001here. >> Here. >> And I'm going to start with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Our next item is the approval of the agenda. I need a motion and a second for the approval. >> So moved. >> Second. >> And all in favor? I I >> motion carried. Our next is our open forum. First, thank you everybody for attending. I think this is the most students we've seen in a really long time. So, thank you for coming out and um attending the meeting and visiting us tonight. It's really nice to see uh this big of a of an audience. So, thank you and welcome. Moving into public comments.
002Before we do, I'm just going to read something real quickly for everybody. It is protocol of this board to use the public participation portion of our meetings to hear from the public. Comments are limited to three minutes per speaker. We we will not engage in discussion, [clears throat] excuse me, or respond to questions at this time. We focus on listening out of respect for our community. However, as appropriate and necessary, we'll use the district's regular communication channels to share any information that may address questions or concerns raised tonight. Um, so for our first public speaker, Breer Lane, please. Hello 301 board and Dr. Shoemaker. Um, my name is Becker Lang. I'm an incoming sophomore at CHS. I'm here to ask for reconsideration of the policy regarding band students getting a PE exemption in second semester.
003I'd like to explain why this will negatively affect me and all my friends. With this new policy, I have to drop a class just to take PE. Since my freshman year, I've not had an AA. I take all the core subjects, including honors and AP classes. I take Spanish. I take band and I take jazz lab. With this policy change, I'm going to have to drop one of those classes to take PE. This is a requirement that has not been in place for 21 years, and that's longer than I've been alive. I live an active lifestyle. I play golf. I do tennis. I do bowling. I ski whenever I can. I often play kickball with my friends when it's warm outside as well. Like, can we please find a compromise or an alternative to this
004so I don't have to drop a class I find fun, rigorous, and challenging? Please reconsider your decision. Would the principles and superintendents offering a godfathering in program, a zero hour so I can do an early PE, an external way to do PE, anything like that, like a pet band waiver. This affects all the kids like me. Kids who love the arts and music. Kids who want to take a rigorous schedule with college aspirations and future job aspirations. I'm not trying to avoid PE, but I would like to take courses that are only available to me for a limited time in my high school career. Thank you for listening and please consider reversing your decision. >> Thank you. Next up, we have Joey. >> Good evening. I'm here on behalf of the many concerned parents of
005marching band students. For the past 20 years, our students have received a fullear PE waiver for their participation in marching band. Some parents started to hear a rumor that this practice was ending and our students would only be receiving one semester PE waiver starting next year. So we reached out to CHS administration. The rumor was true. Someone had decided to make this change without letting the parents know, without speaking to the music department, and without any plan for how things would work for our kids going forward. This was all done after our students had already selected their courses for the next school year. No notice, no plan. When administration was contacted, we were told our kids would have to use their AA period for PE. The problem is is that many of our most many
006if not most of our band students do not have an AA period. Their schedules are full of graduation requirements, college adi college admission requirements, and music ensembles. Many of you may not know that there is very little opportunity for participation in a music ensemble after school. Most of the musical groups at CHS are year-long classes, making it all the more difficult to fit a semesterl long PE class into their schedules. Our kids will find themselves in the difficult position of having to choose between academic courses they need and the music courses they want. We the parents have questions. Why in the absence of any new law or rule is this change being fast-tracked right now? Why after classes have been selected? [clears throat] Why without any communication or plan for students and parents alike? And
007why without any input from the music department? We deserve answers to these questions and we have been unable to get them. Our musical kids stand to lose a great deal if this if this change takes place. This day will lose their community, their people, the place they feel most like themselves. They will also lose their ability to continue learning and growing as musicians. CHS will lose a vibrant part of its community. And if this ch if this change is pushed through, please consider doing all you can to support our kids and stop this change from becoming a reality. speak to students and and parents to understand the impact that this will have on them and let's work together to find a solution that benefits everyone. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Our
008next one is Gabriel. Ladies and gentlemen of District 301 Board of Education, the teachers of Central High School, the parents and the students, I address this issue of PA waiverss for those in band and the fine arts community. I asked this one question. Why? Why now? Why you implementing this new policy? Why you decided to keep this unknown until now? Why is it that the parents and students never got word of this months ago when it was time to actually decide the route for next year and to decide the plans of these people's lives and careers? Why is it that students now have to undergo more stress re-evaluating their own graduation requirements? Requirements in which we've already spent numerous times pondering and dwelling for only to be told we have to change it. Why is
009it that it seems like an entire board, a board elected and built up for the students and for the parents has already agreed to change and rewrite policies with absolute no regards for the people say? Why is it that you all have decided to engage this into effect without consolidating anyone else who is impacted but greatly from it? There is no voting. There's no warning. When I first had this chance to decide my own future, my life, I stepped into the high school with the expectations and plan for PE waiverss to be in effect throughout all my high school career. A plan where classes would be made available. A plan which contained the experience from school I've always wanted. And now you're telling all of us that it might be in jeopardy because you decided
010to keep it a secret. There is very little time you give us in these four years. And in these four years, we the students are able to experience the things we might not ever get to experience. Allow me to ask another question. When when are you ever going to act in a play again? When are you ever going to play in a jazz band? When are you ever going to play 15minute concert pieces with amazing musicians in your entire lifetime? This era of our lives is one of the few times we can achieve that. And yet another thing, many people I know still carry packed schedules looming over them day by day, many of which are in the fine arts community. One is in 10 different bands. One takes corral, lab, jazz band, wind ensemble,
011and percussion. I myself have to worry about leading my band with practices, gigs, and finding dates for them across the busy times. These people, some of which have jobs piled on with the busy times, have so much to worry about, let alone college. It brings me back to you where I asked yet another question. When I first started high school, walking into the building, I was greeted with counselors, teachers, everybody ready to prepare us for the future. I remember one thing for most. It was your teachers and your counselors and you, the board, who kept telling us to be responsible for ourselves. And yet, why does it seem like you never felt responsible to tell us? All the classes before us never got this policy. The seniors from last year had their two semesters. The
012alumni from seven years ago never had their opportunities taken away. So why us? Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> And I apologize if I mispronounce this. I think it's J. Hi, my name is J. Pearl and I will be an incoming junior here at Central High School. I personally benefit from the PE waiver because I am able to have a more flexible schedule to take classes I am truly interested in. I want to major in musical theater and for me personally 3.5 wellness credits will mean nothing on my college resume. If I got my waiver taken away, I want to be able to take another music class or theater class. It's not just me this removal is affecting. It is affecting every single student in our music and performing arts department, especially
013upcoming underassmen. Students in our music and performing arts department don't want to take an PE class not to escape exercise, but to pursue more artistic classes that fill more than just our physical body. We want to take another music class, theater, tech, uh, or tech theater. Schools, not just ours, seem to put more focus on sports. I don't mean that I hate sports. I do enjoy sports like marching season and pep band, which is football and basketball. Um, and I do think that the performing arts are getting pushed away and there should be more spotlight put on it. as many see it as not just a performance but also a sound community. Our school and many schools have hundreds of students with so much talent. Like look at our band. Nearly 200 students that shine
014so bright with talent. And our theater department has sent many people to the Jimmy Awards in Broadway Chicago. The arts are just as important as physical education as it allows creativity, hope, and overall aspirations for many. With band and theater, people are getting in a a lot of physical activity. In band, we carry heavy instruments for hours on end. For example, the Sycamore pumpkin parade. We wor we marched for almost two miles with most of us carrying instruments that weigh between 20 to 40 lbs. For example, a few of our freshmen carried some of the heaviest instruments in our drum line. We march and crab step across the football field, which burns calories and gets our daily steps up. And then we memorize our music, coordinate cards, and drill charts. Although this is all for
015first semester band, second semester has pep band and rock band, which both still include a lot of lifting and walking. I mean this with all due respect, but taking away a PE waiver isn't good for us. Please reconsider this. Keeping our PE waiver for the full year will be beneficial for us as students. Thank you and good night. >> Thank you. [applause] [clears throat] >> Before we move on, I just want to say thank you especially for students coming forward. I'm pretty impressed by everyone that spoke. So, thank you very much for showing up and for taking the time to to speak to us. >> Um, moving on now to our action reports. [clears throat] >> So, I do want to to number one, thank you for coming forward. I am a former band director
016and I don't think you're ever a former band director because I still probably play music as much now as I did when I was actually a band director. So, I certainly value the arts greatly. um and enjoy not only what we have offered here, but the things that I've seen of students who are participating um in other events around here. I was at the Las Posadas uh in December and what some of the choir members were there singing at that and sharing their gifts as well as all the things that you do within band um jazz band, rock band. You have often seen me coming to some of your practices during the day. Uh, one of the things that I want to thank you for is coming forward and actually making some comments on why
017this is important to you. I will tell you that the policy hasn't changed. So, just to be clear, this board did I want you to know that this board did not make a policy change. Um, they are they're being quiet and they're being very very good about this and saying, but there was not a policy change that existed. The policy for adding marching band as a um as a waiver for PE came in in about probably 10 to 12 years ago uh where that was an option. Up until that point, it was not actually something that if a school decided to do it, I guess they decide to do it, but it was not something that was available by school code, right, which dictates the policies on how policies are made for for students. We're
018actually in the process right now of reviewing all of our policies. So the timing of this is actually interesting too. What um was found out at the high school and I did not know this um this board was not necessarily aware of this that the high school had been as many of you have said for 20 years maybe. I don't know I I I was alive 20 years ago not here. Um but I know that the policy existed probably about 10 or 12 years ago is when that waiver came about. Um there are other waiver options too, right? if you're in athletics, if you are nationally ranked and and certain things. Um or if you're in in certain sports, um those things get waved as well. There's actually some other things which are in other
019policies that allow for for juniors and seniors other opportunities to waving um PE and different classes based on that that I know that um Dr. Bending and his team are looking at and working on to how do we best work through that. After hearing a lot of your concerns today, um we are we do want to continue having some conversations. The policy is the policy that has existed for forever, right? How that policy has been enacted in district 301 sounds like it hasn't necessarily been consistent with the way the policy was written. Um and again, that's I can say that coming in having just been here since last March and and leaving in June. um that we just found out that that some of those things were happening. So, I appreciate the fact of you
020coming forward tonight speaking so eloquently and with passion and with really this isn't about as several I think all of you said this isn't about getting out of PE. It's about doing things that we want to be more passionate about. Um I will share with you that when I was in high school in the 80s um we didn't have the waiverss, right? Um, I was not the hugest fan of PE when I was a a student there because I was in band, I was in choir and I did all sorts of things all the time, right? And so I would find the shortest PE class that I could find that was buted up next to a a lunch period that allowed me to only have 25 minutes of PE so I could go to lunch
021and then I could go to choir right away, right? Um, those things were were capable and available then we didn't have the waivers. You've had the opportunity to have some of the waivers. So, we need to look at how that's impacting you, how that impacts some of the limits on the schedules currently that exist at the high school um and see how that uh what ways we may be able to address that. I'm not saying that to say that I know the solution today. I don't know the solution today other than breaking the school code and breaking the law, which perhaps we've been doing for for many years. But, um that aside, we do want to look at ways to make sure that we can continue to provide opportunities for um our music students. You
022will not find a more passionate person within within the arts. Um probably I mean all these guys like the arts. I'm not gonna say that but but I was a band director so I can say that and none of them were. Um [laughter] Mr. Dugan plays the plays the violin or viola but he so he counts too. But um they all like the arts. So thank you for coming tonight and we will continue taking a look at this and seeing how the policies can be um how they can be worked through. Okay. >> Well since you brought up more information I'd like to know the facts. I don't have an interesting story or I'm not going to get into my history about music, but I'm very concerned and interested where 70% of this audience has
023come here for music. Well, what is happening? Are they being taken? Are they told to reduce a class next year or this year? I mean, what's going on? You you've sent a little information, which is like one sentence, which is [clears throat] nothing, and then I show up here and all these people are here. So I think because you extended more information I think the board Dr. Bending is is willing to come up and and share some stuff too. >> Perfect. >> First of all, thank you families for for being here and students for getting up here. It's not easy to get up in front and talk to a school board. Uh the the purpose uh of the uh PE waiver is to allow students in qualifying activities to forego taking PE for a specific
024semester during which that activity occurs. So in the case of marching band, marching band is a fall activity. So they would be waved from PE during the fall. and according to school code and our own board policy as soon as possible be placed back into a PE class in order to earn their required state uh PE credit not only required core credit for the high school and graduation within 301 but according to uh school code it has been misapplied in the past apparently for 20 years or or so um that a student in marching band would get an entire year's worth of PE waiver. So to put that into perspective, a football player doesn't get an entire year of a PE waiver for participating in football in the fall. Just to compare two qualifying activities,
025marching band in the fall, football in the fall. Um we discovered this as as an issue. Um I am not saying that communication uh initially was at at at its peak. Um, I've worked uh on creating a more general uh communication that will go out to all band parents along with a series of FAQs that I've been receiving as I have been getting a number of communications from individual parents here uh over the past week or two about this issue. Are there any other more specific questions I can help answer? >> So, is that is that in effect then now? So like students that were expecting to have a waiver in spring >> are they >> this would be applied for next school year. So for the 26 27 school year. >> Okay. >> So
026what we're haven't changed the practice for this school year. >> So next school year. >> Next school year. >> Correct. And >> this is just for band. >> This is for marching band which is I believe the only activity right now that have has been getting a full semester of PE waved. There are other waiver opportunities but band all of them are all of them state the same thing you for the period of time that you're in say a given sport um that you can be out of PE band has been given marching band is specifically called out in the policy uh versus band with the with the idea they're marching and that they're outside they are actually physically doing things. So >> the marching band is the only one that was misapplied in Right.
027Yes, that's the Yes. >> So, next year they're saying it's only allowed for one semester, >> right? That fall two that fall semester. Correct. That because if you look at the policy, it states when participation ends. Participation for that particular activity ends at the end of fall semester, whenever the last home football game or last marching band competition would occur, which is likely in the fall. And then according to the policy they are to be placed back into PE as soon as possible. The easiest possible course to do that is of course in the spring at semester without making uh scheduling very complicated >> policy is open. Everyone can do it. >> Yes. >> Or the semester. >> Yeah. That's and that's the way that it's always been, right? But if you're taking another qualifying
028activity, right, then you for a second semester, then you can have that PE waiver still, right? Or saying only one semester. >> So if if you're in marching band in the fall, you could wave out of PE for the fall, >> right? >> You could then potentially participate in track in the spring and wave out of PE for the spring. But that'd be two different qualifying activities that would occur during those that those those semesters because right now every other qualifying activity whether it's a sport or I believe color guard is also a qualifying activity uh that would only occur during the time of that that the participation of that sport. So fall for football or cross country you get wiped out. >> Okay. And that policy is based on the current Illinois school code.
029>> Correct. >> Yeah. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> I know there's probably some other questions from community members. We won't we won't take those right now in the board meeting. Um but that might something to bring up again at another board meeting or public comment. So, I know that there's more questions from everybody else here. U but as Dr. Schumacher said, we will we're going to look at that as a board everything and everything you said again extremely impressed by the students that came and spoke. Um well spoken and and really good thoughts and points were brought. Um, so thank you for that. And it's it's encouraging as a board member to see our students um outside of just their regular activities and to see how um how well they did public speaking. So thank
030you again. Thank you for families for bringing them out too. Um moving on to our action reports, our consent agenda. under our consent agenda has a regular board minute regular board meeting minutes for December 15th, our treasurer's reports, our payment of bills, and our personnel report. So for our consent agenda, can I get a motion and a second to discuss and approve? >> Second, >> any discussion, questions, your roll call, please. >> First, >> yes. >> Papis, >> yes. Yes. >> Stoen. >> Gorman, >> yes. >> Watson, >> yes. >> Okay. Motion approved. >> I was going to say I know that a bunch of you probably have more exciting things that you want to do. Please feel free to go. You are welcome to stay for the whole meeting, but if you need to
031go and you want to go, you're welcome to do that and it's it's acceptable. So, [laughter] >> all right. Our next uh action item is the approval of the veterinary affiliation agreement. And it looks like we have two new hospitals, the Bethany Animal Hospital and the Rand Randall Road Animal Hospital. So, a motion and second to discuss and approve the veterinary affiliation agreements. >> Second. >> And any discussion or questions? >> Roll call, please. Mickot. >> Yes. >> Papis. >> Yes. Ward. >> Yes. >> Dogen. >> Gorman. >> Yes. >> Hurst. >> Yes. >> Wson. >> Yes. >> Motion passed. >> Our next is the approval of the 2026 school maintenance project grant. We have a motion and a second to discuss and approve. >> Second. >> Any discussion or questions? >> We got the
032memo on this. So, if there's a question this time, we do have either and then we'll come back later once things are approved, but we can't submit it before the board actually votes to say it's okay to submit. >> Papis, >> yes. >> Ward, >> yes. >> Dogen. >> Gorman, >> yes. >> First, >> yes. >> Mva, [clears throat] >> yes. >> Motion passes. Next is our approval of the world language graduation requirements. A motion and a second required to discuss and approve the world language graduation requirements. >> So moved. >> Second discussion and questions. So Stephen talked about this a couple I think in November October November just talked about that kind of had it tied in with the schedule at the time. Uh while this is a will be a requirement in two
033years um it is we want to try to get a head start on that. So, as we're looking at staffing, the positive thing that I think for this district is that 70% of our kids already actually meet this requirement. Um, so the numbers, I think when we talked about it in the fall, we thought we were going to be a little bit higher. Actually, we pulled the numbers and pretty much on average it's 70% of our kids. So, we're talking about 30% and even within that, there will be some who won't due to a variety of different reasons that they may not take that. Um, it's a much smaller number overall, but it would require us to start looking at hiring and getting on top of it. >> Ward, >> yes. >> Gorman, >> yes.
034>> Hurst, [clears throat] >> yes. >> Mva, >> yes. >> Papis, >> yes. >> Wasson, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Our next is the approval of the authorization to conduct a competitive RFP for natural gas service and execute an agreement with and approve parameters. Motion and second required to discuss and approve >> and discussion questions please. Dogen Gorman. >> Yes. >> Hurst. >> Yes. >> Ward. >> Yes. >> Wson. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> And next a motion and second required to discuss and approve the donation to the CHS activity account. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Questions. >> Orman. >> Yes. Yes. >> Mva, >> yes. >> Papis, [clears throat] >> yes. >> Ward, >> yes. >> Dogen was >> sorry. >> Motion passes. >> And the the one that's it's it's not
035under paper copy, but is under board books copy is the updated graduation contract at niu. Um, as you as we presented earlier in the year, we had the I think it's five years or more um that we have niu scheduled for graduation. We've updated some of the dates. Um, and so this just reflects the updated graduation dates to get them more in line with um current calendars and future calendars. >> So on the motion in a second for the updated graduation contract. Okay. >> Discussion or questions? Roll call, please. >> Papis, >> yes. >> MVA, >> yes. >> Hurst, >> yes. >> Ward, >> yes. >> Gorman, >> yes. >> Wson, >> yes. >> All right. Next, we will move on to our presentations. And the first is our advanced academic How are you tonight?
036>> Hi, I'm Kim Paulus. I am the curriculum director for EC5 and um I will put the presentation up on there. I know that you guys have it, but I want to introduce some people that also came out to help me um today um that were part of our committee. So, we have and it worked. Okay. So, we have Melissa Lizner. Um she is a PLA teacher at the PKMS seventh grade. Rachel Crayola, she is one of our instructional coaches, Herald, an instructional coach, and Erica Snder, an instructional coach as well. And Becky's here, too. She was part of the parent meeting. But she's she didn't ask to be part of the presentation. So, um, we're all up here today to kind of talk about this. So, I'm going to get us started off with
037a few things. Um, and then there'll be time for questions and they're going to jump in on at at their little areas. So, um, last year, last year they, um, started a study Oops. Sorry. Um >> arrow arrow see it's Canva. [laughter] Um last year um there they um started a look looking into the doing an academically advanced and then that um did not come to fruition before um the the curriculum director left and we had some changes. So I kind of picked up the ball where um they left off um and we're going to kind of talk about the recommendation that we're coming in tonight. So, this proposal outlines our um recommendation for the advanced learning pathway for Central 301. We have a group of students, you'll see here soon um that when they're
038academically ready, we want to be able to challenge them at at that point in time in which they're ready. So, our curriculum is great. Our teachers do a wonderful job with differentiation and and taking that, but we do feel that we do have a population of students that that would have benefit from having a different type of program. So, how does this align? This aligns to our strategic plan. It also establishes that dedicated pathway for those academic learners at that time that they're ready for it. It has responded to community feedback that has been asking for some sort of program at the elementary level. And um like I talked about, we had initial steps that were paused in the 2425 school year um where we've picked up the ball and went from there. If you're
039familiar at all with MTSS, that's the multi-ter support system. Sometimes people see it as a triangle. We've got it as a um we got it as a sideways diamond here. So tier one is where we expect 80% of our um curriculum to be. So that should be our biggest tier. To the left of that is where those int the um remediation. So, anybody with a special ed and sometimes not even IEP or 504, but if they need types of intervention programs and we have programs that do deal with the tier three and tier two on the left side of this diamond where we don't have a lot at the elementary level is the tier two and the tier three to the right. Um, when they do get to middle school right now, they have an
040academic pathway of taking advanced math starting in sixth grade, compacted math up through and then in high school we obviously have some um AP prep courses and we're working at dual credit and those types of things. So we have things for the 612 round but we don't have anything for elementary. So how did this um come about? I took the committee that was done that got together in the 2425 school year and I reconvened them with a little bit of enhancements. Um, one of the things that I learned was that there was an Illinois Associated of Gifted Children and we joined that and we went to their um, they had a two-day seminar in Neighborville and we took six staff of um, coaches and administration to those and we broke out in all sorts of
041breakout sessions throughout the day hearing from experts in the field and um, some of the and some of the other school districts were there that presented like how they did So we learned a lot from from that conference and then I pulled the task force together as a workday and we had a very diverse team. One of the one of the feedback that we got was that the the team was not diverse enough. So instead of just calling the original team together, I invited all seven principles from the schools and then the two community members came back and then we had the two department chairs ELA and math come and then we also had some middle school teachers attend as well. So, we had a more wide range of voices in this room when we
042worked that day. Um, we collaborated throughout the day. We took we looked at our current practice. What do we do to now? And then we [clears throat] broke out into I'll show you in a second here. Well, here they are. It's the Geneva, Yorkville, Batavia, St. Charles, Arlington Heights, Glenn Allen, and the range. So, we took what they do. I sent a Google form ahead of time. They answered some questions and then I wass able to set times for those for those people within that district like Geneva, Yorkville, St. Charles, Lraange or um I think there was another one. I don't know if it was Bavia. I don't I'm not quite sure which. But they actually got to talk to either curriculum directors or the people that were um in charge of the academically accelerated
043programming. So, they could not only just see it on paper, but ask them questions, too. because sometimes it looks really good on paper, but you just have that question like, "How did you guys do this?" Like for real, like, you know, how does this work? So, we broke off into teams and we worked on that. Then, we came back in here and we talked about what each district had and then we talked about how did that look for them and how can it look for us within our current structure. And that leads me to two definitions before I turn it over to some of our our people back here um that you're going to be hearing the difference. The first is enrichment. So when we talk about an enrichment program, we're talking about taking like
044a grade level standards like the sixth grade ELA and then we're going to go deeper. So we're going to do different novels. We're going to up the writing. We're going to look at various projects. ELA it's it's very it lends itself to that spiraling curriculum. So it actually lends itself to a really good enrichment model. There's not a lot of school districts out there that do accelerated ELA. Um, and we would be recommending that for us to start. The other uh piece is the accelerated piece. So that's going beyond those grade level standards. That's encroaching into the next level. So where fourth grade students would be doing fifth grade math or fourth and fifth grade math and fifth grade students would be doing fifth grade and sixth grade math and so on. And then sixth
045grade would do seventh grade. We'll talk about that. in a few minutes, but that's widely used for acceleration and that's widely used for math because of the linear progression, whereas ELA spirals a little bit more. So that that's why what we recommend, that's what we're going to be looking at. Yes, it works. It's not just the arrow. It's not. So to get a little more specific with what we're thinking with the ELA approach is, you know, like Dr. Paula said more of an enrichment model and any of the districts that we had an opportunity to talk with that day that is the model that they also use and I know she had mentioned you know different novels and at times I think you would want different novels but I think dependent upon the books that
046are read at the grade levels at sixth seventh and eth grade I think some of those texts you could still use in an enriched program but what you have kids doing with those books and how they would engage with the text will look different and just going to a deeper level but sticking with the single level standards Because if you look at the ELA standards six through eight, they are very very similar and the wording just slightly tweaks from sixth to seventh to 8th grade. So, it's just about going deeper with them and getting them to be able to engage in more like deeper level conversations in class and a lot of project based learning where they could be even a little bit more self-guided with that and don't require as much teacher direction because
047they have that curiosity and they have that level of intellect that enables them to take it to a deeper level. And so, we would focus on more advanced level reading, writing and again, you know, presenting and looking more through a critical thinking lens. especially when you are adding in more complex level text that the students would be reading. And for me as an ELA teacher for many years, that discussion piece I think would be really interesting to see how that could look in a classroom with kids who are ready to go to a deeper level and are looking for those deeper conversations to help them get more out of what we're doing in class. So that's just kind of how that the plan is how that would look at the ELA is not extending beyond
048the grade level standard just taking them to a deeper level. >> Then when we think about math um we found that most districts follow an accelerated model um because of how [clears throat] Kim stated the linear progression of standards. So once a student reaches a certain threshold, the only way to push them further is to encroach upon next grade level standards. So our current math um accelerated pathway that we offer starts in sixth grade. They cover sixth grade and half of seventh grade standards. Seventh grade picks up the rest of seventh grade and starts doing eighth grade. And then in eighth grade they end at math one, which allows it to count for um high school credit. Um and so what we are proposing is essentially another on-ramp. So an opportunity for students to start
049that acceleration um sooner rather than later. Um and we're as we work more and more we're seeing more of a need for this. Um so it would be in addition to what we currently have. We would have fourth grade which would um include half of fifth. um fifth grade would pick up the other half of fifth and go into sixth grade. Sixth grade then they were able to just focus on seventh, which is where we start to see a lot of more integer operations. Um so more foundational skills but at the next level. So they'd be able to really focus on that. Um seventh grade would then look at those eighth grade standards. Um and then we'd still end at math one for eighth grade. Um there was a lot of talk about what would
050this look like in a double acceleration, but as students are working up, we're going to kind of monitor data and their achievement to see if that's something um that would work for those students. Um there was a lot of talk, especially at the high school level, about what does it look like senior year and um things like that. So this is would be where to start with possibly um additions later on. Um, within all of this, next comes how do they qualify for these programs? Um, with this with [clears throat] talking to other districts, it came to the consensus that it didn't need to be one data point that would make or break um, entry. It wasn't just one threshold. So, we were looking at four areas to include within kind of like a rubric
051model to determine qualification based in these four areas. So, MAP, which um is our fall, winter, spring um kind of benchmark testing and also with I Ready because we brought that in elementary this year. I the Illinois assessment of readiness the once a year starting in third grade. um common assessment data which would be classroom level assessments with those common summitive assessments that have developed at the unit kind of chapter level um within their grade level classroom and then also the aptitude tests of currently we use Kogat tests um and then looking into this we're talking about piloting the neti which is a different aptitude test um to kind of see if that would be a better fit for our students in determining those levels We did look for ELA even though this is something
052that would be being implemented into middle school. What are our current numbers just to get an idea of where our students are? Um so we are looking at the current fourth, fifth, and sixth grade levels for um the first column is going to show your students that are above proficient on I based on spring 2025 data. And then the column is our number of students that are above the 80th percentile on map from our most recent benchmarking in winter. Um these are just rough numbers because right now this is one individualized data points not necessarily put through a rubric but just to kind of get an idea of kind of starting point numbers for where we're currently sitting with actually wanted to do the same thing but for math. So since we're proposing fourth graders
053to start the accelerated pathway, we wanted to see what our current third grade cohorts what the numbers are coming in with. So if you look on the right side, we did develop a rubric where instead of like funneling down where a student maybe is eliminated with just an IR score or um a KOAT score, we wanted to give them more of an opportunity to get maybe just one bad test day isn't going to throw you out. Um, so you can kind of see how the rubric was developed. And then, um, with the buildings here, we have about 80 students that right now would qualify given the fact that we haven't done the Kogat testing. So, the numbers could change, but at least it's showing you right now, we do have a group of students in
054every building that would benefit from that accelerated pathway. >> And we're pretty we're pretty confident in this data. We're running it through the rubric. The numbers obviously can change but um >> so the rubric that you saw with math ELA has one that we are working on but we are not it's not finalized yet. So with the implementation plan for what it would look like for ELA [clears throat] for the rest of this school year I'm on I'm the seventh grade ELA sack rep and that's one of the [clears throat] things we've been charged with. We have a meeting actually next week and that's Our number one priority on our agenda is to take a look at the draft of the rubric that's very similar to what you saw for math and get that finalized
055to a place where all of us feel like this would make sense as a way to qualify students. And you know to just reiterate what was already said having multiple data points. I am a firm believer that just because a kid might not excel one day on one given test that shouldn't disqualify them from an enrichment opportunity that they could really benefit from. So having those endorse data points gives them an opportunity, even if you didn't score a lot of points based on this one part of the rubric, that doesn't mean you're no longer in contention for starting in that enrichment program. So the remainder of this school year, our ELAC team is charged with getting that rubric ready, developing course proposals that need to maybe go to CCC for approval. So that next year
056in the 26, 27th school year, the focus would be getting some release time for some sixth, seventh, and eighth grade ELA teachers perhaps also freshman here at the high school just to make sure we have that alignment to start developing. What is that curriculum going to look like? Is it going to be looking to see are there existing, you know, enrichment programs that other districts that have been doing this use? Would we, you know, be creating some of that ourselves? So, having all of next year to get that in place so that when we would roll it out, we were looking to actually implement sixth, seventh, and eighth grade enrichment all in this 27 28 school year so that we're ready and we're not rushing it. And what we end up with is a product
057that we know is going to put them in the best position to really kind of roll it out and this looks like and you know make tweaks along the way but that's what we're thinking of to get ready to roll it out in the 2728 school year for ELA and that's because we should be able to pull out a section of that and a teacher would be teaching that section so they felt pretty confident that they could do that >> um for the math implementation plan we have continued to talk about this at um math subject area committee Matt sack um and come forward to CCC in the spring. Um next year we would start with a fourth grade implementation only and that is due to um an accelerated pathway that was apparent and uh
058available a long time ago. What we found was that there were more skill gaps when students progressed and skipped a grade level or skipped content that while they may be performing fine now currently in um higher level mathematics they found holes that were impeding from impeding them from uh further achievement. So it would be to start at fourth grade only to prevent those skill gaps that were an obstacle in the past and then roll it up into fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade as we know that that would affect the courses available um for students at the middle school. So the cost analysis for ELA is um so for this year for the 26 27 school year for u next school year the committee is proposing those targeted release times for teachers um on the
059ELA committees to build that curriculum look for u curriculum resources or curriculum that's out there study that figure out what they need so there would be no additional staffing needed for that um at this point in time um the M cost analysis um that we would utilize our existing staff um to group our students. So what that would mean is like in fourth grade if there were four teachers one of the teachers would teach the accelerated half that fourth grade and half the fifth the other three teachers would divide up the students to to so that they have a class of that. So all the kids would be in fourth grade would be switching for math or could be switching for math because you know I could have five for my class, five for their
060five for Angie, you know that would go to Kyle for for math. Um but you would keep those kids and we would we would cluster them that way for the 27 28 school year. We'll need to reevaluate that. We'll have to look at that. But that should work the same for fifth grade. You know, at this point, >> even with our class sizes for 26 27, you don't think that it's going to increase the math classes that aren't where kids aren't pulled out because you're going to have such fewer possibly kids pulled out than you would, you know what I mean? >> Uh yeah, we do. [laughter] Um yeah, that that that is a real possibility. So, we're going to have to really watch those numbers because we are a growing district. That is that's
061on one of my challenge slides is you know that staffing piece is as as we grow that also you know we because we can't push those class sizes big either you know and if we if we stick with those numbers that we have let's say all of those kids make it on the net you know the Kogat you know this year I mean you're looking at at at country trails there's could be 28 you know so I mean you know that's a lot so um which is great I mean that that's it shows a need but yes I I We do uh we do understand that. Thank you for asking. >> Yeah. Um so that additional staffing could be required depending on >> on on our numbers and you know how this how this looks.
062>> Will we have room like literal space? [laughter] >> No. We will figure that out, won't we? [laughter] Um so uh yeah so that that is you know space is a concern as well. So we will we'll have to do some creative um you know cons you know that that's a very real thing. Um to to be transparent on this the challenges the staffing concerns are there um uh the identifying and supporting our existing staff. um that's going to be really important that we look at helping our te teachers that are be teaching that that not only the the accelerated piece but then the other ones as well because now you have a different population of students in there. So um you know if you take out the top 20% and now you know we're
063going to have to have a lot of coaching support with our with our teachers on helping them with that curriculum piece um you know to help how do we meld that to marry that together? How are we going to do that? you know, how are all of our students going to excel? Because we want to push all of them to the best that we can. So, um, and then curriculum development for ELA, which Melissa talked about that, you know, they're going to be charged with with quite a bit of writing on that. And, uh, they were concerned that maybe a year is not enough time, but I think that we can we'll get them there. We'll we'll get them what they need in order to get them And this is the time for more questions
064if you have any. >> I just have a few. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Thank you. Just a few. Sorry. >> She was feverishly writing down. [laughter] >> Is it I I like the plan is >> I just have a few questions. So I I saw how um you guys are going to determine who gets in, but is this going to be based on if parents want the kids in or are we just saying you made it so you're in or can they opt out? Okay, >> we did. Go ahead. No, please. >> So, one of the art qualifications is taking the Kogad or NAGlary, which is an aptitude test, but we're going to allow um parents, there will be a letter that goes home explaining why they're taking it. And if you don't want your
065child to participate at this time, doesn't mean that they can't participate in the future, but you can opt out so that you're not included in that. because we know there's multitude of reasons why parents might not want their children to participate. So, they can always opt out, but we don't want to leave anyone out. >> Okay. But they can opt out if they don't want their kid in the accelerated class. Okay. Um and then can you qualify for math and not ELA or vice versa? >> Okay. >> So, in elementary we're going to start at fourth grade just math. I um I I think the ELA might be pushed down eventually, but that's I mean, this is our first iteration of this. This is where we need to start. You know, I mean, we all
066have to be fiscally responsible and try and look at where can we feasibly do this and how can we best serve our students with the space and the money that we have. So, um you know, I'm not saying ever no to that, but yes, definitely. >> So, then this would be considered like like um a gifted program, the starting, right? We're going to call it celebrated because a true gifted would be like anything like a lot of times it's like the 96 percentile you know it's like very very elite with our rubric model we are catching I want to say it's probably more than the top 20% but it's it we're trying to catch that w a little bit of a wider net with that rubric um that's one of the things we learned at
067that gifting conference is to kind of cast a little bit of wider net and give those students that chance to grow even more >> okay and then last question are we talking doing is that like for fourth grade we're implementing it with math, right? Are we doing it at all the elementary schools or are we saying more? >> Okay. >> Yep. So that and no matter what elementary school they go to have a chance. >> No, Lily Lake there's just two teachers. So obviously we've got a plan for >> Would there be like a change of placement for those kids who qualify? Okay. So no change of place. They'll stay at their regular home schools. >> We I think we've got a pretty solid plan on how to keep them. >> Okay. Great. >> So
068thank you. That way they >> Awesome. >> I have a couple questions. >> Okay. >> So, just and just to clarify some of it, ideally if we had everything our way, ideally potentially looking at an additional teacher per school that this would go out to then is what? Ideally, if we had >> That's an excellent question. um the uh committee that the committee did uh that was one of their recommendations for that. But I think that you know we have to look at you know the cost of of things and um staffing concerns. Um uh yeah, I mean that would be okay. >> Obviously, >> you're asking stuff. >> I do have to be fiscally responsible. Honestly, I have to I have to also think of other departments, too. You know, I mean, as a
069as a K12 district, we have everybody buying for our money and so we have to make sure that we're using the best. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. Um [clears throat] and you could answer this question with that's not how that works because I don't necessarily know the the proper way that this works. When Danielle asked about if there's parent input, understanding that some students struggle with tests, but their comprehension level might be high, is there any room for teacher input that maybe a teacher spends all day with this student and goes, "Hey, this student is is actually could benefit from moving up, but their test scores aren't showing what their comprehension level is." Is there a way to does this also help that or is it more test? you talked a little bit about
070about that, too. Um I think with the rubric model, we've got several different types of assessments, right? We have classroom assessments and I think I mean obviously we don't have the ELA one done yet, but we did model it after this. Okay. >> Um and I know that I mean Elizer can kind of talk about it too. They talked about maybe even adding like a writing piece into that or how that looks like a common assessment of some sort. I would like to see for the the common assessment portion. I would like to see it to be like a piece of writing because like to speak to what you said there are people who are quite right and could benefit highly from a course like this test with multiple choice tests but they might have
071a great ability to show their skill level. So I did ask when we were meeting I want clarification even going into our ELA staff meeting next week. Can the assessment not be a traditional test? Can it be a formal piece of writing that everybody at the grade level teacher wise you know instru a portion of teacher input like this kid sits in my room every single day. I'd like to think I can speak to their abilities even if they don't show up on that test that should weigh in in some way. So that was kind of our we assessments that they're giving the teacher assessment that they have a little bit of not control because it is common ass but that's a We see what you're saying. For math, it's kind of a little bit
072more linear. It's a little bit more cut and dry. For I know discussing this, but they also need to be realistic in can they grade or assess all the writing pieces, you know, how are they going to manage that piece as [clears throat] >> good questions? Any other questions? >> Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Disconnect. >> I'll figure that out back here. Yep. >> And next up, we have a facilities update by Dan. >> Good evening. Um, you had a bunch of memos that I put together in your board packet on things. Um, so most of that was kind of updates and kind of information on where things are at. One update to the um track memo is that we're going to open those bids on February 5th. So, we will have
073that information definitely to to bring to the board on how that turns out, what those numbers are for the February board meeting. Um, was there any questions on any of the other stuff? Um, the only other thing that I wanted to update on that I didn't put in there is the architect work. Um, my thought is in talking to Kyle earlier today is that we would have the architects come and present next month. Um, kind of an update on where they're at. They're still in the data gathering, still putting information together, um, checking buildings and doing building walkthroughs and everything. So, I think next month would be a good time for them to kind of present to the board kind of where they're at and kind of timelines and stuff. So, That's all I got.
074Any questions about anything? >> Thank you. >> Yep. [cough and clears throat] >> And next up is here's the calendar for so we posted the calendar for the kind of first meeting first conversation. Uh this calendar was reviewed at DT C D and admin. Um so a bunch of different committees got to kind of review that. Um it is aligned with the Mid Valley uh school districts. Um it aligns which are aligned with IHSA and when IHSA starts. I know that people um don't like generally don't like the starting time of when this calendar starts. They you know we're beyond the I think everybody who you know from the east coast who wants to start after Labor Day and end in before Memorial Day. But um the challenge is that we have to get 76
075school days in for students to attend. Um and then we have to within that the breaks etc etc. Um we also have to align with when where our neighboring districts are because particularly at the high school but also within special education our students that we um that either go to other places or they come here from other places those districts have to be aligned and right now we are aligned with all of those districts that are out there. There may be one I think St. Charles, we're aligned with >> Geneva. Um, and they're they're I don't know if their super said this yet, but anyway, they're they're they're looking too because they recognize that we're rather districts are all aligned. Um, high school, when we say that high school, our IHSA doesn't drive calendar, they
076drive calendars when you have a high school in your district. And so um that's the challenge um because you could be um actually playing games before you even started school which then has other issues in play which Brett and Mr. Sitter can Dr. Bending and Mr. Sitter can certainly speak more to but that's part of why the calendars are the way they are um for unit districts, high school districts, K12 districts um or just plain high school districts alone. So the calendar actually pretty much aligns with where everything else is. Um the days uh as far as looking at when institute days and things are the March institute dates are aligned with the King County institute days are for all of the King County schools and basically DUP page and those are always the Friday
077before Kasner Blasty day which is the first Monday in March. So that's that date there. Um the question also there that it also came up in both DT and in and supported in CAT about moving spring conferences to right before winter break or spring break. Um so while students are in school on that Friday before spring break it's only for the half day. So we thought that was a positive thing both the parents at C as well as people on DT. Reminder, this is a calendar for 2728. This is not next year's calendar. That was already decided. This is for 272. [clears throat] Wasn't there talk of changing I mean I prefer this but changing the first semester to end after break because of like things like that. Do you remember talks of come up
078here. So, if you remember, we did have a calendar that did put second or first semester ending mid to late January and it last year and it created a conflict for uh the high school in several capacities with all those pathway programs, but then also our students that are graduating early and trying to then transition uh because everything was delayed and it created a paperwork nightmare for them to be able to be doing what they had planned and then not being able to actually move forward. >> So, you're right. Yes, we did have a calendar that was that way, but then switched back to address the problems they created. >> Got anything else? Right. >> I think the next one's yours. >> Well, next one just to sort of bring up we as um Stephen
079Books presented again a couple months ago regarding some scheduling options and it's kind of a big ticket number um that was being discussed at right now at this point. The high school is going to stay on with a slight some slight adjustments to um some times and and um some things. High school is going to stay pretty much with the schedule that they have that they've had. The middle school is still working on some scheduling options. our plan is to have that for the February board meeting um to review uh and look at what potential um implications are with that. Um some of the things and and I think that you heard this even from with way the kids were talking about here and I think it's something to consider down the road with the
080high school. uh while they are looking to um create and build zero period classes um and we are having some conversations on they're having some conversations on that and we're looking some what some possible transportation support could be for for something like that um I think you heard that that kids are wanting the opportunity to take these classes right and again right now the way the policies are written in the state uh school code with the the waiverss they exist and again 11th and 12th graders have more flexibility ility with waivers than freshman and sophomore do. The marching band thing is there and the athletic things are there but there are some more other options kind of for waving at the 11th and 12th grade. Having said that at the at the middle schools the
081students have had over the course of the year we've reduced the types the number of um encore or and some people call them um elective classes that students can choose. They're very they're limited right now. um there used to be the same number of periods basically, but there were more options for students in the past. So, some of the things that they're looking at in the schedule is not necessarily just adding more periods because we're working on trying to stay within the same footprint um as the the current schedule and and when the high school starts and ends. Um but is looking at are there opportunities to add more options so that students don't just have two options at this grade level or two options there. Um and also looking just at the at the
082number of classes that students are are the teachers are teaching. Um right now it's kind of some teach six some and a task. Some teach four in a task u but they teach longer periods. English and ELA and math are longer periods of classes. Um science social studies are shorter but they're teaching more. So we're looking at trying to create schedules that have fewer overlaps and fewer um conflicts within them that will make scheduling easier and allow for some more flexibility. and especially as we start looking at some of these options with the advanced learner options and students at different grade levels maybe needing to work with um students at a different grade level particularly as we looked at sixth and seventh grade um and even at eighth grade. So they'll be bringing something back
083in uh the February board meeting uh for some presentations and conversations. >> Thank you. Next one. Next [clears throat] one's mine. So our next item is the update on our superintendent search. So from our last meeting, we kind of updated that we were continuing our search. Um and we are we have interviews coming up in the next couple weeks. Um we are going to be running our interviews the same way that we ran the first round. We do have a committee of stakeholders that is involved. Um and then the board will be conducting interviews as well. So that's kind of my the best update that I have right now. Hopefully, you know, by in the next a little bit more information on where we're at with that search. >> Well, certainly by the February board
084meeting, you'll know something. >> Yes, next board meeting will definitely know something. >> All right. Next is the agenda items for February, which I have calendar and fees. And then also, do we want to put the architect presentation on that? >> Architect on. Now, >> does anybody else have anything for the February meeting superintendent search update. >> We'll default to that. [laughter] [clears throat] >> Anything else? Good. All right. Next, I need a motion and a second to adjurnn. >> Second. >> And all in favor? >> I >> Thank you again everybody for