001for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Julie, can I please have attendance? Carl Borchers. Here. Stephanie Peters. Joel Finfer. Here. George Vivid. Here. Michael Engel. Here. Julie Clifford. Here. Robin Clique. Here. Six present, one absent. Moving on to public comment. Is there anybody from the public who wishes to comment? Good evening, members of the Board of Education. My name is Laura Platt Kilcine, and on behalf of the Key to 73 Foundation, I'm honored to present a check to the Hawthorne School District in the amount of $5,000. These funds are specifically designated for summer camp scholarships. Thank you for your partnership and your ongoing collaboration which allows us to
002maintain the stability of Hawthorne families and ensure students arrive ready to learn and thrive. We are proud of what we can accomplish together. Thank you so much. That's for you. It's really for the students. Thank you so much to the Key to 73 Foundation. Is there anybody else from the public who wishes to comment? Going once. Going twice. I'm going to now turn it over to the recognition committee. Carl and George, do we have recognition tonight? Yes, we do. Good evening and welcome everyone. On behalf of the Hawthorne Board of Education, it's my honor to recognize Jennifer Harris, Athletic Director for Hawthorne Middle South and Middle North. Jennifer was recently featured by the Illinois Elementary School Association, recognizing her 14 years of leadership and dedication to student athletics. IESA highlighted Jennifer's commitment to building strong
003relationships with students and the community, as well as her ability to connect students to meaningful opportunities through athletics. At this time, I'd like to invite Middle North Principal Katie Wagner, who is here this evening to share a few remarks about Jennifer's recognition. Good evening. I'd like to take a moment to recognize someone who plays an incredibly important role in the success and spirit of our middle schools, our AD, Jen Harris. Jen works tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that every athletic season runs smoothly for our students, families, and staff. From scheduling and organization to problem solving and communication, she consistently goes above and beyond. What truly sets Jen apart is her positivity and proactive approach. She anticipates needs before they arise, communicates clearly and consistently, and always keeps students at the center of every decision.
004Because of Jen's leadership, our athletic programs are not just well run, they are meaningful, inclusive, and a source of pride for our Hawthorne Middle School community. We are incredibly grateful for her dedication and the energy she brings to make athletics a great experience for all of our students. Thank you for everything that you do. Jennifer, on behalf of the Hawthorne Board of Education, thank you for your continued leadership and for your lasting impact to our students, our programs, and the community. Next, we are proud to recognize Big Ed's Barbecue, a local business that recently made a meaningful impact on one of our students and school community. At Elementary South, a fourth grade student named Quinn, in Miss Laura Preston's class, wrote about his favorite restaurant, Big Ed's Barbecue. In his writing, Quinn shared not only
005his love for the food and service, but also recognized the restaurant's contributions to the community. That message didn't go unnoticed. After receiving Quinn's letter, Big Ed himself visited the school to surprise Quinn and thank him for his kind words. The visit quickly turned into a special moment for the entire class as students had the chance to see firsthand how kindness and appreciation can come full circle. In a social media post shared afterward, Big Ed wrote about how much Quinn's words meant to him and reminded us all to never stop being kind. This moment is a great example of the strong connection between our schools and our community. Now even small acts can have a meaningful impact. On behalf of the Hawthorne Board of Education, we thank Big Ed's Barbecue for taking the time to recognize
006one of our students and for reinforcing the importance of kindness, connection, and community. At this time, we invite Big Ed to come forward and receive this recognition. And that concludes our recognition for this evening. Thank you so much. That was fun and thank you to Big Ed's Barbecue again and congrats to Miss Harris. If people do not wish to stay for the rest of the meeting, don't feel awkward about getting up and leaving. It's totally up to you. Otherwise, you're welcome to stay. It gets very exciting. There will be a quiz at the end. Thank you all. Have a good night. Thank you. Does anybody have any announcements? Okay, moving on to the reports. For my president's report, real brief tonight. Just wanted to alert everybody if you didn't notice in your email that the
007statement of economic interest is coming due again. So get that completed please and filed. And have a great spring break to everybody and I hope our teachers get a restful week. And I'm gonna now turn it over to Mr. Finfer for an ad-read report. Not tonight, Robin. Okay, maybe next time. Joel, I have a follow-up question. Why not? Bring it. If not now, when? All right, I'll give you 500 bills. 200 have come out of committee, so there's 200 reasons to be terrified. Great. All right, Mr. Engel, is there a seat all report? There is. The last executive board meeting was February 19th. The last governing board meeting was March 4th. Just two points. In regards to the fiscal year 27 budget, Dr. Thomas presented the board with budget development and staffing projections for fiscal
008year 27 that were approved at the February 19th executive board meeting. We'll see an expenditure reduction of a little over 2.3 million. The maximum number of students per classroom remain unchanged. Staffing ratios for related service providers and paraprofessional ratios remain unchanged. Reductions in classroom teachers will be absorbed through retirements and not renewing contracted agency staff. And then another point, somebody had asked, reached out and asked me a question. I reached out to Alicia Corrigan and Dr. Judy Hackett as well just to get an update. The CEDAW deaf and hard of hearing school program is located at Grayslake North High School. The high school program provides for a wide range of academic and elective subject areas within general education as well as instructional classes with trained teachers of deaf and hard of hearing. Grayslake North High
009School is ending their contract with CEDAW after the 2026-2027 school year. Last week, a deaf hard of hearing parent forum was held that included parents who attended both in person and via Zoom. There will also be a follow-up survey sent out to all deaf and hard of hearing families so that everyone has information and options to participate. An informational meeting was held earlier this year with interested high school districts, but no formal or tentative decisions have been made to date regarding a new host location. I did speak with Dr. Judy Hackett and quote, our collective focus is going to be very thorough, thoughtful and collaborative on finding the high school district match that aligns to our deaf and hard of hearing high school program. To those needs and reflects input from staff, students and families,
010we will include status updates to all of our upcoming board meetings and the board minutes and summary reports will include that information, end quote. This only impacts the high school program. Our relationship with John Powers will or should remain unchanged, so this doesn't really have anything directly to do with D73, but CEDAW related and just some information for parents who have students rising through the program just to be aware. So looking for a new host high school for that program. I'm going to stay on top of that and see what I can find out as we go through over the next year or so probably. They didn't want to give too much information or really say anything until it was all finalized, so we'll see where that goes. The next executive board meeting is March
01119th and the next governing board meeting is June 3rd. Okay, thank you so much. Mr. Pheavitt, is there a site and facilities report? There is. We met with representatives from First Student at our last site and facilities meeting. If you'll recall, First Student purchased Lakeside Transportation as of January 31st this year. No immediate changes for our students this school year. You will see our drivers now wearing yellow First Student vests. That's part of the First Student way, I guess, and we'll also start to see some branding changes on the buses perhaps this year, probably going into next year. We did also discuss how technology improvements might be seen as we go into next year, but they are well aware of the programs that we already have and have promised to make sure those don't get
012disrupted. More to come for transportation as we go into next year, but I guess we're off to a decent start. A number of items on tonight's agenda in the discussion items category were also reviewed in site and facilities. I will avoid spoiling the surprise. And then we had our usual check-ins with food service where we continue to work on issues and improvements throughout our buildings, making sure that every student has a chance for a warm meal. And within the technology space, I think the ongoing saga has to be repeated here, copiers are being installed. People are happy. So we'll leave it with that. Next meeting is next month. Okay, thank you. Is there a Wellness Committee report tonight? There is not. We do not meet until April 14th at three o'clock in this room. Okay.
013And is there a key to 73 Foundation report? There is. We just met this past week. First of all, we did have a very successful fundraiser through Portillo's raising $481. And there will be an upcoming event at Chipotle April 8th. So be sure to be on the lookout for that as well. We also hosted our bingo night. In case you were not able to come, we did also collect another $250. So as you saw tonight, we are looking to put all of these funds back into the Hawthorne community. Just a reminder, we donated the money for the Eagle Net. And now we have the donations going to our summer scholar programs as well. And just a friendly reminder, golf outing, always looking for sponsors, always looking for donations, always looking for volunteers. So if you
014have any of those things or would like more information, please feel free to reach out. We do have a webpage and a newsletter, so make sure you are subscribing. Okay. Thank you so much. Moving on to presentations. As the board requested, I'm going to turn it over to Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Allison Stein and her team to present how AI is going to be integrated into Hawthorne 73. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to share an update on AI integration in Hawthorne District 73. Presenting this evening are two of our teaching and learning directors who assumed leadership of this integration as it transitioned from the Department of Innovation to our department earlier this school year. I'm Stephanie Sitteway and I'm Lauren Boardman. As we stepped into leading with AI, our first
015priority was to evaluate where we stand and where we want to go. To share the district's journey this evening, we will present the purpose of AI in education, early action steps we have taken, how AI is currently being used at Hawthorne, and the development of our AI guidelines as well as our next steps. AI has the potential to enhance and transform education. For teachers, AI minimizes time spent on teaching-related tasks, allowing educators to concentrate more on personalized and differentiated instruction. It also has the ability to analyze data rapidly, identifying useful patterns, strengths, and areas for growth, and it supports the planning of data-driven differentiated learning experiences. For students, AI offers unique learning opportunities, making educational content more accessible to all students. It can deliver customized learning pathways based on student learning data or student interests,
016instant feedback on formative assessments or writing products, and additional learning support in the form of more accessible information, synthesis of information from multiple sources, and idea generation. While we are eager to embrace the advantages that AI in education presents, we are prioritizing safety and maintaining a human-centered approach to learning as we prepare Hawthorne students to become future-ready individuals. And by human-centered, we mean that the student or the staff member is doing the thinking and driving the decision-making when interacting with AI tools. During the 2024-2025 school year, the Department of Innovation launched the ARIES team. The purpose of that committee was to partner with Apple Professional Coaching to unlock the full potential of technology in our classrooms. We use the EEE framework, engage, enhance, extend, and the ARIES team inspires innovation to empower staff and students
017with the most engaging teaching and learning experiences using instructional technology. During this current school year, the directors and the instructional coaches in the Department of Teaching and Learning participated in AI-focused professional conferences, networked with colleagues in neighboring districts, and reviewed literature about AI tools and practices. We also built upon the foundation of ARIES. This year, our ARIES team learning has included on-site visits with our Apple coach, who models intentional use of technology in the classroom, including integrated Apple AI tools. Our focus has shifted from primarily learning from our Apple coach to also learning from each other with our coach's support, allowing us to leverage everyone's areas of expertise. Finally, we have launched a voluntary ARIES subcommittee to learn more about AI in education, develop our AI guidelines, and serve as our AI teacher leaders. This
018slide provides a snapshot of our current AI use in the district. Generative AI, or AI used to create new, original content, is mainly used as a teacher tool. Teachers are exploring Google Gemini, Google Notebook LM, Apple AI, and Magic School to plan engaging and differentiated lessons, as well as create lesson materials like slides or graphic organizers. Traditional AI technology, which supports efficiency, analysis, and accuracy, is used by students and teachers and is often embedded in the tools we already use, like Newsela, Amplify, Canva, HMH, and Seesaw. For example, teachers may use embedded AI to analyze student data and use that information to then assign appropriate lessons on digital learning platforms. Students may use embedded AI as a first form of feedback. After reviewing research from leaders in the field of AI in education, the AI
019subcommittee discussed and provided recommendations for AI use at Hawthorne. Using their input, guidance from DOT Security, and with the help of AI, a draft of Hawthorne AI guidelines has been created. This draft was recently reviewed by our administrative team, who also provided their feedback. Our AI guidelines capture the following essential understandings. The use of AI should be purposeful and result in enhanced learning. Our guiding principles take a human-centered, AI-assisted approach. Responsible use of AI at Hawthorne requires clear and transparent communication around expectations and responsibilities. We are developing tools to support this clarity and promote academic integrity. Safety is our primary responsibility, and we are committed to ensuring safe and ethical use of AI for students and staff in alignment with legal requirements and security recommendations. As the landscape of AI in education continues to change
020and evolve, we will continue to learn and adapt our practices. Our immediate next steps include finalizing the Hawthorne AI use guidelines, recommending specific AI tools for students and staff that support learning and teacher efficiency, developing professional learning for staff and protocols for students, and designing learning for families to promote AI literacy at home. We would like to take a moment to thank our AI ARIES subcommittee. Their thoughtful reflection, practical considerations, and meaningful contributions have been essential in bringing us to where we are today. We would like to note that this presentation was created with the assistance of AI. We would like to thank you for your time this evening and would like to ask if there are any questions. Thank you so much. Mine is really just a favor to ask if you could forward
021us this presentation since it wasn't in the board packet because my eyeballs really can't see that far away. Probably they added a link. It's a link in there. Versus it is. Yeah. Yeah. So if you go to, if you click on the agenda item. Oh, yeah. Normally it shows up as a little paper signal, but it didn't. Okay. Never mind then. Blame the AI. Oh, gotcha. You can download PDFs out of Canva. Never mind. Who else has questions? Maybe one quick one. One of the things that we've covered on at least at work is the value of recognizing a hallucination within an AI model. Does the training for the students and the teachers include that as well so we're not blindly trusting the answers that we get? I see the nods, but. Yes, is the
022short answer to that question. That's definitely going to be part of our professional learning and like explicitly included in our guidelines as well. Thank you. So just to confirm, are you speaking of like an LLM? Yes. Okay. Just ensuring that we are keeping. Some of the questions that I had is one, so a few. Like I know we are a Google district, right? As kids are getting used to AI and getting smart about it, we know it's happening, that children are turning to AI to, let's say, assist with writing maybe an assignment or answering questions. And I know at this time Google does not offer any kind of AI detection, but I know there are other applications out there. Is this anything that we're looking to take into consideration? Again, going around, you know, things
023being safe and as well as ethical. So we are including some very clear ways to help support both teacher and student understandings of when and how to utilize AI in assignments. And then right now at this moment, we're not looking at any of those AI detection tools simply because there's also a lot of conflicting information out there and how accurate those tools are. And so many times those detection tools can be fooled very easily or even have identified like fully human created work as AI work. And so we would want to make sure that if we were going in any direction of that sort, we would be utilizing it appropriately. Yeah, I think it's something that we need to write into our plan long term and just not let that slip through the cracks. Just
024because I do see it happening through teachers, through my own like people in my own personal life. So even if they are not necessarily 100%, they at least facilitate a discussion that could happen between let's say a student and a parent. And we understand that kids at this age, they're going to make these mistakes, but it's great that they can learn from them now early on and have those discussions. And also they do know that that layer does sit there. So it could make them reconsider some things. Another question I had unless somebody else had. From a timeline perspective. So AI, it is coming fast. It is here already. So I do see that there is quite a few like next steps that are listed out. So what is your timeline for completion? And then
025even then I would assume we would have to revisit this at an annual basis. This work will be ongoing, right? There's no completion. There's no end point. Our ARIES AI subcommittee will need to be meeting on an ongoing basis, continuing to collect feedback, continuing to make updates because AI is continuing to grow and change. So we need to be responsive to that. But as far as some of these deliverables, for example, you talked about like the outline of when you're going to formally create documentation of these things. When do we anticipate for that to be completed? Many of the documents that Stephanie and Lauren mentioned are already drafted as they shared. And the next ARIES meeting is in May. And then we're planning on some possible summer work as well so that we're prepared for
026rollout for next school year. Okay. Thank you. Yep. It's essentially a ditto. At your own devices, what frequency do you feel you'd be coming back in front of the board to give an update of our progress against your next step? It sounds like you guys already have a couple of milestones coming up in May, maybe some summer work. So an assumption here is that it'll be integrated in updates on behalf of Dr. Hannigan and in your department just as we know how you guys are progressing and coming back at critical points to present. So I think I'm good. Anybody else have any questions? Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. All righty. Moving on to discussion items. I'm going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent of business finance and business operations, Ms. Jennifer Aiken
027to discuss the agenda items related to the business department. Good evening. The business office has six discussion items to bring to the board for consideration this evening. I'd like to start with a brief presentation on the county school facility sales tax, often referred to as the CSFT and discuss the potential financial impact for Hawthorne. The presentation will explain what the tax is, how it will work, and what it could mean for the district if voters in Lake County were to approve it. As always, let us begin with the Hawthorne mission, learning for all, everyone, every day. Everything we do from curriculum to capital planning is grounded in supporting students and ensuring strong learning environments. An exemplary school district develops people, strengthens professional learning communities, and fosters a positive culture. Safe, updated, and well-maintained facilities are
028essential to achieving that mission. The purpose of tonight's presentation is to provide an overview of the county school facility sales tax, or CSFT, and outline how it could impact our district. We'll review what the tax is, how it works, potential revenue for district 73, and the process that would be required before it could appear on the ballot for Lake County voters to consider. The CSFT is a funding option that was authorized by the Illinois legislature in 2007. It allows counties outside of Cook County to adopt a 1% sales tax dedicated exclusively to school facility purposes. This tax cannot be implemented unless it is approved by voters across the entire county. Currently, 58 of Illinois's 102 counties have adopted this tax as a way to help support school infrastructure. I know this is really small, but
029I had to fit it on the slide. Here's a quick map of Illinois. The counties in green have already approved the CSFT. The blue counties have tried to pass it, but it did not give voter approval. The gold counties are planning to go to referendum in November 2026, and the counties in white have not adopted CSFT at this point. So what does the tax apply to? If approved, the CSFT would apply a 1% sales tax, to retail purchases that are already subject to Illinois sales tax. Examples would include retail purchases, restaurant purchases, and online purchases delivered within the county. This is the same type of purchase base that most local sales taxes already apply to. It's also important to understand what the tax does not apply to. The tax does not apply to groceries, prescription
030medications, or titled property such as vehicles, boats, or trucks. These exemptions are defined under Illinois law and are consistent across counties that have adopted the facility tax. Again, another little slide, sorry. I just wanted to show, this slide shows all the municipalities within Lake County and what their current tax rate is as of October 22nd, 2025. At this time, the sales tax in Vernon Hills is 7.25. The CSFT is often referred to as a penny tax because it generates a very small amount of revenue on individual purchases. To help illustrate this, we have a couple of examples. For an $8 fast food purchase, an additional cost would be 8 cents. A $45 purchase would add 40 cents, and a $65 purchase would add 65 cents to that. Penny jar. Groceries and vehicles would not be
031subject to this tax. So we have some estimates based on 2025 Lake County sales projections. We don't have the exact numbers yet, but projections approximately $103 million could be collected annually and distributed among all school districts in Lake County. Lake County has approximately 115,000 students with District 73's enrollment of about 3,430 students. We estimate the potential annual revenue to be $3.6 million. So what does that mean? What could that support? For District 73, funding through the CSFT could help support a number of facility-related needs. This could include building maintenance, safety and security upgrades, technology infrastructure, and major building systems such as HVAC or roofing projects. Having a dedicated facility revenue source can also help preserve operating funds that support students, staff, and classroom programs. One of the goals of this CFST is to reduce our
032reliance on property taxes, while still ensuring that we can maintain safe, modern facilities for our staff, students, and community. According to a report from PGAV Planners dated December 29th, 2025, about 52% of retail transactions in Lake County are generated by people who live outside of the county. That means a significant portion of the spending here happens from visitors and shoppers from other communities. A 1% sales tax would allow the cost of maintaining county facilities to be shared by both residents and visitors who shop in Lake County, rather than relying on primarily local property taxpayers. For our district, this creates a more sustainable funding approach. It helps ensure that we continue to invest in facility maintenance, technology infrastructure, and safety improvements, while protecting operating dollars that directly support students, teachers, and classroom programs. In short, it
033allows us to maintain the infrastructure of our schools, of the schools that depend on, sorry, messed that up. In short, it allows us to maintain the infrastructure of our schools and reduce pressure on the property taxes in protecting educational resources. So what's the process for getting this on the ballot? School districts representing at least 51% of the countywide student enrollment must adopt a resolution requesting that the be placed on the ballot. Hawthorne enrollment represents approximately 3% of countywide student enrollment. Those resolutions will be submitted to the Lake County Regional Office of Education, which will then work with the Lake County clerk to place the referendum question before the voters. The ballot language would look like the slide. Shell or retailers occupation tax and a service occupation tax commonly referred to as a sales tax be
034imposed at the rate of 1% to be used exclusively for school facility purposes in Lake County, Illinois. Currently, districts across Lake County are discussing the potential for this referendum. If districts representing the required enrollment adopt resolutions in the spring of 2026, the referendum could potentially appear on the fall ballot in 2026. If approved by voters, this tax could begin generating revenue as early as fall 2027. So just to wrap it up, some key takeaways. CSFT could generate 3.6 million annually for district 73. It could provide a dedicated funding source for school facilities, and this would allow both residents and visitors to share in the cost. In closing, this CSFT or penny tax represents a potential opportunity to create a sustainable funding source dedicated to school facility improvements while maintaining the district's commitment to fiscal responsibility.
035At this time, I welcome any questions that the board might have. I have a question. I know you said that it's estimated 103 million would be collected, and our revenue could be about 3.6. What is the math behind how they figure out, is it just like a per student dollar amount, and like how do they figure, like what's the dollar amount that they, or how do they come to that number, do you know? It's all based on estimates right now, but looking at the counties that have passed it, the tax is collected and it's distributed on a per pupil basis. So it would be the same from school to school, the same dollar amount? Correct. So if our enrollment per head, if you want to put it that way, it would be the same. Thank
036you. You're welcome. I guess just a timeline clarification. Should school districts not decide one way or the other this summer, the resolutions that are passed would continue to accumulate, and this could also end up on a ballot in April or next fall or whatever. It is possible if we don't get enough resolutions this year. It could come back next year and we could try again. We'd have to start over each year? We would have to start over each year. Okay, so it's not like there's that, what, that nationwide popular vote compact where they're just accumulating states. It's not like that at all? No. Okay. And it resets on a calendar year basis? Correct. Irregardless of all election cycles? That's what they shared last week. I can ask more questions, but that's what they shared. If
037we weren't to collect all the resolutions this year to take it to a referendum, we would come back next year with the same questions. I guess because it helps with the urgency, like if there is any or not. Well, yeah, and I guess just to jump into that, and I know that you have like a proposed timeline with seasons and not months. Like have we been given by the regional office of ed or anybody, have we been given like a hard deadline of when school is down? Yes, school districts were asked to get the resolutions passed no later than June, so we're trying to all do this at the same time. Most of the neighboring school districts are doing a presentation in March or April with the board voting in April or May. Got it.
038So this is we're working in tandem with the Lake County Superintendent Group so that it's not as if like Hawthorne's taking this public tonight and then Stevenson's not taking it till June. Like we're all trying to time it up so that we're not all going to be exact timeline, but. I just want to make sure, because I think you mentioned this at site and facilities when I was there, but even if we vote no, if enough districts vote yes and this passes, we still get the money. Correct. If 51% of the districts pass a resolution, it goes to referendum, it passes. And everybody benefits. We still benefit. They're just asking us to not rely on the big districts to pass it. Yeah, no, I get it. I think a point of clarification though is our
039role in this is to support or not support the motion to get it on a ballot. Correct. Then you turn it to the elected. Correct. To the community. It's really not our decision. We're enabling them to make a decision. Correct. It's our decision whether to put it on the ballot. Yes, but we don't make the final decision. Correct. That would be with any referendum. Yeah, but I think it's just because it's coming to us and it's for us and it sounds a lot like us, but it's not our call. Right. We control one lever, but we don't control the final lever. Yeah. Right. And yeah, I mean, but going back a few, I think it was somewhere in here. On the ballot, this would appear under the regional office of education, not under Hawthorne Community
040School District 73. Correct. Like I do not want this under our. It would not be our referendum. I had a different question. I know I've been peppering, but. Go ahead. Don't expect to have it for today, but given that there's already 58 counties that have adopted this and we're talking about the opportunity this brings additional revenue to help us reassess our reliance on property tax and future levies. Have we seen, have there been any good examples of where districts, similar districts or districts have been able to leverage this to then offset when they go into levy and like, have we seen communities use this in the attentive? Oh, this is an additional income. So instead of asking the community another way through a different tax vehicle, this tax is offsetting our ask and we're taking
041advantage of that versus getting this and continuing to increase the levy. So what I've heard so far, this helps to prevent future referendums. So basically you're keeping your facilities up. This is what we've seen normally with school districts where we go out for referendum because we need to do facility updates. Having this dedicated money that you can only spend on facilities really drives home that we need to keep up our buildings. You can't spend it on anything else. You cannot spend it on salaries. You cannot direct it anywhere else other than your buildings and Hawthorne already dedicates 2.5 million every year towards capital projects. So this could replace that 2.5 million and then that 2.5 million could be spent in other educational instructional places that the board sees fit. Okay. Did that answer your question?
042So it's been seen more as a referendum deterrent for those counties that have used it? Correct. And for operational because you're essentially being able to take if like the operation we currently have where we allocate the 2.5 for facilities, we're then able to use that for the other expenses of the district as opposed to going out for a referendum to operate the facilities. So it's twofold. Yeah. I guess what I'm saying is we don't have clear stories where, yeah that's fair. Anybody else have any other questions? And if we think of anything, I mean obviously we're not voting on this until April so we have time. Okay. Thank you so much. I have a couple more things. Yeah, I was gonna say next. Three of them are contract renewals. So our classed food service management
043has submitted a renewal proposal reflecting a 3% increase over the previous year. This represents the second renewal under the current agreement. The proposed adjustment aligns with the standard annual increases that will allow the district to maintain consistent food service operations for students while continuing our partnership with Quest. Our second one is Julio Landscaping. They've submitted a renewal proposal for the upcoming year and they actually changed their numbers from last year. They are proposing to keep pricing at the same level which I deeply appreciate. Maintaining the current pricing structure allows the district to continue receiving consistent landscaping services without that increase in cost. The facility department recommends the approval of this renewal to ensure continuity of services for the 2026-2027 school year and waste disposal. This was already agreed to when we did our three-year contract.
044I just want to bring it up again because it is a 10% increase which is significant for our waste disposal. This will be the final year of this agreement and the facility department will conduct a formal bid process in the spring of 2027. Our next item is our custodial bid results. The facilities and business departments conducted a formal bid process for custodial services this winter. 13 prospective vendors expressed interest in providing services to the district and eight vendors ultimately submitted formal bids. After a thorough review and evaluation of responsive bids, the facilities department recommends the board approve the contract with GSF in the amount of $1,347,537.98 annually. This equates to approximately $112,295 per month. Overall, this is a 2.5% increase compared to the district's current monthly custodial service costs. And our last item, disposal of
045some technology devices. The technology department has identified a number of Apple devices that are no longer usable for instruction or operational purposes. The executive director of technology, Kevin Colts, has engaged Diamond Assets, a technology buyback company, to purchase these devices at a fair market value. Pending approval from the board of education to dispose of the devices, the technology department will transfer the equipment to Diamond Assets for evaluation and processing. Following inspection, the district anticipates to receive somewhere between $5,349 to $8,915, depending on the grading and overall condition of the devices. Does the board have any questions I can answer? Anybody have any questions? Just a general question. When you're talking about waste management, and I know we're on contract, but we're talking about reevaluating when that contract is up, are there other local providers? We
046had three that bid, but it's very limited, which is why we have a 10% increase. Got it. Any other questions? Okay, thank you. Dr. Hannigan, is there a superintendent's report tonight? Not really, but I hope everybody has a very great spring break. Everybody has an opportunity to relax. That concludes my report. We appreciate that. Tonight's consent agenda consists of board meeting minutes from February 19th, 2026, closed session minutes from February 19th, 2026, an expenditure report of March 18th, 2026, an Amazon expense report of March 18th, 2026, the MasterCard report of January 21st, 2026, the Treasurer's Report of January 2026, and a personnel report consisting of 10 new hires, 14 resignations, 5 leaves of absence, 1 retirement, and 1 change of status. Does anybody need any items taken out and voted on separately? Can you please
047remove the February 19th documents? Yes. Removing items 7.1 and 7.2. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve item 7.1 and 7.2 on the consent agenda? So moved. Second. Motion by Carl, seconded by George. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Joel Finfer. Aye. George Feavitt. Aye. Michael Engel. Aye. Julie Clifford. Aye. Carl Borgers. Aye. Robin Klieg. Julie, did you want to abstain instead? Do you want to change your vote? Sorry. Sorry. Julie Clifford, abstain. Robin Klieg. Aye. That is 5 ayes, 1 abstain. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the remaining consent agenda items as presented? So moved. Second. Motion by George, seconded by Michael. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Joel Finfer. Aye. Carl Borgers. Aye. George Feavitt. Aye. Julie Clifford. Aye. Michael Engel. Aye. Robin Klieg. Aye. Motion
048passes 6 ayes, 0 nays. Moving on to the action items. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Adam Palmer to review the first action item on the agenda. Thank you. Tonight we are asking for the board's approval of the 2026-27 staffing plan that I presented at our last meeting. In this plan, based on our projections, we are recommending no additional general education staffing, a reduction of 3 classroom positions at the elementary level through attrition due to enrollment, and no additional staffing in student services or the multilingual staffing. This time I'd be happy to answer any questions the board may have. Does anybody have any questions for Adam? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Now I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Allison Stein to review the last action item on the agenda. The business
049office would like to apply for a waiver to reclassify Middle School North from a targeted Title I school to school-wide status. We recommend that the board approve the Middle School North school-wide plan, at which time it will be signed by Dr. Hannigan and kept on file with our Title I records. The plan is only sent to ISBE if requested. Does anybody have any questions for Allison? Okay. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the 2026-2027 staffing plan? So moved. Second. Motion by Michael, seconded by Carl. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Michael Engel? Aye. George Vivid? Aye. Joel Finfer? Aye. Julie Clifford? Aye. Carl Borchers? Aye. Robin Clique? Aye. Motion passes 6 ayes 0 nays. Can I get a motion to approve the Title I school-wide waiver for Middle School North?
050So moved. I'm sorry, was that Joel? Oh, George. Who seconded? I'll second. Okay, thank you. Motion by George, seconded by Michael. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Carl Borchers? Aye. Michael Engel? Aye. Julie Clifford? Aye. Joel Finfer? Aye. George Vivid? Aye. Robin Clique? Aye. Motion passes 6 ayes 0 nays. Back to you, Dr. Hannigan. We've had two FOIA requests since our last Board of Education meeting, which has been identified in section 9.2 of the agenda. Thank you. Are there any additional topics the board would like to discuss at a future meeting? I would just like to say, you know, continue to receive our AI updates as things are more formalized. Okay, sounds good. Anybody else? Okay, with no further business to discuss in open session, can I get a motion to adjourn to
051close session pursuant to the Open Meetings Act Exemption 1 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, 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
052accordance with this act. 5 ILCS 120 slash 2C1. So moved. Second. Motion by Carl, seconded by Joel. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That's six ayes, zero nays. It's 7 52. Is everybody going to be ready at eight o'clock for a closed session? Okay, so we'll recess for a few minutes. And have a good spring break. We are only going to come back in an open session to adjourn the meeting, so no further business will occur. Thank you.