September 23rd, 2025 - Board of Education Main Government Meeting

001[Music] Don't forget [Music] the world. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Oh yeah. [Music] Oh, [Music] I'm [Music] that are exceptions to the Illinois Open Meetings Act. C9, student discipline. C1, personal matters, specific personal appointment, employment, compensation, performance, and dismissals. And C11, legal matters, actual or threatened litigation. At this time, I would like to ask for a motion to go into open session. So moved. >> Motion by Miss Lensing, second by Mr. Riddle. We need a roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, Miss Hannah, Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Miss Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. We are now in open session. >> All please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Lucas, would you please lead

002us in the pledge of >> Pledge allegiance to the flag 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 very much. Okay, next item on the agenda is the president's report. I have a very short report. Um, on September 11th, I uh was present at the intergovernmental committee lunchon which took place at the Walkagan Histo Museum at the Carnegie. Um, states attorney Ed Reinhardt was there along with Mayor Sam Cunningham. And the focus of the meeting was pretty much a discussion of some of the issues uh relating to uh immigration and ICE and the the uh counties and the uh city's uh position with regards to um um dealing with the um the situations that might arise.

003Dr. Cesario uh was present at the meeting also and he did an ex there he is in the back. did an excellent job of uh presenting the district's uh policy and uh uh the preparedness that the district has gone through and you know in expectation situations that might arise. um a n uh September 16th uh our board self-evaluation meeting was cancelled that we were supposed to have with IASB facilitator Laura Martinez and this is a followup to the uh previous meeting that we had and uh we are now looking for available dates to continue the process and so uh board members I think you've all been asked for your availability on certain dates if you'd please respond we'd like to nail down a date before uh uh Miss Martine is the SK calendar is filled

004because she those dates are offered to other districts too. So, we want to grab the date that's going to be most uh convenient for us uh early. Um September 19th, we welcomed uh Dr. Tony Sanders, the Illinois State Superintendent of Education to McCall School, and it was really a beautiful event. I've got to say that principal Carol May really did a a beautiful job of showcasing McCall School and and putting on a very good imi uh image of District 60. Um so I just want to uh commend everybody that was involved in that in particular Principal May and it was really great to see Dr. Sanders there. I had never met him before and he's really a very down to earth guy and uh you know I asked him if he'd ever been a teacher

005just the way he was interacting with the kids. He was he was sitting down on the floor in one of the classrooms sitting down with the kids actually interacting with them and he says no he's never been a teacher but he just loves kids so he's you know he's a good man for the job and is really great to meet him and have him visit our district and that is it that's my report student board member report. Do we have our student board members here? >> Okay. Oh okay. They are otherwise engaged at the moment. >> We will be back to them. Okay, moving on to item seven, special recognition and presentation. Spotlight on 60. [Music] Hi there. I'm Laura Frankart, one of the family and community engagement managers for the district. Tonight is our

006annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration at Brookside campus. We are offering a great menu from Cater Productions, a fantastic singer while we're in looking at our student exhibits from 5:30 to 6:30. And then as we transition into the trap auditorium, we have different performances from our student groups and then a one community partner who is ballet porcelica. [Music] Hey. [Music] Today we gather as students, families, staff, and community members to honor the rich and diverse contribution of the Hispanic and Latino communities to our schools. Okay, thank you very much. >> Moving on to student board member report. We'll start with Miss Allen. >> Oh, hello everyone. >> Uh, my name is Treasure and me and Frankie. Oh, go ahead and introduce yourself, Frankie. >> This working? Yep. Um, so hello everyone. Um, I'm very thankful, >> Mr.

007Cobbo. I thought you were gonna do it separately, but I guess you're tag teaming today. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Oh, yeah. >> Good. >> And this is our first official board report. >> So, today we have some students highlights, um some upcoming events, updates on the student well-being survey, uh some uh student proposals and recommendations, and our closing statements. So to start off um to be exact uh to this Monday yesterday uh Skills USA had a little presentation over the CT program and we basically talked about how Skills USA is a career in technical education a pathway that gives students a chance to build a long-term learning experience and the freedom to explore what they want to pursue in college or trade schools. It teaches the fundamentals of understanding and applying skills not

008just in the classroom but also in the real world profess professional environments. As you can see a little image I amum I'm also part of this. Uh next up we also have a champions of hope uh event uh service community service initiative. Um the initiative is to assist our community in meeting their needs and to make a positive impact on their lives. Um, this is coming real soon, October 2025. Next up, uh, the student council, um, is decorating a downtown fall decoration. Um, Taylor, you want to add on to that? >> Oh, yeah. It's October 4th on a Saturday, and we're just trying to get as many students as we can to like help decorate downtown for the fall. And yeah, >> uh an update on to the student wellbeing and academic experience. The survey

009has been made. I am excited to share that the student well-being survey is created to better understand how students are feeling in areas like academics, mental health, and the school climate. I I we are currently in the process of collecting responses, and I'll be bringing those to the result those results to the board real soon. Hey, and hi again. My name is Treasure. So, I would say mine uh my goal is or our our goal is to get more students involved. And me being a senior in high school, uh I don't have like a lot of outside of school um activities. That's on my record. So I would say that we should start with our freshman's to get them on board so they can have like proof of a dedication that they you know participated

010in school out of school activities all four years. Um and my our idea is to either bring back assemblies assemblies or make orientation uh mandatory for freshman and allow all the like the clubs like um the future healthcare club which I'm a part of or like sports and also JROTC to like have a stand where they can like present their clubs uh to get students to join their club. And then also what when I when I had a meeting with Mr. Hill, he talked about the student leadership work um leadership work uh shop that's going to be happening October 24th. He's going to take like a nice amount of students with him um to basically get leadership experience. And I think that this will be really important for like all the under under school I

011mean underassmen uh so they can bring back the the the leadership that they learned and bring it back to walking in high school. And then so lastly our goal is to get more students involved in school activities overall showing their dedication to colleges and yeah thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> Very professional very well done. Yes, Miss Fabian. >> So, just I want to clarify and I think this is a great opportunity to have you guys um connect also with the middle schools. There is a Rising 9 event that will be going on on November 19th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. which invites all of the middle schoolers out to Brookside for just that purpose to have um an insight on the clubs activities. What are the um they're not called Encore, but the

012um extra academics that they could elect electives? I'm thinking middle school, all the electives that they can um do and the, you know, dual credits, all of it. Um so I would encourage you to to kind of work maybe with our um middle school leaders to see how it is that you can encourage those eighth graders to come on that date um and give your perspective on how if you had come, you would have been so much happier and so much more involved and you know, you would have found these opportunities sooner. Um and then the second question is um you have a collection going on. How do we donate if we would like to donate to that? >> Um this uh so the instructor who's form is this forming this is um we're just

013starting it. >> Okay. >> So this information will be reached out. I can give you that information from our instructor. So you can contact her and she'll she will tell you more about it. >> Miss Lindsay. >> Um two things. one just to follow up on Miss Fabian's question. So when you get it more organized and it's ready, I think it may be a good idea to connect with our superintendent to see if there can be a blast to the community, right? So if the goal is to support our community, there may be families that aren't in direct access to this information, but if we have a text blast to them, they may say, "Oh, okay. I have a couple of things." instead of taking it to Salvation Army or Goodwill or whatever their normal

014is, they can revert they can divert it to your your efforts instead. >> Um my other po um comment, I love that you're getting a bunch of students to go downtown on October 4th. I think that's great. I think um and maybe you've thought of this or haven't. Either way, it would be good to connect with the principles for both middle schools and elementary schools depending on if you want to have a certain age limit to who can help. So like maybe 10 or 12 or whatever. So that the whole district can get involved and it's not just high school students that you're looking to to support. >> Yeah, of course. Thank you. And then just one more question on that is um are you guys going to be needing supplies help >> on that

015end >> for the decoration >> decoration? >> Um so it's basically a student council event so I'll have to talk to Miss Trojan and also the other leader about it but I'll let you know. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. McBrite. Uh I was going to say what Christine was saying and earlier but uh you got a mayor and you're talking about downtown. you make sure he's involved some kind of way cuz uh when you speaking about decorating downtown, make and our mayor should be more involved with our high schools and middle schools. So, don't leave him out. Make sure you contact him. >> Of course. >> Thank you. In terms of your resources and stuff goes crazy. >> Thank you, Mr. McBride. And thank you. I just want to commend our um student board

016members. That was a beautiful presentation. Very well done. and I'm glad to see that you're getting involved in activities like that that are going to benefit the students and the community. Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh moving on, we have 1 2 3 4 5 six seven sets of minutes. Um does anybody feel that we need to separate any of them out? October um let's see, wait a second. September 4th and September 9th. I was not here. So, but we don't have to separate it. I could just uh vote fast. >> Um >> well, >> okay. >> It's not going to take long if we do them one by one. That way we make sure that we >> Okay, then I'll see. >> I'll vote appropriately then. Okay. All right. First one

017is the minutes for the July 29th, 2025 special meeting workshop. We have a motion to approve. >> Yes. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle. >> Second by Miss Fabian. Any comments, corrections, changes to the minutes? Roll call vote. >> Miss Fabian. >> Yes. >> Miss Hannah. >> Miss Lensing? Yes. >> Mr. McBride. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ramirez. Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Item B is approval of minutes for the open session micro meeting August 12th, 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve. >> Second by Miss Fabian. Any comments, corrections, changes to the minutes. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian. Miss Lensing. >> Yes. >> Mr. McBride. Yes. >> M. Ramirez. Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion

018carries. Minutes are approved. Item C, approval of the minutes of the special open session meeting August 19th, 2025. >> Motion to approve by Mr. Riddle. >> Second by Miss Favian. >> Um, any comments, corrections, changes to those minutes. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Favian, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, yes. >> Mr. Ramirez. >> Mr. Riddle? >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez? >> Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Item D, approval of minutes for the open session meeting of August 26th, 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion approved by Mr. Riddle. >> Second. Second by Miss Favian. Any comments, corrections, changes? Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> Mr. Rto, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez,

019>> yes. Motion carries. Item E, approval of minutes for the special open session meeting September 4th, 2025. >> Motion to approve by Mr. Riddle. Second by Miss Fabian. >> Um, any comments, corrections, changes to the minutes? Roll call vote. >> Miss Fabian? Yes. >> Miss Lensing? >> Yes. >> Mr. McBride? >> Yes. Mr. Ramirez, Mr. Riddle, >> pass. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. And the last one, item F, approval of the minutes for the regular micro meeting September 9th, 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> Second by Miss Fabian. >> And the only comment is if um to approve with the amended I'm not on the roll call, but I was present. >> And that is a correction. >> Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian. >> Yes. Miss Lensing,

020yes. Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Mirez, Mr. Riddle, >> pass. I wasn't there. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. M approved. Item G, close session. Minute approval. What are we approving there? >> Ones we previously reviewed in close session. >> Okay, please. It is the it is recommended that the board of education approve the closed session minutes dated June 17, 2025, June 18, 2025, June 23rd, 2025, and July 22nd, 20202, 2025. Previously reviewed in closed session. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion approved by Mr. Second. >> Second by Miss Fabian. Any comments, corrections, changes to minutes? >> Roll call vote. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Miss Ramirez, >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Item nine,

021opportunity for public comment. Do we have a signup sheet there? >> Thanks. Okay. Call your name. Uh please come to the podium. State your name and uh you will have three minutes. And uh first name on the list is Mr. Ray Vukovich. >> Good evening. Can anybody guess what I'm going to talk about tonight? You just voted on it. The minutes. Once again, look at look at how many sets of minutes you're doing. Going back to July 29th. What is taking so long? >> There are seven of you elected board members. You have two employees. They're both sitting up there. They're the two highest paid employees in this school district. The superintendent is the secretary of the board of education. It is her duty to make sure that the minutes are done in a timely

022manner. They're not. I've been bringing it to this board. I brought it to the previous board and I've had board members say, "You know, you're right. We're working on it. We're working on it." These same two individuals have over the last 18 months have brought on a number of occasions employees before this board for remediation and even termination based on their recommendations. Yet you allow them to continue in their positions and not get their work done. Would you allow that from a classroom teacher? Would you allow that from a building principal? I don't think so. you know, you you just approved the uh close session minutes and you really should list on the agenda the minutes or the meetings that are that uh applies to because it just says somebody looking at the agenda has

023no clue if it's one meeting or 50 because we know that there's a lot that are still out there that haven't been done. State law also requires that after the board approves the minutes within 10 days, they're supposed to be uh posted on the district website. There are two mint two meetings from uh July and two from June that were approved but not yet posted. Why? Why? You have all the resources in the world. These two people, the superintendent has what? Close to 2,000 people that work for her. Why can't these things be done? Why do we have to keep bringing it up? Little things like this that, you know, there are technicalities, but they're technicalities that violate state laws. I I really think you you need to look at that a little closer and

024you got to deal with it because there's absolutely no reason for it. You wouldn't allow it from any of those other 2,000 employees. Why do you let these two get away with it? Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Vukovich. Norma Rosario. >> Hello, my name is Norma Rosario. Um, I live at 917 Adams. Um, I was born and raised here in Walkegan. Um, I went to school and graduated from Walkagan High School. I worked here in this district for 22 years. I come today to say how disappointed I am with many decisions um that the district has been making. Um I'm going to mention one today. We had a great opportunity to greatly improve our high school baseball program and put it back on a competitive state. Uh a candidate who applied for the position

025by the name of Mr. Melendez, who has many uh years of experience uh of taking players downstate in baseball um and getting college recruitments for those students was passed up for that opportunity. Um, he has a carefully planned program already put together, ready to implement in for our district to get it back on its feet. He has resources, people backing him up, ex baseball players, people from other districts that were ready to uh provide resources for the players here and their time. He has students that he coaches that respect him greatly. He comes with recommendation letters from ex baseball players and other baseball organizations that were brought to the light, but yet he did not get the job. It was given to someone who has had decades to improve the baseball program and has not

026done so. Until our district continuously makes decisions solely based Until our district makes decisions solely based on the best interest of our children academically and athletically, we will not see our district rise to a competitive level with other districts in the state. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Rosario. McLemore. Good evening. I'm Clyde McLemore, executive director for Black Lives Matter Lake County. Uh, first of all, I want to congratulate all the new uh people on this board that I haven't met, that I haven't seen in a while, and thanks for the old ones that's coming back. You know, uh it's been a while since I've been here. Uh I haven't been uh I've been involved with a lot of things going on in the community. And uh one of the things is that uh we

027just bought Black Lives Matter just bought the Black Chamber of Commerce, that building at 668 Lox. And tomorrow, today we hit a soft opening. Tomorrow we having a ribbon cutting open. Um this building is 6,650 ft. Uh I used to work there. So to come to work every day now in a building that I actually own was was really something. And I would love to invite all y'all out. I just brought some uh flies with the address and everything. It's from 2 to 4. Yeah. I got something for you to eat cuz I know people want to eat when they come through. I got some uh little finger abdu uh observes there. And uh I like to work with district 60. So, I really want my superintendent there tomorrow. Uh, if you ain't got a

028meeting, I need you to come by there and take a look at this place. This is really I got four classrooms. I got a computer lab. Uh, one of your board members been there. He's seen it and he's he's seen what what we've done with this building and everything. Uh, it's brand new. Uh, well, the building is not brand new, but it's brick. uh new roof, plumbing, everything. We I mean it's just been redone and uh just want to invite y'all out. We want uh we we even got a youth uh board member, a 17year-old board member and that that's really shocking, you know, that we got people want to come out. So, I want to bring this out to the community. So, my black and brown students and and and and community, this is

029a resource center that we have and it's the community's resource center. I might own it, but it's it's the community's building. Thank y'all for letting me share. >> Thank you, Mr. McLaren. >> Okay, moving on. Item 10, consent agenda. Academics, the um consent agenda consists of items that have pre previously been presented and discussed presented to board and discussed with the board. And these are um considered to be items that are not controversial. And so that in order to save time um they are just being voted on all together in one uh one vote unless somebody here has any reason to want to separate out any of the items. Missing >> uh board president can we separate items 10B and 10D and I think the board may want to vote on them separately instead of

030together. >> 10B and 10 D. >> Correct. >> Okay. Any other requests? Okay. Then um the items that we are going to vote on in the consent agenda. Item A, approval of letters facilitator train the trainers for D60's core phonics program. Item C, renewal of ACT education corps preact fall assessment for grades 8 to 11. Item E 2025 National Association of Co-eing Conference. Item F, attendance at the LRP special education legal conference. Item G, attendance at the National School Social Work Conference. Item H, attendance at the Closing the Gap Assisted Tech Conference. Item I, attendance at the Council of Administrators of Special Education Conference. Um, item J, Aruba CX upgrade network equipment. Item K, renewal of Google Plus yearly contract. >> Do we have a motion? >> Motion to approve. Motion to approve. >> Second

031>> and second by Miss Fabian. Okay. And these are all the items under the consent agenda from A to K with the exception of B and D which we are voting on separately. So we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the motion? >> Not a discussion just a comment um because I do believe in thanking people when they go back and revise their work. So thank you for I think it was item E um for going back and clearing up the paperwork so that it matches everything. Thank you. Thank you. Can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Fabian? >> Yes. >> Miss Lensing? >> Yes. >> Mr. McBride? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ramirez? >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez? >> Yes. Motion carried. Items

032are approved. Okay. Item B, approval to attend aspiring superintendent academy for female leaders. >> It is recommended that the board of education authorize the superintendent to approve Dr. Tasia Fields, director of student access and achievement to participate in the AASA aspiring superintendent academy for female leaders where she was accepted into the 2025 2026 cohort. The total estimated costs including registration, lodging, transportation, and perdm is $9,800. >> We have a motion >> to move. >> Motion by Mr. McBrite. >> Second. Second by Miss Fabian. Any discussion on the motion. We have a roll call vote, please. Yes, Mavian. Go ahead. >> So, for me, it's a large amount of money and because it also looks like an academy, I would just also ask if um the individual can look at possibly using the benefit of reimbursement

033for professional development and tuition. >> Anything else? Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> no. Miss Lensing, >> no. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Miss Ramirez, Mr. Riddle, >> no. >> President Rodriguez, >> no. Motion fails. Item D, approval to attend the Innovative School Summit December 2nd through 7, 2025, San Antonio, Texas. It is the recommendation that the board of education authorize the superintendent or her designate to approve Oscar Dupi to attend the innovative school summits in San Antonio, Texas from December 2nd through the 7, 2025. The expected total cost is $3,782 which includes registration, lodging, travel, miller DM rate. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle. >> Second by Miss Fabian. Any discussion on this motion? >> Roll call vote. >> Miss Fabian. >> Yes. >> Miss Hannah. Miss Lensing,

034>> no. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. >> What was the count? Was that four? >> Yeah. You have >> We do have motion carries. >> Okay. >> What was the breakdown? Was it four? >> 42. Did I hear somebody pass? >> Not on this one. Not >> I thought I had heard somebody say pass. Okay. Motion carries. Um item 11 consent agenda for operations. We have four items on this consent agenda. Uh A is the approval of the architect selection for denial life safety survey. B approval of TK elevator service agreement. C approval of the renewal of network technology innovation service agreement for 2025 2026. D the approval of the emergency walk-in cooler replacement at Walkagan High School Washington Campus Kitchen. >>

035Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second >> by Mr. Riddle, second by Miss Fabian. >> Oh, do you need a second? >> Oh, >> no. We have a second, but she's confirming. >> Go ahead. >> Um, nobody um I didn't give anybody an opportunity to pull any items if they wanted to do so. Do we have any items that anyone want to pull an item? Okay. So, we have a motion >> and a second. >> Who made the motion? >> Mr. Riddle. Second by Sabian. It's getting very consistent. >> Yep. We we got it down to a science tonight. >> Any discussion on this motion? >> No. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President

036Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Okay. Item 12, purchasing and contracts. There are none. Item 13, personnel items. Personnel for 92325. It is the recommendation that the board of education accept the administration's recommendations to approve the appointments, retirements, and accept the resignations and terminations as found on schedules F10002, L949, T317, and G660. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle. >> Second by Men. Any discussion on this motion? Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Mermirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> Item 14, grants and donations. I see none. Nothing under other. Financial reports. A ratification of the second processing of September 25 board bills, manual check request payments, and old national

037bank insurance payments for the period of September 3rd, 2025 through September 16, 2025. It is the recommendation of the administration that the board of education ratify the 2nd September 2025 of board bills manual check request payments and own national bank insurance payments for the period of September 3rd 2025 through September 16 2025. The accounts payable board payments for the period of September 3rd, 2025 through September 16, 2025 total 1,335,149.33. The manual check request payments for the period of September 3rd, 2025 through September 16th, 2025 total 438, $292.36. Though National Bank insurance payments for the period of September 3rd, 2025 through September 16, 2025 total 1,584,979.15. >> Motion to approve by Mr. Riddle. Second, second by Miss Aan. Any discussion on this motion? Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >>

038yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Okay. Item 17, reports and presentations. Do we have any committee reports? >> Yes. None. >> Um, we did meet our uh PTAC team. Um, so we are going to have some more consistent meetings. This first meeting was just introductory. Okay. Anything else? All right. Delegates report. Our delegate is not here. I know she is present is uh looking for input um for the upcoming conference in November. So, anybody that has any any information that they'd like her to share um or any items they wanted her to bring up at the delegates meeting, please uh talk to Miss Hannah about that. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Uh item C, superintendent report. >> Bless

039you. Thank you. Previously, the board had approved an audit on our current food service contract. And tonight, tonight, you will be hearing a feasibility report on our food service um to update the board earlier in the year. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Molton. >> Uh thank you, Superintendent. Good evening, board members, staff, uh community still with us. So, as the superintendent stated, um the district engaged Walker Quality Food Services with a feasibility study to highlight the effectiveness and efficiency and long-term viability of the food service program within our district. Um we do have a summary presentation provided for you this evening that I would like to review with you. We're going to highlight the methodology that was used, operational findings, and I have started this presentation while we're we're

040calling in our um Walker Food Service on the phone. Uh just so you all are aware if there are specific questions at the end. um operational findings, key findings, implementation planning based on the findings, program implementation options, so different options on how we can manage our in district program outside of the current method that we have with a third party. Next steps and final recommendations. Next slide, please. Thank you. Um so this was the methodology that that our vendor used that we consulted. They did conduct this study during summer school in the month of June and visited our school sites to to review our our food service program. They did on-site assessments, observations of kitchen, serving lines, storage areas, and cafeterias. So, what is the physical condition? How are things stored? How does it look?

041How does it appear? Is it enticing? Um they reviewed a series of documentation and data which included menus, production records, invoices, participation reports and compliance reports. They also engaged in stakeholder feedback. Now they were here for two and a half approximately two and a half days in district. Um so did they did discuss with Sedexo staff. I hear myself. Um they did discuss with some of the Sedexo leadership as well as staff within the school buildings that they visited and observed. They also engaged with students who man who attended our summer school program um in the cafeterias and they also did a uh general compliance and benchmarking review based on ISBY standards, industry best practice and USDA standards uh which we do abide by within our district. So a comprehensive review and they did review

042a lot of information prior to coming in district that we provided to them through data and documentation. So a summary of some operational findings. We currently have a centralized food service model and we have a lot of kitchen infrastructure needs. So you'll note that on the next slide I'm going to get into some key findings. You're going to see a little bit of redundancy and some things that were identified but this is our current model. So we have operating kitchens at the middle school and high school and then we provide food to the elementary schools because our elementary schools do not have full functioning kitchens which goes into the kitchen infrastructure needs. So we have our elementary campuses uh we also have Robbie Lightoot as well as AOEC that do not have full functioning kitchens.

043Uh mill quality including menu variety and nutrition compliance. So, we do have nutrition compliance, but the menu variety um is something that we have heard concerns about. We've provided updates to the board in previous years regarding, you know, how the menu looks online. We've talked about variety and being culturally responsive, things like that for the menu. Uh what the auditor found was that we need to have a little more variety based on what the proposal provided and based on some of the the taste testing that we did when we started the contract. equipment and facility conditions. We have dated we have dated equipment in some of our facilities and I will talk in a little bit regarding a cap u the recommendation for a capital improvement plan specifically as it relates to the kitchens and

044the equipment that's being used to either heat or cook the food. Um supply chain reliability. You know, this this is something that's kind of, you know, specific to our program. Not specific to our program, I should say, but you know, it's something that kind of is across the board. You know, we're sourcing. This is about food sourcing a lot of our products with our program. There's a lot of other districts, a lot of other vendors that source the food from same locations. And there's, you know, there can be some supply and demand concerns there. But they did review that. And then the service efficiency. So, this one I do want to take um a couple extra seconds on and just kind of talk about these three specific things. speed, waste, and student satisfaction. So, based

045on the amount of time that the students have to eat their food, they did evaluate that. They evaluated the amount of waste or the fact that there was waste, which could be for a variety of factors, but the time, the efficiency of somebody going through the line based on the amount of time they have to eat, based on how much weight has accumulated, coupled with the engagement that they had with the students on the satisfaction of what they thought of the food. And again, this was during the summer school program, but a lot of the food items were consistent with what we served during the regular school year. They had some recommendations and observations based on this uh for for improvements, but they did observe a lot of waste and um speed in some cases

046throughout the serving lines. You know, maybe there were ways that could be a little more efficient and enticing for the students to get more variety of options so they have more time to eat. Uh next slide, please. Thank you. So some of the key findings certain initiatives still need to be implemented such as the pre-ordering app application but that is the app as well as um variety of menu items that I mentioned earlier. Now we have followed up with Sedexo once we got the findings of this report Miss Williams and myself um there is a plan to roll out a pre-ordering app later on in the fall semester and there will be more information coming out on that. Um but we have followed up with them because we know some of these items were anticipated

047to be done earlier in this contract and they have yet to be done for a variety of reasons. Student observations of dissatisfaction with the food quality and variety of presentation what I stated earlier that was one of the key findings because they found that consistently in um in the different schools that they visited protocols inconsistent in implementation. So we do have staff training for the staff, but how those protocols are managed, not just from a a food handling standpoint, but also from a safety safety standpoint, whether it's storage of chemicals, storage of chemicals. Um, you know, some of this is also a review and reflection of some things we have areas of improvement on in the district as it relates to safety, storage, um, inspections, which we've talked about in the past here, and other

048other avenues, um, to ensure that we're we're maintaining a high level of client uh, compliance and standards within the comprehensive program because it's a shared responsibility of the vendor as well as the district. um aging kitchen equipment, limited district oversight capacity. So, Miss Williams is excellent at her role, but she is responsible for two very large areas of the district, child nutrition and transportation. So, the oversight of this multi-million dollar operation is half of her job as a district liaison with contract enforcement. So they did identify that as a key finding just based on comparables and some other districts and what they've seen with other food service operations that outsource outsource food service. Um and then capital improvement plan needed for the infrastructure and this is really focused specifically on the elementary schools AOEC and

049Robbie Lightfoot. They do not have full kitchens like the middle schools and high schools. So that was one of their key findings that the district along with the food service vendor do a short-term long-term capital improvement plan if we want to provide different options at our elementary level. All right, implementation planning and findings. So they provided some general time frames for four main categories and implementation of the findings. And again, Miss Williams and I have started on this with Sedexo because we don't feel like it is um good practice and in the best interest of our students to wait to start to implement some of these items. We're currently under contract for the current school year. We want to see um movement and understand fully what's taking place right now. So provide a comprehensive project

050plan over the course of the next four weeks. uh infrastructure and training which is updating standard operation proc standard operating procedures. Uh something that we have done in the past is a student focused groups at the middle high school level as well as the elementarymentaries menu tasting satisfaction surveys for our students to get real-time feedback on a regular consistent basis of what they're experiencing within the schools. um systems and transition, you know, updating inventory software and itemized transition report. And really the itemized transition report is helping us identify and we did receive this recently. We still need to review it, but help us identify what was done as part of the transition package. When we went from Eleor to Sedexo in 2023, there was a specific allocation of funds for that transition within the proposal.

051um and reviewing continuous improvement and this is you know procedures based on feedback performance reporting you know regular things that are done um either through Sedexo with their monthly safety audits with our uh inspections that we do on a monthly basis with Miss Williams and her staff but really putting that together and then having afteraction items based on the information that we find and this would be applicable regardless of who our food service vendor is. All right. So, we were provided some program implementation options. One is to continue with our current current food service contract, which we are on one-year renewals, and we're in year three currently. Rebid the food service contract for the 2026 2027 school year. Transition to a selfoperated program, do a satellite or hybrid model, or do a cooperative shared services

052model. Um over the last several years we've done the food service contract process an option. So some immediate next steps formal contract compliance review with Sedexo because Sedexo has been our vendor for two years. You know we need to ensure that what was performed in the audit and the findings uh give them an opportunity to respond which we've started those conversations. Um and itemize a corrective action plan as needed. um ensure that staff training is being conducted on contract management and associated support provided for that because this is a very significant contract for our district and currently it's managed by half of Miss Williams. But it is a large contract in scope uh when you do it in comparison to the amount of staff we have to enforce it at the district level and then

053potentially engage in neutral third party monitoring for support ongoing support for enforcement of the contract because of all the various levels of compliance within the contract. All right. So I believe this is the last slide. Um and this is a coupled recommendation between the district administration as well as um our consultant. So review and implement action items for the remainder of the fall semester. So we have about two and a half months left uh for the end of December to really aggressively attack the action items that we've listed in the previous slides and then provide another recommendation or an update and a recommendation to the board in January at the OSC meeting to be consistent with what we did last year from a timing standpoint if it's the desire that we rebid. Now this is

054the administration's recommendation. Ultimately, what our consultant is recommending is the third bullet point is that we perform a competitive bid process for the 2627 school year that clearly outlines expectations for the various items you see listed on the screen because we have an opportunity and we did this we attempted to do this in 2023 is award a contract. We're allowed to do this not solely based on low bid, low price, but based on performance options and offerings. So we believe we were prepared to do that last year when we provided initial update in February. We would have had enough time between February and June 30th to do that. If we come back in January with a final recommendation and an update on the status and progress of what's taken place since this meeting, we believe

055if it's a desire or the recommendation to rebid, we'll be able to do that and initiate that process in January to award a contract in by June. And that concludes the presentation. >> I have Do you mind if I jump in real quick? Um, so Lever, I know you worked with um I'm going to call them the auditors that came in to look at the food service program and your recommendation is to go back and revisit some of the findings and come back in January. Is there any way you can move that date up? To me, that's hitting it very close, it's going to put a lot of burden of the proof for you because if not personally, I think in seeing what we're seeing here, um, and just hearing from the board, opening the

056bid would still allow you to revisit that contract and they could rebid based off the conversations that need to be had and make adjustments in that manner. That's how I'm thinking. I mean, that conversation would still be able to take place, but it wouldn't hold up. And since we are on a year-to-year contract, going back out to rebid this um would give us some options, but would also give them time to revisit what they had proposed initially. So, I I'm going to turn that over to you because that's my train of thought. >> No. Uh thank you for the feedback, superintendent. So, we can absolutely do that. Uh, one of the reasons why we had that included was because we want to see some improvements and adjustments. Now, we still have a lot of school

057year left. Um, and Sedexo has been good partners with the district, but you're absolutely correct. The feedback and the information sharing that's done now can be incorporated within a proposal. There's nothing that's keeping us from doing a uh starting the RFP process now. And again, I believe we had a very comprehensive process last time, but obviously there's always room for enhancements and lessons learned. Price is only a portion of the process. It's it's quality. It's it's variety of offerings, presentation, branding, some of the additional features. Uh I believe there were comments in previous meetings about the features like the app, pre-ordering. We have students that travel between buildings. That's something that could certainly be a benefit to them because they have maybe a reduced time to eat lunch. So, superintendent, we can certainly do that.

058We do want to ensure that we're we're following up on these items in real time now because again, we have majority of the school year left and we want to provide as best service as possible for our students with our current vendor. >> Miss Lindsay. >> Um, okay. In true Lensing fashion, I have several questions. Um, so I'm glad we clarified that not all of our school buildings have um kitchen access, but one question I do have is can you confirm for me what are the breakfast options at the middle school and the high school levels because I know what it is at elementary given the restrictions, but can you provide that clarity? And then I have a follow-up comment to that. I'm gonna ask Miss Williams to answer that question. >> I appreciate you,

059Miss Williams. [Music] >> Can you clarify that for me when you say menu items? >> What are children in our middle schools and our high school locations served for breakfast? >> They can have breakfast bars, they can have cereal, they can have milk. At the middle school, it's about the same. I think they can have hot um sandwiches. The middle school and high school menus are basically the same and the elementary is a little bit different, but if you go through the neutral size app, we can look at the menu that way as well. >> Okay, so here's my issue with the breakfast because what Sedexo presented to us were yogurt parfets. They presented a breakfast sandwich. There were hot eggs and hot potatoes. And so every family handles it differently, but a breakfast bar

060and a Lucky Charm cereal or a Cinnamon Toast cereal does not register as a healthy nutritional breakfast to me. So as parents, we make our kids breakfast every morning because we know that what's happening at school is not meeting the nutritional needs in our big picture. And I understand that it's quote unquote following state guidelines because it has to have the sugar and the c like all of the salt sodium levels etc. However, that is not what we were presented for Sedexo. And I can understand that our elementary schools not having a kitchen does create limitations, but that to me is a big area that when we if we as a board decide to go out for bid following the guidance of the the auditors is an area of improvement for our kids because that's

061that's not that's not a healthy breakfast. um for this um RFP superintendent, I'm really happy that you highlighted that while yes, January is sooner, it's not soon enough and you know we can start the RFP process now. Sedexo can always look to rebid right that we're not saying no you can't, right? So that's still inclusive. My question and this is coming from the cube conference and when I sat in on um the Planefield New Jersey team talking about how they handle partnerships and uh contracts etc is always asking the question what else can you do for us beyond the brief beyond what we put on paper we need right we thought Sedexa was bringing us an app and I understand there can be reasons for delays but we're in year three and we don't have

062it I'm glad that it's coming soon, right? But we've also started the year and so kids are kind of in the motion of things. So my question is always going to be what else can you do for us? If you want a long-term project and you know that you have a service to provide and you know our facilities aren't up to par, how can you help support getting our facilities to a point where you can provide your premier service, right? Am I saying that the companies are going to say, "Yes, let's pay for all of your kitchen renovations." No. Like that's a pie in the sky dream, but can they help facilitate like we know that there are different grants or there's connections we can make to try to get some sponsorships? That would be

063great. That's my question is what else can you do for us in this community beyond what's on the brief. Um I do appreciate that we're looking at those standard operating procedures. anytime I see we're looking at that, I get excited because I think that needs to be um consistent within the district. So, I'm really appreciative of that. The only other piece that I'm going to touch on right now is I was also expecting within this report some financials tied to it. Right? So in the recommendations, if it's determined necessary, we would go out for the bid process, but we weren't given any sort of financials of what the current market looks like and what that impact could be. It's like we have to wait for that. Um, which is a bit frustrating because I think

064that was something we asked for upfront. So if there's a reason as to why we don't have it, I would love to understand instead of um be frustrated that we don't have it. I don't I don't know if we can answer that right now. But what we can do is we can take that question back and see have them put something together surrounding that question around financials and what that trend is looking like for districts like us and yeah, not only in Illinois but throughout the nation. So that is something we can take back to them. Do you have any more on that? Because I didn't want to put you on the spot. I didn't see that in the report. That's why And I could be I could have missed it, but it's been a

065minute since I read that. Yeah. So, uh to to help answer the question, we will need to come back with a you know, maybe like a chart or a diagram. They did do a financial analysis that was geared towards like our own district invoicing and revenue revenue sources. Yeah. >> But for comparability and maybe what we're paying in the market, let me let's just go back and verify so we can summarize that information for uh for the board of education. >> I appreciate that. And I just want to make sure that everyone's clear. We're going to take that with a grain of salt. It's not going to be exact because every person going into the grocery store trying to buy eggs, one week it's $4, the next week it's $10, right? So, it is kind

066of a moving target, but if we can just get a general idea, that would be helpful. >> Sure. And one of the things I' I'd like to comment, and this came up kind of early in the process when we reviewed it with with Miss Williams, is reimbursement rates versus the quality we're investing in certain items. So, one of the things that's noted in the in the more detailed report is um chicken sandwiches, chicken patties. >> So, just to put in perspective, and this isn't to badmouth any fast food chain, but when you go to McDonald's and you get a chicken sandwich, it's a little different than the chicken sandwich that you get at Chick-fil-A. So, those different levels within the school setting, there's an investment on the district's behalf it would need to make for

067those types of items. with the reimbursement being the rate it is, you know. So, so that level of analysis um for those specific menu items is is something that we did discuss that we need to look into further to see what impact that would be on our district so we can regularly provide different quality for certain items to our students. >> Mr. Motton, I'm really happy you brought that up because you did have in your slides the quality of food and that's a big component of it, right? So, I appreciate that. Um, one other thing because I have it on here, but I forgot to say it. Um, another thing that they did in um, one of the districts that I set it on, it wasn't New Jersey, it was a different one. They looked

068at the most popular menu items and they made a day like Wednesday was always wing day for for this district. I don't know if that would qualify within like the state regulations for like sodium and sugar and all that stuff within our diet, but making it a like we will always have this menu on this day because we see the least amount of waste, we see the most excitement around it, etc. So, that's something that we could also look to see if that would make sense in our district. Just bringing that back from cube. But I appreciate u the presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Fabian. And then I just also want to clarify that um there's also been some edits to that law that we don't have to go with the lowest bid.

069However, we want to stay within well I guess that's our judgment if we want to stay within the reimbursement rates. But so also keeping that in mind that just because it's the cheapest doesn't mean that we have to choose it. Um so that's how we can also look at the quality for the waste. I also wanted to know well actually for this I wanted to kind of see more data to see how like where are our levels like how much waste how much student dissatisfaction or satisfaction there is. I would have liked to seen like the the concrete data of it. Um but I also want to see as far as waste how much is being prepared to how much is actually being chosen. Um because that's also I think part of or the point

070of the app of then them knowing how many students are going to eat what so they're not overpreparing items. Uh the other part of it is packaging. I was an elementary teacher for a long time and um ensuring that packaging is easy to open when we were talking about the amount of time they have 20 minutes to line up, get into the door, get their meal, sit down and eat it. and you really got to train those kids how to like fight with this packaging to even be able to eat some of these things. So, I think that's another area that we need to look into is how easy is it for our kids to open right away, sit down and eat. Um, and I I think Mr. Riddle might agree with me on this

071too. I think we've talked about it before about recyclable packaging too would also be a bonus. Um, but really also looking at that, I would also like to see as far as the student satisfaction survey is the student interaction with the staff. I know they're moving through those lines quickly. Um, but even, you know, our lunchroom helpers have an impact on our students and I knew some very phenomenal, you know, lunchroom workers when I was teaching that were really just checking in on the kids as they came through that line, as they were in the cafeteria. So, I think that's another area that we can look at. Um, and then the staff satisfaction. How satisfied are they working within our buildings and what can we do to support them? Um, as well. Um, and then

072I would just also add, thank you Alicia. I know you have a monster of a role because it's not just nutrition, it's also transportation that you oversee. And if we could also make sure that we're picking um Alicia's brain on her pain points because as you said she's got pain points and she has to oversee all of this spending and so is there are there pain points with a particular company as far as communication followup etc that we can start asking those questions when we go out for proposals to ensure how is it that they are going to alleviate those pain points for you. um and ultimately for the district, right? And then the last thing um since we have our student board members here, I would also like if you could pick their brains

073on how they would get more input from the students as far as um collecting that student data on how they feel about the school lunches and what they would like to see in the meals. Um to uh Miss Lensing's point, right? Are there items that we know they'll eat all the time, even if it's they're eating it once a week because they love that item? like how how would they help to assist to get um those surveys filled out because we know that we don't usually get a general big you know a big population um sample size of the population I should say on this um on our surveys. So working with them to see how we can get that from them faster or in a larger quantity I should say more more students filling

074it out. I think that's all for me. >> Thank you. And um I think what the administration is trying to do is get a sense for how the board feels about sending us out for rebid is we can't vote on this because it's not on the agenda as an action item, but I think what uh superintendent would like is just a head nod for an agreement three bidding. I'm seeing a lot of heads going up and down. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Got your answer. >> Thank you, Mr. Men. >> Thank you. Oh, Mr. Yeah, I just I just had one question, Mr. Motton. Um, I I saw a hybrid kind of, you know, evaluation or possibility different types of, you know, self running our own program. There was recently a a screening at the um

075Three Brothers uh theater of a uh uh program about food in schools. >> Cafeteria Matters. That's the one. Yeah, we were there. Um, and in there the school district, a large school district, actually hired a former chef to over to manage their school system because what he found out was that the school district was paying lots of money. This was an urban school district. A lots of money for this contract, but nobody was happy with and they had had various vendors in. So he basically looked at the program and said, "I can I can provide good food, exciting food, teaching kids how to eat healthy, and I can do it cheaper than you've ever done with your with the contracts that you've had." And so he went into the school district and he did that

076very thing. >> He oversaw the contract. uh he he over he was and and since food is such a vital part of a school district, putting one person to do transportation and and food service and try to expect good results seems to me almost impossible. Um, so I wonder if we might even want to rethink this and and putting hiring a person just to manage our our school and could that really improve because that person then has the responsibility. We've got 22 buildings. That person would could give you some ideas that this was a person who was going to retire. He had been in food service a long time and wanted to change uh what the way food is served in school districts and he was very successful. schools school districts came to look at

077him. >> He did, I think, burn out in the end, Mike, didn't he? Because it became such a after several years and he was doing a lot of work with other school districts, >> he he finally left that school district. But I mean, it's it's just another thought that that I don't know if that's kind of a hybrid where you have your own person overseeing the program and really making changes. That would have to be put into the contract that we have hired our own person if we were going to do something. So it's it's worth looking at like you said the movie again is what's it called? Cafeteria men. >> Cafeteria matters men. Cafeter. >> Cafeteria men. Cafeteria men. Okay. Man, >> superintendent. Sorry, your microphone. >> I said I want to thank the

078board because we are hearing a lot of great ideas and some recommendations. Um, so there will be a rubric, a whole process that Mr. Moltzen will put together. He's going to come back to the board. He'll explain, you know, the different um groups that we'll be utilizing. I know we've used student advisory groups previously, etc. So, we will be coming back with the to the board with that process and what it will look like. I do ask if the board of education does have any ideas that you email um Learon um Nick and myself on some of these suggestions that you have right now so that as we're as he's putting this plan together we're taking those ideas into consideration um and seeing how we could possibly implement them or build upon them. So any

079ideas you have please send them to Lebear and Nick and myself and we will work from there. Thank you. Thank you. And Miss Hannah is watching. She was not able to stay because she was not feeling well, but she asked me, she says, "Could you ask him if we get reimbured for the snacks that are served?" >> Yes. >> If they're into an after school form, >> just I wanted to highlight a light. >> Oh, I didn't even see. I'm sorry. I did have a question, but Miss Palencia, you did answer it that um you know about getting like students like actual responses like we can like do something like that like we can like put barcodes on the tables and like ask students to answer it so you can get more reliable um like

080evidence or like information. >> Great idea, Miss Allen. So what I will tell you is that Mr. Molton worked with our previous board member member one member and he will be working with both of you all. Okay. So you will be involved in this process. Great. >> Not only you more students, >> Miss Lindsay >> and just maybe with that cuz I love the um QR code to to scan. Um I know the high school has uh various PBI PBIS in place. So like I think hero points is still going on for you guys. Like maybe if you participate in the the survey, you get a point, right? So like it incentivizes them so that they can feel like they did something. >> Modern technology. It blows my mind. >> I know. It's great. >>

081So Mr. Moltzen, you have marching orders. We're going back out for bid. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh item 18, information items. August 2025 foyer report. Sorry, >> this is the summary of the foyer work that has taken place in the month of August. >> We've all had a chance to review that. Okay. Uh item 18, um B, itemized compensation report for public act 96-0434 SB 2270. Uh, Miss Pope, please correct me if I don't summarize what this is appropriately. This is a required uh compensation report that needs to be posted for the public to review. >> Okay, thank you. Item 19, old business. Is there any old business? Item 20, new business. Moving on. 21, student discipline matters. There are none. 22 board

082matter time. Board member time. Um >> yes, >> let's start with Mr. Hakobo. >> You want to say? >> So um just a reintroduction like hi is Frankie. Um just to keep further noted that survey is on completion. Uh we want to say that it'd be best if all students can possibly fill out that so we can have further recommendations so to implement new plans if any idea you guys want to implement for the school. Um besides that um I'd like to thank you guys for having me here. >> Yeah. >> Glad to have you with us. >> Okay. Mr. Riddle. Oh, Angela, >> I did not miss Mr. Rome. The ladies are going to have the last word tonight. >> Oh, they are. Oh, okay. All right. He was looking very brief then. Um

083I know I know some of our students um last year were very interested at the high school in planting trees >> and there was a project to do that and I just wanted to let uh any student in Waggan that's you know high school age or older um that let them know that there is going to be another tree planting this year in fact it's 3 weeks from from now October Saturday October 18th from 9 until 100 p.m. 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Whittier School and we are working with um Lions, sorry, not Lions, we're working with Open Lands Project, Open Lands, and they are um providing over 30 trees that are going to be planted in the Whittier School uh and the neighborhood there. Um and like I said, that's Saturday, October 18th.

084Um the the uh school itself is doing a project on, you know, why trees are important, what the what they provide. And if you'll know, the parking lot on the north side is where they're going to be and along the street there, Lewis Avenue, is where they're going to be putting some of those trees. And then along that neighborhood, um uh it's going to be very pretty. The Openlands is providing the trees for free. They're going to continue to do this. Um they want to partner with our schools and we are happy to partner with them. So, next year there'll be another opportunity um for one of the schools, possibly Whittier or one of the other schools. Um but anyway, if anyone wants to volunteer um they can go uh just just query Openlands um

085Whittier School planting um October 18th in Walkan and you'll see a volunteer list um and it'll pop up and you can sign up uh to to help and it's just filling out um your name and you know other information. If it's a child, it has of course have to be an adult that's that's doing that and come with the child. We don't want any children coming on their own. So you it's really for adults. Um if you bring in your child, you know, you guys have to supervise the child. Um there was a question you had. >> Do you know if is that a Saturday? >> It's a Saturday. Saturday, October 18th from 9 to 11:00 at Whittier School and they'll be meeting inside at the gym. >> Um Principal Kramer is coordinating that. Um

086some of us uh from the church across the street uh St. Paul's Church are going to be working with that group as well. So there'll be uh there has to be at least as many volunteers as there are trees. So we need about 35 volunteers. We we still have if you look on the website I think there's >> openings for at least 13 more people. So they need you need at least as many adults as you need trees. So we have about 35 trees coming. >> Sorry, one more question. Do you know how I can sign up? like is there >> you can sign up by just going on that website openlands um and just uh you can just Google openlands wittier school tree planting project um October 18th and it'll pop up you'll see

087it and then you just fill out the application >> so they know how many people are coming >> okay thank you >> I have a feeling you're going to do that >> Mr. McBride >> kind of following your lead Mr. riddles on the on the line of beautifification as far as our city is concerned. I'm going to go back again where I made mention we have a mayor. >> Please get in touch with him as far as resources for downtown with doing the Christmas decoration. >> I think he would be more than welcome to have you on board because over the years, you know, we we've had a downtown, but it didn't really look like Christmas to me and I'd like to see that come back. And uh also to uh >> also to going

088back to the idea of I heard a lot about food services. I've been saying the inequality of food and what the kids should be eating and whatnot. I don't even sit in the cafeteria and eat. You guys do. And I love the suggestion that you came up with to sit down with the students and see what they like. Like Christine said, maybe wings, but they'll tell you what they like and what they don't like and what they'll throw away and what they don't will throw away. >> So, I like the idea that you guys are in the process >> and I'm looking forward to hear from it. Uh, I'm at Z business school. I know I see what they do every day. >> Also too, in the summer, speaking of the breakfast program, I work

089with the summer kids this summer and I watch what they throw away. But I don't want my opinion. I want you guys opinion. Thank you. >> Great. >> Thank you, Miss McBride. Miss Ellen. >> Oh. Uh, hi. Uh, I wanted to say that uh, Miss May or Miss Raven, the first board member, she had got in touch with me and like offered to mentor me cuz like she's, uh, >> Wow. >> Yeah. She graduated from um, Spellman and she she majored in biology, which I want to major in, too, and now she's in med school. >> Wow. >> I think that's really powerful and like I'm I really appreciate her reaching out to me. So yeah, >> if she's willing to mentor you, latch on to her. Raven. Yes. Raven was fantastic. Really nice. Really

090nice. >> Miss Fabian. [Music] >> Oh man, I have a lot. Number one, congratulations to Clyde and Black Lives Matter. I won't be able to attend. Unfortunately, I have to work and pay bills still. So, but congratulations. And I do hope to stop by at some point. Um, and I'm glad that he extended that offer to partner with our school districts. Um, and I encourage, you know, our nonprofits and and our community resources to continue to reach out. Um, and then I was also in attendance when, uh, Dr. Sanders came out to McCall and so it was a beautiful event. Um, I think our students did amazing and they asked some very difficult questions that I don't think I've seen Dr. Sanders get as stumped um, when we ask questions. So, I think they did

091a great job and and they had fun and the the um tour guides that we had the kids just you could tell they really loved their school. You could tell the staff really loved their school. Um so, thank you uh Miss May for opening up your doors. Uh and again celebrating and highlighting the work that she's done and even with um earning her blue ribbon status. Unfortunately, the blue ribbon is now no longer at the federal level nationally and it's been pushed to the states to do. So, I think we need to really advocate um as a community how important it is to highlight those achievements and what we can do to support moving forward recognizing um our schools. Um so, that was it was just a great experience for Hispanic Heritage Month. I want

092to say thank you to all of those who came out and performed and who intended. Um, unfortunately, it was a very low turnout. So, I would like to see in the future some more advertisement push out through all means, text messaging and all of that when we are inviting families to big district-wide events. Um, I would also like to see if in the future we could start making sure that these big district events are um also live streamed for more accessibility to ensure that um all the community that can't come on that time or is unable to attend for whatever reason um is able to see and our because our kids do phenomenal work. Um, I would caution though whenever we're doing any cultural celebrations that we work with families and community partners to ensure

093that what we're presenting is actually culturally appropriate and relevant. >> Um, and so that's that I know that was an ask for me last year is that we do that and I didn't see much of those connections being made. So again, um just in the future if we are mindful, especially when it's a cultural celebration, um that we're ensuring that it's it's authentic, it's applicable, um to to the celebration. And then um I know you'll probably get to homecoming, but I'll let you um for homecoming um we are having as part of the Walking Public Schools Foundation a uh all alumni reunion on Saturday the at 1:00. Um so September 29th at night shades and dark. So, we invite all classes of all wa um high school, township, east, west, whatever you whatever it was

094called when you went bulldog raider uh bulldog with the eye patch to come on out Saturday at 1:00 tonight sheets and dark to learn more about the foundation, win some door prizes, network with your alumni. Um if you bring your business card, we'll enter you for a chance to win some gift cards. will be there until 4. And we also have a food truck that is alumni owned and operated. Um Georgia's food on the go who will be there as well. Um so again, please come out and uh reunite. >> Thank you, Miss Lindsay. >> Um so yeah, also a couple of things. So, I was also fortunate to join in on um our state superintendent coming to visit McCall again. You know, great positive feedback to principal May. Um every time I talk to

095a staff member that is either working there past like currently or in the past, it's nothing but positive um things to say about your school. So, I think it was it was really good to highlight that for our uh state superintendent, Dr. Tony Sanders, because people need to see the good walk because in all honesty, we have the best kids. Fight me on it if you want, but we have the best kids. >> Yes, we do. >> Um Yeah. Right. And so I I think they provide a a good environment for those students because like one of the things that the students said that they love about their school is that their teachers care about them >> and that's what we're wanting across all areas of this district. So I think that was just beautiful.

096I also want to applaud our superintendent, Miss Placencia, because not only was it just to highlight the good that's happening in WKEAN, but there was time taken at the end to advocate for what we need here in WKEAN. Um, you know, and she tapped into Dr. Cesario, Mr. Motton to help support like this is what we need on the academic side, this is what we need with the capital improvement side. we so any additional funds that can be made available like we're ready to take them. So I I was really happy that um you were able to advocate for this district um at that event. Um I was also happy to join the Hispan Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. I agree with Miss Fabian like if we could live stream just for accessibility, right? Maybe a

097kid's parent can't come see but it would be great to see that like live streamed. if we can get our sports live streamed, as many things that our kids are doing and we can stream safely, um I think that would be great. But I looked at all of the boards that our students put work in and there were some amazing facts um in there and so I was just really excited to to learn more and read through the student work. Um I do have uh on the um the event for the school's foundation. Just a quick note, I was dropping my kid off for um an activity and saw the class of 74 reunion happened this weekend and I was like, "Oh, that's like 30 years before me." I didn't want to like crash their

098party, but it was just nice to see. Oh, girl. I I wasn't blasting anybody. Um, but it was just nice to see that those things are still happening in the community. Okay, I'll go away from the dates. But that was just beautiful to see. So hopefully um they're able to come out and make some of those things um or make the event. I do want to see and check in with the board. We attended the cube conference um and I had floated it to the superintendent and to the board president um but rightfully so it's more of a does the board agree if it would be possible I think it would be a great way to set the um example of when you come back from a conference what does that look like? So, if

099we could have like a D60 and 60 of video, if you want to come and um work with Nick in the communications department and our beautiful studio to prepare something about one or two of the sessions of what you learned and what you're excited about to try to bring back to Waggan, I think sharing that out in that way would be really beneficial and streamlined. Um, but that's for the the broader board to kind of look at and see if that they want to want to do. um superintendent very rightfully so was like we need to get board consensus on it. So I was like I'll bring it up during board member time because OM I can't just email people. Um and then two more things. I was the homecoming for me or for board

100president or for Miss Ramirez. >> Oh okay. So we do have so three more things. I know we have the parade coming this Friday. So I'm excited to help with the float um for the star night theme that we have going. I wish all of the judges good luck in choosing the best float before um the game later that evening. So, if you can come out, support our kids. Hopefully, we hear Ghettobird. That's a tradition. I'm wanting to hear it. The community wants to hear it. We'll see if that happens. Um but otherwise, the game itself is going to be great and fun. The other two pieces. One, I just want to say to all of our parents and caregivers out there who have children in their homes with autism, some very concerning information came

101out. And I just want to reiterate, trust the experts. >> Yeah. Tylenol and a set of menophen while you are pregnant does not cause autism. It's been researched thoroughly. So, it's very upsetting and it's putting a lot of people in a discomforting position and that's not fair to you. So, I as a board member understand that and I recognize that and I support you raising your child. A lot of it is just coming down to being able to recognize and screen kids sooner, which is why we're seeing a rise and there's research going on. So, the only additional piece is just follow the science, trust the experts. Um, and on top of that, I just want to personally share that I think we we talk about mental health, especially during this very tumultuous time. Things

102are coming at us from a variety, whether we're dealing with ICE, whether we're dealing with executive orders, whether we're dealing just daytoday um, trials and tribulations, I'll call them. Um, you need to make sure that you are pouring from a full cup and therapy is a good way to do that. just publicly I'm going through therapy and I think it's great. I I don't want it to be a stigma. So, I think if we can just say, "Hey, yeah, this is normal. It's a good way to make sure and check in on your mental health." Then maybe more of our community members will tap into the resources available. We have the wraparound center. You can self-reer. You can talk with your school to see if that makes a good sense um choice for your student

103or if they can provide services at school as well as other community partnerships available. So, please check in on your mental health and reach out for help so we don't escalate into unsafe situations. Other than that, love our kids. They're great. >> Thank you, Miss Lensing. And now for the last word. >> Yes, >> Mr. Ramirez. >> Hello everyone. Um, thank you. Um, I first want to um remind everyone tomorrow the bonfire. High school students, remember that you must take uh transportation. We don't want any of our parents driving anyone over to the beach um cuz they will be turned away. So, make sure that you're taking that public transportation over to our bonfire. I'm so excited for homecoming. Homecoming is always my favorite time of the year. The game is on Friday. Please come

104out and support our students. Um I want to reiterate what Miss Lensing said, but if you guys don't mind, I want to say it in Spanish to our families. Important [Music] wraparound center. Uh, with that, I want to say happy Hispanic Heritage Month to all of our students, all of our families and continue to know that you are welcomed and welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. M. And I just want to say, I was going to let you have the last word, but I'm going to say a couple of words. I'm just very uh thrilled to hear all the positive things that are coming from our board members. I love it. you know, you are all uh supporting everything that's going on in the district and and our kids and our city and everything else. And

105it's just so good to hear hear so much uh positive optimism coming from all of you. So, um thank you for that. And with that, I would like to ask for a motion to go back into close session for the purpose of discussing uh items that fall under the category C1 um which is an exception to the Illinois Open Meetings Act. That's personnel matters and special personnel appointments, employment, compensation, performance, and dismissals. >> We have a motion. Motion by Miss Fabian. Second. >> Second by Miss Lensing. Can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. We are now in close session and we are

106going to uh adjourn right after close session. There will be no uh no more business conducted tonight. Okay. So, good night to all of you. >> Thanks everybody. >> Good night.