001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the March 12th, 2026 34th Board of Education meeting where I reconvene our meeting for this evening. If you would please rise for the pledge of allegiance to all five members. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item 2.3, roll call of board members. Mrs. Rash >> here. >> Dr. Wyatt >> present. >> Mrs. McCloskey >> here. >> Vice President Starky >> here. >> President Brown is present. Serving as chair. All five board members are present. Item 2.4. Approve the agenda. >> Make a motion. We approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second to approve our agenda
002for the evening. Any questions on our motion? Hearing? None. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Abstensions. Motion carries. 5 >> 2.5 approval of minutes. I make a motion we approve the minutes from the February 26, 2026 meeting of the board of education. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second on the floor to approve the meeting minutes from February 26, 2026. Any questions on that motion? >> Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Abstensions? >> Abstain. >> One abstension. Motion passes four with one abstension. do not believe we have any recognition this evening which leads us to item 2.7 citizens participation reading directly from board policy K public concerns and complaints public concerns the citizens participation item on the
003board agenda is an opportunity for interested citizens to speak publicly and address the board those who wish to speak publicly whether in person or online must complete and submit the public comment information form PCIF by 12 p.m. on a scheduled board meeting date. PCIF, which is available on the district website, must be completed in its entirety and submitted to the superintendent's office by the scheduled deadline. The citizens participation agenda item is limited to 30 minutes and individual speakers are limited to three minutes per speaker. In the event interested citizens wish to speak on a particular concern in the group, the group should select one individual to speak on their behalf. At the discretion of the board president or chair, speaking time may be limited to two minutes per speaker to allow for greater participation. Approved
004speakers will be recognized by the board president or chair in the order in which their names appear on the approved list. The board values citizens participation and respects the right of all speakers to speak freely. However, all speakers should maintain a level of decency and decorum to ensure the public forum that remains productive and respectful. The public should not expect discussion or responses to any speaker's comments at the board meeting. My understanding is we had no one signed up this afternoon to speak. So, we will bring this back at our next board meeting for another uh opportunity for the citizens of our district to speak. Turning to section three reports. First one up is item 3.1, financial report. Mr. Kirk Feldman, welcome Kirk. >> Good evening. So, we have the uh monthly report as of
005February 28th. Uh so, we are eight months into the fiscal year. Uh, as far as the state funds go, the only major changes that I want to highlight is division two. All other costs there you can see are received has bumped up a little bit and that's that mid-year unit count funding that can be received this year. So, we did receive about I think it was 34 $35,000 of of unit count funds and that's where I put those funds because they are discretionary and nobody can use them how we um you know the state doesn't dictate how we use them essentially. So, and then the other thing is the anticipated receipts. We do still have some additional funds that are due to us for division two holiday and division 3 equalization and that's as a
006result of academic excellence. They hold some of those funds back because our declaration of um cashing in academic excellence units doesn't happen until January 31st and so it's not until after that that they give us those fund facts. So that's what you're seeing there. Um everything else is pretty much going as planned. Um we're pretty much on target with last year. 96% of our discretionary funds received compared to the same last year. Uh 92% all funds received compared to 88% last year. So a little bit head in the state fund side. Any questions on the revenues report? >> Any questions on revenue for Mr. >> Uh moving on to the expenditure side. Um I do like to frequently highlight the division three local salary just because that is such a large budget item. Uh we
007do have nine pays left in the fiscal year which would imply nine pays out of 26 is about 35% and that's what we see there for budget remaining. So that's pretty much on target. Um and then uh you can see for the most part that's where we're landing for tuition reimbursements. I think we have two stragglers that are out there uh that had to get into the state supplier system in order to get paid. Um so they're getting delayed in getting paid, but um that's going to be pretty close to where we settle in terms of the tuition reimbursement funds. And then moving on to page two, uh nothing really additional to highlight on the discretionary side. We are at 34% budget remaining compared to 36% last year. that that discrepancy is holding steady there
008just like last month. And then uh the only thing I'll point out down in the non-discretionary side is about the fifth or sixth line down there. It's athletic trainer block grant for $49,000. Uh as it stands right now, the governor's recommended budget for next year. That has not been funded. So that's something that we would potentially have to pick up locally um for next year. uh assuming that this continues to not get funded through the legislature. So, and then uh so yeah, total funds grand total all funds 36% compared to 39% last year. Any questions? >> Any questions for Calvin on the expenditure side of things? All right, moving to item 3.2, to receive better report for Lucas. Uh good evening Spartan family. Always like to start with a couple of celebrations. So first want
009to congratulate the cheer squad from WT Chipman again won the state competition uh this past weekend. It's about the fourth or fifth year in a row. Um I also congratulate the high school team that did extremely well. However, they fell just decimal points short of winning their division and I heard uh they were robbed. Um, next I'd like to congratulate Dr. Cooper and about 15 of our Lake Force leaders who are participating in our aspiring leaders program. Group met Wednesday night, last night for the third time about seven weeks left in the program. And uh, Dr. Cooper is leading through uh leading them through a series of professional learning about school leadership, school operations and uh the whole point is to uh interest and prepare some of our best teachers to be lead the leaders
010of the future here in the district. So kudos to them. Thank you Dr. Cooper and Mrs. Rash for participating and supporting that program. Um I also want to thank and congratulate everyone who participated in the Black History Month celebration. I believe it was the Friday before last. Uh that was uh a great night. Always one of the best community events of the year and uh definitely definitely was. There's a lot of great things going on in the district. Spring sports practices are underway. They will start playing games very soon. Next week on March 18th, uh WT Chipman is hosting a community night and the high school will be hosting a spring pops concert. So I have to split my loyalties somehow that night. Be in two places at once. And tonight, our fabulous performing arts
011students are presenting opening night for the Adams family. Um, they will be on stage tonight through Saturday night at Lake Forest High School. Plenty of tickets available and they can be purchased online. As always, I remind everybody to follow us on our website, uh, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for all the latest updates and information. And, uh, that's all I have this evening. I yield the floor back to President Ralph and the board for any questions or discussion. Dr. Lucas. Any questions for Dr. Lucas on the 4th? >> Thanks, sir. >> Thank you. >> All right, turning back to the agenda. Item 3.3, uh, we have a curriculum report with Mr. James. >> All right, perfect. All right, good evening everybody. All right, thank you for the opportunity here and give you a brief overview of what's
012going on in the curriculum department. Uh so once again uh this department the chief academic officer curriculum department oversees curriculum instruction assessment also oversees special services special education department the technology department. Um you've heard from my colleagues uh Mrs. Alman and Mr. Leven on their two updates. So tonight I'll pretty much just focus on the curriculum instruction assessment piece. Miss >> All right. So the focus areas for tonight will be how the curriculum in the CIA department supports teaching and learning, some of the key systems and initiatives that strengthen the instruction and the student opportunities and then progress made in recent years and then also some priority areas for continued improvement. So I broke this oh before I break it into the four areas I do go ahead. >> Sorry. Yeah, it's all good. D3
013when it's a power Um, this is all of the specialists that work in the curriculum instruction assessment department. So, all the initiatives I talk about tonight, all all of the great things that are going on in the Lake Forest School District, these are the individuals that literally deserve all the credit. They are the boots on the ground. Um, we make the plans. These are the people that execute on it along with our admin, our building administrators and our staff on a day-to-day basis. So not going to read through all their names but uh the these are the people that really deserve the credit for all the wonderful things happening in the district instruction. So I broke this into four focus areas for tonight. We'll briefly talk about each one. Um the high quality instruction responsible
014for that. So the instructional materials this department's responsible for all the instructional materials that exist within the district. on the selection of the materials, the budgeting for the materials. So, as you can see, we I've done previous uh presentations for the board. We have what's called the program illustrative of mathematics. It exists from kindergarten up through 12th grade. So, it's one coherent mathematics program. We start with them when they're 5 years old in kindergarten and actually it actually goes up through algebra 2. So, it should say 11th grade and then we go into pre-calc things like that. Um, for our ELA, it's CKLA, core language, uh, core knowledge, language arts. You might hear those buzzwords around sometimes, science of reading and things like that. This follows the science of reading. We're really working with those
015foundational skills, getting these kids literate at an early age, uh, so they can be successful as you see what the priorities are once we hit the secondary schools. And then our secondary uses the in the literature, right? So materials are nothing more than words or numbers on a piece of paper, right? Can't put the books up against the kid's head. Osmosis takes place and things go in there. It they're just tools in a toolbox, right? Tool tools are useless unless there is a skilled craftsman using the tools. Uh so uh to train our teachers how to use these tools for professional development, right? We see at the beginning of the year in August um we will make that plan out for the year. This year it focus focused a lot on lesson internalization. Really reading
016through these lessons, deciding where student misconceptions are going to be, the ability to do error analysis when a student is having a misconception. So just really getting good with the tools you're using in the craft, right, of of solid instruction. Um in in our secondary, especially in our high school, they've done a masterful job of literacy across the content areas. It's not enough for just our ELA teachers to teach reading and writing, right? And a lot of times when people think reading, writing, they they immediately gravitate towards, oh, it's that's English language arts. That's happening in that class, right? No, it's happening in CT. It's happening in the math classes. It's happening in the science and social studies classes. Every one of these classes require students um to read different types of texts, uh to
017to be able to understand different types of academic vocabulary. So really making that push that everybody is a reading and writing teacher uh across the board. And once again, kudos to our secondary staff. We brought in a company called School Kit. They're working with our teachers and we're really starting to see some positive results there. Uh coaching and then new teacher orientation. I'll talk a little bit about that when we get to the priorities. Um right, it's always a challenge because you have this I call it almost like a conveyor belt coming in. You have people, you get them trained the way you want them trained, everything's going, but then you have retirements or or people that leave, but then you have new teachers coming in. So, how do you get them up to speed
018quickly to be as effective as the people that have been in this sustained professional development system? And then once again, we have, I'm sure you've heard the buzzwords, professional learning communities. It's not enough these the professional development days that we have throughout the year. Um can't be one and done or I call them spray and praise like well we'll give you PD man do we hope it sticks. No it needs to be sustainable. We need to keep revisiting these priorities how are they going celebrate successes course correct where course correction needs to happen and that's done through our professional learning communities. Uh the next little pillar here is data driven decisionmaking. So every and I think our district has done a wonderful job of this through the years, right? We're not making gut decisions on
019the way that we feel or how we perceive things are going, but we have data evidence to back up these decisions. Um, and without going into that laundry list there, um, we have district benchmark assessments. They're standardized norm reference test kind of take all the feeling out of everything, right? So you can compare yourself against peers within the district, within the state, and then even across the country, how we're stacking up. And those are some of the benchmark assessments we use. Uh you have your standardized state standardized assessments. I call those more of autopsy data, if you will. It they're given towards the end of the year. By the time a lot of the results come back, kids are moving on to the next grade level. They're still very good at measuring the health of
020a system. Um, is the system healthy? And it's also good for resource allocation to see where, okay, we're we're doing good over here. We're not doing so hot over here. So, let let's talk about resource allocation. Um, you have to be able to organize all that data. So, we have our data dashboards. So, we're not going to all these different places to grab data, analyze data. It all crunches down. And then you're able to tri triangulate, you know, your your your classroom grades, your autopsy data there, your benchmark assessments, and all those things should start telling a story, right, about the school, about the grade level, about the teachers classroom, and then about the individual kids at different levels. And then once again, the analysis structures. So you have the actual assessments, you have the
021dashboards where it's all collected, but then you have to have the analysis structures in place to actually sit down and look at this and the protocols in place of how to look at that data and that's done through our PLC's that meet on a regular basis. We have instructional support teams made up of the teachers then building leadership teams and then we come together and senate once a month too and where a lot of the administrators will look at the different schools what's going well, what's not. Let's replicate the good stuff. Let's talk about the challenges and how we overcome them. Thank you. Last two pillars here to talk about is expanding the student opportunities within the district. Really proud of our high school, Mrs. Potter, my uh uh the district's CTE uh workbased learning
022specialist, increasing our pathways and really aligning them to the workforce needs. Looking at the labor department, not what we think is going to be fun cool for the kids. We want that too, right? But really taking a look at the radius around us and saying, "Okay, what are the what are the job predictions? What are the jobs now that are needed and even more importantly looking into the future and the projections of what jobs are going to be needed? Let's align these pathways so that so that the students are are gaining skills that are going to be useful. Um, our work-based learning has increased and our uh industry certified credentials have massively increased um over the last couple of years. uh at at the high school advanced coursework. We've increased our AP offerings, the dual
023enrollment, the elective offerings. So, we're giving kids choice, more choice. And then all of that has to come with supports, too. It's not enough just to offer this, right? You got to support the kids as they're going through the experience. We've ramped up high dosage tutoring throughout the district. Uh the Saturday SAT prep is is being attended at a higher rate than ever before. before we have kids. Although I guess it's a great thing driving through the snow on the weekends. We're still running it and attendance is up. Um MTSS, which stands for multi-tered systems of support interventions going on. And then at Central, we lifted off the gifted and talented that they're doing a wonderful job over there with the gifted and talented program for our fourth and fifth grade students for that starts.
024And then the last thing I'm going to talk about with these pillars is the systems and supports that need to be in place to make all this click to make all the gears turn. And that is huge lift. Like one bullet point here is so many hundreds of actually probably thousands of hours work that transition from eh school over to infinite campus. Uh I know Mr. 11 touched on it during his I I would put our transition up against any other districts of we don't get me wrong there there were some gremlins running around in the system we had keep tossing out of there some speed bumps along the way but I felt that went as smoothly as humanly possible to get uh that major move done. Um we use our grants I know when
025Mr. Mr. Felman gives his reports out. You see those title one, title two, title three, Perkins, IDA. We take the district strategic plan, the school strategic plans, all that stuff and those other pillars and we take the money, the resources, we push it up against those priorities and and that's how we we budget the money out there. and you can see those um working with the community communications, the partnerships, the parent square, the website redesign that we just finished up, the increasing social media presence, uh the infinite campus parent portal from just word of mouth. I'm hearing the parents really like that in the different forums. It seems pretty intuitive to get into and how they're setting up their alerts and poor kids don't stand a chance nowadays. I think a great coming in instantaneously
026and then uh expanding our CTE business partnerships. We just had a room full in here the other day with business partners in here and picking their brains like what do they want in their employees that are graduating and how can we get them to sign up for work-based learning opportunities, what what industry certifications so on and so forth. And then uh also with the systems and supports, we of course want the staff uh to have a lot of input into this. So when I talked about all that curriculum adoption, all those decisions aren't made in a vacuum. That's a curriculum adoption is about a year-long process. We get teachers from all the schools, the administrators go go through a lengthy process. Uh same thing with the standardbased report card. That was two years in the
027making of two years of committee meetings trying to actually I think we got it pretty good ironed out that that's up and running now. And then uh we have ELA and MAP leadership teams. I I always uh tell my specialists right they can't be everywhere at once. Their job is to almost work themselves out of a job. And the way you know you're doing a good job is when you don't have to be there and it's running the way that it should run. and then you've built something that you know is sustainable and that's what we're trying to build. All right, next one those pillars. So these are our success pathways. I I hit on these three words. Uh Dr. Lucas and I talked about this ago and it really resonated with me. So every
028year when the students are walking across and and guys get to shake their hands, we hand them the diploma to me. That's us making a pack with those students, right? they went through our public education system that they should be at least one of these hopefully all of these right open as many doors as we can so they can make their choices moving forward and be prepared but to be enrollable employable or enlistable like you have a pathway you have choices open to you coming out it's not oh god I just graduated high school what am I doing next right all right so as you can see up there the things that we're doing to make each of these uh come to life. Great. So, some of the progress and momentum over the last couple
029years that we've been building uh some of the major initiatives. I was reflecting as I made this, it's like, wow, each one of these bullet points is like literally a thousand hours worth of work and committee meetings and it's like I can get this on one slide really. But, uh getting all these materials in place, some of the some of our materials hadn't been updated in like a decade. Um, so getting all those in place, making that move to standardsbased report cards to really be able to report out what these kids know, what they're challenged with, not just overall, hey, you're doing pretty good at math or nah, you're not doing too well at math, but actually be able to say what's going well, what's not going well. The expansion of our CTE pathways, the
030academic supports, the tutoring programs, taking the the the financial resources, the grants, pushing that up against the STR uh taking the money and make sure it aligns with priorities. And then the last one here is where we'll be moving in uh next year, our administrative retreat. We're still I'm still working on what this looks like for PD for the year, but planning for responsible implementation of AI tools uh moving forward to support staff efficiency and instruction beginning next year. So the main goal on that without going into a lot of details because we haven't ironed out all the details is to increase efficiency, increase workflows and efficiencies and then areas for focus. Right? While we're proud of everything that we've done, there's always areas to get better. Um those need to be acknowledged and that's
031where the effort and the time needs to go. Uh so improving early literacy outcomes in grades K to three. This district is very strong in early literacy, but it's still an area of focus. Firm believer in that if you can get it right at the lower grade levels and we can have students literate by grade three, they're reading, they can comprehend, a lot of the issues that occur later on are because students have difficulty reading. So really making this hard push that we are are very focused on getting our kids reading at the early grade levels strengthening mathematics proficiency across all the grade levels uh some more than others in particular it's not just in late forest co really did a number on mathematics going through if you were to look at standardized test scores
032across the country uh still recovering from that but we have once again taken some of the grant money priorities we We have University of Delaware coaches coming in. My team goes in, coaches, sits in the PLC's. So, we're we're getting good traction there. Literacy across the content areas. Not going to repeat myself, but that's been a focus at the secondary schools. Ensuring the consistent instructional quality across classrooms. It should not matter the teacher that your student or the child is assigned to. Should be high quality in every classroom. The tools, the instructional techniques. Once again, a lot of that comes down to new teachers coming in, just getting them up to speed, make sure they have the proper mentoring, and then continuing to close the achievement gaps among our student groups. Back to that that
033central themes, it all comes down to enrollable, enrollable, employable, and then enlistment. So to kind of cap it up, as a result of all this work, students are experiencing they're interacting with high quality instructional materials on a daily basis. There's targeted academic support across the board. We're expanding the career and technical opportunities and uh enrollable, employable, enlistable. >> All right. And that that is it. So if there's any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer. Thank you very much for that very comprehensive report. Appreciate that. Any questions for >> No, I love a question >> I had. >> Oh, I did. I just wanted to point out for um I remembered where it was. they my my learning modality is memorizing where I saw it and I'm gonna ex out. Anyway, >> um I
034will say for you to say the e school to infinite campus, I was really concerned about that like going into it like I knew it was going to be a big lift. I was glad we were the second group of people that were doing it. But from the knowing how it was going on the inside, also being a parent on the outside looking in, I there was I felt none of that. I mean like I felt like everything was addressed even in the very beginning when we couldn't get in at first even though we had the access. I felt like it was easily a message was sent out and something you know people were able to retrieve it. If you do not get the messages in this district I don't know um you something spelled
035wrong in your last name which happens a lot with mine but it's not because I've got it a phone call, an email, a text, a push notification. I know everything. I'll text my kid in the day. You were just marked absent. Why? What is I mean it's instant. Like sorry my teacher held me over. Oh, sorry. I got tell them that. So yes, there is no getting away with anything um in uh in what's it called? Parent Square, Eminent Campus, all that. It's very I from the outside there was not anything I think seemed like it was even noticeable transition except that it's a little prettier. >> So and that's good thing. accept. >> So I I will kind of just piggyback on that. I I wish that that was the pool that I would
036have had for all three of mine had it with the fair graduating this year, but it would have been phenomenal something like that for all my kids. But um I've had a chance to work with you on this side for for a while now. Um and I appreciate the work that you and your team do. It's an understatement to say how important you and their work is to the district. So appreciate that. Um and thanks for that report. I hope that uh we have some folks online, parents uh that are watching to be able to see what's involved with all this that makes this all happen. So, so thank you. >> Well, one more thing I will say just as a little funny um when someone sends a message out, I think it's funny instead
037of you liking it, you can appreciate it >> and then if you accidentally hit it again, unappreciate this post, but you don't like the post, you appreciate it. And I'm like, yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Yeah, it says appreciate. It says appreciate at the bottom. I appreciate this. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> All right. Stay in the report. One more. Item 3.4. Uh it's titled amended special programs report. Mrs. >> Hi, I'm back. So, I'm following up from my February report. Um unfortunately, I made a mistake when I was presenting some numbers to you guys. So, Mr. Kellerman had sent me the total amount. Um, and then I wanted to make sure that I was presenting the 30% that we ultimately pay because we do get reimbured 70% for ICT. So I
038had taken his amounts and I had subtracted the 70% to present to you. However, he had already done that. So I had taken 70% off of the 70%. So what you see up here the strike out um the numbers that I've struck out are the numbers that I presented um to you that are are incorrect. Um and so how we've arranged it is that um the first set of numbers that is what we pay after the 70% is reimbured that is the 30% and then the second set of numbers you'll see in the parenthesis that's the total amount before we get reimbured to 70%. So, I think um going forward, I'll make sure to do both the 100% and then the 30% that we get paid so that there's no confusion, but I wanted to
039make sure that you and everybody um who heard the first presentation knew that those numbers were off and we acknowledge and I apologize and now we have the correct number. So, >> thanks. Any any questions on that amendment? I will say I'm not surprised by the fact that this is being brought back to us because this is the kind of quality of people we have here. I can only imagine if something like this happening somewhere else and it just like yeah whatever kind of thing. So I appreciate the fact that the error was recognized and it's brought back and the correct information was given to us. So >> yeah, we want to make sure that we're super transparent. So >> we appreciate that. Trust me. Thank you. >> All right, another moving on to our
040agenda. Back to that. Uh next item is a discussion item 4.1 school year calendars and Dr. Cooper. So, I'm coming back to you again with um a second draft of our calendars. When I came the first time, we had our original drafts. We made two different drafts. This year, I shared because Labor Day falls later in the year. So, we made a after Labor Day start like we've done historically for the past few years, but then we also had a second draft that showed what a before Labor Day start could look like. Um I previously shared some feedback with you that we gave from the staff and from the community. And so that was where uh I shared with you the last time we met. Um now I'm coming back to you again with the
041revised drafts. The calendar committee met again and we took that feedback and we made some revisions. So I wanted to share those revisions with you. Um the first draft is the after Labor Day start. Um so the first change you'll notice is in the month of August. Um, some feedback we received uh from the Paris and CNS is that they um historically have not worked the week of Thanksgiving. So, we needed to shift one of their days um to the beginning of the school year. So, you'll notice there's an additional day added in August, but then um it evens out in the end. So, we didn't add an extra day to them. We just took the Thanksgiving um the week of Thanksgiving Day away. Um in September, we didn't really have any changes except you'll
042see at the bottom, we changed the totals to reflect uh that Paris CNF change. Same is true for October. Um, in November, one of the, uh, biggest pieces of feedback that we received was the gap between the end of the marking period and when report cards were originally listed. I know that was almost at the end of the month. Um, so when the committee met again, we reviewed the calendar and what we did is we took the inservice day that was planned for I think it was January 4th, that day following um, winter break and we moved it to the middle of November to be able to give the staff that day for their grading, which means we can move the report cards up to the 20th so that there's a much smaller gap there
043between the end of the marking period and report cards. It does sort of trap up November a little bit, but uh without doing that, that's what put us down to that uh report card release date the very end of November when the marketing period is ending and the 10th. Um the only change we made here uh Paris and CNS do not report those days and then we swapped out parent conferences for um the inservice day on the Monday Tuesday to reflect what we've done the past few years. Um moving on to December, uh you don't really see any changes here. uh in January you'll we removed that January 4th inservice day that was what was moved to November and the rest of this calendar remains um pretty unchanged from the original draft that I presented
044to you um the last time I came. >> So that was draft number one. >> I'm sorry Mr. >> Can we ask questions about this one so it's not as confusing? on the house now. >> Yeah. Um I just noticed and it may have just just be a tight issue, but with moving the report cards to the 20th in November. In November. Yeah, sorry. November. Um the 24th still shows half a day for report cards. So that would that just be a full day building PD? >> That would be Yes, that would be a full day for building PD. And that So that is a typo. So I would need to move that to the 16th. >> Okay. >> Basically swapping the 16th and the 24th the type. Yes. Okay. >> Thank you. Any other
045questions on this draft? >> Yeah, I I think this question can wait till the after the second one. I just wonder if there were specific questions about this calendar, but the rest of it I think it'll wait till after the next. >> The other question. >> All right. So, draft or calendar draft two, the second draft of calendar draft two. It's a little confusing. Um this is the before Labor Day start. So again uh same change as before I moved that um inservice day for paras and CNS to avoid them working the week of Thanksgiving. So you see that they start an extra day. So those totals are reflected um in August and of course again in September moving through the same only the totals change in the month of October. And then you'll see
046in November, Paris and CNS do not report that week of Thanksgiving because I've moved that day to August at that point. So, um, more totals are reflected there. And then moving throughout the rest of the calendar, um, just very slight changes. So, normally we put or in the past several years, we put inservice days on Mondays. Um, when we originally presented this calendar, we had kind of sorted to sandwich some of the days together. So, it was a Friday and a Monday together to make a long weekend. After we moved um some of the other days around, we didn't need to do that anymore. So, you'll see we moved that inservice day in January to the 25th. That puts the report cards coming out um on the 29th a little closer. Again, trying to shift
047some of those report card dates around. And then moving into February, we have this um this day the 16th is for parent conferences which is exactly the same as calendar draft 1. So we wanted to mimic that on this one. And then the rest of the calendar again remains pretty unchanged from the original presentation of calendar draft 2. Any questions on calendar two or questions in general? >> I have a question. >> Mrs. Rash >> for January or is there the inservice day on January 4th and I think on the 25th I understand it wouldn't be on the 4th or they would be both days both days. So what some of the feedback that I've received personally um from some people I know that looked at this they're general questions and the general question one
048is okay so if we're starting before Labor Day why are we only finishing one day apart that's question one question I have I just noticed uh with that same parameter um what would be the explanation for the seniors finishing on the exact same day >> so we for the senior question, we do try to build in extra hours for the seniors. Um, we don't want to cut them short because of snow or so, we don't cut it right to the limit. Um, in the last several years, I noticed it's it's pretty much always around the same day. Um, regardless of the start date to make sure that they have enough time, I guess more time rather than less to get their hours in. Um, as far as start ending a different day, really comes down
049to inservice days and the way they're distributed. Um, in calendar draft two, I I think one of the things that the committee talked about a lot is calendar draft one, we tried to keep things uh the same as we have in the past. Whereas in calendar draft 2, because of the earlier start date, things sort of had a more natural flow in the sense of we could sandwich, you know, an inservice day up against the I think with the election day in November. So when you see that we were closed November 3rd, we were able to put that in service down the 2nd because of that. Now on calendar draft 1 with the later start, we can't do that because the marking period hasn't ended yet. So uh same thing with spring break. So spring
050break, we usually have an inservice day right before spring break, but with calendar draft one with the after Labor Day start, there's an extra week after spring break where we're still in that marking period. So we have to shift the date after spring break. So, um, some of that was really why we kind of developed the two calendars. But I agree in the wash, it doesn't come out that different. Um, it was really just about the flow of the days and groupings. And, you know, especially if you look at that November on calendar draft one, we end up with that inservice day and it there's not a lot of school time in November because of that. >> That's sure you can appreciate just parents in general when you look at this calendar. There are a
051few things they focus on that. >> Yeah, that's one of them. >> The first kind of start. It's no cost. >> Just a quick question on calendar draft two. >> I saw I see you kept it the same for parent conferences. Um even though it's like it's like two full like over two weeks until with parent conferences from report cards. What's the reasoning that like why not I don't know. I mean at least the 12th make it a four day weekend instead of after. I just wonder that because it just seems really far away. >> Um, January to February because the report cards are issued January 29th, but then the the parent conference would be the same day even though they were issued a week later in the first draft. So, it's only like a
052week from in the first draft. I like how it's only like a week from the report cards and this is like two plus. >> It is. It is further away. So, we did talk about parent conferences on the original draft. Um on the original two drafts, one of them had parent conferences falling before report cards. That was a big sticking point that they needed to move after. Um one of the reasons that the committee likes keeping the parent conferences on the 23rd is because there is an inservice day the next day. So it's a late night for the staff, but there is an inservice the next day. Um and traditionally that is the week that we have done conferences. >> You mean the 16? The 16th. >> Oh, in January. I'm sorry. I was looking
053at the November. >> No, February. >> Like the on the draft two the report cards are issued. >> I I see what you're saying. >> Like the 29th, >> but they're >> there's no conf. >> Okay. I was looking at November where they were on the 6th and then the conferences were until the 23rd. So there was a twoe gap >> there also. >> Yeah. Um that that is again something like traditionally Lake Forest has put the parent conferences the week the day after the Super Bowl is usually when it falls. The Super Bowl happens to fall on the 14th next year and President's Day. So no matter what it will not fall on the day after the Super Bowl. So that is something we could look at moving if we wanted to move it
054up um instead of h and have two four day weeks instead of um just one three-day week. I think again that was part of the conversation was trying to group those long weekends. >> It just seems like all the um report cards in the first draft that the um conferences are closer >> almost immediate. Yes. >> Yeah. Because of the later Yeah. But then I mean I like the second draft but then you just have these huge gaps and it's kind of like you're almost halfway into you're almost to interums. Yeah. >> So then it kind of seems a little >> It is far. So, >> so as a committee, um the the overall feeling of the committee was that there they were leaning toward calendar draft 2, I think because of the flow of
055the marking periods. Um that was really what it came down to uh was the way that the marking period flowed. So, for example, like I said, the spring break and then there's an extra week. So, one of the high, you know, the high school representative shared that's kind of a weird break time like I'll come back just for those few days whereas in calendar draft the marketing period ends before spring breaks there's a natural break beforehand. So, I think on a lot of these um that was that was the overall feeling of the committee was that with the academic um chunks of the year it seemed to flow better. Um but I agree we did get feedback from families that they do like the after Labor Day start. We got other feedback from families that
056they liked the transitional period um especially for students going into a new school. So um I think I share for it was almost 5050 exactly uh as far as the community went of the feeling. So um there weren't strong feelings like one way or I'm sure there are strong feelings I guess on both sides is the way to frame that. It's it's different with the excuse me with the after Labor Day when or Labor Day when that pool Labor Day start is August 25th you know but since even with a pool Labor Day it's still in September there's this feeling of it's still time to go >> so I don't I don't think and I believe I mentioned the last time we discussed calendars there was a general consensus of this board um I don't
057speak for this board here but in the past that we wanted to move towards um an afterly based start even without being legislated to to have to do that Um and and we've done that for the past few years, but um I don't you know I don't know what point. So the and just remind me of the process. So is the process to then expect to have this to come back or a recommendation from us at some point to have these come back as two different counters to then pick and meeting? >> Yes. So this is the second draft now. This is the second time they brought them. So the next time it will be um time for a vote. And I know that I believe one of the comments that I read on some
058of the information that's been presented to us was um not necessarily having to stick to tra tradition which I appreciate that. So along that same vein, the comment that um Mrs. McCloskkey made about the twoe gap with um parent conferences that's almost embarrassing for me to have to explain to a parent that well we do it because it's after the Super Bowl, you know. >> Sure. >> So that that would be a tough one to have to have that conversation. So, particularly given the fact that there is already a day off on the 15th for for everyone. So, I mean that one I think we probably should look to move if we can. Is there some reason why we can't? But aside from that, um I I don't have any qualms about doing a start.
059I don't know how you guys feel. >> I don't because it falls so late in in the year. So, I I do wish that there would there is a way that we could make the not necessarily end 6 days before like the the start date is 6 days before. I wish we could do a couple days. Um but we're still ending on is it the 10th >> on calendar draft too? >> Yeah. On the um on the 10th. >> So, I'll make those two corrections before I um bring these back. I will change the February parent conference date and move back closer to report cards. And then I'll change um the inservice the half day report card so that's reflective of when they'll actually >> and then maybe just a scan to see if there's
060a way to make it end of day even earlier. But if it's not practical that's that's fine. Um but that was one of the big questions that I received from a few people that contacted me. So >> I think that's always a question I have too is just how many PD days do we have to have? I mean >> we're required to have um I know that we talked about the other day. We looked it up. >> It's in regulations. I'd have to look it up. It's time. >> We do have more than that built in because contractually we do give everyone the half day for grading. So, we account for the PDS, but we do we build in more time because we give work time at the beginning of the year for classroom time.
061We give time for people to work on their, you know, mandatory training. So, all of those get factored in in addition to the time that we just want to spend with professional development. So, so we do offer more PDA days because I think it's um to help accommodate teachers their time as well and staff. >> Yeah. I if I could just one more point of consideration for the board. Um the uh calendar draft calendar 2 allows for,53 senior hours versus draft calendar one which allows for 1046. Seniors have to accumulate 1032 So I mean we had a lot of snow this year. We run we run into snow again. You know that that 1046 is not a lot for margin for error. So just food for thought as the board considers the two calendars. >>
062Any other questions or comments on either of these drafts? Um Amy >> and this is to Brandy but to all of us to just but I will say also I we did talk about the January well we were just talking about the January um parent teacher conferences being like two plus weeks after but so is November but then November's though is the day before that I you know when I really do look at the report cards the end of marking period the interum like like it's mess and I mean to me it's very tight on this second calendar because it's like the report cards are issued November 6 there's a the day off in the middle it's like two weeks right before Thanksgiving and then like the week you come back it's >> yeah but
063I think those conferences are more than just discussing the report card I mean I think the report card can be a point of conversation but I think it's also about just >> their progress up to that that point as well. Um, so while I >> I do understand why it's tied to report cards, it's that's not the only measure of >> Yeah, >> I agree with that. I I guess my thing was just looking at when you look at the other one, you've have like three full weeks of December before interim like just just logistically altogether like you have three full weeks before interims on the first draft. It's very broke up in the second. Not that. Hey, if everybody I just know what the students are like right before that and but I think
064it probably like that every year maybe anyway because you're just off so much in November and December. But um yeah, I'm more okay with the November one, but I don't know. >> Sorry. >> Um the parent conferences um I know they're noon to 7:30. Is there even if it's an hour, is there any way to move that up? I feel like that's just a really quick turnaround when you're at work till 7:30 and you probably don't leave till at right at 7:30 uh for some and to travel home and then to get right back up and do it again. It's just is there any way that we can still have evening hours? I understand that. But push that back just a little bit so that it's not as late. I mean are those evening hours
065are all of them occupied? Would it still work if >> sounds like there's been conversation about this? >> Um I'm not sure when that as long as I've been in the district that has been the time. So I'm not sure like how that came to be. Um I can only speak from my experience at Shipman that we we did always have a lot of people in on those times because they came after work. Um so those those time slots tend to fill much more than the afternoon hours. >> I guess is 11 could technically be a lunch hour too. you know, so if it that was moved up a little bit, then maybe somebody could even sneak in on a lunch. I don't know. I just I have lots of teacher friends and I just
066know that that is a really quick turnar around to get home at 8, maybe after and back at school, but and there might not be a solution to that, but I'm just asking if that's something to working with now. I see the um how that can impact certain parts of the school system to all be out on Mondays, especially since all the holidays be Mondays. Um, I don't know. I'm not necessarily recommending specific change for this, but I do think it's worth considering. Um, space around that maybe problem date at two weeks. Do you think there's value and consistency there for February? Also, they need to for that four day weekend too. Um, >> yeah, if they're looking specifically track >> the time period >> they're both two weeks. So, that's why I was thinking
067just like that's consistent rather than moving one. Sorry, not so after one. So after three, >> sorry, >> but I was like, if you look at the first draft though, it was really quick. So it was like um the November the report cards were issued the 20th of November and the parent conferences were the 23rd. That's I was really just comparing draft one and draft two to look at that. And then like um there was a longer gap February like November or February 5th and then it was the 15th. So it was only like a Friday to Tuesday and then the first and the one in November and I know the one in November they would it's always done that because it's part of that week. >> So that's why I kind of gave the
068November one a a look over. Um >> and that same one I didn't was also super excited like this. So that was >> it. Well, it's two plus but yeah on draft two we talked about moving back. So that was if I moved it up to the 8th that would be a match basically to the date. So they would be each other as well. you move that one to the eight, it would be essentially one week then turn on November. So I guess depending on the calendar draft one allows for a couple weeks in between whereas one was instantaneous. I guess I was just looking at both the dates one draft two that as they're read right now they allow about two which provides consistency in the whole school year question next hour agenda and
069motion approved resolution to the one board house in second meeting. It's not a time for discussion. Second >> a motion and a second on the bill second jump into these meetings with the exception of one have no changes and have no recommended changes and as this is a second read any questions or comments on board policy a personnel goals/ priority objective GBBC gets C staff healthare GBGA staff health mir uh just point of of just to be specific here we have this you we use the word physician throughout this policy and as I was looking at them today you know most people don't see their physician for things like um physicals and such. So, I thought maybe it might be a good idea to just change that to um licensed healthc care provider. >> Take
070the term physician out and just replace it with licensed healthcare provider. I think if the board is um >> need to walk and all those things. Yeah, I'm okay with that. You guys good with that? >> Yes. Yes. >> We'll make that change. >> Thanks, sir. Good. GCA certified staff positions. GCB certified staff contracts and compensation. GCBD certified staff fringe benefits. GCE certified staff recruiting. GCF certified staff hiring. GCG, substitute staff employment. GCH, certified staff orientation and training. This one had a very minor change. Any additional questions or comments on any of these files? Hearing none, I will call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Extensions. Motion carried 5. >> That's 28 personnel. With the motion, we approve resolution 8.1 personnel report as presented. Second. >> A motion and a second
071to approve this evening's personnel report. Any questions on that motion? >> Hearing none. Call vote. All in favor? >> I opposed. Extensions. Motion carries. 50. >> Section 10, other business, school choice. I make a motion to approve resolution 10.1 as presented. >> Second. A >> motion and a second floor to approve resolution 10.1 school choice. Any questions on that motion? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Extensions. Motion carries. 5-0. >> Section 12 of the business financial reports. I make a motion we approve resolution 12.1 as presented. Second. >> A motion and a second on the floor to approve the financial report for February. Any questions on that motion? Hearing? None. I call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> opposed. >> Abstensions. Motion carries 5-0.
072Thank you, Mr. Starky. Thank you, Mr. McCloskkey. Turning to board reports, discussions, and concerns. Section 14, 14.1, Delaware School Boards Association. >> Uh, I was not able to go Wednesday night. None of us were. It was one of those nights, I think, where we all had stuff. Um, so I haven't gotten the minutes from that, but as soon as I do, I will forward them to everybody and make sure you see them. Did you went though, didn't you? >> I did go. >> That's right. You he was you were the superintendent. >> I was. >> Anything important we should know? >> Uh a lot of talk about legislation. Uh the big uh order of business is the upcoming retreat or the conference that's in San Antonio. Uh and elections of course there were at the
073time I believe my memory suits me 36 um 36 vacancies. Um I think 18 of them were opposed but by the end of the meeting there were like six more people had filed. So quite a few uh quite a few hot hotly contested school board elections across the state. >> Fortunately not in Lake Forest. We have the best all that. >> All right. Thank you for that report. And section or excuse me item 14.2 two legislative committees. >> We have not >> not when would the next meeting be >> Friday at the 8th >> at the >> so it is at the conference. Got it. >> Perfect. Thank you. And finally item 14.3 go to the order to stop 24. Any board member to present or discuss an item that was not on this evening's
074agenda. But have anyone ever go to the order? The only thing that I had was uh mentioned by Dr. Lucas that as of the close of the filing period for school board elections, the Lake For school district only had two people who have successfully um applied with all of the proper documentation. That is Dr. White and Mrs. Rash. So they will continue to represent the district for the next four years. Unless there is any other bit of the order, I will uh and I do not believe we have a need for executive session. So I will entertain a motion for adjourn. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second to adjourn this evening. Any questions on that motion? None. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Abstensions.
075Motion carries 5-0. You stand adjourned at 8:05. Thank you. Safe travels everyone.