K. K. +1, 2345. Okay. Okay, board members, we're all set. Here we go. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of the Community Unit School District three hundred Board of Education, I'd like to thank you for being in attendance, both virtually and in person, for tonight's board meeting. At this time, I'd like to reconvene the meeting of the Community Unit School District three hundred Board of Education to order for Tuesday, 02/27/2024. Madam secretary, would you please take the role? Burkett present. Fiorentino?
Present. Gauthier? Present. McKinney? Present. Scarpino? Present. Thomas? Present. Zettler? Present. You have seven board members present. Thank you. Doctor Harkin? Yes. I'd like to invite up to the podium, mister principal Chris Columbaro with his Algonquin Lakes, students to lead us in the pledge. Good evening, doctor Harkin Harkin, excuse me, board members. Welcome. We are very excited to be leading the pledge this evening, and I have, representative of our Algonquin Lakes Lions, Gold Medal student author winners.
So this year, one of our highlights from the year under the direction of Mrs. Nashing and Mrs. Clotter and through the benefit of a District three hundred Foundation Grant, we started a student author competition at Algonquin Lakes. So students were invited to submit their own works, edited, etc. To be published as official authors. And then they have a proud place now also in our Algonquin Lakes Media Center. I'm gonna stop you just for a second. Doctor Harker, do you mind if you please thank you.
You could just So we have the lovely weather tonight. So just so you all know, if for some reason, the tornado sirens go off, which would be the only reason why we would have to shift, we will make, mister Rolling, who's our director of safety, will direct you. We've got a hallway. We have, Conference Room a across the way. We might get a little tight in quarters, but we will make sure that we keep you safe. So just if for some reason something goes off, I'm gonna have you look at him and he's gonna direct you to where you need to go so we can keep you all safe. Is that what you were looking for,
doctor Scarpino? Exactly. Okay. So Thank you. Hopefully, we won't have to worry about my understanding is the cell is gonna come through, based upon my intel any any minute now. So we will keep a close watch on it. And we will get underway with the first part of the meeting here shortly. But, again, Lily and Alexis, we are so glad to celebrate you. We had 37 students who participated in our competition. Thank you to missus Mashing. Thank you to missus Clotter. If you could please, Algonquin Lakes members, students, if you could please face our audience, and then if all would please stand and join us for our pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the
Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mister Columbaro, would you just so we I don't wanna cut off short with these wonderful children. Could you give us just a little background on what the award was and what they qualified for? Because I I they're they came out and their parents are here, so I definitely wanna make sure we recognize that. Did you read the word right? No. So we had, again, a 300 foundation grant and, students were invited on their own, to independently author, their own stories.
So, these two students, out of the 32 submitted, were gold medal winners. We also had students that were awarded silver and bronze recognitions for their authors' authorship. And then Lily presented Granny, which, was it edited? She shared with me here this evening too. She added this version from her third grade work too to expound on the adventures of a girl who goes to visit her grandmother down in Florida. Lots of adventures that ensue. So, we, the students submitted their works and then, our team went through a rubric to work through and, select those gold,
silver, and bronze wear curtains. So, again, proudly displayed in our Donquin Lakes Media Center, for all to read and enjoy, and we're so proud of both of you. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. We have a couple of changes for tonight's meeting. We're going to be moving item 12.1 to roll call, and that will now be item 14.3, and we will not be having a second closed session. So we will be removing item number 15.
Okay, board members, if, and those are the changes, do I have a motion to approve the amended agenda? So moved. Second. Madam secretary, would you please take the roll? McKinney. Aye. Gauthier. Aye. Fiorentino. Aye. Zettler. Aye. Scarpino. Aye. Birkett. Aye. Thomas. Aye. Motion passes 70. Thank you. Item number six, doctor Harkin. Yes. So, members of the board of education, community members, staff, and students. We would like to acknowledge tonight that the month of February has been particularly difficult for district three hundred due to three tremendous losses.
And I just wanna go back and acknowledge, I know I missed this last week, but I I I wanna make sure that our community knows how important and how sad the loss for us. So first, we observed a moment of silence at the last board meeting for Dundee Crown High School teacher, Chuck Feldman, who recently passed away. Mister Feldman was known as the voice of Dundee Crown's boys basketball, and we again offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends. And second, District three hundred would like to honor, Dundee Middle School student, Henry DeVault, who passed away on February 20.
As we pause to pay our respects, we would also like to extend our heartfelt condolences to Henry's family, loved ones, and friends, as well as the Dundee, teachers and paraprofessionals that work closely with Henry and the Dundee Middle School community. At this time, I respectfully ask all in attendance to observe a moment of silence in honor of Henry. Thank you. And, as you would have seen in the last one, that was Dundee Middle School that we unfortunately lost Henry last week. But finally, we would like to honor Matt Bishop who was a music teacher at Dundee Middle
School who passed away just this past weekend. Mister Bishop was, an a tremendous educator. He truly loved all of our students and made a huge impact on all of them. He will be forever missed and the District three hundred would like to offer our deep condolences to his family and friends. Many of us have had, experiences. I myself, my children went to school with mister Bishop. Many people on our board had very close relationships with him. This is a very sad moment, for the loss of both of these fantastic educators that we've lost in February as
well as the loss of Henry. So at this time, I respectfully ask all in attendance to observe a moment of silence in honor of mister Bishop as we show, as we recognize him and pay tribute to him. Thank you. Item number seven, recognition. Superintendent Dunder Harkin. Yes. So I would like to I need to see the next slide. Introduce, miss Sheila Crotty Kagan to, the stage, to the podium. I'm having a rough night tonight. I apologize. Our director of fine and performing arts k twelve to acknowledge some of our student
musicians and awards that they've received in 2024. Thank you, superintendent Harkin and members of the Board of Education. Thank you for having us this evening and your kind words, earlier this evening. Before we begin to recognize these outstanding students, I want to first acknowledge the loss of our dear colleague and teacher. Many of the students here this evening and thousands of others have succeeded in music and theater in large part because of mister Bishop's support and encouragement. Music is a force that brings us together and no one knew this better than
Matt Bishop. We know his legacy will live on through his colleagues and students and through our tradition of musical excellence for years to come. And so we are honored to have several of our All State Music and Theater students here this evening. These talented, dedicated, and hardworking students were selected for the All State show theater show and the All State Music Conference in Peoria in January. At this time, I would like to begin with our All State Theater and Music students from Jacobs High School because they have a concert to get to that starts at 07:00, and I promised their teacher they would be there.
And so I would like to welcome up to the podium Kate Stanley and Chris Testoni to recognize our Jacobs students. Thank you. Good evening, Doctor. Harkin, Board of Education and community. It is such a great privilege to be here again to celebrate some of the accomplishments of our Jacobs students. To add to the memorial this evening, I I was privileged in my time at DMS to be on the hiring committee for mister Bishop, and I think it I I think I speak for everybody who knew him that he would just be so proud as a Jacobs alum of the students that we
have standing in front of us. And as the new principal to Jacobs this year, it was important to me that I got to speak to some of the students about their experience over the last four years because it's a journey to get to this point. And in talking to them, you know, it really kind of materialized that these students here really do represent the vision that Jacobs is a place where students can find their passion and provide a pathway for any student who aspires to and has the courage to stretch themselves as they have done.
And as a result, we hope their success inspires others to follow in their footsteps. I'm confident that the recognition they are receiving tonight is really just the beginning of an amazing journey ahead. And so with that, I'd like to introduce one of our theater directors, miss Kate Stanley, to present our first award. Thank you. As doctor Testoni said, I'm Kate Stanley. On behalf of the Jacobs High School theater department and its directors, it's an honor to take this moment to congratulate one of our outstanding students, Dimitri, for his participation on the scenery crew for this year's All State Theater play,
She Kills Monsters. From our time working with Dimitri, we have seen him quite literally bring our sets to life with his creative and innovative vision. He has spent countless hours planning and executing his plans, and his passion and hard work have truly set him apart from the rest. We extend our appreciation to Dimitri and thank him for representing our school and our district with such distinction on a statewide stage. We can't wait to witness what you continue, to succeed in your future. And on behalf of mister Foster and miss Parker, I'd like to introduce students on our music side.
As was mentioned earlier, we have several students that are gonna get back to a concert this evening, and, you know, their commitment to the music department is really second to to none. These kids have really provided an outstanding, role model for all of the students that follow them through the music department, and I can speak on behalf of the directors that they're just so incredibly proud, of of your accomplishments. So we have make sure I'm in the right order. Ryan Larson who has received all state status in the area of Chorus. Mary Piper, who has received Allstate status in the area of honors course.
And we have Alicia Pierre, who has received Allstate recognition in the area of orchestra. And we have Brianna McLaughlin, who received the honorable mention Allstate for the composition and original composition of, I believe, Diana. We're extremely proud of you. And at this time, I'd invite you to shake the, hands of our board of education and thank you for being here tonight. Parents, if you wanna take pictures of the kids up here while they're up here, please do so. Ready to go like I know. I know. You guys can shake hands too. And I had to take pictures of Ryan because his mom is one of our
music teachers, and she has a concert tonight. And she said that I needed to take pictures for her and that I could embarrass him. Okay. Way to go. Congratulations. Thank you. Alright. I think they're gonna make it. Next, I would like to invite mister Jake Stoffer, who is representing Dundee Crown High School, to join me at the podium to introduce our all state music students from Dundee Crown. Just in time for the hail to start. Good. Alright. Good evening, superintendent Harkin, members of the board of education, and all of our guests here. My name is Jake Stauffer. I have the pleasure of serving as the choir director at Dundee Crown High School,
and, my, my volunteer gig on the side happens to be the immediate state past president of the Illinois Music Education Association. Thousands of students, took part in the audition process and submission process all the way across the state of Illinois. The first year, we've kind of been back to pre pandemic levels, and Dundee Crown, had four students, selected along with each of the other high schools. And what's an amazing thing about district three hundred and the arts that we have going on here, is that we weren't just represented in one area. We weren't represented in two areas. We were represented in just about every area that we could be from all three high schools.
It's an incredible thing to look at at at a at a school district as very representative of the entirety of a music education program. But having students who are composing music, students who are performing music, and students who then eventually want to go and teach music, is incredible. That's that that is a that is a testament to what we do here in district three hundred. We've had, students, go on to become teachers from, you know, mister Bishop, who was a Dundee Dundee Middle School student and Jacobs High School graduate all the way through Riley Bernardi, who is teaching here in the district to Jeremy Beyer who teaches at at,
at Dundee Crown and and Lexi Taxon, who was a former Hampshire student who teaches at CMS. We have a lot of students that come back because they believe in what we do here, and we're really fortunate. We have it all over the place. We have our students who work every day just to get out of bed, get an instrument, and get to practice. We have schools that are performing, incredibly difficult shows right now, musicals that are, catching a lot of attention. And, and rightfully so, because it's going to be a fantastic show, out in Hampshire here in a couple weeks. So, right after Mean Girls at Dundee Crown High School. So please stop out and see us.
So, I would really like to acknowledge our two students. Two of our students could not be with us this evening. We have four students, Maria Oakes, who is standing in front of you, participated in the Future Music Educators seminar. She participated basically in a professional development clinic for three days. She went as a teacher, they observed rehearsals and talked to first year teachers, college students, and really participated as a member of the teaching profession. Not here this evening, but also having participated was Nolan Wibenga, who, who is doing his music internship right now, at DMS and has been over there through a a couple of very difficult days.
And, we're very proud of them. So if you could give them a round of applause very quickly. Not here, but wishes, they could be. Currently on stage in a tech rehearsal is Natalia Cserba, who was selected for the All State Chorus as an alto. But standing in front of you, is our junior, Jesse Perez, who, out of thousands I mean, there are thousands of flute players across the state of Illinois, was the third chair in the honors orchestra. Was the third chair in the honors orchestra. So we're incredibly proud of seeing what he can do next year, but very proud of what he did this year. So Jesse Perez. Here you go. Thank you again for acknowledging these students and what they do.
And at this time, I think we'll go down the line and shake the hands the board of education. Thank you. Congratulations. Good job. Good job. And now we will conclude with our students from Hampshire High School presented this evening by Chris Cherry. Alright. The nice part part about going last is I don't have to talk as much because mister Stauffer said all of the important things. But we were very, very fortunate this year at Hampshire to have over 20 students represent us at the district level, both in choir, the SATB group, the treble group, and vocal jazz. But these four students standing before you are are the best of the best,
at Hampshire High School, and, we're just very, very fortunate to have these kids to work with every single day. So first off, who made the all state or the honors chorus is Jillian Bangert. This is Jillian's second year making all state. Round of applause for Jillian. Next in the honors course, mister Nicholas Reeder. In the all state chorus, Jillian Vanderhaeidan, and this is also her second year in a row making state. And and finally, Audrey Wagner with the honors course. It is it is a privilege to teach these students every single day,
and they are some of the hardest workers I know and, just very proud of them. So congratulations to you all. Okay. Susan, remind him again. Okay. Follow Todd. He'll help you. Yep. Board members may have a motion to suspend our meeting right now, please. So moved. So moved. Cover. Madam secretary, please take the role. Okay. Hi. Anybody. Okay. Just call him. Okay. I'm trying. McKinney. McKinney. Tola. Hi. Say I. Thomas. Hi. Zettler. She left already. Scarpino. Hi. Mcgothier. Hi. Garretino. Burkett. 70. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate everyone's cooperation this evening.
This is as as many of you may or may not know, this is not typical. So so what we do is if if you think about it, the superintendent gave, when we started the meeting, you know, what do we do in the event of? And so this this is one demonstration that you have that we actually care about. Anyone who comes here, in addition to us, you you go to an internal area, and so I I hope you understand that. I realize it's not comfortable. I understand it's it's claustrophobic to some,
but we need to ensure that you are protected. K? So anybody wants to complain, complain to me. That that's all you have to do. No problem. Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome. So it it's a credit to the superintendent and and her staff to Todd. So, Todd, thank you very much for all you did. I appreciate it. Yep. Okay. Board members, we all squared away? Yep. Here we go. Okay. I have to I'm going to be reconvening the meeting, so bear with me, please. I would like to reconvene the meeting of the Community Unit School District three hundred Board of Education to order for Tuesday,
02/27/2024. Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll? Burkett, present. Fiorentino? Present. Gauthier McKindy? Present. Scarpino? Present. Thomas? Present. Zettler? Present. You have six board members present. Thank you. We are going to be revising the agenda because what's going on? Okay. We are going to be removing items number nine and item number 10. Items number nine and ten, we are removing. Do I have a motion to approve the amended agenda? So moved. Second. Madam secretary,
would you please call the roll? McKinney. Aye. Zettler. Aye. Thomas. Aye. Scarpino. Aye. McKinney. Oh, I'm sorry. I already called you. Burkett? Aye. Fiorentino? Seager? Aye. Motion passes six zero. Thank you. We will continue with the recognition right now. So Yes. So thank you for all of you that have stayed through this and we're really grateful that you stayed so we can give these wonderful students recognition. So I'd like to in, invite Keri Keri up to the podium to recognize our d three hundred spelling bee, her as our district three hundred spelling bee coordinator,
and our six sixth grade language arts Westfield community school teacher to introduce our our district middle school spelling bee winners. And again, parents, please feel free, get up, take pictures of your kids. This is this is a great moment. I just like the record to show that I did not bring the weather with me, so it's not a spelling bee thing. Okay. Superintendent doctor Harkin, sue school board president doctor Scarpino, members of the school board, friends and family members. When you think of the Super Bowl, what comes to mind? Well, shake off your answer because what comes to my mind is the district spelling bee.
Ninety middle schoolers descended on CMS on February 8 in hopes that karma was on their side and competing in their respective grade levels against other students to be the best speller in their grade level. It was the best day because we had spelling, pizza for lunch, and camaraderie among the schools. Our winners as our are as follows. And we do have four students with us tonight, so please raise your hand when I call your name. And school board members, we will not ask you to spell their winning word. I got you. Runner-up for sixth grade,
Joseph Tejeda from Hampshire. Winner, Jackson Cohodes. The winning word was terrarium. He's also from Hampshire. He hates that word. Okay. For seventh grade, we have our winner from Westfield, Aladdin Kosovic. The winning word was rudimentary. Okay. And for eighth grade, we have our runner-up here today, Isaac Richardson from Algonquin Middle School, and the winning word for our winner there was mortification. So we also had representatives for the Kane County and McHenry County Bee, which is a precursor for the National Scripps spelling bee. And we have five representatives.
And one of our representatives is here tonight, and he's actually going to the finals, which means if he wins there, he gets an all expense paid trip to National Scripts Spelling Bee. Joseph Tejeda from Hampshire, right here in the middle. I would like to thank Matthew Langton, principal of CMS and his staff for welcoming us to his building. We were made a part of the CMS community and everyone was so helpful. Thank you. Thank you to Elizabeth Goudy, director of secondary literacy and her assistant Mary Gross for all their help and support. Mary is a true asset to our district and I appreciate everything she has done
for the spelling bee. I love working with the following women who run the bees in their respective buildings. These women are hardworking and help to make the spelling bee run smoothly. Jamie Vodvarka from Algonquin, Andrea Meir from, CMS, Amanda Hurley from DMS, and Heather Piccolotti from HMS. If it's a cruel summer, make sure you are studying for next year's spelling bee. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was I was I was looking at your time. Oh, okay. So okay. No worries. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Got it. Doctor Harkin, any other Just real quickly because we're gonna try to move through the agenda to
get people home. So Friday for, March 1 was pub Public Procurement Appreciation Day. We have an outstanding purchasing department. We send notices out to acknowledge them, to the whole, district, all of the staff members. So just thanks to our, purchasing department for all they do, to get resources to our classrooms in a cost efficient way. K. Thank you. Folks, what I'm gonna do, and this this is not typical. I'm going to trust everyone here today. I really am. I'm going to trust that you will follow the rules of the quorum. I'm not going to read them.
Any questions? Everybody gonna behave? Thank you. Thank you. We have eight people who have signed up for public participation. I will call you up. You will have three minutes to speak. Everyone understands? Everybody will be civil. Thank you very much. First individual for tonight, three minutes. And I apologize if I mispronounce your name. Joel Schultz. If you just state your name and then your relationship with the district and then go right ahead. Sure thing. Hi. My name is Joel Schultz. I am a community member. I have, three children, two of which are in Hampshire High School.
My wife is here as well. Handful of other, students and and family members, and we are respectfully here to ask, and, for you guys to consider adding boys volleyball as a sport for the upcoming twenty twenty four, twenty five season. I have a lot of information that I'd love to share with you if it's alright if I walked around and handed out a presentation. I do not want to waste everybody's time and go through all this information other than to say we've seen growth within the district. Thank you. We've seen growth within the district. We have representatives from each of the three high schools here including a representative of
the club from Hampshire High School, which has been up and running for three years with a membership of 80 students who participate on a regular basis. Those students are showing up eight times a quarter. That has been sustained for three years, and I believe we also have a, Jacobs program that was started in '21, and that is not included in the information I gave you. I apologize for that. Started in '21, and has also been running. They have about 30 or 40 kids who participate, as often as they can get the gym space. This is a pretty strong,
sport in, the state of Illinois, and we are really missing an opportunity here to provide for some kids who would love to participate. I've included some information about the growth of the sport, not only in the, at the high school level, but also at the college level because there's a lot of opportunities for these kids to get college scholarships. We have, coached a handful of these kids who have expressed desire to play at the high school level and don't have that outlet. The clubs in this area, the private institutions where you have to pay a lot of money, are located in Schaumburg,
and there's one in, Elgin. However, they can't even, support because we don't have high schools in the area that have, interested students. So there's really a lack of opportunity for these kids, when scholarships and and colleges are growing. One of the top growing sports over the last five years. There's information about that in the packet. I know a lot of the barriers in the past are gonna be around, title nine and giving opportunities. I think that we, as a school district, have done a great job providing opportunities. I've heard, we have girls wrestling now. The state just sanctioned, women's, flag football as well, which I imagine is gonna be for the for consideration.
So I think that all the opportunities, have been there, and I think it's probably a good opportunity for us to consider adding boys volleyball. It'll actually even out the number of sports that are available to boys and girls. There's one more sports for girls currently. They're in than there is for boys, that we found at the time of registration. So I'd like to respectfully ask you to consider. I'd like to show you the support of the community, and we'd love to have this, on for the school year 2425. Thank you. Thank you. Our second speaker, Parker Schultz. Parker, you're a student? Yes. How old are you? I'm 18. 18.
Congratulations. Go ahead. Thank you. As mentioned, I'm Parker Schultz. I'm a student at Hampshire High School. First off, I just wanted to say thank you for letting me speak today. And, I have been playing volleyball practically my entire life. I mean, both my parents played it in college and high school, and they loved it. And so I grew up playing the sport that they loved, and I love it, and my whole family loves it as well. I'm a steadfast member of the volleyball club at Hampshire, which is one of the greatest things that it can offer that Hampshire offers,
in my opinion, because I get to have a volleyball outlet once a week to go and play and have fun with a bunch of my friends who also love to play volleyball. And one of my biggest things was just wishing that I could do that at an IHSA sanctioned event for, my high school and compete for my high school as I did in my middle school years. And one of the things I'd like to mention is there are multiple school districts around us, which my dad has in the packet. There's information on this,
that have boys volleyball, and unfortunately, we do not. And so they have to spend lots of time traveling to other places and traveling out of their way to go to boys volleyball events, while we could also have a great way to give them less time and more competition if we presented boys volleyball here within district three hundred. So I think it'd be a really great opportunity for not only me, but others as well who would love to play it. Thank you.
Thank you, Parker. Our next individual for three minutes, Michelle Muchler. I'm sorry if I It was perfect. Oi. Muchler. Alright. Okay. Hello, everyone. I'm a community member, and I also have a son who goes to Dundee Crown. He's a sophomore. Also super passionate about volleyball and echo all the sentiments that Parker and Joel just shared. My I do have my son in club volleyball in Schaumburg, and he's been playing for three years now. And everyone that he plays with on his team and the teams that he's had in the past are in schools that do have boys volleyball.
And so when the season ends in the spring, like February, it's a pretty sad moment that he he knows that his season's really done and all of his friends get to go play volleyball for their high school season in the spring and he ends up doing a different sport. So would love to have an opportunity for him to extend the volleyball season so that he can pretty much play all year long. So, yeah. That's all I have. Okay. Thank you. Our next speaker, Ruston King. Ruston King, also community member. I have a daughter who's at Hampshire High School,
volleyball player on the varsity team, and I have a son, who's in seventh grade at DMS. We're also a volleyball family. We've, traveled all around the country with our daughter, and she has turned her passion onto her brother. So he also plays the club level, but unfortunately, at DMS and and the high school, as we know, does not currently have a team. So, again, we just went through the same thing. Sunday was his last club, volleyball day, so he had to say goodbye to his friends for the summer, as well as they continue on in their middle schools and high schools that can continue playing. So we would also ask, the board to consider adding it,
to high school. It's too late for for Parker who's, graduating. But for some of us who have younger kids that are still coming through middle school, we'd love to have the opportunity for them, to play in high school. And again, Joel Joel touched on it. Lots of scholarships out there and and another avenue for some of our kids to to get on to college, through volleyball. So we'd appreciate you guys considering it, and, thanks for everybody's time. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker, Lee Bennett. Hello, board. I'm Lee Bennett, an IHSA volleyball referee. The Women's Sports Foundation is the most prominent advocacy group for opportunities in sports for
women's girls and women. WSF's goal is for proportional representation for girls in school sports. Title IX regulations include very specific measures for this proportionality test. Title IX does not require institutions to meet this proportionality test. Rather, this test provides one method for defending against claims of unfairness from at least one of the sexes. Actually, most educational institutions meet their Title IX obligations via another method. How do d 300 schools do on the proportionality test?
Running the numbers for the last five school years, girls are overrepresented in the sports programs at Jacobs High School and all five middle schools. The level of female representation in the other two high schools is lower than males, but still above the national average for high schools, where girls are underrepresented by 8%. Case law has established a 5% margin for for meeting this proportionality test. So Jacobs and two of the middle schools fall within this margin. Girls are underrepresented at the other two high schools by 6%,
just beyond this measure. Boys are underrepresented by 7% at CMS and HMS. AMS has the greatest disparity at over 10%. Is allocating 60% of athletic spots for girls' fair when there are actually more boys at this school? The d 300 middle school sports program has now established a history where males are the under underrepresented sex. This in and of itself would not necessarily be unfair. What seems clearly unfair to this arbiter is the imbalance is achieved by offering the
additional sport of volleyball only to girls. Even by the standards of the Women's Sports Foundation, this is unfair to boys. The question I ask the district are, why isn't volleyball provided for middle school boys? If no boys volleyball is planned, how will the spa sports offerings be made more fair for middle school boys? Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next speaker, Kurt Halkwist. Wow. Make me feel good. Thank you. Thank you for having thank you for the opportunity to speak.
I'm a community member, and, I'm a father of my son here, Noah Holquist. You know, I honestly didn't know a lot of or I I knew of volleyball. Right? But I didn't know how competitive it was and, until we really got involved in, we we I our kids went to a, Dundee Emmanuel, school in East Dundee, and they have a whole group of schools that have done volleyball for years and years, generations. And, so we got involved and, and we were able to compete and and and Noah just just just loved and
thrived with the sport. We were able to, make it down to the Lutherans Association for Schools for our our our groups of schools, to state more than once. The first time we went to state was in seventh grade year, which was 2122 season, and they placed third. And his eighth grade year, they went to state and, they got first place, which is fantastic because just the hard work and then just the sport in general is just incredible. It provides teamwork, camaraderie, and, the kids just are just thriving with this particular sport.
And it just, you know, I usually play basketball, he does track, but volleyball is just like, for me, I'm like, holy cow. They would choose volleyball over basketball or or track, and and those are stewards that we have at the school. And, so, you know, with that, I just, I think the sport is is is really making some traction, and I'm pretty I'm excited to be here to support everybody here. And, if you guys would totally consider, volleyball season for twenty three twenty four, twenty five seasons, that would be fantastic. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak.
Thank you, sir. Our next speaker for three minutes, Noah Holquist. No? Okay. No problem. No problem. Our final speaker, Mark Rastrich. Pretty close. Race trick. Race trick. But two out of three, that's pretty good. Yeah. Thank you. And then it was you. Of course. Hi. My name is Mark Race trick. I'm actually a PE teacher at Hampshire High School and the, the sponsor of the Hampshire Volleyball Club. The club, we started, like I said, about three years ago. We currently have over a hundred members. Many of them, I don't know the exact percentage,
are active and regular, participants in the club. We meet weekly once a week for two hours, usually at five to seven or seven to 09:00 at night, so the kids stay long after school hours. Sometimes they actually stay at school and never actually go home. They're that excited to play. I was made aware that some of my students and parents were gonna show up tonight and request that the boys volleyball be added as a boys sport. So I, just prepared something real quick if I could read. Introducing a boys volleyball team at our high schools is a natural progression considering the
current interest among our students. Over recent years, there's been a noticeable surge I'm sorry. I thought somebody said something. No. Go ahead. It's been a noticeable surge in enthusiasm for volleyball, particularly among male students. This heightened interest is evident in the consistently high attendance at the existing volleyball club at Hampshire High School. As I said, this club was started three years ago by a group of male students who were disappointed by the lack of a boys' team. Since the since then, the club has thrived with almost weekly meetings in which an average of 25 to 40 students participate in games for two hours at a time.
Students are eager to engage in organized play and hone their skills, highlighting a genuine desire for a more structured and competitive outlet within the school community. By establishing boys volleyball teams, we can cater to this demand and provide students with an avenue to further develop their passion for the sport. Moreover, the success of boys volleyball programs in neighboring high schools serves as a compelling precedent. Several local schools have established thriving boys volleyball teams, demonstrating both the viability and the potential for excellence in this endeavor. Witnessing the achievements of these neighboring programs not only inspires our students,
but also underscores the broader community's recognition of boys volleyball as a legitimate and valued athletic pursuit. By implementing boys volleyball teams, our schools can align themselves with this trend of success, offering students the opportunity to compete at a competitive level while fostering camaraderie and sportsmanship. Ultimately, the establishment of boys volleyball teams not only meets the evident demand among our students, but also positions our schools to excel within the local sports landscape. I'd appreciate if you would consider adding boys volleyball as a as a sport coming
in the next academic school year. Thank you very much. I appreciate those presentations and so does the board. Folks did a good job, good job. We're on item number 11, board discussion. Any updates regarding the board committees? Yes the next operations committee meeting will be Monday, March 11 at 04:30 here at Central Office. Any other board comments right now? No. Moving on to item number 12, consent items under $25,000. As note to those in attendance both virtually and in person, some of these items have been vetted through the board operations committee,
which is why there may not be a need for a new discussion. Do I have a motion to approve the consent items under $25,000? So moved. Second. Madam secretary, would you please take the roll? Thomas. Aye. McKinney. Aye. Scarpino. Aye. Fiorentino. Aye. Birgit, aye. Zettler? Aye. Motion passes, six zero. Thank you. Item number 13, consent items over $25,000. As note to those in attendance both virtually and in person, some of these items have been vetted through the board operations committee,
which is why there may not be a need for new discussion. Do I have a motion to approve the consent items over $25,000? So moved. Second. Madam secretary, would you please take the roll? McKinney. Aye. Burkett. Aye. Fiorentino. Aye. Scarpino. Aye. Zettler. Aye. Thomas. Aye. Motion passes 60. Thank you. Item number 14, the roll call action items. 14.1, the approval of Cambridge Lakes Charter School agreement renewal. I'm going to be reading the resolution regarding the Charter School renewal agreement.
Whereas the state of Illinois has enacted article 27 a of the Illinois school code, otherwise known as the Illinois Charter Schools Law, whereas on May '5, Northern Kean Educational Corp, here in called NKEC, submitted its first application to the board for approval and recognition as a charter school for a term commencing in the 02/2007 school year, and ending at the completion of the 02/2012 school year,
which was approved and certified by the Illinois State Board of Education, ISBE. Whereas, on four separate occasions since ISBE approved and certified the charter school, the board approved a resolution renewing its agreement with NKEC, and extending the term of the charter school. Whereas, the current agreement between the board and NKEC is set to expire on 08/31/2024.
Whereas the party's desire that the charter school continues to operate and conduct conduct its affairs in accordance with the terms of the proposed agreement previously submitted to the board and reviewed at a public hearing held on 02/13/2024. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Education, pursuant to section 27 a dash nine of the Illinois Charter Schools Law, the board approves renewing the charter agreement and extending the term of the charter school
until 08/31/2029. Do I have a motion to approve the Cambridge Lakes Charter School agreement? Renee. I'll second it. Madam secretary would, any discussion? Madam secretary would you please take the roll? McKinney. Aye. Scarpino. Aye. Thomas. Aye. Zettler. I'm gonna abstain. Fiorentino. Aye. Birkett, aye. Motion passes five, I was getting it wrong, zero one. Thank you. Item 14.2, approval of administrator contract.
Do I have a motion for the approval of the administrator contract? So moved. Second. Madam secretary, would you put, any discussion? Madam secretary, would you please take the role? Zettler. Aye. Burkitt, aye. Fiorentino. Scarpino? Aye. Thomas? Aye. McKinney? Aye. Motion passes six zero. Thank you. Item 14.3, resolution appointment of IMRF authorized agent. Be it resolved by the Board of Education, herein called the board, of Community Unit School District three hundred, herein called the district,
Kane, McHenry, Cook, and DeKalb Counties, Illinois, as follows. Section one, Jennifer Porter is hereby appointed as authorized agent of the district, the authorized agent, as provided in section seven dash one thirty five of the Illinois pension code 40 I l c s five slash seven dash one three five. This appointment shall take effect beginning 02/27/2024. Section two.
The secretary of the Board of Education is hereby authorized and directed to execute and file IMRF form 2.2, giving notice of said appointment. Section three, all prior acts or resolutions of this board are hereby repealed to the extent such acts or resolutions are inconsistent with the terms hereof. Section four. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption.
Do I have a motion to approve the resolution appointment of IMRF authorized agent? So move. Second. Madam secretary, would you please take the role? McKinney. Aye. Zettler. Aye. Thomas. Aye. Ferentino. Aye. Birkett, aye. Scarpino. Aye. Motion passes six zero. That is the end of our agenda. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Madam secretary, would you please call the roll? McKinney? Aye. Thomas? Aye. Fiorentino? Steve? Here. A motion to adjourn. We need your vote. I or nay? Okay.
Okay. Aye. Scarpino. I. Burkett, I. Zettler. I. Motion passes six zero. Folks, thank you very much for this evening. Thank you very, very much. I appreciate it. We're adjourned.