001[Music] A learning curve for sure. Test test. This one's mine. Testing. I'm just trying to see which one. You think I'm going to sing one of Melicia Keys songs, huh? Think I'm going sing one of Melicia Keys songs for you. [Music] Come on in, Mr. Rodriguez. You ain't got to stay out there. Come on in. [Music] But I'm [Music] board a lot of Thank you. [Music] It has an actual [Music] Yes, [Music] but right now I'll probably Yeah, I think Yep. [Music] What' you [Music] have [Music] there? I'm not going to lie. All right. [Music] Hold on. Um, who are you? I was waiting on Miss Co. Four, five, six, seven. We're all here. You already coming. Oh, yeah. And Mr. White, give me the thumbs up when you are ready. Are we We're live
002on YouTube. All right. So, it is 6:03. I'd like to call to order the April 29th, 2025 Walkegan Public School Board of Education meeting. If I can have a roll call, please. Mr. McBride, yes. Miss Fabian, present. Miss Gonzalez, here. Mr. Riddle, here. Miss Hannah, yes. Miss Lensing, present. President Yuing, yes. We do have a quorum. All board members are present at this time. Mr. Silva, if you'd be so kind as to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. So we do have um this is an opportunity for public comment. So at this time I will uh ask for the public comment uh signup sheet.
003All right. There is no board president's comments. I'm going to start with the community comments first. Uh just as a reminder, there are screens around the room. Each speaker gets three minutes. If you need translation services, translation services will be provided for you and you will get six minutes. Um, when I call your names, please come up to the podium directly in front of the board. We do ask that you refrain from mentioning student or staff member names in your remarks. And we also ask uh that you remind or remain vigilant of or aware of civility. There are two names on tonight's list. We have Ray Vauovich and Randy Sbecki who will come in that order. Whenever you're ready, Miss Bulgovich. Good evening. I'd like to uh thank and congratulate uh Miss Gonzalez and Mr.
004Euing for your service on the board. It's never uh you know, you're always on the line of fire. I I understand that, but uh you know, the community does thank you and I thank you. Uh well, you you're finally in this building. Look at that. How many years? Uh I I pointed out to Miss Gonzalez before the meeting that uh this building was purchased before she came on the board and she's completed a four-year term. So it's finally done. Uh but I'd like to remind this board the and the new board coming in that this building was purchased and remodeled. Looks very nice. But you have other buildings in this district that are just as old. I hear that excuse a lot of times. Well, our buildings are 100 years old. Washington campus was built
005plus or minus two years when this building was built. So, I would hope that the board of education will spend this kind of money on that building because as nice as this building is, I don't think it's going to help raise reading scores, math scores, or improve teacher retention. But if you do some of that in the buildings, it will I I brought up in the past about your sign being six stories up. There's nothing at street level that indicates what this building is. As a matter of fact, there aren't even the simple numerals 214 that would indicate what the address is here. So before you uh uh invite more of the public in, you might want to go to Ace Hardware and get those three numbers. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vukovich. Mr. Sbecki.
006Thank you. I also want to congratulate both of you for your years of service on the board. It's not easy. Like Mr. Vukovich said, you're always at the complaint, but tonight I'm going to ask about something. At the last board meeting, we talked about policy and let's follow the policy. You know, we didn't want to change it some of the board members. So my question is tonight we had an incident over at Jack Benny where a kid brought a lookalike weapon to school. There was no expulsion hearing for that kid. I I put in a foyer request and this is in the last 10 years and the specific question was in the last 10 years number of a students expelled from school for having a lookalike weapon. There was four. All four were expelled from
007school. But yet because a student of someone that sits up on this board, why is it different? Where's the policy that we're going to follow? It shouldn't matter. There shouldn't be different standards. We talk about DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion. Should be different standards. Everyone should be held to the same standard. Period. That should come before the board. If it's modified by the superintendent, the board should be looking at that for even overturning it. Any other student had to go that way. And it happened in my family. My niece was in Georgia, was being bullied. She brought a knife to school, was expelled from Georgia, but then they moved back to Illinois. She had to go through high and hell water in this district to get back into this district. And she ended up graduating and
008she learned from her mistakes, ended up graduating high in her class with a full ride scholarship to veterinarian school, which she's still in today in school on a full ride scholarship. So sometimes kids need that. It's not to punish them. It it's to teach them. That's the whole point of the education system. And like I said, all the rules need to apply across the board. Whether you're sitting up there and you make these policies and procedures or you're not, it should be the same standards for all students. And as I stated, all four of them were expelled. And if I remember rightly, one of those was the kindergartener. So that's something that this board needs to look into. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Sebeki. This concludes our public comment. if we can get our agenda back
009on the screen. All right. So, we are going to go into close session, but um how we want to do this. You want to do your remarks now, Miss Gonzalez, if you have any or you want to do them after close session? Oh, well, it doesn't matter, but I have my phone in Oh, then we'll do that. So, I do just in full transparency, we're going into close session. The next meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. for the new board to be seated. So, we're going to try and wrap up by about 6:45 so we can come out here and get through the other comments well as give uh this board an opportunity to make final comments before we do our uh sinadine. So, um I don't know, superintendent if the building is
010open, but to the community and the public, are we able to do any type of uh tours? Not at this time. Okay. All right. With that, I'd like a motion to go into close session under exception uh C1 and C21. Um C1 personnel C21 approval of previous close session minutes. Had a motion from Miss Fabian. Second from Miss Gonzale Missing Lensing. With that, I'd like a roll call. Mr. McBride, yes. Miss Fabian, yes. Miss Gonzalez, yes. Mr. Riddle, yes. Miss Hannah, yes. Miss Lensing, yes. President Yuing, yes. All right, we are going into close session and again we'll be back at around 6:45 to continue finish this meeting and then the new board will be seated. Uh that meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thank [Music] you. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] I'm coming.
011[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, you Let [Music] me feel. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] I'll be happy. [Music] You prove yourself. [Music] Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. [Music] Io. [Music] Woo! Woo! [Music] Oh, [Music] hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat up here. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Uh-oh. [Music] What again? [Music] Ow. [Music] I love you. You [Music] again. Hey Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] I'm [Music] a [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] You [Music] I'm happy. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] I'll be happy. [Music] You prove yourself. [Music] Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. [Music] Ohoo. Hey. Hey. [Music] Woo! Woo! [Music] Oh, ooh. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat up here. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Uh-oh. [Music] again.
012Hey [Music] Uh-oh. [Music] I love you. I love you. [Music] again. Hey [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You [Music] will be [Music] happy. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Don't be hurt. [Music] You yourself. [Music] Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. [Music] Io. Hey. Hey. [Music] Woah. [Music] Woah. Woah. Woah. [Music] Oo. [Music] Ooh. Oh. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Uh-oh. Happy [Music] birthday. [Music] Never. [Music] Yeah. You [Music] Baby, [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat [Music] up here. [Music] for you. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You will yourself. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] I'll be happy. [Music] You yourself. [Music] ooh I you know you Oh. [Music] Oh. Oh. [Music] W. Ooh.
013[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Daily feel. [Music] Happy. Hey. Hey. [Music] Yeah. Love you. [Music] We don't [Music] again. Oh yeah. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh, heat. [Music] I can't go around. [Music] You will Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] I get the new card. I get all that stuff. But like the when you leave in the plastic, see how this has the purple transfer? That's what I'm talking about. So I like doing it. It's fine. I'll just put some tape over it. I got it. I got it. Oh, that is like super live clear. I don't. All right, Mr. White, the board. Let me know when you're ready, Jess. Hold on. Good to go. Ready? Yep. Ready. All right.
014So the board did just meet in close session under uh C1 and C21. I'd like a all board members are currently present. Still present. Like a motion to resume open session. So moved. Motion by Mr. Riddle. Seconded by Miss Lensing. All in favor signify with I. I. Any oppose? Nay. We are back in open session. Um with that there are two things uh on the agenda. Um there's no I'll take these separately. I'mma do it slightly. Yeah, that's fine. All right. Uh item 7A, acceptance of the canvas of votes cast in the April 1st, 2025 election. Do we have a motion to approve? Second. Well, we have to they have to I thought you were going to Yeah, she's got to say them first. Say what? embassy vote. Okay, read. There's no Yeah, she got
015a She just which is the second meeting. Organization. This isn't the organization meeting. say is accept as presented accept. I'll second all in favor. I I'm going n because it should be uh it should be um set. Mr. Alzakis, can you come up here, please? He know there's a question. He's been doing it for every Mr. Jack the canvas thing of the is it just matter of them saying of us voting on them or are they with they're supposed to be some red okay but do we know the numbers [Music] All right. All in favor signify with I. I. I. Any opposing? Congratulations elected board members [Applause] reelected. All right. Um, now we're going to have the election of Secretary Tim. Um, we test. Thank you. Um, thank you. What I was saying was, um,
016we have the next item. We have 7A, the acceptance of Canvas. That just passed. We now have item 7B, the election of the secretary, pro Tim. You read the recommended action. Superintendent. It is the recommendation of the administration that the board of education appoint an individual to serve as secretary pro tempmp beret to preside and assist in the transition of board governance. I make a go ahead. I make a motion that um to accept the uh superintendent and secretary promp to lead this next meeting. Motion by Mr. Riddle, seconded by Miss Hannah. Any comments or questions on the motion? All in favor signify with I. I. Any oppose? Nay. Item passed. It's approved. So now um as we get ready to adjurnn, I want to just give an opportunity to this board for any final
017comments. I do want to remind you of brevity because you can give comments in the next meeting as well. Um and that is what this is about. It's not about this board, but the incoming board and the future of district 60. But I'll start down the line with uh Miss Fabian. So, I just want to say thank you again to uh Brandon Adriana for stepping up and um to the call of being here and serving our students. I know it's a lot of work and just thank you. Thank you, Miss uh Lindsay. Um I just want to give special notation. So, um, Adriana, I really respected how you've handled this role and I think you brought a lot of great insight to this board of education in this district and I'm personally sad you didn't
018rerun. Um, but I wish you all the best in your your future. I think you did a great job. Board President Euing, I also think you did an amazing job. I think you were consistent and you were fair and you showed respect to others in all situations and I think that is a really good role model of what we can expect for a future board president. Thank you Miss Lennon. Miss uh board vice president Hannah um as others have said um Adriana you you became a really good board member and um you did your homework. you um you attended committee meetings and you did board work and so I thank you for that. Um and good luck with your endeavors and take a break. Uh Mr. Huing, you have been the board president um for
019um what eight years? Six years. And um there's been a lot of challenges you know and um there it's hard um I have said as board president before and uh I do know the challenges that you faced and everything but I just want to say thank you for your service and you have um you kind of set a bar. Thank you Miss Hannah Mr. McBride. Uh, as they all echoed, uh, both of you done a great job. But Brandon, for such a young man, uh, I got great deal of respect for you. And I say that because of the fact that, uh, you have dealt with a lot of annivers adversity coming from out of the community, but you uh, was able to uh, maintain and hold your grounds. And uh I've seen a lot
020of older board members over my over my last four years in my last should I say 16 years of sitting here and uh you uh have uh inspired me to the point to where as though uh you got an old soul. I don't know where it come from, but you sure got and Adriana uh I want to appreciate your integrity. You showed a lot of honesty since you've been here. And uh that's that's that means something to me, you know, when when I can look at you and I can tell and I can say, you know, you are honest. I don't have to worry about, as the OJ say, no backstabbing and all that. I haven't I haven't seen that in you. So, I want to appreciate uh I want to just say I appreciate
021your once again as another young soul sitting on this board and uh and that's going to change as you can see. Uh you got Mr. Rodriguez coming. He's just as old as Mr. Riddles. And uh so so hopefully we as uh we as seniors do the right thing and we old enough to do the right thing. So with that I have nothing else to say. Thank you Mr. McBride. Mr. Riddle. Um yes I I want to echo all of those comments. Um they are heartfelt and and all of I think all of us board members agree that we are losing two very Is it on? The light is on. All right. Yeah. Um, so I just want to say that we're losing two very good, solid board members who have really dedicated the last six
022years or eight years. Um, eight well four years for you. I wish it was six or eight for you. Adriana, I again is is as Mr. McBride said, um, you have come back as a young person in our community given more than 100% 200% I'd say. um your honesty, your perception of what is going on and and your willingness and courage to speak your mind uh in a in a truthful manner and and in a respectful manner has has really inspired me. Um so I really I know you're going to go on to do great things in our community and um I wish you all well. I know you're staying in Waggan because you you've bought a house in Waggan, so you're committed. You're planted here and I think that's exciting for our Waggan community
023and and um Brandon, I just again I have been inspired by what you you know have done, the way you've conducted yourself, the way the respectful manner in which you have always um spoke to each one of us board members and the community has has inspired me, I'm telling you. and your thoughtful manner, the way and and the the way you have summarized um what the board is is really wanting to project to our community and the work that we have to do. Your caring for our community and our children especially has inspired me. Um so I know you're going to continue to do great things in the community. Uh and I just want to thank you truly um for being here and and taking that role which few of us on this board have
024the capacity, the ability to be a board president and to try to mold seven people uh in the effort and and direction that we have to go as a board in a community. So I want to thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Miss Gon's eyes. Yeah, you heard. I'll close out and then Okay, I'll try to be brief, but it's not going to happen. Um, thank you uh for all my fellow board members. Um, I I feel kind of in shock. I'm like, wow. I Everyone knows my first year was really rough and and I wish that this is how we could have acted the entire time that we were aboard, but those are the growing pains and I know we wouldn't be upset if it didn't matter to us um about some
025of the decisions that we have to make. Um, and I know you guys will continue the the good work um to, you know, keep uh the direction that we want for all of the students in the district and to hold the superintendent accountable to those goals. Um so I did write something and I really I want to say thank you to Mr. McBride because integrity is my favorite word. It's one of my favorite words. Um and so I'll I'll say my comments um and I'll congratulate the the new board members. Uh, first I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone in the school community who I've met these past four years. I know so many brilliant people who work to see students succeed in Walkegan and I am lucky enough to have reconnected
026with alumni friends who've made it their mission to make the lives of youth better as well. When I went to college to study policy and Latin American history, there was never a doubt in my mind where I wanted to land after I graduated. Even though people often asked me, why did you come back? There are many reasons why I returned, but one ambition was the clearest in my mind. I can go anywhere in the world to try to make an impact. Why can't I start at home where I have roots? When I campaigned with Brandon, I made huntos unosidos our motto. Together we learn, united we win or achieve. And I believe in that motto still. We currently live in a political climate that favors the wealthy. Many of us from communities who are economically
027exploited and historically disenfranchised can't afford to be apathetic or uninformed, especially when our public safeguards are threatened, like our public schools. I ran because I don't like what I see when I listen to the leaders who are supposed to represent me. And I don't like how to talk uh how people talk about the place that I'm from and where I live. I know that weapa have the capacity to be a community that holds each other down when we need it most. We just have to stay steadfast and prioritize the things that matter. And to me, what matters is helping young people become full participants of a democracy that values their insight, their inquisitiveness, their courage, their attitude, and their imaginations. What matters to me is building a world aligned to values of inclusivity and justice.
028That world is still far from us. Educational institutions have the capacity to allow young people to become leaders if we make it our focus. As a team, we've had a lot of achievements of which I'm proud. Like increasing the salaries of staff at all levels, reviewing policy to see where they could be updated and better fit for students and families, reviewing requirements needed for graduation as the state mandates change, and financing several capital improvement projects, including the creation of the wraparound center and this new board space downtown. I also know that there is much more we could have accomplished and that we should accomplish. And that's why I'm super excited to pass the baton to keep this vital work going. I bought my home just down the street from Washington campus around the corner from
029where I grew up. And I continue to serve on the Walkan Schools Foundation to give scholarships to talented students in need of economic relief. and I continue to live in community with friends whom I have known since my younger school years by attending shows, concerts, and occasional games. So, I'll never be too far from the school community, especially far from my teachers um and the uh friends of mine who have become teachers. So, I thank you again for giving me an opportunity to serve. Wow. [Applause] So, final comments before we adjourn. Uh, eight years ago, I ran on the promise and the campaign slogan running for the future. It was a call to action, a belief that our kids deserve more than the status quo. That every decision we make at this table has to
030be about preparing them not just for tomorrow, but for the next decade and beyond. That belief lit a fire in me and it's what kept me going through late nights, tough conversations, and difficult votes. When I ran for reelection with board member Gonzalez, we offered a new rallying cry. Together we learn, united we achieve. That wasn't just a slogan, but it was a guiding principle. I've learned deeply from this community, from parents, students, educators, and my fellow board members. And I've seen what's possible when we put aside our differences and focus on what unites us. Our belief in our children and in the power of public education. It is bittersweet to say goodbye. This work has been very personal, not political. It's been about legacy, about building something our children and grandchildren can be proud
031of. But I do leave with peace in my heart because I know we can do hard things. I've seen it time and again in this district from turning around schools to raising staff wages to investing in facilities that our students and teachers deserve. Change wasn't easy and it's never easy but it is necessary. To the incoming board, you are stepping into a critical moment. There are big questions on the horizon about how we educate, how we fund, how we innovate, and how we respond to a changing world. You'll be tasked with making tough decisions that will shape the district for years to come. Some in our community believe this board hasn't done enough. And whether or not you agree, their voices must be heard. I encourage you to listen carefully, respond with humility, and lead
032with courage. Let your actions show the community that you are willing to do the hard things to give our students what they truly deserve. And speaking of our students, they are incredible. They are creative. They are resilient. They are brilliant. And they are full of promise. They have inspired me more than they will ever know. They've shown me what perseverance looks like in real time. They are the reason that I serve, that we serve, and they must always be at the center of every conversation, every policy, and every budget. As I leave this seat, I leave with gratitude. Thank you for trusting me with this responsibility. My time on this board ends, but my commitment to this community will never end. And so, keep working for the future. And to my fellow board members, I
033thank you for, like I said, supporting me, for encouraging me, for inspiring me, for mentoring me, um, but also for trusting me for six years, uh, to lead this board as your board president. And so with that, I would like to motion, uh, that we adjourn, sign, or die. I have a motion and then I have a [Applause] second I any opposed day meeting is adjourned. right down the street. Don't worry. All right. Thank you. Good luck. I mean, she kind of pulling, right? Oh, yeah. What did she did get to take her? Say it again. Adriana, can we have the new board members join us now, please? [Music] I think the slide in the slide the slide in their name. Yeah, we took um here. Yeah, you guys get to see cuz we were
034out there when we took Shouldn't we have them take the oath out there and then join us up here? That makes more sense. What? Oh, I see. I see. Nick, where do you want them seated? They can sit anywhere they like. Let's get this going. Come on. Do do they do the new board members come sit now? Miss Ramirez and Mr. Rodriguez, if you want to grab a seat. There's some seats there. I believe there's one over there. Just down there. Maybe down there. All right. That way. Oh, and then there's one over here. Oh, there is one. Oh, got all three together. Yeah. You ready? Okay, Mr. Alis. adjust. Okay, we ready. As secretary for the elected members of the board and as per item one on our agenda, I would like to call
035this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Mr. McBride, yes. Miss Fabian, yes. Mr. Riddle, yes. Miss Hannah, yes. Miss Lensing, yes. As per item two on the agenda, I will now I I now will call attendance in alphabetical order taking into account the abstract of votes from the election of April 1st, 2025 from the office of the late county clerk. Miss Fabian, yes. Miss Hannah, yes. Miss Lensing, present. Mr. McBride, present. Miss Ramirez, present. Mr. Riddle, present. Mr. Rodriguez, present. Let the record reflect that seven members are present, reflecting a quorum. At this time, I'd like to call for the pledge of allegiance. Will Miss Session 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 it stands, one nation
036under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Miss Sessions. As reflected at item 4A of our agenda, I will now ask our exiting board president, Mr. Brandon Euing, to deliver the oath of office to our members. May I ask our four elected board members to please stand in the front as President Euing delivers the oath. Are you gonna stand? Right there. Okay. He said, "Stand right where you are." That mic needs me on. That's where it's on the It's on the screen. One, two. There we go. A little bit softer now. All right. So, uh, the Walking Public School Board member, oath of office, I And then state your name. I Anita Hannah do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office I will faithfully
037discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education of the walkegan community unit school district 60 of the community unit school district 60 in accordance with the constitution in accordance with the Constitution of the United States of the United States the Constitution Constitution of the State of Illinois of the state of Illinois and the laws and laws and you guys can read it. I don't want to go too fast. of the state of Illinois of of the state of Illinois. Uh to the best of my ability. to the best of my ability. I further swear I further swear that that I shall respect taxpayer interest that I shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. By serving as a faithful livereaker of the school
038district's assets, I shall encourage and respect I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board. and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy while respecting the privacy of students and employees of students and employees. I shall recognize I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority that a board member has no legal authority as an individual as an individual and that decisions can be made and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote only by a majority vote at a public board meeting at a public board meeting I shall abide by the majority decisions of the board I shall abide by
039the majority decision of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions while retaining the right to seek such decision decisions through ethical and constructive channels through ethical and constructive channels as part of the board of education part of education I shall accept the responsibility for my role I shall accept the responsibility for my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district the equity everyation of every student in the school district. I shall foster with the board extensive participation of the community participation of the community. Formulate goals, formulate goals, define outcomes, define outcomes, and set the course for Walking Community Unit School District number 60. and set the course for Walking Community Unit School District number 60. I shall assist in establishing a structure and an
040environment. I shall assist in establishing a structure environment environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework through a sound organizational framework. I shall strive to ensure I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement. a continuous assessment of achievement uh and all conditions affecting the education of our children and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law in compiance with state law. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students in our community schools. I shall serve on behalf of you in our community on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision for the Walkagen public schools to advance
041the vision for community school. And I shall strive to work together with the district superintendent to lead the school district. And I strive to work together with the district school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created toward the vision board has created. Fostering excellence for every student in the areas of fostering every of academic skills academic skills knowledge knowledge citizenship citizenship and personal development purpose of development. Congratulations. [Applause] As reflected at item 4B of our agenda, it is my honor to confirm those members who have taken the oath of office are officially recognized as members of the board of educa of board of education. Congratulations. [Applause] As reflected on item 5A of our agenda, it is my honor to call upon the members of the board to nominate one or more members to
042serve as board president. Nominate Michael Rodriguez. Yep. I would like to make a nomination of Miss Anita Hannah. We need a second for each one. What? I'm coming. No, that's how we did it last time. All right. Are there any more nominations for president? Seeing that there are no more nominations, nominations are closed and we will call for a vote in the order of nominations. The question is, shall Michael Rodriguez be the president of the board? I will now call for a roll call vote on the question. Miss Fabian, yes. Miss Hannah, no. Miss Lensing, no. Excuse me. Point of order. The way we did it last time when I came on the board is we had comments and questions before we did the voting. So, I'm confused on why we're changing the format this
043year. Do we need comments and questions? We did it last time. If you would like comments and questions, I'm sure we can put that in there. It's not in the script that Miss Vanderbrook left us. And my understanding it was from it was from the previous year. So previously when I joined the board I had comments and questions. There had been no questions previously and I asked each of the candidates three questions which they both answered. You abs you absolutely did. So we can put that in there. Okay. Thank you. So they came in after they nominated them and you were able to ask questions. Yeah. Okay. So, and there was only one nomination at that time. So, that could be part of I'm going to circle back before we call the vote and I
044am going to ask for comments or questions um for the board for Mr. Michael Rodriguez. Okay. Um so, I have three questions that I asked when I first um became a board member that I'm going to remain consistent with. So, Mr. Rodriguez, what qualities do you possess that you believe will make you effective in the role that you are nominated for? Well, I've served on the board before. Is this um Yes. Yeah. I've been a member of the board of education. I served for 12 years and um I uh believe that um during that time I demonstrated leadership abilities and um uh I have the motivation to work to improve the uh school district and the programs in the school district. I am a father of nine children. Five of them actually went through the
045Walkagan school system. They all graduated from Walkagan High School, went on to college, and I have grandchildren that have gone through the district and three grandchildren that are currently in the district. And my motivation is to do the best that I can to make the school district the best that it can be and provide the best education for all of our children. Okay. My second question is, how do you intend to ensure that respect and accountability are keystones for both how or so are keystones for how both this board and their two employees, our superintendent and our legal council operate? Please repeat that. Sure. How do you intend to ensure that respect and accountability are keystones for how both this board and their two employees, our superintendent and legal counsel operate? Okay. Okay. Well, first
046of all, example. Actually setting an example for accountability and respect. Treating people with respect. Being accountable for the the responsibilities that I have on the board and expecting no less of everybody else that uh that we're involved with, whether it's the superintendent or her staff or teachers or um or students. Okay. And then my last question is, how dedicated are you to ensure that student achievement, teacher and staff support, accountability, appropriate resource acquisition and allocation, safety, culture, and climate serve as the guiding pillars for this board of education. Well, that's the oath that we take and I I am dedicated to uh living the oath of office that I took. And then do you want me to ask the same questions of Miss Hannah now? Yeah. I I didn't know anything. Okay, Miss Lensine, if
047you want to proceed with Miss Hannah. Uh, so Miss Hannah, what qualities do you possess that you believe will make you an effective in the role that you were nominated for? I have I've been consistently um uh elected by the community um eight eight consecutive times. Um and uh I am dedicated to the education of the children here in district 60. I have I am um intimately involved in one of the biggest issues um that um that that surrounds our children and that is literacy. Literacy. teaching our children uh to read and be proficient in reading. Um I am passionate um about what I do and um the qualifications are my uh my heart for children, my heart for my community that I live in and uh the school district that I attended. my all
048of my family uh members attended, my children, my grandchildren. I still have one um attending um in the district and for all those future students that are to come and that is my commitment and dedication to um what I do as a board member. Thank you. Um, and how do you intend to ensure that respect and accountability are keystones for how both this board and their two employees, our superintendent and legal counsel operate? Well, the holding um holding um the our employees um accountable for um for the work performances, for the um issues and challenges that may come up for the um celebrations um of um our students, celebrations of our staff, but mainly it has to be accountability, real time accountability. Okay. Um and how dedicated are you to ensure that student achievement, teacher
049and staff support, accountability, appropriate resource acquisition and allocation, safety, culture and climate serve as the guiding pillars for this board of education. Um I will I I just took an oath. that oath has been um with me um for um 29 years now and I um I consider that oath uh something sacred to me and I stand by it not only for myself but also as uh for my family uh vowed to them that I would do the best job that I can would never um never embarrass our uh family name and continue to work for the students only. The students are why we all are here and that is my main focus. It will continue to be my main focus. There's no political agenda that I have, never have. Um, and um, I will
050operate in that manner. Um, thank you both for answering my questions. I nominated Miss Hannah for board president um of the Walkagan Community Unit School District number 60 board of education because in this time of uncertainty both nationally and locally, we need someone with experience to carry us through. Miss Hannah has faithfully served this community for nearly 30 years and with that comes a wealth of knowledge as it relates to the Illinois school code and functions and governance of a school board. She has consistently attended meetings and is aware of the goings on in our district. Unfortunately for the other candidate nominated, from his words himself, he's not sure what's going on in the school district. That was done at our student union. So that was of great concern to me. Um for the few
051times our prior board president wasn't able to make it to a meeting, Miss Hannah was able to step into the role seamlessly, ensuring the meeting was conducted appropriately. At a time when we are in need of rebuilding trust with our community, Miss Hannah has held the community's trust for decades and was even the top vote getter in this recent election, showing our community has faith in her. Miss Hannah has the history of Walkegan public schools to look back on and constantly advocates for a better future for all of our students. Most impactful, Miss Hannah has spearheaded the science of reading initiative. Not only has her focused work on literacy brought benefits to our students, but to students statewide. And for these reasons, I believe she's the best option for a board president. Thank you. Thank
052you. Thank you, Miss Lindsay. Does any other board member have any questions at this time? No. Okay. So, at this time, I'm going to call the question. I will now call for a roll call vote on the question for Michael Rodriguez as the president of the board. Miss Fabian, yes. Miss Hannah, no. Miss Lensing, no. Mr. McBride, no. Miss Ramirez, yes. Mr. Riddle, yes. Mr. Rodriguez, yes. We do have a qu four board members who voted. So, it is my honor to confirm that Michael Can we all the other vote, please, too? All my vote, too. I thought we all What's the point? What's the point of that? First, for the point of order, it's the first one that gets four votes, right? But I never got any votes. It's the first one. So, as
053soon as he got the first four Yeah. So, it is my honor to confirm that Michael Rodriguez has been elected president of the school board. Mr. President, I turn the meeting over to you. [Applause] What? That's coming up. We do. We do. Mr. Euing, would you like your name tag? Yeah, we'll get it. Yeah, it's right there. Thank you very much. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone in the community that voted for me. Thank you for your confidence in me and thank you for my fellow board members for electing me president of the board of education. During the time that I was on the board of education, I served for 12 years. I was president for eight years. I didn't miss one meeting during my time. I showed real dedication and I continue
054to show the same dedication uh during the next four years. Next item on the agenda is election of board vice president. Board President, I'd like to move uh and nominate uh Karolina Fabian. We have a motion. I'd like I'd like to nominate Christine Lensing. Do we have a second? Oh, I nominate Miss Anita Hannah for vice president. Did you Did you hear the second over here? Do we need a second? We had a second over here. Okay. Second. That the second for Carolina. Oh, she had said that. Yeah. I don't know if you acknowledged it. Hello. Am I coming through? It's on. Yes, it's on. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Do we need to do a second for Do we need a second for each um nomination? Yes. Okay. We had nomination for Miss Lensing. Do
055we have a second? Yes. Yes, we did. Okay. Who seconded it? I did. Okay. No, she she made You made a nomination. Oh, yeah. I made a nomination for you. Mhm. Yes. Do we have a second? Yes. Yes. She second the nomination. Miss Lensing seconds the nomination. Okay. Okay. We also had a nomination for Miss Anita Hannah as vice president. Do we have a second for that nomination? Second. Second by Mr. McBride. Okay. Do we have any comments or questions before we call the role for vote? Yes. So, Miss Fabian, I will ask the same three questions. What qualities do you possess that you believe will make you effective in the role that you are nominated for? I have over two decades of experience in educational environment. Um, and so I have a wealth of
056knowledge when it comes to school policy, code, procedures. Currently I work at the state level and so I get informed of lots of grants and trajectories and trends within the school district. Um so as far as qualities I'm very dedicated to being a lifelong learner and instilling that into other children. I also am a parent in this district and have various family members and friends that work in the district and um are dedicated to just inspiring our children. Um and I've been with the district for about two decades now. um in several capacities. Uh how do you intend to ensure that respect and accountability are keystones for both our board and our two employees, our superintendent and legal counsel operate? So I agree with Mr. Rodriguez. It's about how we present ourselves. We have to
057be the role models for that integrity and respect. Um and that we have to show that accountability. Um and so I intend to continue doing that. I think um those that know me know that I've been doing that consistently throughout my time in the district, not just as a board member, but even when I was a staff member. And how dedicated are you to ensure that student achievement, teacher and staff support, accountability, appropriate resource acquisition and allocation, safety, culture and climate serve as the guiding pillars for this board of education. So apart from our oath, I am a parent as I stated before and I have other children and children that I have taught that are still in this district and so I'm highly dedicated. The fact that I left the district and came back
058to become a school board member should tell you how dedicated I am to this community. In addition to being a school board member, I also serve on the foundation. I serve in various community roles and I consistently give back um and I'm willing to partner and foster relationships throughout our community to ensure that we are able to not to do these things not just alone and in a silo as walking public schools but to also work with our city and other community organizations because I fully believe that we do need those partnerships in order to hit all of those pillars in addition to working alongside with a lot of these staff members again understanding their needs. needs and their strengths. We have wonderful people that work here and we have amazing children. Um, and so
059again, holding them up and lifting them up, I think I have proven my dedication to this city. Thank you. And Miss Hannah, do your answers stand as you presented for board president if you were to serve as vice president? They do. Okay. And Miss Lensing, can we ask you to answer the same questions? Sure. I think that's very fair. Um, I do appreciate the nomination, Miss Hannah. Um, with regard to what qualities I possess that I feel, um, would make me effective in this role, I think that I consistently push forward the board to be transparent with our community, to be communicative, to ensure that we're building relationships and rebuilding that trust, to making sure that we're pouring love into our students. These are the things that we need to focus on right now with
060where we are headed toward this country. So yes, there is value in expertise in other areas, but we need some sort of guidance or champion to make sure that these are always at the forefront and I'm not consistently hearing that um across the board. So I I would hope that as vice president that could be a louder sounding board for myself. Um my intentions to ensure that respect and accountability are keystones. Those are things that I've been saying from the beginning from something as basic as saying someone's name correctly. Giving people their titles. It's Dr. Cesario. It's Dr. Bubbleitz. It's Dr. Uh, yes, Dr. Field. I was going to say TEA, but I was like, that's not our last name. Um, and accountability is something I've been asking for for a very long time. It's
061what my team championed when we were trying to be on the board when I first got elected. And it's something that I want to see. And it's not just from one person. It's from everyone. If there were two wrongs, then you don't address one wrong. Both need to be addressed. And so those things that I continue to champion both in front of the public and behind the scenes um with regard to how dedicated I am to ensure that the stars platform continues while I'm a board member. That's always been my guiding pillars. These are the basics. Yes, it's part of the oath, but it's what our kids deserve. It's what our community deserves. It's what our staff deserves. Um and I don't think I've done anything to show anyone that I intend to do any
062differently. Thank you. Okay, we are going to call the question or let me ask is there any other are there any other questions? Any other board members? Um, Miss Hannah, I would just like to ask um, Miss Fabian that um um, you are often times not in attendance and how would you um, how how effective would the position be with the um, with the apps? So, as you know, Miss Hannah, I was not in attendance because I had personal family matters that I had to take care of and those family matters are improving. Um, I don't share that with the board because that is personal to me as well as with my health. So, um, there are things that I've been doing to improve both situations and they have been improving and so I am
063dedicated to being here. Thank you. I have one additional question only because you serve both with ISBY and for the board of education. Um my only concern is when we're out at conferences, how are you going to distinguish when you're being our board vice president or a board member versus being an employee with ISBY? I do it now. So whether or not I was a vice president, president, secretary, if I'm a board member, I'm a board member. If I'm as Isisby, I'm Isby. Um, me working at ISBY is actually an asset to this board because I am privy to a lot of changes and what's going on a lot faster than other districts are. Um, with ISBY, I am also very careful. If I am at a conference as an ISBY employee, I have a
064label that says that. If I'm at a conference as a board member, I have a label that says that. Um so there is not ever um you know I present myself that way and I do let people know that yes I am both but when I am talking to them I present myself as I'm a board member just like when you're a parent and you go to a school you present yourself as I'm Christine Lensing a parent not board member right so there's a way to communicate that out with people so that they understand what role you're playing in the moment thank Thank you. Anything else? Okay, we're going to call the question of um here. Okay. Of the nomination of Miss Fabian as vice president of the board of education. Can we have a
065roll call, please? Yes. Miss Hannah? No. Miss Wenszing? No. Mr. McBride? Yes, Miss Ramirez. Yes, Mr. Riddle. Yes, President Rodriguez. Yes. Motion carries. We now have a new vice president, Miss Carolina Fabian. [Applause] Congratulations. Next item on the agenda, item 5C, is election of the board secretary. Do we have a nomination? Yeah, we need a nomination to determine the will of the board to confirm the nominee to serve as board secretary. We need a nomination. I nominate our superintendent, Miss Teresa Placencia. We have a uh nomination by Miss Lensing. Second. We have a second. Second by Mr. Riddle. Any discussion? Can we have a 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. Thank you. Item [Music]
066six. Item six, a approval of the board meeting calendar from May 13, 2025 to April 27th, 2027. At this time, I'd like to ask Mr. Ala Jacis to come up to propose the board meeting calendar. We're still learning. We got it. So, good evening, uh, board of education board president. Congratulations to our newest members. Uh, hello members of the community. So, this evening, I'm going to try and quickly walk through the proposal that is before you for um our board meeting structure adjustment. Uh, we are proposing a slight adjustment to our board meeting structure. There are two options that you saw in board docs. There's option one that I'm going to talk about and option two which is essentially what we're doing currently. So option one is well to just kind of start the setting
067of the board calendar is one of the first items that a board of education does when they are first seated and you guys are all aware of this and that's what we're here to do tonight. You're going to be setting your regular board meeting calendar from May through April of 2027 for those two years. um just as we do every year the calendar determines how often the board is meeting um how they make decisions are made where we receive updates engaging with the community etc. the current structure just so uh everyone is aware right now there's three separate dates where we conduct essentially three meetings you've got on the second Tuesday your regular main governing board which is a or a business meeting different districts call it different things just on the third Tuesday we
068got the student achievement and operations services committee of the whole meetings technically two meetings but they fall together on the same day fourth Tuesday is similar to the second Tuesday where we've got our regular main governing board business meetings and then you got some exceptions in like uh March July in December because of holiday school breaks. There's also three budget workshops as you guys are are aware traditionally early May, early June, early August and then as we all know there's special meetings as needed throughout the year. Uh so what's being proposed is a two-day threeme model. So under this proposed model the board would continue to host three meetings on most months but instead of on three dates it would be consolidated over two dates. So the second Tuesday would serve we'd have like a
069regular meeting that we're calling and the name can change a micro meeting for now. So it's still a regular meeting of the board of education. It's going to have a closed session. It's going to have an open session and it's going to be followed by the operational services and student achievement committee meetings. So all of that would occur on one evening. That meeting that first meeting would be generally one hour primarily for close session to go over some legal items. Um we're going to get into all of that on some future slides. And then you'd open up the committee meetings which are going to be held you know traditionally as we know the committee meetings. On the fourth Tuesday of the month we're proposing the regular um governing meeting as as we kind of come
070to know it over the years. Exceptions would again March um and December we're going to get into what that would mean and July. And then special meetings and budget workshops will continue to be scheduled. So what is a regular micro meeting? As I said before it's it's a regular meeting of the board. It's streamlined. It's regularly scheduled as what that's what the board is going to be taking action on tonight if you choose this uh model and it'll be held prior to the committee meetings. It's you'll be convening in close section session for timely discussions. Um as the board knows main things personnel legal some student matters that might come up in our timely because we know um having at least two close sessions a month is important because of the business that we're getting
071to and because of the important of giving the board timely updates on matters. Um you'll then have a condensed open session where we may see some things from uh like paying the bills. That's important. There may be occasional things from finance or HR. Um but we won't be putting we're going to try to avoid putting items uh that may normally appear in purchases and contracts. Those are going to be coming in that fourth meeting following um their discussion in the committee meetings. Key features the main thing scheduled for predictability. It it's increasing flexibility. And we say increases flexibility because anyone who's been on the board knows we do a fair share of spe of special meetings, right? And often times it's kind of difficult to find those dates where the special meetings can be held
072because we have a few regularly scheduled meetings. Just to put on everyone's radar, your next special meeting will probably be student board member interviews in early June. So by freeing up a Tuesday, that's going to allow for those uh special meetings. And also it's it's maintaining compliance with the open meetings act. Some exceptions. um July, we know we don't generally have meetings in July. We will be having one board meeting in July. Now, that regular meeting at the end of the month, March, November, and December, instead of having it on the fourth um Tuesday, and previously, we were just not holding that second meeting in December. And in March, we're going to move it to the third Tuesday. So on the third Tuesday of March and December because of breaks and November because of Thanksgiving
073is when we will have that uh that regular longer meeting as again special meetings can be scheduled. Budget workshops May, June and August just so everyone has it on their calendar. The first budget workshop for this board is going to be on Monday May 12th which will be the day before the first regular meeting that you get together. Just for um you can see visually how it looks. Next slide shows the calendars. Your green dates are your micro meetings and your uh committee meetings. Your blue dates are the the regular meetings. Um structure highlights. It enables timely close and open session. This the some of the struct highlights of the micro meetings. It's going to enable for some timely close and open session action. Um two monthly meetings for for votes as needed. It respects
074the time of the board members. It respects the time of the staff. Um, and also the two dates a month kind of matches many peer districts. We looked at some other districts on the next slide to see what they're doing. And so these are all larger districts, unit districts with north of 12,000 students in the state of Illinois. And they're all on that two meeting a month, two gatherings of the board a month. And it kind of varies how they do it. Some will do two business meetings, no committee meetings. Some will do a business plus a committee. Um there's some and you could see it it's in more detail on the verbiage that exists with the agenda item. Some will do a brief meeting before the committee meeting as well. And that concludes the
075presentation on what we're proposing. Obviously the board has the option to go with this which is option one in your board docs. You can also go with option two which is still in there and has a full list of calendar to maintain the current structure which would be regular board meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday and your committee meetings continuing on the third with some of those exceptions that exist at December and March and July. Okay, thank you Nick Nicholas for all of that information. However, um that's board work to set the um the parameters, the structure. Mhm. Um of our meetings, when we're going to have them, all of that. That that's board work, sir. And I mean, I appreciate everything that you presented, but actually it's board work. We didn't do it
076when when we got in. We just gave the calendar and voted on it or we just received the calendar and voted on it. Right. Mr. Act 2013. It was already by whom though. Mr. Aljacus, can you explain um as I had asked you um I actually brought up the concern that Miss Hannah brought up and you gave me an explanation about the proposals have to come. I'll let you speak to that. We as an administration are not selecting the model. We are proposing models as is generally we make the administration will make a recommendation and board of education has the opportunity to vote. If the board of education wants to go with the recommendation, they can vote for it. If they prefer to go with option two, they can. Traditionally, what's happened uh since 2013
077at least. Prior to 2013, we had the two board meetings a month. there weren't the committee meetings. After 2013, we started adding that third committee meeting and the board of education. Every two years, we would bring forward essentially the same calendar for the board to vote. Um, seeing some of the changing ways that other districts are operating, seeing some of the effectiveness that's out there, we wanted to bring forward another proposal for the board to um look at, to discuss. Obviously, it's the board's prerogative on which of the two structures they feel best fits the needs of the school district. We we don't have Miss Lindsay, what's in the agenda? Um, so here are my concerns, right? There's a lot of things that this board needs to get through. There's a lot of discussion. oftentimes
078we have to ask follow-up questions because we're not given all of the information up front. We've had Mr. McBride, our prior board president, talk about how long these meetings go. So now we're removing a meeting and we're potentially either increasing the length of these two meetings that we're going to have during a month or we're going to be making decisions with less information. Both of which give me concern. So, I don't think that this is a good option. If we can get to a point where everything's streamlined, we have a template with presenting the board with information. Most of that information is available. If there's questions asked ahead of time, that's communicated to the public. So, we don't have to go through the rigma role to reasking them in public so that they're aware of
079the details that are supporting our decisions. I understand there's different understandings of that, but based on my first cube experience, that is something that should be happening. We shouldn't be having these questions outside of it. Um, until we get that under wrap, I think removing a meeting is going to be at a disservice to this board and to this district. Miss Fabian. So, in going to conferences and meeting with other school districts, even nationally, I have yet to run into one that has three meetings. There is no reason that our school district could not function with two meetings. We used to do them prior. Um I I think you said 2013 is when it changed into three meetings, but I remember there was a time when we had two board meetings. I think um Miss
080Lensing I understand what you're saying as far as you know I don't think that we are going to make decisions with less information. I think it is our job to do that research to look at the agenda ask the questions to look at the committee meeting agenda and come prepared to ask the questions so that we do get our questions answered ahead and prior to the meeting vote. We have been told time and time again from our um IASB representative that these meetings are a meeting in the public, right? So, this is where we're just conducting business and we should be coming already ready to vote, understanding what we're voting on, having that knowledge, and it should be streamlined. Um, but I think that's something that we have to work on as a board to
081be a little bit more effective. And if it's because we're not getting information from administration, then that's where we have to put accountability on them to follow up in a more timely manner or guess what? We don't we take that item off of that agenda until they get it right. But I think that's something that we need to be accountable ourselves in making this process more streamlined and us doing the homework and making sure that we understand what we're voting on prior to coming here. So my push back on that Miss Fabian is that our representative says that I've gone to conferences multiple and asked others about their interpretation of OMA and asking questions and the this is a meeting in public and it differs from our representative and we are at a point I
082don't want to be interrupted. We are at a point where we do not have trust with this community time and time again. We lack trust with this community and now we want to go ahead and have our brand new board and make changes and they're going to feel again that we're rushing through decisions. Not everything's transparent and there are going to be aspects, yes, that aren't for public consumption because of sensitive nature of that information. However, if we're going to build bridges, you have to have information. You have to be proactive about it. And if it's not in the agenda, people do their homework and prepare for the meetings and read through the material and there's still going to be questions. Absolutely. Again, generally I have seen that sometimes we don't come here completely prepared.
083I think that is our responsibility to come with the information ready to vote. And again, for us to build the trust, we're going to continue to do that committee meeting. We're going to continue to allow the public to ask those questions and for us to also be transparent and ask those questions during the committee meetings. So, I'm not understanding why we have to have three meetings when we've been able to function with two. Uh because we're in a different place in time. Mr. Alazakis, can you confirm a question for me? So, when we have these two meetings, we have like the micro meeting and then we have the meeting um that the public gets to partake in I wasn't searching for the word. So with with that situation, are all of the agenda items that
084we are going to be voting on at the business meeting going to be made public and available for the community to ask about during the committee meeting or are we going to have new items added on to this business meeting agenda? Are we referencing the regular micro meeting that would exist prior to the committee meetings or are we referencing the fourth Tuesday of the month meeting that would exist in similar fashion as it does today following committee meetings? I'm talking about the new proposed schedule. So the micro so the the micro meeting the objective in the discussions was to that who had to limit the amount of items that do appear on the open session agenda. You might pay bills if there's something um that's pressing through personnel. Uh you might see that, but ultimately
085the agenda is going to be relatively light. If you look at our first Tuesday of the month meetings right now, because we are really intentional of ensuring that we're bringing items forward at the committee meetings at student achievement and operations, you'll see that our first meetings of the month are generally fairly light um because we know those aren't items that we have had a chance to discuss with the board to have the board ask questions about, to have our community members who show up to the meetings also ask questions about. And so you don't see very much on those agendas. So that's going to carry over where you're not going to see very much for action on the agendas. What the primary purpose is going to be is to allow the board to continue to
086receive the necessary updates it needs in close session. That's going to be the largest chunk of that meeting so you could discuss personnel issues, student matters, any pressing legal matters in a timely cadence to make sure that too much time does not pass between those for the board. And then as you come into open session, you'll see um a a lighter agenda. There'll still be public comment. Public comment will lead off the meetings before the board goes in to its closed session. And then you'd come in and vote on any items like paying the bills, which we know uh our finance team prefers is done at least twice a month and and then you segue into uh the committee meetings once that meeting is uh completed. Mr. Yeah. You know, I've been sitting here listening
087and how we got to this point because uh every board meeting, we don't go home till 10:00 at night. That's what you were. Let me finish, please. We also have staff that live here, got family at home, and we need to respect that. They got kids and stuff. So to keep our staff here at 10:00 at night and let Carolina say, "I've been to plenty of board meetings and this board know what I'm talking about is right." What we have done, we brought somebody in from Isby to talk to us about this because that person that's been in the district and training board members for she said she never seen nothing like this before and it's up to y'all to do something about it. We didn't did that twice in this district. We we didn't
088did that twice. And I don't care what you say. I know that sitting here at 10:00 at night going over and over talking about the same thing being redundantly then at the end of the day you vote yes. Tell me that's right. Tell me that's right. At the end of the day, you still vote yes, but you keep going over and over talking about the same things redundantly, redundantly, redundantly. And and when you should be conducting business and moving on, but sometime we stay here for one subject talking about I don't care. We might be talking about the the paint on the sidewalk, how it should be painted and ain't painted right. We sat there and talk about that for hour. That don't make no sense. Thank you, Mr. P. Any other comments? I'd like
089to make a motion that we um that we um keep our um original um schedule for our board meetings. Second. Okay. There's a motion on the floor to keep our current schedule. Option That's option two. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion on this motion? Okay. I'd like I I I do. I just want to say it again. And there's public members out there that confronted me all confronted me about why we talk spending one one a certain time or dealing with different situations. And I just say to them, hey, look, you don't hear me sitting there talking about the same thing over and over. And you're absolutely right. But how we got to this point public is because of the fact once again not just me sometime we
090stay we stay sometime we be here till 11 o'clock and I don't know no board at all since I've been to conferences they talk about us and we we just a joke a lot of times like I said there don't make sense for us to be sitting here to no 10:00 at night talking about the same thing over and over and over again again like I said I got to respect our staff they have children and our staff sit there and be looking at us sometime like we ain't got good sense because number one again there's public members out there that come to the board meeting all the time they complain because of the fact that we're talking about one subject we can spend two hours talking about one subject I mean and that subject
091would don't really don't amount to all that conversation that's needed but for some reason I guess I don't know when it's all said and done just for my just for my just from being on this board the years of year I know grandstanding when I see it thank you Mr. Mr. McBride, any other uh comments, questions? Okay. Um President, yeah, can I make can I make a comment? Um uh along with Mr. Bride, Mr. McBride, I have uh respectfully been at um conferences for quite a number of years and talking to other boards that are similar size to ours. And when we do talk to them, they do say, "You guys um spend an awful lot of time in meetings. We conduct business um and our meetings seem to run more efficiently than yours. We've
092had experts coming in from ISBY or IASB, I'm sorry. Um and they have told us as a board we can improve the way we do our meetings. I would be willing I think to try this uh new Yes ma'am. Respectfully, I would be willing to try this even if it was only for 6 months um to see if we could improve our meetings because we have done uh a lot of work with our IASB IASB representative. Um and she said it is up to you to make your meetings more efficient if you want to do that. Um your district can big large districts run very efficiently um with just a couple meetings a month. So I would be willing to try this. It was tried evidently um before I was ever on the board. Um
093and I presume it went on for many years and and um so I would be willing to do that uh because I think it would it would force us to con to be more specific and to do less talking and possibly red do the research ahead of time and then ask specific questions. Um so I I'm going to vote in favor well I would be willing to propose that we go try the new schedule for at least six months. Another comment from Miss Hannah. Okay. I just want to say that what what what we're forgetting board um member and community that um we have heard tonight about um about the conditions of our district and where we are in terms of the lack of trust um in the community. We have uh we have numerous
094um issues that district 60 faces that all those other districts don't face. We have um we we have I mean just they're they're consistent constant issues that come up, staff issues, um um uh programs, student achievement, lack of student achievement. We have different issues that we have to um talk about, discuss, vote on unlike other districts that are functioning properly, that are not dysfunctional. And so we need to keep our board meetings where they are. And one of the things regarding how long the meeting takes, I've been sitting on this board for just about 30 years, 29, 30 years. The length of the agenda makes a board member board meeting longer. When you are putting every any and everything on the agenda to get it passed, that's where conversations come in. That's where we can
095do the consent agenda and all that, but that's still we have an obligation to talk about the public monies that we are spending and that's not going to take micro conversation. And so I stand with my um with my motion to keep the uh meetings as they are. Miss Lindsay, I think at the end of the day, it's going to be the majority of the board, right? And that's understood. I think an element that I would continue that I would hope the board seriously considers this time is if we're going to have our public meetings and we want the goal of them to be taking action and moving along. If there have been questions asked and there's no staff information, there's no student information, there's no close session material information sent with those questions, if
096they're asked in advance, it shouldn't be a big deal to put it as an attachment to the agenda item. So then people can get the information. We don't have to have the full conversation in public and we can keep things moving. So either way we go, that is my recommendation for how we do our meetings is to have that piece available so that the public can then see that information and we can keep it moving. Okay. Um I agree with Miss Hannah the comment that you made about this being board business. This is definitely board business and this is why um the board will make the decision on this. The fact that the administration brought this agenda, proposed agenda forward is due to the many um requests of board members because of the way that
097the meetings uh go on for hours and um a lot of times with a lot of redundancies and this was an attempt to try to streamline the meetings and um I think that's a noble goal. I think it's something that we should work for. I'd like to see I'd like to see this pass. I think it's going to be a challenge because we need to uh we need to actually uh improve the process of the whole the way that the board operates. So, I'm in agreement with everybody on that. Um I have a question um about the micro meetings. Okay. Um the micro meeting shows that meeting first and then after that the um um committee meetings. That's correct. So it would essentially be on that evening technically three meetings and we say technically three
098meetings because the micro meeting is a it's a standalone regular meeting of the board of education and that would be followed by the two committee meetings student achievement and operations and as you all know those are technically two meetings that always occur um backtoback right the only uh conflict I see with that is that when you have your committee meetings after the regular meeting if there's something in the committee meeting meeting that is timely and you really want to get it voted on, you don't have a chance to hear that before the regular meeting takes place, right? Or the vote takes place. In in those situations, similar to how we've been operating the past couple years, uh the committee meeting is held, the item is discussed at at whatever length the board and the public
099decides to discuss the item, and then it's brought forward for vote the following week. So, it would be operating in a similar vein. Now, we we also know that you are permitted to vote on an item without it coming forward to the committee meeting first. So, should there ever be an instance um where we have something pressing and we want to bring it to the board to vote on it because we know that happens from time to time, right? And not everything comes to the committee. Sometimes you just need to vote and it we wouldn't need to do a special meeting for it. It could be put on that agenda, right? And if that's the case, as we aim to do, we would be sure that the information that appears on the public board docs
100is robust so that individuals both on the board and in the community are well aware of what we're proposing, the ramifications of such before bringing it forward for official vote in accordance with the uh how the open meetings act requires that we function. Mhm. And so that puts a burden on the administration to make sure that the material in the committee meetings is brought forward in a timely manner so that it doesn't have to have an emergency. That's that's correct. the burden comes on the administration and I think as an administration um we and it was stated this evening and it's probably accurate need to improve some of our functions and how we do that and we look forward with working with the entirety of the board to improve those functions so that we could
101make sure that we are um working more efficiently not just for the board but for our staff and the community that's something we we owe the community and we are committed to making efforts to improve that I would like to see the uh functioning of the board uh become streamlined, become more efficient and um I think that the uh the schedule this proposed schedule that was presented to us is a good is a good uh model. Um I would like to see that implemented and uh with the caveat that uh we have to see how it goes. Yeah. Have to see if it works and if there are problems with it then you know with the idea that we could always go back and amend the calendar if we had to. Right. Board President, can
102I say one? Yes sir. Mr. Riddle. Um, uh, Mr. Alajakis, did I not also hear you say that one of the reasons that we would be doing this is in the past when we needed special meetings, we couldn't seem to squeeze them in, uh, this would give us that third Tuesday where we could do things like superintendent goals and things that we had to do that we've we've put off, you know, for weeks because we can't get us together. So it gives us that open uh possibility that you know we've got a second the second uh Tuesday the third th Tuesday is open for these special things that come up. Yeah, that that's correct. As the staff member who's often tasked with polling the board to find special meetings. I know it can be a
103challenge at times because we often will have that that one free Tuesday and and we try to not overload the board. We want to be respectful of your time. So, this will allow um where the timing is right that third Tuesday of the month to be able to schedule those special meetings. And we know some of those items that we need to probably be doing a better job of making sure those are scheduled in advance. Um things like goal setting, evaluations, things of that nature, that third Tuesday is going to free that up to be able to handle that business. and those will continue to operate as um any of our special meetings do as whether they're in open or close session for no other reason. I support this change because we have often times
104not done what should have been done timely and it becomes late because we can't get together. We can't get the board together. We're meeting three times a month already and then there's a you know a fourth time and we just can't get people together for it and we could do these things that need to be done timely. Special things that come up because we have that third open. Thank you. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the motion? The motion is to um support option two um which is maintaining the current uh schedule. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Can we have a roll call vote, please? Miss Fabian, no. Miss Hannah, yes. Miss Lensing, yes. Mr. McBride, no. M Ramirez, no. Mr. Riddle, no. President Rodriguez. No motion fails. Okay.
105I'd make a motion uh board president to uh select the proposed new schedule which is one item one. Motion by Mr. Riddle. Second to support option number one. Motion Riddle, second by Miss Fabian. Any discussion on this motion? Yeah, I'd just like a question. Ask a question to the board members. Are you all aware of this? Uh were you all aware of this before tonight? It was on the agenda. Yeah. So you all would have already been aware of it. Yes. Yes. We study the agenda. Uh I just want to make a comment and that is that uh someone said that you know after 6 months if it don't work you go back. But I believe that you uh give everything a try especially with under the circumstances why we even got to this point.
106Not only give it a try, but is the challenge to make us become more efficient. Right. Right. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Can we have a roll call vote, please? Miss Fabian? Yes. Miss Hannah? No. Miss Lensing? No. Mr. McBride? Yes. Omar? Yes. Mr. Ramirez? Yes. Mr. Riddle? Yes. President Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries. We have now adopted option number one for new schedule. Okay. We have another um public comment. Do we have a signup sheet here? Thank you. Okay. Just the um additional names on the bottom. No, this is all this is all. Okay. Because we have all the names. Some of these people spoke earlier. Um Ray Vukovich, good evening. Uh at the earlier meeting, I congratulated the outgoing board members. Uh now, I'd like to congratulate the new members and
107those of you that are serving. Uh one item that you did tonight, you elected a board president, a board vice president. You also reelected the board secretary. I'd like to point out, especially to the new members, that there's been a a problem over the last four years with that board secretary being continuously late and getting the board minutes to the board of education and getting them filed on time, which technically puts you in violation of state law. I hope this board uh monitors that and doesn't allow that to happen again because that's an embarrassment to this district. Uh, Mr. McBride, I agree with you about the staff members that have to sit here and wait uh for meetings to get over. The last two committee meetings, uh, the board decided to to shoehorn in uh,
108another, uh, closed session, both meetings, two months in a row that went over an hour late. You had staff members sitting in the audience waiting. you had audience members or public members that came to the meeting to participate that sat there because these meetings were called. I would hope that you don't go trying to shoehorn more special uh close sessions in on these meetings because it's not fair to the staff and it's not fair to the public. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vuvich. Um Rel Yuing. No, thank Thank you, sir. Javier Granda, I'm gonna come and give you all something. Thank you. Uh hello committee members, board members, superintendent. My name is Sabier Granda. I'm here representing WA High School JC and I would like to formally invite you all to the awards night we
109will be having for JC. This is an event designed to recognize the cadetses of the bulldog regiment for all they've done through the year. This is also where they assign new positions to the new leadership which uh will be running the next year JTC. Uh it would be appreciated for all you'all to show up as well as the superintendent has an award that she uh gives out every year and I would like to see you all there if possible. Um and that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Rayan Edwards. Good evening community. I don't even really want to talk to this boy cuz I don't know. Maybe it's me cuz I come to all of these meetings. But boy, y'all know y'all good. Baby, you done come into our district and
110you didn't gangster our city like we not even paying attention. But I'm going to talk to my people tonight. Jeff and I need you to pay attention. Side hustling. You voted for everything to protect your child and you sacrificed 13,000 students for this mess. Then y'all recognize that Rodriguez, see you, Mr. Rodriguez and you, Miss Hannah, y'all brought this cancer to our city. It didn't infected everything that's going on in our community because ain't nobody coming here. Ain't no business coming here if the school district is not performing. Miss M Ramirez, I'm so disgusted with you because me and you got a lot of conversation right here in my telephone. Well, you spoke deadly about Carolina Fabian disgustingly. But I see you got right up on this board and got right in line. This is
111what y'all call an opportunist. And then you want to be the vice president. The nerve of you. How many meetings have you missed since you've been on the board? Cuz I ain't got my notepad here cuz I definitely got a count. Responsible. Didn't your son just bring a a fake gun in our school? And you want us to trust you with our monies of our community and you can't even properly run your household? Dear, I'm so disgusted. 47 years in this community and this is what y'all give me. My kids can't read. They can't write. They don't know how to do math. I don't want to hear about progress cuz Rodriguez, didn't you give us us a then you give us a resonation? You didn't care then, huh? Last piece of order your business was
112getting this building together. So, it was only right for y'all to have this first meeting in this building. I know a lot of y'all don't like the way I speak, and that's fine. But I'm well educated, very knowledgeable. I pay very good attention, and I do a lot of good research. And I'm putting all of y'all on notice. Jeff, I'm so disgusted. You broke my heart tonight, sir. Because all my life for 47 years, I've respected you. And once upon a time, you did care about these kids. See, Mr. Riddle never cared. He pretended in the county jail cuz he was getting paid to deal with us black folk. He never cared. Outside of that, he ain't never walked in our community. He ain't never sat at a table with none of us. You ain't
113never came to them Black Babies event. and I've invited you to many. Stand by cuz Ray Ray ain't not done. We just getting started. Good evening and congratulations. Randy Sebecki. All right. Good evening. So, as I stated earlier, uh we had a student bring a lookalike weapon to school at Jack Benny. That student of a board member sitting up here. How come the rules are different? So, I put in a foyer request and I'm going to read that foyer request because the math ain't mapping on this foyer request. So, I asked in the last 10 years the number of students that have been expelled from school for having a lookalike weapon. Four. And all four were expelled, including the kindergartener. Two, the number of expulsions hearings for lookalike guns at school and how many have
114been modified versus expelled in the last 10 years. Every expulsion has an expulsion here. I didn't ask that. Four expulsion hearings for lookalike weapons. None modified. All were expelled. This one is where it gets me. Total number of expulsion hearings in last 10 years for weapons or lookalike weapons that have that were not guns. How many were modified and how many were expelled? There were 513 total in 10 years in this district expulsion hearings in the last 10 years for weapons that look like weapons. Zero zero were modified 10 or sorry nine expelled in the last 10 years. Now I've been to every meeting in the last four years and we have sat here this year there's more it says zero. We have modified more than that this year for lookalike weapons and weapons brought
115to school. So how is the information from the foyer that this district presented me say zero? You guys all just took that oath to office? So ain't none of you ain't none of your kids a different than anyone else's kids in this community. So, I expect it be brought to if it was modified by the superintendent because I see it was not brought to the board for a mandatory expulsion hearing for a lookalike weapon at all. So, it should be and according to you guys cuz you guys are all about following the policies. Remember the last meeting, let's follow our policies. That's why we have them. And Mr. Riddle, Miss Fabin, you voted for those policies to follow those policies. So, let's follow the policies. Same thing with you guys vote about our policies. What
116about handing your ID at that meeting, Mr. Riddle? Right after you said it, you handed your ID to Mr. McBride to get in a secure door in and out. Then you told me after the meeting. Well, you know, you worked at the jail. We did that at the jail. People, hold on. Did you work at the same jail that I worked at? Because central controls all the doors. You have to push one button and go through one door to get through the next door. They all interlock. So, you couldn't hold the door open for somebody else that wasn't authorized. Everything's controlled by cameras and central control. So, see, when you're called out, then you get mad when you're called out cuz you don't follow the same policies. The same rules apply to you as everybody
117else. You make the policies follow. Thank you, Mr. Sebecki. Margaret Krasco. Tonight, Wagan School Board member, Mr. Rodriguez. Michael Rodriguez stated that you're dedicated to your position. However, with all due respect, sir, you in fact dumped your position as school board member in your previous term with no explanation to the community. You dumped your oath to serve the community. Next, Waggan school board member Carolina Fabian. You stated tonight in response to board member Christy Lindsaying, the importance of a board member to be respected to to the importance of the reputation, the importance of their behavior in public. Holy cow. Here we go. Um I recommend that the school board do as a county board member um county board does. They remove a member if they've been absent or zoomed to a meeting more than twice.
118I recommend to remove a board member who has the most DCF complaints or for leaving their minor home alone so they can go in all these conferences. To remove a board member who child continues to bring a weapon or weapon lookalike to school. to remove the board member who's constantly seen drunk as a skunk in public. So embarrassing. To remove a board member whose child constantly is absent and late every darn day to school, but they cover up the school secretary and the president um the principal there. Okay. Um solutions. Um you need to put a time limit. Just as you put three minutes on us, 3 minutes on you. when you do a response, don't let a person talk for for 20 minutes, 3 minutes, that's over. Your your meetings will be finished uh
119right away. And the last thing, it should be mandatory that the superintendent's child attends the school district that she is employed and making zillions of dollars of. It is wrong. And it just tells you she's not dedicated to the to the school district neither. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Kasco. Get the agenda back up. Just waiting to get the agenda back up. Okay. Public comment. Item eight. We have nothing there. Number nine, board member time. Mr. Ramirez. Uh, first and foremost, I would like to thank everyone uh for your support and your dedication to Walkegan Public Schools. Um, I really, um, appreciate everyone's personal support, everyone who's been here for me throughout the years. Um, collaboration and accountability is key when we have to move things forward. Uh, strategically, we can move things forward. Um,
120but that includes everyone in the march. Everyone has a part in what we have to do here. Um, I I hope to serve in a capacity that makes all walkites proud. uh for the fact that I am very proud of the walkites that I have produced um and the work that they continue to do in our community. Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Yes. I'd like to um welcome the new board members. Um and thank you for putting your names forward and and joining us. Um as you know, it's this is a job um that is often thankless, but it is a very important job. We want to thank the outgoing board members who who gave uh a lot of their time to and and all of us here uh care about children in our city. Um
121and we care about our staff uh and and we we try to do the best for this district. Um we've uh we we as board members do visit uh and our schools and do visit activities that our students are doing. Um uh recently I April 17th I visited the tech and trade fair um at Washington campus. Um I was uh very happy with the uh vendors that were there giving our students an an idea of what the the work world is like. Um giving them an opportunity to find out um where they might fit in in our community and as they leave school in in the next few years. Um while I was there I actually met um one of our students who had graduated the year before Elvis and Nera and he told me
122I can I could speak to him about or speak to you rather about um how he got his job at LMT. It's a it's a company in Walkgan um who off of Belvadier um a company that is now owned by a German firm but it was originally started some years ago in Libertyville. moved to Walkgan and uh a year ago he met one of the representatives from that company. Um they make spec uh unique um they look like drill bits but they're not drills. They're high high techch instruments. Um anyway, he is being uh working at that company five days a week. Um and they are sending him to school uh at CLC for three years at no cost to him. He was excited uh that he had met uh these representatives. Um he was
123doubtful he said last year whether he might even graduate. He said I was a poor student. Um, but I I I my teachers had encouraged me to to finish get that diploma and then he said when he got his diploma, he talked with one of the uh counselors and said, you know, I talked with a company that said they were hiring. It was I think it was called LMT and they referred him, gave him the information again and he called that company, went for an interview and was hired and he and his um boss was right there and he said, you know, he is now one of our best students that we're sending to CLC. Um, so I I I just think it was great opportunity for our students to get some ideas. Um, uh,
124about companies in the area, uh, another company that that I didn't even know about, I knew they were they're called Asco Noble. They're a a paint company. Um, they actually make paints. It's down on the lakefront just behind the marina. Um, they were offering jobs. They said, "We are hiring people." And again, they had a former student, not one of ours, unfortunately, but a student from Libertyville who was working with them. She was a representative, had just recently been hired by the company. Um, and they make paints for airplanes. So, it's very specialized paint they make. Um, and they and I asked them, "What are what is their starting salary?" And they said 25 to 2650 an hour. That's their starting salary. Um, and they are looking for uh uh students um that would be
125interested in working for them. Um so anyway, that's that's um one of the the Tekken trade fair that I attended April 17th. Um uh last week I went to the mikvah challenge. Um uh spoke to students who had done projects. I'm sure you may be familiar with the mikvah challenge. It's a great uh project that our students do. Um got some good ideas from students about some of the um concerns that they have about their school or about their community. um and encourage some of them to come to our board meeting and um make a presentation. We have had some in the past that have um come to our board and and further um move their project along and got some uh some of the the concerns that they had um brought them to reality
126u brought them to action so they could move further than just creating their mikvah project. Um, and thank you um for inviting us to the uh JRTC junior ROTC awards banquet. Uh, my wife and I went last year. It's a it's a fabulous uh and a very exciting event. Um, and I would encourage um other board members to attend. Again, the date is May 9th. Um, and we plan to go again this year. Thank you, Mr. McBride. Yes. I want to say uh to the new board members, I looking forward to working with you and uh I just want to speak for myself uh to my board as well as the uh captain audience as the public. Uh I've never thrown stones at nobody. I if I have something to say, I keep it to
127myself. My mother told me if you don't have nothing to say good, don't say nothing at all. And that's not a never board member on here could say that Jeff McBride respected him. I always listen to your opinion and at the time to vote that's I'm I have a right to vote yes or no and I vote according to my conscience and uh I just want to say that long as I sit on this board I'm going to continue to be the same same same person and I'm not going to change. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Pride Santa. I just want to thank everyone for coming out and tonight. Um um I hope was hoping that you all could see more of the building than just the uh first floor, but uh I'm sure at
128some point um the community will be able to um to tour the building um so that you can uh see where um where your tax dollars uh have been spent at. Um, other than that, um, uh, Mr. Rodriguez, welcome. Um, Miss Ramirez, welcome. And we got a lot of work to do. And the only thing I'm saying, I'm going to stay passionate about my work, what I do here on the board. And there's going to be times when I'm going to get vocally passionate, but that's just who I am. And my passion is for the benefit. I'm not apologizing. Um, very un unapologetically. Um, but we are here for students, for our students education. We are not here. We are not here to promote to hang on to continue the road that we have been
129on which in my opinion in my expert opinion as a board member that um we we the we need to go in a different direction. I said it before, I'll say it again. There's major changes that need to take place. And just because we're in this brand new building, the issues outside this building still exist. And so that those are the things that we need to be focus focusing on. not one person, not was beneficial to one person, but to our school district. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hannah, Miss Lindsing. Um, good evening everyone. Um, congratulations to our new and returning board members. Um, I think one of the focus points of this reconvened board or reorganized board is to really work on respect. Respect amongst the board, respect with the staff, respect with our
130community, respect with our students. No one is up here grandstanding. We are all here to advocate for the children in this district. I am tired of going to other communities and hearing trash talked about this city. We have great kids. This board should be pouring love into those children. Our staff, our teachers, our custodial, our secretaries, our pair of professionals, everyone should be pouring love into these kids because they deserve it. So that needs to be our focus is making sure they get what they need and they get the support that they deserve. So I hope we do take advantage of a board retreat. Miss Hannah has been saying this since before I was on the board and it needs to happen because if we can't get it together as a group, we're not going
131to get it across the finish line for these kids. and that's not fair to them. Um, in terms of some great things, some speaking of pouring love into kids, um, was able to go to the Moana performances. Um, I feel like the Walk Pack um, group within our district is doing a great job year after year. The audio was way better this year. We could hear the kids. It was great. Um, so it's it's Yes, thank you. Um, and I I know there's gonna be more performances to come. There are auditions for the next show, which is going to be Finding Nemo happening on May 15th. So, please check the socials for the QR code to get your kids involved with those. I am going to recommend that we start to look to expand and
132have maybe another program maybe for older kids and younger kids cuz I'm not going to lie, 60 to 90 kids to manage in a performance is a lot. So the love is there, the interest is there. Let's get them the opportunities so everyone can build and shine. Um I was also able to attend the Carmen Buckner Glow Show. those amazing. It was amazing. The team did a great job. The students art was fabulous. They did like glow face paint. It was really interactive. So, I really commend Carmen Buckner. It was a great job. Um, I was also able to go to Cook's Glow Show and it was in tandem with their spotlight on their second and fourth graders. Um those kids did a really good job dressing up as famous people and giving the facts
133behind um their biographies. It was just great to see. It was it was really good. Very touching. Oh, I that's fine. Um it's a board member time. It's my time. I didn't get to say it last time. I got cut short. And then I was also able to join the middle school music festival. Um just because we had a board meeting on the Tuesday. I only got to see choir and mariachi. Uh the students did great. I would love to see these events packed. Um I drove by a softball game. I would love to see those stands packed. So if these kids are going to do well, we need to show up and support them. So I'm looking forward to more of those events this coming year. Um thank you community for tuning in. Uh
134let's hope we have a really good next year. Thanks. Thank you, Miss Lindsay. Miss Fabian, good evening. Um, we talk a lot about trust, respect, and the negative perception of this district. And one of my main concerns is that our community, which includes our staff, our students, and even our own board members, believe accusations and then continue to circulate false rumors. Um, and tonight I don't want to spend a lot of time addressing uh concerns or accusations because I don't want to taint what should be a very positive moment um and a good moment for our new board members. So instead, um, I do want to refocus on them and just say congratulations and thank you. And I really do look forward to working with you all and hopefully we can elevate and streamline our
135board meetings so that we are able to conduct our business in a more respectful way. Um, additionally, as part of the foundation, I would like to invite everyone on uh next Tuesday, May 6 at 3:30 until 7:30 to Encore Events, which is on uh York House. I think the address is 4555 Encore Events. Um, for our foundation fundraiser, we have not had a fundraiser in quite some years prior to CO. Um our foundation does support scholarships for students which we will be announcing the winners soon and we also support um teacher grants and so those grants opportunities will be out before the end of the school year that any teacher in walking public schools can um apply for. Uh but in order to give those scholarships and those grants out, we need to fund raise.
136So again, I invite you out on May 6th. 20% of all entre or meal tickets will be donated back to the foundation. If you are not a walking public school teacher, if you are a walking public school teacher and you show up with your ID, you will receive 20% off of your entree. And then we'll also have some teacher gifts, some door prizes, and some drawings as well. So, I encourage everyone to come out and support our foundation as it supports our students and our staff. Thank Thank you. Okay. I was able to attend a few events over the last few weeks. Mr. Silva, I really have to commend you. you, your staff, and your students did just an amazing job with your jungle show, the glow show, and you deserve a big round of
137applause. That was amazing. And this is the first time I've seen it, but I understand you've been doing that for a number of years. And you tell me that every year it gets bigger and better. I can hardly wait to see what it's going to transition into for next year. Is it? Absolutely. Yeah, you transform you transformed the school for that event. Um, I was able to attend the Bravo Keaggan Middle School Music Festival and I am just always impressed by the quality of instruction of of our music teachers and and the just the professionalism of our students. You know, they get on stage and you watch these children and for the time that you're watching them perform, you forget that they're children. They they almost seem like professional musicians. Just amazing. So that's that's
138a program that we need to continue to support Bravo Walk and they've done a lot for our school district and we need to show our appreciation and I notice that some of our numbers are going down in some areas in music. It seems that way to me. Um maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But I really think that we need to focus on on promoting and uh nurturing our music program. Um anybody here see the Adams family? Not the one at the Genese Theater. The one that our high school put on. It's amazing. Did anybody know that that show was taking place? Who here knew? One, two, three. Three people out there knew that the show was taking place. Uh I saw that show. It was Friday night and it was just amazing. Our
139kids are are so so dedicated. They put themselves into that role and you know they're practicing for months for months just to put on what is it three or four shows. And and what's really sad about it is that nobody knows about it. I'm sure that if some of you here knew about it, you would have been there. In fact, I found out by asking and uh you know, I found out when it was and and uh I had to ask questions about which nights and you know, what times and all that. But I really really think that we need to make it a point to promote events like that because number one, you'll enjoy them. You'll get a kick out of it. But I mean the added family shows is like watching a a
140Broadway show. And secondly, our children work so hard. They need to be encouraged and recognized because they do so much work and we need to show them that we really support them and really care about them. Um I just want to summarize what you've all witnessed here tonight. Um you know that um in Illinois Illinois uh school code calls for every school district except Chicago. Chicago is a separate animal. Okay. Every school district in the state of Illinois has to have a board a school board of seven elected members. Okay. Elected by the voters. They're not appointed by anybody. It's not like Chicago where the mayor has appointed members for years. These are people that are elected by the voters. And so, you know, those of you who are happy with the board members that
141you have up here, great. You probably voted. Some of you are not happy with the board members you see up here, great, you probably voted also. And the thing about a board, any board, is that it's not a one-person board. uh it's set up for seven people to serve because the I guess the people that established this whole uh arrangement figured that it's better to have different people from different backgrounds, different points of view, different perspectives on the board. And this board has members of all ages, has members different ethnic groups, different races, and different backgrounds and different points of view. And you are always going to see differences of opinion. You know, some people are going to get a little bit heated at times because everybody here has a passion for what they're doing.
142Nobody's up here just because everybody that's up here in one way or another is dedicated to wanting to see the best for our students, for our children. But the way that everybody sees that everybody views the the best way to get there may be different. Everybody's got different ideas. That's good because people here on this on this board are going to say things that I never thought of and I'll say, "Hey, that's really a great idea. I wish I had thought of that, but I didn't. Somebody else came up with the idea." And that's why we're here as a board to come together to all express our points of view, our concerns, what it is that we want, what we want to see done, and then discuss it and vote on it. And then the
143majority rules. Whatever the majority uh decides, that's what all of us here are sworn to support. We may not agree with something that the majority of the board votes on. I've been in the m in the minority a number of times during my 12 years on the board. And there there are times when I just didn't agree. But you know what? When I'm out in public, I support the decision of the board because it's the board decision. I'm a member of that board and I'm sworn to support the decision of the board. So anyway, after the election takes place and the members of the board that are elected by the voters are seated, then you saw democracy in action. You saw the members of the board select their leaders. Now you may not agree with
144this the choices that were made, but these choices were made by the members of the board that were elected by the voters. So, you know, if if you want to see changes on the board, some of you here ran for board. Mr. Shepard ran for board, Mr. Sbecki. I know you're both very passionate about what you say and your your points of view and your your positions. I hope you both run again because I think you have a lot to offer and a lot to contribute. And I sit here and I listen to to people's comments and I hear things that that are painful, things that hurt. And sometimes people speak without knowing all the facts. And uh that's okay because everybody here has a right to address the board. And as long as this
145board convenes in open session, we will ask for public comment. Regardless of how pointed it is, regarding of regardless of how painful it is, you will have right to address the board. This is also democracy in action, first amendment rights. So, I just wanted to summarize what we did here tonight, what we what we saw tonight. And uh I want to congratulate uh first of all, Miss Hannah and Mr. McBride, the top vote getters every time. Congratulations, for your reelection, and for your years of service, Miss Ramirez, newly arrived on the board. Congratulations to you. Welcome. I I know I got to meet you and and and learn a little bit about you while you were running uh for the board and I'm s I'm sincerely convinced that you have a lot to offer the
146board and that you serve you will serve with passion and conviction. Thank you. Thank you. and and the the uh non um the board members that were not running for reelection. Um thank you for all the hard work that you do and I know that you will continue to do the work that is put before you and I'm just I I'm very honored. I'm very honored to be here. I did serve before and um you know back in October I became ill November December I was very ill and this was at the beginning of co I didn't know what was happening but I was becoming more and more ill. I was still attending meetings sitting in a corner coughing and and trying not to look sick. Uh finally in January I was um diagnosed with
147pneumonia. This was right at the very beginning of CO and um at that point in time things looked very bleak for me. I um my whole frame of mind was not good. I had a lot of commitment to my family and to my business which I still am involved in. And because of that, I felt that it was in the best interest of the board and for me and my family for me to step down. And that's why I resigned. I submitted my resignation in January of 2020. Um I don't know if I had CO, but it was right at the beginning of CO and I was ill for a long time. And um as time went on, I realized that wasn't the end of the line for me. I recovered and I continued uh
148working. I've been involved in other other um responsibilities for the city. I served in on the planning and zoning commission, which is another volunteer position for 16 years as its chairman. And um I made a decision with my family that I would run again. And um whether I won or lost, I decided I would give it give it all my best. And I'm very grateful that I was reelected. And I can assure all of you that I will serve with respect and with dignity and with respect for the community and for all the board members. And I vow to you that I will work with all of you. Miss Hannah and I had a u a conversation last week. We got together over coffee. At least I had coffee. She had what did you have?
149and um you know just to talk because I want I want to have common ground with everybody on the board. I want to be able to say that I reached out and that I did my best to make this board work together as a team. That is one of my major goals and with the help of all the board members here, we'll accomplish it. Um, we skipped over number eight, but we're not going to forget it. It's recognition of outgoing board members, and I'm going to turn the mic over to our superintendent. Thank you, board president Rodriguez, Mr. Alazakis, can you please um ask exiting President Euing and Miss Gonzalez if they can please come to the front? You want me to go down there? It's going to work. [Music] Good evening everyone and thank
150you for your patience. I was going to write a speech um and as I sat at my computer to write one in regards to I'm going to call them Brandon and Adriana if you don't mind because we're all on a firstname basis. I said I didn't need to sit and write a speech because I knew in my heart what I wanted to say to both of you. There's many times that we miss the mark in Walkagen public schools. There's many times that we need to stretch further. There's many times that we need to be patient for the results or may react too quickly. There's many gaps that can be filled, but there's also strengths. And so when I look at Brandon and Adriana, there are strengths. They're the bulldogs. They represent the alumni and the
151students that come from commu from our community. They walk with integrity. They stretch us. They keep us accountable. Their first and foremost priority has always been the students from day one. They were never afraid to speak their mind. They were never hesitant to lend a hand to a board member. They've touched so many lives, not only in this boardroom and along among their peers, but in our schools, in our community, and in our district in general. They have pushed us to be greater. They have prayed for us to be greater. And without them, we would not have be we would not be where we are now. And these two, I hope you don't mind me saying it this way, but these two young individuals that are so active in our community and are so passionate
152for us to work together to improve lives across the Walkegan community teaches lessons every day. And I want to talk about one lesson that our board president has modeled for all of us but has instilled in me which is diplomacy. And there's many ways to get to the point that we're trying to get. But it doesn't have to be a vertical line there. It doesn't have to be tomorrow. and he's always made decisions with the least disturbance on the system to protect the education of our kids and I want to acknowledge that and the principles, the administrators, the teachers, all of the staff in Walkagan recognize that. Now, I'd like to speak to your parents for a minute if you don't mind. President Euing, you guys knocked it out the B, knocked it out the
153park with this young man, and you should be so very proud of his heart, his intent, his impact. His yes is his yes, his no is his no. And you never have to wonder where Brandon Euing stands because he's going to tell you whether he agrees with you or disagrees with you. He is going to take on the tough battles and he's going to sacrifice himself for others to the point where I'm sure he has sacrificed himself from his own family. And I also want to thank Mon'nique for giving you to us and your children for the time that you missed and you put other children before your own. And that is not lost on anybody in District 60. And I know it's not lost on the in the Walkagan community. Adriana, I can't say
154it better than Mr. Riddle. You're a pillar of integrity. Sometime and Mr. McBride. Thank you. Sometimes people may say Adriana is harsh in what she says, but she sticks to her moral core. She does not back down and she backs it on why she is voting this way or why she had believes a certain thing should go this way. She has been an advocate for less police in schools to ensure that academic achievement increases, to ensure that students have a voice, to ensure the staff has a platform where they can voice concerns and also give recommendations. And I want to thank you for your time because I know there was times when you wanted to give up and you continued to fight and strive for the Walk Keaggan community. So, can you both stand if
155you don't mind? On behalf of the Walkagen Community Unit School District 60, this plaque says it recognizes Mr. Brandon Euing for the service as the member of the board of education from 2017 to 2025. Congratulations exiting president Yuing and you will always be a board president in Walkagen Public Schools. All right. [Applause] A sec. Our second plaque is to Miss Adriana Gonzalez and it reads, "Wke Keaggan Community Unit School District 60 60." Sorry, I need some water. Recognizes Miss Adriana Gonzalez for their service as a member of the board of education from year 2021 through 2025. Congratulations, Miss Gonzalez. [Applause] Now, I'm going to make a joke. One of the reasons we changed our board meetings um to a different day to um I'm going to say induct our new board members was because on
156the first board meeting that Brandon Euing sat in and he was being um inducted. Is that correct? I believe you waited what? Four hours 10 o'clock. Well, we had to keep with the same model and exit you the same way. So, I apologize that um President Yuing, but that's something that he always states and makes a joke about about that he had to sit here, you know, the entire night before he was able to join the board. And I apologize that you had to sit the whole night before you exit the board. So, at this time, we're going to take a quick picture. Um, and I I'm going to ask your parents, Miss Gonzalez, if you have anybody in the audience that would like to come up and take a picture with us. Um, and
157if the board can stand up and then we're going to release you to enjoy life. Cupcakes. Cupcakes. And have cupcakes that are in the back. Thank you for your service to Waggan Public School. [Applause] out of the way here. I was going to get out. My phone How [Music] about I was I think Angel. [Music] All right. Okay. We are still in session. We are still in session. Oh, yeah. We're still in session. That's right. Yes. I think that's extra. Okay, we'll have time to take pictures and uh and chat a little bit. Motion to call. Um Brandon, Mr. Yuing Gonzalez, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to serve with you this time around, but I will say one thing. You know, as I was running, when people asked me why I was running,
158uh, the two of you were one of the reasons why I told everybody there were two excellent board members that were stepping down and I just felt that I wanted to get in and work side by side with these board members to continue the work that you had been doing. Right. So, you were you were both an inspiration to me. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Take a welldeserved take a well-deserved rest you guys but not too long. Adriiana's not off the hook. Item 10. Couple days maybe a couple weeks. Motion to move. I'd like to call for a motion by Mr. McBride. Second. Second. Second by who was a second by Miss Lensing to adjurnn. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you board president at 9:14. Congratulations.