Good evening. We are now opening the public comment portion of good evening. We are now opening the public comment portion of the board of education meeting. Those who come Board of education meeting. Those who What do you mean? We are not Twenty twenty five u forty six board of education meeting to order.
Roll call, please. Miss Kirk? Here. Miss Khan? Miss Martin? Here. Miss Nolan? Miss Schwartz? Here. Miss Thomas? President Owens? Here. May I have a motion to move in a closed session to discuss individual student disciplinary matters, pending probable or imminent litigation, the appointment employment compensation, discipline performance, or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public, or legal counsel for the public body.
The purchase or lease of real property for the use of the school board. The setting of a price for the sale or lease of real property owned by the school board. An internal audit control weakness, identification of potential fraud risk areas known or suspected frauds and fraud interviews, collective negotiating matters between the school board and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees, The review of closed session minutes and individual student matters. So moved second. Roll call, please. Miss Kirk? Yes. Miss Martin?
Yes. Miss Schwartz? Yes. President Owens? Yes. We are in closed session at 05:31PM. Hey. Good evening, everyone. I am going to resume the Monday, 10/06/2025 Board of Education meeting. If I could have everybody stand as they are able for the pledge of allegiance, and please remain standing at the end. I'd like to take a moment of silence for a u forty six employee who recently passed away. Kelly O'Hara was a speech and language pathologist in u forty six for twenty years before becoming a special education administrator for early learner initiatives in 2021.
Kelly's colleagues say her passion was serving students with disabilities, and she put the needs of children and the adults who cared for them at at the center of her work. She was kind, reliable, and easy to collaborate with. She sought to find the positive in all situations and looked to create opportunities for friendship and fellowship, such as sponsoring a craft club for her department or donating to families in need. Kelly passed away on September 10. She is survived by her sister Nancy and many cousins. A celebration of life was held on September 20 at Chapel Street Church in Geneva.
We will keep Kelly's families and friends in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you, everyone. Hey. The first item on our agenda for this evening is accent on achievement. Doctor Johnson. Thank you, president Owens. This evening, in recognition of National School Lunch Week, October 13 through the seventeenth twenty twenty five, a proclamation of appreciation is being presented to Erin Nowak, u forty six director of food and nutrition services. The u forty six food and use and nutrition services department serves breakfast and meals,
Our breakfast meals, I should say, and lunches to thousands of students every day, and they continue to encourage our students to live healthy lifestyles. And I see that board member Kerr is ready with the proclamation. Okay. Thank you very much. So this is a proclamation of appreciation for National School Lunch Week. Whereas food and nutrition services staff provide nutritious meals that promote proper growth and development and help students reach their maximum potential. And whereas the contributions of these talented and dedicated individuals are recognized in honor of
National School Lunch Week, October 2025. And whereas u forty six food nutritious nutrition services staff not only lends their special skills and talents to the efficient operation of the school system, they also have played a significant role in the district's quest for continuous improvement. And whereas the district serves an average of 21,000 lunches every school day, and whereas the staff's passion and enthusiasm for serving families is reflected in their excellent customer service,
smiles, frequent theme weeks replete with costumes and decorations, and whereas the food and nutrition staff demonstrate internal teamwork as well as collaboration with other departments. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education recognizes its talented staff in National School Lunch Week, October 2025, and asks asks administrators, teachers, students, parents, and the community to join in recognizing and thanking these individuals for their dedication, efforts, and serve
service on behalf of students. Presented the October 2025, signed by board president Melissa Owens and superintendent doctor Suzanne Johnson. Thank you. Appreciate it. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're good. Okay. Okay. Alright. Our second accent on achievement is the National Principal Appreciation Month, recognition. National Principal Appreciation Month is celebrated in October. A proclamation of appreciation is being presented to Jennifer Schwart, Association of Elgin School Administrators,
otherwise known as ASSA, president. National Principal Month recognizes the essential role that principals play in the education, growth and well-being of students. They have used their vision, dedication and determination to provide an atmosphere in which students can continue to learn and succeed. And I know that Jennifer has brought a few friends with her as well this evening. So we also have, Kim Rudin, Canton Middle School, principal. Jason Maseca from Larkin High School, Paige Moran from Streamwood High School, and I don't think I clarified that Jennifer Short, of course, is our principal at Horizon Elementary School.
So, board member Martin is ready with the proclamation. Thank you for all of you for joining us. Alright. This proclamation of appreciation for National Principals Month, Whereas school principals play an integral integral role in education growth and well-being of children in preschool, elementary, middle, and high schools across school district u forty six. Whereas the month of October is recognized as National Principals Month to acknowledge and support their commitment to ensuring every child receives a quality education. Whereas, school principals are responsible for the day to day operation of their buildings, create
a positive and safe culture, and building relationships with parents and teachers to ensure that each child receives services that allows them to excel in the classroom. Whereas, school principals in U forty six use their vision, dedication, and experience to provide an atmosphere in which students can learn and succeed. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the Board of Education recognizes its dedicated school principals for National Principals Month, including Illinois Principals Week, October 2025, and asks administrators, teachers, students,
parents, and the community to join in recognizing and thanking these individuals for their efforts and service on behalf of our students. Presented the October 2025, signed by our President of the Board of Education, Melissa Owens, and our Superintendent, Doctor. Suzanne Johnson. Okay. The next item on our agenda is strategic plan report. Doctor. Johnson. Thank you, president Owens. Our first item this evening is the multi abilities classroom overview. Coming forward is Amanda Leatherby, director of specialized student services, joined by Elspeth Ellie Alvarado,
Ridge Circle Elementary School MLP teacher, to provide the Board of Education an overview of the multi abilities classroom. Thank you. Good evening. As noted, I'm Amanda Leatherby, the director of specialized student services. And with me tonight is Ellie Alvarado, the exceptional modified learning program teacher at Ridge Circle Elementary School. I wanna thank the Board of Education and doctor Johnson for giving us the time to share this exciting new opportunity for our students with disabilities. We are thrilled to introduce you to MAC, the Multiabilities Classroom. The goal of MAC is to provide equitable and inclusive learning opportunities while emphasizing a
balanced and collaborative teaching approach to students with complex learning needs. So why MAC and why now? This programmatic shift aligns with the boundary changes and is possible in part because the district upheld its commitment to place special education classrooms first. Because we were able to expand the number of schools our self contained classrooms are in, we are able to place more students near or at their home school, improving access, community connection, and more authentic social opportunities for these learners.
We want to thank the dedicated professionals that participated in the work group and acknowledge the work they did to bring this vision to life. We were intentional in bringing in a well rounded cross section of individuals representing various programs, various grade levels, including administration. In addition, we had related service providers and a general education teacher supporting this effort. The MAC program consolidates our exceptional needs one, instructional learning program, and modified learning program into one multi abilities classroom we refer to as MAC.
It is important to note that each of these programs already share many core features. For example, they're all highly visual. We focus on communication and have the same curriculum. Students coming from the Instructional Learning Program, which services students with autism and other students with like characteristics and disabilities, would participate in MAC if their level of autism or characteristics similar were consistent with level three autism. The program structure for the multi abilities classroom already exists in early childhood and in
our post high school transition programs. By shifting to MAC, we create greater greater alignment with what is already bookending our district and our special education curriculum or continuum. We also currently have many e n one, m l p, and I l p classrooms that support this program structure and look very similar. The question frequently comes up if we will still be able to ability group students. And the answer to that is under this new structure. While we are not recommending leveling students, we also want to, make sure that classrooms
still have the autonomy to be able to look at their classrooms. If we have more than one classroom, for example, at a site that the grade levels fits into this grade band, you can section your students however is appropriate for those student populations. We recommend that sectioning students is complex, and it often takes many factors into consideration, such as communication, social, academic, or functional needs, to name a few. We also recognize that many of our classrooms have a very large range of academic
and functional abilities currently. And while this range will still exist, the range is anticipated to be smaller, thereby supporting students more effectively and teachers more efficiently. Finally, I wanna highlight that MAC will continue to support monolingual and multilingual classroom structures. As we mentioned earlier, the MAC program offers a more balanced program structure. The multi ability classroom looks to integrate services where push in related services would be embedded into the program. However, pull out services remain available through the IEP if it is necessary for the
student. MAC would support consistent classroom setups, curriculum, and materials with consistency program wide. We believe that all students should have access to general education peers and participation in specials and electives should be a right and not an option. Our goal is to align with play based learning for our pre k classrooms and even in our primary elementary classrooms. We are actively planning to layer in additional curriculum in the twenty twenty seven, twenty twenty eight school year to increase the rigor for our Mac students. We have identified many benefits to students, but we wanna highlight just a few this
evening. By being closer to their home school, it allows students to develop stronger community ties and more peer connections. The MAC model would further individualize support and offer more inclusive opportunities. Students will experience less movement throughout U forty six if they are not transitioning between our existing EN one, MLP, and or ILP classrooms. Preliminary elementary level data shows that this shift, in combination with the boundary changes, takes 37 students currently attending their homeschool, which is 8% of the population in I, EN
ILP and MLP to a 122 students who would be attending their homeschool with the MAC program, and that'd be 35 34%. Additionally, the current average distance for students in EN one, MLP, and ILP from home to school is just under six miles. This shift to MAC reduces that average to three miles. More families will experience greater proximity to home, which allows for greater access to the school setting, after school events, and other parent opportunities. There will be fewer program to program moves, which limit mobility for parents and allows
families to build deeper and longer relationships. We've also outlined benefits to staff, including a balanced workload, improving effective teaching, and increasing student engagement. Staff will have consistent access to the same curriculum, resources, and teaching tools. On October 10, we're initiating professional learning to support teachers as we move into this new structure. Finally, we will continue to offer comprehensive support from inclusion facilitators and teacher leaders. Specialized Student Services currently offers robust per professional learning and support, which we plan to continue, including the current Easterseals training and coaching, disability awareness, and curriculum training.
Our valuable teacher leader support would shift from program support to network support. Our behavior support would also continue from our amazing behavior specialists and CPI, and we're also currently planning to bring on Ukeru. Ukeru is a trauma informed care, restraint free approach to managing behavior. We would also like to introduce you to PREP, promoting readiness, empowerment, and purpose, which would serve students who are on the autism spectrum or students with like needs who are at, above, or just below approximately within two years of grade level expectations.
The curriculum would be general education curriculum. We need prep because we know currently we have a few of these students in our current instructional learning program. Therefore, initially, these students would come from our existing ILP classrooms. You can see that we have been planning this for some time and the work continues as we continue to move from planning further into implementation. MAC is a commitment to all students which upholds our u 46 promise. We promise a safe, caring environment where every student experience where every student experiences the
joy of learning and is empowered and prepared for a successful future. Linked here are some peer reviewed research articles for your review. While there is not research specific to self contained classroom classrooms, there is research to support heterogeneous groupings. Also linked here is UKRU systems, if you'd like to learn more about what that looks like. And that's it. We thank you for your time this evening. Thank you for the presentation. Do board members have questions, Kate? Or Yeah. I'll go first. Yeah. So, a couple questions.
Overall, I think this seems like a really good idea. I just have a few questions. So you talked about, moving level three autism into these MAT groups. In general, where are the level two and level one autistic kids now? So they're currently in a variety of different places. Okay. Some of them do exist in our current ILP classrooms. Okay. And some of them, even with level two as autism, are currently in our MLP classrooms. Okay. But they are also in general education. When we talk about students on the spectrum, we literally have them at every grade level in all types of programs. Sure.
So where will the level one and level two students be after MAC starts? Will they what will MLP and ILP still exist? No. They're gone entirely. They would be gone entirely and consolidated into MAC. So students with level one autism and possibly some students with level two autism, because that's a little bit of a more, flexible area. Right? Because it's hard to know what the spectrum where students are gonna fall, could be appropriate for prep, which is why prep needs to exist. Okay. And other level two students with autism could also be appropriate for Mac as well.
So we will look at those individually and make sure that we make, a decision that's most appropriate for those students if they should be more appropriate for general education curriculum or they need more. What what's I'm sorry. Am I supposed to know what prep is? Yep. We did go through prep. I'm so sorry. That's okay. That's okay. Prep is, promoting readiness, empowerment. Here we go. Did you find it? Yeah. Okay. Great. And so that's a classroom that'll be for students, predominantly on the spectrum. But, again, we can't be automatically inclusive or exclusive.
So it could be other students with like needs Sure. That are at, above, or just below grade level. And those students, their primary curriculum would be general education curriculum so that they can get the exposure that they need to rigorous general education curriculum in a smaller setting. Okay. So prep would be self contained? Prep would be self contained. Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you for that. And then how is this going to affect class size? So we, expect that to overall decrease class size. Our classrooms currently, are on an average of ten, eleven, 12, and some are at
13 with pockets of smaller classrooms here and there, and we anticipate this class size to range from eight to 10. Okay. So, more students as students get older, and we wanna make sure that, we keep that as tight as we can. Okay. And then, I forget what slide it was where you talked about the percentages of how many kids are presently at their home school Yes. And not, where she talked about 34%. Slide nine. Thank you. Yes.
You got it. Very helpful. I looked at this this weekend. I did. So where are where are the other 63% then? They're not at their home school? Yeah. So 34% or a 122 students would be in their actual home school. Okay. Other students would be at the nearest school closest to them in most cases. Okay. We still do have some students that might travel some distances, especially for our multilingual Okay. Math classrooms. So I'm not gonna say it's it's zero, but we are again going to take that distance from just under six, just under six miles.
It's actually 5.82 miles Okay. On average. That's an average. To it's just under three mile, three miles, which is actually 2.99 miles is the actual number there. So cutting that almost in half Okay. In terms of distance for students to get to a school much closer to home. Okay. That's good. And then, we have a lot of students that are, like double exceptional. I'm saying the word Twice exceptional? Twice exceptional. So where I mean, how are they going to be fit in with these groups?
Are they primarily gonna be in gen ed classrooms still, or will they appropriate for prep? Yeah. Or will it just, again, be client or student by student? It'll be student by student. Okay. We're not trying to, you know, source, you know, students and and, look to place students in a more self contained setting. If they're being successful in a in a least restrictive setting in general education Okay. Or gifted programs or any of our magnet programs, we want them to continue there. Okay. Okay. And then what about, like, buy in from teachers and staff?
I mean, we have some public comments that are not that. Yes. How are you addressing that? Yeah. So, on October 10, we are meeting with all of the staff who will be directly involved with MAC, and we will solicit their feedback. So we're gonna do this exact review. Okay. And we do have a feedback form to solicit their feedback. Okay. We want the feedback. Okay. We want to make sure that this implementation goes as smoothly as possible. Okay. And we do believe that some of the the yes buts and and the questions
help us develop a system that's going to be as strong as possible. Okay. We need people to help us find the holes now. Okay. And then we're not anticipating losing any teaching positions for any of this. Right? We are not. Okay. Okay. And then just one final note. I'm trained in a Karoo, from my I love that one. Day job. So, and actually find it very, very useful. We're very excited about that. So I'm excited to hear that we're we're adding a crew to our Thank you. Our day. Yep. Thanks. Additional questions, Sue? So first of all, thank you for answering my questions I had submitted earlier. Yeah. Thank you.
It was nice to see the table to see what was what was happening. That made it a little more clear. As as Kate mentioned, we did get three public comments, certain public comments on the board docs with teachers who are concerned about this. And I guess one of their concerns, which you'll probably hear about, is that this this creates a huge, as I say, a massive gap in social and educational standards in one one classroom. So I guess that's something you'll have to have to address. What did you give any thought to piloting this? In other words, doing it in a few schools and not the whole district at once.
We did. Okay. And in and in full transparency, because we wanted to align this shift with the boundary changes, we felt that was the most opportune time to do it. And so we weren't, necessarily prepared to be able to do a pilot this year, and we didn't want to do a pilot next year after boundary shifts, because because that would prompt some of our families to shift again. Okay. And we Okay. We felt like this was the opportune time to do that. But that's why. But we did consider it. Okay. And how are you going to evaluate this after a year, say? In term I assume you'll get feedback from your teachers and paras and so forth.
Yeah. So there's a a layer in effect that'll that'll occur. So yes, we we first for sure anticipate soliciting feedback from teachers along the way in that first year of implementation. However, we do also again hope to layer in additional curriculum resources through our Instructional Council and through the district process for that, and through that we hope to then see student achievement rise, and see better outcomes on some of our assessments for some of our students on the dynamic learning map, for example, so that'll be a measure. And we also hope to layer in, not in year one, year one, we wanna
get shifted in with the change. But then, starting in year two, we hope to then have a, programmatic, assessment, if you will. There are many, out there. BB Math is one, and Naples is another. There's a whole variety of different, assessments out there that can measure how students are progressing. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Additional questions? Can you speak a little bit to how, you're going to introduce these changes to families? Yes. I'd be happy to. We are going to pull together a parent focus group, to be able to solicit
some initial feedback, that will be occurring later this month. However, we do, though, also hope to have a lot of this information discussed at, IEP meetings that are upcoming for the rest of the year. In addition to that, we are really trying to align our communication with the district's communication around boundary shifts. And so when letters go out to other families in line with the boundary shifts, this will also go out with some detail around what MAC is. Okay. So you have it mapped out at this point who's moving where, or is that
still a work in progress? We have it mostly mapped out Okay. With, some finalization to come tomorrow. Okay. Thank you. Alright. Dawn. Thank you for the presentation. So when it comes to, you know, like an e n one classroom versus an n l MLP classroom, can you explain kind of how they're staffed now based on student needs and how that's gonna how and if that's changing while you move to the Mac format, like number of pairs per classroom and like, if the needs of the students are so different now versus one in one classroom, like, what how is
that gonna look? Sure. The classrooms currently are staffed with a teacher and typically two paraeducators. Okay? And the classroom number of students can range anywhere. We have some classes as small as six or seven, and we have some that, again, are at 13. And that is for, that range exists for our ILP, our MLP, and our EN one programs currently. And so this hopes to balance those class sizes out, to again, eight, maybe nine in our younger grades, nine, maybe 10 in our older grades.
But there's some flexibility there. We still need room to make individual based decisions for students. For example, if a student moves into one of our school sites that already has, you know, eight or nine students and that's their home school, we want to be able to have that student be in their home school. So there's some flexibility there through the IEP process. So then would this require, like, additional work, I think, from the staffing end as far as matching paras in classrooms where if they have a para who has more experience with e m e n ones versus MLPs and that I guess that there's
no real guarantee necessarily what the balance of each type like, the needs of the students would be in the classrooms. Would there be classrooms that might have more paras than others? Or Yes. We have that now. Okay. And so we we hope to staff, more paras again at the younger grades than at the older grades knowing that most of our, needs are at those younger grades in particular, in our primary classrooms. So we would absolutely look for that. But beyond that, we would absolutely work with DUIA to follow their process that they have set up.
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you very much. And our second, strategic plan update this evening is the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven boundary transition update. Lola Mysdorovic, deputy superintendent intendant of instruction, will present an update to the board of education on the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven boundary transition. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to present our transition update this evening. Tonight's update focuses on the transition work underway for the twenty six, twenty seventh boundary
changes, And you've just heard about the multi abilities classroom as well as the prep program, which is a key part of our special education work. And now I'll share how that and other changes fit into the broader transition plan for all students. So the goal of tonight's update is twofold. First, I'll outline our process and timeline for communicating next year's school assignments to families. Second, I'll highlight the changes to our self contained special education programming, which will better align services with students' to determine what the communication is going to look like for
families in terms of student assignments. And for this for communicating these assignments for next year, for our current high school students who are in grades nine through 11, we've decided that they are going to remain at their current high schools. So if you remember, last year we had opportunities for families to complete a residency exception if they wanted to move a year early. For the this purpose, as it works in our student information system, we are rolling all of our current ninth to eleventh graders into their current high schools for next
year. This was the least complex way to do it because we have lots of students at high schools for various reasons programming, academies, residency exceptions lots of different reasons. And so rolling students over, made the most sense. Our current seventh graders at Abbott Middle School are going to be continuing at Abbott Middle School for eighth grade. And for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, placements will follow the new boundary map and program feeder patterns.
So every kindergarten through eighth grade student will be assigned based on the new program placements and the feeder patterns. This structure minimizes disruption while ensuring families receive clear, predictable assignments. We're also being intentional about communication and timelines. So by October 31, at the end of this month, families of high school students are going to receive a general assignment confirmation email just stating that their student will be enrolled in their high school for next school year.
During that week as well, we will have individualized letters that will be mailed home for all students who are currently in kindergarten through eighth grade. Now here's where the other piece of the process is. If any family wishes to submit a residency exception, they may do so between November 1 and November 13. And our goal is for our team to review all of those requests and responses to be shared with families by November 21. This process gives families clarity early enough to plan for the transition.
So if for some reason, for example, there was a high school student who started high school at one school but their boundary changed and they didn't move early, they still have the the opportunity to submit the residency exception prior to the whole course selection process and visiting the high school and all of those things so that they could attend their new boundary school if they wanted to. And as you heard in the previous presentation, we are redesigning our self contained, special education programs to better meet students' needs and bring services closer to home.
So as you heard, we are opening the Multi Abilities Classroom as well as the prep program, for students so that more students could attend either their home school or schools in their community. And we know that these programs will strengthen our continuum of services and ensure every student has access to learning environments that support both their growth and sense of belonging. That support both their growth and sense of belonging. So to keep you informed of our of our process and to keep the community informed, we will continue to provide these monthly updates throughout the transition. Next month in November, I'll focus on the course selection process for our rising sixth
and seventh graders and we'll also share the staffing timelines. And then in December, you'll also get to get an update on the progress with our transportation routing and our logistics for moving classrooms from building to building. So each month's update will build on the last to ensure that we are transparent and accountable as we move forward, towards the 2026, 2027 school year. And, of course, our focus will remain on ensuring every family has the information and support they need for a smooth transition. And the collaboration among our schools, our staff, and our families continues to be our
greatest strength, and we appreciate your ongoing guidance throughout the process. So thank you for your time this evening, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Do board members have any questions? Sue? For for transportation, if we're going to allow ninth to eleventh graders to stay in the homeschool I live in within Wayne Elementary boundaries. So the kids are being moved from, South Elgin High School to Bartlett High School. And currently in my subdivision, I see two middle school buses every day because half the kids go to Hawk Hollow and the other half go to Kenyon Woods. Are we going to continue having two bus routes to two two different high schools
in areas for three years? That's something that our transportation team is currently working on, so I'll be able to have more information for you about that at our at our next update, or I can if I can get it before that, I can get you a memo on that. Okay. Yeah, I'm just since we're saying that they should stay there, we probably should provide transportation. So thank you. Any other questions, Shauna? Thank you for the presentation. I'm gonna try to word this question because I have a lot of things in my head right now. For the resident exception request, being made between November 1 and the thirteenth, and then
the families receiving a response for November 21, How does that affect, say, the fifth and sixth grade families whose students have to choose, you know, their classes for the next school year going into middle school knowing that I believe the deadline might be a little bit before that for them to select classes if they also wanna submit a residency exception request. That's a great question. So all of those, course requests get entered into Infinite Campus, which is our student information system. And so we will have those saved for students that if there is a residency
exception that is granted, it'll transfer Thank you. Okay. The next item on our agenda is comments from the audience. Doctor. Johnson. Thank you, president Owens. This evening, we have no public comments, for the in person meeting as has already been indicated. We do have three written public comments that have been submitted and are available on the website attached to the board of education agenda for this evening.
Thank you. That moves us to other business board member and superintendent updates. Does anybody have any updates to share? No. Doctor Johnson. Okay. Next item on the agenda is the Illinois Association of School Boards IASB Resolutions Committee Report. So you all have in your board packet, the report from the resolutions committee. This is the first look at the report that we'll get this year. It's there's only one resolution this year, and if most of what they're going to
be voting on would be the the changes to the constitution. So if you've not yet had the chance, I mean, there there are substantive changes to the constitution. Nearly every article is is has some form of change to it. We'll need to read through through those and get a better understanding of what those changes are and then the one resolution that will be voted on at the delegate meeting. So the general process is that we get this report first, and then at the
upcoming board meeting, we will decide whether to the one resolution is to the recommendation from ISB is to adopt. So we'll have to decide if we are going to agree with that position or not, and then also agree with the changes to the Constitution. Any questions on that? Dawn? I just wanna do a reminder. So I've been the IASB voting person the last two, but I will not be at, the conference this year.
So we will just so everyone wants to think about it, if you haven't done that, this might be an easy way to check it out with only one resolution. But we will need someone to step into that this year. Thank you, Dawn. So we will be deciding that also at the next board meeting. So if you have an interest in that, let me know. And just to point out also with those constitutional amendments, there is a decision on each individual item or I'm sorry, article. So it's not just a simple matter of deciding if all of the changes in
total are are are good. We have the opportunity to go through each article and and agree or disagree with those changes. Okay. But they're putting it on the consent agenda. I'm sorry? Are they putting it on the consent agenda? I would imagine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So we will discuss that at our next meeting then. Okay. That will move us to consent agenda, Doctor. Johnson. K. Thank you. This evening on the consent agenda, we have personnel report and workers' compensation cases, minutes of board meeting, 07/21/2025.
Termination of Nadia Blancdaly, Hera Crosscat, SCSS one to one, termination of Victor h Camarena, Dean's assistant, termination of Samantha Ramirez, student success advocate, proposal, school safety, central schools dream academy radio replacements, proposal, specialized student services, purchase of student iPads, proposal, transportation, student transportation, routing software upgrade, contract renewal, curriculum and instruction, career and technical education, project lead the
way PLTW participation fee, Contract renewal plant operations, Streamwood Park District intergovernmental agreement. Contract equity and innovation historically black colleges and universities HBCUs tour. Contract equity and innovation, Hispanic serving institutions, HSI's student tour, approval of settlement agreement and general release in the matter of Vardabedian versus Lewis and school district u forty six, Building permits to building, sorry, Century Oaks Elementary School addition and renovation, u 46 project
number 600Dash26. Glenbrook elementary school addition and renovation. You 46 project number 775Dash26. Are there any items board members would like removed from the consent agenda? Hearing none, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as read into the record? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Miss Kirk? Yes. Miss Khan? Yes. Miss Martin? Yes. Miss Schwartz? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. President Owens? Yes. Motion carried. K. Next item on the agenda is discussion action, doctor Johnson.
Thank you, president Owens. Our item tonight, itemized bills, 10/06/2025. Robin Cornelison, executive director of financial services, will respond to questions from the board of education regarding the attached bills. Administration recommends the board of education approve the list of bills in the amount of $33,780,502.20. May I have a motion to approve the list of bills in the amount of $33,780,502.20?
So moved. Second. Any questions or discussion? Roll call, please. Miss Kirk? Yes. Miss Khan? Yes. Miss Martin? Yes. Miss Schwartz? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. President Owens? Yes. Motion carried. The next item is other business doctor Johnson our item this evening July and August financial reports robin Cornelison remains. To present and review the attached financial reports and respond to questions from the board of education. Good evening, members of the board of education and doctor Johnson. Tonight, I will be presenting key highlights from the July and August 2025 monthly financials.
Please note that these statements are unaudited, meaning that they reflect our internal accounting records as of August 31 prior to audit adjustments in relation to both revenue and expenditures. This is standard for this time of year as the annual external audit process is currently in progress. In addition, at this time of the publication of the July and August financial statements, the FY twenty six budget had not been adopted and hence reflects the tentative budget values. In the interest of time, this Update will include the August highlights as it does include the July data in the
year to date information I'll be providing. Here are some key highlights. School district due 46 posted a $71,600,000 deficit through August. However, this is attributable to the increase of the unite U 46 capital outlay expenditures and the delay in the Cook County property tax revenue that is typically received in August. The second installment tax payment typically start arriving in August, following the homeowner tax bills that are due typically around August 1 of each year.
However, this year, the tax bills have not been able to be calculated due to a new unified property tax system that is currently in process of implementation at Cook County. As of today, we have not received any further information to indicate when the Cook County property taxes will be received. However, with our strong financial position, the District is confident that we have the financial resources to account for our expenditures during this time of uncertainty, uncertainty with the Cook County payments.
The unaudited fund balance now stands at just over $804,600,000 With three hundred and nine days of cash on hand, the District can operate for approximately ten months without additional revenue exceeding common benchmarks for financial stability. And as of the last business day in August, the State of Illinois owes the District just over $2,000,000 for various up to date grant reporting. We continue to experience reliable and timely funding from the state.
On our revenues, August revenues totaled approximately 37,500,000.0, bringing the year to date totals to 49,200,000.0. This represents 5.41% of the annual non financing revenue budget. Typically property tax revenue from Cook County is received in August and the year over year comparison does reflect a difference of approximately $72,500,000 in local revenue, which does include the property tax revenue revenues received in July and August for June services will be
accrued and reallocated to FY '25 during the annual audit process. The information provided in the July and August statements are unaudited and will be updated throughout the audit process. Federal revenue is where one of those hits. In addition, the FY '26 budget was not adopted at the time of the July and August financials. So here are a few highlights for title one school improvement. The tentative budget was previously set at 100,000 and the final adopted budget is over
a million dollars through the annual audit process. Any revenue that is received is a result of July and August expenditure reports submitted to the Illinois state board of education that include June expenditures to be accrued back to FY '25. So a majority of what you see there will be returned to the FY '25, calendar. Title two, same situation. The tentative budget was around $7,925,000 with the final adopted budget set around 963,000, same
situation through the July and August expenditure reports. The majority of those funds will be removed and, accrued back to FY '25, one of which is the instructional empowerment contract, which does total, almost up to 1,800,000.0. So that will go back to FY '25. So that's why the numbers look skewed. Medicaid fee for service funds were received at a, as a result of the FY twenty three cost settlement reconciliation conducted for school districts.
This reconciliation process ensures that school districts receive the correct amount of Medicaid reimbursement by matching the actual cost of the services to the payments received, ensuring compliance and maintaining financial accuracy and accountability. This payment is the outcome of an annual audit and reconciliation process performed by the public consulting group, which is an independent third party through the Illinois school based health services program. Because this amount received each year is a variable and cannot be determined in advance.
It is not included in the district's annual budget moving to expenditures. Our August expenditures totaled approximately 70,600,000.0, bringing our year to date around 120,800,000.0 or 12.61%. Paid expenditures in July and August for June services will be accrued and reallocated to FY '25. Expenditures remain within the projected range. And when compared to the prior August year to date actuals, all expenditure categories are
consistent other than two, and I'm going to address those now. One is capital outlay. Due to, building construction improvements and unite you 46, the capital improvements are, exceeding last year's prior year to date. The other one is purchase services. This category includes technical services included in our Unite U 46 projects. Technical services include services provided that by their nature can be performed only by skilled specialized skilled and knowledgeable individual individuals.
I apologize. For our construction projects that typically includes architectural and engineering fees, consulting services, surveying, and in, in environmental services. The technical services expenditures reflected in the all fund summary are exclusively from fund sixty, and they are directly related to the unite u forty six projects. So for August fund sixty technical services totaled 9,500,000.0 for a total year to date of 21,400,000.0.
When you take those out of the all fund summary, your August is only 9, dollars 9,000 and the year to date 10,500. So they are exclusively for fund sixty. It is important to note that the unite U forty six budget of 126,000,000 was initially placed under a single line labeled new construction. This approach was taken due to the detailed breakdown of expenditures being unknown during the budget review process while ensuring that the full amount was transparently accounted for in the
budget. Consolidating the budget provides flexibility to reallocate funds across the various expenditure categories, such as technical services, supplies, and non capitalized equipment that we also, have been putting into our school. To improve clarity and facilitate a more accurate review of the financial statements, the estimated budget amounts will be amended going forward, going forward to better reflect the categorization of expenditures. Our current expenditures stand at 12.61%
of the budget with salaries and benefits representing the largest expenditure category, totaling 48,100,000.0 or 5% of the budget capital outlay for construction projects, total 21,400,000.0. As far as our liquidity, as of August 31, the district held cash and money market balances, 413,100,000.0 investments, 413,400,000.0 for total liquid assets of 826,500,000.0.
In conclusion, while the District currently reports a year to date deficit driven by delayed Cook County property tax revenue and planned capital outlay related to unite U 46 projects, our financial position remains strong. With over $826,500,000 in liquid assets and three zero nine days of cash on hand, we are well equipped to navigate this period of revenue timing uncertainty. The unaudited financials reflect expenditures and revenues that will continue to be refined through the
annual audit process, and adjustments, particularly relating to the federal grants and the reallocating of the FY '25 activity will continue to be processed. As always, we re we remain committed to maintaining transparency and fiscal responsibility as we move forward. I appreciate your time this evening, and welcome any questions you may have. Thank you. Does board members have questions? Sue? Not a question. Just thank you for answering all my questions I submitted earlier. Because that made it much more clear on the federal, the revenue and, and all,
what was going on there. You are most welcome. Thank you. Anybody else? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next item is work session, Doctor. Johnson. Thank you, President Owens. Our first item is board policy updates. Tricia Olsen, chief legal officer, will present proposed changes to the following board policies. Administration recommends adoption of the proposed changes. Good evening. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present to you additional changes made in conjunction with press issue one nineteen. I will go in order as they are listed, and, we'll pause if there's any
questions or can answer some at the end as well. First, I propose, changes to board policy one ten, one colon 10, which is addressing the school district legal status. The changes that are made to this policy are simply to the dates. This is part of the press regular review of policies. Next, I present to you board policy one colon 20, which addresses district organization, operations, and cooperative agreements. If you were to review the, possible options available for this board policy on press's
internal website, you will see that there is an option that boards may utilize to organize and list all of their joint programs and intergovernmental agreements into this board policy. The board has previously never taken that option. We do not have that in our current version and have not proposed to do that in the past. My recommendation is that we continue to not include specific district organizations and joint cooperative, intergovernmental agreements in this board policy. There are a great number of agreements that the, school district and the board of
education approved. So our goal is to streamline and to allow for clearer operations, and utilize the alternate language, which is the district is organized and operates as a unit district or, as u 46, serving the educational needs of Children in grades pre k through 12 and others as required by the school code. Next, I present board policy one colon 30, which is the school district philosophy. And this is just addressing the regular review, periodic review of board policies. No changes here.
Next, I present board policy two colon 10, which addresses school district governance. This is also part of the regular review of board policies. There are very minor changes made to the footnotes, which are not incorporated in the published board policies, such as abbreviating the Open Meetings Act to OMA. Next, I present board policy two colon 80, which addresses board member oath and conduct. There are additional comments made, in the footnote that are being proposed by I A
S B to this policy, which was reviewed as part of its regular ongoing review. There is additional optional language that the board may choose at its next meeting when I'm proposing that you adopt the changes to policies or at a future meeting if the board chooses to consider additional language that would read, a board member who fails to abide by the oath of office or the code, referring to the school code, may be subject to action by the board, including but not limited to. I'm gonna correct myself.
I apologize. The code here is in reference to the code of conduct for members of the school boards. So I'm gonna restart the optional language. The optional language is a board of member who fails to abide by the oath of office or the code may be subject to action by the board, including but not limited to formal censure and or referral to the regional superintendent for removal from office under board policy two colon 60, board member removal from office. Again, that is optional language that is not required by any section of school code,
and it may be something the board could consider in the future if you choose to retain the present language as currently proposed by press. Question. Question for you then. So right now, without this policy without this language included in our policy, are we able not that I'm planning on it, but are we able to censure a board member? You would be able to take action that's permitted by the school code, which could be to seek removal of a school of a board member for very, egregious actions.
You could seek from the regional superintendent of education a censure be taken against a board member. There's nothing prohibiting that. This would be just an explicit reference, perhaps, for information purposes for the community or for board members themselves. Thank you. Mhmm. Next, I present board policy two colon one thirty, which addresses the board superintendent relationship. There are no, vital changes made to this proposal, which was part of a regular review by press. Next I proposed board policy to colon to 40, which addresses board policy development.
There there are, just minor changes made to you. R. L s in the footnote and or wording slight wording changes made to the footnotes of this board policy, which are not incorporated in the version that's published online. And this is part of press's regular review of board policies. Next, I present board policy three colon 30, which addresses the chain of command. This is part of press's regular ongoing review, and there's no changes to note. Next, I present board policy seven colon 40, which addresses non public school students, including
parochial and homeschooled student. This is part of press's ongoing review, and there's only very minor changes made to the footnotes of this agreement, including updates to URLs. Next, I present board policies. I apologize. I went out of order. That was my paperwork error. I'm going to reorder them. Thank you. I think you're at four colon five five. I am. Next, I present board policy before colon 50, which is payment procedures.
This is addressing ongoing review by the press, policy subscription service, and there's no substantive changes to be discussed. Next, I present board policy 4Colon55, use of credit and procurement cards. As with the last board policy, this addresses the regular ongoing review of the press policy services, and no substantive changes are made. Next, I present board policy seven colon 40 non public school students, including Oops. Four ninety. Regrettably, I think I shuffled my paperwork earlier. I have mine.
I don't know how I I regret that I put them out of order. Four colon 90, which addresses student activity and fiduciary funds. I'll go off the online version. No, I don't. Thank you, though. There are no substantive changes in this Board policy, and this is part of the press's ongoing regular review. I'm happy to recall the reason why these are out of order, and that is during a regular and ongoing meeting I have with my financial friends in the operations department, we pulled apart and discussed all the operational policies. So that is the reason for me failing to put them back in place.
So it was a good reason that we're collaborating and consulting with each other. Next, I present to you board policy four colon one eighty, which addresses pandemic preparedness, management, and recovery. This does mention remote learning days, which could be adopted by the board if it so chooses at any point in time. This board has not chosen to update or to include a board policy discussing remote learning days to date. And so my recommendation is to continue to not include any references or optional information
that might be provided by press for such a board policy. Just a reminder that the board could choose to include an update to board policies to address, remote learning days if it so chooses. I'd also like to highlight that there is a section addressing payment of employee salaries during emergency school closures which is an optional provision but this board has utilized in the past for example during the cove at nineteen pandemic these were the procedures that the board did choose to utilize. To determine continued payment of employee salaries during, the pandemic procedure.
Next I present to the board policy five colon two seventy. Five colon two seventy addresses employment at will compensation and assignment, which is part of the regular ongoing press review. And there are no substantive changes to provide to the Board of Education. Next, I provide to you, and I think I'm finally there, policy seven forty, which addresses non public school students, including parochial and homeschool students. This is part of our regular ongoing review, and no substitute changes are made.
Next, I present to you board policy seven colon 90, which addresses release during school hours. I do want to highlight for the Board of Education that there is an optional provision that could be utilized by the board to address, releasing student during school hours for voting purposes. The board has not, to date, exercised that opportunity for students. I believe the board's previous conversation did focus on the fact that there are a variety of ways that students can utilize to, tend to their voting needs including, by,
voting early or voting by mail and that there is a definite importance of making sure that students are in attendance during school hours. But this is an option the board may consider in the future if it so chooses. Next, I present board policy seven colon 130, which addresses student rights and responsibilities. This is part of press's ongoing regular review and there are minor changes made to legal citations in the document. Next, I present board policy seven colon 140, which addresses search and seizure. You may recall that in February 2024, the Board of Education revised its own, policy
addressing search and seizure so that we would align closely with the press policy. The additional changes that are provided in this proposed, version, would make slight changes to address wording, updates by including a reference to licensed employees rather than certificated employees and legal reference citation updates. The remainder of the policy would remain the same. Next, I provide updates proposed to board policy seven colon 300, which addresses extracurricular athletics.
I do wanna point out that we do include additional, language that is optional for boards of education regarding a requirement that students follow the code of conduct. And that is a provision that we, could choose to revise at any point in time, but we currently recommend that the Board of Education continue to utilize. There's additional changes made to footnotes to address minor language and wording changes. Next, I present to the Board of Education Board Policy seven colon three twenty five
addressing student fundraising activities. I do want to flag for the Board of Education that except for the number two that is provided, that for any school that participates in school breakfast program or the national lunch program, fundraising activities involving the sale of food and beverages to students during the school day must comply with Illinois State Board of Education rules concerning the sale of competitive food and beverage items. That is the only item listed there that is specifically and explicitly required by law.
However, we have included the remainder, of, the recommended provisions because they do represent good practice. I would like to also highlight for the Board of Education that we do have, an alternative that we can consider for item number four, which addresses that student safety must be paramount. We have chosen in the past to include additional language beyond that phrasing, which is that student safety must be paramount and door to door solicitations are discouraged, we continue
to recommend including that additional optional language for the Board of Education. Next, I present board policy eight colon 80, which addresses gifts to the District. I would like to highlight for the Board of Education that item number five on the itemized lists here, addressing gifts to the district, is being recommended for an additional, language change, which will address that when a gift to the district incorporates any messages, that the messages themselves must be viewpoint neutral.
And we recommend that the Board adopt that language. Next, I'm proposing Board Policy eight colon one at ten, which addresses public suggestions and concerns. And this is part of press's regular review. There's no substantive changes made. My regrets on getting out of line and out of number, but I think we got through them all. And I appreciate your patience tonight. Thank you, Ms. Solson. Does anyone have any specific questions on any of the policy changes? Okay. If anything comes up then, as you review them ahead of voting on these, the
next, board meeting, let me know. Okay? Okay. Alright. Next item, doctor Johnson. Thank you, president Owens. Our next item, middle school physical education health curriculum proposal. Coming forward, we have Celia Banks, director of curriculum and instruction, familiar face, Tracy Jacobitis, interim student wellness coordinator, and, of course, Mary Domingo student wellness teacher leader who will be available for questions relating to the middle school physical education, health curriculum proposal. Administration recommends approval of the middle school physical education health curriculum proposal in the amount
of $65,512.88 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. Cost is included in the budget for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six fiscal year. It it should. Can we load the presentation.
There it is. I got it. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Hello, everybody. We are here presenting the proposed middle school P and health curriculum updates for grades six through eight. The purpose is to recommend the adoption of updated middle school physical education and health curriculum frameworks equipment and resources that ensure alignment across grade six through eight. Promote student wellness and support the development of lifelong health and fitness skills. The curriculum supports the strategic plan. Goal number two by fostering a sense of belonging, inclusion, and safety through equitable, accessible,
and inclusive health and PE experiences for all students. It is also aligned with goal number three by promoting academic growth and mastery through standards based instruction, skill development, and measurable learning goals. The adoption process includes the curriculum development and review of the following curriculum cycle processes. The rationale is to update the six through eight middle school PE health curriculum to support the increased sixth grade class days. These updates align with Illinois instructional mandates. You 46 standards and best practices to promote student wellness while providing additional equipment, resources
and professional development to support these changes. The curriculum curriculum was developed collaborate collaboratively with ongoing teacher input and feedback to ensure relevance, practicality, and effectiveness to support overall student learning. The curriculum development process use research based standards and district resources to define what students should know and be able to do in quality PE and health programs. The structured approach ensured alignment, consistency, and readiness for implementation across all middle schools.
The middle school PE program develops students physical literacy and wellness skills across grades six through eight. Content in bold is new to the curriculum. Sixth grade introduces the foundational movement fitness and teamwork, while seventh and eighth grade builds on the skills with progressive challenges, lifetime fitness, self assessment, and leadership opportunities. The curriculum is inclusive, standards aligned, and designed to promote lifelong healthy habits. On the next three slides, the sixth and eighth grade health curriculum covers Illinois mandated
topics highlighted in yellow, such as personal health, nutrition, safety, emotional regulation, mental health, substance prevention, and human growth and development. Additional focuses include building healthy relationships, digital citizenship, and preparation for lifelong wellness. Both courses for sixth and eighth grade are age appropriate, standards aligned, and designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills required for healthy decision making. Content in bold is new to the curriculum.
Recommended resources for the middle school PE and health programs include additional PE and fitness equipment to support motor skill development, HealthSmart for unit planning, Choices Magazine to include relevant text in health, and ClickView class hook for engaging short visuals to support health content understanding. Teachers will engage in targeted professional development to support implementation of the updated PE and health curriculum. This includes training on curriculum frameworks, standards alignment, instructional strategies, assessment practices, inclusive and adaptive
teaching, and the use of supporting resources and equipment. Ongoing collaboration feedback will ensure consistency, high quality instruction across all middle schools. The proposed PE and health curriculum updates require funding for essential equipment, instructional materials, and resources to support inclusive standards aligned instruction. This investment ensures students have access to appropriate tools, fitness equipment, and teacher planning resource materials to fully engage in skill building, wellness, and physical activity programs. Students students will develop the knowledge and skills to make informed health and wellness decisions,
both in and outside of school. Inclusive activities will foster respect for diverse abilities and personalities, while physical activity and mindfulness strategies will support emotional well-being. The curriculum aims to promote long long term engagement and participation in healthy active lifestyles. Teacher feedback surveys will identify strengths in areas of growth in the curriculum templates, resources, and assessments in the winter and 2627. Based on this feedback, frameworks, rubrics, and assessments will be revised, and professional learning will
be planned and delivered to support implementation. Updates will be shared with teachers through ongoing professional learning in spring in August 2027. That is our presentation. Thank you for the presentation. Do board members have questions? No? Thank you. Thank you. That brings us to work session resolutions. Thank you, President Owens. Our first is a resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property warehouse books. Doctor Kyle Van Schneeze, deputy superintendent of operations, and Ashley McKinney, assistant director of plant operations, will review the attached resolution and will respond to questions from the board of
education. Administration recommends the board of education approve the resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Next is a resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property furniture. Robin Cornelison, executive director of finance, and Denise Smith, procurement coordinator, will review the attached resolution and will respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends the board of education approve the resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property. Do board members have any questions?
Thank you. Next, a resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property, middle school cafe tables. Robin Cornelison and Denise Smith are still available to review the attached resolution and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends the board of education approve the resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Next, a resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property, IS equipment. Jim Wolf, director of information services, will review the attached resolution and respond to questions
from the board of education. Administration recommends the board of education approve the resolution for the disposal of surplus personal property. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Next item is work session, biz and proposals. Doctor. Johnson. Thank you, President Owens. Our first is a proposal information services chat GPT ed you. Lola Maestroovich, deputy superintendent of instruction, Jim Wolf, director of information services, Rola Tariq Mohammed, coordinator of strategic initiatives, will present the attached proposal summary and will respond to questions
from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the contract with chat GPT at you in the amount of $0 and request authorization for district administration to execute related documents. Participation in this program comes at no cost to the district and provides secure access to chat g p two g p t as you for you 46 staff who opt in and successfully complete the required AI canvas course prior to receiving access. Before I take, questions from the board, did you have anything that you wanted to
present beforehand? Yeah. So we just wanted to share a little bit of an update because what you're seeing is is very different from what we presented last time. And so as you are aware, since January 2025, our u forty six AI task force, which consists of a team of teachers, administrators, and instructional leaders, has explored how to safely and effectively integrate generative AI. After piloting both ChatGPT Edu and Google Gemini Advance, the task force recommended ChatGPT Edu for its educational value, ease of use, and strong data privacy protections.
Our original proposal came with a cost of about $400,000, for, 4,000 licenses. And, a couple of weeks ago, after we had shared an updated presentation with the board of education, OpenAI reached out to our team here, to Rola and Jim, and invited u forty six to join in its early access program, which is a program that's only been offered to 20 school districts across the nation, access to chat gpt for staff only.
This opportunity allows you forty six to advance our work in a safe, structured, and cost free manner, building on the foundation laid by our AI task force and aligning with our district's equity focus. It also strengthens it will strengthen instruction, support educators with tools they already use, and protects district data, all with zero financial cost. All district data will remain secure. It would be owned by U46 and protected from use in training AI models, which is what we had shared last time as well. Our our goal with this is to start this this partnership with one with granting
1,000 licenses as a pilot to, diverse groups of people across the district representing various grade levels, programs, both, instructional, staff, as well as operational staff. We would work with them and gather feedback. Of course, they would first have to take our, AI course, AI one one zero one course in order to get access granted, but they would have to agree to provide feedback throughout a three month period, at which point we would then collect that data and then make a determination on if or how we would scale to additional
staff members getting access. Are you ready for questions then, Shonda? So that, leads to my question about about the pilot. So so you get thirteen months of no cost access, and then you're gonna do a three month pilot for up to a thousand users. The next ten months, what are you gonna do? Is it gonna be the next thousand users for three months? Or what's the plan for the remaining ten months of use? It so we would be granted up to 4,500 licenses. The first 1,000 would be the ones we would activate based on who signs up for the pilot, and, and ensuring that we have again, that broad representation across the
district. After that first three months, we would have to first, you know, look at the feedback, review the data, look at usage statistics, things like that to make a determination on if we'd want to scale it further. I think at that point, we would then determine how much that would that what that would look like, but we would keep those 3,500 licenses. So we would have a thousand active ones. We would keep the 3,500 licenses and have access to that. They would just not be activated until we determine how we would want to scale that and or if we would want to scale that. Okay. And they could be activated within the ten months or at some point?
Yes. Thank you. Oh, and thank you for listening to all of our feedback. I know we've been getting giving you a lot of questions, a lot of things to think about. Rightfully so. Thank you for for pushing our thinking on this. Kate? I don't actually really have a question. I just wanted to share. In my day job, I actually went to the free version of chat g p t. I didn't use the districts because it was my day job. But this last week and a half, I typed in a number of different things and was able to get some pretty good stuff. Like, most of it wasn't a 100 perfect, but it saved me a lot of
time because it gave me a really nice base. So as I was doing all that, I was trying to remember the things that we had talked about here and make sure that I was using it. And I I liked it, and I think that our teachers will have a lot of, success if they follow these rules and guidelines and things that you've been talking about. Absolutely. And the really cool thing with this proposal is that OpenAI is also willing to provide us train the trainer professional learning so that we do have in house capacity to be able to train staff throughout the district. Any additional questions? Just have a a question regarding the data.
I know that we, we'd be operating in our own environment that's walled off from the the the larger language model. If we use this this, you know, this system and and say we use it for the thirteen months, and decide at that point, perhaps because, you know, at the at the fourteenth month, there's now a cost to this. Right? And we and we make the determination not to continue. We have access to our data to download. Is that data then removed from their system?
Yes. We have assurances on that? Yes. While the data is on their system, do who has access to that? Is it is it only the district that has access to that, or does OpenAI also have access to that data? Has access to it. We we we have access to it. Open Is there any data? Does OpenAI have access to it? They they have access to view it, but they don't have they don't have the ability to use our data. They can't take our data and feed Right. The model.
But they can view it. They can view our data. Okay. Does that raise any concerns as far as privacy goes? I don't I don't I I don't think so, because we're we're explaining to everyone that you don't put any PII, personally identifiable information, into the model. Mhmm. K. Even though it's walled off, we never wanna put students' personal information, teachers' personal information, any staff member's personal information into the model for those reasons.
Right? And not only that, even though it's walled garden, I mean, I wouldn't wanna see anything that doctor Johnson put in. She wouldn't wanna see what I put in. You know, it it especially if if, you know, somebody makes you know, does something like tries to put PII. That's why that's one of the big issues with this. And and when I say issues, I mean, what we're teaching to to staff. These are just things you just do not do. You know, you cannot do this because, it's It's bad practice, and I'd also say
it was just bad practice. Mhmm. I would also like to add that, legal had already reviewed also all the service agreement and on the privacy and data statements regarding to the agreement, and that they, confirmed this with is good to go, and it, Confirms all the requirements for the district when it comes to data and privacy. Okay. Thank you. Shauna? In talking about, staff not putting in that personal identifier data, is there something in the policy forgive me. I don't remember.
Is there something that there's repercussions if they do? Meaning, you can no longer use this chat GPT edu for a period of time because you've now violated. Yeah. So that that would just be our typical, progressive discipline policy that we would use anyway. So we have established guidelines in order to gain access to the platform. You would have to take that course and agree to to following those guidelines. So if just like with anything else, if you don't follow the guidelines, then, yes, there there would be consequences. And then are there regular checks on the data to make sure that no none
of that personal info is in there? We do have the we do have the ability to to see the data and own the data. So we could we could we could we could build that into an audit. That's something to definitely consider or have. Like, it it should be that should be necessary. Thank you. That, That was I was gonna ask the same question. Okay. John will get it in. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next item. Our next item, proposal culture and climate, Illinois virtual schools academy. Mark Cannella, director of climate and culture will present the attached proposed summary and will
respond to questions from the Board of Education. Administration recommends approval of the proposal from Illinois Virtual Schools and Academy in the amount of $40,000 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. Cost is included in the budget for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six fiscal year. Do board members have any questions on this proposal? Nope. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Our next is a proposal from K-twelve science and planetarium habitat restoration to support curriculum,
Celia banks, director of curriculum and instruction, endemic Mullen, coordinator of k twelve science and planetarium, will present the attached proposal summary and will respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the proposal from woods to wetlands ecological services in the amount of $81,000 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. The cost is included in the budget for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six
fiscal just one question. It says here you're gonna do a prescribed burn. Is it possible we can make sure we do that on a day when school is not in session? We we can try that. We always try to prevent them from big days, like, on test days and that kind of thing. Yeah. But one of the things that's sort of challenging is you have to do prescribed burns when the weather is just right. The wind is just right. Of course. So we kinda get a window, and then and we go with it. But Okay. Can we be certain then at least that, the families are aware in advance?
Yeah. We're required the company is required to notify the neighborhood and and Right. But I'm also talking about the kids within the school. Right? They may not live in that neighborhood, so they wouldn't get the notice. But, they're at Elgin High. Maybe they live all the way out by me in South Elgin. Right? Yep. Because they go to the academy, but they need to know because they're asthmatic. Sure. So we make sure the building goes. Yeah. They always notify everybody in the building. Yeah. And so make sure the families know in advance so the kids can check an extra I can I can ask? I I'm just I've been, I've struggled many times with prescribed burns in my asthma.
So Sure. No problem. Thanks. Yep. Sue? So a few months ago, we had some Elgin High students. Mhmm. Does this address their concerns? I mean Many of them. Some of them. I mean, this is kind of the starting point of that. Okay. Trying to you know, that that bank there is they're just they're buckthorn and they're just pulling the soil as they fall in. And so, yeah. And and there's that area is very unique. It is very high quality. At one point, the Nature Preserves Commission wanted to make it a nature preserve, that
was probably twenty years ago or so, but it's very high quality. It just needs to be taken care of. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Any other questions? Thank you. You're welcome. K. Our next item is a bid curriculum and instruction, Kiddom Odell education consumables. Joining Celia Banks is Jacqueline Johnson, coordinator of literacy and libraries, to present the attached proposal summary and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends awards the lowest responsible bidder, Kiddom, in the amount of $119,167.20.
Request authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. The cost is included in the budget for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six fiscal year. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Brings us to work session contracts over 35,000. Our first item, contract renewal curriculum and instruction benchmark education license. So Celia Banks and Jacqueline Johnson are still here to present the attached proposal and respond to questions from the board of education.
Administration recommends approval of the contract renewal with benchmark education company in the amount of $71,958.96 and requests authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. The cost is included in the budget for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six fiscal year. Board members have any questions? Okay. Next item. Next item is contact, contract for curriculum and instruction, Learning Ally.
Again, Celia Banks and Jacqueline Johnson remain to present the attached proposal and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends the approval of the contract with Learning Ally in the amount of $52,364 and request authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the education fund. The cost is included in the budget for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six fiscal year. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Our next item is contract renewal, food and nutrition services, Heartland payment systems, MCS, my
school apps. Erin Nowak, director of food and nutrition services, will present the attached proposal and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends approval of the contract renewal with Heartland Payment Systems in the amount of $100,520 and request authorization for district administration to execute related documents. This expenditure will be charged to the operations fund, and the cost is included in the budget for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six fiscal year.
Do board members have any questions? K. Thank you. Thank you. And lastly, work session change orders, doctor Johnson. Yes. Change order. Plant operations, Elgin High School primary overhead electrical service replacement project number 242. Cassandra Reichenbach, assistant director of planning and systems, and Jolene Lineman, capital projects coordinator, will present the attached change order and respond to questions from the board of education. Administration recommends the Board of Education approve the change order from Ascend Electric Incorporated in
the amount of minus $62,230. Do board members have any questions? Thank you. Thank you. And And that being the last item on our agenda, I will ask for a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Miss Kerr? Yes. Miss Khan? Miss Martin? Yes. Miss Schwartz? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. President Owens? Yes. We are adjourned at 08:35PM. Thank you everyone.