001for the levy. So the 2025 levy, this is the uh request that the board makes of taxpayers to collect uh in next year's fiscal year. Um, in the board book is our certificate of levy and also the calculation page. The process tonight then is really just to open it up to the community to hear comments about the levy. Later on in the the meeting, we'll the board will take action. So, right now, just opening it up to any public comment. >> All right. All right. Hearing none. Um Okay. All right. I need a motion to adjourn the public hearing for the purpose of truth and taxation. >> Washington key. >> All those in favor signify by by saying I. >> I. >> Eyes have it. All right. >> All right. Now, I'm calling to order
002our regular meeting of December 16th, 2025 at 7:02. Roll call, please. >> Here. Here, >> here. We are in session. Uh, please stand for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> All right. Any additions to the agenda? All right, recognitions and celebrations. >> I'm super excited to invite Mrs. Fork Cash Up to celebrate some very special students. >> Excited she's here though. Um, but we're still going to recognize all of our students. So, congratulations to the nine Oak Prairie students who have been honored in the 2025 2026 ILMEA recognitions in the areas of composition contest, district band and choir, and all state choir. In the
003competition contest, there were 349 total entries into the contest, and we are excited to have all four of our entries represented. Nicholas Grande placed first in the rap and hiphop um component of it. Leon Schuman second place in the remix. Gracie Lenonate third place in remix. Sloan McCarter was honorable mention in remix. Uh the rap hiphop contest allows students to sample from recordings, create backing tracks, and compose their own lyrics. Nick Grande has created all of his tracks outside of school using FL Studios. And he is currently self-publishing on Apple Music and Spotify and has a decent amount of followers. Yeah, he's super talented. So, um it's really cool to see something that has like kind of led into a passion for him, like a true passion. So, um really proud of him. Um in
004the Remax contest, students are given stems or individual parts and instrument tracks to a piece of music. Then they split, splice, and transform the music into entirely new composition using digital audio workstation software such as Soundtrack Trap or Garage Band. Oak Prairie has an amazing tradition in the remix contest. Over the past 12 years of the junior high remix contest, Oak Prairie has had students place every year except for one. >> Um, and I have to give a huge shout out to Mr. Rank for his music music production class that a lot of this work happens in. Um, he's done a great job of putting together two studios that students can go into um to do a lot of this work and kind of grow their passion and learn a lot about um how to
005make music. It's it's really a cool class. It's turned into a very cool class for our students. show. Um there is a listening gallery available uh that you guys can check out some of the soundtracks or you can find Nick Grande on Spotify. Um Oak Prairie choir students opted into a rigorous audition process for the junior high regional level choir. Our top performing sixth grade students were then nominated for the sixth grade elementary allstate choir. Based on that process, the state has selected Oak Prairie's top four students to participate in this year's elementary all-state choirs. And congratulations to Ava Kloki, Emma Papadoo, who is here tonight, Tucker Lang, and Julia Barrett. These students will all be honored at the ILMA awards ceremony in Puria, Illinois on Saturday, January 31st. So, Emma, would you like to
006come up and receive your award? [applause] Emma, [applause] >> if you want to go to the background, too. We set it up. >> It's a good It's [laughter] a good background. >> [clears throat] >> Good job. Good job. >> Student report. No aft report. Okay. Can you hear me? >> Okay. Um, we as a union board want to continue to build a collaborative relationship with administration and the board of education. We also want our members to be seen as more than just resources. One of the district's main priorities in the new strategic plan is to foster trust and collaboration and actions taken in recent events have incited fear among staff and we are concerned that this might be eroding the culture and climate here at district 92. So, it is the union's b union board's
007hope that we can move back towards being a strong and thriving community of administrators and educators and families coming together to support and encourage the growth in learning for our students. At a time when teaching and learning is becoming more difficult than ever due to the evolving student, we need more and not less. More support, more understanding, and more trust and more collaboration. The union board is asking the board of education to do what is best for all staff and students to keep an open mind about the situations our district faces and be willing to explore all aspects of those challenges in order to make a more informed decision about the path forward. We hope that you will reach out to teachers and staff to understand the realities of all involved in what we do
008here at District 92. Um, well, >> I was gonna say I mean I guess I was just going to question. >> Oh, sure. Absolutely. >> Well, my question is as a board member to reach out to staff. Isn't that not our role or right chain of command and that's >> right. >> Well, I I think maybe to come and observe in the classrooms or in the school building. You guys can do that. Cool. >> That kind of thing. Yeah. Not definitely not like reaching out personally to staff, but just seeing what they do. Okay, that's what I that's what I meaning by that. Fair enough. Absolutely. >> But just to be fair, for some of us, I mean, we all work full-time jobs, so we would have to take a vacation day, right, in order
009to come and observe the classroom, which for some of us or all of us is really hard. You're asking us to take a vacation day um to come observe you. Um so we, you know, Dr. Frankovich is acting in accordance with the direction and expectations of the school board. We stand behind her leadership and remain focused on accountability, transparency, and most importantly student success. >> Absolutely. I just think it's important if there is an opportunity because there are different opportunities where teachers go to afterchool activities where you might see them in action doing different things. So just to be aware >> of what they're doing. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Um, at this time, um, we're going to move into our regular business meeting. Yes. [laughter] >> Wow, George. [laughter] >> Thank you. And thank
010you so much for coming out this busy. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> Happy holidays. >> Bye, guys. >> Congratulations. All right, administrative reports. Dr. >> Vinkovich. >> All right, I am excited to start. So, tis the season. There is a lot of joy and generosity in D92. I believe Norah is going to highlight the giving tree. So, I don't want to steal her thunder tonight, but um it's amazing how the community comes together to give to one another to make sure that regardless of how you are celebrating this holiday season that you feel love and joy. Um, also there are a lot of great things happening. I just want to give some quick shoutouts. Um, our cheerleaders are crushing it. So, shout out to our cheerleaders. Super proud of them. Amazing to see their spirit
011in action and congrats on placing a bid at nationals. We're super super proud of them. Or state. State. Yes. Sorry. Wrong. Um, also we have a party planner in the audience. I know that we have teachers that take additional things on there. She's nodding her head. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, but they take on additional responsibilities to be able to celebrate and make sure that students have fun memories because as hard as our teachers work at making sure our students know how to read, write, do math, they also remember those joyous moments when they're having fun at parties, and I really appreciate that. So, shout out to all of our party planners out there and all the parent volunteers as well. Choir performance was amazing at Reed. Um, our third grade choir just
012crushed it. It It was phenomenal as all the choirs are here. So good to see the families that came out for that and put you in the holiday spirit. It was amazing. And bowling fun. The highlight of this week. Um, Lwig's classroom elves even made the visit over to Strike and Spare and uh, watch bowling happen. And it was it was exciting. And I think it's so cool because as I talked to some staff members, one of the highlights that they had to share was that some of our students had never been bowling. >> And so what a fun way to remember at the holidays that you're with your friends and your teacher in a bowling alley and your elves are watching. >> Um it it was really magical. So shout out to to all
013the magic happening in there. Um my report is in there. If the board has any questions, I'd be happy to answer it. Otherwise, I'll turn it over to Dave. >> All right. Um so in the board memo there were just two points biggest being the um audit came in. So at the table here is is a um is a binder from um John Michaelco our audit for 2025. >> He did also provide a um summary for us because he was already scheduled to be at about five different meetings today. >> Uh so the the delay with this year was because of the office of management and budget. um they didn't get the report done and so that was holding up John being able to finalize the audit. Um so in terms of of the findings,
014like I said, it's in the board book. I'm not going to read through what he said. These are basically the points that he would be making um to the board tonight. He's he's happy to come out in January if we would like, but um at this point there were no findings. And so from the standpoint of where we're at, obviously we're still working hard on all of our financials and the forecasting for um FY 26 and 27. So that's still ongoing. Um I can uh attempt to answer any of the questions or bring those back to John and he could um he could definitely respond if there are other follow-up questions about the audit. Um obviously we just got it. It's hot off the press, so that'll be good nighttime reading for all of us.
015Um, so just the only other thing I wanted to highlight was we were in the middle of open enrollment. Um, so that's been a fairly busy time for us in the business office and so we adjusted with open enrollment being a calendar year um, renewal cycle as opposed to the school year. So that's been pretty good. Staff, I don't think have had um, issues with the the new system of logging into that and uh, getting those things uh, selected. So really we're we're in pretty good shape as well as we had the biometric screening before Thanksgiving break which was quite nice. So that's my report. Thank you. >> So the January 1 do the new start. >> That's the new and we started that last year. So our co-op uh went across the board. So
016it wasn't just us being called out. It was all districts in the co-op. So last year we had an 18month renewal cycle um to get us on to that new calendar year or to the new calendar year um open enrollment cycle. >> Yeah, >> that's good to hear. There's not any >> again when you got the school year and you got the calendar year don't mesh. >> No, it's [laughter] like don't do this. That's all I see. [laughter] >> I I know it was a thing at at school this past week, but >> week. >> All right. [clears throat] Uh, good job on the audit. Obviously, that's there's a lot of detail and >> Yep, absolutely. >> Keeping that um up. So, >> all right. Um, director of student services. We are struggling to get
017students. We have some BCBA consultants coming out and they're teaming with them and it's going very well. So, we're pretty excited about that at Walsh and that will be an eightweek um commitment. Then we have our paras doing our Oh, sorry. This is not what you need to see. This is what you need to see. Sorry, I will get that up. Um our paras are involved with training too. It's through the same company that we collaborated with from um our consulting firm Par Thrive. And now I can't see what I just had up. I apologize. Okay. So, you can see the agenda while I'm doing this and then we'll go back to that. Um, we have two things with ISBY that we're working on. Two state indicators for our performance plan. You'll be getting more
018information on that. It's a two-year cycle, but that information went out to the state this week. And then our self-contained classes also had PD this week on Encore Teachtown, which is our new curriculum for our modified students. And it went very well. We're super excited about that. They will be doing three separate trainings. They have to do the first portion, teach for so many weeks, go back and meet with the consultants each time and it's going very well. So, we're excited about that and we'll keep you posted. And then giving tree with Dr. Frankie mentioned we had 48 families that we assisted this season. So, that's super exciting. All the tags that were taken came back which is also a big celebration. And then we actually had many um staff members who adopted full families
019which was very cool and they did that on the front end. So, kudos to everyone in D92. feel like not only our students and staff, but our community members, St. Bernard's Church, our athletic association, everyone really does chip in. So, it is one of the funnest things to do this time of year. And then the last thing you have in your packet, I apologize. [clears throat] You have a handout with this information as well, but I'm going to go through and share with you what we've been doing with um our continuum of services. Why am I not There we go. There we go. Okay. So looking at our continuum of services, we are just trying to streamline what we're doing across the district at all four schools. You hear about all of our special ed
020programs throughout the year as you're approving funding and resources and things like that. So just going through to show you everything that we're doing here in the district. When we look at the least restricted environment, you hear that all the time. We have to provide a free appropriate public education for all students. So at the bottom, this would be every student in our district in general ed doing what they need to do, fully participates with their same age peers, no services all the way up to our student who might be in an interim alternative education placement or homebound, which we have very few of our outofd students fall in that separate school or residential school at the top four bars there. Just so you can see that most of the students are at the bottom,
021fewest students are at the top. When we look at the gened setting, that's where our students are in their gened classroom for the majority of their day, 80% or more. They may be pulled out for related service. They may see their special ed teacher for a short time, or their special ed teacher may push into the classroom. Those students really don't have too much change in their curriculum throughout the day, but they're getting support to be successful in that gened curriculum with their same age peers. If we go up to the resource level program where a lot of our students, if you look at the total of our special ed population, they fall into this resource category. So they are in their gened classroom 40% they're in special ed 40% of le or less of
022their day. So they might go into the classroom just for reading. They might just go in for math, but then they're with their gened peers for everything that they can handle and it's all individualized for them. primary purpose to make sure they're getting that individual education but not missing what's happening with their same age peers or gened students throughout the curriculum. Then our instructional classes is that level higher. So students may be instructional for just reading or just math depending on what they need, but they are getting more of an adaptive curriculum because they're not successful in that gened. But this is after we've exhausted the lower levels of services for them. And if you go to our self-contained or intensive, previously we have called those classrooms PEC and that's what we have called them
023this year. We are looking to just keep that not labeled and looking to go more to an intensive specialized instruction. So then it's not labeling a child, it's looking at what that individual child needs, whether that be a related service, math, reading, functional curriculum. These students are more in that modified curriculum. So Teachtown is one of the programs that we're using for that uh self-contained population. Then if you look at our separate schools or facilities, you see those when they're coming through with our tuition bills and that right now we have about 20 students that are out of district because we do not have programs that meet their individual needs here. The goal is to have all of our students in district the best we can, but at this point we do have 20 that
024receive services outside of our four schools here at district 92. So these placements are explained out to you. I won't read through everything, but we have some district program some district students that are in a public therapeutic school. So, LASEK, our local special ed co-op, does have some public school programming, our non-public facilities, and then homebound or hospital. If a child is hospitalized, they still receive those um direct services. Then, our prek students have that same continuum of services, but their programs look a lot different than our K through8 students. So, they may just be getting speech services. They may come in, see the speech speech pathologist at Walsh School, and then go home. We start with them as early as two and a half years old. So that's when you hear we're doing our
025transition meetings. By the time they turn three, they need to have those services here at the school setting. So we'll have a six-month window where we start planning. The Walsh team will do their evaluation and those students usually start on their third birthday unless the parents really want to celebrate that third birthday. Then they'll start the next day, >> which we love and appreciate. And then our early childhood self-contained classes, we have our blended classroom where 20 students are in a class max. Most of those students do not have IEPs. So, it's a blended just like our resource level K8. And then our self-contained is that more intensive program. We would have no more than 10 students in that class. We try to keep that [laughter] under eight and they have more intensive needs. So
026then looking at this continuum, rolling this out to the whole district with staff more so we're all using the same terminology. I think when you say resource, that might look different at Oak Prairie than it looks at Walsh. How does it look at Reed compared to Lewig? So, we're going to review kind of our current case loads and sections that will help us when we're looking at projections for next year. Even though we have this continuum, where do our students fit? How many sections do we need to meet those needs? So, we'll be looking at that, looking at the projections for services, also considering our MTSS data, our 504 plans, and our IEPs across the district. And then making sure we're getting that professional development for that more intensive need with our autism, sensory needs,
027behavior regulation, and then looking at best practices. getting back to looking at our IEPs and making sure they're consistent across all four schools. So, that's what we're planning for next year. And happy to answer any questions, even though I had tech issues. Very descriptive. I like it. Thank you for explaining that. >> It was good. >> Thanks. Do we get additional state funding for the the kiddos we have to outsource or is that pretty much >> the percentage has been kind of between 80 it's gone 80% 75% over the past 10 years. I don't know if you know the magic number. It's kind of a it's kind of like the transportation reimbursement. I guess that's the best comparison. So they reimburse it at a certain percent every year and we usually know that the year
028after they reimburse us. what you get. Here's what you get. So, it's Yeah, it's it's kind of >> it's not 100%. No, >> it's definitely not 100%. If they go back like sometimes we have gotten an extra lump sum and then we'll use that for PD or things like that, but not it's not definitely not 100% covered. No, >> no, I didn't expect I just wasn't sure if they >> they had made any changes if there was, >> you know, anything you heard in the pipeline. >> No, I know. And the I know it's you're renaming it or not calling it anything. >> Yeah. >> Um >> Specialized instruction will still be the current model with >> 2, three, four at read and then five, six, seven, eight at >> That's a great question. It
029kind of depends on enrollment. So right now we have some students in third grade at REI that could go to that higher level or the more intensive program, but they're doing so well we kind of don't want them to go. So we're working with individual families that they may come to Lwig to just have instructional level because they're doing so well and don't need that intensive. So we don't want to put them in that program just because they had that label once if they don't need it. We want that to be fluid and make sure they're getting what they need. So we're looking at that with the projections now. [clears throat] >> So it could be, you know, Walsh could have a second grader if that was appropriate and Oak Prairie right now has fifth
030graders. So we don't want it to be just based on the child's age. we can cluster them within four years which makes graded centers difficult. So if you're in a K8 building, you can have a K through three classroom, you can have a four through seven classroom because that's what available because our kids move every two years. It makes it more of a challenge and a little bit more labor intensive. So we look at that all the time. So we're being more flexible with that than we have been in the past. I think it looks differently. Yeah. >> And I gave you a print out of everything narrative instead of on slides. So you have that as well. All right. Thank you. [clears throat] Uh, director of curriculum. >> I just want to highlight in
031December, our AI trailblazer team met to kind of continue that work about what does it look like to be safe and ethically responsible when it comes to AI use. And it really is a nice group, a nice team that we have with teachers and administrators. And I think the the best thing about the group is that we have people at varying levels of experience with AI and comfortability with AI. So, it's always a nice reminder of as we roll this out to staff, making sure that we're keeping in mind that there is that varying level. So, when we met in December, we looked at what did it look like at your buildings when we did this initial roll out and sharing of what we had did earlier in the year. We also looked at some
032new um AI technologies that we can be using. And again, right now, our goal is to help staff become comfortable with it. So giving them the tools and thinking about how would this help in the job that you have not necessarily rolling it down to students at this time. Um and then just making a plan for you know what are our next steps. We are planning at that February institute day to let the staff on the trailblazing team kind of share out with others so that everyone gets a little chance to play with some of these AI tools. So, we're really looking forward to that and just again being cognizant of where everyone is, knowing that for some people it's really exciting and for others it's a little nerve-wracking. So, just kind of keeping that
033in mind as we move forward. >> Uh, director of technology. [snorts] >> Hello everyone. Uh so the next steps for the H Heartland uh business uh quote uh we will be uh signing the quote very soon and then we will be getting the scope of work and maps uh from them and then once uh the delivery of the hardware is shipped um we'll have a kickoff meeting with them uh and then we'll get into scheduling and everything like that. We can't really get to scheduling until we know when stuff is going to arrive. Um, in my memo, you also see uh the refresh cycle planning. Um, I just wanted to talk about AI. Um, due to I'm starting to hear a lot of uh people start talking about an AI chip shortage because they're buying
034up so many chips and processors and RAM and everything that they need to uh keep AI running. um it's causing you know shortages in otherware other places and also price hikes. So I just wanted to make you guys aware of it talk about it now um because I am starting that process of starting to get uh bids uh for our devices for next year and then uh we have already worked with one vendor and gone through a demo of switches and firewalls. Uh so we will be uh putting together our list of requirements and submitting that for -ate and then we'll have the uh we'll reach out to other vendors when they uh submit those proposals and go through that process as well. Uh are there any questions for me? >> Uh so we need
035hardware, we need student devices. Do we need servers this summer? >> We need switches uh for Oak Prairie. are due for replacement and the firewall is due for replacement. We're also moving our firewall from the district office to Oak Prairie. Um, and that's all based on when ICN, our ISP provider, is going to move our connection from district office to OP. So we're at that at their whim for that but we will have the technology in place for that time for that cut over. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh maintenance report is in the Oh, come on up. [laughter] >> Come on up. >> Come on down. >> Hello everyone. >> Hello. >> Good evening. Uh we survived our first major snowfall. >> Yeah. >> Uh we did have a couple of problems. We blew
036hydraulic hoses on two of our trucks. We had them part. We're able to get them back up and running within a half hour. And the uh the newer plow that we have in last year, we could not get the plow to work. Uh ended up being a control module that has has been repaired and is up and running. And the uh we still have the old dump truck. We got that up and going and we've been using that. We don't know how long it's going to last, but we're going to keep it going. It does have a light hydraulic le we're keeping an eye on it, you know, until the end of life, I guess. [snorts] Uh the ETA on the new truck beds for the 2 a.m. truck the men are running off in
037the middle of January. We're getting those in. As soon as they come in, we're getting the new beds put on. They are one of them is operational right now. The other one is in the shop getting brakes on it, getting ready for when the new bed come in. We get get them here. We then have uh over Thanksgiving we had a coil uh and Lee over at Walt in room 18. That unit that had the water turned off right now. The parts are in. We are going to change that coil over in the Christmas break and that unit will be up and running. We did have a heating coil in Oak Curry foyer that link we have to replace that one. We have one and I'm sorry go back a little bit with the wall
038coil when we ordered the coil. We ordered two of them. Three of our buildings have the same coil. That way we have a replacement in case of >> eventually it's going to happen again. Yeah, >> let my remote have any down time. The domestic hot water heater at Wall I'm sorry, not at Walls at Oak Prairie, which is not the same hot water heater as the K was a couple months ago that used to take care of the showers in the rest of the building. We're having issues with that. Uh AMS came in It is lined up on the inside. They're going to come back. We lime that and we'll be up and running. That is not scheduled yet at this point. The MI system at all four of our building. We hadn't have issues
039with it. It is getting better. We've determined well the new semen rep we have determined that the units can be programmed individually and then fall back on the B system where the way it was programmed before was the system was programmed and the units ran off of that. We've determined that it runs better if you do them individually and Paul M. So, we've had much fewer problems the last month and a half. That's pretty much all I have. Any questions for me? So the as far as the control system for uh is this because of the upgrades to the computer [clears throat] control systems that's giving us the problems or is this just um >> I think >> the age of the units and >> I think it's partially the age of the unit and
040there's not very many of the attack now that are working on the older system and that system at this point is 11 years old. >> Yeah. I >> And we're we're having >> the new work on new the old system. >> Yeah. I had that discussion realizing that. Yeah. It's 11 years that we started with Walsh and Reed and >> Right. >> And unfortunately, you know, uh Seammens told us to be prepared. That's when things will start breaking. And it's hard to believe it's been 11 years, but >> yeah. 11 years from walk this year and 10 years from Marine >> time fly. >> Yeah. So the uh so programming the units locally and then you're controlling them with the BAS >> versus the reverse way, >> right? >> Yeah, that makes sense. >> And
041it seems to me better. So Okay, good. >> Are we going to be looking at having to replace update that BAS system? >> Yeah. >> [snorts] >> the uh the whole thing or just some of the control units or >> eventually the whole me and you're not you're starting to get last for >> yeah okay [laughter] there it's fine >> one more thing to add >> Dave shakes his corner >> again when I had this discussion with Dave You know, when you look at the heaters that were in this building since effectively the 50s, and it wasn't perfect, but they just chugged along, and now we're talking 10 years down the road, and we're replacing components and the same Univvent systems that, you know, were supposed to be the next greatest, best thing. And just,
042you know, again, it's that that age difference where hey this this clunky thing lasted [snorts] 60 years and this one's >> given up the ghost at 11 >> kind of hard to to fathom with the >> kind of throw away everything right now. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thanks Gary. >> All right. Principal celebrations. >> All right. Good evening, board. >> So, >> yeah. >> You like that? >> Yeah. >> Uh the principal team, we were thinking about what we wanted to share um at this particular board meeting. And you know, the month of December is always wildly busy, right? So, we just wanted to highlight some of the positive things going on um in all of our buildings. So, I did ask my SLT team over at Lewig, I said, "What
043do you guys want me to report out on?" Right? What is going exceedingly well? What are you really proud of? and everyone around that table, they talked about the impact that CKLA is having on the students experience at school. So, I said, "That's amazing. I would love to go talk about that." So, I'm going to talk about that in one second because there's a couple data points that are really, really awesome that I wanted to share that tie directly into this. So last week I got an attendance report from my secretaries and we only had three students absent on that day of school which in December very rare, right? So it got me thinking because the next day the attendance was really good as well. I said what is our overall attendance? So I ran
044the metrics today. Um right now Lewig is sitting at 97.7% attendance which you know we shoot for 95 right >> for the year or the >> for the year so far right. incredible attendance numbers. Just for comparison, at the end of last school year, we were at, I think, 93.4 or something like this, right? So, really good in the first half of the school year. Again, when kids are present, we can do amazing things. So, shout out to our students and families for getting their kiddos to school. >> You knock on wood right now. >> Right now, [laughter] double knock. Um, we did our first trimester behavior review looking at discipline referrals comparative this year to last year. We've had 23 referrals come in at the end of first trimester this year compared to 46,
045exactly double from last year. So, when we're focusing on teaching and learning, it allows the great things to happen in the classroom that the the teachers are talking about with CKLA. We're not focusing on behaviors, right? Um, and then I just want to uh talk about the 200 club. So, these are the phone calls I love making, and I still get parents, they get nervous when I call, but we're sitting right at 118 students are in the 200 club right now, which has resulted in some of them got more than one. Um, 159 positive phone calls home from my desk over the course of the first half of the school year. So again, f focusing on all the positives allows our teachers and I'm going to quote them with what they said um to really
046implement CKLA with fidelity knowing that there is so much in that resource that we have to skinny it down but we're not skipping anything, right? Um they talk about how the students have really bought into the thematic units and you can see that when you pop into all these classrooms. Fourth grade has um like an entrepreneur inventor unit going on right now and they are eating it up. they are loving it and it allows us to again take their thinking to a higher level, right? They've bought in. We have them. Now, what are we going to do with them now that we have them? Um, they talked about just lesson rigor and just increasing overall reading and writing stamina, right? So, that's what's happening in our classrooms and our teachers are doing just an incredible
047job. So, thank you guys very much. Any questions? >> No, I was going to comment on your attendance thing. Yeah, >> we got a gentle soft letter home about the kids and it was like the perfect >> reminder for me to not be so lenient with my kids in the beginning of the year. Everybody came home with these runny noses and it was a it was like a little hug. It was like [laughter] we got them. So, it was a good reminder. So, thank >> I like I like the the reminder letters. >> Yeah, it's paying off. Yeah, >> knock on wood because like >> Hannah got sick so much last year and like I have not noticed even with her friends like she has a specific friend group will run through that. [laughter] >>
048Good lord >> and so shout out to maintenance and staff. >> Yeah, >> that's too 100%. >> Keep the police from going around. >> Absolutely agree. >> Awesome. >> All right, I am going to highlight um just some good feels coming out of Oak Prairie. Um, we've had a couple things that uh just have like kind of warmed the hearts of our staff and see happen that I want to share with you guys. So, first I always love to highlight the giving tree. Um, it's such a wonderful tradition that D92 takes part in and it always shows just how supportive our community is here and it's one of the things I love about D92 is that when people need help, um, our community always steps up. Our families, our staff, they always step up um,
049in any way possible that they can. So, um, shout out to all those that participated in that, the gifts that come and it's just amazing, right? And then when families come pick them up, you just see the the raw emotion on their faces that like you're changing their holiday season. Um, and it's just wonderful. Um, and you guys don't always get to see that the moment when the families come pick up the gifts and the they have to take a cart out to their car because there's so much there. It's just like it just gets you all the feels. Um, another thing that we had happen was, and I love when students get involved in kind of home grow things, uh, we had the Girl Scout troop reach out and they were putting together, um,
050boxes for students in the hospital or for children in the hospital and they made this really cute flyer, like homemade flyer from them. Um, and and they were like, "Mrs. Forces, can you please advertise this for us?" Um, and so I did. I threw it in the newsletter and I made announcements and all of a sudden stuff just started coming in for them too, right? And then before we knew it, we had this huge box full of crayons, coloring books, stuffed animals. And when I called the student down who had organized it, she didn't know all this stuff was coming into the office. I called her down. I'm like, "Hey, Lily, we got all this stuff for you." She just broke down and started crying, you know, because it was she didn't know. She didn't
051know that just this small gesture that she, you know, put out there was going to come back into into this like wonderful um opportunity for her and the Girl Scout troops that she's working with. So, and then her mom came in and we needed a cart again to like get everything out there. Um, and then the last feel-good story I'm going to share is that uh we had another family that's got five uh children in the district and um has always needed a little extra helping hand. Um and the shop with a cop um program stepped up and adopted this family and Will County um the Will County Sheriff's Department um showed up and in a really big way. They took the family out. They shopped with them. They had a cart just full. Um
052I want to give a shout out to Will County Sheriff Deputy Aaron Vassic. she kind of coordinated everything and then they partnered up with Morning Star Mission um and they provided um some groceries and um gift cards so that the family could shop for the [laughter] season. Um and just the dad's response was just so so kind. He's so appreciative of of the support that our district continually gives to his family um when they need. So um just some wonderful ways that our district and our students and our families step up and support each other. So super grateful for that. >> That's awesome. >> The season. >> Love it. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> And everybody's festive. I missed the memo. [laughter] >> Santa, you know, I got all red. It was
053>> I said I got but it wasn't. >> Okay. So, I'm going to continue with just some feelood news happening from Reed. Uh, so it's the most wonderful time of the year, but definitely happening at Reed as well. Uh, so to echo Mrs. uh, Dr. Frankovich, our third grade choir did a phenomenal job. I have to shout out Mrs. Ryappel. Every performance they have, I always laugh because there's an adult from the audience that comes up and is just >> giving her such major major kudos. Sometimes I think it's the same gentleman. He must be a music teacher somewhere. Uh, but I trust his opinion because he talks about the things that she does with the kids and I'm like, I knew it was so good. I knew it was great. Um they did a
054wonderful job. Friday is my favorite day of the school year. It's our tree lighting ceremony in the gym. Oak Prairie Choir is going to come over and we all sing um holiday carols together. It is the most meaningful day of the year. The kids love it. And when the tree lights, I know I've said this before, it is like the Rockefeller Christmas tree. The [laughter] most little sixoot tree on the stage, but it's just it's the best time of the year. Um lots of fun going on for our staff as well. We do what's called five festive days of fun at Reed. So celebrating with like merry music trivia. We've got secret Santa, so staff kind of running around trying to put little trinkets on teammates desks without being caught. Uh hot cocoa bars. Just
055lots of fun things for them as well because it's everybody's antsy at this time. So it's just an extra push to get us through the week. >> Uh echoing um doc um Mrs. Forash, sorry, everybody's doctor today. Uh Mrs. forecast about the giving tree. Huge success. Those tags fly off the tree so quickly. Uh actually, Mrs. Yone and I this year were like, we have to like maybe put out a few at a time because there's always parents that come in for conferences and they're so upset because they are gone. So wonderful problem to have. Um but we were able to collect, we actually counted them up over 120 gifts uh just for Reed families alone. So it was it's just always such a feel-ood thing. Yes. to see parents pick up so many gifts
056because this has just completely changed their holiday season and kids deserve something to unwrap on their holidays. So, we're very happy about that. Um, and I don't know if many people know, but we did welcome three new bulldog babies to our team throughout the past three months at Reed. Uh, so we had a baby girl uh in October, in November, another baby girl, and then a baby boy in December. So, that's been kind of fun. always congratulating our staff with their growing families, but also getting to pass around all the baby pictures when they finally arrive. So, just lots of happy feel-good things happening at Reed for us. >> Something's in the water [laughter] at drinking that water. Go drink the water. >> Yeah. Um [clears throat] I of course have to echo the giving
057tree. It's quite incredible. We have staff that take entire families. We have families that come in and we had to do the same thing this year. where we had to ration the tags so Tuesday conference parents could have the opportunity to get tags. So that's incredible. Um I do similarly to um Oak Prairie, we did shop with a cop with the Lockport PD and actually uh Officer Andy was just in this week telling all these amazing stories. We had four students from Walsh go and they had quite an experience there. So just a wonderful opportunity again for them to feel special and and just get a little extra love this season. So, that's incredible. >> They posted pictures, did they? >> Yeah, they posted pictures. They're so cute. >> Okay, I'll have to check that
058out. Um, and like Dr. Frankie mentioned in her report, um, Miss Walsh, you know, special shout out to her, the holiday spirit is really happening. She's taken an incredible lead um on planning our student parties for our EC and K1 students. She did the same thing for our Halloween party and she >> is thriving. Um she just wants to know what her budget is and then [laughter] and does an incredible job. So um she has truly taken that over and everybody loves it. So kudos to her. >> Um >> but I do want to wrap mine today with a student focused story specifically to what's happening in the classrooms. So we do our data review meetings. We have our benchmarking three times a year and then we meet in between those meetings as well. And
059in October we had our data review meeting and we noticed we had two classes in first grade that were really struggling like a good chunk of those classrooms. And so you know we came to together collaboratively with my psych first grade teachers reading specialists and we're like what can we do? And so we sat together, we came up with this idea and if you're in education, there's a there's a model called a walk to model where we can utilize teachers for different strengths with kids moving classrooms. And so I said, "Hey guys, we have one whole class of kids who are at this level and one whole class at this level. What are your thoughts on kind of overhauling this and taking on a walk to model for our kids?" So, you know, I kind
060of sat back and listened and they ran with it. And within a matter of three days, I had an incredible team come together. It affected my special ed teacher schedule, their special schedules, my special um specialist schedules. All these people came together and we created this walk to model. Now, I'm going to throw some data out there because this is what shows us that it works, right? So in the very beginning in late October we took some assessment data on students decoding CDC words. We had 37% accuracy students meeting. That was our baseline. In two weeks we went up to 60% meeting the two weeks after that we went up to 68% meeting and just this week we're at 82%. So that data shows that all that hard work, this team, you know, crazy idea,
061they trusted me, they went with it and it works for those kids, right? It worked for them. Now we can move them to reading them in isolation and we can continue to move them forward. And so I think it's really important and I even laugh because my reading specialist came in and she's like, "But it's still it's still not great. There's still 18%." I'm like, "I hear you." Right? So even with all that growth, they're still trying to problem solve and figure out what we can do next. So I think it's really important that when we talk [snorts] about all these amazing things happening in our community, we do have an incredible staff that are coming together, being collaborative, being open to new crazy ideas that I throw out there. This is, you know, we
062just overhauled an EC classroom in a week also, right? So, it's it really is a mindset of what's best for kids and I think it's really important that we make these databased decisions and take a lot of pride in that for our students. So, great things happening all around. >> Yeah, I love that. Kudos to you and your leadership >> jumping in and making it happen. >> Trying wild things. Be bold and brave, right? [laughter] >> I love it. No, that's what it's about. >> Y >> awesome. Thank you. >> Thanks, ladies. All right. Um, now I need a motion to approve the board action, uh, the consent agenda as presented. >> Washington Dapki. >> Uh, roll call, please. >> Yes. Motion carries. I missed something. Uh, thank you for coming. We know that you
063have a couple more busy days, so if you want to scoot out, you're welcome to. Or you're welcome to stay with us. [laughter] >> All right. Um, I need a motion to approve the annual levy for 2025. >> Washington Tedwell. >> All right. So, in the board packet then is uh some information about the levy. There's a presentation that was from last month. Just really want to highlight the second to last page of that because that's uh a public act notification that we have to submit to the community that shows our fund balances for um the end of FY uh 25. So that's just by law we have to do that. So I'm just highlighting that that point also. Then some highlights from uh the levy for this year. The first being the public hearing
064we don't have to do if we're under 5%. So, the board has requested that we open the transparency up to the community so that people can speak up and and talk to the levy if they'd like. And so, again, kudos to the board for stepping up and doing that. That's a great thing that we do for just transparency. We are just coming in a little over 3% for the levy. So, um in terms of where we're at, we're um the the ask that we never always get is is a little bit more than CPI. So CPI for the year uh that we're using for this levy came in at 2.9%. Um some other highlights then I would say for the way the district data looks at this point. The estimation right now for EAV growth
065was over 12%. So that means new property um the growth within our district. So that's great news right there in terms of the the foundation of growth that we've seen for a long time where things were pretty stagnant. Um there's there's growth there which is a great thing for us. Um overall then like I said the overall ask is just over 3% for the year. I will be submitting the the levy to uh the county assuming it's um approved tonight. I will do that tomorrow. Uh we're under that threshold. It has to be the last t by the last Tuesday of December. You have to submit the levy or forever forfeit that money. Um, so it will be submitted. Um, [laughter] so the minute it's approved, I I will just highlight too, so the board
066for the last three years now, we've we've you've opted not to approve a supplemental levy. So that is something that the board could opt to do. The difference for us this year is about $38,000. So um, we have up until February to submit that supplemental levy, but for that dollar, just to keep it in perspective of what the board is basically abating for our taxpayers, that's what that abatement is. Uh, with that, I'll answer any questions. >> New property. >> Uh, so there's two big >> Absolutely. >> pieces, right? The apartments. Are we seeing that now? Because they're not occupied yet. >> We have. So the the town homes, yes, but not the apartments yet. So the town homes, >> which apartments? The apartments by >> by Wendy. The new Wendy's. >> The Wendy's. Yeah,
067we haven't seen anything yet because they are they are occupied. There are people in there kids in them. >> Yeah. for the the town homes. We have been receiving um the >> some of that is on the rolls already. >> Yes. Okay. [laughter] >> It doesn't. >> Oh, >> okay. >> Perfect. >> Um sort of unrelated busing over there. >> I was just going to ask, so how does that work for the buses? Who calls the buses? Well, so we'll we'll get them in. So, yeah, once once the [laughter] Grand Perry knows that they're they're in, they'll we'll be moving that that as well. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> So, on the on the levy, so [clears throat] it's an increase of about 900,000 that you're recommending that we pass. >> So, how
068does that line up with the budget? So, it's it still positions us to have um a slight surplus, a little bit more than what was budgeted for FY26, but remember this is funds that we get over two years. So, we're we're looking and estimating basically growth over the next two years to try to figure out in terms of the levy of what our ask is. So, even though the ask is a little more than by we're going to get because we have a limitation there of the 2.9%. there is a little bit more but yet it does position us to continue to grow a little bit of a surplus. >> So the board approved the budget with a tax reduction. >> So this is asking for a almost a million dollar increase. >> So this
069again this is over a two-year cycle. So the board approved the budget for FY26. This applies the fun thing about the levy is it applies to two different budgets. So this is for uh partly part of the money that we'll receive for FY26. The other half will be in FY27. So >> what kind of math are you using that it's not a decrease? >> The the budget we approved had a decrease regardless of over two time periods, >> right? >> You can't increase the levy and say that you decrease it in the budget. >> I don't think we're saying we're we're decreasing anything. I I think for the purposes of what the levy allows us to do, this is the the money that we need to to pay forecasted bills in the future for what
070we have with expenses and other things. Now, the reason why we saw a slight savings was we did have a savings within um labor costs for last for FY26. That's partly the reason why the the numbers looked like they did because there were savings with our labor costs. >> Right. What I'm saying is the board approved a tax reduction. the board didn't necessarily approve the tax deduction. The board approved a new new budget for FY26 and the the revenues that we needed were more than the expenses were. So the the ask was less than the FY25 budget. So that's not necessarily a budget reduction. Taxes work through the levy. That's that's what that's where the that's the tax rate is is the levy. >> Well, but your budget includes property taxes >> in theory. Yeah,
071it's revenue. >> In theory, it's in there. >> It's revenue. the revenue. >> So you budgeted a tax reduction. >> Now you're asking for almost a million dollar increase. >> We're asking for that to the 2.9 which we're statutoily allowed to do. >> I understand that. But you the board approved the reduction in the budget, >> right, for FY26. This is money over two two budgets, >> right? Half of that comes in in 26. >> So you're a million off in just two months on your budgeting. Again, Jeeoff, this is over a 24-month period. I understand that >> we and we approved a a budget for the year that we're currently living in right now. So, we're halfway through FY26. >> I I know. And budget approved a reduction and we went through the expenses
072and revenues and you said those numbers were good >> and had a surplus in that. So, now you're asking for $600,000 more than what you budgeted. This is all part of of what was estimated for revenues when we did FY26. >> How can you increase the levy after you budgeted a reduction? >> The the the budget >> two different things though I think they are they are two different things. >> The budget is a standalone for the year we're living in and the budget is a living document. So the as as the board knows we've amended budgets up until the end of June and we can continue to do that. So, we're we're still living in a in a time where the budget is FY26, which we're halfway through now. And so, the revenue that
073that the board is approving tonight is for money we're going to be collecting in the for the second half of 20 of this budget year as well as the following year. So, in terms of the budget that the board approved, it was a the expenses were a reduction from FY25 and that's directly related to our labor costs, but that's not necessarily a tax reduction. And I think I addressed that after that statement. >> Property tax line in the budget was a reduction from the prior year and I asked you about that at the >> only because our our revenue numbers didn't need to cover the expenses at that point in time. >> So, you had a reduction in there. So now what's changed in two months that you need, you know, a $600,000 change? >>
074Well, we're going into bargaining with the teachers in another month or two and they're going to ask for additional funds. Our labor costs, we've like the board has said for the last three years, we will rightsize through attrition. So that's a a savings that will will come. We know next year we have or this year we have two two retirements. Next year we have seven retirements. And so there will be savings. And so, you know, I know that sounds the the number that we're asking for, that 2.9%. Sounds like a big number, but when we look at increases for all of our staff, that just uh you know, right off the bat, a percentage increase that, you know, we we calculate that at a couple hundred thousand. So, if we were to look at what
075the last bargain was when we did a 5% in the first year, that was half a million dollar increase right there just for our teaching staff. So gauging a million here or a million there. I know that those are big numbers and I'm not minimizing that number, >> but we're our budget is over 30 million. And so this is these are funds that we're trying to estimate what are our needs going to be for the next two years. That's where this money comes in. >> As well as as well as fund balances as we look at Lewig's parking lot, Lewig's um >> pipes the Yeah. um the Oak Prairie roof, the Oak Prairie elevator, all of those things. And so when we uh we have a budget that we're adhering to >> and we there
076are times when we make have to make adjustments. G Gary could come tomorrow and say something is completely dead and we need to spend whatever to get it fixed so that we can continue to maintain the building. Right? Those are the fund balances. And so just [clears throat] because the budget uh there was less expenditure in the budget doesn't mean that the we don't levy. >> Well, there was less property taxes in the budget from the prior year. >> But that was from property taxes we collected last year. So >> you collected half, right, >> through June, you collect the other half through the end of this month. and then you half of this levy you collect this year. So you can't reduce that amount and but then say I need more in the levy.
077>> So um a couple things. First of all um we have to keep in mind that we're asking for something and we're not going to get all that. That's the way it goes. And so and we historically have never had to go back and recoup. I know Illinois has made laws to go back and recoup. I don't know about y'all. I don't want to be the guinea pig for figuring out that law. I want somebody else to do it and I want to follow their pattern because that really can >> mess us up in the future. I will also add I'm not done yet. I will also add that I understand your frustration and you may not agree with how it's going. Dave is answering all of your questions. Whether you like the answer or
078you don't like the answer, I think that now we're going in circles and we need to just vote instead of keeping everybody here later and what they have to be. >> So you assume Dave may be off $900,000. That's not what I assumed. What I That's not what I assumed. That's one. Two, I call Frankie, Dave, Jim, and people all month long. This is not the first time I'm looking at this. Just because I'm quiet does not mean I don't comprehend or don't understand. I've asked all my questions. I'm very clear and I understand. So, that is what we're not going to do. You're not going to put words in my mouth. I'm just saying that we are talking in circles at this point and I understand how you feel and you're allowed to feel
079how you feel. That is why it's seven of us here. We all can think how we want to think. All I'm saying is at this point we are talking in circles. You feel how you feel. You've said it. It's recorded. Everybody's heard it. And now I don't know what else Dave can answer. If you have another question, I love to hear questions because people think differently than I think. So, if you have another question outside of what you've already asked, I'm totally open to that. But if we're just asking the same thing and trying to nail him in a corner, that's what I'm not on board for. And so, that's why I'm saying I recommend that we just vote because I don't think there's going to be a consensus here. That's all I'm saying. >>
080Well, I'm just trying to figure out what changed in two months that we suddenly need to increase the levy, you know, $900,000. >> And just just to address, you know, we haven't we haven't increased anything. So if you look at the budget, so the page 22 of the budget shows that our direct revenues that we were asking for in FY26 budget was 34 million. So if you look at what this request is on the levy, it's less than that. So I I I I'm not seeing the question or I'm not understanding the question. But >> are you looking at total revenues or >> I'm looking at total revenues. >> Okay. But that includes your federal and state. >> Sure. Which is much going to be more than your million dollar property tax. >> Sure. But
081it the the the question though that you had was that or the statement you made was that we were asking more and I just want to point out that in terms of the budget we we've got 34 million that was identified as revenues and we don't get that much from our transportation funding. We know federal funding if the if the podcast was anything that I listened to for ISBO talking about federal funds for FY the next you know fiscal year for the government that's you know different time frame it's kind of unknown you know so um I think those are those are unknowns but there there was no uh change because the the budget was the year we're living in right now >> right and I asked you about all those revenues issues and you
082told us you know the title funding is solid He had concerns about the transportation um reimbursement, but they were good. Um last year when I asked how much did you need on the increase, you said you needed the maximum increase to cover the budget surplus in the budget. >> Here you have a decrease in the taxes in the budget. You have a surplus. So how much do you need? You don't need a maximum increase because you've already covered that in the budget. property tax plus the surplus. >> And I'm sorry. And what he's saying is that that that is for two years. The number that we're looking at is over the course of two years. We cannot put on psychic hats and look at what's going to happen for next year. We won't know until
083next year, which is it's not the same as a home, but it's no different than owning a home. And any given point, I cannot balance my budget to zero. I can't do it because things at my house may come up. It's irresponsible. Is it irresponsible for me with four kids in my house to go, "Oh, I'm just going to zero this out and hope nothing goes wrong and pray for the best and hope that with facilities and money, uh, which Jim is our facilities encyclopedia, that everything on that list is going to stay the exact same and we're not going to have anything." So, that's what I meant by I feel like we're just talking in circles because that has been asked and answered now three times. Well, I I think you know we've covered
084that that we had a surplus in the budget of 900,000 >> in the budget that we approved it was 590. >> Okay. 590 and you're asking for an additional >> but 590 doesn't I mean when we look at bargaining and we look at what a three-year contract would cost us. That's compounded cost year-over-year. We wouldn't be doing any of the security work right now if we didn't have some labor savings from last year. So, the the fact that we're able to move on security for our buildings, which is paramount, um, which yes, we'll get reimbursed some of that from the cops grant, but not everything. We know that price tag was 1.6. We don't have 1.6 to to do that. So, I mean, well, that would use up the intense the entirety of the capital
085projects fund, but we know we're looking at 10 million for the Lewick parking lot like, you know, it's already been mentioned. So, we it was 590 in the budget. that's what we approved. But again, that's that's an estimate. So, we don't know funds from, you know, in terms of, you know, we forecast, we estimate, even the levy are all estimated numbers. I don't have the specifics from the county yet. So, when when we say here estimates, that's what the levy is. It's all estimated. I'm saying basically for the district to present, you know, us in the strongest position moving forward, it's to levy that 2.9, which is what we're allowed to do because that positions us to be able to pay ongoing bills and future bills because we know we're going to have a new
086contract um, you know, at some point and it's going to cost us a little bit more. >> So, do you feel the board was misled? >> No, absolutely. I don't >> No, the board was misled. I don't feel absolutely not. >> Do you think you would have got a 70 vote on the budget if you told them you were doing a million dollar? It might have been a 61 from last year. I don't know. So it No, I I I think there was absolutely no misleading. >> Why are you asking surprising questions? We met as a board. We had a training and we said no surprises. >> It's not a surprise question. It's asking how we >> But if you if you had so many questions, why didn't you have a discussion with Dave and
087then you could have brought then you could have brought it to the meeting and said Dave and I discussed this and these are my these were my questions and this is how he's answered. >> Well, the the public needs deserves I agree. But you can still have a conversation with Dave prior to the meeting. Just like I call Frankie prior to the meeting, I call whoever prior to the meeting and ask my question so that nobody is surprised. >> And the questions are asked a second time in >> in public form, but then people are armed to answer them >> and are clear on what the questions are too >> because that's what we agreed to. That is what we all agreed to. And in that training, that was the opportunity if you did not
088agree with that to say that. But we have done this now three months in a row where it's frustrating for me because it's seven different people here and we all bring seven different things to the table. So the questions you come up with, your background, your upbringing, everything are going to be totally different than my questions. And that is the point. That is how we're the most productive. That is how we move forward. And so every time you do a surprise question, it is um it it it delays progress because no matter what we have to vote on this tonight or we mess up everything like you know he has to put it in a newspaper. You know he has to do all that. There's nothing we can even do besides say no and then
089what? We don't have a levy. We missed a date. We have to have another special meeting during the Christmas holidays when you know everybody is busy. So that's all we're asking for is just to do what we agreed to do. And so I appreciate you bringing that up, Melissa, because it is it is counterproductive to continue to do over and over again. I want to hear your opinion. I respect your opinion. I love diversity of thought. That is where I thrive. But it is frustrating when we don't have that in between. I call all the time. I don't get paid for this. I'm here volunteering my time. And it's I'm not just here two hours, one Tuesday a month. I'm on the phone. I'm committed to committees. I'm committed to it all the way. I'm
090asking you to do the same thing. I've never ever gotten a phone call from you or a text message or anything where you want to bring that diversity of thought to the table. So, I'm asking for you to do that moving forward. So, we're not doing this. >> So, that's also a two-way street. >> I don't have questions from you. >> I don't I don't have any questions from you. You're asking me to predict what questions you're going to ask. That makes no sense. >> All right. Uh, roll call, please. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> No. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> All right. I need a motion to approve the instructional coaching positions as presented. >> Washington DOP key. [laughter] Okay. Oh, I found it. Oh, it went away. >> Do you I'm gonna
091steal it, though. Great. Can I borrow your computer? Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Apologize for the technical difficulties. Um, [clears throat] so last month when we met, we talked a little bit about um what staffing looked like when it came to evidence-based funding and kind of what our current model is. I don't want to share this. I want to I've got it. I promise. >> Can you talk louder or can I close the door? I can talk louder. Okay, I can do it. Um, there's >> a lot of noise out here >> and I can't hear her. >> I'll talk louder. >> Okay. >> When we met last month, we talked about um evidence-based funding and staffing recommendations. So, now we just want to follow up and look to see, you know, what
092we're recommending when it comes to instructional coaches. So, again, our current model, we currently have 12 full-time interventionists in the district. And this model is really on direct service and looking at remediation looking at the students that are behind and how do we provide those services. One of the challenges that it really limits the impact on building the teacher capacity. So kind of looking at what our current intervention snapshot is and we have phenomenal interventionists that are doing great things when it comes to moving students forward. We currently have 88 students receiving reading support and 88 receiving math support. When we look at our current students to staff ratio, it's a 1:11 ratio for reading and 1:22 for math. So when we look at that redeployment, we really want to transition from more of that
093reactive model to a proactive model. So being able to focus more on the tier one instruction, um being able to support our teachers in the classroom who can then support that entire classroom of students. So our our proposal is to redeploy four of our full-time interventionists into instructional coaching positions. So taking that model of let me support the students that are struggling to being able to support all of our students in tier one intervent or in tier one support. So that new staffing structure would look like we would still have eight FTEEs for interventions. Um we anticipate two per building and again it'll be based on the needs of the building to see um we're looking really at grade level bands but we still want to maintain that support for our tier 2 and tier
094three students. We know it's important and again we know our interventionists do a phenomenal job with our students and supporting them. We look at the structure for instructional coaching. We'd like to have four full-time instructional coaches. Two to support the ELA and two to support math. And really, it's to to drive that improvement and to build that teacher teacher capacity. We know having instructional coaches allows us to provide that ongoing professional development and really support more students in essence as we support the teachers in the classroom. We talked a little bit about benefits of instructional coaching really that it's enhancing that tier one effectiveness. It's building teacher capacity, right? It's built in PD and it's designed to be exactly what's needed in the district. So if one building needs something different than another, it really
095is tailored to what the teachers need. And then it's that instructional consistency. So being able to have instructional coaches that support across buildings and across grade levels allows us to see patterns and look to see, oh gosh, is there something that we need to be focusing on um across grade levels or across buildings. So really our recommendation at this time is that the board approves the redeployment of four interventionist positions to establish those instructional coach positions and that would be effective in the 2627 school year. Um what questions can I answer for you about this or about um coaching in general? >> You all right over there? >> Yeah, I'm right. >> I just want to reiterate I reach out to Frankie a lot to a lot of my questions asked and answered. So when
096I do not say anything, it is because I'm already >> clear and I've already asked a lot of questions and done all the things. >> Good point. Same. I've gotten all of my questions answered as well. So we've we've all I think been pretty well briefed, but >> um assuming it'll be posted, >> interviews like the whole hiring process, right? >> So if it gets approved, we would post it um and then we would do the interview process. um if it were approved hopefully post before we leave for break and then look at interviewing um potentially in January. >> Okay, >> that's cool. >> I just have the opportunity for leaders to step up. >> Yeah. >> So I I have a question more towards the teachers. >> Is there a majority who are for
097or against it or is it kind of 5050? What's the teacher buy in? So the concept and I'm I'm glad I I'd love to hear you know from someone just you know we think here's a positive or negative. I don't need a long speech just kind of the general because you do need buyin from them. >> We're not engaging with the audience. I can tell you though just from past experience when it came to adding instructional coach positions when they knew when they were new positions, you had staff that were really excited about it that were kind of early adopters and wanted to work with coaches. And then you had others that it took a little bit of time um just knowing that we're not forcing anyone to work with coaches. That wouldn't be our
098model. We would want that support for new staff, but then letting teachers come and say, "Gosh, this is an area that, you know, I'd really like to support to work on. can you support me with that? Um, so not really forcing it on on anyone that's there. Um, and I think just from past experience, it did take, you know, a year or two before people saw, oh gosh, this really is helpful. Um, the supports that we're able to provide are really targeted to what I'm interested in learning more about and how I can support the students that are sitting in front of me. >> Isn't it helping them too? Like >> it is >> get the load off of them a little. >> It is. And it's also nice as a being a teacher in
099the class. You always see everything and having somebody else in there kind of as a thought partner and to be able to look at the students that are sitting in front of you and the data that you have and gosh what can we do to support we see this area this is this is really tricky for the kids what can we do to better support the students um is kind of how it looks and what that support looks like >> also we've seen and heard and met with other districts similar to ours that have had success doing this >> well correct me if I'm wrong but we're like 10 to 15 years behind time schedule on this, right? Somewhere in there, right? >> Many districts do. I I think another huge perk for our teachers
100is sometimes it can be scary to be vulnerable in an evaluation process with your administrator if you're struggling in an area because they're also your evaluator. And so instructional coaches are not evaluative. So if a teacher is saying, "I want to be able to work on something," it really opens up that door to a safe environment where they can say, "I need you to scaffold." Similar how we do for kids. I model you watch. We can try together. I do you do then we can gradually release that where teachers can do it as well. So it is really about supporting our teachers to support our students. >> Right. >> Yeah. And I think to Moses's point, we we've been talking about it for >> nearly the entire time I've been on the board. Mhm. >>
101Um and to be able to get it done without increasing staff um you know to to rework within the the budget and model that we have. Um it's great. It's >> so >> and I know I asked last month I think how they would be like held accountable >> and so I that's the only thing I did not see in the presentation. So I just want to remind the community how we plan on monitoring that and how if you want to answer that just so people know. Yeah. Um, so one of the things that, you know, we had done in the past was kind of look to see what does our student data show us? What does the student data show us with teachers that have worked with coaches? And if it's an area of
102focus, being able to say, okay, what did what did our students look like before we started working? Here was our area of focus. What does it look like now? So coming back and reflecting on that. So it's not just, oh, you know, I worked with the coach for six weeks and now I'm done. being able to see what is that impact and then even if they're done working with the coach if it's a six or eight week co six or eight week co six or eight week coaching cycle and say this is where we can continue to go and I can continue to come back in and check in with you. Um but there definitely is that accountability piece. >> And the last thing I'll say which this is kind of springing it on you
103and I'm sorry I can wait for later. Um do we have like a timeline on how we plan on seeing how effective this is? You know what I mean? like if it's a 10-month school year, like when do we >> what are our checkpoints to see if this is working? >> Yeah. So, we typically did it um by trimester to look to see gosh, these are the these are the students we've worked with. What does it look like when it came to assessments that we had given and that were really targeted on the specific skill that we were working on. >> Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. [snorts] >> All right. Roll call, please. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. Motion carries. I need a motion to approve the board policy for the second reading of Yeah.
104from the second reading from last month. >> Washington Dapki. There have been no changes to policy. Um, as the board may recall, most were all just revisions with one being renamed and rewritten, and that was the agency and law enforcement request. No changes from last. >> [clears throat] >> Um, all right. Roll call, please. >> Yes. Motion carries. Um, all right. Uh, the 26 27 school calendar. [laughter] >> It's a good time for planning. So, um, I would like everyone to really focus on the dates for the school calendar. this uh new calendar that we're bringing tonight for discussion aligns very closely with Lockport Township High School. >> So um we tried to utilize and match as much as we could with them in hopes that we can do some vertical articulation as well next
105year. I know that they have some um companies that they're working with for PD and things which is always great and they're very open to allowing us to be able to join that which only helps make our students stronger because we're better able to prepare them for the experiences that they have. Um so we're we're excited to say that we align pretty closely with them. There was one change that um I did um let the uh union executive team know and administrators were sharing out with their buildings. We were we went to get the calendar um looked at for approval to make sure we could present it that it would get approved and October 9th when we originally had shared this out was a full school improvement day. We could not get approval to have
106a school full school improvement day. So what happened was it got switched to a half day. >> The good news with that is it now allows us to get out before Labor Day. So when we made that change, we were coming back when this was originally proposed to staff for one day now under this calendar pending that we have great weather, no, you know, cold or snow days. Um we would be getting out next year prior to um Memorial Day. Cool. >> Which is my favorite type of schedule. Not that it matters me or anything. I love >> [laughter] >> It was kind of a nice like oh but oh >> moment >> feels like you get a whole summer when that happens. >> Yes. >> All right. Any questions? >> All right. Um the
107student parent handbook. >> All right. We are excited to uh bring that tonight for a revision. Um key highlights that were made with the student parent handbook. We're updating our mission, vision, and core values to align with the new strategic plan. We also had a section um for personal electronic devices just making that clear what the guidelines are for use of that. We had a a link that wasn't working that we were notified from the department of uh public health so we are able to correct that so that in the event that our families are seeking more information they have a resource that works. We also added a new link for our families for our MTSS our multi-tered system of supports. So there is a link in there for that. And then the biggest discussion
108item were bus expectations. So we had a lot of talk about that and how are we able to positively promote that and I think um shout out to to staff and um administration at the building level for highlighting great bus riders. And we see when we highlight the good more people are like well I want to get that too. Um so it was really looking at how can we make sure we have expectations clear. Um, so that draft is in there for the board to review. >> All right. And, uh, business office job description updates. >> Absolutely. So, this is the first time the board is seeing these, uh, two updated job descriptions. Uh, a little bit about the structure of the business office. So, for about the last uh, four years, Genevie JRose has
109been working remotely for us. um she she left uh Lockport, moved out of state, and we had a backup hired for her, and that person fell through. And so, and then we um began a multi-year process of trying to find a replacement for her. So, she was going to only contract with us uh at the start of that when she when she moved and she knew that arrangement, but I really just want to call out, you know, her over almost 12 years of service for us, which has been phenomenal. Uh she is, um truly the number two in the business office. And so, um but through attrition, we know we need to adjust, you know, our staffing numbers. And so there's an update to job descriptions which is to basically uh use the strength that
110we have within the business office and it's been um the the fortune that we have of of uh Lisa Krueger who has been payroll and benefits for us for several years uh who who's a rock star and um has uh stepped up and and is is going to assume these new responsibilities as identified in the job description. Um, and then our accounts payable and receivables, Mary Gleewa, she's going to assume other duties. She's already taken on a few of those roles as well with benefits and other things. So, we are going to get back to a a true threeperson department, which is the way we were precoid. So, in terms of where we're at, um, this is a it's it's a a big change for us. But those job descriptions are for the board's reference
111tonight. We don't have to take action until January. But um you also I provided a memo just for the board just to see some some numbers and see how these things played out. Um salaries and those kinds of things. Happy to answer any questions though. >> All right. So we'll have all three of those back in January for approval. >> Yes. >> All right. [snorts] Um we do not need close session. Sorry. Oh, okay. Sorry. Um, no old business. Any new business? All right. Foya and discipline were are in the board packet as our uh communications. Any public comment not for items not on the agenda. All right. [clears throat] Uh, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> Washington Ted Wall. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I7.