Township High School District 214 Board of Education - Regular Meeting

Welcome to Jerry's Cafe. [Music] We are a destination cafe and we offer craft food and beverages, meaning we make everything fresh on site when you order. And all of our food and our beverages are prepared and served by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And then lastly, just say the name. Tom. Here you go. Enjoy. My favorite part of working at Jerry's Cafe is definitely interacting with friends I've met throughout the years and the expressing machine. My co-founder Amy Philpot and I opened Jerry's Cafe for job opportunities and staggering statistic tells us that 80% of adults with disabilities are unemployed. I believe differently and this is the place where our employees can work and feel proud and contribute and can see that they have value and purpose and they are given the responsibility that anyone would be given in a job and we expect nothing less than them to perform at their highest level. So we see great success in every single employee and their independence and their offerings and activities here at Jerry's Cafe. the large hot white chocolate pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It is to die for. It is delicious. It's amazing. Well, the uh favorite part of uh working here is that I I get to serve customers. I am a cashier. They understand to include people with us with exceptionalities. I wanted to tell you, I've been watching you today. You're really good at your job. You've been doing great. I always I always like to serve customers.

Customers go first. We are super proud of our partnership with District 214. District 214 has been a supporter from the very beginning of our foundation and several of the schools have done fundraising and helped us get our doors open to Jerry's Cafe. Proudly, we have 12 or 13 graduates from the district 214 schools who will work at Jerry's Cafe as our active employees. This is where we do our salad prep. This is where we make all the salads. And then over here is the sandwich line. This is where we make all of our sandwiches. I have worked here since day one. I love it here. I love my supportive team members and I like serving customers. Here is one chicken Mediterranean trip salad. We know that our community members have lots of choices, but we're hoping that you will come and choose Jerry's Cafe. Thank you. When you come inside and engaged with our employees, you feel a sense of joy and you will start your day feeling the best way that you can with a joyful heart and knowing that Jerry's Cafe has provided you with delicious coffee, breakfast, or lunch. [Music] Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. All right, welcome to our 55th year of putting together an incredible community service project through our SOS class here at John Hershey High School. As you can see around me, it is organized chaos, but it is an incredible day for our students to serve our community by packaging and collecting food that's going to be going to local food pantries in our area to support those in need. We're really happy to be able to do the food drive here at Hersy because it really just brings the whole school together and we

are able to help our community and bring the energy with everyone here. All right, take it out. For the past, I would say about two months, we've been kind of working together with SOS, Junior Leaders, baseball, and we've all gathered together. We've done bag and tag with 12 different communities, and we've all come together, and it's really amazing to see the turnout. And then later on, we're going to be visiting eight local food pantries, and it's really exciting. We're just thankful for everyone who's helped each other along the way. It's been really fun. It's a team effort, but it's been so fun. [Music] Prospect marching nights are heading to DC. We're in Washington DC. [Music] Prospect Marching Knights were invited to travel to Washington DC this year for Veterans Day. So, we're taking the band out um to our nation's capital. We're going to do some great tours of some of the monuments and the museums and a lot of the sites of DC. Um, but it all culminates on Veterans Day. Um, we've been working really hard to prepare for our students opportunity. Throughout the trip, we had a few opportunities uh where veterans would actually see our group of students out out and about and spoke to our students. Um, so in addition to uh touring these places, our students were able to actually interact with a number of veterans over the course of the trip, which kind of made everything a little more real and genuine and authentic. So, our first day in DC was really impactful and gave our students sort of a big picture overview of the city and some of the history and really set the stage for our performance day coming up. So on Veterans Day, our morning started off with a performance at the Lincoln Memorial. There we were right on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial facing the Washington Monument. Just a really

special opportunity for our students to have a a really great place to perform. It was an honor to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with the PMK where so much of America's history has taken place. The experience was very impactful for me. It was a unique opportunity that I have never had before and it was something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. One of our students, Emily Pollock, was also asked to deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial. I've always wanted to help people, so I'm going to serve my country. More specifically, I want to become an officer in the military. Her speech was really wonderful and got a really great reception at the event. In fact, after the event was over, I had a number of veterans come track me down to tell me how great her speech was. And actually, they wanted to meet her and take pictures with her because they were so moved by what she had to say. My father served in the Navy and so he instilled in me like the value of um serving and like caring for our veterans and those who serve us. And so being able to thank them today and um place medals around their and welcome them home was really impactful for me as well. United States Air Force. It was an honor to play at the World War II Memorial today. It was such an honor because music is a way to share emotions without using words. Our performances in DC got a lot of really good responses. Um, one of them, a story was told to me by one of our chaperones that there was literally um, a Marine veteran who was at a performance at the Euima Memorial who was literally in tears watching the performance and just expressed to our chaperon how much it meant to him that this group of teenagers from from the Chicago area had come out there and was was performing. Um, and he was just really moved by it and uh, I thought that was just a really neat neat story to hear coming out of the the performance. So any trip like this uh takes a lot of time and energy to put together. I feel really fortunate that our school was very supportive of this endeavor. We had a bunch of parents who traveled with us

and did anything they could to make this a great experience for our students. Um I'm so glad we were able to bring our students to DC. Uh Veterans Day seemed like a perfect time to bring them and uh it really just in the end I think the whole trip turned out really really great and I'm so happy we were able to make it happen. [Music] We're super excited to have the 911 never forget mobile exhibit here at school. Truck arrived. We had testing one two. We had her students lining the the sidewalks. We had some, you know, many American flags like they would show on the honor flight. Sorry about all the testing the audience, whoever is in the theater right now. Apologies for that. Good morning. And I'd like to welcome you to the Stevensilla Tunnel of Towers Mobile Exhibit. We have a 5050 50ft trailer approximately 1100 square ft exhibit. We travel our nation to commemorate the brave sacrifice of the firefighters, police officers that gave their life that day and the greatest rescue and recovery effort in our nation's history. The reason we're here is to come educate our youth, testing, theater, audio, but also one test and to let them know that it was a huge tragedy. It was the single largest loss of life day we've ever had. It was also the largest largest rescue we've ever had as well. but just all the good that has come from that tragic day. And they're they're going to learn things that they they can't read about. Uh they're going to hear stories that some have never been told, some have been told many times. Test one, two, I do not Stephen Silver was uh one of the 343 firefighters that died that morning. He was getting off duty that morning. He was going to play golf with his older brothers. Heard that plane strike. heard on the news that the plane struck the building, turned

around, drove back to his firehouse, Squad 1, located in downtown Brooklyn. They had already been dispatched to the disaster. He got his gear, drove his own truck to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where he dawned 60 pounds of gear, ran 2 and 12 miles through the tunnel, mustered up with the rest of the firefighters, and gave his wife that day, honoring his oath that he took to protect life and property. So, this is about remembering. So we want people to remember how see for adults to remember and for the kids to learn. So we don't want this forgotten. It's not taught in most schools in in America and they have the privilege of talking to people who are there. You know we can't talk to people who were in the Civil War or these other moments in American history but they can. I think that's pretty special. Thanks for having us. And this means more to us than you. This means a lot to these kids and these kids have been great. They're very respectful. They listen. It's uh it's nice to it's nice to see a special thanks especially the FDMY crew to the SL foundation to solders journey home to district 214 to all of her I I'm grateful for everybody. Special shout out to Bill Dustin for the for the magic spirit. Special shout out to Chief Harris Arlington Heights Police. The coolest part about this project was there's like a whole bunch of people that were on it and did it. It wouldn't have happened without a whole bunch of people. The list is just too long. And to me that's that's actually a good thing to celebrate. [Music] This is the uh Rolling Meadows band alumni event. So, we decided to uh get the band back together. This year being the 40th anniversary of the Jazz and Meadows Festival. So, it was kind of an opportunity to, hey, can we bring people back at homecoming? I had talked to some of the previous band directors. That's Len King in the 70s, ' 80s, early 90s. We have Bill Jastro and David Bogs from the '90s. Then, of

course, Chris Booty, who retired several years ago. Those people set the foundation for everything that we have here. Oh my god, look at you. I I'd have paid money to be here today. I really would have. It's is one of those things that I I paid money to be. This is the banner where your closest friends were really at in high school. So, you're with your closest friends and regrouping after 40ome years and going, "Holy cow." Yeah, Mr. King is the reason why I'm here today. Not just that to school, but what I do in in life. I owe everything to Mr. King. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have gone to college. And if I hadn't gone to college, who knows what I would be doing. You know, some of the stuff that we we're doing right now is like we never stop doing it, you know? You know, just to be around these guys again and just hanging out. 40 years seems like a long time, but it seems like it's kind of a short time, too. You know, this is fantastic. I mean, I I knew it was going to be good, but not this good. 52 of my actual students are in this group. I get a lot of feedback from them telling me how much they they enjoyed the music program with me and how they appreciate music for for their life. That's really special because to know that they are still thinking about me and what what we did here. It's it's just very satisfying. Well, I flew back and I'm glad I did, you know, especially to see Mr. King. He meant a lot to us. He just brought in the jazz and I mean, we had world class, you know, experience that most kids never would have had, you know, a real depth of of exposure to great music because he came. So, I'm glad I got to see her. It's so fun to be back, though. I love it. My family's here. They're so excited. So is my family. Yeah, my son's here. My husband's here. So, it's really great. If you are on the fence of coming, whether it's debating about whether to come or not, you should definitely come next time. It feels like a long time ago, but in some ways, like you never left. Like, I'm like, "Okay, we're going to go march over to the

stadium and we're going to play for the football team." So, yeah. Okay. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Thank you to all the alumni who are coming here today. I mean some people are traveling across the country. I know one of the directors came from Arizona. Um, that's a testament to really what this event is about and it's bringing people together through our shared love of music and how music has changed our lives and shaped who we are as humans. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Music]

[Music] Welcome to Jerry's Cafe. [Music] We are a destination cafe and we offer craft food and beverages, meaning we make everything fresh on site when you order. And all of our food and our beverages are prepared and served by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And then lastly, just say the name. Tom. Here you go. Enjoy. Thank you. My favorite part of working at Dear Welcome to Jerry's Cafe. [Music] We are a destination cafe and we offer craft food and beverages, meaning we make everything fresh on site when you

order. And all of our food and our beverages are prepared and served by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And then lastly, just say the name. Tom. Here you go. Enjoy. Thank you. My favorite part of working at Jerry's Cafe is definitely interacting with friends I've met throughout the years and the expressing machine. My co-founder Amy Philpot and I opened Jerry's Cafe for job opportunities and a staggering statistic tells us that 80% of adults with disabilities are unemployed. I believe differently and this is the place where our employees can work and feel proud and contribute and can see that they have value and purpose and they are given the responsibility that anyone would be given in a job. and we expect nothing less than them to perform at their highest level. So, we see great success in every single employee and their independence and their offerings and activities here at Jerry's Cafe. The large hot white chocolate pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It is to die for. It is delicious. It's amazing. Well, the uh favorite part of uh working here is that I I get to serve customers. I am a cashier. They understand to include people with us with exceptionalities. I wanted to tell you I've been watching you today. You're really good at your job. You've been doing great. I always am. I always like to serve customers. Customers go first. We are super proud of our partnership with District 214. District 214 has been a supporter from the very beginning of our foundation and several of the schools have done fundraising and helped us get our doors

open to Jerry's Cafe. Proudly, we have 12 or 13 graduates from the district 214 schools who work at Jerry's Cafe as our active employees. This is where we do our salad prep. This is where we make all the salads. And then over here is the sandwich line. This is where we make all of our sandwiches. I have worked here since day one. I love it here. I love my supportive team members and I like serving customers. Here is one chicken Mediterranean trip salad. We know that our community members have lots of choices, but we're hoping that you will come and choose Jerry's Cafe. Thank you. When you come inside and engage with our employees, you feel a sense of joy and you will start your day feeling the best way that you can with a joyful heart and knowing that Jerry's Cafe has provided you with delicious coffee, breakfast, or lunch. [Music] Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. All right, welcome to our 55th year of putting together an incredible community service project through our SOS class here at John Hershey High School. As you can see around me, it is organized chaos, but it is an incredible day for our students to serve our community by packaging and collecting food that's going to be going to local food pantries in our area to support those in need. We're really happy to be able to do the food drive here at Hersy because it really just brings the whole school together and we are able to help our community and bring the energy with everyone here. All right, take it out. For the past, I would say about two months, we've been kind of working together with SOS, Junior Leaders, baseball, and we've all gathered together. We've done bag and

tags with 12 different communities, and we've all come together, and it's really amazing to see the turnout. And then later on, we're going to be visiting eight local food pantries, and it's really exciting. We're just thankful for everyone who's helped each other along the way. It's been really fun. It's a team effort, but it's been so fun. [Music] Prospect Marching Knights are heading to DC. [Music] We're in Washington, DC. [Music] Prospect Marching Knights were invited to travel to Washington DC this year for Veterans Day. So, we're taking the band out um to our nation's capital. We're going to do some great tours of some of the monuments and the museums and a lot of the sites of DC. Um, but it all culminates with performances on Veterans Day. Um, so we've been working really hard to prepare and we're so excited for our students to have this opportunity. Throughout the trip, we had a few opportunities uh where veterans would actually see our group of students out out and about and spoke to our students. Um, so in addition to uh touring these places, our students were able to actually interact with a number of veterans over the course of the trip, which kind of made everything a little more real and genuine and authentic. So, our first day in DC was really impactful and gave our students sort of a big picture overview of the city and some of the history and really set the stage for our performance day coming up. So on Veterans Day, our morning started off with a performance at the Lincoln Memorial. There we were right on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial facing the Washington Monument. Just a really special opportunity for our students to have a a really great place to perform. It was an honor to perform on the steps of Lincoln Memorial with the PMK where so much of America's history has taken place. The experience was very impactful

for me. It was a unique opportunity that I have never had before and it was something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. One of our students, Emily Pollock, was also asked to deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial. I've always wanted to help people. So, I'm going to serve my country. More specifically, I want to become an officer in the military. Her speech was really wonderful and got a really great reception at the event. In fact, after the event was over, I had a number of veterans come track me down to tell me how great her speech was. And actually, they wanted to meet her and take pictures with her because they were so moved by what she had to say. My father served in the Navy and so he instilled in me like the value of um serving and like caring for our veterans and those who serve us. And so being able to thank them today and um place medals around their careers and think and welcome them home was really impactful to me as well. United States. Two, test one, two. It was an honor to play at the World War II Memorial today. It was such an honor because music is a way to share emotions without using words. Our performances in DC got a lot of really good responses. Um, one of them, a story was told to me by one of our chaperones that there was literally um, a Marine veteran who was at a performance at the Euima Memorial who was literally in tears watching and just expressed to our chaperone how much it meant to him that this group of teenagers from from the Chicago area had come out there and was was performing. Um, and he was just really moved by it. And uh, I thought that was just a really neat neat story to hear coming out of the 12 13 14 11 minutes to go. So any trip like this uh takes a lot of time and energy to put together. I feel really fortunate that our school was very supportive of this endeavor. We had a bunch of parents who traveled with us and did anything they could to make this a great experience for our students. Um I'm so glad we were able to bring our students to DC. Uh Veterans Day seemed like a perfect time to bring them and uh it really just in the end I think the

whole trip turned out really really great and I'm so happy we were able to make it happen. [Music] We're super excited to have the 911 never forget mobile exhibit here at Hersy High School. As the truck arrived, we had Hershey parents out front with some patriotic balloons. We had Hershey students lining the the sidewalks. We had some, you know, many American flags like they would show on the honor flights. The spirit was high. Good morning. And I'd like to welcome you to the Stevensilla Tuttler Towers Mobile Exhibit. We have a 50 50ft trailer approximately 1100 square ft exhibit. We travel our nation to commemorate the brave sacrifice of the firefighters, police officers that gave their life that day in the greatest rescue and recovery effort in our nation's history. The reason we're here is at Hershey High School to come educate our youth uh on the happenings of that day, but also the the happenings of the days after and to let them know that it it was a huge tragedy. It was the single largest loss of life day we've ever had. It was also the large largest rescue we've ever had as well. but just all the good that has come from that tragic day and they're they're going to learn things that they they can't read about. Uh they're going to hear stories that some have never been told, some have been told many times. [Music] Steven Silla was uh one of the 343 firefighters that died that morning. He was getting off duty that morning, was going to play golf with his older brothers. Heard the plane strike. heard on the news that the plane struck the building, turned around, drove back to his firehouse, Squad 1, located in downtown Brooklyn. They had already been dispatched to the disaster. He got his gear, drove his own truck to the

Brooklyn Battery Tunnel where he dawned 60 lbs of gear, ran 2 and 1/2 miles through the tunnel, mustered up with the rest of the firefighters, and gave his life that day, honoring his oath that he took to protect life and property. So, this is about remembering. So, we want people to remember. obviously for adults to remember and for the kids to learn. So we don't want this forgotten. It's not taught in most schools in in America and they have the privilege of talking to people who are there. You know, we can't talk to people who were in the Civil War or these other moments in American history, but they can. I think that's pretty special. Thanks for having us. And this means more to us than you. This means a lot to these kids. And these kids have been great. They're very respectful. They listen. It's uh it's nice. It's nice to see a special thanks especially the FDNY crew to the SL Foundation to Solders Journey Home to District 214 to all of Hersy. I I'm grateful for everybody. A special shout out to Bill Dustin for the for the magic spirit. Special shout out to Chief Harris Arlington Heights Police. The coolest part about this project was there's like a whole bunch of people that were on it and did it. It wouldn't have happened without a whole bunch of people. The list is just too long. And to me, that's that's actually a good thing to celebrate. [Music] This is the uh Rolling Meadows band alumni event. So, we decided to uh get the band back together. This year being the 40th anniversary of the Jazz Meadows Festival. So, it was kind of an opportunity to, hey, can we bring people back at homecoming? I had talked to some of the previous band directors. That's Len King in the 70s, '80s, early 90s. We have Bill Jastro and David Bogs from the '90s. And then, of course, Chris Booty, who retired several years ago. Those people set the foundation for everything that we have here. I'm giving you a hug. Oh my god,

look at you. I I'd have paid money to be here tonight. I really would have. It's is one of those things that I I paid money to be. This is the banner where your closest friends were really at in high school. So, you're with your closest friends and regrouping after 40ome years and going, "Holy cow." Yeah, Mr. King is the reason why I'm here today. Not just that to school, but what I do in in life. I owe everything to Mr. King. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have gone to college. And if I hadn't gone to college, who knows what I would be doing. You know, some of the stuff that we we're doing right now is like we never stop doing it, you know? You know, just to be around these guys again and just hanging out. 40 years seems like a long time, but it seems like it's kind of a short time, too. You know, this is fantastic. I mean, I I knew it was going to be good, but not this good. 52 of my actual students are in this group. I get a lot of feedback from them telling me how much they they enjoyed the music program with me and how they appreciate music and for for their lives. That's really special because to know that they are still thinking about me and what what we did here. It's it's just very satisfying. Well, I flew back and I'm glad I did, you know, especially to see Mr. King. He meant a lot to us. He just brought in the jazz and I mean, we had world class, you know, experience that Boston kids never would have had, you know, a real depth of of exposure to great music because of Mr. King. So, I'm glad I got to see her. It's so fun to be back, though. I love it. My family's here. They're so excited. So is my family. Yeah, my son's here. My husband's here. So, it's really great. If you are on the fence of coming, whether it's debating about whether to come or not, you should definitely come next time. It feels like a long time ago, but in some ways, like you never left. Like, I'm like, "Okay, we're going to go march over to the stadium and we're going to play for the football team." So, yeah. Okay.

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey. [Music] Thank you to all the alumni who are coming here today. I mean, some people are traveling across the country. I know one of the directors came from Arizona. Um, that's a testament to really what this event is about. And it's bringing people together through our shared love of music and how music has changed our lives and shaped who we are as humans. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] [Music]

Test. Test. One, two, three. Test. Howdy. Yep. I'm here. Good evening. Welcome to the uh Township High School District 214 Board of Education meeting for Thursday, June 12th, 2025. Miss Keys, could you please call the role? Miss Baldino, Miss Chung, Mr. Dustling, Mr. Ferto, Mr. Heinman, Mr. Sager, and Miss Kiter, present. We have a quorum. Thank you. Could everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And next on the uh agenda is the approval of the agenda. Can I have a motion in a second, please? There's been a motion and a second. Please call the role. Fioro Hinimman. Baldino Chung Dustling Sager. Citer. I. Motion carries 61. Thank you. Next on the agenda is approval of the minutes and of the open and closed meetings of May 29th, 2025. Can a mo motion in a second, please? There's been a motion in a second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Fitoman. Valdino

Chung Dustling Zer. I. Motion carries 601. Thank you. Next on the agenda is board recognition. I'd like to call up Mr. Mgi, please. Thank you. Uh will uh board member uh Furo and Superintendent Dr. Scott Row please uh join me on stage. Uh as you know um we are in uh summer months here so uh folks are are very busy um and so that there are people that uh could not attend this evening but we will still be reading their names. Um, so first up, we're going to recognize our Howard Lester award winners. Uh, will Hershey's Nate Mabberry and Prospects Veronica Zenidum please come up for the Howard Lester Award for outstanding male and female athletes for the 24-25 school year? Howard Lester devoted a lifetime to youth, worked 42 years in the field of education, and served as the school district's coordinator of health, PE, athletics, and driver's ed. In fact, Buffalo Grove's gymnasium is named after him. The Howard Lester Award is presented annually to District 214's most outstanding male and female senior athletes. So Nate achieved the rare feat of earning state medals in three sports, gymnastics, diving, and soccer. As a sophomore, he won state titles in two gymnastics disciplines along with the all-around medal. He captained Hershey's state championship soccer team. A as a diver, he twice finished among the top 10 in the state. Nate's leadership work included membership in Hershey's service over self club and working as a youth tumbling instructor. He also compiled a sterling academic record, earning status as the national merit commended scholar and AP scholar with distinction. Veronica was a four-year varsity distance runner in cross country and track and field. She played a key role in prospect winning team state championships in both sports and also

earned all state, all area, and allconerence honors in both. Veronica volunteers to assist youth sports programs and excels academically earning IHSA academic all-state honors. She was a n she was in the national honor society and served as both a night's way leader and peer tutor. Congratulations Nate Veronica and athletic directors Julia Barthell and Scott Mcderman. Congratulations. Next we're going to recognize the perfect ACT will prospects Vilban Karu Brian Laner Sienna Murray Kyle Wrl and Kiara Stacus, please come up. Bethany Chung was unable to attend tonight. With over a million students taking the ACT each year, earning a perfect composite score of 36 places these students among the top academic performers in the nation. Achieved by less than 1% of test takers annually, this rare accomplishment is a testament to their exceptional academic ability, dedication, and perseverance. This accomplishment marks the beginning of what we are confident will be a future filled with continued success and remarkable achievements.

Congratulations, Bethany, Vibbball, Brian, Sienna, Kyle, and Kiara. Congratulations. [Applause] Well, Prospects journalism students, please uh come up. First up, we have uh Xander Atkins, Abby Damoski, Jocelyn Fina, Amanda Fineberg, Ann Legowski, Amelia Mazlowski Charlotte McGawan, Chelsea McGawan, Ben Mitchell, Sienna Mirandola, Kenny Muno, Stella Palm,

Matthew Pulver, Kyle Strus, Claire Wine. Unable to attend are Sage Gillerand and Dylan May. Night Media brought home Prospect's first ever IHSA state journalism championship on Friday, April 25th by scoring a program record 25 points at the state meet. The Knights were led by their incredible three individual state championship entries. Junior Stella Palm won state title in newspaper design. Junior Kyle Strus earned the top spot in yearbook caption writing. And the senior trio of Amelia Amelia Mazlowski, Ben Mitchell, and Kenny Muno won the championship in TV news. Also bringing home state medals were senior Abby Damaski, who took second place in infographics, and the duo of freshman Charlotte and junior Chelsea McGawan, who earned who teamed up to take fifth place in yearbook theme development. This was the seventh consecutive year that Night Media placed in the top seven at the state meet and the fourth time they brought home a trophy for finishing in the top three. But it was the first time they got over the proverbial hump to bring home the big prize. Congratulations Prospect Journalism students and adviserss Jason Block and Nicole Stoultz. Congratulations [Applause]

[Applause] Next up, we're going to recognize the Superstate Band Festival students. Uh, each year, bands from across the state audition to be selected to the prestigious University of Illinois Superstate Festival. This year, we are proud to announce that two of the 12 class A 2A bands selected were from District 214. Um this evening representing Buffalo Grove High School we have two students. Uh that is Brandon Gner [Applause] and Arav Patel. Many students uh were not able to attend this evening as well as uh principal Jeff Wardle was not able to make it, but he is super proud of the Buffalo Grove uh band students. And um congratulations to these students and director Vince Gani. [Applause] Uh, additionally, the John Hershey High School Superstate Band students were unable to be here tonight due to rehearsal for an upcoming concert and

parade. While they cannot join us in person, we want to extend our helpful congratulations on their outstanding achievements. Congratulations Hersy students and band director Spencel Spencer Hy. Congratulations to Hersy as well. Uh Prospect High School's Alli Linky uh is unable to attend tonight, but she earned all state honors after a record-breaking season at Prospect, setting new school marks with 585 points, 360 rebounds, and 103 steals. Averaging 16.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, she was named MSL East Player of the Year and surpassed 10,000 career points while helping lead her team to its first sectional final appearance since 1989. A junior captain, Ally set the tone with her relentless work ethic. Whether dominating on the court, leading early morning weight room sessions, or constantly improving her game, unselfish, positive, and deeply committed to her teammates, she's the kind of player every program hopes to build around. Congratulations, Ally. Additionally, Roaring Meadows High School's Ian Militic is unable to attend tonight, but he's being recognized for his outstanding achievements in boys basketball, earning prestigious all-state honors from multiple organizations. His exceptional performance on the court has earned him spots on the all-state teams for the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, Champagne News Gazette, Illinois Hoop Scoops, and Hoops Report. Ian's dedication, leadership, and skill have set him apart as one of the top players in the state. Congratulations to Ian and coach Kevin Katovich. [Applause] Will Hers Gracie Lotto please join us? Junior Gracie Lotto has been named an Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association all-state player for the 2025 girls soccer season, becoming the first in school history to earn the

honor two years in a row. This season she scored 23 goals and tallied six assists, bringing her career totals to 61 goals, second most in program history and a record 151 career points. Gracie also repeated as allconerence, all area, and MSL East player of the year. Congratulations Gracie and coach Mike Rnak. [Applause] Will Rolling Meadows Nora D. Maria, please join us. Nora Di Maria is being honored for her incredible accomplishments in track and field. Competing at the highest level, she earned the title of IHSA 3A state medalist, capturing second place in the pole ball. Nor's strength, focus, and relentless determination propelled her to the top ranks in the state, and her achievement stands as a testament to her hard work and dedication to the sport. Congratulations, Nora, and coaches Charlie Henry and Steve Damhauser. Congratulations, Mark.

Okay. Will Prospect High School's girls track and field students please line up. Uh, Olivia Garcia, Allison Caulkworf, Mary Leba Eva Leapes, Samantha Lobos, Nikki Neber, Meg Peterson, Veronica Zenida. Unable to attend tonight are Ella Benasi, Charlotte Connor, Olivia Fina, Amita Hadotic, Dana Skolamoska, Grace, Audrey Umali, and Ireland Whiteart. In addition, Elise Freeman, Brooke, Ner, Anna De Bruji, Samantha Skolonsky, Julia Wovich, and Anna Zjac. The Knights brought home their fourth team trophy in four years while also winning the 4x800 championship for the f for the fifth year in a row. Individual

and relay team accomplishments included Meg Peterson placed fourth in the 800 meter run. Anna Neberji placed sixth in the 200 meter run. Amida Hadzmodovvic placed sixth in the 300 meter hurdles. The team of Elise Freeman, Anna Nuji, Nikki Nibberji, and Dana Skolamotzka and Samantha Skeransky placed third in the 4x200 meter relay. The team of Amina Hazmotivvic, Mary Leba, Nikki Nibbuji, Meg Peterson, Deanna Skolamoska, and Samantha Scoronsky placed fourth in the 4x00 meter relay. The team of Alabanasi, Ellison Kworth, Mary Lea, Meg Peterson, Ireland Wildard, Anna Zjac, and Veronica Zenida were state champions in the 4 by 800 meter relay. The team of Amita Hazmotivvic, Anna Nibberji, Nikki Neberji, and Sam Skoranska was state runnerup in the 4 by 100 meter relay. Congratulations prospect students and head coach Pete Wintermute and assistant coaches Ian Arms, Kyle Plate, Michelle Brunette, Michael Schoffis, Vince Shields, Dave and Judy Rob, Ryan Hopper, and Sarah Harding. Congratulations, Prosper. Would [Applause] uh principal Dr. Paul Kelly please join us for this next recognition?

Uh, tonight we are proud to recognize a true Elk Grove High School legend, Coach Ken Grahams. Coach Grahams, could you please join us? [Applause] Coach Grahams began teaching at Elgroveve High School the year it opened in 1966, and he's never left. For 44 seasons, he has led the Grenadier softball team with passion, excellence, and heart. This spring, Coach Grahams earned his 1,045th win, making him the winningest softball coach in Illinois history. But his impact goes far beyond the diamond. Coach Grahams has been the voice of Elcro football as a school's PA announcer for 60 seasons, never missing a single game. He was inducted to the Illinois Coaches Association Softball Hall of Fame in 2004, and his legacy continues to grow. His devotion to students, the school, and the community is unmatched. Congratulations, Coach Grahams. Your career is a testament to dedication, passion, and lifelong impact. Thank you for everything you've given to Elkgrove High School and High School District 214. Thank you, Coach Grahams. [Applause]

Great. I have to follow that. Uh, good evening. I am Frank Fioro, vice president of the board of education. I want to thank all of you for joining us tonight as we celebrate the best of the best. We know how busy the start of summer can be for our D214 families, and your presence here speaks volumes. One of the things I admire most about our students is that they always give the best no matter the arena. Whether it's academics, athletics, or the performing arts. Not every student will earn the spotlight or walk across the stage tonight, but we are deeply proud of all our D14 D14 students. You represent our district with smiles that are as bright as your futures. And now for a moment for the people behind the scenes. Those of you who have sat in those hard bleachers or packed theaters and given a high five after a big win or a hug after a tough day. If you cheered from the sidelines, been a part of the students fan club, the one whose sister is one tonight or an unofficial entourage or supported them like our coaches, staff and administrators do, please stand. You may not be crossing the stage tonight, but someone you love did. And for that, you deserve to be celebrated, too. Please join me in giving these incredible supporters the round of applause they so richly deserve. Thank you. Uh, thank you everyone and this concludes the student recognition portion and Ken Graham's recognition this evening and we're going to uh

recess for a few minutes and we're going to continue the board of education meeting in the boardroom and you're all welcome to come. If not, have a great summer. [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

[Music] Is anybody okay? Are we on? Oh, good. Thank you. So, uh, uh, we return from the, uh, student recognition which was held in the theater. And, uh, next on the agenda is public comments. And I do have one person, Jessica. Do you want to go to the podium? And I'm going to read this. The board of education, the district value comments from the community at our meetings as well as emails. We appreciate everyone appearing before the board and treat all with courtesy and respect. The board of education asks each person to please limit all their comments to three minutes. However, several people want to address the board on similar topics. The board president may limit the two time to two minutes per person. The public comments agenda item will be the only time that the board of education will hear public comments during meetings. Although comments may be made on almost any matter related to the operations of schools, comments will not be allowed identifying individual students or staff members. As this is the board of education business meeting, the board practice is not to respond to public questions or comments at this time because it is not an open-ended forum. However, we do listen carefully. If requested, a written response will be provided. Please ensure that Miss Keys has your full name and address on uh on file. To be fair and consistent when all addressing the board, the same protocols and procedures must be in place for everyone. The green light indicates your time has started. The yellow light indicates it's 30 seconds and the red uh remaining in the red light indicates

three minutes have expired. So please state your name and uh you may begin. Um dear members of the Illinois State Board of Education. I'm a concern parent of two students at Dwelling High School, one graduating senior and another um current freshman. I'm writing today to express my deep concern about the non-retention of my son's math teacher, one of the most exceptional educators my children had, and the failure of the district leadership to engage families transparently or respectfully in this decision. On May 23rd, 2025, I sent a detailed letter to the school principal, associate principal of instruction, and superintendent. And as today, June 12, I have received no response or acknowledgement. This silence contradicts the Illinois educator code of edex, which emphasizes family collaboration and the best practice outlined in the ISBE family and community engagement framework. Uh my son's math teacher is not only a highly effective and respected math teacher, but a rare and invaluable uh presence as a male teacher of color in a school where over 60% of the students are students of color. His teaching style is confidence, critical thinking, and a sense of academic belonging. He's the only math teacher my son constantly described as encouraging, respectful, and genuinely invested in his in their growth. In contrast, my daughter experienced discouraging and disrespectful behavior from other teacher in the same department. I informed the principal and department head of these issues and the situation was serious enough that uh the one

teacher had to apologize. that teacher remains employee while my son's um math teacher is being let go. To make matters more troubling, I know that teachers hire after my son math teacher are being retained. If this issue is related to missing endorsement, I asked the board if my son math teacher is the only teacher lacking of this credential and if not, why is he being treated differently? Excuse me. Research based on ISB clearly shows that including parents in decision making increases parental involvement and students outcomes. Um sorry the ISV family engagement framework encourages the schools to create authentic partnerships with families. This means soliciting parent input through forums and service actively empowering parents to participate in school improvement decisions. In this case, parental voices have not been heard and one of our most effective equity-minded educators is being dismissed in silence. Thank you. Thank you. That's all that signed up for public comments. Thank you. Um, next on the agenda, we have uh one action item. Can I have a motion and a second for 81, please? So moved. Second. There's been a motion and a second. Discussion. Please call the role. Was that Fioro? Yes. Thank you. Fioro, yes. Chung, yes. Valdino, yes. Vestling, yes. Hinimman, I. Sager, I. And Cirer,

I. Motion carries 70. Thank you. Uh 911, please. Dr. Ro. All right. Uh what you have before you uh this evening uh is is an update uh more normal press updates. Um for anyone not super familiar with press, uh we get these updates through an IASB service uh that keeps our policies up to most modern legal code and then they uh they obviously add new policies as they come through laws from the general assembly. tonight before you have a uh a a quite a sizable press packet uh is there's only one new policy. Um most of the policies in here are uh updated legal notes and footnotes. Uh and then maybe most notably um an update to Title 9 legislation uh that basically reverts this Title 9 back to the 2020 version of Title 9. Um the new policy uh has to do with um expecting mothers, teenage mothers and children who have been involved in domestic abuse situations and essentially states that um expecting mothers and teenage mothers who have the ability to call themselves out of school and then excuse absence to deal with uh the health of their child. uh but also that a a a young mother or a child in a a domestic violence situation, we have the responsibility of of offering them um homebound tutoring um if they have an extended absence or while they're taking care of that child or or those those circumstances. So, u that's the new policy, the gist of the new policy. Of course, we're, you know, we're happy and and capable of offering those homebound services and um we have done a lot of work to update Title 9 to the 2022 version, but um we still remember what

happened in 2020 and and are able to go back uh fairly seamlessly um to that. So, there are any questions, be happy to uh answer them. Otherwise, uh we'll move this forward. Um open it up to board members. Any questions on any policy? You can go now. anyone. Okay, this is a um discussion and it'll come back to us. First reading. First reading and it'll come back to us at the end of the month. Thank you. As with any discussion item, if you have questions, you can call um superintendent anytime in the next couple weeks. So, we have uh the tenative budget, Mr. Keley. Thank you very much. Good evening, everybody. So this evening we are presenting the TANDA budget for the fiscal year 26 that's 2526 school year fiscal year budget. Take the clicker a second to wake up. There we go. Um just a quick overview of what we're going to discuss tonight. But before I do get started, I do want to thank um all the members of the administration and the board. Everybody has uh pitched in on this this budget. I get the I have the honor of presenting it to the board of education but uh it is through the work of our team um not only the superintendent's cabinet but all of the budget managers and all the uh talented folks in the business services. So uh I am excited as excited as you can be for a budget to present this to you this evening. Um and so the overview is we're going to go over the legal requirements, talk a little bit about the budget cycle, and then get into the numbers after that. Um as always, please interrupt and ask questions at any point in time. I'd be happy to answer them. If I don't have the answer, I'll get them to you. So, again, the legal uh requirements for the budget, we show this every year. Uh we do have to uh present the tended budget and put it on display for at least 30 days um prior to the public hearing for the final budget. We will

publish a notice uh of the public hearing in a newspaper. Uh we will conduct the public hearing this year. Just as a note, the final budget will be moved from the August to the September board meeting. You'll hear that a few times tonight. I'll probably forget to um to to not repeat myself, but that's important to know. I think that gives us the opportunity to include more information when we bring that final budget to you uh in September. So, looking at the budget process and the calendar, I I kind of like to say this is the continuum of the budget. It never ends. Um we're usually working in more than one budget at a time. Right now in our financial software, we're flipping back and forth between next year and current year as we prepare for next year. So, here we are um in that June to August time frame um with the tended budget approval and then putting on display. But, as you can see, what led up to this, a lot of work with our folks within the district to understand where we're at with our current fiscal year budget, what's working, what isn't, and what our needs are going to be into the uh next year. So, some of the assumptions um that go into it, we always start with revenue. What are our resources? What are we uh what is available to the district to to meet the needs of our students? And as always, the tax levy is the largest uh source of revenue for the school district. It accounts for 83% of our revenue in the current fiscal 26 tenative budget. Um that is made up of the fall collections which is from the 2024 tax extension. Uh and then uh that is of course pending the final calculations from the county. And then we also uh do a calculation to uh estimate 55% of the spring uh of the prior year collections that makes up our spring uh budget or spring collection in this current tenant budget. That's a Cook County factor uh that is used. Yes, sir. Um I just wanted to ask um for everybody here in our listening audience, does the fact that the I'm sorry. Does the fact that the the possible delay in the county tax

collections does that impact the budget at all? It does not impact the budget per se because we will collect it within the normal time frame. It may have a um immaterial impact on our cash flow. We do have a conservative operating cash flow uh in our portfolio. So, we're always funding our needs um very conservatively. Uh at this point based on what we're hearing from the county, we don't see it being an issue. Um but I know for members of the board that have been on the board for a while or or uh you know residents of Cook County, uh it sure sounds like things that have happened in the past. Um our hope is that they can get over this hurdle. Okay. Thank you, Tim. For sure. Uh next up, um oh, and then the last thing on the tax levy, we do um review our historical collections. Um and in our modeling, we look at our historical collections and and we utilize that for our forward-looking revenue. Um, in this year, one of the things that we've noticed is a significant amount of very small dollar um, uh, tax objections and refunds. The corresponding refunds are hitting um, this spring. And so, we're tracking that now. Um, with the new law, we will recapture that. Um, but there's a full levy cycle delay before we get that. So, um, we're taking a hit right now on the revenue side here um, with those refunds, but we'll be planning for those in the fiscal 27 budget. um our CPPRT, that's the corporate personal property replacement tax. That's through the state. Um you may recall uh that that uh number came out last year on the day that we presented the final budget. And that's the very reason or one of the big reasons we're moving that final budget to September. Um so that we can wait for the department of revenue to produce that number for us. In our current uh tenative budget model, we have a about a 10% reduction from our current year collections um as a conservative number. And uh we'll look at that before before final budget and tighten that up. And then last but not least, because we do talk a lot about our our TIF districts here, the district has 18 active TIF

districts right now. Um we do attend the joint review meetings. We do uh appreciate all the information the municipalities give us and from that we're able to track to a certain degree um the amount of surplus that we're getting every year. Um and so we do account for that revenue uh and that is accounted in attended budget. As far as high level uh expense assumptions, um we are expecting a stable enrollment. Um our staffing costs, which are you'll see in a chart later, that's the majority of our expenses here in the district. Um they are aligned with our collective bargaining agreements and with our staffing needs going into next year. Again, we use the word tenative. There may be some changes and those will be picked up in the final budget. But when we do the tenative budget, we do it with a level of conservatism and so we do build that in um just in case there are additions. um prior to the start of the school year. Um and then our benefit increases are aligned with what our insurance committee is seen. Um we've got our outpaced tuition. It's uh modeled uh based on our current enrollment and by the time we do our tandem budget, we'll know our enrollment there. There will be some variability. Um but our student services and special ed department do a great job of tracking that. And of course, uh we do include the capital needs in our budget. Uh Mr. Yuing and his team provide that to us and we monitor what the cash flow needs are there. and apply it to the budget accordingly. So again, our property tax, we're looking at uh it being capped at three 3.4%. Um that doesn't include any new property. Um the CPPRT again is estimated. We expect to get that number in in August of 25. Um our investment earnings, you'll see it in a chart here in a little bit. It will appear that it's going up significantly. It's not. Our budget is being increased to align with our actual portfolio performance. Um evidence-based funding continues to be uh flat for us. Um and then we'll see a significant decrease in federal

funding in one of the charts because our uh final ESSER CARES Act funding um has been expended. So again our revenue sources the majority of it coming from local sources. So again 83% of all revenues coming from the levy. Um if we look at uh the total budget, 92% of it is coming from local sources um with a smaller portion coming from state and federal. Uh I believe last year, if I remember correctly, state and federal were both about 5%. So here's a table showing our major revenue sources. And in the final column, you can see the um the difference year-over-year. And we break it down by um the source again. So if we look at our local sources um totaled up, they're going to go up. uh and we're anticipating they'll go up about 2.2%. You see some really big numbers there that that CPPRT down 39%. Again, the budget was set at a number uh prior to the state coming out with their figure. We're collecting just north of 10 million this year. So, um it's a more realistic budget that is aligned more to our actuals. Uh and then the investment earnings is uh similarly uh uh changed because uh at this point I believe when we closed the books last month we were just north of seven and a half million and uh our actual portfolio is telling us for next year about 7.5 million. So um that is kind of uh I look back last year there was about a 30% increase on the investment budget. We were very conservative with it coming out of COVID for obvious reasons um with the pandemic and the markets. So I think we're in a place now where uh our portfolio is diversified enough and uh we have a little more certainty there. In our state aid, you can see our transportation aid going down um just over 10%. Um that is directly related to our transportation expenses. So if we anticipate a decrease in transportation expenses, we would expect a decrease in the reimbursement we receive from the state. So kind of a good sign. Uh and

then our other categoricals are going up. um those are monitored by a grants department and I I do know a couple in particular. I think our CTEI is having a little bit of a bump this year. Um but those grants are really um based on the timing and so I know our title grants uh uh for instance which I know aren't state um we had a bit of a bump where they they ended up on the other side of July 1st last year and so it gives you some of these unnatural uh um um inflations if you will on the table. Um and again federal uh there's a significant decrease in relation to the CARES funds. So um when we look at our total revenue um without the transfers um there's about a 1.2% increase and then we have a significant increase in the transfers of funds which on our books we recognize as revenue. Those transfers are funds coming from our operating funds in this case operating and maintenance and going to our capital projects funds to fund those projects. overall uh total revenue is going up 2.7%. And then we provide this, we didn't provide this last year, but I think it's good uh because we're having these conversations about what's an operating fund, what's nonoperating fund. Um as we know, the operating funds are what keep the buildings going and keep the classes going dayto-day. And the nonoperating are your um traditionally the the the largest portion of it is your capital projects and your debt. um both of which obviously do not necessarily uh are not necessarily required to keep the building going every day um but have kind of a longer view to them. So um our operating funds are going up by about four and a half% and you can see the largest jump um outside of working cash um is coming in in education and transportation. So now we move to the expenditures and uh again as I mentioned the salary and benefits are uh aligned with our collected bargain agreements and our uh the benefits are aligned with our renewal rates. Now the benefits are going to be a little bit inflated

because at this point we don't have very many months of claims. By the time we get to the final budget there will be a lot more information. Our insurance committee will be able to inform us on that. Um our school budgets are aligned with um what has been requested from the schools with slight increases um depending on the building. Um I believe next year bowling is being added and so we've accounted for that. So that would go into a building budget. Um the buildings and grounds uh that's our fund 20 operation and maintenance. There's a slight increase there. A lot of that is due to the inflationary impact on on the supplies and materials we need on on a day-to-day basis. and there are capital projects that will uh account for the remains of the current summer uh projects as well as a portion of next summer's projects. So, speaking of construction, I just wanted to provide a couple slides to to show the breakdown of how those work. So, the current summer, we have just over $18 million worth of projects. They're listed there for you, but the important thing here on this slide is what portion of that is in the budget that we're presenting to you tonight, and that would be um the 7.4 4 million. Typically what we've seen in the past here in the district is our projects has been very heavy on the back end 20 to 30% in the in the uh the early fiscal year and then the rest of it going at the end. You see the opposite here. We've talked about Mr. Ulie's talked about with the Hersy project being accelerated with the environmental mitigation and then taking advantage of it and keeping those spaces offline. Um, I think it saved us a lot on bid day and it allowed us it's going to allow us to return those spaces sooner um than than we typically would. Um, so you see a smaller portion of this summer's projects are hitting the budget that we're presenting tonight. So next year's projects, I broke it into two different tables just to remind the board. We had one group that is was uh per our typical plan just over $15 million worth of construction. And then we had our discussions about the fund

balance and and looking at the fund balance position paper and the board had discussion about spending an additional $10 million on existing projects that were in the pipeline um but doing it a little bit more accelerated. So we brought those uh forward at the April 10th meeting. And so those combined $25.6 million worth of projects. Again, similar table. Here's the breakdown, but we see um a smaller portion of that. So less than 50% is hitting this fiscal year. Why is that important? Because then when you put them together, you have less than 100%. And so when you look at this and and when you look year-over-year for capital, you say, "Well, wait a minute, Tim. We're spending more. Why is the number lower?" Well, because of the cash flow and the way those numbers are falling. So um again, as you can see with the summer projects, only 45% are hitting in this fiscal year. So 55% will be in the next. Um, we've included the 10-year health and life life safety inspection as well as um just over $2 million for um the operation and maintenance um smaller projects that aren't necessarily um those construction manager pepper projects. Additional expenditures. We've talked a lot about food service here at the board table and uh of course we have um been meeting with Quest to work on the transition and we've included all uh expenses related to that um in the budget for technology we have uh from Dr. Visinski, we have the replacement plan and his budget included. And then, as I mentioned before, we've included the transfer of funds. Transportation. Um, we see an increase in transportation. I'm sure especially newer board members coming from the feeder districts, you're used to seeing double-digit increases. That's that's what's happening in the market. Um, the wages are going up, rightfully so. They're having trouble finding drivers. However, ours our increase is not going to be very significant this year. um as a result of a lot of the work that the transportation department's done and

finding some efficiencies and and and really looking at our wrership and making sure we're we're putting our assets where they need to be. Um and then again uh I mentioned it earlier our tuition um for NSSO our outplay students and then in addition to that um there's a capital uh a long-term capital plan with NSSO that's included um our portion of that um expense is included in the budget. So here's a pie chart showing our expenditures. As we know the majority are from salary and benefits nearly 70% and that is typical um with purchase services next. So that' be our transportation um our our architect fees um our professional fees etc. So here's our expenses by object. So object is how are you spending the money and as we know salaries are going to be the largest one. um we see an increase about 4% on salaries and so um there have been some efficiencies um but then also that includes um any of the collective bargaining agreements um for the benefits again you see a 13% increase I do not imagine that will be 13.2% 2% in final budget. Um we will get more information and right now we're being guarded with that increase. Um all others are fairly aligned. Again, Capital Outlay going down 4%. That's why I showed those other slides because I knew we'd have that question. Um it seems to be going down. Well, the portions we're paying in this fiscal year are lower than than the prior. Um all told, expenses um without transfers are going up about 4.4%. And then of course we include the transfers um which is a significant increase year-over-year to fund the uh additional projects. And we see about a 5.8% increase on expenses. Then we do the same exercise with the expenses to show you the operating expenses versus the nonoperating. And as you can see the majority of that increase is in the ed fund. That's what's happening in the classroom. We

like to see that of course. And then in the operation and maintenance uh as well as transportation, they're below um the average of those increases. So that's kind of a sign kind of a high level sign of the efficiencies we're finding. Um all told, the operating expenses are going up about 5.3%. All expenses are are 5.8. So I have just two slides left. Uh so our overall operating budget, again I show this slide here. This shows our operating budget, the revenue and the expenditures for that operating budget without any other uh transfers or other outside um uh nonoperating um activity. And it shows about $12 million surplus. And so, um, if the board were to go along and continue doing construction and say, you know what, we're getting close to that fund balance number that that we don't like, this shows, well, we have a little bit of room to be able to continue to to operate um before we have to start looking at operational efficiencies. Then we put the transfer in, which allows us to fund um the capital projects and the operating fund, operating fund only um uh net is about a $4.4 4 million deficit. So we take that $4.4 million deficit, we add um the nonoperating funds um which the biggest of which in terms of deficit is capital projects. It does not have its own funding source. Um and you're looking at about $9.1 million deficit. Now uh I have to remind the board to have that note on there as well. If you recall the conversations we had about fund balance spend um you know the number Dr. Ro had in mind was we we would like to spend about 10 million of our fund balance this year with these coming projects. Um so keeping that in mind um with this number landing at 9.1 we're feeling comfortable with that. It is part of that uh mindful spendown and here's where our fund balance

percentages are. So from operating uh funds which is what the fund balance uh paper speaks to u all things um to budget we would be at 50.3% at the end of this year which is still north of that the old 50% number. Um and then when you include the operating funds which are um as you can see our IMRF and social security are carrying a decent balance um proportionally uh we actually have one of the lower IMRF rates in the state. Um, and that's that's due to buying that rate down historically. Uh, but all told, we have about a 52% fund balance. Again, everything behaves in the budget as is. Um, it will be just just under 52%. So, um, I think I've spoken enough. I'd be happy to answer any questions the board members have. Thank you, board members. Mr. Dustling, do you have any idea Is it on? Thank you. Uh the tiff amount, we have 18 tiffs. What's that effect on our our dollar-wise annually? Put me on the spot. That's a hard number to um come up with. But I will say that um it is offset by the surplus that we're receiving. Um I think in this district our tiffs perform pretty well especially in Wheeling and El Grove and I not to discount the others but we do receive a decent amount of surplus um from them. Uh but I can provide uh the latest and greatest update on the frozen AV um from our master tiff listing to you after the meeting. That would be good. I didn't mean to put you on the spot certainly, but I remember when we had like 13 tiffs, the effect on us was

like $15 million a year, as I recall, somewhere between 15 and 18, that we were losing, if you will, based upon it being set, the tiff being set, you know, at a at a rate that didn't go up for us. So, it's interesting. I've been looking at a lot over the last year or so and um you know one of the good things about having so many tiffs is there is a bit of a cycle there and some of them are rolling off. Um and again the ones that are currently in place are generating significant value increases that we will see. Um it's kind of like the analogy I used with the um with the property tax rebates where we get made whole at the end. Um it's a little bit longer cycle, right? It's over 20 years. Uh but however without these tiffs I do wonder would that value be there right if you if truly blighted properties and you know to the credit of our municipalities we don't really have any tiffs that are kind of you know just idle if you will underwater I do I do understand that but during that 20 to 25 year cycle or if we extend it beyond that somebody's going to pay for what it's going to be our expenses And that means our taxpayers. That's correct. Cover that or we cut or we cut down that that amount and and uh not spend that dollars. I understand that there are good tiffs. I understand there's also tiffs that are suspect, but I think the majority of them are have have proven that over time the value has increased in those areas. It's just waiting for the value to increase, you know. Thank you. Thank you. Anything? Okay, board members, Dr. Chung. Um, thank you so much, Mr. Keely, for your

presentation. Um, can I say something and you just tell me is that right or wrong? I just want to make sure I understand. Um, so our operating budget is balanced for our our total FY26 budget. there is that deficit of about nine million which we will address with that planned use right of the fund balance of $10 million. So um it's um so you wouldn't call it it's a deficit budget because we're planning to use that overall. It is a it is sometimes a difficult concept because we have a balanced operating budget. Yeah, that's the key. You know we have a balanced operating budget. we are structurally sound operationally, but then when you start transferring large amounts of money, in this case $60 and half million dollars from those operating funds, they show on your budget as an expense. And so that's why I showed it without it. And that was that 12 plus million surplus, if you will. So of that 16 million, 12 of that is actual surplus that's just being moved. Okay. All right. Thank you, board members. Um, historically, federal funds have been at 3%. I'm not if if you take ESRA out because that was Was that three years? Yeah. Historically, it's been 3%. It really hasn't moved much, I don't think. Right. That's true. Here for our district. Absolutely. because the amount of title funding we get is a large number, but it's not a large percentage of our budget. Um, and one of the things that that we noticed when we were doing this, if you look back prior to the pandemic, I'm looking at our federal funds, 8.3 million, we were just south of $8 million in fiscal 29, I believe, or fiscal 19 rather. And so we're kind of, you know, right back where we were this very this very shallow increase um of a figure after that kind of cares and er

bump. Right. The community member asked me that. Um there there is a document that shows um the year tiff is was created and the year it's supposed to sunset. I I haven't seen that in a while. So, any tiffs coming off in the next year? Yeah, we Dr. Row and I just reviewed that the other day. I don't have it up my computer. Well, if you could um send that to the board, I think that would be helpful. Um and so um you know, got to remember we have three new board members here, so they're looking at a larger area than they're used to here. Um, if you could go back to um the slide that had the 2025 construction. That's it. Okay. Um, it's just me. Maybe the board members don't want this, but what was budgeted? So you have there the cost per year and you have the total cost but what was budgeted um for each that would give us a clue are are we right on uh on point with our spending with this. So just kind of throwing that out there if that could uh he's looking at you anyway but I think that would be helpful. Anything um Chris? So you see this budget. So it has the total cost but it doesn't have what was budgeted. Okay. So you're saying the the board approved it amounts from what amount did the board approve and how close are we to these numbers? Yeah, we can we'll pull that for Okay, that would be good. And then um Mr. Dustling, um I know you sit on that insurance committee and uh

um Mr. Ulie talked about the percentage and benefits. Did you have any comments about that? Um, what was that percentage for benefits? 13% I think it was 13% increase. Yes. Anything? Anything, Bill? Well, traditionally we had a 3% rise inou last year, we recognized that we were we're going to exceed that 3%. So, we were set it up at 7%. U looking at the benefits and and uh on a on an annual basis it's amazing uh when school's out a lot of people go to the doctors a lot of operations happens things uh expenses go up during the year it's kind of roller coast and what we're what we're looking at right now is the is where we're at as we approach the end of the year and have to address coming into uh into August really when we have to set our new rates and and we want to make sure that we're doing it at at a level that's not going to one either hurt the employees from a excessive cost standpoint, but by the same token be able to realize that there's some costs that have to be shared and we want to make sure that we're we're doing that on an equitable basis. Um, I can recall when I first got on the committee a number of years ago, uh, we we didn't hit 10 million with on an annual on an annual basis. Now we're well over I forget exactly what it is, Mr. Keely, but I think we're well over 25 million and we're self-insured and uh, that's that's where it's at. Medical expenses are going up. Thanks, Mr. Dustin. Any other comments, board members? Go ahead. So, I just want to follow up on President Ker's point. Um, essentially we had some projects that were budgeted for this year, sorry, were budgeted for next year, but wound up being prepaid this year, right?

Capital projects. And, uh, my understanding is that will take this year's number in the capital expenses up and lower sort of semi artificially next year's. Um, But that doesn't mean that the year after it won't go back up in the in the 27. So just in the future we expect this sort of timing effect to unspool itself, right? It can, you know, that's it gets confusing because the the capital projects straddle the fiscal year. Um so really when we have conversations administratively about um you know those costs, we say what is what what is the summer cost, right? And then we look at the construction manager and look at the cash flow. So your point is correct. Yes, we're much lighter in uh or heavier in the current fiscal year, fiscal 25 for summer of 25 work. And so we're paying that now. And in fact, that wasn't budgeted that way. So we're overbudget in theory. Um but then we will budget less in the coming year for those portions of those projects. So, um I think over time as the district continues to do more forward planning and um uh you know having these approved a year in advance by the board uh there will be a settling of that of that cadence if you will. Uh and and we'll start to see it. When I reviewed our capital spend over the last I don't know six or eight years prior to this year there's about 21% of the spend happened in the front end. Right. And so that really got us in last year's budget because it was 21% when in fact, right, it was significantly more. It was almost 60%. Um, so I think that's going to become part of the norm, more part of the norm. I know I've talked to Chris about this that, you know, get out early in terms of the bidding. You're going to do better that way. Uh, and then if if our buildings can adjust and

give those spaces up and still still run, um, you're much better off getting that work done early because everyone's trying to get it done in August, right? a lot of folks are going out to bid months after we are uh and they're paying for it. Um but then they've got that anxiety of getting it done in August. So um if it's if there's a way to sustain that and continue to do it, I think that's certainly the benefit of the district um and hopefully provide some of that um budgetary stability and predictability for for us. You know, Dr. Mr. If I could and I think some of the the reasons why may be more project specific than that. Um the nature of of typical projects in the summer can begin after students leave and we have the summer. So the majority of the work actually does occur after that July 1 date. The last two summers, the Elkrove uh student services area, we we moved that staff out at spring break because there was asbestous abatement we had to do while they weren't there. I believe there was a best at Elkrove, but there was such a a large project a summer wouldn't have been enough time and Hersy there definitely was considerable asbestous abatement that had to be done. So we began over winter break. So once you creep up to a certain percentage of the work that occurs, I believe it's a set percentage that has to occur in a fiscal year, those dollars have to be paid instead of carried over. It's like an auditing function, but I think it's more project specific as to why we're we're starting so much earlier because of the the magnitude of the projects. A typical summer like a roof or air conditioning unit or finishing parking lots can occur in a summer and and we won't always have this. Yeah. So if you go two slides down, it shows the next year's projects have a different split which um sort of uh makes let me double check.

Yeah, makes the the split in 27 appear larger than this year's I want to say. But that was because this year is sort of an anomaly, right? time timing wise and we have a similar project coming next year with wheeling and it may it may come up probably start earlier again because of the magnitude of it okay once we finish those areas of the building um well actually I don't want to say that can I jump in Dr. Please do. So we use a variety of um methods here in the construction. So so sometimes we use the purchasing cooperative. All of the train work mechanical that can happen year round. So that cash flow and draw schedule will look vastly different than a summer slam construction project. And so the 2080 split on a $10 million project on a on a summer slam like a June to August 2 million then 8 million on the following fiscal. But to Dr. Rose's point, it's start date, scope of work. So when we're doing abatement in spring break, we're continuing with the work. We're not abating and then putting people back there. So now the scope of work, that percentage drastically shifts to the front fiscal year versus the back fiscal year. And and it all depends on what we're doing and who we're working with and all the field turf projects, those are going to be in the summer because it's a stadium, right? But train any any mechanical work we on a roof we can do that year round and then the cash flow will look different depending on scope of work and start date. Okay. Thank you. Okay. 931. Uh Mr. Maggie. Uh thank you um Dr. Row and I and uh Mr. Dustling. um uh reviewed uh the submissions to an RFP that we put out in the community as a follow-up to the February 27th uh board of education

workshop related to engaging our community uh really to understand um and ga gather input in terms of a communitydriven plan regarding our facilities. Dr. If you remember at the the February 27 workshop was built around the magnitude of um the the capital improvement facilities maintenance plan that Mr. Julian team had worked on for the last couple of years. And that session was designed around how what are our options in terms of okay here's the this this this big list of projects that that our architects said we we should really consider doing for the health and safety of our buildings. and it was an education session of what are all the funding mechanisms that we have at our disposal so that uh that this board could be armed to make uh intelligent decision with with our with our funds over the next decade. Um and and the charge out of that conversation was uh let's find a a community engagement partner that can help us bring this to the community in a way so they can be one aware of the of the u the magnitude of the projects that we need to tackle. Um, and then we can help turn this into a community-driven project where they can tell us if their values align with where our needs are and they're seeing the same things, get that feedback, and then it's not just us saying, "Hey, we have to do this mag this this large project." So, as Mr. Miy said, Mr. Jessling. Uh Patrick and I um interviewed I believe it was eight firms um and we narrowed it down to uh really a local group that stood out and Neo Sullivan is here tonight uh with deep roots. Their their their trio of their partner is a is a Hersy grad uh that's not here with us. I believe he's overseas on vacation. But um I'm happy to introduce uh Ed Sullivan and Colin Corbett to share um their proposal with you and you have their contract in front of you for consideration. Okay. Well, Dr. Thank you members of the board of education. Uh my name is Ed Sullivan. I have Colin Corbett, my business partner with me. I'm going to give you a little bit more of a higher

level view of our process and how we go about things. Colin is the architect of the actual plan and so he'll go a little more detail on how we arrive at data for your review and um you know more the deliverables of how we do things. Um so I will begin. So, why engaging the community is vital as a successful project is pretty self-explanatory. Um, you obviously want buyin from your community on what they believe are the appropriate things to move the district forward. Um, as leaders of D214, uh, you certainly know what your needs are. Um, our process really is a four-phase process that gets you that data and gets you that data in a way that is easily understood to let you make decisions moving forward. So when a community collaborates, it's their plan. We start with the four-phase process as a really wide tube and we narrow things down as we move along from phase to phase. And so we will ask some broadreaching questions and we'll narrow that down to specific projects, maybe specific plans um as we talked funding mechanisms. We'll test what people think is appropriate um and how we move forward on some of these things. So it uh it's really kind of an elaborate process. Community driven. You'll continue to hear us say that. Uh we will say that in every meeting, every time we're talking to the public. This is a communitydriven plan and that's really what you want as elected officials. You want the buy in from your community to tell you what they believe is um is appropriate. And so um we'll get these projects um supported with the data um for your team to make the decisions as you move forward for the best interest of um of the district. Ultimately, you want to lead with your strengths. You want to lead with what the community believes is right. And this is data that you can use for a long time to um understand as funds come available, what should we be focusing on? What did the community tell us we should be focusing on? As I said, you already know what um what you guys

need to be doing obviously with your architects and all that. So, one last time, community driven um fostering a communitydriven plan. So, why EOS? Why us? Um, you know, our team is here in Illinois. All of us live in the area. Um, we will be here at every meeting. We pride ourselves. Um, there will be three or four people that you will see constantly. Your staff might get sick of dealing with us as much as we will be with them. Um, and so we really want to make sure that you know that um, we bring local government and political experience. So, I'm a former township assessor for 24 years and a former state representative for 14. This concept, this company was built out of our knowledge of what goes on in Springfield. We know the challenges you face. We especially know the challenges you face when you're trying to figure out how do we fund the improvements that are so vital to our community. And so that started what um has become Eio Sullivan Consulting. And uh we we've enjoyed working with um over 24 communities to help, you know, get the data that they need to make decisions. So, I think I've gone over this already, but our team, um, I'm from Libertyville, real close by. Uh, Rich was a, uh, Hersy graduate. I actually have an aunt that was a teacher there at one point. So, we have deep roots here. Um, and then we will have obviously Colin is from Palatine. You know, we're going to be around the entire time. Um, we want to make sure that you're successful and and to do that, we have to be part of that. Uh, and then we do have an adviser, Dr. Victoria Stockton. Uh she's the Bellwood superintendent. Um she really gives us the administrative view of engagement um from an administrative's point of view. And so it really just kind of elevates what we can do and what we can understand as the process moves along. Challenge making decisions with so many

project and funding options. So what are the challenges of D214? Um obviously we focus on community engagement with six schools. We understand that there's many needs. We want to make sure that as we go to the public, they are talking about the needs of their specific schools that they would be going to. And so we want to make sure that you're armed with the correct uh data that as you move forward. Um we've run multiple community engagement programs testing multiple funding options. And I'm going give you one example. Um, MLAN County Unit 5, uh, one of our success stories, we actually had to test traditional bonds, ed rate increase, plus they had, um, explain existing working cash bonds and what would happen when those fall off, uh, as it retains to, you know, costs moving forward. And so, that was an interesting, uh, case study of what we've had to do. Another challenge that we know that you guys have is fostering community consensus. that is very important to the administration, is very important to the board. Um, we've worked in 214, we've worked in Wheeling 21, we've worked in Mount Prospect 57, um, we worked with Harper College, and so we have that internal knowledge of what works, what hasn't worked. Um but more importantly because we've worked there and and Colin will go into it a little bit more on how we collect data we have that historical data that we can use here that what's really worked in the different areas uh and so we can draw on that data as we move forward um which is uh you know will be helpful I do believe high overall potential price tag um six schools large geographic base you have a lot of needs we know this um your architect has shown you what's going to take place. And so the reality is how do we explain that? Um you know Harper College we had a large $180 million referendum. Um Weaten Bington community engagement projects that uh you know were successful high price tag. So Eio

Sullivan has already worked in this environment. And so I just wanted you to make sure you're comfortable knowing that should you bring us on and hopefully you will uh that that we've been here. we've understand um how we tackle this type of large um universe that we would be looking at. Um but the key once again is getting the data. Um we want to focus on benefits. You know, you don't want us to focus on specific projects, but what are the benefits of these projects? And so we'll certainly walk you through that as we move forward. Um and then the last part before Colin comes up, running engagement program while allowing staff to focus on primary responsibilities of educating students. That's your role. That's your administration's role. That's uh your board is to make sure that these kids are getting the best education that they can. You bring in architects to work on buildings because they're architects. You bring in people like us because this is our specialty. We've been in this uh this sphere for just about eight years. Um and like I said, our hallmark, we we will be here. But while we're here and we have an understanding because of past experience, we make sure that we listen to how your team communicates with your public. It's not us telling them, hey, you have to do things this way. We incorporate their style, their way of speaking. It's very important that we do that. Um, you know, ultimately this process is fully customizable. We, you know, we'll give you a contract. It'll lay out deliverables, timeline. That's just to show you what to expect. Then the real work begins when we um go in and make sure that things are working the way you guys want it to work. Not some canned program that we're just going to throw you into and make sure you know we get some type of outcome. The outcomes will be much better when we work collaboratively together uh as we move forward. So with that um that's the higher level and Cowen can talk about the individual. I like to tease my short business partner that I always have to pull the

mic up when he's done. So, I want to talk about how we're going to accomplish everything that Ed just went through so you have some specifics and some idea of how we're going to approach this. Assuming you all uh wish to move forward with us, we like to talk about the three ways that we gather data because it's going to be really important for you all as you have information in front of you to make educated decisions on behalf of the community. So, three ways we're going to gather this information. First, we call intuitive. In other words, gut reaction. How do people feel right away without a lot of information? Sadly, that's how most people make decisions nowadays. We've all seen it. It's it's simply how the world works nowadays. And so, it's important that we ask people before we've given them a lot of information. Hey, how do you feel about some of the projects we're talking about, some of the work we want to do? We're mostly going to do that through uh professional surveys, phone surveys, which I'll talk about in a little bit. The second way is what's called informed uh uh responses or informed data. These are people who have had time to think things through, evaluate the needs, maybe even take a tour, see some of the facilities, see some of the challenges. And so by gathering this data and separating it out, you're going to have a chance to see how do people feel right away with not a lot of information. And then how do they feel once they've actually been able to see and experience and know what the problem is. That helps us really get a good 3D picture of not just where things stand today, but over time, how might people feel in five years or 10 years down the road? It's really helpful to have that data. Last is passionate. Obviously, we have lots of passionate people within the community who are going to feel really strongly about a certain project or a school or something, some improvement they'd like to see or maybe even not see. And so, we're going to gather their data through what we call public engagement sessions. These are uh public meetings. If somebody takes time to get a babysitter, take some time off work uh to come out, you know, they feel passionate, you know, they feel strongly. uh and so we'll be able to look at how they feel about the various projects. I neglected

to say for the second group as it says on screen um how we'll gather that informed data is through what's called the community committee. A group of people who represent different segments of the population. So members of the administration, sometimes even the board, uh teachers, uh community leaders, community members, seniors, parents without kids in school, parents with kids in school. But we're going to make sure that every group, every demographic within your community is represented on that committee. And we're going to meet multiple times, as I'll explain in a second, to really talk things through. As Ed said, we've got a four-phase process, which I'm going to walk you through in these coming slides. The idea is that tried and true engagement funnel. You start really wide, and over time, as you get feedback and we go back and forth and collaborate, you narrow down into a final plan. At each step, in each phase, as we gather information, we then bring that to you all. We bring it to the administration, to the board. You get a chance to review it, ask your questions, give feedback. Between your feedback, and the communities, we then shape the next phase. So, you'll see as we go through the next few slides, you'll see how this is going to work in a really collaborative way. As Ed said, um, and I want to make sure I emphasize as well, what we're going to walk you through is a sample. Every plan, every process we've ever done for the school districts and and units of government that we've worked with is always customized. We haven't had that chance yet to work with your team. Of course, if we get hired, we will we'll be able to do that. So, this is our recommendation based on just what we know. Now, the final process wouldn't look exactly like this, but we wanted you to see potentially roughly what this could look like. So, phase one, as we mentioned, starts out very broadly. This is where we're going to get information out to the public, let them know where things stand today, how we got here. We're going to develop messaging so that we can be able to tell the story of the district. What are what are we succeeding at? What are those challenges? How did we get here? Um and what could we look at to potentially resolve some of those challenges? I'll show you a sample, I believe, in the next slide. I think we still have it in there. I also mentioned that community

committee. So during phase one, we would create that and hold the first meeting. We would also engage the public online, allow them to give their feedback on some of the questions that we're going to ask. Those questions are going to be very broad. What do you think our district is doing really well? We love the answers to that question. What do you think are the challenges? What do our teachers and staff and students need to be even more successful? Those are the types of questions we'll ask in phase one. It's intentionally very broad, but you can already, I'm sure, imagine just how useful that information will be when we're able to bring it to you and you're able to review that uh getting that feedback from your community. Last thing is is what we call key influencers. You've got a number of people throughout this district that also serve the community. Whether it's on other school boards, maybe they're municipal leaders, maybe they're county leaders, state leaders. We will engage them as well in this process. We want to hear what they think as well. What do they think uh the challenges are uh and what do they think the solutions could possibly be? And so we do a full process to make sure they're engaged with this as well in addition to the community. Uh slide briefly on messaging. It's important to have that messaging uh so that we all know what to say. This is going to be a complicated process as you know and so we'll equip you with messaging that explains what got us here, why are we here, what are we looking to accomplish. You'll have that message available to you make which makes it easier as you're having those conversations with the community because certainly as leaders of the district they're going to be asking you these questions and so we'll make sure you're equipped with that message as well so that you're able to have those conversations confidently. As Ed already said a bit, you'll see in that green section there, it's really important for us that that messaging is in your district's voice. Obviously, we've worked with a number of school districts, a number of units of government. Um, but every messaging that we do for any client is custom. So, we're going to sit with your team, learn your district's voice. Everything we do, everything we put out is going to look like your district, not something we produced that we put out. It's going to be really collaborative with your team of having your look, your feel, your style, and your voice.

I mentioned briefly that community committee so I won't spend too much time on this other than just to show the slide on who would be part of this. Uh typically we have about four to five meetings of that group over the course of this entire process. They're a really important part of what we're doing here as we have this collaboration together. So as we gather that data during phase one that's more broad. We then bring that together review it as a team with your team with you all as the board. That's where we develop what we call the menu. This is identifying those individual projects that the community can now give feedback based on what they told us and what your experts told us and what your team told us were the things that needed to be reviewed and needed to be looked at. Uh and so here is where we're going to develop that menu which I'll show you a sample of shortly uh that tests specific projects, infrastructure solutions, different funding mechanisms and levels. All that we're going to test with a lot of specificity to the public. And I want to show you what that will look like because it'll make more sense visually. So, I'm going to pause on that for just a second. Once we have that menu during this phase, we're going to gather feedback in three ways. You see the second, third, and fourth bullets there. We're going to do a a phone survey, a scientific phone survey that tests everything within that menu. And you're going to get all that data, all that feedback that will be scientifically uh um conducted to accurately represent your community. And so, you'll know that every member of your community has an equal voice that's that's scientifically represented in those results. I believe we have a sample up there to show. We may have cut it for time, so uh forgive me if it's not there. We'll also hold one to two community committee meetings and then three to four public engagement sessions. Those engagement sessions will be at different days, times of the week, locations, even in person versus virtual. We're going to give everyone as many opportunities as possible to be able to participate. We'll also make things available in multiple languages. is I know there's a a large Hispanic population within the district. So even in the phone survey, if someone would prefer to take it in Spanish, we'll make that available. We want no barriers to people being able to participate in this

process. As a matter of fact, I think as Ed said, people will actually be like, "Okay, okay, we get it." Versus them being like, "Wait, you never contacted me." They will hear from us. They will have a chance, if not many chances, to be able to participate. What could a menu look like? Again, with a caution, this is just our estimation based on what we've already seen put out. For the official menu, we will work with your architects and your team. But based on what we've seen, it would look something similar to this. You see 10 different types of projects that we'd be looking at like safety and security, infrastructure, mechanicals, life safety, theaters, theorat, athletics, learning spaces, career pathways, student supports, parking lots, and paving. Again, just an estimate, but it gives you an idea of what we mean when we say breaking this down by types of projects. People will be able to rank this and tell us what they think is most important. What we love by doing this is every community gives us a different response. Um, your neighbors, even some of the districts we've worked with within your community, you're going to see that your results will be significantly different than theirs. And that's what's great about this process is your community is going to tell us what they think is most important. And that's really helpful for you as you're identifying what to fund in next year's budget or the year after that. You're going to have this data to be able to look at. As we said, we're also going to test the different ways that this project could be funded. We're going to test different funding levels and everything is fully transparent. So when we say a project, we give a dollar amount with that project. So don't just say, "Hey, would you like better classrooms?" Who says no to that? We say, "Hey, would you like better classrooms? It would cost X." "Would you like improvement in athletics? It would cost this amount." When we talk about funding levels, funding sources, again, we get into specificity with the public so that they know exactly what it is they're giving us feedback on. Again, it's really helpful for you to know as a board. Okay? The public knew what they were responding to. They either liked it or they didn't. It's very helpful to see that data. What could this look like? You see some samples there with Eds and My Ugly Mugs as we're running public engagement

sessions, having collaborative discussions with people. Here we go. This is a sample of what the phone survey results would look like. Obviously, this is uh this was from Mount Prospect. Yours would look a little different, but you'll see that idea. You'll be able to see things broken down by demographics. Um broken down by the different projects, the rankings. When this data is available, we're going to walk you through it all. We come to every board meeting with these reports and explain it and take your questions and walk through it with you. Once we get that data, again, we come together, we review it. This allows us to develop three final options for the public to consider. So using that data from the public, working with you all and your teams and your architects, in phase three, we would develop three final options for the public to be able to look at and give their feedback on. So again, this funnel continues to narrow. So in this phase, it's a little more simple. It's not as much that they're needing to respond to. Um, so this goes a little bit quicker in this phase. Again, as before, we're going to have community committee meetings. We're going to do a phone survey and have more public engagement both online and potentially in person. What could this look like? We stole this from one of our other clients, Bington 220, just to show you a sample of what this could look like with them. You see what their option one was on on screen, and we're were able to say then what this option does address, what it doesn't address, what the cost is, and what that would be as a taxpayer impact for that option. Their option two, you see, then addresses more. Option three addresses even more. So again, yours will look very different from this, but the idea you can see on screen as a sample of what could this look like? Those three options at different funding levels would cover different things. And then we go out to the public and say, "What do you think? Where would you fall in this? What would you support?" When we bring that data back again, we have that same conversation where we come together, review the data. Based on that process, a consensus then arrives on, okay, the community feels like X is what they can get behind, what they would like to see. Of course, you all review that, your team reviews that, we all arrive at a consensus final plan. We then work with your team to bring that

plan to the public. Explain how we got here, what's in it, what does it cover, why is this a need. We work with you all to to publicize that plan and make sure the public knows what's in the plan that they had an a a hand in developing. So that's what would happen during phase four of the process. You'll see some of the some more photos of samples from some of our clients. Again, all of our meetings are collaborative. There's there's boards for people to go up and look at. there's opportunities for them to ask questions, to give feedback. Uh we've done a lot of videos and social media work as well. Again, making sure we're engaging as many people as possible. Not everyone will come to a meeting. Obviously, you know, that's sometimes difficult to make happen. So, we make sure we're bringing the information to them versus requiring them to come to us. And last, we just show this uh we're proud of of the work that we've done and some of the awards that we've received for this work. This was with uh district 200 where we've had a lot of success in Wheaten. Uh and so uh we end with this little self pat on the back just because it's fun to do I guess. All right. A lot of information, a lot of data, but hopefully that tells you a bit of how we would approach this. Again, as Ed said, with the goal of providing you the data you need to be able to make decisions based on what your community feels is most important. That we'll open it up to questions. Thank you. Um Mr. Dustling, would you like to comment? decided to when we decided to uh select Eio Sullivan I I think the thing that impressed uh me certainly press superintendent and Mr. Maggi was the fact that it wasn't it wasn't a matter they kept uh uh focusing on the community engagement aspect. It's what the community wants. It's not what you want district. It's what the community wants. We got to find out what the community wants. You know, we've all got ideas sitting on the board here of safety, security, uh fine arts, whatever, whatever. What does the

community want? What do they think of us? What do what do they think positive of us? What do they think negative of us? What do they see that something that needs attention? That's that's what really impressed me about Sullivan. That that's that message kept coming through to me. Okay. Uh Dr. Chung, I'm going to call on you because uh you just recently went through this. So give us your take on it. Okay. Yeah. So I do want to say hi again Colin and Ed. So, um, last year when I was with, um, District 57, we did work with, um, Eio Sullivand, and I have to say it was a very positive experience. They're very thorough. They did, I feel like, tailor, um, their community outreach and engagement towards the needs of 57. And one of the things that I really appreciate about um, what you did for 57 and what you showed here tonight is that there is not a predetermined plan. This is the goal. I mean, the goal is, you know, outreach. We want to let the community know about our long-term facility needs and the needs of our district and then find out what does our community want. What do they prioritize? What's important? And that's that's it, right? There's no predetermined path to go somewhere else that the community is not it's it really is communitydriven and you've you know from experience that's how you did it. So, I appreciate that. Um I did have a question. Um, so as you mentioned, 214 is a very large school district and I'm just thinking specifically about 57. So as you well know, um, in November of last year, so um, less than a year ago, those living in 57 passed two successful referendums, one for the school district, one for the park district. So, um, it's true that in 214 there's not been a referendum on the ballot for 50 years, but I would say

maybe for some residents in 57 or even 25 or um 23, the feeling is not, hey, if it goes there, hey, it's been 50 years, it's going to be again. So, just thinking about the differences in community. I don't Yeah. How are how are you thinking about that if you get very different responses from different community groups? And that's exactly why we ask because you it's a great question. Um and you might see some fatigue in some areas that that we've had these conversations and you're like, well actually no, we haven't. That was a different district, but that's why we are so collaborative and transparent in the process. Um, I want to share for some who may not know with district 57, they had a unique challenge in that their board had made a public promise that they wouldn't go uh in in at least 10 more years, a previous board, not the current board. Um, but because of mandates by the state of Illinois, they had to move faster than that. And so, they were nervous. Will our community accept this? And so, we said, we're just going to ask, we could guess. We could tell you maybe, but we're literally just going to go to the public and say, here, here's the information. this these this was said eight years ago whatever it might be but things have changed what do you think are you okay with this and it was almost unanimous the public said yes we get it let's do it and so what we have found is the more transparent you are and collaborative you are with the public they will simply tell you how they feel and in many cases that's a good thing and so if there are areas within the community that maybe have some fatigue or some nervousness we're going to find out as early as phase one we're going to find out and so then we'll be able to talk about that discuss that and make that part of the process as we plan. Uh, and so have I seen that be a problem before? Honestly, no. People do, people are pretty smart. They do understand different districts have different needs. So, we haven't seen it be a big challenge in the past, but we're going to ask and so if it is a challenge, we'll all know very quickly. I think if I could just add, I'm really glad you brought that up because I do think I mean, we live in Illinois. We're one of the heaviest tax states in in

country and we feel it in this area more than than than many others. But I think it's important to, you know, we're not approaching this lightly. If if anyone's been paying attention, you've watched our administrative team and this board struggle a little bit with the magnitude of um of the work that needs to be done. I mean, you know, it began three years ago uh with this capital improvement maintenance plan and we saw $860 million. and just thinking about the magnitude of of all of all of those projects, how can how do where do we begin? Where do we start? Um, so we've begun chip begun chipping away with what we can control. But even if we can dedicate 25 million, maybe 30 million a year for 10 years, we chip away a third of this list. So, as we've kind of belabored through this, we arrived at this point by saying we have to do something to to keep our buildings healthy um for our students and staff and for the community. Um, and we're not making this decision on our own. So, I think that's the the beauty of of what we can do is we can the community may say do it on your own and deal with it. And if that's what they tell us, then that's what we'll do. But I think that's the the the need and the place that we're at is are we on the right track? Do we just, you know, live within our means? Fine. But that mean this going to mean that we can only go this far and then that's what we'll do and we'll deal with it. But I think that's the important part is we're playing a guessing game until until we ask for some feedback and collaboration. I I would only add that while I stress community driven because that's the goal. We're policy geeks. We're data geeks. This is data driven. You guys are going to see if there's weaknesses in certain areas, we'll find those weaknesses. It starts in phase one, believe it or not. You'll have the community come in and say if you know, and I'll tell you the first referendum

we ever did was in uh 2017 in Lake Zurich, very conservative community. They remembered 20 years prior that they were promised a certain project and it didn't happen. But we heard about that early on and it's something the administration didn't know. So, we're getting you data that you might not even know about. And that's the key to all this is to find out where these problem spots are. And when you talk about, you know, is there fatigue, we'll be able to map that out through statistics. And you will be armed with that data to make the decision as you move forward. Whether you, you know, do what or, you know, go to the public or just as you said, build over time, you're going to lead with your strengths. You're going to lead with what the data told you you should lead. Um, obviously you guys know what you have to have. There's certain life safety things and we all know that the 10-year plan and so forth um that you have to do and I know there's new legislation to cover that as well and we can talk about that but um that's just a little bit additional. Thank you Mr. Fiddle. Okay. I I just want to correct Colin on what you said. Um you just said that it's different districts but the fact of the matter is is that my biggest concern is is fatigue is going to be tremendous. And I'll just look at our entire board. So you go down the line, you got Joe, Alvin, myself. We we haven't had any referendums for either park districts or school districts recently, but Vicki had two, Mark had two, and Mary Kay had one. I don't know if Bill had one, but the fact of the matter is is that um you guys didn't do 23, did you? No. Okay. The fact of the matter is is that probably over 60% of our school district has had referendums in the past two, three years. Mhm. Okay. 60%. And another one, another part of our district 23 has failed on three referendums recently. And the other part of our district is district 26. And we failed twice. That was a few years ago.

So I think this phase one and discussing, you know, what could be another tax referendum, you know, when I get my tax bill, I don't I don't sit there and say, "Oh, that was just 26 that had a a referendum that now it's 214. It's it's just a different one." No, I look at my final tax bill and if I see more from a tax referendum, that that is concerning to me and my concern is that we are going to run into some hindrance from a lot of our community because they're just going to see it as piling on. And that really is my concern and I'm hoping and I'm expecting that you'll see a lot of that in phase one. And so then it'll be on you and us to try and figure out how we can make sure that we get our points across as to why it's needed. Okay. And we have to be vigilant as well as, you know, if we're going out for if we're shooting for the moon, that really might sway a lot of people in an opposite direction. And then my second question I have for you is that that community team that you guys talk about. And I am a strong proponent that on that community engagement team or committee, whatever you call it, we have to have people all voices. It can't be just the people that are gonna agree with us for everything. We have to have the people that are kind of like I would say the naysayers right now. It may be the naysayers when all is said and done, but we have to have um voices from both sides or three sides or four sides. We need to hear from everybody and make sure that we're just not getting the people that we think are going to support us because ultimately if referendum is the solution, it's it's a vote. It's not just, you know, the people that said they want liked it and they came to the most meetings. They don't decide it. it's the overall people that decide it. So, um, those are my questions and those are my comments. Thank you. Sure. And and I would say to where you ended the the the questions, you're 100% right. I mean, should you all decide to put this on the ballot, um, roughly 70% of the people who will

determine the fate of that have no interaction with the schools. So, that's why our process is so intense um, and designed to be so that we're going to get beyond just the people who are in these halls on a daily basis or a weekly basis. We're going to get out to the full community on that committee as you said, but also the phone survey is going to be a really important way to make sure we're not just hearing from parents or even grandparents. We're hearing from everyone, including some of those people who may be less favorable. Uh, and so our process is designed to make sure every voice is heard, not just those who might be supportive. And so, you're going to see that throughout. Um, and I hope that will will um alleviate your concerns because we feel the same way. Thank you. Um, we we actually the data that will show we've historically saw that the people most likely to not be in favor of some of the projects are people that had kids in your school district and now are gone. The concept that well my kids didn't have that. Why do they need it? And so we track that and that's how deep the data will go that we can pull for you guys. And so you have competent decisions based on real- time data and um can be very comfortable as you move forward. Board members, go ahead, Miss Mino. Thank you for all the information and I think the data gathering process is incredibly important. Um one of the ways you do that is through phone response polling. Um which can be difficult. Lots of people just don't answer their phone at all anymore. So, could you give us an an idea of how you go about getting adequate data that way and what your sample sizes look like in your phone polls? Yeah, great question. That sounds like someone who's dealt with a poll or two in your life. Yeah. Um, so we're going to look for a bare minimum of 300 responses. We'd ideally like to have more like 500. With you being a larger district, I certainly think 500 is going to be possible. Um, we allow people multiple opportunities throughout the course of a full week to respond. We also work with the district

to put out information to the community that says you will be getting a phone call from this number so you can look for it. Um, and we give people a number they can call into if for whatever reason they didn't see they didn't receive that call. Uh, and so we've never had a situation where a community anyone said, "I didn't have a chance to participate." Um, you may have a few people who say, "That's it. All right, I'm good. I participated." But we make sure that there's more than enough opportunities. Um, so we'll have a a very solid sample size to be able to work with. Um, and we have found that those phone surveys are accurate because as a unit of government, you are allowed to call cell phones. And so you're still the the dirty secret about polling is that a lot of those polls that aren't accurate is because they're relying on landlines, which not a lot of people have landlines anymore. But we're not going to have that problem. We're dealing with cell phones. We're going directly to your residents throughout the community. And so we're confident, as we have with all our previous clients, we will have a solid scientific survey to be able to present to you both in phase two and in phase three. Dr. Sager, u thank you for the presentation. U I really appreciate the steps that you take throughout this. It it strikes me that the first step is about educating and it's about educating the public about what we see as potential needs, but also them educating us back on what potential is out there that we don't know about and then from there gathering together the resources. So looking at the survey that you gave an example of, full day kindergarten was the number one issue because that was the salient thing in the community at the time. And so I can see similar issues coming up here where we're we're building a priority list collaboratively with the community. And I I think it's a great process and I look forward to it. I, you know, I'm sitting here thinking about um it was three years ago that the uh the board went out and hired a firm

uh to uh look for a new superintendent. And I remembered um all of the community meetings that they had both in person and virtual and very specific about when we hired them. we need all these segments of the community and they really came back with great data and specific to you know it's it's not an applesto apples comparison but it was something that the board wanted we need all segments the community to to hone in on on what this is and uh more recently with the strategic plan it was specific with who was going to be on that and there were community members on that and uh as well as parents to get everyone's input into it. So, it it's really vital that we um get people to understand where we're at, where we want to go, and what we need to do. And I think we're going to we're going to close on on that note. Okay. But I appreciate the um Oh, Mr. Heinman. Oh. Oh, you're good. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. We're going to close on that note. and uh really appreciate the uh conversation tonight. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Okay, we're at 932. Is that you, Dr. Row? Actually, I'm going to give it to Actually, I'm going to give it over to Mr. Maggie. Okay. Uh thank you. Uh for uh tonight's discussion uh we're bringing forward a uh proposal from APAG uh a leading website and mass communications uh vendor that serves um thousands of schools uh across uh the country. Um, we assembled a team of our

web masters and uh district and school staff to review our website and specifically look at uh leading website uh providers, those that uh served higher education as well as uh K12 and um staff uh really uh favored uh aptagy throughout this process. Um, specifically, we want to create a more engaging and accessible web experience for uh students, families, and the community. Improve content creation and publishing workflows for school staff and district staff, if you will, would be the governance of content, ensuring that it's updated, and um the gentleman sitting next to me likes to talk about functionality, while uh I like to talk about storytelling. Mr. you um ensure ADA compliance and robust translation capabilities. Uh support consistent branding while allowing for school level flexibility, offer seamless mobile responsiveness. So this will come with a district 214 branded app and uh we would also uh change our mass notification system which is your email, your phone, your text messaging. Uh some of the comments from um the team were it's very intuitive and easy to use. They appreciated the drag and drop page design and real-time editing capabilities. Um you could also um send messages from your phone. There's a specific app for their Thrillshare platform as well as publish to social media. Um customer service is on demand and responsive staff consistently noted the professionalism of accessibility apty team with one member stating seen and Nick and Nick Lewis here is here from Arkansas in case there's any questions. uh uh follow up after every meeting and we've continued to go deep with their team uh especially on the data integration side. Uh unlimited training is a major plus for anyone and everyone on the team. Um the app possibilities are gamecher. Um

implementation is being done by people. Uh it's uh a lot of times now migrate content is being migrated just via um automation and so it's nice to actually have a team of people actually help and look at the content with us to bring it over. Um pre-banded elements keep everything consistent and again just the translation and accessibility were well thought out. So, um, I'm open to questions and conversations and if there's I would just the only thing I would add is just that the board I I sent you the the video the introductory video of the how-to. Uh, so you have that if you have not watched it, it's in your email. And I think an important point to make is um obviously there's a transition period um that exists where we will transition from our current provider um over to apt. So we will carry a a reduced um agreement with uh with final site at a 50% reduction for for this year and I plan on the formal transition to occur at that October um day off where students are off in October. So uh we will have two providers but ultimately the cost of the of the platform is I believe a $3,000 difference from our uh current provider. Um board members, I have a couple of questions. Um this is a one-year contract. Yes. Was there any discussion of a longer term contract with AptG believes in earning the business every year? Okay. Um is that correct? Yeah. All right. Um, so one of my questions was about um additional features that are becoming very common on websites such as a chatbot to answer frequently asked questions or to help um users navigate the website and find the information they're looking for. Is

Nick, would you mind coming up to the podium? Is that a feature that you currently offer or is it on your product roadmap? So, okay, could you introduce yourself? Nick Lewis with API. Um, so we do have an AI backed bot that can be added on to the website that helps inform you all on what people are asking, the languages they're asking. It'll even give folks opportunities if they ask, you know, who is the superintendent and it doesn't provide the correct answer, they can leave feedback that's then provided back to you all to better inform your community using the website. So think of it as a 247 365 customer service line for your community similar to the support mechanism that we'll have behind the scenes for 214 staff. So short answer there we do have an AI backed bot really intelligent and it learns only on your website it doesn't serve content from you know Google etc and that is part of our plan as well. So, this is something that is an additional feature and that's something that we can kind of address on the side if that's something that you all would be interested in adding. Okay. Thank you. I hate to tell you, Miss Belino, those things drive me crazy. Used to they never answer my question. Dr. Sager. Okay. So, my question is going to be the same question I always have about the website. is this includes the calendar for the district and the schools up upgrading the calendar on the website, the embedded calendar. Yes. So, we we do have an events um feature of the site and that's actually a an area that we scoped pretty specifically here with the 214 team as well to make sure that that would be an efficient and easy plug-in, if you will. um given that some

of the event management that you all have is an athletics thirdparty in addition to native events that are managed in the platform as a whole. So we'll be able to handle both of those to provide a unified experience for parents that might have student athletes or or folks that are in the performing arts etc to be able to manage those calendars in the same space. And just where that where that question is coming from, the greatest frustration that our parents have expressed is an Elkrove parent searching for events at Elkrove and they get prospect details. Uh that's one of the things we have not been able to navigate that should be easily resolvable. Sure. Board me, Mr. Federo. Okay. Nick, I just want to tell you I'm very excited that you're here because as a parent um a parent of three Hershey students, too, that have gone to bigger and better things. Um don't leave yet, Megan. Um, so we have parents here and we have parents, one that's leaving and one other, and and I'm sure they're equally frustrated with the current state of our website. It really is is difficult to manage and sometimes it just doesn't seem to have the functionality it should have. It shouldn't be as frustrating. So, I'm I'm very excited that you guys are are coming and are going to hopefully correct that. Um, so my question for Patrick is, um, I I heard who was looking at some of the functionality, but I didn't hear any parents mentioned. And and I I would like to see if we do decide if they do truly earn our business. I think it would be incumbent upon us to ask the parents what they think of the changes to the website because they're the ones that use the website probably more than most. Right. Am I right, Christie? Yes. And I I think that they would be a good gauge to see if if these guys really are as good as they say and it look really nice, then they could be the ones that could help us decide if if a year or two is incumbent. But still, thank you, Nick. Yeah, we we did do uh a survey probably about 18 months ago uh that that went out to uh specifically around

the website that drove some of that and then um some of the staff are are parents in the district as well. But but you are correct. We did not pull together specific parents or students on that aspect. Dr. Chong. Yeah. Thank you. Um I'm not sure if this question is for Mr. Miy or Dr. Row, but I did see so right now with apt we're thinking about the website, the app and then the mass communications but not two-way messaging like maybe parent to student or coaches to their team. is that so that is uh on the kind of the the project inventory for this year for uh that superintendency has been discussing. Um our current vendor is uh reminded by parent square. There's a lot of consolidation in the K12 industry right now. Uh Final Site purchased Blackboard which is how we became a Final Site client. Um and so remind is actually being sunsetted uh at the end of the school year. Uh so Mr. Gil and I met with the athletic director since it is heavily used uh by by that group and the coaches to start those conversations but also look more broadly at that parent um uh classroom teacher communication in front office with staff. So we are definitely looking at that. AptG if you want to talk about rooms a little bit. Uh Nick. So, we do offer a two-way communication solution that will exist in the same D214 app that your, you know, families, community members would obviously have as well. Key piece there, we actually don't want any of your families to know our company name. I know that seems like a very obvious thing, but that is a unique departure from other players in our space. We've written our own code to build our entire product from the ground. Unlike other folks that, as Pat mentioned, have kind of acquired different pieces to I don't want to say like hodge podge things together, but to to piece their products

together. We've actually built it all in house. And it's as a result a more unified streamline experience for all. And if it's worth mentioning at all, I kind of raise my hand here as a parent. Also, I have a rising ninth grader at home. So for her eight classes this past year, cross country, choir, and track and field, I used a single app to communicate with all of those folks, keep up with events, see the lunch menu, which is every what everybody's doing at 7 a.m. Um, all that good information is in a single place. Parents aren't being pulled in multiple directions to get information from different spaces. So would obviously love the opportunity to expand that conversation down the road. And we do have our service packages written so that things can be added on down the road um at any time. It's not like an all or nothing kind of scenario. Mr. Dustling, I don't want to sound Thank you. I don't want to sound callous, but I've been through this rodeo at least six times with the websites, with the whole thing, and we had the answers where it it was going to be the greatest thing since sliced cheese and and here we are again. And and I really don't want to sound callous. I don't want to throw cold water on this whole thing, but but I hear it from parents. Okay, it was said some heard from parents. is difficult to do with our sites. I I would I would hope that this is the second coming uh because uh I'm tired of of going through this thing. I mean, we're spending a lot of money on putting these things together. It's not doing what it's supposed to be doing currently. If you can do it, God bless you. But but right now, I I don't have the confidence that it's going to get done. I'm sorry. Well, Mr. Um,

so we we did have a vendor when I first came here that um a lot of professional sports teams and others use and things were hosted in in house if you will and we made a shift to um the vendor that uh we have is is Blackboard and we did not choose APT. We went through that process. Um, and we did not choose Final Site. We went through that process, but we chose Blackboard and now we um have a vendor that we didn't choose. Um, and we opened everything up again and we went to the the modern campus and this space continues to evolve especially with AI writing code and that kind of thing. Um but uh we we feel uh that listen I'm not I'm not here to uh you know put some uh okay sand in your whatever. It's all right. It's okay. Uh I'll go along with it. But again I I have a response to this. I hope this is it. Well for now well I mean the space continues to evolve. Mr. Mr. Lewis. So I think the I um I'm sorry. Yeah, Mr. Dustling and I have been here for over 25 years. So we've seen a lot I mean a lot and it seems like every few years this is a new fangled thing. So it's I I get what he's saying and yeah I I know and technology is just changing at such a unbelievable rate and um Dr. Dr. Ro and I were having this conversation today about you need sis all systems to talk. They all need to talk to one another. Everybody needs to and um I fear in five years we're going to be having this conversation again. But anyway, I I certainly understand that uh Mr. Dustling's frustration because yeah,

it's just it's just so rapidly changing. Um anyone else? Can we move on? Okay then. Thank you. Um 941 teacher Dr. Lopez. All right. On a positive note, uh this is we really are very excited to partner with Ady. I have a ton of confidence in their platform and know lots of school districts that are very very pleased with them as a partner. It's okay. Uh this discussion item is uh this item is before the board for approval of the professional development contract with the University of Illinois learning science research institute for year two of our engagement in math with center school district. So we just wrapped our first year. We had over 180 teachers from across uh and leaders from across our schools. It was formed to support the implementation uh this partnership for uh of automatic acceleration in math uh by deepening the teacher understanding of state standards and all of our grades from 6 through 12 in these cross district uh workshops to improve both vertical alignment and instructional coherence. And so now the focus of the second year of the contract of the is to uh uh focus specifically on algebra priority standards and vertical alignment and student centered instruction. Uh so in addition to the six and a half days of cross district professional learning uh there is going to be about 12 days of specialized coaching across uh all our schools. These embedded coaching supports are going to be in partnership with our teaching and learning facilitators at each of our schools and will provide teachers with structured classroom connected experiences with a focus on uh student centered instruction and the formative assessment strategies aligned to Illinois state priority standards. And um they are also going to support

facilitation of peer collaboration and lesson study models to strengthen instructional practice and build sustainable professional learning communities. or our PLC work. Uh the work lays the foundations for deeper collaborative implementation efforts across our algebra program. Uh districts the uh title two fund of professional development is going to fund the initiative with an offset of a per teacher contribution from participating sender school districts which is all of our sender school districts. And so as this is a partnership I wanted the board to hear the perspective from one of our sender schools. Um I'm very pleased and grateful that uh to welcome Christine Seafford. She's the assistant superintendent uh for teaching and learning at River Trails District 26 to share some feedback uh on the work. Um and just to mention, Christine is also a Hersy parent with a daughter who just began her apprenticeship program at Northwest Community Hospital just this week. She's been talking to me all about it, uh her orientation. So, thank you so much for being here. Absolutely. My pleasure. It's it's a pleasure to be with you here this evening. I am a former District 214 alumni myself. I graduated from Rolling Meadows High School. Both of my parents graduated from Wheeling High School and we are proud to send our daughters to Hersy High School. But I am here tonight on behalf of Rivertrail School, District 26, where I serve as the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. Um I have had the pleasure to partner with the wonderful collaborative network of assistant soups across the many districts, 57 being one of them, 25, 21, 23 to just name a couple over the past few years. And uh Dr. Lopez has been an intricral part of that collaborative. Um, and so I'm here tonight just to say thank you. Um, District 214 committed a lot of time, money, funding, spaces, food, coffee, uh, facilitators from the University of Illinois um, and extended that hand to 180 of the teachers this year um, in

this room. And it looks very different tonight from how it's looked over the course of the school year with collaborative tables and teachers sitting in integrated pods learning together about how do we really look at this challenge of developing and growing our math scores and how do we work together to help that unify. In district 26 we have the motto of head ready heart ready equals life ready. Um but we define life ready as students who are ready to take on the challenges of high school and what exactly does that look like? And it's very hard to aim at that target without targeted collaboration amongst our teachers. And I think that's what this partnership has brought us this year is we've built relationships, we've built bridges, we've had some difficult conversations on pedagogy um and on beliefs and understandings about what does good math instruction look like, but more importantly is we've had positive conflict that's arisen out of that and good conversation. Um, so I'm here tonight to to partner with Dr. Lopez and say if we can continue this partnership moving forward, that would be wonderful. Um, just a couple years ago, we started this work together as a collaborative, really focusing in on our our fine arts, our performing arts, and some of those more niche type of programs across all districts where we may have one or two teachers in our school district that don't really have a collaborative group. And we've had the opportunity this year to expand beyond those kind of smaller environments to this large environment of math instructors. We have many many math instructors across our district and that alignment is so so so so essential. Um so as Dr. Lopez said, our teachers are having real conversations about what does it really mean to prepare our students for success beyond our classrooms? How do skills in sixth grade scaffold to seventh grade scaffold to that algebra readiness? because we know that algebra is really what opens the door for post-secondary success. Um I

also want to acknowledge that we have heard some things about the challenges of pulling teachers out of classrooms. Um and this is the fact they do need to come out of their classrooms. We do need to have substitutes in those rooms on those days to bring them together. And it is about one day per quarter. But to be honest, our teachers come back better for it. We meet with our teachers every time they come back from the high school. They come back with ideas. They come back with strategies and broader understandings of how they can reach and challenge their students in a unified way across our larger community. And that single day results in a ripple effect that we have seen unfold throughout the year. Um so now you know traveling beyond this we hope to expand this partnership beyond math. We hope to see this grow. We met today as a collaborative team to talk about how maybe we open the door to conversations in English language arts and some of the other areas. And I truly feel like this is just a beginning of helping our teachers open their minds to each other, being willing to listen across those borders. Um, and in closing, I just want to say I'm extremely grateful to your district for initiating and funding this work. Your support has made this possible and we are really excited to move into a potential year two with a focused emphasis on algebra and those priority standards to really see how we can help our students soar. So, thank you for investing in our shared future. We are really proud partners in this work and if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them. Um, thank you for your comments. Board members, Mr. Fiorto, first of all, I want to thank you for being here Christie. I had plenty of experience with you in 26 and you were great there and you're still great now. So, I I think you really touched upon it and that is that your success equates to our success. If we can get the kids um better off coming into our schools, we're going to have better results than we have right now, which really is phenomenal because our results right now are pretty good. So, thank you for everything you do for the River Trails

26 students so that way when they come in to our schools at Hersy or even at Main West in 207, um that they're better off especially in the programs of math. And I do agree with you. I would love to see us someday look at ELA or science or social studies as well. So, thank you for being here. Board members. Yeah. Um, I just want to echo my thanks to you, Christie, as well. And I feel like I need to thank this board because when these decisions were made, and I think Joe can probably talk about 59, but I was sitting on the 57 board, and I remember we were so excited and thrilled about this opportunity to collaborate with 214 and the other center districts. I agree that um even beyond math, math instruction and alignment and algebra, it just opened up so many doors. This partnership, getting to know each other, even thinking about ELA probably for 57, you know, a few years ago was seemed like a dream. And I remember, you know, on the 57 board, we would watch our eighth graders leave and, you know, in the past and just it's like they went into this void. We didn't know how they were doing. we didn't know what we could do to, you know, improve things or support them and now we're really starting to understand. So, um, yeah, I'm so grateful to, um, everyone who's participating it. I agree. I hope it just continues to expand. So, thank you, board members. You're good, Dr. Sager. Yes, I want to e echo Dr. Chung's comments about how excited having been in one of the center districts this collaboration is and how meaningful it can be. Um, thank you for being here and I think part of it is by as Mr. Mr. Fiorino said that connecting the standards at the the scaffolded standards throughout the um sixth, seventh, eighth grade and coming in then

as freshmen uh we expect the students to be better prepared. And so I really love this program as an idea and as I believe it works and I want to see it expanded to other areas, but it also strikes me that this is the perfect thing to have some sort of assessment that says that it works because I believe it will work. And so I want I would love to see some sort of assessment. I guess this is more of our 214 side of when we see those incoming freshmen are our teachers in fact seeing that they're better prepared coming in. what methods of assessment will we have? Yeah. So, just briefly, that that is part of the project for this year for the algebra program is uh addressing formative assessments that are aligned to the Illinois priority standards. We spent this year across our district uh working with all of our freshman teachers to ensure that we have, you know, our first step was to ensure that we all agreed on what the standards were that we were teaching. Uh we're doing that also now this following year with all of our sophomore core curriculum and um you have to have that conversation before you talk about the formative assessment conversation and so that is part of the plan for this year. Yeah, Mr. Fiddle. Yeah, I I'd be remiss if I if I didn't thank Law and Dr. There's a phrase and it's called thinking outside the box. And I think this was a great example of thinking outside the box to create uh better performance at the folks that are coming into our schools, which I know has been a concern a lot. So, thank both of you for the efforts that you put in as well. Um, thank you Christie. Thanks. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Uh, I think you're still up. Yeah, this item, approval of title waivers. We do this every year. It really is uh just to ensure that there's flexibility in the use of funds to support programming impacting all students. Uh particularly at Elkrove and at Rolling Meadows, if the school's

poverty rate ranges between 20 and 40%, we have to have the board uh uh formally uh submit a schoolwide waiver so that they can use the funds to support all students and not just the targeted group. Questions? Okay. Um, I didn't ask previously and certainly we can vote after close session, but um, do we need to uh, discuss the PTR in close session or can we vote on that now? Is there anyone that wants to go into close session to talk about the personnel transaction report? Anyone? Okay, why don't we vote on that now because then when we come out of close session, we can adjourn. So, can I have a I'll make a motion that we approve the personnel transaction reports for June 12th, 2025. Seconded. There's been a motion and a second. Please call a role. Yes. Baldino, yes. Chong, yes. Dustling, yes. Hinaman, I. Sager, I. And sir, I. Motion carries 70. Thank you. Now I need a motion to go into close session for the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in an educational setting or legal counsel for the public body. Motion in a second, please. So moved. Second, Dr. Row. 959 or sooner. Oh boy. Okay. Call the call the roll. Yes. Hinaman. Hi. Valdino. Yes. Bessing. Yes. Verito. Yes. Serger. Hi. Croer. I as I said that um we will come back to

adjourn but there will be no um action after close session. Thank you.

[Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music]

Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] Okay, great. Can I have a uh We're out of close session. And can I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. There's been a a motion in a second. Please call the role. Chung, yes. Hinaman, I. Dustling, yes. Frito, yes. Zager, I. Croiter, I. We'rejourned. Thank you. We arejourned. Thank you. [Music]

[Music] [Music]