001I am reconvening into open session Township High School District 113 annual budget public hearing on Tuesday, August 20 2024 at 710. This agenda item is a public hearing concerning the budget for Township High School District number 113 for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2024 a roll call please. Mr. Neater. Yes, please. Here. Here. Here. I would like everyone else who is present to identify themselves. Tom Krieger, Chief Human Resources Officer. Karen Warner, Chief Communications Officer. Tiffany Rowe, Assistant Superintendent for Student Services. Holly Mahant, IS&SU Finance. Holly Fleischer, Principal of Highland Park High School. Katherine Anderson, Principal at Deerfield High School. Ron Casbaum, Chief Information Officer. Mira Ante, Assistant Superintendent of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Shayla Holland, Superintendent. Is there any public comments regarding this public hearing or the budget? Is there a motion to
002adjourn the public hearing? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All of those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstention. Motion carries. I am reconvening into open session Township High School District 113 regular action meeting on Tuesday, August 20th, 2024 at 711. A roll call, please. Mr. Nieder? Here. Ms. Shapira? Here. Mr. Braza? Here. Dr. Elliott-Schimmer? Here. Mr. Heineman? Here. Ms. Neumann? Here. Ms. Neumann? Here. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as listed? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All of those in favor? Yes, please. Aye. Opposed? Abstention. Motion carries. To board reports, and mine is first. Last night, we as a board worked with Laura Martinez, who is the Director of Outreach and Training for IASB on a starting right self-evaluation workshop. It was the right timing with new board members, as well
003as with our new superintendent and the new school year. We focused on what successful communication expectations and protocols will be for this team. We obviously want to thank Laura for her time, Dr. Holland, as well as Romina for making sure that everything was logistically taken care of. And I also want to thank all of you for being present and being able to bring thoughtful feedback to us putting together our shared vision for communication. We'll be discussing these communication expectations at our September 10th meeting and then adopting them shortly thereafter. The board also enjoyed the new school year kickoff with our staff on Monday, the 12th of August. We definitely want to thank you for including us. And we passionately support Dr. Holland's inclusive school community initiatives. I know Jaime also had an opportunity to work
004with our new staff, if you just want to share for a minute in regards to that. Yeah, there is nothing like the first day of new staff orientation and the energy and the positive vibes and the all the great things that are to come. So it was a wonderful time to welcome on behalf of the board all of our new staff to District 113. And thank you for doing that. I appreciate it. And then lastly, you know, we are all looking forward to seeing our school calendars fill up with sporting events and fine art shows and club activities and all school events like Homecoming. So welcome back, everyone. Great. Moving on, we now have Finance Committee. So the Finance Committee met earlier this evening. Ali gave us a presentation looking at the 2025 budget and
005really doing so in context of sort of historical trends, you know, over the years, and also in the context of a five-year projection that we've been working on for a while that will continue to do so going forward. So very, very informative. Thank you. And then True North liaison report. Yes. On August 7th, I, along with Dr. Holland, attended the True North new leadership council member and new superintendent orientation. Superintendent Dr. Kurt Schneider, leadership council president Kelly Giacomu, and vice president Avik Das did an excellent job introducing True North and the inspiring work that they do. And I was reminded that what True North does isn't special education, but education that enriches learning for every student and supports their families. And we as District 113 are so lucky to be so close in proximity to
006the True North location. And I look forward to and hope that we find many ways to work together in the future. And we have a meeting tomorrow as well. So I'll have another report. I look forward to it. Thank you so much. I'm moving on to administration reports. Dr. Holland? Yes. So as we launched the school year, we've had many meetings leading up to the first day of student attendance. Our new teachers returned for orientation where they learned about our district and the school communities that we serve. The teachers were joined by many guests, including our board vice president, who inspired our teachers with his words and his personal story within the district. So thank you for that. We also had our all district staff return for our opening day meeting at Deerfield High School.
007We were joined by students from DHS and HPHS who inspired us with performances grounded in themes of belonging and identity. We were also energized by our Deerfield High School and Highland Park High School marching bands. I was able to welcome our staff, introduce myself, and discuss our focus as a district inclusive school communities. This year, we're focusing all of our learning on inclusive school communities with a particular focus on access, achievement, and belonging across the entirety of our district. During the meeting, we heard from our board president, DEA president, and honored our staff members reaching benchmark years of service in our district. We also had a presentation and Q&A regarding approaches that we can all take when navigating controversial or sensitive matters within our district. It was a time of reflection and excitement and thank
008you to all of our staff who made the day possible. Deerfield High School was pristine and it was truly a wonderful morning. I had the pleasure of joining the staff meetings at Highland Park High School and Deerfield High School as our principals welcomed the staff back to their respective schools. It was great to experience our new principal, Ms. Fleischer, reintroduce herself to the staff in a meaningful way and to hear from members of her team regarding updates for the school year. As the staff glowed in a neon-themed gathering, we were also joined by two talented student DJs who brought staff to their feet. It was also thrilling to experience our seasoned principal, Dr. Anderson, launch the year with her staff. The time included storytelling, which helped to center and ground us all, and presentations from
009various staff members who informed the staff of the important experiences they will encounter throughout the school year. It was fun, energetic, and there was time built in for community building and sharing as well. So thank you both for welcoming me to your buildings. It was a great experience also to experience, it was a great first day and it was awesome to experience the energy at both of our schools. I was fortunate to spend time welcoming students at the doors of Deerfield High School, greeting our kind and caring bus drivers, and watching staff reunite with students after a long summer. Thanks to the good graces of our principals, I was also able to greet students and staff in our hallways, visit classes of students, and also talk with students in special gathering areas at both schools.
010As I found my way through the halls, like some of our students and staff, the students provided direction and support. The first days of schools, of course, everyone is hands on, it's all hands on deck experience to welcome students back with care and joy, and I want to personally thank Dr. Anderson and Ms. Fleischer and your teams for generating joy and care for our students and staff. It was a remarkable first day. Also thank you to our parents and caregivers who patiently allowed us to figure out the drop off and pick up flows at our schools and also new busing schedules. Every day continues to be an improvement as we support families who are new to our district alongside those who are returning. Thank you for your understanding. Yesterday I was honored to join our
011partner True North for their staff opening day. The gymnasium at North Shore Academy was filled with excited staff who spent the day hearing from various leaders and also had a keynote focused on trauma informed restorative practices. I was able to welcome the staff, express the importance of our partnership and our future plans for future collaboration, and to encourage and thank the staff. I'm looking forward to expanding our partnership this year with True North, which is already underway and I also value the insights and expertise that exists amongst the leadership and the staff at True North. They are wonderful resources for us as we definitely enhance our efforts to see, understand and support the needs of each of our learners within our own district. It has been a positive start to the new school year. Thank
012you. My kids realized for me that A, I am the last one in my family that's still in district and it has been, which they thought was hilarious, and that it's been seven, this is my first year in 17 years. I don't have a student starting in 109 or 113, so it was very odd to see the kids. One young man ran to the bus stop this way and he realized he missed it, so he ran to the next bus stop, like, oh, we've been there. So yeah, so it was very, it was an interesting day. All right, moving on to FOIAs. So there have been no FOIAs processed since the last board meeting. And then one of my personal favorite parts of this agenda is bringing excellence and effort reports back now that we've
013started the new school year. Just quickly, since we just started last spring, I wanted to regroup the purpose of excellence and effort. We love it when our students come to our board meetings and share all the great stuff that's happening in our student organizations and in our hallways. And we thought that there was another opportunity in those off meetings when they're not here to be able to have our principals share one or two examples of excellence and effort. And this is that idea that maybe a staff member has extended their learning in innovative ways, new clubs to engage in more students, and partnerships with communities and putting students first or attempting to decrease chronic absenteeism, which I know we're all working on. And so obviously, those are the great work that occurs in our buildings
014that isn't necessarily in a Thursday principal newsletter or on a social media post. And they're just as important to our students and to our community. Did you want to add anything? Okay. So I'd love to open it up to our two principals. Hello, welcome. I think that our messages today are really going to be about acknowledging and recognizing all of our staff members who made it possible to open our doors on day one with our students. So first and foremost, we really, Dr. Holland had mentioned this, but our buildings were pristine for our staff to enter. And that is not by mistake. And that is not without a lot of time and energy. So we really want to acknowledge all of our staff on building and grounds, because if you come in a week before,
015there is so much that they have to do in the last minutes because they have to wait through summer school and athletics are starting and whatnot. So our staff do a tremendous job of preparing every single part of the building. And then when we have staff come in and they're getting their classrooms ready and have special requests, they're jumping on it to make sure that they're ready for our students on day one. So just a major congratulations and thank you to all of them. Transportation, same thing. All of our transportation drivers coming to our opening days with all staff, just sharing their enthusiasm for getting to see our students again. I think we all share that message, but we are so lucky that we have bus drivers that are our staff in District 113 and
016they are truly a part of our family and they are really trusted adults that our students get to know. So we are so grateful for everything that they did to get our students into our buildings on time and ready for a fun school day. So I have to say this kind of goes with a chronic absenteeism because I took a picture at 8.09 today and there was not a single student that was walking in late. It was amazing. So thank you to parents, students, our bus drivers. It was pretty amazing. It was our first day that wasn't a late start. So we didn't know what was going to happen. Also thank you to Quest. Quest has been working really hard over the summer to listen to the feedback from our students and staff from last
017school year to really open with some fresh new options and really hearing from our students to make sure that their lunches and their snacks and breakfast items are something that they can enjoy because we want them fueled for success. All right. Sorry, this is long-winded. And then just to acknowledge a couple other things, preparing our students for the first days of school. This is something that's included in the newsletter, but I think it's just worthy to talk about all the people that are involved with Warrior Welcome, which is our freshman orientation program for incoming freshman students and also transfer student families. We have our advisory teachers, our senior students who are senior advisors, our counselors, security, athletics, activity directors, student council and parent organizations all come together to welcome in our incoming freshmen and their
018families. And just something I think that is notable that I've seen over the past eight years that we have more first-time families this year than I feel like that we have had in past years. And it's just something that's notable because it's a reminder for myself and all of our staff members of providing that wraparound support to our newer families coming in. I feel like for some years I've had those families that have been in the district for 13 years. So it's nice to be able to provide some new voices and families with that welcoming support from not only our staff, but our current students as well as our parent organization. So we're so grateful to all of them for making that evening so special. And then lastly, just to acknowledge one thing that happened
019today, because even though that we're only on day five, it has felt like a year. And our post-secondary counselors met with our senior class today to provide some very timely information to our senior students about planning for their post-secondary journeys. So that really ranges the gamut of the different options that our students have, but making sure that they have all the information necessary so that if they are applying to colleges, for example, that they know what they need to do right now and in the next couple months. So it's really, I think, kind of a nerve-racking experience for our students and their families to go through that process. So hopefully providing that information now can continue those conversations in the months to come. So thank you, everybody, for a great start to the school year.
020Over to you, Ms. Lesher. Thank you, Dr. Anderson, partner, teammates. So I want to echo what Dr. Anderson said and give a huge shout out to Buildings and Grounds, all of our 12-month employees who really helped to make sure that students were able to register and have residency confirmed so that the start of the school year could go well. And a big thank you. We literally did not have steps at the Vine entrance a week before school, so the fact that people can make sure that our hallways were ready to go and our doors could be open is a huge feat and much appreciation. I want to first highlight a few events from our opening days. I have to say in general that the building energy was literally on fire this week. In fact, the
021fire alarm went off because the building energy was so hot, just an alarm, and it was just a drill, but it was great energy. Having the students back, the staff were excited. First our PE teachers and link crew leaders welcomed our freshmen into our building before the first official day, and this day was filled with team building activities, mentoring from our juniors and seniors who are known as link crew leaders, and this allows for freshmen the ability to experience the building, their schedules, meet their teachers before the remaining 1,300 students enter the building. So it's a really nice day that's all about freshmen. On Friday of our opening week, we hosted our Glow House Party on Vine, and Dr. Holland and myself welcomed students back to school. Our auditorium was filled with neon and white
022that glowed under the black lights. This symbolizes, yes, because he glows, period, that was the romper, the romper was in order to glow. He is an amazingly bright human being to begin with, but the outfit, absolutely, yes, whether he's in the romper or not. And this idea is to symbolize too just the glow that each student brings into our building and the idea that we glow brighter when we're together. Students were greeted with the amazing energy of the two student DJs that Dr. Holland mentioned, who are totally Instagram famous at this point. And we also had 12 new students asked to join DJ club this week during our activities fair due to the notoriety that they received, which is really exciting. During the assembly, Coach Harris and Dr. Stevenson, our activities director and our athletic
023director, highlighted our giant values and the way we can embody these with integrity throughout the year. These values are based on giant as an acronym, and they include being generous, inclusive, accountable, nurturing teammates. Our deans, namely Mr. McCord, along with one of our teachers, Ms. Rizwan, went over our four non-negotiables for the building that allow us to live our values on a daily basis. And these include taking care of our casa y familia, show up, beat the bell, and disconnect to reconnect, which is really bell to bell, no cell. The messaging around our non-negotiables was intentionally restorative to help students understand why actions such as regular attendance, as Dr. Anderson mentioned, and arriving to class on time, minimizing classroom distractions by putting your cell phones away, and eliminating hateful language each serve to both increase
024engagement with learning, create a healthy, supportive school community where all students will access rigorous learning opportunities. We want students to experience a sense of belonging and increase their achievement, and these values and our non-negotiables help us to do so. The event wrapped up with an amazing DJ battle between Dylan and Merrick, who brought the crowd to their feet, dancing, singing, laughing, and it was a great day. I encourage everyone to use the language of our values and help support us in our non-negotiables. Also thank you to caregivers, families, staff, students, who really engaged in this all-school effort. The Highland Park High School, similarly post-secondary counselors, hosted a college applications workshop for seniors and families on Monday, August 19th. 130 families attended to hear about the most recent trends in college admissions, gain a better understanding
025of various admission plans and policies, and learn more about the nuts and bolts of submitting applications. The presentation was recorded and posted to our website, and it's available for translation in multiple languages, along with a copy of the handout for the evening that contained valuable information for completing those college applications, a reminder that our post-secondary team is here and available for help at any time. Next week, the AP English Lit students will have the opportunity to participate in a writing workshop with a question and answer session with Kathleen Rooney, who's the author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, a novel. It's a summer reading novel for the AP English Literature class, and she's going to be leading students in a series of reading and writing workshops related thematically and stylistically to the novel, and then
026they'll be able to engage in question and answer with students about the novel, writing, publishing, and other relevant issues. Lastly, our MTSS staff was hard at work this week, and that included our interventionists, our counselors, our deans, and our 504 coordinators. They were examining multiple data sources on all current sophomores through seniors to determine eligibility for academic and social-emotional support during this first semester. Data examined included course grades, star scores, asset data, attendance, and panorama survey data. 175 students were identified as eligible for support or being monitored for support should further data warrant. Over this next week, our MTSS staff will be meeting with students and contacting caregivers to onboard them for these support services, and in a few weeks, the MTSS staff will convene again to review data for current freshmen, making sure that
027all students receive the support that they need to be successful at Highland Park High School. And that will conclude my report. Thank you all. Thank you. Because I know it takes time. You're already very packed and busy schedule, especially at the beginning of the school year. So thank you very much for sharing. Okay. We don't have anyone signed up for public comment, so we'll be moving on to action items. Action item 8A is recommended that the Board of Education adopt the annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2024 and ending June 30th, 2025. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Is there any discussion? I did have one question about the, sorry, I've got too many notes open here. I saw there was a delta in the salary line of the budget
028from tentative to final, and I was wondering if you could just shed light on what that reflects. Sure. Okay. So the change from the tentative budget to the final budget, the delta, about $400,000-ish, it was mainly to do with addition or reinstating the position for Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum. That should have been there to begin with. And there was an addition of an Admin Assistant for that position, which was also eliminated before. So that was a reinstatement for that. And then there were minor relaying changes. So those are the three reasons pretty much that made the change from tentative to final budget. So it was really bringing back that position that was obviously viable, too. It was basically a reinstatement. Fantastic. Okay. So those were also the long-term subs for our lease? Yes. Those were
029minor amounts, yes. But the biggest change was the salaries, yes. Okay. Great. Just because it was significant, I wanted to make sure we understood. Right. The rest were... The tentative for curriculum position. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. Any other questions or any other discussion items? Okay. A roll call, please. Mr. Shapiro? Yes, please. Mr. Braza? Aye. Director Elia Schrimmer? Aye. Mr. Heineman? Aye. Mr. Nader? Aye. Ms. Newman? Aye. Motion carries. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve a Memorandum of Understanding regarding high school bell schedules as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? I do just want to mention that the MOU was created to acknowledge the differences between the schedules at each of the high schools and to name that the schedules are
030only in place for the 24-25 school year. Okay. All right. Any other discussion or questions? Okay. A roll call. Roll call, please. Mr. Braza? Aye. Dr. Elia Schrimmer? Aye. Mr. Heineman? Aye. Ms. Lupa? Aye. Mr. Nader? Aye. Ms. Shapiro? Yes, please. Ms. Newman? Aye. Motion carries. Moving on to the Consent Agenda. Next is the Consent Agenda. Is there any item for separate consideration? Does any board member wish to pull an item off of the Consent Agenda for separate consideration? I do not see any checks. One second. It is recommended that the Consent Agenda be approved as listed. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? And Jenny, you have the bills. Yes, I do have the bills. I had the bill report, but among the five checks I
031asked Ali to pull was a check for the amount of $222,482.46, which was a portion of a larger bill made payable to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for PPO medical insurance claims for the month of June. We also pulled checks for Hornblower cruises and events for deposit for the After Prom Dance Party, translation services, transportation services, and a vertical jump testing mat for the gymnastics team. I was impressed by the amount of supporting materials I was sent and that had been made available to me. I also couldn't believe how many checks there were. There were 98 pages of checks to choose from. So everything was in order. And thank you for all the work that goes towards ensuring that that order is achieved. Thank you very much. Thank you. Dr. Holland, did you want
032to make any statement or comment about the field trips? I do. So you'll see the approval of an international field trip for Highland Park High School. I just wanted to share with everyone that we're in the process of developing a district-wide or developing district-wide processes and procedures for extended field trips. So in the near future, you'll see a structure that's in place that's very similar for both of our high schools. We do go through checks. For example, there is a field trip here. We have an extended process of review and vetting. And this includes a cost analysis and, of course, determining the appropriateness of the trip. We look at the curricular impact and the extension of a trip on student learning, travel insurance and waivers, including health insurance and waivers. We look at refund and
033reimbursement clarity, special assistance for students who qualify for a variety of financial waivers, to name a few of the things that we look at. I just wanted everyone to know that, yes, we have something that's moving forward right now, but you'll notice more consistency over time as we clarify our processes. And in the meantime, as you see trips come forward, please know that we're reviewing and nothing will come to the board without all of these clearances and review processes in place. But you'll see a more consistent template in the future. And we should probably expect there will be a handful of more trips as you're developing this process that will come through more immediately because of the time. Yes. Okay. Fantastic. Great. Any questions about that? And then Jaime, can you just give a quick
034update on the 7.180 policy, please? Yeah. So item I7-180, prevention of and response to bullying, intimidation and harassment. This is a second reading. This already came through policy committee, came through a first reading as well. All of the changes that we had previously discussed in the language aligned with press, we've talked about before. It's coming on the consent agenda for approval. Thank you. Great. Any questions on that? Okay. A roll call, please. Dr. Elliott-Shermer? Aye. Mr. Heineman? Aye. Ms. Cumpa? Aye. Mr. Nieder? Aye. Ms. Shapira? Yes, please. Mr. Braza? Aye. Ms. Newman? Aye. At 7.41, so moved. Is there by chance a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstentions. Motion carries. Thank you, everyone.