001Good evening. Call to order the District 208 Board of Education on June 10th, 2025. Please stand for the pledge. I 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. Miss Mo, can we have a roll call, please? Mr. Project. Mr. Yes, Miss Gasco here. Miss Rusco here. Mr. Novak, Mr. Williams here. Miss Alis here. Dr. Fretas. Good evening. Abra board members. Congratulations to Jory Edgars on qualifying for the Ashes 8 girls track and field state meet in the 400 meter race. At sectionals, Jory qualified with a time of 58.63 seconds, beating the school record she set earlier this year. We're also proud of Jory and wish her all the best as she continues her education
002at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne ILO. Congratulations to Jory. Unfortunately, folks, she couldn't join us this evening, but we got a a school record holder and juror. Congratulations to Brady Norman and Matthew Torrance on qualifying for the ISA boys track and field state meet. Brady qualified for the 3200 meter race and Matthew qualified for the pole. Brady set a school record for a 3200 meter uh run with a time of 9 minutes 17 seconds and 65.65. Matthew will attend the University of the Excuse me. Matthew will attend Iowa State University in the fall. And Brady will run cross country and track at the University of Wisconsin lacrosse. And for Matthew Torrance, another special recognition. He broke the school record set a school record with a height of 14 ft 1 in. Congratulations. Thank
003you so much. We're extremely proud of you. Thank you. Congratulations, Board of Education. That concludes the recognition part of the agenda. Thank you, Dr. Frights. And again, congratulations. Do you want to step up for a quick picture? Regarding reports, um, just for the for the audience and those watching at home, we do have uh Dr. Skinkis available via phone. he was unable to attend. This actually is the first time in my my tenure on the board that he was not in person. So I just want to make sure people are aware. Um Dr. Smatana very capably will you provide the the next couple of reports for us? Yes, I believe Dr. Skis would like to provide uh the superintendent report. Okay. Uh thank you President Dis. Thank you Kristen. Uh real briefly just wanted on
004the superintendent report Senate Bill 637. Uh we got some very good news about 7 to 10 days ago that Senate Bill 637 had passed both the Senate and the House in the state legislature. So uh that's allows us to work with the Brookfield Zoo. We do a sub lease or a license lease uh for the land immediately north of the school for extracurricular programming. Uh so that's very good news. Thank you to Senator Perforio and Representative Hernandez. Um I am scheduled to meet with them later this week. So I will update the board accordingly as those uh meetings concur uh and continue. Facilities advisory met on the 29th to review some summer projects, the facility rental agreement, and to receive a status update on the solar panel project. Dr. Smatana will go into more details
005on those items. A policy advisory is scheduled to meet next week and as I continue with my discussions with the zoo, I will probably be reconvening the uh purchase sale or lease of land advisory council uh as needed. That concludes my report for tonight. Are there any questions for Dr. Skinis from afar? Okay, Dr. Smatana. Uh good. Tonight I'll provide uh board of education with financial information through the month of May which represents um 92% of our fiscal year. Uh the total operating revenue for the month was 742,383 with 41% from evidence-based funding which is our state funding 25 29% from local revenue and 18% from CPPRT primarily and a little bit of that was property tax as well. Uh the total operating expenditures for the month were $3,5,466 with 63% towards salary and benefits,
00615% on operations and maintenance. Primarily, we had two big purchases. Uh we had to pay for the grand piano as well as the wait room floor this past month, and then 6% each on special education tuition and transportation. The next set of reports is the monthly financial statements. Um, before I go into this summary of revenues, you'll see the summary of the fund balances, which shows that right now in our operating funds, we have a little bit over $2 million. Um, when you look at revenues versus expenditures, if we don't receive any additional money um, in terms of revenue for um, the month of June, I anticipate finishing the budget year uh, with a small deficit of around maybe a h 100,000. Um, but it all depends on how much property tax we get in
007in the month of June. That's kind of really the big unknown at this point. Um, so moving on to the next page, you'll see uh the summary of revenue shows that the district has received 97.85% of our budgeted revenue for the year. This amount is tracking a little lower to this time last year, which was at 99.88%. Like I said, a lot of that is um property tax at this point. The summary of expenditure shows that the district has spent 88.12% of the budgeted expenditures for uh the year and this amount's just slightly lower to this time last year. Dr. Smatana, we know that the property tax collections will be delayed by Cook County by at least a month. Have we seen anything? I have not seen anything additional about a delay, but I think
008one month is is our working number or have you heard otherwise? I have only heard one month at this point and and that it was a month earlier last year. That's why we had different numbers last year is what you're saying. Um at this point last year we had collected a majority of our property tax revenue which is standard. Uh this year we're we're running just um I don't want to say behind. I don't know if people aren't paying. We eventually collect that money. It's just it's a timing issue. Got it. Um and I was referring to the next collection, not the not the prior. Right. I I was just curious as to the discrepancy between this year and this year at this last year at this time and this year. And the only reason
009too um that our revenue is at 97.85% and not lower is because um we collected about double of our interest on investment revenue than what I had budgeted for. Otherwise, the gap would be more significant. Gotcha. Thank you. You're welcome. And then uh as always I included the statement of revenue and expenditures for board accounts as well as activity accounts for the month of May. Um I have a few other additional updates tonight. Uh the facility advisory council met on May 29th as Dr. Skinis uh referenced and we talked about the quarterly business review from Aramark which is provided for the board of education for your information. Um it's a very lengthy report. It's nice um because it shows a lot of what Airmark does provide for the district. Um there were a few typos
010that have been corrected and then there was a question submitted about um Ellert. So they uh Aramark will go over to Ellert Park and do a lot of the maintenance um on game days. So if the grass needs to be cut on game day because it's too long, they'll do that. They'll um prepare the infield um for game days. Um, and then they just uh um West Suburban Conference usually handles the other maintenance. Um, well, that's what I had thought and I was surprised to see their reference to Ellert in the packet, but yes, that's been a standard for quite some time where Airmark will go over on game days to make sure that the field is in playable condition for our athletes. Ostensively, would that change if the deal actually goes through for the
011park? Um I don't anticipate that because we will need it for lower levels. So uh we will still need additional field space. Okay. Thank you. Um liability insurance update. Um I wanted to provide uh an update to the board. It won't be at the next few meetings, but back in November uh we discussed the district's options for liability insurance given uh the significant price increase that we've had over the last 5 years. Um, but due to the timing of of the renewal date, which was December one, it wasn't really enough time to evaluate options. So, I've met with uh two insurance cooperatives for schools. Um, and I will be working through the superintendent subdvisory council for liability insurance. Um, I thought I'd have the information prior to this meeting, but we're waiting on one more
012piece of information before we can evaluate preliminary options this month. And then in October is when we'll be able to have a comprehensive um, analysis and bring a recommendation to the board. And that's a 121. And that's a 121 renewal. Correct. Um, and then lastly, uh, Quest Food Service. I meet with Quest quarterly to uh review their service as well as um their staffing and pricing and price increases were reviewed for the 2526 school year at our last meeting. I provided the list of all recommendations that will be implemented in the fall. Um but they were very thoughtful and went through item by item and you can see that a majority of items um will remain flat. 31 items and then 21 items is the next biggest that will increase by a quarter. So students
013will see um that slight price increase uh when they return in the fall. And that concludes my report for tonight. Are there any questions for Drs. Matana? Seeing none, Dr. Freas. Greetings again, our board members. Uh under teaching and learning, we're two weeks into summer school. Everything's going well. The drivers at car are filled. The school is full. You have students here participating in athletics and the arts, you know, and we have seniors, you know, earning their credit so they can graduate in July. So summer school is off and running and things are going very well. Our summer school graduation will be on July 8th. Traditionally, we've done it at 6:30 before uh 30 minutes before the board meeting. If the board would like to go in another direction, you know, I'm always open, but
014traditionally we've always done at 6:30. That was a question that was submitted my way and and I wasn't suggesting a change in time. I just wanted to put it in my calendar to be honest. I think the board is probably comfortable with 6:30 still. Does that work for everyone? Absolutely. Okay. It's an important event and we want to be here and have some cake before the meeting. I think that's how many students do we have? So, we should have ideally about four or five depending on their circumstances. Sure. Yeah. Sure. Now, under school culture and operations in a few minutes uh two of our assistant principal will be presenting their reports regarding engagement attendant and athletics. July is a big month. We have a residency on the 9th, 16th, 23rd, and the 30th. On the
015first day is 8:2 in the cafeteria. On the 16th and 23rd, 11 to 7. And on the 30th, it is 8:2. It is very important that families submit the paperwork online before they get an in-person appointment. We reiterate that many time. And I'm just doing it one more time. In August, August 7th, we'll have freshman orientation from 10 to 11:30 in the main gym. On the 7th in the afternoon, just in the evening, excuse me, just as we did last year, we will have our family welcome back night from 4 to 6 in the main gym. On the 20th, we have our open house from 6:00 to 7:30 throughout the building. Under activities and athletics, August 11th is the first day of sports. First day of school is August 12th, um day after. And then
016in September, we have our homecoming game and our homecoming dance. All right. Again reminding everyone of when school starts, when school starts and homecoming. That concludes my principal's report. Now when the board at the board's pleasure, we will have our assistant principles do their presentations. Sounds good. Thank you. Okay. I'd like to welcome up Mr. Dave Mannon, assistant principal of student affairs, who present the second semester climate and culture report as it relates to engagement, attendance, and behaviors. And also here joining us is Dean Hakis. Good evening. Thanks for joining us. Before we get out there, [Music] thank you. Is this different than Yeah. Okay. Oh, thank you. [Music] Thank you. Okay, tonight tonight we're going to provide a summary of the 2425 school year focusing on uh performance indicators as it relates to average
017daily attendance. This report's going to be more of a summary of second semester. We'll come back um as an admin team and give you an overall more in-depth look on this performance indicator in October I believe is Mr. Bannon. Yes. before um should we uh bring up the tables for our audience? So, while you're speaking so we get the right page. Okay. So, I just wanted to make sure that we are Yeah, I think he was still on his cover memo. Okay. Good point there. Sorry. Hey, I just want to make sure your table's appreciate that. Okay. Um, for those watching at home, make sure you can find the link. So, this report is just a brief summary of second semester and then overall ADA as we see it right now. Those numbers may change
018uh as we get to the average the total average in our highest three months uh as reported to the state. But as for now, um we'll give you the data as it relates to second semester and the overall average that we have. Um so this year our overall ADA uh attendance rate was 92.2% 2% uh which remains consistent with the previous school year. Um our office continues to implement in uh innovative strategies to uh improve communication and accountability. Uh one of those was an an an avenue that we use through Skyward uh for notifications that alert parents to unverified absesses, cuts, things like that. And those are daily reminders that get pushed out from our school messenger uh app and Skyward uh to families. and we started that midway through the third quarter. It took
019some time to get going. Um but we saw some benefits with that and that's something we'll continue going forward here. Um additionally, we uh developed and created a comprehensive attendance handbook that will be embedded and integrated into the opening pages of next year's student handbook. And those student handbooks will be issued uh at the in-person registration appointments uh for students. And basically what it is is just takes all of our procedures that we have related to attendance, puts it in a nice chart. We presented that out um as we went through the handbook process, but it's a nice easy flowchart for families to use for seeing how many days are allowed mental healthwise. Uh and then all those procedures related to how do I call in, how do I use the Skyward app, um how
020do I check my students attendance, and then ty charts, so on and so forth. Um so they don't have to dig for it. It's right there at the first uh front couple pages of the handbook for next year. Um so that was uh completed and that will be up and running for next school year. Um the deans and I are remain committed to addressing our chronic absenteeism. We actively collaborate with external partners including West 40, our regional office of education, um our conference schools, which is nice to have a set of public schools that we can, you know, go back and forth regarding um our engagement, our activities, our attendance and and what schools are doing there. And then uh as recently as today, I participated in help facilitate uh attendance conversations at the AP
021Dean Summit held at Willbrook High School. So, it's always good when you can get fellow high schools and their uh administrators in a room to talk attendance and see what everyone's doing and best practices there. So, so anecdotally, I think we've all seen um news reports about attendance post pandemic, but is that what we're seeing from the upstate a from those colleagues as well? Yes. Um there's just a a recent article that came out, I believe, about Lions Township, too. And we're all in the same boat, you know, since 1920. We'll go from there. um bloody decline in average attendance rates um similar to what we're seeing here. Uh I'm proud that our chronic absenteeism rate is a little bit lower than our fellow neighboring school districts, but it's something that we need to continue
022to work on to get down. Um you know, when we look at five or more absences, we're right around 19 or so percent. Um and so we want to bring that down to, you know, manageable areas where we're like 10 12% which was pre- pandemic. So we'll continue to to work on that and go forward. Um, looking more specifically at our data second semester, um, saw some increases in absences due to illnesses around 600 or so, um, and around 650 used personal days. And, uh, that number seems a little bit higher just because we recategorized how we code things, um, based on at the end of the year, we report out to the state, but we also report out to, um, a different report. And so, we had to for um, civil rights and some
023other things. And so we wanted to condense it and make it um kind of an easier process for us when we go to submit those reports. So that's why we had to move a couple areas into personal and that could have been uh you know a family sick emergency or a family member got injured something like that. Those all go into more of a of the personal category uh going forward. Um and the last couple areas here you know mental health days stayed consistent. um there's a little bit of a decrease um of the number of students that utilize mental health days. However, the number of days stayed the same. So, you know, more students um sorry, less students used um the total number of students was less. However, the the amount was more. Sorry,
024I've been talking all day long here. So, all right. At this time, I'm going to return if there's no questions. Um are there any questions on this? because often there's some discussion or questions from No, I mean I appreciate you breaking out the tables and I think you keep refining how you present everything. So that's appreciated kind of anticipates our questions. So thank you. Okay, I'm going turn to Mr. Hawkins for the behavior report. I haven't been talking all day. I've been driving so I better be better on my game here. So the good news is um you know students were better behaved this second semester in comparison to last year. Uh we went from 44 to 26. Um so you know we could talk about the different classes that we get. You know this
025this class is a routed class. That class is you know uh pretty chill. But for the most part this year um the second semester uh discipline uh was down. Okay. Um I think part of it is um you know Miss Weinberg and myself um we're very consistent with the kids. Um they know us at this point. like they know we're pretty much fair. Uh they know our style, right? Um we're transparent with them. We're uh we have clear expectations. They see us in the calf every day. Um I'm hoping that's what you know is is helping with the behaviors, right? But the kids were very good second semester this year overall. Uh you see the breakdowns um by race second semester for the most part uh compared to last year. um you know depending on
026on the number the number of uh students uh for the most part the same. Um and then per uh suspensions per grade also uh we had another um I think the last document that Mr. Manning gave you gives you a breakdown of last year compared to this year pretty much again uh the same from freshman to uh to seniors. Um, you go to the next page, you got a breakdown of like specific suspensions on, you know, there you go. You know, drugs, smoking, you know, vapes and all that stuff that went down um this second semester compared to last year. Um, are we still using the vape detectors? Vape detectors. Yeah. Yeah. they were vital in keeping these numbers down and and that was the talk of the day today and with the deans regarding
027like what are consistent procedures that schools are using and what we're doing is um you know we have the sensors in the bathrooms the kids know about that we talk about that in our grade level assemblies if those sensors go off we have someone that's in the video room upstairs for the security department that watches and monitors things and then reroutes security to see what's going on. Um that consistent practice alone has really dropped our numbers and we're seeing great benefits of that. These were much higher a couple years ago. Absolutely. Yeah. And this is still plaguing a lot of school districts and a lot of high schools in the area. And so just the fact that we're staying consistent with it and we're not lacking. So if there is a alert that goes off,
028we're not just bypassing it. We're going to see each and every one of those and then escort students down to see what's going on. But that has been very successful for us. So Mr. Mannet, do you because we're now like almost four years. Do you see a um kind of qualitative difference between our incoming freshman class and maybe like our senior class? Because our incoming freshman wouldn't have had that whole two and a half years of it's hard to predict what classes and behaviors are like um to be honest with you. You know, finished up my 10th year here and I think it's kind of like es and flows with each grade level. Okay. this semester fantastic behavior and I think it comes from the familiarity one with the deans and like the connections that
029our staff and and you know that the opportunities that we create can and make for those students. So it's really hard you know if we have an engaged class um of freshmen which you'll see in our engagement report they were um we usually see lower um behavior in the building. So, and then the seniors, uh, first semester, if you can see there on that last chart I gave you, uh, had a little bit of a higher behavior percentage first semester. And then we put some things in place that will go into, um, such as increased locker room supervision this year. We saw some, you know, altercations down the locker room first semester. So, now we have two people down there. We put security staff down there and they had a consistent rotation. Those numbers just
030plummeted and went down. So, that that was great in regards to fights and things like that. So, I think with more supervision, more accountability, consistent practices, and um just positive relationships that we build with kids, that usually helps out rather than them coming off of the pandemic or things like that. So, it probably takes one year, right, for those freshmen to see us and see how things flow in the building and okay, this is how they do it here. So, you know, it's straight up or whatever. Um and if we look at the last page, just a few things. Um they have the that chart, right? Yep. Okay. Oh, yeah. That's a comparison from all of last year to to this year, right? Um and I guess, you know, we had a total of 58
031um suspensions this year, which was a far less number than last year. Um a few things that we're doing. Uh Mr. Man mentioned already um you know that one pager for uh for attendance um in the handbook. It's a nice goal too for parents and families to see uh or you know a good a good tool for them, right? Um we've been sending attendance progress reports via Skyward. Um it's daily actually, right? But uh we get like a summary like a progress report uh every 3 weeks too. Uh we've had behavior and attendance contracts. Uh we focused on seniors this year. We we use prom right with our highf flyers. Uh and that seemed to work. So, you know, when they want to do something, uh, they're going to adjust that that behavior, right? Um,
032and then we've been using Hero, um, for a bunch of different things. You know, sometimes overcommunication, but I think that's that can't that can't hurt, right? Whether it's for inappropriate electronic uh device usage or like excessive time out of class, you know, we we send that alert right away to the parents like, "Hey, you know, have that conversation with with your student uh once they get home." Uh, and like Mr. man said we have increased um locker room supervision before and after B classes and again security has been doing a real nice job with being visible and and letting us know and anytime they see anything they let us know right away. Um students know that we address everything. Sometimes they like I think I've said this before they say we do too much while
033others say we don't do enough right but we always do something so uh they know we're going to address it. A big thing that um I'll add on to that as well is like we have a lot of different communication platforms that we use. So Skyward's more of like the data piece. So if you know if there's a discipline referral that comes in, you know, we use that avenue for the data there. Um you talked about Hero, that's more for automated responses for like a no address for PE or a cell phone violation, electronic device, something like that. But the the third avenue that we use is Remind. Uh we have an open platform with Remind. And so we develop um with parents too um with kids, but they can actually get on their cell
034phones and use Remind um that app to communicate with our deans directly. And so usually when we see our high flyers, we use that avenue as a check-in. And then that starts the the that positive relationship building and positive communication avenue with those students. And that's been very beneficial. Like, hey, Miss Weinberg, Mr. Hawkins, I'm not feeling great today. It's a situation at home. You know, all right, come in first period. Let's talk. let's get in front of it instead of like this blowing up in class and we're not aware of it. So that's been amazing and so we're really thankful of having all these different platforms and avenues because it at the end of the day comes out of communication and support and that's you know hopefully what we're doing and getting in front
035of things which is a blessing here instead of always being on our heels and responding to situations this year. Um I think more than ever you guys have really done a good job of getting in front of things, talking with students in the cafeteria, being visible and being present and that's helped uh these numbers go down this year. Yeah, I I really want to point out, you know, we've heard so many tragic stories of high schools in Chicago and I hope our families look at the tables. You know, the numbers for gang um offenses are zero. You know, for theft, we have one weapons possession, zero. Couple of times students have walked out of a high school and there's been shooting. We are just so privileged and it's it's not by accident. It's the hard
036work you're doing every day, you know, your whole team and we just really thank you very much for that. And I hope our families take the time to look at that and uh recognize that you you're poured in your heart and your soul to make this a really great place for our kids. Yeah. And um just to add on to that, we have a student equity leadership group um as part of our equity strand and they did a a student survey and just ask students how do you feel about you know the facility itself your safety and overwhelmingly those percentages came back is positive for us. Nice. So that's the last thing we want to worry have our kids worry about is safety right. So when they come in enjoy what this place is and
037take advantage of all the things that that we have to offer here at RB. Safety should be the last thing, right? Yeah. So, thank you very much. I mean, it really shows. [Applause] Thank you very much. Good comments. Laura, any other questions about behavior report? Anyone? No. Seeing none. Thank you. All right. We have one more report here tonight. I'm sorry. Mr. Torres is gonna help me with this one. You guys have a good night. Thank you, Dean. Good night. This is always the fun report uh to talk about how much our kids are participating in extracurriculars um on the activity side and then on the athletic side. So uh reviewing our engagement report um we found an overall engagement percentage that reached 72% this year. So real quick I think Miss Muller we're on
038the prior one the engagement report. This is the athletic summary page 63. [Music] That's it. Thank you. So 72% at the end of this year. Again, we'll go into deeper discussion with this in October. Um but bringing us close to our goal at 75% um you know our participation rates are freshman, sophomore, and juniors. Uh saw an increase there and so that was great. you know, all above 70%. Um, however, our senior class is always, you know, an area that we always take consideration of, um, with jobs, with different things. Um, as, you know, varsity sports, you know, those rosters get slimmer and slimmer, so do our participation rates um, in certain areas. Although, we did see, you know, they'll report out on that in a little bit, an increase in our overall athletic numbers
039this year. So, that that's been a good thing as well. Um several other key initiatives uh that we started this year to help out with our engagement rate. Uh launch of the auto club which has been amazing. They actually competed at the uh one of the the competitions at the technical institute I think in Lyall this year. So Mr. May is doing some great work and getting those kids engaged in opportunities through the auto club. Um educator rising club that was something that we started at the end of this year and that's just for future educators. um this is a national organization that supports students and their efforts into getting into some type of career education related field. Um and so um that's going to be really cool and and there's a lot of local
040schools that have this program um within their building and so it's going to be nice to link up with them and to have an option for students to get started right away with you know there's child development, elementary education, uh so on and so forth. So that's great. So, we'll continue to uh to work through those areas. And then um some of the the areas that we started last year, uh baking and pastry, coffee and tea, cyber security, marriia, symphonic. I mean, those are all going great. Um and so we, you know, want to praise the work of our sponsors. I never can thank them enough for all the added time and and energy and things like that that they put to uh the school. Esports was a huge one this year as well. Um,
041so we're seeing a lot of positives for extracurriculars and and that's, you know, the fun part to report out on. So, as far as additional information on your side, if you want to give a report there. Um, yeah, I have the spring winter or spring summary and then the spring paid uh participate as well. Um, as you can see, we had on the report that Mr. man has 681 uh roster or unique athletes and uh that they are filling 1413 roster spots amongst those athletes. So um we are up overall from last year we had 1337 rostered athletes across three sports. So, we're up about 76 um participating. Some of that is the addition of bowling. We added a level of volleyball. Uh we saw some increase in boys volleyball this year. We saw an
042increase in boys water polo this year. And we're able to have two levels of water polo that we hadn't had in a while. So, um some of that is helped by the coaches coaching multiple sports. they build those relationships with the students and the students are given to other sports to try because they have that relationship with the coach. Um so a lot of kudos and credit goes to um our coaches as well with that. Uh overall in the spring we had 580 uh students involved. That's up from 569 uh last year. Uh some awards that our students have and teams have earned. Uh 28 students earned Upstate 8 all conference honors. uh two additional students earn honorable mention honors. We had 156 students uh earn all academic allconerence. That's an unweighted GPA of 3.5.
043Um and that's for our varsity team members. Uh boys volleyball won the conference this year um this spring and they advanced to a regional final. So they had a really successful year. Uh softball uh was regional champs. If you didn't see, uh, we we had a we had a large showing and good crowds at both regional games and at their sectional semi-final game at Maris. Um, and we're returning a majority of that team. So, uh, the future is quite bright for our softball program. Uh, we had the state qualifiers that, uh, Dr. Frightus already mentioned. Uh, they will we will be adding their names to the big boards uh, the track and field record boards this summer. Um, so they they will uh have left their mark permanently here until the next Bulldog comes in
044and tries to beat that record for us. Um, so we have that. Overall, this is our first year in the conference. Um, I think it was a very good success, a great uh a great thing for us. As Dave mentioned, it gives us 13 other schools to reach out to and problem solve, not just athletics clubs, and just, hey, how do you guys handle this? have you guys had this issue come up in schools? So, it's a great resource to be involved with uh similar schools, 13 public high schools, uh and it's provided great competition for us. Um I think it also the benefit of having 14 conference schools, it helps with our lower level scheduling. It provides the extra levels that we have that maybe the previous conference didn't really have. And so, it
045provides us the opportunity to add levels and sustain levels. uh being a part of such a big conference. So, it's been it's been a welcome addition. We did win seven conference championships this year. Um and then overall, I just want to highlight I want to thank our sports boosters, Dr. Skinkis and the school board because uh it was mentioned earlier on paying the bill on that for the wait room, but the weight room is phenomenal. Well, if you haven't gotten a chance to go down there now that we kind of got it settled and all ready for the kids to start using, um it is a top-notch facility. So, I want to make sure that I give kudos and thanks to all all our stakeholders that helped get it to where it's at today. Um
046our football team has been in there since last week we opened it. They were, you know, beating on the door trying to get in there. We finally let them in uh last week and and they love it. And and our other coaches, they haven't quite gotten in there yet because they haven't started camps. they've hopped in there uh to maybe work out themselves and they're like, "This is awesome." So, um I just want to say thanks again for that. That's a huge addition that should uh obviously continue our athletic success here and help build that foundation. So, I just want to say I'm really um pleased to hear the positive comments on the Upstate 8 conference. I know for about the 12 months there when we knew we were changing conferences and I know Dr.
047Skinis, Dr. Freighas, many others were trying to get us situated into a new conference and it it's it it it's very good that we found a home that we can use in leverage for all kinds of support. So I think that's a that's a positive. We don't often look back and say remember how it was fairly stressful for a few months when we didn't have a home. And so it's the coaches love it because they don't have to go find all these non-conference games that they had to previously. So and having all public schools makes a makes a difference in terms of a a comparator. So that's good. Yeah. And there's benefits on the activity side as well for chess and music. And there's um there's a leadership, wasn't there a leadership conference recently that
048we hosted, right? So I feel like I've heard references to Upstate 8 multiple times clubs too. So like they run something for esports even too. Yeah, we meet monthly as well on the activity and athletic side um with all those member schools. So it's great that that collaborative conversation continues year round. It's awesome. I just think it's it's good. I think we definitely don't look back and remember how it was a little bit stressful there. So, thank you all for everyone who worked on it. I'm sure I skipped many people. So, thank you. Comments or questions on athletics? Does that conclude you? Okay. Thank you, Dr. Freighto. Thank you, team. Appreciate it. [Applause] Um, information items. I think there was a fairly routine foyer request. Dr. Smatana, you correct? There was uh one foyer request
049for um our postal uh meter rental and equipment and we provided that on June 4th and it's included in the board packet. Thank you. Is anyone here for visitor comments this evening? [Music] What are comments? Uh public comment. You can address the board. [Music] Come on. Come on in. It's we don't bite. I'm going to read a small paragraph while you get yourself situated and when I'm done reading it, you can announce who you are and then um loosely about three minutes to speak. I think so. Yeah. Okay. Well, let me read this small paragraph before we start if you don't mind. Uh the board of education welcomes and encourages the participation of its citizens in the business of the school district. There are two points in the meeting where visitor comments are scheduled. Citizens
050are welcome to raise questions and make comments at either one. Comments will be limited to three minutes per individual and cannot be combined. Please note the board of education will not answer questions or engage in dialogue during visitor comments. If a person would like additional time to address the board, such a request should be submitted in writing 48 hours before meeting uh before the meeting to the superintendent. So, please take a seat, let us know who you are, and thank you for thank you for coming. Hi, I'm sorry I've written down my phone. Okay, that's that's fine. Um, hi, I'm Zachary Susi and I'm a junior here at RB and I've come here to talk about the mariachi club. Okay. I am involved in a lot of music and performing arts at our school. I
051am in the the magical choir, the rock band, the fall play, spring music and spring musical. But something I really look forward to each week is getting to sing with the mariachi band. We rehearse twice a week in the mornings, and it's honestly one of the most unique and fun parts of my schedule. What makes mariachi special is how much the students learned in a club setting. We're all learning together and under really good leadership. We're getting better and better. Last year, I had my first public performance thanks to mariachi. and a week later, someone from someone from the audience recognized me in the CVS. So, I think it's pretty solid evidence that it's having a positive impact on the community. That moment gave me so much confidence and it made me realize how powerful
052this group really is, not just musically. I want to study vocal performance in college and a lot of the applications require that I sing in four languages. Being part of mariachi band is helping me reach that goal by immersing me in a new language, music style, and culture. It's also introduced me to new friends I wouldn't have made otherwise. I really love this group. I want to keep growing with it. I'm asking the school board to please do whatever you need to make sure Mariachi continues next year for me and for every other student who will benefit from it like I have. Thank you. Thank you for presenting this evening. We appreciate that. Thank you. [Applause] Is anyone else looking to speak tonight? No. Okay. Uh, moving on to consent agenda items. Miss Gaska. The
053Board of Education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, takes the following action on the listed consent agenda items. approves minutes from the meetings held on May 13, 2025 and May 27, 2025 open and close sessions as presented in the June 10th, 2025 board agenda packet. Can we have a second? Second. Second. And we do need a um that's an all in favor. All in favor? I objections. So moved. Thank you, Mr. Durkin. Um moving on to old business. I don't think we have anything in particular under life safety, capital improvements or sustainability. Correct. No. Okay. Uh press plus policy issue 118. There is, as Dr. Skinkis mentioned, we're meeting next week. So, I would anticipate us reviewing those in July. I know uh Miss Gaska had a number of comments, but if anyone
054else has additional comments, please feel free to circulate them. I sent in several month before. Yes. I said, did I say Gaska? I meant my guidance. I was looking at you and I said Gasa. I apologize. It's okay. Um, comfort facility dog. Is Mr. Mannon still here? He is. Yes. Okay. Are we ready to take action on this this evening? Uh, I hope so. Yes. I provided an update for the board of education. So, this is this has been previously discussed at February uh 25th, but then also May 13th and May 27th. Um, the district's liability insurance has confirmed that the comfort dog is covered under the district's current coverage. uh they strongly suggest having each family sign a waiver. So, we are prepared to do that. I've attached the waiver um for the board
055so they can see that it's been reviewed by both the district's liability insurance and legal council and the plan is to have families uh sign the waiver at the annual residency event. Uh I also included the finalized contract for the board's uh approval tonight. Hopefully, the district's legal council and liability insurance has reviewed the contract. Uh while the district is assuming uh liability um we believe the risk is rather low and the district is covered by our liability insurance. Um we are asking the board for approval tonight so that we can hopefully lock in uh Harley which is the dog that has been um attending on a regular basis. Uh she has completed her training. Uh the only hiccup uh after this point would be assuming that she's a good fit with uh both Mr.
056Mannon and the dog that Mr. Mr. Mannon already has at home. Okay. So, Harley has not met Mr. Mannon's dog yet. They haven't had the meet and greet. Hasn't been scheduled to lock. They won't they won't uh officially assign until we have a contract in place. Okay, understood. Were there any other questions? I think we've talked about this on a couple of occasions. Ready to move ready to move forward. You know, Dave is just here to watch. Well, you know, our attendance rate might improve. Right. Let's make an asteric and we'll check it. We can have a separate line about Harley. Yeah. All right. The board of education Township High School District 208 Cook County, Illinois approves the agenda. Approves the contract with Canines for Comfort as presented and discussed in the June 10, 2025
057board agenda packet. We have a second from Mr. Durkin. And we do need a roll call, please. I'm sorry. Any discussion? Any additional discussion? I should have asked. Now we need a roll call. Mr. Durkin, yes. Miss Gaska, yes. Miss Ruska, yes. Mr. Novak. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss, yes. Mr. Kuro, yes. [Music] Congratulations, Harley. We look forward to meeting her. I I do. Beautiful. Okay. Um, Dr. Smatana, are are you providing an update on the tenative budget this evening? I am. Yes. Uh I included in the board packet the second draft of the tenative budget for fiscal year 26. Um general summary uh has previously been reviewed by the finance advisory council on May 20th. Um since the last reading of the tenative budget, the actuals for revenue and expenditure have been updated and and
058they're reported as of May 31st. Um before July, there won't be an update um due to the timing of the 4th of July holiday. Um and so any necessary changes at this point will be made um and presented to the board at the August meeting. Um I am asking that the tenative budget be approved tonight for public review so we can post it on our uh post the updated version on our website but then also um start spending in the new fiscal year. Um so it's important we have this budget in place. Um, like I previously said, we'll review um the and and refine the budget at the August and September meeting before adopting it. Um, currently we're anticipating a deficit next year of $1,374,93. This deficit's about a $150,000 increase from the first read
059of the tenative budget in May due to receiving um a variety of accounts are have slightly increased due to the May 31st actuals. Um and so mostly right now the expenditures have increased but not necessarily the revenues because the revenue information comes in in August. So, it's common that the May tenative budget, the deficit will go up and then uh the goal is to bring it back down once we have uh a more detailed picture of what our revenue will be for next fiscal year. Um the only significant increase was for lazy purchase services for special education students about 50,000. All the other line items like I said were very minimal. Um and so I'll present or Dr. Skinkas will present uh the changes in August and that will be much more refined um over
060the next few months where so this is presented for public viewing and if any one of our uh not only families but anybody who lives in district this is their budget too wants to make a comment where do they make those comments so we can collect them? they can make them um just either through the general uh comment uh on the website or they can reach out to the board or Dr. Skinus or myself directly. So there's lots of options. They can just um the easiest way to do it would be to uh send an email and and then if it warranted um a further discussion or questions, we could uh answer it that way. So maybe in front of the U budget we could just have like a little one pager if you wanted
061to leave a question or ask a you know or comment please send it to and then give that email so that people know that it's right up front real easy if anybody wants to make that comment. Well, when we have the public hearing, the notice gives very explicit directions, but you're suggesting during the the open viewing period, the open viewing period on the web because not only do we want our families to look at this, we want our neighbors to look at this. This budget belongs to the neighborhood. because the neighborhood supports the school and so some you know this is the time where all the stakeholders get to view and see that we are being you know fiscally responsible with our tax dollars and if they want to make a comment it should be
062real easy you know how how do I do that so I don't know if we could just have a little you know after reading this you have a question please submit your question to this email yeah can we ask Miss Mullo to to look into some options on the the website for posting I think that makes a lot of sense. I don't think it's um Yeah. And and you always take it to the cover page of the budget and that's even easier right to the cover page and then we I think we should require their name and a contact information so that we can get back to them with you know an answer. Yeah. Or recommend that people continue to Yes. watch the board meeting for discussion about the or or point them to where
063we discussed it, you know. Yep. to I think that's that's a good suggestion, Dr. Spana. Thank you. Any other questions on the budget? No. Anyone? Okay. The board of education township high school district 208 Cook County, Illinois approves the tentative budget for FY2026 as presented and discussed in the June 10, 2025 board agenda packet. We have a second second from Mr. Durkin. And we need a roll call, please. Miss Ruska, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss, yes. Mr. Cooko, yes. Mr. Yes. Mask. Yes. Thank you very much for all of your effort on that. We'll keep talking about the budget at every subsequent meeting, I think, until it's till the final is approved. So, it's a big part of our agenda. Um, moving on to new business, payment of bills. Were there any questions submitted here?
064I don't think so. There were not. Okay. Would you mind? The board of education Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the payment of bills as presented and discussed in the June 10, 2025 board agenda packet. So moved. We need a second. Second. Second from Mr. Durkin. And we do need a roll call for bills. Okay. Mr. Williams. Yes. Yes. Mr. Caputo? Yes. Mr. Durkin? Yes. Mascot? Yes. Mr. Prescott? Yes, that carries. Facility rental agreement. Yes. Every year the facility use agreement is presented to the board of education for approval. Uh typically with minor changes from year to year uh prior to bringing the agreement to the board, we review it with a facility advisory council and this review occurred on May 29th this year. Um, every two or three years, we do
065a financial review of the costs outlined in the facility use agreement and compare rental rates with other local schools to make sure we're competitive um and charging an appropriate amount. Based off of the financial review, which was completed this year, we're recommending the following changes. So, facility cost increase. Uh, group two would be a $3 increase, group three would be $7, and group four is $10. Um, keeping in mind group four is our for-profit group that really has no affiliation uh with the district. Um, and so that's why that that amount is the highest. Um, and then the one exception is with the stadium, a slightly uh higher increase for that uh group. Uh, we realized we were a little low in comparison when looking at other school districts in terms of our uh uh
066stadium use. personnel cost increase um $3 for group three and then uh sorry $3 for group two and then group three and four would be a $5 increase across the board. And then equipment costs most remain flat. We recommended uh two decreases, one for laptops and projectors. Um it's pretty rare that we actually um have a request for that equipment that we charge for, but in looking at um those two line items, we felt they were a little um high and we needed to adjust those. Uh the last time the price increases were made were the 2019 2020 school year. Um and uh we've remained flat since since then. And so we feel like these um these increases will help us stay competitive with other local school districts as well as inflation. Um and then
067additionally, you can see I we lined items some things that we're recommending to be deleted because they're either dated in terms of equipment or um we don't necessarily delineate between like auditorium rental versus a performance versus a practice anymore. We would ask for the board's approval tonight so that um these changes can go into effect uh July 1st. H how do we assess like um the the charge for uh personnel like do is there a security person or if they're doing the theater do we need to make sure we have somebody who knows how to run everything in there? you know, somebody that oversees that everything is used appropriately. How do we assess with that? Is that the personnel cost? So, the personnel cost, we um we in turn, we collect money from the rental
068group and then we in turn pay staff to provide those services. So, that's why we're recommending an increase is we pay Air for maintenance for when they are here to clean up after the event or set up for the event, things of that nature. So, um for group two, we're really just trying to cover our costs. we don't really bring in a lot of extra revenue for group two. Um and then group three is, you know, we bring in a little more revenue. Um and then group four is really where we bring in some additional revenue. Um but we don't have a lot of group four rentals. A lot of our rentals are our feeder groups um and uh district events as well. And security is also part of personnel. Yep. Okay. Was the do
069the price increases that happen is it always in the summer or I mean was this the last one 2019 2020 was it is it always the same type of part of the year when they reassess? We always reassess in May and then the the um the increases will be for the next year. Correct. Always for the next year. Makes sense. So have any of the um I should have asked. So, so with group four bringing us up to a more competitive level with these outside groups, do we think it's possible we would lose any of the outside groups that currently use the stadium? Um, do we do we jeopardize those? Uh, in terms of group four, I don't think we are currently having I don't think we currently have anybody that's using the stadium. Group
070four. Off the top of my head, I know we have um a dance company uh that's categorized as group four that uses the auditorium twice a year. Um that's the only significant football team at one point. There was my not is not currently. My bad. Um I think we've had a group three basketball that was a significant rental in the past. Um but we've taken a pause on them. Um, those are the two that come to mind. Like I said, a majority of our rentals are in group two. So, just to restate, you are looking for approval tonight, even though it's a first read, but it did go through the advisory committee process and you want to get these in place for the new fiscal year. Does anyone have any objections to that or concerns?
071No. Seeing none, then I think we can move forward. The board of education Township High School District 208 Cook County Illinois approves the facility rental agreement as presented and discussed in the June 10, 2025 board agenda packet. Second. Second from Mr. Durkin. And we do need a roll call on that, please. Miss Dis, yes. Mr. Caputo, yes. Mr. Durkin, yes. Miss Gascott, yes. Miss Ruska, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. That carries. Thank you. Um we do have an action disposal list on surplus properties. Is that you Dr. Smatana? I'm assuming it is. Um so we normally do this twice a year in July and December. Um given my upcoming absence, we've moved this up to June. Um so we've attached a list of surplus equipment um and building equipment supplies um that it's either old or
072dated or repaired. Um and we are looking to uh when possible we'll look to sell the equipment um or recycle it or donate it. Um those are really the the three things that we try to do. Uh our last option obviously is just to dispose of it. Um so the the chart is provided for the board uh for your information. So there were no questions on this. Any comments this evening? Any questions here? Is just curious. Is the piano part of that? The old piano is that getting the list is on here. I didn't see it. Uh, I didn't see it when I was looking through it earlier. Steinway Steinway and Sun model O piano. Nice. I have someone coming tomorrow to uh re-evaluate it again. Um, this probably won't surprise you, but uh I
073reached out to several several people and I had one person uh that was interested. Yeah. So, um you could probably light it on fire. So, hopefully that will not suggest that we do that. It's closer to being firewood than a piano anymore. Are we good? Yep. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the disposal of surplus personal property belonging to the district that is no longer needed for school purposes as presented in the June 10, 2025 board agenda packet. Can we have a second, please? Second. We have a second um for Mr. Williams. And we do need a roll call. Mr. Yes. Mr. Derkin, yes. Miss Pasca, yes. Miss Roscott, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss, yes. We do have in the activity count for the class of 2029. Gosh.
074Yes. That's just hard to say out loud. I just had to verify to make sure it was 2029. It's hard to believe it's almost 2030. Um, but every year we request that the board uh approve a new activity count for the incoming freshman class. um because they will be holding fundraisers in the future and we need uh to be able to manage these funds through their activity account. So we um be asking ideally it'd be great if the board could approve this tonight. Uh so that's it's in place uh prior to the start of the school year. Does anyone have any objection? This is pretty perform. Okay. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the activity account for the class of 2029 as presented and discussed in the June
07510, 2025 board agenda packet. So moved. And we need a second. Second. Second from Mr. Williams. And a roll call, please. Mr. Derkin, yes. Miss, yes. Miss Ruscott, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss, yes. Mr. Kuro, yes. And last but not least, is this for uh action tonight, Dr. Smatano? Yes. Unfortunately, this is an annual action. Um and they always give us less than 30 days to ask for board approval on this item. Um but it's the same from year to year. So in 2324, the district received two vans for student transportation through PACE. Um these are for our special education students. So one van's equipped with a lift that can accommodate seven passengers. Um, and we replaced our old mini bus. Uh, so that saved the district a lot of money. The other van holds
07610 people. Um, and we often use that for our transition program when they go out into the community during the day. Each van cost the district $100 a month. So, it's a great program. Um, and the reason we can get it for $100 a month is because PACE has received a federal grant. And so, in order to continue to participate in the program, uh, the board of education has to adopt the attached forms on an annual basis. the FTA certification and asurances um in order to continue to participate. There have been uh no changes uh since the last time uh the board has approved it and then once the board approves it uh our district's legal council will sign off and then I'll be able to submit it uh to PACE. So, we just received
077it this month and of course they're asking um for uh the forms back before June 30th. Any questions or objections to moving this forward tonight? Okay. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, hereby approves the FTA certifications and asurances as presented in the June 10, 2025 board agenda packet. So moved and we need a second. Second. Second for Mr. Durkin. And a roll call, please. Miss Ruska, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss, yes. Mr. Kudo, yes. Mr. Durkin, yes. Miss, yes. Thank you very much. This is our second opportunity for visitor comments if you wish to speak. No. Okay. Thank you all for attending tonight. Uh board of education discussion items. We didn't have anything here. Uh but I will uh make sure as we move forward we reference the IASB
078retreat. That date has been scheduled. Everyone should have it on their calendar. It's a Tuesday in September. there was some transition with IASB personnel and it kind of forced us to move to a a little later than we wanted, but I think it it'll be a good event regardless. Um, does anyone have any consideration of items for future meetings? No. Seeing none, uh, matters for close session. We do have appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, student discipline on individual student matters, purchase, sale, or lease of real property, probable imminent or pending litigation, collective negotiations, and school safety. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, enters close session for the purpose of considering the close session matters as presented in the June 30
079in the June 10, 2025 board agenda packet. So moved. Second. Second. Second from Mr. Williams. Would you need a roll call? Miss, yes. Mr. Kuto, yes. Mr. Derkin, yes. Yes. Miss, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Okay, thank you everyone. We are going to it's 804.