001I'm going to call the meeting to order. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, I actually do not need attendance taken because we were already in open session from the closed session prior to the meeting. So I'm going to move right on to public comment. Is there anybody from the public that wishes to comment? Mr. Laporte. Good evening. I wanted to come in tonight to introduce myself. I am Matt Laporte. I am the executive director of the Vernon Hills Park District. I took the position back in late October and one of the things I wanted to do in my first year was make sure I got out to all the partnering taxing bodies to say hello. So far I've had a great opportunity to work with Dr. Hannigan, take tours of the facilities, and
002I can just tell you from being new to the community, well new again to the community, I did work here from 2012 to 2015 working for the Vernon Hills Park District. But coming back, it's really wonderful to see the relationship that exists between all the taxing entities but certainly the school and the park district. We work together obviously on the before and after school program. We have so many kids that come through our facilities but I absolutely cherish that and I think that is a true value to this community. So I want to put a name with a face and I really appreciate seeing you all tonight and I look forward to serving this community in this capacity. Thank you. Thanks for introducing yourself. Looking forward to working with you. Is there anybody else from
003the public that wishes to comment? Going once, twice, okay moving on. Is there any recognition at this time? Yes there is Robin. So good evening everyone. Tonight we have the privilege of recognizing an outstanding group of student athletes who've demonstrated incredible dedication, teamwork, and sportsmanship throughout their season. The Middle North 8th grade boys basketball team had a truly remarkable year finishing with an impressive 14 and 2 record and securing first place in the conference tournament. Their hard work, determination, and commitment to excellence on and off the court have made their school and community proud. As you move on to high school, we wish you the very best in your academic and athletic journeys. Additionally, we'd like to give a huge congratulations to Coach Chase Leonardi for his leadership in guiding this team to success. Middle
004North athletes, Coach Leonardi will be reading off your names. Please collect your certificates and medals with Ms. Flores when you hear your name. Once you reach the end of the line, prepare for a group photo. Is this on? Yes it is. Wonderful. First and foremost, I'm way too tall for this mic. First and foremost, I want to shout out my team once again for a tremendous season. When was the last time Hawthorne Middle North won the conference championship? General? No, no, never. You're the first. Congratulations guys. It really takes an outstanding group of young men to do that accomplishment, to make and get that accomplishment. Again, talent, effort, and brains is what I like to say, especially with that group over there. There's a lot of smart kids over there on the court and off
005the court. I can't emphasize enough, these are student athletes, student coming first. I appreciate that a lot as a teacher. They're also a very fun group. A lot of those guys make me laugh. If you look at them too long, you'll start laughing. Phenomenal guys. I'm so excited to see where these young men are going to grow individually and as a group as they move up to the next level. Hopefully, I can come back and see you guys play some more. I'm going to read the names of everyone on the team. Once you hear your name, you guys can make your way up here. So, coming in at numbers hero, Benicio Nieves. Number one, Omari Miller. Number two, and one of our captains, Carmelo O'Farrell. Number five, Nikita Lasitsa. Number 10, Jake Scarpino. Number 11,
006Charlie King. Number 24, Jonas Jackson. Number 30, Jackson Hostetler. Number 31, AJ Loreto. Number 32, Drago Merjanik. Number 33, Che Allen. Number 35, Aman Garg. And finally, number 50, Brady Greenwell. Please clap it up for these guys as they had one tremendous season. I'll pause for a second. Okay, thank you everyone and that concludes our recognition for tonight. Okay, thank you very much. Are there any announcements for this evening? Okay, moving on to my president's report. It's pretty short tonight. I wanted to remind the board, you should have received an email for completing your statement of economic interest due by May 1st. It should have gone to whatever email you used when you filed your petition to get on the ballot. If you don't have that, let Jessica know. And other than that, have a
007good spring break. We hope everybody gets a chance to relax, whether they're staying in town or leaving. And I will turn it over to Mr. Finfer for an EdRed report. Why, yes I do. Can we pop my slide? We don't have to. No, I have a slide, but it's just not there. Don't worry about it. So tonight I've given my EdRed report a title. It's called Blame Pierce Welch. Currently there are 1,800 bills that were brought forth in the legislature, in the House. Of those bills, 900 had something to do with education. Of those 900, 800 were assigned to committee. For those that aren't familiar with the nuance of what the legislature means is that there is a possibility, remote, that all 800 bills could pass. And you can all be excited because we know
008how much we enjoy having the legislature fix public education. The reason I mentioned the number of bills, every once in a while people may question the value of an organization that simply watches legislation. It isn't possible for any school district in the state to pay attention to 900 pieces of legislation or 800 pieces of legislation. So have fun, enjoy the ride. I know I will. Thank you very much. Oh, I forgot one thing, by the way. The reason that all these bills hit, prior to Chris Welch being Speaker of the House, it was Michael Madigan. Some of you may have read the name in the paper. What Mr. Madigan did was tightly control the number of bills that ever made it to the floor. Chris Welch, in an effort to be the anti-Madigan, has said
009yes to everything. Well, let's just hope not too many of those are unfunded mandates. No, they're all funded, Robin. Yeah, right. Like the state always does. Tell me no lies. All right. That it for Ed Rudd? Unless I think of something else. Thanks. Let me know. Mr. Engel, is there a seat all report? There is. Our last executive board meeting was February 27th. Our last governing board meeting was March 5th. The governing board proposed meeting dates to be included in the June agenda for approval, so ongoing after June for our governing board. Those dates are August 6th, December 3rd, March 4th, and June 3rd. The governing board meets quarterly, so those are the proposed dates for that next cycle. So they asked all of us to give consent if we were okay with those dates.
010I did send consent that I was okay with those dates personally. Robin, everybody, if there's any issues with those dates at all, let me know, but I don't expect that there would be. I'm good with all of those. Dr. Hackett discussed the mid-year report, which has been presented to staff and shared with member districts. This is in regards to the continuous improvement plan that CEDAW is going through. The report was included in our agenda packets and includes updates to each of the four goals. And just to kind of go through those, goal one is to provide exceptional programs and services to meet the needs of students through the CEDAW community. Goal two is to establish an effective, equitable financial structure that best supports students and district needs. The current focus of that committee is tuition
011restructuring with the implementation of an advisory committee and a steering committee. Goal three is to advance high standards and expectations. And goal four is to advance effective collaborative team practices. And the current focus of that committee is to advance CEDAW communication. All of the goal steps will most likely not be completed by the end of the school year, but they will continue to be worked on moving into the next year. And a final update on those four goals will be shared in June. As far as finances go, the fiscal year 23 CEDAW audit is near completion. And once ISBE replies with ESSER requirements, the audit will be considered complete. CEDAW anticipates a positive resolution regarding ESSER expenditures in collaboration with ISBE representatives, and is expecting to have to repay some funds back. And anticipated fiscal
012year 24 audit completion by the end of the current fiscal year. And then the last piece was the CEDAW executive board recommended that the governing board approve one-year contracts for the CEDAW interim superintendents, Dr. Hackett and Dr. Thomas, effective July 1st, and the governing board did approve those contracts. The next executive board meeting will actually be tomorrow, March 20th, and our next governing board meeting will be June 4th. Okay, thank you so much. I have a quick question. Sure. Did they say why they're anticipated or they're anticipating having to pay some of the funds back? So, Alicia, maybe you can help shed a little bit of light on that. But I know that there were some issues with how they were putting together their budgets in the way that some of the funds had been
013allocated, but I don't want to speak to, because that's not my strong point. I will do my best. I don't mean to call you out. No, that's okay. I think the short version of the story is that because of COVID and some transitions between some of their chief financial business officers, some audits were missed, and there was, because they're a public cooperative rather than a public entity like Hawthorne, there was some question around how ESSER funds were allocated that hadn't been audited out. Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. That's plenty. Thank you. Thanks, Alicia. Anybody else have any questions about the CEDAW report? Okay, thank you. Mr. Feeva, is there a site and facilities report? There is, and it's a long one. It's renewal season, apparently. There's three items that we discussed in site and
014facilities that you will see on tonight's agenda. We have our food service contract renewal. It includes a three percent increase. We'll discuss it tonight and approve it in April. We also would like to welcome Chef Jonathan to the district as our new executive chef, so he'll be around the buildings, and he does like the term Chef Jonathan. We also have our waste disposal renewal, not as exciting as food. This one actually hits us a little harder with 10 percent. It's already in the contract. We'll talk tonight, decide in April, and the same goes for landscape, though this one's really friendly. For whatever reason, it's 2.06 percent this year and 2.53 percent next year. I don't know why, but this is all of the groundwork that the folks do. This one also will be approved next
015meeting. We also discussed our rental agreement, the changes we'd like to push forth. We have an annual agreement ready, prices that are now tied to the market. By market, we mean other school districts and what they charge for building access. We have different pricing for youth groups and adult groups, to be fair to the youth groups who need to use our space, and we also have the right language about security and insurance and custodial access and kitchen use. We'll bring this to the board in April for discussion and look to vote for it in May to get things lined up for the next school year. We also have some good news to share about our SMPG grant, the school maintenance project grant. This was approved, so we've got $50,000 worth of matching funds that will
016be tied to the MSN flooring project. Won't be a problem matching that with that one, so thanks. Congratulations folks in the district who got that one approved for us, so it's a help. We also have a real exciting joint purchasing agreement, it's a state thing, for rock salt. You can't look past rock salt. Apparently, we get a great deal on it through the state. We're going to keep doing that, so since we do clear our own sidewalks and such, it is important that we have the product that keeps the kids safe, so we're going to keep that one going. We are also going to start looking at a proper purchasing agreement for a new truck. We had one that has left the fleet, and as it was one of our dump trucks, we don't need
017a third dump truck, so we're going to get a pickup truck instead. Save some money, we're going to get a quad cab so we can actually haul some people and have a lockable storage area like we don't have in the back of an open pickup truck. We're going to start looking through how we would get that through our state contract, and once we've identified a vehicle, we'll bring that to the board in April for approval in May. A couple of future items, in light of our new food service agreement and all the conversation we've had lately, we're going to start adding a monthly food service review to the site and facilities agenda, so we're going to keep tabs on how that is performing month by month, and we're also going to have a standing agenda
018item for any possible funding changes that may be occurring within the whole education landscape, thanks to some changes that seem to be taking place within the country. I want to make sure we're on top of how that might impact our budget this year and next year and years to come. And that is site and facilities. No, I'm good with the rock salt. Don't eat it. All right. Thank you, George. Anybody have any questions about that report? Okay. Miss Clifford, is there a wellness committee report? We do not meet until April 15th. Okay. Is there a key to 73 report? Yes, there is. So just letting everyone know that our Facebook page is now active. So previously had one, but thanks to the efforts like Samantha, we now have a live and active Facebook page. So
019content is being added and updated with new events, so be sure to check it out and become one of our followers. Just a reminder, our website is also now live as of February. So make sure that you visit and sign up. We are still always looking for volunteers for the foundation for any kind of events we are hosting. So make sure to stay up to date. And then we're continuing to move forward with our planning for the golf outing that is coming in June, June 7th, Friday, June 6th. So, you know, we are always looking for sponsors for that. So anybody listening, please get in touch with the foundation. If you'd like to be a sponsor, you can also apply through the website. Okay. Thank you so much. I'm going to now turn it over
020to Dr. Hannigan to discuss the 2025 through 2028 HTA contract and the intergovernmental agreement with the Vernon Hills Police Department regarding the sharing of information. Thank you, Robin. This evening, I'm very proud to present to the Board of Education, the ratified 2025-2028 Hawthorne Education Association negotiated agreement with the Hawthorne District 73 Board of Education. I'm in charge of this. The collaborative bargaining process between the Board of Education and the HTA began on September 17th, 2025. During the September 17th session, the team developed bargaining norms and bargaining protocols. Additionally, the Board of Education shared their foundational goals for bargaining with the association. Lastly, HTA presented all their language and financial proposals to the Board of Education. Then during the September 24th, October 15th and November 8th sessions, the Board of Education began responding to the September
02117th language and financial proposals. A tentative agreement between the Board of Education and the HTA was reached during the bargaining session on November 8th, 2024. The contract was ratified by HTA on Tuesday, February 26th with 66.29% of the members voting in favor of the tentative agreement. The individuals representing the Board of Education and HTA at the table during the formal bargaining sessions were as follows. Representing the Board of Education was Robin Kleek and Joel Finfer. Representing HTA was Aaron Roach, Millie Naughton, Renee Schieman, Mara Silvershek, Connie Robileski, and Dave Jelliff. The HTA recording secretary was Jake Shearing. Representing the administration was myself, Adam Palmer, Jennifer Aiken, and Allison Stein, and the recording secretary was Shannon Cooney. Before I share the highlights of the 25-28 contract, I would like to review with the board the end
022result of previous agreements and the impact they've had on our current reality. To begin, in 2003, the Board of Education, in 2003 I was teaching fourth grade, with the HTA agreed to a seven-year contract that many considered to be very lucrative for the members. A highlight of this contract was that the salary schedule consisted of 19 steps and members would receive a 20% jump in salary the final years of their employment prior to retirement. Following the seven-year contract in 2010, the Board of Education and HTA agreed to a five-year contract. During this bargain, the Board of Education had to address new legislation restricting end-of-career earnings to no greater than 6%. As a result, a new salary schedule was created because the 20% jumps in salary would cause the district significant penalties. When the new salary
023schedule was created, salary steps were changed. This resulted in some staff moving backwards instead of forward on the salary schedule. Additionally, when the new schedule was created, money was taken from the lower tiers of the schedule and added to the end of the schedule making 28 steps as opposed to 19. Then in 2011, a year later, into the agreement, the members voted to open the contract due to the financial downturn. In doing so, pay raises were reduced and many stipend positions were eliminated for the remaining four years of the contract. Then in 2015, at the conclusion of the 2010 five-year agreement, a three-year contract was reached. This contract did not address the step and lane changes introduced in 2010. The step raises in this agreement ranged from 0.99% to 2.8%. Following the three-year agreement during
024the 2018 bargain, the district and the HTA agreed to move away from a salary schedule altogether and develop an alternative method of providing compensation. This caused confusion, did not address step inequities, and did not address salaries being below the market. That brings us to 2020 bargain. My first year as a superintendent. The priority of this bargain was to reinstate a salary schedule for both licensed staff and support staff, address mid-career employees that were negatively impacted by the 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2018 bargains with respect to securing steps on the salary schedule to more closely equate to years of service in Hawthorne and provide our valued staff the same, or I'm sorry, provide our valued support staff the same benefits as our licensed staff. So in prior agreements, our licensed staff had different benefits than our
025support staff. So the 2020 bargain resulted in a five-year contract 2020 to 2025. We reinstated a salary schedule for both licensed and support staff. Additionally, when placing licensed staff back on the salary schedule, it was determined that over a third of our licensed staff were as many as five years behind on the salary schedule as a result of the 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2018 bargains. To address this situation, staff members received a double step for every year they were behind. To ensure we limited the district's exposure to the 6% end-of-career earnings cap and ensure this model was financially sustainable, the salary schedule did not incrementally increase over the five years. However, we did eliminate salary caps for staff that were continuing their education and moving lanes. Additionally, the 2020 bargain provided support staff the same
026benefits as their licensed staff colleagues. Also, the instructional day was lengthened from six hours and 15 minutes at the elementary level and six and a half hours at the middle level to seven hours a day with an early release Wednesday schedule. So now we're in a 2025-2028 bargain. So with respect to the 2025-2028 contract being brought forward to the Board of Education for consideration, tonight I'm going to highlight eight components of that contract. Those eight components are as follows, licensed staff salaries, support staff salaries, retirement incentive, leave of absence, additional days, licensed staff induction week stipend, tuition reimbursement, stipends, insurance, and insurance benefits. As the board knows, the entire contract that was ratified by the members can be found in the board packet. So because the 2020-2025 salary schedule index did not increase over the
027past five years, we knew that adding new money to the salary schedule was a necessity in order to get our salaries more closely aligned to our peer districts. We built a salary schedule with step increases ranging from 5% to 8% for the next three years. The average increase per year over the life of this contract is 6.35% annually. Additionally, we added a step one to the salary schedule. The previous salary schedule started employees with no previous experience at step two. The corresponding compounding increase to the budget or the new money for the three years is as follows, and this is just for licensed staff. So year one, the 25-26 projected increase to the budget is $1,542,546. The projected new money for year two is $1,665,443,000. And the projected new money, and this is all compounding.
028Every year it keeps adding. The 27-28 projected increase is $1,798,679,000. The total projected new money increase to the budget over the life of this contract is $5,006,668. So I brought some examples to show what we've done from 2020 through 2028. So I have two examples. I could give the board over a hundred examples of what we're trying to accomplish. So this first example, the first example is to get us closer to the, is related to what I would consider an early career educator. So this educator benefited from the elimination of the lane change cap language, meaning they received their full increases of the lane change and the step increase. So this chart represents, so if you look at 2021 as the baseline year, the first year of the contract. So this particular employee in 21-22,
029this person received a 2% increase. If you look at our current salary schedule, our early career educators and less experience have lower rate, lower percentage raises. So this, they're basically at 2%. Under the new contract, our newer employees, they will receive, it's 8%, basically years one through, I believe it's 10. So this person would have had an 8% increase, but in 22-23, this particular employee received a 2% increase. Then in 23-24, again, taking it, this particular employee did a lane change and because the lane caps were eliminated, so there were caps where they couldn't exceed a specific percentage, this person received a 5.84% increase. Then in 24-25, again, taking advantage of the lane change caps or elimination of the lane change caps, this particular employee received a 13.65% increase. Then when you transition to the
030new contract, 25-28, in 25-26, this person will receive a 6.21% increase provided there's no lane changes. Then in 26-27, a 6.45% increase. Then in 27-28, a 6.03% increase. So when you average it up over the seven years, this person would average a 6.02% increase every year for seven years or a $23,851,000 raise. The second example is an example of an employee that was impacted by the 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2018 contracts or what I would consider a mid-career educator. This employee received four years of double steps and benefited from the elimination of the lane change cap language. So again, starting with 2021 as the base year, first year of the contract, this person in 21-22 received a double step or a 5.68% increase. Then in 22-23, this person received again a 5.68% increase. In 23-24,
031this person received a double step and two lane changes for what would equate to a 25.3% increase. Then again, in 24-25, this person received a double step or a 6.09% increase. Then transitioning to the new contract, when 25-26, they would receive a 5% increase. 26-27, a 5% increase. 27-28, a 5% increase. The seven-year average is 8.25% or a $46,614 raise over seven years. All right, so that's the salary schedule for licensed staff. So now transitioning into induction. So the purpose of the new teacher stipend is two-fold. It's a $2,500 stipend. The first purpose is to ensure step one of the salary schedule remains competitive and in the market. As the board knows, we had to reintroduce a step one to the salary schedule. In order to do that, we increased the index at step two,
032which was the market of the old schedule and backed out 2% from step two. This helps us ensure our starting salary remains competitive due to the fact that the majority of our new hires come to us with no experience. The second purpose is to ensure our newly hired staff receive the appropriate training and support before welcoming students on day one. In prior contracts, newly hired employees were required to attend two days of orientation and were not compensated. In this contract, staff will participate in a full week of orientation with compensation. The five days of training will include the following, but not limited, professional learning communities training, guaranteed and viable curriculum, foundational resources, best practices for instruction and student engagement, MTSS or multi-tiered systems of support to provide intervention and enrichment, supports for our multilingual learners
033and students receiving special education services and district policies and procedures. So again, like our licensed staff, we knew that adding new money to the support staff salary schedule was a necessity in order to more closely align to our peer districts. We built a salary schedule with step increases averaging 6.38% for the next three years. Additionally, we added a self-contained paraprofessional lane and a licensed practical nurse lane to the salary schedule. The corresponding compounding increase to the budget or the new money for the three years is as follows. Year one, the projected increase to the budget is $246,808. The projected new money for year two is $262,851. Year three, the projected increase is $279,937. The total projected new money increase to the budget over the life of the contract is $789,596. All right, now we're moving
034on to retirement. So for the 25-28 contract does again include a retirement incentive. The previous contract incentive for both licensed staff and support staff was 5%, 5%, 3%, 3% in the final four years before retirement. The updated retirement contract language is as follows. For licensed staff, retirement begins the first year eligible for a TRS pension with 15 years of continuous service at Hawthorne 73. There's a six-day payout of $50 per day for a maximum of 25 days or 25-day maximum. Two years of TRS trip or trail medical insurance and salary increases will increase by 6% up to the last four years depending on the submission of the letter of intent to retire. Support staff retirement incentive. Retirement begins the first year eligible for IMF pension or Medicare benefits with 15 years of continuous service in
035Hawthorne 73. A six-day payout of $50 per day up to 19-day maximum. And the salary increases similar to their licensed staff colleagues is 6% up to four years depending on the submission of the letter of intent. Additionally, for employees that submitted their intent to retire under the 2020-2025 contract terms beginning with the 25-26 school year, they will be grandfathered in and afforded the benefits outlined in the 25-28 contract, meaning they will receive 6% increases for the remaining years. All right. A new provision included in the 25-28 contract is additional paid sick days for maternity, paternity leave, leave approved FMLA absences. We realize that many of our employees taking maternity and paternity leave are required to take the leave unpaid due to not having enough sick days to cover the leave. This provision will give employees
036access to additional days once they have exhausted their own accrued sick days, sick leave days during an approved maternity, paternity FMLA leave. The number of days employees can access is based on the number of years employed by the district. Next, I'm going to talk about tuition reimbursement. The 2020-2025 agreement afforded licensed staff with $2,000 annually and support staff with $400 annually for tuition reimbursement. The 2025-2028 contract increases the amount of tuition reimbursement for staff continuing education. Under the terms of the contract before the board, staff with the corresponding years of service will receive the following reimbursement amounts. Years of service one through four will get $2,000. Five through eight, $2,500. Nine through 12, $3,000. 13 to 20 years, $3,500. Support staff tuition reimbursement regardless of years of service has gone from $400 to $2,000. The
037total allotment available for the 25-26 school year is $150,000 and will increase by 6% the following two years of the contract. All right, so now stipends. Under the terms of the contract, all stipends will increase annually by 6%. Additionally, each building including Lincoln Early Learning Center, Hawthorne School for Young Learners, the five elementary schools and two middle schools will receive additional funds based on student enrollment to support new clubs and activities dependent on student interest. Last but not least, insurance. The last component I'd like to discuss is insurance benefits for both licensed staff and support staff. The only change to insurance benefits is the board will provide up to $500 matching medical flexible reimbursement for employees taking advantage of the family PPO plan, the family HMO plan, or waiving medical coverage. So just to close
038out, this contract is a direct result of the Board of Education's dedication to learning for all, every one every day. What this board has accomplished over the past seven years is truly remarkable. During the 2018-2019 school year, we faced financial challenges due to deficit spending in the educational fund, particularly in salaries and benefits. However, through strategic financial planning, the board successfully negotiated two competitive agreements that significantly move us closer to closing the salary gap with respect to stand with respect to market standards. The 2018 referendum enabled us to modernize all of our district facilities despite soaring construction costs, some doubling or even tripling. We also opened up a new kindergarten building without any additional revenue to operate the building. Most importantly, the board's leadership has ensured that our staff have the resources, tools, and support
039needed to thrive, allowing us to hire the right personnel to meet the diverse and evolving needs of our students. I want to personally thank the board for your unwavering commitment to our schools. At this time, I'm more than happy to answer any questions the board may have. Thank you. Since I was on the bargaining committee, I will turn it over to everybody else. I don't have any questions. I guess it's not so much of, well, I know the answer, but I think it's important for everybody to truly understand the amount of work that was truly put into this and evaluating what all the local schools like to understand what they are all doing and ensuring that we truly are providing a culture and a place that will be welcoming to future teachers and, you know,
040continuing to maintain the great staff that we do have here at Hawthorne. Thank you. Anybody else? I would like to thank Robin and Joel. Thanks, Wes. For your efforts. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else have any questions? Okay. Would you want to move on to the IGA? I do have a statement about the contract later, but I'll say it before we vote. Yes. So before you this evening is the reciprocal reporting agreement between the Vernon Hills Police Department and the Hawthorne School District 73. It establishes a framer for sharing information to ensure student and community safety. The agreement allows for the exchange of critical data regarding student criminal activity, law enforcement records in emergency situations while maintaining confidentiality and compliance with federal and state laws. Thank you. Anybody else have any questions about that? Okay. Next
041I'm going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent of business and finance operations, Ms. Jennifer Aiken, to discuss the renewal of food service, landscape service, and disposal service. Good evening. The business office is presenting several service contract renewals. George alluded to this in the site and facility report for the board of education's consideration this evening. First would be the renewal for quest food services. It reflects a 3% increase on the fixed rate meal price. So you don't see the overall it's per meal because we never know how many meals we're going to serve. This corresponds with the master agreement that was awarded to Quest last year following the request for proposal process. Just a reminder that this is Quest first year under contract. Last year they were with us under an emergency contract. Next
042is the renewal for agility landscaping. This includes pricing for two growing seasons with a rate increase of 2.06 for the 2025 growing season and 2.53% increase for the 2026 growing season. And lastly the renewal for waste management disposal services. That reflects a 10% flat rate which is consistent with the three-year master agreement established last year after a bid process. I just want to remind everyone that there's a limited number of companies that provide disposal services to mitigate the risk of future price fluctuations. We did enter into a three-year agreement with these 10% increases baked in. Detailed memos including reference data are included in the board packet. At this time I'm happy to take any questions about the renewals. Thank you. Anybody have any questions for Ms. Aiken? Okay we'll vote on that next time. Thank
043you. Thank you. Dr. Hannigan is there a superintendent's report? I do. Guess what time it is? Spring break. Besides spring break. It's time to get ready for registration. Returning registration. I'm ready for spring break but yes. Returning registration will begin after spring break on Monday March 31st. Early registration helps us plan and prepare for the academic year ahead of us in order to ensure a smooth transition into the new school year and take advantage of the early bird rate. We encourage all families to complete registration by May 1st. Is there a prize for the very first person? No. We have internal, it's not the person, it's the school that has it completed first. We have thermometers and everything. How about the school who has the very first one? Are you the first one? I might
044set my alarm for 1201. It depends on the prize. It's good that you're not competitive. So be on the lookout. My postcards going out when? After spring break as a reminder to everybody to get registering and then last but not least I hope everybody has a great restful spring break and we look forward to welcome everybody back on Monday March 31st. Okay thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda. Tonight's consent agenda consists of board meeting minutes from February 20th 2025, closed session minutes from February 20th 2025, an expenditure report from March 19th 2025, the mastercard report from January 21st 2025, the amazon expense report from March 19th 2025, treasurer's report from December of 2024, technology professional services and a personnel report consisting of five new hires, 15 resignations, four leaves of absence, three changes
045of status and five retirements. And before the board takes a vote, Dr. Hannigan, did you have any remarks? I do have a remark embedded in the consent agenda. I am making a recommendation for the next principal of Hawthorne School of Dual Language. So as the board knows, the dual language principal vacancy was posted on January 22nd 2025 on various platforms such as K-12 JobSpot, IASPA, the IASA Illinois Job Bank website and various social media platforms. Following the announcement of Ms. Nikki Rodrigo's new position in District 112, the district received a total of 29 applicants for the role. Interview teams composed of parent groups, staff members and district administrators conducted a rigorous screening and interview process. After careful evaluation, the district, or I'm making a recommendation to the board. Sorry. All right, I lost my train
046of thought. Refocus. I am recommending Ms. Megan Kaby for the dual language principal position for the 25-26 school year and I ensure I get, I'm all off now. She's the best candidate to serve the school next year. I'm just gonna stop talking. They haven't voted yet. It's not yet. Um, since Carl was absent last time, I'm going to assume you want 8.1 and 8.2 removed? Yes, I confirm that. Okay. Anybody else need anything taken out and voted on separately? Okay, can I get a motion to approve items 8.1 and 8.2 on the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Motion by West, seconded by Julie. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Joel Finford. Aye. Julie Clifford. Aye. George Feevat, aye. Carl Borchers. Abstain. Michael Engel. Aye. West Poland. Aye. Robin Kleek. Aye. Motion passes, six
047ayes, one abstention. Can I get a motion to approve the remaining consent agenda items as presented? So moved. Second. Wait. Carl did everything. West gets the first, I get the second. Motion by West, seconded by Carl. Can I get a roll call vote, please? I'm afraid. Michael Engel. Aye. Carl Borchers. Aye. Joel Finfer. Aye. Julie Clifford. Aye. West Poland. Aye. George Feevat, aye. Robin Kleek. Aye. Motion passes, seven ayes, zero nays. Congratulations to the new principal of Hawthorne School of Dual Language, Ms. Megan Kaby. Ms. Kaby, if you have any remarks, you're welcome to share them at this time. Thank you so much. All right. Hello. Thank you to the Hawthorne Board of Education, Dr. Hannigan, and the entire Hawthorne community for this opportunity. Hawthorne has been my home for the past 12 years. I
048spent many years at Aspen School before crossing 60 and joining the dual language family. I stand before you tonight with my colleagues in the audience behind me. I would not be who I am as an educator and a leader without each of them. The teachers and staff at Aspen School made me a better educator. The teachers and staff at dual language have made me into a confident leader, a strong advocate, and grown my capacity as a human and a professional. When I left Aspen to become the building assistant supervisor at dual, I was so excited for the challenge and to make a greater impact in the lives of Hawthorne students. I was also convinced that I would never love another school quite like I loved Aspen. I'm happy to report I was wrong. Sorry. All
049right, sorry guys. I quickly learned that dual language is full of passionate student-centered educators who care about each other and are focused on creating bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural learning experiences for all of our learners. Dual language is an impressive place. I have been fortunate to work under the strong leadership of Nikki Rodrigo for the past three years as we have made meaningful change, improved our program model, gathered feedback, and increased achievement for our students. I'm excited to ensure continued progress and achievement of our school-wide goals and lead dual language to continued success and excellence. I believe that in order for students to thrive and grow and to grow, we must create a school where teachers are supported and are excited to teach and inspire. As a mom to two wonderful young boys, I know how
050important it is for them to love where they learn and to feel cared for by their teachers while ensuring academic success. I promise to take exceptional care of the staff, students, and families at dual language. I promise to keep them safe, advocate for all learners, and create a culture where every child, parent, and teacher feels valued and appreciated. Thank you so much for this privilege and opportunity and entrusting me to serve as the principal of our fantastic dual language. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you and congratulations again. I'm going to move on to the action items for tonight. We're now going to hear from Dr. Allison Stein to review the first action item on the agenda. Thank you. That was very emotional. ISB, as you know, has notified us that our Title I Schoolwide Plan
051for the School of Dual Language is up for renewal this year. In addition, our free and reduced lunch numbers from October indicate that Town Line Elementary School is eligible for Title I Schoolwide status next year. So we are asking the Board of Education to approve those applications. Thank you. Mr. Palmer, can you please review the second action item on the agenda? Yes. Good evening. Based on the conversation or the presentation that I presented to the Board and the enrollment projections and the trend data, we are recommending this evening that the adding one additional multilingual Russian teacher to support the needs of our students. We believe that this plan allows us to maintain small class sizes, especially at the kindergarten and first grade levels, while also ensuring that we have the flexibility to absorb additional students
052if needed. Okay. Thank you so much. Dr. Hannigan, you're up. I have two action items. As I shared earlier, the Intergovernmental Agreement seeks Board approval to strengthen our communication between the school district and law enforcement, ensuring timely information sharing for student and community safety. And then last but not least, the 25 to 28 HEA contract that I shared earlier. Okay. Thank you. Anybody have any questions before we start voting? Can I get a motion to approve the Title I Schoolwide Waiver for Dual Language Townline? So moved. Second. Motion by West, seconded by Julie. Can I get a roll call vote, please? West Poland? Aye. Michael Engel? Aye. George Hewitt? Aye. Joel Finfer? Aye. Julie Clifford? Aye. Carl Borchers? Aye. Robin Gleek? Aye. Motion passes, seven ayes, zero nays. Can I get a motion to approve
053the 2025-2026 Staffing Plan? So moved. Second. Motion by Carl, seconded by George. Can I get a roll call vote, please? George Hewitt? Aye. Julie Clifford? Aye. West Poland? Aye. Carl Borchers? Aye. Michael Engel? Aye. Joel Finfer? Aye. Robin Gleek? Aye. Motion passes, seven ayes, zero nays. Can I get a motion to approve the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Vernon Hills Police Department regarding the sharing of information? So moved. Second. Motion by West, seconded by Michael. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Carl Borchers? Aye. West Poland? Aye. Julie Clifford? Aye. Michael Engel? Aye. George Hewitt? Aye. Joel Finfer? Aye. Robin Gleek? Aye. Motion passes, seven ayes, zero nays. Before we vote on the next one, I did have a statement on behalf of the Board of Education about the contract, which Ms. Clifford and Ms.
054Poland already touched on a little bit. But beginning last spring, the Board started meeting in closed session to discuss our goals and parameters for the upcoming contract. We worked closely with our experts, Dr. Hannigan, Dr. Stein, Mr. Palmer, and Ms. Aiken. Our goals were to negotiate an agreement that's fiscally responsible while recognizing the significant contributions our staff make to our district each and every day and engage in a process that respects and honors the professionalism of our staff at all times. To retain our highly qualified staff and attract new talent, we compared Hawthorne to our surrounding districts on several metrics, examining what was working and what wasn't working here. Each closed session focused solely on one thing at a time, such as one meeting devoted to compensation and other to working conditions and so on.
055We began bargaining in September, as you heard, and the Board achieved its goals through this process. We believe the contract will benefit our staff and students while remaining fiscally responsible and bringing us closer in line with surrounding districts. We look forward to marking this moment with the HGA very soon. So with that said, can I get a motion to approve the 2025-2028 HGA contract? So moved. Second. So moved. I still have to finish the motion, sorry. So Joel's disqualified. Motion by Joel, seconded by George? No, Michael. Sorry, Michael. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Joel Finfer. Aye. Julie Clifford. Aye. George Feavitt. Aye. Wes Poland. Aye. Michael Engel. Aye. Carl Borchers. Aye. Robin Kleek. Aye. Motion passes. Seven ayes, zero nays. At this point, I'm going to turn it back to Dr. Hannigan.
056Thanks, Robin. We've received one FOIA request since our last Board of Education meeting, which has been identified in section 10.2 of the board agenda. Are there any topics for future agendas the board would like to add? Wes, it's almost your last chance, are you sure? I wouldn't want to create more work and not be here for it. That's nice of you. You're always welcome as a member of the public just to attend if you leave work first. Okay, don't give her any ideas. All right. With no further business to discuss an open session, can I get a motion to adjourn a closed session pursuant to the first exemption under the Open Meetings Act to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a
057park, 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, or 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 120 slash 2C1. Motion by George. Seconded by Wes. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. It's 753. It's 8 p.m. Good for people? Okay.
058We'll recess until 8 p.m. Thank you.