001Okay, good evening. The Board of Education Township District 208 will come to order. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> We're ready for a roll call. Present. Here. Uh reports this evening, we'll move right to the superintendent's report. >> I do not have a report, miss. Uh it was not an accident that you did not see one in the packet due to I just gave one 2 weeks ago. I have no updates, no updates on the field or anything at this time. Wonderful. And Dr. Spatana. Uh good evening. Tonight, I'll provide the board with financial information for the month of February, which represents 67% of our fiscal
002year. The monthly summary report shows that the total operating revenue for the month, excluding the working cash bond proceeds, were $2,501,023 with 80% from property tax, 16% from evidence-based [clears throat] funding, which is our state funding, and 2% from registration fees. The total operating expenditures for the month were $2,689,178 with 72% towards salary and benefits, 15% on purchased services, and 5% on transportation. Uh the summary of revenues shows that the district has received 48.4% of our budgeted revenue for the year. Again, that's if you exclude the working cash proceeds. Um this percentage is lower than this time uh last year due to uh property tax uh collections [snorts] and timing. Um I do have a slight update. Uh we received um When I wrote this, uh was last week, so we have received more money
003um from the county. So, uh to date we've received about 97% of the 2024 property tax levy. There's still no reporting available though, so that's just an estimate. Some of that could actually be towards previous years. So, that will all get figured out once they have their reporting, which hopefully something will be available in the next 2 weeks, they said. Is there any discussion? Is there another installment coming soon? So, if there is any additional money that they have from the fall collection that they're holding on to, we were told we should receive it this week. And then any money that will come next week cuz their plan is to start distributing some of [clears throat] the spring collection next week. So, there is still a chance later this week we could receive money or
004certainly old money cuz we're only at about 97%, but I don't know if they've collected that money and are holding it or if they haven't collected that money. [snorts] Is is the 97% what we were expecting or they told us it's 97%? That's what we have gathered from the township treasurer. We don't the But that's our estimate, not theirs. >> Cook County has not released any sort of estimate. They don't have any reporting. Yeah, they don't have any reporting available yet at this point, so that's just kind of our best guess. And and our budget anticipates 99%. Um correct. That's also spread out over two fiscal years. So, we're chasing roughly in our budget about almost a million dollars from the from that. The previous year tax collection. Yes. I just want to make sure
005we had some shared knowledge that this is real money. Yes, correct. Million here, million there. Um so, I hopefully will have a more positive update next month. The summary of expenditures shows that the district has spent 66.2% of the budgeted [clears throat] expenditures. Again, that's not including the working cash bond proceeds, and this amount is pretty similar to this time last fiscal year. And then, as always, I included the statement of revenue and expenditures for both the board accounts as well as the activity accounts. And that concludes my report tonight. Any more questions for Dr. Smetana? None were submitted. Dr. Freitas. Good evening, honorable board members and Dr. Skinkus. We're [clears throat] in fourth quarter, so we have about 9 weeks left. So, here comes prom, here comes testing, here comes, right? And all all
006the fun stuff to conclude the year. Speaking of testing, on the 15th of April, we have our ACT beginning 8:00 a.m. throughout the building. And on the 24th, on an attendance day, we have our prom at the Oak Brook Hills Hilton. We're going back, and we have a great relationship. Mr. Manion and his team, they do a great job in organizing it, and it's been outstanding, and we have a great relationship with the Oak Brook Hills Hilton. On the school coaches and operation, we are in college and career week. I will let our student advisors to the Board of Education share all the details, you know, after I'm done, cuz it's been an exciting week. I want to recognize the student services department, Ms. Augustyn and all the counselors, everybody involved. It's been a great
007week, you know, thus far. On the 11th of March, we have a PTO meeting tomorrow at 6:30 in 201. The applications for new student advisor open up tomorrow. Yes, guys, we do have to replace. We're going to miss you, but hopefully we get, you know, another set of great board doctors yourselves. So, the applications open up tomorrow. On the 13th of this week, we will have our health sciences career fair. On the 18th of March, we have coffee with the principal at 9:00 a.m. at the cafeteria. And then, a big event coming to town. On March 21st, we have Dancing with the Chamber. You know, everyone's invited. We will have from our student services department, we have Mr. Franco, our counselor, performing, you know, and I will be a judge. This This the third year
008we're doing it, and the third year that we're participating in Dean Hacker's uh dance last year. It's always a great event. So, I mean, sold out. The auditorium, you know, gets filled. And you've been elevated to judge. Yes, yeah, I did start as a dancer, you know, and now I like doing the judging. Now, I love seeing all the performers now. >> Okay, great. >> Um in the month of April, again, as I mentioned, we have our, you know, at the end of the year bulletin, a lot of great things happening our fine arts and applied arts ceremony, college athletic commitment ceremony, graduation tickets, cap and gown, local scholarship breakfast, all that has been sent to families, is available here. You know, again, it will be a great order of events. On the 30th, there's
009a quick update. On April 30th, we will have our multicultural fair from 6:00 to 8:00 in the auditorium. You know, we've had in the past Brazilian dancers, a king signing a pageant, food from the world, arts and crafts. Big shout-out to our Asian uh student association led by Ms. Pushpa and OLAS led by Mr. Hipolito, who kind of run the event. I mean, we have about 200, 300 people. Again, it's packed. It went from 30 minutes to 40, and [clears throat] now the event lasts like an hour and a half to 2 hours. It is a wonderful event that brings everybody from the community together here at RB. For activities and athletics in the month of March on the 12th, we will have the Bulldog story time for future educators, 6:00 p.m. in the Riverside
010Library. [snorts] Big shout-out to Ms. Kay with all her students on that path. Um you know, they read uh you know, elementary books to children, and they do arts and crafts. You know, I've had the pleasure of bringing my youngest to it, and it's great that, you know, RB's promoting um like early education, elementary education, and really being [snorts] out there at the forefront of that career path. On the 18th of March, we will have a sports boosters meeting at 6:00 p.m. in room 201. That concludes my report. Bulldogs, Ari and Hannah, your turn. Go ahead. So, [clears throat] just a disclaimer, we had some updates to it, so you should all have an updated um form in front of you with some extra items on it. Thank you. So, to start in March, we
011are the end of third quarter. That was on the 6th, and now we're in the final quarter of RB counting down the days until graduation. I'm one of those >> Um So, you don't have You don't actually know the number. >> [laughter] >> Mr. Tinoco, I know has a room number there. I look at it every day. So, very excited for graduation and see where we end up next. And then we have um the college and career week. As we prepare for graduation and college, this week was our college and career week. Our students were exposed to what the future may entail, as many will be be pursuing college education or entering the workforce. And starting off strong on Monday, college um students were asked to wear their college gear. And also many attended the
012college fair in the commons area, which is a great opportunity for students, as many um it was showing many educational opportunities available in our area. And just brought the college fair to school. And you know, college fairs are like usually in different locations, so it just made it easy for students to like see what is out there for them. And then today students dressed for success, wearing their best gear. And real-world workshops were available to students where they learned how to craft resumes, how to navigate interviews, and several other tips to success in the future. And tonight RB had the college planning session for juniors and parents from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium. And this is just a great opportunity for juniors, like my sister, who went, and just see, you know, what
013um life after high school entails. And then as for the rest of the week, tomorrow we have Futures Bright, which is neon and tie-dye day. Um some events are the school week college and career search for juniors from periods 1 to 4 to help them kind of get an idea of where to start with this, especially since the summer is usually when they recommend starting to get your essay idea together and all of that stuff. And then we have the College of DuPage free application from 10:00 to 11:30 in the college career center to kind of get a head start on summer to go um and just get that ball rolling. Then on Thursday the 12th, we have Union and Military Day to honor um some alternative pathways other than just going to college. Um
014so there'll be red, white, and blue and Union t-shirts. RB really has does a great job with promoting things like plumbing and trades and going to the military. And so this is just a way to highlight that. There will be a trades and career fair from 9:40 to 11:05 in the East Gym. And I remember we went to that last year. Um and it was really great. There was um it was more than just trade students. I saw I remember seeing like a dentistry thing. And I plan on going to dentistry, so just talking with the person there. But there were military people, um people from like different businesses, like communications businesses, and like like all types of things were there. So it was really great to see. And then on Friday the 13th we
015have Dream Big Day, which is blue and white. So this is kind of a culmination of everything. So we'll have um healthy habits for college presentation for seniors um in third period, especially since going to college is kind of independent living. So learning how to start that process is really important. And then I'm very excited for this because I get to see my friend who graduated. Um Key to Success college freshman um Kale McCaffrey, he's going to come and talk about what he's learned in his first year of college so far. Um so that'll be at 1:15 in the auditorium. Um on March 10th it is a repeat of college planning tip for juniors. Happened tonight from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Um And then we have bowling night on the 11th. Um that will be
016sponsored by SA at 5:30 to 7:30 at the Bolero Lanes with a $5 entrance fee. On March 25th NHS ceremony will be taking place from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. It's not 3:00 to 10:00 p.m. Um in the auditorium. And new It's a little long. Uh new NHS members will be inducted into National Honor Society. Um and me and Aryan are current NHS members. And it's been a really great opportunity this year cuz like um him and the board set up this new like Kenwood system with Brook Park. And it's just really fun talking to the kids. And then the last thing we have is spring break, a very well deserved break for the students and staff over here before the final push for the rest of April and May. Under activities and athletics on March
01712th, there will be the winter and orchestra concert in the auditorium from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. And I'm of course excited for this because my sister is in concert choir, so I'll be attending to see her sing and also many of my my friends performing in the orchestra band, so go support our musicians. And then lastly, we have the track and field varsity girls conference meet on the 21st at Glenbard East. So we're wishing all of the runners there the best of luck, especially seniors who are going to be doing their final runs. Thank you both. Dr. Fresh, you have a couple of reports tonight from your team, right? >> Yes, I would like to welcome now Mr. Kyle Lindquist, our assistant principal of curriculum and instruction, and Mrs. Augustine, our assistant principal of student
018services, who will present our staffing summary for the 2026-2027 school year. Good evening. Good evening, ladies. Gang's all here. >> [laughter] >> All right. Thank you so much for having us. We are going to start with the staffing summary sheet um which has all of the totals in terms of FTE for last year in comparison to what we're proposing for the 2026-2027 school year. So if you look at the chart on the left-hand side of that summary, you'll see the department FTE broken down this current school year, the middle is 2026-2027, so what we're proposing for next school year, and then the change whether or not that went up or down. The top represents those totals by department. Underneath that is our required FTEs, so that's where our FTE goes for our division heads, um
019credit recovery, our adaptive PE, special education teachers, things that are predict that are protected on the sheet that don't [clears throat] necessarily um feed in from the individual department sheets. Um we want to draw your attention to the bottom there in terms of the change in proposed FTE um for next year from this year. So, this year we sat at 110.4. Next year we are looking to come in at 109.2, which means we are um lower by 1.2 total FTE. Um if you look down at the very bottom chart on the right-hand side, you can see the section of this summary that looks at um where our FTE sits each year versus the projections that Dr. Smetana gives um in the fall. So, for 26-27, the prediction uh the projection that Dr. Smetana gave was
020108.1. The actual, as I said, FTE that we are proposing for next year um is 109.2. If you look at that chart over the last handful [clears throat and cough] of years, over the last 5 years, you can see that we are trying to get our actual FTE closer to that projected FTE. Um so, the proposed FTE for next year reflects those efforts toward kind of chipping away at how much the district's model shows us to be overstaffed while still providing interventions and supports for students. So, if you look at the historical averages, you can see that our overall class averages um of all of our classes, as well as our overall class averages of our core classes, are pretty consistent with this current year even with lowering a 1.2 FTE. Um and our overall
021intervention class sizes are actually down from this year. Um so, again, we're trying to make a good faith [clears throat] effort of making sure that we are getting closer to that models prediction projection while also still maintaining the opportunities for our students specifically with regard to interventions and supports. I think the class size look great. Yeah, they're really pretty consistent. >> Yeah, they're they're consistent. Um still being down from where this year was Yeah, they're they're very consistent like I said two of the four are down so that that's a that's good news. >> Yeah. Yeah, they look good. Remember board the board members presentation from Dr. Smetana in November when we [clears throat] did the enrollment projections and attendance projections. Remember we have uh next year projecting like four or five of retirees. [snorts]
022Um so the goal will be next year to try to get closer to the base down enrollment but try to get closer to the 108. Well, the enrollment projections trend down as well. Like we're probably at the peak year this year and there's there's been some fluctuation projected but right? There's one year I think maybe three years out that there may be a slight increase but >> it's also a little too far out to say with certainty if that's going to happen at that point. And this I I think you mentioned this when you started the presentation but your advisory council met and discussed this already. Yes, uh personnel advisory council met and reviewed this with Kylie and Beth. Um on the next pages Are we okay to move to that? There were no questions
023submitted so I think everybody's seen this before. Beth, [clears throat] do you want to touch on these classes? [snorts] Yes, so I am bringing to you the classes that are only offered once during the day but are under 20 so those require board approval. Um there are several intervention classes that we typically bring every year. Classes like heritage speakers, pre-algebra, sophomore reading, and tier three reading. Um, classes like French three and honors French four and AP, um, are historically under uh 20, so we're typically bringing those classes forward. Um, I will point out advanced auto three and four, um, which we are trying to continue to build the auto program and isolating those students in a class where they can really get some receive some advanced skills. Um, I know uh Ben May is really
024working to build that program. Is this a dual credit program? The auto program is not, no. [clears throat] There's um there's a pretty stringent process that Triton requires you to go through to have your program certified dual credit. So, we're still kind of investigating whether or not there's a workaround for that or and how we could potentially do that. He does [clears throat] do a lot of work with um supporting kids to get placed, um, both in colleges or in jobs, but currently that's not one of our dual credit programs. Cuz he's a certified mechanic. Yeah, he's a yeah, he's a um a master mechanic. >> I went there the other I went past the other day the advanced autos were working after school. They were doing a full-blown uh front and rear brakes uh
025job. So, I mean, they're definitely moving into some higher level stuff. [snorts] It used to be like wiper blade changes, tire flat tire change, oil changes. Like, they're So, auto one is a class, auto two [clears throat] is a class, three and four are combined, which is which is consistent across other Yes. >> uh two and uh one and two, so there's just auto, so that's like the basic, and then there's auto advanced one and two. >> one and two, so that's a combined class, and then we're combining three and four, so those would be our That's the chronology there. Okay, good to know. Thank you. Does that one go into one of the pathways or no? Yeah, auto can go into a pathway. Yes. >> Yeah, it can go into a pathway. Okay. Eventually
026or down the road. Okay. Um and speaking of pathways, intro to teaching and robotics are also two new classes that we offered this year um and are hoping to um run them even though they're, you know, a little bit lower, but they also can be part of a career pathway. Especially the intro to teaching. So, maybe for next year you could put a star on some of these classes that are, you know, pathway courses that you're trying to build up. >> Sure. And it kind of elevates them, you know, to a different status. >> Absolutely. Page two, Beth, singletons? Uh page two are singleton classes, again, only offered once during the day. They are over 20, but are under the class cap of 30 to 40 plus or minus two. Just so you can see
027a list of those offerings. And then the last um box at the bottom are singleton classes that are over the cap um by one or two. And usually there are more. This year there are only one. So, again, class sizes looking good um all the way around. So, remember the Board of Education on their first sheet has to approve the courses that are below 20. We have a board policy that specifically sets uh I think it's 6:31 that any course below the uh uh 20 students enrolled needs board approval. And that was implemented several years ago as we were working through some budget deficit issues um to just ensure that uh like like the question that was stated or the comment that was made tonight, there classes that are running under 20 or maybe focused
028on either intervention courses, courses for career pathways, or state requirements or programs that we're trying to uh build. I just have one last question. And I was just a little surprised to see a pre-algebra class at five. Cuz we probably have a couple. Is that a unique pre-algebra class? Um yes, it's predominantly special education students and it will typically grow um August when we have transfer students. So it's [clears throat] usually one that >> [snorts] >> adds numbers. Sometimes we have students also who are maybe placed in our extended algebra class and maybe test a little bit better, but then when we actually get in to see what their skill set is, they may move to pre-algebra. But it is a it's definitely a class that gains students. Okay, yeah, I just kind of cut
029cuz pre-algebra was kind of popular. Yeah, I mean it's I just expected quite a bit than five. >> Yeah, most of our most of our freshman in need of some math support are going into the extended algebra class. Okay. So we'll go ahead and look at the under 20 later on in the agenda. Correct. And we'll need board approval tonight. Anything else that needs to be touched on you guys? There were no other questions. Everybody good? [clears throat] Good job. Thank you. Good job. Thank you. Mr. Baldas, come up and do special ed. Good evening. Hello. Good to see you. Can we just have you here back up here again? Yeah, no. Hello. Well, you've you've um added to your report this year, so I appreciate that. Thank you. >> of things that yeah, I
030want to touch on. So um I'm not going to read those through as they've just been shared already, but I'll give you some key key points obviously. Um this year we uh have 15 FTEs allocated to the special education department including one transition specialist teachers that we have currently. Um and our numbers of total pair educators that are either one-to-ones or program aids is at 20 currently. Um that number of pairs did go up. Uh I'll talk a little bit more about that as we move forward with some increase of some students that moved into the district uh recently, but um for next school year our projected FTE remains the same as 15 that it is currently right now at this at this point. Um within the student information, we have 222 kids total in
031our our school our district that are receiving special education services. About almost about a 3 and 1/2 uh percent decrease. However, this week and I I checked today, we have about four students that are in the middle of having initial case study evaluation. So, they might be found eligible for special ed here in the next 30 to 40 days or we might have kids not found eligible. So, that number is always uh fluid and changing throughout the course of the school year. Um Of those 222, uh 30 of those are attending out placement schools uh at this moment. Uh that's a little bit of an increase from years past. Uh we saw a trend of more students coming to RV from the feeder school that were previously out placed. We've seen a little trend of
032some students that have moved in that are having some significant challenges that um that we are just need to put them in a more supportive environment. So, that that's something that I looked at to see you know, you see a 30% increase like where did that come from and where was that difference from previous years? Um 24 students are young adults that are in our transition program and that's about a 10% increase as we look to continue to support support them after they graduate or earn a certificate uh to go on towards uh young adulthood um and and life after high school or after transition. Um the demographics of of special ed is about 141 students that are male, uh 81 that are female, uh four of those are uh American Indian uh or Alaskan
033Native or Asian or Pacific Islander, 28 African American, uh 106 Hispanic, and 81 white. Um Um, Can I ask you a a quick question on the young adults in transition? Is that a um, a trend you're seeing with your colleagues across other schools? Or is this unique to our population? Yes, I think we're seeing some of our students that are just not ready to go into maybe a full-blown uh, college and Triton experience, COD experience that needs some of those extra skills that they're just not ready to be independent yet. Uh, so that is a a a common trend throughout districts and and the other directors I've talked to. Just seeing the increase year over year and obviously there's um, you know, necessary cost associated with all this, but that 30% and the 10% increase
034is >> Yeah, that is pretty consistent trend, yes. So, one question on that. Is there something beyond what uh, we offer at RB that transition after, you know, 18 high school to it's through their 22nd birthday, I believe? It it depends on where their birthday falls, but they can finish the year that they turn 22 if their birthday's within the back of the calendar school year. So, is does Triton have something like that or is the high school the only place where they can find that actual support? >> we wouldn't do transition necessarily at Triton. Yeah. There would be skills or services that we can provide here. So, this is like the only place they can get those skills. Well, it's skills or services that we provide here. They work with the vocational program. >>
035Correct. So, we do have some students that are taking some uh, that are in our transition program. One of the two the program's split into two sections that are uh, taking some courses at Triton currently or COD and we do support them on campus. So, one of our transition specialists might meet them on campus to go over see how things are doing as a the trial to see how they're doing before they have a full-on schedule at Triton and then exit our our our our umbrella, I guess, if you want to say. But I'm even thinking like even just the life skills, so it apart from the high school is there anything there's probably not another program. >> Because it's special ed, they have to be within our programming for because it's part of the
036the placement page that they're required to be with us. Okay. Otherwise, they would be a a full-blown [snorts] graduate. Yes, they'd have to take their diploma and exit from special ed, otherwise [clears throat] they wouldn't longer will no longer be able to receive services from under us. So then it makes sense that we're growing. I mean, we're it. We're the main program in town. I think the department does a very good job. The case managers do a very good job of collaborating with the parents and seeing as this are they ready to take their diploma and move on to the next step or do we want to take a year cuz transition doesn't always have to be until they're they turn 22. They can go for a year and then exit or then 2 years
037and they can exit. It's not it's all really um to the individual student. It's not something that they have if they go transition they have to stay the whole entire time. They don't. Nice. So the financial summary of the 6.58 million dollars of that's budgeted for special education just a numbers breakdown of where we're at. Nothing that has been significant increase over time that has been different or out of whack from previous years. It's just consistent with the with the the total budget numbers that just say we can be transparent and and show where the the money is and where it's going. Um with the the district transportation budget, about 55% of that total budget is earmarked for special education transportation, which includes taking some of our students offsite to therapeutic day schooling. During the
038day sometimes they take kids to job placement sites and so it's really that is where the most amount of transportation is used. Um second page. So the pie chart is just a breakdown of where we see our our students within our special education department broken down by categories for where they qualify for special education service. So, at the top it goes from our largest group, specific learning disability, through the different categories of how and where students might qualify for our special education services currently in our district. And this does include students that are outplaced as well. The second pie chart is just based within our building at RB. And what where is the most of our our programming going towards? Is it general education classes maybe like [clears throat] car to car cars are co-taught
039classes as opposed to maybe self-contained classes that are classes that are taught by a special education teacher. For example, like our study skills, our ride, maybe our I'll talk about all some of those programs moving forward. And some of our our life skills program transition, those are all considered self-contained program. So, out of our whole 100% of students in special ed, 15% is in that self-contained program here at RB. So, some goals for next year. RB, we are part of the Illinois State Board of Ed. We will be on cyclical monitoring during the 2027-28 school year. Why is that a goal for next year? I think it's a great opportunity for us to continue to look at our IEP creation, our our IDEA compliance ahead of time. I think we do a really good job
040of comprehensively creating IEPs that very that meet the needs of our students and are very reflective of where they're at and where we want them to be. And I think it's just an opportunity for us to say, "Okay, I've we're we're the four we're we're in cohort four. There's total of six in the state." It gives us an opportunity to learn from what some of the other schools are going through currently now. And to look at so where are we at and making sure that we're IDEA compliant as a as a as >> So every 6 years do we get It's it's every 6 years it could get moved. So what the state has done if you are a higher need school where they need to get in and do a little more monitoring of
041you you're going to get pushed up. So us being at four is a good thing that means we didn't need to go right through have people coming right away. But probably four to five years we'll see we'll see what that how that that pans out after we go through the the process. So it's kind of a real good checkpoint for us. I think it's a good thing to really look at what we're doing in our systems and how we're implementing and executing IEPs with with our students. As previous years we continue to look at attendance look at our our our team as a whole this is year two of an attendance team that we're looking at specific students within our department about what's getting in the way of them coming to school what are some
042things that we can do to help them out and that same group that has been meeting last year is still there as well. So we have some consistency with with that team. And also helping us to make sure that we're looking at the freshman and keeping the the freshman on track the graduation rate and continue to look at how our our co-teaching model is working within our our general education general education setting. And then also towards the the ACT. Our students still do take the ACT >> [snorts] >> and make sure that we support them on on that as well. The rest are just definitions correct Kevin? >> What's that? The rest are just definitions. >> Correct just an overview of our programming that we have and what all those 222 kids can be in
043any of these programs that we offer here at RB. Very comprehensive special ed department and programming here at RB to meet all the needs of all our diverse learners. Very good. Any additional questions? I think it's a it's a good comprehensive report. So we appreciate that. >> Thank you. Thank you for having Appreciate the support. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yep. Uh next up, we do have a couple of FOIAs to review this evening. Three FOIAs were submitted. The responses are included in your packet. Um CTA emails >> questions on those, did you? No questions were submitted. Michael Henry and Oshea Smith. >> [clears throat] >> Um moving on to We have no one here for visitor comment this evening, unless I'm missing someone. Did we miss one a report? He's coming in old business. Mr.
044Put you to the side till old business. Okay. He's getting ready. He's getting in the Okay, [laughter] directors Uh consent agenda. We do have uh minutes on the consent agenda in Ms. Gasco. The Board of Education Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois takes the following action on the listed consent agenda item. Approves minutes from the meetings held on February 10th and February 24, 2026 open and closed sessions as presented in the March 10, 2026 board agenda packet. So moved. We need a second. >> Second. Second from Mr. Durkin. All in favor? Aye. Any objections? Seeing none, we can move on to old business, student registration fees. Nothing on life safety, right? No capital improvement. No Southland Solar. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Uh there were no questions on this one. I got you. There
045were no questions submitted on student registration fees. The uh administration is recommending the increase of the technology fee for the class of 3030 and beyond to be increased to $225. Okay. Are we comfortable moving ahead with this, everyone? Seeing no questions. Thank you. The Board of Education Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois approves the student registration fees for the 2026-2027 school year as presented in the March 10, 2026 board agenda packet. Second. Second from Mr. Durkin and we do need a roll call on this one. Ms. Gaska? Yes. Ms. Raska? Yes. Mr. Novak? Yes. Mr. Williams? Yes. Ms. Zaleski? Yes. Mr. Conforto? Yes. Mr. Durkin? Yes. We also have the student handbook that was similar to the student fees presented last month. I think there were some questions on this one. There were.
046Mr. Mannion, can you come up and go through your recommended changes? And the handbook committee advisory committee was Mr. Novak served on that with Mr. Mannion. Correct. >> And you also had a staff committee, a student committee, and a when a parent survey went out. >> Correct. Yes, so in preparation for the annual review, we met with the RBA through our culture and climate committee. We had some dedicated time at the last institute. And we completed a parent survey. I met with students through the student equity leadership team and Mr. Novak and I met through you, his feedback, and just look at updated areas that are going to be presented tonight. I'm just going to the charts. Some of this is just updated language as it reflects current policy through the state that we just
047wanted to make sure that we highlighted in the book. So, it's not necessarily like major procedural changes. It's more just making sure that what's in the state code is just kind of like highlighted under the the handbook. And the handbook is the procedural manual that is guided by board policy, so that everyone knows that as well. So, the first one is mental health days, making sure that our students and families understand that those absences are not going to be penalized for like discipline, and they're not going to contribute to our truancy determination. However, they do count as attendance tracking against the school when students take a mental health day off. So, it does hit our overall ADA percentage, but it's not counted against us and and the student [clears throat] in regards to truancy or
048disciplinary matters. Um [snorts] restorative practices just highlighting the fact that we do everything possible to collaborate, mediate, and meet with students before issuing any type of discipline through our office. Uh new this year is a science safety contract which we're going to embed within the handbook. So, when the handbook signatures go out through residency, parents also have that link inside the handbook. Something that our teachers do inside of their classrooms. I thought this would be a more efficient way of tracking and obtaining some of those signatures. So, we were able to do that and embed that the contract link there for the science safety contracts. And that's more related to labs and things like that inside the classroom. Uh SO PA section is under district technology. Just highlighting again that we're we're compliant with the
049student online protection act. Um and the digital resource agreements are aligned with our vendors that we use here at the school district. Off-campus speech is the next area. It's just additional language when reviewing the handbook. We thought it might be a good idea to make sure that our families and students are aware that off-campus online speech may only result. So, only is a keyword there in school discipline when it's a material and substantial disruption to our learning environment. So, we know our students are on social media. We know that you know that's an ongoing thing and sometimes like a regular occurrence minute to minute in some cases for kids. Um we just want them to understand that [music] if there's something that they do online that may impact our operations, there could be associated discipline
050assigned to that. But we should use the word only there only if it disrupts our learning environment. Substantially disrupts. AI is a evolving thing here. The state law went into effect in January. However, they have yet to release their guidance, which is supposed to come out here in July, July 1st. Through that, they're going to highlight and define areas of safety, bias, ethical use, internet safety, evaluation tools, roles for educators, and data reporting. So, there's a lot that's going to be encompassed within that guidance. We haven't had our eyes on it yet. I'm in a conference here in June, and I'm sure some of the legal professionals through the state are going to be talking about what to expect within that guidance. So, as we review that, when we come back for this next year,
051we'll enhance what we already have currently. We did put some information related to AI in the handbook last year. For this year, some of the things that came up in this These were the conversations we had with the RBA and our and our culture and climate committee, was talking about artificial intelligence being used for deep fakes, things like that. For taking pictures of either if it's staff member or manipulating those pictures and using them in a negative fashion. So, we just made sure that we had that that language included under artificial intelligence, and that is something that is restricted use for students. That they shouldn't be creating a deep fake, non-authorized use of either students or staff on artificial intelligence. OSS So, this is something that we do currently. Just wanted to highlight again that
052out-of-school suspensions do not exceed three days unless you know, we've exhausted every intervention possible. And at that point, we look at safety and and things like that of that nature. >> [cough] >> Next one is timeout language. This is in relation to what the [clears throat] timeout um bill is from the state, more or less for special ed students. Just understanding that we are compliant with ISBE regulations regarding timeout and physical restraint, and that would only be used if there is immediate risk or a serious physical harm that the students imposing on themselves. So, that is just something that we wanted to include there and highlight that. Um I should note that all of our uh special education staff staff that work with students that may pose a risk to themselves and our security staff
053are CPI or crisis prevention uh trained on a yearly basis. And that's to de-escalate behaviors as well as potentially [music] hold students if they are harming themselves. Um and I think I what is I say this right now, uh we haven't had to use that, but they are trained and it's more or less to get up front and be a de-escalation uh technique more than anything. So, that's there, and then lastly, closed campus is a procedure that we have an expectation I should say for students. We are closed campus. Students are all are not allowed to leave for lunch. >> [snorts] >> Um they're not allowed to leave if they are not authorized. So, a parent or guardian does have to call in. Um so, this would include any outside activity that's not approved including
054a like a student demonstration or off-campus lunch. So, we wanted to make sure that we have that in there, and then the guiding um expectations and outcomes that could happen if the student leaves that's unauthorized. So, that would be um you know, if you miss uh class, it's not excused. There could be academic consequences such as um not being able to make up quizzes or work that was assigned. A couple questions that came up. I think you had two more. >> Yeah, e-learning days and fees. 62 is e-learning days. I think it's just a note that it would complies with the ISBE requirements. Correct. Sorry. Yeah, e-learning days um is just again is making sure that we brought in some of [snorts] the state language that we're if we do move to an e-learning day,
055we are compliant with the ISBE instructional hour requirements and students will have access to staff members during that time. And as Dr. Smetana Smetana related, the district um students shall not be denied access to educational services if there are balances due uh in relation to fees that include transcripts, graduation, prom, things like that. Do we have in here the language that Dr. Smetana um Yes. Yes, that language already exists in the handbook and it collection methods. Unpaid balance may be pursued through lawful collection methods. >> Okay. Perfect. On the e-learning days, are students required to have their cameras on? Uh we're not We cannot require them to have their cameras on. We strongly encourage them. How do we track attendance then? >> [snorts] >> Well, they still have to log in and participate. Well, they
056can log in and the computer can >> participate. They have to participate. What's nice and what we have a really extensive e-learning expectation [clears throat] procedure um that's already online and a and the teachers do a good job prior to um weather and things like that that come into play to review those expectations with their students. So, they're accustomed to it. Um a lot of them Of course, they had to go through it um with during COVID. So, they have those expectations there. It's just an annual review and something that we don't see it having an issue with uh in uh on e-learning days, but uh And students have participated in chats, you know, teachers give assignments digitally and they're able to see the students around. So, we have we have a good presence to
057see which students are connected and all. Dave, you had some um questions were submitted you want to address those. I don't know if they're on some of these that are not related to the chart, but had some general questions. Some general questions on current page 42 of the handbook. There's a question about laser pointers. Um we had an issue with this, gosh, maybe eight years ago where students were bringing laser pointers in and and like disrupting the classroom environment. So we just included a a quick statement there regarding, you know, possession or use of a laser pointer that disrupts the environment is restricted. Um if a kid has one because they forgot it's in their back, we're not going to go after them or anything like that. >> Yeah, I just wanted to make sure
058it didn't become like contraband. You know, I've known kids who have had tools from they were working [snorts] on the theater set and the tools were in the backpack and that they were actually suspended a day for that. You know, I was like, "Oh no, the cat lasers could have caused somebody That didn't occur here. No, not here. I'm just trying to be clear from what I'm watching. No, not here. It was actually, you know, at you know, Oak Park but um And it was accidental. So, you know, I showed the lasers and I I get it. They definitely could can be very disruptive and so that was just But it it's not a new section just to be Well, I know but I'm Yeah. Just making sure that that's we find the cat laser
059it's not going to result in somebody being Well, as long as the cat laser is not being used as a classroom disruption. Right. Right. Our last question is related to directory updates on page 74. This is a like a mandatory letter that we send out every summer um that parents have the ability to change options in regards to opt out. Um so you know, we do get uh emails and solicits from like the military, from colleges, things like that, from um athletic areas that want information from our students and it is our our parents' right to opt out of that information being sent to those entities. So that letter is sent out in uh during residency and then it actually has a guide for parents to go into Skyward and it shows them how to
060opt out for each one of those categories. Okay. So, you know, because my students are in school now, I've never seen that letter because I'm not having to do that. I only knew about military when my kids were in school. So if it's possible, maybe we could get a copy in the Friday update. We're just kind of curious what categories parents can opt out of. Sure. And when parents opt out because they opt out of the Skyward, is it through Skyward they do what you said? It is in Skyward. There's a guide within the letter that was sent out last July. It's also currently it's it's there now. So if if parents do at any time wanted to make a correction or update either they can send me a an email or they can go
061into Skyward and make those corrections. >> it's also stated in our board policy what a kid can opt out of. Correct. [snorts] >> Yeah, because we look at page 74, there's a lot of information that can be requested. So you know, to be conscientious of that. And then And and you know, so then I was thinking so that book we get from you know, the patrons council or you know, it's our parent group, would that has the family names and the phone numbers, super super helpful especially you know, when your kids are there. When they opt out of that, is their name still included in the handbook? The alumni book, is that what you're referring to? Yeah, you know, like the PTO directory. The PTO directory. So that's one of the one of the areas
062I can opt out of is parent groups. So if they do opt out of the parent group communication, their information would not be included. Is that it? But if they want their information in there so you have all your friends, friends have your information, they can still opt out of these third party or outside of the school. Correct. It's different categories. So you might have the military as one, you might have colleges as two, you might have the parent groups as three. So you'll see it as you get into Skyward. It's all outlined in that letter. Um, and I believe that letter is under the parent tab as well. If not, we'll make sure that it's in there included. But, we'll send that letter out in towards the residency. And then [clears throat] we actually
063have a check-in table where Ms. Weinberg uh interacts with each family as they come through to talk about Skyward opt-out. Okay. And we can like walk parents through that process as well. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that'd be great if uh like a copy of that letter just to see it cuz I'm I don't have any reason to be in Skyward this point. Sure. I have a I have a copy of that they send. We've always sent it to you. So, however Mr. Superintendent If you want to leave a copy or if the board wants to see a copy. Most [snorts] of the board I think Maybe Bill or Diana if you don't remember from when you were registering your students. >> I'm comfortable. If you want to put it in the Friday update, that might be
064fine. Yeah, our Friday updates good place to put some documents. And then there was one other general comment submitted on sexting. Yeah, and I'm not suggesting any changes now. I read it you know, on the sexting. I I realize in the workplace, everywhere, it is it is an issue. Um, it's a little short paragraph here and I'm just encouraging some of our board members um to think about it, compare to what you have at work. Um Part of me I I have an intuition that probably there needs to be a little bit more. Um You know, it's just [snorts] something to mull around I think for the next year. And And I guess you know, the one question I have for uh Dr. Bannon uh What if I think you know, I have four kids
065and you know, they love to send they love to call each other during church. So, the phone goes off in the middle of you know, they do all these things, you know. What if somebody sends something to another student that's inappropriate? They send it from home. So, they're not doing this on school campus, but the student at school inadvertently is opening this thing. And of course somebody sees it. you know, look at that. >> [snorts] >> How how do we handle that? So, not necessarily related to sexting, but just what I was mentioning earlier about artificial intelligence, social media sites, students are on there 24/7. So, it's hard for the school to police everything that kids are doing, right? So, we try to inform, get in front of um and educate our students in regards
066to the safe policies and practices that they use uh on social media, which isn't done prior to handing them a phone and giving them all access to to that, right? So, we're just informing, educating our parents and our families on that. Now, if it substantially [snorts] disrupts, [clears throat] so if there is something that happens online that's brought into our school, now it's a big disruption to the classroom environment, that's when we can then see what's going on and get in front and of what the occurrence is and try to mediate that through. Okay. If it is just kids sending whatever information to each other, and it doesn't disrupt the learning environment, that's If that's going to be something for family to family, and they would refer them if it's a criminal act or something
067like that, they would have to go to the local police departments to to manage that. Okay, so it'll percolate to the top, so to speak, when the when there's a disruption. Correct. Yeah, okay. >> And and it's got to be a substantial disruption. It's got to be where we're stopping instruction or we're stopping our operations to deal with such and such matter. Okay. I'd like to add, you know, Mr. Mennin and these both do a nice job multiple times a year. We present, you know, to the student about social media awareness and safety and bullying and all that. So, they're made aware, you know, of what could happen if you don't make the best choices. So, our kids are informed and they're supported multiple times throughout the year. And it's a relevant time for that
068to occur. We've had some things with the senior class in previous years on on Twitter. Um and so, we're actually going to be meeting with our senior class here on March 26th to review some of our expectations, not only for the end of the year, but that is to give them updates and guidance in regards to like, hey, let's keep it, you know, focused on what we need to do to finish out the year in a positive manner. So. Yeah, I think Yeah, we talked about I think you even our student council you mentioned that you had the safe relationships and the dating. And, you know, it goes right into the sexting and everything else. So, I I think the two go hand in hand and [clears throat] to start thinking about you know, for
069us as board members and looking at that policy, you know, is there something that's missing or not missing and just kind of be mulling it around. I think the ISBE guidance will help that as well when that comes out in in July. Yeah. Thank you, Dave. This is approved tonight. Thank you, Dave. >> Dave. Thank you, Mrs. Any additional questions on any of the student handbook changes or otherwise? Okay, then, Miss Gaska, I think we're good. Um the Board of Education Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois approves the adoption of the student handbook for the 2026-2027 school year as presented in the March 10, 2026 board agenda packet. So moved. Can we have a second? >> Second. Second from Mr. Durkin and it's an all in favor. Aye. >> Aye. Any objections? Seeing
070none, [clears throat] we can motion carries. Under new business, we do have payment of bills. I don't think there were questions submitted on these. >> Um any questions here on the floor and we can go ahead and move forward. >> Board of Education Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois approves the payment of bills as presented in the March 10, 2026 board agenda packet. So moved. Do you need a second? Second. Second from uh Mr. Williams and we do need a roll call, please. Mr. Ruble. Yes. Mr. Durkin. Yes. Miss Gaska. >> Yes. Miss Rosca. Yes. Mr. Novak. >> Yes. Mr. Williams. Yes. Mr. Saylor. Yes. Uh we do need a vote tonight on the minimum course enrollment approvals or actually I'm not sure if we are required to have a vote, but I
071think we're trending towards a vote. Any objections to moving forward on this? Okay. The Board of Education, [snorts] Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves, in accordance with district policy 6:31, minimum course enrollment. The list of courses for the 2026-2027 school year with projected enrollment below 20 students, based on the current student enrollment data, as presented in the March 10, 2026 board agenda packet. So moved, and we need a second. Second. Second from Mr. Williams. Um, this is most likely an all in favor. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any objections? This carries. Uh, the next one is the IHSA membership for the '26-'27 school year. Yeah, you know, um, there is no more There's They have waived the fee now for the last few years, so there's no money involved. It's just an
072official adoption that we'll be members of the IHSA. Recommendation is approved tonight, unless somebody wants us read it again. Not that I really can get the policies or membership changed. Um, but we can put it to a consent in April. We can approve it tonight. That's our our athletic. Correct. Yes. Yeah. So, this is our our involvement with IHSA. It's It's more than just athletics, too. It's a lot of our state's activities, yeah. Any Any questions on this one? It is what it is. Um, welcome to your opinions on IHSA, but we should move forward. The Board of Education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the Illinois High School Association membership renewal for the 2026-2027 school year, as presented in the March 10, 2026 board agenda packet. So moved, need a second.
073Second. Second from Mr. Durkin. Um, all in favor? Aye. Any objections? This carries. Moving on to, uh, visitors' statements. No one here for a second option for visitor statements. Uh Board of Education discussion items, Ms. Ruska, Board of Education policy 6:280. So, I have a draft and next said he would look at a draft and one other person would like to, you don't have to. Uh what I found uh I still need to trim a few things. What I found is many of the districts before they went to the template included their uh staff. They included some of the staff that had expertise in assessment and it was a collaborative process. As schools one by one and in that little addendum here, uh I could see schools where they list the people, but then they've
074recently adopted the template, you know, the state the 6:280 and it kind of washed all that away. Now, I remember when RB we didn't have the you know, Illinois Association that template. Press Plus, is that what you mean? >> Plus and it was very you know, we could never update all the legal cases [snorts] that happened and all the different policies. And so, Press Plus is just such a huge tool, but as it we, you know, have the opportunity to evaluate them, you can we have the opportunity to put back some of our detail. So, RB was listed, you know, they show where RB included, you know, our instructional curriculum uh our curriculum and design principal and our assessment people. Oak Park, the same thing, but now Oak Park has moved to the policy and
075that's kind of been removed. So, you know, I'm going to I have a proposal here with about five words to add that kind of solidifies that we keep, you know, our experts involved. They may be involved and not forcing them to be involved. And then, of course, how that that shakes out is in, you know, the procedure book and how staff handles it. But, as a policy, it broadens it. It you know, takes it out of the hands of just one sole person. And you know, in the draft here, it talks about how there are different assessment models. There could be a time when the school decides they want to look at something like that. Well, then you'd have your committee, you know, to be able to bring that to you and propose something like
076that. So, um it's been a nice little exercise, and uh it shows us the tool. There's a couple schools who have you know, half the policy, but they have have added a couple little words in there to to make it theirs. And you know, that's what Press Plus is. It's a template for us, and we have the opportunity to make it ours. So, we have the draft. Uh you know, take a look at that. I want to tighten some things up. I think I have some redundancy words here. Uh I like to write in a very succinct style, so I like to cut out anything that's redundant. And then, by Friday, you'll have that, and then we should be able to So, when are you you're going to send it to me just so I
077can send it out cuz I have not received it? >> Uh I'll send you the final copy. I'm going to hand one or two people a rough draft, and then we'll get I'll send you the electronic copy of the Of what? >> this is a similar question. So, what what's our next step here? So, this is a little bit out of our normal cadence, right? Where we look at the press Let me Let me just ask the Let me just ask the question. So, normally we would look at the policies the policy advisory committee would review them, bring them to the board, and talk about them at that point. What I'm understanding is that you have a an alternative policy, and you're looking for the board to take action on one of the policies that
078you've rewritten. So, it's an alternative policy. It's um it's not even adjustment. It just adds to that policy. It's an It's It's a change. >> It's a change to the policy. >> change to an existing policy. Okay. Uh you know, it just expands it. Uh, it doesn't go against our procedures and I'm fine with us waiting till the next, you know, or we'll share this, everyone can review that, and we can save it for when we, you know, accept the next policy changes. But, when we get the policy review quarterly, we have a list of policies to review. There's nothing that prohibit us from reviewing other policies and adding other policies in that review if we want to make any updates or changes to those policies. Right, it just requires the the board to have
079the interest to do >> copy to me and I would take bring it to the person of the policy advisory council when we do the next press plus. >> Yes. And then, people you know, >> have whoever you want to help you edit it as that's your whatever. The next step would be after that it goes to policy advisory. Right, and they can look at it and then, you know, there's a little rationale and some background, you know, how we see the schools kind of what they had and, you know, what they've adopted. So, it gives you a little background. Okay, but we [snorts] shouldn't technically talk about policy in the Friday update. Okay. >> I mean, it could cuz we don't send the press plus in a Friday update as a cuz that's technically
080like boards we should go advisory. Once you have a draft file, send it to me, I'll forward it to my advisory council, we could put it on the agenda for the next press plus. Okay. Yeah. And then, the whole board will review it and discuss it. So, no one can assume that there's discussions or anything occurring in a Friday update about a policy. And And that's perfectly fine. It, you know, it's not a race, Yeah, right. but it's an opportunity because the policies are ours. It And that's our number one job, really, is to own our policies, to look at them, to comb them, to love them. And, you know, if the opportunity arise where we see something that we can expand, we have such a robust staff. We have, you know, 12 national, you
081know, certified teachers. We have a curriculum instruction person. We have assessment people here. We are more equipped than many small colleges. And so, you know, it's just a good thing to be able to solidify that in some of our policy in our policy. So. Yep, I will So, we're looking ahead on that, making some progress, and Okay, I just wanted to know what the expectation was, and then the board would take action. Send me the final draft. >> Okay. Okay. So, >> [clears throat] >> definitely making progress. Okay. Um, but we could take it off this agenda at this point. Yes. >> Yes. Okay, that was kind of a logistics operational question. Does anyone else have any items for future meetings they would wish to discuss? Seeing none, we do have matters for closed session
082this evening. Appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, including the HR packet, student discipline, individual student matters, purchase, sale, or lease of real property, property, probable, imminent, or pending litigation, collective negotiations, and school safety. The Board of Education Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, enters closed session for the purpose of considering closed session matters as presented in the March 10, 2026 board agenda packet. So, moved. Can I have a second? Second. Second. And we need um, a roll call to go into close session. Yes. Okay, we are adjourned for now. It's 8:03.