001prepared by the cliff county's clerk's office and section two at the following we're elected to membership of the board of education for full terms and per provisions of the election code will be seated at the may 4th that's today 2021 special board meeting lorena gafka ramona towner and ryan van horst second second famous towner there's a roll call boat mr durkin yes mr jacobs yes sierra yes yes yes yes okay that's it for my part right at this point in time i'd like to take a moment to recognize the outgoing board members miss sierra thank you for all of your time and commitment over the last four years we've worked closely together on the policy advisory council also you uh were willing to step in and be a part of the principal search committee and
002also worked with me this fall with me and the teachers on trying to get students back into school so i appreciate all the time that you have volunteered and your commitment to this district and to this board of education and to my development and well-being as a superintendent so thank you very much for everything you have done thank you wes uh you have been a great board president over the last two years i want to thank you for your leadership you and i have worked closely over the last four years on the finance advisory council and the facilities council uh you know we've come full circle i remember uh when you were first attending board meetings opposed to the parking lot in the tennis courts and the stormwater detention and all those discussions and uh
003you know just just kind of see how not only our relationship has developed but just your leadership with the school district and and being a member of the school board for the last four years uh we're in a better place today so thank you very much for serving as the board president we've been on two very important advisory councils that do take up a lot of time at times and so i appreciate your passion and thank you very much for all that you have done for this district and for me as a superintendent [Applause] i want to thank all all the community community members who who voted in the last election i'm proud of the work to give our children the choice to be back in the classroom four days a week i know this
004was the best decision for the children we fell short of i fell short of victory i respect the process of democracy i always have i think i've done that a lot i've spoken to all current m future board members at length about the upcoming challenges for the board i'm impressed with this group and smart forward forward-thinking board members i'm confident this board will be up to the challenges being a member of the board of education for riverside brookfield high school has been a true honor i have a passion and will miss the work and the mission thank you thank you kevin i appreciate our friendship because you didn't start that way all right can we get a motion please uh you want me to read the resolution it says any board member or yeah bro
005actually it says no yeah me yeah it's not a it's a resolution okay where is gina sierra and wes smithing have served as members of the board of education of riverside brookfield township high school district number 208 cook county illinois from april 2017 to april 2021 and whereas they gave conscientiously and generously of their time and energies during that time whereas they served with dedication and great distinction and gave outstanding service to the faculty staff administration students and community community now therefore be it resolved by the board of education of riverside brookfield township high school district number 208 cook county illinois that this expression of esteem and appreciation of gina sierra and wes smithing and the great benefits benefits which they have accrued to the school by reason of their unselfish service be incorporated in
006the minutes of this meeting of said board and the board of education in witness whereof do hear unto affix our signatures and seal at riverside illinois this fourth day of may 2021 second second by miss aylas this is all in favor aye all right close thank you good luck to the board and to the new board members thank you we're going to be great thank you i'm going to miss you guys okay so miss towner uh miss gaska and mr van hurst if you could please come in front by the visitor's table [Music] do you have a yellow copy and i request that all of my fellow board members join us in reaffirming their oaths as well at this time we're going to rise and repeat the oath of office so if uh you look
007happy leo yes it's the yellow piece of paper you guys have it marianne i think you gave it just for the new board members okay sorry you guys all right stay on script all right so try and be festive all right at this time i'd like you to read the uh oath together with me please aye ramona towner hi lorena hi ryan don morrison do brookfield township high school district 208 in accordance with the constitution of the united states the constitution of the state of illinois and the laws of the state of illinois to the best of my ability i further swear that i shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector i shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion board members and others who seek a hearing before the board
008while respecting the presidency of students and employees i officially recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at the public board meeting i shall abide by the georgia decisions of the before while retaining the right to seek changes and such decisions through ethical and constructive channels as part of the board of education i shall accept the responsibility for my role in inequitable and quality education of every student in the digital district and to help foster with the board extensive participation of the community formulate goals and find outcomes and accept the course for riverside brookfield township high school district i shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum
009potential through a sound organizational framework i shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law i shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students and our community school to advance the vision for riverside brookfield township high school district 208 and i shall strive to work together with the district superintendent to lead the school district for fulfilling the vision the board has created fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills knowledge citizenship and personal development ladies and gentlemen our three new school board members right next to them congratulations congratulations ryan do you need a uh chromebook i've got one you got one i'll catch it all right we have one set up for you okay mr
010fisher are these both uh set up for the agendas on there okay let's take one minute let them get situated there we go all right the next part of the script uh is the organization of the newborn in the organization of the new board is the appointment of a temporary board president i move to appoint tom jacobs as temporary president and i move to appoint marianne nardi his temporary secretary second second by mr ruska there's a resolution so resolved at the board of education township township high school district 208 cook county illinois hereby appoints tom jacobs as temporary president and marianne nardi as temporary secretary of the board of education second second by laura okay that is an all in favor vote uh mr jacobs you need to do that say that again all in
011favor all in favor aye aye and your post okay mr jacobs you are the temporary president please take on the next section which is the election of board president okay nominations are now in order for the office of president and i nominate ms deanna zaylus for the office of president i second that i think i probably need to read the resolution first right yes resolved that ms diana zelis a member of the board of education township high school district 208 cook county illinois b and is hereby declared elected to the office of president of said board of education for a two-year term i second that second by miss gaska it's discussion if there's any discussion yep okay i'm calling uh for a roll call vote yes mrs no mr jacobs yes that's towner yes mr
012van horse yes ms yes and mr durkin yes hey deanna miss dallas congratulations i'm going to award you with the gamble we can move your seat for the next minute if you're comfortable with that always keep doing the musical chairs thank you okay okay you'll stay there yeah yeah for today thank you all i think now we need a nomination for vice president for the board i nominate ramona tower for the office counter for the office of vice president and read the rest of the week's following resolution resolve that ramona downer a member board of education township high school district 208 cook county illinois b and is hereby declared elected to be the office of vice president of set board of education for a two-year term second second by miss aylas any discussion can we
013do a roll call then ms truska yes mr jacobs yes miss counter yes mr van horse yes yes congratulations thanks congratulations to you one last piece ms historically the superintendent secretary serves as the secretary for the board of education um looking for a nomination for board secretary i nominate mrs marianne nardi for the office of secretary it is resolved that the compensation for the secretary of the board of education as a non-member be established at the current rate of 7 500 for each year of the two-year term and that miss marianne nardi a non-member of the board of education township high school district 208 cook county illinois b and is hereby declared elected to the office of secretary of state board of education for a term to extend through april 2023 second please second thank
014you by tom jacobs mr jacobs yes mrs counter absolutely mr van horse yes yes mr dirk yes mrs yes [Music] correct that is in board book page 259 of 271. so are we on number 11 you know 12 on the agenda um 12 correct 12 a.m well they would be to affirm the regular committee of the whole meeting dates for 2021 2022 correct so attached as a copy of the 2021-2022 dates the previous board in the board books can you tell me what page again 250 261. thank you so um the outgoing board had approved a calendar through june 30th the fiscal year uh so that means our next meeting would be may 25th and then the second tuesday of june so the dates that are presented in front of you tonight continue the pattern
015of non-school months having one meeting on the second tuesday and then having a committee of the whole meeting in the months of september october january february historically we have not done march due to spring break but the way the second and the fourth weeks aligned this year there is an opportunity to do a committee a hole in the march uh two meetings in april two meetings in may and then back to one meeting this year night this time 19 meetings huh usually it's 18. interesting how that worked out so have the new members had a chance to look at this in board book yes yes so if everyone is comfortable do we want to discuss the meeting dates i think we need to make the resolution and then you can make some tweaks right because
016then we we need to make the resolution about keeping the meeting and then enter into discussion if you want to make some tweaks sure who would like to make the resolution sure thanks resolved at the board of education township high school district 28 cook county illinois hereby affirms the regular and committee of the whole meeting dates for the 2021 2022 school board calendar as presented in the may 4th 2021 board agenda packet i'm not get that now there's discussion yeah and so one of the things you're asking does anybody is anybody opposed to a second you know an additional meeting i'm not i don't know if anybody else is supposed to be up to you i think the 7 pm start date with the meeting schedule as presented any discussion on that point yes so
017i'd like to throw out because we have sometimes our administration come the 6 30 closed session especially like for personnel issues seems to be a nice fit and that way maybe some of our administration people might be able to then leave after the board meeting and not be here as long and it might be a little more efficient meeting just something to think about then we can go into closed session afterwards but we might be able to take care of some of the like personnel business right off the bat first sure and we've used that on kind of an ad hoc basis yeah right so i think that's i i'm perfectly open to continuing that way if anyone has any objections i think it would be on a case-by-case basis are you suggesting always starting
018at 6 30. i'm suggesting always starting at 6 30 i think district 95 did that for a while and they took care of um issues where staff members had to stay and kind of present because you know 6 30 and that way they can leave once they're done with the official private board meeting and not have to stay here until 10 10 30 or 11. so in that way it just kind of helps some people that don't have to be on deck that long plus it will shorten our closed session in some ways after the meeting some of our meetings might not some of our discussion in closed session after a long meeting might not be as robust because you know we're spent so by kind of splitting it you can take care of some
019of the pertinent things you know right away the bit some of the business you can kind of take care of that and then you can come back after the meeting if you need to do more my only concern this is me speaking personally i'm not trying anyone else has any downtown considerations coming from downtown for a 6 30 start time is is more challenging so 7 p.m works better for my schedule but i can't kind of look around yeah it was it was not an issue for the last year but hopefully we're going back i think that's speaks for 7 pm i am not as familiar with all of the ins and outs and workings in close session with regard to uh times but i would be i would prefer to stay with the if
020you're calling it ad hoc just for the simple fact that again this is personally seven o'clock becomes easier for me with some other duties that i have so but i'm not opposed to the idea that i'd on certain occasions special occasions that helps other schedules i'm trying to make that work lorena phil my only concern would be if you chop it like how efficient would it really be like you're kind of on a time crunch so then at six at seven o'clock you have to stop and what if there's a rich discussion of whatever is going on then you have to come down to this regular meeting and then you have to go back to closed session i that would be my my concern is how efficient would a 30-minute closed session be okay bill
021thoughts yeah i'm fine with either 6 30 uh or seven i mean i would like to keep it as the seven o'clock but i do think when there are like today for instance there were a finite number of items i think 630 worked out really well but that's not always the case obviously so well possibly we can think about that whenever we have issues where our administration needs to stay for that but they're it's not necessary for them to then stay past the meeting and that way we're not keeping that's here yeah because they're coming back like an expulsion or yeah even like tonight if there's just a few teachers and then it'd be helpful to have the assistant principal with dr freda i think that makes sense is that something that would work out
022on a plan to head basis as opposed to trying to make it every every would it be on the committee of the whole and regular board meetings or for questions we only do we try to avoid having voting items on a committee the whole night unless there's a personnel matter or a student discipline matter or something that is like a contractual matter you know a vendor's contract needs to be approved then we call it a special committee of the whole meeting um you know but uh we we tried to avoid keeping those uh very long so i think it could be ad hoc the other thing the board could consider um i mean you could you can do the discussion at 7 00 to 7 30 and start the meeting at 7 30 if that's
023something you want to think about that's true we used to don't happen and i have been a part of when i was a principal in u46 uh you know their closed session would start before if it was done at 7 15 they would start the public meeting at 7 15. right they just start when they're ready you know if it went to 7 45 yeah start to 7 45 i think that's harder for people watching at home or public comment i think it's a little bit challenging sure yeah but if you if you wanted to do closed session maybe dedicated to like the personnel packet always at the front end you can go 7 to 7 30 and then do a meeting at 7 30. that's something i think the new president can discuss and
024see what that looks like on an agenda maybe bring back for more discussion or maybe look at it for the holistic schedule right to i think to you know laura's point having it known i think having a known calendar is helpful um but i think as what i'm hearing is that we keep it as is for now and then we amend moving forward as needed so i think we have a motion and a second we need a roll call on this one yes this counter yes mr van horse yes mr derrick yes yes yes miss rosa yes mr jacobs yes yes dr skink is you're going to walk us through the impressed account and the signatories correct so the assistant superintendent and superintendent are the recommended signatories for the impressed account financial reports for the
02521-22 school year this is a formality that is done annually we use the impressed accounts uh kristin if i'm not mistaken impress is used when there's a check that has to be written and it does not fall in between where we were not able to get it in the board meeting dates or sometimes a financial matter will fall it doesn't align with a board approval of the bills and so we'll use that check we try to use this few and far between uh sometimes maybe for a reimbursement of an employee who has all the documented records for travel uh i'm trying to think of any other reasons we would use the impress uh we use it periodically like i just sent a check if we have a utility that's due and based off the timing
026of the board meeting we now got the bill too late we will pay that the impressed account and then the board will see a list of those bills the next time they see all of the bills okay i'll read the resolution resolved at the board of education township high school district 208 cook county illinois hereby affirms the authorization of the assistant superintendent and the superintendent as signatories for impressed account and financial reports for the 2021-2022 school year as presented in the may 4th board agenda packet second second by tom jacobs any questions or discussion can we get a roll call please mr good horse yes mr turkey yes yes mr scott yes mr jacob yes authorization of signatories for board in addition to president and secretary and this is just a firm so usually after
027a board of education meeting the board president will have to sign uh copies of the minutes that were approved sometimes copies of bills or contracts that call for the board of education this also this res what this resolution will do is authorized in the absence of the board president it gives the up the ability for the vice president to serve as a secretary as well i think i did that once in two years so resolved at the board of education township high school district toy cook county illinois hereby affirms the authorization of vice president as a signatory for the board in addition to the president and secretary as presented in the may 4th 2021 board agenda packet second you need a second second any discussion any questions mr durkin yes yes mr oscar yes mr
028jacobs yes miss counter yes mr john yes yes designation of district newspapers again another formality that the board approves annually the school district needs to identify a local newspaper where they'll post any required postings or notifications for public notice such as tentative budget budget levy any bids over 25 any contracts going out to bid over 25 000 some things of that nature so since we are we our two local papers are somewhat small and when they run on different days we ask that the board approve the two both local local newspapers and then this provides the administration some flexibility to post in both newspapers or to alternate newspapers great resolve that the board of education township high school district 208 cook county illinois hereby designates the suburban life newspaper and the landmark newspaper as the
029newspapers of record for district 208 as presented in the may 4th 2021 board agenda packet second any questions or discussion okay yes yes mr jacobs yes yes yes mr derek yes yes and finally designation of district depository again another formality that's done annually um this is for the first american bank in riverside and i believe this is where we use for all of our activity accounts correct our attendee accounts as well as our accounts the board of education township high school district 20 cook county illinois hereby appoints the first american bank riverside illinois is the depository of record for district 208 as presented in the may 4th 2021 board agenda packet second any discussion is russka yes mr jacobs yes miss towner yes stupid horrex yes mr durkan yes yes yes next is our personnel
030advisory superintendent advisory council so the district has used for probably the last 10 years actually i think that this started two years before me when dr burnett was serving as the interim the superintendent advisory council model is used to assist with the development and implementation of district programs projects and initiatives i usually will request board members to attend and participate along with members of the administration and staff and then at the regularly at the at the monthly meeting uh usually at the committee of the whole myself and the participating board members will report out on the discussions and what we are working on in that advisory council this is a little different than board appointed committees the superintendent advisory council this provides a little more flexibility to actually do like a working group and then
031what we've done in the past if there is a big or a large initiative that the board is looking to have a standing board committee that's something that the board president appoints and and receives feedback from the board and then they have a standing board committee we did that once before with the uh when we were doing the big the large facility project with the renovation of the stadium the tennis courts and those meetings are open to the public um so this is just attached is just a draft of what i'm thinking about uh you know i'll continue to discuss some things with the board uh and board members and see what personal interests are and um but i i try to usually keep the new board members on only one advisory council just because
032it can be a little intimidating as you start off on the school board with a 300 page packet like there was tonight and a lot of things to kind of get caught up on and get acclimated on so initially i have mr vent horse on curriculum and miss gaska on finance and then as we kind of get comfortable with each other on the board when we see what each other's strengths or weaknesses are i could always amend these these are not something that's voted on or set in stone but just something you know we i try to keep a veteran board member on with a new board member so there is some transitioning and some additional discussions that can occur between board members to get acclimated with processes that occur and projects that are ongoing
033it's important to have some type of draft and structure to get started because where we are right now on the board a calendar in a school operational calendar we will need to start working on a tentative budget historically the board of education approves a tentative budget in june so that when july 1 is our new fiscal year there's a tentative budget in place for the administration to have some general guidelines to work on with operating the school and making purchases and things like that over the summer the board of education does not take formal action on the budget until the september reading so you actually have some time then throughout the summer to get acclimated with the budget we use the meetings of july august and the first meeting of september if needed to amend
034the budget to change the budget to get a better handle on property tax collection from the county and treasurer's uh township treasurer's office so i don't want anybody to um to think these are something that has to stay in place like two years it's something that could be flexible and we could move around a little bit if we start working on something more specific that aligns to uh another board member strings i do think you know we've had some success with these advisory councils because we have in the past really tried to align it to things you do in your personal life and professional lives that can help be an asset and another source of information a resource for the administration and for myself so we are definitely open to keeping these flexible and fluid
035does anybody have any questions or discussion on the tentative draft i put in the packing no question on that but a good question for ms zaylus do you would you like me to continue being the iasb representative i think we do need to take a vote on that at some point so my suggestion is that we talk about this and come back at the next board meeting and make a determination and perhaps allow the new board members a chance to learn about iasb they probably have their open meetings act training and some other trainings that are a priority and get a flavor for the organization does that seem reasonable oh yes we definitely should and probably we might want to do a board evaluation have iasfb come in and do a board evaluation that could
036be a closed session meeting and in that board evaluation something we've done with the last several boards we can also do the para training and the closed session training well i think that actually i've asked dr skin because i think the trainings have to be done not in closed session they're a separate iasb function i don't think you could do them anymore they could be done together pat could be open and have to be closed but you could do it all like in one saturday workshop no no i guess my point is i don't think you can do them individually well maybe this is a question for kevin to look at the board training that needs to occur is for the two new board members ramon has already been through the training uh so the
037open meetings act right and the uh the para training and uh what's which transition now is the iasb has actually moved those to online courses that they can do online on their own yeah and so i've already sent that information to both new board members that need to complete that because i know it was like a two or three day session i think when bill and tom and i started and we couldn't do it cause i remember talking about this a couple years ago we couldn't do it here we had to do it as the it was at northern illinois or something like that and go for their session you could do it here it's been done here in the past if you had the appropriate person do it and it was open we probably
038just didn't facilitate that okay well um but speaking of iasb maybe to help all of us make that determination i'll put an agenda item on for next meeting with some background yeah and then maybe since laura has been the representative for a number of years if you could give some you know some talking points and perspective on iasb and and how to use their information that would be particularly helpful um dr skinkies how frequently do you see these advisory councils meeting i think that's a that's a question that's come up and specifically we don't meet as a board now for three weeks it's kind of a stretch what of any of these councils would you be convening before our next board meeting so the only two that would possibly need to meet our tech the
039curriculum council and the finance advisory council um and we would try to do for sure the finance advisory council before the make house so we can start to lay out the budget process and budget expectations and these can be done whatever flexible for the board member schedule whether that's via zoom or doing it in person depending on what time you want to do it it's with kristin and myself uh the curriculum one i would prefer to do in may but if that happened after the macau that would not be the end of the world because i believe there's just some preliminary discussions there's nothing that needs to be voted on at the macau or like to do with the tentative budget is at least go through this with the finance advisory council and have a
040shell of a tentative budget in front of the board at the macau so then the the board has time to digest it from the makao till the second meeting or the first meeting in june the second tuesday of june uh so that they feel comfortable in approving a tentative budget i think that makes sense any any more questions or discussion on that there's no action needed correct no action is required okay move on to visitor statements if we have visitors so this is the hillary the board of education welcomes and encourages the participation of its citizens in the business of the school district there are two points in the meeting where visitor statements are scheduled citizens are welcome to raise questions or make comments at either one comments will be limited to three minutes per
041individual 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 superintendent good evening i'm smiling my name is lindsey morrison i'm here as a resident and also as one of the leaders of indivisible west suburban action league a locally led grassroots organization here in our communities that works on issues of equity and progress here for each other and our neighbors i'd like to read an open letter to rbhs students tears of elliott and raven mcclellan dear tirzah and raven thank you for attending the board of education meeting at rvhs on april 13th 2021 and using your voices as
042a and experiences as young black women to ask for change at the high school listening to you describe the life of the school and exchanges and hallways and classrooms demands an immediate response from our community board of education rbhs administration staff and faculty you implore us to first increase anti-racist teaching second commit to de-centering whiteness and third to train staff and students to recognize implicit bias among the incidents you describe is one that conveys the need most clearly after walking out of school because your lunch was thrown at you with no intervention from the air by staff member you commented that a white student would have been stopped from leaving the building this example should not be lost in a debate about memory or version because it directly reveals the need for healing first steps
043for building strong stable schools is long over sorry about that expecting restorative practices and acknowledging intent versus impact we also heal the urgent hear the urgency in your pleas and recognize the courage it takes to attend a board of education meeting you should not have to implore us to provide a just and inclusive curriculum and school climate through visitor comments at a board meeting on your behalf and that of all students at rvhs we commit to holding our board of education and administrated accountable to prioritize racial equity and develop an action plan that expects results and reports on them regularly thank you indivisible west suburban action league and we will also give a copy for all of you and to include in the record thank you miss morrison [Music] i brought copies of these letters
044for everyone so i don't know the best process hello everyone thank you for having us here today my name is kendra curicana and i am a resident homeowner and parent living in riverside i'm here with indivisible to read you an open letter to the district 208 school board of education superintendent and school administration dear school leaders on april 13 2021 two riverside brookfield students terza elliott and raven mckelvin courageously brought their experience of racial trauma and bias at rvhs to the district 208 school board as community members as taxpayers and particularly as parents we were struck by terza and raven's bravery as they spoke their truth to power literally to a room of white adult decision makers we were simultaneously infuriated that the behavior they had experienced was tolerated and sadly unsurprised by reports of
045racism occurring in our schools what was most disappointing however is what it took for us to listen if school leaders had been doing their jobs advocating for the youth and families in our communities students would not need to put themselves into a position of extreme vulnerability to be heard and for us to listen in the past year we've experienced one of the greatest racial justice movements in our nation's history and a global pandemic that has put a spotlight on long-standing economic and racial disparities it is time for our community to step out of the comfort of silence and demand accountability and strategic action in our schools with that in mind we ask the district 208 school board superintendent rb sorry rbhs leadership for a strong commitment to racial equity starting with action in the following
046areas one public publish a public response to terza raven and the requests made of the board this response should speak to students at rbhs who have also experienced racism at school 2. establish a zero tolerance policy against racist speech or actions by students staff administration leadership and parents that includes swift and certain consequences for those who don't follow it three share with all communities an action plan for the district's approach to address bias racism and racial disparity in our schools with a focus on long-term systemic change four provide restorative resources for support and healing to students who have experienced racialized trauma while at rbhs 30 seconds left our communities have seen a surge of growth with new families renting and purchasing homes in riverside and brookfield at historic rates our communities are increasingly more diverse
047and our schools reflect that fact 48 of students identify as non-white that's nearly half of the student body our district neighbors have launched racial racial equity initiatives with the vision of building spaces for learning where students of color can thrive in riverside north riverside in brookfield not enough is being done the messy work of racial equity is um i'm losing my time racial equity and building strong stable schools is long overdue and cannot wait another school year or another budget cycle the work ahead needs to be community and student centered and most of all it needs to be valued and prioritized by our school board and tax funded school leaders we're emerging from this year a change nation a changed people and a changed community this is a time of possibility for our towns the
048time for action is now thank you is there any additional public comments consideration of items for future meetings i have a couple of items i'd like to bring up but i'll kind of share with everyone else if you want to speak first any ideas any consideration items tom mona ryan lorraine bill laura i think we threw some out about iasb isb and then possibly doing a board i always like when they come in and do a board evaluation as kind of a baseline so i had a couple of items i'd like to add for consideration in our next board meeting i'd like us to discuss the creation of a board committee to discuss learning loss and the transition back to school in the fall this would be an open committee of the board um i
049think there's a lot of discussion this board has had in in session and concerns about what next year looks like and it's more of a chance for us to get heaven have an in-depth report out from the administration and still be mindful of continuing the board business during our regular meeting so i would put that out there and i would suggest that i could work with dr skincas about some possible topics and we can have a further discussion about it at our next board meeting if it's something we can adapt and move forward on the other item i wanted to mention was just general communications i think those of us who've been on the board know the general cadence of submitting questions and responding to questions the new members actually have to get up to
050speed on that dr skinkies has a document that was shared with us as new members i know i'm talking about the the the calendar for the year and then how questions are submitted and responded to so i would put that as an item for discussion i think once we get that in i'm assuming in a friday update or some other type of communication from from dr skinkus i'd like us to have some thoughtful feedback what works what doesn't work is there anything we want to change as former board members or new board members to make our flow of commission communication work the best um i have one more item and then i also want to make sure that we have on the agenda for discussion is the make sure we keep goal setting front and
051center obviously this the now former board adapted a mission statement after many months and and almost a year of deliberation i think it's a sound document but now we need to build on that and and do the goals right and the goal setting work requires a certain amount of research on our part and knowledge and and understanding of the district so i like to keep that on there as another item for us to continually touch on as we as we move forward so anything else on that yeah i've got one thing i'd like to share for uh discussion next meeting uh i'd like to provide an update of the apprenticeship opportunities okay did you want the administration to come and give that is that what you were looking for you wanted to provide a so
052i'll give a brief update yep sounds good did you want administration to kind of care with you so that they could actually that would be a good idea he's working mr durkin's working closely with miss augustine and uh dr freitas and i so yeah uh we could have miss augustine attend the may 25th meeting if need be item that was on our former agenda um the student advisors and we want to hear back from them and plan for the next year so i don't know if we need to keep that as a separate item but as i'm looking at michael is there anything else that we should be adding to this except for next meeting for finals i think that's all i think yeah i think everything's okay i will resend the uh survey that
053michael and lilly completed because the next step of that process was if the board wanted to do if the board president and a representative want to do any follow-up exit meeting with michael and lilly we could schedule that uh the applications for this for the uh next year student advisor to the board of education are due may 10th and dr freda sent out a reminder the last two weeks for students to apply i believe marianne and i have received one or two uh uh requests or applications but michael and lilly have two more board meetings correct after the next meeting is the 25th one okay so then we definitely have to include that as an item i think it was on a prior agenda so it shouldn't be an issue to correct to continue it
054okay thank you so if we wanted to have that discussion before the meeting the board members wanted to share what the exit meeting they had maybe with michael and lilly that could have would need to occur before the 25th so that would have some more better discussion for the board no i think that's that's a good point i mean tom you were instrumental in bringing them on board i'm assuming you want to be part of that discussion i'd be happy to okay yeah i was going to suggest that if anyone doesn't have any objections i think it should be tom is there only two applications at this point is there a way to that's why we sent out another reminder uh yesterday i'll let people know because i didn't even know it was sent out
055i didn't get it yeah perhaps yeah that's why that's right okay find some people dr freitas i don't know if you and mr manning have any students on your um advisory council committees that you have that maybe um you could nudge to to apply you know i i generally speaking find those who always do right like those of us sitting at the table those who never do and those who will do if they're you know like you pump up their feathers right and you say like i really think you'd be good at this and they're like i was gonna but i didn't know and so then they're like yeah i'm gonna do it right so maybe we could find some of those people to bring into the fold yeah a lot of people i know
056uh when we were applying we're worried about the over commitment but like honestly me and they haven't had any trouble coming to meetings it's not too much work so and that's that's helpful information i think for dr freitas to share that it's yeah it's not it's not like you're gonna have to drop all your activities okay and yeah you you two are both very busy students so that's that's good to know any i would like to okay go ahead i'd like to ask for just some clarification on each of the advisory council council roles and to seek more information on where information on diversity equity and inclusion may be within those councils as well as professional development so more discussion around it and i expect that i'll get more of that information in the meantime
057anyway so i want to clarify what you're looking for there ryan uh so within each committee i mean clearly finance is not one that would be all that uh confusing to understand that we're talking about dollars and cents but just some description of what exactly falls under personnel what exactly we're talking about with between the technology and curriculum uh policy i think is you know generally clear as it's very general uh facilities i think we can all imagine but just a little bit more and i'm specifically looking a little bit more for where we as a board have a closer connection to where we can understand uh prior to meetings and to bring to discussion things around professional development that's being implemented as well as diverse diversity equity and inclusion uh topics that's all right
058one of those things though those are not committees just you know correct that's it's yeah and so the advisory councils councils and those are completely uh driven by the superintendent those are himself yep they're a little unique and i think a lot of it'll just i mean i understand right because you don't know what you don't know right right it'll fall into place though a lot of it and and all of us are more than willing to support both of you in all of your you know fact-finding and questions and the things that come up you know as you're looking at board booking and all of that so don't be afraid to to reach out and and you know ask there's lots of questions to be asked right yes for sure there was some discussion
059from the board previously about possibly assigning mentors to new board members is that something the doors think it's still about doing or i i think it's a very good idea i think that's kind of why i do one veteran board member member council association every may and june finance you'll be working on the budget then we'd all and you'll see the board calendar i'll send it on a friday update so that will give you an idea how often they meet and kind of what they're meeting about but it might be also an opportunity to have some additional dialogue between a veteran board members or new board members so they can no and certainly our our board policies you know account and encourage to have a mentor type program i mean is anyone here particularly interested
060in is this coming out wrong who would like to be this is going to sound very awkward but um if there's someone has a particular interest you know i think you could you can shoot me or or dr skin kiss a note and i think that's something that can be kind of set up i i think it's it's helpful um to talk to someone on the board because the board agenda is lengthy and it's um it's lengthy and complicated and covers a variety of issues that you know you you don't at first blush realize you're going to be on the board agenda right picking a newspaper it makes sense but it's an item that is somewhat um random seeming right right i think you guys could be comfortable you can talk to any one of
061us you know for sure just give us a call hey you know pick our brain on anything well i think i mean if i could she had a couple of conversations of we would like a deanna about possibly having again a mentor for each of the new board members and just and again this is so you can kind of think in in your head what might be appropriate for you but also either one or two to support the students as well so you know um there could be nothing i think one is enough because if you're gonna have two tools like me and lily i'd rather speak to like one mentor like ms say this was really helpful for us because we were right next door so any questions it was a mentorship of convenience
062right but those you know so two two three right sure three i guess would be if you're saying you think even if we picked up if we go with one student or two students this time around because there's no guarantee that it's two this just sort of ended up this way right so that you think one person for two students for two students would be sufficient point of contact okay i think you're so you're on the student board mayor you're talking about the board members no i think we're talking about all of the above we're talking about yeah all the involvement it's i think i think the the question is how do you make sense of the agenda the first couple times you see it right onboarding mentorship right yeah i mean i mean certainly
063i'm i'm happy to be that that that resource i think you know laura's been on the board for a number of years had a lot of experience and can certainly share her her experience you know bill mona tom i think i would speak for all of us that were we're here to share the information we have but i think setting up that kind of one-on-one affiliation may be helpful right yeah yeah that was kind of what we talked about yeah like a goat the go-to right so so if anyone's particularly interested we can we can talk about that and we'll get that moving in the coming weeks then sounds good thank you and closed session the board of education township high school district 208 cook county illinois enters closed session for the purpose of considering
064appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body purchase sale or lease of real property probable imminent or pending litigation collective negotiations and school safety sorry second please second there you go okay i think this we could be all in yeah all in favor all right i think to go in a closed session you have to have a roll call yeah yeah mr jacobs yes yes of course yes mr durkin yes yes yes come on it's so funny