001this budget hearing is provide the public the opportunity to ask questions or comments on the proposed fiscal year 2025 LP District budget and FIS year 2025 lpac budget do any public have any comments or questions yes um my comment is about the real estate tax rate from last year 23 paid 24 maybe mine was an exception but uh my real estate tax bill portion for this District went up over 10% 10.4 exactly I realiz the tax went up 1% the value up sign combination what I think is excessive rate increase ask board's provision is for this year's budget to reduce that tax tax District address be happy to address that um so for this year last year's Levy for this year's uh uh fiscal year um we had a decrease of over a million dollars
002in Revenue coming from one of our our local funding sources corporate personal property replacement tax state had done some reassessing of what that number is and number of districts saw significant declines in that so that was one of my recommendations to the board last year is to try to be able to fill that that bucket up um in terms of seeing what the increased valuation of uh property was to be able to capture as much of that as we can to be able to back fill that bucket um as we look to this coming fiscal year we've already been having conversations at at our finance committee level that we're going to be in a position to be able to drop that rat um as we prepare the levy for for the coming uh coming school
003year uh to be able to provide some relief to to the taxpayers it's part of one of the reasons why our our tax rate actually went up about what 1.9 cents or two cents is that um I base our our Levy projections off of the estimates that the county provides us with and this was one of the one of the few years that the the the estimate that we received from the the county actually was less than what we what I had submitted to to the Board of Education So based on some of the some of the funds that are in our Levy um whatever dollar amount you put in that's the amount that that you get um and so it went up that amount because the the property value was less so the rate
004had increase a little bit on the county level to be able to capture that dollar amount we recognize that you know and we're going to to work to to be able to to give that back to the taxpayers with this year's Levy for next year how much do you project that will be well that's also going to be a function of when we get the estimates from from the county um they have shared with us that we will get the projected estimate the middle of October so um at the November board meeting that's when I'll present to the board the tenant of Levy so I would encourage you to come to the to the November board meeting because it would be at that meeting there that you'll be able to see um what our projected
005tax rate would be and what we would be looking at as far as a reduction in your in your tax bill as a just a general philosophy though what would be your projection for what um property tax increases should be will be in the future yeah um you know a lot of that is contingent on you know what the assess valuation comes in at I mean as you're as you're aware lell county is we're a non-capped district uh or a non-ca county you know and so you know everything is kind of contingent on where assess valuation comes in um we're presenting a a balance budget uh to to the uh board this year so I mean that's kind of where we want to be so from that standpoint our goal is always to ensure that
006we present to the board um a balanced budget with a very very nominal Surplus and that's what we're presenting presenting this year so uh I can't give you a hard answer you know on that because there are other factors at play um but once we get the assess value the projected assess valuation from the county we'll have a much better idea of what that will look like in the tax rate for next year I guess I just want to just make one more thing just say one more thing and that is how important um real estate tax values are not only to people individually but to the community right is a big factor on economic development in our community and the education part of the tax bill is is significant and I just would like
007the board to consider the impact that these are and you know not just look to raise money but to look to decrease the Reliance on decrease the Reliance on increase tax rate sure to the res the district yeah that's that is that that is always the balance is that it's in Illinois across the country this is really the predominant means of how School schools are funded you know so it is it's that it's that Balancing Act of of being a good Steward to where we're we're leving what we need um to be able to also provide quality programs you know for for for all for all of our students so we we recognize that the Reliance on property tax because for LP high school when you look at the balance between local state and federal
008um over about 80.4% of our Revenue comes from local sources um uh and that's just a function of the geographic size of our district and how much wealth that there is and and quite frankly it it's I mean compared to other districts in the area where there's some that have like a 70% Reliance on state funding where the lp is in a much stronger position because it is Rel because the majority of our funding comes from property taxes and so we don't we're not as beholden to State funding but that's the ying and the Yang and I appreciate that you know in terms of the the impact that it does have you know on on the the taxpayer all I can share right now though is that um our our plan is to be able
009to provide relief in the coming uh uh fiscal year with with the upcoming Levy any other questions I need a motion for adjournment so moved second Mrs Alor yes Dr Lynch Mr Ferrari yes Mrs tan yes Mr M yes Mr yes Mr yes a call to order of the regular board meeting Wednesday September 18th 2024 roll call please Mr Ferrari here Mrs taliani here Mr murb here Dr Lynch here Mrs alorn here Mr petto here Mr sver here please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance plge 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 like to welcome everyone this evening at this time I'll let the Board of Education go look at the regular minutes
010from the August 14th 2024 meeting if there are no Corrections or additions and any motion for approval mrto yes Mr M Mr Ferrari yes Mrs Tani yes Dr Lynch yes Mr Alor yes Mr yes tonight under recognitions and comments from visitors uh the start off with we have our Renaissance program who continues to serve as a national Norm um this year over the summer M cycle Crut Mr Miller with the team of Renaissance students attended the global conference return home with more Hardware of course like every other summer and they brought back the reny award and the platman award hi I'm Jordan wayy I'm Stacy aler I'm haly fersi and we're three out of the four members that attended the J's Renaissance Global conference this summer um we just want to thank you for your
011continued support of Renaissance it means a lot um when we were at the conference this summer there was a record-breaking number of attendees it was over 2,000 so there was a lot of people there but it was really fun and we really enjoyed our time and we learned a lot to bring back to our school to further um our Renaissance program um is a really big deal at this conference so many times there was um teachers and students that would come up to us and be like you're from LP when they would see on our lanyards and they would think that was really special um we presented a student point of view presentation to about 30 students and teachers about our Renaissance cards which are a really big deal and we helped show how to
012implement it into other schools um Renaissance programs yeah and we won a Renning award for our use of the harbor character development series to receive this we had to provide data that proves the positive impact that Harbor Home Room has had since its implementation we look at the spring student needs assessment to measure this from Spring of 2021 to Spring of 2024 students reporting a need for Education about anxiety has decreased 16% from Spring of 2021 to Spring of 20124 students reporting a need for Education about self-awareness and self-concept has decreased 10% from Spring of 2021 to Spring of 2024 students reporting a need for Education about reporting a need for Education about motivation decrease 9% and to add on to that award we also got the highest honor that any Renaissance School can achieve
013which is the Platinum level School distinction and to receive this we had to provide data that proves the posi impact Renaissance has had since its implementation so since we implemented Renaissance 18 years ago the average student GPA has increased 43 points and since implementing Renaissance 18 years ago also the number of students earning Renaissance cards has increased 12% so we plan to continue improving the climate and culture of LP by recognizing and rewarding as many students and staff as possible and again we would like to thank the school board um for their continued support of our Renaissance program well we would like to thank you for all your hard work excellent at this time I'd like each of you to come up individually meet the board first off we have Mrs Andrea e thank you
014for this important thank you thank you you congratulations than Mrs Abigail g [Applause] go you so thank Andrea stop at TSA oh I bet you I bet they did congrat Mr Jason [Applause] Miller conratulations to Stacy Elby [Applause] congratulations great job thank you so much nice job on congratulations thank you Miss Haley [Applause] peners congratulations great job you're welc conat Miss Jordan [Applause] wayy great job jobat congats unable to attend tonight was Miss caresa winigan [Applause] where is that heavy and very prestigious Ward going yeah it's G to have to be on a where do they put it it's going to be on a sturdy shelf somewhere is that our our third now that we've received or second second second Platinum I think we've got now if that Platinum award were just made out of
015platinum I can't imagine how heavy it B and how much it be worth or what it be worth we'll add it to our other Platinum award that we've received previously yeah that's pretty amazing pretty amazing tonight to kickoff 2024 2025 division highlights we have Mrs glattus Ry division head for the Fine Arts and World languages not here wow that all weird I might had to get up and sing I in give you a little you could have done it a little Sally you could have done it I problem I could like my B would have done the s up donish huh that's German I know that's a World Language I understand that Mr Baker isn't technology fun isn't technology fun iritating he's never play so I'm scam can you download it in power I pick
016up show well good evening I'm Mrs Ry I teach Spanish and uh Spanish one Spanish 4 and Spanish Spanish speakers our highlight is going to be the class Spanish Spanish speakers um LP really has been an innovator in this area we started I believe I think the only one still teaching a Heritage class to our um Spanish speakers we started in 1998 when we saw a need for a class would really help those students who already spoke Spanish and would really not have their skills or abilities improved in a regular Spanish class so we developed the Spanish and Spanish speakers class we focused more on Spanish language arts and also the expansion of their vocabulary um it was also designed to provide a safe space for them to develop their skills um being in a
017class with English speakers it really didn't fit their needs and I think neither sides of the students needs needs were being met um it also provides them a space where if they make errors they have other students to um kind of help them out without feeling as if they didn't know the language which they were brought of learning next one um I did ask my Stu my students um three questions to see if um each are ever met I do this on a yearly basis every once in a while I skip a year but one of the um the three questions are why are you taking Spanish class what do you like about the class and how do you plan to use Spanish in the future um the latest student I asked her to just
018write out two sentences total she just decided she could not fit those two sentences in what um I gave her she stated I absolutely love this class and still miss it I love the style of teaching it accommodated for all different levels of Spanish um learning new cultures in a fun way was helped her better her Spanish and it also helped her um become fairly proud of her skills completely developed and by cultures there are 21 Spanish speaking countries so it's not just one so I I think it really helps them also accept other cultures the Spanish speaking cultures because even today oh boy looks like my class sometimes even today um we we have quite a few students we have a student from Chile a student from Guatemala um one from Venezuela another one
019from Colombia so we really do have different um cultures within our area this is terrible sorry about this guys um now I can't even see when I posted um Matt do you have the slides on yours or no you don't that's okay yes I without a really long cable to yeah okay oh boy this is finally waking it may be connecting to the internet is it okay so as I was stating um we focus mainly on the students developing their language arts um a lot of my students my English speakers do always have the question of they already speak Spanish so why are they in Spanish class and I tell them well it's like your English classes you are developing your language arts your literacy is really one of the main focuses for all of
020their English classes from grade school all the way up to senior year and what I try to do is I TR to squeeze in as much information as possible for them in order for them to um further develop their skills and then later on once they graduate um be able to use their language their um Heritage language and I call it Heritage because um when we started it in 1998 it was called Spanish for native speakers because that's where we had a lot of native speakers but as the Illinois Valley continues to grow what we are finding is that we have second generation and third generation Spanish speakers and this really does not give them the title of a native speaker because a native speaker is this is their first language so now this becomes
021the Heritage language which is one of the reasons why we changed it to Spanish for Spanish speakers to kind of um grab on to all of the different levels for the students because I have students who speak it and understand it but their reading and their writing needs work so that group I know we need to develop that literacy portion of their skills and for the other native speakers we continue further developing their language and also expanding their views of the different cultures because if you really think about it when you are everything's not good my luck um I am so [Music] sorry very fitting very fitting Kar very fitting um so oh gosh um so I try to um make sure that um I am able to provide help for those who are and
022and I hate saying this but on the lower end of their literacy SKS because they really have not taken any type of language courses for their language as well as those who have come in with um a higher Spanish background from other countries and even when they're coming from other countries do you think they're going to know their language really well there are some countries that their um public education goes up to sixth grade so they don't go past that um so Mrs rayy what would be maybe one or two examples of where the Spanish for Spanish speakers program um is different in terms of experiences or activities than let's say a traditional Spanish class um some people would say it is very similar to the English course in the sense that um they have
023to learn how to write a composition a paragraph um sometimes even sentence structures um I'm not saying everybody's at that level but it comes to the point where we start off from base one what is a noun what is a verb what is a an adjective an adverb Etc so I try to make sure that we um are able to develop those particular skills I mean this year we did that um we just finished a unit with um poetry and they I just gave them basic what's a verse what's a um stance up what's the pur of a poem why do they write poems um and then they had to analyze different types of poetry I chose um different poets people from Cuba from Chile from Mexico and I believe one from Spain so they
024got to also experience the different types and levels of the Spanish language so for those I don't have GL you have to use Z oh let go to the right yeah enter just the right button the right arrow okay thank you all right um so how what do we offer for our heritage Learners and these are the students yes terrible um these are the students who like I said are in our horse sequence we've changed it a bit um we used to have it where they could choose AP Spanish and then just um leave but we noticed that there's a need for them to have four years so we changed it so that they have the level one and two they're both Ted together in the same course and when that happens I have to
025develop uh sequence so one year we um teach the curriculum a and then the next year curriculum B after that they can move on to Spanish 3 where they have more grammar um and then AP Spanish the great thing about that is it helps them get prepared for either the AP Spanish language exam or they can take the Apple test um and this is through the American Council of teaching a foreign language which allows them to earn the Seal of biliteracy which Illinois has the Seal of biliteracy you get a um a certificate indicating that you are proficient in two languages the English language for sure and then the second language and for these students they earn the um seal bi literacy we've had quite a few students have earn You by literacy okay especially
026one of the the young lady who wrote that little list she has so far earned it and all she has to do is she graduates she gets the ly by literacy on her transcrip um placement testing how do we place them in this particular course sequence well we give them an assessment we test them in all four modes and that's going to be the Reading Writing Ling and speaking I try to do a very short one because I do the El um teacher to grade schools and we try to give this test during the winter time I think December January or February so once they have to um come in to select their classes if they have place in there it's already up for them okay so my whole Vision was how to strengthen their
027identity as a Latino um the next one was how to develop a of knowledge of the Latino culture not just their own country but different countries and how will their students literacy skills advance and as Dr raski was asking what are the things that we do um I provide readers we do a lot of grammar I try to throw it in um into each of the units some of the readers that we get I look for readers that have some kind of cultural background where we can investigate um the culture of the individual the main character of the story in this one it's Guatemala so we study the geography and the indigenous people from that area and the language arts we do the present tense sentence formation um paragraph writing and also presentational speaking because
028not everybody feels comfortable with that and this way at least they have another class where they can express themselves without um hopefully becoming too nervous the nervous never just leaves um this one is regarding Panama and the who built the canal I understand that there were many countries who had their hands in there but we seem to always forget about the AFR Panamanian people and so we um discuss that um once again the language arts we touch upon each of the areas that I can possibly do activities little mini projects all within each one of these um story lines this is one that we're going to be reading this coming semester it's going to be um the history of the indigenous people of Mexico because it's not just the Aztecs um and also we discuss
029the Legends too we're going to be discussing the Legends um one of the things that we do is the retelling a lot of students don't know how to retell something without saying and and and and and so therefore we work on that in their language which hopefully should transfer to any of their other courses and these are some of the other readers that we're going to be discussing bananas it seems like a a really silly thing but no it's regarding the um United Fruit uh company um we have S and that's going to be Spain and World War II and then we have aalaa which is going to deal with um Spain during the 1500s and lsia is argentinia um argentin Argentina dirty war 31 which not many people um kind of know about okay
030and some of the things that we do is this is one of the projects that they did they had to do a um recommendation of a book that they read and I don't know if you can see this we'll see maybe it'll work oh is that the video yes this is the video okay if it doesn't load that I think it should load if not I have it back up all right we will do the backup then oh okay maybe it will it's just wondering that Mak and this is one of my students he um did a oh boy did a little mini presentation like I said um and I'm only going to show you like 30 seconds of it they used a Adobe Express and they were able to um use videos that are
031in this particular program and also use the recording of their voices to provide the audio for this so they gave a little brief explanation of the story okay and we're going to pause it there maybe yes yes so they go through the whole retelling of the story within um a minute and then they give their recommendation of the book that they read and this was a book that they had to select on their own read with a partner out loud and then um to complete this um project all of themselves so they got all of the tools they just had to um finish that up all in Spanish of course and you might say to yourself they already speak Spanish um he is one of my um students that did a fantastic job his Spanish
032has improved significantly so I can see the slight um errors but also the great progress he has made throughout the um years he's been my class other projects that we um focus on are Day of the Dead um the second one is very controversial for my students because they see what they're wearing but really it's holy weak this Holy Week in Spain and also Central America the other one is Day of the de that's another representation of it and this is in Guatemala so they get to learn that other countries do celebrate it but not in the same way as Mexico does um and then of course we have another um festival and this one is from Ecuador so they do get to learn about the different cultures not only that some of sometimes they
033do have their Hands-On projects this one is in um the next Doctor that's um little ornaments that they make out of tin um they also make the Day of the Dead alter and then right underneath that that's the bares which is the one in the third picture there so that's the representation of it which is also a day of the de celebration um other activities that we do um they listen to songs from different cultures because everybody is so centered on what kind of music they like they don't understand countries and other styles of music so we do um also listen to that they get to um watch movie clips some in the Indigenous language and compare it to the activities and celebrations that are in the Mexican culture because a lot of them are
034from the Mexican culture and of course the most popular one is the foods the foods of different um Hispanic Latinos these are some of the activities that they did um of them I believe almost all three of those are retelling the very top one is a retelling of that one um story in guadala they had to indicate all of the countries that the young men traveled through um the second one is another story that they read from South America and then this third one is an Infamous um story that happens in South America it's about uh someone going to the dentist and whether the dentist is really going to take out his Toth in a nice or not since he's a general who executed all of his friends um and then the last one right
035next to at the very bottom I you I don't know if you can see it very well but that's one where they had to create a story from together from a list of vocabulary that they had after they read a story and they recre created Their Own Story regarding um either topic that they had to have approved by me um and then this is why I do it all because all these wonderful students I really really am so thrilled to have them in my class and as I said it before I am always so proud to hear of what they've done one of them is an owner of a um restaurant in the Illinois Valley area two are in the law um field and they are helping um immigrants in the process to become a
036citizen and one of them is still going to school um in Yale to go up to finish up his medical degree so I mean it's really thrilling to see um how far my students have come throughout the whole process so and that's speak any questions great job yeah [Applause] okay tonight under public comment uh we have two of our students uh junior Molly Mudge and freshman Molly Thompson would like to rest the board on our implementing agriculture back into the our curriculum ladies hello I'm Molson and I'm a fresh here at I always had the for agure I've always wanted to be part of FFA program I was very disappointed when I learned LP did not have LP's vision statement learn grow lead excellent Ard describes what a and F is all about according to
037us . there are 22.1 million jobs in the US that involve agriculture many of these jobs are not your standard forers the Illinois FFA website provides that 91% of the students are non students many jobs there are many job in agriculture and F there's textile manufacturing food scientists dietician food process Engineers banking financing because Farmers need money and many other jobs as a and F is a great way to create leaderships in students they get involved in the community and learn many important life skills many colleges will look for a because it demonstrates leadership and commitment board education please consider allowing LP to add Agriculture and EP to the robust curriculum thank you for allowing the time for me to speak good evening my name is m w and I'm a junior here at LP
038High School first off I want to thank the school board for allowing me to speak here this evening I'd also like to thank all of you who came here tonight I'd especially like to thank dresy for all this time and effort to help make our ideas possible I've always been interested in agriculture as my family farms here in M count I've been part of the demic Braves 4 club for 10 years 4 has taught me how to have confidence and how to become a leader I feel an egg program will allow myself and other students to continue to grow and also contribute to our community by starting an program it will give LP the ability to start an FFA chapter I have heard many students staff and community members tell me how excited they are
039about this new opportunity again thank you for your time I appreciate you considering the approval to begin a campaign to build an a building I look forward to working with my teachers Administration and peers to grow an a program and an FFA chapter great job thank you thank you and also on public comment I have is it John Thompson I don't need to a great okay if you'd like to speak no they covered everything okay they did very well they did they did a great job and I and I someone who married a farmer I totally agree agriculture is needed very much so especially in our community industry in the area yeah especially in our area you're right I mean so I'm I'm really excited at the fail alumni so at this school yeah I'm
040excited about the steps we're taken they move forward I think and as I've been in this business for a lot of years I've always thought we have students interested in things we need to implement them and this is one of the ones that over the years I can't believe we dropped it but it was numbers but now the numbers look like they're going to be very POS positive so this is something we need to move forward with quickly but thank you very much for your time okay under Finance any motion to approve the bills and payroll for L Sal PR Township High School so moved second Mr Mur yes Mr Ferrari yes Mrs taliani yes Dr Lyn yes Mrs alfor yes Mr petto yes Mr s yes and a motion to approve the bills and
041payroll for the lp Area Career Center move second Mrs taliani yes Mrs alhor yes Mr Ferrari yes Mr mbba yes Dr Lynch yes Mr petto yes Mr Ser yes and a motion to approve the payroll report so move second Mr mle yes Mr petto yes Mr Ferrari yes Mrs Tani yes Dr Lynch yes Mrs alorn yes Mr sver yes I need a motion to approve the finance Financial records as presented so move second Mr M M yes Mr Ferrari yes Dr Lynch yes Mrs Alor yes Mr petto yes Mrs Mr sver yes uh under correspondence we have a thank you card for Mr Cheryl uh Sher depape the lp Foundation chair expressing appreciation for the beautiful get well floral arrangement uh we also got a thank you card from Mrs Julie Jenkins art teacher expressing
042appreciation for the mentorship and support throughout her tenure journey and her Tiff reimbursements the city of lell and government in the government agreement um $173,700 what was missing Friday night at the football game cuz I didn't like watching the game we got whooped but a pork burger would have made it better what do you mean we they we start next week I take some parking spaces out of that reserved area works for me I'll walk for a pork burger doesn't bother me any they were Del four-wheel drive I can par anymore telling you sorry it just had to come out was in there I'm with you I mean I just I'm waiting for interrupt you anymore you're good are we the only school that does pork burgers we sell pork chop sandwiches thank you all
043right we sell pork chop sandwiches yeah not crazy not pork burgers we sell por pork chop sandwiches or pork burgers they're out of this world I think our pork chop sandwiches are pretty good well come on over on October 5th and give a October 4th and have a little sample we'll just step it up and we'll have steak sandwich now we're [Laughter] talking all right I'm done talking I promise this this isn't on the agenda is I didn't see that on the agenda and I'm in charge of this board committee reports uh building grounds committee Mr Ferrari uh building and grounds committee met uh last week Tuesday September 10th uh we talked about some of the the upcoming uh facility improvements and financing recommendations for next fiscal year U 2026 and U one of our
044action items tonight uh number 10.4 is uh approval of the recommendations for the following fiscal year and uh the committee unanimously recommended that we go ahead and approve the list um we talked about the uh Renovations repairs that are proceeding on Howard fellow Stadium uh any any games you've noticed um the projects that are on tap for that began this summer uh are projected to be completed by Halloween and there'll be further uh repairs done next suay um talked about uh the Nets and poles have arrived for the uh discus area out at the sports complex and uh those will be installed in this fall uh security camera installation has been completed uh we're still waiting on the Press Box windows for the building out there at the uh baseball field and uh they're waiting
045on prices for the uh pitching cage security uh the Early Childhood playground over at the uh Dolan building near the Dolan building is expected to be uh completed later in September and uh ribbon cutting on the project is tenably scheduled for some time in October uh work on the health occupations classroom is proceeding uh and one of the action items number 10.6 tonight is uh there'll be a motion to uh let bids on that project and that was also unanimously recommended by the committee lastly the uh and not least of course uh the committee Ed unanimously to uh recommend that we Grant Dr reesy uh authority to begin a fundraising campaign for a new a building for LP high school and that is action item 10.5 on tonight's agenda uh one of the further things
046that are being done down at the stadium they noticed that the uh original dedication at Howard fell fellow Stadium which is probably what 75 80 years old 1976 was renamed yeah oh so it's been refurbished once well they're going to ref they're going to take it down and refurbish it again so that when the the repairs are completed on the stadium the the dedication plaque will look good as well and that was the the last item we discussed are there any questions thank you Mr Ferrari finance committee Mr mbot uh we also met and um the first thing that we had on our agenda was uh we met with the Investment Group from Hometown National Bank uh Philip S and his team and they gave us a a breakdown of our investment results and things
047of that nature plus also kind of the cash flow plan because it's important to Lad the cash flow for our cash needs in the future and uh told us what they're investing in what they anticipate with rates and uh you know I live in this world so maybe everybody else didn't know at 10:1 p.m. that the FED slash rates by 50 basis points today but they did and so we're prepared that uh and know that our investment returns likely won't be as good as they've been this last 18 months um but uh I have to say and I'm going to say it publicly that Phil and his team have done a wonderful job for the district and I think that um our partnership has has really benefited us with the the management of our liquidity
048and our investments and things of that nature I just wanted to say that publicly I think they do a great job for us um we reviewed the monthly financials of course it's a little different because the budget hasn't been approved yet so we did look through some things and looked at our cash balances and other things but it'll get back to normal after we approved the budget and we can input everything our expenditures and revenues based next to the budget numbers um we also had some great news uh got the pre preliminary audit results and um with that we were very happily told by Dr roesy that that the district is back to recogn recognition status which is a step up in our financial status from this these are preliminary audit results but uh that's
049what we do in the final report so that is a huge step for the district um we also then looked at the budget and recommended approval of the budget that's on the agenda tonight um and then we also talked about the facility improvements and recommended approval of all of them and just like the building and grounds committee we also recommended that the board uh authorized Dr roesy to begin a capital campaign for the new agricultural building and we had no other business after that any questions thank you m Mur policy committee Mrs elor thank you we met and I had a 15minute meeting so it was going after after my record I you um we approved the Press policy and um I'm going to let Dr weski talk about the issues that um he researched
050on that and and that we are comfortable with what that is so the uh press policy issue 116 it's really almost entirely devoted to the uh passage of the updated Title Nine Federal Regulations as it would relate to um um uh having updated policies uh on um uh preventing discrimination bullying harassment um and so one of the things that we we specifically looked at is that you probably you've seen across the country there are depending on where where the district is located at there have been um uh courts that have um are challenging the title n uh regulations and part of that is tied in with the different perspectives as far as protections for um uh different um uh gender identity um designations LG lgbtq uh designations as well um where where Illinois resides we're
051in the seventh uh us Circuit Court which is continually upheld um um the uh the Title Nine regulations and and quite honestly you know as I've looked at also um everything within them the end of the day this is about we just we don't want anybody picked on we don't want anybody anybody harassed you know and I think that there's something if you if someone identifies a certain way well we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can so they're not being discriminated or harassed in that regard and so didn't feel there was any issues in terms of uh the the committee recommending the full adoption of that uh coupled with you know the the federal court system under which we have has jurisdiction on us has continually upheld the the title line
052regulations and so committee um uh is recommending the the board recommending that um what was um interesting in that conversation is that we don't have to change anything in our policy handbook and those kind of things that were were there so there weren't any major changes we had to do there uh the next thing was the exam waiver revision that we um changed recently and it was discovered through use that we have excluded College visits as being approved absences so you would get if you went to visit a college you would get penalized by not being in class so we are suggesting ing that we allow three visits a year um and this would not this would be in your senior year um and this will be brought up next month on the agenda and
053so there'll be more discussion about how this looks and what we can do that was all we had thank you okay there any questions thank you Mrs elorn ministrative reports superintendent report Dr Bliss thank you Mr sver uh just uh to follow up on uh Mr mbis uh report on the budget um you know we are we're pleased to be presenting a a balanced uh budget uh to the Board of Education um I want to commend uh Mrs do for her work this is her first time through um as our as our business manager um Al she's used to bigger numbers in her in her previous uh experiences it's her first time through working on on a School District budget and so it's been a very collaborative process working with the administrators Department chairs Mrs
054kushen has had opportunities as well to be able to participate in in the process as well and so I know as a superintendent I've appreciated all the input that the staff has had um and the double and the triple the quadruple checks um to ensure that we are presenting a budget that is um going to meet and match up to the um uh major components in our strategic plan the 120 promise I think from my standpoint that's um the driving force for everything that we do um in terms of driving dollars to be able to support programs and facilities and so I'm um very proud of the budget that that that we're presenting this year I want to thank everybody that that has had a a hand in that as well um whether it be
055uh through um the uh review of our local funds um or the the work with our our grants I know Mrs Salazar has been able to to participate as well um with our our Ida uh resources as well so we appreciate her involvement in that too um the other thing I would add to the preliminary audit findings is that there were no findings um so there will be no Corrections for this year and that is it's a credit to um the team that manages that on a daily basis and that would be um Mrs doe Mrs Snell Mrs bergagna Mrs Franklin Mrs Reva um that's kind of the core team that helped helps in ensure that um um that the processes that we have in place um are going to ensure that we're in compliance
056with all of the um uh government regulations and expectations for how we manage money from our internal controls to the way that we manage uh purchase orders and so I really am appreciative for everyone's efforts um in that um on Monday the 23rd we're going to have our annual Roe inspection uh Mr Randy goodbred is going to be here for that day he and Mr Tom manell are coordinating the walkthroughs for that we should expect to have his inspection report uh sometime uh hopefully before the the the October meeting and then finally regarding back to the audit Mr Newkirk will be here next month um and I probably I think he's bringing his son again with a helper have his helper uh here with them as well I know yeah exactly it's always always look
057forward look forward to that we received a number of fyer requests in the last month um I have those listed there we have one two three four five there's six fyer requests um five of them have been from a Mr Owen Wang from the Illinois Valley Times um requesting variety of information for our school calendar um School enrollment information list of our activities staff listings uh directories um we have complied with each of those requests um in the timeline um set in stat stat time frame and then we had a which is an annual an annual Foy request from Smart procure that they're also interested in having um our employee current employee and staff contact information on that uh Mrs Rea our foil officer has um responded to all those within the statutory time frame
058that's all I have unless there are questions questions thank you Dr bki principal report Mrs Cushing good evening um my report has several items packed in there but I'm just going to highlight the one that I a couple of them that I think are are really important um this year we had a big uh shift in some of the activities that we do around here which is our preh huddle and huddle maybe you've heard uh uh people in the community talking about this or for those of you with with kids in the district um they may have been using those words um I certainly know I've been talking about huddles a lot at home uh as well um because they're pretty big deal here um I just want to update you that um while it
059was a very large initiative uh I think it is overall going very well um we've tried to support the teachers um and staff members as best as we can um you know we've done multiple trainings um to provide them with with what they need to to implement those um we've also um recognized that they needed a few materials so we've also purchased those um gave them some flexibility um to make sure that they they meet your rece received what they needed to to get this the ball going with the the preh huddles um hopefully you caught my ball rolling got trying to keep with that dream um but anyways um so overall it's going really well um we we've got some Logistics we're working out of course we we have gone through a couple of
060them um already um I know I have personally received quite a bit of feedback from students themselves that have said that they've enjoyed being recognized um I've had staff members say that that's really great to see us recognizing students and staff as well um so those are all positive things that we were hoping for um and it's nice to hear that feedback already this quickly in the in the process of that um one of the other things that we do during huddle is share data um with the staff and that's really um one of the the major cruxes besides the celebrations uh I included all that all of that data in there for you um with the breakdown of the specifics on how many you know students are in the F zones and all those
061things I would share with you that um that has greatly improved from the first title to the second so to to to me um that is telling us that um by us sharing that data so publicly I think that it is having an impact on the kids going oh okay we need they're paying attention to this um I would tell you I won't go through all those numbers exactly but um out of our grades we have 94.75% of our students of our courses that have a passing grade so um I would consider that an extremely high passing rate um having looked at the data here for like N9 years um I know that that is actually a very high rate for us um right now and so hopefully that will continue um the other data
062um that I wanted to share that was not in my report because it is very uh hot off the press um is some data about um our extended Wednesdays which which is another um new change here this year um our percentage um has been um uh it has an average of 49% for attendance um you might say well that doesn't sound very good um but we were in the like quarter to 33% Zone um when we had Saturday school so so this is an improvement and we've had several weeks that we actually in the thing about 67% um we just had one really bad outlier week of attendance that dropped the total there um I would also share a couple little things on the discipline Zone there um for cell phones because that's been a
063new change this year we had had 230 um confiscations um we've only had four though that have gotten up to that fourth violation um so the vast majority of those 179 have only hit that that first zone so um it it happens and um I think the most majority of them are are recognizing um that we're serious about that on a positive note with the data my last data point Sorry I love data um is that 232 um positive referrals have happened which is great so uh very good on that the last thing I'll highlight though from my report um is some teacher recognition uh I was asked by the Roe to uh recommend a couple of teachers or actually six teachers uh for the Roe teacher leader round tables that will be happening throughout
064the school year and uh we will have Michelle Haner uml uh and Alexander West representing Us in September then in January we'll have Troy woods and Rob Clydesdale and then in April we'll have uh Nick Stevenson and Jared mutt so I'm very happy that we'll be able to to have uh our teachers representing our district uh in front of the rest of the ouri County area any questions from on my report thank you Mr cushion the athletic director's report is in your packet he's not here this evening uh the director of your your career center Dr Lang good evening so one one of my major goals as director is to um get the ACC out in the community and also get the community into the ACC so you'll notice some of the things that I
065put in the packet um this month is things where either students are going out in the community or the community is coming in so the first thing is Automotive program they're going to be hosting their annual um car show it's this Sunday our registration is at 8:00 um to go along with with the car show we're also going to be doing tours of the program spaces and um trying to get the people that or maybe at the car show that don't really know exactly what we do at the career center give them an opportunity to see what we do and maybe highlight some of the projects that the students have been doing there um also uh September 24th the annual counselor and principal meeting is happening over at the Dolan building along with professional development
066um one of my major goals from that meeting is to collaborate with the councel to see um where maybe some of the deficits are but then also um talk about the programs that that we have at the career center and in the in the uh the partner region and then also um see what we can do to improve um what we can add and also um some different things that we can do to make sure that we're being compliant with the state and some of those things U mainly with pace and uh hopefully at some point that we get um some professional development for the Cy 360 which is a tracking and or um career exploration program that the state has adopted is free so some schools are using a program that costs them um
067the college actually pays for one of them for some of the districts as part of some of the grant money that they receive but the the one that uh the state has approved also helps all of us track the students as they're learning about the careers and then actually as they go and get a job so it' be really nice to be able to report the state when our students leave and they they either go into um further education or they get a career that's um related to what they learned here um students are going to be going to the manufacturing Expo on the 18th of October um they're also going to so it's going to be hosted at ivcc where they're going to meet some of the um the instructors over there they're going
068to learn about their programs but even prior to that they're going to visit some of the local manufacturers and see what those careers look like there and what our region has to offer so that we can um help them understand the type of careers that are in our region um this one's actually kind of cool uh there's a wall in the second floor of the Dolan building right in front of our offices and um let's just say it's been left a little bit to desired right uh it hasn't changed in several years and a lot of people asked you know what we should do and a suggestion from our office is actually Chris and um Janette suggested that we see if the art Department wanted to do one of their murals there and when I
069reached out to Julie Jenkins about it she thought it was a great idea and I thought it was really cool to also get that group of students that may not partake in the ACC courses over there to see what we offer um and that included a tour so they actually came over um and part of their project in their Art Club is to put a proposal together for us so we're we're a customer so we thought that was pretty cool and then um another really big thing right now is we're lacking a computer program right now at the career center um we weren't able to acquire um a computer teacher for this year so what I'd like to do is put an advisory committee together instead of just um hiring for what we had actually
070find out from the community and the local businesses what type of computer program that they think that we need and also get some feedback from the schools and the students and then go from there so we can we can prepare the position before we go back out and look for another instructor that's all I have any questions thank you director of communications Mr Baker he good evening everyone um a couple things so as I'm sure you all know uh we're about to go into homecoming week so we've been busy getting the word about all the activities there and working with our student council and other um this Harman our new activity director to make sure we're getting everything kind of compiled and out to the community getting ready for all those things um also we
071continue to do some work with and try to make the most out of our new uh sled in video board uh the de Tronics board um so as Mrs Cushing talked about the huddles we're trying to implement the board into that as much as possible we've had a few home volleyball games so uh working with Mrs Baker and uh Mrs Gibson and Mrs bagna we've been really trying to take what we learned over the summer and really uh maximize what we can do and really uh create a great uh environment for our fans and students and anybody else who's in the gym um the other big piece is uh get ready next week the lp Foundation is back in action with their annual family dinner at the right spice on Wednesday night um so we
072hope to see as many of you out there as you can for either dine in or carry out or curbside pickup or if you want to volunteer some time I'm sure Mrs depape wouldn't turn anyone away um and so that's kind of all for me other than if I can offer I guess maybe a little character support or uh witness um not I guess unlike we learned from Mr server today I also I guess you can say it's lucky enough to married someone who grew up a farm girl um so now which means we have chickens and goats and things at our house and uh Miss Mudge has been become our uh go-to livestock babysitter whenever we're out of town so she does really know what she's talking about we haven't lost anything on her
073watch uh that's good so uh take her word for it when she says she knows what she's talking about I 39 years question 39 years I I believe it thank you okay under new business 10.1 made a motion of approval to adopt Lal PR Township High School fiscal year 2025 budget so moved second Mr MBA yes Mr petto yes Mr Ferrari yes Mr taliani yes Dr Lynch yes Mrs alorn yes Mr s yes 10.2 need motional approval to adopt LEL appr Area Career Center fiscal year 2025 budget some second Mrs taliani yes Dr ly yes Mr Ferrari Mr MBA Mrs alhor yes Mr petto Mr s yes 10.3 a motion of approval to adopt the 2024 2025 ACC joint agreement so move second Mrs Alor Mrs helani yes Mr Ferrari yes Mr MBA yes Dr
074Lynch yes Mr petto yes Mr s yes 10.4 the motion approval of the facility Implement recommendations for fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2026 so move second Mr Ferrari yes Mr M yes Mr taliani yes Dr Lynch yes Mrs Alor yes Mr petto yes Mr s yes 10.5 any emotional approval to authorize the superintendent to begin a capital Improvement fundraising campaign for the construction of an agriculture building so moveed second Mrs talani yes Mrs alorn yes Mr Ferrari yes Mr MBA Dr ly yes Mr petto Mr s yes 10.6 a motion of approval to authorize superintendent to let bids for the health occupations classroom renovation project so move second Mr Ferrari yes Mr petto yes Mrs helani yes Mr mbot yes Dr Lynch yes Mrs alorn yes Mr sber yes 10.7 a motional approval of
075the fiscal year 2024 Sal salary compensation report tell move second Dr Lynch yes Mr MB yes Mr Ferrari yes Mr taliani yes Mrs Alor yes Mr PTO Mr s yes 10.8 and in motion of approval of the fiscal year 2024 I amrf compensation report so moved second Mr MBA yes Mr Ferrari yes Mr salani yes Dr Lynch yes Mrs Alor yes Mr P Mr s yes 10.9 a motion approval of the 20124 2025 school resource officer memorandum of understanding for 60,1 92 so second Mrs alorn yes Mr petto yes Mr Ferrari yes Mrs taliani yes Mr MBA yes Dr L yes yes 10.10 any motional approval for the following applications for partial occupancy Howard fellow Stadium renovation so move second Mr Ferrari yes Mrs Alor yes Mrs Tani yes Mr MBA yes Dr Lynch yes
076Mr petto yes Mr Z yes 10.11 a motion of approval of the 2024 2025 School profile so move second Dr Lynch yes Mrs Alor yes Mr ferari yes Mr taliani yes Mr mbba yes Mr petto yes Mr Sarver yes 10.12 in motion of approval the ihsa boys swim Cooperative application for 2024 2025 second Mr petto yes Mr taliani yes Mr Ferrari yes Mr mbba Dr Lynch yes M alorn yes Mr s yes 10.13 in a motion of approval of the press policy issue 116 August 20124 second reading so second Mrs Alor yes Mr Ferrari yes Mrs taliani yes Mr MBA Mr petto yes Mr s yes 10.14 a motion approval of the following appointments Mrs Ashley oransky volunteer assistant volleyball coach effective 2024 2025 school year Mr Brandon pler LP Honor Society sponsor effective for
077the 2024 2025 school year replaces Mrs Andrea eichelkraut Mr Michael Taylor volunteer Special Olympics assistant coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year Mrs Molly Leone volunteer assistant girls tennis coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year Mr Aon Gunther head girls bowling coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year replac Mr Jim mccab Mr PCT Carney head girls track and field coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year replace Mr John batty Mrs Kristen Adams assistant girls track and field coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year replace Mr Dan Burkhart Mr Nate hackenberger assistant baseball coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year replaces Mr Andrew Nelson Mr Jake doll volunteer assistant baseball coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year Mr Jake Wagner volunteer assistant baseball coach effective for the 2024 2025
078school year and Mrs Amy Rankin volunteer drama club coach effective for the 2024 2025 school year second Mr petto yes Mr Mur yes Mr Ferrari yes Alani yes Dr Lynch yes Mrs alorn yes Mr yes 10.15 any motion approval to allow Nights of Columbus to conduct Tooty Roll candy sale on Friday September 27 27th 2024 at LP football game at Howard fellow Stadium Mr Mrs Alor yes mrb Mr ferari yes Mrs yes Dr Lynch yes Mr PTO Mr s yes I need a motion to go into the executive close session for a discussion of the minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the open meeting act whether for the purpose of approval by the body of the minutes or semiannual review of the minutes B appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of a specific employee
079C purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired and D Collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees and or I'm good good anal represent representative or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees with Open session of public action items to follow so move we did pay the bills yeah mrb yes Mr PTO Mr Ferrari yes Mrs taliani yes Dr Lynch Mrs Al yes Mr yes that was two two cents