001Um, it's really cool to see kids getting involved in in their their civic obligations. So, uh, thank you to the, uh, buildings for coordinating that with Cook County and, uh, I'll keep that, uh, to my comments tonight. >> Is that something new or is that something we've been doing? >> That is actually very new this year. So, um, yeah. So, new new this year. Okay, great. All right. Do we have any amendments to the agenda? >> Uh, we do not. >> Okay. Next, we have our school board student representatives. >> We're down one tonight, but we have two. >> Good evening. Andrew students and staff continue to celebrate our many accomplishments throughout the month of February. Our T-Bolt family continued to cherish our motto. With every spark, we leave our mark in all aspects of
002student life. Celebrating the diversity of our building, the Project Diversity Club held their annual showcase this month. Through fashion shows and dances, regions from across the world united their song following months of practices. Overall, the several evening shows brought high energy to packed audiences and successfully displayed the beauty in appreciating cultures from around the world. Continuing the spirit of dancing, on February 21st, the Andrew Student Council hosted their annual Just Dance. Following the theme Alice in Wonderland, StuCo members prepared decorations, spirit week fun, and ideas for months following the dance date. Students enjoyed an exciting night in Wonderland when dancing with friends throughout the night. Regarding the prestigious achievements of T-Bolts, this month, the VJHS competed at the IHSA state level. After two days of matches, our BJA chess team placed home 46th place out
003of 128 teams. Deem Dino Haleem, a four-time state finalist in wrestling, also placed sixth at state. Ellie Leood, a member of our speech team, made it into state finals this year. connecting school learning to post-secary opportunities. This month, several VGA students took a field trip to Chicago to attend the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute's annual conference. Students were able to meet with recruiters to explore future careers, network with mentors from across the state, and develop leadership skills to utilize in their education. Finally, regarding Andrew's prestigious music program, our winter percussion has had a fantastic start to their season. Last weekend, the team took home a first place finish at the WGI Chicago Percussion Regionals. The group cannot wait to continue showcasing their talents and upcoming performances, including their largest competition, the WGI Percussion World Championships
004coming up in April. Overall, Andrew has had an exciting February and is looking forward to showcasing more talents in future spring sports and activities. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. Also, please excuse my voice. I've been sick and Dr. Noing doesn't believe me. So, um, this month has flown by, but it has been exciting time here at Stack. Our Chargers, our Chargers have accomplished so much within this past month. This past week, we had the opportunity to celebrate the Chargers accomp accomplishments with our chess team and our athletes in gymn gymnastics, wrestling, and bowling who had competed in the IA IHSA state tournaments. These students have demonstrated not only their talents but also their demonstration and resilience that stag values. Their dedication represents the greatness within our school community. Winter sports have been
005had many successes and state qualifiers. Our girls bowling team achieved an an impressive milestone qualifying for state for the fourth time and earning 19th place overall. We're we proudly highlight Gabby Jansky who finished 46 in the state with an outstanding 2,31 series and an average score score of 191.8 over 12 games. Senior Javier Coral earns the honor of being state qualifier in this year's boys team. >> Um, freshman Emily Popa and a sophomore Elena Yasmin has represented STAG for the D230 J gymnastics team at the IHSA state tournament last weekend. Additionally, freshman Ethan Simage has will swim at the backstroke for stag at this weekend's tournament. These accomplishments have reflected countless hours of practice, discipline, and commitment. Our athletic season has come to an end, but we also recognize our cheerleading, dance, swimming, and basketball
006programs. This past week, these teams have celebrated their seniors whose leadership, passion, and dedication have helped those have helped shape their teams and strengthen strengthen their programs. While a bittersweet moment, we are so grateful for the impact they have made and amazing example they have left behind. Beyond athletics, our drama program is currently presenting their winter production. The brothers grim spect speculaton performance are showing today, tomorrow, and Saturday. I strongly encourage everyone to attend and support these talented Charger students who have put in the effort to bring this production to life. You can also follow stag drama on the social media to see behind the scenes moments and experience their passion firsthand. Our Chargers continue to inspire us through their achievements, leadership, and commitment. Let's continue to support one another and celebrate the incredible talent
007that STAG has. That STA makes STAG a special place. And I'll also be competing at the WGI Winter Guard Regional this weekend. And all of you guys should come, you know. Yeah. >> Thank you. Best of luck. >> All right. Next we have our student staff spotlight. >> Dr. Hoffman, are you prepared for Is she here? >> I think she was being the the hostess in the back. >> Dr. Smith, are you in ready or did you guys have this rehears? I'm sorry. I didn't get that. >> We did. >> Oh, okay. All right. >> Here they come. Good evening. Just welcoming all our guests. Good evening. Welcome back. It's great having everyone here with us tonight. Uh kicking us off, I'm honored to present before you Andrew High School's ILMEA. Uh with us tonight
008is Mr. Mark Iwinsky, our band director of 16 years. A familiar face to the D230 board. No doubt he's been here with many accomplishments and accolades with our music program. Um Mr. Iwinsky as well as come on over. Come on over. All our favorite people. You can come both sides of me. There you go. >> Yes. >> Familiar faces. You saw our last year as well. So this is a repeat for Andrew. >> Come on. Where's the map? >> Um Mr. Iwinsky, we're going to start off with you first. Mr. Iwinsky presented uh at the 2026 Illinois music education conference. His presentation was on conducting change evolving as a music educator. It is a privilege and an honor to be able to present at the Illinois 2026 music education conference. And as always, Mr. Iwinsky
009has represented Andrew High School as well as District 230 proudly. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce him so that he could share a little bit about ILMEA and our the accomplishments of our T-Bolts. They're welcome. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Offman. Yeah, very briefly, I had I was very uh honored to have the opportunity to speak and present at the conference. It was my first time doing anything like that. Um so I was very nervous. Um but it it was uh I was humbled to have a packed room. Um and it was uh on reflective practices, something that we talk about a lot here in D230. And um just kind of outlined what I do every year, every day, every week about um thinking about how interactions will go or what our
010students need at this present moment and how we can make the next year better. So as opposed to kind of doing the same thing every year, how do we evolve and continue to grow in our practice? That was my kind of uh thought process and it came from a question that I was asked about why is our program successful over time and I didn't know the answer to that. So I asked a student that just recently graduated and she said, "Let me get back to you on that." And then she wrote me a very long email um saying, "I think it's because of this. I think it's because of how you reflect and think about uh working through failures and things along those lines." And and she was very thoughtful about it. So I said,
011"That's got to be it." So, I kind of went home and went down a rabbit hole myself and then there we went. So, it was a really fun opportunity to do that. I was there with these great kids. Um, we had uh six All-State students this year. Um, Dash is over here. Dash Wilson played the obo in the All-State Orchestra. Ashton uh was in the All-State Orchestra with him as well on the trombone. Uh, Sophia Ciscato uh is over here. She was on the flute in the All-State Honors Orchestra, second chair in the whole state. Amazing flute player. Um, Anna Bellino uh was in the honors band. um played under the former marine band director. It's an amazing opportunity for her. Um Lucas Cordova was in the honors jazz ensemble and that was an amazing
012concert. He was just smoking on trumpet. It was super cool. Um and then uh Skelp was also in the honors band. He's on obo was in the honors band with Anna. And then Ashton and Sancelp also had a couple of their compositions um I'm sorry, Ashton and Dash, I'm sorry, had some of their compositions uh submitted. Um and they were honored as well at ILMA for some of their compositions that they wrote. Um which was really cool. So we had an awesome year at ILMA in Poria. Um it was very cold, but we had a good time and uh and they're just some amazing musicians. So uh let's give it up for those great students. Sure. >> So, yeah, absolutely. Uh, the question about what ILMA is, to anybody that's not sure, ILMA is the
013state organization for music education and every year they audition in October for the honor ensembles. There are nine districts in the state of Illinois. And so the students will perform in district ensembles. And if they are qualified in that same audition at the very top of those ensembles, they then will be selected for all state. And then all state uh they reaw audition and are placed into either honors or all state. Um either way going to all state is a big deal. Um and uh so uh each year that process goes on and and it's just an amazing celebration of the amazing students that are available um to do music in the state. So district one is very competitive which is what we are in. And uh we have awesome representation in 230. So >>
014there we go. Absolutely. >> And we're seeing some familiar faces. So we see the continued >> some repeat some repeat offenders. Yes. Yeah. >> In a good way. >> Absolutely. >> Congratulations. Dr. Smith. >> Good evening everybody. Happy to share some uh Samberian musicians as well who uh kind of earned ILMEA designation. So, uh, you know, we have a great, uh, history and reputation here and tradition of great, uh, music programs and outstanding musicianship on part of our students. So, kind of happy to have recognized some additional Samber musicians this evening. Uh, up first is Shane Dinaro for ILMA Allstate Honors Chorus. Next up is Ganna Nardella for ILMA Allstate Orchestra. Brandon Ing for ILMA Allstate Honors Band >> and Elena Smith also ILMA All State band. >> Thank you very much. >> And I
015learned a new word today. >> I got full. >> Okay, you got congratulations. >> Thank you. I haven't heard that one. I haven't heard that one. I heard he >> he has the best liners, doesn't he? All right. Uh back to T-Bolts. Um those who excel tonight, it is my honor to recognize four outstanding members of the Victor J. Andrew High School community who will have been selected for the Illinois State Board of Ed, Those Who Excel Awards. Would you all please come up? >> These individuals. Yes. These individuals exemplify dedication, passion, and excellence in their roles, making a profound impact on our students, staff, and our T-Bolt family as a whole. I'm going to kick it off with Miss Barb Soapiars. Miss Sopiar has received the highest accolade which is the award of excellence.
016With over 20 years of experience, Barb is an exceptional science teacher who embodies empathy and high expectations for all students. She challenges students academically while fostering 21st century skills. Her classroom is rooted in student centered instruction. She tries to do hands-on learning all the time with investigations analyzing realworld data like EKGs. She creates meaningful experiences for our T-Bolts that build their confidence, their curiosity, and a lasting understanding. Her lessons reflect a strong command of content and a deep understanding of how students learn best. She's a trailblazer, advocating inquirybased through professional learning communities, mentoring her colleagues, and she always is invested in her own learning and growth with programs such as the Brookfield Safari program, the Zoo Safari program, as well as beyond the classroom. Barb is one of our co- studentent T uh council sponsors.
017She's been doing that for 18 years for us, providing countless hours to our T-Bolts, helping build leadership and giving them a wonderful high school experience. Her work influences the community and she helps develop the next generation of leaders and school culture builders. Miss Sopiar is a champion for learning and belonging. She exemplifies exactly what it means to be those who excel in Illinois and in our community. Congratulations, Miss So. Next up, another teacher, uh, Mr. Josh Niggo who's received a award of special recognition. He's an early career educator. Mr. Nego began in our district as an educational support professional at Samberg High School uh before transitioning to business teacher here in 2023, earning his certificate through a rigorous CTE pathway while simultaneously teaching full-time. successfully balancing the demands of his first year with certification requirements
018speaks volumes about his work ethic and his commitment. Uh Josh has been quickly become an invaluable member of our business department. He's an active contributor in his professional learning community. He's consistently thoughtful and he works through evidence-based ideas through his instruction. science and you think about like financial literacy embodied altogether is how he delivers his lessons. One uh quality of Josh that I particularly find every single time I visit his classroom is his reflection. He regularly analyzes data, refineses his instruction, and tries to maximize learning. Beyond the classroom, he coaches basketball for us as well as track. He's a dynamic, independable member and always steps up to help his colleagues. He's part of the school staff SIP committee as well, helping provide feedback for Andrew High School. Mr. Niego exemplifies the promise and excellence of
019an early career educator and is most deserving of this special recognition. Congratulations, Mr. Nego. Mr. Tadla, a very familiar face to many of you as he prepares for his well-earned retirement at the end of the year. It is fitting to recognize the extraordinary impact of his career and education. For decades, 35 years to be exact, Mr. Tadla John has set the standard of what it means to be a dedicated school counselor and unwavering student advocate. Long before equity became a common term, Mr. Tadla lived it, supporting with every student's personal journey with compassion and respect. Whether guiding college applications, supporting students through hospitalizations and transitions, or providing a safe space to talk, his commitment to student and families has been steadfast. John's influence extends beyond his case load. He built our annual career day at
020Andrew High School. He coordinates AP exams and he serves as our NCAA expert and contributes countless hours to committees and initiatives, all with a contagious positivity and a humor. He likes to make fun sometimes. Uh, keeping us grounded. He's a coach, sponsor, a mentor. You saw him at NHS induction. You've seen him in golf and tennis. He is all over all the time forming meaningful connections with students both inside and outside the classroom. Within our counseling department, John is the heart of our culture with his colleagues bringing humor to all of us, humility and optimism. He celebrates and he recognizes even with uh retirement opportunities. We're going to have him present on everyone else again this year. He makes us all laugh and brings a lot of joy to our group. Honoring Mr. Tadla with
021this award spe award of special recognition is a fitting tribute to a remarkable career. Congratulations, Mr. Last but not least, another very familiar face, Miss Cinnamon Morris, uh, who received the award of special recognition, education service personnel. As our head cook, Cinnamon oversees the daily service of meals for over 2,20,200, right? About students and staff, ensuring that our cafeteria is not only efficient, but welcoming and supportive. Since joining Andrew in 2001, she has become a pillar of our school community. Her impact is most felt in her interactions, her contagious smile, the work that she does with our students. She notices when a kid needs encouragement or an adult needs a little more walking through the cafeteria. For many, our cafeteria is a place of connections, and she creates that environment. As a leader, she sets
022the tone with her team through integrity and compassion with high expectations. She leads by example and staff as well as students often perceived her as a calming force. She leads cherished community events like senior recognition, senior citizen, strengthening our connections beyond our school walls. Cinnamon understands that nutrition fuels learning. You can't learn if you're not you don't have sound nutrition. And she takes great pride in serving meals with care and excellence. Deeply respected by all in our building as our head cook, she's our mentor. She's a leader and she's a champion for children. Congratulations, Cinnamon Morris. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating Miss Barbie, Mr. Josh Niggo, Miss Cinnamon Morskin, and Mr. Tadla on the Illinois Those Who Excel Awards for this year. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. Welld deserved. >> Do we have another
023>> next? >> Good evening. I would like to welcome any students from our people program and our teachers. They want to come forward. Should we balance it out? >> All right. Good evening. This month's curriculum spotlight is focused on our people PE program, a signature inclusive initiative within our physical education department. People PE creates a collaborative environment where general education students work one-on-one with students with significant needs, special needs to engage in physical activity, social development, and therapy related exercises. The success of this program relies heavily on the people trainer course, a prerequisite for our general education students. This rigorous preparatory course ensures that inclusion is more than just a buzzword. It's a safe, intentional, and highquality educational experience. People PE has consistently proven to be one of the most transformative programs in our district.
024We see measurable improvements in physical stamina and coordination from our students alongside a significant reduction in social is social isolation. Simultaneously, many of our student trainers go on to pursue careers in special education, occupational therapy, or physical education as a direct result of this experience. We're looking forward to highlighting this wonderful program this evening. I learned many different things. To be competitive, lots of different sports. People program is um our inclusive PE class. It's where we partner with tutors and students to meet the needs of all our students. This course is twofold. So, we start with the people tutor training class. The people PE training course is a semesterl long course where Tom Cisco, my counterpart, trains students that have been accepted and came highly recommended from their prior PE teachers as being compassionate, empathetic,
025caring, just wonderful individuals. The first part of it, they learn about all the disabilities and we go over what the disability is, what we might see in class. We're teaching them different strategies to connect to have students participate and then how to adapt physical education and fitness activities, typical ones that we do in class. Uh then they're taught how to um break down certain skills. I show them how uh the students might complete that skill and then how they can help them. So when they're in the actual class, they know how to do it kind of on their own without the teacher's assistance. Once they pass that class, they become people tutors where they're working with students through a variety of activities. They're building friendships. Um, for tutors, it develops those leadership skills, those communication
026skills and understanding of diversity. >> I learned deeply about communication, especially with the kid I work with. He might not be able to hold like an entire conversation, but just learning like how to communicate with him uh through emotions, his facial expressions. So, it really works your communication and your patience. >> Beyond the gym class, I have met so many tutors and so many students that I see in the hallway sometimes and they're always like, "What's up, hi Lori?" And it just brings like light to my day. To the Ulta students, I believe seeing them with their peers and developing a friendship with the tutors, the connection is very genuine. And in regards to the tutors, uh it overall I think the experience makes them a better person. Uh teaches them a lot of patience,
027how to truly help others. I learned that there's so many people that you can work with and meet and it's good to have this background and it's good to like work with students you don't normally work with. I really want to help uh the people around me cuz when you help these kids, they they're just so happy and it it makes you feel like a whole new person. >> To me, one of the greatest things is the inclusion. Um when I was here at Stag, we really didn't see the students in the Ultima program. And I think just the collaborative daily impact they have on each other is something that trickles out to the rest of the school. >> When I play basketball, my friends comes out and play with me and they cheer me
028on. I see the tutors of my class all over the school building. It is nice to see so many familiar faces. I also see them in clubs like the hangout. This class is beyond beneficial for both um the tutors and the students. Um I cannot say how many relationships are built in this um in this little community that we have here with our people program. Peer support changes everything for students with disabilities. It builds belonging, a sense of confidence, meaningful opportunities and meaningful experiences. Together they learn that being different is not less. It's very powerful. >> Good evening. I'm Abby Delomin. I'm one of the teachers up there that was speaking. Um, honored to be here tonight. I would like to inter like to introduce Lared Danni, one of our exceptional people tutors. I know
029she's a familiar face. Spends a lot of time at these board meetings. Thank you for having us. It means a lot. >> So, you were already famous. We saw your beautiful smile up there. >> So, has this made you think about your post careers? >> Yeah, I I've been thinking about speech path. >> Okay. Uh my aunt does it and my sister's training to be one right now. And so that's kind of what I think I want to do. >> I'm thinking of pediatric nursing. >> Oh, that's >> all service important industries. So we know you will all be successful in life. So thank you for you coming and thank you for the teachers and the amazing job you do. >> All right. Next, we have our committee reports. We'll start with education member cancer.
030>> Uh the February 4th, 2026 education committee meeting minutes highlighted key updates across instructional services and curriculum. Uh Dr. Huffman presented the strategic framework, semester 1 data update, noting a freshman on track rate of 90.15% and outlining various credit recovery approaches such as summer school sore and winter school. Uh following this, the new career exploration experience requirement was introduced as a mandatory 4-hour graduation component designed to bridge classroom learning with the professional world with current data showing 697 students have already completed this experience. The full requirement is planned for official roll out to all students in July following a pilot phase. and um it's not in my notes, but I know that uh they're doing a lot of hard work to create opportunities for job shadowing and some other things so that um you know
031the students don't necessarily have to go out and find all those experiences on their own. So there is a lot of hard work being done by the admin um to help that program be successful. A significant portion of the meeting addressed the athletic cooperative program realignment uh necessitated by a new IHSA mandate prohibiting cooperatives between schools with a combined enrollment exceeding 3500. Uh this requires structural changes for several programs including girls gymnastics, girls and boys lacrosse and water polo affecting their competition eligibility for the 202627 academic year. Uh the corresponding financial impact analysis showed that while the shift to more independent programming would increase certain costs like personnel and operations, some structural efficiencies and water polo and reduced shuttle services brought the net financial impact to an increase for the athletic budget. Uh for programs
032losing IHSA postseason eligibility, the district is planning to lead a coalition of large school cooperatives to a postseason invitational. Uh the meeting concluded with a discussion on state funding initiatives HB 4334 and uh several mandates and the second reading of several policies. That's all. >> Any questions? >> Okay. Thank you. Right. Member Kelly with student support. >> Yes. Uh the meeting began with an update on the strategic framework highlighting the district's participation in a regional continuous improvement symposium where Mr. Avando and Dr. Hoffman shared the district's 15 key metrics and long-term goal setting approach. Successes in freshman on track performance and a significant reduction in chronic absenteeism were noted as primary points of pride. Mr. Oando shared insights gained from peer districts regarding ACT growth, PLC effectiveness, and multi-tered systems of report known as MTSS,
033NTSS. These connections provided affirmation of the district's current trajectory while offering new strategies to strengthen continuous improvement efforts moving forward. Dr. Carr provided a mid-year safety update outlining proactive measures such as the imple implementation of Halo bathroom monitors and the pilot of the smart plus digital hall pass system at Andrew High School. Dr. Car also shared how the district has been gathering stakeholder feedback and collaborating with first responders to plan for next year's implementation of the standard response protocol and emergency response framework used by more than 50,000 schools and organizations nationwide. Its main features include a simplified common language of five clear actions that streamline emergency response and communication. Additionally, the annual renewal of the onbudsman contract was presented with a recommendation to reduce contracted seats to six to better align with current current util
034utilization trends and save money. The committee was also briefed on state bills being deliberated, including a potential bell-to-bell cell phone prohibition. Finally, Mr. Roando presented the second reading of board policies previously reviewed at the December joint committee meeting. The majority of which are revisions that reflect minor legal updates and terminology adjustments. Next meeting is on March 10th. >> Building and finance met this past one day and there were two public comments regarding responsible bidder ordinance and support for new scoreboards and fieldouses. Building updates included ongoing roof um roof and HVAC re renovations at Carl Sandberg High School and pool deck floor replacement, dance floor replacement, and stadium lights at Stag. Districtwide bathroom renovations are planned at all three schools. The committee also discussed replacing aging scoreboards at Carl Samberg and Stag High School with um
035with video um for each stadium similar to Andrew High School. Board members would like to see how advertising revenue would look would look like before investing in new scoreboards. The committee also discussed preliminary fieldhouse facility assessment and space considerations. The committee reviewed a building capacity report indicating the district's area to student ratio. This the report is online on board docs. administration also discussed competitive bidding requirements under Illinois school code and re recommended not adopting additional responsible bidder ordinance language noting it could discourage potential biders. The fiscal year 2025 annual audit received a clean opinion. Auditors will present the full report tonight. We reviewed the January financial treasures report. We discussed the impact of the state budget on district financing and administration proposed an emergency contract amendment with Safeway transportation bus services to ensure continued service
036for Andrew High School students. The board will vote on this tonight. And then we also reviewed um policy and adjourn at 8:15. The next meeting is at is on March 16th. >> Any questions? Next we have the teachers association. >> Well, good evening earlier tonight. Today at Stag and Andrew, we had the opportunity to bring civics to life. At Stag, we conducted lessons in the media center and students who turned 18 by November's election day. They were able to vote for the first time in the primaries as per new Illinois law. We had over 50 choose to vote and three of our own worked as election judges. It was a cool experience to see their reactions, especially my student who said she needs way more time to do research. She didn't realize how many candidates
037as well as issues would be on the ballot. As you know, we have many wonderful things going on in our schools right now. In fact, my wife is at Stag with our three kids, hopefully enjoying the opening night of the winter show. In fact, I haven't received a phone call yet as a good sign that my three-year-old has not tried to insert herself into a performance. I do mention these two examples from today to show that it takes all of us working towards common goals to make our schools a better place. When I addressed this board about a year ago, I referenced the importance of collaboration with our teachers. And I didn't just mean it as a talking point. Tonight, I want to share two concrete examples recently where collaborations between our teachers, the administration,
038and our school board is leading to positive outcomes for students. The first is the finalization of details pertaining to the tuition reimbursement component added in our last contract. This pathway will encourage a variety of upper level coursework and additional certifications pursued by our teachers. It in turn fosters a grow your own component that allows our district to create these opportunities for students. It's possible due to the creativity shown by all sides during our last negotiations. The second example is the smart pass pilot program uh that we have here at Andrew. Our teachers wanted to have our students, we always want to have our students in our classes learning. And so when this idea of an electronic call pass system was brought to our attention a couple years ago, uh we're happy to have have seen
039that getting implemented and we're working with admin to make sure that roll out goes smoothly. As we move through the year, there's going to be more decisions, more challenges, and more opportunities to engage our teachers in the policym process. Being the guy standing up here wearing the vote shirt, I think it's only appropriate that I encourage you to continue to hear our voice. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. ESPs Christie. >> Hello. Good evening. Um, I'm sorry I'm a bit off my game today. I really don't have anything funny or witty to share tonight. Um, but as the current president of the ESP association, I always like to use my time tonight to acknowledge uh the ESPs that work in our district, approximately 240 of them that work throughout the district in a
040variety of capacities supporting our schools, our students, and uh our community. And I just like to always say that I'm very proud of them and I'm very proud to uh stand up here and be the current president. and uh we always look forward to continued collaboration with the district and um we're just very proud to uh of all the things that we we do and that we can do and we look forward to many future collaborations with the district. So, thank you very much for your time as always and I appreciate you having me here tonight. Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. All right, next we have the District 230 Foundation update from Miss Waterman. Thank you. Um, it's a busy time for the foundation this time of year, especially as the
041teacher grants we support come to fruition. And I thought I would bring attention to a couple of the upcoming events um that the foundation supports. Um, tomorrow in uh at Andrew at 8 am uh the Ultima Woods Grant, that's the grant where Wood students work with the Ultima program students, will be hosting a cutting board and bake sale to support their program. Um, on March 11th, uh, the D230 band showcase will take place at 700 p.m. at Wheaten College, and that's where, uh, the bands from all three schools, uh, work in a professional setting. Um this spring the eco engineers at Sandberg will be installing a sustainable water system outside in their garden. Encourage you to take a look at that. Also at Sandberg, Donna Driscoll will be hosting a schoolwide triathlon, another grant that
042the foundation supports. Um, and at STAG, I urge you to take a look at the completed Ultima program's colorcoded kitchen, which is teaching functional independence and increased employability among its students. And last but not least, of course, Whoop It Up, which will be held March 28th from 4:30 to 10:30. And I encourage you all to attend. >> Thank you so much. Oops. Next, we have public comments. And if you're new to coming to a board meeting, you always read a statement. Per board policy 2230, we ask that you address the board stating your name and the reason for your comment. Each person will be allotted no more than three minutes with a maximum of 30 minutes total for public comment. Per board policy 8:30. The school district expects mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct among
043all 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. Disruptions will not be tolerated. And while the board greatly appreciates all participation, please understand that the board does not actively engage in dialogue during public comment. We take all matters seriously and if there is a specific question or comment that requires followup, the appropriate board member or administrator will follow up with you. All right. So, I've tried to organize to make sure that there's multiple topics um being asked to speak about that we get a little bit of everything. So the first one is Deborah and I am sorry I'm trying to I need
044new glasses but I'm trying to read the handwriting. >> Yes ma'am. >> Um hias and I have two children that attended Andrew High School. Um my son graduated in 2017 and my daughter 2019. The reason I'm here is because I got two disturbing phone calls. Um, and I'm not sure who they came from, but with regards to Mr. Sar and I didn't appreciate those phone calls and I don't know where they came from and I I don't know if it went through the village or just maybe it known Mr. for a number of years. I was on districts for 10 very respectful and always came to our meetings. open to anything suggestions. He also wrecked soccer. My daughter played soccer in college. My two kids did very well here. But I don't know where those
045phone calls came from, but I don't think that should be something that's very situation, but I just say it should not be happening, but I had to come tonight. >> Thank you. Okay, next. Asthma. Thank you. >> Good evening, members of the board and superintendent. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. As an educator and a consultant working in multilingual program development and school improvement across Illinois and nationally, my comments are grounded in policy alignment, statewide data, and strategic district positioning. I'm here to express support for the adoption of Arabic as a world language and to encourage continued forward movement towards implementation. Arabic is designated by the US Department of State as a critical needs language and is one of the official languages of the United Nations. It plays a vital role in diplomacy, global
046commerce, cyber security, health care and national security. When districts offer critical languages, they strengthen measurable college and career pathways. Students proficient in Arabic are more competitive for federal internships, national security language initiatives, and global STEM research programs. According to ISBY English learner data, Arabic is consistently among the most commonly spoken languages in Illinois for English learners, second only to Spanish in many statewide reports. Illinois already recognizes multilingualism through the seal of biiteracy, and Arabic is among the languages most frequently earning the distinction. students are already entering Illinois schools with Arabic as a linguistic asset. At the same time, this would be a world language pathway open to all students just as Spanish, French, and Mandarin are. A structured standard aligned program strengthens graduation credentials and aligns with statewide multilingual priorities. Arabic is academically rigorous. It
047requires mastery of a non-Latin RA writing system, structured grammatical analysis, and advanced pattern recognition, competencies that support mathematics, engineering, and computer science. District 230 would not be acting in isolation. Arabic is successfully implemented in Illinois districts, including Chicago public schools, for example, Lane Tac and Lindloom and Oaklan Community High School. certifica certification pathways and standards already exist. When planning and alignment are in place, leadership requires action. I respectfully urge you to move forward with implementation. Thank you, Maddie. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, my name is Marty Eldbog. I am a graduate. Um, sorry, 2025. Um, today I'm here to speak on the same topic as the lady before me. Um, during my time at Andrew High School, I had several conversations with multiple friends of all different backgrounds, telling me how useful Arabic would
048be as a world language. So when I heard that at the last board meeting it wasn't second, I felt compelled to um speak on it. Um Arabic is a very important language in the community of Simley Park, Orland Park, and all like neighboring towns. Um Arabic should be offered, especially with the two-year language requirement approaching in six years. We need diverse options in all of our schools. Students are not forced to take a specific language. So adding this simply just creates more valuable options uh for students, taxpayers and voters. If this course were available, it should definitely be for all four years. So students can try for the seal by literacy. Now as a student here, I tried for it for a different language, did not get it. But I do know how important seal
049by literacy is to a school district for annual scores and ratings. Not only this, but students passing the exam can save them and their parents $4,000 or more for college classes because college classes do offer Arabic. And from what I've seen in my community, I feel like a lot of people do take Arabic in college. It's very useful language. Um, additionally, this program would give students an edge in the job market since uh more employers in modern day are seeking um individuals who speak English and Arabic. There are many advantages to having this program at all three schools. I ask you vote yes to approve it rather than just saying you are on board which often feels like an excuse to support the idea without taking any action. That is all I have for you
050guys. Thank you and good night everybody. Okay. Next, Edith Kavanagh. Good evening. I am a current resident and respectfully oppose in the proposed Thank you. the proposal to introduce Arabic as an additional language offering within district 230. Before expanding the curriculum, it would be helpful to understand the demonstrated level of interest and demand from the broader student population. Spec specifically, how many non-Arabic students have formerly requested Arabic as a language option? How many non-Arabic families across the district have expressed interest? What established criteria and process does the district use when evaluating addition of the new academic subjects? Currently, the district offers four world languages, Spanish, French, German, and Latin. These languages provide students with access to widely used linguistic foundations that support global communications, higher education pathways, and uh career readiness. For example, Spanish and
051French are among the most commonly taught and utilized international languages across diplomatic business and travel. German remains an important language in global commerce and industrial fields. I'm sorry, engineering fields. Latin supports fundamental understanding of terminology used in medicine, law and science, strengthening academic literacy across disciplines. Given fin instructional time, staffing of budget resources and any expansion of language offerings should be carefully evaluated against student demand, long-term academic value, and alignment within district educational priorities. Additionally, many families choose to supplement cultural or heritage language learning through community-based programs, religious institution, or private instruction outside of the public school settings. These avenues could provide meaningful opportunities for students seeking deeper cultural and linguist linguistic connections without requiring changes to the district's current curriculum. For these reasons, I encourage the district to prioritize strengthening and expanding access to
052the existing language programs before considering the addition of new offerings. Thank you. >> Next, Amad Good evening. My name is Ahmed Zahadan. I co-founded an edtech startup in the future of work and I spent the past 14 years helping schools and governments aligned curriculum with real student needs. I sold my startup to Google two years ago. So I'm coming from a position of facts and statistics. After watching districts across the US, Europe, and Asia evolve their programs, one pattern is universally clear. The schools that thrive are the schools that expand choice. They meet students where the world is going, not where it used to be. I'm here to advocate for district 230 to add Arabic as a world language. This is not a cultural decision. It's an academic and economic one for the future of
053all of our students. Arabic, as mentioned earlier, is the fastest growing language studied in the US, fastest growing spoken language in the world. Enrollment in Arabic courses has grown faster than any other major language over the past three decades in the United States. Right now, our curriculum is behind where the world is heading. Students shouldn't be limited by a narrow language menu when colleges and employers are demanding broader global competency. Adding Arabic aligns with district 230. What that high performing district's already doing, preparing students for a competitive world. Here's a key point. Students are not forced into any language. By adding Arabic, you give them a choice. A choice drives engagement. Choice raises achievement. in every single district I've supported across the world, expanding language options, increased student participation, and strengthened academic outcomes across the
054board. We also have a large and growing community here with cultural and linguistic ties to Arabic. Ignoring that reality means ignoring the students that you serve. Offering Arabic tells every family that this district values inclusion, not just statements, but in action. The decision in front of you is very straightforward. You can keep the curriculum limited or you can modernize it. You can tell students that global readiness matters or you can show it by expanding their opportunities. I urge you to approve Arabic as a world language and act with your three pillars that were up on the screen earlier which are be innovative, be empathetic and act with bold leadership. Thank you. Wid to see you. >> Hello. So today I'm speaking uh my name is Widana and I'm speaking to advocate for the adoption of
055Arabic into our world language program. I'm speaking as a high school educator, resident of this district and a community representative in the building and finance committee. Um I've been following the advancement of world language development in high school districts throughout the Chicagoland area. It has been growing especially in the district where I work there's been expansion world language offerings where the mindset is that personal and career benefits and understanding of multiple languages and cultures is important for personal growth and professional growth. Um here in district 230 we have teachers and administrators that are phenomenal that are capable and that want to create a c curriculum that keeps this district at the level at or above other suburban high school districts in the Chicagoland area. They understand that adding Arabic to the world language curriculum would
056fulfill the core one of the core pillars of district 230 of providing an authentic learning experience to our students by providing realworld opportunities. Um Arabic is the fifth there's fourth but I'm going to settle on fifth just to go there. Um is the fifth most spoken language in the world one of the official languages of the United Nations. Um it was also labeled in 2008 as a critical language by the US state department. So the US government, the US State Department want people learning Arabic, want more Americans to learn Arabic for a variety of reasons, national security, business opportunities, and also furthermore, um, oh yeah, and offering this opportunity to all of our students to learn Arabic as a world language would allow them to compete in the global job market after they graduate and
057also be ahead when they go to college. If they pass the four years in high school, pass the seal of literacy, they'll go to college with the credit, uh, which will, you know, advance their path towards graduation. So what's required now is from our board to empower the teachers, empower the administrators to update the curriculum which allows our district 230 graduates to compete in an emerging job market in the present time and also in the projected future. Thank you. Okay, asalam alaikum everyone. This means may peace be upon you in Arabic. My name is Hanan Jasum. I am a parent of a current uh Andrew student. Um I am also a speech language pathologist and an Iraqi American who used to work in the public schools. I know the joy of hearing and seeing Arabic
058being used, a language of my community and my family. I would love to share that joy with any student wanting to learn Arabic. Adding Arabic to District 230's curriculum has many advantages for students taking the class, including potentially higher paying jobs, having the same opportunity as other districts in the Chicagoland area, increases in cognitive linguistic skills, better communication with family, friends, and co-workers. Knowing Arabic can be an advantage for students when searching for a job. It increases your marketability in finance, business, law, healthcare, energy and technology and international relations to to name a few. It also increases accessibility to emerging markets in the Middle East or North African regions or MENA and more networking opportunities. Bottom line is Arabic speakers are in great demand and potential employees can get a higher pay especially when working
059for global companies. I want district 230 students to stay competitive with other districts in the Chicagoland area that offer Arabic. Two such instances are the Chicago public schools and the community high school district 280 Richards High School in Oaklan. As an SLP speech language pathologist who specializes in cognitive and linguistics disorders and multiculturalism, learning Arabic increases a students cognitive and linguistic skills. Arabic speakers have diverse dialects and cultures. By studying the language, one has a better understanding of their cultures and will increase students pragmatics or the use social use of language. Arabic is a language that linguists refer to as a deep language. Learning it will enhance memory, problem solving, and attention shifting from one topic to another. In other words, multitasking. Students and staff members want Arabic. We've asked for it. We've attended board
060meetings. It's important to us. To iterate this point, allow me to share a personal story. My maternal grandfather, a World War II vet, was looking for a job after the war. He heard that Ford was hiring. When he got to the company, he saw a long line of people, and he's like, "Uh-oh." So, he grabbed the attention of someone who looked like he was in charge, and he said, "Can you tell your boss that Fred Canudson wants to speak to him?" The guy's like, "Okay." So, he grabs the boss and he asked him, "Can Fred talk to you?" He's like, "Sure, bring him up." Uh, his boss said, "What can I do for you?" And my grandfather said, "I need a job." The boss was furious. He's fumed. "Didn't you see that long line of
061people that also needed a job?" My grandfather calmly said, "Well, if they needed a job as badly as badly as I did, then they would have been up here with me, too." My grandfather was hired on the spot. Like my grandfather who asked for a job Thank you. Was she Lana or she was she was Lana? And for the board members, not everybody's used all their three minutes. So I will honor all 13 speakers if everybody's okay with that. >> Good evening everybody. My name is Lana Abu Shaheen. I'm a child birth educator and adula and I spend my days supporting families, helping children come into this world. And I'm raising three young children of my own who are curious and beautiful and proud to be of the heritage that we come from. When you
062do the type of work I do, you see something very clearly. Children learn best when we honor who they are, where they come from, and the world they're growing into. That is why adding Arabic as a world language is not a luxury. It's a necessity. Our children are growing up in a diverse interconnected world. Their classmates come from different backgrounds. Their future co-workers will also come from everywhere. When we give students access to more language languages, we're not just teaching them vocabulary. We're teaching them understanding, confidence, and belonging. Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages. You've heard this over and over again, but it's true. It is deeply tied to science, medicine, literature, history. It's undeniable. Exposing students to Arabic opens doors automatically academically and culturally. It helps them see beyond the borders
063of their own experience. And for many families in this community, it reflects their heritage and identity. That matters. Kids thrive when we see themselves when they kids thrive when they see themselves represented in their school. And we've seen this from previous segments. We've seen how the students of special needs felt included just by just by having that single program handed to them. I also know as a parent that curiosity is our children's greatest asset. They ask questions. They want to explore. They want choices. And adding Arabic gives them an option they don't have today. They're not required to take it, but at least having it there tells them your interests matter and your future matters. A school district should grow with its students. Right now, we have an opportunity to expand their world, to support
064academic excellence, to send a message that every child's background and curiosity deserves space in inside our classrooms. I'm asking you to approve Arabic as a as a world language, not just for a cultural value, but because it strengthens identity, it enriches education, and it aligns our schools with what our children need to thrive. Thank you. Summer. >> Not sure if you heard me. I said summer. Okay. I thought so, but I wasn't sure. >> You're good. Thank you. >> Uh, hi. Good evening. Uh, my name is Sar Vikat. Um, I am a alum of Samberg and um all my older siblings are also alum of Samberg. Um, and for me, um, something that I would have liked to have in high school is having the Arabic class personally. Um, as much as, you know, I
065grew up learning Arabic and speaking Arabic, um, I forgot a lot of it growing up. And so, for me to have kind of that, um, like a class in growing up to attend and be able to participate in so that I can kind of, um, learn Arabic again would have been really nice. And I'm sure a lot of other students um would agree with that. Um you know to kind of have to wait until college to be able to take a Arabic course is kind of disappointing. Um you know I think having Arabic initially to start um in earlier years is a great um is a great push to kind of continue learning. um you know to have if I kind of had like Arabic class in high school at Samberg um you know I
066would have maybe even uh I would have pushed to um take Arabic in you know college and continue it maybe later on and you know I think that's just something that me and other students and even future generations would appreciate especially because um D230 has such a large Arabic speaking population and those that come from Arab speaking backgrounds. So, um, I'm asking you guys to please take in cons consideration for students that are there now and to students that are going to be there moving on to include Arabic as a world language class in D230. Thank you, >> Ben. Rico Mercas. >> Uh, good evening. Uh, thank you members of the boards of the board for, uh, listening to me. So, my name is Federico Lu Matias. I teach Arabic and Spanish at Lingum Park
067High School and I was here at the last meeting January 29th and uh so I'm back because I have an update. Uh that meeting I said that I was working on legislation at the in Springfield and uh my Senate John resolution was filed on February 2nd. So I'm here to read it to you. Um I wish uh I hope I have time. Whereas whereas in 26 the federal secretaries of state education and defense and the director of national intelligence launched the national security language initiative to increase the number of Americans learning and teaching foreign languages of critical importance to national security and global competitive competitiveness and whereas the national security language initiative was founded on the recognition that speaking another's language promotes understanding and conveys respect for other countries and cultures strengthens the ability of
068the United states to engage foreign peoples and governments and provides others with an opportunity to learn more about America and its people. And whereas in 2018 the federal government designated Arabic a critical language and whereas Arabic is a global language spoken by hundreds of millions of peoples and is one of the six official languages for the United Nations. And whereas Arabic is central to cultural, economic and diplomatic engagement worldwide, yet remains far less available than other world languages in the US K to2 education. And whereas expanding Arabic instruction helps build both linguistic and intercultural comp competence, preparing students to be more informed, productive, and compassionate global citizens in a world where understanding and connection across cultures is essential. And whereas over the past 15 years, global events, including sustained US diplomatic, economic, and security engagement
069in the Middle East and North Africa have only heightened the strength, the strategic strategic value of Arabic profic proficiency. And whereas the US federal government continues to reaffirm Arabic as a critical language through programs such as the national security language initiative for youth, the critical language scholarship program and other national security education program grants which provide immersive and virtual opportunities for Arabic studies. And whereas the Department of Defense through the Defense Language and National Security Education Office and the language flagship continues to support pathways to professional level proficiency in Arabic and other critical languages reflecting awareness of enduring national security and diplomatic needs. And whereas the 2017 National Security Strategy emphasized the importance of cultural, religious, and language understanding as vital tools for American state graph underscoring the role of foreign languages in advances US
070interests abroad. And there's a few more uh whereas I'm not have going to have the time to read. So I'm going to move to resolve resolved by the Senate of the 104th general assembly of the state of Illinois. The House of Representatives concurrent here and that we encourage school districts in the state of Illinois to explore the introduction of Arabic as a foreign language option available state and federal resources and B. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um, while we were cogn everyone was cognizant of time with passing of time, we're going to go over the 30 minutes and I still want to allow for the four remaining speakers. So, could I have a motion that we extend the time? >> Make a motion to extend the uh public comments for four more speakers. I second.
071>> Any questions? >> All right, Lisa, do you need to take role with that? >> Yes. >> Kelly, >> yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Motion passes. Next, we do have another topic. Um, so we will have Jack Ellis. >> Good afternoon, board members. My name is Jack Ellis. I'm a former student at Andrew High School. I graduated in the class of 2025. I'm currently a student at the JAC130 approved apprenticeship program. I'm here to speak that the options to go to the trades and different career paths need to be more pushed on students and more opportunities given to them. I think that the trades can thoroughly help people's lives. I think it can help them out. I think it grows people. I personally believe that in the year that I've been a part
072of this, I have fully succeeded as a person. I became better. I think these programs offer meaningful alternatives. Not everybody needs to go to a four-year college. When I say trades, I don't just mean you're an electrician, you're a carpenter. This includes like firefighters, police departments, anything like that. Other different different ways to go about your life. I believe that this is something that needs to be expanded more. When I was in high school, one day of the year, we had a career day. That's the only time I ever saw an electrician or a plumber or a carpenter come into my school and talk. One time every year. And I know that every other week there was a college fair. Thank you. >> You Jacob. >> Hello. My name is Jacob. I was a former
073student at Andrew High School, graduating class of 23. I'm currently a student at the JAC130 approved apprentice program. I'm also here to talk on uh career pathways in the skilled trades that every student's goal is a four-year college degree. And I think that it's important that schools recognize and support different paths to success. Currently in the apprenticeship, I believe it's a incredible opportunity. They allow students to earn while they learn um gain real world experience and build a stable career without taking on large amounts of debt. Careers in construction, electrical work, plumbing, and other trades are essential to our communities. These jobs require skilled training and professionalism. Having access to information about structure training programs and apprenticeships would help students like me make well helped me make more informed decisions about our futures. I hope
074the district continues expanding awareness and career path so that every student, no matter their goals, feels supported and prepared for life after graduation. I'm asking that the board to adopt a responsible bidder ordinance that would support apprentichip programs in our community. Thank you for your time, >> Anthony. Hello, my name is Anthony. I was also a student here at Andrew. Uh, every day kids walk into this building without thinking about who built it, who poured the concrete, wired the lights, installed the plumbing, installed the heating, or made sure it was safe for us to learn in. But someone but but someone from our community did that work. Some of the students in these classrooms today could be the ones building the next school edition, renovating the gym, or upgrading the science labs in the future.
075Skill trades still skilled trade careers give students the change to directly shape the communities we grow up in. These there is something powerful about the idea of building this very schools that future students will learn, maybe even in our own maybe even our own younger siblings or children one day. When students have access to strong training and career pathways, we are not just pretending. We are not just preparing for jobs. We are preparing to take care of our community. Please support apprenticeship programs by adopting a responsible bidder or thank you. Mayor Glattz, last but not least, >> thank you for uh letting me speak. Um I first I I wish that Mike Henry was here. I wanted to address him. Really getting tired of of all the uh the just call him crazy emails I
076get constantly from him and all his nonsense. And for the record, I don't only people I know on this board I've known Tony territory for a long time. I've met Chris a couple times and unfortunately I know Mo Jabber, which I'll I'll discuss uh uh next. I feel sorry for all you guys. I don't know S uh Sue Dalton. I don't know uh Dr. Zeter. I know Dr. Nolting and uh Mr. Sartorii. I apologize for all the nonsense that you guys got to deal with these robocalls. Now I've been brought into them. I'm sure now after Mike Henry watches me speak, you will see a new RO robocall next week on me and I apologize. We've had the same issues in the village. Un luckily for us, he was an attorney. We were able to
077file an ARDC complaint. Um then he packed his bags, moved to uh Florida, and now he can't practice law anymore. So I I apologize. You really guys don't have much of an option other than possibly suing him for defamation or something. So I wish you guys I truly wish you the best of luck. This is all volunteer position. you guys should not have to deal with this nonsense. Um, and I think about you guys all the time. Every time I receive an email or I watch I watch the meetings. I apologize for what you guys get to uh what you have to go through. And people don't realize that you don't get paid to do this. It's all volunteer for the students and for our neighborhood. So, I thank you for your uh for your
078time volunteering for everything you do. Um, second, I want to talk about uh your uh I what your title is all trustee or whatever you called for uh Mojabber. The dealings that I've had with uh Mr. Jobber. I'm used to being attacked and it's okay. My attack my attack started in 2019 from Senator Hastings and Bob Rita because I wouldn't endorse them. And then when you don't endorse people then you become an enemy and that's the thing that's really stinks about the politics in our area. And now you guys are are facing the same nonsense with the attacks. Uh Jobber approached me in February. He called I wouldn't answer his calls. He tried messaging me on Facebook and he got all his friends. You should really stay off the phone while you're when people are
079speaking. You've been doing it to every public speaker. Um I wouldn't answer his calls and then called everyone I know to get to to talk to me. And I thought it'd be a friendly conversation and it led to can you get involved in our in our Orland fire district race and help and support us and if you do his buddy Ray Hannania who's a part who's a part of all the nonsense will write all these nice positive articles about me and all his other little friends that they have. I won't mention their names this uh this meeting. I'm going to save that. and then thinly park and it started getting flooded with, you know, mailers from the Orland Fire District about us involving us. >> The conclusion of public comments, we next are moving on
080to our approval for our consent agenda. Do I have a motion? >> I move that the school board approve the consent agenda items as presented. >> Second. >> Any questions? All right, Lisa, please take role. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelly, >> yes. >> Sarah, >> yes. >> D, >> Yes. Motion passed. Next on to business services. >> Are you guys come on? >> All right. Good evening. Uh I'd like to uh introduce Marlene Medina and Rich Burna from the firm of Warmer, Rogers, Dorne, and Rusen. They are here to present to you the fiscal year 25 audit. Uh on Monday evening, we went through a uh um an audit um kind of preview at our business or building and finance uh meeting. Um in front of you tonight are some documents, a bound audit
081financial report. We have the bound single audit report, the management letter, and an audit comm uh conclusion communication. So, I'm going to let them speak, go through the presentation. They can answer any questions that you guys have. Thank you >> and thank you for your patience. We have some good stuff presented. So, thank you. >> I thank you for having us. Um, you can go to the next slide. Thanks. Yeah, we are here. We're going to start with the annual financial report and then if you have your reports with you, uh you can feel free to open up your pages. If not, it's just going to be a highle discussion over the audit. You don't have to feel like you need to go through each page. Um but we're going to start with the independent
082auditor's report on pages one to three. And this is kind of what that sums up uh at the end of the the um independent auditors report. and it just really comes to say that you received an unmodified opinion which means that you received a clean audit. >> Could I ask um I know there's some people chattering in the audience and out of respect to all the speakers, thank you so much. And then moving forward, uh, on page 62, we're going to talk about the general fund because it's one of the major funds that kind of drives the school's performance and kind of the metrics that a lot of you rely on. The general fund consists of the education fund, the operations and maintenance account, and the working cash. Um the ending fund balance for the
083year was $47.3 million with $2.3 million in restricted for student activity funds. Um 2.3 which is assigned to the FY26 budgetary shortfall and then 44.9 million which is the unassigned balance which is kind of left over for everything else that the school needs to operate. And then the educational account, we're gonna just kind of talk on the high level of the financial health. It's the revenues were 187 million for the year. The primary driving factor of that is property taxes. Um the expenditures were 188 million. Um and the there was a deficiency of 899,000 for the year and the ending fund balance is 47.3 million. And then on page 14, um this just kind of shows the change in the fund balance for the year for each of the major funds. And then the um
084I I think that if you'd like to look at that closer, it's on page 14. And then the notes of the financial statements, the debt at the beginning of the year was $29 million. You made your annual um payments of $2.9 million and the payment due next year is 2.99 million. And then Marlene is going to take on the next section. So yes, uh you can go to the next slide. Yes. So overall the school district uh the financial profile scored for this year or fiscal year 2025 was 3.9 out of four placing the school district in the highest recognition category under the state guidelines. This reflects strong financial management in a good budget. The district overall maintain appropriate reserves are operating within the approved budget and are not relying on fund balance to support
085ongoing operations. Um you go to slide. So yes overall the district has precision is stable. The debt le the debt levels remain within legal limits. Uh the next title would be the single audit. So this uh summarizes the need for the single audit. A single audit is required when a district spends more than $750,000 in federal funds in the fiscal year. During the fiscal year, the district spent approximately 4.6 million in federal funds, much of which came from the special education cluster at 2.1 million. We the single audit is a federal compliance audit. It is a standard requirements once federal funding reaches that threshold. The district is required to demonstrate that this funds are spent in accordance with federal guidelines and the required testing was completed as part of the single audit. This uh reflects
086that the federal fundings were um spent correctly. And then this slide is a summary of the auditor's results or our results. Uh this summarizes both the audit uh results as well as the single audit. Um, so like Rich uh noted the uh un the overall audit had an unmodified opinion meaning that it was free of material misstatements, no significant w deficiencies, no material instances of non-compliance. This also as well talks about the federal portion of the audit meaning that they also had an unmodified opinion. Each major program was within the federal limits. no material weaknesses as well as deficiencies or no reportable audit findings. In summary, the audit results reflect strong internal controls, proper oversight of federal funds, and a compliance with applicable regulations, meaning a clean audit. And then in your packets, you will
087also have other deliverables. So here we have um aside from the financial statement, the single audit report, we're also required to communicate our planning documents as well as our the conclusion of the audit and you will also have adjusting journal entries in those reports. Um we also issue a management letter. Um we are happy to report that two of the prior year comments were removed uh specifically relating to the student activity funds as well as the economic interest statement. We also note that there were no new comments for this year. However, two two items do remain on there. Uh one for the expenditures in excess of the budget and the other one for federal compliance procedures. The items are again not material weaknesses. They're just um areas where we ask for continue attention to improve
088um in as we move forward through the years. Overall, the district demonstrated progress in addressing the prior year comments and has maintained consistent oversight throughout the year. And we also just want to point out that you know the team was great this year. Uh our requests, our questions were answered promptly. So we had a really good year coming out to do the audit. So, thank you to Jeff and John and Kevin. They were great. Any questions? Questions? >> Thank you for the team for a great year. >> And we were blessed everybody was at the building and finance on Monday. So, Jeff, good job representing as well. And thank you. I concur with member Jabber. Thank you for all the hard work and we're proud of our district's efforts and financial status. >> Yes. Thank
089you. >> Are you ready for a motion? >> Uh, I move that the school board approve the resolution calling on the Oh, I'm on the wrong one. I'm sorry. Uh, I move that the school board accept the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025. >> Second. Okay. Any questions? All right. Lisa, you may take the role. >> Member Dan. >> Yes. >> Member Kelly. Yes. >> Yes. Motion passed. Do you want to stay on a roll? Member Case, >> you're on a roll wanting to read the next one. >> Bob should probably talk about it at least first, right? >> No, we got to do the motion. >> No, that you have to do the motion. I move that the school board approve the resolution calling on the Cook County Treasurer and other
090Cook County official officials responsible for theure >> issuance of property tax bills to resolve systemat systemic um issues as presented. >> Second. >> Great. Any questions? >> Um I just um I I did communicate with Dr. Noting earlier. This is going to all county schools both >> uh >> this resolution. >> Yeah. So, the majority of schools have been asked. Um I can't uh verify which school districts are participating, but um Jeff and I have been on kind of some some communication loops u with regard to that and it seems a significant number of Cook County schools are signing off on this. Um majority of of well, I shouldn't say that. Uh a large number of schools may not have had the financial impact that District 230 has had as a result of this. Um
091but those that have I think are generally signing off on the same um proclamation or uh resolution, excuse me. >> And then one con one final question what um what came to the idea to identify Cook County Treasure um and the recommended motion and not Tyler technology at all or I just like what what um decided that Cook County Treasury has to be mentioned in their in their motion with Yeah. like why was it mo why was that mentioned? Um and not just all of Cook County officials or Cook County offices like why just Cook County treasure is that was that the >> I and Jeff certainly jump in and just think just because that's the function of the treasur's office to ensure that we get um our our our tax um revenues in time.
092But Jeeoff, if you have any other >> coalition that we're a part of, um, in terms of all the different school districts that have come together, uh, have tried to talk to all Cook County, uh, representatives, they've, um, gone to, uh, different meetings. So, it's not necessarily just the treasur, but it is all Cook County officials that that are, um, responsible for um, this kind of fiasco that that's going on. um the the uh difference between Tyler and Cook County and who's responsible. Um that's kind of what is at the issue here. Um we don't have a contract with Tyler. We don't have any relationship with Tyler, but we do feel that Cook County does have a responsibility to uh make sure that whatever contract they do uh use for uh this service that it
093is actually benefiting the Cook the taxpayers of of this district. >> Hey, Jeff. Go ahead. >> Hey, while you're up there, could you remind us what was the uh the financial hit that the taxpayers of District 230 ended up getting hit? >> Sure. There were three main components. One of them was interest that was um uh not received because we had to call investments in early. Uh the other was the um lack of interest we could earn on property tax distributions that we received um during the process. And then also there was a cost to issue the TAWS. So you take all three of those components, put it together, it was just over 1.3 million. >> 1.3 million. >> Yes. >> So Jeff, my question was we know our amount and I'm sure every other
094district does and once we get whatever the group will be together, we're going to know a total amount of money that people have lost. Um, is is this suit eventually when it goes down, it would just be this total amount of money that everybody's lost together with the assumption we're not all going to get what we want, but we'll all take a percentage of this or what is the approach you're going to take once it's officially filed? >> Sure. Um, I don't know if those details have been kind of outlined. Uh the coalition is working with a law firm that is um I I think suited to um I think pursue maybe this kind of class action type thing where all the districts sign on um whatever uh amounts are uh at risk or or
095were at risk. I believe if a settlement or some sort of financial uh payment were to be made, we'd all have a proration of that based on what we um were due for those uh tax distributions. So, so I think whatever share it is, we would get our our fair share. Um obviously, like I I mentioned uh on Monday, this is not anything that's going to happen soon. This is going to take quite a while. Uh we still have about 9% left of our 24 distribution left to be received. tax bills will go out next week for the first payment of the 25 levy uh which are due in April. Uh so we would anticipate some additional distributions um to close out 24 and get 25, but again this is not not over by any
096means. >> Thank you. >> Do we know if there's any future delays coming? >> Yes. About the future? >> Well, if I had that answer, that would be uh that would be good. Um we like I said we received our first automated payment earlier this week was a which was a good sign. Any of the payments we had received prior to that were um manual in the terms of of uh the county. Uh so we're seeing a step in the right direction. Um I'm hopeful we get the rest of our 24 before we start getting our 25. That would be nice to close that out. Plus I think it would be strange if we start receiving 25 distributions when 24 is still outstanding. Uh, I don't think the county would want to uh to to
097take that on. So, uh, I'm hopeful that that we're going to receive what we should. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Any more comments, questions? At least I think you could take the role. >> Member, >> yes. >> Kelly, >> yes. >> Member, yes. >> Member, >> yes. >> Member, >> yes. >> Member Jer, >> yes. >> Member Cedar. >> Yes. May I have a motion for a resolution offering authorizing the emergency expenditure of funds? >> I recommend. Yes, the school board approved the resolution authorizing the emergency expenditure of funds and the approval of and the and the approval of an amendment to the transportation services agreement with safeway transportation services corp. >> Second. >> Okay. Any comments or questions? If >> I could just interact. I'm sorry. >> No, go ahead. >> Yes. Just really
098quick, just for the board's awareness, because this is a little bit unusual, uh, this will require six affirmative votes to to pass a motion as it is an emergency vote, but I'll answer any questions you have, but I just want to make sure the board's aware. >> So, um, I Safeways, we're not renewing. Safeway is not coming back. This will be the last three months with them. >> So, we're in the process of, uh, working through renewals, uh, with all with all of our vendors for next year. So, uh, I know Mr. Egan is still in preliminary conversation, so we haven't made any final determinations. Uh, but we would have an option to renew with current vendors. Um, and we're looking at all options at this point in time. Uh, but Safeway is um obviously
099we have some some concerns based on where we're at today. Uh but we haven't necessarily um ended um any future relationships at this point in time >> because I know the at the at the past committee meeting we were talking about you know the extra cost that was going to cost the district and I was pulling up all the numbers for the past four years and say we were they were actually our lowest amount that the district had to um pay for all um bus companies. So you know I'm more like do we have to amend the budget at all for next year? Um do we have to amend the budget for next year? >> Yeah. So these are all going to this additional expense that you're approving tonight will come out of this year's
100budget. Right. >> The transportation fund had about a $350,000 surplus. So, we're looking for an additional um uh cost here of 321,000 uh that you're kind of approving if if you kind of calculate the the additional cost over the bus transportation routes between February and May. Uh so, we budgetarily do have room for this. Uh our transportation costs are running a little hot right now. Um that's a a function of a lot of things. We have special ed and other transportation um costs that are are not known in uh September when we approve the the budget. Um kids move in, kids move out, things like that. Uh but technically we do have room within the budget to um to uh support this. Um as Dr. Noling said, we are at the end of our threeyear
101contract with all of our transportation providers. We have the option to have a a one or two-year renewal beyond that. Um I anticipate as you've you've seen in these these figures we are going to have increased rates for those next one or two years. Uh so we will have to build uh a little more room in our our transportation budget and move some things around whether it's some state funding to to put in versus the education fund we put in transportation. Uh we can adjust the levy a little bit but those are all finite uh revenue sources. If I put more in transportation another fund is going to get uh slighted. So, um, you know, to answer your question, this is a a current year budget issue, >> Jeff, is as we look towards next
102year and obviously with Safeway having all these problems and as we talked on Monday night, some schools have already abandoned them and look for other vendors. So, and we know there's a limited number of bus driving companies in the state and in the area. Um, have we reached out to our current other vendors about picking up the Andrew routes next year so that we don't get in a situation where there may not be anybody available to pick those routes and we may have no choice but to potentially have to go back to Safeway? Um, so have we had any of those discussions yet or going down that that route at this point? Definitely when when this first became an issue in terms of of service um we'll say late summer early fall and started having
103uh some discussions with them uh we had some informal uh conversations with our other two providers to um get an idea of if what would that cost and then how long would that take to ramp up a service to take over some or maybe all of those routes. uh we were uh getting responses that it would take maybe three months from when we said to to go before they could take over routes. They have to buy buses, drivers, mechanics, they have to really ramp up their their process. So, uh we did not formally do anything with them, but we did have those informal conversations. um if we give enough leeway or time to um say the beginning of next school year, that would that would definitely provide enough time to for them to make those
104adjustments and and um you know provide those services. >> Okay. >> Um one more question. Um so our transportation we do get some reimbursement back from the state and categoricals. Would any of this additional emergency money that we have to pay now be included in that reimbursement? >> Yes. >> When we submit that? >> Yes, definitely. Um the good news is that we would get some of this back in our reimbursement. Um the the the bad news is as Dr. Nolton kind of talked about in his state report on Monday, our percentage of of mandated categorical reimbursements are are going down. So the the the rate of which we are receiving uh these reimbursements is declining uh in the governor's budget. They are putting more money into the mandated categorical. So that's good news. But
105the the percentages that we've seen in the past whether it's 65 80% are much lower uh than than what we should actually get. But that's a good point. We will get reimbured for some of this. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good question. Okay. All right. At this point, I need to raise the question. Lisa, if you could take the role. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelly, >> yes. >> Member Dabber. >> Yes. Motion passed. >> Facilities report. >> Good evening everybody. Um I don't have a whole lot new to update the board with. Um S J covered a lot of building finance. Sorry I missed this last Monday. Um, we're working on procuring uh equipment, getting submittals put in, uh, working on schedule, finishing up contracts. Maybe any particular questions on projects, I'm willing to
106answer, but wish I had more updates, but not yet. It's going to come soon enough. >> We know you're working hard, so thank you. >> We just saw you. >> All right. We have no new business. We have next old business world language updateformational. Um, what we did differently with this time is I know everybody might have got a chance to see the presentation if you've looked at it. Lisa and um, Dr. Huffman did print it up. And what I would strongly encourage everyone is because they've got a lot of things to say. It's very impressive, very comprehensive. I'm hoping that we could kind of sit back and listen to the presentation so the people in the audience and the people on that are watching live can hear it. And for example, if you have
107a question on slide 12, she might have it answered by question 14 and we rather have some fluid discuss >> presentation and then we'll come back maybe with some questions because I know at the end there's some decisions and kind of which pathway we're going to take. But take it away. You have worked really hard on this. >> As Dr. Hoffman is uh keying up the the presentation. Uh I do first of all I want to thank many people in the uh the audience tonight for sticking around for this presentation as I know many of your public comments were addressing uh our progress that we're making towards this um uh unique uh challenge and you you'll hear why I'm using the term unique as uh Dr. Huffman unpacks some of the steps that we are
108taking. Uh but I do want to thank you again for for staying around unfortunately um and I don't want to lecture you like I lecture my 20 and 18year-old children. Um, but social media is a terrible way to learn uh what's going on in the world. Uh, but talking to people, having communication, having an understanding, uh, absolutely is. And Dr. Huffman and I have had lots of conversations with community leaders um and other individuals as we progress in this as uh we've unpacked in October or excuse me in August uh at our education committee uh based on the the um direction of our of our school board. Um we uh certainly have done a lot of work in the meantime but please keep in mind uh our students uh have to choose uh classes for
109next year by January. Um so it seems like sometimes that we um the the the wheels of change is slow. Uh but there are deadlines and timelines. Our our kids are are registering for next year. Uh we have to have everything up and and and loaded for them to consider courses uh as we get to uh essentially November and December. Um so we're on that trajectory and and Dr. Huffman will will discuss some of the the unique challenges we have um for a 4-year program, which is definitely unique than what of the the school board typically votes on, which is coursework uh or classes um that uh are usually uh a little bit distinct from a four-year program such as the world language. So, Dr. Huffman, thank you for for putting this together and um
110certainly turn it over to you at this time. >> Good evening. I'm here tonight to provide an update to the board of education and the community on the work that we have done uh regarding the direction of language instruction in the district. Offering new courses is an exciting prospect that holds significant potential and benefit to our students. It's an opportunity to provide our students with valuable skills in an increasingly interconnected world. Learning the language fosters critical thinking and builds students linguistic and cultural proficiencies. and Arabic as a world language provides access to a rich historical and cultural heritage equipping our students with a high demand skill. As with any courses that we bring to the board for approval, we want them to be successful and tonight we will spend some time reviewing the steps that
111the district has taken towards that success along with the necessary decisions ahead. The ultimate goal is to have a successful and sustainable program. And there are some additional factors to consider to ensure that we can offer the very best world language programming here in district 230 with the aim of the 2728 school year. Here is the district's procedures for the adoption of a new course. The course development process can take anywhere from a year and a half to two years. The prior school year will begin with a course proposal that originates from teachers in the academic department. That proposal is discussed with the academic department across the district. A draft of the proposal is developed with a course outline, rationale for the course, budgetary and staffing implications, and the impact the course will have on
112our other course offerings. The course proposal is reviewed by myself and the associate principles for instruction. Upon approval for the course, we convene the contractual curriculum advisory committee. Their role is to consider and make recommendations when a course is added or deleted. Following recommendation from curriculum advisory, the course is presented to education committee members and then finally the board of education for approval. Upon board of ed approval, the course is added to the course guide. Students then participate in the course selection process where they select their classes for the next school year. Following course selection, we review the number of students who are interested in each course districtwide and we make decisions about the courses we will offer next school year and how we will staff those courses. Depending on teacher certification and the number
113of full-time teachers we need in each department, we then determine any hiring needs. The hiring process commences and the curriculum is then developed. Here's a contractual language related to curriculum advisory. For your reference, our program review in world language has been a part with our world language teachers and our division chairs over that division. uh they have been hard at work focusing on establishing a performance-based model really focusing on how can we ensure that we are communicating in a language rather than learning about a language. This program review has achieved consensus on a curriculum aligned to the American Council on the Teaching of foreign language proficiency levels. Here's a visual example of the alignment to the proficiency levels, creating a clear staircase of growth that will apply to all languages in district 230. By the
114fourth year of the language, our goal is for students to end at intermediate high and earn the seal of biiteracy. Since our August ed committee, the district has been continuing its due diligence regarding the addition of world language Arabic courses. We've reviewed lenture requirements, ISBY approved programs, established university and community partnership. We've posted EL bilingual Arabic positions to assess the local candidate pool and we've commenced work to align the actual proficiency levels to our learning to our world language courses. And we've begun outreach regarding a history of Southeast Asia and North Africa course. Currently, right now, we are in the administrative review phase regarding Arabic as a world language, pending resolutions to additional decisions and input from our current staff members and community with the goal of bringing forth a recommendation to curriculum advisory education
115committee and the board of education and then all the subsequent steps would occur as I have mentioned earlier related to our process. As part of our due diligence, the district has conducted a review of the 50 educators statewide who hold a world language Arabic endorsement. The this is the required endorsement to teach the course. As you can see, there are seven educators actively teaching Arabic courses across the state. Many of these other educators who hold the endorsement are serving in other roles. perhaps administrators teaching other courses outside of Arabic or they're no longer in the profession or living out of state or even serving as professors. The limited number of available teachers for the position remains an important factor for the success and sustainability of the program. The district has also worked with the South
116Cook Regional Office of Education and the Illinois State Board of Education to review the pathway for the world language endorsement. Depal University and National Lewis University are the only two universities that ISBY app has approved for a candidate to gain the world language Arabic endorsement. This information is publicly available by visiting the ISV website, choosing the directory of approved programs, and selecting preK through grade 12 and world language Arabic. You can see here that Depal and National Lewis are the only approved providers. In addition to the coursework at Depal or National Lewis, a teacher who holds the Arabic bilingual endorsement can add the Arabic world language endorsement to their lensure by passing the ISBY Arabic language proficiency test. A bilingual endorsement on its own does not certify the teacher to teach a world language Arabic
117course. They must pass the world language Arabic test. A professional educator's license is a foundational license that is required to teach in the state of Illinois. It gives the legal authority to teach within a state. The endorsement grants the authority to teach a specific subject, course, or language. For example, teachers with an educator license in social studies if they would be unable to teach our current psychology class unless they have a psychology endorsement on their professional educator license. In order to obtain the world uh language endorsement or the bilingual endorsement, the training is really focused on two different pedagogical worlds. The training for a world language endorsement is centered on language acquisition for new language learners. The training for the bilingual endorsement is focused on how to teach academic content, math, science, social studies in
118the native language to students who are learning English. A world language teacher is trained to answer how do I say apple in French where a bilingual teacher's training is really helping answer how do I explain photosynthesis to a student who only speaks French there's a distinction between the training model for each of these specific endorsements in addition to the review of the ISBY approved programs and the lensure the district has reached out to establish partnerships with both DEPAL and National Lewis. We have offered to support any candidates with observation hours, student teaching, etc. when those universities have students who are enrolled in their program. We have connected with UIU and Lewis University to share their Arabic 1 and two college credit opportunities this summer. We have also connected with University of Chicago Center for Middle
119Eastern Studies. Unfortunately, their dedicated outreach coordinator that worked with K to2 schools is no longer funded. In addition to the university partnerships, the district has posted three bilingual Arabic positions in order to ensure that the district is in full compliance with our bilingual service plan. Hiring for this position ensures that our EL Arabic speaking students receive native language support in their core content, moving to full compliance with the ISBY mandate. It also allows us to assess the local candidate pool and encourage any staff members with the bilingual Arabic endorsement to take the ISBY proficiency test to obtain the world language Arabic endorsement. A teacher who is duly endorsed in bilingual education and world language provides the district with fiscal and scheduling flexibility as these staff members can be split across departments based on fluctuating enrollment
120numbers. There are still considerations that we need to work through given we would begin with Arabic 1. Committing to a 4-year language program can have significant post-secary implications. Many highly selective universities including UIU, Northwestern, University of Chicago and Illinois Wesian strongly recommend or require students to have a four years of a single language as part of a competitive application. We need to work through the limited number of educators across the state with the world language endorsement to consider the number of levels that we could offer and how we could best sustain the courses long term. We need to consider the impact of the current on our current languages, the financial considerations as well as how we approach the curriculum for the course. Adding a course like Arabic as a world language is unique because of
121the commitment to a multi-year learning path. As the board might write might remember, last year we added international cuisine as a course. It was a semester course and not part of a four-year sequence. Thus, many of the additional considerations were not necessary to launch an Arabic program successfully. The desk the district could initially offer it as an elective opportunity for one or two years allowing for a phased implementation that builds student interest and sustainable enrollment while also managing some of the potential staffing challenges. This strategic first step provides flexibility to establish the curriculum, assess the candidate pool uh before committing to a full 4-year program. A 1.0 0 full-time equivalent teacher can serve a maximum of 150 students. So, when we consider the number of students we can serve, a one or two-year course allows
122us to serve more students than a traditional 4-year program. Here's an example of what growth would look like with a 4-year sequence. If we begin with two sections of students, you can see point4 FTE or full-time equivalent teachers assigned. As students metriculate through the program and other world language courses, we typically see those students remain through year 2, our trend data suggests that about 30 to 40% of students do not continue with a language year three or four. Hence, with the point 2 you see there in year three and year four, we could anticipate significant growth in enrollment over time. With a 4-year commitment, we could see year four requiring more than 1.0 you know, full-time equivalent teachers just to meet demand. If this program is implemented across the three buildings, the growth could be
123multiplied by three, potentially straining current staffing, impacting students choices and post-secondary implications. Therefore, a one or two-year program or the program offered in one building could more adequately perhaps support the growth while maintaining a program. Please note this is a sample projection about the FTE that's assigned by the number of students who request a course. All of that is determined at the course selection process. Another consideration is the distinct curricular approaches for teaching Arabic world. It would be perhaps L2 language acquisition kind of foreign language acquisition for students who have no experience with the language or for heritage speakers who speak the language at home. a native speaker or an L1 as you see here is already fully fluent. They could pass the seal of biiteracy and we would encourage them to take a world
124language course, right, that they're they're all ready not fluent in to build their acquisition in another language. A heritage speaker is fluent or receptive in a home dialect, often with little or no formal literacy instruction. For heritage speakers, the goal is to connect the home language with the formal written language. A second language learner or L2 as we call them has had no prior exposure to the language. The primary goal is acquisition and the instructional focus is on high amounts of comprehensible input. This is the approach of our current world language courses. Our decision on whether to focus on one approach or both to adopt would be crucial as it would directly impact the type of students we serve, the goals we set for the program, and potentially how we would section the courses and
125determine the teaching need. Here is the current world language FTE for all three buildings. When we add a new course, we consider how it impacts our other current course offerings. We know that approximately 80% of our students currently take two years of a language. When we look at our special populations like our EL students, our special education, we find that very few students outside of those special populations choose not to take take a language. Given this high participation rate, adding a new language will likely draw students away from our current Spanish, German, and French offerings, potentially impacting the enrollment numbers needed to sustain our current full-time staffing in those areas. An additional unique factor that is really specific to world language is that some of our partner schools currently offer Spanish. District 146, 118, 117,
126and 135 all offer Spanish at the middle school levels, providing students with the opportunity to accelerate their Spanish course sequence when they arrive at high school. with other partner schools not offering Spanish. This variance means that our students entering high schools come with very different levels of exposure and proficiency. And any new language need to be mindful of how it complements or competes with these diverse feeder programs. In order to ensure success and sustainability, the district is working through the following steps. A decision needs to be made whether the curriculum will be tailored specifically to implement a heritage Arabic course for native or home speakers or an L2 course for new learners. A decision needs to be made if the program will be offered as a full four-year sequence or as an elective opportunity for
127one or two levels. We need to assess how these offerings impact current staffing and our abilities to sustain the world language program. We need to establish caps to accommodate the staffing limitations and encourage existing teachers with the Arabic bilingual endorsement to complete the required proficiency test for a world language endorsement. We need to evaluate the feasibility of offering a course at a single building rather than implementing it in all three district schools. And the district would need to invest in professional development for any staff members who hold the bilingual endorsement and seek the world language endorsement in actful high lever teaching strategies and methods that are specifically designed for teaching second language acquisition. As I mentioned at the beginning, we're currently in the administrative review phase pending resolutions of the decisions I just outlined and
128impact from our staff members and community. A formal recommendation will be presented to curriculum advisory education committee and the board of education. >> Thank you. >> That was a great presentation and and the one thing I I need to emphasize and I need to emphasize it to everybody in this room as well as the board. This is what is supposed to happen in our schools. the administration is supposed to do this type of work. This is not the board's job. Okay? So, I do thank the board for not passing the motion last month because if we did, this would not be happening. We would be forcing the district to do something that they're not ready for. Our job is not to do the day-to-day operations of this district. Our job is to give that work
129to the people who know best. Nita, Dr. Noline, Chuck, Charles, the other people that are out there that work for the district. That's their job. We hire our superintendent to bring in this team to do this work. It is not our job as a board to tell you what to do. is our job as a board to approve or disapprove the recommendations you bring to us. So once again, I thank the board for doing what was correct last month. And I hope everybody in the audience understands that the reason that motion died was because that is not our job. That is not our responsibility. That is their responsibility. And once they get to the point where they are able to make us a recommendation, then at that point we as a board will do our
130job. But until that time, we need to let them do their job. Please understand that because I don't think most of you do. And I think if you did, some of the comments that we've gotten, we would not have gotten. Okay? because we are doing what we are here for. And so, thank you for the wonderful presentation and all the work that you are doing. And when it is time for a recommendation, then we will determine yay or nay. >> Please don't make the assumption that we don't understand. Thank you. >> Okay, I'm going to let we're not going to engage. Um, but I'm going to let other board members speak because I know other people have different thoughts and opinions. So, Tim, would you like to add anything? >> You can we can ask
131questions now. >> Asking questions. >> Yes, you guys listened very well. I know you guys had some listen. This is taking, as Dr. Nelting said, a unique path. Um, that is why we asked for this presentation tonight and what I said last month. I stand behind that people have had various thoughts with this. this has come to us a different way than usual and and that's okay. Um but um I know if that one slide that you had was kind of where the next steps some of the steps I do think we do have to talk about. Some of the steps more to the right I personally think are more administrative like class cap and stuff like that. But that being said I want to open up for questions. So thank you for having your
132patience Tim then Chris and we'll kind of >> Yeah. This is an amazing presentation. There's so much information that that we've had a lot of community members out for quite a while now asking these kind of questions and you know these are questions that we haven't had answers to either. So you guys did an amazing job putting this all together. And I want to remind everybody too that you know this is something everybody can access uh you know from here and in the future to go see you know go back as far as our uh certification requirements for anybody who's interested in eventually becoming an aerobic instructor the possible ways we can go with this you know for future comment down the road. So I thank you for that. Um, one of the questions that
133I have is we were talking about National Lewis and um, what was the other institutional that does certification? Is there any kind of feelings that there might be other institutions coming in the near future who may be offering >> these endorsements? >> Not that I'm aware of. Um, as of uh, early this week, I confirmed with the regional office of education, the South Cook office, that those are the two uh, ISBY approved programs. So, I haven't heard of any universities um in addition uh that have have received ISB's approval right now. Those are the two programs that is publicly available on ISBY's website. >> Anita, I'm going to um I know because I asked you this question the other day about the universities with you trying to say if you've partnered or you trying to
134offer like student teaching, come with us. Are you having any success with that right now? No, I have not uh heard of any candidates in um either programs. Um but both deans of students know to contact me. Um and we would support any uh future candidates in any way possible. >> Okay, thank you Christina. >> Um yeah um I appreciate you I guess the very last slide with the timeline on there >> because that's kind of where my question center around. Um I mean we're in February, right? And like we're on the administrative review which is tag like for September. So like arguably we're way ahead of schedule um you know to get this implemented. Hopefully we have like a glide path towards approval for Arabic in November and then implementation for like 2728 school
135year. Is there anything at all that we can do to try to get those next three steps done before like the end of this school year? Because my biggest concern is that if we have a very narrow window of, you know, job postings for that, you know, world language teacher with the certification that's like so narrow that, you know, we might miss, you know, people that are out there. I mean, and I I certainly don't want to put, you know, the cart before the horse as far as like meeting with the teachers association for the clicker advisory and and getting feedback from them, but it would just be, I think, like exponentially more successful if we could have a job posting like well in advance of next February so that you know those applicants are
136are finding us or maybe even into their final year of college could say, "Hey, maybe I'll take these other courses over the next 18 months to get that qualification or or something like that. >> Yeah. C can I just add on to that? Like I was thinking in my head like if we could post a job in September that would give a whole bunch of people some time >> to think about if they want to move because frankly 230 is a good district and we do um poach people, talented people from other districts and uh we want to poach some good people for our district. Is there any I mean two questions. When do we usually post a job for world language teacher and can we move it up a couple months to kind of
137lay out this big runway to invite uh new talents people into the district. So if I can just jump in real quick and then Dr. McMillan might might have some. We we post you're going to hear in a few moments you're going to hear my updates to you about staffing for next year. So, this is the time of year that we complete the staffing matrix uh based on where kids register for courses, based on what we need from from a staffing lens. Um, and typically once the board hears where we're at from a staffing standpoint, then we we post the positions in which we we have a need for, right? Um, and that's based on uh kind of a complex matrix of retirements and and where positions are open and so on and so forth.
138We tend not to post for positions that kids have not registered for courses for because it's typically not um physically responsible to do so because we'd be hiring teachers for positions that may or may not occur. We've done a couple advanced postings for uh things like counselors because they tend to not be dependent upon course enrollment. Um but but that is that is a little bit of a challenge and and certainly you know the board has discretion um to hire positions that aren't necessarily filled by student enrollment but generally we would not do that until after this particular board meeting um each and every year. >> So you just roughly just to make sure I got where you usually post in March. >> We'll post well March tomorrow. Okay. >> We'll post tomorrow after we
139review with the board where we're at saffron wise. Yeah. And so again, you know, I threw out September as a sure uh we want to gesture to the community that we really want this and we're going to really try to make sure that we do our part to lure in talented people because we want this program to go. So, I threw out September, but again, I I know that this maybe this is a a wild idea, but I do think that maybe there is some appetite on the board to hire some people even if they're not full-time. Like, if you go back to that sample growth over time chart, you know, where we have one teacher starting with a point4 position. Again, this is all something we have to talk about. But if it was
140up to me, I'd be willing to hire someone at a point four that first year because we want to get this going and we know if we get it going here that will attract more teachers in because sometimes, you know, we are all interested in this topic, but not everybody is in this room. So, if we actually hire someone even for a point4 position, which I know is a lot of money, and then get them to be a permanent sub for those rest that time, uh, and maybe gets them to work on curriculum, that whole year is going to be time for the word to get out that like 2:30 series, they're building something. I >> I know that that's an expensive option, but also you might get some situations where Spanish teachers say, "Okay,
141I will pick up a couple hours of Arabic and I will I'm going to investigate this because I like teaching at 2:30. I like languages. I you know, I have seen teachers do this before." So again, that's a big idea to talk about. >> I know where you're going with that. If I could take you back because I have seen this slide earlier in the week. I I get you when Mark when you say wild ideas. >> Yeah, it's amazing. I struggle I struggle with financial responsibility. We're saying four. I struggle with what does that open that we start having all of this. I would have a greater I would have a greater sense of acceptance with that if that person had other endorsements and was filling other needs with MTSS and intervention and helping
142students in an academic fashion and assigned duties. to say the person that's going to do that and then to do curriculum development that is breaking everything >> we've done and I'm not paying someone that much money for a permanent stuff. So I appreciate your creativity with that. I think that could be discussed. Anita, can you do me a favor because I think one of the key factors, Can you go to that slide with the three columns of the heritage, the native speakers >> because I think that slide, yes, >> I think one of the things that we talked about earlier this week is this is this is the pipe dream, okay, to have all three programs with some of the challenges you have presented. Take away all the outside noise from us, from everybody else.
143Which one, you being the expert, is the most viable to start >> financially or >> program wise, program design programmatically? And I know we kind of talked about this earlier in the week. >> Can you define that term? What do you mean by programmatically? to do all three of those programs. Like she said, there are three different pedagogical theories with the second language learner is someone who's never spoken French and learning French. Okay. The heritage learners, as we've heard from many of our our people in the audience today, there we have a lot of heritage learners that that learn it whatever the language is. You've learned it because grandma grandpa came over from another country and they speak it at the table, but they don't have the formal instruction. So they still have the receptive
144language and the native speakers are ones we have lots of native speakers in other language like Anita said could go out of the gate and get the seal of bi literacy. So to me it's those are two very vastly different programs when we're also looking I hate to use the expression Robin Rob Peter Paul but when we're limited with people that have the lensure whether they're going for this one or this one there's some of the same people with the same pool so my question if we're starting up and we're building this and how this is supporting our students you mentioned still the compliance with the e that that um Charles repeatedly presents it at student support. What do you think is the most viable for us to start? >> So before you answer, I
145just we got into teacher lensure and student programmatic. I I just want to make sure we're answering the right question. This slide is about the students >> what what experience they would be having within the scope of the program. Heritage learners are kids, as you said, >> right, >> that typically have a background in the language that are able to speak it um typically at a at least a conversational level, maybe more advanced, but there's gaps in their learning that have to do more or less with uh whether it's reading, whether it's writing. Um our best example currently is we have heritage Spanish, and that would be exactly what you described. kids that have a an an experience with teaching or or not teaching but with learning the language or or illustrating their their knowledge
146of the language but they don't read and write at the level of of our uh traditional languages or the the the the acquisition language programs. So the pathway typically is they learn those basic skills in reading and writing and then reintegrate with kids who are learning it in in the traditional sense. Um, this is a little bit unique to this particular program because it's so uh uncommon with school districts that are, you know, we've mentioned Oaklan is as was maybe the example. I know District 88 has had it on the books, but they have not run it. And then 218 typically, and then I'll let obviously you you go into the more details. Typically, with the exception of magnet schools that offer it for kids who don't have prior knowledge, uh, like uh, CPS schools,
147uh, it it it it has more uh affinity for heritage speakers. Is that accurate? >> Yes. >> And it's also significant that the state of Illinois requires a heritage program for Spanish, which we have, >> but that's unique. That's for Spanish, but that is not such in place for Arabic at this time. >> Really, >> we're uh compliant with our bilingual service plan um for the Spanish language arts through the Spanish heritage course. um it is that it we could offer a a span a Spanish language course separately. Um we we're not required to offer heritage, but we we um are compliant because of that. Uh I think right important here um because in in my world, right, these are two different ways that teachers would approach instruction. And so when we're thinking about the
148number of students that we could potentially serve, right, um it would be very challenging for a world language teacher to have a student who has no prior exposure to the language with a student who has some receptive language, right? Um from home. And so that would be very challenging for a teacher to have both of those students in their classroom. And so, um, you know, choosing a path to to start this program, um, I think it would be best to support one of one of these approaches. Um, and I just want to be clear, the native speakers is, you know, that that's not a path. Uh, that is right. We're encouraging those students to take a separate language, learn something else that they haven't. Um, but right, I think we would have to make a
149decision. Are we going to commit to heritage or L2? Um just I think given some of right the the interest from our student population um if I had to make a guess right I'm assuming most of the students who are going to be interested in the course are going to be have some type of receptive knowledge they're going to be speaking it in some way shape or form that we would primarily run a heritage program initially with the goal to be to build second language acquisition over time. Um, but it just presents additional staffing complexities with the limited number of staff members who have the world language endorsement out of the gate to be off to offer both. >> Can I I'm just mention one thing. >> Uh, I'm going to counter Tony and you
150know Tony I do agree with you in a lot of ways because you said the same thing in August of 25. It's on video about the administration where here we are in February and the needle had moved on a little bit but the world language review had been under review for about four years and um I don't know what progress it has made. So it's not like this is something that just came out of December or came out of last minute. I'm going to make you know I wanted a motion. So, this has been going on world language review for about four years and I've been advocating it for it for about three years. So, you know, it's I and I do agree with you 100%. The goal is now let's get this moving. >>
151Can I say something? I I personally want to say that like I think we should do an L2 system. I think everybody at all these schools should be able to take it. And I know we probably aren't going to have enough teachers to teach everybody that wants it, but I think we're all here because we think interest is going to be way over what we can handle that first year. Um, but also I think that one second. I also think that again this is hard. I feel like a lot of this is going to res whether or not we can attract some passionate, educated people. But again, if you go back to that sample growth over time slide, um it's I'm a teacher myself. It's very hard to teach two different levels in a class.
152It it's not impossible. And as you can see, a lot of teachers, probably all of the French and German teachers teach two different levels of Spanish that last year. They teach Spanish three and Spanish 4 in the same room. And again, I think that's going to be a situation where we got to try to bring in as many people as we can. And again, hopefully those people are willing to to deal with a situation where you're like, "Hey, here's a situation. You're going to be teaching some people really new to the language." And you might have three kids that have some knowledge and we're going to need you to differentiate as best as possible. I just want to throw that out there. Like I I think there are a whole bunch of things that we
153have to worry about, but if we can do our part to attract the talent, that's half of the battle. If we don't have the right teacher, we're stuck. We if we don't have a talented, enthusiastic person ready to teach, we're in trouble. I I will say this though, I just got off the phone today with a teacher, Arabic teacher from Lindlum, and he said that they had a maternity leave and they had four applicants again. So I, you know, I think we have to post the job as early as possible and kind of move forward with some faith that this is going to come together. I also think that we should be totally willing to do a one or two-year program. You know, I don't think this should be a seal of biiteracy or or
154nothing. You know, I think we just got to start and then we will start to bring in more people and the program will get slowly built. UM why why don't you let them come back to us with their recommendation because right now that's what she's working on and you're trying again to kind of force the situation when not they're not ready for this situation. I understand >> well this is a good segue to be honest. When do you think we could get the next >> We're not We don't speak to the >> I think he was addressing a need. >> Okay. Sorry. >> Yeah. I was I was kind of using that as a segue. This has probably got to go back to the education committee. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Probably more than once. >>
155Yeah. So again, you know, could we hear an update in April? Again, I I we we're not expecting everything to get solid by April, but could we get an update every two months just so we keep an eye on this? >> I know that that's not my decision to make, but I just don't support >> and I'll defer to Mr. Catherine who runs the education committee. We can certainly update as as often as you request it. Um I I just have like a nuts and bolts question because some of the um considerations to still work through. Um, how many of those things are like going to carry a recommendation from you guys versus like you're looking for guidance from the board and if and when you know are we going to have that discussion so
156that you know things that are board decisions or board direction like at what point does that happen so that like we can narrow our focus on moving forward? Yes, I think um working through education committee, I think we can try to right tackle some of these decisions um like if we're going to commit to a a one or two-year program, right? That is certainly um in my opinion a much easier introduction, right? And we can build the program over four years. So, uh I think right at the outset it was potentially looking at a four-year sequence, right? and upon doing our research, right? I think our recommendation is looking at, you know, some of those things. So, I think making sure that we're having those conversations at education committee to nail down the we believe
157the program model might is leaning towards a heritage or L2 or we're recommending a one or two-year program so that when I bring a course proposal um that all of those things are outlined and very clear um and all of the those considerations are thought through before a course proposal is presented to curriculum advisory uh and education committee and then the board for approval. Well, okay. >> Okay. >> Do you have >> I I I do just have one other question. I don't know really whether it's for Dr. for or for Anita. But like going back to our timeline slides, you know, when we get to the second one, we talk about steps, you know, 7, 8, 9, and 10, you know, I I just think if it's going to be successful, like the job
158posting, I know it's a very unusual thing, has to kind of come before step eight because I mean, what happens if we let a bunch of students sign up for courses, we do sectioning, determine here's our FT need to teach this class, and then we can't hire the people, right? Isn't that going to be just as administratively a headache to unwind as you know like >> just one >> I mean if just posting a job prospectively I mean not that we have to hire somebody before the fall of 27 but to advertise say hey we're interested in hiring somebody in August of 27 you know I mean because how do we unwind that if we start letting kids sign up for a class and then we can't staff it? No, I appreciate you pointing that
159out because you were actually highlighting the unusual nature of of this process in its entirety and to answer the question that was asked before, you know, why we weren't ahead of because there's a lot of things that are unorthodox. >> And I would suggest the board would have to be very coalesed around whether we do that or not do that or else I feel like it's inappropriate for me to respond by saying we're going to do things that we wouldn't normally do for a math class or social studies class. And that's exactly why it has to be at this level because as a school board you have that discretion to tell us to go outside of the the the norm on how we would do so. Um as we illustrated before when we offered the
160international culinary course we had teachers in every building that could teach it. So we could offer it without any sort of u reservation whether we had 100 kids whether we had 20 kids sign up for the course. We're going to be able to offer that. This is unique for a variety of reasons. I will not put anything in front of our student body that isn't um at a level of confidence that I would have one is it's sustainable. Two is it's taught by a qualified candidate. Um because a kid studying French I know we have French teachers in each campus that's qualified licensed and has the certifications that we need to be able to ensure that they have a four-year experience. There's challenges to this. Doesn't mean that it's impossible. Doesn't mean that it's unlikely.
161It just means that we have to think thoughtfully. And that's all we have been doing for the entirety of this process is to be thoughtful. Because what I would be most what I would consider the most unfortunate thing is if I have a group of kids that are in a language course that by the time they get to their senior year, we can't offer it anymore because the teacher's not credential, the teacher gets a job somewhere else and we can't replace them. That's a tragedy for a kid who now has an application to a university that said you may not be qualified. So, this has nothing to do other than making sure we do it with due diligence. Um, and I think we have moved the needle quite a bit since August. Um, and I
162give every compliment to to Dr. Huffman. I mean, we've met with community leaders. You know, we sat down with with M Kea from the Oral Prayer Center to seek support and and also to seek out uh feedback for what our community would be responsive to. Um, so I'm a little bit concerned that we're we're we're we're being accused of not following direction because I do feel like we've been following direction as to how we've done everything up until this point in time. I mean, I've been in this district for 23 years. I know how curriculum is built. >> We want to make sure that we have qualified teachers before we have kids registered for courses because what we don't want to do in March is tell kids we can't offer courses for them. And we
163face that in CTE. We face that in other curriculums as well. So it's not unique to this challenge. It's unique to the if unfortunate uh job pool that is out there for a lot of curriculum not just for for for world language uh but for CTE and and and and family consumer sciences and also I mean EL bilingual is a great example. We've not been compliant for our kids that are most critical Arabic speaking kids. We've been out of compliance since I got superintendent the superintendency. we are no longer okay with being that complaint and we're hiring teachers as we speak so that those kids have the services that they've needed for years and and that's just getting to the baseline that we need to get to let alone building from there. So I I
164agree that there's some frustration that we haven't moved as quickly as we we need to. But I also think that we haven't also unpacked some of the things we we needed to address first and that is what exactly um what both Charles and Anita have have done with their teams is making sure at least we're compliant at that level. Do we want to move beyond that? Absolutely. Could we have done it yesterday? No, we couldn't have done it yesterday because we would have built a system that I think would have actually not been to the benefit of our students. But I think we're working towards it. >> Yeah. I I mean I totally agree and appreciate all your comments. I mean from the moment I got on the board we've been working on this topic.
165So I know the effort that Dr. Huffman have put in and the thoughtfulness that you've put in. Um but you know as as you said you know we don't want to offer something to students that we don't think that we can staff and that's the only reason why I think you know I would love to see us if it's feasible to try to open up that window you know prior to course selection because if if you know otherwise we're going to end up in that exact position where we offer it it gets approved and then we don't have staffing right I mean just to spread it open right because if we can't find the candidates then we can't offer it to students and and I just want to expand that window of hiring if it's
166at all possible. >> And that that would be up to the board, but we can certainly do that in the fall of next year if that's what the board would choose to do. >> Um before we move on, member Dalton, you haven't had a chance to speak, so I want to give you closing comments on this topic. >> Well, I'm just going to come from a little outside of the box on this conversation. Um we look at the number of educators that are available to us and how limited that is. And so when we're talking to our students that are in our buildings today and we're talking about career paths, I think this is something that we should be sharing out to our present students. And I'm not saying we're waiting till they graduate our
167doors and then they go to college for four years. But to, you know, this is this is a language that is growing and there's going to be resources needed whether it's in district 230 or beyond. And so, um, I would encourage that we encourage those students that have the love of language that, um, we see potential being teachers to let them know that this is a a void that needs to be filled and that if they're looking for job security, um, this would be one of those areas. So, um to approach that also for the future as we're trying to navigate um this narrow narrow uh pool of educators that can that can provide these services at this time. >> To piggy back off that quickly and then we're going to move on. I gave
168I was I received a contact of a man who was interested in providing 230 scholarships for students interested in going in that area. I did give him contact to Miss Butterman. Um so that's also another way that people can help for um support financially when we go to honors nights and see things like that for future um endeavors. So thank you very much. As we've promised, this was going to be a comprehensive and deep presentation. So your efforts I said at the beginning were impressive. You continue to prove that every day you and Mr. Abando. So thank you. Um, we will be back more with this at the education committee and keep it moving along. >> All right. Thank you, Nina. >> Thank you. To keep the board meeting moving along now, we are going
169to go on to the superintendent's report. >> Yes, I will uh I will expedite this because everything in my report has been talked about at Nauseium tonight. So, if you have a question, I'll answer it, but otherwise, I'll pass and get to the next uh item. >> Whatever whatever you prefer, sir. >> Any questions? I think we're good. Okay. Next, I need a motion for the adoption of policies. I move that the school board approve the adoption of policies uh 212, 2150, 2270, 410, 430, 480, 4140, 4190, 510, 590, 5100, 5190, 5200, 5220, 5280, 5300, 620, 640, 6160, 6210, 6260, 6300, 6310, 6315, 6320, 710, 770, 7180, 7190, 7290, 7315, 734, 4830, 7150, and 6280. >> I second. >> Second. Any questions? >> All right, Lisa, if you could take the role. >> Yes. >>
170Kelly, >> yes. >> Member. >> Yes. >> Motion passed. Next, may I have a motion for um policy 660? I make the motion to amend the motion for policy 660 to include the following um language or or word. I want to include Arabs in section 19 of 660 after Albanians. >> Uh I don't know how technical we want to get, but I think that somebody has to make the motion as presented before we make a motion to amend that motion. >> No, it's correct. >> Correct. >> That's correct. >> So make the motion now. All right. >> All right. Just give me one second. >> I move that the school board approve the adoption of board policy 660. >> We need a second. >> I second. >> Member Dalton. Seconded. >> Then member Jabber. >>
171I make the motion to amend the motion for policy 660 to include the following Arabs in section 19 of policy 660 after Albanians in alphabetical order. Uh I would like to second the motion to amend so that we can discuss it. >> Okay. All right. There is a second for an amendment. Um we now have questions and comments. >> Uh I just want to make the comment that um you know we had Adam from the teachers association up here early talking about um you know a collaborative effort and talking about curriculum. Um, I while I support the idea of amending the motion to include ArabAmericans and the contributions that they've made to American history and American society, um, that would require an amendment to our curriculum. And I just think that it should go back
172to our teachers association first for a discussion and and then I would like to see this amendment to the policy brought back to us to make sure that we're not overstepping what we're our obligations and our commitments are to the teachers association. I'd like to make a comment. Um, knowing with policy is different than amending just a regular motion. I have been doing a little history. I did check with the regional office of education a couple weeks ago on this and they said one of the things especially with 660 is to work with legislation. So, that being said, member Dalton and I are going to Springfield at the end of March and they you had to fill out a questionnaire of interesting topics that you would like to discuss with our regional legislators. And I
173did put on there to discuss that to see if they could get that changed on a larger level. If you read 660, it has a a list of a lot of other different groups. And I think your um your your idea, member Jabber, has merit and we promise that Sue and I will bring that forward when we do talk to a legislator. But I concur with Chris that we need to bring it back to the committee and see chicken or egg kind of thing, which comes first. Do we make a motion to change or do we push with our state legislators? Uh and one thing in the code um because it said other ethnic groups including but not restricted to and then it identifies all the ethnicities and then on at the end it says
174etc. So it probably has room to add because we could do a local policy as well as a school board and this will be reflective of our community that we serve with a large number of Arab-Americans we have 35% 40%. So, um I think this fits in with policy 640 as well where the um number two student needs as identified by research demographics and um student achievement and other data. So, you know, I think as a local policy that's something that um I'm hope we could add. Um I know you and I was communicating with Lisa and we and she spoke with um the attorney so but I'll wait for your answer as well. >> Thank you. >> Could we call the question on the amendment to the motion? >> Yes. >> Hold on a
175second. We're No, I just want to be voting on >> You may want to reread the amendment. >> Yeah, we have to vote on Muhammad's amendment to the motion. >> Adding you amendment, not on the right. >> Correct. You are not voting on 660. You are voting on the amended 660. >> Okay. Just so you know. >> So saying yes means we're not going back to the teachers. >> Correct. >> No. Voting >> yes. If you vote yes, we're amending the policy without going to the curriculum advisory committee. >> Muhammad, I'm assuming you're okay with that, >> but I think Muhammad wants you to vote yes. >> I think you need to vote. No, you need >> I know I'm voting, but I just >> Okay, >> no, we've already got we're already got the
176roll call. Roll call, please. All right, start over >> with roll call that people understand is with Muhammad's amended motion. >> Are you approving Muhammad's amendment? >> It's a motion. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> Member, >> no. >> Member Sar. >> No. >> Member D. >> No. >> Member Cas. >> No. >> Member J. Yes. Yes. amen. >> No. So now we need to go back to the original motion because we still have a timeline with that. >> Correct. Okay. >> So then >> it reverts back to the I move the school order to adoption >> which we've already made. >> So now we can do correct for that. >> Now we're doing for the original. >> This is as as presented. as presented. >> As presented as present, >> yes, >> thank you. >>
177Member D. >> Yes. Member Casper. >> Yes. >> Member J. >> Yes. >> And member. >> Yes. Motion passed. Thank you. >> All right. Next. Staffing 2627 school year. This isformational. >> Yes. Just to give you a brief uh uh understanding. Uh first of all compliments to uh our building administration particularly our our principles our APIs our directors of guidance and their staff uh as well as uh Dr. McMillan Dr. Huffman Mr. Vondo and several others uh staffing sectioning and staffing is an enormous process. It's a enormous undertaking um starting when uh students um start thinking about the classes for next year going through the registration and so on. Um what you have in front of you is where we feel like we're at as we went through that process so that we could go
178ahead and start staffing our buildings. Uh we did see an overall net decrease uh for next year in total student enrollment. Uh not by a significant amount um but uh we did see an increase at Samberg by uh roughly 57 students decrease at stag by 15 uh and at Andrew by 77. So not a significant reduction but um a little bit of a reduction. Uh what that has uh netted is a overall decline in uh full-time equivalency or FTE from um uh at 4.1 teachers. Um what we saw though is is a uh increase in FTE for uh our EL programs as the board has been u made aware for uh several months. uh we are adjusting our our programs particularly at Samberg and STAG uh based on the success that we've seen uh with
179a co-taught um unsheltered cotton environment for our special educ excuse me for our EL students um we are adopting that model at stag and Samberg um which has led to a little bit of a increase in in our need for EL teachers uh we've also seen a growth in uh CTE specifically uh tech and engineering uh formerly known as applied tech uh across all three campuses which I think speaks to the efforts that our district has made uh to really meet students where they're at in terms of their post-secondary uh pathways uh particularly um in manufacturing and the trades. Um other than that, it's been a fairly uh there's been a little bit of a reduction in the core areas which you would uh which you would logically see if if you see a net
180reduction in your overall enrollment. Um but that's where we're at. uh we feel like our process is fiscally responsible um and looks at our students uh interests as the primary driver of our staffing which we will proceed um after tonight's meeting to staff our buildings. >> Thank you. >> All right. Nothing with for you. Okay. Board comments. Member Jabber. >> Yeah. Um we had nine speakers today out of out of 13 or 12 I believe. 13. >> 13 speakers. >> 13. So I think so. Yes. >> Yeah. 10 10 out of 13 speakers. and um most of them advocated for Arab as a world language and um RBO and I support both of those. Um would love to work on a resolution for RBO. I think it'll be great for students. So I'm in favor
181of that. >> Thank you. >> Member Cas. >> Uh no thanks. >> Member D. >> Uh as Dr. Zeter had mentioned uh we will be going down to our legislator advocacy for the school board members next month. So I look forward to that experience to talk to our legislators. Um if there's anything that our board members would like us to uh discuss, please uh let us know. And uh thank you members Zeter for promising to drive because I will be tired. >> Member Danlow. member Kelly. >> Uh just a brief comment uh in a humorous way at my house. Uh often people come to me and they say we should paint this room or we should cook more healthy food or we should save more money and that's my family's way of saying I should
182do that. And uh I feel like on a school board we talk a lot about we but in effect we know that we talk about a lot of stuff and then of course the administration has to go do it. And I want to apologize for saying we're going to do this when in effect that you all have to put a little blood, sweat, and tears into making these things come come to fruition. We just appreciate the hard work. >> Thank you. Member Saratory. >> I'll try to make this as quickly as possible. Um, as many of you know, since the last board meeting, um, there was a robocall made about me that I felt hit below the belt. Um, so as most of the robocalls that have been made in the last number of months
183against members of this board and this administration, they are based on no truth at all. They are all lies. In order to respond to that robocall, I have my the letter that I received when my job at Beverly Bank was terminated to explain exactly why my position was taken away. The letter is written by Mike Johnstone who is the executive vice president of Beverly Bank and copied to Paula Jones who was the vice president of human resources. The letter was dated March 18th, 2014. Okay, 12 years ago. And I will not read the whole letter, just a couple sentences. as confirm and I quote as confirmation of our conversations yesterday is truly unfortunate that your position is being eliminated due to the reorganization of the Beverly Bank County responsibilities. It is presently slated to wrap
184up effective June 14, 2014. We have every faith that you will maintain your solid work ethic and high level of professionalism during this period of time. Knowing how seriously you take your responsibilities, I would expect no less from you. it is appreciated. So all I want to say is that this is based on fact. The robocalls are not based on fact. They are based on lies. And again, lies about me, lies about President Zeter, member Dalton, Mr. Naline, Jen, and other individuals. Um, unfortunately I believe there may be people in this room right now who are responsible. I think this is being done by a group and not just one individual. And I just have two questions. Number one, I'd like to know what all of us have done that is so bad that has
185brought this type of call to demean us, to ruin our reputations, to technically try to destroy us. What could we possibly have done to anyone to bring this about? I don't understand it. I really don't. And I really would like to know who's ever doing this, what the heck we did because I'm I'm totally baffled. And the second point I'd like to make ask is what are you trying to gain from this? What what could you possibly gain from what you're trying to do? Eliminate the school board. Get rid of Dr. Noling. Wh what what does that do? What does that accomplish? I really am baffled by this and and I don't understand it and I wish I knew the answer but to try to ruin people's reputations and their lives and not only us
186but our families have been brought into this. I just don't understand it and I really plead to stop it. Okay? Because you're hiding behind a pack. We all think we know who you are. And again, I say you plural because there's more than one person involved in this. Okay. But it's time to end the garbage. And I do have one final question. I'd like to know, how do you sleep at night? I'm done. Thank you. >> Um in closing, last month we had a speaker who said um to act with heart, courage, and conviction. I want to thank everyone tonight who came and spoke. Regardless of the topic, you speak with heart, courage, and conviction. And as Mayor Glad said, we are volunteers who work with heart, courage, and conviction to try to do what's
187best for our current students and our future students. All of us live in this community for a reason. District 230, I am an alum as our multiple board members here at this table. We are proud of this community. We are invested in this community now, in the future. So, thank you again for your heart, courage, and conviction. And we take all of your comments and matters seriously. And while you might see some healthy discussions with it, that is what we are entrusted to do. So, thank you. And with that, may I have a motion to adjurnn? >> We can't adjourn. >> We have to go to executive session. >> We I'm at open session. We have We have to >> Well, oh, I have to read the motion. >> Well, I could read it. >>
188Okay, you can read it. Can we make a motion under executive session to consider information regarding 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 placement of individual students in 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 discuss pending or probable litigation against affecting or on behalf of the public body. >> So move >> your second. All right. >> I'm sorry. Second. >> Lisa, take the role. >> Yes. We are going into close session now. The videotape will