e e e e Tech Team can you please uh begin the recording good morning welcome to the March 5th 2025 agenda review committee meeting before we start the meeting I would like to
share a few safety points and next meeting announcements please note that the primary exit and entrance to the boardroom is the door which you use to enter this morning if you are leaving the room please use this door the restrooms are outside the boardroom boardroom doors to your left during the
meeting we ask that you keep all aisles and exits clear if you need any assistance during the meeting please wave the attention of one of our security officers please mark your calendars for the upcoming meetings the next board meeting is scheduled for for
Thursday March 20th 2025 at 3:00 p.m. please note that the change in the start time to be held at 42 West Madison Street Garden level boardroom for details on how to register to speak or observe at the meetings and to learn about the speaker Lottery process please
visit the Chicago Board of Education website cpsb.org if you have any questions about registration or public participation please contact the board office for assistance thank you for joining us today president Harden we are now ready for you to begin the
meeting good morning everyone welcome to the Chicago Board of Education agenda review committee meeting today is March 5th 2025 I'm president Shan B Harden on behalf of my fellow board members thank you for joining us today we're holding today's agenda review committee meeting
in the boardroom at the CPS Loop office 42 West Madison Garden level I like to note that board members and Senior leadership are physically present in the board room registered speakers may join us in person or virtually if they've opted to do so and registered observers
are joining us in person the agenda review committee meeting of Wednesday March 5th 2025 is hereby call to order board secretary please call the role thank you member loano pres oh sorry he just walked in um
member Lopez present member Thomas present member Bole present member kuster present member Pope present member Rosenfeld present member Ras present member Rio
Sierra here member Bannon present member bigs present member thakura present member blae present member Z
present member D Barry present president Harden present we have 18 present we do have a quorum I'd also like to recognize Pedro Martinez chief executive officer Ruchi Vermont
general counsel bdana shumova Chief education officer Charles Mayfield Chief Operating Officer oh I'm sorry it's 16 present I stand corrected thank you the order the meeting will be as follows public participation discussion of agenda
review committee meeting items 1 through four recess reconvene from Recess discussion of agenda review committee meeting items 5 through six and then 35 through 38 qu session reconvene from Co session and then
adjourn let's now proceed with today's public participation session thank you for joining to share your comments with the board in compliance with the Illinois open meetings act your public participation sometimes referred to as public comment is the portion of the board meeting or hearing that grants
District stakeholders the opportunity to address the board with their concerns and comments note that public participation is time for board and CPS leader senior leadership excuse me to listen and hear from you rather than a time for dialogue with board members
during or after your remarks while we can't discuss Personnel matters public participation is a key component of transparent governance and provides us as board members as well as senior leadership an opportunity to listen to everyone who has signed to speak the
board takes Equity of voice seriously while we may not address your comments directly during public participation CPS leadership is always present at our meetings and are able to address concerns as follow-ups after the meeting as a district and as a board we also
have many other spaces for authentic dialogue for example each and every one of our board members host Board office hours so that they can have a conversation please use our website cpsb.org if you want to meet with the board member during office hours we
encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to meet with board members outside of board meeting thank you for attention and consideration as a reminder Union Representatives be allowed five minutes to speak before public participation and elected officials will be allowed 5 minutes to
speak after the conclusion of public participation board secretary please share the rules of public participation thank you president Harden before I do so I would like to note that um member Smith has joined the meeting at approximately 10:37
a.m. members of the public who register to speak were given the option to attend in person or via an electronic format for those who prefer to attend via an electronic format they were given information to access this meeting by dialing a number and using their phone we did this so that speakers with
limited or no access to the internet or who may have weak internet connections could still participate using their phones also members of the public May submit written comments for Board of Education meetings via the written comments form on the board's website at cpsb.org or mail to one North Dearborn
Suite 950 written comments received between the day the public agenda was posted through 5: P p.m. the day after the Board of Education meeting will be submitted to the board and published within five business days on our website at cpsb.org speakers please listen while I provide
directions for public participation I will call your name and number when it is your turn to speak for speakers joining us virtually as a reminder to unmute please enter star 6 once you hear your name please state your name for the record I will then start the two-minute
timer when there are 30 seconds remaining I will inform you so that you can proce proceed to conclude your remarks to allow for the next speaker to begin and for anyone standing with the speaker please stand along the glass partitions to keep the aisles clear thank you president Harden before we
begin begin calling speakers from the speakers list we do have Union reps who would like to address the board we'll begin with Stacy Davis Gates CTU president who is here in person good morning um first I want to express some
gratitude and appreciation to the board um for both your courage and your leadership um um and stopping the school closings at five aaro school um I want to say that we appreciate your
thoughtfulness and your ability to do what you said you were going to do so thank you for that um also um I want to make mention that there are also two other school communities that have been impacted and that's why the charter renewal process is so important it does
have to be a rigorous process we say that a lot about our children children and what we take them through um the process under which we create infrastructure for young people that's what should be rigorous and so I am um
hopeful that the charter renewal process will be a rigorous experience that helps to protect other um School communities from closures um today we're here because we've been petitioning our members so um
this is three worth of petitions that have come in about the five things that our members believe need to be shifted at the table in order to land a contract a transformative contract and then also
today I've brought some of my um fellow uh negotiators here to talk to you about what why it is so important why it is so vitally important that we land this this morning I saw that um on March 20th you
all are going to pass Endeavor to pass a budget amendment because the CEO didn't create a budget that included the cost of the principal's contract the meabf payment and the cost of the teachers contract right and so there's a budget
amendment but we're not done with our contract yet and so we rushed to get here this morning to give you two things a document a document that says since you all are going to do a budget amendment on the
March 20th we want to make sure that your math matches the transformative contract our students deserve those petitions represent members who are very who are
intensely serious about offering a more joyful plan for school day to our elementary school students we do offer PL time to our high school Educators and we do that in attempt to
offer a better high school day so our elementary school teachers need your help on that class size is important because it provides safety and an opportunity to have a class room that meets the needs of all of the students
there and you know what else helps to do that Staffing all of those things are important just like an evaluation system that doesn't de privilege majority black schools in the city of Educators who look like them because it's harder to
get a good rating there in the evaluation system that's not our research that's two different research reports we have the ability here to make a difference and making sure that our young people
have black teachers because they help all kids not just black kids but they're penalized unfairly in majority black schools so the research tells us um we can also keep veteran teachers in the system because they're committed to
this place to teach in Chicago you have to live in Chicago and so you fall in love with Chicago you know this city is a wonderful place that our members are completely dedicated to
and so much so that they went to the negotiating table this time with the idea of how might we together transform our school district because this is one of the few activities where you know on
both sides of the table that everyone wants what's good for young people now we may quibble about Big Stuff small stuff and I trust that everyone on the other side of the table wants what's
good for children I do trust that in fact that's the only way it works so you've given us a deadline of March 20th see what you did there you said it has to be turned in by March 20th so we're here today to turn in our homework early
we have a document for you that is going to give you the right number for you to pass on March 20th because that's our contribution and moving us ahead transformatively thank you for your
patience thank you in advance for listening to all of these wonderful people who will unpack that process for you thank you for your comments the next union rep is Caroline Rutherford CTU Charter division Vice chair
good morning members of the board my name is Caroline Rutherford I'm a visual art teacher at a sah Marquez and the chair of the CTU members at our 15 asero schools and I am here today with mixed emotions we want to Express gratitude to the board members who voted yes last
week to keep five of our Sarah schools open when our charter company turned their backs on us thank you to the 16 board members who voted yes to the three board members who voted no you will be remembered by our communities for turning your backs on us just like
aarah while we celebrate the decision to keep keep five schools open we are also devastated for the families and staff at Aero PA and Aero Cruz for years Aero has given up on those two schools they stopped actively recruiting students to those schools and began eliminating
kindergarten in first grade even when families had enrolled their students in those grades asero disinvested in these schools and now the students and staffs are the ones who face the consequences not asero we are here today to ask for your support in keeping these School
communities whole what can the board do to priori prioritize these students continuing their education with the peers they have grown up with and the Educators who have raised them will CPS listen to the families that pause and cruise about what they need moving forward please do not just give them a
list of schools nearby and say you are on your own that is not fair to them in the December 20th resolution p and Crews were given hope that their schools would would remain open with Theo for at least one more year many of the families did not sign up for gocps because there
students would because they believe their students would stay at these schools until next year there are options we would like you to explore such as absorbing pause into casus but we are being told that the lottery system at Aero May prevent giving paw students priority crw which is located
in Rogers Park does not have another a nearby asero school they could merge with so why not adopt a similar plan to what CPS and CTU negotiated When Hope closed their doors after teachers and staff organized a union that agreement placed students and staff and nearby CPS
schools in order to maintain as much continuity for the school communities as possible there are only three months left of school this does not seem like enough time to plan an effective wellth thought out caring plan for the 482 students at P and& Cruz and this is why
we believe asero should keep these schools open for one more year aero's consistent claim is that they did not have enough money to keep the seven schools open now thanks to the of this board They will receive funds to keep five of this of the seven open for
another year before they are absorbed into CPS we must also remember that AO Aero still has millions of dollars in their reserves without the cost of the other five schools Aero certainly now has the funds to keep paw and cruise open for an additional year will this
board put the kids first and demand that Aero utilize the resources necessary to plan a Humane transition for the students The Experience our families and staff have had over the last 5 months have been traumatic and we hope this board will prevent any school Community
from having to do this again in the future we can do that with the charter Contra the charter contracts between CPS and the charter operators currently there are no consequences for Charter operators in any of the contracts if they decide to walk away from students
staff and close schools and there needs to be clear consequences including that Charter operators are required to return any money in their reserves if they choose to close schools and that they will lose their future Charter agreement if they violate the contract midterm
clear plans for absorbing schools back into the district also need to be outlined in the charter agreements so families and staff know exactly what will happen if their school uh to their school if a charter operator gives up and abandons the students union neutrality agreements
need to be outlined as well Charter operators should not be allowed to spend thousands of public funds anti-union lawyers to run campaigns against their staff desire to form a union and collectively bargain for a voice at the table without the ability for our
members at AO to be organized to have a voice where would we be today again we are here to offer gratitude thank you so much for putting students before the bond holders but aaro will not do the same and we are
demanding that Aero keep paw and cruise open for one more year will you stand with us 30 seconds remaining and demand that AO that of AO as well will you take into consideration when they are asking for their Charter to be renewed next year please we need a plan for p and
Cruz families there are 482 students at those schools thank you so much thank you for your comments president Harden we are now ready to call speakers from the speakers list and we will begin with um the group from Aero starting with Micah thirston
speaker number one Tiffany Negron speaker number nine Marcella Lopez speaker 15 Anna yell Yi Salgado speaker number 26 let uh we'll begin with Micah Thon
speaker number one members of the board my name is Micah thiren and I am a teacher at Octavio P elementary I and 10 other staff members from pause were here just last week it's nice to see you again we are here today because our school pause
was not mentioned in last week's five hours of proceedings in the December 20th resolution the board voted to have Aero maintain pause and cruise through at least the 2025 2026 school year can you tell us or explain how and why did
that part of the resolution get removed during last week's meeting the school year ends in less than four months this conv Sation started in October for over 140 days our students families and staff have held on to the false hope that we could possibly be given a chance that
false hope was so great that in fact since October we have not had one student leave our school now our students families and staff will be left to scramble this conversation from the start was supposed to be about seven
schools about our students well-being about our community and about equity it very quickly turned into a conversation about just five schools about finances and boilers on one end our community is trying to give the board the benefit of
the doubt but then we remember the reality of our situation we are a small school we are in a high crime lowincome Latino neighborhood the P Community is used to being excluded from these kinds of conversations have 30 seconds remain
AO has it has done it to us for years our students and families are used to being told that we don't matter and that we do not deserve to take up space at every turn our students families and staff have shown unrelenting commitment dedication and love for our school
Community we are struggling to explain to our kids why our school doesn't deserve to stay open so board members do you have any suggestions what should we tell them the resolution States the district will support our transition what will
that look like when will we know and will we have a say this time thank you thank you for your comments next speaker is Tiffany Negron speaker number nine good morning members of the board and CEO Martinez my name is Tiffany
Negron and I'm the case manager Theo fentz in Clemente campuses I'm also the vice chair of elementary schools for the assero Council of C educators I've been part of the assero community for 13 years in county in that time I've experienced many ups and downs but never
have I experienced something as wild as this year has been after last week's resolution vote you probably thought I'd be done coming to these meetings yet here I stand I guess I'm getting kind of used to hanging out with you guys twice a month I'm here today feeling torn I'm grateful the majority of you have made
the decision last week to keep five of the seven campuses in question open next year and Beyond but I'm also devastated for my brothers and sisters at the p and Cru campuses my first five years with the S were at the P campus and it will always have a special place in my heart the P
and& Cruise communities deserve a clear path forward by being here today I'm keeping my promise to all the assero students and staff to fight for them every step of the way will you I especially refuse to give up on a single special education student who most needs us to protect
them I will not stop showing up here until I know that there is a solid plan to protect to every single Acero student with an IEP next year and Beyond I urge you to act now thinking about how we can keep the paing Comm PA and cruise communities as whole as possible help come up with a solid transition plan
that protects all of our students and staffs and allows a reasonable timeline I realize not all of you voted last week to keep our school families whole you may not have found it necessary to keep our families together since our schools are not in your district and you're generally unaffected
by this decision however I and many other Sero staff members do live in your District I did vote for you I won't make that same mistake again your own website says that parents will do anything they can to ensure their child has a bright future and you're absolutely right
that's why these parents have been fighting week after week your website also says the priority of The Chicago School Board should be to ensure every CPS student has the brightest future possible you lied speaker number n please conclud your communities has never led to positive out comes we will
not forget who was there when our backs were against the wall and we needed help we will not allow our children's fut Futures to be left to chance thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Marisella Lopez speaker 15 El
[Music] [Music] Pedro Martinez Rich Rodriguez fored Rodriguez foras thank you we'll now have our um translator um interpret the
statement good morning member of the CPS board my name is Marisella Lopez and I am the mother of a student at aop pass Elementary our school has existed since 1998 and for many years it was a strong and vibrant School Community but aceto
has abandoned us they stopped investing in our school did nothing to increase student enrollment and let the building fall into Oblivion and now it is our families and our children who pay the price of the of their negligence but it's not just asa's fault
Pedro Martinez and Rich Rodriguez have also failed us they areat they are Latino leaders in this system but instead of protecting our community they have allowed us to be wiped from the map how can they look parents in the eye and tell us that they fight for Latina
students when they are letting schools close they betrayed us we do value our schools even after Aero Pedro Martinez and Rich Rodriguez have decided that we do not matter they are taking away a home a community a
family the most valuable thing about B is the connection between our students and our staff our students our staff are small but we we are strong here we know each other take care of each other but we get no support we don't want to be separated by decisions made without thinking about the well-being of our
children we demand that they help us find a new home together thank you our next speaker is Anna yelli Salgado speaker 26 Elementary okay rich little for
good morning CPS members my name is anay Elisa algado and I am the mother of a student at aop pass Elementary we're here today because I'm furious and disappointed our community has been ignored betrayed and forgotten by the same leaders who promised to represent
us Pedro Martinez and Rich Rodriguez the closure of our school is not only an administrative decision it is an attack on our families our children and our right to a dign ifed education how is it possible that Latino leaders in this system allow this to
happen in a community like little village where we're always left at the end of the list where is your commitment to our families my son is devastated just like the 90 students from fourth to seventh grade who now don't know what will
happen to their education we have no answers we have only been told that in June our school will close and then what we demand that they listen to us and act we want a real solution to keep our school Community
together we are not a number in a ledger we are families of children who deserve stability and quality education we will not accept excuses or empty promises we demand answers and action now thank
you thank you our next group of speakers are from Illinois network of charter schools k Anza Harris speaker number two and Allison Jack speaker number 17 good morning I'm keans Harris director of community impact for
Illinois network of charter school we often forget in the discussions about charter schools these schools are Community Schools embedded in Chicago's neighborhoods serving of the most vulnerable students in our city last week I visited a charter school representing one of the most diverse
student populations in all of Chicago more than 30 languages spoken imagine a classroom with 10 different languages 10 different cultural backgrounds 10 different lived experiences coming together in one classroom I also talked to one of the teachers who switched
careers from teaching ASL to adults to teaching ASL to Children why because she recognizes what's at stake for many of our students many who have endured unimaginable trauma what do I mean by trauma in the span of just two weeks one
charter school first grader witnessed his father's beheading in his home country he was then put on a plane with only with the only family he had left and sent to Chicago he was in a new country alone scared and in a foreign classro with the foreign language
surrounded by strangers this is not just one child's experience many many of our students in our charter schools have experienced severe trauma and carried the heavy burden of violence loss and displacement and despite the trauma these children still show up and their families choose charter schools because
they know Charter Public Schools will meet them where they are and help them find a path forward our Charter School leaders have 30 seconds and staff includes almost 5,000 teachers are on wavering in their commitment to meet the needs of students like the little boy from Afghanistan just like they do the
thousands of black and Latino students who have been act impacted by gun violence poverty and Trauma in our own neighborhoods as the Director of community impact I've met with dozens of community organizations in the last six months at inks and what I found is that
these organizations want to help our Charter students they want to partner with Charter Schools and they want to engage with Charters around the city in efforts to create more safety inclusion and belonging for our student we cannot continue to treat charter school students and Families as though their
choices don't matter policy surrounding Charter School renewals must be fair transparent and Equitable no Charter should receive less than a three-year renewal and high performing Charter Schools should be awarded 10-year renewals without Fair renewals you are telling these families that their choice
doesn't matter their children thank you our next speaker Allison Jack speaker 17 good morning I'm Allison Jack from inks as well on behalf of the Charter Public School community and the 55,000 Chicago families in Charters
across the city inks feels compelled to correct the record for the misstatements and inaccuracies made about charters in last week's board meeting first a few board members and the CTU made false statements that aimed to mislead the public into believing that Charter
Public Schools are for-profit private corporations or companies this is patently false Illinois Law is clear on this fact section 27 A5 of the school code a charter school shall be public non sectarian non-religion non-h homebased
and a nonprofit School inks in the charter school Community are disappointed to to see these continued attacks on charter schools in blatant service of ctu's political agenda it's a disservice to students and families to push false narratives that are clearly
debunked by state law and it's time to take the politics out of Education second the Charter Community is disheartened to see an education leader who claims to represent the best interest of charter schools their students and the one-third of Charter School teachers who are unionized blatantly spread misinformation and
advocate for short renewal terms for her members Jen conet mated last week that 10 years ago CPS gave out 10-year renewal terms again this lie is easily debunked by a Google search this law was passed in 2017 allowing 10-year renewals
while there are several charter schools and you'll hear from one today that clearly deserve a 10-year renewal as they operate some of the highest performing non-selective schools in the city this unfortunate re this unfortunate reality is that CPS has set
an artificial cap of five years this hurts schools and students we urge you to vote for sustainable schools and non-punitive renewal terms on March 20th seven-year renewal terms for high 7 to 10 for high performing schools 5 to s
for schools that are meaning standards and no less than threeyear terms for schools that are in need support thank you for your time thank you for your comments our next speaker is Randy Stonewall speaker number three who is joining us virtually please enter star 6
to unmute Randy Stonewall speaker number three please enter star 6 to unmute Randy Stonewall speaker number three yes please proceed hi my name is Randy stall call
from North Londale College High School where I serve as a profession know as well as the head boys basketball coach and cross country and I want to speak more of regards to um being the father
who actually had a student daughter alumni of North lond who was a Phenix type dollar which uh she was allowed to attend too University in Mississippi
where she was a pillar there and North Londale had a lot to do with her upbringing and being able to graduate from sigalo uh with that same scholarship which allow her financial uh support uh
emotional support and I just got a chance to see uh the resilience her resilience uh dayto day uh as she grew uh no lond was a lunch pad for her it allowed uh
her to grow and be the woman that she is today who's now actually teaching preschool herself uh and the fam Ty scholarship allow that because it does cover some of the cost
that a lot of students in the Nority don't have uh that support to you have 30 seconds remaining whatever that is they're seeking out to be as adults so I encourage and support nor being renewed
uh with the chur process not only for uh the community but for the students and uh parents of this uh great place uh who deserves the opportunity to continue to keep the nor their leges going thank you
thank you for your comments our next speaker is car Rivera speaker number four good morning my name is Carla Rivera I am a parent of a first grade student at Virgil Grim Elementary I also have a pre- student at Harry clay both
located in hewit neighborhood I am also a parent leader in our conscious parents on African-American children CAC program which teaches parents skills to be more involved in the academic growth of their children I cannot overstate the positive impact that this program has had in in
growing parents involvement at her school from only four parents to 20 parents to more than 20 parents for many years parents at he in hewit have felt that our school had been F Left Behind when it comes to school building improvements and our neighborhoods has
also been negatively impacted by the levels of pollution and environmental issues I strongly feel that grion deserves your help and support to expand and improve her school building because her current overcrowding building is not meeting the needs of our students and parents who have meetings there our
kindergarten and pre- classes are in a separate building due to overcrowding my son has an IEP and gome currently doesn't have a combined classroom for three-year-old children like my I can also see how hard our teachers struggle in with overcrowding classes
despite this our teachers still go above and beyond to support our children I know that teachers have been asking CPS to agree to a small class size and more Librarians in their Union contract as a parent I ask CPS to agree to these very basic demands for the sake of our
children but as an overcrowded building constru an Annex gism will be necessary to create the space needed for smaller classes and enough room for for for a librarian the students and staff agre also deserve a more and a modern environmental Sustainable Building that will reduce pollution and actually
generate money for CPS we ask the board to support the installation of solar panels our school and provide learning opportunities for students to discover green careers in their own Community it is not fair that GOM has been waiting for 20 years for building improvements board members please provide the space
that our hardworking teachers and staff need to ensure a happier and healthier environment for our children parents at grizom are already making a positive difference we need your help to provide everything our children's need thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Gordon
Hannon speaker number five good morning I'm Gordon Hannon a CPS parent lifetime educator native southsider currently the CEO of catalyst Charter Schools I have been through four
Charter renewal Cycles we can be smarter and wiser Catalyst Maria and Catalyst circle rock are up for Renewal they are Community anchor schools they've been around for nearly 20 years they've shown
Financial Integrity Stellar academic performance and right relationship they are always at capacity these schools have earned a long-term renewal but more importantly the Chicago lawn and the
Austin communities deserve everything these Community Schools bring these communities deserve a long-term renewal from your own website cps's 5-year
Vision known as Together We rise work Works to create anti-racist solutions that address systemic disinvestment given the performance and
the impact of our Catalyst schools anything less than a 5 to S renewal would be perceived as an actual disinvestment in these neighborhoods what message do we send to
over 1600 inv in their homes and neighborhoods when we hand them a short-term commitment what about Northwestern Grumman and rinia who are investing thousands of dollars in a pipeline of
young artists doctors and Engineers of color through us our aldermen community and political leaders have recognized and endorsed the value of catalyst schools I ask you to invest in these
communities with a renewal term of 7 to 10 years that builds in wiser smarter terms of mutual accountability thank you thank you for
your comments our next group of speakers are from the Chicago Teachers Union we'll start with Kurt hundorf speaker number seven who is joining virtually Jim staro speaker number
eight Latoya Kimbro speaker number 11 pavlin jeno jankov speaker number 13 James cavalero speaker number 14 Jackson Potter speaker number 18 Diane Castro speaker
20 Leah ronti speaker number 22 zidra Foster speaker 23 Thaddius goodchild speaker 24 and Linda Paralis speaker 28 we'll begin with Kurt hundorf speaker number 7even who is joining us virtually
please enter star 6 to unmute morning members of the Chicago Board of Education my name is Kurt hundorf I'm the legislative and political director at the Chicago Teachers Union and a parent of a CPS first grader I'm coming to you from Springfield and I'm here to speak to the district's legislative agenda both what
the district supports and what the district opposes I encourage you to pass an agenda that advances the district's holistic interests and meets the board's values I'll talk to through two different issues to illustrate the board's options the first issue is teacher evaluation in Chicago and in
Illinois in short the system is burdensome burdensome to administer and biased against black and Latina teachers the legislature in school districts in Illinois have made proposals to address both of those issues however CPS Administration has been behind the rest of the state stakeholders when it comes
to adopting the state's uh educator evaluation statutes and practices a 2021 Illinois law allows proficient and excellent rated 10-year Educators to move to a three-year evaluation cycle instead of a two-year cycle this reduces the time to administer the system and
allows principles to focus on Educators who need more support districts across Illinois have moved to this cycle but CPS is not the district should make this change to better align its resources and support additionally we've known since at least 2016 that the reach system in
Chicago has demonstrated a pattern of bias against black and Latina teachers not because of a lack of skill but because of where they tend to work in a state report released last summer came to the same conclusion despite these consistent findings CPS Administration has opposed A bill that would require
the district to renegotiate to the system to address these bias issues as president Davis Gates mentioned research is abundantly clear that having even one black teacher produced es impressive performance improvements for black students and all other students the second issue is the foundational issue
for this board school funding the governor's proposed budget includes the statutory minimum for a Statewide school funding increase while welcom that proposed increase means about $30 million in funding for a district that's more than $1 billion do underfunded and that amount is proposed before we
understand the full scope of the Trump and musk attack on public education that's too small in any scenario the only way that we will increase school funding remarks thank you and ensure that money goes to schools that change requires a massive campaign and the CTU is
committed to deploying significant resources to support it the district will need to deploy far more than it has to date shown to make new funding a reality thank you for your time thank you for your comments our next speaker is Jim starl speaker number eight
good morning my name is Jim Saros I'm a former CPS teacher parent of four students who graduated from CPS and current field rapid Chicago Teachers Union One significant issue CPS leadership brings up in contract negotiations is lost or potentially lost instructional time for students the lack
of substitute or guest teachers is one area where lost time is not only being ignored but Amplified by cps's reluctance to address some of the most basic issues for our guest teachers such as a general lack of respect and concern for them lack of paid professional development days afforded other CPS employees and low overall pay and
incentives post pandemic there's been an increase in teacher absences and a corresponding increase in request for guest teachers throughout the pandemic and into the 24 school year CTU advocated for and won targeted incentives to increase the number of guest teachers available precisely because they understood that guest
teachers were needed for continuity in the learning process in a time with increased teacher absences this raised the number of filled vacancies from 250,000 in 2019 the last full school year before the pandemic to over 300,000 in 2024 despite this increase there are
still over 80,000 unfilled positions in the 24 school year but instead of expanding on the successful incentive program CPS decided to end it and go back to pre-pandemic policy with lowest paid guest teachers barely make minimum wage and earn no incentives for these members losing incentives cost uh
constitute of 30 to 50% pay cut in their salary by CPS cutting these stiens fill rates will likely drop back to the 2019 19 levels and we can expect more than a 50% increase in unfilled vacancies you have 30 seconds remaining in a letter sent by guest teachers to CEO Pedro Martinas two weeks ago was pointed out
that many large districts such as La New York Philadelphia and San Jose are all outpacing Chicago and various compensation schemes and corresponding fill rates if members of the board are seriously concerned with students staying on track they should direct CPS to reconsider the lack of incentive pay
as well as other financial and non-financial incentives to attract and retain sufficient coverage so students are in front of a qualified and licensed adult at all times thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Latoya Kimbro speaker number 11 good morning um my name is Lya Kimbro
and not only am I a member of the uh CTU bargaining team and a CTU staffer I'm a graduate of the Chicago public schools and I'm a current parent of a CPS third grader um it's a full circle moment to be here speaking in front of you today
because I vividly remember speaking in front of the CPS board as a high school student begging the board not to close my High School Englewood High School so it hits me very hard when I heard um our Acero family
speaking um I'm here today to express my extreme disappointment that after 11 months of extensive bargaining that we still do not have a contract despite having um a supportive mayor um an elected Schoolboard alignment between
our proposals and the CPS 5year strategic plan and CPS being in the best financial situation in over a decade while we could be using this time during a hostile Federal Administration focusing on fortifying the protections
for our most vulnerable students and addressing the lack of par professional support specifically teachers assistance CPS specifically CEO Martinez is using the very limited and valuable CPS resources to push your own personal
agenda this issue is personal for me since I will have a student um in the fourth grade next year and CPS their current class size proposal increases the class size significantly it's not too much to ask that schools are
adequately staffed with teachers assistance and that these Tas not be laid off at the end of the school year um just to be rehired the following school year when um there are too many students not enough teachers in oversized
classrooms it's not too much to ask that PA professionals receive due process before they are terminated 20 years ago I was sorely disappointed as a student when I am my concerns when unaddressed you have the opportunity to say enough
and make CEO Martinez and his team get serious at the bargaining table and bring this process to an end to provide CPS students teacher staff and all stakeholders in the schools um with the schools that they deserve thank you thank you for your comments our next
speaker pavin jov speaker number 13 morning Board of Education my name is pavin jankov the director of research at the Chicago Teachers Union so to implement the pillars of the transformative contract we are going to need new revenue and in a state that
ranks the eighth most regressive in tax structure and an education funding system that ranks an F in funding Equity it's no surprise that austerity logic has proliferated across School governance in the past know Cuts instead of Investments do more with less
actually exactly the kind of rhetoric we're hearing from the federal government today so we need as board and administration to firmly reject that log and join us in Springfield to push for new Revenue not cuts and 30 years ago
this year there was a another pivotal change for CPS in 1995 we had mayoral control established C2 actually lost our bargaining rights over class size and Staffing there were also funding changes the early 90s was a fiscal crisis for
the schools CPS desperately needed the state to step up support for Education funding but the Republican controlled state legislature wasn't about to hand CPS a Lifeline instead of providing more funding the legislature folded in the
pension Levy and the facilities funding Levy for CPS into the operations line so the answer from the state then was don't bother maintaining your facilities and if you want to keep Schools running cannibalize your pension fund and we saw the ramifications of that a decade Plus
without a single pension payment under Paul Valas and Arie Duncan and neighborhood school facili and then subsequently Mass closings so we say CPS has never had the funding to pay for the needs of our students because the state has never stepped up to fulfill that obligation
with Progressive Revenue so to fix school funding for CPS we need a sweeping change in the Illinois tax structure there are solutions on the table we are part of a progressive Statewide Coalition the Illinois revenue Alliance that is estimated that we can
raise billions in funding Statewide if we close the corporate tax Loop polls and carry interest rate fixed rules around corporate offshore International income reporting tax digital advertising remarks there are lots of options on the table we need to settle this
transformative contract and see you all down in Springfield with us so we can change the tax structure in Illinois thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is James cavalero speaker number 14 good morning board members my name is Jim cavalero and I was a special educ
ation teacher in CPS for 26 years prior to my current role as an organizer and special education committee kazon with the Chicago Teachers Union I served on the C2 big bargaining teams in 2012 2015 and 2019 as a rank and file special education teacher in that time I've seen
us CTU and CPS come to agreement through collaboration to build Special Education improvements into our contract that have benefited both our special Educators and students with disabilities this bargaining cycle we have also also um in collaboration come to agreement on proposals some new and some improving on
previous contract articles that again benefit our special Educators and students with disabilities a few of those proposals that our special Educators have indicated are most important to them and their students um that we've come to agreement on include significantly low lowering the number of students with IEPs to allocate for both
a halftime and full-time case manager school including considerations of speech only IEPs and 504 plans this agreement provides equity for our schools whether they're a small school with a couple hundred students or a large school with thousands it will decrease the workload of our hardworking
dedicated case managers help to ensure our students with disabilities are seen as and advocated for as the individuals that they are and not just the name on paper we've come to agreement that special education specific professional development will be available to our special Educators this will give them
the opportunity to gain knowledge and participate in training on current uh methods and techniques in working with students with have 30 seconds remaining um we've also come to agreement on recognizing our special Educators as professionals by ensuring that they
won't be pulled as substitutes and um their students mtime the special education service that they're that they're supposed to be provided um we've also um guaranteed their having self-directed preparation time and collaboration time with our special educ with other special Educators general
education teers and clinicians these agreements weren't not easy to come to but due to Dedicated work and compromise compromise on both sides of the bargain table we've made them happen that's why I know and our 30,000 CTU members know this contract can't be settled now the
remaining items remarks um our students need uh experienced veteran Educators who look like them and are evaluated fairly they have the time to prepare to teach them we can absolutely come to agreement on these items and provide the schools that all of our stakeholders deserve thank you thank you for your
remarks our next speaker is Jackson Potter speaker number eight good morning I don't have a song for you today but I was going to describe some of our greatest misses under Rah emanuel's tenure and what he did so that
we can kind of see our progress and Peril from 2012 to now part of why we gave you a last best final offer today is to settle this agreement and emblazon our commitment and values together for the things our students need and
deserve back in 12 and Rah Emanuel came to us from working with former Governor Bruce ronner who tried to break state government so we could never fix it similar to what Elon Musk is doing at the federal level Rah did a lot of that here he appointed Co Forest Claypool
that did record violation of special education law and put the system under State oversight he closed a record number of mental health clinics we've had to rebuild that through clinical supports and interventions and therapeutic services in our system we've
had to rebuild the sped program through the elps and through um case management that you know has been described already by Jim we saw ranuel come in and close schools the largest number of black schools in US
history your board member G2 Brown has reopened closed schools uh you have just made a decision to keep Charter Schools open and absorb them into the system as public schools we are reversing that harmful trend of Destruction have 30
seconds remaining additionally uh we know that you know Rah Emanuel got rid of prep time uh you have already agreed to restore some of it we think more is necessary for Equity across high school and Elementary and lastly we are on a path of
reconstruction we can't go back to those bad days of privatization and run away trains of school closings and attacks on black and brown students we know R Emanuel helped Appo Tim Homan as the borders are under Obama and look at what he's doing to our students we instead
have put in sanctuary language that is a model for the country we can do this together we've done it well so far as of your predecessors and we will need to do more of it please settle this historic agreement thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Diane
Castro speaker number 20 who is joining us virtually please enter star 6 to unmute good morning my name is Dr Diane Castro and I'm speaking today as a parent and educator with 18 years of experience as a bilingual preschool teacher regarding the necessity of
finalizing negotiations with the CTU and Landing a contract that will be transformational for our district as you consider your agenda items it is imperative that you also consider the cost of our contract and I'm not just speaking on the economic cost but also the cost that our students families and
communities will pay without our contract being settled in these tulous times we are bombarded with the reality that our current president is in the process of dismantling the Department of Education and doing away with diversity equity and inclusion all major tants to what we do in our classrooms and what I
want as a mother for my own children I have a seventh grader and a fifth grader that attend a CPS Elementary School just like their parents did before them it is mindboggling that the issues that I faced as a student are so prevalent today my Latina children do not see themselves reflected in the curriculum
there is a still an overreliance on standardized tests that stress our children out and affect their mental health our students deserve learning that educates Beyond test prep as an educator I know the time and dedication it takes to plan lessons Educators need the additional prep time to do so and we
must have the additional Staffing support especially in early childhood classrooms prek through second grade the idea that providing teachers with prep time detracts from instruction highlights an inability to understand the different way students learn and this offends me I cannot abide hearing
that my children my students do not deserve a better school day as I am sure many of you understand being former Educators we cannot leave the table without securing this language I a firm believer in collaboration I've learned the necessity of this as an educator who works alongside an incredible pray
professional I'm asking you all to work with the CCU as we move forward we are on the cusp of a Monumental contract and we the parents the Educators the people Tas you with partnering with the CTU rather than co-signing in complicity with the dismantling of everything we
hold necessary and imperative for our students and children to achieve thank you thank you for your comments before we um call the next speaker I do want to um State for the record that vice president Bautista has
joined the meeting at 11:32 a our next speaker is Leah rafan speaker number 22 good morning my name is Leah rafan and I'm a CTU field representative I represent all of the CPS Citywide clinicians I also
represent teachers and staff at over 20 CPS elementary schools I also represent members at three Charter companies Aero is one of them um but I'm here to talk about clinicians uh there are over 1800 Citywide clinicians these are your
nurses psychologists social workers speech language Pathologists physical therapists and occupational therapists 1,00 might sound like a lot but this is criminally low below what is necessary to provide IEP minutes 504 plan minutes
Medical Care and the emotional supports students need in every school please please ask CPS how many students are not receiving legally mandated IEP in 504 minutes due to cps's Historic and chronic understaffing how many due process claims is CPS opening in the
opening the district up for by not having enough clinicians to support student needs clinicians in every Department are overworked with ballooning workloads burnout is real I can tell you that from the amount of times I talk sobbing clinicians through
on a daily basis in my office so burnout is real and it can be addressed through some of the Union's contract proposals CPS from my understanding CPS has yet to agree to the following items we've proposed provide workspaces that are safe for students and staff and are appropriate for Service delivery seek
maximum Medicade reimbursement for social work Services bargain a workload plan with the Union seconds remaining ISB rules prioritize clinician Recruitment and speed up the hiring process lastly I want to point out one more perplexing aspect of these negotiations CPS has only made one
salary offer to the union one I have bargained many Union contracts with Charter companies over the last 10 years Uno Aero CICS civitas Meridian Namaste Latino youth High School advise colleagues at bargaining at all the other Charter companies we represent members at and I have never seen an employer just offer one salary proposal
and say take it or leave it even the most anti-union hostile union busting Charter boss actually engages in salary barain remarks thank you so what is CPS doing did CEO Martinez forget how to bargain a contract he says we're close but as far as I know he hasn't come to a single session and hasn't allowed his
team to make another salary proposal it's really bizarre CPS and CEO uh CPS and CEO should be answering to you as Board of Ed tell them to get serious about bargaining salary and the other outstanding items and let's settle this thanks thank you for your comments our
next speaker is zidra Foster speaker 23 good morning my name is idra Foster I'm the director of the grievance Department here at the Chicago Teachers Union um I began my teaching career at Inglewood High School in 2002 I'm the mother of three College age young men all of whom
are graduates of Chicago Public Schools so 11 months ago we began our contract negotiations where we submitted over 700 proposals to CPS and CEO Martinez and these propos these proposals were designed by um our Rank and file members across every constituency group of our
membership these proposals were designed to transform and lay the groundwork for the educational experiences of over 300,000 students who attend Chicago Public Schools we've made a lot of progress over the um last 11 months we now find ourselves at a pivotal point in
the negotiations where we have three I excuse me five unresolved issues that our membership have identified as priorities the priorities include enforceable class size limits increased Staffing improvements to the evaluation system investments in our veteran
Educators and a better elementary school day our proposal on the elementary school day includes robust course offer offerings such as Fine Arts Music World Language and Technology fully function in libraries with Librarians we also need adequate Staffing such as social
workers um clinicians and nurses to provide the wraparound services that our students so desperately need in addition to those things we also know that the better school day also includes more collaboration and planning time for our um educ have 30 seconds remaining we believe that the district can provide
more collaboration time and also provide enrichment opportunities for our students equally important are our demands regarding um lower class sizes we have made tremendous progress in making sure to adjust the class size limits for our lower younger students but there's still work that needs to be
done with grades 4 through eight our class siiz language is also directly connected to our staffing demands regarding um our teacher assistants who provide the much needed support to our students and Educators in the classroom we believe our demands are achievable and we appreciate the progress that we've been able to accomplish with our
CPS labor Partners but we are at the Finish Line it's time to get a deal and say yes to the contract that our students deserve thank you for your comments our next speaker is fadus goodchild Speaker 24 good morning president Harden and
members of the board my name is Thad goodchild and I am Deputy general counsel for the Chicago Teachers Union I've had the privilege of serving as in-house counsel for C since 2012 and have been at the bargaining table for each of the last three contract Cycles after nearly a year of negotiations over
100 bargaining sessions the exchange of thousands of proposals we are close to reaching an agreement that would be an historic achievement for all of the school district school district stakeholders I want to extend my gratitude to CPS Chief negotiators
Miguel Paretta Sally Scott bdana chuma and Ben Felton for their dedication and hard work at finding compromises on bargaining topics that will improve working conditions for educators and learning conditions for students thanks to their efforts and the efforts of the
C2 officers and rank and file Educators from across the city we've reached tentative agreements on scores of issues that will transform CPS as you have heard there are five key issues that remain on the bargaining table I will briefly address two of them first there have been multiple independent studies
that have found significant disperate racial impact in the current teacher evaluation system the single greatest predictor of a teacher's evaluation score is the zip code in which the school resides that means the district's current teacher evaluation system measures Community poverty more
accurately than it measures teacher performance we are close to an agreement that would address these issues and we need to get it done second the CPS salary schle has competitive starting salaries for teachers in their careers early on but salaries stagnate later in careers this makes CPS an attractive
place for teachers to work for a few years right out of college then leave for suburban school districts the cost of the difference between our proposals on these on this issue is only about on Tenth of 1% of the district's operating budget but it also represents the difference between Educators decisions
about whether they can make a career of teaching in CPS CPS can afford to change this and we need to get it done we are at the stage of negotiations now that will decide if we are headed toward a big messy unnecessary fight or headed toward Landing a historic transformative
agreement there needs to be urgency from the board and from the CEO and his team to do just that we submitted to CPS today a last best and final offer that should land this contract let's not snatch defeat from the jaws of Victory thank you thank you for your
comments and our last speaker from the uh Chicago Teachers Union group is Linda parala speaker 28 uh hello Board of Ed members my name is Linda Perales I'm a long lifelong chicagoan a product of CPS a bilingual special teacher currently on leave from
the classroom and I'm an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union as a student of CPS I witnessed firstand the inequities within our school system having experienced a school without a lunchroom without an art classroom and without a librarian and we're still fighting for those things now I
experienced these inequities from a different perspective when I became a teacher I was a bilingual special ed teacher for K through third grade sometimes fourth grade too servicing students that required English language instruction and Spanish language instruction and all of these kids were
in my classroom at the same time so students with the biggest needs were had a teacher in front of them that was stretched so thin doing the job of multiple teachers how was that fair to our most vulnerable students our contract is attempting to remedy these inequities because our
students deserve more that's why as an organizer I have been at the bargaining table for the past 10 months along with bilingual ed teacher leaders trying to negotiate with CPS long awaited and desperately needed improvements for Bing will Ed in our district imagine being a
newcomer at Nash a historically black school where you've been welcomed with open arms by your teachers but don't understand the word of what's being said during a lesson because there's there's no bilingual staff or resources in the building or imagine being one of over a 100 newcomers at Cameron where you don't
have access to anyl curriculum to learn English or Roosevelt where high school students with interrupted education are expected to be enrolled in classes without support to help fill the gaps in their academic experience or procer where you should legally be receiving native language instruction but there's
not a single class in Spanish because bilingual Ed law is not being followed or Clinton where there's dozens of languages in one school building and a single teacher is expected to conduct business as usual where there are four different languages in her small group
lesson we've proposed negotiated and compromised with CPS around bilingual Ed we've agreed on biling uh dual language expansion we've agreed on teacher endorsements to improve bilingual Ed Staffing but we have these five major
issues left on the table you got the petitions our members are in agreement veteran pay means that students have a teacher with experience that can teach them effectively reach and academic freedom means that their teachers will be fairly evaluated that that students
will have the opportunity to learn their history prep time means that students will learn highly engaging less because their teacher had the time to plan those lessons smaller class sizes and Staffing means that students could individualize attention and the Librarians nurses
social workers and more that they deserve our students de deserve this and we can land this contract now our students need it thank you for your comments our next speaker is Marielle lorano speaker number 12 please keep all comments two minutes
please good morning I'm Maria laano a director at the Chicago public education fund an organization that provides leadership development programming to over 350 Chicago leaders as a former principal I know firsthand the importance responsibility and challenges
of managing a school budget this is a difficult task in a district that is only funded at 79% adequacy 79% adequacy and yet this board is being asked to approve a
$175 million pension payment that CPS is not legally obligated to pay that one choice will prevent CPS from having enough Revenue to cover the new teachers contract we understand that borrowing
now is not an option I served through cps's last financial crisis for 10 years I led PTO Math and Science Academy a dual Language School in the Belmont kraan Community between 2014 and 2017 CPS ran
consecutive budget deficits of over $1 billion just like the projected shortfalls in and cps's fiveyear Outlook today I saw firsthand what that meant in schools like mine impactful staff Cuts
loss of student supports and frustrated parents if you choose to make this payment cps's only way forward for next year's budget is to borrow 30 seconds remaining please don't take that risk instead prioritize the needs of school
communities use cps's revenue for labor agreements for teachers and principles do what's right for principles for teachers and most importantly for students when it comes before you we encourage you vote no to this
unnecessary pension reimbursement thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Dr quintella bounds speaker number 16 who is joining us virtually please please enter star 6 to unmute
hello can you hear me yes please proceed good afternoon my name is Dr quintella bounds as a member of the Chicago Teachers Union big bargaining team it is an honor to represent the voices of our Educators and I am grateful for the continued support and
making our district schools stronger today I wish to emphasize the critical issue on the racially discriminatory evaluation system within CPS as a special education case manager for two schools Corless and te High School my case load consists of 188 students with
disabilities and 59 students with B4 PL under our current CBA a full-time case manager is responsible for managing 105 students with IEP however given my dual responsibility at both campuses I am overseeing more than double that case
load this Arrangement is overwhelmingly and despite my request for additional assistance I have not received the support necessary to meet the needs of these students in order to fulfill the obligation set forth by federal state and CPS regulations I would be required
to work 20 hour days which is not sustainable or realistic as a result my physical and mental health has taken a serious toll and this situation is unfair not only to me but also to the students in their families and the staff
at both schools as a black educator who chooses to work in schools under resource schools I am also in danger of being penalized by negative evaluations under the current evaluation system you have 30
seconds how an educator with twice the number of students that I should have could receive a less than excellent evaluation I have seen this happen to my colleagues hurting the very Educators and the students we are here to serve
that is why this contract must eliminate the racial bias in our evaluation system we need a contract and we need it now thank you for your time thank you for your comments our next speaker is Kendrick Hall speaker number
19 good morning board of Education my name is Kendrick Hall I currently reside in the pman area and I'm a former CPS parent for the last five years I have worked as a community organizer with the people for Community recovery we are a
blackl organization based in allil Gardens on the far south side of Chicago we are one of the oldest environmental justice organizations in the country I am here to urge CPS to partner with environmental justice communities like the one I serve by investing in clean
energy projects that are that provide our children with healthier learning environments and Pathways to good jobs the parents I talk to at neighborhood schools such as Aldridge du and Carver want to see CPS transition to clean energy parents from our community dream
of schools providing their children with a pipeline into good paying green construction jobs like solar installation clean energy projects can reduce indoor air pollution create learning and job training opportunities for our children children and save the district money on energy bills all at
once PCR and our allies in the Healthy Green Schools Coalition call on CPS to invest in clean energy projects such as rooftop solar environmental justice communities across the city whether in alale the east side Rogers Park Austin
or Little Village I must also add the health of our community is deeply tied to the work of the Educators who work every day in it and so we fully support their demands for a new contract with black and brown communities under attack by Trump now more than ever we need CPS
to stand with us one clear way board members can do that by is by pushing CPS to invest in clean energy projects that reduce pollution and boost economic opportunities for the young people in all guil help me go back to my community with a message of Hope thank you thank
you for your comments and the last speaker from the registered speakers list is Karina Dema who is joining us virtually please enter star 6 to unmute good morning my name is Karina Dema and I'm here today as a mother of
two CPS students I'm a former CPS teacher and I myself attended CPS I'm also here as a senior organizer with Educators for excellence representing almost 8,000 CPS Educators at Educators for excellence we bring teacher voice to
policy table and decision makers be it at the state level or the district like today during the passage of the elected School Board map by the Illinois General Assembly our teachers testified numerous times on the absolute necessity of including a black student achievement committee into the law the reason being
that District leadership can change strategic plans can be rolled back but the law is the off our testimony was in support and Partnership of some of the original Minds that first found at the alarm without the need to focus on this particular underinvested population of
our community folks like Valerie Leonard Natasha Dunn and the other good Folks at Illinois African Americans for Equitable redistricting they definitely deserve a shout out for this work I want to let you all know that as we speak teachers are holding meetings at schools across
Chicago with their fellow Educators about this and wondering why this law that was passed in the spring of last year isn't being followed while we applaud the great work of the black Student Success plan we remain disappointed that the black student achievement committee is not included
this committee is to be chaired by a board member with the remaining members to be appointed by the president of the board we are calling on the board to stop hesitating and file a resolution to establish you have 30 seconds remaining thank you we are calling on the board to add this to the agenda
today thank you thank you for your comments president Harden this concludes public participation board members are there any question or comments related to public participation board member gopz thank you president um just
wondering and asking uh for uh CEO Martinez if there's any updates or when families can expect an update to hear regarding pass and Cru thank you I know that our team is working on the transition plan member Lopez so we will I will make sure that we follow up
on making sure are being contacted that so we'll make sure that that's happening immediately thank you CEO uh I will also encourage to uh for those especially that are within our districts let us know how in in the seven district how myself could be a support and how our
local community organizations also can log in thank you this concludes public participation I'm sorry we have someone I'm sorry have I just want to say I really appreciate uh the detail presentation
today it was super clear about the uh agenda points that are so that are being prioritized and um a number of how I'm really curious about how you reached a number of what it will all cost and how
we can look into verifying it can anyone answer that I'm talking to the teacher Jor right now board member DeBry will'll have that answer refer back to you thank you are there any comments or questions from
the board this concludes public participation thank you board members we will now proceed with the potential board reports to be considered at the March 20th 2025 regular regular meeting after each item is presented board members will have the
opportunity to ask their questions and make comments before proceeding to the next item on the agenda board members we will begin with the following education items numbers one and two and we we'll begin with N item number one resolution Ray national board certified teachers
recognition class of 2024 and 2024 renewed national board certified teachers good afternoon president Harden members of the board CEO Martinez sh Umba my name is lesie nern and I'm the
senior project manager for CEO initiatives and I work out of the uh CEO's office we're recommending the board accept our annual nbct resolution at the board meeting on March 20th this
resolution recognizes the 36 Chicago Public School teachers who have successfully completed the national board certified teachers program and the 72 who ever maintained or renewed their 5-year certification as of December
2024 we work in partnership with ctu's nurturing teacher leadership program at the CTU Quest center where candidates receive support mentoring and professional development this ongoing partnership has helped to increase the CPS CTU achievement rate from 90% in
2023 to 93% in 2024 this partnership relates directly to the CPS blue print which has academic progress at the top through high quality and rigorous instruction talented and empowered educators are realized through
this highest of teaching credentials this rigorous voluntary multi-year certification process is to attain the Illinois national board for professional Teaching Standards endorsement to equity the national board for professional Teaching Standards
holds Equity as a Cornerstone and defines itself as quote an anti-racist and inclusive organization We Believe Educators must help students understand their role in a diverse World value individual differences and especially in
times like these we believe in the power of the teaching profession to defend what is good and right for all people end quote the nbct candidate support program is committed to increasing the diversity of the program by recruiting
more diverse mentors and reaching out to eligible diverse teachers in their networks as well as through meeting engagements serving on panels and recruitment videos you will hear more about our NBCS during cedo's honoring Excellence at the board meeting
but for now we respectfully ask that you accept this resolution thank you thank you item number two authorizing new agreement with various vendors for College and Career Readiness Services good afternoon board members my
name is Tish McGee and I am the Director of Business operations for the office of College and Career Success uh joining me is Dr Heidi Truex who is the executive director of ocpa are the office of College and Career Success is seeking authorization
for new agreements for College and Career Readiness Services these agreements will span from May 1st 2025 to April 30th 2027 with a total amount not to exceed 4.5 million uh we have a pool of 24 vendors selected through a
competitive RFQ process and schools and and departments will have full authority to choose vendors based on their specific needs within the framework of this agreement the service the services provided by these vendors will fall into four categories key content knowledge
industry recognize Certification testing key learning and adaptive skills such as time management study skills goal setting and key transition Knowledge and Skills an example would be career Pathways workplace work Bas learning admissions financial aid requirements
Etc I want to highlight our Equity focus by providing these resources to all schools we aim to decrease barriers and Foster fair and Equitable access to the support that prepares students to explore post-secondary Pathways develop Workforce Workforce skills and Achieve
long-term goals in addition to district-wide availability the equity index is leverage to support engagement with these services for schools and communities most in need our vision connection of course is postc post secondary success and we believe it is
essential it is essential to highlight that the services offered our critical resources for preparing all students for post-secondary Success which can significantly impact their College employment Pathways vendors will be available to serve students to serve K
through 12 students if the Agreements are not approved schools will lose access to the a vetted list of College and Career Service Providers and departments will be unable to secure services for large numbers of students from Key providers to help close the opportunity gaps vendors can offer a
wide range of educational resources including digital tools various mentoring programs academic interventions such as tutoring and opportunities to develop college level skills that would support students during the college application process we' also like to highlight how
our office measures success and Dr Truax will discuss oca's evaluation process good morning board um just wanted to share uh in my department we get the pleasure of overseeing four of these partners that exist in category 4
um and our methodology really uh is based on relationships so we meet with each of those Partners monthly for a half an hour um upon the entry of their status into the vendor pool we identify shared progress monitoring and outcome metrics that we then look at um in real
time every month when we meet to make sure that the services they are providing to students are actually driving the post-secondary outcomes of our young folks um we do that largely through the the use of um sixth through 12th grade individualized learning plan
tasks which are postsecondary activities that are um strongly encouraged for all schools to uh support students with um as well as um more access driven activities such as applications to college uh experiences with Union and
trade visits um and ultimately College enrollment and persistence data that is what we use to help track that they're really driving um success for our young people additionally our office is considering implementing a quarterly Business Review process to gain insight
into how our schools are uh experiencing um uh the our relationships with our the vendors in this pool so in conclusion uh we are confident that these agreements will deliver vital support for our students and contribute significantly to their future success our investment in
College and Career Readiness Services is a proactive step towards making I'm sorry towards ensuring that all students have access to the essential resources they require to excel in alignment with our five-year Vision we truly value your support and
commitment to our students and we look forward to collaborating closely to create many opportunities for our students thank you for your partnership I would just say I would encourage you to move forward on the quarterly review uh thanks so much for that report it's
such a really important area of work um I know that College and Career Readiness Services cover a wide range of activities and you all mentioned a few of them um we can't really tell anything about what's being provided from just the list of vendors so I'm wondering if
it's possible for you to provide I don't know maybe a brief description of what each vendor is potentially offering and um if we're going to be able to get reports on uh which schools are taking advantage of those
Services happy to produce that hi member's here um so going along actually with uh members of cor's questions just the number of students that would be impacted by this and is this an optin for our high schools or is this you have to choose a provider to
work with you to meet those goals yeah it is opt in um but we do some strategic encouraging So based on the equity index or where we can tell there are deficits in providers in schools um we raise to awareness these vendors often um if I'm lucky I protect some of
my budget in order to pay for the provider to then serve schools that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it because we want to make sure that we have as much as possible Equitable dispersement of these providers to um all of the schools across the the district uh and then just um uh that
first question though just the number of students that would be impacted by this uh if we can get that answer at some point we'll absolutely follow up on that we have it we just to produce it uh just a point of clarification do these contracts allow schools to participate in these services at a
reduced rate or does this cover the cost for schools to participate or does that vary by vendor that varies by vendor but I would like to defer to procurement to talk a little bit more about what the pricing structure looks
like for benett could you clarify that different vendors bid different amounts what accounts for that difference in the amounts they're bidding sorry can you repeat the question different vendors bid different amounts what accounts for that
difference in in their bids the level of services their capacity to deliver good morning Patricia Hernandez Chief procurement officer uh we can get some of that information for you usually with the uh request for qualifications we have minimum requirements based on
the services that would be provided by the vendors um some cases we negotiate hourly rates or in some cases we do like mini bits where there's an identified scope then the department will put that together and get quotes from the different vendors in the pool that can
meet those requirements and then whoever gives the best pricing to the school will move forward with the assignment but we can give you a little more specific information about each vendor's uh cost structure that'll be helpful thank you thank you um did I read in the
agenda that some of these Services um are extended to the parents of our students as well or did I make that up I the the agenda deck that we have doesn't have that in there but I thought in the actual like public agenda it said that it was extended to parents and
students we'll look into that Circle back thank you I was looking specifically at Pearson um and there I found something that I don't know some link that I clicked on that did tell me uh what each
vendor was providing to the district um that was in our packet and it looks like is the Pearson um contract for uh materials for our CPS clinicians to use
uh while doing uh career assess assessments for career Readiness with for the students that they're working with that's what it looked like for me we can we are more than happy to provide details a breakdown of what's uh incorporated into the services that
they'll provide thanks Bo Lopez along with board member CER I'm also interested to know about the parents if they are included in this and also wondering if the services that are provided um are they in mind culturally sensitive given the makeup of
our student body we will research and we will report back out if I may interject I think the board members are referring to the actual board report and the scope of services so my question is just at what point in their High School career are they introduced to these vendors I
couldn't really understand that so are we hitting them when they're freshmen or is it part of you know their senior experience these services are open to all students K through 12 all students K through 12 if I can add um because there's four
categories it depends on which category they're in right um so in category four which is where I have have the most um interaction I can tell you services start as low as sixth grade um rather than kindergarten but for um example
category one um and category three like around executive functioning and helping develop more um of those skill building that is happening as low as kindergarten okay so yes I we get more information about what the vendors offer will be clear at what point in their career
they're offered it okay thank you thank you board members we will continue with the following information and Technology Services item number three authorize a new agreement agreement with Sentinel Technologies
Inc good afternoon board president Harden CE Martinez I'm Norman Fleming a Chief Information Technology officer of CPS and my colleagues Deputy CIO eded Wagner and
Mr Kyle Austin our director Network Services this is an example of diversity Equity inclusion and information technology these are the most competent leaders in the city of Chicago I'd now
like to turn it over to Mr Austin good afternoon good afternoon Board of Education I'm here to ask the board to authorize the new agreement with syal Technologies for Data Network upgrades to use local and eate funding
um for another three-year agreement for uh wired and wireless Services um not to exceed $46 million this is a fiveyear program that we do to upgrade routers switches and
access points for all 500 plus buildings throughout the district um this is a RFP um bidding process that we do every five years throughout the district this is using federal funds through the USAC
program um our uh MBE and web 30% for um MBE 10% for our wbe uh our spend has not went over 40% um right now CPS has received in the
past 76% this RFP has uh went up to 86% um for Cisco pricing uh our Equity focus is resource Equity our vision connection is financial stability and operational
excellence implementations of this RFP is um this contract is not signed is we will lose out on 19 million in eate funding any additional question I just want to make sure I understand the eate funding is what's
help is that portion is what's helping pay for that total cost yes okay and then these upgrades are and we've had a lot of different upgrades um that we voted on in January and February these building wide upgrades are to help
support those things that we've already approved contracts for is that correct right thank you thank you for your presentation um vice president Bautista here um my my question um is the same question I had at The Last Arc meeting about getting um
a clear understanding of all of the contracts that we have with the technology since we're going through this um you know converting from Oracle to IBM and then the all the auxiliary contracts including this one um because
it's hard for us to have a a big picture like what is all included in um cps's technology like uh the portfolio that we hold like with all of that uh the different contracts like when do they
expire how do they complement each other um it would be really helpful to have that information I think I requested it at the last meeting I don't know if we've received it yet yeah so thank you for that question I think a couple weeks ago we sent a place mat to all of you
all of the board members and in a place mat it represents our big four our big four initiatives in its that enables the 5-year CPS strategic plan one of the big four is to W redesign project
white area network so we are focused on increasing the bandwidth in elementary schools by 3, 900% for high schools 900% let me just
clarify IBM has been selected to implement Oracle we're not implementing any IBM products or systems there are a system integrator we will kick off program Bridge next week March 10 so
that we can implement the Oracle Fusion Cloud ear Erp system the other presentation was selecting a centure to implement we call Project stream which is a Microsoft system that essentially
will assist us in implementing the reason why we select these system implementers or integrators because we don't have the in-house expertise so typically when you don't have the in-house it expertise you go with an
outsourced vendor and that's IBN consulting services for Oracle and that's a centor consulting services for Microsoft so hopefully that can help and hopefully you have an opportunity to review the place mat that actually
focuses on our big four initiatives in itss thank you thank you very much thank you board members we will now continue with the following nutrition Support Services item number four authorize the first renewal agreement with Global
Payments in DBA Harland payments Systems LLC good afternoon board members my name is Jason moika I am the executive director with nutrition Support Services I'd like to introduce Ricardo sandal who is our senior it manager who will
present today's board agenda item good morning my name is Ricardo Sandoval I'm here to ask for the authorization for the first renewal agreement or meal management Point of Sales Systems or global payment Inc doing business as Harland Payment Solutions LLC and doing business as
Harland School Solutions The First vual Agreement to provide it sens support for our poter sale systems and all of our schools the implications if the agreement is is not approved mu mu management and point of sale systems will not be supported
resulting in loss of mu accountability and revenue the equity focus is inclusive Partnerships and fair policies and systems strategic plan connections is School modernization of Technology and systems Vision connection is the
operational excellence 21st Century Learning environments even students cashes payment options so the key performance indicators in our slas are poly Business review meetings with Harland management dashboard creation to report out daily
weekly and monthly meal reports by school or districtwide and maintenance project management and configuration support for future business processes the amount for the for this term is 2, 330,000 and that's not to exceed for the
next two years the renewal was an original competitive RFP the proposed spend for the next two years is 1,1 165,000 for each year it support for our POS system the POS system is what captures the critical
data around how many meals we serve food production worksheets inventory and training supporting the system is needed to ensure we meet all state and federal requirements for meal planning and accountability Harland is the current incumbent and understands the needs of
nutrition report has been diligently working with us to implement more capabilities with the system that will provide us with better data we can use to track AC acceptability factors of menu items to participation by school and use some of their enhanced features
to support the meal program this year our spending has increased compared to previous years during to during which we primary recovered the software in our in our PS and not the hardware required the increase is attributed this year to
the necessary refresh of the of our POS units which requires purchasing new hardware additionally we are upgrading our devices to Windows 11 uh to ensure system compatibility and security just a side note Windows 10 is going out of service at in October from Microsoft so
we to start updating all our systems looking ahead spending will remain elevated for our next two years to accommodate these Hardware requirements and infrastructure updates furthermore NSS is initiating a cashless payment pilot for all our car transactions in
schools enhancing enhancing payment efficiency and convenience for our students any questions thank you very much this concludes the first portion of the board reports on the public agenda we will now move into a short
recess board member Lopez do you have a motion M1 I move that the board take a 30 minute recess is there a second so moved thank you I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member
Smith here is that a I or a yes I yes thank you member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole I member kuster I member
Pope yes member Rosenfeld I member Reas yes member Rio Sierra I member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member bigs yes member thura yes member
blae yes member zachor yes member D Barry yes 17 eyes Z n this motion is adopted by the board the meeting will now go into a 30 minute recess e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e tender Review Committee of the board of education is reconvene Bo members will now proceed
with the second group of potential board reports to be considered at the March 20 2025 regular meeting after each item is presented board members will have the opportunity to ask their questions and make comments before proceeding to the next agenda
item board members we will begin with the following facilities items numbers five and six amend the pre-qualification status of and new agreements with various vendors for emergency facility restoration services good morning board members and
CEO Martinas my name is cayb ryberg director of facilities management operations today I am recommending the board to approve an amendment for the Emergency Restoration Services contract this is a supplemental to the original RFQ um and will amend the contract to
add an additional three vendors for a total of seven vendors in this pool one of those those three is a minority business Enterprise the three additional vendors are homecoming restoration LLC Midway restoration Incorporated and pmj Enterprises Incorporated the amendment
term would be effective April 1st 2025 and through the uh and continue through the original contract termination date of March 31st 2027 this type of service cannot be plann for we can take preventive measures such as proper winterization to avoid pipes bursting but we cannot
predict when a fire flood wind or vandalism event will occur this particular contract is to assist us with the immediate response to those events in the middle of the night if a fire occurs we are on site and calling on this pool to come and set up air scarpers and take other action as part
of the immediate emergency response before going into the data regarding this board report I just want to note that this does not include the repair that goes through the various trades General Contractors or jock contracts this is only for the immediate emergency
response over the past five fiscal years across three different board reports we have had 94 incidents across 80 locations and spent $ 2.67 million 79% of those incidents were water related the average cost of a water related
incident is $18,900 uh fire was another category with an average cost of 71,500 and then other incidents such as animal excrement mold or vandalism has an average cost of
24,500 regarding School data 86% of these schools only had one incident during the past five years most extreme case was one school with six in incidents over the course of four years um the average number of incidents per year is 15 we have had as many as 28
incidents in a single year though this year we are currently at nine eight water and one other from vandalism there is no additional request for authority the most we have spent in single year was 910,000 and some change in FY 23 we believe that the annual
Authority threshold of one and an eighth of a million per year is still acceptable um for FY 23 if we had just a couple more events we might have actually hit that Authority or exceeded but we don't want to we don't want to run into an issue where we cannot open up a PO due to a lack of authority
within a given year which is why we're requesting to maintain the one and an eigh of a million per year this is tied to the vision of a 21st learning Century environment if we don't have Emergency Restoration service vendors we can't bring the space back up to par this is
tied to equity resource by allowing facilities to immediately respond and take action to minimize downtime of affected spaces for students and staff if the board does not approve this recommendation the department will continue to rely on just the four vendors that are currently contracted to provide the services thank you for your
consideration on this matter can you clarify the dollar amount again for the overall not to exceed yes that is not changing and it is 4.5 million over the course of the
term thank you thank you for your report item six amend agreements with various vendors for the purchase of I'm yeah purchase of maintenance repair and operation supplies and personal protective equipment uh we are recommending the
board to approve an amendment for the purchase of maintenance repair and operation supplies also known as the mro contract this as well is a supplemental to the original piggyback that we have with and will add two additional vendors for a total of six vendors to this pool
the two vendors are Home Depot and thermosystems LLC this amendment would be effective April 1st 2025 and continue through the original contract termination date of December 31st 2025 for facilities mro contracts are utilized to purchase various supplies to
perform maintenance and repair on assets common items include filters valves pumps Hardware Etc schools and other departments do utilize this contract to purchase various things as well such as shelving units it appears that there was an error
with the reported historic spend on the slide to get a full picture picture of mro purchases in the district um we need to look at not only the current border report but also the previous ones with Granger um which did cause some calculation errors so over the past five
fiscal years we have spent 15.32% fy22 5.04 million FY 23 5.67 million FY 24 2.1 1 million and our current fiscal year is 286,000 thus
far for fy21 that was only um three quarters of a year for facilities we still had the ifm contracts in place with Aramark and sedexo for the first quarter of that fiscal year and then we brought it in house um through jll for the remaining three quarters for FY 24
the grer contract was not renewed and was not in place for the last quarter um people are still getting adjusted to Granger not being in the marketplace um which is one of the things that we are working through to push our folks and other departments back into the marketplace with our contract and
fendors for fy2 we have noticed that our staff as well as the other departments weren't using this contract rather than going to Granger or Other non-contracted M vendors so expanding this pool will help bring some of those non-contracted vendors in and ensure that we are
getting the most competitive pricing facilities does represent 53 to 94% of the spend each year uh 94% being this fiscal year uh the district averages slightly over 3,000 M orders through these contracted vendors when
excluding fy2 as an anomaly our average actually jumps to over 3,800 orders annually the three current vendors were not set up in the marketplace originally and as of right now we have two out of the three this did affect the ease of ordering compared to the original Granger contract as I mentioned we are
still working through change management to steer individuals back to the marketplace rather than going through non-contracted vendors at the same time we do acknowledge a need for more vendors to ensure more competitive pricing on different items um we have found that fasal for
example one of our contracted vendors we can save 12 to 20% on particular items that we purchase through other vendors a requirement of be in's pool will be to be set up in our Marketplace also referred to as the punchout this ensures consistent pricing and accurate
item descriptions for analysis it is the equant of going to a store's website and selecting items that you want and putting in your cart versus calling up a store asking if they have something in stock and what the price is or email um one of the nice things about our Marketplace is when you go to check out
it will look at those items compared to all of the other vendors in the marketplace and notify you if there's an an equivalent item for for a lesser cost and you have to select the item at the Lesser cost or the system mandates you to provide a justification why you're not doing
so these products are tied to the vision of providing a 21st Century Learning environment continuing to grow this pool and ensure that we are getting the most competitive pricing allows us to stretch our do dollars further and get more work done if this is not approved we will
continue to have a limited pool we may not get the most competitive pricing for all the items that we need to purchase thank you for your consideration on this uh member Ras here thank you um for the information on the on these two contracts I actually have a question about both of them um for this first one
I see that the MBE um historicals are are um high in 23 and 24 which I I think is great um but we're not noting on the list of V of vendors like which ones are MBE and wbe
like we've done in in other uh lists uh so I just would want to know which one of those are the MBE and wbe vendors on this list for the Emergency Restoration or mrl no for the the second one you just did I
apologize so member Rio SRA says it's all of them hi I'm Tina Lori Harris executive director for office of business diversity I have a bit of laringitis so I'll be a little wispy the participation for Home
Depot and the other vendors is 30% M 7% women so they will have subcontractors and sellers under Home Depot that will be a minority Enterprise or a woman-owned Enterprise so we'll have 37%
participation your thing thank you um and then for the previous one um I'm assuming then that we we're going to rely on the vendors to meet the 30% and 7% um because I I do see that we have
two First Choice Solutions and uh under our previous vendors and our new vendors pmj are both mbes um is that where we're relying to get the 30% and 7% or were the others also subcontract yes they will also participate with 30 and S
and as Caleb explained this is like a 911 so whoever answers first and gets there first will do the work so obviously we'd love for all the mbes to do it to be the Prime on it but everyone participates in that way by their subcontractors great well thank you so
much I really appreciate it especially um just making sure that we're trying to keep as much of our public dollars in our communities here in Chicago um since it's such a big big contract thank you sure thing thank you or remember
boy you know I'm wondering about the addition to of a Home Depot so does that help schools that like the engineer gets there that morning and see something's going on and he has to run over to Home
Depot to get like something right away to fix it well that help because i' I've heard that in the past sometimes that's a little bit of a block like not being able to get things really quick for certain repairs so is is that Home Depot help Home Depot will help with that
process um and we do continue to look at other opportunities to to continue to expand this pool um with loc with companies with local stores where we could run and pick something up um POS are still required we don't use PE cards
in our department um so we will still have to issue a PO for it but we do we are working with Home Depot to try to pick things up in emergency situations like that thank you um I have a question about uh you mentioned schools or or departments
buying outside of the the contract contracted vendors under what circumstances do they request that or is that allowed is that reviewed how does that work legally you can spend up to $335,000 with a non-contracted approved vendor um so for
example Home Depot has been an approved vendor for a while Granger is still an approved vendor even though they don't have an active contract so schools and other departments can still reach out to those particular individuals in some some cases Like Home Depot it's because they've gotten such a relationship with
the rep that they feel comfortable just calling up that rep or emailing them yeah something he said for efficiency and all that but um I mean is there any um estimate or or uh have you looked at what the price differences are
between um going with a contracted vendor versus non-contract just to get an idea of if we're spending the money as wisely as possible yeah we have looked at some of the items that have been purchased through both contracted and non-contracted vendors and there are cases where our contracted vendors are
more expensive and cases where our contracted vendors are less expensive so Home Depot does offer some items that we have been purchasing through them as a non-contracted vendor that are less expensive than going through our contracted venders all right thank you um my question is uh regarding
number five but but maybe it's really bigger than that um so when we approve a maximum amount um does that mean that then those funds are encumbered and can't be used for anything else because
they're like U held for the possibility of you know an emergency no ma'am so The Authority works so that we have the permission to spend up to that amount it is still dependent on our approved
budget so we do try to hold money in our budget to account for some of these emergencies um but we can only spend up to the authority which is the permission that you give us to spend but if I only have I ask you for $10 to spend and I
only have $5 I'll only spend the $5 that I actually have but I would have permission to spend up to 10 okay so the money is in theory available for other uses if that should become necessary that's what I'm
asking thanks Caleb uh good afternoon again Patricia Hernandez so the not to exceed that as they as Caleb explained it's just permission board authority to spend up to that amount of money it is not related to budget Appropriations or
approvals or funding so as Caleb said if I have um like I'm going to have a custom print uh contract coming before you next month for like $10 million but it's school-based spend so it's only you know if the schools have money in their budgets they will be able to spend that
up to that amount of money but these dollar amounts are not anywhere sitting anywhere in anybody's budget it's just an aspirational amount a ceiling of what we can spend up to if the funds are available in our individual budget lines
um I'm wondering if we're too far into the process to think about maybe going with another vendor besides Home Depot uh maybe Lowe's we have been in conversation with L um and we are looking at the
possibility of Contracting with him as well to give a little additional context um what we try to do is in this case with paybacks we try to see if there's other governmental consortiums who have contracts with some of these vendors because it's easier us for easier for us to contract with them one of the
challenges we have is some of those vendors either do not have like a e-commerce platform they don't accept purchase orders they take only PE cards or they will not agree to our legal terms and conditions so that kind of restricts who we can do business with like historically Home Depot never
accepted purchase orders but we're kind you know developing that relationship they've come up long a a long way with their technology where we're able to be able to contract with them and also I want to add that we do look for corporations that are wanting
to participate with minorities and women so Lowe's is an example of an organization that does not now they're considering it so we're always thinking holistically intentionally when we're doing business with any Corporation thank you for your report board members we will continue
with the following capital and real estate items numbers 35 through 38 we'll begin with item 35 authorize a new agreement with Warehouse Direct Inc DBA Midwest office Interiors good afternoon board members uh board president Hardin and CEO
Martinez my name is venette D and I'm the executive director for Capital planning and construction and we're here today to recommend for you to approve at the March board meeting a new agreement with uh Warehouse direct uh doing business as Midwest office Interiors to
provide systems Furniture accessories and related Services uh this vendor provides system Furniture uh accessories related Services manufactured by All Steel hni Brands which includes all
steel gunlock and hbf products collectively called All Steel products these goods and services are for the entire District primarily uh cps's administrative offices Network offices field offices and uh some schools School
offices as well it would be the furniture that you see in the office the cubicles the uh F the systems Furniture in the uh uh private offices this is the type of furniture that we're talking about today so specifically this vendor
would provide all Associated design for office and cubicle Furniture reconfiguration services for existing furniture um when we are doing renovations such as what we're doing here at 42 uh what we did uh for some
Network offices recently and also for for some departments where we um rearrange their furniture by going with all steel products we are able to utilize um parts and pieces that we have from furniture that was decommissioned
or or like we're doing from 442 we're reusing we're able to reuse the furniture because they all they make their systems Furniture so that so that uh it can be uh interchanged uh this come this also includes warranty and warranty Serv Services repair services
White Glove delivery installation and as well as uh cleanup and discarding of all uh material uh the outcomes from this contract would include will give us the ability to reconfigure again and utilize
our existing All Steel stock and related office systems configuration to Max maximize cost savings so instead of going with a new brand we are reusing the parts and pieces that we have and adding to that with the same brand of furniture and this again is uh
maximizing cost savings and uh continues to Pro provide for our expansion needs uh manufacturers of furniture systems of this type do not design their components um to be interchangeable with other systems which is why we need to stick
with uh All Steel and so because their their pieces are not compatible or interchangeable with other major manufacturers furniture systems um we're requesting board authority for uh 30.5 million for the 3 years for a term
beginning April 1st 2025 through February 29th of 2028 uh note that the actual spend would be determined uh based on the capital the projects in the capital plan uh the user groups approved uh budgets uh
that's schools and departments uh during the term of this contract um uh this vendor was selected uh via a non-competitive basis utilizing the single Source request that was presented to the board's non-competitive procurement Review Committee and
approved by the chief procurement officer uh pursuant to the program for minority and women owned business and Enterprise participation uh this this contract has a goal of 30 MBE participation and seven wbp wbe
participation um this uh requested board authority is consistent with what we we think we might need in the future we we don't know again spend is based on approved capital projects and the user group's
approved budgets um but this furniture um uh provides for again our district administrative offices Network offices field offices uh some school school like counseling offices and things like that um if this agreement is not approved the
board will not have a contracted vendor to provide systems Furniture the All Steel systems furniture that we have in all of our our um offices um um which well we have a significant inventory of this furniture and so if we
don't approve this um then we won't have a a contracted vendor to provide this Services additionally um if we don't we would risk losing um any configuration and cost benefits that we come from being able to relocate and reuse this
furniture in all of our our field offices um that's it sorry about that I just want to jump in real quick one correction we're doing 37% women-owned Enterprise instead of 30 and seven it's such a niche market as
Executive Director D explain explain it's very difficult to find lots of MBE and WB participation we are very successful to find a woman-owned business to do it we're able to get 37% for women thank
you for member customer you can you briefly just explain I know we just um approved some contracts for furniture in January can you briefly explain the difference between those January cont contracts and the furniture and where that was going and the this um current
proposal okay so the the contracts that you improved in January um so we probably have about 3,500 odd Furniture items that we H are trying to get under contract so no one Furniture provider obviously can provide all of those so uh
the furniture in January was for schools libraries um science labs it was more educational braed Furniture if you will right so it's all those parts and pieces that go into making all of the classrooms and the different programs
that uh we support this particular contract is for office furniture so it's the cubicles it's the the things you see in the offices these kinds of desk the kind of furniture that you're sitting at now it's it's it's for that kind of furniture that this is for great thank
you just wanted to make sure thanks and I also say that we are actively always pursuing Furniture contracts because we do not have all of our furniture items under contract thank you for your report thank you item number 36 amend request the
public building commission of Chicago to undertake the fy22 Kenwood link and mechanical project good afternoon my name is is Brian zader and I am the director of new construction with the Department of capital and facility operations we are recommending to the
board to amend resolution 24-42 five- rs1 Kenwood link and mechanical project at the March 20th board the amendment is to increase the board authority of the public building commission for the Kenwood link and
mechanical project CPS received additional tip funds to supplement the increase in scope and construction costs the project is fully funded by Tiff the request the requested increase in Tiff funds will bring the budget Authority
value from 13 or excuse me to 13, 950,000 from 12, 251,000 this will provide shelter and safety for students to travel between both buildings and the rest of the scope will introduce mechanical upgrades to the gymnasium and
Natatorium thank you for your consideration when will this project uh be expected to be completed uh yes so for the mechanical um work along with the southern uh par
lot will be completed before August uh this was also related to the principal uh as with the uh link and the northern parking lot uh we address this question with the principal uh as of right now we
are looking at the fall to perhaps the December timeline for the link um and that has nothing to do part with the contractor or the additional requests in Tiff funds this uh has to do with uh
permit comments that we received through the office of underground um U coordination uh and do so it's it's not a purpose of the project having issues it's more of us dealing um working with the city and the city departments in
order for us to receive the permit for the parking lot for open entrance on on a street and you uh say that the funds are coming from Tiff funds uh is is that Tiff funds from CPS or from another legisl what legislator is releasing
those funds uh these are uh City Tiff funds um as for the uh the area of Tiff I don't have that number but all Tiff districts are divided into Tiff districts uh and for
this Tiff District I'll have to get back to you on which Tiff District this is uh to let you know that thank you yes board member Rios here um I noticed that this project is a response to community concerns what year was this
initiated uh I believe the the project went uh was in the 2022 Capital plan um and as we went through um scope review and meeting with the
Comm Community also with the principal uh getting all of our ducks in a row uh we started in uh late uh 2023 into 2024 to start the project that's a great I think it's a wonderful response to community I'm wonderful project and I I
think this really highlights our need to maintain um a good relationship with city council and with with the city because this is fully funded by Tiff and it's something that um I think it also highlights our need to to maintain Our obligation with the city so that we can
continue to provide these Partnerships for our schools absolutely thank you for your report thank you items item numb 37 and 38 um authorized the first renewal of the lease agreement with 8300 West Addison
LLC and 38 authorization to purchase the former wri College South property located at 3 400 North Austin Avenue good afternoon board president Harden members of the board and CEO Martinez my name is Steven staltz director of real estate for the
Department of capital and facility operations we recommend the board authorize the renewal of the lease agreement with 8300 West Addison LLC to permit the continued use of space in the ba Building located at 8300 West Addison
Street for the KY Elementary School prek program the space is approximately 5,000 squ ft and contains two classrooms and a multi-purpose room that is used during students Recreation time the Standalone building serves three prek classes
including a full day prek class and two halfday pre classes we are seeking to extend the term of the lease for 5 years commencing on July 1st 2025 and continuing through June 30th of 2030 base rent is currently $16,244.73
to $523 that concludes my presentation for this item and I'll be happy to answer any questions um I just want to say real quick uh that's in my district and I appreciate you reaching out to the principal to see if she had any comments on the building and uh appreciate that
communication thank you board member thank you for your report thank you um next item sorry I'll just continue along my name is Steven staltz director of real estate with the Department of with the Department of facility and capital uh Department of capital and
facility operations my apologies we recommend the board authorize the acquisition of the property that formerly served as Wright College South located at 3400 North Austin Avenue from the Board of Trustees of Community College District number 508 commonly
known as city colleges of Chicago for continued use by Chicago Academy Elementary and Chicago Academy high schools the board has leased the property from city colleges since 2011 for use by Chicago Academy Elementary
and high schools the site serves over 1,100 students among the two schools that are located here the property consists of approximately 8.2 acres of land that is improved with a three-story 200 50,000 sqt building and contains a
regulation dual use football and soccer field with a running track the board has been in discussions with city colleges for many years regarding acquisition of the the site and city colleges has agreed to sell the property to CPS for 3,500,000
the appraised value of the property is 6 m585 th000 CPS currently pays rent in the amount of 900 10,490 per year the purchase price equates to approximately 3 years in 7 months of
rent that CPS would be paying if we continue renting the site over a 10-year period if we continue leasing the site at the annual increase of 3% in rent we will spend approximately 10.75 million over the
next 10 years so we are able to essentially purchase is the site for just a little over three and a half years of rent and realize long-term savings on our operating budget from there forth that concludes my presentation for this item
and I'll be happy to answer any questions um thank you I think this is great to to see the analysis that's done on this um my question is is um there is this recommendation a part of a larger analysis of where else we might be
paying a lot more in rent where it be efficient for us to um purchase the property yes so we did a very thorough review of all leas Sites uh last summer in summer of 2024 together in partnership with uh my gosh Port
portfolio we looked at all surrounding schools the um space utilization at surrounding schools uh projected demographics and there there's really no replacement site or any nearby schools that it could absorb these students and
also with a student body of uh over 1100 students there are no uh commercially available properties that would meet the sorry I should rephrase my question to be more specific I think it's great that we have this recommendation in front of us I was wondering if there's additional School properties where you would see
the same value um for us to be acquiring the properties instead of paying rent um if it's part of a larger analysis of other schools that might come before us at future board meetings I'm I'm sorry are you you're saying have we anal analyze all least
sites to see if purchase makes sense so when a site becomes available we do uh do the analysis to see if it would make sense for you know a financial perspective to purchase um but no it's it's a good point you've made I think that's uh we'll definitely start doing
Outreach to see if other owners of leas sites would entertain a sale that would result in a long-term lease savings thank you thank you War member kuster thank you um Chicago Academy is in my district um it's absolutely beautiful school um and
it does house K through 12 so I think this is really awesome to kind of add to our our owned properties um I'm wondering if there are any um concerns about the building and possible facilities needs um ongoing and or um I
know there are some Ada issues um and addressing those within that building what does that kind of look like sh out this is Ivan Hansen Chief facilities officer um I'm gonna answer that one first I'm g go back to the previous question so yes there's there's a lot of
need um in this school um that was one of the reasons that we want to make the purchase because we want to invest in our own properties um so we do have dollars uh associated in a capital plan for some Roofing uh some mechanical work on that and and the Ada work on there so yes there is there is a plan um again we
wanted to get that back in our inventory and invest again in the in the property that we own thank you I appreciate that uh and just back to the other questions yes we've gone through our our leases um and we've actually made some purchases in the past so um a couple of our prek branches that we've uh started out with
a lease uh We've looked at and looked at what our investment was and gone back instead of the analysis is it makes more sense like we pay back in three years as Stephen said we absolutely come back and do that that we've done that in the past we're going to continue to do that um where we can find that in across the district but we have already done that at at a few locations and we're going to
continue to do that War Lopez I had the same question as board member Coster of any major um infrastructure maintenance things that we should be aware of thank you yes so there yes there the there's
Roofing there's mechanical work there's Ada work there's some restroom work there there's a a lot of stuff and that's we've been having this conversation for a while with um with city colleges and it kind of came to the the push come to shove is you guys need to either come fix this stuff or we need to sell the building um and so steveen
and team have done a great job negotiating with that to get it to a price that's that's feasible and we do have money in the capital plan to go in and do some work in there thank you for your report thank you I had a quick question for you um
I'm curious about how we're paying like the paying structure is it multi-year are we and and what budget line item is the is the money coming from so I I believe we're going to include the purchase price as part of
our upcoming Capital request and it would be from Capital dollars and sorry it would be one lump on thank you for your report thank you the following slides list the standard monthly reports and motions that are listed in the agenda review committee meeting agenda and posted
online board members this concludes the board reports on the public agenda are there any comments or questions thank you we'll now move into executive session board member board do you have a motion M2 thank you I move for the passage of motion
number 25305 mo2 and the commencement of a closed session to consider matters permitted under Section 2 C of the open meetings act subsections 1 and 11 as specified in the motion is there a second I second the motion I'll proceed
with a roll call member M Lozano yes member Smith I member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole I member kuster I member Pope yes member
Rosenfeld I member Rivas I member Rio Sierra I member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member bigs yes member thura yes member blae I member zachor
yes member D Barry I 17 i z n this motion is adopted by the board this me will now go into call session e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e it's going be in maybe 10 or 15 minutes
yeah the agenda Review Committee of the board of education is reconvene board secretary please proceed president hard Harden I would like to note for the record that there are no items to vote on from executive session thank you is there a motion to
adjourn so moved is there a second so moved all in favor I journ thank you everyone e e