001I'd like to call to order the meeting of Township High School District 113 as 3s meeting tonight Monday, May 23rd at Highland Park High School. Can we have a roll call, please? Here would everyone at the table, please quickly identify yourselves Christopher Dignam principal Dearfield High School Tiffany Chavez, Director of Student Support Services Daryl Herrick, Interim Superintendent Thank you. Instead of going through the audience tonight I hope you'll bear with us, but in light of the expediency and the hope that we're going to have most of you up here anyhow I think we're going to ask for a motion to approve the agenda Is there a second? All those in favor? Opposed? Extensions? Motion passes. Tonight is full of reports and recognitions and the first one is for Alan Wehner And Alan, I'd like you
002to come up. Is he here? I think what we'll do is we'll go to Dearfield representatives, Jordan Jensen, Michael Warren and Ms. Meyer Will you join them up at the podium? Can everyone hear me now? Awesome. All right, so we're very busy last month of May with the prom and prom after party The entire senior class was dressed in the nines last week as we enjoyed on prom inside a hotel in Chicago It was very nice afterwards 430 teens participated in the after party, which was very fun I personally want a makeup party for age so if anyone's looking for a makeover, talk to me after the meeting Later that week we had the boat party which was on May 19th The faculty and students got to enjoy some time on the water and got
003to see the Chicago skyline, which is really great It was also very busy Last week for the media department as well on the dear prince student newspaper released their senior issue It's notoriously the students favorite issue with staff testimonials senior wells and the college map If you have a chance grab a copy and flip through it And then on the WDHS side, which is our student news center Two students won crystal pillars this year from the Chicago Midwest chapter of Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Marty Kritzman won first in lifestyle reporting and Kobe Bush got one in the news category and those Entries will be moving on to the national competition, which we're very excited for it was also very busy week on for runs and walks We had a new walk Last or
004this Saturday to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the vision for tomorrow foundation It ran from 1030 to midnight 300 participants and raised over seven thousand five hundred dollars So we were very excited about that and then on that Sunday. We also had the relay for life which raised thirty five thousand dollars So those are two very successful events and We're happy to see those in the future as well on the sports side Oh, we had two badminton teams qualified for two badminton double teams qualified for state Brooke for now ski and Gwyneth Helm reached the final 16 and we're very proud of their efforts Baseball Deerfield was second in conference and the regional tournament starts on Thursday. There's a lot of state ambition So we're really hoping to send that team down to the
005state competition For boys track and field the four sophomore boys broke the Deerfield four by eight record That was a 38 year record and they broke it by eight seconds to run 824.5 to give you some perspective. That's that record was set in 1977 and the sophomore mild record is 409 which would have won state last year to put that in some view So that was very exciting For girls track and field they came second in conference this year and had a state qualifier Michaela Emmerich for the 300 meter hurdles She came 12th in state and just missed that all-state medal. We're still very happy with her Qualifying the boys gymnastics team also qualified for state earlier this month by winning their sectional and conference tournaments Harry Weiss came 7th of parallel bars Will Cruz
006came 11th of parallel bars and Clayton Petrosek came 13th in rings We were noticed having the best parallel bar program in the state So we're really looking for those three guys to come back and hopefully bring home some state medals next year as well The girls lacrosse team finished with the record of 14 and 7 which is the best record the team has had in Deerfield showing Development of the program we have a lot of returning players last year So we're really excited to see what they'll do next year And finally we have 24 students competing in d3 and d1 sports next year So really excited that our programs have developed these athletes to compete in a collegiate level and look forward to what they do in the future Thank you Before I give the
007resolution here an appreciation of Jordan and Michael Jordan who's not here tonight I know that it's Highland Park's honors night tonight last week Was Deerfield honors night and Michael won an award for his leadership because he's really been a huge contributor to the high school And student council beyond just being here on his Monday nights, which I know he enjoys so much So resolution and appreciation of student council members Jordan Jensen and Michael Warren Resolved that we members of the Board of Education of Township High School district 113 Lake County, Illinois Do hereby express to the following student council members Jordan Jensen and Michael Warren our sincere appreciation For their service as Deerfield High School representatives to the Board of Education from September 2015 until May 2016 These students are the 44th representatives from their
008school to serve in this capacity Both Jordan and Michael provided an informative report of student activities at your whole high school With a humorous and down-to-earth delivery of important information Both Jordan and Michael truly contributed to the board meetings as the presenter of DHS student life They were able to personalize the reports and truly affect the culture of the school Their services to the board have been outstanding The board commends Jordan Jensen and Michael Warren for performance of their duties in exemplary fashion This Board of Education has taken great pleasure in working with Jordan Jensen and Michael Warren and we express our sincere good wishes for successful Alan Weirner from Highland Park High School. Do you have your report tonight? For the coming school year So she will be gracing you with her presence on
009the coming year with this presentation So if you wouldn't mind, I'd love for her to join me in Thank you So the school year is coming to a close, but that didn't mean that the Giants took the month off Instead the whole school powered through in the classroom and in competition to finish the year strong the girls track team The girls track and field certainly exemplified the spirit with the poetic victory by the senior squad in the four by four hundred race and The team showcased their excellence by sending six members to the state meet Boys track and field also put up big finishes at conference meet and qualified six members for all conference boys tennis clenched a CSL title after overcoming a season right from the injuries while boys water polo secured a key
010win against Liberty Girls water polo finished with an astounding season and key players led the monumental Considering that four years due to 22 boys baseball had a similarly great season with wins over New Trier main west main south Glenbrook south and Niles north on the winds in every single cardinal direction Beyond this great record the baseball team also donned pink jerseys in a game against New Trier promote Also put up in a conant Lake Zurich and earned a spotlight in the HP landmark for their the HP believers club the organization was supporting Highland Park students participating in the Special Olympics Also had a track and field meet on May 1st showing not only their athletic skill But their heart from our special needs students and all the while softball and boys Volleyball are also wrapping
011up the year with key wins including volleyball's victory over Deerfield and softball's victory over round All around all the student acts coaches a and administrators and for our school community in activities The results from the DECA international tournament Seminaries to about a month ago are in and the Highland Park team won first place In the international business plan event plus many other top 10 and top 20 Finishes all from fresh into seniors showcasing showcasing both the excellence and depth of the Highland Park High School The Spanish Lidos Club hosted the annual Chicano Bowl bringing 200 students from nearby schools Together to could discuss compete and of course to dance the day included conversations and speeches on Activism and affecting positive social change and after the discussions the Giants in the team The day concluded with
012performances by many high school dance groups include Latin Dance Club I didn't actually know this but the Chicano Bowl was started in Highland Park and is a unique event to HBHS It really highlights the dedication first in our community through solidarity as a Highland Park Highwood and Fort Sheridan community While celebrating what makes us finally in the arts the school for the final theater festival premiering Wednesday at 13 students And of course, how could we forget about the big event two weekends ago Eye of our activity staff Many, you know teachers and security staff. There's also a very fun event We'd like to thank Alan for this young fellow sits on so many committees and he does this job But he's really done much more than that too in all these various activities and recordings
013and whatnot So an appreciation of that would be resolved that we the members of the board of education township high school school district 113 Lake county, Illinois to hereby express to Alan Leonard our sincere appreciation for his service as Highland Park High School representative to the board of education from September 2015 until May of 2016 Alan is the 44th student from this school to serve in this capacity Alan's presence at board meetings always meant an enthusiastic and informative report Right as tonight of student activities at Highland Park High School the humorous and down-to-earth delivery of important information Alan truly contributed to the board meetings as the presenter of Highland Park High School student life He was able to personalize his reports and truly reflect the culture of his own services to the board have been
014outstanding The board commends Alan for his commitment and performance of his duties in extraordinary fashion The board of education is taking great pleasure in working and we express our sincere good wishes. Mr. Paul curtain. Are you here? feature reports, please um A few highlights from this month's report A good friend and colleague facile mo yudin just returned a little while ago from senegal In west africa where he was a participant in the teachers for global classrooms Initiative sponsored by the state department where he spent a week in the capital dakar Meeting other people from around the world involved in the program With the focus of bringing educators together to learn about each other's cultures The second week he spent in various schools In sort of more remote senegal where he um worked on a photo
015story collaborative project And we're looking forward to the results of stories that will come out of that when that's all pulled together To graduating seniors, uh, jacob fallberg and ethan holloman Both submitted films to the chicagoland high school film festival And ethan's film flash before your eyes won the best edited film and uh Ethan holloman's film won the best direction his film was called trash can basketball. So that was pretty impressive but and finally erica toque our applied arts and stem w leader Took a bunch of kids students to the engineering design and development conference at the edd expo at the tech center of the page Where they had to come up with tech and business proposals two students Who had presented in front of executives from baxter abbott comad argon a whole bunch of
016very high-powered companies They had an innovative idea of combining two routines of putting on makeup and taking birth control And so they presented this and they won this this concept known as concept cosmetics And they were awarded the best presentation of testing data And then two other teams also won awards best presentation of problem statement for an antimicrobial video game case And another one designed for a reflex which was a wearable coaching device to send real-time information from coaches to athletes and vice versa Very impressive so anyway, I have the honor of presenting the resolution and appreciation of mr. Paul curtain Resolved that we members of the board of education of township high school district 113 lake county, illinois Do hereby express to paul curtain pylen park high school teacher representative to the board of
017education Our sincere appreciation for his service to this board from september of 2012 to may 2016 As the 23rd teacher representative from pylen park high school paul has fulfilled his obligations of representing the faculty By attending board meetings reporting on teacher activities and listening attentively attentively to presentations the result of gathering information school-wide Paul's reports were always filled with enthusiasm for the activities of pylen park high school And provided the board a glimpse into the life of the school from a teacher's point of view Board members have gained from the wealth of information made possible by having a teacher representative from pylen park high school And have appreciated paul's positive enthusiastic attitude as he expressed interest and concern for all members of the school community As members of the board of education, it's been our
018pleasure to have worked with paul curtain And we joined together in expressing our good wishes to him in the future Personally, it's been a pleasure listening to reports your passion and your love for the school The staff and the students comes through in every report. It's really been a highlight of our meeting. So thank you very much Dr. Dignam as principal report, please Good evening. I'm going to provide a support a principal report for dearfield high school this evening We are currently in the process of searching for a principal for the school for the upcoming 2016 17 school year We are interviewing tomorrow morning We received approximately 20 applicants from rain associates is the search firm that has been retained by the board of education We received from the 20 applicants eight applicants that the
019search firm identified Seven of which completed the application process entirely So we've narrowed it down to six Mr. Springer's and I will be screening the six applicants tomorrow morning and then Notifying the stakeholder group to interview this these three applicants that we identify from the six For next tuesday the 31st with the hopes at that time identifying a candidate for the position of principal Thank you Dr. Herrick We have three foyer updates since our last board meeting just for the audience We're required to by state law to report these at every board meeting The first one is from attorney john o'leary of walters and levine llc of chicago requested contract payments records contract records contracts And payment bonds of or related to the construction or repair at highland park high school for the years 2015
020and 2016 In review, this was determined to be a voluminous request and mr O'leary o'leary was so notified by letter sent on may 16th He was asked to refine his request such that the district would no longer consider it voluminous The second request was from gerald meister Of highland park requested documents related to referendum expenditures and change orders that request was responded to within statutory timelines gabriella laura sinala of smart procure and deerfield beach florida requested electronic purchasing records from 2016 to current Including purchase dates line item details and vendor identification This request will be responded to within the statutory timelines. That concludes the foyer requests Thank you Citizen comments relative to matters on the meeting agenda We welcome your comments and questions and give them serious consideration pursuant to board of education policy 2-2
02130 The first comment period is solely for comments about manners on tonight's meeting agenda Before you deliver your comment, please identify yourself and state the agenda item to which your comment is directed The second comment period is for comments about any matter Please limit the length of all comments to no more than two minutes We will do our best to address your questions during the relevant agenda item discussion For non-agenda related questions or for questions that require additional response time We will follow up with you as well as report back at the next board meeting. Are there any citizen comments? Hearing none we move on to student recognitions So the first group is the district 113 education foundation student recognition. Ms. Lauby It is my honor to Ask danny bronzka and monsay alvarez to join
022me at the podium, please Board of education would like to recognize hyland park high school students Danny bronzka and monsay alvarez for their dedicated service on the board at the district 113 Education foundation I need to tell you that the foundation meets at 7 15 in the morning just to give this little context During their two years on the board danny and monsay have enthusiastically promoted the foundation's mission of enhancing and enriching the education programs at deer field and hyland park high schools Through innovative educational opportunities They have demonstrated a spirit of volunteerism and leadership by helping to organize fundraisers providing astute input in the foundation's grant selection process and encouraging other students involvement particularly for the foundation's annual pizza bowl and baker's cup We know that they will have a bright future and will
023continue to provide support for charitable Organizations as they have for the foundation. We wish them all the best in their next endeavors And our next group recognition of cbo Scholar graduates. Mr. David small. So this is awesome. Thank all of you for coming out tonight Tonight the board would like to recognize two special programs that prepare and assist district 113 students with the college process The first is college bound opportunities Cpo recruits student participants from low and moderate income families in deer field hyland park and lake forest high schools Students are then paired with a trained coach who helps them navigate through the college admissions process including interest entrance exams and college visits These mentors continue to coach the students during their four years at college Students can also obtain up to four thousand dollars
024in scholarship funding each year The not-for-profit organization is community-based and community supported this year hyland park high school school charity drive Raise incredible two hundred and one thousand dollars for cbo. So thank you very very much for awesome awesome support by the entire student body And and and hyland park high school community For this fabulous program Coaches and volunteers as well as the majority of cbo Um cbo's financial support comes with from within the five communities serving district 113 We'd like to congratulate All of this year's graduating cbo members and wish them good luck in college next year And now is susan here? susan if you'd come up and and perhaps if you would introduce each of the cbo scholars and announce the colleges that they'll be attending and Great lesson Okay, great. Um Hi,
025um ken rubin cb or cbo board president Yesenia alvarado, please and she's going to Brianna alvarez illinois state university Daniel adrias university of illinois sadie alvar Illinois state university university Justin burger drake erica castrillon de paul erica Contreras augustana Julio data university of illinois Illinois state university denise gaitan university of illinois Adeline garcia de paul university lucas gobel university of illinois savannah graff northern illinois university david hernandez illinois state university david kravitz cornell college Vanessa laura university of rochester cecilia lineman de paul university emily martinez university of illinois chicago jenny mckendree university of illinois Andrea montalvo de paul university Erin rita george washington university Thank you Crystal roman illinois state university Michael salgado loyal university paolo solano augustana um erica sanders akira sanders, sorry university of illinois Nikki washington max college britney witts columbia college
026I don't think I got all the names and colleges correct. It was No, we're gone. Anyway, I I would also like to thank highland park high school for charity drive It absolutely raised awareness About college bond opportunities in the community and and it's it was very very much appreciated Thank you All right stand up we'll stand Please Schuller scholars, we would like to recognize our graduates from the schuller program stacey meyer We do understand that there's honors night tonight, which is one of the reasons we started our meeting early So we will recognize schuller scholars and we certainly understand when all the students and their families need to get to honors night, too We would also like to recognize the graduates of highland park high school schuller scholar program Eight years ago highland park high
027school was selected by the schuller family foundation to become a partner in this program This program prepares high achieving students Who'll be the first in their family to go to college to succeed at colleges and universities around the nation Tonight we're recognizing our graduating schuller scholars at highland park These students and their families have been committed to a rigorous program throughout the high school careers Among a long list of expectations students are expected to excel academically And participate in an intensive reading and enrichment program summer college programs college teps preparation courses And a variety of college visits The board of education is honored to recognize these schuller scholars tonight and wish them well in their endeavors after high school julie levine school director for the schuller scholar program at highland park high school Will introduce
028this year schuller scholar graduates and the colleges they'll be attending. Thank you stacey Okay, I know I only have one minute. So i'm going to make this really quick Although this year we have three graduating scholars from schuller these three students Have been exceptional When you look at them, it is remarkable to hear all they have accomplished in their four years of high school Both collectively and individually these three have been leaders within the high school community and within schuller Here are just a few of their impressive achievements which are in addition to their significant time spent in the schuller program Omar Omar has been an active participant and mentor in the national hispanic institute has been a leader and a studiante Is a student athlete and was selected as the high school speaker at
029northwood junior high's graduation ceremony in a few weeks Ari has been a member of the girls varsity soccer team for the last two years Is a member of hp3 and a leader within the studiante Leslie is actively involved in the rotary club and dancer to dancer She is the president of the studiante and was selected this year as one of the two class marshals at highland park high school commencement ceremony on thursday In addition to what they each have done outside of the classroom It was even more impressive what these three scholars have accomplished within the classroom They each have pushed themselves to take the most challenging curriculum possible and although at times not easy they have persevered They exemplify grit and tenacity These three individuals have gone above and beyond what has been asked
030of them and I could not be more proud of all They have accomplished it was it was with great pride. I introduced them and let you know where they would be heading in the fall Omar Quintana Babson college Ari Ramirez Augustana college And leslie rodriguez going to grinnell college Thank you all I I would like to remind you that honors night is starting So here's a good time if anyone wants to run out to go to bed Thank you I'd like to invite anyone who would like to to move up a little bit because now our audience is going to be much smaller So if you'd like to move up, we'd love to have you do so As we pursue our common goal of providing the best possible educational experience for our students a key
031component in our continued success Is the ongoing support that our students staff and schools receive from our community partners to show our appreciation for this Support the board is personally recognizing and thanking community partners at each of our 3s meetings this year Tonight we will be recognizing the rotary club of highland park highwood The highwood highland park highwood koanis club and the ptos and booster clubs from highland park and deerfield high schools For their continued partnership and support Please join me in first welcoming martha gray and diana satello Who will be accepting the certificate of appreciation on behalf of the rotary club of highland park highwood Martha runs the towards a better understanding taboo exchange program and diana serves as club treasurer They also are both members of the club's scholarship committee school board member
032debbie Hyman will be reading the statement regarding the rotary club and presenting the certificate of appreciation Rotary club of highland park highwood has a long-standing partnership with highland park high school As many of rotary's community activities revolve around local school local youth programming Rotary's members are business professionals civic leaders and neighbors Who put their skills to work for the common good to solve local and global problems? Long-standing programs include the hphs interact club The towards a better understanding taboo exchange program a financial literacy program Rotary's youth leadership academy rila and tens of thousands of dollars given as scholars college scholarships to hphs The highland park high school interact club has more than 50 student members Led by two teachers is sponsored by rotary and provides members the ability to participate in a wide variety of
033community service projects Each year since 1993 the rotary club has run an exchange program with the belfast northern ireland rotary club In which the six highland park school students travel to belfast On odd numbered years and the irish students travel to highland park during the even numbered years i'm going to break here for a moment because my 30 year old freshman year at highland park high school. We housed a student from belfast duncan And it was the most incredible experience Especially since it was during passover and I was trying to introduce him to the foods of the area So I would take him to michael's and I jealously watched him eat a hot dog and fries and all that which I could not have But it was an experience which I will never forget and
034he sent us a model of a celtic heart after he left our house And I still have that Displayed prominently in my homes. It was a fabulous fabulous experience In addition to these programs the rotary club and highland park high school Have partnered in various other ways throughout the years and look forward to the years ahead The township high school district 113 board of education wishes to express its gratitude and appreciation to the rotary club of highland park For its ongoing support as a community partner in education Martha does martha is also a full-time realtor. I've known martha for 20 years I'm not as familiar with diana, but I am sure that they both are doing things beyond their volunteer work and I We appreciate all your efforts and if you'd like to um, we
035would like to thank We'd like to thank highland park high school and the board of education for allowing us to participate in these programs My first trip to belfast My co-teacher who we usually take a teacher with us on each of these programs was actually Dr. Calentis So that was back in 1998 I think that's when we started I started handling this program Diana is our the treasurer of our rotary club And she's the lady who signs all the checks and today we we gave out all our scholarships to the students And so it's been a wonderful year for us and our interact club Packed Packed packages to send to the veterans overseas They they've done a lot participated in special olympics and I thank the high school for allowing Us and rotary to continue
036to do good work Thank you for your continued support and for being here this evening Next please join me In welcoming john hickey secretary of the highland park highwood kiwanis club He will be accepting the certificate of appreciation on behalf of the club's school board member. Julie Gordon will be reading the statement regarding the kiwanis club and presenting the certificate of appreciation. Is he here? um We have a certificate for the highland park highwood kiwanis club And uh, I would just like to say a few words the highland park highwood Kiwanis club has been associated with highland park high school's key club since the key club's charter 1976 Over the past 40 years the highland park high school key club has raised thousands of dollars for charity and worked directly with local groups to the
037betterment of the community Kiwanis clubs focus on changing the world by serving children And the partnership between the highland park highwood kiwanis club and the highland park high school has always been one of support and collaboration The kiwanis club has partnered with the key club for a number of fundraisers including one that brought in more than $6,000 to purchase shelter boxes for victims of the earthquake in japan John hickey the current kiwanis representative attends key club meetings throughout the school year and provides support and suggestions This past year he brought in a speaker from the eliminate project, which is a partnership between kiwanis and unicef to eliminate maternal neonatal tetanus Last year highland park high school's key club Had more than 85 active members i'm proud to say my daughter was one of them And
038they hope to continue to partner with the kiwanis club to support the community with special attention to local charities and programs to help young children the township township High school district 113 board of education wishes to express their gratitude and appreciation To the highland park highwood kiwanis club for its ongoing support as a community partner in education It really worked a lot better when she was holding At this time we'd like to recognize and thank the ptos from highland park high school and dearfield high school for their incredible ongoing support Unfortunately, the dearfield high school pto was unable to send a representative to our meeting this night But we will make sure they receive their certificate of appreciation The dearfield high school pto supports programs that benefit dhs students and staff Some of the programs
039sponsored by the pto include health fair and ekg testing Arts events book sale and book buyback scholarships and school gift donations Additionally the pto assists the school by providing refreshments for many school functions This year alone the pto raised funds to donate over six thousand dollars in scholarship money for graduating seniors The pto also donated fifteen thousand dollars to dhs to improve technology and honor teacher gift requests to assist with classroom needs Township high school district 113 board of education wishes to express their gratitude and appreciation To the dearfield high school pto for its ongoing support and community partner in education So, thank you Next please join me in welcoming highland park high school pto co-presidents debbie krug and amy small along with secretary. Joni friedman Who will be accepting the certificate of appreciation on
040behalf of the pto? So this was a little harder because um, i've worked with these three women For a very long time and they are amazing leaders and everything they have done for the school is for everyone's children And it goes so above and beyond whether it is community meetings whether it is parking whether it is anything That affects our school and anything they can do to help raise money to make it more Affordable and doable and they have really helped this board and the district incredibly in terms of really being there for us, so Um, the highland park high school pto helps support more than 20 student organizations scholarships for school activities focus on the arts parent education programs and more This year the pto added a new annual fundraiser giants week of giving
041with the proceeds from this fundraiser Along with the sale of check awards and pto dues the pto was able to fund $30,000 in student and faculty programs $3,000 in student assistance and $3,000 for ap exams The township high school school district board of education wishes to express express our extreme gratitude and appreciation To the highland park high school pto for its ongoing support and to you three as amazing moms friends workers and community members as a community partner in education for supporting us and Thank you very much for being here and at this time we'd like to recognize Dear health high school boosters in the highland park high school Giants club for their ongoing support school board member michelle. Caldor will be reading the statements regarding the booster clubs So first um, please join me
042in welcoming pat way treasurer of the highland park high school giants club We'll be accepting the certificate of appreciation on behalf of the club The highland park high school giants club is an all-volunteer booster club committed to promoting school spirit physical fitness and student athletes The giants club raises funds through memberships fundraisers fundraisers sponsorships advertising seasonal programs sportswear yard signs and auctions The club has used its efforts to make substantial contributions to the students and the school such as the church at walters field the recently installed giants screening Installed giant screen on the screening on the softball and baseball field fencing physical fitness equipment Giants logos throughout the school and facilities tents timers batting cages golf bags and numerous other items Very busy The club's goal is to support all 27 athletic teams with the
043extras that coaches need to enhance the student athlete experience The club is also a community and social organization that encourages interaction with fellow parents and school Personnel to create a vibrant close-knit community The township high school district 113 board of education wishes to express their gratitude and appreciation To the highland park high school giants club for its ongoing support as a community partner in education This week just wanted to make a couple of comments one is one of your fellow board members david spall Thank you david for your support of the giants club. I wanted to say that dr Clintus and our new athletic director at the high school john rolly have been supportive Beyond words to the giants club and what we try to achieve is just part of the experience now with our
044high school um A week they're going to be going i am so encouraged this district this school current cliche I wish I had more kids Really exciting to spend to be a part of it So thank you everybody. So next please join me in welcoming julie letwitt incoming covp Of the deerfield high school boosters who will be accepting the certificate of creation appreciation on behalf of the club And if i'm not mistaken your other covp is your husband correct? Yes So nice of you guys DHS booster club is a non-for-profit parent organization that is dedicated to supporting the needs of dhs athletes in particular Boosters are involved in numerous fundraising activities to raise money to pay for equipment and facility improvements that fall outside the district 113 budget During the 2015 16 school year the
045dhs booster club raised and contributed more than $150,000 to pay for some Or all of the following items adam's field synthetic turf surface this being the fifth year of a six-year commitment concussion testing for all dhs student athletes Scoreboards for the new ghs warrior gym and for the new aquatic center lacrosse helmets soccer uniforms And diving boards and starting blocks for the new aquatic center The club is also paid for more than 50 dhs student athletes to attend a csl leadership conference And provided $500 scholarships to four senior student athletes two boys and two girls who best represented the characteristics of leadership sportsmanship and dhs school spirit The club's 500 member families are deeply committed to providing a safe modern and positive learning competition Environment for dearfield high school student athletes the township high school
046district 113 board of education Wishes to express their gratitude and appreciation to the dearfield high school booster club for its ongoing support as a community partner In education i'm listening to you and i'm thinking i have four kids but i still have them in elementary school My oldest is a freshman high school Some other things and then he threw out his knee playing tennis So now we're doing the co booster club day and we're really excited about it Our athletic director robert reese is an awesome person and he's so supportive of every sport at the high school And obviously we have this gorgeous new facility over there with the new swimming pool. I have swimmers as well And so it's it's so nice to be in there being in the gym and we're really excited
047about the booster club and What we've gotten along for next year. So thank you so much Thank you Thank you for being here with us this evening on behalf of your organizations so So at tonight's 3s board meeting amy bricker dearfield high school counseling department chair and alicia marguitis Highland park high school counseling department chair will facilitate the counseling department's presentation. Thank you so much Thank you Good evening. Thank you for having us present to you tonight regarding our departments I'm alicia marguitis the counseling department chair at highland park high school And i'm amy bricker counseling department chair at dearfield high school We'd like to take a moment to introduce our staff This is our highland park high school counseling department. It is comprised of our counselor team Our college counselor team our support staff
048our alternative learning community staff as well as our current interns And I would like to introduce to you the counseling and health services department at dearfield high school At dhs in addition to counselors and college counselors the counseling department includes social workers the learning assistance program The reaching out program and the health services office And now that you've met our amazing staff we would like to provide an overview of our departments So that american school counselors association created the asca national model Which is a framework for comprehensive data driven counseling programs The three main components are academics post high school planning and social emotional And as we proceed through tonight's presentation we would like We would like to highlight the increase in both intensity and frequency In the area of social emotional concerns for students
049As you might imagine social emotional functioning has a significant impact on both academics and post high school planning Before we do that though We'd like to take a moment and have you look at the year of the life of a counselor and we're looking at it from The perspective of the fall winter and spring We're talking about the overarching responsibilities that a school counselor participates in in these particular seasons But i'm also going to share more than that just that in the fall Counselors are working with their seniors and their freshmen They're writing letters of recommendation for all of their seniors which could be up to 70 letters and processing college applications for them Later in the presentation we will discuss the numbers attached to and how this process has changed The college process has
050sped up in that most if not all of our students apply to schools that have earlier deadlines And we complete most of our work by november 1st a huge change from the past Counselors are also meeting with freshmen getting to know them Helping them navigate and transition to high school as well as working with them to understand the high school curriculum And eventually working with them to create a four-year plan So they know where they're moving to in the winter Counselors are working with juniors and their parents and guardians. We're starting that post high school planning presenting at kick my college kickoff meetings Supporting juniors through their self-assessment process. We're working with them as they're applying to cbo to become cbo scholars We're supporting all of our students with academic progress. We are also focused
051on course selection in the month of february Counselors meet with all of their current freshmen sophomores and juniors and do course selection for the following year As well as working with our incoming eighth graders who are not even members of our school yet We start that process with in at hyland park with our eighth grade parent night And at deerfield high school with curriculum the curriculum nights that are offered for parents and guardians and students This year hyland park high school Counselors went to all three feeder middle schools to register hand register each student and meet with them And welcome to them to the high school In the spring we are working with our seniors again to make sure that they're graduating and helping them transition to their next walk of life We are working
052with juniors. We are meeting with them and their parents and guardians to discuss their letters of recommendation Again that college deadline is happening earlier and earlier and so meeting with 65 to 70 juniors Meeting with them and some are beginning to write letters of recommendation I spoke to one of my counselors today who said she's already written 40 letters of recommendation for this current junior group If they're not doing that right now in the spring, they're definitely doing it in the summer They're most counselors are writing during the summer What this calendar does not state though as these are the overarching responsibilities, but this does not include the crisis work That we do on a daily basis For example for students who are school reluctant We will have a parent or guardian who will call
053a counselor in the morning and said my child won't come to school The counselor will ask the parent. Well, can you at least try to get them to the building? The parent does the counselor will be waiting outside the curb to ask that and ask and escort that child in And this could happen on a daily basis And for those children who refuse and will not even get in the car Many of our counselors will make home visits with psychologists and social workers and deans to help support them with attendance That's one example of some of the things that counselors do We also deal with social emotional crises that include dealing with dcfs Suicidal ideation and anxiety that many of our students students are dealing with as well as with other issues Last year marcellus
054moore one of the dhs counselors collected data after every student meeting As a result of his perseverance, you can see he conducted 1188 individual student meetings. That's a lot of meetings And his meetings were spread equally across grades The fact that 50 of the meetings were initiated by mr moore demonstrates the proactive approach of our counselors While a student meeting likely touches all the areas for the purpose of data collection. He only documented the primary issue Using the three asca categories 58 of the meetings focused on academics 22 on post high school planning and 20 address social emotional issues But we know that we can't do this alone There is a partnership with parents and guardians as well as with our students For us to be able to support all of our students We need
055to have good relationships with parents and guardians This happens when we have parent meetings which could focus on social emotional concerns If they could be with regards to academic progress course selection as well as post high school planning We feel the communication is vital for the success of our students This communication occurs via email your phone call via family meeting that could be initiated by parents Or guardians or definitely by the counselor This year through our giant life workshops We surveyed parents of our class of 2019 at hyman park and one of the things we asked was What do you know in terms of your child? How your child feels about his or her counselor? And so what we found out was that ninety seven point three percent of our freshmen and this was in
056january Reported that they knew and felt comfortable with this with their counselor This shows us the importance of building relationships not only with our students, but with our parents and guardians as well Jeff bolman another dhs counselor developed a seven question survey to learn more about how he could better partner with families on his caseload This slide includes three of those questions He shared the results in his reflections with the rest of counselor team and this spring several other counselors will pilot the survey This is just one example of how we use data to guide our practice So one area of asca is post high school planning And we focus on this all of our school counselors are involved with post high school planning We work with our students and we work with our college
057counselors And I know there was a question if when will the college counselors present they will be presented to you next year We are involved and so we need professional development. So we look for finding opportunities to attend Breakfast and lunch informational sessions that colleges and universities hold so we can get more information to work with our students Many of us are members of our are of iac ac which is the illinois association of college admissions counseling And many of us also are members of our national organization In terms of individual programs that we have done within our buildings One that I would like to highlight towards the end of this presentation is our pathway scholars program And almost all of our school counselors are facilitators of that program Amy's going to share about the
058ncaa college-bound students athlete night that was held at dhs During our professional development time on monday's our college counselors and a few school counselors identified a gap in preparing college-bound athletes They created an ncaa program for coaches and families and this program was a collaborative effort with the athletic department The next several slides are going to focus on the area of academics The learning assistance program was originally developed as a general education program to support students with executive functioning skill deficits With increased frequency the program also supports our students in the reaching out program who are transitioning back to school after a psychiatric hospitalization Students of color transfer students students with economic insecurity and students living in multi-lingual Multilingual homes are over represented in comparison to our overall school population And you will see these
059trends throughout our data several several years ago This result this these results led to the development of an english learner committee Which advocated for the establishment of el english learner classes at dhs? This is an example of how counseling department members in both buildings are advocates for change on the behalf of students So another way that we help support academically As well as social emotionally in terms of our students is we both at both buildings We have something called intervention teams at deerfield high school. They are red and gray teams at highland park high school They're called student support teams. They are multidisciplinary. You can see by the many people who sit on our teams It's comprised of many educators from different departments at highland park high school I co-facilitate with our assistant principals Dr
060sassen sits with me on one team and dr mcmahon sits with me in another team At deerfield high school, they have a teacher who represents and sits on team to give a classroom perspective The purpose of intervention team is to create and monitor interventions for our general education students who have academic Attendance and our social emotional concerns. We use the rti model which is comprised of a three three tier system Intervention team really looks and creates tier two and tier three interventions Each team meets weekly throughout the course of the year school year and both amy and I will present some data from each of our teams The intervention teams at dhs are called red and gray team Thinking about the trend I mentioned earlier note that 60 percent of the students referred to team
061experience social emotional struggles Responding to the results that 65 percent of the referrals include students who struggle with homework completion Our department established an organizational skills group One of our challenges is that the referred students are often too disorganized to remember to attend But our counselors have incorporated professional development and data collection to adjust the group structure to better meet the needs of our students Similar to lap data the same groups of at-risk students appear again For example while only two percent of our student population are transfer students Nine percent of the students referred to intervention team and 18 percent of the students in the learning assistance program are transfer students As a result we implemented an orientation for transfer families and monthly lunches to provide additional support to our transfer students This chart lists
062some of the interventions implemented by red and gray team for referred students Interventions are individualized based on student and the needs of the student the parent or guardian is always part of the problem solving process responding to social emotional concerns 21 percent of the referred students participate in the reaching out program and 56 percent of the students discussed in team receive individual counseling At the end of each school year, we update our statistics and team members determine whether progress is satisfactory Improving with lingering concerns or significant concerns still remain for some examples of significant concerns include hospitalization multiple d's and f's not attending school or Functioning at a level where the student is not able to access learning Last year 75 percent of the students who were referred to team were stable at the end
063of the year So we too also looked at similar data as did deerfield high school The reason for referrals at highland park include academic concerns social emotional attendance and for us credit recovery For fear of students dropping out of high school our team demographics also included Students of color transfer students students with economic insecurity and those who live in multilingual homes As seen in all categories the data shows us that compared to the total population In these categories the students discussed surpassed the general population numbers This data gives us pause gives us pause to look at our interventions and see what are successful We focus on tier two and tier three which are outside the classroom Looking at this year's data in the number the area of the number of students of color that were
064brought to team That was reduced by 13 percent What we're looking at is that new practices in the dean's office have played a role For some of this and other factors could be that earlier interventions through counselors meeting with students weekly and providing with executive functions support The interventions that were implemented are listed Since social emotional concerns topped our reasons for a referral the drop-in center was the highest intervention at 52 Students were referred for individual counseling group counseling support and participation in short-term cbt or cognitive behavioral therapy to help students with anxiety When we look at our student progress 80 of our students were that were brought to team were stable and they were progressing progressing satisfactorily The tp interventions that were implemented were help support our students though Still 20 percent have significant
065concerns similar to what amy shared regarding deerfield another Intervention that we've used is our alternative learning community 14 percent of our students will refer to the alc for credit recovery This is an intervention that we have been using for quite a while The students who are referred to the alternative learning community are there for for credit recovery The data that from last year depicts the success of this program Students work through their course and curriculum through an online program called ingenuity Our coordinator sets up the courses for students Monitor students progress and because she is a certified teacher who has taught math and english She helps support them with the curriculum As you can see from its inception in 2009 71 students have graduated 71 students who most likely would have dropped out of high
066school and not earned a diploma Students also receive social emotional support through the drop-in center So now we would like to move to the next part of the asca model, which is social emotional supports This is a big part of our job. We provide crisis intervention Individual work weekly counseling and group counseling through support groups and they vary in each building But they could be these top these support groups could be very topic specific They could be affinity groups and they can be general support groups As you can see many of our students in each building receive weekly support through these groups At the end of the year students are surveyed to share their experience in a support group Their comments demonstrate the impact of having a safe place where they belong And the power
067of having others understand their experience our students love group So the drop-in center is something that is a hyland park program It is the hub of social emotional support for our general education students Looking at the data from this year. You can see what some of the things that we do To support students. We have 39 students who are receiving individual work weekly counseling sessions through drop-in center staff We also run 28 support groups But as we looked at data from this year in the month of february looking at that One particular month we did a lot of crisis intervention work On a weekly average 58 students came in per week With crisis with some type of crisis where they needed to meet with an adult to process that crisis The drop-in center has also
068partnered with our dean's office so that when students have significant behavioral issues that may warrant a suspension Students work with the drop-in center staff to reflect on that behavior Last year 24 students went through this process and i'm happy to report that 16 of those students actually continued counseling after the processing Individual counseling is provided to both general education and special education students by our counseling support services team At various time throughout the year referrals increase and we maintain a waiting list Students who receive weekly individual counseling may struggle with eating disorders school refusal or suicidal ideation At the end of the year, we collect data on ongoing themes Family issues anxiety and depression are some of the more common themes However, frequency may not match the intensity of the need for example a student
069with ocd obsessive compulsive disorder Requires extensive resources to maintain academic progress Reaching out is our most intensive social emotional support for students transitioning from a psychiatric hospitalization We track daily average for crisis interventions a crisis can consume several hours to days to resolve For example last week. I conducted a suicide assessment for one of our students in reaching out I spent over three hours with a student and parent followed by several hours of collaboration with team members and outside providers I would consider this an average time spent on a suicide assessment So this past year our counseling department at highland park partnered With several different groups to help support our freshmen What the first thing that we did is we created giant life workshops This was a partnership with lisa freerick and student activities amy
070bernetti and fine and applied arts As well as our through link crew which is in pe we covered a myriad of topics that include transitioning to high school character education Making positive choices and future planning that included understanding the curriculum understanding the student and resume building Resume building feeling we feel is something important that all freshmen should begin We also partnered With our freshman pe teachers who presented the rad program the rape aggression defense program counselors attended pe Almost daily to work with their students They helped support them through some very emotional lessons as well as help deliver curriculum with the teachers So what's working? Well Schools counselors collaborate with all stakeholders when working and supporting with students If you would indulge me for a minute, I would like to share a story that exemplifies
071this Our current student in highland park high school has been diagnosed with a serious medical condition This diagnosis was presented to the family right before spring break The student's mother is also dealing with her own medical concerns Because the student would need to go through some significant medical treatment that would Continue through the rest of the school year and most likely into the summer The counselor has worked with all stakeholders that includes teachers administrators our school nurse social worker and outside agencies Moraine township is providing transportation for the student to the hospital as well as helping the family with their food needs The student's younger siblings attend our feeder district and they have asked if we could set up a fund To help support the family which they would like to contribute to our social
072workers in the process of doing this We are providing transportation for the student when he's able to attend school We are also providing intermittent homebound instruction for the student when he's unable to attend school Other things are also being provided through the school and through the community His school counselor has played a significant role with collaborating with stakeholders to support him Amy bricker even asked me about the student because she wanted to know how ths could help This is one example of many of how school counselors collaborate with others We have listed some wonderful examples of professional development resources available to our staff As an added bonus they provide opportunities for our staff to network with colleagues in area schools At dhs the counseling department used our late start time To break into teams based
073on academic post high school and social emotional For example our social emotional team created a threat assessment process and refined our risk assessment tool At hyland park counselors participated in the hphs three strand model One example in the area of cultural proficiency They looked at making the transfer student process less cumbersome for families And now we're going to talk about future opportunities We would like to see social emotional learning standards embedded in curriculum across disciplines In addition both departments are exploring social emotional learning curriculum Following a training last december i've been in communication with staff at the yale center for emotional intelligence As a result of a few of our advisory teachers have pilot have participated in a pilot program That is a collaboration between the yale center for emotional intelligence and facebook The teachers
074implemented lessons from a social emotional learning curriculum and provided feedback In hyland park high school a few of our staff members at the beginning of this year were quite concerned with the level of stress That many of our students were feeling they created what is called the resilience project One of our counselors drew eater began researching and found something called the resiliency consortium And that was comprised of some highly selective colleges and universities They those colleges and universities created and posted videos of adults and college students Who overcame difficult times through grit and resilience? So the message is that if we keep working for some of us We can deal with the stress we were feeling The core group of the hyland park high school staff is working to create our own video clips And
075have moved from a small group to an all-school committee focused on resilience as far as the consortium Highland park high school most likely become the first high school to be part of this consortium We would like to see our staff have the opportunity to attend national conferences in their field In addition to the benefits of networking and increased awareness of national trends Counselors and social workers would learn about topics such as equity as they directly relate to their role in the building So where are our challenges? Well, one of the first things we want to share is that according to asca The optimum ratio of a school counselor to students should be one counselor to 250 students At district 113 the ratio is just at dearfield high school 1 to 262 162 at hyland park
076it's 1 to 276 And at our surrounding schools looking at similar schools in our area at the glum brooks Their caseloads are in the 240s. This is also true at lake forest high school The only school near us that has a higher caseload number is stevenson and they're at 300 It looks when you look at these numbers, you're like they're pretty close to 250. What's the concern? Well as we know our schools our students are college going populations in both schools And we have increased need in our schools So the expectation of what the role of a counselor is is much greater at district 113 than in other schools nationally And one of the reasons That's okay. Did I go? Oh, i'm sorry. Yeah One of the reasons as I mentioned earlier Is that the
077increase in the number of letters of recommendation in the past? A high school counselor would write for half of their senior class So that would be between 30 and 35 letters of recommendation and that would be written over a period of september or january Most college applications were june january 1st or january 15 In the last few years, we have seen this process speed up Now all counselors are writing for all of their seniors. So they're writing between 65 and 70 letters of recommendation individual letters of recommendation Um and Because of that also earlier deadlines has caused a bit a big part of this and so we are done usually by november 1st um, and part of it is is that common application Which many of our students use which is a wonderful vehicle because
078they can apply to multiple schools using this one application But what the the heartache for counselors is is that a letter of recommendation is required for each common app And the school may not require it, but because it goes through common app it is required Most students are applying earlier and to more schools And as we will see we also can see that more applications have been processed So if you look at some historical data in the class of 2004 at highland park high school We processed a little over 1800 applications the class of 2015 last year We processed close to 2800 applications The same is true for deerfield in the class of 2005 It was almost 1900 in the class of 2014. It was over 2500 The class of 2015 was a little smaller.
079So the number dropped a bit What does that mean for counselors counselors process those applications? They do it through a number of vehicles It could be through common app It could be other up through other electronic means such as send edu or some schools have their own electronic Version whether it's the university of wisconsin system university of texas georgetown These have their own ways of doing things and yes, we still do it by paper and snail mail There are still a few schools that we're doing that for another challenge for us is our transfer students Both schools have seen an increase in the number of transfer students people who've joined our building In the past four years, we are thrilled to have our transfer students But minimally what this means if you look at highland
080park this year We've had 103 transfer students deerfield has had 42 It means that at highland park minimally there's been 103 meetings initial meetings With students and their families as well as 42 at deerfield But when we look at our data from our intervention team teams We also realize that some of our our transfer students are in need of intervention and support It could be because of the academic rigor in our buildings. It could be because of social emotional Considerations. So what we know is that the counselor plays a huge role in helping support our our transfer students They meet with them. They triage they talk with stakeholders and they provide supports for students How we meet the needs of students can look different in each building For example at highland park students ask for
081a support group that specifically focuses on gender identity At dhs students in alliance a support group for lgbt students Unanimously wanted to stay together and didn't want separate groups. There's no one right way to provide services The statistic that 57 percent of trans youth attempt attempt suicide with unsupported parents is staggering As a result both counseling departments are collaborating with lury hospital and the deerfield parent network To sponsor a parent program next school year In addition to conversations about pronouns and names a critical focus for our students has been all gender bathrooms And all gender lock rooms. We have tried to offer student students alternatives such as changing in the nurse's office But they are inadequate The above quotes were collected from dhs students in preparation for a district gender support team meeting Both alicia
082and I are members of this committee along with andrea um the One student wrote the restrooms are all on opposite sides of the school which make them very inconvenient to get to and from class another student wrote I'm currently struggling with my changing situation for pe Because I don't feel like I belong or feel comfortable in a locker room that the school already provides If we had an all gender locker room I feel it would be much better for kids who don't feel like they fit in the binary of a boy's locker room or a girl's locker room My current situation is so obvious and makes me feel like I should be embarrassed and ashamed For wanting to change in the nurse's office instead of the locker room If we had an all gender locker
083room I wouldn't have to feel like all eyes are on me when I get my p. E close And I will tell you it is very painful to listen to students go through this on a daily basis According to the center for disease control and prevention suicide rates in the us have risen by 24 percent since 1999 When we are concerned that a student may be experiencing suicidal ideation a social worker or psychologist will conduct a suicide assessment In all cases we contact the parent or guardian When we are concerned that a student is actively suicidal we will recommend an assessment with an outside provider or a hospital Threat assessments are conducted when we need to assess if a student is at risk of harming others And at dhs threat assessments are conducted by two
084a team of two counseling staff members Suicide assessment data can be impacted by just a few students with significant mental health issues For instance last year you'll see the 58 assessments But we conducted between three to six suicide assessments on just four students Of those four students three are now placed off campus One student has qualified for special education support In many cases our reaching out program is effective in maintaining students With special with significant mental health issues in general education However, the needs of those four students required additional support So what does this mean? It means we have seen a tremendous increase in the number of students who have been hospitalized and with the increase in students Supports that students need before the hospitalization and after they return to us So many students are
085exhibiting social emotional concerns and and academic concerns Prior to the hospitalization when they return to us the hospital staff has said you're stable You're not well So we are having students return to us and counselors are going to have to case manage to support students when they return from Hospitalizations this includes creating interventions some are successful some are not some students return to hospitalization And when they return a second time or third time to us they're in need of additional support through 504 plans and some even IEPs We've seen a similar increase at Deerfield high school in addition area schools are also struggling with an increase Barrington high school averages in the 50s, but last year had 88 hospitalizations This year stevenson and lake forest contacted amy hineson are reaching out coordinator to consult regarding
086increased Hospitalizations and at lake forest high school They are creating a 0.5 position to manage all of their hospitalizations The naperville schools have also created similar positions in the last five years This summer district 113 staff will also have the opportunity to attend a summer workshop focusing On the role of mental health professionals in crisis intervention and recovery The recommended caseload for school nurses is one to 750 Our district is well above this number and it has impacted our ability to maintain not yet A nurse sub pool. Sorry This is significant because starting July 1st certified school nurses or an rn who has completed an is b medical review course Will need to do all required medical reviews for special education students and attend IEP meetings With only one nurse in each building. We have
087to maintain health service coverage, but we don't have the sub pool to meet the demands So this data was collected by marylin colzi our certified school nurse Our caseloads have had significant impact on our current certified school nurse hire We actually recommended two candidates on separate occasions as our building hire And in both cases the high caseloads were brought up during the interview process and eventually led to both candidates pulling out of the running We have reposted the position with the school nurses professional organization However, there are four pages of openings and most schools are well below the recommended caseload Unfortunately, the reposting has not resulted in qualified applicants During the summer our nurses work 60 hours reviewing incoming freshman medical records We currently do not have a nurse to do this at deerfield high
088school And potentially could end up with hundreds of students out of compliance when the date of compliance arrives next fall Candidates are simply not applying and we currently will not be ready to open our health service doors in the fall So what are our needs as amy discussed the ratio of school nurses school nurse to students Both of our buildings have the highest ratio compared to other high schools in the area To support all of our students. We need to add additional rn staff Both amy and I are part of ctad amy is a member of the education committee and I am a member of the youth committee Because we are we chose to do this because we are concerned about the increased use of atod among amongst our students We know that there's been
089an increase through the illinois youth survey given to our students The ctad education committee is working on a recommendation that each building should have a student assistance program coordinator to help develop Support to help develop and support our prevention efforts and to provide students with early intervention We also need an additional school counselor, especially at highland park high school The counseling department at hphs has not received an increase in fte Since the 2003 2004 school year and since then our student population has increased by 300 students And seen throughout this presentation the expectation of the role of the counselor are increasing because of the needs of our students academically social emotionally and post high school So our program and curricular vision we are different buildings and we're different departments But we both are looking at
090current research to determine best practice for our students You have seen that we have similar goals, but we get there sometimes in different ways and that's okay We also work together across the highway We share information we share ideas and this is all in the the for all of the purpose of meeting our students needs Counseling departments can apply for ramp certification by completing an extensive application Which demonstrates that they are implementing the ask a national model a data-driven comprehensive counseling program Many aspects of our department's practices are already in compliance, but we still need to use the next few years to work through all the requirements For the past 11 years We have implemented the sos suicide prevention program for freshmen and for the past five years the suicide booster program for seniors We
091would like to expand our use of evidence-based programs We are currently exploring career programs. The process is slow because we want to carefully review All potential programs before investing in a new program and have limited time to conduct the research In addition our counseling support services team is looking for evidence-based time limited support group curriculum In response to the increased referrals for students with test anxiety We also want to continue to expand our data collection skills To guide our practice this summer counseling staff will have the opportunity to participate in an evidence-based counseling workshop At hphs we too are looking at evidence-based programs to help our students Especially with career exploration an area that we feel is very important that we move into We want to also implement the sos program We have not done
092so thus far and hope to pilot it next year with a group of our freshmen This would be in partnership with our psychologists and social workers We too are working on data collection. This has not been a great strength of our department So we are very very excited about having the professional development workshop this summer to help us with this We know we need to create a needs assessment that we would like to give to our students and to our parents and guardians We also know that to be able to best guide our practice. We need to be looking at pre and post surveys And then also one of the things that we are we're really looking forward to implementing is universal social emotional screeners For all freshmen to help us to determine prevention programming
093and determine early interventions for students who are struggling with social emotional issues We are currently looking at some social emotional screeners that in conjunction with our psychologist social workers We will pilot with a group of our freshmen this coming year At this time, we would like to showcase a counseling program from each school So as I had mentioned earlier highland park created the pathway scholars program It began with the class of 2017 and it was to support their path toward college College attendance most of our school counselors work with pathway scholars Pablo alvarez who's sitting in our audience kate castner holly fleischer ellen grindel drew eater don mccord and our counselor bill morrison have been leading Leading the group leading our students in incredible ways and supporting them Students were chosen at the end of
094their freshman year based on the criteria listed So we're looking at first generation students low income and students who had academic identity We currently have 35 sophomores in pathway scholars and 25 juniors and we will be choosing our freshmen by the end of this year Within the pathway scholars program we provide opportunities for students that include college visits Monthly instructional meetings that include help with academic planning helping students understand their academic record Looking at student academic progress. We have had speakers that have focused on their own first generation status We've had speakers that have focused on the art of interviewing and the importance of career exploration We also have a partnership with parents We have a parent meeting twice a year to talk about what is the next step and everyone has to sign a
095contract We also have been working with the class of 2017 as they applied for cvo And we are hopeful that some members of the class of 2017 will be able to go in on some fly-ins to college campuses An opportunity that many have would not have without pathway scholars Mosaic is comprised of our two culture connection support groups black male group and latino support group The group facilitators are melissa romero sue lee marcellus more the world language department chair liz roberton and myself We piloted the program last year as an intensive intervention in response to red team data Lap statistics and the over representation of students of color among our seniors at risk of not graduating The makeup of the group represents the four at-risk populations that we identified this evening And at approximately 50
096students participate in the program this year Mosaic offers five field trips throughout the year and last year our cultural field trip was the holocaust museum to view the race exhibit Based on student feedback. We started this year with a community building activity and and collaborated with the p department to offer a high ropes course We developed five leadership committees to build on students potential as leaders For instance our fundraising committee worked a concession stand and pizza sale and the money was used to purchase mosaic t-shirts Using the new mosaic logo, which was created by a senior from our design committee Historically our most at-risk students were under utilizing the extensive resources offered by the ccrc And we wanted to create opportunities for mosaic students to develop relationships with the college counselors and familiarity with the
097ccrc As early as freshman year our college counselors are active contributors to mosaic and plan our college visits As well as provide a full day college workshop This year we also instituted two senior only college meetings with the college counselor counselors to focus on individual Post high school plans and financial aid only in our second year We are starting to see results for instance. I noticed more mosaic students attending sophomore college night a few weeks ago They arrive with confidence and we're proudly talking about college visits. They had already experienced After spending full day field trips with the college counselors mosaic students know who they are And are more likely to pop into the college counselor's office to ask questions Mosaic has plans for continued improvement. We are going to increase the frequency of the
098leadership committee meetings We are adding junior only college meetings to the curriculum and we are starting to collect data on grades attendance ap enrollment and discipline based on preliminary results We conducted a needs assessment to develop interventions to decrease the number of unexcused absences among mosaic students Alisha and I thank you for your time and welcome any questions you may have So first of all, we want to thank you very much for presenting tonight truly the board was and as was The executive council was given your presentation ahead of time and obviously went through it And I asked board members to submit questions to you by early this morning And I want to thank you for incorporating some answers to the questions that we receive from board members So this time i'd like to quickly
099uh, david, would you mind starting if you have a question or two? so first of all, I'd like to thank you for what I thought was an excellent presentation and I know that the work that the counseling department does is extraordinary and While I haven't worked with the two of you directly I have had an opportunity to see the work that. Mr. Alvarez has done with a particularly troubled student and I noticed and appreciated the extraordinary effort that he Put forth to work with that student. I think that we had a great outcome And and i'm also on a personal basis just had a fabulous experience with my own son. So thank you very much Um the social emotional wellness of our students is a key strategic goal for the district and I think that
100one of the goals of having these department presentations is the ability for for us As board members to better understand and so I feel like that it accomplished that goal and have a much better understanding about What you're doing and I am expressing my personal opinion, but I think that consistent with our goal And consistent with kind of your request and I think it's it's terrific that you came forward and you shared your request And so I would encourage the principals of both high schools I'll encourage the superintendent and our finance director to see if we can't make additional resources available to you because I think that It is a key objective and if we're going to deliver on our key objectives, we need to be able to provide more resources both in the counseling
101area as well as Obviously critically we're seeing it with the nurse. I do have some specific questions, which i'll share on to dr Herrick, but it's gordon. Thank you Exhausting to hear about it all and to see that paper and see all that you do You guys are all special people doing all you do The only question i'd have and you don't really have to get back to me now The hospitalizations and we have analysis that could help us better understand the profile Of the students who end up with hospitalizations as a way to Maybe predict more who's more vulnerable and does it fall into the four? High-risk groups you've talked about or is it is it broader than that? so again, you don't have the answer right away, but that's you know, as I
102saw the number and was Frankly stunned at how many kids has Um Yeah, that I I wondered I was guessing that people kids come from walks of life all And thanks for actually addressed a couple so much the only other thing and it's more of a Comment because I don't need to know how you do it, but I love the fact that you talked about including social emotional Work throughout the curriculum and I know that actually some of the early strategic plan discussions like and because that specifically they were So I don't know exactly how you make that happen um But i'm hopeful that do try to do more but thank you again. There was definitely Thank you also for a very comprehensive analysis of what you have been doing and what you are doing
103I find it stunning the increase that just the differences in the nature Of of the work that you do just within the past five years And obviously there's no answer for this right now, but I think I personally would really like to be better informed about it One of the things that jumped out at me for example was the idea that self-injury Numbers are twice as high as substance abuse and then i'm connecting dots that perhaps are there or aren't there Um to the hospitalization so there's a whole world out there That if we've been fortunate enough not to have encountered this with our own children that I just need to know about so I am I am amazed and grateful for you and your departments For what you do and please educate us more
104Ms. Hyman great presentation. Although as my colleagues have said not all of the information is Exciting or or good to hear but I will say that I have worked with both of you and on conferences and And working with students and what is heartening to me is that the two the departments of the counseling department And the departments of our specific academics are not separate and that there is a lot of collaboration between you to see that students Are taking care of in every possible way and with the numbers that we're seeing it's getting harder and harder and I know that and I know two of my students benefited from having miss Margatis as her counselor and she couldn't work with the third because she was pulled over to the drop-in center at a higher
105rate as that the use of that center increased but I am delighted that We are constantly you are constantly thinking of other ways to address the needs of our students and I thank you Well, the thing that jumped out at me most was the nurse's stuff too and those numbers are unbelievable We do ask you, you know just for your advice for where you've been where you're going I can tell you i'm excited I won't hear it other than from the audience But for two years from now when you will present again to see where those numbers are taking you because clearly you've learned so much By looking at this stuff. So thank you so much for that the nurse's thing and also the transfer students That really um and highland park seems so much
106higher So I I really hope you continue to delve into this to such a degree because it's fascinating Not always in a positive way, but I guess we learn from it and hopefully we can help more So we thank you so much for an amazing presentation All right, we are on time and we are moving to action items. The first one is approval of minutes I need a motion to approve the revised minutes from may 9th reorganization and regular board meeting and may 9 2016 closed session Is there a motion? Is there a second? Discussion all those in favor opposed abstentions motion passes I need a motion to approve the minutes for may 18th 2016 the board retreat And along with that motion. Well, can I have a motion, please? Is there a second? I
107would like to ask for a friendly amendment to table these minutes because we are incorporating the notes that dr Calentis took so that we will have a more complete record of the strategic planning session that occurred So would someone make a friendly amendment to table this? Next meeting. Thank you Okay, is there a second to that? friendly amendment Thank you Hearing no discussion all those in favor Thank you opposed Abstentions motion passes to table the approval of the minutes until next meeting Excuse me for a moment. Okay. The following was a discussion item at the may 9th board of education meeting It's a superintendent contract amendment The recommended motion is the superintendent recommends that the board of education approve the amendment to superintendents employment contract dated february 8 2016 between township high school district 113
108And dr. Chris tignam as presented and this is a roll call vote. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Okay, is there any discussion? Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. This is a roll call vote Aye motion passes We move to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda which includes personnel notices and financial reports? Is there a second? I'm going to provide a report on the bills. I met with mr Bullock today. We went through a variety of the various bills that I reviewed Everything appeared in order including enormous wire transfers by gil bain Which I wanted to see a complete breakdown because there was a lot going on for the referendum this past So everything was in order. Is there any further discussion of the consent agenda
109items? Seeing none. This is a roll call vote roll call, please Aye motion passes At this point we move to our second citizens comments section. Are there any citizens comments? Hearing none. Oh It is um, would you state your name though for the record and if you need a microphone you're more than welcome to use it Or if you want to speak up Also So i'm here with a question. I'm thankful that the council has brought up the issue of transgender issues And bathroom use locker room use I was shocked to hear about 50 suicide of trans so i'm concerned for the emotional well-being of trans students as well as the non-trans students the emotional and physical safety of both trans and non-trans So they brought up the issue also the transgender bathroom locker use
110and i'm aware of the director of the guidance from the federal government that's come out recently mandating for use for gaining federal funds for the retention of federal funds that schools Even if they provide separate locker room bathroom facilities must allow trans students to use the facilities of their choice When they feel in inner sense So i'm I noticed that the all gender bathroom has gone into dhs So I wasn't aware of any public discussion there may have been but I was i'm not aware of it So i'd like to know the board's response to Well, their plans concerning the What the council's brought up concerning the needs or desires of the current trans students with regard to what they express the all gender bathroom But then also with regard to the obama's guidance I'm
111aware of the seriousness of the nature of it regarding public funding for public schools But i'd like to hear from you your thoughts and if there's been any any consensus to Thank you Thank you, could you leave your name and your address and number with ms Waldorf so that we make sure we can respond back to you with that The board does not engage in discussion at this juncture. However, we have addressed this issue and ms. Johnson has conducted several training sessions Um, so unless you want to make a very brief statement we can We'll get we'll get right back to you since it's um during questions. Okay. Thank you very much Okay, um at this point we're going to move into closed session and I need a motion for the board to meet in
112closed session For the discussion of personnel and negotiations. No action will be taken. Is there a motion? Is there a second to the motion? This is a roll. Is there any discussion? a roll call, please I motion passes We will reconvene into open session later and we will meet in room a two one seven Which is near the front entrance. Thank you