001Good evening. It's 5:35 p.m. We'll call to order a regular meeting of the board of education. Please stand for the pledge. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation with justice for all. I'm going to ask for a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the employment history and performance of uh particular individuals. >> Thanks, Jenny. Second by >> ECES. >> Yeah. Is that how you pronounce it? Did I do it right >> right now or >> I would I think we should do it before I think we need to do it at the beginning. >> All right. So there's a motion to appoint is it >> Eis as the district clerk prom for this evening a motion by Jenny second
002by Jackie. All in favor? >> I perfect timing Mike. [laughter] And now we'll put on our executive session motion. Again that's to discuss the employment history and performance of particular individuals. >> Jackie. Thank you. Second, Jenny. All in favor? >> I Okay, we're back on. I understand that we have an addition to make to the agenda this evening. >> I see. >> With respect to the personnel considerations, we are adding 7.24 24 accepting the resignation of employee number 3687 effective January 19th, 2026. >> Okay. Is there a motion to add 7.24 to the agenda this evening? >> Should be december 19th. >> December. >> Thank you, Jenny. Is there a motion? >> All right. Very good. Second by Jackie. Any discussion on that? All in favor? >> I. Okay. 724 is added. All right. Is
003there a motion to accept the minutes of the December 10th board meeting? Jackie. Thank you. Second. Matt. Any discussion? All in favor? I. We have a presentation and recognition this evening for Danielle Wolf. Mr. Selli, would you please come up and make the presentation for us? >> Absolutely. Yes, sir. >> Okay. Hello. Oh, this has got good sound quality. Perfect. Uh, yes. So, we're here to honor Coach Wolf. Uh, she was recognized with section two as the class A coach of the year. Um, which is a really special award. She works tremendously hard for all of our students. And, uh, I have a couple things I just want to read off in in talking to some of our colleagues. Uh her background information, Coach Wolf has been coaching here since 2003. Uh multiple Colonial Council
004Championships, including 2003 and 2006, uh sectional championships in 2008 and uh very fortunate in 2008 to be a state semi finalist, which is uh very impressive. Uh Coach Wolf is a terrific role model for all of our coaches, for her players, for her daughters. they came here tonight to support her. That was very sweet of them. And um it it's not only what she does during the season that's amazing, but it's the time that she spends when it's not the season and that's when the work really gets put in. So I lean on her a lot. She's a terrific mentor to me. So, uh I'm fortunate to have a a good working relationship with her, but I just want to say congratulations. and she's she doesn't love this type of stuff, but uh she really
005deserves to be uh honored tonight. And it's it's really a cool thing to be able to uh present her that award. So, congratulations. [applause] I got a nice shirt for you. We'll get we'll get that to you. So, keep up the good work. If you want to coach any other sports, let us know. >> Thank you. Thank you. Would you be willing to come up so we get a picture of you with the board? [laughter] >> I'll take a picture. >> How do you say no? Right. >> Where are we going? >> Yeah. Maybe like right in front of the table. >> Okay. All right. Business considerations. We have 61 through six. Six. Is there a motion for one or more? Motion for all by Jackie. Second by Jenny. Um before we open for discussion,
006just want to note that we do have a donation on here from the United Steel Workers in the amount of $2,500 to be split between the buildings. Thank you very much. Uh do we have any discussion on any of the items? >> I just want to comment on 6.4 um that we're donating a bunch of uh old Indian material to the RCS Indians material to the historical society. I don't know who came up with that idea. It was a great idea. I don't know if they contacted us or we did it, but um it's outstanding uh to have that out there. So that I don't know if anybody's if you've all been down to our historical society or not. It's believe beneath where the board of ed is in the back, >> okay, >> of
007the board of ed building, the old library, but uh if you haven't gone, go check it out. It's actually a very very interesting building uh display that they have and it's really exciting to see that we're going to have some of our school history and some additional school history in there. >> Yeah. So the credit for that belongs to EC and Michelle Ki. >> Excellent. and uh going through all of the stuff that was in my office and in her new office space, these things were discovered and they felt like, oh, these things belong right downstairs. >> Perfect place for it. Yep. >> Great. Thank you. Anything else? Okay. All in favor? >> I personnel considerations, we have 71 through 724. Is there a motion for one or more? Make motion for 71 through 724.
008>> Thanks, Matt. Second. Second by Melanie. Do we have any discussion on these items? >> 7.4. There's a bunch of names listed, but nothing in the actions are in the posting. >> So, there is the job posting that's listed in 7.3 actually belongs to 7.4. So, it was a long-term leave that we were unsuccessful in finding a candidate. So, we had um internal C teachers pick up so they just take one extra class. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> I'd like to call out um 714 through 7 uh 16 uh through 717 really. All of them. I think that one too. Uh these are retirements of some of our staff that are been here for a very long time. Uh all people I'm very closely familiar with have my time here
009at RCS. So, it's glad to see them get the opportunities I have as a retiree. Um, Gloria Foley, a high school English teacher. Lisa Travis, a Peterb Elementary School. Uh, Heather Wright, also from Peterb Elementary School. Really great elementary teachers. As well as Lori Collins, a teaching assistant at Peterb uh, Queensman's as well, who um, has also been here a long time and really gives a tremendous amount to the kids. So, uh, congratulations all four of them on their pending freedom. [laughter] >> Yes, congrats. Thanks, Matt. >> They just come to the board now. It could be. Could be. >> I'm thinking they're all not going to do that. [laughter] >> Anything else? >> All right. All in favor? >> I underformational items 81. Um, we have three student teachers who will be joining us
010in the spring. Welcome. That's great. And then 84, there's a notice on there regarding the sitebased management shared decision-making document. Any discussion that anybody wants to have regarding that document? I know we've all reviewed it and we're all aware of it. No discussion. Okay. Very good. Uh we'll turn next to Superintendent Chandler then. Uh all right. Thank you. Uh I don't really have very much for this evening other than to say happy new year. Uh thank you to those of you that have been able to stop in and meet with me for our six sixmonth check-in. Believe it or not, uh we're at the six-month point already. Uh we will very very quickly here be shifting much of our focus over to budget development. And I look forward to everyone's input um those at the
011table, but also those in the audience and all of our staff, our community input in our budget development. And that's it for me. >> All right. Thank you. >> We have two weeks. Um, just very quickly, our prek registration, open enrollment, um, is going to be a little bit earlier, start a little earlier this year, February 6th through the 27th of March. We wanted to be able to close it out and determine if we needed a lottery before the April break. Um, but keep in mind, families who are paying attention, it's not first come, first serve. You have that whole window to register and enroll. Um, and then we determine if we need a lottery or not. So, um, and then the screening dates will be later on in May at each of the, um,
012individual schools. And then my only other note is that we have a board of ed CNI meeting next Thursday and that will be a high school focus. So, we'll be talking a little bit about the changes to the graduation requirements, looking at some data, and talking about budget implications. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jesse. >> Uh, first off, I wanted to talk about the bell that was brought up uh at the last board meeting. Um so after that was brought up uh as I mentioned it was already brought to our attention uh before it was brought up to the meeting. Uh so Bill and his team already had was in the process of doing a comprehensive uh mechanical instructional investigation of uh [clears throat] what where the smell was coming from. So uh what they
013were able to find was some of the plumbing integrity of the pipes. There was a six foot section of cast iron pipe near the auditorium that had a crack in it and several several fittings were uh loose and broken. Um there was no I guess liquid coming out of it, but those cracks could release some smell to it. Um so all those cracks have been fixed. Um and uh I'm hearing that the smell is getting better. Um we [clears throat] did not notice the smell um over break which was an interesting find. So we we did think it was something to do with the plumbing. Um other than that we did look at uh the pressure in some of the classrooms with these new univvent new unit ventilators that we put in some of these
014classrooms. They and this is I'm I'm coming this is coming from Bill Shro. So, um, they need to do a pressure diagnosis in each room because what these new new un ventilators are doing is they're pulling in more air than they have in the past and some of them have not been balanced yet. So what happened was there was some increased pressure in uh some of the rooms that had some of the smell. And what that was doing is the increased pressure was actually pulling that odor from those cast iron pipes into the classroom. So those diagnostic pressure has been done in those rooms. So there should be no longer any of that smell being pulled into those classrooms. I It's a interesting conversation. we had today. Um, and then one more thing, uh, there
015was some fresh air intakes that were near, um, where the smell was coming from, uh, which was actually taking it was coming out from those pipes and we were actually pulling that air back into the classroom. Uh, that has been corrected. So, that should uh, not be happening anymore. So we believe we have it contained. Um we are doing some additional tests just to make sure that um we have it fully contained. Uh but we believe it is uh under control right now. >> Question. >> Yeah. >> Um so Jesse and I talked uh after the last meeting, we went and looked at some spaces that most people don't know underneath our building there's a chase and there's a big system we have to hold the yeast smell we used to have. Did they go
016check that whole thing out? make sure it's the integrity is holding up. >> We did have Needm Risk Management here uh to review it and I believe uh Mike Needm who is actually the president uh of of that company was here for that first. So he did come and take a look at it and uh >> we do they do not believe it is a yeast. Um >> that I just I I I don't question that. I just want to know >> I don't think we have anybody's really looked at it since we put it in 20 years ago. So as far as you know the integrity of that system remains >> as far as I know. Yes. >> That was that was my whole question. It's it's a plastic barrier. It's been 20 probably
01720 years. Yeah. >> So or 15 years. So >> Mr. Needam was here reviewing it. So >> uh any other questions uh about the smell? >> No. Thank you for the prompt resolution on that. >> Yeah. No I have I can't take any credit for that. It was all Mr. Strom and his team taking quick action for it. So, I definitely can't take >> We appreciate the team's effort. >> Yeah. Uh I just want to make one more comment. Um we did get some uh very early news on state aid. Uh it looks like again very early uh but the foundation aid which is the largest state aid revenue uh for the district is going to be flat which is um definitely something to be concerned about. um in the past last year we got
018a million dollar increase. So not seeing a at this point not seeing an increase would have a significant impact on our uh budget planning. Um the other thing is I did speak last year about receiving a very large pilot in this um in the 2627 school year. Uh I did get some confirmation that uh in fact we are not going to be receiving that uh in in the 26 27 school year but it's going to be more in the 2728 school year. So um I spoke about possibly having a flat tax levy uh because of that but um that is going to have to be pushed off for another year. Um so we are going to be looking at uh possibly increasing uh taxes based on the tax levy >> for the state um that
019you spoke about. You said it's very early. Has it changed in the past when you've gotten very early information? [laughter] >> So there is some% will change. >> The governor is going to get to it. The legislator is going to get to it. So I I'm I'm confident that we'll get >> at least some. >> Okay. But I just want to make you aware this is the information that I'm receiving now. >> Okay. >> In the last couple years, Wall Street has propped up the state budget pretty nicely. >> And over the last couple of days, what I've been hearing is similar to that. >> Okay. >> Uh the state is in better shape than they thought they were going to be, which most likely means that this scenario will be it's not going to
020be perfect, but it's going to be better than what than that first report. But on on the other side too, I mean I understand there's still a fair amount of uncertainty from the federal level what's going to be coming there because it has those questions still have not been answered as to what's going to happen at that level. So that's just another big question mark. >> Yeah, we're just we are planning to be very conservative with revenue than we have uh in the past and with not having that that pilot come on board which would have been a nice you know increase to our revenue. It it definitely has an effect on kind of changing gears on on how we were looking at the budget this year. So, um, we will definitely be giving you
021some presentations in the next few months. >> Do we know if that's due to the company not occupying the space? >> This this pilot is is massive. It's it's a it's a line all the way from Canada all the way down to New York City. >> Uh, my understanding of it, and this is from our attorneys, is is the completion wasn't done in a time frame, and they didn't hit the time frame, so it pushes everything back to a certain date. Okay. So, and that certain date falls outside of uh the 26th 27th school year. >> So, the project is still going >> forward though. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They're almost completed. >> Okay. Um what was the term on that pilot? >> What was that? >> What was the term on that
022pilot? >> Oh, I believe it's it's it's a big like 30 years or 20 years. It's a long one. It's significant. It's $1.2 million and it increases. So, it it will definitely be a a nice addition to our our revenue stream >> uh for the district and it'll definitely be helpful. >> Um we just got to plan for because that first year it's really going to have an effect on our tax levy. >> Okay. >> So, the term is the same. It this is just going to add a year on the back end. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yep. >> We don't lose a year if that's okay. >> That's all I got. >> All right. Thanks, Jesse. >> Oh, do you have anything this evening? Uh the one thing I was going to bring up
023was uh yesterday when we had after school activities canceled uh I felt like there was a bit of a lack of communication u especially around like sports practices and stuff. There was uh and then the announcement went off but there was some stuff that wasn't cancelled. Uh so you didn't really know like if everything was canceled or if like you had to go home like it was just kind of confusing. I think it would probably be helpful if there was just like an email with like everything laid out just like pretty easy to read just so everybody knows and the teachers also didn't have as much information as they probably should so they couldn't really like like uh inform the students as well as they could have. >> Thank you for that. Uh I agree
024with you. We actually tried yesterday to send that update to students directly. Um but it didn't go through. So we're we started investigating today why why that didn't go through. >> Okay. >> Our hope was that hey this is appropriate for high school kids anyway that we can make PA announcements etc. But you you would get that alert the same as any adult. >> Okay. and then you'd be able to look right on and we tried but it didn't go through. So, okay, >> we're working on it. >> Sounds good. >> Thanks. >> Have a question. Um, okay. So, about midterms. Last year, a lot of kids like asked teachers and stuff if we were allowed to bring in drinks that were like clear like Duncan refreshers and stuff. Um, and I asked a couple
025of my teachers if I can this year and they said like some said no, some said yes. And I lowkey was kind of like confused like [clears throat] I didn't know. Um and since it's clear you can't really see anything like you guys have to tell me like would that be allowed or no? >> We'll have to talk to high school administration and they are not here tonight. >> Okay. So like >> I can tell you what I would do but it I want to know you know they're they're closest to it so they they'll be able to give you an answer. >> Okay. cuz I was like thinking cuz you know how like you have the um that sticker like about your order and stuff like I can take that out because the cup
026is usually clear or if not I can just like put it in this and call it a day. But I was just going to ask you know >> traditionally at least you know I have been out now a couple years but what we've always done is clear bottle clear liquid >> clear liquid clear label. Correct. No label >> which is what I've always done. >> Yes. That's what we've done while I was here. >> Yeah. They had to take the label off your water bottle. >> Right. Like kids generally would have a water bottle like this and take the label off. >> Okay. >> It's a big Long Island scandal where they wrote all the answers on the inside and then taped it back on. >> They had a lot of leeway about that last
027year. Uh especially for midterms like for regents. I know it wasn't like that. It was just like that plastic water bottle. Um but a lot of kids brought in last year like they brought in drinks and stuff and I was confused. I was like I didn't know you were allowed to bring it. Um but some teachers said that it was just like a first time one only time thing. Um, so I was just kind of >> could be different rules for a local midterm as opposed to regions like you just said. >> Yeah. Because the regions they said no. Yeah. >> Um, but yeah, >> it's good to try to keep the same when you talk to them though. We should be consistent. >> Should be consistent all the time. >> Keep it the same.
028>> Correct. >> Yeah. >> No confusion. >> All right. Thank you. >> That's all. >> All right. Do we have any new business items? >> One very very minor thing. Um, I heard a comment about the signs and I was the one who praised I was so excited about the signs and everything. Um, so I actually had to run an errand for sports association. So I purposely came back in. It says the gym from that entrance, the main gym, but it doesn't from this entrance. So we had a few confused parents if those signs are ever to be updated. Just something to throw out there. I thought that it was on both signs, but I come in that entrance, so I didn't even pay attention to this entrance. >> On 101 >> on on 101,
029it does, but it doesn't say main gym until you get to the back. >> Um, it says it at the bus garage. >> Yeah. >> Um, that's the first that it says main gym. So, if people pull in, it says visitor parking over by the football field, but if you're going to a wrestling tournament, you don't know where to go >> that you don't know where to go. So, I'm sure the same basketball, all that kind of stuff. Just just a note that we have the athletic entrance signs back there, but there's no way to point parents to go back there to actually park. I was kind of suspect when I pulled in and there's 25 schools here and there were like half the parking spots open still back there. So, for us locals, it's
030kind of nice that people don't know, but we probably should have that out there if they're ever updated. So that's why I had no trouble finding parking. >> Apparently not. [laughter] >> Just something that I hadn't ever noticed and somebody pointed out to me this week. So >> there any update on our very sad Peter B sign. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> it's so sad. >> So uh we did I'm sorry. >> Yeah, we put it >> along. >> We put it in order uh early last week. So, it should be within a couple weeks starting to have a new sign there. So, >> okay. >> It's going to be updated to It's not going to be the exact same seam. >> It'll match our branding. >> A new branding. Yes. So, >> just it just
031won't look quite so sad anymore. That's all. It's sad to drive by. >> Still working. >> Yes. I am too. It really I mean the technology on that sign is impressive, but it's sad. >> So, I got a whole list for Craig, but I haven't talked to him yet, so I'll hold most of them. I want the board to be aware too. One of my other hats is on the American Legion and uh they've been talking to me and they're going to talk to you guys, but I want to give a heads up so the board could hear and weigh in at some point. But they like to come down. Um they sponsor scholarships to Boystown for those that know about Boytown. It's an atrisisk program for it's not just boys any longer. Still called
032Boytown, but it's both boys and girls. Uh at risk program that kids go off to in the summer to get counseling and help or whatever they need. It's had some I'm gonna be honest, it had some controversy in the past, you know, um like a lot of those kind of programs, but I think it's been cleaned up. But they would like to come down here to offer it, recruit slashoffer it to to students. And again, they offer scholarships so that there's no payment for the kids. But I just wanted the board to be aware that we're going to be they're going to be bringing that down to to Mr. Chandler. And so if you have any questions, you can call me, um, look it up, investigate it, and then see. >> How many hats do
033you wear? >> Many. [laughter] >> I like to be involved. >> All right. Anything else? New business. Uh, we have this one item here on old business that's been hanging around a little while called athletic code of conduct. >> Going to keep hanging around. >> Just a little bit longer. What's the >> We're actually >> What's the plan to address it? >> Policy. We're bringing up a policy. >> Yeah. And we're just getting to the point because that was relativelyantly new and we're >> um getting him some administrative assistant help >> that's going to get that process moving along. >> Okay. Is that going to come through policy? >> But we'll we'll discuss it policy committee first. >> Yeah. The next policy we didn't have one in December. Next policy meeting Craig has asked because
034we did talk about regular code of conduct that whole thing about where to put it. So, we're going to deal with that and we'll discuss the code the athletic part at the same time. It's not the whole athletic code of conduct. It's a small section that there was some disagreement on that, you know, some of us feel stuff got in there that we're not too happy with. >> So, we just want to get that cleaned up. >> All right. Very good. >> Is that going to come back here? >> All right. We have nothing further just upcoming activities. We have MLK day. That's all we have listed. Uh our next meeting is in >> two weeks. Okay. So, we're back on the two meetings a month schedule from now through budget season. >> All right.
035>> Meeting or is that >> Yeah, I'm going to do a fiscal profile. >> Okay. >> So, kind of review of where we're at, where we're going. >> We get like a little >> Okay. Anybody else have anything else tonight? Motion to adjurnn. Mike enthusiastically. >> All right. Motion to adjurnn. Second, Jackie. All in favor? I I official.