January 9th, 2024 - Board of Education Meeting

001[Music] e [Music] oh [Music] no [Music] okay [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] w [Music] w w [Music] o [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] down [Music] he [Music] together [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] a [Music] yall get water all right 712 the board previously met in close session under exception C1 C 2 C11 and c21 with that i' like a roll call Mr McBride Miss Fabian yeah Miss Gonzalez Mr riddle pres Miss Hannah yes Miss lensing pres president y yes we do have um all board members our president miss Gonzalez is not currently in the Board Room Mr McBride is not present this evening um so with that I like uh motion to resume open session so moved motion by Mr riddle second second by miss lindsy all in favor signify I I any

002oppos n we are now in Open Session Mr zek if you be so kindness to lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you so much my president's report uh is is brief so I do want to welcome everybody back I know today was the first day of students our teachers returned yesterday I appreciate the weather operating with us so we were able to get students to and from school safely um I do want to um just hope everybody had a a good if not relaxing time to be with their families um also I know uh we had a retired teacher uh that came and talked about

003again we are one of the largest employers in Lake County one in the city of wagan and we have a very long history of Staff members and so we don't always know um those who have past we don't always get that information but I do want to respect that request and just take a brief moment to acknowledge all of those May no longer be with us thank you I also want to uh say that the board members had a fun time and although we may not have seen each other uh too much during the holiday season a few uh board members some representing the WAN schools Foundation myself represented BCU were able to participate in the 25th uh annual or 25 yeah 25th Annual um Polar Bear Plunge and so that was a good time

004and it was great to see individuals out I know Miss uh faan is rocking her uh polar shirt nice Sil years always great to see um and then really I'm just excited about this next semester so I know I want to appreciate my son school they did a really good job of um uh re acclimating the students to the classroom environment while we may not think two weeks is a long time and is uh and so to have them back to talk over expectations and now they're ready to go uh with second semester um I think it's important that we take the time in order to to do those things and rebuild that Community um also wanted to very briefly just shout out the uh walk Keagan Warren game it was amazing to see uh

005the dog pound full uh and uh the community coming out in order to support our young men uh and we want to see that more often right uh and so I really did appreciate the opportunity um although we didn't have the outcome that I would have liked uh I will say that our Bulldogs have heart they're young they're Scrappy um and and they will um be a be a team to be reckoned with so I'm excited to all of those who made that possible and we did it in a in a safe and secure way uh which shows that we can and we will and that that's the expectation right so I appreciate all those who helped to make that possible um and all of those community members and others who also helped to um

006bring awareness uh in the community um with that I'd like to turn over to our student board member who has prepared a report thank you Mr President and unfortunately my presentation is not going to be short well I'm going to try my best to speed through it but it is you know new year new me I changed up the um presentation to make it for the new year more orange a little darker colors but I like the design so far let's see if we stick through it through the year but yes this is my 18th student board member report um next slide please yes today my statement topic is going to be resolutions next slide please uh my statement or quote I should say is every year you make a resolution to change yourself this

007year make a resolution to be yourself and this is an unknown statement I couldn't really find someone that I could quote this to but let's roll back a second and say what a resolution is usually we do resolutions at the end of the year to say oh we're going to do this I'm going to do this I'm going to do that right I'm going to do something about myself but we always try to put stuff newer about ourselves but never think about maybe I am enough maybe what I'm doing right now is good enough right and being yourself is as important as changing and going forward in different items right and knowing yourself is as important as making change on top of that right and for everybody here at the board public students that are

008watching maybe your resolution this year maybe you're saying oh I'm G to like maybe run a mile every day or I'm going to read an extra book or I'm going to drink more water right we usually say those things as a resolution but for me I think my resolution and for people that think inspired out of this maybe being yourself and really truly loving who you are as a person is important so that's my statement for today next slide please um so today is again not going to be about meetings Yak clap so you don't have to hear about our my meetings again but um this is going to be talking about 2023 and review the accomplishments that I've worked with with the board and administration to get through during my term right so as

009we have here the accomplishments we had so far is the anti- book Banning Proclamation the soon to be superintendent student advisory commission the revision of Washington sty policy policy 20005 the 55 Ru Brookside and assistance with the food provider selection so everybody here knows I have seen throughout my term all these projects I am super proud of everything every single thing on here I am proud of working with the Board of Education with students and with administration at Washington at Brookside to bring forward these very needed student changes right the anti- book Banning Proclamation is something I'm very proud of and the first thing that I did on this board policy 205 student board member bringing more power and solidification to this position itself superintendence commission we're very happy to start working with the superintendent

010and getting that student voice more than myself and bringing more students on board to this the five5 Brookside where we brought students in from all around the school to really rechange or redesign the 101 rule to something that's more Equitable the revision of Washington sty policy because obviously the students didn't like it that much when it came out but I did talk to Administration and kinked out some rules that Wen very much explicitly mentioned during that time and obviously the assistance with the food provider and you know tasting out the food and stuff like that and bringing some of my friends to figure that out still students still do like it better than the last provider that's why what they tell me so I say that as a win for the district um next slide

011please is 2024 should have said 2024 and that what's ahead now there's still about six months in this term and there's a lot that I still want to get done and these are some of the things that I want to get done right now this is a lot but I think it is possible to get a good amount of this going forward so one of them is the student Bill of Rights uh the continuation of project Bulldog which we're working extensively as I'm now going forward with that project anti-racist policy we're working with Miss lensing and the equity Department to really get that forward and setting up meetings for that policy 2533 and policy 25201 which is curriculum and um library book selection those two are more specific to solidify and codify the book Banning

012Pro the anti- book Banning Proclamation into into policy and stuff like that and going more step further into that and a district-wide tutoring program because I was thinking we don't really have that much really in this District where it comes to tutoring or at least peer tutoring itself we do have something at Brookside that has been going on but I would really like it to get pushed out as a districtwide project for our students to really learn how tutoring works if they want to go into the educator route and you know really get that one-on-one experience on that uh next slide please is contact this is for the students and anybody here in this board really get into contact with me because I really do want to get this year and work towards getting more

013into contact with students public and the board obviously to get more connections and building up all this new ideas that I have for students um next slide please is here are some ways to get into contact with me emails at top uh 25h 72828 this.net Instagram for the student board member which I hope the next student board members use uh at sbm wps60 uh what can I do for you is check my Instagram bio which is on that um let's have a conversation before and after the board meeting if you want to talk to me I have any ideas comments concerns always let me know and for students in person just sop me in the hallways if you see me just sop me we could have a conversation uh exchange numbers and continue that in

014any way possible going forward um next slide please and that's pretty much my presentation went quicker than I expected any questions comments or concerns I have a comment you first Miss Gonzalez um I just want to say that I'm so proud of you Victor because you got through a lot of information very concisely very eloquently and I feel like you are growing so much as a leader and you should be proud of that and your friends should be proud of that too if they're on your same wavelength okay thank you so much great second de Victor good job and that's why I just did want to take a moment to um when we talk about uh I always say it's my quote I know you guys will get tired of it but everybody wants young

015people involved in politics until young people actually get involved in politics and what makes me um super happy to have you on this board is when you talk about those accomplishments you haven't gotten everything done that you've wanted to get done you've lost some battles but that didn't stop you from fighting and it didn't discourage you I think um this has been part of uh a really good learning experience and so I'm impressed just to see what all that you've done and I hope you um have appreciate that reflection as well on everything that you've done uh so super proud of you like the rest of the the board has said uh and happy uh for the way that you've represented so thank you sir mhm uh we have our Spotlight on [Music] the jams

016program we started about 7 years ago it's an amazing program for the elementary school program stands for joining active minded students and the goal was to really just encourage kids to get active on the field on the court in their minds with their friends and peers and in school we serve about 2,000 kids we do coed basketball outdoor soccer we do uh indoor soccer and we also do flag football jams is house at all 15 elementary buildings and what we've seen over the years is that kids are more likely to try out in the Middle School sport when they've been exposed to it at in the earlier years this is an opportunity for them to represent their school and it's it gives them a sense of Pride so it's definitely something special that you can't

017really get outside of the public school district you know they have to do good in in class they have to do good behavior-- wise in order to play basketball and I feel like it helps a lot of kids out it's grown a lot in the past s years in a positive way and it's a lot of fun yeah it's one of my favorite things to do I started playing basketball in sixth grade these kids are already like ahead of me in terms of like learning the skills it's amazing that they get to play the game that I love with their friends for the community of w Keegan it's a great opportunity as you can see for the parents to come out and support their children it's great for the children to be introduced to the

018program but to see the support and love not only just because it but because those who come and root them on a lot of them is their first time playing ball so they we got to work with the kids so they can have fun I can get back to the kids show them the ropes as they coming up and also to give back to the community you might have to just out our play calling to they level play to keep a flow in the game it's coed I love that the coaches don't show favoritism over girls or boys as you can see they make sure all the players get involved they try to sub every every few minutes or so to make sure everybody gets their time to shine cuz everybody's parents come out as

019you can see I got my son out here playing he goes to Glenwood Elementary and he uh he got a double hitter tonight I think this league is amazing I'm just a fan of sports period it teaches these kids to be friends it teaches them comaraderie so I'm I'm a big fan of the jams program and shout out to the jams program for doing what y'all doing man I play point guard shooting guard small forward so I'm going just go out there and kill pass that ball hopefully my teammate naked and just get this love you see uh the excitement you see the energy you have schools that bring in their little cheerleading squads sh it I'm one of the three cheer coaches for HR mall I really love being one of the cheer coaches

020it's so much fun to Che on our basketball [Applause] players one of the main exciting things about this program is that the kids are introduced to each other prior to get into Middle School where they kind of divide up into five different are areas so they get to know each other from different buildings and that really helps the energy and the peace inside the buildings when they come to the upper levels so the goal possibly in in the future would just be to expand the program where we can go to other cities and expose our kids to the different cities and also really just partnering with the community to assign mentors to each sport and what these mentors would do is they would provide life skills training to our students so that they can navigate

021the times that we live in right [Music] now all right [Applause] Mr Gonzalez do you want to come up and say a few words I'd also I'd be remiss um we started this program seven years ago and if anyone knows me knows that I'm really big on Sports um and my son has partaken um in jams um throughout his whole time here inwa and Mr Gonzalez does a great job with this program but I would also say that this program would not be in existence without the backing and support and the pushing from Mr McBride on how we could really create a feeder program here in our district and we are seeing the fruits of this program in our middle school and including in our high school um as we continue with it so on

022that note Mr Mr Gonzalez great job first I just want to I guess say thank you to the board uh Miss Pia and the community for always supporting my ideas I'm an idea guy so I come up with an idea and I start bugging people until I get what I want that's right and usually it kind of works all right uh the proof is in the pudding as you see in the video and this is just one of my four programs that I run um so tell us about other ones other programs well uh right now I have the Stars program that program was uh funded by the 21st century Community Learning Center Grant that's actually Rita Tate's baby Rita wrote that Grant probably about 20 years ago and I worked under her for probably

023about four years and uh that Grant has been around it's the largest uh funding um after school funding source in the country still to this day uh and we got four buildings uh Jack Benny Clear View uh Carmen and lion about 360 kids there I don't know why I'm a little nervous I never get nervous a little different over here uh so anyways um yeah so that program we have about 360 kids we do uh dance drumming we have graphic design we take the kids on trips they have academic tutoring support after school we have a a loving supportive staff that's there every day actually uh if I could to myah Horn a little bit the state is actually recognizing Our Stars program in W kein as one of the um uh pillar programs across

024the [Music] state we're we are one of the few programs that went to a tier three monitoring and a tier three monitoring was like a 7-hour monitoring process where they call home through everything uh it's actually I've been directing programs for 24 years and I've never been anything like it through it like it um and yeah when they got through that thing they was like you guys got it going on over here so uh so that's the stars and then I just started a new program called new directions on Saturday New Direction is a a a boys mentorship program uh for fourth through 8th grade uh we're at Washington Brookside campus every Saturday this program we have uh 60 kids in it right now we've only been going for about eight weeks uh this this

025new program you know how you get a new new program is kind of like a new baby I got a new baby I love this program because you have single parents coming um bringing their boys to this program wanting that mentorship literally I've literally had some mothers and Tears like I cannot believe that you guys have this every Saturday for these kids so we're there every Saturday we got um chess club we have different sports we have uh we take them on trip it's very similar to the Stars model but it it's you know it's a little more focused on that and we're toning in on reading so the reading program that an hour every uh uh 1 hour every Saturday they get additional reading support wow uh we're giving them books uh we're really

026I mean to get all the good stuff you got to come to the reading and the kids are they they love it they're eating it up so uh we're looking to expand that uh to do more things and uh really just love on these kids that's what I've done for 24 years people that know me many of you know me on the board that's that's just what I do I try to keep my head down and do the job sometimes I have to Pi my head up and that's right but uh yes ma'am um suggest Saturday Club I did Saturday Saturday I know I weer for a lot of years yeah and so one thing that really worked with the kids right do report card Saturday Okay progress report Saturday they got to bring it

027into you and explain if they got anything a see and under they got to explain okay so again yeah yeah that that that's a great idea and I would love to have you come on and hang out with us on a Saturday sometime I will so one of the things we want to do with that program is uh we have assigned mentors to these boys okay so the facilitators that work the program the the next phase hopefully if we can you know continue funding and do more things right now it's currently Grant funded so it's not costing the district anything it's all all funded through grants uh would be to assign mentors that go into the buildings and follow up with the boys uh after the Saturday so you know what just pop in and

028have lunch with them uh you know uh build relationship with their parents uh just those Next Step things if you're going to if you're going to build relationship with kids is it can't be surface that's right you got to you know roll up your sleeves and and get a little work done so yes so everybody's go we'll go down the line so miss Fabian and then miss Lind um when you originally posted the Saturday school there was no sign up is there still not a sign up are you accepting more kids cuzz I heard you're up to 60 now so is there capacity for more or there is we're going to take up to 125 kids okay and families don't have to register they can just come in on Saturday or do they need to

029they just come in on a Saturday through 4th through e8th grade and we'll have them do the registration right there on site uh we trying to you know grow this thing slowly uh it's a New Concept uh but it's it's really we really have the walk Keegan Brooks side campus as a community center so it's so the possibilities are endless as far as what we can do with these kids um and they're coming they're buying into it so it's I just I just excited to see what happens I'm super proud cuz looking at the video I know where you started and these kids now have T-shirts with their names on the back like little actual jerseys and uniforms so from working with you from when you started to now I'm really proud of all the

030work that you've done number one and two for the 21st century Grant um you know we all know the the state kind of messed up a little bit overspent so you guys were on the ball and spent before they could so I'm also proud that you guys were able to fund the Grant and make sure that everything was done correctly because when those things happen the likelihood of getting more grants or being recognized for more grants is even higher so they're already kind of hinting if you know once they have more funding that we'll be given some more money yep so I'm um so thank you for all that you do I've always loved the work that you do so thank you again thanks Miss go ahead um I thank you thank you for um

031bringing attention to Miss Tate's grant for the past 20 years um I would be remiss if I did not say yes Miss Tate you are the OG wagan stars um the work speaks for itself right the the kids are visibly happy they keep coming back to the programs it's it's amazing one of my favorite pieces that you said was also building relationships with the parents because if we can build strong relationships with our parents then they're going to be helping advocate for the students and helping at home say you know like let's let's try to um adjust some of our perspectives and give it a better attitude about things for your Saturday school can you if the board wanted to visit can you just refresh again what times uh we are running from 12 to

0324: 12 to 4 okay thank so the kids come they get lunch um it's a full full-fledged day day and it you would think 4 hours is a long time but it's not they don't want to leave and that's that's wonderful that's so wonderful Brookside you say yeah Brookside campus Brookside okay yeah so all I want to say is uh thank you I know when the jams program one of the uh a pillar a goal whatever you want to call it uh when I first met the superintendent and was a new board member was how do you get we know that our students need extended day and we know that our students need extended year and while that may not be feasible in W Keegan right now um this is how we're getting there by

033opening our schools up on Saturday by making sure that those gyms are full in the evenings and on weekends by making sure that those students have access to coaches that they're burning off some of that energy um and and we are creating that feeder program um and and we're starting to see the fruits of that labor so I want to publicly acknowledge um Network and also thank you for uh your contributions to walk Kean and like I said I'm excited to see the program expand excited to see more Community Partnerships um but Kudos thank you thank you right all right thank you Mr got you so we are now at approval of minutes so we have um item 8 a approval of the minutes of the Open Session board meeting November 28th 2023 motion to

034approve motion by Mr riddle second second by was that Miss Fabian Fabian Miss Fabian uh any comments questions corrections to the minutes just the grammar edits that I sub that she submitted so there were just some technical grammatical um edits submitted by Miss um Gonzalez with that all in favor say I I any opposed name minutes are approved approval of the minutes of the Open session meeting December 12 2023 motion to approve motion Mr riddle second by Miss Gonzalez any comments questions the grammar edits grammar edits that were submitted all in favor signify with i i any oppose name minutes are approved and item 8 C approval of the minutes of the special Open Session board meeting for December 19th 2023 motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second by Miss Gonzalez any comments questions

035corrections to the minut just the uh I think that that one was the name correction and then the grammar edit so as edit as as edited by Miss Gonzalez all in favor signify with i i any oppos n minutes are approved all right so we do have our consent agenda any of these items can be held over for any reason we're not doing oh public comment I'm sorry I apologize we have three names on the public comment sheet as a reminder uh each member or each person in the public gets three minutes when I call your name please come up to the podium um we ask that you refrain from mentioning student and staff member names in your remarks if you need translation services translation services will be provided to you and you will get

036six minutes uh in order we have brother blinks Randy secki and rayan networks brother blanks black abolition movement for the mind hopefully everybody's starting off with a good new year uh you often hear me come to this mic and many times you've heard me say that whether it's a student whether they black brown or white you want our students to do great things you teach and Inspire them the greatness from which they came in their history their culture and their Heritage um I would like to say first and foremost to extend my thanks in and contributing to that I want to extend my thanks to Carmen Buckner High School MH Mr Sila Miss lonstein and I know we're not supposed to be mentioning names but I think it's appropriate at this moment also I would

037have to also say and a thanks to Mr Mike Gonzalez uh for their contribution to our successful Quanza program that we had at Carmen Buckner so um you know in between all the adult issues that goes on I've made myself and come to the conclusion what will we be able to do as an organization to contribute to be more a part of the solutions and in the best interest of the students in 2024 moving forward so to be able to kick it off to close the year out with that uh Quanza program and to see what else we would be able to do uh we also uh thanks to Senator agent Johnson we've uh had the courtesy of being able to uh acquire Grant so as before when I was working in the district with

038the students where I was looking for funding and support I want to see how we can can extend that type of money to put it back to where it best needs to go and towards our students uh there are still many issues that needs to be solved in our district when it comes to fairness and Equity but my primary concern above the adult issues who could stand to this mic and speak for themselves is to see what we can do to contribute to the best interest of our students that has always been my primary focus and that will always be my focus uh I will once started out as a part of the Stars progr program and writing and literacy through poetry I was one of the first programs that I was a part of

039here so I look forward to see what we can continue to do on the behalf of these students and to uh basically say once again I I thank Carmen Buckner I I was going to try to do it at the high school but I think the ancestors in the most high had it where it needed to be right there in the good of the neighborhood in the First Ward where these students had access who could not maybe walk there and in spite of the fact that it was right after Christmas I think the success of it was done in the measur that it was really good and um everybody got a lot out of it and I Look to continue to see what we can do in the best interest of the students thank you

040thank you Randy scky and please bear with me I'm losing my voice all right first I'd like to say um Friday night that was a good game at the dog pound it was good to see that gym packed not like it used to be we're a standing room only but we're getting there but I'd like to see that more uh thanks to a lot of the administrators that showed up for the kids um but we also need to do that for the rest of our Sports not just basketball not just football for the rest of our Sports we need to show the students and support them in whatever Sport and event that they decide to do and of course education in the curriculum and the classwork should always come first before Sports uh second thing

041I want to address so I wasn't going to speak tonight but then I got a email today from the high school um and I'm going to read it it says any student that has an early release second semester must report to Door one to check out with the attendance secretaries each day until early release stickers are available please do not go to the main office and then bold print you must have your ID not a temp to leave if you do not have an ID you must report to the library during 9th period so I have a couple questions about this policy one is never brought up at a board meeting so now we can just make our own policies and Implement them when we want uh cuz my questions about this policy is so

042now we're going to have long lines to exit the build students and this is pertaining to seniors a lot of our seniors are 18 years old you can't legally tell them they can't leave the building if they want to leave the building they can leave the building they can call their themselves into school you can't hold them against their will and it says they must have their ID or they you know they can't leave the building if staff members don't have their IDs do you guys lock them in the building till 4:00 till the end of the day I think not so that needs to be looked at you know we have a lot of emails going out from especially the high schools that's concerning you know just the way that they address adults parents

043and everything saying you know I got one before Thanksgiving from Brookside campus stating that the students you know need to be in school every day unless they're really sick as a parent I I make that decision if my kids are sick I make that decision if they stay home that you know just the way that some of these staff members put out these emails and talk to parents is ridiculous and then you wonder why there's animosity between the school the parents and everybody else because that's how parents are treated and it needs to be looked into I want to congratulate you on the uh Stars program and that because it's about the kids you know and and we need them out there doing extra things you know giving these kids something to do in the

044community and and I'm glad to see that program thank you ran Edwards good evening board president superintendent board members community staff Happy New Year to you all hope you had a wonderful break vacation with your family um I want to um I'm not going to say no names cuz I don't like to you know put my business out there right when I'm doing my work but I want to thank all of them that contributed uh to my Christmas event um we was able to service 367 kids each kid walked away with three gifts and two stuffed animals um they all got a stocking they all got to make a cookie and we had a whole lot of Walkin tacos and pizza um the one thing that I hope we can go into 2024 and doing

045is stop picking and choosing what events we show up and support when it relates to the kids I'm okay with you're not liking me I most of my life people didn't like me but don't use me as an excuse not to support the kids cuz some of you board members said to me that y'all are show up at these events as long as you have prior notification and I do remember giving everybody a flyer here and I gave you all more than enough notification and I was disappointed I was but I that that that was subtracted because I had some staff show up that normally don't come out some of my black ladies and I was imp ressed and I was pleased and I was grateful uh Mr Gonzalez is what we talk about when

046we say doing the work so uh Miss Pacencia I'm going to give you that you did an exceptional job by backing him and I ask that you keep doing that and when we talk about mentorship that's what it looked like cuz Mr Gonzalez don't just come outside when there's cameras and lights he's there when he's needed to be he don't just show up to be popular he's really talking to the parents he's going to these homes he's meeting with them he's doing the work you hear me he's doing the work that's what it looks like that's what I talk about all the time you can't do it in the office at a desk you can't do it when there's cameras and lights that don't work it it it really don't and so what I'm saying

047to you all of y'all is we don't come up here to fight but it it it sucks when we can't come up here and speak and be free at what we're saying right you don't have to like it but you guys are elected officials and so what I'm saying is this get these teachers their contract get them what they deserve there was a thing mentioned on the PA system at the high school that is saying to the staff members they get an incentive for coming to help the security in the child Halls when it's needed we're not paying no staff no incentives they're getting a check that's their job to come and exist that's what teamwork looks like so I want to see when those Bell Rings everybody should be out their seats and out

048their desks and standing in those hallways you teach from bail to bail thank you great job thank you Mr Edwards they did an excep thank you Mr Edwards uh this concludes our public comment uh so we appreciate all those who come up I do I did have a Community member who did let me know that um although there was an instruction given um that individuals will be followed up with that they did not receive any followup so I do want to make sure I'll pass that information to the superintendent and miss vanderbrook and uh I do want to make sure that that process and procedure is put into place um next up we have our consent agenda these items have been placed um on the agenda uh they haven't really been uh previously discuss some

049of them have right because we did have a student achievement meeting um so I'll take that back uh but but would any board member like to have any of these items uh voted on separately all I need is the letter so on I I had submitted a question and prior to getting here um I got a response that this was going to be held so we got a response so are we wanting to hold superintendent item I I know Mr uh Al Dakin had to leave but yes so item I is being held are there any other letters that you all would like to vote on separately all right motion to approve items A B C D E F G H and j i motion to approve motion by Miss Gonzalez second second by miss

050lizing any comments or questions on a motion I just have one more comment um regarding the CTE courses especially the future Educators I'm very excited I'm very excited to see this become a piece I don't have any questions just that I love it and I just wanted topr again well I mean but um I'm excited for the opportunity because I would love to see some of these students come back and do what I wasn't able to do and help give back to aan so I just love it Miss uh faban and then I just have a a comment on the nabe conference the association for bilingual education um it's a great conference what I would like to see in the future is I do see that um we have that one pager um presentation but

051it doesn't show what staff members are going and in full transparency I think the public needs to see that especially when we keep saying that we're wanting to send more teachers uh more of those Frontline staff to conferences and this conference does include teachers um going so I think we need to highlight those opportunities and and showcase that number one but also I think um when we do look at those forms we're looking at how many times people are out for professional development because we want to make sure that we're spreading that professional de development and giving everybody a fair opportunity so that somebody isn't going five times you know and taking up all those resources versus somebody that can't go um in addition to looking at the dates our teachers are submitting these and

052it looks like the dates were in um November but they're not being put up to here and the only reason is because there's a check box that that says is there a sub needed knowing that there's a sub shortage the quicker that we can get these approved to ensure that they have a substitute in place for the day that they're leaving the better I know this one's not until April so March or end of March right um I was planning to go but I didn't but um um but yeah but knowing that this is um at the end of March is is fine but in the future I'm looking at some of these where the requests are made two months ago and just now being brought to the board um and just for efficiency and

053especially when we need subs we would like to have that you know process as soon as possible thank you for that answer noted all right roll call those Miss Fabian they yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah oh yeah yes Miss cleansing yes president you yes items approved motion carries item 10A renewal of the quadi contract B approval renewal of partner contract with Neu for year five of the E Grant C approval renewal of partner contract Lake County Row for year five of the E Grant D approval of Dr Rachel Adler contract for year five of the E Grant e aasa conference Nelson compos wirs Middle School F National asso Association for bilingual education conference G attendance of the National Art Education Association annual conference H new wh uh course CTE Advance placement

054photography and J new wh course CTE future Educators I we are bringing back just to make sure that the item reads correctly for transparency purposes item 11a is under the consent agenda it's only one item the approval of the purchase of the 65 passion or yellow school bus do we have a motion M motion by Miss uh Gonzalez second by Mr riddle any comments or questions on the motion Sorry Miss Fabian is the first Mr riddle is the second comments or questions on a motion roll call vote please miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah no Miss lensing yes president y yes item approve motion carries we have 13A attendance at nsba 2024 annual conference to next position it is the recommendation at the Board of Education prove the attendance of

055board members Jeff McBride and Carolina Fabian at 2024 National Schoolboard Association conference in New Orleans from April 5th to April 8th 2024 the estimated cost per person for attendance is $2,750 which includes conference registration lodging travel and perdum total estimated cost for che is $5,500 have a motion motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second second by Miss uh faan any comments questions on the motion yeah I I have a question and this is for this agenda item as well as a agenda Item B um I had a conversation with our um with the State Board of Education um yesterday and I was um calling because I um was asking um about the um about advocacy Institute but in asking about that one particular um event I found out that the uh our state um

056our state uh affiliation has no affiliation with um the National School Board Association we pulled out um we pulled out of the uh out of the national and uh therefore we get um there's no um board member benefits um and we're paying more money uh because we're not um we're not uh uh in membership with the national and so um I am um I I I don't know and they were not too um I don't know what the issues are that um that that uh the national school board um Association and cosbo our affiliation is with Cosmo that's where we get all of our leadership points everything and um the nsba kind of is just something um something that they're doing but it it's no benefit to us and there's no affiliation and so I

057I just want to make that known and that came directly from the um IB and so I I don't think that we should be attending anything with um the nsba but that's just me all right go ahead yeah for uh Clarity sake why you got cuz I can have an opinion Miss Hannah I was yeah it is an opinion yes like yours fact so there are two national organizations cosba nsba there was only one till about 2021 Illinois is a member of cosba um we are also while Keegan Public Schools a member of cube the Council of urban Boards of Education cube is a nsba program if you are a member of cube you are also eligible for the National Conference so Miss Hannah is 100% correct there are two organizations Illinois as a state

058is a member of cosba but we as walking and public schools are also a member of nsba through our affiliation with Cube that's a fact so when we talk about facts now if members want to go don't want to go Miss Hannah is 100% correct you do not get credit towards your um leadership leadership points right if you go to nsba that's a fact but to say that there's no value I don't necessarily know I do think it's a valid question to raise is if Illinois is not a member of of um nsba do you all want to go but I just had to set it it wasn't some Road conference it was the National Organization it wasn't the national it's still the National Organization so I just wanted to make that clear it's a

059national School Board Association conference they've been doing this for years there was a situation in which Illinois decided to move and there are roughly 25 states that are M now 30 30 States so 30 states are now a part of cosba and the other states 20 of them are part in SBA so obviously there's still a split in division so go ahead Miss Fabian and actually I was going to thank Miss Hannah for bringing up the um one coming up for the advisory because I didn't know about it and so I started looking into it and I do think there's value in it because I think we as a board should stay a breast as to what legislation is coming down what everybody is actually kind of polling for what we're advocating for because all

060of those mandates we know end up being tied to funds or end up being expenditures on our behalf um so when I was looking at it and and looking at really getting into how it affects us um because whether doesn't matter what organization puts on the conference any legislation that's federal law affects all of us so I just think it's beneficial for us to know what's coming down or what's brewing in the pipeline and just for clarification um Miss Fabian um the cosbo had their advocacy Institute in September and we did and we did get notification I look back on the emails and we did get notification of the advocacy Institute from our uh uh Association can and I think maybe there's some confusion because I know I haven't been getting anything from them and

061so I wasn't even aware until you just said that that that's where we were look back I will see if I can add myself to their mailing list yeah so at this point it's a choice so I mean um Miss McBride is not here but miss Fabian Fabian would you still like to participate and attend I want to learn more about that advac or not the advocacy we're at item 13A attendance at the nsba 2024 annual conference yes right right so board president I just want to clarify again or just make sure that I understand correctly so the the points that that one earns by attending the conference will not be given because this is right I understand that but the value is the information that you're getting from the seminars at this National Board

062conference and that's really why we go the main reason going is is to get information not to earn points right that's the way reason I go yeah for the board to consider it's a valid point for us to consider um and miss Hannah's right to bring it up and that Illinois as a state is no longer associated with the nsba however Q was the reason um that they advocated right we as board said hey you can't take away Cube I will say look into cosba they now have an urban Council they now are trying to replicate a lot of things with n SBA but we've been members for years so that's why we've been familiar so uh being that Miss there's a first and a second neither person wants to withdraw Miss oh miss lizy

063I'm sorry oh and Miss Gonzalez as well her hand that way because I saw you first okay um so in our board policy one of the components is disseminating information and so in this instance we have two board members going not the full board and I know whenever I go to conferences or receive professional development in this capacity I report out either through this venue and I um will send information to specific individuals that I feel is really uh pertinent to their department so what is the expectation or what can we anticipate for both of our board members coming back and disseminating what they learned from each of these conferences I can speak for Mr McBride typically the same way during board member report if there's something that he brought value with uh he is

064a paper person as we all know so any brochures that he picks up gets dropped off normally with the superintendent um but yeah so that's normally how he does it Miss Fabian can speak for herself as far as how she'll like to communicate same usually when I get any information that's pertinent to um a specific staff member I tend to send it out any um references um like you know sometimes we get the speaker cards and the books and stuff like that I tend to send them to um admin that could use it um and I am more than happy to share out publicly too that's thank you thing that the board's interested in M Gonzalez um I just wanted to share that the the more we talk about our attendance at conferences um which

065I do find value in and I think is important for our community um the more that I lean toward just saying that we should attend Illinois conferences for our school board members um I think the the most valuable conference um that I've attended has been triple ey um and I know that Cube was awesome um and it is fun um that's that's part of the role you learn and then you have fun um but I I maybe this year my resolution is to pass on board members going on conferences cuz I want a model do as I do not do what I say you know all right roll call vote Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez pass Mr riddle I think I'll pass as well Miss Hannah no Miss lensing uh I'm going to pass president

066y yes uh motion is defeated uh items not approved item 13 B attendance at nsba advocacy Institute 2024 it is the recommendation that the Board of Education approve the attendance of student board student board member Victor HOSA associate superintendent Miss Quin pooke and Board member Miss Carolina Fabian at the 2024 National School Board Association advocacy Institute for the dates of January 27 through the 31st in Washington DC at an estimated cost of 2700 per person for a total of 8,100 cost includes conference registration lodging per DM and flights Mr inosa attendance is contingent upon a parent guarding completing necessary permission forms as well as a qualified staff member accompanying him as a chapon in accordance with District policy motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second second by Mr Gonzalez any comments or questions on

067the motion um I have a question oh sorry sorry I was like y'all had to make it hard with this one miss Fabian um um I do like this that this one is around uh policies and we do need to keep a breast on this um and I think that along with the many articles in research out there regarding student involvement especially where it comes to student board members we need to essentially put our money where our mouth is and actually give them the voice give them development as well as um prepare them for the role that they're doing within our district my question is because I tried asking because of the nsba situation I tried contacting them to see if student board members are allowed to because they had some restrictions but not um

068there wasn't any language around student board members so has the district or the administration gotten that verified that student board members can go I'm in support of it I just want to make sure that that's been addressed and is feasible and if I may and um this the advocacy Institute uh is not like a normal conference you are not going to be going to different classes that's not what this is it is simply around um we you have um training for um for advocacy and um how to do it what to do and um and then um that that's basically all but the other thing is that you are in and out of federal buildings and that was a concern of mine when it came to our student board member because of the um security

069um that they're going to have to constantly be going through when they're going in a federal building and I too tried to find out if um if uh student board members because through my experience in attending the advocacy Institute that there were no students um present now whether that has changed or not I don't know but um I think hopefully as Miss linding said someone has checked to make sure that it is okay that he attends so Mr Al jais has been working um on this um however he did have a family emergency this evening and that he had to tundo so I cannot give you that answer right now um but I do know that he has looked into that but if we don't know um why would we be voting on it if

070there's unanswered questions because I mean it it's a good it's a good um uh training for Mr HOSA seeing how he's into the the politics and all of that and um but if he gets to Washington DC and then can't right be a part of it then it it's going to hurt him more than help him and so we need to know you know if he is going to be able to can you do a v contingent upon any yeah are we able to modify the language to um say contingent upon the rules of the association's attendance policy because again he is an advocate for all of our students in this District he has to be able to do that appropriately and I'm excited while student board members may not have gone to this type

071of conference in the past we are seeing that even in our own district there have been changes and Evolutions to what the student board member role is and I like to see that progression go forward so if we can adjust the language that way we can still address it tonight get that confirmation and if it's a go we can keep it moving and then I just wanted to add um I think we also need to be the leaders and the innovators in that and giving that student voice so if he's um eligible to go of course I think we're all on board um because we should be seen as giving students their own voice um where they can advocate for themselves uh you all know my feelings on this because I had the two conferences

072backwards so again um thank you to Miss Hannah for bringing this up and um I just think we really need to be paying attention to to what's coming down just so that we can plan better and also there is going to be um the um the cosbo um annual conference that's coming up in February that I know for sure that other student board members from all over the country are going to be attended and I think that would be better better uh of a better benefit for um for Mr HOSA so that he will be able to uh network with other student board members um that are going to be there at the conference and it's it's not even it's not even um uh um sure if any Illinois delegate delegate group is going to

073even be there so and so you you know my my piece is this I said it at the opening um we want young people involved in politics until young people get involved in politics uh Mr HOSA is an appointed you know student board member uh in the same way that I've always respected the request of this board for knowing which conferences they would like to attend knowing where they would find value um I agree getting confirmation I do know because of what I read is there have been pushes which is why cosba is doing it which is why iasb has done it is to increase student voice uh and so again their days of advocacy for students and groups so I I support it um again if it's this conference or would you like to

074attend uh based on miss Hannah's feedback Mr HOSA would you prefer to maybe look at the cosmo conference or would you prefer to keep your request in for this one um I would say first off that I get the um issues that Miss Hannah and Miss lensing are bringing up when it comes to one if I'm allowed to go into Federal buildings and stuff like that and I get that concern if it's a no then what's the point of going right but I find a little interesting that that's like an idea of sorts if there are students that go year after year to DC to the capital building and stuff like that and the number one conference for this one the last day is at the capital building and if they do elect students and

075stuff like that into the capital building to go see and stuff like that I see no difference that this being the case first off right second issue is I told Mr Ali jais when I commented on this and I told miss lensing the board meeting prior this in December that this is the first time that a board of education here will send a student board member and just because there is no student board members in this conference who knows right we don't know for sure this would be the first one just because there isn't any right now doesn't mean we can't be that first and being able to push as the district that pushes student voice to the top tiers of a federal government is newsworthy and of the highest prestige in Echelon being able

076to understand that is important and it's not just sending me just because it's DC right it's fun but at the same time showing that we are willing to send our student board members to these conferences while putting some sort of restriction that comes last minute now I'm not saying that any of the restrictions stated right now were intentional or last minute right obviously it's just concerns that may happen because this is taxpayer dollars right we're spending about $88,000 on it but I do think that this conference is beneficial by stating by creating precedent for student board members to go for this because at the end of the day if we're able to send me to this conference the next student board member has an easy way and a more clear path to go to conference

077may that be Q may that be Tri may that be the new conferences that the new organization has for nsba may that be through the new Association that Illinois is in and stuff like that I feel that the idea that I can't go into Federal buildings is a little flawed just because students go to DC and we're sending students to college visits in March obviously I imagine they will be going to the capital they're not going to stop them from going to a aoc's office to go knock on the door like this conference will be in public spaces they won't let us go into places like that but at the end of the day I will say this again it's the board's decision I understand whatever decision you guys make as you are the elected

078officials but I will say this too 14,000 students are watching and the precedent that is made here will Ricochet may that be now or may that be for another conference but that is my opinion on it if we have to vote no just because of the unknown known of it that is your guys' decision but that is my opinion on the matter and the thing Mr HOSA is that um it it's not the the the activity right on that visit on Capital uh when we go to the capital and in the Federal Building we're actually inside of um congress people's offices right I find that and I get that right and I find that interesting because the hsda who are members of the DNC are high school students who are under the age of 18

079sometimes right and I have seen them go to DC for conferences and go to Congressional offices and talk to key Democratic leaders that's wonderful I'm not saying that you can't that's not what I'm saying I'm saying that a more beneficial would be there's a you you at this conference in February there's uh the student board members are actually banned I appreciate the comment and the understanding on that topic but at the end my opinion still stands thank you for the time okay no problem whatever all right so we do want to see if Mr riddle you'd be open to amending your uh motion so re recommended action is stated with uh after confirming U Mr Hunter so moved yes able to attend yes uh so that was the motion who was my second I'm Sorry

080Miss Gonzalez or no was it this meon Miss Gonzalez so second was Gonzalez all right um roll call the end Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez pass Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah I'm going to um vote no for the same reason as before because it's in nsba um event Miss Ling uh my vote is a yes I am 100% behind our student board member getting I'm not saying that you're not I am 100% behind you getting the qualification or the develop my only concern is to make sure that that is allowable by this institution so I'm very excited with the amendment thank you president y yes item approved all right item 13 C Personnel uh for 1 19224 it is a recommendation the Board of Education accept the administration's recommendation to approve the appointments and retirement

081and SE the resignations that's found on schedules f102 L 949 NG g660 motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second second by miss faan any comments or questions on the motion so I motion to approve but uh contingent on the edit of the the name as reason reason given mhm that's correct yes yeah the motion was to approve so do you amend it yes so you need we need to redo the motion stri our motion that's why I didn't say anything so a motion of withdraw your motions please withdraw okay I'll withdraw my motion you withdraw yours withdraw okay and we like to approve with the correction to the uh inadvertently inserted uh name under the comment section yes okay motion by Mr so motion second to the new motion Eddie c a question questions

082no roll call Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah yes Miss laning um my vote is yes and because of the content I can't comment further aside from I expect our concerns raised during Clos session be reviewed and addressed and provided to the board MH president y yes IEM approve motion carries we're at item 16 a ratification of the first processing of the January 2024 board bills manual check request payments Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of December 6 2023 through January 2nd 2024 it is the recommendation of the administration at the Board of Education ratify the 1st January 2024 processing a board bills man check request payments and Old National Bank insurance payments for the period of de December 6 2023 through January 2nd 20124 the accounts payable

083board payments for the period of December 6 2023 through January 2nd 20 23 total $ 4,924 19222 the Mary check request payments for the period of December 6 2023 through January 2nd 2024 total 2,979 19124 though National Bank insurance payments for the period of December 6 2023 through January 2nd 20124 totals 2,127 sense I motion to approve the recommendation motion by Miss Gonzalez second second by Mr riddle any comments of questions on the motion roll call Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr yes Miss Hannah pass Miss Lansing yes president y yes item approve motion carries item 16b resolution to aate tax year 2023 Levy for principal and interest on the 7 million taxable General obligation bonds alternative Revenue Source series 2016 it is a recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education adopt

084the resolution to Abate the levy for tax year 2023 for principal and interest on 7 million taxable General obligation bonds alternate Revenue soures series 2016 motion to approve motion by Mr riddle second second by Miss uh faon any comments or questions on the motion roll call M Wan yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah yes Miss lensing yes president y yes item approved motion carries uh committee reports I'll go just really quick go ahead Mr Gonzalez oh no you can go ahead I don't know what you're going to talk about but I'm sure it's the same thing okay so yeah just the committee um I was able to attend the uh t task force um initial kickoff meeting at um CER Buckner it was a really productive conversation um we did also have

085a informational session at um Carmen Buckner uh as well in the gymnasium where Community was invited I was happy to see the participation however um I stated it there which is why I'm stating it here allocating 1 hour was not an adequate amount of time in order to engage in that conversation and discussion there will be another one um that is dated towards the end of January that information should be coming out I know the task force meets on Thursday um so that'll be one of the things so we want to make sure that when we're bringing the community into these spaces that uh we we we want to make it a productive time for all involved um and we want to set the adequate time necessary in order to make sure that uh we

086can have the the conversations needed so I appreciate the kickoff and the start um glad to see it continue don't want to lose the momentum and I'm really uh proud of the efforts that the staff made um as well as I'm proud that the community showed up would show just how important this work actually is all right Miss uh Fabian um sorry just and I don't know Mr Turtle you might have information but just um if we can get some dates for our committee the insurance plan board we still haven't received any information right and they don't meet as often miss uh faan so that may just yeah that you want to know what they are we have no information go ahead Mr no I don't I don't have anything that yet so who's your

087chair um I believe is it Mrs Barry I think it's Mrs Barry I think it is I'll Circle back I made a note here okay perfect all right uh delegates report Miss Hanah uh no don't have a delegates report except that um there is a cosbo uh conference annual their annual conference cominging up in February and um I would encourage board members to attend um to attend that and um although um they are now cosbo but you all need to understand that they have been uh the National School Board Association um for as long as na School Board Association has been uh in existence and they're not new people in Cosmo they're the same people but there were there were uh issues that 30 other school districts uh decided to remove themselves out of that

088we did get information about that from the um be from from the uh Illinois state board um and I talked uh personally to uh the president of um of the uh uh Illinois state board and he explained what it was because I was confused and once he said what the the issues were then I I am going going with Cosmo okay and um that's where I'll be but the conference is coming up in February I sent information to uh the board president and superintendent and um uh we have it I think we got it too all the board members got it and so that's what I'm encouraging and I'm also encouraging that that is the um that that be the conference that our student board member attend with us thank you missa superintendent's report I

089don't have anything um this staying since we're just concluding first semester and coming back from break but just want to welcome everyone back um welcome everyone back to a new semester and welcome into 2024 for report has been listed there for information um we have old business which is the board policy 1105 volunteers second reading Equity review uh we did get some information so I'll bring those forward but do we have a um all right motion uh do we have a motion yes motion to approve item 19a board policy 1105 volunteer second reading Equity review right so we got a motion for Mr riddle we have a second second second from miss faan any comments or questions uh additions concerns yeah I had a a more of a request um that the actual form be

090linked somehow to the um to the document or referenced because um I just want to make sure that the form is the same in every building and that it's accessible electronically not just physically so I had a lot of technical questions which I think go ahead a followup question what form are you referencing the volunteer form that is referenced I think it's like item a the application form yeah the application thank you that's so I know it's like a extensive Pro Sorry Miss B it's an extensive process because you know fingerprinting and all that but the form where it's oh you're talking about the volunteer form not the credit yeah the volunteer form the volunteer form yes that's an easy fix we can link that but you're asking that to be linked where Linked In

091the item in which it's described or reference the policy document itself or available on the district website uh both like you know in in the um index it's either um so toward the bottom of the policy like sometimes the forms or uh sources are referenced usually other policies typically we have not built those links in to the policy document themselves MH uh they've been made available wherever we're talking about volunteer programming on the district's website yeah can we say that that it's accessible on the website in the policy document or is a direction from the board in in moving this matter forward I asked well that's my opinion I don't know if the rest of the board wants to go down the line that is are you asking that to be articulated in the policy

092yeah I actually think that that Miss Gonzalez um idea is a good idea because when people are reading the policy and the form there it could just be like a hyperlink where they could take them right to the um main page of the website or wherever it falls under HR so I I don't I mean I think that hyperlink is I don't have a if that's what the board wants to start to do within their policies there I think it's a good idea I like that idea for the form where else the form is ref when I read the policy I thought it was really a nice policy have revised it a lot it was it was good I like the credit and everything but I didn't actually have a chance to look at the

093form and that was a criticism we' heard from the community members was that the form itself was so lengthy yeah uh the application form had been revised and I do believe we had provided that to the board members I have not seen it yeah I haven't seen that I will follow up on that okay in particular and if it's the board's desire to have the volunteer application form link l in through the policy we will figure out a way to do that or just like a directive of like also available on our website so you say hyperlink make it easy whatever whatever we can do yeah my only concern with the hyperlink is how often we're updating so if we do put in a hyperlink that it's tied to somebody's job like that if they're

094whenever that form changes that they're going back in as part of the protocol to change at hyperlink cuz we see that happen all the time but that's why it's like if it's documented yeah sorry and then two with this policy specifically um one thing I've requested in the past is if we can have our policies translated but specifically this one because it does speak to our family population and then if that hyperlink could have the Spanish form as well definitely um and then I had submitted some just questions too and I know we don't want our policy to be restricted or binding because times change right um but if we could sit uh I know it says to refer to the face Department as far as you know how to figure out the credit um

095but then like who's applying that credit so if they can somewhere in the policy refer to finances rol so families know that so once they go to face it's like they have to still take the step further to go to finance unless face is taking control of all the board has already address that in its policy on school fees okay the and that policy statement provides that whoever is managing the volunteer event is to give the credit information to the parents or students who are volunteering and then it is their role to take that to the building principal as I understand it is the building principal who is the Frontline management of the school fees perfect okay good sorry clarify I also want to say we are translating the policies when the board approves it

096it then gets translated and as soon as the translated version is done it's posted up as well perfect Miss L um are we looking to have these submissions an electronic format because I know that's been brought up before Miss Fabian has brought it up several times as well I think it's oh okay I'm GNA let you speak I know we were talking about both that paper gets lost in the shuffle or it's you know and like my concern the reason I'm asking this question right and I feel like my resolution is to explain more why I'm asking my questions is that I would hate for it to be you know put here and then I will get to that later and then the rest of life as an administrator or whomever happens and then it's

097delayed and then the parents have to keep following up and then it de incentivizes it's more hassle than what it's worth yes so that's why I'm asking the question yes good evening everyone my name is tasa Fields director of equity and inclusion and I have Miss Quinn Norman here our face manager um that did a lot of the uh leg work with adjusting the policy and adjusting our um the fee credit right and so um I know today we're really focused on the language and the policy and making sure this reflects that but I I will say just based on some of the questions that I'm hearing we do have a very robust plan to launch the fee credit it includes an FAQ that has links to some of the forms you all are talking

098about right now we have separate forms um that will um use to log the credit right and then um when it comes to Au we're actually looking at how we can utilize that to be a digital uh way to keep the credits going so all of that is coming and I mean we have a video there's a full launch we just got to take care this first and then we'll get that get that comment so we do have some of those things prepared perfect so then I think just a request from the board it sounds like we just want that launch you know if you guys could send all that information ahead of time sure absolutely thank okay thank you thank you so they were technical questions but are you comfortable right now with the

099policy has written miss all right roll call Miss faan yes Mr Miss Gonzalez yes Mr riddle yes Miss Hannah yes Miss lensing yes president y yes item approve motion carries we got 19 as about that I asked to have that put on other agenda Mr we can carry it over we carried it over because it was in new business last time so I just as a practice me trying to be more responsive to the board so if you don't want to discuss tonight that's fine we can carry it over but it was put there because we didn't complete the discussion that your request the last time and the reason I asked um um Mr President to put it on student achievement was because it's uh it's it it it warrants more than a few minutes

100uh discussion and um we'll be able to discuss it more at length at uh student achievement so what I will want to do is get consensus superintendent so what we're looking for is kind of if we can get a report out um so that when we're having the conversation it can be an a formed one we already have a policy that bans uh vaping use right Advanced tobacco use uh but there were technical changes or actually no substantial changes to the law is that correct Miss Hanah as of January 1st yes right so what Miss Hannah wants to do is ensure that we um are up to date with the uh current changes so you know that's a Cathy takeaway for legal uh to make sure that we're updated and then superintendent um can we

101kind of get maybe um the data as it relates to the number of um suspensions or uh in school and out of school related to um I guess being under the substance because I want to include alcohol and vaping in that but I don't think I don't think you're going to get it's going to be skewed um I believe Mr Hing because um The Vaping is not being recorded so it may be skewed but we got to start having a conversation from somewhere uh because we can't stop it or are you saying that you want the conversation to be based on how we better track I I I want some I want us to start talking about some type of strategy that we are going to uh Implement particularly in the middle schools and the

102high schools to um to alleviate this because if we don't we are real we are in violation of the law so that's where I always say is when we have the conversation is I want to make sure first to give the administration the opportunity to present to the board what it is that they're doing right because are we do we have a plan or something we I know we instituted The Vape alarms and other things but when you and that's why I want to help you superintendent and I'm trying to help Miss Hannah to get what it is that we're looking for so student achieve we have a we have a we had not a shorten but we had a records day yesterday we kind of have a shorten week and then we have a

103shorten week next week since I have to pull the data and we're preparing for student achievement next week can I Circle back to ensure that we can have this all ready for next Tuesday if I can't can you give us more time um to the following meeting and I and I'm also a little unsure of what is the asked so I what I'm hearing is that we want to look at data discipline data around students who are caught um either smoking or vaping in schools but I'm really that's what I'm hearing right now so no no ma'am I I and we know that it's happening okay we have I mean we know that it's happening and my what I want um to um to see is is how we are and what are we doing

104to stop it in our schools and you you know and I've heard stories that um that that they're not doing anything um you know to stop the smoking in our schools even though we already have a policy there's no smoking there's no smoking on schol school grounds there's no smoking but it still is happening so I'm asking and because of this new law that uh became effective January 1st that vaping is prohibited in public places we are a public place as well and so it it for the benefit of students the staff you know teachers complaining everybody and we need to have a plan of what we're going to do how we're going to attack this so that's the ask right and I see two hands I'm sorry I just am trying to hone in

105on that point of what the ask is is that was part of the discussion is the policy currently bans it so it's not a policy discussion so what it is is a practice discussion so superintendent can you uh start to prepare a presentation how how we are are um addressing tobacco and marijuana usage in District 60 at both the middle and high school level and vaping part which is tobacco usage no I marijuana as well marijuana Mar marijuana tobac usage yes got it Absol questions and then miss Fabia um I I do think um thank you for bringing up the the data around that because it just gives everyone the same language or the same understanding of where we are at to help strategize where we need to go um and I in speaking with

106some uh District staff members um suspensions to miss Hannah's Point aren't going to be an accurate reflection we have those sensors in the bathrooms do we get reports about how many times they go off so instead of like not instead of but in tandem can we also use that data element as well because then that would at least give us frequency it's not going to tell us who's doing it it's not going to give us those pieces but it just gives us an understanding of frequency yeah we know I mean right now at this point it's not it doesn't matter who's doing it well it matters that it's being done yeah yeah and I'll I'll save this comment for when we talk about it but I I do agree we should have it during the

107student achievement meeting because there are a lot of voices that want to be heard on this absolutely um with regard to even just staff members at at the school level because whatever we decide as a board if we're updating policy what have you it's going to impact them because they're they're the ones that have to be the enforcers of it absolutely that's all I had to say Miss faor so I did want to reiterate What U Miss lensing said I think in order for you to have a goal and a strategy you need a benchmark so I would like to also see the data and I know that we can pull up Behavior reports to see specifically smoking as uh one of the reasons that children are being disciplined um and that'll also give us

108a data point is it is one building you know percentage wise higher than another and um those that have a low percentage like are they doing better strategies or not within your plan can we also have what we've done in the past be beyond the um the new sensors because I have seen where our high school has put out um parent workshops so that parents can understand what Vapes are and how to find them and locate them so if we can have a list of also what's been done um and how successful was that right like did we get parent participation if there's any other support that they need from the board um as well so I would like to see a couple of different things in that presentation so what the superintendent is saying

109is that with the timeline presented and the information requested that's not going to be ready for Tuesday uh and if the request is that is brought back at a at a student achievement specifically that's moving that to February um keep in mind that February will also be typically Where We R middle a year data we can't we can't roll this Beyond February yeah we I no I I didn't say roll it Beyond February I'm letting you guys know it will be a long meeting if you want to have an extensive discussion and we want to see middle of your data right I apologize I spoke out of no you're good right and I don't think I don't think we should um should should uh take away from your time to present the uh present the

110uh academic data I don't think we should do that but this is a needed conversation agreed I'm talking Forum like a town hall and that's and honestly I I hate to say it uh no I don't hate to say it it's committee work right and so I think there has to be a recommend like this is something that's important and I'm all for giv it I think that's why I wanted to kind of let's just get a level set Because the actual implement it's not a policy conversation right and so this is committee work so I can see it in the health committee um what is it Wellness or PAC Wellness or PTAC right and so that's to me where it lives but if we want to have an initial conversation we just got to

111talk dates that's all I'm letting everybody know it won't be done in one day it wouldn't be solved in one day I would down there sorry one more I apologize Mr riddle very deeply I would say in addition to the schools talking to parents about how to identify we also have to come to terms with the reality that parents are also using these products as well so in my mind it should also be how you can store them securely away from your students and again that gets into the the weeds of things but as we're framing our heads around this initial discussion to possibly put back to the committee that's something that I want on people's radar thank you I apologize no right m r um yes my my only comment is that I think

112both these policies 4203 and 6045 uh need to be modified starting right from the title because they both say tobacco use prohibition and I think we need to say in there very clearly so people can recognize immediately what we're talking about you have to read through this policy to get down to where it says vaping right you need to say tobacco vaping use prohibited right right away while another illegal and and on both policies and then you need to to further state you know include marijuana in here as well in the tobacco because you've got tobacco and students are going to say well you know I'm vaping but I'm only you know I'm not using tobacco at all so I think we should these policies both need to be just modified to include we we

113can talk about that thank you m yeah just to clarify what it is so you don't have to read through the whole thing to you know get down to where you oh oh I can't use R either and I what I can't use marijuana so I really think honestly from a board member and board TI as committee work there are two committees in which it could leave live I think wellness and I also think Pac um and then it can be a formal recommendation that's actually brought to well no I I I I appreciate that and I am on the wellness committee and we've already talked about um we've already talked about tobacco use and everything in our um committee okay we've already done that so what's the so that's they bring recomendation a board

114no I want us as a board to talk about this okay and H and and direct the administration to um to come up with an uh a plan so that we could uh alleviate the um the the smoking the the tobacco products the marijuana The Vape The Vaping in our school yeah I don't and I go back to I don't want to have that argument I think we all agree that vaping is bad I don't know if we need a public conversation we do because there's public so it's it's it's fine then so we'll bring it back talk about that they can do that at the committee level no they can't they're not at the committee they're invited it's okay Oh you mean the committee any committee I mean if if we do it at

115the PAC the PAC is not close to committee members right so again okay president y go ahead Mr Hanah HOSA no I was just going to say very quickly that I appreciate Miss Hannah bringing this up because it is a very important topic to discuss and I will go back to Mr Riddle's point about students going and finding loopholes because I know many people that I've known going through stuff like this and saying well it's not saying marijuana it's saying this this and this right and I am in this High School I see students vaping in the bathrooms like I will be serious with youall I have seen it happen and I just walk out that's what happens right and just seeing that happen and being an advocate for not smoking at all at this

116age and I'll say it to the camera too y'all shouldn't be smoking in the first place right but other than that point right and I am part of this generation and understanding that this is not healthy this is not beneficial this is not doing anything for you and I've told friends that have done this or friends in the past this is not going to help you at all and know it deep down but I feel like this conversation should be a big one that really brings in all stakeholders public may that be um students especially the students and parents and students I feel is the major one that really brings this forward right because it's a home issue it a school issue it is a social issue it's social economic it's everything combined and it's

117complicated I know it's complicated like let's not let's not say that it's not but taking these small steps is important and bringing students into the fold is quite essential to bring something forward may that be policy may that be conversation whatever it is at the end of the days it doesn't matter what it is just that we bring something up and I feel that as the student board member representing these students I can say that many students do want something change maybe even the Halo machines because some of them I will say this also right now that they don't really work well because I have stories I have anecdotes where students walk in and it just beeps for no reason now how does that data translate who knows right that is Administration how that's pushed

118forward right but I appreciate Miss Hannah bringing that forward and board for bringing this topic up thank you Mr Hannah so to me I hear two different asks and I don't know if you guys are understanding it the same way one is as a board reviewing the policy that we have currently to retitle reframe rename and I think that should be something that we do but two to Mr hoso point if you want to get student voice Community voice and Miss Hannah point if you want to get a deep dialogue I don't know if it belongs just in a one night student achievement meeting you're not going to have that support versus if we do like an open forum and a specific time and date allocated where we actually put aside an hour or two

119to have that deep dive and we're actually reaching out to the community for that specific conversation dude sorry can we have forums with all seven board members or do we have to have a special meeting solely specific to this we have to notice it right and that they'll be just want to make sure and that's the piece why I said it could work as committee work right I'm not saying that the conversation is not important I'm saying that you this board has told me as the board president that our meetings are too long this agenda was short it's 9:00 p.m. again I'm just talking facts and time not that this is not important that that not that this is not critical and who does the work lie with so we all agree that the work

120unless now we say it is a policy conversation that's board work so we can bring forward a policy but as far as the actual implementation of policy that's staff work and so they should be presenting to the board what it is that they're doing so all I want to do is be respectful of everybody's time and make sure that the appropriate work sits with the appropriate parties so that's all I was trying to do but mat is asking for it to be a discussion and and now the hour is nine and I know I feel myself just kind of and it it's it's okay we can have it we don't have to have it tonight but s asked for it to be at a student achievement meeting we can talk about the best for for

121it to be discussed um Mr Rd yeah just let me hit again I think Miss uh Fabian hit it right on the head I think our board work is to do these two policies and to revise them right the way they read right now is just way too calm it's just talking about tobacco use and that by the way it mentions it so I think the the policies need revision we need to state in the policy this is serious stuff um and and what the consequences will be to include counseling and and parental involvement and stuff like that so the policies need revision both of them but I don't think we need to get into the weeds and decide what's going to get done that's not that's that's that's just as as the board president

122said that's going to be for the administration to figure out have their meetings with with uh parents and staff and students and figure out how they're going to deal with this problem that is a very very ser serious problem as our student board member says thank you and um with all due respect board members I am not asking to get in a meeting and tell the administration what to do that's not what I am asking I know that we don't do that what I am asking is that it is talked about and discussed and we need to hear all voices and we have teachers we have other um staff that wants to talk about the about this stuff and and so why can't we have I mean I agree a town hall Mee Miss Hannah

123can I don't think we're listening to each other I think it's 9:00 point we just it's fine yeah I I'll Circle back with I have an idea is that if that's okay can I Circle back with you tomorrow needs to be done superintendent I hear you Miss Hannah I'll Circle back with you I have a really a good idea but I even have a way of how we can inform P parents um but I'll Circle back with you tomorrow if you don't mind I'll give you look forward to it irrespective of how the board this proceeds the student policies are part of student discipline they require PTEC review and involvement so that needs to be built in into the process well they can p can be at the at the meeting too cuz everybody's voice

124need to be heard because this is affecting commun this is affecting not only student staff but it is it's also becoming um if we are not um adhering to the law okay as a school district by uh by curtailing this stopping it doing something because Mr HOSA it's going on right yes every day right yes ma'am and if it continues to go we are in violation of a law I have a comment oh yeah um yeah I just wanted to kind of of offer up and also do a little bit of a call-in um to the rest of the board and say that maybe I understand like the passion behind this issue and I think it's already been stated that it is a health concern for our students I don't think it's particularly bad I

125think this is a symptom of bigger issues um but I think it's a responsibility for us as a board to attend the workshops that are going on when the schools are hosting them um as far as I know I was the only board member at the NASA um uh deep dive um when it came to the um The Vaping issue at Washington and I understand that people can't be everywhere all at once um but you know part of the strategy is being there right and and and being present and and also hearing what parents have his concerns which I know that we do um on the side um and I also want to reiterate that um and board president already mentioned it that some work is board work and some work is Staff work and

126I think the way that we also support staff work is by being at um at the table when it comes to our board reprimands a lot of our students get in trouble because they are repeat offenders um in terms of you know vaping smoking um and I know that some of those students need um those meetings to happen so that is also a strategy so that we don't kick them out of the schools um but I did want to ask if um enity Rivera and Lata Burton were here because if we're going to you know they they are not here this evening yeah I just wanted to be mindful if they were here yeah no they're not here this evening um their appointments have expired so I would ask that this proed if we can

127bring them back at another time to take the oath but they are still under their prior oath okay and are they because of that are they um are there any other um candidates to um to be put on the um ethics uh commission um and there's just um I have some uh concerns um about one of them uh there was an an inquiry made as to whether um to the board president in superintendent if they supported their renewal if you want to open it up then uh we'll take those names I suppose and we'll open that up yeah but we did put the offer out to them and they did both accept yeah cuz they're on there now you know I mean they don't do anything but there's just a concern that I have about

128one that I will probably um give you a call tomorrow and talk to you about so do you want to oh go ahead I just have a question around this go ahead M um so when when we have these appointments are we reviewing or assessing their contributions in this role and if it's a good fit so there haven't been any complaints that have come forward that they have acted upon um it requires a written complaint to come forward and it is limited to prohibited political AC activities or violation of the gift ban act right so um there is uh we did have a presentation that M Rivera participated in this year with the administration on the principles of the gift band act and so I believe that was positively received by the administration okay thank

129so just to clarify and to miss linding Point um so what and you don't have to share Miss Hannah but is the complaint about their nomination or one of them one of them so then is that not a formal complaint oh no no no no oh no no no a concern actually not a complaint got it okay I just I just wanted to know if we were holding this over or not we're moving forward no okay no okay okay just want to make sure so we're not so I we are voting on it tonight so you Miss Hannah are saying that you have no I'm just going to talk uh talk to because um Kathy aren't you the um the head of Ethics commission I'm the district's ethics officer I'm not the head of the

130commission itself I support the commission when a complaint comes in Oh I thought you were in charge because there were complaints that came in that you denied to go to the commission because they didn't trigger the gift ban act or the political prohibited political activities we have a motion to approve the reappointments I motion to approve second prior to appointing she got a question I'm just looking at that the misspelling is still there they have Miss Kennedy okay yeah instead of her name is ened rera so if that could be changed to miss Rivera yeah her name is the second the second paragraph yeah but it's correct no it's it's correct I just want to make it clear that we're talking about Miss Rivera has been in the capacity since December of 2009 apologies I

131thought I caught all those roll call Miss Fabian yes Miss Gonzalez yes Mr wo yes Miss Hannah yes Miss lensing yes President E yes item approved motion carries uh board member time um Miss Gonzalez um happy New Year everybody um I'm sorry I couldn't make some of the events I I totally respect some of the comments um and I wish I could have been to more events this past um holiday season um but my goal this year is to go to more community events and to go to more sports games that's my resolution go ahead okay happy New Year everyone um also want to congratulate two of our Wan high school students Gustavo asedillo and Evelyn Bergos who were recently selected to participate in in the prestigious Illinois music Education Association the All State concert

132so both of those both of those students will be performing um in Peoria uh uh Gustavo is going to be in the Jazz night uh Allstate concert January 26 in Poria Civic Center and Evelyn will be at the All State chorus uh concert January 27th in pioria at the Civic Center so congratulations to both of those students a job well deserved and represent welan uh truly great thank you thank you Mr um Miss H um I I have a uh okay uh number one I want to say that um I don't want to reate anything okay the I I am wondering uh superintendant and Could you um I ask that you take note of this um because I got a call today from um from a family concerned uh about their student being removed from

133school and I I didn't know that um that removing a student um completely from school could happen unless it came before the board and I didn't know that we um removed students from um from attending school for attendance and so I think that needs to be looked into to see if that is actually happening and um um if you I if the administration is removing students um from out of school particularly at the high school level um and also I attended the um the the basketball game but I also attended the Hall of Fame induction and I was just kind of confused because um with the uh hall of fame um inductions they were all Wan um they were all Wan athletes uh passed and there were no um there there was no one there

134aside from the athletic director to represent the school district and it was kind of embarrassing that we allowed the mayor of the city to give our athletes that you know made their names and stuff through wal okay over all of the decades and stuff and they're going into the Hall of Fame right but we weren't there and if those if if people that were there were there no wait in the stand yeah you were in the stands we should have been on the floor that's our house at that's that's board protocol that's what I know okay and that if you all are wondering why I went out there was because we needed to be out there on that floor when they were in inducting our walk Keagan um athletes um and not the mayor of

135walk Keagan okay she's not IND inducting them they're not going in they're they're going uh into our Hall of Fame and so that's why I went out there and you know we shouldn't have been in The Stance we should have been out there on the floor so um but other than that welcome back everybody and um I'm hoping and praying for a better year 2024 can I just add to miss Hannah's comment um maybe we need to have a conversation with the athletic director um because I did see the actual um certificate that they gave out to the individuals and it is a proclamation that's signed by the city given by the city so I don't know if that's a potential agreement that we have with them so I think that might be another you

136know board ask to review if if that's what the thank you for saying that U Miss Fabian because I did not know that it has her the city logo on it yeah um and then I just wanted to add I didn't say it wasn't important happy Martin Luther King Day oh yeah uh to those celebrating so the kids I'm sure are happy they get two 4 day weeks back to back um but I do hope that people go out and celebrate by um continuing to do community service there is is a an event put on by the township that's very lovely every year and I always have to miss it but this year I plan to go so it'll be January uh 15th um at 10:00 a.m. and tickets are still available through the township

137um and then there is another event um there's a town hall January 11th from 6:00 to 7:30 at Crystal Ray and our um house representative and our Senator um will be there so I think when we're talking about Community issues these are the places that we should be attending so I hope um Victor if you need a ride I'll help you out we can go to that um and then thank you to my fellow Foundation members for um agreeing to plunge with us um we actually got Nick in the water so that was a lot of fun but it really does go to support um special Recreations which many of our students also participate in so wherever the foundation can support other um organizations that support our kids we're more than happy to do so

138M yeah we somebody yay um yeah I just I want to thank uh Mr Edwards for speaking tonight um I've had personal complications that kept me from certain events but it is something that I like Miss Gonzalez is going going to uh try to ensure that I'm at as many events as possible because the community does need to see that we support them we can say it up here all day long but you know presence is power um so thank you for that reminder um with the Black Male Achievement initiative meeting that was at Carmen the school looked great for the holidays it was inclusive for all of the different celebrations that happen in the winter so that was beautiful to see uh the leadership they so heavily involved D with that um I was

139thankful that people came authentically and spoke their mind and really told it how it was um and we need to have those Brave conversations around that um sorry I had a couple of other things but I'll just make it brief um I know there have been staff members asking for updates with regard to the um HR reviews that have been going on so if we can just get that information out to ease people's anxieties on when they can anticipate that conversation or information to come forward that would be helpful oh I know what I wanted to say um happy New Year just like I said at the start of the year we can say it again every day but especially at the start of the new year how we receive our students is very important

140how we talk about our students is extremely important how we engage and interact and build those relationships again important so when we're thinking about our student population interacting with them they are great they are great kids and we have to remember that they are kids and we are here to help Shepherd them onto supporting them to achieve their dreams so as you're back in that classroom happy first day with the students I'm very thankful that this District gives Monday to teachers to kind of reorient after break to get in the mindset but just make sure that your interactions with your students are positive and your words about your students are positive that's it's going to take us so much further so thank you for everyone coming back I'm excited for a start to the New

141Year in the second semester thank you m Lindy and superintendent you had an announcement yeah I just wanted to give a big shout out um we have some community members coach bone and Coach Sheed who's taking um a number of boys um from Lake County but a great number of kids from Wan Public Schools they're going to be the first time ever in an All-American football tournament where they will get ranked nationally and we have kids from 9 years old all the way up to 13 years old this is a great vicing their send off is on Thursday um I believe at 8:00 in North Chicago high school they have the buses porns are blowing um and these kids are going to be headed to North Carolina to bring this Victory home um I will

142be attending and help chaperoning as much as I can some of the boys out there this weekend but I just want to thank coach bone and Coach sheet for all they do for the walk Keagan community the North Chicago Community but bringing these boys together in Lake County to represent Lake County and bringing um Good Hope and sportsmanship but most of all um unifying these boys um so that they can make connections outside of the communities they live in my only comments um will be brief uh I want to thank everybody again for coming out um want to thank each of the board members I want to say when we talk about while we do this work uh we saw it demonstrated with the jams program and all the other things my first official job

143uh was the Stars program I'm a project of walk Public Schools I've been involved in this District my entire life I'm raising kids here as many of us have done um are doing and will do and so uh it it it saddens me the amount of toxicity that exists um because I've always know this to be a place of Love uh for me and so what I really want to focus on is we talk about resolution Mr HOSA is bringing back the love bringing back the joy and bringing back the community is because I don't want to feel that I'm always um under attack or that others on this boorder in this District feel as if they're under attack so if I've contributed to that in any way I apologize um and the only person

144that I can be accountable to is to me and so I say that publicly uh to the Board of Education as well as to the community is that my commitment is formost to our students and secondly to help to restore and rebuild relationships because we haven't done a good job of that in this District it does take two to tango um and I will continue to do my part with that I'd like a motion to adjourn so motion by Miss Gonzalez second by Miss Fabian in all in favor signify with I any oppos n meeting is a Jour good night for