001e e I need oh no sorry we are in all right I'm opening the meeting the regular meeting of May 21st uh roll call please here here here here here here here we're in session uh please stand for the pledge you want to do it in there with everybody or no we I'm not sure there's a flag in there otherwise I would open in there all right of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation indivisible justice for all all right now we're in two e for e e man Statewide comp say ch let me see need you have this master comp [Music] also you me that nowar Rec Educators administrators so the this scholar established by Dr educat is to provide IND and re are requ for teny
002for a period of years and so all that comination service students all right so the next recogniz retirees know looking ahead she exced to be able to start project and finish for all school she that she all and serves as service manager2 she last years she years 25 so teaching and learning overall children iourney so she is toates and she Sun I am so very excited to get to recognize family yearses children andone she one of the things that her teammates say about that they to for security and let them know right that about she has not for talking to kids and there is no and teach also know she's she now she 23 aome so thank you long last resp another fantas demonrat so you SM P 23 years work and to show very
003over theu to Association just like being teacher being princi teachers princip time allers as releas running the I never so just than all parents and staff and students over the years all right so this time we going to pause and e e e what do you mean did you get locked e we're ready on the video all right we're good uh all right we're back in session uh student report please oh um hi I'm Morgan Lewis and I'm a seventh grader here at Oak Prairie Junior High and I'm representing the National Junior Honors Society today the National Junior Honors Society is wrapping up another great year of leadership and service at Oak Prairie this spring we have helped various d92 clubs at Ludwick Reed and Walsh and have continued to tutor after school SOS and
004helped the Ludwick family night earlier this month we recently had to complete and submit our final service hour logs and are happy to report that we completed 1,975 hours as an organization in total many of our students went above Beyond at our 20h hour minim minimum requirement and over the top and our greatest over top achiever today was GI Luca Lam morte with 83 service hours we recently took a whole group service Hour project to my feeding My Starving Children in Samberg 86 njj students along with 15 parent volunteers and two staff members helped to pack meals for Hungry children all over the globe not only did it feel great knowing that we're helping to feed hungry children all across the country but we also had a lot of fun doing it thank you for
005allowing us to share update with you tonight thank you all right AF report no okay uh public comments items on the agenda a designation a designated portion of the board meeting is set aside to hear comments on topic topics listed on the agenda a person wishing to speak must sign in and provide all information requested on the signin sheet including the agenda item they will be addressing the board president will call Speakers by name announcing their time to comment a time limit of 3 minutes per speaker per agenda topic will be imposed the purpose of requesting such information on the sign-in sheet is to obtain the correct spelling of the name of the speaker and contact information which will be used for any necessary board followup Andrea kuus thanks so I wrote this and I
006said I stand before you but I sit before you um with mixed emotions as you are receiving my letter of resignation tonight um I have been fortunate to spend nearly half my life serving this great Community um I wanted to thank the board many of you of which I've had your kids um for the opportunity to work with such wonderful students and the caring and involved families I'm truly grateful for the experiences and opportunities for growth that District 92 has given me I didn't want to leave District 92 without saying thank you to a few of the people who have helped shape me to the person I am today to the Reed staff who many are behind me I want to say thank you for your friendship support and collaboration um the Reed staff cares
007so deeply not only about one another but about our our students and our families and we have been through some challenges and just recently we had a student with challenges and we really step up to support not only one another but our families and our students so to my read staff I will carry with me all of the wonderful memories we have shared to the district 92 Administration thank you for supporting me throughout my career especially during my internship this year I will say every single one of you has played an integral role in that um lots of interviews lots of questions and everyone was very kind and accepting of meeting with me so I really wanted to say a special thank you to Lisa L and to Brianna golden because they were my official
008mentors and both of these ladies immediately said yes to me even though they both have very full plates with Lisa getting her doctor and Brianna being a first year principal without hesitation jumped in to help me so I'm very grateful for that um Lisa I've learned so much from working with you you're a strong leader and I know you're going to make a phenomenal superintendent someday soon thank you for helping me land at Richland and for I'm very humbled that you put your reputation on the line for me and I promise not to disappoint you um Dave um I want to thank you for your compassion um I've had to use FMLA twice in my career here in District 92 to take care of my family and you made those difficult situations more manageable um
009you always made sure to check on my well-being and showed that you cared about me as a person not just an employee so I truly appreciate that and I know Brianna golden isn't here tonight but I really felt that it's important for the board to know um how amazing of a leader she she is um she has led Reed school with empathy fairness and Equity this year she's made decisions based on what's for the students at Reed and she really has made Reed a better place in the short time that she's she's been with us um she's modeled for me what true leadership should look like and all while being her very first year as a principal so I'm just in awe of her so as I begin my administrative career I hope that I
010can be as great as each one of you because I sure have learned a lot from the administration here in District 92 so this decision was difficult because I'm not just leaving a job I'm leaving a family and I truly love District 92 so thank you District 92 for 19 fabulous years I'm going to be leaving physically but in my heart I will forever be a bulldog thank you Z mage thank you for giving me the time and space to listen to our concerns dear board members and administration the PA of professionals appreciate the commitment and dedication of the board and administration in support of us as well as the entire staff students and families of District 92 our district could not run as efficiently and effectively without you we understand there's consideration that perz
011may not receive the planned $1 increase for the 2024 25 school year the remaining $1 was to help offset the wage compression due to the mandated increase of the Illinois's minimum wage requirement or the lifting up Illinois Working Families act sb1 in 2020 the district's minimum wage committee in good faith proposed a gradual increase that would make salaries competitive and to help ensure the retention of Veteran employees to avoid costly staff turnover it is imperative to maintain our established staff who M who continues to provide essential support and guidance to all students both academically and socially Paras provide academic accommodations help with social interactions and also extend and instructional support Paras help ensure that each students becomes an independent learner regardless of their academic needs we are a valuable part of the education process we
012provide a safe learning environment for all students by helping te teachers manage classrooms with d diverse behavioral and academic challenges the majority of our current pair of professionals possess and continue to be trained in behavioral and cognitive development our veteran PA professionals provide excellent support for every student whether they have an indep individualized accommodations or not the rate for a newly hired PA professional is currently $16 for the 2024 25 school year regardless of their experience educ ation proven reliability or commitment new hires may not have the same level of training that current staff possess it is understood that postco managing and operating costs have increased significantly that was evident with the capital Improvement expenditures during construction and renovation in our district prices and inflation continue to rise we're cognizant that line items must be
013screwed scrutinized and budgets must be met during the districtwide diversity equity and inclusion training significant time was spent discussing morale and respect peras are more than a line item on a budget and not receiving the $1 increase would significantly lower our morale in addition the majority of surrounding districts resumed registration and tuition fees in 201 21 Lockport High School district 205 continued the assessment of registration tuition book parking fees throughout covid resuming registration and tuition fees for d92 would help help offset the proposed rate increases as well as attrition throughout the continued collaboration of the board Administration PA professionals and the entire ire d92 staff we can guarantee the continued success of the children of District 92 respectfully the re PA professional staff thank you all right at this time I'd like to move the
014first board action item up to uh take care of that now um I need a motion to accept the donation of the Lockport moose organization Washington G would you mind inviting everybody up here make in front of the table you don't you don't have to speak or [Laughter] anything okay um this is uh the administrator of the LA for moose LD overmire um Sher hesy was the senior Regent for the women of the Moose Kleen overmeer is Treasurer um and I'm just suski as a board member well as a board we'd like to thank you for coming tonight um the the offer from the clock moose was to offset lunch fees that our students had been running up over the last year plus and so um $7,200 donation was given by the Lockport moose to
015District 92 to wipe out those uh lunch those outstanding lunch me so obviously tonight it's a great honor for us to be able to accept this you notify this I think back in March that this was a gift that was coming and it completely surprised us you were taken back by it by your generosity and just the willingness to help out our families and students here in District 92 so thank you very much thank you roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes motion carries all right thank you very much all right uh administrative reports um our superintendent is unable to be here with us uh the report is in the packet um any questions or I don't see being linked for Dr Arnold does have anything okay we'll move on to
016assistant superintendent for business video here in a moment um all right did we scare you it needs a minute totally all right while that's turning on um in my board packet uh just a a couple different announcements next month uh I will be bringing back a resolution for a fund transfer I talked at Finance last month about a fund transfer for us so that requires us to have a public hearing and then uh and and a post in the newspaper so I'll be going through and doing that um for for June uh before we wrap up um also later on in the board packet there's a um there's an application uh a really it's a a quote from um Grant Specialties Grant Specialties is a company that is um if approved tonight is going to
017help us with our cops Grant the cops is a department of of Treasury um award for school violence protection uh the awarde can earn as much as $500,000 from this grant if awarded and you have three years to use it we would have to match 25% of that this would go towards things like security cameras um two-way radios mass communication processes uh door sensors all of those items that that would would benefit the the district so um good news while we we've already started working on on that um that application so more news to come with that um updated a little bit on 143rd Construction in my board packet and then we are looking at a little bit of Summer construction for um for this summer and and not massive updates in my in my
018memo but just highlighting a few different things that we're looking at uh so kind of the fun Point let me just pull this up here it's it's rare that we have sort of a fun thing to to like identify as our construction but for those of you that have lived through our construction and kind of gone through the Growing Pains of having schools closed uh you know Teresa not having entrances and Jeff you know it's just we have gone through a lot of growing pains and we have a lot of things to be proud of and the company that did our playground did this this great video for us it's a minute so just bear with me and let me geek out for a second oh hold on teaming barrel and they turn it this
019one that's not it right one more time this is actually Read's book okay I was going to ask if those were hired models and then I saw familiar face so thank you to the board obviously your hard work your dedication to our facility Improvement is is showing up in videos like that and and the hard work that's that's um that we're still doing so thank you so much and that cool finishes my report all right thank you that's great great all the playgrounds all three playgrounds have been all three playgrounds are done done and updated awesome uh director of student services hi everyone it's just giving you a couple vacancy updates we do have in the packet tonight the Early Childhood vacancy we're excited to fill that position this evening OT we're still doing interviews
020so hopefully by the June board meeting I know my memo says EC but we finished that up last week uh summer school will be starting in two weeks get ready many of you are working thank you for doing so we have 11 classrooms with about 86 students coming um we have some subs coming in from outter district and we do have a couple contract people working and then we're already looking into professional development for next year our early childhood team's super excited they got in for Tony Linder training and I'm slightly more excited Dave because we got it for free through starnet so what that is is our play based assessment team they've all been trained just at different times but this time they're going to go as a team together and just Reign kind
021of what we've been doing over the last few years I think it's been at least seven or eight years since they've had any training so getting the team approach to it is what we're looking for we will be doing some e refresher training in the fall and then some Medicaid claiming training to make sure we're encompassing all the reimbursements we can get once again and then our par Pros will be doing some different hour hourong trainings next year based on what's happening at their team um through a trainer that will be here rotating so that they can have inperson training the online is just remote is great but we really want inperson Hands-On behavior training and things like that for our pair of Pros going forward for next year so it's been a very busy
022and great year but thanks any questions the train what training was free or uh the was a no it's just through starnet and it's very competitive to get into but we registered the day it opened and we got 10 people going to the training so it's a big it's a very expensive you don't get in that way so awesome thank you sure director of curriculum good evening um I have some updates for you first of all lewig is ready to open up a section of accelerated math for fourth grade next year uh students at readed school and third grade recently took the comprehensive growth assessment which is a very long math assessment however due to the work of I believe it was Christ Ling and Eileen Murphy they shrunk it down the assessment to make
023it very reasonable for third graders but they are the priority standards in fourth grade that are covering and this the results of this will be one piece of data that will be used to place students in accelerated fourth grade section of math next year um Mr kulick will send out letters in June for students that qualify for that section and we are going to continue again with the fifth grade accelerated math next year uh Mr Hagadorn had a really great year a lot of success a lot of growth what was it Mr Kulik all but maybe one child showed a lot of nice growth yes so yeah yes and then hopefully if all goes well we'll bring it down to third grade eventually so um exciting things in in math um as far as mtss
024the committee finished the handbook and we plan to share that with the rest of the staff in August Nora and I met with the social workers and school psychologists and as group we decided that we were going to Pilot the universal screener theal one uh Sabers which is part of fast Bridge already so we had a couple classrooms in each of our buildings take that assessment we sent out a letter in advance allowing parents to opt out if they chose we just wanted to see is it capturing the kids that are already on our radar that need some extra support and social emotional learning and behavior we did not find that this overidentified a lot of the children that popped up we already knew about um so anything moving forward we would check in with
025classroom teachers just to see if there are any concerns and if there were there we'd also reach out to parents but right now um it really identified the kids that we already knew about so um that was good but we're going to open it up to everybody in the fall just to on a broader range make sure kids all across grades all across buildings are being um flagged if if need be if they have some concerns again we'll send a letter out to all the parents allowing them not their child out if they don't want their child to participate um Carrie Harris our mtss Illinois network um representative worked with each of our school leadership teams to complete a self assessment on how their mtss implementation is at each of the buildings um all the
026buildings are in different places a lot of them are doing a lot of great things already and a lot of buildings have some things that they want to um I don't know get better at or start implementing if it's not already there so as a result of the self assessment the SLT teams and the principles are going to work together identify maybe two or three things to put into place for next year so they're going to create an action plan and start putting those things in place so um we are moving ahead with that work our district Ela pilot is wrapping up for kindergarten through second grade they were piloting wonders and the teachers that participated were asked to complete a rubric and that was one that the ELA committee decided was going to be
027a good rubric to help us make decisions next spring after we pilot the next program which will be amplify cka that will be grades K through five and we are looking to hopefully make a decision in the spring on what we would like to adopt for the 2526 school year happy to report we have oh I'm sorry so will we be doing the pilot all year so we are going to do the K through two they would like to Pilot the whole year because they already did the Wonders pilot grades three through five they are going to do the fall but then they haven't done the Wonders pilot yet so they will do the Wonders pilot after the holidays and from like January probably right until we get into testing season and then hopefully everyone
028will be done by next April May bring um a decision to the board and hopeful for an adoption um we are excited we have 132 kids signed up for our summer camp that starts on June 4th we were able to accept every interested d92 student as long as they are going to be with us again in the fall and each grade as I mentioned before they selected a theme or a topic for the two week camp and as a reminder this is a camp to enrich and refine their academic skills in ela and math so we'll have these consultants and coaches that are going to come out and work with our d92 teachers and they're going to help us do all the planning they're going to provide PD for our teachers not only for a
029full day on June 3D but then every day that first week when the kids leave for a couple of hours and we're going to work on best instructional practices for ELA and math as well as opportunities for more student discourse in the classroom small group instruction with scaffolding and differentiation so we are really excited and our schools are just wrapping up well they wrapped up fast Bridge they just are finishing up their data meetings and I plan to present those results to you in the June board meeting and that is the end of my report great than right director of Technology hello board April was a very fun month we we were very popular that month uh on April 29th we lost all the internet through the district great day um their head our head
030in Internet got caught at the actually downtown office where it's hosted ironically enough where where's that office where Google is going into so was quite interesting because they're renovating the main building of the Thompson Center and in the Thompson Center in the in the basement area is actually where the house ICN um and the main line got cut during Renovations so it took a the whole day to get up and running again and it was a fun day overall um secondly uh on April 22nd we we closed down teacher pay teachers for a week um that was also a very popular decision got a lot of emails on that one um the what basically happened was a teacher uh bought a file off teacher by teachers and my assist saw it as mware and ransomware
031not a good thing so he basically caught that teacher's computer analyzed the files checked it out everything else and it ended up being a false positive BC with the almost false negative in way too where it was it said it wasn't as bad as it was it just a f from 1998 the teacher downloaded and I made the computer go what the heck is this and it went crazy so we basically put it back on again after analyzing everything um but we are looking at more a better antiviral solution for next year along with possibly getting MDR solution which means manage detection and response what essentially will do is it monitors our systems 24/7 to look for any bad activities going on and we'll go in and treat it and fix it for us if
032we're not at our desk if it's two in the morning whatever happens it'll be there to treat it as instant response as quick as possible and I'm getting I'm looking at a few Solutions a few different solutions I can do that right now but de SP Le was a very popular was very popular this paper really really popular all right thank you School principles end of year any formal reports but I did want to take a quick second to you know end of the school year we have all these events right seems like every day there's an event and we've had amazing parent volunteers and PFA volunteers and mjhs uh volunteers come out and help run these things we couldn't do these events without everybody's help and it's just awesome to see so many people
033willing to jump in and run a hand to make sure these things run smooth so thank you to everybody that's volunteered not only in lwig but no doubt across the district as well so thank you well s all right successful end of the year I'm sorry successful end of the year W you know what it's it's frightening that it is the end of the year already it it just it goes so fast it goes so fast and your last board meeting this is my last board you are right all right be here in all right um I need a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented Washington goe T well all right um roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes motion carries I need a motion to approve the contract
034amendment to Dr Arnold's contract as presented Washington appr all right any questions all right roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes motion carries I need uh motion to approve the ESP pay increase for 2425 as presented Washington forl doing so last month at Finance we did talk about options for um the uh the pay increase for uh FY 25 the um the recommendation tonight is to give the the Dollar Plus the percentage increase uh Finance had wanted a couple different options and so I'm just presenting that tonight as as the recommendation okay any questions okay yeah go ahead I'd like to discuss her idea of the registration fee um you know is just another way you know some way to you know kind of offset some of the cost's so Dr Arnold
035and I did did speak about this but I think that's pretty much something because of where we're at in the timeline it would probably be for for um Frankie my and and my myself to to bring back to the board probably the summer as we talk about you know into the future versus something um to put into effect for fy2 right but it's a great it's there there have been a lot of questions as the board knows we had to move Transportation costs this year over over to parents because of the huge increases we were seeing so we've as well as we charge for damage to devices and those kinds of things so it's it's not that we're opposed to it it was a change that we made preo and um if if there if
036the board decides to go a different direction I think we just need a little more discussion about it yeah any um any presentation or uh materials on it I'd like to see um obviously all we have is past data but uh rate of collection right right um families on free and reduced lunch and you know don't pay that so uh that and then any estimates on workloads and costs of actually collecting and up and those sorts of things absolutely yeah yeah it's a good discussion um oh and I I would uh just thank the Reed uh staff for coming out this this this evening um to advocate for for yourselves um I think that's important and um I I agree that um uh as you said that those discussions all happened in good faith and
037and so it's important that we follow through with those things all right anyone else all right roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes motion carries all right uh and now I need a motion to approve the consultant contract for the safety Grant um as discussed earlier for gaki all right so this was the cops grant that I talked about earlier this is a great reference for us and resource uh John hyers shite runs this company um we've used him internally for security presentations he's really a knowledgeable consultant when it comes to school safety and and violence prevention he's closely connected to Department of Homeland Security really what he says goes and it carries a lot of weight now I'm not saying we're going to get the grant there's about a 60 to 65%
038chance according to John that we're going to be able to get this grant this year so you know that's better than 50% I will um but the other big thing even though we're spending money on him and the services that he's providing us that's then assets that we will have so that we can if we don't get it next year we can reapply and then we've done all this leg work so I'm I've reached out to fire police our Congress folks everybody to get letters of recommendation basically to say yes you know d92 should proceed with this Grant application so really a good a good thing um it's it's very common right now a lot of districts are using this as a as a vehicle to bring in technology um the other benefit to us
039is it's a three-year window to use that money so we would know in November if we're if we get it but then it gives us three years to you to spend that money down happy to answer any other questions are there certain things that it's earmarked for yes so some of an idea it it's strictly security so what we've done in in the grant so far as we've written in um video surveillance so all of our video cameras this um you know we've we've moved platforms uh the facility committee is familiar because I talked about our security audit we did last year so a lot of it is driven by what that security audit was which is security cameras door sensors two-way radios that we we need um desperately uh CL uh classroom phones you
040know when you think about the security aspects that we need even something is is as basic as like a a pull monitor or a pull switch it like kind of you we're used to the fire alarm concept but they have the same concept for mass communication to police and fire so a lot of possibilities we're not in the solution business right now of saying in this grant we want this solution he's telling us no there's five general categories that we're looking at and within that then we can basically identify then what is the best solution for us if we are awarded the grant okay all right all right thank you roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes motion carries all right um board discussion items uh board policy updates and review first
041reading um I was not in that meeting Dr Arnold normally leads those yeah it continues to uh they continue to be just cleaning up and going through um making sure what's his date like the 22nd I mean not the 22nd 2022 all policies have been reviewed uh and are have been reviewed and approved by the board um the oldest ones are from 2022 which is remarkable because it's usually five or six years that that window can be open so to have that all done in two years um puts us in a good place with uh policy all right uh know old any new business okay I mean would this be a spot where we can start to have open discussion about uh getting a plan forward about the 143rd expansion at Reed and so um
042you know it's come to our attention that there's going to be an in you know infringement on the current property at readed school um the 143rd expansion that is most likely coming is going to come very close to the front of that school and the Board needs to come into some consideration about what that would look like for the front of that building as well as how um that front driveway area would be um reconfigured to possibly go behind the school so I don't know if we can maybe have our Architecture Firm come out and give us some ideas some examples but it's best for us to get a plan yes um regardless of whether the litigation goes one way or the other so we know what we're going to do correct so 143rd um
043Street the the original information we were given back in November was was that the county was going to take a a quick take process where they were just going to take over land and basically use eminent domain just to tell um owners this is how much we're going to give you that has not gone through the general assembly however we were notified by um by legal that there was a um there's an assessment of our property and they've uh provided us with a cost to take over that right of way that Grant was talking about and it is closer to the building and so um I've reached out to our Architects and our and and our engineer to start building out some ideas of what we might be able to do in the front of
044that building to um to act more as a barrier and those kinds of things so I can bring back once I have those those ideas from the from our Architects and Engineers what are we looking at for um for ideas and bring that back to to the board and the if I'm um correct me if I'm wrong the the road will come close to the bus ramp but not into what is the bus ramp correct so the the right of way if you if those familiar with Reed our old bus entrance the right of way is going to come to the most northern part of that old bus entrance so that's an an additional 12 feet closer to the building than we thought it was going to be um that means our sign is gone
045that whole tension Basin um is gone most likely they're putting sewers in uh which I I assume you know is going going to happen so that means that ground is going to be leveled which you know the the indent right now is kind of a nice thing because that would potentially stop a car um so we've talked with our Architects about all sorts of things Jersey barriers some types of protections Jersey barriers are those components you see on highways that will force a car to stay on the road versus um sort of catapult off of a road which is a good thing but we still have a lot to figure out when it comes to landscaping and how are we going to handle that as you know we we went in and did parking lots
046at Reed we intentionally did that because we wanted a foothold before construction happened so there might be a question of well why didn't you wait until after 143rd was going to be done this is 143rd is going to take years this is going to be a lengthy lengthy process so really I mean if we see anything in the next five I don't want to be a betting man so my point is it's going to take a long time before we see some stuff happening however they did come forward with a price tag for us of that land so I think that does Force us to start moving and making sure that we know what the boards you know what what your your desires are and we'll move forward on those and that would be August
047or September before you think because we don't meet in July right most likely aren't going to have something by June no and so you know just in some preliminary discussions obviously none of us would want a big you know8 foot fence that's like a barrier that you see on 355 I mean it's got to it it has to be has to be nice to look at it has to be nice for kids to be able to see out and see nature that's all important so uh there are some options that we've talked about and had some preliminary discussions on barriers and other things like that that could go in that would be architectural and and not diminish from the appearance of the building um but again the the closeness and the proximity from traffic being
048that much closer traveling at high speeds um is the concern as well as you know what we raised with the county was it's a safety issue first and foremost we have buses that leave our parking lots and most of our buses will travel West and so you know right now we do stop traffic on 143rd to get buses to go west you can't stop traffic on on four lanes of of of road so go um our our buses are going to probably have to go East which lengthens our time for for trips home those are all things that I've raised with the board so the the County board so they're familiar with that okay but to uh just a timeline for the board a August I would think I get D and WT to come
049back out with with a presentation for the board and community so that we can see sort of what they're recommending okay and that would take into account any sort of um traversing around the building as well so if that helps us the the the bus entrance in the front has been nice because that's been some um that that's given us a little bit of extra capacity for cars and stuff so I I would hate to lose that but so having you know a road that goes behind might might be helpful okay any other new business no all right thank you information items are listed Communications are in the board packet uh public comments not on the agenda a designated portion of the board meeting is set aside to hear comments on topics not listed on
050the agenda a person wishing to speak must sign in and provide all information requested on the signin sheet including the topic they will be addressing the board president will call speakers up by name announcing their time to comment a time limit of 3 minutes per speaker per agenda tag will be imposed the purpose of requesting such information on the sign-in sheets is to obtain the correct spelling of the name of the speaker and contact information which will be used for any necessary board followup all right uh Paul lenion so before I begin I have some letters from some students and parents whoer ones paper own so my name is Paul anion I my family has a somewhat lengthy statement so um my wife and my son who's a graduate of Oak Prairie are here to
051continue our statement if the I run over the three minutes and you and you give me the high sign to stop so um again my name is Paul lenion um my family would like to talk tonight about the drama club at Oak Prairie my son Dominic joined the drama club when he was in sixth grade this was only the second year of the oak Prairie drama club existence we've been involved with the club since almost its Beginnings so we can provide a little history for those of you who may not know for the first two years of the drama club uh I'm sorry the first two years of the drama club was completely self-funded all it was asked of the district was practice space and a performance space in its first year the drama club
052performed a very small stage show with costumes that were found salvaged and or put together by the performers families no sets no choreography there were 16 students um in the cast and two crew members over the years the program has grown and grown by the fourth year the club had grown to a cast of 25 students and 14 crew the director students in school put on two full stage shows one in the spring and one in the fall each show had multiple evening per performances on stage with lights costumes uh sound and sets the 14 student crew even included students that designed and controlled the lighting lights worked the soundboard created Publications and managed the props keep in mind that in the inter interv interval between the first year and the fourth year was the
053co year the club grew to the extent despite the hardships encountered by the co pandemic on live performances um to this day the program has continued to grow before the club showcase was downgraded this spring the casting crew numbered 36 cast and 20 Crew That's 56 students 56 students is far more than most all sports teams whose rosters are generally between 10 and 15 participants even the track team does not engage as many students as the drama club over the past couple of years there has been constant there's been a constant struggle with securing stage time securing bus transportation and securing rehearsal time it's come to our attention that for the upcoming school year the drama club's offerings are being even further cut they are being allowed the use of the stage for only one
054show the entire year with only a couple of performances in the fall the drama club is being restricted to an in-classroom performance scheduled at times when most parents are still at work no microphones no costumes no crew as I previously stated last semester there were 20 students on the crew that's 20 students that will no longer be able to participate further the entire fall semester drama club hours will be limited to just 15 total hours of meeting time 15 hours for the entire semester our question is why why is an extremely popular and successful program being limited through two extensive foyer requests many many emails between the parents and the administration and several inperson meetings with the administration we have tried to answer this question and we still cannot seem to find out what the
055reasoning is to limit this program that allows so many students to be part of and participate in the school Community um sorry your time is up that's three all right thank you Kathy L good evening thank you I will continue a statement at one point it was suggested that stiens being linked to the hours worked by the directors is the issue however this can't be the reason the Foya documents prove that the robotics Club meets year round every single week track and field has three coaches and they meet at least twice a week for two hours practice over three Monon season most other sports teams have the same schedule this comes out to about 50 hours of practice time for sports teams per semester the athletic teams are allowed multiple coaches 50 hours of practice
056time and in most cases have less than 15 participants is the allocation of meeting times and number of sponsors sponsors allocated for clubs and teams proportional to their membership numbers the drama club has more than twice as many as most sports teams yet it receives a quarter of the practice time the discrepancy suggests a significant inequity in how meeting times are distributed between the drama club and sports teams despite the drama club's larger size why do the 56 drama students get only 15 hours of meeting time while the basketball team 10 students get 50 hours it's been suggested that there is a staffing issue this also can't be the case the drama club is lucky enough to have at least three teachers who are willing to fill the positions of sponsors in fact in the
057past there's been an issue that the drama club has had too many staff members wanting to be involved and not enough siphons to go around is it a space issue the club has proven over the past 6 years that it can produce an outstanding experience and product with the practice space that they currently use however we've heard that having the drama club utilize a choir room and choir hallway for their practices is a quote strain on the building and upset some of the staff if that is the case then we can give these 56 students somewhere else to practice the district's own Foya provided information uh shows that the oak Prairie gym is reserved for three and a half hours every single day for sports teams to practice that's 17 1 12 hours every week
058and it's not utilized every day furthermore according to the administration the coaches themselves work among themselves to divide that time up why can't the drama club and its 55 participants be allowed some of that gym time if the current situation is unacceptable at the end of the day this is an equity issue it seems that the 56 students who are interested and involved in drama are not valued by the district certainly they are valued less than the 14 students that make up the softball team or the nine students on the golf team or the 12 students on the volleyball team our drama students are valued less than any District athlete in the documents obtained through the Foya there was a notable uh email from the building Administration declaring that one stage show and 15 hours
059Al uh allocated to the drama club was considered quote plenty why then is a similar restriction not applied to sports teams if 15 hours of practice is deemed plenty for the drama Club why is the same not true for the baseball team should we consider removing Essential Elements such as referees electronic scoreboards and uniforms from the volleyball team and replace competitive games with scrimmages is that plenty your time is up thank you Dominic I'll be starting from where the last statement ended off further the basketball team could have plenty of their games removed with that rationale that playing 10 games instead of 20 is also quote plenty again this disparity raises concerns about the about the equitable distribution of resources and time between the drama club and sports team highlighting a queer inequality that that
060must be addressed in closing we urge that members of the school board to to critically examine the significant disparities in resource allocation that currently disadvantage our drama club the decision to redistrict the drama club to merely 15 hours of activity and to eliminate the stage show is not only unjust but undermines the contributions and potential of 56 dedicated students I would ask the board to initiate a thorough review of the decision with the administration to withhold approval of any schedule that is so dramatic that so drastically limits the drama club's time and resources it is essential that we uphold the principles of fairness and Equity within all extracurricular activities ensuring that every student group is given equal opportunity to thrive contribute positivity to our school Community let us not marginalize the aspirations of these students
061but instead Foster an environment where all can Excel last week I'm a drama club student my myself and the drama club teacher from lths asked me last week what does the drama club mean to you this was a very interesting question because it meant a lot of it means a lot of things to a lot of different students that I know personally at that school to some it's a fun place to go after a long day at school of hard work it's a place to continue their passions but to me it's a place of community there's not many other places like the drama club where you can find so many people in one place as we already said uh nearly 20 of the people in the 56 that we that were stated were crew and
062not actors this is one of the best things about the drama club to me which is that it unlike a sports team where you have to be good at basketball to be on the sports team you can drama club is open to anybody and everyone is accepted you can be good with technology and be good and get in or you can be a good singer and actor and get in that's why the drama club means so much to so many people thank you thank you all right uh Rose barter okay I have the pile of individual letters um most of these are from students um so unfortunately I don't have copies yet but can make copies later and then I have for [Music] you um I've gone through and just detailed a little bit more
063of the history of the oak Prairie drama club so I have that for you in your packets from me hisory drama program how many people were thank you're welcome um and then just some information on how the Arts affect seal as well um so thank you so um my name officially is Jennifer rose barter um my pronouns are she her and most students in the district know me as Miss Rose um so I'm here asking for the oak Prairie drama program to be given the proper resources that we need for the next school year um as Mr lonon had said the oak Prairie drama club has grown substantially since its Inception in 2018 the first musical honk had like he said 16 students and only two student crew the largest musical was Annie which had
06431 cast members 18 crew one student stage manager and one student director we've had two onstage Productions per school year beginning with the 2021 22 school year as Paul had explained the admin team was planning to cut our onstage drama Productions from 2 down to 1 this is disheartening for all of our students limiting that fall Drama season to only 15 hours drastically reduces the opportunities that the students will have to learn grow and develop further that fall season would not have a performance on stage so there would be no opportunities for the crew students to develop or contribute their skills our susal musical this sorry this past school year had eight student crew members and it would be a disservice to those students to take that away from them and give them no other
065club in exchange there has been little said about the fate of the spring musical aside from it occurring prior to spring break yet I have received feedback that the oak Prairie musicals are too elaborate for a junior high why should we stifle the creativity of the students and our parent volunteers as both a parent and volunteer myself I have seen how the oak Prairie drama program has impacted students my children have been in every op Stage production since they began in 2018 um Tai is just about to graduate from lths and Jonas will be graduating from Oak Prairie tomorrow the trauma program has helped my children to overcome anxiety make friends and become student leaders and public speakers Tai has given presentations in front of 400 people multiple times actually Jonas just completed a year
066of serving as the drama club co- president and student director for the drama showcase Jonas dreamed of being on stage someday like his older sibling and hoped that someday he could lead that drama club I am grateful that they could do that within our district and make connections in their school Community although theater programs like this are offered outside of our school they're not comparable we previously paid to do children's theater at places like all about music Lockport Homer youth theater kids Cabaret in the School of Performing Arts those cost over 500 $100 to enroll your child in one Musical and truthfully I sold my own plasma to make sure that that could happen for my family yet our op Productions sound better and look better than what they're able to produce we offer Technical
067Training for our crew students and that is not offered at any children's theater program within 20 miles of Lockport further our drama program is accessible to our students who have transportation needs Financial strain or need a one-on-one Aid to be assisting them thank you CJ for manic sorry is that F fman fman so I am CJ fck I am a graduate from oakry um I'm more formerly known as giata ferc um so I was a part of the oakberry drama Pro program starting as an actor and ending up in tech crew throughout my 3 years at oakry and participating in the musicals and drama club I was able to learn beneficial problem solving and communication skills being on the crew I was running around backstage trying to fix whatever little mishaps may have been going
068on this caused me to be able to deal with problems on the spot and helped my communication skills as I would need to work with people that may not have particularly found Pleasant I was also able to use to learn useful physical skills like using an exact life correctly and building sets during my years at Oak prair I I dealt with bullying and just plain mean teenagers and it would cause my mind to be a mess all day all day I would only be able to think about the mean things people would say going to rehearsal after school just working with people around me and painting sets or whatever we were going to do that day helped clear my mind and it would was all Carefree it was my safe space I knew that no
069matter what there was a place I could go without having to worry about whatever was plaguing me being in the musical was something I could belong to it was my space I I could be myself and not worry about being judged although although there was the Musical cast and crew as a whole crew was its own separate little world the actors were usually rehearsing in the choir room while us crew members were in the hallway working or just talking or and just talking um it truly felt like a family all of us involved with the musical were usually involved with drama club too and even though the drama club was also a good space that did exercises that were needed to in putting on a musical it never felt like my comfort Place crew rehearsals
070were always that for me it made me feel safe heard and seen to to conclude taking the students opportunity to put on another onstage musical leaves no room for the crew to have a job or time to decompress or talk to someone while still getting work done thank you thank you Elizabeth Nichol hi good evening my name is is Elizabeth Nichols um my family is new to the world of theater and the district 92 drama club when I learned of the changes coming to the drama club last December I asked if I could just volunteer as an outside parent who could come to the practice rehearsals as I told Rose barter I have no stage presence nor do I have acting skills but she still welcomed me to join them I was nervous I thought
071if these drama kids were anything like the drama kids I went to school with they're going to be weird now let me tell you what my experience was what I encountered was a group of young people who were respectful and supportive of each other sitting in this room for several weeks at a time I never got the feel they were divided by clicks or outside interests or their roles or cast versus crew they were all there for each other and for the excitement love and challenge of working on a show together unlike a lot of adults these young people respectfully gave and received criticism they accepted challenges they were inspiring they were insightful they had a sense of responsibility to each other and they all just kept showing up I couldn't believe it I was
072right they were wonderfully weird ultimately the double casted production of Alice was a success with fewer resources granted to the group it was every student there that made the production what it was it truly was student L however it did not go without a hint of sadness back in December when the decision was made that Alice would no longer be supported as an onstage production over 20 students quit drama in their assigned roles in the program these students were just as talented and deserving as those who stayed with the production it is my understanding that in the next school year District 92 has planned to continue with this downsizing the drama kids are allowed to perform one onstage Musical and the one play will be held on a weekday afternoon in a classroom it is
073also my understanding that District 92s intention is for this afternoon play to be performed without the students who belong to crew thus eliminating light sound scenery and stage props in short the stage crew creates the production while the cast delivers a performance stage crew members are responsible for the timing and efficiency of the show to exclude crew and any students who do not identify it as actors in any production is absurd and outrageous to have a cast without a crew would be in theater terms a tragedy you cannot have Rogers without Hammerstein District 92 has an opportunity and I would even argue to say a responsibility to cultivate an environment for all these kids who seek to belong to drama club both casts and crew I have learned that this club of kids and supporting
074adults allows you to be exactly who you were meant to be and whoever you want to be at the same time in the three years at Oak Prairie Junior High these kids will always remember how they felt supported and included in the drama group they will always remember their experience in the drama group and the friendships made with other Drama Kids I'm saying this today with the hope that I'm not only coming across as a mother of District 92 kids but I'm coming here to talk about my experience with this group in the hopes of urging you to see and understand that the district 92 drama kids deserve to Showcase their talents exactly where it's meant to be on stage in front of the family and friends I've already described to you that the students
075have the support of family friends in each other they also deserve the support of the administration in District 92 in growing and moving forward and thank you for your consideration Willow Chamberlain good evening my name is Bill Chamberlain I've been a part of the d92 drama program since fifth grade and I've recently gotten the opportunity to assist Miss Tolentino as a president of the drama club as a student who has been in many shows regarding theater the discussion of cutting the time to rehearse down to 15 hours is De devastating to hear not only for myself but for the students who I've seen find their home in in drama and the music department as I've watched kids who are too shy to perform walk up on stage and belt their hearts out to a song
076and as I've looked at teens who are laughing with their Newfound friends after performances I find that drama can really help students grow and change when a student feels as if they don't belong in sports or anywhere really they find their place in the heart of the drama club so I wonder why must we lay our Athletics on top of drama when musical theater can help students grow so much thank you thank you Ryan Chamberlain yeah it's a family affair really is good job Dylan you spent the whole day here um so uh good evening given the support here uh I'm seeing I'll keep my remarks brief uh and if you knew me or my passion for the Performing Arts you would know how hard that is um I want to thank you this district
077has been phenomenal in giving us the information we've requested you've been supportive of this group and I would even goo say that the support over the past several several years as expressed by uh the other parents has been ample it's uh nice to see the stiens increase year toe but again what we're concerned with is access and time I've been performing since I was in seventh grade and this past few months I had the wonderful experience of supporting these students in their production of Alice whether a school or Community Theater or large- Stage production I can promise you that 15 hours is not enough uh the it's not enough time and it lacks and the lack of stage performance will impact these children they really form a group on this stage and it's unbelievable to
078see and I wish I saw it more in my adulthood um there is abund abundance of data showing that participating in the Performing Arts promotes social emotional learning results in higher test scores and boost collaboration skills data aside I can tell you that my Career Success is directly related to the Performing Arts none of my other other school activities especially swimming has helped me in my career uh most important these adolesence come alive in drama club The Quiet kid becomes something new when they leave with confidence the creative and private kids get a chance to show their skills and take pride in those skills Oak Prairie and the district as a whole has a tremendous opportunity right now to invest in a community that not just needs this but is really good at it you
079have educators of passion and children craving to learn I kid you not I've seen a lot of bad Productions I've been in a lot of bad Productions this is a phenomenal program and it's far above every program I've been in the area so I Circle back to the above why would we limit hours for rehearsal or access to stages steeped in potential thank you thank you and Brian sorry F Finn yeah I Brian Finn and my wife Jennifer Finn we're both band directors in Bowling Brook Illinois and we moved to Lockport because you have an excellent art facility uh and for the band and choir and you guys don't know how lucky you have it it's amazing um why would you you have this momentum with drama why would you do anything to stifle it
080use that you know as an educator I know how long it takes to build programs and you got something great here so please don't limit it that's all okay thank you all right um just to be clear uh as many of you are probably new to board meetings the board listens uh we don't respond um at this time uh so it's not for a lack of caring or rudess um but it is our policy to listen uh take all that information in work with Administration and uh respond in in that sort of formal way and continue to work uh with families and Community uh as they have concerns and address the board so thank you everyone for coming out tonight and I will read yeah read every sing and I have a question so the
081reduction time was that something that the board voted on on or was that something at the school level it's something that the uh building Administration manages um and these are uh this pile was student ones and I'll have Diana scan them and um get them to us thank you okay uh that's it I need a motion to adjourn Washington doy uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I eyes have it we're adjourned thank you