001[music] >> Okay. Okay. >> Ooh. >> [music] >> Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. >> [music] >> Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. >> [music] >> I want I want >> [music] >> I want I want >> [music] >> I want I want >> [music] >> I want I want >> [music] >> I want I want >> [music] >> I want I want I >> [music] >> Oh! >> [music] >> Oh! >> [music] >> I I had to over my because I need to read the numbers. All right. All right. I'm just being polite. Yeah, we're going to get started. What time is it? Hey Steve. Good. How are you? Oh, good. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it. I know. Thank you. >> Okay, it is 7:02. The board met in closed session 6:00 p.m. this evening to discuss matters
002that fall into the following categories that are exceptions to the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Student matters exception C 210 student discipline, personnel matters exception C1 specific personnel appointment employment compensation performance and dismissals, um negotiations exception C2 collective negotiations, legal matters exception C11 actual or threatened litigation C2, and uh closed session minutes exception C21 review of closed session minutes. At this time I would like to ask for a motion to go into open session. So moved. Motion by Miss Hannah, second by Miss Lansing. Yep. Can we have a roll call vote, please? Ms. Fabian. Present. Ms. Hannah. >> Yes. Ms. Lansing. Yes. Mr. McBride. Yes. Ms. Ramirez. Yes. Mr. Riddle. Yes. President Rodriguez. Yes. We are now in open session. Um are we is BoardDocs back up again? Yes. I think it is. Okay, it is.
003But thank you, just want [clears throat] to make sure. Um Could I ask Ms. Allen to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? Yes. Please rise. >> [clears throat] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Okay, I'd just like to mention uh that superintendent will not be with us tonight. She is attending the Aspiring Superintendents Conference in Naperville. Actually, she is she was presenting at the conference, so she'll be back tomorrow. And also, Mr. Heckelbe, Frank Frankie, will not be with us tonight. I understand he's performing at the high school Mhm. orchestra. Yes. >> Is it? So, he will not be with us tonight. Um President's
004report. Okay, I have a few things I'd like to mention. On April 15th, 2026, members of the school board and the superintendent attended the um spring dinner meeting of the Lake Division of the Illinois Association of School Boards at the Doubletree Hotel in Mundelein, and uh there were some items that were presented to school board members, and I wanted to uh present these here at tonight's meeting. Um Mr. Jeffrey McBride is receiving a pin for Established Board Leader, MR. MCBRIDE. >> [applause] >> GOT A COUPLE MORE. MR. RIDDLE is receiving certificate for established board leader and distinguished annual merit board leader. And you're receiving a couple of pins and a [applause] stack of dollars. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. And last but not least, Miss Hannah is receiving established board leader a pin, distinguished
005annual merit board leader, and the legacy annual merit board leader award. CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] >> CONGRATULATIONS. OKAY, ON APRIL 19TH, which was Sunday, um members of the um school board attended the spring fundraising brunch for Bravo Waukegan, which took place at the Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park. Um I attended along with Mr. Riddle, uh Miss Fabian, and uh Miss Kristen, executive assistant. And um it was really a beautiful event, a worthy cause, a fundraiser for Bravo Waukegan, which is doing so much for our students. And we had a chance to listen to some Waukegan students performing, and they were just outstanding. I mean, it's very proud very proud to be uh from Waukegan. And have them representing us. Um Cube conference is taking place in Chicago, October 1 to 3, 1st to 3rd. So,
006uh anybody that uh would like to attend, uh please talk to Miss Kristen, let her give her the information, and she will make sure that you have reservations. And if I can find this sheet of paper that I had here. >> Oh, I had it here somewhere. Well, I can't find it, but a shout-out to coach Ashlaw for being named the Illinois Basketball Coach Association's um co-coach of the year. OH, WOW. >> [applause] >> AND THEN THE LAST ANNOUNCEMENT I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE, we have an aspiring artist in our midst. Okay? And I just found out that her works are on display at the Carnegie Library. At the Carnegie >> No, the Jack Benny Oh, the Jack Benny Center. Oh, I thought you said the Carnegie Library. I'm glad you told me. At the
007Jack Benny Center until May 30th. That's Miss Hannah, when she first told me that she was an artist, um I was really very impressed to see her works. And she really does some beautiful works. And I hope to go go see them and see what she is actually doing in her spare time. Although, I don't know how how you have spare time with all that you do. I have to I have to find a a calming a calmness in all of the other stuff that's going on, and that's what I use. But her work is beautiful, and I encourage you all to go out and see it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> all that I have. Student board member report. >> [applause] >> Miss Allen. All right. Hello everyone. So, as
008you guys know, Frankie isn't here, but he did want me to say some of his notes. So, from him, he said, "I like to take a moment to recognize our student participation in the SkillsUSA competition last week. They did an amazing job representing this our district with professional talent and dedication. It was really a fun and rewarding experience to attend and see their hard work in action. We are incredibly proud of their efforts and accomplishments. I would also like to highlight a great learning experience we had recently with our sophomores. They had the opportunity watch the Selma Selma, I think. Uh and the auditorium which which closely aligned with what they are currently studying in their history class. It was really meaningful to see the connection between classroom learning and real-world events. Additionally, we had
009the unique opportunity to call to have a call with our governor of Alabama, which made the experience even more engaging and memorable for our students. Thank you for having me. Yes. Wow. Yes. And then for my presentation today, uh Here you can go to the next slide. Sorry about that. Uh Monday, April 20th at our at the Washington campus, we had an assembly. And my friend and I helped Mr. Simon, the organizer uh Mike Mike the assembly basically. The bleachers are full and we actually got a lot of student engagement, which I was like really proud of cuz it was also a late start. So and I know like a lot of kids like had that opportunity to skip. So I'm really proud of everyone actually showing up. Uh yes, it brought students out to
010encourage and support our special special education uh yes, special education basketball team. Having members from the girls basketball and also the girls varsity basketball and also the boys varsity varsity basketball. Sorry about that. And also with the Indian performance from our amazing JROTC step team, which also grabbed a lot of students' attention. But overall, this assembly showed hope for our school spirit. We had games that engaged both student and staff, which was a big part of making students interested in school pride. As I leave the Washington campus, I know that I was a part of creating positive change and encourage encouraging high school students to have a more have more school pride and feel happy become a to be a bulldog and come to school. Right. I hope assemblies like this become a lasting tradition
011to keep the student body engaged and connected. All right. THAT'S WONDERFUL. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU, ISABELLA. OKAY. UM ITEM SEVEN, special recognition and presentations. Mr. DePuy. >> [music] [music] >> We don't just learn skills, we build futures. We are the [music] SkillsUSA Wakeland High School chapter. I am Brian Lepe and I serve as our school reporter. I'm joined by President Edgar Lopez Leon, Vice President [music] Frankie Jacobo, Secretary Anthony Garcia Chavez, and Parliamentarian John Nunez. Mr. President, [music] can you tell us who we are? Our Wakeland High School SkillsUSA brings 208 registered members from a wide range [music] of CTE programs like business, engineering, photography, woods, HVAC, and starting soon next year, diesel mechanics as well. As a part of a national organization of career and technical education, SkillsUSA helps us develop our leadership,
012teamwork, and [music] communication skills. As officers, our mission is to support our members, represent our school with pride, and help [music] students prepare for success beyond the classroom. Mr. Vice President, can you explain how we put the SkillsUSA [music] framework into action? SkillsUSA focuses on three areas of growth: workplace skills, technical skills, and personal skills. These skills we use to learn to be [music] leaders, collaborators, and communicators. These skills are used in school and in life. We also learn professionalism, responsibility, skills that every employer looks for. At the same time, we gather our technical skills, and we use those skills to learn in classrooms and turn them into career-ready experiences. Mr. Secretary, >> [music] >> can you share to us how SkillsUSA helps put our school and district into good standings? Of course. SkillsUSA offers
013incredible opportunities [music] to students through conferences and competitions that allow us to represent our school and district with immense pride. This last October, uh seven of our students participated in the lead conference, and six of those students obtained their Statesman Award for completing session trainings and leadership challenges. [music] It was an amazing experience being able to connect with students from all across Illinois who share the same goal as becoming strong leaders and future professionals. Currently, our members are preparing for state competitions, and we're expecting more than 40 students to go and represent us at Peoria, Illinois. This is especially impressive due to there being 4,000 students statewide going to these competitions that is going to allow us to represent and put our school out there. Mr. President, can you tell us about our community service
014project? We are very proud to have Champions of Hope as our community service project. During October and November, we collected food for about 15 families in need within our community. In December, [music] we collect clothing and hygiene products throughout the year. SkillsUSA is more than just studying and competing. It's also about giving back. Social responsibility is a key part of our framework, and through projects like these, we learn the importance of serving our community. Mr. Parliamentarian, what message would you like to share to our community? We want our community to know that we are committed to growth, leadership, and service. [music] We are not only developing the skills to succeed in our future careers, but we are also dedicated to giving back, helping families in need, supporting local projects, and making a positive impact wherever
015we can. [music] Mr. President, what is the most rewarding part of being a SkillsUSA member [music] and officer? The most rewarding part of being a SkillsUSA member and officer is representing our school and helping the community out. Being a SkillsUSA officer has helped me develop confidence and [music] leadership skills. It is incredibly fulfilling to motivate our members, represent our program, and watch others grow. SkillsUSA allows us to connect with people with similar goals, challenges, and competitions, [music] and prepare for our future careers while giving back to our school and community. We received [music] the Model of Excellence Award, and this was just blowing our mind because we're the only school in Illinois that got it. And there's hundreds [music] of chapters in Illinois, and then there's only 24 high schools in [music] the nation that
016received this award, and that's like 19,000 chapters. [music] So, our students are just remarkable, and now [music] because of this, all those students, those officers, will be able to go and compete [music] at the national conference in June. We are proud members and officers of the SkillsUSA Waukegan High School chapter, and we want our community to know that we are here to make a difference [music] because this is only the beginning. >> [applause] >> I'd like to introduce you to Adrian Jimenez. Uh Adrian was one of our SkillsUSA we took um SkillsUSA. Can you hear me okay? It's for the people online. Sorry. Okay. Good evening, board members and guests. Uh my name is Mr. Marks, and this is uh Adrian Jimenez. And our SkillsUSA had the opportunity to go to a competition against all
017the other high schools in Illinois this past weekend. They are amazing. Um this was really our first opportunity on such a large group. We took about 45 students and they brought home five gold placements. >> [applause] >> THEY ALSO brought home two silver as well as two bronze. >> [applause] >> So, I'd like to introduce to the Adrian who has also been invited to nationals um as in competing computer applications. Good afternoon everybody. Um I recently did go to championships in Peoria and through about I believe it was six hours of that competition, I came out the next day and seeing that I had won gold. First place. [applause] It's a very fun experience those three days being out there. I got to get a lot closer with all the other people in the program
018and just overall me being in this program has improved me as a person a lot more as it is opened me up to being more like this cuz I'm telling you last year I would not have done this. I would have been so scared to come up here and talk to all of you, but through this program it has definitely helped me become more open and willing to do stuff like this. So, for that I am truly grateful for Mr. Marks and Ms. Mercado the sponsors for SkillsUSA as they have truly been two of the people to help me become better and be the man I am today. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. VERY IMPRESSIVE. OKAY, 7B student support handbook front cover. Good evening community members, board president, board members. My name is Oscar Depuy
019and the director of student outreach. And today I have the distinct privilege of recognizing some of our extremely talented photography uh students from the CTE program, photography program. Now, one of the things that which you guys will be seeing today is several entries that were brought in to be voted upon after given a bunch of students a large amount of of different pictures. And they were able to put some together. And today we're going to recognize first place, second place, and third place after they were voted on by students themselves. So, all this was extremely student driven. And the winner of this contest, their cover will be the front cover of our student support handbook in which are many support systems and explanations of our district's resources for our families and students. So, with that
020being said, I want to just show a couple of the entries that came in. If you guys want to look to the screens. And I'm going to act like I click click. Oh, look. >> [laughter] >> Click. And click. And I'm going to invite now the two students. There's actually three, but I don't see the young man here. So, we have two students here with us. And I want to make sure that I say their names right because we have a gift for them. And if you could click. What you have in front of you is both the second and third place winner. And one of them was Azul Apolinar. Did I that right? Apolinar. COME ON UP, PLEASE. >> [applause] >> AND WE HAVE AND this is her her artwork that she made. She
021was This one. And also we have Make sure I say this right. Areli Rosales. Areli Rosales. >> [applause] >> OUR WINNER THAT CAME IN TODAY they'll be awarded $100 for you and $75 for you. And I think this is just a great opportunity for not only our students to be able to showcase their talents but also leaving a legacy for the next group of seniors that are coming in. Okay, so thank you so much. Super proud of you guys. And they're going to be able to keep this but we're going to have a replica of this ourselves as a district. Okay, thank you very much for taking the time. Questions? >> [applause] >> I'm sorry? First, second, and third? >> Correct. >> Where is the other one? He didn't make it to see me. Where
022is this picture at? Right here. It's also Yeah. This right here. This is the this If you go to the previous slide, you'll see it there. >> Yeah, there was a tie. Yeah. And also we have their families so I was hoping that we could please take a picture with the families and and everybody else. So come on up, family. I did a photo. I'll hold that place. Very nice. Very nice. Congratulations. Good job. >> All right. Thank you very much. CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] >> NICE JOB. WE HAVE SOME REALLY amazing students here in Waukegan. We do. And one of the things I loved in those um was that the purple, green, and gold was a component of all of them. So, I just loved that we're seeing our school colors really represented. I know
023like here it's just the purple, but we are purple, green, and gold. So, that was really nice to see. Um All right, moving on to item eight, approval of minutes. Great job. It is That's fine. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the closed session minutes dated January 13, 2026, January 27, 2026, February 10, 2026, February 18, 2026, and February 23, 2026, which were previously reviewed in closed session. Motion to approve. >> Motion to approve by Mr. Riddle. Second. Second by Ms. Lindsey. Any discussion on that motion? Yeah, um Ms. Hanna? Wait, are we taking them all at once? Yes. Yes. Oh, okay. We could Oh, wait, we got to We can't because on one of them What What is the significance of these? They're already approved in closed session. Um I know
024some people might have missed some of them. So, the the final approval of the Board of the closed session minutes is taken by the Board as a whole. In closed session, we have preliminary review and approval. In closed session, we will have some board members if they weren't at a particular board meeting pass in terms of approving the minutes because they weren't there. Um but if we think of this approval process as kind of incorporating across the whole, I think for those of you who may not have been here at a particular set of closed session minutes, one way you could view your vote if you are comfortable doing that is just supporting that your colleagues did approve the minutes at closed session across the board if they if you if we take them collectively.
025These are all alternatives. These are This section is all closed. We already voted or didn't we? >> Already voted on them in closed session, yeah. >> session. [clears throat] We already have. >> preliminary. whether or not we were here. Right. So, but if you feel strongly you'd like to pull out the ones you were not at and vote on separately, there could be a motion for that. Okay, I don't think anybody has any objections. Okay. So, we have a motion and a second? Okay, uh roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. >> Ms. Hannah. Yes. Yes. Ms. Lenzing. >> Yes. >> Mr. McBride. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ramirez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Okay, now we're going to take the next ones. We
026have 1 2 3 4 5 different sets of minutes from previous meetings and we're going to take them one at a time. We're not going to take them all together because some people might not have been at one or another of these meetings, so we're going to take them one at a time to make sure that we have accurate vote voting on this. The first one is we're looking for an approval motion to approve the minutes for the open session of February 24th, 2026. So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle approved? Second. >> Second by Mr. Ramirez. Any comments, corrections, changes? Roll call vote, please. Fabian. Yes. Ms. Hannah. Pass. Ms. Lenzing. >> Yes. Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries. Minutes approved. Next one, item C
027is approval of minutes for the micro meeting open session March 10th, 2026. Motion to approve. >> by Mr. Riddle. Seconded by Second. by Ms. Lenzing. Any comments, corrections, changes to these minutes? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian? Pass. I was not in attendance. Ms. Anna? Yes. Ms. Lenzing? >> Yes. Mr. McBride? >> Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Pass. I was not in attendance. Mr. Riddle? Yes. President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Item D, approval of the minutes for the open session of March 17th, 2026. Motion to approve. >> by Mr. Riddle. Second. >> Seconded by Ms. Lenzing. Any comments, corrections, changes to these minutes? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian? Yes. Ms. Anna? Yes. >> Ms. Lenzing? Yes. >> Mr. McBride? >> Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries.
028Minutes are approved. Item E, approval of the minutes for the special open session meeting of March 31st, 2026. Motion to approve. >> Motion approved by Mr. Riddle. Second. Seconded by Ms. Lenzing. Any comments, corrections, changes to these minutes? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian? Yes. Ms. Anna? Yes. >> Ms. Lenzing? Yes. Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. And the last one, item F is approval of the minutes for the micro meeting open session April 14th, 2026. So moved. Motion approved by Mr. Riddle. Second. Seconded by Ms. Lenzing. Any comments, corrections, changes to these minutes? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian? >> Yes. Ms. Anna? Yes. Ms. Lenzing? Yes. Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries.
029Minutes are approved. Item nine, opportunity for public comment. Thanks. Okay. We have two names on the list. When I call your name, please come to the podium, state your full name, and um you'll be given 3 minutes unless you need translation in which case you'll be given double that time, 6 minutes. First name on the list, I really can't make it out. C H Chester? What is it? Is it Chester? Oh, it Is that Chester? Okay. I should know. I should have known. Yeah, my notes. All right, great. Thank you. Mr. Makowski, how are you doing? We would like to know what is the correlation between spending money for professional development, academic materials, and programs, or lack of student academic academic improvement. That's we would like to know that. Okay. Okay. Second of all, we
030would like to know why the 24 credits was knocked down to 17 credits so the kids at 24 credits got a full education. They enjoyed school, they have a lot of different things going on. So, I think that um the the kids are being cheated by only going with 17 credits. They boot them out of school, then the next group and you boot. So, I think all you get people are smart, but I don't know why it's down to 17 instead of 24. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Makowski. And Consuelo? Se necesita traduccion? Okay. Good evening. We are again the parents of a High students. Estamos aqui por que We are here because you approved the decision to do the new playground in High Park. We are grateful to tell you that those
031were good news for us. Because our children deserve a good playground. So they can have a recess. I'm grateful that they came and fixed the stairs that it was very dangerous. And we are waiting for good news for our children today and future generations. And thank you again for doing this and thinking for the better for our students. We are very grateful. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Moving on the item 10 consent agenda. Um we have four items. This is No. I didn't count them all. 1 2 3 4 5. Item 10. We have 11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. 11 items. Okay, the consent agenda is a list of items that we will be voting on all at in one vote. These are items that have been presented
032to the Board of Education in previous meetings. We've had chance to ask questions and discuss them. They're considered non-controversial and in order to just expedite the process, we will be voting on them as one item unless one of the board members any of the board members have any request to separate out any of the items be voted on separately. So, are there any requests to separate anything out? No? Okay. Items are Item 10A, renewal of Curriculum Associates ready grade 6 through 12. B, renewal of Jostens Center partnership for school year 27. C, renewal of Schoolinks for school year 27. D, renewal of News Newsela for grade 6 through 12. E, attendance at SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference from June 1st, 2026 from June 1st to 6th, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. F, renewal of Renaissance
033DNA for school year 26-27. G, 2026 National Freshman Success Institute. H, purchase of CrowdStrike managed endpoint security platform cybersecurity grant E-rate. I, renewal of Edmentum software. J, renewal of Instructure learn platform. And K, Sid me renewal. We have a motion to approve. Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve. Second. >> Seconded by Ms. Fabian. Any discussion on the motion? Ms. Lindsey. Um I just want to reiterate my sentiments around Sid me. Um I just want to make sure that the administration is monitoring usage, maintaining that there's professional development and supports to use this tool, and to also maintain data behind this investment. So, it is a a tool. We've had Ms. Campos come and talk about the great things that she's seen at a principal level. I want to see it in
034the hands of teachers, and I want them to see the benefit of it. Thank you, Ms. Lenzing. Ms. Fabian. I got a chance to kind of see it in action, and I will say from a teacher's lens, um I didn't realize how actually detailed it is where they can even self-evaluate and it'll tell them timestamp, you know, piece, you know, uh piece by piece where they excelled, where they could have done better. Like, I just didn't realize how detailed it was. So, um I'm definitely going to approve this, but as Ms. Lenzing said, I'm excited to see it in the hands of teachers. Thank you, Ms. Fabian. Mr. Riddle. Yes. Um I think we all have some uh concerns about AI and its use uh by our communities, by especially by our children. This program
035is um is a closed, it's not an open AI, it's a closed system that's been developed for schools specifically. Uh and it's uh we certainly want to encourage our teachers to uh have a have a go at it. As we've heard, principals and those who have tried it uh find out that, you know, we demand so much of teachers these days, um this is a help tool. Uh and it and AI, we're not going to get rid of it. It's going to be here. Uh certainly we need safeguards on it. And this tool does have those safeguards built in. Uh and it's not being used by the children at this point. It's just being used by the administrators and teachers. So, we want to as uh um Fabian said and as as Ms. uh Lenzing
036said, we want to see more teachers using it because we are paying a lot of dollars for it. And we want to encourage teachers um to really use it. We'll help them um to do their job better, uh and so we want to encourage that. And so we we would you know, I'm going to support it. Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Ms. Fabian. And just one last comment for um the students that are attending SkillsUSA, good luck. I hope you enjoy the experience and take it all in and that you have time to sightsee around as well. Um and I'm really hoping I don't want to put this in the air, but that you're also paying attention to um you know, flights and all that, your surroundings cuz it's been getting crazy out there sometimes, but
037good luck um and I hope you have a a great trip. And eat a lot of good food. >> [laughter] >> Right. Oh, yeah. For real. I'm serious. Yeah. >> All right, any further discussion? Just I just want to thank Mr. Marks and and everybody on that team is doing such a great job and the children especially with what we saw on the on the you know, presentation here earlier with Skills USA. I think our our organization will continue to grow and we're going to win more awards. So, go at it. Thank you. And we're very proud to have the vice president on our board. >> Yes. Very much so. All done. Okay, any no further discussion? Can we have a roll call vote, please? Ms. Fabian? Yes. >> Ms. Anna? Yes. >> Ms. Lenzing?
038Yes. >> Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Ramirez? >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. >> President Rodriguez? >> Yes, motion carries. Consent agenda is approved. Um item 11 is a consent agenda for operations. Once again, these are five items that are being presented for a single vote. These were all presented items that were presented to the board at previous meetings. Board has had a chance to ask questions and discuss these items. They're considered non-controversial and I'd like to ask if any of the board members are requesting that any be separated out. If not, we will vote on them all once. Um they are uh 11A approval of PACE renewal for school year 2026-2027, B approval of Illinois Central Transportation renewal for school year 2026-2027, C the approval of Lakeside Now First Student transportation renewal for school year
0392026-2027. D, approval of facility rental waiver request for Centro Corporativo Empresarial. E, approval of Hyde Park Elementary Playground Improvement. Do you have a motion? [clears throat] I make a motion. Motion by Ms. Hannah to approve. >> Second. Second by Ms. Lindsay. Any discussion on this motion, Ms. Lindsay? Um I just want to thank the parents of Hyde Park for coming to the podium. I also want to thank the administration for it feels like a quick turnaround from the board's perspective, and I agree safety is number one for our students. So, I'm glad that they're going to get one really great equipment, but also be able to play safely cuz they're going to hurt themselves in a variety of ways. It doesn't need to be because of the equipment. Um and then just with regard to
040the PACE renewal, I know last time we spoke we were just going to have some communication to families for late starts on Mondays. Just really making sure because the whole point is that students are in the classroom learning. So, we just need to close that communication gap because on late starts there's some confusion as to well, the PACE isn't going to get me there. So, I'm not going to come. Thank you, Ms. Lindsay. Ms. Fabian? Uh igualmente, gracias por venir y abogar para sus hijos. Yo sé que a veces es es la ansiedad, ¿verdad? De venir. So, gracias. So, I'm just thanking the parents for coming and really advocating for their students. I know it can be intimidating and anxiety hits when you're up on that podium. Um but I appreciate that you came, and
041I hope that you also speak with other parents on what that process looked like so that um they do know those avenues and what administration to talk to when they have um any issues so that they can get them resolved as quickly as you did. Thank Thank you, sir. And continue coming to the board meetings. Oh, and sorry, one last thing. Um for the approval of the facility rental waiver, again, I just wanted noted that we did uh let uh what is it? Centro Corporativo Empresarial Sarial um know that we are not providing those bathrooms, and that if they need bathrooms, they must provide them or submit another um approval for using the school bathrooms. I just want to make sure we make that clear to them that they would have to put in another
042request um to open up the school if they need to use our bathrooms. Thank you, Mr. McBride. You got it? No. >> No. Okay. Anybody else? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian? Yes. >> Ms. Hanna? Yes. >> Ms. Lansing? >> Yes. >> Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Meraz? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rueda? Yes. President Rodriguez? >> Yes. Motion carries. The consent agenda is approved. Item 12, purchases and contracts. >> [clears throat] >> So, item A, what um Washington High School Accounting 1 and 2 textbooks. Um it is the recommendation that the Board of Education authorize the superintendent or her designee to approve the textbook adoption for Accounting 1 and 2 at Washington High School for $5,257.86. So moved. Motion by Mr. Rueda. Second. Seconded by Ms. Fabian. Any discussion on that motion? Yes. I'm just Did
043This is the first time that we saw this that we're seeing this. It did go to student achievement. Um it it went not last week, but the the time before. The issue with this is the amount could have been um approved, but because they're part of the same company, the total amount would exceed the amount that the board the board's threshold has. So, in full transparency with the board, we wanted to make sure that the board saw it before it was approved. But, both of the courses have been approved. It had gone to um the student achievement not the last session, but prior to that. And it's coming forward now and was not part of the consent agenda because it was not presented at the previous meeting. Okay. >> But, but in transparency because the
044amount would exceed What is it? 30,000? 35. It would have exceeded that amount and I I I wanted to bring it forward. >> Well, thank you for that transparency. But, let me ask this question. Now, you're we're purchasing textbooks. Right? >> For these courses, yes. >> For these courses. Yes, ma'am. Are they also going to be on the computer? Yes. Digital, online it says. Do you want to Do you want to come up and speak to the um >> has to Yeah. Not the board members, there's other people that are supposed to answer the question. Thank you. Yes, so these textbooks are going to be for our intro to business class, which also uh um will cover our finance uh credit as well. As also, this is for our accounting class for one and two,
045which strengthens our partnership with Abby as well. They work with our students with internships and so forth. Needed a viable foundation for our uh curriculum. And this will be a viable foundation for um ongoing for like 6 years would cover us without having to look at new curriculum cuz they update it. So, this is online as well as a hard textbook so that we can meet every need of every student there. Thank you. That was I So, there are digital tools that are updated regularly, plus there's a a hard copy a text. Correct. And the reason why we went with the digital is also because they can easily convert that to Spanish. So, it provides a Spanish version as well as English. Oh. Thank you, Mr. Marks. Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion? We
046have a roll call vote. Ms. Fabian? Yes. Ms. Hannah? Yes. >> Ms. Lenzing? Yes. >> Mr. McBride? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ramirez? Yes. Mr. Riddle? Yes. >> Ms. Rodriguez? >> Yes. Motion carries. Item 12B. This is the Washington High School Intro to Business textbook. Principles of Business Marketing by Goodheart-Willcox. It is the recommendation that the Board of Education authorizes the superintendent or her designee to approve the textbook adoption for Intro to Business course at Washington High School for the amount of $27,042.36. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to approve by Mr. Riddle, second by Ms. Hannah. Any discussion on this motion? How many books are I'm sorry, Mr. Person. Go ahead. How many books are we purchasing for this? It Thank you, Mr. Marks. Okay, so Intro to Business is covering about five sections of students.
047So, that's going to be roughly around I think 100 and 25 books and and online services as well. Okay, so each student will have their own book. Practically, each student will have an online access as a book. But now, the books are going to remain in a classroom, so there's about 30 books to a classroom. Oh. And so, that all students can share those books. But now, the online book is for each individual student. And it's the same thing. >> It's the same thing, and they can also have Spanish version in that online book as well. Okay, very good. Any other questions? Cuz I like textbook. Turning pages. And they'll have those textbooks they can turn pages. Roll call vote, please. Oh, do you have a comment? Okay. Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian? Yes.
048Ms. Hannah? Yes. >> Ms. Lansing? Yes. Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. >> President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries. Uh personnel item. That the Board of Education accepts the administration's recommendation to approve the appointments, retirements, extensions, and terminations as found on schedules F1002, G660, and T317. Motion to approve. >> Motion to approve by Mr. >> Second. Second by [clears throat] Ms. Fabian. Any discussion? Ms. Lansing? Um I just want to say that there are some concerns that I have with the agenda. I will be approving, um but I'm just expecting because it is closed session material to have further discussions in closed session. Thank you, Ms. Lansing. Yeah, and I have some >> Ms. Hannah? And um I am concerned um about the um the um stipends that the district um that
049that stipend system, I'm going to say that. And that there needs to be um conversation discussion and I'm going to say even um rationalization of the um the stipends and why these stipends have increased dramatically. And that that's going to be, I guess, a discussion that the board will have with the administration. Okay? But, um couldn't talk about closed session, so uh and also, um we are um we talked about the um the um the the stipends in the uh for bilingual and everything. Uh my concern is about the exiting of bilingual students that has been in bilingual for a period of time. And so, uh I'm I'm looking I brought things to the board for uh discussion, and I know we used to keep up with those numbers. And it wasn't anything um it
050wasn't anything derogatory or anything, but um but we were always kept abreast of the uh number of students that were exiting out of the bilingual program and going into uh regular classrooms. And I want that to continue. Mr. Mares. Um can we clarify what is meant by exiting? Because I thought we no longer exit students, and they're going into dual language and can continue that until 12th grade. So, can you um just clarify what you mean by exiting? Okay, if if that system has changed, Mhm. then we need to be made or maybe I need to be made aware of that because I'm still where, you know, students are they go through the program and they become proficient. And then they move into regular classes. Is that >> decided to do a language, that's when
051we adopted them not technically exiting the program, only exiting or passing their access test. That no longer means that they exit the bilingual program. So, okay. Okay, that's good to know. And so, I guess my question becomes um so, a student can stay in bilingual for forever. Yes, to the degree that >> And so, That's how they earn the seal of biliteracy. Okay. Yeah, and you know what? I think if this is something that we can ask the administration to report back on to Yeah. She might be asking for the access exit rate, which we do get a report on. Um and so, Mr. Rodriguez, I I would appreciate that to have this Yeah, because things have >> talked about, but things have changed at the district. >> Things have changed since I first came
052on the board back in '07, I think. Right. Right. Yeah, and so, we need just need a uh update. Okay, thank you. I'll I'll mention it to the superintendent if we can get a report on that. All right, thank you. Thank you. All right, we have a uh motion on the floor. We need a roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. >> Ms. Hanna. Yes. Ms. Lansing. Yes. Mr. McBride. Yes. Mr. Ramirez. Yes. >> Mr. Riddle. Yes. >> President Rodriguez. Yes, motion carries. Personnel items are approved. Item 14, grants and donations. I see none. There's nothing under other financial reports. Dr. Cesario. Uh I item subject A, adoption resolution directing the regional superintendent of schools for the County of Lake, Illinois to certify to the Lake County Clerk the question of imposing a retailers occupation
053tax and a service occupation tax at a rate of 1%. The recommended action, it is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education adopt a resolution directing the regional superintendent of schools for the County of Lake, Illinois to certify to the County Clerk of said county the question of imposing a retailers occupation tax and a service occupation tax at a rate of 1%. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddell. Second. Seconded by Ms. Fabian. Is there any discussion on this motion? I just want to know with voting on this, we're just simply asking for Dr. Gardner to put this on >> On the community. on the ballot. Right, and then the taxpayers, the voters will be voting on this. >> Okay. It'll be in their hands. We're not We're not in a position
054to make that decision ourselves. We're just putting it in front of the voters. And the reason I'm asking because I was speaking with um the neighbors today and we were talking about it and they want they do want it to go to referendum. So, that's what we're doing. That's all we're doing, just bringing this to the voters. Ms. Flannery. I'm voting yes and I'm hopeful that the Lake County community understands the value of this because especially Waukegan um and our neighboring cities, we need to be able to get our students to I'm I'm fumbling this. I apologize. Essentially, these funds go to our students. And I understand that the 1% tax is going to hit 100% of our Lake County residents. And I understand the statistics that they gave that the funds coming in will
055be heavier on those visiting into Lake County, but we'll still feel it. But the benefit is to the kids, and we constantly want to see improvements in capital improvement. We want to see gains here. There's so many things that we need to do in our district, and unfortunately, it costs money to do so. So, this is opening up a revenue stream that yes, our taxpayers are going to feel, but it's going to be a shared feeling across the county. So, hopefully it goes through, but I understand this just gets it on the ballot. Thank you, Ms. Lenzing. Anybody else? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian? Yes. Ms. Hanna? Yes. Ms. Lenzing? [clears throat] Yes. Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Mears? Yes. Mr. Riddle? Yes. >> President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carried. 16B? Adoption of resolution regarding spending
056of receipts from a retailer's occupation tax and a service occupation tax at a rate of 1% pending referendum approval. The recommended action, it is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education approve the resolution that outlines how the board intends to reduce property taxes in the event that a proposed referendum to impose a retailer's occupation tax and a service occupation tax at a rate of 1% is approved. Motion to approve. Motion to approve by Mr. Riddle. Second. Seconded by Ms. [snorts] Fabian. Any discussion on this motion? Yeah, I just I just don't like the fact that none of the proceeds, if this referendum passes and it goes through, but none of the um none of the proceeds are going towards children. It's all going towards something else aside from the education of children.
057So, I will not be >> [clears throat] >> supporting this uh particular item. Mr. Riddle. Yes. I know I support this because the resolution um the tax resolution is going the money that we're collecting is going to help our students with facilities. Um it it's going to also help abate our property taxes. So, in our debt. So, it it is a benefit to our county, to everybody living in Waukeenan, as well. All of the money collected in the county is going to go back to the students, it to each community based on the number of students that they have. So, this is money that's going to be shared equitably, going to go be collected all across the county, is going to go back to students throughout the county um based on the population of each
058city, and then we're going to our resolution here that we're going to vote on now is going is telling you that we're going to use some of that money to abate taxes. We're not going to be increasing taxes that we would otherwise have to increase to help our students, to to build facilities. We've got over $110 million of just facility projects that need to be done. Um and you know, you're going to save right now our tax dollars, a great deal of them come from property taxes. This is going to allow us to to have a revenue stream that is not included in property taxes. And on this resolution, it tells you we're going to abate some of those forecasted property taxes with this resolution. So, I'm highly in favor of it. Thank you, Mr.
059Riddle. Miss Fabiano. And then I just also want to clarify that we are limited in our options as to what we can do with the money per the way that it's written, right? The the way that the actual um code and law is written. So, we can't choose to say like we're going to buy you know, new textbooks or we're going to start a new after-school program because it is limited to only these things. So, by approving A, we have to approve B because those are the only ways that we can use the money. Right. Thank you, Ms. Lansing. Um and I think with that, if we're use if we're directing these funds into those um buckets, right? That is allowed, it frees up strain on the other buckets that are student-based that we can
060funnel in. Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Lansing. Very important. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay, roll call vote. Ms. Fabian? Yes. >> Ms. Hanna? No. >> Ms. Lansing? Yes. Mr. McBride? Yes. >> Ms. Ramirez? Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? Yes. >> President Rodriguez? Yes, motion carries. Item C. Ratification of the second processing of April 2026 board bills, manual check request payments, and Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of April 8th, 2026 through April 21st, 2026. The recommended action, it is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education ratify the second April 2026 of board bills, manual check request payments, and Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of April 8, 2026 through April 21, 2026. The accounts payable board payments for the period of April 8, 2026 through April 21st, 2026 totals $1,663,922.70.
061The manual check request payments for the period of April 8th, 2026 through April 21st, 2026 totals $470,359.24. The Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of April 8th, 2026 through April 21st, 2026 totals zero. Motion to approve. Motion approved by Mr. Riddle. Second. Second by Ms. Fabian. Any discussion on this motion? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. Ms. Hanna. Yes. Ms. Lenzing. Yes. Mr. McBride. Yes. >> Ms. Ramirez. Yes. Mr. Riddle. Yes. President Rodriguez. Yes. Motion carries. Item 17, uh reports and presentation. Committee reports. Do we have any committee reports? No committee reports. Okay. Delegates reports. Uh nothing at this time, Mr. President. Thank you, Ms. Hanna. Uh superintendent's report. Mr. White, would you mind pulling up the presentation? Thank you so much. We have a brief report on summer school, just an
062update. Most of this information is what you've seen, uh but it's just a a quick update for the community and for the board members. Good evening, board President, members of the board, Deputy Cesario, colleagues, and community. Um again, as Dr. Cesario just mentioned, just a brief update for summer school for our community and families at home. Um we do have our dates and times listed here. We have presented this prior, but wanted to reinforce the information. Again, we are meeting during the month of June, starting June 2nd through June 30th. Our programming will be Monday through Thursday with no school on Friday, except for our extra get ahead course for geometry at the high school. But we have um updated our our sites. Wanted to make sure we're reiterating this information as well. Uh to
063make sure that we are being uh efficient with space, making sure that our operations team has opportunities to to move around all the different schools that need to have cleaning over the summer. We did combine several sites together. And so you can see our preschool students will be at Lightfoot. Our elementary students will be at either Clearview, Glen Flora, or Washington. Our middle school students will either be at Smith or Lewis. And all of our high school students, including our AOEC students, will be at Brookside campus this year. Um as of 4:23, which is just uh a couple days ago, um we did update our enrollment. Uh we worked very diligently to first enroll our students who qualify for the extended school year services through their IEPs. We also made sure that our students who
064qualified for newcomer programming were um were rostered right away. And now we have opened up enrollment through our principals and our assistant principals as they are inviting families and students to fill up the remainder of our classroom spaces. And so as though as the next couple of weeks go on, we will be seeing enrollments increase um as they communicate with families and make connections to verify attendance. An additional aspect that we will be sending out in the upcoming um uh superintendent bulletin as well as blasting this out to our families through our school-based communications, is to make sure that students who aren't going to be attending in-person summer school um for whatever reason may be, that we are providing them uh tips and tricks for how to access resources at home during the summer through
065Clever. And so we have a list of at-home summer resources that all students, pre-K through 12, will be able to access over the summer. We'll be sending out videos, um little brief videos on uh for parents on how to log into Clever so that they can help their child. Um the first page, right, that you're seeing now is just the narrative on how to um, help their child at home with um, accessing the device and their apps. And then the second screen will be broken down into what resources are available over the summer for all students, um, whether they are attending summer school or not. We want to make sure that they have access to these resources over the summer should they so choose. Um, we are um, still making sure that we have our
066free breakfast and lunch um, offered at all of our seven seven summer school sites. And we will be providing transportation for those students who qualify for their respective summer school program. If you do have any questions, if you're at home and you have questions about opportunities for your child, please make sure that you're reaching out directly to your building administrator, your principal or your assistant principal will be the best point of contact uh, to make sure that you can ask about opportunities for your child over the summer. Thank you. I'll finally have a more updates for our completing hiring our paraprofessionals. Sorry, I forgot there was one more slide. Um, we are completing hiring our paraprofessionals based off of our extended school year uh, students who are enrolling. We are continuing enrollment with families and
067we are communicating with staff for the upcoming professional development that they will receive through teaching and learning, bilingual multicultural and variety of other departments. Okay. Miss Anna. Um, Okay, question. Um, you stated that there were 450 and 50 if I have changed the screen. 450 from 9th grade to 12th grade. That's where I'm focusing. Okay. How many of those numbers out of 450 students, how many of those are 12th graders um, trying to complete for graduation? Thank you for the question. Um, Shanta Myers, the assistant principal at uh, Waite High School, Washington Campus, can provide that to me later on. I don't have that in front of me, but I'll find I can follow up with you for that. >> Okay, because with 17 credits that students have to make how are the students not
068getting their credits? 17 credits? I'm concerned about that. Yes, ma'am. And I um I really want to hear how many of those 450 are uh uh seniors? And I don't know um when we could get that, Mr. President. Okay, because that's going to affect I mean, graduation is when? May 15th. May 15th. [clears throat] We're and and you know and so we need some answers and I'm interested to find out how come those students are failing and have to make it up for summer school. >> We'll do. Thank you for the question. Ms. Lindsey. Um I want to say that I'm happy that we have videos available for families to access for these at-home resources. Um that way they can tap into the support at their leisure. Um I do see that the support so
069thing their access to Clever expires at June 30th. I'm assuming that's because that's the end of our year for the school technically. It's when we It's when we turn over and roll over our Infinite Campus. And so when we have to roll over in between school years to set up grade books and set up our new our new school year in Infinite Campus, Our instructional technology team does need time to be able to reset, roll things over, and and program our side of the the back the background part of Infinite Campus to make sure that all of our class rosters are getting set up, our gradebooks are syncing, our calendars are syncing, and those types of things. But, I understand your concern with having it cut off at a specific point in time, and we
070can follow up with IT to see if there's any workarounds for that. Yeah, my concern is we don't have a balanced school year, right? And like all of the sciences is balanced school year. All of the sciences start later, right? But, I understand we have ingrained ourselves in agriculture for so many years that it's hard to get away from because being a teacher it is beneficial to be off with your families and plan around that. So, I understand the logic as to why we're still doing it despite the science. The only concern is supporting families through that gap because that summer gap is when they start to slide back because they don't have those resources. I hope families can maybe try to find ways to get their kids to the library as well to help
071use some of the resources that they have in place during the summer break. And I understand it's also important for kids to get outside. Get outside, play, try to have a childhood similar to what we experienced as children away from the screens. Um, but if we can see if there's a workaround and it may not be feasible for this year, but for next year, um, how we can make that bridge extend a little longer would be helpful. Thank you for the question. >> [clears throat] >> Okay, anybody else? Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. Item 18, information items. FOIA report for March 2026. This report summarizes the FOIA requests that came in and also were processed the various work that went on over the month month of March. Okay, thank you. 18B, policy
0726050 confidentiality of student records >> [clears throat] >> and 6051, maintenance and destruction of student records first reading. Uh these are first reading policies updates that are presented within the policy documents themselves are changes um that are necessitated by changes in the law. Okay, and item C, 18C, student support handbook 2026-2027 school year first reading. This uh is the >> [clears throat] >> annual update and review of the student support handbook. Any changes uh the processes or procedures and also updating it in alignment with any policies that have been updated. For example, um we will be building in here and have built in here some of the policy updates that will um you'll be voting on tonight in the bullying policy as well as the confidentiality and student record policies. Those updates are built into
073the first reading for the student handbook as well. Okay, um thank you. Item 19, old business. First one is board policy 6046, prohibition against bullying in second reading. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the amendments to board policy 6046, prohibition against bullying as presented for second reading. Motion to approve. >> Motion uh by Mr. Riddle to approve. Second. >> Second by Mr. Fabian. Any discussion? That was Ms. Lindsey. I just want to highlight for parents um because it's come up with uh conversations I've had that cyber bullying is a component and we do have several tools in the district to try to catch as many instances as cyberbullying as we can, but with most systems it's not 100%. So, if your children are talking to you about concerns about social media activity
074or online activity that feels like it is bullying, please bring it to your school so that the administrators can look into it and look to get it resolved. Our kids are constantly on their phones and on their screens and that's a conversation for you to have with your children, but we need to make sure everyone is safe and responsible with it. So, that is a component of this policy. So, please review it and if you have concerns, speak with your teacher, speak with your building principal. If you're not getting responses, escalate to the area superintendent, then Dr. Cesario, superintendent and if it's still not resolved, please bring it to the board. Thank you, Ms. Lansing. Anybody else? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. >> Ms. Hannah. Ms. Lansing. Yes. Mr. McBride. Ms. Ramirez. Yes.
075Mr. Riddle. Yes. President Rodriguez. Yes, motion carries. 19B Board Policy 5235, musical instruments and uniforms, second reading. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the amendments to Board Policy 5235, musical instruments and uniforms, as presented for second reading. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Hill to approve. Second. Seconded by Ms. Fabian. Any discussion on the motion? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. Ms. Hannah. Ms. Lansing. Ms. Lansing. Mr. McBride. Ms. Ramirez. Yes. Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. President Rodriguez. Yes, motion carries. Um, item 19C Board policy 5233 library materials, second reading. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the amendments to board policy 5233, library materials, as presented for second reading. Motion to approve. >> Motion to approve by Mr. Riddle. Second. Second by Mr. Mayor. Is there any discussion on
076this motion? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. Ms. Hannah. Yeah. Ms. Lansing. Yes. Mr. McBride. Ms. Ramirez. Yes. Mr. Riddle. Yes. President Rodriguez. Yes, motion carried. Item 20, new business. Any new business? I have one. Ms. Fabian. Um, because you brought up Cube, um, I wanted to consider also looking at uh, CASBA, because that's who we are a member of, but I wanted to look at, I know that they have the, um, advocacy conference coming. I went to a similar one through NASBA. Um, and I think where we are at, especially with all the changes in the federal government and Department of Education, it would behoove us to really get involved on what the advocacy looks like for us as school board members to be able to clearly advocate on behalf of our students.
077So, I think that would benefit us and also to, you know, they provide you all the guidance and all the verbage and all of that that you should be using with your senators. >> Is that the one I was thinking of in DC? And your congressman. >> Yes. Yes. So, um, I I would like for that information to be shared out with the rest of the board, so that you can consider attending. I learned so much at the the last one and really came back with a lot of resources, um, that I was able to follow up and do the witness slips with. Um, and then I know we've talked about Cube and how it wasn't as robust as it's been in years in the past. I haven't been able to look at this year's
078um agenda and to see how robust it is here. Um but there is another organization that I receive a lot of information um and it's the CASBEE. CASBEE CASBEE article. No, not it's the E not the O. Okay, there first off the board, you guys should know that attending Q you do not get any points. Yeah. You don't get any points and we have that's through the National School Board Association. And we are not a part of the National School Board Association. We are CASBEE CASBEE CASBEE, CASBEE, that's who we are. Now we're no longer with the National School Board Association. Yeah, we never renewed our membership. >> Yeah, for uh what maybe three, four four years now? >> About four years now. Yeah, and so you need to know you you may we may
079attend the um the conference but it doesn't go toward any of our of professional development uh points. Yeah, I'm okay with that. The other one that I was talking about is not CASBEE. It's CASBEE. We are not a part of them. We are a part of the COSSBA. I know there's a lot of acronyms but basically it's um school board associations. Um but the other one I feel has more of a focus as to what we've been looking at and I will ask for um them to share out. Yes. And so that one's very in uh looks at urban and specifically black students as well as strategies to help um you know, when you're in a low-income district and a majority-minority district uh similar to cube um but again, I would like to as a
080board if we want to take a look at doing those differently. The NAB the CASBA conference as a whole already passed because they do theirs in March. So, um we wouldn't be able to do that one for this year. Um but again, I'll ask if um you know, administration can follow up sending you guys more information on the other conferences that I think might be a little bit more beneficial for us. I will say that the 2027 dates are in Dallas, so I'm going to be saying no to CASBA. Um and for the CAB C, the um the other organization, their their's is coming up in July. So, we would need to quickly make a decision on that. Um so yeah, if we could if we can get that expeditiously, that'd be helpful. Thank you.
081And the I think I think the advocacy one was in September, so we have a little bit of time, but to get those early bird rates Right. Got to get moving. Yes. Okay. Um item 21, student discipline matters. Who has student Mr. Riddell. I I do. So, I'll read that, sir. Um whereas the follow whereas following a building-level investigation, student number 068 was determined to have possessed a weapon while at school, which under the code school code requires a mandatory referral for expulsion for a period of at least 1 year unless it's modified by the superintendent, whose decision may be modified by the board. Whereas the Board of Education Waukegan Community School District 60 did receive and consider the principal's recommendation and the superintendent's agreement to modify the mandatory expulsion period for student 068 and
082the reasons therefore and whereas the modification proposed is in the best interest of the district and the student and based on a totality of the circumstances supports the maintenance of a safe school environment free of disruptive influences which can be a a distraction to learning while continuing to hold the student accountable for the student's conduct. Now therefore it is hereby resolved that one the whereas clauses are adopted herein by reference as findings of the board and two the board concurs with the superintendent's modification of the mandatory minimum expulsion period to one day in school suspension. The days already having been served and an individualized safety plan and three the superintendent or the superintendent's designee is to notify the parent of student 068 in writing of the board's determination within the next five business school business
083days. This resolution is effective upon board approval and I make a motion to approve it. Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve the resolution. Second. Second by Ms. Lenzing. Any discussion on the motion? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. Ms. Hanna. [clears throat] Ms. Lenzing. >> Yes. Mr. McBride. Yes. Ms. Ramirez. >> Yes. Mr. Riddle. Yes. President Rodriguez. Yes, motion carries. Item 21B student discipline student number 201. Who has that? I do. Whereas following a building level investigation student XXX201 was determined to have possessed a weapon while at school which under the school code requires a mandatory referral for expulsion for a period of at least 1 year unless modified by the superintendent whose decision may be modified by the board. Parentheses 105 ILCS 5/10-22.6D2. Whereas the Board of Education of Waukegan Community Unit School
084District number 60 did receive and consider the principal's recommendation and superintendent's agreement to modify the mandatory expulsion period for student XXX201 and the reasons therefore. And whereas the modification proposed is in the best interest of the district and the student and based on a totality of the circumstances supports the maintenance of a safe school environment free of disruptive influences which can be a distraction to learning while continuing to hold the student accountable for the student's conduct. Now therefore it is hereby resolved that one the whereas clauses are adopted herein by reference as findings of the board. Two the board concurs with the superintendent's modification of the mandatory minimum expulsion period to one and a half days out of outside school suspension the days already having been served and an individualized safety plan. Three the superintendent
085or the superintendent's designee is to notify the parents of student XXX201 in writing of the board's determination within the next five school business days. Four the resolution is effective upon approval by the board. I move that we approve this resolution. Motion by Ms. Lenzing to approve the resolution. >> Second. Second by Mr. Riddle. Any discussion on this motion? Roll call vote, please. Ms. Fabian. Yes. Ms. Hanna. Pass. Ms. Lenzing. Yes. Mr. McBride? Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Yes. Mr. Riddle? Yes. President Rodriguez? >> Yes, motion carried. Okay, moving on. Board member time. Start with Mr. Ramirez. Uh hello and thank you everybody for parents that came out. We love it when we see parents out here. That is the way that our democracy works, right? Um so with that, uh please remember that we have our Asian
086Pacific uh Islander month coming up May 8th, I believe. Uh I can't wait for the food trucks, so we hope to see you there. That'll be it. Thank you, Ms. Ramirez. Mr. Riddle. >> Just want to thank the community for participating and for your comments. And I want to thank my fellow board members. I thought this was a good meeting. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Mr. McBride. Thank you. Ms. Hannah. Um where did Nick go? Oh, there it goes. Okay. Um I just wanted to share with um with the board the future chefs competition. And um uh Nick has put together um just a little slideshow. So you can go ahead. These are These are Whoa, all right. >> They And look, these kids, they cooked some food. Okay, and it everything that I
087tasted was excellent. >> Wow. And um they they them they were they they were preparing it and everything. I'm judging and it it it it was just a excellent. >> a good Yeah, and I just wish that um that more people had knew about it so that they could have been there. I seen this Hannah there. And this is um This was put on the best thing. This was put on by our food service. Wow. The food service does this. Wow. And um Um you can see me there with some of them and the parents that attended and all of them were awarded um for being in the competition. But the guy that won um the little guy I don't know if you could Let me see if he's going to come up. Yes, with
088his parents, he was the one that won first place. Mhm. All right. And he made He made cornbread. Mhm. That's tough. And it was excellent. Wow. Great. It was excellent and it was just a good um a really good event. Oh, you passed me cuz I was going to say about one of my best friends. Oh, there she is making a face. Yeah, I I had I had to get it. I had to try it. But I you missed one. Could you go back? Yeah, that one right there. That's my best friend down there, Mr. Paulo Alajactas. Oh, that's him. All right. And he helped me. He also helped judge um the students' food as well. Nice. So yes, but it was a really good event and I just wish that more students could get
089involved. And we talked about it. I talked about it with with the food service and they're thinking about different things. And so they but they did an excellent job with the students and it was really fun. Thank you, Ms. Hannah. Yeah, yeah, oh and let me just uh Oh, and I have got to talk about the Civic Expo. McFall. Mr. Riddle, I know I saw him going in. Right. Was it excellent or was it excellent? >> It was excellent. Oh my god, and I was so impressed with those students and they were the students were talking about the cleanness of our water. They were talking about neighborhoods where they needed stop signs and how they were engaging with the local officials about that. And oh, one thing really interesting people, we're talking about AI. Those
090students they're not interested because they say that [clears throat] it hurts the environment. Yes. That AI hurts the environment. >> They're all vegan. Yeah, and so if you guys missed it, I'm sure that well, they'll be doing it again, but I'm sure that there's videos or something floating around that you could see and the gym the student participation Oh my god, it was amazing. Wall to wall in the dome pal. Right. Right. They're going to need a bigger facility next time because there's so many students that want to participate. You're right. Yes. And it was excellent. So kudos to the high school. I know I saw a number of administrators from the high school there. Miss Bolton. Uh you know, so look, you guys just keep up that good work and those we got to
091listen at the children. We have to listen at the children. Thank you, Miss Anna. And Miss Lindsey. Um per usual, it's probably going to be a little long. So >> be long. We're [laughter] trying to get out of here. I got things to say, ma'am. This is my time. Um Lakes Division meeting. So just touching back on that. I want to give a shout out to Zion. Um because their elementary school district received the school board governance recognition. And what that does is I'm reading straight from the program so I don't mess it up. It acknowledges school boards that learn and practice effective governance behaviors as identified in IASB's foundational principles of effective government governance through participation in and support for board development programs and events. The primary focus is on the full board development
092and participation across two years. So to see them get that acknowledgement is great as our neighboring city. So I just want to extend a public kudos to you guys. Great job. Um they did talk about AI in our Lakes Division meeting and I think there was some frustration on my part because we kind of missed we We the mark on that conversation. It should have been how we are teaching students to use AI because the example that the adults give is this is like a personal assistant to keep you organized, give you feedback so you can adjust and fine-tune and progress. It is not doing the critical thinking and problem-solving for you. In the example, it was you know, if you're having a conversation and some as a student you didn't know what this term
093meant, you could look it up on AI. No. That's a Google search. That is not AI. That is a a waste of resources to um Mr. Riddles' point that our students are seeing. It is a big water suck. It is very unclear exactly how much water is getting used because neither side is is telling exact numbers. Um the pro-AI is not including all of the testing of the user interface that needs to be used and the um anti-AI is inflating it with water that is not for human consumption and is returned back to the original water source where only some of it's lost through evapo- evaporation. So, we need more clarity on it. Use it responsibly. Um but that was just my takeaway from the Lakes Division meeting. Also, when I'm very happy for Coach
094Ashloff and the amazing work that he's done with our basketball team, I also want to shout out to our high school principals because when we went down to regionals, I always forget regionals or sectionals. Um when we went down and drove, the the high school actually got a bus organized for other students to go and cheer on their classmates. It was, "Hey, come on the bus, get a permission slip, we'll give you some food, you can have a t-shirt, cheer on our basketball team." So, that dedication for school spirit was just so heartwarming. Um and I'm hoping we can have that trickle down to like middle school games as well, where, you know, we get other classmates at a younger group to to go to some of these games that kids are having. Um Treasure,
095I loved in your presentation the highlight to assemblies, and that last sentence you had in your presentation on you hope that it the tradition becomes having more assemblies. I want that to come back, because when I was in high school, we had Dream and VI3 in the Trap auditorium singing their boy and boy band and girl band um songs. Not my vibe anymore, but it was just a lot of fun, right? And like we had pep rallies, and it got us to like build community and not, you know, in a a so structured way. So, I I do hope to see that more. I also hope that when we're building out the site-based budgeting and we're looking at field trips for next year, we have them throughout the year. Not chucked toward the end of
096the year, okay, let's go get ice cream, let's go to a zoo. Like I want it to be academically tied and consistent through the year, because field trip opportunities are amazing for our students. Getting outside and doing something new and learning in a different environment actually increases focus for our students. So, I do want to see more. And And Yes, enrichment. Um and then, I do apologize, this year's been a crazy one for me, so I wanted to go to the Epic Bazaar that happened one of these past Saturdays, but it it did not work out, something came up. But when we look at our SkillsUSA high school kids doing community service projects. We're seeing that trickle down to our pre-K. Like we're having events where it's providing resources back out to the community. So,
097I just want to give a big kudos um to Ms. Rosalind and the epic team and Ms. um Sessions over at that building because that's such a great thing to do for the people in our community that we care for. So, thank you for all of your hard work. And just to quote Mr. Marks, our students are just remarkable. Yes, our Skills USA kids, but all of our kids in District 60. So, I'm so happy that uh we get to be the ones to help you reach your goals as you grow. That's all I have. Thank you, Ms. Lansing. Ms. Robinson. Um I'm surprised Mr. Riddell didn't bring up the Mikva Challenge or the bizarre because we are part of the Little Fort Lions Club. And for those that don't know, Lions International provides um
098screening for uh vision and hearing. So, at that bizarre we were able to get that screening done for um our littlest ones and their families. And I believe it was like around 35 that got screened, which was great. Um but also just having our presence known so that if someone out there in the community is in need with um getting an eye exam or glasses and doesn't have insurance or can't afford it, um the Little Fort Lions Club of Waukegan is there to help support with that need. And you can talk to your nurse in your school to uh fill out that referral for you. Um but yes, it was nice to see the Mikva Challenge. The kids are just so so passionate about their topics. And there were a lot of bilingual presentations, as
099well. Um and then at the end they were able to sit and talk with our Congressman to highlight um their thoughts. Um one of the admin asked, and it's a thought for next year that the school board also have a table so that we too can hear what their ideas are so that it's not so much us like popping in >> [clears throat] >> and around but that it's strategic where they can come and sit and present their cases to us. Obviously we have to work that out with OMA but Right, exactly. I'm sure we could do that. So um So that was a suggestion from an admin but and then the the Lightfoot event was fabulous and thank you to Miss Ross. So they had a lot of clothing donation that will then be
100sent over to Jack Bunny because we are having a clothing swap in honor of Earth Day. So Thursday the Jack Bunny families will also be able to go and shop for free reduce the waste that goes into our landfills with all the textile waste. Um and then I the the foundation fundraiser happened last week Thursday Wednesday my days are all jumbled now and so we were able to raise money and just thank you to the staff. We did have a lot of staff come out and families that contributed to that. As you know that money goes to our teacher grants and to our scholarships and we did decide on our two scholarship winners. So we will bring those back to the board and I think I also failed to mention that our Lake County Regional
101Office of Education Foundation also donated $5,000 to our foundation for the purposes of continuing our scholarship. So I wanted to publicly thank them. I was able to take thank Dr. Corner at the McHenry Challenge but I wanted to publicly thank them for that. Um and then as you were speaking of field trips I want to also promote the Parks Foundation fundraiser which will be May 7th, 5:30 um to 8:00 at the American Place Casino. For those of you that don't know, the foundation does provide a free field trip for our second graders um to go to the um aquatic center and and learn how to at least float and swim so that it prevents them from drowning. So, um I would love to, you know, see us support their foundation as well. Um I will
102be presenting at the Bilingual Parents um Association summit, which is in Tinley Park. Um and then I will be just presenting on how parents can also get more involved with school boards either by running or supporting candidates. And they'll have an opportunity to ask questions of a school board panel um so they can get more ideas on how they can become more active with our school boards. Um and then lastly, I know it's a lot. Uh Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up May 4th to the 8th. Please, please, please, please, even if it's just a thank you note, show your teachers and your staff how much you uh appreciate them, you know, for the dedication that they have coming into the school year um and you know, just trying to get everything done and and
103all those lessons crammed in in a short amount of time. Um and it's also Nurses Appreciation School Nurse Appreciation Day, May 6th, um which we are a district that is blessed to have school nurses inside of our schools to take care of our kiddos um when we as parents can't be there. So, please um even if it's a note, an email that you send of appreciation, I know personally how grateful they are to to hear those kind words. So, um that was a lot. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Fabian. Ms. All right. Hello everyone. I just want to thank everyone for staying and Frankie also did provide a goodbye. He just said, "I just wanted to recognize that summer is quickly approaching and we're in the final stretch of school year. Let's continue to stay
104focused, support one another, and finish strong. Thank you for all your continued hard work and dedication, and have a good rest of your evening." Uh I just want to second that. Summer is coming up, you know, weather's starting to feel a little better. And as a senior myself, I take the portion where he says stay strong and stay dedicated very very strongly cuz, you know, senioritis, it is very real. And it's really getting to me. So, yes, most definitely stay focused, seniors. Stay focused, all students, and finish the year off strong. And have a nice night. Thank you. I forgot one really important thing. Mr. Rodriguez, I don't I didn't hear you mention that at the meeting you were also appointed as a director at large for the legislative >> division executive committee. So, if
105we could now find Mr. Rodriguez. Thank you so much for stepping up into that role and and representing. So, they are the um committee that helps plan the events for school boards in our area. So, uh hopefully we can be pulling on his ear to >> [laughter] >> to persuade him to bring up sessions that we'd like. Thank you very much. Um you know, when the um this meeting was first posted, I think it was Friday. Um I I raced to get my uh agendas printed up. I always print up the uh abbreviated agenda and the full agenda. And I went through them and um didn't do anything for a couple of days cuz I had already kind of prepared the meeting. And then yesterday I started getting phone calls. >> [laughter] >> The frantic
106phone calls about BoardDocs being down, having a nationwide outage. And so, the uh Questar being asked, "What do we do? Do we cancel the meeting? Are we going to be able to conduct the meetings?" And um you know, I have to hand it to the staff um uh there was a lot of scrambling going on here. Um figuring out what to do, making paper copies of all of the of the material that was going to be presented tonight just in the event that uh BoardDocs didn't come back up in time and uh there's Kristen and Mr. Ellajack is uh Ms. Vanderbrook uh were all scrambling to to try to prepare uh the material so that the meeting could go on and so there was questions up to the last minute as whether BoardDocs was going
107to come back up. And you know as I looked at the stacks of paper that are sitting on the table in the back room uh just the material for one meeting it brought that brought back memories of uh 2007 2008 Yeah, absolutely. >> Remember that, Ms. Hammond? Yes. We used to get We used to get the books and material for every every meeting. >> Every meeting. Every meeting that we had to go through. We killed a lot of trees. Killed a lot of trees. Yes, every meeting. And but it was kind of um it was kind of nostalgic seeing all that paper again because it brought back the old times. But I just got to give uh a lot of Oh, Dr. Cesario, you're you're the other one that I was going to mention that
108you were scrambling today trying to you know, get everything prepared. And so um it it considering everything, I was expecting this to be a very hectic meeting. And this turned out to be one of the smoothest meetings we've ever had. >> [laughter] >> So it's kind of funny. Why don't we have to go down more often? Right. No no thank you. And at any rate, uh with that I'd like to ask for a motion to adjourn. Motioned. Motion by Ms. Lansing. Second. >> Second by Ms. Avian. All in favor. Aye. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned at 8:43. Oh wow. >> Mhm.