001I hereby call to order this Committee of the Whole meeting for Monday, April 13th, 2026. The time is 8:01 a.m. Will the clerk please call the roll? In Heart. Here. Kristen De Castro. Here. Nelson Paffrath. Here. Amy Pailing. Here. Katie Hilton. Here. Judy Berlin. Here. Aaron Stone. Here. Thank you. I seek a motion to approve the minutes of the March 16th, 2026 Committee of the Whole and Executive Session meetings. I move to approve the minutes of the March 16th, 2026 Committee of the Whole and Executive Session meetings. May I have a second? Second. The motion has been made and seconded. Board members, are there any comments, errors, or omissions to the minutes? Okay. Um seeing none, if so, are all members in favor of approving the minutes? Um if so, please say yay. Yay. Yay.
002Motion carries. We will start this morning. Um it looks like Facility Development Committee, no items. Is that correct? Correct. All right, then we will move right on to School Finance, Mrs. Pailing. Yes, thank you. We have one item under finance and I will turn it over to Mr. Boltmeier to discuss the engagement letter with Baker Tilly. Thank you. All right, so beginning of April, we um got our uh fiscal year 26 engagement letter documents from Baker Tilly. Just [snorts] as a background, when the fiscal year 25 audit was completed, that was the end of a three-year audit and uh contract with them. So, where we're at now, I would recommend that we uh approve Baker Tilly for a one-year renewal for the fiscal year 26, um which would include D39's audit, and then as part
003of D39, for workers comp, we're in a group called SELF. There's a very small kind of procedural document where they audit payroll by um employee type that that uh insurance group asks for each year. That's one part of it. And then, of course, WICSI, which is a which is a very small audit. Um so, I'm happy to answer any questions. Um from my perspective, this would be the seventh if if if approved, fiscal year 26 would be the seventh straight year of using Baker Tilly. Board members, any questions? Thank you so much. Thank you. Strategy, Ms. Stone. Yes. Um and I believe I'm turning turning this over to Dr. Cremascoli to say where we are in our exciting process. Thank you. Uh yes, just a very quick update uh for our strategic planning process. All
004of our focus groups have been conducted and we learned so very much. We're so appreciative of um the many stakeholders who engaged in our focus groups and and the administrative team who helped to facilitate those groups. It really was um a vibrant learning opportunity. And so, all that all information that we gathered has been coalesced into um themes of primary opportunities and potential needs. And those themes really help us to identify what will become the major drivers in our future strategic plan. Um so, to further refine both our understanding of those themes as well as anything [clears throat] we may have missed, we have a very very brief survey that it launched on Friday and will be open for 10 days. We're inviting all stakeholders to respond to that survey. It truly is a three-question
005survey that will take three minutes or less. Um so, we're hopeful that people will engage in that. Uh the survey will help us to prioritize some of those themes as what maybe is our first priorities and then next and maybe a little later for us to focus on. Um and then also make sure that we didn't miss anything along the way. Um so, we're really excited about that survey. All of those results then are being analyzed um not only by our um our engagements our uh consultant, but then also by our administrative team, our our all of our teams in district will be looking at that to um develop our plan. And we are on track. We do anticipate uh being able to preview the strategic plan with our district advice strategic advisory team um
006and hopeful we are hopeful that we'll be able to give a a preview to the board at the Committee of the Whole meeting in June and then uh seek adoption of that plan at the June Board of Ed meeting. So, we're on track and and doing good work. A lot to be done still. Uh but please um everyone, if you could respond to the survey, um we would appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Board members, any questions or comments? I'll just say um for the survey, um from my perspective, it was um again, it is very short, very brief, and I really hope that we get excellent participation and it's a great reminder of how like the amount of meaningful important work that's being done because I think there were 11 different items to prioritize
007and it's it's challenging. >> [laughter] >> At least for me it was. It was um just um so many just important initiatives. So, um really encourage people to complete the survey. Judy. Where do we find the survey? Um so, the survey went out to it I think it went out on social media, but it also went out via every principal's newsletter and via email to everyone. Um my Friday update included the uh survey to you as well. Um and we typically work with the village too to make sure that the community newsletter includes a link to the survey or any of our regular kind of communication and we did that as well. Yeah, I think that was there on Fridays. Um Wilmette communication. How long is it open? Um it's open 10 days. So, Friday
008last Friday all the way through the next Monday. And then it's pretty fast and furious to get everything uh analyzed so that we can use that information to um inform our work and our next steps. Yes. Um thank you. Any other comments or questions from board members? I'll just say like and I you know, I'm happy to confess at all times that I'm the world's biggest nerd, but I think this is really exciting. Um and so, I'm really looking forward to seeing where we land and appreciate all the hard work that's been done by everybody involved and people taking the time and being thoughtful to contribute to um the themes. And so, it's going to be it's going to be fun to see where we land. Okay. Um I'm turning this back over to President
009Heart. Thank you, Ms. Stone. This is an opportunity for the public to address the board on any topic. Are there any audience members that would like to speak at this time? Okay. Seeing none, we will continue with our agenda this morning with old business. Is there any old business? New business. Is there any new business? Um just that the draft Board of Ed and Committee of the Whole meeting calendar has been um shared with the board. Um we are looking for any feedback on those dates. We've tried to coordinate with all known holidays and exceptions. Um so, we typically follow that regular schedule, but there's always a few meetings that need to be bumped off of that schedule. So, if you would, please take a look at that schedule and uh share your feedback um
010with me so that we can get that finalized and approved soon. Thanks. You may ask. I think this is old business, but maybe new business, too. I just a reminder and also clarification for myself. I think the Go Green event is next Wednesday at the lawn. Is that right? Yes. Okay, thank you. And I know there was an invitation because they were hoping to, you know, get a read on numbers. So, everyone should have that invitation. Um and I'll be there and hope to see other people there as well. I have just a couple of other things which I know um the board is aware of these dates, but um we are planning a student recognition event before the May board meeting. So, that will be starting at 5:30. Invitations will be um sent out
011relatively soon to the students who are being recognized. Those are um many of the students who we would typically recognize at that May board meeting. We've decided to There's so many of them um to do a a precursor to the May board meeting so that everyone can walk across the stage and be um duly honored there. Um our Reflections celebration is May 20th. And the WJHS graduation is May 4th. June 4th. June 4th. Sorry. >> [laughter] >> You could have had some fun with that. I know you're listening closely. Let me correct myself. It is June 4th. I actually know you get to stay in school all the way until then. I have a a friend named Aaron who's a seventh grader at um Wilmette Junior High and she told me that her homeroom teacher
012showed a part of our board meeting to them. So, like, you know, if they'd seen that, they would have been like, "Wait, we get out of month that we get out of really?" So, yeah. >> I'm correcting myself. [clears throat] >> [laughter] >> June 4th. Thank you very much. Yes. All right, if there's no other business this morning, we will adjourn to executive session. May I have a motion to adjourn to executive session to discuss collective negotiations, specific personnel, and special education individual student matters. I move to adjourn to executive session to discuss collective negotiations, specific employees, individual students, and special education and individual students. May I have a second? Second. Motion having been made and seconded. Um we will the clerk please call the roll. Austin Patflus Yes. Amy Phelan Yes. >> Katie Hilton
013Yes. >> Judy Berlin Yes. Ann Hart Yes. >> Kristen De Castro Yes. Aaron Stone Yes. Motion carries. We are now adjourned to executive session. The time is 8:12 a.m.