001The CCSD2 September 18th, 2025 regular board of education meeting is called to order. Um, as a result of the resignation of former board secretary Degmar Kalinowski, I am appointing Arlland Gould to act as Secretary Prom until the election of a new board secretary later this evening. Mr. Gold, would you please take attendance of the board and student representatives? Jessica, >> I'm here >> obviously. Debbie >> here. >> Carrie >> here. >> Bill absent. >> Iliana >> here. >> And I am here. >> Thank you. And our student representatives. >> Yes. Uh Sel Selma >> here. >> Uh Fald, >> I'm sorry. Farie, sorry. And Alex >> here. >> Thank you. >> All right. If everyone would please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
002America, to the republic, which stands one nation under justice for all. Right. Thank you and welcome to the September 18th, 2025 regular board of education meeting. I'd like to welcome Sher Clump uh from the Wheeling Park District. We always look forward to seeing you here. Um any individual physically present at our meeting tonight wishing to address the board must complete a comment card and provide it to Miss Bender, please. Written public comments may also be submitted by emailing district 21cccsd21.org. Um, and just as a side note, as I mentioned just a minute ago, Degmar Kalinowski resigned her board of education seat due to personal reasons. We will miss her greatly. If she's listening in, we miss you very, very much and are grateful for her service and hopefully she'll be able to participate in other
003opportunities for parents and community members. Um, as you know, we have a vacancy now to fill her seat for the remainder of her term expiring April 2027. An opportunity for applications to be submitted is open until October 1st. If you are interested, please consider applying and please feel free to reach out to any one of us on the board if you have any questions or would like to discuss the role. All right, moving along. Let's go ahead and elect a new board secretary. Um, nominations are now open for the office of board secretary. >> I nominate Carrie Debon. Okay. Board member Carrie Devett is nominated. Are there any other nominations for the office of secretary? Okay. The nominations for the office of secretary are now closed. Mr. Gold, would you please take the roll call
004for the nominated candidate, Carrie Devbit, to serve as board secretary? >> Yes. Bill, of course, is not here. I Arlland, yes. Karine Carrie, >> yes. Debbie, >> yes. >> Jessica, >> yes. >> Ilana, >> yes. >> You were elected. >> Congratulations. >> And thank you very much for taking on this additional role for the board. Um, let's move right on ahead into staff communication. Uh first we have an overview of the district's new let's talk system. >> Yeah. So um before we do that um I actually do have two introductions that I'd like to make this evening. Um and so the first I'm going to ask our Kilmer principal um Mrs. Goodrich to introduce her new assistant principal. So Colleen come on up. [Laughter] >> Good evening. Good evening everyone. I'm very excited to introduce
005Miss Georgia Landos. She I'm excited to introduce a much Mrs. Georgia Landos. She is Kilmer's new assistant principal this year. Um and the year has begun and we are rocking and rolling. But we're so excited to have her. So I will let her say a few words. >> Hi, good evening everybody. I am so honored to be here and be part of the District 21 family. Um, it really truly feels like a family. Kilmer has been so welcoming and I am so excited for the year ahead. Thank you. >> And second, um, so actually um I wasn't uh didn't know that we were going to be able to do this tonight, but it's we're kind of breaking some news here. Um, so I'm going to ask if our director of school safety, uh, Todd Rowling,
006would introduce our new SRO at homes. Um, officer Latisk, who has been our SRO, was promoted. Congratulations to him. Bad for not not bad, but but bittersweet. Sorry. But we are really happy to be able to introduce um his successor. So Todd, >> my pleasure to introduce you to Julian. Um, we did our office last week and uh he showed a true compassion of community and service and I'm sure he's going to be a great fit over there. He's already been doing cross training with our other SRO and um your first solid day is tomorrow and it's welcome aboard officer. We appreciate you being here. Uh, okay. So, um, we wanted to do, uh, kind of start off our our staff communications, um, with really kind of just a brief, um, live demonstration, uh, of
007our new Let's Talk system. Um, and as the board will recall, Let's Talk is a is a system we brought online at the beginning of the school year that really gives um students, parents, um staff, and community members an opportunity um to u register any kind of concerns that they may have um either u reports of bullying or uh safety concerns or or um other things that they want us to know. And it gives them an opportunity to do that also anonymously um if they so choose. So, um we've had a couple of of uh instances of it being used. Uh traffic concerns has been one that we've seen a couple of uh at various uh locations and then also we've gotten a few reports um from students about bullying concerns. Um so, you know,
008we've been able to uh kind of uh utilize that to try and investigate those claims. So, in any event, uh I'm going to have Mike uh Frantini, our chief operating officer, kind of take us through a bit of a live um example. So Mike, >> thanks Dr. Connelly. You covered it well again for me. All right, just to to kick off, as he said, let's talk is is a new tool. There's three main areas and we're going to demo it and I'm going to show you where it can be accessed on the web page on student Chromebooks. We'll go through it all. Um, but there's three main areas where this can be accessed. It's uh or it's for a bullying tip line, uh, safety and security, and then also there's an HR staff tip line.
009Also, there's three main areas that are that are live right now that that we've rolled out. um each submission within and let me just start here to kind of show you. So on on our web page, if you'll notice, there's a contact us button on the side of each page that can easily be clicked on. And then there's a little chat box that'll pull up here. And this is a this is kind of a shortened form version of of the submission. So, as you'll see in in this option here, there's two options, which would be the bullying tip line and the safety and security tip line. Um, the HR tip line is not public facing, right? It's it's for our staff. So, that's password protected behind our our staff internet. So, that's a separate separate
010place to access that. Uh, so with so this is one of the places to access and we also have a tile on the homepage. One second here. We have to refresh it. >> Yeah. You know what I'm going to do? So, >> school safety and then also hang on. I'm navigating a few windows here on this remote access. And then report a safety concern. >> Scroll down. >> Yeah, I'm trying to. And then if you click on let's talk here, this is another avenue. We are adding tiles on on the homepages of all schools too to access. This is a longer version. and an easier to read uh version of the form. So if you once we navigate to that link, if you scroll down here. So there's two options here for the public facing.
011There's bullying and safety and security. So just for example for tonight, we'll just click on safety and security here just to show everyone. Okay. So all of these forms are going to be accessible in all four languages. So the little drop down right here you have English uh Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian is available uh for all all of these. So um a lot of data we're collecting here location. So for this instance we'll select uh district office. Um we are just going to type in a quick response here. So, the test actually I'm going to type in 9:18 2 p.m. test test and then it also allows the option to attach any screenshots or files which is nice, right? If there's a picture or whatever it may be, it can be attached right in the
012submission. Um, and then a little bit of optional data. Student, employee, parent, guardian, community member. It can be checked. Uh, first and last name, obviously, phone number, email, and here's the one of the unique um areas that we really liked about this tool. This can be checked right here um in order if if somebody wants to submit and be anonymous, right? So, um that that's a good option for for anybody submitting. So, we'll go ahead and select employee here. And then we're going to click on the the capture and then hit submit. So as simple as that that I could probably finish this in 10 to 20 30 seconds to submit a um you know a submission here. U I I will say that the HR uh tip line all of those go to Lewis
013Roberts. He's the only uh receiver of those submissions. um the bullying and then safety and security will go to Todd Rowing, Sher Masa, uh the principal, assistant principal, uh the dean if it's in a middle school, and then myself um copied on all those. Um I I will say some of the data we've collected already, it's interesting. We've had about 13 total dialogues already and they've all been closed successfully. Um 54% of those were parent guardians. U 23% were employees and about 23% were students. Um 92% of those submissions were of a concern and then uh about 8% were a question that that was that were thrown out there. So I would say in in closing this is a great tool you know making sure that we're ensure ensuring um safety in our schools and
014you know always have that uh channel open for communication I think is extremely important moving forward. Um and I'd be happy to answer any questions or or show anything further. >> Mike just uh uh they are also the they're um pinned to the the student Chromebook u taskbar. Right. >> Correct. every every student when they log into their Chromebook, there'll be an icon on their taskbar pinned for Let's Talk and they can just click on that. It'll bring them right to right to this form. Yep. >> Mhm. >> The students will still have the need to talk tab as well though, right? >> Correct. Correct. Yeah. All browsers. Yep. >> Okay. >> Does anyone have questions? We'll just go right down the row. Okay. >> Sure. Uh student question first. So, have the students been
015introduced to this or was it only introduced through the parents? >> Yes, we've talked to our principles about that and they have introduced it to their staff and then their students as well. And there's also been parent square messages sent out uh regarding this to parents on how how to submit as well. So, yep. >> Okay. >> And we're working on posters for the schools as well. Is there also like um teaching that kind of goes around like what would warrant something like this versus reporting it to a person or what the difference would be like when you would use this versus talking to your homebased teacher or something? I'm using middle school as an example because I'm it's obviously more prevalent. >> Yeah. Well, it's always recommended if if it's on a lower level
016and it's not, you know, considered a large threat or concern to start with the principal or the school, right? But, uh, beyond that, if there's if there's any concern at all or any uncertainty, um, it's recommended to go through the the Let's Talk platform >> and we're working on brochures for Sherry on bullying and what's bullying and what's acceptable and what's being rude as opposed to being a bully and being mean. That was kind of the point of my question is just understanding what would warrant this because I know we use that word a lot and as an educator we're constantly defining what situations are and trying to recognize whether it's bullying or it's you know just a student being unkind or >> or rude >> whether it's repetitive or if it's a single one
017time situation. >> Yeah. And we're going to be making a major push across the district in October um as it's bullying awareness month. Um, so Sherry Masa is is working with all of our principles um, you know, to make sure that we are doing those kinds of of educational activities. Um, so >> yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And in the communications, we've outlined and gotten into the detail a little bit, but we could probably go a little further, you know, moving forward as we continue to push the tool and and kind of, you know, give maybe some more specific examples of each side and and make it a little more clear. I did log into my son's Chromebook though now that he's at London just so I could see and it just popped up right
018away on their London page and I clicked on it to see what the interface looked like and it was very easy to use and very accessible so that's great. >> It's just an additional layer depending on how people feel comfortable >> Yep. >> reporting various incidences. You had a question? >> Um yeah, they were both answered though. I was asking if it was also introduced to students um at school and then kind of going over guidelines of what should be reported. >> Debbie, did you have any? >> Not a question, but a comment. I just gave Mike a full page Wall Street Journal article pointing out the significance of programs like this in the corporate world and how while they've been around for a while, they've exploded in the last five years. So it's right
019on in terms what the corporate world is doing in detail in spades and for all the issues that we've talked about. So I think it's a great move. >> The one thing I will say is got an email from uh Insight K12 is the name of the company that that produces this uh and they're rebranding so it's going to have a different name. Um and it's and and and their reasoning makes sense. It's because it's it's let's talk makes it sound like a like a communication tool where it's really something. So, I don't know what they're going to call it next. Um, but well, so there'll be another kind of push, you know, when that happens because it's going to be rebranded. It'll have a different name and so we'll kind of have to like
020it. It's this now, but it's the same type of thing. So, >> and there's a question over here from one of our student reps. Um, so if a student were to fill out the form for, let's say, something for bullying, what would you guys like actually do to help this student? >> So, that's a really good question. So, we had um a student that uh last week um put in a a report of bullying um and um it caused a bullying investigation to begin. So the principal um was able to work and this was at the middle school uh one of the middle schools. Uh and so the principal was able to work with the dean um to bring those um individuals that had been named as as potentially bullying down um to start having
021conversations to start doing investigations and and um really to try and and you know make sure that we're they're able to um deal with the potential behavior. Now, the thing that is also important to note is that if it's an anonymous claim, we can still investigate, but we may not necessarily be able to kind of know exactly who we need to kind of circle back with, right? So, but it still puts people on notice, right? So, like if I if there's a claim that I was bullying somebody and that person didn't say who they were, I can still have a conver, you know, have have a conversation be had with me and I'm hopefully going to walk away with going, "Oh, I kind of need to watch myself here, you know." Um, so, but yeah,
022any any claim that's coming in about bullying will be investigated. Um, and and we'll take it from there. I will add to to that that with within the submission there's the ability for back and forth communication in the portal. So say you know a student submits a bullion case. So there's the ability if it's not fully anonymous to go back and forth within within the app and there's email notifications for all of our staff. So the second one gets submitted. All of us are getting email notifications. Um, we've asked for our staff to to respond uh to each submission within 24 hours and then the the goal is to close each case within five days. Now, I know if there's a bullying investigation and things that are going to be extended, it could go beyond
023that, but that's that's our push here. >> Okay. Well, that was my question, so thank you for answering it before I asked it. >> I have a question. What will happen if it's a same person and it's not anonymous and they're keep on doing the form but it's different people that are bullying them? >> Yeah, I mean that's a good question. So I think what we would be doing there is to really try and work with that student um to try and understand where are all the different areas that they might be running into difficulty with their fellow students and to really then work kind of from a broad perspective to try and make sure that you know we're supporting um and really trying to figure out okay what's what's happening here and how can
024we help right so um you know so the hope would also though be um that as were being able to kind of establish that relationship with the student and kind of say, "Hey, you know, you you know, they feel comfortable um with actually just coming down and say, you know, hey, you know, Dr. Connley, I'm having a real rough time right now with, you know, these students. Can you help me out?" Right? So, it doesn't have to always be going through um the the Let's Talk system. But irrespective of that, we will continue every single time there's a case that comes in, we'll we'll be dealing with it um in in whatever manner tries to make it as as as right as possible. Good question. Yeah, man. >> I also have a question. If it's
025not anonymous and you said you'd circle back with the student, what would you tell them or talk to them about if you circle back? Well, again, it's it's basically, you know, uh getting more details, right? And then making sure that um if there's any kind of, you know, followup, like we need to do, would you like to do a restorative, you know, conversation with the individual? Um checking back in with them to saying, "Are things going better here?" Um has the behavior stopped? Um you know, just basically making sure that that there the situation is better. Um and and that's why it it really is pretty important to, you know, hopefully be able to know um who is is putting the the report in because we want to make sure um that the if the
026behavior is going on that it stops um and that we're in a better place afterwards. So for sure, >> great, great questions, everyone. everyone. Um, and I'll just ask that periodically we get a metrics update of >> how many submissions of each type we're getting so that we can >> ensure that the system's being used, you know, to its fullest capacity. >> And I get a an email every Sunday evening um that has a kind of a weekly uh report back. So, I'm looking at these things every Monday morning >> as well. >> Okay. Um, next, could we have an update on student enrollment, please? All right. I noticed it said final ball, so don't be upset by that. So, we'll go through this piece rather quickly. All of our um elementary schools uh none
027of the sections are exceeding their guidelines. So we were able to Riley uh we had at another elementary school we had two sections which were uh both of them were pretty low. So we combined last week we combined a section um or two sections together and then we moved that teacher over to Riley and opened another second grade section. Um we then took that TA that we had hired and moved them to another school um to use them there. our middle schools. This one is the largest, Cooper. And as I had said um at our last meeting, what really is is one of the main reasons these numbers have been driven up so high was the resignation of that science and social studies teacher right before the school year started. Not been able to replace
028them. Uh we posted the we took the job down, refreshed it, posted it again um at the beginning of the week and as of today we only have one applicant who just applied today. Uh so we'll we'll take a look at that. Um out of those sections uh we have in science three of them are co-taught. Um two of them are ELLL co-taught and four of them do have TA support in them. with the social studies have four of them are special education co-taught classes and one of them has a TA so there is some support in some of those classes at homes we have um all of these are between 28 and 29 two of them are co-taught classes one of them has a TA and then one of them has 28 students with
029no additional ports. And then at London, seven of the eight are at 28, one of them is at 30. Um, that's a social studies section. Um, two of the science classes have ELAS, one and one is co-taught. And in social science, two have uh ELAs and one has a sped TA. So there is additional support in most of those classes as well. for the uh the Cooper sections. Are there other recruitment options available to try to attract other candidates or have we exhausted? >> Yeah, because right now you're at that odd like there's no >> Right. I mean, I know we're running into committed to other districts. we don't want to get. >> So, I mean, we're we're hoping um I'm going to take a look at at this gentleman actually when we're done here
030who applied. Um and then, you know, if we have to like December, I I don't love doing that, but if it's, you know, those December graduates, if we can find someone, just bring them in then. Yeah, we're at that that weird time where people that want jobs have jobs. Um, and then, you know, school gets the next round of of candidates is viable in around December. >> Excuse me. How are you currently trying to find new applicants for teachers? >> Yeah, great question. So, we have a couple of different routes that we take. Um, so one is our our main, it's called Frontline. It's our main recruiting system. And then we push that out. We have um other systems that we work with. For instance, LinkedIn. We buy a subscription through LinkedIn. And LinkedIn allows
031you to um post your jobs there, but then also highlight them so they get to the top of people's kind of lists if they have those certifications that we're looking for. And then we have someone that um in the HR department that goes on LinkedIn and looks at viable candidates and says, "Hey, I see you have this. We have a job opening. Would you consider applying?" Is there um like a process or protocol for checking in with those teachers who are um with larger class sizes just making sure that they're feeling like they're being managed and that there isn't additional support needed. >> Yeah. The expectation is that, you know, principles are are continuing to have conversations with those teams. Um, and that, you know, if the teacher has a specific concern that that is
032being raised and that it is actually part of the collective bargaining agreement that they're having conversations to try and and and resolve those. >> Okay. And then, uh, sorry, one HR question. Sorry, Alex. Um, is it an option to post it as a long-term sub position to temporary fill it or are we not feeling hopeful that we'll find a candidate? >> That's a I know that's a trickier question, right? >> Yeah. I mean, so the long-term subpiece um it's I mean, I guess it's a possibility. The the question is that um we're at a point in time where it's not just the availability of candidates, it's also the quality of the candidates that are available. Um so to be blunt, we're not going to hire somebody >> just to, you know, mitigate >> Yeah. >>
033classroom size concerns at the middle school. Um >> we don't want a babysitter, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Correct. Um, so you know, I I understand that the class sizes are are a little higher than the guides. Um, but they are not, in my opinion, >> completely inappropriate or unmanageable, you know, unmanageable for a middle school environment. Okay? >> If the if we were talking about a first grade classroom here, I'd be a little bit more concerned and I'm just being honest. Um, so and I again, most of these sections have other resources that have been deployed. Um we have the if if the numbers continue to creep up, we can approach um overages and see if there are teachers that want to give up one of their planning periods to take on an additional
034you know section um that then they would be paid additional for that. >> Um but uh you know again we're not talking about class sizes of 35. >> Yeah. No, I I appreciate the clarification. >> Yeah, >> we have some heightened sensitivity but >> absolutely I understand. Alex, you had a quick question, I think, before we go on. >> Yeah. I wanted to ask, so if we do get a teacher to fill his position, would that mean we would have to rearrange a lot of classes? >> It could. Yeah. I mean, that would be some there would be some scheduling changes that would be made. So, so there would be students that would end up moving into into a new class. Yep. >> Okay. Sorry, Lewis, please continue. >> Yeah. Um, so Carrie to and
035one of the things with a long-term sub, if you have a teacher in the classroom, then you can have a long-term sub for, you know, the theund the 90 days, whatever that is. If there's no teacher in the classroom, there's not an assigned teacher, then that long-term sub is actually a lot less. It's about 30 days. Um, and then you have to get permission from the ROE and things like that. Um, and to your point, that's why we try to not do this as much as possible because we know that rearranging someone's schedule in December um, is not great. But good question. And then we have our averages here. And then again, this is just that that eighth grade at Cooper um, is is high. And then as some of the things we've done, the
036one I already talked about, um, adding a full-time teacher and then that those the teaching assistants, um, we're also currently still adding teaching assistants. We've had a couple kids move in that now need one-on-one, so we're hiring for those. Um, and then we have some that were not filled um to start the school year. Um, so we're still hiring for those as well. We hired um one today, hopefully one tomorrow, and then we'll go from there. Very good. Thank you. >> Did you have anything else? >> Um, all right. Let's move into uh public comment. Excuse me. The board will allow any individual present to share a public comment for up to three minutes. Such comments should not include discussion of personnel matters which should be brought directly to the attention of the appropriate school
037official. During public comment, the board and administration will listen to comments but may not respond to the public. Um, Yolanda, you've just handed me one. Is that the only public comment card we've received? Okay, great. Um, Ben Coleman, do you want to come on up? Oh, >> use your teacher voice. >> It is now, of course. Hi. Okay. Good evening. Uh, my name is Ben Kman and I'm the current president of the District 21 Education Association. I'm also a project leader at Cooper Middle School. Today, I wore my Tim Theum t-shirt in honor of Tim's last year at Cooper as a PE teacher. I asked him if there was anything I could I should bring up to the board and he said something about coaching after retirement. I'm not sure if I should say anything
038else since I'm not sure that he knew I was serious about talking to you. Uh so we might talk about this later. I'm happy to report that the D21 uh education association marched in the BG days parade a few weekends ago and received a lot of positive response. Maybe it was the smarties or the bubbles, but we had a lot of fun. Perhaps next year we'll win some awards. I am also happy to report that things appear to be going really well overall so far. We appreciate the work that the district has done to reach out to staff and the followup to address those concerns. Thank you for the work you do for staff, parents, and students here in District 21, and we look forward to continuing to work with you as a partner in
039success. >> Right. Thanks, Ben. Um, any other comment cards? No. Okay, Cass, do we have any written comments? Okay. Very good. Um, all right. Let's move along into our consent agenda. We received three Freedom of Information Act requests this month. And there are board conference and travel expenses, for one member's attendance to the annual Hajes Louise School Law Conference, and for four of us to attend this year's Ed Kickoff lunchon. I had an opportunity to sit down with Mike Zagger. I had a few questions for clarification. Nothing major. Um, does anyone need anything pulled from the consent agenda? Okay. May I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Jessica, >> yes. >> Debbie, >> yes. >> I vote yes. Leiana, >> yes. Arlon, >> I.
040>> Motion carries. >> Very good. Thank you. Well done for your first real quick. >> Thank you. Okay, now we're going to move into consideration of the FY26 district budget. Uh, first we need to recess our regular meeting and convene in a public hearing. May I please have a motion to approve to recess the regular meeting and convene in public hearing. >> Second. >> They're out of order. Enter a public hearing. Okay. Jessica, >> yes. >> Debbie, >> yes. >> I vote yes. >> Yes. Arlin >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Great. We are now in public hearing. Dr. Connelly, would you please share the budget presentation? >> Absolutely. I'm going to introduce our director of finance, uh, Mike Zager, to give a, uh, overview presentation on our final budget. >> Mike, could you talk
041into the mic, please? Thank you. There we go. I apologize. So, oh, can you just telescope it up, Mike? At the top, you want to pull up. >> Can you hear me now? That should be good. >> All right. Good evening, everybody. We're finally to the end of the agenda of the board um for the of the budget for the fiscal year 26 school year. So, this was a brief recap. We actually went over this in the first meeting. So we um in in July we went over we had the public hearing went over the ten of the budget. Um we had it on display from July 28th through September 17th. The notice of the public hearing was attached was was um put in the newspaper on July 28th. That is actually attached to the
042board agenda tonight. And then um for the next two months or so we went through and reviewed the items in the agenda, updated for all of the estimates we had, which there were a lot at the time. Luckily for us, we don't have many anymore. And um so we did that between that time and tonight we're here doing the public hearing. Um the formal budget is required to be adopted by September 30th. So we're well in advance of that timeline and then I'm required to put it on the ESBY website by October 31st. I do not plan on waiting that long. I will probably do it as soon as possible. But those are the um budget timeline rules based on the school code. So let's get into the details. So for the fiscal year 26th
043budget, revenues have increased by 3.1% from the prior year. So pretty much in line with inflation. Um I believe inflation was said there it is. CPI was 2.9%. So we pretty much increase in line with inflation but it wasn't due to inflation. Property taxes are actually up 5.3%. There are several reasons for that. One reason being CPI. So on on existing property we are always able to increase property taxes by CPI. So for those taxpayers, that's the max we get. That money, how it's divided between the households is not our decision. That is the assessor's decision. But our ask is 2.9%. So that's the max we get. We also had new property of we're also estimating new property of 8.0 million. And last year we received I actually have it written down here. 21.8 million.
044So tiff came off from the from Wheeling. So that came onto our books. And we actually don't receive that money till the second installment. So that's why you really see the bigger increase in property taxes above the CPI increase. And we're also anticipating less property tax appeal appeal rebates. We had a pretty rough year, but it was due to the co delay. So a lot of that came through in the last two years last year. And so hopefully we'll get down to past historic levels in which we're well below I want to say we had about three or four million last year. So that kind of hit us in the in the revenue side. Um interest revenue we are expecting to decrease. There's several reasons why. The biggest one being we haven't received our property
045tax money. So you you saw probably saw it in your board finance report. We are weighed down on revenues about 5055 million. That's about a million $150,000 a month we're losing in interest right now. So that's built into the budget and then we're also expecting rate decreases. The the Feds just decreased it once and they said two more times. So we kind of build that all sorry all into the budget but um you know you can't predict everything. So, we're predicting that to go down 19.1%. A nice thing we we learned this year was the village of Village of Wheeling was not going to be decreasing our tiff distribution. They actually had extra money from other tips because the tip that came off was a million dollars a year. So, one of the other tips
046had some extra money. So, so that kind of leveled off. Other local revenue is actually down 1.2%. Um, and it's not a lot of revenue, so no big reason. The nice thing was CPPRT did go up this year, so it's labeled off for the last few years. We've been seeing big decreases that actually went up this year to our surprise. So, that was a nice nice thing we learned from the original budget. State revenue, we also got good news there. EBF is actually up 2.9% which was about $400,000. I believe that's our largest increase in years. So, um and then um other state revenue 08 it's mostly transportation related. um we our expenses are going up and and so it's going to be a slight increase but not much because the state has said pretty
047much said we are going to leave all of the um categorical funding flat. So federal money title our titles and special education gra revenue is down 12%. I do want to state that we do not have our additional funding that we find out about I believe in like November, December for the title grants and we also don't have our carryover money in there. So, it's not down as much as it seems, but it is down 12%. Child nutrition program revenue, we got good news. The rates did go up. So, that is up 13.3%. So, that will more than cover our cost of increasing food with um with our new contract. Other federal revenue is down 1624. The big reason for that is the HERSA grant which pays for downstairs is coming off the books. That
048was a million dollars. So, and again, it's not something to be alarmed about. It's just we get got that onetime grant that was revenue last year. So, those are the big changes on the revenue side. Are there any questions? >> Just a quick one on the decrease in special ed. >> Yeah. >> Is that federal funds? >> That's all federal funds there. Yeah, federal funds. And one thing to keep in mind, we had a lot of carryover money because we had the um the the the the co-en for a year. So we had built up some balances in ideal specifically and you don't lose that money. So it had built up last year. We're able to kind of run that down. We had a pretty big balance. But and also we have carryover money that's
049not currently in our budget until the state tells us it's ours. We don't budget it. And um also again usually in like November, December, they will allocate more funds. So based on the initial allocations, I don't think anything was really down a lot. So I nothing to be concerned about yet. So >> good. Thank you. >> Anything else? All right, we'll move to expenses. So to start off, total purchase services, which is which is our biggest non salailorary and benefit expense are up 17.6%. And I just want So that was 6.1 million or 40 or for a total of 40.68 million. And I wanted to kind of list out some of our bigger bigger costs there. The child nutrition program, we approved a new food service contract. I believe rates were up about 10%. So
050so you're seeing a sizable increase in that program. Student transportation is another one of our larger programs. I believe rates are up 3%. So reasonable. Software is another and that usually stays pretty flat, but 2.6 million. Utilities are obviously going up. We've budgeted increases there. And then um the architect construction construction manager. So that's with our our summer project for this year and next year. That's about $7.3 million. So those are our largest expenditures there. Nothing to be alarmed of. Um one thing I will say is I did budget the entire anticipated summer construction project. So that that's why those expenses look high um until most some of that might not be actually spent till next year. So so but overall those are the larger expenses. um out of district payments. So that's the tuition
051we paid to to third party facilities in NSSO is actually down a little bit this year. We had a student last year that was high needs and she was um placed in a residency. So it was it was it was expensive so that came off the books. So that's kind of why we're seeing that decrease there. Capital expenditures budget anticipated increase by 27.3% or 7.1 million. But we do have money in there for the land, money in there for the early childhood center, stuff to that extent. So that that that's just there in anticipation of those expenses coming on, but that's where we're seeing the big increase. And also the full summer of 2026 construction project, which we're not even sure what the amount is going to be is in that budget. So So again,
052the increase is not truly going to be that. I just wanted to make sure we had everything in there as a as a as a cushion with the hope of we don't have to um amend the budget. >> So I have a question. >> Yes. Does the student transportation is that like the middle school buses that go to the kids or also the elementary school bus? >> That's all of the kids. So that's the first student buses. Those are the um we do have some taxi services for some of our outplace kids. Um that's the sports buses. That's the field trip buses. Um >> what about the like the the like day the daycare buses are at the elementary schools? >> Are you talking like the kindergarten buses and stuff that those are not our
053buses? They we do bust the daycare programs though, but sometimes they pick up themselves. So, those are not our buses. We do not pay those costs. So, yes. >> Anything else with regards to this? Oh, yeah. Go ahead. >> I have a question for the increase for food service program. Does that have to do with the uh free lunches in the middle schools? >> Well, I mean, we are we that has to do with just a lunch program. So, we last year we brought in cooks so you guys can have better meals and hopefully they're better. So, so, so we paid that cost um directly to the vendor this year in the food service in our food service contract. Also, with inflation, which has been quite high, the contracts went up. So, we had about
054I want to say it was about a 600 grand increase when we approved the contract this year. So, that is that is the the food that we serve the children. We are reimbursed over 100% of what it costs us to run the program when it comes to the food service part of it, but then we also incur the supervision cost and stuff to that extent. So overall the program does break even. So so we're not you know we're not trying to be profitable and so so even with that increase we also saw if you saw a few pages earlier the large increase in um in the child nutrition revenue. So they kind of offset each other though. So so yes but that is what that relates to. Any other questions? All right let's get to
055uh salaries and benefits. So salaries and benefits which we all know as our biggest expense for the district are up 5.2% from fiscal year 25. Um the staff plan increased by 28 positions at the time of the plan finalization and I know Lewis mentioned this there were still 31 open positions and the prior there were 28. So we're right in line with that. Um overall contractual sales increased by 2.4% 2.4 million or three or 3.2%. So pretty much what we were expecting, a good number based off property tax. So we're very happy with that number. Um so overall we went to SE to 79.8 million from 77.3. Um we also have all of our supervision stipens, student activity stipens, professional development substitutes. Those are up 10.4%. Um um we are anticipating some increases in supervision
056and stuff to that extent. So so that is built into the budget, but at that was 474,000. our big increase, which is a little more concerning. You can see is benefits are up 2.2 million. Salaries are only up 2.4. So that's that's, you know, you'd like that to be a little further apart. Um, so that's a 12.84% increase over the prior year. Discretionary benefits are healthcare, dental, life, and disability are up 1.76 million or 15.05%. Um, we know what we're we're anticipating calendar year 26 rates for healthcare will be up 10.9%. That is built into the budget. Um, we're also anticipating dental will increase by 8.3%. And starting, this is all January 1st. So, so big increases, something to watch and that and we will get into that a little more two slides from now.
057So, that's kind of the salary and benefit impacts of the budget over last year. So, any questions on that? All right. So, this is just a summary of of where we're at. Um, and this is our operating funds. I I we have a board policy where when when it's all said and done, we'd like to stay in that for 35 to 45% range. What that current budget when you look at the total the total column over there for our operating funds where we'd be at 42.211% of our of our um expenses based on this budget. Um and and you can see here the detail of where the increases and the decreases are in the budget. Um 2.8% overall in revenues um increase whereas expenses are going down up 6.6% and and and so a lot
058of that has to do with that you know the big increases in benefits you um increases in staff stuff to that extent. So and expected increases but as you can see we're we're going up a little higher right now in reven revenues and expenses than revenues. So just something to keep an eye on. still doing great. You know, we have a surplus of of 99 before we transfer out with the construction and the payer bonds. So, this is our overall operating funds and when when we end the year, we will be at 42 point I think believe that that's 42.21% of our fund balance as as a as a percentage of expenses. So, that's kind of a quick look of what we went over a more detailed look of what we went over on the
059uh operating funds. And then we have our nonoperating funds. which we technically don't look at as a percentage of fund balance. Death service should break even. IMRF should pretty much break even and as you're seeing and that's what's happening. Construction is obviously something that isn't in and out. So, so, so as we bring money in, we spend it on and you see we have that big deficit there, but we had $19 million of cash on hand, so we're spending that down this summer. So, those are our operating these are our nonoperating funds. Um, so for future considerations, things that, you know, just to keep on mind as we're as we're moving forward are obviously health and dental insurance costs, you know, that they went up quite a bit this year. You know, I I actually
060am on the committee what where we talk to them about it and we are brainstorming every day. Every time we meet on ways to to not only lower the cost of the plan, but also to our staff. So, and we're not just looking to save money for the district. So, so every every time we meet, I I shoot them 10 different questions on how we can how we can kind of keep these costs in control because because 10 10.1% is not sustainable over over time. So, so that's just something that we all have to watch over the next, you know, just annually. Um, property tax increases. We've enjoyed big CPI increases as a school district. I know the taxpayers don't love it, but the government's goal is 2.0%. So, we have to keep that in
061mind for the future, right? You know, we've gotten 29 to five over the last three or four years now, three years, and we're and and I think we're going to be out 35 this year based on what the way we're heading. But right now, we're at 27. So, we we've experienced some good increases, but with the government's goal being 2.0%. That's just something to keep in the back of our head as we're making decisions for the future. And then the other thing is obviously interest rate revenue. We I think we had about five million in revenue last year. So, as those rates go down, our revenue will go down. So, so those are just three things that we just just keep in the back of our mind as we're moving forward and you know especially
062with the the government looking to lower rates these are the things that will be impacted by that will impact we will be impacted the most due to that. So is there any questions on any of this all right and that's all I have. So are there any general Oh yes that's the last slide. Yes. So have any other questions? I can um I can take those right now. >> All right. Thank you so much, Mike. I appreciate it. >> No problem. >> Um I saw that um we pay for the students school supplies, right? >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Um I know multiple students already bring their own school supplies from home. >> So wouldn't it be like to ask if you need school supplies and that would save money for the school and the
063district? >> I was going to say be sure to sign up. >> Yeah. So, so Freed, the the we decided to start supplying um school supplies across the the district um back uh a couple years back when COVID was going on. Um and really what it comes down to is we want to make sure that every every student that is coming into the school has a baseline of supplies that they can access. Um, and so, you know, we know that there are students um that are coming that will have additional school supplies and that that their families will be purchasing some of those things and that's great, but we want to make sure that everybody who's walking in the door in one of our schools has access to the supplies that they need. And so,
064um, also when you look at the costs, um, for school supplies, it's really when you look at the whole amount of our budget, it's a tiny tiny piece of our budget. So, um, you know, in terms of cost savings, if if and when we need to get to that point, um, we'll certainly take a look at it, but there are other things that we could probably do, um, that would save dollars that would allow us to m, you know, to keep doing that for uh, for our students. So, so that was a decision that we made um because you know we do have a lot of of students families who you know the beginning of school is an expensive time of year um and so you know we have the ability to to provide those
065those supplies and those services and and so that's what we've chosen to do. But that's a really good question. having a child who just started high school, I realize how spoiled I've been, not having to buy school supplies. So, on behalf of our household, thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um, are there any other questions in here? Anyone? Anyone? Okay, great. Uh, Yolanda, have we received any comment cards regarding the budget? Okay, Cass, any written public comments regarding the budget? Okay, no and no. Um, okay. We can adjourn our public hearing and reconvene our regular meeting. Could I please have a motion to uh adjourn the public hearing and reconvene in regular meeting? >> So moved. >> And a second, please. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> All right. Yep. Sorry. >> Jessica, >>
066yes. >> Debbie, >> yes. >> I vote yes. >> Yes. >> Arlland, >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. And may I please have a motion to approve the budget for fiscal year 26 as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Jessica, >> yes. >> Debbie, >> yes. >> I vote yes. Iliana, >> yes. Arlland, >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Great. Great. Um, and we need to sign that, don't we? >> Yes, sir. >> Um, so I don't think we have the the signature form in our folder. >> I can print it off real quick if you want me to, please. >> Yeah. So, we will circulate that up and down the table. Please make sure you sign that before >> you leave tonight. Okay. All right. Let's move into board communication. Uh, first
067up is NSSO. Debbie, >> thank you. Uh, have to say that the biggest thing that we are working on right now with NSSO is our articles of agreement. Uh we need to we voted last month at a vote of six to two said yes push it back out to our districts. So we will be going over that in depth. I have asked uh Jessica to figure out and do a committee of the whole so that we can all literally go article by article because we have so many new people uh and they haven't been reviewed in 10 years that we want to go through and make sure that they're done properly. Um we had probably 45 minutes of discussion at the meeting. Um it got a little heated at some times. Um, I'm glad to
068say it did. We did pass. So, we're going to review them. I met with one of the district's representatives with along with their superintendent today for about an hour and a half and went through a lot of things. Um, I think it's going to be a great thing myself once it's done, but it's a lot of work getting there and it's something we're going to be doing for probably a couple of years until we actually get it tied down. But that that's our biggest thing. Um and we're going through we're having meetings at all of the schools because we have the four facilities minor which is where more a lot of our kids go. It's the most severely disabled children. Um that's prek through 8th grade. Then there's Timber Ridge which is mostly behavioral children.
069We have a lot of children over there. Um Kirk School is out in Palatine. That's for ages 14 to 22 because special ed goes all the way through 22. And then there's Sunrise Lake which I know our students have all been out to. Um that's team a lot of team building. It's a magnificent facility. So we're going out there and finding out what needs to be done because we've got a lot of work to do. But so we will be I believe there's going to be a doodle poll possibly this week so we can figure out when to we can all meet to go over everything. Yeah. Um we're also going to try and take a look at um since we have a meeting scheduled for October 6th to um interview candidates for the board
070vacancy. We're going to see if we can connect those two. Uh that's not for certain yet, but we're going to see if we can make that work. and and I will make sure I get out all the current articles a the draft that we've got right now and all of our facts and matrices and everything. So everybody will have plenty of time to look them over and come up with any questions that they have. So that's pretty much it for NSSO. Thank you. >> All right. Great. Great. Thank you, Debbie. Um you. All right. Next up is Ed Reddd. Of course, Bill is not with us in person tonight. He asked me to share the following update. Ed Red's kickoff lunchon will be held Monday, October 20th at 11:00 a.m. Uh he did note the
071event is almost completely sold out. So, if you are interested and not yet registered, uh Bill says in his very best dad voice, "You better get moving." Thank you, Bill. Um okay, I added that part, but he's not so he doesn't know I did that. Um ISB also would be Bill's update. Uh ISB's North Cook fall division meeting will be held Wednesday, October 22nd at 6 PM at District 214's Forest View Education Center. If you haven't registered, please connect with Yolanda. Um and you should have received an email from IASB. Uh they've published their conference planner uh on their website for those of you who want to take an early look. Um, and for those of you who haven't been to conference yet, connect with any one of us if you have questions how to
072structure your weekend. Um, all right. Next item is North Cook. Arland, do you have an update for us? >> I do. I'm excited to report that we voted, we had two board meetings last month. We voted to move to a new center. Uh, details to follow because they're not all negotiated yet. It will be closer uh for district 21 terms of implementation. Very exciting. We'll have it its own gym and many other facilities u and more to come in the next meeting hopefully. But we're real excited about it. >> That's very exciting news. It is. That's great. Definitely keep us updated on that. >> Um and just a reminder, if any other members have updates for local government or liaison updates, please send those in so we can include them in the October agenda. Um
073and then our last item under board communication is our student representatives. Dr. Connelly, would you share with us what you discussed with them this month? >> Absolutely. Uh so being the first uh opening couple weeks of school, um we asked our student representatives to just kind of give a little bit of a report back from their perspectives on how the the school year has gotten started and some of the things that they're uh contending with. Um so I'll turn it over to Fared. Why don't you go ahead and get started? Um, good evening. Um, so the first weeks of school were amazing. Multiple the sixth graders had a good transition from elementary to middle school. Many of them said that the food was better and they had more privileges. One person even said, "I thought
074everything would be 100 times harder, but it was the other way. Everything was easy and understandable." But some of the sixth graders had challenges. Some of them are opening lockers, getting to class, and one thing that has been new was bathroom passes. Then there then there's the seventh graders. A lot of them loved meeting their new teachers and getting their new schedule. They exceptionally loved PE, lunch, and home base. And a lot of them felt that their classes were far apart. Then last but not least, the eighth graders. They loved to meet their friends and the new teachers. They love being the oldest and on top of the school. They like the assemblies we had at the beginning of the year too. And one thing that they didn't like was having exploratories last in the
075schedule. Um like a couple weeks ago, we had a meeting with Dr. Colony and Mr. Lentino about the budget presentation. We found out that mo many of the funds come from property taxes of citizens, the Illinois government, and the federal government. Alex, go ahead. Good evening. My name is Alex and I'm the student board representative for Cooper. So, for the highlights of the first few weeks of school, I think it was getting to go to science because it's something I really enjoy. But some of my fellow Cooper students said it was getting to see their friends, the assembly, lunch, meeting new teachers, seeing what classes they have, meeting the new sixth graders, the clocks, and the raffle. I got this information by creating a Google form and asking Homebase teachers to have them do it
076in Homebase. I got over 200 responses, but these are some of the most popular ones. for the budget presentation. We had a meeting on September 9th at 8 a.m. and I found it surprising as well how much money came from taxes. >> It is, isn't it? Yeah. Still still surprises me. >> Good evening. Um, so the first week, few weeks of school have been good at homes. For all of the grades, I have seen teachers be really happy with how many students are arriving on time for class. Sixth graders have mostly been finding their way, going to classes and opening lockers and figuring out what the schedule's going to be like. Seventh graders have been actually arriving really early to their classes and eighth graders are getting their way back into things and something with
077the budget presentation. We were talking about local property taxes, state aid, federal and federal funds and I thought it was really thought out about the presentation. Thank you. That's great. Yeah, you guys had some really good questions tonight and I thank you for participating as much as you did. Keep it up. Keep us on our toes. All right. Um, the next regular meeting of the board of education is scheduled for Thursday, October 16th, 2025 at 7 p.m. right here in this very boardroom. I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. Uh, and those of you listening to us on the stream or YouTube. Uh, we're glad you're here and in attendance. Uh, we're going to go into close session now and we will not be returning to take any further action. We'll adjourn right after
078close session. Oh, be it resolved to enter into close session to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as an independent contractors in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public body, or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity and to discuss the purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired. May I have a second, please? >> Second. >> All
079right, Jessica, >> yes. >> Debbie, >> yes. >> I vote yes. Elelliana, >> yes. Arlland. >> Hi. >> Right. We will now go into close session. Again, we will not be returning to take any further action this evening. Thank you all for attending. Have a good night. Oh, wait. I'm not a journ yet. So, I'm not going to be that yet.