uh and you can see how the tax rate has slowly come down as property values have gone up. So, why is the tax levy so important to our district? Uh, we know that we are primarily locally funded. Uh, local funding accounts for almost a little over 80% of our revenues and 70% of that comes directly from property tax resources. Uh, this uh source of income
022provides the resources needed to maintain and enhance our programs for students. Uh, and funds our education, operation, maintenance, and transportation, social security, and IMRF funds. These are known as our operating funds. As we've discussed prior, capital improvements are not part of this funding source. Uh that had to be funded separately. Uh which again we thank the community for their support of our previous referendum. So this is our estimated tax levy and these are the figures that the board will be approving tonight. Uh you can see a large portion of our property tax uh revenues go into the education fund. That's our largest fund. Um we did drop the education fund ask slightly uh from previous years meaning the amount of growth in the education fund is less than what's been seen in the past but
023that's because we needed to take some of those funds and move them towards operation and maintenance uh towards transportation and IMRF uh uh social security IMRF social security and and transportation were uh in deficit this past year. Those were planned deficits. uh but we need to make sure that we're funding those sources so that we're not drawing their fund balances down too low. So the estimated tax levy shapes out like this. Again, almost 80% of the revenues go to our education fund, which is the fund that has the the direct impact on our our students. Uh a little under over 9% goes to operation maintenance. Uh 4.6% to transportation and the rest goes to social security IMRF. So again just within the education fund this is how these uh the the expenditures shape out. Uh
024so of that 80% that really goes into the education fund uh these are the things that it's it's funding. Okay. Salaries and employee benefits account for almost 80% of uh the education fund and um and our budget in that regard. the rest goes towards uh curricular materials, supplies, uh and other things that our staff need in order to be successful in working with our students. So, our debt history uh you can see how it steadily went down. Uh and Miss Jetty, I tried to get uh it to separate out 2024 so that we could highlight the zero in there. It just it wasn't working for me. Um, so I'm just going to mention that the the district was debt-free uh and we were able to issue new bonds uh of which we'll pay off uh
025over the next several years uh to uh that that will allow us to continue to improve our facilities. But uh it is quite the accomplishment that the district was uh debtree uh for a very brief time in 2024. Um at the request of Miss Potter, this is our per pupil cost. Uh you can see that costs uh not surprisingly have gone up uh with with each passing year. Um 2025 it cost a little over $14,639 per student. Uh and that's total cost includes um operations, you know, the cost of of having electricity when broken out per student. So, our levy impact on the taxpayer uh again it's broken down by housing values and we've provided what our estimated uh yearly increase is uh and what that equates to uh per month. Um I I like
026to to look at the per month figures when I uh build my budgets. It's always nice to know what things are going up monthly so that I can um allocate accordingly. Uh again, it's important to note that this is just the D26 portion of property taxes. uh we do not control what the other taxing bodies um are asking for. So couple thoughts on the future. Um CPI is not anticipated to rise to the levels that we're seeing right after COVID. Um our interest rate and CPPRT revenue are going to continue to decline. Uh really our most reliable source is our property tax revenue. and and while it's unfortunate that the state of Illinois has structured their funding mechanisms this way uh but this is the the way that we fund our our schools um we
027cannot rely on say the CPPRT or interest rate uh revenue we know that those uh are not going to be sustainable there's also obviously revenue concerns at the federal level and also at the the state level uh new property potential for fund uh for the future is limited um the a large portion of new property potential is actually included in the tiff district of which the district won't see uh those gains uh for the foreseeable future. Uh new compensation packages are coming up uh with our our union group. Uh we must balance the need to remain competitive with fiscal responsibility. Uh and it is also important to note that further down the line the district will need to find new sources of revenue for capital projects after our bond funds are spent. uh we are
028going to have nice uh facilities and we need to make sure that we're putting in resources to maintain those facil facilities. That's going to require resources and again my plug uh for the countywide facilities sales tax. Um uh this would be a huge benefit to not only this district but other districts in the the county. So what do the next five years look like? You can see that in the foreseeable future over the next 2 or 3 years. Uh it things remain fairly fairly stable. Um it does project a slight decline the further out you go, but that's because there's a lot more uncertainty. Uh and we are uh we're assuming that the state is going to continue to um uh struggle with its financing. We're also building into this projection that federal resources may
029not be there. Of course, there's a lot of unknowns the further out you go. Um, I do like the uh the position the district is in in the short term. Uh, and we're always keeping an eye on what uh is lying ahead for the the long term. So, bottom line, 2025 estimated tax levy uh is 28.49 million. That's 3.44% over last year's extension. Uh for capped funds, the district is asking for an estimated $979537 over last year's extension. we're expecting to receive just about $850,000 uh instead because keep in mind we're asking more than what we know we're going to get. Uh two factors have yet to be determined to calculate the final levy. That's equalized assessed value and total new property. Those are determined in the spring. Uh we're very confident that the estimates
030we received from the county are correct and that we've inflated it enough to cover any uh future growth. So, our total lever request is 3.15% more than received the prior year. Uh, but in actuality, we expect to receive no more than 3% this upcoming year. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. >> I got two. The new projected development out by Walmart, um, is that in a tiff area? >> That is not in a tiff area. that is actually in D47's boundary area. >> Oh, okay. Guess that's good in a sense. Um, another thing is, um, our fund balances at what level would you say, okay, we've got enough fund balance that maybe you would cut back on your levy request? >> I would say we're not there yet.
031>> Okay. Um, I would just if if we could accurately project what's going to happen in the future, I would say that uh we could start looking at that in the next couple years. However, I don't know if we'll ever get to the point where we're accurately going to be able to say what's going to happen four or five years from now. Um, we just we just don't know when there's going to be an economic downturn. We don't know if there's if there's going to be an economic crash where CPI could actually go zero. um that there's just so many unknowns that uh that fund balance, yeah, it may seem high to some now, uh that fund balance is going to be crucial during those down economic times to maintaining the services that we have.
032So, um I'm always hesitant to uh to uh reduce our levy ask. With that said, uh if and again, I'm going to plug that uh countywide facility sales tax. Um there are avenues if that were to pass. Uh you can use those revenues for a couple purposes. Uh mostly you can use it for capital improvements or or your facilities, but you can also use those funds to abate uh towards debt. Uh and most a lot of the money that's raised through that sales tax is coming from people who live outside the county that are traveling through. And there are districts that say like in Boone County have provided tax relief through that mechanism of using whatever they take in from that source and giving it back to their taxpayer base. So there's other options that
033are out there um rather than uh asking for less on the tax levy which I'm I'm not ready to commit to at this time. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Not a question, more of a comment. um mostly because I've sat through this presentation enough times to to have it have a a sense of where it was going. And what is not in this presentation that used to be is the stairstep explanation. The reason why we ask for the full extension that's oh well that's what's missing. I'm getting some nods over here as as to is the reminder as to why because I think you've done a really good job educating the board as to why we don't want to skimp on the request but abating on the back end is actually more fiscally responsible and
034advantageous for the way we manage the board and manage future finances. So slide's not there. Do you want can you speak to that for just a minute? >> Sure. And and I will uh that's a good point and I will be sure to bring that slide back for next year's iteration of uh the the tax levy. Uh and it goes back to the slide where it shows how our tax levy is is formulated, right? Everything is based on the the prior year. Uh so if you ask for less in a particular year, uh you're actually setting yourself behind uh where you could be. You're you're going to set yourself up for getting less and less and less every year because it's compounding. Right now, without getting too much into the weeds, there is a way
035to go back and try to recapture. If if we asked for less one year, there are avenues for you to go back and try to recapture it later. But that's risky. That that's a plan with fire. And again, I would not advocate for that uh approach unless it was absolutely warranted. But yes, um I everything is built off the prior year. So again, if you ask for less, you're continually setting yourself up for less moving forward into the future. And it does compound into to uh real losses. Um and I will be making myself a note. You'll be seeing that slide come back next year. Hi Any other questions, comments? Thank you. >> All right. So, All right. So, we're up to the approval of the resolution to adopt the tax levy for the fiscal
036year 25. [clears throat] >> Um, go ahead. >> Uh, let me get out of here. So, the first item up, I believe, is the actual uh tax levy it itself. Um this is uh the resolution to approve uh those figures that we just talked about. Uh it's the actual form that uh is submitted to the county along with the resolution and all the signature pages that go along with it. Uh but it contains all the information that we just uh discussed in the hearing. >> Perfect. All right. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the resolution to adopt the tax levby fiscal year 2025 as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. If we could take a vote, please. >> Julie Jetty, >> yes. >> Stacy Salt, >> yes.
037>> Katherine Potter, >> yes. >> Mindy Hartman, >> yes. >> Darling, >> yes. >> Bridget Sandlin, >> yes. >> Okay, that motion is approved. Next up, we have the approval of resolution authorizing the levy for special education purposes for levy year 2025. Mr. effort. >> Again, the the state allows us to capture some um funds for special education purposes. The figure uh was just approved in the last item, but they also require us to uh pass a resolution um requesting those funds for special education. So, you've already approved the number in the previous item. You just need to take care of the resolutions and signature pages that go along with this. >> Okay, perfect. May I have a motion to approve the resolution authorizing levy for special education purposes for levy year 2025 as presented?
038>> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. If we could take a vote, please. >> Julie Jetty, >> yes. Stalt. >> Katherine Potter, >> yes. >> Mindy Hartman, >> yes. >> Darling, >> yes. >> Bridget Sandlin, >> yes. >> That motion is approved. Next up, we have the approval of policy 7340, student records. Dr. Thomas, >> thank you. So, we had a discussion at the committee of the whole about this particular policy. There was a change on the first page that changed the word um officers to professionals, and there was some concern about that uh regarding who has those records and who's maintaining those. And so, I did reach out to the attorney about that to get some clarification. And she said as uh we had talked about last week that it was
039to align uh the policy with the state law. Um but she said in general um it's really this is who in a school can maintain records and the only uh police or uh at all that are in schools are resource officers. So she said really whether you call it officers or professionals it the professionals aligns it with state law which is why she recommended that we do that which is what press recommended. However, she said functionally it doesn't really matter because the person who's doing it if they're in the schools is going to be a resource officer. Um, in district 26, we don't have any resource officers on staff. Um, so in our district, we don't even have anybody who would fill that role. So, we do consult with the resource officer at Ky Grove
040High School uh periodically. However, they don't maintain any of our records because they work for the high school. So our recommendation is to accept press and accept the change from officers to professionals. But as I said, the attorney said functionally it won't make a difference. So if the board prefers to stick with what it is is also fine. >> Okay. Uh may I have a motion to approve policy 7340 student records as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? I think it was Katherine. I'll take it. >> Hearing no discussion. If we could take a vote, please. >> Stacy Salt, >> yes. >> Katherine Potter, >> yes. >> Mindy Hartman, >> yes. >> Darling, >> yes. >> Bridget Sandlin, >> Julie Jenny, >> yes. >> Okay, that motion is approved. Uh, we have
041one topic for discussion and that is the school report card update. Miss Rivera. >> All right. I get to wrap up the uh board meeting with a celebration. That is the takeaway with today's uh presentation regarding our 2425 Illinois school report card. So, I'm going to start off with who we are here in Kerry 26. And this is a reflection of our demographics. As you will see on the Illinois report card, uh the trend is stayed the same comparatively from last year to this year. Um, you'll notice that when I get to the breakdown of uh, proficiency, I will use this chart to reflect our top five uh, demographics. Our strategic priorities are focus area. So everything that you're going to see in this presentation is in alignment with our strategic goals here in Carrie
04226. So understanding the Illinois report card report card. Let's start there. um our report card 75% is made up of academic indicators, 25% is made up of school quality and student success indicators. Essentially each of these indicators are weighted and then based on the point value in those weights that's how we get our overall uh designations. Here in carry 26 we fall under exemplary and commendable. Ryergate has uh moved back up to exemplary. Uh the only difference between the two categories is exemplary is you are performing in the uh top 10% of all schools um in the state of Illinois. That is the only difference. Um it is a celebration for both of them because what it means um is that there are no targeted student groups at or below uh the lowest performing 5%
043of schools. Most schools are going to fall under com commendable or even targeted support. We definitely want to stay in that commendable if not exemplary. So, job well done. So, understanding the updates to the Illinois state testing, there were some updates that were done and I'm going to try to capture those in a nutshell, but please feel free to ask questions if you have them. Um, as you know, when we look at AR, which is testing reading, math, and science, uh, they give you proficiency scores and they give you growth scores. proficiency this year with IR has shifted. That means we cannot compare the data from this year to previous years. It starts over fresh brand new. There's no comparison because the benchmarks have shifted. Now what stays the same is the growth data. You
044can compare still growth over time. This is what the performance levels were previously. When parents received their report home, uh the students who were uh third through fifth grade, whether it was I AR or ISA is the Illinois science assessment, they were broken into these different categories of does not meet, partially meets, approaches, approaches, meets, and ex uh exceeds. Notice there is not there's no continuity between these assessments. Then you get to the high school and they were taking the SAT and now they had different performance levels. It was all over the place. There was misalignment and the state basically was like we need to fix this and address this. So they did. It is now coherent from third grade all the way to 12th grade. It is in alignment now. So these are their
045new unified performance levels. What I'm going to talk about now though is when you're looking at those levels, there has to be a benchmark. Right? So from below proficient to approaching, that little white line in between, that's called a benchmark. from approaching to proficient, right in between, that's a benchmark. And then from proficient to above proficient, that little line in the middle, that's a benchmark. That's the next slide. So here we have the old benchmarks and then we have the new benchmarks. If you're looking for more information beyond what I'm going through right here, I have hyperl on the right side resources. I've hyperl both the benchmark uh the right size Illinois proficiency benchmark slides in addition to the webinar that'll go into much more in-depth detail um if that's what you're looking for. But
046essentially with the realignment of their benchmarks, what you're seeing right here with the old and the new that would be that line in between approaching and proficient. So the numbers here are basically telling you what does a student in third grade need to achieve in order to be identified as proficient. They would need to have achieved a 735 on ELA in third grade. That's what these numbers are reflecting. It used to be notice 750 across the board. They just said, "Hey, 750 and then everybody has to get that." What they recognized is when they looked at Illinois, we actually had the most restrictive benchmarks in comparison to all other states across the nation. we were at the very high. We literally were at the top of the high end of benchmarks. And then they were
047like, "Wait a minute, pause. We need to rebalance that to make it more attainable because we know that when we don't set attainable goals." Um, stay tuned. A couple slides, you'll see what happened. So here, what you see now, cut score is the benchmark. Cut score are those numbers of what you need in order to achieve that particular level performance level. So again, if you are in third grade and you are seeking to understand what would an above proficient be, they would have to have achieved at least a 780. The range for above proficient is 780 to 850. I'm just going right across on that chart. So that's how you read and interpret this. Again, if you're looking for additional benchmark cut scores, I linked them all on the right. You have ELA, math, and
048science available there. I only screenshot third through fifth. Um, but you have all of them right there at your fingertips. But >> can I just ask a question? Because if you are a third grader and you are proficient in ELA, does that mean you um have mastered a certain amount of the standards? So remember I is a are you on path for college and career readiness right it's not like have you mastered all it's are you on track and on >> okay >> on par with college and career readiness. So if a student is demonstrating proficiency then they are at that appropriate grade level for being on track for college and career readiness. To your point though not everybody goes to college right and that's okay. If they're performing below proficient, that doesn't mean like,
049oh, okay, let's raise the red flags. What it means is what's the MTSS wintime support to help bridge that gap. And that's where we start to look at data. It it just means that we've got gaps that we need to address. That doesn't mean that the next year they're not going to be on track for college and career readiness. This is just kind of like a a what do you call that? A thermometer, a thermometer check. Um, right. to help us understand are we ensuring it's an accountability system. Are we preparing our students to go to college if in fact that's what they're choosing to do? That may not be what they're choosing to do. Right. But it is an accountability system for us versus nothing at all. Yeah. >> Um and then we don't
050know where our kids are. >> Okay. >> So this is why they recalibrated the benchmarks, right? So what was happening is they were identifying students as not proficient. And so you here are some examples that they provided that's in the webinar that I linked in the previous slide. But here's a student Neighborville North High School was in seven AP classes, two industry certifications, basketball competitive uh marching band volunteer, but they were designated as not proficient in both English and uh English language arts and math. Their GPA was at a 3.9. Right? So there's another example right there. And what they said was, "Had these kids listened to what I was saying, they may not have gone on to college." But the reality is they did. The student from Neapville North High School graduated and w
051up going to the University of Missouri. The other student w up going to Wood Community, John Wood Community College. So they were noticing that there was a mislabeling on the students. And so that's where they said, "Wait, let's pump the brakes. If we have the most restrictive benchmarks, we need to recalibrate ourselves to make it more attainable. Now, we're going to address the elephant in the room. Some people say they just lowered the bar. It depends on how you look at it, right? It depends on it. You're right. If I can't do 100 sit-ups in 60 seconds, I'm going to lower the bar to make it attainable or else I'm going to feel defeated because I've never will be able to achieve that goal. And that's kind of the way we can choose which way
052we're looking at it, but it's about attainable goals here. Um, and it's not the World Series. It's a thermometer for helping us figure out um whether or not they're on the track for college and career readiness. So, let's get to our data now that I got the business part out of the way. Um, celebrating our our proficiency. We're going to start with proficiency. Basically, the thermostat, right? Did they get it? Are they there? still room for growth. So, based on old cut scores, because I knew you would appreciate knowing where we were in comparison to the old cut scores. So, you get two data points, old cut scores and then the new cut scores. Old cut scores, you'll see we were still on track uh with improvement, right? We we were at 46% last year
053on our old cut scores. We continued to add more students to that proficient range and made it up to 48%. with the new cut scores. Hey, we're at a 60% proficiency here in Carrie 26. So that means 60% of our student population are demonstrating that grade level proficiency. Um and we'll continue to support everyone else, right? This is this is a uh uh what do you call a marathon? A marathon, not a race. So here I did a breakdown of our top um demographics and basically the takeaway what I'm seeing from here is this supports the need for us to really hone in on differentiation. Right? We can no longer just teach to the middle of the road and just here this is how we're teaching oneizefits all. We can't do that. we have different
054demographics and even within any demographic um students are going to learn differently. And so really what this helps me understand is more professional learning surrounding differentiation and how to meet the varying learning needs of our students. So now we're going to go to math. Again, we're on that upwards trend. We are at 30% proficient last year. We're at 32% this year with the new cut scores. Hey, went up to 43% proficient here in Kerry 26. We are headed in the right direction, right? This is what we want to see. Our teachers, shout out to all of them, have been working tirelessly with a lot of what we've been doing here in Kerry 26. And I think, as you know, two years ago, we started heavy with literacy and it's reflecting in our scores. Now, we're
055layering on the math. So, hopefully we'll see that coming up uh the following year. Uh again, demographics again shows me the same thing as before, the need for differentiation. Uh what you're seeing here, eighth graders passing algebra 1. Um they say, you know, algebra 1 is a gateway course because students typically need to pass algebra 1 before they can move on to higher level math or science courses. So what this reflects is we've got 42.6% of our students uh populations who are passing algebra. Now, we checked. It's not the students are failing algebra. It's 42.6% of our student population have taken algebra in past because our students have passed, right? But it that leads us to see could we get more students gaining access into algebra by 8th grade. That could be a goal for
056us, right? That's what this tells me is how do we continue to tighten our math instruction so that more students are gaining access to algebra by 8th grade because then that helps support the track that they go into in high school where if they don't get to algebra by 8th grade then they're doing that in high school which then it just means that they they aren't going to see some of the other math courses. So the goal is to get more students into algebra if it's appropriate for them in their learning. I just wanted to be clear that this does not mean that the other half of the percent is our kids are failing. That just means they didn't have they weren't in that class. So, science, ELA, and math, those benchmarks came down a
057little bit, right? For science, what they recognized the benchmark was too low. So, they actually raised the benchmark for science. So, it went the opposite direction. So, that's why you see uh a dip in our score. So, we were at 67% proficient last year based on the old cut scores and based on the new cut scores, we're at 54%. Because they raised that benchmark bar in science. So, that's that's what that means. Here's our M uh Mckenry County comparison. So, again, celebration. Hey, um in ELA, we are ranking, I want to say, fifth um in comparison to all the other districts in Mckenry County. I did extract high school out of there because they don't take I AR so it wouldn't be comparable. So these are strictly comparing schools that take I A. If there's
058an asterk next to it, it's because they're a unit district, K12. Um and then in math again, we are I want to say six 2 4 six. Yep. Uh rank six. All right. So now I'm going to pivot over to growth. Student growth. Remember proficiency is just did they meet the benchmark or not? growth now is assessing uh are they all students grow that's neither here nor there all students grow what this is assessing it's a percentile on average how much are our students growing in comparison to other students in Illinois who start at the same benchmark as they did the year before right and so here on average students in carry 26 they grew more than 52.6% 6% of their academically similar peers from across Illinois. That's great. Average Illinois will say average is
05940 to 60. And so what this means is our students are maintaining their year-to-year growth, right? Where we want to look at this and this is where I Ready comes in. Students who are performing below grade level, we actually want to see a year and a half worth of growth, right? To help close that gap. Um but all in all, we are we are doing well. And then math, same thing. On average, students in Kerry 26 grew more than 43, sorry, 53.2% of their academically similar uh peers from across Illinois. So again, we are in that average range of student growth. So I'm going to shift over to the last parts of our school designations, which is chronic absenteeism and then the climate survey. Uh another celebration our numbers for uh students who are chronically
060absent which as defined by Illinois is the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of school days per year. Um and that's with or without a valid excuse which means 18 days on average for 180 uh school days. >> So even if you have a >> throat one of those days >> you got it. Yes ma'am. Um but we are we've noticed that we have um decreased our numbers uh of students who are showing up as chronic ab chronically absent. Um and then even in compared to the state, you know, we're we're improving. We're doing better. Obviously, there's still 13.4% of students that we want to uh not ignore, right? Um but those are case by case scenarios that we have to look at now individually uh for those reasons. if a student's out
061because they had strep and then got hit with COVID or then got hit with the flu like okay like we can't be hard on those families right so um we handle those on a case by case scenario five essential survey is uh actually up in comparison to last year last year the top two effective leaders and collaborative teachers we were actually in the weak area last year this year across the board it's at neutral so I I mean take it as a celebration right because we weren't you know there's glass is always half full um but in delving into the actual results I will say the fact that we have been working on um collective efficacy fits perfectly on what some of our lowest um categories in the climate survey is. Uh now just to
062be clear the climate survey in the five um in our report card it is just based not on how the students report or what they select. It's based on the percentage of students who participated in the climate survey and we did meet the the the minimum quota for that. So we got all our points for five essential survey. All right. So our mission is basically to continue to carry forward business as usual. what we have been doing is working and so we're going to stay the course. The um strategic plan that has been set has been the road map and the guide. Uh the instructional framework that came from that work has also been a road map and a guide. And so truly you'll see the goals whether it's instructional or whether professional, we're continuing
063on the same track that we have been on because we are seeing the results that we you know set out to see uh two years ago when we did the strategic plan. Um, every learner every day, align systems and shared growth. That's been our goal for the past couple years here. Um, I will take any questions. But first, please know there are additional resource links at the very end. Uh, just different tools and things that I used with this presentation. So, if anybody is wanting to delve deeper into understanding the Illinois report card, it is right there for you. So, with that, any questions? I don't have any questions. I just think it's so exciting. I I mean, I don't recall a couple years ago anybody being so excited about getting this back and like
064now we're two years in a row of such big growth and that's really all that matters is we're going up. Yes. >> Um we're getting the results of server. We're not going down. We're going higher than other districts around us. So, it's just really exciting. You guys are doing so amazing. >> I'm going to do a little shout out and just say like again kudos to our teachers, to our students, to our admin team, to all of you, right, for your work with the strategic plan. I have had uh districts reach out and and asking questions of um what are you doing over there that's working because we saw your AR scores like what are you doing? So I have been able to uh engage in some of those conversations which then I walk out
065of the office and come and celebrate with the team because I'm like it's all your hard work. Uh so thank you to truly everybody across Kerry 26 for their hard work. It's a big celebration >> and your leadership. I say thank you for celebrating all of our district and what you do. This is phenomenal. I'm stuck on the chronic absenteeism slide because this looks absurd. I know that's not anything anyone in this room said, but it's if you go back and look at 2020 when there were only 3.3% because everyone's staying home, like this becomes a little bit absurd. So, I just needed to vent that out. Otherwise, it's phenomenal to see some growth. It I think it'll be more exciting next year when we're actually comparing Apple a little bit more apples to apples
066and have a cohort to compare rather than the shift and the shift and the shift. But up is up and that's great. I'm most impressed with the fact that we threw a lot at our staff this year, a lot at our teachers to change literally everything that they were doing and we still came out like it's it's obvious that it's working. What you've got in place is working. So amazing. Thank you. >> Hearing anything else? I'm going to say that this is something to celebrate and I'm going to start with that and very congratulations to everybody everybody and the students. I know that we were so upset about the chronic absenteeism when it was like fully explained to us and we're how can this be? That's 25% of this. So, it's actually a shame that
067they changed the um I'm sorry, indicators, right? But they didn't change that chronic absenteeism number, you know. Um that's that's a shame I feel. Um but I am really excited about um moving forward and seeing how this is going to work because that I ready is we haven't seen the IR taken with that with the differentiation and um I anticipate that that's going to prepare our students more uh and and that we should only continue to improve as as a district in every kind of way. Um, what was I thinking? It had to do with I believe I Ready, but it it slipped my mind. So, I'm really sorry. Um, it'll come to me. I'll email you. [laughter] I'm sure of it. Well, I would just like to say I can't speak for everybody else
068on the board, but um as we go into where we're starting to uh see um candidates for the new superintendent, you know, one of my goals is that that this new person will jump on the bandwagon with this and keep it moving forward, but not re want to reinvent the wheel. So, I mean that's my personal goal in selecting a uh a new superintendent. >> Any other comments? >> I remembered. It's super petty, >> but I'm I'm here. Um there was at the time the IR uh was being taken in the schools some of our students have keyboard and keyboards um and some don't and could were you able to see any kind of um I guess the question is is with to with the kids who had access to the keyboards and the kids
069who did not was there any kind of score difference that you saw um that maybe the the keyboard helped them or it did not help them in the essay uh answering short answer sections of that exam. >> Yeah, know it's a great question. um keyboards once that was part of the tech plan, right? And we got each school a batch of keyboards. Um what we have communicated to our admin and our teachers is if the students they schedule their testing so the students have access to the keyboards. So if a student typically uses the keyboard in their instructional practice, then they should have access to that during the testing time. I've walked around our classrooms. Not everybody wants to use a keyboard. So by no means during AR am I going to force you to
070use a keyboard, right? So students who are more comfortable with using their iPad in that capacity because that's what works for them, we allow them to test in that capacity. students that prefer the keyboard, they do have access to the keyboard. So, no, we haven't seen the difference between um using a keyboard or not using a keyboard. Um we give the students the autonomy to make that choice and that decision. We don't want to force something upon them new during the testing window. Uh just like we don't do that with accommodations either, right? If a student has specific accommodations throughout the school year, those are the accommodations they get on AR. we are not going to layer on a brand new accommodation on I specifically for I because they would not be familiar with the
071use of that. So um to answer your question I don't have the specifics of comparing students to I would have to go and figure out which student used a keyboard versus didn't use a physical keyboard but they have the access to if that is their preference um instruction. I guess if if you were ever to be curious cuz I'm not asking you to go back. I was just seeing if any kind of like numbers popped out to you is fifth grade then was I think it would they were the first class to have the keyboards >> attached to their >> attached to the iPad, right? >> Perhaps. >> But then we had the class set in the libraries that plug in. uh it was part of the tech plan and then the students they have
072the keyboards there as well. So even though the other students didn't have a keyboard attached to their iPads if they wanted to use it they had the opportunity to >> that's good but yeah but I don't have those numbers. That sounds like a really good dissertation at some point. >> Yeah, don't worry about it. >> I was just saying if anything popped out about it because it w it had come up that >> Yeah, it's a good question. that window comes up and then the keyboard comes up and all that room. So, I was just wondering. Thank you very much. >> Okay, there's no other comments that presentation. Uh, may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? Yes. >> Yes. >> This meeting adjourns at
0737:03 p.m. Have a good evening, everyone.