001Sorry about that. It's 7 o'clock. I'm calling the meeting to order. Can we stand? Uh, can we call the role, please? Member here. Member Sarah here. Member Dalton here. Here. Member Kelly here. Member Zeter. President Zeter is on her way in. She should be in shortly. Can we stand for the pledge, please? I pledge 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. Dr. Nolton, your opening remarks, please. Yes, thank you. I will keep them brief, but uh thank you all for being here tonight. We do have um I think a record number of student recognitions tonight. So, thank you to the parents for being here tonight to celebrate your sons and daughters. Um just
002a couple updates. Institute Day was uh last Friday. Uh went extremely well. Uh STAG was a gracious host. Uh we had uh a great opening presentation, a lot of sessions um that uh we provided for our staff. Um, but Institute Day, as you know, always kind of um, you know, is the is the kind of the first hour of the of the end of the year. So, we we're kind of in that rat race now to get to the to the bitter end. Uh, I do want to recognize two things. Our our fine arts programs, if you haven't if you didn't figure it out walking in, we we have plays and and spring musicals at all three buildings. I think Matilda here, they're all M's, I'm sorry, I get them flipped. Matilda here, um, Mama
003Mia at Samberg and Mean Girls at Stag. So, if you if you have nothing going on after this night, you could join any of our four uh, fine arts programs uh, which are remarkable. The kids do that are incredible. I'm also very proud that this morning we had our work uh, program breakfast. Um, that is for students who decide to uh, take uh, opportunities with our internship program. Uh, and the thing that I noted this morning, um, I've been around a little bit, uh, and I remember starting this, uh, breakfast or lunch and experience, uh, and the room was was smaller than this. Um, and the students that take advantage of our program now, uh, force us to basically pack Silver Lakes Country Clubs, uh, one of their bigger rooms. And I think that's a
004testament to our business departments, our work program, um, and really, um, pushing kids into, uh, what I would call a real life experience in terms of life after high school. So very very proud of them. I have some uh comments on our superintendent's advisory kids who we had our joint meeting, but I'm going to save that because they're here tonight. So we'll we'll save that for when they get recognized. But that is my opening remarks. Thank you. Uh do we have any amendments to the agenda? Uh yes, we do have one amendment to the agenda. Section 3, item C, intergovernmental agreement with assess uh was actually previously approved at a board meeting. So we will not take action on this item. However, uh we will need to um approve the consent agent agenda as amended.
005Okay. All right. Thank you. Welcome, President Zeter. You're right on quue for the president's statement. If you need a moment, good evening everyone. I apologize for my tardy days. Um, first, okay, got my workout running up the stairs. Um, first of all, the on behalf of the board, we strongly want to um thank member Jamber, former member Jabber for his contribution the past three years as board member. So, we wish him nothing but the best for him and his family. That being said, we also want to thank the 18 applicants who have applied for the open board position. We will be um having someone come forward with the oath on May 6. So, we are excited to that person will present. Um kind of I was running up the stairs. That being said, it's always
006hard when you have that many people that apply. It's a good problem to have. When we've had previous openings, we've had upwards of two dozen. This time we had 18. What we strongly encourage is there are 17 people who are going to be told no. Um, but this at the end of this semester, our two-year committees commitments are up and Lisa Pendilski will be sending forth information to the entire community to participate in those committees. And that is sometimes um not always but that is sometimes how we have gotten to see all that people can bring to the table. So those three committees are education, student support and development and then our building and finance. So we still are so pleased and proud of all of the contributions people make. Your voices are heard every
007day and we want you to feel that you have a voice and that is a way for anyone to do so. So we look forward to that information coming forward. So, with that being said, I will now turn it over to communications. And we have our student school board student representatives. Hi, good evening. Our T-Bolt family has continued to raise sparks to finish this academic year strong with some achievements highlighting our building. This April, Andrew's clubs honored autism awareness and ArabAmerican Heritage Month. Additionally, for Earth Day, students participated in fun enrichments in the greenhouse and learned about more about raising awareness and ways to make a positive impact on our environment. Our guidance department and college and career center have put on various post-secondary events this month to assist students in selecting their future college
008or careers of choice. First, our guidance March Madness event provided an opportunity for T-Bolts to meet with representatives and admissions counselors from colleges from all across the country. Additionally, the junior college night provided accessibility to students and families to connect with admissions counselors on April 1st and decision day celebrations for our seniors will take place tomorrow. Spotlighting our fantastic music programs at VJA, our winter percussion took home silver at the WGI Percussion World Championship on April 18th. This prestigious award is a testament to the year-long work of the entire ensemble, and they cannot wait to return to the football field during the upcoming marching season. Future Teolts from 8th grade were on campus last week for a fun and energetic co-curricular night. They had the opportunity to learn from current students about the value of
009extracurricular involvement, including detailed information on club activities, sports teams, meeting schedules, and upcoming tryyout dates. On the evening of April 15th, the annual Golden Bolts Awards night took place and was hosted by Andrew Andrews senior leaders recognizing community members, students, and staff. The celebration united our Tele community with its most helpful and inspirational supporters. From families who selflessly support our school to teles who represent the very best of the student body, the night successfully commemorated the golden bull honores. Recognizing the class of 2026 academics, the annual senior academic recognition night celebrated the top achievers for this year's senior class. To continue the celebration, prom 2026 took place on April 24th at Harry K's Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago, where students enjoyed an unforgettable evening with friends against the city skyline. Overall, Andrew has had
010an exciting and accomplished school year with April bringing many opportunities to celebrate our T-Bolt family. As the class of 2026 prepares for their final days in our halls and future freshmen prepare to begin their own T-Bolt journey, we are proud to continue the spark and leave our mark. I would also like to say I'm very grateful this year to be able to represent Andrew and its student body. So, thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Spring means the start of exciting events and ends with being nostalgic and sentimental for all students, especially for Samberg seniors. To start off, prom was held at the shut aquarium and was a great success. There were so many students who attended and they all had a blast. Furthermore, the teacher of the month was Mr. Joy. Student council members surprised
011him to show their gratitude. Also, the coach of the month was coach fear. Superfans celebrated his dedication to the baseball program in which he makes sure that confidence is sustained for his team with his moto of who are you. The sponsor of the month was Miss Parker and super fans also celebrated her successful commitment to the scholastic bull team which recently earned a fourth place trophy at the IHSA state. Her students thrive under her meaningful and positive attitude. Moreover, Skills USA hosted a book drive in which NHS members can donate gently used books in exchange for hours and for an entry in the raffle to win gift cards. This is a great way for students to be thoughtful of others and give away books they no longer use to those in need. Skills USA wants
012others to be excited about reading and for communities to ensure reading is accessible to everyone. Also, the Samberg art department hosted their spring art show in which very talented art students were able to showcase their skills. There was a night in which families were able to see the art show and during the school day, students were able to see if their classes brought them to the showcase. Adding on, the people program participated in the special games at Stag last week and the theme was minions. Our marching band gave the team a special sendoff with a parade through the commons in front of many students and staff. This is always an event that students look forward to every year. Additionally, Samberg theater students started performing MMA Mia as the musical this year. The show runs from
013Wednesday, April 29th to Saturday, May 2nd. This is such an iconic musical, especially with all the ABBA songs and a lovable story for all audiences. In spring athletics, girls track just hosted its annual invite in honor of the late staff member and coach Bill O'Donovan, while the boys team is hosting its annual Pete Stuck invite this weekend. Samberg badmitten starts its postseason today with the SWSC conference. On April 22nd, our athletics department hosted a signing day breakfast for all 32 seniors who have committed to play a sport in college. It was a great morning recognizing our Eagles who will continue their careers at the next level. To conclude, I would like to thank the board for the opportunity that I've had this year to share exciting news from Samberg. It is always a delight for
014me to see all of you every month and be able to be a bigger part of the D230 community. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening everyone. This past month has been filled with incredible Charger pride as we approach the final stretch of the school year. Our halls are filled with excitement and our students continue to showcase the spirit that makes Stag High School so special. Our seniors are currently making their f most of their final high school days. To keep spirits high, the senior class held a parking spot painting event for only $20. With supplies provided, students were able to leave the creative mark on our school. Furthermore, prom has def was definitely the highlight of the semester. Held at the Bridgeport Center Art Center, our students enjoyed an an amazing experience. From the massive
015elevator entrance to a night filled with dancing and my personal favorite, the mac and cheese dinner, the Charger Pride was truly on display as students celebrated with this milestone together. As we look ahead to the end of the school year, we are hosting our movie on the football field of celebration. Students can look forward to watching Alvin and the Chickm Chipmunks chip chipwreck with delicious tacos and ice cream. Okay. Stag remain remains committed to the building with empathy and perspective. Recently, we hosted a human library event where students checked out real life people to hear the life stories. This was such a great way to build crucial life skills and expand the p perspective of the our student body. We are so honored to host this year's district 230 special Olympics. This host this event
016brought together people tutors and athletes providing a culture of inclusion and commu community. Our program helps connect students of all abilities through through shared training and competition. This year is winding down while and student council is already looking ahead. They are currently organizing the fall 2026 homecoming dance with the student body casting their votes for the next homecoming theme. This the council will continue to meet throughout the summer to kick off the next school year with the same if not more m momentum and energy we had today. Finally, I would like to thank you all for letting me have this unforgettable opportunity each month to come here and speak before all of you. It has been such an honor and brag to come here with all the support you have given us. I won't be
017able to forget these days of my senior year. It was truly a highlight. Thank you. And thank you Dr. noting for putting up with me for four years with all my demands. Hold on a second, ladies. If all three of you could come stand back up. Um, the thank you is from us as well. I'm going to have each of the chairs give that their gift. You come here with courage and convin conviction, with spunk and energy, and you're the reason why we do what we do. You are representing your fellow classmates with honor and we wish you nothing but the best. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Do you have an extra pen, sir? Oh, I found one. Okay. Next on the agenda is our student and staff spotlight. school. Go school by
018school. I know we have a lot which is also another honor list of us. All right. Uh good evening everyone. My dispute pleasure to recognize a plethora of Samberians here tonight for doing great things at our great school. Um we are going by school for all the recognition. So I hope I'm in teaching shape because I'm going to say a lot of words consecutively here. So I hope I got it in me to get through all these recognition. We have no doubt. No pressure. Uh first up though um happy to have here tonight uh Jannine Ali who recently served the Chicago Bears Community High School All-Star award after being nominated by her girls swag football coach Laura Danic. So let's give them a round of applause. It's this is a truly special award. Um you
019know coach uh nominated Janine and um Chicago Bears gave us the notice that we're coming to the school. we're going to surprise Janine and her family with with the award, which was great. And I don't know if there's a more aptly named award for someone like Janine than uh a community high school all-star. So, she does great work on the field, on the court, and our girls flag football and basketball uh teams. She's a outstanding student and just embraces all that she does at Samberg with a quiet competence and focus that uh truly embodies those the ideals of learning, growing, and inspiring uh each and every day. So, uh, Janine's a junior, so we get to hang out with her for a little bit more at Samberg. So, I'm there's probably another visit here coming
020up in the board thing, but one more round of applause for Janine. Congratulations. All righty. Next up, uh, shifting to honor one of our staff members, Ma Abdel Aziz. come on up. Uh, Nita recently earned recognition for her work as a multiaceted uh, activity sponsor at Samberg from the IDSA. This is a state level of recognition for uh, Nidita and like all the good vibes, all the good things, all the good feeling experiences at Samberg I think uh, Nita has her link with. So, uh, she guides our super fans who, uh, have been down state a few times, came home with the state championship trophy or ring a few times. So, Anita's done great work with that group as far as not just generating momentum and enthusiasm in our games, but really focusing on giving
021back to the community as well. Um, if you're lucky enough to get a ticket to our international fest, I think StubHub had some of them uh maybe for sale uh because there is so much interest uh in over the past few years uh need part of that burgeoning program and just that really being uh just a big check mark and beacon uh in our school of all the great things at Samberg and how we all come together. So uh she does great things every day at Sam. We're so lucky to have her. A round of applause for Nidab. Is this the right cadence? Am I doing okay? Okay. That's what I needed. That's what I needed. All right. Next up is Arushi Patel. I love like the academic based recognitions we have at Samur because
022it's often students who are uh doing their thing but the academic thing after school and that is definitely the case with with Arouchi. So Arouchi is part of our HOSAMEDC club. We are rejoined by med club sponsor uh Miss Laura Joanic. And Arouchi recently finished top 10 in state uh in the HOSA n uh state competition. I believe it was down in Springfield. What was it? third place overall. Third place. So, top 10 third place overall uh advanced as an international qualifier as well in the pharmacy science thing. So, uh students focused on developing their skills in the health field uh to hone what they can do at Samberg to set the table for what they'll do later after Samberg in the health field. So, congratulations Arouchi. Next up, Ni Patel. Come on up, Nidi.
023Nidi, another one of our students who's doing a lot of work after school that's kind of related to some of the stuff we do during school. So, she's part of our DECA program. Uh, DECA is a program that kind of works and I know we have some more DECA recognitions uh from our other schools and that happens a lot this time of year. um that group does work where you have students interested in business or professional careers or entrepreneurs that are interested in competing and honing some of those skills for the business world while they're in high school. So, it's a great leadership opportunity, a great learning opportunity for our students. Uh Niti recently finished in fifth place at the state competition in the human resource management category where she was looking at elements of
024like uh productivity within a company, culture in a company and how all the parts work within a company. so earned fifth place recognition and she recently advanced to the DECA International Career Development Conference which just kind of took place uh over this past week. So congratulations to Nidi. Keeping with the nerdy theme, I'm bringing up uh Sanders Scholastic Bowl is a group that's been up here before. So Scholastic Bowlers, come on up. only he can get away with. I'm going to turn the mic over to Miss Parker in a minute to introduce some of our uh Scholastic Bowlers are here. My own data analysis in the green room. There's a strong relationship between being in the Scholastic Bowl and being in the musical which is taking place as I speak right now. So uh you
025know this group this group I think it's the second straight tro trophy in the past few years. So this group uh did a great job in Bloomington. We beat Bradley Burbanet, the conference rival, uh, to advance to the the semis. And, uh, you know, we're happy to bring back a fourth place trophy with, uh, which is pretty cool from IHSA. So, Miss Parker, I'll bring you on up to introduce the crew. Uh, so I've brought with me three of our most accomplished seniors on the team. And just keeping with tradition from last year, I'd like to let y'all know what their plans for the future are. Um, so one of our graduating seniors, uh, Ayan Gory, he is actually one of the leads in the musical. He made All State the All-State team this year
026as well. And the three graduating seniors I have with me are John Pierro Fosio who will be attending the Community College of Aurora in Colorado in the fall and then be moving on to Lyola in the spring in order to study pre-law history. Uh, next to John Piro, I have Jamie Keenan, who will be attending Marine Valley in the fall to study history and secondary education, which makes me immensely proud as one of the Samberg AP world history teachers. And we finally, we have Khloe Mclofflin, who will be studying at Northwestern under a premed his or a chemistry track. And we are incredibly proud of all three of them. That's all I got for y'all. Thank you. All righty. Staying on topic. Staying on topic. I'm feeling good. Uh, top 1enters, come on up. Chloe
027just did a lap for us here. So, we're officially entering please don't go season. Tomorrow's May, but like you some of these seniors events and it's just in my brain the whole time like, oh my gosh, please don't go because we just have so many truly truly outstanding students. So, uh, each of these students finished in the top 1% of their class. They've done great things at Samberg and gosh darn it, there's a lot of great things ahead in their futures. So, um, first up, uh, earning her top 1% recognition is Moram Hishme. She's headed to the University of Illinois Chicago to look at integrated studies on a pre-med track. Also here tonight is Miss Delaney May is part of our 1%. Round of applause for Delaney. Delaney's headed to Notre Dame to study accounting.
028Also, Ava Rooks is in our top 1%. Round of applause for Ava. She's headed to see uh to study bioengineering ill. Hopefully, she be traveling to some final fours in the next few Aprils as well. So, round of applause. Also recognized uh tonight that they couldn't be here were Sarah Curry, Sam Lee, and Neil Patel for also earning top 1% status. Round of applause for our Sams 1enter. Glad you got your gym shoes on there, Mr. Dr. Both of us combined. is he he's not doing the advisory that was just in there. Got it. Okay. Okay. Good evening and welcome back to Andrew High School. It is my honor to start with our uh state deca. I wanted to just congratulate come on down Mrs. Dold as well as our DECA students. Mrs. Debold oversees
029our business department here, math and business department at Andrew High School. DECA is the student professional skills for various uh areas in business at the state level. With us today is Miss Avery Seams who came in fourth place for sports and entertainment marketing operations research. Also congratulations to Miriam Shael who is fourth in state for sports and entertainment marketing operations research. Jonathan Orrigo also fourth in state for entrepreneurship series. Hot off the press. Jonathan just traveled home yesterday from nationals receiving a silver badge at competency at nationals. Congratulations to Victor J. Andrews DECA state champion. All three just came back from Atlanta yesterday. So, they're here, which is wonderful. And they were all in school and on time, ready to learn. How about that? Okay. I just have to ask, are the jackets new this
030year? Because they are sharp. Everybody looks so professional. Did we have those last year? So, well, they they are standing out tonight. So, you're looking very professional in your Deca world. Yes. All of you. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations to all of you. I don't remember them. Up next are the smart of the smart of Victor J. Andrew High School, our top 1%. I am honored to start and cheer with you. Coming off baseball, coming off soccer track. They are coming. I told them come as is. Just come. So, we're excited they're here. Kicking us off is Drew Alexander. Uh, Drew, he is going to Indiana University Bloomington to major in finance with a potential minor in AI. Congratulations, Drew. Claire Carney is going to the University of Dayton to major in mechanical engineering. Nathan
031Forino, uh, Indiana University, finance and accounting. Katarina Panagopoulos is going to dance at Miami University. Her major will be biology on the premed and honors track with a minor in neuroscience. A minor Natalie Orbond who's going to be a repeat tonight. Natalie is going to college to run track and cross country at the University of Wisconsin Ashkosh and she's going to major in nursing. And last but not least, Ashton Zoff, University of Illinois engineering and declared at this time. Congratulations to our top 1% at Andrew High School. Next we have uh our HOSA state with me is Tene Dwick who you are going to see plenty of. Tulene's a junior. She placed fourth in dental science and she is a national qualifier. Congratulations to Tolene. Tulene is the as you know is our health sciences
032uh professional competition and we are super proud of Tulene as she travels to nationals coming up this summer. Congratulations. Next, we have some adults here at Andrew High School that I'm excited to recognize. Starting off with Mr. Tim Dalton, our assistant principal of activities. I'm honored to recognize Tim for the IDSA activity director award. Tim has been an administrator at Andrew High School for 24 years. He leads with equity, empathy, and always looking out for our students. They are the center of every decision that he makes at our school. He has become true face in our community. In his final year before retirement, Tim's impact is impossible to overstate. His legacy is reflected in the countless students whose experiences have been enriched by his dedication and his leadership. We are proud to recognize Mr. Dalton
033for his unwavering commitment to our Andrew students and his lasting influence on our positive school culture. Thank you, Mr. Dalton. I'm honored to recognize not a handshake, nothing. What is that? I I think we just Thank you very much. Can Can you Can you put the radio away too for a second for crying out loud? Let's get to be professional yet. Yeah. Don't start now. Don't start now. Don't start now. All right. Let's go. Let's go. All right. Next up, Mr. Auggie Dooer. Student Activity Advisor Award. Five, eight. Mr. Dooer has been our speech coach for the last eight years, he was recognized with the student activity advisor award for his countless dedication to our speech program. You see, before Mr. Duer took over the speech program at Andrew High School, it was not notorious,
034nor did we have many students in the program. Through his leadership, the program has blossomed and grown in a highly competitive team at the state level. His commitment goes beyond the school day as he provides summer camp for our students and countless opportunities to define their skill, build their confidence, and create a passion for speech. Mr. Duer's dedication has created a culture of excellence and meaningful student growth and a lasting impact on our program. Congratulations on your IDSA activity director award. Congratulations. It's like the sound of music in here. What's What's going on? So, long farewell IDs. Yeah. Also, uh with us another special IDSA recognition award is Miss Hanan Mustafa. Miss Mustafa has been the sponsor of our MSA, our Muslim student association at Andrew High School, and exemplifies the spirit of the IDSA,
035diversity, equity, and inclusion and belonging. For over 19 years, Miss Mustafa has generously volunteered her time to support an average of 75 students that come regularly, creating a safe and affirming space where students can explore their identity, faith, and belonging. Through her leadership, MSA has elevated student voice and fostered reflective dialogue with our school community. At the core of her work, student leaders have grown. They've created professional development and awareness for our staff. And Henan's work has made sure that students feel seen, valued, and respected while strengthening the overall climate of our school. Her unwavering commitment exemplifies the true spirit of the IDSA diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging award. Congratulations, Miss M. I am honored to showcase not one but three IDSA staff recipients this year. Congratulations to all of you and for making Andrew
036High School so wonderful for our T-Bolts. Thank you. Next up, three Pete, Miss Natalie Orban. She's like Michael Jordan, some of these basketball players. Come on down, Miss Natalie. It is my honor to ne recognize Natalie for first of all the IADA academic allstate recognition. This is the Illinois Athletic Directors Association. It's a new award and this recognition is for a select group of senior athletes across the state who exemplify excellence in both the classroom and on the field. Natalie has demonstrated an excellent commitment to not only her academics, but also while serving countless hours to soccer and cross country. Truly representing the best of what it means to be a student athlete. She balances rigorous coursework, athletic performance, and her leadership skills. You've saw plenty of her this school year as a board. You
037will see plenty more as she continues to do wonderful things. We are incredibly proud of Natalie and this well-deserved honor. Congratulations. Hold up. There's one more. Natalie also received the IHSA academic allstate team member honorable mention award. Both recognitions very selective for the first one. Natalie and another student from Andrew Kaden were the only two across the southwest suburbs in our state to receive that award for IHSA. As you heard from Dr. Smith, very selective. She earned honorable mention. Again, distinctly honor students who are demonstrate excellence in the classroom as well as their co-curricular involvement. Congratulations to Natalie Orban. We can't wait to see her at Oshkosh doing wonderful things. Uh Natalie, Natalie, I do have one question before. With all those accolades, how could you not get into Wisconsin Whitewater? We'll talk about it
038later. We'll talk about it later. I compared her to Michael Jordan. You're talking white water. You'll figure it out. Come on. My next group, it's with immense pride that I bring you folks that you already have known and met. Our worldass percussion team. I have leaders here with Mr. Alan Baron, our sponsor and coach of our world-class percussion music program. It is with immense pride that I share some extraordinary news with you once again. This percussion team has brought home second place at the WGI World Championships. The victory is a testament to their incredible talent of our students, the dedication of their directors, and the support of our families. These students practice countless hours. They sacrificed weekends and they performed with unmatched precision for another year on stage. How far away were we coming into
039day two? Yes. So close. So close. We are so proud of them. And we thank Dr. Noling and our D230 school board for the continued support of our programs that allows the students to shine and thrive outside of the classroom. Congratulations to Victor J. Andrew High School's world percussion on another year of championships. Congratulations. Congratulations. This is mine. Thank you so much. Before you go, before you go, hold on. Let me just tell you. So, uh, with us, the students here, come on, Ellen. With us here, we have Paula, who's a junior, so she's going to be coming back. And we have David, who's also a junior. So, we're have high hopes. Uh, our one senior with us today is Maria Cavalakis. *Correction* Maria Kavroulakis plans to attend MVCC and aspires to audition for a
040professional Drumline after high school. Yes. Yes. Very exciting. Congratulations to our percussion team for second place at world champions. One one thing I just so I saw Allan about three two or three weeks ago and I told him I'll see you again in a few weeks at this meeting and fortunately you're here. So congratulations again. Wonderful job. Thank you so much. Good job guys. Mr. Ericson I'm intrigued to know more about the AI minor that is have AI do it for you. What does that mean? All right. Well, good evening everyone. Um it's certainly um my uh pleasure to introduce some absolutely amazing Stag Chargers. Um I don't think we have a DECA sponsor here, so I'm going to call up Nick Oeni. Nick, come on up. Nick was high school's national qualifier in DECA.
041Um just got back just the other day, right? Got back yesterday. Uh gained competency there in business and finance. Um so not surprisingly post high school, he's going to study finance um at Lake Forest College. So we're super excited for Oh, wake forest. Wake big difference. Right. Right around the corner. Wrong. Take a right. Turn right at the lake. Wake Forest is a fine. Wake my apologies. Wake Forest. Just a wee bit different. Um, similar but different. Um, so please join me in congratulating Nick on being this year's Stag High School um, National DECA qualifier. All right. Now, can I have the HOSA crew? Now, um, historically, as you all know, if you remember, Stag High School is a force in the state of Illinois in HOSA. And this year was absolutely no different. But
042instead of me talking, I'd like to introduce one of our HOSA sponsors, Mr. Matt Scythe. If you can come up just share a little bit about HOSA and these individuals right here. And it's not Miss Pilot. You're used to seeing Miss Pilot. This is Mr. S. Good evening. Thank you for having us here. Just before I introduce these uh national qualifiers, I just want to give you a little perspective about HOSA in the district. Uh so this year, District 230 has impacted at STAG 211 students in our club, 114 students at Sandberg, and 59 students at Andrew. That is a 70% increase at stag, 60% increase at Andrew and I mean at at Sanberg and Andrew maintained their enrollment. So very large portion of our students are looking into that medical field health profession. Um
043the things that these students do while they're at the state leadership um they're tested on their content knowledge, their career skills, and they make presentations at their specific events. Uh the judges that they're in front of are not only Illinois teachers but professionals, nurses, dentists, uh pharmacists, athletic trainers, respiratory therapists, rural health, and other professions. Uh today with me are of out of the seven that qualified for nationals. We have four here today. So in PA, physician assistant medical case study, we have Madison and Jenny. Raise your hand. I think that's perfect. It was perfect. Oh, there you go. Madison, Jenny, there. Perfect. Yeah, it was like these two are competing or on a team in the case study. Yes. So, those two uh we have Sama who made it in home health aid. And
044then in sports medicine, we have Abby. So, thank you. And this this competition is actually international. So, we'll have uh teams from China, um teams from Europe coming in, and it's hosted in Indianapolis in June. So, good luck. Keep us updated. All right. Now we have Stag High School's top 1%. If they can come on down. An academically intimidating lot this is. Um and we're super proud of them at Stag High School. Um, first I'd like to introduce Victoria Beern. Victoria will be um heading off to University of Illinois and will be studying biology. Then we have Lojan Demian. Lojan is going to be attending the University of Illinois Chicago and studying occupational therapy. um not here is Erica is not here. Okay. Erica Jensen is all um is not here but she is our
045top 1%. She is also going to be um going to Shambana and studying business. We have Mr. Emerson Kim. Emerson is going to be studying dentistry at Northwestern University. Um, we have Jack Krosinski. Um, Dr. Noling will like this very much. Uh, Jack is going to be attending the University of Wisconsin Madison. Uh, and he's going to be studying finance. Um, but also Camille Zalinski is also going to go to the University of Wisconsin Madison as well and she is going to be studying dermatology. Stag High School's class of 2026 top 1%. Congratulations. All right. Well, I'm used to being on that side of the table, but on this uh occasion, I need to be on this side of the table because it is my absolute honor to present to you tonight the superintendent's advisory
046senior class. Um, who you've heard and read about probably every single week that I update the board on what's going on in the district because you guys come on out. No, leave me. All three schools. All of them. All of them. The whole lot of them. Come on down. Um, we were together today just as an example of what these students do for uh he's just he's observing so he's ready for when he becomes a senior. Um, these students these kids these these um people that I've had the pleasure um you guys aren't going to get in any sort of fight here, right, with this. I know you guys just played each other. We're we're good. All right. I don't, you know, I don't want to separate the Samberg and that's all right. I could
047I I could rise above them, right? I could just stand uh but these guys have honestly been um so important to the school community, so important to me personally um for the last four years. They they uh have done an incredible amount of work. Um I got to tell you, probably more than half of the things that we bring to any of our committees for the board to consider um has been vetted by these by these kids and and their their counterparts. Um I have the absolute pleasure almost on a weekly basis to go to one of the three schools and talk to these students about um what school life looks like, what school life feels like, what some of the things we're thinking about might look and feel like. Um they represent their peers
048to the best of the ability that that uh that they have, but also to the highest level of respect that I have because it's not just about what they think, it's about what they know their counterparts, their peers, their their classmates also think. things about our cell phone procedure, our attendance and discipline policies. They give us regular feedback on technology and social media practices. We spent half of the day talking about what we should do to help our ACT progress moving forward. Um, and really digging deep into our programs as they relate to the portrait for graduate, which they've also uh co-created with with our leadership team. So, just a small snippet of of uh who they are as a group. Um, and I'm gonna ask the principles to come out or come back up
049and introduce them as individuals. But, uh, I got to tell you, this is from the bottom of my heart. This is my favorite group of people in the world. Uh, outside of my own family, although sometimes even instead of my own family. Um, but, uh, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I will miss them dearly. But, um, Dr. Dr. Smith, you're going to be uh, Sam uh, superintendent advisory Samberg seniors. First up, Mr. Jackson Canal. Round of applause for Jackson. Jackson will be attending uh University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, studying business. Next up, Samber senior on the advisory is Mr. Drew Danic. Round of applause for Drew. Drew will be attending Illinois State University. I believe studying engineering and kicking football is a long long long way as a member of
050the football team. So, round of applause for Drew. Also here uh Sam senior is Lamese Shahada. Round of applause for Lamese. She has some good colleges still on her decision tree uh including University of Illinois Chicago, University of Illinois Champagne and Depal University. And she hopes to study business administration on a pre-law track. Round of applause for Lemise. Hello again uh for the our T-bolts superintendence advisory seniors and just step up so that they can see you when I call you. Uh Drew Alexander who you seen earlier tonight again Indiana University Bloomington major in finance with a minor possibly in AI. Congratulations, Drew. Zire Foster Zire is going to be playing football. He's going to be competing at St. Francis and his major is going to be sports management. Congratulations, Zire. You've met Natalie a
051few times tonight. What's one more time for this champion? Natalie Orban running cross country and track at University of Wisconsin Ashkosh. Dr. Noling is missing a great opportunity and nursing for Natalie. Um not not here tonight because of her own competition is Asuare Oatiki. She's going to Northern Illinois University to study public health as well. Um with us also Daniel Pera Daniel is going to UIC University of Illinois Chicago engineering on a premed track. Congratulations, Daniel. Also, Leanne Sleman. Leanne is going to Marine Valley to uh study diagnostic medical sonography as well as cardiac synography. Fun fact about Leanne, when she entered Andrew High School four years ago, she did not speak English and now she is not only a superintendent's advisory leader, but a leader for Andrew High School. Congratulations, Leanne. Mr. Olsson get
052up and let her see. We have six amazing stag chargers here. Incredible leaders within our school, not only on the superintendent advisory, but also on principal's advisory and also holding a number of leaderships uh uh positions across the school. I'm so sorry to see them go, but I'm so excited for their futures. First we have Omar Farooq. Omar is going to be 10 attending the University of Illinois at Champagne Erbana studying chemical engineering. Then we have Sadine Muhammad. Sadine is going to go be going to the University of Illinois Chicago studying bio uh biology on a premed track. Uh we have Selma Sal who will also be attending UIC and will be studying integrated health sciences. Uh her counterpart and partner in crime uh Amelia Chevchic. Amelia is going to be studying to be an
053ultrasound technician um at Marine Valley Community College. And then we have Ryan Wal. Ryan just got off the court from volleyball. Um he is here. Um he will be attending and he told me I had to say this either the University of Illinois or Indiana University. He's going to have a surprise reveal and didn't want this meeting to be the surprise reveal. but he got into the business colleges at both those prestigious university. Um, and so we're super excited him. We are keeping your secret. And then finally, uh, the one, the only, the one you all know, Mo Wong. Mo is going to be attending Illinois Wesian and is going to be studying education in uh, looking at science or business. Either science or business. You can do both. makes you more. Yeah. Mr. Mr.
054Psych will help out. Mr. Pip will help out too. Okay, there you go. Everyone, Stag High School's graduating class, the seniors on superintendent advisory. Thank you for your voices. You represent the present and the future and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you. I'm not going to officially clear them out until the curriculum spotlight which has kids because last time I did that. So I'm going to try. They can cross public comments. We still have um one more. Thank you. Yeah. Who's who's acknowledging her? Eric. Mr. Olsen. Do we have Yep. We got one more. One more. Okay. Just checking. I have Jennifer Dodie. Please come forward. They're clapping. They don't even know what they're clapping for. Well, because we like her. I know. Everyone Everyone loves Ms. Doby, right? So, uh, I
055am excited to share with the board that our very own athletic director at Stag High School will be serving as the president of the Illinois Athletic Directors Association next year. She's currently president-elect and now she will no longer be elect. She will be the grand pooa herself. Uh Jen's commitment to student athletes and high school athletics is unquestioned and her leadership in the field is extensive. Not only is she an athletic director, she's also a Maxwell leadership certified coach, speaker, and trainer and John Gordon certified trader. Her leadership has expanded athletic programming at Stag High School, but most importantly, she has focused on the development of both students and coaches winning mindsets, providing trainings focused on the holistic development of athletes and coaches. She has brought the voice of athletes to the table with the
056development of a variety of collaborative student uh athlete groups where students talk about their experience experiences as student athletes. um about uh she works with them on leadership skill development and as always good sportsmanship. She has been value added to our students, coaches and staff at Stag High School and she is viewed as a leader both on the athletic fields, on the athletic courts, but also in the classroom. Our Stag leadership team has grown because of her commitment to school leadership. As the president of the Illinois Athletic Assoc uh directors association, Jen will bring her leadership talents to the state level as IA IADA provides professional development for athletic directors across Illinois, advocating for student athletes and high school sports programs. and also she will serve as a liaison with the Illinois high school um
057association IHSA um on policies and and things like safety reg regulations. So what she's doing is a really big deal. So join me in congratulating a really big deal in gender. All right. All right. All right. Next, we have our curriculum spotlight, Dr. Huffman. All right. Good evening. I want to invite our T-Bolts up uh for this month's curriculum spotlight. So, this month marked a milestone as we concluded our second year of ACT for our 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students. In addition, ACT itself is undergoing its most significant overhaul in decades. Tonight's video showcases the work here that happened at Victor J. Andrew to prepare our students for all of these transitions. Not only in transition from SAT to ACT, but from ACT to ACT enhanced uh which is a new version of their
058test. The overarching goal was simple to build competence in the testing format. So the instructional team led by Dr. Ladia designed a comprehensive system that supported students where they were both in and out of the classroom. Juniors participated in an ACT kickoff meeting where they looked at their fall results and they set goals for their spring. The team integrated tools like no red ink and Albert IO into their daily instruction. Teachers bridge the gaps between their course content and the specific demands of ACT. They utilized their uh T-Bolt time to unpack the how of the test, refining strategies that were necessary. They hosted evening review sessions focused on specific skills. Uh the dedication of our students is present because over the students here at VJA answered over 40,000 practice sessions asynchronously um to prepare for
059this this test. The level of initiative is only possible when kids feel supported and prepared. And that preparation was backed by the expertise of over 60 teachers here at BJA who are trained in ACT instructional mastery. Tonight's video really showcases the shift from a high stakes stress uh to to approaching the test from a prepared performance perspective. I feel like my confidence has grown a lot, especially knowing like how the questions are asked. You'll be asked to locate specific details. This is where you see according to the passage. So, knowing those little stems on the questions is key. Okay? According to the passage, you have to find it. If it's not there, if you can't locate it in the text, it's not the right answer. I used to be very confused on a lot of
060them, not know where to start. or like enrichment satellite company at the very least understand like where to begin. So one of the first things that we did when we were thinking of ACT prep is we really trying to align it between our science, our math and our English department. So one of the things that we did as division chairs is we sat down and we tried to build a consistent schedule so that it was consistent for teachers and for students. We start with, you know, teaching those those core concepts. In addition to that, uh we've looked at test familiarity. It's really important that the students understand going into the test what the test entails, how many questions, what's the pacing, uh things to expect on test day. With English, um especially teaching AP language,
061there's a lot of commonalities and the type of reading strategies that we're working on for rhetorical analysis um that align with ACT reading. Well, we're currently embedding ACT prep um into our classes about we align our curriculum specifically with ACT science section. Um aligns very naturally with what we do with class on a daily basis. Since I work with students who predominantly struggle with reading and writing, we chunk it in the academic setting um for those students so it's not full 45 minutes time periods. We do them in smaller chunks so that it's more attainable. they feel some success and then we have that buy in for them to be more successful. One of the big obstacles students have is having the time to go to these test preps um during like paying for them
062if they're doing like a silven learning center or private tutoring. Um so we wanted to make sure that students were aware of all these great resources we have at Andrew High School. Um, one of the things that we did to kick off this test prep season essentially was we did an EC2 prep kickoff highlighting the resources that are available which include Google Classroom, Albert IO, um, our second hour enrichments as well as our EV enrichments and working with the students so they can make a plan. So, we wanted to make sure that we educate our students and families so they're aware of these resources available and they can make a committed plan to make sure they're prepared um, for enrollment. This really speaks to equity and by naturally meaning that in the school day all
063students have access to that. I I think the biggest challenge is getting the students to commit that there is a process. Definitely the algorith and then obviously the evening sessions even the solo um math practice tests have been super helpful and with the teacher going over the questions I didn't understand it kind of opened my eyes and helped me visualize this is where I need to work on. I went to the uh initial ACT like table time that they gave you the paperwork that showed you your past scores like back in October and it did show where I needed to do my most work on. I think preparation builds confidence. You're working on those skills often in a consistent basis in the classroom. um letting them know that this is the skill that you are
064going to utilize um and applying it to multiple different applications, different units, different concepts embedded within the course gives them a chance to recognize that it's something they're familiar with. I feel more confident in understanding and approaching the question and understanding that I can figure it out. I would say stay confident with your answers and trust your gut feeling. We really wanted to focus on how the ACT can help prepare them for future postsecary options. So whether that's looking at college placement, whether that's looking at merit scholarships, that's money that can be awarded based just on the ACT performance alone and really how the ACT can also help to show and highlight their strengths that they already have as a student. It really does matter for like your future. A lot of colleges do like
065take that score into account on whether or not they'll admit you and like what your major will be. The HTTP prep is really about and the HTTP test itself is really about highlighting those strengths and opening up as many opportunities in the postsecary world for students. I want to just take a minute to really thank the board because a lot of those items that you heard listed in there, Albert IO, no red ink, those are recent subscriptions that we've, you know, brought to our attention and been able to bring into the classroom to support ACT, especially as Dr. Huffman um explained, we're making a lot of transitions during this time um from the SAT to the ACT. and this incredible group of folks who are with me tonight are a representation of the commitment of
066Andrew staff, students, division chairs because this was a whole team effort and certainly this is the beginning of a long journey of dedication to making sure that students feel confident and that they have access was highlighted in the video because every student in Andrew High School deserves the opportunity to perform their best on this exam so that it can open doors. So very excited to introduce we have a few of our students here tonight with me. We have Nanviet Henry and Tulene as well as a couple of our amazing instructors, Miss Palumbo and Miss Mulligan from English and math as well as our division chairs Jackie Debold for math and business and Miss Christy Baker from English, music, media, and EL. Thank you. the students tell us one strategy that you learned through all of
067this preparation. Um, one strategy that I learned taking this was like time management cuz when I'm taking tests, I'm like always under stress. I'm always like rethinking all my choices. But like taking so many practice test, all these enrichments, all the no writings, it helped me like familiarize with all the questions. So my time management was like really good during all the tests. Thank you. Great. Um I think it's similar to what he said. Um time management. I also um attended these prep sessions which were at night. Um, they were from 6:00 to 8:00 in the evening. Um, and I think that helped me a lot on the ACT. Um, give me a second. I also studied on the ACT official website using practice quizzes. Good. Cool. Good. Thank you, Henry. Thank you. Uh, for
068me, I would have to say the spaced repetition and the the spread out practice tests that we did in class. So, um, we actually started review uh for the for the ACT at the start of the semester. We did diagnostic tests already to pinpoint the specific weaknesses that we needed to focus on. And I found that very helpful. And and integrating class time to really focus on those weak areas and spread it out throughout the semester, I think is what like really made an impact on helping me understand the style of the ACT and the pacing, the timing, and um yeah, I found that very helpful. Thank you so much for the first time doing this. Thank you for sharing because we've been asking questions especially at education committee. What's how's it going and and
069it's even better to hear it straight from you. So thank you for coming out tonight. Thank you. Thank you. All right. At this time students, if anyone wants to leave, we won't be offended. We know it's still lots more fun. Um but people can leave. Next though we are going to have member No, not anyone here at this table. Sorry. Member Casmir for the education committee. Uh thank you. Um Dr. Huffman opened uh the meeting with an update on a significant benchmark and our strategic framework. The freshman on track rate currently stands at 91.6%. Dr. Dr. Huffman emphasized the critical correlation between student attendance and academic success, noting that chronic absenteeism remains the primary obstacle to maintaining and improving the metric. Dr. Huffman also reviewed the district's approach to prep for the preACT and ACT
070assessment earlier this month. Uh this assessment involves all students from 9th through 11th grade. This year, the district used fall preACT data. Professional learning communities uh have identified bubble students uh those poised to move into higher score bands with targeted support. Training has been provided for all junior level teachers to ensure classroom instruction aligns with testing standards. Schools are leveraging specialized tools like no red ink and Albert IO. Uh unique interventions include evening math reviews at Andrew, advisory based lessons at Sandberg and math 3 skill specific prep at stag. Uh these efforts are vital as they directly impact the district's state designation which is determined by proficiency, growth, and graduation rates. Dr. Huffman also proposed a shift in how the district manages its academic curriculum content. The proposal introduces a formal course curriculum review cycle.
071This structured long-term system ensures that all course content remains continuously aligned with ACT requirements, evolving industry standards, and the district's approach to curriculing by design. Uh this will provide a predictable system for all our staff to know when their course team will review their curriculum, monitor implementation, and evaluate the effectiveness. Uh, in a specific curricular update, the district has selected new Spanish resources rooted in the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages, uh, proficiency standards and comprehensible input methodology based on a rubric and team of teachers. The following recommendations for instructional materials includes level one adopting SOMOS focusing on an acquisition driven foundation. levels two through AP use uh utilizing the report series which uses a learning by reporting model to foster real world communication and cultural proficiency. Uh finally, Dr. Noling provided an overview of
072the legislative landscape and state funding. Several key bills are currently under monitoring that could impact district operations and mandates. These include the student wellness and safety uh SB 2427 regarding cell phone bands, house bill 4855 concerning mental health instruction and house bill 4788 which mandates the use of female mannequins for CPR training. Uh curriculum mandates new requirements for Italian-American history, Latin studies, and parenting education. uh civic engagement bills house uh house bill 30251 and 4339 4399 which focus on student voter registration, career readiness, uh house bill 4928 which seeks to require career and technical education and the district continues to analyze these bills to ensure full compliance and the strategic allocation of state funding. Our next meeting will be at 7 o'clock on Wednesday, May 6th. Thank you. Any questions? All right. Next, student support,
073member Kelly. All right. Uh meeting began with an update on the strategic framework goals related to chronic absenteeism and discipline. Mr. Roando reviewed the progress made this year on the chronic absenteeism rate with a projected four to five point reduction by the end of the year if current attendance trends continue. Dr. Carr shared details about the digital h hall pass system that was piloted to Andrew High School this semester. An analysis analysis of the pilot uh includes very positive staff feedback and points to moving forward with district-wide implementation next school year. Mr. Ovano will provide an overview of the consolidated district plan and Stag High School's title one schoolwide plan for 2627. These plans are submitted annually to the Illinois State Board of Education as part of the federal grant application process and require board
074approval. The grants that will be applied for include title one, two, three, four, and IDA flow through. Dr. Carr shared minor updates to the parent student handbook that are based on recent changes to board policies as well as recommendations from the Illinois Principles Association model student handbook. These updates keep the district compliant with changes in Illinois law and state board of education requirements. Mr. Drovano also described the recent English learners program monitoring visit conducted by ISBY's multilingual department. The district was found to be compliant with more than threequarters of the reviewed components and corrective actions for the remaining components have been approved. The district was commended for its strong use of data systems to drive continuous improvement of EL programming. The committee also reviewed the spring spring panorama seal survey results that showed a slight
075improvement over results from both last spring and fall. Anticipated changes to the survey aimed at improving readability and accessibility were also discussed. Finally, Dr. Noling provide an update on several state legislative proposals, including changes to pair professional licensing requirements, a potential cell phone ban, and a potential requirement for direct instruction in social emotional learning. Uh the next meeting will be on May 12th. Any questions? All right. Next, building and finance, member Saratory. Thank you. So, we began the meeting with Dr. Noline discussing the strategic framework for teacher retention. Um and the item on that we basically uh talked about was the fact that the current calculation takes into effect uh teacher retirements which tends to skew that calculation. Uh so there was a discussion about the possibility of trying to adjust that that calculation in
076the future. Um and we've got about 20 retirements coming up in the next three years. Um we then reviewed the facility updates uh including the HVAC and roofing preconstruction work um plan work on the uh restroom renovations. Um and then we reviewed a plan for generating revenue for the Andrew scoreboard and what potential options we may have. Uh part of the plan is to determine how much revenue can be generated from that scoreboard to determine whether or not we can put the same two scoreboards at stag and Samberg and that they can be self uh financially supporting. Uh so we will see how the uh generation of revenue happens for Andrew. Um we then reviewed the finance and treasures report uh noting that we are a little behind last year in the generation of local
077revenue. This is uh notably due to the fact that uh our tax bills came out late and were paid late and the receipt of funds came late. Uh so we are starting to catch up now. Uh we still have not been able to uh reinvest a lot of the our funds back into our investment account. Um, but we're hoping that we're going to get there quite soon and build that portfolio back up. Um, we also reviewed bids for office supplies, bond paper, PE uniforms, and aquatics. All those are in the consent agenda as well as uh the annual approval of a deposiitories for our district funds. Um we then had a uh discussion regarding the recent insurance committee meeting uh which had an emphasis on health insurance. Um Dr. Nolting then reviewed some of the
078legislation that's going on in the state that would impact the district financially. Um and uh Lynn talked about the fact Dalton went down to uh Springfield and talked to some legislators regarding both pension and foyer reform. And we know that we need both of those very badly. Okay. And we also then discussed the uh the transportation recommendation to implement the option to extend our current transportation contracts for two more years. Um, also noted in that was the fact that Rich Lee Vance's first student will take over at Andrew next year. So they will uh they will both service stag and Andrew. Uh they will re replacing Safeway at Andrew. Um we then reviewed a number of uh policies for the first reading and our meeting ended at 8:13. We will not be meeting in May
079because that is the same week as graduation. So our next meeting will be on June 15th. Any questions? Um just as a followup to member Sarah Tori, um member Daltton and I did go to Springfield and talk about those reforms. Because of the connections we made, Lisa helped me organize a meeting for Tuesday. We do have um another board president in a neighboring district and I are going to meet with the representative. So, I'll update you with how that goes and where they're going and trying to speak to some of the people supporting the bills. So, thank you. All right. Next, we have our teachers association. Good evening. Well, the calendar says this is the last board meeting before summer break, but you know, who's keeping track? Our teachers look forward to a bunch of
080events that come up in May. Uh we have Stagfest tomorrow, Andrew Fest Monday, uh AP tests, senior scholarship nights, finals, graduation just to name a few. Uh teacher appreciation week also is next week. Uh it's always special because it comes with ice cream for all. Feel free to stop by if you want. We got all three buildings have ice cream and it's always a special treat courtesy of our teachers association. May's an exciting time in that we're sad to say goodbye to our seniors, but we're also thankful for our time with them and we just can't wait to see what they do next. Thank you and have a good night. Thank you. Our ESP, this is the only speaker we have. I didn't get I want to make sure I didn't get lost when I
081was coming in. Good evening. Um I spent most of the evening tonight panicked on how I was going to get up to the podium because the room was so crowded. So I was kind of glad when it cleared out a little bit so that I could get up here. We would have cleared the room for you. the path for you. Christie, it's like how am I going to get up here? Um anyway, good evening and thank you for having me tonight. The ESP association would like to thank the school board, the administration, the presenters, and everyone involved in planning and executing last week's institute day at St High School. There was a wide variety of sessions available for the ESPs as well as an engaging presentation from Sanberg alum Phil Januzki. We truly appreciate the
082opportunity to attend and select the sessions that were most meaningful to us. So, thank you. Um, Institute Day serves as a gateway to the end of the school year and from this point forward things become uh especially busy. Next week marks the start of AP testing during which uh many ESPs will be supporting students who require accommodations for their tests. We also look ahead to senior scholarship night, final exams, and of course, graduation which is the culmination of our senior's journey. Each of these milestone involves the support and dedication of the ESPs in many different roles. As I often say, we are proud to contribute to our student success and to the overall success of our schools. Next week, we will also celebrate teacher and staff appreciation week. We look forward to coming together as
083a whole group to recognize the hard work and the commitment of every individual in our schools. It is truly a team effort. Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing you next month, which will be after the school year has come to a close, so I'm sure we'll have many updates for you. Thank you so much and have a great evening. Thank you. All right. Next, our 230 Foundation update. I was just clapping every time came up. Sorry, Adam. I didn't mean to not clap for him. Um just quickly uh each year the district 230 foundation uh board awards grants to teachers and staff whose great ideas fill a gap, innovate andor empower students. Uh the grant deadline is tomorrow and the board is eagerly awaiting to read all about the wonderful and
084impactful ideas that come forward. The foundation hopes to uh be able to fund anywhere between 30,000 and $40,000 to our staff and the winners will be announced before the end of the school year so that they can start to prepare for the following year and then the official announcement will come at the back to school institute day. Um, I don't know if you've done this before, but when I was leaving Institute Day last week, I saw Ann Oliver and she was coming. She was offering a class on how to write the grants. Has she done that before? Yes, we've done that. So, that's that's a great way for people to learn how to write those grants. So, great. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Next, we have public comments. We have just one. Um, and
085if you haven't been around to hear public comments, I do read something just for consistency. So, per board policy 2230, we ask you just address the board by stating your name and the reason for your comment. Because there's just one of you, we will allow you no more than five minutes for public comments. And per board policy 8830, the dis school district expects mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct among all people on school property or at a school event. Disruptive behavior or use of vulgar or obscene language will not be tolerated. Please be respectful when addressing the board as well as be respectful of the speaker who has the podium and disruptions will not be tolerated. While the board greatly appreciates public comments, please understand that the board does not actively engage in dialogue during
086public comment. We do take all matters seriously and if there's a specific question or comment that does require followup, the appro uh appropriate me person will respond to you. So, we have Mr. Jablki. Thank you. Uh my name's Howie Jablucky. I am here tonight um along with other parents and student athletes u many of which who came right from practice sacrificing the start of their dinners and homework time to address the importance of of these comments um about the future of District 230 boys lacrosse. Um, I've previously sent comments to the board which outline many of my concerns and questions regarding the district's recent decision to disband the D230 co-op lacrosse team, but I wanted to speak tonight to emphasize a few points in the hopes that the district will reconsider this approach. We all
087know that the IHSA imposed a new rule that prohibits co-op teams comprised of schools that exceed a certain student population threshold from competing in the state tournament at the end of the season. I know district 230 administration and staff went to great lengths to oppose this rule and we are extremely appreciative of that. But for what can I can only describe as a lack of understanding as to the sweeping impact that the new rule would have, the IHSA member organizations passed this rule and here we are. In the only communications we as parents received regarding the impact of this new rule on the existing D230 co-op sports, uh the future of each sport was detailed. Of the six co-op sports, only boys lacrosse was fully eliminated as a co-op team. Alth all others are planned
088to remain as a co-op in some form. The district the district communication indicated that the D230 boys lacrosse team will be split due to numbers that Andrew and Stan Standberg will each have a single level program and Stag students will no longer be afforded the opportunity to participate in the sport. Other than the numbers, no further rationale was given. I would hope other factors would be considered and stakeholders such as current coaches and even parents and players would be consulted for at least further discussion prior to such a decision being made. As I outlined in my prior communications to the board, this decision cannot and should not be based just on numbers, particularly when those numbers and the resulting decisions leave only a single level program at two of the schools and no program at
089the third. Not only are there safety concerns due to having all grade levels competing on one team and in games against other varsity teams likely comprised of a majority of upper classmen, but field space concerns, coaching concerns, new equipment, uniforms, etc. for what are essentially two new programs should all factor into this decision. Perhaps most importantly, the decision also fails to take into the important role that a JV level team contributes to player and program development. Underclassmen are afforded the opportunity to play more, learn more, and develop more when they have the ability to compete regularly in both practices and games with a JB schedule. Lacrosse is a physical sport that requires a very broad and unique skill set. And if you haven't seen it, I highly encourage you to come out and watch the
090boys play. There's a game right here tomorrow night, senior night, five o'clock. like myself, many of our current players, uh, our current parents and coaches were former youth coaches and directors of local youth programs. We all love the sport and we want it to grow and ideally that will eventually involve programs at all of our district schools. But doing it now based on the perceived ability to essentially just field a team at each school rather than a full thoughtout process could have the opposite effect. I appreciate Dr. Dr. Nolting responding to my prior emails and indicating that district co-ops are reviewed annually to determine when the right time is to break it into separate programs. But in that regard, I ask you this. Absent the new IHSA rule, would next year be the year that
091that would happen for boys lacrosse? I am highly confident that the answer is no, as it was for all the other co-op sports, specifically girls lacrosse, which is remaining a co-op and will participate in a postseason co-op tournament instead of the state playoffs. So don't do it. Don't make the change now. This is not about competing in the state tournament. This is about allowing the sport of lacrosse to continue to grow in this area, one where the majority of programs are in fact co-ops. It's about allowing the players the ability to develop through a multi-level program and allowing all players in the district an opportunity to compete in this sport. I along with other D230 boys lacrosse parents and student athletes urge you to reconsider this decision. Allow the boys lacrosse to continue as a
092co-op sport for the immediate future and let D2 D230 United remain united. Thank you. Appreciate your time. All righty. Thank you. Next on the agenda is we have our approval of consent agenda. Do I have a motion? I move the school board approve the consent agenda as presented. As amended. As amended. Sorry, that was the part I missed. Excuse me, my fault. Sorry. Second. Sorry, that was the part I missed when I was walking in. Any questions or comments? All right, Lisa, you may take the role. Yes. Yes. Dalton. Yes. Yes. Kelly, yes. Yes. Motion passed. All right. Next, business services. We have a transportation contract extension. Excuse me, I just about sneezed during my my big part. Jeff is uh Jeff is at a conference downstate, so I'll cover this a little bit. Uh
093as uh was discussed at building finance and reported uh just this evening, uh we do have the opportunity to extend our contracts with our current vendors. As the board is aware, um we've had uh a positive good relationship with our two vendors at Stag and Samberg. Positive connections at Samberg and Richley, which is now uh under the guise of First Student um at Stag. Uh unfortunately we've had some challenges over the past year as the board is fully aware with Safeway which is the uh company that services uh Andrew High School uh because of the the construct of our contract extension language. We have the ability to extend our contracts for all three schools to any of our three vendors. Uh and we're making the recommendation based on uh quality of service particularly but also
094affordability uh to um uh re-up with positive connections for the Samberg uh contract and then reconnect with Richley/First student uh for Stag High School as well as taking over uh taking over the routes for Andrew High School. Okay. All right. Could I have a motion? Uh, I move that the school board extend the regular education student transportation services contract for Carl Samberg to positive connections and for Amos Alonzo Stag and Victor J. Andrew to Richley Van's first student. I move that the school board extend the special education student transportation contract for Carl Samberg and Victor J. Andrew to ABC first student and for Amos Alonzo Stag to Sunrise Transportation. I move that the school board extend the individual and small student transportation services contract of fivestar taxi and special needs Chicago. I second. Right. Any
095questions? All right, Lisa, you may take the role. Casmir, yes. Yes. D. Yes. Dam. Yes. Kelly, yes. Yes. Motion passed. Next facilities report. Good evening here in the affidavit. So, uh, not, uh, not not a ton of detail to share outside of Dave's, uh, and our team has been doing our pre-construction meetings with the roofing, HVAC, and other projects. So, we're setting up, it's a calm before the storm. We try and start, uh, the first day that we possibly can, which is uh, June 1st. Any questions? We know you'll be busy, so thank you. And thank you for always being so conscious of the budget. Thank you. Thanks, John. All right. Next, new business resolution for use of school district logo. Yeah, I'll be very brief. Um, we were approached uh actually Dr. Smith specifically
096was approached by the Orland Park um village uh specifically the police department. Um, they are starting to uh logo uh if you will their their vehicles um and they would like to um honor Samber High School by including their logo on one of their police vehicles. We view this as a continued positive relationship with the Orland Park village. Um and uh we hope it's the SRO's vehicle right that that that gets it because that'd be kind of cool. But uh but it's something that we think is a like I said a continued good partnership with Orland. I move the school board approve the resolution as presented. Second. Any questions? All right, Lisa. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Motion passed. Next, under old business, we need a motion for the approval of the 2627 board
097and committee meeting schedule. So moved. Second. Questions. All right. Lisa. Member. Yes. Member. Yes. Member D. Yes. Member Dan. Yes. Member Kelly. Yes. Member Zer. Yes. Motion passed. All right. Next. This is under old business. the Palis Heights TIFF and we discussed this a little bit um last month but needed some more information. So at this time I need a motion. We need a motion discussion because you just want a vote. There's no motion. Yeah, it just Yeah, it just dies. Okay. Do I have a motion? All right. and it dies. All right, next. Superintendent's report. Oh, I'm sorry. That's me. Does it have to be? No. No. And actually, most of it's not. I always feel guilty when I provide these reports because 99% of what I share with you under the superintendent report
098is really not my work. But, um, I I will graciously do my my best. Um, even though it was a long time between board meetings, April is a very quick and fast-paced month. So, I don't have a ton uh to to uh showcase, but if you could just uh um place your attention to page two of 12. Um, under that goal, I just want to highlight in particularly there's a couple things there, but the most important thing um Mr. Connelly had the opportunity uh to present at a national conference Kosen, which was hosted here in Chicago. um for some reason he invited me to participate in the presentation. Uh but as I could uh assure you that it was like walking around with um a dignitary because everybody was like you know John, you know
099John, you are you've worked with John and I was like I'm a little bit like you invited me just to showcase your your popularity. Um but I do want to recognize that it was it was an honor to showcase what I think is really a remarkable um step in the direction that a lot of districts are planning to go and we're about three years ahead of them in terms of alignment technology operations facilities under one umbrella that John has been highly successful in um over the last few years and and his team you know a few of them are in the room I'm not sure Seth's still here but Seth Wilkerson um is is the director of technology actually Seth and I carpool together which Seth realized that I don't know how to read ma
100Google maps or or anything because we spent about two hours in the road on the way home which was a great experience for for Seth. I'm sure he enjoyed every minute of it. Um but I do want to just say that it was a a remarkable opportunity to showcase the district on a national stage and specifically John and his department. So thank you for uh allowing us to go and and John congratulations. Congratulations. Um uh looking at page three um as you see there's a lot of work that we've done uh under the MTSS guideline for our EL program review and our sh and our transition uh to um aligning our program model at all three campuses. Uh we're very highly um hopeful and and optimistic that this will provide opportunities for our EL students
101as we've reported uh over the past 18 months in many of our metrics that's a population of students that struggle the most. So when it comes to our MTSS model, the program review we think is going to be a significant seismic shift in providing services and and programmatic uh alignment for our students who uh are in most desperate need to to stay up with their peers and and as we know um our EL students uh many of them have aspirations for college and and career beyond high school. So uh reaching their needs is optimistic. Uh we remain optimistic that we'll reach their needs. Um, and it's my compliments to Charles and his team uh for bringing that together. Program alignments are never easy. Uh, but I got to tell you that this has been a
102very seamless process and I think we're uh our our schools that are aligning to that um have a lot of uh good momentum moving forward. Uh, quickly page four. Um, as you heard with our curriculum uh review curriculum uh spotlight, I should say uh it was a big month for ACT. All of our juniors were very excited to take uh the ACT exam. um it went smoothly and and expeditiously, but it also um was uh an opportunity to highlight how we're integrating our ACT efforts within our curriculum. Uh I will tell you as somebody who came from the instructional world, that was a missing ingredient in our district for a very long time. Um test prep is nice, but test prep is uh tertiary to the core curriculum and learning opportunities. And despite the notion
103that teaching to the test, I think you heard um one of our one of our teachers present that uh Mr. Even present, you know, what we what kids have to exhibit on the ACT is part of the learning experience. It's not teaching to the test. Um the test prep might teach to the test, but that's for kids who want to take that elective opportunity. But the core curriculum, so again, Dr. Huffman and her team, uh it's it's still in a movement stage. It's still in motion. Uh but the framework is um is impressive. Um and then there's just one last uh opportunity I'll take on page five. Um we were very um and and I don't want to um put um anybody from our teacher association or sports staff association on on point. Um but
104we had a really good opportunity to look at the smart pass system which Andrew has graciously um piloted here at at the school. Um and it's been a win-winwin. Um the staff are uh really highly in favor of it. Uh our students don't love it. I I know you don't love it, but they understand that the purpose of it and and and it was a smooth transition for their use of it. Um and the metrics that we found in terms of uh less students in the hallway, more understanding of why students in their hallway, uh making sure students are going to the right place at the right time, um has exponentially increased. And so we're going to continue that to the to the other two schools next fall. um and Institute Day was a nice
105opportunity to unveil that but also to provide some insight to to our staff at Stag and uh Samberg in particular um as to what that might entail. So I think it was a great partnership. I think it was a a reminder that when we collaborate with our association leadership on what they need and what we can provide uh we can hit that win-winwin. So um those are my highlights but again I will always uh be able to respond to any questions within those areas or any others that you may have. I just want to compliment you with that implementation of that because you kept us ab breast of that especially at student support and we had feedback that was tweaked based on the honest answers from the students and the staff and there was a
106great deal of collaboration especially from the buildings that didn't have it yet where they could ask the students their honest feelings about it. So thank you for the work on that to the whole team. All right, next board comments. We'll start with member Danlow. No comments. Okay. Member Kelly. No comments. Me? Yep. Okay. Uh so as we come to the end of another school year, um I just wanted to say that in the 13 years that I've been on the school board, I think this was absolutely the hardest, toughest, most difficult year that I've gone through. worse than 2020 when I was president during COVID. And that and that's hard to believe. I never thought I could go to a worse year than that, but this year was was not even close to that. Um,
107the amount of negative publicity, the amount of negative comments, the the one-sidedness of of print media. So many things were said negatively about this board, about the staff of our district. It was horrible. Tonight, we witnessed all the wonderful things that have occurred in this district this year. Okay? And that's because of this staff, that's because of this board, that's because of our students. But if you read the papers this year, and I found out why I don't read the papers anymore, you wouldn't know that. You would have thought this district was on fire, okay? And that everything was falling apart, okay? Far from the truth. But that's not why how it was portrayed. and everybody got some of those wonderful ROOC calls that called all of us out. All of them were pretty much
108untrue. Okay, this was a horrible, horrible year. Okay, we don't get paid. We're volunteers. Okay, our staff, superintendent are human beings who deserve respect. They were not given that this year. This board was not given that this year. Okay. And yet tonight we saw the goodness that comes out of our district. Okay. But how much of that will be told? What will go out in a call about that? What will be said in the paper about that? I don't know. I just wonder. The only thing that sells now is negativity. And it's terrible. It's horrible to everybody who was involved. And Jen, my heart goes out to you, okay? You have done a fabulous job since you have been here. You have been fantastic. And what you had to go through this year, no one
109should have had to go through. The totally wasteful foyers that you had to spend hours upon hours with the negative comments addressed towards you. Totally and unjust. Okay. I feel so bad and I really wish that the end of your time here could have been done so much better. Okay? And I am sorry for that. Okay? And I really wish you the best going forward. But again, I I just feel so bad about what's occurred to you this year. So, I know I've taken up a lot of time. I know I've said a lot of this for the last few meetings and repeated it, but it's true and that's how I feel. And those of you who know me, I don't hold back. I'm not afraid to say what I believe. Sometimes it gets me
110in trouble, but that's me, okay? And I'm an old guy who's been around a long time. And to be honest with you, if it gets me in trouble, it is what it is, okay? But I will tell you what I believe. Okay? Okay. And so I am sorry that it was this bad and I really hope to God the next year will be so much better. I know our schools will be okay. I just hope the treatment of the rest of us will be as good as our schools are. And again, I apologize for taking your time up on this, but I felt it had to be said. So, thank you. Member Caser. Um, I just wanted to uh thank Jen and the 230 Foundation for another great whoop it up this year. Um, it
111was a lot of fun. I know I think all the board members that are seated here today were there or maybe Tony, were you there? I think well I know most of us there and it was a great time. Um, I also just want to reiterate what Dr. Zeter said at the beginning of the meeting. Um, you know, about how grateful I am for all the board applicants that applied to um, fill out. I mean, it really is hard to whittle it down to just, you know, a handful of people for us to interview and then, you know, ultimately to select one person. So, um, you know, I'm really grateful to all those people and the time they put in on our committees as well. Thanks, member Dalton. share. We didn't have the opportunity at
112our last board me meeting um but on March 4th, the Illinois School Board Association, the South Cook uh division recognized district 230 for the school board governance recognition recipient. We were recognized along with Oaklan hometown school district 223 and Stagger School District 194. This is not the first time that this board has been recognized why I've been on the board. Um we've had this recognition before and um to have this recognition on a year that was so difficult um as we continue to do the work and we made sure that our students were getting um the education that they should be. We did not let it distract us from why we are here. And so I did want to share that we were recognized by the Illinois School Board Association at the March 4th dinner.
113I also wanted to share that the opportunity to go down to Springfield for the the Illinois School Board Associations advocacy day um only re-energized me in some of the legislative pieces that we deal with as um Springfield continues to mandate uh numerous um policies on us. Uh some that cost us money into our budget. We have to figure out how to manage those additional mandates along with the mandates that are on the time, our curriculum and the number of hours that we have in front of our students and to be able to navigate that with all that they dictate that needs to go through the classroom is sometimes very daunting. Um, I have to give uh our administration and our teachers association accolades for always addressing and making sure that we stay compliant as difficult
114as that can be. Uh, there were other things in Springfield that we also brought up. And so, uh, going down there meeting our legislators, I believe they heard to say, uh, energized me for this coming year as well. So, thank you. Um, member Dalton and I had the privilege of being at Institute Day last week. The energy that we felt in the end of the um, in the room at the end of the year is always good to see that people were looking forward to having that day of bonding, re reflecting, and even just catching their breath. My opening words spoke about hope and trust. I have hope that every day is a better day and a good day for all of you. And we have trust that it continues because we do trust that
115we have the best staff that we could have in front of our students and the best administration that we see that all of you've done and continue to do. And if we didn't have that hope and trust, I know I wouldn't be sitting here. And there's more good than bad. And I won't kid you, there's been some challenges. But a night like tonight and a night over the weekend when we see Mama Mia, Mean Girls, and Matilda. We've got the M plays going on and we have three nights of scholarship nights next week and then the graduation. You will see many of these board members coming to multiple events on their own time because they care so much and invest in our students every day because our investment with our students today helps us all
116in the future. So, it is still my honor to serve. But before I ask for the motion, Dr. Nelting said, you said you had one thing about FOYAS, which is usually justformational. Yes. And I apologize because I think um it it'll echo what you heard from Mr. Sheridori, but uh uh aligned to the FOYA information, we we've seen a little bit of a decline and then a little bit of an uptick. But I do want to just mention to the board uh I was on the phone with our legal counsel about 5:00 this afternoon uh just getting an update on some some things as well as foyas. uh and I want to quote your legal counsel uh and what they said to me about Jennifer Waterman and uh he was very first of all he's
117very interested in who's going to replace her um but the reason is uh because he said he's not worked in the entire state with anybody who's as u u um intuitive who's uh capable um and he specifically said I think it's important to say for the record that given the the gravity of the the numbers that we face given the complexity of the numbers that we faced if we didn't have somebody like Jennifer in that seat we probably would have had three times the legal bills that we currently do have. And uh I thank her for that publicly and I want the board to hear that because I think that's important for you to hear as well. Um I don't know if she'll stay on as a consultant. um she might consult the our legal
118counsel. She might be an in the field consultant. But um even though the foyer train hasn't slowed down as much as we wanted it to, um the fact that we are compliant, the fact that we are able to avoid uh the significant cost that a lot of districts will just simply portray onto their legal counsel. Uh my my thank you to to Jennifer and kudos. and I was on the phone with legal counsel at 4:30 and uh before Bob that's why we couldn't catch up before tonight but um he has said that to me as well about you Jennifer so we have been grateful every day and we will take advantage and not try to abuse that by taking advantage of you the next couple months but thank you all right could I have a
119motion my computer went to I'd like to make a motion to enter into executive session to consider uh information regarding the appointment employment compensation discipline, performance, or dismissal of a specific employee or legal counsel for the public body. To discuss student disciplinary cases, to discuss matters relating to replacement of individual students and special education programs. And to consider other matters relating to individual students, to discuss collective negotiating matters or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees, and to discuss pending or probable litigation against affecting or on behalf of the public body. Second. Second. Fine. Questions? All right. Motion, Lisa. Yes. Yes. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Yes. Thank you. It is now 8:50 and we will be heading into exact session. We do not come back live, but we do come back if
120we have to vote on something. Thank you everyone for coming out tonight andor watching. are you