001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] the [Music] world. Hey [Music] Oh yeah. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You yourself. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] I'll be happy. [Music] You do. You [Music] The board previously met in close session under exception C9. 9, C10, C1, C11, and C21. And we'll be going back into close session after this meeting. But with that, I'd like to recall to order the April 8th, 2025 board of education meeting. If I can have a roll call, Mr. McBride, Miss Fabian, present, Miss Gonzalez here, Mr. Riddle, present. Miss Hannah, here. Miss Lensing, present. President Yuing here. So, we do have a quorum. Miss McBride is here. Um, but he, uh, he'll be joining us any moment. So, with that, uh, like a motion to resume open session. So, move. Motion by
002Miss Hannah. Second. Seconded by Miss Lensing. All in favor signify. I. Any opposed? Day. All right. We are now at open session. Uh, Dr. Brown, 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 it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Awesome. So next item is the president's report. Um March and April tend to be very very busy here in the district. Um so we've had a lot of different events, community organizations that we've been able to visit and attend. Uh I myself were uh was able to go to the Boys and Girls Club uh celebration that they had over the weekend. I know that um the house had the event in recognition
003of of justice which was over on Friday. we've had different types of athletic events and so it's kind of been a whirlwind. Um lots of positive things going up and one of my goals as my time winds down is to make sure that I get out to every building. Um again, one of the things that I've enjoyed the most when my time on the board is always anytime we get to connect with our students. And so um looking for those opportunities to get to the schools and uh just say thank you to uh the staff and students for um the last eight years. In addition, I want to say congratulations to um Miss uh board vice president Miss Anita Hannah on re-election. Uh, [Applause] congratulations to board member McBride on his reelection. Uh, thank you
004or congratulations to Angela Ramirez who is a newly elected board [Applause] member and uh, board member or previous board member Mike Rodriguez who will be returning um, to serve four years. So, congratulations to those winners. And then I want to say thank you to the individuals who threw their hats in the ring uh to serve our community. It's never easy to put your name and yourself out there and say I want to represent Walkegan Public Schools. And so, um I love public service and uh anybody who's willing to serve their community. So, I say thank you to uh Nick Shepard, Randy Sbecki, and Tanya Curry, who all uh also ran for the school board this [Applause] round. Ramirez just came in. Yeah. Welcome. Well, I said hello and congratulations. So, um again, I won't belabor
005the point. Uh I know we have uh uh not a long agenda, but some things to get through this evening and then to go back into close session. Um I have other thoughts, but I'll save those for another day. So, with that, I'd like to turn it over to our student board member. Okay, Tom. Um, so I don't have a presentation, but I do have I'm reading my calendar some events for school coming up. So, on the 15th of this month is PACT for the sophomores. On the 17th is the Gerald TC annual memorial drill down event at Washington campus. What time? Uh it starts at 6. 6. Um and then the 24th, 25th and 26th, if I'm wrong, is the Adams family play at Brookside. And I think it starts like at 5:30, like
0066. And then band concerts are the week of the 28th. And yeah, that's about it. All right. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you. And then also, I know that there was a post is uh it's been crazy to believe that the year is almost over, right? And that you've been in the position for a year, but we will be starting our process to select our newest student board members. So you got some more time but uh we encourage all of those students who are interested in uh serving to apply. With that we have our D60. Sorry, she has one more. I have I have one more. Um marching band is coming up and we encourage from the band program to any incoming freshman through senior in high school to sign up for this coming
007season. Wonderful. Thank you. in JTC. Uh, when is it? Yes. April 17th. April 17th. Okay. Thank you for that. Thank you. Next up is D60 and 60. If you turn your attention to the screens, [Music] right now. [Music] Just know that service just making We're [ __ ] [Music] That's good. All right. So, I say thank you to um those who helped to organize it. Again, as they mentioned, uh during the pandemic, one of the things that uh we I remember most is it was um after we had extended uh spring break by a week and decided that we wanted to distribute food and you had individuals lined up in front of Carmen Buckner around the corner during the pandemic, right? And so at that point, it wasn't safe to bring people together. Um but appreciate the
008creative minds of those in our um food for service department for making sure that we are thinking about our students all year round for um winter break, spring break and even during the summer with our food program. So um this is also why those programs are important. uh they are in jeopardy on the national level and so I would encourage you to advocate as much as possible to keep these these programs is because they are needed. Uh next up is approval of our minutes from the open session of February 25th, 2025. You want to read the action? Can I do all three? Yeah. Board President, can I recommend that we um either go separately or keep C aside since I wasn't here for C? Yeah, we just take A right now. Okay, perfect. I just
009want to make sure. Motion. Recommended action is that the board of education approve the minutes for the open session meeting February 25th, 2025. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddle, seconded by Miss Fabian. Any comments, questions, corrections to the minutes. All in favor signify by I. I. Any oppose? Nay. Minutes are approved. We have approval of the minutes of the open session meeting of March 11, 2025. Recommended action is that the board of education approve the minutes for the opening for the open session meeting on March 11th, 2025. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddle, seconded by Miss Hannah. Any comments, questions, corrections to the minutes? All in favor signify with I. I. Any oppose? Nay. Minutes are approved. Item eight, uh, C, approval of the minutes of the special open session meeting for March
01018th, 2025. The recommended action is that the board of education approve the minutes for the special open session meeting on March 18th, 2025. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddle, seconded by Miss Hannah. Any comments or questions, corrections to the minutes? Uh, roll call. Mr. McBride, yes. Miss Fabian, yes. Miss Gonzalez, yes. Mr. Riddle, yes. Miss Hannah, yes. Miss Lensing, pass. President Yuing, yes. Items approve, minutes. Uh, motion carries. Now is an opportunity for public comment. This is an opportunity for those who are here from the public to address the board. It's a one-way dialogue uh for you all to speak uh about any issues, concerns, congratulations that you have uh and I'm going call the names three at a time uh so that you can prepare yourselves. Each speaker gets three minutes. If you
011need translation services, translation services will be provided for you and you will get uh six minutes to allow for the translation. We do ask that you refrain from mentioning student and staff member names in your remarks. Um, and we do want to remind all speakers of civility. Uh, in order we have Chris Sanchez, uh, Renee Barnes, and Rayon Edwards in that order. And Miss Sanchez, your time will start whenever you start speaking. Good evening. My name is Christa Sanchez and I am an active community member. Um, I originally was a parent volunteer that was actively involved in the schools with my children at Cook Magnet as well as Carmen or as well as Lion Magnet. Um as soon as placencia became the president or not the president the um the superintendent. Yes. Um parents me
012and myself I was started to push out be pushed out of the district. Um when my son was in fifth grade we were asked not to come into the schools um that we had to do additional background checks and such. Um from there I continued to try to get in the schools to volunteer as a parent. Um when my son was at um Jefferson, I was able to volunteer Cook Magnet. There were the PTO was very active and allowed me to be involved. Um I was working for the College of Lake County and my son or I was actually doing tutoring, mentoring for North Chicago, Walkegan, Zion, and Round Lake providing tutoring and mentoring services to our students. Um and it was a grant-f funed program where we were able to take students on college
013tours. I got that phone call from my son that said he was within a block of a shooting walking home from school. Two kids were shot in front of the An Kylie Center and I decided to turn down my job. I was actually on my way to Washington campus. The child that shot the other two kids were from was a student at Washington campus. Um continuously I've came through the schools started off as um at Jefferson as a teacher in the ESL. I was teaching not ESL I was teaching math and science multiple curriculums. Um, I had an excellent review. It was really good because I had no idea what I was doing, right? It was my first year teaching. But the fact that I asked for science materials and asked for additional training, I
014was let go. Look back at my observation. It was excellent. It was proficient up until my third observation. Then it was just like, "Oh, no. You don't need to come back as a district." Then I worked for the bilingual department. The bilingual department is not trying to have any success in within our schools. And I've continuously said that no matter how much they set me up to fail, I continuously succeeded. I already knew the tactics that the head of the bilingual department and I made everyone aware of the tactics that were being used and the violations that were taking place throughout the district. I was then asked to resign again because I was doing PBIS as well as helping in this or doing my job as a family support manager with Angela being actually my
015boss at the time helping to vi uh address those issues. Um and then lastly, I'm being resigned again. I thank you though for putting the I'm being resigned for I'm being terminated because of my evaluations because I speak up because I am addressing the issues that are happening and taking place in my schools. I'm also being threatened by the head of our HR department as well as within our school. So, if that's not enough for you guys to resign and help our students, that's it. Thank you, Miss Sanchez. Next thing is Renee [Applause] Barnes. Good evening. I'm here on a personal note. Um, I worked for the district for 18 years and I um um I left in November of last year, but anyway, I have a son that has um mental illnesses and I've
016always done FMLA up until this point. Um it's been almost a year. August of this year will be a year that my FMLA has been messed up. Um I haven't gotten any um help from anybody. I've been to our union. Um I was even in touch with the head of human resources a month ago. I was assured that they were going to get back in touch with me that Friday. To no avail that did not happen. So I waited until spring break. I thought everything would be calm. Kids were gone. And I called the head of human resources. Uh the secretary answered and said that he was not available. And I called several times. And her being the secretary, I'm sure he got the messages. I would think he's never called me back. And so
017I've been doing things of my own. Um, I also, um, thinking about going to the labor board because no one is addressing my issues. Somebody has to know what happens with FMLA. I have I only take off the time that I need, but it has been so messed up. I've lost a lot of pay and I'm just looking for what's mine. I'm not trying to take anybody's nothing. But our our dear old district, you will see that when staff has an issue, then we're reprimanded. But this is almost a year and nobody's been accountable for nothing. So, I did talk to somebody today and they told me to give them until 12:00 noon tomorrow. I don't know what that meant, but we'll have a discussion. But I just need my money just like everybody else.
018This is not a free service for me. I want my money. Miss Barnes, um Mr. Motton is in the back. If if he'll uh field your questions and make sure that we can get your information. He was involved in it, too. Mr. Edwards. Good evening, community, staff, and board. Let me begin by saying we paid the superintendent too much money for her not to be at these meetings. Yesterday in close session, her evaluation was discussed. She was here. But every time it's time to face the people, she's missing. It's too often and nothing is being or getting done. sad case. I will be asking this community to get behind a petition because it's time for us to trash this attorney that this board has hired. She is not, nor has she been a representation of
019this district, these stakeholders, or this community. Two incidents being and trying to maintain a respectful manner. Two black men. One allegedly heard something, reported it to his lawyer, got to the district. Black man immediately placed on administrative leave. Caucasian woman talks with the lawyer. Same lawyer about a Latino administrator. Nothing, no action would be done. class textbook title seven and nine Kathy right I'm sure you know all about it yet again y'all we got Kevin O'Connor young black boy was taken up out of the district by the walking police department district have policy in place that that should not have occurred this superintendent sent staff over there because she was aware that this was going to transpire confirmed by the walking police department sent staff over there. They went and took this young man from
020class to the police. He was taken. But his lawyer want to sue Anita Hanel. Board members don't do no dayto-day operations. We all know that. And being that it's seven of y'all, how is she the only one named? That's puzzling to me. This lawyer should have been sent the letter. She should have been done something. She should have been said something and ain't done nothing. And then yet again, we got a sister up here who can't get what she worked for. Well, she showed up for every day, but we paying this woman almost $500,000 when you add benefits, insurance, and allowances and all of them bonuses she getting. And she don't do nothing. We don't even know when she punch in. Major events happen in the district and she's out of the state. Learon, please
021sit down. Don't talk to this woman tonight because that's the typical response we always get. Y'all show out when we in these spaces, but don't do nothing else. And then y'all back here with this face like y'all surprised for what? We griping every week and y'all ain't doing nothing. Thank you, Mr. Edwards. Next three names in order. Randy Sbecki, Kashana Hannah, and Ray Vukovich. Good evening everyone. First and foremost, I'd like to take a moment of silence as we lost another great uh teacher in our community. Uh she was actually my reading specialist when I was in first second grade, uh Miss Diane Olsen. Thank you. And then let's get into it. Exactly the same thing. I understand, Chris, right where you're coming from. That's why I stopped at Little Fort. We brought in things
022to the community. I brought the Harlem Wizards in. We had great We brought people, kids from Zion, all all three triates. We brought them in to do it. Then the district wanted to take that over. The third year I tried to do it. We were told the the gym wasn't available, that they had another event planned. We went there that day, nothing planned. And Miss Carolina Fabian is the one that wanted to take it over to to be exact, cuz we had she had that conversation with me. Um, and next I want to talk about, let's talk about Jack Benny. It's ter turmoil over there. We had a kid bring a fake gun to school. Had it multiple days. And this is information I know to be facts. And we try to downplay it. We
023don't tell. We sent the letter out two hours after school was out to the parents because parents found out and then started complaining. Then we sent the letter out. Today we got another letter from a list a student had of names of teachers and staff or whatever on his list. Then we called the police this time and got them involved to come and do an investigation. Again, two hours after school gets out, that's when parents find out about this is going on. No administrator. all the principal has been out the building for 6 weeks still from this district. Not a a word to parents that that administrator is not in the building. Now we bring in a special administrator from outside the district and brought them in. But then one of the the African-American assistant
024principles were trying to get rid of has been running that building for six weeks by himself, but he got a bad email belt and they're talking about not redoing his contract, but he's been over there for 6 weeks doing the job. Nothing. So, what are we going to do? We can give everybody else in this district bad contracts, bad reviews, and that, but when it comes to this superintendent, y'all give her a good email every time we sit here. Nine years Mr. Yu and I had a conversation with you years ago about this and we talked about it. Y'all weren't ready to move on. When how far are we going to dig this district down before we make change where it's too too low to help bring it back up? It needs to have change
025and this superintendent needs to go. She is a cancer to this district. How many great teachers, administrators, and that have we lost in this district? They've been attacking Miss Hannah. Well, she was reelected. So guess what? Now she's being sued again. Try to get money from her. Y'all can't get rid of her, so you keep trying. Thank you, Mrs. Becky. Miss [Applause] Hannah. Good. Good evening, board. I'm coming to you asking and demanding that you look at the numbers that are written in black and white. The more the students fail, the more money the superintendent gets. Is she being rewarded for the failure of our students or the job that she's performing or lack thereof? It's time for her to go. Next, the board attorney needs to go. And this is my public request for
026her to resign. Nobody should have to ask her or demand that she does her job. Anita Hannah is being sued yet again because of her lack of due diligence in writing a letter that would have eliminated the whole thing. So, if she's not competent enough to do her job effectively, she should go. I know it may not be important to the board members that are leaving. You probably don't care because, okay, it's water under the bridge for you guys, but the district still needs to stand. It still needs to go and operate. And then on to Jack Benning with the student with the fake gun that was brought to school. I hope and pray that the student is handled just like any other student according to the law in Illinois and not given special privileges
027because this child's mother happens to sit on the board of education do better. Thank you, Miss Hannah. Mr. Vukovich. Yes. Good evening. Uh two things. uh Jack Benny Middle School. You've got a outside administrator that you brought in, retired administrator from outside of the district. Why haven't you reached to one of the numerous administrators that are retired from Walkagan that know this district that knows that school? I'm thinking of uh Dr. Charlene uh uh Ship uh Dr. Shipley Harleen Shipley, I'm sorry. You know, uh she knows that school better than anybody. All it would have taken was a phone call to get her in there to deal with it. But y'all bring somebody from outside in. They don't know the school. Probably a great person. I don't know know the individual, but you continually go
028outside and you walkites get pushed over to the side. It's just been the track record here. You know, the big thing in the news today throughout the country the last few weeks is Doge. They got a cut. And you know, when you look at Washington DC and you look at Lincoln Center, it's like deja vu. Come on. Nine years ago, this woman came in as the superintendent and she had all the buzzwords. She was going to rightsize things. First thing she did was pushed out all the senior uh administrative secretaries with years and years and decades of experience. Pushed them all out. And then it was the reading teachers. And then it was uh let's say I think we got rid of uh the houses at the high school. And then we got rid of
029assistant principles and we had to bring them back. It's a round and round and round. You know, this failed experiment needs to end. Nine years is long enough. Let's move on, people. The children of this district deserve better. The taxpayers of this district deserve better. And Miss Hannah, Mr. McBride, you came in. She was top vote getter. This woman deserves respect from all of you up there and the top administrators. I've sat at these meetings where certain people sit here and they roll their eyes at her or they don't give her the respect. She has served on this board. She's the second longest serving board member after June Maguire in the history of this district. Give the woman some respect. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Vukovich. This concludes our public comments and
030we thank everyone who came out this evening. With that, we now have our consent agenda. So, the items that are on the consent agenda are um there in order to help expedite the work of the board. These items um are should be previously discussed andor non-controversial. uh any board member can request that any item any letter be held over for any reason. So at this time do we want to vote on any of these letters uh separately? Mr. president. Um um maybe it would uh be uh appropriate to let the public know that uh the board has already uh went through this agenda, discussed it in our uh last committee meeting before spring break. Thank you, Miss Hannah. All right. So, seeing as there are nothing that anyone wants to vote on separately, I need
031a motion to approve items 10 A through N. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddle, seconded by Miss Fabian. Any comments or questions on the motion? Um, I just have one quick question. Apologies, I wasn't here, but this is regarding number H. I did go back and watch our recording. Um, and as Mr. Riddle said in the last meeting, we understand the I'm going to call them challenges we have as a board when we have students not attending our public schools. Um, so can we just clarify are the Chromebooks going to students or is it a mix of students and staff at Christo Ray or do we know Miss Poke? She may be in the other room. Dr. Cesario, can you let her know? She did explain it last time. That's why I'm referring to
032her for students because it's the title, right? I understand in the in the recording it says title one, but we did not clearly specify they're just going to students because in in the item it says we are obligated to provide supports to students and teachers, etc. resources. So I just wanted to clarify for my understanding for our student but it because it says that it can go to teachers as well. We did not specify that these hundred are going we said that the money sorry we said that the money follows the students right but if in the agenda item it says that the money also goes to support the other components I just want to understand. Yes, board president, uh, board members, superintendent, community members, colleagues, uh, Miss Patty came up, uh, when she explained
033this is disproportionate share. And so we're responsible for, um, managing those monies. However, we're required to give some of the money to the parochial schools. And so if it's allowable expenses, if it's for teaching staff or if it's for the students, then those things are put into our grant and approved by ISBY. I'm not quite sure whether it's for the students or whether it's for the instructional staff, but it is allowable expenses in the grant. Yeah, I understand. Thank you, Miss Bo. All right, roll call. Mr. McBride. Yes. Miss Fabian. Yes. Miss Gonzalez, yes. Mr. Riddle, yes. Miss Hannah, yes. Miss Lensing, yes. President, yes. Item approved. Motion carries. Can we uh scroll back up so I can read those into the record? Item 10, A, renewal of 95% core phonics materials for SY26, grades
0343 through 5. Uh B, renewal of 95% curriculum embedded coaching for SY 26, grades 3 through 5. Renew of everyday math curriculum embedded coach grade K through five. Uh D, renew of Dreambox Learning for K through 5. E. Updated intergovernmental agreement for college and career navigator at Washington High School campus. F. Renewal for consumable program. 9 through 12 grade ESL materials. G. Purchase of curriculum for grades 6 through 12 Spanish language arts. One-way education for SY26. H. Chromebook purchase for Crystal Ray St. Martin College Prep. I renewal for power school evaluation platform for 2526 school year. J E- rate 2025 2027 network fiber connectivity K E rate 2025 2026 network cabling and switching uh CAT 2 L renewal of Sopos anti virus endpoint one-year subscription M renewal of Gaggle contract and N renewal of Nix
035contract same um for consent agenda under operations uh would any board member like to vote on any of these items separately Um, Mr. President, um, just a question. Nothing has been added to this consent agenda since our last meeting. Am I correct? I didn't compare the two agendas, Miss Hannah. So, everything that's here is either a renewal or something. So, uh, No, no. I'm No, I know. I know. So, I'm going to get uh Deputy Motton, was there anything added under the consent agenda for operations uh that wasn't discussed at the operation services meeting in uh March? Thank you. All right. Uh do we do you motion, Miss Hannah? Yes. Motion. Second. Seconded by Miss Lindsaying. Any comments or questions? Um I also do have a fast question on B the fleet vehicles. So, I
036understand we're purchasing three of the vehicles for um I forget the term used, but like our plumbers and electricians. Um and we're retaining our current vehicles and we're putting some up for bid. I'm just curious on the timing of releasing those vehicles and if we're being proactive with this purchase given the incoming tariffs. like was that a consideration or is it just we needed them anyway? So it the timing just worked that way. And if I could just add to that, um Mr. Motton. Um, are we going to purchase this through our um through through our um what do you call it? The government. So, it would be the Illinois joint purchasing agreement. Yes. Illinois joint. Yes. Yes, we are. So, good evening board members, staff, community, superintendent. So, we will be purchasing these vehicles
037through the Illinois Joint Purchasing Agreement as identified in the agenda item. Um, when we got the original proposals for these vehicles, we were not really considering the tariffs. However, the instock inventory, uh, we don't believe would be subject to that. So, it's a it's a matter of need for the timing. And when we do put the vehicles up for auction, we'll be following the surplus inventory board policy. for disposal. Do we have timing on that or that's just subject to when it needs to happen? Like there's my Let me rephrase. There's no immediate need to put those on auction, but when it comes that time, that's when it'll happen or there is an immediate need. So that that process has already started. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Roll call. Mr. McBride. Yes. Miss Fabian. Yes.
038Miss Gonzalez. Yes. Mr. R. Yes, Miss Hannah. Yes, Miss Lensing. Yes, President Yuing. Yes. Item approved. Motion carries. We have item 11 A, approval to attend uh the 2025 National Association Social Work National Conference. B, approval of purchase and operations fleet vehicles. C, approval of payment network cabling in support of the High Park Elementary main entrance project. D. Approval of payment for supplemental architect fees for Washington campus retaining wall replacement project. E. Approval of AOEC security camera and equipment up equipment upgrade. F approval of Washington campus security camera installation request. And G, approval of Brookside campus security camera replacement request. All right, we are now at personnel item 13A uh for uh 48 2025. It is recommended that the board of education accept the administration's recommendation to approve the appointments retirements retirement extension request and
039accept the resignations and terminations as found on schedules F10002 L949 T317 and G660. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddle. Second. Seconded by Miss Gonzalez. Any comments or questions on the motion? Yes. I got I got a couple comments. We have nine teacher resignations from um a number of the schools. That's disturbing. Um and um in light of the conversation always being teacher shortages and um you know the the need for uh long-term subs and uh substitutes. Um it it it just would seem that some type of plan to help whatever the deficit is with the staff to help them to um to come up and improve and grow instead of just removing certified teachers. And then we go back into the cycle of vacancies and having to get more long-term subs and you you
040know whatever happened to remediation? Whatever happened to um we we used to have here in our district a teacher academy where the teachers were being helped by professional coaches consultants to bring them up to par. But instead, it's easy to remove people. And the sad thing to me is when they leave our district, they go to a neighboring school district and they do wonderful, but here it's like nobody can do their job. And that gets a little bit old. And so I look, I'm one board member, but I do not like this. Many of the people that are being let go and everything, as it was said earlier, they the long-term people, even new people that are just getting into their careers. You're not supposed to kick somebody out like that. You're supposed to help
041them improve. But it is right now what it is. But hopefully change will come. We've got uh list of pair professionals that are leaving. The turnover I'm sorry people. The turnover in district 60 to me as the long-term senior board member, it's unacceptable. But I'm just one board member. Thank you. Just board president next. Go ahead, Mr. McBride and then I'll go to Miss Gonzalez. Uh just to piggy off, can you c can you guys hear me? Just to piggy off uh Miss Hannah's comments. Uh there is an issue with uh climate and culture change in our district and uh and I do know that uh when you have that kind of chaos, it's going to always be affected. I mean, it's it's always going to affect our students and we constantly hear that our
042students are not not uh they're failing and a lot of it has to do with that. And uh I uh just come back from a conference and that was one of the sessions that I dealt with culture and climate and Miss Hannah is right in reference to uh what happened to conflict resolution and those those type of approaches to issues when they do occ totally agree with her. We have uh I've sat here and I've watched us dismiss long-term and short-term teachers and and as I sat back uh everybody ain't got problems. Sometime it could be problems from within. Sometime sometime our administrators may not be able to uh deal with uh some of our staff. They may have attitudes theirel instead of uh uh trying to find conflict resolution. They figure out ways to
043say well if I just get you out of here then I ain't got to deal with you. I think those are some of the things that I that my observation since I've been sitting here I've been seeing. So, uh to Miss Hannah to Miss Hannah's comments, um I have to uh go along with that. She's she's right in that respect because I have to say I've seen it myself. Thank you, Miss Gonzalez. Um I just wanted to say that and I'm and I'm actually glad that Miss Hannah and Mr. McBride um share their comments because I think if we feel that way as a board obviously I'm I won't be on the board for much longer but if we feel that professional development actually is beneficial then it should increase right so anytime that we
044consider professional development every time we consider conferences and things like that that that should be an initiative that that the board supports and that there's not as much back and forth when we when we talk about those opportunities. Um, but I also want to say to the community that it's long and I want to be careful with the way that I fra phrase this. Um, sometimes it's okay to pivot, right? I think so many of us have amazing attributes. Um, we have different talents, but if it's the school that's not a fit, if it's the team that's not a fit, it's okay to transition. Um, and so I don't want to I don't want that to be lost in this conversation as well is that if we're getting recommendations from um the team that you
045know some stuff is working, some stuff is not, that there's evidence behind that and those are conversations that we have in close session. But um yeah, I just wanted to say that um because I do think it's important, right? We're saying that professional development is something that we should embrace. it should it's something that we should increase um and and we could reap the benefits of it. Miss Lindsay, um I appreciate all of the comments given uh so far. Um I did want to touch point on Miss Gonzalez's um commentary around professional development. I think the board overall is very supportive of professional development. I think the conflicting aspect of it or what the discussion stems around is accountability for that professional development. What did you learn? What are you bringing back? Some people just
046go and and we're not seeing any results come from it. When I first joined the board, I asked for the impact of administrative professional development for the past five years. I and got board concurrence for that information with Mr. McBride saying if she's asking for it, let's give it to her. That has yet to come. So, I'm all for professional development, but it's the accountability that comes with it because we're seeing it in some respects. I don't want to say that nothing's happening with the professional development that we're seeing, but there's no structure around it. So, while it's not something that this board is currently tackling or has tackled, um there has been an attempt to to limit the board uh professional development. But I'm hoping that with our next board, we can get a
047handle around this so that the community feels better about how we're addressing the professional development, how we're spending funds for the professional development, and our staff and our students are reaping the benefits from it. I totally agree, Miss Linding. Um, as many in the community know, I have only said that we should limit the board to attend the triple eye conference in Chicago because it's economical. It's focused on our state. There's really nothing that they don't cover there that would apply to our situation here. I understand the other board members want other educational opportunities, but I'm also of the understanding that if we have conversations of limiting staff to go that we should do that first fiscally, right? Um, so I I understand your point, but I just wanted to respond to that because I
048think it's it's not that I'm disagreeing to disagree. I think that there's a strategy, right? Um, that's why I have been voting the way that I vote. And I don't sorry, I don't have any qualms against how you are voting and respect your position on that. I'm just saying that when we're talking about these components, we want our teachers to go, we want our staff to go, but what does that really look like? Right. And if I can just I I want to clarify what I was saying. No, I was not talking about the uh actual professional development. I'm actually talking about internal training, the internal training that needs to happen that should be happening. We pay people a lot of money. Okay? And you all may have heard me say this before, with all
049of the money that our people are getting paid, with all of the credentials that they brought to us that they are able to do this, they've done that before, and you know, brought this school up and did that before coming here. Well, now it's like it's like those skills or whatever has disappeared and they want everybody else to do that. And so, um, you know, I'm talking about internal that we have the opportunity to internally train our um, teachers that need to be brought up That's that's what I was saying. Not so much about professional development. Does that I guess my question I have two questions. Does that not count as professional development even? Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. So then we're talking about it's internal. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So and going back to it all
050of the above. Um what I will say is the issue about the culture and climate. Um, one of my biggest frustrations, uh, having sat on the board, and I've said this publicly, so it's nothing new, is that the majority of the time are spent navigating and negotiating adult issues. It's very rarely dealing with the students. Students are going to be students. They going to have difficulty. Stuff is going to come up, but it's how do we deal with inner um, and Mr. U McBride alluded to that. How do we deal with um inter relations uh in the district in a effective and constructive way is I always find it interesting that we talk about deescalation when it relates to the students. But um what I've witnessed is a lack of deescalation when it's related to
051staff on staff interactions. And it's at every level, right? So it's administrator to teacher, teacher to administrator, administrator to administrator. And so I board member to board member. Thank you for that, Miss Lindsay. And so I think it's important that we um consider that. And just because I won't be on the board doesn't mean I don't care about wagon public schools or what happens to his future, right? Um, so what I will say is that we have to also be responsive and responsible in looking at all of the things to consider when we talk about resignations. We've invested in um a international recruitment effort. We see what's going on at the state level. So some of these resignations, not all of them are related to individuals who are saying, "Hey, maybe I want to return
052home." That's a risk that we have with international recruiting. But I say that while also acknowledging, as we talked about and Miss Hannah alluded to, that there is a teacher shortage, right, in the state of Illinois. We do not have enough teachers here. We do not have enough teachers in the um teacher prep programs to replace those that are retiring. And so that is a legit that's a fact. So yes, that doesn't mean and I want to be very sensitive. Actually, I don't think that we can have a nuance conversation. So I'm going to hold my comments. But what I will say is that part of it is around there's an evaluation process. There's a process for the principles. If we don't trust our principles to do the evaluations, then they shouldn't be our principles.
053And that's what the board really has to evaluate when they're having that conversation. So, I'll refrain the rest of my time uh in roll call vote. Mr. McBride, yes. Miss Fabian. Miss Gonzalez, yes. Mr. Riddle, yes. Miss Anna, yes. Miss Lindsay, I'm going to say yes. Um I think for me there's just some components that I would like reviewed in addition to the schedule, but yes. President Yui. Yes. Item approved. Motion carries. All right. We are at financial report. So ratification of the Oh, we have some administrative appointments. I'm sorry. Go ahead, superintendent. At this time, I'd like to introduce Mr. Huey Tobias. No, Tobias Huey, who previously served as a long-term substitute teacher at Clear View Elementary. He will now serve as a culture and climate specialist at the Washington campus um with a
054starting salary of $60,000. Congratulations, Mr. [Applause] Huie. Our second appointee is Miss Melissa Howlett, who previously served as the senior manager ethics and compliance. Um, she will now serve as the deputy general counsel here at Lincoln Center with a starting salary of $165,000. Congratulations, Miss Howlet. [Applause] All right. Item 16A, the ratification of the first processing of April 2025 board bills, manual check request payments, and old national bank insurance payments for the period of March 5th, 2025 through April 1st, 2025. It is the recommendation of the administration that the board of education ratify the first April 2025 processing of board bills manual check request payments and old national bank insurance payments for the period of March 5th 2025 through April 1st 2025. The accounts payable board payments for the period of March 5th 2025 through
055April 1st 2025 total 3,745,188.3. The manual check request payments for the period of March 5th, 2025 through April 1st, 2025 total 1,755,556.81. The old national bank insurance payments for the period of March 5th, 2025 through April 1st, 2025's total $96,325.90. Motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddle. Second. seconded by Miss Gonzalez. Any comments or questions on the motion? Yes. Um uh many of you may know or have um witnessed me passing on the financial um the the financial um reports and I'm going to continue to pass because I will not um I will not uh approve a budget that is um that is in deficit. And I know the difference and I know that we weren't in deficit spending, but now we're in deficit spending. And I know that they'll um that that um they'll
056bring up um a staff and they'll say opposite of what I'm saying. Uh the only thing I'm saying it's in black and white. Look for yourself. That's why I passed because I have been expressing for the last six, seven months, maybe longer, we need to streamline spending. We need to cut down spending. And now we're here. We have no certain um no certain knowledge of what's going to happen because of what's going on in Washington DC through the state down to the locals. We have no clue. And see, instead of being reactionary with things, I've always worked, people that know me, I've always worked on proactive methods. Don't wait till the last minute and then try to fix it. Anyway, um I just needed to say that um with the um I want to have
057miss with the budget because because see I look I know where we came from. I know when we didn't have I know when we had to borrow money to pay our staff. we got out of that things that have been done in this administration. It would not have been able to be done had not the previous administration fixed our budget, fixed our finances, and I'm not going to sit here. And I'm not going to go backwards from where we came from. Mr. McBride. Well, you know, uh I'm listening at Miss Hannah and uh not just what she's speaking about in reference to the budget. There's always something that we're not doing right as a board. And I think at some point uh leaving the conference I went to that always talking about controlling the narrative
058because the narrative get us in trouble. And I'm going to ask you, Miss Pope, to come up to help us out with what Miss Hannah is talking about. It could be true and it could not be true, but help us out understand what she's saying to this about this board since you handle the finances. again the board president, board members, uh community and colleagues. Um Miss Hannah is correct that in the current year and this has been historical and let me explain that we get revenue in the current year. We have expenses in the current year and it is a deficit but we are aware of that and when we present the budget we say that but we have an ending fund balance that is able to absorb that and keep us positive and we're
059not uh we do not have to submit a deficit reduction plan. You've heard me say that uh we've ended uh the past years with a fund balance across all of the funds in excess of $100 million. Uh we're hopeful that we'll end this year with $100 million. Uh we have communicated with the superintendent. She is aware that uh before CO we had a certain uh dollar value for the expenditures and when we got CO money of course that was about $80 million right so uh they wanted us to spend it and we did uh spend it and we're working collaboratively right now uh to ensure that we pass a uh balanced budget. Uh I do not believe that the district uh wants to uh approve a budget that has a deficit. Uh meaning overall uh
060I I do not believe uh and I could say definitively that this is something that has happened in one year, two years, three years, four years ago. We've been doing this for a long time. Where is deficit? Let me say it again. In the current year, not deficit overall. I hope I answered the question. You did. And part of it, and Mr. McBride, I appreciate with you talking narrative is there are certain things that as a district we should be celebrating. And I want to right now publicly credit um Miss Pulk and the finance department and the administration who've helped us navigate. So Miss Hannah is correct is the district was in dire financial straits. They had to make some tough decisions. Some things had to be decided. They weathered that storm and they came
061back stronger. And so yes, we have been able to benefit. But some of the other things that we've also done to benefit is the 10-year capital improvement plan which laid out a roadmap for how we were going to do repairs. What I do credit this board with is before the pandemic when we didn't have no money and me and Miss Poke had to go and and and have a conversation around can we reserve 30 million and Brandon not want to raise taxes. So, one of the things that I look at very very closely um is the budget and as people who've been on the budget approval committee, like these are planned expenses and all we're doing is paying our bills. So, any board member can vote their conscience, but I don't want people to be
062confused as far as what's happening. Um is it's us paying our bills. And I encourage every board member during the budget process is if we have legitimate concerns about where those funds are going, make your recommendations is because what typically happens and you correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Pulk, is we ask what everybody needs and sometimes what they want, but most of the time it's just put down what you actually need and then we prioritize until we run out of money because we do not have enough in this budget to cover all of the needs of Walkegan public schools. And to Miss Hannah's point, with what's going on at the federal level, we must be aware so that we can be receptive and adaptive. But I want the community to feel good is when
063there are times when you walk into a room and you say, "Dang, you know, it's honest. I'm from Walkagan." And there are narratives that come with that. And then I go in the rooms and I see what some of our wealthier districts and even some of our poor ones are having to manage through right now, riffs, layoffs, reduced hours, cutting transportation. None of that is on the table in Walking Public Schools because of how we managed our budget. And so I won't call any of those districts out, but all you got to do is Google it. And so I do want to say Miss Hannah is right from we have to be good financial stewards. But I would argue that this board under Miss Hannah's guidance and everybody up here and Miss Poke and the
064superintendent, that's an area that we should be proud of and we should be celebrating is the management of the budget. So, um, again, every board member, vote your conscious if you don't want to approve them, but this actual action is paying the bills, things that we've already agreed to, signed off, approved, committed to. Um, and then the budget process, which is starting relatively now, right? Um, do you have the date for that first? Uh, usually it's the first that's your So that's April 25th. That starts with the actual committee that gets together and talks through some of those priorities. And then the board and the community have an opportunity at the first Tuesday in May. Is that still the date? To come for a public meeting on the budget and there are three of those
065public hearings before the budget is adopted. So I do encourage everybody to get involved. Over $300 million with 60% of your tax bill. It's important, but even with us being 60% of your tax bill, I always want to remind you is we are not spending the recommended number that the state of Illinois says is required to educate a child and that's something that we have to contend with the adequacy amount. So, uh, keep advocating for that. I will. That's one of the things that I'll plan on doing after I leave the board is making sure that we continue to fund evidence-based funding. with that. Uh, Miss Linding, did you have something to say? No, I think I'll hold it for our budget committee. Um, yeah, I'll just hold it for our budget committee. Thank you.
066President, can I just say something? Yes, of course. Mr. I know every year too, our finance department wins awards as the way we manage our budget. And also, um, recently when I was down at triple eye conference when we were down there, I attended a a financial workshop and they actually mentioned Walk Eaggan. a lot of districts struggling but Walke Eaggan was mentioned by the conference leader as managing its budget really well. So evidently some of what what we do is recognized by IASB. So we we as you said you said it eloquently board president we yes we have uh we have to spend deficit you know during the year but then we get more money at the end and we end up in a positive vein. And Miss Hannah is absolutely right though as
067far as the fact that we need to be very conscious of what might happen in Washington DC um with some of that federal money and whether we'll continue to get that. So certainly this new board's going to be looking closely at that. And my final comment is it's always interesting to me when people say that a school district that spends I'm going to say less than 80 I don't have the exact number in front of me but less than 80% of its uh of the adequacy target on its students is wastefully spending. But a school district that spends 200% above the adequacy target is not wastefully spending. So they spend 100% more than what the state of Illinois says is required to educate a child. And I'm not talking 50 miles away. I'm talking 10.
068I'm talking 15. And then we want to say why our outcomes are different. Let me spend 200% of adequacy on our students and see what we can do. Well, to interject or add to that, even not just students, but changing grass to astro turf as they're they're spending their money when we could be supplying our kids with way more than fake grass. But those things and I agree and those things matter. Facilities, right? It gives them the money to do what it is. That's that's included in that adequacy target. Yeah. So, that's my soap box. All right. Roll call. Mr. McBride. Yes. Miss Fabian. Miss Gonzalez. Yes. Mr. Riddle, yes. Miss Hannah, pass. Miss Lensing, pass. President Yui, yes. Item approve. Motion carries. Uh, we have committee reports unless there are major updates. I'm good
069with holding them. Uh, we do have a superintendent report. So, we'll go through that. Now, at this time, I'd like to welcome Are you both coming up? Miss Jennifer Rice, Stella Sanchez, and Pam, who are going to walk us through our monthly tier one site visits that have been happening at all of our schools K through 8 monthly. um what they're going to talk about and describe today is the process and the protocol in which they go in and engage um and work with ILTS around the adoptions uh the adoption of the new curriculum in science and reading. And on that note, I'll turn it back to you both. Good evening, Board of Education community and colleagues. Um thank you for having us here tonight. Um, I'd like to turn that mic over directly to
070our assistant director, Miss Cra. Thank you, Miss Cra. Can we get the presentation? Let's give a minute. So, great. Uh so our site vit visits are directly tied to uh goal three which is aligned with the Illinois comprehensive literacy plan around ensuring that all of our leaders are equipped uh to create maintain and sustain equitable conditions for highquality evidence-based instruction. And while the Illinois literacy plan is focused solely on literacy, we go in and address all areas uh of school operations. That includes uh tier one curriculum. It includes uh MTSS supports. It includes social emotional learning. Uh and uh we also address behavior and chronic absenteeism uh when that comes up in specific schools. Next slide. So at our monthly visits uh we are in every school every month uh and each month has a
071focus uh with August being really around opening of schools supporting buildings as needed uh is um what we do and then from September through January we're really looking at tier one implementation and we have a pretty consistent agenda. uh February, we take some time and give SIP SBB feedback um to every school individually. And so we walk through uh every goal, every strategy, every budget item that they're looking at for the next year. We talk about how it aligns to uh the three goals to um destination 2028 and we help them really think through um the PD that would be needed to support those strategies. uh and we collaborate on feedback and then in March and April um we go back into tier one implementation and kind of wrap up the school year. So right
072now we're looking at trends across the whole school year with schools uh and talking about how they might plan for the upcoming school year based on how they saw implementation go this year. During our meeting protocol, we walk classrooms. Uh so our goal is to visit as many classrooms as possible every time we go. So, uh, we we disperse throughout the building, come back, we talk about classroom visit data, really looking at trends. We're not there to coach around, uh, specific teachers, uh, or even grade levels. Really, our goal is to take a schoolwide view, um, and really take that leadership lens on how we can help identify trends both in classroom visit data and tier one, make some connections, and then talk about how we can operationalize support at the district level. What do
073they need from us as a team? uh and what instructional next moves might they take inside of their building uh and how can we partner to do that. Really exciting this year uh are our common tools. And so every K5 building has a common tool. So doesn't matter what elementary you walk in, if you're walking the literacy block in an elementary, every room has the same look fors. Same at 68. Uh we collaborated with our um teachers union on those. The teachers get the immediate feedback but it also produces ongoing data for us. So we can see trends in uh curriculum implementation, instructional setting, assessment practices uh and some high leverage uh instructional practices that we want to see happening in all classrooms. Uh one of the uh major levers that these site visits give
074us is the data preparation that teams do in advance. Uh and so there is a data protocol that we ask ILTS to walk through before we show up in the building. Um and our team does it internally uh before we go to schools. And so then we kind of meet in the middle. What trends are you seeing and what needs are you seeing? Did we see a similar thing? Uh and how can we support you through that? And what that's really done is it has um empowered our teams to huddle around data. And in many of our schools that has dispersed into grade level teams uh and teachers are owning their tier one data problem solving around it and then they're able to come to us and say hey uh this is where we really
075want some help over the next four weeks as we we try to move this data. Um we also as I mentioned we look across many dashboards. So you'll notice our um African-American male uh initiative dashboard is a part of the work that we do. uh and just looking across Jonathan Brown and his team has done just a phenomenal job building out um systems so that we can really clearly see data. So these are some trends from this year. You'll notice uh across all classroom visits uh in purple is beginning of year implementation uh based on that tool. Um green is middle of year and yellow is end of year. And so you'll see uh continual improvement in all indicators uh except for one in uh mathematics. So we'll be checking in on assessment practices, but
076we're seeing things steadily increase, which is a really nice thing to see. And it's super exciting for me uh was kind of really looking at where were we last year with our end of unit data uh across tier 1. And we are seeing not only are we seeing increases in the percent of students who are meeting and exceeding on end of units but that second set of graphs you will see that in both literacy and math we are seeing a decrease in the number of students in the lowest performing band which has been a group of students that we have typically struggled uh to move in our data. And so to see both bands responding uh is a really encouraging trend. Uh and then finally we just have some information from a few of the
077people who participate. So at the school level this includes principles, assistant principles, instructional coaches. Uh in some buildings the instructional support teachers sit in um and when I reached out to them to say hey like how's this going? How do you feel this is supporting you? Overwhelmingly uh they responded with thank you so much for showing up. It's so nice to have you here every month. It's great to have a collaborative conversation. Um, and they feel very supported u by the district as a whole because the team is made up of all of the departments across academic supports and programs. Great job. Yeah, Miss Hannah. Um, okay. So, uh, could you go back to that the slide right before this? Yeah, this here. Okay. Now you say end of unit assessment. Tell me exactly what's
078what what is what's the definition of end of unit? So within each of our tier one curriculum there are units of of instruction, right? So unit one in math might be uh heavily focused on numbers in base 10 in first grade. I get to the end of that unit, three or four weeks worth of instruction, and there is an assessment that comes with our curriculum, a test, a test. We give that to our students, see how they're doing. Okay? And so you this data here is simply for end of unit assessment. This is not like six month. This this is not screeners. This is not MAP. This is not the state accountability assessment AR. This is the data that is closest to the teaching that's happening in the classrooms. And and um I see my
079favorite word on the screen. It's called phonics. And so are you saying that the this method is causing our children to learn how to read? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. What I'm saying is that uh across K5 because if you remember last year we also implemented a third through fifth grade phonics curriculum. Uh we are seeing uh when we look across K5 as a whole uh more kids are reading better and fewer kids are reading worse. Okay. In the most simplest of terms. Yeah. I like that. I like to hear that. Are you guys um utilizing a mirror? We have a mirror in seven of our schools. Yes. And so currently we are conducting a comparison between uh a similar program that's offered as part of our tier one curriculum and AMRA and we're
080looking at comparing growth in those schools. So as that year closes out, we'll keep talking about that. Okay. Thank you, Miss Lindsay. Um, so I just I want to make a comment because you said the collaborative conversations with the instructional leaders. I love that, right? Because this this is a group project, these kids, right? And we all want an A+. We want these kids to go on and succeed. So, I love that it's collaborative because a great idea could come from anyone in the room. So, I really appreciate that. Um, can we back up a couple of slides where you had like the different month calendars? Keep going. Keep going. There. Um, can you help me understand the monthly topic for February s uh the school improvement plan and sitebased budgeting feedback? Yeah. Because we're
081going to be coming up on those conversations and I've brought it up several times. one school is at like 300,000 for their budgeting and we have other schools that are like 500 or in excess of and so to me that doesn't sit right. So to kind of prime myself for when we get into those conversations what this looked like at your schools. Yeah. So all of our schools really in Decemberish they start thinking about what are our goals for next year? How do we do on our goals this year? What will will our goals be next year? And they write a school improvement plan. And in that plan, there's a goal. There's strategies. How are we going to get there? And the how we're going to get there usually costs money. So that leads to
082your budget, right? And so when we come, we start with looking uh they talk us through some of their baseline data. They talk to us about how they monitored last year's SIP plan and how that's going. Uh, do you think you're ready to move on from that goal or do you think you're going to stick with it? Right? We get feedback on those goals specifically. Hey, I think that's really great. We pulled and and we actually see how well you've done over the last three years. We think you can increase that by 3%. We think you can push harder faster. That's really ambitious. Here's what your typical growth was. Here's what we think might be more realistic. Right? So, we're setting you up for success. Then we move into every goal has a tab. And
083within that there is how are you going to get to that goal? And we walk through every line of every goal to say okay you want to invest in Ron Clark and you want to do the house system uh to address chronic absenteeism. Um you want to bring in additional Orton Gillingham training to address your literacy goal. Right? What are each of those things? And we talk through uh where are we at? How equipped are you? and how can we support you in reaching that so that we know that that strategy will end in success, right? Um and sometimes there are pieces where where um we talk about okay um Epic is a great site and it has great resources. We have about three other things that are already in place in district that align
084with our tier one that meet that need. Let's talk to you about how we maybe don't have to spend money on that thing because we already have some things in place and we'll get with you and academic coordinators will help you. Epic books, not not the preschool. I'm sorry. I was like I'm a not education naming everything the same acronym. Um so those kinds of conversations, right? We talk a lot about alignment, right? Uh and for us at the district level too, um a piece of that is if we see 40% of elementary schools asking for the same thing, we reflect and say, is that a district need? And if it is, then maybe we're going to support that at the district level versus schools having to manage that one by one by one. Uh
085so we talk through all of those pieces, um give some feedback, and then the area superintendent followup, ASAP follows up um and supports them. So before it gets to you, it goes through some layers of of feedback and reflection and alignment so that we're all going the same direction towards the same goals, but each school has a little bit of their own autonomy in how they're going to get there. Okay. Um I really love that explanation. I just want to make sure I'm following the trajectory of the progress of development. So with the school improvement plan and the sitebased budgeting, you're collaborating and having very specific conversations with each individual school of how to essentially get it set up to then be approved by the area superintendent and ASOP and then eventually get back to
086us. Yep. Okay. I appreciate. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um we are going to item um so Miss Lindsay proposed a resolution. We'll be voting on that at our next board meeting. Okay. Um so the only thing that we're waiting for is Kathy, were you able to provide your feedback? Um my feedback is is minimal on that. Administration needs to supplement. Yep. And so that's what we are waiting for which will be received and ready to act by our next board meeting. So Brandon um and I I'm the hold up on this. I believe I was out for a funeral when you guys discussed this um and then came back. So, I have been there's certain asks for administration that um I'm looking at now um and I we have a closed session I
087believe um for the next student achievement meeting. Um if I have any questions or I'm just going to say questions. I'm not going to say concerns. Concerns sounds negative, but questions. Um, I I'd ask that we that you allow me to ask then or to put any um I'll say things that are my radar at that point. Um, just email any questions to say. Is that not a close session? No, it's not. Right. It's okay. I got it. I was just going to clarify as the author of the resolution myself so that we can keep track of them and Miss Vanderbrook. So she can show um a blue or red line copy if there are suggestions made. Okay. I'm seeing that a different way. So board president, I'll just reach out to you tomorrow. Okay.
088All right. Item 21A, explosion proceeding. I think Mr. You have that resolution. Yes, I have that. Um and I'll read the resolution. Um this is regarding whereas uh following a building level investigation, student um 015 was determined to have possessed a weapon while at school which under the school code requires a mandatory referral for expulsion for a period of of at least one year unless modified by the superintendent whose decision may be bonafideed by the board. Whereas the board of education of walking community unit school district 60 did receive and consider the principal's recommendation and the superintendent's agreement to modify the mandatory expulsion period for student number 015 and the reasons therefore and whereas the modification proposed is in the best interest of the district and the student and based on a totality of the
089circumstances supports the maintenance of a safe school environment free of disruptive influences which can be a distraction to learning while continuing to hold the student accountable for the students conduct. Now, therefore, it has hereby been resolved that one, the whereas clauses are adopted herein by references findings of the board. Two, the board concurs with the superintendent's modification of the mandatory minimum expulsion period to three days out of school. Yeah, I thought it was five. It says five days. Five. Okay. So, it's Should I write that on here? Correct. That's stated as 5 days. It's 5 days. Okay. Let me just change that to five days. So 5 days. So let me just read that section two again. Um the board concurs with the superintendent's modification of the mandatory minimum expulsion period to 5 days out
090of school suspension. The days already have been having been served. A board reprimand and an individualized safety plan. Three, the superintendent or the superintendent's designate is to notify the parents of student number 015 in writing of the board's determination within the next five school business days. And four, this resolution is effective upon board approval. And I hereby make a motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Riddle. Second. Seconded by Miss Lindsay. Any comments or questions on the motion? Sorry. I feel that it just needs to be stated every time that we do look at these instances on a case-byase basis with more information than we're able to speak to the public about and we take these things very seriously. The safety of our students and our staff is of our utmost priority and given the circumstances
091of the case the board well I believe the board but I myself agree that this is the most appropriate response for the situation. All students are subject to our board policies. Yes. Thank you, Miss Lindsay. Uh, all in favor signify with I. I. I. Any oppose? Nay. Item is approved. Board member time. Miss Lindsay. Oh, I'll try to keep it concise. Um, so April's a very popular month for celebrating things. Um, just so we're aware, um, I encourage people to to get some more personal education around these topics if you don't know very much. So, um, first and foremost, April is Autism Awareness Month with April 2nd being the World Autism Awareness Day. Um, I was able to attend, um, a virtual seminar of sorts where it talks about the benefits of having those with
092autism in our community and the different um, skill sets they that they provide that may not um, be as easily recognizable to others. Um, so I just want to make sure that the district is celebrating that as well. There's also ArabAmerican Heritage Month, Celebrate Diversity Month, uh Earth Month, National Child Abuse Month, more I believe on the awareness component, uh National Volunteer Month, and Administrative Professional Month. So, it's a very busy month. Um and to board president's um comments earlier, um I was also able to attend the uh focus gala put on by the Howell family. They did award our superintendent um recognition for the amount of work that she does with the group and the support as well as the Walkegan public schools districts. Um I do have the plaques that we'll want to
093decide how those are uh displayed. Um so they were very kind to to acknowledge the the partnership that we have with them. Um they also acknowledged uh Miss Schaefer over at Lewis for the amount of partnership and work that they do together as well. Um was also able to attend the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County Gala. They did uh an amazing job and we got to hear from the students directly, especially those in Waggan that benefit from the programming. So I'm really excited that we have extended uh collaboration with them as well. Um, and I will say that one other district-wide event that we have is the Walk Pack has a performance of Moana this Friday, Saturday, uh, two shows on Saturday. So, if you haven't gotten your tickets, please do. The information
094is on the district website. If you scroll a little bit down, it's like one of the first items. Um, but I encourage everyone to come out and support our our kids because they're putting a lot of hard work into that. Uh, that's going to be at Andrew Cook Magnet. So, Friday, I believe it's at it's at 700 p.m. I was like, is it 6 or 7? And then Saturday, there's a 3M show and a 6 pm show. I did it. Um, I'll I'll give you the the specific dates, but it is on the website. So, if you guys um again, encourage community members. These kids need all the love and support. I'll I'll leave it there. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Leslie. Rosanna. Um, I don't uh I I just want to Mike Rosanna. Um,
095I really just want to say that this past week has been a very um very kind of satisfying week aside from challenges that I've had to deal with. But, um, I do want to say, um, I congratulate all of the, uh, individuals that had the courage to put their names on an election ballot. Yeah. Because look, it's it's it can be fun, but it also can be very um very disheartening, disappointing, and um never feel bad when you don't win because you just got to try again. Got to keep trying. But um I commend all of the individuals that did that and uh those that um those that were successful in winning. I'm praying that um that that we're we're going to get it started and that uh with those people that chose to put
096their names on the ballot. I certainly hope that it was not just a ballot thing um because it's not a popularity contest. And the way that um you really show if your efforts were genuine and true is if you you you stay connected to the school district. Even though if you may not have won, but stay connected, continue to be involved and you you know then look time will go by and next thing you know it'll be a time for another election. Anyway, um I just want to thank all all everybody who did that because it it it's hard work and um it it like I said it could be satisfying but then it also can be disappointing as well. Um I was going to ask for something. I am in uh well I was
097in the process of re reviewing um training videos for the um Illinois State Board and one of there's a couple things that I learned in there and one of them um we'll probably take it up uh with the new board but with uh the superintendent the um the recordings that we use in um close session. It's advised that we get a um a a high tech recording because we have to reserve and retain those recordings. and they're very important. And so we need to invest in um in a recording uh other than us using a cell phone and all of that. We should not be doing that. We should be using a some type of um well they called it a high-tech okay recording but that that's what we need and the the cell phones
098and stuff for the recording. We should not be using that. That's just that I'm just saying what is in the training video. Okay. I even saw our um our uh general counsel in the training videos. And so um it is the the and they're for the incoming board members. um the training things. I'm honored uh that they allowed me to even, you know, to do that to, you know, make sure that stuff was okay and navigating through the um the device and if it um what you call it, buffers or you can't get in it and all that stuff like that. And plus the content the content of what was there. So, um that's okay. I just need us also to look at our um all this stuff that um the the DEI stuff. We
099can't get past that you guys right now. And we just can't. And um the people are going to soon be uh looking for statements and uh sign offs and all that stuff if we are complying. And I want us to be able to not get um not not get penalized for um something in which we're not in compliance with, you know, and so I just want us to be aware of that. But that's it. Thank you, Miss Adam. Mr. Mr. McBr. Uh, well, Carolina may be to articulate it better than me in reference to what you're speaking about with the recordings. Like Mr. Brown, I was saying that Carolina may be able to articulate uh what you're speaking about, Miss Hannah. Not indirect with uh recordings and whatnot, but uh you all right? Huh? You
100all right? What you mean in me making a statement in reference to what you're speaking about? Well, I don't care. I know what I said. Okay. No. So anyway, uh um it had to do with uh recording the meetings. Yes. And uh Carolina, you like to expound on that? She's not here. Well, my name's Christine. Oh, Carolina. Carolina is not here. Yeah. She Sorry, I wasn't sure if you were looking at me or passing. No, I thought she was down there. Well, anyway, I pass her. But that was something that I did want to bring up because it's in reference to what you're speaking about, Miss Hannah. Something we learned at the conference. Thank you. Thank you, Miss McBride. Mr. Riddle, one brief comment. If you've driven by um Sunset, uh you can take a
101look at the uh solar field that is being developed. Um I'm I'm encouraging all families to uh walk families to take a look at that. Um it's going to help you if you want to sign on. It's not available just yet, but we hope by the end of the year the solar project will be operational and people can start signing on um probably in another month or so. Mr. potent is that probably in about another month they'll be advertising to uh get subscribers. Um and there'll be more information coming out about that. But as you drive by, take a look, you'll see a lot of development taking place on some land that the school district loan owns that was a that was a a trash dump at one time. Um but it is uh is
102going to be turning into a solar farm. So just take a look at that. Um and uh congratulations to all the board members. um those that run re-election and those that are are new, we look forward to to working as a team up here. And um as Miss Hannah said, to those who who didn't win this time, um certainly appreciate your your efforts. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Miss uh Gonzalez Gonzalez. Um the only well I guess two things but um the only thing I have uh as an update is that the Walkan Schools Foundation scholarship um has closed. Uh we're going to be in the middle of um giving scores to students and interviewing them. Um so I want to give a huge shout out to Charlotte Callahan Wnjak and Lisa Megs. Um
103both who serve on the foundation board. um they donate uh either through their company or um them personally to make the scholarship viable. And um if you got money willing to donate, um you're more than welcome to uh help fund that initiative and our teacher grants. Um and I also congratulate uh new board members. Um you know, it's going to be an exciting time to seat the new board. Um, you know, I wish there were younger people like myself who um tried to go for the position, but I agree with everyone um and what they previously stated is that maybe it doesn't happen this cycle, but it can happen the next cycle. Go ahead. Maybe I could say one more thing. Um I'm also a walkgan Little Fort Lions member and this year we're trying
104to encourage uh students who have hearing and visual um problems um to uh we're offering four uh week-long experiences, camp experiences at uh at Camp Lions. Um, so if you have a child uh in our district, um, talk to your teachers about this because they have the information available and your child may qualify for an entirely free experience at a camp nearby here. Uh, it's it's formerly Camp Ravenswood. The Camp Lions uh, Lions Clubs rent that camp. Um, and we're we have scholarships that are about $1,700. Um, it's totally free for the for the students. Um, so if um I would suggest talking to your teacher um about that, your student's teacher if you and find out if your child qualifies and if um the camp is in June, so it's um around June 22nd
105for a week-long experience. Wonderful experience for your child. Thank you, Mr. Riddle. Yeah. So with that, I will ask for a motion to go into close session under um exception C1 uh C uh which is personnel C1 pending a threat and litigation and C21 approval of previous code session minutes. So move motion by Mr. McBride, seconded by Miss Lindsay. Comments or questions? Roll call. Mr. McBride? Yes. Miss Gonzalez? Yes. But I won't be joining. Mr. Riddle. Yes. Miss Hannah. Yes. Miss Lensing. Yes. President Yuring. Yes. All right. We are now in close session. Uh we'll meet downstairs as soon as possible.