June 25th, 2024 - Board of Education Meeting

001[Music] he [Music] n [Music] okay oh [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] o [Music] oh w oh [Music] oh [Music] w [Music] he [Music] he [Music] they what they students the high school oh okay all right let 709 the board previously met in close session under exception C1 C11 and c21 uh like to call to order the June 25th 2024 recall to order the June 25th 2024 W ke Public School Board of Education meeting if I can do a roll call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian present Miss Gonzalez here Mr riddle present Miss Hannah Miss lensing president y here we do have a quorum all board members are present so I expect them to be joining us any minute with that I like a motion to resume open session so moved by Mr riddle uh motion

002by m Gonzalez seconded by Mr riddle all in favor signify with i i any oppose n me uh we're back in Open Session uh Pledge of Allegiance Mr dup if you be so kind as to lead us in the pledge D the plan States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible we should asked one of them to do it good um so um for time I'm going to hold my president's report we do have uh our student board member current student board member Mr HOSA is unavailable this evening but we do have uh the resolution that we'll be discussing during special uh recognition so I'll go there at this time so we do have the proclamation I know you guys received the information um the I got suggestions and

003recommendations back from Miss uh Gonzalez and so at this time with the proclamation as written um I wanted to give us an opportunity to to direct Administration um so I think the intent of the Proclamation the board has already identified that they agree with there was some questions and concerns related to the language and so what uh the suggestions were if you would provide your suggestions Miss uh Gonzalez because I know both you and Miss linding also helped Victor with the proclamation and I have oh more Miss Ling than me yeah I didn't help with this one um what I had suggested uh uh and I encourage you all to to look at the attachments in board doogs because this was um Victor hoses uh one one of his babies um so when the work

004comes directly from a student I think that we should honor that work obviously critique it and give positive feedback as well as um you know constructive feedback but uh uh just to just to be familiar with it with with some of the things that the students are asking for right um so something I had suggest did because the language um within the proclamation extends Beyond some of the authority that we have uh as a as the board of education for D60 um I recommended that we a make statements at affirm um being inclusive and welcoming to students who identify as queer or gender nonconforming in our schools um and to and to reaffirm that uh we should have an inclusive education which is now something that is designated under Governor pritsker as um something that

005the teachers have to include in their curriculum um in addition to all the different kinds of contributions from um different communities so I feel like uh we keep it a little bit more tied to the education that we want to provide our students um and how we want to make them feel affirmed in our buildings um even though I know a lot of what he was including was um uh some of which was very factual um but uh some of which was also um uh you know very strong worded and and I know we went back and forth about uh you know whether this should be included in a proclamation that we make as a district um and and some of the liability that um it opens us up to so um those those two

006recommendations um is what I would want to tailor the proclamation to one an affirmation and two a reinforcement of the inclusive curriculum for the district so miss had a question and then I see your hand Miss Lindsay yeah I am um I'm just wondering and as I read this I had some concerns and um I was talking with legal um and um I was a little disappointed to hear that legal had no um had no uh um a role in devising this that's the first one and my other issue with um with with this cuz I haven't heard anything or didn't see anything um were was H has there been any uh parent input has this been taken forth um to um to the parents to um to have input in in this uh Proclamation

007and if it hasn't I don't think that at this time until we talk and get input from all of the uh District parents about this it it it we kind of need to hold on a minute so that parents can have some input into this I mean because this is going to um this is premating throughout the district and we need to hear uh from our parents so that um we can get the full picture yeah Miss Lindy question um so I did work very closely with Mr HOSA and staff that I'm not going to name and students that I'm not going to name and the reason I'm not going to name them is because individuals of the lgbtq 2ia or qia 2s plus Community have expressed that there has been discrimination in the district

008there has been slurs in the hallway there's been negative treatment and it's highly an appropriate so student voice was brought in it was brought to some of the clubs my first ation at the moment is we didn't put the band books Proclamation under the same level of scrutiny we didn't ask did we talk to the parents about the band books Proclamation so we're changing the game this Proclamation is to make a or affirm our students staff and community members that identify as lgbtqia a 2s plus feel safe in our school that is the goal we want everyone to feel safe you do not have to I'm trying to word this the most appropriate way with the lifestyle it's it's it's not it's who they are right so you can have personal issues with this topic

009however these individuals are part of our community and we should love of them and we should make sure every student is safe students in the queer Community are at higher risk for violence self harm suicide and if this can bring them some sort of peace that I am safe in wagan schools I'm a huge supporter of it so I understand um taking in some of the considerations that Miss Gonzalez put up this has been on the agenda um everyone has it it was posted more than two weeks ago legal has had access to it for over two weeks um and so if there were additional concerns we could have addressed that before tonight so that's also transparently some of my frustration um but we did have staff voice we did have student voice um and

010I am personally a little sad that this isn't something that we could wrap up tonight and vote on as aboard because it is pride month that's right M uh Fabian um I agree with your sentiments and I think although I am always a proponent of getting all stakeholder feedback this Proclamation is to our students and so that is the primary audience that we are speaking to and that's who should be considered um some of the issues that I have is just making sure that um we are consistent I like the teacher in me sees the grammar and um where we're adding an extra s or we're capitalizing students in some areas and not in others so just if we can uh if we expect our students to write to grammatically correct we should as well

011um but the other concern that I really have is when we write um and it is fact that our lgbtq plus Community um does have higher rates of mental health issues um and you know I have experienced it even with in my own family seeing students that have been you know kicked out of their homes and and have just more challenges because they're not supported by their families where I take issue is where we say committing suicide I would like that language change to die by Suicide um because we want to make sure that we are sensitive as well um because it is a mental health issue um and when it goes unchecked unfortunately that sometimes is the consequence but I think words matter and so if we could change from blaming blaming or putting

012the onus on um the student that they are committing this act to their Dying by I think I would feel better just changing that verbiage as well I just want to personally thank you that something that I wasn't aware of so that's good that you're sharing that so that as a larger Community we can use properly much MH Mr riddle um yes I I fully support the resolution I I do like the way our legal has revised it um I I thought that uh Miss vanderbrook did a good job of changing but but still um putting the important part and the focus keeping the focus as Miss lensing said on our students and providing safety um to them and that they need to know this um the church that I go to in Wan uh

013is an is an LBG btq uh plus uh a a warm welcoming church and and that church unfortunately recently had some graffiti um on its uh sidewalk um simply because it does support uh these individuals who are in our community contribute greatly to our community so there is as Miss lensing said there is push Backs from some people in our community and I think we we have to do what we can to welcome and and assure the safety of our students while they're in our community and in our schools so I fully support the resolution as it stands along with the changes that um miss our legal has has provided Miss I'm GNA go from the end and come back Miss uh faan um thank you Mr riddle for sharing that because that is a

014concern that there is push back but I also want to highlight that the law is the law this is a protective group of people yes um in addition to that and Adriana alluded to it um um we did have is we changed the law in 2020 to include more um lgbtq plus representation within all of our curriculums so apart from whatever sentiments that we may have it is our job to educate students who come to our district how they come to our district um and abide by that law right they are protected and they should feel protected and they should feel safe within our our school our district so um I just wanted to highlight that and I know Adriana spoke a bit to that as well important Point thank you Miss Ling um so

015I do apologize if you've already stated this board president but as we continue or as we have this discussion I just want to make sure that um community members staff members students that your concerns are voiced to the board so we want our primary job is the safety of our students right and so if you have disagreements you can voice that to the adults involved in the process and not have any um negative conversations toward our students that in the board member position that proposed this so please keep it appropriate please address it to the adults um that's my final ask Miss Anna um I as you all just were talking about I uh you you all are leaving out and I am not changing any kind of rules in the middle of anything because

016my first concern and only concern are all of the children all of the children their children and we are here to educate them but as in all the process of educating our children we also need to hear parents and I understand what the proclamation is I've read it I understand it I still say that parents must have a say in this because just like you all said there's different philosophies there's different beliefs everything and so to ex out one of the biggest um uh components the parents of children okay that we're trying to educate that's not um that's not board friendly yeah so I'll take the final comment related to this topic so we do have direction from the board uh there were some suggested language changes um so if we we can go back

017make those suggested changes and come forward with a resolution at uh an upcoming meeting that we can vote on I will say is quick facts number one this is promoting student voice this was not something that was at the board level this is not something that we said let's sit around and do it it's something that our students vocalized work through the process to bring forward and I do think that it should be honored we've passed other resolutions me and Miss Gonzalez work together on the uh was it safe uh passage which one the you did that before but yeah before yeah the safe haven safe hav hav rule where we just reaffirmed exactly what it is is is walking in public schools is a sanctuary a sanctuary essentially right and we're not going to

018um comply where we're I know gy but yes we have our rules um and so when we have interested parties resolutions that come forward the way that it comes is it comes to a board and we discuss it right if we are going to act on it not act on it so the process was followed um so for parents there's nothing that's fundamentally changing except for we have students of the lgbtq plus uh a community who have said we sometimes don't feel supported and affirmed at school that's it so if you have curriculum the curriculum we don't have a say it's the law state level it's the law yeah so it's like saying we don't want to teach any of the other histories that we're responsible and obligated to teach no more black history mon

019more Asian-American Heritage Month correct so we don't to miss fabian's point is if they would like or have questions comments concerns that's not even something that they should be directing to the board they should be writing an emailing to ISBN their representatives because it's affirmed through State Statute so uh again that is irrelevant to to us so um again I think I just want to go back to the point that these are our students voices and our students are the ones who brought this forward so I appreciate uh that and for the board members who did uh help and all of those others who assisted to bring light to this issue we'll make those revisions and keep it keep it moving um and each individual board member have to vote their conscience now we do

020have uh two board member appointments so if I have Miss Melanie Rosalez and Miss Briana Bravo if you all are in attendance you guys can come up to the front all right yay [Applause] my bad so I want to do two things so you're going to be standing up just for a little bit so number one I want to First highlight and thank Miss Hannah so uh the idea of a student board member came from Miss Hannah the idea of uh and it was supported by the rest of the board but the idea originated with Miss Hannah the other thing that Miss Hannah has been a big proponent of is expanding uh the number of student board members so that we have representation from each building so this will be the first year that W

021Kean public schools has two student board member Representatives so as we champion and highlight student voice is not just something that we talk about or we give lift service to because I say everybody wants young people involved in politics until young people actually get involved in politics and so I thank you all for your uh commitment and wanting to serve uh your student body and so we will have one student representative who uh represents the Brooks eye camp the other one who represents our upper classman at the Washington campus and right now I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the appointments of both Briana Bravo and Melanie Rosalez so moved second motion by Miss oh I guess I should read read the recommended action superintendent so we get it correctly it is recommended

022that the Board of Education appoint walk Kean High School Rising sophomore Briana Bravo Brookside campus and Rising Jr Melanie Rosales Washington campus to serve as the student board members during the 2024 through 2025 school year replacing Victor in aosa you got a motion oh no we motion by Miss uh Gonzalez second second by Miss Hannah any comments questions on the motion it finally got done I wanted two board members from the beginning to represent um Washington campus and Brookside and so I I'm just just elated that we finally have two board uh student board members for each uh each campus and I wish you well any time you need anything please I am available all the time and I'll make sure that you have my uh my number my email anything and I'm so glad

023and proud of you thank you thank you missam Miss Lindsay um I just want to congratulate both of you for first being interested but then also presenting um such great ideas during the interview process we're very excited to see what you're going to do this next school year so congratulations Miss fa I just want to say congratul ations but I also see um some of our jrtc staff so I'm assuming these ladies came from that group um and it seems to be a trend uh which jotc is um to support leadership but looking at all our past board members thank you uh staff members as well our jrtc crew for creating and helping to support our leaders and thank you for stepping up ladies Miss uh Gonzalez yeah I just uh I wanted to I

024know Victor isn't here hopefully he comes back okay he will he will um but I just wanted to reiterate in addition to um Miss Hannah wanting increase student voice on the board that he really put in a lot of leg work and and he wanted more students to help him and um I know that when we made the decision it wasn't easy cuz you are all fantastic but I really hope that you all work as a team and um and so I just wanted to give kudos and flowers to him for for sitting down and writing um this new policy that allows you two to be here but also I'm so excited for you guys to have each other during this process because that's honestly the hardest part of the job is feeling lonely through

025it right and Community is everything so um yeah make the most of it well said Thank you and uh the only thing that I I will add is it's been amazing to watch the development of our student board members so there's a list of our past student board members that's represented shout out to Raven May who's old enough to have graduated college yeah and she's going into her doctorate program her doctorate program so we had Raven May Austin kantu van wed Assam hanani uh Janna Gutierrez Victor HOSA and now we have Melody Rosalez and Banna Bravo so if you ladies will come forward oh we didn't vote all in favor any oppos appointments are confirmed come on up yeah y all right so before we do handshakes I'm going to sit because it's easier for

026me to read um so I and then both of you state your name so repeat after me I well you got to say I I and then state your name having been appointed to the position of student board member Board of Education Community Unit School District 60 ofeducation Community School District and the City of Wan Illinois and the City ofan Illinois and the county of lake and the county of Lake do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully perform my duties as a student board member I will Faithfully my stud as and will conduct myself in a professional manner and will conduct myself in a professional I further swear I further swear that I will uphold my duties as a student board member by attending Board of Education meetings and Faithfully representing my fellow students and

027Faithfully representing my fellow stud to the best of my ability to the best of my ability I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion of 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 of students and employees while respecting the privacy of students and employees I shall recognize I shall recognize that I am a non voting member of the board i aming m of the board however I am encouraged to lend my opinion to board discussions however I am encouraged to and I shall remain respectful to community members and I shall respectful to community members my fellow students my fellow students my teachers my teachers and all District employees and all District employees and I will

028not attempt to use my position to exercise influence in matters unrelated to my duties as a student board member congratulations and welcome to the board all right [Applause] I am so I mean this is this is wonderful oh I'm sorry yeah th this is wonderful because if you if you look at the original uh proposal it had two board members um in it and it was always um that all the law says you can only have one da d d da and so this is such this is such progress with our student board members and I just want to I'd like to tell the board the student board members give them a message ladies keep the focus on your fellow students and help them give them resources that you all have um uh tell them

029to start coming to board meetings you know and that's when their voices can really be heard and so um I I know you all will do a great job and I look forward to working with you thank you thank you Miss Anna all right so we have our next items yeah clap it up [Music] for uh 9A close session minute approvals is recommended that the Board of Education approve the close session minutes dated uh March 28 2024 February 6 2024 March 23rd 2023 February 28th 2023 November 2nd 2022 and October 26 2022 previously reviewed and closed session motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second second by Miss Lind sorry that was any comments or questions all in favor signify with i i i any opposed n uh closed session minutes are approved item 9

030B approval of minutes of the Open session meeting May 14 2024 motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second uh second by miss linding any comments or questions on the motion all in favor signify with i i any oppose n minutes are approved we now have our opportunity for public comment the sheet comes forward um as I call your names I'm going to call them three at a time I'm going to request that you all line up um right here at the podium so we can expedite um the process we ask that you refrain from mentioning student and staff member names in your remarks which one um thank you yeah we ask that you refrain from mentioning student staff member names and your remarks if you need translation services translation services will be provided to

031you and you will get 6 minutes to allow for the translation um and we do want to remind all speakers of Civility with that the first three names are Pastor Julie contas I believe that's Maya Rivas and monserat Angelou if I mispronounced the name please correct me at the podium and we and we do have cake so I know it's we don't want to be disrespectful of uh public comment but as soon as public comment is done if anybody would like some cake you can grab some in the back and what handing it out thank you saying it in English the peace of God be with you um the following message is for Miss Hannah but I wanted to start by saying I appr I apologize Miss uh cont we had the six minute clock

032up if we can get the 3 minute clock up and then whenever you're ready you can start yes thank you go ahead this following message is for you Miss Hannah but I wanted to start by saying I appreciate all of you present on the board and all of you who work every day to improve the lives of those in our community as a pastor I constantly am humbled by learning by both my elders and youth so please take what I'm about to say to you Miss Hannah with the utmost respect in mind in the hopes that you hear these words with an open heart for the understanding and reflection so I want to put this frankly you have made a history of generalization about our immigrant students and teachers specifically the repeated public inflammatory remarks

033towards our Filipino teachers and staff as well as innocent Refugee students there are black brown and all children who are entrusted in our school district care who are seeking who are seeing this hostility from someone who has held up by their own community and expected to do right by them and yet they are made to feel as though they are obstacles to their peers and the rest of society in your eyes Miss Hannah the same goes for your fellow board members who are forced to experience that discrimination it is incredibly disheartening to see this type of discrimination from someone who understands that antiblack Knight permeates the foundations of every form of discrimination and yet who does not extend that understanding to combat the racism and xenophobia experienced by our immigrant community members it's hurtful to

034see this discrimination come from someone who has been a representative of our community for more than 40 year 30 years the black and male students success ini committee meetings it was stated they had taken place yet you as a board member admitted to never attending them and still have the nerve to interrupt your fellow professional colleagues with xenophobic rhetoric it is hurtful to see the Discrimination push the lgbtq plus speech to the next meeting at the end of June because the board members got so caught up dealing with your discrimina tangent about immigrants when the conversation could have easily been taken into private to prevent misunder understandings this is an understanding to be had in regards to personal ignorance and what we are told all our lives to think about people who are different from

035us but that understanding can only truly be had when one takes the initiative to be understanding and as a board member your community expects that strongly from you we stand here in solidarity to liberate the newly arrived students from that discriminatory way of thinking the rest of the world is already trying so hard to put them in you as a woman of color should understand this all well and instead of adding onto more discrimination you should welcome them the Browning of W Kean school district has occurred and if there is a board member who does not like that fact then it is they who need to find another District we are sorry your time is up Mia Rivas and I just want to tell everybody out there I did not discriminate against anyone all right

036I was not saying anything um discriminatory or derogatory about any student Miss Hannah any group of students I was asking only about a plan Miss Hannah that encompassed the africanamerican students it had no kind of derogatory anything to do with um this uh disparaging any group of students and so we have I'm sorry individual that that that that people with different agendas are using this as a an agenda point and anything that has done that they have done to make you off think that I am against children they don't know me and uh unfortunately the person that is leading has always brought negative things to me when I say something but nobody else can say anything I'm saying [Music] I I so public comment public comment is Miss Hannah I'mma ask that you [Music] refrain

037public comment is an opportunity for the community to address the board it is not an opportunity for back and forth we have board agreements part of why we are in the situation is because we don't follow our board agreements because I'm not going to sit here and let someone like to take a 5 minute recess yeah defame my name I'm not going to do you can talk about people but you don't want people I haven't talk [Music] e [Music] m [Music] for [Music] the board uh so we did call recess I like a motion to uh resume open session so Move Motion by Miss linding seconded by Mr riddle uh before we get started I'm sorry before we get started we will continue with public comment I do want to remind the Board of Education

038that the public comment is opportunity for the public to address the board we do want to remind speakers of cability but we do it's a one way dialogue we have uh if we get to it we have uh board member time uh in which we can address any other other concerns and we also have other times in the agenda so in order for us to get through this expeditiously I'm going to ask that we can continue but before we get started I also want to remind the public is that if you there Outburst different things I've never had to remove anybody from a room I don't want to so what I'm going to ask is that we present our public comment the board listens to our public comment and then we move forward with the

039agenda so that we can complete the work of the board so that is what I'm asking what I'm also going to ask is if we can all stand and take a moment of silence because I feel like we need to lower our blood pressure and we all should be reflective of what it is that we're here for and that's for our students you can be seated the next name on the list is is it Maya or Mia I just want to make sure I have the pronunciation correct M Mia Mia Rivas all right m uh good afternoon my name is Mia Ras Marquez and in Wan I grew up here in Wan stud I live here in Wan she said stud oh I'm sorry I studied here in Wan Eng and I would like my

040program what is it and I want my program to continue yeah thank you to my teachers I love my school and I also love and my teachers and also my classmates and somean soosan we are Wan next name on the list is masarat and if I want to make sure I'm pronouncing it correctly Angelou if I mispronounce it please correct me monat okay okay all right monat whenever you're ready your talk my name is is Mo so my name is monat I live in Wan inan I study in Wan so the Venezuela I am from Venezuela M colana my mom is Colombian my program in English is advancing wans thank you thank you thank you next name on the list is Cynthia Lopez good afternoon my name is cythia um thank you all for being

041present here uh first of all I feel that the program that we have now in or in general it um helps a lot of people nowadays they're doctors they're Engineers they are individuals who have a title um today thank you to those programs um that have come and that give us those benefits and they help us realize our dreams they give us opportunities and Hope to be someone in life thank you to everyone I feel grateful to be here and be able to share my experience I'm a member of college and they have given me a lot of opportunities and helped me figure out what I want to be I want to be an attorney um and just a Justice attorney and then a criminologist the program that I am in um is helping me

042with what I want to do with my life and I feel like as it has helped me it will help many [Music] others um for example I'm part of a student um organization called Hela that tries to help newcomers from Latin America and tries to help them with dreams that they are also searching for and to help them realize what they will be want to study and what they want to do in life and up until now I've seen a lot of um children who have a lot of dreams that want to reach and I want to have an opportunity in this country circumstances or um other things that may have happened with respect because I feel like they should be able to reach their dreams um every student or person has their own history

043[Music] and I think um that they should be given another chance just like any other person because we are all human beings that we have all made errors like any other person and if the reason with all respect uh to um relieve yourself of those problems it would take away a lot of dreams okay I'm sorry and it hurts me that you want to take away the dreams of other people that don't have any faults and if the reason with all respect if it's due to racism by other people that have done wrong in this country as a Latina I do ask for forgiveness on behalf of those people that is all thank [Applause] you and again uh thank you with some of the name spelling but we have lisanti uh Valentina I want to

044make sure if I mispronounce Valentin Valen um uh good afternoon my name is Louisa Valentina vene I am from Venezuela and I had to walk seven countries to get here with my brother so we could both reach our dreams and I feel like we came just like any other immigrants to reach a dream and I think that as um as individuals we all have an opportunity and I think the English program helps us to um helps us to reach our dreams and I feel sad to see how they take away the dreams of others are more take away from those immigrants who are recently newcomers don't speak English and they want to take away this program there's a lot of individuals from Venezuela who work hard in our country [Music] because possibly not everyone suffers

045the same way and I do want all of the Venezuelans um or individuals from my country um to be able to reach their dreams um they might not all be good um there might be some bad but um we all deserve to reach our dreams and um for those individuals who are good people um we want an opportunity to also reach our dreams and I hope that they do not take away this program that's very important for a lot of people for all immigrants or all children that want to be something um they want to do something with their life to reach all of their dreams um even if we have a lot of obstacles we are not going to surrender and I hope that for all those individuals so they can also be a

046strong with this program with Pastor Julie who she has always helped us we're always going to be United and we're not going to surrender graas thank you [Applause] next name is good afternoon my name isos and I come from Venezuela we are refugees I do have here um that study inan and I come to support them um for the to support the bilingual program which is a program where they are learning a lot and they are also teaching us uh English like many mothers and aunts we want all of our nieces and nephews to get an education which is unfortunately something that's very critical in our home country and this is the country of opportunities that we have brought our children so they are able to grow and succeed every day we want respect and

047digity for our immigrant [Music] Community thank you next name is Haiti Mama good afternoon my name is I come to speak to you as a mother I am the mother of Valen my daughter only has 10 months I years with a lot of sacrifice brought my daughter I amene Professor Bing with one week that my daughter has been here with one week that my daughter has been here um I enrolled her in a school where she did not have any teachers that were bilingual [Music] my daughter was discriminated against and they did a lot of bullying because she did not know how to speak English so I had to take her out and and enroll her in another scho where there are other students that are Latino and she feels like she is at home

048now and it would be very sad if they took their teachers she suffered the um the consequences of not having a bilingual teacher and I tell you as a mother okay and I tell you as a mother because I suffered with her as well that is all I can say than thank you next name is again thank you so so much I'm sorry uh next name is l Lupo or Lupa and I'm apologize but I can't read the last name thank you hi good afternoon thank you for letting me speak today a few words C so I am the mother of cythia and FAO Washington cythia Goes to Washington and FAO will go to the bilingual program has helped us I say that they help us because they also help and this program has helped

049us a lot because we don't know how to speak English yet and really it would affect us greatly if they took it away and I ask that you do not take it away that will be all thank you for your [Applause] attention and thank you our next name on the list is lose Grand thank you to all who are present here today I appreciate the time you give us to express ourselves as a Hispanic if we are insulting one another I don't think we're going to solve anything and that's not going to better the education of our students and as always I have told you for many years that it's very important to educate all the parents um need to know that all of the students have equality rights in in um Elementary and high

050school and without caring about their origin uh citizenship or immigration status so you need to educate the parents we have two two uh titles we have Title One and title three These funds are for students that do not speak English that is a state law title includes all of the students please all of you that are there and are worried about the education you should all know this the other point that I want to make this morning like you all know we sent a email out in which we have expressed so where we have expressed all the good things that have happened at the school ever since aita Gonzalez arrived at Brookside we do not want a principal like to Beed so this principle does understand our culture and there are no reasons to switch

051her out so as you asked so we would like to ask just as you all did when you were um where you were trying to get the parent vote you said that you were going to be compromised with our students education and now we ask listen and fulfill our request to not move the principal from Brook side that is going to affect us and we will have to start all over again and we can't do that you need to talk and think of another way thank you very much thank you Mr gr Ray vavich I told you so you know you've got an item tonight number 13c you're going to spend over $500,000 for additional part working at the Washington campus now first of all I have to ask how many spaces there's no map

052attached to this when did you all decide this I come to all the committee meetings this hasn't been discussed at a committee meeting I've got all the agendas for the committee meetings going back a year I don't see anything on that I think you need a little more public uh transparency on this issue I Told You So 9 16 Washington street directly across the street from the high school 200 ft from the nearest door this District 9 years ago spent $58,000 to tear down a building six years ago this District spent $22,000 to pave it and nobody was using it one of the local businesses started using it and I brought it to the board's attention and and uh you guys decided to to lease it to the Lo to the neighboring business for like

053$100 a month after spending over $80,000 and I stood right here and I said the payback on that is going to be like 70 years for this District that's taxpayer money we're going to talk about a bond issue tonight for $30 million and you guys are spending this money this way I I've got my regrets I I'm sorry that's you you you need to go back and uh revisit that lease take that away find out a way you can get out of that uh you know at the superintendent's uh suggestion you guys have stayed away from uh the house program if you had went back to the house program parking would not be an issue at Washington campus Because 40% of the students would be at Brookside I think it's because of that uh couple

054meetings ago we you were talking about the uh student population the last 2 or 3 years it's down the projection for the next two or three years it'll continue to go down if the student population is going down why is there a shortage of of parking at Washington campus I think you need to look at that uh you need to get some incentives for people to carpool $500,000 for parking spaces that's a lot of money especially when you have other Alterna thank you thank you Mr vukovich next name is Elizabeth Morel Mel yes you can pass text to Bo whenever you start speaking okay my name is elizabth marero and I'm here to speak on behalf of myself and my colleagues U which I'm going to introduce them this is Jesus Ube and Eduardo celis

055the three of us we are the uh board of directors of a not not for-profit named hunos which in Spanish it means together um hunos has been granted the approval for the city of Wan for the viala independencia parade and I have a provided copy of the city permit uh we apply since uh Jan January 8th of this year so we have you guys have that now the purpose of this parade is to celebrate the Hispanic Heritage Month as as well as the Mexican and several other Latin American uh countries Independence Day so this parade happens every year the only difference is just a different organization doing the parade on February 17th of this year um we did submited a a waiver request uh we do have the permit to allow to use the facility

056for the parking lots for three of your schools and uh the reason for that is because we need a first staging uh to set up the parade the horse and to allow free parking to for visitors to come in um we are hoping to get the waiver approved uh because it will help us to alleviate the high cost of the parade so last Tuesday during your board meeting an individual who is the president of another uh organization stated inaccurate information about us or organization the the application and false information about one of your board members so I'm here to clarify that um number one hunos it is the non for-profit register in Wan you guys can verify that I provided C uh copies of the state the secretary state of uh Illinois and you guys

057could verify that uh the city has already verified all this information with or their attorneys this event is not for fundraising purposes this is a cultural celebration of the Latino Community here in Wan now this individual stated that we lied in on application so let's take a look at that on the question that that says will the organization be charging a fee to attend this event now the way I interpret a question with attendance um attendance means it's it's it's really different than uh participating attendance and participating is two different uh definitions so let's take a look at that cuz I feel some individuals they do need to be re-educated attendance means being present so for example if you go and um watch a a parade you're being present you're just washing the parade participating

058in the other hand it means that you're being involved in the activity you're actually actively participating you're walking with the float right uh same thing if you go and watch a play it's very different than being in the play or uh playing a soccer game right you have to pay that um so thank you thank you no worries next name is uh Eduardo and is it kalis sis thank you MRIs uh one sec so I can get six minutes on the clock please correct all right go ahead Mrs uh isard celis my name ised and I'm part of the board of directors um for hunos speech in those I'm going to divide the speech in two first I will speak to the board members I would like to uh I would like to thank you

059for allowing us to use uh the school facilities School I was a student of Wan high school and I love the schools now as I am one of the um main individuals for the parade it is a pleasure to serve the community I would also like to ask that you approve the request to use the facilities without a cost now that the student participation will be free I will talk to the community I would like to invite you to all the community to be a part of to be part of this parade like our logos says we are together and together we are more stronger it's not just a logo but it also is the unity of all of the organizations that for a long time have always been divided by individuals that only or

060look for their own economic that is why we would like to say to all the commun invite all the cultur not only the Latinos but also the AF the Greeks the Polish is invited to this CRA because as I said together we're more stronger and I would also like to clarify that do not um that do not listen to do not listen to the rumors of some individuals that only find or look to that's that only look to and the hard work of individual that we are doing it from we have done the parade in Kos and it has always been a success we have the of the government of kosha and this year we also do have the support of one of the of one of the churches of one of the churches of

061the stronger churches in kosha that speaks very all of us if you look at our record we have zero um lawsuits we have zero complaints we are clean that helps us toite the community and we would like this parade on June 15th SE that it marks September oh I'm sorry um September 15 that it marks the difference between the Latino Community we would like to make history and I'm going to risk to invite all of you to be a part of this community because together this we are stronger thank you next name is Angela Ramirez uh esteemed board members superintendent Wan Public School admin staff and community members personal opinions and political views aside we must deal with the changing Dynamics within our district we are paying out more than 250,000 for Dei work that's

062uh diversity equity and inclusion that includes the director of Dei consultants for deis managers for the Dei Department etc etc this depart that department determined that 350,000 was needed for the African-American male initiative all voted and already approved by all all this is very much needed and I'm not arguing the need or the reasons for it but that's over $600,000 that this board voted for what I am confused about and why I'm here today is why so many questions on $150,000 that's allocated by the state and mandated by federal law to serve a Dei need in our community it seems that those Dei individuals we hired need to sit with you guys the board members to help you understand that services to newcomers and migrant populations is Dei work and that work is something that

063you guys voted to uphold as a community member my personal opinions do not trans transplant the law and they do not or it's equal protection under it to all of our students Dei work is much more than the black and white lines that we want to draw in WPS thank you for the African-American male initiative in this District as a district I please beg you to celebrate Black Excellence but additionally I thank you for the lgbtq2 um Proclamation because it protects our children and it follows the law additionally I hope that we can be transparent about leadership changes replacing the current principle is Brookside is surprising as we have all have grown to love her in that position I honor if it's a personal request for change but I would still hope that as a

064parent and a Community member this District gives us more than finding out stuff on board docs lack of transparency and time family communication from this district has been a great source of frustration for your parent stakeholders thank you thank you Miss uh Ramirez next name ran Edwards good evening everybody waed a long time to speak tonight I'm saddened and I'm hardened many times I've been in this building I've been at meetings I've gotten loud because of my passion I've was looked at different tonight you guys passed a proclamation for the LGBT community I'm part of that Community but tonight I watch a pastor call me a slur downstairs and I wonder how I came back upstairs and she's sitting in the seat tonight this woman brought kids with her I did the responsible thing today

065I got up and I walked out to get away because that's what's called deescalation she went the other way see me come down the stairs and your staff witness it and I'm asking tonight this is why we get so upset because when people like me do something there's always accountability always I've never seen it not be accountability 10 years ago you seen a different side of me but I have grown up I have and I'm proud of me if ain't nobody else is but I want to make this very clear to everybody in this community what I don't do as a man and as a human I don't run from what I've been through it's my story and I can tell it better than anybody and attacking me with it don't give you Fruit Loops

066it don't give you Kudos it does not shame me and it ain't going to quiet me what I speak about and who I speak for is people I love it's people I've been loving all my life I don't just talk I walk that talk come see me Monday through Saturday 700 a.m. to 900 p.m. I worked tirelessly and I know a lot of y'all don't always agree with my delivery we all have that opportunity to deliver a message and how you choose to deliver it that's you and how I choose that's me but I'm not going to be silent and so what I say tonight is is not that I was against the proclamation because I'm a part of a community but what I want to see is us treating everybody equally and when we're

067talking about that we're talking about babies and I think about these mothers who have different beliefs than me and when we are imposing on their beliefs it's wrong as somebody that represents this community I got nieces and nephews 15 of them under the age of eight and I am very protective of them with my lifestyle so including those parents is very important cuz they matter thank you thank you Mr Edwards Randy secki good evening I just want to say a couple things uh one Mr you and you didn't call for a roll call when you uh Miss Hannah and Miss lensen showed up late just just want to let you know that um second thing I want to talk about is you guys passed policy uh earlier this year we talk about we're going to

068treat each other fairly equally everyone's going to have difference of opinions and what we seen at the last board meeting was just sickening each other attacking each other there's no sidebar conversations but yet every board meeting we watch everybody have sidebar conversations up here when other people are talking we're constantly attacking one person all the time asking for a vote when she's trying to get something in and then when we thought it was her and Mr riddle this was you you thought it was her and it was actually miss lenson saying something then you took your vote back and let Miss lenson continue it's just wrong if we're going to do policy you guys are all going to agree to it then maybe you guys should follow that policy like you said all the kids

069watch Community watches these meetings next thing I want to touch on is the the parking lot $500,000 at Washington to add onto that parking lot we can't even take care of the parking lots we have so we want to add another parking lot there's a lot of parking lots in our district that are in poor shape that we should use that 500,000 for to fix first and then after that last meeting I want to ask for an independent investigation I want to ask for ethics violation investigation after that last meeting when board three board members left early some of the board members met with our Superintendent at a bar here in W Kean what was that meeting for so would like to ask for an investigation and I would like to file a complaint for

070an investigation cuz it's just a coincidence after that Mee and when that happened board members left but then we still met up at a bar so I'm asking for an investigation that's all I have tonight thanks thank you Mr secki final name is Miguel uh Fabi I just want to make sure this works okay good when the time starts it start when you start speaking okay perfect hi my name is Miguel anelo faan Sala I am an alumni of Wan high school and a future teacher for this amazing District firstly thank you board for listening to my words I would like to start by congratulating the two new student board members as an alumni of a jotc program myself I know you two will serve your community and this board well I am also Ser

071I'm also very proud of Victor from his past service for spearheading the lgbtqia proclamation it is amazing to see this Proclamation especially as someone who is a part of the non-b community themselves and someone who has helped with the gender neutral bathroom policy when I attended wagan High School I hope that each board member finds it in themselves to support this Proclamation and that's all I want to add in a positive note thank you for listening to my words thank you this concludes our public comment um if we can get the agenda back up on the screen I do want to go back to uh board president time which I reserve the balance of and I just have a couple statements so it's unfortunate that community members were not able to stay to hear my

072statement it's important to clarify that no one has suggested eliminating B bilingual education in walk Keagan we remain fully committed to educating all students eligible for these programs as mandated by law moreover over we value and strive to promote Unity between our black and brown communities this Unity is vital for the strength and progress of walk Kean we apologize for any confusion or distress caused by false narratives that have been circulated these narratives appear to be attempts to further so disunity amongst our groups let us continue to work together fostering mutual respect and collaboration for the betterment of all residents in W Keegan we will support our Black Male Achievement initiative we will continue to support bilingual education those are the facts I hate that tonight's meeting and last week's meeting or two weeks ago

073devolve to the point that they have I continue to encourage us to rise to the occasion we're role models we have students that are here that watch us we have staff members that are here that watch watch us and the way that we communicate with one another the way that we communicate to the community is being watched many people have gotten to that Podium some tonight and chastise my leadership that's their right and then I have the right to clarify and defend my record but we have to do so in a respectful Manner and we have to do so in a way that we still remember that our goal is to support the students of wagan and so I appreciate all the comments that were spoken with tonight I appreciate all of those community members

074that came out tonight I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit disappointed and I'd be further line if I said that I was um I wasn't frustrated we talk about all of the things that we need to do and have to do as a district we talk about putting kids first and we spend so much time in fighting with one another that we rarely see progress and so um to our student board members I again welcome you and I want you to and and a lot of times we have a lot to learn from our students is because they can disagree without being disagreeable and so I appreciate um those who spoke but I do want to make sure that that when we are speaking from every side every opinion it's all

075valid that we aren't further seeking the so denture and so I have to very clearly state that we are not doing anything to bilingual education and we will continue to support our newcomers and we will continue to support our Black Male Achievement initiative and those things are not in competition with one another all right with that I would like to continue with our agenda uh we have our consent agenda items a through what's the final letter I can't see it uh p uh are there any letters that any board members would like to vote on separately no I'm just waiting for Miss F she has a couple okay was okay good so can I have a motion to approve uh items a through P so moved motion by Miss linding second by Mr riddle any

076comments or questions on the motion r call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah Miss linding yes president y yes item approved motion carries we got item 11a approve renewal of mitel support agreement wps60 phone system B approv renewal of Power School wps60.org website and school messenger C approve renewal of Panorama educational screener D approve renewal of Jocelyn Center partnership for social emotional supports e approve renewal of mclass intervention for grades K through 5 F approval of I ready for literacy and math intervention for grades 6 through 8 G approve of learning partners for comprehensive schools H approve renewal of one goal leadership Network partnership for 2425 school year I approve renewal of elevate K through 12 for 24 through 25 school year J approval of Sun Belt

077Staffing contract K approval of Care staff partners contract L attendance at the Innovative schools conference uh listed there m ESL materials for 6th through 8th grade uh and attendance at visible learning conference o approval of C&J food truck vendor for 2425 back to school resource fair and P approve of approve renewal of equity and education Partners contract 2425 school year we're now at the consent agenda for operations are there any items that any board members would like to have voted on separately if not I like a motion to approve items 12 a through f motion second motion by Mr riddle seconded by Miss Gonzalez any comments or questions on the motion um iead L sorry I have a question so on a m um there is a comment regarding revisions to the attached list will

078be presented to the board of education for approval what sort of additions deletions or Corrections are we anticipating why do we have that caveat there miss poke board president board members Community uh staff uh we put that statement there as a standard statement because throughout the time before we get the budget adopted there's new contracts that might come up and so we want to have a provision in there to include those okay perfect thank you for the clar ification thank you roll call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah Miss lensing yes president Ying yes item approve motion carries and I'll read those 12a approval of fy2 2425 continue resolution Authority B approval of payment for annual testing and inspections of fireing arms and sprinklers C approval uh

079for Access 411 comprehensive attendance Administration and security system D fy2 Supply supplies e approval of new gy FL RM light foot F approval of Network Technology Innovations yearly service level agreement we now have uh purchases and contracts uh so item 13 a renewal on budsman plus contract it is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education authorize the superintendent or her designate to approve the renewal of udman plus contract for 1,844 th7 over the 3 years motion to approve motion by Mr ridd second second by Miss Gonzalez any comments of questions on the motion my only comment and I'll keep it brief is uh We've expressed in the committee meeting our anticipation is if we're approving 30 slots that we we make sure that we use the 30 slots or approach on budsman

080to renegotiate at some time so uh thank you I see Dr Bulet um just thank you we got it yep um sor in addition we were looking to also look to fill those the 30 slides yes yeah so we our priority is to fill them for any reason we can't we want to be able to go back to them sorry if I missed that no no worries do we want to attach that to the um maybe that's a Kathy question no I mean is the recommendation we have recommendation a motion as read if you'd like to um a me we h it again I think is noted noted in the because the contract is uh that's what K's concern is agree to the langage typically if both parties agree to changes in the contract then

081it can move forward and there's typically a clause in there to that effect okay but I don't have that direct knowledge of these contracts at this time okay all right thank you I'll talk to you roll call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss hannnah Miss lensing yes president Ying yes I approve motion carries 13B emergency transportation contract with lak side Transportation diverse learner summer program it is recommended that the Board of Education authorize an emergency transportation contract with Lakeside transportation to support transporting diverse learner students for the remainder of this summer program effective July 2nd 2024 through the end of August 2024 motion to approve motion by Mr riddle uh I second as well second by Miss Gonzalez any comments questions on the motion just to just to

082clarify that this was an emergency contract that we needed to um that that we needed to uphold to serve our uh DL students get to and from where they need to go for summer service is correct roll call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah Miss linding yes president Ying yes item approval motion carries item 13 C approval of bid W Kean High School Washington campus East parking lot uh expansion it is recommended of the it is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education authorize the superintendent to accept the lowest responsible and respons a bid for Wan High School Washington campus East parking lot expansion from Manville Construction 2890 with concrete West concrete Drive Engleside Illinois 641 at a cost of $42,715 an engineering fee

083payable to imeg a project contingency of 10% of construction costs for a total project budget not to exceed 51,8 18035 do we have a motion second I said do we have a motion oh I motion to approve motion by Miss Gonzalez second second by Miss Fabian any comments or questions on the motion question um So within this slide we see that it's budgeted can we get the confirmation on when that was budgeted just for transparency purposes Mr Molton good evening members of the board staff Community superintendent um this agenda item was presented as an anticipated project for FY 2425 at the February ococ meeting um it was also identified at the June 4th budget Workshop as a potential project we wanted to pursue okay and then Mr moton do you mind um commenting on the

084faith that this is a project well worth given the public comment received essentially there have been decisions made in the past that may not have worked to our advantage so can you just provide more context as to why this is the best move for the district sure um So currently uh this project has identified 55 parking spaces to help support the school in its current function as well as additional drop off um options for the school as has been identified and recommended by the safety department and also discussed at the Safety Committee to remove some of the foot traffic and the vehicle traffic off of Jackson um which has been a concern by uh School staff as well as local residents So based on how the school is being utilized at this time and the

085the the support needed for the amount of students and staff there um we believe this is a a very important project that needs to take place for those two reasons additional parking as well as relocating some of the arrival dismissal drop off pickup um options for the school and then just to add to that Mr M we also had Alderman um Victor Felix come and talk and advocate for it as well um so that's a benefit um with these 55 spots do we anticipate it's primarily going to serve staff do we believe primarily going to serve students and even if there was a potential because I know houses were mentioned and there's been a strong push for the community to have all four um grade levels at the buildings if in the future that decision

086was made would this Choice today be irrelevant or still support at um spaced out parking on student needs hopefully that makes sense sure so I believe would still be relevant um primary use could be multi-use right now but we have identified staff adult visitor needs within the building uh for additional parking as permanent fixed parking but again as I mentioned drop off pickup options off of the main streets um is also critical for this and this plan provides enough space for both parking as well as vehicle traffic and both directions for drop off and pickup and that need is you know it is a large building um so so staff and student occupancy you know if it's majority used um this need will continue to be there and it will be utiliz for those purposes

087I also would like to um share with the board even though this is not the primary reason for this project we do host a lot of events in that field and this is an additional pave area that could support those efforts as well okay thank you um oh you got a question go ahead Mr R yes can you refresh my memory where exactly is this parking lot going yeah so this would be the east side of the property um where the field is we did the resource fair is held where the resource fair is held yes and it's just expanding that lot that's there or where is it going so this is going to create so the entrance to the current lot this would run perpendicular to that with a um entry point and exit

088point on either sides of the cafeteria no exit or entrance to Washington Street not direct to Washington Street but it would be near the exit that currently exists by the cafeteria at Washington Street okay Mr M just to clarify even further because you just said that and what's going to happen to that isn't there a drop off Zone there for the buses for the uh yeah for the buses and for like utility trucks to drop off materials or food yes so it'll run parallel to that and perpendicular to the current lot so we're not going to occupy the current um location that exists now the the small thoroughfare there for um you know maintenance vehicles uh deliveries for the cafeteria This would run next to that so we would be occupying the current field space

089on the other side of the fence okay and it it won't impact plans for the future Outdoor Classroom it will not this is in a different physical location on the property thank you um and my only question um and we talked to it so it is a significant expense but this was recommended through the safety assessment it was as well as reviewed with the Safety Committee and and as Miss lining mentioned we did hear from the alderman as well as neighbors within the local area oh Miss D I just want to add a comment as a parent that has to um drop off kids at that campus um I think this is a great idea we see a lot that unfortunately our own parents don't follow follow that drop off routine um and there have

090been several incidences where they there could have been some very catastrophic um accidents and I think safety is is always our priority but um in in this instance you know especially when you're talking about two major roads and having your kid cross that road or stopping in the middle of the road and and hoping that traffic stops behind you we really do need a more efficient drop off off um pickup area so um I thank you for listening to the recommendations of the safety um staff to be able to better serve our students and ensure that they're getting into class in and out safely Mr R one one last question here um since there's talk about that Washington campus somewhere down the line as being maybe taken down and either put somewhere else or rebuilt

091has that plan if this was still the parking lot would that still have be use I mean has that been considered as to because there's a I'm just curious you know you don't want to put in a new parking lot in 5 years down the road end up moving the building or taking the building down and putting an addition to our Brookside campus I guess I don't know enough about this so I would tell you no Mr rle um as a result that that would take a referendum Etc when we're talking about a possible new High School getting the students involved um do you want to add more to that no you you clarified um this is needed now there's that that is a significant long-term uh would be a significant long-term item uh in

092the very distant future but we have current needs now and we we believe it's appropriate for this recommendation based on our current needs can I ask one more question um did this come out of our meeting with the mayor and her Police Department on how we could work together to alleviate some of the traffic at Brookside because I know you and I I'm sorry Washington um you and I um attended a meeting there so did this come is this one of the components that came out of it yes it was I thought yeah so I agree uh I have to so the sentiments of Mr vukovich Right and I also agree with some of Mr riddle I'm going to support this I'm not going to lie about that I think we it's not that I

093told you so I won't go to Mr route but you all remember when I was a brand new board member and we made the decision and everybody was talking about how it's going to benefit students and Brandon's only question was what about parking and so you know it's sometimes one of those things that we we don't consider um again I supported the lease with that other business but I think that was because we were told we didn't have a need for those parking spaces right and so those are the points is like all right cool we don't have a need now it's spend 00,000 because we do and I don't know Mr vuk you keep me honest is it 10 spaces 20 spaces that we would have been able to get out of that other

094parking lot so we may still be needing it but it helps with the community when they see even what must riddle is saying is I do know that I'm pushing for a new high school is it a pipe dream is it whatever I don't know but we're making decisions that that's $500,000 towards $124 million bill so I'm hoping that um we keep those things in mind so I will support this today I think we we have to make it happen but I do have to agree that um I want to us to be conscious about those things and decisions how something like how we um utilize those buildings right impact some of these other things because we spent all the money on the brook side and that parking lot is typically 30 to 50% full

095on most days but it does have the drop off now it's nice traffic flows when parents follow it like Miss faan says so if we can do the same thing at Washington I do think that's safer so um I'll be supporting them roll call Mr McBride yes Miss faan yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle I'm going to pass on it because I don't feel like I've done enough research on this thank you Miss lensing yes with similar sentiments as board president Ying president Ying yes item approv motion carries um now we have item 14a approval of the non-union Personnel cost living raises for FY 2425 it is the recommendation that the Board of Education approve the recommendation of the administration to give a 4% cost of living pay raise for non-union staff with a value

096of approximately $842,000 effective July 1st 2024 I I motion to approve the motion by Miss Gonzalez second second by Mr riddle any comments or questions on the motion all I'll say is um uh the braises that we've given this year are listed there below um we've seen significant jumps in our other groups uh teachers uh and Union staff members uh so I will support the 4% and and do so happily roll call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss lensing yes president Yu yes I it approved motion carries we have Item B Personnel action items for 62524 I have before we jump in before we jump in we stated um that we were waiting on some more we have to read the motion or superintendent did we we we

097didn't get the mo um the information request the information was not emailed to the board so if we can ask for a motion excluding that uh one individual he hasn't sent it so even if we did this right y um four Okay so take that all right go ahead superintendent read the recommended AC it is the recommendation of the Board of Education to accept the administration's recommendation to approve the appointments retirements retirement extension and accept the resignations that's found on schedules f102 L 949 and g660 with with the position of the inim director maintenance and operation on the administration schedule f102 will be posted by December 30th and holding um yes holding and holding on Personnel scheduled f102 fourth line down pending additional information pending additional information okay Mr Figaroa the board still has not

098received the question in close session so if you could please get that to the board this evening okay motion to approve as recommended by the superintendent as amended motion by Mr riddle second seconded by Miss Gonzalez um I will say is that uh I do believe we heard from Miss Granda and others we've received emails so just a statement on rationale for some of the changes uh within reason Excuse me yes so as we see on um on our Personnel schedules today we have um a number of moving Parts within the District of people moving from one position to it to another so unexpected transitions in staffen often require us to make difficult decisions in this situation we are very fortunate to have a number of talented and knowledgeable administrators who have familiarity with our

099schools and the community and who we are able to transition into these positions I know these men and women will take on their new roles with great enthusiasm and a mindset of improving outcomes for our students just as they have in their past roles within District 60 in the upcoming days and weeks these leaders will be reaching out to their school communities and will make every effort to further familiarize themselves with our students teachers staff and parents I am confident that these moves are in the best interest of our students schools and class and classrooms and I look forward to the future success at these school buildings and the individuals that will be leading in these new roles so as a result the board will be taking a vote this evening on a number of

100positions that we will be having internal candidates moving from one building to another they will be making contact with staff in a formalized letter once the vote goes through this evening is what I'm told and we'll be setting up opportunities to meet with students to meet with staff to have focused groups to hear what is working what you feel needs to be worked on so that the leadership within the building is a shared leadership and that we are addressing concern or reinforcing all the strengths that the building Personnel have already going ongoing within the buildings so I have for full confidence that these individuals will do an amazing job in their new roles as they transition within the district and I'm more than I'm more grateful that we have what we call a bench in

101um athletic terms it's one thing the board had asked when we were constantly looking outside for new Rec recruits to actually create a bench of potential leaders within our district from the principal the assistant principles coordinators and directors and so all these transitions are internals and they're just moving pieces within the district all of them will be staying within the district and serving the students of District 60 just in different formats so I have Motion in a second any other questions comments roll call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss lensing I'm going to pass in this instance for the reasons disclosed in close session president y yes item approve motion carries we do have some administrative appointments at this time I'd like to introduce Albert centenno who previously

102served as a Spanish teacher at St Augustine prepatory Academy he will now serve as a culture and climate specialist at the Brookside campus with a starting salary of $555,000 congratulations Mr [Applause] [Music] [Applause] centenno Mr Al jais can you hold the one appointment that we held so we're not projecting thank you our next appointee is camera Daxter I hope I said that right did I say that right Kamara Kamar thxer sorry Kamara give me one minute to finds that who previously previously served as an instructional coach at right down the street Zion Elementary she will now wait Zan Elementary she will now serve as the assistant principal at Oakdale Elementary with a St starting salary of $74,500 congratulations Miss Dexter walking in Al love yes in best class to come out of walk Keagan congratulations

103congratulations and welcome back I feel the shade from here best CL you in adri wait welcome home 2010 2010 versus Glory I was 2014 sorry go ahead our next appointee is Julie pearo did I pronounce that right um who previously served as an assistant principal at Dam Diamond Lake School District 76 she will now serve as the academic chair of English at the Washington campus with a starting salary of $90,000 congratulations Miss por Caro I hope I pronounced that [Applause] right our next appointee is Mr Tim Brer who's also an alumni who previously served as the interm Director of logistics and compliance here at Lincoln Center he will now serve as the interm Director of Maintenance and operations at Lincoln sent with the starting salary of $140,400 congratulations Mr Brer [Applause] you would say the

104Raiders are better congratulations now we really going to congratulations you are a raer weren't you our next appointee is Miss Flor Carter who's also an alumni can I get all these alumni this stand up that's exciting who's also an alumni yeah right congratul um she was previously the principal at aoec she will now serve as the principal of Robert Abbott Middle School with the retirement of Carl Hagman and thank you Mr Hagman for all you have done for Wan public schools with a starting salary of $129,450 65 congratulations Miss Carter we can't wait for the great work you will do it AB [Applause] it our next appointee is Miss aera Rodriguez Gonzalez who previously served as the Brookside campus principal she will now serve as the principal of aoec with the salary with a starting

105salary of $133,100 congratulations Miss Rodriguez Gonzalez [Applause] our next appointee is Mr Eric W Hamilton who previously served as an assistant principal at the Washington campus he will now serve as the co- principal inum at the Brookside campus with a starting salary of $140,000 congratulations Mr [Applause] Hamilton congratulations congratul all right thank you to all of our uh appointments and uh those who are staying with our district but in different capacities uh we are full steam ahead getting ready for next year so congrats next up we have um can I take those items together a never mind n it's fine 17A ratification of the second processing of June 2024 board bills manual check request payments and Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of June 5th 2024 through June 18 2024 it is a

106recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education ratify the 2nd June 2024 processing aboard bills manual check request payments and Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of June 5th 2024 through June 18th 2024 the accounts payable board payments for the period of June 5th 2024 through June 18 2024 total 3, 320,460 the manual check request payments for the period of June 5th 2024 through June 18 2024 total 1,927 5847 the Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of June 5th 202 4 through June 18th 2024 totals $0 motion to approve second all right we got a motion and second any comment questions on a motion roll call Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss lensing I'm going to pass I did not have time to

107thoroughly look at it so I don't feel comfortable president Ying yes item approve motion carries and B consideration of the resolution providing for the issue um of not to exceed the bond not to exceed 30,000 of working cash fund bonds of the district providing for the levy of taxes 30 thou 30 million I'm sorry sorry Mo item 17b consideration of a resolution providing for the issue of not to exceed 30 million of working cash fund bonds of District of the district providing for the levy of taxes to pay the bonds and authorizing and the sale of the bonds to the purchaser thereof if you can read the recommended action it is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education would consider the adoption of a resolution providing the insurance of not to exceed

10830 million of working cash fund bonds of the district providing for the levy of taxes to pay the bonds and authorizing the sell of the bonds to the purchas sir thereof motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second second by Miss uh Gonzalez any comments or questions on a motion I just have two quick questions go ahead Miss Lindsay um so the attachment doesn't have any signatures is that because we have to vote first and then signatures follow yes perfect um and then the second is that it's not to exceed 30 million but we have explicitly the 29.5 can we just provide context around that yes um again board president board members uh community members and colleagues uh we have Este steamed guest here tonight uh our bond councel Kai Harding and also our financial

109advisor Elizabeth Hennessy who can provide additional context um to what we're doing oh you know give just very specifically that question the difference between it's up to 30 million but the number and I apologize I just you guys did a very thorough job I think we know what's happening but just if we can clarify that point yes um we instead of doing the 30 million uh we wanted to reduce it to 295 um because we wanted to not Levy as as much taxes okay because we could have went up to the 30 million but it's our desire to do um the 295 and then I kind of wanted Elizabeth and also Kai to come up because we're going to do two Bond actions and that's for a reason right good even good evening Board of

110Education Elizabeth Hennessy with Raymond James thanks for having me tonight to expound on what Gwen was mentioning the resolution authorizes up to 30 million the intent is to issue 29.5 million uh but we're going to do it in two issues the first to be sold uh if all goes well tomorrow uh for 14,750 th000 of the proceeds and then the second issue would be issued in January of 2025 separating the bonds into two separate calendar years there's two reasons for this number one to match the proposed expenditures set forth in the capital facility plan and then secondly um when you issue less than 15 million you are not restricted Ed on the ability to earn interest in short-term Investments so that will help maximize the district's proceeds to put more into your Capital plan any

111other questions comments concerns are you the two that say we can't divest from Chevron just kidding um one question I knew it was coming um one question that I had was um it Escape me now it's not necessarily for for you both or misspoke but I've been saying to have a running list of what we use that fund for because I think our community needs to see everything that we upgrade in the house right using that money and the lifespan of those Investments um because when we have to wait for for that to actually materialize it can seem forever and and we knew that we take that action now right but we might not see the fruit of that several years from now so so that was just going to be my suggestion we actually

112um have a list and Elizabeth has that we were required to put that information together when we presented the standards and pores okay uh and so uh we presented at budget Workshop one yes so that's uh the preliminary uh list is subject to change based upon priorities but uh we're going to have that information readily available for the board to review and if there are any changes as we present the budget and budget Workshop to okay um we'll certainly present that to the board of education for their awareness okay thank you thank you roll call oh sorry Miss Fabian you had a question no soll Mr McBride yes Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah Miss lensing yes president Ying yes I didn't approve motion we're going down to superintendent report

113item 18c we held one from last week so I want to make sure that we get to that I know the hour is late but uh it's important yes um at this time um I'm going to ask Mr Figaroa to come to the podium and to give us a recruitment update this presentation was going to be presented at student achievement this previous Tuesday but because of time um we stated that we would present it during our meeting this even evening um and Mr Figaroa would be available to answer any questions that the board and I believe you said the public may have right so thank you go ahead Mr Figaroa good evening H members of the board superintendent and public uh we have a recruitment update uh for you hopefully a quick one uh we're

114going to start with our International recruitment to date and I want to highlight that as of May of this year we have around 160 teachers are working Wan po schools that's roughly over 10% of our uh teacher body uh during the summer we hope that we're going to receive around 50 teachers and I'm being very conservative with the number it might be higher and by August 2024 I hope to have around 2 10 teachers working in Wan that will certainly meet and surpass our 20% of all recruitment so you can uh I don't know I I think you should uh celebrate because these are teacher who are servicing our student they're all certified under ESB H so it is a great contribution to the future of our students most specifically in shortage areas such as

115diverse Learners Math Science and bilingual and uh we also have other recruitment efforts obviously and we have uh some Equity initiative here that's speared by Miss ionda fton with our Readiness coordinator and Miss Carol May who is our principal in one of our elementary schools and they have been visiting and in contact with historically black colleges and universities some of the universities are listed there there others Chicago State and other efforts that we're trying uh to make in that area so some of our recruitment efforts also have Is the participation of many job fairs the most important around here which is the Lake County uh job fair that I have the pleasure of attending we also have resource uh Center the regional Office of Education we have uh even Marquette University and we also have

116a mailing effort where we send some flyers with a QR code to all those areas University that have an educational College so the students at least can see a sign sturdy type of paper here that they can post in a bulletin board and they can ER at least know about Wan public school as a potential employer H we're working on teacher retention and right now we just uh unveil uh certain videos uh for addressing teacher retention specifically teacher retention these video videos are two of them combined uh goes for one hour of training and it's not a video that they can come and see an HR or anything like that it's in the professional development website that we have uh with front line so uh the individuals who have been selected they have to log

117in they have to watch the video and an electronic copy and uh documentation of their participation and training uh is in the system this will be a yearly um training specifically at the start of every school year as I say we already uh went because teacher specific we're H addressing these two principles and assistant principal then we have um strategic recruitment planning and we have certain target areas these are gross numbers of vacancies in the district as you can see bilingual education uh Regular Ad diverse Learners are our top uh vacancies in terms of instructional areas I will say that these numbers are not fully accurate as we already have some individuals in the pipeline to be on board that but they still have not complete the procedure therefore we still listing the vacancies and

118at the present time we have approximately 40 of those professionals in addition it doesn't take any of the teachers that we're recruiting internationally so I need to give them sometime to make sure that they're going to arrive at O'Hare Airport pick them up and make sure that I can on board them so I'm being couches at this time but we keep posting the positions at bacon because we want to attract and attract as much as we can and even if sometime Wan is not their Fair Choice it give visibility to Wan public school as a large educational employer we also have a plan we have targeted numbers of hires this is a plan that we are developing at this time with the actual number of hires so we can compare what is the number of

119vacancies how many we were able to recruit and we're going to have quarterly reviews of our Milestones if we have meet any of those goals and consideration to the budget and our recruitment budget we try to attract to WAN Public Schools uh we in order to enhance that we're going to have a general calendar of recruitment events it's not just what HR is going to do in terms of visiting this job fair or communicating with someone we also are going to have as much as possible we're going to have District events and in those District events we're going to try to have recruitment representation that doesn't mean it's necessarily HR staff but it might be principals others it might be operations trying to recruit some individuals for the maintenance department but we're going to try

120to provide more visibility and put a little bit more effort in that area and this calendar will be published our managers uh hiring managers responsibilities they will have to have some monthly check in and followup with new people just to make sure how they are doing because you will remember that some of our exit survey in the pass have indicated that sometime the leader uh some people leave because they don't want to work with particular leaders so we want to create an environment where the leaders are in contact with the people that we recruit in order to try to at least facilitate that communication and uh increase our retain our retention H they will have to implement a satisfactory survey also with our staff and see how things are going and other initiative uh of

121your interest I think the anti-bias training has been out for some time I heard some concern that it was short 15 minutes we will see how we can enhance that uh it is required for our hiring managers on a year it's a yearly training so now at the once again uh on a yearly basis they will have to take this uh training we will see how we can enhance this training and I would like to say that this goes to one of our district strategic plans which is standardize the procedure for hiring managers in order to safeguard against bias say we will have an exit survey that we already uh implemented in HR and we're hitting anyone who was separated from employment retirees resignations whatever the uh we're going to use their personal emails not

122their cellular numbers let's see if that works better I think people see a a long message under texting when they're texting and they just ignore it and move forward so we're going to try the per we're already trying their personal email and we collect personal emails from their job applications and their onboarding U procedures and we're going to provide whatever data that we have available sometime to the Board of Education in September of 2024 uh we also have some and this is I think important uh more important staff hiring procedures we're developing or we're already develop an online uh o onboarding form that will be mandatory what that means is this form is a document it's simple but the hiring manager will have to certify with his or her signature that all of the different

123elements of the hiring procedure has been ER follow and completed uh this will relate directly to uh some of the requirements in policy 4101 and uh it will require the signature for example when there are questions or in the past we have some individuals coming here and say hey I apply for this position no one called me uh no one told me that there was an interview no one invit me but now the hiring managers and thanks God it's not a sh please but the hiring managers will have to send me that L document and that document is not going to come in paper it's going to be uploaded in the electronic request for on boarding we have a personal system that and that document will be memorialized as an attachment to the request for

124HR to proceed with the hiring they might be time when a committee is not appropriate or there is only one candidate that apply well the hiring manager can just attest to that sign and in two years from now someone come and says to the board two years ago I would did not even receive an invitation for one of uh of the position that I apply the district will be able to go and track that particular person and the hiring manager with a document in an electronic system that will remain there uh for years to come so I think this is uh a a very uh important step forward uh some of our next steps will be well to publish the hiring the recruitment the Strategic plan that we're going to follow and implement it and

125we're going to try to achieve that by the end of September of this year continue with the anti-bias training full implementation of the staff hiring form and the report exit survey findings also in September of this year are there any questions yes baby I have um I know the hour is late and I'm going to try to be brief but one of the things that I want to know is how are we sharing updates when there are updates to um the changing requirements in licensing um we know that there again this shortage is not a walk Keagan unique shortage it's you know not just National it's Statewide and so the state has been um I don't know if laxing is a is a good word of saying but they have been minimizing some of the

126um certification routes so for example PA professionals can now get certified without having to take the test right and they can have that short-term license and and wait three years to take that test and then get the full license or um you can now substitute without having your bachelor's as long as you have 90 credits and are in an approved education program um CTE same thing right as long as you have the experience in your field so how are we um or have we been communicating out to parents to paros to longterm Subs all these different ways that are changing that are making it a little bit easier for those who want to become Educators to become Educators um and same thing with the long-term Subs has there been anybody looking looking at um if

127they're consistent long-term subs and we've been getting good feedback about them have we been looking at their transcripts and seeing what is it that um they're deficient in to support them in getting um a certification to become a full-time teacher well we we have some uh number one we do get the updates from the ISB and the Roe office directly into HR so we see some of the updates not always are positive some of them for example now if you're a teacher in order to teach kindergarten you you need to be have an early childhood education license so that exclude people that choose Elementary although kindergarten is in the elementary school they cannot teach now people like me who have been here for a couple of years we will be great great great grandfather on

128that area but in the areas of the uh substitute we do have some substitute that have come without the requirements and as long as they meet the criteria from the the new criteria published by ESP we have on board that I have to be very careful with those right because they move away they are there are exceptionalities to it so we try and with the uh we're trying not just to communicate with them with uh emails we're going to also try to enhance for the substitute the HR portion of the website site so they can access uh that information where you see also using Facebook uh routinely here with the recruitment effort I think I will add the situation with the substitute uh and all the particulars with the Facebook type of dissemination of information

129beside the websites I'm just thinking of again if we can be um targeting not just those that are here and turning like our subs but like thinking of our parents that could potentially feel fill those like PA professional roles knowing that they don't have to take the test right um so just again thinking of how do we also share that information out to the larger Community um so that we can start getting you know hopefully more more people more staff thank you for your question and also I heard a comment during the last board meeting about nurses yes we have a few nurses that we're trying to bring in it's a different procedure to bring a teacher under a Visa than to bring individuals who are not classroom teachers different procedure a little more bureaucratic

130cost some money so we are experimenting now with some a flu nurses psychologist and social workers uh so also our nurses here is not like a license that they get from is is some professional entity qualification here in the state and those are the only ones that we hire so they have to be able to meet all of those standards so it's a a little bit more difficult terrain but we're moving in that direction now I can say to the board that if we're if I can lure two or three of those nurses coming here you can imagine what I'm going to do then this coming year for next summer right but I need to set up that procedure also the communication the recruitment on those areas difficult now we continue recruit here in Illinois

131and we welcome and we take this opportunity not just to thank our staff our present staff here in W but also to encourage others who might be listening or that our staff might be in contact to invite them to apply in Wan police school all of our positions are posted H so it should be no problem to attract more individual we just have to make the district attractive Miss I have this Des so then I see Mr and then can I go after Mr um I I wanted to know what we were thinking in terms of the anti-bias training for hiring managers is it going to be a full-fledged program or a professional development course because I think that it needs to be a little bit more robust and I think we had talked about

132it right yes and and I know that um you know the videos help especially for people that might need a a a refresher or something quick to sort of digest before they are part of the process especially community members or people that we invite um to participate in the process but I think for the managers for internal staff who are with us within the district um you know just in different interest Industries there's there's a whole other level to it there it's it's it's more of a you know like a course load um do you is there appetite to do it that way or what are we thinking for the anti-bias training well we're doing fast food here when we pulled that out because I was being hammered with the antivirus antias so we use

133the easy way the fast way which is uh with videos right at least the topic is there is mandatory so that sends the message right so yes we're open and we are going to explore I heard the concerns with the 15minute video that is not robust enough and we s certainly are going to H put that and that's part of the district strategic plan so I'm sure that the superintendent also will be giving me some directions in that area and Mr molon too I think my only ask is when you're looking at those videos um and I know you're the associate STP of HR but that you're looking for an HR expert that really knows adult learning and how long a video should be or what does a program of learning look like for a

134district like ours because I know we do it through a DLT where we're constantly learning and we've had anti-bias training um Miss Fabian you've sat through it I believe when you were part of the DLT so there is components of that that we've already have embedded but I want to be very careful and I'm going to say this from the board it seems like a lot of times we're very reactionary instead of being proactive um on what it is that we're actually delivering or what we're trying to accomplish so for me let's start with what what we're trying to solve the why and work ourselves back that way to ensure that everything aligns if not we're just building silos as we move forward so I wouldn't be I'm not saying to keep the videos but

135I wouldn't be in a rush to throw them out I think we need to investigate more like what does that program of study look like what do those videos work if not what videos would work what is the right amount of time who they should be who um should actually be taking those courses CU it may look very different for a hiring manager versus someone sitting on an interview panel but I mean just so that we're very intentional with how we roll this out that's my thoughts right now yeah and I and I'm not um insinuating to throw it out when we have a tool we Forge a tool we use it right but I'm saying like our goal is to fill the vacant right and you know and we could look at the data

136and and look at different studies but I think what we've been hearing for the community and also what's more effective for the students is that they be reflective of the community right and have um a variety of backgrounds that specialize in the in the things that we need for the district so I I I just don't want that to be lost in all of that thank do you mind if I jump in just cuz it's tied to the anti-bias since we're on that topic sure I apologize Mr vukovich go ahead um so I've taken multiple anti-bias trainings with my work I've done it for the general employee timing and that's like 30 to 45 minutes I've also done it as a hiring manager which is a separate training on top of that so when you

137know you brought up the time around these three videos the reason I I find that 15 minutes lacking is because the content also missed several components it Miss it didn't Define all types of biased it just did the three most common that's not going to be helpful they need to be aware of all of them we need to ensure it goes over the impact of the bias that there's engagement with the trainee and exercises to self-reflect on some of their biases or identify like oh I hear this that's this bias so it reinforces it's those quick assessments just like our students learn our adults are going to learn that similar way um and it also goes into it it failed to go into educating on cultural competency it didn't really touch on the legal framework

138Associated um it didn't talk about anti-bias Interruption techniques that need to go into it um it didn't talk about what a diverse hiring panel looks like so when we have our hiring managers asking community members to come in what that perspective is going to be um and it didn't have you know like I said assessments or activities to ensure that understanding is there so those are when we say that it it was short 15 minutes it's because it it lacked those touch points so I'm excited to hear that it's going to be expanded and you're going to reach out to an expert in this area for training um but I just wanted to give you context as to why I had those feelings thanks sorry Mr vukovich thank you for letting me interrupt go ahead

139B have we give Mr bovich a microphone somebody anybody Mr Al ja over the last three or four years I've brought this these topics up numerous times and many times have been told well you know we've got Union contracts we can't do anything with that you've just settled a Union contract with the teachers this would have been a perfect time to have addressed some type of a housing incentive for a new teacher you you go to one of these colleges and you say here's our salary schedule but if you come and join us and live within the boundaries of our district will'll give you an extra X number of dollars a month for a year you know it's something that would might bring somebody here uh the other thing that had brought up uh numerous

140times was The Wealth of knowledge that's left this District through the form of retirement that you've got teachers out there that Brandon I've told this to you number of times if you treat them like the professionals they are and pay them like the professionals they are you could get some of them to come back and fill some of these vacancies maybe it's not for the entire year I know there's limitations maybe they split it with another teacher but you would have the valuable resource of somebody that was in this District that could go into a position and and cover rather than bringing from outside just something that uh you know we need to look at and I can I speak for you superintendent more so than looking at it I know there were um concerns

141with the roll out last year so there were revamps to what is being planned that's an intentional reach out to those teachers we haven't talked salary so I don't know what that is but I mean the relevant question that Mr vukovich has raised is we put out a salary if we don't get someone then we pay a temp agency or the other group and sometimes that hourly amount is more than we were willing to pay the teachers so all of that is being taken under consideration and there will be a roll out not in September not in the fall but it's already happening and working on it uh to the other point since he won't let you know help me pass a referendum I will say is that that's one of the things um me

142and Mr vukovic have agreed on for a very long time and we talked about that being pre-employment and we talked about that being a recruitment tool I don't know if it can be a monthly incentive but I do know that we had a way around uh a way to to it would be eligible right sorry Miss uh po cuz uh it's two so it's money but we also do have a grant for uh we got a a grant for a teacher recruitment Grant and we applied again this year if I'm not mistaken so using those resources for something that Mr vukovich is talking about um I think is more than appropriate we can figure out and talk about what it looks like but I think we have twofold so you have Recruitment and then we

143have the opportunity to get those individuals to live in walk Keagan like it love it and different I don't care we're going to keep doing it what I have found successful about the international teaching is that many of those individual ual do choose to make walking home while they're here and so even for them some of the things that we're doing which I don't always love right they have to make those sacrifices to get here is coming and doing a pre-employment in which we say if you choose to make walk and home right then we're going to give you whatever that dollar amount is decided by the board and that we can afford I think uh and then for teachers that choose to purchase in walk Keegan if you've been a teacher for 20 years

144and you live down the road and you decide to you want to purchase and walk Kean I think that there's something that we will be able to do to assist with that maybe a different bucket of money but I think that it exist and I don't think that it would be millions of dollars right we spent 500,000 on the parking lot uh so I thinking if we can feel 24 of these vacancies this way I think that's money well spent it's like $10,000 in space so wouldn't it be nice if you hired one of these teachers and they lived right across the street from the school you would need a parking space for them they could walk so no go ahead um I want to be so everybody on that side is good or you

145guys still have questions yeah well I was just going to add to your point like it's a commun community block rant idea or something like that a different partt of money but well we got Tiff District so I want to expand and go to the city which if you purchase in certain neighborhoods that in addition to what we're giving there additional benefits that the city can do as well but that is long-term plan and it makes takes all of us working together that's not something that we can just decide or the city but I do think it's a great idea Miss uhan I'm going to take that um monthly payment retroactive um but there is uh there are programs as well apart from this like that HUD housing does that does um give housing to

146teachers at half the cost um and sometimes those programs are here or those houses are available here in walk Keagan as well so I think that's another thing that maybe we can support as far as looking at those opportunities where it's not even coming out of our funds right but if we can support those that are attempting to come to say hey here are some other avenues to make housing affordable for you to live here that's one way that's one approach one thing that I've always asked for is a referral program um because while I love the idea of of trying to compensate people for moving into the district you have a lot of staff that have already been in the district and I feel some of them might feel Ed right like we already

147been here where's our where's our uh compensation for that um but I think when you have re like an incentive for staff to recruit there's two things happening there one um obviously you fill positions but two if I'm trying to recruit my friend to come and work in this District I'm not going to speak negatively about the district right I'm going to talk about all the positive things and the reasons why I'm working in this District so so you should come too so that I can earn that incentive I don't know what that would look like I I know an employer that if you're recruited and you stay for six months the person who's listed as the uh the referral referral they get 1,000 bucks so you got to stay here 6 months we can

148make it a year you got to stay a school year right so if you start in October you got to finish and that incentivizes the individual so there are multiple ways to do it and we're not talk again we're not talking millions of dollars we're talking some very minim tools to help you cuz we we criticize that we're not able to finish the you know to these positions but I also would say we don't always give you all the tools that we can in order to strengthen um the argument sorry and I was going to add just to that so again the positive speech that happens when you're the referring um and I do have to acknowledge too and I'm going to just call it out I think sometimes we can also hinder you so

149just reminding the board as well is how we behave and how um we talk and you have new admins that get hired on and they're seeing the way the board conducts themselves so I want to personally apologize that sometimes I know that our we're not helping your efforts either so um because i' I've heard it from constituents that you know watch and say ah I wouldn't go there so I apologize as well if there have been instances where we as the board have not been supporting you in your role as well miss L um I would just mention to that good good neighbor nextto program that that you're talking about um I know several teachers in Wan that bought homes under that program so that would be something we should advertise it's you can buy

150Hud homes it's available for pre kindergarten through 12th grade firefighters emergency medical technicians and law enforcement and teachers M and I mean it's just one program and then there's other programs I know we we do advertise these somewhat sometimes but it's something we should always use as our in our recruiting and and yeah and that you also could could use um the the incentive of teachers going to to get their degree there's there's often times programs available where they if they then work in a district like ours they don't have to pay back all of that program we did that teacher resource fair and I know we've done it in fits and stops right where we had not teachers but staff resource fair at the beginning of the year it may be an opportunity with

151the all employee meeting to talk about some of those benefits Miss Lindsay um so I'm going to go back to the other items that I haven't yet talked on before I interrupted Mr vukovich um so I'm really happy Mr Figaroa that you touched on the international hire for nurses social workers um psychologists and that we are looking at the Avenues to get that in place so that we can start utilizing that as another access point to hiring in District staff so again to board presidents comment we can hire the PE or we can pay the people that are working for us instead of paying contract services for them to hire people to work for us um when we look at the efforts of um pulling in other staff members I know one of the slides

152had Miss Fulton and Miss May and um I believe they're going to HBC use um I want to know what sort of supports they have in place before they go to the events and the reason I'm asking is it's and I hope I say this appropriately it's a it's a fine line of making sure they're supported and we're not tokenizing them because they look like the people that they're going to um speak to and try to recruit right I get the component of you know if you look like me that's that's an access point I feel more comfortable I'm a little bit more at ease but I just want to make sure that there supports in place so we're not tokenizing them so can you speak to that a little bit right there is a

153for sure there is a 100% support but they can't speak by themselves for that H and we basically I'm there to support any initiative they have their schedule the sites they are the main trust in that effort so uh if they want me there I will go there they want another staff they certainly free to do that and we through HR we pay through our recruitment account all of the effort so 100% without any doubt they are completely free they're not taking uh dirly from me to go and show up there no they are elaborating the entire effort they choose the places and at least evonda for sure she have been involved in those activities she do have experience in that and ma also have show interest and have participated so this entire year they

154have been doing that and we hope to enhance uh that uh effort and I also quote the board president when I talked to them that the issue here might not be just in the first try to recruit individuals if that happen fantastic but it is to establish relationships and try to open communication because that's exactly what I have done and that's what allowed me to recruit teachers in Spain and the Philippines right you have you already know the people they trust you uh you behave professionally in terms that you support the teacher when they come here and and that creates an atmosphere an environment of trust trust not because of the dealings but trust in terms that they know that I will be looking up for those teachers and if I have to go as

155I very well do do pick them up myself at the airport that's exactly what I actually uh in the third week of July one flight will bring me 17 of them at the same time certainly I want to be there uh to welcome them and and make sure that every the transition is smooth and that they feel supported not just stranded coming here to the US okay and then so I have two pieces on that so from make I just want to make sure I'm understanding so then for those that we are tapping in to go to HBCU or other avenues they are coming to you asking for resources to better do their job absolutely okay and so you're supporting them in that way open-ended okay perfect openend not even an argument yeah understood yeah

156yeah I just want to make sure because it perception can kind of run the narrative and so I just wanted an opportunity to clarify I'm giving the name so board members can certainly contact them and verify this perfect um and then the the other component with this piece is you you touched on relationships so from what I'm understanding Miss Fon Miss May they're maintaining relationships with the colleges that they're visiting because over time that's going to be beneficial for both sides so are we doing that with the other colleges because there was um what was it was it ten one of was it Tennessee I can't see the slide Tennessee I have been there myself person so you're maintaining relationships with them throughout the year I even share my business card that I with iond

157just to make sure that they continue that I have been in fesk University and Tennessee State they choose to go there also and they also included H I think North Carolina H might not be listed there but they have been North Carolina and Florida okay those my question in this area is that I I didn't see Illinois State University which is a lot of people like my friends went there to be a teacher I went to UI um but I didn't see that as like a continued relationship or national Lewis right or nor or you talk about yeah Illinois State University Northern Illinois some of the universities that traditionally will have a job fair yeah have switched to Virtual yeah that's I just want to make sure that creates a big barrier for us because

158in the virtual I mean you're in front of the computers not that you have 200 students there and and they are you're going to talk to them no they need to choose the communication to communicate with you so sometime you're using the computer on a standby waiting for a student to choose you and then one two three doesn't produce but on those universities they have individual colleges like the College of Education my concern is just as we're going through it I don't want to blab the point that we're building relationships with those heads of colleges to check in to see how it's going how are your enrollment numbers for those interested to become teachers what are some of the concerns I have that we're building and we're preparing for so we can be proactive so

159that's that's just a piece on that um and then with the retention video can you just confirm what the target audience or Target staff is for that it individuals who are hiring teachers okay our priority at at least with this initiative is teacher so we send that out uh three weeks ago I believe to principles and assistant principal so the hiring managers hiring manager for teachers okay um and then the target areas I noticed on there it wasn't listing like speech and language Pathologists it wasn't targeting social workers it wasn't targeting our nurses we have our coordinator or Lead Teacher I think to become coordinator they're open in we posted position I don't know how the recruitment goes with that particular position but we already sent two individuals uh to a couple of sides of

160their choice they choose and we just support them as much as we can they went and I do do believe that they were successful in bringing a handful a couple of of students there H to come and start working in Wan as employees of w and police schs yeah well it's just you know Dr buet say come up and explained all of the efforts that his team is doing to fill those positions and you're not just the high like you're not the only hiring director for all of your target areas so to me it was just surprising not seeing diverse Learners as one of those target areas so that's just um a component I had um and then the last piece that I have well two one can we get the presentation posted to the

161business meeting because it's not available as an attachment and then to um do we have access concerns by only making it a virtual or online electronic application process have we opened it up to someone who maybe can't do it that way to come into linkoln Center to fill it out here but we receive individuals that come to link sometime they don't know how to apply they believe it's a paper application and we provide a terminal computer for them to fill it out and a staff member to assess if they have any difficulties handling the technology beautiful I just want to make sure the access and the accessibility is there so that hope in the new building we will have enhanced capabilities in that area we're not going to use terminal then we're going to use

162uh hand devices for that awesome thank you Mr finger thank you Miss uh I know it's getting late in the hour but I'm full of ideas so um just really quick prior to you being here way a long time ago remember Fred Howard I made a deal with him when I came on board um so one of the barriers for our paros to become teachers is also that student teaching component where you have to stop working um and not get paid but you also lose benefits so um if we could look at our grants um and see if there is a way what I did was asked for my health benefits my health insurance benefits to continue while I was student teaching and then I signed um a commitment that I would teach for three

163years in the district um obviously I did more than that but the point being that that six weeks of student teaching of of paying a month and a half of my health insurance translated to having a teacher for three years right um and that's something that I had negotiated on my own was not a standard practice but I think that's something that we should also look at and especially when we're looking at these grants is seeing how we can remove barriers from from individuals um because that is a huge burden of you're you don't get paid for a while and you lose um benefits also um with our being proactive and how are we recruiting student teachers because again studies show and research show that those um who student teach in a certain School District

164generally end up staying in that school district that we student teach so how are we making those connections to really recruit student teachers um and again I know Gwen's going to not like what I say but um also understand that we there are Avenues to to have um student teaching be paid as long as the um um the university is an agreement with it so you know just finding Avenues to remove barriers for people to move up um if they so choose to or or move from PA to teaching if they so choose um and trying to recruit proactively even just starting at the student teacher end we have collaborated and have experience in that area in the instructional area par a professional for example that want to become teachers so yes they're working they're

165under a contract secretary they're under a contract but we have work with them individually to see how we can facilitate that they can do some of their student teaching and modify their time in a change for that they commit to some years a good example if you come to HR tomorrow I have an intern in HR she's finishing her degree in human resources and she's uh custodian so she works after she performed her six hours with us she's doing fantastic local employee of walkham public school that's yours right now um my only yeah my my question in comment was related to that and the public thing right my wife had to stop working in order to be a uh do our student teaching so as a family we had to sacrifice which is fine right

166well we could afford to so we had to sacrifice for nine months in order to go through that process so I think if there is a way even if it's a small stiping for us to be able to incentivize those individuals again it's a recruitment tool and I'm not talking about millions of dollars when you are paying somebody zero and now you say I'm going give them something it uh it it allows them to be able to make some of those decisions and sacrifices and then having a point person again we talk about money and budgeting and I know the requests come through um but I think one the board has to understand that it is about relationships and yes you want results but these are things that have to be reestablished over time and

167so I'm not saying this as a dig I'm saying this as a reality and I've said it before is the perception is that walk Kean Public Schools is difficult right to get into to work for to student teach for right so having a designated point of contact whose goal is not only to um create and establish those relationships but just like you're doing with our teachers that we recruit internationally a point person is because while and I'm speaking about a individual family member the school Community which I know they do the hiring they're there that's where she is very supportive but there was no relationship with like oh this is my HR contact or the person that I go to or who I'm reaching out to where if I have a concern right what if

168my school site is not handling or doing things in a great way which wasn't our experience it was phenomenal but I just want to say a superintendent director of HR that may be something that's worth an investment is because to miss fabian's point is National Lewis Carthage College W Parkside we do get some but I'm telling you is that of the 20 that we might have had that number might have been 40 right just because some of the times they have to advocate for themselves by setting up that relationship with that specific School if they don't have a relationship with that specific school there's not like a call this number to do your student teaching right it's figuring out who the person is and having to go through our layers of bureaucracy to figure out

169the right contact and to get your school placement whereas if we know we have 20 teachers who are committed to student teaching we know it's money for them they get paid a stifen to do the student teach and then we know that through these conversations we can see if there's opportunities to compensate those who are doing the student teaching y all right so we do have uh thank you Mr Figo I appreciate that update uh we have student support handbook second reading um that information has been presented uh there were some very small technical changes that uh Miss Gonzalez presented uh and so once we get a recommended action if you just want to read off what those were and we got responses I think as well yeah all right you want me to say

170what the recommendations were the motion make the motion do it together and with the cuz I would rather do it that way go ahead well that's not the recommended action so motion to approve and that's it does the superintendent have to read the she will we we have a question about what we're saying once second yep so what we would I'll uh superintendent if you can read the recommended action okay it is recommended that the Board of Education approved the 2024 through 2025 student support handbook updated as recommended by the administration the handbook was presented for the first reading on June 11th additional modification just that final okay final updates to contact numbers email addresses and staff assignments will be made prior to publication okay motion to approve the recommendation motion by Mr second second

171by Mr riddle um and again just for transparency cuz I don't know if the whole board got it but it was uh recommended changes uh you want me to see them yeah just quickly um I had suggested there's up and I can't list the pages um right now but on one of the pages where it lists the information for the wraparound Center I suggested that a contact information and the location um or how to make an appointment be added um for de uh detail tells about the way uh the fees in in lie of or the volunteer hours in lie of fees for it to be explicit where they could get the form um and and how they need to submit it if signatures are needed because links were included but if they're reading a

172physical thing it might not be and so there was Clarity on that um and then the final thing I'm forgetting uh regard uh the the graduation date I think you yes yes for for if we have a pin down graduation date for it to be included and Mr depi answered all three of those okay all right we got a motion second any other questions comments roll call uh all in favor signify i i i any oppos nay handbook is approved um I am going to do board member time because I don't think we did it last time but I do want to call you as a remind board members of the hour uh I'll start at that in with Miss Gonzalez oh I got the longest I think or I I'll try to read it

173um CU I was trying to make my thoughts a little more coherent um so I did want to apologize um to the board and especially um our previous student board member Victor um at the last board meeting I made my exit prior to reviewing his Proclamation and I failed to provide feedback to him and the team beforehand um that was my homework and I want to emphasize that his work hasn't gone unnoticed um we have limited time with our students in the district and I want my time to be dedicated to uplifting students in the schools that we serve especially those who are um One Step before they leave the district um secondly I do want to make a statement to the community and our team and students who may have been emotionally impacted by

174either my singular or our Collective Behavior as a board I want to improve the community and I understand that everyone that sits beside me on the DS wants to improve the community as well I don't ever doubt that intent but and so the messages we deliver and or the opportunities that we share uh to learn from one another become Paramount and our rhetoric can either make us feel welcome seeing or appreciated or it can make us feel alienated and unwanted um you know because we have voted as a board I feel like we all want to increase opportunity we all want to provide a quality education we all want to embrace each student and employe for who they are um and while each student may have different needs and require a unique investment um so

175that we don't fail them I have to attempt to redirect when I observe language or behavior that infringes those beliefs um as board members each of us H retain the right to ask questions on data or initiatives especially those that directly impact students and we can call a point a o order when we become unfocused we have heard time and time again that we should be supportive and constructive of employees and that meetings should be effective we fail the district when we are unprepared or when we force employees to present information that they had not been expected to present on I know that there are efforts highly visible and some that are not that are in place to achieve the success of all students like our black students who need resources and Care English language

176Learners need resources and care and we can promote the success plans for both populations at the same time not only because it's the right thing to do but because it's a mandate that we have a resp responsibility to deliver thank you Miss Gonzalez U Miss faan I share your sentiments U Miss Gonzalez thank you for that um and I want to be quick um because the hour is late so I just want to um highlight three different community events while we are talking about unity in our community there is a unity in our community event on Friday that is open to the public 1 to 7:00 it's completely free at the beach um and I do hope that that is an opportunity for our students and our community come together um and really celebrate each

177other um and then we also have the picnic um the lawn starting at noon here at Lincoln Center right before the parade which starts at 1 um and this is something that I'm excited about because it's something that uh Nick has sent me for hot dogs before um but I will be here and and help you wrap those up um so I hope to see again our community come out and get together and um again celebrate each other and and celebrate this great country of ours thank you so much Miss babia and that's crazy me and a superintendent we apologize for the sidebar but that's this Sunday the 30th yeah crazy to us yeah so we always do the Sunday before independence day so this Sunday that's crazy Mr Mr R yeah this Sunday don't

178forget it this Sunday we we celebrate our Independence Day parade and it's going to be a nice one and it's not going to rain this year we missed it last year many of us were all ready for it there were floats and everything ready I know our Lions Club had one um but we couldn't uh everything had to get cancelled um because of the rain so this the weather forecast is great so it's going to be a good parade um an item I'd like to ask to be put on the agenda I've talked to the board president I know we've had some very late meetings and it's very late now but our district spends $1.5 to2 million a year for electricity costs and many districts have been able to save money on the electric bills

179one of the best ways to do that is with solar energy and I think our district uh needs to look into this possibility um there is uh a company that I've spoken to um they say that um we should take advantage of some current solar savings that are available to a district like ours and that our district would not have to put out any money at all um many districts have to put out money and there's like a six or seven year payout to to bring that to before you start making you know pay back the the amount of money you had to put out to get those solar uh panels up on a roof there's another option and that is a solar field um and the uh the uh State now has a program

180available um through uh and again this needs to be checked out by our district but I'd like the board I'd like to ask the board president to put this on our agenda for the next board meeting so we can talk about it maybe and next board meeting is next board I've sent the board members uh some information I know Mr Sheldon um our uh solar adviser to the solar field is being built uh at the yman creek uh restoration Pro or remediation project um has been uh given some information as well by um this company uh that is tell us they can save us not maybe more than 30% maybe up to all of our 100% um with zero financing to our district so I think we're remiss and not looking into this whether this

181is uh you know viable or not you know I'm not the person that needs to do it you know be able to do it but I think our board at least needs to uh look at this Prospect so I'd like to ask board president could we put that on our agenda make it a topic do we have this concurrence to because it was it's been an agenda item a couple times it's been a couple times and we've run late a couple times and we haven't had a chance to talk about it so and so I think the main discussion as Mr Rd mentioned is not necessarily up to us we do have the solar what is it the attorney that's dealing with that so if we can Loop him in and make the connection to

182that individual maybe we could yeah that's and then they can go from there he he has the information and I have an email from him today but I haven't looked at it yet okay so if he can look at it he's the person that that has the expertise yep you know and is this company blowing smoke or are they they he sent me uh information from eight other school districts that he worked on so we have the concr I can look at that and communicate to the board okay great that's all I'm asking for yep thank you so because um you know plants learned a long time ago how to take advantage of of free energy Y and I think it's time that you know we as a school district look at some free energy

183it's going to be there for millions and millions of years and solar power is a way to go so if we can tap that and we can do so without Capital funds um being invested we should do it thank you thank you so much Mr riddle and so we do have concurrence and we'll wait for attorney review and recommendations um Miss linding oh buy um I want to make a comment regarding a lot of our public comment sentiments and story shared um it's to me it was heartbreaking that there was some miscommunication that led individuals to believe that we would possibly take away services for our um newcomers or those in our bilingual or ESL or dual language programs um and I think board president you said it very well these populations need supports our

184students need supports and depending on what demographic you fit into that necessitates differentiated supports and so it should never be a fight for resources it should always be a conversation of how do we get our students what they need so they can be successful um so to hear um some of the stories shared like as a parent like being away from my kids for 2 years that that was heartbreaking that was very heartbreaking so I'm very happy you know that individuals come to walk heagan to build a life here um and I'm very happy to be part of a school district that looks to support them and give them the resources that they need I understand we're legally obligated to do it but I believe that everyone on this board wants all of our students

185to succeed and grow and learn um sorry so that that was um very humbling to to know just the privilege of being with my family on a dayto day um I also wanted to comment regarding our um lgbtqi a2s plus Proclamation and some of the comments parents do matter I don't think anyone on the board is saying that parents don't matter you are raising your children you are instilling in them the values that you want them to carry forward and one of those values is respect and whether you agree or disagree or have certain perceptions the goal is to ensure everyone is respected and everyone feels safe so it's not an intention to lead parents out of the conversation this just reins Stills those core beliefs that everyone should have treat others the way you

186want to be treated for a population that doesn't feel that they're receiving in some instances um on lighter note well on a lighter note um because we missed comments from prior meetings I was able to join the pride parade that was on June 1st here in Wan it was great um it was nice to see even though it was raining people still came out to attend um I would like to see to be more supportive of our staff and students in the the queer Community to maybe have a better presence as a district next year um just to show solidarity for our students our staff our community members um and then also there was the um the Oakdale Greenhouse ribbon cutting um for our recently passed um second grade teacher Miss Caitlyn sha Berger it

187was a beautiful ceremony hopefully people read the article in the paper but it's just a nice way to spread the love and sunshine that Miss konz Nelson talks about whenever speaking of Miss shamburger so that was a great event to attend and I'm so happy that the district is able to honor her memory in that way that's all I have thank you so much for that Mr linding Mr McBride well for the sake of time I'm I'll pass but I just want to say another interesting night thank you I had a longer statement but um uh spoken enough so with that I'd like a motion to adjourn so Move Motion by Mr McBride second second by Miss uh Gonzalez any comments or questions all in favor signify with I I and oppos N meeting is

188a j for