001green. You're good. It's red. I am reconvening into open session. How Township High School District 113 public hearing on Tuesday, August 26 2025 at 703. This agenda item is a public hearing concerning the budget for Township High School District number 113 of the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2025. The recording secretary will now call the role. Mr. Neater here. Mr. Brotha here. Mr. Brunk here. Dr. Elliott Schremer here. Mr. Newman here. I would like everyone else who is present to identify themselves. Catherine Anderson, Deputy Superintendent. Karen Ritter, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Instruction and Assessment. Karen Warner, Chief Communications Officer. Tanya Karner, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services. Jose Medina, Executive Director of Facilities. Molly Mahanty, Assistant Superintendent of Finance. Holly Fleischer, Principal of Highland Park High School. Will Dwyer, Principal of Teerfield High School. Ron Casbom,
002Chief Information Officer. Mira Ante, Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Shayla Holland, Superintendent. We welcome your comments and questions and give them serious consideration pursuant to Board of Education Policy 2-230. Please limit the length of all comments to no more than three minutes. Any questions may be sent via email to be answered subsequent to the meeting. As a reminder, public participation is not intended to be a back-and-forth discussion between the public and the board. This public comment period will be for a maximum of 30 minutes and this is only in regards to the budget hearing. Are there any public comments regarding the public hearing? Is there a motion to adjourn the public hearing? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All of those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstentions? Motion carries. We are now adjourned
003for the public hearing at 7.04. I am reconvening into open session Township High School District 113 regular board meeting on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 at 7.05. The recording secretary will now call the roll. Mr. Nieder? Here. Mr. Braza? Here. Mr. Brok? Here. Dr. Elliott-Shermer? Here. Mr. Heineman? Here. Ms. Lupo? Here. Ms. Newman? Here. May I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no further discussion, we'll proceed to a vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. The motion carries. We will now move on to board reports and the first is the president's report. We would like to thank Dr. Holland for including the board in the all staff welcome back assembly, which was a while ago on Monday,
004August 11th. Also want to thank the board members who were able to clear their schedules of their work schedules in order to attend. The honor roll always amazes me to see the number of staff members that have been a part of our district for 20 plus years. I also want to acknowledge and note appreciation to our D. E. A. President's focus on collaboration. Dr. Holland and her cabinet members also who serve as gold champions for taking the time to highlight the key initiatives from our strategic plan during that session as well. It's fun to see all the beginning of school activities with our staff and our students. We're all looking forward to seeing our school calendars fill up with sporting events, fine art shows, club activities and all school events like homecoming. I do want
005to encourage our board members as your schedule allows to participate in the both of the schools open houses over the next couple of weeks if possible. And then the one housekeeping item I have is at the beginning of each school year, we do review our board protocols and communication expectations as a board, which community members can find on our website. Are there any updates to those expectations that we want to implement at this time? I do understand that we spent a couple of different cycles last year spending some time on this, so I'm not sure if there are any updates anyone like to have. Okay, fantastic. So then we'll just move forward with as is moving on finance and facilities committee. So earlier today we had a finance facilities committee meeting a number of things
006on the agenda. The first thing was an update to the summer 2025 construction, which has and will be completed per schedule. The main thing coming out of that was that originally that work was planned to be in the neighborhood of $9.8 million. And through the planning process and the bidding process, it actually came in at $8.6 million. So really nice savings there. So kudos to the team for their performance there. The next thing we talked about, which is actually coming up a little later in the agenda, is some proposed work for next summer. So just we got a preview of that, but we'll be talking about that this evening. We had sort of a very initial conversation on a master facility plan. And so at very early stages at this point, just information gathering, some
007benchmarking, talking to some of our professional consultants, some of their school districts to sort of gather information on sort of, you know, what that process might look like. But some of those best practices are, you know, clearly the whole things can be very rooted in our strategic plan. So I think that's one of the big things that we wanted to make sure that we talked about. We talked about the procurement of some asset management software, which really is just an additional module to some software that we currently have been using, you know, within the district. So this is going to go beyond just sort of an inventory and ages and lives and conditions of our sort of our physical assets at the facilities. You know, the purpose of this really is to give us the
008ability to perform appropriate, preventative maintenance, extend the useful lives of these assets that we have, which is clearly a big cost saving measure. And then also hopefully, or the plan is to form a lot of these services in house because we'll know in advance what's required that should also provide us a cost savings going forward. So that, you know, seems like a really important piece of software and actually also will inform this, you know, the master facility plan going forward. We have to get an understanding of what our physical assets are and their condition, what their useful lives are. And the last thing we talked about, which again is also on the agenda later, is we got a preview of sort of between the fiscal 26 tentative budget that we looked at previously and, and
009what the final budget summary is going to be. So, you know, Ali will be telling us about that a little later this evening as well. Thank you. Miss Lupa for True North, please. Thank you. Good evening. On Thursday, August 7th, I, along with Dr. Holland, attended a True North Leadership Council special meeting to interview candidates for the interim superintendent position. It was a productive evening that concluded with a vote to offer the position to one of the pairs of superintendents interviewed. Then on Wednesday, August 20th, I also with Dr. Holland attended the regular Leadership Council meeting. The meeting opened with temporary acting superintendents Andy Piper's report, which included an update on the annual audit status of the Association of Parent and Staff Update and the successful launch of the 2025-2026 school year. True North administration
010provided a simplified fiscal year 27 budget calendar, taking into account the discussions around the co-op's future. True North had its 10 year health life safety inspection. One priority A item was found and will be taken care of swiftly and at a low cost. The remaining items were all priority B and C and more time and planning will be needed to decide how and when these items will be addressed. We received report from the policy committee. All updates were minor or being reviewed as part of the regular five year review process. The bulk of the meeting was an update on status of orderly dissolution process discussion and direction to explore orderly reorganization processes. And this is the following is a direct quote from this update from them. True North and its member districts are continuing to
011explore an orderly dissolution process to ensure continuity of services for students and fair transparent treatment of staff. Discussions remain ongoing with updates expected to be shared at a special leadership council meeting in September and further discussion anticipated later in the fall. At the same time, member districts are also evaluating a potential reorganization that would allow True North to continue operations, though possibly with a revised mix of programs and services. And namely, that's to focus on K through A education. So back to the quotes. This collaborative planning process aims to build a framework that supports districts wishing to remain while ensuring a smooth transition for those choosing to withdraw. There was a request for two special meetings in the future to discuss both dissolution or reorganizing options. The leadership council took action to approve the 2025
0122026 interim superintendent employment contracts for Dr James Gunnell and Mr James Nelson. Our next meeting will be a special meeting on September 17th, and a regular leadership council meeting will be held on October 15th. Thank you very much. Moving on to administration information reports. Dr Holland. Good evening, everyone. So I think we're all starting to settle back into the flow of a new school year, and we're adjusting to a more aligned schedule across both buildings. I find myself personally reviewing the schedule multiple times during the day just to make sure I'm in the right space at the right time. In addition to a shared schedule, we implemented cell phone and device expectations updates to some of our our hallway access opportunities at HP to share in our responsibilities to ensure that all students are in
013class learning and engaging as they should. And we've also launched our new standard response protocol. I love you guys for safety and security. These are just some examples of things we've talked about extensively in our board meetings that we've moved forward with. All of these efforts are aligned to our commitment to maximize student engagement, learning and of course, focused on safety. Following the open of school opening of school as and mentioned comes the law, the launch of fall sports clubs activities as well as our open houses at both schools. While it's pretty intense evening to attend open house and to follow an actual students schedule. It's a wonderful evening and an opportunity for our parents and caregivers to engage with their students, teachers. It's always great to meet the staff and educators who are instrumental
014in partnering with you around the learning experience of your students. And so I want to encourage anyone who's able to attend to attend. And if you can't definitely take some time to reach out and say hello to your students, teachers. Both schools do a really wonderful job of communicating information regarding the night, very detailed information and ensuring that you have support when you arrive. So if you're worried and nervous, like I was last year trying to find your way around the building, there are students and other staff members who are identifiable to help you find your way around. It's a really wonderful experience. I also want to mention that earlier today, this morning communication went out to all of our parents and caregivers who have students who receive services from True North. Just providing information
015that we are hosting to informational and feedback sessions to partner and to collaborate around our future path forward with our partnership with True North, which is our education, our special education cooperative. We have two dates identified on Monday, September 15th. We'll have a session or in person meeting in this room at our admin center from six to 730. RSVP information is also shared in the communication that went out. We also have a virtual meeting that we'll host on Thursday, September 18th from six to 715. And once you RSVP, we'll make sure that you have access to the link. If anyone is listening to this and you just want to participate and maybe share your perspectives, you're also invited. We can figure out a way to possibly add this information to our website. We are targeting
016families, parents and caregivers who have students who receive services from True North. Part of our discussions around the potential disillusion and and or reorganization is to make sure we're collaborating with our families to to learn about your experiences, to consider your feedback as we determine our path forward. So this is one of those opportunities. I also want to mention that in addition to the sessions that we're hosting, there will also be a feedback form that is shared as well that has been shared. So whether you can attend or not, we want to make sure that everyone has access to providing feedback. And of course, you can reach out to me if you want to have a conversation outside of the sessions as well. I've been meeting with parents and answering questions. I understand that this
017can be a stressful time and you have a lot of questions. I just want to reiterate that the educational experiences of your students of our students top priority and our goal, whether we go down a path of withdrawing or reorganizing is to enhance the experience. And so we're not even talking about level setting. We want to make sure that we further the learning and experience that's currently being offered, irregardless of our path. And so feel free to contact me if there are any questions. Um, lastly, finally, I want to thank our principals and our principal teams and our staff for the efforts in making our opening a great one. Um, not only there was a lot of energy at our all staff opening, there was a lot of energy at both buildings, openings and follow
018up assemblies. And, um, it's just been, um, a good start to the school year and it's been great to see students back staff smiling. Um, I know the emails are flying now, um, that things are underway and that's okay. That's why we're here. Um, but I just feel like there's a lot of positive energy and I want to thank everyone and all of cabinet as well for making that a possibility and reality. And for our students for bringing the energy back. So that's my report. Boy, yes. So the following FOIA has been completed since our, um, our last meeting. Great. Uh, and now moving on to further administration information reports. Yes. So we've been talking a lot about our strategic plan. Um, we've recently provided the board with an update on our implementation progress. One
019of the things that we've been talking about doing and now we're actually here is to develop the cadence of providing goal updates, very high level repeat, high level updates where our cabinet members who are all goal champions for each of our goals will just provide a brief update on where we are in, um, our progress of implementing our strategic plan. Considering the last time we talked about this, which it seems like only a few weeks ago, the launch of school and now we're at our first board meeting. Um, we plan on providing these updates, um, three times a year for each goal, um, a fall update, um, through our meetings, winter and spring. So everyone will hear from all of the goal champions three times during the school year. And this will culminate in an
020end of the year report regarding our first year. So, um, this is our update. I just want to remind everyone of our strategic plan that was adopted at our June 10th board meeting. Really excited about our new path forward. And as you can see, there are mission, vision, core values, portraits, and we have five key goal areas. Student engagement and growth, inclusive learning ecosystem, strategic staffing, family and community partnerships, and fiscal responsibility. And so for today's overview and goal update, we have, um, you're going to hear a goal update from goal one, student engagement and growth, um, from Dr. Ritter and Dr. Karner is going to provide an update on goal to an inclusive learning ecosystem. I am the goal champion for goal number one student engagement and growth. And just as a reminder, each
021goal has several strategies that we're working on. They each have a smart goal and key performance indicators. And you saw this at the August 5th meeting. Um, so since that August 5th meeting, we did present all five goals to our staff on August 11th. And for goal one, even though it's only been a couple of weeks, I do have some updates. Um, we, I met with the three leadership action teams for each of the strategies. We reviewed the components of the strategies. We reviewed the smart goals and the KPIs and the blueprint for the year as well as for the next 30 days. We set expectations for the leadership action team. We set a cadence for meetings and began to delegate tasks to, um, the leadership action team members. And then, uh, before our next
022update for goal number one in December, we will have met at least two more times to set some, um, next actions. So for each of the strategies, we're answering the questions. What are we learning about it? What impact are we having? And what are our next steps? So for strategy number one, it is develop career pathways and programming that provide work based learning experiences and opportunities for students. So, so far we had talked about the different components of college and career pathways as defined by the state of Illinois. They have several key components, for example, career exploration activities, team based challenges, six college credit hours, whether that's through dual credit or AP classes and a 60 hour internship. Um, the short term goal for this year is to apply for at least one new career
023pathway and that that deadline is December 15th. So we will be engaging our career path education, career education plan committee, sorry, and our department chairs in some brainstorming around what kind of career pathways we can develop and apply for this year. Um, this is a wonderful opportunity, um, to explicitly show our students and our families how our coursework aligns to specific career pathways and college areas of studies. So not only will we be able to communicate that information upfront, students will begin to, um, you know, understand how the courses they take may lead to certain careers and, um, areas of study in college. Um, and our next steps is to develop a tracking system for student participation in career pathways. So right now, um, we get information from tech campus or we are able to
024track some of our student coursework, but we really need a way to determine whether students are taking the correct classes, participating in internship, career exploration activities and a way to make sure that they are following the path work so that they can earn that endorsement. So we're going to need to develop that. Um, again, we'll be meeting with the career education plan committee as soon as that gets up and running and our department chairs to develop career and college pathways in house. And then also just, um, another thing that we're doing is mapping our career exploration activities from the pace framework into grade specific advisory and homeroom. So this year is the first year of advisory for both schools. We do have a freshman lesson on career pathways and, um, we do have a sophomore
025one as well. So those are a couple of things that we're working on for strategy one. Here is the smart goal and key performance indicators for strategy number two. And strategy number two is to explore and implement a variety of rigorous and engaging learning strategies to ensure all students receive comprehensive and targeted support leading to improved achievement. With this strategy, we are learning that there is a lot of work that's already put in place to meet this goal. Through the work of our professional learning communities, PLCs, our tier one instruction focus and our co teaching professional developments. Um, so we are, uh, plant. We plan to ensure that meeting we're meeting the needs of the majority of our students at the tier one level. So so far PLCs are going well. They're up and running.
026Conversations are shifting from teachers discussing their content matter to, um, really thinking about their instruction and its impact on student learning. So one of the impacts that impacted us this year was that, um, the A C T benchmarks have been redefined by the state of Illinois. So, um, they just released this maybe I think maybe a week and a half ago. So this impacts us because we had already determined percentages of growth for our students of meeting and exceeding benchmarks. And now that that, um, initial benchmark has changed our SIP goal. Um, school improvement plan goals are changing. So Dr Dwyer and Miss Fleischer are redefining what their goals are for their school improvement plans and making sure that we are capturing the students who are, um, you know, within the window of meeting our
027and exceeding our benchmarks. And then our next steps for this strategy is to really focus on tier one instruction. We need to develop clear criteria for recommending students from one tier to another. Um, and then also engage in professional learning activities around universal design for learning. Um, and some of our other tier one practices and also, uh, defining what what does that look like in the classroom. So, um, understanding, uh, what practices are being used right now and and observable look for us and then deciding, you know, what else we need to include. The final strategy for goal one, um, is displayed here. We've got a smart goal and key performance indicators and strategy three is to create opportunities for students to provide meaningful inputs and have a voice in decisions that shape school policies,
028programs and initiatives. So what we're learning here about this particular strategy is that we have many different ways of soliciting student feedback. Many different groups that we talked to. We've got our superintendents advisory committee. We the principals each have their own student advisory committee. We have our board student liaisons and many other ways that we capture feedback from students. Um, what we want to do here is make sure that we're, um, making sure that we're capturing voice from all different groups, student groups. Um, and we're not missing any areas there. We also have two ways of, um, casting a broad net in capturing student voice. And that's the five essential survey that's given once a year in the spring and the panorama survey that's given twice a year. The panorama panorama survey is actually being
029administered this week, so we should have some data by the next, um, update. So the, um, in the impact box there, I've got some data from last year where we are right now. So with our five essential survey participation, we're just under 80% of students participating and with the panorama survey just under 60%. So we hope to increase both of those numbers to capture, like I said, a wider net of student voice. Um, and then also the other thing that is important to note is that each of the school's school improvement plans have a goal of increasing student belonging and we are linking the student voice goal of goal one to the SIP goal of student belonging. Because when, um, students feel like they have a voice and they're connected to school, their sense of
030belonging increases too. So this goal actually contributes to both, um, school improvement plans and our strategic plan. And our next steps for this, as I mentioned, we are giving the panorama survey this week and, um, we also need to know, um, and develop a way to track how student voice is impacting decisions that shape school policies, programs and initiatives. Um, something that's a little bit more explicit that we can say, like their, their voice did this to this policy. So, um, I believe Dr. Karner is next with goal number two. Good evening, everyone. Goal number two and inclusive learning ecosystem. The goal is to create a safe and inclusive and innovative learning environment that foster strong relationships and engages all learners through challenging, relevant and supportive experiences. Um, similar to goal one, there are three
031strategies that fall underneath goal two. The first one is to establish a sustainable multi-tiered system of support framework with clear protocols for identifying student needs, implementing evidence-based interventions and monitoring progress to ensure that all students achieve growth and proficiency. Um, very similar to goal number one, I will cover three areas. What are we learning about goal to one impact? What impact are we having? And what are our next steps? Goal two includes a focus on strengthening multi-tiered systems of support. And we have defined several key priorities. First one being communication. We want all of our stakeholders to have a clear understanding of how support works and what it means. High leverage practices. We are utilizing universal design for learning strategies, which will help teachers design classrooms where every student can access instruction. Our interventionists are
032implementing targeted support so students get help when and how they need it. Benchmarks to guide this work. We are aligning our universal screener with state expectations to accurately gauge student needs and to set clear baselines for support consistency. We are building a shared understanding across schools and departments to create a culture which supports inclusive school communities. Our next step includes finalizing our MTSS handbook, launching a district wide communication plan, administering the universal screener to all students and reviewing data to establish district wide baselines. The second strategy under goal two is to continuously assess student learning to inform and adjust instruction, ensuring it is differentiated and responsive to individual needs and promotes growth. Goal two also aims to ensure that every student has strong tier one instruction. We need to know what data to use to
033guide instruction and we need to know if our students are mastering the content. We want our teachers to have a toolbox of instructional practices and formative assessment strategies to adjust instruction and meet student needs. Goal two gives us the opportunity to uncover areas in our core practices that need strengthening while highlighting the many things we do well. We will increase resources that can be shared across the district and to do this we are developing two key supports. An instructional practices library which is a collection of proven strategies that teachers can access anytime and a common formative assessment calendar, a line with our universal screener window. The last strategy under goal two is to develop and maintain physically, emotionally and culturally safe and welcoming learning environments for all students and staff across the district. This last
034strategy of goal two includes a focus on creating a safe and welcoming learning environment for both students and staff. We are intentionally designing supports, structures and strategies so that stakeholders feel seen, valued and equipped to succeed. We are working to remove barriers to create access and foster belonging. We have carefully assessed our current survey tool to refine questions so that they align to our goals so that we may capture how our efforts are being received and which areas we need to improve upon. On tomorrow August 27th the survey will be administered to students district-wide. These results will provide data to help guide us towards a more inclusive school community. Thank you. For the panorama survey specifically we should be able to get data right away for that and we can report that out in December
035at our next update for goal one and two. So I'm just going to possibly because not to say that it can't but as you heard there are different teams that are also reviewing this data and need time to vet. All of our works align with the school improvement plans so there are different layers of conversations. So I do want to mention that the next steps are based on what was discussed today and it may or may not be appropriate to bring that exact items back the next time. If you think about how comprehensive our strategic plan is, all of the strategies and their robust action plans connected to each. I wouldn't want to forego mentioning that some other aspect of the strategic plan has launched to create time to continuously revisit things from earlier. So
036we'll just have to probably I agree with Dr. Ritter and we'll also have to use some discernment on how much to continue to bring back for the updates. Right right because if you remember the end of the year update will be more comprehensive regarding all of our works so you'll hear about different facets of it throughout the school year. So I'm looking at the last page on goal one where we're talking about the participation rates in these things and in the next column we talk about formula way to monitor how student voice is having an impact. Although that's circular so if we can just demonstrate to students that they're having an impact it'll help participation. So I just thought I'd throw that out there. Good point. Any other questions comments? Okay thank you very much.
037Okay now excellence and effort. This is our second year I believe of doing excellence and effort and so at the beginning I just like to our first report I like to just level set the purpose of excellent effort is for our principals our school leaders to be able to share the things that are happening in the classroom are happening in the hallways our student liaisons are phenomenal at providing us the student voice the student lens of what's occurring in within the four walls which obviously is oftentimes focused around our clubs our our activities things that are obviously very near and dear to students and so we want to start excellence and effort for us to also hear about the other great work that's happening from our staff as well as from our students so I
038appreciate both of you sharing and who is going first dr. Dwyer you're up first absolutely okay well good evening and members of the board superintendent Holly and colleagues I am extremely excited to give my first excellence and effort report the 2526 school year DHS is indeed off to a great start as dr. Holland shared we welcome back our staff on the 11th and in the morning and then we followed that up by the evening welcoming in the ninth grade parents for a newly designed warrior welcome and this really laid a strong foundation of information and understanding for the parents for our ninth graders I did ask for a show of hands from the audience of how many had their first high school student and it is the vast majority of the cohort are on their
039their first so it's great to continue to build that tradition of excellence with parents who are experiencing DHS for the first time we also got to welcome our freshmen students on Wednesday morning and a specially designed orientation that allowed them to tour the building find classes ask questions visit with seniors all of it as the only cohort in the building for the morning it was fantastic we closed that session out with lunch and a DJ with dancing in the cafeteria I don't want to speak for her but I do believe dr. Holland won the dance contest she put all those ninth graders to shame also really really thankful to the the entire district leadership team for everybody's support at DHS and those opening days of school was great and also for all the support everyone
040has shown me in my first weeks here at DHS and as we said before school is indeed in full swing classes are off to a great start our students are excited to be back I am very proud of the adherence that we have had to the cell phone policy very little grumbling very few questions they've really gotten on board and that is thanks in large part to great communication at the end of last year and over the summer I've also been able to visit several classrooms already this year and I'm just incredibly impressed at the engagement of our students and the strong relationships that our staff have already built just ten days into the new year and I do want to give a very special acknowledgement to social studies teacher Nikki Antonakos over the summer
041she was recognized as the Illinois high school history teacher of the year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American history it's an incredible honor and she is now one of 53 finalists in the entire country to be the national history teacher of the year and we will find out more about that in October and we're very very proud of her in athletics hard to believe but competitions began I just came from a field hockey game and this year we have 596 fall athletes competing which is an increase of 12 students over last year's 584 and I also really want to thank our entire athletic department last night they put on a great event for all parents and athletes on information focused on the beliefs expectations and resources of our athletic programs well attended and a
042very great moment for parents especially all these new freshman parents to get acquainted with the athletic programming at DHS and the event was recorded and will be shared out with families who couldn't attend in activities land I'm happy to report that our homecomings quick guys it's a week after next so tickets advertising went out today the theme is Gatsby we're anticipating a huge attendance like we always have and really looking forward to it and also in activities on Thursday the Deerfield administrative team will be grilling hot dogs and hamburgers for free for everybody in the courtyard so if you want an extra well-done burger come by and I'm sure I can I can help you out but any are welcome to come by and that's that concludes my report great thank you so much Holly
043thank you good evening so I love the beginning of the school year being able to have our staff and students come back home after dispersing in the summer feels like a full family dinner table so it is it brings me immense joy and it's there's a lot of excitement in the halls I want to extend a huge thank you to all our employee groups buildings and grounds security teachers instructional aids technology administrators their hard work made the beginning of this year incredibly smooth I also want to give a big thank you to members of the cabinet for your presence at our schools whether it be scanning students in as they come in saying good morning coming to our assemblies special thank you to dr. Holland for opening our house on vine party your visibility accessibility
044and involvement matters and HP appreciates you all very much and if you know you know you saw dr. Anderson in HP during our all-staff opening in HP blue pictures were taken our start was highlighted by our annual house party on vine assembly where we connected as a school family through our common love which is HP that's also why we needed to talk about the expectations that we have for each other that are built on inclusion respect and safety encouraging all of us to help level up as a community where we all create the conditions for every member of our school community to thrive and of course we concluded HP style with the DJ battle and a dance party I believe Sophie's gonna talk a little bit more about those house rules that we rolled out
045some highlights from the PE department our English department and our new advisory program include the following our PE department is just as focused on physical health as it is on social and emotional the PE department houses our link crew program which started our freshman orientation for the class of 2029 our link crew leaders were guided throughout the guided actually our freshmen throughout the day building community and touring the building making for a great first day where students were already feeling connected to both peers and in the freshman class as well as upperclassmen our traffic safety teaching team is piloting a new schedule that will give students more time behind the wheel which we all appreciate our teachers are also leaders in their field creating new assessments both summative informative that align with state standards and
046are preparing to present their work at upcoming conferences this morning I had the pleasure of joining our AP English literature teachers along with Dr. Ritter and students who had an amazing in school field trip and seminar with author Kathleen Rooney an author and professor at DePaul which involved various readings lecture style and a writing workshop Rooney's writing workshop focused on the French tradition of flannery I cannot pronounce it but dr. Ritter who speaks French flannery I was like flannery but no it's flannery and that really is about walking as an act of observation and then recording everything that you see really taking in sense sensory details this was a unique opportunity for them to interact directly with contemporary author and each other sharing their writing in real time last week we launched our freshman advisory
047and mentoring or FAM a new program designed to give every ninth grader a consistent crew and a trusted adult to guide them through their first year of high school DHS has had a long-standing advisory program and we're excited to begin our own at Highland Park this year in FAM students meet twice a week in small groups led by a teacher where they build relationships reflect on who they are and practice key academic and social emotional skills we're using an evidence-based social and emotional and future ready skills curriculum which focuses on six durable life skills self-awareness empathy adaptability collaboration agency and purpose Wayfinder's comprehensive curriculum comes from the design school at Stanford and it is a castle recommended program alongside FAM we also launched advisory plus which blends FAM content with targeted academic support while the
048structure looks a little different the goal is the same and that is to provide every freshman with intentional time for connection skill building and support we'll continue to track progress toward our advisory goals through student reflections belonging data and attendance but most importantly through the everyday signs that students are finding a crew of peers and trusted adults they're asking for help when they need it they're understanding themselves in a deeper way and they're stepping forward with confidence able to thrive on behalf of our advisory teams we're excited to see how this program helps our freshmen not just transition but truly thrive in our house on Vine great start to the school year thanks for all your support thank you and is Highland Park's homecoming the same weekends no we don't have homecoming until October 11th
049okay because Sophie plans homecoming and the theme is disco okay fantastic great thank you both now our next favorite part of the agenda is our student liaison reports so who would like to go first can I say something first you can so I would like to welcome Ethan Polanski from Deerfield High School and Sophie Montavayas from Highland Park High School as our new board student liaisons we're excited to welcome you I'm going to ask as you start your before you start your report that we get to know you a little bit so if you could take a moment to introduce yourselves what you're passionate about what you're involved in in school right before sharing your report that would be great so who wants to go first okay mr. plants oh hi my name is Ethan
050Polanski I'm a senior at Deerfield I do gymnastics I've been doing gymnastics since I was a freshman that's that's my thing and what else okay so this year we have implemented more strict regulations on cell phone policy which is no cell bell to bell meaning that kids cannot access their phones during class periods so far students are complying with it there's not really been any problems but also since it's the start of the school year it is hard to determine how that policy is gonna evolve over time if kids are gonna stop listening if teachers are gonna be less strict but in comparison to the end of last year kids are on their phones significantly less during class and then despite the new phone policy students are still also getting distracted from their computers because
051kids are or juniors and seniors are still allowed to bring personal devices like iPads and computers where teachers can't monitor what they're doing so kids are you know texting shopping playing wordle stuff like that so we've made it so you guys have made it a little bit harder for us to connect to Wi-Fi but it's not really doing anything it you just go to tech and then they connect for you but and then and then for athletics and activities football starts on Friday which we're excited for clubs have been starting up and you know getting involved in clubs is very important especially for new students because high school is a very big place compared to middle school and freshmen it's very important for them to join clubs and get to know new people so things
052like DECA student council yearbook club theater band orchestra are all really good and popular clubs that kids like to join and then finally this is kind of about mostly the seniors but who have started college applications and it's a little bit stressful but with the help from school counselors and the CCRC everything's been going pretty good thank you miss Montsavayas good evening everyone my name is Sophie Montsavayas and to begin I want to say I'm really grateful for this opportunity I'm not really involved in sports but I have been in badminton and track but I would say I'm really involved in class council and together towards peace I feel like those two clubs really helped me engage with others and share my voice first I want to say how oh wait sorry to begin one
053recent change has been the implementation of class of closed hallway policy students are now expected to stay in their assigned spaces during class unless they have a pass reactions have been mixed some students feel like it limits freedom but others see it as a step towards safety and structure especially during emergencies we also have a new belt about cell phone policy phones meet phones must be put away during class time a lot of students are actually okay with this we'll see how long that lasts but they feel it helps minimize this just minimize distractions and keep them more engaged with classwork that said there are others who believe it would be more beneficial to focus on building self-control with phones phone use other than rather than the strict removal last week from August 19th to
054the 22nd we held our annual activities fair it was great to see students out in the courtyard exploring clubs sports and engaging with school life speaking of sports fall athletics are in full swing we have 642 students participating in fall sports this year up from 576 last year girls and boys golf have started with a mix of home and away matches soccer kids kicks off at home against and Antioch and Antioch on September 2nd our girls flag football played yes yesterday against Glenbrook North at home and our football team begins this Friday versus Leiden lastly we hosted our house party on vine assembly which focused on reinforcing our core values of inclusion respect and safety the assembly highlighted key expectations like staying focused in class using hall passes appropriately and most importantly focusing a school
055culture where every student feels a sense of belonging and with that sense of belonging we really want to make sure we eliminate the harassment and bullying and we no longer want to accept the football post we want students to feel welcomed and a place where and they want we want students to have a place where we want students to feel welcomed and to think of school as a place where they have a home where they can call home it was a great opportunity to help students understand and connect with our giant values I'd like to end with something that really stood out to me at the end of the assembly one of our seniors Valeria Rodriguez shared a simple but powerful message and she said individually unique together complete that really stuck with me because
056it had in park we are all different and it is the strength but what makes this school truly special is how we bring those differences together to create a strong community personally this message means a lot to me because my mom aunts uncles cousins and siblings have all walked the halls of HPHS and in a couple of years my niece's will too for my family Highland Park isn't just a school it's a tradition it's a place where we've grown created memories and built our futures thank you yeah and I do want to stress to both of you your voice is so important at this table your predecessors have given us great insight and various topics things that I still still resonates as we move forward in other conversations so please please share your ideas and
057your thoughts because we want to hear them thank you thank you okay next is public comment we welcome your comments and questions to give them serious consideration pursuant to board policy 2-2 3 0 when I call your number please come forward to the podium identify yourself with your first and your last name and sitting what you reside and if applicable see at the agenda item to which your comment is directed please keep all comments to three minutes the vice president raised his hand at the 32nd warning and announced time when the limit is reached you must conclude remarks immediately any questions may be sent via email to the superintendent to receive us a response subsequent to the meeting and I believe we have one public comment number one are exceptionally difficult to follow but as
058an outsider I'm looking from the outside in and the outside is increasingly full of those who scream will and our boys I'm lean Shapiro I'm your disrupter but friendly so it is a grim time in our nation it's an unprecedented and an a historical time in our nation and it's definitely our duty to have learning and discussion with our young adults and our rising adults our lower class people while our nation's fabric which is the Constitution is being ignored by those sworn to protect it and uphold it the resultant heinous injustices are spiked with playground style threats we are not proud of the webel of conversation and activity that we are experiencing so my point of view is that capital D defiance as capital D deterrence defiance as deterrence should be our justifiable objective I
059have confidence that this educational establishment and all of its inhabitants all meaning all indeed will not ignore the grave peril that's engulfing us and that we will all wrestle with truth and disavow the precipitous default to the deadly hypocrisy I'm not a doctor I play one on TV but my diagnosis is that the disease of our time is indeed hypocrisy meanwhile let's all as we're a high school attempt to return our well to the English Department thank you thank you we have two discussion items this evening the first is a consideration of a resolution and petition for withdrawal from true North educational co-op 804 filed by Northbrook School District 27 just want to add that the resolution has a withdrawal potential withdrawal date by for 2027 I know I'm bringing this up because it has
060been a point of discussion in past board meetings which is the the I don't want to say normal but the the cadence the standard right yes don't like the original agreed upon right for the and this is a fraction later in our agenda as well is there any other discussion regarding the school district and their petition the next discussion item is a summer 2026 construction design and bid expenditures dr. Holland who so I am going to I know that in the board pack or excuse me the board agenda there's information regarding the design and bid expenditures in an overview Jose Medina our director of facilities management will provide an overview thank you thank you dr. Han as we're wrapping up this year's summer's construction it's time to plan for next year's projects with that being
061said a lot of collaboration has happened with our architectural partners with FGMA PSI our mechanical engineers and our construction partners with pepper construction there's been a lot of work in collaboration and putting this a presentation with some of the information it provides what was completed last year and what we're looking to do this year and then at the end it will be followed with any questions that the board might have and we welcome any questions I'd like to welcome Keisha from cut our consulting to present this presentation I do want to also just note that this was a point of discussion in our finance facilities committee as well so good evening everyone I will walk through our plans for FY 2026 that we're proposing to the district for your review our agenda is to first
062talk about the health and life safety and capital projects and overview recap of the work that was done in 2025 the proposed summer 2026 improvements as well as we will eventually get to the architectural engineering construction services the fees for both PSI and the pepper team with FGMA and then we'll open up to discussion and then I think later on in the agenda there will be motions presented so that is our that is our kind of goal for today's conversation we can go to the next slide and as I start the recap of the overview of 2025 I do want to highlight that this was in this effort was initiated in November of 2024 when we presented to the district the kind of the first iteration of the two-year plan of the 2025 work in
063the 2026 work with the strategy of being able to do work at Deerfield one year in Highland Park High School the second year so that we can alternate and make sure that there is one school where there is little or you know minimal work happening that allows that school to function for the summer with summer activities summer school etc while the other has more of the heavy lifted with improvements so for this current summer I know Jose's already kind of giving you the update on how we're progressing but this is really to talk a little bit about how our work has progressed as far as the distinction between what is approved for health and life safety and what is considered a capital improvement as a result of not necessarily being improved by the Illinois School
064Board for health and life safety so in 2025 we had a good portion of the work that was approved by ISB for HLS including Deerfield High School roof replacement interior courtyard improvements repairs to guardrails and handrails mixing valve replacement concrete sidewalk replacement fencing other paving work and rooftop mechanical unit replacements additionally at Highland Park High School there will be boiler burner work and retubing of the boilers which is still to start but that was also approved the remaining work that we felt was critical to happen for 2025 that was not under the health and life safety and therefore is being done as a capital improvement for Deerfield High School include the northwest storm system the exit signage installation discharging light installation smoke detector replacement east parking utility work miscellaneous park plumbing as well as not
065listed on here but also some tennis court drainage work and then for Highland Park High School same as Deerfield with small detector install and discharge lighting install so again that is the work and kind of how it breaks down between being HLS as well as capital improvements so for 2026 as a part of the submission in 2024 into 2025 there already is 2026 work that is approved by ISB to be considered HLS work and then there's also work that we'll we plan to submit to them that we've identified since the original submission they'll be submitted via amendment and we have put these as potential because historically we have seen that these are the types of projects that are approved as a part of the health and life safety for the 2026 capital improvements these are
066items that were not approved and or items that are we're now proposing to do but we don't anticipate would be approved because again historically they would not be approved by ISB for that work for 2026 health and life safety scope includes for Highland Park High School roofing replacements continuation of guard rail and handrail work mixing valves concrete sidewalk replacement fencing and refurbishing auditorium air handling unit the potential work that we will submit to you can see if it's approved will be HPHS pegment replacements replacing mechanical units as well as replacing dance studio mechanical units and adding cooling and replacing the RTU in one the capital improvements include HPHS plumbing backflows miscellaneous mechanical exhaust work adding floor drains in the toilet rooms miscellaneous plumbing including things such as I wash stations second means of egress and
067Walters field which is at the locker rooms the HPHS ventilation to occupied spaces and the Deerfield High School chiller plant replacement and I do want to note for the potential health and life safety the add-in cooling part may not be approved but hopefully it will get it with the rest of the mechanical unit improvements right now approximately five million dollars of the construction cost is approved by ISB so that breaks down into kind of again two segments of work as we did in 2025 we had some work that was performed by pepper and some work that was performed by PSI just a difference between capital work and mechanical guaranteed injury savings work so so for the capital improvements in HLS work that will be done by the FGMA pepper group that includes at Highland Park
068High School a paving roofing guard rails sidewalk replacement fencing ventilation work mixing valves toilet room floor drains miscellaneous plumbing and mechanical as well as work at Wolters field including guard rails handrails fencing and some other miscellaneous work for a total project budget of six point five million dollars and I didn't highlight but again with the way that went through the list before it identifies things that were approved by ISB versus not moving on to the performance contract work performed by PSI for that work for Highland Park the plan is to refurbish the auditorium air handling units replacing the RTU a1 and a2 and a wing and upgrading HVAC or replacing dance studio air handling unit and adding cooling as well as a deer field there would be the chiller plant replacement and replacing the RTU
069in one and upgrading the HVAC system for a total budget of 2.5 million dollars that concludes the presentation on a proposed work for 2026 is there any discussion yeah I have a couple questions so the work we can go back to that last slide maybe so this is the 2026 HLS cattle improvements this is the FGMA and pepper slide sorry one more mm-hmm okay so the total there and this is just an abdomen at this point right six and a half million so we also have information on sort of proposed design fees and that sort of thing which doesn't exactly equate to the six and a half million dollar number here so curious how we came up with the number that we're being asked to approve on the design fees relative to these costs and
070is it because that we anticipate that some items that are on this list we may perform similar in a similar way that we're doing with PSI is that you know we had any that sort of if you could ask the first part of your question you mentioned that the design fees didn't add up is that well if you just work it backwards it doesn't get those six and a half million dollars comes to something else so to be clear that this is a full project budget cost so the six point five is is beyond the construction costs and then the design fees it also includes soft costs any other owner procured items as well okay so this six and a half includes all those soft costs everything yes okay all right so now I guess
071my questions is how at this point not knowing what this is actually going to cost how do we determine today what the fees are what the design design fees yeah so the design fee is a set number which is a percentage of the construction costs we don't know what the construction cost is yeah so we do we've even bid it well we have a projected construction costs I think that's where we start is a projected construction cost and then we use that for them to decide to determine their fees based upon their fee schedule which is a percentage based upon and I'm not looking at right now I think for this one it is at seven point not this is eight point one five percent for the range of construction costs that we anticipate so
072it is based upon an anticipated budget at this point and I think the what we have often done is we adjust based upon the actual as appropriate if if in the at the end of the construction cycle we determine that that is that we have to balance out their fee with what the actual construction cost is then we do look at that if we do that from the arrears twenty twenty five came in one point two million dollars under yeah so as we move through and closing out and we pull back contingencies and allowances that might have been in the project we will review those costs and adjust them okay so that does get adjusted okay and are we you know maybe for Jose and or Ali are we looking at any of these 2026
073items to potentially be done in the same manner in which we're working with PSI right absolutely so I mean to say for you for your question was when 2025 projects came out to be a lower not we didn't pay design fee for everything because some of the projects were done by PSI so that's exactly what we're doing in the future we're looking at projects go by so because we're taking advantage of the design build and then you know the guaranteed energy savings on some things but using PSI for mechanical because they have their in outs team to avoid some of the costs so whatever like every like even like the tubing replacement that we didn't even use PSI in fact PSI told us not to use them because there'll be extra fees so we actually
074did it internally because we had that capacity and didn't require a lot of expertise so we avoided that cost as well so we look at every single purchase and evaluate how we're going to do it and what's in the best interest of the district and obviously sometimes we have to use you know the architects and the CM it depends on the complexity of the project so but yes we are evaluating everything and we just don't give it by default that this is you know everything just goes through the one old traditional model that we used to do absolutely any other questions okay fantastic thank you very much okay we'll now proceed to action items it is recommended the Board of Education approve the resolution and petition for withdrawal from true north educational co-op 804 filed
075by Northbrook School District 27 as presented may have a motion to approve this recommendation is there a second second is there any discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please mr. Brassa hi mr. Brunk hi dr. Elliott Schremer hi mr. Heineman hi mr. Neater hi hi the motion carries is recommended the Board of Education approved the destruction of the closed session audio recordings from September 11th 2020 sorry 2017 through February 20th 2024 as presented it is further recommended that the board approve those closed session minutes that are to remain closed or open from January 28th 2025 through June 21st 2025 as presented may have a motion to approve this recommendation so moved is there a second second is there any discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please mr. Brunk yes
076dr. Elliott Schremer hi mr. Heineman hi mr. Neater hi mr. Brassa hi mr. Newman hi the motion carries it is recommended the Board of Education adopt the annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2025 and ending June 30th 2026 may have a motion to approve this recommendation but moved is there a second second is there any discussion Ali is there something you'd like to add yes so just discuss this in the in the Finance Committee so I'm just going to be a real quick overview so that document is the difference between what we initially presented to the Finance Committee in the board meeting on June 10th versus what the final budget is the difference of that is initially we were projecting a seven hundred and forty three thousand dollar deficit but that deficit
077has increased to nine hundred eleven thousand dollars so that is a difference of about hundred and sixty eight thousand dollars and just real quickly I'm gonna explain Ron next attachment what the difference is and as you can see here third attachment on yes that there was a minor adjustment in the revenue of eighty eight dollars but in expenditures as you can see that two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of items were added due to strategic planning some most of the items and some of them are one time but dr. Holland is monitoring that and will report it to the board or how much of those items are one time versus recurring expenditures there was an adjustment a positive I mean in a good way for two hundred thirty five thousand dollars do you when we
078initially did the staffing process versus what our final budget is so our salaries and benefits have gone down by about two hundred and thirty five thousand hours which is good news and then there was an unfavorable adjustment of a hundred and fifty four thousand dollars and that's mainly due to our insurance went up in our workers comp and property insurance the rates insurance rates been really high these days and just our district but it's pretty much in Illinois and other states as well we are taking some measures in place especially in our workers comp I'll be working with the whole state Jose Medina to conduct some trainings for our custodians for on-site for slips and slips and trips because that's where most of the claims are and that can actually raise the premium so we're
079gonna take some preventive measures hopefully to lower the premiums in the future and then yeah that's the the net change in from the tentative to file and budgets about hundred sixty eight so be happy to answer any questions thank you it Ali is that net change in line with years in the past that we've seen is or is that it all its difference because it's different of what comes out what additional expenditures are needed sometimes it's high sometimes the difference based on the grants but this change is based on the mainly due to I mean the strategic plan and the staff and then the staffing so it doesn't happen every year so it could vary from year to year okay yeah but in the last few years the change hasn't been that much unless the
080state says that hey you're not gonna get any grants and that's a big adjustment we're talking about so it's different every year okay yeah any other questions hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please Dr. Elliott Schremer aye Mr. Heyneman aye Ms. Lupa aye Mr. Nieder aye Mr. Braza aye Mr. Brunk aye Ms. Newman aye the motion carries it is recommended the Board of Education approve the Highland Park High School boiler tube replacement bid as presented may have a motion to approve this recommendation so moved is there a second second is there any discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please Mr. Heyneman aye Mr. Brunk aye Dr. Elliott Schremer aye Ms. Newman aye the motion carries is recommended the Board of Education approve the settlement agreement for 2025-01 as presented may
081have a motion to approve this recommendation so moved is there a second second is there any discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please Mr. Nieder aye Mr. Braza aye Mr. Brunk aye Dr. Elliott Schremer aye Mr. Heyneman aye Ms. Newman aye the motion carries it is recommended the Board of Education approve FGMA for design work for 2026 Highland Park High School capital and health life safety improvements in the amount of three hundred eighty nine thousand seven hundred dollars plus a five thousand dollar reimbursable allowance as presented may have a motion to approve this recommendation so moved is there a second second is there any discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please Mr. Nieder aye Mr. Braza aye Mr. Brunk aye Dr. Elliott Schremer aye Mr. Heyneman aye Ms. Newman
082aye the motion carries it is recommended the Board of Education uphold the appeal submitted on the uniform grievance determination issued by the superintendent on July 28 2025 and to direct the superintendent to issue let to issue a letter to the parties submitting the appeal to memorialize our determination on the appeal may I have a motion to approve this recommendation so moved is there a second second is there any discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please Mr. Brunk aye Dr. Elliott Schremer aye Mr. Heyneman aye Mr. Nieder aye Mr. Braza aye Ms. Newman aye the motion carries it is recommended the Board of Education approve pre-construction and bid services for 2026 capital improvements by pepper construction the amount of eighty thousand four hundred forty seven dollars as presented may have a motion to
083approve this recommendation so moved is there a second second is there any discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please Mr. Braza aye Mr. Brunk aye Dr. Elliott Schremer aye Mr. Heyneman aye Mr. Nieder aye Ms. Newman aye the motion carries the next item is the consent agenda items included in the consent agenda were provided to all board members in advance and made publicly available as part of the meeting agenda a board member may pull an item for separate consideration does any board member wish to pull an item off the consent agenda agenda for separate consideration may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented so moved is there a second second Rick yes I had the bills my review three bills all the backup was there and in perfect
084order and questions were answered adequately thank you thank you any other discussion hearing no further discussion a roll call vote please Dr. Elliott Schremer aye Mr. Heyneman aye Ms. Lupa aye Mr. Nieder aye Mr. Braza aye Mr. Brunk aye Ms. Newman aye the motion carries before closing just quickly board members Ron is going to come in at the end if we need to stay here just to connect your Wi-Fi correctly if you guys don't if you have the moment to do that there being no further business may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved is there a second second all those in favor say aye aye opposed say nay the motion carries this concludes the business of Township High School District 113 board of education for this evening at 820 thank you
085for your time and participation but you know just like I'm ready to play it because somebody that's a