1/14/2026 - Committee of the Whole Meeting

001Heat. Heat. 146. >> Can I get a roll call? >> Um, board member Mcnite, >> present. >> Board member McKenna, >> present. Board member Carlson >> here. >> Board member Johnson >> present. >> Secretary here. >> President >> here. Vice President >> here recording secretary superintendent. >> Shelley Wagner human resources. Michelle curriculum and instruction. >> Jason Bloom communications and community relations. Josh Bis operations. Thank you. Sorry loading slow. Dr. Could you leave us off? >> Can I get everybody to stand? >> I know. I just got here late myself. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Keep going. >> All right. Uh, the mission of the Harlem Consolidated School District as

002a vital part of the community is to help diverse learners realize their unlimited potential by providing an educational program dedicated to academic excellence and a development of strong character in a safe and respectful learning environment. >> Thank you, sir. Thank you. Can I get consensus to approve the introductory meeting minutes December 10th, 2025? >> Yes. >> Consensus. And with that, I'll turn it over to comments for the community. At this moment, we have two comments should be respectful and demonstrate consideration for others. Comments regarding specific individuals are inappropriate. Address the board only at the appropriate time as indicated on the agenda and recognized by the board president. There are to be no interruptions during a public comment being made to the board. If there's a disruption, the individual may be ejected from the public meeting

003at the discretion of the board president or superintendent. Each speaker will be allotted three minutes to present his or her comment. Comments concerning the same subject matter will be narrowed to one. spokesperson for submitted by comment by the board president to address the board on the subject. Please be aware that the board education members will not respond to your comments or questions during a meeting. If necessary, the superintendent or appropriate design will contact you after the meeting to follow up on the concern or question you brought forward. And with that, I turn it over to Beth Wine Miller. But um I did want to say that reducing pre-k kids is going to have an adverse effect on starting kindergarten. Obviously students who have a great need of support will get in first. But how many

004are going to slip through the cracks because of this 75% cut? Ending ALP classes will probably increase the enrollment gap because you're going to have parents who are either going to homeschool, move, or seek private encourage or private education to encourage their bright kids. Um, at the last town hall there was a slide showing the budget deficit being 3 million, but we can afford lockers for high school phones. We can cut early education because funds aren't there, but purchasing these lockers is a worthy investment. But and then if we go to grade blocks, have you thought about how long these kids are going to be on the buses? If you've got somebody all the way up in Rosco Rockton area coming all the way down to Lo's Park, that's a long time. Have you guys

005sat on a bus for that long at that age? That I mean there's a lot of factors and such and I know you guys are trying to do your best, but is it really the best if we've got kids suffering? She's right. You can't give too many comments when you don't know what you guys are thinking. And the problem with the process, the 29 pages it gave us, there were so many differences in what you said compared to what the real thing is. Just like the ELP, if I did the spreadsheet, and I know I gave all of you a copy of it, but it gave you what our allocations were, what the salaries were, and if you do the numbers right, it said you have a $1.4 million surplus. And that didn't include the

0062 million she said that you got for COVID. And the other thing is is never in this proposal have you even considered getting rid of any of the higherups, the principles. You have six principles. I went to school here when we had 2,000 kids at the junior high level. We were all in high school and we had two principles. We don't need six principles and six secretaries. And the kids, this school is for the kids, not all that administration. There's a way you can cut that back and not have to do what what you're trying to do. And and changing the kids, you are going to get people I mean I have grandchildren in this school and two of their and each of them have a parent that's a teacher that's not going to like

007the way you're doing it. They know how it works and they're in the different school districts. you homeschool your kids or you're gonna um you know go they'll pay the extra money to to have the convenience of being at one school for all grade school and Olsen is where my grandkids have gone all of them and I understand I I know there's a lot of people that like it but the way you you have that drill for shooters is unbelievable so that's why I wouldn't mind having I think you only need to get rid of Olsen and you can split those kids between um Machznney and Rston because now you have all these extra classrooms and leave it like kindergarten teachers and that both my daughter-in-law and daughter are kindergarten teachers and it's a struggle

008when you get kids in there that don't know their ABCs, that don't know anything. It holds back the whole class. And now you're getting rid of trying to train those little kids who already have some problems to be able to walk into kindergarten and know what they're doing. It's not fair. We've got the money according to the printout information we got from you guys that you should be able to keep that. And that's a detriment to all of Harlem because those kids are going to be behind the whole time. And I've seen it when I went to school. I've seen it when my kids have gone to school. My son was and both his kids will probably be in the advanced learning. And they need that because he got set in the corner because he

009was disrupting class helping kids because he was so bored. So you guys need to start from the top down and cut things, not just do harm to the kids. >> Thank you. With that, I'm going to bring it over to the education part of the committee. And with that, I'll turn it over to Dan McKini. >> This one right here. I thought I >> You're on. >> Okay, great. Okay. The education committee bringing it to a whole um is Dr. Michelle Herb, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. And I'm Diane McKenna and I'm here. Diana Johnson. Dr. Michelle Herb >> here. >> Dr. Terrell Yarro. >> Pam Cook >> here. >> Becky Logan. >> Jake Hubert >> here. >> Shannon Rice >> here. >> Anna Louisa Dean Domingus and our union person Elena Shelene Tuy

010>> here. >> Okay. And do I have the consensus to approve the meeting minutes on from November 12th, 2025? >> Yes. >> Okay. And if there's any public comments, >> not at this time. >> At this time. Okay. And then I'll turn the meeting over to Dr. Yarro. >> All right. Thank you, Board Member McKenna. Um before we we start um with the presentation, and I'll try to speak into this microphone so you guys hear me. Um, I really want to make a statement here, um, with this whole process and and for it to go out to the community for those who are both in attendance and those are that are online. And so I wrote this so I don't get off track here. Um, but I would like to thank our community um, for

011engaging with us throughout this challenging process. This is a challenging process. um whether we're talking about school closures or um EC programming or anything that we've talked about right now, this is hard and I've said this before and it's hard. It this is not easy. If it was easy, um we just kick the can and just not do anything. But we can't do that. We just can't. And so with that being said, I want to thank you all, you know, for your participation and your emails. I mean, there's there's been a number of emails um sent to both the board, myself, um members that are sitting around this table, but we thank you for that. The phone calls, whether they're positive, whether they're for the things that we're talking about, whether they're negative, we thank

012you guys for that because that helps us with our recommendation. When we paused, when we were going through everything and we paused it, we paused it because we've heard, we heard from our community, because we heard that, okay, we have issues, we have challenges, we have enrollment challenges that we talked about, we had financial challenges that we talked about and we wanted to address. But the proposals that we did that we came forth with, not all our community, you know, liked those. And so we said, you know what, okay, let's pause. let's look at it again and let's try to tweak it in a way where we're trying to address um the things that were coming up in both the public hearings and in um the comments and and from our community that we were

013getting specifically when we were talking about transitions and wanting to lower the number of transitions um also to with that feel for neighborhood and we were hearing that and so when you hear the presentation um you know this evening that's what we're trying to address that's what we're trying to talk through and we hopefully we can get, you know, to that piece. I also want to thank our staff and our building administrators and board members as well. Um because you were present throughout all of this. You're you're getting those negative comments. You're getting hit on Facebook. You're you're taking all of those things and I want to thank you for that because you are the ones that are engaging with our students and our families and providing that instruction, continuing to answer questions and continuing

014to lead during a time of uncertainty. I was just on a on a on a call this afternoon with other area superintendent and learning that they're going through the same things that we're going through. Urbana last year closed two schools and went through that and it was hard but at the same time it was necessary and we had to do that and they had to do that and so now we're starting that process here but you guys are the ones that are talking with families and meeting with kids and and continuing the education of our kids through all this uncertainty. So that's why I really feel it's important that we come to a consensus tonight with that piece because we need to move forward regardless of which direction that we're going to go. And so

015then too, finally, I want to acknowledge our district level, you know, admin both who are at this table and who are not. I mean, the time and effort that you put into putting together these plans and trying to make sure that they do benefit our kids and that they do benefit our staff and that in our buildings and looking at both our future success, you know, and our present success and and and I really appreciate that spec particularly um Dr. Herb, um Rebecca Logan, Heidi Lang, and Shannon Rice. you guys spend hours on trying to put these plans together and thank you um you know board president you know u Mr. Sterling for allowing us to not have to come right after break to do this and giving us time to really think about what

016our community was saying and put a plan put some plans together that that I feel that can help us you know as well and in particularly Dr. Herb, you have we we care about EC. The the narrative that's out there right now of us not caring about EC, I don't I don't I don't know how to how to say it any other way but to say that is just not true. I mean, you sent over emails to legislators offering up anything and everything that they can do to help us with the EC funding problem. And my hope is is that, you know, there's some success with those, there's some impact with that. Um, but those calls happened and we had some meetings and we talked through it and unfortunately these type of issues are going

017around, you know, statewide. But that didn't stop you from making those phone calls and I appreciate that. So, thank you for doing that. And so as we go through this, because our faith is never going to waver, you know, for our kids, for our staff, and for our community, and we're going to keep forward regardless of what's being said out there, regardless about all the conversations about me, um it is what it is because at the end of the day, I feel like this is the right thing to do and this is what we're going to do. So, with that being said, we're going to present these modified options um to our board. Um Dr. Um Bloom and I are going to tag team a little bit with that and it's going to go around

018um to specific individuals. Um I'm going to speak as loudly as I can and and we'll go through it, but let's let's let's um present that to the board at this time. >> All right. So, let me get to it. >> All right. So the description of options that you see on the screen um above you and that board members that you either see you know at your at your table um has come from the comments from the community has come from you know whether it's emails whether it's phone calls whether it's um you know in-person meetings. This has shaped us tweaking the plans that we originally proposed um before the holiday break. And so currently >> Bluetooth has disconnected >> Bluetooth. So currently students attend kindergarten at Parker Center and then transition to their

019neighborhood school for grades 1 through five or one through three and four and five um Marquette Machznney. Now what we heard from the community was that neighborhood feel and wanting to keep that right. And so our first um option, you know, that we tweaked is a modified um version of scenario one that we presented um you know, last year that closes Osen Park instead of Marquette adjustments to programming and school zone boundaries. Now, backing up a little bit, what this option is is it's K and 1 through 5 at neighborhood schools. And then we'll elaborate on that more as we continue with the presentation. The second option is K through five neighborhood schools. This is a modified version of scenario 2 that closes Olsen Park instead of Marquette, adjustments to programming and school zone boundaries.

020And then the next two options are still kind of what we were um alluding to when we talked about bands. Um but we listened to um both the community saying that they wanted less you guys wanted less transitions and that you didn't like um you know the east west you know um you know model um that we presented and so we tweaked this to to be north and south um which you're going to see as we talk about it a little bit you know further um that that helps too u when we talk about the transportation piece as well. I I do have to say though um with this piece um that I still believe in the east and west um but that's not up for discussion anymore. And the reason why I believe in

021the east and west because you know when we talk about our resources and we talk about dividing them equitably that east west to me was the way to go. But again we're going to listen to our community and we split it up into north south instead of east and west. But I still I still believe that that's the route that we should have went. I had to say that. And then the next one would be, so I'll just read it. K1 2345 is a geographic regions modified version of scenario 7 that split schools north and south with adjustments to programming and school zone boundaries. And then the last one is our sister schools, which is less transitions than what we originally um presented, which is K2 and 35. And our schools are split into sister

022schools. So this is a new version of the gray bands and that reduces again that one transition to maintain smaller school zone boundaries. Dr. Bloom, Dr. Excuse me, as Dr. Yaro mentioned, you know, we we heard obviously loud and clear and we appreciate um the support for neighborhood schools. I think one of the things that I took away from the experience is that obviously our staff and our families value our schools and and it would obviously be a concern if if people were not standing up and and fighting for their schools to stay open. And so um we we heard that loud and clear. And so, you know, as as Dr. Yo mentioned, we've offered, you know, options that maintain kind of that familiar um identity of what our schools look like currently. Um but

023we also continue to offer the options of the grade bands. And so, um, when we look at these these options and especially as we're addressing a budget deficit, you know, the band options, um, really are the most efficient. And you'll see that down the line here when we talk a little bit about some of the financial savings and the efficiency that happens within these. And so, um, really keeping these options on the table because we feel like one of our responsibilities is to be as fiscally responsible as possible. And so um we wanted to ensure that we still have these options available for um our board to uh to work at work work through. Um but we also the K2 35 sister school option was really our approach to try to like blend the the

024feedback we were receiving about um our um neighborhood schools and the transitions um and trying to blend that with the efficiency of um the grain bad model. And so, um, you'll see that again as we look through some of the savings and stuff that occur within this. Um, but you'll also see that that starts to narrow your geographic boundaries or your zone school zones uh, a little bit more and so you don't have these large kind of school boundaries like you will in a north south um, in the sister school option. Um, and so this was our attempt to try to kind of blend that more neighborhood feel with the band option. All right. So, here's the slide where it shows how things are divided up. So, this our K one through five neighborhood schools.

025Um, so in Parker Center, you would have EC and K. Uh, the special programs would be early childhood, OLA, STP, life skills, learning lab, our PI and ESL. Love's Park would be one through five with life skills and ESL is a special programs. Machznney will be one through five with Ola fine arts and ESL as special programs. Marquette will be one through five with our advanced learner program and ESL. Ros rston will be 1 through five which will not include any special programming. We had to do that you know for transportation purposes and we'll talk about that a little bit later. Rock Cut will be one through five with our STP program as well. And then Windsor will be one through five and we'll have learning lab as a special program. >> Yeah. One of

026the challenges that that came across as we go through all of these and you heard us say this before if you've been a part of these meetings um our specialized programs really are um what drive our space utilization and how we really look at the spaces that we have available and how we um can maximize the efficiency within those spaces. And so, uh, a lot of times people will ask, well, why are we moving certain programs? And it's really about specialized program space. For example, you look at Rock Cut. Rock Cut is um a larger building than Windsor, which is what currently holds our STP program. Um, currently we have four classrooms of STP. Next year, we're going to have six. And so, whether we do something or not, there's already some some strong pressure

027on the ability for Windsor to handle the capacity and the growth of the structured teaching program. And so really when we look at these programs and the um way that we split them up, it's really about space because an STP program while it uses and next year we'll be using six classrooms, you know, those are classrooms where you have maybe 10ish kids in there. Um they're not classroom spaces that can be fully maximized. And so a lot of that movement um is really about making sure that we can be efficient with the use of space. We also recognize that our identities around our schools really are shaped, you know, with these programs. Windsor obviously has a lot of pride um for their STP program, excuse me, just like life skills, just like any of our

028other uh specialized programs that we have. Our schools really wrap their identity around that. And so we know that there will be transitions that will take place. Those staff will transition um and that same kind of level of support uh will transition. But as you'll see through all of these, you know, we've seen immense growth within our OLA program, our STP, all of these specialized programs because of their success, we're seeing that growth and um it's really putting us in a position where we need to make sure that we're in buildings where we either give them the best chance to be able to continue to grow with the needs that we have or we have to continue to evaluate how we can offer those programs. And I want to make sure that to emphasize because

029that was a fair statement as far as raising a question of why couldn't we just disperse our kids, right? Just close a building or two and just disperse is because of the success of our specialized programming and where and how we need to make sure that you know our kids can actually fit in the buildings that they're dispersing to. And so, um, obviously our specialized programs are successful and it's reasons why people move into our district, but it also too, um, it's the reason why we just couldn't just disperse kids to to any school. So, um, so next up, you have a um, a map. So, you'll see on the left, and I apologize with the lighting, it's a little bit tough to see this. All this stuff will be obviously shared with people um,

030on our website. So, this presentation um, we'll share all this information. and you'll have a little bit clearer pictures for um the stuff that you see this evening. So um on the left you see our current boundary obviously is a K1 um or a K one through five district. Thank you. Um we have Parker Center is districtwide so that was not reflected up there. On the on the right you will see the tenative um proposed uh boundaries of our schools in this option. One thing to note for all of these options is there's going to be tweaks um that will need to be made as we go through things um over the next few weeks and months um even just within this past week we've registered um about 20 students uh a few of them

031needing some support in our Ola program um which is already adjusting some of the uh OLA classroom numbers for next year and so there will be some modifications so please note that as much as some people are probably trying to look at where they fall on this um make that these are tentative and there's some some adjustments that may need to be made um by moving things here and there a little bit and that will be the the same for all four options that we look at. Um so this option just to give you a little bit idea of what what we anticipate enrollment to look like in these buildings. Um you'll see current student enrollment uh versus what the proposed enrollment is. Um, one of the areas to note and which I think will

032stand out most is your Machznney um, building. Um, but I will say that in all of these scenarios um, we are not reaching even 80% full capacity. Um, when we did a demographic or facility utilization study back in 2018 2019 um, elementary schools typically aim to operate about 75 to 85% capacity. Um and so in this situation or in this scenario and actually all the scenarios we're presenting uh the only time that we're close to 80% capacity is in that machznney number that you see there. So uh but you see our current start enrollment versus the proposed enrollment under this plan. All right. So our next um option for the board to consider is our K5 neighborhood schools. Um how this is divided up as you can see um Lo's Park would be K5 with

033special program being life skills. Machznney K5 which would have OLA fine arts and ESL. Marquette would be K5 with ESL. Parker Center would be EC through five early childhood STP um PI and ESL. Roston K5 and again um those specialized programs. um Rock Cut K through five learning lab and ESL and then Windsor K5 um with our ALP program. Um I do want to say too when you look at at this option and we'll talk about this a little bit more as well um for Parker Center with EC C through fifth grade um there would have to be some type of you know modifications and things like that for to the building if we would go this route um because Parker Center um is not designed um currently for you know upper grades and so

034there would be some some things to do if this is something that we would choose. So, yep. Absolutely. >> Disperse the kids from there >> to disperse the kids. What do you mean? >> The the question the question was would it be just would could we just do EC at Parker and then disperse the kids from there? That's something that we would have to to look at. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. We don't we don't know that right now. Yeah. >> You're saying EC only? >> Yeah. EC only. Okay. Would be the question. >> I mean, Parkers are largest building and so you know we really have to in any option look at how we maximize that utilization that building but even if we were to go up to 360 students um and be able to

035have that option within EC uh with the PFA grant um you're still underutilizing that building pretty significantly and so um that's you know I think you need to be in a spot where you have more than just DC there. >> All right. >> Um so this is just a map a tenative boundary map. So you get to see the comparison the current boundaries in this model. Um one thing to additionally to note in this and you'll you'll see this when we get to the end when Josh talks a little about the financial savings. Um in this option, the K5 option, um you really start to see where uh the efficiencies play out with having um more levels of or more classes of a grade level in a building or less classrooms of grade levels across

036buildings. And so, um, you'll notice one thing just to to point out because we've had feedback where people do believe that K should be with our first grade for that vertical articulation and that that transition that takes place. Um, but you'll also see that our current model of offering K districtwide in one building is the most efficient way of running um, a grade level. And you'll notice that when we see the cost or the cost savings comparison between this previous option and then this one that we're currently looking at. Um there's a pretty significant difference in the cost savings that occurs when you now take and move K through five. So you have six grades across uh multiple buildings versus having them spread out um amongst less buildings which creates a more efficient option. So,

037we'll talk more about that, but that's just one one point to note on on this model versus the or this option versus the one that we just shared. So, when we look at um proposed student enrollment, um you start to see a little more balance there. Um again, you know, when we look at um the uh numbers that we had shared back uh December 9th, I believe. Um we were looking back at 2007 enrollment as a more recent peak in our enrollment. Um and again, these numbers are not pushing us near uh what we were at at that time. And again, we're still operating um below, in this case, below 75 to 70% of full capacity of our buildings. Yeah. Go ahead. >> Oh, I I was just curious at Parker Center, they all have

038an asterisk. Is there uh is there something that that like a legend that that leads to or what's the >> that's that's the number with EC. >> That's the number with EC. >> EC. Correct. And that and that kind of goes to the point Dr. Dr. Bloom was making as far as if we would only have EC at Parker Center. The reason why we have to have more than just EC is because when you look at that number, even if we were at capacity with EC, that would not even close. >> Not even close. No. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So, here's our geographic region. option here K1 2 3 4 5 and this is north south. So Parker Center would be EC and first grade. Special programs would be PI um STP life

039skills and ESL. Rock Cut would be 2 three and that would be also STP life skills and ESL. would have four fourth through fifth and in this scenario um would have special programmings I mean options sorry um learning lab and ESL Windsor would be K1 learning lab and ESL park 2 through three learning lab and ESL machznney four and fifth um STP life skills and ESL and then Marquette would be K through five and that would be Ola fine arts ESL and ALP until phased out. >> Yep. So, as Dr. Albert mentioned, this is um just a modified version of what we presented at the last uh or last year, I suppose, um with our scenario 7 option. And so, moving to a north south, um one of the things to note as we look

040at this map, um we are still kind of playing around with the um the pairings of the built excuse me, buildings um to really make it a true north south. And so you see there's this kind of weird green blip in the middle there. Um, one of the things that we have to do when we look at pairing um, boundaries and pairing schools is to ensure that um, schools of of similar sizes are either paired together or in this case um, when we looked at a north south boundary, we wanted to ensure that we had Machznney and Parker in opposite boundaries um because they are two largest buildings and so we really need to make sure that we offer a large building in the south zone and a large building in the north zone. So

041there may be some modifications as we work through this one um where we may potentially look at having really Harlem Road be our kind of divider line where anything south of Harlem Road would be the south boundary. Um anything north of Harlem Road would be the north boundary. But the concept in itself is that you know we heard from people that felt like the distance as we heard this evening from the north end of Rston down to the south end of the district on Los Park is is a um a pretty far distance. and we know that to be about 4.9 miles between those two schools. Um, but this then creates a little more consolidation of your geographic zone. Uh, when we look at this gradeband and again as I mentioned at the beginning really

042the gradeband option and why we uh continue to explore this as you'll see uh later on is that this is by far the most efficient way of operations uh for us when we look at resources and how we allocate space and efficiently use our space. And you'll see that in the cost savings as well. Uh so in this model you see proposed student enrollment. Um you'll notice in some cases and I forgot to mention this before um obviously when now we're moving into magnet schools and so in this case Marquettes are magnet school um and so you'll see the smaller enrollment in that building because of specialized programs um being housed at Marquette. Um, one of the things that you also noticed and it's more prevalent in the other options that we looked at is

043that not all schools are really balanced across each other and a lot of that has to do again um with specialized program and the space that specialized programs used and then as well as how many kids can be in a classroom in a specialized program. And so you see some of that variation in in the first two options that we showed and then it starts to kind of even itself out a little bit more here. But obviously our larger buildings are going to have the ability and capacity to handle handle uh larger enrollment. >> All right. So then our final option um for board consideration is our sister school option which is K2 um through K uh 3 through uh fifth grade. So with this option you have Loves Park will be K through two

044to second grade with special programs being life skills and ESL. Rock Cut will be third through fifth with life skills and ESL. Parker Center will be K through 2 grade with STP and ESL. Machznney will be 3 through 5 with STP and ESL. Marquette will be K through 2 with learning lab and ESL. And then Roston will be third through fifth with learning lab and ESL. And then in this um scenario, you got Windsor, which would be our EC and through fifth grade. and you would have OLA, fine arts, ESL, PI, early childhood, and an option for the ALP to continue or phased out. So, as I mentioned previously, this was an attempt to kind of merge both ideas together, both the traditional look of our schools um currently with the uh band option. Uh

045this allows us to run more um classrooms of a grade level in our in each building. Um but one of the things too as you look at this and you see it's kind of at an angle when we look at our school boundaries. And so you look at the Marquette Rston pairing as being the light blue um at the top end there is that really the pairing also has to ensure that they're similar size across those buildings. We can't partner um a rston with Machznney because rston only has so much capacity and then that makes if let's say rston was was K2 in this scenario and Machznney was 35 um Rston would only be able to handle a certain capacity of students and then you'd run them into Machznney and you'd be underutilizing Machznney because

046of the differences in the size. So, this is why it looks a little bit like this is because it allows um Lo's Park and Rockut to be together. Um they both have uh 26 well 25 and 26 classrooms um in their buildings. You have your Machznney um Parker uh combo and then you have Rston Marquette. again trying to pair them geographically as well as making sure that the spaces are comparable so that when we run programs in those spaces they can transition from building to building within the sister school pairing um and it doesn't you know create inefficiencies through that. So again lastly here you'll see the uh student proposed student enrollment for each of these. Again, you're starting to see a little bit more balance across the buildings because you're now taking buildings of

047similar size. You're partnering together, and then you're um you've got your geographic zones in which those those schools are um are are partnering together on. So, um next we're going to move into some of the main things that kind of came out of the feedback that we receiving. Just a few pieces to touch base on, few considerations that we had as we were going through this um process. And so Dr. Herb is going to hit a few of the areas that were um areas of focus as we were designing um these different options. >> Am I on? Thank you. Um so we did try to hit as many of the things that people wanted, but there's not going to be one solution as we go through these that you're going to see that we were

048able to check all of the boxes. Um just as our current system doesn't check all of the boxes. with our two neighborhood schools. We're going to see the some of the same concerns that we've been trying to work through right now. Um in our buildings with STP and life skills, those buildings are already over 30% of the students um having an IEP. Uh that does create an additional workload on teachers because they're pulled up for uh more IEP meetings, etc. when your building is already at over 30%. uh because there is no way that you can divide the students and have it not be. Uh the other situation with the two neighborhood school options is the fact that um ESL it it's not a good use of our funds to offer ESL in all of

049our buildings because of they could be in anything either one through five or K through five. So families have to choose between um neighborhood schools or being with their the kids' friends or going to um another facility in order to receive the services. So in both of those uh neighborhood school options, those are two things that we we still have struggles with and can't be able to come up with a solution because of the size of the programs. Um, also regardless of what we do, if our programs continue to grow at the rate that they are, we are going to over the years continually have to evaluate and see if adjustments need to be made because they are growing at such a rapid rate. Uh, when we look at the geographic zones, um, each of

050the buildings and the sister schools, each of the buildings would be, um, able to have ESL services. The reason for that is because as you cluster students into classrooms, you're only talking about a couple of grades. So, a teacher would a be able to support more than one building um because those kids would be in fewer classrooms. So, they would be able to have ESL services in each building. Um also, in both of those scenarios, um you'd be able to keep your special ed population under 30% because you have a larger number of students. uh there would be more students who are receiving general education and compared to the IEPs. So you don't run into the 30 c 30% um threshold concerns that you do with our current model or the neighborhood models uh for

051our special programming which um we're referring to as OLA our advanced learner program and fine arts in our um neighborhood school options. We are continuing to offer the advanced learner program. Um in both of those options, we are also keeping um fine arts and OLA at Machznney in um the advanced learner pro or in the neighborhood schools. The advanced learner program um is at Windsor and in the K5 it would I'm sorry at Mach Marquette and in the K5 it would be at Windsor. When we look at the geographic zones um or the sister school options where we have a magnet school, we would bring the OLA and um fine arts programs to the magnet schools. Uh, as far as fine arts being at one of the magnet schools, they would have the um a

052designated art and um music space, but they would also have the ability to use the middle school or the high school's auditorium or stages um as far as being able to do some of the rehearsals. Uh both Dr. Boyce and Mr. um Harris said that would definitely be a possibility in both of those situations. Um, in the regional schools, we have recommended to phase out um our advanced learner program and offer honors courses, but we also see that as an opportunity um in the sister school options. When we went and looked at the middle school honors offerings, um sixth grade typically has three sections of honors. So, if you think of having three regions and being able to offer honors classes in all three regions, the other thing that we um looked at our data

053over the past few years, last year we had a 42% decline rate for um the ALP program, meaning that 42% of the families that were offered the program turned it down. The two years prior were 32% both of those years. So we do have several families that are choosing to to have their or the children and their families are choosing to stay with their friends and not necessarily going to a magnet school. So our schools are already providing that level of support. And if we have that many students together at a grade level, we feel that we would have the opportunity to offer an honors um in both the sister school option and the um geographic option because then then we'd have a larger number of kids getting that that rigger going to the middle

054school where right now we're talking about approximately 20 kids getting the higher rigor and then going and they're in classes with probably 85 5 90 kids at a higher rigor. So we it it's just a little more opportunity for our students. As far as intervention support, um our intervention support is going to look different across the district. When we talked about the east and west, I was I told you we would have the same number every all of the schools. That's because we were taking our free and reduced population basically splitting it up evenly. Um and so we had approximately the same um size school and the same percentage of free and reduced in all of these situations because we are going north and south. It will not be even. So we are going to

055see a different level of service depending on the socioeconomic makeup of that area. All of the buildings will receive an interventionist and an MT MTSS facilitator. They'll all have one social worker, but beyond that, the additional social workers would be dependent on um the programs that are in the buildings and the additional um intervention support would be dependent on title one funding. Um early childhood, uh as Dr. Yarro shared earlier um we have met with a couple of senators uh um not but I want to point out not only I have sent out letters we've I've had administrators reach out to me that they've sent out letters and our union has sent out several letters on our behalf as well uh trying to get some changes so that we can try to offer more than

056these two classrooms in each um each of these uh scenario we're talking about the two general EC classrooms s um plus the EC STP and the EC life skills uh with the hopes to be able to increase. Now this we also have shared that um we have done some some changes to try to make sure that if for some some way we get all get additional funding we could get up to capacity in many of these um options here. So, in the K um one through five neighborhood schools, we do have the ability to expand to current capacity as long as we would use two different sites. In the K5, um there was no way that we could get up to uh current capacity, but it was five classrooms that we were able to um

057to be able to get up to for the five general classrooms if we went with the K5 um option. in the geographic regions, we um would be able to get up to current capacity over two sites. And then if we do the sister school options, if we chose not to continue with ALP, we also could um but it would be over multiple sites. Again, >> those two sites, >> uh I can look at my chart. I I have it, you know, I have a chart with all of the different schools that it would be. Um, but we really looked at anywhere that we could see space. Um, and if there was a one classroom, there would be an issue. We would have the more buildings that spread across, we have to have that playground for

058the kids. And, um, Mr. Rand and I have talked about, you know, is it moving a playground? Is it putting a playground in? Um, but we do know that we need a playground with a a fence in anytime we add them to another site. >> What's the diversity? >> In which of the options? I'm sorry. >> In any of the options for class for utilization >> in regards to early childhood. >> Yeah. So in the um in the neighborhood and then the one through five Parker Center has seven classrooms and the K5 four classrooms and the geographic zones four classrooms and in the um sister schools two classrooms but we have to remember that when I say two classrooms that's two gen general ed classrooms rooms and we do have those two special ed program

059um classrooms as well. We wouldn't we need to make sure that we try to keep those four together first and then use additional options. So if Parker Center only has space for two, you'd want to start out with them definitely at the um magnet school and then so that our students with IEPs have the opportunity to push out and be with their peers in a gened setting. >> Thank you. for requirements then it's is it predominantly just the the playground equipment and then making sure there's a fence for the littles or is it >> that would be the biggest one I'd be concerned about. Uh you know there's some other things that right now like at we would love to have bathrooms in our classrooms but Maple we've made it work u without having it.

060So there there's things that we can work through, but my biggest concern um is making sure that our kids are safe and that we have that fence around. Um I that that's a priority for me. >> Sure. And just looking at potential construction costs and added costs for any of these moves, it's important to know. So yeah, the the requirements versus the nice to haves, >> right? And so that's why we talked about looking at um costwise which would be most cost effective moving a playground or um just creating a new one. We know what the costs were uh for the ones that were we recently created, but we also know for the early childhood one because you don't need it as big as what we had um in those elementary buildings. So that that

061is something we have that we are aware of and have on our list once decisions are made. >> Okay. Thank you. uh space for specials. That was something that was brought up as well. And currently um all of our specials don't have their own space. Like that's not something that currently happens. Space is a um building administrator decision. So they see how many sections they need. They see uh their special programs. They see all the needs. And then based off of that, you might have the space one year and the next year you don't have that space. We see that happen all the time. We're committed to making sure that our fine arts has a committed space for art and music. But beyond that, that those are administrative decisions to determine what is the best

062use of their space. >> I guess the only call out there is is if it's giving the administration to do that, completely understandable, but we still have to look at the map, right? Like that there's a possibility of it that they're this is a bigger year. they're going to have to move to a cart for this year, but then can come back. Are there any scenarios to where based on our current enrollment that they would be on a cart at a building right out of the gate? >> Um, no, not in the current recommendations. So, um, but again, it's also dependent upon programs and space that that needs to be utilized for various purposes. Like, um, in some cases, you may have more pull out that's occurring for special, you know, for special education. Um

063it you know some of our buildings the challenge is that um when we look at these spaces is that they're not just you know for example rock cut 26 class like it's not just 26 classrooms like we have half classrooms and quarter classrooms and office spaces and so it it really depends on on the need of the building and what types of services need to be offered um and the number of adults that are in that space that um really is kind of the strategy behind how they how they set that up. But um we really went through and looked at adult spaces. We looked at the number of classroom spaces we need. We looked at the office spaces that are available uh to ensure that you know in most scenarios like you you should

064be good with art in a classroom like um but once you start to go a little bit further and you look at um some of those individual needs then they have you know they may have to be creative depending on on the circumstances. But yeah we ensure that there's ample open classroom spaces available. But again, that's to the discretion of, you know, how many special ed teachers do we have, how many kids are receiving pull out and intervention, what spaces are available for that. So, it is really a building decision and it is a year-to-year decision. Um, but, you know, we we made sure that there's at least um a handful of classrooms that are available in each scenario. >> Perfect. As long as there's actual flexibility versus the optics of flex flexibility, that's what

065I'm looking for. Um, so this one is um a little bit more of a difficult concept to to to kind of explain, but I think it also leads into as we look at um our efficiency that we keep talking about and and why we um continue to offer a gradeband option um or the sister school option as we look at um how we utilize the space across the district. And so it when you look at our current class sizes, you see ranges of 14 to 26. And so anytime you have a broad range like that, that indicates inefficiency. And while obviously it's great to ensure that you have, you know, smaller classrooms and and you want to have that. um you also see the inefficiency that occurs um as a result of that because the

066more that we you know maximize the classroom spaces that we're utilizing the more efficient that we are and so in these different scenarios you can see a little bit of the variation um but I you know as I point out the geographic regions and then the K2 um 35 sister schools you see that that has the most narrow range of um uh current class sizes. So this is us placing these students in classes what it would look like next year and and based on that you know our class sizes are going to generally range from 22 to 25. Obviously that will be fluid as enrollment um changes and depending on kids coming you know uh uh in or out. Um but you'll see that the efficiency when you start to look at the numbers is

067that when we put more kids in a building and we have a larger geographic zone serving a certain grade level, it allows us to be more efficient. And that's why you, as I mentioned before, when we compare, and you'll see that in a second with with Josh's numbers, the K15 and the K5, even though they seem very similar in structure, you're going to notice quite quite a bit of a difference in the um in the savings between those two. And that's really because you take one bu one building like K like Parker Center that maximizes efficiency because all kids in the district go to that building for K. And so now you have everybody in one location. And so the less locations that we have a grade level, the more efficient we are. And then

068for transportation, we just hit on this because we know that that um concern about distance was was an issue that came up uh for people. Um but we also wanted to reassure because I know that there were some challenges as we navigated our transition from a two tier system to a three- tier system. um for busing purposes. This all four options allow us the the ability to be back on a two-tier system for elementary schools. Um and so obviously we will be working through what those schools are, but we'd have primarily um elementary schools on the first tier and second tier um as um we would have previously. So um we're going to move from a three tier to a two-tier in this uh all four options. And then um when you look at the

069distance, this is really just again to point out um the distance between schools in these options. Obviously in the K5 option, you're only in one school, so there's no no transitions. Um current we have a maximum distance of 2.8 miles. So a family that has a kindergartener um at Parker Center and a student at another school um the max distance between those schools is 2.8 miles. And then you can see the difference in the other options as well. And so geographically, we're not a very large district. And so, um, like you said, the max is 4.9 miles between two of our schools. Um, and so we know that there was concern though that, you know, as mentioned earlier this evening, um, that, you know, if you're on the north end of our districts and you're

070traveling all the way to the south end of the district, that is a distance and especially if you're dropping kids off at multiple locations. So, um, we feel like our options and revamping those a little bit um, keeps those pretty tight as far as the distance go between the two uh, or three buildings. And real quick, um, we got Mr. Mr. West here, our director of transportation. Is there anything else you wanted to add to that or or that pretty much sums it up? >> That sums up very well. >> All right, there we go. >> Yeah, and obviously he he, you know, was a big part of um, you know, planning this out and really looking at routing and transportation and specialized programs and as we move kids throughout the district, that's a big

071part of that. Obviously taking two buildings offline um gives us a little more option a few more options there. But obviously he was a big part of of this decision-m process when we looked at placement of specialized programs and how we're busing students for magnet uh type programs. Can I just add a question? I don't know. Um, we had talked about in some of the meetings that a lot of our parents are concerned about busing and a lot of these parents who are going to be say in the geographic or the sister schools putting students on either multiple buses or one bus or having to take their kids because they don't want their kids on buses. My question would be when we're looking at maybe these uh the two lower ones, geographic and sister, are

072they all going to be on different buses for their grade levels or are they all going to be on the same buses and then dropped off at their different geographics or sister schools? Because that may make a difference on whether parents still want to drive or put their kids on the bus. >> Yeah. And I don't know if Don if you can provide some insight to that. >> Yeah, I believe they would be the kids that go to that school be on that bus. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Wait, could I interject here then? So, in other words, if they're on in the second and third grade, then that only only on that bus would be second and third graders. >> Yeah. >> Fourth and fifth graders. So, I think that's quite a nice thing.

073I did have one more question before we get done for Dr. Herb. Could you explain a little bit more about the honors program? I know a lot of people here say we're eliminating the advanced learning, but we are still offering honor classes. Correct. And if you could kind of uh expand on that for me. >> Yeah. So, right now um our students we we take we send invitations to the top 5% at each of our schools and invite them to be part of our advanced learner program. uh from from there uh if they say no we keep going to a certain point and then once the gap is significant that's where we have to stop because then we aren't able to really offer that honors type of level. So that's why we see some fluctuation

074in our sizes. What we're suggesting here is instead of asking the families to choose do you want to leave and go to this different building where we do find that kids for three reasons um f kids and families choose not to. One they've either um also chosen fine arts and we do have a lot of families where the kids qualify for the advanced learner program and there are also kids who have auditioned for fine arts. Number two, we have several kids in the OLA program who qualify for our advanced learner program and they often choose to stay with OLA. Um, and then the third one is they don't want to leave their friends. And so we're trying to eliminate that, not wanting to leave their friends by offering an honors um class at those um

075fourth and fifth grade levels in both the geographic and the sister schools. So that instead of there being like I said sometimes we get down into the teens but typically it's 20-ish kids who um get those services we can provide those services for closer to 75 across our district. So it's really trying to give more services plus right now you have to be high in both uh math and reading in order to qualify and some kids really excel in one content versus the other. with an honors type of option, you could be strong in one and kind of at that general level for the other and still be able to be get some of those um honors classes where in our current model, if you're strong in one and not in the other, you probably

076are not receiving an invitation. >> I have one more question for Sorry. Um, I know that I I think I I think I know the answer to this one, but I think everybody else What's the translation from our ALP program in elementary to graduation rates to uh GPA to further I mean is there is there a huge gap from our ALP students and our students that didn't go through ALP with any of that? I mean, what is there is there a major difference when it comes to graduation? >> I because of the fact that we go to 85 90 kids who take honors classes once they hit sixth grade. Uh you don't see necessarily any type of large gap um because our because those kids, like I said, we have 32 to 42% of our

077uh kids who are declining those services. Our elementary schools right now are um doing interventions and still pushing the kids. So just because they're not in the program, um the kids are still getting pushed. Our our teachers are doing a great job of meeting our kids' needs. >> And the other side of that coin, so you said the top 5% are invited, >> correct? >> So essentially, it the people that are go the students that are going into ALP aren't necessarily the top 5% of our of our grade earners, right? I mean, we're falling to to fill those classes. Are we going to the top 15%, top 20%? >> We we keep going down. I mean, it keeps increasing, but like I said, we have we hit a point where we say if I go

078lower than this, we're inviting somebody and they're not going to be prepared. And so that what we end up seeing instead often is um lower class size. I couldn't tell you the actual percent. I don't want all of a sudden I'll be quoted on giving a percent that's not accurate, but I will say that we it is greater than 5% when we're all said and done. And and again, we also have smaller class sizes because we get to a point where we say we don't want a kid to be put in this class and struggle because we have this range. >> Thank you. >> All right. So for the final slide is the net financial savings and one note I want to make here is net means that we reduce the EC revenue out because

079the grant issues that we've talked about. So you can see the dollar amounts here and Dr. Bloom talked about the efficiencies and how running all six grades at every building is the least efficient and how running them twice in the bottom left is the most efficient. Uh a couple things I want to note. There's a star for in the upper right. And so what that's denoting is that we have not factored in uh big Parker Center changes like toilets and and playgrounds that would still need to be addressed in that scenario. Um, and you know, we've talked about the deficit where we're at. Uh, currently when I take into account all of the projected revenue increases and decreases and what the salaries and benefits look like next year, uh, next year I'm projecting a 3.8

080million and a 28 to5 million deficit. So, um it's important that we do the best we can to address that because my main concern and we've talked a lot about um insurance and that issue and even last time you asked how that was trending and so uh for tonight I ran the last three months uh the last three months are up $716,000 alone. So, not only does that continue to be an issue with how we ended the year last year, but uh Dr. Wagner gave me an article that said even though 25 was bad, 26 is trending worse. So that is just going to be a pinch point for us to to keep an eye on uh going forward too. So I'm just wanting to ensure that the district can handle whether those revenues drops

081or that insurance increase the best we can. What kind of questions does does anyone have about I mean it's kind of self-explanatory but I want to be able to answer if you guys have any questions. Are there questions from the board right now at least to each other or to the to uh any questions for maker or Dr. Tel? At this time I was going to be asking for consensus. Uh the consensus is for to to narrow this down from four to two. And the easiest way to do that is uh getting consensus from our board members on whether they are for the band model which would be the uh sister model and the uh geographic or if we're going to stay with the neighborhood model. Um that way we'll know on Tuesday uh which

082which way we're going to be going instead of trying to discern between four. >> Can I can I kind of uh add some complexities to that? I I think we should narrow it down, but we basically have ban type solutions and neighborhood solutions and I think administration's done a great job of giving us options and I still think that we should narrow down to one of the bands and one of the neighborhoods to really kind of go against them. Well, you you've got and I hear your point, but you I have heard your point. We'll hear your point, but we don't know anyone else's feedback is. So if we go one and we pick the wrong one, we're not even in the same wheelhouse, right? Like we are distilling it down. >> I think it

083was clear nobody wanted bands. I think bands >> I think it was pretty clear that nobody wanted >> and I want to make sure. Right. So there's bands. I get that. But I think there are >> doesn't have to be. So, I I I'll just I'll come out with my my thoughts here because why not? I I don't I don't think north, south, or east, west bands work, right? Like, I think I'm in agreement with that, right? We were here. I think there's some benefits to at least looking at I'm not saying this is the way we're going to go. We should vote for it. And that's the problem I have with going down to one of the others on this with sister schools. My kids have gone through Marquette to Machznney. They've gone through

084that system. I think there's again there's definitely blind spots that I don't know or anyone else hasn't seen, but we we're we're narrowing it down saying do basically what we are and close some schools and make some tweaks or look to some potential options for this district. Is that the way we need to do it? I don't know. And even I appreciate everyone that's here. That's just going to be still one subsect. There's still people that couldn't come because it's later. There's people that can't attend the meetings. There's people that are looking at this screaming at their laptops at home one way or the other. And that's where I'm at with it, right? Like I think if we need to narrow down to some of these, fine. But going it's either going to be neighborhood

085or nothing. I don't know if that's the right way of doing it. >> And maybe I'm alone. >> No, it's one of these four. So, it's either neighborhood or the band model, whatever band model you're because >> right now, I mean, there are people on this board that have talked about an opposition totally to the other idea. >> So, I'm just trying to clear it up if and if that's not I'm I'm just I'm looking for for you guys to help them. Right now, it's uh paralysis by analysis. There's too many options, too many questions. Trying to keeping it simple and and just getting it to a place where we can we can go. >> Is there not a reason to go down to two? Why having the >> It's going to be harder to

086try to do that. So, I mean, we're going to have to do a consensus to to vote between the two bands and then the two things. We can do it that way. I'm I all I want to do is make it easier for the for the choice. >> Sure. >> Because we go we go in on Tuesday and say two people want one, two people want four, two people want another one, and then we get nowhere. I'm just trying to trying to get cons consensus. >> I mean, you have to if you do two votes for each person that's here, you get an idea. If we are all over the map, >> okay, >> I think that's I think that itself is an answer, right? If we're all over the map, the communities are going

087to be all over the map. >> If we get down to two and have an idea and they're they're both neighborhood, that gives you your answer right there. Okay. There's some that split the way. Like I don't I think that gets it there. >> It was still nice to have some feedback, but again, I also have to stress and I think everyone did a great job in the the discussion of these, but time frames are also going to be of the essence. Like we're already behind the uh the eight-ball as it were to get these things in place one way or the other. So, I understand that. All right. So, I'm open to to to everything. So, like the when we're looking at the K one through five neighborhood schools, that'll be one number one.

088>> K through five neighborhood schools. >> You mean K through five? >> K one through five. Sorry. That that's number one. >> K through five. This is the way they went through in the in the in the slide. >> K through five neighborhood schools where K's at each one of the neighborhood schools. >> That's two. The K through one the the two-year bands or ge geographic regions. That's three. >> And sister schools is four. Do you guys want a moment to think about this when you come up with your two numbers that you would like to to see go forward to Tuesday? No, this is part of the this is part of the this is part of the process. >> Yeah, >> I'm just >> I'm asking for one to be moved to to Tuesday's

089meeting scenario one. >> Just >> the kindergarten. >> I'm giving you one. >> Please give me two. >> I I will look at two. I will look at one. I I like one. I will look at two. >> All right. So, you're down for one and two. >> Yes. Yeah, I'm not going to go by nowhere. I'm going to >> Sure. >> You don't have to touch it. They turn it out of there. >> Okay. I'm going with number three for my first choice and number four for my second choice. Did you want me to go next? >> I'm Rebecca just >> I personally can't put any one of them on as a consensus. I I'm disappointed in all four of them. Um I would have to say financially um I will I would put

090um the geographic regions as one to save finances but I also believe in the kindergarten and one through five neighborhood schools which would be number one. So >> so three and one. >> Yes, I'm three and four. It wasn't a little hard. See, I'm kind of >> I will go with my consensus of one. and two >> one and four >> looks like one and four. One and three. >> Four. >> One and four. We'll go >> No, >> that is >> one, two, three, four for plan three. One, two, three, four for plan four. >> One didn't go. >> No. >> Say that one more time. >> Yeah. Rebecca said one. I thought she said one. >> I said three and one. >> I said one and three. >> Me and you >> and

091her. Three. >> Curt said one. >> I said one and four. >> So one should have four. >> So then this is why it right. >> But this is this is part what I wanted to see though, right? Like I get it. It's not neat. This is not optimal. >> So two's out >> and it's one, three, and four. going to going to the going to >> three is just a modified seven that clearly didn't hit the mark for a lot of people. >> We still got three votes. >> But so no, we got the consensus going consensus on on on Tuesday will be a vote between one, three and four. That was the consensus. >> Can be Dr. thoughts or opinions with three that's here, >> right? >> Or any feedback based on kind

092of this is informal. We're not locking it in and voting everything that's directly here. This is our opportunity to kind of put stuff out there. Good feedback, pull it back and change. We can take consensuses. Again, I doesn't matter. I just want now that you're seeing how this is going and we still want to give you the tools so we don't tell you good, you you knocked out not enough. What is your thought? when when we when we started this process and when the board, you know, asked us to we need you to address the efficiency of our buildings and we need you to come up with a plan that addresses our financial deficit, right? And that's where why we went into um the band model. I know it's not popular um but that's why

093we went into that because when you look at the geographic regions and even hearing from the community as far as you know the whole east west, we tweaked that to north south because that's what we were hearing. you know, as well. So when you look at the geographic region, the K1, two, three, four, five, which is number three, that pretty much gets us where we need to be. If if if that's the wall, that gets us where we need to be. Also too, if a lot of the things that we talked about with the EC, you know, with our reaching out to legislators and trying to up our numbers, that gives us the capacity to to up those numbers. And so we were trying to build that into that plan, which is And I know

094it's still, you know, similar to scenario seven, but that's why we did that. And so for me personally, um, anyone from my team or our team can can speak on this. That's that would be our recommendation. But again, whatever you tell us to do, we're going to make it work, but we just need a direction. >> Yes. >> Because because that's where when we talk about the the the countless hours that goes into trying to figure all of these scenarios out and the transportation piece and and all of those things. What I don't want is whether it's tonight or Tuesday, but I prefer tonight we come to a consensus is that um our families are have been thinking about this since we started this. Our staff, our students, our admin, we we have to come

095to a conclusion so we can move forward. And it's not everybody's not going to agree with whatever we, you know, come up with. It's not going to have 100% buy in, but at the same time, what's best for our district? I'm I'm I'm just gonna that may mean something to different people, but what's best for our district and I said this before both in the short term and the long term I believe it's the K1 2 3 four five geographic regions and that's number three. So that's just my thoughts. >> Also, Kurt, just just so you know, like I mean, not that you don't their job is to to do all the eyes, T's, cross, whatever. We're going to ask questions. We're going to do that's why when I'm asking about belief or consensus is

096where do you want to see? Do you want it neighborhood schools or do you want these bananas? Do you want the all the other backfill of where all this is going on? Like we need to know some of that. We give them direction, but it's their job to do that on a normal basis. And and and you know that if we keep asking and keep trying to like have the most perfect situation >> half the half these kids are going to be graduated by. >> We have to we have to start somewhere. That's why I'm just trying to narrow it down. >> And I don't think that's why I brought this up to get some some feedback. I don't think sending you with three options and knocking one out is the right pace. But I

097think we had to get an idea of where we all stood, right? Like this has all been open. There's no close session to this. I don't know where anyone stood. Now we've got an idea where everyone's kind of standing on a board for these ideas. We stand at a draw of three, right? So if we want to discuss where that is, what's going on? Because we've got Rebecca that's having input to where the consensus is at and her thought is I don't like any of these, right? Is that the right way to formulate is I think they're all terrible. I'm going to pick this one. Like again, I don't mean that like you're like if the consensus was these are all terrible. I think that's value almost a different one that's there. But going through

098and saying, "Hey, if I got to pick one, they're all bad. I'll do this." Is that really where you're wanting to go? I think there needs to be some discussion with it. That's all >> right. And we're having these discussions. >> Yeah. Exactly. And that's where I'm formulating. I don't think we leave here until we're released down to either what you're saying either banned or no banned or to two. I don't think that otherwise it is unfair to administration and maybe even two is unfair to administration. >> I'd like to say something if I could. I always like to explain why I vote the way I do. >> As you know, I was a village trustee for 12 years. So, >> I do like to explain why I vote the way I do. I know

099this wasn't the popular decision, but when we bring up the numbers back up on the board, you can see that this saves us almost $800,000 in three years. We have no idea what is going to happen with the economy the way it is now, with tariffs the way it is now, with the health insurance like Josh mentioned the way it is now. This is not a here and now situation. We were elected on this board to look for the future of the Harlem School District 2. We are looking to see what this future is going to hold. And sometimes you have to make the hard decisions. Not the easy one. It's going to make you so popular because I wasn't elected for that. But I was elected to make the hard decisions for this school

100district for us to move forward and keep this school district going in a positive manner for the next 5 10 years. And in this scenario with the geographic regions, I had asked to move it to north to south. So it help a lot of the people in the north area that weren't happy with the east and west. But it does have a lot of benefits. We were talking about the buses. The kids will be on a bus with just three and fourth graders or I mean four and five for four fifth and fifth grade, second and third grade, kindergarten and first. There won't be the issues with the emails that I received about my kid getting bullied on the buses because of the fifth graders along with the first graders and things like that which

101I think is a very beneficial reason. Our teachers can benefit from being together in the school with the same age groups in the school with the second and third graders being together and learning from the other teachers as to what's working for them and not working for them and playing off of each other. I think that's another good thing. The honors program, that's why I do asked Dr. Herb about that. They can go ahead and have maybe reading and not math. They can do that in the regional thing and stay in their same school which is seems to be very important to them. There's a lot of good things for this regional banding and it's not the most terrible thing in the world like a lot of people are trying to make it to be

102work. We all have change in our life. We all have to change but we adapt and if we try to make this work we can and Harlem always made things work but we have to look at the financial situation with the health care with all the other kind of things going on. We can't all of a sudden in three years with a good conscience say we're going to have an $800,000 deficit. I don't want to have hardly any deficit in three years, but not 800,000. We have a way not to have that. And that's what we have to do and buckle down and do the do the number three as far as I'm concerned because that's what we have to do to keep the school moving in a positive forward so that kids can have

103a well-rounded education with all their extracurricular activities and everything like that because if we end up in three or four years with more than $800,000 deficit, it's just going to keep mounting and mounting and mounting and that's not that's not what I was elected to do. financial situations have to be this way. As far as I'm concerned, I was elected to represent all of the district, not with people just in the schools, but with our taxpayers. We can't afford to keep raising property taxes. And I know someone said, "Oh, with the seniors we have, they have that senior uh discount." Well, I have that senior discount, but guess what? In the last 5 years, my taxes still went up $500. It doesn't automatically freeze them unless you have a very low threshold. So, people, we

104had to watch out for everybody in our district. And I don't see any other way when we get in three years $800,000 deficit that some of these programs would offer that that is not not being fiscally responsible for this school district and doing what's right for the everyone in our school district including the students because if we have problems and have discord they're not going to want to have teachers come here and teach either. Thank you. I agree. Said on. Yeah, I agree with Diana. Um I've gone through this district for years um as a teacher, as a student, as a parent. Um I've seen many changes go from very beginning to very end and still major changes are still occurring. I don't think change is a bad thing. I changed a lot in my

105educational field. Okay. Um, it's hard at first, but I think we all will adjust and I think the kids will adjust. Kids are more flexible obviously than some of our parents. Um, and they will meet friends no matter where they go. We cannot go on with this financial problem. Okay. I was brought into thinking the big thing that we have to work on is the fiscal budget. Every year we have to look at that. And I think that's really important. We can't continue to grow. If I had my household working like this district, I'd be a little concerned. We have to stop going further in debt and this is the way we can do it by going into the geographical regions of the schools north and south and going along with number three as the

106model. I think at this point we don't know what our future is going to consist of. We don't know what the grants are going to be from federal or state. Um we can't plan on anything. So what we need to do is cut where we can and go from this model which I think is really good. I had a few uncertainties about the bus and that was brought up. Um I'm glad that the second or third graders will be on the bus together and the fourth and fifth and whatever. I think that's really important. I can't imagine being on the bus and you're going to all these different schools. So I think this is really good. Um number three allows the social programs, okay, or the special programs of all our schools. You don't see

107that in every other model, okay? Everyone's going to get served in these special programs through this model. It's also really positive for the teachers, okay? When I was at this middle school, I got to work with the team, but at the beginning, I didn't. I was pushed into other classrooms and going from class to class as a special education person. Then I had cross categorical where I brought the kids in and self-contained for a few hours, then I went back into the classroom. It was very trying, but I understand that. But also when I went to Lo's Park Elementary, we had the opportunity to work with our grade levels. And I was pushed into second and fourth and fifth and sixth grade as a special educator. Then I went into regular ed. And when you

108go into regular ed, you have that classroom, but you still have to have those people that push in and pull out all the time. And that really gets hard, too. But this model allows all the pro special programs in in the schools. Okay, we all have that opportunity. Another thing that's positive, when I was a fifth grade teacher, I was able to sit with my fifth grade teammate, which was one or two teachers in my building. If we go this model, okay, all fourth grade teachers have the opportunity to be in that fourth grade school and the fifth grade together. You get to know who's coming up. You also get to know who you have, okay, which also benefits you. You can plan together. You can collaborate together. Um, I think that's really well worth

109um being as a regular teacher. I didn't get a chance to go into all the other classrooms except for my next door neighbor classroom. Okay. Um, and so we plan together. Yes. But this way you can get to see other ways of teaching styles and different ways of um learning styles too with the kids. So I think this is really good. So I think that we need to go along with number three. I'm not saying that everyone's going to, but there's a lot of positives things there. Instead of looking at all the negative, we look need to look at some of the positive things, too. >> I mean, I guess we're going around and talking about our >> our thought process. Um, I I completely disagree with both of those last statements. Um, number one,

110um, look at the district to the north that I grew up in. It doesn't work. that is one of the leading causes of having to teach kids at a lower level until they get up to the other level. Um, you know, with the with the banding the the district to the north, you talk to their teachers, you talk to any of their administrators, that's their biggest area of opportunity. And we know that and I don't think it's fair to jump our district into their uh a big area of opportunity that they've told us doesn't work. Um, also I I I I like neighborhood schools. I I go back to the school pride. you know, we're Harlem, but guess what? You might be Parker, you might be something else. I mean, it, you know, that stuff

111means something. It's there's also there's a grade community, but there's also a building community out there. Um, my goal with this, and if we bring back up the numbers, I don't know where the 800,000. I saw 30 I saw 3.3 million and 3.8 million over there. So, I was only looking at a difference about 500,000 um between those two. um having having a little faith that that with stuff that's going on in the state and all that kind of stuff and some other cuts that that I don't want to bring up here, but I'll talk to the admin team, but other cuts that that I feel that we can make that were kind of off the table, but there's some other things that we're looking into uh about some some things. The difference between these

112two numbers um well, I mean, this one here is really, like I said, it's about the money, I think, not the children. Um I think the K through um so and and being a fiscal conservative I understand that but I still think that that's not the top dollar that we can accomplish. Um I think we can still make some changes with the 3.3 um and and and do that. And I'm willing to take that chance right now. I you know and I don't want to have to revisit this but I'm willing to take that chance on on trying to do as little change as possible and still cut our deficit. So that's kind of the reason why um I'm choosing the way I'm choosing. Anybody else? All right. Um so do we move this forward

113with three or do we go back and try again to to to at least bring two to the Tuesday? I think three is hard with three choices and especially with seven people all having to pick one. Um >> where were the where we end up with those three again? Just to refer >> that was one, three, and four. when I did the my math. >> I'm I'm really trying to break it down to two choices. >> Yeah, I'm with you. Um what I think my my thought process is I'd like to get it down to two. And this is again against not plants in particular, but we've got two two competing stakeholders after we choose our consensus is administration to kind of proceed and do a deeper dive into it and also getting the feedback

114from our community. And that's where I'm I'm jockeying against, right? Three gives more opportunity for a community to talk. Maybe we meet somewhere in the middle. Maybe there's something that's there. But you got the administration's at a standstill. there's how much are you going to do with three? All we did was knock out one, right? Like and that one is very similar to another non-banded one, right? Like we didn't make administration, we didn't give them any keys to proceed. They're blocked. So we either we either have consensus of who we want to block. Do we want more community feedback on any of the things that are here or do we get it down to two and it's either going to be that in that point it would either be a banded or non-banded option basically.

115>> That's what I was going for today. >> Yeah, but that's you could you weren't going to get there. Right. Right. Right here as we're at you've got we we know how bands are the benefits there. I'm not opposed. Right. Like one of the reasons why I was leaning towards four is it it kept a majority of the band benefits while it reducing some of the pain for the parents of having multiple schools with multiple kids. And we've seen it work. We have examples in this district of it specifically working and it had limited overall costs or changes to any construction or infrastructure. There was reasons that were there. >> Yeah. I mean >> and again I I I I don't I'm not even doing to jockeying to that. I'm really looking at the point

116of we are behind the eightball. A decision needs to be made. This is a big decision. And even if we would have gone to that point, this board was not going you could have said vote one vote and we would have I think still been at some sort of lock. I'm just saying that also when we talk about construction like, oh yeah, we're going to do a construction project to to fix some of these things and yes, we can, but >> it's going to be a lot of money to to do the the these fixes and and and move this stuff >> and and any any one of these things where we have to say, all right, uh we're going to have like say the K through five at Parker, there's no green space. Like

117literally the bus lane, it has to get tore out and and fenced in. I thought about that. I was like, there there's no green space. So then, all right, we we're redoing bathrooms. We're we're going to another I it's just >> I think that one's knocked out too, don't you? I'm sorry. >> No, no, I get it. But like what I'm saying is like some of these things where it it's not as easy like you you we put it on there and like this is all we're going to have to do. Well, we got now we got six months to do it and try to get it done across multiple schools. When's the last time we had that many projects going on and that didn't cost us a million dollars? >> Yeah. What would it

118cost to put in at Love Spark? Like what would it I'm looking at option four like what would it cost to put in younger um playground equipment and green? I mean you like I'm looking this as spending money to save money. >> Sure. most of the playgrounds un unless so like the K playground piece we we could put playground but >> okay >> I mean that K is really the only one that would dictate some other kind of piece of playground everyone else agreement >> there's also the the other elephant in the room the what we've been the reason why one of the reasons why we've been kicking this can is we're hoping that we would have these homes open back up what happens if some homes open Where are we moving these kids? >>

119How are we moving these kids? >> Sure. >> Yeah. I mean, there's you didn't see the full numbers about open seats, but you know, we range from 200 to 400 open seats in all these scenarios. And so, you know, you you would be looking at enrollment increases that that's just as it's currently designed in the allocations of classrooms that um we set aside based on the enrollment currently. And so you obviously have the room to add on other sections, but even with the current allocations as we presented them in the options, um you're anywhere from um I think it's 180 to 405 open seats or available seats, you know, so you're talking, you know, at the very minimum 30 to 35 at a grade level. And so that would require you know an influx of

12035 first graders 30 you know so um in all options they they have the ability to expand and to to grow with things as well as add on additional sections necessary. >> Can I say something again? Um I think what we're looking at here is you know the the parents and some of the board members even but we're looking at convenience because like we say change is hard to make it convenience and a little sentimentality. Now the administration is looking at it from the fact that this is what we have to do to keep Harlem a steady and stable educating body and what is best for overall for the students needs for what we need for the for the district. That's what the administration is looking at to keeping us stable and that's what we

121have to remind oursel when we first had our meetings way back in oneonone with you Mike and with Terrell and Josh you sat in that meeting and told me number seven was the way to go. >> That was what we needed to do >> until I talked to the community. >> Well, but that what I'm saying but what I'm saying is that's what we needed to do. Community or not, we have to make the hard decisions here. >> You don't think this is a hard >> No, I know it's a hard decision. And it's harder for me because they're yelling at me, but I'm trying to make the right decision here. Meaning, I've got to do what's right for the Harlem School District. They can yell at me all they want to, but I want

122to do what's right and keep us financially stable, too, by providing a decent and quality education. And I think we can do that. Just because it doesn't work for South Bit doesn't mean it's not going to work for us. I have talked to other school districts. One is Manhattan, Illinois. It's in by Joliet. They have the banding and it works fine for them. They're going very well with it. So, you can't tell me that every place has ever done the banding isn't going to work. But what I'm telling you is when I took this seat, I was given the responsibility to try to do what's best for the Harlem School District. And that's what I'm trying to do here with the banding. We can we can get this to work if we try. But we

123have to look at the numbers and realize and look to the future. That's what we have to do. The future is what we've got to try to keep in mind. >> That's what we're both doing. You just we're we're viewing it from two different places. Well, coming from two different places, but I'm saying my place is where we started out. I'm just want to say like what Abraham Lincoln used to say, you make a stand, you plant your feet firm, and you hold steady. And that's what I'm doing right now. >> Or you also get more information than >> I've gotten more information, but what I'm saying is I'm still looking at what I have to do and what's that's what I feel that I have to do >> and I I agree with you

124on that one. All right. So, with that, um, are we taking three to the to Tuesday or are we going to try to get to two? >> I got I mean, we're we're if you really look at it, I think we're basically, unless you're looking at any of the middle ground ones, you've got option one and you've got option three, right? I mean, the other one's got the votes like that are kind of the middle ground, but some of them the are they they're not bad enough vote. So realistically >> and four >> what? Sorry, did I? >> One and four would be the options. >> No, absolutely not. One and three >> if you look by discussions and not saying what you agree with or what I agree with. >> You said 1, three,

125and four. >> Yeah, but if we're trying to get it down to two again, it goes back to the question if we do that and it sounds like we're at an impass between bands or not bands, right? >> That's why I said it what the way I said it before. Are you for bands or or not for bands? Because that that that gets consensus either way. You're either going to be for bands or or not. >> I mean that's we got to do it, right? Like do we It goes back the point. We move forward. You pick your you pick your you pick one choice. If you do one choice that tells you your answer, not that choice. >> That's why I was trying that's what I was trying to do. >> I And it's

126fair. I wanted to get a consensus of where we stood and that's the point of having a consensus. >> You want to go around again and say bans or no bands? That's That's a simple way. And I will I will >> go ahead. >> I'm gonna say no bands, neighborhood schools. >> Thank you. >> I guess I started >> I'm going to say bands. I like number three. >> Thank you. >> Sure, >> Rebecca. >> I have to I have to say either one or three because I honestly the the I want the savings. I want the savings, but I cannot I cannot honestly say here, let's let's send these kids to all different schools all over the community. So, >> that doesn't make one one of them does and one of them doesn't. >>

127Yes, I understand that. The the point is I want to I want to see the $4.2 $2 million saved. But at the same time, I don't think that our our students should be put on all different buses from all different households and sent to all different school buildings. >> At this time, I'm just asking for my hands. I'm not >> back to >> Yeah, come back then. >> I'll come back to you. That's fine. >> Vans, >> thank you. >> Yes. I'm for no bands. >> No bands. >> Rebecca, it falls to you. >> I almost have to just flip a coin because I really >> I don't think >> No, you can't. I mean, I'm just saying >> obviously I I need to laugh all you want. you sit up here and do the

128same job. Um I just I can't I can't I can't deal with either one of them. I don't like either one of them. So I'm going to have to make >> I was elected to make the decision, but I'm also elected to listen to who is in the schools and who is in the neighborhood telling me. And I have enough people telling me from both sides that say, "No, I don't want to spend any more tax dollars." But I also have enough people telling me from the inside saying, "No, I don't want my kids all over the place." >> And you abstain? >> Yeah. Okay. So, at this time, I don't have consensus for either. >> All right. Give me your number one scenario. >> I'm number one. >> That's fine. Thank you. >> This

129doesn't work because if you don't vote the other way, you're just still the same thing. >> I'm just trying. I'm trying. I think that's going to give us our best option. It is not my favorite. But number one, >> I'm for number one. Evelyn. >> No, >> this is going to be the same thing. >> He said to come back. >> I go, Dana. >> Oh, I'll go with number three. >> All right. Thank you. >> She's abstaining. >> I abain. >> Abstain. That's fine. Thank you. >> Three. >> Okay. So, with this, this >> is why we have an odd number of board members. >> Correct. But with this, we're going to take >> One and three to Tuesday. >> We made progress. >> We're down to two. >> All right. without. >> So

130the so the other piece to this is >> um remember with this presentation >> we still have those the two schools, right? And so we need consensus on that piece because that moves us forward to what we need to do next. >> Correct. Um as you saw, every one of these options that you guys push forward has um Maple and Olsen being closed. >> Correct. >> We've already had two of the meetings. This would require us to put it back to >> complaining about what? >> I I don't I don't know what what you mean. I believe she wants to know what what districts have have come up with the fact that they don't like the bands and why not >> Rosco they've had bands for years >> Rosco South were against the bans was

131it >> well South bands I think South only has three schools right elementary school in our district >> yeah so oh in our district so Go ahead. >> What school? What grade school? >> What grade school is complaining? >> I I don't I don't have an answer to that one. >> But to my understanding, we still have to have one public hearing yet just for the school closure. >> Correct. This this is why I'm asking consensus to go back to the >> but my thing is with Robert's rules of order with a public hearing it's just about closing schools. It wouldn't be about banding issues or anything else. So our last that's all I'm asking for. >> Right. But we still have to have one because Olen Park and Maple will still be closed in

132any scenario we go with. That's why and I just need consensus to go back to the next final meeting with the community >> because of each one of these it's the same school before it was before they had different schools. >> Right. So we just have to have one public hearing for the two schools. >> Correct. But I'm getting consensus because we have to put that notice back out again 10 days. That's what I'm looking for. >> So they'll both be either one will be Maple and Oakland Park will be closed >> and you're good with that. >> That's why I'm looking for consensus again. Consensus. >> Yes. Yes. >> We have consensus. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Anything else? Evelyn. >> Okay. So, we're ready to adjourn the educational meeting. >> Yes.

133>> Okay. >> Huh? Ajourn. >> I couldn't hear a second. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. We all here. Almost here. >> I'm going to call business services to order. >> We'll do a quick roll call here. Uh Kurt Thompson here. Aaron Mcnite. >> I'm still here. >> Josh Ran >> here. >> Charl Yarro >> here. >> Shannon Shannon Thompson >> here. >> Michelle Herb >> here. >> And the union designignate. >> There you are. >> Excellent. >> Welcome. >> All right. Can I get consensus for the meeting minutes for December 10th, 2025? Yes. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you. >> Uh any public comments? >> None at this time. >> Perfect. And on with the agenda. >> Mr. Ran. >> My mic's on too. >> My mic's on. >> I can

134turn mine off. >> Yeah, I know. >> All right. Hey. So my first uh item today is a recommendation to accept a November 2025 treasures report. And I will hit the highlights like we normally do. So for the ED fund, when we look take a look at the revenue, um the revenue is up 1.76 million. Um and expenditures are up 101,000. So when I look at the revenue year to date compared to the budget, it is 6% ahead were last year at this point. So that's good. So the budget is trending where it should be on the revenue side. expense side, it's two 100ths of a percent. So, it is right there with the caveat that the insurance at the end might change that. Through November, we were trending just slightly under on the property

135taxes. Um, but I have positive news. We received a December reim uh payment and that will put us slightly over what we had budgeted on the property taxes. So, that's good news there. So, for the tort fund, um the revenue is 1.52. were 33,000 short, but we have seven months to go. So, that's trending on schedule and the expenditures currently sit exactly at what we budgeted there. Operations and maintenance fund. Um, the revenues are down 10,000 and expenses are up 112. The 112 mostly relates to the vehicles that we purchased. Currently, the supplies show it's down 62,000, but I just wanted to make a note that some of those electricity numbers coming in are a little bit higher, too. So, we should see that will probably flip to a a positive expenditure as we go.

136And we talk about we'll talk about electricity a little bit later on in this agenda. Uh so the bond and interest or debt service fund um is trending to be slightly over budget on the revenue and we made our payments for the year for the expenditures. So in December you'll see that comes in on the budget for the expenses. Transportation revenues are up 1.2 million. As we've discussed, most of that is the electric buses and that the state revenue will still be a little bit under what we budgeted there. Expenses are up 5.2%. Almost all of that is the additional buses because we bought the electric which offsets the revenue side of it. So that's trending okay for now. Um IMRF uh revenue is down 1.9% but should still be on budget. Uh expenses are

137up 3.6%. capital projects, everything other than the transfer that will happen at the end. Uh we're 2,000 over. So that revenue number will hit. Expenditure- wise, we have 74,000 still. Um based on where we we spent 730,000 out of 804. So that 74,000 will be projects at the beginning of the summer. So that's looks good. So, fire life safety, that revenue number is on budget and for an expense, we have about 600,000 left. Some of that will be dust collection that we'll recommend um later on in this agenda. So, food service because we're mostly federally funded. Um with that, it takes a few months for those reimbursements to come in. So, November had a positive gain of 155,000. October was 59,000. So the overall deficit for the year is at 53,000 but it's it's trending

138positively. So we'll be good in that fund too. On the health insurance side, uh obviously we talked about that. I had provided a number earlier through January, so I updated it through today. This is the November number. November alone was a $417,000 increase that month. So November was a tough healthcare month for us um as we go. >> So certain cases. >> Yeah, there we are hearing just about a lot of really high dollar cases like way more than normal is driving that too. But like when we looked at those summer numbers, there was only a few high dollar claims. A lot of that was just increased utilization. So it's a mixture of a few things. One of which is just inflation in that space altogether. But we do have quite a few high dollar

139claims. >> General that we know something that trend. >> Yeah, there's a couple things that we're looking at to try and help assist um the people in our plan, but also reduce cost. And one of those um is later on when we talk about the benefit consulting piece of that, too. So, there's something else that we're looking at that we're trying to bring forward in the future that would help keep cost neutral or down. Is there any other questions on the treasures report? Okay, everyone's next favorite topic is the bus bid. Don West is still here. So, uh, so tonight the recommendation is to award the bus bid to Central State's bus sales for three conventional style buses for a total cost of $449,370 and three transit style front engine buses at a cost of

140$514,740 for a total cost of $964,110. And how we ended up here, we talked last meeting about whether we wanted six or seven. A few years ago when the cycle was going to be the fiveear cycle, we were doing 15. Then we went to the three tier. It was going to go to 12. And right now, based on the funding from the state, we want to do the six plus those other cars that we were looking at. So, and we went three to three for a couple reasons um for what we store inside so that we have space on that. And I know that it is about a $20,000 difference. Uh Don reached out to Central States and asked it at the five-year mark, what is the tradein difference? And they said about 15,000. So

141we're trending right now if we buy eight buses a year that that would be an eight-year cycle rather than a fiveyear cycle. So if there were 10,000 more in eight years based on what the state pays us in reimbursement and the trade in it's about a wash. So I think it makes sense to buy three and three and then let's see where the funding comes in balance that fund and then we can make decisions going forward on future quantities. >> These are all diesel, right? >> They're diesel. Yes. Um, so >> we try not to buy gases anymore. >> And unfortunately, you know, like we we want as much competition as we can when we bid these and we push international to bid, but internationals only make a conventional style. And it was a little

142surprising that they are $12,000 more per bus for the international over the Bluebird. So, so that's why the recommendation is three conventional three transit style bluebirds. >> Just to confirm everything that we're doing, this is all based on the forecast of those changes. >> Yeah. Yeah. And that that's why we went from 15 down to a good number would be eight. We're recommending six here just to kind of see what this the state continuing to drop the funding on. >> Yeah. And and what's hard is if you go too low because Don was so efficient in selling buses that we brought in 810,000 in revenue. So what's going to happen is if we only sell six or seven, that's going to cut 400 grand off the upfront revenue right off the bat next year. So

143like there's no winning and all or none. So, we're trying, like you said, we're trying to nudge that down a little bit, evaluate where the state's at and what that fund looks like. >> It's trying, >> but I I Mr. Ran, we still are going to have three tiers. Elementary is just going to be on two tiers, correct? >> Yes. Yeah. I'm sorry. Was that your question? >> I I thought I heard you say two. >> We're operating off the changes in ti, right? the reduction. >> No, because the secondary still need the same number of buses. So, >> reducing schools, >> correct? >> You're bus you're busing more kids because you have less walk boundary. So, yeah. No, that did not that would be good. But yeah. Yeah. Sorry, that's not how I heard

144that qu how I heard that question. So, >> be good. Are there any other questions on the bus bid? >> Okay. Next item is a recommendation to award the high school dust collection bid to Miller Engineering in the amount of $370,917. You know, we had discussed that that could have been as much as as high as 500,000. So to have multiple bids and to have one at 370 I was about 115,000 better than I I I had roughed it at 485 was my guess. So 370 is positive and Miller we worked with them quite a bit. So um Mr. Hubert and I mostly Mr. Hubert have spent a lot of time working with that program each machine figuring out where all of those because the system is super accustomed to each piece of equipment that

145we have in that space. Um, so this this hopefully will meet our needs and it's a life safety fund. Um, that's all approved and so recommend awarding that tonight. Other questions? What's the We have put it together, but just out of curiosity to kind of handle the cost over time. What is the, you know, the average life of like this 5, 10, 15, 500? >> Yeah, it won't be five. J, do you have any idea? I just saw one I was gonna say I just saw one online that was >> 15 say I just saw one for sale online that was the one I showed you and they were still asking almost 120,000 it was 35 years old. >> Okay. >> So I showed Jos like can we make this work? >> No. >> Yeah.

146I'm just looking at you they're custom for one there's that's a substantial amount of cost but if you're taking that over 30 years >> as long as they're maintained they can those electric motors that they put in work >> and you know we had discussed that at the time of the addition and it's probably a blessing that we did not do it at that time because we had no program we had no equipment we didn't know what the need was so we would have been stuck with the system that wouldn't have met our needs or worked very well so >> so what happens to the one that's been the temporary sitting in the classroom now >> so there's a portable one that can still hook up to this system, but the this system is way

147more advanced than what works. >> Oh, yeah. No, I was wondering are we is this something that we just put in the closet now and save for some other time or >> uh so not all the pieces of equipment and try to also get flexibility will be along the wall to plug into the dust collection system. So there is some flexibility where they'll be able to move some of those machines around and still hook it up to some of those temporary systems that they have. So, it's just a much smaller scale and we'll be able to move that around as we need different places. >> Thanks, J. >> Any other questions on that? >> All right. Next is a recommendation to approve an agreement with a healthcare, Inc. to provide nursing services at Loves Park

148Elementary at a cost of $80 per hour uh for 37 half hours per week for 20 hours a week for a total cost of $60,000 paid with idea flow through part B fund. There is a memo from director Heidi Lang just explaining that need uh for some specific nursing skills for some of our life skill students that are in need at low spark for the rest of this year. Any questions? Next is a recommendation to approve contracted school improvement grant tutor for Rocka Elementary at a cost of $10,500 paid with planning your title one part A section 10003. Um, Director Hubert has a memo on there. I don't know if you want to talk about it or Mickey wants to say anything about >> this. I'm sorry. So, this is through the U the school

149improvement grant. Yeah, it's just one of the needs that were identified by Rock Cut um for bringing students in and using system identify help um in in doing it this way. Um this is the same way that uh a lot of other schools contact it out instead of having somebody employees contact it out. It ends up um you know exactly what you're getting for how long. It helps out like as far as retirement like for people who are retired not have to worry about like hiring and not being >> there. Any questions on that? >> Okay. So, next is a recommendation to approve uh Tyler Technology Munice uh reporting services migration for a cost of $3,600. So currently Tyler, it's always been Munis to me so I can't stop calling him Munis, but Tyler Munis

150is our HR, some of our HR software and business software. And currently they utilize or we utilize a module called Crystal Reports. Um, which is a report writer within the system. We have 15 or 20 Crystal Reports. Like when you look at the bills, that's a Crystal Report. Um, they're getting rid of Crystal Reports and they're moving to a a Microsoft SQL server. So those reports that we run are going to phase out at the end of this year. So we had them put together a quote and it's typically $7,500 to buy this license. They're waving that. We pay about $3,800 a year. It'll go to 4,000. So it's about $200 a year more. This 3600 is for the one-time remote implementation so that we are also training a couple people to write SQL reports

151in Tyler Ununis so that we can write the reports from our system using our data as we need it. >> So the migration of all the old ones as well or is it just >> No. So that's a separate >> This seems dirt cheap otherwise for a migration. >> We're having those people. So what we're going to do is get the list of the reports, see which ones are the easiest, start at the top, go down. We may have to convert a couple of them, but my hope is that we can rewrite them in SQL Server. >> So, is it just basically the license for going over to the new >> This is just the imple the 3600 is just the implementation to get it running and then it'll be a onetime cost and go

152away. So, we pay 3,800 now anyways. It'll be 4,000. So, it's $200 a year increase. But my hope is I'm guessing with using Microsoft SQL Server that this will just be what they use going forward. >> Sure. Unless you're getting more of a st modern standard, but yeah. find out what the data migration would be a >> some of that report writing can be tricky when you're pulling different fields from different modules like so we used to have someone that wrote crystal reports and that person retires so we don't really have anyone that writes crystal and it's going away so this is a perfect opportunity to have someone from HR and from business both learn the report writing so that we can make custom reports as we need to >> yeah just I got to

153get out of some of these formats >> any questions or concerns about Okay. So 8D7 is benefit consulting discussion. Currently we use Gallagher for our benefits consulting. We have not bid that or done an RFQ for a very long time. So when we talk about health care I think it's a good time to put that out see what's out there in the RFQ world especially because healthcare is such a key topic for us just to make sure that we're getting the right services and at the right fee. So, I would like to just go out for that process and bring a recommendation to the board later this spring. It's typically a July 1 start date, but it's a it's an important issue for us. >> Yeah. >> Wish I had. >> So, are there any

154other questions on that? Everyone's good with us going out and bringing recommendation. >> Okay. So, my final item is an energy consultant discussion. We talked about, you know, at the last meeting the board gave me the authority to lock electricity. the the rep that I had been working with, he really wasn't responding anymore. So, there was a different company at Nania Energy. They are an independent energy group. They will help us go out to bid, evaluate the best option and give non they don't care which vendor you use. And so, they sent me some references and one of them was Huntley and I know I know Mark really well there and he had really good things to say. So, what's complicated about I explained the electricity bills and what we're seeing on that, but like

155when we go out to bid because we're bringing in big amounts of we're going to soon be bringing in big amounts of community solar, we have behind the meter solar and then we have all the needs that we have within the building. So, someone that can evaluate that and help us put that in a document because the electricity purchasing space is fairly complex and our situation is fairly complex. Having someone to help us put that together, make sure we're paying the lowest that we can pay, I think is important. So, they seem like a really good group and they had a great reference check yesterday. >> So, we're essentially hearing the person that was not responding, they're done out. >> Yes. >> Listed them essentially. >> I tried multiple times and he didn't respond. So,

156actually, I came into the to these guys because they help in two different fronts. Uh solar installation, which were kind of solared out, and then the energy procurement. So they had reached out to me doing a forefront reference check for a different district and uh I just kind of made a note that they had reached out. I had a good conversation and then when the other person didn't respond I reached back out and said let's talk about procurement and making sure so like they can also do natural gas our our focused conversation has been electricity but uh when are good times in the year what are they seeing trendwise and then because like you can do reverse auctions where um energy providers will say I'll do it for 10 cents and then some you know

157what I mean and then they keep going down to get the lowest cost possible like having them bid against each other so >> not a lot of low cost but Sure. I love it. >> Lower than Yeah. And and what we're seeing just with the the massive charges and credits and like it's best just to we got to move somewhere else at this point and save money on the electricity side. We're doing too much work on community solar behind the meter. These lighting projects we're doing the BAS system we've put in to to pay more than >> these are generally like a flat rate. think they're not taking a percentage of what our usage is to promote it to or how does that how does their structure work for >> that? That's a great question.

158So currently behind the scenes we're on a comet hourly rate with constellation and constellation currently is charging 08 for like a charge for that. These guys will make 02 and constellation I think will get 02. So he said that that rate would come down to about half of what we're currently paying and we don't pay them. That just gets w that's a fraction of a percent gets washed out in the bill. So they'll they'll be like the broker and you get that >> reminds me of office basically just rounding the pennies. >> Hopefully hopefully not hopefully not wor >> but uh so positive conversations and I think that would they would be great. >> That helps. Thank you. >> Any other questions or concerns? Not >> that is my reports. >> Did you you were

159going to mention something about keeping health care costs down with with with you had mentioned that wasn't going out for the additional ones. Wasn't there additional services? >> So that would be one of the pieces. Yeah, we have a second recommendation that we're working on bringing later but like the consultant and the recommendations of that consultant and just making sure we have all the best ideas and and looking at that meeting. Uh you mean like the annual summary? >> Yeah. >> So I reached out about when that annual summary and they said it would be late March, early April we would have that data for the annual and so that every year that will be at that time too because they got to pull a bunch of data to provide the report. So >> January

160>> and everyone's new stuff is kicking in the first year. >> Correct. >> Well because they got to pull data from Blue Cross and then incorporate it and there's a lot to that. While we're doing all this, um, are we going to be looking into legal and other? >> Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's typically a July 1st date. We talked about Marchish would be the So, the next six, eight weeks. >> Okay. So, we'll be building that back out to bed in a moment. Any other ones that we're going to be looking at? >> Yes. I just ran through that list. I'm trying to think. So, we have benefits, we have energy, we have legal. I'll have to get back to list. I don't have it. on my list, but I ran that through a

161plan. >> I ran that through with Gail on accounts payable the other day that the list of the items that we have to go out for. So, >> oh audit, the audit is up. That's been the third year. So, I've asked the auditors for an extension because typically three years is so quick. We we typically stay with them six years. So, I've asked them to give me an updated pricing to extend that contract. I can't believe it's over already. That was the quickest three years of >> Yeah. Well, when you asked I wasn't I was like, is it two or three? Because the time just flies on that. It's three. It's over. So, that's another one, too. But I don't anticipate a full need to watch bid for that. >> All right. It'll be good

162to see all those go back out and see. >> Yeah. >> See who we get. >> Absolutely. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. There's nothing else. All in favor to adjourn, say I. >> I. Thanks, everybody. >> Thank you.