001I'm going to call the meeting to order, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Julie, can I please have attendance? Michael Engel? Here. George Pivot? Here. Joel Finfer? Aye. Julie Clifford? Here. Robin Cleat? Here. Carl Borchers? Okay, seven present, zero absent. Is there anybody from the public that wishes to comment this evening? Going once, going twice, gone. At this time I'm going to turn it over to the recognition committee. Carl and George, it looks like we must have recognition. Indeed we do, Robin. Good evening, everyone. Earlier this fall, 29 students were selected to participate in the ILMEA District 7 Music Festival. These students were
002chosen from more than 700 middle school musicians who auditioned from 84 different schools across the north and northwest suburbs of Chicago. Students performed in the festival band, orchestra, and chorus under the direction of nationally recognized guest conductors. Selection to the ILMEA District Festival is a significant accomplishment and we're proud of how these students represented Hawthorne. We're also excited to share that 11 of those students advanced to the ILMEA Junior All States Honors Concert where they performed this past weekend. These students earned their place in the All State Band, Chorus, or Orchestra through a competitive audition process led by the ILMEA. We are honored to have such talented and dedicated students representing Hawthorne at the state level. At this time, we'd like to invite any of the music directors in attendance to say a few words
003about these outstanding students. I'm Samantha May, I'm the Middle South Orchestra teacher and as you said, these 29 Hawthorne middle school band, orchestra, and chorus students submitted a video audition of high school level music. They practiced for several months over the summer and the students here tonight were selected to perform with the best 450 other junior high musicians in northern Illinois on November 1st. And performing at this level is often a seminal experience for young musicians because it highlights the best of what's possible at this age. We're so happy to honor all these students for being selected to ILMEA and to recognize them tonight. I'm Deanna O'Connor, I'm the Choir Director at Hawthorne Middle North. I'm here to speak about the 11 students that were chosen for the ILMEA district or the All State Honors
004Ensembles. Illinois is, the IMEC organization is organized in nine different districts. We represent district seven and they take the top 10 percent of the students from each district to make the All State Ensembles so it's really a big, big deal. They are usually the top in their sections, in their individual sections, in orchestra, choir, and in band. The students then come to Peoria for two days and they have hours of rehearsal, at least five to six hours of rehearsal each day, including a performance in the evening for thousands of people. And there were thousands of students that auditioned for these ensembles and they were very, very fortunate to be part of that. They really enjoyed the experience. We are so proud of them. We're proud of all of our student musicians, whether they're in the
005district festival or in our everyday ensembles, but we're especially proud of our students that made it to the inaugural All State Junior Festival, organizational, whatever, band, orchestra, choir concert. This was the first time that all three were recognized. Last year it was just choir, this year we had all three, so it's really wonderful that the state is finally recognizing the level of work that our junior high musicians are putting forth. We will go ahead and read their names. When you hear your name, please stand up and get your certificate and medal over there. Sophia Bendersky, Emma Bleacher, Connie Kai, who's also an All State performer, Madeline Dorgan, Cole Habelwitz, who is an All State performer, Irene Jang, Hannah Jung, who's All State performer, Isaac Lee, All State performer, Yanwu Li, an All State performer, Elsa
006Manson, All State, Giovanni Medina Chavez, Leilani Mina, Aishi Nandapati, All State, Alex Park, All State, Abby Park, Chris Pesci, and Ian Yoon, All State, and Elaine Zhao. Our Middle North musicians, Charlotte Bauscher, Henry DeYoung, All State, Julia Freitas-Dosrace, Jaden Gam, Amira Ismail, Haewon Jung, Ella Levin, All State, Olivia Meggs, Nema Neroge, Riley Palmas, Ruby Thompson. Hey guys, we are going to go take a group picture out here, okay? And while they take that picture, we can say that this concludes our recognition portion of the meeting for this evening. Okay, thank you all so much for coming and congratulations again. And thank you to all the parents who have supported them along the way, driving to those early morning practices in elementary school, so have a good evening. You do not feel like you have to
007stay for the rest of the meeting. You're welcome to go. You're welcome to stay, but it only goes downhill from here. That was the fun part. Moving along, very brief President's Report tonight. Just letting the board know that if you did not already see the email, the IASB Lake Division Dinner is April 15th at the Doubletree in Mundelein. Let Jessica know if you'd like to go. I don't recall what the topic is, but it should be in your email, and that's it for me. Mr. Finfer, is there an EDRED report? Friday is the final day for bills to be filed. The countdown will begin at our next board meeting. Wish us all luck. Okay. Did you want to share anything about the dinner we all attended? Not all of us, but you don't have to.
008Well, it is an EDRED report. I thought you might talk about an EDRED dinner, but. My reticence surrounds the fact that so much of my report usually talks about food that we've eaten. What was significant is that we were addressed by Representative Congressman Brachnider. I found his particular talk inspiring because he talked about the power that the group of the people, educators, had in the room given some of the current things that happen around the country. I left feeling pretty good. The food is nothing. The opportunity to talk with, it was wonderful, but the opportunity to talk with other school board members, other legislators to get a feel for what's going around the state is undeniable in its value. Thank you. Is there anything else you'd like me to say, Robin? No. I think you
009did a great job. I would have summed it up very similarly. Mr. Engel, is there a CEDAW report? There is. Our last Executive Board meeting was January 22nd. The last Governing Board meeting was December 3rd. Highlights of the Fiscal Year 24 final audit were presented and approved. The Fiscal Year 25 audit is underway with an anticipated completion date of June 30th, 2026. The Governing Board approved an amended budget for Fiscal Year 26 and recommended it be, I'm sorry, the Executive Board approved an amended budget for Fiscal Year 26 and recommended to be presented for the Governing Board approval at our March 4th meeting. CEDAW is extending some program tours, so I'm going to look into doing that. I would very much like to do that. Program tours are being extended and are designed to be
010interactive learning experiences in the CEDAW schools. Tours are being offered on March 5th, and those are at Lermont, Sid Lash Academy and Gages Light School, and March 12th, Fairhaven School and John Powers. Tours are from 930 to 1130, so I'm going to see personally and professionally if I can make those times work. I'd like to attend those. It'd be really nice to get into those schools and see them in real time. And then before our March 4th Governing Board meeting, there's going to be a welcome reception for the new CEDAW superintendent, Dr. Jennifer Thomas. She will be assuming the superintendent role on July 1st. Okay, thank you. Is there a site and facilities report, George or Stephanie? Not this meeting. We will meet next week and have something for you at our following February meeting.
011Thank you. Julia or Joel, is there a Wellness Committee report? There is. We just had a meeting last week. We continue to make strides on refining our different pillars we use to measure the whole child. Just a reminder is for them to feel healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged. In this last meeting, we were defining ways to measure but also setting goals based on current benchmarks on how we would like to see ourselves improve in all of these pillars. One thing I do want to point out is we've had tremendous student engagement compared to last year and it's just been such a great experience having those students really engage from our middle school. Thank you. Is there a CEDA73 report? Yes. We are continuing to plan our golf outing. Please remember that we are always
012looking for sponsors. If you are into business or don't have a way to necessarily sponsor, please reach out. If you'd like to get involved, we always need volunteers. We need items for our auctions as well as any kind of donations for the foundation. Be sure to visit our website and sign up for emails to get regular updates. Website is ceda73foundation.org. I also want to call out that we are hosting another event, just so that way people can learn more about our foundation. It will be kids-free because it is at Aged in Oak, which recently opened in Vernon Hills. This event will take place on February 20th. In addition to learning about the foundation, we hope you'll stay and play some bingo. No registration required, so keep your evening of Friday, February 20th open. Thank you.
013Next, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Hannigan to discuss policy press issue 120. Thanks Robin. The policy subcommittee met on January 22nd to review policy updates from the most recent press 120 issue. The committee reviewed a total of 31 policies. The following policies that I'm going to highlight, five of them, fall under the superintendent's office. The first policy I want to review is 2.120, board member development. The policy and footnotes were updated for continuous improvement and to reflect current state law. Outdated language was removed to ensure the policy remains current and aligned with existing requirements. The next one is 2.150, committees. The policy and footnotes were updated to reflect recent changes in state law and to clarify reporting expectations related to student behavior. The district already has this practice in place during the
014whole child committee wellness committee meetings. The next policy is 7.310, restrictions on publications and written or electronic material, elementary schools. Legal references and footnotes were updated to align with recent statutory changes and for continuous improvement. The next policy is 7.70, attendance and truancy. The policy was updated to reflect changes in state law related to attendance and expectations and allowable activities, along with additional continuous improvement updates. This one's really tied to high school, but it falls under our jurisdiction as well. And then the last one is 6.20, school year calendar and day. The policy and related references were updated to reflect recent legislative changes, provide greater flexibility in calendar planning, and incorporate continuous improvement updates. Does anybody have any questions about my five before I turn it over to Ms. Corrigan? All right, I'll turn it
015over to Alicia. Good evening. Student Service Department had four press policies to review, 5.90, abused and neglected child reporting, just had adjusted minimal language and updated cross references, 7.150, developed a procedure to respond to government or law enforcement requests regarding students. We already have one in place, 7.190, student behavior updated to note that school districts are required to notify the parent guardian of the student when another student alleges allegedly threatened firearm violence against them. And the footnotes and cross references were updated. And then 7.290, suicide and depression awareness and prevention. The policy contained minor language adjustments and updated legal references. But it also added that staff IDs must contain the same suicide prevention information as student IDs for staff working with students grades 6 through 12, which we have begun initiating. Are there any questions
016on mine? Sorry, what does that look like, updating staff IDs? Because it happened in January after they were all printed, we're putting essentially a business card behind the staff IDs in their pouch so that they have it visible. There are nine policies identified for review within the Department of Teaching and Learning. The first is six colon 40 curriculum development, the policy legal references, cross references and footnotes are updated for continuous improvement. Six colon 60 curriculum content, the policy legal references and footnotes are updated in response to a number of public acts. There is a required question for the board to address specifically including instruction studying the causes and effects of the Irish famine. We would recommend voting yes. Six colon 130 program for the gifted, the policy legal references and footnotes have been updated in
017response to a public act. Policy six colon 160 English learners, the policy and footnotes have been updated for continuous improvement. Six colon 260 complaints about curriculum instructional materials and programs. The legal references and footnotes are updated for continuous improvement and new case law. Six colon 280 grading and promotion, the footnotes have been updated. Six colon 315 high school credit for students in grade seven or eight. The policy legal references and footnotes are updated in response to school code. Seven colon 10 equal education opportunities. The legal references, cross references and footnotes have been updated in response to school code and for continuous improvement. Seven colon 180 prevention of and response to bullying, intimidation and harassment. The policy legal references and footnotes are updated in response to school code, expanding the bullying definition to prohibit posting or
018distributing sexually explicit images and posting or distributing unauthorized digital replica. Any questions? Yeah. Just making sure I'm clear. Okay. The six colon 315 high school credit for seventh and eighth graders. Yes. If we approve this and the districts we feed into don't, what happens? They cannot earn credit. Students may not earn credit unless the high school district approves their policy. So we need 120, 125 and 128 to all. That's correct. Okay. There are eight human resource related policies to present to the Board of Education this evening. First is five colon 10 equal employment opportunity and minority recruitment. The policy legal references and footnotes are updated prohibiting workplace discrimination based on an employee's use of employer issued equipment to record domestic violence, gender violence and any other crime of violence committed against an employee or a
019family or household member of the employee. Second is five colon 190 teacher qualifications. This policy is unchanged, however footnotes have been updated, establishing a short-term approval credential for teachers in accordance with the rules developed by ISBE. Third was five colon 200, that's terms and conditions of employment and dismissal. Policy and footnotes are updated requiring employers to compensate an employee and an employee's regular rate of pay for reasonable break time used to express breast milk. This next policy was five colon 220 substitute teachers. Legal references again are updated. Districts are to provide all substitute personnel with the school evacuation drills and law enforcement lockdown drills as well as support that includes the information given to employees with district approved materials, outlining evacuation and lockdown procedures, maps indicating all school exits must be prominently displayed in every
020classroom. We did provide and have provided training for our substitutes at the beginning of the year in addition to that we have sent using SMOR to all of our substitutes links and information including videos with respect to this. Next we had five colon 300 schedules of employment year. This policy and footnotes are being updated in the same manner as policy five colon 200. The remaining three policies in my section two colon 270, discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, and national origin, five colon 100 staff development program and five colon 280 duties and qualifications have all been updated for continuous improvement with footnotes and legal references updated. I'd be happy to answer any questions about these policies. The business office has five policies to review four colon 10 fiscal and business management. This
021policy has been updated to allow the annual statement of affairs to be posted by December 1st instead of before December 1st footnotes were also updated for continuous improvement policy four colon 140 waiver of student fees legal references and footnotes have been updated for continuous improvement policy four colon 30 revenue and investments the policy and footnotes were updated to reflect amendments to the public funds investment act including updated requirements for depositing public funds into financial institutions that are subject to the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act or ICRA policy four colon eight zero accounting and audits the policy legal references cross references and footnotes have all been updated in accordance with amended public acts the district will continue to ensure its auditing firm files the annual audit and AFR with ISBE and the superintendent remains responsible for submitting
022copies to the regional superintendent by October 15th and the last one for the business office is eight colon 30 visitors to and conduct on school property and communication via school technology the policy legal references and footnotes were updated for continuous improvement and to reflect amended law the updated policy clarifies that the superintendent or a licensed designee may supervise a child sex offender whenever the offender is in a student's vicinity does the board have any questions about these policies okay thank you all right we're not going to vote on any of those tonight that'll be at the next meeting i'm now going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent dr alison stein to discuss the elementary math foundational resource recommendation good evening thank you for the opportunity to present our k5 elementary math foundational resource
023trial and our resulting recommendation we deeply appreciate the students and educators who engaged in this very important work and we are excited to make a proposal about next steps that further strengthen math teaching and learning here at hawthorne joining me for tonight's presentation are members of our math trial team we are so grateful for their additional time and leadership this evening and we'll begin with some introductions for you i'm kelly burke i'm an lbs1 at hawthorne school for young learners bethany dom fourth grade teacher elementary cell stefanie mahalika kindergarten teacher at hsyl nicole peterson second grade teacher at elementary north i'm stephanie sitoway director of teaching and learning this evening we will outline the purpose and process of our trial we will highlight key features of our proposed resource review our analysis of trial data
024as well as discuss financial considerations and next steps as a district our specific student centered goals inform both district and school level improvement efforts and initiatives to accomplish these goals and ensure our mission of high levels of learning for all students we consistently rely on evidence to reflect on our progress and guide our decision making each and every child deserves to be healthy safe engaged supported and challenged to ensure this our district goals are all viewed through the lens of equity and inclusion together with prioritized learning outcomes through our guaranteed and viable curriculum a multi-tiered system of support to ensure all students move toward mastery of those standards and the support of our instructional coaches to strengthen instructional practices the implementation of a foundational resource district-wide provides all students with equitable access to high quality
025standards aligned learning materials and experiences in order to meet our goals the board approved a project for the 2025-2026 school year to review our tier one math foundational materials bridges and mathematics this aligns with our six-year curricular review cycle to ensure current instructional tier one materials are being used if approved implementation of the updated bridges third edition materials would begin at the start of our new school year this cycle for k5 math began with the district's adoption of bridges and mathematics during our 2020-2021 school year the first four years of implementation focused on building consistent high quality use of the resource paired with high impact instructional strategies to support to support our guaranteed and viable curriculum to remain aligned with the six-year review cycle teacher feedback was gathered during the 2024-2025 school year to determine
026next steps either conducting a full pilot of two math resources or facilitating a trial of the most recently released bridges edition teacher feedback reflected a strong preference to trial bridges third edition and we have seen increases in both math and iar math performance across all elementary schools throughout the past five years as a result the district conducted a trial of bridges third edition this school year as shared on the previous slide the trial process began with a survey asking teacher teams to indicate whether they preferred a full pilot of multiple math resources or a trial of bridges and mathematics third edition the clear majority of teams 23 out of 32 recommended trialing the updated version of bridges citing strong student growth deep instructional planning and implementation and the effectiveness of the intervention materials following this
027feedback the decision was made to move forward with a district-wide trial of bridges third edition in spring 2025 a trial invitation was extended to all teachers with teams encouraged to participate as a plc 11 teams representing 45 teachers volunteered to participate in the trial transition kits and student consumable materials were ordered to allow trial teams to use bridges third edition for the full 2025-2026 school year professional learning on the updated edition was provided on two dates in august 2025 to accommodate varying teacher schedules ongoing support throughout the trial was provided by instructional coaches and the director of teaching and learning to conclude the trial feedback was collected in two phases teachers first identified the most important evaluation criteria and those weighted criteria were then used to conduct the final analysis of the resource as with
028all our foundational resources we look at ed reports as a trusted expert third-party review bridges and mathematics third edition was rated all green by ad reports meeting expectations for alignment and usability in every category there are a variety of enhancements to bridges third edition updates include low floor high ceiling tasks and routines to provide more pathways to the correct answer the approach to assessment has been refined to further emphasize an assets-based lens differentiation opportunities and resources are clarified and expanded the integration of math apps provides flexibility for how students and educators engage with and talk about mathematical models and activities additionally the third edition offers more ways for all students to see themselves as mathematicians task contexts and illustrations feature a wide range of identities and settings and embedded ideas help educators create an equitable
029learning environment this table identifies some of the clear improvements that have been made with the third edition throughout the trial period feedback was collected from our trial team teachers teachers shared the benefits of bridges third edition reporting that it provides rigorous and engaging learning experiences for all students the following slides will highlight feedback collected from trial teachers assessment and rigor stood out as a clear benefit 91 percent of trial teachers reported that bridges third edition assessments are rigorous and appropriately measure student learning several teachers specifically highlighted improvements to the visual organization and spacing of assessment questions noting that these changes better support student access and understanding 84 percent of teachers noted the strong alignment between instruction and assessment reinforcing coherence across lessons units and evaluations 89 percent of trial teachers reported that learning activities are
030rigorous and 80 percent reported high levels of student engagement qualitative feedback supports these data points with teachers describing the materials as user-friendly engaging for students and an improvement over prior editions overall this feedback indicates that bridges third edition maintains instructional rigor while improving usability for both students and teachers the instructional quality and rigor in bridges third edition was another highlight of teacher feedback a majority of teachers shared that updates from bridges second edition to the third edition have strengthened the lesson structure including clear sequencing improved pacing and more student-centered instructional routines cognitive rigor was a strong theme with 94 percent of teachers indicating that learning activities and strategies require higher order thinking problem solving and reasoning teachers also noted meaningful improvements in cultural responsiveness with 89 agreeing that the activities and exemplars provide mirrors for
031our students to see themselves in the materials qualitative feedback reinforces this data with teachers highlighting how user-friendly and engaging the third edition is leading to increased student learning bridges third edition reflects a number of enhancements while also maintaining a student centered approach that emphasizes classroom discourse visual models and conceptual understanding these updates offer ways to create an equitable learning environment in which all students see themselves as mathematicians and are supported in learning at high levels it is being proposed that we adopt bridges and mathematics third edition as our next elementary foundational resource the estimated cost for the adoption year is seventy two thousand seventy two thousand two hundred twenty dollars which includes the transition kits for all existing bridges classrooms annual replacement materials and student consumables student consumables are provided at a 50 discount during
032the first year of adoption there is no digital licensing cost associated with bridges and mathematics third edition the projected total cost over the full six-year cycle is approximately two hundred eighty one thousand four hundred twenty dollars pending board approval i our instructional coaches and trial team members will continue to collaborate on the key next steps to ensure a successful implementation across the district these next steps include finalizing quotes for required transition materials developing comprehensive professional learning plans for the spring and the first year of implementation with a focus on both understanding the updates and using high impact instructional strategies to support engaging relevant instruction refining the alignment between bridges third edition and our guaranteed and viable curriculum reaffirming our shared framework for implementation within the instructional day to ensure consistent use across classrooms and monitoring
033implementation and progress to inform ongoing support and adjustments this includes analyzing student assessment results and performance in the classroom as well as standardized assessment results such as fast bridge in grades k one math in grades two five and iar in grades three through five we would like to take a moment to thank all of our trial team members these teachers represent grades k through five all throughout the district their team their time care and commitment to the bridges third edition trial along with their thoughtful feedback and perspectives are foundational to our curricular review process thank you for your time this evening we'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have just just for context the current annual replacement costs of bridges second edition are similar to the third yes oh oh i can
034um yes the only difference is the transition transition kits so really it's a massive improvement for relatively small investment correct thank you anybody else have a question um i'm looking at like the feedback which is great i mean 91 thinking it's rigorous and appropriate is great um was there any feedback about what they felt second edition did better and if so how do we address those things in the third edition that's a great question the one point that teacher teams have identified as an area that we want to think about for third edition is the change from pre-assessments for units to screeners these serve different functions to help us identify student needs as we move throughout units and so we've already have reached out to some of the team members who shared that feedback and
035talked about how we can address that small shift through our gbc process and make sure that we're identifying the appropriate assessment data to meet the needs of all of our students great thank you anybody else okay thank you all so much uh dr hannigan is there a superintendent's report tonight there is i just have two updates um as the board may know uh we opened up registration for the 26 27 school year that opened up yesterday so all of our families we encourage you to start the registration process for next year also this week registration for all of our summer school programming opened up earlier in the week we've already had a lot of interest and families already registering for that last night was kindergarten information night where the principals miss kb and mrs stern
036eloquently shared the jump start kindergarten program which is also embedded in the summer program so we're hopeful that many of our newest eagles will join that program and then last but not least as i shared in the november state of the district presentation how important the five essentials survey is we shared that out or it's getting shared out tomorrow to our families that survey is now open and miss cook is working with mrs goldman on a whole communication campaign to try to get more families to complete the five essentials so i encourage everybody to complete that our families thank you thank you uh tonight's consent agenda consists of the board meeting minutes from january 15th 2026 and a personnel report consisting of five new hires three resignations one leap of absence and one change of
037status does anybody need anything taken out and voted on separately okay can i get a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented so moved second motion by george seconded by michael can i get a roll call vote please michael engel i george vivid i carl borchers i stephanie peters i joel finfer i julie clifford i robin clique i motion passes seven i zero nays i'm now going to turn it over to the assistant superintendent of finance and business operations miss jennifer aiken to review the action items on tonight's agenda related to the business department good evening um this evening i have tom mcgrath from lamp construction with me the business office is sure you don't mind at the january meeting um tom and vp tran were here and shared the preliminary results of
038the construction bids for the middle south summer project the total projected cost of this project is two million four hundred twenty seven thousand nine hundred and thirty eight dollars for general trades painting and electrical tom has since done the reference checks and verified the bids and tonight we are seeking the board's approval to move forward does the board have any questions that tom might be able to answer does anybody have any questions i asked mine in the board packet before the meeting okay thank you should we ask him something because he got up yeah i mean we could give him a proper grilling but all right with that said can i get a motion to approve the bid results for the 2026 2027 summer projects so move second motion by joel seconded by stephanie can
039i get a roll call vote please carl borchers aye george vivette aye michael engel aye jill finfer aye julie clifford aye stephanie peters aye robin clique aye motion passes seven i zero nays um back to you dr hannigan we have received six voia requests since our last board of education meeting which has been identified in section 8.2 of the board agenda okay are there any topics for future agendas with no further business to discuss an open session i need a motion to adjourn to close session pursuant to the open meetings act exemptions 1 and 21 to discuss uh minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the open meetings act whether for purposes of approval by the body of the minutes or semi-annual review of the minutes as mandated by section 2.06 which is 5 ilcs 120
040slash 2 c 21 and to discuss the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park recreational or educational setting or specific volunteers of the public body or legal counsel for the public body including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park recreational educational setting or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity however a meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of a public body that is subject to the local government wage increase transparency act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with this act 5 ilcs
041120 slash 2 c 1 so moved second motion by carl seconded by george all in favor aye any opposed okay so let's do a 10 minute recess about 7 55 in closed session we will not be doing anything else in open session afterwards other than adjourning the meeting so thank you all