001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Don't know. Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Down blue. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Here [Music] we go. Here we go. [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] down. [Music] Ah, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Good evening everyone. I am going to call the October 20th, 2025 board of education meeting to order. Roll call please. >> Miss Kurt >> here. >> Miss Khan >> here. >> Miss Martin >> here. >> Miss Nolan >> here. >> Miss Schwarz >> here. >> Miss Thomas >> here. >> President Owen >> here. >> May I have a motion to move into close session to discuss individual student disciplinary matters pending probable or imminent litigation,
002the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees. Specific individuals who serve as an independent contractor in a park, recreational or educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public or legal council for the public body. The purchase or lease of real property for the use of the school board. The setting of a price for the sale or lease of real property owned by the school board. An internal audit control weakness. Identification of potential fraud risk areas. Known or suspected frauds and fraud interviews. collective negotiating matters between the school board and its employees or their representatives or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees, the review of close session minutes and individual student matters. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Kerr, >> yes. >> Miss
003Khan, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> President Owens, >> yes. >> We're in close session at 5:46 p.m. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Young [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh yeah. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hello. Hey. Hey. Hello. Oh yeah. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Don't know. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] down. [Music] Down. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] I love you. [Music] Thinking hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh [Music] yeah. [Music] New people. Hello. [Music] Hey. [Music] Down. [Music] I can feel [Music] Oh, hey. [Music] Okay. [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey.
004Hey. Hey. [Music] All right. [Music] D. [Music] N. [Music] I would love You're going to [Music] know [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Baby, [Music] the October 20th, 2025 board of education meeting. If I could have everybody stand as you're able for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God, indivisibley and justice for all. >> Thank you everyone. Well, the first item on our agenda this evening is accent on achievement. Dr. Johnson. >> Thank you, President Owens. In recognition of National School Bus Safety Week, October 20th through the 24th, 2025, a proclamation of appreciation is being presented to representatives of the U46 Transportation Department. Members of the U46 transportation department, including drivers, assistants, mechanics, shop staff, trainers, and
005office personnel, work collaboratively to ensure the safe transportation of approximately 22,000 children to and from 56 in district and approximately 34 out of district sites each day. To achieve this remarkable task, U46 drivers collectively travel 4 million miles every school year, demonstrating exceptional dedication, professionalism, and commitment to student safety. So, I'm going to ask that our director of transportation, Marcy Murphy, come forward, as well as board member um Samarine Khan. So, uh, to start and then I I think Marcy Murphy may have others that she's gonna gonna recognize here. >> Um, proclamation appreciation. Hold on. Okay. National School Bus Safety Week. Whereas the U46 transportation department serves about 22,000 students daily, transporting children to 50 56 in district and approximately 34 out of district sites each day, resulting in U46 buses traveling 4 million miles
006in a school year. And whereas the members of the U46 transportation staff work together every school day to ensure a safe and timely journey for students. And whereas the U46 transportation staff not only lends their special skills and talents to the efficient operation of the school system, they have also played a significant role in the district's quest for continuous improvement. And whereas the contribution of these dedicated drivers, assistants, mechanics, shop staff, trainers, and office personnel are recognized in honor of National School Bus Safety Week October 20th to 24th, 2025. >> Thank you. >> Oh, sorry, last one. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education recognizes this talented staff in honor of National School Bus Safety Week and ask administrators, teachers, students, parents, and the community to join in thanking these individuals for
007their dedication, efforts, and service on behalf of children and youth. Presented this 20th day of October, 2025. Board of Education President Melissa Owens and Superintendent Dr. Da. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. I do have a prepared uh response is good evening President Owens, members of the board, and Superintendent Johnson as well as our guests. On behalf of the U46 transportation department, I want to thank you for this recognition in honor of National School Bus Safety Week. Each day, our team together ensure that students arrive to and return home from school safely. It is a responsibility we take to heart, one that requires teamwork, professionalism, and deep commitment to the families we serve. Thank you for your continued support and for recognizing the important role we play in
008helping students access their education safely every day. >> Thank you. >> Oh, absolutely. I forgot I did. I wrote everybody's names down. I apologize. Um, we do have our assistant director, Elizabeth Lapa, with us. We have Amy Pulgar, who is our PM route manager at our 500 Shales building. Um, we also have Oscar. I'm gonna top who is our PM route manager up at 500 Tales. You have our D2 board president and school bus driver, Heather Wise, with us. and we have drivers Jill Mscot, [Applause] Steve Adams, D. Adams, [Applause] Joy McCarron. Did I kill it? And and Sharon Mahoney assistant, I apologize. drivers and Sharon's. You're not any less important, Sharon. You need to stand up. You are vital. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, the next item on our agenda is
009strategic plan report. Dr. Johnson. Thank you, President Owens. Uh this evening, our first strategic plan report is a facility planning update. Brian Lindholm, chief of staff, Dr. Anne Williams, deputy superintendent of operations, and Sheila DS, assistant superintendent of operations, will present to the board of education an update on facility planning. Good evening. Uh thank you for the opportunity to provide another facilities update. Tonight's presentation uh includes a slightly different lineup uh than what you've seen in other meetings, but uh represents several important uh elements supporting our ongoing facilities work. So, we're going to start with an update on the overall district enrollment, which as we know was a major driver of theite U46 recommendations, um many of which are being carried out now, including retiring of some of our oldest schools. Sheila DS will then
010provide a summary of recent investments we've made to maintain our facilities across the district and will then shift to providing an update and a recommendation to name our new middle school in Elgen. And then finally, Dr. Williams will provide an update on financing theite46 initiative and the next round of referendum bonds we would like to issue. So to start, we'll review the official district enrollment data for the 2025 2026 school year that was reported to the state as of September 30th. This slide shows the overall student enrollment across U46 and it highlights the declining trend that we've seen over the past several years. As you can see in the bottom row of the table, we lost an additional 1,14 students or approximately 3.2% 2% from last year, resulting in an official enrollment of 33,182 students.
011This marks the most significant year-over-year decrease that we've seen outside of the 2020 2020 2021 school year during the first year of COVID. As we shared previously, the enrollment decline is largely due to declining birth rates, meaning fewer school age children in our attendance area. This year, however, we did see a reduction in the number of newcomer students, meaning students enrolled in U46 this year as their first enrollment in a youth in a US-based school. This number is down by approximately half from this point last year, which may be impacted by concerns in the community regarding ICE activity and immigration enforcement. We do typically see newcomer students enroll in our schools on a rolling fashion throughout the year, so it will be interesting to see if the recent immigration activities keep these numbers down this
012year. This slide then graphically uh depicts the declining enrollment uh over the past several years as well as forecasting um several years forward. It shows the expected bottoming out of our total enrollment at around 30,000 in the next several years. Here we show uh enrollment per grade level over the past several years. If you look at each cluster of bars, you can see how enrollment for that particular grade level has dropped. As you can see, we are maintaining larger class sizes at the high school level for now, but we are seeing smaller class sizes in our lower grade levels, uh, which will begin to m metriculate through the system. I've circled ninth grade, which typically represents our largest class to show the decline that we're that the decline that we're seeing is occurring at all
013grade levels. We will see these smaller cohorts working through our middle and high schools in the coming years um further driving down the total district enrollment. Uh if we establish a new normal of approximately 2,200 students per class, our total district enrollment will settle somewhere around 30,000. As I shared earlier, there are several factors impacting our enrollment declines, but the most significant is the declining birth rates in our district. Over the last 20 years, the number of births within U46 has been trending lower at an average rate of approximately a hundred fewer births per year, resulting in annual number of births that are down about 1,800 per year from the peak in 2006. We were disappointed to see the birth number in 2023 resume the decline that we had seen after 2022's data indicated we
014may have reached a bottom. So now we're anxiously awaiting the 2024 data to see if this trend continued or if the decline has stopped or maybe even reversed. We know that historically around 70% of the children born in our attendance area will enroll at a U46 school for kindergarten 5 years later. So, majority of the kindergarten cohort that we're serving this year were born in 2019 and 2020, which means we could potentially be seeing slightly smaller kindergarten classes in the next few years due to the lower birth rates in the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. Uh, next, we'll look at the enrollment shifts this year by level. To start, you can see our preK enrollment is up by 124 students this year, which is great to see. Uh we opened preK classrooms at Coleman and
015Fox Meadow this year, and we'll be adding many additional sites next year as part of the larger shift with the new attendance boundaries and moving sixth grade to our middle schools. The prek enrollment also always increases during the year as students become ageel eligible. So, we're expecting these numbers to go up as they have in previous years. And you may recall that one of the main objectives of our facilities master plan and Unite U46 work is to continue to increase the preK opportunities in our district by adding preK classrooms to our elementary schools and making them more easily accessible for our families. So we hope to see this year's trend continuing. Next, moving to our elementary schools, our total enrollment in grades K through six is down by 537 students this year. Much of the
016decline is due to a smaller incoming kindergarten class which came in under 2100 students this year. ULC we saw significant declines in several of our elementary schools including those listed here that all lost at least 10% of their enrollment from last year. Smaller incoming kindergarten classes are are a large part of the decline, but we are also digging into the data to better understand where we lost some older returning students this year as well. Next, our middle school enrollment is down by 102 students this year as the cohorts of incoming middle school students continues trending slightly smaller than in previous class sizes. This is a trend we anticipate continuing over the next several years based on the class sizes that we're seeing now in our lower grades. As you can see, we we had lower
017enrollments in six of our eight middle schools this year with slight increases at Larson and Canton. We also have 257 seventh graders at Hawk Hollow this year, which accounts largely for the drop seen at East View and Kenyon Woods. Next year, you'll see sixth graders in our middle school numbers and not in our elementary numbers. So, we'll see a significant shift in how these enrollments are captured. And finally, uh our enrollment is also down at the high school level. Uh same story as smaller cohorts are beginning to make their way through U46. Looking at our class sizes in our lower grades, uh we expect to see the high school enrollment decline by several hundred students over the next few years and will ultimately settle somewhere closer to 9,000 students. As you can see, all five
018of our comprehensive high schools had a declining enrollment with the largest decline seen at South Elgen High School. We expect the enrollment at South Elgen High School to drop again next year as the new attendance boundaries go into effect and will shift some students who live along Route 59 to Bartlett High School. There are approximately 50 current eighth graders who will be impacted by this change along with any older students who submit boundary exception requests to allow them to move to Bartlett High School next year. Uh so that concludes the overview of our student enrollment data and at this point I will turn it over to Michila DS who is going to provide an update on some of the maintenance projects we've done uh to facilities across the district. >> Good evening. So, it is
019my opportunity to just tell you kind of the projects that plan operations has done over the last two years. Obviously, there's been a huge focus on the Unite U46 project, but there's been a lot of supplemental work um to ensure that the rest of the schools also get things. And so, you'll see that there um were a plethora of projects um that benefited schools throughout the district. And so, in FY24, we completed $32 million worth of projects. And then in FY25, we did an additional 18 million. And so that is a wide array of projects to support our infrastructure from parking lot reconstructions, roof replacements, athletic upgrades, um, and many health life safety projects. And so, um, one of the best parts of about this presentation is that I get to show you lots of
020pictures of the incredible work. So, for plan operations, seeing is believing. And so the next several slides will show you some of the incredible work that the plant operations team coordinated. And so we um did a brand new roof on Centennial Elementary School. Next slide. Also transportation's parking lot where we house um a great deal of our buses and support the transportation department. That parking lot was redone at 500 shales. And then pathways phase two was completed at Streamwood High School and that um gave a lot of the students um state-of-the-art facilities to support what they're doing in the classroom and give them real life experiences um and a sample of what it would be like to work in the workforce. So for FY24 our so just some quick stats over 20 projects were completed.
021The biggest thing though is that the summers seem to get shorter and shorter each year. And so the plan operations is very proud that they're able to do so much in so little time. And so they were able to do over 20 projects in 20 weeks. Again, the total value was over $32 million. Um, Hawk Hollow also kicked off that year and so that was a really big project. Obviously, plant operations typically does much smaller projects, but they were very proud of the work that they did to contribute to Hawk Hollow. And then again that department is small but they are mighty and so it's one pro um coordinator and two project managers and they came in 100% on time and 100% on budget. And so again they are proudly delivering safe modern learning environments
022for students and staff. And then let's fast forward to FY25. The Elgen parking lot um was definitely in need of repair. And so that has made a huge difference in that campus. And so there's some of the pictures of the work as it was going on and then the finished result. Another highlight of FY25 was the Bartlett High School pathways. This was the first phase. Um there will be an additional phase this upcoming year where we'll go back there for the healthc care and the culinary projects, but the welding, the automotive, the wood shop, and several other um several other of the CTE programs, their spaces were all renovated. And then the custodial department didn't want to be left out and so they make sure that they're contributing to the facilities as well. And so
023they redid several gym floors in FY24 at Bartlett High School, Elgen High, and Teft Middle School. And then interior upgrades. Um, again, South Elgen High School, it may not have been as noticeable, but we did replace the water softener there. and then Larkin auditorium obviously that is a very visible difference and that has made a world of difference for that space and for the students in that program. Additional interior upgrades include the um light dimming at the auditorium at Elgen High. Prairie View got the heat pump replacement for their HVAC system. Ron O'Neal got ceiling and lights their phase two. So that project completed and then intercoms and clocks were also done at Ron O'Neal. additional interior upgrades. The Elgen High pool is currently underway right now. They are wrapping up that project as we
024speak. They currently just filled the pool. So, they are very excited and so that should come back online in the next couple weeks. And then they also completed the auditorium rigging at Elgen High School. An additional interior upgrade upgrade is the Highland Elementary domestic water system. And I thought this was a really cool picture, but again, just to kind of show you the the magnitude of some of the projects. So, Coleman Elementary got a brand new water man. And then again, the healthife safety systems, those are systems that a lot of people don't have an opportunity to notice when they're functioning properly. And so, our goal is to make sure that we're keeping up with those repairs and replacements. And so, fire alarms were replaced at Creekide, Heritage, Horizon, and Transportation. Additional mechanical and system
025upgrades for both FY24 and FY25. They both included generators. So, generators were installed at Horizon, Lords Park, and Heritage. At Bartlett, at Clinton, and at Hillrest, um they did all of the wiring, and they'll come back and install the generators this summer. And then we replace the HVAC at Sycamore Trails. And then roofs, obviously that is a big part of any um building infrastructure. And so the Coleman Elementary School and Larkin Elementary Schools both got new roofs as well as the distribution center. And then exterior upgrades um resulted in the Streamwood High getting a stadium picnic pavilion. We've gotten really great feedback from our community about how that's changed that facility. Um, we also completed and replaced the stairs at DuPage. And then last, but certainly not least on this slide is the Fox Metal
026Elementary playground. We got a picture of all the staff celebrating their upgrade. East View. Um, this is one that was um a grounds special. And so our grounds department went out there and they completely revamped the exterior of East View. They planted trees, they planted lots of planting. um and it has made a huge difference in the curb appeal of that school. And then grounds is hard at work and so we are really excited to have um certified playground installers in our district. That is a rarity. Most districts don't have that. However, with preK moving to most of our schools, um we are slowly but surely starting to install all of the sets that we need. And so you see on this slide um there were several um the grounds department has never installed so
027many um at one time. However, they are very busy. And one great thing about the grounds department is they can install in winter. And so the ones that have not yet been installed but are listed are definitely still a work in progress. All right. So maintenance statistics. Um so our maintenance team is 38 um strong. Um we have glazers, we have a glazer, we have a carpenter, and we have several tradesmen. Um but just for 38 people in FY24, they completed 12,622 work orders. And then those same same 38 in FY25 completed 13,598 work orders. So it just tells you the magnitude of work that is passing through the the shop. However, um they are very dedicated and they do incredible work for the district. and then the warehouse. And so, um, we have a
028really robust warehouse operation. And so, all of the board proposals that you see that result in physical assets typically move through the warehouse. And so, it is no small task. They had 103 curriculum purchases this last year and building requests that they processed. They got over 200 pallets just of Eureka math that they take all of the books out and they asset tag every single book, 8,000 packages and pallets received and 7,971 deliveries to the schools. And so they again are a team of 14. However, they process a great deal of materials for the district and making a huge contribution. And then our Basco office which is our building access security control office they also had a huge contribution. So in FY24 they completed 45 projects and they completed 33 in FY25. Um but that
029is districtwide and so they added additional playground cameras and fob access video monitoring stations throughout buildings. They replaced outdated cameras and multi-lens units to increase visibility. they update upgraded their servers and then elementary schools they added 38 foyer CA um cameras to just provide additional visibility and again um the Basco office um they're very proud of their stats as well. So in FY24 um they programmed 9996 FOBs. That number obviously increased to over a thousand the following year. And then just appointments it doubled year over year. And so again um when there's staffing when there's people who lose their fobs or keys um that that department make sure that they are promptly um servicing all of our staffs to support the buildings. And then last but not least, they also shared their stats for emails.
030So obviously we run a really robust list of capital projects and typically plan operations is not known as a profit center. And so typically we spend money, but it is rare that we actually make the district money. And so we're extremely proud that in FY24 um they were able to generate some um revenue, $30,000 from selling surplus trucks. Um 99,000 in the strategic energy management and obtaining incentives and rebates. And so that's our energy team um that go after certain um incentives for every project that we do. Um again, they share their stat for selling surplus equipment. But then also um in FY25 you see that they generated another $103,713.88 um through rebates and energy initiatives. And so the plant operations department also has a really fun energy incentive program that the schools take very
031seriously and they compete. And so we just shared our year's winners. Um the schools get to they get a prize and then they were able to buy um things that benefit the school. So whether that is a buddy bench or a new washer dryer or things um basketball hoops and so this is just some of the things that have been chosen. All right, and that concludes my presentation. Again, obviously we thank the board of education very much just for the continued investment in the facilities. And at this time, Dr. Anne Williams will come up and talk about the naming of the new middle. I think this is you, right? >> I'll keep going. Okay, Brian's gonna stay and I'm gonna go. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sheila. Uh yeah, so next we have an exciting
032update on establishing a name for our new middle school in Elgen. We recently completed uh the process that's been established under board policy for naming a district facility, and we'll be sharing the results of the of that process this evening. Uh the process included a 30-day period for anyone in the U46 community to submit nominations. Uh it included a town hall meeting to provide public comments and then it included a final poll to indicate uh preference among the nominations that were submitted. So we held the town hall meeting uh at Hilltop Elementary on October 1st. Um we really had great turnout and engagement. Uh, it made me proud of the U46 community to see how many people um showed up, how thoughtful all the public comments were, and then how the people in the audience
033kind of cheered each other on and and offered encouragement. Um, it was it was a pretty great night. This slide is just to give you an overview of the wide range of nominations that that we received and considered. Uh, the U46 community offered thoughtful suggestions to name our school after local or national figures. Some highlighted the local geography and others espoused values like unity, diversity, legacy or freedom. We received nominations in both English and Spanish and we ended up with a long list with many worthy candidates. Uh these nominations were all included in the poll where we asked community members to indicate their preference in each category. And then after reviewing the nominations, the public comments from the town hall meeting and the Google poll results, uh the administration created a report that we shared
034with Dr. Johnson and the board of education. This report included our recommendation for the name of the school for the board to consider this evening. So, uh after much deliberation, we uh administration, I should say, is recommending that we re that we name the new middle school Legacy Middle School to honor the local figures who have left a significant imprint on U46, particularly in our middle schools. To build on the theme of Legacy Middle School, we would like to establish a legacy wall just outside the main office leading to the learning stair in the new school where we will celebrate local figures who've contributed significantly to U46 and its middle schools. We can then also consider dedicating other spaces such as the library, gymnasium, or auditorium to prominent U46 figures. To start, we thought it
035would be appropriate to honor Emmy Ellis and Edward H. Abbott to recognize their contributions as well as to honor the historical significance of those schools that will be retiring. Under the legacy theme, we would also look to recognize other U46 educators who've made lasting, impactful contributions to our district, including many that were nominated as part of this process. So later this evening, there's a resolution authorizing the naming of the new school to Legacy Middle School for consideration by the board of education. And as my final slide, uh, I also thought it would be appropriate to share some of the public comments from Katie Papis, a U46 health teacher at Timber Trails Elementary. Katie came to the town hall meeting on October 1st and spoke very persuasively about why she submitted Legacy Middle School as her
036nomination. I won't read the entire slide, but I particularly appreciated her closing remarks, which said, "Choose a name that says you belong here. You matter, and you'll leave your mark." Well done, Katie. So, as I shared earlier, the board will review a former resolution later this evening recommending this name for the new middle school in Elgen. The resolution would then come back on November 3rd as a discussion action item for the board to potentially take action on this recommendation. So, at this point, I would like to turn over to Dr. Williams to give an update on the financing behind the U46 projects. >> Thank you, Brian. Not as exciting. Um, but financing is very fun. So, we'll talk a little bit about um some of the slides that we reviewed with you back in 2022
037at the beginning of this process. And so, what I'd like to do is in preparation for our conversation with our bond consultant, Liz Hennessy from Raymond James. You can have a seat because it's going to be a few seconds. Um, and then we'll get into Liz's presentation um after we review a few facts. So you may recall this slide from a few years ago and it just speaks to the different funding sources that we have for our building for our buildings operating funds reserve funds and bonds and we have used all three to fund the unite46 initiative. It's important to note that some of the most critical projects that we have, for example, Elgen High School is a significant project. While it falls outside of the Unite U46 plan, it is no less essential. Um,
038so there is a need to utilize all three funding sources to continue the good work we're doing on our facilities here. Um, this slide may be familiar as well. It shows you an example of how we can issue new bond debt without raising taxes. Um the graph shows you here with the yellow bars the existing bond debt and then as we pay off existing debt, we have the opportunity to issue new bonds as shown by the blue bars here. Now you may be wondering, should we let the rate drop to save taxpayers money? Letting the rate fall artificially may seem appealing, but it limits our long-term flexibility. We be giving away the capacity that we've built over decades just when we need it most to continue to fund some of these important projects. Um, as
039you will see in the next few slides, we have the ability to issue working cash bonds in 2026 as well as 2028 to help fund some of the projects that are needed. begin Elgen High School, including science labs, a secure entrance in preparation for um the IB initiative, and much needed updates to other public facing spaces within the high school. Um the scope of the Unite U46 project has always been ambitious. We've talked about modernizing buildings, expanding preK, transitioning to a true middle school model, realigning our attendance boundaries, and that total investment is just under $400 million. As part of that investment, we did plan for a working cash bond issue in conjunction with the referendum bonds that we will talk about shortly. And just as a reminder, the difference between referendum and non-referendum debt
040is shown here. Um, referendum debt requires a ballot question as you are familiar with from our 2023 successful referendum. And the non-referendum debt, specifically the working cash bonds, is allocated to every district uh based on their bonds outstanding back in I think it's 199 1994. Thank you. Um, so we'll use the referendum debt to finalize the United 46 large projects, but we also will plan to use working cash bonds if the board approves that. Again, just our three funding sources. Building bonds are the referendum bonds. Working cash fund bonds is like a savings account that may be transferred to other funds and cash reserves. Our funding strategy is balanced and responsible for the United 46 bonds. We had 179 million in referendum bonds, roughly a 100red million in capital reserves were used. And then the
041last piece will be the 32 roughly 32 million in working cash bonds that Miss Hennessy will talk about shortly. Now, this slide is pulled directly from the presentation that will be associated with the next agenda item, but I did want to touch on it. As you can see from the black line that is increasing slightly over time, that is the debt service extension maximum. And if you look at the yellow bars, well, they're kind of orange on the screen on the screens up here, but if you look at the yellowish orange bars, those are the working cash bonds that we are proposing the board issue in conjunction with the last portion of referendum bonds this year. Then if you look at the slide, you can see a circle in the fourth the fourth bar or
042the fourth column I should say. That shows you where we will again have room to issue working cash bonds while still maintaining a stable tax rate to help finish off some of the other projects that are planned. We have additional improvements that are planned for TE Canton and East View as well as secure entrances that need to occur at some of the elementary sites um and as well as Elgen High School. So these are some of the other projects that can be funded through these working cash bonds. Again, the debt service expension extension base is roughly 10.2 million. And this is where you can continue to issue bonds over the next few years without increasing um the taxpayers's debt payment. So, as I close, I just want to speak again about the next phase. We're
043talking about modernizing the remaining middle schools. Elgen High School preparing for the IB program, adding secure entrances to several elementary sites as well. And all of this can occur with the issuance of working cash bonds. So with that, I'll close and I will we'll take your questions. And Sheila, if they have any questions for you, you may have. >> Thank you all for the presentation. And do board members have questions? >> Sue, >> I'm going to go back to uh enrollment. We're seeing a lot of uh some growth over in the South Elgen area. That is that impacting the schools over there. I noticed Willard increased in population slightly. >> Yeah. I mean, when we uh redrrew the boundaries, we certainly took all those new housing starts in into account. Um and you're right, there
044are pockets where we're maintaining enrollment better than others, and that is helping. I will say compared to some neighboring districts, we don't have nearly the volume of of new housing developments that say district 300 or 301 or something further west where there's a lot more room to grow and that certainly has been impacting us as well. >> Yeah, I think we're running out of room for for new developments. So, and my other question was you mentioned you you were keeping track. We had fewer new students coming in. Are we seeing fewer students or are we looking at the kids who were enrolled last year who aren't enrolled again this year to try to figure out what's going on with them? >> We are. And and the interesting part is um we have somewhere between five
045and 10% mobility um every year as do most districts. And it looks like we lost about the same number of students that we did a year ago. We did not gain as many which is interesting. So we didn't have as many kids move into our district. Um and that impacted things some. But the main driver really was we had about 2,800 seniors graduate last year and our kindergarten class this year is less than 2100. >> Yeah. >> So if we're down by,00 700 and change is just a big class leaving and a small class coming in. >> Yeah. >> Um >> so that's the bulk of it. Yeah. >> Okay. Thanks. Any other questions? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next item. >> Thank you, President Owens. Our second strategic plan report
046tonight is the Unite U46 funding update. Uh Dr. Anne Williams, deputy superintendent of operations and Elizabeth Hennessy, managing director of Raymond James will provide the board of education with aite U46 funding update. >> Thank you. Thanks for having us. Thank you, Dr. Williams. >> I think it's magic because I didn't do anything, but it's not on the screen. Just disappeared. >> There we go. Great. All right. Well, nice to see you all. Thank you for having me. We're going to start with a market update. So the themes for this market is volatility. Um we've had very big supply this year. If you look at the graph on the top, we see the long-term issuance trends are really increasing. This shows month by month the years since 21 up to 25 and lots and lots of
047bond issuance. The graph on the bottom shows demand and when the green bars are going up that means there are more investors buying bonds and when the red bars going down show that there are more bond sellers. So we are benefiting if you look at the very far right from those positive uh demand from investors for municipal bonds. Um let's go to the next slide. If we look at historical rates, the dark dark blue line shows the 30-year average on each point of the yield curve. So, just to familiarize you with this graph, on the y ais we have the tax exempt interest rate or yield and on the x axis we have the year to maturity going out to 30 years. So, the dark line again represents the 30-year average on each point of
048this graph. The red line is where we are now. Last year when we looked at this graph, short-term rates were much more elevated. They have come down substantially. Um over the last several months with the Fed lowering rates and discussing lowering them another time or two before the end of the year. Um so you can see even the red line dips below the blue line in the first 15 years. So, that's really good news for rates in those years are below the 30-year average. And then going out on the yield curve, we're about at the same point uh as the 30-year. So, here's the MMD changes from January 1 to 25 through October 3rd of 25. MUN MMD stands for municipal market data index and that's the average interest rate on municipal bonds. So, the
049trend again, short-term rates have come down substantially. Um, after the Fed raised rates to try to stop inflation, they're now coming down. So, we're benefiting from that. And then, but the longer term, we've seen longer term rates go up. So, that is because of the tariffs and the expectation for some of the higher prices coming in the future as those tariffs actually get implemented and start impacting prices more. This graph also shows the impact of market and economic events uh between 23 and 25. The black line on the top is the 30-year municipal market data index and the light blue line on the bottom is the one year. So, you can see the impacts that we've experienced, especially if we look at the 30-year, you can see how some of these tariffs have pushed longer
050term rates up, but at the same time, the light blue line shows the shortterm rates coming down. Now, tariffs are pushing rates up, but we are in a shutdown, a governmental shutdown right now. That's bad news. Things are slowing down. That's good for the bond market. Investors are moving towards buying US Treasury bonds which is the gold standard and that impacts our municipal market as well. So investors going towards fixed income increases demand and lowers rates there. So even though this is a horrible thing for our government, it is causing interest rates to go down. And then lastly, here's the historical Treasury rates. The dark blue line again is that 20-year average. The red bar is the US is the um rates where they are today for US Treasury bonds, which the district invests in.
051So again, the good news for you is you're earning higher returns on your investments than the 20-year average on US Treasury bonds. Okay, so let's move on to outstanding debt. The district has a statutory debt limit that is 13.8% of the equalized assessed value. Um so your debt limit is very large just under a billion dollars. You have 233.9 million outstanding and now a net debt limit of 765 million. So really huge debt limit. Let's go to the next page. Now we're going to look at the six bond issues the district has outstanding. And the first two starting on the left, the 2025 are the referendum bonds we issued last year that generated 60 million of the 179 million authorization toward your projects. The year before we issued 62 million um that was the series
05224. the series 2023b are refunding of the 2015D referendum bonds. So those are at very low rates. If we go to the next page, the 21A bonds are refunding of the 2015A bonds. Those are limited bonds subject to that debt service extension base Dr. Williams was talking about earlier. Then the 21 bonds, those are uh have one last payment. Those will be paid off as of January 2nd. And then the taxable geo limited refunding school bonds, three more years on those payments. Again, those are subject to that debt service extension base and refunded the 2011A. So soon to be five bonds outstanding. Next, we're going to go to the five uh financing options. And let's just get back to Unite 46, Unite U46, and look at all that you've accomplished so far. Hawk Hollow opened
053this July, so that's complete. And of course, that was funded before the Unite 46 plan. And then the projects is the new middle middle school, uh, Kimble Middle School edition, Kenyon Woods Middle School edition, the new elementary school, Glen Brook Elementary School, Century Oaks Elementary School, and another elementary school, which is a conversion of the prek center. Um, so all these projects together total 365 million to 380 million. We also have the estimated completion date. So this amazing ambitious plan is really coming to life and it's very exciting to see. Let's go to the next. So originally the district was going to fund 47% of this uh plan with referendum bonds and 26% with district funds fund balance. At that time, the non-referendum bond piece was made up of the 32 million working cash bonds
054we're going to be talking about tonight, as well as 70 million of debt certificates. Um, as we moved through the plan, the board decided to use more of its funds and forego the debt certificate piece. So, the current plan is district funds 45% and then non-referendum working cash bonds make up only 8% uh and again referendum bonds still at 47%. So here is the graph that Dr. Williams started with. It's always good to look at this more than once because there's a lot going on. Uh the various shades of green represent the referendum approved bonds up to the 179 million. And again, we're looking at the last trunch of those 57 million. um this issuing in this uh cycle. So the other part is the yellowy orange bars which are the 32 million working cash
055bonds. Those are below that line which represents the limit on the payments of nonreferendum bonds. It's called the debt service extension base part of the tax cap going back to the year 1994 when tax caps came to uh Cook County. But uh it set forth this law that said you can go ahead and issue bonds as long as the payments don't exceed what you paid in the year 1994. So um by fitting these bonds in, we're staying under that limit, there is a CPI factor applied to it. But you also see in the circle, that's where the bars drop down. That's 2028 levy year when you have the opportunity uh to issue more bonds uh as needed. Let's go to the next page. Here's the color coding uh of the bars you just saw. The
056orange is a repayment of the 32 million working cash bonds, and that's going to be paid back in 10 years. But importantly, there's a drop in those payments in levy year 28 to allow another issuance. If we look under the referendum debt service, those three uh green bars uh shading plus the currently outstanding referendum bars, you'll see that those together um plus the non-referendum keep the debt service right at that 32,495,000. That's the level debt service. those payments are not going up consistent with a promise to the taxpayers at the time the referendum uh was approved. So it includes not only referendum debt service but nonreferendum debt service no tax increase. Okay. So just to review the referendum financing plan more than 45% of the needs have been financed through reserves district funds. The referendum
057financing plan maintains the no debt service tax increase promise and the future capacity under the debt service extension base that refers to the district's ability to issue additional working cash bonds in levy year 28. So, if we were to use today's interest rates plus a cushion in 2028, you could issue 44 million, pay it back over 10 years, uh, and use that 44 million for additional capital needs at that time. So, let me just see if there's any questions on debt structure before we move to method of sale. >> There any questions board members want to ask? Okay. So, >> so I always assumed the bonds would be paid over 20 years, but actually they're not. It's much quicker. >> Correct. >> Okay. And looking at the first 2024 when we've already paid off 9
058million of it. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Great. And just along those lines, we recommend that those non-referendum bonds stay around 10 years because it gives future boards more capacity to continue to issue them and keeps interest costs lower. So now we're going to talk about method of sale. In the last two bond issues, the district has sold the first two tranches of referendum bonds via a negotiated sale. negotiated sales are appropriate when the issue wants to make bonds available to the local community. And just coming off the referendum, that was a real priority to make sure that they were available and that community members could just go down the street to a brokerage office and buy those bonds if they wanted to. So, we went through RFP process. We had a
059great team and we did accomplish that goal. Negotiated sales are also appropriate for issuers with credit ratings less than double A who are infrequent issuers or bond insurance is unavailable or the debt structure is complicated or the district wants to have input on how bonds are allocated among firms participating in the sale. A competitive sale is appropriate when the issuer has a strong credit rating doubleA category or better. General obligation bonds which are full faith and credit obligations where the debt structure does not include any special features that would require extensive explanations and when you're a frequent issuer in the market which you kind of are after these last few years. So also the given the district's credit rating upgrade of double A+ which again congratulations you are just one notch from the gold standard
060AAA um that is makes bonds uh available uh that makes bonds very attractive to investors and that's why a competitive sale I think would serve the district very well this time as opposed to a negotiated sale. district has issued bonds in both methods both negotiated and competitive over the years because again we're we are frequent issuer now and we have this very very strong and bond rating we are recommending going for a competitive sale for this issue and that's the difference again is where uh when you do a negotiated sale you have a team of underwriters already hired in this case we have underwriters bidding against each other to get be awarded your bonds and it's on an electronic platform and the district will take the lowest uh bid at that time. Okay. And then
061the timeline we're suggesting is tonight we're talking about the the funding plan including the third crunch of referendum bonds and the non-referendum working cash sale method of sale. So, um, then on November 3rd, we would bring to you a resolution of intent which authorizes the issue of those working cash bonds. It's an authorizing resolution. Um, and once approved, we would publish a notice of intent in the local newspaper that begins a 30-day petition period. If within those 30 days, 10% of the registered voters submit a petition that would require the working cash bonds to go to referendum at the next election. Also required is a public hearing that would be scheduled for your December 15th meeting. Then uh the petition period expires December 5th. We have a rating meeting scheduled for December 11th to renew
062the bond rating. And then on January 12th, we would uh have the district consider the parameters bond resolution with which authorizes the sale of bonds within certain parameters with no further action of the board but subject to the approval uh final approval by the deputy superintendent and treasurer and the board president who are named as board delegates in that resolution. So from there we would sign all those closing documents. close on February 3rd. There's one last thing on the February 9th meeting. Because the non-referendum bonds are working cash, the board would uh approve a resolution moving those working cash bond proceeds from the working cash fund to fund 60, the capital projects fund, so they could be spent on the projects. Questions? Sue? So in general a competitive sale on bonds should give us a
063better interest rate than a negotiated sale. >> Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There are studies on this. >> Oh okay. >> And in you know volatile times the uh negotiated sale can serve you better. a competitive sale. You if we have something crazy happen in the economy that causes the day we plan to go to market uh to not be attractive for investors to bid, we can cancel the sale. But in a negotiated sale, you have more flexibility. If you have something like that happen, you can just hold back and not go to market and go the next week. So, it's a little bit more complicated and that's why negotiated. If we're really in a volatile time works a bit better, but assuming smooth sailing in January, we should be well served by a competitive sale.
064So, I can't say yes, competitive sales are always lower than negotiated sales. It just depends on the market conditions at the time. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any additional questions? Great. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Thank you. >> Okay. The next item on our agenda is uh comments from the audience. >> We have no public comments this evening. >> Okay. Thank you. That moves us to other business. Board member and superintendent update. Do board members have any updates to share? >> Dr. Johnson, did you have anything to share? Um, I want to share just a couple of thank yous this evening. So, first I want to send a thank you to our transportation department, transportation team for all of their work uh to of course support our efforts uh to bring our students to school
065every day to make it the greatest day it can be for learning and then return them home. And not only uh those those routes that we all think of, but all of our field trips, all of our activities, all of our athletic programming. So, a tremendous thank you to our transportation team. Appreciate you. And uh we'll be celebrating and honoring your work this week. And I also want to thank our operations team. So, thank you so much for being here tonight uh for providing the review of all of your work. Uh it's exciting to certainly be able to uh see the spaces being utilized by our students and by our colleagues across the district. Uh so I'm always very proud uh to be part of that work and to get to see that happen and
066to hear that from our students and our families and our team members as well. Thank you so very much. Uh really appreciate all of that effort and I know it was uh really enjoyable to see some of those those photos tonight and we'll continue to get out to see those those sites and uh looking forward to our our work ahead because I know the stats for this year are already accumulating. So can't can't wait. Thank you so much for all your work. >> Okay, the next item is FOYA request. Dr. Johnson, >> uh this evening we have uh 20 freedom of information act requests uh available on the public domain of Bordox and those requests will also be moved to the school district 46 website later this week. >> Okay. Next item is the report
067to membership 2025 IASB delegate assembly. You all have the report in your board packet. I actually have a printed copy here if anybody's interested in looking at that. Um I have done a review myself of all of the changes in the constitution which is the the bulk of what a delegate would be voting on this time around at the delegate assembly in November. Um and then also reviewed the uh the one resolution on school bus safety funding. I know that administration and Dr. Johnson have also looked at both the constitution changes and the resolution itself and I understand that there are no concerns from an administrative standpoint on either of these items. Um, we do need to direct our delegate to vote not just on the resurre uh on the referendum um for or I'm
068sorry on the resolution for the school bus safety funding but also for each individual change in the articles of the constitution. Um I the the one item that I I kind of looked over a little bit more closely than the others was their item two article three. This is the delegate assembly um section. they are discuss discussing or wanting to explore making a change to how delegates vote at the delegate assembly which is a little bit interesting to me because it seems like they're driving toward more of a remote voting option rather than delegates in session. Um, you know, I think part of that is to open up the voting to more members that aren't able to attend the delegate assembly, but it also I think changes the the concept of the delegate assembly itself.
069So, um, you know, I I that's the one item I think where there's a little bit more than just language clarifications and and kind of condensing some of the language within the within the document itself. Does anybody have any specific questions that they have come up with as they reviewed John? >> So I had two items. So I agree I had some concerns on section two having done the delegate assembly a couple of years. I >> section >> I'm sorry. Yes. Article >> two. Yeah. >> Yeah. Item two which is article three section two. >> Get that as confusing as possible. Um having so having done it I think Given the way it's set up and the conversations that are had, I'm not a big fan of there being a remote option. However, part of
070my concern on this when I was reading it, it seemed that they're kind of their thing is like, well, people can't attend. I kind of looked around online. Some people site cost if I mean is ISB could actually look at other ways to be able people can attend just the delegate assembly without having to register for the whole conference. Like there's other ways also around the cost that ISB could look at versus going to a remote option because my guess is that even going remote they're still going to be charging districts to vote and attend. Um so I did have concerns on that one. didn't love the change, but I mean I'm whatever the board decides. I also looked at um the school bus resolution and I'm trying I'm trying to find the actual uh
071information. >> Thank you. Um, yeah. So, I like the idea of it, but when I look at the numbers like one, two, three, and four, I actually have a lot of concern with the idea of trying to get the state to set up a grant program to fund this. We have so many mandates that are unfunded. One, I don't think they're ever going to set up funding for just one of the million mandates. You know, I think it's what, like 300 mandates that aren't funded. I like 2, three, and four. So, I'm not sold I would support this with one through four in it. Personally, I think it works better with just two, three, and four and not trying to get the state to fund a mandate that I don't think they're going to fund
072anyway. But again, um like whatever the board conversation is, like I would support the board, but that's just looking at it. I was kind of surprised that IB was okay with them asking for funding just giving big picture funding issues with the state and the just all of the mandates that go unfunded. >> Are there any other board members that have uh concerns with uh either those two items or any of the other items within the report? Kate. >> Um, yeah, I don't know that I I have anything too much more to add than kind of what Don was saying and what you said about the delegate assembly, like having been the delegate two years, three years, I can't even remember now. Um, like each year I did it, it got a little bit better,
073but like the first meeting that I went to, it almost felt like a free-for-all, right? because it was just so I'm not in favor of them trying to like make it harder for people to attend, but um kind of streamlining it and and making it better. Plus, whoever is the delegate doesn't get to attend sessions that morning, which is certainly workable within the group. But I don't know. I don't know that I have a specific point other than um the present system is challenging but Zoom would be challenging as well or remote or whatever. Okay. Anyone else? No, I I I agree. I mean there's I was a delegate for a couple of years. It just happened to be on those those couple of years there were some volatile uh issues that were in front
074of the delegate assembly and those delegate assemblies went long. Um and it it can be a fairly um it can it was a a fairly tedious process at that point. Um although you know the the other side to that is that it gave the opportunity for districts to make their point about the resolution that was that was you know up for a vote. So I'm not sure how with an email voting system or remote you know even Zoom. I'm not sure how that kind of conversation can take place. Don. >> Yeah. And to, you know, kind of on top of that, I mean, if you're a school that's bringing forward a resolution, I mean, I almost feel like remote shouldn't be an option in that situation so that you can present. I mean, it's just
075easier, especially if the bulk of the delegates would still be in person. So, I don't Yeah, like that's just another piece to the >> There was one year um where we did it and it was actually really nice. They had like two sessions. One was in an evening, one was in an afternoon where you could just hop on a Zoom and they must have spent, I don't know, 45 minutes or an hour, and each district got to say, "Here's our resolution, and here's why we're going to do it." And it was super helpful because it was several weeks in advance. >> So, I was able to pull that information back and come back to you all and be like, "Hey, I think this one or I think that one." Mhm. >> Um so certainly if
076they go back to that sort of thing that maybe the voting doesn't happen but some of that discussion happened in advance. It was very nice. Um because I think some of the school districts even had like a slide or two that they popped up that helped define their def their resolution a little better. >> Yeah. Um okay. So, we've got out of the 11 different uh items that we have to vote on, we've got two that have some concerns, but unless I hear from two more board members, it seems as though the majority would hold in approving those two items. Is that the case? Okay. Um, so that that would be the board majority then of uh voting in the affirmative for all 11 of those items. Um, we do need to pick a delegates.
077Dawn has been the most recent delegates. Is there somebody that is willing to step up into that role? >> Thank you, Miss Kerr. >> Oh, you've never done it? >> Okay. Okay. So, you are you are clear on your voting. >> Yes. >> On behalf of the board. So, thank you very much >> and >> yeah and we will look forward to hearing how it goes >> later on that day. >> Thank you. >> All right. And that will bring us to consent agenda. >> Thank you, President Owens. Uh this evening on consent agenda we have personnel report and workers compensation cases minutes of board meeting August 4th 2025 termination of Mark C. Taylor bus driver termination of Raul P. Vargas bus driver resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property warehouse books. Resolution for
078the disposal of surplus personal property furniture. Resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property middle school cafe tables or cafeteria tables. Resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property is equipment. Proposal culture and climate Illinois virtual schools and academy proposal K12 science and planetarium habitat restoration to support curriculum bid curriculum and instruction. Kdum Odell Education Consumables contract renewal curriculum and instruction benchmark education license contract curriculum and instruction learning ally contract renewal food and nutrition services H heartland payment systems MCS my school apps and change order plant operations Elgen High School primary overhead electrical service replacement project number 242. 2. Are there any items that board members would like removed from the consent agenda? Hearing none, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as read into the record? >> So moved. >> Second.
079>> Roll call, please. >> Miss Kerr, >> yes. >> Miss Khan, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> President Owens, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. Uh, next item is discussion action. Dr. Johnson. >> Our first item, itemized bills for October 20th, 2025. Robin Cornelison, executive director of financial services, will respond to questions from the board of education regarding the attached bills. Administration recommends the board of education approve the list of bills in the amount of 47,397,196.95. May I have a motion to approve the list of bills in the amount of 47,397,196.95? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or discussion? >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Miss Kerr, >> yes. >> Miss Khan, >> yes.
080>> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> President Owens, >> yes. >> Motion carried. Next item, board policy updates. Trisha Olsen, chief legal officer, will present proposed changes to the following board policies. Administration recommends adoption of the proposed changes. >> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to be back before the board to discuss policies. And I doublech checked the numbers this time and I will go through all of them in order. Um I am proposing to adopt changes to 1 col 10 regarding school district legal status as described at the previous meeting. Same with one colon 20 a change to the district organization operations and cooperative agreements. I'm proposing to adopt that the board adopt 1 col 30 regarding school district
081philosophy 2 col 10 regarding school district governance 2 col 80 regarding board member oath and code of conduct as it is presented and as the board has previously adopted 2 col 130 which is the board superintendent relationship 2 col 240 which is the board policy development 3 30 regarding chain of command. 450 payment procedures. 4 col 55 use of credit and procurement cards. 4 col 90 student activity and fiduciary funds. 41 180 addressing pandemic preparedness, management, and recovery as it is provided. addressing employment at will, compensation, and assignment. 7 col 40 addressing non-public school students including parochial and homeschool students. 790 addressing release during school hours as provided during the last meeting. Board policy 7130 addressing student rights and responsibilities. Board policy 71 140 addressing search and seizure as we aligned with press previously. Board
082policy 7300 as provided during the previous board meeting. Board policy 7 col 325 addressing student fundraising activities. Board policy 8 col 80 addressing gifts to the district. Board policy 810 addressing public suggestions and concerns. I'm going to read the motion into the record and then if we have any questions on any of those policies we can address them at that time. So, may I have a motion to approve the board policies as read into the record and represented in IASB press issue 119? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Any questions? Okay. Mo roll call, please. >> Miss Kerr, >> yes. >> Miss Khan, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, yes. >> President Owens, yes. Motion carried. Thank you so much.
083Okay, we have a the next item is the approval of close session mo uh close session minutes. So, I have uh I will need a motion to um request uh and respond to the need for confidentiality which still exists for all or part of close session minutes and therefore all close session minutes with the exception of minutes already released including audio recordings remain confidential. In addition, all I'm sorry, I should read all of those before I do that, shouldn't I? >> You should read these. Okay, I apologize. Let me start over again. The following close session minutes have been reviewed for approval. Minutes for approval October 2025. This is the list of uh close session minutes that have been approved uh and reviewed March 10th and 24th, 2025, April 14th and 28th, 2025, May 5th
084and 19th, 2025. June 2nd, June 9th, and June 16, 2025, and July 21st, 2025. So, the need for confidentiality still exists as to all or parts of these closed session minutes, and therefore, all close session minutes with the exception of minutes already released into already released, including audio recordings, remain confidential. In addition, all audio recordings more than 18 months old, having been put to writing and approved, may be destroyed. The list of audio to be destroyed on October of 2025 includes November 20th, 2023, December 4th, December 11th, and December 18th, 2023, January 20th, and 22nd, 2024, February 5th, and 26, 2024, March 4th, March 11th, and March 18, 2024, and April 8th and 15, 2024. I need a a motion. >> So moved. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Any questions or discussion? >> Roll
085call, please. >> Miss Kirk, >> yes. >> Miss Khan, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> President Owens, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Our next item, middle school physical education health curriculum proposal. Celia Banks, director of curriculum and instruction, and Mary Jubingo, student wellness teacher leader, will be available to answer questions relating to the middle school physical education health curriculum proposal. Administration recommends approval of the middle school physical education health curriculum proposal in the amount of $65,512.88 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. >> May I have a motion to approve the middle school
086physical education health curriculum proposal in the amount of $65,512.88 and grant authorization for district administration to execute related documents. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion or questions? >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Miss Kerr, >> yes. >> Miss Kung, >> yes. Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> President Owens, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Our next item, proposal information services, chat GPT, Edu. Lola Mtorvich, deputy superintendent of instruction. Rola Tariq Muhammad, coordinator of strategic initiatives are available for questions from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the contract with chat GPT edu in the amount of zero dollars and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. Participation in this program comes at no cost to the
087district and provides secure access to chat GPT edu for U46 staff who opt in and successfully complete the required AI canvas course prior to receiving access. May I have a motion to approve the contract with Chad GPTedu in the amount of $0 and requ and grant authorization for district administration to execute related documents. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I believe that we have some comments from some board members. So, I'm going to try my best to let everybody at least ask a question or make a comment first and then we can if there's additional questions, we can go back, but I want to make sure that I have give everybody um adequate time and space to be able to make those uh comments or questions. Uh so, I can start with Samarine. Did you
088have anything to add? >> Um not beyond what I shared with you. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. Sue. >> So I I do support this. I I understand the concern about chat G GPT and I think events of today with the internet failing in half the world is probably illustrates that things are not perfect yet. But I do believe that this will give I think we will have teachers who are going to use it regardless of whether we approve this. More and more people are familiar with it. Probably a lot of our high school kids are more familiar more familiar certainly than I am. Um, so I think we're going to see more and more of it and I think this gives us a little bit of control and gives people some guidance. I would
089like to see a report in a year or so to see what people have done to give to see specific examples of how it's been used for for classrooms and and development of curriculum. So if we could have that, that would be great. So thank you, >> Kate. >> Um, I also am going to vote in support of this. Um, it was a lot of back and forth decisions because I think there's a a lot of really valid points in terms of the amount of energy that it uses and concerns about safety, but its value is there and if folks are going to be using it, as as Miss Kurr said, I I used it today actually to get a list of questions so that I could um work with some of my clients. Um,
090so I definitely think that it has its value. I'd actually like to kind of up Miss Kerr's request. I'd rather you come back maybe every other month and maybe bring some of the teachers that we might not normally hear from. Um, not the teachers that are, you know, well, I don't know what the right words I'm looking for, but but bring in some teachers and say, "Here's how I've used it and here's how it was beneficial." Um, and then as we were talking over the weekend too is reminded that teachers already are taking lesson plans from each other, right? We do it all the time. they go to websites like Teachers Pay Teachers or they go to PBS and they print out that lesson plan. So hopefully what we're doing here is really just adding
091another tool in the toolbox of our teachers whom, you know, we trust. They know what they're doing. They're the experts. Um, you know, let's make sure we give them all the tools that we can. >> Shondaanda, >> I have some notes. So I am going to support this. Um, I'm going to note that I'm supporting it for this proposal. Um, adding to what Miss Kerr and Miss Thomas already said, uh, I would love to have, you know, different teachers, different people from different departments, maybe even various grade levels coming to the board, giving more specifics on how they're using it. Um, I hope that with this pilot and um with being able to use it for 13 months, we'll see the value and the return on investment not just for staff and teachers, but I'd
092like to see how it affects student outcomes and what are students seeing that because I I believe that it's noted that whenever a teacher or staff member uses it, they have to put that notation that they're using chat GPT as you. So any way that we can see that um as well as I know I made a comment at the last board meeting about ensuring compliance, making sure that people aren't entering in those PPIs. I would like to see data on how that goes and um just what's the resolution if maybe people just need more clarification. Um I did do the training. I'm going to admit that I felt the training was a little bit light. Um, so I would I would uh like to see a little bit more robust training, maybe even an
093advanced training as it's being used more throughout the year. And um I think that's all I have. So thank you, >> Don. I wrote notes. It's not like me. Um so I'm going to start by thanking all of our staff for all the work that has been going on this project. I think it's since summer. We've seen a proposal come forward several times. I greatly appreciate all the adjustments that have been made, listening to our questions, giving us access to the training. Um, regardless of how a board, any board member votes, I can't say enough about really all of our staff and administration because this is the type of back and forth and work we do on all of our projects. So, I just want to make sure that everyone understands I greatly appreciate that,
094especially on this topic. However, I am continuing to vote no. I can see the benefits of AI. You can look, you can read about them. Um, I don't personally use it. That's my choice. Um, definitely have had some interesting conversations with people about the use of AI. However, I cannot in good faith move past the cons, um, the biases, some of the ethics issues, the environmental issues. It's so easy to get on the internet and you can see two people discussing a subject. both of them will source AI and it's two totally different sides for the same subject. I just don't think AI um is trustworthy enough for a public education system. Um I think education about AI is still really important and I look forward to seeing how that rolls out either with additional
095training and how we roll out I AI education for students. Uh, I also do look forward to the information that comes forward over the 13 months. We have the software to see kind of how it's being used. Um, but they have some of my votes no, but thank you, >> Veronica. Good. Okay. Um, and I I just I want to thank all of the board members because I I've had um discussions whether through phone call or or text um in in discussing this item. Um and then also extending my thanks to administration um for again as as my you know other board members have said for listening to us um for you know continuously trying to bring this back and you know and and work through the the concerns and the questions that we've had.
096Um I'm I'm a hesitant yes on this. Um, and it's probably one of the more hesitant yeses that I think I've given in my my career on the school board. Um, I'm kind of hinging this on the on the fact that I recognize that we are availing availing our staff of a system that is FURPA compliant. Um, which is really important especially considering that people are probably using this anyway in an environment that is not FERPA compliant. um and that isn't, you know, part of that that walled off garden that we would have um internally. Um and so I think that if we're going to explore this possibility, then having that environment is is really important. Um, and I'm hoping that we can use this opportunity to go beyond, you know, what a lot of
097people can think of as a as a tool or a shortcut um to make things easier and really look and develop ways that we can um, you know, drive towards an educational system that is really grounded still in equity and innovation and use this as a mechanism to is closer to that. Um, I also would like to have additional information presented to us and kind of work through that on an ongoing basis. Um, what I'm really looking at is making sure that we are driving toward a, you know, being able to design curriculum that is really impactful for our students and making sure that we are what we're doing is centered on student achievement, student growth, um, and making sure that we have that avail that information available to us. I do also and maybe
098this is because of my my background in environmental science. I just I want to call out the fact that I even while this is a free system right now and while we have free licenses to work with there are so many external costs to this that it the use of this is not free. And I'm sorry I don't know why my watch is I had a timer that I didn't realize I had. I apologize. The costs of this are not are not necessarily free on society, right? We know that electricity prices have gone up this past year. Citizens Utility Board estimates they're going to go up again next year. A lot of that is because of the capacity demands that keep being placed on the system. And a lot of that capacity demand is coming
099from data centers. So, we know that, right? It's not our problem to solve. That's not something that we created. But I think it it it means that we have to be very intentional and very responsible about how we are using this and why we are using this because we're not paying for it right now, but everybody collectively is paying for that, right? Um, there are concerns about land use and water use. And I think that we need to make sure that we are again using the system responsibly so that we put the least amount of pressure on the environment and on our consumers and our community going forward. Um, and again, I think the the administration for for walking this through with us. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. Well, um
100the motion is on the table to Oh, Don. >> Did you want to say something? Don, >> I was just thinking that >> Oh, I was thinking that while it is important, the district kind of focuses on educating teachers and leaders within the district about the use of AI. I don't think it's ethically conscious. And while it is useful for students and for educators to use to create these lesson plans, I don't think it's a that people are considering right now that future students will have to pay for as they are if they are educated by by AI. The environmental consequences are something that they will have to face in the future. So I think it is important that the district consider the integrity of going through with this and how AI does affect the
101environment and people across the world. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. >> We can take the roll call. Miss Kirk, >> yes. >> Miss Khan, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> no. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> President Owens, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Okay. The next item on our agenda is work session resolutions. Our item this evening, resolution authorizing the naming of the new Elgen Middle School to Legacy Middle School. Brian Lindholm, chief of staff, will respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends the board of education adopt the resolution authorizing the naming of the new Elgen Middle School to Legacy Middle School. So, Mr. Lynholm, I know that you presented the um the the naming of the of Legacy Middle School
102in the presentation previously this evening. Did you have anything else that you wanted to add to this resolution or I can just open it up to questions? >> Uh yeah, I don't think I really have any results. >> Does anyone have any questions directed to Mr. Lynholm on the resolution? Kate, >> I don't know if I have a question so much as a a statement. Um, one is like thank you to our community for coming up with such thoughtful just thoughtful options, right? Everyone seemed to have really good reasons. I really enjoyed um the young students who are really trying to get us to go with um Enrique Ferme. Um that was that's really great to see. Um of course I really like the RBG. Um all of those are really great. Um, and when
103I first saw that you were going to do Legacy, I was actually taken aback because I was I was looking forward to naming it after a person, one of the the option names. But as I went back and read more of it and realized that this would actually be a way to honor multiple people within U46, um, I was very excited about that. Um, I've had uh people from the Ellis community and the Abbott community reach out that they don't want those names to be lost. So I'm appreciative of the fact that we're going to be able to put those in legacy plus the number of the folks some who have passed away recently in the last three four years who all deserve to have their legacy um noted. So I just want to make
104sure that we um keep moving forward with the process to name the library after one of them, to name the gym after one of them, the auditorium after another. So um yeah, you converge me. I'm on board now. >> Great. Thank you. anyone else too? >> And I guess I felt felt the same way initially because I thought that's an interesting name, but then I read more about it and thought about it and realized we could, as as Kate said, we could really honor more people. And I know one of my favorite things when I visit Elgen High School is visiting their is it the Hall of Fame that they have and you can see all of their great graduates and and what they've done. And I think that's that's inspiring for the kids. So
105this is this should be great. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? done. >> So, yeah, I I agree with both Miss Thomas and Miss Kerr. It was really it's page 14 of the document you shared where you went into just a list of people either names we've used for buildings, just various people in our district that it's a chance for us to recognize. It was literally that page in the document that sold me on the legacy name. Um, and I do I just want to thank all the community members who submitted. So, >> anyone else? I I I had the exact same reaction to as Kate and I the first time that I heard it, it took me a little bit to to to think through it. Um but I I agree that it's a
106it's a great opportunity to um you know to elevate a lot of with with the district as large as we have and the the the you know amount of time that has gone by, right? um we have so many people that have had an outsized impact on the on the community and on uh you know middle school in Elgen itself um that this is a a great way to be able to honor all of those people and not have to pick and choose right so um I think that this is um a really unique idea to to be able to do that so thank you >> thank you >> next item on the agenda is work session Oh, I'm sorry. >> Do we vote? >> Next meeting we vote. Okay. >> Next meeting we'll vote
107on this. Yeah. >> Uh, next item, work session bids and proposals. >> Our first item, bid, operations, unite U46 Century Oaks Elementary School. Dr. Anne Williams, deputy superintendent of operations and Brian Lindholm, chief of staff, will present the attached proposal summary and will respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends award to the lowest responsible biders regarding the bid packages listed below in the total amount of $22,128,425 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. Going to read all of the bid packages, the contractor and the base bid amount. Bid package 001 USD LLC $647,000. Bid package 002 King County Excavating 2,400,500. Bid package 003, Parkway Forming, $863,600. Bid package 004 Jimmy's Masonry Corporation 3,87,000. Bid package 005 Mckin Steel and Sales Incorporated 1,118,225. Bid package 006 Metal Master Roof Master1,990,000.
108Bid package 0007 Manus General Contracting 2,77,000 and2,77,037 bid package 008 Prime Architectural Metal and Glass Incorporated, $749,000. Bid package 009, Asher Brothers, $210,000. Bid package 010, Diversify, $671,220. Bid package 011, Hargrave Builders Incorporated, 1,628,450. Bid package 012, SJ Carlson Fire Protection, $400,800. Bid package 013, Best Plumbing Incorporated, $918,700. Bid package 014, Commercial Mechanical Incorporated, $3,958,000. Bid package 0155, pending separate award to be determined. Bid package 016, LandWorks Limited, $384,788. and bid package 017 acupaving company $394,15. This expenditure will be charged to the capital projects fund. The cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 through 2026 2027 fiscal years. >> Do board members have any questions? Don, >> so what was bid package 15? Wait, yep. 15. And why is it um pending a separate award? It it was pending a separate award
109because there were additional questions that we had to respond to via agenda. >> Okay. >> And so that will that one will be coming at the next meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Kate. Um I don't really have a question more, just a comment. I was um scrolling through and I was looking at what towns um all of the contractors we chose from and was just super pleased to see a lot of them are from the U46 community and even the ones that aren't are awfully darn close. you know, Shamberg, Itasca. So, they're they're still kind of part of our area. And I just appreciate the fact that we were able to do that. >> And I think it's worth noting that we had 76 bids received. >> Wow. >> So, we
110picked we well I I shouldn't say we picked the low bidder, the low responsible bidder ended up being those close to us. But out of 76 for this particular >> Yeah. But it it says a lot for Elgen and for U46 that we had so many people who were local who wanted to bid. Even some of the ones that we said no to still were very local and and I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> Several of the selected biders are also working on some of our current projects and we've been very happy with them. So, we were glad to see them backing on this. >> Anyone else? Okay. Next item. >> Our next item is a bid operationsite U46 Glumbrook Elementary School. Dr. Williams and Brian Lindholm remain at the DEIS uh to present
111the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends award to the lowest responsible biders regarding the bid packages listed below in the total amount of 17,610,53 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. Again, I'm going to read all of the bid packages into record. Bid package 001 USD LLC $429,000. Bid package 002 Allesio and Suns Company 1,883,380. Bid package 003 Builder Concrete Incorporated $463,375. Bid package 004 J and E Duff incororated 2,326,000. Bid package 005 Steel Management Incorporated $569,000. Bid package 006, Metalmaster Roofmaster Incorporated, $727,490. Bid package 007 Joseph Construction Company1,752,000. Bid package 008 3F Corporation $898,000. Bid package 009 Costco Construction Incorporated $267,250. Bid package 010 TSI commercial floor covering incorporated 728,453. Bid package 011 Hargrave Builders Incorporated 1,825,450. Bid package 012 Nelson Fire Protection
112Incorporated $334,297. Bid package 013 Crier and Olsen Mechanical Incorporated 1,170,000. Bid package 014 FE Moran Incorporated 3,692,68. Bid package 015 pending separate award to be determined. Bid package 016, Twin Oaks Landscaping Incorporated, $391,500. Bid package 017 Shadwick contracting $152,700. This expenditure will be charged to the capital fund capital projects fund. The cost is incl is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 through 2026 2027 fiscal years. >> Do board members have any questions? >> Thank you. Our next item, bid plant operations, snow removal services. Ashley McKini, assistant director of plant operations and Nick Corin, coordinator of grounds, will present the attached proposal summary and will respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends award to the lowest responsible bidder, TNT Landscape Construction Incorporated, in the amount of $67,55 and requests authorization for
113district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the operations fund. The cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. >> Do board members have any questions? Sue, >> so you mentioned that you divide the the district into five regions and you got bids for three of them. Why what why not the other two? Do you have any idea? >> Uh so when we talked to the contractors that had bid part of the reasoning Bartland and South Elgen are huge schools. >> Okay. >> So they present their own issues with staffing on their end. So, putting the regions into bigger regions actually complicated things a little bit. So, we when we went back out to rebid, we um are shortening those regions up. >> Okay. So, there'll be
114more than five then there'll be >> hopefully. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Thank you. Thank you. Our next item, proposal plan operations, emergency repair educational services center sprinkler system. Joining Ashley McCainy is Josh Bu coordinator of maintenance and operations to present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the proposal from Cintus Corporation in the amount of $97,575.70 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure was charged to the operations fund. The cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. >> Do board members have any questions? >> Thank you. Next, proposal curriculum and instruction classroom libraries. Dr. Latrice Satwite, assistant superintendent of equity and innovation, and Jacqueline Johnson, coordinator of literacy and
115libraries, will present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the proposal from Scholastic in the amount of $182,929.95 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. The cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. Do board members have any questions? >> Thank you. >> Hey, that is the last item on our agenda. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. Roll call, please. >> Miss Kerr, >> yes. >> Miss Khan, >> yes. >> Miss Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Nolan, >> yes. >> Miss Schwarz, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> President Owens, >> yes. >> We are adjourned at 8:48 p.m. >> Thank you
116everyone. >> Miss, you want this printed out? >> Well, I offered it to you. >> I know. Okay. [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music]