001Call to order. Regular board meeting for March 19th, 2025. Roll call, please. Mr. Ferrari here. Mr. Here Mr. Mr. here. Please stand for pledge of 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. Thank you everyone for coming. It's good to see you. At least you're inside and warm and dry. At this time, I' like the members of the board to look over to regular meeting minutes for February 19th, 2025. If there are no additions or corrections, I need a motion of approval. Move. Second. Mr. PTO. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Mr. Murva. Yes. Dr. Lynch. Mr. Bport. Yes. Mr. Sar. Yes. Uh, under recognitions and comments from visitors. We're going to start out
002recognitions. And this is this is my favorite part of board. I'll be very honest. I say this every year, every month, but I'll be honest with you. when we can, you know, honor the achievements of our students, faculty, and staff, that is definitely the highlight for me. And tonight, we're going to honor 22 individuals uh from music, the athletes, the sponsors, the teachers, the coaches, and this is this is good evening. Uh we're going to start out with the uh the choir and the band. Our choir choir directors Natalie Barooi and Jeremy Stevens is our band director. Uh and we have state honors from the ILMEA conference. Uh at this time I'd like to introduce the student honores from the ILMEA conference. Uh when I call your name, please come up, meet the board, and
003we have a certificate of achievement for you. Uh Mr. Alton Beck, All State Jazz Band, bass trombone. [Applause] Congratulations. Great job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Victoria Campbell, Future Music Educator Seminar. [Applause] Congratulations. Great job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Nathan Ruiz. All State Choir tener [Applause] one. Great job. Nice job. Great job. Congratulations. McKenna Fanning, All State Band Bass Clarinet. Congratulations. Great job. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Christian Lindberg, honors chorus. Base one. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Nathan Lepers, honors chorus, base two. Congratulations. Great job. Congratulations. Well done. It's all right. throw me off my game. Their teachers, Mrs. Natalie Barooi is ill this evening. She's not here. So, give her a round of applause. Our band director, Mr. Jeremy Stevens. Again, much appreciated. That's pretty. Nice job. Next up is our girls bowling team. They ended up fifth in the
004state, but that is just the end of it, the crescendo. They started as a four-time conference champion. They have not lost a dual meet since 2021. So, four years they've been undefeated in the conference in dual meets. And along the way, Cameron Sapinsky bowled a 300, you know, and she also finished eighth in the state. So, what a great year for our grow bowlers. And since we're so young, I can only anticipate that we'll be back here next year doing the same thing. At this time, I'd like the Bowlers to come forward as you're called. Kaylee Harper. Congratulations. Great job. Thank you. Nice job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Nice job. Thank you. You're welcome. Congratulations, Caitlyn [Applause] Miller. Congratulations. Great job. Congratulations. Well done. Congratulations. Evelyn Miller. Milton. Evelyn Wilton. Excuse me. Not here. Cameron Asapinsky. Congratulations.
005Great job. I It took me three games. Congratulations. Well done. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Cameron Perah is also the birthday girl today. Today is her birthday. Happy birthday. Congratulations. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Congratulations. Congratulations. Happy birthday. Should be a St. Pat's birthday. Look at that red hair. Adfree. Congratulations. Congratulations. Great job. Well done. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Anelise [Applause] Ricky. Congratulations. Nice job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations, Leah. [Applause] Rickyulations. Congratulations. Well done. Congratulations. Congratulations. Assistant Coach Jeff Miller. [Applause] Congratulations. Great job. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Great job. Keep up the good work. Assistant Coach Christy Leaks. Thank you. Congratulations. Great job. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Congratulations. Great job. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Thank you. Head coach Aaron Gunther. [Applause] Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks.
006Great job. Appreciate it. Nice job out there. Thank you. Great job. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. on the on the girls wrestling. Kaylee Damian Damianic. Wait a second. Wait, wait a second. Wait a second. Oh, you stay there. You stay right there. She's a two-time qualifier for the state. She qualified as a freshman and this year as a junior. This year she finished fifth with a 34 and4 record. three of her losses to her wrestlers that placed higher than her in the state. She's the first medalist for girls wrestling in LP LP school history. [Applause] Great job. Thank you. Well done. Congratulations. Great job. Thank you. Keep up. Congratulations. Assistant Coach Nolan Keaney. [Applause] Thank you. Thanks. You're welcome. Great job. Thank you. Nice job. Thanks. Thank you. Assistant coach Rock Mcnite. Congratulations. Great job.
007Nice job. Assistant coach Lucas Burus. [Applause] Great job. Head coach Matt Rebels. Red's great job. Can I put the with the bandage on her head on the screen in the hallways from the wrestling match. We'll do green light. Nice job. Green light. I like that. Great job. Another round of applause for honores. We're going to do some photos. Oh yeah. Is there anything that you're being done new this year? I mean we bring new people in. Been a pretty pretty good speaker today. Just saying. What' you have? Um his name was Bezy. Um, but it is bring some music inspirational. Not $8 million. 1,500. That's um the company's through Ohio, but he could be through Chicago. We had so many today. Like one came from Madison, Wisconsin. So, I'm like, oh, Milwaukee, not Madison. Um
008I think he was I think he was coming from Chicago I think but I mean drove to Ottawa so driving to nothing. So but yeah just don't mind me. We had a band today that did they had classical they're called classical blast and they had some string instruments and they went it's from Bach to rock and the kids just went crazy how they can play on you know because some of the know some of those instruments kids are yeah they're fun. Are all of the events or the activities during the school day or evening events? Uh the evening event is Friday night. Our kids student talent like the like a talent show Friday night but everything is during the day. Is that count show is that in the gymnasium? No, it's in everything's in the
009auditorium. How many seats does your auditorium hold? 892. That's it. You know, you know, I have never been in the theater at Ottawa. Oh, it's it's too it's got the balcony as well, which is nice. Like when we go to places for speech, they have these beautiful auditoriums. Maybe seat 400, 500, you know, but there's really we don't have the sides like you do here, but the sides aren't the best seats. So So how many good seats do you have in in your auditorium? That's kind of unique to both of our both of our buildings, right? Kingman, our fellow. Yeah, it's awesome. It just it really is remarkable. Yeah. Like Yeah. We like Rochelle is a lovely new building. I don't like it. There's no feel to it. Like you walk in here, there's a
010feel. You walk into Ottawa, there's a feel. There's tradition. You Yeah. You walk into Rochelle, it's it's like And Yorkville is beautiful. No feel. No feel. No. I think we're fortunate that our communities have been so supportive of maintaining and renovating and Yeah, I agree. I agree. Well, I love your courtyard, you know, and everyone is still open. Me, too. You know, and I did when it was I mean, to me, just added a whole other level. When I started working there, it was a parking lot. Oh, really? I forgot that at one point. It was a parking lot. Yeah. I'll tell you what, though. Even though it's enclosed in glass, she's a little brisk. Do you get a wind tunnel through there? Well, it's just cold. It's not heated. Yeah, it's and the Yeah,
011the bottom bottom bottom. Okay. Yeah, it's it's a little brisk. So, because you can get to all of your buildings, extensions indoor, right? No one has to walk outside. Well, no, for our egg building. All the egg buildings. Yeah. Across the egg building and autos. That's on the west side. East side. East side. Egg and autos. Right. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Everything else you can get on the inside. I can't wait to hear I can't wait to hear. Oh, his son's here. I spy with my eye. Your son, Scotty. I spy with my eye. Oh, there's April. I didn't see April. I spy with my eye both of your children. Okay, tonight for our divisional spotlight, we have our CTE program. Uh, Mr. Andrew Wasinski has students here. give a presentation. Uh, good evening everyone.
012I am here to talk about not only our PLTW engineering class, but also our CAD class. I'm luckily enough uh joined by a number of students kind of from every walk of life as far as those classes go. I have Mr. Noah Ruiz, who you've already met, who is an amazing uh musical and choir person. Uh kind of cannot compete with him. Also have Ben Nichols, right? Nicholson. Nicholson. Sorry, my apologies. Uh Jameson Hill and then Kian Atkins. So, you're gonna be hearing from them very shortly about kind of their specific classes that uh I've kind of put on them. But just to kind of do a brief quick overview, if you are not aware of Project Lead the Way, it is a nonprofit organization that deals in STEM curriculum mainly kind of their big
013bread and butter is engineering. They also do things like um computer science which Mr. Beerus here is teaching the PLTW computer science classes. So, they kind of cover everything. They even go down into elementary schools and middle schools to where they kind of bring students up into an engineering mindset that really helps develop them into more well-rounded individuals. We focus, at least on my end, on the engineering side. So, it's kind of fun. The great thing about it is their approach that they have us go with, which is an activity project, problem based learning approach. So, I typically don't have to do things like this where I'm standing in front of a bunch of people talking at them. Uh, it does happen every now and then, but for the most part, we go through different
014small activities and slowly build on it until we do major projects at the end of each kind of section. This allows the students kind of see the skills de evolving over time and kind of bring everything together in a nice way at the end. Right now here what we have as far as a pathway for engineering students is they start out as freshmen in our essentials of engineering class move into intro to engineering and then from that point they can kind of split. Typically, we see them go into principles of engineering and then into civil engineering and architecture. Uh they can kind of go either way on that. So, if they're more interested on the civil side or the architectural side, they can jump right into that and really get their hands in with that.
015Both those classes I like to see lead into CAD where we can take those skills that they've learned and really refine them down in the CAD programs that we work with as they are a major part of any kind of engineer architect kind of all over those areas. It also is very nice to watch their skills really kind of evolve from what you see in the engineering class to a more kind of fourstar kind of CAD method. Again, this just kind of runs down essentials of engineering. Really, it is learning the basics, kind of a great overview of all the different engineering kind of career paths that they can go into. Intro to engineering design gets into the designing where they are figuring out how to actually make stuff and problem solve through issues that
016they run into. Principles of engineering, we really hit the math hard on that and go into the mechanics of engineering and learn how things kind of interact with each other. Civil engineering and architecture is looking at the world around us, homes as well as city development and uh commercial architecture and I have it listed twice. Uh that is supposed to be the CAD one where it talks about the fact that in CAD they are able to get dual credit with IBCC as well as get a taste of all the different styles of CAD. It's not just 3D modeling. It's not just 2D. It's not just architecture. It's them learning how to work in all those programs at the same time. So, quickly to kind of go over essentials of engineering again, it is learning the
017basics, learning the design process, getting their feet wet in that whole kind of field. We look at everything from simple circuits to 3D modeling to block coding, which is kind of the beginners way of programming. computers pro uh programming robots. Uh a little bit into civil uh the world of civil with uh redeveloping not only interstate exchangeways but taking a shopping center and redeveloping it to fit more of a futuristic lifestyle. And all this is designed around teams and design challenges where it's on the students and I kind of put them in competition with each other which tends to bring out the kind of drive in them we'll say. Uh but the big one in all these classes is the design process. This is a method of thinking of figuring out what the issue is,
018coming up with a plan to fix it, kind of refining those ideas down into a usable method, constructing and testing prototypes, evaluating how those prototypes worked out and whether or not things need to be changed and if they do, kind of redeveloping them in a new way. And then the big one like this is presenting to the audience and they have to learn how to take the complex ideas of engineering and bring it into a world that the average person can understand because you can say all the 10-centent words you want but if people don't understand it there's no point in even talking. So one of the big projects in essentials is an emergency survival kit. We look at natural disasters and what the human body needs to kind of survive over a three-day period
019and also take into account the idea of you just went through a horrible experience. We want to make sure that this kit is allowing you to live in some comfort. We're not going to be able to solve everything, but at least we can take away the biggest worries of what am I going to do for food? What am I going to do for drinking water? And can I kind of clean myself up? Not only do they 3D model it, but then we also go into building a physical kind of scale model of it to see how everything fits together and whether or not if we take it and kind of shake it up, what's going to happen. Is it perfect? No. But it gets them into the idea of designing and thinking about the whole
020system, not just does it look cool. This is personally one of my favorites. It's looking at a shopping center. You can kind of see it in there a little bit faded out, but it's the idea of we are moving into the future. Things like automated vehicles are going to become a reality. We can take something that's kind of outdated, and the example I use in class is Peru Mall. Right now, Peru Mall is kind of hanging on by a threat. we can take that whole area and redevelop it into something new. I like to go with the idea of turning it into a retirement facility where people can have apartments built into the stores and have basically their own community inside of there so that if it's whether like we we have today, they won't
021miss a doctor's appointment. They won't miss going to the store. They don't have to worry about calling a family member to come pick them up, to take them out. Everything's kind of contained in there. Then we could take the parking lots and turn them into parks, places for them to walk. Also, it helps with the idea of watershed. We have a lot of storm runoff in those areas. So, being able to have that water get absorbed back into the ground is a big thing. And you can kind of see uh it's not as bright as what I was hoping, but you can kind of see a little bit of the redevelopment that one of the students did this year, cutting out a lot of the parking lots and turning them into fields and minimizing the
022roadways for those automated vehicles. Now, I'm going to pass it off. In intro to engineering, we take a deeper dive into the design process and even learn how to even learn concept sketching and how to use calipers. We also collect data and we go even further into 3D modeling. Our first uh unit, we design a fling machine and then we track the data and organized charts to then create a carnival game that we present to the babysitters class uh in the Dolan building. Early childhood developers said we recall you can call whatever you'd like. That's great. Uh then we do reverse engineering where we take apart uh an everyday item and document all the parts and then we model it in CAD and try to develop an updated and more improved version. This year we
023did flashlights. Very cool. Fancy one with multiple lights. And then our final unit is we get to design a chair. Um we identify a chair in the school that we feel is uncomfortable or we just don't like where it's at and we try to redesign it and make it more comfortable or just a better fit for the area. We go around and interview other students to get their opinion on what they think would be better for that area and then we get measurements uh try to make the chairs accessible to all types of people and then we go on the computer and model them and then we finally get to build them using a bud budget and then Mr. W's favorite part he gets to stress test the chairs after all the for all the
024headache we give him throughout the year. I'm happy to say that no chair has lasted more than seven minutes. All right. And then for principles of engineering, it builds heavily upon uh intro to engineering except we work in with more complex projects. We bring more uh like programming and a lot of math back into it. So we actually look at the more engineering like job aspect side of things. What you would do as an engineer. Uh, one of the first things we do is robotics programming, which we start out with making little cars that we can control from the buttons on top or one of my favorites was we had ones with sensors where if it would detect something in its path, it would turn and move away from it, which incorporated a lot of
025coding in different statements. And this was our big project for that unit was we designed a claw machine which it's about a thousand different things all coming together. And then we moved into hydraulics which we just finished where we got to build had a feeling that was going to happen. Yeah. We had to build some hydraulic arms, which was another one of my favorite projects because it brings into Okay. brings into view like a very major engineering aspect, especially in the industrial world. It's fun to play with. I know. You don't drop it. Skip the slide. Did I skip the slide? Or not. Or All right. All righty. Next is civil. And this takes into account the actual like personal side of it where it's like residential and commercial. So this is your school buildings
026like one of these or a normal house. We learn different types which is commercial and residential. But first we start with actual cy civil engineering and architecture which is um which is identifying different styles of architecture. So you can see here there's Spanish style and there's like a whole entire grid of styles that you could do. I think it's like a 6x5. And that will be our first unit is ident making slides about three of the different um architect or styles of architecture that you can build and out of the three we choose one to make into an actual model and that is one of our first units. And then after that when it's the second half of the first semester we begin going to 3D CAD software like Reddit. This includes our personal design
027projects. So we learn through PLTW how to use Revit and create dimensions and everything on it and that we use that to then go into our kind of like final for the semester which is um a client house. So we ask a teacher um sort of questions that of what house they want to be built and then we model it on the computer to look something like this and it's really cool because you can do so many things with it. You first it's an unlimited amount of square feet. So, if you really want, you could make a mansion or you can make a tiny shed. But the amount of rooms that you could have also unlimited. We can have a kitchen, uh, six closets, five bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a garage, a basement even. And we
028can make it any story we want. And so this helps us with creating residential. A part of this we learn how se or how walls are kind of made. So everything that goes into a wall like insulation, weatherproofing and the actual wood on the outside or the exterior. We also learned that with roof with asphalt shingles and weather proofing there too. And in this semester we go more into the commercial side of things. So we observe building and land codes of say Illinois and we do calculations of stresses and large builds. So we get into the cost or cost assessments and really material stuff. So again, numbers. Um, and we make pretty much this. And this is going to be a unit that we work on pretty much all of the semester kind of like
029simultaneously. And so this helps us learn everything we need to do. It shows us difference the difference between residential and commercial walls. It shows us um we Oh, sorry. We also and this is a separate unit we are just going over we do field surveying. So, um I think just t no last Friday we spent our class period surveying the land out there um and finding out the distance between everything and getting all the numbers so that we can pretty much simulate how it's going to look if we put something like see this warehouse here and that warehouse actually is our part of our project. So our project is Keystone Library and this takes place in Indiana. So we have to go over the building land codes of Indiana and so every place is different.
030So we always have to look at that. All right. All right. Okay, I'm going to introduce our CAD program. In our CAD program, we start off learning hand sketching, sketching by hand. It's not done as much anymore, but it's still very useful for learning the fundamentals of dimensioning and drafting your sketches and knowing what you are making and how to make it. I need to go back, please. We also work with Thank you. We work in our program called Inventor which is a 3D modeling software. However, this program does expand and teach us how to use many different kinds of 3D modeling programs to move on and move on in our career futures as well. We also get dual credit via our AutoCAD program which is two-dimensional modeling. We get dual credit with IVCC. We
031also get OSHA certified by taking a 10-hour general certification course, which can help us get a job in the CAD area in the future. We also competed in the IVCC edible car contest, which helped us just I'm not sure if you can see it there, but we 3D modeled each of our individual cars in the CAD class. So instead of just building our cars, we also had to detailed model them and get them presented for the judges of the contest. We work at Inventor a lot, which is like I said before, a 3D modeling program. We also work with 3D printing, which also leads into um tolerancing, which is making sure that your parts will fit together after they've been printed. A lot of things can change when you 3D print them. So you need
032to predict how they're going to behave once you print them out so that they can still fit together because in the program everything fits perfectly but that's not how it is in real life. We also collaborate with the interior design class to create custom furniture which helps us work with clients to understand how working with them will be, what we can do to compromise with them and just how it is going to be in future careers in the CAD area because we will be working with clients a lot in our jobs. AutoCAD like I previously mentioned is a 2D modeling software. We do technical drawings in it. We also can create floor plans for houses. which leads into Revit, which is a residential home design 3D modeling software. Using the collaboration with creating the furniture
033we made with the interior design class, we can input these into custommade houses in Revit, which helps us learn how to design a house and flow everything together and generally learn into more architectural side, but it's not as specific and detailed as the civil engineering class. I'm g finish it off with one more kind of shout out to the edible car contest. One, it's been something that I've done with the CAD class ever since I started here and the students has always been fantastic at it. Uh, not only do their designs really kind of work out nicely, but the big thing is their personality and their kind of respectfulness with other schools. This year there was over 200 people at the edible car contest. There was around 60 middle school cars. So, it's very hard
034to win a competition when you are going up against that much uh competition. They still have a good time. They are very respectful. They kind of cheer everybody. This year, Ben and Jameson got second place for the high school in design, which I thought was pretty good. The car that you see on there is my personal car. I decided to go with a Flintstone style with the Flintstones vitamins because I'm weird like that. Uh, I did get second place for the teacher faculty design. I'm still terrified of the Twinkie car that I am constantly being told about is going to make a comeback and just demolish us all. So, I'm I'm really waiting on that. I do want to give uh one a shout out to the students. I mean, they are what makes these
035classes fun for me. I really enjoy it and their excitement and what they can do and just the evolution of what they're able to model. I mean, this was done by Kian back there, but it's a fully kind of modeled out and almost working flashlight. We're going to be wiring it up and kind of putting an LED into it starting actually tomorrow. But you can see between the flashlight that I showed before and this, the refinement of the skills that they are getting as they are moving through these classes. And I want to give one more shout out to Mrs. Soma out there. It was kind of her idea to do the collaboration between the interior design class and the CAD class and it was I enjoyed it and I want to say at least
036most of the students enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to we're actually going to be starting in the next week or so with the next group of students. U my CAD kids are the same but it's a fresh group of uh clientele that they get to work with. So, it's really exciting to see kind of the evolution of what they have done. I'll ask the normal question. Any questions for me? Great job. All right. Thank you. Okay. Tonight under public comment, uh we have some speakers that signed up to talk. um how this works. Uh you get 5 minutes to present at 4m minute mark. We'll tell you you have one minute left. Uh we appreciate you keep it 5 minutes or less because we have a full agenda. This is a business meeting and
037we have things going on. But with saying that I will tell you the board of education is very interested in what you have to say. So take your time, relax. Nobody up here is going to hit you. Just relax. just come up, you know, talk and have a conversation with us. Uh, first speaker, Alexander Crane. That's fine. Wherever you feel comfortable. Good evening, members of the board. I know it's not in the tonight's agenda, but I'd like to speak about the matter of Mr. Horton. Coach Horton, or as many know him, Senior Horton, is by far the best teacher and coach I've ever had. I've known him nearly since he came to the area as I met him during the soccer summer training in my freshman year. He's by far one of the most trustworthy,
038honest, chill, caring, respectful, and comp compassionate people that I've ever met. He's one of those people that you know that you can talk to and count on at any time. He connects with his students and players and makes you feel like you can trust him. He's passionate about his job as a teacher and coach and is quite easy to tell that he really enjoys what he does. Wherever he is, he has such a he adds such a positive energy all the time. As a teacher, he makes class fun and enjoyable. He teaches Spanish in the best way, speaking only in class. Though, no matter what, he makes sure you understand what is what he's saying before continuing. He spends a lot of time preparing activities to make learning the language not feel boring or tedious.
039Sometimes we'll go out into the hallway needing to remember a phrase and then report it back to our partner who writes it down. We do review games where we group up and compete against each other. Other times, we do around the world, which might be one of the best and most fun ways to review things I've ever done. Also in class, he has music idly playing in the background, which makes it a bit it makes it a bit louder when we have work time, which is a lot better than just silence would be. One of the best things about his class as well is that he rewards you with stickers. When you win a competition or do well on a test, he gives you a sticker. While it's a small thing, it makes his class
040really unique. He encourages everybody in the class to participate and learn. He's always understanding and leaning about everything. I can also tell that he puts time and effort into his lessons plan to make them as enjoyable as possible. I do not think I've ever enjoyed class as much as it is. And as a coach, he embodies every single aspect of being one and more. For one thing, he knows just the right way to be able to push you to higher levels. He gives us tough activities that challenge us, but also improve us. He recognizes he recognizes when we are struggling and offers to help. And he seems to always know how to help each person on the team just the right way. He also is an amazing coach because he will often do the drills
041activities with us. Whether it's conditioning, ball control, scrimmaging, anything, he will nearly always join us. During games, he is quick to point out details we may may have not noticed on the field. He gives us suggestions on how to tweak what we are currently doing if if needed and always helps. His ways of doing so are unique and really make his style of coaching something special. His passion for the game as a whole is is apparent as well and he really enjoys being coached so much. Without him, I probably would not have worked harder to prepare for this year. Heck, I might have not even played the game this year. But something with him just pushed me to find a new level of my ability. He saw something within me that I didn't see within
042myself. And I've never another coach do that. He's definitely my favorite coach of all time. Horton is overall a very likable person. In my opinion, he might be one of the best staff members here at LP and I really do not want to see him go. I think that most people in LP could agree on that. And also, no matter what, I'd still be around him the next couple of years and he would still be just as important to me as he is now. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Alexander. Uh, Giani Barani. Good evening, members of the board. I'm also here to speak on behalf of Mr. Horton. Um, when I first walked into a high school, I was very terrified of world language because it's just it's like stepping into the darkness.
043But as soon as I went to Mr. Horn's room, it all went away because of the calm, tranquil environment. Um, you know, like the soft music playing in the background and the fun activities we get to do. And I think a point of his outstanding performance is how he's able to teach all of us Spanish while only speaking Spanish, which takes a lot of effort and time. Um, but it was it still paid off. You know, it's taught all of us how to really come together and um and I think that depriving the students of such an outstanding um very generous person such as Mr. Hin would be a mistake. So, thank you for your time. Thank you, [Applause] Jilly. And I can't really read the last Higgins. Yes. Okay. First, I would like to
044start with I made a petition. I was going for 100 people to sign. There's 213 people that have signed this petition for him to get back and for him not to be fired or resigned at all. And I'm going to start with my speech now. I am Lily Higgins. I am currently the varsity keeper at at uh the school. I have a disability and I struggle with it both at school and on the soccer field. I have great things to say about Mr. Warren. He understands my challenges and makes an effort to to be knowledgeable about me and my disabilities, offering comfort and support during difficult times. He treats me like the other students, which I appreciate. In fact, is one out of the two teachers I trust fully. Because of my disabilities, I often
045find it hard to trust adults. And in a year, Mr. Horton has built a bond and respect with me that no teachers have built in three years. From what I have witnessed firsthand, Mr. Horton handles the athletes and his students well, very well, and very, very good. He cares deeply about each individual and always strives to be positive to be a positive role model especially in tough times. He often lifts spirits and he often lifts our spirits and our thoughts and of his students and athletes considerably. Mr. Mr. Horton respects not only his students and athletes but also their personality and team and team boundaries. He he has often um I have never seen a more proactive coach and teacher. It would be such a shame if you took away an influenced and optimistic person
046from me and the team and the students. He is a great leader and support and support system in the classroom and on the field and in our community. Today, I hope in speaking to you that I hear all that you hear all the upbeat things I have to say about Mr. Warden and take them to heart and realize how how vital he is to our community and school. Thank you. Thank you, Will. Nathan Papus. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll speak loud enough here. Thank you, esteemed board members. appreciate your time and being here. Uh, Mr. President, it occurred to me that as I looked around this room and saw these young people, I realized this is probably their first exposure to the process and procedure of governance. I think it's fantastic here. More importantly, I
047think it's incredible that I didn't hear a single phone alert or phone call. That has to be historic somewhere. Mr. Mr. President, I also acknowledge that the students who spoke in front of you today, that had been very nerve-wracking, and I commend them for their courage to do so, and I applaud them for their efforts and uh for doing that. With that said, Mr. President, I'd like to just ask the question of how many folks here are here to represent their support for Mr. Horton. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to acknowledge the show of hands, the overwhelming number of folks here in support of Mr. and enter into the meeting record. With that, I yield back my time. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I'd like to say thank you to all the speakers. Very
048well done. Uh next on the agenda is the uh president's report and tonight we go over the superintendent's evaluation. Uh the board evaluated Dr. Rleski uh for the 2004 2005 annual evaluation uh the summary of the evaluation an overall excellent valuation with 3.8 rating out of a four. Uh Dr. Releski meets or exceeds all five goal areas of the superintendent's performance goals. Uh valuation ratings are high in all areas but the strongest in finance, community relations, board relations, and finance. other copy. Uh educational programs is a concern for the board. Uh with the recent load achievement scores, uh goals and objectives from the evaluation. Uh we'd like to see Dr. Dr. Bless work with faculty and staff to establish strategies to strengthen our instructional programs to improve student achievement. Increase delegation of duties to qualified
049personnel to help transition smoothly upon retirement. Continue to build community partnerships to enhance educational programs and facilities of the district. Continue to update short-term and long-term maintenance schedules and plans. The board would also like to see continued the practice of planning and gap analysis to assist an incoming superintendent upon retirement. Upon that, we'd like to see documented systems and finance, educational programs, uh, personnel, human resources, and facility management. Nice job, Dr. Bless. Thank you very much. I appreciate that, Mr. Star, members of the board. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Under finance, I need a motion to approve the bills and payroll for Lasre Township High School. Second, Mr. Cetto, yes. Mrs. Al, Mr. Ferrari, yes. Mr. Tiani, yes. Mr. Murva, yes. Dr. Lynch, yes. Mr. Sar, yes. A motion to approve the bills
050and payroll for the LPI career center. So moved. Second. Mr. Tiani, yes. Mr. Ferrari, yes. Mr. Ruba, yes. Dr. Lynch, yes. Mrs. Al, yes. Mr. PTO. Yes. Mr. Sar. Yes. A motion of approval for the payroll report. So moved. Mr. Merkel. Yes. Mrs. Alar. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Mr. Tiani. Yes. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mr. PTO. Yes. Mr. Sver. Yes. Uh 7.2. Financial records. Are a motion approval of financial records is presented. So move. Second. Mr. Ra. Yes. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Mr. Saliani. Yes. Mrs. Alcorn. Yes. Mr. PTO. Yes. Mr. Server. Yes. There was no correspondence this evening on the board committee reports. 9.1 building grounds committee. Mr. Ferrari. Uh the building and grounds committee met nine days ago on Monday, March 10th. Uh first spoke about the uh uh summer work projects
051that will be uh done under the health, life, and safety uh bonds. And at this time we were or at least at that time the meeting we were still waiting for approval on the projects by ISBY. Uh other than that they're all scheduled to take place this summer. Uh that includes uh some work on the main building uh the east building the Dolan building uh the sports complex and once we get the okay from Isby those are a go. Uh we discussed an update on the uh agriculture building. Uh some site uh visits were are going to be scheduled. Uh some of them may have taken place by now at um to look at the buildings in Pontiac, uh Senica, Putnham County, and Kiwani. And uh the superintendent said they hope to have those site
052visits accomplished by the end of this month. Uh the next design team meeting is scheduled for the 31st and so obviously they want to get those uh those visits done before that meeting. Uh there's a board coffee scheduled next Monday the 24th uh with the president and vice president of this board at the Udica Village Hall uh from 5 o'clock till 6:30. Uh current updates um the freezer and produce cooler in the kitchen have been updated and they are now working on the meat cooler. Uh the bleacher motor mount replacement will be uh done during spring break. At the same time, they are working on the new uh retractable basketball hoops in the gym. Dur also during spring break, they're going to be going through phase one of the remodel of the old dishwasher room
053uh to remodel it for the sip and saver. Uh and we're still waiting on an inspection for the Dolan elevator building. And I believe that's scheduled to take place this coming weekend. Um the chiller in the boiler house uh apparently had a capacitor leak which is not uncommon after a certain number of years. The uh the unit is over 5 years old and Mr. Tomello is working on getting that uh replaced. Uh the Anel system in the kitchen has been up up updated. That's the fire suppression system that you'll find in any commercial kitchen. And uh they are in the process of hiring a new custodian for the second shift. And that completes the discussion that took place uh last Monday. Are there any questions? Thank you, Mr. Ferrari. Finance committee. Mr. Murba. Uh we
054met on Tuesday, March 11th. Um we reviewed the financials that were in your board packet and discussed those thoroughly. We're 66.7% of the way through the school year. Um revenue year versus year is on target. Uh we've received 84.07 of our revenue and expenses are at 76.25%. Um there are a couple things that will need uh modified and adjusted in the in the budget, but um uh those those things we're all aware of. We also then discussed the beverage vendor replacement plan and uh the co-contract expires in July and we're looking for other options for that. Um the fee recommendation, the 2025 2026 fee recommendation is in the board packet and we did approve that and recommend that that be placed on the agenda. We talked about 2000 fiscal year 2026 budget updates. Obviously, there's
055some moving parts with this next year's budget. So, we discussed them. CPPRT, we expect it to be down 10 to 15% from this year, but likely the way to think about it is that's probably pretty close to back to precoid levels is what we expect. Um uh the uh mandated categoricals uh they're going to be down 10 five to 10%. Um the evidence-based funding formula we expect level funding from the state we're hopeful and the local levy we'll know in April or May. So but that it does look positive with the local uh levy. Then we discussed that uh the team was uh meeting on March 13th regarding the fiscal year 2026 staffing and uh so I'm assuming that meeting was had y and uh so we'll be hearing more of that in the future.
056We also discussed the series 2025 bond update and the the issues we're having with the um approval from ISBY and a couple of the the items in that. We also um approved the request to let bids for uh bread, milk and pizza. And then on other we talked about uh the the purchase of the smart pass which is an online system tracking student passes throughout the uh throughout the buildings and uh Dr. Robleski explain explains some of the ins and outs of of that program and it seems very beneficial. So and that was our meeting. Okay, there are questions. Thank you Miss Burva. administrative reports. Um, superintendent report, Dr. Oblleski. Thank you, Mr. Tarver. Um, I do have an update on for the staffing update. Uh, based on our enrollment numbers, uh, we're not looking
057to, um, add any additional uh, teaching staff. Uh, we're able to maintain our our our numbers. So, that also means there will be no recommendations to uh, to reduce um, outside of sort of our annual grant-f funed uh, programs. Um but probably the the one uh key staffing uh recommendation which is on the the agenda for this evening is a recommend it's a recommendation to enter into a memorandum of understanding with our teachers union um based on the great growth that we've seen in the girls wrestling program um and what our numbers are looking like next year. We're at a point that we need to be able to um I guess when I say branch off to be able to carve out and create its own program. So, um there's a couple parts to theou.
058One is to recommend um taking the existing language in the in the contract, which actually just says head wrestling coach and assistant wrestling coach. We're going to rename that head boys wrestling and then assistant boys wrestling. And then to create um a head girls wrestling coach and an assistant girls wrestling coach. both both girls both both women's positions will be placed on the uh same par level as as the men's uh as well. So the head will be at level two and then the assistants will will be at will be at level four. So we're ensuring par um in in in both programs. But we're very very very excited uh as we got to see tonight the some of the uh the outcomes of coach Rev Holtz and and Coach Keaney and uh Burus and
059M McNight's uh uh work. Um the uh two other things we have uh an early childhood playground up update. Um we've been in contact with Vernon Jones. We're looking at late March, early April to finish the punch list items. It's weather related right now that there's if you recall that one of the wa one of the the on the rubberized pad before it was cured someone stepped through it and so those footsteps are still there. They're going to take that out repour it but evening temperatures can't be below 40° um for that to properly cure. So we're waiting for that to uh to happen. Um and then there's a couple other odds and ends and then we'll be looking at before the end of the school year then to have our official uh ribbon cutting.
060And then lastly, we received a foyer request um from uh last between last month and today that was from GFL Environmental and they had requested a copy of our current trash and recycling contract with Republic Services and we complied with that request in the um within the 5day uh period. Okay, that's all I have questions. Thank you, Dr. Bleski. Thank you. Uh principal report, Mrs. Cushing is not here this evening. Uh her report is in your packet. Athletic director's report. Mr. Hansen. Good evening. I don't have a lot this month. Uh, since we met last time, we did put a lid on the winter season. So, as we saw tonight, we had our bowling and wrestling team here. Also, our boys basketball team won their second regional championship in a row. So, kudos to them.
061Um, spring sports are underway. Five of our six teams have started. Uh, mother nature won today. So, we're in the process of rescheduling right off the bat, but baseball, softball, boys and girls track, and soccer, girls soccer have all competed already this spring. And then tennis will start in a couple weeks. And then the activity side, we had a lot going on last month. Just two quick highlights was calves day was last week. It was a huge success. So, thank you to Mrs. Navaro, Miss Qualic for putting on a great time for our kids and learning experience and then also last weekend was the musical again and that was another great performance by Mrs. Barooi. So that's it for me. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Hansen. Um, director of ACC's report, Dr. Lang is not
062here this evening. His report is also in your packet. Uh, director of communications, Mr. Baker. Good evening, everyone. Um, I guess I'll start off first jumping on with what Mr. Hansen was talking about with Mean Girls, the uh, spring musical since, you know, we oversee the tickets. Um, all that process going through or the dispersement now to get the money back from our online ticketing group. Uh, but I just looked at the numbers and, uh, we had right around,450 tickets either sold or were our faculty staff compat. So, we had quite a few people come out to see the show and we really heard good things about it. I know when I went it was it was great. Um, so there's that. And then just the last little reminder is that LP Foundation trivia night
063is coming up Saturday, April 5th at Senica's Oakidge. So start putting your uh teams of Brainiacs together or buy some 50/50 tickets and uh come out to support the foundation. Um, and the foundation also, I guess, as we were talking about will be meeting tomorrow. Um, on the agenda among other things is the uh spring grant request. So we'll be putting more money back into the school um based on the requests of our faculty and staff. All right, that's all. Thank you, Mr. Baker. Thank you. Okay. Under new business 11.1, need a motion of approval of the IHSA renewal for the 2025 2026 school year. Second. Mr. Betto. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Mr. Kiani. Yes. Mr. Yes. Dr. L. Mrs. El Mr. Sar. Yes. 11.2. A motion of approval of the 2526 Sprout Educational Service
064contract for occupational and physical therapy service. So moved. Second. Mrs. Tiani. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mrs. Alcorn. Yes. Mr. PTO. Yes. Mr. Sar. Yes. 11.3. I need a motion approved for 2025 2026 school fees. So moved. Second. Mr. Murva. Yes. Mrs. Alcorn. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Mr. Tiani. Yes, Dr. Lyn. Yes, Mr. PTO. Yes, Mr. Shar. Yes. 11.4. Any motion approval to establish an egg program activity fund account? Second. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mr. Murba. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Mr. Tiani. Yes. Mrs. Al. Mr. Betto. Yes. Mr. Sar. Yes. 11.5. the motion approval for letting the bids for A bread vendor for the 2025 2026 school year, B milk vendor for the 2025 2026 school year, C pizza vendor for the 2025 2026 school year. D park parking lot restoration project
065summer of 2025. E roof replacement projects summer of 2025. F West wing masonary repairs science wing summer 2025. G Sip and Saver remodel project summer 2025 and H main building perimeter lighting project summer of 2025 Mr. PTO yes Mrs. Alcorn yes Mr. Ferrari yes Mr. Taliani yes Mr. Ruba yes Dr. Lynch Mr. Sar yes 11.6 Six. A motion approval of a memorandum of standing with the LP Federation of Teachers Local 604 regarding the following differential positions. A renaming head wrestling coach to head boys wrestling coach. B renaming assistant wrestling coach to assistant boys wrestling coach. C add head girls wrestling coach level two. D add assistant girls wrestling coach level four. So moved. Second. Mrs. Yes. Mr. Yes, Mr. Ferrari. Mr. Rub, yes. Dr. Lynch, Mrs. Mr. Sar, yes. 11.7 emotional approval of the following
066retirements with regret. Mrs. Carol Navaro, science teaching division chair effected the conclusion of the 2024 2025 school year. Mrs. Alcorn, Dr. Lynch, Mr. Ferrari, yes, Mrs. Hian, yes, Mr. Mr. Mr. Yes. 11.8 a motion of approval for the following resignations. Uh Mr. Jack Murdis, assistant football coach, effective February 20th, 2025. Mr. Jim Shaney, assistant boys golf coach, effective March 6th, 2025. Uh Mr. John Breovich, first floor custodian, effective March 13, 2025. So moved. Second. Mr. Pett, yes. Mr. Rub, yes. Mr. Ferrari, yes. Mr. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mrs. Alcorn. Mr. Sar. Yes. 11.9. A motion of approval of the following appointments. Mr. Petora, volunteer bass, fishing, boat captain, effective for the 2024 2025 school year. Mr. John Bizetti, volunteer assistant baseball coach, effective for the 2024 2025 school year. Mr. Jack Wagner, volunteer assistant football coach,
067effective for the 2526 school year. Uh, Mr. Jack Murdus, volunteer assistant football coach, effective for the 2025 2026 school year. And Mr. Dave, Mr. David Piggon, uh, volunteer assistant cross country coach effective for the 2025 2026 school year. Second, Mr. PTO, yes. Dr. Lynch, yes. Mr. Ferrari, yes. Mrs. Tiani, yes. Mr. Murba, yes. Mrs. Alcore, yes. Mr. Sar, yes. 11.10. on the emotional approval to rehire the following administrative positions for the 2025 2026 school year. Mrs. Ingred Kushing, principal. Dr. Chris Gibson, associate principal for teaching and learning. Miss Kate Lance, associate principal for school safety. Mr. Jason Miller, Dean of Students, Mr. Steve Hansen, athletic director. Mrs. Jamie Salazar, associate principal for student support services. So moved. Second. Mr. Excuse me, Mrs. Tianne. Yes, Mr. Ferrari. Yes, Mr. Mura. Yes, Dr. Lynch. Yes, Mrs. Alcorn.
068Mr. Pett, yes, Mr. Sar. Yes. 11.11 and a motion approval of following probationary certified staff reappoints for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. So moved. Second. Mrs. Tiani. Yes. Mr. Murva. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mrs. Alcor. Yes. Mr. PTO. Yes. Mr. Sar. Yes. 11.12. An emotional approval for the following staff reduction in force for the 2025 2026 school year. Mrs. Katherine Baker, step job coach, due to financial considerations. Miss Kristen Derek, title one reading prayer professional due to financial considerations. Uh, Mr. Connor Sangsten, title one math pair professional, due to financial considerations. [Applause] Second, Mrs. Mr. PTO. Yes. Mr. Harrari. Yes. Mr. Tiani. Yes. Mr. Murva. Yes. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mr. Yes. 11.13. Any emotional approval for the following overnight trips. Uh a mock trial team to Springfield, Illinois, March 14th
069through the 16th, 2025. And B, the LP marching band to New Orleans, Louisiana, April 12th through the 17th, 2025. So moved. Second. Mr. Ma. Yes. Mr. Salani. Yes. Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Dr. Lynch. Yes. Mr. Mr. Yes. Mr. S. Yes. I a motion to go into executive close session for the purpose of a discussion of the minutes of the meetings lawfully closed under the opens meeting act whether for the purpose of approval of the body of the minutes or the semiannual review of the minutes. B appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of Pacific employee. C. Collective negotiation matters between the public body and its employees or the representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more class of employees and D imminent pending litigation with open session and possible action items fall. Mrs. Mr.
070Mr. Ferrari. Yes. Mr. Mr. M. Yes. Mr. Yes.