Il Community Consolidated School District 15 Board of Education - Regular Meeting

Atman Hunt

here. All right. The mission statement of district 15. By leveraging strengths and providing high quality support, we will honor our diverse learners in reaching their full potential. Okay. So, for tonight's um president, welcome. Uh wanted to just give a brief update on our search process for our new superintendent. Uh we are now closing out the listening phase of the process. We had uh over 1,300 responses to our community survey. We also had listening sessions, a series of many of them that took place today. So, thank you to all the staff and community members who joined those listening sessions. Uh and then board members have also had one-on-one calls with the firm as well to [clears throat] give our thoughts. All of these inputs will help inform our leadership profile report which is uh the document that will guide what are the skills and competencies and experiences that we want to see in our next leader of district 15. All right. We also have had a strong response on the application so far. So that is encouraging. We anticipate our first round of interviews will kick off in January. Okay. So, look forward to keeping our community updated and that process as we continue. All right, I think that's it. We can head over to Pledge of Allegiance, Virginia Lake. Come on in.

Mommy, she's so cute. Good evening, board president, Adder, Dr. Hines, distinguished board members. My name is Patty Van Winkle, and I am the proud principal of Virginia Lake. With me this evening, I have our two assistant principles, Mr. Rodriguez and Miss Reyes and our ESL teacher and also our student leadership sponsor, Miss Plank. I also have members of our student leadership team that I am so proud to introduce. They're going to give a nice polite wave when their name is called. We have Jackson, Owen, Natanel, Ronit, Shannon, Julissa, Josie, Rosita, Isoma, and Israel. These students are an integral part of our school community and their dedicated leadership supports all students across Virginia Lake. The commitment of our student leaders is evident in the roles they fulfill throughout our building. They serve as key leaders within our PBIS program, including selecting engaging student incentives and managing sales in our dolphin store. They take on essential responsibilities by assisting staff in key areas including the lunchroom, hallways, recess, and classrooms. Members of the team serve as student liaons for visitors. enthusiastically

highlighting the learning and positive environments in our classrooms. Every student on this team serves as a role model who consistently embodies Virginia Lakes's core values. We are so proud of their dedication, grit, and unwavering commitment to make our school community amazing. Please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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.

Nice job, Bel. Before I come and give you a little treat for coming tonight, I want to say what a pleasure it was to spend a couple hours with four of very special fifth grade leaders today as part of my visit to VL. Can you raise your hand if you were one of the ambassadors that toured me around VL today? And boy did we have fun visiting kindergarten all the way through fifth grade classrooms. They really do love their school. You could just feel the pride. And they loved going back to see their brother, right? One of you, Josie, saw her brother, former teachers. So, it really was a great morning. And now we're here again. So, twice in one day.

All right. So, I'm going to pass out a little thank you. These are called high five highlighters. So, you can highlight all your fifth grade work, get you ready for middle school next year. And then Mr. Gibson's going to take a picture. And then your family's going to come up and take a picture. So, you're going to smile for the next few minutes. Okay. All right. There you go. Okay. Thank you. What do we think? Should your son are the ones here? Yeah. So, how about the principles and assist everybody? Oh, thank you so much.

Yep. All right. You want to come up and check? Make sure you can And did you know it's this little guy's birthday? [laughter]

He's born today. Wow. Happy birthday. [applause]

And he had to come to a board meeting. I That's a way to party. Yeah, exactly. [laughter] Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Happy birthday, comment. And then um above hand we can do Bruce Bold and then I'll be wearing it just since they're here. Okay. Yeah. All right. Get them in and out. Yeah. Cuz we've got also so many staff.

All right. Up next we have staff recognition. Good evening. President Ader, Superintendent Hines, and the board of education. I'm pleased to be back here in December uh to present the above and beyond staff recognition honore uh Kathy Blahita. Kathy's a math teacher here at Sunley Middle School. Miss Leah was nominated by our two assistant principles, Abby Gowski and Tony Aesque, myself and our student coordinator, Stephanie Reyer, for her exceptional commitment to students, colleagues, and the WRS community. Mrs. Blahita has been a steady leader in the school's MTSS work, serving for years as a tier 2 coach and supporting data systems, intervention planning, and staff trainings. Her colleagues consistently rely on her expertise in troubleshooting spreadsheets, even ones that they mess up, managing DPR processes, and guiding staff through technology and power school implementation. As one of our district power rangers, her clarity, patience, and ability to build staff confidence have strengthened buildingwide systems here at Sunling. Beyond MTSS, Miss Blahita contributes meaningfully to the school culture. She has coached track, served as a tournament director, and is an active member of our WRS social committee. She is widely known for her creativity, school spirit, and willingness to step in and help wherever there is a need. Her school spirit is also uh second to none. If you come any day next week during spirit week, she will be the most decorated spirit week teacher and has been holding that title for many years. She will also

be providing me a costume that I have to wear based on a a food drive and student vote and I will be wearing one of her costumes next Wednesday for an entire school day. So, thank you for that. I hope it's [laughter] a good one.

She probably doesn't want it back. We can't we can't say what it is right now. We don't want to give that away to the students from their vote. But it is uh yeah, it's been a long day. Um but whether supporting curriculum, assisting the office and or offering a listening ear, she is a reliable and positive presence um within our school building. Her long-standing collaboration with Palletine High School has further supported student transitions and reinforced shared programming between schools. As a matter of fact, uh Tom Edgar walked in and they were talking math spreadsheets and data before we came in here tonight just to give an example of her work and her dedication. Miss Bajita's leadership, collaboration, and genuine care for others makes her deeply deserving of this month's recognition. Please join us in congratulating Kathleen Bjita in going above and beyond in service for District 15 tonight. [applause] Oh, sorry.

AND CONGRATULATIONS. All right, we will uh now Oh, we're doing Could it be? [laughter] We have another birthday boy in the audience. Are you four today, Mr. Ramly? Well, please join me in singing happy birthday to Mr. Ramly as loud as you can. Oh, yay. Okay, here we go.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear. Happy birthday to you. [singing] [screaming] [applause] In addition to it being his birthday, this is going to be probably his last official board meeting. That's

I know, right? But let's let's share some stats. After 17 years in district 15, starting back in 2008, think about what you were doing in 2008. Your final stop is Retirement Station, not the depot here at at WRS, but Retirement Station. You spent an estimated 24,480 hours behind the wheel during school days safely transporting our students through sunshine, snowstorms, detours, construction, and even through the occasional, are we there yet? You smiled through roughly, we calculated, 200 board meetings. Bless you. Uh, more impressive really than driving the big yellow buses. through every mile and every day. You've been reliable, hardworking, dedicated, a steadfast member of the team and and for many, many of us, a very good friend. So, congratulations on your retirement. Your next ride has no schedule, no route, and definitely no student pickup times. Thank you for all of your your dedicated service.

[applause] [applause] [applause]

The board has a little present for you. Please do not open it while on school property um [laughter] or while driving a bus. Um that is our favorite picture of Tom in his Hawaiian bus shirt that um hopefully you'll wear and remember us well while you're in retirement. And don't forget we are always looking for drivers. [laughter] So while you're retiring, you know, you can always come back and ride. There goes our numbers. Oh yes. [laughter] Mr. Brley.

Okay. Come on up. And I don't know if anybody else is here, Mr. Probably June or Sherry or anyone else, but let's get the star first. [laughter] He said no. Aude, you want to come up? a dynamic duo here. [laughter] [applause]

Here comes Scooty. [laughter]

And I hope we didn't spoil your dinner plans, Mrs. Bramley. All right. Good job. Good job. Thank you.

Okay. All right. Congratulations again, Tom. Enjoy retirement and some peace. [laughter] All right. Uh we will now uh open our meeting for public comment. Public comment is governed by board policy 2 col 230. Please remember this is not a dialogue between you and the board. If you have a specific issue that requires the response, Superintendent Hines or a designate will follow up with you as needed. Please state your name and identify any group that you represent. Please limit your remarks to no more than 3 minutes. If someone has previously articulated something with which you agree, please state that you agree rather than reiterating the entire comment. We encourage you to avoid comments specific to any person, student, or staff member respecting the right to privacy. This is not the forum to comment on personnel issues. Finally, the board expects and appreciates mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct throughout the meeting. All right, we have one green sheet from Leah Worheimer.

Sure. Oh, yeah.

If you could go to the podium since we already have folks sitting. Thank you so much. Good evening. My name is Leah Worheimer. I am here with my colleagues from Conor's Learning Academy representing the early learning program. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Um, I can unequivocally say that our school, Kanye's Learning Academy, stands out as the district's most distinctive given both the unique profiles of our youngest learners, and the unusually high concentration of specialists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, and specialized teachers. I also challenge you to find a more dedicated and passionate staff, as evident by our strong presence here tonight. We know that we are at the beginning of a re a revisioning and a rebuilding of early learning. On behalf of the staff at CLA, we wish to thank Margie and Ellen for their time spent listening to staff input, evaluating our programs, and planning restructuring for the future. While this is not the venue to review the extensive research on the benefits of early intervention, we do plan to unpack that research in our listening sessions with Dr. McGuffin as we discuss the future of extended dayip. I will say that we believe strongly in the work that we do and that if early intervention is done well, the investment in our students pays off in the trae trajectory of their education. That being said, the Early Learning Center has the responsibility to meet the demands the meet the the needs of our most vulnerable students and families with some of the highest support needs in the district. Students who will inevitably trickle through every school in District 15. Tonight, we want you to understand who

the students are that we serve. At present, we have 502 students in our program, ranging in their needs from those those at risk as second language learners, lowincome and showing developmental concerns to students with disabilities who have rare genetic disorders and and syndromes that remain unnamed. We educate many neuro neurodeiverse students, helping them to regulate their sensory systems so they're available for learning after they move on to the district's general education kindergarten rooms. We teach autistic students with a plethora of needs who learn to use assistive technology devices to effectively communicate for the very first time. We educate both speaking and non-speaking students, ambulatory and non-ambulatory students, students with traumatic birth histories, traumatic brain injuries, and traumatic family histories. We help students who struggle with sensory, emotional, and behavioral regulation. In short, we educate all students. For many of our families, their experience in our program is their first contact with the education system. We prioritize making their first experience a positive experience so that families are ready to advocate for their children when they reach elementary school. We support and empower struggling families, unhoused families, immigrant families, families who have their own trauma histories, and parents who are just coming to terms with their child's needs and diagnosis. The staff to my right, the staff behind me and to my right educate these vulnerable students while supporting their families through the stages of grief that they inevitably experience as they compare their children to more typically developing peers. We embrace families through these difficult chapters as we educate, guide,

and offer them hope that a child with a disability is simply just a child with a different ability. We know that the quality of an early childhood program can be life-changing for the families and students we encounter, and we are excited to hear what our consultants have to present tonight as we all learn to navigate the uncertain road ahead for early childhood. In conclusion, as this process moves forward, we hope to see more transparency for staff and families alike, we hope that when budgetary concerns and program cuts come into question, as they will, that those cuts are not made on the backs of our most in need students during one of the most critical periods of their development. We thank you for your time and we hope that we as a district embrace early intervention as the foundation it truly is in moving district 15 forward. Thank you very much.

Thank you. [applause] [applause] All right. Speaking of early childhood, that's the agenda item that we will go to next. So, item 5.1. So, who whoever has to drive it for the slides? We're going to go past my report. CLA is here. Our consultants are here. We'll do it a little bit out of order. Okay. Sorry. We're going to do it out of order. If you could advance this. Here we go. Thank you.

Great. Hi. Good evening, President Ader, Dr. Hines, members of the board of education, CLA staff members, hello, and members of the audience. This evening, I am delighted to introduce to you our preschool consultants, Dr. Ellen Swanson and Miss Margie Benaris, who will be sharing with you this evening the themes which are emerging from their engagement with our early childhood programming. To begin, I would like to highlight a few pieces of information to provide context for their presentation. District 15 has had a 30 plus year relationship with the center resources for teaching and learning who served as the employer and administrative agent for the early childhood development enrichment center commonly known as ECD as a collaborative partner in the provision of at risk and blended preschool programs through the preschool for all half-day and preschool for all expansion full day grants available here in the district. This summer, the center was incorporated into a much larger agency. Rancone Family Services now serves as the administrative agent for ECD. The District 15 administration has been engaged in communication and site visits with the CEO of Renone, Mr. Eddie Bo, and members of his team to coordinate and collaborate with Renone in the collaborative provision of preschool services this school year. On the next two slides, which I'll kind of jump through here, I have um provided the program, the classroom program type and location of the classes within our preschool um preschool continuum. So, this gives the layout for the building based preschool sites at Virginia Lake, Lake Louise, Kimell Hill, Paddock, and Willow Bend.

And then moving forward, this is the continuum of classrooms that's present at the Conjurs Learning Academy. District 15 currently operates 12 early childhood special education self-contained preschool and two blended classrooms at CLA. There are 10 ECD PFA blended. There are also 10 ECD PFA blended classrooms at CLA serving students in either a morning or an afternoon session. In addition, ECD operates seven additional classroom sites located between Paddock, Kimell Hill, Lake Louise, Virginia Lake, and Willow Bend. Five of the classrooms located in elementary buildings run a full day program which we call PFAE, and the remaining two run half-day sessions, which we refer to as PFA. In addition, the multilingual department here in district 15 operates via a preschool for all expansion grant, PFAE, three fullday Spanish bilingual preschool classrooms, which are housed at Kimell Hill, Lake Louise, and Virginia Lake. These three classrooms are model classrooms, which have been awarded the state's highest accolade, the gold circle of quality under Mr. Bansky's leadership. Student performance indicators from students who transition from these classrooms to kindergarten shows the positive impact of this program. The district's preschool continuum of services is quite expansive and annually services over 500 students. The program fills throughout the school year as the district and ECD conduct screenings. Students transition to preschool from early intervention services at age three or move into the district. Our engagement with our preschool consultants is directly tied to examining our programmatic capacity and operations in a time of significant uncertainty for the field of early childhood education. Given the state level transition of all early childhood

services to IDEC or the new Illinois Department of Early Childhood on July 1, 2026, this was an appropriate time for the district to pivot and reimagine its preschool program. To that end, we are doing our due diligence to position the district to be agile in responding to the direction that is eventually communicated to us. At present, all we know is that the ISBY Department of Early Childhood, who administers the PFA and the PFAE grants, will no longer be operational on June 30th, 2026. We simply do not know what is happening next. We are working with the assumption that PFA and PFAE grants will be level funded and roll over for the next fiscal year. It is uncertain in that scenario if Rancone Family Services will continue to administer and collaborate with us on the grants as the administrative and fiscal agent or if the district will be singularly able to access funds. However, in the event um of any you know change in direction, we want to have the capacity to be responsive to any funding opportunities that present themselves from the state. At the present time, district 15 has a PFA grant of its own for the three Spanish bilingual PFA classrooms and ECE holds the grants for all of the PFA and PFAE classrooms that support the preschool programming here in district 15. As you can imagine, all of this uncertainty is a nerve-wracking context for our staff, administrators, and community partners and families to be working within. We are approaching this work with a sensitivity to the uncertainty, a desire to provide a level continuum of programming in the upcoming year, but with a preparedness that will allow us to be nimble and responsive in the event that we have to change course. Thus, right now, we've been in a stage of listening and discernment, and in

January, we will begin transitioning to organizing information and developing funding scenarios. It is likely that when the time comes to make decisions or a series of decisions, it will have to be done swiftly and definitively. Thus, the listening sessions we're engaging in now with our consultants will be the input that will be reviewed and considered as future decisions are made. The only decision that had been made so far was regarding the extended day portion of the SIP program. Following a positive and productive conversation with the staff at CLA yesterday regarding the future programming for students in these classrooms, members of the staff and I will be coming together to discuss the program description, evidence-based practices, data collection, and outcomes later this week. Programwide, we have spent the semester in monthly collaboration with ACT, working on everything from calendars and conference dates to supplies and materials, a streamlined process for snacks and meals across all program sites, screening, and student placement. Organizationally, District 15 and Rancone have collaborated to amend a memorandum of memorandum of understanding to increase the number of D15 teachers teaching in a PFA or PFAE classroom funded by ECD from 4 to 7. And tomorrow, our teams will collaborate on the overall budget. As I pass this presentation over to Dr. Swanson and Miss Beni Res. I want to impart on everyone that we value the ongoing partnership of Rancone and ACT as we all navigate this uncharted territory. That it is recognized that every administrator and staff member make daily meaningful contributions to our program and that all of us have the needs of our students at the forefront of our hearts and minds. This is complex work with many crossroads to navigate and the professionalism, patience and collaboration of everyone who is touched

by this process is recognized and sincerely appreciated. With that, I hand it over to you. Good evening, President Ayer, members of the board of education, Superintendent Hines, [clears throat] and members of the CLA. Um, thank you for being here. Really, I I appreciate that you are all here tonight. Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. My name is Ellen Swanson and I'm one of the consultants supporting District 15's early childhood program review alongside my colleague Margie Vanerys. Over the past six months, we have been working closely with district leaders, early childhood staff and families who have reported um to our to our staff that um to understand and to better understand the current state of programming and to identify opportunities to strengthen coherence, alignment, and impact of our programs. Tonight, we will walk you through the major themes that have emerged and share a multi-year plan just very high level that can guide our district forward. So, what is the purpose of tonight's presentation? It has three goals. Okay. First, we want to share the highle themes that have emerged from the data we've collected across staff, district, and building administrators, families who have reported information to our staff and leadership. Second, we'll present a multi-year vision, again, high level themes for strengthening coherence and alignment across early childhood programs. And third, we'll highlight the immediate priorities that will support a successful transition as the district strengthens and unifies its early childhood leadership and programming. Our goal here is to provide clarity, transparency, and a clear path forward. So

to understand what's working well and where the system has opportunities to grow, we conducted a wide-ranging data collection process with key stakeholders. It's important to note that this process was not all-encompassing and we still have a lot of work to do. What I do want to share is that we have met with district 15 building leadership members, act leadership and staff members. And again, we want to partner with families and community partners moving forward. So for those people that we have not met with yet, we that is our plan moving forward. Our initial data gathering process included listening sessions with teachers, program assistants, related services staff, surveys to understand needs and priorities, meetings with district and building leadership, classroom observations, and a full review of current program structures and schedules. This broad approach allowed us to see the system from multiple perspectives and identify some themes that were consistent across these groups. Next slide. So why imagine early why reimagine early childhood now in district 15? We did hear loud and clear from those that we have connected with already that there is definitely a strong demand for early childhood services in the district an increasing demand and that the district is committing is committed to serving more students and families moving forward. However, the current structure that we have in place spread across multiple sites and systems that are not fully aligned at the present time, it makes it difficult to maintain consistency and clarity. The district has a unique opportunity right now to build a unified system that is efficient, scalable, sustainable, still while staying true to a commitment to highquality programming.

So, what are those four emerging themes that have come to our attention here in the last several months? First, there's a need for centralized early childhood program leadership across the district and in all of our programs, special education, preschool for all, bilingual, multilingual programming. Second, the need for consistent, well-defined programming across the district. Third, there's a need to align and streamline our screening and eligibility process. And fourth, there is a need for clear and accessible program descriptions. What are our programs? Who are the students in them? And what qualifies our students to be into those programs when they come to us? Each of these themes reflects a structural opportunity to create greater coherence and support for students, staff, and families. So, let me get into a little bit more of our themes. So, theme one, restructuring and centralizing leadership. What do I mean by that? Staff shared that the current early childhood system feels a little fragmented with programs operating a bit in silos, which is to be expected because we're not all under one roof. We are spread out across the district. ECD preschool for all, our multilingual programs, our structured programs, and our special education programs each have different processes, structures, and expectations in place by restructuring that leadership and centrally housing as many early childhood programs as we can. Yes, under the CLA right now, that is the place that is housing most of them. The district can create a more unified early childhood system with sharing expectations, stronger communication, and more coordinated supports. This also allows for maximizing the strength of our leaders who bring specialized skills, knowledge, and expertise to the

early childhood instructional environment. This will also allow programming to grow in a strategic and aligned way for those early childhood programs that may continue to be located out in the buildings. It still will be essential to ensure that there is they are in systematic alignment with the others. Next theme, theme two, it's okay. Consistent early childhood programming. We heard concerns uh about in some inconsistencies in program length, staffing supports, transportation, and having access to programs across different sites. Strengthening consistency doesn't necessarily mean that every program is identical. It means that programs are intentionally designed, similarly structured, and systematically aligned across the district. Doing this will also set the foundation for future expansion and increased access for our families. Next slide. Theme three, alignment of screening and eligibility. What we learned is that screening and eligibility processes vary substantially across our sites at the present time, which can create some confusion for families and our staff. and oftentimes they there might be inconsistencies in when we're making placement decisions for students. A more unified district-wide screening process will help to ensure students are identified in a fair, timely, and consistent manner. It will also create clearer pathways for our families and support better coordination across early childhood, special education, and bilingual multilingual services. Next slide. Our fourth theme, clear and well-defined program descriptions. One of the most common themes we heard from staff and that

families who are reporting to our staff members that they often feel unclear about the differences in the programs that we currently have in place, how placement decisions are made, and the service models that we currently have in place. Developing clear program descriptions will increase transparency, build trust, and help families and staff make more informed decisions. It also ensures that staff across all sites share a common understanding of program purposes and expectations. Just to give some specific of examples, what would be like being more clearly defined look like? So the program structure, the days, the hours, the class sizes, defining that more clearly so that that's that's um memorialized. [clears throat] Student eligibility for programs and enrollment processes. So that's more consistent. Instructional models, what's the curriculum? What are the interventions? What are the assessments being used in each of our programs? and then defining those services and supports that are available across our programs including multilingual supports, special education supports and those family engagement supports as well. So moving forward, what is what is this approach that we are looking at? Phase one, which is what I would call that we're currently in through the the next year, 2026, would represent the work that we're that's already underway with the focus on right now the programs at the CLA. This includes continuing to restructure building leadership, clarifying and defining program descriptions, examining current differences in order to better streamline the screening process, and continuing to engage staff and families in feedback. This phase builds the foundation of the larger system enhancements that will occur in future years.

What would phase two entail? This is kind of years two and three that we're talking about. In phase two, so this is again like about fall of 2027. Moving forward, the district would move toward implementation of a more consistent district-wide screening process and begin unifying programming across sites. This includes applying consistent models, expectations, and staffing structures. Yes, we will continue to gather feedback and adjust planning as needed while providing the professional learning that staff is indicating that they need throughout this transition. And then in that final phase, year three and beyond, when Margie and I did this in the last district that we worked in in district 62 um in Displayplains, this took probably about five, six years to do. We worked together for about a decade. Um, and she was there before I was. But in in engaging in this work, what what really we found to to be part of the process is that you learn along the way as you're restructuring, as you're planning that things come up and that you have to adapt and adjust. So in this phase three, what we would be doing is trying to look at full imp implementation but taking into consideration some of those programming needs that surface along the way or change as as the world changes. The idea at this point is that all district early childhood programs would operate under a unified and coordinated leadership structure with continued evaluation and refinement of programming to ensure the system supports highquality assessment, learning, and instruction for all of our students. This phase is focused on long-term sustainability in the district and maximizing our student outcomes for our earliest learners.

So, while I fully recognize that we've only been on this journey for the past handful of months, it really is important to pause and recognize how extremely dedicated and committed the early childhood staff is here in this district to serving the students here in this community. across every site. We met with teachers, support staff, and leadership, and they are deeply committed to meeting each child where they are and helping them grow. We also want to acknowledge that staff were really honest with us. They were transparent. They were open throughout this review process. Their insights have been invaluable and have directly shaped these high-level themes and that recommendations that we are making this evening. And in closing, last slide. This multi-year plan positions District 15 to build a unified, aligned, and highquality early childhood system that meets the needs of students, families, and the community. We are looking forward to continuing this partnership and supporting the district as it moves through each phase of implementation. We thank you for your time and engagement in this important work. And at this point, I'm happy to answer Margie and I are happy to answer any questions you might have. Dr. um Swanson and um Miss Bernard, so you are our consultants that are going to lead us um through this entire process for the next couple of years. Am I clear on that?

Yes. Okay. And um and isn't this um something that the district has done outside of ECDC in our regular programming? We're modeling it after what we've already done with some of our other um uh work outside of um uh early childhood. Am am I correct? In terms of an audit, are you talking about? Oh, no. Just in terms of um

No, just in terms of like um the vision of um reooking at the current programs we have and um and um uh trying to move forward. It was part of the moving 15 forward looking at our academic programs looking at. So this is the same. Um so I I was just um I guess I I I just want to be clear because we did we use um was there a need for consultants for um our original programs that we did for moving 15 forward or is there um a special you know I I guess I want to um understand why um we're utilizing your services. So, so and in when we did our special education audit, uh it was started during COVID and then it before CO then it continued through CO then it picked up after CO we used um CEC

and then right now we have a consultant doing an audit for human resources. We're using a consult a a consultation firm for our transportation audit. So often times when we do a programmatic review, yes, we do use consultants or people that have expertise which Ellen is brings special education and Margie brings uh early childhood. So that is why they've, you know, been hired to to help us. They did this work in district 62 and now you're working at the University of Minnesota doing a lot of this work and Margie, you know, we pulled her out of retirement and she's she's she's helping us. So yes, [clears throat]

was there um anything in particular in our current program because um the partnership has been for years now that um that we need to really build upon or was where was the um the gap where where were we um uh uh not providing our um community with the needs that they um the changing needs of our community? Um where did this start? I think if I'm speaking candidly, I think what has been a complicated structure in this district is that ECD has been for for over 30 years, as Dr. McGuffin said, been part of leading the programs early childhood wise in this district. So the structures of the programs that district 15 is responsible for managing that ECDEX responsible for managing there's not been a coordinated way of leading those programs because different people have been leading them. And so one of the themes that that came out is that coordinated approach to providing programming to our families to our students. And so try trying to bring that back under the oices of of district 15 is probably the direction that makes the most sense at this point simply because I in in serving and trying to serve a district your size and trying to look at how to make these decisions and manage programming, it's very difficult to do when you have multiple people at the helm. And so probably the the biggest theme that came out was that there's just some inconsistencies and some misalignment in how children are being served, but children are being identified in terms of needing to be served. And those needs are just increasing [clears throat] at this point.

And and I would agree in terms of like the driver for us when it was Ann Scully and and before Mindy was here, it was [snorts] we love CLA. This is an amazing staff, but we also have a lot of staff members from ECT and there were great inconsistencies. When you would go between the classrooms, there were inconsistencies. When we would try to collaborate, get a copy of the budget that we share that they're administering on our behalf, that was difficult. Um, co following the same protocols, that was very different. They they felt like they were their own agency administering our grant dollars with our students. and it became very difficult. It was like two in some cases very distinctly different programs being administered to our students. So, um when given the opportunity and and the we've been talking about this and I heard that someone said this has been like a long breakup in the making. Uh I thought it was pretty funny because it it really has been we've been kind of working towards we first went around like let's try to be more collaborative. Let's get aligned. Let's get tight and it just didn't happen. So then it this opportunity presented itself with everything that's changing at the state level and early childhood and coming and four agencies kind of coming together under one umbrella. We thought well now is really the time to move. We have some traction. We've got these big shifts that are going to be taking place at the state. We had a change a little bit in leadership with with Ren Cohen joining and Eddie has been their new director has been very collaborative and very open and wants to kind of go on this journey with us. I think it's it's going to be very good for every early childhood teacher and related service provider, program assistant, every student, their families to to have one approach, whether it's a satellite site, if they remain where they are, unless we build an addition on CLA, which I would love to do, get them all under one roof. Diana, plug your ears. Um, [laughter] you know, we we want it to be the same whether it's at CLA or in a satellite site. We want everything just to be consistent. And you all know as a board

we have been working on that across the district for 7 years, the same curriculum guaranteed written and viable, the same professional development facilities that are at a commensurate level administrators where there's the right ratio. We're we're trying to build consistency. We are a school district, not a system of schools, but a school system. And we have been working very hard for seven years to build continuity and alignment. And that is what we're going to try now to do with our youngest folks, okay, for our for our youngest learners. So, this is just all part of what we've been about for the last seven years. So, what can I um look for in the next year and two years as um as the benchmark for um defining our success um so that we uh can gauge where you where we are right now to um where we want to be.

What what I'm sorry, what are we looking for?

Sure. So I think one of the things and one of the the priority areas especially in this next year is looking at trying to better define what do our programs look like. Get that down on paper operationally define those things so that we can first identify what it is that our programs spell that out clearly for and having staff input with that but also spell that out for our families and for our communities. So, what what does early childhood look like in district 15? What are the programs that are available? Who's eligible for them? That screening process, what does screening look like? How do we if a if a a a family member or community member is thinking, hey, I I I think my child might need to go through screening. What does that process look like? So, we all know and can articulate that in the same way. right now that isn't happening because that's happening in multiple different ways right now. So to your point, clear clear descriptions, clear programming, knowing what is actually available for my child if I'm in this district and then knowing how to get my child eligible or through a screening process where they could they could be into that program or have a decision made about that.

I think you guys are also working on screening and evaluation, teasing those two apart and building greater consistency in both of those um components. I talk about that.

Yes. So, it's tricky with screening. Screening is not intended to place a child into special education. There's a very rigorous process that goes into uh making a child eligible for special education. right now. Um, tightening up that screening process will allow us to be able to better serve those students who are truly at risk and and and sometimes decisions right now are being made with the processes that are in place because they're not consistent across sort of the the screening procedures that are currently in place. What we're trying to do is shore that up, tighten that up so that screening looks the same way and that children are looked at the same way when they go through that process. So, we're trying to be a little bit more accurate in who it is that we are serving because they're coming through a screening process that looks that looks consistent wherever they're being screened.

Okay. I appreciate the explanation. Thank you. So, I um love the goals and I'm I'm clear on that. I think the piece that's kind of missing for me is so we have to keep educating all these littles along the way, right? We can't be like, "Hold on, we'll figure it out." Um so, what is what's the timeline when we unveil our new shiny early childhood

2027? Fall of 2027. And so what we're going to be looking looking to do for the next for 20 2026 and then through [snorts] the summer of 2027 is get [clears throat] these things clearly defined, get the system, the program descriptions in place, get our staff trained, everybody on this leadership trained, everyone on the same page to be able to roll out in fall of 2027. And you may have mentioned in a slide, so forgive me if you said this. And I so I just want to be clear. We don't what we don't know yet, which is what you're gathering, right, is like what we want the programs to be because we have a lot of different things going on right now and we're we're trying to define what exactly we want to offer or what we're going to call it, so to speak, right? We're still trying to define specifically or do we have an idea what we want and we just need to define them.

We have programs in existence. So what we want to do is clearly define exactly what what those programs look like. How many how many students are in them? Okay.

What is the like like the description of a student who would be likely to be placed in that program? What what is their background? What is their their the characteristics of those students that and then how is that staffed? How are those students supported instructionally, curricularly? What does that look like in terms of how we are meeting their needs? And that does need to be individualized and differentiated depending on the needs of the students and depending on what program that is. Right now, what's a little bit tricky is that you you have special education programs, but what what what we want to do is better define what those programs are doing, who who they have in them, and how they are staffed so that it's consistent.

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. That alignment piece is key. I think my followup because to me there would be a difference of defining current programs and clearly articulating current programs versus clearly defining the programs that we should have. So can you Yep. That's one of the things you're going to do this week. That's right. So I just wanted to because I think the way that you've articulated it has made it sound like we're just defining the current programs that are in existence versus providing recommendations on what a future state would look like. So, I think I think I'm answering your question. If I'm not, I ask it again.

What we want to do with staff, which we haven't sat sat down and done yet, is we want to get down on paper what currently is in existence, right? And then from that point, we want to take a look at who are the students that we're serving and what should those des like tweak those a little bit, adjust those gap analysis of how you have to get from point A to point A, right? But but knowing what we have now and knowing where we want to be, but we have to kind of get at where Okay. [laughter] It's okay. Teamwork. Um

my question was about the implications on state decisions. I know we're waiting for more information. So I guess what I'm curious about is if we are moving forward with this implementation plan, I imagine like funding is obviously a crit critical component of this, but what are some of the other potential implications that we're waiting for based on state level decisions? That is the milliondoll question.

Themselves are still unknown in a big dark hole. You can't get any information. There have been some leading folks that have worked in the district that have worked at the center that have been at the center of every decision made at the state level for early childhood that don't have information for us because they are outside of the circle. So, we don't know. The one of the thing I'll tell you what keeps me up is when that grant is open, we need to be ready to write for it. I want to make sure that, you know, all this work is going to position us because it's a quick turnaround. Renee, you wrote a grant for those three mult bilingual classrooms. You know what that took to to get off the ground for three. We have to scale it for over 500 kids. It's going to be space. And then it's also going to be what's the proportion of funding that's going to be available to school districts versus early childhood educ uh early childhood programs out in the community. Is the state going to try to push more dollars towards private preschools? or are they going to bring it into and allow school districts to administer their own program? Right now, thankfully, we have a nice relationship with Renone. They're they're administering our grant dollars. They're collaborative. We can see the budget. We can help make decisions. You heard us say we've taken some of the ec teachers and they've become our teachers. So, they can start stay on our schedule, get paid the way our teachers get paid, and and so on and so forth. We want to do that more and more and they're allowing us to do that. But we need to be ready for when that grant opens

to have a very strong application so then we can do all the things we're dreaming about doing over the next year or so.

So we we we have a lot of current state and we've done it with every to your point Wend before. We always start with where are we now? What's the current state of affairs? What's the dream state? How do we build that? And then you know from a budgetary perspective because that also is is part of it. You know what can we afford to administer? So that's that's going to be part of the work as well. But we're always going to dream big and then and hope that that's you know where we can deliver and if not then we're going to adjust. And that's that nimble agile because we just don't know. Just like the referendum we were proceeding as if it was a yes before it was and we just put yes into the world. We're doing the same thing with early childhood. Right. And the money related for and the money related. [laughter]

Okay. Yeah. That was those were my questions. any other. Okay, thank you so much. I know it's a lot of work and thank you to the CLA team for being here. We appreciate it as well. A lot happening. Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you everyone. CLA and our presenters, have a good night. Don't be shy. All right. Do you want to go back up to superintendent report? Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Superintendent report. Okay. 4.1.

Yes. 4.1. While they're filing out. Thanks. Have a good night. Um I will, as I always do, update you on what we've been up to since we were last together. Um you'll see this a photo of it on um the the communication slide, but Sandy Kramer um Emily Ahmad and I attended the uh Insp ceremony where we were honored uh with four different awards of distinction for our website, for our magazine, for our video, um our welcome back video, and what was the fourth one?

Oh, and the staff newsletter. So that was that was great fun. Um, we're continuing, Sher and I both with principal observations. The budget work continues. Cabinet met yesterday and we're just trying to narrow in on the deficit. So, that continues to work. Preschool planning, you just saw the fruits of that labor. Uh, hang with hine visits. Hang with Hines visits that um, fine gentleman I believe was at Lincoln. Um, so he wanted to meet. He came out. He stopped his learning to uh, introduce himself to the uh, the big cheese is what he said. uh targeted school support planning is happening with GMS and uh the board and I had a great time as well as Dr. McGuffin at triple I went to a lot of sessions did some nice networking so it's been a busy month um we turned 80 as we shared at our last meeting um in April of this this year so we have a state save the date that we're working on April 10th at the Catillian so in Palletine we're going to have an 80th birthday party a little a little gala um so we hope you can all come mark your calendars for April 10th we have a lot of committees that we're starting to form and we're looking for volunteers and there there might be some voluntelling, but we're going to get a lot of people involved uh to make this celebration happen. So, save the date and we will just continue each month to share a little bit more information um with the board and the community. Uh admin services, we're happy to have Sherry back. I'm going to call her Scooty from now on. She's back with a cast and a scooter, so we're happy to see her back at the ranch. Um and she's been working with schools on followup for residency verification. If you recall, seven years ago, we put a policy in place um where we were going to begin to actually make parents prove registration beyond when they enrolled their children in kindergarten. Um we went to everybody had to prove residency and we've we've had a then it was every other year depending on grade level. It was transition years. Um now we have a a tool that we use to help verify the likelihood that somebody is really a resident. And then if something pops

where it looks a little fishy, we kind of dig in a little more deeply. and we are moving families out that that are really coming in and and and um obtaining a free education that they are not qualified to um receive because they don't live in the district within the boundaries. So Sherry's been working um through through the process with a number of our families. Um reviewed and updated student fees. You saw that in the memo at the last meeting or you'll see it at this meeting. It's in consent. Um, so we're we're going to update some of our fees um for the 2627 school year and we are currently reviewing uh Press 120. You'll have the pleasure of a first read of that in January. Uh business prepping and uh for shortened payroll periods due to Thanksgiving and winter break, so just quicker turnarounds. Uh they're closing fiscal year 25 um and the accounting records and they're scheduling facility projects for winter break and summer. So, uh, communication. There's our photo in height descending order. Sandy and I thought, "Oh, boy." [laughter] We took Sandy noticed it. She's like, "Man, we should you and I should have separated." I'm like, "Yeah, we should have. Whatever." [laughter] Vertically challenged. Um, we completed the annual report calendar. It's coming out in January. So, um, as you know, we had our inaugural magazine. Then I was talking about doing an annual report out to the community. Um, it's going to take place, uh, it's going to look like a calendar where there'll be a lot of photos month by month, but also updates on our strategic priorities and some other areas of focus. Um, and hopefully our our community will enjoy a paper calendar of all things District 15. So, uh, wait, wait for it after the new year in your mailbox. Um, comm is working on the annual emergency communication system. We've had a couple test runs and with the winter that we've had already, it's it's a good thing we have those ducks in a row. And just as a reminder, our intention is to do snow days because we do know that our kids learn better when they're in school and we don't know

that we're going to need e-learning days at all. But to be on the safe side, we're building an e-learning plan every couple years. We have to resubmit our plan to the North Cook Intermediate Service Center. So, that's underway. The deadline's February. So, we'll have it as a just in case. Um, and then as I said, we're planning for the gala. Um, ed services, the completed nurse training on DCFS roles and responsibilities. Developed a trauma-informed student deescalation training uh program for bus drivers and aids because sometimes our kids are disregulated when they're on the bus, either leaving home and getting on the bus or leaving school to go home. And we want to have our drivers and and uh aids trained to manage those situations. And then a lot of people are deeply entrenched in planning for the two days of institute day in January. Human resources uh as I spoke of a few minutes ago, we're completing the HR audit data collection. Um and we're going we're anxious Jerry and I are very anxious to see the findings of the HR audit and then once we see them, we will um bring them to the board either in January or February depending on when we get the the audit report from our um our consultants. So, that's coming soon. Um, human resources launching the initial workforce and staffing strategy development and refreshing and modernizing recruitment materials to strengthen um our outreach. So, staffing meetings, just so you guys know, will start in January after the new year. So, we're looking at enrollment, we're looking at programs and where they're going to be housed, and we're going to start working with um staffing. We're going to link that to the budget work that we're doing. And we really are going to try to tighten up to the extent we can in terms of class sizes, in terms of, you know, how many programs we have, how many kids are in our programs. So, those two go uh definitely handinand. Multilingual um hosted access parent information meetings because that's right around the corner. Provided PD and best practices for duly identified students. That means a student that is identified as special

education and in need of multilingual supports. uh to prek teachers prepping for January institute and then collect uh collective planning for or with 211 rather uh for course recommendations for eighth grade uh multilingual students that's all underway right now those transition meetings kids are taking placement tests and that's already happening um student services uh buildings have been completing their CP preparedness exercises and uh they're experiencing high staff enthusiasm and participation for CPR and AED classes. It's nice to hear that. It's so exciting. I I love it. Uh TLA supported schools with updated progress reports. Um middle school math staff visited the feeder high schools. Um we're continuing to meet, they're continuing to meet with kindergarten teams to redesign the beginning of the year learning opportunities, allowing our 5-year-olds a little extra time to transition into kindergarten before they dive into the academics. and we hope that that will help with some regulation and uh increased regulation and decreased um behavior. So that's under way with a a team of teachers and TLA and I'm excited to see what they come up with. And then again this department is also involved in planning for institute day tech uh they're providing support for progress reports at the elementary uh level. Middle schools have gone out, but we know that elementaryaries are on trimesters. Provided instructional technology PD for administrators and teachers. That's kind of an ongoing thing. Continue to develop workflows, reports, and processes for the powers school cyst, which if you recall is in its first year. Um, further development of MTSS intervention systems with within analytics and insight so they can use that powerful CIS to uh interact with data and track kids getting additional support. And then they participated in -ate process for additional internet

services. That's a real exciting thing, right Dave and MJ? Nope. Kidding. It's money, right? So again, another busy month. I am always grateful for the work of the team. We just keep on uh every day we're shuffling. Right. That is it. All right. That's it for me. Yes. Press. and we'll go to press and then we're going to hit the road, Jack. All right, press, Sherry. I won't make you scooch.

Okay, excuse me. All right, [laughter] it's going to be a thing, Sherry. Um, so you have your press um for second read 119. A lot of press this year has been really minor footnotes and things, not a lot of substantive changes. Any questions, feedback? Nothing. Okay. All right. Moving on. Okay. So, we'll move on to acceptance of the minutes. May I have a motion, please?

Second discussion. All in favor? I I All right. Motion carries. Go to board committee reports. All right. Uh Frank is not here to share about Ed Red, so we'll move to 15 Foundation. Eric,

well, it was a really exciting week. On Monday and Tuesday, we went to several schools. Uh uh Adriana, myself, Lee, um Christine. It was it was just great to go around the district and see the excitement. Um and the surprise, keeping that surprise uh was was really difficult, especially for me if if you ask most people. I I cannot do that. So, uh, there were a couple teachers that I knew at some of the schools, uh, that I was really excited and I got to meet a lot of a lot of teachers that I that I hadn't known before and just, um, it was it was great to see. We we had 65 applications. Uh, we granted 43 mini grants around the district and passed out most of them on Monday and Tuesday this week. Uh, we have a couple makeups uh, tomorrow and one on Friday. Um but for a total of $26,951.79 this year. Um every school was awarded a grant. Um we did not have any grants uh uh at Pleasant Hill at uh Winston Campus Elementary or junior or middle school uh and at Carl Sandberg, but hopefully that will uh be rectified next year. But very successful program and then our thing coming up in January is our we'll start working on the 50/50 raffle. But uh it was great to be a part of that.

All right. Thanks, Eric. Uh equity committee or no, sorry, finance committee, Wenda or Lisa. I'm so happy to report we have no no updates. [laughter] Great. Second. All right. Equity committee Jim or Zubar. So, uh, Jim and I communicated about, um, basically the kind of a revamped agenda of what we want to accomplish for the next, uh, you know, year. And I think that I'm not without going through all of our ideas, I think what might what might make sense is we set up a meeting with you, Lori, at some point where we can discuss our agenda and see if it makes sense and how we can uh, implement it for the next year. Terrific. I'll have power. Yeah, I will follow up. Clara, thank you.

Please follow up with me. We'll do it tomorrow if not already. Yeah, I'm ready. Yeah, I got I got it. All right. [laughter] Okay. So, moving into action items. Personnel report. May I have a motion, please? I move to approve the personnel report. Recommendations for administration, certified and non-certified staff members as presented. Second. All right. Discussion. Okay. Motion or I'm sorry, roll call. Gator I Taylor I Shupai I Khan I Bachmann I Hunt

I All right motion carries item 8.2. May I have a motion please? I move to approve the second reading of press 199 as presented. Second uh discussion. Okay. Roll call. Taylor I. Shupai I. Khan I. Bachmann I. Hunt I. Ader I. Item 8.3 approval of the resolution for abatement of tax levy. I move to approve the resolution for abatement of tax levy for the year 2025 as presented. Second. All right. Uh discussion. Roll call. Shupai. I. K. I. Bachmann. I. Hunt. I. Ader.

I. Taylor. I. All right. Motion carries. Item 8.4. May I have a motion, please? I move to approve the resolution authorizing final aggregate tax levy for tax year 2025 and certificate of tax levy as presented. Second. Second. Discussion. All right. Roll call. K. I. Bachmann. I. Hunt. I. Ader. I. Taylor. I. Shubai. I. All right. Motion carries. Item 8.5.

I move to award the purchase of a refrigerated delivery truck to Northwest Freightlininer Palatine, Illinois for $157,38 as presented. Second. All right. Discussion. Roll call. Badman. I. Hunt. I. Aer. I. Taylor. I. Shupai. I. K. I. Speaking of Shupai, did you need to talk to Mr. Shupai? Nope. Okay. Dropping something off for me. [laughter] It's a quick in and out. Just leave it on the chair back there. Okay. So, chair.

All right. Item 8 point or motion carries. Item 8.6. I move to approve the 2025 10-year health life safety survey as presented. Second. Second. Discussion. All right. Roll call. Hunt. I. Aer. I Taylor I Shupai I Khan I Bman I All right consent calendar. Uh would anyone like to remove anything from the consent calendar? No. All right. May I have a motion, please? I move to approve the consent calendar items as presented. Second. Discussion. Right. Roll call. Ader. I. Taylor. I. Shupai. I. K.

I. Pacman. I Hunt I. All right. Motion carries. Correspondence, Dr. Hines. Um, as as is every month, a lot of foyas. They just won't stop. Any questions on what you have submitted for your review? Oh, poor Jamie just keeps sticking away and now she's going on her honeymoon. So, I'm the ONE [screaming] [laughter] come back. Come back. [gasps] All right. Uh, may I have a motion to adjurnn? I move to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I I

Let the record reflect my I was off by three minutes. I I am impressed. I am very impressed.