001This is going to be a [Music] reconvene of the May 13 board of education over here. Give me a second. I had a guy. Okay. We do student association is here first. Yep. Few ladies coming up. Did we already do pledge? We we we went we convene downstairs and we do pledge and everything then. Yeah, we convene their meeting downstairs. We were in close session and now we're back in open. So, ladies. Hi. Hello. Take the time to thank you guys so much for letting us, you know, come here for all the board meetings and talking to you guys and sharing all of our ideas. Um, yeah, we really appreciate it. Half of us are currently winning their senior night game. So, yeah. But anyways, on a fourth quarter, there was a lot of fun
002activities we did. One of them being the scavenger hunt. We did one back in October for like, you know, it was like kind of Halloween themed. We did it again with spring attire and we upped it from 100 to 150 Bulldogs and it went really well again. So uh and then we also did um like raffles to incentivize attendance at spring sports. So we did it at a girls lacrosse game, a boys volleyball game, and then a boys lacrosse game. And so the students got raffle tickets when they showed up and then we pulled them and they got prizes um like team merch or gift cards. And then we did a big prize at the end of the week with a Bulls jersey, right? A Bulls jersey. Um, and so we had a lot of
003people showing up to those games from what I heard like everyone thought it was really fun and um they like that. So we and Mr. Mannon really helped us get all the prizes and get all that organized. So we just wanted to thank him for supporting us in that. And then we just had our third and final blood drive of the year. It was the trucks outside and we got a total of like 109 pints which saved over 200 people. Wonderful. And then we also held our pop top contest which we do every year and we went on to the Ronald McDonald House. Um we raised around 110 pounds and it was around 2.6 million pop tops. Um I think our leader was actually. Yeah. She had like around like 25 pounds. It was amazing.
004So it's a lot of pop. Uh and then we also just two weeks ago we did the notes of acknowledgement. We delivered sta uh notes to over a hundred staff. Um and they always really appreciate that. So that was fun. And we this quarter we've done a lot of volunteer opportunities too. So we had a CSS event. Uh we had the Kowanas Unpancake Breakfast and then we also gave them the opportunity to join the Little League Challengers adaptive baseball which is like helping kids with like physical or intellectual abilities like play Little League. So those were all really fun volunteer events we sponsor. And then as you guys may or may not know, we did have our elections for our exec board. They're all so excited to meet you guys in September and they're already
005planning the freshman orientation. Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, we appreciate you guys being here. I mean, volunteers make the world go round. I always say that. And this is time out of out of your busy lives and you guys are very busy. So, thank you. Of course. Thank you. Do you have any questions for anything you did? So, you're all off. You're all seniors, correct? Yep. We're all seniors, so it'll be a brand new Would you like to share with the board your post RB plans if you have some? Um, I'm going to Clemson University and I'm majoring in early childhood education. Yeah, I'm going to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne and I'm majoring in biochemistry. I'm going to St. Mary's College and I'm majoring in secondary education. Wonderful. Well, congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you.
006Draw the game. Thank u moving on toformational items for your request. Dr. Skinkis, three foyer requests to report out this month. Uh they're in the board book. Um there's a summary chart on the first page. Sarah James employee data access to a copy of list of RBHS employees. Responses attached. Elaine Nicholas teacher retirement group information of educators retiring the district at 2425 school year. Responses included and the Abvis Khan AI solutions LLC details for purchase of a given period for vendor name, vendor ID, etc. and that response is included as well. Those are the foyers to report out for this month. Wonderful. Thank you. And um we also have the uh recognition of our student adviserss to the board of education. Everyone should have received um their surveys from their time and I'll kind of
007turn it over to both Olivia and Emma if you want to capture lessons learned and then we can tell you how wonderful you were and and you have your last report. Oh, you have a last start with the report. Start with the substance. Sure. I know we like came up with a plan too early. We're like, "Oh, we're going to share at the end of our report." I think we have something to say as well. Okay. But um yeah, I'll start with our report. So for teaching and learning for the month of May from the 5th 5th to the 16th, we have advanced placement testing. So um this year the um college board decides to take a digital um or hybrid format for this year for all AP exams. So um either exams are completely
008digital or they have a digital but also um writing component as well. So all of our AP exams are in a new format this year. And today students took AP French language and also AP environmental science. The remaining exams include AP English language, AP physics, AP Spanish language, AP computer science principles, AP Spanish lit and AP psychology. And this year I took um my AP government, my AP English literature, my AP computer science a exams last week and yesterday I took my AP calculus exam and I'm looking forward to taking my Spanish literature exam on Friday. So um uh these exams have been um what I've been working really hard for um this entire year and I I know a lot of other students have been working tirelessly for these exams as well. on. So
009I just wanted to highlight a little bit about that. From the 19th to the 22nd, we have final exams here at RB. On Monday, students will take place will have their seventh period final. On Tuesday, students will have their first and second period final. On Wednesday, students will have their third and fourth period final. On Thursday, students will have their fifth and sixth period final. And seniors also have exemption privileges for regular and honors classes. Students need an A minus or higher to be exempt from their exam. And for AP classes, students require a B minus or higher on in their semester grade or and they must have taken the AP exam as well. And also here's a our reminder is that students do not have to show up for study hall exams. And for
010the month of June on for the month of TW for this year, um there will be summer academic school offerings. And so here at RB, we offer credit recovery courses for students who um for freshman to seniors and we also offer health and government courses for students who want to get ahead and earn credit prior to the school year. Session one classes run from June 2nd to the 26th and session two session the second session runs from July 7th to the 30th. But I'll hand it off to Olivia. Perfect. Thank you. Okay, so starting off with May, I know we have a couple things that are happening today. So, um we have the rock band spring showcase that is going on from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. So, it started just a couple minutes ago. This
011is in the auditorium. And then as well, um for arts and music, we have the spring art show that started from 6:00 to 7:00, so just ended right now. Um and that was um in the art pit. So, a lot of students were able to showcase their artwork from throughout the semester um and kind of close out this chapter um or close out the semester for them um and kind of display the hard work that they've been working on as well. And then we also have the girls senior night um for soccer um that is going on from 5:30 to I believe it's still going on and that's in the Kennley Athletic Complex. So, we just wish our senior soccer bulldogs a farewell onto their next adventures next year. All righty. And then for the
01214th, so tomorrow is a local scholarship breakfast by invitation only. So this is from 8:30 a.m. and the program begins at 8:30. Um but setup begins around 7:30. So families are always encouraged to come early um and to arrive early and spend time with their students as well um for uh the local scholarship breakfast as well. And this is going to be in the auditorium. So this is for students and families who have won a local scholarship. A lot of them have either been announced beforehand if they students have received an email um from those scholarships or students will find out um tomorrow which scholarships they have won. So we're super excited to see that for tomorrow. On the 15th, which is this Thursday, senior awards night is going to be um occurring in the
013main gym. So this is by invitation only as well. Uh we recommend that um parents and families arrive around 5:45 for parking um just because we know the parking sometimes can get a little bit hectic during these times. Um, and this is just to recognize our outstanding senior class and their many accomplishments um, from their high school career. So, we're excited to see that on Thursday. As well that's occurring during the school day um, is going to be yearbook distribution. So, this is going to occur at 2:15 in the fieldhouse. So, it begins around 7th period for students who have early release just so they have a chance um, to be able to pick up their yearbook before they um, they leave school. And we also just encourage students to hang out for a little
014bit um while they're grabbing their yearbooks, look through with friends, um get some signatures and pictures, etc. All righty. And then on the 23rd of May, we have several things going on that day uh for our graduation ceremony. So, uh the mandatory graduation rehearsal will be at 11:00 a.m. in the cafeteria. This is just to make sure that everything for the ceremony that night goes smoothly. Um and just making sure that everyone understands the order and things that the ceremony will be occurring in. Um following the uh graduation rehearsal, there will be a senior picnic. Um so the time just kind of depends on whenever the rehearsal um is done and that'll be in the fieldhouse. And then finally the um that later that night from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. uh will be the graduation
015for the class of 2025 in the commencement ceremony. Um so this will be in the main gym and also little theater. Um usually u most students are offered four tickets and then they can get an additional two tickets for families who want to watch in the in the little theater. Um, so yeah, so we're just celebrating our RV seniors becoming alumni and celebrating a new chapter of their lives. And then for June, um, we have the 2025 athletic summer camps. So this is going to be camps including girls badmitten, baseball, boys and girls basketball, football, and more. So these are available to students who are looking to keep busy during the summer months. So that concludes our report. um just a little bit, you know, as we conclude our report. Um I just wanted to
016thank the honorable board for having us this year. It really has been an honor to be able to see everything that goes on, you know, in the school day and then also kind of see the behind the scenes of it. And I think it's something that not a lot of students are able to have the privilege of. Um and so I'm thankful to the board not only for choosing us, but just having this opportunity for students in general. I think it's extremely beneficial to have student input, you know, coming to difficult decisions or decisions that affect students on a day-to-day basis, but also having students to know more about, you know, what goes on behind the scenes as well. So, um, especially thank you to Miss Gaska, to Mr. Venhor, to Dr. Freightos, and Dr.
017Skinkis, who I know went through all those interviews with us last May. And you know, as you guys went through the interviews as well, um it just is such a privilege to be here and to have this opportunity that I, you know, I coming from a family of educators, you don't really you hear a lot about it in the background and so being able to see it now um is a great pleasure. So, thank you so much. I just want to echo what Olivia already mentioned, but um it has been both an honor and a privilege to have served um as a student adviser to this incredible board. And I've learned so many lessons here and having the opportunity to um talk face to face with um you guys has been an incredible experience. and
018having the chance to share my input as well and reflect the input of the student the greater student body here at RB has been a um opportunity that I know a lot of schools do not offer. And so being here at RV has been um having the chance to share that here at RB is been incredible and I'm internally grateful for um this position as well. So, um, similar to what Olivia already mentioned, I think that having the student input is such, um, a vital and necessary thing that, um, school boards should have. And so being in this position with Olivia and having the chance to share our input has been, um, a privilege and I'm really, really grateful for it. And um I want to thank everybody for um selecting us and um I'm
019really looking forward to what um the students who will f fill our shoes next year will have to offer. But thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you both of you. Thank you both. Comments from board members. I think thank you very much for for um all the work you did this year. Good luck in college and I wish nothing but the best for you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations and thank you. Really excited that you uh bring such excitement, such positivity, such great feedback. Uh I regret that we I didn't get a chance to see you personally, but it feels like the groundwork that you laid I'm going to benefit from next year with your successors. So, thank you. Thank you. Um, Emma and Olivia, believe it or not, choosing the um, adviserss,
020the student adviserss is one of my favorite um, activities um, that I get to do for being on the board. Um, thank you both so much for stepping up, for um, coming here on Tuesday nights, for giving of your time, for providing us with your input, and I too am really excited to see what the future holds for both of you. So, congratulations. Thank you. just want to thank you both for everything that you did. You brought a lot to the uh our attention. So, uh you know, we wish we knew everything, but hearing it from your perspective, uh goes a long way and it means a lot. So, you're both going to do great and I while I speak for myself, I'm sure the rest of the board members here would would agree that,
021you know, if you ever need a reference or anything in the future, please do not hesitate to reach out. So, you did great work. We're very thankful. Thank you. Congratulations. I think it's really awesome that you guys have devoted so much of your time and volunteered your time with us and I think I'm new here, but uh it's really great to see the efforts that you guys put in and I can see a bright future for both of you guys. I think that's awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. And we just want to thank you for being willing to be put on the spot a couple of times. We've had to digress from our conversation and say, "Wait, let's ask you guys a couple times on classes. How does that feel on the ground? How do you
022see it from your perspective? And that's that's huge for us to be able to see the 360 view through your eyes. So, thank you very much for doing that. Thank you. So, you guys are our fourth, is that right? Fourth class of student adviserss and I I'm going to say you you the bar gets raised every year. It really does. And I think um some of the comments, some of the feedback we got from you was about onboarding and training. And I know we made a concerted effort last year. We can always improve and that's something that we'll have to take into the next round of student adviserss moving forward. Um so thank you very much. Dr. Tras, do you have certificates? Yes. On behalf of the board, we're going to make you guys shake
023all of our hands. It's get your hand sanitizer ready for for graduation. Very impressive. There you go. Congratulations. Thank you so much. You know, I think Thank you. Okay. We appreciate you guys. Thank you. Thank you, Emma. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Good luck. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Proud of you. Congratulations. We can be a reference. We know we got you back. We're proud of you. [Applause] Nice job. Thank you very much. Miss Gas, do you want to give us a a brief update on where we are with student adviserss for next year? I think we're not naming them until We're not, but uh um Mr. We want to put you on the spot there. Give us an update if you would. Mr. Novak and I were here last week. Um
024there were 11 applications we reviewed. Um we have two successors. We're really excited. Um I think this is the fourth time I do this now and Nick it was your first time but it it's just such a cool experience to hear from lots of different students that are interested um in serving that are interested in learning more about the behind-the-scenes process as as Olivia said. So more to come. We're ready more to come, right? And your notes definitely get incorporated into how we I think we have improved year over year in terms of at least from from even from where I sit forcing myself to say, "Oh, I need to ask the student adviserss on this issue and make myself little notes." So, you guys are appreciated for all your input. Thank you. Thank you
025so much. Thank you. Um I don't see anyone here for visitor statements this evening. So, we can move on to consent agenda. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the following items listed on the consent agenda. Meeting minutes from the meetings held on April 29, 2025 open and close sessions as presented in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. Can we have a second, please? A second. Second for Mr. Novak. And we do need a roll call, please. Mr. Derkin. Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Miss Resca, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Miss, yes. Moving on, we don't have any uh life safety capital improvements or sustainability items under old business, but we do have a contract extension with First Student. Dr. Spana, good evening. Uh the current one-year contract with First
026Student expires June 30th. Uh the district went out for bid for transportation services back in May 2016 and we only received one bid at the time which was for students. So as a result uh we've been extending the pricing um between that as well as the bus driver shortage uh postcoid. Um this is the last one-year extension that we are allowed to do uh per statute. Um so next year we will be going out to bid. Um but I've provided the historical cost. Um, so you can see the increase for next year is about $3 an hour for the first two hours. There was a question submitted last time um about the conflict charge. The company updated the contract, so it does say after 2 p.m. in all places. Um, but again, we haven't been
027charged that because they can't fulfill when there's conflicts. Um, and that's why we've been using uh other buses uh when we need them to get here before uh four o'clock pretty well. Yeah, usually four o'clock. Um, and there were no questions submitted tonight. This is a second read. Um, and I'd ask the board for approval tonight. Any questions for Dr. Spatano. Can we proceed? Okay. Thank you. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the contract with first student as presented in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. We have a second, please. Second. Second from Mr. Durkin. We need a roll call. Mr. Caputo? Yes. Miss Gaska? Yes. Mr. Noad? Yes. Muska? Yes. Mr. Williams? Yes. S? Yes. Uh, the final item under old business is Minister Durkin. Oh.
028Ham, I think you miss Mr. Yes. Oh, I I apologize. Approved. Uh, thank you, Dr. Skinkis. Uh, Steinway piano bid. Do you want to give us an update on that, please? Sure. Uh, for the past several years, the district has been working with the music staff to purchase replacement instruments, sound systems, and auditorium lighting for performances. Uh, depending on the fiscal year, the purchases have ranged anywhere from about 15,000 to over 200,000. Uh earlier this year we replaced the band carpet. Um and the music staff uh has spent almost uh about 15,000 this year. Um we just received some last uh minute purchases for instruments for next year. Um so this is a second read. It is for uh the purchase of one Steinway and Suns model B grand piano. um all of our pianos
029uh all of our major pianos that are not in practice rooms are um over a hundred years um old. And so due to the cost of the piano, we had to go out to bid. Um the bid was released on March 26. We posted in the newspaper. We had a public bid opening and we received one bid as we expected from Steinway and Suns for $131,540. Um, this does include uh a piano dolly as well as a protective cover. There was a question submitted about the dolly. This is needed to move uh the piano to and from the auditorium. Um, so it doesn't sit in the auditorium permanently. It's only there for performances um and practices. Otherwise, uh it goes into a storage space uh with a humidifier um or dehumidifier. So um that is
030why we need the piano dolly. Uh the district's attorney has reviewed the bid and the associated uh contract and we'd ask the board for approval tonight. And just to quickly refresh because we do have some new membership. We now have a five-year plan to replace the other pianos. Is that correct? Uh we did not uh we need to create a new uh so we had a five-year plan for the instruments. This is the end. Okay. and this is the end and we need to work with the music staff to update and create a new plan for the next 5 years in terms of what their what they foresee their needs being in the next 5 years. Um we do anticipate at some point those pianos being replaced. Uh we may need to replace one or
031two of them with a refurbished piano um to save additional cost depending on what their other needs are. Okay. So we'll we'll see that at some future date. Mhm. Okay. Thank you. The plan was to move the piano that's currently in the audit that is being used in the auditorium into the band room. Is that what I believe so? Yes. And then uh the one that's currently in the little theater I believe is the one that we'll be looking to dispose of. I believe that's the one that's in the worst shape. Yeah. Any more questions or comments? Are we comfortable moving forward? Laura, did you have a question? No. No. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the purchase of a grand piano from Steinway and Suns, as presented
032in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. Can someone second, please? Second. I have a second from Mr. Novak. And we need a roll call. Mr. Durkin, yes. Yes. Miss Gasco, yes. Miss Roscott, a yes. Mr. Novak, yes. And Mr. William, yes. Yes. Um, moving on to new business, payment of bills. Uh, yes. There were three questions submitted for tonight. The first is on uh board book page 59 um in regards to the payment for DLA, which is our district architect for $4,500. Uh that was the remaining fee for the life safety tenure assessment. Um page 97, Neapville psychiatric tutoring. Uh this is um for individual tutoring for a hospitalized student. When a student's hospitalized for um mental health, whether it's school refusal, anxiety, depression, uh etc. were required to provide a tutoring services which
033is typically provided directly through the hospital. Um and then the last question was on board book page 103. Premisar group $17,280. Um so that bill uh is really comprised of uh two things. preventative maintenance plus services. Um so the preventative maintenance was about $8,620. Um and that's where they assess all the units, our HVAC units and they come out um twice a year. They come out um right before winter and then they come out again right before summer. Um so they do um all of our heating and cooling units. Um and then 9,000 for repairs throughout all of the different units. They've been servicing our HVAC units or all of our heating and cooling units for well over 10 years. I'm sure it's longer. They've been bought out twice. So, Thermastar is the the newest
034company. Before that, they were RIGO and then they were something else. Any other questions from anyone or could we move on? Miss Gaska. Um, the board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the payment of bills as presented in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. We have a second. Second. Second from Bill Durkin. Roll call. Mr. Durkin. Yes. Yes. Yes. Miss, yes. Mr. Novak, yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Yes. Uh the next item on the press plus this is the first read on the press plus policy packet and if you we have not even uh set up a second or an advisory council that won't I have three advisories finance facilities and curriculum that are getting worked on in May. So we won't meet till June maybe even July. It doesn't
035have to be approved till August. So that will be a summer project. Okay. Muska submitted some comments. I'll share those. uh they were after the deadline this morning, but they're really not for this meeting. So, I'll share those to the uh policy advisory council and the rest of the board uh in a Friday update or later this week. Okay. Yeah, this was this was a big packet. It was so we'll we'll look to to talk about those probably in June, you think? June, July. Probably July. Okay. Okay. Um moving on. Final district calendar. This is for approval, I believe, this evening. [Music] So, there was a question submitted on this. [Music] Um, the board of education is required to adopt a public school calendar. Uh, that is the onepage calendar that's referenced on the website.
036That's the district calendar. That's a one-page snapshot for all constituents as well as it's to be submitted to the state board of education that shows when your school term starts, when it ends, when your emergency days are, when your parent teacher conferences are, your terms for each quarter, your holidays, all those items. So, that's all captured in the one um district calendar. The uh what we're approving tonight is that the district calendar has been implemented and no emergency days have been used. So, you're basically now approving that it was the final calendar for this school year that I submitted to the state board of education. There was a question submitted about calendars on the website. Um, so parents do appreciate having the onepage district calendar uh that just shows when spring break is, when winter
037break will start, when um first quarter starts, first day of school, all the different holidays when they're planning out travel plans, things like that. There are some other calendars on the website that uh the building administration chooses to place up there so parents have an a place to go and find when activities and events or concerts or different things uh that happen on a daily basis for the school occur. Um and Dr. Freredis is going to give a little background on that as well. Yeah, folks. I mean, you know, it's always been in the eating for community. people want to see, right? You know, the athletic events, you know, the the concerts, you know, the performances that are upcoming. And, you know, we strive to do our best to update it often and frequently on
038a daily basis. Um, I know I know it seems to be there a lot of calendars, but we definitely they're in need and they're practical and they're useful. So, that's what we have, right? We have the official district and we have the school calendar and its work, but we're always open to, you know, um, looking at other ways of presenting the calendar at the pleasure of the board. Well, does this particular calendar ever um, leave the board packet? I don't think it's actually found on the website. That that's how I understood the question, right? Is that there's there's the one pager and then there's this one. And I can see how they're right. This one's approved twice a year. It gets it's it's a it's a bureaucratic step. So I I don't think this one
039and someone can correct me if I'm wrong is actually on the website except for it's buried in the board packet. The district calendar one the one we're approving tonight. The district calendar is available on the website. It's not in this format. It's on one pager under the board of education or the district. Yeah. Yeah. It's here. The I think the calendars that Mr. Williams was referring to um you know we just completed a a website uh a complete restructuring of the website based off of uh parent group surveys and things last year um and so they're still working through the calendars um because I had some of the similar questions like well if you just you know should we just have the district calendar which is the one pager and then the a building a
040high school calendar maybe it should be call. But what we found out was that when once everybody from athletics to activities put all that on the page that like one page of that p could be three have to scroll three times now per day. So it's getting a little Yes. So um I think Dr. Freighes and Miss Fletcher are continuing to work on that. Um I you know feedback we we have some community surveys we could implement to say like is it too clutter? Is there too much on there? Is there not enough on there? Um, you know, then we get some, you know, as you saw tonight, the we were doing a close session meeting in the faculty calf and then the Triton people are looking to where there's yoga class got moved and
041so people don't always check the calendar. So then we thought maybe they could eliminate some of those problems by having those calendars uh available on the website. So we're we've kind of gone back and forth on these a little bit, but I think it's definitely a work in progress. M yeah websites always are seems like but yeah and today you know to add you know we've engaged stakeholders you know we're always willing and open to improve the website by re-engaging you know we've added the home icon the weekl translation we've improved the drop- down menus and organizing consolidated a lot of information but like as it was said I think it's always a work in progress and we're always open to making our website more user friendly So if we could have a I I
042do would recommend that the calendar be approved tonight. Any more questions on the calendar? So you know if I just understand this. So what we're doing is we're confirming that the calendar we just lived through that we have met everything. So we're basically correct the district calendar that you approved last year in January is now has been implemented. It's been implemented. We did I required a number of days for teachers. Okay. It is what happened. Correct. So, you know, it is a little confusing because when we approve the calendar at a different time of year, you know, the calendar future calendar, we use the same language and I think that was probably part of the confusion. So, this is more of a confirmation. Yeah. No. And they you're right. I mean, they it's the same
043they muddle into one or other. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Um, but this is I think a I'm going to call it bureaucracy in action right here. Sure. Um, okay. I think we can move ahead. We need a second. All right. We need a motion. We need a motion. But we still have a motion. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the final 2024 2025 school calendar with the emergency days of May 23, 27, 28, 29, and 30 eliminated to be submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education as presented in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. Second from Mr. Williams. And do we need a roll call on this one? I guess we do. Please, Mr. Yes. Mr. Kudo. Yes. M gas. Yes. Muscott. Yes. Mr. Novak. Yes.
044Mr. Williams. Yes. Miss. Yes. Uh the next item I think is also for approval this evening. Who's talking about this one? The overnight field trip request for Palms. Yeah. So this is this is an annual trip that has occurred, you know, since my tenure here in late July where our Palms teams go to NIU. There was a question submitted about the cost breakdown of 465 per student. If you look at page four of the document of the trip document, um under line D, you will see that the 465 covers housing, meals, and instruction. Okay. If I need to add another page for the future, make it big in any way, I'll be more than happy to do that as well. Honorable board members, if I could suggest, Dr. Freight, I think we've seen this, different
045groups do it a different way. Maybe if there's a standard form people can use, it might be helpful because I think some of the groups submit it and say housing per student, PDM per student, just it's I mean, that's my opinion. I just think a form for a group to fill out might be helpful and it'll be help helpful for us to see a standard submission. It would be because that way we're checking for the same thing all the time, right? Yes, I agree. Does anyone have any what are what are you looking for though in the standard form? We we do have a standard but then the cost this the second piece the backup is always a little bit different right I think I'm thinking about the the baseball trip last year we had
046to kind of send it back and say could you give us just a little bit more detail so I think and and the first page one of two just specific are you looking for some bullets maybe right under there that just breaks down that the 465 covers what covers the the the housing the food the um transportation Um, I mean, think about like the New York trip, right? That had some very detailed I don't think we need that level of of detail, but just some So, you don't have to hunt for it. Yeah. It should be on the first cover page here. Yeah. I mean, I think we say on a second page, but I think these it's the second page. It always looks a little bit different. Sometimes it's handwritten, sometimes it's typed out.
047Yeah, I see. We have the standard request form and then supplemental forms. Here's the purpose rationale, right? Name of the travel agency you need. just kind of fill in each line. That's all. So, I think we do these every so often. They're always just a little bit different. It's It's not a big deal. I think there's no reason not to move ahead with this tonight, but I just was one of the things that I was thinking as I was reading through it. In the future, Dr. Fras, when you submit this, have your have you you signed the principal part so the board knows you're saying everything's checked off? Yes. And then I assign the superintendent after the board. The board of education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the overnight trip for
048Palms to participate in the Universal Dance Association's summer camp at Northern Illinois University from July 22 through 25, 2025 as presented in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. A second. Second from Mr. Novak. That's all in favor. Money. Oh, no. because it doesn't cost it's not district man. Correct. All in favor? Eyes have it. Motion carries. Who is the second? Nook Novak. Mr. Novak. Thank you. Um Dr. Spatana, tell us about the exciting world of electric supply rates. One of my favorite topics. Uh the current 5-year contract with Interstate Gas Supply or IGS is set to expire in December. The best time of year to go out to market for electricity is spring or summer. Um so we have been working with the district solar consultant u Mark Puit to go out to market
049and solicit requests for quotes from suppliers. This process is exempt from the standard bid process. Um as with uh electricity as the same as with gas uh quotes from suppliers expire at the end of the day. So that makes uh two reads in our normal process very tricky. Um, and so we received the quotes this afternoon and the district when we before we went out to market requested that the vendors honor their quote through noon tomorrow. Um, the quote for several days as possible, but then they usually mark up the rate to kind of insulate themselves from changes in the market. Um, so I updated the chart uh this afternoon to reflect the quotes that the district received. Uh, so we received uh five uh different quotes from uh different companies. We are recommending going
050with constellation for 36 months. Uh that is the cheapest quote. Um our lowest rate available. Um and uh when we went out to the market, we did outline that we were uh having the solar project coming um this summer and that it would be on the grid in September and that would decrease our electricity usage just to make sure we were uh being straightforward and that the contract and the terms would reflect that. um because our our electricity uses should decrease about 18% once we get solar panels um up and running. Uh and so as I previously said, we are recommending that we go with constellation. Um and by approving it tonight, we would lock in the rate and the term um and the vendor and then we would um send the contract to legal
051counsel to review the contract. Um so we're asking for the board's approval tonight pending legal council review um with constellation. Dr. Smatana, do you need the resolution to state 36 month? Right now it just says agreement with constellation for electricity supply pending legal council review. Should we put the term just mention the 36 and the rate? I believe the the version in the board packet has 36 months. So, yes, please. Okay. So, if Miss Gaska, if you could uh read the one from the board packet, it would be um Yeah, I see. So, that means we would not be able to cancel this contract for three years then. Correct. But it does reflect the fact that we are going to include solar panels uh in September. Right. The the company is aware of that. Did
052we at one point like participate in a co-op? Didn't we at Well, IGS is is not necessarily a co-op, but it's part of I don't think it's a co-op, but it's consortium purchasing consortium. Correct. Um, and they uh were not interested uh in in providing us a quote um because of the solar panel um project because they provide a very specific um they go out to market and purchase exactly what electricity they forecast that you need. Um and so they were not uh willing to give us a quote. Um I will say I think the constellation quote is a very good rate. um we locked this five-year rate in during um like right around COVID times. And so we we hit the market at like 5 years ago at the perfect time. Um and so
053um that's why you're seeing an increase um in the rate. And you said that this rate is based on today like they they gave it to you today. So we approve it today. It's locked. Correct. Locked. Correct. Cool. Right. Any more questions? I think we're good. The Board of Education, Township High School District 208, Cook County, Illinois, approves the 36-month agreement with Constellation for electricity supply pending legal council review as presented in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. Can we have a second, please? Second. Second from Mr. Durkin. We need a roll call. Mr. Durkin, yes. Mr. Yes. Miss, yes. Miss Ruscott, yes. Mr. Milvat, yes. Mr. Williams. Yes. Yes. Uh what everyone's been waiting for, the comfort facility dog proposal. Well, this is uh this is a first read. Um back in I
054want to say Feb February, we discussed the possibilities of in my superintendent report of using the district securing a comfort dog. Um we have used comfort dogs. On multiple occasions, uh the students will attest during finals weeks, returning from breaks, right before breaks, end of the year, end of semester when anxiety sometimes can be high or um you know, other um face, you know, public events or current events that may cause student stress or conflict. Um we just have them sitting out in the in the foyer and kids come in and pet them. We have them in sometimes in the student services office. Just opportunities for kids. It just changes their, you know, they come in, maybe they're having a bad day and they come in and they see the dogs laying on the floor
055or at the door and it's just something that just creates a different reaction that, you know, can hopefully flip a different day uh so that they have a different day. What the discussion was eventually having one of our staff members become the primary caretaker and then having additional staff members as backups. That's mentioned in the agreement. I believe in the memo from Mr. Mannon who would be serving in those roles. Um I think Miss Carol Weinberg the dean and then one of our officers Mr. Ed Petri has volunteered to be the third so that there's somebody in the event Mr. Mannon leaves or there needs to be a break in supervision of the dog. Um we are in the early stages of working this through legal counsel and insurance. uh liability insurance is has dealt
056with a few schools that have done this before. They are advising us to do a waiver process for students with contact or something that we can include in our registration process. So, it's another box parents can check off and sign for. um you know, but we we we have seen recently um you know, having uh lost a student earlier this year, um having some other issues to where if we had a comfort dog full-time on campus to be available for some of those grieving sessions or therapy sessions or opportunities when kids are maybe going through stuff in the dean's office or student services office or with the social worker to have that therapy dog uh be a part of that process. so the kid can feel comfortable and maybe let their guard down or uh
057get the support they need. Um so that's kind of where we are at right now with this recommendation. The one thing that was unclear a little more clear cost is the training costs are covered by K9 for comfort food veterinarian and grooming needs are not included and so those would be uh covered by the district. we approximated about anywhere from 22 to $3,200 uh a year uh for this. So legal is looking through this as well as um our first take with legal had a lot of uh crossouts and changes which I don't know if there's going to be as much indemnification language as they would like because I think K9 for Comfort their whole purpose is taking care of the certification of the dog and making sure they're handing off a dog that's certified
058to to help you in these types of situations. Um I think a lot of the responsibility and liability will end up sitting with the district. Dr. Santana additional yeah liability uh insurance uh did respond and say that the dogs would be covered uh comfort dogs are covered under our current policy. Um but I would echo what Dr. Skink has said in regards to changes. Uh the other complication is they're also a nonforprofit and so non forprofits usually are not equipped to make all of the changes that our legal council is um requesting. So we are waiting to hear back from them and we'll go from there. Do we have a dog breed? Did I not see that in there? I saw a name golden retriever. Harley, he's on the website. She did some research. Harley.
059Harley's one of the dogs that has been coming on a regular basis as well. Can you guys vouch for Harley? I I don't know the names, but I know there's usually two. I know there's Pickles that comes along. It's not Pickles. It's the other one that's the more the shaggy gold. Well, either way, they're both really cute. Kane, pickles, and Harley. The fact that you remember pickles is an example though to the board of how the students can relate to this, right? Yeah, you you'll you'll be standing at the door and when you have 800 or 900 kids come in through door 8. Pickles. You hear pickles even yelled out every couple times. So, this is a first read, right? Okay. The students are in favor of this, I would say. I would say so.
060Yes. I feel like a lot of the times like especially I know like I think finals and especially during AP exams too. I know that's when they we see them a lot and so sometimes like I'll like walk in through the door and you just see a crowd of students just like around them, you know, just waiting their turns to pet them and everything. So I would say that they're they're pretty popular. Yeah. And then having them on a um consistent basis would also like be a positive start and a positive note um to the day as well. And like since it is a privilege having them during final exams um and during the beginning of the year, but I think having it on like year round, having a dog year round would um benefit
061um RV students and allow them to feel comforted and also like have a great start to their day as well. Okay. Would we still get visits from the second dog or once we did this? Would it be is pickles never coming back? Is that what you're think kind of worried about pickles? Pickles and Kane, I think, would still be able to come back and visit. Yeah. You know, it it's funny that the the people that are actually helping us facilitate this, this has become a very common thing now in police stations and police departments just so that you know, just helping officers, helping um victims, helping and so uh that's how we, you know, it's the actually the Oakbrook uh police terrace police department that brings their comfort dogs and has them have them hang
062out in our lobbies and stuff. So, they were u big advocates for this. They see this a lot with their juvenile cases and things like that. We've been doing it now for several years, Dr. Several. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, we will wait and take action at the next meeting. So, the recommendation will bring back we'll bring back a recommendation or resolution. We'll have an update and a plan from Dr. Smatana from liability on how we'll implement this or for the building administration to implement this. That was good. Uh visitor statements. Seeing none, uh, board of education discussion items. This was something that was raised by Miss Rusco last time and there's information placed in the Friday packet. Can you give us a 20 second update on that? As I stated in the Friday update, I
063believe it was two weeks ago, that uh the driver's education uh we had only received one concern from a parent for summer school about there not being more than 90 spots available. Again, we limited staffing and uh um cars that are available. However, we offered 90 spaces during the school year and only 69 only 69 students selected to fill those spaces. So, is it the whole year or is it semester? It's a semester class. So, because you said 180 in that Friday update. So, is that the So, we have a total of 100 We have 90 during the school year. Yeah. And 90 in the summer. So 180 and if you figure there's about 380 students in a class. So roughly 200 or so are taking 200 plus because we're not even filling all our
064spots during the school year. But if it's a semester class, do we do 90 one semester and 90 the next semester? Uh 90 total. So we only do 40. So one semester will be 45, one semester will be you know no one semester will be 30, one semester will be 60. Three sections of 30. Three sections of 30. Right. and only 69 students signed up across all three sections. So, well, I'm confused because if there's three sections of 30 on one semester, why don't we have three sections of 30 on the second semester? No, no, no. We offer three sections total. A total over the year in the school year, right? Okay. Okay. I didn't And only 69 student we have never turned a student away. Okay. And only 69 are signing up for those
065nine. So, we haven't even filled all the 90 seats. So, I think as Mr. William stated earlier in that conversation. A lot of kids will try to take it in the summer. Yeah. Just so that they don't have to fill up an elective spot in their in their course schedule. Um but our obligation is is for the school year, not necessarily the summer school. So we cannot require staff to teach. Correct. You know, if that's the only staff we could get to fill it. Um we we 30 is probably about our maximum. The other thing is we we did check like our fee compared to the private it's not you're not saving much um you know that we're meeting all requirements from the state but I think private you know because they can pick you
066up at your house and they do it on Sundays and some other days that align better with some of the students travel schedules and athletic schedules but it's still close to the same it's close to a $400 fee you know it's probably about 150 more 125 more how many people take getting this over here. 90. We had one parent email the board. I think that's what Miss Ruska had brought up that she heard some other comments about people not being able to get it, but it's that's cuz it's the summer. It's very similar to government. We'll offer two sections of government. The students can attest if you don't get into government, you have to take it during the school year or you have to take an online course or another place. And the the summer
067class is how long? How many weeks is it? So, we have first session at least minimum four weeks. I just wonder but it's more hours. So there's two cars, right? There's two cars two vehicles. Yes. So how much driving is each kid getting if there's 90 of them? Well, they still have to have they have to meet the minimum require. But what what is the minimum require with their parents? I don't know like that driver section lasts a lot longer than the class section. Well, there's behind the wheel with an instructor and there's the parents. If the class is 3 weeks, the student might have four months to complete the driving, right? or whatever the six I think there's only six hours total of six hours with the with the instructor that's and it's 50
068hours I'm going through it right now with a 15 or 50 yeah I remember doing that but the the question the information that was requested was that we're not even fill if we were filling all of our seats in the school year and in the summer I would say we would be looking to add another section but we're not it's not where we're at right now so we're going to monitor it for another school year yeah I'm just because the email was a tipping point cuz I had heard other comments prior and so I was just trying to understand how that ran. Um, so are we offering like two sections, one semester and one section a different semester? Yes. Okay. And that seems to work out. Okay. Uh, do we offer a zero hour or
069school district does not offer zero hour? We don't have zero hour to begin. Okay. Some districts do. We have not. Okay. So, you had said in the Friday update that, you know, we're just going to kind of look at it and see what happens. Uh would that be like appropriate when uh um Miss Linquiz comes and talks about curriculum to kind of give us an idea? Hey, that's still working or not, you know, we're still not filling it. Is that about when it's appropriate? 69 out of 90 is what we're we're expected to staff for next year, right? So, I don't think it's more about staffing. I don't think there'll be much of an update till maybe next spring. Well, that's what I mean. So, staffing comes up if there's more kids. put it on
070our calendar. So, we're going to look at it over the year. Yeah. But from Laura, Yeah. What I'm trying to say is historically, right, we have not turned any kid away during the school year. Oh, I know. I'm trying to That's the obligation we're on. We're not obligated for the summer school, which I think the parent was emailing and and I'm not focused on that one parent and her getting a spot in summer school because I've had several parents over the last year talk to me about driver's ed. So, I'm just trying to understand driver's ed as an animal itself, right? But from a historical perspective in the school year, no student has signed up for like you know how sometimes students will sign up and we have to choose like sophomores that don't get
071a class because they're the youngest and right we have not turned away anybody in the last several years from driver's ed. Okay. So now the question I'm asking is so if I operationalize this so it's something we look at once a year the appropriate time to look at it. We're going to let it we're going to let it play out all year. And the question was, is it appropriate to then ask the question at staffing or at curriculum? Is it curriculum or staffing? Staffing because you would look at the number of students that signed up and the sections being offered. Okay. Is this just out of curiosity, is it possible that given that there's only one section, one of the semesters, and two sections the other semester? Is it is one of the reasons there
072aren't we're not turning anybody away, but maybe people aren't signing up just because it doesn't fit. I can check with that. I was just curious. Sure. Dr. Freredis had something to put it for when you meet with Miss Augustine. Okay. The second semester kids are also older, so there's probably a larger pool in the summer, too, for kids that are eligible to do it. So, I bet that plays a factor. It's just trying to understand the animal, you know, and I'm not saying make changes. I just kind of want to understand it because as comments came in over the year, like I said in my church, there's several families who come to school here. I've heard this, you know, comments over time. I I think so just trying to understand how it works. I think
073the biggest thing is that people want to get it and not take up something in their schedule during the school year. And what does students concur? Yeah, I I think for me the only reason that I didn't take um driver's ed was that I wasn't available over the summer, nor was it and I didn't want to use a um a credit as well. And so um for me and my schedule, I had it um me and my counselor worked together to set it up over the course of um my sophomore, junior, and senior year. And so unfortunately, I didn't have space to take it. And over the summer, I participated in camps as well. So, I didn't have a chance to fit it in. But I think like the bottom line, the only reason that
074I didn't take it was that um I had my schedule already planned out um in my in my freshman year. I think for me um like similar to Emma, like I my electives have I've had the same electives all four years. I do Clarion, the school newspaper, and I do Spanish, and those are like my like year-long electives. So, I've never really had leeway. So, I did do drivers ed here. I think my like sophomore year summer was when I did the classes. Um, but my driver's ed happened at a weird time where you had a lot of seniors also, but because of the pandemic were kind of backed up. So, it it gave a lot of priority. So, like that summer you're supposed to do I think like the classes and the driving with
075your instructor around the same time. Um, but that priority was given to like the senior, you know, the senior students. Um, so I didn't do my behind the wheel until a year later. Yeah. I heard I heard from a parent that said that was the same thing. So that wasn't a pandemic thing. Yeah. Yeah. So I think they're also I think just a big thing too just with drivers in general is just still like the backup because like I understand like you know I was a sophomore. I wasn't like needing to be on the road yet but um but yeah. So I think it was just more giving that priority to older students that I think just kind of had like a big impact. But I think overall like the driver's ed program here was
076it was beneficial. Like my teacher really helped me as well. Same thing with my instructor who were behind the wheel. Um and they also make it easy when you go to the DMV and you when you bring your permit like cuz they already have like all your information there too. So you know had a great experience able to get your real ID you were sentenced. So, you know, we've heard from your individual experiences, but have other uh students, friends of yours or other students. How what is their sentiment? What would you say? I think most of my friends that took drivers ed took it um with other organizations. So, like a lot of my closer friends took it I think I think like I I only had one friend that took it with me like
077at school and I think the rest were just um um outside. But again that was because of like the the push back they had um they had like a cut off at like a certain time like oh if you were born in 2007 like you kind of we don't have room you know so um but yeah so most of my friends and peers just took it um outside of RB I will say RB is very flexible like my son did the behind the wheel and he kept rescheduling because of lacrosse because of a trip we took because of so Again, it's a lot of it's a lot of moving pieces to juggle. I think overall the instructors do a good job of accommodating everybody. So, it seems that it's also something that has evolved or
078changed over time, having had four kids come through here with a gap from the first three to the last. The first three took driver's ed like like it was clockwork, you know, sophomore year they were just in and you know, tick tick tock and they did it. And the oldest of that group graduated 2010, you know, like 15 years ago. But then my youngest, it didn't quite fit in and she just aged out and at 18 just went to the DMV and, you know, a whole different thing that we never would have thought of, you know, in the early 2000s. So again, we're kind of seeing that shift in thinking too, I think, in how driver's ed happens. So it sounds like we want to just see enrollment when it comes time for staffing and
079enrollment. Yeah. in uh early spring 26 would be the right time frame, right? Yep. So, we'll see how that plays out. Perfect. Good. Thank you. Um does anyone on the board of ed have items for future meetings they wish to add to the agenda for discussion? Looking looking. Seeing none. And then moving on to matters for close session. Uh appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body. Student discipline, 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 County, Illinois enters close session to consider the matters presented in the May 13, 2025 board agenda packet. A second. Second. Second from Mr. Novak. And we get a roll call to go
080back into close. Yes, Mr. Caputo. Yes, yes, Miss Russa. Yes, Mr. Roach. Yes, Mr. Williams. Yes. Yes. Okay, everyone. We are going to move back to close session downstairs for everyone. Okay.