001football because I buy the season pass with the parking every year or I had >> um I for >> he said yeah we need to do this I'm like we >> I will but I'm and I'm sorry don't listen. >> I said I got some burn >> Oh my god. >> It's what? But luckily just like I said, >> I'd like to bring the meeting to order and ask that role be Beron >> here. >> Feldman >> here. >> Paul >> here. >> Holouser >> here. >> Tyra >> here. >> Yeah. >> Here. >> I'd like to ask that everyone stand als for all. Hang on a second. You can start to sauna up there. >> At this time, I want to uh defer to uh that call for a minute just to uh make
002a couple comments. Tom, thank you. Uh last week uh we here at in the DNA community lost an important volunteer by the name of Megimine. Uh Meg uh gave years and years of volunteer service uh to this district about 15 years of which running concessions long after her kids were out of school. Uh she passed away suddenly and uh will be missed. Uh I'd ask that everyone join us in a moment of silence in memory of May Angel. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Nick. The board will now move on. Actually, now I'd like to go to public participation portion of the meeting. Dr. Dearman will begin with superintendent report. Dr. Dearman. >> Yes, sir. Uh, first time I have foyer requests. We've received three foyer requests since our last meeting and Mr. McKenzie has
003completed all of those requests. Uh, those who excel awards. I'd like to congratulate several members of our staff who have been recognized for their exceptional contributions to education through the Illinois State Board of Education's Those Who Excel Awards. Assistant Director of Student Services, Ameilian Miller. She has been selected to receive the award of special recognition. This honor is presented to valued members of the school community who are recognized by colleagues, students, families, and administrators for their distinctive skills, passion, and talents they bring to their work. Amelia Amelia's dedication to supporting students, families, and staff across our district reflects the very essence of this award. In addition, curriculum coordinator Hannah Dutton and Dunlap High School math teacher Sarah Charles have been named recipients of the award of m meritorious service educators who received the distinction who
004have gone above and beyond service to their school communities. They are uh experienced professionals who assume leadership responsibilities, elevate instructional practice and uplift the culture of learning within their schools. Hannah and Sarah exemplify these qualities through their instructional leadership, collaborative spirit, and steadfast commitment to our student achievement. Each of these individuals will be recognized at a statewide banquet in May for their accomplishments, selected from hundreds of nominations across the state. Again, congratulations and welldeserved recognition. Uh we had career and technical fair at Dunlap High School. Uh last week DLA High School held at this uh career technical fair for our students. Thank you for all the local businesses who attended and to our guidance counselors who organized this event, especially Mrs. Love. This event was a huge success with a great student turnout. The Electrifiers
005Robotics team. This past weekend, the electrifiers robotics team composed of students from DVMS and DMS completed the 2026 LL state competition in Elgen, Illinois among 56 elite teams, representing the top 12% statewide. The Electrifiers delivered an exceptional performance, earning fifth place overall in the state and winning first place in robot design. With this success, the team advanced to the World Invitational Championships where they will compete against more than 100 teams from over 30 countries. This accomplishment highlights the extraordinary talents of our students who will proudly represent Dunlap schools on an international level. We also have some feedback regarding the superintendent search. Um, in conversation with the consultant, there have been over 1,000 responses to the survey um that went out. Uh, they are very happy with that number. They will be continue to be collected
006through the end of the month. They will put together a summary report for March and in April will come to finalize the salary range and advertisement for the posting. Construction update. I will defer to Dr. Adrian for construction update. Yeah. So, construction is going uh pretty well. Obviously, we got froze out for two or 3 weeks there. Uh, understandably, no one went to work in singledigit temperatures out there without a windbreak and so forth. But since that the temperatures have broke, the steel guys have really made some progress. They've moved and you probably noticed they focused they refocused their attention from putting the actual panel up on the sides to the shorter area, the decking that will be enclosed hopefully here pretty soon. It's going to have a roof on it by the end of
007next week, an actual membrane that keeps it watertight, and they'll be able to start knocking out all the interior roofs. Uh, but so far, it's it's been great. They keep a really clean job site. They've been super communicative, and the thing I like about them, there's very few mistakes that have been made, but they're quick to accept accountability form. That's Estus. And uh ratio is our arch I'm sorry um Vantage is our architect on this project and if you recall they kind of work together with Estus and the what's called an RFI request for information. They come back from the people in the field to the architects. There's been very few because they've been extremely thorough on every little detailed aspect of that building. So I got the opportunity to take uh Mrs. Casette and
008Mrs. Ellis in the building today. I think you think it's big from the outside, but as Micah and Houston would attest, they went through it last Friday. It is much, much larger when you're a small person in that large building. So, the scale of it is it's pretty impressive when you're inside. So, uh we're still looking to get in that before the school year starts next year. Um once the panels get on, it'll slow like anything else, you know, because a lot of interior work to be done. But super, uh I wouldn't say excited, but very pleased with how things have worked with Estus Advantage. on the next project with uh the new Wilder weight building bid. Uh specs went out two weeks ago. We have a free bid meeting made tomorrow in this room
009at 10 o'clock. Uh lots of questions. You know, when you have a $44 million building that's, you know, 86,000 square ft or 80,000 square feet. There's a lot of questions, a lot of detail. So, already a lot of questions on that. I told Dr. I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of communication that's been back and forth with different information. So hopefully we'll answer a lot of those questions tomorrow during the pre- bid meeting and then bid openings for that are March 12th. So we'll know a lot more then about how the prices come in and so forth. And then we'll work together with them to work through all the different types of bids and bid packages and and come up with some actual firm cost in that project. But overall very busy still
010very busy coming out of the winter months getting ready for the spring maintenance. And as you know as soon as it's warm all the spring sports are outside. So, we're trying to get all those fields maintained and ready to go. Even though it's, you know, middle of February, it sounds crazy, but we're getting a lot of that work done now. >> All right. My last item, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Ellis, who will then introduce Mrs. Wooden and our guest of honor, who is perking up. Yeah. >> Hi. And for our district spotlight this month, we wanted to focus on one of the most unique elements of some of our elementary schools, and that is our facility dogs. Uh we have three facility dogs placed throughout our district. The first of which is Teddy, who
011um came to us when I was still principled on that grade in 2018. Um we worked with Paw Giving Independence or PGI to certify them and keep up with their certification. Teddy still goes to classes and goes through his liability training and all of that fun stuff. Um, but most recently, Gabby um came into the home of Mrs. Wooden, and I just asked her to give us a little update on what Gabby uh does and how she benefits our staff and students at Hickory Grove. >> Great. Thank you. Um, I want to take a second to introduce this is Gabby, or if she's in trouble, you'll hear us call her Gabriella Rose because she does um sometimes get in trouble at work. Um, she's a 2-year-old golden retriever. Um, and she, like Mrs. Ellis said
012she joined us from PGI. So last May I had reached out to PGI to see if they had any facility dogs that were ready. And so they paired us together and we trained together for about 6 months. And through that training we would go out into public places. Um, we went to the fire station. We went to Wheels of Time Museum. We go to Hi Ve just to get her um more practice with people approaching her and how to act. And then in November, we both graduated. So, um, she's been a certified dog since November. And, um, even though we've graduated, we still go back for training. So, we just went from going once a month or no, once a week for two hours. Now, we just go once a month for um, an hour
013to keep up on that training that we need. Um, and like we said, Gabby is a facility dog. So that's different than a service dog or a therapy dog because um, they're very specifically trained. A service dog is trained for a specific student or person with specific needs, whereas Gabby is trained to work with all all sorts of students and um, in various locations. And really, I tell the students that her main job is just to keep everybody happy. So, um, what that looks like in the classroom is, um, she offers comfort and support. You might see her, um, in a classroom on a math test day. Um, she was in my office during KAT testing. Um, and it's fun just to see kids just put their hand down as as she walks by. Um,
014she also does, um, sit in on some counseling sessions if she's needed there. Um, she boosts the confidence. One of my favorite parts of the day is when she I have a friend who comes and reads to her. Um, and Gabby is a judgment free zone. So, she does not care if you mispronounce a word. She doesn't care if you don't if you skip a sentence. Um, she she just sits there and listens and but that student is practicing their reading skills. So, building that confidence in him. Um, we do take safety very seriously. So, we reached out to all the families at the beginning of the year with students who had listed allergies just so that we could um be prepared on how to address that with them and get medical plans if needed.
015Um we keep up on her hygiene. I think she is probably the most brushed dog in the area because there's always somebody sitting on the floor brushing her. Um we keep up with her grooming, all of the vet um the needs that she has there. We keep up with that as well and we have procedures in place for students who don't want to see Gabby or are afraid. We we make accommodations for that as well. Um the great part is the cost of Gabby for the district is completely free um through PGI. She was donated. So the dog herself was free of charge. Um our PTO at Hickory Grove has graciously um given us some money to cover her vet bills. Um but ultimately she is Chip and I knife's responsibility. So um we cover
016any of the bills that come up. We cover her grooming, her food. Um something we don't provide is the toys and treats because she has a plethora of those in my office, more than any dog needs. So um our families have really embraced her and given her all the things, even the ridiculous things that we wouldn't think that we would need. But um I just included some of Gabby's stats just so you see how she is utilized at Hickory Grove from classroom visits to classroom rewards. Um yes, we do have students that come in on a regular basis just for their cuddle break. Um and those are all the the ways that she helps our kiddos. You can keep up to date with Gabby if on her monthly newsletter that is attached to the Hickory
017Grove newsletter each month and it shows what she did that month. like this will probably be in her showcase for February. Um, and then the other part of it is just information on facility dogs and dogs in general, but the second page is probably what everybody really enjoys. And those are the snapshot pictures. And here's a few that um are included in those. But I just want everybody to notice that in those pictures, like everybody is always smiling. Like it is impossible to walk by her and not light up. So, we've really really enjoyed having her. I just want to thank you guys for allowing us to do that. >> Great job, GUYS. OKAY. All right. At this time, we'll move on to public comments. Is there anyone who wishes to address the board? If
018so, please raise your hand. Gotti, I think you're it. Come on up. Want to read something while you make your way. Before addressing the board, I would like to remind you of our process per board policy 2-230. We ask that when addressing the board, please identify yourself and be brief. Comment shall be limited to 5 minutes. Speaker is asked to conduct themselves with respect to ability towards others. Individuals board typically does not engage in two-way conversations during public portion of the meeting. Any followup response to be addressed by administration at a later date. Be respectful of others. Protect confidentiality. Complaints against individual staff members board members either named or unnamed shall not be orally presented to the board of education. Such complaints should be put in writing, signed by the person or persons making the
019charges and delivered to the board of education secretary. And this is Strickler and she's with the League of Women Voters. Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. That was a heartache to follow. I'm Donnie Strickler, as he said, representing the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria. For the last couple of years, you may have noticed I've been observing your schoolboard meetings and writing a brief report which is published in the local paper, the community word, and in our organization's newsletter. I'm truly enjoying this experience. The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots, all volunteer, member-driven organization working to protect and expand voting rights and voter participation and to encourage informed and active participation in government. Any person 16 or older, regardless of gender, may join. Tonight I am here to thank all who
020assisted and participated in the mock election at Dunlap High School on February 6th. It was a great success. Elizabeth Ganon, Fury County Election Commissioner, and Zach Robertson from the office helped organize the event and printed ballots as though the students lived at the high school. All juniors and seniors were eligible to vote in the mock election. We wish to commend the DNA high school principal and teacher Ty Martin who helped league members Ralph Parks and Jana Sephage with the election and thanks to Tom Feldman for attending. In addition, 30 league members and friends volunteered to help among them deputy registars. 88 students who will be 18 by November 3rd, 2026 registered to vote in the March 17th primary and the November 3rd general election. A total of 164 students participated in the mock election. It's
021our belief that a mock election is a great learning experience for young people. We are grateful that the that Dunlap offered the their students this opportunity. What better way to help them understand the voting process and how our democracy works? >> Thank you. >> Okay, I don't think I saw any other hands. Okay, this concludes the public participation portion of the meeting. The board will now move on to the information discussion items. School activity reports have been included in board packing during discussion. Information regarding the destruction of close session audio has been included in the board packet. Is there any discussion? Information regarding the Dunlap Valley no school cell phone tower lease renewal has been included in the packet. Is there any discussion? I I have a couple questions about this for discussion. Um I
022mean maybe one maybe someone can kind of give a little just back fill it a little bit before I >> Dr. Adri is taking the lead on this. So doc if you would kind of give us some background on it. >> Summer projects. >> No cell tower. >> Oh yeah. So I was us contacted out of the blue um Fort Christian I believe it was >> with the company and they said hey we're interested in leasing the rights to your to the cell tower we've had the rights in the past we no longer offer a cellular service we just focus on the tower service and they shot us that first offer you saw the board vacuum and it was uh just kind of off guard I thought it didn't make sense when you looked at
023the long-term cost was uh not even equivalent to the monthly cost so took Dr. Herman and Mr. kid and they said just shoot him back another thing. Say one other offer and they said well what do you want? I'm like well I'm not really in the the role of negotiating my initial term for that but just make it another offer. I'll take it aboard and that's kind of where that's at. Uh it came back within probably 12 hours and this was late the afternoon I talked to her. It came back the next morning. So I'm not sure how much thought is really give to that. Not sure how much quote meat is left on the bone with that, but it's something that you guys need to look at and consider. And if you're serious about
024it, maybe we take it to our attorney and have them uh do a little research on what those riddle or lease rights are going for because I do think there's more to it than that. >> Yeah. So, >> I mean, I don't think it would be in our interest. I'm not trying to well I guess I didn't make a recommendation not to sign a 100 years lease or because you know your obligation that the future board we have no idea what we're going to do with that property but maybe something in the 25 year range or 20 year range give us time make it a little bit more fiscally responsible or best for us >> when is the lease offer due >> oh I don't even know that currently >> I don't know that would
025be the question >> when's the lease yourself on the cell phone tower. I thought it was Christmas. >> Oh, it No, it's it's the 27 27th >> December. Yeah, December 30 30th or 31st of the 27th. So, they got some time. They're going to try to get out ahead because they got a lot of these that are turned over. So, we I don't know if we're going to be in the landmark case for it and kind of test the waters, but we're one of the first ones, I believe. You know, I just think that uh and if we if we don't do anything and it it lapses, then they're on our property basically. Is that right? >> Yeah. So, um you know, the other thing that struck me out of it, it's good to know
026we've got a little bit of time to think it through was just Yeah. I I thought the the proposals were a little outlandish just in terms of the the time, >> right? So, I mean, no one's gonna sign off on anything up here for a hundred years, I don't think. I mean, that seems strikes me as crazy. >> Yeah. >> So, um All right. Well, I think Does anyone else did anyone else read it? I mean, did anyone else buy? >> My my question to you maybe Scott and Sorry, I haven't had time to look at Would you be able to um send a copy of the current lease agreement so we could take a look at that? I don't think that was in the packet, but I think I think what you said is
027exactly spot on. We need to do research on this because just a quick what's the normal in the US market for a cell phone tower initial terms 5 to 10 years with five automatic renewals or renewals. You're absolutely right. When you get into long leases like that, especially when it's an income lease to us, that's only benefiting them and I'm sure it's very much benefiting them. So is would that be okay if you would if I could take a look at that and see Brad? >> Yeah. And some are like Mr. Din would do if the longer you wait maybe the better position you're in uh because then you're probably linking a network together. >> I don't know. I mean I would not negotiate. >> You got you have to research that again to see
028what what or if you wait too long then >> Yes. True. >> There there it goes both ways. Yeah. >> But yeah, I'd be willing to take a look at that and see what >> But just the way they came back so quickly with the double offer kind you're 100% you're right on. Is there um are they in our way now? I mean, do we >> No, it's not business as usual. They maintain it. They do a good job maintaining it. It's it's just an information item. We don't have any action next month. >> Consider it. You can advise us to talk to Jay. Maybe do some research on what's going on in the area on that. But >> I'd say Teresa take a look at it. Totally. >> What I do? >> Yeah. She's
029the real estate person. >> Sure. on the other hand. Go for it. >> Well, if you could if you could go back and they could double it again and then next month we'll send you back want to double it again. I mean >> I was just going to say I didn't know what this market is like. Like are there other suitors out there eating potentially? >> Oh probably there may be. Yeah, >> that's something to consider. >> Maybe not a 100redy year lease could catch. Yeah, like I Yeah, like I said, it kind of came out of the blue >> that would not benefit us, >> but definitely worth exploring the program. Like I said, if you're not in a hurry to do this. >> Yeah. Okay, great. Uh information regarding the 2026 2027 student
030handbooks has been included in the board packet. Is there any discussion? Tom, I one comment I think just on the high school that I was pleased to see in there and and like >> I don't know if this came from a suggestion from from other boards uh in other parts of the state. Uh the uh meta glasses that are available now that can record. Okay. Um, not only do do I not sell them, I don't let my staff wear them because Illinois has a very intense um statute regarding uh easedropping and and the fact that you uh that you can have it shut off uh but the person who you're talking to doesn't know whether it shut off. You sound like there's a flashing red light. So, I was glad to see that that was
031in here that that keep those things out because I think people being recorded uh and you not know you're being recorded is is is a is an unfortunate side effect of of that technology. >> Has that is that presented, kid? >> Yeah, that's that's exactly why we put it in there. We've seen more students with them. A lot of them like that Christmas. Um but our biggest concern is bad. So and not knowing if there push the button to record or not. Obviously cheating and things like that. >> Well, yeah, that's technically you could you could touch it and just show it the work you're working on and ask it to solve the problem and it can solve the problem and talk right into your ear. >> There's even like a picture within a picture.
032Correct. >> That's like Star Wars. Um, and thanks to anyone up here at the table that participated in some of the handbook discussions. Um, so we'll bring that back next month to finalize. All right. Next, Dr. Adrian, this is this is it right here, will present information regarding the 2026 summer projects. Okay. So, the goal in mind is what we talked about last fall uh and Dr. Dearman's um I guess approach to sell more bond than we than we possibly needed for a while to get some money in reserves for some of these capital projects and the infrastructure because we do have some serious infrastructure state concerns but issues that we're going to have to battle here in the future. And the first thing on the list was the HVAC system here at the high
033school. We'll talk a little bit later about that in the uh in the action items, but they're on this list as well. And I want you to point out something that's going to be a little bit different on this list than what was last month. We pulled the Hickory Grove boiler out of that proposal from last month. And we elected to pay for that out of a capital fund that we have set aside for capital projects that go arrive during the school year. Okay. So, if you recall, most of the countywide sales tax money that we get every month goes to pay the bonds on that battle and we reserve a portion of that for capital projects just like this. So, in order to buffer that or soften that blow a little bit from the
034HF project, we elected, we talked about it with Dr. Darman and Mike McKenzie said it probably be a good time of year since we are in February. I don't want to say we're out of the woods, but we're a good portion of the way out of the woods. And now that we've got that money in that that's been budgeted, we elected to move forward with it out of that. So, that's why it's a little bit different if you if you guys are paying attention to that. Um, and it's like always that the the high school is the the largest building in the district by far. it's going to have more more of the issues and then all the add-ons that we've had over the past 20 years that cause issues. So, that's where you see
035a lot of it. But, you can see that is on there. Tuck point on the west side of the building. That's basically around the swimming pool. Any of these projects I'm happy to walk you through, too. Uh the rooftops again, we applied for and received the school maintenance project grant. So, $50,000 will be geared towards that. You had to write it specific towards where you're going to spend it on those on the rooftops. Uh DHS again part of a 10-year plan to maintain our pavement across the district. It's going to get a large portion of that out front here by the uh speed bumps and kind of by the four-way stop. Is going to get some remill done there for $46,000. We're going to replace the windows here in Mr. Cornish's room. Replace the glass
036in them and not replace the frames. Um can't see out of those because they condensate and then they freeze. So it's an issue there. Um, baseball bullpen. So, this is something that came from Mr. Holmes and his athletic planning meetings. Uh, the bullpens at the baseball softball field are an issue. If you've been to baseball softball games, the stands are alongside the the third base and first base line. That's also where our bullpens are. So, you've got guys warming up and you got people sitting in chairs with them playing catch there. And I don't care how good a catch and thrower you are, there's always a risk of those balls coming through. So, this is clearly an easy one for me, a safety issue. Uh, but those would be bullpens that would have 10 foot
037back stops behind them and then 4ft side rails so we can get the gate to get into them and and then the ground be excavated so it'll be flat. If they want to do portable pitching mounts in there, that's up to the program to do that. But these are clear safety items for that. Uh, tennis courts, unfortunately, this one popped up just recently. I know we did some significant repair on those two years ago, about $100,000. Those repairs are holding up. Unfortunately, the pavement itself is not holding up. We went out there and looked at that last week with one of our engineers and some of the cracks in the pavement are as wide as your thumb and they're all new cracks and you guys know how pavement works. It's not done thawing yet. So,
038this was during the freeze obviously things. So, we're little concerned of how that's going to look in May when things do settle down. So, we just budgeted in $15,000 based on our past experience with repairs and not reservicing. Uh there replaced the sound system in the stadium. So, this is one of those things where you get between 30 and $40,000 or 30 and 40,000 people each fall conservatively out on the football field for different things. And one of my pet peeves is it's funny how sound systems work. Unless they're personal to you, you have people involved, it's not a big deal. But as soon as you can't hear your senior get their senior award, or if you're a grandparent, you can't hear your son making a tackle or you don't get to hear something that's
039specific to you, it's not that big a deal. You hear the the the speaker going off, but right now it's honestly there are some components of of it that are salvageable and good and nice honestly, but the actual amps and the speakers, it's just something we're always battling. I mean, even when it was new, we were constantly out there fixing things. So, it's a tough climate to be for electronics to be consistent in. So, you have to constantly maintain them. So, we've got a few ballparks on that, but it really depends upon what vendor you talk to and how much you're replacing. But, that's budgeted at 15,000 or sorry, $50,000. Uh, DMS, it's the final step of the hallway carpeting that we did a few years ago. We almost all of it carpeted except the
040hallway down by the locker room and the gym. And if you looked at the state of those floors, uh they absolutely 100% need carpet in those or something uh new and that's probably our best alternative at this time. Um and then this is another thing, a multi multi-year project, the existing fence. We've had to do some repairs on that with electrical also uh at grade school. I'm sorry about that. Um, and that's really going to make it consistent with the one that's just across from the the fieldhouse. That'll that'll be nice and it'll be safer. It'll be a problem, I wouldn't think, on that. Um, and then we have a southeast door. The interesting thing about that southeast door, the new ramp we put in, we broke out that ramp and and the uh threshold,
041it was hollow underneath that and then there were steam pipes going underneath it. A really weird design, which they did, you know, literally 80 years ago. Well, when we we did that that landing correctly, we poured 8 in of concrete there to hold everything. Well, now that that door doesn't get steam or heat from the from the below. So, it's kind of a one of those things where that door entirely frosted. We've had a couple different doors come in, look at that, and there's like there's really nothing you can do about it. When it's cold, it frosts completely shut and you can't see out of it. So, that's replacing that door. Um, and then they get the engine in wood fiber. We're trying to keep those playgrounds up to date because as you recall our
042uh our relationship with the department of justice civil rights we need to maintain those with engineering wood fiber. So that's what you're going to see on the four playgrounds that we maintain up to speed valley middle school. This is something Mr. Hess has been asking for for at least I would say 18 months but their intercom system is inconsistent. goes down quite frequently and you need to be able to page for all cir all circumstances but particularly in uh in type any type of emergency situation. So that's critical. We've been lucky to to that our vendor has robbed and borrowed and bought parts off eBay and so forth different types of things to get parts for that system. So that's a budgeted item. I think we're going to be well under that if that's budgeted.
043Uh the big expense for valley is the parking lot rem that really was down on our tier of succession for I think two or three years but the amount of use that dumb valley gets and the circle they run in the park it it unfortunately deteriorated quicker than myself and engineers could predict and if you think about valley it's got all the water that comes down in there so I guess maybe we could have predicted that but that will be a remill of the entire lot and patching the areas of the entryway and around the ring road, so to speak. Um, and then this is another item that came off the the 5-year situation for the athletics, but they needed band cage down there would serve both baseball and softball. Uh, we've got a location
044found or spotted down there and marked out. So, that's your cost of $10,000. Banner, not much is going on there. Uh, just engineered wood fiber. Same thing at Hickory Grove because we moved that boiler off of that. We hope to get that done before July 1st. Uh nothing for a while waiting. I mean, could it use some? Of course it could, but we know we've got there's life in the tunnel for that building. And then please don't don't think that there's still not maintenance. There's always maintenance going on. These are just some of the bigger items. uh district, we maintain and we try to budget and allowance for pavement maintenance, whether it be a crack sidewalk that happens between now and then or it's a parking lot, they need steel to strike, anything like that
045where last year we actually used that for uh we got into the Dunlap grade project in the back lot and the I think it was 16 or $17,000 of base had to be hauled out and and replaced that wasn't anticipated for. So that's a budget item. It's one of those big projects. A lot can go wrong. uh at the deck. If you look at the deck from ' 91, you can see the exterior of the southwest corner of the building is in need of repair. This has been put off for a couple years now, but it's already been approved under Health Safety. So, that's a project that we need to to keep. We plan on using the DAC. Uh the DAC restroom flooring, it's one of those things that absolutely have to be replaced. Um
046and that's a pretty fair price on doing those, but you're welcome to come look at those. Um, and then we also budgeted $10,000 a summer to replace uh window units for different buildings, mostly while we're waiting those are pretty expensive, but we replace a fair number of those each year. In fact, we just we have one left from for last summer. So, we do go through those. Um, roofing maintenance. This is something again, I don't think it will be this number. I think it will be closer around 30, but again, you you never know how that's going to go because we do have a lot of roofs. Uh district floor, gym floor, all the gym floors that are wooden get resealed, replenished. As you guys know, as parents, uh your kids have been in those
047gyms wearing those gym floors out and then they're used during PE and the kids don't change shoes anymore like I used to when I was a kid. Uh so they get beat up pretty good and as soon as they get slick, they become a hazard. uh athletic field turf maintenance. So, this is another number that not everybody likes, but it's really what it takes to keep our athletic fields at our grass up to par. I think that's a really solid number. We worked on it and we got it down from We don't do all the services every year, but we do most of the services. And then we've also added to that a basic fourstep treatment for Dunlap Valley baseball and softball outfield because uh it's always a concern that they they do get overrun
048with weeds um very easily detected. This next item is the inner projects but it's some things that you know the district's going to be responsible for when the fieldhouse is complete. a scrubber, a sweeper, an ice machine, furniture, and that in the that conference rooms and so forth, an upright cooler. I'm sure there's going to be specific athletic things going needed, but just as far as facilities, these are going to needed to maintain that. I mean, it's 56,000 square ft. It's a large building. It's going to need equipment to do that. Uh, we need to replace our mower. There's the cost for that. that takes care of all of our athletic fields and also does some of the fronts of our schools when it's we have a parent teacher diet or something and the the
049contractors aren't there that week go through and cut some of those make it look nice for our school. Um and then mulch in the district all of our trees and and flower beds. Oh, the UTV we have a John Deere R gator that we use. It's over 30 years old. Brad, our mechanic is a mass mechanic. He maintains it as best he can, but they need something more reliable. So, we were thinking we would move the current Ranger they have for athletics down to uh down to the maintenance for fields and then get a different one for the athletics for this one is nicer because it's not more expensive. It just has the back seat laid down so you can get an athlete on the field if you need to. And if you recall, if
050you've been involved in soccer at all or baseball, that that vehicle is going back and forth to soccer, up through the trails, up to tennis, up to volleyball, up to football on nights with multiple games going on. So they need something to get back and forth that's reliable. And then obviously we always budget a little bit for paint. Say a little bit, it's quite a bit, but we do a lot of painting in the summer that's not contracted paint. You've seen the last several summers we've hired contract paint out. We're not doing that this year. This is just for our little tap crew that we have in house that goes around and does those things. They're bleeding paint and then tools that are required for up grounds and facilities. Lot there, but I think it's
051been pretty frugal. There's a bunch of larger ones in there you've seen uh marked off that were pending, but honestly, we can spend a lot more. We've tried to be pretty prudent with this stuff. >> All right, let me ask a couple comments. I'll see if anyone else wants to jump in. Um, what is I know you've already said that some of it's not all true summer, but some of it's in that big catchment, but uh, how does this number compare to last few years? >> Last year was over 900,000. The year before that was 1.6. We were at 1.5. We're in that 1.5 1.6, but last year was 900,000. But we didn't have these huge four H or three HVAC systems and a large baby, you know, we had one large, but not that
052large. So the number of projects is significantly down. It's unfortunately some of those big hitters in there. Plus the fieldhouse maint but the um >> Yeah. But the number the one two is isn't that 15 or six? >> Yeah, it's less than that. >> Yeah. Okay. Um I'm going to um All right, that's helpful. you know, I would say for this sort of a for tonight and not for next month, but I'm going to going to ask that you know, you're maybe tighten the the sensitivity analysis a little bit around your uh red, yellow, and green because I mean it's good and I I understand I read them all, but I mean 90 85% fall into the Right. >> So, and I know that's skewed a little bit because 40 40% of it if I'm
053doing it quickly here, right? You know, just goes into that HVAC thing, >> but I mean the whole thing's rich. So, I mean, it's helpful, but it's not >> you got that. >> No, you at the top here. Yeah. >> A for urgent, B for >> Oh, yeah. The priorities. Yeah. >> C for recommended, but then >> um but then at the bottom >> Oh, okay. >> I mean, every Well, if you if you do if you add them up, what am I saying? >> Yeah. I mean, all the 86% >> Yeah. >> all fall into the red. >> Yeah. >> It's like my kids shopping list, right? I mean, you got to have everything. So, I mean, just, you know, and maybe it's not possible. I'm not saying that all those things aren't urgent,
054>> right? >> But I'm saying in relative to the other items, there must be some sort of sensitivity that makes one >> I mean, there are varying degrees of of urgent. >> I'm just trying to get a little more scale scale to it, but that's all. Okay. >> All right. Then um I want to ask about the because you s you said it kind of quickly at the top and I didn't I guess look at this in the packet admittedly. There were other things in the packet. I was studying. So you said that last month you came with like 750 grand for the Hback, >> right? And so in this and that and the and 250 of that you I heard you say Dr. Dearman and Mike got together and you identified >> 215 215
055>> you identified that yeah two that money in another bucket that you could use for that. >> Yes. >> So you took it off. Yeah. >> And so it's not on your list here, but that other 535 >> that was on your ask from last month does show up on this summer project list. >> And that's the thing that we're going to talk about maybe later in the new agenda. >> Right. I revisit too. >> And that 535 is a part of the one two total. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. I think yeah and I think that's I think that's and tell me where that 250 2 215 >> from a capital fund I don't know the number of it's a capital >> I don't need to know the number >> yeah capital fund that
056we have to use for infrastructure from the countywide >> okay and you would have used that anyway >> with that the valley payment out of that is 90,000 a month uh we've been averaging about 190 to 200,000 a month consistent ly uh from that fund. So, we've been banking roughly 90 to $100,000 every month and then using that money in capital projects. That 215 that he's referring to, Mr. McKenzie uh has already budgeted that in this year's budget. We had additional funds in there that we weren't using. So, it is not an additional expense. It is part of this year's budget. That's why it was pulled out. He had already accounted for that >> $4. Yeah. No, it just Yeah, it just sounds like um Yeah, I'm just trying to get it straight. So, it's
057I Yeah, just the communication on that, but it sounds like that's something that would have like had that not come to the board for consideration for approval this month. If that had happened, say in October, you would have gone after that project with those monies and it would not have been something that you necessarily came to the board for approval for. You would have just taken it out of your budgeted monies and costed it that way. Correct. Okay. All right. I was a little confused. I'm straightening now. Other questions or discussions for >> course I got a question >> and I agree with what you're saying Tom about priority right because most of them are >> just a you said there's 10ear plan do you have that by >> which plan >> you said a
05810year plan >> for pavement >> or was it just for pavement >> pavement >> what about maintenance in general >> for for all the buildings do you have a fiveyear plan about like when you're going to replace what >> we that's kind of what we were talked about in October So, we have a we have a plan for roofs. We have a plan for the big chicken house. That's what I was asked to do. And then as we work through the summer and we started having some of some maintenance problems, Dr. J's like, let's look at some of the ages of some of the major facilities because money is going to be an issue. Obviously, it always is and rightfully so. And then that's when we did kind of a little analysis on our HVAC.
059We got the ages and we're working with a company to streamline all that. But when you come out of it, right now you're at $700,000 for just replacing some basic stuff. Done that middle was built in 1999 and all of that except the chiller is original. So there's some real costs and I'm not trying to panic. >> She's not panic. She just wants to see it in advance. Right. >> Well, I said right. I want to see because we're I'm I'm looking at numbers. Everybody always knows that, right? To see five years. Is it is it one two this year and then the next year we're going to anticipate a big expenditure? whatever roof, whatever it might be. Right. >> Yeah. Well, I wish I could predict that. I mean, there's eight, we know there's
060eight units of the same age. All of them are failing here in this building alone. >> You've got the units over to DMS. So, you can budget as much as you'd like to replace those each year. But the the approach of this was hey what's a sensible way to take care of D high school knowing that D mill is right behind it and knowing anytime a boiler could go out or two boilers could go out and that's >> but if we have that plan and we forecast out this is it's you always adjust it right you're always going to adjust that and you're going to have the what's above the line below the line right as far as all these go uh understand there the the mower >> a 72 inch 31 horsepower mower what
061do we have today does it Our repair one works. Yeah. But we and Brad's pretty happy with it, but it's like it's gotten too many hours on to the point where we need to instead of replacing. So that's where that's at. >> Okay. It's things like that maybe that we can >> the motor runs all the time. >> Take a look at and see because we do have a pretty significant mowing contract out there and I understand what you're saying. >> You're right. So just so you know, just to clarify because you may not know, we do have a owing contract for everything outside of the fences. Everything inside of the fences is our responsibility. So like the whole fields and stuff. >> Yeah. And we're adding the practice soccer field which will be being
062maintained also. So it's a lot. And then I mean that's this is the way it works. I mean to be honest with you, coaches want those field certain days and sometimes it's more than once a week, you know. So that mower is constantly going. >> Yes. >> Other uh comments or questions? Tim, >> I just I drive by and I see that fence going up in front of B. Is that your practice soccer field? Is that budgeted in where >> you mean? Oh valley. >> Yes, that's the practice side. >> Is that already paid or budgeted in some way? >> That's already bud. Yes. >> So it was getting grass and stuff's getting planted in there. >> They were hoping to proceed that but decided to put the fence in first and then seed that
063>> the the 90,000 that you have left over in sales tax revenues. You can spend that parking lot, can't you? >> It's in capital. You can't. >> Yes. >> So, okay. >> So, just I don't want to belver this, but >> a couple things that come to mind. I don't know if you're hinting at it or you're getting at it, but are you asking us to potentially take more out of that account for some of these projects that I have? >> Not sure. >> Okay. I'm just saying that is an option. >> Why are we keeping it in that account? >> It was Well, I mean, you can ask Dr. Dear and Mike, but in my in my experience with it, it's been for emergency private whether it's boiler, HVAC, water softers replacement. >> What's
064the current balance in the account? >> Do you know, Mike? >> The current amounts it's probably a little over a million and a half dollars is what >> because if you're saving 90,000 a month, right, it's going to be to a million pretty quick, right? And this is >> Yeah, we've been budgeting the last several years. We've been getting about 900 to a million dollars that goes to that fund. We've been budgeting about 600 or 700,000. So like this parking lot out here that we extended, we paid out of that. >> Okay. >> We we always pay we always put money in there in the budget because things break unexpectedly. boilers in the middle of the year that we had no plan for, you know, so we put money in there every year to do
065things as they come up. And this year we're we're sitting there where we've spent about 200,000 and so and we still have that 600,000 total budgeted. So that's why we figured we could do that. Yes, we there's a certain amount that we pay out of these several projects. We have public health safety every year. >> Uh and a certain amount that we pay out of OEM just traditionally, but some of it we could pay out of capital projects. The ones that are actually on buildings like the tools and the mowers, things like that could not be sales tax. Now, the 215 is in a different account, right, than the >> for the rooftop units. That 215 you were referencing, that's in a different account. >> That's right. >> Right. >> No, that's in that account.
066>> That >> Oh, it's in that one. >> It is in that. >> It is. Yeah. >> Okay. >> That's what I current 600,000. >> Got it. Okay. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay, >> that's what he said. We're not out of the woods, but we're kind of rolling the dice that we're not going to have another catastrophic failure, a boiler or two before the end of the year. >> Got it. >> Thank you. >> Y. >> All right. Other comments or questions? Capital Nick. >> Yeah. Um, I assume just based upon your comments about the other rooftop units here and other things are going on, it would be pretty easy to come up with another page of green things of, you know, the these are things that that if we had, you know,
067somebody walked in and he handed us a check for 500 million, we could spend, you know, >> it just I I guess I see I looked at this list like I'm kind of assuming you kind of put the stop at the first A and B and really didn't get to seed because the seed could go on for for a while. >> Yeah. And that's toes your point with the fiveyear plan. I love to do that, but it seems like every time we get something to line up and plan their mind, we're going to do new generators and stuff like that. It's boom boom constantly to update it. >> And then once honestly, once Dr. D had us investigate the infrastructure, it's like we're going to have some serious questions here in the future with these
068HVACs. I mean, and and I get it. It sounds like everything is no longer a luxury. I mean, that's you want to make everybody mad in the community and the school, have it 90 degrees in there in September and no fixing site. So, that's really where we're at. >> Completely understand. >> All right. Other comments or questions for Dr. Adrian? >> Okay. Thank you, doctor. Next, Dr. Andrews will present information regarding the >> 2027 staffing requests and enrollment updates. Dr. Andrews, >> can I make a comment before he starts while he's setting up there? >> Yeah. And Dr. Hastings looks like she's going to Dr. Andrews. Great. Okay. Go ahead, Dr. German. >> Yeah, I'll be brief. Um, I want to address the elephant in the room and I I've heard comments, questions from board
069members, how you know why 10 so many where is this coming from? Seems like it's coming out of the blue. Um, the directive that the administration has been under um and public I mean comments have been made public. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. With the budget being what it is, um board has been hesitant to approve approve any new expenditures in light of the budget situation. Matter of fact, many of the directives have been look for efficiencies and things that we could potentially uh save money with that. So, Dr. Dr. Andrews has done a really good job the last couple years of really reigning that in and really not bringing forward any new requests um that aren't absolutely required many by code um primarily around the realm of special education. So he's
070done a good job of taking some heat and telling a lot of people no but after speaking with Mr. Feldman and myself the director to Dr. commanders this year was let's be transparent, bring it forward, bring the data, let the board see what's going on and what those requests are. Um, so that's why we're at the number we're at. Many of these have been absorbed through attrition and we've pushed the limits as far as we can. Um, but we're to the point now where our numbers continue to grow and they cannot be absorbed anymore and we're going to need some staffing. and I asked him to bring those forward and the data to justify those. So that's why we are where we are. But um you know I appreciate Dr. Andrew and the work he's
071done obviously super detailed and very thorough in his uh report that you're about to see. So he's done a good job with that. Um but I didn't want him to be stuck carrying the bag on this one as the person that brought this forward. He's working under the directive of Mr. Felman and myself uh to be transparent and bring those things to the board to consider. Well, let me just add them. Uh, is that what you wanted to say? >> Yes. >> So, uh, just a couple points. Uh, we still want you to act with all um all due efficiency, etc., and look for those opportunities. It doesn't absolve from that end of it. But I think this came out of just a very natural, you know, this is what we're looking at in terms
072of needs. You know, what what should be included in the staffing request. And um you know I I had just never been on that that end of that kind of conversation before directly. And I think um you know aside from steering the meeting here um I'm just one vote and um I'm equal with everyone up here. And so I believe that if there's need and there's need that can be justified by the administration, I think we should bring that forward and then let the board decide. I'm not going to be, you know, some sort of governor or, you know, just uh restrictor plate. Daytona 500 was Sunday. I'm not going to be the restrictor plate on that. I want that's what everyone up here was elected to do. So with so that provides some of
073the context also and the number I yeah I was struck by the number as well. I became aware of the number late uh Thursday night. Um my schedule didn't allow me to to talk to you thoroughly about it on Friday. Uh yours didn't either. So, um, we did, uh, then, uh, got together, uh, on the phone for a couple hours on Saturday. I got a better sense of what it was. I asked you to get the information, ask Miranda to get the information out to someone to get the information out to the board over the weekend and then we put it out to the public on Monday. But that's how we got there. I wanted to provide my context on top of Dr. Gears. So, with that, you have the floor. >> All right. Um
074but we look forward to getting some some feedback here. So the goals for the presentation would be to first start our why, how we got um how we get to our staffing request. Um of course present an enrollment update for the current school year. Um we use that obviously for projection sense for school year 2027. Um just and within that obviously just for high level enrollment projection overview of this time to discuss those requests on each level. um we get there. But how we how we got to where we were and and what we've always tried to do each year, even with um with our efficient manners in which we've been able to build master schedules, is to maintain program offerings uh for all online tools for students, ensure students access to support align with
075best practices and maintain manageable workloads that allow students to receive timely feedback so that we hear as well. um as we always have and will continue to do, we will and this is mostly um this p this um slide is referring mostly to our elementary buildings. Uh but we do um continue to run out of space um on our elementary buildings as you know um and our classrooms um at various grade levels at different buildings across the district. So when that happens, students are displaced. So, not only do we are we being efficient, being responsive and planning based on enrollment, we also just have physical space limitations that prevents us from adding extra sections um at the current time. We're eagerly waiting while the way as we all keep talking about to help with that.
076Uh but we are as transparent um as we always can be with parents about what that process looks like and so that message doesn't change as consistent. So, that's just another way that we're efficient. We we section accordingly. We try our best to plan for growth, but sometimes you just can't. We have that occur. This is a historical chart that you've seen every year for many years. Um, and this uh data is pulled from the six day attendance report um that all school districts file. And so, as you can see from last year to this year, on that date, we've had an increase of 52 students across the district. Um, an increase. We'll talk about individual buildings there. Um, I do want to talk a little bit about fluctuating enrollment, how that can vary and
077for each year it does change. So, currently compared to the six day enrollment figures to where we're at today, which is the same actually uh 4821, we have gone up in previous years, we've gone up a um it just it's a a game that we can't always play. Sometimes before school, that number is even larger. In particular here at the high schools, we're waiting for the final decision of students whe they're coming or not. Um and then we sometimes we figure out a four school chart, sometimes we don't. Um so the numbers load it uh in for the most part in year and then we it goes down. But ideally we have to have place to put those students schedules to build um that we make progress towards our graduation requirements for what grade we
078have. Um so when we're taking a look at staffing requests, it's not only course requests that students are making from our current students right here in the district, but it's knowing that we are going to have additional students come in each year. Um, and that figure we have a rough idea based on the multi-year study, but it changes all the time in pockets that we can't predict. All right. So, we'll start off with elementary of course. Um, we'll go through each um bulleted item here, but you'll just see the the theme that we are being efficient with our space. Uh but it does cost uh it does come out of the cost of not all um individuals having an appropriate space or a spaces in the building in order for them to perform their uh
079the duties for which they are hired. Um whether they're related service staff members or specialist teachers who have to travel from classroom to classroom um and to open their own space have full repository things that are able to do like music traveling um for example does kind of encumber what the music is able to do. Um but nonetheless they they're very um understanding and they do the best to make sure that what they're doing is the same as other students across the district. And then you see on the right just where we're at this year in terms of current enrollment right now. Um you'll see this for every elementary building. And then the current school year breakdown K5 and then for 2027 first since we don't have kindergarten enrollment numbers that started at the beginning
080of the month um and we'll continue to monitor that um and make adjustments in terms of section numbers but then um the near capacity is based on the number of sections that we have available how many seats there are explain the chart on >> you say what's the near capacity again >> so that's based on the number of section. So you have three sections at banner there first grade for example. So 16 open seats we have three sections 25 seats. >> Yeah. >> Good question. >> Um as it's consist you do not have private nursing um space within the building nor do you have a um full time dedicated grade school. Um something to touch on here in a moment. Um if you have band orchestra that figure utilizing corridors, any open space for lessons
081or um for spawn boot full group uh instruction uh there um and differentiating uh spaces for related service staff. Um Hickory Grove Elementary School, while there have been some um some opportunities there that have allowed for some more dedicated partners, things like that, again it is a very very full building. continues to be and so we do have the continuum um at certain grade levels we can split um as long as we make sure that they're being as efficient and safe there as they possibly can. Um and again space is currently empty some like fourth grade completely full or near fullth grade um with some more open space right now. Um, bridge view of course um houses our best program as well as they did take on a prek classroom this year. So with that
082we just have some reconstitution spaces there. Still the continuation of intervention spaces occurring in different places. Um our interventionists who used to have their own dedicated space a couple of years ago um continue to be within classrooms there. Um they also provide cushioning support um during intervention time. Um and then again you do have some as well as a dedicated time there's some space there as well. Um well wait again we don't relate to this too much but within the new plans we do have the dedicated space for our uh instructional program classrooms within that um that will not help of course with none of the additional three level classrooms within the building but then more appropriate space for those classrooms efficient repurposing rooms that weren't necessarily classrooms. So excited for that. Um at the
083elementary level, um as you know, we had um a couple of individuals speak during public participation um last year about the elementary counseling support. This design was to um do split and have um split support between the Dutch grade school and Banner Elementary School counselor helping to cover the the numbers at Hickory Grove Elementary School. Um both individuals from Dbury and Bannon have done a fantastic job of going into the Py Grove School. They've been very accepting, but with it um comes some um some unplanned response to the Delta School Council not being there after meeting. Um the among those um issues has been um in the morning uh when the council would otherwise be servicing fifth grade students for example. that's occurring during specialist time. So if they have SEL support minutes where they
084see the counselor, they then instead of it being done during the planned intervention time, which is when that would normally happen, that's in the after when that counselor's at Hickory Grove. So that has to happen in the morning and so the students are able to attend specials um for that. Uh we try to prevent um pulling from the core uh instruction. So your math and ELA instruction that would be a last our last effort. We could find space elsewhere. So, we've been uh it's been good that we've been able to be provided that, but again, it does always prevent them from participating with their parents during time to make sure we're meeting those minutes to support their needs. Um, between last year and this year, they have had an increase um of the Dut grade
085school counselor's case load by 2.2 students, 2.3 students or 9%. Which is uh quite a bit considering D grade school is smaller space a bit. She has a case load of about 80. And percentage wise um in terms of the percentage of students of favored growth who are currently on the counseling case load that's at 10%. So the increase percentage wise um is quite significant. Um currently the banner counselor starts today. So with that, then you have the counselor not available to students as they're coming to school in the morning where you would typically have a good intervention be done where they have the sheltered arrival where they'd be able to go and check in with the counselor um and make sure that they are regulated ready to go and then go into the classroom
086and start. That's a a typical intervention that we might do for students for any various any number of reasons. Um that's just not as available there. of course other staff members that will jump into that role they do and we're very thankful for that but that is one of the areas that of course train service um so at the elementary level while not asking for um general education teachers like we had for many many years prior in a row we are asking for a full-time school counselor um who would be at Hickory Grove then the next school year and then of course we would examine based on case load but more than likely would be a split counselor between Hickory Grove follow when they do have to wait and see what members look like um
087or make that decision more likely with this both the Banner Elementary School counselor and then the grade school. All right, at the middle school um as you can see you have in the gold shaded cells you have the historical enrollment including up and the last one is going to pop up. 2026 is obviously the current school year where we had an increase of 45 students compared to last year and that's in um two more years on top of the first school year from 7 to 28 of some double digit increases there. And that's with the larger cohorts that have caused us to add to elementary classrooms for for several years at least five around there. Um in succession, but definitely for five solid years we're asking for them. And uh those students are now rising
088into the middle school. And so um since 2022 at Dunlop Middle, we've had an increase of 73 students. Of course, when we open up the valley expansion, if you look even deeper into historical enrollment, uh we did um trend down there for a bit as redistributed the students um through the boundaries there. Um but with that again with those rising cords, we have that number creeping back up and the the with the number of students aside, we do have a stress to the school's math schedule at the middle school. Um that does um caused some issue and for the past couple of years Mr. Johnson is that number has been creeping up. Um has been very creative with his schedule. Um but when you're looking at creating the master schedule, um typically we are looking
089for seven section, seven classes on each grade level um each hour for a student in that grade level to go to. And so seven classes, 30 seats per class, that's roughly 210 students, right? Um so you'd think you should be okay. Um unfortunately, there are some complexities with the master schedule because of our offerings. we have our enriched courses um and we don't have as many of those as we do the regular sections of math and EOA and so based on where you place that it constricts where those students can then go to make sure that they're all literature and rich math in sixth grade or if one or the other then what their schedule will look like and then of course when you have those sections which in the past aren't necessarily always completely
090full that means then you're filling your general education classroom so it's not an even split of oh okay we definitely have enough space here we Um it's further compounded at eighth grade when in eighth grade um they have an eighth grade math um algebra one and algebra one honors and with algebra one in particular if you're a student who's in algebra one you also have elected to take Spanish or French one preap um then that's an even greater encumbrance um to the schedule somehow Dustin Antonio captain of the year and we're able to make things happen u but as that number grows it really the comfort level for this um is about 180 to 190. The closer you get to 190, the harder it gets. Again, with those constrictions of those those specific enrich courses
091in mind and so in order to make sure we're meeting the needs, the programming needs and requests of students um needing additional staffing. For some context, at Dad Middle School, the last time we added the position was ELA social studies um split position that was for school year 2023. Um and since 2021 for comparative purposes um valley when we opened the expansion up there in 2020 we were off even for a year we saw an increase in enrollment and as such we did need to address that but since then they had three ELA and social study split positions had it in the math science as their problem as you can see their enrollment has gone down and it should go down to be about even Um, we're not looking for additional assessments on the valley
092at this time. Um, but if you're taking a look at numbers, uh, I thought might be, uh, from the current seventh grade rising to eighth grade next year. Is there the possibility of splitting a teacher and having them go to cover sections of Dun Middle School and that's something that I absolutely took a look at um, to see what would possibly be. Of course, that would mean larger class sizes here, but whenever you have a teacher travels, you lose the class period of them being able to actually teach a course. Um so that doesn't help off minimalism does not fill the needs what we uh need at D middle um and given programming changes they have there um with the newcl curriculum interventions we are implementing with uh focus on executive functioning um the support
093would be otherwise help helpful and needed there because we do have study halls at the beginning of the day um and not wanting to take away from study halls or SLC which is the intervention time I don't have this problem. So, look to see if we can make it work. Um, unfortunately, it's not quite like that. So, for next year, looking to um looking for a full-time ELA social studies teacher at Dawn Middle School and a math teacher at Dunlap High School. Um, big territory, lots of numbers across the grade levels. Um again same thing each grade level um within each column that realized enrollment just total enrollment. Um and then the far column is the change from the previous school year. So last year for both Dutch Middle and Dun High School it did
094say that 427 we would more than likely be looking to have to add staffing based on our knowledge of what enrollment would look like just based on rising positive numbers. So next year while we're very close to 1500 based on just rising students right now uh looking to be over 1500 and really being at above 1500 or very close to through school year 2020 or 2030 of course um and since 2021 um you're looking to have added 141 students for a historical context you have um we have since 2020 added a math teacher um a wellness counselor and that was someone who was previous before we had that staff member on as one of our employees. That was something we had contracted out through um University of Illinois Springfield extension. Um but their services were
095no longer um being offered through that partnership. And so um that was something that we had budgeted to pay for the service that then turned over to um selling instead of purchase service. Um, and then we also had proposed and and got a science teacher, but being efficient with the schedule was sky's level, but we hired part-time. Um, but looking at the numbers, always trying to be as efficient as possible. So, even though we were approved for full-time, we've never did hire full time. Um, with that, and both Mr. Johnson's schedule here too to add to it as well if you get any questions. But some different things that they've been doing to be as efficient as possible um is of course maximize in uh enrollments and um student uh class processors in every class
096to the extent possible. um we've been able to stomach the increase of the underass because if you were to go and take a look here historically um where you might have like a back in 2021 a freshman class of 396 you had smaller junior and senior classes. So what does that mean? You just had teachers that were teaching more underassman courses as opposed to junior students. Well, if you go and you look between the differences as we get up, continue to um to move higher, that difference between underassman, your upper classman isn't as large as it used to be. Um you don't have a variance there of 91 like easier things, not so much now. Um and so classes just continue to creep up in terms of class size and are full. Um if it
097wasn't for summer school and that being created, um we would not be able to to get um we would keep people on track um and would be looking for completely different staffing um request for but that has been um helpful with that. Uh when it comes to those graduation requirements, we of course prioritize those for upper classmen even if it is something available to to freshman and sophomores. Um teacher overloads um have also been helpful. Every year you have to ask for it. we might have some in mind. Um looking at what our course requests are typically in the summer when as the master schedule is being finalized with additions and students we're at we're having more so consistently there have been overloads of English, math, social studies uh family history and social science uh
098departments with resource management being so that's what that's coming in. Um we withheld new course proposals that will require additional staffing as those come up. That's something that every fall comes to Mrs. Glo um myself we meet with those ideas and a lot of those ideas are coming from conversations not only passions the teachers have um but ideas that are brought to them from students and um we just tell those additional consideration um Mrs. has let the counseling department um have maximized the student schedules to have her released so that we don't have to have this for them. And so again, we're able to prioritize um those freshman students slash those who are needing certain courses for graduation. Um we've increased students that have been taking credit courses led by ICC instructors. Obviously, we can
099we have staff members on staff who are able to lead those sections. is cheaper uh to offer that in uh in the building um as opposed to online or student going to ICC. Um and we've also reduced the number of MTSS sections. So MTSS multi-tered systems of support formally RTF response to intervention. It's just how we're responding to students who are showing that they have skill deficits in the area of math for English and language arts and trying to fill those deficits while also trying to keep them um up to speed with other things happening live in their Master so trying to be as efficient as possible and they like made it work um to the extent that they possibly could but um as noted last year um definitely needing in order to fulfill student
100requests course requests not adding anything additional um the full-time English math and social studies teacher high school specialist. >> Well, first and foremost, the department wants you to know how much we appreciate the psychologist and social worker that you gave us for this year. It's definitely eased the burden of the evaluation teams and we'll be appreciative of that and the generosity you've shown us over the last couple years and it was my desire to not have to come before you this year and ask for anything. But as you see the district continuing to grow. We're experiencing growth in our program too. In my time here, this is my third year. We have added 100 new students to service each of those years. So as the district grows and our evaluations increased, the students being brought
101into service has also increased and that's creating some news for us. So here's a snapshot of our priorities. When the best program was brought into the district, there was a request for a fast administrator, but it was not filled for the long term. So that position went by the wayside when our department was cut in half and had the addition of Mandy Ellis as director of student services and then two assistants. But as we have been trying to make that program very self-sufficient and secure, there are a lot of needs that are being presented. And so it's a big challenge for our administrators to our community building questions about the program due to the behavior the nature of our work trying to keep this program stable is a full-time job and it really takes the
102physical delay from being turned off the bus. You can see some highlights here. At the time of writing this flight, we had 24 restrained timeout events. But in just two more weeks, we're now at 29. This is really concerning and it's quite serious because these incidents are due to some time out. Some have been restrained. Some our staff have been suffering some injuries due to some of these incidents that have gone on. This includes incidences of bruises, bites, hair pulling, scratches. Bridge View has had 15 suspensions this year. 12 of them have been classes. So again, damage a factor of damage that year is much. And then we now have 10 students who are out just in the last year and a half are now supporting the students who are in residential facilities. So we
103need to support social emotional pieces here at the department. We're asking for an extra administrator call not just with supporting our elementary level programming but across the district from middle school to high school. While our numbers are not high right now at secondary, they will become higher as these elementary students move on into middle school and high school. We're also asking for the support of a special education coordinator. When I got here, I was really passionate about our principal serving as the L. That's the leader who has oversight of all the IDE. This has to be a person that has knowledge of special ed law and the requirements or the qualifications to supervise special education services. They also have responsibility for taking uh dedicating our our resources in these meetings. So no one else can
104quite serve as an L. It's not appropriate to have a teacher because they don't need those credentials. It has to be an administrator. Well, like I mentioned, we continuing to grow. We have 300 more students now in service compared to years ago. So this is becoming quite strain on the principles trying to manage attendance of all of our meetings in addition to having the responsibility to be the instructional leaders in their buildings. So we feel that bringing on a special education coordinator can help us mitigate some burden. It won't eliminate burden on all of our principles but it's a good place to start and with the addition of this coordinator I think between myself and my partner Caitlyn and this new position if we're able to have it we could each focus on the green
105center. One of us will be dedicated to elementary the other high school. I myself less we I mean I average an hour 25 to 29 hours of me just sitting and meeting and that's not counting the additional time it takes to do all the followup activity and manage things that come at us on a daily basis and of course having oversight of all the program management that's at play for our teachers and share anyone there. Okay. If we're taking a look real quick at the next slide, you'll see we did some comparison for you of programs that are similar in size to ours. Other programs moved into this special education coordinator model that I explained where we're looking for special education coordinators to take that responsibility of the LEA to oversee these requirements of our
106principles to stand. So you can see that there's a range here from five to nine administrators in each of these districts that have similar size population to ours. So beneficial really start to grow our industry 15. Let's take a look at the next slide. This is a snapshot that shows you where our case look like from kindergarten through age 22. The two boxes that are green, this signifies a position that already exists. Currently, this teacher is itinerant. She travels between DNA break and Hickory Grove, but we gave that part-time position at Hickory Grove to turn into a full-time position in order to support the volume of students that we have. Obviously, our largest elementary school or 800 students. That means we have very significant case loads. You can see that fourth and fifth grade case
107load has 24 students. An ideal case load would be in the range of 13 to 15. So going over 15 is really placing a strain on our case management. So anyway, we're going to look shifting that part-time position over to Wilder. So the person who's currently will remain in the next position but just replace it with wild. So in addition to a full-time position in academic growth, we are bursting at the seams in our instructional program. Right now we have two classrooms and then carrying levels which is twice as multi-age classroom. We're finding there's a significant difference between our kindergarteners and our second graders and we're at maximum capacity with the weight. So we're really feeling the need for an additional instructional classroom which out grade levels per teacher and then allow us students who
108are currently in our program and those who are waiting to get into the program. So that sums up the off the request for special education. >> We'll decide in which we ask Dr. Hastings. Does anyone have any special education questions for Dr. Hastings request? Are we currently in compliance with protocols and how many we need? >> I'm sorry, it's a lot. >> from a regulatory standpoint, are we in compliance today? Are we in compliance as far as Well, there are general rules out there for how our case should be, >> not rules. So last year, as an example, there was one or two of the three that came forward that said something like by law, by statute, by regulatory presence, we had to have that role filled. Do we have any are any of the
109positions you've asked for? Are these because of, you know, workloads, enrollment, and you know, best practice, or are any directed by a specific uh state of Illinois red? These requests are because of the size of the workloads, okay? >> You know, with students coming into service, it's just not reasonable. We have an unfilled position this year and so to these managers have been carrying a case load of over 20. That's just not reasonable, >> right? So, we are in compliance is the is the answer. >> Okay. So when you see these numbers continue to increase, would it be fair to if you try to project this out that we're going to continue to see this trend at lower levels and then you know as they move on into high school like we're we're seeing that
110trend not just here but other districts as well. >> Yes. As we continue to grow and I believe we will. >> Yeah. And part of the reason why people seek us out because they're attracted to our programs and the quality of service that we're providing within the special education department. I do get calls every semester from families who are investigating moving into the area or they are moving to the area and they want to make contact to know about our services. So it's a combination of the growth we're experiencing in this community and the Dr. Hastings, as far as the um positions requested, is there any way that you're able to like prioritize what you feel is most pertinent to, you know, the immediate future versus projecting over the next couple of years? >> Yes.
111I would say our number one priorities are covering these classrooms and being able to thin out the case loads in these areas that we see are over 20. I think that's our number one priority. We have to meet that grow demand. We need to bring some at least to the instructional program. And then I would say our third priority is bringing in administration for grass program. If I had to compromise somewhere, it could be not that coordinator role. >> Thank you. >> Would it be possible to combine the special ed coordinator with the special ed administrator instead of two positions? make that one or is that not feasible? >> Well, my concern is that that's asking somebody to do two roles and think in the past we've seen here that that's difficult to find people
112that carry two different kinds of jobs. That alone is a full-time job. And I think Kyle here in here and talking their own experience about how much time they're spending support. >> Do you want me to come up and tell >> this is Mr. James? Why don't you introduce yourself? >> Yeah, I'm Kyle James. I'm the principal of Richie Elementary School. Um, you can talk as much or as little as you want on the concerns that we have as far as the program at our level, but um, to Dr. Hastings's point, I think the big concern is the unpredictability of the program. So, um, just to give you an example, this year we were set coming into the year and in the first two weeks, two to three weeks of school, we had three students
113move into the district who had placement on their IE. So, we had to integrate them in immediately. Um, one of them has since moved it out, but um just the needs that the kids are bringing in have become so um severe and significant. Um like Oscar Hastings said, just the amount of um restraints and timeouts that we've had to deal with this year um obviously brings Mrs. Chambers and myself to those rooms um certainly every day, but in most cases multiple times a day um just to help deal with deescalation uh evaluating crisises to make sure that um our staff is doing what we're supposed to do um to address the needs of the kids. But along with that comes all the work that is entailed with that too, which is greater impact on our
114time. um she spoke about before how we had a position posted for a coordinator at the start of the program. Um that fell through after a couple weeks of that person being employed. Um but on top of that is staffing we run into as well. Um where this is the fourth year of the program we've had um that many teachers in one of our sections. Um we've had a consistent teacher through the whole time. But the other position has been constantly flood. So um that as well has taken us from our jobs in the office to come down to provide coaching and support to the teachers that >> you said ED placement at the top of your What is ED? >> So emotional disability. So >> that's stands for behavioral support. I just didn't know.
115>> But you did. Okay. And then what you just said something about you had a coordinator but employed for a couple weeks but >> Yeah. >> Fell through. The program she resigned after just a couple weeks of the job and then was reposted. >> Yeah. Well, we before you we had a coordinator. Yeah. When we first brought the best program in, we had an administrator that was hired, was on the job for approximately two weeks, and then resigned. And you know, it's was we had it posted, but we couldn't get it filled. So, we just absorbed the position. And then with finances being what they were since it had been absorbed, never brought it back forward. >> Was that what you would think to be the administrator or the coordinator or either? This would be
116the administrator that would have oversight of that program. So instead of responding to the emergency, we would have this person on be able to do that. They would run the IEP meetings. They would help with the out placement of those other 10 students that are in day schools and residential facilities. >> They provide the coaching support, curriculum recommendations and support from the classrooms. So there was a role and then it went away and then you took the opportunity of the attrition and just collapsed. Right. Okay. And then um just because I'm talking um would you then see so the coordinator as you have it laid out would you kind of would would not be maybe in one local but this administrative type the first one that you list here that you would see that person
117primarily at ridge view assisting them or no We'd see the best coordinator would have responsibility for supporting and engaging programs all across the district, but the majority of our students are at the elementary level. And this is where we're having the highest rates of these RTO events that you see in their practice behaviors. And so we feel that they would spend the majority of their time here. If you're asking of the specialized authority leader, >> well, I'm just trying to get I mean, when I when I think about the best program, I mean, I think about region first primarily, >> those students are identified in elementary schools since, >> right? So, I'm just trying to get a sense for, you know, are these, you know, district are they, you know, school specific? I'm just trying
118to I'm just trying to get smarter about it. That's all. I don't have a preconceived um let me ask you though on the Right. So that answered the end. Dr. Hastings, I think you said kind of quickly at the top and maybe it's in the packet. I I didn't read it, but you said we're growing by like a hundred a year. >> Did you say that? >> So what then is the what's the total universe then? Now, >> we have 750 students that receive service >> and you already spoke to I mean some of this is just enrollment in general is up but it's it's disproportionate you think because the word is out and you think people are gravitating towards this program a little bit. >> I think our community is desirable and have disabilities
119when they're looking around this area. I think when they take a look at our program guide, they give us a call and they buy tours, they're attracted to our program. >> Yeah. And then, you know, I want to comment just on the um I don't want to spend any time on, but just something to think on the LEA the in the meetings. Um I mean, I understand the the the time element and the you know what that puts on the the principle. I think I don't think that there's any real substitute though for either the principal or an assistant principal if there's one at that school in those IEP meetings just as someone who has been in IEP meetings before. And so I just I'm not I don't want to like you know debate it
120or anything. I just want to I think there needs to be a balance. I don't think if that position were to come to the four and have it um I I would think there would need to be some sort of a balance to keep the principles not only or the assistant principles not only engaged you know with or familiarity but to actually have you know some sort of rotating um not just you know a oneoff before they leave the school kind of say they were there and I know that's not intent here, but do you know what I'm saying? Because I I I think it's important that principal stays or assistant principal stays engaged with their pause on that. >> Certainly, and I definitely agree with you and that's why I was so passionate on
121taking the stance that it is our principles that need to be those lead. The primary principles are the ones who are in those meetings and then the assistants are initially taking care of the other responsibilities while the principal is in the PIP meeting. Doesn't mean that an assistant principal doesn't ever attend a meeting. But more often than not, it's our principal and I do like them to be aware of what is going on with our students that are eligible for service. But the longer I'm here, the more meetings we sit through together, I see the strain it is on them. It takes time out from being the instructional leader that they're tasked to be in their buildings and it's just >> we can't forget that three of our buildings don't >> like so in terms
122of just the building support otherwise it just creates a hurdle there something they always were able to overcome but >> okay >> so I'd like to comment >> yeah so I think part of it part Part of that growth is attributed just people being attracted to our district because we are a great district, but it also speaks volumes to what you what you've built and what you and your team continue to do. So, thank you for that. But, um, you know, I feel like this very important program, right? You have a lot of needs. I can tell just in your voice hearing you guys talk and we've talked in the past about this. There's certainly a need here and we want to make sure that those students needs are being met. Um, I think we're
123all on board with that. So, I appreciate your your passion and sharing your yours with us. >> Thanks, Andrew. Other questions or comments for Dr. Hastings and Mr. James? >> Um, Nick, >> can you Dr. Can you go back to the the page that had the comparison with other districts? As I look at that, that's embarrassing to me. Okay. Um, I want to make sure that what we're contemplating how it affects that number of two. I assume that the administrator position goes into that number would make it three. Does the coordinator number go into that? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we could possibly go from two to four, which would still put us behind every other school that's listed. And did you mention why those because I think Teresa may have asked that a question
124or was looking for I mean as a comparator these these districts are selected because they look like us. The reason why you don't see some other schools in the conference are because they have relationships like with SECO or something and so they're not like entities to apples to apples. Did you already talk about this? I didn't. But what you're referring to are some of the smaller rural districts receive their services through a special ed cooperative who acts like a special ed department just like we have. But because we are a midsize district, we are enough to be self-sufficient in providing our own specialized services. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So that's Yes. That is why you don't see a metaphor or >> just the ones that we usually use, right? I mean we
125never pick on these schools to >> those who aren't part of >> Yeah. >> But could could we take a look at that though? Like for example, I don't know what Morton I know Morton has about 1100 students in their high school. Washington has probably close to like they're separate, right? They're not all together, right? And that's probably why you don't see the the total student population there for the entire district. Is that something we could do to see where we're at? >> From that perspective, >> absolutely. We have to spect a little bit >> because I think there are some I know it might not be ex exactly apples to apples but it'll give me some sort of comparison locally of where where we're at. >> Yeah. >> Do either Washington or Morton >>
126are they have their own special ed department or are they doing a SECO thing? They do. >> No, in Morton they have their own program. There's a director and assistant and they have a principal that oversees their behavior skill. So they have a team right there. >> They have a separate school. >> Yes, they have their own day school. >> All right. Well, I think what Teresa is asking for is just, you know, maybe even we can, you know, draw our own conclusions, but maybe just get us a little smarter about what the others in the district. >> So, you would like to know more about those who are in our surrounding area with that poria, even though they are larger than us. >> Which one? you're you're wanting what I'm understanding is that you're
127wanting the statistics on the areas. So, uh Germantown Hills, Wharton, Washington, I'm more uh Poria. Is that what you're asking for? >> Yeah, I think with the except I I don't include um uh PUR I would not uh include Puric public schools. I don't think that they um I don't think that they uh well, we never compare ourselves with them for for anything. I think they're uh they have a lot going on, a lot of good things going on. I don't want to be misqued. A lot of great things going on. Mike will tell you all about it. He used to work there. But I don't think that they're a great they're so big and they're, you know, so much bigger than us. But we often, no matter what it is, capital, sports, I mean,
128a lot of different things, great uh US News World Report, we're always looking at like the Morton and the Washingtons uh of the world. So, I I would I think Dr. Andrews probably has an idea of what we look at or what we've looked at in the past. So, he'll give you some help on that. But, yeah, I think that's fair. And then again it might not be apples to apples but we could draw some you know our own you know inferences from what you what that bears out that exercise but that would be helpful. >> Okay. >> You have a question for >> Yep. I know you said by now we're legally in compliance, but if we don't add the position that you're asking for and enrollment continues to increase, could you see that
129we could possibly get into danger position where we're out of compliance with legal rules? >> I think what we're going to find is that we're going to lose special education teachers >> over >> and it's already a shallow pool of there aren't enough people qualified to teach special education and so That's because a serious situation. >> So if we're out of compliance legally because we lost those, we could be in longer period of time. We don't have any staff and so we're going to be looked at by the state of Illinois for a while until those positions are filled. We don't take care of it now. >> Well, what happens when you can't put a certified special teacher in a position? You have to work with a sub. Yeah. >> And if they don't have
130special education certification, our students don't at all. So, >> and they can't manage those cases. >> They can't write the problem. >> We've went through a lot of turmoil with this uh with our program the last several years. Um we've done a great job to try to improve it and make it better, but we still have a lot of work to do. This isn't the first chart that you've seen that shows us way below everybody else. You could you could pull any school you want probably. I don't know how readily available those numbers are to you, but it I guess it would be good to see some local comparisons, but I'd be confident to say that we're probably >> maybe not questions or comments for Dr. Hastings. >> Those demographics are a lot different. No,
131schools and ours probably. >> I mean, that's more respectful to ours than Washington. I want to see a ratio. Show me a percentage of Washington's numbers to our numbers. Maybe they're all higher, but show me the percentages. Don't just look at the two of the nine. >> Well, those are comparable to the size of our school district. >> Yeah, but they may have more students is what Tim is saying. They may have more students, but like for example, you said we have 750. >> So those maybe they have 13 or 1400. That percentage might be different. Sure. >> We can get >> right. >> We can get that. That won't take long again. But >> we can do it. >> Matt, I got a question for you. >> Y >> um and thank you for
132everything you've done and probably >> is this special. Are we moving on from special ed? >> Okay, it's back to Matt. So, >> okay. So, Dr. Any more for Dr. Hayes? She has to be first. So I want to >> I just had a quick question that would be like as far as the resignation for the coordinator position before was that like a workload concern or was that just some other reason? >> I was not that time. >> Okay. >> Some other reason. >> Got it. All right. Is that clear enough for you guys? >> All right. Uh thank you doc Dr. Hastings and thank you Mr. James. >> Okay Dr. Andrews uh Teresa. >> Okay. Um you indicated here that when I asked about I'm go back to my question here uh we look
133at enrollment numbers right we expect there to decrease 2033 2029 respectively for the high school and middle school okay you you saw those um and you indicated like for example based on enrollment for the elementary I think it was you're looking to reduce the number of elementaryaries classrooms right which is how you can pro provide those savings if we're going to add 10, right? I'm looking at I'm looking at the net number, right, where we're going to be, >> right? >> If you reduce those elementary classrooms, where do those teachers go? >> Um, each year we do have a number of presentations um for various reasons. Um, but if we did not have um but we have needs in other places. So while we might be decreasing a section here, we'll be increasing a section
134at a different rate just based on get rising numbers out of a particular. These are things that high level conversations at this time we are constantly watching at moment because we have students coming. Um and so once those numbers are finalized we'll have a better idea by March certainly by April when we're contract to let them know uh what their their time of position would be the next school year. um did we have a firmer ID at that point? Um but if everything held constant, we didn't have conversations to open positions that um they would be certified. If we ended up having to close sections and there wasn't something, >> but couldn't we absorb those either through people leaving if you stayed or retired? >> More than likely. Yeah, there's yet to be a year
135where we don't have that um you know monthly to stay. So again, we'll it's all 100% spots enrolling which will be closer to April and which is why the number of gang based on savings and retirement 10 staff retiring this year. our projected cost based on our average retirement. >> Is that is that 10 and I'm sorry before he gets off that is that 10 in average or is that high or is that low? >> It is a high number. >> Okay. Sorry. >> So you probably see where I'm going with this Tom. Right. >> Of course. >> So you've got 10 10 requests, right? >> So let's say there's four whatever it might be, right? that you can eliminate classroom classrooms in elementary, right? So the only open positions I guess let's take those
136out of the picture, right? It would only be for open position. So that would be an zero as I would say. There would be no increase or decrease but these 10. If there were not open positions, right, then you would it actually would be six, right? If there's four, >> right? So that's that's what I'm looking at to see where that incremental increase would be, right? And you know exactly where I'm going with that. I'm I'm trying to understand that to try to rationalize the numbers. >> Yeah, it will actually look like things. >> Are there u when is the district made aware other than Alaska decision about an impending retirement? Do you know two years out, three years out and do you keep like a you know that if you're running a football team,
137you know this. >> Oh yeah. >> Kind of your draft order kind of thing. >> So up by four um we have retirement census bills in the contract report in census but by May 1st of every year um at least for earliest can give her to retire four years out but we've had some people do three years, two years or or one. um but to get the incentive by May 1st. So we typically do hear every now and then we do hear people that um that made the decision outside of that time frame. >> Any other questions from Matt? Dr. Andrews. >> Yeah. Can you explain a little bit? We've talked about this a little bit in the past, I feel like, but the significance at least at the high school level that zero hour
138early dismissal and summer school play, you know, in terms of how you're able to function and operate as it currently stands and how that would change if you didn't have the numbers you do that participate. >> Yeah. Do you know how long Mrs. Bezos said? She probably loses more sleep on that thought than I do. Yeah. So I think we when we did the math I think it was like 6.2 to maybe staff members that we save by not having by granting early release um because just to be like if if those students stay for sixth and seventh hour like we wouldn't have any staff to so um so when we did the math earlier in the year um I I believe it was 6.7 staff members that we would need for those additional two
139hours based on how many students have released because um I believe it was I have to go back and look 300 and some have double for a week and then like another 300 and some have um just early days with our seven hours. Um so as far as summer school uh you know and Dr. Adrian gets credit for this when he was the principal he started summer school and we that has increased every year. Last year was our highest. We had about 420 students take advantage of summer school. Um so those are our graduation requirements semester classes but again we if we did not have that offer during the summer we did not have any spaces for those students during the school year. Our classes are just they're just >> so they would definitely be
140behind as progress. Where do we stand right now for elective courses? I know that was something we talked about a year or two ago, the lack of elective options for our high school students. >> So, currently with the course requests that we have received for next year. So, we just finished our registration or our request process. So, um, we're currently in the process of looking at our numbers and then starting to, um, get the amount of sections so we can start to build our master schedule. So, our the social studies ask comes directly from that. So, right now with the number of requests um that we had for social studies, there are about 240 kids over staff. Um so social studies is really full of electives. Um our fax department we will have to ask
141for an overload two full year overloads because of resource management being a graduation requirement. Um our foreign language specifically our Spanish is very full. Um again for next year very few seats uh especially the lower levels obviously once you get the higher levels maybe you have some that are in the low 20s. When you're at the lower levels, you're basically talking about classes. So, so again, that that was my big concern with the social studies number is just not having anywhere. Um, you know, obviously we have a student their first choice and then they are second choice, but not having the amount of placements to be able to put them um just based on their course. So, um we obviously have study halls, but our study halls are very large and um already and and
142obviously we like to offer our students opportunities that's so um one other thing that I wanted to add um and that this is Mr. or Dr. Andrew didn't leave it off but I had just thought about it earlier today with um when I was kind of doing the map in my head was that another thing that was kind of added to our need for additional sections is a few years back and I think it was probably Dr. Adrian's principal, but there was um a want um from uh I believe some members on the board for students to be able to kind of take more than one class and like take more than one math class, right? So, we have a lot of students now that do that. So, like for example, you know, you have
143to have three years of math. Most of our students take four years of math. We have students who are doubling them. So we have freshman who are coming in and they're taking geometry and algebra 2 is freshman. So again like you're not just talking about you know okay all the freshmen are taking math the freshman you might have 60 freshman that are taking two math classes. So that again adds to the the increase in numbers in those sections um as well especially for our classes. >> Other questions for Dr. Andrews? Yeah. Um, Dr. Andrews, as far as the ELA and math in particular, um, would we be at risk of like losing AP courses or, you know, to to the to that end if we don't add these positions? Like, how does that play a
144role at all in terms of our offerings for for those kind of things? >> Well, um, for example, speech while speech is offered during the summer, that's a graduation requirement, that's an English department. um taking four credits total um updating with English to graduate with speech being a half credit included. Um but so you might have students get the higher credit potentially or just having to wait, you know, they get the priority of whatever classes they have before they graduate. So it may not necessarily be their choice class they'll be able to take, but then it's if they don't take that then it's finding something else for them. It's good to talk about the other courses as well, but these are just are there with math it would be we would have to take a
145hard look at what those requests are. We don't want to impede or limit students when they're trying to to double up so they can get to math and can't typically think traditionally start with algebra one and geometry algebra 2 prel and then like we have obviously help satisfied in eth grade. So then if they're not catching up it's just they're continuous. So it could be having to look at those requests to make sure that we're courses they need. Um so it could be a ton of students who want to double could be something we have to but in terms of throwing AP that's not something we doing that would be program reduction >> and to that point Mr. Ne so our master schedule is um made directly um in correlation with our students requests. So
146if we have, you know, we have to cut the ones where we have the fewest amount of requests, like we've already gone through that, right? These courses can't go. We don't have enough. They don't meet the minimum or even actually this year we had a few that we had to say, okay, they might meet the minimum, but there's so many more requests for these courses, we can't staff these other ones. So um as long as like any course is going to run like they have the amount of requests and as long as we have the staff that >> and you know let's be honest right that there's a reason everybody wants to move here and come here and it's because of what we offer as a district and our teachers and our administration. Um and
147so part of that as a board it's our responsibility to make sure we maintain that level of excellence if you you know and that's when you're getting up and beyond 30 students in a classroom, right? That's not a good thing. You don't have elective courses for students, that's not a good thing. You know, when you're teachers are all spread thin, um stressed about that. You just have to make sure we meet the needs of our students. That's why we're here. >> I mean, in particular for English, you have to have um two writing intensive courses. Often students take throughout the duration of those four those four years. um the four graduation crisis. Um and I mean currently English teachers are sitting at about 100 full sections everywhere. So you're looking at 180 kids since they
148no longer have the MTSS study halls. Um we have someone that's providing those services but um so they no longer have taught English never had kids. I was very easy to get on. I was able to get essays back in a reasonable amount of time 180 essays with feedback um to meet the requirements because within the states this Illinois state code says they have to be assessed on every single learning standard through those essays and so it's a lot of time essays but that also so they they've burnt taken the brunt of it for some time. Other questions for Dr. You know, the other thing I'll just add is um for timing, I think, you know, let's assume you're not going to give us all get us all the information that we we desire, but
149I think whatever information ahead of the next meeting, you are able to get us. Um the next meeting is March 18th. um you know I I would target you know the minimum the 11th I mean a week ahead. So, and if it's something that can't be done, you can't make the comparison or it doesn't make any sense anyway and you can't speak to it or, you know, I mean, I would try, but if it but it's not something that, you know, I don't want you guys, you know, killing yourself over something that's not going to make sense, but then you'll have to speak to why it won't make sense. But I don't want to uh I don't want to talk to Dr. Andrews for two hours the Saturday before the next schoolboard meeting either. So,
150I want to try and get the information to all of the board members a week in advance at least so we can uh get some of these, you know, questions answered ahead of time to continue the discussion. >> Okay. >> You ask for it, we'll deliver. >> Okay, great. Love that. >> Is it is it up then for a vote in March? >> Yeah. Well, yeah. So typically as far as the the calendar goes and our our usual routine is that uh last five years anyway these come as information in um now in February and then they're um acted on in uh March. Dr. Andrews did hint at the um the specific time uh there's milestones in there that uh ahead of May 1st and certainly before the April meeting uh we have obligations to
151the DEA and other people about you know placements and roles that we're going to fill. So yeah, I mean it would be the intent of I think the board to stay on schedule. I think there might be a little bit of play in there. If we have an outlier or something, we want to we could always do a special meeting, but I don't want to wait till uh April and after spring break. I don't think the facts are going to change much. So, um I I' I'd like to there it might a little I mean Mike will have another month of financials to incorporate into his uh rolling five-year scheme and we could talk about that but um I I think we should be able to act uh next month. Historically, we do a March
152section here than others, especially up north with the open attempt. We're able to attract if we do additions anytime uh to attract people to those positions as things become available. >> Okay, thank you. Thanks everyone. Okay. Are we still here? >> DC trip. >> Oh, DC here. >> Information regarding the 8th grade trip to Washington DC has been included in the board packet. Is there any discussion? Information regarding the Chromebook refresh has been included in the board packet. Is there any discussion? And just remind me, was there a dollar fixed to that doctor? >> Yeah, there was. >> Kevin Elage is here. It has a presentation if you want. >> Of course, I do. Kevin, come on up. >> 751 is the number. at the same three times. >> I'm sorry about that. You weren't
153listed in the agenda, so I didn't call on you. >> That's right. really the IT director. Uh here again for us to purchase new Chromebooks. Uh this year we'll be refreshing the Chromebooks for the high school. Uh currently they're using Dell 3100s that were originally purchased in uh fiscal year 2022. Uh they're at the last year of their four year warranty. Uh batteries are getting low on them. Uh it's replaced them or spent about $40,000 to get a bunch of batteries and swap them out manually. The new Chromebook that we're replacing with is the Asus Chromebook CR1 Flip. Uh it is a much beefier, much more rugged model. uh has 8 gigabytes of memory instead of the standard four that the current ones have. Uh latest uh processor should improve battery life. It has a
154Gorilla Glass screen which uh we have found we have a very similar model at the pool schools. Uh reduces breakages greatly. Uh and these ones are have stylus uh so students are able to write directly on the screen. Uh we actually performed a second the original upgrade schedule uh this year's 9th through 12th. We actually broke up uh sixth and eth and fourth and fifth. Last year was sixth and uh we spread out across but we did a survey uh to see if there was a demand for a nicer device that would be the stylus. Uh we had about 24 teacher responses and 400 student responses at the high school level. Uh asked if they would they thought it would enhance their applications of the means over half said yes. Uh over half said they
155would increase the assignment digitally. uh and 81% of students were very excited about the idea of having a desk stylist to use on their device. So, uh based on that survey, we decided that a uh good option would be to get the more capable device will purchase the amount of of styluses that are requested uh by teachers. My estimate is about 300. uh they can assign them to the students in their class. Uh we have a teacher who are responsible directly from which their students have access to a stylus. Uh cost this year uh costs have been going up on all electronics. A large part of that is due to lack of memory and storage data centers. Uh, Western Digital announced the updating that their entire stock of hard drives for the year 2026 is
156already sold. Uh, so the prices on this year's model were about $20 more than last year's per device. Uh, then we get the standard warranty from OS license and 300 silences for teachers to sign out. The total cost comes to just over $750,000. Any questions on specifics you'd like to answer? >> I have a question or two. >> Yes. >> What how does that I I heard what you said about prices have gone up >> with everything technology. But >> so what was that? So that is the number to renew the fouryear >> yes >> cost. Um yeah, this will include a uh four year warranty with them. Uh and we expect to get at least four years of life out of these devices. Uh the ones that we purchased a couple years ago for
157the school also were the ones we were using before and those are both done very well. So ideally we'll get possibly five years out of these devices. Uh, so it'll decrease the long-term cost by spreading it out. >> Do you always are these always purchase or do you ever are there any of them that are leased? >> Oh, we've always done. >> And is that typical for because you're dealing with students? >> Yes. Majority of districts uh purchase them outright. There are some I know that at least but I'm not sure that >> I I realize it's different users but like in couple of health care systems in town they're all leased but that just must be because kids aren't throwing them on the ground. >> Right. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So when
158I look at that chart uh 1600 and then 300 stylists. So, how do you um there are 81% of students that love the idea of styluses, but they're not all getting the styluses. >> How do you uh manage that? >> They don't go home with the device. >> Uh the high school students do take the stylus home. We decided that the best cost option would be to give the teachers the option on their students would be assigned a stylus. Uh so they'll give the stylus well the teacher will get the stylus give it to the students who use it in that class but the students will hold on to the stylus it's dot within the device charge within the device and they'll be responsible for it they'll be charged for it if they lose it'll
159return the year >> well do all students um do do they all all use their assigned Chromebooks or are there kids here that are using other laptops just with our programs on them. >> Uh I believe they all use the signed Chromebooks that >> Yeah, that's that's that's why we're not bringing their own device. That was part of our our implementation back in 2015 16 was that they use the assigned device so that their usage can be monitored um through what's called Guardian now Carl system that allows the teachers to see what's going on on their screens. um with the 300 style lessons too because you only get less than half but the teachers respond to it. So for those who otherwise inclined to have materials and assignments that you got to that >> Thank
160you. >> Do you have one question? You said that one of the issues is the battery life for these laptops >> uh for the existence. So if you were to spend 40,000 for new batteries on those laptops, could you prolong those laptops for let's say another two years? >> Uh possibly. There's accumulated damage that we replaced screens that pixel bleed is a common issue on that level where the edges of the screen start to >> that wouldn't be all the laptops some of them a little tiny fix. So yeah, so it it it would be possible to extend the life of some of them by replacing a majority of the batteries. Summer project, >> but the new Chromebooks are much better, right? They're you said 8 gig rather than four. Yeah, the new Chromebooks would
161be a great improvement and a lot more capable, a lot faster, about 70% faster than >> What do you do with the old ones? >> Uh, we do have the option to sell them. Uh, part of it we would pull off because that's the same model that the uh grade students are currently using. replacements for those uh those parts, but it is possible to sell them. Uh the uh price that you get for them uh the last time Chromebooks, they were already out of uh they're updated expiration, which means they can't receive any updates. These ones can be updated through 2029. answer is probably prices, >> but it's probably still very nominal, right? >> How much how much would you expect? Is it nominal versus this price? >> Uh, it would probably if we're lucky
162to $40 per device. >> Okay, other questions. >> I guess I see the stylist. How about if you add a feed of the people that use it or does the teacher pick the person? Who picks the person? >> The teacher would be uh responsible for deciding Jesus in the class, >> but it's the student that wants it and desires it. >> Oh, if they wanted one, they could purchase one themselves. >> They are available for purchase a bit of that then. >> But I heard Dr. Andrew say I mean these are teachers that are ostensibly they're they're requesting styluses to be used because they're going to be giving assignments >> that necessitate the use of a stylus for the work >> that could be enhanced by. So they're intentionally use it or just hand out.
163>> I just wanted to point out that we do have about 600,000 budgeted for this. So it is a little more than we have. Okay. And what's the um when did we when did we do is the timing we're trying to get these in ahead of the start of next year. >> Correct. Yeah. Uh this is generally last year we w up until July start the school year. >> You just turn them on and they they pop right up. Mine always has everything loaded. It's fine. Okay, other questions. All right, thank you for the detail. Thank you. Okay, this concludes the information discussion items. The board will now move on to the consent agenda. Is there any discussion regarding items on the consent agenda? Could I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I
164move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Andrew, is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Yousef. Any discussion? >> Roll call vote. >> Hi. >> Feldman. >> Hi. >> Paul. >> Hi. >> Tyra. >> Hi. >> Wagenbach. >> Hi. >> Yeah. >> Hi. >> Okay. Motion carries. The bill list treasurer's report, district investment report, and bank statements have been included in the board packet. Can I have a motion to approve payment of the bills? I'll move to approve the payment of bills and amount of 5,485,223 as presented. >> Nick, is there a second? >> Second, >> Nick. Any discussion? >> I have a question, >> please. >> Maybe probably Dr. Andrews or Mike can answer this. Uh teacher vacancy grant revenue. It's on the bill list. >> We had a uh we did
165not spend all the money we received last year. So we had to refund part of it back. >> Does that I think that happened again was it last year. Why? >> Most grants are like a reimbursement kind of thing. You get the money after you spend it for some reason. So we we project based on what we have which is the allocation before we know where any carryover funds we would get for the next year. Um we typically do maximize that out with um gradual course reimbursement that um >> so when this happens there's not a way to if you if you forecast flow right there's not a there's not a mechanism where you can put it somewhere else to use it. >> Correct. And this year the the amount was this amount this year
166was less than last year. >> So it was otherwise supposed to be stable for three years. So I had to adjust that accordingly as well. But also unsure about titles one and two and what that get those. >> Thank you. >> Other questions or discussion on that? >> Okay. Roll call vote. >> Feldman. >> Hi. >> Paul. >> Hi. >> Holer. >> Hi. >> Tyra. >> Hi. >> Wagenbot. >> Hi. >> Y >> I. >> Okay. Motion carries. Information regarding the memorandum of understanding regarding maintenance of seniority has been included in the board packet. Could I have a motion to approve this item? Can someone speak to this first, Dr. Gear? >> Sure. Um, I mentioned it in in the podcast. Basically, when you have non-certified people fill in certified roles, this is just a
167generic example. Um, they want to make sure they don't lose their seniority in their non-certified role. Um, so this is a memorandum of understanding drafted by our attorney in a conjunction with the DEA to or DESPA I should say to make sure that they maintain seniority in their non-certified role if they're helping us out by filling a certified position. All right, thanks for that. Um, can I uh get a motion to uh approve this as presented? I approve this present. >> Thank you, Teresa. Is there a second? >> Thank you, Yousef. Any discussion? >> More discussion. Okay, roll call vote. >> Paul, >> I >> Tyra, >> I >> Yam. >> Hi, >> Beron. >> Hi, >> Belman. >> I Okay. Information regarding the HVAC replacement at Dunlap High School has been included in the
168board packet. Could I have a motion to approve this item? >> I'll move to approve the HVAC replacement that DHS is presented. >> Okay, Mick. Second. >> I'll second. >> Andrew, thank you. And um again, to be clear, this is this is the number this is coming off. is one of the red letter items that is currently on the the one two. This should be 40% of that one two >> 535. Is that right? >> Right. We're taking care of now or we would be >> and we moved it up here so we can get stuff ordered because supply chain problem. That's why >> yes sir. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Roll caller. >> Cozer. >> Hi. >> Tyra. >> Hi. >> Wagenbach. >> All right. >> Y. >> Hi. >> Beron. >> Hi. >>
169Belman. >> Hi. >> Paul. >> Hi. >> Okay. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Is there a motion to move to? I did that at the last meeting. I'm doing it again. Is there a motion to adjourn to close session? So I'm going to move to adjourn to close session for the purposes as stated in the open meetings act uh appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of a specific employee. Is there anyone else that needs another letter identified? Then I need a second to my motion. Sorry. >> Okay, I'm going to give it to Andrew. >> Uh, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay, motion carried. Time is 8:23. Just real quick. I'm gonna Dwayne Yeah, I know. You guys probably should look >> on my hand Nick. >> No,
170she was still in the classroom. >> She won't care. should lock the doors up. >> I'm sure you heading in this direction. >> What's that? >> Are they heading in this direction? >> Chromebook. Search your door. >> Welcome, Shane. It's like Thor's hammer. >> Yeah. >> Could I have a motion to return to open session? >> I move to return to open session. >> Can I have a second? Tim. Thank you. Any discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. It's 8:49. Could I have a motion to approve the human resources consent agenda? I move to approve the human resources consent agenda as Teresa. Is there a second? >> A second. >> Andrew, any discussion? >> Roll call vote. >> Wagen. >> Hi. >> Y >> I >> Belman. >> Hi.
171>> Paul. >> Hi. >> Hol. >> I >> Okay, motion carries. Could I have a motion to approve the termination of charity land? I move to approve the termin as presented. >> Can I get a 10? Can I get a second? >> I'll second got it. >> Nick got it. >> Nick seniority on you there. Any discussion? >> Roll call vote. Uron. >> Hi >> Felman. >> Hi >> Paul. >> Hi >> Kyra. >> Hi >> Wagenbach. >> Hi >> Y. >> Is there a motion to adjurnn? Move to adjurnn. >> Second. >> I seconded that. Yeah. >> Uh, those in favor say