Crete Monee School District 201u Board Meeting 11/18/25

001Test. Test. 1 2 3. Test. Okay, I would like to call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Madam Secretary, Miss Wolf Folk. Miss Venegas. I >> Mr. Salesish >> here. >> Uh Dr. Hall >> here. >> Zites is here. Mr. Gagos >> here. >> Mr. Brown >> here. Let us stand for the pledge of allegiance led by Vice President Mr. Ghagos and a mission statement by our board secretary Jamie. >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag >> of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Our mission statement is to engage and empower our students to positively impact their community and future. >> Thank you both. We do have a couple electronically submitted board comments. Do we

002have any inperson board comments? Okay, the first one is a public comment submitted by Mr. John Puta. And I think the board members already saw these comments, but I'm going to read them. He said he has several questions. I see that the school had a good rating from Illinois. How much is the 2011U district in debt? When looking at the budget, numbers are located in many places. My question is, without the $35 million alternative revenue bond that was taken, how would that have impacted the rating? listening to the June 10th, meeting at 2340 time, it appears that there were was some concern about funding. listening to the many construction projects, HVAC replacements, life safety projects, I think that the $21 million sports project should have been put up to the voters to address. Any tiff

003money that went to the sports project could have been used toward the many other school projects. And I did reply to Mr. Puda and I think I think I also communicated with the board on my response as well as the superintendent. If the superintendent feel additional response responses are warranted, I'll let you decide on that. Okay. the other it's a whole big difference in the font which is conducive for my reading here and this one here but I'm going to struggle and give it a try. The next board a public comment is from a Nicole Lomx. Good morning school board of education. My name is Nicole Lomx. I want to introduce the new committee. I am starting up call the student voice committee which main focus is making sure everyone ideas and concerns are brought

004up and addressed. It wasn't too bad. That concludes our public comments. Do we have any board updates hearing? none from my colleagues. I just do have one I did attend last week on Friday the kid ninth I believe it's the ninth annual kids summit down in Peoria Illinois. It was an excellent conference there or summit and I just want to again recognize the board of education as me being your representative down there get raid reviews because again we are the only board that's representing early learning curriculum as such being uh conveyed down this past uh week in Peoria. So, thank you. I represent the board of education for creepy 2011. All righty. Hearing no other board updates. Actually, I just thought of um two. One, um I attended the um state of the district meeting

005for CITE and it was a small but engaged audience >> and um it was it was great. And then I also wanted to give a shout out to the musicians, the vocalists and um instrumentalists who were selected to play in the ILMEA District One. >> Excellent >> concerts. That's it. >> Thank you. >> And I forgot to remember talking about engagement. Dr. Perkins, I was like the student. She was like the teacher. we was have it. We had team engagements and I just for some reason kept following her because she seemed like she knew exactly what to do and she kept me in line. Some of the other teachers down there had a hard time keeping me in line but she kept me in line there. So, thank you Dr. Perkins for being one step

006ahead of me when I involve myself with different activities down there. Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Administrative updates. There's a couple updates that our me our superintendent is going to share that's not specifically on here. So, I'll let her have the floor now. >> Oh, first of all, I wanted to acknowledge the CSK team. All these beautiful uh flowers that you see here are from them for the board. So, certainly thank you for doing that. U very much appreciated. Believe it or not, it is a >> Oh, I finally get my check after 16 years. It's a big what I know. Oh, man. Wow. >> Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is rolling around. I looked at my calendar and it is next week. And you know, it's interesting. It's always when it becomes

007this time of year, you know, we're all exhausted. We just can't wait for that few days off. But, you know, I think it's also a time for us to to collectively think about all the good things that we all have in our lives. It can be very busy and with schedules and dealing with all sorts of family issues and so forth, but um it's a time to be thankful for all the good things that are going on. And so, this particular board meeting, I'm spending some time really celebrating some really fabulous things that are going on in this district to say thank you. Um, and the first piece that I wanted to do is talk about National Education Week. >> National Education Week is this week and it is our time that we thank all

008of our educators and every employee that works in our district is an educator. It's our uh custodians that are talking to kids during that lunchtime. It's our security guards. They're they're listening to our kids. It's our teachers in our classroom. It's our bus drivers listening and smiling at our students when they get on. It's all of our employees. So this really belongs to all of you when we when we say thank you for this. >> As we celebrate National Education Week, we extend our deepest gratitude for all the dedicated staff across Cremon School District 201. Their unwavering commitment, compassion, and hard work make a profound difference in the lives of our students each and every day. Whether in classroom, offices, buses, cafeteria, or behind the scenes such as at district office business, each of the

009staff members plays an essential role in creating a supportive, inspiring and enriching learning environment. On behalf of the district, we'd like to thank all of our educators for their tireless efforts, their passion for education, and their steadfast belief in supporting our students. We are truly grateful for everything you do. So, we have a little video to share with you. This we sent out to our staff today, but I wanted uh our community members to see this as well. So, go ahead. >> Reflect on a powerful question. Why do we teach? Because at Cree Mon School District 2011U, teaching is more than a career. It's a calling. >> I teach because it's important for the students to have a mentor. As a member of Alpha Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, it's one of our sayings that lives once

010touched by me become tuned. And that just means that once I interact with a student, I'm going to leave them in a better place. >> I always want to give my students the type of education that I want to have as a child, the type of education that my parents wanted me to have. I'm passionate about learning. I love working with children. I want to build confidence in them and make them successful. Give them all the tools and strategies that they need to open all the doors that they want to open up in their future. I enjoy it. That's a wonderful job. >> I teach because I love to celebrate students wins. I think there are so many wins here in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom that are ready to be

011celebrated. And I think just spending extra time to be able to cheer on the students, have the students cheer on each other and really build on that relationship they have with me as well as each other. >> November 17th through 21st is American Education Week. It's a time to celebrate the people who make learning possible every day. Teachers, staff, and families working together to inspire our students. Teaching is about more than lessons and grades. It's about building character, nurturing potential, and preparing students for life beyond the classroom. At 2011U, every teacher's why becomes a student's reason to believe in themselves. American Education Week reminds us that teaching is a shared mission. parents, teachers, staff, and the community. Together, we create the future. So, why do we teach? Because every student deserves someone who believes in

012them because education is hope and because the future starts here in our classrooms today. So, we just wanted to share some of those faces with you that's going on in the classroom and the passion that they have for everything they do. So, we really do appreciate our our staff. So, thank you. Uh the next part of appreciation is board members. It's you. It's your turn. So believe it or not, November 15th, which was uh a little bit earlier, was National School Board Members Day. In recognition of National School Board de Members Day on November 15, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the Creek School District 2011U board of education for their unwavering dedication and support to all of our students, staff, and families through thoughtful governance and the development of strong board policies and our

013that our board ensures that every student receives the highest quality education to prepare them for college, career, and a lifelong success. Our board members devote countless hours of their own time reviewing policies, board briefs, bill lists, agenda items, just to name a few, to ensure the district operates effectively and responsibly. As trusted community stewards, they oversee the district's mission and vision while empowering the and supporting staff to carry out the community's goals for their education of their students. Each board member here at this table, I can attest, is a caring, supportive, and generally does listen to everything that folks say in concerning students, the staff, and the wider community. On behalf of the district, we'd like to thank the board that sits here tonight, and we thank you for your outstanding service as well. So,

014thank you. And just so you know, our board members will be participating in um a special conference called the triple eye conference which is down in the city. And they are going to be engrossed in literally a whole weekend of inservices uh participating in classes and workshops. They're going to get a chance to talk with each other and hear um and grow as a board. So uh again and that's all on their own time. So, um, we're looking forward to actually hearing, um, some of the, uh, reports that might come back in December. So, >> you left one thing out. We also are going to be experienced the worst traffic that anyone can experience, but we love it. >> Okay. Yes, it is a lot of traffic there. >> All right. Moving forward, uh, we've

015got some special guests in the audience tonight. We have Kretta Scott King Magnet School and we are here to celebrate a special recognition and award for them. >> Yes. >> Tonight we are here to recognize and honor the staff, students and families at Kretta Scott King Magnet School for being listed in the top 40% of elementary schools in Illinois earning a wide distinction in the US News best schools elementary schools in the state. CSK was evalu evaluated on their student proficiency scores in mathematics and reading. This special recognition reflects the hard work of our students, staff, and families and that they have built a uh continue to build a strong culture. Tonight, I would like to invite the building principal, Miss Bonita Arseno Anderson. Where are you? Come on up. Assistant principal, Miss Raven Roberts,

016and the members of the rest of the team. Come on up. We're going to have you come up here. I have a special plaque. And then we're going to grab a picture. >> Dr. Perkins will be grabbing that picture. >> So, you're lucky. This just came with the district. I'd like to present you with a special flag. Congratulations. >> Thank you. And we're not done yet. >> We're moving along. >> Um, >> well, can I say >> yes, please do, please do. Any comments? >> Um, good job. I thought once the hall kids left, the school was going to go down, but I see. >> Good job. Thank you. And you're welcome to stay as long as you like, but since you do have students tomorrow, you are free to go and rest up for

017tomorrow. >> If you really care, you can stay with us. >> Well, I I I would like to say also, thank you teachers. And I'm sure you're not in the position that you are in because of the money. It's because of the love that you have for our kids. and is so reflective on that plaque that you received tonight. So, thank you for all you do and keep doing what you're doing. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Have a good night. Rest up. They'll be here tomorrow. >> Okay. So, we have a a special program that I wanted to share with you. As I was going out earlier this year and I was going out to visit buildings and principles, I spent some time with Miss Chester talking a little bit about

018some of the things that were going on there. And I got a chance to see my old office and all the different changes that are going on there. And I thought we really need to share what's going on. There are so many things that were behind the scenes. So I said, you know, Miss Chesty, you've you've got to come up and present, you know, not just about your program, but how you are engaging our families. if you've ever been to any of these activities, they're amazing. And she gets they have the most turnout here with uh coming here. And so um she coming tonight to share that with us. Um so I've invited her to do that. Um so I'm going to turn this over to to you. >> Okay. >> Hello. >> I'm a

019little taller than this. Hello. >> Oh, that's okay. One second. Hopefully reconnects. >> All right. Good evening. I don't know if I need this or not, but I'm Kelly Chusta, the director from the Cremon Early Learning Center. I am privileged to be here tonight to talk to you about our early Early Learning Center family involvement. and I have some friends that stayed to keep me company. >> So, how does ELC engage our families in the communities? Um, first of all, it's really important to us that we build these relationships that we create an open environment um for our family members, you know, our students or parents or our or community members. We want you to come in, feel comfortable. This is the first start to their educational journey for our Creek School District. So, it's

020that important that we start it out right. So, um I'm very fortunate with the grant. Um I have four parent coordinators that are amazing. Um so, there's there's Tammy Winter, Jamie Hayden, Lynn Swallish, and um Gracie McGanna. And so Gracie is um bilingual, so we wanted to make sure our Spanish speaking population had representation. Um so that um bringing that to our table has been very helpful. I also have a preschool community liaison as part of the grant and that is Judith Woodford. She is awesome as well. Um she is providing those parent chats, that parent education piece. She is um working with our early intervention students, transitioning them into our program. She's helping us with screening, meeting with parents. Um she's just a woman of many trades. So, she also does the community outreach.

021So, I'm very fortunate um to have a great team um to help us. It's not just one person. It's not a onewoman show. It's all of us together. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, some of these events um PTO events and volunteers um we have a great PTO um every year we just they get stronger and stronger. Um it's important to them um to bring in community members. They volunteer for events here. We um and it's anywhere from fundraising to just our special events. They're they're doing Friendsgiving coming up next week. So they sponsor all these great events for our students and our families. They do book fairs. Um and they get a lot of parents to come into our building to help support. In fact, tonight I had a PTO meeting right before this and

022um they have all these amazing wonderful ideas to share and to to give back to the community and I I was just so touched by all of their creativeness. Um I want to talk to you. So conferences, we pull our families in for conferences. Yes, we do that throughout the district. We make sure that we do that twice during the year. We want to make sure that we're all on the same page. We're working on the whole child. We bring what's happening here home and home here. Um our parents know best, right? They're with their kids um 247, so they know all those special interests and um connections that they have. So, we make sure that we we have that extra special touch um and we're communicating on a a on a consistent basis. We

023have our parent chats. I I talked about um Judith Wetfoot. That's our parent education piece to it. We want to make sure that um we survey our parents to make sure um we're providing to meet their needs. So if they have interest or I um they need more information, maybe it's toileting or behaviors or routines. Um our recent one was on fine motor. You're going to get to see a video of that tonight. Um it was incredible. So, it's good information, rich information, good discussions, and then we provide materials to our families. So, again, it's that, you know, we have this great knowledge. Um, we we have these great materials. We want to make sure they know what to do with them and have access to them as well. >> Um, family day events, family

024evening events. So, my wonderful coordinators, they plan and implement, come up with these creative ideas of how to engage our families. They bring them into our building. um they we make sure that as a staff that we're modeling, we're teaching, we're giving resources. Um so they're seeing what's happening, what they can do at the in their home environment as well. So it's again it's a team, it's a group effort. Um and then um we have a parent resource room which used to be Dr. Cara's office. Um that is amazing. So our parents can come in daily and take advantage of this space. They can have mom and me activities. So if there's younger siblings, they can bring their younger sibling here, meet with other parents. We have resources they c that are at their fingertips.

025They can take have take-home bags. Um it's a great space. Our PTO uses that pretty often. We do have other family families that come in um while they might stay here while their child's in school. Maybe they have a hard time moving, you know, driving back and forth. So they take advantage of that space. Okay. So enough talking here. I will go on. This is a family day event for us windmill acres. Wow. I'm a car. Wow. >> Pretty amazing, isn't it? >> Um, we have three of those every year. Um, and I know one of them is our breakfast with Santa and that's coming up soon on December 19th. And then we have our special person's day which I have a picture of. I can talk a little bit about that in a minute.

026Um, but again, it's it's those rich experiences um bringing our families in together. Our staff are there modeling, facilitating, guiding um those communications, the um that interactions, those overall interactions. Okay. So, this is art night. This is one of our family night events. Um we have one a month and this particular one we have our families come out. We have a pizza night. So we have some sort of um dinner for our families. Um and then they get to see all the showcased art from our art teacher that they they put together throughout the year. And then you're seeing now um an experience an art experience that they get to participate in. And we have several art experiences throughout the school. um a lot of engaging activities for them. Um curriculum night just another night.

027Everybody holds this but just another night to give information and meet with families. Um end of the year celebration party. Um this is great. This is sponsored by our PTO. Um all of our staff are here, all of our families. Um we have we have food, we have jumpies, we have centers set up. It's just a funfilled event. Um, a way to say thank you to our volunteers and um, goodbye for the summer. Um, kindergarten expectation night. This is a huge night for us. Um, we want to make sure our transitions from our our our school to kindergarten are seamless and um, our families are feeling welcome at um, the next step in their educational career. So what we do is we have a a presentation um giving expectations, an overview of what happens next,

028what does that look like, what can you do to prepare for the next step. And I have representatives from each elementary school. So we have the principal and a and a kindergarten teacher there. And so our parents are able to go and ask questions and make that contact, see who see those friendly, familiar faces to see what the next step looks like. So, they really appreciate that time. Here's our parent resource room. You can't see all of it in there. Um, on the other side, there's all of the take-home bags and activities, but you can see in this area, that's where our families bring in their little ones and they're interacting and they have they have some engaging experiences there. It's just a it's a great space. So, thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um, PTO

029book fair. So, another um volunteer event for our VTO. We have book we have about two of them a year. Um and then they have another online one. And um books that they generate from this um and money that they generate from this they they give back to the classrooms um and to our library. Um and then of course um any funds that they they have they give back to the students. So PTO strong again this they participate in district events that trees around the district. Um special person's day this is another family day event. Um whether you have a grandparent or not a special person in your life they get to come and spend the day with you. So they come here we open up our classrooms. They have breakfast together and then they

030get to see what a day is like with the with the student that they're with. um young athletes or field day as we call it. Um we have volunteers that come in and help us with each of the centers. Our students are doing gross motor activities throughout the school. It's a great event. Um they they love it and they celebrate um all the good work that they do. Okay. This was an awesome event that we had that parent chat. It was on fine motor skills and the parents loved it and they got to take home the the goodie bags afterwards. This were filled with many different materials on um how to build their gross motor skill or their fine motor skills, excuse me. Okay, communication. We're almost done. Um communication opportunities. Um again, strong communication

031is very important for us at ELC and there's many different ways. We like to find out through the parents their best mode of communication and that's where we go with it. Um, and partnerships. We couldn't do this without our with without all of our partnerships, the community members, the support of the board, um, the support of the district office, all of our staff. Um, again, like I said before, we are not a oneperson show. It's a team effort, and that's including parents. And it's all for the great cause of supporting our students in getting them ready for their next step in their educational career. So that's us at ELC. >> It's not a question. I think it's more if you if you look at it, the work is incredible. She knows I I know it's

032non-stop and you have to do that because they're three through five years old, you know, three through five. And having that connection and having them love school as opposed to being a negative, it's got to be positive. And then engaging the parents is super important. I mean, like you said, their PTO is the strongest. Um, if you ever come to the events, they're packed. They're they're always busy. So, it's a great job. And for sure everybody involved I mean everybody does as a team. >> They're happy to be here. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's great job. >> Thank you. >> How many students go? How many what's the enrollment? >> We can um typically have a little over 300. We are probably at 240. We have all the transitioning students into our program. That's for sure.

033>> Do you have a spot for me? >> All right. Wow. >> And did you say this is the we are the only um school district with this program in the state of Illinois? Is that what you said? >> No. Uh board representation on the initiative with the kids summit >> that the board of cre is the only board that have the representation. Okay. >> And I know now I'm jumping ahead here. Possibly the only board that will possibly implement a policy to support this endeavor >> because this sounds like something that could be conference worthy of um being a workshop presenter in my opinion for triple I um or something. I just I think I don't think that we should limit it to these for a while. I think we're trying to get out

034and share I know we presented last year at the kids summit. Yeah. And a couple people that I went that I came across and met last year, they saw us there just this past Friday >> and they said, "Oh, you guys presented again." No, no, no. Once once is enough. Okay. But, uh, Kelly has done a tremendous job. And >> what just gets me is that in a in a positive way dealing with kids. three, four, five year old. She does it with a smile >> All the time. I have never seen it without a smile around kids. And it's not a fake smile. This is love for the kids. And her and her team has put so much ferventy into the process of causing our kids to learn at such a young age. And

035it's been told, and you can attest to this, Kelly, that the it's told about kids or human beings in general learn the most from the time they're born to 5 years old than any other time in their life and capturing these kids. And Dr. Perkins, is it true? I thought I had heard or read something down at the conference. Isn't the state of Illinois making this mandatory for schools in 2028 to have early learning? >> 2728 mandatory to have playbased learning part of kindergarten ready. >> Ah okay. Play-based learning. Okay. We arehead of the game by leaps and bounds. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. It's exciting to have all this. >> Yes. And to see the kindergarten teachers and the early learning teachers collaborate, team up together to monitor or audit each other and it's just

036amazing the work is going on. So, thank you. All I'm saying now, I don't have to say it later on in the agenda. Okay. Thank you so much, Kelly, and your entire team. >> Yes. Thank you for being here tonight. >> Thank you. >> And keeping up all this exciting news, what's next is truth and taxation hearing. >> Thank you for that lovely introduction. >> He brought the dog, so I don't know if that that helps soften the blow. >> Thanks, Kelly. He's g Brian's gonna be uh giving a seminar on revenues at Triple I. Right. >> Correct. >> So everybody hit that up Saturday at 10:30. >> Yeah. >> We might have to YouTube live stream that to get them out. >> Lob some easy questions at the Triple Y. >> Yeah. >> Yep.

037>> Okay. >> You need us to be like kind of plants in the room and you know ask questions >> or pay us later. All right. So, this is the preliminary discussion of the 2025 truth and taxation hearing which will be held December 9th. This is a very similar presentation that has taken place the past several years. Um, first just starting with definitions. The equalized assessed value is the result of applying the state equalization factor to the assessed value of a property in Will County. This is onethird of the property's value. An example would be a home valued at $150,000. One-third of that would be a $50,000 EAV. The tax levy is the amount of money the school district requests from the property tax. The tax extension is the amount of money the clerk approves

038and provides us. And then the tax rate is a multiplier determined by the county clerk that's used with the property's EAV to calculate each homeowner's amount of tax they need to pay. >> So just to clarify because we'll get that in the spring. The school district and you are not calculating the extension or the rate. >> That is correct. >> The county is >> that is correct. We request through our levy. They do their assessment of property and things which we'll get into and then they tell us the maximum amount we will receive. The requirements for the tax levy. The extension may increase a maximum of 5% or CPI which as of December 31st of 2024 was 2.9%. New construction and dissolving tips are in addition to this requirement which we'll discuss later. We are

039ballooning our levy because Mon does have TIFF 3 rolling off this year. So we want to make sure we are getting all of the funds available to us. So we're going to ask for an amount above 5% which is the maximum we would ever be allowed to receive before any of the new property and tiffs. So we are asking for a percentage above 5% just to make sure any new revenue available through that tiff rolling off we absorb. So you'll see some examples in the future slides. We're going to ask for significantly more than we're estimated to receive just to make sure again any of that new property EAV we are capturing because we only get one chance to do that and if we miss that opportunity you'll have someone else giving this presentation next

040year. >> We still are only allowed the maximum extension that the county calculates for us. So, we can ask for as much money as we want and they're telling us that's great. You want eight gazillion dollars. This is the maximum you're getting based on your taxpayers, your EAV, your new property, your tiffs. So, we just balloon to make sure we're covered so we don't leave that revenue that which is very important to our operations on the table because once we lose that revenue, it goes away forever. So if the levy is more than 5% we need to hold a truth and taxation hearing which again will be December 9th. We need to publish a notification in the local newspaper within 14 days of levy adoption which we will have that done published on the district

041website 30 days prior to truth and taxation. Everything has been posted there. And then once approved, the tax levy must be filed with the county clerk by the last Tuesday in December. We can now file electronically. So we will be filing December 17th, the day after the board meeting when the levy gets approved. We get all of our signatures that night. No, I think So, moving on. >> Um, this is just a chart showing the historic data of the district's equalized assessed value. Um, 2024 we did surpass $1 billion of EAV throughout the district. And if you'll notice, as our EAV increases over time, the tax rate we are requesting has been decreasing. The data used to determine the levy, again, the consumer price index is the maximum we're allowed to request before new property

042and tiff's rolling off. Our previous levy CPI was 3.4%. this levy we're at 2.9%. Those districtwide EAVs are there just for information. Again, there's that1 billion9 million number. New construction, we're estimating around $30 million. We got this estimate from the Will County Assessor. We always reach out to them to make sure our numbers are as accurate as they can be before we get to this point. and they estimate that the new revenue from Monet Tiff 3 rolling off will be around $1.48 million. Again, the assessor provided that estimate and then our annual bond payment remains pretty flat, just below our Dub maximum of $12 million. >> Can I can I ask just a quick question on that? Um, that bond payment's coming down. Is that coming down two million at the end of 26 or

04327? >> I believe it's 27. >> Okay. >> Off the top of my head, I would have to >> Yeah, if I remember the chart, it's coming down. It'll be 10 million. It'll be 9 9.9 million, >> right? >> Correct. So, it'll lower by 2 million in a couple years. So that moniff 3 is a huge portion of that amount. >> Correct. So when a tiff ends, we treat that 25 years of growth as new construction for when so now we'll get that additional tax revenue. >> So if you look at the previous slide, look at the previous slide, it'll the 84 million is from TIFF 5 and up. A lot a big portion of that. Correct. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. So, we calling that. So, do we have any single

044other than the tiff new construction that we can capture all the way up until April of next year? Do we have any of that going on? I don't see any new >> just standard. You know, there might be a few new homes being built or a gas station or something, >> but most of that new construction is tiff three. Correct. >> Three and five. So >> UP tiff 5 was last year which is that 84 million in new construction and the 4.6 million of new tiff revenue and then this year is monet tiff 3. >> Have they signed off on that? >> Correct. >> Mon has >> yes they submitted with will county confirmed with us. >> Believe that was in October >> any surplus. I'm unaware of the surplus, but the ordinance was filed

045October 16th with Will. >> Okay. >> I shut the place down. I'll have to order new by next meeting. I think they're using paper. had a month or two ago. This is a new >> Brian. Did you get through most of it? >> I mean, just >> Yeah, just keep going. >> It's all right. >> There goes your Christmas present in bonus time. Just kidding. So our our levy again which is the amount we are requesting in the ED fund we're requesting $50 million on and M fund 8.5 million transportation fund 6.2 million working cash fund 500,000 life safety fund 200,000 special education 8 million for a total operating fund request of $73.4 $4 million. Our bond and interest remains that 11.996 number for a total levy request of $85.396 million. Again, this is significantly

046higher than what we're expecting to receive, but again, discussing that balloon strategy, we are expecting to get just below $60 million in total operating funds. and then our standard 11.996 million in bond and interest for a total tax extension of 71.645 million. So again, we're asking for 14 million above what we're anticipating receiving just to make sure if the estimates that we received were low, we're overestimating so that we do not leave any of that new construction on the table. >> And again, just because we're requesting it, >> who determines the final amount? >> The county clerk. The county clerk determines based on the actual EAV numbers everything that is finalized between our request and the extension in March. So they'll give us our exact numbers. So again, we're just asking for more than we're

047expecting to make sure we don't miss any one-time chances to increase the district's revenue. >> And the only reason I'm asking is because people will question if the district's asking for that. But I just want to make sure the Will County Clerk's Office is the one determining that. >> Is it the clerk or is it the >> assessor? Assessor. Assessor. >> County assessor. >> Will County is definitely >> figuring that out, not school district 21, >> right? It's assessor. Uh >> yeah, >> county assessor. Okay. And then next our our tax rate. Again, we already showed the slide where things were. >> You're good. >> That's all right. >> So, we'll go we'll go back to the charts that we missed. So again, this is our levy which we are over requesting or ballooning to

048make sure we do not leave any any revenue on the table. We discussed these figures. So that 73.4 million for operating funds plus the 11.996 million for our bond and interest payments for a total request of just over 85 million. And then our estimate for what we expect to actually receive through our extension is lower. So we're expecting to receive 71.64 million. Again, based on estimates, we're always conservative. So we always over ask to make sure we're not leaving anything on the table. based on these figures. Again, we already saw a slide showing our historic tax rate that we request and that has been decreasing as the EAV in the district increases. So, our 2025 estimate, again, conservatively, we're requesting 4% lower of the share of taxes paid than we did last year. In our

049estimates from last year, the taxpayers ended up seeing slightly better numbers than we estimated because again, we always go on the side of being conservative so that there are no surprises. This next slide is just some estimates of different home values. So, example one, a home assessed at $150,000. We're using an EAV increase of 5%. Again, just for discussion. We have no say on a home's EAV assessment or the increase in taxes. So, a home that was valued at 150,000 in 2024, that 5% it would be valued at $157,500 this year at our estimated tax rate. That would be a tax increase in the portion that home pays to the district, an increase of $58. Go through the same exercise for $200,000 home, 250,000, 300,000. None of these homes are seeing more than $100 of

050an increase based on our estimates of these values. So then just reiterating some important dates. December 9th will be the public hearing for the 2025 levy. December 16th would be when the board would vote to approve the levy, sign all of our paperwork, and then December 30th is the deadline to submit the approved 2025 levy to the county clerk, which again, we would submit on December 17th because we can now do that electronically. So, we're just going to get it done right away. So that ends the riveting discussion of the tax levy. If anyone has any further questions, feel free. >> Thank you. >> You're very welcome. >> Thank you, sir. >> And then Jason will talk about the grant. >> Okay. Next up is Jason. Good evening, President Brown. Uh, distinguished members of the

051board of education, Dr. Cara Kagglin. Uh, no presentation on my part. I'm just here to, uh, have a discussion regarding the school maintenance project grant. Um, this is an annual grant that we apply, uh, for through Isby to help with the construction and capital projects that we have going on here throughout the district. So, uh, just a formality that we will apply for the grant. Um, part of the application is the approval of the board of education and part of our short-term facility plan is that $50,000 will be used to uh fund the construction at Cremon Middle School. >> Any questions? >> Oh, is is this one of those grants again where you have to give X amount of dollars and you get >> um you don't have to give. You just have to pledge

052that you have an equal amount. So, we have $50,000 in equal uh local funds to match. So, um, yeah, we've done this on an annual process. Uh, when I came here, uh, came back to the district, we used it a port, well, we used that to fund a portion of the corridor flooring replacement at the middle school. Um, last year we used it to fund a portion of the roof repairs at Creed Elementary and then this year we'll be using it for the construction project at the Creek Middle School. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have teach uh teaching and learning the school report card by Dr. Perkins. Mic check. >> Hello. Can you hear me? Good. Okay. Good evening uh to our board of education, to

053Dr. Coglin. Uh to our staff, families, students at home watching us. Uh I want to start this morning uh morning evening off again um saying thank you and echoing uh thank you to our teachers for happy American education week and to our board for um their appreciation day. So this is our annual uh fall academic report that we uh must give. Uh 832 districts across the state have to give this report at some time between um October and November each year. So your takeaways this evening are going to be about telling our story. We know that we um have a very unique district that serves over 4,500 students. Uh you're going to understand about our growth, our systems that we have in place to support our students, and then what it is going to look

054like for us going forward. Our overview is again who do we serve? What is the state report card? How do our students perform? What do our school improvement plans look like? And then what are our indicators of success? One of the things that we think about uh as we serve our students is all means all. And so that means high quality education for all of our students, access for all of our students, and high expectations for all of our students. Again, all means all. Trying to decide which screen to look at here. Um, here is an overview of the students that we serve. These are actually photos of our students at play and doing what they do best being a cit student. Right now at the end of uh school in the spring where our

055enrollment was 44.86 and you will see that we are starting to trend back up and increasing our enrollment um each year and we'll talk about some of those factors of how that has happened. As we look at our data at a glance, uh you we when we think about who we serve, our lowincome students make up 64%. That is a decrease um from previous years because of some data calculations that happened. uh we serve 6.1% of our students are homeless and then that 10% of our students are English language learners. Uh I will ask that you jot down any questions that you have um as I'm going through this uh rather quickly but I can go back to any slide if you have any questions. Uh this is a new data point uh that the

056state has given to districts again showing our students with individualized education um plans and that is at uh 18%. Again looking at our data 91% of our students um have daily attendance. So that means 91% of our students show up for attendance each day. You're going to see some uh small decreases or increases in each of these categories. Nothing with uh a significant increase or decrease. Our student mobility is 11.9% and our chronic absenteeism is at 34%. Again, small increase but uh not significant. When we look at our ninth graders on track, we are at 93% and outpacing the state there. And then our graduation rate continues to outpace the state at 92.2%. So what is the Illinois state report card? It is where uh we have an opportunity to uh look at schools and

057put them into categories and the state rates them which they must do um by because of federal um because of the federal uh department of education. This is the weighted category of what it looks like at the uh elementary level and middle school level. 75% being in those academic indicators, 50% based on our growth, and then 25% great based on other school factors like chronic absenteeism and um our climate survey, our five essential survey. And then those areas that are kind of grayed out, uh the state has not put those metrics in place as of yet. At the high school level, again, this 100% weighted chart, uh 50% is great based on our graduation rate and then that 25% down below on those other success indicators like climate survey, eighth grade on track, and uh

058chronic absenteeism. Our annual sumitive designation that each school receives is based on four different categories going from exemplary to comprehensive and showing exemplary meaning that those schools are at the top 10% that would be 83 schools um receive that out of the state. Commendable means that they have no unperforming subgroups um of students. uh and then that graduation rate is not less than 67%. A targeted school means that there's some work to be done to support students that h fall into a subcategory. Um and then comprehensive again uh means that there's student groups that need um additional support and interventions. We'll review the results of our each school. We'll start. Um ELC does not have all the metrics that uh elementary and middle school have. Uh but we still uh get a report card from

059them. What you should uh walk away and look at with uh ELC is that we have a large population of our students that have IEPs, but what that means is that we have an opportunity to serve those students. you know that our uh ELC program is made up of very different um student populations. Um and we have a high percentage there. As director Chester said, we're serving right now about 250 students and we can serve about 300 each year. Our ELLL population there is about 60. Um and then our low income is 74%. In this blue area here, I won't read to you each school's uh school improvement plan and what their goals are. Um, but these are goals that um are shared with you uh each year and that you approve in our school

060improvement plan at Balmoral Elementary. Again, um out of the five elementary schools, Burl has the highest enrollment. Um and while there are uh some needs there and we've got 73% uh low income, you should know that they uh maintain a great um daily um attendance rate. Uh and we serve uh 42 ELELLL students there with a mobility of 11% again their math and reading goals in the blue area. CSK uh you will uh know that again they received that US News uh award and acknowledgement. They're enrollment is up to 290. Uh that is one of the reasons is um the uh communities and the board asked to uh bring back our PALS program and we were able to bring those students back into the district and they are uh in uh CSK. We also the

061board also um removed the uh restriction of not allowing school students into that program after the first la first 10 days of school. And so students can enroll throughout the year and so we work to uh enroll those students throughout the year and so we are uh at a higher capacity of 290. uh this school stays in line with the state averages and again their reading and math goals. Creed elementary uh serving 200 I'm sorry 375 students uh 65% low income with a low mobility rate um and some uh chronic absenteeism that we're working on and we'll talk about what that looks like for us later. uh high daily attendance of 90% of students coming to school. Moni Elementary uh lower absenteeism rate uh low income is at 64% and walking away with a class

062size and enrollment of 368 uh with an ambitious uh math and reading goals for our students there. for Talala Elementary. Uh again, telling our story, knowing that our students uh we have students and populations that need some intensive support. Um and that is our role and our job to provide those supports uh to our our students. uh 85% low income, 25% mobility, uh 65 e students, um and an enrollment of 295. That is one of the largest enrollments that that um school has had and trending upward question. >> I just had >> Okay, so we're done with the elementaryaries. Can we ask a question about the elementarymentaries? Absolutely. Instead of waiting because >> um you 295 458. Are the schools that different in size? Um 458 for Balmoral. Isn't there an overflow that if you

063get to a certain capacity? I just want to make sure. Are there's not too many kids in a classroom per teacher at one school compared to another, right? I mean, don't like I don't know how exact numbers per school, but that number seems awful different. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, um class sizes will vary. Uh there class sizes will be cut off at a a certain number. For instance, at every kindergarten classroom when it gets to 25, those students will move to their sister school. Um and so that happens in cases. For instance, I know this year uh we had to close Creed Elementary's kindergarten classrooms and those students went to Mount Boral, but what that meant is that those students there were those teachers did not have 25 students yet. And then when they

064reached 25, then we find another home for those um students to attend for that one year um while we had that transition going on. Same thing for other grade levels. And Dr. Dr. Melanchenko can speak to class sizes and numbers. Uh the state reports are what is average. Uh but then again there are classrooms that close. Again I would say Balmoral has 30 in their fifth grade class and there could be some variances across the district of what that looks like. >> Okay. So that's where I think for me and again remember when it comes to the the academic side, but I would think that would be more stressful for a teacher at 30 kids than it would be at 24. And I'm just not understanding. And again maybe I'm just understanding let's say that

065Talo only has 22 classrooms and Balmoral has 40 which could skew the numbers but they look I just want to make sure I mean we are moving the kids because the majority of people I think uh Mr. Brown if you remember back in five years ago one of the arguments we had you know not arguments we discussions we had was about um CSK. >> Yes. and about how many per are going in there. Realizing the amount of kids that get bust in our district. I mean, basically neighborhood schools almost don't exist because Balmoral is all by itself off of Old Mooney Road. You've got Mooney Elementary which is off of uh Will Center Road. There's one subdivision next to it. Go on and on and on. I think Talo is the closest. However, I just

066want to make sure that our classroom sizes are being distributed because like I said, I just look at that number without looking at the details, but knowing are are the classroom sizes at least proportional throughout the elementaryaries. Um, besides CSK because I know there's restrict, you know, number of restrictions. >> so Dr. Yeah. Can you >> Yeah, we're we every time a registration gets a new student enrolled, um they they know what our caps are. So once we hit those numbers, they say, "Okay, we've got a new student at fourth grade at Belmoral. We're closed. Are we moving the student to look at the numbers?" Yes. Then we move over to So we we have pretty hard and fast numbers that we use with the registration. So that way we're not overloading teachers, but we're

067trying to keep kids in their home schools as best as possible. >> So if you don't mind me asking, what is the number? And I know they're probably different, but say first through fifth grade, what's your max number in a classroom? T >> typically K2 we're looking at about 25, 3 through five, we're looking at 28. And those are also in line with the the collective bargaining agreement because there are numbers within that contract that we also try to that we need to adhere to as well. >> Okay. So the only question I then I guess the other last part of the question is if the if the numbers were lower meaning we would have to open up another classroom somewhere you know to keep the numbers instead of 28 down to 24 or 23

068would that be a better environment for the student and the teacher just it's just a question because I don't know >> class size >> yeah would it be I mean I know that's a that I know that's a thing right I mean but and I know it's hard because it changes throughout the But is it a better environment? I mean, moving forward, we've done a lot of stuff on our facilities. We've done everything in restructuring as much as we can, but I think moving in the next direction is trying to focus on that. Wouldn't that be a better environment? Probably. Yes. Right. research says um there is research about class size and um we as a district uh need to do some work on making sure our classes are balanced. >> Okay. So I guess

069then that's good in a way because now that we've got our facilities and other things in order I think the board we can focus on trying to address that which I think will make it better on both sides. Right. it better for the student, better for the teacher. >> Yes. >> I I have two things. One and and >> not I mean, not that it's a bad I was going to say to beat a dead horse. Sorry. But there's got to be a way to even out the numbers. I believe CSK is CSK. Yes. >> But there and and I love the way they're structured. But to 458, then you got some others who are two, especially if we're not true neighborhood schools, >> right? um especially having two schools in cit like one has

070few and I don't know if it's capacity or what but that has to be bound but then the other thing that was like baffling to me compared to the other schools is 45.3% chronic absenteeism at Talala >> like that and >> that's a lot >> so so with that being said I think what ties in this what I'm going to say is low income What is the definition of low income? Because I don't understand that word in relative to our students. >> I mean, I I guess how is that? And I mean, you look at Balmoro, 73% of low income. I guess I'm trying to understand is that a like state's 49.7. We're way off. Some of the schools are relatively close to that. I just before we move on to the middle school, I

071just trying to understand the elementarymentaries first. >> Absolutely. So, um does low income um play impact when there's a higher percentage of low-income students? It means that there are more intensive programs that need to be put in place to support that need and to try and support to close that gap. What you'll see in a moment is that we do good and we say this every year. We students that stay with us grow with us. >> So as they get older, the middle school or the high school, it it it changes. >> It it does, but again, and I don't have what um I'm saying poverty factors or what those lowinccome um what that median uh income number is. Um but yes, we know that there's a lot of work that has to be put

072in and research says that their their programs and and the intensity and the high quality teachers and all the things to support the needs of low-income students. Yes. >> Okay. >> You may have just um answer my question, but um the definition of a lowincome student is what? uh it it goes on the family's income and uh the number of family members in the in in the family. I don't know what that number is but >> because it's a it's a chart that goes. >> So when we say low income, we say 64% of the students >> fall into a lowinccome category. >> Yes. >> Defined by the state of Illinois. >> Correct. >> That's that was my question. Well, it's the federal government that defines, not the state. >> So, not the state. >>

073No. >> Oh, okay. >> The And the I'm not sure where that number Dr. M. >> There. So, if a family receives SNAP or TANF benefits that qualifies as low-inccome, homeless, migrant, runaways, or fosters are low-inccome. And then any student or family who meets the federal income guidelines by the USDA that qualifies for free and reduced meals, they would be qualified. >> So, I know Mr. Surma was able to get uh I think it's lunch, you know, meals here. So, does that change our number? But I mean, you look at some of these numbers. 85% 73% 65% of Creed Elementary 65% of Creed Elementary. I mean, I just I'm trying to understand I think we're just trying to understand that, right? Just where that figure. need it like in a sentence form only because 60

074we know that math you can make a number say whatever you want it to say. So I guess I was just trying to figure out 85.4% of our >> families >> that go there >> that attend Tala Elementary fall into one of those categories of receiving SNAP on that chart provided by the US department. >> Okay. um or all of those other things that are listed that 85% of our families are part of that one of those categories. >> And then is there an opportunity that is double dipped if I have more than one student in the family at a same school? >> Okay. Um so you mean do they count that? >> Is it countice? Yeah, >> they count each student. So if there are students at that school, they count each >> each

075student. That's that's >> that household they're doing >> that household is >> the household is the money that is received the income that is received but in that household >> so and again not to >> talk what Mr. Dr. Hall was saying if you look at the chart and again these I understand these information we're just asking the question so we can better >> I am not offended >> so we can definitely make it better but Balmoral's class side average the state says 21 we're at 24 Tala's average class size is 17 >> so I guess my my point is if four of those students came out of Balmoral and went to Talala you're at 20 and 21 would the environment Obviously the environment would be better for both the student and the teacher of

076addressing 20 to 21 as opposed to 24 25 kids, right? >> According to >> Yeah. Okay. I mean I just >> Okay. So here's my last question >> so far. >> Okay. Student mobility means the amount of students that transfer in or out of the dis of the school. >> Count >> both. It counts. Mobility counts for students coming in and out of the district >> after the registration period. >> Uh there is a date of when they count and I don't know that date off the top of my head, but I can definitely put that date in the FYI. I was more interested in like but what when I see a student mobility percentage >> what am I learning um about what what so >> that's my question so what's the so what like

077what is it that I >> so so the so what is I've moved in a district I've lost some days out of school I move out I between registering for one school to the next school you know in a wonderful world a child has not missed any days of school. >> So that's tied to attendance. >> But typically when they do the study, it shows that if you're in that school from >> for long periods of time, you you show the biggest gains >> um versus if you're mobile, right? And then uh the students who have been in this district at what some point they showed the numbers that students who've been in this district from prek or K all the way through typically grow versus those who transfer in or who are more mobile.

078>> So we're not necessarily focused cuz there's a million reasons why that can happen that are very positive. >> Absolutely. >> Or out of our control. >> Yes. >> Um and this is not about you aged out. No, >> this is not about that. So 11.8%. I guess I'm trying to figure out why different schools have it. Is it just coincidence? Like I guess I'm looking for the learning lesson in that stat. >> What am I learning from it? The learning lesson is that we have a large a decent amount of students that are moving in and out of our district for various reasons and factors and the state feels like they need to report that information because you need to know or we need to know that that impacts student learning. >> Yeah. >>

079And do we know why? like like is there a form when you're coming in and out of a school to say, "Oh, I'm a new resident to the area versus >> I I don't know that we track that information." I'm sure there's some data reports that we can use, you know, we have students who or families who move out of the district or state for some reason, but then they come back >> because I mean, could it be military? I can just think of a million things. And so I'm just trying to figure out like do we say okay state district we're gonna remove this these factors out because they're uncontrollables. Let's look at like some of the real ins and outs of student mobility. I don't know. I wonder is that required? Is that

080something we do? >> No. So the state when they capture our data and our um IT team loads that data to them um >> they may have different categories that may be marked in our system um but the state is saying overall whatever reason doesn't matter and yes some of our families are military families um and they can't be for positive and negative reasons um but they are considered a mobile student >> and remember we're talking just about the five elementaryaries right now. >> So when we get to the middle school and the high school, the number could change because it's eight, you know, so many >> and Tala would be higher. Um because a lot of those students are from UP which they have a lot of apartments. It's not a knock on you.

081It's just because the apartment you and you know people who right leave the apartments >> cuz if you live in a house then you're typically going to stay longer. >> So Janine, uh we'll just comment on this. This is way going off to the side, but earlier this year we did um some aggressive analysis with our own data that's not done at the state level. We did our own regressive analysis. And what we found out was the biggest indicator of student success that impacted student success, it wasn't mobility, but it was um it was second, it was low income. And when we factored that out with our students test scores, we actually were above the state averages. when that's taken out, when that's not a fact, when that's not a barrier. >> Yeah. >> And

082so when we know that it's a barrier, that is the reason. And I'll get into more of some of the things that we're doing to help close that that gap because we know that it exists. >> But I am concerned about the 45.3%. >> The crime, yes, for Talawa >> because it's already crime. >> Well, what we have found, what's going on recently in the news is impacting our families. They are not sending their children to school. >> But but that's from last year. >> But there was things that was going on last year, too, as you recall. >> Yeah. >> Okay. It's all right. I got one more follow up when you're done. >> What's that? >> Are you ready? You ready to go? Yeah, >> Mr. Swallage. All right. Here we go. Let's

083go. All right. Again, this is our story. This is not like any other district, right? We we are in charge of 4,500 kids and they come to us and we serve them and our teachers and staff do a wonderful job with the students that we are giving. What we know is that they grow when they are with us. >> Okay. >> All right. Here we go. >> Middle school continues to be um stable. Um they're low income is at 64%. Mobility is at 8 8%. Uh we service uh about 70 ELEL students there. Enrollment is 985 average class size. And as you can see in the blue, those are their goals. And we'll talk about um how they're reaching those goals. Again, students that stay with us grow with us. Okay. >> Okay. >> High

084school. Here we are. Oh, go back. 85. >> We have how many? >> At the end of when this data was collected, it was in the spring. Yes. >> Where are we at current? >> Um, if you want to give me like one second, I can tell you entity. >> I do know >> 953 right now. And since we're on the middle school, if you look at the class sizes, is that partially due to the IB program and the amount of uh the amount of classes they have to have, right? The stu the the class size a little bit smaller, but they because they have more to offer, right? >> So there's more options for them at that level. >> I would not equate that no. Okay. >> So, the state's at 21, but we're

085at 20. >> Yes. >> And it's less this year. 953. >> All right. Okay. So, chronic absenteeism. My apologies because when I think about the elementary school, I think of um a parental control of their student getting to school. Um, but then I also remember hearing I believe that we don't have neighborhood schools. So if we max out on a class, you might get sent to a whole another school that you might not be necessarily close to. >> Correct. >> We provide transportation in those situations. >> Yes. >> Um, but I just can't help but wonder first of all how much that impacts absenteeism. The fact that I got to even though I'm bust. >> Yes. >> But just the fact that oh shoot, you didn't missed the bus. Now I gotta find a way

086to get you to school because Ubering kids to school sucks. >> Yes, >> I know. Um so if you if you over there I might be less likely to go. >> Yeah. >> And so my parental control that I of a younger kid and putting them in the Uber, I can't help but wonder if I'm less likely to send my kid to school. But now as I'm getting older though, this is kind of it kind of conflicted everything I was thinking cuz I'm like, "Oh." But now as I'm getting older, middle school is still very parental controlled age group. What are some factors on absenteeism in a middle school? >> Well, I think we'd have to run our data and >> I thought I had some answers, but I don't think I do. factors of

087why kids are absent. Um >> because the definition means it's already chronic. Correct. Chronic absenteeism. That's what we're talking about. >> Chronic means that you have missed 10% of days which is where we come to kids are in school 176 days per year. So you've missed 10% of those days. So 18 days 18 days. And it doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter if there's an illness, you miss the bus, if whatever the reasons are that you are not attending, >> just the fact that you're not there, >> the fact that you are not at uh present um at school, >> but uh we can certainly run some data in terms of uh what is being reported to the schools in terms of absenteeism. And again, Dr. am I'm not sure if you have a uh

088Mr. Green has been working as the truency coordinator. He's been doing a lot of work and I'll talk about that in a minute of trying to close that gap. But we may have some data on the very specific reasons why, but we are attacking that with our attendance matters. >> Can I just rephrase this real quick? 31.6% 6% of the students enrolled at Creek Middle School have missed more than 10% of school. >> Yes. >> Is that the sentence? >> That that is the sentence. >> Not 31% of the 10 of the of the kids that are absent. We're just talking about the student body. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> So, if in in an indefense >> Okay. >> That's why you started the attendance matters. >> Yes. >> And why Mr. Green is doing

089that because this is last year's numbers. So, I'd be interested next year to see how these change. >> Yes. >> If they do. >> Yes. >> And they should. >> And I think, and Dr. M can speak to this, I think that we're starting to see small pockets. And again, part of this is the intervention that goes on. And so those families where there's like one-on-one support and calls and very intensive supports that are going out to those families. Um and again because it is a family sometime you know kids don't get to decide. So it is a family support that is in place to say hey what do you need? What do we need? I mean down to you need me to call you at 6:50 every day to get you out. Like whatever

090needs to happen, those supports are being put in place. >> Yeah. To kind of go along with what Dr. Perkins had said, um Mr. Green has he's done his attendance matter tour. He's done them he's visited every school. Um he's created a lot more and different communication targeted towards students and families. We've rolled out this whole green, yellow, red stoplight thing for student attendance. It makes it very clear on when you're getting to those different levels of chronic absenteeism, chronic truency. Um, Eric's work focuses a lot around the unexcused absences, which what the county is looking for for truency, for bringing people in front of a judge and say, "Your kid's not coming to school. Now, parent, it's on you." He's also done a lot of work with their uh truency liaison who's been in

091our district and has visited with our families and our students, too. So, he's been really on top of this um throughout this year and creating a lot of different communications and getting uh different folks involved. Schools are trying to set are starting to set up their student attendance review teams so that way it's the group of professionals in the building looking at attendance data and seeing those kids that are starting to fall into some of those absent categories. Then we can deliver some interventions to them to get them to school. >> And if you look, the teachers on certain days are wearing attendance matter shirts. They're going around to the schools. It's going to make a difference. It's going to get the kids more positive in and in the schools more. And I I'm telling

092you that number is probably going to go down. Um it's staggering high, but I should go down next year. >> Yep. That's our goal. >> And then do we know like when intervention starts like at what point of the school year? >> They started uh when that when that student there's a process there is an attendance team and again I can um defer this to Dr. Melanchko, but there's an attendance team that constantly are looking at students and so are you about to hit that threshold? Um what are we doing? What meetings are the administrators having with that families? Like there's a whole system put in place to support um those students and those families. >> Thank you. That's it for me for middle school. All right, here we go. Uh, middle school information. Let's

093move on to the high school. >> All right, 1460 students that we serve there. Average class size 25 14% IEPs, 89% daily attendance. Um we did have a a few glitches in our attendance there and we have worked to try and put a system in place um to uh bring that number up but there were some glitches and some system faults that we had. So we expect that even to increase there again that 41% absenteeism rate um homeless rate low income is at 56% 12% mobility 74 elelll students that we serve and then these are the academic goals that that school leadership uh team has chosen to move the school forward. So what I noticed I with E the ELC that's eight schools >> two of them are ranked >> so in US news >>

094yes >> that's that's good >> pretty commendable again we're doing great work here it takes um it's intensive work we have some comprehensive and complex situations that we um work with with our our families and students to close that gap. But our educators, our teachers, and all staff members, no matter what you your role is in the district, are working hard for our kids. Can I click? Okay. And so here you'll see the summary just again the summary of of what we've already discussed. All right, let's talk about a few more scores and then um I'll uh answer any other questions. So we do know that the state um did change um their proficiency and growth rates and they're going to be making another change next year. And I just say that because I'm going

095to get up here next year and say the same thing. the state made some changes, but here we are with our growth at the uh elementary and middle school level. Uh the state wants 50% um percentile growth and then here we are at 45 with ELA and 46 uh within range and again we're putting in some intensive programming and supports to help uh those students. Science, we've got some work to do there. uh fifth and eighth grade graders take the science exam. Uh and then here are ACT um results. Again, state wants you to be at the 50% percentile before. The state did not put in um has not put in student growth in terms of of metrics tied to the assessment. Next year, they will be adding that component with the ACT. it their

096uh weight was heavily on the graduation rate but that will be changing for next year. We had a local goal uh map is our local assessment. It's um we administer it uh every trimester and so we look at what that growth is. We had a growth um goal for our eighth graders to get a 10% gain from the 19th percentile. again using different types of assessments to look at our kids in different ways. And what this data shows is that those students grew to the 38th percentile. And so we met that goal and that was in that was a math goal that was in operations and algebraic uh thinking. And we chose that because that's one of the key indicators on the ACT. Uh again, some more map data showing that our students are having

097growth at the middle school. Again, kids that are with us grow with us. Again, we've got some curriculum things in place. We've got instructional coaches helping. We prioritized our standards. The beauty of being in a prek district. We've got some success indicators. We put in some We know that um community service is part of our high school graduation requirement. Uh we are on track to exceed the number of hours that we clocked for last year which was 3600. Right now we're at 2600 and we've got a system in place to help that number grow. Uh and so uh we will continue to watch that. uh our school cultures, they take the five essential surveys and part of their um part of their uh school improvement plan are ways to work with their teams to develop

098their five essential last year. And part of engagement is that uh our students uh were offered $1.8 uh million dollars in uh scholarships. Um, real quick. Yes. I >> because it says money ra scholarship money raised which can be >> deceiving. >> Okay. >> Because the school didn't raise that money. The students earned that money through >> scholarship offered. >> Yes. Offer. >> Oh, I see the offer, but I'm saying that should change. >> Yeah, it should be changed. >> Yes. So, we will we will go in and change that to offer. >> I don't know who else you're showing this to, but >> it's going to go on the website. So the entire public will see it. So we will get that change before it is put up. >> Uh other indicators of success

099of empowering is that uh we are part of a process called the professional learning communities where we learn together. We think about big ideas and four critical questions that we ask. All of our administrators have been trained. 80 staff members had off-site training. Our graduation rate continues to be above the state. Um, our T teachers received 41 sessions last year in professional development. The question is often asked like why do you guys have a lot of school improvement days? There's a lot of work to be done. We have to build the capacity of our staff to support our students to um school improvement day this week is Friday. Friday we will surpass with our 41 session and we're only in um November now. and then they have received 4,4500 um hours worth of credits to

100our staff. Our partners with our universities continue to grow as we empower our students and staff and offer cohorts that we work with Prairie State. Um that we're with uh NIU and Capella and we had cohorts of teachers go through to again support our students and their needs. We had uh ESL cohorts, driver ed cohorts, special ed cohorts, and now we have the BCBA cohort that will work with um supporting um teachers in developing strategies for students who are struggling with their um emotional and mental support. >> Did you all do anything with the SIUE program that came through? >> Um Dr. M, do you I I don't remember. Southern Illinois Edwardsville that came to each school to talk to the >> I think it was uh we've shared information with them with the schools

101but yeah that's >> because I know she came and met with the with and met with staff members I don't know if she create if any cohorts were >> develop that's that's it at this time we we do we are trying to get a cohort a combined cohort with uh us in Orland 35 with North Central College they were sent our way so we're trying to do that and we also have our partnership with Golden Apple, their their accelerators program. So, anybody that's a substitute teacher or paraprofessional that has a bachelor's degree, uh they can apply for that to uh basically get their pathway to lensure paid by Golden Apple. >> Okay. >> What about the KACC program? >> Um I is that considered a partnership? >> I I would I will I will definitely

102put that on there. Um, but that was universities and so that I don't I'm not sure if they considered how we how we mark them as the attendance. >> It just seems like something nice to add to that section. >> Uh, and so our final part of indicators of success and we will report as we're gathering more data for our indicators of success. There are a lot uh more metrics to be added. We'll add that um more numbers in the spring to share with you. Uh but we have our career pathways for our seniors which is to get each of them enrolled in list employed or certified and this number was shared at the graduation last year. Uh that 70% of our students uh in the spring were enrolled in college 3% in the military

10317% had um employment and then 10% went on to trade schools. This comprehensive list is the list of professional development that has been offered to teachers this year. Uh and then this will continue to grow uh and we'll share with you uh what those learning experiences look like uh for our teachers. So going forward, what does that look like? So you know that we are all on top of our elementary buildings getting the smart labs. We know that when students identify as part of uh a STEM identity that helps keep them engaged. So, three out of our five elementaryaries currently have smart labs. We have one uh being built in CIT elementary this spring. Uh and then we are seeking funding for the um STEM lab at CSK to go up. We will have a

104STEM and district career identity day in the spring. We are reimagining our system about our early college credit. Again, we want to give our students opportunity to earn those dual credits and enroll in college because that will help our families um far more and um support them so that they're not they don't have large college bills and those kids walk away with credits uh before they even enter. We are developing new pathways to our CTE and trying to look at students interest. We have a survey going out uh this week to ask them what it is that they are interested in. We know their number one request every year has been culinary. Um so we will see and share those results with you of what they are asking for. Uh we are strengthening those uh

105professional learning communities and making stronger instructional alignment from again prek all the way up to 12. We are increasing our student participation in summer school. the arts leadership programs and after school programs and we're steadily looking at for universities to partner with us. So our story right so you heard it but nothing sounds better than out of the mouths of babes. So I'm going to read a few testimonies for you from our students to me being then here's the question that I posed to them. What does it mean to be part of the cremoni learning community? And here's what they had to say. To me, being a warrior means to be part of a great community that strives to settle for the best, not for less. Being part of the community is a great thing

106where we can meet, greet people, and learn new things. Thank you, Quincent, for that. To me, the CM21U learning community feels like a family. I see it as a way to bring one another together and not leave others behind or allow others to get lost. Thank you, Kenya. To me, it means a lot to me to be part of the CM201U learning community. I'm very involved and recognized for what I do by peers, teachers, and staff. I left the high school for a couple of months, which felt weird. CMHS is like a family to me. I love being here and I love being a king homecoming every year. Thank you, Jaden, for sharing that. And then here's what Terrell has to say. It's an honor. I love to learn from people who are so invested

107in others lives that they take the time to educate. Our district staffs make sure not only to educate us, but also to support our mental health. And so that comes from the students who are with us and stay with us. And that concludes our um for the year. And then we always give you a glossery because we've got lots of acronyms running around all the time. And the last thing that we added for this year is to allow um families once we post it if they want to share any questions, insight or request any additional information. We have that QR code uh that will take them to a form to sign questions. >> Hi. I remember last year when we were kind of setting up some goals for our district. >> Yes. >> One of

108the things we had tossed around was the ninth grade on track. Remember if you remember that discussion? >> Yeah. >> Um what slide talks about that? Because I for some reason I do see it's kind of on here but I don't remember. >> Um it's right here. >> But why did we why were we talking about that as a goal last year? cuz I don't know if you remember ninth grade on track >> that was for for the superintendent >> but that we were learning that we wanted to see increase there >> because we graduation rates making sure the graduation rate but our graduation rates are actually pretty okay >> but I do remember something about nth grade that caused a spark. So it it was the question about math which is the reason why

109we targeted that math um okay subgroup in uh the math testing to look at uh operations and algebra algebraic qu questions. Uh that's where that all spun from. Like are we putting in um goals that relate to specific areas that they need for high school like passing the AC getting a good score on the ACT? And so that was one of the targeted areas that we chose. >> Now is ninth grade on track a state thing? >> It is a state thing. Yeah. So it is >> So where are we outside of math though? Like where are we from a how many students do not graduate that started in ninth grade? Like what are the other ninth grade on track things categories and things that are important to us to follow for a nth grade

110student outside of just their math score. >> So if you fail so many classes like is it two out of then they'll >> semester F in a core course of English, math, science or social studies. So, our ninth graders that are on track, it means that they've had they've earned at least 10 semester credit hours in those areas. >> Ninth grade students who have earned at least 10 credit hours >> are in those, >> yes, are on track to >> Is it possible I have 10 credit hours and other stuff at ninth grade? ninth grade your freshman year you have no >> but when they focus on on track you may have the 10 credit I don't but they focus on if you have you have to pass the core classes because those are classes

111you have to make up like if I fail culinary arts I don't necessarily have to make that go back and take but if I fail English >> because the culinary arts is not going to determine my graduation >> it right it's more of an elective right but the core course you have to go back take ninth grade English in order to graduate. >> So 93% of freshman students that started high school at CHS >> Yes. are >> and I don't mean to diminish this, but only 93%. How come it's not higher? >> So >> the state's 89.3. >> Yeah, that's horrible. >> And and they had >> So that's horrible to me. Once they when they started tracking this >> um which was not too long ago when they really started track it was at

112the point where 50% of kids from and they focus on CPS were not graduating high school boy they were it was a focus of uh African-American uh boys and then they really started to focus on like why what is the issue how >> well especially if you think you're going to class every day you I thought I was a junior not me Janine personally But then to find out, oh, I'm not graduating next year. >> You know, that would be a blow. >> It shouldn't happen like that. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. >> And and again, I want kids that we want that to be 100%. Right. Um but again, >> but when do we find out? >> After the first semester? >> No, we're running data all the time. our uh guidance counselors at the

113high school are working with those kids all of the time to say look and working with those families you know this kid missed it what are we going to do how are we going to close that gap um I will tell you even Mr. Hollyfield and I met with seniors last year that were not on track to graduate and we were like, "What can we do to help you to pass this class and having some one-on-one conversations about what is going on and how are we going to get you over that threshold?" So, again, I won't kid you that we want to be at 100% and that there are things that are going in systems put in place to help uh decrease that. And I I do definitely jog my memory because I was wondering

114um after 9th grade, what does 10th grade look like in 11th grade? Like what do those conversations look like? And I understand why we do a ninth grade milestone check. >> Yes. >> But I I couldn't help but also wonder who's talking to the 10th graders and 11th graders in our >> It should be the same people. Well, I remember um proposing and then uh that we do a half cap half cap. >> I do remember that >> at 10th grade. Then at a certain point you do a celebration to kind of keep encouraging them and then encourage those who are behind to be able to take part. But it was a big issue and people were saying why are we celebrating them because they >> everybody get a trophy, >> right? And it wasn't

115it's not uh everybody get a trophy. It was really it's just a like no different than why do we celebrate them for getting perfect attendance that shouldn't they be here all every day for all four years then we celebrate them at the end >> but no so it was it was just one of those things to motivate but the community three people in the community sent emails and so we scrapped it. >> Okay. >> So are you are you good? >> I am that concludes my questioning. >> So I have two. Yes. Um, and so if we go back and look at the elementarymentaries, we're going to need you I'm going to need what can the board do? We have Balmoral Creek targeted and tala comprehensive. So everything else is almost done. What and again

116I don't want to speak for the board. >> Yes. But what can the board do to support these three schools on being commendable? Like what what do you need from us to make that happen? That's question number one. And then the last one I have >> is what can the board do to help with the classroom sizes in the elementary level? That's for me where the focus needs to be at this point because looking at this um targeted and comprehensive as a board member is unacceptable, right? I mean, but what can we do to help support that be better? And then same thing with the classroom sizes in the elementary level. >> Junior high and high school look fine. >> And I don't I'm not a teacher. I don't know that. >> Yeah. But 20

117is our average class size in middle school, 25 in the high school. But in some of these elementaryaries, I in me personally, I'm not I'm not an education, but I think it needs to be that those numbers need to be different. So what can we do? What do you need from us? >> So I would say that each building um probably has its own set of needs, right? Because they are all each unique. Um, I would say that it's going to boil down to funding, right? Because if we say we need more teachers or specialized teachers or smaller class sizes, all of that will equate to some type of funding source to make that happen. >> Okay? >> And so those would be, you know, some of the inequities that exist. for instance, I would

118say like a Balmoral might only have one social worker with 500 kids or compared to >> So that's the information we need. Um and then along with changing the class sizes into some of the other schools may alleviate a little bit, but the social work those types of needs are what we needed, right? We need to know that so we know how to to fix it. Well, thank you for saying that because I actually happen to have the CMEA president, Mrs. Quinnland, here and we have a new project that we will be um working on in terms of taking a look at our data and it'll take a hard look at our data and again from Dr. Coglin and and decisions that need to be made, but it I we can pull together some research

119and some data and some um opinions for you. >> All right. Okay. >> And you said that this um presentation gets posted. >> Yes. On the website. >> Okay. Like like this like and then like a parent would click on it and it'll Oh, okay. >> It'll be in its entirety, it full entirety >> after I make that change that Dr. Hall told me about. >> And can I just make a um suggestion? >> Yes, please. >> Um sometimes Janine speaking for myself. Yes. >> Like I I see a lot of >> only Mr. Brown can speak for the board. >> That is correct. But when I see like a page full of numbers, >> yes, >> and it could just be my learning style. I don't know. But sometimes when it's just a bunch

120of I don't know like what are the yellow cautionary numbers we should be looking at versus the >> red numbers we that should cause alarm versus stuff that should just be okay concerns. And I didn't know if that was possible. >> I can we can certainly do you understand what I'm asking? We can certainly add a an additional kind of narrative or sentence there that kind for presentation that's a lot to sit up here but for to post it to the public that doesn't have the same knowledge and seek >> and contacts and things like that. >> Yes, we can um certainly add that question. Are you asking that of her or everyone whoever whoever >> okay >> was just paying noticing that someone may not be able to look at these numbers and understand

121the context behind it and know so is 20.3% good I don't know and I don't know that just by having uploaded a nor anybody including myself if I go look next week if I would be able to click on it be like oh that's why the board was spent so much time on that number because it's a concern versus a Okay. And that concludes my question for the night. >> Mr. Swallish, did you say you had two another point? >> Okay. >> Andy. All right. So, I think I think that was >> Are you trying TO TELL ME SOMETHING, DR. HALL? That I am at the end. All right. Thank you guys. >> Real quick, Dr. Perkins I think a lot of very good conversations tonight regarding presentation but a lot of conversation has been

122on class sizes and I believe I can't quote the board policy regarding class sizes exceeding a certain number I believe it's 25 26 so if we feel strongly that a class size is indicative of learning being good or bad that we actually kind of go a parallel path and revisit that policy to and lower that number. It doesn't say to my knowledge I can't recall exactly. It doesn't say that we would do the administrators will do X Y and Z once that number is exceeded but it says that we would look at it if it's brought to the board or the admin uh attention. Yeah. So, but I believe that's why I guess a flag has not went up because that number has not been exceeded from the data that you have shown. I believe

123it's 26. I could I could be wrong on that. >> I think it it varies at different grade levels. 25 for K. Okay. And then primary might be >> but it gives us an opportunity. >> It goes up to 32 >> in the contract through 25. >> Okay. >> They don't run the full day and their classes are limited by theirs and And then 28 and then the rest >> 32 or something like that. by building and how many certified teachers that you have in the building, but that doesn't necessarily mean like the ELLL teachers are certified, but they don't have their own classroom or things like that. So, it depends. Yeah. >> Okay. Well, definitely gives us an opportunity to look at the whole package. >> Yes. So, we can we can pull that

124that data together. >> Excellent. Well, thank you. Great presentation, great uh questions and interaction >> regarding again your presentation. Appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. >> All righty. You're welcome. Next up on our agenda is number seven, consent agenda. Is there anyone would like to take anything out and vote on it separately regarding the consent agenda? If not, I'll put a motion first. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as is moved by Bill >> second? Second by Alex. Make sure if you don't mind, he's make sure he's u he's noted for something. Thanks, Alex. Right. You're a warrior, man. You're a true warrior. >> Okay. Any >> Brian, >> any discussions or comments? If not, we're going to have our superintendent read it out. >> I know. >> Um, under

125superintendent, item one, approve regular meeting minutes October 21st, 2025. Item two, approve regular meeting close session minutes of October 21st, 2025. Item three, approve committee the whole meeting minutes of October 14, 2025. Item four, approve committee of the whole uh meeting close session minutes of October 14, 2025. Under business, item one, approve board of education financial report. Item two, approve a payment of 1,730,394.35 to Burns and Jones for work done at the high school. Item three, approve a payment of 69,4362 to bear construction for work done at the middle school. Item four, approve a payment of $108,71 to bear construction work at the middle school. Item four, approve a payment of $61,453.33 to bear construction for again to work at the middle school. Item six, approve a payment of 31,25748 to Bear Construction, work at

126the high school. Item seven, approved payment of $105,494.75 to bear construction work at the middle school. Item C would be personnel report. Item one would be approve the personnel report consisting of approving certified staff resignation and educational support staff employment reassignment resignation and unpaid leave of absence >> and that the report. >> Thank you Dr. Cogland. No further questions or comments on the consent agenda. Roll call please. Madam Secretary >> Miss Wolf >> I >> Miss Venegas >> I >> Mr. Salish >> hi >> Dr. Hall >> I zumbra says an I Mr. Gos >> I >> Mr. Brown. >> I motion carried. Moving on to number eight, action report under business alpha number one. Can I have a motion to approve alpha number one established December 9th, 2025 as the date for the truth

127and taxation public hearing on the 2025 tax levy? Motion moves. by Bill. >> Second by Dr. Hall. Any questions or comments? >> Hearing none. Roll call, please. Madam Secretary. >> Mr. Salish. >> I. >> Dr. Hall. >> I. >> Miss Venegas. >> I. >> Miss Wolffoke. >> I. >> Miss Zumbus is an I. Mr. Gos. I >> Mr. Brown >> I motion carry still under number eight action report number al alpha business number two can have a motion to approve the application for the school maintenance project grant >> moved by Jamie >> second by Dr. Hall. Any questions or comments? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Madam Secretary. >> Dr. Hall. >> I. >> Miss Venegas. >> I. >> Miss Wolf. >> I. >> Mr. Swallish. >> Hi. >> Zit. Stumbber says an I. Mr. Gagos.

128>> I >> Mr. Brown. Hi. Motion carried. Moving on to number nine, old business. >> Um, I've got something for old business. Uh, Mr. Okrainski has an update for you on the MEC bid process that was opened. So, Mr. Okazinski, you can share that, please. >> Yes. Uh, on Monday, uh, November 17th, we had the bid opening for the sale of MEC. We are in receipt of an offer that met the minimum requirements established by the board for the sale of MEC in the amount of $553,000. $553500 $553,500 my apologies. And we are also in receipt of the cashier's check in the amount of $10,000. I forwarded that information to Mr. Gleason and we will communicate the next steps as I hear from him. at this time. It looks like we have a buyer of

129the property. >> Excellent. >> Wow. We don't have to cut the grass no more. >> Good job. All right. Any any uh other old business? >> I just have one. Mr. Okrainski, do you have an update on the middle school um rooftop replacement HVAC? Did they get back to you on anything yet? >> I haven't got numbers yet. They're getting close. They did uh have some mechanical engineers come out on Monday uh and visit the middle school, but I haven't had those numbers yet. I'll be sure to share those with you and also include them in an updated short-term facility plan when >> Thank you. Okay. >> Okay. Any other old business? >> New business. And it could be more new business, but there's one here. Number 10, Alpha discussion or early learn. Uh, go

130ahead. Uh, Alex, I'll let you go. You have the floor for new business. >> sorry. Uh, new business. I I mean this I guess should have been in the board updates, but uh the drama club is putting on a show uh this week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday uh 6:30 or 7 o'clock, something like that. Uh I know we have a busy uh schedule this weekend with Triple Eye and everything. Uh, but if some of us could uh support our our drama club and go see a show, that'd be great. >> Is that this weekend? >> Yeah, they have a musical Saturday. Friday Thursday, Friday, >> Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. >> I think I think it's Thursday, too. >> Maybe you could be right. could be off. >> Okay. Thank you, Alex, for letting us know. No

131promises for me, but I'll try to make attend one of those events given the days, Thursday, Friday, or Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I have to short cycle my church service on Sunday. Maybe I can go. Let's see. All right. Thank you, Alex. Anything else? All right. For me, the discussion of early learning center policy, I just feel it's prudent that the board look at having a policy to support our early learning center. Right now, that program has been funded by grants. And you can see how important that program is and how successful it is. And I was looking at more s sustaining that program over time when new administratives comes or new boards come and and you know they're looking for support. I think a policy will guarantee some oversight and support of the program. So,

132I was just looking. I think everyone should have had in their inbox kind of a overview and I am working on a draft policy. I'll get it get with Jamie on that and get it to the board, get their input since you are a policy person. Okay. Did you know that as secretary? As secretary, I'll get with JB. So, I just got in a big rough draft and I, you know, I just see the hard work you saw how our director presented today and the community engagement so on and so forth that I just from and I was told years ago when I first got on the board, if you want something to to really continue or you want something to really happen, happen. Put it in your board policy. So, I would love this

133program to continue >> and I would love to support it. I would love some continue >> just to clar >> um I I love the ELC. My my kid went there. This is not >> Is the ELC 100% grant funded? >> I I don't know all of that. That's that's what you know that's kind of one of the things that I'm looking for our superintendent to share with the board on a yearly basis >> a large portion that is >> I think it's a large >> grant funded but it's not I wouldn't think it's completely >> would this are you asking for the policy to guarantee it remains without funding? >> No. No, not at all. Okay. >> We can't do that. That's that's one >> that's what I thought you were asking and I

134think I kind of put a little caveat in there saying that. No. No. However, we can whatever we can do that but it does be implemented in our uh somehow in our strategic plan. I'm not sure I have to go back and look at our strategic plan somehow because I think all of us can agree that the ELC program adds value of of value to the process to the academic success of our kids. Can we agree on that? Okay. And I can bring some data. I think I met someone down I know I met someone down at Peoria that said they're gonna present some data on the success of early learning at another event in Oakbrook on December 8th and 9th. I'm trying to make one of those dates. >> I guess I'm just asking

135I guess I'm confused as to what you want a policy >> depending on how he writes it. >> Yeah. how >> and that's that's why I'm I'm kind of interested in >> I think I get a rough draft. You kind of look at it >> because I'm in the same boat with you as I trying to figure out what the what the goal is. >> But it depends on how he writes it. >> And I I love this is not a question at all of ELC. I didn't expect to share a draft that I blew, you know, highlighting striking out. >> Oh, sure. No, I'm sure we'll see it. I guess I'm just >> and I look forward to seeing it. >> Sure. >> Once it's more finalized. >> Yeah. And I think again I

136can get this out over the next couple days a draft. I'll give it our superintendent to get her thoughts and and Dr. Perus and but I just this is kind of been with me for the last several months thinking about it. So I said let me start putting something on paper. Let me get it out there and looking to implement a board policy probably starting next fiscal year. Okay. And and you know like the board is monitoring this program, you know, present to us like Kelly did tonight at the end of the year, whatever as it'll be it'll be a a standard somehow. Right now it's kind of whatever. Okay. But now the board has expectations from our superintendent. How's the ELC doing? What's going on? Do they have ample teachers or what? You know,

137>> I think what you're saying is right now it's running according to Kell to Miss Chesta's the way she runs it. Yeah. >> But when the day she moves on, >> somebody else could be something different. >> You want to maintain that level. >> I want to maintain the level. >> I I think that's what you're saying, right? >> Yes. I want to maintain some consistency uh to s sustain this program >> because right now it's it's running at a high level. I mean I I can tell you it's >> pretended come would they provide the same support new board come or whatever. >> Ask Mr. Gyos you know his daughter was in it and I'm telling you they had stuff all the time. >> We're not going to tell them how to run the

138program but you need support from the board. What can we do for you? present to the board, tell the board what you've been doing, such as tonight on a periodic basis. >> If our superintendent could come up with some funds, additional funds, external funds to support the program, superintendent may come back to us and say, you know what, yeah, we hurting over there. Okay? and we if we can do something we could but if we can't again it's no guarantee because of how it's funded right now but I didn't know exactly how I know it was grant driven >> I just don't know what percentage it is I would love to know that and I think those will be things that the administrative team will let us know the board say hey you know we

13975% grant funded we're 25 this year we 85 so >> Mr. joke was in. He is dying to share some >> I I figure this may come up. So I just I just did some quick numbers based on um FY25 um around 19% of the expenditures from the education fund for the ELC were grant funded >> 19% >> about 19% >> only 19% is grant funded >> that didn't include anything operation that was just the 10 fund I ran so obviously if you include that you include transportation then it would be less funded by grants um that was a combination of state and federal but I can try and dig into that a little bit more, get you some information, get more information for the FYI. >> So that means the sustainability part is more

140achievable because that number's way lower than you know if it was an 80% grant-f funed program, >> then you're putting the board is somewhat at risk of writing that policy. But the fact that it's at 19%. >> Yeah. the sustainability of that program is should be >> and and you still can write it even if it was grant funded at a high level or whatever. >> You know, you still can write it to cover yourself that you are not putting out a mandate out there. >> No, but you're just protecting them, making sure that it functions like everything else in the district. >> I think you'll like it. I think you'll like the policy as you know once we get it out and you guys provide your input. It's not it's not holding our superintendent

141hand uh with handcuffs. It's not holding any administrator or the district with handcuffs on it. It's just a good oversight and letting our ELC curriculum know that we are here to support them. Okay. So, can I move forward to create a draft policy? Okay. You don't have to approve it, but at least get the draft and you look at it. You guys okay with it? >> Okay. Appreciate it. All right. Thank you so much, board. And and happy This is the board week, right? Board. >> Happy week. >> Did Dr. Kagon say we have an hour in close session with Dr. Melanchenko? >> No. No close session. No classes. Okay. We have no reason to go in close session. With that being said, can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second.

142Moved by Dr. Hall. Moved by Dr. Hall. Second by Bill. >> All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any nays? Did I hear you say nay, Alex? >> No, he said I. >> Oh, >> all right. We are journ. Thank you public for joining us tonight. Appreciate your time. Appreciate your effort. Be safe. >> No. Oh, no. No. Oh, absolutely.