001good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting to order for cre mon School Board 201u special meeting on Tuesday being today November 7 2023 at 6:30 p.m. Madam Secretary R call please sure miss s stumbris here Mr swales here rup is here Mr gagos here Mr alre here Dr Hall here president Brown here I would like to stand for the pledge being led by board member Alex gagos followed by a mission statement 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 with liberty and justice for all and our mission statement is to empower each student to positively impact the world for a bright new future thank you both uh Alex and Dr Hall any public
002comments no sir okay if not we're going to move right to board updates do we have any board updates uh yeah I went to go visit the uh the high school and the middle school on Friday uh and uh it was uh it was good stuff I saw uh a lot of uh good things going on uh I also saw a lot of uh ways that we can improve I've given uh Cara uh a rundown just a quick summary of stuff so uh but I enjoyed my time uh I got to go with uh Hector our uh our new Outreach uh Family Outreach uh cordinator and uh so that was awesome and uh yeah I I plan on uh doing the uh elementary schools uh sometime after the holidays I think I think it'd be
003best so yeah good excellent yeah you know just keep uh visibility out there with board members I really appreciate that Alex and you know we here to do whatever we could help see opportunities for improvement and share those things that's going well so I appreciate it I was also at the play uh the uh Allison Wonderland play at the high school uh both opening night and closing night um so uh it the the kids are awesome spectacular uh if you did not see it you guys missed out for sure um it was a lot of fun you didn't get this nickname District dad dad for nothing huh keep up the good work I really appreciate hearing the the opportunities that you're getting out there and and doing what you're doing from board members really appreciate
004it Mr um I just wanted to remind everybody and myself included that we are recognizing the track athletes from last year that didn't get their recognition remember we're going to do that at the December 19th board meeting so I just want to say it so that we remember to uh make sure we get those plans in place but the booster club is going to provide the cake and drinks and um uh coach kcki is reaching out to the families so appreciate it thank you thank you Madam Secretary I think you were kind of the leading Force the driving to make this happen having this date and all of that I really appreciate it I really don't yeah you did I think uh you know going back thank you for taking a ball on that and
005driving at home really appreciate it um I went to Washington to watch our football team play Washington DC um you getting ready to get the title felt like it at the end at the end of the night um they the boys did a good job um they they were representing Creek Moni um really well they ended up losing 21 to zero really young team I think he has like couple freshman playing quite a few sophomores um I went over to the high school twice in the last few weeks and walked around um I I didn't see anything I know um I heard that it was an incident maybe but maybe at a park or something but nothing unusual um so it seemed pretty rather peaceful everybody's in place working hard um and then um what's
006her name Miss Phillips she was really attentive to the with the students and what was going on and talking to the students and yeah I was really impressed with the interaction she's our assistant over there she's assistant principle yes I was really impressed with her interactions with the students excellent wow a lot of good things is happening out there anybody else well yeah it's been a a very good start uh have a lot of conversation with our superintendent very good start on how things has been going this school year so let's keep the momentum going I did also have an opportunity to go over and sit down and talk to the high school principal and have a very good candid conversation on things and one thing that he is looking to try to move forward
007that I brought up at the board that was a seat for the high school a person for the high school he really thought that that was a good idea and and I'm asking you he told me to bring it to the board that what do they what they see as a person you know having some criterias to bring a seat to the board what should that person he or she have you know what would what would we want that person to have coming to the board being a representative of the students like they should they be an honoral students should they be athlete or what some some of the characteristics of that so think about you don't have to answer it now you know we talk about it among ourselves and gather some information just
008start thinking about it okay I think they should be voted on by their peers to represent okay so that was or or the student body president which has already been voted on by their peers would be a good choice but I'm up with a new vote for it whatever yeah I I would want a new vote only because it gives other kids an opportunity to do something different um so put that together you can talk we can talk about put it together whatever your thoughts and can I pass it down yeah we can compile something we can compile it and and then put it all together and then kind of get a you can just pass it to gent but you don't have to you don't you know I don't want to put you on
009a spot tonight to try to come up with an just think about it we're looking for this position if we the board side this is something we want to do to have this position ready for the start of next year ready for the start of next year next school year not in January if that's something you know we talk about it the superintendent is okay with it and all of that so I just threw it out a couple weeks ago as an idea talk to him about it he actually brought it up you know in his notes for some talking points and he he think it's a good idea but you know the board should have some input on what this position should look like and things like that okay all right so yeah think
010about it over the next couple weeks couple months anything you want to share with me I'll compile it and then we can talk about it okay that's all I have and one more thing just thank you Dr kogan you just I don't know it's the coffee maybe all the sugar and the coffee you just all over everywhere okay in a good way with the distance and I didn't get a chance to you I think it was something I saw you dressed up as Mary poppin well that was Halloween yet I would have Lov to saw that and and kids didn't know who I was though I would have Lov to saw that okay so I just want to give you kudos for all you are there any pictures you got some pictures we got to
011put them on our website I don't know if it made the website push it out in the boardroom up there with the board Facebook social media it is Facebook I know that I was uh also reading at the Creek Library on Saturday five little ones there yeah I wanted to make it and just kind you wanted to make it I did I want to make it to see you you invited us you said those who wasn't busy come and see us okay so um thank you Dr koganes for being visible and just all over in a good way with the board you know different places throughout the community and nothing but Kudos and nothing but compliments from many peers out there saying oh Dr coog K came here came there came there so keep doing
012what you're doing really appreciate it uh with that being said administrative updates okay um as this Friday just a reminder uh the district will be uh celebrating Veterans Day they'll be having it off and uh all of our schools are spending some time putting together special Veterans Day assemblies to make sure that our students are well aware many of them have have veterans that are coming in is special guests um some of you may have seen I sent an invitation out from one of our buildings if you can make it it's usually during the middle of the day so it may be difficult but just wanted to make sure that you were aware that these were taking place and we're certainly uh want to take the time to uh honor our veterans and then also
013um I had put out in our message we've got the creep parade coming up it's going to be uh December yep December DEC so I'll reach out to you once more to make sure we get a head count we I've heard from about four of you so far so we'll reach out again and kind of see where where we're at okay um hopefully the weather will hold so and that's all I've got okay do you want to go right into business the business yes Ken you're going up you're going up Ken without even telling you to go up that's a good thing okay just moving things along because you know got I've got about three hours so I figured what the heck um good evening board Dr Cara friends of uh cre mon School District
014um I'm going to go through three things tonight that are on the agenda for you one is kind of a preliminary truth and Taxation hearing or the tax levy that will be coming up and then property tax relief Grant and also uh the Evolve system metal detectors I want to share that and give you a recommendation on that so the first thing I want to talk about is the preliminary truth and Taxation hearing um to talk about the levy um so there's some things some definitions this is very similar to the presentation on the levy that's usually given but it's just kind of a preliminary look look that I wanted to give you um just some definitions equalized assess value is usually about a third of the property value that you have that's calculated uh
015to give you your uh tax bill the tax levy is what we're going to talk about tonight which is the amount of money the school district requests it does not mean that we will get all that money we will just request that and there's reasons why and we're going to balloon the levy that's going to be my recommendation again is to balloon the levy um so that we're able to capture it can you go ahead and Define balloons for those who don't know right so so balloon is because of the estimations that you have to do in determining uh how much money in property taxes the district will receive in a future year because you're estimating all of that it's just an archaic system that Illinois has what you have to do to capture all
016of that is you have to overinflate your numbers so that you capture all that and that's what ballooning is I'm over inflating it I'm really asking for more to make sure I capture it because if I don't get capture it I lose it um and you lose it forever so there is um it is important I feel at least my recommendations always is to balloon that Levy to always capture it because you can always capture it and then Abate if you want it but you always want to capture all of it okay the next one is the tax extension so the tax extension is the actual money that you receive or the tax rate that's determined by the county clerk and that's how your property taxes are um we get that later on in the
017year and then again the tax rate is actually the multiplier that's used along with your eav to determine what your tax is that the county clerk or assessor County Clerk DET the tax rate yes the assessor determines eav the clerk will determine your rate oh okay okay okay so these are the requirements uh for the levy um each each year uh it may increase by 5% or CPI whichever is less last year's CPI was 6.5% so the maximum this year is 5% um I believe this is probably going to be the last year you're going to see the 5% right now CPI is trending between 25 and three right now to end the year so I think this is probably going to be the last year you're going to see the 5% and so just
018for clarity sake the when we vote on the levy this coming December that's based on a CPI of this past January yes from from the previous year from the previous year yes okay okay so the CPI in January well it came out in January it's from January to I gota get my dates right from January to December of 22 and that is posted in January which was 6.5% for last year so that's a CPI that's used um if the levy is more than 5% of the previous year's extension a taxation hearing must be held um again we're our Levy is going to be more than that because we're ballooning but again it's been historically uh the practice of the district to always have a truth in taxation I also agree with that I think we
019should always have one no matter if it's 0.1% or whatever so we notify the public we do do a publication in the local newspaper about it and then once approved the tax levy is filed with the county clerk by the last day of Tuesday which is December 26th I actually have to check that date because I don't know if they're going to be open that day but we'll we'll get it there the day after it's approved we always make sure we get it there the day after so we'll be in plenty of time well we have the truth and Taxation hearing as part of the committee the whole in December yes it'll be the committee the whole meeting and then the approval will be at the regular meeting in December which I think is the
02019th I think it is so the plan is to take the levy out there on the 20th take that out there okay so here's just some historical data just so you can see this equalized assess value last year was 772 million you'll see a a gradual increase in eav in the district and then you'll see the tax rates with a gradual decrease last year the tax rate became 7.47 N4 so it's a gradual decrease this is the way it really should go as eav goes up the tax rate should go down so that's really the way it should be and it's working out well for the district here's some data that I wanted to share with you that'll be part of the levy and in calculating what the levy is again as I mentioned before
021Consumer Price Index you can see come some comparisons with last year last year it was at seven capped at five this year 6.5 cap at five equalize assess value um 772 I've actually just kind of estimated it's going to be 807 I just put a percentage on it I think uh 2% we we might have put on there something like that two 2.5% of equalized assess value uh this is some good news here new construction where did that come from yeah well here I I think this is the carvana uh one that came on the books the construction that came on the books that's not in the Tiff District pardon me that's not in the Tiff dist it's not in a tiff District in fact we confirmed that with mayor RZ when we met with
022him he said it's not in a tiff District wow so there is right now $1 million in new construction that is coming on on there wow that's an additional about 600 thou a little over $600,000 to the district so that's significant um last year there was 7 million I don't remember where that came from but uh this is this is a great number I I received this right from the assessor in September so it may be closer to about 115 some change there but last year that could have been konor and just I'm really not sure Mr Brown the only thing I can think of that that big you know usually we were getting few you know four or 500,000 right so now we got 7 million so I can only think that it came
023on a tax row that year and it increase to where we are for yeah I'm not I'm not sure but but this is this is a great number for the district so so that's good yeah um SI value termination value there is none for any of these years I just put that on there just because I think it's important as you begin moving forward and tiffs will be rolling off that you begin to see that um and that's why again there's not going to be any tiffs rolling off but this really helps in the long run um and then the annual Bond payment again it's been the the board's uh directive to keep that Bond payment uh level so that's That Remains the Same which again is good for the taxpayer also so here is
024uh and hopefully you can see this say podiums on the way um so this is what I'm recommending for the levy you'll see last year's information and I put in this year's information so this is all balloon these are all rounded up and we've ballooned I've ballooned the levy uh for the operating funds to be 54.6 million U which is really the only thing we Levy for the clerk takes care of all of our bond payment and adds that in we're actually leveling for just our operating funds so it'll be 54.6 million would be my recommendation at this point and that would mean the district my estimation is District would receive an operating funds 48 755 936 an increase of about $3 million from the previous year is what I'm thinking that's my estimation you
025can see and that's a that's a good amount because previously in this year you'll see about a $2.2 million increase over here you only see about a million doll increase so this is this is a substantial increase for the district which is really good and is helped by the new construction and then the tax rate I'm estimating the tax rate will go down again um you know on the operating side 5.8 z67 and with our bond payment it's going to go down to 7.38 over um what was the previous year 7.47 N4 again a good sign for our taxpayers lastly and I think this is really is one of the most important slides of the whole thing is what's it going to be for the taxpayer the increase or decrease depending on the value of
026home so you'll see here on a home value at $100,000 the annual increase is about $50 all the way out to a home increase a home value of 250,000 to a total annual increase of $124.95 I think it's important to say and we always say this every year that this is not your total tax bill there are other taxing bodies that are included in that I can't predict what they're going to do either increase or decrease normally increase increase or decrease but again for uh cre Moni uh our school district this is what I'm kind of estimating as our increases or decreases can we get into that pickle it seems like I don't want to say every year but quite often where homeowners may come to the meeting the hearing in December and say you
027know what last year my taxes went up more than you say it would go up and in the past we have had at least one tax assessor come from the township either monia Creek we try to get them both so they can come and share what they could so people can understand their full taxes that why did their taxes go up 18% % as opposed to we're saying it's not going to go up no more than 5% or CPI whichever one is less right and why is it going up 17 18% we do not the district school district do not assess the taxes we take a portion of that assessment and it's capped at a certain amount but we do not perform the assessment and as a result when the properties are assessed they could
028be assessed a lot more year on year of over 5% plus I think and then but all roles seem to be leading back to us as many of the property owners see it yeah I think I think last year I think you know we all got our tax bills and were shocked by them I included in Will County you know we're all in Will County and I think it was one of those double whammies that everything was reassessed mhm you know to market value and you saw the way CPI is so you know when the assessor reassesses they also take that into consideration and and then you've got also a 5% increase in property taxes you know from a school district standpoint that hasn't been seen in years right I mean I I I ran
029the data and you know CPI I mean I went all the way back to I I don't know I went back 20 years well and CPI never was up at 5% no we was at maybe 2010 Maybe 4.8% something like that it was close so it was really a double whammy last year for a lot of people especially with the with the assessor reassessing everything in Will County um because I know when I got mine I was shocked too you know how much had gone up um so again yeah I I can easily call the assessor to see if they can come out and and talk and and find out or at least get some information from him about I I I think the reassessment is every three years that happens so that the assessor
030does a reassessment of property I think it's four is the quad the quad so it won't happen again for another three or four years um so that that'll be good so I I don't foresee a huge increase in a lot of tax bills except I I can't control what other taxing bodies do but again we're the majority one right you know of our taxes so yeah you know so yeah it may not hurt to reach out to both tax assessors say do you mind coming here just uh for the possibility of questions that may be asked by the public just to see if if they are available to come y okay so just some important dates uh again um as as Mr robc had mentioned December 12 Comm the have the public hearing on the
031tax levy on the 19th will be the approval by the 26th is the deadline for submitting that again uh with the board approving the levy on the 19th we'll be taking out there on the 20th on that okay we any questions on that um at all okay let me I I wanted to share with you and I and I have this on the agenda the property tax relief Grant uh I I printed this out but I I wanted to put this on there um I put some notes on here just to remind me to share with you some things so there's two things about the property tax relief Grant one is the first point is applying for the grant for 2023 now if you recall we applied for it last year we received and that's
032what this bottom thing you'll see here the bottom points I made we we received 3,972 of the property tax relief Grant because we received that and these are kind of two separate things but I'm going to talk about them together hopefully if you get it's confusing but I'm hopefully going to make it clear and that so when we received it last year we have to Abate taxes two years in a row last year so we baited last year for 34347 because this is the formula they use you have to bate this and then you get this so we had to Abate this last year we have to Abate it again this year we'll get this amount this year again and then what happens with this amount is once you aate it two years in a
033row and you get it it becomes part of your evidence-based funding permanently so you continue to receive it as part of your evidence-based funding and you're held harmless for that and what that means is that they really can't take that money away so it becomes part of your evidence-based funding okay so that's for 2022 for 2023 we can apply again now I don't think the district is going to receive it because we're number 59 on the preliminary list right now we were number 40 before why I have no idea I do not understand the calculation of this whole thing um I I wish I did but I I've spent time trying to understand it and I can't all I know is that we're number 59 and I don't think we're going to get it but
034I do think it's important that we apply for it that we do our due diligence and apply for it so on the agenda for next meeting for the regular meeting in November you will have um approval of applying for this property tax relief okay Brian Jason and I uh along with John ISO are going to work on the resolution for the second year of this and we may bring that to you in December last year we did it in February but we may bring it in December and again it's a resolution to Abate taxes of this amount for next year and then we turn that into the county clerk um so so we'll look at that on the timing of this but next next meeting you're going to we're going to ask you to approve
035this so we can submit the application for this year okay so can hypothetically if we did receive it for 2023 is it like a a discreet than twoe so it'd be incremental to the amount we received yeah so what you would have to do is you would have to pass a resolution to Abate here and then you have to pass a resolution to Abate that one again okay so they they become separate entities but they become add to our Equitable funding yes they would they would add on after the two years is up after you've baited for two years of that one then that gets added to your evidence based funding too yes okay exactly right and we do have a plan one most confusing things when we do have a plan to communicate to
036the public that we are abating this yes okay yes we will be doing that yes okay any other questions on that if you understand it I hope okay Oh wrong way I'm going the wrong way here apologize okay the Evolve system the Apex system for evolve Express um if you recall we had uh applied for a grant through uh the federal government it was for $500,000 we did not receive that Grant uh we deny there were a little bit over 1,000 applications over from 50 states for that Grant uh 206 were accepted uh we just got the notification about a week I think a week five days ago or something like that we got the notification on it let me Ken let me interrupt I just want to make sure Alex and Jamie do you
037know anything about this oh I'm sorry I where they where they on board I can't remember if they were on the board when we when this topic first came up we were not on the board but but we were here we saw oh we saw you youw yeah thank you y okay all right okay thank you all right I apologize for that sorry okay um so uh the average award was about $350,000 so there were 206 uh districts that received it across the the nation out of 50 states um we're we have an opportunity to contact them to say how did you score us so we can see where it was uh you know why we didn't receive it or where we ranked on things and all of that I think in Illinois there were
038about 20 districts maybe that received okay 12 or 15 they received it in Illinois all right however uh that being said um this came to light with myself and with Robin Tobias director of Safety and Security when I saw that we were going to get some extra um new construction money in this year uh um I was thinking about I think this is important so uh we went back to the drawing board on this um so if you recall the price of this was about $720,000 last time all right but it did not include the addition at the high school the entrance is there okay so I went back to the vendor and there was actually a reduction in price of these systems and we added the two entrances at the middle at the addition
039to get us to 778 complete and this is a threeyear commitment I I just have give me one second here it's a four-year commitment so this would be for four years and that so what it would be is we would and Robin can help me on this so we would have dual Lane systems at door a B which is where the buses drop in the back of the high school and then the the kids come in and also at the main entrance of the high school door one those would be dual Lane systems and that then we would have single Lane systems at the auditorium entrance at the athletic entrance and at the two entrances that we have at the addition the main entrance and then there's a side entrance where uh the kids get
040dropped from the bus that would be a a single Lane system so it would it would completely then cover the the high school of their entrances according to way the way Robin has designed this the cost is we would pay a yearly cost on this so we don't have to pay this whole money up front so on year one it's 197,000 and then 193 throughout this includes setup installation warranty training all of the above there's no additional charge for this everything would be included at the end of four years you can determine to replace this with new technology keep it you may have a subscription uh fee that you may have to pay uh pay I would recommend you probably just renew this whole thing uh and get new equipment if you wanted to but
041again that's four years out and all of that so the cost to The District in the first year is roughly 200,000 my thought of paying for this is that you're getting about i' I thought about six to $625,000 in new construction fund coming into the district use some of that money to pay for this and that so that's Revenue you did not have in your budget Revenue was not in the budget okay no so so that that's my thought um I don't know if anyone has any questions I I you know can we operate it with the existing staff Robert I think that's the plan the plan is to operate it with the with the so we don't have to hire additional so we don't have to hire additional are they movable they are movable
042they are on Wheels now you know with any technology you want to limit your moving though you know and that because every time you start moving things some things start getting loose is the idea of expanding this to the Middle School I think I think eventually you can I I think uh you know again there there's there's a cost associated with it so you know and that it's something to think about but yeah you can so during the day when they come in uh the kids come in you obviously they have the bus entrance and we understand MEC and we understand the bus entrance and door number one it where Security's at but what's the need for having two at the at door number two and three the athletic and the theater could that be
043movable I understand technology but would you need those in there because are they daily entrances I don't think they're daily entrances I made a decision to add those because I thought if we're going to have events we have those available for events instead of having to move things around I I get Larry starting to move things around that that's the only thing I get lry of espe especially if you're looking at some dual Lane ones and all of that um I I think they're sensitive machines as as anything and I worry about making this type of investment and um then having to move them around and something breaks and all of that you know so are they are they needed there I don't think so but I think um I would recommend especially especially in
044paying it out over four years if you were to pay it out in a lump sum that made me make me have another decision but if you're paying it out over four years because again the $600,000 you're going to be getting every year you know so that that's added in there you know and so I I think uh I think the best way to do it is to do it that way that's that's my only thought because if you ever decide to to add the middle school it's just more cost it is it'll be more cost yes you know and I guess after they come in we can see how mobile they are MH meaning at some point if you decided to expand to the Middle School you could always take one of the units
045meaning in expand right if they're easily movable but if you're concerned about it and they're not then you leave it as it is yeah and I I think you know even let's just say moving around when you look at the auditorium entrance and the athletic entrance well they may have an event there that's going to have a lot more people over on the athletic side so I think it's a lot easier moving one from the auditorium entrance which is a short distance and taking one all the way from the main entrance correct and Wheeling that's kind of what I'm thinking is the athletic entrance is going to be used a lot yeah events yes but if we expand if we had to sacrifice one because of cost we could take one of those over yeah
046if you had to put three more at the middle school like I said it's all about cost yeah no it is it is you know and that so so I just want to know if they're they're movable like that so meaning at some point if we expand and we say hey we want to do the middle school can we take one of those sure and this could be in place for second semester our plan our our actually our plan is to put it in right after spring break it's going to take us some time it it there's there about a six to eight week lead time on these on these um and Robin and I have talked and and you know I think it's best to do it right after a break uh because then
047we can get everything set up and installed and all of that stuff without any commotion uh and then Robin is working on procedures and all of that he's already got a head start on all of that that stuff um you know we're just waiting for the approval on the systems I think the important thing is once you get it in at least for a couple months if there's any tweaking you can do it over the summer go ahead one of the hesitations I'd have is once the machines are calibrated um they're sensitive and moving them around um although the ability is there would not be recommended based on how they're calibrated um plugged into the wall and um the calibration uses an AI artificial intelligence technology and the scanning process and the digitation of everything
048that it's scanning and going onto the the iPads uh what we're viewing so um having them in place and not make it them mobile would would add to their their length of usage um also their efficiency of how they're used too um but it will require some time for the procedures the staff to be trained using our current staff which we could with these devices um and fill on the vacancies we we do have open due to resignations or people moving on so um we we would have things in place to use them as soon as they're in calibrated and we have the procedures in place it would take some time and it gives us some time for the new Wing um once that's opened up to make sure we haven't overlooked anything as far
049as how that place will operate um any other questions or else I'm done Ken what is the purpose of the the battery charger uh if we plug in these up the uh B the battery charger I'm here no I got you I got you uh the battery charger I believe are for the mobile um visual units they they have iPad type uh tablets um so the visual it records uh the coming and going it records anything being pinged um and identifies that ping or gives you um some Mobility as to how to approach that if you think it's something that needs further attention besides a musical instrument or or some other Chromebook um but those devices are mobile and portable as I'm moving around and those require to be charging after use okay yeah that's
050what I was okay good explanation and the last question I have is so you the kids are coming through don't have to stop don't have to empty their pockets or anything like that but now the machine the detector has been activated how do we handle that do we have a ample staff to do that as one staff member is watching the kids come through now is a kid put to the side to be searched for what yeah I think think uh we don't have an answer to that yet and I think and that's where Robin is working out the procedures right now so what we'd like to do is we'll come back to the board probably maybe in January February and share with you the procedures on how that is going to work so it's
051not to say at this point that we're not going to need additional support we may no I I we we believe we'll be able to do it with the with the staff that we have right now our plan is not to hire any additional support I I I went through um about two weeks ago I went to the red skin or Commander Eagles game and and he just walked right through and it didn't seem like they had a whole B bunch of people standing around waiting seemed like it was less people than like at a normal game going through regular metal detectors that they had at the with with using the the evolved system less less people using the system that's what the expectations is to use less but I'm just you know throwing that
052question out there if we get a hit multiple hits what do what do we do with the kid or what what's what's our plan for that right and that that's what Robin is working on now and that's that we can work on those procedures did I understand Mr Tobias correctly that the current staff are just enough but we still need to get the replacements for the staff that are leaving that's what I'm understanding correct correct we have a we have a couple openings we're filling due to staff that just recently left just so we're adding in those few additional people not saying correct yeah we're not adding FTE they're just replacement people that have we're replacing them perfect thank you you're welcome so I think this is a question that Nelson asked about this not
053Banning the budget so if we look to go forward with this which I strongly think we need so do we have a plan to come up with the funds that we did have in a budget to try to get those funds from uh elsewhere don't have to answer that now but obviously we had budgetary funds to what Ken was talking about that new con the new construction going into the eav is going to create $600,000 Revenue that he doesn't didn't have in the budget so so that can offset this paid for got it got it to pick up on that too so in your first half of your taxes that come in in June you'll get a about 300 to $310,000 so that'll pay for this fiscal year and then you'll get another one the
054second half will pay for the next fiscal year so you'll be covered on that yes excellent excellent J just for clarification in previous meetings we had discussed that we had the funds to get this done regardless of grant money that's yeah the funds we would have had would have had come out of fund balance so out of your savings account but I would prefer not to touch that oh absolutely and and just just leave it and and so we have some extra Revenue in so I think it's uh we make a good case for that perfect thank you and you're going to bring this to the board for possibly to approve it for next week yes Mr Brown yes okay okay thank you thanks Ken appreciate it all right there's no information to share under
055administrative updates I'd like to have a motion to approve the consent agenda first I would ask if there's anyone that has anything to that they would like remove from the consent agenda very small in scope here that's the purpose of this whole special meeting anything that someone would like removed if not I would like a motion to approve the consent I don't I don't have a uh agenda no I don't have a u something to pull out but I just wanted to know uh what the let me let me put the motion on first I'll put the motion then we can talk about it if you don't want to have nothing to all I got you okay all right so can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved Alex sorry second
056who second Dr Hall okay goad Alex uh discussion or questions yeah what what uh what is it of like uh are we talking about item two and three uh or just the first with the whole thing the whole thing a one two and three and B one all in one shot that one vote okay do you want an explanation uh for number two yeah I thought so Dr meleno would you like to so a little bit yep with number two it's just memorializing a past practice um so Spanish class is only offered at CSK due to programming so that was not memorialized in the collective bargaining agreement that teachers are given plan time during that however we treated it that way so the memorandum of understanding just uh memorializes that practice um and we'll capture
057that in language with number three um that is just reupping the mo MOA that was done with the previous collective bargaining agreement the language from that Mo MOA was not captured into the new CBA so we had to reup that um with the intention of that language will then be memorialized in the contract once it's negotiated in 2027 got it makes sense now thank you okay good question Alex any further discussion just a question on the item under teaching and learning the 2023 2024 schoolwide and school Improvement plan is that just that's that you come to us with that annually right for to to file for our Title One funds correct it's it's to um a plan on how we use our title and you wrote All 229 Pages um some help a large team
058that does all of the work each of the teams in the school has um 10 members that work on those School Improvement plans I don't have a question on page 57 29 Pages a piece huh okay we good no further questions second mam secretary roll call please all right Mr alre I Mr gyo I group isn't I Mr swales I miss stumbris I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion Carri any old business I have an item um Ken or more for the business team at large um so we paid out of cash for the administrative Min new Administration Building out of is it too late or can we um I know there's something where we could do a resolution that would say that if we borrowed funds within the next two years or something
059I I forget the exact time frames that we could replenish our cash balances out of out of a future debt issuance Eric don't look at me never looked at that I have I'll have to find I know what you're talking about yeah I you look into that I can Che even if even if we never issue more bonds or even if we do and we decide not to it'd be nice to pass that resolution so we have the optionality right but then we we actually approved we said we was going to pay for that building with cash and we was going to replenish it back right well in order to replenish it back you have to pass a resolution to do that but did we I thought we did that we didn't do that no
060we have not done that but we said we was we did that for when we bought the Maintenance building okay but not that we we had we had that part of our conversation to do that but we never moved forward yeah we didn't for so I'll find that out and then um if I can get it on next week's agenda if that's okay with the board I'll do that just have a resolution and what it'll say is it'll be the board doesn't commit us to doing anything but it it provides that optionality if we do in the future right and I'll make sure that it's written in such a way that it's an option not a requirement okay yes okay I'll do that excellent uh thank you Nelson for that any other old business so
061so the only one I have is I I had a conversation with Dr car yesterday the migrant students what is our option because apparently people are you know upset about the fact that they're coming here right so the reality is they've come to Texas Texas has shipped them out to all these other states and they came into the city of Chicago and the mayor is shipping them you know sending them north west and south and they're coming down this way they're not just coming to cre Mooney District so the question I had for Dr car was if they're being housed um she was going to reach out to the regional superintendent and I guess the question is to our attorney if they're being housed in our district we don't have an option uh whatsoever meaning
062if they're being housed in mon in cre in up or Park Forest we have to bring them in another school if they come here right that is correct so I don't understand I'm I'm just trying to figure out that as long as we say that on camera because people think we can just tell them no we don't have an option do we we don't we don't right and and I've asked Ken uh before can we is there any way to reach out for state or federal funding because at some point as much as you think $600,000 in your $1 million budget is really good if we have 60 some students here for a year it will cost us a million do and that's on a that's on a very nice $16,000 per year student and
063we've already looked at a number of in the 18,000 range so the question is the the the talk out there is that why can't we just tell them to stop coming here we can't right we cannot no what we can do is we can start looking at um um directing our questions to the state level yes to say we need help in the schools for more resources and more funding and uh I was just talking to Mr gagos as well today that you know I'll I'll probably be reaching out to both of our state reps to have a conversation with them about what other funding options are there because school districts you know we we need help right and and the idea is that the conversation to even say that for us to just tell
064them no is absolutely stupid I mean really reach out to to your legislation for sure it's not our we're not telling them to come here we're being forced in a way that they're coming into Moy up cre Park Forest what are we supposed to do right we're supposed to do whatever we can right and and we have to beg for the funding now I know that some of the Juliet and and I know that's one of what like eight or 12 that got funding for housing migrants but in the same senses I understand it's going to put pressure on this district for sure right so in three more months from now it'll be worse and if our class sizes were at 21 they might be at 25 now so the idea is I I we're
065going to have to do something at some point um I'm not for it but there's nothing we can do for new do about it and I want to make sure that the conversation that's having out there is absolutely stupid that we can tell them no because that's not we can't do that and we need to remind of the community we've got to put our efforts in the right places and again I direct people back at the state level yeah I I mean look at the Daily News Outlet of what city of Chicago is going through right now and the people that are in the surrounding communities are losing their minds their tax money on buildings that should have been put up for something for their Community is being put for a migrant shelter I understand
066their frustration but what are they going to do you know the mayor like I said it I just the conversations out there are are amazing and I want everybody to know that we we I've had a conversation with Dr car what do we do as a board there's seven of us what do we do if this continues and exceeds what do we do with our staff and what do we do with I I I don't I don't know what the answer is but we got to start talking about it and we got to start talking about our state repb about funding because if they're here a year right and they're 60 that's 960,000 as a is a as a ballpark a million dollars spent on children on on on on children that come in here
067that's taxpayer money that that's being spent on so I I just I don't know what we got to do or your Administration team has to do but we have to reach out somewhere to legislative level level in the state and federal and figure out what you know cuz we're not the only District I mean correct I mean there's got to be districts around here that are that are and I know for a fact there's districts out west getting them there's districts up north getting them it it it's something I don't think anybody's ever seen since not since I've been alive you're right this is huge uh this is huge bill um absolutely and I think uh I think the right thing to do is uh do what we do best which is educate our our
068kids um the hard part is that we're going to take taxpayer money and spend it and kids in our district from taxpayers are going to lose and that's frustrating what are they losing Bill they're going to lose something some one what are they losing some taxpayer child will lose something in the mix somewhere from another child that takes that opportunity what are they losing the attention of the teacher who's diverted right dealing with children who don't speak yes that they can't communicate and some of the teachers are frustrated because some of the kids that are coming in and again they're from all over they're not just from and again I'm just using this figuratively speaking they're not just from Mexico they're from Venezuela they're from they're from all over South America you know in Central
069America so the problem is the teachers are being totally stressed they're and and whatnot but we can't do anything as a board of seven at this point right now if it continues and my fear is that a a taxpaying uh parent their students going to lose an opportunity of something whether it be educational whether it be an after school activity because they're spending more time over here doing this and they're not getting this that's my frustration because I think our our taxpayers pay a lot of money well County I think it's high and I think they deserve the best I think um probably the biggest complaint I've heard not just here but in other places is that you have families American families who are starving or who don't have a place to live without doubt
070and and they're not getting the same attention and they're not getting the same options so I think that I mean if you talk about like any complaint I've heard that I haven't I haven't really well I haven't really talked to teachers either but I get there's there's the both sides there's the side we want to help people who are less fortunate but we also want to help people who are less fortunate um who are were already citizens here I mean why not both right well that's that's what I was about to say next but there are limited resources resources don't go on forever and ever they're limited the idea is and with the federal government or state not giving us a nickel that comes out of our taxpayers pocket are do these students qualify under
071the um unhoused student act homeless act un I mean let's I mean unhoused is oh mckenny vent mcken that's what we're TR classify the M right so we are getting some funds for each one of these students are we not no are they qualifying under that are we allowed to we don't get funding from mckenny vento that's just the law that yeah right but are we getting some kind of are they qualified under that they're qualified under that which means that um you cannot put up any barriers to them receiving an education right and that but from a funding standpoint we have very like some of our title one has some very limited numbers to put towards mckenny vento students and that I mean I off the top of my head I'm thinking $112,000 that's
072what it is total or person total total all right thank you so we're not getting any funding specifically for this um this situation and I think that's where everyone is frustrated I mean we are too because I I I honestly from a business standpoint I don't know where to turn that's right I honestly don't from a business standpoint we're going to run out of money yeah in the long in the long term if this doesn't get it right I'm thinking long term and and it's not a situ uation of denying the Children's Services it's just that having the resources to pay for those Services because I think I think what bill and Nelson are are saying is that you know with that you have to divert some of the attention that a social worker uh
073an elll coordinator you know has to has to do and so that you don't have any other Financial Resources to hire more people I mean we we already have a lot of students in our district right who we could give extra services to if we had the resources so now you're you're starting to pull back resources from students who desperately need them already is so you know that that's my issue and I think the biggest thing is um just not having the resources for students not what regardless of if it's and I know I don't think you're not saying this Venezuelan African-American Caucasian um we already started behind the eightball when it comes to having the resources and we do the best we can and now it's extra pressure trying to do some more for
074um and and no I think nobody's I think you started off by just making a point that to the public that we we don't have a choice we have to do this that's right because in two or three or four months from now it's going to be different and the problem is things are going to start changing right so people are going to start talking about and people are already talking about why can't we just tell them no I want everybody to understand we don't have the choice that's the basic PR premise of this conversation I think it's going to be different when they run out of voucher money cuz the vouchers that I are for are for so long six months six months for six months and once they run out of that now
075what happens and so um as much as we like to and I'm not I hope this doesn't happen but as much as we like to don't like to uh be nice to people when people are desperate and now they're hungry and now they don't have food and they don't have a place to live what could happen then to the neighborhoods and and I pray that the state legislators are thinking of this trying to put things in place because they put so much pressure on the school district to have the answers when it's not it's a it's a community thing and I just want people to know that we are weird it is not an option it is when they come in we have to do our job and we have to accept them I mean
076one way or another and and and the problem is that the the the narrative out there is that you just tell them no and they can go somewhere outse it's just it's not that easy if they're in cre in up and park force and mo period they're here they're here they're ours that's right we don't have a choice maybe we can send National out to invest I think another area of concern too is Health um if I understand it correctly they're not held to the same vaccination standards before coming into school I mean is that correct do they have to have like all the the the vaccines that students have to have to come into school from what I understand um and you can just uh add to this um we are not allowed to
077ask their status is that correct not not I'm not talking about immigration stat I'm talking about vaccinations if they come if they come Kenny vento status then I don't think you can you're but if they come any of the homeless kids that either no that's when Kenny vent you but if they come in as a regular and roll Le I think I mean if that's even true I didn't know that was true for mckenny vento I I don't think that's right I mean if there's a reason that you have standards in place to keep everybody healthy there's a reason you can ask if they have it but you can't keep them out of school if they don't have I'm not aware of any waiver of vaccination requirements that hasn't come up in our office I
078look into that for you but I'm not aware of any waver vacination I I my understanding is you can ask them if they have it but um I don't think initially you can keep them from enrolling um and it depends on our policy cuz like there's a one District that I worked in their policy was that they need to have it 30 days after enrolling um I don't know what our policy is what but so initially when the mcken vento student enrolls you can't say well you can't come until you get your and I don't think you can say that to any student actually it doesn't matter if it's mckenny vent or not but you can put are you sure I know maybe not in this they can get I know students that have at
079the exclusion date maybe oh okay yeah maybe at the exclusion date now even after the exclusion day when they enroll they they should get depending on our policy at least 30 day I know the policy that I was under 30 but at some point there there's a date yes and then and you cannot come back to school if you if you don't get it by that date yeah regardless of it's month or whatever there there's a date there's a policy where you have to get vaccinations or or whatever the case may be I learned something new I did not know that mckenny vento students are not held to that same standard no no no no they they are they are held to but you can't keep them out of school initially for it they they
080you have to you want to try try to keep get them the resources they need to get the shots Eric Eric could you so is that a stand student a student all right relates to vaccination so if students regardless of where they're from fall under mckenny vento and then at a certain point don't have that then they will not be able to stay in school regardless of whether they're Mento or migrant student or or anything else their vaccination requirements as far as I'm aware oh okay can you just clarify that of course yeah so so not only that I just want to keep the conversation going everybody I don't want to cut no anybody El so keep going I think they got the main point I mean here's what I'd like to see us as
081a board here here's where I'd like to see us as a board is that you know we're going to follow the law we're going to act ethically um and then we need to balance compassion with having the welcome mat out you know let's not I don't think we should do things that make us more attractive to bring more people in but but you know for the students that are here already we need to have compassion so that's that's kind of my I agree I agree and one thing I think everybody agrees on is that you know this was new to everybody definitely not just our district the state the country and the whole nine yards and but everybody agreed that we're going to follow the law there's no compromising on that and we if these
082kids are in here legally we are going to treat them like any other kids with respect and dignity and and but it is obviously it is going to impact the learning of our kids just for you know what it brings to the table but uh we we are to you we are to you and I believe we're going to rise to the occasion best we could just to clarify migrant doesn't inherently mean they're here legally I mean you have to be here in order to seek Asylum so some of them could be Asylum Seekers as well which which means they are are doing things in the legal way yeah I don't think anybody said that that were illegal well he said regardless if there so I just want to make make sure yeah no all
083legal you know and and again some of these a lot of these kids and I don't think we're questioning their smartness and anything like that because a lot of these kids probably you know are very very smart you know and but anyway we need to just make sure our teachers are you know we give them to help best we could to support our teachers and so Eric if you can just look at any legal part that's part of this whole process and and or illegal part let us know get back to the superintendent have some discussion on that and one last thing I would like you to do Dr koganes and I hope the board is in agreement with this is that you know I don't know where most of these kids I think the
084last count I heard was about 72 kids that was a couple at our last meeting I don't know where we are now our newcomers as of last Thursday is 104 okay so we got like a 25% increase right there and but are they coming from wine Village more so than others so what um our largest uh newcomer population for elementary those students are at tala they're at tala so take it that they live in Park Forest or a portion of University Park okay so I don't know if the board members agree with me that Dr cogin E can go talk to the Mayors or whatever what their expectation how they housing these kids or anything like that or is is the village managers or Village presidents involved with this process I don't know from my
085understanding um and I could be wrong you know what what there's a couple of the uh the apartment complexes that are opening their doors because taking in the vouchers and they're get they taking in the vouchers okay so it's it's up to the individual housing complex that is opening the doors okay for for residents okay so yeah if you can gather a little bit more information on that you know so we can get ahead of the curve sort of speak you know if if mon is expecting if they know anything they're expecting you know 30 more kids and so we can just get aeit if C is expecting any kids coming their way mon Village not Moy but University Park or even Park for yeah I've only talked to um University Park a couple um
086folks there and they um they're just appearing on their doorsteps okay so this is tough at the Village level this is tough but who said the road would be easy that's why so it's just a matter of communicating with commun get a hit of it best we could say hey we look like we're going to get an influx of 200 kids next month you know let the board know best we could and well nobody knows until they're here that's what I'm saying if we could get if we could find that information so what is the process they come up to the school is that what they do from what I understand they they they came out of O'Hare but how did they get to school district they were on a bus and they from what
087I understand they left the bus stop off at University Park in the Village area and they got off the bus and the bus continued to go okay so they've been directed and the how are they registered for school well they are going and trying to find people that speak Spanish okay to figure out where the schools are and they're connecting um the the families to us and it's kind of going from there and they get on the bus route we register them and in class okay so in a normal process after that yes they some yeah okay all right so at the end of the day they legally registered these are our kids is that simple and nothing we can do about it and they have to get educated just like any other kid but
088again it is a strain you know but we just got to make do with what we have best we could and get ahead you know I don't know like you said talking to a legislator or whatever I don't know yeah we're doing our best internally we've got some ideas um floating around that we're working on but I think looking at systemic issue again we're back in in talking the state reps and certainly when I make those arrangements if any of my board members would like to go with uh feel free to I'd like to find out how they are being directed you say they at the airport somebody meet them at the airport go straight out the university for I understand there was a bus that was there they load them on the bus and
089buses go to different communities and they literally open the doors and they get out okay I was just looking to that process a little bit more to saying okay do we expect another bus to come here how who's doing that part that that's all I'm asking if you can find a little bit more about who's doing that yeah who's yeah who's sending the kids this way all right but like I think Nelson said once the word get out there hey we're accepting these kids hey send them the up did that happen already I don't know but but once they here again nothing we can do about it good conversation I appreciate it good candid conversation without any going back and forth ready to beat each other up but good information here thanks Bill for bringing
090this up any other old business uh new business all right uh no reason going to close session going to have a motion to adjourn so moved move by Nelson second by second by second Alex Alex yeah uh all in favor say I I I any Nays uh I one oh oh I okay we are a