001Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. >> Our for regular board meeting on February 17th, 2026, our treasurer's reports, our payment of bills, payment of bills for the Northern Kane County Regional Vocational System, the approval of our overnight trip for our state wrestling competition, the approval of our IHSA SA membership for the 2026-2027 school year, the approval of math team overnight trip, the approval of an overnight band festival Disney trip coming up here at the end of March, beginning of April of next year, sorry, and the personnel our personnel report. So, if I could have a motion and a second before the consent agenda. Second. And roll call. Yes. All right, next I need a motion and a second to discuss and approve the resolution for dismissal of part-time teachers. So moved. Second. And any discussion or questions? So,
002just so you're aware, this is this happens every year. Part-time teachers we non-renew, um and then many of them we end up hiring back uh if if they would like to come back. So, it's just this is a formality um that we do with [snorts] with all part-time teachers. And roll call, please. >> [clears throat] >> First. Yes. Uh next item is the resolution for dismissal of first, second, and third grade or third year teachers. A motion and a second required to discuss and approve the resolution for dismissal of first, second, third year teachers. So moved. Second. And questions or discussion? Roll call, please. >> [clears throat] >> Yes. Yes. All right, the next step is the approval of the Fox Valley Career Center Joint Agreement, and I need a motion and a second to
003discuss and approve the Fox Valley Career Center Joint Agreement for the 2026-2027 school year. So moved. Second. And questions or discussion? This again is an annual, just a continuation of a of a agreement that we have with Fox Valley Career Center. Yes. The next item is the DECA International Career Development Conference. A motion and a second required to discuss and approve the DECA International Career Development Conference. So moved. Second. Any discussion? So, this is very exciting. This is the first year that we had DECA here. Um the students had come forward at you may remember last spring uh uh Mr. Brooks and I met with them uh and we we want to see this take off, and they went to state, and we have five students that are actually going to go to the nationals
004or international career development conference in Atlanta. Um so, we're excited that this this is the first year, and five of our students were selected here, so it's very exciting. Very nice. Awesome. Uh roll call, please. Yes. And the next is our Mid-Valley Special Education Cooperative Classroom Use Agreement. A motion and a second um are required to discuss and approve the Mid-Valley Special Education Cooperative Classroom Use Agreement. So moved. >> [clears throat] >> Second. Any discussion or So, this is an annual um agreement that we that we update. This is really looking at the spaces. Right now, this it indicates spaces in there. This is most likely where those spaces would be, but at least it allows us to say that we will offer we will allow um Mid-Valley to have classrooms within our space, um
005whether it's these or other places, but at least we've got them they know that they have room for classes to be held here. And our students benefit from these classes. So, [clears throat] um So, along those lines, if it's determined as you go through enrollment for next year that you've got more space at another elementary building, something could move there. Is that It could. It's possible, right? I mean, that's we can always be looking at shifting. This is more of a kind of a placeholder to say that we will we will take three classrooms for um the new pathways. We will take three classrooms for new pathways at a middle school, ELS, etc. It's it's guaranteeing that we will take these classroom spaces that are here. Most school districts across close close involved with co-cooperatives,
006the cooperatives are always looking for space, and so they're just wanting a commitment that yes, you can provide the space. They're less concerned about necessarily the buildings, more concerned about that yes, we will provide classroom spaces. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Roll [clears throat] call, please. Yes. All right, next we're moving on to our presentation, first presentation. So, we have Nurse Joyce Turnipseed, who is here, who's our lead nurse uh in the district, and also teaches our CNA classes at the high school, which is new this year, which is totally amazing, and thank you to her for the work that she has done this year uh to really build that program. We talked last week, and we've talked at CAT and at DLT, and probably some other initials as well, um about first day exclusion
007a little bit. Joyce is here to really present [clears throat] about what that means and what we are looking to do um here in the district. Good evening. Thank you for the time. Um just presenting what we currently have and the recommendation to moving to first day exclusion. So, currently we follow the state of Illinois uh recommendation or the statute state code is October 15th. Um we are recommending to move to a first day exclusion. We health services and those supporting that. Um and the reason be it is we experienced a very rough year this year with exclusion being in October 15th and it has continued every year to be a little more difficult our exclusion numbers go up a little more. Um and so what that would do is shunt October 15th to the
008first day of school. And that would impact our early childhood students, kindergarten students, um sixth grade and ninth grade students cuz that is the grades that the physical is required. Um why is it important? It just really helps um meet the legal health requirements. We're protecting staff and students. Um getting those compliances early also, it really moves the manpower that health services spends from the first the first three days before school starts to October 15th to we can take all that time, focus it before school starts, and then we know that we are compliant or we're not compliant and these students are not allowed to start until they are compliant. The motivation with going to first day exclusion as well is in the beginning of the year, we're all excited, right? We want to be
009with our friends, we want to meet our teacher. Well, when we get to October, oh we don't mind a couple days off while uh mom or dad calls around to try to get something that they were informed of back in March, April. Important for us is to remove barriers. So, I have provided three local resources. I'm sure there are more out there, but um these are the ones we are in contact with. VNA especially is very um happy to work with us. Just spoke with him via email this morning. He is very willing Sunny at VNA is willing to block off times just for D301 students to come and get all their health care requirements on a specific day or a few days during the summer. Um so they only block appointments for D301 students.
010Um just touch base real quick. What does negative the negative impacts that October 15th does? It really is disruptive. We have a student that is going along and then October 15th we do need to exclude them. My experience this year is we had about 40 to 50 sitting in the library. Then we moved them to a conference room. And so it's very disruptive to the whole building. These students are missing out. We've moved them from one area to the other. Um and then a lot of social emotional. Parents were very unhappy of the separation, but it is school code. So, we have no choice. Um there are support there is supporting data out there 2025 that supports why first day exclusion works. And um they found that the one I'm most impressed with is 74%
011fewer exclusions over time reported by district. So, that is huge. These are our um neighboring school districts that already have employed first day exclusion and seems to be working very well. That first year will be rough, but we will get through it. And then once we get into that routine, it should be smooth sailing. Um the biggest recommendation for implementing this is as health services as a school district, we need to communicate the change out. Because a lot of what we hear in the health offices, they're like, "Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I didn't know that." We hear it a lot. So, but we know it's published. So, to really publish this, to push it out, will help. The more we do, the more successful we will be. That is all I have. Does
012anyone have questions? [clears throat] I know I went through this very fast, but my understanding is you um this isn't new to you and you've um hopefully had a chance to look through the PowerPoint or the notes. I know our staffing like cuz I know what all your staff is in in school during the summer, right? Correct. We uh health services follows 10 month. So, what is unique about this district is the RNs, those nurses who are not certified school nurses, they do get to start three days before certified staff. And that time in their building is used for exactly these purposes. So, myself and there's three other certified school nurses, we cannot come in until well, we can. We we just are volunteering hours. Um but we don't our schedule isn't set to go
013until the teachers and then the expectation of following their schedule for the day. So, there may be um a need to look at the the certified nurses in coming in the same time the RNs start. Because they're >> unusual in in most districts that nurses are starting even school certified school nurses three days, sometimes up to five days prior to staff coming in. So, it's it's kind of unique here that they actually start the same day as as all the teachers do um in the schedule. >> And I can tell you from my past experience with Belvidere, all nurses regardless of RN or certified got 15 um paperwork hours before their expected start date. And then in Rockford, the nurses got five days. Granted Rockford's 38,000 students. So, Yeah. that's the You got you kind
014of have to compare the days to the enrollment. So, if everyone was compliant, you don't see an issue with doing the paperwork to make sure everybody in a perfect world would start the first day. Correct. >> Okay. I do anticipate people to be out of compliance. However, >> [clears throat] >> when we as nurses, when we are spending from middle of August to October 15th chasing down paperwork, chasing down paperwork, it is tedious and we burn up so many manpower hours. Um I wear several unique hats. Um so, I am certifying CPR for our cardiac emergency response team. I do all the special education at Howard B. Thomas school. I've trained two new nurses this year on top of the CNA classes. So, to have that done before um instead of me coming in and
015supporting multiple buildings because just the compliance was so low this year and hearing a lot of stressful nurses. Um and noticing that it increased over the last This is my third year here. It would be very beneficial. And then that way nurses can just focus right on we get all the medications coming in the first week. We support the social workers as children have issues transitioning back into school. Typically the younger ones. Um but we see it in middle school. Some in high school. My only concern is those doing all of the month and a half of work in three days of tracking people down who don't get it to you guys. So, Well, if you think about it uh we average I can only really speak for HBT this year. Average about 40 to
016[clears throat] 50 office visits a day for um sick ill checks. That's not including they have 11 prescribed medication administrations and three diabetics. So, that is a lot of time focused there. Then like, I got I was able to process through three physicals in this little bit of time where that's all processed. We can just focus on what we need to do now that the students are in the buildings. Yes, yeah I understand that. So, any other questions? Do we know how many parents actually get their stuff in before the first day of school? >> There is a large chunk. We really do. We have Each building has a box. Um if the if the building is staffed over the summer with um office professionals, secretaries, that they could put it in. Um so, probably
017if I'm just guessing a percentage, I would probably have to say 60 to 65% come in before the first day. And with the unique I shouldn't say unique. The funny thing about it is it's October 15th. You call the night before, you know, little Sally is not going to be able to start school today if you do not come in. And if I use the name of someone's child, I I apologize. They turn in their physical October 15th and um it's dated June 30th. Like, why? Why? And so that's all that time and that was a lot of what we saw at PKMS. And do you have a child named Sally? No. Oh, okay. I was [laughter] like, "Oh boy, I picked the worst name, huh?" I have been late a [clears throat] time or
018two. >> [laughter] >> And you know, like I and I would tell parents, I'm like, "If you communicate with me, I am willing to work with you." And all the nurses are willing to work with you and not to blatantly break the rules, but let's uh you know, I I like saying, "I spoke with my boss. I have another three days." You know, like, "Okay, don't ask me who my boss is. I just said that right now. Don't tell my principal." And they're like I'm like I did you thought you huge huge favor. And they're really good. Majority of the time they're really good. But we it it's these Oh, I left it in the car. Oh my gosh, they they left the door open and it flew out. Like we've heard it all. We
019I mean I've been in school since '04. I have heard it all. >> [laughter] >> The dog ate it. How how early can someone get a physical and still be legit? Yes, they can get them right now. Physicals are good from So, let's say August 18th of 2026 is first day of school. I apologize, don't have it memorized yet. I'm still worried about this year. As long as that physical is dated August 19th of the 2025, we are good. So, it's within that year. And we don't worry about dental and we don't worry about vision exams as exclusion. We do want them, but school code says we cannot exclude. Um the most a school district can do is withhold the fourth quarter report card if we don't have them. I've never known a school district
020to do that. Well, I did bring up like doing a softer opening this year in DLT. Like maybe this year do September 15th. Um and then next year it would be the first day. But we'll wait for all those emails. I'd say, you know, oh, well, the board changed it to the first day. So. Yeah. It it Hopefully you communicate well. Yeah. Um it's better sometimes with things like this just to rip the band-aid off and get through that hard time. But then once we have changed the trajectory people do get on board very quickly. And for more and more districts to be going this way, it shows me that it is working. What's the delivery method? Is it still hard copies in hand or is it going to go through MyChart's electronically? Um we
021we can either take it and email, upload it. We the state says we cannot take photos, not accept photos. We need a PDF delivered to us or it could be hard paper in hand. My understanding is there might be some updates through registration allowances that might allow parents then to update it through a registration process, but please don't quote me. I I'm just >> [laughter] >> this what I've heard. So. That's true. So, but they would be able to They could attach it to their um registration with whatever system we're using now. Skyward, Q, W, whatever. Um and parents can attach that to that as well. And so, the nice thing about that is then that goes directly to the nurse office at the school that they're And then um then we will also be
022lined up with academic uh I'm sorry, athletics. Athletics does everything through their new It was our school, but I think it's different. What is it called? Arbiter Traiter or something. Arbiter So, they will not accept a hand-in. This is my understanding, what I've been told that it has to go through that program. And that if it's not uploaded, not reviewed, signed off by whoever on there and does it, then they cannot participate in sports. So. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good evening. You too. So, what we'd like to do is um that we think about that was presentation day in April we'll have on the agenda just to approve moving to a first day exclusion policy. You will in in April you'll be approving the uh the man the
023new policy manual. Thanks to uh Scott, Andy, and and a several others that are sitting in this room who worked with ISBE to do that. The policy in there will be the October 15th policy, but we would make an uh a second resolution stating that we would want to be moving that to uh first day exclusion. And then they would change that later on. If the board agrees to that. So, if you have any questions during in between now and again, please just let me know. And uh we'll move from there. All right. And now is Stephen Brooks about um four uh textbooks recommendations. So, today I'm going to talk about the uh Spanish for heritage speakers one course. That is a brand new course that's being offered for the first time this coming fall.
024So, that course allows our native speakers to have a different educational experience in the Spanish language versus sitting through kind of if you think generic Spanish 101, you know, the basic level which they have that skill set. So, that was approved uh I think roughly a year ago or so. Um and so, now we had to go back. We had uh figure out the textbook uh and we are we as in the teachers um because I don't select the textbooks. They go through a full textbook uh review. They've come up with Galleria as their selected choice. And this uh source also has a intensive online uh program that comes with it. And students will be able to interact uh via an e-version. Okay, we're going to only get classroom sets like our normal policy and
025practice of being having tactile ones in the classroom, not making the kids carry them all around. We'll We'll come with the subscription license. Kids have access to it. They'll also have the ability to um uh get what's called this super site access that has a a whole bunch of activities that are embedded within it. And so, we're super excited about this. And this is what for level one. [clears throat] In future years, of course, they'll be coming back for the level two, but this is specifically for our first year of heritage uh Spanish for heritage speakers one. The rough total for this cost for our first adoption, there are 42 students that have signed up for this course. That is two sections. So, we'll have one classroom set and we will have the 42 electronic
026licenses on top of the 30 textbooks. Comes to $5,566.21. Okay. And I will continue to stay updated on those numbers with the vendor. The second textbook is our high school AP American Government book. Hopefully I have these in order. Uh this is for our AP courses. And we have roughly, I think, 199 kids signed up next year for this. Uh three sets of uh textbooks for our teachers. Uh e uh e-books as well for this a six-year Oh, and both of these are for Okay. Sorry, I need to slow down. This book is only for one year. And I want to explain why. The Spanish for heritage speakers being it's the first year of the roll-out we have identified those 42 students. When we identified students for the next year it is not at a
027full section yet. And instead of irresponsibly signing a multi-year contract until we solidify the numbers for ongoing sections writing, I don't want to lock the district's money into overpaying because when you pick when you sign your contract, you're paying for those seats regardless. So, that is a one-year contract at 5,000. Okay? Whereas the American Government, this class we have the trend numbers of of showing these numbers stay pretty consistent. We are doing a six-year adoption to drop the cost because the more years that we're able to push it out they decrease the cost per seat over those years. So, this one comes up to uh 34,600 and uh 29 cent $29.43. Um it also is a recommended uh book for the AP course. And that is the direction we're going. Both textbook sets and e-learning
028online. The next book is the Spanish uh one course. So, as we changed over our uh foreign language world language uh requirement, meaning the state recommendation, we have students taking Spanish one, we have students taking German, we have students taking ASL. Um it was time to look for a resource for Spanish to support all the kids that are coming in. The Spanish one class uh we're going with Senderos. And that that is also going to come with the super site. It's made by the same company as uh Galleria. And that will also have an intense online uh material. And that comes up to $52,404.58. Uh it's published by Vista Higher Learning. I'm waiting for the textbook sample copy. They gave us access. We piloted this uh via electronic because that's where the reality of most
029[snorts] of it sits. Uh but we will be requesting uh four classroom sets. Two classroom sets at CMS. Two classroom sets at the high school. Uh because students do start Spanish one at the high school as well. And so, that would take care of what we need for the tactile hands-on textbooks. And all students will have the uh electronic version as well. And then lastly, psychology AP psych. As I'm losing track of my papers here. >> [snorts] >> AP psych. Uh this textbook is not available in an electronic version. But it was selected as the best resource for our students to be able to be successful in uh psych AP psychology. We are planning to purchase 150 textbooks. This is the same practice of what we're doing right now. Uh the difference here is uh
030the students would have to carry it in this situation that are signing up for that AP course and carry it with them when they're using it. And it is aligned to college boards course exam and the foundations of scientific practices for this course specifically. Anybody have any specific questions about any of the four textbooks? The costs again cuz I don't know I [clears throat] don't know if it's my version isn't but I thought you said 5,000 for heritage. This says 151 so I'm just wondering what the difference is. Yeah, so heritage speakers one so that's Spanish for heritage speakers one is 5,500 and $66.21. For the hard cover? For the one year license for 42 students to have the electronic version and us purchasing a classroom set of 30. So that both sections they have
031different periods have access to it in the class and also covers the professional development required and the teacher resources that the teacher resource materials that come with it. Okay, that's what I thought you That's all encompassed in the 5,000 561 dollars and 50 cents. The numbers are off. We're seeing completely different [snorts] numbers. Oh, okay. Okay. I apologize for that. Let me go through the numbers again then. Okay, so then that was for heritage. For your Spanish one course that is 52,404 dollars and 58 cents. That is for a six-year subscription for the seat licenses for all of them. I know your number probably is dramatically different. I was able to talk with the rep today. The problem is I tried I had to convey to them the fact of if we're going to Spanish
032one with them we reasonably have to have the expectation that Spanish two we're going to have to follow suit with this. They're aware of that now. They were able to dramatically you can see change the investment cost of what we would have to and part of the rationale that the teachers were given is they had to find textbooks in both our heritage one same company and again getting them on track of like you know we're buying your heritage version. We're also buying this for our Spanish one plus the likelihood that those 42 students are going to continue into heritage two then the likelihood that our Spanish one students are going to go into Spanish two really being bringing that point home to the salesperson and being like, you know, I I think there's something better
033you can do here. You can see that reflected in the numbers that I'm sharing with you verbally. I was able to take care of that this afternoon and so I hope we appreciate where we're going and the direction of that investment. Cuz I believe that that savings alone is going to assist us on next year's investment in that single course that has that higher number. The AP American Gov 34,629 dollars and 43 cents is the cost. That again is a six-year it has the electronic version three sets of classroom sets of 30 30 and 30 90 hard book covers. All of these come with the teacher resources and access and professional development and then the last one was the AP psychology and that is 120 copies of the textbook. There is not an online resource
034for that one again for 26,456 dollars and 85 cents. That does not come with professional development the same as an online platform where student the teachers get training on how to access the material what resources are available. It's a little bit different. Okay. Did that help? Yeah, thank you. Yeah, no no I I get the the error on the one side but I wasn't real happy with some of the numbers and then personally made some phone calls this afternoon. Um Keep making those calls. >> [laughter] >> Well, the other side is like the the teachers you know we've been in in conversations and the credit needs to be given to you know Aneta Bliss and and Juana and you know Jen Bustos and and all the different Spanish teachers that were involved with those selections
035our Tyler Clark and and the different teachers that were involved with psychology and government. They're the ones that are doing the research where we required them to still go through three different textbooks and review them side by side by unit by lesson and the pros and cons of each one. So this is not an easy task in any sense of the term of like we just asked teachers to put their input and voila we run with it. They're they're going through unit by unit for each thing as it aligns to our curriculum and how it works. So and that's both on the electronic side and not. There is a more premier online access. We're starting with this one to financially >> [clears throat] >> stable and then we're going to still investigate the additional bells
036and whistles that could help our students of course but right now this is the platform that we want to have an online resource with as many textbooks as possible not just on decreasing the weight but the quality of what support material can support all our kids especially in the world language area where all students now for us are going down that pathway of the two years. We don't want students struggling. Right? So that's where we're going. Any other questions? Thank you. These will be on display and later after we're over our 30 days I'll come back for the actual approval. All right, thank you. >> Thank you. So we bring up our architects to come present. I do want to just make a quick statement about this morning obviously we had some interesting weather today.
037I want to thank Dan Palawan his department and Pam Porto and her department for being here at 3:45 in the morning ensuring that things were ready to go today. Three for his people four five six for transportation a couple trucks got destroyed. Anyway, so there was just a lot that was going on here. As you know, we're always in communication with the surrounding districts and everything but thank you to to buildings and grounds and thank you for transportation and you know I thank you for the teachers for for getting here cuz there were a lot of districts that are closed sometimes it's challenging to get teachers here because their kids are home instead of doing stuff but it was a successful day and is now over and thank you. I'll just stay at the end.
038I just wanted to say a couple things quick so we're going to have presentations from Wold and STR both our district architects. Wold will be presenting on their facility assessment that they've been working on. We've had a couple meetings reviewing that plan that document. They're kind of working through that that'll feed in to what STR is doing for us for our master facility plan. The time frame that they shared in their presentation is kind of what we've been talking about for a while. This is going to kind of be a year-long process and it's going to kind of roll right into when Amy starts we can get feedback from her in this and we're not handing her a final product. We're letting her have some opportunity to review it and talk about it and be
039part of the process. I want to thank them. STR has spent a lot of time over the last two and a half weeks they've we've literally walked every square inch of every single building competed completed PK and CT this morning. So we did both of those today so we've been through every single building now. So now they can keep compiling their data. So I just want to thank both of them for all the hard work and the stuff that they've put into this process for us already. So turn it over to Matt. All right, I'm trying to get connected here. While that is pulling up I will just give you guys a a quick reminder of kind of what the process looked like. Our team was out here for the better part of four five
040months a couple nights a week coming out in the evenings after the students were It just keeps saying connecting. Basically we're focused on two things. One is the condition of the buildings as as they sit today and the other being items from your buildings that are starting to reach the end of their useful life. Most there we go. Most um most building components have roughly a 20 to 30 year life cycle. So even your buildings that are newer like Country Trails which was built in in '09 we're starting to hit come up on that 20 year mark so we're going to start to see some things popping up on this that are are going to be due to replace in the not so distant future. Like I said we walked the interior and exterior of
041all the buildings. The only thing we've got left to do from a building walk standpoint is the transportation building and the farmstead that we just talked about a couple weeks ago so we're going to get out there in the next couple weeks and and wrap up those last two buildings and wrap Wold into this as well. So far what we found we're about 770 different issues so each one of these line items are all organized by building whether it's exterior interior all of the different stuff. At some point this will be obviously available to the district as part of the the tool that you'll have moving forward where you can see that but what we're doing right now is we're going through there's a lot of repetition in this stuff right? We go through and
042you start to see a lot of the same things so we're consolidating a lot of those items. It's going to make it a little bit easier from a reporting standpoint and from a budgeting standpoint once we get to that point, um we're also starting to then quantify everything. So, uh a lot of the things that we're seeing are typical things for buildings that are are this vintage. It's things like tuckpointing of masonry walls, um sealant joints in walls and and floors that the sealant just starts to to dry out and it's got to be replaced on a regular basis, kind of that sort of stuff. Um nothing really too significant. For the most part, the buildings are in great shape. You got a couple of facilities that are a little more worse for wear than
043others. I don't think that's anything that's too shocking. Um so, it's really uh pretty standard stuff that you'd see on a maintenance plan. Um and what the the beauty of this tool is is that well, you're going to have two deliverables basically at the project. You're going to have a report that's going to be that that book that Dan refers to as his Bible, uh that is really the snapshot of where you are today. It'll have um all of the the data uh filled out, all of the priorities filled out, a budget for everything. Um it'll all be in there in a nice tabular format with some floor plans that show where each one of these issues are located within the buildings. Um but more importantly, I think the more useful thing is the spreadsheet.
044Uh this is going to be a sortable document that you can use to push and pull things from the year of implementation and change the priorities uh as things become, you know, break over time or or maybe you find something's in good shape and you can get a few more years out of it. Uh but it allows you to start aligning the work with your annual budget that you have from an O&M standpoint so that it become a useful tool for Dan and for Dan to to really figure out where they need to put their efforts in any given year. Um like I said, it's uh it's a work in progress right now. We've got most of the building walks done. Um our partners at IMEG and at Erickson are going to start working on
045the MEP and the civil assessments here in the next uh couple weeks. Um they're going to start to filter that information to us and we'll roll it into this spreadsheet and this tool as well so that we're going to have one comprehensive report that's going to cover all of the things in the district that need to be addressed over a any 10-year 10-year given period. So, with that, are there any questions on my end? Two companies you just named, what do they do? So, uh IMEG is your mechanical and electrical consultant. You guys hired them directly. Some same thing with Erickson, they're the civil uh engineering consultant you guys work with directly. All I'll all add is that um Matt presented um some of these high-level findings to our facilities committee last month. And um
046it's a really thorough document. I'm pretty happy with how this is shaking out and look forward to seeing you guys wrap it up. Great. Thank you. And this will be obviously a big part of what will feed into what our friends at STR get ready to talk about as well. Thank you. Hi. >> I'm Alan Arbus with STR and master planning. The The district has really commissioned the these three three legs of the stool. And first off, let me applaud the district because you'd be surprised how many times district really fixate on the shiny new object and not to do the assessment. Um in in recognizing that the only way to create a sustainable holistic uh plan is to really incorporate uh taking care of what you have. You have a huge commitment and a
047huge investment in that. So, it everything has to be treated equally. I think the other thing about all our data, it applies to World's data and STR's data, is that all of this is new data. It doesn't depend on any previous studies or anything like that. So, it's all current data and looking forward data. I think that's maybe one of the key key points about the whole operation here. Um building evaluation in terms of capacity and utilization. Uh some of your previous studies, it was a hypothetically evaluation of capacity, maybe by square foot. Our approach is significantly different where really our interviewing uh all the staff uh through through the principals to really see how the buildings are really being used, how they have changed recently, and kind of seeing understanding those obstacles that are
048really preventing you from doing things either the way you do it today or the way you want to do it tomorrow. And it's surprising how different that can sometimes be between the hypothetical and the practical. So, it it takes some legwork, but it really gives you a much better product. Why Why we do this thing is really once we get this this data compiled with the demographic data we'll talk about in a little bit, it really gives you the tools to do quality decision making. Now, ultimately, we'll be able to predict the future and plan for the future that way. And that's probably the most challenging thing of the whole whole operation. So, as far as capacity assessments go, um we're we're using your your contractual agreement with the teachers in order to determine the
049class sizes. And just understanding that elementary and middle schools, they're you're really limited to capacity based on your core classrooms. So, the special classrooms aren't used at the same time as your core classrooms are used. So, those are really the only capacity generating instructional spaces in the class in the school. Um high school is a little different because all of the instructional spaces contribute to capacity. There's no home room anymore, no teams. So, they use just about every space every instructional space at some point during the day. Um we look at that more as a utilization factor in order to determine that um uh capacity. Um and then also just uh really understand that the maximum capacity for a facility is really not the recommended capacity. So, you want to be able to have the
050ability to schedule and accommodate any of those bubble years or a program expansion or something like that that goes along. So, along those lines, we're using as a as our starting point the state guidelines for capacity and whether or not a facility is overcrowded, being used efficiently, or underused. So, you'll see those go on. As we create a core master facility plan team and and incorporate um input from the new superintendent and the other um administrators, we may want to suggest different targets based on your goals. But right now, this is where we're starting off. Um and then again, the space use um surveys, we really just want to understand how you're using each space so that we can better understand how the programs are distributed and if there's any potential reorganization opportunities and um
051and and and all of that information can go into our capacity calculations to make sure that we have enough spaces and um for the students. So, this is our first phase of data gathering. We have engaged a lot of stakeholders to this point. Um we listed the ones that were as of last Wednesday, but since then we've actually toured all of the facilities and met with all of the principals. Um Alan sat down with the athletics director, Michael Sitter. Uh Dan has been with me on all of the tours. Um and then we also gathered some information on enrollment um and and special ed information from the human resources department. Uh when we get closer into the when we get to the next phase, we're really wanting to look at that um curriculum level, the
052admin cabinet level. Um we'll still need to talk to food service and transportation and obviously engage the new superintendent, Amy, as well. Uh so, what what we've done is the first couple of three buildings that we've um visited, we were able to put together at least a um baseline capacity calculation chart. This is all previous data. So, you can even see the effect that the mobiles have had at Prairie View where we had some red red red years and then we put in the mobiles and so, that made things um more functional again. But this will set us up then when we get the information from the demographic study that will include the projected enrollment. Um right now, we didn't have the final numbers for the 25-26 year. So, right now, it just goes up
053to 24-25. And this is for Prairie View. And then we kind of analyze that in conjunction with the space utilization plan. So, for now, we've just kind of color-coded the instructional spaces so that we understand where the programs are shaking out across the building. Um we may want to add other categories as we start talking with curriculum and um and some of the other administrators, but this at least gives us a quick visual as to which rooms are the general and classrooms that are capacity generating and which rooms are on core or um special programs or special ed. And then we've we've been we've been able to do the same for Lily Lake. Um so again, that you know, that building had some over or um uh some growth issues. So, we're working through that.
054And we'll evaluate that against the demographic study and showing the different um programs across this facility as well. Including the mobiles. We're able to get the the space use plan kind of diagrammed for the high school, uh but we didn't get to that capacity plan just yet. So, recently, you commissioned the um demographic study through Dr. Casarda. Uh I acted as the intermediary. We're not related to them at all. They're a separate entity and they're one of the kind of the gold standards in terms of demographers. Uh World has had extensive experience with them. We certainly have. He's been a a major player in the market for a long time. Um I think that the world of demographic studies has really changed post-COVID. Everybody was really in pretty good shape before that, but there's really
055an art to really predicting the future here and and we feel he's among the best. So, that new data will be plugged into here, which will be incredibly valuable. >> [clears throat] >> I think one of the key things it'll do is it'll allow us the ability to align capacity with time. To be able to predict when that growth is coming, to create those thresholds for decision making. So, once again, we don't want to be surprised. We want We want to anticipate. Uh it's a very challenging thing to do, but I have confidence in his ability to generate those numbers. Currently, we've analyzed all the building sites. Um you know, there's certainly the obvious things of, you know, classrooms relating to capacity, but there's often many other things. It's kind of interesting to see how
056the pinch points really pop up in unexpected ways. Sometimes the cafeteria is the issue. Sometimes the gym's the issue. Parking, a classic example. Um and I think there's other issues too that relate to the site. Storm water, and to use uh an easy example, Lily Lake. You know, we know there's issues in terms of traffic flow and and pick up there, but we also know it's right on 47, which is a state road. And they have a right of way, and you can't build within that. So, really to put all that information in one place will really help determine what options are easy to achieve, which ones are more difficult to achieve, and which ones really aren't possible. So, just touching a little bit on some of the next steps, um you guys have already
057started um doing some of the things that we had asked of you well, and also for Matt's team to get the facility conditions assessment rolling and started. Um we're working on the master facility plan. You've engaged the demographer. Um I think there's some checklist items that he may have just sent to Alan today that the district needs to provide to him. Um but the next biggest thing that we're going to ask is that a a core team of um people be assembled to help guide the uh decision making on the master facility plan and some of the curriculum pieces and some of the new program pieces, and um maybe even consider um some community participation for that. Um and then uh some of our actions that are coming up, we've toured now all of the
058facilities. Um our team is putting together all of that data. It'll probably take us, you know, a little while to digest it all, and then we'd like to come back again and meet with the next level of administrators, the curriculum, the superintendents, anybody who's available to um to come meet with us, and I guess that that that point, you know, like Dan and we'll have to kind of work on who is part of that team and what is that core decision-making group. Um and then we'll go back and update some things and review it with you. I think that the demographer report had a 10 8 to 10 week duration time after they received the signed proposal, so that probably puts us around the end of May, beginning of June. So, at that point, when
059we get that data, we can really start to analyze all the data that we've gathered so far against um what's been projected. And that kind of sets us up with the ability to start exploring options, see where we are, and explore those options about what we need to do with the challenges that are discovered during that evaluation um in July-ish. So, the full team is on board at that point. Can we answer any questions? So, are you I saw in the Lily Lake's plan you're using the mobiles for your max capacity. At this point, we're just understanding that they are using those spaces in order to meet the they um core class needs. Um I think that if there is a goal for the district that that that would come from that administrative core team
060that that you want to eliminate mobiles, then we need to understand that, and then we can evaluate the spaces that are available, and then what we need to do for expansion. So, is this the only school you're doing that with? No. No, we have a we have them shown at I didn't see it on It's kind of It's kind of down It's kind of down in the corner. Oh, down there. Yeah, they have an odd year where they aren't having to um use those mobiles for general education. They have a health class in there right now because she was able to she had an empty room, and she was able to pull the other grades in. Um so, this year it's not used, but they're there. Um so, you know. To your point, it isn't
061unusual to do it two ways. Do it with mobiles and do it without, so you can really see what the implications of that are. Yeah. Yeah, I would think we definitely want to do it without. I mean, I didn't know that was up for discussion, But I I I totally endorse your thought. I think we just want to take that lead from the the group. >> Yeah. So, we can accommodate both. I would I would agree with you, Jim. We should definitely give them that lead. Yeah. Does that mean it's huge the numbers big time? I mean, jeez. Yeah. I think it'll be important just because if you're looking at and I understand you're looking at what is there available to us now for the data, but especially for the mobiles because they're such a
062hot topic, if we get some numbers what what it looks like without those, especially on our elementary school level, which is where they are, that would be I think huge at least for us to show the community A, if those mobiles weren't there, this is what our numbers are. Yeah, it would be compelling. Yes. Yeah, I I think that the problem is everybody gets used to mobiles, and that's something nobody wants to get used to, but to really recognize what the implications are, you have so many in so many locations, and some have been there for so long that I I I think it's really important to you know, put the hammer down and say no no more of that, and then what does that mean? Yeah, that's really ultimately why we're doing this, I
063think. Yeah. So, yeah. For our community, I think it would be like zero mobiles across the district is what we'd be looking for. That's great. So, we're looking forward to seeing what the what the data >> [clears throat] >> points us, and again, the opinion hasn't entered into anything at all. It is purely just data. So, to give you those tools to do the decision making. So, uh thank you very much. We really uh appreciate you turning over that uh demographic study proposal, so we're really able to get rolling and uh we're really excited to see what the data is going to be cuz it's you'll have ideas what it will be, but I guarantee it'll be different. And we really appreciate all the time the principals have devoted to us. I mean, they walked
064with us through every every building and every space, and um it was a huge help for us to understand how they're using the buildings and where they find challenges or opportunities within their own facilities. So. Thanks. It was interesting to see how their experience affected everything. You know, some are relatively new, so they're able to bring the examples, well, I used to do it this way, but I have to do it this way now. And just walking through that and and even Lily Lake being relatively new, that perspective is actually really helpful because when you're in a district in a building too long, you get used to it. They they make it work. Educators are just amazing about how they make things work. It doesn't mean that's the way it should be. And to try
065to cleanse them of that uh baggage to really move forward to what is really efficient and what will really give them flexibility and ability to accommodate new programs that it is really exciting. So, you could you could tell what once they really kind of got with the program, they they really bought into it big time. So. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Our next items are our committee reports. The first one up is the policy committee. Anybody want to give an update? I can take that one. So, um policy committee has met twice over the last um couple weeks now to review updates um um to our policy manual. Just as a little bit of a refresher, we are in the process of moving to IASB's um press plus
066service, which is basically their service that helps us keep up our board policy manual um up to date and in line with um current laws, regulations, um everything that um is part of the Illinois school code. So, um a lot of this um information or a lot of the policy manual is sort of mandated to us um by state law, um which is my understanding, but we do have some optionality. So, um staff um reviewed we uh Scott and I reviewed with um staff um the things that um are optional and which way um we wanted to go, and um really appreciate the work of everybody um on staff who is part of that process. Those were couple pretty long meetings, so. Scott, anything to add to that? I'm good. >> [laughter] >> Just a
067reminder, we use press currently for all [clears throat] of our policies. We were just not using the online service, and it was all manual process. So, after this is all adopted, all of this will then be um and it's it's a pay prescription pay per fee for this, but IASB will then host this. Um it'll allow the updating to go more smoothly. Um it will be easier to sort through and find them than they currently than they currently are. Uh and it will just make it much easier as I as I look to Angie, who will who will be doing all that uh in the future. Um it'll be a lot just a lot easier. All the updating and everything will be there. So, this was an an arduous [clears throat] onerous process, um but
068the next it should be much easier from here on out than for for all those. So, thank you to Scott and and Angie and to Dana and Matt and Sarah and Steven and Grady and Brian um for going through every one of the policies. We're almost done. Yeah. Our next committee is DLT. DLT was the shortest DLT meeting ever, probably. Um all we did was go over e-learning plans again, kind of talked about them. Kyle asked what the favorites were. Kaylin and Geneva seemed to be the top two. Amy chimed in said, "Well, Huntley has one, so I'm going to throw in my two cents when when she gets here." So, um it'll probably come to fruition possibly then. We'll see. Um but yeah, and then Kyle introduced Amy to everybody. Amy introduced herself, and
069we all talked for a while and finished early. Hung out at a couple of waters >> [laughter] >> waiting for Cat to start. All right, next up is Cat. Do you want to take it, or do you want me? You can go ahead. Okay. Uh we got some updates on safety and security. Um with that, um also talked about some technology updates. Um the elementary school students K through five are going to not We're looking at not letting them take their Chromebooks home anymore. We're going to keep them in the schools. They'll charge in the schools overnight. Um that way it kind of reduces the wear and tear that, you know, kids lugging them back and forth because they noticed that they weren't really using them for any school work at home. Um with that,
070they would be able to uh take them home um for like extended closures if needed to do school work on that or even um being able to kind of check them out sort of thing, and then we'd also kind of keep them in the schools over the summer as well. Um And those continue to be conversations that we're having with the staff on in regards to that. >> [clears throat] >> Kindergarten in particular is is currently is not They're They aren't taking them home. First, second, we're looking at some of those lower grades initially, but then even in the upper grades Well, my fifth grade daughter doesn't use them at all. So, additionally looking at uh ongoing conversations with teachers in regards to that. Right. Uh then we talked about the advanced learning program. Um
071Kim was very Kim Palace was very excited and feeling good about this program kind of rolling out. It's rolling with uh starting with the fourth graders, right? Yeah. Um and so kind of using um you could probably explain a little bit better than I can then, but we would be using teachers that are in the schools, one teacher, and they would pull out for math um and take the students that were lined in whatever teacher then, like if they were pulling X amount of students out, she'd have like say 11 left, those would be dispersed amongst the other fourth grade teachers. And so, we have somebody in each building being able to pull out for math and Looks a little different in each building based on the way the buildings are structured, but in in
072it's theoretic It's a It's a replacement program >> [snorts] >> with utilizing staff that's there. The most In most cases, the teacher they core home room teachers that are there already. Mhm. Uh then we talked about the heritage Spanish that Steven [clears throat] brought up with the books tonight, and that going on for students. We also talked about uh American Sign Language. We have one full class at CMS that is going to be starting next year, and we have three full classes at the high school, which I'm really excited about. Tried to get my son to do it, but he didn't want to do the American Sign Language, but I'm really looking forward to seeing how that program works out and how if that can carry along as another world language for our foreign language
073um requirements. But also in that, there was discussion that it would that we're looking at further is is being looking further into it that it's either going to be like a world language or CTE kind of certification on that. And And one of those would qualify for what the state is needs. And then again, we met Amy >> [laughter] >> for another round, and that was about it for that. And then I'm going to have Steven cuz Ryan and I neither one of us are at CCC, so Steven's going to just give a >> [laughter] >> 30-second pithy overview of CCC. So, today at CCC, we went over uh seven course proposals. One of them is a high school course proposal, AP Art History, and then we went over six possible proposals that could be
074implemented in sixth grade and seventh grade uh because of the choice that Kyle has mentioned a couple times at the board meetings where students will have the They're still just going to have four slots for that wheel rotation, but giving them the option to pick one of very high interest so that we could get them into that uh student choice. And that's going to be voted on very soon to get that approved because it impacts hiring and scheduling and and all of those concepts that are still stuff being worked out within our subject area committees and CCC, but uh that's kind of it in a nutshell without going into too much detail. So, but we're making good progress. Or the last part we talked about was the bylaws, and those we're hoping to have approved
075cuz we've been uh reviewing those. Thank you. Thank you. All right, next up is our information items, which is our FOIA reports, and the information is included in the board packet for that. And next is old business, and on here we have board discussion regarding board town halls and coffee discussions at the different schools. Okay. I know we had discussed once we um took care of the superintendent business and got that settled, we would start pushing towards this. When would be I think we already said that we want to do it, and everybody's willing to do it. So, when do we put this on paper to actually initiate it? I would suggest that you wait until your superintendent's on board. Um and I think as soon as that happens, in July, you could start having
076those things set up. I think it'll be helpful because I think you can then work on um finalizing a strategic plan, right? Getting You'll get that information from there, but it'll also [snorts] by that time you will also start having some more information about the facilities, and you're going to want to be sharing, talking, and gathering information about that kind of at the same time as as well. So, I would think that that would be from a from a standpoint, that'll be the most beneficial. You're going to get the most bang for your buck. And two things will happen, too. Number one, you'll get out there and get into the groups, but it'll get Amy out there as well. Um and people will get to know her and be able to interact um with you,
077you know, one or two of you at a time, right? And at these uh town halls. So, is this something that we would want to look at maybe for um obviously in the summer we're not going to have a whole lot of I wouldn't see the community. Yeah, you know your community best if, you know, people are around or not. So, if we're looking at this, then maybe after the school year gets started for the next school year. >> August, yeah. And give it maybe a a decent amount of time so that everybody gets acclimated and then start something like this. Does that Does that make the most sense? Yeah. Okay. And I would get them I mean, they're not official board meetings, right? So, you don't have to calendarize them. I wouldn't I would
078have them as Amy and a cabinet member maybe or and and then one or two of you um at those, and then, you know, rotating around at different sites. And certainly you've got the buildings. It's not like you have a lot of community centers and places like that, but if there are opportunities to um you know, if there are places that you know where people hang out uh to go, you know, those are It's not bad to do those, too. And even if it they're at local churches [clears throat] and different things like that, those are okay cuz sometimes those are some places where people might Hey, you know what? You're going to get a crowd of people who will show up there. Um if it's at the schools, then that's great, too, but know
079that sometimes people feel a little intimidated um coming in and talking to schools, so, you know, you all know best cuz you live here. Where are those places where people hang and where you're going to get um a good showing, a good good turnout. You don't need You don't need like 100 people. You don't want that necessarily, but getting a good 20, you know, 30 people is a nice engagement. That's all for me. All right. So, something that we'll discuss then in a few board meetings again, I'm guessing, just to set it all up. Okay. All right. Next, we're moving on to agenda items for our April meeting. Right now, we have down the policy manual adoption and the textbook adoptions that we heard about um tonight. Is there anything else? Ryan, I'm not sure
080if this is necessarily an agenda for item for the April meeting, but we just got an email today about a IASB workshop called Board Readiness for a Superintendent Transition. Um wondering if that's um something that might be of interest to us. I just looking at it right now, it just says contact the outreach director to learn more. The other thing that you I would encourage you to consider is IASB You're allowed to do a um a closed meeting with an IASB director. Do you probably have done them before, maybe? Um but they come here and it's basically uh you all get together, you talk about sort of procedures, policies, how you're going to work together, and some different things like that. And again, having a new superintendent here, um it and actually many new board
081members over the course of the year, right? That's a beneficial thing to to consider as well. They book up. There's two about two people that are available. They book up really, really quickly, so you just need to get a find a date that works um and get something on the calendar. And it's March, so you could probably still get a date in the summer if you could find a date that you could all work. Usually that's about 2 hours. Um 2 and 1/2 hours using 2 hours is good with that. And Jeff, I don't know how long you were morning if you remember how long you guys have taken. It's been about 2 to 3 hours probably. >> Yeah, maybe no more than 3. A little bit longer, yeah. Okay. Any other items? Oh, possible
082subject. I heard a rumor of high school starting later next year. So, if that's true, Mhm. then I'll put that on. It's not It It may be like a 3 or 5 minute start late, yeah. 6 to 7 to 8. Like item 5. We're still working on how it fits into the middle school schedule. Right. So, yeah. So, maybe discuss that. Just let us know because to me that's contractual in a way depending upon how it's structured. You know. I [clears throat] mean like where are all the kids going to go? What are they going to do? Unless they middle school also, so then the bussing would be whatever, later. Yeah, so it's aligned, right? We can talk about that in April. But just to to know that we're basically looking at the two schedules
083and aligning them so that it's similar to what it is now, right? So, that it's just There was some earlier conversations where the middle school was going to start like at 7:15. That doesn't exist anymore. So, really they're more aligned with the current contractual times. And in the same way that the students would be getting on or off the buses in a similar manner. So, that'd be a good topic for next month. >> So, talk about that. The information about the middle school, high school, and how that starts, yeah. Yeah, that'd be good. Perfect. I also have a whole list in my office of things that'll be on there that are not as exciting as all these things, but we'll get them on there, too. >> Plus cuz we brought these up. Oh, yeah. >>
084[laughter] >> All right. At this point, we're going to Well, I need a motion and a second required to adjourn open session and move to a closed session um for the following exceptions. I'll read those in [clears throat] a minute. So, can I get a motion and a second to a go into closed session? Do you want me to repeat those now you do it? I thought I'd do that after we get the motion and a second. You can do it too, I guess. Do it now or after? Motion and a second, got it now. You can go. >> [laughter] >> The appointment, employment, resignation, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body 5 ILCS 120-2c1, collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations
085concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees 5 ILCS 120-2c2. Roll call, please. Hurst? Yes. Marika? Yes. Matthis? Yes. Ward? Yes. Dugan? Yes. Gorman? Yes. Ward? I wasn't. Yes. And I don't believe we have any action items. We have a quorum.