001Pledge 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. Can we have a roll call, Mrs. Campbell? Mr. Winter? Here. Mrs. Burke? Here. Mrs. Campbell here. Mr. Spreadberry? Here. Mrs. McClish? Here. Mr. Martin? Here. Assuming Ms. Murphy's on her way. Okey-doke. She'll miss the beginning part of recognition. We're going to start with the Summit Hill Spelling participants. Summit Hill School District, by all means, by all means. Beth, go right ahead. Oh, sure. Hi, I'm Beth Zinski. I coordinate the Summit Hill School District Spelling Bee along with Monica Lox and Marianne Hauerhand. We are here tonight to celebrate the accomplishments of our students at Hilda Walker and Summit Hill Junior High, who participated in the District
002Spelling Bee on February 5th. This was no easy task for our spellers. The spelling competitions actually start back in December and January, when Spelling Bees are held in each ELA classroom. The winner from each Classroom Bee then competes at a grade level competition, and the top three finishers at each grade level move on to the District Bee. First, I just want to recognize all the grade level winners. That's Kaima Nkema in 8th grade, Lina Tewil in 7th grade, Avery Drummond in 6th grade, and James Mayo in 5th grade. There were other students who qualified for the District Bee from Summit Hill. That's Finn Gallagher, Tyler Wolf, and Nyla Esterkamp. Hilda Walker was represented by Whitney Agbija, Lily Santo Domingo, Taryn Miller, and Eli Tiarks. All of them showed great confidence and skill throughout. However, there
003were two standout performers at the District Bee. These two performances came from Kaitlyn O'Neill from Walker and Kaden McCullough from Summit Hill. After 20 rounds, Kaden emerged as our champion for the second time in his tenure here in the District. His first time he won was quite impressive as a 6th grader. He kept his composure the whole time, earned the top spot, Kaitlyn earned a well-deserved runner-up position. Kaden represented Summit Hill last night at the Will County Regional Bee again for the second time last night, and we're very proud of him. Thank you so much. Yeah, let's have the kids come up here so we can get a picture of everybody, please. If any of the parents would like to come up at this time, please come on up and take a picture once we
004get them all situated. Please, any parents that want to come up and get a picture, please do so. There we go. As a usual second round and out Spelling Bee participant, I really can appreciate what these students have accomplished. And as a reward to them, you don't have to stay for the whole meeting. If anyone would like to leave right now, you guys can go ahead and go, students and families, if you'd like to leave by all means go ahead and do so. We'll take a brief break here. Okay, yes, ma'am. We're going to move on then to the Summit Award, and I'd like to turn this over to Dr. McDermott. Okay, this one is it's bittersweet for my friend back there. This month's Summit Award winner is Indian Trail School Learning Center aide Sharon
005Roy. Sharon is in her third year of working in our district starting as a paraprofessional at DJR before moving over to trail two years ago. She was nominated by board member Stephanie McClish who wrote the following, Ms. Roy is a shining example of what is good in district 161, and I do mean shining. Check your shoes out tonight. Anyone who has the pleasure of meeting her is instantly taken in by her energy, warmth, and fabulous attire. Everything she does she does with passion, care, and enthusiasm, and while some librarians are satisfied with sharing a love of books, helping kids check them out and reading aloud, Ms. Roy goes above and beyond doing so much more to inspire the students that she works with. For example, Ms. Roy did a unit on poetry with all of
006the kids at trail. She shared many favorites and examples and encouraged them to write their own. What about? Literally anything. Then she surprised the students by compiling all of the poems into a keepsake book and commended them on being published authors. While some students wrote about their pets or favorite pastimes, many wrote about how amazing and wonderful Ms. Roy is. When my children got off the bus the day they received their poetry books, they could not wait to tell me about how their poetry had been published. What an incredibly special keepsake and gift for us to have. Additionally, Ms. Roy allows students to win PBIS rewards that include being librarian for the day, something my daughter has cashed in rewards for several times. She does not do this just because she loves books and reading,
007but because it means getting to spend just a little more time with Ms. Roy. She makes the experience so fun with creative hats, surprise books, and more. She has even encouraged my daughter to start writing her own book and offered to give her feedback and advice. And Ms. Roy has even surprised me and inspired me. I teach a creative writing class to high schoolers and I've been trying to think of a way to honor their work at the end of the semester. They each put together digital portfolios, but it would be so nice for them to have a tangible keepsake. I hope Ms. Roy doesn't mind. We're going to steal our ideas. That's what educators do. But stealing the poetry book idea for high school students. Ms. Roy, we cannot thank you enough for all
008the ways that you have inspired students to be readers and writers. Your love of reading, books, poetry, and all things fine arts have made such a positive impact on our children and no doubt so many others. You exude warmth and make every student feel important and feel seen. You truly are a shining star. Thank you. Thank you for all that you do. We're incredibly grateful and the co-principals, Jason Isdonis and Dana Wright added a few more words. This is a long one. This is a really good one. Sharon is a strong believer in ensuring students have ample opportunities to check out books, explore the library, and grow their love of reading. It is very common to walk past the library and observe her helping the students find books based on their interest and their reading
009level, as well as reading some of the books to them. However, she doesn't just read the books to the children. She invites them into the stories through her colorful characterization, flair for language, and exuberant mannerisms. It is truly a joy to watch her interact with our students. Thank you, Sharon, for all that you do for our students at Indian Trail and congratulations on your summit award. Let's give another round of applause. Next on our recognition is the Illinois State Board of Education, those who excel, and the Teacher of the Year award. I'm going to pass that to Dr. McDermott again. Okay, two Summit Hill School District 161 staff members have earned awards in the Illinois State Board of Education, 2025, those who excel, and Teacher of the Year awards. Summit Hill Junior High School Associate
010Principal Monica Lox, and Dr. Julian Rogus School Targeted Instruction. We call that the TIP program. Teacher Megan Gallagher. I know she's back there. So both of these educators were recognized for their work in our schools and the impact that they make on students and staff members each and every day. Monica, who received an award of special recognition in the school administrator category, is in her second year of working at Summit Hill School District 161. Megan Gallagher, who is in her third year of teaching in the district, earned an award of meritorious service in the classroom teacher category. So ISBE received a record number of nominations and applications for this year's those who excel and Teacher of the Year awards, and honored more than 500 educators across the state. Congratulations to both Megan and Monica for
011your contributions to the students and staff of 161. We appreciate you. Can we have a round of applause? I will make the offer again if anyone wants to make their way to the exit before we start into the rest of the meeting with the consent agenda. You may do so. Next up on our agenda is the Freedom of Information Act. Dr. McDermott. So we had two FOIA requests that were made, one by Crystal Dairy and then another by Anonymous. Both were completed in the appropriate legal time frames. Very good. Thank you. Next is public comments. I'd like to remind everyone you have five minutes in public comments. Yeah, we can fit that in. First on the list, Cicely Gantt, please. Good evening, everyone. Tonight, I want to speak to you not just as a school
012board candidate, but as a neighbor and someone who deeply cares about this community. Not sure if everyone is aware, however, my Slate campaign signs were vandalized. Seeing our sign vandalized and knowing that hurtful messages are being spread is truly disheartening. The police have been notified and are currently conducting an investigation. I strongly encourage everyone in the community to report any hateful messages or acts of vandalism immediately. It is vital that we remain vigilant and proactive in ensuring our community remains a safe and welcoming place for everyone. Every one of us deserves to live in a community where we feel safe, welcome, and valued. Our community thrives because we stand together, celebrate our diversity, and support one another through challenges. It is in times like these that we must show the best of who we are
013by rising above acts of division and embracing our shared values. I encourage each of us to take an active role in promoting understanding and dialogue within our neighborhoods. Talk to your neighbors, support each other, and stand against any form of hatred and discrimination. Let's use this difficult moment to reaffirm our commitment to creating a supportive and inclusive environment for everyone who calls this place home. Our true strength is found not in what divides us, but in our collective respect and kindness. By standing united in these values, we create an environment where everyone feels safe, welcome, and valued. Together, let's ensure that our community remains a shining example of compassion, unity, and strength. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Laura Coyle. Good evening. My name is Laura Coyle. I have a sixth grader, Elin Coyle, at
014Hilda Walker and an eighth grader, Kay Coyle, at Summit Hill Junior High. And it is incredibly disheartening that I find myself in front of you tonight because of the unprofessionalism of several board members. It has been made known that some of you may not vote to renew Ms. Goebel's contract tonight. I find this absolutely astonishing, considering the school board is supposed to represent the community. The students, parents, and community have the utmost respect and admiration for our principal. She exceeds community expectations on a daily basis. Her ability to consistently create a positive environment for our children is unwavering. I am not sure how she possibly manages to be at every event, every time, supporting all academics and extracurriculars, but it is well recognized and appreciated throughout the school and the community. Ms. Goebel is the
015strong leader our community desperately needs to retain. She inspires and motivates the community. She exemplifies empathy and effective communication and leads with integrity. It would be deplorable not to renew her contract. I hope and pray you make the right decision. For those school board members who do not vote to renew Ms. Goebel's contract, you do not have my vote for re-election. Barb Mazarakis. Good evening. For those of you who don't know me, I am Barb Mazarakis. We've been in this community for about 20 years. We've had kids in the school system. I have a Summit Hill grad and a soon-to-be Summit Hill grad, and I have served on our district SEOs, school community organizations, and band booster boards for the last 11 years in this district. I didn't intend to talk tonight until just before
016this meeting started because I happened to watch a friend of mine break down in talking to Ms. Goebel about the impact that she had on her now high school work. I've worked with Laura for five years between Summit Hill and Hilda Walker. We've become kind of a team. So when I also found out that her contract is not going to be renewed, I cannot for the life of me understand why. I cannot understand why this district would take our resources, the people who make it better, the people who make the connections within the community, and not keep them, not continue to utilize them. And I apologize. I'm not as polished as Laura just was because I really was not planning to talk tonight. Laura Goebel has made connections with our kids, our junior high students,
017at a time in their lives when a lot of us parents cannot make connections with our junior high kids. Some of you have junior high students or have had them recently. You know how hard it can be. You know that they don't want anything to do with us. You know that everything we say is wrong. You know that we breathe too loudly for them sometimes and they're mad at us. Yet Laura has made a connection with these kids that when she has to discipline them, it doesn't seem like she's coming down on them and making them hate school. She is building a connection with them that sometimes their parents can't build. She builds a connection with them so that at times like the weekend musical when those high school students come back, they hug her.
018She asks how they're doing. She remembers their names. She remembers their activities. She makes connections with the families in this district. She has managed to do the one thing that I have to tell you I am shocked by. I know you see all the people that are sitting here behind us with our our stickers. She has managed to bring together our community, the people who cannot agree what books should be in our libraries, what candidates we should be voting for. We probably couldn't agree if you asked us right now if it rained a lot or a little bit a few hours ago, but we are all sitting here, staff members, parents, current parents, past parents, community members, future, future parents, all here united because Miss Goble has touched this community. She has touched our staff.
019She has touched our families. Your decision is probably already made. I understand that. But before you take that final vote, please consider what you're doing. Laura Goble is going to be fine. No matter where she ends up, she is an asset and she's going to be an asset to somebody. Why shouldn't she be an asset to us? Thank you. Carrie Bunda. Before I talk about our wonderful leader, Mrs. Goble, I want to say that although I absolutely as well as everybody that supports the new panel of candidates, we do not condone any type of acts of violence. I happen to talk to the person that owns the building over there where your sign sits, Stephanie, and first of all, he said he didn't give you permission to put the sign there, and he also told
020me that they have survey going on over there. And so when you sit here and pull a Jessie Smollett, you need to be careful that you research things properly because we do a lot of research too, and we'll get to the bottom of it. You know, if you want to claim that it's somebody in the community, you need to be careful with what you say. You can't point fingers at people unless you know. So talking to the people that own the building and they're telling me that's being surveyed, I wouldn't start pointing fingers and calling it a hate crime. We do have a great community. I think we do have a fairly safe community. So we need to be careful about, you know, claiming that it's a hate crime. But in regards to Mrs. Goble,
021you guys sat there at the forum last week talking about how we need to be all kind and accepting and we need to include people. But it sounds like there's been some intimidation going on over at the junior high for a woman that has run through this school district from building to building like a wonderful leader. And I find it hard to think that you guys are actually practicing what you preach because I'm a parent. You just heard from teachers, I'm a parent and I'm telling you I've had kids in here for a long time and Mrs. Goble is the best that we have. And, you know, decisions that you guys make can be turned when we have a new board too. You're going to be, you know, only here for a few more years,
022Mr. McDermott, and I'd love to see Mrs. Goble in your position. She'd do a great job. Sitting there dealing, yeah, thank you. Dealing with teenagers is a really hard thing. Trying to rein them in and, you know, be a leader at the same time is very, very difficult and she does it very well. She's out there rain or shine, in her high heels, conducting traffic, works late, puts in more time than you do, Mr. McDermott, and I guarantee she doesn't make the salary you make. So you guys, I don't care what your back room deals are, but, you know, it's going to affect the whole community, whatever decision you make tonight. Why don't you put it off for the new board? Are you guys afraid that you won't be up there? Is that why you
023can't wait for a new, you know, voting to be done? I don't know, but we love Mrs. Goble and we support her, and if you guys choose not to keep her, you're making a big, bad decision, and like I said, things can be overturned. At this time, we're going to move on to the consent agenda under the recommended motion, and this is going to be long, so please bear with me. I move that we approve the items on the consent agenda for this meeting as presented, including 5A1A, regular session meeting minutes of February 19th, 2025, 5A1B, closed session meeting minutes of February 19th, 2025, 5A2, approval of February treasurer's report, financial report, 5A3, excuse me, approval of the bill's list of March 19th, 2025, 5A4, approval of resignation and or retirement of staff. Retirement is
024Francie Boss, effective June 30th, 2028, Jason Isdonis, effective June 30th, 2028, Julie Stearns, effective June 30th, 2028. Resignations are Abigail Seiler, effective February 25th, 2025, and Christie Rodriguez, effective May 31st, 2025. 5A5, approval of family medical leave, there is none at this time, and 5A6, approval of employment of staff, and many of these are for summer school times. Laurie McCulley, FMLA teacher at Dr. Julian Rogus School, Sydney Hairston, paraprofessional at Hilda Walker School, Savannah Stimich, paraprofessional at Dr. Julian Rogus School, Maria Magarasta, I'm sure I messed that up, sorry, cleaning custodian at Dr. Julian Rogus School, Emma Esposito, paraprofessional at Mary Drew Early Childhood Learning Center, Christie Rodriguez, early learning center aid at Dr. Julian Rogus School for the 2025-2026 school year, Kelsey Fitzgerald, Kathleen Hayek, Sherry Snyder, and Katie Tracy as ESY early childhood
025teachers, Taylor LaPage, Angela Carlston, Tina Delfonso, Eric Donovan, Megan Grissenbach, Lisa Hyde, Anna Regas, Stephanie Studer, Amanda Talty, Tina Walker, Wendy Webster as ESY special education teachers, Kristen Bowen, Mary DeFrank, Alina King, Carla Murray, and Amanda Sabo as ESY speech pathologists, Maria Paul and Kelly Robinson as ESY social workers, Lauren Neubauer and Amanda Werniak as ESY coordinators, Jennifer Adams as an ESY nurse, Vivian Boutros, Eric Donovan, Erin Bors, Michaela Cieplowski, Christy Balta, Katie Meacher, Catherine O'Rourke, Tara Russell, Danielle Caps, and Joy Reno summer enrichment camp teachers, Linda Liodoro, Stacey Freshly, Erin Bors, Kelly McGreen, Julie Kane, Karina Wise, Tara Boudreau, Jessica Howard, Catherine O'Rourke, Joy Reno, Tara Russell, Agnes Soch, Vivian Boutros, Ed Kernett, Aya Kanan as summer academic bridge teachers, Kathleen Sullivan, and Denise Aslin as summer coordinator and substitute teachers, Jennifer Wall, ESY
026and summer enrichment camp teacher, Adrienne Acevedo, Amy Angus, Morgan Barney, Deborah Dowdy, Jodie Faulkner, Steven Gibson, Peyton Hatch, Kelly Jordan, Carla Pertillo, sorry, Renee Pinkston, Nicole Sayer, Megan Stednecki, Stacey Wildeski, Pam Winterfeld, Melanie Berger, Linda Mohamed, Jamie Grand, Wendy Carey, Jean Costigan, Jenna Demma, Danine Caluba, Stephanie Naro, Colleen Medina, Karen Stanky as ESY paraprofessionals, and 5A7 approval of EPIC special education staffing for services, 5A8 approval of renewal of science curriculum, 5A9 approval of renewal of social studies curriculum, 5A10 approval of renewal of landscape maintenance services, 5A11 authorization to bid for summer inspections, 5A12 authorization to bid for cleaning services, 5A13 authorization to bid for the Dr. Julian Rogus sidewalk, and 5A14 approval to commence the student board member process. So moved. We have a motion and a second. Does anyone have any questions or comments?
027I do. Can I ask Mr. Snipes about the curriculum? Sure. I know these are renewals and I know the science that we approved. I just have questions. What teacher feedback have we solicited? What has been the feedback on the curriculum thus far before we spend this much to renew it? Sure. Are you speaking of science or social studies or maybe both? Okay. So we're not in our curriculum review cycle yet for those two areas. So you know science was just last year, so that would have been a full teacher review, pilot, and then decision. Social studies was several years ago, but we got off cycle with the pandemic and then pushing science back another year. So what we do is have a curriculum review cycle. So about every six years we bring up a new
028core content area and so social studies would be this year except science took its place. So we pushed it back for the next two years. So we're just looking to extend our current program for two years to allow us to get back on cycle. So the term of that original contract was for six years and that's expiring now. For science we only purchased it for a year with intentions to continue to renew each year after. So there was teacher feedback on the selection committee. But no like recent after the, you know, after the bending year into it? Well we meet during PLC time. But has it been positive with most of the science teachers? Yeah, I mean it's a learning year. So it's grades five through eight right now and we'll look at K through
029four next year and we just had our last training last month. We have three trainings came with this and it's a little eye-opening to see all of the things like oh there's more to the program and I need to that I can dive into and let you know help me get to those pieces of that puzzle. Yeah it's we have an online component now we didn't have before and we have the student work text so they are able to work directly within the the books now. So those things have been positive. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? I'd just like to make one comment. We're putting in there the authorization to bid for the Dr. Julian Rogus school sidewalk. There's been talk in the neighborhood that we're going to cancel bus service and all
030that kind of stuff. None of that is going to happen. We're just interested in starting the process of having access to the building and its grounds that we've never had before. So that's that's the beginning part of the process. There there should be more to come. Any other questions or comments? Can we have a roll call? Mrs. Campbell? Mr. Winter? Aye. Mrs. Burke? Aye. Mrs. Campbell? Aye. Mr. Spreadberry? Aye. Ms. Murphy? Aye. Mrs. McClish? Aye. Mr. Martin? Aye. And the motion carries. Next is going to be the approval to commence no I'm sorry presentation next is presentation and approval to award the American school bus company the school district 161 regular transportation routes. Okay with us this evening are representatives from the American school bus company who will introduce themselves and talk a little bit
031about their company and the services they provide. So they are all the way in the back so they'll make the way forward to the microphone to give some information and then we'll give some additional detail from the board book. Good evening Dr. McDermott and board my name is Jeff Barnes I'm director of operations for Cook Illinois Corporation which is the parent company that owns American school bus which is located in Frankfurt Illinois. With me is Tom O'Sullivan he's our vice president of bids and contracts who works for Cook Illinois the parent company. In addition to me working for the company for 34 years I live in Mokina right on the edge literally on the edge of Summit Hill and Mokina school district so I will be I'm a vested interest in making sure that transportation
032goes well as my neighbors would be very unhappy with me if it does not. So any questions you have for us please let me know. I just wanted a quick history Cook Illinois we is a parent company and we don't run any school buses under that but there's a lot of names that we use different names American school bus is one of them there's Kickert school bus Illinois school bus alpha school bus so each a lot of locations have different names and we're a privately held we're a family business it's actually my father-in-law who got me into this 32 years ago actually American school bus on Laraway where we will be running this your transportation for you in Frankfurt was warning charter service and I don't know how many people know the history but Glenn
033morning owned it and he actually I believe was mayor of Frankfurt back in the 70s I think or something like that so there's a little history there behind that but as I said we're we're right here the ownership is here right here in the Chicago area we're looking forward to doing a very good job for you in the community and we're very excited about this Serena our manager she's a little shyer than we are she's still she's also with us tonight she's our everyday manager and like I said Jeff oversees that so any questions you might have for us we'd be happy to take what would be a couple of your local customers school districts that you guys provide in the area just as a reference orland district 135 is probably the biggest in this
034area right here we do district 146 Tinley Park as well Matt's in district 159 speed co-op that we with Chicago Heights does the whole area those are the closest local one perfect thank you how do you guys go about determining the routes we have versus if you bring in new ideas for new routes how does that merge with what we currently have I mean we've definitely had some issues this year with routes and drivers knowing their way around do you have the turn by turn so these are all my I'm sure these people want to know the answers yeah certainly in the bid specifications which we enjoy using our tablets so our drivers won't be using a piece of paper they'll be using a electronic tablet which is linked directly to our routing software we'll
035work closely with the staff here on what their routes are any questions they might have had you know if we have suggestions we'll give those we'll get those ironed out early in the summer once you guys roll over your student data so we have the new data and then we'll just little by little work on it our drivers will do dry runs so they're familiar with the areas we know the streets aren't exactly north and south east and west in this area so we'll get that all taken care of and again they'll have term tablets in the buses so they can do any route at any time and simply follow the tablet so a sub driver can get on a bus hit that route and it's not an issue that they're on a certain bus
036with a certain okay that is correct and for many it knows where you are and it will take you to this point we have even if we would have to split a route in the middle driver a do this part driver b they can i start stop six and they pick it up and they go and then you go right to the school so you have the number you have the drivers that the number of drivers that we need to support yes and we'll obviously hire a few more but uh yeah we're confident currently our our facility is fully staffed and we have as we we worked with dr mcdermott and the people that are in the bid we have a very large facility in orland park as well not very far from here so
037also american school bus if we need to pull a driver or two because of bad attendance or things like that we have plenty of plenty of drivers available and how early and how often do you do like training routes in the summer like how often and how early do you do that with your drivers we'll once we get approved hopefully we'll set a timeline with the staff here so we go through the process of when your data gets rolled over that's kind of step one for us once we get the student data we build the routes and we go from there we don't like to do them too too early usually about two weeks prior to school is when we start running dry runs that's typically what we do that gives us plenty of time
038to learn the routes you do them too early you get students that change routes that change and you're kind of wasting time and and effort on that so two weeks has been a good uh figure for us over the years yeah we definitely had some issues last year as i'm sure you're aware um one of the issues was the release date of the route so i think if we can work together to make sure that our parents have access to what the route's going to be as far out from the beginning of the school year as possible so we can make adjustments with their feedback i think that that's going to be a crucial step so i think yeah if we can make it around that two-week mark where we can release that to our
039families they can check to make sure the route makes sense to them and then if they have any questions they can ask also do you have an app for parents uh yes we do that was part of it okay yeah can you tell a little bit about that because initially one of the reasons we went with our our the previous company which has been extremely disappointing is because of the the ability for parents to be able to track their students and see where they're located so want to make sure that that's something we can actually provide this time i know that's a really good point and and in using the tablets which is part of tyler technologies the traversa is the routing software and they provide the tablets so it's their gps on the tablets
040that i guess matches with the routes from the traversa and with that that's how they're able to build it's called my ride k-12 okay and it's very easy to use and obviously the parents will just they'll have to have you know some way to log in and they'll only be able to see their route of their student and stuff but it it actually will do push out notifications you know it's running 18 minutes late 15 minutes late or whatever yeah the bus will be there in 15 minutes 12 minutes and we're actually using it over at orla 135 so it was like the first year that we really used it 100 percent there so we're we're very hopeful and we know that it should work well for you and it will work even if there
041is a sub driver because it's connected to the ipad yeah exactly the tablets in that bus and that bus is assigned to that tablet i guess or they the driver puts in the bus number so and then it'll tell them what route they have and it should work how long does it take into the school year for that to kick in is it immediate or is it like three weeks into the school year no we're anticipating starting right away okay great and extracurricular activities after school you guys can accommodate sports and getting them there on time 100 yes okay field trips yes so we don't have to cut the field trip short to get home to take yeah and again we don't we don't anticipate any issue prepare your staff that you know our community
042and our staff have been through a traumatic experience with safeway i mean we really have um yes sir you may get a lot of calls initially um but your service will mean everything you know that should go away very quickly absolutely each of the points that were made tonight by the board members were written into the bid specs so every company who was bidding on our district knew we were not going to take a step backwards in technology we needed turn-by-turn directions we needed an app our staff needed push notifications because right now it relies on the admin team to do that each morning we start at 6 a.m to make sure we can push out as much information as we get but i think there's some other key pieces of information so i'm going
043to read through the rest of this board page don't go too far there might be other questions good so in careful consideration and with the information gathered we feel that the services american can provide will be of benefit to our students and to our parents and the education we provide it is important to note that one company was disqualified for failing to meet the specifications laid out in the bid specs and they have been notified certified mail of this deficiency and the decision of the district so at this time we recommend to the board that we approve the contract with american school bus company for the following amounts in accordance with the bid packet for 2526 a cost of one million nine hundred and sixty nine thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars for the 2627
044school year a cost of two million forty eight thousand seven hundred and sixteen dollars and eighty cents for the 20s 2528 no it's 2728 the cost is two million one hundred and thirty thousand six hundred and twenty four dollars for a total cost for the three-year deal at six million one hundred and forty nine thousand two hundred and sixty dollars and eighty cents and i give those numbers with specificity because they are in the bid packet for our public in 2023 we paid lincoln way one million seven hundred and seventy five thousand six hundred and eighty two dollars and thirty seven cents and anticipated according to their administration a seven point six percent increase taking the costs for fy24 to one point nine million to be precise one million nine hundred and ten thousand six
045hundred and thirty four dollars and 23 cents with another anticipated increase for fy25 this school year of seven percent the total for the lincoln way transportation if they were able to perform this service which they were not would have been two million forty four thousand three hundred and seventy eight thousand and sixty three cents during our time with our current vendor we saved approximately one hundred and thirty four thousand dollars in year one of the contract and two hundred and forty thousand in year two of the contract these are approximates as the savings would have been even greater but the board determined to pick up some of the additional costs for field trips for our students and we did that because a portion of this is reimbursed through the state this helped our helped to
046ensure that our parents and our students would be able to attend and for a full day please see the page included in the board book for the board members up here all of these numbers tie back to our afr and so these are completed school years obviously we're in the middle of this school year and so we can't like total the costs out but all of the numbers that have been presented are tied back to the annual financial report so these are solid numbers to the penny and so i thought it was important to correct some misinformation about additional transportation costs or that transportation costs have gone up then indeed it's not true and you have the documentation in your board book for that and so with that we ask that the board move forward
047with a recommendation to approve the american school bus company as our new district transportation provider so moved second any other questions or comments don't make us regret it i i just want to just uh just uh just for the parents and everything too you know the numbers always sound like a lot for transportation but i think it's around 70 we get reimbursed from the state called dr mcdermott it it depends on the year we are looking at some further proration at least from what julie and i are looking at and so that number moves a little bit it also moves depending on what qualifies and so there's a big push by the board to help cover field trip costs so there's one common academic field trip per school year per grade level that the district
048covers so that every student can participate so they get the full experience and that relieves a little bit of a burden from our parents for having to try to come up with that additional transportation money and we can submit some of that cost for reimbursement from the state so it's not a dollar for dollar exchange but at least we're entitled to some reimbursement for that and so those numbers have been worked in so we had cost savings in addition to adding those costs into the transportation numbers so it's a great question and i give credit to the board for that so we regard that as being a curricular support the fact that every grade level all the students in those grade levels get to experience the exact same thing any other questions or comments thank
049you guys for thank you can we have a roll call mrs uh campbell sure mr winter aye mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mr spreadberry aye miss murphy aye mrs mcclush aye mr martin aye and the motion carries at this time we're going to have to adjust our agenda we have several items we have to talk about in closed session so we are going at this time you guys can stay if you want we are going to move from here into closed session for the reasons as listed on the agenda can i have a motion so moved second can we have a roll call mr winter aye mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mr spreadberry aye mrs murphy aye mrs mcclush aye mr martin aye and the motion carries we are going into close so
050now can we get a recall or a roll call to return to open session mr winter aye mrs burke aye mrs campbell present mr spreadberry aye mrs murphy aye mrs mcclush aye mrs martin and we are back in open session returning to our agenda under new business is approval of administrative contacts contracts and retirement contracts dr mcdermott would you please okay last year the board of education approved an administrative raise matrix for both district office and building level administrators raises ranged from two percent to five percent depending on the salary of the administrator with those making less dollars receiving a higher percentage to equalize increases along with myself julie stearns jason estonis and francy boss have submitted their notice letters for retirement all retiring at the conclusion of the 2728 school year each has been
051removed from the matrix and the raise reflects what is available to employees within the collective bargaining agreement for certified staff the rest of the administrative team appears on the matrix as follows three percent raises john snipes leslie debor brian skibinski dana wright collin bradley and maura carroll four percent raises for walt brookner and monica locks five percent raises for kevin perkins marianne ryan tracy bulfer marianne our hand and kim zilka all contracts are for two school years july 1st 2025 through june 30th 2027 with the exception of marianne our hand who is a former teacher in the district and prefers a one-year contract to keep her district seniority and kim zilka who's our mary drew early learning center director and then of course for julie francy and jason who will be offered a three-year retirement
052contract from july 1st 2025 through june 30th 2028 any questions or comments at this time then i move that the board of education approve raises and contract terms for the administrators in accordance with the raise matrix and with the information publicly presented this evening so moved second motion and second can we have a roll call please mr winter all right mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mr spreadberry aye mr murphy aye mr klish aye mr martin aye and the moment in the motion carries okay now we move on to employment of certified staff under this under i move that the board of education offer the following individuals a third year probationary contract it's out of order sorry there you go that the following individuals be offered a second year probationary contract for the year 2025
0532026 and employ dima abdelrazak george daly marissa flores michelle gauge stephanie la martino kim jenna rose and jason swanson second we have a motion and a second any questions or comments can we have a roll call mr winter all right mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mr spreadberry aye mr murphy aye mrs mcclish aye mr martin aye and the motion carries employment of certified staff again i move the board of education offer the following individuals a third year probationary contract for the year 2025 2026 and employ peter conrad kelsey fitzgerald katherine hylick rochelle jackson and amy sidler second we have a motion to second any questions or comments can we have a roll call please mr winter aye mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mr spreadberry aye mrs murphy aye mrs mcclish aye mr martin
054aye and the motion carries and finally i move that the board of education offer a tenure contract the following individuals for the school year 2025 2026 and employ arlene boomsma alexandra canino canio sorry christina cavanaugh michaela seplowskis joey's condon denise demarco shannon dempsey edward fritzgerald anna gall megan gallagher stephanie gary christina gonzalez megan grizenbach bianca jose maria hoots noelle herbacevsky herbacevsky thank you all very much rosalia hornig elizabeth johnson tyler jones aya aya kenan rachel mckay mackie sorry kara marcus katharine o'rourke audra power eric ream mary sopa jennifer suster michelle sannowiki sannowiki melanie verbian and amanda zalewski so moved second any questions or comments roll call please mr winter aye mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mrs spreadberry aye mr murphy aye mrs mcclish aye mr martin aye and the motion carries now we move
055on to the resolution to of intent to non-remove and renew administrative contract and reclassify principle at this time we have a recommended resolution that reads and i have to read this legal document as is resolution of intent to non-renew administrative contract and to reclassify principle laura gobel whereas the superintendent has recommended to this board that laura gobel's administrative contact contract not be renewed and that she be reclassified pursuant to section 510 23.8 b of the illinois school code whereas this board finds and determines that such reports state causes charges reasons and defects in the performance of laura gobel principle which warrant the removal and dismissal of her from the position of principle and the non-renewal of her contract and her reclassification pursuant to section 510 23.8 b of the illinois school code and now therefore
056be it resolved by the board of education of summit hill school district 161 will county illinois as follows section one that this board determines not to renew the contract of laura gobel as principal and to reclassify her pursuant to the above cited illinois school code code to such position as she is qualified to fill said reclassification to take effect july 1st 2025 the date upon which her current contract expires section two the superintendent is hereby authorized and directed to sign and serve or cause to be served for the for and on behalf of the board of education by personal service by cert or by certified mail return receipt requested a written notice of the non-renewal of her contract of the proposed reclassification along with a statement of the board's reasons regarding this non-renewal and reclassification
057said notice to be served on or before april 1st 2025 and to be substantially in the form of exhibit a attached here too and made part hereof section three that laura gobel shall have such hearing rights as are set forth in the notice of non-renewal and reclassification attached here too as exhibit a and set forth in 105 icl i lcs 510 23.8 b section four this resolution shall be in full force and effect from and after its adoption okay and it's adopted this day the recommended motion then is i move that the board of education approve the resolution of intent to non-renew an administrative contract and reclassifying mrs laura gobel as stated so moved second we have a motion and a second okay now we can discuss if need to any discussion one of the
058things i would say is that there was a question that came up about why this has to be rushed because these things have to be done by april 1st that is in state code so that's why this action is happening now i think it should also be noted that there were additional facts that were requested but then were refused to be read by some of the people sitting up here i was told it would be thousands of pages and i was asking for a few examples and they were not provided so they were provided they were provided he said he would print all in thousands of pages he said don't bother he said don't bother if you want the information you can get it thousands of pages i asked for a couple examples were you
059not given a few examples by dr mcdermott written documentation oh well we can go back i'm ready to go back there if that's what you need i'm not changing at this point okay that's been called enough names tonight that's the better i've been called enough names tonight that's how it went down that's a better statement all right already voted on facebook so we know okay anybody else have any other i would just like to say that i'm making this decision based on facts that are unknown to the people that are making making the comment making the comments i am make i'm making this decision it is a hard decision and not one that i want to make when people put you in a corner you have to do certain things anybody else have any other
060statements i do feel i'm standing up for the right thing a point of question is is voting nay i'm voting against john i didn't hear just a point of question when i say when the vote comes in a eyes or nays nays voting against this resolution saying i correct would like to keep her as a principal okay that is correct thank you any other questions or comments we have a roll call please mrs campbell mr winter no mrs berg no mrs campbell yes mr spreadberry yes mrs murphy yes mrs mcclish i would just like to say that this will not many people will not understand this okay can i please talk many people will not understand but given the information that we were given in closed session given the information we were given in closed
061session yes it is factual given that information it's not a decision that i'm happy to make but unfortunately the decision is yes mr martin yes and the motion carries we move on to approval of summit hill school district non-certified f y 25 compensation would you would you uh let's wait a minute should have been here earlier during should have been here earlier we had open we had public comments have a nice night you call me tomorrow and i'll be working tomorrow my job let them all just let them all walk and now we'll continue with our meeting monica thank you for your service monica thank you go ahead i need all right all right let's take a five minute break let's get back to approval of summit hill school district non-certified compensation our non-certified employees
062are the lifeline of the district highly valued and highly needed that whom without we could not function admin staff students and parents rely on these employees and they are some of the most dedicated hard-working people around over the past two years we've done a really nice job of pushing away from our dependency on agency employees namely in the areas of nursing and paraprofessionals this occurred because of the strong message sent by the board on just how critical our non-certified employees are to the proper functioning of our school district included in your board book is a copy of the work done over the past several years and the recommendations for this year we've done a search of surrounding districts to ensure we are competitive in the market and also that we ensured that new employees were
063not making as much as those who had worked here for a year or two in the district which required us to freeze the base salary in some instances and back out percentages and others to ensure a fair and equal pay structure so for 2526 our recommendation is in order to make the adjustments noted above pairs will receive between the three percent and five percent raise year one new to the district is set at 1781 entering year two is 1834 entering year three is 1852 and entering year four is 1870 with a five percent increase each year for each employee from here on out for our nurses 2526 in order to ensure we have a stepped pay scale all nurses are recommended to receive a five percent increase with a starting wage of 30 this allows
064for pay progression for new employees while honoring the service of our existing nurses for our custodians in 2526 in order to ensure we have a stepped pay scale all custodians are recommended to receive a five percent increase with a starting wage of 18 this allows for pay progression for new employees while honoring the service of existing custodians building secretaries 2526 in order to ensure we have a stepped pay scale all building secretaries are recommended to receive a five percent increase with a starting wage of 17 this allows for pay progression for new employees while honoring the service of existing secretaries for our clerks 2526 we're recommending a five percent raise for all clerks plus the addition of paid holidays similar to all other district employees with a starting wage of 16 this allows for pay
065progression for new employees while honoring the service of our existing clerks technicians in 2526 a five percent raise for all of our techs with a starting wage of 18 and 20 depending on certification work completed this again allows for pay progression for new employees while honoring the service of existing techs for our lunch supervisors 2526 a five percent raise for all lunch supervisors with a starting wage of 16 this allows for pay progression for new employees while honoring the service of existing supervisors the recommendation for all district office staff non-certified staff is a five percent increase to pay and associated stipends and a long overdue adjustment to the board secretary's pay which is tammy she's behind me per meeting which has not been adjusted in quite some time i provided all of those pay breakdowns
066for the board uh within their board book and so that leads us to our recommended motion at this point i move that the board of education approve the non-certified pay increases as presented so moved second now is there a discussion yes i would like to add that eventually probably the next meeting if we could increase these um give them about a bigger increase i'll go for this today so we could get this increase going but i would like to see and i second it amended with the look at the market market value and increased raise i agree at the next meeting for the can we put that yeah because we have to make it we have to do this by april 1st right no absolutely i'm saying it to the crowd more than anything else
067yeah okay anybody at home thank you so we will bring we will the idea is to vote on this now and we will re-examine it at a later date right yeah right any other questions or comments can we have a roll call mr winter aye mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mr spreadberry aye mr murphy aye mr martin aye and the motion carries mrs mcclish will abstaining okay are we at a point where can we can make a motion to table the rest of the agenda that's what i was just going to bring up yeah yeah at this point there's just a few things on there that are superintendent um superintendent staff report items which we can put out as um in written form so at this time due to the late hour i suggest
068that we adjourn close i couldn't think of the word thank you motion we adjourn this meeting so moved okay motion the table yeah all right can we have a roll call please do we have to motion the table first though before we motion to adjourn i don't think we have to motion the table because it's not they're not action items okay you know they're not they don't require a vote good question thanks yes um can we have a roll call mr winter aye mrs burke aye mrs campbell aye mr spreadberry aye mrs murphy aye mrs mcclish abstain and mr martin aye and we are adjourned thank you