001e e e testing 1 two3 testing 1 two e e e right okay I would like to call this meeting to order for a regular school board meeting Creek monise School Board District 201u it's Tuesday August 13 2024 18:30 military time 6:30 p.m. Standard Time man of secretary roll call please sure Mr alre here Mr gagos here M rup is here Mr swales here miss s stumbris here Dr Hall here president Brown here let us stand for the pl of Allegiance led by board member Mr gyos followed by a mission statement read by Dr Hall 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 liberty and justice for all first I'd like to thank Mr Brown for giving me
002my job back CU last week he demoted me I kept you honest our mission engage and Empower our students to positively impact the community and future thank you both Dr Hall and Mr gagos do we have any public comments okay all righty any board updates I just wanted to highlight that Alex and I were at the community um the community support day and that was amazingly smooth like the amount of people that got in went around and all of the support from all of the community and just everyone that turned out it was a really great event and I hope that everybody that came to the event felt it was successful as someone who was just there volunteering so that's it but EXC yeah great job now where was that held where was that held
003it was at the high school was at the high school yeah good job all right great job anybody else all right I last week I did share with the board that we're trying to engage the board try to engage in different things that we can recognize the board as well as other people employees of the district I know I wanted to try to recognize some of Dr kogan's cabinet members however some of the criteria and the main criteria is to have five years in that position and unfortunately none of her cabinet members have five years in that position so I did mention to the board that I did submit paperwork thanks with Nelson help and Jamie's help with submitting that paperwork it's been looked at by the PO to be Illinois School Board Association right
004and so I'm going to spread the wealth I got Bill and Alex I talked to our high school principal Lamont to set up something with that one position that we want to have a student to have a seat at the table so hopefully over the next week or so schedule permitting by our principal Lamont hollyfield okay he can get with you guys in some Manner and there's a document I want to share I'll get it out to you guys over the next couple days that I was actually actually able to obtain from the National School Board of conference way back in April and lastly I want Dr Hall and Madam Secretary to work with our superintendent if needed um there's some things that I want her to be recognized for she's working on some things
005if she needs your support can she solicit chery and Dr Hall to assist her if needed sure okay so that covers all board members thank you appreciate it no further board updates we going to move forward to administrative updates our superintendent thank you Mr Brown um just wanted to make mention um I don't know if as you walked in the building if you noticed anything different since you were here last time it was uh everything is so bright and uh the floors are beautiful so anyway uh we want to thank uh Jason for overseeing some of the work that's been done throughout the district there's been changes in all of the building so this was just a glimpse of this um you're welcome to join us tomorrow at 2:30 if you're around to do a
006walk walk around we're going to be doing a tour um I'm going with kala we're going to be taking some pictures um of all the different sites um and all the different things that have been done but uh it is definitely um really eye-catching so your team did a really nice job on the building so thank you for that we have some of our teachers that are already beginning to come back we had a new teacher a new St staff orientation this week and again we were just really excited to see all the the uh smiling faces that are out there and uh Dr melan chenko will share a little bit later on um our vacancies and how much they've all been filled for the first time so he'll share a little bit about that
007um a little bit about um The Works that have been going on this week uh and welcoming our staff and so we continue this week to have Monday Tuesday Wednesday yeah to have um quite a bit of activities to welcome our staff and get them up and running so excited about that um our very special guest that we have here tonight I'm just so excited to to welcome uh this summer in June our educator Rising students were recognized in Washington DC all right for some of their work um in June and their teacher Sarah valario uh had accompanied them along with I think uh Mr hollyfield as well so so we've invited them to come and share about some of their accomplishments and the books that they have written they're going to do a pass
008along on some of the books and um anyway I'm going to turn this over to you and let you kind of share um this exciting news thank you Dr Cara Miss Perkins the rest of central office and Mr Holyfield and the board for giving us the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Sarah IO and I have been a teacher at the high school for 21 years it has been an honor to be a part of this excellent program started by Mr hollyfield Educators Rising is a National Organization that aims to increase the quality and diversity of teaching by promoting career options for high school students nothing brings me more joy professionally than helping to guide young adults into the field of Education we wanted to share with you tonight some highlights from our trip
009to Washington DC from June 27th to July 1st cmhs had seven students compete at the National Conference competitions ranged from creating children's literature books to public speaking to educator Rising moments the educator Rising moments were speeches in which students said why they wanted to go into education cmhs also had the opportunity to represent the state of Illinois as delegates at the National Conference this was the first time time Illinois had ever been asked to send delegates and they asked five of our high school students to do this tonight some students that attended Nationals are here to share their experiences with you we have a few students that could not make it tonight some are already getting ready for their freshman year of college Joshua mulberg who is not here competed in the Ed Rising moment
010he shared why he wanted to become an educator Valeria Perez who is also not here this evening wrote a children's book in Spanish and Eric Guerrera who is also not here did his educator Rising moment in Spanish and he actually placed seventh out of the whole entire country wow so I would like to invite a few of the students who attended to share the books that they wrote with you and also to highlight an experience or two that they had in DC uh Casey you want to go first wow good evening so at the Educators Rising National Convention I competed with my self written and Illustrated children's books I'm going P so my book is titled Daisy's perfect petals it's actually a story about my grandmother her name was Daisy and the story is about
011a a young flower who is broken essentially and she keeps on finding a way to become perfect and then she soon realizes that embracing your imperfections is what makes us beautiful and all one of a kind and so it's kind of a story about self appre appreciation and self-love so with this book I placed seventh in the national competition nation that was an honor and thank you so much for this opportunity [Applause] so along with that I also got my book copyrighted so I have the copyright certificate can I have autograph so I was one of the delegates for the state of Illinois that was sent and through that we met with other student other aspiring Educators that and we voted on the theme for the next year's for next year's conference and we also
012learned about like others in different states and their process in different um ways to like in that that they bring to their clubs the Educators Rising program so it was a great experience I was also a summer tutor this year Junior tutor at mon Elementary and that experience was so amazing so I had students from third grade going into fourth and it was a smaller classroom so I liked that because it kind of like got me an intro my first introduction into a a classroom especially since I'm just starting off and next week I'll I'll also be starting my freshman year at University of Illinois and I'll be majoring in Middle grades education English so I hope to return to the district to teach middle school and then ALS yes ma'am and also continue my
013journey as a Young author and continue writing children's books so thank you to miss Valeria Mr Mr hollyfield Dr keanes the Schoolboard president and the school board for this amazing opportunities I'm so grateful to say that I went to Creon high school thank you so I wanted to add we're going to be talking with Miss Perkins about getting that book into our schools and having that available for our students it's a primary age book so that it'll be students reading books from other published authors so I want to let you know that and one thing I can say for sure with 100% certainty we have a job waiting for you okay not too many people can have those honors okay wow yes um anything else any like to speak wait next up I'd like to
014introduce Crystal Williams and Aaron ababio who also competed in the children's lit book and wrote a children's book I'll give it back we get it back to her hello um I just want to say that our book it was called a sunny day in Bleak city um so I'm Erin I was the author she was the illustrator uh the book is just to it's a fiction book for kids but it's to build their social emotional skills and learn how to uh help others and be kind um this book actually um it came from the idea kind of came from a show my cousin watched so yeah and uh when we went to DC we saw uh other um books that uh people wrote and it was so amazing to see all that uh we went
015to uh different uh went to the White House we learned so much stuff about that we went on the bus tour uh we went on we did we did lot we we saw the capital and it was all just crazy how cuz I always just seen that type of stuff on TV but to see it in person is like wow um it was very fun the tour was very very fun and just like the competition each day it was always something fun we even had a dance um competition that we performed in it was very fun and they had karaoke it was just very fun for the students everyone that um did compete in the um competitions even those that didn't it was really fun um also I also did the summer tutoring job and
016I had second graders and that was very fun I do want to do that as like a backup cuz I'm going to psychology but that whole summer that that was amazing it was very fun working with the kids kids and the teacher and yeah yeah I also did the summer job uh but I had a third grade going to fourth grade and it was a really wonderful experience the last day was kind of sad cuz I was like At first I was like I'm not going to miss them but the last day I was like oh yeah I missed them so yeah that was that was really fun and hopefully when we cuz we all going the three of us are going to college so we hopefully will be able to do it when we
017come back on break so that's something yeah so it was a nice [Applause] experience well we are all so proud of you for your work uh truly uh this is an an example of the Excellence that we have in this District they are doing Monumental things and also an example of how we're recruiting um our alumni uh to get them back here um why not showcase the talent that we have here and bringing it back home so we're anxious to see you in the next four years yes all right well thank you so much um Ed Rising we just want to thank Dr Cara Mr Holyfield Miss Perkins and the board for allowing us this awesome opportunity over the summer we also want to thank Miss Don poses for booking our travel arrangements to the
018parents of our students without you they would not they would not be able to attend and have these Wonder ful experiences we also have multiple staff members we wanted to recognize who helped our students prepare for their competitions Miss Flores Miss SoDo Miss Martinez Mr Hernandez Miss Norberg miss godbout and miss hooton and thank you to Mr lens for helping me chaperon and also to our parent chaperon Anna Perez and we look forward to next year in 2025 in Orlando Florida very nice ex thank you thank you [Applause] wow so so we going to Orlando next year they might need some chaperons Dr very good any board other board members like to comment anybody further comments outstanding job seriously and and again that's the news that needs to go out to all the communities because
019of the wonderful things we have here that people aren't aware of yeah I believe we showcase this in our uh our newsletter that went out to the community but certainly on opening day I'm going to again reiterate this this is going to be part of my PowerPoint to share with all of our staff the work that's being done because we have so many things that are done in the shadows so much that is going on and we've got to pull this out and celebrate that and um you know the work is endless so thank you just excellent excellent job by all by all so I don't know if you want us to bring your books to you or if you want to keep them I thought yeah to get autographed here yeah and actually was
020like when I open this up and those of you who know how bad my headlights are when I open this up in a big oh the that's it that's it I'll buy a thousand copies of it excellent job I I just I'm so proud so proud of the future so proud thank you for all that was involved Dr holy Phil I'm giving you that title right now cuz I know it's soon to come coming you doing thank you and I'm I'm Excuse me for a teacher Dynamic teacher I forget your name valario yes thank you yes absolutely please stand up stand up Sarah come on let's let's stand up there you go all right we'll give you a hand yeah excellent excellent excellent back up again okay a dynamic teacher over there Dynamic teacher just
021you're welcome to stay and enjoy the board meeting if you'd like to move along you certainly have uh our permission to do that thanks for you have to stay until until its entirety and that's about 11 o' tonight no she said for us to keep them here it's not great thank you that thank you all right Dr Cog she can move on this goes into actually a very uh appropriate next topic and that's our staffing and enrollment we've got some celebrations uh Dr melan shenko will share with you about again the work that's going on and that is beginning to take effect so uh Dr M why don't you share yeah so first uh on the enrollment side uh we're at 4,400 students and there's about 150 that are still waiting to get through so
022that 4600 number is looking more and more like a a reality uh we're not in danger of closing any sections at this point in time um the Registration Department is keeping a close eye on that and uh once any sections are looking like they're getting close they to let me know right away so we can make decisions on either overflow or if we have to make other decisions um with Staffing at Dr cagini alluded to this um I'm expecting the uh recommendation to hire our final licensed teacher opening for this upcoming school year so we will be fully staffed with all of our licensed positions open um we're fortunate enough to get um uh it was for a special education classroom and we were fortunate enough to get a licensed candidate that came available to
023us um we've held uh new staff orientation yesterday and today and third day going in tomorrow um out of our we've hired 50 new licensed teachers um our we have been fortunate enough that 40% of our new higher teachers are diverse candidates uh they come to us from diverse backgrounds and then specifically at the high school out of the 17 that we've hired 11 of them are diverse at 65% so we're really putting our foots to the uh our boots to the ground to make sure that we are looking for candidates and hiring candidates that reflect our student population um to give them that experience um also um kind of along Educators Rising five of our new teachers are also alumni to our district too so um that that is very um from and they
024run the gamuts of life where we're getting brand new people to the profession to people that have been here and want to return to to come back to the community so that's uh that's the update on steping very good good job excellent job excellent job and I said one of those one of those teachers that we hired as I reviewed the contract I recognized that name it was one of my neighbors it just seemed like she was in diaper so yeah uh I was so proud to see her become a teacher in the district yes good job anything else NOP that was it okay any questions from the board members okay uh boring anything to be removed from the consent agenda I would like a motion to approve the consent agenda some moved second move
025Alex second by Dr Hall any questions comments I do have a question um with as far as the quadrates I see one quadrate at one amount and another quadrate at $20 less is there a reason for that I'm sorry was what was that person Personnel report oh and within a Personnel report yes within a personel report is that a yes so uh the lower amounts are building based Cadre teachers so they'll be at that building specifically the higher rate is for departmental cadres who go through some specialized training in order to relieve teachers for either special education initiatives or initiatives from uh the OTL Department okay so it's not all cadres are at One Price Right correct okay thank okay any further questions or comments if not roll call please Madam Secretary oh great yeah
026thank you my apology sorry Dr kogan it didn't work I tried okay have you seen item three approve thanks Dr K said I I said I'll try to slip it by all righty here we go you know he was gone one week and now he comes back with a little fire his belly I said coming my way was BL all right for item one under superintendent it's approved regular meeting minutes of July 16 2024 item two is approved regular meeting close session meaning um minutes of July 16 2024 item three approved special meeting minutes of July 9th 2024 item four is approve revisions to board policies as listed item five approve fireworks contract for creeton high school and then under Personnel approve the 2425 student handbook item seven approve certified reassignments resignation and intend to
027retire and educational support staff employment leave of absence resignation and termination under business item one approve the Board of Education financial report item two approve a payment of $249,700 25 to read construction for work completed at cre Elementary and summer of 24 um item three approve the payment of 159,900 23 to reconstruction for work completed at CSK summer of 24 and the last item number five approve the payment of 14228 to read construction for work completed at Early Learning Center of Summer of 24 and that concludes the consent items Co thank you exactly so it was moved by Mr gyo second by Dr Hall we ready yes just on the for Jason on the all the uh payments for reconstruction the summer 2024 this is all the kind of cosmetic improvements yes primarily well primarily
028cosmetic there was a little bit more work at in terms of HS we had to dig up the cor apologies um there there was some flooring that was done this the bulk of the work like these payments or no Brian you said you've seen a couple other pay applications because substantial completion date was August 2nd so we're still going through the punch list items um so I do anticipate you know another round of payments coming through at the September board meeting I was going to say this is partials obviously there's more work to be completed by whatever the completion date plus the retention right yes so we'll hold that until all our punch lists are done correct but we don't face any outstanding issues I know last year you know we had some uh procurement
029issues with the chillers at three of our elementary schools um this year I I anticipate all the projects being wrapped up by yeah primarily flooring and cosmetic and Stu so it should be completed right should be yes yeah okay good okay any other further questions or comments if not roll call please Madam Mr sish I miss site stumbris I rup is and I Mr alre I Mr gigos I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carried number eight Action Report Alpha business number one I'm going to read a little bit more than what's here as was shared to me by our business manager for Alpha One I like a motion to approve the settlement of the tax rate objections pending against the district for tax years 2021 and 2022 in the amount of $225,000 as
030presented and authorized counil to execute required stipulations to that effect I like a motion to move that as stated so move some by Jamie second got second and second and a half by giving it to me giving it to giving it to our board secretary Madam Secretary okay uh do we have any discussion on this at all I don't know if our business manager be to clarify anything or we're good any questions comments um that email that you forwarded us though is a good explanation right I mean it's yeah not exactly this but it was interesting it was right I think I sent it to you Jason and I talked to you guys earlier about it I think that that kind of gave me a lot of confidence that our console uh kind of was
031up on that as of last year so I felt pretty confident that their counil and recommendation and here we are today with what they me and I feel confident in it okay are we putting controls in place so that we don't get to a point where we have excess fund balances going forward oh great point I paid him to ask that question we have an answer for you yes I do um we plan to resolve the issue obviously we're we're looking to pay the uh pay the settlement directly from the 50 fund that will help reduce the excessive fund balance in that fund um to prevent that um each spring each applicable fund will be analyzed and the levy will be adjusted accordingly in the event that we feel that any fund L fund balance
032is approaching an excessive amount so uh Brian will present the 2024 Levy in December uh we generally have until late March early April to finalize that so that's going to give us a little bit of time through fiscal year 25 to see where we're going to end it up and then we'll apply the Miller ratio um to the 50 fund the 80 fund and the 90 fund and and um president Brown I appreciate you sending the information from um our council's law fir um what we would also do is that we also calculate a similar ratio for the 10 fund the 20 fund and the 40 fund and I believe it's detailed in the brief that you sent to the board members um that particular scenario looks for all three funds to be combined and
033um due to those funds being so so large in terms of expenditures I don't see those funds ever being an issue um after doing a quick analysis on the 50 fund I do believe we're in position that maybe also um have a tax rate objection brought to us in 2023 um in the financial report that Brian showed un audited for fiscal year 24 we were showing a balance of roughly $5.7 million um the Miller ratio asked you to look for the average of expenditures in that fund for the past three years we're averaging right around $2 million so you figure if the funds at you know 5.7 to start the year um we're going to get we actually reduced the levy to $1 million even though we are experiencing uh expenditures around $2 million so
034we received half a portion of that in June which will be booked towards FY 24 the other portion that will be received in the fall you know will be added to that fund balance when we take that into consideration the fund balance is still going to be a little bit high but it's on the radar for Brian and I not to Levy for that fund and divert those funds into the Ed fund uh for the 2024 Levy that will then put this matter to bed and then after that we will continue to do calculations for each applicable fund each subsquent here great yeah thank you thank you um you're welcome our business department Jason and and Brian for being all over this okay getting ah hit of it so we don't see this issue come
035our way again at least the best we could do all righty so we got the motion out there it's been moved and no further comments more questions roll call please Madam Secretary sure uh Mr gyos I Mr alre i r is an I miss s stumbris i Mr swales I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion Carri and under number eight action report alord number two could have a motion to approve our kids count LLC contract so moved second move by Alex second by Dr Hall any questions or comments or concerns hearing none roll call please Madam Secretary Mr Alber I Mr gigos I rup is and I Mr swales hi Miss site stumbras hi Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry moving on under number eight Action Report Alpha number three can I
036have a motion to approve the village of mon school resource officer intern government agreement so moved that's intergovernmental agreement second okay that was moved by Jamie second by Alex any questions or comments hearing none roll call please Madam Secretary all right Miss s stus hi Mr seales hi rup is and I Mr gigos I Mr alre I Dr Hall I president BR I motion Carri moving on action under action report number B Bravo personel and culture item number one could have a motion to approve the staff recruiter SL alumni relations contract so moved second second by Alex comments or concerns questions hearing none roll call please Madam Secretary rou is and I Mr sish hi Miss site stumber hi Mr gagos hi Mr alre hi Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry you have
037any old business hearing none new business hearing none we do have a reason to go into close session for the purpose of a self- evaluation practices and procedures or professional ethics when meeting with a representative of a Statewide Association in which the public body is a member as under five Illinois compil statute 1202 imp parency a c Charlie in parentheses the number 16 going have a motion to go into close s session for those reasons stated some moved Mo by Alex second second by Jamie questions or comments if not roll call please Madam Secretary Mr alre I Mr gigos I rou is an i Mr swales I M stus I Dr Hall I president Brown I how long roughly hour we will be in closed session for about a half hour we will not be
038taking any action after that so thank you public for joining have a good remaining of your day as well as the remaining summer thank you