001of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Hart will tell us the mission. Thank you. So, we are going to start with the mission. Our mission statement is to ensure all District 118 students reach their fullest potential. Our vision is to equip every student with the knowledge, skills, and support needed to succeed in college, careers, and life through personalized learning, targeted support, and whole child development. The theme this year for Danville is ready for college, ready for careers, ready for life. And our district goals are to increase the number of students that meet or exceed standards on state assessments by 10%. Chronic absenteeism will decrease to 25% or less. And utilize a multi-system of support
002to provide appropriate interventions and improve building culture and student interaction as evidenced by reduction in suspension and expulsions by 15%. And our wig, our wildly important goal, is to ensure the training, development, and support is in place for high-performing instructional leaders to support adult learning and development to advance student learning and performance, which is leadership standard 3F. Thank you. Thank you very much. At this time, I will entertain a motion to go into open session. Right? No. We are in open session. We don't need to Okay, we're in open session. Um I need a uh a motion to approve the consent agenda. That's what I need. Motion to approve. >> [snorts] >> You got it. Okay. Ms. Payne? Yes. >> Mrs. Courtney? Yes. Mr. Easton? Yes. Mr. Warfield? Yes. Mrs. Town? Yes. Dr. Howard? Yes.
003Mr. Collins? Yes. Motion carries 7-0. Thank you very much. Do we have any public comments tonight? Mr. Racist. Uh good evening, Mr. Hart. Mrs. Parker, Board of Education. Mark Basey's uh director of district athletics. Um just wanted to come up real quick for a friendly um public service announcement for the community. Um as the weather warms up and people are more active and want to get outside and get their workouts in, that our Waylon Young track complex um is open for use um except for when school is in session. And so, from 8:00 to 6:00 p.m., we're asking the community to schedule their workouts around that time so that DHS PE classes can get out there. Our track teams from Northridge, Southview, and DHS can have access to the facility without having the public there
004and um having the proper space and everything. So, um from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., we're asking the community to remember that that's during the school day and that the track complex will be in use. Thank you. Ms. Campbell? Good evening, Board of Education, Mr. Hart, Mrs. Parker. I am Mitsy Campbell, the principal of Kenneth D. Bailey Academy. I am here to announce that the middle school team at KDBA has established a time and date for our eighth grade honors and promotion ceremony. I love seeing you guys get your pens out right now. It is going to be held on Friday, May the 22nd, at 1:45 p.m. in the KDBA gymnasium. There will be a brief cake reception to follow for our students and their families. And of course, we would love for you all
005to attend if your schedules allow as we celebrate and honor the success of our eighth grade promoted students. What time? It is at 1:45 p.m. Thank you. Thank you. That's it. Okay, thank you. This time we'll hear the treasurer's report. Oh. A motion to approve the treasurer's report. Can I have a motion to approve the treasurer's report? So moved. Thank you. Second? Second. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Easton? Yes. Dr. Howard? Yes. Mrs. Courtney? Yes. Ms. Payne? Yes. Mrs. Town? Yes. Mr. Warfield? I abstain. Mrs. Collins? Yes. Motion carries six with one abstention. Thank you. Okay, uh item eight, special education. Seven. Number seven, curriculum. Oh. Yes, it's still there. They're just not a final. Just because Mr. Hart crossed it out doesn't mean I shouldn't say it, right? Say it anyway. Say
006it anyway. Okay, Ms. Bunton, please help us out here. Middle School Discovery Education Textbook Recommendation. Good evening, Mr. Hart, Mrs. Parker, Board of of Education. Um as you know, um previously, last year you approved a pilot for us to do at um Northridge for seventh and eighth grade social studies. And for the first time since I've been doing this position, um they were not happy with the materials that they found. And which I'm good with. So, they're going to go back to the our previous materials, which were Discovery Education. It's an online textbook. And what's really nice about it is that it is constantly updating with current events. And um there are discussion questions and um like written responses that that students can do, and it is constantly updating, so it's it stays up with
007the current events. And it's a really nice thing to have for social studies. I would have loved it when I was teaching social studies. So, um [clears throat] we are um letting you know that the pilot um through the pilot, we discovered that we really liked our old materials a lot better, and so we'd like to stay with those, and it'll be $9,000 approximately this year, and then next year it will go down a little bit for each year after that. And we are having our budget meeting next week. And at that time, we'll know if we're going to take it out of title or if we're going to use district funds for that. So, we wouldn't we weren't normally able to use title funding for um core materials, but now we can. So. So,
008before we know whether it's uh a grant money program or district funds, we have to approve it? Um yes, I would appreciate that because um we need to be able to order the materials so they're in place by the time the school year starts. And so, if we don't do things now, um and and if you don't approve it, then we don't have any materials for social studies. Oh. Mhm. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. Can I ask what determines what changed to make it eligible for Title I? >> Now, I I I think the the powers that be just decided that it would be a good idea to add more things that we could put into Title considering, I'm guessing. I don't know if Mrs. Truitt has an answer. >> not quite that way yet.
009Yeah. It's coming. Okay. Okay. So, it will be coming out of the district budget. Yes. Okay. So, definitive answer. Thank you. But we might get a surprise later down the road. Next year. Okay. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Any other questions, concerns? Can I have a motion to approve >> had a question. Do you know why they didn't like the pilot program? Mm. Yes, could we please have a motion first? Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Okay, now Mr. Easton. Do you know why they didn't like the the pilot? Yes, we had lots of meetings with them, and base I don't know if you'll remember this part of the conversation, but they went to more of a thematic approach. So, instead of like history typically is taught in chronological order, but if you
010think about that, history keeps adding on, and it's very difficult to cover everything. So, an approach that um a lot of colleges and um even historians are coming up with is that you pick a theme. So, like you might pick causes of war, and then you would study how all different kinds of wars are studied or um what happens to them over time. So, you lump things together a little more. They're not They're doing a very nice hybrid between a traditional approach because in seventh and eighth grade, we do a lot with um US history and the foundation of the country. And so, they're doing a little bit of both, and they could not What's nice about the Discovery Ed textbook is that it allows you to kind of pick and choose when you want
011to cover things and how you want to cover them, and they have a lot of um it's almost like a library, like a like a history library, where the other book that we looked at was very static. It was a traditional textbook. Like in one unit, they might be on chapter one, and then in the next unit, they'd have to go to chapter seven. And so, it just wasn't It was too cumbersome for them to figure out um a good way to do it that made sense for the students. Mhm. Yes. >> I'm concerned because we have a lot of individuals and institutions that are doing their best to erase what history really is. Mhm. These materials Mhm. they will be up to date and not deleted. No, they're So, in our our teachers are
012very cognizant of that as well. Like they they're very thoughtful about how they approach teaching social studies and um the ways to do it so those things don't happen. But yeah, the these are materials that we've used for years and while they update them, like there're probably questions right now in what's happening in Iran. And then they'll connect it to something that's happened in the past. So, I mean publishing companies are as much they they typically will whichever states they sell to the most, they're going to kind of gear their stuff to that state state, but one's not Texas. Yeah. So, it just depends on that, but we have the control over we need something, but we have control over we write our curriculum. Okay. We write our scope and sequence documents. We need a
013resource that fits to us and that's why they picked this. Is because if they pick [clears throat] a solid like textbook, it never changes. But with Discovery Ed, they can dig for things, they can use it like pieces of it just as it is. But again, it has that that current event component, which right now is pretty important that we're paying attention to what's going on. Okay. So, I mean it always is, but This would be on the Chromebooks then? Um yes, but the teachers you can print things out and that's what they do. So, they'll project things on their smart boards in the classrooms and then they can print whatever out whatever pieces they need out from so the kids don't even have to use book, but they can access it on the Chromebook
014as well. >> Okay. So, they can use it either way. Their plan really is to kind of curate the pieces that they want to teach social studies and then print those out so the kids have them and they're not really on on the Chromebooks very much. >> Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Anyone else? Roll call vote, please. Mrs. Corley? Yes. Mrs. Town? Yes. Mr. Easton? Yes. Mr. Warfield? Yes. Dr. Holland? Miss Payne? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes, motion carries 7-0. Thank you very much. >> Mhm. Thank you. Appreciate it. I'll be back. Good luck with it. Thank you. Next up, we have special >> [clears throat] >> education contract with Empowered Communications LLC. Miss Stannis. I get right? Barton. Close. Barton. >> [laughter] >> See, I tried so hard. Please go Good evening board, Mr. Hart, Mr.
015Parker. Molly Barton, director of special education. Please excuse my casual attire. I Miss Nixon and I just got back from Springfield for a conference today, so Um we recently had one of our virtuals speech pathologist resign. Um it's been a bit of a struggle for our the special ed department this year with speech paths. We just actually had another one go on a unexpected leave for the remainder of the school year as well. So, um our existing speech paths and contractual people are amazing and they've all stepped in and actually a previous employee of ours reached out to me and said, "Hey, you know, she's not even in the schools anymore, but she would like to maybe help out." And with the short amount of time left in the school year, we thought the best
016way for her to do that work would be to work with Mrs. Nickerson where we already have a contract in place with Empowered Communications. Um so, we would be contract using the contract services of an additional person within the this um and that way we're not adding a whole 'nother contract to what we already have. Um the bill rate would remain the same at $100 per hour, which is cheaper than the virtual person that we we were contracting with actually. And these would be in-person services. So, my recommendation is to go from right now we have the contract with Empowered Communications for up to 10 hours per week. So, my suggestion is 20 hours per week so that we can cover those additional services. Um and the bill rate like I said remains the same.
017I figured it'll be approximately $15,000 for the remainder of the school year. Could I please have a motion to approve? So moved. Thank you. Second? Second. Thank you. Any questions? I just have a question. 20 hours a week, if you had I know you don't know necessarily exactly, but how many of those hours are actually with students? Cuz I see paperwork on there. Mhm. You could spend a lot of time doing paperwork. Like you could make it last 14 hours if you wanted. I'm not saying this person would, but how many hours do you We would not approve of that. We only allow them to do they they do the same the same schedule as what a teacher. So, they would get a duty-free lunch and then a plan period. >> Okay. So, they're with
018the kids about 4 to 5 hours a day? Mhm. Or 6. 6 hours a day? Okay. >> Probably. Thank you. How short are we with speech and language pathologists? Um I would love to hire at least four more. Right now, every single speech path that we have has 60 plus and remember their cap is 60. Um so, they're providing services. Uh we're struggling to provide walk-in services because we have such a large speech um uh um waitlist for preschool. That means any of those kids that qualify for speech have to be walk-in because they don't have a spot in our program. And so, those take longer to get the evaluation completed and to get them in for services. And like I said, we did have that one resign and then we also had one unexpectedly
019go on a leave. So, anytime in in our department, it's it's not easy when we have any kind of leave a pregnancy, any of those things because it's not like Lindsay and I can go do those jobs necessarily. It has to be a speech pathologist. So, you have to cover in some way. And we're legally bound to provide those services. If it's on an IEP within 10 days of that IEP being written, we are legally bound to provide them. Otherwise, we must provide compensatory services either after school or this summer to any students that we have not provided that service to in within 10 days. Have we done any active recruiting of schools um in the area especially like the ones we know, Ball State If they're if So, if we go out of state,
020then they'll have to get their license in Illinois. So, they won't be Illinois licensed. Um I think I feel like we're always recruiting. Like I said, this is a this is a former employee. Our speech pathologists actually Miss Nickerson Miss Nickerson is a huge proponent and actually trying to get us some SLPAs. Um I just don't think there are as many and they can work in a medical field, they can work in nursing homes, they can work in schools, they can work virtually. So, you know, many of them maybe don't want a 40-hour work week in a school setting anymore because they can do all those other things and not be here 40 hours a week. Um Thank >> So, it just looks different for those type of people. They can make a lot more
021money working a weekend shift at a nursing home and be home all week with their kids and work 3 days a week and make the same amount of money they can come work for us on a full week. I want to make sure I understand that contract a little bit too. I know I know what all the credentials, the letters after the name of the the owner of Empowered Communication, but I don't see any letters after the name of Miss Condiff. So, can you tell us I see a license number, but are they licensed the same way? Yes. Same level of licensure? Yes. So, in order to be a speech pathologist, you have to have a master's degree, which is what the first letters mean. She has a master's in education. Um she may or
022may not have her C's, which is the three C's. That you don't require that to be a speech pathologist in Illinois. That's an additional thing. >> Okay. Um so, yes, the Illinois license number is all she technically needs. >> Does it She's in >> And she has the PEL, which allows her to be in school districts. >> Do you know how long she's been in the profession? Well, she was here several years ago as a speech pathologist and has been gone from us for probably at least 3 to 4 years. >> Okay. So, yeah. All right. Thank you. She's great. She's a It was a hit to us when she left. Actually. Okay. Thank you very much. Roll call vote. Mrs. Corley? Yes. Mrs. Town? Yes. Miss Payne? Yes. Dr. Holland? Yes. Mr. Warfield? Yes.
023Mrs. Powers? Yes. Yes, motion carries 7-0. Thank you. Thank you very much. Number nine, human resources. This time I would like I would entertain a motion to approve the resolution for the issuance of notice of proposed reclassification of principal Stacy Sollars. Thank you. Second? I'll second. Thank you. Any concerns? Thank you. Roll call vote. Dr. Holland? Yes. Mrs. Town? Yes. Mr. Easton? Yes. >> Mr. Payne? Yes. Mr. Warfield? Yes. >> Mrs. Thornton? Yes. Mrs. Holland? Yes, motion carries 7-0. Um Miss Papst. Elementary steam classroom teacher first reading. Good evening board, Mr. Hart, Mrs. Parker. My name is Kimberly Papst, director of human resources. And tonight as a first reading, we have an elementary steam classroom teacher job application. Again, this is first reading, um and we don't have this job description. That is why we're
024bringing it forward. It's not like we're looking to fill it tomorrow. We have classrooms to fill, but we want the option of having this in our back pocket for when and if that day comes about. So, again, it's simply a first reading. Thank you. Did anyone have any questions about that? >> [laughter] >> Um no, I think I think we're good. Thank you. Thanks. Item number 10, technology summer refresh. Okay, good evening, Mr. Hart, Miss Parker, and board. Uh Annette Hummel, director of technology. So, I'm here this tonight for our 2026 summer refresh. We um worked things a little differently this year. We are only going to replace student Chromebooks. And so, that'll be a total of uh 775 Chromebooks that will be replacing this year. They are going to be moving up to the
02514-in Chromebooks from the 11-in Chromebooks. The uh total cost is $403,911.25 for the total purchase price. This year we um usually do a lease for the 5-year warrant along with the 5-year warranty. This year we're going to actually purchase them because of the cost savings that we have been able to do this year. So, working with Miss Shurex and Mr. Pence, we decided that we would just do a one-time purchase because we have the the money in the Title I money funds to pur- to purchase that. So, this will come all out of total one Title I. Thank you. >> And this will be for the 2026-2027 [clears throat] school year. Thank you. Um could I please have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Thank you. Any questions? What do we do with
026our used [clears throat] Chromebooks? So, after the 5-year uh recycle, we have a we usually can pur- have a buyback purchase. We have a recycling company that will come in and uh look through them. If they're still reasonable, they can they'll buy them from us. Obviously, at a much discounted rate, but >> Right. we get some money back from it. Okay. Any other questions? Is there anything that we're giving up by I as far as like coverage warranty coverage or anything of that nature by leasing or buying them instead of leasing them? No. Okay. We usually just because of the um typically what we do is we'll do also um staff devices and things like that, and that gets thrown into our normal summer refresh, and the cost is usually double what this is now.
027But we we usually do the lease because it's such a high cost. And so, we didn't have that that would be a huge upfront cost for us. Mhm. This year we just have it. We've cut so much out that we could we have the funds in Title to cover everything Okay. >> in my purchase. But we'll still continue to have the 5-year warranty. Okay. And Chromebooks not really worth much after 5 years. So, really they're taking it off our hands to get it recycled [laughter] properly. We do get a little. We get some, but >> or is that fair or is am I wrong? >> Um well, actually the way here lately, we have some schools that go 10 years on Chromebooks. >> Really? Mhm. Around here? Uh smaller districts. >> Okay. Uh used to
028uh some of these smaller districts would buy our Chromebooks after we were done. So, we would use them for the four or five years that we would have them, and then the old schools would use them. So, everybody's trying to cut costs as as much as they can, and so. Any Anyone else? I just wanted to clarify. I believe the memorandum says it's for Southview and KDBA fifth and sixth grade only. Okay. >> So, obviously, that 775 is not going to cover our district. It's only for Yeah, so so what we had done was we had decided um years past that we were separate we were doing what we used to do was we would do this whole summer refresh throughout the whole district. And then what we decided here late in years these past
029few years is we've done it by school. >> Mhm. And we've been looking at the Chromebooks that they're using uh the 11-in um especially. I hear a lot of complaints during testing that they're too small. And the kids are struggle with doing their testing on the smaller Chromebooks. So, we went to the 14-in. Great. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Warfield? Yes. Mrs. Sam? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mrs. Thornton? Yes. Dr. Holland? Yes. Mr. Eastman? Yes. Mrs. Holland? Yes, motion carries 7-0. Thank you for your work. We appreciate it. Item number 11, 2026 Vermilion Advantage membership investment. I would just like this Mr. Hart, but I would just like to take a minute to say that that on behalf of the board, we're excited about new leadership at Vermilion Advantage. Um I know Amy Brown. I know
030she's a go-getter, and I know that uh we hope to build some pretty strong bridges with her between uh our school and and what Vermilion Advantage does. So, we'd like she's not on board yet and won't be for a little bit, but like to welcome her. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> So, I'm here tonight recommending that we continue our membership for um the upcoming year with Vermilion Advantage at a cost of $6,000, and um as Mrs. Halloran said, we have a long-standing relationship with Vermilion Advantage, and um really look forward to strengthening that as we go forward with um Amy Brown at the head. So, I ask your approval. Yes, please. Does that include Oh, you have to I'm sorry. That's okay. Could I have a motion to approve, please? So moved. Second. Thank
031you. Now, Mrs. Does that include the monthly or is it Does that include the magazine? Um Yeah, so that that's uh $6,000 annually, and it does include um the Vermilion Advantage magazine, yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other >> want to clarify it's coming out of uh local funds. That is correct. So, there's no confusion. I love Vermilion Advantage, but when I vote no, it's because of my fiscal concern. That's all. Thank you. I guess I kind of had a question, too, as far as what do we get? What do you feel we get from that? I I know they host happy hours, and that's about all I know. I know that's that's I know they do more than that. They do they they do do >> [snorts] >> They do more than that. That
032is correct. So, um they there's a lot of college and career planning now. There's um they host career fairs, uh workforce development. So, it really is to bridge the gap between school, high school, and the workforce. So, there's a lot of push right now for CTE career and tech ed, and um there does seem to be a lot of focus there, and really trying to um they keep us informed in the needs of the community, and try to match what we're doing at um high school level with what's actually needed in the community as far as workforce. So, helping with that ready for careers component that we're working on, right? >> For sure. It really is my hope that we build a very strong bond when it comes to that. Um we need to find
033out from our industries what they need in our graduating students, and then we are in a better position to help provide that need. So, I'm excited about the future. I think it's going to be good. Anybody else? Roll call vote. Mr. Payne? Yes. Mrs. Thornton? No. Mr. Eastman? No. Mr. Warfield? Yes. Mrs. Sam? Yes. Dr. Holland? Yes. Mrs. Holland? Yes, motion carries five uh to two. Thank you. Thank you very much. Informational items. Good evening board, Mr. Hart, Marquisa Parker, associate superintendent. Um tonight I'm sharing with you some information about the e-learning and snow weather day survey that we Um, so back on February 4th, Mr. Hart administered a district-wide survey in regard to um e-learning snow days, e-learning days compared to traditional snow weather days. And so, um I'm going to highlight a few
034of the responses. I believe in your board package you have um the survey results in their entirety. Um we had a total of 337 responses, which I think is pretty good um response. Um one of the questions I want to highlight was are e-learning days effective in supporting student learning? Um if you look at the strongly agree and agree, um a total of 59.3% say yes. And if you look at the strongly disagree and disagree, 40.7% didn't agree. Um I also wanted to highlight another question. How would you describe student engagement and work completion rates on e-learning days? Um combining significantly lower than on a regular school day and slightly lower than a regular school day was a total of 80.7%. So they didn't see that it was very beneficial than a normal school day.
035Um 0.9% said higher than a regular school day. So um the follow The other question was based on your experience with e-learning, how many of your students are actively engaged? And so um the ranges were 0 to 25%, 26 to 50%, 51 to 75%, and 76 to 100% of student engagement. And what you find on that question is that the overwhelming majority of student engagement would range between 0% and 75% on an e-learning day. Um and then I have a few more questions. Which option do you believe better support student learning, attendance, and well-being? And so um they strongly preferred e-learning days at a percentage of 47.2% even seeing that how they felt on the other responses, I thought that was very interesting. So while student engagement is significantly and slightly lower on those e-learning
036days than on a regular school day, and student engagement is um lower on e-learning days. Um those that responded to this survey strongly preferred e-learning days. So I wanted to highlight that for you tonight. And then lastly, we've been talking about our fall break. Um so for the 26-27 school year, we will have a fall break, but we've had We are having conversations about um should we shorten fall break? Um So we're going to start talking about some of those things and re- reviewing those things moving forward in the upcoming years. That was kind of right at a 50/50. So some people about um 52.2% were um in support of continuing a full week of fall break and finishing possibly in June, while 47.8% were um in support of shortening fall break um to a
037long weekend and potentially finishing the school year in May. So um we are looking at moving forward with a student survey. We held off on that because we were trying to get through our five essentials survey work. Um and so while we hope we are done with snow weather days for this year, um this will definitely impact what we do in the upcoming school year. That's what I have for you tonight. Can I ask a question? Absolutely. Do you think it would be a fair question about fall break if it's an anonymous survey to ask how many staff would call in sick during fall break to attend the festival? I I want I mean really, is that fair to ask them? Um And then maybe measure what that data would look like? I think we
038could. I mean, I think that's kind of what led to fall break in the first place. So I think that is um I cuz if I remember correctly, that's why we started it. Yes. >> It was res- reactionary to that needing of substitute teachers. >> to cover for the absences due to Cover Bridge Festival. And so even if we didn't have a fall break, we would probably still have an extended weekend. So we would look at like maybe a Monday, Friday, or something. So we would make sure that there was an opportunity for the festival. >> [laughter] >> I just wondered if you thought about asking the question, that's all. >> We had not thought about asking that question specifically. >> interested in the data, that's all. So that's all I have for tonight. [laughter]
039Thank you, Mrs. Klein. Thank you. Appreciate it. Superintendent comments, Mr. Hart. Yes. Okay, so I have kind of a lengthy comment that I would like to make tonight. I know that we alluded to and talked around and talked directly at. So um financially where we are as a district, I think it's important that the community knows and um the staff know as well. So I will start there. So our district's entering a period of financial adjustment, and it's important that we acknowledge the situation while remaining focused on stability and student success. While these challenges are real real, they are manageable if we work together and make thoughtful, responsible decisions. After many years of relatively financial stability, we are now facing reduced or underfunded categorical reimbursements, meaning more costs that shifts back to local funds. We're
040currently reviewing tangible items and operational spending, not staff reductions. Um because we recognize the value in the impact of every employee in this district, that will be the last item that we look at. Um we have expected retirements next year that will provide an opportunity to plan strategically without disrupting student learning or school operations. To protect essential services, we will need to be more cautious with our spending and move certain materials and operational expenses out of grants and reallocating allowable salaries and support services into grant funding wherever appropriate. With the rising cost of health insurance, um it puts pressure on our budget, and we must address that as well in our planning. We need to reevaluate our textbook adoption schedule, our technology adoption schedule, which we did tonight. Typically our refreshes a little over $900,000.
041So we are looking We are putting those things into grants. Um again, we have to look at the life cycle of those things as well. So we are as well as are aware of that. These changes will require careful planning and collaboration so that we can preserve high-quality instruction and maintain strong support for students. A comprehensive financial plan, including recommendations and cost containment strategies, will be developed and presented at an upcoming board meeting. We ask for the support and understanding and partnership of all staff as we move through this process together to protect what matters most, ensuring all District 118 students reach their fullest potential. Thank you. Any other comments? I have two, but I would like to do part and then I'll jump in and out. Okay. I'll do a half of them and
042then I'll jump back in. Okay. Mr. Easton. I've been carrying around what I wanted to talk about in my pocket for like 4 days. I It's handwritten and I crossed out some things. So I'm just going to read it to you. Uh thank you, Mr. Hart, for that. Um ensuring all district students in District 118 reach their full potential is is on the wall over there. And spelled right and everything. So that's great. Our um our financial status uh from a cash flow standpoint, I think it's important that the public know. Um it's not hyperbole. It's not me being Chicken Little. It's the worst of any school district in this entire state. Um 849 schools are in this school district. A report uh that you can look at on the Illinois State Board of Education's
043website from October had 15 schools out of those 849 with less than 60 days of cash on hand. We have 27. You can look it up in the board packet tonight, look it up online to see. We're expected to have 27 when we close this fiscal year. We're supposed to have like 190. We're not going to have what we had on October of this year, which was 107 days, until I'm running for re-election in 3 years. It's going to take that long for us to catch up back to 107 days of cash on hand that we had just in October because the only way we get cash on hand is by not spending local tax dollars. All of our grant funding has to be spent basically in the year we get it. It's a very
044difficult thing. When I was elected, I promised to serve with honesty and report back to you what I see. And uh uh I see that we as a district are spending too much money. Specifically, in tonight's board packet, I encourage you to look at the budget line number 80, the tort budget. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Right now, if we were lucky, we're going to be $100,000 over our budget. Um we've already spent more than 75% of what we budgeted. I personally believe and have told some of the board members here tonight and definitely have told Mr. Hart that we as a board need to completely reconsider every single dollar that we're spending out of the tort budget. Um and we have things that we could do as a board to make that stop
045bleeding. I think we should do that because the things that we're using that tort budget, in my opinion, do not match what is written on that wall over there at all. It doesn't increase our district's financial standing and I don't believe it helps students and I think we need to stop the bleeding out of budget number 80, the tort budget. Of course, can't talk about too much in there because, you know, it's all confidential, closed meeting stuff, but I can mention the part that you can see uh that we're bleeding out of that budget currently. Um everything that you see, districts school districts doing that are in financial crisis, everything that you see school districts doing that are in financial crisis in Illinois and across the country, in the next 3 years, we're likely going
046to have to decide on if we need to do those things as well. Um so like I said earlier, for many advantages a great thing. I love it. A lot of great things that we love, we're going to need to reconsider. I don't actually believe our cash flow will be resolved until the mid-2030s. That's how dire of a circumstance this is. And it's not, again, because of me trying to say sky is falling or being pessimistic, but our tax base, where we get cash flow from, is not increasing. It might be going up, but it's not increasing. It's not going up fast enough for us to overcome. So, our students are important. We're still going to be able to spend a lot of money to help students. The great thing is, we only raise about
047$21 million locally and we spend in the 80s, 80 million. So, we're still going to do great things for students, but it's only going to be in ways that the state gives us title funding for that we have any sort of flexibility. And we'll have to be really careful in the days ahead. I know the board's cut out for it. I know Mr. Hart is, Ms. Parker. We have a great team. Um and I hope I don't sound like Chicken Little. I don't want to be a naysayer or negative, but I do think it's important that we're honest with each other. That's all for me. Thank you. Dr. Halloran? I have nothing else. Thank you. Ms. Payne? Um I hope everyone enjoyed spring break. We're on our final uh leap till the end of the
048school year. And I'm hoping that it will be in on a very positive note. And I'm looking forward to going to Kenneth Bailey's uh ceremonies. I went there last year and it was just quite delightful. Thank you. Chief? Um I just want to say welcome back. Um I hope everyone is also refreshed from spring break. Um I'll tell you I was in Southview on Monday after spring break and I could absolutely feel that everyone had a much-needed rest. Students, teachers as well, so I really enjoyed that that positivity from all sides of that. I hope we continue to carry that through the rest of the year and we finish the year strong. Um also, I'm excited to see some of the spring sports starting, uh specifically DHS baseball cuz my son gets to play, so
049shoutout to him. Um absolutely looking forward to the coaching. Um we've got a good coaching staff there, I think. Um a lot of students who want to work hard, play hard and hopefully we'll learn and develop through the years, so. Thank you. Ms. Tang? Um uh just to mention spring break. Um I hope you guys all had a great spring break. Um this was probably my first spring break in 9 or 10 years that I it wasn't dictated by girls soccer high school schedule. Um sometimes we could go for 3 or 4 days and sometimes um we had less than that, sometimes we had more. But anyway, I was actually thinking why I didn't get to go to the um performance in town, which was that Dancing with the Stars, and my oldest daughter reminded
050me, she said, "Because you were always at St. Teresa tournament." And thank goodness I have someone young in my family with a good memory. So, um with that, I just want to say go out and support all the spring sports when it's a nice day. Um there's there's a lot of um teams out there that would love to have a few people clapping on the sidelines for them. And um it you can get a few rays of sunshine and um encourage our our kids that are working outside of the classroom cuz they they do both. They work inside and outside. Thank you. Ms. Corley? And um look look at me jumping right in front of Ms. Corley. All right. All right. So, I do want to take a a second and share my condolences to
051the family of Richard Jones. Richard was um well, he passed away on March 20th. He's a custodian at Danville High School for 22 years and has been a valuable um asset to our district family. I would also like to take a moment and acknowledge the passing of Reg Weaver. Did not know Reg Weaver, but I learned something today. Um he was a Danville alumni who passed away yesterday. Uh lifelong champion for educators, served as president of the IEA from 1981 to 1987 and later the president of the National Education Association from 2002 to 2008. His leadership helped secure and strengthen collective bargaining rights for teachers across Illinois. Throughout his life, he remained a steadfast supporter of Danville educators and always made himself available to offer guidance and encouragement. So, just want to extend our sincere
052condolences to the family and friends of Reg Weaver. One other thing, I would like to give a shoutout to Mr. Bretts. Um he was selected and received an an award of special recognition from the Illinois State Board of Education. Those who received the award of special recognition are valued members of the school community, have been recognized by their colleagues, students, families, and administrators for their skills, passion, and talents they bring to the school community. Congratulations, Mr. Bretts. And thank you. [applause] I want to thank Mr. Easton for his transparency and his comments. They are hard to hear and it's a very difficult task that we all have in in front of us. I do believe that our administrative team is one of the best ever. Um I've seen how hard that you guys all work.
053And I do know what you guys are having to do to to make all this happen. Um I have full confidence in this board, but like I said, it's hard. This is a very hard time that we are in and none of us want to say it, so thank you, Mr. Easton, uh for being transparent and just keeping the community updated. But I fully believe in this team, so Thank you. And I echo that. She said exactly what I was thinking. We have a good team. We have good administration. And we recognize that we're going to have to do hard things, but I think all of you do as well. And uh you're part of the team. You're part of who we are and and what we want our district to be. So, I thank
054you for that. Um we will get through this and uh we'll come out stronger and better. So, um I'm I have a lot of confidence in you, Mr. Hart. Um Ms. Zetta, thank you for the fruit trays she provided um introducing us to some interesting uh I won't tell you who among us tried them and who didn't. I tried. Um it was an was for a school, Ms. Zetta, right? It's the fresh fruit and vegetables, so all the schools um gets to participate in it through a grant. Oh, okay. All right. Do you want to mention what was on that little fruit tray? I can There were gooseberries, tamarind, which is very close to like a date, and I think we had strawberries. And pears? >> And pears. Yes, yes. Thank you. Well, when I
055sat down at my seat, I saw the tamara, whatever, but I didn't read the thing first, so the first thing I did was bite into it, which was not something you should do. But honestly, it looked like something my dog left in the yard. Um it it didn't taste like that. So, but thank you for the experience. I may I'm anxious to hear what the kids think about it. Uh it's a it's a great way to introduce them to some things. So, moving on. Uh I Echo, please go support our kids in sports and music and all the things that we have going on. Our kids are busy kids. And so, please go support them. Um I appreciate that. Uh next Wednesday, uh it we will have a meeting for discipline. Um and there will
056be a musical concert cabaret for the last chance to see to see our show choirs perform on stage. So, uh thank you. Thank you for coming. We appreciate it. And meeting is adjourned. Thank you. 4:30.