001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, [Music] heat, heat. [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, wow. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] regular board meeting to order. Can I please get a roll call? here. McNight here. Rebecca Carlson present. Larry Smith here. I should have said Mrs. Mrs. Ty here. Here. Shelley Wagner, human resources. Michelle, curriculum and instruction. Jason Bloom, communications, community relations. Josher and Business and Operations like we got the pledge. So, it is my pleasure this evening to welcome some of our students from
002Marquette Elementary and their principal, Mr. Brock Morland. They are excited. Yes, we are. So, before I have everyone introduce themselves, I do want to say that, you know, we we were wondering about who to have to do this. We've done um we've done attendance, perfect attendance before. We've had a lot of different things. This time I went around to each individual teacher and I asked them to just give me one name of a student that has just exemplified everything that really Harlem is about being respectful, you know, being here, being kind to one another. And these were all the students that were chosen. So, one from each class that that could be here. So, it's my pleasure. I'm going to let them introduce themselves. My name's My name's Skyler. My name's Emily. My name is
003Gabriel. All right. [Music] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. So, we're going to do a photo real quick. You help us start off the so well. You all face towards me. Okay. I appreciate you helping us get the meeting started. Yeah. Thanks for coming in on your day off. Yeah. All right. So, I'll get a photo and then I'll move on the way. All right. Here we go. One, two, three. [Music] Huh? [Music] Great job. Super easy, right? Nice job being a great student. We're really proud of you. Enjoy your last month of school. Ask a teacher of the day. He was a little boy. Oh, really? Well, yeah. I guess
004that would make sense. Calling me and not listening just a little bit. And then I'd like to have a moment of silence for Gary Jury, Harlem Township Supervisor. that passed this past week. Thank you. With that, uh, approval of the agenda. Yep. Motion. We got a motion. Second. Second. Mr. Thompson. I, Mr. Mcnite. Hi, Mrs. Carlson. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mrs. Hazy. Hi, Mrs. Meets. I excellent Mr. Yaro. All right. Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Uh the Miss Shutter Harland Consolidated School District is a vital part of the community is to help diverse learners realize their learning potential by providing an educational program dedicated to academic excellence in the development of strong character in a safe and respectful learning environment. Thank you. Uh next up, the approval of board minutes, regular and closed minutes of April
00514th, 2025. Can I get a motion? Second. Second. Mr. Mcnite. I. Mrs. Carlson. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mrs. Hazy. Hi. Mrs. Meeks. I. Mr. Thompson. I Jason Bloom. All right. Community relations. I don't think so. So, it is my pleasure this evening to um introduce a group of students that really recently competed in the state math competition. This is our Harlem High School math team. We're excited. They just got back this past weekend from um the state competition. Let them all fill in up here. And as you can see, they've got some uh some hardware here to showcase as well. Uh I'm going to turn it over to Miss Gupta, one of our high school teachers that is one of the uh chairs of this group to talk a little bit about their adventures in
006getting to the state competition and then obviously what they all competed in um and the success that they had this year. So, thank you so much for having us here today. Uh we just like u Jason Bloom said we just came back from uh stay we were at Bloomington on Saturday. Um we don't have quite many students here yet but we have still four more who participated. Um I will just go in order just to give you an idea. So we had Christina uh just a quick raise hand maybe Mia and then Aiden who's not here today. they qualified for the algebra 1 individual team. Uh we had Jacob for geometry and then we had Antonio who's not here today and Ben for the pre-cal individual event. We had eight person team on the calculator
007who participated and that is Mia, Ben, Kelvin, Anna, Corbin, Lindsay and we are missing Amelia and Emily. Now this calculator team event is really important for us because we give our students the yellow TI 84 calculators but the other have like the TI cast and all it's inbuilt in there. I did get five calculators this year so hopefully these students will bring more medals next year uh as we move forward. We have Ben and Kelvin seniors here and Ben represented us all four years at the state and we will be missing both of them for the last math team and I am also uh I have here Miss Osar who helped me with algebra one and Miss Adams who helped me with geometry and thank you again for having so for um some of us
008that may not be super familiar like what does the the the kind of season look like and the preparation? and what kind of happens throughout in order to prepare to solve. So we start in October, middle of October the practices we have individual events, algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 and pre-calc. We also have twoerson fresh soft event, twoerson junior senior event. We have eight person fresh off event, 8erson junior senior event and the calculator. We also have oral team competition. This is the first time we could not participate due to our very less number of students and we couldn't put them in more than two tournaments. That's also a thing. They cannot participate in more than two due to schedule conflicts. We do go to Haniga the in the end of January. We did medal
009quite many over there and then we go to regionals and from regionals we move to state. Uh there is another competition we may add next year if if they decide to do it, but then towards this um April and we wrap up our season. So now I'm going to put you all on the spot students. So I know you've got some different hardware and ribbons and things that you're showcasing. Uh it was willing to kind of to to share what's on that and what you earned. Yes, they are. Do anybody want to start? Um I I can start. Sure. Thank you. So um I have a medal for um sixth place in the algebra one individual that I got from I think Haniga. Haniga. Yeah. One of the competitions we did. And I also got
010um second place with my partner for the freshman soft team that we did. We did. Um my partner is not here today, but um it was fun and I think it was definitely a good experience. I really enjoyed it. So smart. Okay. Um this medals from um the algebra one. Um I think it was Wait, where was this one? Regionals. Oh, regionals. Yeah, individual. And then this one's the A person calculator team. And this one is uh regionals too for the freshman team. Awesome. So mine it was from the RBC regionals. It was sixth place for uh geometry individuals. Yeah, I've got I've gotten um in regionals I got eighth place for pre-calc in individuals. Uh third place round for two in individuals and fourth place in geometry. I think um two of these ribbons
011are from regionals um player team and one of them is from [Music] regionals from different um two of these are from regionals and one of these are from Hano um for the eight person and for the calculator. So this is for regional individuals and if I remember what the medal was for I would have loved to share it. I don't know if I've ever been in a spot in my life where I can't remember where I got medal. Like obviously you must all get a lot of medals and do well because the fact that you can't recall where this medal's from like that says a lot about about your success. Miss Gupta, did you notice Antonio? Yes, I did. I did. Did he forgot his medal? It was second place at regional for a couple.
012Antonio pre-calculus at the regionals. He just came with Ben. Uh Ben and Antonio were the individuals who went to stay from pre-cal category. Awesome. This is for you don't need to talk about this one but you can just say you were at the calculator. Okay. Uh she got awarded for the the calculator 8 person. Am I right? Yes. 8% calculator team. The medal actually belongs to Antonio. We just you know he wasn't there. Yes. [Music] Well, obviously on behalf of the board and our community, congratulations to all of you. I know it's a lot of hard work that you put into this. Um, and obviously by what you're showcasing and success you've had. You guys have done a great job. So, we're excited and we look forward to hearing about the future success of some
013of you that are going on, but hopefully to see a few of you back uh back next year after you you compete again. So, congratulations to all of you and [Applause] and we're going to try and work out the whole thing. You might have to lay down in the front. [Music] Yeah. Yeah, we'll see. All right, here we go. One, two, three. Awesome. Thank you. All right. Awesome. He was listening to be there. Congratulations. [Music] I mean, I don't know. They're all te whatevers in my brain there. All right. So, tonight we have another um exciting recognition. A few of these students you have heard about recently. You've seen this teacher at a few board meetings coordinated all that in the same meeting. that happened. Um, so I'm excited this evening to introduce a few
014students that um, were part of our educator rising program. Um, they've done some stuff at um, state level to be able to earn opportunities to um, you know, compete at the national level. This is obviously something very near and dear to our heart as an education system that um, these individuals are are looking to explore this this career and and are passionate about um, the opportunities that they get. And so I'm going to turn over to to Stacy to talk a little bit about um this program and experiences the kids and then we got a few things that they're actually going to showcase for us which I'm really excited about. All right. So good evening. Um I'm Stacy who met before. This is Nicole Lukakowski. Um Payton Flippawitz, Avery Anderson, and Monica Perooo. Um and
015they are three of the eight who competed at our state competition. Um we had uh children's literature. We had our first time ever having someone do a speech, which was Monica. Um, and she actually did her speech in Spanish. Um, and then we had a young lady who interviewed in a kind of a mock paraprofessional interview. And then we had a group who did some research on um, cerebral palsy and how that impacts the classroom and what teachers should do to work with students in that field. So um, the three that are here tonight, they placed so high in the state that they are um, getting recognized for that. Monica, we found out immediately that she earned second in the state for her speech on what motivates her and inspires her to be a teacher.
016And she's going to share a little bit of that in just a few moments. And then we found out later after some kind of weird scoring snafoos that they I don't know what they were doing. They did the math team. They did um that the two ladies also placed very high um in their their book. Um, and they are going to showcase just a little bit, give you an overview and read just a little bit of the book for you. Um, but you know, we're really proud of all of them for even considering participating. It's an afterchool kind of club activity. So, it's not built into the classroom all the time that they work on these things. They're working on their own time. They're practicing. They're redoing and changing and fixing and taking the recommendations
017from the state to make it even better for the nationals opportunity which will come up this summer. So, awesome. Yeah. One of the things that as I've been learning a little bit more about the program over the years with with Stacy is like just really this kind of unique connection of like showcasing talent yet also like this like for lack of a better term like PD professional development like getting the chance to learn like I think when you go to the event like you're hearing from like the teacher of the year from Illinois and like just getting these opportunities to also learn and grow in that capacity um alongside of like showcasing your your talent, your skills and that stuff and that's that's like a really cool concept to me. So, we're excited because they
018don't want to hear me talk. They want to see what you all have to to showcase. So, I'm going to turn it over however prepared. So, do you girls want to go first? So, give them a little blurb about it and then you have the tables. Okay. So, our book is called Alos and Pen Pals. And so, basically, it's about a girl in third grade and she goes and at her school their new project of the year is their family tree. And so, she is part Puerto Rican. So, most of her family lives in Puerto Rico. So, she can't like contact them. So her project was to write like letters to be like pen pals with her grandparents. And so the the story basically follows her writing the letters, them getting a response, and in
019the end they get to she finally gets to meet them in person. So we're just going to read the beginning of it. Hi, my name is Mia. I am in third grade. I live with my mom, Monica, and my dad, Marcus. My name is My mom is Puerto Rican and my dad is white from Illinois. My grandparents still live in Puerto Rico, so I don't get to see them very often. Today I am off to school and they there are only three months left until summer break. Yesterday my teacher Mrs. O told the class that we are starting the end of the year project. When I arrive at school the classroom is buzzing with excitement to see what our project is. Okay class, calm down and listen up. Today we'll be going over our end
020of the year project announcements O. The class and I were thrilled to hear what our project will be. Drum roll please. Our project will be a family tree. The whole class cheered with excitement. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You guys don't even know what you'll be doing, said Mrs. O. She passed out the directions and we all follow along. Dear families, today your students will be bringing home this paper to let you know that we will start working on our on our end of the year project. This project is one of my favorite activities that we do all year. This assignment will be completed be completed mostly at home, but every time your student gets a letter back, they are required to talk to their friends or kids in the class about what they learned. So, on
021to the project itself. Students will reach outside of the classroom to family members from anywhere besides the ones living in their household. If you don't do not have anyone, please reach out to me so we can chat. Students will have to write at least four letters with four different topics. The topics are the students choice. This project is due June 1st, which is the second to last day of school. On this day, students will present all they have learned. If you have any questions, please reach out. At the end of the day, we all went home and showed our families what we what we are going to be working on. Mom and dad seem very excited for me to learn about life in Puerto Rico. Mom says, "What will you pick as your core topics?"
022I say, "Maybe food and language and traditions." Dad says, "For the last one, maybe you could do something about lifestyles there." Yes, I say you could site now. So, I got started on my first letter right away. I decided to start with a letter about traditions. Dear Auo and Aua, hello. Today is my first of four letters from our school project. We'll be making a family tree and learning about our extended family. And since you live in Puerto Rico, I thought you would be the perfect choice. This letter will be all about traditions in Puerto Rico. My first question is, do you celebrate Christmas or Easter? I love Christmas time. Next, what are some holidays in Puerto Rico that I don't celebrate here in the US? And my last question will be, what are some
023popular traditions in Puerto Rico? I can't wait to hear all about your traditions. Talk soon, love them. When I was back at school the next day, all my friends were talking about their first letter they wrote. Kaylee is writing to her uncle in Germany, and Eliza is writing to her second cousin in Poland. When I told them I was writing to my grandparents in Puerto Rico, they were all so excited that my grandparents lived so far away. It doesn't bother me, though, because I have grown up with my parents living so far away. Finally, after a few days of anxiously waiting for my letter to come, the letter from my grandparents had arrived. I flew back inside my house and ripped open the letter. Dear Mia, we are both so ecstatic that you picked us
024to write letters to. It is true. Our holidays in Puerto Rico are different from the ones you celebrate here in the United States. We celebrate Three Kings Day instead of Christmas. And we also celebrate the birthday of Jose de Diego, who is a very famous person here in Puerto Rico. One tradition here is that we have lots and lots of festivals and celebrations. We cannot wait to hear from you soon. Well, aa So tell us a little bit about like so obviously like you have the opportunity to participate in the national competition, right? Like you would be bringing this back with you. Yeah. Okay. And then how about after that? Like does this go further? Like do you think you will work to actually make this thing a book that we can buy? I mean,
025last year we talked about it with our book from last year, but I'm not sure. Maybe. Just curious. Curious. But that's awesome. I love the idea. Like I love the little emblem in there, too. That concept like actually pulling out the letter and stuff. That's a really cool really cool design. So, kudos to you guys. That's that's an awesome project. Love to love to see the the rest of the story. Thank you. [Applause] So, I'm Monica and I wrote the speech. It It was in Spanish, but we translated in English and you guys would be able to understand it. Thank you. Yeah. So, I'm going give you guys some pieces of what the speech said. So, let me tell you guys a little bit about myself. Both of my parents are Mexican, making me a
026proud Mexican. When my parents came to this country, they didn't know much English. They knew the simple words, but that was it. As the years passed by, my parents learned English words, but their roots were never forgotten. It was important for them to maintain their roots and to only speak Spanish to my siblings and me. I remember when I was going to enter preschool, my brothers taught me some English words because I didn't know any English. One thing they taught me was, "May I go to the restroom?" I'm telling you what they taught me because when it was my first day of preschool, I went to the bathroom 10 times in one day. Did I actually need to go? No. But that's all I knew how to say. When my mom came to pick me
027up, the teacher asked my mom if I was sick. Since I went to the bathroom so many times. When my mom would go to my parent teacher conferences, I would have to tag along. Since many of my teachers didn't speak Spanish, I would have to translate everything. A topic that is talked about a lot is immigration, especially in schools. It is impacting many students because they fear that by tomorrow they won't be able to have an education. Many teachers are also afraid. But the thing is that every child that lives in the United States has the right to attend school regardless of their immigration status. Maybe the only sentence they know how to say is may I go to the restroom and they'll ask to go 10 times in one day. As an educator, you
028shouldn't care what words or sentences your students know. What matters is what you teach them. So that way it can impact them in their lives for the positive. So whenever I get asked why I want to be an educator, this is why. As a future educator, I want my students to feel comfortable with me, no matter if they can speak the language or their immigration status. Every child has the right to be treated the same since as an educator, you don't know what they're going through. So, I pledge to do exactly this for my students. One, I'll make them feel comfortable and loved. Two, I'll respect their culture, their language, and their love for learning. Three, I'll treat every student, no matter where they come from or how they got here, I'll be this because
029I'll be an educator. [Applause] very love hearing that and the personal experience and and obviously that chance to second was safe like that's pretty pretty amazing. So, thank you for for sharing that and so obviously to our our educators that helped put in the time to make this all happen. Thank you to you. Um and we we are so excited for for you and the rest of the kids that maybe aren't sitting here in front of us right now. Um, we hope that uh in a few years she come back and work for us, right? I think that's a deal. Oh, yes. All right. So, we're going to do a photo with the board. So if you guys want to stand in the middle here. All right. There we go. Got it. All right. Here
030we go. One, two, three. Hold on. Nice to see you. Thank you. [Music] I did get them signed for you. Yeah, I'll just I'll put it to No worries. Am I able to turn this right back over to you, Mike, or do we need to uh I don't think we should. You got an imposttor. Oh, there you go. Well, I will I will turn it back now over to Mike Sterling for the remainder of this meeting. We are at number eight. Okay, there are no comments from the community. At that, I will turn it over to Josh. All right. Thank you very much. The total payables this period were $566, $32.79. There was one payroll this period in the amount of 3,478,2647 for total expenditures of $4,44,29726. Split out by fund, the education fund paid
0313,566,324.11. The operations and maintenance fund paid $172,5241. The transportation fund paid $186,22.31 and the IMRF social security fund paid $118,26843. Again, for total expenditures of $4,44,29726. Are there any unanswered questions? If there are none, then the bills. Thank you, sir. Can I get a motion to approve the bills? Motion. Second, Mrs. Carlson, yes. Mr. Smith, yes. Mrs. Hastings, yes. Mrs. Meets, hi. Mr. Sterling. Hi, Mr. Thompson. Hi, Mr. Mcnite. Hi. All right. And with that, I'll turn we'll go over to communications and committee reports. It's going to be me starting it off. Um, apologize for being late. I actually had to uh meet with a group of boy scouts at school maker and they wanted to talk about the importance of elections. So I met with them and now they're on a big bike ride.
032So they all what crew members is there? Uh 411. Uh it's all our our students and from different elementaryaries. Oh, awesome. 41. That's a good excuse. Yeah. I mean, especially when they asked, you know, hey, they they kind of misunderstood. They said I could do any day but Monday and then I got the invite and it was Monday. So, well, we made it happen. We made it work. So, thank you guys. [Music] Um yeah and we we discussed uh the importance of elections and obviously we just had one and uh we I came I I discussed how it came down to a small number of votes and again it just shows that every voice matters every vote counts. So, they're getting getting those kids out and they they understand it or that they're trying to
033they gave me a list of uh items that they would see like to see on the lunch. Um, and a couple that might need to be taken out. So, uh, send it over. When are we going to do some taste testing? Like, I I'll I'll send you the dos and don'ts so you can get you guys. I want that old sheet pizza. Um, our next regular board meeting where we will be seating our board will be May 19th. May 12th. Oh, yes. Sorry, I I go out of order. On May 12th at uh 6 p.m. Our next regular board meeting will be May 19th after that at 6 p.m. Our next policy committee meeting will be May 14th. That'll be a committee of the whole. He'll be here at 4:30. And with that, I will
034turn it over to Kurt Council. Uh, thank you. Uh, like to uh, thank uh, Mr. Morland for uh, bringing in these students and definitely staying because it's polite and not to see the future teachers coming in here and making sure you remember their names for the interviews. Uh, so thank you for that. Um, it was great seeing, you know, as always, this this whole school year, we've had such a mixture of different, you know, accolades coming in, sports, math, teachers. I love that Jason and and, uh, continue to do that. It's great to see just all the different things this district is, in fact, doing. Congratulations uh, to all of them. Uh joking aside, it we really should, you know, make sure we watch and see these excellent educators and make sure they come back
035and uh they stay with Harlem. Um what am I missing this time around? It just seems like we were in here. Um I had the opportunity of uh attending and uh celebrating our uh kindergarten uh teacher uh Miss uh Reiner uh for Golden Apple and her win. And I cannot also remember the teacher's name. I apologize. That was uh honored through our grant program for the injection molding. Someone knows that one, let me know. That was fantastic. I didn't even know that. Bring it in. Let's see what they're doing with the injection molding. But that was Friday. It was great to be able to celebrating some of our educators, some of the money they're bringing, some of the great stuff they are uh doing uh there. And uh look, finally some artwork that I can
036see facing my direction and another uh state winner. Uh we've got uh Desaf Far here and her fantastic artwork. I also appreciate um the pride that's there when we have everyone calling that out to the district and being able to share that with the board, that positivity and then making sure that we can share it out with the community. So uh congratulations for that and thank you for for cluing us into uh that great award uh there. Um I'm sure I'm forgetting something that's going in second here. I I'm sure I'll remember it here as we go. But what I haven't forgotten because it's written down in front of me is going to be the next business services committee meeting that is going to be May 14th right back here for community of the whole
037at 4:30. Uh and with that turn it over to Mike that one. Yeah. Sorry. Hi. Good evening everyone. Um, I want to thank Mr. Morland for bringing the Marquette students out tonight. They did a wonderful job with the pledge of allegiance. Also, I want to say congratulations and thank you to all the students that were here tonight for the different things that they're doing for our school. And especially um with um what was the math um what was the name of that program? You guys remember? I think it's just math. Part of the math, right, for their statements math team. Wow, that's awesome. especially a mathlete. Man, I wish I could do math like that. I still have I have to use my calculator still sometimes don't get it right. But I just when it
038comes to that, that's a good thing to know and to be able to do. Also, um I want to say congratulations to um the teachers, the students, and hopefully they'll come back when they finish their journey in college. Um also, I attended the Golden Apple Banquet and I want to say congratulations to Mrs. Riner. Um, the Golden Apple Banquet is really a nice event to be able to see all teachers from all over the state. Not the state, the city of Rockford. It's a good event and those teachers do a lot of work and we still have some teachers that don't get to get a chance to get the golden apple, but you still have a golden apple in my eye. You all do amazing job and I appreciate everything that all of our teachers
039do here and especially all over the country. It's a hard job, but you are greatly appreciated. Um, let's see. Also, I just want to um just send my condolences to Gary Jur's family. He was an amazing man that will be greatly missed. Um I I'm still in shock, but my condolences go out to his family. Um the next equity and social justice meeting will be May 14th here um at 4:30. I'm sorry. I'm just still in shock with um different deaths that I had to experience in um the last couple of weeks. Um it's just been shocking. Um but thank you McNight. Well, going in the middle, I don't have a lot to say and I think Megan does over there because I can see it in her eyes. So, I'm not going to take
040I'm not going to take too much of the time. Um, I all I'm going to say is I I love seeing our students excel. I love seeing our students um and I I I say excel, but I love seeing our students make attempts to accomplish things because we might not always win what we do, but you know, it's it's kind of tough to step out of your step out of your, you know, your normal and and try something new. And and that's one thing I want to encourage our students to do. Obviously, we and no shame, no nothing wrong with this about highlighting some of our our successes. Um, but let's, you know, I kind of challenge our students to step out of their comfort zone and and try something that you've never tried before.
041You know, you you only get high school for 4 years, you're only in, you know, you're only in elementary for so many years. Like, step out of your comfort zone. This is how you become you. This is how you become the adult that you're going to be. So, I appreciate Jason bringing in our success stories and everything like that. And um I I just think we have such a wonderful group of of students throughout the district that I I just encourage you to to to try something new. That's that's going to be kind of my my theme for the next school year is going to be last year, this past year was community. This year it's going to be try something new. And with that being said, let me give my first thoughts on the
042math team. Like they said, they see more. Geometry is the only one that makes sense to me because I can build with it. Other than that, nothing else makes sense. Well, you can scream there. Successes from our new rooftops. There you go. I did forget I did forget something. I just want to say congratulations to Desafar to be able to do a painting, a poster for the Blue Bow Company annual children's poster contest and to win and then have it placed in the at the state office. I think she did an amazing job. She's a seventh grade student from Harlem Middle School and I just wanted to say congratulations and she did a beautiful job on that. So, and Jason said he's reaching out so you're going to be bringing her in and Jason just
043learned about it today. So, we we just learned about it. We just learned about it. We learned about it and I shared it with you and you said I just think that's awesome. Yep. Sounds good. I remember one thing I forgot the student uh improvement day was starting with our new uh programs for uh literacy. So, good luck to all of them and and and picking up that new program and for the success of the fall. So, yeah. Sorry, Rebecca. Oh, wait a minute. Uh, firstly, I want to congratulate those who won the election. There was a lot of names, a lot of faces, and a lot of ideas. And I think it's great that you guys pulled it out and and either back on or newly on the board. We're looking forward to it.
044Um, I have high expectations that we will work well together as a board. I have even higher expectations that we will work well together singly or in small groups. I think that will be amazing. Um, I think we need to uh press on uh for the uh high calling of our students and whatever their high calling is, whatever they decide to do in life. So, I think that's a a great thing to look forward to. Um, thank you, Brock, for your wonderful kids. I just I love watching them do the pledge. I wish there were hundred of them in there, but I know there wouldn't fit in the room. So, I just I think it's amazing. Um, I thank Miss Wetland Far, I believe was her name, for actually emailing us and telling us that
045her daughter had won this amazing award. I would like to see it up here or copy of it. I think it'd be great to have it and especially in the middle school once she's once it's out of whatever building it's in down there. That would be great to have it post in the middle school. Thank you, Jason, for the calendar. I appreciate it. It's the simplest thing, but I would I specifically appreciate it because having no children in the school, I don't know half of what's going on in the buildings. So, I appreciate having the information to me that I can step in on things if I want to. Um, math team. Wow. It just just thinking about calculus and geometry and algebra makes my brain hurt. I I can't even can't even go that
046direction. And I'm I'm lucky that to be able to use a calculator on some of those things. Um, but lastly, I would like to uh have an amendment possibly put on uh noted and recorded on last meeting's uh minutes. I inadvertently mistakenly voted yes on an item that we had so many things to vote on that I I let something slip through and um I wanted to put in a no vote if possible or just have an amended to the to the record that I did not want to vote for the disciplinary um the board discipline that we are uh planning on for the next year. I don't believe that we should be calling out student certain student groups. Um I think if we're going to discipline our students that we need to discipline all
047of them in the same way and in the same forms and not make changes for whatever group they may be in. I know the the um the way it was written stated that um um all students would be reduced in behavioral discipline and yet there were some particular groups that I think there shouldn't have been. So, I just wanted to state that I I should have voted no and I didn't get the chance. So, if I would just be for the record, I would appreciate it. And that's it for me. I'm just noting for the record that she inadvertently voted yes and she would have voted no, but the minutes are approved in officials at this point, so I can't change. Okay. So, that's that's it for me. Thank you so much. Wonderful. Uh, thank
048you. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Morlin, thank you for bringing in. I I love it that you uh preface it by these students aren't just kids that you find out on the playgrounds at AU that there's meaning behind your the students that are selected. It really makes it special for them. So, thank you very much for bringing them in. Um thank you to the mathletes that we had here. Uh, I think Miss Gupta really downplays the downplay the amount of preparation that goes in. They really do. They study it and they work out as hard as the football players, but they work out their brain and that's very important. So, good for the uh mathletes that came in and and uh their accomplishments. And we really appreciate the future teachers everywhere, not just the ones that
049were here, but uh kudos to them for for taking part in that club. Kudos to Harlem for having that club and and really recognizing that we're building the future right now every day. So, I really appreciate our future teachers coming in and also our artists. What beautiful art that we have here. This was not from Marquette, I believe. Uh, but wherever it's from, it's terrific. And I especially want to note that there is another illusion of Pink Floyd. Uh, just like we did at the middle school, we're going to make sure that we know note Pink Floyd. And I love it. When pigs fly, it's a wonderful life. Thank you, Mr. uh, Sterling, for talking to the Boy Scouts about elections. Elections are extremely important. And I want to also uh repeat what Miss Carlson
050said. Congratulations to all of those who won the election, but also to those who didn't win the election, but participating is what's important. And uh I I would love and I talked to Mr. Bloom about this. I would love to recognize all those in the district. It's not just the candidates. There are a lot of people that take part in the the election and the democratic process that are not candidates. There's just a lot of people and they should also be recognized. It's uh it takes everybody to make sure that our democracy remains strong and elections is the foundation of that. So thank you to everybody who participated in all manner during the previous election. So thank you Always thank a pole worker. Also, thanks for that. Oh, Erin's right. I do have a lot
051to say. Um, so uh this is uh the last meeting that I will be participating in. Um, you know, because we seed our next uh we seed our board uh at the next meeting. Um, a huge congratulations to the folks who uh will be seated. Uh but I definitely have some some stuff to to wrap things up with. I am I usually look around the room. I am going to really focus in on my paper because I gave it a lot of thought u and I don't want to miss anything. So um over the past two years, I've had the most incredible time celebrating everything that uh Harlem has to offer um and helping to make the decisions to keep our district moving forward. It's amazing to think how much we've accomplished together in such
052a short time. From moving sixth grade to middle school, replacing chillers and roofs, creating murals, updating curriculums, supporting water and solar projects to completing the finishing touches on the CTE CTE building. We've done so much. I'm incredibly proud of where Harlem is today and even more excited about what the future holds. Uh I do have a few thank yous. So, um, to our educators, thank you for your dedication and hard work day in and day out. Harlem is better because of you. It's been a pleasure getting to know so many of you. Thank you for your conversations, um, your invitations in, your warmth, and your kindness. It's no wonder our students hold you in such high regard. Uh, you are all truly amazing. A special shout out to Kira and Nick. Please continue to help
053our kids make good trouble. Erin, thank you for showing love to our students through food. Caitlyn, thank you for your advocacy, allyship, and most importantly, your willingness to have tough conversations. And Stacy, for teaching our next generation of amazing educators. Uh, to our administrators, both at the school level and here at Hack, thank you for welcoming my questions, for your transparency, and for your accountability. I think about the work you do often. I can only imagine how challenging it must be to walk into rooms as subject matter experts and still need the approval from us. Your work often goes unseen, but it is deeply valued. You've taught me so much about leadership and more importantly about compassion. The care you have for our staff and students does not go unnoticed. To our support staff, thank
054you for the rides you provide, the warm meals, the book recommendations, the messes you clean up, the needs you anticipate, the calls you answer, the smiles, the waves, and the unconditional care you provide for our kids every day. You are the heartbeat of Harlem. Uh to my fellow board members, it has been a ride. It's been a privilege serving with each and every one of you. These years will not easily be forgotten. I swear it gets tough, you guys. All right. Uh Mike, uh you've become a touchstone, someone I can count on for both listening and offering real solutions. You are Harlem in so many ways, and I am so grateful that we got to work together. Kurt, my fellow question asker, you're an incred you have an incredible ability to see both sides, be
055thorough with budgets, and still generous with solutions. Your connection to this community runs deep, and it shows. I am so incredibly happy that you will be back. Miss Meeks, you've taught me so much, more than I can measure. Thank you for always answering your calls and sharing your story with me. Please keep calling me always. Aaron, if we are ever in the same room again, we definitely cannot sit next to one another. We'd be kicked out for talking and laughing. On paper, we should have never worked, but we did. Thank you for showing that compromise is possible, Larry. Never did I thought I'd serve on a board with my freshman assistant principal, but I'm glad we took this ride. And Rebecca, I know I gave you a lot at times. I hope I helped you
056learn something along the way. Dr. Yarro, I don't know where to begin. You have never been afraid to care out loud. I have often joked about displaying your accomplishments on a t-shirt. And though I say it in justest, what isn't a joke is how accomplished you are. I will always have your back. I will always say your name in rooms that you are not in. And I will always remember your kindness you have shown me. You leave it all on the court for Harlem every day. MVP in my book. That exhausts the available sports references I've had, but I think you get the call me anytime. To my family, none of us truly knew what we were getting into when I embarked on this journey. You jumped in and supported me every step of the
057way, and I've never forgotten that. Late to dinner, missed events, packed schedules. Thank you for believing in me, allowing me to share my time with the district. You have sacrificed the most. Lastly, Megan and Elena, you have changed my life. Thank you for everything. I hope that I leave behind something of value in Harlem. A spark, a shift, a moment of progress. Please continue the incredible work and always never stop reading. Thank you, Har. [Applause] I'm gonna borrow that. You can. All right. Um, you guys get to try to top that. Get the education to toss in there and we Rebecca should take the education meeting. Take it for me. I got to blow my nose. May 14th at 4:30 for the COGW will be the next education committee meeting. Thank you so much. And
058with that, we're going to roll it over to Dr. Sean, thank you. I have one item this evening. U Mr. Si Si reached out to Mr. Rand and I um few weeks ago and shared that he had been reached out some a former student reached out to him about an opportunity for Harlem and it's out of the norm. Um, usually when we talk about grants, we get some money and uh, we buy some items and um, this is an opportunity not only to get some items but also to get our students some opportunities to um, to do some research and um, production. So, Mr. Sang, you want to share? Sweet. Hello. Hi. Uh, Cara's also part of this, too. So she's passing out uh kind of a handout I put together. Um so this was
059a unique opportunity that came about from a former student uh Emily Gusky who graduated eight years ago and yes she is related to Aaron Gusky. So Aaron's niece shout out to the tech guys who don't get enough love. So and my guy back there Mike Stanley uh he worked hard today doing interviews and everything. So shout out to those guys. Um, Emily Guskkey was a great student. She came through the documentary program, uh, did H&N uh, with us when she was here. She has since got on to U of I, um, graduated there, has done graduate work. She is now part of the climate jobs institute at the University of Illinois. So, um, their job is basically to help Illinois transition into clean energy. So that's kind of the focus of this and really focus
060in on that transition part in communities. A few years ago, the state passed a law that basically said by 2030, all coal, fired, electrical power plants had to be closed. So we're already seeing the closure of some of these power plants. Um we have some that are scheduled in the next couple years. Um and then like I said, they have to all be closed by 2030. Obviously, this is going to impact coal mining as well. So, u coal mines are expected to be closed with that. Why does that matter to the state of Illinois? Well, Illinois has a rich history of coal. Um a 200 year history um in the by the mid 20th century uh you had over 100,000 people employed in coal mining. Um and to this day, Illinois has the most coal
061reserves, recoverable coal reserves. So that means stuff that we can actually get to at a good price um east of the Mississippi. So still a big part of some of these communities here. And it isn't just about jobs we're talking about. We're talk about identity. So there's communities out there that literally have coal parades, festivals, coal festivals going on. So it's really interwoven into these communities. So basically what the program is designed to do is to go down into these communities to listen and learn, preserve stories, and then take the information that is gathered from this while these plants are closing and how these communities are transitioning and use that information to help inform um future communities who are going to see a similar thing. So change happens. That's us what life is. All right?
062No matter what we try to do, we try to revert back to some place or time, it never happens. So change is happening. Um coal is just it's not feasible. The demand's not there. Um with technology now, there's not as many jobs required in that. So this is happening. So this group is taking a you know urgency to look into that and help these communities transition. And it's going to be the stories that are captured that are going to be so important to help inform policy and educate the future generations on how to handle this stuff. That is where we come into play. So Emily reached out to us and they would like us, me and Miss Nam with two students um that will get through the internship program to help participate in this to
063conduct these oral history research and to conduct these interviews, gather, do archival research and then make documentary video production out of it because that's really a lot of times you get all these studies done but they end up in these academic journals. It's the these documentaries that we could take to the people. Oh yeah. That could really touch the heartstrings and bring the importance to it. The power documentary. So the current timeline right now is from now hopefully from now till the end of June would be to purchase gear me and Cara starting to go with Emily and some of the other people members of the team to visit uh different sites in the state to network and identify different research and relevant archives. then uh July through June because that's the you know financial
064year um is why it's divided this way start networking in these communities hopefully conduct 20 to 40 oral histories um and start putting together documentaries through that student involvement we want the students help us with archival research conduct interviews produce the documentaries so that's kind of the anticipation so right now the timeline for this would be like a two-year project so hopefully the goal is hopefully get a senior and a junior. That way, that junior can roll over for the following school year and help guide another junior. So, then it would be a senior and junior again. So, it's a two-year period right now, potentially a three-year project on this. The grant is um the grant finances is basically it's all paid up upfront and two installations right now. So, the first installation would be
06530 days after the signing of the agreements and that would be $20,000 roughly, a little bit over. The vast majority of that would be put for gear and then they would cover for travel, lodging, food. Unfortunately, a lot of these are in the central part of the state, southern part. Um, and a lot of the oral histories will have to be conducted on weekends um to do that. So, part of the funding for all that travel, food, and lodge comes through the grant. And then as well as labor. bill and labor for our students who are participating in this. So, we made sure they're doing high level work. They deserve to be paid. They're doing work. So, that's what we made sure we set up. The second payment is 84,000 and that would be for
066the whole calendar year 30 days after we put a progress report together based on the first three months, travel, lodging, food, um, as well as labor. So um and I have that more budgeted out too um as well. So like I had to budget out how many trips approximately are we thinking what's the gas mileage uh average cost of like hotel lodging. Um so right now the anticipation would be um we're thinking of two uh female students so they'll be able to room. So it would be two rooms me and Cara live together are together so then that would make that easier too. So as far as launching goes um there. So um it's a great opportunity you know it's proud to see Emily coming back to the program you know paying it forward there.
067This will be a huge opportunity for these students to be part of this academic research tied to you know one of the most prestigious colleges in uh the United States here if not the world. Um so Jeez. Oh yeah. But uh not a fan of U of I. Huh? Mr. Smith, Mr. Um the second best school in Illinois. Uh any questions at this point? Um I have two. Yes. Um you answered part of it when you said weekends. So the the students that would be involved would be doing this on the weekends or is it going to be as far as conducting the interviews? Yes. With the traveling away from school kind of part. Yes. Okay. That that answer part of it and then the the process of of of getting them what's what's the
068criteria? What do you I mean you said part of it when you said that you guys might be looking for two female students. Is that a sad thing or or is it I I understand why it could be preferable because you you save money on lodging, but also just you're you're having the the population of of your interviews or your applicants if you do it that way. I'm just I'm just wonder. Um the students I the two students like if you were to ask me to name two students right now they both have pathway where they want to pursue journalism. Um and this is kind of investigative documentary work. Uh therefore that's why they're kind of those are just kind of pigeon holed in my head yet. Okay. Um so I am open to possibly
069I'm definitely opening to an applicant process as well and going through that manner. Just Okay. So this would be like a paid internship. Yes, I talked to I've been talking to Melissa and Shane at the high school um about working this out with the internship and everything there as well. Okay. Yeah, I figured you'd already Yeah. So, the the amount that's there for the grant generally you write the grant up and trying to request the money. This is an like an odd total. Is there just ballparks figuring out what lodging is? Is we came up with that or that saying? Yeah, I put a budget together using uh you know what the average mileage is. Got to write the grand for that amount basically. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I did I listed what we some of
070the gears for two interview kits so you could have two interviews going at the same time. So I went to different I went to B&H um found the prices added it up mileage for uh gas mileage there. um what the average lodging is in those areas um based on U ofI's kind of rates that they had. It's a lot of thank you for that. And per board approval um our department will oversee and do all the for so we'll oversee all the funding and then he'll do the different reports that need to be submitted. Sure. Yeah. Okay, that at least that's an assumption. But this is I mean I I growing up and hearing the stories of Cherry Lad and the success and horror stories that are there in part of the community to be
071able to go through and document these stories for the future generation. That's that's fantastic. And the fact that it it came from a former student that's then not just paying it forward, but literally bring opportunity and funds and equipment back to our district. Oh, the kids are going to be able to put that on their Oh, man. Yeah. This is what I've actually done. Our our kids our kids resumes are going to be like CVS receipts. It's going to be fantastic. Well, well said. No, this is great. Yeah. Any other questions? No, it's fantastic. The programs obviously make a huge impact. Yeah. I can't whatever we can to see what the result looks like. Well, you can see what it's going to kind of look like if you come out May 17th, Saturday. Good. We'll
072be doing our screening of 10 student films in one day. So, uh, we continue to, um, teed that up for you. So, I was I was ready. Um, so we'll have multiple screenings that day. It hasn't quite been finalized, but um, definitely get that information to all of you here week or so. So, thank you. And I I'm telling you, the documentary works. I know Evelyn, Larry, Megan, and I know Terrell has been. I forgot. I apologize. Uh I mean it's top of the notch. I mean this isn't a high school project when you come. It's it's watching a film festival quality work. So you'll be impressed by what the students put together. Definitely. All right. Thank you. Thank you. That's super cool. Josh. All right. My first item this evening is a recommendation to
073approve resolution declaring surplus property at the Harlem Administration Center. I have no facility request tonight. So next is a recommendation to accept alternative 1A a masonry wall flashing for Hoffman campus re-roofing project $84,65. And a little bit of what happened here is this letter came in later in the day before we had that special meeting and we were in negotiations all day. So I knew that this amount was one of the alternates on there, but I didn't see that they had recommended this. So this work, what this is is the gymnasium is higher than the rest of the roof. They have to remove a lot of that brick to flash underneath it, otherwise the water will infiltrate. This work is required as as getting the warranty for that roof. So um but we pretty much
074have to do it. So, I apologize for not having it on there. We're still how much under initial budget? Like almost $3 million. Quite a lot. Bury the lead there, Josh. $3 million under budget. Thank you. Do you guys have any questions as we work? No, just tell them how much we were still under budget. Okay. Thank you, Josh. Yeah. My next item is a recommendation to award the baseball back stop bid at Haram High School to Midwest Field Solutions for a base bid of 114,000. And I'd like to recommend alternate 2A which is an asphalt path of $10,000 and alternate 3 which is a back stop wall of 8500 for a total bid of 132,500. Uh let me take a step back and so we had put in 100,000 in the budget originally in
075my nonarchitect uh estimating mind that was going to be a wall with the netting like uh the softball field. So they came back and said that they can't do that for under $200,000. So, we've been reworking this with the engineer and um Reed and Coach McCoy. So, what this is is this is 9 and 1/2 ft of concrete to push that out. So, right now there's multiple things kind of going on. The back stop is so far back that it really doesn't work very well. There's also not a lot of room to sit there. The fencing is original, rusty, and and bent out from 50 years of baseballs hitting it. So, what this does, this would push that concrete out 9 1/2 ft. Uh the wall came in well under what they had budgeted. Um
076which is great because we had heard it could be up to 50 $8,500. So that is awesome. And that is black coated chain link fence going from the fencing right now is 18 ft and it would go to 24 ft. So we give them six more feet. It would last a lot longer and look a lot better. Give more people to sit make the back stop the appropriate height. And it does put some fencing in front of the dugouts too. So we work we spent six months working on trying to get this right and as close to being on budget as we can get. So the path to right now it's a gravel path that goes there. So we had them bid um asphalt and concrete. The concrete was 20,000 asphalt was 10. This would
077give away just a more accessible way to access those diamonds. Just both diamonds then are getting you back stops or just it's just the just the one that's facing that. Yeah, northeast the main field. Correct. Yeah. Um yeah, I mean JV has some issues too, but this is the one. This is the main dining that we have there. Okay. What was the last time we put any major improvements or never that was the So show show my sports ball knowledge when when did we install this one? this field. Yeah, I'm guessing it's original. Okay. I mean, it's rusty and that it looks really old. I I I don't know. It's hard to see through the fence, too. The black fencing, like, believe it or not, like I I don't know why, but you take a
078fence and paint it black and you could see through it better. It's It's insane. The only thing we've ever done out there, Kurt, is update the scoreboard because we had the old screw in the lights and you couldn't see the score because they'd burn out. So, we put a new scoreboard in probably eight or 10 years ago, but that's the only work that I've So, if we're looking at this minus scoreboard, you're looking at a total of 132,000 over the 30 40 years life of it. Is there other at least for this particular diamond? Are we going to approve this and then there's additional things coming or is this wrapped up? This is everything that's going to be need for another good 50 years in mind for this diamond. There there was a push to
079try and field this, but there's no funds for that. So I don't foresee that coming anytime soon. That's not coming from the players, is it? Uh, no. There was a group. So if you take a step back, there was a community group that had met with us that wanted us to give an idea of like what that would look like, kind of where the softball field came from. So they laid that out and had some hopes and thoughts for that field, but a lot of that just there was no funding for it. So trying to address some of the concerns because we haven't done anything and it's it just needs some love there. Um it's kind of what led to this. So this has been set. This is going to keep us going through. We
080have 100,000 of this budgeted previously. Okay. I just want to again we see some of these numbers putting the perspective around them. And then again if this if the last time around that cost got us x amount of years kind of figuring out how much per year we're looking at overall cost to have these improvements. Yeah. And I didn't want to bring something that was way over like the netting system because it just wasn't it just wasn't I didn't think feasible. I do want to make one note too that there was a lower base bit of national sports nets for 54,000. They only put the fencing in there. They didn't put any of the other work in there. So, it was not a complete bed. I just want in case someone ask that. I was
081going to ask that. Yeah. Like that was when we opened first. I was like, "All right." And then we were like, "It's not feasible to be a complete bed." $50,000 for just fencing. Yeah. We had a It's black. We had a fencing rubber coated. We had a fencing quote of 80,000 just for the fence. Uh yeah, so it's powder coated black fencing, so it'll last a long time. And then with baseball, the lower section has to be a higher gauge because obviously it's getting baseballs all day long. Um so specialy and this does provide the wall and and I think you know, like I said, we've worked closely with the program and the coaches to make sure it meets their needs. Is it going to be a narrow path, wide path? I mean, is this
082going to be for multiple people walking on? Is it going to go to the parking lot or just to the edge of the road or? Yeah. So, right now I I don't have the exact width, but I'm going to say a normal path. Um, right now it's just gra it's been a gravel path up there forever. So, it will just lead to the concrete, but I can find out the exact 6 ft. I just think if you're wheelchair, you need something like it's it'll be a much easier way. That's a good way of looking at too for overall accessibility. always make sure you put in the wagons, but yeah, because other than that path, it's, you know, it's a giant dip down there. It's not super easy to get there. So, are we going to
083put handicap parking out there for handicap when we want to go black to the field? We could put some over there. Yeah, we did that for the softball field. Yeah, we could definitely look at adding some some striping, too. Yeah, it's a good idea. Like those easy cheap ones. Any other questions on that item? All right. Next. Yeah. Next is a recommendation to accept alternate two uh at the middle school basketball court with stenciling a black top at the middle school for a cost of $42,162. This piggybacks off of the parking lot repaving. This was an alternate that uh was requested that we take a look at. So, in talking with uh Mr. Harris, uh he unders budget. The fans club has some money. So really what the net district amount here is about $20,000
084for this. And this would provide uh the PE department uh to have an extra station for the basketball hoops which would be located within the football field area. Oh, sorry. Right now we have two hoops on the east side of that parking lot tennis courts, but it's a parking lot so they can't really use them as basketball hoops. So when when we talk about having the extra kids there and having stations, this provide them an outdoor additional east. Where is this going? Sorry. In the zone. So 50 yard line. Uh right now on the other side of the um the field post in that kind of D zone there, there'd be a basketball court there. I was just picturing is it going to impact any other activities? It won't cuz it's huge on that. Yeah.
085And and we just thought since the pavers are going to be there that that would be the most economical way to do this since they're going to be on site. This is the one that the PTA has also been Yes. Okay. We've had we've had the the be teachers the PTA or PTO uh request that also. So this has come up multiple times. So as part of those conversations we said we'll get a number and then in talking with Jerry he was able to come up with half the funds. All right. Sounds good. It doesn't impact the owl that's hanging out there. We'll be good. The what? The owl. The owl. I heard about the owl. There's an owl that's hanging out. That's news to me. I haven't It's all right. He's not in the
086end zone. Okay, perfect. Okay. So, my my final next year. My final item this evening is a recommendation to approve agreement with University of Illinois or Bana Champagne for the Illinois coal workers and communities and transition um project grant. And I'd like to thank Nick Garrett for coming and talking through that. It's much easier for you guys to hear them talk about explaining it. So, I think it's a great thing. [Music] Any questions on that? I I was just What was your name? You never introduced yourself. Nick. Nicki. Thank you. I'm like I'm like what what was his first name again? Like, wait. Thank you. Is there no report? Thank you. Dr. Shelley. Good evening, Mr. Sterling. This evening, I have a recommendation to approve the personnel agenda. No addendum. It includes five employments, eight
087transfers. Note, um Lindsay Hayes, Shelby Stricken from the transfers section. 10 resignations. Can we make that nine on the resignations just off hand? Hey, there's just one that Chris I try. I was going to say, can we try? I'd like to take Chris's into Just kidding. I don't know what to tell you. I want to wish Chris happy happy happy happy retirement retirement. Uh, we have one Federation Bank request and one food service sick bank request and that'll end it for me tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. First one, too. I can't even miss. I can't just accidentally read over it. I tried. So, we don't approve this. What happens? I won't be relaxing. Raising a six-year-old. All right. Thank you. while Jason is I think he's queuing up that um this is a PowerPoint
088or actually a PowerPoint a video from our last equity and social justice committee meeting that Parker Center um presented on um with our monthly theme called reflection. And so we thought it'd be a good idea um instead of you listening to me talk, you actually see um what some of our our students are doing. Um before you play that though, Jason, I do want to say um to to Mr. Smith and and Megan. Um, thank you for all that you've done and added to our board. Um, really appreciate you guys. We go the the relationships go far beyond board to me and so love you both. Thank you, Megan. Thank you for saying what you had said as well. You know how I feel. Of course, about you. I hope so. Um, and then congratulations
089to the new board members that are coming on in the the near future as well. And we look forward to to what you're bringing on soon. So, thank you. All right. So, Jason. [Music] Hi, Mia. Wave at Parker Center. Mia's gonna teach us how to say friends in Spanish. Hola. Say hi. Hi. This is my friend Benji. He's going to teach us how to say school in Spanish. You ready? Say school. School. Say esa. Wave. Bye. Wave bye. No. Wave. Bye. Bye. Goodbye. This is my friend M. She's gonna teach us how to say good morning in Spanish. [Music] This is my friend Jeremy. He's gonna teach us how to say hello in [Music] Spanish. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] So, like um Miss Speaks uh stated, um our next equity and social justice
090uh committee meeting is May 14th at 4:30. um if you would like to obviously you know hear the conversations and things of that nature that that we do during the committee as a whole specifically with our equity and social justice committee meeting um you can be a part of that and see that. And so what we like to do also is bring that to um obviously to our board meetings and show our community um just what you know equity work is all about. um because you often hear us say that our equity work is who we are and what better way to show that is from our kids and our schools and what you saw there on the on the video. So, thank you for for that piece. And now I'm going to rattle off
091like 20 foyer requests real quick. So bear with me here um we we've been busy on on this end. So the very first one and thank you Dr. for for doing that. Um, Freedom of Information Act, uh, request received April 8th, 2025 from Sherry Reed of Smart Procure requesting purchasing records from 10924 to the current date and our response dated April 10th of 2025 with inclusive documents. Um, the next foyer request was received on 4:15 of 25 from Michael A. Haley regarding National Child Abuse Month and the district's uh 5-day extension request on 42325. So, we've been getting that information out. Oh, we already did that. Um and then Freedom of Information Act submitted by Jennifer Kaiser on April 16th, 2025 requesting information about her employment with Harlem and the regional office of education. uh
092Freedom of Information Act submitted on April 18th. Um due to the holiday, uh first date would be April 22nd by B. Kim requesting 41625 bid information on the Harlem High School baseball back stop. Then the next one was submitted on April 21st uh 2025 from Charmaine Solomon requesting current employee listing information and the district's inclusive response dated April 23rd of 2025. And then the final one submitted on April 8th, 2025 from David Raleo. And if I mispronounced these names, I apologize. Um, a painters district council number 30 requesting purchasing invoices for the recent paint purchases and a list of painting, drywall, finishing, taping or glazing projects scheduled to start within the next 12 months. So, we're required to read out all of the foyer requests that we get. So, the public can hear that. So
093those were all of the what requests for this one. Think is there anything else? No it with that move right along to our consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the personal agenda with no addendum and minus Lindsay Hayes? Motion. Second. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mrs. Hing. I. Mr. Smith. I Mr. Sterling. I Mr. Thompson. I Mr. Mcnite. Hi, Mrs. Carlson. Can I say yes with one no for Chris Arduino? Yes. Thank you. A lot of love, M. It is. All right. And there's no student travel. I mean, we knew that one. And you had no facility request. Can I get a motion to approve resolution declaring Sress property? Motion. Second, Mrs. Tasty. Hi. Mrs. Meets. I Mr. Sterling. I Mr. Thompson. Hi. Mr. Mcnite. Hi. Mrs. Carlson. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Can we
094get a motion to approve alternate 1A masonary wall flashing for the Hawland campus re-roofing project at a cost of $84,65? Motion. Second. Mrs. Meets. I Mr. Sterling. Hi. Mr. Thompson. Hi. Mr. Mcnite. Hi. Mrs. Carlson. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mrs. Hazy. Hi. Still 3 million under budget. Just saying. [Music] Okay. Thank Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve baseball back stop bid at Harlem High School at to Midwest Field Solutions for a base bid at $114,000. Alternate to A, Ashvalta Pass at a cost of $10,000. And alternate number three, back stop at a cost of $8,500 for a total of $132,500. Motion. Second, Mr. Sterling. Hi, Mr. Thompson. Hi, Mr. McNight. Yes, Mrs. Carlson. Yes, Mr. Smith. Yes, Mrs. Hastings. I Mrs. Sme. Can I get a motion to approve alternate number two,
095HMS basketball court with Stenstöm Excavating and Blacktop for Harlem Middle School at a cost of $42,162. Motion. Second, Mr. Thompson. Hi, Mr. Mcnite. Hi, Mrs. Carlson. Yes, Mrs. Smith. Yes, Mrs. Hastings. Hi, Mrs. Meeks. I Mr. Sterling. Hi. Can I get a motion to approve an agreement with the University of Illinois Urbana Champagne for the Illinois Coalworkers and Communities and Transition Project Grant? Motion. Second. Second. Mr. McNight. Absolutely. Mrs. Carlson. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mrs. Hazy. Hi. Mrs. I Mr. Sterling, please keep us informed. I Mr. Mr. Thompson. Absolutely. All right. Going into announcements and discussion. Um, I just want to before we go into close to talk to Larry, Megan, Larry, first, um, thank you these last couple years of keeping me on my toes, sometimes knocking me off. um your years of being
096in the education field. Um I will if you answer my phone call please I would love your advice as always. I'm I'm happy another educator will be joining that seat but uh it's a perspective as we don't have on the board is uh you know we come from all different parts of the community. Um but to have a person who's been in the field and been in administration but teaching and the likes um your your advice, your wisdom will be missed. Thank you. You're welcome, Megan. uh whirlwind uh 2 years uh phone calls uh chats just to be able to hear sides conversations of things that I never thought that I would would have um and to to do it freely. I appreciate so much. Um my phone is always here. I'm my door is
097always open. Appreciate that. Uh to our new board members, I will be here. I will would love to reach and talk to each and every one of you. Um as all our board members would. Uh our communication lines are are important to to be able to um just hear our concerns and and to hear your your your wisdom. Evelyn, welcome back. I think you called me a hundred times. I probably did nervous as always. You're your sage advice always of of just bringing a different perspective and the way you can always bring it into a story, something that you've had somewhere in your life and you say, "Hey, there's this one time." And I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to pull over now. She'll I think our our last conversation is an hour and a half
098and she had a quick question for me. And then she'll say, "What was I talking about?" Oh, Kurt. Um, welcome back. I went to school with you. Now we're on the board together. Um, yeah. like to have another analytical person that isn't afraid to not just pull the devil a advocate card, but just to say what's the on the other side of the coin and and and are we representing everybody and I appreciate that. Thank you. And with that, wait, can I say something? You can. This is where communications. I I was trying to wait till the next meeting, but part one tonight and part two next the next meeting. But you guys will be greatly missed. I've learned a lot. Although I've been on it for a few years, I still still learning. It's
099still a learning experience and I appreciate both your advice, your help, and how we always come to the table and we always end up agreeing and we learn from each other. You will be greatly missed both of you. Thank you. And I really do appreciate Larry. Thank you for fixing my name. Oh, yeah. You advocated for big things. advocating for me without me knowing and I and I appreciate that about you. I'm just happy I spent a lot more time next to you at the table than in your office right here and you're a awesome designer. So make that overall out of call that out the overall suit. The over Yeah, we all expect overalls at the next meeting. We need a motion on a second to approve that. Overalls the stitching and everything. Perfect.
100When you retire, you can do stuff like that. Okay. Are there any more announcements in discussion? I just, you know, but we'll have more uh hopefully on the the next one as well. But yet, Larry, I am going to miss someone that knew the policy inside, outwards, backwards, and then wasn't afraid to not just say this is where it is in the policy, but to kind of question it, making sure it's right, the changes weren't done, but we follow that policy. And even though we didn't didn't always agree like the highest level of respect and knowing it was coming from a cited source really you know it plays to my questioning I guess I would say that way and uh yeah that will be missed but you know hopefully you will be available to answer
101the phone when it rings we'll have some questions I'll be like hey policy subsection this I need to know and Megan I am not ready for that one even yet two years and the impact, the change of perspective. I didn't think there'd be another person on the board that we share musical taste with, but that I need to know. Did you listen to modern baseball, Terrell? Not yet. Yeah, that might be a good idea. but and just the way that all our differences came together in this board and I know we're going to have great things from the new board new board members uh coming forward. This was a this was a great board and I appreciate everything that we were able to do. You summed it up so well from all the things just
102being able to pick the list. I can only imagine which ones you It was really difficult. It was a It was a packed two years. It really feels like five. It really was. And I, you know, and to both of you, you know, thanks to the again your family like where as a board member and sitting here, you know, the sacrifices and that you you again I'm going to miss Megan more than most of you kind of encapsulate most of the things that I try to say and say it so eloquently. I'm going to just going to you're like, this is what I'm going to say this week. Like I got you. Uh but again uh got one more we got one more meeting. Yeah. I want that's that's for them though. Like I I
103remember swear in day I was nervous as heck. I looked like a bus had ran over me from the election and uh it just it that's for them you know. I want to take my moment tonight to thank everybody so that we can really celebrate the incoming board on on May 12th. So selfless as always. them. It's Larry keeping us smiling and laughing. The quick the quick the jokes. I'm going to have to add moon cycles to my Google calendar cuz I won't know them anymore. We figure out the education meetings. We're going to have to figure out. What was that? We need to bring back the What was the question you asked around? Favorite movies? What was What was your favorite question at an educational meeting? And then I'll wrap it up. What time
104will the sunrise tomorrow? Oh yeah. Favorite Halloween candy. Perfect. Yeah, he was all over. Put on a t-shirt. Done. Words matter. Yes. Um with that any any can I get a motion to go into executive session discuss employment and personnel 5 ILCS 120-2 C1. Motion second. Second. Mrs. Carlson. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mrs. H. I Mrs. Meek. I Mr. Sterling. Hi. Mr. Thompson. Hi. Mr. McNight. Hi. All right, five minutes. [Music]