August 26th, 2025 - Board of Education Meeting

001[Music] again. [Music] Hey [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh yeah. [Music] I'm [Music] a [Music] world. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You yourself. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] I'll be happy. [Music] You yourself. [Music] Ooh. Io. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Okay, are we all ready? >> All right, board members ready to get started. >> Good afternoon. >> 7 o'clock. >> The board met in close session at 6 pm >> to discuss matters which fall under the following categories that are exceptions to the only open meetings act. Section C1, personal matters, specific personal appointment, employment, compensation, performance, dismissals, legal matters. C11, actual or threatened litigation. C, safety and security procedures, exception C8, security procedures, school building safety and security, and the use of personnel and equipment to respond to an actual,

002a threatened or reasonably potential danger to safety of employees, student, staff, the public, or public property. and four uh close session close session exception C-21. At this time, I would like to ask for a motion to go back into open session. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle. Second by Miss Lensing. >> Can we have a roll call vote, please? >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Miss Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. We are now in open session. Um, Miss Fabian, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which

003it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. >> Thank you very much. >> Next item on the agenda is the president's report. And I would just like to uh make a comment about all of the good press that we've been getting. We I've seen some really beautiful articles in the New Sun and um I would like to thank Mr. Steve Saden who's sitting in the back of the room here. And um I want to mention a few of the articles I've seen that are really really good because they just let the public know what's going on in the school district. And I think it's really important because we have so many good things going on and it's important that the public knows about it. Uh there was a beautiful article on

004July 25th about Walkegan schools ease services for new students that tells about the services that are offered uh the new services that are being offered here in the welcome center and very positive positive article. There's an article that uh was in the new sun July 28th which isn't really about the school district. It's about the focus summer camp. And the reason that I would like to mention this article is that uh our board member Jeff McBride actually um spent a lot of time driving these uh camp participants uh back and forth to camp. And one thing that really stood out was that on the final I think it was the final day um rather than have them have a cold lunch, Mr. McBride actually treated all the campers to lunch out of his own pocket.

005And I just thought that was really really very nice and it just tells you a little bit about the men that we have sitting here. Next up [Music] here's a beautiful article July 30th chance for families to get what they need. Thousand attend the walk D60 back to school resource fair. I know a lot of you saw this article and changes abound as D60 schools open. This was in the news on th Tuesday August 12th. It talks a lot about the walkigan's uh dual language program is a very very good article and uh D60 ready's e-learning plan for snow days. This was in the new sun August 15th weather related closures could become a thing of the past under new policy. And then today in today's uh new son I don't know if any of

006you saw this sister cities shared lessons about the students and um their uh chapons are here visiting from Saki Japan and the beautiful front page almost a full page article about it. So Mr. Satan I just want to thank you for putting this information out to the public so that people are aware of of some of the really good things that are happening in the district because we have so many good things happening that people really need to know about it. Okay, I just want to run down on some of the things that have happened over the last month. Uh on July 29th, we had a workshop, the board had a workshop with Dr. Mark Freriedman regarding superintendent uh goal setting guidelines uh for properly conducting evaluation process. We wanted to bring in the e

007expert to help us so that we could do a good evaluation and make sure that we were following all the guidelines and doing doing the the uh goal setting in such way that it was going to be very superficial to the district. July 31st I attended the new beginnings uh meeting u meeting welcome to all the new teachers at Miguel Wares Middle School and I actually spoke to welcome all the new teachers to district. It was really an exciting event. you saw these these uh fresh faces coming in that are really excited about their new opportunity here in Walkaggan. On August 8th, I attended the school kickoff event at the Genese Theater. All staff came back for a new school year and I had a chance to welcome the staff back. August 8th, the same

008day, I attended by Zoom the large member district meeting. And this is a meeting of all of the um large member districts in the state of Illinois. And there were nine. I I don't know how many there are all together in the state, but there were nine that were in attendance. Just to give you an idea of who they were. I represented Walking District 60, um U46 Elgen, uh Township High School 214, which I think is Arlington Heights, Glenbard 87, Neapville 203, Rockford 308, Chicago, and Township High School school district 211 in Palletine. So we are represented. I have made it a a goal to attend all of the large member district meetings because I think it's important that we be represented and that we also share our um thoughts and concerns and have a

009chance to uh uh talk with some of the uh schoolboard presidents for some of the other districts. Let's see, August 19th, uh the board had a superintendent goal setting meeting. Uh so we began the process of actually meeting with the superintendent to set her goals for the new school year. And we are on target to do it all on time, which was my my goal, my plan, my promise that we were going to do this on time. And let's see, August 21st, I was at Abbott Middle School to welcome the visitors from Yasaki, Japan. And that was really, really a beautiful event to see all the uh the students that were there. There were a couple of of young ladies that were in traditional Japanese dress, but for the most part uh they just look

010just like our students. And and the interesting thing about it was that although we are oceans apart and and worlds apart, uh their kids are just like our kids. We're we're more alike than we are different. Um August 21st, I had a meeting with our legal council Ky Kathy Vanderbrock to begin her evaluation process. Um she has not had a formal evaluation in some time and we are working to get on track and to stay on track with that. We'll be meeting again and the board will be getting involved in this process. And our next board meeting we're hoping will be our uh for SE superintendent goal setting we're hoping it'll be September 4th. Uh we're just pulling the board to make sure that everybody's available. That's a week from Thursday I believe. So that

011is all I have. Um item 6B, student board member report. Uh Miss Allen. >> Okay. Uh hello. Hi. My name is Treasure and I have a reintroduction of myself. I'm in dance, which I just came from just like 15 minutes ago, and we're having a a football game that we're presenting at this Friday. So, you all should come. But yeah, and then my plans after school is to major in biology to become a doctor. And then I'm also in the future healthcare club, uh, which you guys should come to next Wednesday. And I have a job also that I try to like, you know, manage with school and also board meetings and everything. But so my plan uh is to have regular meetings with Mr. Hill and the admin team to try to find ways

012to better not only the walk uh the Washington campus but also the surrounding uh schools around us. And then my my plan is to also join the principal advisories to like get insight from uh uh also other students who go to school with me uh to better improve the school from a student's perspective. And then uh our bulldog pride zone that you guys can see in like the right corner. We're opening that up uh September 3rd so we can like allow students to like go to places well other places besides the lunchroom so they can just hang out or do homework. Yeah. Uh and my goals my goals is uh I really don't have any right now but through the work with Mr. Hill and the admin team and my fellow uh in the fellow

013students that in the principal advisory, I'll start to create goals that will continue to better uh all schools around the walking game public school. >> Thank you very much, [Music] >> Mr. Hakoba. >> Everyone. Hello everyone. U just a quick reintroduction. Uh, >> too powerful. >> Uh, my name is Frankie. Uh, quick reintroduction. I go to um Brookside campus and um, some of you may know me. I'm part of the Jerotc program. Really one of the best programs there is. Highly recommend it. Um for today I have a plan or an introduction to a plan. Um a school communication pro uh plan basically. Um so I would start by um having open channels for communication. Uh this is just suggestion boxes that allow students to submit anonymous feedback at any time. This um can be

014quick target surveys to gather feedback on specific issues and overall student satis satisfication. Uh the service will be sent monthly or after events, projects and promise follow-up action. Uh there I also have student advisory groups which are essenti with various discipline, backgrounds, next year levels to ensure a broad range of voices. This could be really important since I could better get to know um more schools and a better way so I can know what to improve or any other issues since a person in person discussion is a better way to have more students follow up with um other ideas. Thank you. >> Thank you. These are our leaders of tomorrow. We should be very proud of them. Okay. Item seven, special recognition and presentations, drill team update. All right. [Applause] All right. That's probably not

015our best look, but it it works. It works. Good evening, uh, ladies and gentlemen, members of the board, superintendent. Uh, yeah. I really want to thank you all uh very much for giving me a few minutes of your time. So, with that being said, if we could kick that video off real quick. Just wanted to start off a little video on our season this last year. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Is that it? No. Was that it? >> Okay. All right. All right. I guess it was cut short. Well, maybe that's good. I probably only got about three and a half minutes left. Uh, so yeah. All right. So, uh, no, I really just wanted to come before y'all tonight. Uh, obviously, thank you all for your unwavering support over the years. You

016know, I've been with the program now at JRTC and the drill team for eight years now, but obviously way before that when first time Cunningham was here, you know, you all have always stepped up to the plate and been there for us. So, I really just wanted to thank you all for that. um you know and just tell you a little bit about our season. You know this last year out of nine competitions the ninth one was all service nationals in Florida which you all uh bless us with. Uh yeah four out of those first eight you know we placed first between first and third overall had a lot of individual category success there. You saw some of the pictures with trophies there. Uh but the biggest takeaway from it all and your support is

017just u giving these kids the experience like that. you know, it's something that, you know, uh, they'll never forget, you know. I mean, I even one of my assistant coaches, Dan, Jasono, he was, uh, on the team back in 1819, and now he's one of my assistant coaches, you know. I mean, drill really is life for these kids. Uh, and you all have helped me provide some great experiences all around the Midwest, all the way to Daytona, Florida. So, I really want to thank you all for that. Um, now Nationals, you know, I want to get in because then, you know, this summer, right, at nationals, uh, they have three different divisions. They have like a beginner, advanced, and masters. Now, we're currently in the advanced, right? So, um we place eighth out of 40

018teams, you know, so we're we're ranked nationally eighth out of all the services, you know, between Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines. Um but with that being said, the top five move up to the next division, right? So, our goal is obviously to get that mast's level. Um, so with that in mind then, yeah, coming up to this summer when you all allowed us me to take 17 of of some of these upandcomers and young adults to Kurville, Texas at drill camp, uh, really proved to be invaluable. You know, it helped me even, you know, we're around, you know, and you all know, you know, if you want to really move up, you got to be around that mentality and that drive, and you got to be around those like-minded people. So at this camp they

019had national championship cadray, national judges were there. Uh so and and some of them obviously the the students knew from when we go to Daytona. So it really proved to be really invaluable for them and it was great experience just seeing that other side of those judges you know from a drill sergeant 6'2 looking down at a 5'1 female you know going off and what is your first general, you know, and all this kind of stuff, right? So it was kind of cool for them to see that other little human side to them. Uh, so yeah, I really want, you know, it was a great camp. Uh, you know, I learned some things as a coach, you know, that I need to tweak myself. Um, you know, and then the kids, you know, I mean,

020some of them are here tonight. Well, obviously you see all these young adults are on my team, right? And then I have some great parent support. Uh, I'm telling you, it's it's it's some of the best. And and I have some chaperons here with me uh as well. But I wanted to take a second uh and even let Anna, if it's all right, Anna Martinez, she's my unarmed commander. I want her to tell you maybe a little feedback on what she learned or what her takeaway from this camp was uh to her. Come on up, Anna. >> All right. >> Um hello, my name is Anna Martinez Martinez. Um I am this year's unarmed commander. Um, my experience with the Texas drill team camp was not only did they teach me how to march correctly

021and the regulations that one would do with drill team, but they also focused on all about our like mental health and the way us leaders have to focus more on the broad image than um like the smaller details. And it's very important for us to kind of focus on ourselves as well and learn about ourselves before we help and teach others. That way we teach them correctly what we want and what is expected of them. So that's what Texas drill camp kind of helped us and I know it helped a lot of my friends too. Um cuz once we left we just didn't want to leave. It's like you wanted to stay there a little longer. But that was my experience with um going to Texas. you get to learn a lot of new people.

022Um, the judges who judge at nationals and it's a very special moment for us to kind of meet broader people and kind of let our minds be opened out and instead of just kind of being local in a way um, which really helped us a lot. >> Hey, do I have another minute? I don't see a clock. How much time do I have? Uh, let me get one more. Dave McBride, come up here real quick. Hurry up. Hurry up. [Applause] Hello everyone. My name is Ada McBride and I was one of the 17 members that went to the drill camp. And one of my biggest takeaways from it was basically unity and that you can't do anything by yourself without your team. And I feel like that really showed me. So it helped me help

023the newer people coming on to teach them the same things and the same skills that we learned and to only like build a legacy with it. Take everything that we learned there and bring it down so that it's still there year after year even if we're not there. >> All right. [Applause] Yeah. You know, I did you allow me. It was a great experience overall. I mean, the kids just very first day they're like, "Sergeant Nasser, I I know what we've been doing wrong now. I can't wait." You know, I'm like, "Thanks." You know, made me feel like a failure, you know. All right. Cool. Uh, but no, I mean, seriously, great experience. Yes, ma'am. >> Go ahead. >> Um, can you introduce your um your chaperones if they're here? >> Yeah, I guess >>

024as well as maybe your parents. Yeah, let's highlight those parents. >> Uh parents, go ahead and please stand up. >> All right. >> Okay. You want names now, right? Okay. I'm going to let them introduce themselves then. I'll let them. All right. Start over there. >> Right. Yeah. [Applause] >> Yeah. There there's a few that couldn't make it tonight, but uh but as you can see, I mean u you know, it really has been a blessing, right? Sometimes they get a little choked up, but it's all good. But no, this team means a lot to me, though, right? So, uh yeah, it's really cool. Great experience. So, thank you all for that. All right. Yeah. And and >> don't record this. >> And these are these are your team. >> Yeah. Team, go ahead and

025stand up real quick. >> All right, guys. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, all right. Well, go ahead and sit down. The moment's over, kids. But no, it truly is a blessing being a part of this community these last eight years being able to coach this team. Uh and just all the kids I've had over the years, you know, I mean, hundreds uh each one of them special in their own way and it's really thanks to you all and your support. So, uh thank you very much again. Uh yeah, obviously if there's anything you ever need from us, we're always here and they willing to help out in any way. Uh but really, yeah, a great special group of young people and the parents. Yeah, I can't say enough. I couldn't do it without him. You

026know, chaperoning and taking time off from work. As you all know, it takes a lot to make this happen with all the traveling we do and feeding them. Yeah, it's crazy how much I swear it's like ridiculous. But all right. Um yeah, no, thank you all very much though for everything, especially that trip. Uh that's going to help cuz for us to move up to the master division top five teams, you know, make it to the next level. So, with us just missing it by those three spots, I I really, yeah, in my heart know that this is going to be our year, next year's support, and then we're going to make that next step, and we'll be back next summer then and let you know how it goes. >> Thank you, Sergeant NASA. Thank

027you very much. [Applause] All right, moving on. Item eight, approval of minutes. First one is the U approval of minutes. Post session minutes. >> Spotlight on. >> Where is it? >> B 7B. >> Oh, it didn't. Okay. It's not on my agenda. >> Yeah. >> Spotlight on 60 special. I'm sorry. >> There it is. [Music] Where are you? [Applause] Well, about 35 to 36 years ago. And in those days the Japanese government were always the pushing us to make some internationalization but focus onto the youth mainly not the commercial people not the adults but youth only. So we decided to uh be cooperative. We decided to cooperate with the the city of Wagan because the biggest the big company was from Wagan city. Miyazaki city located in the southernmost island. The climate is very mild

028and a little bit sticky and hot in summer but very very uh comfortable very comfortable in winter. [Music] I'm Ma. I'm from Miyazaki. I'm 14 years old. I'm in the I'm in the ninth grade. I like movie and dictionary. I like huji kazette music. Nice to meet you. [Music] They gave me some Japanese snacks. I think I'm pretty sure um these are some chocolates. This is a cookie. And I'm pretty sure this is like a gummy. This is um a Japanese bookmark. This is a This is called an origami. And then they signed this Japanese flag. Yeah. Like [Music] I learned um that I think their favorite subject is one of them is English, but also um that they like here in Chicago. [Music] >> Nice. [Music] Next item then is item eight, approval of

029minutes and we have close session minutes. We have the list of the minutes. Okay, we have minutes that I'd like to break down into two groups because there were some that were from meetings before the new board members were seated. So, can we do that? I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the minutes from the February 24th, 2020 meeting and April 26, 2022 meeting. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle, second by Miss Lensing. Any discussion on that motion? >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing. >> Oh, I have to ask. Mr. McBride, >> yes. Mr. Ramirez, >> pass. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> pass. I was not on the board during that time. Okay, those minutes

030pass. Uh, next, I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the minutes of the May 13, 2025, May 27th, 2025, June 10th, 2025, June 24th, 2025, and July 9th, 2025 close session minutes. And these were previously reviewed in close session. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Miss Hannah to approve. Second by Mr. Riddle. Any discussion on this motion? Corrections, changes. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian. >> I'm sorry. I was looking at the dates cuz I'm trying to figure out we weren't on >> The first two. I was not here February 2020 and we completed uh May 3rd >> of 202. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> Yeah. >> For the April 26th for the first two, February 24th and April 26, we weren't on the board. >> Hence my >> You were not

031on the board. Okay. >> Right. So for April 26th Well, so for the May. >> So who was? So, I believe Miss Fabiana is hoping to amend her vote on what we just did >> and then we can move to this one. So, do you want us to finish out? >> Let's go back and >> because we have a motion moving forward. >> We'll do that afterwards. Okay. We have an open motion to approve the minutes >> beginning 2025, right? Starting May 13th. We have a motion and a second. >> Yes. >> And can we have a roll call vote on that, please, >> Miss Fabian? Yes. >> Miss Hannah. >> Yes. >> Miss Lensing. Yes. >> Mr. McBride. Miss Ramirez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Um. >> Yes.

032Motion carries. Okay. Now, we wanted to >> reconsider. >> So, Miss Fabian needs to make a motion. >> I need a pass on the >> So, I had voted yes. I need to amend it to pass. >> Okay. So, do we need a motion to reconsider? >> Okay. >> So, >> the motion to reconsider. Second. >> Just take the second. She did the motion. >> I got a second. Miss Fabian. >> So, now we are voting if we are going to allow for the reconsider and then if we all agree then we will revote on the >> Yes, >> that is it. That's the order of things. >> Okay. Okay. So, we have a motion by Miss Savian, >> second by Miss Hannah >> to reconsider a vote >> the vote on the minutes for

033the February 24th, 2020 and April 26, 2022 uh meeting, close session meeting. >> Yes. >> Okay. Do we have any discussion on that motion? >> And any everybody can vote on that, >> right? Whether you were at those meetings or not, anybody can vote on that. Okay. Can we have a roll call vote, please? Just a vote to reconsider. Yes. >> Miss Fabian. >> Yes. >> Miss Hannah. Yes. >> Miss Lensing. Yes. >> Mr. McBride. Yes. >> M. Ramirez. Yes. >> Mr. Rto. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Now, we need a new motion. >> The new motion to for the February 24th, 2020 and April 26. >> I may. >> I'm making the motion that we recommend that the board approve close session minutes of February 24, 2020 and April

03426, 2020. >> Motion by Miss Fian. Second. >> Second by Miss Hannah. Any discussion on that motion? Okay. Uh, we're going to have >> only that. I apologized. >> Have a lot of people passing. Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> pass. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> pass. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Miss Ramirez, >> pass. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. There are three eyes. >> No, that was should have passed >> and four passes. Is that correct? It should have been a pass, too. >> You said yes. >> Did I vote? >> Trying to keep track of too many things all at once. Okay. Mine was a pass. >> Yes. >> Now you have >> I believe what the record

035is, Miss uh um three yes, four passed. >> Three yes, and four. >> The majority that voted voted yes. >> Oh, the motion passes. >> The motion passes. >> Motion passes. Okay. And um just uh a note for the record um you're seeing a couple of really old sets of minutes here. And just so that everybody understands, there's been a big push to catch up with all the minutes. And uh we are in a much better position than we were just a few months ago. >> We are catching up. So you will be seeing the minutes uh approved on a regular basis in a timely fashion. >> Okay. Is there anything else on approval of minutes? The open session >> open session. Okay. Approval of the minutes. That's item 8B. Approval of minutes for the

036regular open session meeting of July 22nd, 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Miss Lensing. She beat you out. >> Sorry. Second by Mr. Riddle. >> Any comments, corrections, or changes on those minutes? >> No. >> I have one thing under the um roll call. My name is misspelled. The Z is left out. So, if you could correct that, please, I'd appreciate it. Anything else? Any other comments? Corrections or changes? Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, yes. >> Mr. McBride, yes. >> Miss Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Item nine, up. Opportunity for public comment. Do we have a sign sheet? >> Last time. >> Thank you, Mr. White. >> Okay.

037When I call your name, please come up to the podium. Um, you'll be given three minutes. State your name, please. And um first name on the list is Paul Reynolds. >> Hello. How's everyone doing? >> Good evening. >> All right. Um uh on behalf of uh Miss Ramirez, uh she asked me to come speak on on this topic. So I want to make it very brief and I uh made some written statements so I stay on track. Uh, so apologize if I'm looking down and reading. Uh, my name is Paul Reynolds. I'm from North Chicago. Um, been here for the last 10 years and this is a topic I've been very recently very passionate about. Um, I'm here tonight to talk about an opportunity not not just to introduce a sport, uh, but to bring

038living history into our schools, a game that can shape the futures of our students. I'm here to talk about bringing lacrosse to Walkgan. um to the um the creators game. Lacrosse is North America's oldest sport, a gift from the indigenous peoples of this land. Once played on fields stretching miles with hundreds of players, it was a ceremonial game used to heal the sick and strengthen communities. The land we are on, the ancestral home of the Pawatami, is deeply connected to that tradition. By introducing lacrosse here, we not only honor that legacy, we build a program rooted in respect, history, and purpose. But lacrosse isn't just meaningful, it's impactful as well. It's the ultimate cross trainining sport. Football players improve vision and footwork. Basketball players sharpen offensive skills and pick and roll and spacings. Soccer players

039build endurance and uh defensive coordination. Lacrosse develops more agile, versatile athletes while reducing burnout and overuse of injuries from single sport specializations. Now, I want to address a common concern when it does come for lacrosse cost. Lacrosse is often seen as exclusive and expensive, something reserved for wealthy districts. But that doesn't have to be Walkagan's story. We can change that narrative. We can pursue grants through programs like the USA lacrosse's first stick program, which does provide free equipment for new teams. We can build partnerships with neighboring programs for equipment drives. We can introduce lacrosse into PE classes using soft stick versions, making the sport fun and accessible. We can host community events to raise awareness and build additional support. The Harlem Lacrosse program is an organization that brought the sport to urban schools with tremendous

040success for over a decade. Walkagan can be next. We can model a building. We can model a building a diverse and inclusive and comprehensive program from the ground up. In closing, bringing lacrosse to Walkagan isn't just about starting a team. It's about expanding horizons. It's about honoring heritage, developing better athletes, and creating new opportunities for students who might not yet have their found their place among other sports. Lacrosse is fast and exciting and full of heart. And the path to success is career. I'd like to give Walken students the chance to play, grow, and lead in the fastest game on two feet and build something lasting forever. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. [Applause] Kristen W. Good evening, Superintendent and Walking in Board of Education. My name is Kristen Wit and I'm

041here to express my deep concern regarding a recent decision to close a classroom at McCall. I am not only disappointed but I am outraged. How can 19 students 19 be considered not enough? On the other hand, how can you justify placing 26 students with one teacher and still expect quality learning to be had? Closing this room not only disrupts students education, but also displaces an outstanding teacher who has countless hours who has spent countless hours preparing over the summer. This decision disregards that hard work and dedication of the teacher. Let's also not forget the 10 children who will be displaced requiring special busing to other schools. And my own children, my own children have been dealing with this three different times, three different years of their education at Macall. It's unfair. It's exhausting. And it's

042out of control. The teacher who remains will now have to restart the process of acclimating her class in an overcrowded room because these rooms are so small while helping new students adjust to an unfamiliar teacher. I want to take a second and point out this beautiful, beautiful, expensive room that we are standing in right now. Beautiful room and very expensive. While our students are learning in buildings with visible mold, broken bathrooms, leaking ceilings, unreliable air conditioning, crumbling blacktop, and unsafe playgrounds. Yet resources continue to be poured into these buildings with Lake Michigan views, I might add. How can this be justified when 19 students is not enough? I ask you to reconsider this decision. >> Okay. and remind you 19 students, with different personalities, different needs, different learning styles is too not too few. It

043is enough. They deserve the same attention, respect, and opportunity as any other class in this district. And I want to leave you with this last question. When is the last time all of you were left in a room with 19 students? Thank you. Miss Genia Brisco. >> Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. >> Um, I've been watching a lot of videos and everything about what's been happening in the district. If we could take this energy and harness it, it would be awesome. I'm looking at, you know, everything that's happening with welcoming the students back. It is awesome and I appreciate it. I hope it lasts because for me and the students, it's just great. I just wanted to say that. Um, I watched the meeting for the budget and I want to say it was

044outstanding. That was very well put together. Thank you so much for your team putting that together. Also, I watched the meeting for the workshop for the board. I learned a lot from that and I truly hope that you guys learned a lot and will implement what that um instructor instructed you guys to do and clearly what the difference is between the superintendent's role and the board role. I think that was very clear. If you guys stick with that, I think our board meetings will even be better and they might even be shorter. On another note, um I always come up with over the years I've always asked for HR like what's happening with hiring African-American uh teachers in this district. It is definitely a need. I have friends throughout the educational system, not just here

045in Walkegan, but in other places too, also in Wisconsin. A friend of mine, a principal up there, she just hired four African-American teachers. Four. One of them was a male, right? and we always say that we can't find them. And the male said that he applied here in this district and didn't hear anything from anyone here. Now, you know, I always hear, okay, their teacher, African-American teachers, they're not out there. We can't get them. But how is it one school hired four and one was a male. So, we we need to do better. we need to do better in bringing African-American teachers into our district because that just showed me that it is there and and it's possible. Last thing before I sit down is that we need to get updates periodically on what's happening

046with BAM and WOW. We're starting a new year. We put a lot of money into BAM and WOW. I think it's important. I mean, supposedly what they offer for the district supports our students. So, we as a community, I'm sure you guys probably want to know it too. Let's get Bam and Wow on the agenda so we can find out what's happening with them and our students. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, M. >> Hi. Good evening. Uh Mr. board president, you mentioned uh during your report about the superintendent's goals and the evaluation starting for the legal council. Well, I think you kind of did some of that already tonight, the debacle over the minutes, and this isn't the first time. This has been going on for years. You've got people up here that pass that

047have been on this board more than two years. Please consider that when you evaluate these people because they're not doing their job right. It's an embarrassment. Uh the other thing I wanted to talk about was your new item uh new business item tonight for the sale of the welcome center. While I think that's probably a good idea, I question the timing on it where you just move those people out of there into this building. things are just kind of playing out here. The last thing we need to do is sell that building and then come back in six months or a year and say 214 Washington is tight and we need to move some people out. Now, the other thing when you do put it up for sale, I see that you're looking for a

048minimum bid of $900,000. this district, the taxpayers of Walkagan bought that building 18 years ago for almost $1.2 million. You took a building just like this one off the tax roles. So when you do sell it, I hope that you could sell it to somebody that will put it back on the tax roles and pay some money to this district. And I certainly hope that it could be more than $900,000. But I think what you need to do is look at all of your property throughout this district. Uh I brought up to this board a couple of years ago, 916 Washington Street back in 2012. It was a dilapidated building that was donated to the school district, and the school district spent $80,000 to tear down the building, build a parking lot, and it wasn't

049never used. I brought it to the board's attention and they put some signs up and then finally they just threw their hands up and they ended up leasing it to a business for about $100 a month. You're never going to recoup $80,000. And and the kicker is that those parking spaces are less than 150 ft away from an area that the board spent several hundred,000 at Washington campus to put parking in. So, somebody isn't looking at all of that. Then you go over on on Water Street. There's two lots there that this district has owned for over 30 years. There's signs up there that say uh it's on water and between water and um or water and Glenrock signs up there say that it's owned by the district. District maintains it has to do 30

050years. I I think you need an inventory of everything you have and look at it before you start selling stuff off. Thank you. Thank you, M. [Applause] >> Okay. 10 consent agenda academics. It's item 10. Yeah. >> Okay. The consent agenda. This is a um list of items that the board has already reviewed um and these are considered non-controversial. Board has already had a chance to discuss them and weigh in on them and so they are being presented as a um a total package and um for the board to vote on. Uh, and if anybody feels that there's anything that needs to be separated out uh for a separate vote and discussion, we can do that. But let me go through them and I'll I'll read what they are. Um, A, renewal of Everway, formerly

051known as Read and Write. B, National Science Teachers Association, NSTA, National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 12th through 15, 2025. C, Renewal of Power School, WPS 60.org website and school messenger tool. D renewal of infinite campus student information system. E renewal of file we filewave contract. F purchase of 600 Dell Chromebooks for onetoone student program. G renewal of incident IQ contract. H renewal of cyber security services. I spy glass technology expense management audits. J embrace IEP and embrace DS contract renewals. K. Fulcrim Educational Services Principal Development L Robbie Lightoot Professional Development Request M WPS60-Learning Plan 20252028 and renewal of teacher vacancy grant partnership with Bloomboard and O JOTC field trip request. Okay, Miss Fabian had her hand up first. >> I would like to separate O please. >> O. >> Which one? >> O. O.

052the last. >> Okay. Miss Hannah, >> I would like to separate K >> K which is Fulcrrim Educational Services Principal Development and anybody else? >> Yes, >> Miss Lensing. >> I would like to separate out L as well. >> Okay. Okay. And L. Okay. Then what I would like to do is to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda for academics with the exception let's see A through O with reception of K L and O. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle, second by Miss Lensing. Any discussion on that motion? Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Um

053item K, Fulcrrim Educational Services Principal Development. We need a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Miss Riddle to approve. >> Second by Miss Fabian. Any discussion on the motion, Miss Hannah? >> Yes. Um I'm a little bit disappointed um that we are going to expend the money for this um th this uh educational service particularly for principal development because we hired two area superintendants to develop principles. And I just have to say that it is kind of like a um like something that happens uh um a lot where we hire um the staff to perform these duties. But then when they are in place, then we end up spending more money to have the company come in to do the work that the uh area superintendent um are supposed to do.

054So with that, I cannot support this. >> Any other comments or questions on this, Miss Lensing? Um, so I I have similar thoughts to Miss Hannah. I think Miss Zamy's comment um during our um committee meeting helped tilt me toward one end whereas they would get some broader support and for 50,000 our principles are getting I believe it was 16 credit hours >> that >> each right each. So I I think that's a valuable investment and from what Miss Amy had said there's going to be more tailored development for those individuals after they're getting the broader piece. So my expectation by taking this responsibility off of your plate, you are then rep prioritizing your plate for our principles to give them very specific direction while also maintaining supports for our families because that's also within

055your purview as well. I'm willing to give this a go to see how it is, but I I do understand and share some of your sentiments that we hire individuals to do the development of our people and then they hire other people to do it. And it's kind of like we're paying we're paying double for um for people that we're already paying three figures to do the job that they're supposed to be doing. >> And so I just don't understand. >> I get that frustration. My driving of the the yes is that our principles are getting their certification credits. >> And also with that, I asked a question that was not answered at the committee meeting. What was what what did the principles ask for this? did the um what is it that the principles

056needed in order to bring this in? And I'm not convinced um that the principles are really um in favor of this, in support of this. I thought that one was answered that they were asking for more tailored supports which is what Miss Lensing was talking about of having to >> sorry um >> yeah I thought that this in the committee meeting that there was answered that the principles had asked specifically for this more tailored support and so to Miss Lensing's point our area superintendents would be giving that more tailored one-on-one support while this is more overall and then they would also be Our area superintendents would also be pushing this information and resources down to what I call our benchwarmers, right? So that if a principal moves up or leaves our district, we have somebody

057that's also received the same information that can move up and replace. >> I I still say that um that if this has not been collaborated with our principles, it should not be done. Miss Hannah, I can respect um your point of view on this. Um I do want to state that the area's superintendent are one of their main job is to grow the capacity of the leaders um within our building and so there's much training that goes into this. It's not about training should be tailored for each individual principal because as a board we had agreed that the principal role is a lever of change in our school-based buildings and as a result um I'll just one of them may be >> watching the principal. >> That's fine. I I would say this in front

058of them, Miss Hannah. No, I would get in front of my principles and say this right in front of them and they've heard me say this many times about that the principles are the lever of change in our building. I've said that a number of times. I wholeheartedly believe it. It was the philosophy that I walked in with and it is part of the strategy and some autonomy that we have given our principles. However, the area superintendent when they're hired, they're the experts in that role to develop leadership and many other practices around instructional strategies, looking at data, strategy, etc. >> Do you want to add any more into this? And my end point with this is that when we make decisions like this, it's not a vote on who agrees with this or not.

059It is a strategy on how we are developing our principles, building their capacity and setting them up for success and supporting them in the role as a principal. And this is why I and I do want to apologize to our community. I was sick at our previous student achievement meeting and I was not here. Dr. Cesario was here. I did go back and review um the video and was watching it at the same time as it was going on. Do you want to state answer any of the questions that Miss Hannah brought up or Dr. Cesario, did you want to state anything or do you want to turn it over to the area superintendent? >> All right. Thank you. I'm Lori Zami, uh, area one superintendent. Uh, and I think, uh, Miss Hannah, your question

060is a is a real one, especially as we are faced with budget concerns as a school district. um in terms of how principles were engaged were they explicitly asked about fulcrum as a partner? No. But what principles were engaged in and I started July 1st, but last year Dr. Manown and Dr. Andrews would survey school leaders regularly on what they felt very strong with, what they felt they needed to be continuing to work on. We know that the development of instructional leadership teams is an area of focus for us and building principles as instructional leaders is an area of focus for us. When I came in, I had shared at the last meeting that I met with all of the prek through fifth grade school leaders and the common theme in all of those conversations

061is that principles want to continue to grow as instructional leaders. Since COVID, education has really changed and school leaders have said we need to get back to looking at data the way that we used to look at data. And they they've been sharing what they would like. And this is where we are trying to partner with an outside agency to help us really think through what does this look like for our school leaders with best practices in education that are constantly evolving and to then also differentiate that need for school leaders. >> Thank you Dr. Amy. >> Thank you. Any other discussion on this motion? Can we have a roll call vote, please? Miss Fabian, yes. Miss Hannah, >> no. >> Miss Lensing, >> for the reasons I stated, yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes.

062>> Miss Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Item L, Robbie Lightoot, professional development request. >> Yes, please. >> Okay. It is a recommendation of the administration that the board of education authorize the superintendent her designate to approve the Robbie LIFO professional development request to NYAK NEYC conference in the amount of $6,168. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve. >> Second by Miss Ramirez. Discussion on that motioning. >> Sure. So, I'm going to make a comment because I asked this to be separated out, but again, it aligns with supporting our community and making sure that we are building trust and sending individuals into an area where they're not kind to education is against what I believe a good board member would do.

063So, I will be voting no on this, not because I don't think they need or deserve the development, but because of um the climate in which they're walking into. M Fabian. >> And then I just want to add because this is something that we constantly say is bringing these um requests ahead of time so that if there are any issues, there's time to go back and fix. So I just want to commend this group. We're actually bringing it into August and they're not um leaving until November. So again, if we can continue that pattern at the start of this new year. >> Thank you. Roll call vote, please. Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> no. >> Mr. McBride, >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, yes. >>

064President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Item O, JOTC field trip request. >> It is the recommendation of the administration that the board of education approve the JOTC field trip request to Mansville, Texas from October 2nd through the 6th, 2025 in the amount of $18,000. >> So moved. Motion by Miss Hannah. >> Second by Mr. Riddle. Discussion on the motion. Miss Fabian. >> So, I called this out um because I expressed my concerns last committee meeting and in an email. Um and while I agree we should not live in fear, we should live in caution because chance favors the what is it prepared in mind. Um and I did read the for the forms and the documents that were included. I still felt like they lacklustered. Um, it said, you know, these are some reminders

065to students and chaperones will be briefed. I think we need to have a clear protocol because we are in unprecedented time. We're in a time where politicians in that particular state >> fled. We're in a time where national guards being weaponized. We're in a time where we see ICE on Walkegan streets regularly. So, this is not a um, and I don't mean to get like on a political trip or a political soapbox. I'm just cautioning the reality of the times that we're living in which weren't as prominent as of concerns before. Um, and so I just want to see something more robust in forms of protocols where chaperones are properly trained on step-by-step procedures should A, B, and C happen, right? Should I stop the bus? should I show up um you know at a

066competition or and not just ICE police any a student be detained any of that they should be properly trained and prepared and we should have um a plan what admin back home is going to be on call and available to answer calls and offer guidance um and having a plan of who to contact right if if parents can't be contacted so I just think we need to have a little bit more robust of a protocol and plan and training for our chaperones. Um, and the other thing that I want to note and it it's the way we put out our messaging and and it's messaged here as well as the know your rights is for immigrants only or this is super important just for immigrants. The know your rights are rights for everyone. So everyone,

067not just immigrants, documented or undocumented, should know their rights. They are everybody's rights. What do you do if you get stopped by a police officer or a police officer comes knocking at your door? That's citizenship rights and non-citizenship rights. So our messaging in our district, the way we're pushing this out, um, is really saying, you know, just you guys, but really it's for all of our families. Um, and it's not in here, but it should be. But having that family plan as well, if families are separated, that plan is for any if you have children, you should have that plan. Period. In point, Blake, because whether you're deported, whether you get in a car accident, whether you have an illness that you can no longer take care of your children and you can't make decisions

068on their behalf, that plan should be in place. So, two things. one, I think I I understand it was very well-intentioned and um Nasser, you know me, I'm always on board for everything that you do. I'm your number one cheerleader and I never want to take opportunities from kids and I don't intend to. I just would really like to see something more robust as far as the protocol and training. Um and then number two is us as a district when we're messaging these things out about know your rights, they're for everyone. not just, you know, the undocumented or immigrants. So, um, we also don't want people to feel like they're outing outing themselves by attending. And all of us should know what our rights are because the reality is my forehead doesn't say citizen or

069not citizen, right? So, all of us, any one of us can be detained for any reason. So, I just want to be clear with those two points. Miss Lindsing. >> Um, Miss Fabian, I appreciate all of your comments around this. I I agree. I don't want to take opportunities from you guys. If anything, our kids deserve the most, but my philosophy is always safety first. That goes for my kids. That goes to our district. So that is primarily why I can't say yes to this, why I have to say no. Not because you don't deserve it, not because you haven't earned it, not because you're not qualified. You guys are all of those things. And unfortunately, to Miss Fabian's point, the adults are not behaving in a way to allow all of our kids opportunities.

070And if I'm leading safety first, I have to say no, unfortunately. Any other comments? >> Call a question. >> Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> pass. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> no. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. [Applause] Item 11, consent agenda for operations. We have four items on this agenda. Once again, these are items that have been presented to the board and discussed um by the board with the board already and they are considered non-controversial and they're be for the sake of time being presented as one simple uh motion. We uh what they are is a approval of USI insurance services insurance broker of record proposal. B approval of facility rental

071waiver request for huntos for the the Viva Independencia parade 2025. C approval of Boys and Girls Club of Lake County food program proposal. D approval of property casualty insurance consulting renewal prorated proposal west insurance. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve. >> Second by Miss Favian. Any discussion on the motion? >> Yes, sir. Mr. President, um >> Yes, Miss Anna. >> I um I had a question um that I had um talked with Mr. Motton about in terms of the um the uh request for the uh Huntos parade and um I was supposed to get the information um hopefully he has it tonight um about the um uh with the this um organization asking asking for um for the a waiver. And if they're um if they were charging the um

072the uh in uh entry fee for the um the floats, the floats or the people being in the parade and I was waiting for um that information before I vote. Not >> from the students. No, not >> the participants in the >> the participants that um if there's a entrance fee >> you register then you pay >> well >> if there's a entrance fee I'm kind of um uh not in support of waving the fee. >> Sure. So good evenings members of the board, staff, community, superintendent. Um, I did uh follow up on your question, Miss Hannah, with Mr. Alazakus to share some information with the board via email. So, I apologize if you didn't receive it last week. They are charging an entry fee for those individuals who are participating in the parade, but

073they are not charging to utilize the lot, and they're encouraging our students to volunteer and participate um in the parade. So, that was the feedback. They are charging for individuals to be in the parade but not charging for use of the three lots that they need for staging. >> I believe the email went out on Friday just for clarification and I just seen Mr. Ellakis look at me and say Friday. So it did go out on Friday just for if anybody wanted to refer back. I also want to ask I also we've um approved waiverss like this in the past with them using our lots. Um were there fees charged previously to join the >> Yeah. >> Yes. This is a similar situation to what we had last year with the Huntos organization utilizing these

074three lots. Um, same requirement for charging individuals to physically participate in the parade. >> So, I just want to add that those participation fees go to pay the city. The city does charge to have the roads shut down and to have police monitoring. Um, and so while they are charging fees, they go to the city and anything left over, if you remember, they were here last month giving away scholarships to our students. So any money that's left over after they pay the city comes back to our kids anyway. Um, >> and it's been a standard practice that we we give these parking lots. I feel comfortable waving the fees um because otherwise they have to continuously increase the fees on our on people participating in the event and again they don't charge us as a

075school district or our students to participate. Um so they they do give us leeway on that as well and so I wouldn't want to see these to go up even more. >> Any other comments? >> Thank you. Question. >> Okay. Um, we have a motion and a second. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> I pass. >> Miss Lensing? >> Yes. >> Mr. McBride. >> Miss Ramirez? >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle? >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez? >> Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Item 12, purchases and contracts, approval of renewal of student accident and athletic athletic catastrophic accident insurance. It is the recommendation that the board of education approve the AIG renewal proposal for student accident and athletic catastrophic accident insurance as repo as required under Illinois school code 105

076ILCS5 um/22-15 and authorize the superintendent to execute and accept the renewal contract at a cost not to exceed $3,876. Motion to approve. Second. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle. Approved. Second by Miss Hannah. Any discussion on the motion? >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Rto, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. Item 13, personnel items. Item 13A is appeal of uniform grievance complaint case number 24/25-22 under board policy 2111. It is the recommendation that the board of education deny the appeal in case number 24/25-22 and affirm the decision of the superintendent under the district's uniform grievance policy 2111. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion approved by Mr. Riddle.

077>> Second by Miss Favian. Any discussion on this motion? >> Yeah, Miss >> Hannah. Yes. Um I I I can't support this um Mr. president because there has never been a um a a complaint claim that had been has been filed by an employee that has ever been founded it for the employee and that that's a little bit unheard of. So I I can't >> any further discussion. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. Miss Hannah, >> no. >> Miss Lensing, >> no. >> Mr. McBride, >> no. >> Mr. Maris, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. >> Okay, we have three. >> One minute, please. This involves the appeal file. Oops. >> Uh, Dr. Kevin Brown. [Music] >> Okay, we have three yeses, one no, >>

078two nos, >> and two passes. >> Two passes or one pass? One pass. >> That was a yes. >> You were yes. >> Yes. No. No. Pass. Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> So, it's four. Yes. >> Okay. Four. Yes. The motion carries. Okay. Okay. Item 13B, personnel 82625. >> It is the recommendation that the board of education accept the administration's recommendation to approve the appointments, retirement, retirement extensions, and accept the resignations and terminations as found on schedules F1002, L949, T317, and G660. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve. >> Second by Miss Fabian. Any discussion on the motion? I hate to see the um that we're losing um some uh operations um >> individuals. They've um they've showed their dedication over the years and I know that because I've been one

079of their number one supporters um in operations, custodians um area and we're losing a lot of experience um with the uh retirement of these two gentlemen. So, good luck in their retirement. Okay. Any other discussion? >> Um, I would just like to comment that I was really excited to see two nurses being um hired on. I think having a dedicated nurse to each school is very important. It's a very important role. We're trusting these individuals with our kids and accidents happen. You cannot plan for them. Um, and in some situations they're dealing with students with seizures or asthma attacks, a variety of things. Um, so I was really excited to see that we've hired two more. Um, and I did make the request to see where we are with our nursing staff level um to

080see if we're able or if we're at that one dedicated nurse or split across two per building. >> Thank you. You know, uh, before I go any further, I'm just looking at all these young faces out here, and I know you probably all have school work, have homework, and it's late. >> Do you want to go? >> And you don't need to sit here for the whole meeting. Okay. I know you're being polite, and you don't want to walk. >> So cute. They're just smiling >> unless it's interesting to you for government. >> Okay. All right. Superintendent has asked if you just wait for one more item. Okay. >> Oh, yeah. Cuz I was going to ask a few more. Okay, cool. All right. Where do we stand on personnel? Call the question. Call the

081question. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, yes. Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, yes. >> Mr. McBride, yes. >> Miss Ramirez, yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. >> Okay. 13C. Attendance at the 2025 LS annual summit in Chicago. It is the recommendation that the board of education approves the attendance of superintendent placencia at the association of Latino administrators and superintendent at the 2025 ALOS conference on October 14th through the 17th in Chicago at the estimated cost of 2000. Costs include lodging, travel, registration fees and pdium. I also want to state that our JOTC for walking public schools will be opening up the conference not opening up posting posting colors on October 15th at the conference. So congratulations Darl for being highlighted. [Applause] >> Oh my congratulations.

082That's quite an honor for walk. >> Great. >> Wonderful. >> And motion to approve. >> Motion approved by Mr. Second by Miss Lensing. Any discussion on the motion? >> Roll call. Yes, Miss H. >> No, I can say I attended the Alas uh conference. It was very um very informative >> um when uh when I attended and um I learned a lot um and so that that it's in Chicago and um with the superintendent uh being the representative for Walkaggan and then to add the glory our Gerald from DC color guard. >> The color guard will be there. So, >> right. >> Yes. >> And our superintendent is one of the first Latino superintendents and we hope there are many more after her. [Applause] >> Okay. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes.

083>> Miss Hannah, >> yes. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, yes. >> Miss Ramirez, yes. >> Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Now you can go home. >> All right. >> Thank you guys for being here. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So do your homework. >> We're proud of you guys. >> We're not trying to get rid of you, but we realize they have >> Thank you, Sergeant. >> Yes. We want to make sure their scores stay high. >> Start off well. >> Thank you, parents. >> No, I get it. >> Yes. There you go. And thank you all for being here. Good night. >> Thank you very much students >> and parents. >> Good luck everyone >> for your support. >> Okay. Item 14, grants

084and donations. I see none. 15 other. I see nothing there. Financial reports. 16A. Ratification of the second processing of August 2025 board bills. manual check request payments and Old National Bank insurance payments for the period August 6, 2025 through August 19th, 2025. >> It is the recommendation of the administration that the board of education ratify the 2nd August 2025 of board bills, manual check request payments and old national bank insurance payments for the period of August 6, 2025 through August 19th, 2025. The accounts payable board payments for the period of August 6, 2025 through August 19th, 2025 total 1,285,67825. The manual check request payments for the period of August 6, 2025 through August 19th, 2025 totals 3,45,26354. The old national bank insurance payments for the period of August 6, 2025 through August 19th, 2025 totals

085914,89483. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve. >> Second by Miss Savian. Any discussion on this motion, Miss Lensing? >> I do. Um, so Miss Pope can while I usually pass on these, I just want to take this moment because this is a very regimented process that your department goes through and I know there's a lot of concern across many communities, especially Round Lake with their board meeting last night and the concerns of their budget. And then even districts like Evston, which is a more affluent district where they're having $26,000 per student, and they're experiencing financial concerns. Can you just use this moment to recap one more time that we're in good standing? I apologize, but I just considering the the timing of everything. Mhm. >> Um board president, board members,

086superintendent, community, and colleagues. Um I expected a question tonight. Um so we looked uh at our existing funds that are in the bank uh and it's about $109 million. Okay. Uh, does that mean that we should not be diligent in looking at what our expenditures are? No, certainly not. Does it mean that the budget that we're proposing to the board of education doesn't need to be revised? No. It is uh we're receiving information on a daily basis where we have to make modifications and adjustments based on the realities of revenues that we're receiving. We're monitoring that and we're certainly going to present uh either the existing budget or a revised version of the budget based on more information that we're receiving while the budget is on display for these 30 days. Okay. Having said all

087of that, I had to say that um the superintendent uh the deputies as well as myself were meeting um weekly to go through strategies and to identify where we are financially uh each week. As we've said historically, we expected that we were going to, as with other school districts, like you said, reach this COVID cliff. Mhm. >> And we're here uh we're uh just like Round Lake, I would say, in the sense that uh we're monitoring. We're looking at where we could uh streamline processes. But am I saying that um we're destitute? We're not fiscally sound. No, that's not what I'm saying. But as we presented to you at uh the last financial um presentation, we said that we're looking at what our revenue projections are for this current year and we did not have

088to do a deficit reduction plan based upon the information that we presented. Again, I have to put a pin. It was based upon the information that we had at the time, but we're going to pivot. I know you remember us saying that in the event that we have to pivot, we're poised to do that. Also, we also said that moving into the next fiscal year, we know that we have to make some some changes, some modifications, and the superintendent spoke to that the last time we gave the financial update, and I think that she told you told the board, I think superintendent Pencia, that we would give quarterly updates to the board. So, I I personally feel like we're taking proactive uh steps to make sure that we remain uh solvent. And am I going

089to stand here and tell the board, the superintendent, the community, colleagues that if we don't make changes that we're not going to be in trouble. But as I stand here today, I do not believe that we're in um a fiscal crisis. I think that's the best way to answer your question. >> Yeah, and I I do appreciate that. Right. To your point and to Miss Hannah's point, we do need to be mindful of our funds and what we're spending. So, when we're looking at these reports, to an extent like the money's already been spent, so we need to pay the bills, but on the other side, we need to look to where we can still meet the needs of our students and our staff and the district while also being conservative. Right. And I I

090appreciate you've always been proactive. You've been constantly talking about the cliff that was coming even before the federal concerns with funding. It's it's been very clear, very detailed. And to hear continuously that our goal is to ensure we don't have I have to look up the terminology again. The deficit reduction plan is like one of our goals. I think is is critical and it's good for the community to continually hear that because I think concerns are just going to keep rising and if we don't talk about it then it's just the rumor mill takes over. So I appreciate taking the moment to to talk about it. >> Another another um approach that we will be taking differently though we've had one previously is to also be holding um in a sense um I'm going to

091call them town hall meetings. We haven't really given them a name yet of where is our fiscal status, you know, what's going on nationally, what's going on in the state, but really focused on what's going on in Walk Keegan so that our um stakeholders understand what exactly is going on, what are the priorities and keeping them a breast of any changes or things that may be moving as we go through the year, >> right? And also our financial standing with that, right? Like cuz aren't we at we're at an A+ and we're only spending a or we're only borrowing a minimal of our allowable. Yeah. >> So we're poised to kind of weather whatever storm and we'll pivot to your point as it comes up. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss

092P. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, yes. >> Miss Hannah, >> pass. >> Miss Lensing, pass. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Mr. Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle. >> Yes. >> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Item 17, reports and presentations. Do we have any committee reports? >> We haven't started. >> Haven't started yet. Okay. Delegate reports. I don't think we have a delegate report, but I just want to report that we I believe we have submitted Miss Hannah's name or you're in the process of doing that >> and it was confirmed today. >> It was confirmed today as our delegate for the fall conference. Triple triplet conference. Yes, Miss >> Can I just go back to a the committee reports if we could just again reiterate of having a full calendar for

093the full school year so that we can be available being asked a week before to come during your workday is not feasible for some of us. >> I think that's an excellent idea. >> Thank you. >> Can we have a full calendar, please? >> Thank you. >> I do know that Mr. Elijah is working on that and I know that he previously had a meeting. He wants to say something if you don't mind. you don't want to be on >> the the night is still young. So, uh, good evening. So, good timing on the question about committee. So, yesterday we had our annual start of the year meeting with all of our committee chairs where we went over some best practices and expectations for the year and we laid out some uh dates over the

094next several weeks that we're asking them to hit. Uh for the board, what you're going to see is that's most relevant is that by September 19th, we're asking them that every meeting for the year be set for your specific committee where possible. We know sometimes things come up and you know meetings come up and we ask them to include um virtual options to every meeting as well if the meeting is in person and to also kind of uh differ the time in which they're meeting. So, um, you know, sometimes you get into the habit of like, hey, 4:30 on a Thursday, and they do it over and over and over. We'll try to mix that up a little bit to be able to accommodate different schedules. And so, on the by the 19th of September,

095you should see all of that. By the 12th of September, we've asked them all to identify their committee members. And then there's some other internal deadlines and timelines that we have for them. But so, so hopefully by the time the board meets next time, you should have that full calendar. If you don't, you can reach out to myself, you can reach out to Mr. Motton and we'll address that with the individual committee chairs for any one of our committees. >> Thank you, Mr. Al. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Item 17C, superintendent report. >> Yes. At this time, I'm going to ask Miss Patty to come up and we're just going to give you a recap of the opening of school year. >> Miss Maloo, >> I'm sorry. It's okay. It's a I apologize. Thank you,

096Miss Lindsay. Uh typically Mr. Christensen would be here presenting at the opening of school. We we uh Mr. Christensen does a phenomenal job leading our welcome center and our student registration services. Um so I am honored to be here um in in his place um and to celebrate some of the information that typically that he presents. Um so this is a a quick snapshot of our opening of school year 2526. And again just want to echo uh Miss Prisco's sentiments of um some of the great things that we've been seeing happening within our schools and our community. And so you'll see some pictures of our students and our community throughout the presentation. Some of the topics we'll cover tonight are some highlights just from the opening of school. Um looking at our enrollment comparisons from

097the past uh last school year to this school year. Uh our attendance comparison from last school year to this school year and just some brief next steps that we'll be covering in the immediate future. Um just some quick highlights. Um there's been a lot of great events going on. Thank you to Mr. Alzakis and all of the school leaders who have been able to prepare that um spreadsheet with all the different events that are happening across the month, across the locations and helps organize um all these different things that we have. And so so far we've already had 33 events for meet and greets and open houses and carnivals and ways to engage our community and our families at the beginning of the year. Uh we are jumping right into looking at um our quality

098of our curriculum implementation with our tier one site visits. Um, hats off to our human resources team with 91% of our positions filled. Hats off to our wraparound team. We've already u been able to have 142 uh referrals and services. Uh this past summer, since um the end of May, early June, we've onboarded and hired 131 new staff. Um and just since uh July when we had our uh evening uh registration events, uh the welcome center staff um have been able to register 2,613 students. So, just wanted to show some WPS60 by the numbers, all the good work that's been occurring across departments this past summer. Um, so this is a snapshot. The first slide is going to be our elementary schools and the same format follows on the next slide for our middle school

099and high school. Uh, this is our enrollment. You can see the first 10 days. So, this is the same uh side-by-side comparison um by school, what their enrollment was the first uh 10 days last school year compared to the first 10 days of school, this current school year. We are still receiving students as parents uh do come in on a daily basis to make appointments with our welcome center to register their students. Um you can see some schools have had um a decrease and you can see some schools are level. Can I just give a quick shout out to um Roz and her team because I know um one of our goals was to increase the enrollment in prek and we could see that it has increased from last year to two last year to

100this year and there's been a lot of intentional work around that and I hope that those numbers continue to increase >> and we still have spots families. So, if anybody's interested in preschool, please reach out to us. >> Again, same format. This is all of our five middle schools as well as our three high school campuses broken down across both years. And then on the right hand side, you can see the total enrollment figure. Um, again, this is from the first 10 days. Those numbers do fluctuate as students um register into the district throughout um the end of August and sometimes into early September. um similar formatting. This compares our attendance rates. I really would like to shout out our schools. Um you can see the attendant average daily attendance for the first 10 days

101across last school year comparing to this. And in many many instances, we're seeing some um some positive um gains. Um especially when you get to the next level, we get get to our middle schools. Um really really proud of the work that our school leaders are doing to ensure that kids are coming to school on a regular basis. um if I believe if I'm not mistaken, every one of our middle schools um is either level or has increased. So wanted to shout out to and our high school has increased across all grade levels. So >> excellent work at our secondary schools. Overall, we have increased our average daily attendance by um just about half a percent. Um even though it sounds small, it is really really hard to increase average daily attendance. And so um

102every every half percent is a lot of work going into that. So thank you to our school leaders. and to our families for helping get kids to school. Some of our next steps just continue to support registration and enrollments, continue to make sure students transportation needs are being met, um make sure that we are uh promoting active family engagement through timely and relevant topics and sessions, and continue to onboard new staff when we have vacancies and continue to hire. We're really happy to um again say thank you to all of our staff, students, and families um to make the first two weeks of school a success. So again, happy new school year and thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, add something to that, please. >> Um there's still 9% that we're looking to hire

103is what I'm seeing, which is still phenomenal, 91%. Um, but just for parents that are out there that are continuously volunteering and continuously in our schools, we don't just hire teachers. There are a lot of roles and positions that are open. So, if you're actively in our schools or looking for um a career change, please look on our website because there are roles beyond teaching that you may be a great fit for. >> Thank you, Miss Lindsay. Um, I also want to echo Miss Brisco's sentiments of like we need to keep this going. Um, I think a lot of not I think I know I know a lot of the schools had a leading up to the start of school event where students could come in and meet their teachers, drop off their school supplies.

104There's some um happening this week for parents to do a meet and greet with the teachers as well. I just want to reiterate that every interaction matters. So, we've personally experienced, you know, a great start to our school year, but as a board member, I received a call where a family didn't. They brought their first grader into a classroom, the teacher didn't acknowledge them, the teacher didn't say hi, didn't get down to greet the kid. That thing didn't happen, right? Um, and so I encourage them to go through the process to contact the principal in the area suit, right? That's the chain of command, which our parents need to know. But I just want to reiterate that every interaction matters and these kids are building their um love of school with the teachers that they

105interact with, with the custodians that they interact with. Man, Little Fort, one of their custodians, those kids love him. Love him. And so do the parents, right? it it takes a community or the the whole school environment to to re-engage these kids. And I'm not saying this because um it's unrealistic. I understand there are times where like we need to pour into our own cup and I'm just asking everyone to love on our kids and if your cup is not full, you need to take a moment, fill your cup back up so you can keep pouring into our students because they deserve the very best experience. Um, and it's just really sad that I'm hearing of of a negative, but overall it has been great. So, I do want to see that momentum continue. And

106if our staff needs help pouring into their cup, right, we have a wraparound center that also services staff. There's a the EAP program, which I only learned is three sessions, so hopefully our brokers can get more for our staff. Um but really looking at a holistic approach but overall a success. >> Thank you Miss Lensing. Miss Fabian >> um just because Miss Lensing reminded me um that comes to to two points of when to contact your board and when to contact your school. We do get a lot of um emails that are really we're not there for the day-to-day operations. Um so we can't help you as quickly as going directly to the school. So, um, thank you for redirecting the the families and I try to do so as well. But I think overall

107patience, um, not just from our staff, but also from our parents when we're looking at 2,600 additional kids registered in the summer, that tells you that the transportation plannings are going to change. So, I know we had a lot of um emails with concerns about transportation not being on time or they they're not receiving um the same stop as before, etc. I just ask that everybody have a little bit of grace and patience, it does take time. Um and then when you're seeing like there's a one kid, one new kid on that route is going to displace that whole route. Or, you know, if you're looking at preschoolers and it's their first year of school, it's going to take them longer to get on that bus for the first week. So, your bus might be

108late. Um, so again, I just ask for everybody just to take a little bit of patience on both sides. Um, so that we continue, like Miss Lensing said, to have a great year. >> Thank you, Miss Favian. Anybody else? >> Okay, the Thank you very much. Item 18, information items. We have items on fire reports. Miss Vanderbrook, >> uh, can you open the report, please? >> So, this is the annual summary of, uh, the FOYA work that was received for last school year. Uh, Miss Hernandez is our FOYA officer and pulled the report together. However, she's also a new mom, so she's home with her baby. And I'm going to, um, just run through the report for you. Um, so, uh, the first slide is going to give you that we worked through 103 total

109requests. She did break them down for you so you get the types of individuals who are making requests and where they come in. We see our largest number coming from community members. Um, very unusual where you see the one for law firms. This was a year when we had a particular law firm that was using the FOYA process. from my perspective to do some uh discovery before they decide whether they're going to file litigation or not and they did it in a way that was um very cumbersome uh for us to manage. So that is an unusual thing that stands out this year. Uh the rest of the numbers are not uh terribly uncommon. Next slide. When we break that down, you see the number of requests regr granted, granted in part and denied in

110part denials and what was still open as of the end of the year. Those that were open at the end of the year are ones that came in like the last week of June and their due date hadn't arrived yet or we had an extension and that time frame had not arrived yet. We're going to count those for you statistically next year. Um, just one more thing on that slide. When we grant in part and deny in part, just so you're aware, those denials are based on exceptions that are allowed under FOYA. It's not just because we don't feel like giving out the information. We have to meet very particular exceptions. We have to identify for the requesttor what the exception is and tell them of their appeal rights as well. When we break down

111um overall where did our uh top requesters come from uh you see the breakdown there. What the top requesttor was a community member the same person the law firm that I talked about previously. Um the research organization it was a particular organization that asked us for information nine different times. Different information but nine requests. And then the fourth one was another community member. Uh once you got under seven requests, we either had a lot of people at the same number, two or three, or maybe only one. And she didn't break that out for you. The types of requests. This is just a summary. She's let you know the types of things within each broader category that are being asked for. Um I'm not going to read all those for you. The uh item is posted

112for anybody who wants to study this more specifically. Next types of records. This is just a continuation. And then this year we looked at response timing. We haven't reported out on response timing in the past. I did break this down into two different segments because as you will see there is a difference in response timing when our FOYA officer was here and when she wasn't. And in the interim period she was on an approved leave. We also lost a lot of other uh all staff in the legal office which manages this except me. So I was doing all things legal. I did get behind on this uh and some other work trying to manage this. But I also want to point out we got 45% of the foyer requests in these three months as well.

113So it was the combination of the staffing challenges. We did reach out for temporary that person fell through and we didn't get it filled. So, we did the best we could in getting them done, but all of the responses were indeed replied to. We do have the time frame for uh what the delays were. We've also given you our improvement goal and we do believe we will be able to meet that goal of 90% at least 90% on time when we look at it overall this year with a delay of no more than 10. And then there was one pack opinion that went forward. uh it was a question of whether we complied with closed session exceptions and the different questions were embedded within that and the findings were mixed. There was no corrective action

114that was issued with that particular opinion. That's it. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. Bold business a board policy 50007 accelerated learner second reading and board policy 50008 remote education program technical update. It is recommended that the board of education approve the amendments to board policy 50007 accelerated learner as presented for the second reading and authorize the technical amendment to board policy remote education program to add a cross reference to policy 50007 without the need for a first and second reading. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle to approve. >> Second. Second by Miss Fabian. Any discussion on that motion? >> Roll call vote. >> Miss Fabian. >> Yes. >> Miss Hannah. >> Miss Lensing. >> Yes. >> Mr. McBride. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ramirez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Riddle. >> Yes.

115>> President Rodriguez. >> Yes. Motion carries. Item 20, new business, consideration and approval of sale of real property located at 742 Greenwood Avenue, formerly Walcon Center. It is the recommendation that the board of education find that the welcome center at 742 West Greenwood Avenue is no longer needed for the district purposes and approve the resolution for sale of the property by sil bid for a minimum of $900,000. At this time, I'd like to ask Mr. Molton to come up. He is going to make a slight pres a small presentation and then open it up for questions from the board and discussion. Thank you, Superintendent. Good evening again. We've provided a brief presentation for you to support the agenda item that's in front of you, which is the approval of a resolution authorizing the sale of

116real property as well as terms and conditions of that. Next slide, please. So, some general property information. The address is located at 742 Greenwood Avenue. As Mr. Vukovich mentioned earlier in 2007, the district did acquire the property for approximately $1.2 million. It is just shy of 12,000 square ft and it currently provides support for our welcome center operations which I'll get into on the next slide. Next slide, please. So, these are the current welcome center operations. Um, and and we we do have adequate space to house these services here as well as other locations throughout the district. So these have relocated student registration services which Miss Patty referenced earlier, diverse learner student evaluations, bilingual student evaluations, preK screenings and evaluations as well as Mckin Vento liaison support. So we do want to be transparent with

117this presentation because in 2023 we came to the board with a transitions plan and part of that transitions plan was the welcome center being a professional learning center for the district. So the information on this slide identifies the original proposed use which we brought to the board two years ago. Vacated offices to be utilized as classroom and collaborative spaces as well as providing the building for staff training, parent workshops and community meetings. Relocating some potential staff members to this location, particularly the coordinator of professional development, and utilizing the gym space over there for a multi-purpose room. Now that we've moved a lot of the essential functions out of the building into this building and we do have vacant space at Lincoln Center, we believe that this property is no longer needed to support these functions.

118So our current proposal is that we remove the property from district use uh requesting again this evening the board deem it unnecessary uh for district purposes. We would like to distribute the furniture and equipment within the building uh to other areas of need within the district if they have not been redistributed already. Um and we want to perform the functions that we propose for the welcome center within the gymnasium at Lincoln Center. So, we know that we have some logistical uh updates that we need to do there, but we believe that could support the various functions that we have as far as professional development meetings within the district um that we were going to utilize and have utilized in the past at welcome center. And I also want to make a note here because we

119also had in the transition plan um the best program which is for our diverse learner population, some individuals in our diverse learner population and I know Dr. Bubbleitz and his team have been strategizing around that but due to the financial climate of the district at this time. We have not proceeded but that has not come off the radar um as an option as an option uh for space utilization at Lincoln Center. Next >> and it is a discussion that the capital improvement committee will be um having and as as a result of prioritizing what comes first, what comes second. So those conversations will be taking place. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Um, this slide identifies the current financial impact of the property. So we have our annual operating costs for our various utilities and services uh

120at approximately $23,000. And then we have two full-time employees that currently support the welcome center. That's the custodian and the uh courtesy officer. and you see the values of their compensation and um benefit plan for the current fiscal year FY26. Next slide please. So these are some additional cost consideration and capital needs. Um some of the these items we have not move forward with. Um so you know the cost would need to be updated based on the escalations which is why they're not presented on the slide. But this is not a new property. the welcome center at Greenwood Avenue. It needs a lot of TLC. It would have required some interior remodeling and renovations if we had gone forward with the original proposal, as well as currently a roofing replacement, mechanical, plumbing improvements. Um, as

121we have historically seen in the district prior to the capital improvement committee doing their work, um, we've been getting by in a lot of areas. The welcome center was one of those locations where we were getting by. So um again a lot of capital improvements would be needed if we were to repurpose the facility. This slide identifies a tentative timeline of cell and just wanted to note this here as a point of clarity to support the agenda item assuming um this evening the board acts based on the administration's recommendation. Again, we're asking you to consider the recommendation to find the process uh property unnecessary and approve the sale. We would be obtaining obtaining some documents and setting the minimum price for this evening. Um we do have the option of an auction or a sealed

122bid. We're recommending the seal bid option. Um and we need to set a date of sale within 30 uh 60 days of board action if it takes place this evening and publish notice for 3 weeks. Now, fast forward, if all of this happens this evening, we would be looking at October 28th to bring a recommendation to accept or reject the bids based on the bids that we received. And if we do accept the bids, there would be a contract for sale drafted and proposed. If it is rejected, we have the option to engage a real estate broker or redo the bid process. And at that time, the board can authorize that the minimum sale price be lowered below the $900,000 that we're recommending this evening. And then the earliest potential closing on a sale, if

123it is accepted, would be at one of our December board of education meetings. So, with this information, um, we are making the recommendation, as was read earlier, that the board of education find the welcome center long no longer needed for district purposes and approve the resolution that is attached in your board agenda item for sale of the property by sealed bid method for a minimum price of $900,000. >> Okay, Mr. Mr. Riddle. >> Um, yes, sir. Uh, Mr. Mr. Motton, I just want to uh clarify it's not just the property itself that the uh center is on, but the parking lot across the street is included in the sale as well. Correct. >> Yes, sir. Good question. Uh it is the property, it is the building as well as the property that comes along with

124it. For those of you who may not know, there is a parking lot directly across the street that is included with the property. Thank you. >> Um I have a couple of questions. So on one of the slides for the additional considerations an expenditure would be to um thank you the interior remodeling to support professional learning and public use. So are we then also using that public use and applying it to the Lincoln Center gym? >> So we would be applying some of that there. Um the gym space at Lincoln Center is a large multi-purpose space. Right now there is some some items uh stored in there that the district uses on a regular basis but it is a large space and one of the things that we identified when we went through this process

125particularly talking with some of the department heads is that they needed more space to house their meetings. >> So you know if they have a staff of 40 plus individuals the welcome center was a little small for their space. One of those departments uh particularly was diverse learner department that has a lot of staff. So, we do believe that the gym at Lincoln Center would be adequate for that and obviously we would need to make some improvements there, but mainly reallocate those items to other locations >> so that that space could be open. >> Okay. Um, and then there was the slide for the financial impact. That's if it was fully occupied. You're on it. That's if it's fully occupied, right? So if it's left, say we were to close the property instead of selling

126it, those numbers would be drastically different. >> That is correct. These the personnel, if you're referencing the personnel as well as the operating expense, it would we would not have these expenses if we were to close it, >> right? And to to hold on to it. The the reason I'm asking that question is because Mr. Vukovich brought up a very good point um with regard to the parking lot space. So, we've invested $500,000 to put in new parking spaces when we had a lot across the street or when there was the decision to split up the schools. We had the two um upper classman grades at the campus with the least amount of parking. Right. So I think just to circle back to his question, can you speak on the forethought as to why we

127may not or do not need this in the future, this building? Sure. >> So the services that are currently being provided there have been relocated. um the the the district does not want to get into the routine of acquiring physical property because usually what tends to happen is it turns into a storage facility or it doesn't get used in the purpose it was originally intended. Um so because a lot of the essential services have been moved out of this location and are down the hall here at this property um we believe that is why we will not need it. This is a a newer facility that's been remodeled. these services, forward- facing services, the long-term goal is that they remain here and provide services for our parents. So, that is why, >> right, >> we

128still do have the Lincoln, sorry, we still do have the Lincoln Center property where we are, you know, engaging some departments um and and that have not relocated that were always intended to remain at that location. >> Right. So, essentially, we freed out we've freed up space and moved them into the education service center, which is what we're in. And then some departments from Lincoln Center have come over to this building as well. So if there's more staff uh placement that needs to happen, there are still spaces available at Lincoln Center for any near future concerns. >> That is correct >> is what you're saying. Correct. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Um I just want to make sure that we're we're addressing the the concern that was brought up during public comment. The last piece

129that I have is that the projected timeline you had 60 days out is October 28th. I'm assuming that's because the 60 days lasts or lands on a Saturday. So, you push it to the following business day and that doesn't cause any issues within the 60-day timeline constraint, right? >> No, not that we're aware. >> That's all. >> Um, no. And thank you for pointing that out about the building being vacant. um the costs go lower, but if we hold on to the building as well, you can't just leave a vacant building. We're still going to have to up upkeep it. And especially in the future, if you decide, oh, we're going to use it again or sell it, it has to be maintained. So, um >> even if we didn't sell it and we've emptied

130it out, it go to zero. >> Yeah. It's still there's still going to be costs there. Um and to Mr. Bukovich's comment about the 1.2 million, I was not on the board at that time. Um, I think we just way overpaid at that time. I know I I I I that's that's my feelings and I can express how I I feel about it. I think we because we spent that over a decade ago on that building. Um, but either way, so I can't speak to what we have done in the past. I wasn't here. I can only speak to what we can do in the future. And so when we talk about we bought it for this much, for me that's neither here nor there. It's what is the value of it now? What can

131we sell for it now? Um because it's not like commercial property is not like your home property, right? Where I buy my house and then I can resell it for if I sit on it for for a decade and I improve it, I can sell it for, you know, market value is going to go up, right? Depending on how much that is, twice as much, however long, right? So it's not the same. So, I can't speak to why it was purchased at that price point in the past. I can only say that we can look at what it's worth now and move forward from there. And I want to commend you for your transparency because that was one of my thoughts was like, wait a minute, we kept saying it was going to be used

132for this and we kept saying our plans were going to be that and all of a sudden it's we switched. So, I really appreciate the transparency of you pointing that out. Um because for me the best center was something that I was really really looking forward to that we still I believe have to look at. We spend a lot of money on transportation and services when our kids have to go out to schools that um for our kids that have the higher needs. I've used those services. I know how much that transportation costs um and how much it costs the district. So bringing those services home does two things. One, it re, you know, it'll redistribute our costs in transportation and paying an outside service. But two, and I'm speaking as a parent right now,

133when you have a kid that has severe needs with severe behavioral emotional disorders, and you put them in a vehicle with a stranger to drive an hour to two hours away to receive services because they can't receive them here, you've already disregulated them for an hour. and then you want them to learn. So, I don't want that to fall off the radar at all because that to me is extremely important for um our students who are most vulnerable and have the highest needs. Um and then for Lincoln Center, uh right now that gym is storage and it's not storage of all junk. I know we have um instruments there. We have some extracurricular items there. Again, I just would like to make sure that we have a plan of where those things are going to

134go, how they're going to be cataloged, how they're going to be accessed, because I know Miss Hannah's brought it up before, too, even in the armory that we have things and sometimes we don't even know that we have them and then we're ordering more. So, if we're going to have that transition plan, I just want to be very mindful that we're keeping inventory and that we're sure that wherever it's going, it's going to be enough room and it's going to be just as safe, etc., etc. Thank you, Miss Fabian. Mr. Riddle. >> Um, yes, Mr. Molton, a couple questions. One is, um, could you address the fact of could we I agree with with Miss Fabian. We cannot leave that building empty. >> You know, it has to be heated. It, you know, we have

135to watch it. It has to be guarded. We need people checking on it if we're even going to use it for storage. But um could you address the issue of whether a district like ours is allowed to rent the building to someone at a profit if we wanted to hang on to it? Is that allowed? That's my first question. >> So if if I may and I might ask for legal support with this if you're are you asking regarding a lease option? >> A lease? Yeah. Could we lease the building? Um, and are we as a school allowed to lease it and not only maybe break even but make a profit? >> So, the lease option is an option that the the the district could pursue if they did not want to sell the property

136outright. Um, we would uh be liable for the for the taxes on the property, which currently we are not if we go that route. >> Okay. So, we'd have to pay taxes. So, we would have to pay taxes and the the lease or the rental amount um similar to the minimum price. It is my understanding that the board of education could set on a monthly basis uh for a lease term of multi-year. So, that could be an option. That's not the option we're recommending, but that could be an option. >> I do want to make profit, I think, is the question. >> I do want to jump in here and we will discuss the profit. Um, we did look at that option when we were kicking this around. Um, we looked at >> should we

137lease it? Is it better to sell the property? >> Mr. Molton, can you get into why we decided that leasing is not a good option for district 60 and also touch on um the profit that we make on the building if we leased. >> Sure. So with us being able to set the price, we could we could make a profit with a rental option. However, we would still be responsible for maintaining the property, maintaining the property, staffing at a certain level, which would be whatever the parameters are set forth in the lease agreement. We believe it is the best option to sell outright. Otherwise, that location will stay with the district. um we may be in a situation where the lease may need to back out of their agreement with us or we may ask

138to remove them and we'll just be potentially constantly renting the property in future years. So this is a this is a good break for us >> with the fact that we have reallocated the resources and the services provided at that building to this location. >> Right. Right. I think you've answered my question well. I you know become a landlord. We've got plenty of other things to do besides being landlords. My other question is um it right now the building besides uh when it was used as a welcome center, was it used by the district for anything else? Did we hold meetings there for diverse learners or anything like that? >> Yeah, there were there were uh parent teacher advisory committee meetings held there. Um like I said, I I listed in one of the slides

139several of the services provided. I know that there you know it had been used for department meetings, >> uh some other parent meetings. I'm sure it's been used for purposes prior to my knowledge for different reasons. >> Um, but it it was a multi-use facility, >> right? But we can, according to what you said, we can move those types of things to Lincoln Center and either use the former boardroom or the gym for those types of meetings if we want to redo those areas. >> Absolutely. And we could also use this boardroom for >> So it does seem to me that it is excess and it would behoove us to to put it on the sale and give see if there's any buyers for >> what you're saying. >> We we have more options now

140and um but we don't want to have too many options to where spaces don't get utilized. >> I do want to state that um this is a closed bid um and the board is making it very public on if they decide to do this what that bid amount would start at. Um, we have had a number of community partners that work with us and outside agencies I ask us if we're interested in selling the building. So, we've had a number of people contact us at the district having interest. So, this just did not come out of just out of nowhere, right? There's actual partners that have been saying, "How can we partner with you? Is that building going to ever be available?" etc. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Santa.

141>> Okay. For everybody that does not understand why the previous administration purchased the building at that time, the welcome center was located at the AOEC building upstairs where it was not handicap accessible. there. We got a complaint actually that uh pushed the um the timeline um uh uh faster ahead uh because it was not handicap accessessible. It was being um it became used um it was purchased because of the handicap accessibility of the building and it wasn't an unnecessary purchase. It wasn't irresponsible that it was purchased. All of those adjectives that has been used, it was used at that time, purchased at that time because there was a need. the people. Basically, it was not handicap accessible and we had handicapped students that needed to be and parents that needed to go to the welcome

142center for registration and all of the other services that were being held in the um in the south building, AOEC building at that time. >> Thank you, Miss Anna. Miss Fabian, >> I also don't want Mr. Bukovich's point to um go unheard because I would also like to see an inventory of all the properties. He reminded me of a property that I forgot that we even owned cuz we thought the foundation owned it at one point and we did the research and realized, oh no, the school district does. So, I think it does behoove us as a board to really know what all capital do we have. Um, while I know that we're just talking about this building and and moving forward with this building, um, he makes a great point on we have other

143properties that we are maintaining that are sitting there vacant, um, or maybe are being underutilized. And so, if we could have a list of what are all those properties because I don't think we're all aware of what those all are. We can um con we can put um I'm I'm not the audit is the wrong word, but we can compile a list inventory. >> An inven Thank you, Miss >> F. inventory. >> Um we can complete an inventory of all properties that are on the books currently and get it to the board >> and just what their purpose is. >> Even if that purpose right now is just it's y a vacant, >> we'll get that to the board. >> Right. >> Okay. We are looking for a motion. I'll make a motion um that

144we uh what is it that we tenatively set this time follow this timeline and um approve uh >> Mr. Property. >> Okay. Superintendent is going to read it first. Okay. All right. Good. That's good. >> Good try, Mr. >> Thank you, ma'am. It is the recommendation that the board of education find that the welcome center 742 West Greenwood Avenue is no longer needed for district purposes and approve the resolution for a sale of the property by sale bid for a minimum of $900,000. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle >> motion. Yes. Thank you. >> Second by Miss Favian. Any further discussion on that motion? Are we are we going to um earmark the proceeds from this building to go to something that directly impacts student learning? Where are we going to put that money that we

145get hopefully into the literacy program for our students reading? >> Thank you, Miss Hannah. Okay, we have a motion to second any further discussion. Roll call vote, please. >> Miss Fabian, >> yes. Miss Hannah, >> no. >> Miss Lensing, >> yes. >> Mr. McBride, >> yes. >> Miss Ramirez, >> yes. >> Mr. Riddle, >> yes. >> President Rodriguez, >> yes. Motion carries. >> 21. Student discipline matters. I see none. Board member time. >> Mr. Hakovo, let you start. >> Do you want to say anything like any well wishes or caps? If not, you can pass. You don't have to say something. >> Thank you guys. Yes, you're on. >> Thank you guys. Um, fully appreciate your time. >> Welcome to the board. >> Oh, wait a minute. Wait, excuse me just a second. We're talking

146about a technicality here. We need 2/3 2/3 vote of the board. >> We had four four yeses. We're >> okay. >> Yes. >> Okay, good. >> Can I ask who the five yeses were? >> Myself, yourself, and the three down there. Mr. McBride, Mr. Riddle. >> Okay. Just want to make sure. >> Okay. >> You don't want to find out later that we made a mistake. >> Okay. >> All right. Mr. Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt you. It's your turn. >> Thank you guys for staying all the way till this evening. Um uh for those who actually stayed uh besides that um thank you. Goodbye. >> Short and sweet. >> All right. >> Okay. Mr. Mr. Ramirez. >> Um I'd like to give everybody a welcome back, right? Have a great school year. Um, I'd

147really like to encourage uh families, parents, and students. Um, alike to get engaged in your school community. Right now, it's the best time to explore, you know, what's um developing as far as school programs, parent clubs, student clubs, um, advisory boards, all of those things, right? The more we can give to our school community, the better. um went to Washington Elementary little library this morning which was really cool if you can drive by there. The bricks that they decorated with are really awesome. I enjoyed the art on there. But uh welcome back to a new school year. >> Thank you, Mr. Riddle. >> Right. I'd like to second uh Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Ramirez's comments. Um welcome to everyone. Welcome to all your ch all the children who are back and parents excited about this new

148school year. keep up the excitement. Uh make sure the these are very very important days as your kids begin this this year. We want to make sure that they uh go strong and continue to enjoy and um get involved as Miss Mora said in in trying new things is and getting in new programs. Um it's really important uh as you know. Um also if uh if any of the children need eyeglasses I'm also a lion and um we've also filled about five of them already. teachers. Um if you have a student that looks like they need eyeglasses and the parents are struggling to provide those, um please contact me. Um our Lions Club, that's one of the things we do during the school year is help kids who need glasses or who have broken their

149glasses. So um just a heads up on that. Um we're available in the community to do that. It's walking and little Fort Lions. Um also there's a lots of exciting things um that are happening. Um and certainly teachers, board members, and student board members uh need to know that there are training opportunities coming up. Um I'm not sure if our student board members know that this year's IASB uh joint annual conference, leadership conference in November, um is this year offering a special leadership session for student board members. >> Did you guys know that? >> Yes. >> It's Friday, November the 11th. We want you to put that on your calendar. Um, and there is a Friday, November uh, sorry, Friday, November the 21st. And I and I want to make sure that you talk with

150Jasmine um, after this meeting or in the next few uh, weeks so that she signs you up because we got some information um, in the emails the other day um, that this new session is filling up fast. So, it's an all day session. Um this these are uh student board members and board members and superintendents and whatever from school districts around the state. This is a huge conference in Chicago. Um and there's an exciting opportunity for you as board members to attend one of the first leadership uh seminars. It's a full day student board member leadership seminar. Um and it's available to you guys. Um one of us on the school board at least would also have to attend the afternoon session with them. Yeah. >> So that would be cool. We would love to.

151The afternoon the morning session is just for you guys. Um meeting from around the state, student board members. Uh the afternoon session uh sounds really cool that uh board members are encouraged to attend with their um student board members and it is called Wait a second. I wrote it down here. Um it is uh um hang on a Oh yes um it is uh making it small tiny moments with big impact leveraging everyday interactions to build a thriving culture. Um so that sounds like an exciting workshop. I'd like to attend it with the board members and some of our other board members would love to attend that session with you. We have a lot of things to choose from. And then there's a a speaker um to that kicks off the seminar in the afternoon.

152Um and you're going to want to see her. She is Verice Fly Girl Armor. She is the first Africanamean um female combat pilot. She's a former Marine. She's a fabulous speaker. She has several books, one of them called the seven breakthrough battle tested methods for accomplishing your goals um that matter. Goals that matter. So she sounds exciting. Every day in this seminar they have speakers. Um so this is the usually the first one is one of the best. So um I'm excited myself to see this. So just wanted to make that heads up. The board members and of course our student board members let you know about that. Um so I think that's probably all I need to say. >> Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Yes. McBride. >> Yeah. The uh conference that the superintendent is

153going to be attending. Uh I'm just delighted to know that we're going to have some of our students uh opening up for that session in some kind of way or another because I always attend conferences and always see other districts students engaged and it was always exciting. they always uh whether it be band, whether it be mar drummers or what and just I'm just delighted to know that our students are getting the opportunity to be involved nationally some kind of way uh where district can be recognized and I hope going forward superintendent that you uh engage with is some kind of way or another and get our students to be involved sometime when we have these different conference when we go to I love just to be sitting in the audience and see our students

154where I'm sitting next to another board member and say that's district safety there. >> Right. >> Got it. >> Right. Maybe our music department. >> Thank you, Mr. Braden. >> Yeah, they do. >> Hey, Miss Ellen. >> Miss Ellen. >> Oh, I'm put you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. I just want to say I'm really thankful to be here to learn more about uh what's going on in our district and like get be more educated in like you know what's going on. But yeah, thank you to everybody that who stayed. Uh really really thankful that you guys did. Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um okay, Miss Fabian. >> Um so just a couple of things. I really do hope that we have some supports and outreach for any students that were outplaced um due

155through any collapse and closures and the same for our staff. Um I do understand I've been in this district when it's you know happened previously. I've been a teacher. Um I've had you know classes of 28 and 30. I I completely understand um and I know it's very difficult for young children to start a routine and then have to adjust to a new one. >> I do however know that our children are also very resilient and given the proper supports will succeed. And so I'm just asking that our district reach out to those families and ensure that they are receiving those extra supports. Um and not to just the families like I said to the staff as well. >> Um two, there was a fishing scam earlier today. Um, if you are receiving emails and

156you're not sure whether to click or not, please make sure you reach out to your school before you click on anything that looks like you should not have received it. Um, this one I thought looked particularly very very real that even I had to to second guess cuz they copied our employees um uh closing. So, um, families, if you're ever unsure of an email that's asking you to click on something that's coming from us, reach out to your school building, um, to find out if indeed it's it's a legit email or if it's a fishing scam. >> Um, they're getting more and and more realistic and sophisticated with that. >> Um, and that also follows to the chain of command that I talked about earlier. if something's going on in your school, please first reach

157out to um your teacher, your principles within the building before escalating um so that they can support you as quickly as possible. Um and then just a couple of fun things this weekend is the One Love concert, which is free um at Greentown and the Rock starting at 10:00 a.m. And that's just the Caribbean and the AfroCaribbean um concert that happens every year. This is the sixth year that that's going on. I know it's Labor Day weekend, so if you're looking for something to do, that's Sunday on the 31st. Um, and then the following weekend, we have our air show, which I'm glad to see is back. Um, and that's going to be Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at our Waggan airport. Uh, schools like Oakdale Mall, I remember when I was teaching, we you get

158to see them practice. So, I encourage teachers in those um schools that are near the airport to listen for the airplanes because you get to get a free sneak peek preview of the planes that are going to be um out and about. Um and again, just be safe during uh our 3-day weekend. >> Thank you, Miss Fabian. Miss Lindsay. >> Um okay, so I I have a couple of things. So, I was also able to join the Abby uh little lending library ceremony this morning. Um the kids were really excited. Also got to read to one of the classrooms at Washington. And again, I thank you for giving me grace as I was reading in Spanish to you all. Um just exemplifying that if it's hard, you can you can still do it. Um so

159they were great. It was a fabulous ceremony. also attended uh the Miyazaki visitor uh event at Abbott. Those kids were great. It was interesting to see um like bypass all of our traditional food for breakfast and then head to the fruit and I'm like smart kids. Um so they teachers, you guys are a team with your teacher, right? Everybody's on the same page to get your your child to succeed. So, if you can build that relationship and have that open communication, that's going to work out best for everybody. Um, just to note, there are parent university courses going on on YouTube. So, if you watch the course and you complete the assignment, you are getting volunteer credit, which goes to reducing your school fees. So, there's it benefits you twice. one, you learn more on

160how to navigate the school district to know what the resources are, know what the the different components are, and two, you can pay less for school. So, that's a win-win. Um, the last thing is I did attend a webinar on chronic absenteeism. And the approach that principal Rah was talking about was essentially making sure we as the schools re-engage the students, get them excited to be in the school, right? We talked about the first 10 days. That's the honeymoon period and then we're going to start challenges so they can keep that momentum going. They also brought up um the concept of restore. So something we've been talking about a lot on this board is creating that sense of belonging, acknowledging that these are kids and we care about them. They have their ideas, they have

161their aspirations. So if we can build that inviting community in our buildings, they're going to want to keep coming, right? Um and the last part was to reward. And I know some people are like, I don't get rewarded because I go to my job every day. That that can be debated. Right. Right. But there there are incentives like my employer if you do a good job. Well, I mean that's beside the point. But if you do a good job, they give you special recognitions and you can trade it in for like gift cards and stuff or you go to a certain store, everybody has to buy groceries. You have to feed yourself. Different stores have different loyalty points, right? So, it's just looking for ways to bring the incentives in, right? Because it is part

162of our our adult lives. So, I thought that was a really interesting um webinar to attend to kind of break it down into those pieces. And I know our our outreach department is doing a lot of work in that area. So, not to say that they're not doing anything, they're doing a great job, but I just wanted to share out what I learned. Other than that, oh, one more thing, too. I'm a liar, too. Uh CO's on the rise, so please pay attention. I know we want good attendance, but if you are not feeling well, please take care of yourself. It's on the rise. It doesn't hurt to get tested, right? We don't want to be in another lockdown situation. Please. Yeah, you can email or call in to to your school for the attendance.

163Um, last thing is again, we just need to pour love into these kids. Keep the momentum going. Our students are fabulous. We have two great leaders here and they're going to inspire all of our younger kids as well. But if everyone is just sharing the love, then we can keep that momentum going and we can have everyone engaged and have a successful year. That's all I got. >> Thank you, Miss Lindsay. Miss Hannah. >> Okay. Um I thank everyone for um coming out staying to the end that that's very valuable. Um thank um I want to thank all those that are um are on YouTube watching. Um, I am I'm I'm grateful for all the nice and good things that are going on um at the beginning of the school year. I've been here many

164beginnings of the school year and um this year I am I am as a board member um looking for more um more focus on our student academics and um bringing bringing our acade academics up. We are um we we have focused for a number of years on our infrastructure and enough structure. We are um we are in need of our students academics to go up and that's what I'm going to be um expecting in this new school year. Um, I know everyone's working hard, but I just think as everyone says, there's always room for improvement. And I I am truly um looking for our board agenda to have more student focused issues on it. Um so that we could talk about the academics, the bringing our students up to um grade levels, proficient reading, um

165getting more students um involved in our um biliteral program. Is that >> bipedal? the biiteracy um um program um >> and getting our parents in making an extra effort to engage our parents and that too has been um a good effort. Um, but we there's always room for improvement. Um, and so I am looking forward to this year, but I am looking forward more so to seeing our students be more successful in um in in their academics. I also would like our board, Mr. President, to um talk about um re viewing our um our students academic credit for graduation that they need to they need to go up. They need to be put back where they were. Um, from where they are now, the to the 23 24. Many of the students didn't want the

166um the credits reduced and so we need to honor them what they asked. Um, other than that, um, I just want to, um, say, look, happy new school year. And I'm kind of expecting a little bit more because we've been at this for um, for a a while now, for seven, eight years now. And it's time to um to show what all of this pulling it all together and um what what uh the end results are at this point. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Hannah. And I just want to say uh I want to thank everybody here at the board once again. We have 100% attendance, which is a pretty uh regular thing with this board. And that's that's a big deal. That is a big deal because that just shows the commitment and

167dedication of the individuals that have accepted the role of board members. I just want to let you know I'm enjoying working with all of you because I see without exception that everybody here is committed to doing what is best and what is right for our students. And I'm looking forward to another successful school year. And I want to thank our two student board members. >> Yes, you did. You're doing a great job both of you. Good to have you with us. We really value your input and we hope that uh you will seriously um interact with your fellow uh students and and uh bring some feedback from them on some of the issues that we are talking about because it's important. The reason that that we have these positions for you is that so that

168you can actually bring us a student's position and that means that you have to be active in your schools and and taking in the pulse of what the what your classmates are thinking, what the other students are thinking and bring that back to us because you are more you're in close touch with what's going on dayto day. And sometimes we're a little more removed than you are because you're seeing it every day and you can bring this information to us so that we can use it in making our decisions which which we're here to do what's best for the students and who knows what's best for the students more than the students right so with that u yes miss I am sorry >> I forgot one thing um about um I'd like to asked about

169our uh business cards if they have been ordered. They have been ordered. Okay. Do you know when they're coming in? >> We'll get an email to the board out tomorrow. >> Okay. Thank >> Okay, Miss Anything else? Any other last thoughts? >> I'd like to ask for a motion to adjurnn. So move. >> Motion by Mr. Riddle second by Miss >> Lensing. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned at 9:35.