001culminating musical moment of this allet experience all 600 plus musicians that you see before you will join together in performing America the Beautiful conducting the fin finale from the center Podium will be outgoing board member Mark new Orchestra division president [Music] than [Music] you [Music] all [Music] um so we uh had the honor of taking um five students to All State this year um two of whom are with us tonight um J alasi Charlotte Garcia who were both in that recording uh in the orchestra playing cello and bassoon respectively um which was really awesome you couldn't even see all the kids there was a band over here too that was another hundred or how many 200 yeah so so many kids in the state and that was one of two concerts of high schoolers we
002also brought with us Noah Parker um who was in the honors uh choir and two middle schoolers Ella balser and hope Mercer who were in the inaugural Junior High chorus which was um a really awesome time so um we just wanted to say thank you for supporting our students and um and give them a chance to say what they saw while they were there so yeah I thought it was a really cool experience being able to um spend time with a lot of really talented people and meeting some really cool people who are um like conductors all of the like adults like all the conductors were from like some of the top universities they were teachers um the conductor of the orchestra that we were part of is from uh I think it was Cuba
003Cuba was from Cuba and he um had a masters in Neuroscience on top of being a professional conductor and it was a really good opportunity for me since I want to pursue music education to ask questions at the college fair and kind of get some insight about where I could go yeah and as a bassoonist she was kind of already being recruited by colleges which was really cool you don't hear that a lot in music um but um yeah s super special uh people like like trying to put money on the table for her already she hasn't even auditioned for them which is really really amazing um um I had I'm going to talk a little bit about about the middle school this is like uh Mr a r said this was the inaugural um
004middle school performance they have never had middle schoolers that have had the ability to go to State and so this was their first year and they said we're going to try it just to acquire uh they had over 10,000 students audition and they took 150 of those kids and I had two of my eighth grade girls um that qualified and came up and um it was really good experience for them it was kind of like a mini experience um these two had three days of rehearsals whereas the middle schoolers came up on Friday and had um about a six-h hour rehearsal on Friday and then about a four or five hour rehearsal on Saturday and then performed and so they all of these kids did a lot of leg work ahead of the performance um
005so they knew their parts and then could focus on the musicality of what they were doing so that was a really cool experience um and for the Middle School level getting to have that um first I will say say that um it was it was mainly students probably Springfield Poria north um so there were not a lot of people in the South that were that qualified for that and so we were really excited for our students that did um but I think it also gets them excited having two eighth graders prepared for high school and then not as um scared to try out for these um big things like District Festival in all state because they've already then kind of had a minii introduction to it and had that experience so um that was that
006was a great experience for them and we were really thankful that we were allowed to take middle schoolers this year well we're glad that you were willing and we hope you continue to expand programs for our students thank you absolutely you thanks can I ask how was the interview how the audition process so all of them audition we have to send in video auditions uh they have specific music that they're given ahead of time and they have to work um on their own and with their teacher but it's it's a lot higher level than what most schools can do because we're looking for the top musicians in the whole state um so they work on that they submit an audition on a couple pieces or their scales and their their udes and um then other
007uh teachers in other districts so like we can't judge in our own District so other teachers are listening to them and seeing how they do and then we get notified about a month later whether they are in our district Festival if they make the district Festival that's considered like the best in Southern Illinois because our district is pretty big um it's about Alton down to the rest of the state um and then out of those auditions I know it is different for U abandoned Orchestra versus choir but they keep those same auditions and then they take just that they narrow the percentage of how many um they take for All State and then that very top of each district get to go to state yeah band and Orchestra will re audition um once they found
008out that they make it to state for which Ensemble are they in honors or All State and um what chair they like what what seat they would take um so it's it's a lot of work and they're yeah they're they're amazing also we don't have an orchestra program here so everything that everything that Jonah has done has been mostly his private teachers um working on him with cello and then me helping him prepare just the music aspect of it and then and Charlotte um plays bassoon in band but it's you know it's different playing it with an orchestra too so it's a really awesome experience they get to have thank you congratulations [Applause] right well that was a r Treat thank you all right uh moving on do we have any public comments big old
009crowd no one wants to say anything you got to listen to me then so sorry about that all right correspondents going around I think we'll go right on and start into our consent agenda Mr Grody or Dr Grody s you've got your minutes and finances your uh all the reports and expenditures we had Deborah heiney uh retirement of 2025 and we are then hiring Caitlyn br Berger as a student service secretary Kathleen Ostertag as the cook and Emma zika as a paraprofessional uh we also have a leave of absence um our CHS librarian is going to be having a child and so we're giving her the leave and then we've got an extracurricular position Aran heny I believe I say that correctly is a volunteer softball coach uh given all of those I would recommend
010the board approve as presented all right any any comments questions concerns from the board hearing none when any like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I'll make the motion thank you Tyson do I second I'll second thank you Kelly roll call please Norine yes Adam hin yes Andrea Corey yes Kelly Moyer yes Greg Meyer yes Lisa schacher yes Tyson search yes takes care of that moving on to our Communications reports and presentations enrollment report is in your packet and we will start with a building report see Mr Dugan joined us this evening hello M and his crew yeah my crew and your B yeah so uh last Friday Valentine's Day we had our first we're GNA make it an annual thing after after our first experience uh parkview's Valentine's Day
011fine dining lunch um we uh we just wanted to do we always like to do different things in the lunchroom just to kind of spice it up and make it interesting um so we kind of talked to the students about table etiquette and manners and wanted to give them a fine dining experience so um we had elegant music from our CHS jazz band members uh Gabriel James Benjamin Parker and Charles bass um thanks to Mr Avis Rous there for setting that up so they did a fantastic job um we had the lights were dim Med uh we had tables covered with white tablecloths tea lights centerpieces from Meg clor from makers on Main she donated those U miss Robin ordered fancy aprons and for our wonderful servers and Chef hats were ladies in the kitchen
012the top left you see we're all decked out there um the students were served their Entre which was Bosco Sticks fancy uh and desserts at their table so that was kind of fun for them to to get served um also desserts compliments of Teresa fundus they got their desserts served to them uh the students dressed up for the occasion uh we had dresses we had ties and Suits we had all all kinds of things they were really excited about that um it was very special for me because I did not know what to expect I wanted to make it special but just wasn't really sure I mean we have a a blue gymnasium that we were trying to make fancy so um and it was really neat to see the kids' faces and and to
013hear the comments we had kids saying can we do this again um I had fourth graders unfortunately saying how come we didn't do this last year um and then just kids that I wouldn't have expected come up to me and say thanks for doing this so it was just neat to uh have an experience like that with the kids excellent click it so uh a few weeks ago the view staff had a underground staff spirit week so teachers knew what we were doing each day it was a secret from the kids so that was fun to see them start to catch on like first day was just we all wore black which isn't that uncommon to see your teacher wearing dress in Black until you see them all together but in the day that we
014each wore Miss match shoes they were kind of like what's What's Happening Here what's wrong with all of you so that was a lot of fun it was fun for staff but it was was really fun to see the kids' reaction and how they um started guessing like oh I know what today is you dressed like your favorite holiday I sure did it was funny the following week they were asking so what are you guys doing today today so that was fun and then of course we just had our young authors um contest and these authors all here tonight are going to share a little bit about their books 101 students participated in the young authors contest this year the top four books from each grade level we selected to attend the young authors conference
015that's coming up in March uh Mr Dugan read the winning books to classes during lunch period and we are very proud of all of the students that participated and wanted to give each of these kiddos an opportunity to share just a little bit about their books here tonight so we'll get out of the way here right okayu yourself right hi my name is Miles and I made a book about a ceramic dog that comes to life and comes once every once every Valentine's Day and sprays love powder on family members so they're nice and loving on Valentine's Day oh my name is Macy and I wrote a book about a CORI staying the summer with Grandma and becoming friends with their dog my name is eie and I wrote a book about a dog named
016Billy and her neighborhood dog friends and how they sto their owners from being controlled by villains so they'll buy cats and forget about their dogs I'm car and I wrote a book about a cow who escaped and her owner found him at Chick-fil-A my name is Perry and I wrote a book about Cindy and the dragon I it's inspired me cuz I love doing scavenger hunt awesome my name is Eloise and my book is about a hamster who accidentally makes a pizza come to life and tries and fixes his [Music] [Applause] mistake and then we had one more that couldn't be here tonight Colin brandenberger wrote the dilr competition on planet Ando Denny the baker entered a big baking contest Nate another contestant cheated by ruin ruining Denny's cake and buying one instead of making
017his own Denny didn't give up and baked a new cake from scratch earning a high score when Nate was caught cheating he was disqualified and Denny won becoming a world famous Baker positions but this is so much better I can never tell you so thank you very much it's wonderful all right Dana you got to follow that I know I I might I think I might just head they were too good thank you very much just like I know just like that they knew I was up for my [Laughter] presentation Mr Dugan thanks you should have been [Laughter] last all right are we ready um we're going to start with uh District shoutouts as you can tell our district is one in a million pretty amazing I'm going to start with Eagle View um we
018want to shout out nurses Jacqueline Archer and Carrie kler they have been excellent additions to our building they stepped right into their new roles in January and have already done so much for our students and staff on top of lovingly caring for our sick children they are jumping in with health and wellness education programs for both students and staff and I can speak to this as well I've been meeting with the nurses every quarter to make sure we're consistent across the buildings um and Eagle View has kind of been a little disjointed with their their nursing staff and these two have really pulled it together and done some amazing things and are working really well with Mrs V Park viw we would like to extend a huge shout out to Lauren Noti the amazing head
019cook at Parkview Lauren leads a dedicated team of hardworking ladies in the kitchen and her positive attitude makes all the difference in creating a welcoming and cheerful lunch experience for our students her commitment to Excellence and her kindness never go unnoticed thank you to Lauren for everything you do to ensure our students have a great meal and a great experience you truly are a positive impact on our school Community we're lucky to have you on our team Middle School um moving our way across is Mrs Amber Haven who consistently goes above and beyond for her students she makes science fun and engaging and because of her every one of her students proudly calls themselves a scientist Mrs Haven's dedication to learning never stops she's always signing up for workshops expanding her knowledge and even sharing
020her expertise as a speaker her passion for teaching is matched only by her kindness and unwavering support for her students stop by and see your teach sometime you will be amazed see D Ms is beyond lucky to have her and then we have our high school Amanda sanfield she's staff member of the month her class is most often filled to the Max and her Aromas fill the hallways making the building extra hungry CHS is lucky to have Mrs Stanfield to lead our family consumer science classes I can personally share that I sat in on a demonstration to make cream brulee and I can also confidently say that I would never be able to execute it successfully we are very lucky to have Mrs Stanfield um additionally we have Suzanne garleb she is a ticket taker
021and a cook um You probably have seen her at sporting events being a ticket taker her smile is absolutely contagious and she is a true asset to our High School athletics a big shout out to Suzanne garley um in addition to that I I didn't I don't have it in the presentation but we are on the tail end of our winter um Athletics and extracurricular activities so I did share um some information with you in a handout of course cheer team went first to State super exciting um we sent one of our female Bowlers up to state today she will be competing at Rockford that is super exciting as well a lot of good things are happening um now I do have a presentation um Mr fr is going to help me at this point
022in time as I shared in December we are working really hard on our college and career path Pathways we want to um really start opening that up not only externally but internally we have and we're going to Pilot our first internal um career pathway next year with the help of Mr frish we're going to do it in construction so the first thing I wanted to talk to you about is our course sequence for this career pathway um we want in order to get an endorsement through the state you have to complete year three and year four so we have one senior that will be graduating in 2027 that will achieve the endorsement the next year looking at our sophomore enrollment we'll have two students again you just need one to start the momentum we are
023super excited about this and we are going to start communicating it and we have a lot of ideas in order to continue this sequence I also got to go into the construction um class today again I can confidently say that I probably shouldn't be using that Machinery but it was a really cool experience and some really great things are happening um and I'm really excited to be partnering with Mr frish um Fresh Off The the Press before I let him um jump in and share some information I'm also networking with the East Peoria High School CTE director she is going to come down at the end of March to meet with me to see where we're at with our college career Pathways to help us um do some of the things they're implementing she has
024some really great ideas so I'm going to also include Mr Reeves on that because it might be some schedule adjustments not for next year but possibly the following year some really cool things on the horizon and I'm excited um with the pathway there are three certain components that you have to have to make it um happen internally so I am going to let Mr fr and our student Justice talk a little bit about the career exploration okay if you guys you guys can go up if you want to okay so like we're talking about expanding the program right now we pretty much do the production Tech the carpentry going into the construction aspect so we would like to expand on that and get the students firsthand knowledge out there on the different jobs whether it
025be U excavation actual carpentry could be cabinet making things like that so I've got in touch with uh FM Brothers uh masry they're out of red bud uh Walters they have a cabinet shop down in Evansville pretty large facility actually and uh they both seem extremely excited about the concept of us supplying maybe a pipeline of potential workers for them in the future actually right now this is the golden age for anybody in the trades whether you're getting your car worked on housebuilt painted anything in the trades there is such a vacuum need of actual workers coming in they've all expressed so much or the two of them and the other ones that I talked to expressed extreme excitement for the potential for this to happen so um we did take a uh we're going
026to take a field trip to both of those uh the the facility at the uh Cabinet Shop he's got a a large Factory we're going to take a trip there and then in the afternoon we're going to head out to um the actual job site where the Mason masonry work is going on and Mr fian's going to give the boys a pitch there um so that's what we've that set up tentatively for March April somewhere in that area so we did take a field trip back this uh fall up to the uh Expo Center up at the fairgrounds of Beville and that was a great great opportunity there were I think 15 or 20 unions represented there and they they had our group of 12 students for about 10 minutes to give their pitch again
027it was almost a a quasi job fair they were pitching their union job whether it was a carpenter could have been a u excavator worker and they had everything from the simulators to they actually did the Hands-On processes and it was just a great experience for the boys so Justice would you like to talk a little bit about that what you thought about that and it led us get like a good connections into like the community and helped us like see what was out there for us see what they gave us a paper that gave us how much we were going to get paid if we wanted to go into that trade what our benefits were um how long it would take us to get to a journey man if we wanted to do any
028of that stuff it had a lot of stuff that was Hands-On for us to get and to see what we wanted to do if we wanted to get our hands dirty in that type of work yep and again it it sold them again my guys that come down at my end of the shop going to college is great but it's not for everybody so I tell them you can come in leave with your diploma go to these places lure Brothers they another one they'll take you in they'll train you they'll give you what you need and it is very very common to make six figures in a very short time these are highp paying high skilled very very very much in demand jobs that everybody can do them right yeah you worked the simulators on
029the excavators it was great so again just a a wonderful opportunity in addition to what we have there this is what we'd like to expand into so absolutely so the career exploration is extremely important to this pathway another part is team based challenges and this is actually a part that deters districts from doing these Pathways because it's kind of cumbersome but what's so amazing is for every pathway you need two team based challenges and Mr fr is already doing one um so really it's just looking at what you're already offering and then putting it together as this pathway so just briefly you would talk about the bidding process which is such an amazing process for our students to experience with what you're trying to get off the ground for your Eagle Solutions so yeah back
030in the fall September October um part of the curriculum going into this year I led the um construction class we actually went out and we bid a job for some ladies down in Dupo and it was an 8 by8 garden shed typical garden shed and uh so we sent the we made our crew up went out figured out what they wanted what the customer cust wanted we bidded the job to them presented it to them they gave us the okay and put the materials up we built it modular in our shop took it apart then went out on site for what two days like three or two days yeah two days we put it back together uh assembled it roofed it good to go so the whole process was bidding the job designing it building
031it producing it transport tearing it down transporting it reassembling and I just want to say that was a large undertaking but it it's it was incredible the feedback we got from the neighbors that they they came in and I heard from different ones they were amazed that these guys went out and did what they did in the short amount of time they're like you guys do that all the time but that's just that's what you do in the real world and they got a real taste of it they did the work they they called in for the quotes for the business again real life so awesome we did it without even knowing we were going to be doing it doing it exactly that's what's so amazing um and then the last big piece and um
032Mr frish has been um amazing and getting us some connections we have to give them intern opportunities where are some of those companies that will take and give them onsite um experience and and we have two um definitely and I I know there's more but we're just building this pathway um but go ahead and speak a little bit on the internet ship opportunities you have um Walter's cabinet for example we my curriculum right now I concentrate on teaching cabinet making I go back to the basics on it and you may or may have have seen some of the stuff we built first semester leading up to this semester but Walters I when I called Glenn Walters and talked to him that man was like you got to be kidding me you're really going to do
033this you're going to supply me with people that have this knowledge this work I'm like yeah I I can give you you know this is what we're teaching he's extremely excited about it and he's very excited on the concept of having an intern and it it would be the full the full thing through and um yeah again I go back to these industries or these companies everything in the trades they are needing badly the amount of people to come in just just the shortage of workers and if we give them that um that's amazing and that's a local company too so so I think it's about 30 minutes away in regards to the actual Factory so we'll get to go take a field trip there make our pitch or listen to what he's got demonstrate
034it it's pretty high tech too it's um it's a good opportunity um so that's that's the one I got lined up and like I said I've talked to no less than six or seven opportunities that we could probably get into so absolutely and and this is our first pathway I'm already setting the stage for hopefully our second pathway that's going to be EG um so I'm going to be meeting with Mr bur and Mrs gruin to hopefully get that set up for our second pathway um we have to start somewhere and again I'm all about student opportunities and I feel like this these are opportunities that definitely can benefit our district and the students thank you very much ask question on your cabinet oh are you doing it all by hand or CNC oh no
035no this is all hand we go back to like carpentry for example I've got three carpentry classes they do total join it's all by hand no CNC work um they understand the aspects of hardwood plywood veneers they do it all by hand if Walters he does have CNC so they will get practical experience I go back to they want students understanding the basics and then they they'll train you lure Brothers has told me this uh fans everybody they'll train you what they need you to go into and Boeing when I worked at Boeing they were very much similar they want you to understand the concept of what you're doing when I have these guys work we make it all by hand we get the actual cheats of plywood and we've produced kitchen cabinet sets probably
036probably four sets of kitchen cabinet sets already from that we make the count we can make the countertops if you want laminated countertops slate marble those types of things are big now but yeah I teach them the basics so they understand what they're making would it help to have a CNC machine to well yes but you have to understand the the size constraints too where we're in there uh Mr Reeves has been great he's when I came in three years ago he said what do you need to make this work and I gave him a list of a couple machines and we got them and we use them we make we make rais panel doors we make entire we make everything I've seen some of your work is amazing and and that's what I want
037them I want them to understand what they're making why they're making it how to make it and um CNC would be good um but for what I'm teaching them I want them to know the basics to know what they're doing but yeah perfect thank you m thank you both um the next thing I wanted to mention is AI I'm not sure if you guys have heard about AI but it is definitely on the horizon we've started uh preliminary discussions um as an admin team to start talking about implementation for both students and staff I found this statistic pretty interesting in 2023 only 133% of teens were using chat GT or PT I always mix up that acronym um for their homework and then to 2024 it jumped up to 26% um so it's definitely a
038need um and I feel like we can avoid it but I would rather look at it head-on so we are utilizing the tools to the best of our ability and we're using them smart um I am uh scheduling professional development through our Roe for our middle school and high school staff on our half dayss both the 21st and the 28th any questions on AI um curriculum updates uh social studies I'm still planning on bringing you a recommendation for curriculum in April um we're stying the stage for an Ela curriculum adoption process this will be a little bit longer than social studies um there are more programs to review and I want to make sure that we have admin and teacher input and all of the things possibly doing a pilot in 2025 to 26 to
039then officially roll out the following year act I'm still so proud of our act after school program um I did want to share the attendance 60 were enrolled on the first day we had 49 um then the second day we had 49 I'm still very happy with that because I feel like we've had a lot of sickness going around and we are still touching um a big or impacting a big group of students um what the teachers that are leading the program say great data being being generated with the New Horizons program for the classroom and after school program use um I hope we set the bar extra high in Columbia I I want our ACT scores to to Skyrocket and really really show Illinois how it's done um I've also started meeting with student
040focus groups this has been actually the highlight of some of my work this past month I met with fourth graders and then I met with fifth through e8th grade um at the middle school and then I did a high school group um the executive members of the student council and I asked him three questions how do you learn best how do you like to be assessed and what does a quality School look like and I will tell you every single age group gave me different answers but there was one consistency with the second question how do you like to be assessed they said paper pencil and I thought that that was so unique because we have ai right we have turned to such a technology-driven generation so really good um conversations I shared with the
041students that their voices should be heard in addition to all of the other voices of the school they are bringing good information as well so last thing don't forget um the five essential survey I did send out information about that on Tuesday um when you see the link we would love to have your feedback your voices matter this is a piece um of data for all of our school Improvement plans so it is really important um if you wouldn't mind participating any questions that's all I havek you you're welcome on to our superintendent report yeah and um as you said to Dr gainy that the she had a hard show to follow I wasn't going to say it again I just I I wantan to yeah I I I just want to say that um
042I came into this meeting really just not even knowing what I was going to say like for the superintendent report usually I've got our stuff you know the PTA they they raised over $5,000 with their fundraiser this last month you know the the just you keep getting moved by what's going on in this District of the wonderful things that that our community can do I mean when you have a principal who decides to have the crazy idea of we're going to serve a fancy meal to our kids for Valentine's Day and everybody gets behind it and goes running when you've got teachers that are know a kid taking lessons on the cello and says I'm going to get them in the All State and the fellow teachers say yeah well I've Got Talented kids too
043let's get a team going you know um we've got jobs going on and and when he says anybody can do that stuff they can't I took shop sir and I can do a lot of things but but when you pull the tail and the light doesn't go on it's it's just we are basically what I've been doing is I've been planning for next year and what I'm just honestly going to tell you is when you get the right people in the right places I'm just trying to keep up with everybody around me so um it's good it's good and we will have an executive session for personnel but no action afterwards perfect beautiful nice one well done all right we'll move on to our items for Action the first one is the approval of the
044student trip to Europe opportunity you're on okay good evening my name is drost um I've been teaching for 32 years and three of them at the high school um I'm pretty passionate about international travel and I think um we have two great trips already through the high school one uh with the Spanish group and one with the German students but I'd like to open up a trip to students that aren't um maybe interested in languages just to have that experiential travel in Europe um my personal passion for this started when I was in high school I was lucky enough to take two trips I went to um so the Soviet Union when it was still communist controlled because I am that old um and I was also able to go to Europe as well um
045my personal children were able to take a trip in high school and then my daughter actually became a French teacher uh and because partly because of that trip the experience that she had on that uh the last two years she has asked me to uh chaperon with her on her school trips we took a group of students in 23 to France and um a trip last year uh she was planning to do a trip every three years or so and the kids were so excited about it that they said can we go again can we go again so she didn't want to do the same trip so last year we went to french- speaking Canada um some of the same kids went and a bunch of new kids joined us as well on those two
046trips so really what I'm here to do is to ask for your permission basically to uh use the facilities and to give students information but it's not a school sponsor trip um but it is an international trip for our students in the in the district um some of the reasons for that is an expanded worldview uh personal growth and life skills it's not this trip is more experiential in nature it is not intended to be for an academic subject area I teach English one of the part part of the trip that I'm proposing is to the Globe Theater um they have it reconstructed in London uh we do some Shakespeare study and I think it really would be neat for the kids to see what that looks like um there another thing that I do
047I teach all sophomores and uh we we read uh the novel Night by Ellie wiel and it's his experience during the Holocaust um there is outside of Munich uh a concentration camp DOA the kids can understand what that's like when we read the novel and we do a lot of background information about that but until they stand in that hollowed place and they can feel what that's like they really don't have a grasp of it uh and I've been able to experience that personally what that attitude change is when you actually see a place like that in person um so it also increases confidence and competence in students um there's some Independence on that trip they're not with their parents they're not with a family group uh they learn interaction overseas uh this is not
048just to another state it's actually to another country for some students it's the first time they've used a passport the first time for some of the students that I've taken in the past that they've actually boarded an airplane um so it really is a pretty neat experience uh the there are basically two tour companies that provide these trips one is called EF Tours the other is World strides I've been in contact with both of those companies um world explor by World strides has been around for 55 years their trips are a little bit uh less expensive at least to the places that I'm proposing that we go uh they offer $50 million liability insurance that covers the chaperon the the trip company Etc um and Dr G will speak a little bit more to liability
049in terms of the school's liability or the district's liability to a trip like this um um what is covered in the price of that is basically everything from the beginning of the trip to the end with the exception of lunches uh students purchase their own lunch when we're out and one of the reasons is that uh some of the places that we go they have the opportunities to sample all kinds of different cultural Foods while we're there and so want to give those students that opportunity to kind of pick and choose what they want um so lunches are not covered but uh we every evening they provide a a meal that is is cultural in nature so they'll eat Mediterranean they'll eat um you know German um different sausages and things when they're in Munich
050and so it it really is a neat experience that way as well uh some of the other things uh the guidelines for this trip um if if I were to put it on would certainly be no family members that changes the whole tenor of the trip itself and I think an important part of this is that independence of going um and that would include uh teacher chaperons who have children in the building as well so I think it's really important that the kids do not have their parents on that trip with them um you can take any size trip that you'd like through World strides or explor by World strides it's a 5:1 chaperon student ratio uh so I would not want to take fewer than 10 students on the trip because I think uh
051you always should have two adults that are there just uh in case something comes up an example of that on the last trip uh to Europe we had a student that got sick and needed to stay at the hotel that day um she was Ill so one of the shaper rooms was able to stay there while I took the rest of the group um to our scheduled tours for that day also and especially as we start something like this um I would not want to take more than 20 um it's just the the logistics of that get really cumbersome with more than 20 students and 20 is very manageable um and it gives students enough room away from each other and other choices of students but not too many um let's see so um Dr
052gy and I have been talking about this presentation together and some of the things that we would we want to put policies into place so that if you approve something like this it's a success going forward and some of those things would include uh basically a character reference for students we don't it's not academic nature so it's not limited to students taking certain classes or certain GPA but it is limited to students of character we are taking them internationally and so we want students that uh have that character so uh we think some place some things in place for that would be no in school or out of school suspensions during their time at the high school no excessive absences or tardies um and then we would send a teacher survey for those students that
053are interested in tending to teachers that we can get some feedback on character for those students um but once again class enrollment and academic success are not factors um the idea if this trip if if we go forward on this trip is that I would first have a meeting for students only at school during school time during our our home room time just to lay out what the parameters of the trip look like to see if there is even interest for students if there is then I will have an after school meeting with parents I do want that to be in person I do want contact UM face to face with parents they can get to know me and and understand you know how I'm going to run things on the trip uh and then
054uh give them some time to digest that and then they will sign something that says yes that we're interested and once I have that back I will send that uh out to the teachers and ask for their help doing a character reference for those students and then student selections will be made from that um if all the students uh that have met that character standard uh and have expressed an interest in going and interest in going if there's between 10 and 20 that's very easy if it's over 20 then we would go in the order that those uh were submitted so that interest was submitted um it would be open to students they're currently Juniors sophomores and freshmen there's a big Advantage for me in that because I've taught all of the southmor with the
055exception of about 12 each year um and so I know all the students personally or most of the students personally and have been here now three years so I will know all the students that would be interested in taking the trip so that's a big Advantage it also gives students if they wanted to go and attend the trip they know freshman year they can start saving this would be something we would like to do again in future years if it's successful which I assume that it will be um so they can save money and prepare for that trip as as the years go by um probably some of this I've already covered and so I'll just uh go through it real quickly yeah not quite that quickly Dr um so um the chaperon are covered
056under the Explorer cability Insurance and again we wouldn't want any um parents of students to be those chaperon any chaperon that chaperon that goes would meet the same standards that teachers in the districts do so background checks and fingerprint checks and so forth it's really important that the chaperons that go have a similar view of the trip and run a tight ship because again we are international um and so it's not there's a lot of um stress that goes into a trip like this to make sure that everything runs off without a hitch and that students are safe because that's number one priority and so that's certainly what we would be looking for in chaperon um sometimes uh these trips they require a certain minimum and to fill buses and so forth and so sometimes
057you're you're stuck with a group from another school or from another District or another place um so it is important uh that you know that's true based on group size um that that is a possibility of that happening um but our group would all be together with our chaperons all the time so and then um we would ask uh parents and students who attend the trip to sign a conduct agreement um and that conduct agreement even though some of them in Europe would be legally allowed to drink alcohol for example the minimum age is 17 and we might have some seniors that have already reached 18 years old at that point that that is an absolute noo along with tobacco and drugs and uh they will have signed a paper that says if you are
058doing those things on this trip you will be sent home at your expense immediately and you'll be sent home individually um so you we'll place you on the plane we'll get you to the airport we'll put you on the airplane and then send you home uh at your expense and parents know that upfront it's extremely important we can't have that happening um when we're overseas um there is some independent student time on these trips so uh the tour guide who is familiar with that that culture and that has taken these trips many many times will take us to a certain place and say Here's your paramet in Paris for example there's a shopping district that also has about 50 food vendors restaurants and so forth and lunchtime is two and a half hours and so
059they'll say you have two and a half hours these are your parameters you stay in this place we'll meet back here at this time um but we also put some safety measures in place they have to have at least three people in a group one person in that group has to have access to an international data plan or telephone so they can reach us and we can reach them at any time in case of an emergency um must stay in their designated area and they must return back at the correct time it's not possible for us to um be awake 247 on the trip so it is absolutely essential that students after curfew remain in their room um with their doors locked the entire time there are some in the hotels by the time we
060get back the students are so tired that they don't want to stay up anyway they want to get to bed because they're going to be getting up early the next morning um but uh so that is one of the rules that they uh agree to before we go as well the hotels that we stay in have been fully vetted by the tour company that we go to uh if you've traveled to Europe you know that their hotels are much different than our hotels here in America the rooms are much smaller for example many of them don't have air conditioning so it's a different experience for kids when they're there but the room sizes are between three and four students per room but we don't know until we get there exactly how large the rooms are
061how many rooms we'll have so we have all those contingencies planned for before we go so if we have rooms of two these are the students that or three excuse me these are the students that will room together rooms of four and so forth um just very quickly the the proposed trip that I'm making is to London the highlight of that trip for me is the Globe Theater um but we'll also do the other sightseeing uh places in London um and that is on the first day and then we'll make our way across the Chunnel um to Paris and go to the lou of course and the Eiffel Tower it does say that it's an optional um tour but actually I've spoken to the tour company because I don't want it to be optional it's
062$80 and that would just be part of the price but we will go to Versailles um it is quite the experience to be there it's also where the treaty to end World War I was signed among many other things it is quite a neat experience for the students so we would do that then we'll take the fastest train in Europe to to uh Switzerland um spend the day there and then end the trip eight eight nights 10 days and we'll end the trip in Munich um I teach in to my sophomores I teach a novel by LEL called KN um it's his experience in the Holocaust and um he is actually in aitz uh but there is a concentration camp right outside of Munich called daau and the experience that students have when they stand
063in that place that hollowed ground you you can just see their their world viiew is completely changed it is such a neat experience for the kids and so very powerful for them and then we fly home from from Germany uh back home at that point um depending on when we book The Tour price is somewhere around $5 $100 for 10 days eight nights it is expensive but also well worth it I would I would argue um if there is interest this is something we would like to continue doing uh every two years the trip would not always remain exactly the same but still a similar experience to that uh again not academic in nature but experiential and then um giving students a time to plan and to save what we'd really like to do is
064get we have a great Community here we would really like to tap into that Community to um offer some scholarships to students that have Financial need to go while not in place now it's something that we would look forward to doing in the future um to give those students that opportunity to attend as well um and I the trip that I took to Paris uh the last two years ago we actually had a student it worked out great in that Community uh he was able to get some donations so that he was able to go on that trip and he was so thankful for that experience it was really really neat um trips are offered by a lot of different schools in our um in our uh conference uh Sparta Steeleville freeberg wesland and new
065a new aens uh offer those trips they're not school sponsored but they do offer uh the person running those trips a place to meet and or allow fundraisers for those trips Lebanon currently offers a school trip it it is a school trip they are trying to change the the leader of that trip is trying to change that so it's not school sponsored so there's not liability for the district um but it is happening around us um I think uh explorica um has taken over a million students from America on International trips over their 55 year history so um and that's just a tour itinerary that I think you have and Dr G you're going to speak to the right Mr post well first I have to commend Mr post because he has taken a lot
066of time with me answering all of my many questions um so this has been a work in progress and I I'm excited it's all about student opportunities right and that's exactly what Mr post and I have been working on what can we offer these students that that deserve so much um it is not a school sponsored trip that was really hard for me to wrap my brain around because we have a a School employee that's offering the trip so Dr Grody and I kind of dug into it um I had him reach out to our liability coverage indivi um carrier we do not have to do anything through um that carrier because it is offered to the company however um there was a recommendation to to go through our attorney to have all parents sign
067the liability waiver um that way the school is safe in that capacity um again the liability coverage through explor transparent communication with families that was extremely important to Mr post and I he can't be everywhere all the time we have to have trust we have to have some student selection process that's why that was extremely important and we as we plan together and a clear understanding of the process um we just want the to grow again kind of like what I said with CTE it takes one for the momentum to start um any questions from Mr post or myself on the possible opportunity for students to go to Europe so where do you get your chaperon so you don't want family members so normally parents are chaperon which you don't want the family members so
068right so it would be then one one chaperon for every five students so at Max we would have four chaperon so um I would be one of those chaperon and then we really Dr and and I will work through um that chaperon process through other teachers in our district um who are interested love right here that's we will have no shortage of people interested in going but it's really I know like when I was read I also used to teach night I taught that for years so that would be amazing I also taught Shakespeare that would be am I am going to be if this goes through the most popular teach no but yeah there will certainly be no shortage in in finding chaperons her going it's really important that the chaperons that go though
069run a tight ship and and it's all about the student safety and it's not I mean it's it sounds like it but it's not about a free trip for teachers because it's way more work than it's you know than a trip that you get to take to places you've been before it's really about giving those stud students that opportunity to experience those things and so a lot of times behind the scenes the chaperons are working on other things and making sure that a student who's not feeling well that day you know that you get them a Sprite or whatever so it's it's more about that what time a year do you plan to so this trip uh the quote that we have right now is June it's on the very first slide it goes to
070July 2nd so it' be after school is out um and it really the price fluctuates on when you go I'm just trying to make the prices um as low as possible to give that opportunity to many kids and then non-stop flights are there did we know yet so so we will fly for sure from here to um either Chic Pro we'll fly from Lambert they don't tell you exactly you fly one of the major character uh carriers but they don't tell you exactly what that flight is because they're finding the cheapest price they can um last time that I went when we went to Canada we flew through New York but when we went overseas we flew through Atlanta so it would be from Lambert to one of those International hubs and then it into
071in fact it tells us where we fly into um but it's not nonstop I I apologize I left mine over sorry oh yeah straight into London to and then we fly out of it tells us as well I apologize have that top of my Munich Munich thank you thank you and chaperon stay in their own rooms kids stay in their own room so there oh yeah right adult students certainly are in different rooms um and uh those rooms are decided beforehand for the students so the the best option is obviously they're rooming with their friends or people that they know which is a great thing here in Colombia because the kids all know each other and they I have been I have to tell you I've taught for 29 years before I came to this
072district and I am just stunned by how well these kids get along with one another and so um yeah and they don't we're not guaranteed to even be on the same floor with those students it depends on that hotel and that's why there is a certain level of trust that goes there when curfew is um we go by and check so we'll knock on the door so everybody goes to their room at 10:00 for example 10:30 you know basically is a kind of a lights out idea so at 10 20 we walk around knock on the door count heads everybody's here you're in for the night lock your door and we'll see you in the morning yeah I I will say I appreciate all the leg work you've done on this I'm very familiar with
073these trips and can tell you having traveled over in Europe extensively and spent time talking to other I was early 20s when I did it the first time and talking to other travel groups that we're going through because you'd see the the American travel groups like going through so I always would talk to them and see what the experiences are and the feedback from them and just you know like talking about visiting one of the you know concentration camps I'm glad it's at the end kind of sets the right tone to where they have all these positive experience and then they low grounded before they come home I mean it's real but it's there's there's a reason you put things in certain orders right so I definitely appreciate all you're doing there um I will
074also Echo the chaperon it is not a vacation um it it is a lot of work CU out of 20 kids you're going to have like you said a couple that don't feel well a couple that are homesick some that are just nervous about everything because they don't speak your language and the food's different and you know it's I tell you I'm scared of but it's it's awesome and when we went up the Eiffel Tower I had three students that were scared Heights and we all did it like this but we all did it keep keep back to the wall yeah I can see Mr post me a picture I can in fact I think the picture is that at the end of the slideshow and I I was like I can see I do
075I love this opportunity my mom was from Pakistan she took us when we were very little um overseas a lot just by herself without my dad and it was it was they were experiences that shaped my life and and my siblings lives and so I I do think it's important for kids to have an opportunity at least to get out of a bubble and to be uncomfortable in different in different parts of the world and see that there's a very big Ro out there with a lot of different people and a lot of different cultures and that's not it when you do it at a younger age it does definitely help shape that this isn't it you know and so I I think this is a fantastic opportunity and I appreciate you saying that as
076well because in my experience the kids really they are out of their bubble and they are uncomfortable in certain things like when we sit down to eat a meal and they're like what is this I've never seen any of this it's like you have to try it and it's amazing and at first they like I'm not you have to try it and once they do oh this is great you know well it's funny because I think even if they feel like they hat it at the time they come back and it still just changed and shaped them in in a different way you know talk about it talk about it yeah yeah so no I think this is I think it's wonderful thank you any other questions great presentation really great do we have a
077motion to approve we have any discussion first I think so I think they covered everything yeah you sure did very very thorough good job good job I love the idea I think it's fantastic thank you for bringing it Forward both you and and both that's it's that's what makes our community different and that's fantastic so well hearing no discussion further andbody like to make a motion to approve the student trip to Europe that was quick thank you motion Trel there you go and seconds list do I'm not sure if there's money involved let's do a roll call just in case Adam Hunkin yes Andrea Cory yes Kelly Moyer yes Greg Meyer yes Luisa schacher yes Tyson search yes Marine friedr yes congratulations you're going to Europe well hopefully kids are excited about it so and
078I have a feeling if you need any chaperon come on back and I think we'll probably be a find one or two for you here so all right next item is the approval for the 20252 26 school calendar all right this is in your packets and we recommend that you approve it so that we can have school next year teacher Institute days on the 12th and the 13th of August with the first attendance days on Thursday um this does put the snow days at past Memorial I know that that's not a big thing but when you've got coming back from the winter holiday on a Thursday with New Year's and whatnot it's just some years work that way way we had a lot of snow days this year so I'm sure we'll have none next
079year anyone know not snow snow day that said uh Administration recommends you approve the calendar as presented questions comments concerns hearing none may may like to make a motion to approve the school calendar I'll make the motion Thank you Lisa second I'll second Tyson seconds all in favor any opposed any extensions unanimous all right next is see the Furniture bids for CHS project yeah and what we did was we um pulled this out of the the larger bid specs and what what you do is you say these are the types of Furnitures we want and then you send it out to companies and the companies then bid on those Furnitures you go with the lowest bidder and then you get to then do the shopping so what we did here was we said if we're
080going to buy this what would it cost and everybody's got to give us the price for the same item and then we get to go through and go and and and pick out those items all of that process said uh Administration recommends the board award the furniture contract to uh of for the high school addition to circadia there were three companies circadia CI select and facilitech and circadia was the low bidder which Circ is a division of color Arts right yeah right any questions comments concerns so Chris part of this package is we are we went through and did a inventory of existing furniture and we're not buying everything new this correct this is what to supplement what we're able to reuse yes yes yes I should have made that more clear and apologize take
081it any other questions comments all right anybody like to make a motion to approve the bid I'll make the motion your bid thank you Adam P second I'll second Thank you Lisa roll call please Andre Cory yes Ellie Moyer yes Greg Meyer yes Lisa schacher yes Tyson search yes noran friedrick yes Adam hkin yes all right so now we're going to buy some furniture now we need some signs to let people know where the furniture is yes this this the signage went through the same process where we said we want this many signs and whether or not we actually get those many signs it's neither here nor there we go with the lowest bidder um we had three signage company Summit Craftsman and Warren Administration recommends the board award the sign contracts to Summit signs
082which happens to be here in local as well local as well yeah any questions comments concerns regarding the sign bid hearing none may me like to make a motion to approve the signed bid I'll make that motion thank you Adam second I'll second thank Andrea roll call please Kelly Moyer yes Greg Meyer yes Lisa shoeer yes Ty Norine friedr yes Adam hkin yes Andre Court yes thank you all all right that concludes ours for I items for Action the next one is our discussion items we'll start off with our facility study yeah um we had a meeting today went over how everything's going it's going well Logistics is always the big issue Phase 2 bids get opened next week Tuesday on the 25th at the end of the day so in March we will have
083a bunch of action items hopefully to award bids for Phase 2 construction um believe it or not this year there's been 23 weather days it's been very cold and it's been very wet and snowy and so we've had 3 days but we talked about it uh the goal is to get into the a into the office area in August and so over the summer we actually met with uh Kelton Davis the Roe guy today our Roe superintendent for our um project permit the building permit and then we talked about getting the occupancy permit because what's going to happen is is the office area which is in front of where the office area is now and that hallway of classrooms and then the auditorium we'll get into the office and that hallway and then those classrooms
084in the auditorium we might not have access to yet but we'll have partial occupancy opening up the front of the building when the front of the building is open that will allow them to then take all the fencing down those parking spaces come back to us and they take over the back and that's when phase two actually starts and so the awarding of the bids then goes with Phase 2 being built but Phase 2 can't start getting built until we've got the front doors open because our current front doors which are in the back need to be moved back to the front it's just it's all of those Logistics have have gone through and we went through while they're doing that construction what is the flow of egress for like the girls locker room or
085the boys locker room when they're changing should a fire alarm hit they'll have to do what we're doing now which is kind of exiting into the work area but there's going to be a a a pathway that would allow them to go out and everything so the uh Del kelon Davis was happy with all of the plans he seemed to be responsive to everything that we're doing and uh I think that was pretty much it for today well and we have a groy bridge I'm I'm going to officially take this opportunity name it the Grody Bridge the Grody Bridge your superintendent was very diligent and figured out that an egress was being blocked by some construction so he went and stopped work and we constructed a bridge over troubl concrete I guess Tri holes so
086the students are safe and we have our flow of ESS we do yes this is correct so anyway well thank you for that that was bridge over TBL Waters that's right triple something think rock it wouldn't be a construction project if it wasn't frustrating at points I like the groy bridge though has a ring to it sure all right Adam anything you want to add I'll take a toll for excited to see the structural steel going up and can't wait to see next week hopefully when it warms up a little and pouring more concrete so they can keep expanding to the right as well as pouring the decking very shortly there'll be no more need for a bridge because they're going to get that concrete just it's going to be level ground out there and
087so um yeah hopefully next week right yeah yeah as soon as it gets above degrees something about pouring concrete when it's below I believe Mr fr brought his guys out there when they were doing concrete also you brought them out for one time and you probably should get get with Donnie and bring them out there again because it is a great experience for them we've had several discussions with involving you guys' class with the construction and Mak some opportunities so they're yeah they're very willing and very aware that we want great experience Happ like a lot of construction they'd be they'd love to hire Our People Too get in line right all right anything else all right move on to individual board member comments you have anything today I have two things awesome real quick
088um with Mr first being here tonight that kind of made me think of before Alyssa decided to leave our district I had started working with her to possibly um have trade days like we do college days sure and I think it kind of got talked a little bit about some companies that would possibly maybe want to come to the high school and have a trade day um and it got announced to like the guidance counselors that they were supposed to kind of start working on something like that they they have I've been in communication with your neighbor yeah with the bads yeah they're calling in um Workforce Wednesdays and they're running it through their home room I didn't know it was still carrying on awesome great Workforce Wednesdays is that already started um I don't
089think it's already started the uh uh we're thinking of we're thinking of doing it in March yeah we're going to line someone up every one one Wednesday out of the month awesome your neighbor that works at budm talk we commun yeah and and so yeah yeah cuz I had a Converses I had a conversation with him to see if his company would be interested they went out to waterl waterl did more of a trade show but we're going with this Workforce Wednesday so um and the next thing is um when you all get your journals um if we could possibly take time to read two articles in it um page seven and eight that it it says it's all about the kids and then Pages um 28 through 30 that says amplifying student board voices
090three years ago was the last time that I went to the convention and I attended a couple of the breakout sessions um where schools do get students involved in becoming part of the school board meetings so it might be like a junior or a senior um you decide how many board members you want amongst the students and I thought maybe that's something that we could read this and maybe have a discussion item at our next meeting to maybe we want to start introducing that we will I made a note we'll follow up okay thank you perfect anyone else Bo's prerogative is just a very proud for me being here tonight um just the talent with the teachers and the the administration and the staff and everybody in this entire Community coming together and really doing
091what's best for the kids I mean it's we are we are second to none and it's a big reason because a lot of people in this room tonight so thank you all very much for for all of you do and you know it's great to do things when people are watching but it's even better when no one knows and Mr Dugan hasn't been here for a while but he was involved in a play ground resurfacing where our our was it PE gravel was not 8 compatible and just was yeah rubber mulch yeah so outside the window right exactly but but things like that that really make our district fantastic thank you Mr Dugan for all you do and everybody that what you guys do behind the scenes I mean it's it's nice to come here
092and get a little Applause but what you guys really do day in and day out that no one sees is is very impressive and I want to thank each and every one of you so thank you all right we do have an executive session this evening and it is for the purposes of appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of a specific employee of the public body or legal counsel for the public body including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against the employee of the public body or against the legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity pursuant to I 5il cs120 2c1 it's a mouthful all right would be like to make a motion to adj into executive session I'll make the motion thank you Kelly second I'll second Andrea Kim girl
093call Norine no nor I'm sorry you guys sound Al like when I'm not looking so Greg Meyer yes Lisa shoeer yes Tyson Serge yes noran Frick yes Adam Hunkin yes Andre Cory yes Kelly Moyer yes okay time is 8:18 so that concludes the meeting as Mr Gertie alluded to earlier uh we have no action items as a result if you're all more than welcome come back in here as a journ but uh we certainly understand if you don't want to so e e e all right welcome back we are Journey from executive session back in Open session there's no items for Action as a result of our executive session the only thing left is a motion to adjourn I'll second all right we have a motion at second all in favor any opposed all right
094concludes our meeting it's 9:10 p.m. thank you