Board of Education Meeting 01-28-2025

001I am reconvening into open session Township High School District 113 regular action meeting on Tuesday, January 28th, 2025 at 7.04. A roll call, please. Ms. Shapiro? Yes, please. Mr. Peralta? Here. Dr. Elliott-Schimmer? Here. Mr. Heidemann? Here. Ms. Lupa? Here. Mr. Nieder? Here. Ms. Newman? Here. I would like everyone else who is present to identify themselves. Romina Chance, the executive secretary. Tom Krieger, chief human resources officer. Lisa Delacqua, assistant superintendent for curriculum instruction and assessment. Sam Britton, digital communications specialist. Tiffany Rowe, assistant superintendent for student services. Brian Armour, chief operations officer. Polly Montes, assistant superintendent of finance. I'm Josh Seltas, assistant principal at Hatton Park High School, here for principal Fleischer. Catherine Anderson, principal at Deerfield High School. Ron Casbaum, chief information officer. Mira Ante, executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Shayla Holland, superintendent. Sam

002and Josh, welcome to the table. So thank you for joining us tonight. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended to move 7A, external audit for fiscal year ending 2024, before 5A, administration information reports? So moved. Is there a second? All of those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstention? Motion carries. All right. Moving on to board reports. Quickly, two housekeeping items. First of, the first housekeeping item is a quick recap. We had an IASB workshop last Thursday. So I do want to thank our board members, Dr. Holland and Laura Martinez from IASB for taking more time away from your personal lives to be able to spend it with all of us. We are working on updating and writing board protocols, which complement our board policies for how the board functions. We will be reviewing

003and adopting those protocols at a February meeting. I also want to take an opportunity to mention that I was invited to Buffy Saleh's DHS class on race and equity last Thursday. I was able to present to all three of her units of that class. They asked me to come in and speak about how the Board of Education functions, how we work with Dr. Holland and the cabinet, and how we set goals. And as usual, it was a fantastic day with students that were extremely engaging and asking fantastic questions and gave me several things to actually think about. So I again thank Ms. Saleh and the students for welcoming me and giving me that opportunity. And then lastly, my report. As we navigate the evolving national landscape, this board supports our district's commitment to fostering a

004safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all of our students and staff. We are focused on ensuring that our schools are spaces where every individual feels respected, being valued, and supported. And as we can, we are dedicated to providing opportunities for growth and learning. So every learner is empowered to reach their full potential in our diverse and ever-changing world. Moving on to additional board reports, the Finance Committee reports. So the Finance Committee met earlier this evening. We had a couple of agenda items and some presentations. First was from Nick, from Baker Tilly, who conducted our fiscal 2024 audit. And then we also had Tammy from PMA, who gave us a great overview and primer both on our sort of existing and sort of future bonding capacity and situation, and then how it may relate to the

005prospect of giving some help in life safety bonds as we continue to figure out what the scope of that is going to be over the next couple of years. We're all lucky we're going to sort of get to see them again, so I don't want to steal their thunder and sort of, you know, tell you exactly everything that we heard. I want them to be able to tell you and everybody to be able to ask questions. There are a couple of action items on the agenda later tonight, and I'll tell you that our discussion within the Finance Committee was that our recommendation be to advance those items on the agenda later this evening. Thank you. Ed, Brad. Okay, I'll apologize, might take a couple extra minutes because this is their annual legislative dinner and Ali

006and I attended. There's a lot going on, especially given January 20th and what's happened since then. So start out with the local initiatives there for our North Suburban organization in their advocacy. They want to improve the Dual Credit Quality Act. So working with colleges to make sure that we can give appropriate dual credit to our kids. And we've heard about this in other contexts within our district. They want to prioritize school polling places, which doesn't impact us because that's the elementary districts. And they want to preserve the state paid leave law as is to not apply to school districts. So those are their three priorities. Obviously, you have to keep it simple because if you have 20 priorities, you'll get none done. So that was their focus. We then heard from a national organization, the

007Association of School Superintendents, and their legislative stuff is really rather extensive. And the phrase that they came up with that they really wanted us to take away is take things seriously, not literally. OK, so for example, if we look at the conversation about getting rid of the education department, it doesn't mean that everything that the education department would go away is that those functions would probably go to other departments. So you don't panic about that. You've got to look between the layers and try to figure out exactly what we should panic about and what we shouldn't. Now, the priorities that they have, the most important, I think, is the Individual Disabilities Act. There's a significant difference in what the current administration thinks is appropriate and what the superintendents think is appropriate. And they're going to

008work very hard to make sure that they maintain funding. They're also worried about Title I funding. The House bill, the F-24 final was over $18 billion spent on Title I, and the House bill only cost for about $14 billion. So that'd be a dramatic change in the amount of Title I funding, which would impact law districts in the area. So I don't want to go into all the different things. But what's really going to happen is as things change and as dynamics of Washington change, who you talk to and the complications of communicating to the various legislators is going to get more complicated. So they're really trying to chunk down what they're trying to get done so it can be reasonably accomplished. Thank you. And I would caution that we never panic. We be methodical,

009slow and steady, does win the race, and that we respond and not react. That is our key, right? True North. Jenny? Thank you. On Wednesday the 22nd of January, I attended the True North Leadership Council. I arrived late because I started my evening at the Highland Park High School Class of 2029 welcome night. But when I did arrive, it was at the tail end of a super eval superintendent evaluation tool training. So it was good timing on my part since we have just recently done that here. There were discussions and updates on safety and security, including student handbook updates, refining threat assessment plans and enhancing crisis communication protocols. We also heard from the communications team on how True North will improve and expand its communications. The fiscal year 25 budget midyear status report was discussed

010and there were no concerns there. We also discussed a new building phone contract with taking over with Zoom. And it was projected to save over three hundred thousand dollars over the next four year period, which is a huge saving. And districts were reminded of a February 18th deadline to consider district 30 force withdrawal. The actions taken were that the phone contract was approved and the intergovernmental agreement was approved for reciprocal reporting with the city of Highland Park. The next meeting will be March 12th at 7 p.m. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Now we are doing the altered agenda. We're we're moving seven a up to this moment. External audit for fiscal fiscal year ending twenty twenty four. Dr. Holland, I'm going to have Mr. Mahanti introduce our presenter. All right. So good

011evening, everybody. Today we have Nick Cavalieri. He's our audit partner with the big utility has been auditing us for the last 14 years. And just a little side note and a learning lesson for our great students for taking copious notes that the audit process in the business office starts from May and October. We get audited every year, the business office, and we're processing over about two hundred thousand transactions resulting in one hundred fifty million dollars. And then the auditors come in to analyze everything. Perfect. Well, thank you for having me here this evening and for also amending your agenda. It's very kind. I appreciate being moved up. I have another meeting this evening. I'm going to provide a very high level analysis, kind of a summary of the audit results. It takes several weeks for

012us to conduct the audit. As Ali had mentioned, we come out and perform the audit in in Bay, which is essentially what we call an interim stage. It's before the year is closed and then the district closes the fiscal year. A lot of analysis takes place in the business office to prepare for us to come and conduct your audit. And then we have our final field work that can stage anywhere between two to three weeks review process. And ultimately, at the end of the day, we show our reports and they were dated, I believe, is November 8th of two thousand and twenty four. Speaking in advance, the next slide via the scope of the audit is fairly robust. We provide assurances on your annual comprehensive financial report, your state AFR. There are several regulatory reports

013that have to be issued as well called a consolidated year end financial report, a schedule of expenditures of federal awards. And then in addition to issuing assurances at those documents, we conduct a single audit, which is a compliance audit over the use of your federal awards. And then because we are conducting a governmental audit, if there's any risks that are identified in internal controls over the preparation in the financial statements, areas of concern that we identify during the course of our audit, we'll communicate those to the governing body and to management. The next slide, please. So after doing all of this work, our objective is to render an opinion on your financial statements and these regulatory reports on the type of opinion that we rendered is an unmodified audit opinion. That's the highest level of

014assurance that we can render on your financial statements and your regulatory documents that essentially says that we did not have any scope limitations in conducting our audit, your comprehensive financial report was issued and of course, we generally accepted accounting principles. So that's really what you want to hear when the auditor comes in unmodified audit opinion in advance. Next slide. So this may be difficult to see from your vantage point, but I wanted to just point out one of the schedules that are in your annual comprehensive financial report. You know, for future reference, if you wanted to take a look at that and take a deeper dive page 17 and 18, this is essentially your income statement for all of your individual funds. Page 17, I like to think of as more of your day-to-day operational

015funds, your general fund, which really consists primarily of your educational accounts, your operations and maintenance fund, your transportation fund, and then your municipal retirement and social security fund. And if you look all the way down at the bottom, about three lines off the bottom, there's a category that says net change and fund balances. And if you were to add the collective change in fund balance across those four opinion units or those funds, you'll see that there was approximately an increase in fund reserves of about three million dollars. During the finance committee meeting, Mr. Mendte pointed out to the members, I mean, I thought this was actually a good point to be made as well as that, you know, some of that change was attributable primarily to some of your more advantageous investment returns. They were

016prevalent in fiscal year 24 because of the higher interest rates in the marketplace. And there was actually a line item in your revenues, the top category, pardon me, it says investment income. And you can see that if you were to cross-foot that across those four funds, that is slightly in excess of three million dollars. So just one of the financial highlights that I wanted to point out. Excuse me, on page 18, you have your debt service fund, which really only exists for the operation of paying off your bonds. Primarily the revenues and there are property taxes. The capital projects fund is a fund that consists solely for the purposes of working on significant facility improvements, capital projects. The primary funding source for that fund is bond proceeds and fund balance transfers. And you can see

017that that fund drew down about approximately twenty point eight million dollars during the year based on the work that was completed. And then the fire prevention and life safety fund is really somewhat of a dormant fund. Didn't have much activity outside of a nominal amount of investment return. Overall, healthy financial position for the school district. Advance the next slide, please. As mentioned previously, we conduct a single audit, which is a compliance and internal control audit over your federal awards. Your school district expended approximately two point one million dollars in federal awards across all of your different grant programs. We audited is a major program. Your idea program is called the special education cluster by the federal government, which is approximately one point two million dollars of those two point one million dollars of expenditures. We

018obtained 58 percent coverage in conducting that audit. The standards stipulate that we're to have a 20 percent minimum coverage. So we far exceeded that. And the type of assurances that we rendered at the conclusion of our audit procedures is an unmodified audit opinion over compliance with the use of those funds and no internal control matters were identified as well. In advance, the next line at the conclusion of our audit, if we identify any risks in your internal control procedures, things that we tested that did not have an appropriate control that was in place that may have identified an error in the financial statements or just anything in general throughout the entire audit. Quite honestly, that comes to our attention that can have an effect on the financial statements. We would report those respects back to

019you. I'm pleased to let the board know that we did not report any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies as outlined under the governmental auditing standards. And there were no noncompliance issues that were identified as well. So overall, a clean audit for the school district. My next slide essentially just opens the floor to any questions that the board may have at this time. Thank you, Nick. Are there any questions? No. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. Moving on to administration information reports. Good evening, everyone. So I want to give an update on the Dearfield High School principal process. So after gathering feedback from stakeholders, excuse me, across our district through a survey and focus groups, we will be posting and sending out the Dearfield High School principal candidate profile. I

020would like to thank everyone who took the time to share your hopes, desires and aspirations for the next principal of Dearfield High School. The profile will be considered as we engage in our interview process with our candidates. The profile highlights educational and education, educational experiences and leadership experiences, important competencies, leadership priorities and desired attributes. Between the aspects outlined in the profile that you'll see and receive and the strong candidate poll, which I'm happy to state. I'm excited about the future of Dearfield High School. We'll continue to provide communication to all stakeholders and we'll continue to provide updates at the board meeting regarding the process. But this information will go out tomorrow to all of our stakeholders. So as you can see from our agenda, we have a lot on the agenda for tonight. So there's

021a lot in my head. But now I want to just speak from my heart. I am of the belief that education is a calling. It's a vocation. And our staff members enter this field out of inspiration and also optimism about the endless possibilities that exist for our students, our communities and our world. For educators who have been in this profession for a long time, they know the power of every day. Every day is a new day to shape and be shaped by the brilliance of each student. Every day is a day to learn more about who our students are and how we can better how we can be better for each of them. Every day is also a day to see our students and our colleagues in their full humanity and to embrace each other

022and our individual and collective stories and experiences. It's been a challenging and quite frankly, a volatile time in education. I'll speak for myself. The morals, values and beliefs that ground us in this field and give us passion and purpose are being challenged and also abandoned all around us. Despite our efforts, many of our students, staff members and colleagues are wondering if they can show up and be who they are as their authentic selves. While everything around us is filled with questions and raising concerns about statuses and identities and ways of being, let's please not forget who we are as District 113. We are a district who welcomes, loves and supports. We are a district who sees the value of each of our students, each of our staff members and every single one of our families.

023We are a collection of stories, joys and hardships. We are a collection of dreamers working every day to make our visions of excellence a reality for each member of our district. To the families who are wondering if we will care for your students, to the families who are wondering if we will care for your students and make every effort to uphold their dignity and humanity within our care. Yes, to our staff who are questioning their vocation and whether this is the time to leave education or retreat from education. No, we need you. We see you and we care about you and our students need to see you as well. To our most precious gifts, our students, you belong here in District 113 and our district would not exist without someone along the way choosing to

024be here residing on the land that makes up our district. No matter how long a family has been here or how short of a stay, none of us are the original inhabitants of this land and we share in a collective gratitude for this time where we can all be here together. Let us not forget the stories and aspects of our identities that bring us together through our differences. Let's make this challenging time one where we continue to grow stronger and closer together in an effort to preserve and uphold our collective humanity as members of District 113. Thank you. And with that, I'll move on to a foyer. That hard pivot, right? So the following items up on the screen are the foyers that were received and responded to since the last board meeting. Moving on

025to excellence and effort, which as most people know is one of my favorite parts of this agenda. Kathy, can you go first? Dr. Anderson? Thank you. We're going to talk about the joy in our building and there is no shortness of the amazing things that our students and our staff are doing in our buildings, but I'm just going to provide you a few of those examples. First, I will be highlighting Poetry Out Loud. This January, over 1,000 DHS students participated in Poetry Out Loud. We might maybe have some today who, if you want, they could share with you what they actually did for their poem. A national poetry recitation contest that we participate in every two years. Students are required to select, memorize, and recite a poem before their class and each class sends one

026winner to the semifinal round. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, 51 classroom winners competed in the semifinal round after school. And of those competitors, 16 students, including Student Board of Education rep Lila Peck, will be participating in the DHS Poetry Out Loud finals next Thursday at 7 p.m. All the classroom winners should be incredibly proud of their achievement. The winner of the school final will move on to compete at the Chicagoland Suburban Regional Final in February. Special thanks to Michael Wolfe for coordinating and organizing all of the Poetry Out Loud events this year. And not to brag, but really to brag, we have had two students in the past six years who've actually won state. So we are so proud of our students and for our teachers who are guiding them in that journey. Next up, the

027DHS band was excited to collaborate with the YZETA High School Wind Ensemble from Minnesota in a musical exchange on Friday, January 24. So our Minnesota friends came from the cold north down south to come to DHS to collaborate. The exchange featured performances by both bands for each other, a joint performance of pre-prepared pieces, side by seating arrangement for musicians, informal discussions between students. Two of the pieces that they performed together were Ammerland conducted by our director Pam Holt and Sleigh Ride because why not have more winter? That was an impromptu performance and the event overall was very successful and the students enjoyed the opportunity to interact and play music together. So we're super excited when we have the opportunity to engage with other students from other schools. Just a great collaboration and a great way

028to bring our students together in an area that they're passionate about. Moving on to the visual arts. Tim Black, one of our visual arts teachers, has once again helped to demonstrate our district's commitment to nurturing artistic excellence with the AP art students delivering Outstanding Showcase on January 17. It was a wonderful opportunity to not only see our students finish work, but actually observe them creating art before our very eyes. I'm not an artist by any means, so it was amazing just to talk about how long it was going to take for them to finish their pieces. Some students were going to be finished by the end of the lunch period and some said it might take them the entire semester to finish their art pieces. So it was just amazing to talk about all the

029ways that they are creating art in their classes and really the passion that they have for these talents. Closely related to this timely event, six talented students from various artistic disciplines have been selected to represent DHS at the 2025 Illinois High School Art Exhibition in April. The selected artwork spans multiple mediums demonstrating our diverse artistic talent, so mixed media, drawing, design, painting, photography, and sculpture. The exhibition provides an excellent opportunity for these artists to showcase their creative skills and receive professional recognition. They earn tons of scholarship money as well, so it's a great way for them to, like I indicated, receive that recognition. The selection of our students highlights the strength of the school's art program and the exceptional talent of our students. More individual kudos to come in my newsletter on Thursday, and a

030special shout out to Chris Sakura, one of our visual arts teachers who actually helps run this exhibition. And I know that typically we don't talk sports here, but I do want to mention that the DHS wrestling team won the CSL South Division. This is a pretty noteworthy feat because going to the CSL South, we are competing against schools that are two, three times the size of our program. And this actually marks the 16th Conference Championship in the past 17 years. Last year, we got second place, but that was just our first time competing in the CSL South. So here right now, we will continue that reign of championship. So kudos to Mark Pachter, all of our coaches, and to all of our athletes. It was amazing to attend the championship at New Trier on Saturday

031because they have brought together boys and girls wrestling to be competing at exactly the same time. So they're not separate. They are together. All of our athletes are celebrated in just amazing ways. So thank you. And over to Josh. Good evening, everyone. This month, we're striking a balance between the present and the future at Highland Park High School. While students are immersed in their current studies, we're also looking ahead with the launch of registration for next year's classes. To ensure a smooth and informed registration process, we're implementing a multifaceted approach. A giant thank you to our entire counseling department and their tireless efforts. The special education department and their work on articulations to provide a smooth transition to our high school through the following pillars. Individualized guidance, strengthening our school family partnerships and proactive communication.

032Students are meeting with their teachers and counselors to discuss course placements, explore various academic pathways and make informed choices for the coming year. We recognize the vital role that families play in supporting students' academic journey. To enhance this partnership, we're introducing a new component this year, a webinar led this evening, actually by Ms. Jenopoulos, specifically designed to inform parents about the registration process and encourage thoughtful conversations at home. To encourage engagement, we invited families to submit questions in advance of the webinar, allowing for a more focused interactive discussion. We believe this comprehensive approach to registration will not only help students make informed decisions about their academic futures, but also strengthen the collaborative partnerships between schools and families. We're thrilled to be welcoming the class of twenty twenty nine, Tyler Park High School. Our administrative team

033has been working hard to make this transition as smooth and exciting as possible for both students and families. And here's how we're building trust and ensuring families feel supported. We have our informative webinar created a safe created a user friendly website with all necessary registration information readily available. Welcoming events such as what the giant welcome we hosted last week, a special event for incoming freshmen and their families. Students enjoyed interactive sessions with our fine arts and applied arts departments, while parents participated in an informative session covering everything from registration to athletics and activities. Community building, we're fostering a welcoming environment where families can connect, ask questions and feel confident about their children's high school journey. We're also hosting a Spanish speaking registration night to eliminate any possible barriers to a smooth transition and registration. A

034special shout out to Ms. Baraza, Mr. Baraza, my apologies, and Ms. Lupa's families and students, Elliot and Camelia specifically, who are welcoming in as part of the class of twenty twenty nine. We're dedicated to providing a positive and supportive experience for all of our incoming giants. Following giant welcome night, a small team led by Jen Genopoulos visited Edgewood and Northwood Middle Schools to present to eighth graders key topics for students to keep informed and empowered during the registration process, which is now underway. The students in this session were great, and I was personally really excited to welcome them next year. Jen gave out swag bags randomly as well as to students randomly into students who answered questions about registration correctly. And next week, counselors will be visiting both middle schools to follow up and personally

035register students, make sure that all students are supported in the technical and transformative experience of registration. While registration has us focused on the future, we've coupled this with a month filled with community joy and giving back it to represent the moment. This past month has been an energetic blitz of activities during lunch periods ranging from having a build a bear visit Highland Park to a silent disco with two DJs, two hundred headphones and four playlists for students to choose from to an LED dome, three hundred and sixty degree camera experience. This past Friday was one of the best pep assemblies that Highland Park has ever experienced. What we call our winter snow coming pep assembly was DJed by Jay Funk of the Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls and White Sox. We had our parade of athletes.

036We recognize Model UN for the national second place visit, ILMEA band members going downstate and debate for the national sunset tournament placing. We also had an LED big wheel race, a three point contest, dance telephone performed by teachers and staff. The Chicago City Tumblers performed a slam dunk acrobatics show off of a trampoline and entered with a house music solo sax performance by senior Eli Fisher, who is the best saxophone player in the state of Illinois. Not just because we say so, but because he also won the ILMEA's first chair in state. We can't stop there. On Friday, January 17th, we hosted our charity drive opening assembly and introduced the Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation as our charity drive beneficiary. There have been a ton of incredible events, experiences and food to enjoy for the past

037few weeks, showcasing community, student leadership and philanthropic values to highlight a few. We had our Palms and Jamers clinic pie in the face during lunch periods, babysitting so parents could attend parents night out, the chili cook off and a slime making championship. We look forward to continuing and sustaining the positive and inclusive energy that we create with each activity at Highland Park. Now if that wasn't enough to make you want to be a student at HPE, on Friday our physical education department outdoor adventure and unique PE classes took 55 students to Alpine Valley Ski Resort in Elkhorn, Wisconsin to experience skiing. 27 of the students on the trip had never skied before. Students were given access to ski lessons from the resort ski instructor and had the opportunity to ski the bunny hills and take

038to the lifts to the easy slopes to try out their skills in the afternoon. The trip was a wonderful experience where students learned to push themselves out of their comfort zone, trying something new and through a focus on growth mindset they found success in their efforts. Lastly, we want to highlight the power of student voice and advocacy. As part of our ongoing commitment to dual language across districts 112 and 113, students from HPHS served as panelists at an evening informational session for prospective students to share the values and impact that dual languages had on their educational journeys. Students spoke to parents about their enduring friendships, reflections on their own perspectives as well as an appreciation of cultures from around the world and the importance of bilingualism in an increasingly interconnected global community. It was remarkable

039to hear from students how dual language positively shaped their own identities and the role that bilingualism will have in their post-secondary endeavors as they promoted this unique offering to our future students. Thank you very much. Fantastic. Moving on. Vision 2030 overview. Dr. Holland. Yes. So at this year's joint annual conference held in Chicago in November, educational leaders from statewide organizations introduced Vision 2030 or introduced the Vision 2030 blueprint for excellence in K-12 public education. Vision 2030 was developed through an engagement effort that included input from more than a thousand stakeholders, including locally elected school board members statewide from the southern tip to northern Illinois. It also reflects input from discussions with local educators who worked tirelessly inside and outside of school buildings to improve outcomes for students from all backgrounds across Illinois. So in the

040packet, I include a slide deck that has specific priorities, but Vision 2030 focuses on providing a roadmap to enhance K-12 public education through future focused learning, shared accountability and predictable funding. Information regarding all three of these areas are specifically laid out within the slides that included in the packet. And you'll also notice that a lot of the details directly align with our conversations that we've had regarding achievement in our district, as well as our vision for education. We also plan to use bring this information to our strategic planning process to discuss it across the community. School districts across Illinois are being asked to express support for the goals and priorities of Vision 2030 by passing a resolution. And tonight, the resolution will come forward to the board for action later on in the meeting. And

041there has been a track record. Vision 2020 is an example that really models what we're doing in 2030. Absolutely. Yes. And I know, and I know the presentation has this, but the four goals I think really speak to what we're also trying to do, keeping students safe, high quality educators in front of students, enhancing post-secondary success and improving measurement of what is working. Absolutely. Absolutely aligns with us and aligns with the business that we're in. Fantastic. And as Dr. Holland said, this will be an action item to, to, to approve, excuse me, the resolution for this vision. Second semester security. Are there questions? Are there questions? Excuse me. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. Second semester security update. So we've been discussing our layered security mitigation efforts throughout the semester, as well as prior years. And one

042of the things that we wanted to bring to this meeting were updates that we're providing for second semester. And so I've authorized and have asked members of my team to prepare a report that outlines our security measures that we have planned for second semester during our current school year at both high schools. It's important that all of our measures operate in tandem. So you'll hear about the various layers that our efforts are intended to serve as a deterrent to proactively assist us in identifying risks and they're intended to decrease vulnerabilities. Additionally, our efforts are intended to be positioned in a way that allows us to efficiently and effectively mitigate risks and respond to different situations at various scalable levels. As a part of our ongoing review of our safety and security landscape, this report is

043intended to provide information regarding the expansion of our layered security measures. You'll hear about our comprehensive approach and I've asked our Chief Operating Officer Brian Ahmer to present on this matter. Thank you. Brian, would you please go to the next slide? So tonight we're going to talk about three different things. An update to our canines weapon detection team. Those are our dogs in the school. An launch of expanded deployment of weapons detection system or WDS and a launch of our security advisory committee. Brian, would you please go to the next slide? So the canine teams was officially started on both campuses on the first day of second semester. Last week, the dogs and the handlers finalized their acclimation period and are now fully operational as of the 21st. The dogs Sue and Jinx have been

044well received at both high schools. The dogs and security team members are getting along great. They are both operating during the school day and large school sponsored events. We thank our law enforcement team counterparts for being great partners and collaborating with the District 113 during our rollout period. The canine weapons detection teams are just one of the security layers at our schools to help improve the overall direction to ensure our schools safety. So that's just an overview of the canine team that we have implemented. I know we've talked about this many times. Are there any questions before I move on to weapons detection? Alright, next slide please, Ron. District 113 continues to focus on a multilayered approach to school safety and security. The electronics weapons detection program is being redeployed in a manner that complements

045our existing security measures. This new process will randomly select students from the school's roster to be screened for weapons at the school entrances. The goal of this randomized weapons detection programs are to promote safety and security for all students, staff and visitors to District 113 schools. Serve as a deterrent for students considering bringing weapons on school property. Foster a safe and effective learning environment. Ensure that all actions respect the privacy and rights of individuals in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Once implemented, the weapons detection system will be at each of the three main entrances per school. Students will scan their IDs at the entry scanners and be randomly selected to move to the weapons detection system. If selected, students will divest their metal objects for efficient passage through the weapons detection system. Students will

046then proceed through the weapons detection units until they can pass without alarming the system, similar to an airport. If a student cannot pass through the system without an alarm, the students and their belongings will be moved to a secondary screening area near the main entrance where they will be wanded and their belongings will be searched. Students arriving after the first bell to the school during the day will continue to go through the weapons detection system as they do now. The next steps in the process are to train our staff. So individuals inside the school may see security staff members being trained on how to use the weapons detection system starting as early as tomorrow. For security reasons, we're not going to publicly share the launch date of this new randomized weapons detection system. So that's

047our new process. I'm glad to answer any questions related to that. I guess, can you just, Brian, again, just very simply walk through what this will look like to a student when they're entering any of the three entrances at each of the schools? Yep, glad to. So you're going to walk into the entrance. You're going to scan your ID as you do now. As you do now, you'll be randomly selected. I want to say that, just randomly selected. And if selected, you'll move to the weapons detection system area. You'll go through the system. If you go through clean, great. You move on to the school. If you can't go through clean without alerting the system, then you'll move to a secondary screening where you'll be wanded and searched. And again, it's a randomized system at

048the entry with your ID card. And Lane Linder is here. Our director of security is behind me here to answer any questions. Well, I've asked Lane to join us. In the case, there are questions. Have there been any issues with the dogs within the schools or anything like that? Have we had any issues? I know for a while we were concerned about how our students would be with the dogs. If we were going to have any students having issues with the dogs, have there been any issues like that within the buildings? So I've asked for feedback. Can you step to the microphone? If you press the button, it'll turn green. Thank you. Thank you. So I've asked for feedback when I've been in the buildings and the one statement I've heard from multiple people is,

049when can we pet the dogs? That decision I've left up to the handlers. They have a specific purpose why they're in the building. We want the dogs to become part of the community, but that's going to happen over time. The dogs, it's really important for them to be in the building and get to know the routines and get to develop their skills. And we have to respect that space until there'll be a time and a place for that interaction. Any other questions so far on the first two parts? Sorry, and I apologize. We honestly, it's an open meeting, which means that we share our information, but unfortunately, we can't answer questions from the audience. But if you can email your principal, she would be happy to answer any questions you guys have. Or you can

050contact Dr. Holland as well. I don't want to complicate it. I was just going to invite the public comment aspect, but we can keep moving if you'd rather have it that way. Next slide, please. So next is our security advisory committee. So to foster increased community engagement, district 113 will be establishing a school safety advisory committee. This committee will include students, staff, parents, guardians, and community partners who will meet on a quarterly basis during the school year to discuss school-based safety and security initiatives. The focus of this committee will be to assess the safety and climate and enhance the well-being of students, staff, and the broader school community, facilitate communications and collaboration between the schools, students, parents, and district stakeholders, educate families and community members on the current safety trends and available school resources, seek

051input from students, staff, and parents to evaluate safety systems and address emerging concerns. Applications to become a committee member will be launched in February, and the first meetings will be held in March. The committee will have 10 to 15 members and will have stakeholders from both schools and all backgrounds. So I just wanted to reiterate, I think we're in a position to be thoughtful in our implementation of our safety mitigation efforts. As you've heard, we're taking a more comprehensive approach with various layers, recognizing that there's no perfect solution, and there's not one thing that addresses all facets of safety and security. What I appreciate about our plan is that it's scalable. And so if there's ever a need, an urgent emergency, we already have our systems in place that we can scale up or scale

052down as necessary and needed by campus. And so it's a hard thing to quickly mobilize when something occurs. Our efforts, again, are to be a deterrent, to reduce vulnerabilities, and also to position ourselves to effectively and efficiently respond. I appreciate the proactive approach that we're taking as well, not always being in response mode, but proactively considering possibilities of what may occur on our campuses. One question, I think it might be coming later, but opportunities for feedback from students, from staff, those are built in, and they continue to be built in, correct? So, yes, similar to our pilot with our K9 unit over the summer, we are planning some work, some feedback opportunities led by Amir Ante and our director of security to gather feedback. I think we're going to always be in this feedback loop,

053considering how this feels is really important to us. And I know that the board has expressed how this feels. While we do have a responsibility to provide a safe outfit for our students, staff, and community members, we also greatly care about how our measures feel. And so, we will be engaging stakeholders, and there will be some targeted surveying and focus groups associated, connected with our students to get their feedback, as well as our staff members as well. Great. Any other questions? Fantastic. Thank you very much. I have one more slide. Yes, I'm sorry, Brian, I apologize. So, we have a communication plan. Communications to students and families and staff will go out this evening explaining all the three topics covered tonight. FAQs on what to expect with the expanded randomized weapon detection screening will be

054posted online. Feedback and input will be collected from students and staff at both schools also through the security advisory committees and updates will be provided to the Board of Education in the future. So, everything we just talked about. And that's my last slide. Thank you. Thank you. I have one more comment. Sure. I want to thank you and Lane, our Director of Security. I do believe the addition of the Security Advisory Committee is essential. I appreciate that it's an educational experience as well as a feedback and insight experience. And I think that's really important. I wish it was already implemented. And I appreciate that the committee will be inclusive of a variety of perspectives around this matter to consider as we can have ongoing discussions regarding our safety and security landscape. So, thank you for

055that addition. Thank you. There is no one signed up for public comment. So, we will be moving on to discussion items. The first discussion item is consideration of a resolution and a petition for withdrawal from True North Educational Cooperative 804 filed by Glenview District 34. This will be the discussion time and then you will note that later in the agenda there will be an action item for us to vote on the approval of their petition to withdraw. So, I do want to open this up for conversation. As we're all, we are aware that each of the districts that are part of the True North Co-op need to vote on this matter. I do think what I'd like us to start with is what are we going to use as our framing for making our decision

056and making our vote. And I'd love to hear from our group as to what we think those pillars should be, what we should base our decision on. I'll start as just with my prior experience on 109 when we started this process. 109 at one point, I think it was nine or ten years ago, we started this process trying to withdraw from True North, which at that time was still NSSED. For the exact same reasons that they are proposing that we could do it better on our own and save a lot of money. At the end of the day, there's a reason why 109 chose not to because we figured out we couldn't. I think our responsibility as our board is to think of what is best for our students and our financial responsibilities. And there's

057a very big reason why this co-op was formed. Co-op was formed because we serve students better when we all work together, when we pull our money together, when we pull our resources together and when we work together. We have students that go to programs all over. We have resources that come to our district that we couldn't have without this group. And I think that it would really impact our district financially tremendously. And I think if I understand fully why District 34 wants to do this, but I think balancing their budget on the backs of our most fragile students is a very unfair thing to do. And so that's why I think that's how I would be looking at my vote. Balancing your budgets on the most fragile students in the community is not a fair

058way to be balancing your budget. And I think Jody, you know, best, you know, why this co-op was created in the first place. I think it was to serve, you know, not just our students, but also the students of all the districts that are involved here, you know, in the best way possible. So, you know, I think that's potentially, you know, a bit of, you know, enters into the thought process as well. You know, it's not just, I think our primary responsibility is to our students, to our districts, you know, and that sort of thing. But I think we also need to think about because we are members of this, you know, the impact that it may have on the collective as well. Speak to that again. I don't think it's up to us to

059decide whether or not we think District 34 is capable of educating their special education students. But I do think we need to consider as members of the co-op sort of what it means in sort of two prongs. One is the cost that we will incur as a district, but two is as a member of a co-op sort of the spirit of being in a cooperative. If someone leaves, if they do decide to be able to leave the co-op, what does that mean for other districts in the future who may wish to leave? What does that mean for us, sort of the ones left behind when someone has decided to leave? So I think that those sort of those two prongs are what we need to focus on. Like, what does it mean to the spirit

060of the co-op? What does that mean to our district financially? That's how I would want to frame the conversation tonight if I were leaving the conversation. So in relation to what Jenny just brought up, I don't know if you have the historical knowledge of this, but how common of an occurrence is this for a district to ask to leave? Because I don't feel like we've had this conversation recently. I've been the True North representative for our district for since I've been here until Jenny took over, so that was six years, and then I was on for two years for 109. 109 was the only district in the ten years, the 13 years I've been a part of True North is the only district that ever looked into this and chose not to. This is the

061second district that has done it. I think there's a lot of I'm trying to figure out how to frame it. So this is only the second time anyone has ever even broached the subject. I don't think anyone should ever be held hostage. Let me say that. And I think True North, as any cooperative, has to figure out how someone can choose to go without financially impacting or educationally impacting everyone else that's still there. And that's part of the problem. That the way it is worked out, that can't happen. But the way the cooperative is formed. So that's what will happen is there will be a greater financial impact to each remaining district. Every other district, as well as to be quite honest, possibly less services. And it is not unreasonable to expect there would be

062an impact on our students and their outcomes. Absolutely. Absolutely. And because although 34 is an elementary district, that then would in fact our feeder district students and some of their services and so what they would come here with or not without the services that they would receive. So therefore it would filter out costs. So this is only the second time in my 13 years. And like I said, 109 looked at it and we chose not to for those reasons. It's going to say having only been on the board there for a few months now. But to your point about this only being the second time that it's happened and that the process has gotten this far. I think whatever the result of the process is, I think this will be an opportunity for True North

063to look at what needs to be done when another district wants to leave. I think there have to be some lessons learned and changes to bylaws and things like that as well. My comment has to do with not that Liviu doesn't know what they need, but there are things that you can get from a co-op like this that they don't know are going to be very difficult to do on your own. For example, occupational therapy and physical therapy and speech therapy. The difficulty in attracting those professionals into an organization is substantial. It takes a tremendous amount of HR resources. What the co-op does is it does that for everybody and then provides those services so they can centralize that activity and have people hired who specifically know how to recruit those folks. I think they're

064unrealistic to think that they're really going to be able to duplicate that. I don't think it's really it's not viable. It's way more expensive than they think. I think to answer question, our framing, our pillars are looking at impact on our district, impact on our students, as well as, to your point, Greg, impact on the cooperative as a whole. Primarily starting with our students, feeder districts, also members of the cooperative, and our students as well. So just back to your question, I think that's one of the lenses. And I think, Rick, you are probably correct. The reality is that, you know, there has been due diligence that District 34 and True North has worked with them on to, you know, help them to ensure that the steps that they're going to take are appropriate for

065their students. You know, I do, this was not my idea. It was actually said by another member on True North that a co-op is like an ecosystem. And this idea that it is this very delicate balance that allows the co-op to exist. And it is where the thumb is better than the part. And so that does have me very concerned that if we support a district removing themselves from the co-op, it impacts that ecosystem. And it impacts then our students. And we obviously know it impacts us financially. So that is going back to, I think, Jenny, what you said, this idea of the spirit of a co-op versus what is in the letter of the law, the letter of the bylaws in this example. Debbie Hyman, a former board member of ours, was one of

066the founding members of NSSED in this co-op. And the reason why it was formed was very much to what Rick was speaking of. It was essentially the hunger games for services. Finding people? Yep. And it was great. And then the O.T., oh, you found one. Great. We're going to pay them $2 more and they're going to come to us and all of a sudden say, here's my two weeks notice and go there. That's why this co-op was formed. It's for the greater whole. So we will be taking action later in the agenda. And the action is for us to approve District 34's petition to remove themselves from the co-op. So that's a great idea. And the second thing I want to be clear is that we will not vote on this. We will not vote

067on this until we hear any other conversations. Obviously we'll have a discussion too if we get to vote. Any other points or discussions that we want to have as a group so that we can make that thoughtful decision when we get to that action item. What I hear us saying is our decision needs to be made upon the impact to our students and the impact to our finances because it will significantly Those are kind of the two hard and fast guidelines and that we would use. And then the second part is that idea of the spirit of a co-op and the importance of everyone participating in the co-op to receive the biggest benefit to all parties involved. Okay. Okay. Fantastic. So we will do that in a moment. Moving on to life safety survey. Dr.

068Holland. So the next two items, the life safety surveys, I'll start, are connected to life safety. We have a survey discussion that relates directly to the bonds, the funding source. So life safety surveys are mandated by the state and they play a crucial role in ensuring safety and wellbeing of students and staff within our school buildings. Illinois School Code outlines the requirements for conducting these surveys and the authority to issue life safety bonds. So Brian Omer, our chief operations officer, and Ali Mahanti, our assistant finance, will discuss the next two items regarding our life safety survey and the life safety bonds. Great. So life safety surveys up first. Mind, Ali, I'll go for it. I have Matt Topper here with FGM Architects, who are the architects of record who performed the 10-year health and life

069safety. And I know we've gone over this in facilities, committees, meetings, and such. I just wanna kind of remind what everybody we're talking about. Like Dr. Holland said, something we have to do every 10 years. And so this last survey was done in 2014 and submitted in September of 2015. So we're within that 10-year timeframe. And so what the HLS survey does is architects walk the building to confirm that we're still meeting the proper code. And they define A, B, and C level projects. So A is a project that they would identify that would need to be completed in a year. A B project would be five years and a C project would be 10 years. And so Matt is here to kind of quickly go through what they did and answer questions about the

070process. Yeah, so as mentioned before, we went through, reviewed the buildings through the end of the summer. When then we go through the documentation process of identifying the potential violations list, which is really under the original constructed code is what is the gauge for every portion of the building. And so it's identified as what's termed a violation, but it's really just trying to maintain code compliance throughout the facility because over 10 years, building facilities change over time. And it's just trying to make sure that we stay in line with everything that's going on as part of the required decennial survey. As Brian said, there's A items, B items, and C items. And then there's a quick summary of findings that was in the packet and that are typical type things that are found, just smoke

071detectors that need to be added in certain spaces or classrooms that were subdivided that need additional ventilation because of the way the circumstances of how it was divided. And those are the things that we're looking for. And then also, so in that process, they've been updated through the IWAS online portal. So all this gets through the ISB system, through their process, and all that information has been input. And now it's just kind of the final checkoffs of the board member sign-offs of the documentation. And then in line with those, some items have been rolled into what's called an amendment, which is a mechanism then to kind of work through the life safety bonds as a funding mechanism. There's the survey is just the required portion every 10 years. And then the amendments is a different

072portion that then kind of opens up the avenue for life safety bonds, which is gonna be discussed later. And so there's those two elements that are going on. The survey is one that just kind of inputs the data and then the amendment is what kind of assists with the monetary process of getting those items potentially resolved through the process. And we have to move both forward kind of at the same time so that we can be in the best position to make decisions of what we want to actually get done, correct? Yeah, so both, I mean, the health and safety survey is done. And so Ali will talk about the bonding, the bonding and the amendments are linked. They just are. Sure. Any questions on the survey itself? No, okay. Obviously, this is not the

073first time that we are seeing the outcome and the work of the survey. So thank you, Matt. So do we tie that then over to the bond conversation? Sure, so as Brian said that every 10 years we must undergo the life safety survey. Just wanna get some background as previously given some limitations of the property tax sanction law. It was very extremely difficult for the districts to address these violations because of limited funding. However, with the recent legislation change the life safety bonds are now exempt from the debt service extension base which I'm talking about. Wanna give some additional background on currently the district funds most of its capital projects through different funding sources, there's something called DSAP which is exhausted until fiscal year 2029. So we don't have that capacity. We do have about

074two and a half million dollars in capital projects defined every year that doesn't cover all the projects. And then we've been creative with identified several sources of funding like all revenue bonds which we're paying back from our operating funds over the course of 20 years. On June 7th of 2024, Governor Pritzker signed House Bill 4582 as a public act and that legislation exempts taxes levied by prevention and safety bonds from PTEL providing available financial tool for districts to take advantage of this legislation. So again, what we're proposing is the district proposing to issue $25 million of life safety bonds leverages the recent PTEL exemption and then do it in a phase approach where we'll issue another 10 million in 27 and another 10 million in 29 based on the projects that the architects identified from

075the life safety projects with their priority A, priority B, priority six which are exceeding about 35 million. So Tammy's gonna share some scenarios and show the impact and show us how our debt service structure would look like under scenarios. Thank you, Tammy. Thank you very much. So Ali gave you a great review of some of the things that have been happening from a legislative standpoint which is ultimately the main reason why we're here today. And I know we had a chance to talk last summer about that law change in greater detail. So I'm gonna just do a very high level overview of that law change. Ali's already alluded to it a little bit but then talk specifically about a financing plan we have prepared for the district's ability to address some life safety projects. So

076as was mentioned with this law change last summer it was a game changer for tax cap school districts like district 113. So you now can issue those types of bonds without any limit on what the annual principal and interest or debt service payment is. And you can actually go out for a period of up to 30 years not that you should, but that was a law change in extending that length of maturity maximum. The board of education has to go through a couple of legal steps to be able to sell these types of bonds. First and foremost is the requirement to hold a public hearing or a bond issue notification act hearing which functions much like the type of hearing you have for your budget or your tax levy every year. There is no part

077of the process such as a back door referendum or a 30 day petition period where the public would have the opportunity to potentially stop the sale of the bonds that is not in place with life safety bonds since life safety bonds are about safety and security of buildings and students and staff. But and was already has been mentioned life safety bonds cannot be issued without the required life safety approvals all those amendments that have been talked about and we'll come back to that a little bit later. So if we go to the next slide at a high level just for you as board members back pocket to know every school district in the state of Illinois is subject to a statutory debt capacity formula which takes into account the amount of the district's equalized assessed

078value or its EAV and multiplies at times 6.9% and then subtracts the amount of existing principal that you have on bonds. Your debt capacity is very high. It is over $260 million as you can see on this slide and not that you are contemplating projects anywhere near that scope but it is good for you to know that under the law you have the ability to issue debt for life safety purposes and whatever you sell will count against that 262 million. Okay. So on the next slide just a snapshot or two of the district's existing debt service payments. So these are the bond payments that you're collecting property taxes for. This does not include the alternate revenue bond payments that Ali mentioned a couple of minutes ago because you pay that debt service every single year

079out of your operating funds. There are a couple of different colored bars on this graph. So the blue bars, the smaller bars represent the existing debt service payments the district has in place. Levees filed with the county clerk for non-referendum debt service payments that have to fall underneath those red lines. It speaks to that debt service extension base or the DSEB that Ali also mentioned. The green bars represent debt service payments on file with the county clerk that are tied to prior referendum bond issues and refinancing of some of those bond issues over time. So in aggregate you can see the green bars at the top that district's annual debt service payment is right around just a hair under $6 million a year and that will occur for the next few years until those blue

080bars essentially drop. So there is room for the district in the future to be able to sell more non-referendum bonds as long as those annual payments don't go above the red lines. Okay, so that's your existing picture. The next slide we're not even gonna try to focus on because the numbers are so small, but it's just all the data that supports everything that's in the graph. We'll trust you. Okay, but the prior boards have been very strategic with how they have prepared their financial approach to issuing debt. They wanted to, with the spirit of the referendum many years ago and non-referendum debt service payments, again, be very strategic and think both short-term and long-term and that's what the goal of this life safety financing plan is also trying to just build upon. So if we

081go to the next slide, this is a graphic view of a proposed financing plan for the $25 million of life safety projects that have been mentioned and then layering in another $10 million of bond issues in 2027 and 2029. So you might ask, well, why wouldn't you just do $45 million all at once? Well, number one, you're talking about pretty significant project scope and it's not realistic to be able to handle $45 million worth of life safety work over the next few years. Not only from a practical standpoint of getting the work done, but also sort of aligning with expectations from the IRS about how quickly you can spend those proceeds. They have expectations that you spend these dollars relatively soon and by selling it all at once, you probably wouldn't be able to meet

082those expectations. So you see the green and blue bars you saw on that prior graph, there are new colored bars on top of it. So what we're proposing here is to achieve a debt service structure with a $25 million issue initially that will raise the property tax levy for debt service payments for the district. But it allows for the subsequent layering in of $10 million in 27, another $10 million in 29 that also leaves room. So when in 29 or so, when the district can sell more non-reparendum bonds with that payment limit, we get to a point where those bars in aggregate, all of them are pretty level from year to year. What you may also see a little bit more clearly on the next slide when you see the numbers, but what you'll observe

083even here is these bond issues in 25 and 27 and 29, each have a 10 year payback. There's a thought process behind that, which is, as was mentioned earlier, you're required by the state to do a life safety survey every 10 years. So if each bond issue rolls off in 10 years, you can be in a cycle, enable future boards to layer in more debt and not increase the payments significantly at that point, but just continue the payments that you've established with this initial bond issue in 2025. So that's really that long-term view we're trying to take for the district's debt picture. And again, the next slide, a lot of small numbers, but I will mention here that with this financing plan, there would be a one-time increase in property tax payments for taxpayers within

084District 113. And our estimate based on very conservative assumptions about the rate of growth in your equalized assessed valuation would be that for that median home value, it would be about $229 in the first year. So that would be against tax levy 2025 or property tax bills payable in calendar year 2026. And then again, we raise that total debt service payment and it remains level into the future as you continue to layer in more bond issues. Okay, any questions on the debt structure at all before I talk timeline? Okay. So if we look at the timeline, there are two different trains moving on on the train tracks, so to speak. So with your approval tonight, you would adopt a resolution to call that public hearing I mentioned earlier. And you would have that at your

085board meeting on February 11th and the required legal notice will go in the newspaper later this week. And then the board can adopt what's called a parameters resolution for the sale of the bonds that delegates authority to a member of the board and the administration to authorize the sale of the bonds once that occurs. We are slating that for March 18th, but there's an asterisk you notice at that bullet point. And that's because you can adopt this resolution tonight, you can have your hearings next month without having those life safety amendments in hand, but you cannot as a board adapt the parameters resolution or sell the bonds until you have the life safety amendments approved by ISBE. So that timeline could get postponed at the end here if we don't have those in hand by

086March 18th. And at that point, we would just bring it to you once you have them. So the plan in a perfect world would be in the market with your bond sale, then right after that March 18th board meeting, sell those bonds and then have those proceeds in the district's funds by the second week of April or so. So lots of things moving at once, but we are trying to move things along as quickly as we can. Would any of this life safety work be done this coming summer? Yes. Okay. And so what timeframe, how realistic, because we do need to wait for ISB to approve, how realistic is this timetable? And then I guess the question is, how far out can that timetable get pushed to where we can no longer do the projects

087this summer because we don't have the lead time? So the critical path for the projects will be voted on later today. That would be start designing it. So we can move forward with a project and build it without approval, I'm assuming, right? It's the bond sales. So we can start building. We need to start designing that. We'll build it on later today. Yes. Correct? Yeah, you can do that, yeah. How are we paying for it though? That's what I'm saying. Your question is if we don't reach this timeline, how do we pay for it? So yeah, so there's really a couple different things. First of all, let me address your question about kind of the approval process. So there are many school districts in Illinois that are doing what you're doing to start the process

088to sell life safety bonds because of this change in law. ISB has been taking roughly two to three months to approve life safety amendments in general. It can depend on how much back and forth conversation there is with your architect and your team, the district. But with more and more districts stepping up to do life safety work, the backlog in Springfield could start to get a little bit longer. So we're gonna hope that maybe it's closer to that two month timeframe. So understandably though, there are things that are moving along. If you get to a point where you get to the spring and you have the work that you're trying to get done over the summer, we could bring a reimbursement resolution to the board, which enables you to pay yourselves back once those bond

089proceeds have been generated. So let's say you aren't able to sell the bonds until say maybe June, just worst case scenario, but you've got to get working on those projects. That reimbursement resolution allows you to look back a period of 60 days from when the board adopts that resolution for any checks cut related to the work. So for example, if the board adopted a reimbursement resolution, let's say May 15th, you could go all the way back to March 15th for any checks that you've cut for the project. So we're still within a really good window of time for all those things, but that is an important thing for you. But it also seems that those amendments are approved. That's right. Right. If they're not, then that means that we're paying from our operating funds or

090funds because then we're not gonna be able to issue bonds for those if the design work has already started. So that means that design costs, we'll have to pay from our operating funds. Just wanna make sure I'm right. And the good news is on architectural and professional services, there is no limit on the look back period. So you understandably are doing some work on that sort of stuff now. As long as the board adopts a reimbursement resolution, you can go back as far as you want, as long as the work ties to these specific life safety projects. But in checking with the architects, we did confirm that all of it that's on the health life safety plan are like health life safety projects and the kind of projects that will most likely get approved by

091ISB. Is that a fair statement or partially? Okay. I mean, when our last facilities committee meeting, we went through in detail of the projects that we feel are strong candidates, medium and not strong candidates. So we went through this in really good detail. Okay, correct. Is that right? Okay. I think that's sort of the balancing act. We got sort of three things happening here. One is this scope definition, I'll call it, right? Where we've identified these things. These aren't wants, these are needs, and this is from a life safety survey. But we have to define that scope. And the state is gonna have a part in helping us to find that scope, right? Then there's the bond, sort of the math of us determining how much we're gonna sell when and that kind of thing.

092And then there's the process, right? And that's sort of what we're voting on tonight to make sure that we keep the process moving so that when we're ready to go, we're ready to go. That we're not sort of behind on the process. So all those things are sort of happening and sort of all happening at the same time, so. And everyone's in the same timeline crunch as we are. So everyone's hoping and praying to get that same crunch. Correct, which is why I wanna get going and we wanna, we gotta approve the design and we'll get all this stuff ready to go as quickly as we possibly can. But I think we also need to think about this again. This comes from a required health and life safety survey. And that's what this stuff is,

093it's life safety. We gotta get this stuff done. So this new sort of change in law is a tremendous opportunity for us and other districts to fund these required improvements. Right, if this law didn't exist, we'd have to do those projects then. Because we have to find- Right, because a life safety survey happens every 10 years. And this is just now a mechanism by which, okay. Put in the absence of that then, without being able to issue these bonds, it would be coming from operating. Well, then we are, right. We're gonna have to identify how we're gonna like a phased approach because obviously we don't have capacity to pay for 34 million dollars of projects right now. So we have to identify different sources and figure out a plan. Okay. Okay, thank you. Thank you

094so much. Thank you, Tammy. Okay. Moving on to action items. It is recommended that the Board of Education accept the annual audit for the year ending June 30th, 2024 as submitted by Baker, Tilley, Fehr, Kao, and Kraus, LLP. Is that even close? Oakbrook, Illinois. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Mr. Garza. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Dr. Feynman. Aye. Ms. Neuber. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Ms. Shapira. Yes, please. Ms. Newman. Aye, motion carries. It is recommended the Board of Education approve the resolution and support the vision 2030 as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? This is an educational resolution 2030. It is not a political anything. There's all these terms in the

095world with the numbers 20 and numbers. Educational proposal. Let's just remember what this is. When people look at our agendas, I know what you're looking at me, Jenny, thinking I'm crazy, but no, I don't think so. Roll call, please. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Neuber. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Mr. Shapira. Yes, please. Ms. Braddow. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye, motion carries. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the petition for withdrawal filed by District 34 from True North Educational Co-op 804 as presented. If approved by all member districts, the withdrawal will be effective July 1st, 2026. Is there a motion? Since there is no motion or second, the resolution fails. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the agreements regarding receipt of developer subdivision contributions and indemnifications as presented.

096Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Ms. Lupo. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Mr. Shapira. Yes, please. Mr. Braddow. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye, motion carries. It is recommended the Board of Education approve a fee of 7.9% based on estimated cost of the work of $5,024,000 and a $5,000 reimbursement allowance for a total Espen award of $401,900 as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Mr. Shapira. Yes, please. Mr. Braddow. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye, motion carries. It is recommended the Board of Education approve the performance service for guaranteed energy savings contracts in the amount of $1,860,000

097as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Mr. Shapira. Yes, please. Mr. Braddow. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye, motion carries. It is recommended the Board of Education awards contracts to Pepper Construction for estimating pre-planning bid preparation, procurement and construction management of fiscal year 2025 capital projects, excluding mechanical projects in the amount of $347,000 subject to the legal review of the district's council. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Mr. Garaza. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Lupa. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Ms. Shapira. Yes, please. Ms. Newman. Aye. Mr. Garaza. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye. Motion carries. It is recommended

098the Board of Education approve a resolution for dismissal of educational support staff employee, Andrea Gallegos, as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Lupa. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Ms. Shapira. Yes, please. Mr. Garaza. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye. Motion carries. It is recommended the Board of Education approve the resolution calling a public hearing concerning the intent of the Board of Education of the district to sell school fire prevention and safety bonds not to exceed $25,000. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Lupa. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Ms. Shapira. Yes, please. Ms. Garaza. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Ms. Newman.

099Aye. Motion carries. It is recommended the Board of Education approve the resolution calling a public hearing concerning the intent of the Board of Education not to exceed $25,000,000. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? A roll call, please. Ms. Lupa. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Ms. Shapira. Yes, please. Ms. Garaza. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye. Motion carries. Next to the consent agenda. Board member may pull any item for separate consideration. Does any board member wish to pull an item of consent agenda for separate consideration? It is recommended that the consent agenda be approved as lifted. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Rick has the bills. Yes. I asked for detail, actually, explanations on the ones I requested,

100got all that I needed and a lot of volume and everything was in order. Thank you. Any other discussion? A roll call, please. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Mr. Shapira. Yes, please. Mr. Garaza. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Lupa. Motion carries. The board is going back into closed and when we come out of close, it will simply be to adjourn the meeting. No action will be taken. At this time, the board of education will move into closed session as permitted under the LNI Open Meetings Act. The purpose of the closed session is to discuss personnel matters under section 2C1, the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee or legal

101counsel to determine its validity as authorized under section 2C of the Open Meetings Act. May I have a motion to enter closed session for this purpose? No, no, no. Do I have a second? Second. It is moved and seconded to enter closed session. I will now call for a roll call vote. Mr. Shapira. Yes, please. Mr. Garaza. Aye. Dr. Elliot Schrimer. Aye. Mr. Heineman. Aye. Ms. Lupa. Aye. Mr. Nieder. Aye. Ms. Nieder. And we will go into closed.