Board Meeting - June 16, 2025

001Welcome everyone. I'm going to resume the June 16th, 2025 board of education meeting. If I could have everybody stand as they are able for the pledge of allegiance and then please remain standing for a moment of silence. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We'd like to take a moment of silence for a U46 employee who recently passed away. Brian Lammansky joined U46 in 2024 as a special education administrator for the South Elgen network. In December, he became the assistant director of specialized student services. Ryan was an advocate for special education and he committed to serving children and families with kindness. He was also known as a talented and generous mentor to

002those entering the special education field. Colleagues say he was always he always greeted them with a smile and note how often he would say that he was so proud to be working for U46. Ryan passed away on June 6th. His survivors include his nine-year-old twins, Noah and Amelia. A visitation and funeral service was held on June 13th at the Mizo Funeral Home in Hoffman Estates. We will keep Brian's family and friends in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you everyone. Okay, the first item on our agenda this evening is the strategic plan report. Dr. Johnson. Thank you, President Owens. Our first strategic plan report is a facility planning update. Brian Lindholm, chief of staff, and Dr. Anne Williams, deputy superintendent of operations, will present to the board of education, an update on facility planning. Good evening,

003and thank you for another opportunity to provide the board of education with an update on our facilities work. This month's facilities update highlights continued momentum across both of our constru both both our construction and design projects as we align capital investments with the long-term vision of Unite U46. We also have some great video footage to bring the work to life. I'll begin by walking through key construction updates and then Mr. Lindholm will provide an overview of our current design work specifically at Lincoln Park at Illinois Park, I'm sorry. which is being converted back to an elementary school to serve students on the west side of Elgen and the new elementary school planned near the river on the east side of Elgen. Next slide, please. Let's start with Hawk Hollow Middle School. The transformation of the

004new Hawk Hollow Middle School continues to make impressive prog progress in all key areas. At the exterior, the newly completed concrete plaza now creates a welcoming and accessible approach to the secured main entrance. Inside the building, the kitchen and captorium have advanced significantly since our last visit. Kitchen in kitchen equipment installation is well underway, setting the stage for full functionality. The cafeterium itself has received major improvements, including new flooring, ceiling finishes, and updated stage lighting and fixtures, all of which contribute to a vibrant and flexible space for both dining and performances. Near the learning stair, the installation of glass panels is underway, visual visually connecting that area with the culinary arts lab located below. The space is quickly transforming into a state-of-the-art hands-on learning environment that will offer students real life culinary experience. Next slide,

005please. At the student entrance near the bandwi, significant progress has been made. The entrance now has been fully fame fully framed for student arrival and dismissal. This design prioritizes both function and safety, supporting the day-to-day experience of students entering and ex exiting the building from this active area on the campus. Meanwhile, the gymnasium is coming to life and is nearly game ready. Bleacher installation is underway and the seating proudly features a bold Hawk Hollow emblem, a point of pride for the school community. This next slide, please. This collage of pictures captures a few of the many exciting updates happening throughout the new building. If you look to your far right, you will see the large overhead door that opens up the library into the open area by the learning stair and by the cafeterium which

006you can see towards the middle of the slide. And then on the far left hand of the slide, you can see the lockers are receiving more new paint, the existing lockers and again the learning stair glass is being installed. We go to the next slide. We'll give you an update on Kenyon Woods Middle School. [Music] Um this clip was a time-lapse video footage um created by our in-house staff. They do an extraordinary job of reflecting how the building is over unfolding over time. If we go to the next slide on Kenyon Woods, we have another video drone footage capturing just a week or two ago of what was a particularly busy day at Kenyon Woods Middle School. [Music] Overall at Kenyan Woods, we estimate we are about 25% complete with the planned scope of work

007for this summer. While we have experienced approximately 5 days of weather related delays, primarily due to rain, the team continues to push forward aggressively and efficiently to keep the project on schedule. And I think that day that we saw there, uh, they said they had about 60 trades people, uh, on site that day and they worked till almost 9:00 that night. So, it was a really busy day. So, we go on to the next slide. Next up, we have Kimble Middle School. One of our most complex and challenging projects, primarily because it spans two years and will be completed with students on site. the entire time. Um, this slide provides a snapshot of two critical phases of the project. On the left you can on the far left you can see what used to be

008the music and orchestra wing which has been completely gutted and then on the right and in the middle you can see the part of the work associated with the storm trap. And if you um go to the next slide provides more detail on um the storm trap system. The storm trap is a below ground storm water management solution that's engineered to capture and detain rainwater runoff efficiently. It reduces the risk of flooding, helping protect nearby infrastructure and aligns with our district's long-term sustainability and resilience plans. So, as you can see here on the right, the trucks are bringing in the storm trap system piece by piece. And then the two middle photos, you can see that system being installed. And as it stands today, that system cannot be seen because it is covered with soil.

009Um, so that was um it was good to see that as part of the drone footage because that was a a point in time, I think it was over two days maybe um where they installed that. And then on the left hand side, you can see the installation of windows in what was a brick wall. So, we're bringing in more light into the existing building. This is the footage that shows the Oh, well, thanks, Brian. Here you'll see the footage that shows the installation. Um if you go to the next slide on your right, if you look at the right side of the slide, you'll see the actual storm trap being installed over um that short time period. [Music] So with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Lindholm who will provide an update on

010some of the projects that remain in the design phase. Thank you, Dr. Williams. Uh, next slide, please. So, the first update is on the conversion of Illinois Park from an early childhood center to a K5 elementary school uh, in time for the 2627 school year. Uh, as you recall, the Unite U46 recommendations called for relocating our early childhood classrooms from this building uh, to our neighborhood elementary schools. So, as we've shared, Illinois Park is actually one of our newer buildings. It was built in 1999 and it originally opened as an elementary school in U46. The location has always been challenging um as it faces the busy intersection at Wing Street and Mlan Boulevard. Parent pickup and drop off have been particularly challenging as cars sometimes back up onto these busy roads um when they're when

011they're uh u bringing their kids to school or picking them up from school. However, the building itself is in good shape. It sits on almost 8 acres. So, it is a building that we are planning to use as an elementary school to help serve the west side of Elgen. DA architects have been assigned to this project and they're working on a plan to start construction in the spring and have the work completed prior to the start of the 2627 school year uh while students will be able to remain in the building next spring. Uh here you see a draft conceptual site plan that shows new driveways and dropoff areas as well as a small addition on the east side for a new multi-purpose room that will be more suitable for an elementary building. We have

012a meeting with the city of Elgen planning and development team actually tomorrow uh to share some of our preliminary plans and to confirm uh the requirements. And we've also reached out to the Garden Quarter Homeowners Association about possibly establishing an easement to allow pedestrian and emergency vehicle access to the site from the northeast. Uh one of the interesting things is the the immediate area there would be uh around 100 students who would be potential walkers, but we need to make sure they have a way to actually walk to school without being on those busy roads. Uh next slide then is a conceptual rendering of the new multi-purpose room at Illinois Park. uh as viewed from the northeast. Uh it gives us a clear sense of how this flexible open space would serve a variety of

013student and community needs from physical activities to performances, assemblies, large even large group instruction. Uh the design reflects our commitment to creating multifunctional spaces that support both academic and enrichment programming while also maximizing the footprint of the building. Next slide. Uh so the next update is on the new elementary school in Elgen to be located at the former David C. Cook site on North Grove Avenue in Elgen. Um which we view as an exciting addition to our long range facilities plan. DLA architects and ICI have been assigned to this project and we're really excited about some of the early design concepts. Uh as a reminder, the district did purchase this property last year, but we are currently leasing it back to David C. hook as they work to move to their new location on Randall

014Road. Uh in fact, we recently walked the site with their team to confirm uh moveout details. Uh and their move is scheduled for mid to late July to completely vacate the building. The plans that you see here uh call for a building footprint of approximately 86,000 square ft thoughtfully designed to meet both current and future enrollment needs uh based on the newly defined uh attendance boundaries. The design also shows a strong commitment to sustainability with plans to incorporate solar energy and a geothermal system, both of which align with our district's environmental goals and long-term cost savings. Uh we are also working closely with the design team to preserve as many of the trees as possible, maintaining the natural character of the site and creating a welcoming environment for our students. We've had great early conversations

015with the Northeast Neighborhood Association of Elgen or Nenina. Uh at our last meeting, they expressed appreciation for the thoughtful site design and for our responsiveness to some of their early questions. Uh and we certainly plan to continue to work closely with them as well as other um uh interested community members as we develop our construction plans. We also plan to discuss this project with the city of Elgen tomorrow uh to confirm zoning and permitting requirements um help us develop a more detailed project schedule including the demolition of this building which will be um pretty substantial undertaking. Next slide. Uh this is a a view of the proposed cafeterium space in this new building uh from the corridor on the second floor looking west. Um it's a great example of the beautiful views that we'll be

016able to incorporate in the school given its unique location and vantage point. Uh it might be hard to see on the screen here, but if you look very closely, there's even a small peak of the Fox River uh that comes through um which would be visible from over the top of some of these some of these trees. So, um, we continue to to to view this as as a really neat place, uh, to build a U46 school. And I think that concludes tonight's update. Uh, next month we will share more detailed updates on Century Oaks and Glenbrook as there's also a lot of great work being done on those projects. Um, but are there any questions at this time? Thank you for the update and the presentation. Do board members have any questions, Sue? Thank

017you for the update. This is so exciting. I can't wait to see them all. Um, just one quick question. You mentioned we'd been delayed a little bit by rain. Have we had any issues with supply chain problems that have delayed things at all? We have not had any issues with supply chain date. Good. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Just one quick question. the um the storm track at that was installed at Kimble. I know that the topic of storm water came up with the new middle school or the yeah the new middle school um site at Rorson. Are they installing something similar to that or we will have detention? We will have a detention pond. Yes. Yep. I'm I'm seeing the nodding. Yes. Yep. Yes, we will have we will have

018a detention pond there. And we did the same type of surveys to determine what was needed there. I don't believe we will have a storm trap. Storm trap size. Is it the same size? Is it as big as the one at Kimble? It's a good question. It's very large. Okay. Okay. I can have that to you next time. We'll bring that back for you at our next update. How's that? That's awesome. Thank you. Appreciate it, Kate. So, and maybe maybe we got a memo somewhere about all this. But my question is, do we is the storm trap, is that what it's called? Storm trap just to like help the water dissipate into the ground more safely, more slowly, or will we actually be trying to use that like as gray water to for landscaping or

019things like that? Question. I believe that that is more about dissipation of the water so that it does not interfere with the homes around it or our property. Is she nodding behind me? She's nodding emphatically. So that works. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And our second strategic plan report this evening is the 2024 2025 instructional priorities update. Lola Mtorvich, deputy superintendent of instruction. Dr. Annette Acavo, assistant superintendent of schools. Dr. Latrice Statter, assistant superintendent of equity and innovation. And Brian Tennyson, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, will provide the board of education an update on the 2024 2025 instructional priorities. Good evening, members of the board of education. I'm pleased to share our end ofear instructional priorities update. This reflects the

020progress we've made in alignment with our strategic plan and district goals, particularly around literacy, numeracy, and conditions for learning. Next slide, please. Are we driving? Uh, next slide. Our instructional work continues to be anchored in three priorities. Growing student achievement in literacy and numeracy and ensuring that every school environment supports belonging, wellness, and readiness for the future. This slide marks a pivotal shift in our instructional approach. Our work this year has focused on operationalizing this instructional clarity framework, not as theory, but as a systemwide standard for instructional planning, delivery, and assessment. And through our newly adopted strategic plan, we've made each component explicit. What students should experience, what teachers should design, and how leaders support coherence. This framework is now guiding how we define success and how we get there. Clarity and expectations and learning

021targets in tasks and in feedback. And so we distinguish between the ends that we're working toward, so our summitive measures that you see here, and the means, which are our strategies and daily practices. You'll see how we monitor both using data and feedback loops to ensure continuous improvement in instruction and student outcomes. To get there, we monitor progress using formative data. All everything that you see listed here, and we implement key strategies aligned to our goals. These practices are designed to build instructional coherence and accelerate learning preK through 12 plus. When we first identified our instructional priorities, we were building coherence without the benefit of a formal strategic plan. And even so, we stayed focused on what mattered most, academic achievement, well-being, and student voice. And so now, with a clearly defi clearly articulated strategic

022plan in place, these priorities are no longer standalone. They are embedded within defined goals, signature strategies, and progress measures. The work we've been doing around curriculum, professional learning, and assessment is not ending. It's evolving and it transitions seamlessly into the next phase of our strategic implementation. The overall data you see here is um from this year's rigor appraisals. These classroom walkthroughs conducted three times per year give us a consistent systemwide lens into the quality and fidelity of instructional practices. What's encouraging is that we see we continue to see growth not just in the presence of instructional strategies but in their depth and alignment with the instructional clarity framework. This data helps guide feedback for teachers, inform professional learning, and reinforces our collective vision of high-quality instruction. At this point, I'll hand it over to Brian

023Tennyson, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning to discuss our numerousy data. All right, thank you, Lola, and good evening. As we discuss our numeracy priorities, this slide outlines the core strategies, actions we set out to accomplish in the 2024 2025 school year. You'll notice that we've colorcoded each item to reflect its current status. Green indicates actions that are complete and fully implemented. Yellow shows those still in progress and orange highlights emerging priorities that need continued attention moving forward. This framework allows us to take a disciplined transparent approach to implementation recognizing our progress while staying focused on where we need to build capacity next. This table shows how student work in math classrooms is aligning to levels of cognitive demand across the taxonomy, ranging from basic recall to higher order application. We're using this lens to

024calibrate expectations and drive deeper into instructional planning and math. While we have been successful in shifting from retrieval to comprehension, we still are not seeing student work at the level that we know standards are requiring, which include more analysis and knowledge utilization. Here you can see trends in standardsbased classroom evidence, specifically in math classrooms. We are seeing more evidence of math lessons intentionally addressing the aspects of rigor called for by the standard, but this is not consistent. The data here describes that while we may be seeing lessons that teach to the level of the rigor required by the standard, the level of student work is still not at the appropriate taxonomy level. This data reflects observations from math classrooms where we examined whether the task required students to engage with partners or groups in order

025to achieve the learning target. As we continue to emphasize interdependent learning structures and foster environments for rich academic discourse, it's clear that meaningful collaboration depends on the rigor of the task itself. Tasks must live at higher levels of the taxonomy, those that promote debate, critical thinking, and problem solving. While we're encouraged by growing use of collaborative structures, this data signals the need for continued support in instructional planning to ensure that students student tasks consistently reflect the depth and complexity required for authentic shared learning. This focuses on whether teachers are consistently monitoring student learning during instruction and providing actionable feedback in the moment. This practice is essential for helping students course correct, reflect on their understanding and move towards mastery. However, the data shows that we are not yet seeing the level of growth we need

026in this area. This tells us that while the importance of feedback is understood, we still need to strengthen teacher support in making it routine, timely, and in with instructionally impactful uh comments. Moving forward, we'll focus on building teacher capacity to embed formative feedback more intentionally into the flow of instruction. This slide shows I ready math placement data from both the winter and spring administrations, giving us a snapshot of where students are performing in relation to grade level expectations. While we did see some positive moving move movement in overall achievement, the data makes it clear that students who are furthest from grade level remain the hardest to move. This reinforces the need for intensified intervention systems and deeper alignment between core instruction and targeted supports. Our effort must continue to focus on ensuring highquality classroom instruction

027with just in time feedback while also closing these persistent gaps with timely data-informed strategies that meet students where they are and move them forward. This slide compares our students performance by domain to national norms. As you can see, we are performing below national averages in every area. This highlights a critical need to strengthen tier one instruction and ensure students are engaging with grade level content every day. It also underscores the importance of coherent curricular resources, aligned assessments, and instructional planning that targets conceptual understanding across all domains, not just procedural fluency. Addressing this gap will require sustained systemwide focus in the year ahead. Here you see preliminary ACT results. Our district average in math is 17. Our district average in science is a 17.6 and our district average in STEM is 17.5. Because ACT is a

028new test and we do not have comparison data from last year. This slide shows how many students met ACT college readiness benchmarks in math, science, and STEM, which is a combination of math and science. The benchmark score in math is 22 and in science is a 23. According to their research, students who obtain these benchmark scores have a 75% chance or higher of earning a C or better in a firstear college course in the corresponding area. Based on this data and in alignment with our new strategic plan, our team will continue to ensure a focus on numerousy. Looking ahead, our focus will continue to be on deepening implementation with fidelity through classroom visits, collaborative data cycles, and the selection of a new elementary math resource. We'll continue embedding mathematical practices into professional learning and strengthen

029formative assessment routines to ensure every student is working toward grade level expectations with the right supports in place. I will now hand it over to my colleague Dr. Latrice Satwite, assistant superintendent of equity and innovation to review our literacy data. Thank you Mr. Tennyson. Good evening members of the board of education. As we discuss our literacy priority, this slide outlines the key strategies and actions implemented this year. Like the other priority areas, items are color-coded to show what's been completed, what's in progress, and what's emerging. We've made strong strides in resource implementation and assessment creation, but we know but we know uh continue but we know continued work is needed to ensure daily engagement with complex text consistent with the formative feedback across classrooms and ensuring that our curriculum and resources are implemented with fidelity.

030This table shows the taxonomy level of student work observed in literacy classrooms. Similar to math, we see the majority of evidence landing in comprehension with fewer examples of students thinking that reaches analysis or knowledge utilization. We're working to build teacher capacity to consistently design tasks that demand deeper engagement with text. This slide captures whether classroom tasks are focused on engaging students in reading, writing, or speaking about content specific grade level text. These are essential components of disciplinary literacy and foundational to college and career readiness. The data shows that while we're making progress in some areas, the integration of rich textbased tasks across all content areas remains inconsistent. Continued support is needed to ensure all students are regularly interacting with complex text through discussion and written analysis. This slide looks at whether literacy tasks require students

031to engage with peers to achieve the learning outcome. The data shows variability and how often collaborative structures are used meaningfully. As with math, we're continuing to support teachers in designing interdependent tasks that promote academic discourse and shared responsibility for learning. Here we're looking at whether teachers are actively monitoring student learning and providing actionable feedback during literacy instruction. Like in math, the data shows we have work to do in this area. We will continue to support teachers in embedding daily formative assessment that leads to real time instructional adjustments. This slide shows the shift in literacy achievement levels from the winter to the spring I Ready administrations. While we're seeing some positive movement in the number of students reaching or approaching grade level benchmarks, a significant portion remain below grade level. This reinforces the importance of using

032data to inform small group instruction, target interventions, and ensure that core instruction is both rigorous and responsive to student needs. This chart compares our students reading level, grade level performance against national norms. Our results are below national averages in this air in each area. Vocabulary and comprehension are particularly urgent areas for focus as we refine curriculum, scaffold academic language, and engage students in more complex grade level texts. Here you see preliminary ACT results in English and reading. Our district average in English is a 15.6. Our district average in reading is a 17.3. and our district average in English language arts which is a combination of English and reading is a 17.1. Because ACT is a new test, we do not have comparison data from last year. This slide shows how many students met ACT college

033readiness benchmarks in English, reading, and ELA, which is a combination of English and reading. The benchmark score in English is 18 and in reading is a 22. According to the research, students who obtain these benchmark scores have a 75% chance or higher of earning a C or better in a firstear college course in the corresponding area. We aim to move more students towards this level through aligned instruction, daily engagement with complex grade level text, regular tasks that require writing, and stronger feedback systems. As we move forward, we've dis we're focused on full implementation of our updated K to2 literacy curriculum, including kindergarten. Our next steps include strengthening teacher use of data, expanding learning labs, and supporting tier 2 and three interventions. We expect to see daily engagement with complex tech text, intentional use of academic

034vocabulary, and consistent opportunities for students to write across content areas. I will now hand it off to Dr. Annette Acabedo, assistant superintendent of schools to discuss the final priority area, conditions for learning. Thank you, Dr. Satarite, and good evening board members. Uh the strategies and actions that we enacted this year to improve overall school conditions were robust and while our team has worked diligently to establish common practices to support student success, engage teams in regular review of data to inform next steps and provide ongoing aligned professional learning and support. We still have more work to do to create, implement, and evaluate structure for belonging and social emotional learning. We will now review some of the progress monitoring data attached to these actions. This slide shows student responses to the annual Panorama survey, specifically focused on

035their sense of belonging. Students in grades 5 through 12 complete the survey each year. While we see that 46% of students report feeling connected to their school community, the data indicates that we still have work to do, especially in ensuring that all students across all grade levels and demographics feel seen, heard, and supported every day. This slide shows the percentage of juniors who have completed a college advising meeting with a parent or guardian and their counselor. This was a new expectation for the 24-25 school year. This key metric is a is a part of our post-secary and career expectations or pace framework and in alignment with goal four of our strategic plan ensuring that each student begins their post-secary planning earlier. This slide shows the percentage of seniors who completed a post-secary plan. This key

036metric is also part of our post-secary and career expectations or PACE framework and ensures that each student leaves you 46 with a clear actionable plan for what comes next, college, career or other opportunities. These next two slides show the indicators and growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year from our three annual conditions walks which capture observable classroom and schoolwide practices. They reflect what administrators saw firsthand during structured walkthroughs. The progress across these indicators is encouraging, but the variation and implementation makes one thing clear. The conditions for learning cannot be separated from what is happening in classrooms. Culture, climate, and instructional quality are deeply interconnected and must be addressed together to support student success. This slide focuses on schoolwide indicators, observable observable practices that are expected to be evident throughout

037the entire building, not just in individual classrooms. While we saw progress in some areas, this data highlights the need for continued focus on consistency. These practices shape the overall climate and predict predictability of the school environment and are essential for creating conditions where both students and staff can thrive. This sidebyside comparison includes metrics such as chronic absenteeism, bullying referrals, students with one or more suspensions, and freshmen on track across two years. This data shows a decrease in chronic absenteeism and bullying referrals as well as an increase in freshmen on track which reflects progress in system visibility and support structures. We do see an increase in the number of students suspended more than one time which indicates that we have to work to address the root cause of some of the behaviors that result in an

038out of school suspension. This slide presents results from the Gallup Q12 employee engagement survey, which measures how staff perceive their workplace environment and connection to their work. While we've seen slight increases in some areas, overall engagement levels have remained relatively flat, and our administrators have spent time with their teams and staff reviewing these results to reflect on what we can on what we can do to improve. This slide compares engagement scores from this year to last year. These results are a reminder that just as we attend to student conditions for learning, we must also be intentional about the conditions for adult learning and leadership. Going forward, we will continue to partner with staff to identify what drives engagement at the school level and build systems that support a positive, empowered work culture across the district.

039In alignment with our new strategic plan, we will continue our efforts to create positive conditions in all of our schools that prepare students for their futures. Our next steps include strengthening SEAL systems, elevating student voice, and deepening post-secary planning. We'll support every school in building principal student advisory structures, use data to guide adult practices, and expand real world college and career experiences to ensure all students feel connected and prepared. Thank you for your time and continued partnership. Our progress this year reflects the hard work of our educators, leaders, and students, and the clarity we now have through our strategic plan. We welcome any questions or feedback you may have. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation and the the the the large amount of detail and information that you have provided for us. Do board

040members have questions, Don? So, thank you. I'm going to start with saying how impressed I am by how quickly you got through 38 slides. Um, so that's that's that's truly impressive. Um, so my first question I'm going to start with is when I'm looking at I'm going to find the slide number. So it's slide four and it's the summitive measures we're using for defining our ends. In the monitoring for both numeracy and literacy, we are looking at meeting or exceeding AR. We don't have those results and I I know that there's delays. Um, so my question since we don't have that information at this time and I apologize. So slide 23 is the I Ready literacy data. Is there which of the green sections would be a comparative for meet or exceed when we talk

041about I would that be like the green with the black bars? Is that all of the green? Is there a way to make a comparison? So on rudimentary analysis at this point and understanding that ISB will is in serious discussion around what progress means uh in order to capture it more fully. We anticipate on like our kind of basic analysis that uh you could probably draw some sort of comparison between all of the green. Um, so and possibly some yellow depending on uh the situation at specific schools, but we're thinking at least the green. So like if I'm looking at literacy for example, we are looking at 37% of our students fall within the green on the information we were given in um with our goal being 43%. That's so that would be a very

042rough comparison at this time. Yeah, very rough because we don't we don't know what the benchmarks are going to be either because ISV is also changing the benchmarks. So, all that we know at this time is that um throughout this summer they're going to be going um through a process to um determine what the benchmarks will be for proficiency in Illinois and we should be getting that data sometime before October. And that's about all that we know at this time. Thank you. I mean, we we have the same questions you do and so we're trying to figure it out. Well, and that's and because of that, we have to wait in order to truly understand what the relationship between I Ready is to the data. That's fair. Thank you. Did you have additional questions or

043do you want me to Someone else wanted to Oh, that's Sue. So, I'll go in. Um it looks like just looking at the the the I Ready charts that our students are having more difficulty in reading and in math. Is that related to the fact that we have so many dual language students? Do you think I think it I think it depends, right? And so um I Ready is given kindergarten through 8th grade. And so it's really where all of our students are. I don't know because our language allocation if we go through a model from kindergarten through you know high school um but we would expect that to see our students make progress over time and we would expect to see more students at or above grade level you know if we do all

044of the things that we're we say we're doing and implementing curriculum with fidelity and giving formative feedback throughout the lesson and do you know um providing these rich instructional experiences at appropriate taxonomy levels all in alignment with all the standards and all of the things we would expect to see um higher achievement levels. I don't know that we can attribute the lower um literacy scores to students in dual language just because we have like the way our system is set up. It's set up to promote both. Exactly. Unless Yeah. Um I would also say that um because it's bi literacy we do understand that the progress of um competency in both languages actually grows at different rates and ultimately then comes together ideally around 8th grade. So, okay. And I guess my second question, then

045I'll let Don jump back in. Looking at the math performance, you emphasize that we should be growing. Kids should be improving, but it seems like they hit seventh and eighth grade in math and and things go south. I'm not sure what's happening, but Right. Well, it's a national problem and and we understand this. there something seems to uh have broken uh during COVID and I'm not uh blaming COVID but math seems to have been the hardest hit in terms of the um measurements uh that is tested on the uh state assessments um and so I think uh we are addressing that in a number of ways uh coming up because we will have new resource for elementary coming up and then we've readressed you know we've just implemented new um uh curriculum uh and uh

046tests in you know for middle school and high school this year. Um and so we need a couple of years for that to also then um kind of get everybody ready you know used to the new assessments because they're more aligned now. Thank you Don. So um we will jump to the ACT. So, I understand that it is a new test and I know that it's actually very different from the SAT. The way the questions are asked and material, not the material that's covered, but the way it's covered is very different. So, I know that we don't have um benchmark benchmarks yeartoear at this point, but for example, slide 16 that kind of shows um the percent of our students that are meeting the readiness benchmark. Do we have a feel for how those percentiles

047compare to the percentile of students that were hitting it as far as an SAT exam? Uh, it's somewhat in line. Okay. Um, yeah. So, I I don't want to out misspeak, but it's like I know that it's it's it's in line. I can get you the exact diff, you know, comparative. Um, uh, I was just curious if it was in line. No, it is for some reason. Um, it it it seems to be in line. Yeah. Thank you, Ja. So my questions um have more to do like with the surveys, sense of belonging and then the um juniors and seniors uh post-secondary plan and advising. So I'll start with slide 29 for the sense of belonging. It looks like the there's a decreasing trend. So going from you know 53% to 46%. And you mentioned

048that um 46 46% of students report feeling connected to their school community. Does the survey indicate any specific categories or areas that are um where they're might be causing this trending decrease? Because I'm assuming there's more than one question on the survey, right? So do you know if there's certain areas that's contributing to that? Yeah. So, so to your point, there are multiple questions that make up, but off the top of my head, I don't I can't recall any specific area. The other the one thing I do want to mention is that um uh I believe it was this year was the first year we used to have fourth through 12th graders take the survey and now it's fifth through 12th graders. So, part of that we also believe because you know when students are

049younger they're they feel more a part of their building. We think we're attributing a part of that decrease in that fourth grade is not taking the survey anymore. But that still tells us, right, that we have work to do with with the rest of our students with their sense of belonging. I could get you a more detailed analysis of that breakdown in a in a follow-up, but I don't have it off the top of my head. One of the other um wonderings or points of inquiry with this came from the student uh focus groups as well and the superintendent student advisory group uh both high school and and middle school. As we were strategic planning this year, we presented lots of data as the board is aware. One of the questions that the students were

050also wondering is that because we spend so much more time really talking about what this means and we continue to build this out with clearer understanding and shared understanding about what connectivity or belonging means in schools. One of the questions that the students even brought up is that is it possible that this has shifted and again just a question because over time now five years later do we have a better understanding of what we're actually striving for? And so therefore the students as they respond to the question are responding more in alignment and clearly identifying these things in their minds are lacking or not here to help me feel connected and to have that sense of belonging. So we had we had a great conversation about that. I don't know that I have data to

051go back to and say that's definitively what's happening. But I think it was really interesting to hear our students pose those questions as well about about this type of survey. No, thank you for sharing that. The more that they're aware of what that definition is and they can more accurately reflect it, I think in their answers. We recent I was I I recently uh was in a meeting around this uh with Panorama and um we were also just you know having a conversation a discussion around exactly that like if students have a really clear understanding of the meaning of some of these questions especially at the lower grade levels and how can we ensure that that is happening. Um so we we did we we had a really good conversation about just having to look

052at this data a little bit right more um um deeply more critically and um and and really see the level of understanding with the students as well. I think the the one more thing I just wanted to add is I think for us too it goes beyond just that surface level what we think belonging looks like, right? Do I like coming to school? Do people treat me well? Do I feel like I have a place here? And for us it goes back into those instructional strategies that we use in academic teaming. Really creating opportunities for kids every day to work interdependently on a task that is that is is at a higher level that requires students to talk to each other. Because if I'm processing information with others and if I'm engaging in that learning

053through an interdependent task, that means I have a voice in that work that I can process with somebody that I matter, right? And so like strengthening that as well and and making sure that it's interconnected and it's not just like, oh, how many students are involved in extracurricular activities, right? So like what does it really mean to authentically belong and engage in school, right? Thank you. And then um I have answer for this. So slides 30 and 31. So slide 30 um the advising meeting for juniors. Looks like you have a 70% completion rate by um that was due June 1st. And then in slide 31 so far 42% completion rate for seniors during the post-secary plan which is due towards the end of this month. Do you see a trend towards moving higher but

054closer to that June 30th hopefully? Yeah. Um well yeah so part of it and so we have um some summer hours for counselors to help with what we call summer melt. So we know that students may have a plan or beginnings of a plan but we want to make sure that they actually follow through. So part of the post-secary plan is not just that you have a plan but that you have evidence that you are following through with whatever it is whether it's a job you have to so it's students have to provide like the job offer letter if they're going to go into a career. They have to provide evidence that they've enrolled in coursework at a at a college level. So that's why that number is a little bit lower. Um but I

055mean it's promising. We're really wanting to make sure that kids are instead of just saying, "Yeah, we've got a plan on paper that we have evidence that they're following through on that plan." Thank you. Any other questions, Sue? Um one one thing you didn't mention was AI, and I can see AI being a hindrance or a help for this. I could see it being a a help because teachers could develop more intricate lesson plans, more interesting lesson plans, um focus on certain issues that aren't being, you know, the kids are struggling with. But I can see it being a hindrance because you can bet that kids have it on their phones and they may use that rather than thinking as much as they should. So I think I think that goes along with what we're

056trying to do with AI is trying to get it into the hands of the staff first so that to support their planning their efforts to create more aligned tasks tasks at a higher taxonomy level and we'll give you a little bit of pre of a preview of what that might be able to look like a little later. Um but yeah so before we're you know releasing any AI to students really making sure that our staff have a have a better handle on it first. Okay. Anyone else? So one question I have is going back to the conditions for learning on slide 28 um one of the if I'm if I'm understanding the co the color coding correctly research models for implementing implementing in high school that's uh in pink which means that that is something

057that is merging emerging. So going back then to um the the data about you know on the next slide about the sense of belonging. How are you looking at and maybe this will be a little bit more clear because I'd love to see those those those individual components on that because one of the things that kind of strikes me with with this metric is, you know, it's when we're when we're surveying teachers and their sense of belonging, we've got more or less a static group of people, right? I mean, there's, you know, there's rotation in and out of the the staff, but we've got more or less a static. areas with the students. By the time we get from 2020 to 2026, we've got almost an entirely new cohort of students, right? From what we

058had six years prior, seven years prior. So, how what what are you taking from those individual components then to address into high school? Does that make sense? because I'm I'm assuming that there's there's probably things that are going on right now that might be different than what was going on in 2020, especially post immediately in the the aftermath or or during CO, right? And and how are you thinking about that as we go then into high school? So, like for there for me, it's it's a little it's two two things, right? One are what are the additional support systems that we have in place for students when they're showing that they need that additional support. So when we look at um so we've got at the at the high school level for example we've got

059what's called triangle teams and so it's your dean it's your social worker and your counselor and they have a structure whereby they meet regularly to look at their case load of students they all have the same case load of students so they know the students pretty well and they know the families pretty well. So they're then they look at um we call it bag data, behavior, attendance, and grades. And when they review that data, they use C data rules to identify are there students that we might need to flag to see if additional support is needed? And they route them through the appropriate interventions. Whether that's an academic intervention, whether that's some support with attendance, whether it's um you know, a small group intervention with the social worker, a counselor or something like that, or

060it's setting them up with a mentor, right? There's a variety of supports that we have in place for that. So that's one aspect of it. The other aspect with the systems in high school and why we're kind of not there yet is cuz we wanted to finalize what that portrait of a graduate was. So when we look at that those portrait of a graduate characteristics and competencies, what our next level of work is really thinking about what does that look like prek through 12th grade and how do we integrate that in our in the daily life of a student and how do we support teachers in providing opportunities for students to build those skills. So I think that's kind of the two ways I think about that. I answered. Yeah. Yeah, that's Thank you. Thank

061you for that. And I if I could add L that right now we also have our high school ED working with the administrators on doing some specific professional learning with safe and civil schools to focus on the conditions work with high schools. Like we recognize that that's one area that we really want to target this upcoming year. And so we want to establish more coherence across all of the high schools. And so they are engaging they will be engaging in professional learning with safe and civil schools to identify some practices that support the conditions works and the condition goals of all the schools to establish more coherence across all of them. So I'm really excited about that work that's going to start this year. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Is that it? Okay. Thank you. The

062next item on our agenda is public comment. Dr. Johnson, are there any comments? We do not have any public comments this evening. We will move to other business. Board member and superintendent update if necessary. Anybody have any updates to share? Nope. Uh Dr. Johnson. Uh, no, my I don't have an update, but I do want to say thank you to our our teams in uh working so tirelessly on the two strategic plans that you came forward this evening. Really a great uh alignment between the work that we're doing operationally and facilities wide to be able to support uh the work that we are engaged in with our uh numeracy and our literacy and our conditions. So, so thank you to our collective teams for that work and for bringing forward those those updates. Thank you.

063Okay, the next item is uh the finance committee meeting overview. Yes. So, coming forward, Dr. Anne Williams, deputy superintendent of operations and Dr. Frank Williams, assistant superintendent of finance, will discuss with the board of education the finance committee meeting held prior to the regularly scheduled board meeting. All right, you bet. Absolutely. Good evening. The tentative budget was presented earlier uh with our continued commitment to fiscal equity, strategic alignment with the board's priorities, and thought for thoughtful stewardship of public resources. We discussed an overview of projected revenues and expenditures. Planned investments related to Unite U46. Here are a few of the highlights. The estimated revenue excluding bond proceeds are 820.1 million. State revenue from evidence-based funding model is anticipated to increase by approximately 18 million. the issuance of remaining referendum bonds totaling 57 million along with

064the issuance of 35 million in working cash bonds that are planned for February of 26. Estimated revenues including the bond proceeds total around 9.1 million. From an expenditure perspective, the estimated budget expenditures total $957.9 million. Pursuant to the Unite U46 initiative, this budget includes 126 million for the capital projects, an additional 10 million for preventative maintenance. The total estimated capital expenditures for Unite U46 initiatives are around $136 million. To meet legal requirements and ensure transparency, the following timeline will be followed. On August 9th, the tentative budget will be made available for public inspection and a public notice will be published in a newspaper of general circulation. On September 8th, a public hearing on the tentative budget will be held providing an opportunity for the community members to offer comments or ask questions. And on September

06522nd, the board of education will consider the recommendation to adopt the final budget as required. The tentative budget was on display. Remember we did that back in August was on display for the uh more than 30 days prior to the final action. Throughout the process, the administration will continue to evaluate refine projected revenues and expenditures in alignment with the board's strategic goals and updates will be provided during August and September board meetings. Um before we take questions if there are any, I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the financial services team for their outstanding work in preparing this tenative budget. They've done this with an eye towards equity, clarity, and alignment with our new strategic plan. And I really appreciate their efforts. And it's especially important to note that this work was done

066while simultane while simultaneously preparing to transition to an entirely new financial software system. Managing both the annual budget process and a major systems overhaul is no small feat. Um, but Frank's team, they've done it. um they've taken it in stride and their professionalism has been um remarkable. I also want to take this opportunity to recognize Dr. Frank for his leadership and for supporting the seamless transition with our incoming executive director of finance. She has already begun working alongside Dr. Frank and will join me for future presentations of the budget for next school year. Thank you. Before I ask if there's any question, uh, Sue and and Samine as board as committee chairs, do you have anything to add to the the update? No, I think they covered it. Y any questions? Dr. Frank, thank you.

067Thank you very much. Thank you. And the next item on the agenda is other business community advisory and council CAC update. Um so the special advised student services committee has submitted a report for our review. Um given the timing um they asked to be able to uh submit their report rather than giving us a presentation. Um, this is something that I would like to take a motion to accept. We don't we don't vote to approve the the report, but we vote to accept the report. So, unless there are any questions or any comments about the report that we want to send back to the committee, let me know. Otherwise, I will ask for a motion to accept the report. So moved. Second. I just want to thank the committee for the work they do because

068they looking at the attendance they get at the readings, it's it's really quite impressive and they really try to reach out to people. Yeah. And I think they I I want to thank them for the the the intention behind the the presentations. I know that this is um information that that is really valuable for for parents and community members to to hear and understand. So, appreciate all the time and effort that they put into these presentations. Shout out. And I'll just say this, since the committee chairs aren't here, I'm sure they'll welcome new members to the specialized student services committee of CAC. Um, a number of us were former members of that committee or former chairs or co-chairs. It's a great committee to be a part of. The programming is amazing. And um if you

069are interested, please reach out so that you can be a part of the specialized student services committee of the CAC. One point a majority of the board was a committee member or a a chair of that of that particular committee. Yeah. Thank you, Sh for putting that call out. It's um it's one of those things I think as a as a parent that that was a member and then a co-chair of that committee. The amount of information that I learned that I could apply um with my own student that it was it was absolutely worth every every moment that I spent in that committee. And if I could piggy back piggy back on what you said too, if you think for a moment, your student versus my student are vastly different and we still both

070got the information we needed to be able to move forward. So they need members join. Yeah, that's that's how I became a part of the CAC is the specialized student services committee. So yeah, it's a great committee. We have a motion on the table to accept the minutes or accept the report. Take a roll call. Miss Kirk, yes. Miss Khan, Miss Martin, yes. Miss Nolan, yes. Miss Schwarz, yes. Miss Thomas, yes. President Owens, yes. Motion carried. Hey, the next item on the agenda is consent agenda. Dr. Johnson. Thank you, President Owens. This evening on the consent agenda, we have personnel report and workers compensation cases, minutes of board meeting, April 14, 2025. Resolution authorizing participation in federal and state grant programs. Resolution authorizing the school treasur to make bond and interest payments. Resolution for the

071disposal of surplus personal property. List of authorized depositories. Bid plant operations. Asbestous three-year reinspection and management plan update proposal. Assessment accountability and student success ACT proposal assessment accountability and student success advanced placement exam 9th through 12th grade eligible students. Proposal curriculum and instruction career and technical education e dynamic learning proposal plant operations elevator preventative preventive maintenance inspections repairs and monitoring contract career technical education project lead the way contract curriculum and instruction English language arts curriculum consultant for English as a second language levels one and two contract financial operations support and licensing for workforce software contract Contract financial operations support and licensing for workforce time clocks. Contract information services crowds crowd strike CDWG. Contract operations risk management cyber liability insurance. Contract renewal operations risk management workers compensation insurance. Contract renewal operations risk management property and liability

072insurance. Contract renewal post-secary success in high school dual credit. Contract renewal assessment accountability and student success cognitive abilities test. Contract renewal assessment accountability and student success assessment of performance toward proficiency in languages. Contract renewal assessment accountability and student success PSAT NMSQT 1011 and contract renewal assessment accountability and student success I Ready. 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 stated into the record? So move. Second. Roll call, please. Miss Kerr, yes. Miss Khan, Miss Martin, yes. Miss Nolan, yes. Miss Schwarz, yes. Miss Thomas, yes. President Owens, yes. Motion carried. Next item is discussion action. Dr. Johnson. Our item under discussion action itemized bills for June 16, 2025. Dr. Frank Williams, Assistant Superintendent of Finance, will respond

073to 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 $40,799,73764. May I have a motion to approve the list of bills in the amount of $40,799,73764? So moved. Second. Any discussion or questions? Roll call, please. Miss Kerr, yes. Miss Khan. Miss Martin? Yes. Miss Nolan? Yes. Miss Schwarz? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. President Nolan? Yes. Motion carried. The next item on our agenda is other business. Dr. Johnson. Thank you, President Owens. Uh, this evening, our first item is a chat GPT presentation update. Lola Murvich, deputy superintendent of instruction and Rolik Muhammad, research and project management fellow will present the chat GPT edu update and we'll respond to questions from the board of education. Thank you. Um good evening board members.

074Um and thank you for the opportunity to present tonight. Um we're here today to provide an overview of our proposal to adapt uh adopt Chad GPT edu in U46. We'll walk through how U46 plans to use JHPT edu to empower teachers and staff while ensuring safety alignment with board adopted curriculum standards our and our instructional framework. ChatGpt edu is the enterprisegrade version of chat GPT specifically tailored for education. It runs on J GPT40, the most advanced model for open AI, which can handle text, audio, image, and code, and includes realtime translation and research tools. Some of the features that make this viable for U46 are that our data is not used for training models, admin controls and license management, and that the EGU version will support for thousands licenses for staff who are considered content

075creators such as teachers, coaches, administrators. This will allow them to use AI as a planning assistant, research partner, and support tool. We've also negotiated a discounted rate and included a professional learning plan which I'll touch on shortly. At this point, I will hand it over to Miss Lala Mysorich, deputy superintendent of instruction to share some basic examples of how this technology might be used. All right, so we thought it might be a good idea to give a a general overview and some basic examples of how chat GPT could be used by some of our staff. Um, and so for the first example, something as basic as writing an email. So, we all know that sometimes emails people are busy. They can come across and maybe not um exhibit the tone as it intended or anything

076like that. And so, we wanted to show you an example of how uh in writing an email um chat GPT could help with framing the email with language and making sure that it's appropriate to the intended audience. So, for example, you'll see this first draft um where it was, you know, just a first draft of saying, "Hey, this is your child's teacher. I noticed they're really struggling in my class and they failed to complete assignments. you might want to come in sometime, let me know. So, the prompt and chat GPT that that you enter is um use you copy and paste your original email and you can say write a professional kind email to a parent about their child struggling with an organization in class and offer to partner with them and suggest a meeting.

077So, when we did this and we actually did this so we can give you the exact responses, this is what it came up with. And so you'll notice that with the support of artificial intelligence, we could help you know staff members again very basic in writing emails and supporting that that communication tool to make it sure that the message comes across as intended that it's positive that it's collaborative which is exactly what we want. So that's one example. Another example which is a little bit more um um complex is within chatgptedu. What we're able to do is you can create your own what's called a gpt and within that you can upload specific documents. So, what Rola and I did is and actually Rola started it and I just helped a little bit, but what

078what we did is um created a GPT where we uploaded our curriculum frameworks for grade three. So, all of the curriculum documents that you that you receive when you review curricular proposals, um we uploaded all of them for grade three, which includes the rubrics, the assessments, the list of resources, all the unit frameworks, all of that stuff. And we told within this custom GPT, we said using the documents for unit 2, grade 3, create an interdependent task aligned to the social sciences and language arts standards in the unit. So we had all the materials, you know, just double check everything. Um, and then it it did it for us. And then we did a follow-up prompt that said stated which resources from the unit should I use to support students in their research? So, I'm

079going to click here and it'll show you what the output was. So, again, here's the prompt, here's the follow-up prompt, and here's the interdependent task. So, it talks about the task title, the purpose, the standards alignment. We went back into unit 2 for grade three to double check that these were accurate standards, right? Because any teacher, right, that that's currently a teacher is expected to do this level of planning on an every single day basis. And using a tool like this could really help with navigating that planning and and making it instead of spending so much time searching for the standards and searching for the success criteria and looking at the unit um the learning targets really focusing on what am I going how am I going to get kids to learn this and what

080is the task that I want students to do in my in my classroom that's going to help them engage in academic discourse be at the appropriate level of complexity and then allow me instead of spending all this time planning really thinking about how I'm giving giving kids that in the- moment feedback so that they can continue to learn. So, how and then also thinking about how am I going to monitor instruction while they're doing this work to make sure that they're learning, you know, during that class period and not waiting till the end of the week when I have to give a quiz and then figure out, oh, half of my kids didn't meet the target, right? how can I really focus my energy and efforts in doing that work in the in the day

081during that class period meeting with kids giving that feedback so that we can accelerate that learning process and catch where there's misconceptions earlier so that we can address them. So I'm you have access to this so I'm not going to go over everything but it gives you a very complete task overview. It gives a description. It's completely aligned with what is in that unit of instruction for third grade. It even gives you student roles when they're working in their groups. Um, it outlines what the success criteria is. And then it talks about supports and differentiation. And then it gives you kind of an outline for what this activity could look like in potentially up to like a 75 minute block of time. Um, and then the really cool thing is it it reinforces the use

082of our assessment tools and of the rubrics that that are approved for use in the classroom. So, a lot of times what currently happens is teachers are trying to find these these things to help their planning. They're trying to find what lesson I'm going to, you know, not what I'm going to teach, but what I'm going to have the kids do today. And a lot of times they'll go to sites like teacher pay teacher that may not have appropriately aligned materials to help students. What AI can really help us do is build that level of instructional planning and and uh instructional planning support for our teachers so that we can create better alignment and ultimately engage students in learning at the intended level of rigor and with the appropriate tools and tasks that are already

083included in our board adopted curriculum. So that's just one example that we wanted to show you of like real real world in in U46. how might our teachers be using AI? And then we can provide that level of support with our district level coordinators and directors through our professional learning system to continue to build that, you know, comfort level and and knowledge for teachers to be able to do that regularly. Thank you. Thank you, Lola. Um, we've also developed robust AI guidelines grounded in board policies like student data privacy, education philosophy, and bullying prevention. The guidelines explicitly require that AI may not be used to replace teacher judgment, input, and decision- making. AI may not also be used for grading or detecting AI cheating as current research doesn't support these practices in education. that also

084transparent citation of AI in teaching materials is required. Additionally, the requirement of using only district approved tools and finally encouraging teachers to use AI in differentiation, monitoring bias and safe usage practices. When it comes to our professional learning plan, we want to ensure that every educator received the support they need to use AI effectively and responsibly. In August, we'll begin with in-person training for middle and high school teachers. In September, administrators, tech, and instructional coaches will participate in targeted sessions, while elementary teachers will engage through virtual training opportunities focused on AI. To support ongoing learning, we're developing a dedicated Canvas course that covers AI literacy, and ethics. Additionally, we'll implement a train the trainer model through our tech and instructional coaches to build capacity at schools and ensure long-term sustainability. Finally, throughout the year, we'll

085actively track participation and usage data to evaluate impact and guide, excuse me, and guide continuous improvement. Thank you, and we welcome any questions. Thank you for that presentation. I know we've had a lot of questions about um AI since the the last board meeting and the presentation um that was given at that time. Do board members have questions they'd like to ask the presenters tonight. I'll just make a comment. Thank you for giving us access to it. I have never used chat GPT. I'm a bit of a dinosaur. So I I was amazed at what it could do. And I set up a personal account because why not? And now I see why we need one for the district because first of all obviously the personal account couldn't get at the resources the district has.

086I also discovered the personal account will just time you out or if you've used so much time then you've got to wait a certain number of times before you can go back to you can start a new chat but you can't continue working on what you were working. So yeah and it's really nice because in the edu account you have all of your saved chats. So if you need to go back to something or you want to even expand on something you can always do that. Yeah. No, Shondaanda, I don't have any questions. I just wanted to thank you all for answering. I know I I put a lot of questions out there um for this meeting um surrounding the pilot size uh rolling it out districtwide. My main concern was rolling it out districtwide

087and scaling down versus um starting out with an expanded pilot and then scaling up. Um I'm concerned about unused subscriptions. So, I appreciate you answering my questions. I did also use the um test. So, thank you for access to that. I acted like I was a parah and just kind of took some things as a parent that I would think of what would a parah do and and so the information that was given back to me even with me just putting in limited prompts was a lot more thorough. So, I appreciate that. Don, I also had a lot of questions. So, thank you for answering them. I'm going to be very honest. I have a lot of concerns with the e ethics, the integrity behind AI. Um the ability of it for takeaway critical thought,

088especially if we start rolling it out for students. Um just because something exists doesn't mean embracing it is fully is the way to go for tech in my eyes. One of the questions I have is one of the things when um you use AI and I don't all of them are a little bit different but typically you can see the sources that AI is pulling from is showing the staff like how to pull those sources and review those sources part of the PD so that they understand where the AI is pulling from. Yeah, it's it's part it's part of that ongoing professional learning. So there's going, like as Rola shared, we'll have we would have different ways to access professional learning because we wouldn't necessarily be able to train everybody in the same way. So

089we'd have those asynchronous modules, we could have live Zoom sessions, we would have in-person sessions for teachers, it would be obviously a part of our DCD day where we review the guidelines and go through that with the content that they're getting um in August. Um so it would be covered in there. Um, but I think the other piece is teachers teachers are already having to do that when they access things on the internet, when they Google things and they try to get ideas. And so for us, it's really how how can we package it so that it's always going to take them back to what we want them to implement, which is our board approved curriculum and using those resources. So, but yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Any other questions? So, Dr. Johnson, can we get

090a a sense of what the next steps are? Sure. Um, so I I first I appreciate all of the questions from the board of education after the last proposal. Um, you know, I uh to Miss Martin's statements uh just a short time ago, the concerns, the questions, right? What what's happening out there? Who's accessing it? How are they accessing it? I think we find ourselves in this really interesting place where we have to start to determine all right what are the guard rails that we can identify and create how do we support professional learning how do we start to do some of that um if it's sooner than later but in preparation for this thing that now exists and and and whether we embrace it completely or you know we start to do that research

091and move in that direction I share that because what I realized right after the last proposal came forward was that I had not um done a done the the appropriate work or the necessary work I think to prepare the board for the fact that these were proposals that are going to start to come forward in some some way shape or form to consider as as we continue to move right ahead. Um so that was really important feedback. So this evening our first effort then was to give consideration to how do we get back in front of the board of education and provide some additional information start to provide some you know responses to the questions and engage with the board of education around this piece. So I fully expect that there will likely be some

092additional you know feedback from the board of education after this evening. Um at a certain point we'll have to make a determination about when and how we bring that proposal back to the board of education. Um, obviously it's not going to get here any sooner than possibly five weeks at the earliest or at some point right in August. Um, it'll probably look a little bit different at that point because most of our proposals are um when we receive quotes and those types of things are only good for 30 days. So, it's going to it's going to likely look a little bit different. Um, we'll have to give consideration to, you know, some of the parameters that have been discussed and provided this evening. some of the questions around is it for 4,000 employees, is it

093for a scaled down, you know, number or what what that looks like. Um I I I think the the the the piece that I always wonder about is that when we provide access for some, it's always interesting, right, who chooses not to take that access and then the people who somehow find access to everything. So really really trying to take some time now after this evening and the additional feedback that I'm sure we'll receive um around those next steps, but I expect to bring something back to the board of education at some point this summer on on where we're moving with AI or a recommendation again at that point. And just so board members are aware, uh when Dr. Jensen and I were were talking about the agenda um for this evening when we were

094talking about this last week. Um and thinking back to what our our our committee structure currently is on the board of education and and how we run our committees. Um our our wondering is whether in lie of having separate curriculum committees where we discuss a you know an initiative in the the district at the curriculum committee and then we come again and address that for the full board meeting because we have to have a comp comprehensive presentation, right? for us to be able to to vote on on the curriculum proposal. Um whether doing something like this during a regular board meeting where we have some advanced conversation about an initiative that's coming that will come forward at some point. Um to Dr. Jensen's point, whether that's in in July or August, uh, for this particular

095one, have these advanced conversations so that we can get some of these initial questions kind of out there and give board members additional time to think through some of these issues. So, that's kind of our our thinking of bringing this again, you know, back in front of the the board to have these additional discussions. Um, so knowing that this will likely come back in front of the board, this will give board members additional time to review and and ask additional questions. I I think especially because we we were challenged to get access to all of the board of education members just with how these accounts are set up. It's a little bit different than how we usually try to support the board in acquiring access to demo sites and be able to log in. This

096was very different from that. and and of course we just felt as though you needed additional time so that board members could spend some time looking at this um resource as well. And hopefully this is a little bit more efficient use of our time going forward um so that we can have conversations but then not keep rehashing the same exact presentation over and over. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That will move us into a resolution. Yes. Uh so this evening um we have a resolution to conclude the hosting of school district U46 board of education meetings at the educational services center. Uh so as we have been communicating and of course uh to all of our um our viewers from last week, we we recognize that we had a dress rehearsal

097at our new site at the welcome center last week. Um and we will be working at making that transition to the welcome center. Um but as we uh conclude hosting board of education meetings here at the educational services center, we do have an official resolution and some information to share as well as some things to present to the board of education this evening. Uh so the first board of education meeting uh took place at the educational services center on April 23rd, 1984. Tonight, 41 years later, marks the last board of education meeting to take place at the Educational Services Center. Beginning in July for the 2025 2026 school year and onward, all regular school district U46 board of education meetings will be held at the U46 welcome center in room C 100. This is located

098just a 5-minute drive east of the current meeting site at 1019 East Chicago Street in Elgen. The new location offers improved facilities including better accessibility, increased seating capacity, ample parking spots, and enhanced audiovisisual capabilities. The changes being made to better serve our community, improve the experience of all meeting attendees, both virtual and inerson. The schedule and format of meetings will remain unchanged. So I do have a resolution uh which I can read uh this evening for the board of education and then uh we will work at signing that as well and and making this official. So uh we do have a resolution to conclude the hosting of school district 446 board of education meetings at the educational services center. Whereas the board of education of school district U46 has conducted its regular and special meetings

099at the educational services center located at 355 East Chicago Street, Elgen, Illinois, providing a central accessible venue for public engagement and transparent governance. And whereas the educational services center has served as a vital hub for district leadership, fostering collaboration, dialogue, and thoughtful decision-making for the benefit of the students, families, staff, and community of U46. And whereas the board of education and the superintendent recognize the educational services center staff and facility teams for their dedication, professionalism, and unwavering support in hosting and managing the logistics of these public meetings throughout the term. And whereas the board of education has determined it is appropriate to conclude its term of holding regular meetings at the educational services center and transition to a new meeting location to better serve the evolving needs of the district and its constituents. Now therefore,

100be it resolved by the board of education of school district U46 and the education that the educational services center is formally acknowledged with gratitude for its service as the host site of board of education meetings during this term. Be it further resolved that this resolution entered into the official minutes of the board of education and shared with the Educational Services Center staff and district leadership as a gesture of appreciation and acknowledgement of their contributions to the governance of school district U46 adopted the 16th day of June 2025. And we'll take a roll call to uh approve and accept this resolution to conclude the hosting of school district U46 board of education meetings at the educational services center. I will take a motion for that. So moved. Second. Any discussion on that? Roll call, please. Miss

101Kerr, yes. Miss Khan. Miss Martin? Yes. Miss Nolan? Yes. Miss Schwarz? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. President Owen? Yes. Motion carried. Um then this evening as a as a small gesture of uh thank you for the support and the leadership of our current board of education. Uh we we have your your name plates um for the current DEIS here at U46 355 East Chicago Street which is highly unusual because though that's usually reserved for when board members retire or complete their service and you are all transitioning to the new site. Um but we do have your name plates wrapped up with a little bit of a blue ribbon for you to take with you. And then we also have a uh yellow rose of course to represent the blue and gold for school district U46 as

102a small symbol of our appreciation for your leadership and your governance and your your heart of course and in leading guiding our students. So thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, next item on the agenda is work session more resolutions. Yes, more resolutions. Uh so back to uh the budget. Um resolution to approve the 2025 2026 tenative budget and set public hearing. Dr. Anne Williams, deputy superintendent of operations. Dr. Frank Williams, assistant superintendent of finance, will present an overview of the tenative budget for the 2025206 fiscal year and the supporting resolution on or before August 9th, 2025. The tenative budget will be made available for public inspection and a public notice will be published in a newspaper of general circulation. The resolution presented tonight requests approval of the budget in tenative form and addresses the

103requirements regarding the notice of the public hearing. This timeline fulfills all Illinois school code requirements. Administration will be available to respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends adoption of this resolution at the July 21st, 2025 board of education meeting. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. I know we've spoken about this resolution at the committee meeting and then act the uh update that you all gave. Do you have anything additional to to add or no? No, ma'am. All right. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have a resolution for the disposal of sir plus personal t personal property cafeteria tables. I was combining the two. Uh Dr. Williams remains uh to review the attached resolution respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends the board of education approve the resolution for the

104disposal of surplus personal property. Board members have any questions? Okay, thank you. Thank you. Our next resolution is for the disposal of surplus personal property, career and technical education. Celia Banks, director of curriculum and instruction, will review the attached resolution and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends the board of education approve the resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Next item on the agenda is work session bids and proposals. Dr. Johnson, our first item is a bid for plant operations, herbicide and fertilizer treatments. Sheila DS, assistant superintendent of operations, will present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends award to the lowest responsible bidder estate enterprises in the amount of $240,138 and requests authorization

105for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the operations and maintenance fund. Cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 through 2027 2028 fiscal years. Do board members have any questions? John. So thank you for the proposal. So my questions might seem odd, but it's um kind of stemming out of the weird dust storm we had this year and some of the uh fallout I guess so to speak from that. So my question is um it's listed as by annual. So what times of year do we have that? And then does our provider uh very carefully watch weather conditions so that uh neighboring fields especially things that be producing fruit and vegetables aren't getting hit with um kind of blowback from the herbicides. Yeah. So the I'll answer

106them in reverse. So yes, he does monitor the weather conditions obviously for rain, for high winds, things like that. So absolutely. And then typically we do it the bianually. So, it's twice a year right at the start of spring as we're starting to see a lot of the growths come up and then proactively before the start of the school year. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any additional questions? Next item. Our next item is a bid for plan operations. Larsson Middle School domestic pipe insulation project number 508-25. Sheila DS is still here to present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends award to the lowest responsible bidder lose construction group in the amount of $296,170 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will

107be charged to the operations and maintenance fund. cost is included in the budget for the 2024 2025 through 2025 2026 fiscal years. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Next is a bid procurement athletic trainer provider. Dr. Frank Williams, assistant superintendent of finance will present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends award to the lowest responsible bidder, Athletico Management, in the amount of $690,000 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 through 2027 2028 fiscal years. Do board members have any questions? Sue, just one question. We we the the the uh the description notes that we're going to start hiring a full-time

108athletic trainer of our own. Is that going to be this year, next year, or after this contract? As we can find them the candidates. Well, we would rather have them in house. Yeah. So, as we can find good candidates, then we'd rather have hire them in house. And we're looking into doing that now or Yes. Okay. Good. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Okay. Next item. Next is a bid for procure procurement Liberty Elementary School Library Furniture. Uh Dr. Williams remains that the day is to present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends award to the lowest responsible bidder, warehouse direct in the amount of $88,747.82 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. The

109cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Next is a bid operationsite U46 new middle school in Elgen. Dr. Anne Williams, deputy superintendent of operations and Brian Lindholm, chief of staff, will present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends awarding bid packages to the lowest responsible biders listed below in the total amount of 2,463,954 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. Bid package 09B, Consolidated Flooring of Chicago LLC, Resilient Flooring in the amount of $2,137,975. Bid package 09F Diversify Pro LLC tile flooring and wall tile work in the amount of $325,979. This expenditure will be charged the capital projects fund. The cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 through

1102026 2027 fiscal years. Do board members have any questions? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next is a proposal information services view sonic interactive displays, commercial displays, mobile stands and licenses. Jim Wolf, director of information services will present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the proposal from CDWG LLC in the amount of 1,58,971. Requests authorization for district administration 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. That brings us to work sessions contracts over 35,000. Dr. Johnson, this evening we have a contract renewal for plant operations Brightly Incorporated Asset Essentials Core Pro Software. Sheila DS, assistant superintendent of operations. Cassandra Rutenbach,

111financial operations and building systems coordinator will present the attached proposal summary and will respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the contract renewal with Brightley Incorporated the amount of $44,62312 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the operations and maintenance fund. The cost is included in the budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. Do board members have any questions? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And that being the uh last item on our agenda, I am going to make use of a artifact we have here at ESC uh which was dedicated by Mr. Art Wolf in 1973 for the U46 board presidents. May I have a motion to adjourn our last meeting at the educational services center? So moved. Second.

112Roll call, please. Miss Kirk, yes. Miss Cot. Miss Martin? Yes. Miss Nolan? Yes. Miss Short? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. President Owens? Yes. We are adjourned.