001I didn't even bang the gel and it got quiet. Okay, the CCS21 April 24, 2025 special board of education meeting is called to order. May I please get attendance? Debbie here. Bill here. I'm here. Arlin here. Mara here. All right. We have a Okay. Um now will everyone please rise and jo and join me in the pledge. United States. Thank you all and welcome to our April 24th, 2025 meeting. Um, first I would like to acknowledge that we actually have several elected officials in the audience tonight. Um, just in the order that I got I saw them so it's not in anybody's rank or anything like that. I see uh we have Sher Williams from the Wheeling Township recently elected. We have Sher Clump. We have Sher Clump our longtime friend from the Wheeling Park
002District. Uh I see Bill Manganaro from the Village of Arlington Heights newly elected trustee. And I saw Austin Medri sneak in for also a township trustee. So thank you and thank you for joining us. Um first we're going to Oh, anyone who is physically here who wishes to address the meeting must complete a comment card which is over on my left over by the windows and give it to Miss Del Royale. and written public comments may also be submitted by emailing to district21cccsd21.org. I'm gonna start with my board president comment and try not to cry. Um, it's been an honor these past two years. Being president working with this group is so respectful and just such honor doesn't say it. especially [Applause] Phil. My first day on the board, I was sat next to Phil
003and we would make little notes back and forth and little jokes and just lean over and whisper little things. And it made that first year all those years ago much easier for meat. And for years, we sat next to each other. He became president. I was secretary, so I could still sit next to him. A lot of fantastic memories. Okay, let me take a drink. Um, now we have reached the public comment section of our meeting. The board will allow uh we will allow individuals to share a public comment for up to three minutes. Such should not include discussion of personnel matters which should be brought directly to the attention of the appropriate school official. During public comment, the board and administration listen to comments but may not respond to the public. Leticia, do we
004have any comment cards? We've received one, but I believe it's for the second portion of the meeting. Okay. Okay. And I did want to mention that I believe I just saw Mark Walker. Thank you, Senator. [Applause] And Cass, have we received any written public comments? A couple of days ago, we we got a comment in Okay. And that will be included in the minutes of this meeting. The next section of the agenda is the proclamation of the winners of the board of education by resolution. May please get a motion to approve this the resolution as presented. So moved. Second. Thank you. Bill I Harland I. Bill. Hi. Demar. Yes. I vote yes. Debbie yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Um I believe this this is the best and appropriate time to thank Mr. Prrisker. Please come
005up here. A little something for you. Just a little something for you for your very long term volunteerism for this district and the children of this entire country. Thank you. [Applause] Stand. I've got I've got t-shirts. Okay, let me get set here. This is not vodka. It's regular water that everybody at the table has. I should have thought ahead. Let me warn you at the at the beginning this this may get a little emotional as Deb was a little bit at um multiply that by a little bit but let me try and get through this. First of all, I deeply appreciate the opportunity to share some thoughts with uh the board and those in attendance as I take my lead tonight. Thank you. First um to the six people who started the process back in
0061989, Bill Rice, Barrett Peterson, Menstein, Lori Retache, Joy Fischer, and Janice Moore. They provided me the opportunity to have a fourmonth appointment from July through November until the next election when Barb Widner uh the current member of the board had moved out of the district. It's been over the years my honor and absolute privilege to serve with 26 different board members, varying backgrounds, but all with the same agenda and mindset to help kids. I tried to be helpful by offering friendship, guidance, and in some cases and hopefully mentorship. I hope uh that was successful. Debbie, thanks for confirming that. for you. Since April 1st, I have checked my rearview mirror and had time to consider some of the consequential decisions and actions I and the board uh that I've served with have been involved with
007uh in regard to the district. I'm sort of the historian. So, I always looking back to see what we've done and where we need to go. So just a short listing what I believe have been some of those decisions and actions. Various capital projects involving every building in this district at least two or three times during the time that I've been on the board. It began um with three projects at the same time. building a brand new Whitman school, replacing the oldest school in the district, the first school in the district, and library remodels at both Twain and Field. We've now done several other additions as lately as the last couple years to all of our libraries in the district now known as library media learning media centers. Reclaiming London school from NSSO who was
008running it from us and changing it from the junior high concept of seven and 8 to a middle school concept of 6,7 and 8. That was not a popular decision at the time for a variety of reasons. It was um it was unpopular mixing force mixing I guess you would say looking backwards the east and west side students into one school and which school would be the one on the west side that would be part of that uh part of that mix. But in the aftermath of that decision and within the first I think three maybe at the most four years, London Middle School was named a model middle school in the state of Illinois. Um and I think that sort of underscored the importance of what we were doing both changing the concept of
00978 to 678 and then mixing the students determining that a number of principles at the same time the same summer uh had to be moved. I think there were six or seven that we moved at the same time. Not a popular decision. Not a popular decision. So much so that I lived on the way east side of the district at the time and Avi Poster was for 14 years a principal at Holmes Middle School. Um, I had probably a dozen or so of my friends and neighbors uh in Harmony Village um association that actually refused to talk to me for a good many months because we took Aby out of uh Holmes Middle School conducting two national searches, national searches for superintendence. We even had one at the first one, we even had one international
010person that applied. So it was the first one was an international not just a national and after all of that we found incredible professionals from Fremont school that was Gary Michael who was here for a decade and then our current superintendent Michael Connley uh from Keenville just down in DuPage County. that was um important. Many districts go outside to do those type of searches. Um we did not. So we were able to do that as a as a board conducting several strategic planning sessions over the many years. The most recent one being one just completed this year just a couple months ago. Ahead of the curve, we provided onetoone technology for every student to have a Chromebook. Again, I think we were one of the first districts, elementary districts to accomplish that. A year-long community
011engagement effort in 2017 led to a successful $69 million referendum in 2018 with 74% approval, indicating the strength not only of what this board and the administration was able to do um in communicating the need, but also the fact that 74% approval was unheard of. Was probably the highest in the state that year of referendums that had passed. And because of that, because of that leadup, because of that planning, because of the success that the community came out and droves to support, we're able to do everything that we've been doing to all the schools in the last six years. Uh how I'm not even sure how much construction dollars we've spent in the last six years. Maybe we don't want to know. Uh but um that was important. more recently building this facility, this new
012ad building, but it's really a community service center. And it was important that we put that on the building itself because that was the design and what we wanted to do for for the community is to have a center where organizations and different groups could use the various meeting rooms that we have here. It's a central part of uh of our culture. and of course the school-based health center that opened recently um which will show dividends and be a positive aspect for the not only the students, staff and families but also the the broader community in our district far into the future. Another unpopular thing was working through the pandemic, the COVID 19 pandemic in 20 2020 to 2022 and the aftermath for the last two or three years after that and to do so
013without any major disruptions in this district. If you all remember looking or reading about what hap what was happening in other districts, uh the management that we were able to put together with the superintendent and the seven us seven of us on the board made sure that no one we would not do anything publicly that we weren't all in agreement with. So there's a lot of obviously a lot of work with that. adding student voice to the board of education. While we may not have um it hasn't done everything in terms of what my initial thought might be, it's been an important start for the first two years and the strength and the intelligence and the communication from our students has been nothing short of amazing. So, I thank you all and the predecessors for
014that and I see great things going into the future with student voice at this table. And most recently, our decision to build an early childhood center. Uh again, that will be something that will be a benefit not only to our district and the children, making it the programs more effective and efficient, but to the broader community as well. uh it will be another touchstone for district 21. While there have been many, there are a few particular individual moments that stand out for me. In my first term, we went to a bargaining process with our district education association and management. And sitting next to the board president at that point as the newbie on the board, we had a room similar to this with a huge octagonal table. And not only were the representatives from the
015union and the board, but we had to have outside resources, our attorney for the board, the team from the union, the state union helping them. It was old line typical union bargaining that you more uh are accustomed to seeing with uh automakers or heavy manufacturing or something like that. And over the years together with the union representatives, we're able to evolve the process into the one that's been for the last 15 years maybe where it's ongoing conversation and it's taken away the uh animus that was part of old line bargaining. In 1995, Tarkington School received the US Department of Education uh blue ribbon school award. the second of two schools that have uh received that award. Uh and the principal, Abby Poster, was the same principal that was at Holmes when Holmes won a Blue
016Ribbon Award before that. And I've got to say the the experience of being board president during that time and going to Washington to watch Avi and the teachers accept the award was nothing short of amazing. Uh and the one thing that really stands out, it's the first day we were there, the teachers went back to the hotel to um rest and get ready for the evening's festivities. Obby and I decided we were going to walk through the capitol and see who we could find, who we can talk to, who we could pivots with. We ended up on the lower level of the Capitol building. And as we're walking down the hall, we hear noise, faint noise. And as we're getting closer, the noise was getting louder and louder. So we get to the room, we
017get to where it was and there was a a table out front. So we say, "What's going on?" He said, "Well, there's a the senators are throwing a going away party for Ohio Senator Howard Metsenbomb. You think anybody would mind if we just stepped in and and watched?" No, go ahead. So Abby and I spent probably 45 to 60 minutes uh in that room with all the senators, Teddy Kennedy, James Brady at that time and anybody that you can imagine um that was in the Senate at that point. That will never that will never leave leave me. Honoring Barack Obama, US uh US Senator Barack Obama at London School when he was a US senator having a town hall town hall meeting at the London gym and working with amazing professionals at this table throughout
018the years. As I think back, the very first group that that were here, Bill Myers was in in charge of the curriculum. Leavon Ellis, special ed. Dan Cash was finance. Interesting name. Dan Cash was And Bob Garry. Bob, if for those that didn't know Bob, he was just an amazing mountain of a guy. Tenderhearted. Give you the shirt off his back. Before computers, he knew numbers. Like computers would like to know that they know the numbers. He was amazing talking about assessments at our meetings. Absolutely amazing. Halfway done. Unforgettable personalities. You know, over 36 years, I've seen a lot of teachers, uh, principles, administrators come and go. It's just a couple that are just big size bigsized personalities. Obviously, Greg Crocker uh, is one of those. Gregi, former park district commission and president of the
019village of Wheeling and Aby poster. Obby was as short as Greg Crocker was tall. Uh but ana with a gray ponytail. Yeah. Uh an amazing individual. And then people like Ralph Cook who was just the steadiest hand as a administrator that you would ever want to see. And so many more. So many more. But those four really stand out. In 1994, I was fortunate to begin a 24-year association with the Illinois Association of School Boards. First for 12 years as a division chair of the North Crook Division, which is comprised of 39 school districts here in the Northwest suburbs and then for 10 years as a director, statewide director of the uh of the association. um and being so privileged to have gone on to the uh vice president, president uh of the association in
0202015 to 2017. I was president of the state association. Couldn't have done that without the support of this district and uh allowing me to miss things and things at home in order to do that. And on a very very personal note, there were two extremely humbling experiences and recognitions during this time frame in 2019. Um I think I was the first in modern times at least for the Illinois State Board of Education's Those Who Excel Award down in Bloomington. It's an annual event. Since that time, we've now opened it up and I don't even know how many of our staff have now received that same two years later in 2021 um the Illinois State Board uh saw fit to recognize me with the Thomas Lee Burles award which was which is an award for the
021outstanding board president in the state. Talk about a humbling experience that was amazing. Thank you obviously to my family. Thank you. My colleagues and staff friendship and support over the years, our amazing professional and support staff that make 21 a destination district and hopefully will always be that way. To the community who allowed me for 36 years to sit up here and be part of this August group and to be of service to Arland and Bill, thank you. important to work together and the social friendships that have developed over the years. To Debbie, thank you for your steadiness, support, perspective. Um, always most appreciated. To Jessica, thank you for your strong educational legal leadership and guidance, even times when I didn't want to read the entire comment that I needed to read. and for your
022future leadership. Dagmar, you have such a bright future with a great feel for the work and for posing truly insightful questions. And to Carrie, who will be sitting up here in just a few short moments. I won't fill a buster too much longer, Carrie. Don't worry. My wish for you is that you also find in your service as engaging and fulfilling as I have. Now it's your turn to define your legacy. Very short in terms of any type of farewell advice to my colleagues. Stay true to your governance role, policy, vision, and oversight. That's the role of the board. That's the role of a successful board. You know, ISB and I've been one of those that have always said around the state that ours is a balcony role. For those that don't un have not
023heard that before, that means we are an oversight group. We are looking out for the broader interests and for the long range vision and policy of the district. But over the years, in my view, we should also embrace making sure that we hear and see and know what's on the floor on the dance floor. that we don't give up the balcony, but we also don't give up the floor either. It's important to make sure that you know what's being said, what's being felt, and what the concerns are out in the broader community. The other advice is don't be afraid to make the tough decisions. And knowing this group, I know you won't be. Make sure everybody's engaged, even those that may be reticent at the beginning. draw them out but in the end keep moving
024towards decision. We can't languish at this or can't languish going back and forth and back and forth. Remember perfect cannot be the enemy of good. We may not you may not always have the the perfect answer or the perfect decision but be moving with good decisions as best you can with the information that you have. There are some things that in my estimation are just simply fundamental to the mission of public education. DEI is an initial. It's an acronym that has gotten a lot of bad communication and emphasis recently. Fact, this is a diverse district. When I started 36 years ago, it was quite the opposite. Over the course of 36 years, we are now a majority minority district. That's a fact. You can't escape it. Why would we want to? Diversity of perspectives is
025something to be cherished. Equity. Who would not want their child or their grandchild to be treated in an equitable fashion? That just defies logic in my mind and should in this district. And the same thing with inclusion. Public education is about including inclusion. We are mandated to accept children regardless. That is our role. That is the role of public education. So for us to do anything but support, cherish, and defend DEI and the public schools in district 21, then this would not be your place to be. Finally in looking back the realization that I have spent a little more a few months more than half of my life to this extraordinary volunteer volunteer gig and to have been allowed the privilege and honor of representing the district 21 community which I have treasured. Many have
026asked me and some repeatedly, are you okay? Are you okay? Well, since April or since April 1st, while there's a natural inclination at disappointment, certainly you do something that you love for so many years to not be able to do it on a continual basis, you're going to be disappointed. However, I do leave content in the fact that for 36 years, 11 of those years as president of this body, which I thank my board colleagues over the years for, I have been able made it this far. I have been able to do what I love. I will miss the energy and excitement of opening day institute staff. Always something to look forward to. and the ending promotion exercises with the eighth graders shaking the nervous and always always sweaty hands always. But to our two
027new board members that are going to be coming up tonight, uh that is something to tre to treasure. It truly truly is. I leave not being sad that it's over, but content and happy that it hap happened at all. That a fourmonth chance appointment got extended to 36 years. Having the opportunity to provide leadership during that tenure, I hope has left a positive impact for this district. to all of you that have had an impact on this amazing and improbable journey. Thanks for the memories. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Oh, okay. Are we going to get a fight at the apple, Madam President? Are we going to have a chance to say something to Phil before he leaves? With the length of the meeting, I'm afraid of you know, as as it already is. We've
028all I guess if you have something brief. Yes. Say again. If it's if if you can keep it brief, we've got a lot of people here that got a lot. Well, Phil, that's you. Oh, you know, we we met I'm going to make this short when I was elected to the board long time ago. We both had lighter sport coats on that day and our hair was a lot darker. Oh, yes. It was a contested board at that time, you'll recall. And we had to fight through a lot of that together to become friends, which we did despite the that there were factions on the board. We started a bike together on Sundays, mentioned that earlier, sometimes for two hours, talking about school, talking about our families. And I remember one day you mentioned to
029me that you had met a gorgeous young woman. She's sitting here today and she's your wife and she was a gorgeous young woman is today. And that was about the same time that I met my wife. I watched you grow in stature across the state as you became involved in the Illinois Association of School Boards, become a state leader and a national leader while I pursued different paths. We in fact even ran against each other for the state senate. Bizarre as that may seem to everybody. Strange but true. Strange but true on two different sides of the aisle. And of course, we both lost, but it was a fun run. Since we've been on the board, we worked with four different superintendents, numerous boards, and we truly grew to like and respect each other. And
030that will never change. your professional and business construction acumen that you brought to the board meetings and all the construction phases that we've talked about all the rebuilding of this district when you describe the meeting room that we had years ago. It was a shadow of this room. Um and I remember coming to those meetings crammed into a tiny room. Those were difficult days. We work together to go past the animosities that a board had that was factionated fra fractionated at that time. But it won't be the same around here without you. The friendship that we built is not going to go away. It's going to stay. And we'll all be thinking of you as we make important decisions down the road. What would Phil be thinking? What would Phil be doing? So, thank you
031for all you've done for the students, families, district 21, and you've been a rock in this district, and you'll be missed every single day. Thank you. [Applause] Uh, may I please get a motion to adjourn and send the April 24, 2025 special board of education meeting? So move. Second. Roll call, please. Debbie, yes. Bill, I I vote yes. Arlin I. Mara, yes. Phil, one last. All right. Motion carries. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. The April 24th, 2025 special board of education meeting is adjourned and we will continue with the April 24th, 2025 reorganizational and regular board meeting, board of education meeting. Okay. Now I will uh call this the regular the organizational and regular board of education meeting to order. At this time, if we can please have newly elected board member Carrie Devon join us
032at the table. Welcome and we are thrilled to have you on. Okay. Now, may I please get a motion to approve that the board of education appoints me Debbie Mcate to serve as president prom. So moved. Second. Bill. I. Arlin. I. Carrie. Demar. Yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Motion carries. May I please get a motion uh to approve that the board of education appoints member Bill Harrison to serve as secretary uh pro temporary. So moved. Second. Harland. I. Carrie. Dmara. Yes. I vote yes. Debbie yes. Bill. I hand this off to Mr. Harrison. You've never served as secretary. This is exciting. Okay. Board secretary proemporary uh Bill Harrison, will you please take attendance of the board members and the student representatives? Yes. Carrie Det. Big Mario Kelanowski here. Jessica Riddick here. Debbie McI here.
033I am here. Arwin Ghoul here. Santi Carla AJ we have a Okay. Thank you. As a part of the CCSD 21 board of education practices, all board members will take the oath of office at all reorganizational meetings. So will everyone please join me in Sorry, it's a long one. Um, I Demi McInnlely swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education of Wheeling Consolidated District 21 in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. I further declare that I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving As a faithful protector of the school district's assets, I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my
034fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and the decisions can only vote at a public. I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels. As a part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. I shall foster within boards the sense of participation in the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the for community consolidated school district 21. I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to
035attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. I shall strive to ensure the continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting our children in compliance with state law. I shall serve as key advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision of the Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 and I strive to work together with the district superintendent to lead a school district to fulfilling the vision of the board has created fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship and personal development. Thank you. Okay, nominations are now in order for the office of president. I would like like to nominate Jessica Riddick. Second. Are there any other nominations for president? Okay, seeing none, uh the nominations for president are closed closed. Uh will you
036please Bill, will you please take a roll call vote? Mara, yes. Jessica, yes. Debbie, yes. I go, yes. Carlin, I spoke. Congratulations. Thank you. And now you get this. Do you want to switch? She's now official. You're not moving. Okay. Sorry, you're not moving. Um All right. The next item on the agenda is the election of a board vice president. Nominations are now in order for the office of vice president. I would like to nominate board member Debbie Mcate. Thank you. Are there any other nominations for vice president? I will second the nomination. Okay. The nominations for the office of vice president are closed. Board secretary prom Bill Harrison, will you please take a roll call? This is getting tiring. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. I vote yes. Harland, yes. Carrie, yes. Dmar, yes. Congratulations. Thank
037you. The next item on the agenda is determining the compensation of the board secretary. May I please get a motion to approve not compensating the secretary of the board of education for the duration of the term in office. So moved. Second. Okay. Uh Bill, would you please take a roll call? But I will say first that now that I have to do this, I question previous votes. Jessica, yes. I vote yes. Ireland, yes. Carrie Dagmara, yes. Debbie, yes. Okay. The secretary is poorly underpaid. Just as much as the rest of us. All right. The next item on the agenda is the election of the board secretary. Nominations are now open. I would like to nominate board member Dagmara Kalinowski. Second. Are there any other nominations? Seeing none, Bill, would you please take a role? Yes.
038I vote yes. Ireland, yes. Harry, Mara, yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Congratulations, Dagmar. [Applause] Bill will give you the uh I'm sure Bill enjoyed his time as board secretary. You performed your duties admiraably. I just wanted a business card for this. That's I'll make one for you. Yes. Um okay. Okay. The next item on the agenda is setting the regular board of education meeting time, meeting dates and times. May I please get a motion to approve keeping the regular meetings at 700 p.m. of the third Thursday of the month unless the calendar conflict unless calendar conflicts exist. So move. Second. All right. Board Secretary Kalinowski, would you please take a roll call? Arllin, yes. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, I Okay, so the next two items are setting the uh
039committee assignments and liaison representatives. What I would like to do is postpone that to the May meeting. Um, we have for Car's benefit and for the uh vacancy appointment benefit, we have three standing committees, finance, policy, and community engagement and strategic partnerships. Um, I would like to let you know that I do plan to restructure the community engagement committee uh to one that I think more appropriately serves the evolving needs of the district. Um during the next few weeks I plan to propose plan to share with you what I propose to do with the committee and you can of course share with me what what you think about that. I would also ask you in the next couple of weeks to send me uh your requests for committee appointments. Um if you can rank them
040in order one two three that will help me a great deal. I will obviously do my best to honor your requests. Um but if I don't get any then I'm just going to appoint people. Um and then same for liaison representatives again for Carrie and the vacancy appointment benefits. Um we have a list of uh liaison that we uh or we serve as liazison to a list of various municipalities and boards around the area. Um we can talk in a little more detail about what that entails. I won't take time at the meeting here, but members, if you could please in the next couple of weeks before the May meeting, let me know if you have preference of which liaison to serve as. Some of us will serve as more than one, so it's okay
041if you have a couple you'd really like to do. Um, and just reach out to any of us with any questions, of course. Okay, that being done, um, let's go to the next item, which is the adoption of the board policy manual. May I please get a motion to read the existing policy manual? So moved. Second and please call the RO. Carrie. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlin, I. Motion carries. All right, let's move on to board communication. Um let's start off with NSSO. Debbie, why don't you uh share an update? Thank you. As we've been uh we're changing a lot of things, one of the things I have decided to add, if you look on your agenda under executive com content, there is the uh board brief that we get
042every month after the meeting. So it will give you a lot more detail of the things that we are going into the upcoming events so that people can attend them more. Um this month we had a big thank you to Anna Climitz who is decided not to run after 28 years and I think like 25 of those were within SSO. Um and then the big thing uh that's not on here we are very much working on the reorganization. We are in the throws of that. So there's not too much that I can update you right at the moment. Um but that'll be happening most likely throughout the summer. We'll be working on that. So that's it for me. Thank you. Uh Bill Ed. Thank you, Jessica. A little bit longer than normal. Um, I was
043able to attend Ed's advocacy days event in Springfield this past month together with about a dozen other board members and superintendent from the north and northwest suburbs. I was able to meet with our state representatives and senators as well as a few additional representatives from around the area to discuss a variety of topics from the Cook County paid leave ordinance to PE waiverss. I was very heartened, however, to talk to Senator Edley Allen of Grace Lake, who is planning to recreate a TIFF reform group this summer. So, I hope to be involved with that. One interesting takeaway from the visit, um, I sat in and watched the Senate Education Committee discussing a variety of proposed legislation. And the way it worked, you had the senators all up at a table and one uh legislator, whoever
044was proposing the legislation together with an advocate would sit in front of them and explain what this proposed legislation was. One of the bills related to radon and requiring school districts to do additional radon testing and potentially remediation, which is interesting since almost all schools are built on a slab. But be that as it may, the topic itself wasn't that interesting. But was what was interesting is that one senator looked at the presenter and said, "Are you proposing another unfunded mandate?" And the response became, "Yes, but this is a small one. It's only a few thousand dollars, maybe tens of thousands. Compared to the size of a school district budget, it's really not much." And I just sat there thinking that this is one of our problems. They don't realize that what they keep doing
045is similar to a death by a thousand cuts. Your wonderful idea is just a little. Your wonderful idea is just a little. But as sooner or later, you're going to get to that straw that breaks the camel's back. And as we continue to talk to our legislators, I think we need to continue to explain that concept to them. There are a couple of upcoming Edrad events for us to be aware of. Ed's next monthly meeting will be held here on Friday, June 6th at 1:30. I presume there'll be a virtual option as well for those who may be interested. Watch your emails. And next, Edra's second annual mini summit will be held on Thursday, June 12th from 8 am till noon. The summit will offer uh breakout sessions at a keynote speaker. You should have
046already received an invitation in your email earlier this week, which allows you to register. Carrie, I suspect you did not, but if you'd like, I can certainly forward that to you. Um, and if anybody would like a ride as we get closer, please let me know. And that's it for Ed Rider. Great. Thank you, Bill. Anything from ASB? Yes, but much shorter. Wrong. Okay. Well, you got lucky today because it looks like my comments have been deleted. So, I'll have to bring that back next month. Okay. To be continued. To be continued. Um, next up, North Cook ISC. Arlland, do you have any update? Uh, just a quick one. And actually, you received the update last month, but uh, two big things happening. We're working on a two-year plan to move the offices to accommodate
047more students, more schooling, physical exercise for the kids. Uh vast expansion of the program. Uh we're doing well financially. Uh and then in terms of personnel, we just lost our director of communications, which was very unfortunate. She's brilliant. She's gone to district 109. Um so we move on from there, but North Cook is doing well. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Um, let's move on to local government agency updates. Uh, Bill, anything to share? Not this, not this time. May Arlin, anything else? Yeah, Arlington just of course had a highly contested election, elected a new mayor. Uh, Jim Denalia will be the new mayor of Arlington with a new board and it will be interesting. A lot of smart, capable people uh that were elected just now. I also want to recognize our state senator who
048walked in, Senator Mark Walker, and uh a a great guy and a great advocate for education. So, thank you, Senator. Thank you, Carrie. Do you have anything you want to add? Okay, no worries. Uh Doug Mara, I do. I wanted to share um that our partners at the Wheeling Park Park District are celebrating Earth Day this Sunday, April 27th from 11 to 1 at Heritage Park. Um this event encourages involves nature tours, free giveaways, educational activities, GJ's Reptile Road Show, and more. So all community members are invited. Um they will also be doing a ribbon cutting and grand opening for their new accessible greenhouse. Um, so we encourage everyone to from the community to attend and support the Wheeling Park District as they support our community. Thank you, Debbie. I have nothing else. I don't
049have any updates. Um, all right. The last item under board communication is our student representatives. Dr. Connelly. Madam President, thank you very much. Um so uh this month we asked our uh student board representatives uh to think and talk with their colleagues a little bit about um what they feel are ways that schools uh can support and give back to the community. Um we know that that students who are connected to their communities um are um more successful and also um are better citizens overall. So um so AJ, do you want to uh start off and give us your thoughts? So, one way that schools can support or give back to community is food drives. Some people in our community can't afford food and would be very kind and helpful if we donated more food.
050Also, free car wash days. A car wash day is very helpful since people don't have to pay, but can still get their car cleaned. This will make many adults happy that they don't have to pay while having their car cleaned. holiday donations or toy drives. To those who can't afford to buy gifts for themselves and their children on big holidays like Christmas or Valentine's Day, we can give back to them by then than donating gifts since we already have a lot of things that other people may want or need. And since this month is earth um earth month or like it's earth day recently um we can organize like field trips like maybe like out of state to beaches, rivers or national landmarks to help clean like all the plastics and the trash and it
051will not only benefit us but also benefit all the animals and marine life who are also living. And also I had an idea um back Like in my elementary school, we used to do this um where people would buy plants and it was like a sale in our school so that um we can uh plant it in our houses around our gardens or somewhere else. And also plants also help make the oxygen that we breathe and without plants it would be much harder to breathe good air. So plants are also very important. And also my plans for helping the community or making them happy is that this summer I'm planning to play my violin to provide music therapy for the elders in retirement homes or hospitals so that they could feel happy. And that's my
052plans and also ideas for giving back to community. I think that ways that schools can give back to the community is by providing supervised volunteering around the community in food drives and such. Students could go on field trips to volunteer in food drives, animal shelters, or even just planting flowers at the wheel town center. Okay. Thank you very much. So Santi wasn't able to join us this evening. Um but we'll see him again in May. Um but did you want to provide any updates uh for anything happening at at London or homes? Go ahead. So on May 1st and May 2nd, which is like Thursday and Friday, we have a musical. It's called Shrek Jr. and me and many other members who are in the musical. I've been preparing for a few months for this.
053And please come to our school and watch it. It's very good and I hope you would enjoy if you watched it. And we also have a fitness program starting in our school and we have boys volleyball. We had our Alice in Wonderland Jun musical last week and I'm so happy I was able to participate in it and I'm so glad that we could get Kona Ice to come. Uh we also performed the musical for the Twain Whitman and Frost fifth graders. We had our jazz pops concert also last week. Um we had we have track and field, the eighth grade creative writing club, our hangout at homes which tomorrow, healthy eating with Shila, our movie night which is on May 6, and summer camps. Okay, thank you very much. Any questions for I want to
054give just a little extra plug for the London musical only because both of my children are in it. Um, and I think it's going to be amazing. London always does all all three of the medals do an amazing job with the musicals. Um I know you guys are exhausted from the week already. So if you want to head out from the meeting, that's fine. Um I hope you at least enjoyed seeing the process that we went through tonight to elect our officers, welcome our new board member. um and be happy to talk to you further about that level of civic process if that's something either of you have questions about or are interested in. But um if you want to head out, that's that's fine right now. May I add one quick thing? You talk
055about giving back to your community. Guess what you've been doing all year? You've been here and I want to thank you for it. [Applause] Okay. Um, next on our agenda is staff communication. Uh, Dr. Connelly, do you want to head off with your report? Absolutely. Uh, thank you. So, just a very brief um just kind of update uh as was mentioned earlier. Um, we did just complete a a draft of our next strategic plan. Um, and so my intention is to uh bring uh that draft back for board discussion uh in May. uh and then um you know with whatever changes uh you're seeking uh after you review those drafts uh and then hopefully either that evening or in June um actually have the uh the board take formal action to adopt um that strategic
056plan. So um I just wanted to note um since we did finish the draft in the middle of March um that uh you know this is on our agenda uh to uh uh to to come back with in May. Uh and we have shared a draft uh the draft documents with the committee um the stakeholder group that of almost 50 people um that spent four Monday nights in a row uh to uh put that together and uh certainly receiving any comment from from them about uh about the the draft itself. So so that more to come on that. Great. Before I open the floor for any questions for Dr. Connelly, I want to thank you and Leticia for setting up a process for us to develop this new strategic plan that was smooth and engaging
057and a truly enjoyable. It was my second time doing a strategic plan for the district. Um, I also want to thank organic life for providing us with incredible dinners and those cookies. The cookies. Did I mention the the cookies? Um, does anyone have any questions for Dr. Connelly about the strategic plan? Not a question, but wanted to add on to what Jessica was saying. So, this was my first time going through this process. One of the things I really enjoyed was the diversity of the group on the community on the committee, excuse me, teachers, staff, admin, and sitting around a table. And I'm going to describe this a little bit because I know not everyone here or listening um can visual knows this. We got together, as Dr. Connelly said over four Monday nights and
058sat around a table for three hours and a facilitated facilitated sessions that were so productive in the terms of the dialogue generated and we got to know each other and hear differing opinions and this is something this type of forum is something I've talked about with many of you um and so finally to have that experience to bring it to life and experience it for my first time. um was very meaningful and I hope that we find ways to harness those types of forums for future work that we pursue. So, thank you to everybody who participated around this table in the audience and at home. It was it was a great experience. Thank you for it. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Okay. Uh moving on, we have the presentation of the Desmos math curriculum
059adoption process. Yes. Um this evening, uh you have as an action item in your consent agenda the approval of um a our new elementary math series, Desmos. And so we wanted to uh have our director of math uh Carolyn Droll uh give us a presentation about the program and and the process. So Carolyn, thanks. Um so good evening. I am very excited to present to you tonight about our pathway that we went through in selecting amplified Desmos as our recommended resource to implement in K5 for the 2526 school year. Um, some of this information you have gotten in past presentations, but I wanted to make sure that I made clear the depth of the process that we engaged in in order to come to this recommendation. So, it's been a little over a year um
060since the elementary math and I began um doing a pretty exhaustive search of what are all the resources that are currently out there, what are the the ones that have been newly published, what are the things that have been around for a while, what have all of our neighboring districts been using um for all of the big publishers, what are their current products? Um what are uh we reviewed like uh evaluation sites such as what works clearing house and ad reports to find out what are the um what are what are to create a pretty exhaustive list of what are all of the the um programs that we might be interested in looking at. Um after taking a kind of that broad look, we um paired it down to about 10 that we thought would
061kind of meet the needs of the profile of our community that we we would be most interested in. Can you hear me? Okay. Is that better now? Okay, good. Thanks. Um so then at that point the specialist and I we worked to develop um a set of review criteria for taking a deeper dive into those 10 resources. Um where we looked at their alignment to the district philosophy that we've had around math education to support the work that we've done over the past many years. Um how the integration of commonly accepted best practices in math were integrated. Um to what did uh what kind of equitable access was um built into the resources? how are they organized for ease of use by teachers and students? Um the quality of the instruction overall and what type
062of support was embedded to um promote a successful implementation. So after we um reviewed those 10 resources, we narrowed it down to three that we felt really were um the best fit for our district going forward. We looked at Amplify Desmos. Uh we looked at Bridges and then we looked at Imagine Learning's illustrative math. So those three resources um we brought to a committee of about 25 uh staff members from across the district. Um the we spent some time with the staff helping them to understand. This is that um rubric that we use to review it. It's linked to that slide so you can look at it more closely, but you can see all of the questions that we explored as we were considering these different resources. Um the committee heard presentations on all of
063those resources and then we reviewed them through the lens of the rubric. Um at the end of those presentations the committee was asked to provide feedback on how strongly they felt about each one of them and carrying it forward for a pilot. And of the three resources only amplified Desmos was it received near unanimous strong support for a pilot. So based on that um the math specialists and I we moved forward with the plan to support a pilot implementation. Um we first put out a call to who would be interested and we were very pleasantly overwhelmed that we had about 90 teachers who said yes sign me up I want to try this out which was fantastic. Um we conducted in January and February we conducted um informational meetings. We did half-day trainings to support
064the teachers in getting to know the resource. And then by late February, that's when they started implementing um lessons in their classroom with their students. Uh throughout the pilot, the specialists worked closely with the teachers doing lots of co-planning and co-eing. We conducted many different office hours. We had grade level specific office hours, informational sessions um to make sure again that the teachers were feeling supported. We provided additional role specific trainings um for our special education resource teachers and our bi bilingual dual Spanish teachers. Um and at the end we had intended that it was going to be like a one unitit implementation which would take about four to six weeks. Um but we had many staff members who said we'd really like to keep trying this for the remainder of the year. So we
065kind of put that out there as who would be interested and we had about half of the initial pilot teachers say yes I'd like to continue and use this for the remainder of the year which was pretty exciting. So I wanted to give just a highle overview of why Desmos stood out to us as a committee. Um it's built on these four core tenants that closely align with the work that we've been doing in the district again for many years. I think something that um really struck us is the way that it's really focused on promoting student collaboration and classroom discourse and students sharing their strategies and thinking in ways that our previous unit uh resource really hadn't done as much. Um there's a a strong focus on problem solving and students um engaging and
066discovering and then synthesizing those ideas. So um we're really really intrigued by that. Something we get a lot of feedback about um from teachers is that there's times when uh students are presented with perhaps a challenging problem and um they they might lack stamina to really dig into it and persevere. So um it might be that they are quick to ask for help or they're quick to say I'm not sure how to do this. And you know what what we're realizing more and more is if we're not giving students opportunities to build that stamina, if we're not putting them in those situations where they're going to um get that endurance, then we're not going to get them there. So, we really feel like Desmos is something that builds those pieces in. So, we're excited about
067that. Um I think you've seen some of these slides before, but again, I just want to highlight some of the aspects of Desmos that make it unique. Um it is actually built on the same content platform as Illustrative Math. So in terms of like the content skeleton, how it builds, how the lessons are sequenced, that is aligned with illustrative math. However, the way the developers um constructed some of the unique elements of the resource, um the way they built in certain assessment resources, um the technical sides of it, um some of the warm-up routines, those types of things. Technically, it's not an illustrative math resource, even though the content is parallel. Um, however, it is some of those aspects that really are the ones that sold us on the resource. Um, and some some of
068them are things that we have been working with the teachers in our district for years to incorporate on top of our previous resource. So, to see them naturally embedded was really amazing and exciting. Um, one thing that is unique to Desmos is the way that it meaningfully integrates technology. And um well I know we we want to be cautious about how much students are tethered to their machines. We know they spend have a lot of of um time in front of screens. Um the way the program does it, it really meaningfully um embeds typically it's about two to three digital lessons within each unit. And those lessons are really designed to enhance the math. So they're designed in such a way that the kids get to explore and get to simulate and they're designed to
069be collaborative. So, they're designed for students to do this together, and you're going to see a little insight of of that in a in an upcoming slide. So, this is an example of a warm-up that I pulled from a third grade lesson. Um, it's a routine called Which One Doesn't Belong. This is something that we have used in our district actually for a number of years. It's pretty known out in the math community. And the concept of it is that students are to make a case for why one of those four might not belong with the set. So if this was the one that I was putting before some students, then one student might say, well C doesn't belong because the way the rectangle is cut, it doesn't create two equal sized pieces. Whereas another
070student might say, no, A doesn't belong because um the way it's cut, it doesn't create rectangular pieces. And another student might say, well, B is doesn't belong because it's cut into three pieces as opposed to every other one that's two. And you can imagine what they might say for D that it's cut horizontally whereas all the rest are vertical. So obviously those are just four reasons that could be given. I'm sure you could come up with other ones as well. So the beauty of a routine like this and the reason why we promote this is that there are so many. In fact, there's no wrong answer. You can justify it. And what happens in a math setting, math is a very very convergent content area. Kids learn from early on that there's a right answer.
071And year after year after year of training them in this convergent thinking, it it promotes a fixed mindset, which is why math is a very we have a we have a perception out there that there are math people and they're not math people. So wherever possible in our math settings, we work really hard to create divergence. divergence in terms of how many correct answers there could be. And if there is only one right answer, which is often the case in math, then divergence in all the ways we can get there. Because when there's multiple answers that are correct, that kid over there raised their hand and answered it, I can still participate and have another answer. So when there's only one right answer and that kid over there answered it, my thinking stops. I shut
072down. So we try to make sure we're promoting things like that as much as possible. Um along those same lines, in this particular case, every kid in the class can come up with one reason why something doesn't belong. So this is what's clo called low floor high ceiling because everyone has an entry point within this. And when we're thinking about starting our math lesson and making sure all of our kids can engage with the math when the very first thing out of the gate everyone can participate in, then we're setting the stage that they've been welcome to the lesson and now we can start upping the level of rigor from that point on. And then one last point I would like to make about this particular routine is that by embedding things like this regularly,
073we're promoting the level of math discourse in the room because it's a very predictable language pattern. So for all of our students, they know how to make a conjecture about which one might not belong. And especially for our language learners to know this is the type of language I'm going to use in this particular setting. These are the types of sentences that might typically be structured when we're doing a which one doesn't belong. So it really supports that whole classroom discourse which helps everyone but especially our language learners. So these are um some pictures that teachers had sent. I just picked a small sampling, but it was really fun to have teachers just without me even asking, just sending pictures that they were really excited to share of their kids having a great time um
074with the Desmos Explorations. Um so what I would like to point out from these images, you see obviously you see the collaboration, you see lots of different models that they're using, um lots of different manipulatives. Um, obviously the lower right she's using some virtual manipulatives, but again doing it in a way where it's visible learning to all so that that knowledge can be transferred throughout the classroom. And then I'm going to show you it's a real short video of just a snippet of this is a digital lesson in a kindergarten classroom. Um, it's a kindergarten classroom at Tarkington. And it's just this one little moment that that um we captured that was [Music] more [Music] So cute, right? I should have started with that. No. Um, so uh, so what I want to point out
075about that video, aside from the cuteness, is um, first of all, the excitement, right? That was fabulous. She was so excited and engaged and she had an idea and she got to test it and she was right. And so that was amazing because she got that instant feedback which we can't get from paper materials. Um also the fact that she had a partner right there and that they were working together and they were talking together. So it was collaborative. But then the other thing um was if you could hear the noise in the room. So again, it's not that it was a quiet space where kids were were needing to be independently on their computers. It was still very much a buzzing classroom that was busy with exploration. So, um, so anyway, I just wanted
076to share a few of those highlights because those were pretty spectacular. Um, so we with this being a new resource and obviously as you know, we've were with our previous resource for a very long time. Um, our teachers are going to be on a learning curve. It's it's going to be right. It's it's going to be a little bit more uncomfortable for them. Um, so I I wanted to highlight some of the some of the supports that Desmos has built in so that um they're supported in that learning curve and can maximize their effectiveness out of the gate. Um, so one thing that I haven't seen in any other resource is that every lesson is um is has built-in content and language objectives and that's important for lots of reasons. That's that's a practice that
077we've been promoting in our district for many many years. That's a SCAP best practice. Um, if you're familiar with SCUP, it's a sheltered uh protocol. Um, and so what it does though is it supports all of our learners, but again, especially our language learners when we're thinking about in a math setting, what are we working on in terms of our content? And what language supports are we wanting to work on in that setting? How are kids speaking? How are they writing? How are they listening? So, that's one thing that that is fabulous. It's already there built in. um the vocabulary is called out for each lesson. Not only the vocabul vocabulary that they need to provide primary instruction on, but it also highlights the vocabulary that should be reviewed. So, it's kind of shining that
078spotlight on, okay, this is this is critical for instruction, but don't assume that kids already know this language. Make sure that we're being intentional about providing that instruction on these pieces as well. It clearly maps out how the content of this particular lesson connects to the prior and future learning. Um, and then it's very explicit in terms of how students should be grouped for each part of a lesson, how much time should be allocated, what questions should be embedded, um, what student responses they might expect to see and then if they see those, what should they do in response to that in order to differentiate um, and it has slides that are ready to go. In fact, the screenshot I had before that was one of the slides that it was again embedded within it.
079Um, and then again, there's a formative assessment piece within each lesson so that teachers can gather that immediate data. Uh, Desmos has created um a really fabulous um family support site called Caregiver Hub. Um, so this provides overview of what the lessons look like, what the materials look like, all of those pieces. But then it actually goes a step much further that I was really impressed by in that for every single lesson, all grade levels, they can access a summary page that looks like this where at the top part of it, it's going to provide a brief summary of what that particular lesson was about, what models were used, what the student work should look like, and then a try this so that they can with their child try it out, see how this how
080the child is doing with it. So, I know a lot of teachers have talked about this would be a great resource to use potentially as homework. Um, there is additional practice that could be used as homework as well. Um, but that was one aspect that I thought would be very supportive to our families. Um, additionally on this site, they can access games that align to each unit. Um, and they can access um, every unit is anchored to a unit story that provides kind of a conceptual anchor that it comes back to throughout the unit, which is really powerful for the kids as well. and they the families can access that unit story on this site as well. So as you know we've been using Desmos in the middle school for the last couple years already.
081We did a very short pilot um in 22 23 and then last year 23 24 we had a full year optional pilot and at the end of last year I administered this survey to our middle school teachers and I administered the same survey then right before spring break to our elementary teachers um to get feedback about how well students engaged um how well the resource developed conceptual understanding and procedural fluency and problem solving skills the level of rigor how easy was it to differentiate uh how accessible it was to language learners? Um how easy the resources were to use were to use to plan a lesson and to implement the lesson and then how the quality of the information they got out of the assessments and everything was on a 10-point scale. Um so you
082can see there's certainly some patterns among the responses. Um they definitely mirror each other. Um, I would point out that obviously our lowest areas are differentiation and accessibility to language learners. If I was going to predict without even looking at this what was going to be our lowest areas, I would have told you it was going to be those two. Those are some of the most challenging areas of instruction. And that's where my team and I and all of our teams probably spend the vast majority of our time supporting is in the areas of differentiation and making sure that our materials are accessible to include our language learners. So, we know that that's things we'll need to continue to work on and and advise our supports um going into it. Additionally, we did um focus
083groups with students. We did this last year with the middle school and then um this year we did it with the elementary schools. Um we asked them uh in grade level groups at all of our buildings. We asked them um how, you know, what did they like about Desmos? What what didn't they like about Desmos? how did it compare to their experience using everyday math? Um, overall students were extremely positive. Um, some of the things that they gave feedback that they didn't like were things like, "I don't like working with other kids. I like to work by myself." So, I I think that actually makes our case for us. Um, so here was just a few highlights of some things that some students shared. Um, a PO kindergartner said, "I like that it tricks your
084mind into thinking it's a normal game. It's not like, oh, this is too mathy. This is a real game and not boring. Uh, a Tarington first grader. It's fun because I am a mathematician. I loved that. A Whitman third grader. It's not that hard. It's also not that easy. It's perfect. And then a Frost fifth grader said, "It is better because it is harder. It is more challenging to do." And I like that. We have to do more thinking. When it is too easy, then we are not thinking about it and just doing it. That is how everyday math was. it was too easy and we were not really thinking. So next steps should we move forward with this? Um obviously we have a lot to plan for in this transition. Um just the logistical
085management of all of the paper materials out the paper materials in how we manage manipulatives. That's certainly a piece and that's actually a pretty big piece. Um but then the more substantial work of planning for the professional development to support our teachers. Obviously, we have lots of things planned for this summer and then obviously throughout all of next year as well. Um, and then uh refining our curriculum documents and assessments. All of those would need to get rehashed and that's another big project that we'll have to create some pretty um rigorous action plans around. And then organizing our family communications. So, what are the what are the the the ways that we can keep them in the loop and help them feel that they have the tools they need to support um their children as
086we go through this transition and that's all I have. So, what questions do you have? I have one question. So, what is the like instructional model that this uses? Is it mostly whole group and then like is that why the differentiation score is so low? Um, no. It's actually not uh not very whole group at all. In fact, it's less whole group than what we were are using currently. Um I think of it as more like a launch, explore, summary kind of a model. Um the way it's typically organized is there will be a a warm-up and then a launch of an activity that usually there will be kind of multiple iterations of that. So there's um the students will engage in activity while the teacher is circulating collecting formative assessment data as well as
087um you know providing those those tweaks and supports as they're going and then they'll pull back together and usually there's a second activity similarly and then they come back together for a synthesis. So that's where they'll pull back together and do the actual like teaching part of it before they do the closing assessment. And that was my other question was what were the what do the assessments look like? Um, so there is there's a few layers of the assessment. There's a a preassessment at the start of each unit. The way the units are organized is in subunits. So there's a preassessment for each unit that assesses um readiness for that first sub subunit. Then after each subunit, there's a quiz and then at the very end there's a test. And one um thing that I
088was really really impressed with is that the way they've designed it for each of those assessments, it gives specific feedback on how to differentiate if a student missed question one, if a student missed question two. So it's very prescriptive in it if it's in its recommendations of differentiating. Thanks, Carrie. Uh does anyone else have questions for Mr. D or Dr. Childress? Yeah. Arland. So, I guess you would call this a revolutionary program in a sense. It's quite different than traditional ways of teaching math. One thing I I liked early on, you said that in some cases there's no wrong answer. I probably would have done better in math if that was the case. But I sat here 20 years ago or so when we launched the new math curriculum. And in that case, we failed
089to communicate with parents enough that they did not understand what was coming home. And we had one meeting where we literally had 200 some odd parents who just didn't understand the program, thought the kids were drawing pictures in math class, did not understand they were learning percentages. So, I would encourage staff, Mike and I talked about that this morning, to think outside the box in terms of communicating with parents, maybe do building Zoom meetings, maybe offer in person for parents who want it because this is quite a departure from what parents are used to seeing and what they have seen and certainly uh have had a chance to work with. So, I would strongly encourage staff to come back with some real significant steps in that direction. And I don't think parent portal, I don't
090think online. I think we've got to find a way to communicate a unique program directly to parents. Yeah, Arllin. Um I had the benefit of meeting for a while with Carolyn um earlier this week to discuss many questions I had around the program. Um and one of the things we talked about were what are the factors that will set this up for success? And one of the things we specifically disc discussed was a communication plan and thinking differently from maybe communication plans or project type plans we've implemented in the past and so that's where there's an opportunity to pull in like what could be done a little bit differently and certainly it's the job of Carolyn and team to do but just so you know some of the discussion what it included was um previews
091at curriculum night and amplifying this through the teacher communications. So they're sometimes sending weekly, bi-weekly, monthly communications to the parents, letting them know that caregiver hub is out there so they're not struggling to help their kids. They know there's a resource. So there's a lot of different strategies from a communication perspective that I think will supplement the work um of this team. And I also echo your sentiment that I think that is important for us to consider. Um, I did have a couple questions that I wanted to follow up on as well. Um, on the assessment piece, are the assessments um on the Chromebook? So, they have the option to do them on the Chromebook, but they also can do it on do them on paper. I will say during uh the feedback we got
092from the teachers during the pilot is they did not like doing them on the Chromebook. Um, they felt that they didn't have um enough capacity to provide the feedback that they wanted to provide. So, um, so my inclination is that most teachers probably will lean towards them doing it, um, on paper. That said, um, and I'm I'm inch deep in this part of it. I I I need to obviously I'm on my own growth curve, uh, learning curve. Um, but if they do take the assessments on the the Chromebook, then there is a whole data collection side on the back end. So, it may be advantageous for us to have certain like unit tests that we do want the kids to actually take on the computer so that we can analyze it in that regard.
093But obviously, again, we're going to have to dig into that further. Yeah. And I'd be interested in knowing, you know, down the road if there's like a best practice or recommendation so there's some consistency in those assessments and then also if we're seeing um any different types of outcomes when it's paper and pencil versus um on the Chromebook. So, that's helpful to hear. Thank you. Um, on slide 12, I I was wondering if this is um if this list of questions is something you guys will use in the future to come back to to see if these scores are changing and then also look for opportunities to address um pain points or opportunities, you know, to to see where things might need a little bit of extra work, I think, or support. Yeah, that's a
094great suggestion. um I hadn't thought of a plan that included that. Obviously, we work very closely with the the teachers to get more um organic feedback, but in a structured way like this. Um we certainly could consider something like that. That's great. Um thank you and your team for the work on this and thanks to all the teachers and kiddos who have been piloting this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Phil, you had a question. I did, but it was pretty much covered by Ireland and Dagmar just with communication in terms of getting it. I think it'll need a lot of face-to-face communication over time. But I really appreciate the fact that we're truly adopting a new curriculum as we're going forward and it'll be exciting to see what it's going
095to do over the next few years. Thank you. Just one more. Sorry if I missed if you said this. How long is the adoption for? Uh, that's a good question. I don't have an answer to that. We have talked about um that we wouldn't want to sign more than a three-year contract with them at this point. Just we wouldn't want to commit longer than that, but we're still pinning that detail down. Great questions across the board. Sorry. Um All right. Thank you, Mr. All right. Let's move on to the last item under staff communication uh superintendent's report on the shared director for school safety and security intergovernmental agreement with district 59. Yes. So just very briefly um as uh the board may uh recall um we entered into an intergovernmental agreement with uh district 59
096uh to share a director of of safety and security. Um that has been a very uh good relationship uh so much so uh to where we both realize that these truly are full-time positions for each of our districts. Uh and so um this is just a an official notification from district 59 that we're not uh extending the intergovernmental agreement. Um we are pursuing hiring our own full-time. Um and Danny Malik is going to be uh their full-time director over in in district 59. So, it's really just procedural that they were giving us their official notice. Okay, thank you. Um, any questions on this point? Okay, great. Um, now we've reached uh public comment section of the meeting. The board will allow any individual to share public comment for up to three minutes. Such comments should
097not include discussion of personnel matters which should be brought directly to the attention of the appropriate school official. During public comment, the board and administration will listen to comments but may not respond to the public. Uh, Leticia has just handed me a comment card from Ben Coleman. Ben, good evening. My name is Ben Kleman and I am the current president of the District 21 Education Association. We represent the teachers, education support personnel, and custodial maintenance staff here in District 21. I'm here as part of an ongoing tradition that started a few months ago where we address the board on a regular basis. Today, we want to start by welcoming Miss Devit Det Devbit to the board. We are excited that you bring a teachers perspective to the conversation and we look forward to working with
098you. Of course, we look forward to working with the entire board as we have in the past, and we hope to continue our conversations with board members to help provide important perspective on the decisions you make. The way we see it is this. A healthy school district is like a triangle with open and trusting communication among staff, administrators, and board members. We will be reaching out in the near future, and we will continue to encourage staff to reach out to board members and administrators with any questions or concerns. We continue to feel that communication is an essential part of any relationship. Thank you for the chance to contribute and thank you for the work that you all do in support of students and staff here in district 21. We are excited to be a partner
099in the decision-making process. Have we received any written public comments? No, we have not. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, next on the agenda is our consent agenda. We received 17 freedom of information requests. Uh, there are no board conference and travel expense approvals for the board to approve this month. Um, I did have an opportunity to review the financials and I had no concerns this month as did Phil. Thank you. Phil reached out to me and said that there were not no concerns on his end. Thank you, Phil. And absent. Um, does anyone need anything pulled from the consent agenda? Yes. I will need to abstain from A, B, C, and D. Okay. All right. Uh, may I please get a motion to approve consent agenda by items A, B, C, and D. Can
100I make a a brief comment? Sure. Um, regarding the number of foyer requests, uh, there has recently been an explosion of AI generated requests. If you looked at your list of requests that you got, 10 of them were from AI generated resources. Yes sir. Um some of them asked for financial information from 1999. Uh there is an effort downstate to limit that and they are hoping that by the end of session there will be some sort of regulation that would require an actual human being to be requesting that. So hopefully while we saw an explosion this month and probably the next couple that will hopefully be fixed. Thank you Bill. That's good to know. Um, all right. May I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda minus items A, B, C? So moved.
101Second. Okay. Would you please take the role? Yep. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlin, I. And Carrie, yes. All right. May I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda items A, B, C, and D? So move. Second. Roll, please. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlin, I. Car's abstaining. And I vote yes. Motion carries. Okay, great. I think the most exciting thing we just approved is the last day of school, which will be June 10th, 2025. Not that anyone is looking forward to that. All right, let's move on to new business. We have quite a bit to do. Uh first item is the approval of the district administration reorganization plan. Dr. Connelly. Yes. Thank you. Uh so as we are um doing our reorganization of our board this evening
102um and we are also uh in some transition as a district uh from the administrative lens. I wanted to bring uh my recommendations for a reorganization of the uh district administration uh for the 2025 2026 school year. Um and so uh there's much more in-depth um uh recommendation that is attached to the um public content um of the um of the meeting, but I did uh put together a couple of of slides um just to kind of give a high level overview. Um first of all um that really the goal here uh is to enhance our operational efficiency um and improve student learning. um you know and while we we are doing that that strategy of of streamlining our organizational structure I think we've had a lot of uh discussion um as an administrative team
103um over the past couple of months that um you know over the past several years um you know our organization has really grown uh in terms of demand and need and and and kind of trying to make sure that we have the kind of programming and and student services and all of those different items um that are really essential um for the the learning of our of our students. Um and as we have grown um you know there have been layers of of administration and leadership that have come into play. Um but now that we are at a point where we have some good solid bedrock systems um I think it's it's also now time to calibrate um and to begin to uh to try and identify those areas where maybe we are um a
104little topheavy andor um a little too complicated uh in terms of how we're functioning as an organization. So really um to be able to streamline our organizational structure um that would um you know create a more clear uh chain of command um reduce some ambiguity and reporting um uh improve communication and collaboration um to be able to uh promote faster more effective um decision-m um and uh really to be able to heighten um our our accountability um for the work that we're doing and again like I said to really sharpen our our focus um on the um on student learning and and achievement. So um what I am chiefly proposing and again this is kind of a high level overview and much more detail um in the the document that is uh attached um is
105to um eliminate two uh vacant cabinet roles um that currently exist. That's our assistant superintendent for finance and operations and our assistant superintendent for support services. um and uh really collapse those those two um cabinet level positions um and then make some changes to uh some existing cabinet level uh chiefly um that we would be um moving our chief academic officer um to deputy superintendent um that uh then Dr. Childress, her role as deputy superintendent um would re lead really a unified um educational services department that would be our teaching and learning as well as our student services under one uh banner um and also um designated that she would be the acting superintendent um in the in my absence or in capacity. Um that is one thing that as a as an organization we
106have not had a formal um we've kind of had a you know de facto uh kind of second in command. I think it's really important particularly with the complexity of our organization as well as um you know the amount of of activity that we you know uh deal with on a daily basis um to have that second in command designated and so the deputy superintendent would be that um would be that person um also uh to uh be reconstituting our chief technology officer um to become uh chief operating officer. Um you know again what I uh have absolutely uh come to to know um over my time here is that um while it's a chief technology officer currently there's a lot of crossover um within operations and and Mike Francini in particular um you know
107as we've been going through our our um uh our construction um our uh different types of of work our finance work you know he's right there in it. um you know, he he he really has uh had a a a a just a an amazing amount of of uh work that has done there and he's just really quite frankly a natural um to be able to to act as our our chief operating officer. Um and then as as uh Bob Gurnie is is uh setting off to to take on his own superintendency, um good luck. Um, I really saw it as an opportunity to um kind of of um introduce a a a different uh slightly different kind of of construct within our human resources department and bring on an executive director of human resources.
108Um, so really what we're looking at here is is to to kind of try and move away from the assistant superintendent model. Um, but make sure that we've got the executive cabinet level um kind of of positions that that are going to be um helping uh to really um provide good direction and guidance um to um the rest of our administrative team and the organization as a whole. So, um, just very kind of briefly and and high level, a little bit of a organizational chart to to to kind of try and and um capture um the different uh, you know, direct reports. Um and so um you know Beatatric in her role as deputy superintendent um all of our directors um that are in our our current equity and learning department and our student services
109um would be direct reports to uh in addition to um a new director of student services uh role um that you will also have an opportunity to act on this evening. Um, and then under uh Mike's uh banner as chief operating officer, um our director of finance um Mike Zigger uh as well as um our director of operations Glenn Molini. um our new uh director of school safety when we uh complete the employment process in that uh which by the way we have some outstanding um applications um you know I think we had a really hard time um narrowing it down the field uh and we'll be talking to six um and and uh sitting directors of school safety and security from other districts not going to say which ones so those superintendents don't come
110after me um and then also um people with uh long uh long enforcement law enforcement uh uh careers. Um and uh and then our um because Mike is going to not be the chief technology officer, really making sure that um we have a director level of technology services to continue the amazing work that he and his team um have been doing in the district for the last several several several years. Uh and then the the new executive director of human resources and Cass as director of community engagement would continue to be direct reports um to me. So um now big question what's the budgetary impact right uh actually um again as we're trying to streamline the organization um our biggest uh is that we are anticipating an overall reduction in administrative costs by bringing this
111um to bear. Um obviously the final analysis is going to be dependent on you know as we're doing hiring where salaries land and but um you know with most of those uh kind of holes already uh prepared to be filled this evening um we are looking at uh at at a cost reduction of of about $287,000 in salary only. Um now remember that there's additional there's cost savings in benefits. There's cost savings in payroll taxes. There's you know there so there are different you know savings that that will um kind of increase that amount. But uh but yes so that would be a a um an overall uh reduction in the administrative costs that we uh currently um incur uh as a district. So again, that's a very high uh broad overview. Um you know,
112much more detailed information um in the uh in the uh document that is attached. Um but my recommendation is is that the board approve um this um and I will take any questions that members may have. Not a question, just a simple request. Once we fill all the holes, can you update that uh chart with people's names on it so we have that? Yes, absolutely. This this is version.1. I know. I was just saying. Which by the way, um, Leticia saved me on that one. Um, you know, as we were trying to I'm like, "Okay, help me." Because I'm trying, you know, you would think it'd be easier to find a good, you know, just a quick, you know, program to put an org chart together. No, no, but thankfully she knows Canva quite well.
113So, uh, she was able to knock it together and I was like, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you. So, yeah, we will absolutely, yes. So, it's a solid plan. It's financially strong. And I love the fact that we are now fully recognizing on a higher level our academic programs. To me, that's we're not a financial institution and art. We're an education institution. And that becomes our top line again. And that's I think that's great. I'll definitely second that as well. Um, okay. Any other questions? Seeing none, may I please get a motion to approve the district administration reorganization plan as presented? So moved. Second. Please take the role. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlin, I. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Motion carries. Excellent. Awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. All
114right. Our next few items are hiring some school principles for the next upcoming school year. Yes. Um, so I'm actually going to step down and grab that hand mic because we're going to introduce all of our principal candidates for then you can vote on them separately. Um, but it'll be less awkward if I'm down there, I think. So, so we are very excited this evening to present um three out candidates for our uh principal openings. Um, I'm going to start with our internal people first, um, because we are also extremely pleased, um, that we are able to present this evening, uh, two of our current assistant principles, elementary assistant principles to now move into the principal ship, uh, in the district. Um, if you will recall, uh, I think it's four years ago, Bob, five,
115when did we introduce elementary assistant principles? Yes. Okay. Four. Uh well you were one of our originals right so four yeah okay ask the people who are you know took the jobs um but uh you know four years ago uh we did not have assistant principles in the elementary levels um and one of the things when we discussed the adding those positions um because of the workload and the need for it was also that listen the the intent is to have people within our organization that can be now um coming up into the ranks and fill our principal positions um as they occur because principal turnover happens. People retire, people decide to do different things, people move on to other other districts. Um and so it is really really great um that um you know
116going in over the last two years um that we will now have had four um of our assistant principles that have now moved into um principal roles. Um, so, uh, with that, uh, I want to start off by introducing my recommendation for the next principal of Longfellow Elementary School, Emily Gary. Um, Emily, stand up. Uh, Emily is currently assistant principal at Frost. Frost, I'm sorry. Katherine, I'm sorry, but you did too good of a job. And so now you get to break another one in. So, warn me two years ago. I did warn you two years ago. Yes. Yes. Yes. Um, so, uh, Emily began her career in district 21 over at Whitman, uh, as a one of our bilingual teachers. Um, so you're and this is your 10th year in the district. Okay. So,
117um, you know, uh, but Emily is is going to make an outstanding uh, principal at at uh, at Longfellow. Uh, and we're really uh, I'm really excited uh, to welcome you as one of our principles. So, thank you. All right. U. Next, I'd like to introduce our recommendation for our next principal at Twain Elementary School, Lisa Applicquist. Lisa joined us again four years ago as um the Whitman assistant principal and she and and Sammy Roth have been the team um that uh has stuck um with Whitman. And so again, Whitman, I'm sorry that I'm breaking that team up, but there's just be down the road. Um, right. And um and uh Lisa, um before you were in Wooddale, right? Yeah. So before she came to uh to District 21, uh she was an instructional coach
118at at Wooddale. Um, and really just, you know, the dynamic duo uh have really worked so well over at at Whitman and and s done such great things that I'm super excited to to have you uh take the helm over at Twain and know you're going to do amazing work there as well. So, thank you. And last, but certainly not least, um we have somebody who will be new uh to our district. Like to introduce Ben Medich. Um Ben is going to be our my re our recommendation for principal at Holmes um who will succeed Jenny Lagonas um who is going to be taking the next step in her in her professional adventure and uh returning to her elementary roots and we're very happy for you there. Um but uh Ben is coming to us
119um from uh Wkegan uh district 60 where he is currently assistant principal at the elementary level. However um prior to him being assistant principal at the elementary level um Ben was a middle school dean. uh in Lake Forest uh and also before that uh was a high school teacher um in the city at one of the city charter schools. Um, and so I'm going to tell you that that the thing that I think impressed us about Ben um is um really as he came uh to the table and just just passionately spoke um about his um love for kids, his love for staff, um his uh want to his his desire to make a a a career commitment to being, you know, with us and and and and really um taking us through thick and
120thin. And I I think he is going to make um an amazing uh leader at at at Holmes Middle School. Um I after the first interview, uh Beatatric came as a like we we need him. Um you know, we we we got to get him. Uh and so went continued through that process and and he came out on top. So Ben, welcome to uh District 21 once they vote. Uh uh and with that um we'll turn it back over to our board to uh take the votes. So stand by. Thank you, Dr. Connelly, for a slate of impressive candidates. We had an opportunity to meet with them last night. Um we're going to take them a little bit out of order than your introductions just for the sake of our recordkeeping here. Um, let's start
121with the uh principal of homes, Ben. May I please get a motion to approve the employment agreement for Mr. Benjamin Niditch? So moved. Principal of Holmes Middle School. Second. Okay. Bill, I. Arlland, I. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Motion carries. May I please have a motion for the employment agreement for Miss Emily Gary as principal of Longfellow Elementary School. So moved. Second. Okay. Aron I. Carrie. Yes. I vote yes. Debbie yes. Jessica yes. Bill I. Motion carries. Congratulations. And finally, may I please have a motion to approve the employment agreement for Miss Lisa Applequist as principal of Twain Elementary? So moved. Second. All right. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlin, I. Motion carries. Welcome. Okay, next couple of items are hiring director directors for the
122upcoming fiscal year. Dr. Connelly. So, Dr. Childress and I are going to tag team on this one. Um, so I'm going to turn the microphone over to her to introduce our recommendation for our new director of student services. Good evening, everyone. We are really excited um to welcome Sheri Massa to our district as our new director of student services. She comes to us with a wealth of um administrative experience as well as teaching experience both special ed. She's served as an assistant principal, a principal, and most recently in the last five years in West Chicago as their uh director of student services. Um so we are really excited about her. She again um right came floated to the top when we looked at candidates and when we thought about all of the things that we
123needed in this new role. She checked all of those boxes and a few of our boxes. Um a number of the directors like oh those are things that I do and she's been doing a lot of those things. So we're really excited about her joining our team. Um she you know did great with the panel and everyone is really excited as am I for her to join our organization and our administrative team. So, welcome Sherry. All right. May I please have a motion to approve the employment agreement for Miss Sher Massa as director of student services? So, moved. Second. Thank you. Um, I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlland, I. Carrie, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. [Applause] Welcome, Miss Massao. We look forward to getting to know you. Yes. Okay. And uh
124uh our recommendation for our new executive director of human resources. I'm very excited to introduce Mr. Lewis Roberts. So, yes, absolutely. So, uh, Lewis will be coming to us, um, from East Maine School District 63, uh, where he currently, uh, is principal of Gemini Middle School. Uh, Gemini is one of the largest, uh, middle schools certainly in the area, but I think probably in in the state um with about just under 1,200 students, correct? Uh, 1110. Okay. Just over,00. Uh, but you know what? If you're talking about 1100 middle school students all in the same place. Yeah. Right. Yeah. The sigh says it all. So um so uh with 1100 students and and over 150 staff members that that Lewis has been leading for the past seven years and prior u was an elementary principal
125in East Maine and also um a uh assistant principal in East Maine before that and started off as as a special education teacher uh in Florida. Right. Um, so, um, I will tell you that, um, uh, my colleague, uh, and and and Louisis's current superintendent, Dr. Schlitzer, um, is, uh, we've talked several times and, um, you know, Sean was also the the assistant super for HR before he became superintendent in East Maine. And, uh, and what he said is, if I had a position to be able to keep him, I would keep him in a in a in a second. Um, and uh, so that means a lot. uh you know Sean I I I greatly respect Shawn and and uh and he did he he he really rose to the top throughout our search
126process and and think um that he is going to be a fantastic addition to our organization. Fun fact, your current dean um was dean at Cooper under Bob um and so Bob has gotten a little bit of the inside skinny as well um and uh it's all good. So um Lewis, congratulations and uh we look forward to having you here. Thanks. All right. All right. May I please have a motion to approve the employment agreement for Mr. Lewis Roberts as executive director of human resources? So moved. Second. Okay. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlland, I. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Motion carries. Great. Thank you. Congratulations. Welcome to District 21. [Applause] All right. Next item is the approval of the employment agreement for the chief operating officer. Nothing more than what I move. Great.
127Yeah. So move. Okay. You got a motion. Second. Jessica, yes. Bill, I. Arlin, I. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Motion carries. Excellent. Congratulations. Our final item under new business is the approval of employment for deputy superintendent. May I please get a motion? So move. Bill, whoever you want to give it to. We all want to make Bill. I I wasn't sure if I was getting credit. Sorry. Arlin. I Carrie. Yes. I vote yes. Debbie yes. Jessica. Yes. Motion carries. Congratulations. All right. The next section of our agenda is related to the permanent transfer of funds in the amount of $12.5 million. The first step is to enter into a public hearing. May I please get a motion to approve the proposed resolution to convene in a public hearing? So moved. Second. Sorry, that
128was Arlland and Debbie. Thank you. Arland, I. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, yes. Motion carries. Okay, we are now in public hearing. So, um I uh ask Mike Zer to uh come to the podium and and just give us a very brief overview of of what this budget transfer uh is and the purposes behind it. So Mike, so tonight we're here to approve an additional $12.5 million to be transited to the construction fund. That is in addition to what we did at the last board meeting. So at the init addition in initial board meeting, we did what was in the budget. And this is to fully fund the the summer construction project for this year that was approved at the February board meeting, I believe. And then it leaves a
129little le left over for furniture and other projects over the summer, potentially roof stuff to that extent. So again, these are all planned transfers um of fund balance and um surplus um and is really fueling um you know the work that we continue to do in our facilities. So um does anyone have any questions for Mike? Um do we have any public comment in this hearing? No, we do not. Okay, very good. Uh Cass, have you received any written public comment? Okay, good deal. Uh may I Please have a motion to approve the proposed resolution to adjourn the public hearing and reconvene our regular meeting. So moved. Second. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, yes. Arlin, I. Motion carries. Um, Madam President, can I just make one note? Um, so and
130this is having to do with with Mike Zagger. Um what was under your consent agenda um as you were approving um uh administrative contracts uh is the change of status for for Mike where currently he is director of business services as of July 1 he is director of finance uh CSBO and obviously um in your special meeting on on April 10th you named him as treasurer for the district. So I just want to recognize um Mike in in in his new role as our chief school business official. Um, and Mike, thanks very much for uh all you do and looking forward to working with you for that note. Um, all right. Uh, may I please have a motion to approve the proposed resolution authorizing the permanent transfer of $12.5 million from the ED fund to
131the O andM fund. So move. Second. Anyone? Second. Thank you. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, yes. Harlon, I. Carrie, yes. Motion carries. Okay. And may I please get a motion to approve the proposed resolution authorizing the permanent transfer of $12.5 million from the O and M fund to its capital projects. So moved. Second. Debbie, yes. Jessica, yes. Bill, yes. Arlland, I. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Motion carries. Excellent. All right. Now we come to a very exciting point in the meeting where we are um ready to seat. Uh there's my notes. So this is an exciting time for us as a community. I wanted to wax eloquent for just a moment. Uh we are about to fill the vacancy left by Stacy Allen and we want to thank her again for her
132service. Uh the term is to complete completed through April 2027. Uh first I wanted to just make a note about the process that we used. Uh we opened an application process districtwide and truth be told we were hoping to fill the vacancy uh with a parent. Uh we were graced with three highquality candidates and after interviewing them we had significant deliberation of the three. Um, ultimately we selected the candidate we felt best represents the district and our community as best as one person can. Um, I hope the two candidates that were not selected continue their involvement with district 21 and at their children's schools. Uh, but without further ado, let me introduce to you Ilana Guzman. Iliana, why don't you come on up here? Come on up. Ilana is a parent of two elementary students
133and one not yet student not yet in school. Uh she has served on and continues to serve on the bilingual parents council and served on our most recent strategic plan commission. And we are so excited to get to know you and get you involved in everything. But first, without further ado, let's swear you in. Um, board members, I know we all just did this and it's very lengthy, but if anyone would like to join Ilana in in uh saying her oath, please do. Madam President, um, just just procedurally, I think you need to take a vote um, to affirmatively. Um, I believe you do. Yes, it does under two. Excuse me. Let's go back in time just a moment and get a motion to approve that the board of education appoints Ilana Guzman to fill
134the vacancy. So moved. Oh, there you go. So moved. Second. Thank you. Jessica, yes. Bill, yes. Arlland, I. Carrie, yes. I vote yes. Debbie, yes. Motion carries. Sorry, I was excited. Okay. You have you have a copy in front of you. Um okay. So Iana do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education of Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 in accordance with the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and the laws of the state of Illinois to the best of my ability. I further swear that I shall respect taxpayer interest by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets. I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and
135others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees. I shall recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at a public board meeting. I shall abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions that ethical and constructive channels. As part of the board of education, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the school district. I shall foster with the board extensive participation of the community, formulate goals, define outcomes, and set the course for Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21. I shall assist in establishing a structure and environment designed to ensure all students have the
136opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law. I shall serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students and our community's schools to advance the vision of Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21. And I shall strive to work together with the district superintendent to lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision of the board that the board has created fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills, knowledge, citizenship, and personal development. Well done. Congratulations. It's good to have a full table again. Yes. Um all right. The next regular meeting of the board of education of Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 is scheduled for
137Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 7 p.m. Uh I believe that is everything on our agenda. So may I please have a motion to adjourn our meeting? So moved. Second. There should be an adjournment at the end here. Just note the time. Sorry, bear with me. First go around. Okay. The motion was made by Arlin. Thank you. Okay. Jessica, yes. Debbie, yes. I vote yes. Carrie, yes. Arlland, I. Yes. Bill, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. We're ajourned. [Applause]