Board of Education Meeting 2-21-2023

001Okay, good evening. This is Township High School District 113 regular action meeting Tuesday, February 21st, 2023. Call to order. Roll call please. Ms. Elliott Schermer? Here. Mr. Heidemann? Here. Ms. Newman? Here. Mr. Vera? Yes, please. Mr. Scherr? Here. Mr. Barraza? Here. Mr. Bishban? Here. And if everyone else at the table could identify themselves please. Moving on to Executive Secretary. Tom Krieger, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources. Michael Locke, Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction Assessment. Tiffany Rowe, Assistant Superintendent for Student Services. Brian Armour, Chief Operations Officer. Ali Mahanty, Assistant Superintendent, Finance. Debbie Finn, Principal, Highland Park High School. Kathy Anderson, Principal, Edgeerfield High School. Ron Casbon, Chief Information Officer. Mira Ante, Director of Equity and Inclusion. Bruce Lutz, Superintendent. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as listed? So moved. Second. Second. Any discussion? Roll call please.

002Agenda. Mr. Heidemann? Aye. Ms. Newman? Aye. Mr. Vera? Yes, please. Mr. Strzok? Aye. Mr. Barraza? Aye. Ms. Elliott Schermer? Aye. Mr. Bishban? Aye. Motion carries. Okay, I'm sounding like all business tonight. You know, I'm sounding so official. This part of the agenda is really fun. Fun part to start off our meeting, we have a recognition of we've been doing this in our meetings this year, a little different way of doing it where we have our supporting groups who support District 113 students and staff and make a presentation to tell us a bit of a story of things that they do and we are so humble and appreciative of them. Having said that, I'm also the timekeeper on these presentations. So we've got about 20 minutes allocated to each. We will start with our Fairfield High

003School boosters. Grab the button on the mic and it'll turn green. And I know you're shy about talking in front of folks, but we'll let you introduce yourselves and your group. It's green now. Can you hear me? All right. Well, it's been a couple of years. So I'm Larry Letwatt. I am a Deerfield resident for the past 20 years. I'm a parent of two DHS graduates and have twins that are current DHS sophomores. I've been president of the DHS Athletic Booster Club for the past six years, including the first two years as co-president of my wife, Julie. I'm speaking today based on the school board's invitation to all of the parent organizations. We were asked to share about our organization, our background, direction, outcome, et cetera. The DHS Athletic Booster Club's mission is to promote

004athletic success, spirit, sportsmanship, and a commitment to excellence beyond the classroom. We strive to support programs and resources that enhance athletic programs, the student athlete experience, and the athletic facilities here at DHS. We work directly with the athletic directors to determine the most meaningful and strategic ways to have a positive impact on all 32 sports programs and more than 775 unique student athletes. To deliver on our commitment, we work to raise money to fund projects that are outside of the district's budget. The DHS Athletic Booster Club meets monthly from August through June. There are four main ways the Booster Club raises money. Membership, advertising, warrior spirit wear, and yard signs. For membership, we added some new options last year with some great benefits. Our platinum, gold, and silver memberships are designed where a portion of

005the membership fee goes directly to the sports team that members designate. Warrior wear is the official spirit wear of all DHS fans. Besides being an excellent way to show school spirit, this is an important fundraiser for the Booster Club. Our warrior wear team designs and provides apparel with 100% of the profits going back to DHS athletics. The popularity of warrior wear has grown every year because of the number of options we can offer. Advertising revenue plays a significant role in our ability to support DHS athletics. We offer three different advertising packages, MVP, All-Star, and Captain. There are opportunities to advertise inside the school and outdoors on campus. We have four 55 inch indoor TVs with scrolling messages located in Athletic Wing which are active all year long and a scores table with scrolling messages during

006basketball and volleyball games. The Warrior Gym hosts 200 events each year and has seating for 2,300 fans. For outdoor advertising, we have the digital scoreboard on Adams Field and banners around the southern perimeter of Adams Field. Adams Field hosts 350 plus events each year and holds more than 3,500 fans. The businesses that advertise with the Booster Club make a significant financial multi-year commitment that is truly impactful. A listing of these 19 companies can also be found on our website. Finally, yard signs. We have signs for all 32 sports teams. Orders are placed three times a year, fall, winter, and spring. Over the past few years, we've reimagined membership in an effort to increase our community engagement, support, and revenue. We added an alumni membership about three years ago for former students who wanted to give

007back to DHS. Two years ago, we added a platinum level membership, our highest level, and also included some swag at our two other premium level memberships, gold and silver. Most recently in November, we piloted a future Warrior Fastpass membership for middle and elementary school students. This membership provides entry to all regular season home boys and girls basketball games for five dollars. This has been an overwhelming success with tremendous participation from the community. Not only does this give our future Warriors easy and low-cost way to watch their favorite team, but also helps introduce future Warrior parents to DHS athletics and the Booster Club. To give you an idea of the Booster Club impact to DHS student-athletes, last year we approved more than $147,000 in funding requests and provided another $28,000 directly to sports teams based on

008membership dues and collaborative fundraising. For this current year, we have already approved more than $87,000 in funding requests and provided another $32,000 directly to sports teams based on membership and collaborative fundraising programs. Adams Field, the digital scoreboard process. I want to take a few minutes to discuss the digital scoreboard, one of the biggest improvements for our DHS athletic facility in the last 10 years. Although I do not regularly attend school board meetings, I do review agendas, minutes, and emails in an effort to stay on top of current events. Over the past year or so, there has been numerous references to the digital scoreboard. The topic of facilities improvements, capital projects is raised. It seems many in the community believe that the district school board was fully supportive of this project and that it was an

009easy process. However, this is simply not accurate and is important to set the record straight. The fact of the matter is what should have been a relatively straightforward process took more than three and a half years. First, this project, first this was a project that was initiated by the athletic director and equally led by the booster club with the full support and knowledge of district 113 interim superintendents, facilities, finance, as well as principal Anderson back in 2018. Back in 2018, it was time to present to district 113 school board. On December 17, 2018, I first presented to the school board the digital scoreboard proposal. This was my first school board meeting, so I did not know what to expect. I can tell you that it was made crystal clear to me, to athletic directors, and

010to DHS community that we would have significant challenges with the school board, primarily due to the school board president at that time, who is no longer a board member. I went on to present multiple times after the initial meeting to the school board, and this topic would appear on numerous agendas as a discussion item or reporting item. It probably set a record for the most times on the D113 agenda as a discussion item with no action being taken by the school board. It's important to note that during these meetings, which were attended by DHS coaches, administrators, parent volunteers, there was ongoing disrespect on professionals and by a couple of former school board members. We were spoken to in a condescending way, openly laughed at, and the importance of this capital project was constantly trivialized. The

011school board president at the time, who is no longer a board member, made inappropriate, false, and misleading comments. It was never corrected or challenged. The most ludicrous statement being that the booster club's strategy to reduce annual contributions to athletics, which was still substantial and outside of the D113 budget, by also paying towards the scoreboard, would result in some DHS athletic teams disbanding. The booster club coaches and the DHS community were beside ourselves hearing this nonsense, and personally I could not figure out why the school board would be so short-sighted and not jump at the opportunity to receive a gift of 300,000 to the DHS community and save their constituents' taxpayers' money. It was mind-boggling and frankly still is. Unfortunately, I hate to say it, but the booster club was dealing with personal bias and personal

012agendas by the school board president at the time, who was no longer a board member. Luckily for us, Dr. Law was subsequently hired as superintendent. I believe his first day was May 1st, 2019, and the booster club met with him on May 6th regarding this project. It was clear at that meeting that Dr. Law fully supported the digital scoreboard based on the information we provided. Throughout the entire process, Dr. Law understood the significance of our contribution and the importance and value of what we do as a booster club at DHS. He was truly our partner. The booster club and I personally would like to go on record thanking Dr. Law for his help and support. By early 2020, two and a half years into this project, the booster club had provided us numerous digital scoreboard

013proposals to D113. However, every one of them was rejected. The booster club had a $150,000 gift for a scoreboard bid of $271,000, a contribution of the majority of the funds or 55% of this project. So it came down to the booster club giving an ultimatum to the school board in August 2020, and that was that if the D113 board takes no action on the scoreboard RFP, request for proposal, or if the RFP expired, the booster club would release half of the $100,000 designated for the scoreboard to the general fund to be used for funding requests, general purchases, etc. In other words, the booster club would basically be withdrawing their funding support for any scoreboard update or future replacement, leaving the entire funding responsibility with the district. It was only then that the scoreboard was approved,

014ironically, by 7-0 vote and never should have come to that. The booster club gifted $100,000 to supplement the cost of the digital scoreboard in 2021. The booster club not only fulfilled its obligation, but paid early both the first and second payments of the $50,000 each. In addition to the booster club, the booster club pledged an additional $50,000 to support the district's plan to replace existing scoreboards at the softball, baseball fields, and or warrior gym. The booster club paid $25,000 as a down payment last May. At this time, the booster club has been ready to cut a check for the final $25,000 to fulfill our obligations now that the softball and baseball scoreboards were installed. Why do I tell you this? Because it's important to know not only did we honor our commitment of $150,000 to

015DHS athletics, but we paid the final $50,000 installment over a year in advance of the deadline. I decided to tell this group all of this not to rehash the past, but to set the record straight. It's important that the facts of this process be shared and understood so these mistakes can be avoided in the future. We hear and see comments from 113 residents that this entire process was easy and that we had the support of everyone. The fact of the matter is we did not. This process was not easy. It was very frustrating and time consuming. Interestingly, it seems over the past year or so, those 113 residents that yell the loudest often get the most attention, especially if they do it via social media. It should be noted that the Booster Club did not

016take this fight to Facebook or social media platforms or even print media. We rejected interviews with the school newspaper as well as the Pioneer Press, despite how we were treated. I wanted to close by talking about the people. Although there are many volunteers in addition to myself that engaged in the digital scoreboard process, I wanted to specifically mention Mike Daniel, VP of the Booster Club for the past several years. Mike was also instrumental in working athletics and D113 and promoting and securing the protective netting around the baseball field a couple of years ago. Mike was an integral part of the scoreboard project as he was there from the very beginning for the entire duration until shovels ran the ground. The Booster Club has been highly successful over the past several years due to its volunteers.

017We have 25 parent volunteers who share their talents and time contributing to the overall success of the Booster Club. It is done with great care and enthusiasm for all our student athletes, coaches, and DHS athletic department. I know I do not have to tell all of you what it takes to be a great and dedicated volunteer. Specifically, I specifically want to call out our executive board. I already mentioned Mike, who also manages our scholarship program, but also Ellen Ryan, our communications chair, and lastly Sean Seed, our treasurer, who does an outstanding job keeping our P&L financials accurate and up to date. Speaking of incredible people, DHS is extremely fortunate to have an amazing athletic director, Nate Flannery, and equally amazing assistant athletic director, Molly Tomlinson. These were two incredible hires for DHS. Our partnership with

018Nate and Molly and the way we collaborate and trust each other is one of the keys to our success. Because of their thoughtful leadership and industry knowledge, they help us to stay focused on what is most critical for our student athletes and sports program. Their dedication to providing opportunities for the DHS students is inspiring. Without their endless support, we would not be able to do half the things we do. Lastly, the other key to our success, support received from Principal Anderson and her team, both manage logistics, communications, and other important tasks to assist us with our mission. What can I say that has not been said before? We could not get the job done without her support. I told her privately, I say it publicly, Kathy, you're a rock star. The behind the scenes work

019that Kathy and the DHS staff facilitates on our behalf makes everything possible. As you can see, I'm very enthusiastic about my role and responsibilities to the Booster Club. I take my role and the role of the Booster Club very seriously. I feel very strongly about our mission and take pride in our organization's accomplishments. On a personal note, it's a great feeling to know that during my tenure, I've been a part of a parent organization that has contributed in so many ways to student athletes, to facilities, and DHS athletics. On behalf of the Booster Clubs, the Executive Board, and parent volunteers, we thank the D113 BOE for the opportunity and support for our organization. We look forward to continuing to partner with D113. Thanks, Larry. I'll start. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, take

020the numbers out of everything that you all do. There's probably not a student in our building that hasn't been impacted by the boosters in one way or another. And I think that to me, once you take the dollars and those things out, there's not a student who hasn't been impacted one way or another. Yes, I remember the scoreboard. But one next to anything. And as we said, when you made that final payment, which I thought was just once again, a testament to your group of doing it as early as you did, was another just kudos to you all. And I had no idea you did the alumni thing. And believe me, I will be reaching out to my sons who were athletes that changed us to join that. Because I think that's a really, it's

021an integral part. And I think it's important for our students to know that they have an opportunity to give back to the community that gave them so much. And I think it's really important for those who are sitting there that may be rising juniors or seniors when you leave, to be able to say, did you enjoy those things when you were here, then make sure the people after you get to as well. So I think that that is a really great addition. So thank you for all that you all do. Thanks, Jody. But the more Shapiras, the better. We're done. We say that all the time. Any other questions? Well, I joined myself recently. And thank you. Well, I think we all should. But I think that even not just alumni, how about community members?

022I mean, there's a lot of folks that want to contribute to these kinds of operations because they believe in the mission, and they want to help out. Not just a booster, just PTO, it's Friends of the Fine Arts. If you're financially able, everyone should join. It's all about the kids. So totally appreciate that comment. Thank you. I was just going to add, obviously, Larry and I have worked together in some previous roles, and I definitely appreciate the ingenuity that your group comes up with, whether it be unique spirit wear in order to meet the needs of the current student population. Or I loved when I saw the Future Warrior idea when that first came out. That's such a great way to pull the young folks in before they even get into the building. And I

023think it even helps with their transition into the school. Again, more experience within the four walls or the field. And I also really appreciate the fact of the way that your group works with the PTO, works with Friends of the Arts, that you guys really approach it from a collaborative perspective. Because I think you all understand that you may potentially serve different segments of the student population, but that you serve the students. And I very much appreciate that lens by which you guys all work. Thanks, Anne. And that Future Warrior Pass, and that came up at a booster meeting, just had an idea. We have a lot of smart, creative people, parents that just want to help out. They came up with it within two weeks. We had it for one of the games. It

024was great. 170 passes, I think, within a couple of weeks. So we'll extend it next year. It'll be for football, too. And it'll be great. It's a great thing. Well, thank you, Larry. As I said, when you guys were so gracious to have Anne and I attend your meeting, thanks for this report and a great summary and everything you guys do. And particularly, the time commitment is incredible, and particularly the effort, looking back over the last three years, when we, the administration and the staff and athletic directors figured out a way to get some sports going during COVID. The boosters were there, as always, helping to support these kids. And so it's fabulous. And if anybody had the over or under on the 20 minutes, you were the under. And I've had the over. I

025want to thank Tamara, who I don't know. Tamara, my apologies. Thank you for letting me go first, because now I got to get to the rules RC. All right, go get them. Thank you. Tamara, as I say, he will yield his one, his two minute extra to you. So the podium is yours for Focus on the Arts. Thank you so much for having me. I've made many board presentations in my career, but never for a school board. So it's a pleasure to be here. It's a pleasure to be serving this program, Focus on the Arts, which is a very unique program. My name is Tamara Jenkins, and I'm serving as the director of Focus. You go to the next slide. Thank you so much. I thought I would start by showing a video that was

026prepared prior to my tenure, just give you a little bit of background on the program. My school, as I said, had a really heavy focus on the arts. We literally had a program called Focus on the Arts, where every other year, it would take three days off of classes, the entire school would take three days off of classes. And all of these artists from various disciplines would come in and speak to us. And you would go in and you would sign up for all these classes that would fill three days worth of school in all different aspects of the arts, from animators to designers to musicians to performers. It was the coolest thing. In 1967, through the visionary efforts of Ruth Asterman, Dr. John W. Price, and Shirley M. Hartz, Highland Park High School launched

027a unique program that would expose students and the community to the visual and performing arts. Their goal, to increase appreciation and understanding of the arts and the professionals engaged in them. Thus, Focus on the Arts was born. Started on a budget of $50 and soon gained broad community school and student support. The mission of Focus on the Arts is to present free of charge experiences in the visual, performance, and communication arts to the Highland Park High School community. Arts will be the 28th biennial two-day multi-evening interactive celebration of the arts. Focus is a community-wide event bringing students, staff, parents, and community members together to plan and experience this amazing arts festival. Focus has always been the impetus for careers and an inspiration for a lifelong interest in the arts. It is our goal to continue

028the tradition of creating the artists and the art audiences of the future. During the days of focus programming at HPHS, students will engage in a variety of artistic endeavors. Students participate in workshops, master classes, and lectures in areas ranging from dance, art, music, drama, creative writing, and media. Artists who participate in past focus programs include celebrities such as Harold Ramis, Cookie Monster, and acclaimed musicians like Howard Levy. Many local artists have enriched us with their talents as well, including the bent fork bakery, numerous writers, and on-air personalities from area media outlets. Many Highland Park alumni also return to present at focus. This is just a taste of the many talents who share their passions with the HPHS community. Focus offers students a huge variety of performances, master classes, and workshops. During the days of focus,

029you will see performances and workshops taking place just about everywhere in the school. From instrumental to dance and vocal groups, to interactive performances and art workshops, focus offers something unique for everyone to experience. Even those with a taste for the culinary arts will have their appetite satisfied. The student showcases are another special part of focus. These showcases give all students a chance to show their talents to the rest of the school. Auditions for showcase take place in December and are open to all students. An exciting aspect of focus are the evening events. These events highlight music, dance, and art, and combine the talents of HPHS student performers and professional performers as well. In the past, we've seen a wide range of musical artists performing on opening night. Dance companies performing at dance night will offer

030a treat for all tastes, offering performances in modern, ballet, and contemporary styles. Auditorium stage lights up with the incredible movement of these artists, intriguing even those audience members who may not be familiar with professional dance. Another very special night of focus is art night. Art night is a non-ticketed evening event open to the entire community. On this exciting evening, HPHS becomes an art gallery featuring visual artists specializing in a variety of mediums such as sculpture, painting, photography, and performance art. Our very own HPHS student artists display their talents alongside professional artists from the community and greater Chicagoland area. Art night allows guests to mingle with the artists as they demonstrate their craft as well as participate in hands-on activities including jewelry making, special effects makeup, and throwing on a pottery wheel. As you can see,

031there is something for everyone at Focus on the Arts. I show you that video because I know that a lot of people in the community and the entire student body actually has never experienced a focus because although it's been going on for over 50 years, the festival was postponed due to the pandemic since 2019. So 2023 is now the 28th biennial Focus on the Arts. So what is Focus on the Arts and what makes Focus on the Arts unique? When I took this position, I did so because I had an opportunity to see the program posted online and I was so blown away by the depth of the programming and the quality of the talent. I have really never seen anything like it and I've been an artist in residence. I have, you know, directed

032in school programs. I ran an arts program myself and I've never seen anything quite like Focus on the Arts and this is what I think makes it unique. You could go to the next slide. So first of all, the over 50 year history and as you saw there, it started with a budget of $50 and, you know, through the investment of the community, the staff at the high school and the alumni and students, it's grown into this enormous program that it is today. I've never seen the community element quite so strong. There's really a sense of ownership from the community as the community funds the programming part entirely and the school offers facilities and maintenance and security, all kinds of infrastructure, but that community buy-in is really spectacular and the devising of the program is

033done with committees that consist of community members, parents, students, and staff and those community or those committees, they're the ones that devise what programming is going to happen for the students during the daytime. That's really special and they really put an effort into individualizing the workshops. So it's not just a workshop in painting or a workshop in painting in the style of Picasso. We're bringing in people that are fascinating and that have a story to tell and that have very a unique message in a particular workshop of 50 minutes, they're going to translate to the kids. Just one example is we have a gentleman and now of course his name is slipping my mind, but you probably know who he is. He's a resident of Deerfield and he's a producer of The View, the talk

034show that's in New York. He's coming in to the school and he is setting up in a room with 145 people. He's pulling up The View backstage and he's going to call the show live in front of 145 students in the room. That's a very unique individualized approach to workshops and that's the kind of thing that Focus offers. Then also the evening programs which are open to the public and free of charge and the fact that these evening programs are drawing internationally acclaimed artists like Ramsey Lewis, like Tyne Daly is really incredible. The dance companies that come for Focus, this year we have Gus Giordano who has come many many many years as Hubbard Street and Joffrey have come in the past. This year Gus Giordano is coming and Circo Rivera which is a wonderful

035company, also Chicago based and deeply rooted. If anyone has ever seen deeply rooted they are incredible. The program is top-notch world-class programming. So that is very unique as well to have that brought into a high school environment and have the community able to attend and all of this offered free of charge. You could go to the next slide please. So this year as I said it's the 28th biennial event. Opening night is Monday April 17th and that event is open to the public. It starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are required for that event and there is a ticket giveaway that will be announced. It's about a month before Focus so mid-March there'll be a ticket giveaway where people can register for their free tickets and then we have the student workshops on Wednesday April 19th

036and Thursday April 20th and this year there is a bit of a change from the past. These workshops are for the students only so the school is closed. It's a safety and security concern so we really need those workshops to be for the students only moving forward with Focus and that's a normal school day for the kids. They're registering for classes like they would for a semester. They're going on to Infinite Campus and they have a choice each period of what they would like to select. So they are choosing a seat in a workshop and selecting their own schedule for those two days. So that's a normal school day. The hours are a little different. The periods are a little different but it's over the school day. They don't have the academic classes. They're going

037to the workshops and as I said over 300 workshops. It's really mind-boggling. Then we have art night which is Wednesday the 19th. That's open to the public. That's a family-friendly event. It's wonderful to bring small children to and it's an open house so you don't need a ticket. You just come in and wander through where we have 40 again professional artists and they're not just displaying their work but they're creating work. So they're in the process and you can talk to them about their art and there are some hands-on art experiences as well through that night. And then the final night is dance night which is Thursday the 20th. Again open to the public 7 p.m. and tickets will be registered for but tickets are also free. Next slide. So where does Deerfield come in?

038This year has really been about discovery. For me discovering the program and we are bringing 50 students from Deerfield each day. There'll be a hundred students in total that will come and have a day at focus and those students will be engaging with the Highland Park students as well as experiencing all kinds of different workshops so that they can take this information back. We'll have a debrief afterwards and constituents, there are parents that are coming to volunteer as well as we're hoping that we'll have some staff coming over and all this information will be gathering and then coming together at Deerfield in the spring and discussing what Deerfield wants to create and what Deerfield's capacity is and what makes sense and what is coming out organically from the community of Deerfield. So I feel like

039my job is to sort of shepherd that program and guide and we have this great example of focus on the arts. And then next year we'll have some programming and you know that will come out of these discussions. Okay next slide. Okay there's one more tiny tiny video that a student made which I think captures for you the energy of what this year's focus is going to be like. I gave a script to the student, told him what I wanted and 48 hours later I had that. That's pretty amazing. So I wanted to thank you for inviting me to speak and for your continued support of this really unique program. I'm really excited to show you what we've come up with this year as well as to develop something that's unique to Deerfield. So thank

040you so much. If anyone has any questions I'm happy to answer. Well welcome to D113. What was that? Welcome. Oh thank you so much. Welcome you here and off to a great start and you certainly already with that student story you've experienced our wonderful students but I will open it up. I was just going to say welcome as well and thank you for all of your hard work to get focused together for this year and the inclusion of Deerfield and getting a plan together for the entire district. So it's a ton of work and very much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Well great. Thank you and you also got right on your time and also in the video there was a cameo of my son. My son was a presenter. So it wasn't me. It

041looks like me. But anyway thank you again. We'll see you in April. Thank you. Thank you. Okay board reports. I'll start. On February 16th the board and the DEA bargaining teams met on the 15th for the sixth bargaining session and the teams started a discussion that day on teacher leaves which continued into the next session which was today and today's session. Excellent session. The board and the DEA bargaining teams met for the seventh now bargaining session. The teams reached an agreement on the personnel files section of the agreement and continued discussion on LSM leaves, association rights, and evaluation language which will all be continued at our next session which is scheduled for March the 1st. So we're moving along. So thank you. Dan, policy committee. Policy committee met on February the 14th. We reviewed 11

042policies this evening later in the agenda. On the agenda we'll be presenting 10 policies for first reading and we have a policy up for just general discussion to discuss the concepts involved in that policy around field trips. That's the teaser. We'll hear about it all later. Soon, I tell you. Okay who's next? Me. Jody. Similar to Dan, facilities committee met. We saw all the reports that we presented to you all in your packets. I'm not going to steal Brian's thunder from when he presents it to us later for discussion. Okay and I made diversity, equity, and inclusion committee. So another teaser. No, so another committee report. Earlier today the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee met. We'll have a more in-depth report during the next board meeting but the meeting today was to discuss student engagement

043and some action steps or potential action steps that may come to the board and budget implications on ways to increase student engagement. At the last committee report we talked about the importance and what we know to be the importance of student involvement. Particularly tonight on the backdrop of you know talking about booster club and sports focus and the arts and involvement in the arts. We know that students when they are involved perform higher academically. So today's discussion was you know now that we know what we know, what do we do about it? So more information coming to the board with budget implications on how to further support student involvement and engagement. Excellent, well that's a good teaser too. And Jody you're back up on True North. True North, as I spoke with Ken a while

044ago, True North is kind of going to be on our agenda for a while because there's a lot going on at True North. True North voted to approve the new strategic plan. A couple things that I think are really important. The strategic plan was brought together and worked on by representatives from different districts whether it be our assistant superintendent of people services, special education, etc. Different superintendents within the community as well as representatives from the leadership committee themselves which would be other board members from other districts. It is a working and live document. It does evolve. It's not meant to be you know there that nothing ever can be done with it. So that is with True North now. Unfortunately the True North board at this next election will lose almost half of its leadership

045council members just because of the evolution of elections and that is a shame. So it will be an interesting thing come May when one of us will be step when one of you will be stepping onto the True North leadership council. Did you like the way I put that teaser out there? Once again seven years. Moving on. Thank you Mr. President. Yeah I will circle back to part of my report. So I get to do that because I have the gavel. So you know tonight as I think a lot about the students of Michigan State and I think it's okay for us to talk about steps to prevent gun violence. This board supported the legislation through our state rep Bob Morgan, our mayor, Rotering, the governor, and action was taken. And it's okay to talk

046about resources that we allocate to support our students and staff. And this board did this and we allocated resources for a team of trauma specialists and staff to support our students. They do a terrific job. But I've been thinking I do think about Michigan State. I think about Oxford and I think about it's just so those things were okay. It's just not okay for parents to not once shouldn't get a phone call and twice to get a phone call. And it's just chilling and more action needs to be done to try and prevent this the gun violence. I'm certainly we are all so proud of our staff who presented here a couple months ago. The people I just talked about Jen, Melissa, Josh, and their teams. The work they do we're so proud of them.

047And I know they will look for ways to be available for support to any of our recent grads who are at Michigan State. It's good that we're here. And as Jody Shapiro would say, that's who we are. Okay, let's move on to public comments. So per policy 2-230 at each open school board meeting, the board of education has a public comment period for a maximum of 30 minutes. We're ready to listen. We appreciate your comments. And we recognize it takes time and effort to prepare a three minute or under statement. Public participation is not intended to be a back and forth discussion between the public and the board. Questions asked during the public participation may be sent via email and answered subsequent to the meeting. For our students, the public comment period, what I just

048read through that policy, that's a policy that one would find very similar in practice at school boards all across the state of Illinois, other government entities all across Illinois. And so this is a, we're a public entity. This is a public meeting. And so we have a public comment period to hear from the public. We have it structured in a maximum time period and time per person so that we can get everybody to participate who wants to, plus we can get our business done. It may seem kind of strange that as public comment comes and there is a, and it would naturally seem like it would prompt a discussion or an answer to question. That's not what public comment period is. It's not like a town hall that you might see on CNN, a town

049hall is an exchange and that kind of thing. It is a public comment period again to hear from the public. And we have one person signed in that's Marty Esker and oh, we have a timer up there. Marty, it's yours. Good evening. I'm Marty Esker and I'm president of the District 113 Education Association. On January 24th, I shared with the school board a report from DEA's ad hoc committee on special education. At the February 7th school board meeting, Dr. Tiffany Rowe shared with the school board the results of her own special education survey. While 83% of special education staff participated in the DEA survey, only 49% participated in Dr. Rowe's survey. As a result, the DEA survey tells a very different story than the data Dr. Rowe shared. To date, DEA has received no response

050from the school board to our report. So I would like to highlight the key differences between these two data collection tools. In her presentation, Dr. Rowe claimed that the new structure for special education is working and her evidence stated that 70% of respondents shared that the new department structure is beneficial. In contrast, DEA's survey showed that 65% of respondents find that the new special ed structure has made workloads less equitable. Only 34% agree that the new structure has improved collegiality and only 43% agree the new structure has improved collaboration within the department. While Dr. Rowe's presentation paints a nice picture, it's an incomplete one. DEA's data better reflects reality because it comes from more voices. Who trusted DEA to protect their anonymity in a climate where many fear retaliation. Therefore, we ask that you closely

051examine the report DEA has shared with you and that you use it to inform decision making regarding workload and other things. I would also caution the board that while you're not to be meddling in the schools, getting all information from one source or other sources that might have a vested interest in painting success, I just encourage you to please make sure you find out what really happens in the schools because that's where the magic of this district happens. And I can tell you that department or than any other department I've seen long time are in a state I have not seen in a long time. They're very stressed and I know change is hard, but they're incredible professionals and they need to hear reports that don't say necessarily that everything is hunky dory. Thank you.

052Thank you. Okay. Administration information reports. Bruce, it is yours. Thank you, Mr. Spaine. So I made a note last week to say something about snow this week. And once again, we're keeping an eye on forecasts because there are reports of another massive storm that's headed our way. So just want to mention a couple things about that. One is it's extremely important that parents have the most up to date contact information in Infinite Campus. When we reach out through text messages and emails with information, we are relying on the information that parents have provided to us and some and almost it's inevitably I'll get an email saying I didn't get this email. I didn't get that message. And most of the time it's because they unsubscribe from our notifications. And when they do that, we honor

053that request and we don't communicate with them any further. There are occasions when some phone numbers change or something has happened and we don't have the most up to date information. So that's extremely important. Next, just want to reiterate that safety is our most important concern. It is the thing that we want to take care of first. I don't know what is second, but it's not a rank order. It's not even really close. Safety is the most important thing. And in this case, it's making sure that students and staff are able to travel safely to school and then arrive safely back home. And so the next thing that we're thinking about that was how to keep students in school. So because teachers will tell you that they really do not want to lose instructional time.

054So we have to, it's not really a balancing test between those two things because we don't balance anything against safety. But if we're able to go to school, then we go. If we're not able to go to school, then we, I've talked to the DEA about this and teachers still prefer that we use e-learning days. And I understand why, because they want to make sure that there's a continuity of instruction. And so I just want to just put this out. Tonight, we're looking right now, the weather forecast, by the way, is not showing that we'll be delaying operations. I'm in constant contact with other superintendents from Lake County and also elementary superintendents. And as of this point, we're all going forward with regular school tomorrow. But parents, please make sure your information is up to

055date and know that there's nothing more important than safety. And then if we can, if we're confident that it's, we can get students and staff to school and then get them back home, we go. I think one of the things also that if I correct me if I'm wrong, we have to make sure, particularly when it's really cold, our buses can start and our bus drivers are part of our staff. And that's another very important thing that sometimes people forget in the community. We have bus drivers that come from a very far distance to drive our buses and their ability to get to and from I know is also a major part of your decision. Absolutely. Which is also speaks to the timing. So, you know, it's, I used to say this was the worst,

056worst part of my job. And then the pandemic came along. And I think that one, but now that the pandemic has passed us, there is no longer competition for what's the worst part of the job. So sometimes we wait until we know. And in the case of the last storm, it looks like maybe this one, it depends on the timing and where the storm actually tracks and all those things. So, but we will, you know, we will let people know by 5 30 a.m. If we don't know the night before, Jody, just as you said, because we know the bus drivers coming a long way and we want to make sure that our buses are able to, to get on the routes and get students to school. But this is one of those decisions that

057people know if you made the right one after the fact, it's just, and then they will say what you should have done or you should have. Right. But when you're in that black box, you know, we communicate with other superintendents, we want everyone to be safe, but we also want to be in school. All right. So just want to mention that tonight at Highland Park High School, Mark Brackett is, he is speaking to parents at a parent event. He was here with during the day and wanted to thank the parents and guardians who took time to fill out survey and who are there. Of course, I'm here, not there. I just want to acknowledge that is happening tonight. The reason for that is the timing is to day to day he was here with staff.

058So it made sense to have a parent event tonight. Next is five essentials. We know we keep asking you for your input and surveys. You know, we're aware of that. And your input is so important. And parents, students and staff, five essentials input is requested from you. So five essential surveys live and Dr. Locke is going to be sending out information tomorrow. And the participation is important because it really helps us understand, you know, parent, you know, school from a parent's perception, students perception, as well as teachers. I'm mentioning this because in previous years, our parent participation rate has been below the state average. And this is in my crawl a little bit because nothing in district 113 should be below the state average. So we're really going to push this year to try to

059get parent participation because, you know, we should always be better than the state average. I'll stop after all these in case you have questions. Otherwise, I'll have more things. February 27th to March 3rd is celebrate public schools week. How appropriate. You know, the idea, the history of public schools is very interesting, but the idea that there should be an education that is available to every student, regardless of that student's family ability to pay that not only helps that student become a useful, productive citizen, but allows that student to pursue what the student wants to do in life. And the US has had, we've had success economically, we've had a lot of success in a lot of ways, but the idea of public school, I think is more important than ever. And so I think it's

060worthwhile to thank everyone, the board, faculty and staff, students, parents and community for all the things that we do to make this thing called public school work. It's not pretty, it's never easy, but it's really important. Two more things. One is that we've got a mailer that we want to send to everyone in the community. Over 60% of our residents do not have students in any school, elementary or high school. And so it's really important since our taxpayers fund this great organization that they know about district 113. So there is a mailer that is going to be sent to all addresses within district 113 boundaries. It's finished printing, it's being dropped off post office tomorrow. And so it should arrive in about a week, depending upon snow and the United States Postal Service. We're very

061excited to be able to share with our community the great things that are happening in district 113. Finally, a lot of newscasts, and sometimes I feel a little bit like that. They save this public interest story at the end that kind of brightens the mood. Tonight, I say something for them that's so important and is just kind of outside of what we do normally in school, but our food pantries are running out of food almost as quickly as they can put it on the shelves. Moraine Township reached out to us, actually, to ask if we would help spread the word and ask if people would consider picking something for the pantry. And they gave us a list, actually, of foods that their clients enjoy, they cannot seem to keep in stock. So I'm just reading.

062Salad dressings, canned salmon, instant or boxed rice, cooking oil, sugar, condiments, olives and pickles. And anyone who's hungry should be a concern to us. But we, as an institution where we want students to learn at high levels and to be engaged in school, if you have food insecurity, that makes it really, really difficult. So what Moraine Township reaching out to us, I feel like it is part of our mission to work with them and to try to spread the word that they need help and in helping them, not only does it help the community, but I'm sure it's helping students, not just in district 113, but elementary schools as well. That was a long report. Very important. Thank you. Do we have a foyer? Yes. Here's the foyer we have received and processed since the

063last board meeting. Okay. Let's move on to item eight. Planning for section and staffing part two. So I know at the last meeting, we talked a lot about, or I should say specifically about the changes we are recommending to this document. We first presented to the board in January of 2020 changes relating to the, what we're calling the survey classes as well as special education staffing. There are other parts of this document. So in talking to Ken about the agenda for tonight, the thought was there may be other things the board would like to discuss from, in addition to what we discussed two weeks ago, that was a long, very helpful, good discussion. So not wanting to say we can't return to that, but there may be other things from this planning document that the

064board would like to discuss. And so I open it up if there are such things. Yeah. Let me just, again, in the big picture on repeat last night, I thought it was excellent discussion last time. And again, in years past and also for our students, one thing that happens is, is that through the planning cycle, the board, the administration then presents a staffing plan for the upcoming school year. And that comes upon us in the end of March, early April. And in years past, we were just starting there with this document and looking at all these numbers. So in the last couple of years, we've done a better job of it starts with the plan. It starts with the educational plan. And then that ends up getting translated to staffing and numbers. So having these

065discussions in January and February helps us understand what will ultimately end up being translated to staffing numbers and then the budget. So it's really helpful. So anybody, Anne? I know one of the thought, one of the elements that we talk about when we talk about staffing is, you know, low enrollment classes and, you know, how do, how was the decision made to run a low enrollment class or not run a low enrollment class? So I wasn't sure if we could spend a little bit of time becoming a little bit more educated on, you know, what goes into that thought process. Well, started off, we have other people who can contribute to this discussion. But one of the things we say is that we know a world-class education for a changing world includes offering a robust

066suite of required and elective courses. And it's elective courses really, we, there will always be a demand for science classes, English classes, because of the, that's just the way schools are, comprehensive high schools anywhere are built. But low enrollment classes, and again, I want to appeal to Wayne, but for us, what we, what we try to do is we want to have that robust suite of electives within the budget. So it, there is a lot of work that goes into trying to preserve the elective program to the greatest extent that we can. I can see people reaching for their mics. Just one of the things I want to mention. We went, I can't remember what year it was. I can't remember if it was 2020 or 21. It is. But we also said there are

067certain elective courses that, that if they relied strictly on enrollment, the entire program might go away. We'd be really mindful that it's one thing if an elective class within a department's not running. It's another thing if that class is connected to a program, which if it doesn't run, we might not have something in our high school because it goes away. So we said to the board, there are certain classes, particularly in the fine arts, that we think are part of a comprehensive high school and should not be dependent upon a certain threshold of enrollment in order to run, because we do not want to lose those programs. That's still how we approach it. That hasn't changed. Keeping in mind that like any other household budget, we have to live with our means and be able

068to pay our bills. So this is the hard work that folks in the building undertake to figure all this out. I'll give some examples of specific departments about kind of the thought process of how we go through it. So I'll start with rural languages. We're lucky that we offer several different languages for our students. What's important for us is to, number one, for both Debbie and I, we have to consider what our feeder schools are doing within their programming. So Deerfield, for example, has had some changes within the curriculum that was offered in 109. So we had to know that during that period of time, we had to make some adjustments and know that they were making some of their own adjustments and what that would mean for the future. So some of that was

069impacted by shifts of staffing and curriculum. And so we have seen fluctuations, for example, in Chinese. Those numbers have bounced back. But we wouldn't want to say that we have a small class within Chinese to cut that class. And now those students have nowhere to go to. They're going to have to restart their world language. So when we have examples where maybe the levels two, three, or four, where they're trying to finish their curriculum, we want to maintain those as much as possible. If we see concerns at the kind of that first year, so Chinese might be a little bit different from Spanish, where maybe they have had prior experience. But if we see some challenges of getting students to sign up for that level one, that's when we're starting to have conversations with that

070teacher. We want to see if there's something that is just a one-year situation that we have to manage, or do we have to do a little bit more to gain interest with those students. So there's a lot that goes into working with our staff and considering the students that we have coming in. Kathy, can I ask you a question on that? Sure. When we think of our feeder districts, do we have, I'm hoping, I know you all, knowing the two of you and knowing our teams would reach out to them, do we have, are those conversations had before decisions are made by our feeders or essentially do our feeders make those decisions and then you're informed of them? So I'll start with the information that we do know in terms of our department chairs go

071to the feeder schools to do articulation with the teachers within that program. We talk with the principals, have had several conversations about, oh, look at, like, what does the program mean at Deerfield High School? How can we make adjustments to better support them? So there are, I think that we have a really great relationship right now where we're really ensuring that we have that dialogue to improve our programming, both at the middle school, but also at the high school as well. I think there have been changes that happened in the past that just were beyond the control, perhaps, of the district or maybe some changes were made within the feeder schools that they just had to manage at that time. And so we certainly want to work with them and make sure that we can

072support those. I'll turn it over to Debbie in just a second. I do want to go over one other one, though, as well, just to bring attention to something that happened because of the pandemic. So this past year, particularly within science, and I'll bring it up because Marty's a fabulous AP biology teacher, but what we saw was that our AP biology numbers were a little bit lower this year than in past years because the students who would typically go into that class did biology online. And we're seeing the impacts of that within this past year. We have very solid numbers for next year, but there are cases where we have to take into consideration what's happening within our world that might be impacting our students. So just thinking about what that might look like. And

073several years ago, probably maybe two decades ago, Deerfield had almost cut AP chemistry, and the outcry of trying to cut that class was going to be so impactful to our students that we said we can't let that happen again. So oftentimes what we'll do if we do see lower numbers within some of our classes, we reach out to our students and we say, hey, we noticed that you signed up for this class. How about you consider doing AP chem? We know what you want to do in college, and we really think that this would be a great path for you. So we really try to work with our teachers, with our students, so that we can fill those classes and run the classes that we know are so valuable to our students. Okay, over to

074you, Tubby. I actually don't have a whole lot of additional to add. I was going to say about the pandemic. I think the pandemic is definitely, we're coming out of that, and I think we're seeing some differences in experiences in kids. I guess two things came to mind for me. One, in an effort to keep programming going, but when numbers are low, if we're able to, sometimes we'll alternate years. So we'll run this class this year and another one the next year, right? That's a way to keep a program going, but to distribute our FT in a way that can manage that. The other thing is in my tenure in the district, I can't think of a recent example, but we invested a good amount of money in our iOS app development program. It was

075kind of nice. It's always nice to follow Deerfield, be year two of an event. So Deerfield did it the first year, but sometimes in a pilot year, you need to run something at a little bit lower number in order to get something up and running, have that experience, et cetera. So it's not atypical, I think, to sometimes see that as well. But trends have changed since the pandemic. I'm noticing that now, and things are picking up a little bit more. But things that were really hard to do online, kids may have gone in other directions as a result of that. And so we're kind of bringing kids back into the fold of some of the things they might have been interested in that they're not doing right now because of, for whatever reason. So that's,

076she pretty much set it off. I love the idea of you guys using alternate, I mean, I think that's such a great way to keep a class that is really on that bubble level. Because the reality is, is once our students figure that out, they absolutely capitalize. Like they know, oh, junior year is the only year when I'm here that I'll be eligible for AP Euro. That's the year I must do it. And they'll get, and I think that that's such a great way to keep those classes that tend to be bubble enrollments going. And I really applaud you guys for doing that and keeping those opportunities available to our students. So then that leads to this. So with new courses, I know we talked about this when we were looking at the new courses

077for next year, there is that lens of a new course is potentially going to have to run at a lower minimum because it has to build traction. It has to build momentum. Okay. Right. It depends on what that number is. Absolutely. And is that, and is that, and it could also be true for a course that you're finishing the sequence and it's just, it keeps drop off, drop off, but we, we're committed to having the junior or senior then finish that sequence. Or to Bruce's point, it, if we don't have the class, are we a high school that offers, you know, the world-class education we offer. So. Can I ask a question too? I don't know who it would go to. I'll just look around the table. Have we looked and if so, is there

078a way to help it? We all know that there's historically some classes that start with much larger enrollments and then come December 15th or November 15th, those enrollments dropped significantly. Are we still seeing those trends? And I just speak from that from my own students experience. I don't know if we still see those. And if so, how do we handle that, et cetera? So in the past, we did use confidence numbers because we would have five years of data. So we'd be able to say, this is our confidence for what, what, what the class will enroll. So we know whether we can have higher class sizes or lower class sizes. We basically restarted a post pandemic. And so we're building those again. We kind of know what we can expect for some classes, particularly for

079senior electives. Those are classes that we might typically have larger enrollments knowing that we can have those a little bit larger because we might have students that will drop during their senior year. So we kind of have an eye of what we can already see as trends for some of those classes. We're not using those exact five-year confidence ratings that we used in the past. So it's really based upon the historical knowledge that we have within our buildings. Because we have a lot of historical knowledge. Again, I don't have much to add to that other than to say that, and I'm going to put my math department chair hat back on because historical knowledge, right? I have a pretty good feel after years of looking and seeing what happens. I will say at Highland Park,

080it is not atypical for us to get a number of transfer kids at the start of a school year or maybe in September or October. And so I want those kids to be able to take the classes that they want to take. But at the same time, it's hard to, you know, we have to be conscious. We have to be fiscally responsible as we approach it. So that's kind of a juggling game. But it is true. I think also freshmen very often will come in. We try to do I think their best job as we can to advise parents and help them and build schedules that are reasonable or balanced, et cetera, et cetera. And sometimes kids get in and like, wow, this is a lot, right? So we do have a good sense of

081classes that may change. So to Kathy's point, I may run something as a math chair, I might say, I'm going to run this a little bit higher than I really am comfortable with, knowing that there's probably going to be a good amount of change. And those confidence intervals really matter because it's just like Debbie had saying, it allows us to, you know, make decisions and predict with some confidence that, you know, where it finally lands is what we see in the past. But as Kathy said, the pandemic has thrown that off. But building those back is very important. And just to add one more thing to that, what we're also being really conscious of is that as our class sizes have been a little bit larger and as a result of the pandemic, we're really

082tracking closely the requests from our families because there are often cases where we can't actually meet the demands sometimes where there will be a request and we simply can't meet it. So I think it's helpful to have both of those numbers so we can know what we're expecting within those course sizes. Great. Well, these discussions are really helpful and it gives us such a better picture. And as we look at the slide of the planning document and how we do that, I remember the last couple years, and as you talk about the smaller courses that are either low enrollment or low number of sections, we know that that's, and we have a good understanding of that what we're achieving for our students. Those are fractions of FTEs, a fraction error, fraction error, fraction error, fraction

083error, those roll up. But then you look at that and now you understand what the programming is behind the big decision the board ends up making when we approve the final numbers for the FTEs and of course the 110 million dollar budget. So just one observation, and I know I made this observation two weeks ago, but I just think it's so important. Our students are able to succeed when our professional staff has the resources and skill sets that they need in order to help our direct guide our students to succeed. And with some of the changes in staffing and the way some classes are going to be delivered, I don't think it's possible to have too much preparation and training and really thinking time and planning time around what the classrooms will look like next

084year for the desurveyed classes. It's a make or break year and it's not a trial year, we have to get it right. And it's everything that can be done to get it right by preparing our professional staff for what the classroom is going to look like next year. I think it's our responsibility to deliver whatever is needed. And that's the same as with that similar thought with respect to the workload plan for special ed. It needs to be something that everybody truly owns within that department for us to truly succeed, for this district to succeed in its core mission. And it's impossible to spend too much time working on those issues. I want to thank the board for bringing this back because and to say, you know, usually we have the first meeting in March

085is when we bring the staffing recommendation. The second meeting is when the board approves the staffing recommendation. This year, wanting to move the staffing recommendation to a special meeting on March 14th just to give more time. Because as a reminder, we're not working just on the licensed staff recommendation. There was a non-licensed staff recommendation as well as a non-personnel budget. So in terms of the operating budget, we're trying to get a complete picture of where things are so that when we're making recommendations in March, we know that when it comes time for incentive budget, we can afford it. Very good. Okay, let's move on to 8B, DHS auditorium improvements bid results. Brian? Hello. So as my team steps up to the lectern, I'll go over some of the things we talked about at the facilities

086committee meeting for the Deerfield auditorium improvements project and the summer 2023 infrastructure project. So both of these items are in one presentation. We'll start with the auditorium, but I don't want to bury the lead. And so the lead is that both projects are trending under budget. One is significantly under budget and the auditorium is under budget. So a couple of the things that we want to talk about, Ryan will give a brief presentation. But we talked, I came to you last time about the roofing bids and why we're under budget is a little bit more nuanced. The roofing bids was straightforward. A couple of things, reasons why we're under budget is inflation. We're predicting a certain amount of inflation and we think maybe that we predicted a little high and maybe it came in a

087little lower. We know inflation is real. We know it's still happening. We know bids are going up. It's just the amount that now we're debating. We have a favorable bid period. We had great bid coverage and so we got good bids. And then the third item would be we did have some scope reduction and fire alarm. And so Ryan will go over some of those items. And I will say we did have some bids that came in over budget. But net, we are under the predicted amount. So Ryan, would you go through the auditorium first, please? Sure. Bruce, you might go ahead. Someone more skilled is actually running the show. I'll just ask for a rondo of notes. Very good. Okay, so starting off with the Deerfield Auditorium project, you'll see we had an initial

088budget of about $8.7 million and now that we've opened up the bids, we're trending to a budget of about $8.4 million. So as Brian alluded to, we're doing well there. We're trending to about $375,000 or so under budget. And what that's going to allow us to do then is recommend approval of additional alternate scope. So as typical with most projects, we'll identify some items that are more wants than needs. And if we can fit them in the budget at the time we open everything up, we'll then recommend approval. So in this case, we are. Ryan, could you go ahead and forward to the next slide, please? I'm sorry, one more. So in the auditorium project, we identified about $267,000 worth of alternates and being that we're roughly $375,000 under budget, we're recommending moving forward with

089these additional alternates to better serve obviously the theater department and what their wants are. And so these are, I talked about this in the facilities committee meeting, but you know, we draw kind of a red line on what's inside the project and some of these were outside that red line. While we're in the area, we know we'll get better bid pricing because we're already working there. We have trades on site. And so it does make sense to do a lot of these while we're doing the work. And so you can see that a big one, there's a big one on there that's theater platforms. While not inside the auditorium, it is in the studio theater. And so I do recommend these alternates because it is an enhancement to the school in that area. Next slide,

090please. Can we, I'm going to stop you if that's okay. So that was the auditorium. We're moving on to the next item unless there's any questions about, and we can also go back and answer questions. No, why don't we keep going. And then if there's questions on all of them, we can, we can do that. So let's go ahead. Very good. Okay. Moving forward then to the infrastructure projects. As you'll know here, the infrastructure budget, the initial budget was roughly $17.3 million. And once again, after opening up the bids relative to the infrastructure work, we're trending to about $15.2 million. As Brian alluded to earlier, there's certain portions of scope, primarily roofing where as last time we referenced, we're able to design it a little bit differently, which resulted in some significant savings on that

091line. And then some of the other bids also, as Brian explained, some came in more favorable than we had anticipated as well as the inflation adjustment we'd made came in under that. So again, all good news, but that's a little background behind why we're trending so far with low budget, which is still a good thing. Next slide, please. There's one bid package still remaining in that, in this scope. It'll bid soon. I just want to say that. So you will, you will see another approval come to the board and it is in this number. Correct. So then once again, we had identified additional scope that was going to be bid originally as part of the 2024 improvements, but because of efficiencies and some of the work that had to be done, for example, fire alarm

092systems and fire protection systems, all that work wanted to be bid at one time. So we have the same contractor do all of it. We don't have any conflicts moving forward. So what this is showing is really a portion of scope that was originally identified to be bid out as part of 24 scope that we pulled forward into 23. So we just wanted to show the results of that. Next slide, please. And because we're under budget, once again, we're recommending the approval of alternate scope. Also alternates that were identified as part of the capital infrastructure products. And Brian, did you want to talk in any detail about these alternates or we've already heard it? I think the roofing, I think we've covered in a previous board meeting, the roof ladder is really a safety item.

093It allows easier access to, for us to get on the roof, us to service mechanical equipment. No students will not have access to this door. It's a route, it says roof ladder, but it's a door. And so we have, that's a typical situation for us. We do, we promote ladders last because we know ladders sometimes can be unsafe and stairs and doors are much safer. Next slide, please. This slide really is just showing there were additional services, you know, not just construction services, but additional services related to design from the bait and scope that were also bid out as part of the total numbers that we just showed you. This is just a breakdown of those particular services and really for informational purposes. Yep. That'll be part of the, the abatement work is part of

094that was bid out. It is not a pepper item. And so it's a, the, the abatement contractor will contract directly with the district. And so that's why there's a separate slide. Next slide, please. We'll open it up for any questions. Thank you very much for the presentations and the summary and the savings questions. Just a comment. I, you guys brought it up in the facilities meeting, but I think it's a great point to bring up to the board is the fact that for the fire and safety fire, for the fire system, it's the same contractor that does our maintenance, if I understood you correctly, so that continuity of service is, will be valuable. And obviously then, as you had also said, bidding out the work for the two years again, supports that continuity of service

095as well. Yeah, I agree. Yep. Having one fire alarm contractors is very important. You know, we have the same system at both schools that are currently maintenance by the same contractor. And I will say we always accept the lowest qualified bid when in a public bid format, the person who happens to do our maintenance won that contract. And so that's a good thing. Thanks for clarifying. Yep. Yeah. And obviously the, the seating for the studio studio theater in DHS is valuable for that space and it is considered kind of furniture, correct? It's furniture, fixture and equipment and FF and E items. So it is not a, while not constructed, it is a furniture item. But again, in a competitive bidding environment, we felt it best to bid it out and, and it is a high

096dollar. And so bring it to the board for approval. And I'm going to add with that, it makes the studio theater a much safer place for people to be just the ability for those who haven't looked at it detailed, the levels are lit, which is an enormous improvement to what it is right now. Okay. Very, very good. Thank you. And thank you for coming and participating in our meeting. We really appreciate it. So thanks. Okay. 8D policy 6-240. Dan, you want to start? No. Did I skip something? No, that we just, I thought we just did it. We rolled them both. Yeah. Yeah. We rolled them both into one. I said, you know, we'll just roll. You can have discussion on both. Yeah. Sorry. Just want to point that out. The policy committee discussed, as

097Dan said in his introduction, had policies on the agenda, one of which is not on first reading. This is the one lengthy discussion, the policy committee about this. And so it was felt that as part of the review process, we should bring this in front of the board to allow the board to discuss it as well as the policy committee, which is why it's on here. What you're seeing is the current version of the policy. There's not a red line to share for first reading because we're not at that point yet, but some of the notes that were made in the policy committee, the board can see those if you would like to take a look as a basis for discussion. It's an administrative content. Thank you. Well, you guys are in. I'll start. I

098actually sat in as a attendee at the policy committee. And so here's what I was thinking is it would be great if this policy and I saw the kind of the first draft of the first draft of some of the things. And we've got an agreement of the intent of the policy and how further student experience, student education extracurricular. That's great. And that as the procedures attached to it, and I am a sponsor, a teacher, whatever coach, whatever I am filling out the forms, the form reflects the policy. And I can't miss. I mean, every time I says you must show this, I've got it attached. Click. You know, it's almost like on these computer things. Sometimes you can't proceed until you finish section one and you keep going through it so that it's just

099check, check, check. And then when that goes to the you guys help me, it goes from the sponsor to an assistant principal, a principal. They are just double checking, going, got it, got it, got it. That matches goes up into administration and the superintendent puts it on the agenda for approval by the board. The ideal is, is that barring any emergency or unbelievable situation, by that point, all the board is saying, great, we had the policy and this trip had all the documentation that was checked off by everybody up the line. That's what's recommended. And we just vote. It should not come at a board situation where we start unraveling a trip and talking about what it's going to be and that kind of thing. That would, to me, that would be the ideal data.

100And the red line that the policy committee took a first crack at is a initial B for literally the first draft of sort of guardrails around how our field trips will be planned. I think the important next step for this is for this policy to go to building leadership and the folks who sponsor field trips to make sure that it is consistent with the way things need to work. And this is going to be functional. And then once that it's been vetted with the staff, then to have us take and clean up the draft and then hopefully be in front of the board for first reading. So that by next year we have a policy in place, a more complete policy in place for field trips. Then, of course, I thought of the place where

101I struggle. So that was where I thought about it for the field trips, the ones we approved for this year in advance. We looked at the list, it all made sense. The piece that I struggle with, and I don't know if it should be called field trips, but it's the reality of it's, and most of it is probably athletic, invited to an invitational tournament. It wasn't part of, we read the preamble to the policy of educational and extracurricular, it's a tournament. It could be in a, I suppose it could be in a fine arts or class of, let's go take a whole, let's take a group of students out of town to go do such that it's under, even though it's not part of the curriculum, I guess, or it may not be part of

102the planned schedule for that sport, it pops up. And then they go under the, they are wearing the uniforms. It is the Highland Park High School, Deerfield High School, fill in the blank, and it gets organized and off they go. And is that a board, does that fall under, and these are rhetorical data, is it in the board, is that governed by this policy or not? If it is, how do we do the same thing that I suggested before of having checkbox, checkbox, checkbox? Really the trigger for having a field trip come before the board for approval is the distance of the trip. I mean, that is the trigger in the policy, that if they're traveling for more than 200 miles, it's necessary for it to go up the ladder. Otherwise, it can function at

103the building level, be approved at that level. We really look at these longer trips. I think that was part of the discussion that we had as a policy committee, and it was through examples of, you know, well, example A, example B, and testing the thinking behind it, and sort of, you know, doing our due diligence around, you know, this falls within 200 miles. And it was through different scenarios that we were able to tease out what makes sense. And the only other thing that I would add is this policy, like others, although it does go to the policy committee, there is such an incredible amount of feedback that goes into the creation and the formation and the revision and all of it to all policies, so that it isn't, you know, just something that lives

104in the policy committee, but there is that other feedback that is provided as well from throughout the buildings, et cetera. Just a point of clarification, field trips that are over 200 miles or overnight have to come to the board. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Policy committee does her thing. Speaking of which, first readings. Ah, first reading. First policy up for first reading is policy 2-100, board member conflict of interest. This policy, press recommended amendments to it, consistent with member feedback and some confusion about what the, have this policy align more closely with what the actual language and the governing statute is. And this is what was, these are the recommendations. Any questions or comments about this one? And that we can move that one on to first for approval. Next policy up is policy 2-210,

105the organizational school board meeting. This update reflects a change in Illinois law that extends the timeframe in which a board has to hold its organizational meeting following an election. And as a result of that extension from 28 to 40 days, we will actually no longer need the Passover exception because 40 days out from an election will always be outside of, will always have a time outside of the Passover holiday. And so any comments or suggestions on this one? I was looking for maybe two days. No, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Policy 4-10, operational services, fiscal and business management. This policy was amended by press in order to require disclosure of cash reserve fund balances at the time of the levy hearing. The district, we already do that. So it's simply, frankly, a change in language to reflect

106what we do and the best practices in terms of explaining what and ensuring disclosure of cash reserves. Any questions or comments on this one? So that one can go forward. Next one up is policy 4-165, awareness and prevention of child sexual abuse and grooming behaviors. This policy, there's really no substantive change. It's to change some of the references because when we renamed 5-120 previously, that policy is referenced several times in this policy. So it's just really reference changes. Any questions or comments on this one? So that one can move forward. Next up is policy 5-120, employee ethics, conduct and conflict of interest. This policy has been renamed and rewritten in response to a statute that was necessary because of unfortunate circumstances and it now references an employee code of professional conduct. It also sets forth

107more explicitly some of the expectations for employee behavior and what appropriate boundaries and the like are. Press's amendments were pretty extensive on this one. We actually, as a policy committee also, when we included some of the goals of the policy, besides what expanded that to include the district, a fuller statement of district goals. Any questions or comments on this one? This one has a lot of red, thanks to no questions. We can move on to policy 5-220, substitute teachers. The changes in this policy were made to reflect recent changes in state law in terms of the amount of time that a substitute can fill in for a licensed teacher and some changes as a result of the COVID emergency. So incorporating those into the policy. Any questions or comments on this one? So that can

108move forward. Next up is policy 5-250, leaves of absence for professional personnel. This policy reflects some changes in definitions, expanding the definition of sick day, updating the change from child, changing the language from child bereavement to family bereavement and some updates in connection to some of the COVID laws and vaccination status. And as a policy committee, we also included the reference to make it clear that ultimately it's the collective bargaining agreement or other employment agreement that if there's anything in those agreements that are different from what's in the policy, that agreement is controlling. Any questions or comments on this one? The only comment I have is under the sick leave where it says a mental health professional licensed in Illinois. I think it probably needs to say licensed to practice in Illinois because they can

109be, there's a legislation where you can be outside of Illinois and still. No, that's actually, that's a good point. So with that change, this can go forward then. Next up is policy 5-280, duties and qualifications. This policy concerns educational support, educational support personnel. Really, there's just a change in terminology from non-certificated to non-licensed. And again, it provides some changes around circumstances in which the governor has declared a public health emergency and who was authorized to serve in a sort of non-teaching supervisory role. Any questions or comments on this policy? So that one can move forward. Then we move on to policy 5-320, evaluation. And this is evaluation for educational support personnel. This policy, the only change, the changes are really only in terms of the title and the addition of some very small amendments to

110it, but it's largely the same as it was before. Any questions or comments on that one? Then we move on to last one for tonight, policy 5-330, sick days, vacation, holidays, and leaves. I feel like I've been hearing those words all day today, but this is as it pertains to educational support personnel. Again, these are very similar to changes in policy 5-250, simply some changes in language, in terminology, update in terms of the scope of bereavement leave, and also if there is another health emergency, some of the provisions around leave and connection with an emergency. Actually, this one also we would have, as Ann noticed, there's not a subpoint, but the reference to mental health professional should be fixed to practice in Illinois. Any questions or comments on this one? So then with the exception

111of that one of the small change in language, that can go forward then, and that finishes the discussion, the first reading for this month. Thank you guys so much. Item 10, action items. It's recommended the Board of Education approve a resolution for the dismissal of an educational support staff employee as presented. May I have a motion? Second. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Ms. Newman? Aye. Mr. Shapiro? Yes, please. Mr. Strunk? Aye. Mr. Braza? Aye. Ms. Elliott Scherber? Aye. Mr. Heinemann? Aye. Mr. Fishman? Aye. Motion carries. Next is the consent agenda. Board member may pull any item for separate consideration. Does any board member wish to pull an item off the consent agenda for separate consideration? I would like to pull the minutes for both the closed session and open session meeting for February 7th,

1122023. Okay, so motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of those two items. So moved. Second. Second. Discussion? Doty, you've got the bills? I do. Citing time of the night. Went through four, God bless you, whoever's nice, went through four bills with Ali, three of which were absolutely fabulous, one to Chicago Communications, which is radios for our administration, another to Atlas, Alta, sorry, Capital Development for their consulting services. Last one was to Booster Shot LLC, having nothing to do with COVID, and they might want to change that name on our school chest checkbooks for DHS. Last one, we had a little bit of an issue, but once again, an opportunity for learning and growth, and I love that we caught it, and this is why we review checks. We had a check written

113out to BSN for folding chairs that was attributed to the girls athletics program at HPHS. I had asked Ali why, if those were for some reason, if the chairs were only being used for the girls basketball or athletics there at HPHS, of which case he checked with very kindly and quickly with the athletic director there, you know, because the discussion of Title IX violation on that, and then does that mean inequitable funds between our men and women's athletics there? He reached out to the athletic director, it absolutely was just not even thought about, just put it to one team versus another. The upside is that we will be reallocating the funds to distribute them between both programs, and I love the fact that the other thing was that Paul Harris came back saying we're going

114to go through all the bills from the athletic department this year to make sure that that hasn't happened before, that we attributed one to one group versus another, and I really, once again, when we say those opportunities for growth to make sure that things that we did in the past we didn't think about that, he's like, yep, we made a mistake and we're going back to make sure that we correct any that have occurred in the past, so thank you Ali, and thank you Paul Harris, who I'm sure is not listening, but for being so quick with his getting back to us before tonight's meeting and stepping above and beyond to say we're going to go through all of them to make sure they are all equitable and fair, not only in Title IX compliance

115but just in our community compliance, so thank you Ali and Paul. I figured he was. Excellent report, and I told you you would end up really liking financial stuff. I wouldn't go that far. Okay, I have a motion to approve the first two items, the minutes from February 7th. Now we have to vote. Oh, we did a roll call on what we just discussed. Mr. Shapira. Yes, please. Mr. Strzok. Aye. Mr. Baraza. Aye. Ms. Elliott-Schimmer. Aye. Mr. Heinemann. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye. Mr. Bishby. Aye. Motion carries. Now may have a motion on the first two items, the minutes, the two sets of minutes from February 7th. So moved. Second. Second. Discussion and roll call please. Mr. Strzok. Aye. Mr. Baraza. Abstain. Mr. Schimmer. Aye. Mr. Heinemann. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye. Mr. Shapira. Mr. Bishby. Aye.

116Martin Perry. It's recommended that the Board of Education move into closed session to complete information regarding the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of a specific employee, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational, educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park, recreational, educational setting, or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. However, a meeting is to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of a public body that is subject to the Local Government Wage Increase Transparency Act may not be closed and shall be open to the public

117and posted held in accordance with this act. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Second. And a roll call please. Mr. Baraza. Aye. Ms. Elliott Schermer. Aye. Mr. Heidemann. Aye. Ms. Newman. Aye. Mr. Shapiro. Yes please. Mr. Strzok. It's been too long since I've been sentenced to vote nay. Thank you. The motion carries. We will take a break.