001[Laughter] the meeting will come to order regular meeting of the Board of Education District 208 August 13th I pledge aliance to the flag 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 nardy we have a roll call please Mr here yes here here here here here we do have a public hearing concerning working cash bonds for our capital projects having a quorum that's our first order of business um we are looking for public comment on the proposal to sell Bonds in the amount not to exceed $2,50 for the purposes of increasing the working cash fund of the district all persons Desiring to be heard live an opportunity to Present written or oral testimony Dr skinkis and Dr smana would
002you present and explain the reasons for this proposal tonight the board has received uh on two occasions now presentations one from Elizabeth Hennessy one from Dr smana and myself explaining um that we had the reserve funds in our uh working Cash Fund in order to do the solar project and The Culinary lab um but it does make sense to do the working cash Bond uh it will continue to provide taxpayers a tax decrease over the next 5 years we'll provide a step down model so that the taxes continue to De decrease over the next 5 years um without tapping into the district's um working cash fund again these are limited to capital projects these cannot be used for uh operating expenditures um so that is a prerequisite of the bonds Dr sman do you have
003anything else you would like to add we did as you said Dr skinkis have two presentations on this including from Miss Hennessy were there any questions from board members I didn't see any submitted any board discussion this evening okay and again this is not a not a vote this is the public hearing as required under law do we have any members of the public who wish to comment on the working cash bonds okay so if we could give a motion to adjourn the public hearing portion is that need to go through that or no I I can read it if you like all persons desire to have heard Desiring to be heard have been given an opportunity to present oral and written testimony with respect to the proposed issuance of working cash fund bonds now
004can we get a motion to adjourn the Board of Education Township High School District 208 Cook County Illinois moves at the August 13 2024 public hearing concerning working cash fund bonds for capital projects be adjourned second we have a second for Miss lock and we do need a roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes Dr freas do we have recognitions as early in the year we do not have recognition at this moment Madam thank you very much reports um I just want to say very quickly on behalf of the Board of Education welcome to the 24 25 school year this is my first time in some time not having any students enrolled here at RV um but the excitement is is here and our sincere thank you to The Faculty the administration and
005of course the students for what shows to be a very promising 2425 school year so thank you thank you this is superintendent report okay um superintendent report for August 13 2024 the district has begun to receive proposals for the solar panel project Dr smana we'll provide a summary report and recommendation to the board of education at the September 10th meeting that is our preliminary goal uh tonight Dr sman will also provide an update on the FY 25 budget which has been updated with the June 30th actuals remember we were unable uh to provide you the June 30th actuals at the July meeting due to the timing of Fourth of July and the Township Treasurer's Office uh closing out our end of the year financials so you'll get some of the um June 30 information tonight
006Dr sm's report as well as uh the August report uh construction on The Culinary lab is progressing nicely the district's construction manager uh is here tonight and we'll provide a project update later this evening uh the 2425 smart goals are on the agenda for discussion tonight uh now that the school year has officially started I'm looking for the Board of Education to provide feedback so the goals can be finalized and uh working commence with the administrative staff as well as the uh building staff as far as advisory councils are concerned uh there was one advisory council meeting on Monday July 29th uh a more detailed update will be provided later in the agenda U to be noted um there are no significant changes most of these were just uh a lot of them were updates
007to footnotes and legal references and uh the dates I think we had one policy where we updated to say superintendent or design other than that we accepted all iasb recommendation is that to answer my questions yeah I didn't think there was anything too big but okay thank you well I think an important point of clarification also is that what just passed last spring is in many cases not yet in that correct we'll get that we'll get that in August and September okay so that's still there's probably a larger packet okay there was one other um update I needed to provide under other house bill 0305 did pass and was signed by the governor so what this does is in regards to the remaining Township Treasures offices it uh clarifies how school districts can um remove
008themselves from a Township Treasures Office if they'd like to also it amends the the rules so that the township treasurers directing boards are actually made up of residents or excuse me representatives from each of the districts the Township Treasurer's Office is serving um so we are a part of the Proviso Township Treasurer's Office uh Dr smana has worked with them now for this is her fifth year in her position or sixth year sixth year in her position so she's been working with them she feels that we do have a strong relationship with the township office um I I'll let you speak to the the normal functions that you work with with the township office if you could just give a short background sure so the township treasure um we run uh there's a lot of
009checks and balances that are in place for the township treasure um and uh with my office and so we run um half of payroll and then they process the rest of payroll as a as a check and balance um they also uh cut all of our checks after the board approves them which is another check and balance they do a lot of the taxes for us um and uh they do um one of the one of the many benefits of the township treasure is for example our financial software um we're able to share that cost among all the member districts um which is uh a savings to the district um and then they provide training for us uh often at no cost so there's a lot of benefits of being able to pull our resources
010like with other districts to do things of that nature as well um pull our resources in regards to all of our tax collections as well and Investments which is how we've been able to earn some additional interest on uh our our money I was actually just going to add that they also handled the the investment process on our behalf um I'm wondering with the new legislation I mean obviously they've they've been transparent to you in the past you you've worked with them uh regularly um and I know we've talked about their investment estimates have sometimes been very conservative we saw that again I think this year um is is there a way for us to incorporate in your report some type of an update quarterly on where those Investments are trending from their Consultants perspective
011as opposed to actual dollars uh yes I usually get a I get a quarterly report from them now even not having the representative on the board after their board meetings um so I can report out and share that in my reports I think that'd be helpful just to include in the the board packet not asking you to reinvent the wheel but just to include the report you get on investment income because it is such an area we've seen fluctuation on so the last point I wanted to touch on with the board is so with this with this new uh legislation School District uh each School District that's represented at the treasurer's office can have a representative on the directing board the two options are it could be one of your school board members or it
012could be an administrator appointed by uh the Board of Education there's four meetings a year they're held during the school day I think Dr smana works very closely with the administration her and I have talked about uh the possibility of me recommending tonight that I think it's a good idea that maybe just Dr smatana serves as District 208's representative on the provisor board however if this board feels like no we want to have a school board member on there that's fine it's just you would need to uh figure we need to figure out a process if someone want to volunteer and attend those extra four meetings well I think we need to make an actual appointment of Dr smth or yes that won't happen today okay I just wanted to tell you what I was
013where I Wasing towards and get your feeling if that's the I I will work with counsel and and every to get the resolution so that we can appoint an administrator if that's okay with the board but I wanted to show my hand today of what I was thinking well let's is there some form it sounds like you're already familiar with the operation is there some some job description in terms of that representative just so that we have a sense of uh what these quarterly meetings legislation is probably the best place could send out a Capal legislation legislation sure the actual legislation yeah that' be great I mean there'll be how many 15 Representatives on the board I don't know how many 15 or 17 districts that go to provisor Township or is it not that
014many I think it's a little less trying to remember from the last time we got to somewhere around there most have you heard from other schools what where they're leaning uh I can I can call around if the not that it impacts our decision but just to understand the yeah standard what the landscape is going to look like any questions here no I mean my my my suggestion is that you would um share the legislation and and do as and then have the resolution um scheduled to go for our next meeting I mean I I believe that Dr span is the most qualified person okay and that concludes my report um quick question I that email that you sent regarding this I I must have misread it but I didn't realize that there was the
015option of administrator or board member I really as I read through it I thought it was just a board member so you you can appoint I have a we have a meeting set up I believe uh next week with M the actual Township Treasurer okay uh so I'll get clarification on all that but the way I read that was administrator or board member but I think there there has to be a resolution from the board okay and that concludes my report I was going to try to read that quickly and I I won't do it now but I think it's a good point um thank you Dr smana your report good evening tonight tonight I have uh two Financial reports for the board one is from last fiscal year as uh Dr skinka said I
016was unable to provide this back in July due to the timing of uh the holiday so um I'll first report out on last fiscal year um so looking at uh the June uh 2024 monthly summary report the total operating uh revenue for the month was $21,491 with 38% coming from our state fund fing which is evidence-based funding 29% from federal and state reimbursement and then 20% from local revenue and then the total operating expenditures for the month were $2,739 372 with 65% towards salary and benefits 12% for special education tuition and then 9% for purchase Services um the monthly financial statements uh kind of show where we ended for uh the fiscal year so the fund balance sheet shows that the district finished uh the fiscal year with a surplus of 1,431 70 this Surplus
017was due to receiving additional Revenue um so we you'll see on the next page which I'll get to in a minute but we were we were over budget in our Revenue um so we received uh as Miss Salis pointed out before additional revenue from interest on investment um by an extra 600,000 that we were not expecting um Food Service reimbursement of 80,000 um so that is Food Service reimbursement from our satellite schools we also did receive extra money from commission that we were not counting on both from um our partner schools as well as adding the coffee bar um we received uh additional money from State funding evidence-based funding the 880,000 uh was due to uh back payment from past years so we were unable to budget for that um age group gymnastics came in
018higher as well and there were a couple of mine items that came in um like ,000 uh over what we had budgeted for so that's where we we get the additional million uh dollars is um we were almost at 10 102.5 per of our budgeted revenue for the year um so the operating fund balance as a percent of operating fund expenditures without the $2 million set aside in working cash is 62.6% is where we finish the fiscal year which means the district could operate for 7 and 1/2 months with without without receiving any additional Revenue uh you know I always recommend that we have at least 6 months on hand as we saw with Co and some other U past experiences in the most recent years with property taxes and things of that nature it's
019always good to be able to operate um for 6 months uh on the next page I told you uh as I showed the summary of revenues for the district we received um more than we had budgeted in terms of Revenue uh so we certainly did better than the previous fiscal year and then on the next page the summary of expenditures showed that the district for last fiscal year spent 99.84% of what we had budgeted so had our revenues not unexpectedly come in so significantly over budget we would have been right where we were projecting uh the budget to be which was a surplus of 270,000 for the year so I'm looking on this and I think I lost it last year at this time we had only received 96% and this year we're at 102%
020is that the the number that's in my head still uh for Revenue y it was uh 99.95% so last year the property tax delay the previous so in fiscal year 23 we almost uh HIIT our budget exactly because we had almost 100% of revenues and almost 100% of expenditures this past fiscal year fiscal year 24 we did great with expenditures we were at you know 99.8% it's the revenue that came in much higher um and because I was explaining primarily due to the interest on investment as we had touched on previously now I was just struck by the the the fluctuation of a couple of percentage points as meaningful right we did get some property taxs come in in May um even though we weren't sure whether or not it was going to come in
021which also helped with our Revenue picture I know this is a part of your budget presentation so the board if just make note about we finished June 30th 24 with a million dollar Surplus but when we go through the budget you'll see there's a projected deficit but we we the million that we were over this year should help cover that okay moving on um so looking at uh my normal standard report for this past month um for July 24 which is our new fiscal year um you can see the monthly summary report the operating revenue for the month uh was5 m1242 with 86% coming from um cprt and local property tax majority is uh property tax on that one 5% coming from interest on investment and 4% coming from federal and state reimbursement the total
022expenditures for the month were 3,918 1159 with 44% towards salary and benefits 42% towards operation and maintenance so we receive a discount by pay paying for aark in full for the entire year um in July um a our contracted service for our operations and maintenance um so that's why there's uh such a high percentage in that area and then 6% for purchase Services um in our monthly financial statements uh you can see when we're looking at the summary of revenues that we received 14% of our budgeted revenue for this year and this amount is higher than last fiscal year at 2.78 and that's just timing of property tax um and then the summary of Revenue shows that the district has spent uh 10.75% of the budgeted expenditures for the year and this amounts similar to
023this time and last year um and then as always uh for this past month I included the statement of Revenue and expenditures for board accounts um as well as uh our activity accounts uh and then I have a few other additional items but any questions on those reports before I move on um so then I also included the paid facility rentals for fourth quarter which is looking at April 1st through June 30th um and these again these are just what we received uh for paid not necessarily uh what we rented out so this pass qut of the district collected 2,744 in revenue and expended 8,879 of the revenue for the for this quarter 44% came from charges for facilities um and majority of those facilities were Fieldhouse followed by the auditorium and some dance groups
024from the auditorium this year um so year to date we've collected 96,000 um dollar roughly and we've expended $24,275 um and then the Surplus uh is used for offsetting cost related upkeeps of facilities so we're doing a gym floor um things of that nature um and uh there was a question submitted about whether or not we had returned to pre pre pandemic uh levels for rentals um and yes our revenue for rentals typically ranges pre pandemic levels anywhere from 93,000 to 108 is our highest we've ever had and that really just depends on what rentals we get we you know we have come through and that can vary a little bit from year to year um and then uh disposal of the district property wanted to update uh the board I believe back in December
025we had voted to um sell or dispose of the special education mini bus that was purchased in 2009 I was able to get $1,200 for it um I know it doesn't seem like a whole lot but when I contacted some of the biggest companies uh you know one company kind of laughed at me and said like no that bus is too old we don't even want it for parts so um I was able to get $1,200 for it um so wanted to update the board on that and then as Dr skink has mentioned uh tomorrow um myself nania air mark and uh Nicholas are meeting to review the solar panel project uh we did get eight proposals that were submitted which is a great turnout um and um uh niia has already ranked them using
026the criteria that we outlined in the RFP so we'll go over that in detail tomorrow and see if you know we agree with where their kind of Excel spreadsheet ranked them using the criteria um and then uh we will pick uh the top candidate and start trying to um negotiate the contract terms with them and with our legal council so that we can present that to the board um it looks like in looking at the top two proposals the cost will probably be around uh 1.2 million and uh one thing that came through and looking through the proposals is there is an additional incentive that just got passed through Cook County that's for Cook County only so it's an extra 10% um and so instead of it taking almost 7 years to recover our money
027it'll now be about five and a half is what both of uh what I've seen in a couple of the proposals so I feel pretty confident that that's uh what will occur with the company that we select and that concludes my report for tonight any questions or comments from anyone very busy summer very busy fall ahead thank you Dr Freight Tess good evening honorable board members uh before I present I would like to introduce our newest student advisers to board of education to my left you'll see Olivia Lo Lopez and next to her is Emma Lopez those are two new student board members welcome welcome so at future board members will pause and we'll see if you have any questions or comments I know you met with some of the board members beforehand and got
028the lay of the land so thank you to those who who did that um but if you ever want to get my attention feel free to looking someone will interrupt so thank you very much for committing your time we appre appreciate it and welcome uh I I said it before but as they're being officially introduced um we had seven or eight candidates that we had interviewed and uh they were all amazing and these two have demonstrated that they care and uh want to be here to serve so I'm excited to uh incorporate them in the fold and uh hear what they have to say as we go great thank you all right uh beginning my principal report today was the first day of school thank you to our superintendent thank you to the board to
029all the staff cafer workers maintenance security all the teachers everybody today was a fantastic day one of many students were smiling they were excited excited to see their friends and their new teachers and uh just an overall fantastic day yesterday Sports began I mean you see all of our fields and locker rooms packed with our with our Bulldog so we're excited to begin the 24 25 school years and have another exemplary year um in the month of August we actually concluded our first first um parent University Welcome Back night where we presented topics on uh schoolly uh Google Classroom school safety and protocols and general and general operations information I would like to thank assistant principal Mr Dave Manon and uh and our division head for stem is Lindsay Mina who supported in that parent
030series and a parent series is a partnership between admin staff and community members to educate everyone future series uh and and nighted to include early college credit opportunities curriculum night course selection night Community Resources and social media so those are topics that we'll be hosting parent series on this semester open house opens uh begins August 21st from 6:00 to 7:30 that's an opportunity for parents to see the students teachers and to follow their schedule is from 6 to 7:30 throughout the building on August 29th we have the countdown to college night for seniors and parents from 6:00 to 7:30 in the auditorium in September September 2nd is Labor day it is a nonattendance day as I just mentioned we just began our first official sport um Sports and tryouts began on Monday and I'm excited
031that we welcome a new assistant principal for athletic Mr Phil Tor he's definitely off and running and you know just a small sample of his work you know because of his leadership we're moving to add another a fifth level volleyball that's kind of part of the conference it's a need more stent opportunity so I'm glad we well I'm really excited for Mr Torres and our and our Athletics this year September's coming around the corner on 13th is our homecoming game our new up our previous MC rival now we're going to be Upstate Rivals we're playing Ridgewood at the canel athletic conflix at 7:00 p.m. and then we have our homecoming dance in the field the following day from 7: to 10: p.m. and that concludes my principal's report great thank you we're looking forward to
032it thank you questions or comments from anyone um let's move on we have Nicholas here for their presentation to talk about some of the items that were referenced earlier Dr sman do the introductions Joe Jeff you want to come up to the table please sure so back in uh June when uh the board approved uh the bids we didn't have the opportunity for uh nichas and Associates to come and present the bids and kind of give a scope of the project as well as outline costs associated with it so we do that tonight as well as providing up on where we are in the project sure good evening board um Joe Papa Nicholas is this on we're good uh with Nicholas and Associates vice president uh Jeff Weber project manager uh for the for the
0332025 or 2024 Food Lab project is here as well um I'll start with let's go let's start at the beginning sort of uh the bidding process uh leading up to the bidding process we established a final control estimate uh that final control estimate met was around 1.9 million um as you can see behind me we have a bid tab there were 12 Prime bids that we received um on June 18th uh was very competitive um came in at 1.6 so uh very favorable to the district um at that point in time after the bid tab um is reviewed thoroughly we'll uh perform scope reviews for all the apparent low biders so if we go to the next document so we had four bid packages we had General trades Plumbing HVAC and electrical um so I
034do a thorough scope review with each of them to ensure that they understand the uh project intent design intent to uh confirm that they um do have all plans and specifications taken into consideration um within their bid um so upon receiving those confirmations I drafted a letter recommendation um as you see here um it's important to note within the bid packages we did build in um some specified allowances to accommodate unforeseen conditions or potential um District added enhancements so um that was approximately around $100,000 uh to accommodate um such conditions so keep scrolling down here this is the construction management at risk uh CM Fe structure uh for both the 2024 Food Lab renovation project and solar project as well um I won't get into the details but I will um I'll go through each
035line item here so preconstruction activities so anything that takes place prior to the bid opening or prior to the construction phase commencement um there's no charge for that um CM Fe at risk so at risk um basically says that all the prime contractors get awarded over to Nicholas and we responsible um for for those contractors so we put up a payment and performance bond for 100% % of of the project um and we hold all contracts so whatever may happen with with any prime or sub of a prime at the end of the day from a district standpoint it's Nicholas okay so that's what at risk means um payment and performance bond premium that's 1% of cost of construction so that's 1% of the 1606 412 and then we get into fixed General conditions so
036fixed General conditions are mainly a product of of construction phase duration so in this case we have approximately 3 to four months um July to October so substantial completion is projected to be in October this year and that's for senior project manager there's no charge project management um so Jeff's time uh on-site full-time superintendent uh general superintendent safety checks um Tony Rossy he's not here tonight so he's client Advocate um SL quality assurance he is many many titles um he's also our drone operator but we're not flying drones in the school um so he does all sorts of things so he's a great he's a great resource for the district um just another set of eyes and ears at the table um so yeah he's doing a great job as well as Jeff um so
037that's total fixed General conditions that's the 146 400 um so between CM Fe and fixed General conditions that's 234 753 and as far as a billing uh cycle it's just spread evenly throughout the construction phase nice and simple I'm on page two of the cmf structure um we have reimbursable General conditions so one of the line items is insurance so our general liability insurance premium is identified there um that's 69% of the cost of construction and then we have reimbursable General condition placeholders um so we like to create these placeholders within our fee structure in lie of just putting them in a bid scope at work um a good example is dumpsters um we could simply just say within all the big scopes of work that um each contractor is responsible for their own disposal
038including dumpsters um but if they were to figure let's just say 10 dumpsters and they use five they're just going to retain the the balance of the value that they figured and that's not a good scenario for the district so we carve things out like that and then we'll control that and then we only build a district for actuals that are used and then anything that's unused just gets retained by the district and same with fixed General conditions if we were to complete the project next week nice and early um any unus fixed General conditions the district retains as well so I just said I wasn't going to get into the details I just did but CMP structure oh it's good to hear it from you guys directly so that's helpful thank you we obiously
039read through the documents in the last couple of board meetings but having this interaction is helpful so that um once all that's complete and in place and um previously the Board of Education assigned these contractors over to Nicholas we then start with the construction phase and Jeff's here with us tonight and Jeff could provide a little high level update kind of what we've been doing the last month or so since we started yeah um my directive was to hit the ground running so um the uh the basic push was to get all of the invasive and loud Dusty portions of the project completed as fast as possible primarily before the students arrived which we did um tore out all the flooring got all of our underground plumbing done um inspected and then poured back um
040which was a big concern there's a lot of concrete going on in there um but in addition to that we also have all of our structural Steels installed welded in place and done all of our roof penetrations are done and flashed in already en capped waiting for our rtu to arrive which should be it's scheduled to be arriving uh October first um all of our framing uh for the most part has been installed um plumbing above ground Plumbing is done um insulation on the plumbing is 75% done uh all of our door frames are Set uh masonry started today I'm expecting about another week for raw electrical um and then we're going to start closing up walls so our intent is to be um as tight of a package as possible without intruding into your
041space um which I think I mean I haven't I realized today is the first day of school but so far so good so so far so good yeah yeah so so you'll be occupying that hallway until the Project's completed we'll be occupying that hallway until we've got most of our like the Masons um and some of our material pushed back in and then we're going to try and tighten up our tent so that you can continue to use your space but for right now yeah we're occupying that area um the intent was to use that area for staging as going the board members that went for the quick walk through it's where the extra duck work Plumbing materials lock boxes once we can get where they're mostly just in that room and all the door
042frames are secured and on then we're just going to do a small temporary fence in front of those doors so that we can open up that hallway I just think as students we talked about this a little bit earlier finding their way to class on day one they're going to have to find a new path in a few months that's fine all right one of our main um tasks for this project was the rooftop unit so we did a a pre purchase we call it it's not a true pre purchase but we were able to get the rtu um procurement process underway before going out to bid there was a basis of design um we knew that would be the longest lead time and um as you heard from Jeff right now we're looking at
043October 1st so we're in this position because we were the team collectively was proactive and making sure that that mechanical equipment was ordered as soon as possible so that being said we also have all the exhaust fans on site already so some of our big items are here okay what about any of the culinary equipment any updates on any of that or not at this time not at this time I don't have we don't have any of that on site yet no okay okay any questions comments from those who were on the tour earlier oh look great look forward to seeing it finished and keep up the good work great thank you Jeff Joe thank you very much for coming in tonight keep up the good work and Jeff will you be on the project
044is Jeff working with you or Tony working with you tomorrow on the solar panel reviews with nania Tony will be here okay so I'll be on site construction meeting okay thank you Jeff thank you Joe thank you so our ER student advisers for the 242 25 year are here and uh we forgot to call them up so you guys want to come on up right now Student Association Student Association I apologize student advisers we did introduce Student Association we did not I apologize ladies we got an early homecoming day we got to give you that's why you needed this meeting get things up and running quick this year um good evening thank you for having us we just wanted to kind of start off by introducing ourselves um we are your 2024 25 um executive
045board for Student Association U my name is Lucy Jen I'm going be the president this year um I'm involved in soccer golf sa NHS um and ASD and I most forward or looking most forward to my an classes here yeah um name is Ry gwin um I'm vice president and some things that I'm involved in are sa soccer NHS and helping pause um the class I'm most looking forward to is AP Bio hi I'm Smitha Gibbs I'm also a senior I Am The Treasure of the exec board I'm involved in sa NHS lacrosse and and most looking forward to being a PE leader my name is Ellie cero I'm also senior and I'm the student spokesperson um I'm involved in NHS ESS as well as lacrosse and I'm most looking forward to my country class
046hi I'm Caitlyn Klein I'm going to be a senior and I'm the director of communications for exec board I'm involved in the cross NHS and saay and I'm really looking forward to my yearbook class this year uh the only member not with us is Ella capudo she's going to be our secretary this year and um we're an all senior board so and you're clearly busy yeah right um looking forward to the school year uh we have a lot of new things planned as well as our usual activities um our big focus in this upcoming year I would say our big goal is to really increase student involvement um in our events and activities student and staff um we're Hing to get a lot of clubs Sports and even classes involved in our different food drives
047blood drives um even like Spirit weeks spirit days um just to kind of raise school's spirit and participation which we found last year was a little low so um that's our main goal this year is to just really get everybody excited to be a part of our uh we just had freshman orientation last Thursday and it went really well overall um Student Association had over 60 volunteer leaders and we had a bunch of Staff involved as well to help make it a smooth process um we love the drum line outside that was right on the other side of the Bulldog that the Freshman walked in the big blowup one uh and we loved all the enthusiasm and encouragement shown by our leaders when they were working with the new freshman and we thought the Freshman
048opened up while this here you could tell the board what happened on freshman orientation bring that up drill a little bit we were welding some steel and we fire but we work those things out before the whole student body came back it's a good day to be a freshman and get that experience experience yeah but yeah our leaders were very flexible and they were very quick to react to bringing the students out just making sure that they were doing that without hesitation that went really well and then we went right back into the program once we were let back in so yeah overall was very positive and I think a very fun day for both the freshman and leaders just checking but Mr Earl bomb had nothing to do with this one no Earl bomb
049did not um obviously like Dr skink said uh homecoming is right around the corner it's pretty early this year um the dance is on September 14th from 7:00 to 10: p.m. and then the week prior is our spirit week um tomorrow is our first sa meeting so we'll be we'll be discussing and voting on a theme and that and then um we have three committees that we are asking the people that are joining our club to join which are pep rally spear weekend decorations and basically they just help us plan this big event that we're all looking forward to do you have any questions for us no I thought your intros I don't have any questions I'll look to my colleagues here but you guys did a good job summarizing your activities and you're on
050all senior class which is unusual for essay yes and you picked the early homecoming date because it started during Co right but the students prefer yes so we only have four home games this but also you guys prefer the outso right that was a big student preference yes okay maybe one of you can explain what what that is with the board or uh yeah so with the out homecoming being outside I think Not only was it just a bigger space in general um which makes it more comfortable for students um but you were kind of able to you know those who didn't want to be near the DJ in kind of the area where everybody was dancing had the opportunity to kind of walk around the track and relax with their friends and those who
051made I think it um kind of more people I think could enjoy homecoming rather than just the ones who kind of wanted to be in the party area and the weather will be better right and the weather will be better um you've had a good streak had a good let's just pretend we're just moving forward um especially the last few years I know our freshman s we had some issues with like Tack and all that but I think the last few years of homecoming laser show and PR if the weather is bad can you go inside or is that is they have a backup we will continue the party of course for us there is a backup plan there's a back ladies great job we're looking forward to working with you and hearing uh your
052monthly reports to the board okay thank you we'll make sure on the agenda next time thanks foyer request I think we had a couple of foer requests three foer requests I include the re responses as well as the summary chart in the board packet uh in regards to uh enrollment numbers and some general questions were submitted most of those are available if not all on our website under the agendas and minutes and then uh smart pure uh which we see these on a kind of a quarterly basis uh looking for contact information position title direct phone number etc those are your request uh over the last month since our last meeting okay thank you um District goals update do you want to talk us through where we are think we want to move forward as
053a board with these tonight um so the board has seen these now for a couple months but we've had some you know between everybody summer plans um we've had to work through going through these and finalizing these so these uh goals were established the general Board of Education goals uh which are at the top of the chart were established um over the last few years we've had a couple we had some Community participation meetings um we had a Saturday workshop and the board finalized those and established those I believe two or three years ago um we did after we did the mission statement and the next project that we've started then was doing annual smart goals so tonight the board is looking at the annual smark and what we try to do is have the
054um Administration from superintendent all the way through the building Administration identify smart goals for each of the board goals uh and then a couple action steps that are completed throughout the year and we report out on these or they're available to the board on a monthly basis um and so again we're looking for feedback from the board or if the board would like something U mentioned or changed or edited um but we these are um the smart goals for the 24 25 school year the blue goal um we just have these color coded so there's no but it it realigns to the I would say academic platform and so the smart goal for this year is the transition from the SAT to sat to the ACT for all academic benchmarks and growth goals and utilize
055mtss structure to analyze academic data via the panana dashboard to identify and respond to achievement gaps in order to provide students with appropriate resources and opportunities based on their postsecondary PL so let me put that in Layman for you uh we've been doing sat for seven years we're transitioning now back to the a so that is going to be a huge undertaking a lot of our curriculum and intervention courses have been geared towards the SAT it's a totally different type of test so now we're going to be shifting back to the act mtss you've heard a couple presentations from Miss Augustine um Miss push binbush and Miss Kylie linquist that's multiple tiered systems of support and so they're going to be looking at how we are grabbing student data and looking at how we can
056start to close the growth goals and and achievement Gap goals in regards to academics if you remember the Panorama when we did the first smart goal was purchasing a panorama dashboard or a software system that could collect both Seal's social emotional data as well as academic data data so that we have a dashboard for all of our students and then we could work those through our intervention services um so the goal for this year is to really use those tiered systems of support to look at how we can close the academic gaps as well as getting students ready to transition from sat to act and improve our ACT scores and some of our achievement gaps uh in our different demographic populations so that is the smarkle and then the action steps are listed below if
057there's specific questions Dr fedus and myself will do the best we can to answer those will you be looking at PSAT scores um in identifying the students with potential um deficiencies yeah so right now we're that we're in that transition right the ACT we're going to give it through grades 9 through 11 and then our junior class we're actually going to give them you know the practice so we're in transition and as we speak so we will be using multiple scores yes yes we'll use the PSAT that we use to place them in the freshman classes but we're also going to give a practice act and a practice set of tests in the fall to so that we have some ACT data to compared but so the current junior class took the PSAT last year
058correct how are those PSAT scores being integrated into these smart goals for this year so um so we're going to we're looking at those scores right and we place kids rep placeing interventions I mean we bring we P kids in we'll pull kids out but again so we're going to look at those and we're going to look at the act so we're kind of in that in that transition phase I mean okay I don't know if I'm explaining right so I've looked at my child's P school yes yes yeah they they do not match his GPA sure um what is being done to ensure what's being done for this year's junior class to ensure that they receive all of the supports needed to transition to the ACT based on PS so I know they're two
059different tests however I would IM and I haven't done this in a while but I would imagine that there's a like a if you scored this much on the PSAT we predict that this is what you score on the ACT got like a correlation gotta yeah there there all those tables that the achievement Gap should show up whether you use the SAT or the act so how are we going to capitalize on the PSAT scores to ensure that this junior class doesn't suffer any um so that they're being properly um supported yeah so you know T tier one level I'll say there's many teachers that have been done and been doing it for years you know practice problems right so they embedded in the curriculum so many juniors are going to get that tier one
060right entire class kind of practice sample because it's built in in the curriculum as well and then there's some we're going to tap into some Juniors as well you know to to get extra support but that's also that grade 11 is also an area where we need to relook and consider possible more interventions we've been building it right we have the interventions for the ninth grp right for the ninth reading right we have we also have cap the the college Advan placement so juniors are able to take kind of like a test prep course so to speak you know so that had the that were uh maybe you or Dr sman speak this there's another classification of Juniors that were placed in the cap class so there's inclass is level one where it say the
061in-class practice and strategies and level two would be the cap class and then there's also there'll be opportunities for additional test prep of parents and students who want to sign that's right we've done that we've had teachers Le Saturday sessions you know um you know during breaks and stuff so we there'll be those opportunities to continue to support and they're taking the practice test just like they did the practice test for the SAT be the practice and you'll get the scores pretty quickly y y fairly quickly but I mean to clarify like we do not we don't take our math classes and English class and say hey we're we're forfeiting the curriculum and just strictly doing SAT prep no no no no no so I much make but they do do they do do dedicated
062they do do dedicated weekly like practice problems Tes math English classes I'm looking at the fourth or The Last Action stuff utilize Department PLC time to continuously analyze relevant student performance and data I just want to make sure that the PSAT which is R like these students have been taking sat style tests since they were in like seven I I don't even remember when right they started they they're test to death and like this is their this was their year to demonstrate right um and now we're switching however but it's a state the state is switching sing the okay the state is switching so every student across the state is facing this I'm not I'm concerned about our students and I want to make sure that we as a district because we have the ability
063to influence our data and to influence our students achievement I want to make sure we are looking at PSAT data as part of the goals yeah we're not we're not forgetting about it like I said it is part of our academic goal but we are in transition but we do have yeah and this this doesn't quite answer your question question but also uh from the budget standpoint uh we are providing not only a practice test for um all the students on act but we're also providing uh the Juniors an opportunity to take the SAT in the spring uh on this the is paying for that because they have been preparing all along for the SAT we want to pull the rug out from underneath that so they will also be able to take anever score
064so they have an SAT to subm most schools are going test optional anyway they've been preparing for scholarships and things like that they do often need to have a test score so we just decided that for college level placement you got so yeah I just want to make sure that we brought we we discussed that at our first admin meeting on August 6th and um Miss linquist and Dr fedus recom you know asked Dr sman and myself could we do another so we're going to cover the cost of the SAT so that's like you just mentioned kids have been preparing for the SAT for all this time well during the day yes yep as you said it will be optional um if they want to take sat we'll be uh we'll be uh having all
065Juniors take itun take it after after the ACT sometime in the spring okay so then all the more reason to look at PSAT data you guys just okay proved it that all the more reason why we need to look at the PSAT data to identify the achievement Gap because I can only speak for one student but let me tell you I would say that I would say you're speaking for the general synopsises there was a decline across the board now we're not sure some of the talk in the the curriculum circles is because this was the first year of the digital test oh so there's been there's been some consistent reporting across high schools that SAT scores appeared to be down from last spring okay interesting So Many Factors right there's always going to be
066factors I just want to make sure the equity Gap or the achievement Gap doesn't get larger so it sounds like your question is are we using every possible tool available when we did the opening Institute as well the focus to the staff was this mtss academic goal of like we need to start really looking at our AC like and this is what I've prepared the board for the last two years and we've talked about my goals and like we really need to start honing in on the achievement Gap and our our academic performance and our data and our use of our interventions are the current interventions that we're using are they effective or do we need to reboot interventions and come up with new interventions um so that is the whole purpose of this goal
067thank you the second goal which is the the pink goal is the community goal uh the communication goal I think we've had a great first year based on the the feedback from the board and the community uh between the positive Pride newsletters the quarterly newsletters uh Miss Fletcher's um on social media just improving the communication the consistency of communication that's going out to parents on a consistent letterhead consistent format Etc so what you're going to see this year is a commitment to more of the two-way engagement so issuing surveys um to get input back from the the students and parents on large building events such as registration residency course selection those things to get input for the staff to make those more effective more efficient we also are hosting um as Dr fedus already mentioned
068but parent University series um so that we can educate parents on uh things that their students and and they will be seeing throughout the year um so we had the back to school parent University series we used to do this a long time ago we get okay attendance this year for the first one we did in person we also had it available on Zoom we had over 200 attendees uh so we felt it was well attended um so that will be the focus on the communication we're in the final phases of implementing that website um our new website and trying to make that more user friendly based on all the feedback we heard from the various parent groups um and and from our students and staff um and then also we're going to be working
069with um the athletic department now that we have a new assistant principal of Athletics uh to try to improve the communication uh not only on the recognition and advertising for of the of the sports and activities um but also like when there's schedule changes or there's conflicts or especially in the spring when there's cancellations we did hear some feedback from parents like you know they drove all the way to Ridgewood and the game was canceled and they didn't know or didn't get updated on social media got updated on the website or vice versa um so that's our Focus for the communication goal goal uh Dr freedus is kind of serves as our diversity equity and inclusion can I go back on communication I think as a board we've all been very supportive of the communication
070goal can we get a um just a a a calendar of what the parent University series is going to look like for those of us who perhaps no longer have students here Dr fredis you send that to me I can get that okay on a Friday update I know you're still finalizing yeah some of those some s recruiting staff members and community members you know it's in the process just want kind of get minute I get the information I'll will provide it to our superintendent of course you I think it's a great idea and I'm happy to hear the attendance was it was well received for the first one were those just freshmen or was that everybody that was it was to everybody okay am I two Kylie told me this morning it was around
071200 in person I don't know if there were more yeah I mean that that was it was a good Crow it was a good crowd and then you record it so it can be yes yeah in the now we just have to upload it you know so people kind of have yeah work working on some editing making sure it's clean okay um so I didn't mean to interrupt any more on communication from anyone we move on to the uh engaging in diversity equity and inclusion yes and Dr Freda is uh oversees our district Equity leadership team are D and there were some questions submitted I shared those with Dr Freda so if you want to cover the district Equity plan uh Equity uh action plan and your goal for this year and then answer the
072questions if you could of course you got a Dr skinkers so there were a few questions submitted um first one was can we have an explanation of the Strand in the dii goal are there separate typical names for each Strand and do the groups create their own goals so the staff were invited and then they chose the groups were persuaded by a colleague uh groups created their own goal with the support of doel and myself um and just to let the board know Dr uh she's an assistant superintendent now at as wigo because of her work so it was tough to get it for this year but it did get two days I got it for December and for April so she can continue guiding us as we develop but uh she's a assistant soup
073now and it's in actually it's a privilege that I was able to get two days with her because she has a that going on um the five strands are systems teaching and learning student voice professional development of learning and parenting Community as agency so um the first Trend systems what do they deal with um so they support any District school policies processes procedures initiatives decision making and fiscal responsibility you know I know what was big is that the stranding develop a Dei questions that we ask our candidates to gauge their knowledge of Dei and their support the teaching and learning strand deals with pedagogy pedagogy curriculum resource instructional approaches and assessment so right now the charge to the group is there developing curriculum working on processes and audit and more importantly how to close that
074opportunity Gap as we call it here at RB I'm sorry I'm going to can you give me that title it was teaching and learning what was the first one uh systems system okay systems yes um teaching Lear the third um group is uh student voice climate and culture so you deal with um and support anything with student feedback experiences climate and culture Mr Man and the The Strand leader created a student Equity leadership team and with that team they're going to leverage the student body to see what they need and I know some other plan that they have is leveraging opportunity cafer to include groups to Showcase their talents etc for professional learning Dash strand group you know looks at consultings training Workshop related to Dei and they share it with the staff you know
075I was personally able to attend um leaders of color this summer in June and the goals this year to get more staff to them in the fall and the spring session so they kind of push that um and then lastly family and communities agency that's doing work with parents with Community for authentic opportunities you know uh Miss Fletcher myself Mr honin Mr Vega Mr Mack you know lot of us were able to visit you know other schools and see what was going on and and that's where we got the parent University from beond a meeting this is how we operate this is how we do things right so they can learn and support you know so they can so we can solve any potential issues and just better educated parents because if we do that
076we're going to be a better school overall so those are the five systems and some of the topics and items that they support Dr F you have an administrator on each one of those correct correct there's an administrator one one of them and and and there's teachers and and teachers perer professional support staff there's 25 members and there's five members in each subst strand in each of the five groups so we were last briefed on this was probably about a year ago as you were going into some of developing the the strands um would it be appropriate or helpful to the board if we did more of a a deeper dive with what the work has been to date sometime later on this fall I mean think that's some of the questions seem to be
077aligned with that I mean I'm hearing from the the blue goal and about achievement Gap and to be honest I don't think it it how it's how's there it is truly in building a community Through students teachers Community administrators that is going to have any effect on that achievement Gap coming from the Dei or the green green goals I think some of the some of the goals obviously and we talked what's I mean that they're coming at things from multiple angles right I'm just as I'm kind of hearing it I I wanted to know the Strand so that I had a sense of where the work's going but I yeah I'd like to hear more we also have an equity a district Equity plan or tab on our website so Dr fedus is going to
078create a one pager like we have for the board goals and have the equity action plan up there so you can see the five strands and what they're working on and some of the things they're trying to accomplish so we'll have that as well as we'll have Dr fredis give them more in-depth presentation I'm thinking um September cow just because October cow is traditionally where the the building Administration presents on kind of last year's all the performance data from last year so I mean unless I move that up to September and do the Dei in October it'll be one of those two months okay that's okay now that works I think that'd be helpful I think that was some of the the flavor of the discussion is we think this is important it's obviously one
079of our five goals but what does it really mean that that's where does the rubber hit the road so to speak yeah I think we would be foolish to not incorporate Dei into the um first goal and vice versa the link is there obviously when I look at these I honestly I I looked at these and I went all right pink uh purple and and orange we understand what's going on there I think with the blue we have a sense of what the intention is I want to know where our green goal is moving forward so um de Go De go just to reiterate I'm just going by color cuz I don't want to prioritize them like I absolutely not you know and just to reiter rephrase you know our strand team with teaching and
080learning they're going to you know they're developing a plan with the new OP the ACT to try to find Opportunities to you know to possibly close right that opportunity Gap you know um I would be remissed not to ask about Clearing House data um I did receive Clearing House data however I just received two numbers are we going to further tease out those two numbers to ensure that Equity gaps or achievement gaps are not um so that those gaps don't show up in postsecondary enrollment so I think the information was 80% of students enroll in a two or four year and 20% we we don't know where go um for me the initial question if we're looking at it through the Dei lens is who are those 20% and why aren't they going somewhere um
081as in relation to the clearing house uh data I talked to an administrator from another school um and I doesn't matter which but they invested a lot of money into getting deeper into that data and it's really difficult to get too far down without muddying it and it I think it's a conversation to discuss you've you've asked for it quite a bit I think if we want more information on that depth think we probably need to talk to some other districts and see how they're how they're getting to that depth I think if we're going to if we want to go that deep it's a lot Dei for me is intrinsically tied into where our students are going after they leave RB and with a school as small as RB the fact that 20% of
082them aren't going anywhere or we don't know where they are I'm curious to see who they are right cuz 20% is a lot for a school this size in a school that's rated number you know like it we would we would be um we must not to to include that into a Dei discussion so where would that be placed what strand would that be placed in teaching and learning teaching and learning I yeah it follow or the student voice student culture student professional learning really really across the really really across the strands right right you need to I was say even I think some of this parent University piece right because so much of what you do after graduation we built on for four years right so whether you're selecting a postsecondary school getting that
083enrollment once you choose a school let's say the school kind of takes it from there in a lot of ways like trying to make sure that parents are equipped with the tools to help get to that application process and the selection process to me those are strong efforts we can make here while the students are still enrolled that would be another um good place to include postsecondary um information as in parent University because we don't have we used to have a away and then there was but like of that 20% That Could That Could could be military they could be Trad milary trades I mean the general Workforce and right but I'm saying we we we maybe the one of the Dei strs can figure out a way to better start keeping track of that
084and fig I think that's what Miss gas's question has always been okay of that 20% or that you know which is about is the question just four year two year other or does it right are they being left behind or do they have postsecondary plans that we just aren't reporting to the clearing house but we have plans and they have worked on stuff with their counselors correct I personally remember filling out the form five years after graduating high school where am I now and that kind of thing mailing it back to my high school that doesn't happen anymore from not in the same way um there are more informal things than the Clearing House that some people do um the Clearing House I think is the most like at least um formalized version of getting
085that data back but it's a good place to start yeah I agree with you um I don't know I think I said this when it was first mentioned is what does it really tell us and that's where I got into the conversation about with with another administrator what are you guys doing to use it or to to make meaning of it other than making guesses on the unknown so um whether the Clearing House is the best place to end up and it might be or whether we try to figure out I me is there some other survey tool or some type of I I know somebody who us L small scale level and knows everything about those students but and then you start with Clearing House data and then you come up with some questions
086right like hm I wonder where they ended up I wonder if two year you know I wonder how we're best serving students I wonder if summer melt happens all the time um they leave RB on in May 20 something and they're like this is where I'm going and then sometime in June they change their mind because things change and then student are scrambling cuz they like I got an email over the summer like hey sorry to bother you I know you don't work at the school but I'm having a hard time getting my kids transcript he changed his mind and now I don't know what to do and the parent was panicking right and I'm like no need to panic we got this right so we had to talk them off the ledge so maybe
087for parent University that would be a good right like my kid graduated now what they need to know that they're still supported by the high school cuz at the end of the day the high school holds the trans transcript right so they would need to be in communication um with with the school so it's just a lot of things could happen yeah and and I'll share with the board you know I don't know how many alums we've assisted at graduated we're open for service at our times right right they come in they make an appointment but right once a once a bulldog always a bulldog is our Modo so we're always here to serve all of our student best we can no no I I have no doubt I just you know you panic right
088the trans is do I don't know what to do the strands is a good place to start I think I I think that what we've heard and maybe there's something you can go back with your team at the building level with The Strand teams and discuss like not only are we looking to close the achievement gaps on our on our PSAT and act and just academics overall but like making sure that we're closing the equity Gap so that everybody has exposure and access to postsecondary planning and right like another question might be how many of our students who are our students taking advantage of dual enrollment and dual credit who are our students taking advantage of advanced placement who are our students that are here currently taking the Dual degree program at Triton um start
089to see what those Trends are and if we realize that maybe a certain group of students are not taking advantage of it why why are they not taking advantage of it do they not know do they not see the value in dual credit do they not qualify for dual credit because they can't into a certain class so I think these types of things would be really good to explore in the in that go so where does that leave us with today's smarkle I mean uh I think there's some things you can work come back and work on but I think what the specific stuff wouldn't necessarily be in these SM gos but more in the individual strands goals so I think I need to see if I can maybe we push Dr frus to November
090October I'm just trying to think you're going to need time to sit and meet with your strand team it's not going to be the first few weeks of the opening of school you're going to first pull them out of their classes in September or October to start laying out what are we doing to specifically address some of the feedback you heard tonight can we move the October presentation I'm going see if I can move that to September but I got to make sure I have all the data and everybody can attend okay well I think what we're trying to hear is how the Strand integrates into all of the other goals and action steps I mean that that's the end of the day right so don't don't be Standalone don't be an island of Dei
091how do you take the goals and and one piece we discussed this morning and and Dr F that's why you mentioned that there was an administrator each strand should still be working with the over the overall Compass of the mission statement of the board recreated right uh with the community event when they set these goals and they reset the mission statement as well as under the the general goals of the board right students first making sure Equity you know resources and interventions and anything else on that one or should move on to this purple lilac Finance Finance why is it not in green that's really the question it's a good question we could Dr sman do you want to touch on this uh sure so uh the smirk this year is to finance the capital
092projects that approved by the board while continuing to ensure the resources are committed of programs directly affecting student outcomes and then monitoring the expenditures to make sure that we are at or below the approved uh budget levels um so some of the action steps include overseeing the issuance of the non-x B working cash bonds for capital projects um tracking expenditures for the capital projects so the solar panels and The Culinary uh lab to keep within the approved budgets and then compile a list of the additional resources like I had previously mentioned like paying for the additional um SAT test is is an example um that could affect student outcomes and then monitoring the budget um which we I do every month and provide an update but then also uh you know monitoring towards the end
093of the year and providing the board a cumulative report as to where we are in terms of the expenditures uh in comparison to the budget so so on this one I know we had some some prior discussion this is not really in directly in Dr sm's Financial worldview but we talked about reviewing um curriculum and how potential changes to curriculum ultimately impact not just FTE but also opportunities so with that is this the right place to include something along those lines in those as an action step is my my question make any sense elaborate a little bit we had talked that like when are you like like are you suggesting like we we talked about reg reviewing the curriculum guide to make sure that we're not make sure their classes are not included in the
094curriculum guide that are no longer um running with any regularity I know there were there were a couple here and there that we had some discussion on the last six months I think we talked about what makes a class an honors class versus a standard class and how that is um differentiated between an honors and a non-honors class and those looking at those things it's not a short-term project it's obviously a long-term project because this is the curriculum guide is such the backbone of of what we do but I think that work has to fit in here somewhere and be accounted for um and I think this is where it belongs because those that review and those decisions ultimately impact finances that curriculum guide part was there was a statement by I think miss linquist
095about the fact that they can't pull some of those out of the curriculum guy because of I don't know if that wasn't the guy that was like in the old scho pull off the sheet pull them off the publication which then could fall under communication right so so that's kind of an offshoot of it it's more that's more of a of a bureaucratic cleanse that needs to take place I think it was more that you know as we look at um which classes are full year classes which classes are partial year classes um should you know combining honors French and French how does that work I think we talked about looking at all of those um areas and and I view it as a curriculum guide exploration but maybe someone views it in a different
096way well I mean it it does make I mean we talked about we kind of modified uh in the fourth quarter some of the Staffing related to the music M and we after visiting with LT and Mr balm recommended like okay maybe it's better for us to split the two Jazz classes and run the one music uh the band class over slightly over 40 so that we could split to honors and regular like that's an example of assignment of resources in FTE um but that was kind of an ad hoc and it came after a lot right so suggesting to kind of do this this goal I I thought the last time we met with Miss linquist it was you know it's a living document the the curriculum guide is is always in there's always
097things in process of being developed there's things that are moving off of the curriculum guide how we view each of those classes whether it's titles right there's titles that are now obsolete or some changes that were made we went from you know European to world history some of those type of changes those are all important reviews to be done and I think identifying it as a um a specific action step I think helps Elevate its importance and it's not something that well it definitely it definitely ties back into the overall financing because a I would say 85 to 90% of our budget is in the education fund and teaching Staffing Resources for education is what we're school so um perhaps we could talk as a team about what is realistic to accomplish this year because
098if it's strictly cleaning up the curriculum guide Mrs La could suggested that that would probably fall more under Communications so perhaps it makes sense to figure out as a building team like what um right out of all out of everything that was discussed tonight in that area what can be accomplished and then figure out for next year maybe what bucket it fall because it falls under so many right it falls under the blue curriculum fall under teaching and learning and right it falls under a lot depending on which absolutely which Avenue you're going to be able to but does everyone agree that's an area we had talked about putting some some level of effort towards right I think it's um I I don't want it to go W without a level of review and some
099feedback from this linquist on how we view this document moving forward and so I I agree with that approach to say what what's practical before we get the curriculum guide in in the fall sometime right we'll get a we'll get a version of it and then part of that discussion should be here's where we see this document moving you know whether it's assessing other districts and how they're handling some of the the Fine Arts classes or or whatever let's talk through it over over a period of time um could the achievement Gap also influence the curriculum guide it may it should right so can we put that under um I get that it's Finance because it's money but um if we want to take a a more holistic approach we should definitely look at the
100curriculum guide that all the goals are holistic though they all overlap in many different ways so you try and focus but then recognize that you might have to pull other pieces in but where is it going to live mainly I think is like could I'm giving right and I'm just providing you guys with my um thought process on where I think um the curriculum guide should be housed so you're saying blue I would say green green Green she's saying under green and I also think it could it could go hand inand with the financial side of like the last one is monitoring expenditures throughout the year to Ure June 30th actuals are added below the board approved budget level I mean that is one of our performance objectives and and so I think if we
101were going to replace that last action step it could tie in with what they're doing in in the whether it's in the Dei teaching and learning uh with the curriculum guide just to where Dr sman can assist that group and looking at there has to be there's a finan right you can come back and and they're going look at the curriculum going come back and Hey listen we should run 26 different sections in order to right well okay this board has had had multiple discussions like if we're going to change you know so like there is a financial direct Financial impact when you start looking at classes and offerings and things like that so I think there is a point to where the the finance can also work with the whether it's the Dei group
102or just the general Administration and the right but we should maybe put one thing on as a place to start so I I do think that last item under the the financial I I hear what you're saying Lorena that you know how do we force the um how do we eliminate any silos from these goals I mean that's that's really the the focus um this one this is really a this is a this is the board's fiduciary responsibility right there right how are we at budget to actuals it probably doesn't need to be a standalone task um we should should be reviewing it we should be looking at the documents we should be asking questions um so having this be a I guess I I I would agree that the administration should tell us what
103is manageable in 2425 for a goal as it relates to reviewing the offerings to our students maybe it's something is simple and let me Dr sman and I work on the Last Action Step at our cabinet our weekly cabinet meetings um maybe we can figure out where we at least lay out a plan for the next how this is going to look for work and and and could have a direct impact on Staffing finances resources right because I I again these all overlap act transition right so they come to the board uh or they should say they came to Kristen and I at our Adco meeting like we'd like to do Dr fres is like we'd like to do a spring sat we'd also like to do a fall Practice Act okay so we found
104we put the 40,000 in the budget and talked about okay we're not going to close school another day like we had to go through all the the ripple effect across the different operational right so I think if we can do something similar like as they start to talk about the ntss and the interventions maybe there's maybe the cap class maybe there's a different class that's going to help close the achievement Gap that then is directly tied to the curriculum guide and the removal of some classes or the classification of some classes so I think there's this is a this is a Pandora box kind of one so we got to right I think one of the first action steps might be just laying out a plan we do this over the next two years or
105over the next year you know what I'm saying I know it's ultimately I think the goals are the are a good solid base and I'll we're kind of leaving it to you tell us where it's coming back to to meet it yes it matters where it's housed but only in so far as we end up at achieving the goal or understanding what's attainable with and these are not finite right there's a lot of other things that occur that are not I mean I'm looking at the orange one already and you know the the action steps are really limited to the the zoo relationship but it's many other things right it's the fact that we now have a dining area for students out front right I think is a fabulous addition right and it gets people
106a chance to sit outside and and I see students congregating there all the time um that that was a very nice Improvement to the campus that really falls under that orange goal and call it but it's not it's not a big it's not big Improvement of like hey we fixed our problem of runting fields or transporting kids off campus to practice freshman soccer right but yes you're right it is still a facility Improvement that or you know when we work with Aramark and they are um extremely flexible in how they provide services that's something that happens in a course of business and because you've developed relationships not specific here so I I say all that to say this should not be viewed as a comprehensive list right right let us work that final action step
107but overall the goal is in general is okay and Mar we we Kristen and I will work on that action stuff under that uh goal that will reach across okay and then the last one obviously you know again it's extending the footprint so like uh you know thank you to president zis for mentioning all the things that we're doing um but again the goal was to try to increase our footprint for extracurricular and curricular utilization so you have seen that there was a new master plan released called the sentury plan um I have been doing some informal conversations with the zoo throughout the last year just to see how our intentions and our needs could possibly uh work with our neighbor as they develop their plan I do think they have included our input we
108hosted a feedback session here for community members to talk about our needs as well as some of their master plan questions um I'm to meet with them near the end of the month um so I will keep the board up to date and hopefully as those conversations evolve into something more conrete I can then put together an action plan for you and that's really what that second action step would be it's based on those discussions I can give you kind of a Next Step actual layout of how that would look any more questions or comments from anyone on these I think we I think to your point we we have seen these a couple times this probably a longest discussion about it but we've all had a chance to raise questions and talk about them
109with you independently so um I appreciate that and we'll be hearing the updates as the year goes on on each okay uh visitor statements is anyone here for visitor statements this evening Miss White let me read our introductory paragraph the Board of Education welcomes and encourages the participation of its citizens in the business of the school district there are two points in a meeting where visitor statements are scheduled citizens are welcome to raise questions or make comments at either one comments will be limited to 3 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 the meeting to the
110superintendent thank you hi Maggie white from Riverside um I wanted to uh to comment on the discussion regarding the curriculum guide um I do remember that discussion some of the remarks were around um you know there was conversation about saving a teacher um but I think you know we expanded that to how how do we save a program not a teacher how do we provide a more programmatic experience for kids coming through um we have you know CTE type things so very formal paths for someone who wants to pursue a culinary you know certificate for example um there can also be sort of informal paths do you want to you know go into a more Fine Arts path so how can we take that raw curriculum guide and maybe put a lens of here's a
111pathway if you want to do this here's a pathway if you want a culinary certificate here's a path if you just want to take you know some cooking classes to have a brain break throughout your academic day so um so I'm really excited to hear you know the reengagement of that discussion and hope that that contributes to some of the thinking there I did also want to speak regarding the goals I submitted a foryear request around um I was just thinking like how do we come to these District goals how was there Community input how did how did you ever come up with these and maybe some of this was done before I was really a part of the district but um so the response was to go look through board agendas and minutes which
112I did and I found goal documents going back from 2022 um you know so looking at the pink goal the two-way communication goal um I would say okay I looked at like 2022 for example going back through the agenda a a lot of steps around survey tools there were multiple action steps around that I don't remember remember receiving a survey I couldn't find any records on like survey results so I don't know if those were published or not um but so you know what were some of those inputs um the 2023 goals around hiring the pr person I agree Kylie is amazing has done amazing work and I feel you know very informed I think the district continues to do a good job around one-way communication as I look through through the goals for this
113year I'm still seeing a lot of emphasis on oneway communication um I'm seeing a little bit uh there's something around surveys to stakeholders to improve schoolwide events and processes but what I'm not really seeing is engaging feedback from the community on some of those higher level directional things um what is the balance of you know CTE programs the foreign language like where are we going as a community not just sort of the day-to-day things of the school so that's sort of I you know hopefully for consideration as you discuss these goals thank you thank you Meg thank you anyone else no okay thank you um any additional discussion items from members of the Board of Education seeing none uh consent agenda we do have uh at least one item on there miss gasa the Board
114of 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 July 9th 2024 open and close as presented in the August 13 2024 board agenda packet second we have a second from Mr van Hurst and we do need a um roll call I guess I'm sorry I apologize all in favor all in favor motion carries um old business we do have we don't have any new Life Safety Capital Improvements I think we cover those pretty thoroughly tonight same with tentative budget we do have matters though do you want to talk to thetive budget again we do you covered it well you wanted to point out one thing correct or do you want to show them what the actual is
115where we're at now I thought that was in your report um a lot of it is a lot of it was repeat from the report so I can briefly uh provide an update I want to show page is a change in the stiens is that no I wanted to there were but well I I understand where you're your summary page you know where I'm going with it yes um but I will give a brief overview first so uh since the last board meeting I provided uh the June 30th actuals from fiscal year 24 um so I was able to update individual line items based off of uh where those uh items came in I was able to view our current special education revenue and expenditure needs with our director of special education uh ebf State
116funding was released I was guessing that we would stay tier one and we would get around 300,000 um and we were pretty close to that so there wasn't a huge change there but we did stay tier one correct correct correct um as Dr skinkis alluded uh the current projected deficit for this year uh is 1,666 37 uh due to the the solar panel project which is currently budgeted for 1.5 million um so if I can solidify kind of where we're at I can adjust the budget a little bit um between now and the board approving it in September but um this deficit is offset from last year's unexpected Surplus uh from receiving all that additional uh Revenue last year additionally what Dr skus wanted me to point out is um highlighted in the executive summary
117um is uh is showing where the working cash bonds would come in and out um should the board choose to issue them at the next board meeting so that's on page 118 of board book um you can see the money would come in into Revenue um as $2 million in fund 70 in working cash I've highlighted that and then it goes out as an expenditure um because then we're transferring that to fund 60 um and so drct just wanted me to highlight where kind of all that would flow through um and then at the bottom of this page I updated where the projected fund balances would be um so I was able to update those um so assuming we hit the budget exactly as outlined on this paper document which never happens right this is
118just a guideline for us and we we try to get as close as possible um at the end of this fiscal year without the 2 million 2.9 Million in working cash that we previously set aside for land acquisition or for Land Development um we would be at a project we would be at a fund balance of 54.4 7% I thought it was important to share the executive summary with the board because when you heard you heard the June 30th report from Dr smana said our we had a million dollar Surplus putting us at 7 and A2 months but really when we with the deficit and then if you take out the 2 million we're really sitting at about six 6 and a half months right also I think it's important for the community here we
119have received I've received one or two questions in public or in passing about the solar panels and do we really think we're going to get the return and here's the other thing I would say between the working cash bonds and still being able to do a tax decrease for our community members over the next 5 years and put that program in for for students and and you just heard a visitor comment about career Pathways but putting that program in and on top of that we had a million dollar Surplus last year which almost covers 100% of the solar panels this year so like we really are doing a lot of this stuff cost neutral um for the district and I think that's important so I just wanted to make sure we have some of that
120on the record and you actually can hear what Dr smana just explained as well as having a document to reference as people for the next month before we approve the budget in September uh when they go back and look at the these documents so on that on that same line of thinking we should have a revenue assumption related to the solar refund or do we not anticipate that solar refund won't hit the same fiscal year it won't okay I wasn't sure when exactly that was able do yeah that will hit uh the following fiscal year okay and this does include the um obviously the the collective bargaining agreement that we just amended so I wanted to right make sure that was reflected here in a in a positive way this is this although Christen gave
121gave this a summary in her report you know the first three or four pages are important for the board to look at because this is pretty much the budget you're going to be approving in September we'll make some adjustments when we get the RFP for solar panels if there's any other final modifications that come from the building staff here in the next 30 days um it's also good for our student advisors this is where all the money goes to fund the programs and things like that so um I just wanted to make sure though that we got that on on TV tonight we're doing a lot of these projects cost neutral so there was some concern from some people that and not only that they're socially responsible yeah so there's it's more than it is
122cost neutral and it's a step toward the right behaviors so that we are all uh I put my Tom Jacobs head on and you're channeling your in Tom Jacobs I do have one clarifying question okay um thank you for pointing all of this out did we settle then on the 2 million bond amount will that be changed because we now have the it comes out to be like 2050 or whatever that's to cover the it will pretty much cover the entire cost of The Culinary lab and then we will what we'll do is pay that off over a year and it will still decrease tax payments over the next five years instead of there being a big drop off this year in tax payments and then a spike next year remember if you think about
123Liz's presentation are you asking we talked about 3 million in bonds at one point the hearing tonight was only for the two to basically cover the cost to the kitchen and a little bit of the so it was originally three but because we got the $1 million M right we're we're settling on two okay perfect thank that's I just needed to clarify number we're settling on two and that's why it's also in here under 70 and it's highlighted and it will EV trans that's also good to get record thank you okay any more budget comments questions I will say the only big item that is not uh that was not released yet when I fin finalized this for the board meeting tonight was uh cppr on the revenue side but I took a conservative approach
124so the estimate usually gets released in August and as of August 8th it wasn't I couldn't find it yet for this coming year so um we do anticipate a dropping and that's already reflected in the budget but usually we get an actual dollar amount uh and I hadn't received that by the time this bud and that flows through the treasurer as well correct correct right so that's an even better reason why it's it's close to a million dollars I we're budgeting that now we're going to we're budgeting 656 but last year we got $840 so I mean it's still it's a significant Revenue Source correct right so that's why I wanted to highlight it because that's the only like real unknown softer number okay any other budget questions or comments and we will vote to
125approve at the next meeting then or September meeting I should say uh press plus policy 115 as I touched on again it was a smaller packet U Miss lock and Miss gasa are part of that advisory Council but majority of it was legal reference updates date changes uh we had only one internal change and that was where it say superintendent we also added to be consistent superintendent or design um but there were no significant policy measures this was press packet 115 116 got sent to me early last week so I haven't even started to review that so I would anticipate we'll see that this fall and it has to be approved um before January 1 do we um have a motion the Board of Education Township High School District 208 Co County Illinois approves press
126plus policy issue 115 as presented in the August 13 2024 board agenda packet all in favor I any opposed motion carries um we have a need a new activity account for the class of 2028 pay bill pay the bills can we talk about the activity account for it's more exciting like I can't believe they're the class of 28 but let's pay the bills first that's were there any questions no question okay then the Board of Education Township High School District 208 C County Illinois approves the payment of bills as presented in the August 13 2024 board agenda packet second second from Miss lock and we do need a roll call Miss yes Mr yes mror yes Mr der yes M gas yes and Miss yes and someone else want to talk about the activity account
127for 2028 I'm excited thank you it is it's it's a it's a big deal that they're starting their High School career this was just an annual request to create a new activity count for the new freshman class uh they hold fundraisers freshman sophomore junior year to help pay for prom uh so we'd ask that the board approved this tonight so we can get it set up the Board of Education Township High School District 208 Cook County Illinois approves the activity account for the class of 2028 as presented in the August 13 2024 board agenda packet second second from Mr benor and we you need a roll call Mr no yes Mr Ben yes Mr yes yes yes yes uh we don't have anyone remaining for visitor statements discussion items none were requested do we have
128any consideration of items for future meeting any topics from anyone not seeing any we do have some matters for closed session it includes the appointment employment compensation disci 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 school safety and the superintendent's 24 and 25 goals the Board of Education Township High School District 208 C County Illinois enters closed session for the purpose of considering the Clos session matters as presented in the August 13 2024 board agenda packet we have a second second second from Mr Novak we need a roll call please yes Mr yes yes yes yes yes 8:44